Big Bad Wolf

Macau Day 2

2009-04-10T21:26:00.000+08:00

A-Ma Temple

Macau Tower

Fisherman's Wharf

Macau Day 1

2009-04-08T21:51:00.000+08:00

Na Zha Temple

The ever famous ruin of St Paul's

Back portion of the famous gate, ruined by the man made steel structure
erected by the local council

HK Day 3.. Buddha and Disneyland

2009-04-07T22:12:00.002+08:00

Amitabha..

This photo is so "not right". LOLTarzan's house

The Grand Parade

Lion King Show..

Cinderella castle on fire!!

HK Day 2....

2009-04-03T22:21:00.000+08:00

Hong Kong Park

Central. Places where men in black meets

Suprisingly, Panda still has black eyes even such a sleepy head!

"Give me money, and I will sing a song"

"Give me money, and you can paint me up"

Shaking hands with people who has paid up

Day 1 Hong Kong !!

2009-04-02T23:40:00.000+08:00

Around The World In One Day ..Day 5 Shenzhen

2009-04-02T19:21:00.000+08:00

Philleas Fogg and his worthy companion, Passepartout took 80 days to travel around the world.
But I am going to beat this record, and I will do it in a much more better time.
For this, I will do it in just one day.

You heard me right. Just one day. Yes, it is possible to travel around the world in one day.

Just drop by at Window of The World. Located in the city of Shenzhen, this place contains replica models of the famous sites and buildings throughout the world. From Eiffel Tower, Great Pyramid of Giza, Sydney Opera House, Taj Mahal, Buckingham Palace, Ayers Rock, Angkor Wat, just to name a few.
Oh yea, Malaysia even have their feet stamped here in this replica park.
Try to make a guess. You will never believe the answer. Neither did we when we see it at first.

The cultural show shown at the night time was superb, and it was worth watching.. There were 4 themes, based on the past civilization.

RMB120 per entrance was rather pricey, but I think it is worth it to visit this place.
As our trip was only for a day, we did not make it to visit Splendid China, another miniature park, but showing only replicas of Chinese buildings and places of interest.

A Visit To The Big Dipper ..Day 4

2009-03-22T18:56:00.001+08:00

Still drowsy from the drinking session the night before, I had to push myself to rise from the bed. Today will be a special day for us as we will be leaving Guangzhou city. Our mission of the day is to visit a city that is approximately 3 hours away from Guangzhou.

From our hostel, we took Metro to Fangcun Bus Station to catch a ride to our destination.
Upon reaching the station, we proceeded to buy our tickets.

Step 1 : Buy ticket over the counter.

You don't have to find which counter to purchase the tickets because one counter serves all . Basically, you can buy the tickets to any destination at any of the multiple counters here. There are more than twenty counters here, so there was no long queue.

Step 2 : Check in your luggage

After purchasing, you will need to check in your luggage prior to entering boarding room. Checking in is simple. Just put your luggage through the scanning machine (like those found at airports). And to think that this is just a bus station, I must admit that I was impressed.

Step 3 : Proceed to boarding room

Lush, spacious, bright and clean boarding room with plenty of seats. The environment is clean too. Basically, its a total opposite of what you find in the infamous Puduraya. Jalan Duta's Bus Terminal doesn't come close either.

Step 4 : Proceed to departure gate

When the LED screen above the gate shows that you can board in, you may proceed to the gate. A lady will guide check your ticket, and upon passing by the gate, the bus driver will wait eagerly for you. He will help you to put your luggage in the luggage compartment. Luggage will be tagged with a sticker and this contains an unique number. So, no chance of people stealing your luggage as one has to show the same sticker before collecting it when arrives at the destination. Oh, they serve mineral water too, even our journey is just three hours journey. Free of charge, of course athough you may argue that the price is already included in the bus fare.

Three hours later, and we reached our destination - Zhaoqing.
As it was already 2pm, we had a quick lunch - The ever famous Zhaoqing "chung" (dumpling).

It contains mostly glutonious rice, and doesn't contain much ingredients in it (unlike those available in Malaysia). It tasted quite pale, in my opinion. Malaysian chung would beat this one hands down.

Well, you must be thinking that we came all the way to try out the dumpling. It would be crazy to spend hours on the journey just to eat that, isn't it? I would rather put my money to good use...
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... on something like this..
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An island, you say?
Wrong. Zhaoqing is in the mainland, and it is not surrounded by sea.

Look closely, and you will notice some weird hill formation overlooking the water. Those are actually limestone hill. Due to the nature of the limestone, it is easily eroded by wind and rain. As time passes by, Mother Nature has created a work of art, a masterpiece that is so beautiful that still stand grand after centuries. Words can't explain how marvelous the craft is.

Ladies and gentlemen, brace yourself for the stunning Seven Stars Crag (七星岩).

As the name implies, there are seven crags, surrounded by waters on all sides. The crag are naturally formed like the arrangement of the seven stars in the Big Dipper constellation, hence the name.

Zhaoqing was actually not part of our original trip plan. I found this place by mere luck while doing my earlier research on Guangzhou. I came across certain blogs and websites which recommended this place, which is 2.5 hours away from Guangzhou. The star attraction in this city is Seven Star Crag, a site famous for rock formation.

I have always been fascinated with rock formation, as I have been an avid rock climber. God, it has been almost one year plus since my last climbing. How I miss the old days. Screw this Lumut place!

According to our reliable source, this place used to be a farming village. Many families lived here and made their livings by planting vegetables. The villagers did not put much attention on the rock formation as they have been here for a long long time, since their ancestors set foot here centuries ago. After all, living life was difficult (China was a very poor country and it still is, today) so the people were more concerned on getting food on the table rather than spending time enjoying the scenery. However, news of this unique rock formation started spreading around. In the 1970's, the Chinese government decided to take over the place and turned it into a tourism area. The land were taken over and the villagers were compensated. We were informed that the compensation was very low as the money had to be distributed from the upper echelon in the village down to the lower people. So, by the time the money reached the villagers, they received very small amount.

However, the government decided to build embankment on this area, and engaged the villagers for this task. My guess was that they wanted to flood the area, for reasons that they only knew themselves. No machineries (tractors, excavators, etc) utilized in this task. All were done by manual labour. As the embankment were completed, they started to be filled with waters. Eventually, the seven crags were surrounded by lakes, separated only by human-made embankment.

As time passes by, more facilities and attractions were added in. Small hut were built on strategic places. One was built on the highest point among the seven crags, and the view here was magnifique!

Pathway for people to walk were also built. A perfect place to take a stroll on the park, with awesome view of the lake and the crag.

They even built a Buddhist Statue garden.

Small jetty were build at a few locations around the lake, so one can choose to take a boat ride if he wishes to.

We opted to engaged a lady "tuk-tuk" driver after bargaining with her earlier at the main jetty. As we were her only client of the day, she offered to bring us around for only RMB 40 per ride (Normal price is RMB 50 per ride). The lady was kind enough to explain to us about this area throughout the 4 hours plus journey. And the explanation was in Cantonese too! What a relief! I would have suffocated to death if she explains in Mandarin! (But not Jye though)

If you read the background of the Seven Star Crag above, the "reliable source" mentioned above was actually from this lady driver. I was not able to verify the information on Seven Stars Crag she given as I could not find any of these in the internet. Perhaps some one can correct me if the above are not right.

Plum flower, majestic bridge with the crag behind the background.

Plum flower garden.
Up close and personal with pulm flower! Very beautiful, isn't it? I finally able to see a real one with my own eyes!

White plum flower

View from the highest point of the seven crags :-

The man-made embankment separating the lake

The Chinese National Canoeing Team actually conducted their training here. The best rower selected from all over the country were sent here to undergo rigorous training.

Row, row, row your boat, gently down the lake.....

Overall, we spent about 4 hours here. As the lady was kind enough, we gave her tips. She did keep us company and well informed throughout the trip, so we tipped her generously. She dropped us at the waterfront after our dinner at a restaurant nearby. We were fortunate enough as we arrived at the waterfront just before the clock ticked eight. Every night, at 8pm sharp, there will be a water fountain musical show. I did not post much of the photos here as the photos were not clear enough.

The show lasted 15 mins. Very nice, I must say.
After that, we headed for a brisk walk around the town area. Nothing much interesting, just shop lots around. As it was just after Chinese New Year celebration, the decorations can still be seen around the city. So, its a little consolation for us.

As time were rather limited, we headed back to the hotel for a good night rest. We need to head on to the next city the following day.

Over The Mountain Top : Day 3 - Guangzhou

2009-03-20T22:08:00.000+08:00

Third day in Guangzhou, and this will be our last day of travelling in this city. A trip to Guangzhou would not be complete if one did not step foot on this place:

Bai Yun Shan (White Cloud Mountain)

One of the highest point in Guangzhou city, this place history backdated to many centuries ago, before Christ era. It was reported that many scholars came to this mountain to write poems. The serene and calm surrounding inspired the scholars to write beautiful poems. Standing high at 382m, it provides a breathtaking view of Guangzhou city from the top.

And this was where we decided to go on our third day of the trip.

One can opt to walk the way up to the mountain, journey taking approximately one and half hour by foot. Scores of people can be seen walking along the pathway leading to the hill top. But as every drop of energy is essential to us, we chose to take a cable car instead, a ride of only fifteen to twenty minutes, cost only RMB25 per ride. To be frank, it was rather shameful to see that our stamina were nowhere near to these healthy people of Guangzhou.

Again, being a typical Chinese city, it was not unusual to see the waves of people on top of the mountain. Just like some of the websites wrote, there were hundreds, if not thousands of people walking all the way from the foothill, coming in droves. As we walked downhill, we saw lots of people walking along too, uphill and downhill alike. The scene was almost similar like Xang Xia Jiu Lu and Beiing Lu; hordes of people littered all over the place! Perhaps it’s due to a Sunday, which explains the presence of a big crowd here.

There were actually more people than what was captured in this photo.

We were greeted by a group of people, approximately hundred of them, singing in the middle of the park. Young and old alike, they were singing song after song. My best guess was that they were from a society having a day out in the park, just like we were.

La la lala la~~

The hill top view would be magnificent, but thanks to the massive pollution and smog, the visibility from hill top was rather poor. Too bad the pollution in the city was bad or otherwise we can see the whole city of Guangzhou. I guess that's the price to pay for the rapid development which took place in this city since the past few decades.

"Spectacular" view hampered by the smog

After spending almost half hour around the top, we proceeded downhill. But this time, we were not going to take the cable car. We were going for an environment friendly way, which was by utilizing our feet. We could face some difficulty if we were to walk up the hill, but walking down would not pose much problem. Plus, there would be more things to be seen if we chose to walk down.

Temple (forgotten the name)

Poem. Too bad, I don't know how to appreciate it due to my Mandarin illiterate background.

And another temple. And a wishing tree to the right

And more temple....

Foot hill

After a walk of almost an hour, we finally reached the bottom. According to my research done before the trip, there was a garden of Sculpture nearby. Alas, we could not locate the place. So, we decided to head back downtown. (We later found out that the garden was located opposite BaiYun Shan, and one needed to go across the busy road).

Our next destination was to The Tomb of King of Nanyue. The tomb of the king was uncovered by mere luck in 1980’s, when there was a construction works ongoing at the same site. The tomb was dated in year 220 BC, which makes it 2200 years old. In this tomb, they found the remains of the king itself, buried together with various artifacts and some human remains, thought to be human sacrifice to accompany the king after-death. When the government found out how big this significant finding was, they put a stop to the construction work. Thank god for that!

By the time we finished the tour around the tomb, it was already 4pm. We were rather tired, so we decided to head back to hostel for a short rest. We had our dinner that night at the hawker stalls nearby our hostel. There were lots of hawkers selling by the roadside, and I tell you, the food were great! We ordered oyster bakar, sotong bakar, cendawan bakar, and some meatballs. Yes, most of the food here were barbequed-style. The food was cheap (oyster bakar sells for only RMB 2 per piece, which is only RM 1 per piece) and the hawkers were never stingy with the ingredients and sauces they put in. Our dinner cost less than RMB20 and that left us full. I decided to have that oyster bakar again later that night, with some Chinese beer. That would be awesome.

Jye Horng decided to retreat for the night, while I lepak lepak at the hostel lobby. One of the reason I chose to stay at these youth hostel is that one can mix around with people from various background. I met a few interesting individuals that night. Tim, an American, was retrenched from Citibank last few months. He decided to head off for a vacation in Asia after getting the compensation. This city was his third city, and before this, he was at Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

After a few rounds of beer session, more and more people joined in our conversation. A few Chinese came to join in, and soon our conversation became multi lingual. They were trying to converse with Tim, while I had to do the translation between Tim and the chinese. Lum Chee Kin was a chef in a restaurant nearby, and he was nice enough to offer us some cookies he made. Ma Bing Cheng was an engineer in another city, and he came to Guangzhou for a holiday with his friends (who later joined us in the conversation). He had wanted to practise his English with Tim but as he can only speak a handful of English, I had to translate his words into English in order for Tim to understand. Lum was a native Cantonese, while Ma speaks Putonghua, so the conversation on our table was a mixture of English, Cantonese and Mandarin.

Met also an Iraqi-British guy (father was an Iraqian, married to a British) who was studying in Beijing (or was it Nanjing?), currently doing Masters in Chinese history and politics. One thing interesting is that this guy can speak Mandarin very well. I have to admit that his ability did really put a dent on my confidence! Imagine a Mat Salleh who can converse in your very own native language much better than you are! God, that’s pretty humiliating I say!

As the night retreated, two of Ma’s friends joined the table. These two can speak really good English which really impressed me. But one of them had some strong American accent, which makes me think that either this guy had studied in US before, or he was trying to imitate the Americans.

Topics we talked that night range from American politics, Obama’s Make-The-Change, US army occupation in Iraq (this is what you get if you threw an American and Iraqi descendent together on the same table), Chinese history, economics, anthropology, love relationship and where-to-visit-in-HK-and-Guangzhou.

An interesting conversation, nice cookies and four bottles of beer later, it was already 3am. It’s a waste as I only managed to striked up the conversation on my last day at the hostel. Went back to sleep as we need to head to another city the next day. By the way, I missed out from tasting the nice juicy oyster bakar that night. Damn!

Culture, History, Animal and Shopping : Day 2 - Still In Guangzhou

2009-02-26T21:39:00.014+08:00

Our day started with a visit to Chen Jia Ci (Chen Family Clan Memorial Temple), located nearby a Metro station with the same name.

As we walked from the Metro station to the building, we came across a group of people doing what Chinese like to do in their favourite past time.

1. Tai Chi, and....

2. Kicking feather (I don't know if this is the correct word to describe the game or not)

Chen Jia Ci was also known as Guangdong Folk Art Museum. Will not explain much on the building. Try googling out for more info.

View from outside the building

The main entrace

The open courtyard

The back garden

Our next destination was to visit Guangzhou Zoo. I had a look on their website and it showed a lot of attractions in it. It was known as the second largest zoo in Southern China. Panda, not suprisingly, was one of the star attraction. Apart from that, there was also section on Australian animals. Koala, kangaroo, and some other natives animals which can only be found in Australia were displayed here. Now, that really captured my attention. Oh, I just can't wait to reach there!

We decided to take bus from Chen Jia Ji to Guangzhou Zoo. While on our way over, the bus passes by a very interesting place. From the main road, the building looked very grand from afar. Jye's sharp eye saw the wording on the main archway.

"Dr Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall"

Oh!! We just had to dropped by that place at all cost! Who wouldn't want to pay a visit to the see the Father of Modern China? We stopped by the nearest bus stop.

Statue of Dr Sun Yat Sen with the majestic memorial hall in the background

The building was built in year 1929 to commemorate the founder of China. Some of the history of the building can be found here, here and here.

After the walk down one of the most important historical place in Chinese history, we decided to take a bus to our destination - Zoo!! While we were on the bus, we saw another nice building nearby. Again, Jye's sharp eyes did not fail me. The bus stop we passed by was called "Wong Tai Sin Temple". We quickly got off at the next bus stop and walked over.

Wishing Tree

Wishing Wheel

It was nearly 1pm plus and time to fill our stomach. No specific idea on what to eat, but we ended up eating at a Chinese Muslim restaurant. Of all places, we managed to land ourselves in this restaurant.

To our suprise, the food here was very nice! Not to mention, cheap and big portion too!
For a moment, it came across my mind to try out similar business here in Malaysia. I think with the taste, it would appeal to various races in a multi racial country in Bolehland. Oh well, maybe I will consider it when I get kicked off from job pretty soon. The oil price and economy downturn is killing my company, and the chopping board will come to me very soon. Peddling at pasar malam would be good, i think.

After lunch, and a half hour later, we managed to reach our destination.
First stop, aviary section.

And water animals...

And herbivore area...

Chomp chomp chomp!

And canine section..

Big Bad Wolf in a cage

After a brisk walk around the zoo, we proceed to the main attraction - Panda
But alas, no panda were to be found at the area. I couldn't help but to feel that I was ripped off.

Then at the Australian section, all we see is this.

One very pathetic kangaroo

And no koala at sight! What a blardee rip off! So much for an Australian section!
Ptuii~~

BBW, you are a sucker!! Muahahahahahah...

After the Zoo, we grabbed a bus and dropped ourselves off at Gongyuanqian (literally translated, Garden Front). Had dinner at KFC. After that, we walked to Beijing Road (Bei Jing Lu, in Mandarin). It's a well known pedestrian street in Guangzhou. People everywhere, and much more than the night before. Unlike Shang Xia Jiu Lu, this place was more vibrant and colourful, thanks to the neon lights around.

Try to count how many heads are there in this photo. The winner will get an all-paid-expense trip to Guangzhou sponsored by BBW

The time was almost twelve and we headed back to our hostel.
Captured some night scenery along the Pearl River.

Near Miss... And Day 1 In Guangzhou

2009-02-26T20:40:00.017+08:00

After bunking in a Jason’s house for a night, me took a cab from his house to KL Sentral at 2.45am. I would meet up with Jye there. Just in case you wondering who Jye is, she was the one who joined me for this trip. We intended to catch the earliest Aerobus from KL Sentral to LCCT, which was at 3.30am. Thought that my timing would be perfect as the distance was barely 20km away (Sri Damansara to KL Sentral). There couldn’t be traffic jam at this hour of the night, I reckon. I calculated that the journey will take only 30 mins. One thing I missed out was that I did not take into account of Murphy’s rule. When things could go wrong, IT WILL GO WRONG! The cab was hauled up by at a JPJ roadblock while we were on the way. Apparently the taxi driver’s license had expired, and he was issued a summon. on the spot. Knowing how local JPJ officers worked, the process of issuing the red paper was almost half an hour! Productivity would have dropped to super low. After all, it was in the wee morning hours. Not enuff sleep ma!

That barger dropped me KL Sentral at 3.35am, and I was 5 mins late to board the first bus! We had to board the second bus which was half hour later. Darn it! Reached LCCT at 5.10am, and we quickly rushed to check in. Goodness gracious, the check-in counter were about to be closed in the next few minutes! We barely reached there in the nick of time. After checking in, we dashed to the departure gate, and yes, we were the last to board the flight. The plane took off a few minutes later. Phew! That blardee stoopid taxi driver almost caused us to miss the flight. I dreaded to think of the worst case scenario.

Plane heading north. Guangzhou, here I come!!

Anyway, 4 hours after taking off, we reached Guangzhou airport. Everywhere was Chinese characters. English wording was almost non existence. I could swear that I have landed mself in an uncharted territory. I can only read a handful of Chinese wordings, and it wasn’t helpful at all! Although I can speak Mandarin, my level of comprehension/speak was at best useful only in rojak conversations in Malaysia. Thankfully, Cantonese language was used widely in Guangzhou district, so it did provide me a sense of relief. But when you see all around was Chinese characters and none in languages which were familiar to you, to be frank, it can be really scary and beats all the confidence out of you. And to think that I will be spending the next 5 days in China, I could swear that I do feel frightened at that moment of time.

But thank God, Jye was Mandarin-literated. She has been a very good guidance and help throughout the journey, not just in Guangzhou, but also in HK and Macau as well. Wait for upcoming posting on these places!

Anyway, we then took a bus from the airport to Guangzhou Main Railway Station, which was 45 minutes away.

Guangzhou Railway Station

Then we proceed to take Light Rail Transit which is 10 mins walking distance away (It is known as Metro, in Guangzhou) to Fangcun station. Their Metro station was very clean, and the trains were punctual and very frequent. We waited for just a couple of minutes before the arrival of the train. Connectivity from one line to another line was very good, and one can easily navigate their way through (provided he/she knows where they intend to go). There was English wording on each of the station, so it is not that bad for me.

Metro Station (yellow line). Notice the Gung An (police) standing nearby? Their presence are almost everywhere at all public areas in Guangzhou. I feel more secure here than in KL.

Anyway, I managed to book our accommodation at Riverside YHA (YHA = Youth Hostel Association) via online website earlier (try Wotif.com or hostels.com), which was located 10 mins away from Fangcun station. From the website and the visitor's review, it seems that the hostel was not that bad. It was not a posh and high quality hotel, but more like hostel meant for backpackers and budget travellers like us. Simple room with air conditioner, common living room, internet access, laundry (Very cheap, only RMB 8 per wash load, but its D.I.Y). Here are some photos of the room and the surrounding area.

Cozy living room with a mini bar

Upon checking in, we had a quick lunch and made our way to the jetty nearby. Our first destination was to visit Shamian Island, across the Pearl River. This small little island was situated just opposite the jetty, only 5 mins by boat. Cost only RMB 0.50 per trip, which translates to about RM 0.25. How blardee cheap!! I am still intrigued by how the operator profit from this super low fare price.

View of the city across Pearl River from the jetty

Anyway, some brief history on Shamian island. This place was designated to be a living quarter for the colonial Europeans. If one is familiar with Chinese history, European colonies (English, French, German, just to name a few) had wanted to break into Chinese trade, especially into Guangzhou as it was a well known port in the past. The Chinese didn’t like the Europeans and in fact despise them to the point of calling them “white ghost” (gwai lou, in Cantonese). However, due to the weak Chinese government at that time (wide spread corruption and internal power struggling) created opportunity for the Europeans to break into the country and took part in the lucrative trade. The Guangzhou government had to submit to the humiliation. Eventually, they had to allow the Europerans to build their base here, and Shamian Island was allocated to British and French. Hence, the buildings on the island had characteristic of neo-colonial Europeans architectural. Some of the buildings were nearly 200 years of history and well preserved. Suprisingly, these buildings are still occupied by private owners. Some are still used as home, some are used for business and a few were turned into exhibitions hall.

Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel, a French Catholic Church

One thing we found out in the short trip here was that, this place was popular among the bride-bridegroom-to-be. We encountered more than five couples taking wedding photo shots around the area. I do agree with the selection of place as I found the place beautiful too.

After Shamian Island, we proceeded to YueXiu Park, a very famous garden smacked in the city of Guangzhou. We were lucky as our trip was only a few days after Chap Goh Meh, so the new year decorations are still around to greet us. We were greeted by the animal of the year, oxen.

The park was well preserved and well maintained. Very clean, and not a single cigarette butt to be found here. I swear that I saw a lady sweeping fallen leaves every few minutes. Labours are cheap here, I suppose.

Rock carving are aplenty here too.

And the highlight of the park is the Statue of The Five Rams.

And this one too - Monument of Father of Modern China, Dr Sun Yat Sen.

And the scene from one of the old Chinese fairytale.

And this one is the Monument of Reading. Notice a man slanting against the monument? He was actually reading there.

One thing very funny in China was their English translation. I believe most of you would have read about this through forwarded mails. So, it's not suprising for me to encounter one too. I just had to capture this funny scene.

It was almost 7pm when we left Yuexiu Park. We headed to Shang Xia Jiu Lu (Up Down Nine Road, literally translated) which was nearby. It was a well known pedestrian market street, and I tell you, the place bustled with people! I can't believe my eyes as the number of people there can easily put KL's Chinatown to shame. I just can't help wondering where did all the people came from? The street was wide and spacious, unlike the KL's Chinatown. Clothes, sports shoes, jewelery, food (yummy!!), toiletries, you name it. You can find them here.

After walking down the street of more than 1km long, my leg started to give way. Headed back to hostel for a good night rest before continuing the journey tomorrow.

And Now, I Am Flying.....

2009-02-25T22:04:00.002+08:00

I have always been an ardent fan of Air Asia. I simply love their business model; no-frills air flight, skimpy stewardess uniform, affordable air fare, sexy air stewardess, aggressive expansion, curvaceous body of air stewardess, catchy promotion, beautiful air stewardess uniform, creative idea, etc; and I especially adore their catchy slogan “Now everyone can fly”. I certainly took my first maiden flight with Air Asia, courtesy of Mr Tony Fernandez and his brilliant idea – Zero Fare Campaign. That was 2 and half years ago, with Keane and Yaw Choy to Bang-cock and Chiang Mai (read here)

Fast forward to year 2009, and here I am, back afresh from a 10 days trip. This time, thanks again to the all-time-favourite-campaign, I managed to grab myself a tix. My destination this time was to fly from KL to Guangzhou, then move on to Shenzhen, Hong Kong and finally Macau, before heading back to KL. Total air fare is RM338.70 (RM154.50 for KL-Guangzhou; RM 184.20 for Macau-KL). The promotion was held in May 2008, where the oil price is nearing the peak. Hence, fuel surcharge was imposed at that time. Otherwise, the air fare could have been cheaper. Oh well, it was still a bargain. Where can one find such low fare ticket on this world?

Keane was supposed to join in for the trip. But alas, due to some personal commitment, he had no choice but to pull out last minute. Darn! That would mean I would be back-packing, alone.

But that was not meant to be. Perhaps Keane’s pulling out was a blessing in disguise. I found another companion for the trip. That person proved to be a fun and valuable companion in the upcoming trip. You will understand why once I blogged more on my trip later. In the meantime, I can't blog much on my trip as I am waiting for my worthy companion to deliver the digital photos to me. Updates on trip shall be posted once I got my hands on those photos.

Oh well, time to watch "Man of Honour", one of my favourite movie of all time. Blog later..

To be continued......

Ho Ho Ho~~~

2008-12-24T22:19:00.002+08:00

Santa's lil helper will be bunking in tonight with me. Merry Xmas to all!!!

Funny... (Part 3)

2008-12-14T00:38:00.005+08:00

RM47m Intel heist solved

By ANDREA FILMER

GEORGE TOWN: Police have classified the RM47mil Intel Technology Sdn Bhd microchip heist in 2006 as solved but the case remains open as the goods have yet to be recovered.

State deputy police chief Senior Asst Comm (I) Datuk Salleh Mat Rasid said more than 30 suspects had been arrested but none had been charged as there was insufficient evidence.

“Under the Emergency Ordinance, eight of the suspects were sent to the Simpang Renggam detention centre for two years while the remaining suspects were released.

“The goods cannot be recovered so we do not regard this as an achievement. We have classified the case as solved since we have identified the robbers, but not closed,” he said, adding that they suspected the microchips had been smuggled out of the country.

The heist, one of the country’s biggest and most daring, involved more than 20 robbers who stormed the Second Air Cargo Complex in Batu Maung in two trailers and escaped with 585 cartons and 18 pallets of microchips. Seventeen people were hurt during the robbery.

On a related matter, SAC Salleh told a press conference at investPenang yesterday that Penang’s crime index had declined.

He said the state police were focusing on improving their delivery system and crime prevention strategies.

The programmes for next year would be announced by Penang CPO Datuk Wira Ayub Yaakob soon, he added.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who chaired the press conference, said the state was looking into a proposal to set up a permanent police base at each end of the Penang Bridge.

On the use of the Emergency Ordinance on the suspected Intel robbers which involved the use of detention without trial, Lim said the disclosure of this information “did not mean we (Pakatan Rakyat) supported the law” as Pakatan had made its stand on the issue “very clear”.

(source)

---------------------
Our law enforcement and prosecution's track record are really really poor till they have to resort to using a dirty tactic to detain the so called "suspects" as there was no concrete evidence.
So, how they classified the case as "solved" really baffles me. And to see that those 8 "suspects" detained for crime that they may not commit. So, what happened to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? Ironically, this declaration was signed 4 days ago, 60 years before.

Funny and ironic eh? But it's not to me! Our government is slowly turning into a Khmer Rouge regime.

...

2008-12-08T23:01:00.006+08:00

Instead of offering help to those in needs, these amoeba went and helped themselves, by looting.
After all, these Bkt Antarabangsa are places where the posh and the wealthy stays.

Will you be suprised if these signboards are put up around the place?

Will you be suprised if a mandatory curfew be imposed on these areas to prevent burglary and looting, just like in New Orlean after the Katrina Hurricane aftermath?

Not for me. I won't bat an eyelid should these happen.
Human race has degraded to the lowest level after all.

Funny... (Part 2)

2008-12-01T20:46:00.003+08:00

Funny No. 4...
One of the cutest, and funniest ever cartoon I have ever watched..
I swear I could watch this a hundred times and will never get bored! Now, where can I get such cute dog like Bolt?

Funny No. 5
Who says Malaysians are conservative?
Watch them go bare-all!!

SHAH ALAM: Eight members of Gerakan Reformasi Rakyat Malaysia (Reformis) will stalk Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim and strip naked when they come face to face with him.

The men, aged 33 to 50, are from the movement’s “Dare to be Nude Squad.” [What the f*ck?]

They have decided to go ahead and bare all in protest against the state government’s decision to raise the rental of low-cost houses.

“Our struggle is to keep the rental rate for government low-cost houses under the People’s Housing Scheme from going up.

“We wanted a police permit to strip in front of the State Secretariat as a sign of protest but we were denied it, so, now we will stalk the Mentri Besar and go butt naked when we get the chance,” said movement president Ramlan Abu Bakar. [Please do some wiggle-wiggle in front of him too!]

He said the movement could not accept the state executive council’s decision in July to raise the rental from RM124 to RM250 a month for about 6,200 homes.

“We will go naked to get the message across. Our act is to humiliate or embarrass the Mentri Besar for not keeping to his general election promises to help the low-income earners,” he said. [Who will get humiliated? The stripper, or the looker? These people's common sense doesn't really make sense at all!]

On Nov 29, Selangor police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar had said that the police would reject applications for permits of such nature.

Ramlan said the act of going naked was similar to pie throwing, where pies are thrown at politicians or others as a means of protesting against political beliefs or against perceived arrogance in the person. [Oh, so by going nude and doing wiggle-wiggle dance would be the best way to show your disapproval? I can't wait to try that out!]

On Monday, Ramlan, together with nine other members, lodged a police report and also filed a report with the state Anti-Corruption Agency here against Khalid for alleged misuse of funds in organising a rakyat’s (citizens’) dinner at the PKR national congress last week.

“We want Khalid to vacate his post while the investigations are going on,” he said.

Funny...

2008-11-22T20:14:00.007+08:00

Funny No. 1
Those hole-y assholes, i mean, hole-y organization really did it.
No more yoga for Muslims.
They really have guts to reject yoga. According to these VIP (very idiotic pious) people, the 3 combo (movement, chanting and worshipping) are main elements in yoga and contradicts with Islamic value.
I really salute these VIP gau gau!!
Tabik!!!!

Funny No. 2
Another funny article by Patrick Teoh. So, can the real fler (killer) please stand up?

Funny No. 3
Ahh, he is back to his old form - punching on the right spot. May Allah bless him.. Oops!! I could risk myself thrown into jail if they caught me using the word "Allah"..

Malaysians really have a good sense of humour, don't we?

Day Trip to Dutch Hill

2008-11-15T23:36:00.000+08:00

As I was driving on my way to Lumut from KL last 2 week, I was passing by a place called "Bukit Melawati". Back in the good old school days, I believe this place was mentioned in our history books, on the chapters of Dutch invasion in the 15th century and subsequent civil wars fought in Selangor in the 17th and 18th century. Curious of the historical past, I decided to take a short tour around the place.

So, I did a short detour to this place. It was also known as Bukit Belanda, or "Dutch Hill". This place is located in Kuala Selangor, famous for the firefly sightings. By the time I reached there, it was almost close to 5pm, and I only managed to take a very very short tour at the museum located here. Didn't have the chance to fully digest the information and the historical background of the place, as the tour was cut short.Quite a waste, actually.

Anyway, below are some snapshots of the place.

The road leading to the top of Bukit Melawati. Road is wide enough only for one car and it's a one-way road. The road is open to public on weekdays, so one can drive up. However, it's closed on Saturday and Sunday.
Therefore, you can opt to take a tram to the top, or you can walk up. Ticket cost only RM2 for both way.
It's a brisk walk of 15 minutes from the bottom of hill to the top, if you choose to do so.

During the old times, lots of merchant ship, especially Dutch ships, plied the route of Straits of Melaka. From the top of the hill, one can see the coastline from afar.

It was due to this strategic location that the Dutch decided to build their fort in the 15th century after they conquered Melaka , hence the name Bukit Belanda (or Dutch Hill, in Malay). Subsequent power struggle followed, led by the Malay warlords to take back the hill from the Dutch after that. These warlords succeeded in the end, and the name was changed to Kubu Melawati.
From here, you can see small fishing villages dotting the river banks. You can also see the mangrove sanctuary, a haven for migrating birds.
I saw 2 eagles soaring sky above during my visit. Scouring for food in the marsh.

You will be greeted by this 17th century cannon. Originally brought by the Dutch to protect the fort from enemies. There are several cannons placed all over the hill top, all facing towards the sea, supposedly to guard the straits from pirates and enemies alike.

Mentagar tree.
This type of tree can be found in abundant in Kuala Selangor. Well, that's what it was stated in the museum.
The shape of the tree is rather nice, don't you think?

This tree is a favourite hangout for the monkeys that lives surrounding the hill.

View of a cannon below a mentagar tree. I lovethis photo shot.

There was a chair below the tree too (not captured in the shot), and I saw two monkeys sitting there, lovey-dovey-ing to each other.

Btw, these monkey falls under the group "Homosapiens". Hehehe...

Altingsburg Lighthouse on top of Bukit Melawati.
Beacon of hope for ships sailing in the dark.

A 17th century cannon, with the lighthouse at the background

Lots and lots of silverleaf monkeys can be found here. One rough count showed there were at least 100 of them here.
These monkeys are adorable, seriously. They are very friendly and approachable. I was a little afraid when seeing a whole group of them, but once you started feeding them with long beans and bananas (which was sold here), and seeing how beautiful they are, my scared feelings are gone. Beautiful, you say?
No kidding. They have a sporty hairstyle, like David Becham's mohican hairstyle which was famous a few years back. They gave them nickname "David Beckham".

Close up of a Silverleaf Monkey, with the mohican hairstyle (barely visible here)

Long tailed macaques. Another type of monkey that lives on the hill. This type of monkey is rather hostile. Doubt if they have the word "friend" in their dictionary, if they have any.
Try not to be near them, as they are rather fierce.

(Photo taken from another website)

Other than monkeys, there are also a few other wild animals found here.

A python, about 3 metres long

And a tiger!! Hah!!

Overall, the trip was satisfying even though it was a short one, less than 1.5 hours. This was suppose to be a historical tour, but I spent more time admiring the view and the animals, rather than spending time understanding the historical past of the place.

Nevertheless, I look forward to visit the trip again, but I will have to make sure I reach there earlier, not late in the evening!

Au Revoir, Mon Amour

2008-11-11T21:21:00.005+08:00

I thought that our love will last forever.
I was wrong.
I know that the time we know each other is short, but we could give it a try if we could.
But you didn't.
Maybe we will work out just fine if you are willing to give ourselves a chance.
But we began to fall apart.
You try to avoid me, I know it.
Avoid seeing me, or even answering my call.
I could never find any thing wrong that I did that caused you to do so.
Could it be my lack of attention? Or me not beside you in times of need?
I could never understand.

But now I do.
You finally have the courage to admit that you are seeing someone else.
That really hurt my heart. Like a stab, deep into me.
And worse still, you are going to marry that bastard and bear his child.
I will never forgive you for this despicable act.

Farewell, my love.

ps: I will still keep those beautiful photo collection of yours. That will be handy in times of need.

Bird-day Pressie~~

2008-11-10T18:30:00.002+08:00

How would you feel if someone remembers your birthday and sends you a gift on that very great day? That would be great, ain't it?

Well, today, I am feeling exactly the same.
Words couldn't described how happy I was to receive that gift. Tears almost rolled down my cheek when my mum broke the news to me. Though I have not seen in person what is the gift, I know that this would be a very special gift, from my dearest friend.

Thank you, my dear friend. I know you are always dear in my heart. I shall always remember you.

Now, let's wait for the next upcoming discount for me to reciprocate the gift.

Screw It, Let's Do It!!

2008-11-09T23:12:00.003+08:00

In bad economic times like this, I have often emphasized in my few earlier blogging articles that cash is supreme. We would have to tighten our belt and save as much as we can for the big storm ahead. The current global meltdown is unprecedented in world’s history. Trillions of dollars was swept from the equity market, and numerous banks went down under, resulting in bailout from the Central Bank. Share market is dropping day by day. Singapore has already declared that they are in technical recession. God knows what is there to come. One can say that the current scenario is much worse than The Great Depression of the 1920’s. Interest rates are dropping, another sign of recession in the loom. Saving money is paramount as you will never know how long this storm will last.

However, economist will argue that saving during the bad times will only make the economy harder to recuperate. The money put in banks will not generate more money as the interest rates are usually low. Instead, they will urge the people to spend so that the money will be circulated in the economy. When people spend, it is a sign that the condition is not bad as people has the ability to spend. The effect of the money transferring from one’s possession to another will create wealth, and thus boosting the confidence of the overall market. This is better as the wealth is well spread compared to putting all the money into bank savings, thus benefiting only the bank.

So, instead of practising what I preach, which is save, save and save, I decided to heed the economist’s advice for once, and I went for a buying spree at a local book fair. Talk about walking the talk! I can’t help that I am behaving like a politicians, as 99.99% of them do not practise what they preach. Hehehee!

Screw It, Let’s Do It, by Richard Branson
(I later found out that I have downloaded the e-book version in my laptop last time and I wasn’t even aware of it!)

Marley and Me, by John Grogan
(Story about a family and their beloved labrador doggie)

Stardust, by Neil Gaiman
(I haven't watch the movie version though)

The HP Way : How Did Bill Hewitt and I Built Our Company, by David Packard
(Definitely can learn one thing or two from the founders of one of the
biggest companies in the world)

Chronicles of Narnia (Book 1 to 3), by CS Lewis

Climbing Book, with plenty of graphics, costing only RM10. Cheap, cheap, cheap!!

Obsessive compulsive kicked in, and I ended up buying about 10 books. Total cost = RM150+.

Isn’t it great to know that this money will be benefitting the bookstore, publisher, author, advertising company and newspaper (It was promoted in the local paper), the temporary workers at the bookfair, transporter (massive amount of books required to be transported from the warehouse to the book fair, right?), right down to the ice-cream pedlars outside the bookfair (I also bought an ice-cream after hours spent there)?

I have done my part to save the ailing economy, though it’s not really a big help. What about you?

Mourning For Humanity

2008-11-04T13:02:00.003+08:00

I really wish that our Muslim Hole-y Council will issue a fatwa condemning this brutal, inhuman act, rather than wasting resources on determining who are devianist and who is not over some yoga session.

Lumut, Oh Lumut

2008-11-03T16:23:00.001+08:00

Photo 1 : Lumut WaterFront

Photo 2 : Restaurants alongside the Waterfront with magnificent view of the river

Photo 3 : View of Dinding River by the Jetty

Photo 4 : Ferry parking at the jetty

Photo 5 : View of Lumut Navy Base, taken on top of Bukit Engku Busu

Down The Memory Lane

2008-11-01T21:43:00.000+08:00

It's been more than 4 years since I last stepped into my alma mater and I badly missed my university days. As I took leave last Tuesday, I decided to drive to UKM to have a short tour around. After all, I was on my way from Seremban to Lumut, and I will be passing the Bangi exit.

Let's take a short tour around the campus.

Photo 1 : The main road leading into UKM entrace. One can see the uni's mosque just on the right of the entrace

*** AROUND UKM ***

Photo 2 : Front view of DECTAR (Dewan Chanselor Tun Abdul Razak).
It's the main hall of the university.

Photo 3 : View of a stadium. Track and field events are conducted here on a regular basis

Photo 4 : View of a swimming pool in KRUKM (Kelab Rekreasi UKM).
It was here that I won led my hostel and winning medals in the annual inter-hostel swimming competition *beaming with pride*

Photo 5 : One nice thing about UKM is that there are lots of greeneries around. You can find rows of trees alongside the road. The management is really supportive of green environment, I guess

Photo 6 : Road leading to the heart of UKM

Photo 7 : View of FSKK (Faculty of Human Science and Sociology ... I think the name is something like that larr)

*** KOM B ***

Photo 8 : Kolej Aminuddin Baki (Kom B), the hostel I stayed throughout the 4 years in uni

Photo 9 : My room is on the top floor, furthest to the left

Photo 10 : Bien venue a Kolej Aminuddin Baki

Photo 11 : The main lobby of the hostel administration office.
Used to hang out here often (reading free newspaper, chatting up with frens, lepak lepak, watching TV)

Photo 12 : The sofa sets are quite new

Photo 13 : K5B up ahead

Photo 14 : K5B-419. My room for 4 years! Currently unoccupied.

Photo 15: The stairs leading from Kom B to PTSL and Pusanika

*** PTSL ***

Photo 15: The exterior of PTSL (Perpustakaan Tun Sri Lanang). It was renovated ever since I left uni in 2004. Plus, free wi-fi connection is available, and you can see lots of students using laptop compared to my time

Photo 16: The interior of PTSL. The interior was renovated as well, with a brand new sofa set thrown in

Photo 16: Nice designing work, but I must say the pinkish/reddish colour is not really conducive to study environment

*** PUSANIKA ***

Photo 17: Nescafe stall still stand strong after these years. It was first set up in year 2000.

Photo 18: Choir room has been "cannibalized" and turned into this club

*** KEJUT ***

Photo 19 : Kejut Lake (Kejut = short form for Kejuruteraan), beautiful and serene. During my time, this lake was full of muddy water and no fish is able to survive here

Photo 20 : Solar House, an experimenting ground for solar energy. A new addition after I graduated. Situated opposite Faculty of Engineering.

Photo 21 : Front view of Faculty of Engineering

Photo 22 : Masterpiece from the students of Deparment of Architecture.
This department was only set up in year 2004.

2008-10-30T12:35:00.011+08:00

Muslim should not practise yoga.

Why?

Because yoga practioners are devionist and will stray away from their "holy" path and risk turning into a fakir, and forever condemned to hell.

That's what the "Hole-y Muslim Organization in Malaysia" said.
Upon researching the internet, I found strong evidence which concurs with the warning issued by them. The following photos will support my findings, and it will also shows the result should one indulge in such pratises regularly, especially Malaysian Muslims.

+++

Photo 1

A yoga pose which claimed that can elevate oneself into becoming Manasa, Hindu Snake God.
Almost 99.9999% of the people in goverment sector do this pose at least twice a week, 1 hour for each session.

The result?

Each and everyone of them are turning into snakes. You can tell this from their productivity and efficiency of work. Snake here, snake there, and snake everywhere!
For those which have attained a higher level in yoga, they have the ability to cast their magic and have you vomit blood just by talking to them.

+++

Photo 2

A photo depicting a devious yoga practioner imitating as a Lord Buddha.
One may argue that the stance made the practioner looks like sleeping, but actually they are in the midst of attaining the highest reward; attaining Nirvana. There were rumours that our current Prime Minister practises this everyday, and there were photos taken of him in such similar stance (sleeping Buddha stance)

The result?

Due to constant practises, our Prime Minister has managed to attained the highest level, and he is destined to heading to Nirvana by next March, by retiring in peace and finding his own solace.

+++

Photo 3

A yoga practioner praying and asking for blessing or forgiveness from Apollo, the Sun God.
This stance is a favourite among the politicians. One can see them in such stance whenever they are near to the Prime Minister, or a Very Very Important Person. You may even see one doing this when they have committed great sins, but you can only see them doing this in front of the Prime Minister, or a Very Very Important Person.

The result?

You can see that politicians get scots-free even after committing grave sins (inciting racial riots, pocketting bribes, C4-ing people, extra-marital affair, etc) or in reward, getting Tun-ship/TanSri-ship/Datuk-ship, bagging millions dollar of goverment contracts, etc

+++

Photo 4

A stance praising the Sea God, Poseidon.
It was reported that Malaysian fishermen practise this every morning before they go out to sea. They claimed that by doing this stance 1 hour each day, good luck will befall onto those who rigorlously practise this and lots of sea catch will follow suit.

The result?

Lots of money are flowing oversea, especially after the last general election. Rumours were said that billions of ringgit were transfered from Malaysia ever since then.

+++

Photo 5

A position which is a favourite among our government officers, be it Muslim or non-Muslim as well. It's called flip flop position. One who master this stance has the capability of flipflopping their decision faster than you can spell Oh-My-God backwards.

The result?

Latest Jalan Alor incident is a clear example of this. Other examples are:
1) Changing national anthem from original tempo, to a fast one, and back to the original one
2) Banning a Christian publication from using the word "Allah" and reversing it the next few days

+++

I would say that it should be totally banned from the face of the earth so that we can achieve ever lasting peace. I am going to propose this to United Nations!

Run Police Run

2008-10-18T17:17:00.006+08:00

Imagine you were walking along a street, and 2 policemen were on patrol nearby, approximately 20 feet away.
Suddenly, a guy came up to you. With a knife pointing towards you, he asked for all the valuable things in possession - wallet, watch, mobile phone, etc.
The policemen saw this with their highly trained eyes.

Question :
What happened next?

A. They made a swift move towards the robber. In a blink of an eye, the robber was pushed to the ground and was handcuffed. You were unharmed and you thanked the policemen profusely for their valiant effort.

B. They shouted towards the robber. The robber got panicky and tried to run away. The policemen grabbed him and the robber was overpowered. He was taken to the police station after that. You were unharmed and you thanked the policemen profusely for their valiant effort.

C. They shouted towards the robber. The robber made a run for his life. The policemen chased him down the alley but the robber was much faster. In the end, the robber escaped. You remained unharmed but you nevertheless thanked the policemen for their effort.

D. They shouted at the robber. The robber turned his body and with a knife in his hand, he started chasing the police. The policemen made a run of their life, clocking 9.25 seconds in a 100m dash. The situation was captured in a camera phone by a passerby and was uploaded to youtube. The video became famous and received 1 billion hits in 1 day, thus crashing youtube site. The 2 policemen became famous and received a Tan Sri-ship for the following:-

1. Becoming the fastest person on earth (The sprint record was never broken for the next 50 years)
2. Promoting Malaysia and the Royal Police of Malaysia (PDRM) to the eye of the world.
3. For being featured in a Malaysian made video which received 1 billion hit in youtube in 1 day
4. For being featured in a Malaysian made video which crashed youtube site for the first time in history, resulting in the server being inaccessible to the world for the next 48 hours
5. For changing the motto of PDRM from "Tegas, Adil dan Berhemah" (Firm, Fair and Curteous) to "Lihat, Lari dan Selamat" (See, Run and Safe)

Now, could the answer be A, B, C or D?

Any kindergarten kids could have given the correct answer.
Just like in Moral exam papers, the answer are the one with the longest string of sentences.
No present for giving the correct answer, which is D.

=========

Parliament: Cops scared of crooks, so base closed! (updated)

By ROYCE CHEAH

KUALA LUMPUR: A police beat base in the Chow Kit area of downtown Kuala Lumpur was closed down because it was in a location that was considered unsafe, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar.

In a written reply to Dr Lo’ Lo’ Mohamad Ghazali (PAS-Titiwangsa), Syed Hamid said the beat base was located in a dirty area where there was a possibility of being exposed to contagious diseases.

The presence of criminals also posed a threat to the safety of police officers, he said.

Lo’ Lo’ had asked why the beat base on Jalan Haji Taib was closed considering the high number of vice-related activities in the area, as well as what kind action had been taken by the police to curb such activities.

Syed Hamid said that the police were looking for a new location to build a police beat base that would be able to give “guaranteed and continued service to the public.”

Lo’ Lo’s was the 30th question in the Order Paper and hence did not get a mention in the House during the daily one-hour Question Time. However, Dr Mohd Hatta Ramli (PAS-Kuala Krai) managed to raise it when he interjected during Azmin Ali’s (PKR-Gombak) speech during the debate on Budget 2009.

Dr Mohd Hatta said that if the police themselves felt unsafe in a beat base, then it would be even worse for the public.

“The minister has to resign if he is worried about the safety of police in that area. Maybe it would be better to put the beat base in army barracks,” he said.

Dr Mohd Hatta then managed to raise the issue again during his own debate on Budget 2009 saying that Syed Ali’s response was not rational.

“The police are there to make a place safe. If they themselves are scared and run away, then how can we hope for others to want to be there?

“It is embarassing and that is why the criminals will always be there,” he said.

Dr Mohd Hatta said if the place is dirty, then it is up to the police to organise gotong-royong activities to clean it up or if they did not want to then they should move to Putrajaya or Parliament.

“And what is this about contagious diseases on Jalan Haji Taib? The only kind of contagious diseases that are present there are sexually-transmitted ones.

“Is the minister scared that his charges will contract such diseases? That kind of thing is a matter of choice. In any case, if this is what he is worried about then we are worried that the police are not above this.”

Dr Mohd Hatta added that the police had to be brave people and that they were a different breed altogether when facing demonstrators. He said he hoped that the minister would clarify his written answer in the House as this is not the kind of police that the people want.

=========

Thanks to Patrick for alerting this comedy script

It makes me laughed so hard after reading it.
But at the same time, I kinda feel creepy too.
I guess all the allegation (that the mob has higher authority than the police) could be true.
The country is run by mongrels after all.
Isn't it any wonder why no one show any respect to the police?
And no one give a damn to the law.

It just reinforce my thought of leaving the country. What about you?

Home Sweet Home

2008-10-17T12:55:00.006+08:00

Interested to buy yourself a home which looks something like this?

How much would you think it will cost?

RM1 million? That is the cheapest price of a condo one can get in Golden Triangle KLCC.
Nope, the agent would have chased you out of the show room.

RM10 million perhaps?
Maybe that will buy you something, but not the apartment.

Freak!! RM 100 million? I can buy myself a super bungalow with golf course and horse ranch around it!
Price is attractive, but not for this property.

Goodness! Then how much is it?

.
.
.

USD 2 billion, with a capital B!

You won't be able to buy the condo even if you have the money. The whole property, or the "mansion", is owned by one super filthy rich guy named Mukesh Ambani.
Who the hell is he? Try googling it and you will notice that he is currently the 5th richest guy in the world.

Why would he want to build such a big home? Beats me.
Perhaps he has been affected by Malaysia-Boleh syndrome (trying to break records)

Currently undergoing construction work in India, and scheduled for completion end of 2008.
Originally designed to be 60 storeys high, but it was later reduced to 27 storey. You would assume that the height of the building would be lowered in tandem with the total storey, but no. The height remains the same, but the storey was lowered in order to make room for higher ceiling height.
3 floors have been allocated for garden balcony, and one floor for mini cinema, good enough for 50 person. A helipad on the top of the building.
And this whole building is for him and his family, minus his brother (you will understand why below). With some rooms spare for his staff as well.

Try to compare this house to the world's richest person, Warren Buffett's home.

That would put him to shame. For you who didn't know, this guy has been living in this house the very first house he bought in 1958.

The buying price?
Only USD30k.

Even though he has currently billions of assets, he still opt to continue staying in this house, with his beloved wife. No fancy downtown address, or super mansion on an island off the Dubai coast.

Try to compare this house with the Mukesh's super mansion and you can differentiate a wise and prudent man, with an ignorant and foolish fool.

Any idea why Warren's family relationship is still strong after all 60+ years of marriage, while Mukesh's is entangled with courtcase, with his own blood brother?

Can money buy happiness? Warren real life would have answered that well.

I Won't Be A Kettle, Nor A Pot! Never!!

2008-10-06T20:07:00.004+08:00

After enduring 3 days of torture, being unable to walk, eat or talk properly, I seriously think The One Above would have given me a good lesson for breaking the law. (for a note, I was fallen very ill)
I have been thinking of the despicable act throughout these period as well, and the more I think of it, the more disgusted I feel towards myself. Perhaps that would explain why I was feeling nauseous last few days.

Even though it was a meagre amount, a bribe is still a bribe. The white cloth is already stained.
After all that I have been making a big fuss about our country and the corrupted politicians, I have fallen into the same path. Isn't it ironic for me to condemn all the dirty politicians, and eventually I committed the same action just like them? Me, a kettle, calling a pot black!! What difference would I make, if I commit the very sin that I looked down upon?

Enough of this, I say.
No more of this shit.
I am not going to make myself dirty and unaccountable for my action.
So, I am going to make a change. I am going to keep to my words and continue my battle against this uphill fight.

Nope, I am not going to surrender myself and get myself slapped with fine 10 times the amount. Or going to jail. I don't have much courage in this, yet.

But hell no. I am going to make a promise. A promise which I would not break.
No more bribery, be it small or large amount. Never shall in my life expose myself to this dirty act, ever again.
If I break this promise, may The One Above send the lightning strike down upon this forsaken body of mine and strike me into pieces.

Nah, I would be able to keep to this promise. I know I will.
Just like how I keep a promise not to consume anymore shark's fin. It's been 3 years since I made the promise, and I am still.
It's not that difficult.

Not difficult at all.

Exposé!

2008-10-03T13:31:00.000+08:00

So, we have found ourselves a lot of naked swimmers out there.
AIG, Fannie May, Freddie Mac, Washington Mutual, Merrill Lynch and others.

What a scene it was! And to cast in USD700B to get them "covered" up, now, that's a pretty expensive swimsuit(s) i say!

Any more naked swimmers out there?

It's only when the tide goes out that you discover who's been swimming naked.
-Warren Buffett

Confession Of A Sin

2008-10-02T18:57:00.004+08:00

Dear Lord,

Please forgive me for I have sinned. I have succumbed myself to the dark side, albeit for only a short moment of time. A sin is still a sin, no matter how small it is. Worse part is that I have committed this sin on the very great day, the day of thanksgiving and worshipping to You.

I don't know if You will condemn me to the deepest of hell for the despicable act that I committed today. I can only hope that when the judgement day comes, when You take out my heart and put it on the scale, all the goodness that I have done throughout my life will outweigh the bad, and this sin which I have commited today. And so, I can only wish that my heart will rise up against the light feather when You put it on the scale.

And I hope that I do get to see those men with "Saya Anti Rasuah" badge on that day too, and I hope their heart will pull down the scale and be cast away into deepest fiery pit, for they have played a role in me committing the sin.

Amen.

Your repented and faithful servant,
BBW

The Final Frontier

2008-09-27T22:45:00.004+08:00

The Chinese made it to the headline again, performing a manned space mission. They went bolder this time around, performing a space walk and conducting some experiments (don't know what the heck are those test) in the empty space. And they are targeting to visit moon next.

One small step for human, a giant leap for mankind
- Neil Armstrong

And it was also around this time, one year ago, that we have our very first Malaysian sent to space. Our best achievement is that we sent one man as a space tourist, costing us millions of ringgit.
And the other achievement is that our pious academicians had created a device to determine the solat time while one is in space, and also the kiblat direction. Very commendable achievement, eh?

Americans called their spacemen "astronaut"

Russians called theirs "cosmonaut"

Chinese called their spacemen "taikonaut"

Malaysians?

.
.
.

"Can-or-Naut"
- Unknown

Richard Branson, Again....

2008-09-24T21:34:00.006+08:00

"Compelling. Brilliant. Revealling. Funny. Inspirational. Extraordinary."

"Grabs you on page one and never lets go."

The above are some of the reviews printed at the back of the book.
Normally, I find that these book reviews rather fake.
But not for this one. After 5 days of reading, this book has not disappoint me at all. Page by page flipped and turned, but there was not a single dull moment. This book revolves around the life of Richard Branson. For those who does not know who he is, try googling him. I bet there are easily thousands of hit, if not millions, all documenting him and his very famous brand, "Virgin".

Below are some snippits of the part of the book which I read so far.

***

Sex, Student and Virgin

Living life in the age of the hippies (imagine the time when long hair, dirty look, is a must for every guy) and where "free love"(read sex) was all around. Read how he exposed himself in business line, starting with Student magazine, selling mail order records through the magazine, and eventually settled with record stores in the early 70's. See how he and his partners differentiated themselves from the rest of the competitors, and how the word "branding" was put to good use.

God Save The Queen and Tubular Bells

From record store, he moved on to create a recording company, effectively giving him the chance to sign singers and bands. The spectacular Mike Oldfield with his chart topping Tubular Bells and the controversial and short lived Sex Pistols, these 2 bands catapulted Virgin Records into a different league, competing with Polygram and EMI, two well known recording companies. However, after youtubing Mike Oldfield, it just beats me how did the 70's generation managed to accept his genre of music. *shrug*
By the way, did you know that Sex Pistol was among the pioneer of punk music movement? Although this band's lifespan last only a few years, they have created a strong foundation for punk music to expand further. I could say that without Sex Pistols, there won't be Green Day or Nirvana (although some may argue that both are alternative rock genre and not punk, I shall leave it to you guys to decide).

Oh yea, it was worthy to mentioned how did the name "bollocks" came about (Princess, do take note :) ). Apparently, Virgin Record got prosecuted and brought to court for promoting one of Sex Pistols's title album which contained the word bollocks. However, after getting an English professor to stand as defence, it was then revealed that the word was actually a nickname for priests in the eighteenth century. You know, all priest delivers long hours of sermons, which most of the time nonsense in nature (or talk cock, in today's language), bollocks eventually associated with the meaning of "rubbish". But there was also another meaning of bollocks, and that mean balls (testicles, in gentleman language), and Virgin was hauled up to court for commiting offense, that is indecent advertisement. However, the court was convinced with the professor's argument and Virgin was free.

Birth of An Airline, Thanks To A Cancelled Flight

While he was on his holiday in Virgin Island (no, this is a name of a country, not Richard's private island. He bought one island of his own one in later date though) with his lover, he wanted to fly to Puerto Rico, but the flight was cancelled. Not wanting to give up, he rented a small aeroplane for his own. The aeroplane can carry more than 2 person. Being a prudent person both in life and business, he sold off the rest of the seats in the plane to other passengers who wanted to go to the same destination. And he did this by just putting up a signboard which says "Virgin Airways : $39 Single Flight To Puerto Rico". It sold off like hot cakes and hence, the birth of Virgin Airway.

***

Well, 413 pages more to go. I can't wait to read more. Shall update more on his book, if I have the mood to write. LOL.

From One Billionaire To Another

2008-09-21T20:42:00.006+08:00

What does a plastic flower seller and a school magazine publisher have in common?

1. They lead a very boring life.
Plastic flower seller sounds so oh-so-uninteresting, and school magazine publisher doesn't have time other than for editing/writing articles.
2. Both are dead profession.
Who wants to buy plastic flower nowadays? They are so outdated! Student nowadays doesn't read anymore. They prefer internet more than picking up a school magazine.
3. Both are on their way to be a billionaire.

The answer is (3). Don't believe? Well, read on then.

***

One started off as a plastic flower seller during his young days, and then moved onto property. With his magic touch, the price of his property rise, thus making him richer along the way. From the wealth he raised through property flipping, he managed to take over an ailing hong (large companies; conglomerate), Hutchison Whampoa, whose business ranges from port, retail and pharmacy (Telecommuncation, entertainment industry were included in later years). His business ventures oversea, in particular China and Canada, had created a mass fortune. Through his own flagship public listed company, Cheung Kong, this reputable entrepreneur eventually owned one of the largest business empire in the world. Known to be a very honest and humble person, he won praises. Integrity were the part of him and this has won respect from people around him. He was also instrumental in bridging the gap between Hong Kong and mainland China (prior to 1997) for he has strong political connection with the latter. Though he has immense wealth, he was very down to earth and he despised wealth floundering; the same discipline he instilled in his two sons.

He was listed as 11th richest man in the world in year 2008, with wealth of USD$26.5 billion (source: Wikipedia).

"If you want to be successful, whatever you business or position, you need to accept different opinions and different people. Why did the Yangtze become a long river? It's because it can accept smaller rivers and become big. If you're too powerful and reject the smaller waters, you cannot become a long river"
- Li Ka Shing

***

The other, a dyslexic and impossibly poor in mathematics, dreamed of being a journalist. To realize his dream, he started off as a school magazine publisher. Gathering funds to kick-off his pet project at the age of fifteen by convincing companies to put up advertisement in the magazine, he managed to start his first edition. Other than securing funds, he was also involved in interviewing public personalities such as Mick Jagger and John Lennon for articles for his magazine. A few years later, he started off a brand which eventually become one of the well known brand in the world - Virgin. Business ranges from entertainment industry, airlines, rail transportation, retail, broadcasting, hotels, properties, telecommunication and many more. This brilliant entrepreneur is well known for his crazy attempts when it comes to adventures. Sailing across the Atlantic ocean in record time, hot air ballon attempt in later years, and fastest time in crossing the English channel using an amphibious vehicle were his definition of "adventure".

He was listed as 245th richest man in the world, with wealth of USD$26.5 billion
(source: Wikipedia)

***

For you guys who daydream/aspire/ambition to become a billionaire, I strongly suggest to read the following autobiography of the two above. I personally find them very interesting, especially the one on Richard Branson. It's funny and entertaining.

By the way, I am starting my own business of plastic flowers and magazine publishing. Anyone want to chip in?

2008-09-20T13:30:00.000+08:00

"No one understands me"

"Me. I understand you"

"That's sweet. But my bladder is about to burst. Can we get on with this?"

**********

"You want to move to Florida? Why would you want to do that? Only oranges grow up in Florida"

Another Malaysian's Attempt For The Oscar Award

2008-09-19T23:30:00.009+08:00

This movie will go down the history as the best short movie ever created by a Malaysian.

Hope you guys will enjoy watching it, coz I did. I watched it almost 5 or 6 times and I laughed till my tears came out. Simply classic!! Brilliant, simply brilliant!

Let's pray that this director won't get ISA-ed or being sued for defamation. Or even get prosecuted for publishing a highly seditious video.

Whatever the outcome, I agree with the last sentence by the Hitler.

Bee En is F*CKED

masterpiece by http://blog.kavilan.com/

Recession Or Not?

2008-09-18T00:00:00.000+08:00

Some of you may have read about the fall down of AIG group, some may not.
Some may even heard of the issues surrounding Lehmann groups, some may not.
And also the one about Merrill Lynch.

And what is that all about?
Well, for more information, read this few articles.

Fed Backtracked
How AIG Impacts The World
Rescue Rises To USD900 Billion

In the meantime, get all your savings bucked up. Pull out all the money from the equities.
Cash is king during recession. Stay put, as we are heading into one. And its a rough one that is.

Shifting Again!! But To Heaven This Time

2008-09-17T20:56:00.017+08:00

I have shifted, again. This new place shall be my fifth place I am staying in the past ten months. That means approximately two months in one place. I was mad and pissed when I got to know about this. I mean, I can't help it as I feel that I am just like a ball, where I can be kicked here and there whenever the management feels like it. It doesn't help on the morale you know? Especially when you are asked to stay behind while the rest of my colleagues are requested back to KL office for a new project.

I don't mind to stay in Lumut. After all, I like it here very much. Nice food, peaceful town, cheap stuff, more money. But staying here just to clear other people's shit, now that isn't a very nice thing to do right?

Anyway, here I am, in my new apartment. Things doesn't look that bad after all. This place is the best of all I have lived in, and in fact, it would be one of my ideal apartment. Let me bring you for a short tour around...

Spacious living room with a chandelier, fully air conditioned and a carpet right in the middle of the room. And what I like most in this room is the "leopard-skin" sofa set.

A close up look on the leopard-skin sofa. I don't know why, but this sofa gives me a feeling of emptiness.

Wouldn't my life be great if this comes together with the sofa?

A beautiful and sexy lady in leopard bikini suit! Read it out! Leopard.. bikini.. suit!!!
Oh man, I am almost climaxing as I type this!
I wouldn't work for any overtime if I have the lady above at my place 24/7. Would tell my boss to fuck off should he requires me to do any work after 5.

Another pretty babe in leopard suit!! Arrgghh!! It's torturing to see this!! Let me have the lady in ...leopard.. bikini.. suit !!!!!

But sadly, I have this on my sofa instead. Not a leopard, but a hippotamus!!
Life doesn't treat me well, dont' u agree?

Thank God, I have this as a consolation to all my sorrows.

A balcony with 2 rattan chairs for people to enjoy the view of the swimming pool, two floors below. Now, is there any girl who wants to take up the chair?

And here I go when hungry..

Fully furnished with wooden cabinets and kitchen top. And also exhaust fans (one above the cooking place and one on the wall) to suck all the oily smells our of the kitchen.

And a place for me to relax and unwind after hours of works.
My oh-so-cozy room, all with lamps by both sides of the bed.

And a comfy desk by the window, where I can get free wireless connection and surfing with a view....

A view of the swimming pool, with the Dinding river at the background, covered by trees.

And finally, a place to rejuvenate my body after a tiring day at work.

A mixture of lavender bath mixture would be the excellent remedy. Oh by the way, the bath tub is big enough for two person. Great bath are meant to be shared, don't you agree?

That's all for the tour. Now, i's time to find that other person for the bath. :)

Egg Balancing on The Bull's Horn

2008-09-16T12:25:00.004+08:00

Today is the day that Malaysian were promised a change.

I don't see anything happening yet, other than talks.
Perhaps our friend Anwar is talking cock? Talk cock, duck or cow, we will know later today.

Market is getting jittery and almost breaching 1000 points barrier. Things are getting more unstable, and foreign funds fleeing the country. It's equally disturbing to see Farish Noor's article about estimated USD1.1 billion leaving the country in the month of August alone (see here). Could someone be on the run? Your guess is as good as mine.

So, quo vadi Malaysia?

Of Economy and Opportunity

2008-09-15T22:43:00.003+08:00

If anything could go wrong, it will go wrong.

- Murphy's Law

With the recent turmoil in our political senario, I thought things could have been really really bad.

But after reading this, I could have guessed that there are more grave news yet to come. Barely one week has passed since the announcement of a USD5 billion bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie May, and today, one of the reputable investment banks has filed for bankcruptcy. Another telltale signs of global economy crisis in the loom. Am I the only one who is having a very pessimistic view of the current world economy at the moment?

One may perceive it as a bad news, but for another, one could look at it as an opportunity, just like this one. I woudl not be suprised to see more companies buying into another ailing companies in the upcoming weeks. Its a shopping spree for the cash-rich companies out there!

Do I Look Stupid To You, Mr Goverment?

2008-09-14T14:22:00.003+08:00

A group of parliamentarian organizing a so called "study trip " to learn about the agriculture industry. And this takes places when a typhoon was about to hit the country. (see here)
And then, our brillian opposition played a cat-and-mouse game, supposedly chasing after them. (see here)

HELLO?? Why are you fucking morons spending all the unnecessary resources and time doing such silly things? Don't you guys have better things to do, such as administering our lazy local council, thinking of ways to make our transportation better, pulling in more foreign investments, etc?

A journalist was detained under ISA for reporting the facts about racist remark uttered by a politician. And reason given was "to protect her and ensure she is safe" (sourced here and here)
And then, releasing her back to the society the next day after detaining. Guess she can survive herself out there without the "police protection" huh?

Oh ya, does that mean everytime we feel our life is threatened, we can call up the police and tell them to ISA us? Lets hope the Kamunting center is expanded to accommodate more people, or else it would be turn into another Guatelama prison. Bad publicity to Malaysia you know?

Anyway, the wrongdoer (who uttered the racist remark) was not detained in ISA. He however, was banned for 3 years by the political party. When asked by he was not detained under ISA, the Home Minister replied that he was already slapped with the ban and that is sufficient.

??? So, can I say I can join UMNO, scream out loud that "XXX" is a fucking bigot religion and "XXX" is the race of bastards, get "lectured" by UMNO committees and get banned for a few years, and everything will be fine? Why don't I just join UMNO, go all out and commit selective-race genocide and then ban me for life? That would serve me right!

And to add more salt to the wound, this Minister said the ISA issue will only have short term effect on the economy (read here).

Oh really, my dear Minister? Please go to this website and see for yourself at Teresa Kok's portfolio. Who in the logical mind would want to invest in Malaysia, when the one who sourced for foreign investment was detained under ISA?

I am too dumbfounded and embarassed to write any further.

Another Bad Tiding Part 2

2008-09-07T20:46:00.004+08:00

One of many things that makes me sad and ashamed of being a Malaysian.

http://digitalibrary.my/dmdocuments/malaysiakini/683_police%20report%20racist%20teacher%205.8.2008.pdf

I can't believe that there wasn't any actions taken on the teacher. Transfering her to another school is just a mere slap on the wrist. Seditious and purely racist remarks uttered by her, and yet she got scots-free. Police report was made, but no investigation took place. Even the Education ministry keep mums and refused to impose any disciplinary actions on her.

51 years of independence does not mean a single thing to me if the government still condones open racism. What the current government preaches are just another form of colonization. What is taking place is another apartheid in the making, whereby the non-Malay are being marginalize.

When will we ever achieve pure independence? Could 916 direct us towards that direction?
I can only pray for that day to come.

Youtube On A Saturday Morning..

2008-09-06T10:53:00.005+08:00

What an excellent way to start the day.
Hog the office's bandwith by streaming multiplye youtube videos!

From weird deep sea fishes and offshore construction, right down to the amazing guitar skills of Tracy Bundy and the ever beautiful melody of Pachelbel's Canon In D.

Losing my religion , especially during this dark times in Malaysia, couldn't sound any better. :)

Youtube has certainly make my day... Ahh, another few hours to go before punching out.

Another Bad Tiding

2008-08-20T23:06:00.002+08:00

Patriotic level is dropping to negative level with news such as this.
Meanwhile, the organizers are fighting the last battle against our moron Minister (read it here)
I doubt if they can change the minister's stance. It would be easier to run 10 rounds of Marathon in one go than to inject common sense into his brain, if he has any.

Yes, I totally agree with you, JL boy.

FUCK YOU SHAFEE AND ALL THE BRAINLESS RELIGIOUS FANATICS!!

Babi Babi Babi Babi Babi Babi Babi Babi Babi Babi

2008-08-11T23:54:00.006+08:00

Two very interesting articles from Farish Noor, yet again.

Tong San babi (Tong San means "Mainland China" in cantonese) and the chaotic forum, no thanks to some shiok-sendiri-religion-defender-wannabe-who-cried-pig.

Working My Way To Join "Malaysia's Next Top Male Model"

2008-08-11T00:00:00.000+08:00

Me, being the next model?

Nah, that's just a joke. I am barely in that league.

My new objective, is simply, to have a body like this.

Or this..

These look good too...

Which guy wouldn't want to have a hunk body like that?

I know, I know, my age limit has way passed for me to train up, but better late than never, right?

Since there is a gym here, I might as well utilize it to the max!
In order to achieve that, I am going to allocate one hour, or maybe more, depending on my level of laziness, every night at the gym. I have a gym buddy (my housemate, in fact) to push each other to work our ass off at the gym.

But barely weeks away before "deporting" back to the pathetic city life, do I ever stand a chance?

Fleeing The Country?

2008-08-10T16:55:00.002+08:00

Dr M will migrate if Anwar becomes PM

Wait a minute!

You can't desert the country so fast! You are answerable to the many cans of worm that is happening in the country now. How you ruined the constitution, how the police/ACA/AG got so corrupted, the controversial bail outs which happened over and over again, how you sell off the country to the religious fanatics, cryonism and open corruption, lop sided toll and IPP agreements, screwing up the mainstream media, and many other issues that arises while you were still in power.

We need you to be put in a RCI to answer to the many issues that the country is facing now.

Now, don't you dare try to shirk away from all this responsibility!

In another development ,which again, making me think of fleeing the country, is the latest controversial open forum on Islamic conversion.

Religious fanatics has taken over the logical thinking and suppressing the freedom of expression.
How can an open discussion on this topic be equated to challenging the status of Islam?

It just beat me to think that the country is still hogging onto the old mentality, that is, one should not bring up the topic at all. It's highly seditious and can incite uneasiness among the biggest religion follower in the country. Will these fanatics ever learn to think critically? How can the country move forward if these solutions to the problem are not discussed and debated upon? And to read how the protesters handled the issue by storming into the forum and calling names! What does "Babi" and "Balik Cina" gotta to do with the forum?

How immature that is. And don't they know that these actions had betrayed themselves? Action speaks louder than words, and they have brought shame to themselves with the bro-ha-ha that happened on the forum floor. They think that they are protecting the good image of their religion, but alas, what they did has damaged their religion even more.

The world is progressing further, and Malaysia is taking a few more step backwards.

eight eight zero eight

2008-08-08T23:26:00.003+08:00

08.08.08, 8.08pm.

That's the time I clocked out tonight, while the world set their eye on the grandest event of the year.

Untitled

2008-08-05T21:25:00.000+08:00

I dont know why...
But I try to cut it down to size
And when I hold it up to the light...
It all looks good to me
- Kevroy Potter

Blogs blogs blogs!!!

2008-08-04T00:20:00.000+08:00

Saiful's fiance, started a blog in the first few days after the BIG NEWS broke out. In the beginning, it was opened to outsiders to read and to post comments (I posted a comment there), but it was later closed from public viewing. Maybe there are too much negative comments (Saw them with my own eyes, uh uh).

And now, its Saiful's turn to start a blog.

What would be their motive in starting these blogs?

Trying to gain sympathy, or just simply to express their feelings? Of could there be any malicious intention?

Whatever it is, I am sure these are related to the BIG NEWS. I would be damned if the prosecution uses this blogs as their evidence to prosecute Anwar in the court case, if the police decided to press charges against him. Malaysia's AG is capable of doing anything. Just like the Batu Puteh case, where our lawyers used this blog as their evidence in ICJ. By the way, the owner of the blog has turned it private after reader's condemning the articles.

I will not be suprised to see more blogs from people implicated in any criminal charges or court cases. Malaysians are good in copycat, right?

Co-ops: Billion Dollar Company In The Making

2008-08-03T13:42:00.006+08:00

(This article is taken here)

IT is just two years old, and with only 89 members, it is possibly the smallest cooperative in the country.

But Koperasi Pusat Pembangunan Kemahiran Sara-wak (Koperasi PPKS), which was registered in 2006, is the country's second best-performing co-operative.

Its chairman, Albar Abdul Rahman, said yesterday: "We have always adopted a wise and prudent management. That is the key to our success."
(If all the GLC company in Malaysia practise this in their business, then our money would have been used for better use instead of letting the goverment using it to bail out the ailing companies)

To be voted the second best-performing cooperative nationally surprised Albar, though.

But recognition for the success of Koperasi PPKS or Sarawak Skills Development Centre Cooperative, in Ta-buan Jaya, is overdue.
In its first year and with a working capital of RM4,050, it registered a net profit of RM167,800. The next year, its profits jumped 297.9 per cent to RM499,896.
(WOW!!! This much of percentage profit earned can easily put Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham, George Soros, Merilyn Lynch and other investment gurus to shame!!)

At its annual general meeting two months ago, the cooperative passed a resolution to pay out a dividend of 200 per cent.

Albar said: "The cooperative's performance was outstanding . We did fantastically in our first year and the dividend paid out was 100 percent.

"Last year, we more than doubled our profit and it is just fair that the dividend was also doubled."

The cooperative runs a cafeteria, cleaning and janitorial services, a photocopying centre and a mini market.
(Hmm...These businesses are worth to be considered eh?)

In Kota Baru, distributing small change to businesses and buying and selling gold jewellery under the Islamic pawn-broking concept of Ar-Rahn have earned Koperasi Permodalan Kelantan good profits in recent years.

Touted as one of the successful cooperative stories in the country, it is also making money from offering insurance coverage to telecommunication companies on their telecommunication towers.

The cooperative's secretary, Ramilan Abdul Rahman, said: "We owe our success mostly to Permodalan Kelantan Bhd, which leases us our pawn-broking licences and rents the five buildings we own."

The cooperative made headlines recently following reports that it was paying dividends of 175 per cent to members, but that wasn't its highest payout.

Just a few years after the cooperative was formed in 1998, it paid out a dividend of 300 per cent.

However, Ramilan said the high dividend did not mean the members received a big windfall because of the low initial deposit.

"When we paid out 300 per cent, the share capital of members was only RM100, which means they each got RM300.

"This time, although the share capital has been increased to RM200, they are only getting RM350 each."

The co-op has 190 members.

"Forty per cent of our income comes from the pawn-broking licences and 20 per cent from the rental of buildings.

"The rest is from insurance and loans to members."

(Loan to members eh? Ah Loong is it? No wonder so high profit larr!!)
---------
Judging at this exponential growth, these co-ops will turn into a multi-million company in a few years away! I would say by the next decade, we would have our very first billion-dollar co-op. I will not be suprised to see if any of the member making it to the list of top 100 richest man in Asia, or even the world.

In short, running a cafeteria, cleaning and janitorial services, a photocopying centre and a mini market, insurance services, pawn-broker and being an Ah Loong would be the shortest way to become a filthy rich man. Anyone care to chip in?

The Genie and The Idol

2008-08-01T22:31:00.002+08:00

A laptop/PC operating on thumb drive instead of hard disk.
Speed comparable to a Pentium 4 processor.
Selling price is ranging from RM500 to RM1k.
Best part is, it's made in Malaysia.
Unbelievable huh?

So, am I suppose to feel proud of this achievement? Call me a cynic, but is this for real? Seriously, do they really work? Anyway, we shall know after three months time.

By the way, they name it "i-Dola" for Laptop, and "Jean-i" for PC. We don't need Einstein to figure that someone is sucking up to the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
Could I help to feel that this product is doomed to fail? After all, isn't our PM's name is synonymous to being a failure?

Harakiri Or Not?

2008-07-29T22:30:00.002+08:00

Was it a dumb move to come up with the proposal?
What if both parties does not accept offer? I would have made a fool out of myself.

Dilemma, dilemma!

Anyway, I feel that putting up such idea would have opened a wider door for myself and better prospect would follow suit, should this materialize. Spending half year in a fast pace project would have given me valuable experience and would given my resume a boost.

Working/staying in a different environment would be fun, albeit it's a coastal area, this new place is almost similar to the place where I am currently working. Engaging with new people would be very interesting. Ahh, not forgetting the nice seafood (heard that the seafood in East Malaysia is nice and juicy!) and the beautiful natives girls (heard they are nice and juicy too!!).

However, if this proposal was shot down, then back I go to KL office, doing the oh-so-mundane job. Worse part is that it will be a bit awkward to face my bosses. They could be thinking that I may have the intention to leave the company (which I do, but not now). This act could be considered career-suiciding!

So, did I make a stupid move? The answer shall be revealed tomorrow.

Return Of The King!

2008-07-22T21:40:00.004+08:00

It was hailed as the biggest, the mightiest and the most spectacular of all.
Never in Malaysia would anyone be able to beat such a record.

The year was 1996.
RM11 billion was at stake.
RM 11,000,000,000.00.
That's nine zeros at the back, not including the decimal points.
If this figure were to be equally divided among the population (approx 24 million at that time), that would work to be RM450 per person.
Now, if this amount were to be given away to the people, or in this case, to the rakyat, just like how they implemented the car/bike rebate a few months ago, that would be good news indeed.

Alas, that money was never meant to be put into our pocket. It was on the contrary instead.

Each and everyone had to fork out that money and give it free, to our national coffer. And then, our generous government, helmed by our greatest Prime Minister of all time (which I beg to differ), decided to give that money away to someone (could be more than one person).

If this group of people is taking the money and putting it up to good use, such as developing the infrastructure, or possibility of investing the money in some good companies so that our national coffer can grow bigger (just like Singapore's GIC), I wouldn't mind. That huge amount of money can easily be used in human resources training, R&D (whatever, u name it), education, health, etc so that we can build a better and more competitive Malaysia.

Unfortunately, it was never meant to be.
The money was used to bail out a company from liquidation.
The money ended up in someone's pocket, all in the name of saving the company, and also saving the government's reputation.
All the RM11 billion vanished into thin air.
No more nine zeros, but only one single digit - zero. All 11 billion turned into zero.
This act could easily put David Blaine to shame.
Even Harry Houdini can't pull off this magic trick.

Nobody got caught in this biggest scandal in the corporate history in Malaysia. The Managing Director didn't even get prosecuted as he had an early appointment with The-Guy-Up-There.
The company was eventually bought over by another, and the dust settled with no one ended up hurt (the MD is an exception).

And so, we thought that this would be the end of the story.
Nope, this is not the finale yet.
I would say, we have not reach the climax yet.
The story has just started.

Hail the Return of the KING!!

It is going public, again.

I would love to see how this company pull up another Houdini stunt.
That would be the greatest show on the face of the earth.
Much more interesting than the C4 vs Poke-Saiful show.
Could put us in the first spot of Oscar award. I would bet my life on it!!

E-con-o-mics

2008-07-20T16:37:00.006+08:00

(taken from Kevroy Porter's myspace)

A friend once said that the process of courting girl is a part of an investment. Time and resources spent in the early stage of a relationship could turn into a basket of gold if the relationship progresses further. In order to achieve that, one had to invest considerable time taking good care of the investment, or else the investment could turn sour. And if that happens, all the effort will be burnt.
Ben Stein's article on L.O.V.E-Investment-101 can be found here.

I do agree to some of his opinion. But how can he help on situation such as this?

Inflation is shooting up the sky.
Share market, local and global, are dropping like there is no tomorrow.
High property prices, no thanks to the removal of ceiling prices of steel and cement by our "smart" goverment.
Ass-screwed political situation, coupled with lies and conspiracies - a deadly time bomb (or shall I say, C4 bomb) capable of destroying years of development.

"Let's bomb dwon the economy, shall we?" (Image taken from here)

Possibility of US going into deep recession - Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae bailout, massive country deficit high unemployment rate, retrenchment, and whole lot more.
Oil prices going up and up (currently at USD 130 per bbl by the time of writing).

What would be his advice to counter the above?

Hollywood Affairs

2008-07-14T20:58:00.009+08:00

I don't really like fancy any of those Hong Kong movies. Most of them are rather crappy and rubbish. Only selected ones really captured my attention. And Internal Affairs (Part I, II and III) were among those which I really like. However, I have not watched the Hollywood remake of this movie yet, until yesterday. (Yeah yeah, i am a slow one).

After watching The Departed, I felt so cheated. Boring and overrated. I personally feel that this movie really does not deserve to win 4 Academy awards. Storyline is short. How could the so called "Acclaimed Director" Martin Scorsese packed three movies into one ? The story could not be developed properly at all. Story did not flow well, and the 2 main characters ("The Moles") did not manage to bring out the emotional side of them both. Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon, no doubt they are good actors, but they did not carry their characters well. Andy Lau (or Edison Chen, as the young cop) and Tony Leung (or Shawn Yue, as the younger gangster) beat them hands down flat!

The ever charming and charismatic Andy Lau. Matt Damon doesn't come close AT ALL!!

Tony Leung in his leather jacket) is in a class of his own

The reenactment of the scenes from the original HK movie are just not interesting enough. The one in the cinema where Leonardo tracking down the real mole, the illegal deal between Jack Nicholson and some bad guy, the scenes in the psychiatrist clinic, and especially the scene on the roof top - Comparing both films, Andrew Lau and Alan Mak could easily put Martin Scorsese to shame!

One of the most memorable scene in Internal Affairs I (or Part III)

And one of the most forgetable scene in The Departed

How in the world did this movie won 4 Academy awards?

"Beats me. How would I know?" Even Leonardo himself is unsure

"Copy a (few) movies, chunk in a few heavyweight actors and turn it into a long and lame movie.
And get ourself a few awards along the way, shall we?"
"I agree, i agree! Huhuhuhuh! "

This act is tantamount to homicide in movie industry, and one who commit this crime should subject to ten years of prison at least!!

Blogging At 0230hrs

2008-07-13T02:31:00.002+08:00

Yawn.. Nah, don't think so.
Sleeping is better than blogging.

Bonne nuit

Nothing But Depression

2008-07-10T22:33:00.003+08:00

"The opposite of play is not work. It's called depression"
- Brian Sutton-Smith

No wonder life is so bleak, feeling as if all the energy are sucked up dry leaving me only empty soul within this bare body.
Could the 6.7+ million and 2.6+ million ringgit offered in Toto Mega and Toto Super bring me out of this dark hole?

Religion and Economics Does Not Mix Like Oil to Water

2008-07-09T23:11:00.004+08:00

(Extracted from here)

Malaysian state may compel Muslim civil servants to pray 5 times a day

Written by St Low

Wednesday, 09 July 2008

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - A Malaysian state governed by a conservative Islamic party plans to compel Muslim government workers to pray five times a day as required by their religion, an official said Tuesday.

Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, the chief minister of northeastern Kelantan state, said Muslims who shirk their prayer obligations "are not fearful of Allah and are susceptible to committing bribery and other sins."

Kelantan is planning to introduce a law to force Muslim government workers to pray five times a day, said the minister's aide Anual Bakri Haron.

He said details on how to enforce the plan will be finalized later.

Kelantan has been ruled since 1990 by the conservative Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, which has implemented strict morality rules such as banning gambling, nightclubs and rock concerts.

- AP

Is it right for outsider to interfere on how one chooses to do his duty to God?
Isn't it the choice of carrying out his religious duty is up to the individual?
How does a law to compel people to pray, help to build the religion? Where is logic?
It does not matter if one potrays a pious image, but does not contribute to the development of oneself, to the country and to the economic. What is the point of being a very religious person, when you can't even afford to buy yourself a meal and lead a quality life?
How could being a holy and a devout follower, help the country and the ailing economy, especially in this competitive world?
You would have committed a greater sin should you neglected to the advancement and development of the economics, all because of promoting a more religious act.

Malaysia is taking another step backwards, that I can assure you.
Imagine all the manhours which can be put into good use lost if this law were to be enacted.

According to Wikipedia, total population at this state as of 2007 was 2.1 million.
Assuming 90% of the population practises this religion, that will translates to 1.89 million population.
Let's assume the average pay rate per hour for each person is RM5 per hour, and the said person will take approximately 15 minutes for each of the 2 prayer session while at work during day time (The other 3 prayer session will be at night/dusk)
That means, RM2.50/person will be lost for the 2 day prayer sessions.
And if you multiply that to 1.89 million workers, that will give us, RM 4.7 milion will be lost daily, should this law be enacted.
Multiply that to 250 working calendar days, and RM 1.18 billion will be lost annually due to unproductive hours, all because of forcing people to pray. Massive amount of money we are talking here. How can business survive with such law endorsed? And I am just analysing only 1 state. God forbid if this law is applied to the whole country.

May God saves Malaysia!

ps: And I hope that I won't get thrown to jail for writing such "seditious" article.

Untitled

2008-07-07T21:02:00.004+08:00

Current stint in Lumut would be ending soon in one and half months from now, and hop I go. From one river, Sg Dinding, to another river, the infamous and pathetic muddy river bank of Sg Kelang/Gombak. Time flies without realising, and here I am spending my eighth month here.
Can't say its a short time, and can't say its a long time after all.

Do I look forward to the trip back to KL? Do I miss my Kepong place?

Let's see.

Paying tolls and car parks everywhere I go, when I don't have to pay any in Lumut?
(Tolls are unheard off here in Lumut)

Forking out almost RM7 for a "wholesome" economy rice, good enough to last you for the next hour, where the same price will get you a sumptous fresh seafood fried rice which will last you for the till the next meal?
(People in Lumut eat seafood more than other type of meat. They even serve fish/"kerang"with nasi lemak, instead of curry chicken . Try to get that for breakfast in KL, and you will end up forking RM10 for your breakfast!)

Enduring 1 hour plus of journey from house to work, where it will take me barely less than 15 minutes where I am currently staying to the site?
(The morning rush here last only for 15 minutes, and it is control-able)

Facing rude drivers and people everywhere I go, while these attitudes are barely seen on the road, other than idiots who will drive super slow to enjoy the sea view?
(Driving at 7.45am, when the sun hovering slightly above the sea horizon is not a view to be missed, seriously)

Breathing in the mixture of gasoline, smoke, dust and polluted air, when fresh air are aplenty here?
(There are frequent salted fish smell arising from nearby farms, but I can live with that)

And lastly, have to endure the pain of facing the real inflation, when there are basically not much felt here?

Not forgetting that I will earn lesser when I am sent back to KL office. Cash is king, especially for unpredictable economic senario we are facing now. Inflation, stagflation, depression, recession.
Whatever "tion" it is, I just need to buck up my finance.

So, do I look forward to the trip back to KL?

Nah, I would opt to stay here if I have the choice.

Dramatic

2008-07-05T16:37:00.005+08:00

It is getting more interesting as the drama unfolds. Can the actors sustain the momentum? Who will emerge the hero? I just can't wait for the story to reach its climax.

Can we Malaysians get the chance of garnering our very first Oscar award?

ps : For those who are unable to access Malaysia Today's website, try this link instead

Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining?

2008-07-03T22:43:00.005+08:00

Agent Mulder : Hmm... Very strange.. very strange indeed...
(Pauses while looking at a file on his desk)

Agent Scully : You have a very disturbing look on your face. What is it, Mulder?

Agent Mulder : ... ... There seems to be a very unusual activities going on.. Something I have not seen before in my life working on the X files.. And more especially as it happened at a location such as this.

Agent Scully : What do you mean, unusual?
(Looking puzzled)

Agent Mulder : Someone has left this file on my desk.
(Showing the file to Agent Scully. Three big bold words printed on the front cover, visible to her)

Agent Scully : Official.. Government... Secret..

Agent Muler : Affirmative. You got it right..

Agent Scully : Not another round of Government secrets, again? We have been put in the cold chair after we uncovered Bill Clinton and his sex scandal, remember? And we almost got ourselves "shocked and awed" by George Bush himself when we exposed his lies leading to the bombing of Iraq. That was how we ended up sitting in this 6'x6' room. Hope you remember that? And definitely nothing is more unusual than UFO sightings, spontaneous human combustion,
zombies and the vampires, voodoo spells, Big Foot's finding and whole lot which we have worked on. Now, tell me, what is more unusual than all this?

Agent Mulder : Have you heard of this place before?
(Pointing towards a section on the map, hung on the wall)

Agent Scully : You mean, Malaysia? .. Err.. What is so special about that?

Agent Mulder : I have checked with my source, and they have confirmed that there are abnormal activities happening throughout the country.

Agent Scully : ... ... Go on...
(Looking uneasy)

Agent Mulder : My source told me that one very prominent website has been hacked after it disclosed a very controversial articles alleging wrongdoing by a certain strong political leader. And right after that, people are accusing each other anus-playing. People ranging from ex-convict, private detective, politicians an university dropout were allegedly involved in screwing each other's asshole.

One even came up with evidence alleging the chief police and the attorney general of conspiring to put down a man to jail. Another guy put up a report with allegation of certain strong political person of assisting and involved in the brutal homicide of a Mongolian lady. And throwing in the equation was the alleged involvement of the Prime Minister himself, who was said to be withholding valuable informations regarding the homicide.

Worse still, the share market has mysteriously suspended in trading for one day. Reasons given was techincal glitch, which is beyond believable. Share market has been heading south since the past few months, after the political uprising of the opposition parties.

Agent Scully : This is serious..

Agent Mulder : Inflation is on the rise and salary is going down. Petrol hike and translates into exponential price increase. Government is painting a colourful picture about the sustainable GDP growth. Everyone in Malaysia is suffering from mass confusion. Don't know what and who to trust. I strongly believe that there someone is planning a big conspiracy here.

Agent Scully : Uh uh.... So, what can we do to solve this?

Agent Mulder : ..I don't know.. This is way beyond comprehension. I am helpless in this...

Agent Scully : Don't give up. We should continue to search for the truth..

Agent Mulder : Yes, I believe we should.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On another development, X-files, the movie will be showing on cinema pretty soon.
Could this movie brings back the excitement like it used to, when I was still younger?
Could the hot Agent Scully (once upon a time) teaming with the (used to be) good looking Agent Mulder kick dust and solving mysteries, like the one brewing hot in Malaysia?

I don't feel so excited about it, considering the latest economical and political senario in Malaysia.
In fact, nothing excites me for now.
We are in the cleansing stage currently, just like how a drug addict undergoes one when he wanted to kick off the bad habit. Either he survives and emerges a cleansed person, or he succumb back to the old habit and die eventually.

So, where will we be heading?

Badawi-ed!!

2008-06-25T22:43:00.006+08:00

A new laptop with a brand new Operating System - Windows Vista.
Should be a good product eh?
WRONG!!

Point no. 3.

"Use the most popular hardware and software"

Norton Antivirus Enterprise Version 11.0
Mcafee Virus Scan Plus 2007 Full
Panda Antivirus Plus Firewall 2007
Norton Antivirus 2004

These 4 anti virus softwares were launched barely 2 years ago (except for Norton AV 2004), and yet these softwares can't be installed in Vista.
Tried installing earlier versions of Winamp (released in year 2004), PowerDVD, and some other popular softwares, but to no avail. WTF?? How can this asshole mislead us?

And not just that. I can't install properly the driver of my phone, a Sony Ericsson K750i. Never mind if my phone model was 3+ years old, but you don't need to rub that in, right? A message popped up saying "Unable to load resources" when I ran the execution file. A 40+ MB file usually requires less than 1 min to complete installation, but it took about 15 mins to do that, with some annoying pop up messages appearing after that.

All the precious photos in my phone disappeared into thin air after I connected it to the laptop. Photos of my nephew, project photos, my go-kart photos, hiking photos are all gone! Gone, gone, gone!! I bet my mum and sis would be very disappointed when they hear this. Sigh.

A quick search in the internet on Vista gave rather bad comments, especially on the compatibility of certain softwares with the OS, which also happens to be the same problem I am facing right now.

New doesn't always translate into a better product. Sad to say, but this operating system is just like a dumb blonde.

Pretty outside, zero inside!

This product has certainly badawi-ed me!!!

ps:-
badawi [baa-daa-wee] (noun): To start something full of promise but end in disappointment, failure and/or disaster.
Hint:- Think of the 5th Prime Minister of Malaysia

HIbernation and Inflation

2008-06-18T22:11:00.005+08:00

After 3 months of "hibernation", finally, I am back! Hope the procrastination and laziness in me will not push me back into taking another longer vacation. With a new laptop, and reliable broadband connection, there should not be any excuse for me not to update my blog eh?

Life has been fairly good here in this Moss town. Job has been interesting, albeit a bit slow this few days as the project is about to complete. Planning, scheduling and project controlling work are definitely the right choice to me. So much things to learn, and you are exposed to the in and out of the project environment. There was never a dull moment. Not dull at all, especially looking at the bright prospect this job can give. This job will end soon, and I don't know if the company will put me into the same position in the next upcoming project. Hope that the company managed to secure some big project soon. I am particularly interested in the proposed joint venture with another main contractor to bid for a similar job as current one. And I am also hoping that the discussion with a Middle East company on the brownfield job will come true. If it do, then perhaps I would have my very first chance of assigning for oversea job? That will be cool!

Until then, I would give myself 6 months to learn all about the P3 and Microsoft Project software. If the bids did not materialise by then, off I go to some other country. Contemplating of joining some Singaporean company just to gain the experience as a planner/scheduler. That would be a very good chance to gear myself to move on to bigger role. And of course, to aim for the big MULLAH~~~

Speaking of mullah, I just wondering how can one in the lower income group survive in the current economy environment. Inflation is skyrocketing, and our gov is still in denial while painting a bright picture and trying to brainwash us into saying that things are ok. Price wont increase much, blah blah blah..

Removal of ceiling price of cement.
Same goes for steel price.
Removal of real property tax gain.
These 3 will push up property prices. One could end up sleeping in the street.

Increase of rice price.
Chicken and pork price also goes up.
Doesn't need rocket science to tell you that food price will eventually increase, do you?

And lastly, mother of all price increase - hefty 40% of petrol/diesel price increment!
The massive increase will trigger price increase in almost anything. Electricity, transportation, food, products, etc.

And they dare to say that inflation is under control. NIAMAH!!
I am not against removing the subsidy, but they've gotta do it gradually, and not drastically at one shot! Remember, the salary increment has not increase in tandem with the inflation.
Don't let those in the lower income group suffer as they are the one who are badly hit during times like this.

And with the hot stuff brewing in the background, the share market has been dropping like shit. Hmm. Gotta start saving mullah as recession is inevitable. Let's pray hard that we will brave through the storm safely.

Watch Out For Him..

2008-02-29T12:48:00.002+08:00

Here's the brother-in-law of my friend who is going to stand in the upcoming election. And best of all, he is standing for the PKR seat! Ain't that great?

To the hell, you dirty BN a$$hole$!!

Watch out for The Great Sim Tze Tzin!!

( sourced from here )

He took a pay cut to pursue justice

Posted by Raja Petra

Friday, 29 February 2008

SIM Tze Tzin gave up a lucrative job as an engineer in Silicon Valley and returned to Malaysia to become opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's political secretary - suffering a huge pay cut in the process.

Mr Sim, 32, is contesting the Pantai Jerejak state seat in Penang on Keadilan's ticket. "When I told my boss that I was ready to make my election debut, he said: 'If you've the courage, you run'," Mr Sim told Today in an interview yesterday.

He added: "Datuk Seri Anwar has taught me a lot about how to expand one's political base. To form a united opposition front, we need people including urban and rural Malays as well as Indian estate workers to be part of our movement to reform Malaysia."

Mr Anwar is the de facto leader of Keadilan, while Mr Sim was instrumental in the release of the video which shows prominent lawyer V K Lingam brokering judicial appointments in a phone conversation.

Born and raised in Penang, Mr Sim started working as an engineer in Kuala Lumpur before leaving for the Silicon Valley. While there, he pursued hisMasters of Science (Civil) in highway engineering.

During his time in the United States, Mr Sim founded the Malaysia Forum Organization in Stanford University, although he is not from the university. The civil society group seeks to promote discussion of issues in South-east Asia.

"I learnt from the Americans who've a great sense of justice - they are a society that speaks up against injustices and welcomes a diversity of views," said Mr Sim.

Five years down the road, his zeal for politics intensified. He decided to quit his well-paying job in the US and return to Malaysia, and become Mr Anwar's political aide - a position he has held since early 2006.

"Although my current work pays only a fraction of what I was earning previously, I've a far more fulfilling job now - something greater than myself."

His wife - they got married about a year ago-- also wanted them to return to Malaysia to start a family. "It turned out to be a chance for me to take a stand on matters, instead of being just an armchair critic abroad," he said.

Mr Sim said he would give up his political secretary position if he wins the fight against Barisan Nasional's candidate Wong Mun Hoe in Pantai Jerejak.

The state constituency on Penang island includes Pulau Jerejak - a little island that was known as the Alcatraz of Malaysia. Like the infamous maximum-security penitentiary in the US, the isle was once the location for a detention centre for hardcore criminals. Today, Pulau Jerejak is a thriving resort and spa island.

"The island covers more than one-third of the Pantai Jerejak constituency, but doesn't have a single registered voter," noted Mr Sim. He admitted that it would be a tough battle to win the seat, but he said feedback from people whom he had met was "overwhelmingly positive".

"I want to champion the cause of upholding justice, of reforming the judicial system." - TODAYONLINE

Malaysia and Condom Story

2008-02-29T10:07:00.002+08:00

Fuck it. We are being screwed, aint we?

Fuck it.

Lingam's Devil Curry

2008-02-24T23:39:00.001+08:00

Talk about shame! Malaysia's jurisdiction is being turned into a comedy. What a bloody shameful thing to us Malaysians.

But I have to say this song is pretty funny. Go check it out at
http://www.comedycourt.com.my/latesthits.html

Malaysia Boleh!!

The Ant and The Grasshopper..

2008-02-20T19:02:00.002+08:00

> Older Version
>
> The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer
> building its house
> and laying up supplies for the winter.
> The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs &
> dances & plays
> the summer away.
> Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed. The
> Grasshopper has no food
> or shelter so he dies out in the cold.
>
> Modern Version
>
> The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer
> building its house
> and laying up supplies for the winter.
> The Grasshopper thinks the Ant ' s a fool and laughs &
> dances & plays
> the summer away.
>
> Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press
> conference and
> demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm
> and well fed
> while others are cold and starving.
>
> TV1, TV2 & TV3 show up to ! provide pictures of the
> shivering
> Grasshopper next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable
> home with a
> table filled with food.
>
> The majority of the Malaysian Parliment stunned by the
> sharp contrast.
> How can this be that this poor Grasshopper allowed
> suffering so?
>
> Khairy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant ' s
> house .
>
> Nazri goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers
> demanding that
> Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during
> winter.
>
> MOst of the related people criticizes the Malaysia
> Government for not
> upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.
>
> The local news paper & the Internet is flooded with
> online petitions
> seeking support to the Grasshopper (many promising Heaven
> and
> Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath
> of God for
> non-compliance) .
>
> Deputy minister immediately passes a law preventing Ants
> from working
> hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty
> among Ants
> and Grasshoppers.
>
> Hishammudin makes 'More Special Reservation ' for
> Grasshoppers in
> Educational Institutions & in Government Services.
>
> The Ant; fined for failing to comply with 30% sharing and
> having
> nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes; its home is
> confiscated by
> the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a
> ceremony
> covered by maju ---------.
>
> Prime Minister announces to the whole Malaysia that this
> is part of
> the NEP and all have to respect, no question ask and have
> to follow
> it.
>
> Many years later
>
> The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a
> multi-billion dollar company
>
> 100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite
> reservation
> somewhere in Malaysia
>
> because of loosing lot of hard working Ants and feeding
> the
> Grasshoppers, Malaysia is still a developing country!!!
>
> All bcos the ANTS are still doing their
> work..........................

...

Bliss

2008-01-26T22:55:00.000+08:00

Happiness is when you have this

$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Steady.. A few more years of experience, and that should be in my grasp.
Plan, plan, plan! That is what I should do.
Time is essence and can't afford to waste any more time.
Gotta learn all about planning while I am here in Lumut for the next few months. Dig into Primavera and everything about being a planner.

Yeah, I believe this would be my career path. I strongly feel so.

Apologize - Timbaland feat. One Republic (not live)

2008-01-04T09:27:00.001+08:00

Isn't this one much more better than One Republic's original version?

Bonne Année 2008!!

2007-12-31T22:52:00.000+08:00

Exactly one more hour to go before the arrival of a brand new year and I'm sitting here in the cybercafe trying to think of what my new year resolutions would be. Been spending the past one hour trying to draft the plan for the brand new year, but nothing came out.

*blink blink*

Still can't think of any. Maybe my brain is shutting itself and refuse to let me access it. Perhaps it is programming itself to clear off all the memory and cache in it? Maybe it's trying to archive the old storage spaces so that there will be more space to accomodate new informations in the coming year? Whatever it is doing, I can't come out with the resolutions!!

Oh crap! What a lame excuse.

To tell the truth, I am just plain lazy.
Lazy to think of this stupid resolutions (Who is the smart ass who came up with the idea of making new year resolutions anyway??)
Lazy to make good use of my brain.
Lazy to do anything.
Maybe I am too exhausted from working too much. Hey, I have been clocking in every day for the past one and half months (with only 5 days of rest so far).

But that should not be an excuse. I don't like giving excuses for didn't get things right.
It makes me feel so irresponsible and shows as if I am tyring to shirk from responsibility.

There is a proverb saying "If one fails to plan, then one plans to fail". How true. And to say that I am the planner for this project I am attached with now in Lumut, it is indeed shameful as I can't even come up with my own plan! Shame, shame, shame!!!

This is my life and I should take charge of it.
It's me who should be should be doing planning for my ownself.
No one will be responsible for my life, other than my ownself.
Hence, it's me who should chart the road for myself.

That is, to be responsible for my ownself. I need to take charge of my life and be answerable to actions that I take. There is no time to waste. And no more coming up with lame excuses.
I need to get rid of words such as "I am tired .... ", "Lazy-lah.... ", "No time to do this lah.... " and etc. These are negative words which I must avoid at all cost as it's like black hole which sucks all the energy out from my life.

Yeah, it is pretty vague and quite difficult to quantify the achievement, but nevertheless, it's me myself who should be judging if I did keep to the resolutions, or otherwise.

Well, it's not that bad after all. The last one and half hours wasn't really a waste.
I did indeed came up with my very own resolution, at last.

It is now 11.50m and it's time for me to log off. Need to get a good night rest before embarking on a new journey (and also going to clock in at office tomorrow morning). Looking forward to a great year ahead!

Hereby wishing you all a very happy spanking new year 2008!!!

Goodbye 2007

2007-12-28T23:01:00.000+08:00

The clock is ticking down. 2 more days left in the calendar year before ushering the start of a brand new year. Looking back into the past 363 days, let's take a walk on what happened to my life throughout the period.

1. Change of job. [Jumping from one shit to another, almost...]

2. Moved from Puchong and back to Kepong. Woo hoo!! [What other places which has pasar malam every night other than Kepong?]

3. Transfered to Lumut. [Feeling energetic for the first time while at work]

4. First trip to offshore. [Spending 5 boring days on the platform and the accomodation vessel, all surrounded by waters. And it took me 5 days to readjust and balance myself to the ground condition]

5. First time on a helicopter ride. [What other air transportation mode I have not tried, other than chopper and plane? Hot air balloon seems tempting]

6. Almost drowned while attending a underwater escape training. [It was freaky all right. The few seconds of breathlessness seems like eternity. And I swear the incident is still fresh on my mind, even though it happened 5 months ago]

6. Delta Rover burnt to the ground. [No signs of the owner rebuilding the climbing gym again. Had to go to that super expensive Camp5 to satisfy my climbing craving. Crap!]

7. Blogging. [Only meagre 68 entries in this year. How lame~~~]

8. Had a pet dog of my own, almost. [Hope Lil' Russell is happy being back with his mummy]

9. Attended M.A.N.Y weddings!! [And I foresee more to come. Any wonder why my pockets are full of holes?]

10. Signed up with the National Library. [Only RM1 for membership and loads of books to choose from. What a bargain!]

11. Actively following the political senario in Malaysia. [I feel so disgusted! I am ashamed to call myself a Malaysian]

12. Attended a rally for the first time. [And it made me feel even more disgusted! Our government is worse than Talibans! I seriously thinking of migrating. There is basically left little hope in this country with the current leadership>

13. First time riding on a horse. [Yii harrr!! Feel like a cowboy. Thanks to Ho Sang and his wedding gimmick]

14. Reading books!! [Borrowed 30+ books, but only managed to finish reading less than half of them. Sigh]

15. Jamming sessions! [I have to brush up my guitar skill and to learn to play more songs! And I hope the rest of the band members will do so coz it's embarassing to play out-of-tempo]

16. Facebook.. And Scrabulous. [I am basically addicted to this game. Have to secure more victories!]

~~~~~

As the new year approaches, I guess the norm for everyone is to come up with new year resolutions. And what would mine be? Should I make up a list like other people do? One lazy side is telling me that there is no point in making a list which will never be fulfilled, while the other part of me is crying for a plan to guide my way through 2008.

Let's see. I have two more days to decide which side should I listen to. Tummy is growling like mad now, and I haven't have my dinner yet (It's 8pm now. Been working full day at site today)

Till then, happy holiday and a very happy new year to everyone!!

The Knight And His Bride

2007-12-28T21:35:00.000+08:00

Once upon a time, there lived a knight and a lady in the kingdom of Far Far Away. Both of them were studying in the same school. It all began on one faithful day, where they met each other for the very first time, and love sparked the minute they laid their eyes on each other. After years of courtship, the knight promised to the lady to take her as his woman. And this is the story of his journey to fulfill his promise....

The knight in shining armour with his mighty stallion ready to fetch the maiden bride, living in a castle faraway.

However, the knight apparently got confused with his own identity and thought that he was a cowboy instead. Donning the cowboy hat, he cried out to his mighty stead to start moving. But the stead did not make a move.

He cried out again and kicked the stallion, hoping that it will gallop its way ahead. Still, no movement at all. Frustration appeared on the knight's face.

It was now apparent that the knight, or cowboy wannabe, does not have the horse riding skill. Later, he had to be led to his maiden bride by the horse trainer. He could only laugh to cover his great embarrassment.

And the knight's loyal comrade laughed at the mighty knights incompetency.

After hours of treading along the torturous path, they finally reached the destination.

Upon reaching the maiden's castle, the knight and his loyal comrade had to face with the 4 guardians.

They had to undergo tests, failing which would render the knight unable to produce offspring to continue his legacy. Nevertheless, test such as crossing over gigantic gate, eating the 4 deadly food, dodging the cursed staff, chanting love hymns did not weaken the spirit of the group.

Eventually, it was bribe of a thousand gold coins to the greedy 4 that cleared the path.

The knight quickly made his move and finally succeed in reaching the maiden's chamber.

Taking the hand of the fair lady, the knight kissed the bride and embraced her in his arm.

And the lady reciprocate and an exhange of bridal vow took place.

The knight and the lady were now officially known as Mr and Mrs Chan.

Congrats to both Ho Sang and Yee Lee.
May you both live the many years of joy and happiness together!

Disputes with Bitches

2007-12-09T11:07:00.000+08:00

Cool place. Nice view of Lumut river from my place. Walking distance to the town. Amenities such as banks, 7-11, sundry shops, KFC, etc is just a walking distance away. Long stretch of waterfront with nice view of the river bank (nice place to jog, by the way). Greenery and nice landscape around. Ample parking space. Nice swimming pool below. Astro readily available. Cool ambience of the living room. Air conditioned rooms. Water heater for shower. Fully furnished kitchen. What is there for me to ask for? When I started being comfortable with the place and the surrounding, now you want me out?

When people start barging in and claim that the place is theirs, I am definitely pissed!
Reasons such as can't stand smoke scents, unable to share place with the opposite sex, religion issue, bad feng shui, to god-knows-what-else excuses, THAT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.

Trying to kick me out of my place, and relocating me to a second grade house with no amenities nearby and no greeneries in sight, THAT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. And worse still, there is no internet access and no cybercafe nearby. And to drive a few kilometres away to get online, or just to buy food and stuff, that just pisses me off. Never mind if I have forked out money for the annual membership (it cost only RM10 anyway), but being unable to access internet, that just make my blood boiling like mad.

I don't bear any ill feelings towards the female (other than some gender/sexist remark blurted out from me sometimes, sorry to say), but this incident made me feel that being a female is (100%) equivalent to a BITCH. You have to know that you are here for a construction job and you should know that it is an on-site job. There is bound to be lots of guys around, especially smokers too. If you cant bear working with guys, and smokers, than I suggest you to go back home and go play masak-masak. Or you can go play with your barbie dolls.

And being here on the job doesn't mean that you have the right lay your rights on people's belonging. And don't try to bitch around with the boss complaining about being uneasy staying with guys. If you don't feel comfortable with guys, then why take up the offer to come here in the first place? And if you don't feel comfortable with guys, then why the fuck do you share the company's van with us? Didn't the religious fanatics in Middle East (your religion, that is) banned women from sharing transportation with men who are not of the same blood? Why don't you raise this to the boss too and ask for an all-bitch-only car?

Fuck it. I am now offering you my comfy room, and I am willing to sacrifice myself and moving to a much smaller room with only a wall fan. Let's see if we can work out a thing or two here. But let me make myself clear. I don't fucking bother to see your "spectacles" hang dry, and I don't fucking bother to know what you wear during the night when you sleep. No, I don't want to know whether you are a lesbian or bisexual. Spare me from letting me know if you have shaved or not. I am not fucking interested on you, on your family, on your ancestors, on your pets, etc etc. In fact, I don't even fucking bother to know whether you are indeed a woman or not.

Look, you have bulldozed your way onto my territory and kicking me out, but I am on the other side willing to accept an unfavorable position (to me). All I want is to continue to stay in this place of mine, and continue with my life, while you continue yours. Once this project is completed, you go your way, and I go mine. Period.

Now, if that also you are not willing to accept, then to the hell you go, you BITCHES.

(taken from here)

The Idea of North Coming To KL~~

2007-11-26T22:02:00.000+08:00

WHy would they choose to come to KL when I am not around~!
*curses repeatedly*

Wonder when will be the next time they will be coming to KL again. The vocal harmonization is just perfect!

Do check out some of their performances in youtube here, here and here.

Title :	'The Idea of North' Live in KL & Penang
Venue :	Various Venues
Date & Time :	KL: Wed 28 - Thu 29 Nov 2007 (9.30pm) Penang: Sun 2 Dec 2007
Tickets :	KL: RM25 (includes 1 drink) Penang: RM50per day (part of Penang Island Jazz Festival 2007)
Phone :	03-4260 2288
Email :	info@alexis.com.my
URL :	http://www.alexis.com.my
Synopsis :	Consisting of four very talented and experienced musicians, The Idea of North has developed itself as one of the most original and entertaining acapella groups in the world. Described by James Morrison as ‘the best a cappella group in the country’, the ensemble combines contemporary classics with original material and their repertoire is an eclectic mix of standard cabaret through to jazz, big band and pop into acapella classics – arrangements of Sting, the Bee Gees and James Taylor side by side with traditional gospel and blues. They are performing here in conjunction with My.Oz, the Australian High Commission’s year-long cultural program to commemorate 50 years of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and Australia. The Idea of North will perform in both: Kuala Lumpur: Dates: Wed 28 - Thu 29 Nov 2007 (9pm) Venue: Alexis Ampang, Lot 10 & 11, Great Eastern Mall, 303, Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur. Admission: RM25 (inclusive of 1 drink) Table bookings for diners only. Contact: (T) 03-4260 2288 ; (E) info@alexis.com.my Penang: Date: Sun 2 Dec 2007 Venue: Penang Island Jazz Festival, Bayview Beach Resort Garden, Batu Ferringhi, Penang Admission: RM50 per day (for main stage performances on 1 & 2 December) Limited 2-day tickets available at RM80 per ticket. Contact: (T) 07880 7999; (E) www.ticketpro@com.my RECOMMENDED! Last I heard, tickets for this were going fast. If you liked a capella favourites like "The Song Company" (another astonishing Aussie a capella export) and "The Wicked Pitches", you'll like this one.

(copied from http://www.kakiseni.com/events/misc/MTAwNDc.html)

Greetings from The Jetty...

2007-11-16T22:01:00.000+08:00

It's my third day here in Lumut on a long term assignment. The project I am involved in is scheduled to finish in June 2008, but I am betting that it will be delay till late July or August. Call me a pessimistic, but from the current outlook, there is basically no progress at all even after almost one month plus had passed since the project was awarded to my company.
Nevertheless, will do whatever I can to assist and expedite this.

Left KL with a heavy heart, especially when I was asked to mobilize in less than 24 hours notice, with no preparation at all. (mental preparation, that is) :( No more mamaking with frens, no more rock climbing, less time going back home to visit mum, no more going lepaking at The Curve. Sigh... And the heavy drinking session the night before departure to Lumut didn't really help at all. No thanks to Philip, Ho Sang and Kah Wee.. Drove over 240km to Lumut the next day with the high level of alcohol in my blood. Thank god a colleague accompanied and keeping me wide awake along the journey.

Anyway, came to Lumut with a heavy heart and things in my mind. Thought that I would not be able to adjust well. After all, I wasn't really close to my colleagues except for a few. Yeah, pretty sucks to feel alone after spending about 4 months in a company. And a boss who keeps on intimidating and terrorizing most of the time doesn't really help in boosting one's self morale and motivating one to excel.

Oh well, enought of complaints.

So far, my third day at the fabrication yard went well. Apartment where I stay is nice, fully furnished. Cable TV (astro), air conditioned, heater, kitchen, swimming pool, and serene environment.. Well, what else can I complain?

Though Lumut is a small (it take less than half and hour to walk around the town), but I have a feeling I will love this place. I took a stroll around town jsut now after my dinner and I covered the waterfront area (the jetty area) in less than half an hour. The tourism minister have spent quite an amount of money to decorate this place. I shall take photos tomorrow and upload them here. THe waterfront area are nicely decorated. Not much cars around, and there is traffic jam at this town happens only once in a blue moon. Just nice for someone like me who detesté traffic jam. The only places recognizeable are KFC, Maybank, 7-11 and CIMB bank. :)

Oh well, will stop for now. Will explore more of this town this weekend. And not forgetting Manjung and Setiawan town which is 15 minutes away from here. These 2 towns are much more "happening" compare to Lumut. Shall jog around town tomorrow and take some snap shots of this beautiful place. I have a feeling the shots taken will turn out nice.

Cheerss....

Malaysia's New Nursery Rhyme

2007-11-15T21:49:00.000+08:00

Fungus appearing on the walls of hospital buildings.
Crack on the bridge columns.
Leak in the Parliament.
Collapsed roof in the Court Complex.

And what do we have in store now?

BELUM SHOCKER!!!!

Yes, by all mean, please support Barisan Nasional if you want to see more building collapse!!
Perhaps we should create a new nursery rhyme on Malaysia.
"Malaysia is Falling Down" would be a very suitable title (think of a nursery rhyme which is about a bridge in London).
And Fergie would be selected as our ambassador and remix this song and promote us to the eye of the world.
Malaysia bolleeehhh~~~

March For Fair and Just Election

2007-11-07T23:02:00.001+08:00

A peaceful assembly, organized by the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH), will be held as part of our campaign for clean, free and fair elections in Malaysia. BERSIH representatives will also hand over a memorandum to HRH the Yang Dipertuan Agong.

Venue: Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur
Date: 10 November 2007
Time: 3:00 pm

Note:

1. Participants are encouraged to wear yellow as a symbol of protest.

2. Bring flags and banners depicting the BERSIH logo and relevant messages (themes of democracy and human rights, clean and fair elections, etc).

For further information, please visit http://www.bersih.org

1 + 3 + 1 + 1 + Infinity

2007-11-07T22:31:00.000+08:00

1 wedding invitation last month.
3 wedding invitations this month (for 3 consecutive nights)
1 wedding invitation next month.
1 more next 2 months.

And I foresee there will be more coming my way.

My wallet is screaming for help!!! Perhaps I should get away from Malaysia for the next few years!! Yeah, its time to consider working oversea.

Meet Uncle Hussain - Lagu Untukmu

2007-10-30T21:31:00.001+08:00

I feel like rocking!!
Need to release all the andrenaline in me!! I want to go for a gig session!!

--------

Tiada bintang
Dapat menerangkan hati yang telah dicelah
Bagaiku lumpuh tak mampu berdiri
Aku tetap begini
Takkan berubah kerna aku tetap aku
Dan lalu rindumu bukanlah aku

*
Guna hati, akal dan fikiranmu
Berbeza
Kau dan juga aku
Dua hati yang tak mungkin bersatu

Apakah aku
Hanya boneka yang sering engkau mainkan
Yang dikawal oleh jari-jarimu
Ku punya hati dan perasaan
Pernahkah engkau fikirkan
Cukup cukuplah oh cukuplah

(ulang *)

Tak faham tak tahan
Sabarku tak tertahan
Melayan sikapmu perawan
Berbeza-berbeza
Kau dan aku berbeza
Kita memang tak serupa
Bebaskan bebaskan
Ku ingin dilepaskan
Kita tidak sehaluan
Cukuplah sudahlah
Sampai di sini saja
Hubungan kita berdua
Hoa…hoa….hoa…..

(ulang *)

--------

A Wedding and A Gathering

2007-10-16T17:52:00.000+08:00

What a hectic weekend it was.. Drawings + weddings + trips to KLIA + insufficient sleep + drebar = one tiring me..

But glad things have slowed down for a while. Finally, I managed to finished up the drawings that Kenny wanted. Cheers.. Apologies to him for not able to complete it earlier, and for the mistakes/errors that I made. My designing skills are definitely not up to standard even though have been working for 2 years plus in a consultant firm. :/

Though had lots of things to do all within a short span of time, but the feeling was jsut great. Never felt so alive, especially ever since started working in the new company few months ago. All the work just keep me occupied and alive. Never mind if I had only 3 hours of sleep for the past 2 nights. The feeling of doing something productive jsut keep my andrenaline rushing into my brains.

Hope to get more of this kind of work more often.
--------------

Another friend got married. To be exact, two friends got married (to each other). So happy that both of them finally tied the knot. After all, they are one great couple.

Sessions of "food tasting", quizes, singing sessions, professing I-Love-You in ten languages, the golden vows that Juin Mei "force" Chee Sing to sign, and the 60-minutes-course-to-become-a-SUPERHUSBAND, were just hilarious!! ...Poor Chee Sing had to get parents-in-law signatures and had to answer questions before Juin Mei allows Chee Sing to open the door. But nothing can stop Chee Sing though, and upon getting the signatures, he was bestowed with a cert duly signed by his parents-in-law, and of course, he finally get to open the door. Sweet..

To both Chee Sing and Juin Mei, wishing both of you happiness forever till you grow old. :)

Had a great time meeting up with old friends at the wedding dinner. It has been ages since we last met after our graduation. Ann Mei said that this was the only time where old friends reunion can take place. I couldn't agree more. Friends that I have not seen in 4 years plus, old choir members, old taekwondo friends.. Friends came from as far as Johor Bahru, Penang, Kuching and Miri to attend the wedding. Eugene the Horny Conductor, Belinda (my cute lil' sis), Irene the Dancing Queen, Valerie the Petite, Wendy the AngMoh Hokkien Charbor, Kok Wai the Singing Machine, Chee Siong the Contractor.. some of the friends that I have not seen in years.. Glad to see you guys again!!

Went to Luna Bar right after the dinner. The place was awesome!!!!
Cool interior decoration, with a swimming pool right at the front of the place, and with the magnificent view of KL with KL tower at the background. But RM50 for cover charge (inclusive of a drink) is a bit expensive though. Nevertheless, it was my first trip there and I did have a great time there, especially hanging out with some old buddies.. Not forgetting messing around with Jo Eee. Hey dude, you sucks in everything!! Hahahahaa....

Lil' sis and Val came all the way from East Malaysia to attend the wedding. Had to chauffer them around. Bad bad girls!! Sorry for not being able to bunk in together at Jason's house. Or else it would be a great time catching up with stories of what's happening around and what's not. By the way, the rice biscuits that you brought is nice. Shall gobble them up, don't you worry. hehehehe..

With reality sinking in, it's the begining of a new week, and everyone was back to do their own things. Wonder when will we have the chance to hang out like this again.

Beheaded. Confirmed. Extended.

2007-10-10T22:33:00.000+08:00

Yeah, my head has been chopped off by Karen. :(

But on the brighter note, PJ has contributed to my winning stats. Cheers. :)
-----

After 3 months in this company, ladies and gentlemen,..
I am now a confirmed staff.

DAMN~~~~

----------
The dateline for tender I am working on has been extended to 31st December. Woo hoo.. Can afford to slack a bit. :)

The Hunter and The Hunted

2007-10-10T10:45:00.000+08:00

The Hunter
My third day of playing scrabbles, and I got myself 3 easy prey - Mel, PJ and Wai Hong. These 3 are easy kills. They were slaughtered alive and their head chopped off. These heads are shrunk into peanut size like how the headhunters in Borneo did in the old times.

The Hunted
Karen is hunting me down and I have nowhere to hide. It's not even halfway into the game and I am lagging behind by over 90 points. I can smell the chopping board. Mercy!! Mercy!!

Scrabbles and DVDs

2007-10-08T22:41:00.000+08:00

I am hooked to scrabulous in facebook. Nothing feels better than beating your opponent in a game of scrabble. Melissa and Wai Hong were my first two victims. Anyone else care to be on my chopping table? Hehehe..

-------------

Gonna ask Michael boy to buy me DVDs for the following movies. Cost only RM4 per DVD in JB. What a bargain!!
1. Amélie
2. Chocolat
3. The Twilight Samurai
4. The Hidden Blade
4. Les Choristé
5. Million Dollar Baby
6. The Cider House Rules
7. Elizabethtown
8. Babel
9. Pride and Prejudice
10. Sepet
11. Gubra
12. Mukhsin

Let's pray hard that those pirates have these movies in their collection.

Acapella....

2007-10-07T22:29:00.000+08:00

The Idea of North

I need to get my hand on all their songs!!!
Can anyone help me to download the songs please? Would buy you a meal in exchange. :/

Ichi Rittoru no namida mv

2007-10-07T00:31:00.001+08:00

Offshore Again..

2007-10-05T23:10:00.000+08:00

Posted some of the photos that I took while I was working at offshore last few days. Normally, one would require a permit from the OIM (also known as Offshore Installation Manager, the big boss) to take photos while at platform. You see, the platform is a highly hazardous area and a single flash could trigger an explosion in the worst case. Therefore, flame detectors are installed throughout the platform to detect any unwanted sparks. If you are using flash while taking photos, then detectors will detect these flashes as fire and false alarm will be triggered.

But as the whole platform was not in operational due to shutdown for upgrading, I was allowed to take snapshots. No need to go through the hassle of applying permits.

Cakerawala Cluster of Platforms
(left to right : Wellhead platform, CKR platform and CKP - Central Processing Platform)

There are 3 platforms in this cluster, each having its own function. I worked at CKP or the central processing platform whereby all the gas produced from fields will be treated and processed here.

Bridges adjoining CKR and Wellhead platform

For my project, there were 2 accomodation ships for almost 600 plus workers working on board. One is Jascon 28 which I was staying in, and the other was Beta. The condition at Jascon 28 was pretty clean and well maintained. It was able to withstand the sea waves and therefore, not much rocking on board. Thank god for that as I didn't vomit throughout my stay.

Jascon 28 aka J-28. The ship where I stayed.

My bunk. 4 person sharing in a room. Nice, comfy and fully air conditioned

Not much activity at night, other than watching TV at the TV room, or going for a movie at the mini cinema. Other than that, one can also go to the galley for makan. It's open 24 hours and you can eat till you drop!! Internet was available at the office, so lucky me. However, the connection is not very reliable as the signal kept breaking. Nothing much can be done as it uses satellite to transmit data.

View of CKR at night. A pipe-laying ship is at the background

I was informed by a colleague that I could climb up to the flare tip (shown in the photo below). The flare head was not in operational so this was the only chance one could go on top of it. The overall height from the top to the sea level is approximately 30 storeys high. It was said that the whole structure would sway at least one foot apart when you are at the top.

How I wanted to climb to the top!!! But I only gotta know about this half an hour before I was scheduled to depart back. I could not afford to spend 15 minutes to climb to the top and miss my chopper. One had to pay USD500 if he/she misses the chopper. So, I had to forget about trying out the climb. This would have been one hell of an experience but sadly I didn't have the chance to do so. And I doubt if I would have the chance to do again as chances like this (especially when we have a total plant shutdown and no flaring) doesn't come often. Sigh...

Flaretip which is about 15-20 storey high.

Nothing much to see other than water in the 360 degrees view.

Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.

After spending 4 days surrounded by water, it is indeed pleasant to see greenery again. And the best part is that you don't feel giddy spending your time in the rocking ship.

Green green grass of home.

It's already past one day since I reached onshore, but my head is still feeling heavy and giddy. Thought that I would fall sick anytime soon, but my boss told me that this is perfectly normal as my body is trying to adjust itself to the steady condition onshore. You see, the inner ear which functions to balance our body, which has adjusted to the rocky environment on board the ship will now have to readjust itself to the ground condition again. Hence, my body does not feel right. However, this short term giddiness will soon be gone in a few days time.

Though the trip was short, but nothing beats the experience of riding on a helicopter, living in a ship and working in a platform in the middle of the vast ocean. Wouldn't trade the experience with the money in the world. :)

Life On Board

2007-10-02T22:41:00.000+08:00

I am now typing this on board of a ship. Its the starting of the monsoon season here at South China Sea, and the wind is getting stronger with each passing day. Heard from the announcement today that the wind speed reached 40 knots per hour. I had to make effort to climb the stairs when the wind blew, and i had to grab onto the handrails as I walk. Another few knots more and it might blew me overboard!

The platform which I am working on is called Cakerawala or CKP and it is situated somewhere along Malaysia-Thailand border in the South China Sea. Work here starts at 7am in the morning and ends about 6 or 7 in the evening. Nothing much for me to do everyday, other than walking around and pretending to be busy. And this is pretty boring in a sense. But nothing beats the experience of being onboard this gas processing platform.

As for accomodation here, I stay on board of a ship by the name of Jascon 28. This vessel is dynamically positioned, and instead of using anchor to hold her afloat, she uses propellers to keep her on the spot. There are currently about 400 plus people on board. Life on board is kinda ok i guess. They have mini cinema here and food is greatly taken care of. 6 meals a day, can you believe that? Breakfast, follows by morning tea break, lunch, afternoon tea break, dinner, and supper. You can choose to have a second supper in the midnight if you want to. These guys really put effort to ensure that you won't die of hunger. Food is nice (but my colleagues who have been here for weeks would beg to differ!) and they had asian and western food. They had variety of drinks to choose from (syrup, packed fruit juice, hot drinks - tea, coffee, milo, etc) and they even offer ice-creams and fruits. Apart from that, they have a small gym room. Other than that. you basically don have much things to do other than admire the 360 degrees of seaview and ships and platforms distance away.

From a rough count, there are about 7 or 8 platforms nearby. And there are barges and vessels which is visibly seen.

Sea is starting to get rough, and its causing me motion sickness every now and then from the boat rocking. Staring at the computer screen while the ship is rocking, is making me pretty dizzy and disorientated. Time to lie down and take a good night sleep.I definitely need a rest especially when I have screwed up big time today. Will write on this embarrassing incident later..

Chiaw..

Short Post

2007-09-30T14:09:00.000+08:00

1. I am going for a short trip offshore. Finally, I got the chance to ride the chopper and be on the platform for the first time. Weeeee!!! Wil be back on Wednesday or Thursday. Wish me luck guys!!

2. Boss said I might get the chance to go to Lumut for a half year assignment. Couldn't be happier to accept the job. Yipppeee!! Will be looking after the fabrication works of a few process modules for a FPSO project. The fabrication works will be at my sister company's yard. Let's hope my boss will indeed stick to his decision and send me there.

3. Yesterday's choir performance sucks hard time. Never felt so conned in my life. Sorry to the 5 friends of mine who went together. My bad my bad.. :/

Il Mare and Elizabethtown

2007-09-17T21:39:00.000+08:00

A story that is emotional provoking and shows love that transcend time. Makes one wonder whether life do really exist in a bi-dimensional world separated by a different timeline. Both the main characters had liven up the storyline and carried their role well as they slowly unfold the tale. Excellent story line and superb scenery. It's simply a beautiful.

This one definitely makes it to one of my favourite movies of all time.

Big thanks to Ho Sang for recommending this to me. :)

--------

Managed to catch only the last 15 minutes of this movie on Astro HBO channel yesterday night. I was hooked to the screen throughout the duration and every moment of the finalé created a strong impact. Can't wait to buy the DVD from shop downstairs of my office.

2007-09-15T20:07:00.000+08:00

Finally, the barbarians came to their senses (for a moment) and scrapped their evil plot of mass canine genocide.- The Star, 15th Sept 2007

Let's see what is their next plan that will crop up in their pea-size-brain.

Mass Genocide and ToyoL

2007-09-13T14:04:00.000+08:00

In another development concerning the canine genocide which was planned out by the heinous local council of Majlis Perbandaran Selayang, it was reported in the paper today that the head of the state (Menteri Besar Khir Toyol) condemned the barbaric local council after mass protest from the concerning citizens and animal lovers in the country.

Phew, I thought that at least there is indeed a good leader who knows how to differentiate between the good and the bad. At last, someone who indeed stands out to correct the wrong. Someone who shows the capability of a true leader and think before action.

And this was what reported in the paper today.

============

The state government has ordered the Selayang Municipal Council (MPS) to take another look at its controversial dog-catching competition.

Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo said the reward amount was unreasonable and too high.

"We understand that MPS organised the competition in good faith as it hoped to attract the locals’ attention in solving the stray dogs problem.

"However, the prize money is too high and we want them to take another look at the competition."

=============

??~~?~??~?~?~?~~?~

What the fuck?

This man, a Menteri Besar himself, didn't speak of banning the competition after mass protest from the public and media, but instead, he came out with a stupid and toyol remark stating that the prize money is too freaking high? Can't he see the bloody issue here is not about the prize money? Its about the ethics and moral of holding such contest and the implication of the contest on the society, and also to the poor dogs, for goodness sake!!!

Well, this perhaps shows that he is one total brainless, heartless, heinous and murderer Menteri Besar we have here in this state. And he dares to proclaim that he is the leader of a developed state. Yeah right, first class infrastructure, bottom class mentality.

Speechless.... .. . .. . . . .

Khir ToyoL, don't be so bloody stupid and toyol can or not? Pleeeeeeze! (copied from here)

Tessellation and Fantasy

2007-09-12T16:10:00.000+08:00

Convex and Convaves - 1953

Intriguing. Painting that shows impossible structures, yet captivates the mind and soul. It has been said that there are people who spent hours in the museum multiple times just to enjoy his creation. And it was said that no matter how many times one sees the artwork, one still wont be able to see them all.

That is the work of the famous Maurits Cornelius Escher, or MC Escher. I only knew about his existence when I was watching Il Mare the other day, and I digged further to know more about him.

In his earlier works, he experimented with tessellation (the regular division of the plane, or tiling), which can be shown in the two paintings below. He toyed around with boundlessness with repeated objects and the result was infinite symetrical geometry. His art was mostly flat or 2 dimensional plane at first (see Horsemen), but he progressively ventured into spherical shapes (see Circle Limit IV) while staying to the infinite geometrical concepts.

Horsemen
Notice the repeated black and white horses facing each other in the opposite direction

Escher potraying tessellation in circular pattern in this masterpiece - Circle Limit IV

Later in his life, he started experimenting with transformation, or metamorphing. He practically changes a group of object into another object gradually through a series of slight changes (see below) For the first artwork, his touch of work has basically transformed a fish into a goose. And the second one sees the transformation from bees into fishes (and birds??). Really a brilliant work from the genius himself. It was during this time that he was involved with mathematicians and I believe that these must have influenced part of his designs.

And evolving from the same theme, he created a new theme called "Image Stories". One of his artwork, Encounter, was based on this idea. This piece was completed in 1944.

Encounter - 1944

"... on a gray wall, these human figures increase their mutual contrast toward the center ... each kind detaches themselves from the wall surface and walks into space ... Thus going round they can't help meeting in the foreground ... the black pessimist keeps his finger raised in a gesture of warning, but the white optimist cheerfully comes to his encounter, and so they finally shake hands." - excerpt from here.

Noticed how the black and white figure (element of tessellation) coming out from the rear wall, and going round, each in opposite direction and eventually uniting at the centre.

The later stage of his life sees his fascination with space and infinity . We eventually sees him developing pieces which depict structures in a seemingly impossible time and space. These structures are impossible to be built in real life, and the examples below will explain why it is so.

Belvedere - 1958

Relativity - 1953

Up and Down

It was said that there is element of loneliness which showed in Convex and Concave as the people were not aware of each other's existence even though they are living in the same place.

As for Relativity, I find a similarity between this art and the movie, Il Mare. The people are unaware of each other presense (just like Convex and Concave). I would say Escher is trying to convey the message that these men exist in the real world, but they living in a different time and another dimension, just like the movie. Therefore, the characters are totally unaware of each other's presence. Hmm.. Made me wonder if this are for real, or fantasy.

Fantasy or not, I still say his works are truly genius and brilliant!!