Souvenirs from Vietnam

My brother went to Vietnam for few times for work recently. And he bought coffee, sweets and chocolates. I am only surprised that there are coconut flavoured stuffs. When I watched the Vietnamese youtubers on village, forest living, I think I didn't see coconut from the videos. 

Coffee:

I didn't try the durian flavour coffee at all, but I did try the coconut and banana flavour coffee. All are instant coffee type. The coconut one is ok, a bit santan taste. But the banana one a bit chemical taste. 

Coconut and Banana flavoured coffee

Coconut flavour instant coffee

normal instant coffee (Trung Nguyen Legend classic 3 in 1)

Cappuccino Sau Rieng (Durian flavour)

Below is something like Kopi Luwak. Also like Kopi Luwak, the coffee beans were excreted by a civet. I think it is a drip coffee. My brother bought this in airport, I think it will be cheaper outside.

really expensive 45USD Cà phê chồn weasel coffee

Sweets:

Both are coconut sweets. It's ok, tasted similar to Malaysian coconut sweets. But with better packaging for the 2nd one. Sasco is an airport shop. 

Yen Hoang Green Tea Coconut Milk Candy

Sasco coconut candy

Chocolate:

Haven't start to eat this. This is for the kids. Hahaha.

Marou Faiseurs De Chocolat

Sasco chocolate gift set

Joyla So-Co-La Chanh Day Jelly

Biscuit:

Top Coco Coconut cracker. Looking at the picture, I feel that it will be delicious. I like the Malaysian coconut biscuit too. But I feel funny looking at the "export quality" label on the packaging.

Top Coco (coconut cracker original)

Me and my brother same pattern, we would buy food items for souvenirs instead of key chains, bags, magnet, etc. Yeah!

WW33-WW34'26 Food and Drinks

I only eat bananas when I was in my parents home, when they bought it. The last time I bought bananas was many years ago when I was in Japan, it was the cheapest fruits then. I saw 3 bananas for RM2.29, long time didn't buy, not sure the normal price though, I feel the price is ok. 

3 Cavendish bananas

I ate one banana as it is, for the other two, I added into instant oat and Kinohimitsu Royal Green powder. Well, it is ok, but eating as it is tasted much better. Hahaha! Maybe I can try eating with yogurt next time.

banana with Kinohimitsu Royal Green powder

banana in instant oat

I also bought bell pepper for instant noodles. Well, it is ok, not bad. Not really a correct vegetable to go with instant noodle.

Lada benggala hijau (green bell pepper)

instant noodle with bell pepper and tofu

instant noodle with bell pepper and tofu and chili flakes

I also bought eggs and carrots. Well, 1 tray of eggs was around Rm4.99. Means 50 cents per egg. Not sure considered expensive or not. But I read in news that currently egg prices are increasing. 

tray with 10 eggs (RM4.99)

2 carrots (RM1.45)

First, I stirred in the eggs into the noodle, and I couldn't taste the texture of egg.  

instant noodle with egg and carrot

So for next day, after the noodle was soften, I directly broke an egg on top of the noodle and let it cooked for few more minutes. I had a good looking egg. Hahaha!

instant noodle with egg and carrot

通灵少女2 The Teenage Psychic 2

It has been a long time since I finished a book. Since I was taking public transport for the pass week, I read a book that I bought long time ago. I have to finish reading a few books before I allow myself to buy more books. Hahaha.

通灵少女2

It's a Taiwanese TV drama novel. I knew that it was a HBO drama, and the main cast is YaoYao 瑤瑤 (郭書瑤), I knew her from a Taiwanese variety show years ago. She was known for her body then, so I was surprised when she starred in this drama, a teenage student in a unglamorous attire. Hahaha, she acted as a psychic in the drama. I never had the chance to watch the drama though. So when I saw this novel in a bookstore with 50% discount, I grabbed this, I think I got this in 2025, and now already August in 2026. 

Anyway, I read this when I was commuting, luckily I was not the one and only with book in the LRT. It's good to find another book lover in a train. I couldn't get a seat in LRT, so I read this standing while holding a pole. I got to finish this book from 3 rides. 

the back cover of the book

the book pages are from right to left

This book is actually not the first season, it's from the season 2. Where the main character, Xiao Zhen had been a psychic for a year in a temple. She lost her boyfriend in the first season, and she was starting second year in high school while navigating her role as president of drama club. Actually it's a fun read. The tone in the book followed the Taiwanese Hokkien tone. 

I feel that the story is enough for a movie, not a 8 episodes drama though. It has all the elements in this book, family, friends, enemies, lovers, forgiveness, sibling rivalries, return from death, etc. Apart from all the dramas, the part that got to my heart was the part where the main character death boyfriend forgave the driver who hit him. I am a very petty person, I don't think I can do it. 

Anyway, commuting using public transport is the best way to read. Go go go!

Instant Noodle with Eggplant, Frozen Shell and Shallots

Another two dinners with instant noodle. Really not healthy, but I compensated with vegetables. 

Thursday dinner

Wednesday Dinner

I noticed that shallots (bawang kecil) was not so expensive in Econsave. So I bought a packet. I kind of like shallots, I think that adding shallots make the dish more fragrant. There were various sizes of bawang kecil inside the packet.

a packet of shallots (bawang kecil)

the sizes were varied, some very small

I also bought eggplant.

egg plant

I feel that adding shallots also making the soup sweeter. Yeah, good buy. 

noodle on bottom of the pot, followed by the eggplant and shallots

I kind of regret buying the Kinohimitsu Royal Green now, I have no time to drink it. Hope I can finish it before it becomes harden. 

items for 2 dinners	price (RM)
Cintan Mee , Maggi Mee	0.95+0.90
Bawang kecil, Cili Api	0.40
Shell	1.50
Eggplant	3.60
2 apples	4.00
soft drink 1 cup	0.60
Kinohimitsu Royal Green 1 cup	2.50
total	14.45

Commuting to Work in Sungai Way Free Trade Industrial Zone

It's kind of difficult to reach XXX in Sungai Way Free Trade Industrial Zone using public transport without resorting to Grab. So I am writing this to give a hint on how to reach KESM Industries Berhad, MEMC Electronic Materials Sdn Bhd, Device Dynamics Asia (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, PICA Manufacturing Solutions (M) Sdn Bhd, Omron Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Herbal Science Sdn Bhd, NXP Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Western Digital KL COE, etc using public transport only.

Well, first thing first, Sungai Way Free Trade Industrial Zone (Sungai Way FTIZ) is located right next to Federal Highway. There's a KTM station called Setia Jaya KTM Station opposite the road. So anyone with access to KTM station can choose to reach the Sungai Way FTIZ via KTM rail network. After reached Setia Jaya Station, one could see the NXP building across the road, just cross the Federal highway using the flyover, walk straight and there is a small gate that next to NXP gate 1, just enter the FTIZ using the gate. I had colleagues coming with KTM, the only demerit is the frequency is much lesser than LRT. 

Sungai Way Free Trade Industrial Zone

walking towards Sungai Way Free Trade Industrial Zone from bus stop / KTM station

gate to Sungai Way Free Trade Industrial Zone

The nearest LRT station is around 3km to 4km though. Definitely not walking distance to me. Most of the suggestions are taking grab from the LRT station. Mmm, I am not sure on the price. But I took grab from FTIZ to Glenmarie Station before. It's RM14 per trip, well, it's peak hour. So to save money and time, I found that taking bus is the second best option. Some people might be asking, why not just take the Rapid on Demand, my experience tells me don't even need to try this during peak hour, the waiting time is so long, walking might be faster. 

Since Sungai Way FTIZ is literally next to Federal Highway, so we have to find a bus that stopped at both LRT Station and a bus stop at Federal Highway. Well, from my research, there's one bus that stopped at both LRT Ara Damansara and the bus stop opposite KTM Setia Jaya, which is bus Rapid 772. However, there are many more bus routes that stopped at LRT Asia Jaya and KTM Setia Jaya, which is Rapid 772, 750 and 751. So, to take the bus to FTIZ, one could either stop at LRT Asia Jaya or LRT Ara Damansara. LRT Asia Jaya is a safer bet though. More buses pass LRT Asia Jaya.

For my commute to work, I tried both bus 772 and 751. Both covered by My50 pass. 

On this week, I tried to commute using public transport again. On 27th July, I woke up earlier and went to the Johan Setia LRT Station, parked there and rushed to take the LRT. Since this is the earliest train, the first stop was still ok, not full.

first train at LRT Johan Setia (around 5.55am)

LRT Shah Alam from Johan Setia (first train)

After reaching LRT Glenmarie2 (before 7am), I rushed to Kelana Jaya Line to take the train to LRT Ara Damansara. It's only one station from LRT Glenmarie. Kelana Jaya Line was much more busier than the Shah Alam line now. I waited outside the LRT Ara Damansara for the Rapid KL bus 772. 

LRT Ara Damansara Bus Stop

Bus Stop LRT Ara Damansara (Opp)

In the bus 772, there's a monitor. It's interesting, the bus stop name from the bus display still maintain as "Motorola", Motorola was the old name of Freescale, which was the old name of NXP. So, if you are intending to go to Sungai Way Free Trade Industrial Zone, do not hesitate to push the button when it's Motorola stop. It's the correct stop, it's either called "Motorola", "Setia Jaya KTM (opp)" or "Sungei Way Free Trade Zone (Selatan)". 

Rapid bus 772

Another way to reach Sungai Way FTIZ is to take bus after reaching LRT Asia Jaya. One have to walk across Federal Highway, and waited for the bus in bus stop infront of Pj8 building. 

Pj8

Normally, when I was driving, I would leave company after 7pm to avoid the jam. However, since I was taking public transport, I left around 6pm. Since there were more buses that stopped at LRT Asia Jaya, instead of going back to LRT Ara Damansara, I took bus to LRT Asia Jaya, and took additional stops before I reached Glenmarie Station. I tried for two days. Then, I made a mistake on Wednesday, I was thinking to take the bus to LRT Ara Damansara to see whether I could save more time. Huge mistake, it was raining that day, and the traffic on Federal Highway was horrible! I waited at the Bus Stop KTM Setia Jaya for more than 1 hour. And I saw on the opposite road, so many bus 750, 751 passing. Anyway, I was lazy to cross again. So, I reached LRT Ara Damansara at around 8pm! One and a half hour to reach a LRT station! The only good news was since it's quite late, I was able to get a seat in my ride back to Johan Setia. 

LRT Ara Damansara

car park at LRT Johan Setia around 9.30pm

For this week, I tried from Monday to Thursday. It's tiring, but I think safer for me and other road users, at least I could safely sleep inside the train when I was too tired. Yeah, hope Rapid KL can provide buses that passed through Glenmarie Station. 

*latest news, the LRT Shah Alam free ride period is extended to Aug 24.