Book Fair And Cheow Yang

This morning, we braced the heavy morning traffic to reach the MPH warehouse sale before 9 am. The sale was to start at 9am. I thought I've got it figured out - to reach there early to get a parking lot. But it was a shocker - both sides of the road were already fully double-parked by the time we reached there. I suspect it's the normal working crowd - it just goes to show that there are too many cars on the roads, but what to do? There's no alternative transportation.

To cut a long story short, by luck and gumption, I managed to get a decent illegal parking lot right in front of the warehouse. Son No 2 and I spent a fruitful 1.5 hours there and got 12 books for RM156. What a steal! Mind you, these are quality books, some hardcover, some by Usborne. Son No 2 got 4 books about predators, big cats and volcanoes. I chose a colourful coffee-table hard cover "Lord Of The Rings" book for Son No 1 and an illustrated children's atlas for Son No 3. I also got a few story books for the children.

For myself, I got 2 autobiography by people that I admire: Hillary Clinton and Vikram Seth, the author of "A Suitable Boy". I am gleefully waiting for the chance to bury myself in between the pages - umm, I should be well-prepared for my forthcoming holidays.

Later, we had lunch at the legendary Cheow Yang in SS2. Those of us familiar with the place already know it's no longer owned by Cheow Yang, but the name stuck. As a blogger, I tend to carry my camera with me most of the time and in the spur of the moment, I thought it would be a good idea to capture this significant place in digital history. So, in spite of the curious crowd there, I gamely took a few shots of the place and am posting them in this blog (see below). Ya, they all probably thought I was a tourist, or heaven forbid, an undercover agent from MBPJ, the town council!

In time to come, we can all look back and explain to our grandchildren this place called Cheow Yang (like it or hate it) and the delicious "you tiao" stall in front of it. If your grandchildren were to ask you, in a foreign accent (ya, my imagination is rather fertile at the moment), "Mama and gonggong, what is you tiao?", it's actually dough fritters. I have also taken a picture of this street-side cuisine for your "show and tell"!