SimpliCity: The naVICgaTOR

Racial Joke 2

2011-03-11T11:55:00.002+08:00

Outside of Mimi's, Colin and I were talking to our newly acquainted friends, Colbye and Arielle. Mid conversation, a black guy, who appeared to be a friend of Colbye and Arielle, walked by and interrupted us. His name is Happy, Happy Johnson. Colin knew him because he's kinda famous, wrote a children book or something. I knew nothing about him, I just thought that he was being disrespectful for not introducing himself, nor apologized, when he interrupted our conversations. He just stood there in front of me talking to the ladies whom Colin and I just met. Maybe I was tipsy, after all it was 4 in the morning after the crazy Krewe du Vieux parade and after party. I thought to myself, Happy Johnson, I bet he never cried before in his life since the name said for himself, Happy. Maybe when he cries, those tears are happy tears. What a great nickname.

I was tired and started to get cranky with this Happy stranger. I just wanted to take off and go home to sleep. To top that, I had a bike ride from Marigny all the way back to Riverbend to say the least. So I blurted, "Yo Chris Tucker, Jackie Chan's out of here!"

All of them looked at me, with disbelief.

Arielle got mad and yelled at me, "Why did you call him that, JACKIE CHAN?!"

I was laughing, she called me Jackie Chan. Colbye was just laughing at the twist of the racial joke back upon me, and Colin had an awkward white man giggle, since he didn't know whether it's appropriate for a white boy like him, who has one of the whitest name, to laugh at the joke.

2 weeks later, my buddy Alex came in town to visit, and I told him about the story. He actually took a class with Mr. Happy at Georgetown. That's his actual name. Small world.

Sorry Happy if that offended you. I don't think so since you're Happy, all the time.

Racial Jokes

2011-02-12T10:01:00.004+08:00

I was at Le Bon Temp listening to Soul Rebels, when one of the guys in the band was going around with a tip jar.

There was a group of black people at the corner of the bar. They are probably the only black people there. (Le Bon Temp attracts a white crowd, mostly Tulane/Loyola kids)
The tip jar came to them, I was standing beside the group, non of them tipped. So tipsy me made a comment about black people never tip. One of them turned around and looked at me with a WTF face.

Me: No offense, but if I were to be black, I won't tip either, I'll just let the white people tip out of their white guilt.

Black guy: !@#@$%!

Me: Want a picture of Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan? (while whipping out my iphone and getting close to him for the photo op)

NO Left turn, dumbAss!

2010-12-07T06:48:00.005+08:00

New Orleans road systems are weird. This is the land of no left turns. The roads here do not have extra space for left turning vehicles. Once you hit Orleans Parish traveling downriver on Tulane Ave, the only way to make a U-turn is to take a right at the next intersection, make a U-turn on riverside of that street, drive back towards Tulane Ave and then finally take a left heading upriver. However, most streets won't allow you to take a left turn, so that forces you to drive past Tulane Ave again and make a U turn on the lakeside, head back to Tulane and finally, finally... take a right and you will be heading upriver again.

The roads here hardly have designated left turn lanes. For intersection that allows left turn, you will find yourself stuck in the supposedly fast lane behind a line of cars with flashing right turn signal desperately trying to get out of the standstill. Yes, we have horrible transport engineers.

I wonder if the transport/civil engineers were trying to play a joke on the drivers when they came up with counter intuitive highway exits. I am referring to the Carrollton Ave exit on I-10. You have to stay left to make sure you get onto the lane that will eventually veer you to the right. That's coming from west, and vice versa, heading west on 10, in order to exit towards riverside (left on Carrollton), you have to keep right!

This had even tricked a veteran taxi driver who was blabbing away when driving me home from the airport. He stayed on the right lane, instead of getting on to Carrollton, we zoomed past Xavier and that's when he 'oopsed'.

"No worries young man, we are going sight-seeing!" So he took the next right, which brought us onto Jefferson Davis, straight onto Vendome Pl and finally a right onto Fountainbleau. Indeed it was a sight seeing route - plenty of beautiful houses with magnificent lawn and overhanging oak tree branches. I always bike to Mid-City using this route.

"I was born and raised here, never in my life that I 'MADE' groceries. I make money, but not groceries." A grin flashed on his cheerful face. Mr. Batiste, who hails from Gretna, West Bank, is not related to Uncle Lionel or any of the Batiste musicians. He is just an honest taxi driver who believes in hard work. He despises the parasites who tarnished the name of New Orleans.

"...just because of a few bad apples. That's why I always advise the tourists, if something ain't right, turn around and walk away. All you need is one mistake. That'll kill ya!"

As we pondered on that conversation, he took a left turn onto Broadway. After a few blocks, passing some houses with huge Tulane/Loyola flags overhanging from the balconies (even Auburn and LSU Tigers, one is Mike, one is Aubie, one is real, one is just a person wearing thick padded tiger costume), we arrived at St Charles heading upriver and finally took a left on my street towards the levee.

Once I was stuck behind a car that was trying to make an illegal left turn, I got mad and realized NOLA could stand for something else.

"NO Left turn, dumbAss!" Kinda...

Take this Kenny Sia!

2010-12-03T13:45:00.003+08:00

I think I just can't get it to make sense how people can make money out of blogging about their lives... Or maybe I'm just jealous... Hehehe.

Who dat said who dat? Who dat!

2010-02-27T16:40:00.002+08:00

I am still in disbelief that the Saints won the Superbowl...

Mum was in town visiting for the first time. "Siao ah, yelling like that!"

She was right, you'll be walking down the street, and someone will pop out behind ya and who dat you.

You'll be taking a shit and your neighbor will shock the shit out of you literally by who dat-ing you.

whodat's whodat is such a whodat. Last Sunday, whodat whodats whodat causing whodat to whodat. Now whodat's still whodat-ing, most likely until Superbowl Sunday. WHO DAT! -Liaw on whodat fever, that's what you get living in NOLA

You got some big shoes to fill son, who dat!

It's not Outdoor Channel if it only shows hunting bucks......

2009-10-31T14:56:00.006+08:00

I was fooled by the name of the channel. All afternoon it was showing how different people shoot different bucks, either with a bow or with a gun. Boring. The rig crew enjoyed it though. That's the life of a redneck/coon ass, drinking beer, shooting ducks/bucks, and fishing, period.

Funny things I heard over the PA system of the rig:

"Pick up, pork chop, pork chop in the galley." - yeah, he's known as pork chop, I don't know his real name. Galley is the place where we eat, the "cafeteria" of a rig.

"How 'bout cha, freak, freak, line 2!" - His name is Frank, the crane operator.

"Talk to me, desperado, desperado on 1!" - Again another nickname, his last name is Silverado, which I think is another nickname of his real last name. Nickname of another nickname, pretty cool aye.

Those are the conventions of asking people to pick up the phone.

You should never use this, or you'll be called fag, or get kicked out of the rig.

"Could anyone have Mr. Pork Chop to call the driller on line 1?"

One time I heard a guy with no teeth trying to reach the crane operator. He shouted, "How 'bout cha, cwane opewator, cwane opewator on line thwee!" LMAO.

The sea was really rough this evening, so the driller announced, "Come on lil' indians, lil' indians to the rig floor." - Those indians are his crew (roughnecks).

That's what I call rig entertainment...

Home

2009-02-10T10:31:00.002+08:00

I was home recently, just in time for Chinese New Year. As usual, my dad, mum and brother picked me up from Changi. We stopped by Ah-Koon’s for its famous thick, traditionally brewed coffee, and “charcoal” toasted bread (a culinary art lost with the creation of technologically advanced toasters), topped with butter and kaya, “Those taste and smell…” I thought to myself, I was home.

One could always notice the difference between the 2 countries by crossing the causeway into Malaysia – organized and clean on the Island, not-so organized and not-so clean on the Peninsular. Yet both countries are identical twins born from the British Empire. I loved the drive that day. In the 2-hour drive home, we passed by endless oil palm plantations, roadside fruit/food vendors, shop houses with moldy walls, new housing projects, more housing projects and endless housing projects. After an hour and a half, I pulled the car into the lush green street where I grew up, only to be startled by a bolting bike out of nowhere on my left. “干你老母臭鸡白, overtaking from the left even with my left turn signal on!” I cussed viciously in Hokkien. Unmistakably, I was home.

As I was mesmerizing in my steamy afternoon nap on the refreshingly cool marble floor after a lovely home cooked lunch, from a distance I heard, “Old newspaper! 收旧报纸! Beli surat khabar lama!” (Repeated twice – Mandarin, Hokkien or Cantonese depending on the region)
The way it was announced was like a rap song, Malaysian-Chinese style. Even though those 3 languages do not rhyme, but the announcer made it rhyme by making 4 distinct syllable: Ol-news-pa-per! 收-旧-报-纸-! Blee-Srat-Khbar-Lma! If you know how to read music, the tune can be actually written in E-E-E-E, C-B-D-D, E—E—E—E—E—. Notice how the last part was dragged out a little bit more to accomodate two syllables of each word into one, uncle newspaper Copyrighted, ‘S’ and ‘E’ sign across the skinny yellow chest, blackened dentures like grills filling the wide friendly smile, South-East side ma Chingga!

“Sern! Come help me bring these old papers to the uncle newspaper,” yelled mum from the kitchen as she too heard the old-newspaper-collector lorry.
“Ask him if he wants any glass bottle and cardboard as well.”
In the era of global warming and being Green, Malaysians are doing their part in recycling, Malaysian style. 1 kilogram of newspaper would fetch around RM0.10 (it peaked out at RM0.50 at one point when I was 10 years old due to excessive demand). I had no clue about the shrinking supply and growing demand 16 years ago, but it was a knowledgeable way of explaining the price hike based on Econ 101, wasn’t it? That was when I heard stories of how some people were caught cutting a slot in the newspaper stack to place a brick. Obviously, uncle newspaper was not going to be fooled; even a 4 year old would smell a brick in the 20 kilogram stack that was 1 meter high. The incident only blacklisted my neighbor and all he could do with the newspapers was using them to clean windows and glasses, or sometimes his pyromaniac son would then invite us for an impromptu bon-fire burning bunga tahi ayam and grilling grasshoppers…
“You thought uncle is a karang guni, ah? No bottles, no cardboards, only old newspapers! I may consider taking your old books.” said uncle newspaper impatiently.

I tried my best not to fall asleep during the day so that I could adjust my body clock to Malaysian time. So I accompanied my parents for grocery shopping. As we were driving around town, I realized this sleepy little town has grown from a fishing village to a booming district with small businesses everywhere. The business district built on the reclaimed land by the sea was almost fully occupied, with another piece of land where new development was still in progress. Mamak and Chinese eateries were only within each other’s arms reach. That shows how much we love to eat, anytime, anywhere. Every morning I would stroll down to Jalan Parit Mesjid, the main street where my favorite road side kuih stall was. The stall was a simple set-up – a car parked by the road under a tree, with the trunk open, and a small table set up right by the open trunk where all the food was. The makcik sold an assortment of kuih-muih, including my favorite rempah udang and roti sambal!
“Adik, I see you every morning nowadays, you love makcik’s kuih-muih, don’t you?” she said in Malay.
That morning (almost every morning), I had roti canai, mee siam with rempah telur, rempah udang, roti sambal, and a cup of Nescafe, kurang manis. Definitely, I was home.

Chinese New Year (CNY) is always fun and food filled. 15 days of celebration, lion dances, fire crackers, tangerines, the color red, and loathsome traditional CNY songs that the radio stations overplayed like Christmas carols, have never failed to excite the little ones, as well as the grown-ups, even generations after Chinese have migrated to the Malay land. We even hyped up our fellow Malays and Indians to embrace the tradition. The first two days of CNY are public holidays while schools get a week off. Friends and families gather for the joyous occasion, feasting and gambling, visiting and catching up, giving and receiving ang pow. This year I did not see any White Rabbit Creamy Candy, my all-time favorite candy, due to the melamine scandal in China. Both my aunts were back from England, my uncle flew home from Australia, and I traveled across continents to the other side of the globe to spend short but wonderful time with my family.
“Time to eat!” announced grandma, breaking the lively exchanges among us. Sitting around the table, feasting while sweat filled my forehead, listening to gossips and updates, I was home and I would be home again, soon.

Day 4: Yeliu + Danshui + Shilin + 101 + Zhongxiao East Rd

2008-12-31T01:00:00.004+08:00

Day 4 was crazy... spent a lot of time travelling on bus and also walked a lot. It rained since last night. So the weather was cold.

By the time we reached Yeliu, it was still raining. And the wind was as strong as you could imagine. Armed with a poncho, we explored the Yeliu coast and the famous rock formations there.

We then headed to Danshui, which took us another 2 hours to reach. By the time we got there, it was already dark and it was so cold! The strong gust of wind did not help. The Fishermen's Wharf was our first stop in Danshui. Took some pictures there before heading to the Old Street, where I bought the famous Iron Eggs.

On the way back to Taipei city, I dropped by Shilin Night Market again and did some shopping there.

After Shilin, we went to Taipei 101 and guess who I saw? I saw LanBo and Damu. Probably not many people know them. They are actually the top dancers in the country and teachers to many artistes.

Lastly, we went to Zhongxiao East Road to find out where Luxy is. Didn't go in, but from outside, it doesn't look too fancy.

Day 3: Hualien + Taroko Gorge + QiXingTan

2008-12-30T01:36:00.005+08:00

Despite sleeping late last night, chatting with a Hongkie traveller, we woke up at 6.30 a.m. to catch the morning train to Hualien.

From there, we planned to rent a scooter to ride up to Taroko Gorge. Unfortunately, I don't have an IDP and they don't accept my Malaysian driving license. So, we booked a taxi instead (NT$1800 for the whole day). The friendly Ahyi brought us around for the rest of the day.

Later in the evening, we claimed our backpacks from the locker at Taipei Main Station and checked into a new hostel. Day 3 hasn't really ended yet. We then went to Le Huo Night Market and had our super huge portion "Lu Wei" for dinner, and it was already 1a.m.~

Day 2: Ximending

2008-12-28T23:18:00.000+08:00

阿宗面线@西门丁

Day 2 In Taiwan

2008-12-28T11:01:00.001+08:00

Day 2 begins with a hearty breakfast...

Jiufen, here I come!

Day 1: Taipei

2008-12-27T14:56:00.001+08:00

After hours of flight in the super small cabin, we've finally reached
Taipei.

According to our itenerary, we'll be visiting the Shihlin Night Market
this evening. And later at night, we'll be partying at the hottest
club in town - Luxy!

*Update: Desmond fell sick on the very first day, so the party was called off =(

The Journey Begins

2008-12-27T11:51:00.000+08:00

1 More Day...

2008-12-26T10:06:00.000+08:00

This is no good...

10 More Days...

2008-12-17T12:39:00.003+08:00

Counting Down

2008-12-15T17:05:00.001+08:00

12 more days...

Lee Guitars All-Star Concert 2008

2008-11-30T20:09:00.016+08:00

I attended a concert yesterday. It was great I would say, seeing so many composers cum singers performing on the same stage. The big names include 李宗盛，周华健，张震岳，蔡健雅，陈绮贞 & 五月天.

The Stage Setup

张震岳，李宗盛 & 周华健

陈绮贞~!! She's so lovely~~

It wasn't a concert that makes you get high and shake your bon bon. It wasn't meant to be like that, since the emphasis was Lee Guitars! I was expecting an unplugged, acoustic kind of concert and it did not disappoint me. On top of that, May Day added a little touch of band power and rocked the stadium.

The opening act came from 李宗盛 and 周华健. Songs like <爱的代价> and <明天我要嫁给你啦> brought back all the memories from "those olden days". And how could Chou not performing his trademark <花心>~ It was nicely rearranged into a slower mood. With the help on on-screen lyrics, he had no excuse forgetting his lyrics anymore.

Up next, another singer raised from the stage, strumming his guitar.

"Hai hai hai o hai hai o wuey ha hai..."

It was 张震岳 starting off his performance with <小星星> from his latest album. He also sang another of my favourite songs from the new album, <路口>.

After that, 李宗盛 & 周华健 came back on to the stage and performed <我是一只小小鸟> and <爱的出体验> together with 阿岳. This time round, you could hear the weakness in 阿岳's voice. His key "flew off" pretty badly. Maybe he was feeling too high...

Then came the local sweetheart, Tanya Chua. Not a big fan of her, but I think that her songs are quite nice. Few songs that she performed were <纪念>, and <越来越不懂>. And lastly, followed by <达尔文>.

During the interval, a guitarist performed a solo piece. I couldn't figure out the melody at first. When I finally realized it was May Day's <离开地球表面>，I went "OooooooOOh~~!!". You should really watch this video of the performance. I am really impressed.

Then came a petite girl on stage. It was 陈绮贞~! This is probably the part which I enjoyed the most. I always listened to her songs during my Uni days, probably influenced by someone. I know someone who simply can't tahan her voice. But personally, I like her soothing voice. Her songs are simple and have a distinct style. She also performend another lovely duet <生命中的精灵> with 李宗盛,but I didn't manage to record it. Here are videos of her performing [After 17]and <旅行的意义>.

And next, the very much anticipated May Day came on to perform. They really rock~ Without them, I guess the whole concert would be pretty dull. My battery went dead as soon as they performed their first song of the night <离开地球表面>. What a bad timing... I still managed to take few more chunks of videos before it went totally dead.

Just as I thought that the concert was going to end soon, 李宗盛 came back to the stage and began a series of shiok sendiri performance. Maybe it was only me, I thought this part of the concert wasn't really entertaining. I know he is well-respected among the musicians, but I guess he doesn't seem to fit into the mainstream that well anymore. His half-singing, half-conversation style of songs is already a thing of the past (probably this was the IN thing in the 80s, I don't know).

The concert ended with a group performance by all the singers. Overall, I would say that it's a great concert. How often do you get to see so many great composers performing together on the same stage. The 3+ hours of live music was certainly great experience.

Halloween weekend

2008-11-07T09:53:00.004+08:00

I was Mowgli from Jungle Book, with King Louis hanging on my waist and Khan trying to strangle me on my neck. I was looking for Baloo but bumped into Alice in the wonderland.

80's boombox, iPod style.

Insha'allah, we will meet again...

2008-10-29T12:24:00.005+08:00

She asked me to take a picture of her and her friends, I couldn't help but leaned in and kissed her. There you go Rose, you etched something in my memory.

Conga

2008-10-20T13:10:00.002+08:00

One of these days I'll have these drums in my living room...

お久しぶりですね～ Lama tak jumpa~

2008-09-24T21:51:00.003+08:00

It has been a while since I last updated this blog, and things have changed quite a lot...

I found a new job...

I moved to a new place...

I go home more often...

I have been travelling quite a bit between KL and SG and PTN...

I no longer drive my "sports car" to get around...
Instead, I travel by "limousine" and probably with different chauffeurs behind the wheel everyday... and my "limousine" is of course, either a SMRT or SBS...

I got my gym routine messed up...

I have got a new baby and her name is Alpha...

I started Facebook-ing...

I caught up with old friends and hang out with them...

I forgo my weekly pool session...

I began to miss my teh tarik...

I... think I should blog about something interesting in my next post~

ahhh summer......

2008-07-31T11:49:00.002+08:00

Summer time means beach.

Summer time is good.

再见

2008-06-22T23:40:00.001+08:00

作曲：张震岳作词：张震岳编曲：张震岳

我怕我没有机会
跟你说一声再见
因为也许就再也见不到你

明天我要离开
熟悉的地方和你
要分离我眼泪就掉下去

我会牢牢记住你的脸
我会珍惜你给的思念
这些日子在我心中
永远都不会抹去
我不能答应你
我是否会再回来
不回头不回头的走下去

I'm a Surgeon

2008-05-29T18:49:00.011+08:00

A University buddy of mine has been in coma for about three years... I promised to save him some day, but I did not have a chance to do so. I had found him the replacement organs that he needed long time ago, but the transplant was postponed again and again.

Time time, I am determined to save him!

By hook or by crook, I must bring my buddy back alive

Here's my buddy who has accompanied me through ups and downs during my college days...

He was diagnosed with acute neurocritical fever, which symptoms are constant high fever and intermitant freezed brain activity. This might lead to permanent brain damage if not treated immediately.

The "Brain"

The remedy is to do a transplant. Bear in mind that this going to be a major surgery. Should anything goes wrong, I will lose my buddy forever... well, maybe not. I will play the role of a surgeon today to ressurect my buddy.

The first step is to dismantle everything and clean each of the "organs" to avoid any infections in the future.

These are the new "organs"...

All I have to do now is to put everything back to its place. This thing is like a 3D jigsaw puzzle!

Tadaa! The transplant has been a successful one. A reboot shows that the pulse is back to normal. Now, we require a neurosurgeon to bring all the memories back! The next treatment required is called "Windows XP setup"!

To be continued...

2008-04-23T12:40:00.000+08:00

I'm from Malaysia, but I live in the USA.I love M&M's, listen to an ipod and try to avoid potato chips. I haven't been to Iowa though.

Culture Syiok 2

2008-04-19T22:53:00.004+08:00

Where on earth can you find another signboard like this?

Well, this is Malaysia - Malaysia Boleh!

Culture Syiok...

2008-04-13T19:41:00.002+08:00

Hawker centre is where we practise our language skills...

Thai worker: yam mek soi? (what drinks do you want?)
Me: liong fan tak mau ice (cincau without ice, Cantonese+Malay+English? fuyoh...)

2 minutes later...

Me: gei do? (how much?)
Thai worker: satu tiga (one thirty)

That's KL...

P/S: I don't speak Cantonese... -_-

The Road Taken

2008-04-02T22:26:00.002+08:00

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I -
I took the one less travelled by...

April Fool's Day... What a day to quit your job~

The Road Not Taken

2008-03-30T01:40:00.001+08:00

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Selamat Datang!

2008-03-09T21:49:00.004+08:00

Disclaimer: This is a partially-fictional post and it is meant for entertainment purpose only. This should not be treated as a source of news.

WANTED

March 9, Simpli City - It has been more than a week since Mas Selamat escaped from the Internal Security Department's Whitley Road Detention Centre in Singapore, where he was detained. The JI leader is still at large and Wanted posters of Mas Selamat were put up in shopping centers, bus, train stations and even schools islandwide to appeal for the public to inform Police should they spot him, and leaflets given out by volunteers to members of the Public. All telcos in Singapore sent out free Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) messages on 1 March 2008 to all 5.5 million subscribers with Mas Selamat's photograph, as well as email messages to SingNet Internet users. Lockdowns at border and immigration checkpoints have also resulted in much longer queues for people leaving Singapore.

There were conflicting reports on the whereabouts of Mas Selamat. While Singaporean police believe that he remains in Singapore, there are various speculations that he could be in either Malaysia or Indonesia.

Selamat escaped to Bali?

Or could he be in Melaka?

Based the sightings of "Selamat Datang" signboard all over Malaysia and Indonesia, he could have several bases in the region. If you come across with such signboards, please stay calm as these signboards usually pair with a "Selamat Tinggal" signboard. ^_^

A Day @ Work

2008-03-05T13:52:00.000+08:00

Network connection was down since yesterday. No work could be done. Have been shaking legs for the entire morning...

And now I am blogging on my cellphone. What a day...

KemBali Ke Bali Part 1

2008-01-23T13:04:00.000+08:00

This is the chronicle of the long-awaited Bali trip...

DAY 1

When we touched down in Denpasar, it was drizzling.

"Oh gosh, I must have chosen the wrong date to be here", I thought.

What more can I say, we were told that it had been raining non-stop for the past one week. Non-stop! From the surroundings, I could see the afteraffect of the non-stop rain and strong wind. Fallen tree branches, flooded roads... What a great way to begin my trip!

This is Jimbaran that I imagined...

This is Jimbaran, where we had our dinner. I couldn't even take a picture outside. It was raining heavily and the wind was so strong. The waves looked as if another tsunami is going to happen.

[>>] Fast Forward...

DAY 2

It rained before I went to bed on the previous night. On the second day, the weather was still gloomy...

Look at the sea. It's supposed to be clear blue colour!
But the river overflowed and brought all the dirty stuffs into the sea... What a pity.

Paddy field on the way to Tanah Lot. See the white clothes? They work just like scarecrows.

The Liaws @ Tanah Lot

A Bali trip is never complete, without a visit to a Balinese spa.

A spa session is never complete, without floral bath

Warm ginger tea served after the whole routine

Miraculously, the weather had a big turnaround after we came out from the spa. It's a relief for us as the weather became shiny again.

Mum & Dad take a horse cart back to the hotel

Vin & I decided to have a walk in Kuta

Not forgetting to grab a bottle of Bintang

The bottle says "Absolut Vodka", but the rack says "PETROL"

~~Sunset @ Kuta beach~~

The aftermath

Sunset

~~Dinner~~

Nasi Campur

Nasi Goreng Spesial

~End of Day 2~

Holiday Season - Thanksgiving + Baker Hughes Holiday Ball

2007-12-05T10:53:00.001+08:00

Simply Clever

2007-11-19T23:25:00.000+08:00

Have you seen this advertisement by Petronas? It's about two mamak restaurants. One is named Sri Raju and the one next to it is called Sri Raaju. Two competitors side by side, and guess who won the competition? Watch this video!

Sri Raju won because of a witty idea. They simply placed an "Entrance" signboard in front of the restaurant, and unwary customers would think that it is the entrance to a single restaurant. So pandai, right?

One real life example that I could think of is credit card. I'm sure you would have seen the following logos when you do your shopping. Which card will you use? I guess many would have swiped their MasterCard, simply because it says "We Prefer MasterCard". It's the same concept as Sri Raju's. The merchants don't really prefer MasterCard, it's the logo that says so. Clever, isn't it?

Missing In Action

2007-11-19T22:32:00.000+08:00

Hi guys, long time! Yeah, I have been missing in action for almost two months. Have been lazing around... Not really. Part of the reason why there has been no updates is because I am lazy to fire up my Photoshop and edit my pix (I feel that my notebook is getting slower...). So I have decided to write a post without any pix this time.

Let me recall what I had done during these days... I celebrated Mid-Autumn festival, attended Yee Chia's wedding, brought Yeejin and Lawrence to Kukup, upgraded my gym membership, got my car repaired, executed my still-in-progress Project X and recently bought tons of books at a warehouse sale.

Talking about wedding, another friend/ex-collegemate/ex-colleague, Lu Huey, is getting married! Received her invitation last month... 3 invitations in a row, it just broke the Victor Book of Records (it broke my wallet too). And not to mention, KY a.k.a. limbeckham is engaged and set to tie the knot in 2009! Seems like I need to start accumulating my 1sen coins and get them changed into paper notes now. Else your angpows would weight about 1kg?

One month to go before I go on vacation. I'm excited. Are you?

AFS Picnic and Halloween party

2007-11-01T01:31:00.000+08:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

It was a beautiful Saturday. Sunny and low humidity with temperature of mid 70s. AFS had a picnic at the wonderful Pecan Park in New Territory and we were playing soccer and practising the lasso.

Lasso - I bet you've seen this and it's not as easy as it looks

Then later that night, one of the host families hosted a halloween party. The whole house was decorated in a very detailed manner. I was very impressed. My costume was dirt cheap. I grabbed a couple of wires and wrapped them in electrical tape, and tadaaa~ I was a Muay Thai fighter with a blue, white and yellow wai.

And I just got myself a digital camera last night. It's a Canon Powershot SD1000 for $190 plus tax. I think it was a good deal.

Tonight's the real halloween. I bought some candies for the trick-or-treaters just to realize that I won't be at home tonight. We're having a lil' halloween party following the salsa class tonight.

Puerto Rican Festival & Football Game

2007-09-28T01:57:00.000+08:00

My camera broke. After 4 years of service, she retired with a failed shutter. So I have been using my blackberry to take pictures. I'm actually quite impressed by the picture quality - not the best but at least it's not grainy.

Last weekend the Colts were in town, so me and my Indy buddies went to the game. Texans have been playing good but they are no match to the superbowl champions. (Colts won 30 - 24) It was a great game. Here are some pictures:

Reliant Stadium

There was a Puerto Rican festival downtown on Saturday. Live bands were playing salsa/merengue and dancers were performing on stage. They had a DJ churning out salsa, chacha and merengue hits. Since it's Puerto Rican, there were Reggaeton performers and music too. Food wasn't as good, there were only two food stalls for this event, which was a surprise.

The Boricuas are proud of their flag

The stage

Downtown skyscrapers

Saisaki

2007-09-23T20:50:00.000+08:00

After working out today, I had my breakfast/lunch/dinner at Saisaki. Why breakfast/lunch/dinner? Coz it's 9pm now and I am still not feeling hungry after that meal.

Low fat, high protein... A dietry that suits me~ Wakaka. Can't wait to pay a visit to Jogoya next month~

Skinless

2007-09-22T20:39:00.000+08:00

Argh... God knows what happened to this blog for the past few weeks. It somehow became SKINLESS!!! Seems like the free template that I previously used had been removed from its source server.

So from now onwards, this blog is gonna have a brand new look. I don't really like this new layout, coz it's too "slim". Well, I'll use it for time being till I found a better blog skin.

~THE END~

*Updates*
I've editted the skin and made the content column bigger~ :)

Pictures from Blackberry

2007-09-03T01:24:00.000+08:00

Here are some pictures taken from my BB Pearl.

The pool on the top floor (15th) of the Condo beside my apartment, with full view of downtown Houston

Caveman hairstyle

Intern Steffen laying in the sun

Intern Anastasiya chilling out on the couch

AFS arrival - Italians goofing around

Did I mention it's hot here in Houston? 104 F = 40 C

Galveston - East Beach at dusk

The window view of my room

My GTI is like a minivan - see the rolled up queen size mattress? fits just fine with the seats folded. Awesomeness.

August Update

2007-09-02T07:18:00.000+08:00

Early August after moving into the new apartment, I invited co-workers and friends to chill out at my apartment.

And of course, August is when the new batch of AFS kids coming in. Houston is the gateway for southern states and the airport runs were crazy. The week after the arrival, central Houston area team had a pool party.

Labor Day marks the end of summer but it's still hot in Houston...

DC trip - July 4th

2007-08-31T07:33:00.000+08:00

On the July 4th week, I visited K in Washington DC. The firework display was so far the best that I've seen since Japan's summer hanabi.

Memorial Day weekend - Austin, San Antonio trip

2007-08-30T08:46:00.000+08:00

It's been a long time, but I'd like to show some pictures from the Austin + San Antonio trip during the Memorial Day weekend 3 months ago.

Austin - very unique, very hippy. The capital of live music.

Indeed that's the definition of Austin. Keep Austin weird, that's what the locals say. It is the home of one of the most prestigious public institution in the US, University of Texas, the Longhorns.

Sixth Street - The bar and live music street

Eating the cuban "goreng pisang"

Chilling out on the street

University of Texas

The next day we drove to San Antonio...

Smee on the phone

On the phone again

still on the phone...

one hour later...

still on the phone...

The Alamo

River walk

Cantina along the canal

5 hours later, Smee finally got off the phone.

"Congraduations~!"

2007-08-29T22:07:00.000+08:00

This evening, I rushed to this place right after work...

. . . and saw a BIG crowd

People around were armed with cameras, just like me~

But some were just . . . DIFFERENT~!!!

. . . and I decided to stand (+ doing peace sign) behind
a group of unknown graduates who were taking group photos

(nah... didn't really do that, the idea just flashed over)

And finally, I found the one whom I came for . . .

Happy Graduation~!!!

Random Post

2007-08-18T15:19:00.000+08:00

~iDoll~

Tagged yet again... Someone even has the courtesy of posting a tutorial on how to iDollize ourselves. Here you go, my iDollized pics...

Actually, it doesn't have to be that troublesome to edit the photos using Photoshop, yet I can still get whatever funny faces I want. How? I downloaded this software called FaceWarp on my phone and voila~! Select the warp mode and snap, snap, snap. As easy as it is... phew.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Wedding~

Last week, I received two wedding invitations: one from my colleague and another from a hometown friend. Wow... everyone is getting married. I can't imagine myself getting married at this age... Hmm...

This is gonna be the first Malay wedding that I attend as a friend of the Raja Sehari

With the advancement of technology, wedding invitations turn electronic~
Hehe, great move to save the trees

.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.

~Gadgets~

Went to PC Fair few weeks back. Got myself a portable harddisk, a bluetooth adapter and a flash drive for Vin. The harddisk looks cool eh~~ not the usual paliar case, you know! Oh no you don't, don't ever think that I will lend it to you coz that will be used to backup my important files.

P/S: Vin, I'll send you the flash drive when I'm free

He adds the ads

2007-08-06T20:41:00.000+08:00

I just joined Nuffnang, a blog advertising community. So from now on, you will see a banner placed somewhere at the first post. Do support, if you find anything interesting~! Heehee...

Playing Host

2007-07-25T21:20:00.000+08:00

I have visitors~! They are none other than mum & dad.

Lots of pictures coming up next... Stories cut short, enjoy the pics!

~DAY 1~

Lunch @ Shogun

They tried out the massage chairs while I was filling in some contest forms.
It was so "SONG" that they decided to buy one on the spot~

With all the hoohah going around, we decided to pay a visit to the Eye on Malaysia

More pics...

...and more

The view up there wasn't that spectacular...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~DAY 2~

We kickstarted the second day with a dimsum brunch in Sri Petaling, before we headed to Berjaya Hills.

We were greeted by the acrobatic group as soon as we arrived at Colmar Tropicale

Nice scenery, nice breeze...

Suddenly, I felt as if I was in a foreign land

We took the bus provided by Berjaya, and got stuck at the rabbit farm for one freaking hour!

There's nothing much to do other than enjoying the fresh air.
Now I know the real meaning of "makan angin"...

Back to Colmar Tropicale, the French themed village

Nice architecture

Next, we arrived at the Japanese village

I like the "Zen" feel of this pic

A typical Japanese garden - plays around with the beauty of asymmetrical arrangements

Koi

There were too many steps to get to the Botanical Garden. Dad couldn't take it, so we just snapped a photo at the entrance and left.
We have those flowers at our home garden anyway~ Bougainvillea, Bonsai, you name it...

That's it for the Berjaya Hills trip

Mum & Dad, I had a wonderful weekend. Hope to spend more time with you~
Take care~!

Hair-lee-loo-yah

2007-07-14T21:20:00.000+08:00

A cheese-obsessed creature has tagged me... Therefore, I had to search through my database of photos to get you 8 different pictures of my different hairstyles.

Talking about hairstyles, it reminds me of a story. During secondary school days, I used to have long hair (not as long as you think, but considered long for guys lah, will kena tangkap during spot checks one). The same hairstyle accompanied me for years and someone actually challenged me to cut it short. Believing that I would not bear to cut my long hair, he had a bet with me - I would get RM50, if I had a haircut shorter than his. On the very next day, my hair became less than 1 inch long. Wahaha~~ Soon after that, Beckham went bald... He copied me...

Nah, the 8 pics as promised...

1. Current hairstyle

2. Long hair - Yes, I used to have long hair during uni days. Err... Looking at it now, I think it was kinda ugly...

3. Short hair - Yep, and suddenly it turned short and shocked a lot of gals~ Wahaha

4. Half long, half short - Black

5. Long - Ah Beng-ish Gold

.

How far can a guy's hairstyle go? Even David Beckham runs out of idea~!

.

6. Fantasy - Cloud's

.

.

.

Did Cheesie say the crazier the better?

.

.

.

7. Bald - Something I have never tried...

.

.

.

and... how about this~!

.

.

.

8. What do you call this? 地中海...

Tadaa... that's all folks~!

Trivia:
1. I first dyed my hair in Form 1, and never got caught. Coz I had a "good boy" face. Wahaha...
2. Got caught once for my long hair, during secondary school. And had a free hair cut by the official hairstylist - guru displin.
3. My mum was my hairstylist during primary school

Phew... Why so suey kena tagged? I wanna take revenge! I'll tag someone back at her blog. Watch out, Cheddie's mummy!

Unplugged

2007-07-11T20:41:00.000+08:00

Dogs barking...

Doors banging...

Crickets' stridulating...

Mosquitoes buzzing around...

Neighbours flushing the toilet...

Aeroplanes preparing to land at KLIA...

Those were the sounds I heard before I went to bed two days ago. Everything sounded so clearly like THX surround sound, because there was a blackout for the second consecutive night~! No fans, no music, no TVs... it was so quiet that I could even hear my stomach growling at 120 decibles. WTF... Needless to say, I sweated as if I was in Sauna for the whole night... The worst part? The "Sauna" is filled with little blood-sucking flying creatures called mosquitoes!

Earlier that night, I went to Jusco to get some batteries for my torchlight. While queing up at the cashier, this little girl was asking her mum lots of questions. The conversation goes like this:

Girl: Mummy, what is this? [Pointing to the shelve next to the cashier innocently]
Mum: ......
Girl: What is it?
Mum: I don't know lah.
Girl: Are those candies?
Mum: Diam diam, I don't know lah. Don't ask me! I've never seen those.
Girl: Can I take it? [Preparing to take a packet of "candy"...]
Mum: Kenot lah! Don't take it, those are medicines. Don't simply touch ah.
... ... ...
Mum: Don't take ah. Else I hit you ah.
Girl: Why?!

Apparently, the "candy" that the little girl wanted so much looks like this...

Discover the Southernmost Tip of Mainland Asia

2007-07-08T12:35:00.000+08:00

Since I left my hometown of Pontian to pursue my dreams, I hardly have any quality time with my family, except during my short breaks.

It was May Day, and it was a long weekend. I took a week off from work to spend time at home, before my Tioman trip. It has been a long time since I stayed at home for more than 3 days, yet I still call it my home, and it will still be my home in the future.

An interesting fact about my hometown, Pontian, is that it's the southernmost district of mainland Asia. Sounds pretty cool eh? Despite that, it is a small peaceful town, occasionally flocked by large number of Singaporeans. It's located by the sea (to be exact, the Straits of Malacca), ~~so a lot of Indonesians swim over illegally~~ which may explain why I love beaches so much.

In recent years, the government has developed the southern part of Pontian into a national park. Tanjung Piai is now classified as Taman Negara. Located not far away from the fishing village, Kukup, Tanjung Piai is actually one of the largest (or is it the largest) mangrove forests in the world.

In the gloomy afternoon of May Day, we've decided to pay a visit to the Taman Negara...

Before we reached the southernmost tip, we had to walk through the trail in the mangrove forest. Nature lovers would love this place. It houses one of the largest mangrove habitats in the world, is also the home to many different species of birds , beady-eyed mudskippers, multi-coloured mangrove crabs, and crab-eating macaques. Also found here is the tree-climbing and scavenging macaque monkeys.

Obviously, Livepool FC fans were here too...

To all city folks, this is how a mangrove swamp looks like.

A distinctive feature of a mangrove tree is its STILT ROOTS

The name, stilt root, is pretty self-explanatory. They are used to build stilts like this...

After about 20 minutes walk from the visitor complex, we'd finally reached the Southernmost Tip of Mainland Asia.

I came, I saw, I ~~cheesed~~ conquered... This is the point where people described it as Tian Ya Hai Jiao 天涯海角 (the edge of the sky and sea). This is also the southern gateway of the Straits of Malacca. It's where you can see Singapore and Indonesia from just across the sea.

In the background is Pulau Karimun of Indonesia, where the infamous Tg Balai is located

And this is Jurong, Singapore. It's so near that I think I can swim over.

I have conquered this little piece of land, have you?

Bored...

2007-06-27T20:30:00.000+08:00

Why did I run out of topic to blog about...?

Because I have been busy with work?

Because I have too many things to worry about?

Because I have other priorities?

Or is it because my life is getting dull?

I think I need a change in lifestyle...

Zoolanders

2007-06-07T23:45:00.000+08:00

Yeejin was in town two weeks back. Went karaoke-ing in the afternoon, then we realized that we didn't have a plan for the rest of the day...

So what to do?

Shopping? Sien...
Bowling? Sien...
Pool? Sien...

Where do young people go nowadays? Shopping malls? And more shopping malls?

Let's recall what we, the 80s babyboomers, always wrote in our essays during primary school days...

"A trip to Port Dickson/Singapore/Kuala Lumpur/Science Centre/Planetarium/National Museum/Zoo Negara"

Yes~ Zoo Negara!! A place that we, kids in Johor, wrote in our primary school essays, but have never set our foot on. Err... maybe I did, but it was zoo negara for our neighbour down south.

Out of the blue, we came to a unanimous decision to visit the national zoo~! What an unexpected place to go during weekend...

As expected, the zoo was very sien indeed. Yeejin nearly slept during the animal show, so do I. Nothing much to comment about lah. Maybe I am too old for a trip to a zoo liao...

Here are some couples captured on ~~film~~ SD card...

Lovely, aren't they?

Summer Holiday~~ Tioman~!

2007-05-27T19:20:00.000+08:00

Okay... it's summer all year round here in Bolehland. But April-May is the best period to visit islands in the east coast. This trip to Tioman has been planned long time back. After struggling with choices of Redang, Perhentian, Lang Tengah, Kapas, Sibu, Rawang and Tioman, we had decided to pick Tioman as our destination, as all of us has not been there before + it is nearer for all of us + it's a duty free island.

[From left: Vic, HengMeng, Gary*, Desmond Koh, Lawrence]
Guess what?! After taking this pic, we waited for an hour or so, before the ferry departed.

Panuba Inn Resort: Good from far, but far from good

The ferry took about 2 and a half hours before it reached Panuba Inn Resort. By the time we arrived at the beach, it was already late in the afternoon. Immediately after we checked in, we had our lunch at the restaurant. Since we booked the package which includes meals, we can order whatever we want from the menu (YES! and as much as you can eat~!). Sounds too good to be true? Not really, you'll know as you read on.

Let me recall... we ordered spaghetti, mushroom soup, chicken chop and fish & chips. Set fish & chips aside, it sounds like seafood is missing from the list. Yes, indeed. Coz western food was the most expensive food on the menu. OK, we did order some sotong n prawns in spicy sauce.

Sounds good huh?! But you are wrong. Sibeh wrong!! The meatball that comes with the spaghetti was smelly (according to DK), the other dishes were so-so (it's a compliment to them) and the mushroom soup... jiaklat... it was SWEET~! It tasted more like diluted condensed milk. Ueerrk... I had a sip of it and left the bowl of soup untouched...

Crystal Clear Water... see the different shades of blue?

Tadaa... nice view from my balcony

It was late in the afternoon, so it was a bit too late for the snorkelling boat trip. So we decided to go to the duty free shop instead. We rented a boat to Tekek, where the shop is located. Don't expect something like Langkawi, the duty free shop is just like some kind of mini market in a small town.

Tadaa... See what we've got~! Bacardi, vodka, whiskey, tequila, beer...

Although we were in the east coast, we could still enjoy the spectacular view of the sunset...

And at night... there was really nothing we could do. There was no pubs, no beach party like Redang. All you can do is to enjoy beauty of the nature.

WTF... so sien one~

We found a place to hang out, the jetty~

This is what people do when they are drunk... get laid~

Second day... no pics... as we were out in the sea for the whole day for the snorkelling boat trip. We snorkled for the whole day. Basically, besides snorkelling, what we did was still, snorkelling. We went to few different spots: Coral Island a.k.a. Tulai Island, Monkey Bay and Pulau Genting. We were supposed to go to the Marine Park, but we decided to skip that, as all the snorkelling spots were almost the same. It was kind of disappointing though, most of the corals were already dead and the variety of fishes were not as many as compared to Redang.

Lalala.... and it's night time again. What to do? Drink till we drop of course!

After 3 days and 2 nights of island getaway, here are some souvenirs that we brought home...

Lawrence's 3D KLCC tattoo

My limited edition "singlet"

Sayonara Tioman...

Reprise:
Tioman is a great place, but be careful when selecting your resort. Find out the food, the activities they have, places to hang out at night and how the beach looks like at the resort. Overall, I would like give Panuba Inn 1/5 stars for the worse-than-secondary-school-canteen food, the not-so-white-and-sandy beach and the so-so service.
I heard that Salang beach is much better. Well, next time!

*Name has been changed to protect Gary's identity
**Mosaic has been applied for the same reason

Happy Mother's Day

2007-05-13T22:33:00.000+08:00

Ma, although we were not at your side during Mother's Day (for many years), to us, you're the greatest mom on earth.

Wishing you a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY~!

Taken during mum's birthday [28/4/2007]

Love,

Your two lovely sons, Vincent & Victor

Phantom of the Opera

2007-04-06T22:29:00.000+08:00

Last weekend, I went to Singapore for this...

The Phantom of the Opera Musical

In the evening, we had dinner at Orchard...

"3/5 ren bang"

We planned to go to Ministry of Sound later that night, but the plan was spoilt after Lawrence received a call from office asking him back to work.

...and it was 10p.m. on a Saturday night!

Salsa dancing version dos

2007-04-06T09:13:00.000+08:00

New to the playlist:

Marc Anthony - Tu Amor Me Hace Bien

El Gran Combo - Que Le Pongan Salsa

My first runway show

2007-03-28T10:29:00.000+08:00

It was a fun gig - Midwest Fashion Week. For guys, the walk is very simple, it's like walking on the street, walk to the end of the runway, pose for 3 seconds, turn around and walk back. The designer forbided us from smiling, hence the unfriendly look that I wore.

Backstage with Samantha

and Christina

and Taylor and Shyla

and Angela...

The after party was salsa! Introducing my favorite salseras, Christa and Drea. I like dancing with them not only because they are hot, but also they are almost as tall as me.

Bella Christa

and her roommate Drea

Flashback: Pattaya [03/02/07-04/02/07]

2007-03-24T00:28:00.000+08:00

After almost 2 and a half months in Bangkok, I am finally back in Malaysia~! These two months have been a wonderful experience for me. Set my work aside, I have met some amazing people, travelled to new places and experienced a lot of new things.

I have been lazy to blog for the past month, since I was relocated to work at the client's office. I think I gotta blog my experience out, before they are permanently stored in my memory archive.

Let's flashback to February... I spent my lonely birthday, Valentine's Day and CNY during that month. Sound pathetic? But of course, I did enjoy myself too. A day after my birthday, I travelled out of Bangkok, together with Ayyappan and Kali. And the destination? Pattaya~!

Pattaya is actually not too far from Bangkok. We can take a bus from Ekamai station in Bangkok to Pattaya for only about 120 Baht. And the bus service is very frequent, they have buses to Pattaya every half an hour!

Here's where we boarded the bus

Luckily, we didn't have to run through the wall at platform 1 ¾

After about two hours of bus ride, we finally reached Pattaya. It was the peak season, so we had to walk for quite some time before we found a hotel room. Right after we checked in, we headed straight to the beach...

... and tried out some water sports

PARASAILING~!!!

During the day time, Pattaya is a great place to relax your mind...

And the sunset was amazing...

but the true Pattaya comes alive, only at night~~

...coz Pattaya is famous for this~!

and this~!

A trip to Pattaya is never complete, without a visit to the infamous Walking Street. The atmosphere is amazing, you gotta come here and feel it yourself. The entire street is filled with pubs and nightclubs.

..and you can see those ladies (or not?!) in front of pubs trying to attract customers

We ended our night at Rolling Stones Bar. They had a great band there and the atmosphere was very lively. Highly recommended~! It's a great place to chill with your friends.

While there's a saying that goes "Good Men Go to Heaven, Bad men Go to Pattaya", I certainly think that good men (ahem, like me) should visit this "Sin City" at least once to witness what defines the word "Nightlife".

Milestone #1 in credit history

2007-03-11T09:42:00.000+08:00

The taurus hit a pothole and the steering went downhill since then. So I got myself a 2006 VW Golf GTI. It's a small car with plenty of power under the hood. Rated @ 200HP + 207 lbs.ft of torque (peak torque held steady from 1800 - 5000 rpm), this car takes off with no problem.
I am able to build up my credit history significantly with this car loan.

The new and old

Named one of the Ward's Best Engines 2006

I love those wheels

It's fun to shift the gear from 1st to 6th. The sound generated is even more exhilarating. It's affordable here but not in Malaysia. The last time I checked the price on thestar.com.my classified ad, it was asking for RM198,000 - almost 2.5 times more expensive than it should be. No wonder APs are so untung back home.

Chinese New Year @ Bangkok

2007-02-18T01:05:00.000+08:00

I would like to wish everyone a

Happy Chinese New Year~!

Bangkok Series Part 5... Grand Palace

2007-01-27T23:42:00.000+08:00

Last weekend, we went to this popular tourist's spot, Grand Palace. It was very grand indeed.

Beautiful...

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. So I guess it's the same case when you're in Bangkok, do as the Thais do. Just walk into the Grand Palace without paying the entrance fee... Well, this only applied to me as I was walking ahead of Kalidas and Ayappan. Apparently, I have entered the Grand Palace using the gate where only Thais were allowed to enter. I didn't realize that Kalidas and Ayappan were being turned down at the gate, until I turned around and look for them. So, by looking like a Thai, I have some extra privileges. In the end, they had to pay 250 Baht each for the ticket. Hehe~ Shhh....

Here are some pics taken at the Grand Palace...

This golden statue has got Crayon Shin Chan's eyebrows

The palace complex was very huge. It took us the whole afternoon to cover the entire palace. And we were lucky enough to witness the duty changing ceromony for the "Imperial Guards". And that's the only time that we can see them move.

After walking for the whole afternoon, we were dead beat. So we decided to visit the Traditional Thai Massage School at Wat Pho nearby. According to the locals, this is where we can have authentic Thai massage. After an hour of pressing, twisting and pulling, we were revitalized. The massage was great. The one-hour routine of massage was well worth the 360 Baht. Bear in mind, it's not some kind of dirty massage!

A fully-recharged Ayappan

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Today, we went for a movie at Central World. Last week, we watched Blood Diamond at EGV, but this week, we decided to do as the Thais do. So we watched a movie that is comparable to Lord of the Rings, for the locals: King Naresuan. Yeah, it's a Thai blockbuster, probably a trilogy coz the "King" was still a kid in the first movie.

An interesting scenario at the movie theatres here is, before a movie starts, they would play the national anthem. And all of us would have to raise for the King. I wonder what if they do the same thing in Malaysia...

These are probably the props from the movie...

Besides the national anthem during movies, we encountered another interesting sight today when we were having our lunch at this popular suki (or steamboat) chain called MK. Out of the blue, the waiters and waitresses lined up and started dancing in the restaurant. I was quick enough to take my camera out and record a short clip for you guys out there. (Ma, you probably can't view the video due to the slow connection at home).

Steph and I salsa dancing

2007-01-27T06:00:00.000+08:00

First practice with counting...

Finally with music. Steph still couldn't follow the last lead, she ended up bursting out in laughter.

Bangkok Series Part 4... Second Day as a Tourist

2007-01-23T23:04:00.000+08:00

On a sunny Sunday, we planned for our second outing. This time around, we planned to visit the Grand Palace.

This is the Bangkok Traffic... Colorful!

We took the BTS to Saphan Taksin station, before getting on a private boat. The tout wanted to charge us 500 Baht for the boat ride, but we walked away. In the end, he relented and we paid 100 Baht each. So tourists, be smart!

This is Chao Phraya that I had previously seen only in Geography textbooks

We got down at the Ta Tien pier, which is a stone's throw away from Wat Pho. Since we did not know where's the Grand Palace, we made an impromptu change of plan, and headed to Wat Pho instead. (It is actually just next to Wat Pho, duh!)

What Wat is this? Wat Pho~!

We were greeted in "Engrish" soon after we entered Wat Pho.
Please USES correct English next time, ok?
THANKS God I can understand what it says.

The reclining Buddha

...also in Wat Pho

...and our Grand Palace trip was postponed to another week. More updates coming soon~~

Bangkok Series Part 3... Role as a Tourist

2007-01-15T00:12:00.000+08:00

Friday night... Kalidas and I visited a club called Q Bar (same as the one in KL?), which according to someone, is one of the most happening place. But it was disappointing. The club was filled with lotsa angmoh uncles. Looking around, I suddenly felt like I was in some angmoh country... And the small little dance floor was packed, but people were not dancing. They were just standing there!

Saturday... It was the day that I had been looking forward to. Luckily this weekend I didn't have to work. So there goes my first real outing...

Our first stop was Isetan, which is not too far from where I am staying now. We met a friendly local there, and he suggested us to pay a visit to the Lucky Buddha temple and also a gem stone wholesaler. So he got us a Tuk Tuk, and we headed to the temple. The temple is not a temple meant for tourist, but according to another guy at the temple, the temple is a holy one (in Hokkien, "leng kam").

After the temple trip, we went to this gem stone wholesaler. It was the last day of the promotion. They were selling sapphire and ruby at 30% discount, off the wholesale price. We didn't buy any, since we're on a tight budget. The cheapest ruby jewellery costs about RM1.6k.

Next, we went to a tailor, tried on some Armani suits, before heading back to Siam Station, to catch the BTS train to Chatuchak Weekend market.

Ronald McDonald says, "Sawadika"

The Chatuchak Weekend Flea Market was amazing. From clothing to home deco, you can almost find anything you want there. There are hundreds if not thousands of stalls around, doing retail and wholesale. I think I gonna visit this place again some day.

After few hours at the flea market, we arrived at....

Roue de Paris BIG WHEEL, or... I call it "The Eye of Bangkok"

The view up there. Notice the xmas tree?

The wheel is actually located at the Suan Lum Night Bazaar
(I like this panning shot)

Wheel by night

These bikes remind me of Lawrence

After dinner at the Suan Lum Night Bazaar, we took a walk to the nearby Lumphini Thai Boxing Stadium to watch Muay Thai (Thai Boxing). We paid 1800 Baht for the VIP ticket. Same as Q Bar, the VIP area was filled with angmohs. They paid 2000 Baht though... Hehehe.

Me, at the ring side

This is Muay Thai, not Teochew Muay (Teochew Porridge)

Bangkok Series Part 2... Supper @ My Studio

2007-01-11T22:01:00.000+08:00

You've seen the photos of my studio. Now I'm gonna show you what you've not seen. I bet you would be shocked to see this!

Tadaa~! The lobby of the serviced apartment.

DONT WORRY~! It's not bombed...

It's just some scheduled maintenance work. They are changing the tiles...

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Some roadside stalls here are very cunning. They have one menu fully written in Thai, and another one in English. They always give me the Thai version coz I looked like a local to them. When I requested for English menu, they would have this funny grin knowing that Cai Shen Ye (God of Fortune) had arrived. The dishes will be the same in the English version, but not the price. 70 Baht dishes would become 120 Baht, and 12 Baht dishes would become.... *you imagine yourself lah*

Kalidas and I kena-ed twice already. But what to do? We don't know Thai. Maybe I should start learning how to order food in Thai. All I know now is kap kap kap, sawadikap...

Anyway, I love their food very much. Even instant noodles can taste very good...

Chang Beer + Tong Klong Flavoured noodles= every Thai Thai's favourite
(*Believe at your own risk, made up by myself)

Looks tempting, isn't it?

Tastes good, but this is the spiciest instant noodle that I've ever had~!

Even though I can tahan a pretty high level of spiciness, I still find it too hot for me.

The aftermath of the noodles.. SWOLLEN LIPS

Bangkok Series... Day 1 at work

2007-01-09T00:20:00.000+08:00

It's my first day at work. There was so much work that I had to work OT on the very first day. Travelling for work is so much different from travelling for leisure.

But still... gotta update this to tell you all that I am safe.

For those who adore xmas, it is still xmas in Bangkok...

Me, at the roadside stall, with my fav Coke...

and tomyam, that reminds me of tomyam girl...

and some unknown vege...

and some oily, but yummy mussels.

That made my day... Stay tuned for more updates!

Sawadeeka~

2007-01-07T18:13:00.000+08:00

After 2 hours of flight from Bolehland, I arrived in ~~BangCock~~ Bangkok. Everything seems fine now. Life is back to normal for the locals after the bombings on New Year's Eve.

I was shocked when the limousine driver told us that one of the bombs went off near Petchaburi, the place I stay. But don't worry, I'll be more careful when I go out. Should be safe in my hotel.

I have a very nice room. I have my own kitchen and balcony. There are sofas, kitchen, TV, hifi set and most importantly, free Internet.

The first thing I did after I checked in, was to go online, so that you could see these:

Tadaa... me in my room

Don't worry about me, okay? I'll keep you updated through this blog (if I have time lah).

TAKE CARE~~!!!

P/S: Thank you miaoxiao, for sending me off and taking care of my car. Drive carefully yea!

Puerto Rico!

2007-01-06T12:41:00.000+08:00

I just got back from the most amazing trip @ Puerto Rico, with a tan that will draw envious eyes during winter months.

Before heading for the NYE party @ Caribe Hilton

The famous flamenco beach of Culebra Island

Soaking up the sun, sand and water!

Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year

2006-12-29T21:07:00.000+08:00

A late Merry Christmas to all!

2006 has finally come to an end... This year was not really a bad year for me, although it has not been an extremely good year either. I'm sure all of you, like me, has experienced some ups and downs through out the year.

Let me recall what I had done in 2006...

Remained single for the entire year
Set a long-term goal for myself
Went to the gym for few weeks and stopped after Yee Jin left to Singapore
Revived my long-abondoned blog
Got in touch with some old friends
Went to Singapore
Attended my once in a lifetime convocation
Appeared in Gol & Gincu TV series
Played paintball for the first time
Bought a new phone
Visited Hong Kong for the first time
Attended Ee Tze's wedding
Had food poisoning on the day I planned to attend Mr Tong's wedding
Shifted to another house
... and lots more

I told myself to be a better person in year 2006. Had I? I'm not so sure. But compared to one or two years back, I had certainly changed a lot. I've had goals set in my mind, I've learnt a lot of new things, and I've already grown up. So I made a promise to myself to become even better in 2007. To achieve that, I think I gotta have some New Year Resolutions for 2007.

MY NEW YEAR RESOLUTION

Learn some new stuffs (maybe continue my Japanese lessons)
Meet more people and make new friends
Travel to places that I've never been to (according to plans, it would be Thailand and Taiwan)
Revisit some places with different people
Start planning my investments
Start a small biz
Keep my room clean for the whole year
Complete my TOP SECRET project
Do as much as I can to help people (yeah, I'll be choosy in terms of who to help, though)
Keep my blog updated
Keep fit
Be more competitive at work
Go home more often
Complete my planned, but undone tasks (life reviving my old PC, edit my old videos etc)
Take care of my car so that it can last for one more year

Hopefully, I can achieve at least 10 out of the 15 resolutions. By the way... I'll achieve my Resolution #3 on the very first week of 2007. Stay tuned for updates while I'm away...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
a

Season of Love~~

2006-12-12T23:00:00.001+08:00

You have seen the engagement post, by Vincent. Now it's turn for a wedding post, by me. It's a season of love indeed.

Congratulations to Ee Tze and Pam! They've finally tied the knot on 9th December 2006.

Here comes the Prince Charming & Princess

What a gathering... It felt a bit like Chinese New Year

Sarah & Aunty Siew Hua came all the way back from UK

After the 1000-guests banquet a.k.a. Qian Ren Yan...

There are lots more photos that have been taken, but I'm NOT posting them up now...

Coz I AM MOVING on this coming Saturday~!!!

Osi & Enola engagement

2006-12-08T08:58:00.000+08:00

Enola & Osi getting some loving

My roommates got engaged!
They met at Hari's Birthday party and fell in love shortly after that.

Love is in the air for the holidays...

Happy holidays everyone!

Town to enforce ban on "sexy" dress

2006-12-06T11:45:00.000+08:00

Source: Yahoo! News

Town to enforce ban on "sexy" dress
Tue Dec 5, 8:18 AM ET

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 5 (Reuters Life!)
- A town in Muslim-majority Malaysia has threatened to fine non-Muslim
women for wearing "sexy" clothes, infuriating some women's organizations.

Authorities in northeast Kota Baru, which calls itself an Islamic city,
will slap fines of up to 500 ringgit ($140) on women who expose navels, wear
body-hugging outfits, mini-skirts or see-through blouses, the Star newspaper
said on Tuesday.
"Such outfits are prohibited here as it smears the
reputation of Kota Baru and affects its status as an Islamic city," the Star
quoted municipal council spokesman Azman Daham as saying.
Some women's
groups have voiced anger over the council's decision to use an existing by-law
against indecent dress to curb non-Muslim fashions. In Malaysia, almost half the
population is non-Muslim and national government is secular.
"It is not the
job of the council to become the 'moral police'," Honey Tan, head of the
All-Women's Action Society, told the Star.
Kota Baru is capital of Kelantan
state, which is run by opposition Parti Islam se Malaysia, whose official
platform is to turn the country into an Islamic state.

Did you notice that the news was listed under the Odd News section by Yahoo!?

eBay Explained 2006

2006-11-13T23:27:00.000+08:00

10 November 2006, KLCC

It was a gloomy Sunday,

I was at KLCC to learn more about eBay,

The schedule had faced a slight delay,

Very much to the crowd's dismay,

Anyway...

We got ourselves a mouse pad and we didn't have to pay,

People were enjoying the free buffet,

At 3pm, the eBay talk was finally on its way,

Let's listen to what Uncle Griff has to say!!

***********************************************

Don't you think they look alike?

Okay... Maybe Uncle Griff looks more like Santa Claus

At the end of the day, eBay has been thoroughly Explained!

Rainy Vancouver - Andre 3000 on Robson, Residential Area

2006-11-07T10:19:00.000+08:00

Another rainy day. After my visa interview, I headed out to check my emails from work and planned out the trip for the day. Gloomy weather put me off a little bit.
Vancouver is a very walkable city. It's not hard to walk to any corner of the city if you are right in the middle of downtown. I'm glad that I chose the right location.
I took the off-the-beaten path along Comox to get to Denman. The destination is Banana Leaf - a Malaysian restaurant. There are some nice houses and condos along Comox.

Look at the cute little orange car.

After had a large plate of mee goreng, I was satisfied and headed on to Robson St. to check out the shopping scene of the city. That's when I saw Andre 3000 from OutKast.

I said wassup and took a picture with him. He told me he's shooting a movie here in town. It was pretty easy to spot him as there are not many black people around Vancouver (as diverse as you think Vancouver is, you see any color but black). This guy is a hardcore vegetarian, you gotta respect that.

Rainy Vancouver - Stanley Park

2006-11-07T10:04:00.000+08:00

It's been raining since the day I arrived. I was drenched when walking to the embassy for my visa appointment this morning.
Anyway, I was supposed to check out Hot Jazz Club for salsa on Saturday night but I fell asleep. I thought I would take a nap at 7pm but I ended up waking up at 7am Sunday morning. I blame it on the crappy plane ride from Phoenix.
Even though it was a gloomy Sunday, I still ventured out to Stanley Park. I could just imagine how beautiful it would be if it were to be sunny.

I randomly met a girl from Japan and we went for all-you-can-eat sushi. I only paid CAN$12 for that. What a deal. I didn't eat anything until the following morning.

Here's the street just outside the hostel. It's fairly quiet. You just couldn't believe that it's just right in the heart of downtown Vancouver.

I went salsa on Sunday night at a small restaurant 20 blocks aways from downtown. People are nice and it's a Sunday night thing, so it wasn't as happening. I still hate myself for missing Salsa on Saturday.

October Updates + Books Review

2006-11-06T21:11:00.000+08:00

*TIME OUT for the Hong Kong posts* I have not been blogging much in October, probably because there were too many pictures for my Hong Kong trip. I feel dreaded to upload all of em, coz the connection sux!! So blame TMNutz...

THINGS I HAVE DONE IN OCTOBER:

Went back to my hometown, Pontian, during the Raya break
Slept, ate, watched Singaporean channels @ home
Played mahjong @ Kelvin's house
Played football with lil kids near Jenn Wee's house
Fixed my dented car rim
Witnessed the death of the 29" TV @ home
Came back to KL and had my reversed culture shock (I had a tough time switching back to my working days routine right after such a long break)
Started playing pool again
Visited some flea markets during the weekend

Talking about flea market, I've got myself some great bargain from the flea market @Amcorp Mall. I've bought myself two books:

Rich Dad's Before You Quit Your Job
Blue Ocean Strategy

Those two books would cost you more than 100 ringgit if you buy it at any bookstore. And guess how much I spent on em? Only RM50~!! Ori or not? Well... I can't really differentiate (you know what I mean)...

Both books are business-related. Before You Quit Your Job talks about things that every entrepreneur should know to build a multimillion-dollar business, while Blue Ocean Strategy focuses on how to overcome the competition when you start a business. Both are MUST-READ for wannabe bosses!

If you look at the picture above, you'll notice that besides the two books I bought, there's a NewMan magazine. I'm not a frequent reader of that mag, but this issue is special. I was at the news stand and was attracted to the cover. Who's on the cover? It's someone who put my hometown, Pontian, on the world map! So I bought it immediately.

What's so special with this issue? The covergirl, was my kindergarten classmate, Adeline Choo! In case you don't know who she is, click on the picture to enlarge it. You'll be able to read the caption - Miss Malaysia / World 2006. Yup, exactly! The former Miss Johor Tourism is now our latest Miss Malaysia / World. Go get yourself a copy lah, but I don't think you can find it since the November issue is already out. Anyway, my copy is up for rental~ Ngehehehe...

Off to Vancouver/Seattle

2006-11-04T08:21:00.000+08:00

I'm travelling to Vancouver tomorrow. I checked the weather and it said that it's going to rain throughout my stay. I can't wait to experience the west coast culture, people and food, and of course, Seattle coffee (not Starbucks!).

For halloween, I took out my Judo-gi and dressed up as 'Karate-kid'. Free and easy and comfortable. You guess right - I went salsa dancing in it.

Hahahaha! After 3 months, I'm still a salsa addict. Vancouver/Seattle salsa, here I come!

Hong Kong Day 2 Part II

2006-10-17T20:03:00.000+08:00

Ngong Ping Village...

Have you seen a Starbucks like this before...

More pictures...

Po Lin Monastery...

Some interesting sightings in Ngong Ping Village...

Bow wow~

Dummies have religion too...

Toilet dummies dressed in oriental costumes

Temple Street...

The crowd at the Jordan MTR Station

Temple Street is just like another Petaling Street

Avenue of Stars, Tsim Sha Tsui...

By the time we left Temple Street, it was already 7++p.m. We decided to skip dinner to catch the Symphony of Lights at 8p.m. at the Avenue of Stars

Symphony of Lights

Jacky Chan's Star

This is Hong Kong's answer to Hollywood's Walk of Fame, the Avenue of Stars

Where is Stephen Chow's handsprint and signature?

Me, the cameraman

Dinner @ Yau Ma Tei...
I can't help but must show you my dinner on that night... CLAYPOT RICE

They have lots of choices in the menu...

AND

this was what mum had ordered...

Don't know what's that?
It's claypot rice with
two pieces of fats,
a chinese sausage
and
a weird black sausage

I knew mum wouldn't eat those stuff, so I exchanged my claypot rice with her. It was kinda gross. The two pieces of fats were tasteless. And the sausages... was err... don't really know how to describe em. After biting it, a handful of oil from the sausage spurted in my mouth. You imagine that yourself lah. It's like eating a balloon filled with oil.

The Choi Sam saved my day...
and there you can see the rice that I ordered

Hong Kong Day 2 (Part I)

2006-10-16T21:14:00.000+08:00

I have been so lazy these days... I suddenly realised that I haven't been blogging for more than two weeks.

21 September 2006, Thursday

It was Day 2 of the trip. After a tiring Day 1, we recharged ourselves and ready to go for another long tiring day ahead of us. We planned to wake up early, but I eventually got up at 9++a.m. not because the room was super nice to sleep, but because of the hectic Day 1. The first thing I had to do before going out was to change my room!! We were given a very small room on the first day, because the fellow backpackers, who were staying in the room that was supposed to be ours, didn't check out on time. The room was so small that I knocked into something whenever I turned around.

Taken by me from the bathroom, in order to fit in the two beds into this pic

OK, enough said about the room. Our first destination was the Big Buddha in Lantau Island. By the time we got out of the hostel, it was already about 11a.m. So instead of a nice dimsum breakfast, we headed to the MTR station right away. From Causeway Bay, we gotta take a train to Central before moving on to our destination, Tung Chung.

MTR System Map

Since we bought the Tourist Octupus Card, we were entitled to enjoy three days of unlimited rides on MTR and also a one-way ride on the Airport Express. From the MTR System Map (as shown above), we can see that there are two ways to get to Lantau Island. So I pandai-pandai suggested that we take the Airport Express to Tsing Yi and change to normal MTR to Tung Chung. Little did I know that the Airport Express stops Kowloon and Tsing Yi to pick up, but not drop passengers. That means we can board in Kowloon and Tsing Yi, but not alight from there. We got out at the Tsing Yi station anyway, but got a warning from the station warden. I'm sure not everyone of you can get this kind of experience. Wahaha~!

Some of the seats were wet

Looks similar to KLIA Express

We had some very nice rice balls in Tsing Yi

After arriving in Tung Chung, we headed to the newly opened Ngong Ping Skyrail station (Grand Opening: 18/9/2006). Ngong Ping Skyrail is a 5.7km long cable car system linking between Tung Chung (where it connects the MTR Tung Chung station) and Ngong Ping (where the Po Lin Monastery and Tian Tan Buddha are located). It is probably the longest cable car system in the world (to be verified) and the entire cable car journey to Ngong Ping Village takes about 20 - 25 minutes, much faster than a bus.

In the cable car

Silhouetted Buddha

Ngong Ping Village

We were like traffic lights as we stood together...

...to be continued

[Encore] Hong Kong Day 1... Madam Tussaud's

2006-09-29T19:40:00.000+08:00

WARNING! There are lots of photos in this post. Dial-up users, please be wary!

As mentioned in the previous post, we went to Madam Tussaud's was museum while waiting for the city to be lit up. The museum wasn't as big as I thought, but it is certainly a place worth visiting. You can never find more Asian wax figures in any other place, and gosh... they looked so real.

She is none other than Madam Tussaud, herself

Part I: ASIAN RULEZ (No racist statement intended)

The first star we met was Jacky Chan~! But where's our photo with him? None... To be exact, it's still in Hong Kong. I didn't capture it with my camera, how stupid... Anyway, it doesn't matter. We moved to the next hall, and we saw a MALAYSIAN~! Yea, our Datuk is there in Madam Tussaud's. Malaysia Boleh~!!

Datuk Michell Yeoh

Dad with Cecelia Cheung

I am taller than Aaron~ Hehee

Hamsap kaki... Ayumi...

Went on stage with Joey Yung

TWINS... very chun indeed~

Woa, Kelly is tall~!

Mum with her idol, Mr. Bae

Part II: WORLD OF ANGMOH

Uncle Stallone looks sleepy all the time

Mum playing with.... cones~!

I'm bad... I'm bad...

Where's your Angelina?

Part III: WORLD LEADERS

Mum was so 大牌 that the royal family have to stand while she is seated

My attempt to be a KING failed miserably... looks more like a pauper

Uncle Jiang taught dad how to pose...

Mum upclose with Uncle Lee

My buddy... Uncle Lee

Don't beat around the Bush

Oh no, I lost...

Part IV: TIME MACHINE

Romeo should die... Change it~!

What's the similarity between me & Einstein?
I love MC (but i dont wanna be sick)
He loves MC exponentially! [Einstein = MC²]

Dad loves VW Beetle, mum loves the Beatles

I wonder why do Chinese call the legendary Elvis "Cat King"?

The legendary Teresa Teng

Bruce Lee wants.... WATER~!

This pic looks spooky... Home Alone is scary...

Part V: WORLD OF SPORTS

E-honda vs Yokozuna

Tiger... Wood's up, doc?

Number 7...

I was dwarfed by the gigantic Yao...

Hong Kong Day 1

2006-09-26T21:15:00.000+08:00

20 September 2006, Wednesday

3.00a.m.
After 3.5 hours of flights, we finally reached Macau. There was no bus at that time, and we were damn tired. So, we decided to sleep at the airport and take the first bus to the jetty.

7.10a.m.
The first bus arrived and we headed straight to the jetty to catch the ferry to Hong Kong.

11.02a.m.
We reached Wong Fat Hostel in Causeway Bay, but the room was not ready yet. So, we left our luggage there and went to a nearby stall to have our first meal in Hong Kong.

Roasted Goose Noodle (HKD23)

11.37a.m.
On our way back to the hostel, I saw this WARUNG~!

I began to suspect where I was...

12.30p.m.
Finally checked in and got our room keys. We decided to take a nap before we begin our journey, as we didn't sleep well the night before (the seats of the cheapskate airline couldn't be fully reclined~!).

3.22p.m.
We hopped onto the Mid-Level Escalator, and began our journey. We passed by Hollywood Road, SOHO, a mosque.... before we landed in a deserted residential area. We should have gotten off at SOHO, but I was so curious that I decided to take the escalator right up till the end.

The longest outdoor escalator in the world

4.04p.m.
We ended up at a public zoo...

4.20p.m
Finally found our way out from the zoo. On our way to Lan Kwai Fong, we passed by this ~~Abuthen~~ ~~Arrhhh But Not~~ Arbuthnot Road.

Abuthen... This road leads to Lan Kwai Fong lah~!

You know you are in Hong Kong when you see this.

Mum & Dad @ Pedder Street

4.31p.m
I found a gigantic bottle in Lan Kwai Fong. Should have come here at night instead...

Honey, you shrunked me~!

4.46p.m
Found our way to the Peak Tram Station.

There are a lot of informative roadsigns like this in Hong Kong

HSBC headquarters

5.15p.m
Hopped onto the tram and headed up to the Peak.

The tram to Victoria's Peak

5.51p.m
We wanted to wait for the city to light up. Not to waste time, we decided to visit the Madam Tussaud's first. The combo ticket (including return tram ticket) costs HKD120.
*More pics will be uploaded later

Tribute to Leslie Cheung...

6.50p.m
By the time we came out, the sun had already set and the city was already filled with lights.

Me @ The Peak

Mum & Dad @ The Peak

8.00p.m
The breeze was chilling. We stayed at the observation deck till the Symphony of Lights began. I tuned in to the commentery on my phone, while watching the buildings turned into live graphics equalizer.

The view was awesome~!

9.30p.m
Arrived at Mong Kok. We had a simple dinner there.

Fresh Prawn Wan Tan Soup Noodle (HKD 19)

11.00p.m
End of Day 1 trip. Time to recharge ourselves after a tiring day.

Hong Kong

2006-09-18T08:58:00.000+08:00

Will be flying off to Macau/Hong Kong tomorrow... The weather forecast says it will have isolated showers for the next few days. Hopefully it won't be too bad...

MY ITENERARY

Day 1:
Ocean Park
The Peak

Day 2:
Lantau Island
Kowloon

Day 3:
Hong Kong Island / Central

Day 4:
Macau

Happy Birthday To You~~

2006-09-12T21:49:00.000+08:00

お誕生日おめでとう～！！！
～～１３・９・２００６～～

Rishi's B-day party

2006-09-10T07:44:00.000+08:00

It's been a long time since we have party at the house.

It's great to chill out with friends from college again.

It's nice that I got the opportunity to introduce Kendra to them too.

I love reunions.

Jasmine the cat.

2006-09-10T07:39:00.000+08:00

Jasmine is the cat at the house. Used to live with 5 guys but finally get some loving from Enola. This cat's been through a lot - from punching sasha (the dog) to getting fleas everywhere in the house and almost died.
I love this picture.

A New Project

2006-09-06T22:21:00.000+08:00

I have a new project in mind: A fool-proof guide for mamas who wanna start learning computers

Your mum might have already been a computer expert, but I know there are lots of mamas out there who are still computer-illiterate. You might have tried to teach her how to use a PC. If you did, I know exactly what you had gone through - VOMIT BLOOD~!

It's not easy to teach your mum how to use a PC, especially if she has what I called "Technophobia", the fear of modern technology.

These are the symptoms of technophobia:

Think that there is actually a physical button on the keyboard that says "Destroy the PC!"
Think that computer viruses are small little creatures that eat up the harddisk
Think that email providers like Gmail, Yahoo! and Hotmail are gonna charge you for registering with them
Think that the postmen will deliver your emails
Many more...

Why Do Mummies Wanna Learn How To Use A Computer? (Not that kind of mummies that you can find in Egypt lah~!)

Because they wanna keep themselves up-to-date
Because their children are away from home, thus they wanna have another way of communicating with them
Because they wanna understand their children better, and the best way is to indulge in what their children do

Hence, this idea came to my mind - to create a fool-proof beginners' guide for moms who wanna learn. But I am a lazy person. Without motivation, it's hard for me to start doing something. It would be better if there is a team to do it with me. So, I'm now officially recruiting team members for this project. Anyone interested? Contact me if you do.

The outcome of the project? THIS~!

Parody Cover, for Fair Use Only. So don't sue me!

Trashy outing

2006-09-05T06:39:00.000+08:00

Annual trash picking is back! As a part of the EEEC (Every Employee Every Community) initiative, employees of Cummins are encouraged to contribute 4 hours/month of their working hours to do community services.

picking trash by the cemetery, for good brothers

Hardly have any trash to pick. Imagine having this assignment in Malaysia, you'll get a truck load of rubbish in less than an hour.

Mission accomplished.

Merdeka~!

2006-08-30T22:29:00.000+08:00

As a Malaysian, are you proud of this piece of Boleh-land? Well, I don't know about you, but I believe some Malaysians really do...

Just like...

The Malaysian drivers, who are notorious for...
racing on the highways with their "Daihatsu Miras" and "Mitsubishi Evos"
swerving in and out of their lanes without signalling
cut queues by using the emergency lane
slow down to "show their concern" whenever they sees a road accident

The the people from Telekom, because...
Telekom is so rich that they could afford to have so many non-functioning public phones for decoration purposes, throughout the country
they provide a "high-speed" broadband service called Screamyx

The pirates of the caravan, for outselling Speedy Video with their latest Hollywood blockbuster titles

The Malaysian Police, for saying "Saya anti-rasuah"

Malaysia is not that bad afterall...

At least we can...

find any food at anytime, even in the wee hours
impress foreigners with our ability to speak Malay, English, Tamil, Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Hakka, Teochew, blablablabla
have free education and healthcare
pump cheaper petrol for our lovely kancils
be proud of our national sports, as our very own Nicole David will be the World #1 for years to come
live without fear, as we don't have volcanos, earthquakes, typhoon and most importantly, NO WAR!

Yes, we can~ coz MALAYSIA BOLEH~!
Happy 49th Birthday, Malaysia~!
Happy holiday to me~!

Sorry if I caused some eyesore with those Jalur Gemilang Colours~ =P

I'm On TV~!

2006-08-30T10:55:00.000+08:00

As mentioned in my previous post, I went to Limkokwing for the Gol & Gincu shooting, as an extra. Guess what~! The two hours of shooting turned out to be about two seconds on screen~

Can spot find me? =)

Summer Wedding.....

2006-08-30T09:57:00.000+08:00

One of the summer memories is wedding...... Allison, a good friend of mine, got married!

Allison was glad to change her often-mispronounce last name. She's now happily married to Nate.

Open bar is always great. I had too much Tanqueray and tonic. The boys just drank everything else. They ran out of tonic, could you believe that. That's how good Tanqueray is.

The siao chabos were drunk too.

Summer is a season of love...

Summer's ending...

2006-08-29T18:55:00.000+08:00

Goodbye summer...Hello fall!

Underground Going Above Ground-Level

2006-08-29T16:20:00.000+08:00

A Day @ Work:
I was assigned to this project, which is based in Thailand. The project manager, however, is from India. That means I have to juggle around with different accent, which can be mind-boggling.

Weekend GIGgles
Last week, Mei Gin informed me about a gig that was going to be held at KL Jam Asia during the weekend. I suggested that we make it as a gathering for our Pre-U/Alpha Year/FOSEE (wateva u call it) groupmates. So, I sent out an invitation mail to our yahoogroups. The outcome? Pathetic... The only reply I received was this, "hahah.. Victor, your message has already arrived ".

No one supports local music. Fine~ I decided to go anyway. I'd been reading about local gigs in other blogs and KLUE, but couldn't find the kakis to go with me. I've missed the Sunrise Jazz Festival and Starbucks Music Series, so I told myself I'm not gonna miss this one.

And there you go... the first gig that I've attended. I sacrificed my Man Utd EPL match for this~!

Here's the list of bands that performed that night:

Alcentric
Lied
Ask Me Again
Tempered Menta
Milla

Lied
(Apparently, the lead singer was Mei Gin's ex-colleague)

featuring Ching Ching

My Verdict:
Overall, the bands were very lively. I, personally, enjoyed Tempered Mental and Ask Me Again pretty much. The venue was a bit too cramped though...

Local bands aren't that bad, although there are some singers who love to "syiok sendiri". But hey~ give em a chance and give yourself a chance to listen to em. You might enjoy it too~! Now... I'm looking forward to my trip to the Laundry Bar~!

New Template for SimpiCity

2006-08-25T14:39:00.000+08:00

Finally, I have got rid of the boring template and replaced it with this new skin~!
Hope you'll like it =)
Comments are welcome~

Silence Is Golden

2006-08-22T18:32:00.000+08:00

If you know me in person, but not so close to me, you might find that I'm a quiet person. Well... at times, I really behave so. But not all the time~

I could be funny, I could be crazy...
I could “耍宝”, which literally means entertaining people like a clown...
I could tell some lame jokes that are not funny at all, which makes the situation so hilarious...

On the other hand,

I could be damn quiet...
I could be cold towards anything...
I might look arrogant...
I might look unconcerned about anything...

It all depends on my mood... I, too, have my UPS and DOWNS.

Being quiet doesn't mean that my mind is idle. In fact, my mind is even more active when I don't utter a single word.... I think...

Very often, the quiet fellow has said all he knows...

When I'm quiet, one of these might have happened:

I'm shy...
I'm observing...
I'm giving way...
I'm meditating...
I'm not feeling well...
I'm in deep thoughts...
I don't click with you...
I don't feel like talking...
I'm analyzing the situation...
I'm trying to be low-profile...
I'm fiddling with my creativity...
I'm trying not to make the situation worse...
I'm thinking of a solution to some problem...
I'm indulging myself in the peaceful nature...
I'm trying to let the noisy ones come to sense...

Studio photos

2006-08-20T03:34:00.000+08:00

After my convocation, we headed straight to the studio. But we were told that we were supposed to make a booking in order to have our studio photos taken... Pfft~~ They didnt tell me earlier, the night before~!!! WTF~!
So instead of waiting, we made a booking for the 7pm session and went shopping in Putrajaya.

.
.
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We came back at around 6.50pm... and we waited for our turn... While waiting, there was another MMU student who borrowed my Scroll, as he had forgotten to bring his. Then his ~~talkative~~ friendly father came over to chat with us, telling us about how he had brought up his children blablabla~

Mum, waiting

Me, waiting

Grandma, waiting

Mum & Dad, waiting

And finally... it was our turn to get our portraits snapped...

Take 1...
Take 2......
Take 3.........

Tada~! And here's the output...

Family Photo #1

Family Photo #2

Me, myself

**************Updated**************

Too bad, Vincent wasn't here with us on that day... If he was here... then the photos might turn out like this...

There you go bro, a studio photo for you.

The family photo might turn out this way

The finale: My Graduation

2006-08-15T20:30:00.000+08:00

To those who attended my convocation, THANK YOU so much~!
To those who attended, but couldn't get to see me, THANK YOU as well! Your presence is felt~~
To those who remembered, but couldn't attend, THANK YOU as well~!

~~Day 1~~

7.19am Arriving at MMU...

First time to see such a traffic in MMU

7.37am Fully-geared in robe & mortarboard...

Yen Lung, my neighbour (@Pontian)

7.56am Registration...

Registered myself and ready to go

Wei Xuan looks so happy =)

Queing up at the outside of the new graduation hall

Ready to go in~!

8.08am In the hall...

Waiting for the hall to be filled

In the ~~hell~~ hall

The Sea of Mortarboard

Listened to opening speech by Tun Dr Siti Hasmah, lohsoh speech by the Honorary Doctor...
... yada yada.... went on stage... collected my scroll...

.

12.47pm The final showdown...

It's gonna end soon...
Everybody is singing MMU's song, Permata Dunia

Got my scroll & ready to get out of the hall

1.10pm Daylight "Robery"...

A familiar face, Mei Rong

Han Wei, my basketball kaki & Mei Ching, the kaki's wife~ Hehe

Uncle Lorenzo, the photographer

My former housemates, Chong Meng(left) & Ah Han(3rd from the right)

My colleagues~ Thanks for coming~!

The stars of the day

The only friend from my hometown
whom I have met on that day, Ching Huey

KY a.k.a. Lim Beckham

Lu Huey, didn't get to know her until she became my colleague.
And now she's my ex-colleague~!

My former coursemate, Alfred

...and I saw someone being tossed in the air

Mum, Dad, me & Grandma @ the Garden Party

Another familiar face... Yong Ying

3.18pm End of camwhoring session... end of convo...

Finally... a photo at the main entrance before we left

~~Day 2~~

12.11pm Return my robe & collect my stage photos

Liang Kwang (Looks like Harry Porter eh?! ) and Caleb,
my hostel roommate and neighbour

1.09pm The 2nd Day of convo ended... and it's time to meet friends

Cherrie, take pic with me not happy meh? Smile till so fake~! LOL

Han Fei & KY~~ I still remember that we were in the same group
for Multimedia Applications assignment during Beta Year

Wei Wern, my former housemate (@Cyberia Town Villa)

1.56pm Finally... found Yuan Ping

Yuan Ping, my former housemate (@BBU Melaka)/sec schoolmate

~~The End~~

HATS OFF to all graduates~!

The finale: Prologue

2006-08-11T00:40:00.000+08:00

******************edited******************

Message to Mom & Dad:
Thank you for making this happen~
Thank you for your trust and support~
Thank you for everything!

*************************************

Prologue:
I was "robed" today~! YES, robed~! Like this....

A year after graduation, I am finally attending the ceremony that concludes my relationship with the Money Making University. This year's convocation is a groundbreaking one, as it will be held in MMU's own graduation hall for the first time in its 10 years of history.

I was supposed to attend the convocation last year, but since my lucky number is 7.... I might as well attend the 7th Convocation. Hehe...

Met some of my old coursemates during the robe collection... One of em is Aik Seng...

Aik Seng & Me Myself

I thought it would be a lonely convo for me this year, but I was wrong. Other than my colleagues who went to India with me last year, there are a lot more who will be attending the convo on this Saturday!

Since this is only a prologue... it shall remain as short as possible. More photos coming up after the convocation/graduation ceremony/commencement...

Stay tuned~!

Talk about Life... Expect the Unexpected~

2006-08-08T00:24:00.000+08:00

* Warning... emotional post ahead! The author is just being emotional, don't worry too much about him *

Who said life is dull and boring? If you do, then you are wasting your moments as a living creature in this world!

Life can be so interesting that you don't even know what lies ahead of you. Things can be so unpredictable... It's as if a lighting bolt had strucked my mind, when I realized that, lately, a series of unpredictable events had happened around me... me myself!

First, I got myself a new phone. Nothing's special about that... Then, I bought some accesories for my new piece of gadget, from Lowyat.net forum. Not only it was dirt cheap, I had actually won myself a 64mb MPSD, along with a free gift. How lucky I was... I was at first being suspicious, how could the seller earn money this way! But he turned out to be an honest trader, a respected one! He was only 19 yrs old, yet he was doing so well in his business.

But good things doesn't happen all the time...

My dad fell from his bike few weeks ago, but thank goodness it is nothing serious, other than a fractured finger. Dad, I hope you'll be more careful on the road next time. Do take care of yourself.

Not long after that, I came across with a shocking news. Someone from MMU Melaka had fell from his 18th floor apartment. That guy is none other than Johnny, the Lowyat.net trader that I had just dealed with. I felt kinda strange, having heard of his misfortune.

And recently, there has been a chaos in my weekend hangout place, Wangsa Maju. A TARC student got killed and another was badly injured by robbers... I really don't know what's in these desperate creatures mind! How much money would a student carry with him/her! Why take their life! Think about their family! ... who are you to take their loved ones away from them!

Back to myself...

Sometimes, time seems to be not enough for me. There are a lot of things unaccomplished. However... the more unaccomplished things left, the lazier I am... I felt as if I was wasting my time for the past few days. I could have done something more meaningful, rather than lazing around. At times, I feel that watching TV, chatting online, watching movies & etc. is such a waste of time... I believe that time should be utilized in a better manner. Yet, I didn't do what I had planned to do over the weekend.

For the past few months, I had been so busy with work that I didn't realize, that I had neglected some aspect of my life...

Work... Business... Money... Family... Friends...

I think we really need to balance out our life... We can work for our future, but don't ever neglect our family and friends. Your family are the ones who always have you in their mind... Friends are the ones who shared a lot of wonderful moments with you. They are the ones who make our life so interesting, so DRAMATIC~~ So I would like to tell them... "I L-O-V-E YOU!"

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Life's unpredictable... so Expect the Unexpected!

Happy Birthday

2006-08-02T11:00:00.000+08:00

*******************************************

It's Daddy's birthday~~ Happy birthday to you~!

Get well soon... and stay healthy always~~

*******************************************

Malacca Re-Visited

2006-07-26T11:41:00.000+08:00

Parameswara... Alfonso de Albuquerque... Laksamana Cheng Ho... those were the names that cracked my head in the Sejarah subject.

Forget about past... I can easily name you the yummiest food of the historical city~
Satay celup, Chicken Rice Ball, Umbai Grilled Fish, the midnight Fatty Char Siew Rice, Baba Durian Chendol, Nyonya Laksa... etc... etc... It's just like another Penang down south, with a different set of menu on your dining table.

This time around, with two lengluis, we had this...

~Durian Cendol~

...before heading to our next station~~

Next Station: Unplugged Pizza @ the Coconut House~~

The Coconut House is located at the Heeren Street, right next to Jonker Street. The old shophouse has a one-of-a-kind interior, which can only be found in the olden days. Can you imagine, having a coconut tree and a well in the middle of your house?

After consulting the waiter, we got to know that
the coconut tree is much younger than the shophouse itself~ Hehe.

Well... it looks kinda spooky at times, reminding me of Sadako...

Here's what the Coconut House is famous for:

the Unplugged Pizza~!

We ordered two most popular pizzas among its customers:

Margheritta & Hawaiian Pizza

Margheritta: Tomato, Mozzarella & Fresh Basil

Hawaiian: Tomato, Mozzarella, Onion, Pineapple & Chicken Ham

Exotic Taste: It goes well with coconut drink

If this is what they called an "Unplugged" pizza...

How would a "Plugged" pizza look like?

Electrifying~!

After the meal at Coconut House, we were already full. So, we scrapped our initial plan of having Satay Celup and headed back to KL straightaway...