If you’ve read Day-dreamer’s recent blog entry, you’re gonna find a similar entry here. Yep, we went to this charity steamboat dinner last night at Patrick Teoh’s Damansara Village Steamboat Restaurant. My first time, her first time, and I believe it was her friend YN’s first time too. Nice to meet you btw, hehe.
The very idea of this dinner that caught my attention was that every sen made during the business hours on that day itself, which is yesterday, will be channelled through the collection fund organized by a local newspaper, and subsequently be donated over to the cyclone/earthquake victims in Myanmar and China respectively. A very meaningful event, don’t you think?
Saw the invitation last minute on Suanie.net, and made an impromptu decision to ask DD if she’s free later that evening. She said yes! Cool. So, right after work, I drove to PJ (traffic after working hour on Fed Highway is surprisingly fairly smooth all the way) to pick up DD and new friend YN. Together, we head down to Kelana Jaya and quite easily found our way to the restaurant despite our first time around the area. (I’m sure you know how ‘keen’ my sense of direction is.)
On our way there, we were met by a pre-departure of Wesak parade where the floats decorated in elaborate decor waiting to take off by the road side.
Not many diners around when we arrived at the restaurant, probably because we’re early (around 7-ish pm). But as night falls, business started to pick up real fast and soon the atmosphere was buzzing with cheers among steamboat diners fishing for their dinner through the boiling hot pot of fresh seafood varieties. And when I say FRESH, it is! (hop over to DD’s blog for pictures). Spotted our local comedian Harith Iskandar with Maria Farida (if I’m not mistaken lah ha) dining a few tables away from us, and saw Patrick Teoh himself even heheh.
Our bill totalled up to just a little over RM100 (over RM30 per person). Not bad for contributing our bit for the charity, with reasonable price for such great food. The turnout and response of the night was very encouraging as well. Here’s hoping that the contribution we (and other fellow diners) made for the fund will be channelled for those in need as promised. 
On our way back from dinner, guess what, we bumped into the Wesak parade again! The procession took place right in front of us as we had to make a brief stop at one of the junctions around SS2 to allow the beautiful floats to cross over to the opposite road, accompanied by a huge crowd of Buddhist devotees on a candlelight vigil. Quite an ‘enlightening’ experience I must say; we just sat ourselves quietly and watch the ongoing procession until it was safe for us to move on.
PS: The video (of the Wesak parade) is probably not up on youtube yet, but here’s some of the pictures taken during the procession of the Wesak 2008 World Peace Procession organized by Nalanda Buddhist Society.
’til then, have yourself a blessed mid-week ahead.
