.

Something that made people of all ages happy

2011-11-06T21:10:00.011+08:00

Today in DoubleTree met a naughty balloon maker who was trying to scare the hell

out of me from my back.

To forgive him I made him do the balloons for me.

In the process of making the balloon he swiftly blow, stretch, cut (yes cut with scissor), twist the balloons to perfection.

He was pro within 15 min he could handmade 3 amazing made-you-happy lively balloons like a factory. He could fulfill your wishes like a genie except he was a heavy made up. Your job was to think and tell him your wishes.

He finally completed the work but I am not sure what you call this but I called it centifly.

This cute centifly made my day.

1 Malaysia Shopping

2011-11-01T22:57:00.016+08:00

Early morning walked in Gasing and saw this nice landscape designed by thoughtful people. The lotus just blossom, I felt so refresh just by watching the nature.

The lotus in Pink

Every time go Gasing will sure meet some new friends. A 20cm GIANT CENTIPEDE hiking in Gasing.

Evening we had charity walk in putrajaya for KFC. Saw this giant letter and couldn't wait to snap a photo together. What is the letter G stands for?

Not Gucci, also not Gaga... In fact G stands for GIVE. To give more and take less, more love, more time and etc.

This was the goodies bag received and the organizer gave to people who made it to the finished line.

After gulping all the vegetableless chicken burgers and more BURGERS, we walked to get our car. On our way back saw this 1 Malaysia Shop located in one of the government building. Curiosity got the better of me we walked in to check it out.

The moment we were inside the shop we were stunned to see so many 1 Malaysia printed products, most of them to do with daily necessities for instance 1 Malaysia Milo, 1 Malaysia Milk, 1 Malaysia Body Shampoo (Goat Milk flavor) and they even have 1 Malaysia bread. The price were incredibly cheap. The cashier said it has been opened for 1 month.

I couldn't believe my eyes, the goods were cheaper compared to outside. The boss was also smart he put the same product line of different brand side by side for better price comparison.

Before I was aware I found myself like an auntie sweeping goods into basket. Finally bought some items in unbelievable low price.

Is the blue color detergent looks familiar?

Enable Roaming for Maxis

2011-10-21T11:15:00.006+08:00

2 ways to make call from Singapore to Malaysia using Maxis:

1. Dial *120*6012XXXX - RM2.00 / MIN

2. Direct dial 012XXXXXXX RM3.10 / MIN

2 ways to make call from Singapore to Singapore using Maxis

1. Singapore to Singapore *120*65XXXXX - RM3.50 / min

2. Direct dial 65XXXXXXX RM3.10 / MIN

Receive roaming SMS in Singapore is FREE

However sending SMS from Singapore to any country is RM0.70

5. Fax your passport to MAXIS +60374910046 indicate YOUR MOBILE NUMBER - International Roaming. It is also not advisable to deactivate the roaming because you need to repeat step 5 for activate it back. If you don't want to pay for the expensive phone call charges don't pick it up : )

Bali Day 4 - Kuta

2011-10-17T23:46:00.021+08:00

We made sure the room was properly locked before we checked out.

The padlock

Panorama Hotel

Along the way to the Luwak coffee park, stopped by a nice rice terraces for shooting

The food for the Civet

The civet's feces that made the world best coffee

Sleepy Civat

The dried feces

Trying out different beverages like lemongrass, bali coffee etc. I especially love the ginger tea. I also bought some.

Deva patiently walk through with us the making of luwak coffee process from civet feces to fine powder. One small cup of luwak coffee does not come cheap, we tried a cup which cost Rupiah 50,000.

The business owner is smart, he makes people want to smoke by putting the cigarratte making materials on the table: the triple 5 paper and some dried tobbaco leaves. The cost is lower as compared to now the cigarratte price at RM10 per pack.

Deva showed us different type of fruits like starfruit, cocoa, red fruit for diabetes and the best part is that he showed buah salak has gender different male and female. How to differentiate it was through the size of the contents, if see 2 small 1 big means male and if see 2 big 1 small means female. I found the female fruit sweeter and juicier.

We continued our journey to Tirta Empul which is famed for holy water showering. Deva said people from all over the world are here with different purposes.

They all came for the water as they believed the miracle water can heal sickness and most importantly to refresh the mind. We saw eel and snake in one of the pond and also natural water ooazing out from the ground. Not sure to believe Deva or not he said we were lucky tourist because these are not commonly seen in public everyday.

After Goa Gajah temple, we had babi guling as lunch in ibu oka restaurant.

We had babi guling as lunch in ibu oka restaurant. Yes could see the food in that place was nice, however it was crowded and we found the system frustrating. We wasted 40 min for nothing. Deva was angry of course but he still never gave up to satisfy us with babi guling as lunch.

After having a rather unsatisfying pirated babi guling we went for a brief car tour in Nusa Dua. Overthere you could see high class hotels and this is where the Asia summit conference leaders will come to stay in November like Westin, JW Marriott and Novotel.

Too bad no paragliding for us because of low tide. We headed to Uluwatu to see the temple on top of the cliff. The view was magnificient like I was in Great Ocean Road minus the Wild monkeys which were jumping around.

We were told to watch out for our belongings because the monkeys were professionally trained to be naughty. The caretaker there trained them to take people thing away. To get it back you need to pay the caretaker and he will help to get it back from the monkey.

Almost all the people carried a stick in case of emergency.

A yawning sharp teeth monkey.

Didn't know monkey can be a good swimmer. In this video below you can also see a snake was laying an eye on its prey. Do you think the snake successfully have his lunch?

Hard Rock Bali

The worst dinner I ever had in Bali was in KFC: slow service, misleading poster Colonel Katsu as it comes with little food. There were also strayed cats in the eating area.

After dinner we went back to Aneka Kuta Beach Hotel.

Bali Day 3 - Ubud

2011-09-28T10:00:00.025+08:00

Last week Bali was struck by 6.2 magnitude earthquake. So glad we had come back to Malaysia. The earthquake was strong enough to make people ran from hotels and cause building to crack. However no buildings were found collapse simply because there are no tall buildings. According to Deva the government won't allow buildings to be built higher than coconut trees.

Back to my Bali trip. We woke up at 4:30 ready to see dolphin in the sea. According to Deva if the sea was calm we had high chance to see the Dolphins. He said not to come in March because the sea would be rough and slim chance of seeing Dolphins. We rode on ukong, a modified small boat with engine that can take max 5 persons per trip. We were really lucky because we managed to see the dolphins, not 1 but more than 10 of them hopping around us.

The fact was the poor dolphins are chased by 50 ukong every early morning. Deva said these creatures were in a rush to swim towards the west from the east. The trip was satisfying

although we were all wet all over.

We did a soft tracking in the spectacular GitGit Waterfall before going to the cooling lake temple.

Next we went to lake temple.

We had buffet lunch in Restaurant Saranam which was located on the hillside overlooking the beautiful paddy field terrace.

Next we visited Tanah Lot Temple by the sea.

The sun was scorching hot and I felt myself like roasted pig, forgot to put on the sun block and fully exposed our body to the UV, took plenty of nice shots especially with the temple as background.

It was low tide, we managed to walk at the bottom of the cliff to see the noisy and nerve racking tiny bats and there were 1000 of them.

An local old lady picking sea weeds nearby tanah lot temple

Local dessertsLocal Desserts in close viewLocal Desserts in close view 2

Deva is so nice he brought us to see Ketut Liyer, the part time actor acted in Julia Robert's movie EAT PRAY LOVE. He played the role of himself as astrologer. He is 96 and still look healthy and clear minded.

The signboard in front of his house.
Dinner was the famous bebek (crispy duck) in the Padi Prada restaurant overseeing the paddy field.

Crispy bebek

Pork Ribs

We strolled on the street of ubud around 9pm and I personally felt safe as the local people are friendly. We had another dinner Pork Ribs (highly recommended) and Bali coffee (highly not recommended because it is too bitter).

VolksWagen Das Auto Show 2011

2011-09-11T16:16:00.017+08:00

Finally VolksWagen Das Auto Show 2011 kicked off this weekend.

VolksWagen is really generous because the balloon used 2 weeks to blow up however it was only used for 2 days.

From far I could see many people queuing out. Looked like the publicity team really done a good job. Heard many people had waited 2 hours to go in and I also bumped into familiar faces.

There were those who couldn't wait ended up fainted and need oxygen mask to get back on her feet.

This raised my curiosity and I decided to check it out to see if it was worth the efforts?

As promised and I came back to queue at night at least not so hot. As you can see the number of people queuing up were still overwhelming. I thought VolksWagen must had given a lot of sweets to lure the crowds : LUCKY DRAW ^_^ woohooo....

The happy thought of me going to win home a VolksWagen motivated me to wait for hours.

And I thought once I got into the building, I didn't need to queue anymore.

Guess what I was SO SO SO SO WRONG!!!! In fact there were more lines to queue inside the building. Suddenly I was so confused, I didn't know how much longer do I need to queue...

Then I said to myself the show better be good.

Finally after my precious 45 min flew by, my turn arrived to walk into the secret hall, my instinct told me this must be the place for my lucky draw.

Happily I marched into the big hall and found myself a nice place to sit down. So relax and look forward to the show.

Soon the show started.... .... ....

........................!!!! -_- !!!!

Is that all??? Could you believe what you just saw????????

I was SPEECHLESS after watching the show.

I spent a good 2 hours to queue just to watch a COMMERCIAL ADVERTISEMENT. In fact I could have spent the time in other better thing like counting stars in the sky. Should have listened to the Malay family in front of me whom left during my queuing outside.

Bali Food

2011-09-10T13:48:00.008+08:00

Must try food Dirty Duck or beh beh

There are 2 choices: roasted or the crispy duck

At night in Ubud we sneaked out to the street to try out Pork Ribs

Succulent Pork Ribs

Ibu Oka Babi Guling. Friends said must go there earlier to avoid the food run out of stock.

I didn't have the chance to try this out due to time constraint

This one is opposite to the Ubud Palace is more authentic is a must try.

Bali Day 2 - Lovina

2011-09-07T10:35:00.012+08:00

After enjoying the best buffet breakfast in town, our journey to Lovina began.

Deva said it would be a half day journey and to make the long journey interesting, we stopped by few places and the first stop was a textile shop and where we found this beautiful backyard.

We bought nothing there.

Along the way, we saw some students who were wearing earth colored school uniform were walking happily home. Looked like they just came back from school cleanup. The students must be enjoying studying as their school days are 6 days a week. See the hair, it was classic.

The first temple we visited was Besakih Temple which perched on the slopes of Mount Agung.

Our tour guide Deva changed his attire to more formal in order to enter the temple with respect.

There are many Balinese good in doing cat walk on the street especially the lady.

To walk up the temple one needs to have good stamina as it was steep all the way up ~500m.

This temple was built in the 5th century by a monk coming from the east and during that time there was no temples in Bali. This temple was built based on 5 different metals: gold, silver, copper, iron and the combination of all. These metals are found in different direction (North East South West Central). We were not allowed to enter the temples as it is dedicated for the worshippers.

After we came down from the temple we went for our lunch in Restaurant Gong Devata with the view of a living volcano called Mt.Batur. We were told by the guide in order to climb out the volcano need 2 hours to go up and 3 hours to come down and what that's mean you need at least a day to do this.

Aditya Beach Resort Sunset

In the evening we went for the Restaurant Grilled Seafood Ranggon Sunset. The seafood was nice, she liked the fish and also the lady singer who could sing in English and Indonesia song. Luckily we applied the mosquitoes repellent stick and mosquitoes free for the entire night.

The result of forgetting to bring sunblock.

Bali Day 1 - Just arrive

2011-09-04T01:04:00.009+08:00

First day in the Bali Airport I thought I met a special person - Kenny Sia with his girl friend. He looks the same as described in his blog and I think we are on the same board. When we exit the airport, there were many agents holding the board with names and 1 of them is Kenny Sia. Yes I was sure it was him.

Our tour guide Deva embarked our trip by bringing us to a very nice dinning place in Jukung Bali which was located near to the Kuta Beach.

When we newly arrived the place we were jaw dropped to see such a beautiful setup. The eating tables and chairs were nicely setup on the beach with the sand as floor.
We were showed to the front line seat with better sea view and in no time our dinner was served fresh. As usual there were seafood like prawn, squids, clams and fish. It went well with my coconut water. I especially love the fish soup and it tastes really good. However I was not happy when I saw the waiter cleaned up my dishes without knowing that I have not completed my soup and without asking me for permission.
No big deal, very soon the waves restored my vacation mood. While enjoying the food, we get to enjoy the view of the gigantic "TIDAL WAVES" splashing the beach. Having the best of both world is best to describe my feeling.

Behind us was some sort of Bali dancing.
After dinner we checked in to Kuta Lagoon Hotel. Everything about the hotel was perfect, the swimming pool is new except the room was dim and I could not read my book. Just forget about it. Time to sleep.

Bali overview

2011-08-30T19:21:00.008+08:00

While Irene hurricane was visiting to US, I was in Bali enjoying my 5d vacation.

The weather was totally a different story as it was dry throughout the journey. I felt thirsty all the time and always need lot of liquids.

Bali is part of Indonesia but majority of the people there belief in Hinduism. They are so many temples and our daily itinerary would not miss the temple visit and still cannot finish all of them.

In Bali, according to my tour guide Deva, the Balinese caste system which is similar to India caste system still exists. However the Balinese calendar is much simpler as they have only 4 caste Shudras, Wesias (Vaishyas), Satrias (Kshatriyas) and Brahmins.

There are 3 Balinese calendar system, international calendar, lunar calendar and balinese calendar. For people who follow balinese calendar will age faster than other calendar as they have only 6 months in a year.

Secondary students walking home after class.

The balinese can speak both Malay and Balinese language (Malayo-Polynesian language). Generally I find them warm and friendly and they go out of their way to make people feel comfortable. 90% of the 3mil belong to Shudras caste but they live a simple happy life.

This picture was taken in Bali Tanah Lot Temple, I saw this old lady climbed up from the cliff after finished the seaweed picking. She has the most beautiful smiles I ever see.

Most balinese are devoted to their Deva and they worshipped to their Deva daily. They celebrate various festivals and holidays.

This picture was taken in lake temple Ulun Danu Beratan. The worshippers are doing worshipping to their Deva.

This celebrations help people of various communities come close to each other and spread the message of peace and happiness.

Found some interesting sea creature in tanah lot temple. Can anyone tell me what is this?

Who has better body language?

2011-08-21T23:04:00.009+08:00

Still remembered last time when I went to Vietnam with friends, we visited a Muslim village but can't remember the place name. There was this very sweet native pancake lady who was selling some nice smell good pancakes hot from oven cooked using pan burned under charcoal fire.

There were these couple, they were tourists from Australia and they wanted to buy the pancakes. They asked the lady in English on how much was the pancake, apparently she couldn't understand them.

During that time I was there and I saw the whole thing, the couple were looking at me and they asked me to help them translate. I was puzzled on what made them think that I could help, nevertheless I am a person who never wanted to disappoint anybody, I therefore helped them. Trying my best to be composed and asked the pancake lady, in ENGLISH AGAIN, "How much?".

When the tourist couple heard it they couldn't stop laughing and they said hilariously "I can say that too!" My friends were also laughing at my ingenuous behaviour.

That was when the miracle happened, the pancake lady apparently she could understand me better and she showed me the dong note. I was surprised too, same language same word and meaning but said in different way can give different intepretation to others.

In summary, your english is good but it can be better by consumating it with a little bit of body language : )))

Age is just a number

2011-04-10T19:33:00.022+08:00

Today is my birthday.

My babe bought a spongy and delectable fruit mousse cake for celebration.

Loved the flavor, loved the smiling sheep.

Nights before I had my birthday bash with friends in the shabu restaurant.

Thanks to WLS many pictures taken were shaky. This is the only picture which was slightly better and before I edited it it was freaking green and the hundred candles made me look old. Excuse me, I am not that old...

A dinner from sourcing to plate washing, simple yet palatable.

The highlight of the day is the 600g steamed fish, I scarfed down the dinner, feeling good and quickly placed my future order with my babe.

The food wasn't enough, we decided to go down to get some drinks and Kuachi as snacks. The cold night kept us stay in the pavilion for a while before going back to continue watching Dayo Wong stand-up comedy.

The next day we went for a workout in Gasing to lose belly fat.

After losing 3kg we rewarded ourselves with a wonderful golo meehoon kuey tiao breakfast.

A visit to the temple to thanks the mighty GOD for the blessings.

Back home to find the delicate orchid smiling at us at the balcony.

Reminds me of my babe lovely smile.

Mini orchid in the house.

Thanks for sharing with me the sweetest moments, babe.

My thought of 3.11.11 Japan Tsunami

2011-03-15T10:15:00.014+08:00

When the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, I was outside having meeting with friends in the rainy days and an annual dinner to attend in the evening.

When our CEO broke out the news in the dinner, I was not paying much attention to it because the gifts had blinded my eyes and also thinking it was a normal case. However when I watched the tsunami videos on the next day then only realized the world battle had just begun.

The unexpected natural disaster hit the land in split second without any sign of early warning causing many Japanese to lose their home and worst their family members. I was astonished and at the same time felt helpless whenever this thought of this disaster would hit us.

Few days later my company embarked a fund raising campaign to help Japan. For every fund we donate my company will match donations made by the company employees worldwide. This means that for every RM1 we donate, Regional will also donate RM1. Therefore, if we have made any donations towards Japan Earthquake fund through other organisation, we can also provide a copy of the donation receipt to the company. I thought this was a good act therefore I didn't hesitate much and donated my part on the first day itself.

When my babe said she would come to save me in Tsunami is one of the most wonderful thing I have ever heard in my entire life but I need to give her more swimming lesson first.

My deepest thoughts and prayers go to the Japanese. Hope they would recover soon.

After rain effect

2011-03-09T11:35:00.004+08:00

After heavy rain in RHB Bank

Trees fell and cars were damaged badly

Something in the pictures can be put on good use... esp today is a Wed...

Interesting Saigon

2011-02-04T23:30:00.060+08:00

Happy Cat Year everyone... ehhhh.... waita minute, I thought this is a year of Rabbit *_*

Yes, 20% of the Chinese in the world celebrate with the Rabbit but in Saigon the people here are not familiar with the rabbit, thus they celebrate with the Cat. A different "Tet" calender huh.

When landed and got out of the airport in a taxi, the first thing that came into sight was the extraordinary tangled wire rooted all over the place which were quite a fascinating sight.

Another things was the messiest traffic on the road, it was total bonker. The opposite of their road direction already made us so confusing and imagine Saigon aka the city of motorbikes, everyday 17 millions motorbikes running and honking non stop on the road. We had to be careful not only on the road but also walking on the garden park and pedestrian because the rushing motorbikes could catch you by surprise.

K said to survive the crossing of the road is to close the eyes. Some said many drivers and riders depend a lot on your body language as a guide. So the trick really is not to have any sudden movements when crossing a road in Vietnam. Many people said once you get the hang of it, it can be quite fun.

We stayed in Saigon Mini Hotel which was strategically located in the city. Not only the place was new, clean, excellent service and very importantly it was quiet.

The next day we joined a half day historical tour to "Gucci" tunnel (USD7 per person). In Saigon, the people there pronounce C as K, so Cu Chi tunnel is literally pronounce as Gucci tunnel. The tunnel is about 250km long.

On the 3rd day, we get to know some new friends and we made good company during the 3D2N Mekong Delta trip (USD59). This trip did not include any meal, we had to find our own food. On the last night we stayed in floating hotel of which I would NOT recommend as nothing special to boast of. The toilet was not clean anyway and a lot of mosquitoes.

The whole trip was about boating and walking under the scorching hot sun (so sunblock, cap and a pair of good walking shoes are very important). As the whole journey was in a slow motion, I get to see the lifestyle of the people. Most of them are living under poverty and struggling to make a living everyday. However I noticed the people here are more engaged with each other and built better social relationship as compared to developed nations. I guess technology has made us lazy and brought us further apart instead of bringing us closer.

Over here in Vietnam, people accept both US dollar and Dong but is advisable to bring enough Dong in order to get the most of out of your spending.

Get yourself a Vietnam guide book in order to find local food conveniently.

Don't forget to bring mosquito repellent or anything similar when going for this kind of tour. The mosquitoes there were cruel. If you have IPhone even best, turned it on as they have this mosquito repellent function installed.

Many interesting stories happened during the trip. One of it was the bus aircon was having problem, our vocal new friend Rick was bold enough to complain to the tour guide and demanded to get a bus change or get us refund. The tour guide was reluctant initially but gave in later saying he could change the bus for us but the bad news was the next bus would only set off 1 hour later. Thinking that it would be another 3 hours ride sitting inside the oven, we decided to wait for the next bus. The rest of the passengers continued to go back with the "ovenized" bus.

Few good shopping places with value for money goods: Bentham Market, Saigon Square, City Hall, Parkson etc.

On the last day, we were very angry with the officer working for Vietnam AirAsia checkin counter. He pissed us by saying our entry visa had exceeded the given timeline and asked us to walk long way to the immigration office to have it fixed. The entire airport was so advanced but the signboard was so "cacat", couldn't find the signboard at all. Later Erica checked the passports again and discovered the expiry date was in fact a month later. Apparently the dumb officer had made a mistake and he further offended us saying the usual visa length to enter Vietnam was valid for 3 days *o*. We were not sure if he has problem understanding our English or he has listening problem.

Saigon to me was like a love hate relationship. Deeply in love with their food, shopping, sightseeing and friendly people. Hate the messiness traffic, polluted environment, the lousy airport signboard and the dumb officer.

I am still looking forward to my next Vietnam trip.

Huck's Cafe

2010-12-22T09:29:00.029+08:00

Sisters' gathering today and we decided to make our dinning more memorable by venturing to this big house converted into a Home cafe found in Jalan Gasing - Huck's Cafe. The warm lights litted double storey bungalow has just started business 3 months ago and the business hours starts from evening onwards. The concept is like private kitchen, underground dinning or closed door cafe where you get to try recipie that can't be found elsewhere.

From one look of the house can see the master is someone who is artistic, knows how to enjoy life to the fullest and somebody who loves collecting old stuffs. While waiting for the sisters to come, BL and me explored the surroundings. Outside the garden sitted a manmade Japanese style pond. Inside the living room is beautifully decorated with antique furnitures, a lifeless old gramophone and unused typewriter as the company.

A young boy came and leaded us to the table of five located outside the spacious wooden laid balcony. There were another 3 more big tables inside the house of which already filled up with guests.

The forever busybody BL was taking pictures wildly using her new toy iphone and I was busy being her model. After a while, the girls arrived the place glamorously.

The girls were so particular about this occassion and they literally put a lot of efforts in dressing up. First, LS wore sexy semi shoulderless black dress, the married but available Jac wore spaghetti, YT's dog bite cutting mini skirts and a red flower blossom from her head made her look like GAGA. AY and me not too bad as well, we were just being ourselves.

AY had made this reservation 3 weeks ago as it was hard to get a place especially in this festive season. This home cafe has limited capacity and therefore reservation is mandatory. That night, the menu was quite predetermined by the mysterious chef as he knows what is hot in market.

Starter: A refreshing drink Basil Seed Mint Soda, the tummy warmer sweet rich creamy Pumpkin and Mushroom soup. Main dishes are the house specialty Lemon Roast Chicken in a roasting tray (whole bird stuffed with garlic cloves, whole lemon, rosemany and thyme into the cavity of which I volunteered to cut and divide for the girls), Sealed with a Kiss (foiled cooked chicken breast marinated with thyme and white whine together with different mushrooms and potatoes) and also a wild rocket chicken chili spaghetti. Luckily the chef forgot about the salad as by the time we finished all the food, we were bloated and laid down on the chair like stone.
The irresistable desserts made us hungry again. We have Creme Brulee (the chef used flame to burn the top until the crispy brown sugar coated) and Chocolate Mud Pie Ice Cream. We completed our night with the aromatic Ahmad Earl Grey Tea.

The food were mouthwatering and the bill was a princely RM75 per pax.

Before we left the house, the man behind the kitchen- Huck came out and greeted us. His very manly look killed us many times. My first impression of him was he looks more like a fashion designer than a chef. He kept us warm by sharing his tales on how he started this cafe. I was surprised when he said he was not a trained chef and self learn cooking just to impress his 3 kids (Ya la! He's married *o*). This family man improvised his culinary along the way and now his cooking impressed many families and friends. Soon enough friends bring friends and the whole idea of home cafe was germinated.

Honestly speaking, I don't feel like myself going to a restaurant but more like visiting an old friend house. Like this place, a place that worths visiting again : )

Tyloses

2010-11-15T09:57:00.027+08:00

One month ago, I found a bump on my left index finger. Not sure how I got it but this bump slowly grew bigger by day. But I didn't feel itchy at all, it was just making me feel uncomfortable. I decided to cut it with my nail clipper thinking it was some dead skins. Thought of doing this would get rid of the bump once and for all. But I was wrong as this bump was reincarnated and got even bigger this time.

This is the bump after the treatment.

Not able to show you the before as I didn't take any picture of it.

I think this bump is not any ordinary dead skin, friends around are not professional or doctor but they all said the same thing like me, "鸡眼" ji1 yan3 (a direct translation is chicken eye). Not sure what is it all about. Only know this kind of thing will need to seek medical treatment. Is just a matter of eastern or western treatment. I chose western treatment.

I went to a familiar skin specialist and she examined my finger with a big magnifying glasses and confirmed this is a Tyloses (viral skin disease) or in chinese was commonly known as 鸡眼. She said if I ignore the viral it will spread to other areas.

She gave me 2 options: Option 1. Apply the external cream at the affected point for one month. Option 2. Apply a kind of freezer on the affected point and later apply the external cream on the affected point for 1 month (she did not say anything about peeling off using a blade). Both options will eventually lead a brown colour dead skin to be formed after a month and I will need to remove the skin myself using a nail clipper.

I want a speedy recovery so I chose option 2.

The doctor then used a sharp blade to peel off the dead skin leaving an opening point. Her technique was good that I didn't feel a pain at all. She later took out the freezer tank, tried few pump (could see icy gas sprayed out) and poked it straight to my affected point for a few times, I immediately felt the sharp pain when the medicine sipped into the injured point. She said the freezer function was to freeze the virus to death. I could say it was a painful 5 minutes experience.

The whole process took less than 20 min and my hard earned RM205 was gone.

A white coat is formed after a drop of the poison.

This will take 1 month to recover and there is no need to avoid eating any food.

At night I went for wedding dinner and shared my experience with my relatives, they laughed and said they used to have it all the time (their faces didn't give a damn while saying this). What they did was became their own doctor and used a blade to peel off themselves and later applied chicken eye cream (bought from Chinese Medicine Shop). One of my auntie in her early 70s joked that the old used to believe someone must have accidentally dropped a rice grain into the stove causing the formation of this Chicken Eyes.

Last time when resources were rare and people were not as afluent as now, the older gen tended to do things creatively with courages. During that time no one talks about risk management etc...

I know this is a non relevant topic, somehow it just reminded me of my old times - "The Invincible Me", which is now slowly fading away due to lack of practise. I remembered I used to build a lot of my stuffs and to name a few of my significant masterpiece would be a bookshelf and mosquito net. I built them simply because time was a luxury and also knowing my parents would not have the money to buy them for me.

This picture below showed the very first 4 storeys bookshelf I built for myself using some recycled wood materials. I am proud to say the quality is as good as IKEA.

Nowaday I find myself slowly losing all of these creativity and becoming overly dependent on others for somethings of which I have the ability to build them.

The adage is right, "Use it or Lose it".

Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia 2010

2010-11-02T07:54:00.012+08:00

The entrance fee for Sime Darby LPGA is not as expensive as CIMB PGA, I paid only RM21 (CIMB RM100) to enter KLGCC in Bukit Kiara for the whole day.

The organizer even arranges shuttle vans to fetch you from your carpark to the venue. For this event, Sime Darby features a prize purse of US$1.8m as compared to CIMB prize purse of US$6m.

The cloudy weather is just nice for us to expose completely on the open space. The game starts at 8am and I can see lots of Koreans and Japanese visitors arrived the place. This is because the invited golfers are mostly from Korea and Japan. The organiser said world number 1 Ai Miyazato from Japan, along with Shin Jiyai from South Korea, Yani Tseng from Taiwan and Suzann Pettersen from Norway who are currently placed third, fourth and fifth in the woman's world golf ranking participated on the tournament.

Though American Korean Michelle Wie is not world no.1 but probably she has the biggest following over the weekend and the 21 year old even has a bodyguard in tow as she walks off the greens to prevent any untoward incident.

My mission of the day is to win the stunning and life changing ISOLA - "Hole in One" Charity Challenge, a condominium that worth RM600k.

The condominium is an offer to any person who shoots the shot of a lifetime on the par three 15th hole on the KLGCC's west course. I am not a golfer myself and trust me it is not as easy as I thought even to hit at the ball. I make a few clumsy swings just managed to send the ball in a straight direction of less than 100 meter away. I didn't win anything, not even a towel (BL won it). When I go home can only only feel the muscles pain in both hands
After the challenge, we go to see how other contestants are swinging. Below are some pictures of the 19 holes the contestants will need to birdie.

Definition of Par (golf.about.com): Par is the number of strokes an expert golfer is expected to need to complete an individual hole, or all the holes on a golf course. The value assigned to represent par for an indivisual hole is always comprised of two putts and the number of strokes it should take to reach the green. Holes typically are listed as par-3, par-4 and par-5, although par-6 is also ocassionally encountered. A par-4 hole is going to be longer than par-4 and par-5, although par-5 longer than a par-4 (with rare exceptions). On a par-3, an expert golfer is expected to need only one stroke to reach the green, followed by two putts. On par-4, he should need two strokes to reach the green, followed by two putts; and so on. For 18 holes of golf, the par is the total number of strokes an expert golfer is expected to complete the course. Most full size golf courses range from pars of 69 to 74, with par-70, par-71 and par-72 courses most common.

The unexpected winner is Kang Jimin, 30 this years from South Korean, takes home a prize purse of USD$270k. She made a 12 foot birdie putt on the par-4 18th for a -6 under 65 and a -9 under total. Michelle Wie is in T32 position getting a prize of USD$12,008.

Below is the result:

RIP Paul the Psychic Octopus

2010-10-27T09:35:00.004+08:00

FRANKFURT, Germany – Paul the Octopus, the tentacled tipster who fascinated football fans by correctly predicting results at this year’s World Cup, died Tuesday.

Paul had reached the octopus old age of 2 1/2 years and died in his tank on Tuesday morning in an aquarium in the western German city of Oberhausen.

Thanks for celebrating 53rd Merdeka with us (2010)

Organic Cyst

2010-10-25T15:42:00.013+08:00

Good news! We have a fresh organic cyst for sell today. This sour plum looked cyst sized of 2cm is new in the market as was just freshly taken out this morning using a scissor from a prestigious hospital. It is in good condition and does not have any insurance coverage.

According to Mr.Lai (owner of the cyst), 64 this year, he found this cyst living behind his shoulder for 4 months and then one day he had enough and decided to auction it.

Basically what can this cyst do for you:

For people who have been working hard and are looking forward for some vacation but cannot find any good reason to apply leave from the unreasonable boss, now you need no worry anymore. The Cyst is here to help you.

According to Mr. Lai, he said the cyst was found behind him on the right below the shoulder causing his left hand to be very numb entitling him for 1 day medical leave.

If you buy today, we have a special offer for you. It only cost RM1000 (original price is RM1033.80).

If you buy now, we will give you free installation. Just tell us where you want this cyst to be installed. We also will give you these 3 medicines in case you feel pain.

What's more good news are all these come free!!!!

The cyst also comes with 1 hour warranty. If this cyst does not work as expected we will not be responsible.

For people who buy this online, we give you a special offer of 0.00007%, which round up to RM988.

What are you waiting for, call this number 1800 1033 80 now !!!!

Spread the good news to your friends now!!!

Adam Lambert Glam Nation Tour Malaysia 2010

2010-10-18T10:14:00.024+08:00

5:30pm left the office in haste and feeling excited not because I am seeing the glam rocker, Adam Lambert, tonight but because I have not seen the sunset for the past 3 months since I have joined this new company. My punch out time is 10pm everyday.

Heard this is AL last stop and don't know when he be back again, also read TheStar, he has compromised his performance in order to appease the local official by adhering to some Malaysia guidelines like no kissing any guys on stage in Malaysia but never mentioned if it is ok to kiss a girl, I guess it should be alright : )

The concert suppose to start at 8:30pm but AL is late for 1 hour guess he is trying hard to finish drawing eyeliner. The audience become restless and one of them decides to stand up and dance. Wow, she is a true thriller. See the crowd, everybody is moving together with her.

When the "syok sendiri" become tire and AL is still not ready to come out yet trying to figure out on how to wear the not so skimpy dresses, Digi starts throwing giant bouncing balls for the big kids to play. Some big kids hate the ball so much, they ground ball and start hammering.

At last, the most awaited of the night, AL jumps on stage with his modest attire covered in black and get the show heated up with rocky songs. I don't know most of the songs except Whataya want from me and For Your Entertainment.

A little disappointed with his well behave performance under the limelight, can't see "much" going on. He is a performer who keeps his lip to tone down "slightly" in accordance to the Malaysia government guidelines, don't think slightly is the word for it...

The entire show throughout the night is in dark.

Midway through his energetic performance, AL said tonight show is about Love.. I wanted to show you the dark side of love.... and also the bright side of love....

This is the best macro view I get so far.

I am impressed with AL impeccable vocal and humourous showmanship.

Well, AL must have found us boring and decided to end the show in less than 90 min.

RMIT Graduation 2010

2010-10-05T08:56:00.021+08:00

A day before my big day, I received a bouquet of beautiful fresh roses sent to my office. When walking back to my cubicle with the flower, I felt a little complacent. In no time, I was already inundated with questions from colleagues. My cheeky boss said put the flower higher on top of the CPU to increase visibility : ) Some said I had lost the "market" value and many men, women and other living creatures will be disappointed.

18/9, the moment I waited for finally arrived. When come to think about it, it has been a smooth ride, the timer stopped at 2.4 years.

Initially when I took up MBA, not because I had the time and money, but for my better career prospect. Many friends around me envy me of my achievement, but to be honest it is nothing to be proud of because I think everybody can do it. YES, seriously. You just need to sleep lesser, sacrifice a little of social life, work smarter, read fanatically and be a street smart in the class gradually you get what you want.

Felt a little embarassed when a stranger told me my graduation hood was worn wrongly. When I looked at it closely, many people had worn it wrongly as the organiser forgot that it is not something we do every year.

The best thing that ever happened to me was having to see all my friends again. This is also the first time we all "agreed" to dress up the same for a common purpose. We were excited and curious to find out how a piece of paper that worth RM42K would look like.
Deng Deng Deng deng....

Is A3, I knew it. I knew it would not be a A4.

I wonder how to bring this paper for my interview? No big deal, the most important thing is nothing more important than having my babe with me..

I am your precious

2010-08-12T09:55:00.011+08:00

Sometimes, I wish time can come to a stand still so that you can stay with me a little longer. No time constraint, no urgent meeting, no other business to worry about.

Ever since you appear, my life has changed. You brighten up my day like a sunshine with your smiles and laughter. You chase away silence and reopen my eyes with your words of wisdom. You make me see the meaning in life.

Thanks for showering your unconditional love to me. I know I can count on you when I need you the most. Because you see the difference in me. Do you know that you have the power to make my day counts. The cherry moments you brought me would be preserved with no expiry date. In your eyes, I am your precious.

Spain reigns at 2010 world cup

2010-07-28T23:08:00.010+08:00

I know it will sound a bit old to talk about World Cup now as it had already closed the curtain 1 month ago.

Well, I can't help to praise my judgement and also to do with a little bit of luck.

While the world cup fever was still a hit, I brought home 2 football wear from Australia - Spain and Argentina. Both shirts are size M, I literally found it a little bit small for me, not sure if BL could fit in the shirt. I let her chose and agreed she was better in Argentina, therfore I took Spain.

Few days later, Spain defeated Holland, 1-0, brought home the never in history world cup. Proud about their winning and overwhelmed my choices, I flaunted by wearing Spain, a way of life, wore it after badminton game, taichi and also eating GCB in McD. I am not a big fan for fast food but this burger tastes good, end up eating twice the same week.

Sitting at MCD, holding my "Hong Men Shan"

A new beginning

2010-07-19T07:10:00.015+08:00

No company has done this before, at least not for those that I had worked with...

On my first day in work, I asked the question why do we need 2 days for orientation, later I found out it was because shaking 150 hands alone already took hours. Apparently this has been a tradition as required by the top team. Luckily there was no exam after that to test my memories.

Followed by the 1 week buddy lunch, this place has successfully made me feel like home. According to the buddy on the buddy system, they were handpicked by the top team (not lucky draw) for the job. In other word, don't expect them to be good looking but they have kind personality like the girl/boy next door.

Parking was still a challenge. Some friends told me the parking here was limited and worse of the worse, it was monopolised by a carpark operator and they really make you pay as if you had rich dad or sugar daddy staying at Bukit Damansara (Uptown area)

Asked my boss what his expectation towards me, he said 2 months I will need to be fully independent and babysit 4 kids. To increase the success rate, everyday they will pull me away from my chair and put me to fasttrack bootcamp, feeding me with enormous data so that one day in the future I can open my own datawarehouse.

In my friends gathering, they like to ask me why want to quit a "country club" job and jump into the sea to learn swimming again. A well said metaphor in cantonese - 晤幸苦,点得世间财 (one needs to work hard to earn one breadbutter). Well, sometimes not only pure efforts but also a bit of lucks and blessings. That being said, BL, my forever beloved dependable friends, understood and brought me to temples to ask for blessings. What more could I say - thanks for all the support you have showered me : ). I won't let you down.

Di Mu Liang and Kuan Di Miao

Winter Melbourne 2010

2010-06-28T19:52:00.031+08:00

8 days in Melbourne, alone in the bone-chilling winter. I thought this was it, howerver, I was fortunate to get TRY onboard at the last moment.

Melbourne has changed quite a lot compared 7 years ago, could see many Asian eateries places and shops opened quite late, no more closing at 5pm. What surprised me the most was to see so many Asian walking on street.

First thing first, bought a weekly tram pass (~$29) and prepaid sim card (Optus $30 and last checked of balance before coming back to KL was $40 from $120, good deal).

Arriving the bustling city, dragging my handicaped luggage along, DNY and me hopped on tram # 6 to Glen Iris, stop at High Street to Malaysia Student Hall. The place surprised me as it was exceptionally well maintained and people are friendly there. Food and snacks were conveniently available on shelves at good price. It was also my first time to cook instant noodle in oven.

Clockwise from top left - Found possum at the park, a book store, Great Ocean Road and Crown Casino

Clockwise from top left - Victoria Market, Steakhouse and Southern Cross Station

Nothing more happy than seeing my ex-colleagues, friends and get to know some new friends. Their hospitality kept me warm in such coldness. I got chance to try out Italian, Thai, Vietnam and Japan food. Most of good restaurants can be found concentrated in Lygon street.

Clockwise from top left - Having lunch at redhill, drinks in form of paddler and the brewhouse

Winter sales was on. Many said the best place for shopping were Dockland and DFO (Tram # 96 or 86 to Crown Casino from Bourke Street). Good quality apparels are found at price below $20.

One of the highly recommended place is ACMI in Federation Square. This place is setup to showcast the World of film, television and digital culture. They have game lab to make you immerse in the digital world. One of the most fascinating was the Matrix-Inspired timeslice, one can literally be a star with a camera to capture self from every angle. Click here for to know what I had done. And the good news - they all come free.

ACMI

At the last minute, we signed up for a tour to Great Ocean Road at $99 per person, believe me it was breathtaking. The journey was almost whole day, started from 7am and back to CBD around 8pm. Since this was a tour, we didn't get the chance to stop by lighthouse or a brief stroll at the nature park. On the surfer beach, we found a dog waiting loyally for its master. We couldn't help but took some pictures of the furry animal. Overall, the trip was good but it be great to go with my beloved.

DIY breakfast and delicious confectionery

The serviced apartment we stayed (Arrow on Swanston) allowed cooking. TRY and me decided to make own breakfast before going for the tour at 7am. I found that it was not a good idea afterall though I can really cook very well. Not only was easier to get from the shelves, mainly it was hard to wake up in the early morning and prepare for food.

Last day in Melbourne, we went for steamboat to mark the successful sign off of our trip. The seafood there were aplenty and in good price too. The Macademia nuts I bought from Victoria Market was finished at a blink of one eye when brought back to Malaysia. Everyone tend to love the Wasabi flavour ($16 per 500g and natural $15 per 500g). But I found cheaper one at the supermarket ($10 per 400g).

Melbourne was a nice place to stay. Not sure when I be back again to this place but I know it will not be so soon as a new chapter has just unfolded, more challenges awaiting ahead and I hope I am strong enough to embrace them.

20 hours of Marathon

2010-06-07T18:14:00.031+08:00

Most friends complimented my green colour T-Shirt was of high quality and well design. I still remember the day we went to collect the goodies bag + TS, we cheekily asked for XS size and that boys gave us a good doubtful glance. We tried on the shirt and to our dismay, the boy was right - it didn't fit, we changed back to M size with embarrasment.

A soggy morning, as soon as the 4.5 km race started, my bunny friends were already many meters sprang ahead of me, to be honest running alone was not a good experience and when I about to swear no more run next time, BL and K appeared in front of me magically (as if they heard my crying).

The rain made me a total wet chicken feets. We ran for the final meters and proud to squeeze into top 100, I got 97 (by right should be 96 as my number was "accidentally" given to BL). As for a first timer like me, this was considered a good result.

When home, the "PEPSI" BL dragged me to the swimming pool and soaked for another 2 hours.

The moment of truth came during our shopping at night, my right leg started feeling the ant bite...

The pain got intensify the next day, I recalled it was the same pain as 2 years back then in London for a business trip, the weather was cold and the same leg giving me the trouble of walking properly, but it recovered the next day fortunately.

Alas, luck was not on my side this time. The crude pain stayed even after 2 suffering massages. Some said the wind and water that had immersed into my muscle and bones caused the pain to arise.

Not sure how long it will last, but am sure this pain brought so much of inconvenient and made me change my plan crudely.

Early morning today, BL happily said our run appeared on the newspaper with our face printed. I was really excited as this was a form of visibility. I happily shared with Nic in the office pantry while leafing the newspaper frantically looking for myself. Guess what, I could only find the 2 monkey faces and no me.. -_-', the only explaination was that BL's voluptous body had blocked my pretty face.

Above all, my biggest wish now is not only become a millionaire but to see my leg recovers before Melbourne trip next Monday. My dear friends, please pray for me too.

Wesak day and Wedding day

2010-06-01T09:06:00.006+08:00

Last Friday was public holiday because of Wesak. Two things to do, charity and wedding dinner.

I went to SJBA as helper for oil lamp from 8:30am to 3:30pm. My first time to temple for wesak celebration. When reached there, car parks were full but I managed to get a parking under a tree with my phone number written in case I had blocked somebody car.

Many devotees thronged the SJBA, more than 4000 oil lamps lined the right entrance while the left was packed with fund raising booth. Last year, around 4,100 lamps were lit (when good time was 4,900) and this year, P said the number was lesser due to new temple had opened in other places.

My job was to ensure the lights were lit up all time. With minimal hand holding, P gave me a clip and a long candle to start working. Look like an easy job but not at all. I learnt that two essential substances I need - both physically and mentally. Physically, I need to stand the heat. The place was so hot and no fans for sure. Imagine I was like inside an oven being BBQ slowly. I could tell my face was hot like a red tomato. Sometimes, the wax and oil that spilled on my hand made me pain and wanted to give up and go home. Second substance, talking about mental, to be there 8 hours alone was not easy. I knew no one except P, but he was busy with other stuff. But he was a funny and caring old man, working with him was indeed enjoyable.

Some devotees after offering their praying to the Buddha, they invaded our space trying to avoid the crowd and put the oil lamps by themselves. It was a dangerous thing to do as there were fire around. If not careful would have caused unbearable consequences. P was smart to put a table to block the entrance and stop these people from taking the short cut and the result was effective.

** The lit lamp symbolises wisdom while darkness symbolises ignorance. The lamp dispel darkness, removing the darkness of ignorance in order to attain Buddha's luminous clear wisdom.

The sky was overcast when I left. I met BL at her place thinking of going gasing for hiking. But the downpour began in no time. Our plan B - YOGA activated. BL trying to showoff her voluptous figure. I left her place around 6pm with contended stomach and went home to get ready with my second half of the day - A's wedding in Jalan Ampang.

When reached her place, we stood there agaped with the big house. A was lucky to have such a loving and tender hubby despite of huge age gap. The house was so dark that I almost fell down with my new stiletto. I thought it was part of the plan, later only realised the heavy lightnings caused the fuse to blow. Could see her hubby came from well off family, their swimming pool was awesome. The entire house, I tried my best to figure out (it was really too dark) was more inclined to European style design.

The dinner did not get started until 9pm, was having a good time with some of my mba mates. When the dinner started, people invaded the buffet table in no time.

Something special about this wedding, when come to the tail end, everyone was given a white balloon filled with helium to write wishes and to release later to the sky. The newly wed were playing with their Kong Ming lantern and we witnessed them slowly rose and disappeared towards the dark sky.

The wedding ended at 11:30pm.

Stray rabbit

2010-05-23T20:49:00.016+08:00

Yesterday weather was chilling. One can literally sleep on the open ground without worrying getting sunburn.

K and me woke up 7am with a mission in mind, to find the QiGong senshe in the park. According to my fren, he was a good teacher and his gang can be found practising nearby the pond.

We wondered for a while and stopped by one of the balancing pole for a rest. From far, I noticed some furry animals. I asked K, "Is that rabbit?". K said "Cat". I rubbed my sleepy eyes again, "Look again! Is rabbit!"...

We were exhilarated!

There were 2 of them of same colour and size. How on earth they get here. Usually we bumped into stray dogs cats on the street or at the park... and rabbit is rare case, weird though.

I approached them and they were not scared at all. They sprang forwards thinking I would give them food. I had no food for them. We went to buy RM6 per pack organic carrot for the rabbit. Lucky them, myself also not willing to spend so much for the organic.

Well, apparently the rabbits are loving it and ate like no tomorrow. Never know their upper incisors can be that strong, could feel the tug of war while feeding them and the carrots were finished in no time.

At the same time, a black pussy cat came to join the party.

Once again, plan changed - no QiGong but saving the stray rabbits.

Fraser Hill Essence

2010-05-09T20:58:00.050+08:00

Last weekend was fun. I went back to Fraser Hill after a decade of up and down. In my impression, FH lies on ethereal highland, peaceful and calming.

BL managed to book a colonial-style bungalow owned by her company. She invited all 7 of us to go for a weekend vacation and to escape the swiltering heat in KL. True enough, on our way up to the hill, the thin frail of mist that enveloped our journey thrilled us.

We reached in the evening in time for dinner. Outside the bungalow, there is a big garden that resembles the Taiwan series "Meteor Garden" minus the fountain. The 3 caretakers in their late 70s came to greet us. The spacious living rooms were warmly lit up. There were around 10 built-in bedrooms and the size of each is as big as my living room.

At night, after a thumbs up Chinese cuisine dinner, we went out to explore the mini town. I noticed, there were lots of development after a decade. I remembered last time there weren't much night-life and we slept early mainly due to lack of transport. Now, we could find food shops open very late.

We settled down at a restaurant cum resorts for a card game "Cho Dai Di". We had 7 people in the group and decided to combine two decks of cards (104 cards) to get everyone to play together. Can you imagine, this bunch of creative uncles aunties created and agreed new rules on the ground. After tired of seeing K as the season winner, we headed back to the bungalow.

Our part 3 was watching TV, playing chinese chess and sleep. I over sprayed the mosquito fog and it took long time for it to clear off. I could tell that BL wanted to kick my ass because I pulled her from her beauty sleep (we were both sick in KL). Basically, I also wanted to kick her ass because her turbo engine (snoring) was loud enough to keep me awake whole night.

Next day, I woke up as Panda to hike the Bishop trail. It was the closest and shortest trail we could get. From the entrance, this place looks decent for a brief walk. In no time, we were found going down the hill. The place was wet after some rains last night. We took our sweet time and post for photo times to times.

When reached the looked up point, we saw a notice board warning us of leech. Suddenly K uttered "Leech". I thought she was being mean, somehow, my gut feel told me is true. In split seconds, everyone were alerted and started checking their legs. To my biggest horrow, 3 dreadful blood suckers sticking on my left leg and making their way to climb into my socks. I quickly pulled them out with force using hands.

After some "human-leech fighting", we left the point, lost our cool and ran for life. Nel was running like rocket and I had few occassions of nearly slipped and fell. When reached the exit, everyone was flabbergasted, took off the running shoes and socks for leech check (not run and strip at the same time although YT would like to see me naked, but indecent exposure on the street is a criminal offence) . Yes, the leeches did not dissapoint us, everyone got a bit of it. In the end, I went back with my "bloody" bare foot.
After soaking my leech infested clothes into the hot water with salt (do not soak blood stained clothes into salt water because it will be harder to remove the stain later), I rejoined the rest for breakfast.

When Nel happily related his leech experience found in his most delicate part, suddenly a fat leech appeared from Nel clothe (as if the leech understood we were talking about him). Once again, everyone bounced off 10 km away from the dinning table. I felt myself starring in a horror movie when another leech on the floor crawling towards to my right foot. Well, while everyone was dumbfounded, the caretaker swiftly took the leech away with tissues.

The leech kept us busy for a while before we moved on to the next relaxing activities - horse riding, archery and boating. First time playing archery and I hit the bull eyes with bleeze. We also went to visit the smoked house thinking to get some bites. Guess what, the price you paid for was not worth it as it costs a fortune - RM48 for a very small pie. It would be pathetic sight to see 7 of us sharing a pie and each paying RM7 per spoon. To balance the imbalanceness, before leaving, I went to use Smoked House toilet without paying and took lots of pictures.

Some exotic flora found in the trail

Never a time we were starve because we were offered 4 meals a day by the caretakers. Sad to say no chance to use my birthday gift choc fondue.

The most meaningful of the moment came. It began with me forgetting to get my clothes back from the hanger one night and it was pitch darkness outside the bungalow. I wasn't dare to go out alone, ends up dragging everyone to escort me to getting my clothes back. Never knew that it could be this exciting because everyone seemed to enjoy the short walk (at that moment, the house was too stuffy and everyone trying to get some fresh air outside). Trust me, it was really DARK, all I could see was the only stars above the night sky. It would be perfected with a shooting star flying across the sky to conclude the night.Another sleepless night minus "live F1 show" (snoring). Asked why no F1, BL said waiting for me to sleep first. Frankly, I were touched to hear this from my best buddy.

Did some YOGA exercise in the drizzling morning before we set off at 10:30am. On our way back to KL, we turned to Rawang for a well known unique dishes called "African Fish Golo Mee". After the contended lunch, I headed back with happy belly (forgot that I was still sick) before preparing for my YOGA class.

Qing Ming

2010-04-26T00:18:00.021+08:00

My birthday this month is also the month of Qing Ming.

My Dai Bak (father's elder brother) invited me to the re-opening ceremony of the "Gao Yao Zong Fen" 高要总坟.

This time was different from the past as they had arranged lion dance, fireworks, "Na Mo Lou" (NML) Taoist priest and many other god-offering food to sign the grand start.

NML is waking up the Qi Lin

Lion Dance

The sun was already scorching hot at 10:30am. I drove to the deserted Guang Xi Yi Shan alone wearing my only yellow blouse with long sleeves. What a surprise to see the group of 50 were also wearing yellow. Not many youngster and I think I was the youngest amongst all.

Dai Bak Leong busy helping out with the offerings

The place has regained its serenity after the off peak season of Qing Ming. The grass were trimmed and the places were cleaned.

We assembled in the Dai Bak Gong temple to pay our homage before proceeding to the next spot.

Regret to say I had vague memory on my Ah Ye Ah Ma graveyard after 2 years not able to make it for the Qing Ming. Apparently my Dai Bak had successfully relocated Ah Ye Ah Ma cremation from a different place into the same land with a view of KLCC and KL tower. This has made life easier for future homage and I also noticed this is the "best" vantage points to watch fireworks countdown with the "friends and relatives", any taker : ) ?

Ancestor Tomb

Great view of KLCC and KL Tower

While waiting for the forever late NML, one of my long distance Ah Bak who has great sense of humor. Well, he somehow came across a very grand tombstone with a picture of a demeanour man resembled "Jiang Jie Shi", he must be well off as he had 4 concubines' name crafted on the grave . We had good fun and a good way to make us forget the sweltering heat. My non stop sweating had already wet half my blouse.

To be honest, I felt weird to watch lion dance and fireworks performing in the cemetery because this is a deadman place and I felt not nice to disturb the RIP souls. But I have friends use this opportunity to take family pictures and setup picnics for family gathering.

My Dai Bak Leong told me that the club purposely imported two Qi Lin (Chinese Unicorn) aka "Choy Fu" all the way from China to safeguard Gao Yao territory. The next thing I knew was the NML started reading out only-himself-understands language and dotting Qi Ling's 5 senses with red marks (Zhu Sa). By doing this Qi Lin would come to life and starts doing the job.

"Cai" 财
"Fu" 富

After receiving the blessings, my Dai Bak handed over to me 2 forms asking me to join the club. He quipped the many benefits of their membership. One of the many activities I honoured them is the yearly trip to pay deceased ancestor homage. According to him, some unknown tombs found in Gao Yao areas were left abandoned by their family and the club people will help to clean them and offer joss sticks.

At 12:30pm we all went home bringing back instances of good memories in life.

Street Smart

2010-03-17T00:29:00.008+08:00

I know I have been ignorant these days. While writing this blog, I am wearing the reflexology scandal to give me that "Oomph" of writing.

Company last year annual dinner was brought forward to this year. I asked around my colleagues and found out the attendance rate would be low, said 6 out of 10 would turn up. The venue was Autumn Quattro KL on the Friday nite, it was more like clubbing than a formal annual dinner. The theme was "Street Smart".

The management decided to unjail us at 3pm giving enough reason for people to get themselves prepare for the BIG night.

This time, I decided to do something different and memorable. At 5pm, I dropped by a saloon for a hair cut and hair do. The outcome was good and I like it. Somehow, I felt something was missing. "The face" I said, ended up paying another RM130 to do make up. Dress, I chose the black blouse from UK to go with my branded jeans and paired with my red sandal.

The 3 of us were stucked in a terrible jam in KL. All cars were literally parked on the highway and not moving an inch. The most bie tahan (suffering) part were not able to drink and urinate for 2 hours. When reached, the party had started.

My efforts seemed to pay off as I received compliments from many. What was eyes opening were the good boys and girls in the office transformed into hot chicks or monsters, truly unbelievable and amazing!

We stayed until the show ended at 11pm. And the next day, as usual, the most awaited moment was listen attentively to what happened that night in detailed version and I would found them truly amusing.

Loss and Gain

2010-02-18T16:21:00.015+08:00

"Where's my pendant?" I cried to BL. I looked at the mirror and turned my string 360 degree many times but could not find the pendant which I bought in Langkawi.

It was Tuesday 16 Feb (初三), we just walked out from the new year movie 花佃2010.

"I must have lost it somewhere! I need to go back to search!" There were few places to search - the game station, cinema, washroom and the long walkway filled with people. I know this was a difficult task just like looking for needle in the haystack, but it still worth a try.

After a futile "treasure hunt" on the walkway, we headed back to the Game Station. There was a family of 4 playing inside the Gunshooting machine. As gesture of courtesy, we just peeped from the outside but no sign of my pendant. We also tried searching the car racing game machine but no luck. By that time, I was disheartened but angel BL was there to support my search.

We tried the last place - the cinema. It was 3pm, the cinema was crowded with people. As we were pondering whether to ask for permission and help from the cinema staffs, we successfully sneaked into the cinema walkway and thanks to the uncontrollable crowd. Whewwww... we were lucky.

First was the room 6 row H. The room was quite packed that time.

Nope, the pendent not there. This was my last choice and totally feeling heart broken.

We walked back up to the entrance.

"What's next?" I asked.

Suddenly evil BL blasted an evil idea, "How about another movie, a "FREE" movie!?

I thought to myself it was not a bad idea afterall, "Ok, lets go."

We randomly went to room 3, just like lucky draw. The timing was nice as the movie "72 Tenants" just started. The room was almost fullhouse. BL said why not sit on the front row assuming no one would choose these seats.

Guess what! This movie was so popular that nearly all seats were grabbed. We were chased by people two times and finally our thick skin buttock rested on the back seats 2nd row where 6 seats were vacant.

End up, we didn't find the pendant but self compensated a free movie. What a day!

2010 - Go Langkawi with father

2010-02-13T23:05:00.031+08:00

Chilling Guilin was replaced with sunny Langkawi at the last moment. It made sense because China is winter now and will be no fun going there. Beside father had never been to Langkawi, it would be nice to take him there.

Our flight was 12 noon and my time was showing 830am. Knowing my father's "heng" (template), he started nagging me as if we were running late. I gave in, took a taxi and reached LCCT at 930am. The Malay taxi driver had no sense of direction. End up I need to guide him how to go LCCT.

When reached, I beat the long queue by checking in bleezily without luggage using kiosk. Surprisingly it was a full flight with more than half the passengers made up of Mat Saleh and Middle East.

The plane took off punctually. From the window and looked down the earth, noticed many brown on the land, sign of custom drought happens during CNY.

When we about to reach Langkawi airport, spotted the "Lake of the Pregnant Maiden".

I also found Michael Buble's article interesting.

It wasn't a smooth landing, but it did touch down safely.

From one of the many counters, I hired a brand new manual VIVA in the airport for my 3 days trip and cost RM140 (RM70/day). We tried finding our way to Kampung Tok Senik. We took 1 hour to reach the place and to a novice driver like me in langkawi, this was a good result.

Kampung Tok Senik is situated close to the airport (if you know the way, 10 min drive) and opposite to Snake Sanctuary. The place looked deserted on the Thursday. I strolled to the reception and the spirited away looking bell boy gave me a room with a scenic padi field and overlooking Mt. Mat Cincang (2nd highest in Langkawi).

First in the list to do was to save our stomach. We drove around Kuah town and found a restaurant serving seafoods. I was not a particular person but for the food, I gave thumbs down as it was too salty. After lunch, we went telaga tujuh for a brief hike.

I was thinking to see sunset on top of Mt Mat Cincang, but the cable car closed at 6pm. Disappointed, we walked around the quiet oriental village. We found beautiful red lotus on the pond where ducks were playing happily with each other.

Thinking of riding a horse but it cost RM200/hr. We abandoned the idea.

The next day we came back again to cable car. Along the way, I was shocked by a big python crossing the road. Luckily, I managed to avoid it but stupidly stop the car in the middle of 2 ways and next to that sweating python. The equally afraid python U-turn back to the bush. My father said my emergency break would have caused accident. Fortunately no cars were using the road on that time.

Yes, we finally made it to the top of Mt. Mat Cincang. When the cable car was ascending the 600 feet peak, the strong wind blew towards our cable car making it swung ferociously. Surprisingly I wasn't afraid at all and could see my father enjoying himself all the way. The panaromic view of the island was excellent.

When we descended, the next stop was my favourite place, paddy field. The place reminded me the movie Harnah Mortana. We walked further in and down to the padi field and happened to see three ducks walking home, nice picturesque but in my mind was thinking of duck dishes served hot on the table.

We passed by a mini chicken farm. My father said to me a hen just laid egg, I asked how he knew, he said hen clucked when they laid eggs. He continued saying when he was small and heard the clucking, he would dash to get the fresh eggs and eat them raw. Wow!!! he was brave. For me, I would have suffered diarrhea big times. Well, no wonder now, he's a strong man.

The scorching hot sun was trying to BBQ us. We went to "Underwater world" for shelther and the entrance was RM28 / person.

I found the playful penguins and a sick seal. I also found a many different kind of starfish, the "X"fish. One of the starfish was doing YOGA and the other was mesmerising at the her own reflection...

One of the turtle was waiting for CW (the ninja turtle) to save her from the rock.

I had never seen such a beautiful seahorse. One of them resembles the the chinese herbal "white fungus".

At night we went back to kuah town to buy duty free alcohols and chocolates. Few stores selling same stuffs at different price. I compared around before buying them. Too bad each person is entitled only 1 litre of alcohol and must stay in Langkawi for at least 48 hours in order to bring it back to KL. It is always important to keep the hotel receipt in case the custom asks you for evidence. We also took some nice shot in eagle square and resumed shopping.

I believe the best thing I did in Langkawi was playing chinese chess with father and won him. See how big his reaction....

When flew back to KL we used the cost savings method to go home - BUS KTM, STAR and walking. Because of CNY, KTM was so so SO SO SO crowded that I almost had no place to stand. All Malaysians were trying to go home on that time. I swore no more this kind of walk.

Shop till drop

2010-02-01T23:30:00.010+08:00

Today achievement was more than I thought. 3 of us (BL, CW and myself) spent a good 12 hours outdoor.

I found the hello kitty in 1U very fascinating. Not only the left hand will move to flag for fortune, the lady kitty got moles on the face. Why only the lady got moles??? Each moles in the Chinese culture indicates different meanings.

The outcome of the trip = wallet broke, brought home a lucky plant and nice blouses and pants.

We went Tian Hou Temple on the Sat. After usual pray, we visited the tortoise pond. So happened CW saw a tortoise stuck between some torny plants. Apparently no way the tortoise could escape. CW unlimited power of love had swored to save the poor reptile out from the dilema.

As she was doing the pushing, I held a stick trying to pull the plants to give way for the work, somehow, unknowingly, instead of improving the situation, it get worsened.

The tortoise was stuck even further and I admitted the accidental punch on the tortoise's head. The poor fellow must now suffered a big bump on the head just like the one in BL's forehead.After some firefightings, CW finally got hold of the panic fellow. But she accidentally dropped the tortoise hard to the rocky floor when the tortoise's long nails cut CW on the hand. We sympathise the poor fellow but could not help laughing. When we about to leave the place, Mr. 4 legs blocked our way home before disappeared towards the bush.

I jokingly said Mr.4 legs might stuck between the fence and CW's spontaneous reaction was remarkable. She seriously said wouldn't dare to save this species. BL laughed till my entire car shaked.

I went home, K's "lizards" were waiting happily of my return. I sprinkled the flower into the big plastic container with water and took a luck change shower.

Last Day

2010-01-31T22:57:00.023+08:00

As I walked out the door, I could not feel my hand anymore after writing frantically 10 pages in 2 hours.

To be honest, my so-what reaction surprised them as it contrast their thought.

In my mind, I could not stop thinking on how I managed to brave this challenging journey for a good 850 days.

When retrospect, I could still picture myself sitting in the office the first day, talking to the unfriendly admin lady who nearly caused me to drop the idea of taking MBA course. Nevertheless my very main reasons of taking up MBA supported me in making the leap. I love study and I definitely believe MBA helps in my career/personal development eventhough the whole course worth my life saving and lumbered me with debt for years.

The course was worth the payoff as I found myself improve in many aspects especially in the ability of thinking deeply, communicating wisely and behaving nicely. In fact, the true value of MBA is connections. The social and business networks I gained are easily worth the tuition. After two years of shared project angst and tea-filled all-nighters, the magical bonds are created and it's often easy to reconnect with my MBA friends with a simple email or phone call.

Today marks the end as well as a new beginning. I cannot wait to make my next leap.

Ant Gets in My Left Eye - 2

2010-01-07T21:27:00.010+08:00

As I was repeating the story on the ant get into my eye over the lunch table, the 6 of them could not believe and yet continued laughing their skeleton out of the skin. I didn't mind their inhumanity and in contrast I felt excited watching their behaviour.

I like telling story because it is a reciprocal action. Beside knowing how other people think, they can also share similar experience with you. Sometimes, they might surprise you with their think out of the box solution.

The creativity started loosing control whenever I got to the part on how to take out the ant eg put honey next to the eye and the ant will come out and eat, the worst is using sheltox to debug. I believe with their creativity, they can easily blasted beautiful comments on their performance appraisal which is due end of this month.

Ant and me should be a good friend last time.

I remembered once upon a time when I was in primary, a fire ant went into my right ear when I was playing on the school field. I felt terribly pain in my ear when the nervous ant started "digging" my ear wall trying to find it way out. I was scared and went to get my teacher's help. My teacher told me to close two ears with both hands so that this will cut off the oxygen delivery. Don't ask me why two hands because you will get silence treatment. Fortunately the ant surrendered and crawled out tiringly after few minutes.

The same group of people after hearing the story, they started their question again "did the ant come out from the other side of the ear or from other places"?

As expected....

Farewell 2009 and Welcome 2010 在沙阿烂跨年

2010-01-01T21:40:00.017+08:00

The rain outside made my house so cooling. Now is 10:07pm and I am writing this blog about what happened last night.

Last night 5 of us went to Seoul Garden in IOI puchong for a sizzling 2010 New Year eve celebration. Luckily K had made the reservation earlier as we reached the place, it was crowded heavily. Per head count was RM47 including free flow drinks and no discount for student during festival.

The meats and sources are a perfect match!

I was happy to learn later BBQ was another option beside steamboat. I must agree the marinated meat varieties looked so nice though I tried to cut down on meat intake. There were 4 types of soup you could swap and the wok could be changed time to time after some cooking for health reasons. Thumbs up for kim chi, fried mee, fried G cheong fan in tempura style as the starter. The service there were friendly as well.

See who made the best ABC?

When sweet tooth K saw the ABC shaved ice making machine, she wanted to rope it back home. C with her cute dressing came later. BL and Cheng blamed us for their coming late as K happily told them the restaurant name was "Korean BBQ and steamboat" which happened to be a different restaurant altogether. By the time I came to know about my mistake, I couldn't help but laugh.

Luckily I wore long sleeve as we put the meat on the wok, the oil bounced wildly to us when reacted with water. But after all, it was fun to cook ourselves and felt so fulfilled to see others ate what we served them. K and me ate until the belly so bloated that we went out for a merry shopping and came back in time for second round before the restaurant closed at 10pm.

Time flies and everyone had a different experience when asked about what they did for last year eve. K was still in UK for her master, Chong and BL were with me in Mines for dinner, movie and waited for the never happened fireworks and the rest were in slumberland.

After the self contended dinner, we hit the highway to Shah Alam for fireworks catch up. We bought some ais batu and a sprite from Petronas to mix with BL red wine. When we reached the high hill, already there were people found themselves the best spot for fireworks. After settled down, we started our drinking party. Well, I felt so funny to drink in this non halal area but who really would care.

We could see multiple fireworks coming from KLCC, Sunway, 1U, Bukit Bintang and etc from far. The uninvited ants that climbed on my legs also trying to see fireworks with us, just that they used tooth to cling on us and caused uneasiness.

We stayed until the last fireworks and went to the mamak store for second round. Really had no clue on how the games of guessing started off but we played until the mamak blackout only we left. What an eventful day to mark the new beginning!

Lastly I wished for happiness in everything I do for the new year.

Reflexology Sandal

2009-12-28T16:37:00.013+08:00

Last Saturday I bought a pair of reflexology sandal in Tian Hou Temple whereby 3 of my friends went to "Embrace the leg of the Buddha" (临时抱佛脚） : )

I was having sinus recently and hope with the sandal, it could improve my health. The one I bought was made from Korea and regret to say I don't watch Korean series and that made my korean a private limited co. The sandal is made out of wood that have round pegs on them that are raised to follow the contour of the feet. The pegs basically stimulate the reflex area when one wears the sandal. The sandal is comfortable and I am thinking of making it as my imaginary friend.

After we got what we want, we headed to canteen for a drink. I unconsciously left the newly bought sandal on the eating table. BL suddenly frightened me saying "The sandal will bite my leg" later. I tried at home and in less than 5 min, I could feel pain coming from my middle left sole, not because of the biting but the poking. The perceptive area indicated problem in my spleen and is time to take good care of it. Well, the most visible result was that I felt the urge to go washroom after no luck for the last 2 days.

21st century learning

2009-12-23T13:42:00.001+08:00

critical thinker
problem solver
innovator
effective communicator
effective collaborator
self directed learner
information and media literate
globally aware
civically engage
financially and economically literate

Conversation with God Little Tips - Hemp

2009-12-13T00:40:00.004+08:00

Why not grow hemp and use it to make paper? Hemp can be grown inexpensively, and harvested easily, and used not only for making paper, but the strongest rope, and the longest-lasting clothing, and even some of the most effective medicines the planet can provide.

In Chinese, Hemp is known as 麻。

Invited to Product Launch in KLCC Aquaria

2009-12-06T12:41:00.020+08:00

Nothing can describe my feeling when I was invited to go KLCC Aquaria for a free buffet dinner last Friday (4 Nov). It was a thoughtful annual event organised by our supplier Genesys.

They especially arranged a photographer to take a snapshot of me with background later added on with special waterworld effect. I was given a small card with a question asking us to count the total number of the logo that were everywhere inside the hall.

This was my second time here and I found some changes to the display. I was looking for the frog I saw 2 years ago with my dad but to no avail. It had been replaced with some other reptiles. I mesmerized with the various types of colourful marine lifes and animals until I forgot about the game. I decided to totally forgot about the mission and enjoyed myself to the fullest in the place.

The most dangerous but astounding fish I found was the gigantic shark. I love to look close to the uneven shark tooth because it sent shivers down my spine. I found the particular gliding stingray a peaceful animal and doesn't look like a killer that fatally pierced Steve Irwin.

Who? Who killed Steve???

I found one interesting fact, turtles do sleep and with their eyes close. I approached the tired looking sleeping turlte queitly and took the picture. Somehow she discovered me discovered her, in no time she swam away in panic mode.

Sifu Wu Guai is taking a nap after teaching Ah Po kungfu.

You know what, marine lifes do celebrate Christmas under the water and Spongebob woud be the Santa Claus...

Shark, "This is MY tree!!!"

I finally reached the food place and realised I was so hungry that I could eat a shark. The crowd was not many due to PC fairs next door that jams the one way street. Most people decided not to come last minute when they stuck in the traffic. What a waste of the organiser's resources because many leftover at the end of the show.

I dropped my lucky card with the answer 43 (Malaysia scored 43rd most populated country in the world) and out of my expectation, it was a correct guess. I need to thanks my colleague who gave me the tips when herself put a different number. It reminded me the disney movie "Kungfu Panda" when the sifu master said to the Master Sifu (Red Panda) "You just need to believe". So fortunate for me but still I didn't win the nano ipod.

Finally, the never before opening ceremony starts. Two beautiful ladies dressed up as mermaids are given the task was to pull the string and drop the banting. I felt so real as if the two mermaids were part of marine world. Thumbs up for the Genesys team.

The fish, "I am the new team member in Genesys."

I wonder why there's no dolphin. Maybe they had moved to Sunway Pyramid.

ant gets in my eye

2009-11-25T10:35:00.007+08:00

A silly black ant went into my left eye yesterday evening making me irritated. I tried all the ways to take it out, running tap water to wash, dipping with Eye Mo and digged out using cotton bud but all these only worsened the situation.

At that point of time, all kind of silly thoughts came into my mind, touch wood!!!

I decided to go clinic and let the doctor took it out. At first I went to the clinic which accepts ING card. The chinese doctor said the ant was hiding very deep inside and had to use clip (I saw it a bit rusty) to take out. And the best part was when they told me the anesthetic for the eye had used up and they asked me to buy myself from the pharmacy.

What!!! I was already in deep shit and they still asked me to run around to get the damn thing.

Well, I did run a few clinics and stores to get it (my mind was struggling to decide if wana go back to the stupid clinic), but surprisingly all places didn't sell. Finally, that's it, I was so tired and I stopped at a clinic. I said to myself that I needed to give it a bet and I prayed very hard.

As I was lying on the bed, the doctor and assistant were trying their best to make my small eye open. I tried corporate to make my small eye open. Believe me, the whole process was worse than delivering a baby (though I have not experience that yet).

The three of us struggling and the doctor said he got the .....leg. Damn!!! He said the ant might have biten my eye ball that's why not easy. What a disturbingly lame joke!!! After some fights, At last the ant body was out.

What a relieve!!! I quick sense my eye and it is still functioning.

Brunei Darussalam

2009-10-25T11:18:00.021+08:00

Brunei is a small mark in the borneo island map but she has one of the largest reservation of oil & gas. Small population of 400k and the capital is Bandar Seri Begawan. About two-third of the people are ethnic Malays, the Chinese comprise about 16% of the population and most speaks Mandarin and Hokkien.

This time round, I see some good changes taking place in the economy development. This begins with the recent setup of Prime Minister Office (PMO) for better governance and the Sultan of Brunei is appointed as Prime Minister. I can see he is a very busy person as he also holds the role of Minister of Finance and Minister of Defence. In addition, he is also a husband of two wives and father of 5 princes and 7 princess.

15 years ago, before the crash of Asian Financial markets in the late 1990s, Brunei built the largest and most expensive amusement park in South East Asia known as Jerudong Park, funded by the Brunei Government for $1 billion. The late Michael Jackson was flown in to perform for the people of Brunei as well as for the Sultan's 50th birthday and the marriage of his eldest daughter the same year was marked with concerts by Stevie Wonder and Whitney Houston. Further more, all things in the the park were free except the food and beverage section. All you need were to queue for your turn. But ~7 years ago, some part of the parks stopped functioning due to insufficient funds for maintenance. ~2 years ago, hearsay the park equipments were torn down and sold to Thailand.

The government is trying to promote Brunei as a traveling hotspot. I went sightseeing in Tasek Lama and Pantai Berakas (Berakas Beach) and was happy to see the places are well maintained. Nowadays, Brunei has more hiking places to promote a better living lifestyles for the people.

After climbing down from the 1km hill, my still energetic father said there were some century old chinese tombstones located near the entrance at Tasek last time but it had been removed during the renovation. I peeked through and found some remaining tombstones and this sent a shiver down my spine.

The thing I love about Brunei is the serenity. I don't find beggars on the street and I feel safe walking on the street anytime of the day.

I was fortunate to go back this time as it was the fruit seasons. My favorite is the king of fruit - Mountain Durian (山榴莲）found in friday tamu kianggeh (kianggeh Market). The taste and colour are different from normal. The meat is orange and I personally think it tastes like XO. It does not come cheap as well. Each sold at BN$1 for one. I ended up buying a stack and I also brought home the queen of fruit - Manggis in order to neutralise the heat of eating durian.

I also ventured another fruit - Brunei mango and was expecting to like it. Somehow, the funny sour and sweet taste and smell turned my taste buds off.

Another favourite kuih of mine is pinyaram especially like the crispy ring. Below is the recipy.

One thing I like to do at home is to play with my two beloved niece, 1o and 6 years old.
The former is shooting up like a bean and is almost my height now. The later is outspoken and draw better than me. They are my little sunshines.

We did some unfogettable things together like going for movie "White Out" and dinner in the mall and desparately looking for food model key chains and we hunted quite a number of places - Berakas, Brunei town and Gadong.

What made me feel warm was when we together picked up some nice flowers for mum.

My former school 汶中 (Chung Hwa Middle School) has major changes over the 10 years. The last time I read the news they had cash reservation of BN$4 million and they wisely spent the money in renovation and education development.

Apparently, the walls are re-painted dotted with nice drawings. From the drawing design, I knew my art teacher must have left the school.

The toilets are new and clean. A better and bigger library located in the new building. Last time, the system required us to use a library card to borrow books and my niece era now is using a barcode system. Better facilities with new chairs, tables and whiteboard.

The running field which we had 10 minutes morning exercise has turned into a parking place. I wonder what the students nowadays are doing for their outdoor PE and also art class.

The canteen had expanded from 4 to 5 food stalls. They sold more varieties now and to highlight, they now selling mixed rice and pinyaram. I don't need to wait for friday to come to buy my pinyaram in tamu as I can easily get it in the school canteen daily. How fortunate for my niece as they can eat pinyaram every day now.

和平堂 (Darussalam Hall) is fully aircon. Some office places had turned into a classroom to meet the increased population.

Well, while wandering on the walkway brought back the nostalgic and realisation, never failed in giving me a breath of fresh air.

4D3N in Batu Pahat and meet 黄明志

2009-10-19T08:45:00.027+08:00

By looking at the picture, do you know the place? Yes, this is Batu Pahat (BP) and I spent my 4D3N extreme moments there with KN. The name Batu Pahat means "chiseled rock" in Malay. The origin of this name can be traced back to a legend in the 15th century; when the invading Siamese troops were chiselling rocks at a rocky spot in the coastal village of Kampung Minyak Beku, in hope of getting fresh water during their retreat.

On day 1, I took a double decker BUS called Mayang Seri from Pudu station and later realised this express bus went few places. I nearly missed BP and went to Pontian. When my ex colleague KN knew about it, she jokingly said if I reached Pontian, asked me to buy a bus to come back myself.

Inside the car, when KN gave me the option, I chose taxing over relaxing for our itinerary.

We went to Minyak Beku hill and KN said her last time here was 10 years back. This hill was different from Gasing as the trail was nicely tar for car to drive up to the telecommunication tower. To hike up the 2.7km hill was no easy task as the way steep and not much scenery.

I could not believe KN could catch up with me after her many laid back days at home. Along the way, I could hear the "hot phobia" camel (KN's nickname) desparate for water.

Perhaps should give her a new nickname called Penguin.

BIG NEWS, KN made her first ever sushi. All acceptable except the source she made was the one we used to dip a chinese culinary called "steam chicken". I liked KN's world best "Mian Jian Gao" 面煎糕 as it was exceptionally crispy. We also tried the world best "Rojak" and KN's all time favourite "ABC" near a river bank before heading back for dinner to taste KN's mum fried bee hoon and minced pork with Otak-otak as side dish.

On Day 2, today was KN birthday. But our morning schedule was not cake eating or birthday celebration. It was another strenous hill climbing exercise in a reserved forest called Hutan Lipur Soga Perdana. The place was quiet on weekday but it enchanted me with its cool temperature and serene surroundings. When we marched in the entrance, a hive of monkeys dashing towards our direction to welcome us. In fact, the monkeys were only interested for the banana which a group brought.

The tracks were made of concrete cement which simplifies the journey. I believe the steps are more than the one in Batu Caves. This place has a lookup hut that oversees BP city and a mini waterfall. We covered most of the tracks and by the time we reached ground, our legs almost broken into two and this reminded me of my Sabah Mt.KK expedition when on our way down through Timpohan trail.

To reward ourselves, we went for a 60 years taste no change cendol in town and I almost forgot I just had a eat until drop breakfast (fried kuey tiaow, suan pan zi 算盘子 some fresh made glutinous cakes and dolnuts) and a coming birthday cake and rich dinner awaiting.

KN's mother showed me a new recipie in making yogurt. I love it because it is so simple. Only 2 ingredients were required: 12 table spoons of milk powder and 1 cup of ready made yogurt. First put the milk powder into a glass made container (~1 litre). Add 1 litre of warm water, stir it before putting in the yogurt. Put the container in a pot filled with warm water and leave it brew for 8 hours, then a delicious yogurt was done.

According to KN's, I had used only 4 days to try out all mouth watering food (top to bottom, left to right, in random order: cai tou kuih, red bean soup with sweet potato, ABC, toasted kaya bun, tom yam fish, some kuihs from KN's father friend, mee rebus, you zar kuih and nasi bryani). And I had also used only 4 good days to complete covering all amazing places.

So now you understand why I called this a taxing trip.

Day 3 was scorching hot. We went to visit a hotspot called Water Crystal temple by the sea in Minyak Beku. I don't recall the name. Not far stood a bridge called "lover bridge" 情人桥. The people also believe by touching the dragon fish would bring one a fortune. I personally felt inhuman.

When back to town at night, we happened to see hundreds of lanterns 孔明灯released into the dark sky. This was so unplanned and it was truly amazing.

My last day was free and easy. We drove around the city to get inspired by those rich people's big houses. I bought a pandan cake 相思蛋糕 for invisibless. We also made good friend with two dinasours in Taman Y.

The conclusion of the journey was about balanced eating and playing. Before I had time to swallow the food, KN stucked me with more food. Before KN could sit down, I dragged her for more exercises (swimming and also playing tennis).

To add a spice to my trip, I met this controversial fellow 黄明志 in BP's halo cafe 海螺餐厅.

KN's parents said my trip was eventful and I agree no better than that. THANKS KN.

Kanching Waterfall 2009

2009-10-11T17:11:00.011+08:00

Overhead, a grey sky mismatched the mood of the cheering small crowd. Our organisation was here with the waterfall survivors team in the kanching waterfall for a good 1 day cause, save the waterfall, save our mother nature. According to the waterfall survivors team, the condition at Kanching Falls has depleted to an extend which has become unbearable.

Kanching waterfall is located in Rawang, approximately 30-40km drives from KL. This waterfall has been rated as a premier waterfall in Selangor with seven breathtaking falls.

To make the event more fun, gift would be awarded to the one with the weirdest/oldest/funny item and got the heaviest load.

We set off around 10am to picture 1 Kapor Fall. Along the way we were memerised with the lush greenery and could see curious monkeys jumping from trees eying at our belongings. Very soon, about 15min we reached the awesome waterfall. Many locals were having a good time swimming in the cooling water. However, I was very mad to see the nuisances burning garbage illegally and littering while we were cleaning up.

The lower fall was easily accessible but when came to higher level, it required lots of stamina. We were divided into 2 people in a team, one taking plastic bag for non sharp objects and the other taking marble bag for holding sharp and dangerous objects.

While making our way up, a lost kitty around 1 month old captured our attention. The cat looked so skinny as if had not eaten properly for many days. Nevertheless, she was not weak at all. The cat followed us eagerly and agily. Very soon we became good friend.

Surprisingly I didn't feel tired at all. Thanks to the little kitty who helped me to go slow and steady. My another friend SY who 1 breath hiked up was having her legs shaking tremendously.

Picture 3, here was where the water is best and tranquility is almost sensasual. The water was so cool and clean straight from the waterfall. HK rested against the falling current, feeling the water massage the tired body. It was beautiful and we stayed there for a while.

The watch with some gold paints I found won me the special prize, but I could only get the prize when I reached the office tomorrow. No worry, I would blast the prize when I got it.

Lastly, this waterfall is a must go.

Earthquake in Puchong

2009-10-08T21:48:00.008+08:00

Last Wed around 6pm, our company experienced a 7.6 quake struck originated all the way from Padang Indonesia. I had left the company during that time. According to some colleagues, they could feel mild tremors which they thought it was their problem. After a while, our company instructed an emergency evacuation.

People were basically walking for their life. My colleagues were scattered everywhere and seems like there was no assembly point. One of my colleague jokingly said they thought no need to go back to work if the whole building collapsed.

The tremors last for a short 30 seconds and the whole peninsular get impacted. During that time, I was in MBA playing badminton and I felt nothing at all. Better than 5 years ago when the whole quake happened at 11pm when I was sleeping like a baby. The next day, the word earthquake made a come back again and this time is in Puchong.

A Day Out

2009-10-04T19:49:00.003+08:00

My ever dependable buddy SS invited me to go for a day out. We went to try out the forever filled with ajinamoto dim sum in Kuchai Lama with MF and daughter tagging along. After a fulfilling breakfast, we hit midvalley and happened to take part in Panassonic's Eco Campaign called "Power Of Innovation".

Not many people in the early morning. There were two Mascots called Mottainai Grandma and Evolta greeting the crowd in main entrance. Mottainai is a Japanese word that means what a waste, when something of value is being wasted or used without care.

There were quite a number of eco games to create public awareness and they encouraged participation by giving away prizes. One of the game called "Eco Ideas" that people could write their pledge for a greener tomorrow. They scanned the card and it would be mixed into the eco world programme containing million of pledge cards. The program would randomly pick up a card and display the pledge on the big screen where everyone could see.

My new buddy, MF's daughter called YY, 3 this year and she is truly adorable.

We left midvalley for Shabu Shabu buffet lunch. The concept of the business was like Shushi king "Revolving Sushi" with quick service restaurant concept. Above the restaurant was a fashion boutique and I had chosen a nice blouse to refresh my filled with dust wardrobe.

At home when tidying up my shopping bags, found a toy which SS had secretly put in my bag. She is always understanding and she knew I love Spongebob. This is not any ordinary toy because it can walk when you twist the metal.

Say hi to my Sponge's family.

Reforestation in Gasing

2009-10-03T11:23:00.005+08:00

Happy mooncake festival or some say happy mid autumn festival (中秋节快乐). Yes, today is 15th for the Chinese calender. Many people will be spending good time with family, munching mooncakes, tasting tea and tale telling under the full bright moon. But some people will go to the temple to pray for blessing. Some practice eat only vege for the day.

I went to the temple for praying due to recent incidents that had happened to me. After the event, BL and me went Gasing for a short hike. Today was a little unusual as we happened to see a reforestation programme going on. The programme is called "PROGRAM PENANAMAN SEMULA POKOK DI HUTAN PENDIDIKAN BUKIT GASING" and will continue for 2 weekend 3 and 10 Oct.

What we did there was to carry the small trees from the entrance to the lookup point. The response was good. Quite a number of helpful and passionate passerby were willing to lend out a helping hand.

When I reached the ending point, we were shocked to see a big burning mark at the place. The cause was unknown but could be caused by the hot weather or arson.

This is a meaningful event and if you have always wanted to do something to give back to the society, this can be a good chance. Try go gasing next week. No registration is required.

曹格Super到底‧新輯叫Supermarket

2009-10-02T10:31:00.001+08:00

曹格似乎對“Super”愛不釋手，從第一張專輯的《Superwoman》；第二張《Superman》；之後第3張的《Super sunshine》，再到第4張索性開一家“超級市（4）場”，難道取名“Super”真的會讓曹格“旺旺來”？

曹格最近推出個人創作新專輯Supermarket，概念來自超級市場，他說：“超市有很多東西賣，就如音樂有很多類型，曹格不屬於單一類型，我喜歡Jazz，也可以很Rock，更能夠好Pop，亦都非常R&B，所以我是沒限界、沒風格歌手，因為無論是甚麼類型都好，只要感動到樂迷，就是好音樂。”

超市物品評台灣天王

周傑倫、陶吉吉、王力宏與曹格被稱為台灣流行樂四大天王，如果曹格要以超市裡的物品來形容4人，他會如何選擇？曹格說：“周傑倫是辣椒，他的人很直接，亦很真，我最佩服就是他的敢言，好像他提出唱片銷量數字有報大數之嫌，其實之前都有歌手說過，但都沒有傳媒寫，不過周董提出就有迴響，這就是他的威力。而且周董的音樂有火又敢創新，這隻辣椒好辣！”

曹格形容陶吉吉是咖啡，很神秘，“咖啡是給大家歎的，他的音樂也是給大家享受，我很喜歡喝咖啡，所以也喜歡他的創作”。曹格表示超市裡的保養品最能代表王力宏：“靚靚仔仔、干干淨淨，形象健康，就連音樂都很健康！”至於自己呢？曹格笑說：“我是鹽！鹹鹹濕濕啦！煮東西一定要下鹽，意思是只要你聽音樂，就一定想到我啦！我的音樂可以治療情傷，你有痛的話，不妨一聽這包良方呀！”

小雞 little chicken

2009-10-01T17:04:00.014+08:00

小雞和小龜在鄉下是最好的朋友. 有一天小雞的家人要搬家搬到城市里
小龜就很傷心﹐小龜和媽媽說它要去小雞家和它們說再見﹐小龜媽媽說可以去
小龜去小雞家不久就回來了.
媽媽看到小龜給人打﹐媽媽問小龜是誰打你的
小龜就說是小雞的家人打我的﹐媽媽就问為什麼.
小龜說我和小雞家人說了几句話就給它們打'﹐媽媽问你說了什麼話?
小龜說我和它們說byebye: 小雞bye，雞bye，老雞bye，全家雞bye.

就這樣給它們打了 *_*

This is how被打的小雞 look like:

Sony camera lost in MOS Sunway - Part 2

2009-10-01T09:14:00.011+08:00

Two weeks passed.

When MOS sms me to collect the picture, I was so excited that I wanted to jump. The hope of my name remove from the suspection list revived. On other hand, deep in my heart, I was nervous. I wonder who's the last mysterious one to hold the camera.

It was lunch time and I drove to Sunway Resort Hotel to collect the picture at the lobby. I carefully took out the black and white picture from the envelope hoping to see the final truth, I thought I could cry out loud saying - "I KNOW IS YOU!!!" and later made call to all my friends for the good news.

But to all my disappointment, the only thing clear in the picture was the time indicated 1025pm. The pic was so sandy like, so far away till hard to tell who's who and the people was small as peanut in ice kacang.

Trying my best to judge from the outfit, I roughly know who's the person was. I could roughly see her hand holding something like camera but I was not sure if it was the lost camera. She got company but I was not sure who the person was. But that time, KN and me were busy touring MOS as we were not inside the pic.

I emailed the pic and asked for memory recollection. They said the camera lost before 1025pm and she was holding a different camera. They advised me to investigate starting from 945pm to 1025pm. There are still many questions awaiting answers...

To be continue...

malacca trip, i am the bridemaid

2009-09-29T07:24:00.020+08:00

Last week was exciting because we had 1 week holiday. We 5 gals (KN, CY, LL, BL and me) went to Malacca for 2d1n staying in Avilion. The plan was we spent a nite in Malacca, next day went to Port Dickson for a canopy drive before coming back to KL.

The weather was a nice gloomy day for KN as she was a 10 months "foreigner" from UK and she could not stand Malaysia tropical weather.

As usual, Malacca is a terrible place to go during during weekend and holidays.

CY said whoever want to go washroom, better do it now before we start driving. Otherwise no one would know when is the next chance to go as we all will be stuck in jam for long hours.

The famous nyonya kuih and KN favourite chilling food "ABC".

We canceled PD trip at the end because this festive season, traveling can be pain in ass.

Immediately after coming back from Malacca, we played masak masak to do Golo Mee. This is the best mee I ever have. My first time trying golo mee with vinegar, mushroom as the side dish etc.

After coming back from my badminton game, it was the infectious enthusiasm brought one of my colleague, LS to join us in the making of the awesome jelly. It was a fun night esp whenever we imagined the suffer face of the brothers ; )

And behind the scene were the horrible bridemaids from hell with evil looking face holding weapon in one hand making disgusting jelly : )

Unfortunately this game was skipped as time was running out. : (

The brother truly enjoyed using toe to clip mahjong.

On the wedding day itself, CY ordered around 80 tasty cupcakes for the cocktail party, all first come first served basis. KN was addicted to cupcake later that day.

The wedding was a success, I would say I enjoyed the process of pre and post wedding . Wishing CY and Max happy ever after.

Sony camera lost in MOS Sunway - Part 1

2009-09-20T08:14:00.012+08:00

My friend CY is getting married next week (26 Sep), so we decided to go for hen's night last Friday (16 Sep).

12 of us went there before 930pm just in time for happy hours. We ordered 6 jugs and open a chivas. One of my friends was holding a Sony camera (touch screen cost RM999) and busy taking pictures.

I took some pics using the camera and toured around with KN, not taking the camera along. When I came back to the table, EL asked me for the camera and I was surprised because I didn't take the camera and also didn't remember whom I had passed it through.

We overturned all furnitures but no lucks. We asked MOS staffs to playback the CCTV but they said only manager can do it and he was not around. But I felt they were not ready to do it and gave bunch of excuses.

I went to search around with KN and CEL made an internal report with MOS.

BL advised me to make a police report and publish on the newspaper and we will do it today.

However, my special thanks to KN and CY for your sincere help.

Bank system sucks!

2009-09-16T20:39:00.015+08:00

I went to Maybxxk HQ today for savings book replacement. The counter passed me a queuing number but had not advised the counter to go. Based on memory, I should wait in counter 20. But I felt weird when I saw the number on screen already exceeded the number on my ticket.

Out of curiosity, I went back to the receptionist and asked. Well, she raised her voice and said I should have been waiting at the other side. Instead, she should ask me what is my transaction about in detail.

OK, when my turn came, the counter said because my savings account opened in a different branch so I have to go again to counter 20. Damn!

20 min passed and luckily I had my lunch, my turn came and the staff said he needed to call the branch to fax the signature here. I asked him for better option but instead of asking me to go straight to Maluri branch, he asked me to wait for 1 hour here as fax "needs lots of time".

For the benefit of doubts, I went to a superstore nearby to spare my time and was surprised to see the number of people there as if like it was weekend. No wonder, Hari Raya is just around the corner. People are doing last minute shopping. I noticed KL superstores have more people than in high class place like Midvalley, 1utama etc. Does this mean, the things are cheaper in town or the standard of living has not improved significantly.

After stubbornly wasting 1 hour of my time, I went back to the counter and no luck. I was frustrated and I knew it would be hopeless to wait in MB HQ. My sixth sense told me I would get nothing end of the day. Hence, I drove straight to Maluri and got my savings book replaced in 1 hr.

I wrote a complaint letter a while ago using Maybxxk2u website and there was an option for me to send a copy of this letter to my email, I selected but when I came home and checked my mailbox, I could not find that email. Most likely my email went straight to trash bin after I clicked the submit button.

Now I understand why MB is loosing not only money but customers!!!

BIG head

2009-09-11T16:15:00.007+08:00

me now...
big head!
black head!!
dark eye circle!!!!
pimples!!!!!
grey hair!!!!!

NO LIFE!!!!!!

World Vision Famine 30 Hours

2009-08-24T08:24:00.026+08:00

22 Aug was a special day to the nation and to me as well. Today was the first day of Hari Raya Puasa, month of fasting, a very important occasion that is celebrated by Muslims all over the world. The words ‘Hari Raya’ mean 'day of celebration' or in other name also known as 'Ramadan'.

It was also my first time participated in WORLD VISION FAMINE 30 Hours. The 30 Hours Famine is an international movement initiated by World Vision to bring about long-term changes in impoverished communities around the world. Participants go without food for 30 Hours and get a glimpse of the dire conditions that children and families in need endure everyday.

Thanks God to the nice cloudy and cool weather, my friend Lily and me went together after my exam. It was a 2D1N camp held in MCA OUG. I was surprised to see ~200 people attended this event and majority were ladies. Friends jokingly said because ladies can easily tolerate hunger simply because we have more fats...

At 12pm, we registered to the counter. The AJK committees scanned my temperature and let me in only if fit. They handed me the WORLD VISION Famine 30 Hours T-shirt and a mask for wear in the events. The theme this year is "Together we fight famine, You Got the Power!" or in Chinese "齐心赶走饿势力, You Got the Power!"

I was assigned to team "9" and we had 13 people. The most senior is 52 years old (the soul of wit), the youngest is 16 studying F4 and most of them were younger than me.

During daytime, we played number of games like "BIG WIND BLOWS", "HAND & HANDS UNWIND", "WE ARE ONE BIG FAMILY", "HOUSE BUILDING", "PAPER PLANES MAKING and WATER COLLECTION". On and off during the game, there would be people coming to destroy all your efforts. The objective was to let you feel how the unfortunate peoples's feel when all their hard works got destroyed by natural disaster and by some human behaviours.

After the tiring game, I felt extremely drained up and somemore no food allowed. During the songs dedication, we all knew this was a good time to get even with AJK. We especially dedicated Jacky Cheong "Ni3 Hao3 Du2" or in Chinese "你好毒" to all AJK because they got us all killed in the game.

I could see many people started doing their own things like chatting around to build relationship, some were helping each other doing massage and our team did it differently, Alice was a veteran yogaer and we learn yoga from her.

At night, when the energy level was low, we played "Guess what he is doing" game, watched some recent documentary "This is a silent tsunami” from the World Food Programme and given chance to go on stage to share our 2 cents with My FM DJ Nicholas about how we felt for the unfortunate one. I could see of many of the warriors started whining they felt hungry and low in energy but none of them wanted to walk away just like that.

Lily said it this was the easiest camp she had ever seen, because the committees no need to prepare food, water and we were not allowed to take bath as well...

When came to tail end of the night, 200 kind Samarithans lighted up the dark with candles. I was very surprise when AJK asked us to blow it off. Only people who survived the game continued to light it up. Our 13 members in the family only two were left surviving, that was our father and mother. The reason is baba and mama can give birth again... Lame joke. But coming back to reality, every 7 seconds, a child dies of hunger. Because of the food crisis, tens of thousands more will die.

The theme song is "Childs' Hope for Tomorrow" or in Chinese "Ming2 Tian1 Hai2 You3 Xi1 Wang4" or "明天孩有希望" by 罗义诗.

We slept in the camp at 1am. In split seconds, the noisy hall faded into a silence slumberland. It was especially chilling cold during the Chinese 7th night.

Day 2 Sunny Morning, the One Malaysia Dancers came to show us the latest formulated National theme "One Malaysia" cultural song-and-dance workout, only then I realised I danced like a wood. After the workout, before proceeding to Putra Indoor Stadium, the AJK ended the camp by announcing the winners and we were not disappointed even if we received nothing. As we knew the most important thing was we had done our best and I fully agreed with what my team leader said, it is the friendship that matters.

Oh my god, when we reached Putra Stadium at 12pm, more than 7000 chivalrous to the bone warriours, from different camps (from different states of Malaysia) came and gathered together. LOCAL TV and radio personalities Gary Yap (8TV), Belinda Chee (8TV), Roshan (MIX fm) and Nicholas Ong (MY FM) have given World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine a boost locally by signing on as 2009 Famine Advocates.

Most of the people were still energetic and no doubts some dozed off because they were really hungry and sleepy. To be honest, the last 1 hour for me was a true challenge. This camp successfully instilled me the pain of feeling true hungerness.

The total fund raised was a wonderful 1.3million and international singer A-Mei has been appointed the 30 Hour Famine Ambassador. I wanted to say this was a moment of real paradox between rational and emotional thinking moment. Rational aspect was people are truly worried about H1N1 in present, but the emotional side was there was the love lied in the bottom of our heart that drove us to proceed the activities without fear. My DEEPEST SALUTE to all the warriors.

and YES! I managed to complete the remarkable World Vision Famine 30 hours successfully. It was truly a heart-warming tales of good samarithanship and most importantly I would not have made it through without the group of friends. Thank you all.

WHAT! No More Petrol???!!!

2009-08-18T07:57:00.027+08:00

"But I just top up 20 bucks of petrol last Sat"

I was not able to tell as the stupid petrol indicator on the dashboard had not been working for quite sometimes.

It was 6 something and 3 of us were stuck in the middle of the busiest Kesas highway for 30 minutes. I was actually on my way to meet my friends for dinner and for unknown reason my car suddenly wend dead. I looked at my friend KYC (who just came back from UK) and interrogated her where she went using my car this afternoon. But she threw back the innocent look to me.

It was drizzling outside. We winded down the windows to get some fresh air. Meanwhile, to add fuel to the fire, some people were spraying "fogging" around the residential which is located next to the highway.

We were not nervous at all as we had plenty of foods in the car. One of my friend jokingly said, "how about calling up pizza delivery and ask them to replace all soft drinks with petrol." ...lame joke...

I called my mechanic and he guided me the list of things to do. First I need to move my gear to 2nd in order to make it easy for my friends to push the car to the roadside to avoid causing long jam (we were actually causing a very long jam during that time). In fact, I think it was true as my friends pushed it by just using a hand.

We all suspected it was the battery that went dead. But when we saw the hazardous light and radio were still on meaning to say the battery was fine.

Second try, I restarted the engine. This time I stepped on my petrol pedal as soon as the engine started, but I could not hear the "Vroom Vroom" sound and it wend dead again. BL's earlier dark prediction had come true, the petrol tank was completely exhausted.

Once confirmed the diagnosis, we sent SOS to another angel friends staying nearby Puchong and not long, the godsend (she just came out from the bathroom, hairs not dry yet with water dripping down) brought me RM5 of petrol using an aluminium tin plus a half cut mineral water bottle top (for easy filling purpose).

We wanted to jump when the car restarted successfully . But I need to hold on to the petrol pedal and waited for the engine to smooth down before moving on.

At the end, we managed to find the nearest petrol and topped up a good 40 bucks before we made it for dinner.

A proposal

2009-08-15T21:46:00.028+08:00

Something exciting happened in the office.

One sunny afternoon, a good looking young man, armed with bouquet of fresh red roses, walked courageously to the office. His intention was apparent. He wanted to propose to my colleague C publicly and turned everyone in the office into a witness for this special occasion.

To him, this was an unbeatable mission recorded in youtube. He boldly approached the unprepared target who was busy with works. When she saw him, she invariably emitted a surprise shriek.

Like friend said "she has no choice but to accept"

From presenting her the flowers until he succeeded putting on the engagement ring, the entire event took less than a minute. Nothing fancy, it was abnormally a simple yet a touching moment for the heaven made couple and also everyone in the office.

I am a brilliant student...

2009-08-11T08:58:00.038+08:00

Finally got my car last Friday late evening. It has been two weeks I had not seen my car since my last accident. Now I can live a normal life.

My guitar teacher, a "part time" lawyer and a "full time" guitarist, we both share the same horoscope "Aries" but we have different characters. I have been learning guitar with him before my MBA (~ 2 years). He is another perfectionist because he will not let me go easily until I play the song that meets his expectation.

One of his famous quotable quotes:

Everytime when I play the song perfectly is just because I am gifted.
When I play with mistake because the teacher doesn't know how to teach.

学生弹得好是因为天份。学生弹不好，是因为老师不会教！

做老师的，真的太伟大了！

He will laugh each time when he quips this to me.

No doubt, his eagle-eyed determination consummates the me today. Just wana express my sincere gratitude to him "Thank you Teacher..., See you... on... Sun。。day。。。".

Somebody just have it in for you

2009-08-09T20:01:00.023+08:00

I could feel my energy recovered after a 10 hrs of blur blur sleep (9pm to 7am) last night.

1 of my MBA cohort, she is not only a professional photographer, but also a very dedicated and cheerful virgo from Penang. I guess all virgo globally are perfectionalist judging by the slide she made. We met few times but with her around, my mind tends to process things faster and in a positive way.

With friend like her, I feel happy just like the kid in below picture (taken from world vision).

Maybe that is what said "somebody just have it in for you"

I just hope that whenever I am not happy , I could remember to trigger (A lesson from Anthony Robins) this kind of momentum by keeping in mind that are always someone around who cares about you and also you care for.

A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails. ~Donna Roberts

1 Malaysia Unit Trust

2009-08-05T11:17:00.011+08:00

One of my hiking friend called me this morning. She sounded nervous on the line and I was sitting in the office doing some researches during that time.

She explained to me 1 Malaysia is different from ASN. The way it works is just like the normal unit trust, the price will not stick @ RM1 but will follow market price coupled with admin charges. Therefore this time the response is not good. Many "kiasu" (afraid to lose) people who queued up in the maybank this morning dismissed as soon as they knew about this.

The ASN published last 2 week ago, it was sold out in 1 day and also I didn't get anything neither. I still remember I was the second person queuing up and there was an auntie, she is such a weasel. She jumped queue and the reckless Maybank person gave my number to her. I was so angry and said I was here first. I could see him taken aback but what could he do, took the number back from that auntie and gave me. I believe this heroic act can only be found in the movie. Well, I was very very angry but had not made my time to reason with her. Well, a nice chinese lady in front of me trying to console me.

Somehow, to buy all these things need cash and luck. Both also I don't have. I also cannot use my credit card to buy also. What to do, need to wait again.

My old car

2009-08-03T23:56:00.033+08:00

I have changed 4 jobs, shifted 7 houses, changed 4 cameras and mobile phones since 2000, but the only thing remains no change is my car.

My kancil has been with me for 10 golden years and traveled more than 200,000 km. Beside my family, I think he is the closest to me now.

I received this car from Low Yew Perodua Sales office (now shifted). During that time, I was only a poor but open minded trainer, therefore I rejected the sales agent's offer asking me to buy the new car plate number for RM200 from the JPJ which otherwise I would end up with very bad car plate (something that I need to use for life). I ended up with a number starting with 4xxx and the overall composition is what surprises me the most. In Chinese, the number 4 bears the same meaning as 13 in western culture.

Driving a kancil on the road can be good and bad thing. But the good offsets the bad. The goods are:

it saves petrol,
easy to find parking,
can by pass jam

The only bad thing is when a heavy trucks run pass me, I can feel slight tremor.

I still remembered when I first got my car for few months, some major events had happened:

A narrow escape from a flood in Maluri, KL. My car nearly became submarine. Ended up paying RM200 to rinse my internal part.
Few scratches from some nuisance using coins just because my car was new.
Minor accident late night after work in Keramat AU with a Malay driver and another one in 1 Utama shopping center with a young unreasonable chinese lady.
My laptop got stolen from the back of the car.

Though all these had happened, my friends used to ask me why not considered buying a new one. Well, this has not crossed my mind simply because I don't see the need. But I do believe the deep affection I have developed over my beloved kancil over the years is the main reason.

Glad to say it is still working fine except for some minor problems like:

alarm not working,
5th gear not working,
dashboard light not working,
the clock first digit disappears,
petrol & water level indicator on the dashboard are not showing properly,
the passenger doors handle keeps break down (because my friends are all too strong),
radio volume broken,
there are some strange sound when the turning the wheel,
the car window winds down system broken

The last accident made me decided to give my car a total operation and this is also my first time to depart with my Kancil for more than 2 weeks. My mechanic just called, I need to spend ~RM3K for the repairance cost and also on the cosmetic. Well, I considered this as value for money investment because I intended to drive for another 10 years.

Next, I will post my makeover Kancil. Stay tune.

World Vision Famine 30 Hours

2009-07-31T09:45:00.005+08:00

Another 22 days to the World Vision 30 hour famine on 22-23 Aug 09. This is a global movement against hunger and poverty. Participants go without food for 30 hours and get a glimpse of the dire conditions that children and families in need endure everyday.

This is my first time participating in this event. I registered as a camper in a camp set up by a colleage and was given a booklet to raise fund. Within 3 days, I raised RM365 from many generous souls.

World famine YTD Fund raised is RM303K and this money will go to Child Development Fund, Capacity Building Fund, Hope Fund and local beneficiaries.

They are also working closely with below media.

I am looking forward to the event days.

Hamsters do have personality

2009-07-30T14:13:00.006+08:00

Hamster does have personality even until the day they left. They had short life span. Three of them were ~2 years old. Unlike the human, we live longer life but when our life is approaching to the end, the pain is dragging and unforgettable.

I remember before the 1st hamster passed away 4 months ago, she was quietly sitting there for a week. She just wanted to be left alone and not to be disturbed by the children (2 hamsters).

The second one ran away from home. Bought a mouse trap but she had ran far...

This one before she left last night, she was highly energetic and running the wheel day and nite as if trying to make the final struggle. I believe she already knew her day has come. But I was not able to sense it as there were totally no signs of her leaving.

Finally all three of them had got chance to unite at some other place. I will remember your company forever.

A traumatised car accident

2009-07-18T22:01:00.012+08:00

I met an accident in the morning. When I was trying to make a right turn into a right lane which was suppose to be one way. In fact a car in front of me also made the same mistake and I was following him.

The damn thing was that the car stopped half way and I was forced to stop as well. I was right in the middle of the road.

All of sudden a car from my left horned me and it was too late to do anything. I was hit by the Iswara and my car turned around like playing bumper car. During that time, I knew I would not die because I saw how the car hit me.

I quickly got down the car and looked at the car condition, see the picture.

My worst nightmare came, the other driver was stomping towards me with a stick. A young Malay and driving alone.

I was so scared till frozen like stone and somemore I was alone. I scared he would hit me with that stick and I knew I would be seriously hit. However, my intuition told me he wouldn't do it. There was a passer by, a malay also asked me to quickly run to police station but I didn't know the place as my location was in putrajaya.

The angry man shouted at my face. I kept apologise and promised to pay him. He angrily threw the stick to my car top. T_T. I peeped at my car top, lucky no scratch. Trust me, it was not easy to make him cool down. He asked me to diam somemore.

He demanded me to give him my IC and driving license. I asked him why he said he scared I would run away. When the two police came, they said he had no right to take other people IC and driving license.

At the end, I spent my entire afternoon in the police station and paid RM200 saman (ticket). I found that his father is a more understanding person. He knew his son attitude and helped to cool down his hot tempered son. We shaked hand finally. A very bad luck day and my 55% NCD gone.

The moral of the story was that, don't be scared and must calm down. Quickly dashed to the closest police station when the circumstance is not to your advantage.

Facebook made me lost face in the birthday party

2009-06-22T09:34:00.006+08:00

At first I rejected the invitation to go to a friend's birthday giving her the unwanted reason because of my "roller coaster ride" last week. But she, the organiser too (not the birthday girl, is the other friend), her sincerity made me no excuse to not go.

As usual, we (5 MBAed and 1 MBAing) went karaoke as the birthday girl was our recognised talented MBA idol. We went through the routine of birthday celebration process, sang birthday song and ate the fresh fruits cake so on...

I thought my mission accomplished after uploading the 'guilty and criminal' pictures on the facebook. When I accidentally read the organiser's wall, OMG!!! IS HER BIRTHDAY TOO... my blood turned cold and felt terribly bad of not doing the right things at the right time. Suddenly the playback screen flashed back of what happened that night... I could imagine how she would have felt the other day.

If the person concerned is reading this email, my sincere apologies.

I have 'hit' myself publicly against your facebook wall.

Please forgive me T_T.

Mum made blanket

2009-06-19T21:41:00.012+08:00

Finally completed my MBA exam and assignment back to back. The past 3 weeks were not easy for me altogether. Indonesia "exported" haze and scorching hot sun were double wammy. I was literally sweating and felt uneasy very quickly especially when I was rushing to complete the assignments. Living a Malaysia "CAN DO" spirit, I put up my mum handmade blanket as temporary curtain to filter out the rays.

This blanket is not any ordinary piece of work that you can find outside. In fact, it is something valuable that money can't buy. Look at the design, outside the blanket, it is made of many remaining smaller piece of clothes. Inside is made of Rice Sack (Yes, it is something you can find in the rice section of the supermarket) as seen in upper left corner in diagram 3. Some people used Diagram 2 to do it too. Diagram 1 and 2 are a sample downloaded online to show how the real rick sack looked like.

Diagram 1

Diagram 2

Diagram 3

My mum used to say, people mindset in the old days is to have the virtue of "no wasting" of resources thus motivating them to be very creative. The small clothes were all exchange between close neighbours and friends.

Now she has gone to a very far away land but I still can feel her love is around and always there looking after me.

Nice Kuih

2009-05-30T23:59:00.010+08:00

My number 1 is this exotic kuih called "Mao Zi" as the shape looks like a "Hat". I always like to start by eating the crispy rim.

Surprisingly only Brunei Friday "Tamu" (morning market) is selling these kuih. I searched up and down in Malaysia and no one knows what I am talking about.

One fine day, when I came back from Tamu and left the MaoZi on the table, thinking of enjoying the food later. My niece, don't know since when she developed the same taste as me ate the rim and left me with the remaining. I totally went nut!!!

And

My second favourite goes to the pink colour kuih. I am not sure about the name but it is made of rice. You can find them abundant in Pasar Malam. Inside is "kosong"(no fillings). In my family, my grandpa had the god altar setup at home. These type of foods were devoted to the god as sign of respect before we were allowed to eat them. According to the elderly, better lucks would be presented to us.

Duan Wu Festival

2009-05-28T21:41:00.017+08:00

The once a year much awaited Duan Wu Festival is back. My friend, from An Soon Perak brought me her mom home made high grade 粽子(Zong Zi) or rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo (lotus) leaves. The fillings are rich i.e. salty egg, mushroom, pork, bean and the glutinous rice.

His gung-ho mom made 100 of them not for own consume. They like to exchange the rice dumplings with relatives and neighbours.

You can keep them in the fridge for a week and the best part is there is no preservative. Whenever you want to eat, take it out, steam for 15 min and consume, umm, it still taste good and all the nostalgic are back. So fortunate for me, my this week breakfast is arranged.

I once asked a friend to teach me but they said it was a taboo to teach openly because they believe the rice dumplings would not be well cook in this case. Therefore, we can only stand next to them and observe the steps silently. Do you believe it?

Found New Love, Keep Old Friend

2009-05-24T21:33:00.013+08:00

I know I have been quiet for a while cause I am very busy with my new found love. It has been wonderful week spending my time with him. Not only is the appearance looks nice, I was attracted by the beautiful tone.

Allow me to introduce him "Farida D-8E" Electro-Acoustic (On the left). We met last Sat (22 May). The first time when I touched him, I know we were bond. Not forgetting my old pal since early 2008 "Yamaha-C315" Classical Guitar (On the right).

Electro-Acoustic gives all the unplugged tone of a 'straight' acoustic while also producing a faithful reproduction of that sound through an amplifier. This Guitar NOT cheap (~RM900) compared to the Yamaha (~RM200). I am trying few songs and once done will upload here. Stay tune.

Broken Glasses and Stolen House Key

2009-05-10T16:50:00.007+08:00

We came back to the apartment from usual morning hike in Gasing and were terribly shocked to find out my friend Proton Iswara, the driver seat glass was seriously smashed. It was 12pm, after ransacking the car up down and found only the house key was stolen. I believe the dumb thief must have thought he stayed near to this apartment and wana tried his luck open all the apartments one by one.

When I helped cleaning up, the sharp smattered glasses cut my finger.

I made a report to the apartment security guard and apparently they could not do anything to it. They even hopelessly said this kind of theft happened twice or more per month for cars that park illegally outside the roadside. It is more safe to park the car inside the visitor parking.

He decided to pay for the cost of repairment because it costs around RM100. The car was fixed within 3 hours. My friend must be desparate for money, he sms his car plate number and instructed me to buy 4D. What a bad day!

2009 Music Man LiHom

2009-05-03T00:44:00.010+08:00

I bring along my new love, Samsung to see Li Hom hoping to get some nice shooting tonight. Thanks God no rain but it is warm there. My friend sitting next to me is melting like iceberg. I am surprise that our RM190 seat also cannot get a good view as the stage is placed in the centre of the stadium. Stage design is all black for the best special multimedia backdrops.

It takes me quite a while to understand my camera special function. Many trials and errors. Finally I changed to manual mode and adjust the speed to 1/60 and ISO80. I zoom to the maximum...

The image stabilisation seems like working well.

Around 25k people turn up. Look like people are not worry about the swine flu which is spreading its claws to Asia. The concert is late by 30min. The theme uses comic saying a hero known as "Music Man" played by Lee Hom comes with a mission to save the music world.

The video sound quality is good. But still need to figure out why some parts have no sound.

LiHom is talented showing off his versatile skillset, guitar, violin, drum, piano.

May is LiHom birthday.

Some magics are done. One scene we all thought that the drummer is him but is actually a pre-recorded video of him playing drum when suddenly the projection showing LiHom singing on stage.

He ends the night singing "Kiss Goodbye".

Expect the Unexpected

2009-04-29T00:56:00.011+08:00

Many years ago, I was wondering how it felt when someone brought me cake with birthday song playing background. When they brought me to the restaurant in Sunway, I already knew it was for my birthday celebration, but I never expected the unexpected, the CAKE and BIRTHDAY SONG.

I was totally unaware the other person excuse to toilet was to bring me the cake. :). Maybe I dared not to expect anything in this age.

I could not believe my eyes and my ears. I would not forget how C pretended asking "ee... who's birthday is that?"What made me wanted to breakdown and cry when I knew K who is now in UK reminded them 1000 times must do this for me. K also mailed me her lovely hand made birthday card.

Thanks friends for making this memorable in my life. I will borrow below pictures to show my gratitude and hope all have good health like him.

Crazy with Pink all because of Samsung

2009-04-25T20:24:00.013+08:00

Today I got myself a pinky Samsung Camera for RM499 in a warehouse sales. According to the sales guy it was RM100 cheaper than outside. The main thing I like was the image stabilisation. I need that for shooting in Wong Lee Hom concert on 2 May 09.

It must be the after sales effect, I unconsciously fell into pink trap. I found a shop doing facial promotion and they were also doing nail polishing and basic colouring for only RM5. For full set including design and massage costs around RM25.

Her complete resource kits. Step 1, she polished my nails to make the surface smoother.

She said my nails collected dead skin for many years. I started to wonder was that important as no one cares to pay micro view to my nail.

Step 2 made me worry, she used a metal to scrap the dead skin with all her energy to make my nail smoother. Guess what, my nails were bleeding a bit after the scrapping.

However, the result was awesome. My nails were painted so beautifully. It was totally different from my own art work. It was natural and I totally felt normal. From now on, all my focus is in my nails. Thumbs Up for the good work!

Just like 1 Dec 08 - the Smiling face is back

2009-04-23T07:38:00.008+08:00

On 1 Dec 2008 around 6:30pm, South West direction, when I were on my way to my car, three very bright stars captured my attention.

Below are the 2008 pictures.

5 months later, 23 Apr 09 at 6:30am, North East direction, they come back with new friend Mars and no Jupiter. This time, Mars is blinking eye. I am very fortunate because these 2 days the sky are clear.

Crying Face wishing happy birthday to Earth

2009-04-22T07:28:00.006+08:00

This was taken at 6:30am on 22 April 2009, northeast of Malaysia.
I used Nikon 3X Optical Zoom 5 megapixels.
The super stars are Venus, Mars and Moon.

The Venus is brighter and Mars is little dim. That's why you see only one eye.

The weather will be very warm today.

Below picture is an artist impression. Click here for more information.

Tomorrow is the smiling face (Just like1 Dec 2008). Stay tune!