Friday Social@Bernard's: Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name

"Sometimes you wanna go, where everybody knows your name. And they're always glad you came."

It didn't exactly air during my time but I nevertheless kinda grew up with Cheers. With the ensemble cast of Ted Danson, Shelly Long, Kirstie Alley, Rhea Pearlman, Woody Harrelson and Kelsey Grammer (among others), you really go wrong! I always felt aesthetically, the bar and restaurant Bernard's @ Centrepoint, Bandar Utama had a similar feel.

Greetings fellow salseros! It has been a while since I brought my trusty camera to a social dance floor. Reason? I really would rather spend the time dancing than to shoot pictures. I've always insisted that my innate Male programming does not allow me to exercise simultaneous functions effectively. This means that either I dance well, or I take nice pictures. I can't seem to do both. This male programming makes us guys viciously effective in what we do, but monotonous as a result.

Back to the dancing. Friday night, 26th March 2011 is the second Friday since SalsaSam kick-started the Petaling Jaya Friday Night Social @ Bernard's @ Centrepoint, Bandar Utama. We are also welcoming back our very own DJ Joe - back into the spinning scene after a 2-year hiatus. As I was informed DJ Joe will be spinning every alternate Friday night. Since SalsaSam himself kickstarted the latest Friday Night Social, DJ Joe will pick-up this week where Sam left off last week!

As widely mentioned, there is NO COVER-CHARGE PAYABLE. However, we do implore the common sense and kindness of the salsa community to support this kind establishment which has given us yet another salsa social (and to many, one much much nearer to home!) and to purchase drinks (and food if you feel it necessary - I hear some of the fare there is much celebrated).

Location wise, there appears to be 24-hour security guards present. I've been to Centrepoint at all odd times (trust me on this) and those faithful jagas have always been around. Parking is FREE after 6.00pm. There, I said it. But for the love of all that is good, please hold on to your parking ticket. You're going to have to validate it and slot it back in the yellow machine-thingy before you leave the carpark. And the after-Social mamak is just around the corner too...

[Editor's Note: If anyone wants to know more about the drinks and dining menu at Bernard's, please leave your comments/requests at the bottom of this article, and I'll be sure to check with them the next chance I get, and update you kind folks.]

For those of you who like statistics:

Vital Stats for March: 5 posts 174 pics

Vital Stats So Far: 58 posts 2,368 pics

Disclaimer: The views published in the above photoblog are the author's and the author's alone. If readers are not agreeable with the above views, well, you can bugger-off. All rights are reserved for the photos and the article itself. This article may be reproduced with permission of the author for private or public usage, or other forms of general mayhem. Thank you for reading this disclaimer.

Bentong Waterfalls [19-3-2011]

"Don't go chasing waterfalls." What the heck is that supposed to mean anyways? Whatever. That's exactly what we did.

We firstly had a stop-over at an eating joint Joe brought us to - Yee Fatt is it's name. Food was decent, although I admit that it was nothing particularly special. Price was so-so. The prices were not expensive although I'm certain that we've had cheaper lunches. Apparently they were famous for their pork belly dish (which we tried). I don't have a particular preference to pork bellies but I couldn't help but throw a thought at another friend, Ruben Enbasegaram (a pork fanatic) while eating.

The waterfalls itself was a right decent sight. Surely it was no Niagara but for a spoilt city boy like myself, it was reasonably impressive. Plus it had 'ZON MERBAHAYA' signs all over the place (which of course, to boys, makes it more appealing). Immediately the words to the Top Gun movie theme sprang to mind: "Highway to the Danger Zone. Gonna take the highway to the Danger Zone!"

I had some decent shots there and it was really great fun. Played to fool most of the time to the amusement of my friends. Helpful to take my mind off the fact that for the past year and a half or so some salsa friends who claimed to be friends turned out to be backstabbing little c... Nevermind that.

My fun that day was a little doused by the fact that I fell holding my camera. I was a little cut-up in the fall but my camera TFT screen appeared to be cracked in a bad way. What a kill-joy. However, some good news! After sending it to the Canon Service Centre in Peremba Square, they found that only the super-thick screen protector I had on was destroyed. The magnesium body of the 50D held out and so did the TFT screen. Take THAT Canon EOS 60D!

For those of you who like statistics:

Vital Stats for March: 4 posts 162 pics

Vital Stats So Far: 57 posts 2,356 pics

Disclaimer: The views published in the above photoblog are the author's and the author's alone. If readers are not agreeable with the above views, well, you can bugger-off. All rights are reserved for the photos and the article itself. This article may be reproduced with permission of the author for private or public usage, or other forms of general mayhem. Thank you for reading this disclaimer.

Fish Farm Restaurant & Look-Out Point [13-3-2011]

I just spent the entire Sunday cavorting around this incredible gem of a place. I had no idea it existed. There are many place we would not know about or visit on our own, save if someone brings us. Sunday's trip deep into Ampang was one such example of this. A million thanks to Thanh and Chan from Vietnam who introduced us to this lovelty site.

The afternoon started at the Fish Farm Restaurant for lunch. After driving up what appeared to be a hill-pass of some sort, following a signboard we took a right turn into what appeared to be a gravelly clearing into the jungle! I instantly wished for a 4WD, or a tank given the circumstances. But the Sentra held out. After a short drive (including a 45 degree angle downhill slope) we reached a piece of private land used exclusively for rearing fish. Not the display ones, the 'meant-to-be-eaten' ones. And big buggers they were too. My only gripe is that the food was not entirely cheap. The price was fair, but considering how far we drove, we hoped for better! How Malaysian of us!

After lunch, we headed straight to the Look-Out Point, not 200 meters from where were earlier. We were greeted by modern looking structures, designed to allow visitors to sit, eat and relax in front of the entire view of KL. The lower restaurant, named 'Haven' gave a good enough view already, but if you wanted to take a short walk higher up, to the 'Panorama' restaurant, you'd have the chance to cllimb a tower to view KL city from this look-out point's highest point. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For those of you who like statistics:

Vital Stats for March: 3 posts 131 pics

Vital Stats So Far: 56 posts 2,325 pics

Disclaimer: The views published in the above photoblog are the author's and the author's alone. If readers are not agreeable with the above views, well, you can bugger-off. All rights are reserved for the photos and the article itself. This article may be reproduced with permission of the author for private or public usage, or other forms of general mayhem. Thank you for reading this disclaimer.