Life's Pleasures

Malaysian Prawns in Taupo

2011-09-25T14:35:00.001+08:00

Saturday 3 September 2011

Bought a GrabOne deal for half price on the Huka Prawn Park in Taupo but found out later that locals get half price anyways so felt slightly cheated but nevertheless.. since both of us have not been to Prawn Park, I thought it would be great venue for a date.

Saturday came and we were there on the dot for the hourly guided tour around the centre. Check this out - the prawns here are actually - wait for it - MALAYSIAN prawns. What the hell right??? Steal our prawns and make it a tourist attraction hmpph!!! But they're doing a great job at breeding them so they're forgiven.

Macrobrachium Rosenbergii otherwise known as Giant Malaysian River Prawn

The species is called Macrobrachium Rosenbergii (Giant Malaysian River Prawn) and was chosen because they are good for commercial production. Basically because they breed fast and grow big - can be harvested at 8 months. Our guide told us that their largest prawn was named “Horse” - an amazing 68cm. He died of old age at 2 years old.

Old Horse

Coming from tropical waters, the prawns won’t be able to survive in the cold Taupo waters so the park uses the nearby geothermal water to heat up the fresh Waikato River water up to 20c which they then circulates throughout the ponds. Their bill would be $40000 each month if they used electricity to heat the water up!

Our first stop was the educational tour through the Nursery & Hatchery where more than one billion babies are born each year. There are quirky signs placed at the various stages of their growth. A male stud has SEVEN girlfriends who spawn up to five times per year - a 50-gram female can produce up to 50.000 eggs. Had fun hand feeding the baby prawns – very geli and they bite.

How true

Ouch!

Our guide showed us how to fish for prawns too. You need to be VERY VERY patient to fish for prawns which I am NOT. Draw in the line THREE minutes after you feel the first bite coz they want to take the bait away, run and hide, then only start eating. It was torture waiting.

This is how you do it...

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

Another popular attraction is “Shawn’s Walk” which incorporates an Interactive & Educational Hatchery Tour where guests can stroll through the park experiencing Shawn’s Jumping Rocks, Riverside Nature Walk which includes feeding wild trout and a Geothermal Foot Bath where visitors can soak their feet and enjoy fantastic views of the Waikato River.

Quick before I get wet!

I was getting hungry so we headed to their Riverside Restaurant where you can sample their whole prawns and other prawny dishes. The place was filled with Asians! Hahah. Goes to show how adrenaline seeking we Asians are :P

Prawn platter

All in all, quite a good date. And the number of prawns we managed to catch – ONE.

Beautiful Lake Taupo

2011-07-18T13:40:00.000+08:00

Woke up to a cold cold frost this morning and was cursing that it's too bloody cold here. Missing my warm humid weather.

But the sky was clear and the sun was out. It was a beautiful day.

Moments like these, I appreciate Taupo again.

Check out the awesome view. Mt Doom is the cone-shaped one in the middle.

And I wore only 1 layer today :)

Workouthon - Less Mills style

2011-05-17T11:59:00.002+08:00

Saturday 14 May 2011

Why would anyone in their right mind want to drive 6 hours so that they can exercise for 4 hours straight? If it's crazy people then I'm one of them.

I've been on this wonderful journey of becoming a Les Mills Body Balance instructor all because Fiona, the owner of Empower Fitness, asked me last September 2010 if I was interested in becoming one. I was sussing out Taupo at the time so I said I'll come in to see her again when I move in February 2011.

February came and to my delight, Fiona's offer was still standing. What a blessing. To be doing something you like and getting paid for it. I have Fiona to thank for that.

Here's Fiona teaching Body Balance

Being an instructor is not as easy as I thought. I've been practising yoga and pilates so body balance was not something really that new. But it's one thing to be practising, it's another thing all together to be teaching. There are choreographed routines to remember, knowing what to tell your students and setting them up with cues & follow ups. And then there was that whole confidence factor. Who am I to tell other people what to do? How if I screw up? What if I forget my routines? What if people don't like me? Instructors. RESPECT. Damn it was tough.

Still remember my first few times on stage. Fiona said I was quiet as a mouse! And I messed up a few times - like repeating the right leg in the sun salutation sequence 3x and left 1x instead of 2x each for each leg. I didn't even realise it until Fiona told me haha. And always confusing left from right as we are mirror imaging the students. But the goings been good and I think I'm picking it up fast enough.

One of the benefits of being part of a franchise is that Les Mills has an excellent support system with workshops and trainings and what nots. May 14 was my first Les Mills workshop up in Auckland. Went up with the rest of the Empower Fitness team Ro, Brooke, Marie, Martina, Mike & Emma. So yea. Drive 3 hours up for a 11am - 6pm workout and drive 3 hours down right after that. Poor Ro. She must have been really tired driving us up and down.

Ro walking in front of Les Mills Auckland

Les Mills - one of the better group fitness programmes I've been to

I've only been to one workshop with Revathi (Zumba, belly dancing, bollyjam, etc) and it was exhausting but oh so rewarding! I knew this Les Mills one would be so much better and I was not disappointed.

This workshop was for instructors from all over to check out the new releases that have just come out. For $25, you can get to attend ALL of their classes. What a sweet deal. They also introduced their new programmes, CX30 (core work) and Sh'Bam (dance). I was greedy as usual and wanted to pack in as many classes as I could. Ended up going to CX30, BodyStep, Sh'Bam and BodyBalance which ran back to back. Wanted to go for BodyJam but it was getting late. Was I ever exhausted after that. But oh so happy and satisfied. Am I weird or what?

Participants waiting for BodyStep to start

I must say that it was such an opportunity to attend classes by master trainers and even the choreographers for the programmes. The instructors are extremely inspirational. Makes you wanna be like them. To strive to bring your standards to where they are. I have a long way to go yet but I'll get there.

Seriously thinking of taking the module training Brooke was telling us about. She did her BodyStep module up in Auckland. After you complete your module, you have to submit a film of your class and in order to get certified. Whole process would take up to a year. BodyBalance would be a 3 day workshop costing me $400. Just found out there's a training on May 21 up in Auckland! Too soon! Couldn't find another one on their calender. Sob. Hopefully they'll arrange one after this May 21st one.

Teaching BodyBalance and loving it

Fiona said she's thinking of inviting the trainers down sometime in Sept so maybe I'll just wait for that. At least I don't have to bother about transport & accommodation.

It was an awesome time up in Auckland with an awesome team. So glad I was part of that. And I'm grateful I'm still enjoying the journey.

My new baby Puku

2011-04-29T11:06:00.000+08:00

Tuesday 26 April 2011

Today we are delighted to welcome a new addition to the family, a little black kitten whom we adopted from the SPCA. I actually wanted a puppy but Jerry said a dog's meant to work on a farm. hmmph! But he's being practical. It will be hard for someone to take care of him when we go on long holidays. Cats are much more independant and easier.

Poku was abandoned at Taupo SPCA with her mum and brother. She's all black with a cute adorable patch under her chin and is about 4 months old. Quite pricey to adopt here NZ$65 (RM156). Puku means tummy in Maori and we thought the name sounded cute. At least I didn't go Pookie.. No, she doesn't have a fat tummy or anything like that. Here she is.

Princess Puku

Was not really much of a cat person but I'm liking her. She's very sweet a bit like a dog. Curls up under my comfortable and sleeps on the couch with me. Loves being cuddled and stroked. And follows me around the house too. I feel needed and loved hahha.

House training her now. Have to keep her indoors for at least 2 weeks before I let her venture out.

Grow up nicely my lovely.

Sleeping on the couch

Brewing my 1st Beer

2011-04-21T09:36:00.000+08:00

Thursday 14 April 2011

I finally started on my beer brewing which I've been 'too busy' to do. Funny huh that I'm so busy taking into consideration that I don't have a job. Well, been busy going on trips, learning my body balance routines and doing some freelance writing on the side plus cooking & grocery shopping and stuff so I'm forgiven right? Hmm bought the kit in Rotorua on 11 March 11. It's 14 April now, just over a month. What excuses people can give huh?

My home brew starter kit

So first things first. Cleaned all my equipment with some Cold Water Cleaner Detergent and sterilised it with a No Rinse Steriliser. Used the bath tub as it was the only place big enough to put my fermenter in. Took me ages to clean everything plus my 30 bottles. Whole process can be found at Brewcraft's website. Quite a good one I might add.

Cleaning & Sterilising all brewing equipment is important

Warm the can of beer concentrate in warm water for 10 minutes so that the contents will soften. My kit came with a can of Mangrove Jack's Munich Lager. There are many variety available at the supermarket. Add 2L of boiling water into the fermenter and add in 1kg of Beer Enhancer. Stir to mix. Open the can and pour the entire contents in. Extract the rest with warm water and mix everything well.

The Mangrove Jack's Munich Lager (left) and Beer Enhancer

Top the fermenter with cold water up to the 23L mark. Keep an eye on the temperature as you want it to be between 18 - 30C. 24C is the ideal temperature. Sprinkle the beer yeast on the surface and stir well. Do not put your yeast in if the temperature is above 32C it will kill your yeast and spoil your beer.

Fill the airlock with water to protect the brew while its fermenting and fit it on the lid. Screw the lid tightly on and there you have it! Now wait for 5-7 days for your yeast to turn the sugar into alcohol. The secret to a good beer is constant temperature so pick a spot where the temperature doesn't change much. I chose my water heater cupboard.

Now what's that brewing in my closet?

The airlock protects your brew during fermentation

If you want to determine the alcohol content, take the Specific Gavity (SG) readings before and after the entire process with a hydrometer. There's some complicated calculations involved and it's explained on the hydrometer sheet. My initial SG reading is 1.0448 at 24C. Let's see what the alco content will be after everything's done.

Hydrometer - tells you the SG, alcohol & sugar content

Tuesday 19 April
Temperature fell to around 20 so I put a small standing heater to warm it up just a bit to 22.

It's day 6 today. My yeast seem to have stopped working as its not bubbling anymore. Took a reading with the hydrometer and it came to 1.018. It should be approx 1.009 or 1.010 if you used a Beer Enhancer which I did so not sure if it's still on the high side.The reading has to be stable for 2 days in a row before I can bottle it.

Using the hydrometer to take the SG reading. 1.018 on Day 6.

Wednesday 20 April

Day 7. SG reading is 1.018 so I guess it's time for bottling. Still on the high side though as it's supposed to be 1.010/2. That means my alcohol % will be lower. Damn. Using the calculator on the website, my alcohol % is 4.1%. Supposed to be 5.2%. Hopefully my reading was wrong then the % will be higher. Fingers crossed.

So before the bottling process - A good brew needs clean bottles so take time to clean and sterilise properly. Use your kitchen sink to clean your bottles. For a clearer beer, add Beer Finings and stir well just before bottling.

Cleaning & sterilising the bottles in my sink

Use Beer Finning to clear your beer and carbonation drops for priming your beer

Adding sugar into the bottles will produce bubbles or carbonation. This is called priming. Easiest way to do it is with Carbonation Drops (basically sugar balls) coz then you'll get a perfect level of carbonation. I use 2 drops for each of my 750ml bottle. The drops produce less sediments too compared to sugar.

Bottling process

Managed to get 30 750ml bottles filled. The bottles must be stored in a warm place (21-27C) for 7 days before moving it to a cool dark place to mature. Your beer will be ready to drink in 2 weeks but if you can wait, 3 months down the road would be better.

Brew well my sweets

Happy brewing!

2011 New Year's in Lipe

2011-04-11T07:40:00.005+08:00

28 Dec 2010 - 2 Jan 2011

"Come to Lipe la.. your last chance to party kau kau with us!" said Sim & Hema. I was going to move to New Zealand in February and this would be my last chance to lepak with the extended party crew. Well, haven't really made any plans for New Year's and I've never been to Koh Lipe before so why not.

Koh Lipe, meaning paper island in the local Choa Ley language, is a small island in the Satun Province, located in the southern part of the Andaman Sea. It forms part of the Butang Islands in Tarutao National Marine Park. Wrote about it in Star Weekender too.

Lipe used to be one of Thailand’s best-kept secrets. What once used to be a quiet, laid back island frequented by mainly local Thai tourists is now a growing hot spot for Westerners escaping the touristy scenes of Phuket and Koh Samui. More and more backpackers and Malaysians are heading to the island as it is an easy one-hour ferry ride from Telaga Harbour in Langkawi.

The island is divided into three main areas of accommodation - Pattaya Beach, Sunrise Beach and Sunset Beach. Pattaya Beach would be the most happening place to stay with dozens of chalets, restaurants, bars and massage centres lining the beach. This is the venue that hosts the New Year’s party every year. Pattaya Beach is also where you will land if you are coming from Langkawi. The Immigration Centre is actually a very very small shack!

The Immigration Centre at Lipe

There was about 30 of us noisy Malaysians who disrupted the peace at Sunrise Beach - family, singles, couples, kids and toddlers. We booked more than 10 huts in total. Pity the other guests who had to put up with our boisterous partying and loud music!

Our pad at Sunrise Beach

Mummies & babies chillaxing

We celebrated Aarti's birthday too with a cake imported all the way from KL and a nice bbq dinner.

Happy birthday Aarti!

Now what is there to do at Lipe. Nothing and everything I should say. We mainly chilled out in our huts and walked the island at night. Quite a lot of stuf to buy in the town. Food takes ages though and is relatively expensive compared to the rest of Thailand. I like the fruit shakes and "horny mangos and fake corns" as advertised.

Honny bananas or fake corn anyone?

Not much bars or clubs but it's decent enough. Nice bars on the beach where you can lie on thai pillows under the stars. Pattaya Beach was the scene of our New Year's party. It was simply amazing. Festive music reverberated through the air with happy revellers dancing on the sandy shores. Each beach bar played it’s own kind of music but the different melodies seem to gel seamlessly together somehow.

The beach was hardly recognisable with pretty, colourful lights decorating the sand. Short bursts of fireworks were lit every now and then, a preview to the fireworks feast to come at the stroke of midnight. You know it will be a good send off seeing the rows and rows of huge fireworks placed strategically all around the beach.

What I loved the most were the hundreds of paper lanterns that filled the sky. My heart lit with joy every time a lantern launched successfully into the air, carrying the wishes of the person who released it. It was a scene taken straight out of Disney’s Rapunzel.

We ushered in the New Year's amidst thousands of fireworks and Happy New Year hugs way into the new morning. Headed back to our pad to greet the first dawn of the new year. Such a tight crew. Love them to bits. So glad I saw the year 2010 go and greeted 2011 early in the morn. It will be a good year I know.

Some of the crew who stayed awake to see the first dawn of the 2011 New Year

First sunrise of 2011

We were all quite stoned from the lack of sleep the night before. Most of us just chilled at our pads the next day. Sunrise Beach is an excellent spot for topless sunbathers. Many of the boys (and girls) enjoyed the view. Besides sunbathing and relaxing, there’s plenty of snorkelling that can be done straight off the beach, especially the two tiny islands Koh Kra and Koh Usen just of Sunset Beach. Best is to join the snorkel tours that take you out to four or five nearby islands where you can snorkel and soak in the sun till your heart’s content.

View from our pad

Pristine white sandy beaches

Diving is also a favourite with plenty of great dive sites offering peaceful and relaxing dives mainly at Koh Chabang, Koh Sawang, Koh Phung, 8 Mile Rock and Yong Hua wreck dive. Just ask any of the dive centres in town for the best rates and trips.

Koh Lipe is a lovely island that is simple and charming. I initially thought a week on the island was too much but it was with a very heavy heart that I bid farewell to the gorgeous paradise. I will return soon and hopefully, the place will be just as I remembered it.

Koh Lipe is an hour ferry ride from Telaga Harbour (www.telagaharbour.com) in Langkawi. A return trip will cost roughly RM230. For more information on the island, visit www.kohlipethailand.com.

We are Spartanz!

2011-01-15T01:10:00.000+08:00

Pix by Brian Moh

When the Zack Snyder movie 300 came out in 2006, I remember my friends gushing on and on about how fabulous Gerald Butler as King Leonidas and his men looked as they battled the Persian army during the Thermopylae battle. My male friends in the mean time, were suddenly inspired to head to the gym to achieve those perfectly sculptured Spartan-warrior bodies.

I know what you’re thinking - it’s all Hollywood make-believe and it would be impossible to look like those barely-clothed protagonists. But did you know that the actors and stuntmen had to undergo a vigorous training programme to get them physically prepared for their roles and demanding fight sequences?

The man responsible for their punishing fitness conditioning was former world record-holding professional mountain climber Mark Twight. With a background training special operations military personnel, cage fighters, firemen, paramedics, and mountain climbers, Twight devised a short, high intensity regimen combined with a strict dietary plan that pushed the men to their limits.

The man behind it all

So it wasn’t just all computers and Hollywood magic. The crew had to actually work very hard to look as good as they did.

Seeing the amazing results it produced, Twight crafted a Spartan Workout Program for the rest of the world, designed to make participants stronger, faster and more powerful as they burn off unwanted fat in the fastest time.

Other Hollywood celebrities who are known to train under this programme include Andy Whitfield from Spartacus, Rain from Ninja Assassin, Russell Crow from The Gladiator, Vin Diesel from The Fast & Furious and Jason Statham from The Transporter.

Using kettlebells

Managing director of BodyExpress Gym Harrison Jub trained under the programme in Sydney, Australia, last February to get his Trainer certificate. He went back again last July to get his Master Trainer certificate that allows him to train and certify trainers.

Jub, 31, designed his own version of the programme and calls it The Spartanz Workout, which is in the midst of being trademarked under BodyExpress Gym.

The workout, launched for the first time in Malaysia last month, is a combination of 18 Functional Fitness Movement (18FFM) consisting of Body Building (Gladiator look alike), Gymnastic (Olympian Greek Athlete), Functional Movement (CrossFit Athlete) and Triathlete. It concentrates more on utilising body and free weights, props such as tractor tyres, plastic rods, skipping ropes and sand bags and less of machines.

In explaining what Functional Fitness Movements are, Jub says that “Our ancestors have always lived fit and strong lives through normal daily activities such as hunting, farming, harvesting, building and traveling by foot. There were no fat cavemen. These activities that they conducted daily are what we call Functional Fitness Movements.”

He continues to say that most common training methods such as bodybuilding or power lifting create bulky, non-functional muscles rather than the ideal lean, lithe, coordinated healthy bodies.

“Big, bulky muscles require more energy to maintain and are in most cases, not functional, slow you down and limit your range of motion. The Spartanz Workout’s high intensity interval training and functional whole-body movements prevent the body from getting too big or bulky, thus making you more agile and mobile,” says Jub.

Utilising free weights

Jub lost 5kg in two weeks during his Master Trainer in Australia. It took him another two months to chisel his body to perfection. He started off being able to carry half his body weight. Jub can now carry twice his body weight and enjoys leaner, harder muscle density.

Harison Jub

Curious to see what the hype was all about, I enrolled myself in one of the Spartanz classes which are open to both ladies and men. It started off quite basic at first with squats and push ups using our own body weight but then it quickly graduated into a fast, vigorous programme of free weights, skipping ropes and rotation pull-ups.

It was very exciting because everything was done in an energetic fast pace accompanied by loud hyped-up music. After completing a set of reps for an exercise such as squats, we had to move on to another station to do say, free weights. Then continue with pull-ups and skipping ropes and such without a break in between.

We are allowed to complete the sets within our own pace but exercising in a group somehow brings out the competitiveness in people and you’ll do your darn best not to get left too far behind.

I was dripping wet with sweat and totally exhausted by the time the 40-minute intense workout was over. My fellow exercise mates said I did quite well for a first-timer although I didn’t complete some sets, especially the rotation pull-ups. Need to work on my upper body strength. My legs felt like jelly and I was walking funny the day after but it was all worth it to feel an addictive sense of accomplishment that comes with the aching muscles.

Girls can benefit from it too

Housewife Haw Liang Lan, the oldest member in the gym at 68, has been training under Jub for a year now and is totally ecstatic with her results. “I didn’t have any muscle shape when I started and look at my arms now!” she laughs as she flexed her toned biceps for me to feel. A machine gauged Haw’s biological age as 57 when she first began the programme. Her current reading shows that her body is biologically 39 years-old. You go, grandma!

Seak Lee (right)

Another member, Tan Seak Lee, 30, loved the programme so much that she underwent the training programme to become a certified trainer. “I was fat, flabby and unfit when I began eight months ago. I used to watch the trainers perform advanced movements and wondered when I could ever achieve what they were doing,” she recalls.

Tan said that her fitness level increased rapidly in a very short time as she was dedicated to the programme and was having lots of fun doing it. “It didn’t feel like a workout at all. It felt like a game and was so much fun! My body transformed in amazing ways. My one spare tyre became four packs and I can do a lot more compared to before.”

Spartanz classes are available at BodyExpress’s flagship gym in

Subang Avenue

and at their basic garage gym in Sunway Giza Mall. Visit http://www.bodyexpress.com.my/ for more details.

Albion @ Changkat

2010-12-21T17:03:00.000+08:00

Pix by Raymond Ooi, The Star

I love being luggage. I'm usually the Thirsty Blogger's luggage but we swap places sometimes. Anyways, I was Abby's luggage this time as she needed to scout out restaurants serving Xmas dishes with a local twist. Only managed to follow her to one as the rest were too far away and I was just too stuffed by then.

Location : Changkat Bukit Bintang. Restaurant : Albion.

At a table outside

Inside deco

Albion is a year-old restaurant that has recently snagged the title Best Independent Restaurant in the Time Out Food Awards 2010. It says that it's a British restaurant but the food ain't very British which is kinda good I guess. English food are meant for pubs with beer & all and this place doesn't have much choices in draft - only Carlsberg eww.. but they had an interesting cocktail on the menu.

Blasphemy or ingenuity?

The restaurant is serving a Christmas party menu throughout this month for groups of six and above. You can opt for a 4-course menu at RM98++ per person or a three-course at RM80++ per person. There are meat, fish & vegetarian options.

Place is run by James Grierson, an ex-musician from England and chef Colin Yap who takes care of the kitchen.

James (left) and Colin run the place

Gravadlax with Dill, Honey and Mustard Dressing

We sampled the apetizers first - Gravadlax with Dill, Honey and Mustard Dressing. The salmon was nicely cooked and wasn't too fishy coz I'm not one for raw food and if I could eat it, you can too. The other appetizer we tried is the Seared Scallops, Pumpkin Puree and Roasted Cauliflower. Not too bad la.. There are a few more appetizer options btw but our small lil tummies just couldn't take that many.

First of the mains - can't remember the name but it was tuna served with the most amazing cherry tomatoes ever! The skin broke and released a flood of liquid delight that was almost orgasmic. It was like biting into pure heaven. Vegetables were very fresh and done just right. Tuna was slightly dry though but still tasted ok.

Biting into heaven

Another main choice will be the turkey served with all the trimmings. What's Xmas without the turkey eh? It had roast potatoes, parsnips, brussels sprouts, carrots and pigs-in-blankets. Served with bread sauce and cranberry sauce. They managed to retain the moisture so turkey was good.

Roast turkey w all the trimmings

There are 3 desserts to choose from and we sampled just 2, both of which was deliciously unique. The Xmas pudding was oh so moist and you could taste the rum. Chef said he soaked it since November.

Xmas pudding

This other dessert is a must try. It's some tradional Scotish dish that has been modernised to fusion. Damn I can't recall the name! Just ask for the Scotish thingy topped with raspberry puree I think. Sinfully delicious... melt-in-your-mouth delight.

Yuuuummmm.....

Address : 31, Jalan Berangan, Bukit Bintang (right next to Bakita)

For reservations, call 03-2141 9282. The restaurant is closed on Mondays.

Economic Events of the Decade

2010-12-16T11:00:00.000+08:00

I've compiled again and this time it's about the economy. From world recessions and bailouts to the rise of China as an emerging global superpower, the past decade has been an exciting one of financial upheavals. Let's take a look at a few memorable economic events of the decade.

Early Recession

The United States economy was already reeling from the dotcom bust when the 9/11 attacks affected it further. The New York Stock Exchange was shut down for a period of time, only the third time in history to do so. The market rallied briefly before sliding again in March 2002, reaching lows not seen since the 1997 financial crisis.

Other developed countries especially Europe were also affected by the recession in the early decade. Malaysia for the most part, managed to avoid the recession although demand for exports dropped.

Stock markets crashing after the 9/11 attacks

Enron fraud

Enron was caught in a massive accounting fraud late 2001 when it was revealed that the energy giant had hid billions of dollars in debt from its shareholders and forced its accounting firm Arthur Andersen to ignore the issue. Enron later filed for bankruptcy, the largest corporate bankruptcy at the time. Enron’s shareholders lost billions.

The Enron fraud is significant because the event, along with many other corporate scandals, led to the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 which protects shareholders and the general public from accounting errors and fraudulent practices.

Enron liquifying

Rise of the Euro

The Euro became legal tender in 2002 when eleven EU member countries adopted the Euro as their official currency. The Euro has become the second largest reserve currency and the second most traded currency in the world, after the US dollar. It now has the highest combined value of banknotes and coins in circulation in the world, having surpassed the US dollar.

A total of 22 countries currently use Euro. Out of the 22 countries, 16 are members of the EU, while the rest are territories outside the EU and African counties. Estonia will adopt it in January 2011.

Money, money, money.. Always sunny.. In the rich man's world

China emerges

The rise of China within the decade was akin to a rise of a sleeping giant. China had a double-digit growth during nearly the whole decade, making it the world’s third largest economy after the EU and the US. China is now the world's second largest exporter after the EU. China is also the second largest foreign owner of US Treasuries, owning around US$800 billion in US Treasury bills, bonds and notes.

The power shift from the West to the East is slowly taking place as China cements its place among the big boys of the financial world. All eyes are on China as her growth is expected to continue at an average rate of 8% a year.

Yea baby.. that's the way to go

Largest Donation

Billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, the world's second-richest man, made history in June 2006 when he announced that he will donate 84% of his fortune amounting to US$37 billion to five foundations. The donation is thought to be the largest charitable gift ever.

$30.7 billion will go to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which specialises in finding cures for diseases that plague impoverished nations. The rest of the money will go to four other foundations headed by Buffett's three children, Susan, Howard, and Peter, and to the foundation in his late wife's name, the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation.

Here, take almost all my wealth.. it's no biggie..

Subprime Crisis

On 9 October 2007, Dow Jones created a milestone as it closed at an all time high of 14,164.53. Markets were good and house prices soared. Banks had relaxed their lending criteria allowing subprime buyers, those who would not otherwise have qualified for mortgage, to get one.

The housing market bubble deflated rapidly by 2006 and as the interest rates rose, these buyers could no longer afford to pay their mortgage. Financial institutions were soon holding worthless loan portfolios, leading to a chain of events that brought down major financial institutions, prompted a massive retrenchment in consumer lenders, destroyed the credibility of ratings agencies and crippled the securitisation markets. The global recession followed soon after.

You thought wrong babe

Global Recession

The deepest economy downturn of the decade started in the US around 2007 and spread quickly across the globe. It was the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Many financial institutions collapsed due to the subprime mortgage crisis and many other big corporations followed suit. Stock markets plummeted all around the world.

The US Government passed a US$700 billion bill on 3 October 2008 to buy distressed mortgage-related assets to keep the financial system afloat. In February 2009, President Barack Obama approved a $787 billion Economic Stimulus package in an effort to rebound the economy which did show some results. The economy is slowing picking up throughout the world but we are not out of deep waters yet.

Yup, the world's in deep shit

Lehman Bankruptcy

Drastically affected by the subprime mortgage crisis, Lehman Brothers, America’s fourth-largest investment bank and one of the most prestigious players on Wall Street, filed for bankruptcy on 15 September 2008 after negotiations for potential takeovers failed in what appears to be the world’s largest bankruptcy in history. Thousands of Lehman’s employees in New York and London were laid off, considered as one of the biggest single losses of jobs in the United Kingdom.

Lehman's collapse panicked global bankers and created a ripple that sent financial markets and many developed economies into a downward spiral, pushing many world economies into recession.

Broke, abandoned, dejected, ruined, devastated

Oil at all time high

Reports showing a decline in petroleum reserves, worries over peak oil, oil price speculation, natural disasters and tensions in the Middle East prompted oil prices to soar to an all time high of US$147.30 per barrel in July 2008. Malaysia experienced the highest fuel ever between 5 June 2008 to 23 August 2008 at RM2.70 per liter for RON97 fuel and RM3.15 per liter for Shell V-Power.

The onset of the global recession caused demand for energy to shrink and by December 2008, oil prices fell to a low US$32 per barrel. Oil prices stabilised by October 2009 at a trading range of US$60 - US$80 per barrel. In Malaysia, RON95 is currently sold at RM1.90 per liter and RON97 at RM2.30 per liter.

Now how about those weapons of mass destruction..

Greece & Ireland bailout

On 9 May 2010, a coordinated financial rescue plan of nearly US$1 trillion was announced by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to help ailing Eurozone members facing huge financial debts. Approximately US$650 billion will come from EU member countries while IMF will contribute around US$320 billion.

Greece was given a US$145 billion bailout rescue to preserve the stability of the euro and the financial health of the 27-nation European Union but panic continued to spread which led to Ireland receiving a US$113 billion bailout on 28 November 2010. The rest of the Eurozone is still very unstable as Portugal, Spain and Italy might fall next.

Quick, give us cash we've overspent it all

2010 in Statuses & Photos

2010-12-15T00:37:00.001+08:00

Found this app in FB that compiles your 2010 year in statuses and photos. Thought it was quite cool to look back and reflect on it all. Sure brought back some fantastic memories!

Here's my compilation of 2010 statuses.. Updated too much can't fit it all! LOL! Here's what the software managed to squeeze in.

Making it super large so it's readable

They only allowed 16 photos so I have chosen these that have some significance to me. Here's my 2010 in Photos.

Malaysia & around

Learning more about what the internet can do after attenting a 2 Day Social Media Journalism Workshop by Trinetizen. Damn lot to learn wei! Thanks for the insights Julian & Anita. Had a blast.

A model life

2010-12-13T15:59:00.005+08:00

Leonard Chua: A model life

By Joleen Lunjew jlunjew@thestar.com.my
Pictures by LEONARD CHUA & CHUA KOK HWA/The Star

Despite having his dreams dashed while in the prime of his life, Leonard Chua has come back stronger and is helping others to do the same.

Leonard Chua was the type of guy you loved to hate. He had everything a man in his prime dreamt off — good looks, great body and the glamorous life of a model. In fact, he was about to seal a RM5mil deal when he wrapped his car around a tree along the Federal Highway in October 2005. He was only 24.

“The accident took away everything,” says Chua, who fractured his neck and lower ribs, broke his right leg, crushed his left ankle and injured his bladder. He spent five months in the hospital, 1½ months of it in ICU where his heart stopped twice, the first time for 10 minutes.

The first five months was a living nightmare. In the first two months, Chua, who is paralysed from his upper chest down, couldn’t remember anything or anyone except for his immediate family. Besides the terrible pain, he had all sorts of lung infections and his legs and head developed bedsores. Suicidal thoughts played in his mind.

“Many times I wanted to pull out my respirator and end my suffering but the thought that I hadn’t fully done my duty as a son kept me alive. My parents were there for me, washing, feeding and taking care of me. They slept on my hospital room floor for the entire five months.

“I wondered if I would have done the same if it was my own son. Their unconditional love gave me determination to recover. I had to live and walk again, to thank everybody who had shed tears and cared for me. Oh, and I haven’t made my millions yet,” he jokes.

Chua may make light of his plight now but they were dark times. The cardiac arrest caused hypoxia and brain injury affected his speech. “I could only slur and make unintelligible sounds. It was very frustrating because I knew what I wanted to say in my mind but it wouldn’t come out in words. I could hear people laughing at me when I talked, which hurt,” he recalls.

Determined to speak properly again, Chua embarked on his own speech therapy. “I read aloud and spoke to the mirror every day. To cheer myself up, I told my reflection that I was lucky God didn’t take away my handsome face. At least I still had that,” he smiles.

Chua’s hard work paid off. He now speaks like any other person. He has been asked to emcee a charity event and has been invited to several talks to share his story. “Everyone said I did a good job as an emcee but they didn’t realise how much work I had to put in just to string a sentence together. The audiences at the Prudential talk rated me nine out of 10 and booked me for next year’s talk in June with a larger audience. That made me very proud and happy. I’ve always wanted to become a motivational speaker,” Chua says.

The extent of his injuries was such that doctors told him he was lucky to be able to move his hands for he wasn’t expected to have normal hand function.

“I couldn’t operate my handphone, much less write. I couldn’t even bring my arm up to press the lift button. I had to start from below zero, learning how to draw circles and straight lines before relearning my ABCs. I even forgot my signature and had to relearn it, only to forget it two days later. This continued for a year, which made me a very patient man. Today, I sign many cheques for my company and have fully regained all my hand functions,” he says.

Chua is so thankful of his progress that he visits SCI (Spinal Cord Injury) patients to share his story with them every time he goes to University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) for follow-ups. He remembers an encounter which he holds dear to his heart.

The patient was Alex, a 20-year-old paralysed from his neck down. Alex had been bedridden for three months and was breathing through a respirator because his diaphragm had stopped functioning.
“Alex couldn’t talk, move or do anything by himself. All he could do was stare at a picture of Jesus pasted on his wall. I shared my story with him and showed him what I was capable of doing today. I taught him some qigong breathing exercises and told him not to give up.

Two weeks later, when Chua was at the hospital gym doing physio, he heard that Alex was now able to breathe on his own and sit in a wheelchair. He immediately rushed to the ICU to see him. “Everybody was happy and excited for him. Alex could talk now. He turned to me and said, ‘Thank you, Leonard. If you did not visit me two weeks ago, I would still be lying down. I will never forget you, Leonard Chua.’ That was really the best moment of my life. That was when I knew I was here to make a difference. Alex gave me the inspiration to help others,” Chua explains.

Chua’s rehabilitation regimen includes working on his abdominal muscles.

Chua reckons everybody’s injury is different. If someone hasn’t recovered from the same injuries that you have, that doesn’t mean that you too will not recover. He says his doctors did not dare promise or confirm anything as spinal cord injuries are very complicated — incurable by medicine. Progress is usually determined by the patient’s will power to want to heal.

“Doctors told me of another man who suffered the same injuries but unlike me, he is still bedridden, not being able to eat or speak. I am very thankful to be where I am today as I am quite independent. I can transfer myself to my bed or car, put on my own clothes, eat, bathe, move around and go to the toilet myself,” says Chua proudly.

Happily, Chua was nominated as one of Cleo magazine’s most eligible bachelors early this year. Although he didn’t win the title, he was the magazine’s first disabled bachelor. He was also recently recruited back into the modelling world.

Chua now owns and runs Beyond Rehab Enterprise, a company that sells rehabilitation equipment, specifically tilt tables and hand cycles invented by his father for SCI (Spinal Cord Injury), stroke and brain-injured patients.

“There are no rehabilitation centres in Malacca,” he grumbles. “How can patients get better if they can only do rehabilitation at the hospital?” Chua’s company gives patients access to affordable rehabilitation and exercise at home. His versions of the tilt table, which lets patients stand by themselves, and the hand cycles are cheaper than those sold at the hospital.

“I exercise on these equipment every day. I also invented an exercise method which is effective in building abdominal muscles. I lift free weights to build my arm muscles. I also practise yoga and qigong to relax and improve my breathing.”

Chua’s ultimate aim is to open a fully-equipped rehabilitation centre in Malacca, and he is looking for a good Samaritan to realise this dream. “I hope someone will support me in building this centre. Not only will it be a worthwhile investment, he or she will have the satisfaction of reaching out and helping lots of people,” he says.

The world celebrated International Day for Persons with Disabilities yesterday but not many of us are aware of the plight of the disabled here in Malaysia. Not having easy access to rehabilitation is just one of many obstacles.

“I’ve seen many able-bodied people parking in handicap spaces, and nobody clamps their car. The handicap public toilets are always locked for some reason and there are no guards in sight to open them. Malacca doesn’t have handicap-friendly public transport and not all buildings, even in Kuala Lumpur, have access ramps. Even if they do, some of them are so poorly maintained that they are not friendly at all,” he points out.

Although his life has changed drastically, Chua strongly believes that everything happens for a reason.

“I know why God rejected me twice and kept me alive. He wants me to give hope to people. There is always hope when you don’t give up. Never be afraid to face challenges and know that every great achievement starts from the impossible. I will continue to work on my rehabilitation towards another miracle. I will walk again.”

Let’s pray he does.

o To learn more about Leonard Chua in his own words, visit his blog at http://www.leonardchua.blogspot.com/

Godskitchen

2010-12-06T02:05:00.000+08:00

Saturday 4 December 2010

My last rave before I fly. That was Farshie's pursuasive argument and I'm glad she talked me into it. The event was Heineken's Thirst featuring Godskitchen, a worldwide electronic music event. These were the lineup.

Got there a bit late as DJ Chuckie, a 32 year old Dutch DJ of Surinamese descent, was playing. Great music from him, quite housy not like the rest which were too progressive hard to layan. Old skool siul.. Check it out.

What I love about the whole setup was the Godskitchen Boombox, a 16m wide, 8m high and 6m deep architectural monster. An "ultramodern edm showcase designed by Paris-based design collective Exyzt, famed for their structural art and design installations across Europe. Wowing crowds from Europe to South Africa to Australia and now KL, the Boombox is a high-concept performance zone that combines 3D graphics projection technology and real time video footage to create a uniquely immersive optical show.”

Visuals were so trippy. They even had KL's skyline flashing in an amazing display of lights and colours, all in full 3D. You could reach out to touch the images coming at you.

3D buildings

Podium dancers in the boombox

Trippy...

All in all, great night. Thank you Farshie, Azim, Rezuan, Ezra, Suzie, Rachel, Hans, Ariff, Max, Shakira, Kenny, Ovidia & Khang for a fantastic night out. Love you guys. xxxox

Terror in a decade

2010-12-03T14:34:00.011+08:00

War on Terror

One thing I love about my job is that it exposes me to incredible experiences & knowledge that I would otherwise, not bother searching for. I had to compile a list of terrorist events that happened in the past decade (2001-2010) that I thought was interesting so I'll share it with you.

What I realised was that the significance of a terrorist event is not based on how many people died. Thousands of people die in Iraq & Pakistan by suicide bombers almost every other week but the world is not as concerned by say - the car bomb scare in New York middle this year where they closed the entire Times Square. There were no casualties.

Now why do you think that's so? Is it because suicide bombers are so common in those countries that it's 'just another suicide bombing'? Are their lives not as important because they don't have1st world citizenship? It's very sad that most are done in the name of religion, which is supposed to be about peace, love & forgiveness.

Anyway, here's what I've gathered. Hopefully we will learn something from these events so these victims would not have died in vain.

The turn of the 21st century brought one of the most significant campaigns combating terrorism the world has ever seen. It was when the terminology “War on Terror’ was coined by the United States of America, which shaped the way future matters concerning terrorism was handled. We take a look at the horrifying terrorist attacks that shook the world within the last decade.

Twin Tower crumbles

Sept 11, 2001 can be considered one of the most important events of the century which triggered a chain of events that later affected the lives of millions around the world.

When four planes were hijacked in which two crashed into New York’s World Trade Centre, one into Washington’s Pentagon and the other into a field in Pennsylvania, it shattered the lives of Americans who had till then been able to avoid these sort of attacks on civilians that are common in the Middle East.

Nearly 3000 people died that day, including rescue personnel, hijackers and everyone on board the planes. The United States responded with several aggressive military operations to destroy terrorist networks and the states supporting them including the invasion shortly after of Afghanistan to dispose the Taliban and the invasion of Iraq in 2003 to destroy ‘weapons of mass destructions’.

The horror of 9/11 was the beginning of a terrible chain of events

Tougher Security

Security became an immediate concern after the Sept 11 attacks resulting in long security checks for travellers all around the world. Banning of sharp items, removal of jackets, blets, shoes, laptops and electronic devices and body frisking became a common practice at airports. A complete ban of all liquids and gel was made after an alleged terrorist plot to blow up planes with flammable fluids was discovered in 2006. The ban was later revised to limiting passengers to liquids and gels not exceeding 100ml per container. These must be placed in a clear plastic bag not exceeding 1 litre in size.

US airports have recently installed full-image body scanners with the aim of having nearly 1,000 scanners nationwide by the end of next year. The use of “swabs,” or Explosive Trace Detection machines, has also been expanded where security agents can detect traces of explosives after a cotton swab is applied to hands or luggage.

Now wouldn't this be interesting

Afghanistan War

The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 in search of Osama bin Laden and to oust the Taliban regime. The US Marines set up base in Kandahar after the Taliban retreated in December 2001. The Taliban forces have since regained strength and current US President Barack Obama announced in 2009 that the US military will deploy additional soldiers. The war is still ongoing.

And they are still 'helping'

Detainment without Trial

After the Sept 11 attacks, the Bush administration established a facility in 2002 in Cuba to detain suspected terrorists and prisoners of war from Afghanistan and later Iraq. The facility is known as Guantánamo Bay or Gitmo, a central prison for suspects considered unlawful enemy combatants in the war on terror.

The United States have been heavily critisised for detaining these prisoners without trial, ignoring the Geneva Conventions and not heeding international pressures to close down the facility. The Center for Constitutional Rights of New York published a first report in 2006 alleging physical, psychological, sexual, medical and religious torture and abuse of the prisoners. After taking office, President Obama pledged to close the facility within a year but his efforts have been met by resistence from several parties. Most of the prisoners have been released but the facility still remains standing.

Protestors calling for its closure

Bali in Shock

The first Bali bombings occured on 12 October 2002 when two bombs were detonated in and around popular nightclubs in the tourist district of Kuta. The attack, which left 202 people dead, came as a shock to many, especially Australians, who perceived Bali to be a safe place. Various members of Islamic group Jemaah Islamiyah were convicted in relation to the bombings.

After rebuilding their tourist economy, Bali suffered another terrorist attack on 1 October 2005 when suicide bombers detonated a series of bombs at two sites - around the Jimbaran and Kuta area. At least 26 people were killed and more than 100 others were injured in the incident.

What's left of the Kuta nightclub in 2002

Moscow Theatre Hostage

The Moscow theatre hostage crisis, also known as the 2002 Nord-Ost siege, was the seizure of a crowded Moscow theatre on 23 October 2002 by armed Chechens who claimed allegiance to the Islamist militant separatist movement. They took 850 hostages and demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya and an end to the Second Chechen War.

The Russian Spetsnaz forces pumped an unknown chemical agent into the theatre two-and-a-half days into the siege before raiding it. The attackers and a few hostages were killed in the raid while most of the rest died from the toxic gas. The use of the gas was widely criticised as authorities refused to disclose its chemical contents which hampered life resuscitation efforts.

Hostages lay on the floor after the seige

Weapons of Mass Destruction

The United States and its allies invaded Iraq on 20 March 2003 to eradicate ‘weapons of mass destructions’ which they accused Iraq of possessing. The invasion led to an occupation and the eventual capture of President Saddam Hussein, who was later tried and executed by the new Iraqi goverment.

On 31 August 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama declared the end to the American combat in Iraq, withdrawing all but 50,000 troops who remained to train and work with current Iraqi security forces. US troops are scheduled to withdraw fully by the end of 2011.

Torture Scandals

After the Iraq invasion, US soldiers took control over the Abu Ghraib prison in 2003. The prison made international headlines when photographs of American military personel in uniform abusing and torturing Iraqi detainees became public in April 2004. The photographs revealed torture based largely on the sexual humiliation of the detainees. Seven soldiers were subsequently convicted in courts martial on dereliction of duty and assault and battery charges.

The US military formally transferred the prison to Iraqi authorities in September 2006. Iraq reopened Abu Ghraib under the new name of Baghdad Central Prison in 2009 after extensive renovations. The upgraded facilities and amenities include a hospital, rest and visiting rooms, water fountains, a freshly planted garden and a gym. The Iraqi justice ministry is trying to make it a model prison, allowing random inspection by the Red Cross and other humanitarian organisations.

Naked Iraqi prisoners in the human pyramid

Istanbul Bombings

Istanbul was targeted three times within this decade when bombs killed and injured many civilians in 2003, 2008 and 2010. The 15 and 20 November 2003 explosions killed 57 people, most of them Turkish Muslims. Turkey charged 74 people with involvement in the bombings.

On 27 July 2008, two bombs exploded along the busy shopping street in the Güngören district of Istanbul, killing 17 people, five of them children. Nine people were indicted in December 2008 over the bombings. Istanbul suffered another hit recently when a suicide bomber blew himself up beside a police vehicle in Taksim Square on 31 October 2010, wounding 32 people, including 15 policemen. The attack occurred as Istanbul was preparing to hold Republic Day parades to mark the 1923 founding of Turkey.

Istanbul after Nov 2003 bombings

Madrid Train Bombings

Ten explosions, originating from 13 rucksacks detonated by cell phones, occurred on 11 March 2004 on four commuter trains at the height of Madrid’s rush hour, killing 191 civilians and injuring over 1,800. The remaining three explosives were detonated by police in a controlled environment. The attack took place just three days before Spain's general elections.

Spanish courts convicted 14 Islamic militants for their roles in the Madrid bombings, along with four Spaniards, the latter for trafficking in explosives used in the attacks.

The aftermath

Beslan Massacre

On 1 September 2004, the first day of school, a group of armed Chechen Islamic separatist entered Middle School No 1 in Beslan, Russia, and took over 1,100 parents, teachers and students hostage. The hostage takers demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya, the release of rebel detainees and the resignation of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. Their demands were not met.

Russian security forces stormed the school on the third day of standoff which resulted in a chaotic gunfire battle and the collapse of several school buildings caused by bombs rigged by the separatists. At least 334 hostages were killed that day, most of them children who were shot from the back as they tried to flee the scene. The sole surviving attacker was found guilty of murder in 2006 but was spared the death penalty.

Young children lie dead after the gunbattle

London’s 7/7

Central London was struck with chaos on 7 July 2005 when four al-Qaeda associated suicide bombers detonated their bombs on London public transportation during the morning rush hour.

Three bombs exploded within fifty seconds of each other at Liverpool Street and Edgware Road stations and the other on a train traveling between King's Cross and Russell Square. The final explosion was around an hour later on a double-decker bus in Tavistock Square. 52 people died and 700 were injured.

52 died in London's attacks

Delhi Blasts

Three bombs exploded almost simultaneously at the marketplace of Paharganj, the middle-class shopping area of Sarojini Nagar and on a bus in southern Delhi in an attack on 29 October 2005, two days before the important Hindu festival of Diwali, killing 62 people.

The second bombing was on 13 September 2008 when five bombs exploded within a few minutes of each other at markets and localities around the capital on a busy weekend evening. More than 20 people were killed. The Indian Mujahideen Islamic militant group claimed responsibility for the attacks. Two weeks later, another bomb detonated on 27 September 2008 at the flower market in Mehrauli which killed three people, including a young boy.

This could be your mother/daughter/sister

Mumbai Attacks 2008

Ten commercial sites in India’s financial capital Mumbai, including luxury hotels and restaurants, were hit by a wave of terror attacks on 26 November 2008. Gunmen opened fire on civilians at the public spaces and seized a few of the places, holding several hostage. The attacks left 174 dead, most of them civilians, foreigners and international delegates.

Nine of the 10 young attackers from Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based Islamic militant organisation, were killed during the 60-hour siege. The surviving terrorist has been sentenced to death this year.

An old lady being led out of the station after the terrorist attacks

How about some stewed silkworm pupas

2010-11-27T01:52:00.002+08:00

I'm on a mission to learn how to cook - heck, you never needed to learn here in Malaysia coz food's so cheap and so easily available - but I was kicking myself in New Zealand for not learning how to cook. Restaurant/cooked food there is damn expensive and spicy stuff is well, a bit of an effort to acquire.

So today I decided to be nice and try my first attempt at green curry chicken for my beloved wife & Edmund. Imagine my excitement when I saw that a new Korean grocery store had just opened near my fav friendly neighbourhood store Jaya Grocer in Damansara Perdana (by the way, Jaya Grocer in Jaya 33 has the most amazing mind-boggling variety of stuff on 1 shelf that I have EVER seen. SERIOUS. Didn't know there so that many types of flour available. The organic section is awesome too.)

Beondegi in a cup from Korean street vendors

Coming back to the Korean shop. I have been working on an article about the UN wanting to make insects as food to curb global warming & world hunger (cheaper to farm, less gas emission) so beondegi (stewed/boiled silkworm pupa), a Korean snack, was one of the stuff I was researching on. Here's the list of other insect snacks around the world. And this was what was published in The Star.

I entered the shop for a curious look around and headed towards the can food section in hope that they would be carrying this exotic tidbit. Imagine my excitement when I found it (I was practically jumping for joy inside but playing it cool outside.)

Took the can to the counter and saw this tall young korean-matsy mixed dude approaching so I asked him if he knew how to cook it. He spoke Korean to an older man and translated that all I have to do is open the can, pour the contents out and boil it for a few minutes till it's soft. Sounds simple enough.

My prized find

Like what you see inside?

Su & Edmund came late but nvm. So we opened the can and dumped the gross-looking contents in a pot and boiled the little critters (poor things, they never had a chance of flying free) till we thought they were soft. We poked it with a fork just to make sure.. it was still quite hard.. But as we were famished, we thought oh what the heck, we won't die.

Boiling till its soft

End product

The things looked like dried up roaches, but without the jutting legs. If you scrutinise it closely and turn it over, you can kinda see the moth's legs curled up in their pupa. Here's a closer shot of these buggers.

Its bottom. Can kinda see their legs.

All wrapped up

I took quite a while to put one in my mouth. Su was creeping me out with stories of the moths coming alive like cockroaches when I swallow it and it would start crawling up my throat. Bitch. She didn't help damn it. Edmund was more cool. He just looked at it and said oh ok.

After much hesitation, but I was determined to eat it - hey, I've gotten THIS far - I chucked one pupa in my mouth and chewed on it. The taste was totally unexpected. It had a fishy taste, maybe because it was soaked in salty liquid, much like ikan bilis but with a mushy beady texture, like cooked fish eggs. It wasn't too bad actually. If you can get over the initial concept and don't think about what it is. Prawn's are sea bugs anyway. I'm sure you'll eat it if your eyes were closed and LIKE the bloody thing.

Su is a major chicken. She tried one and that was it. Well, at least she tried. Edmund heaped it on his plate like nasi lemak's ikan bilis and being kiasu, I followed suit. Seriously, it wasn't that bad. We ended up finishing half of the tin. An accomplishment seeing that it was only the 2 of us eating it. Think it would make great beer snacks. Ta-paued the rest for Carolynn to try at home.

Oh, and the rest of my food was finished too. Not bad for a first try who never cooks. *pat pat on back* so proud of myself hahah. At least I'll have decent curry in NZ ;)

I cooked all this k!!

Su brought some peace offering from Mines (Edmund's workplace). Coffee cake with some delicious biscuits to go with all my fattening coffee liquor. Edmund took some arty shots of melting ice too.

Ice art

All in all, a very proud day indeed. If any of you are interested, the can of beondegi is priced at RM3.80 and is available at the Korean shop at The Tropics, Damansara Perdana. It's right at the entrance, you won't miss it. Happy sampling!

Hey, we eat insects

2010-11-25T12:12:00.002+08:00

Eating creepy crawlies and grubs might be something straight out of Fear Factor for some but for locals in these countries, it’s just as common as your local fast food chain.

Australia

Abundant in southern New South Wales during summer, witchetty grubs, the small, white larvae of ghost moths, have been an essential part of the Aboriginal diet for centuries. The grubs are dug from the gum tree roots and are eaten live or barbecued. They are rich in protein and would make a nutritious source if you lost in the bush. Supermarkets even have them in soup tins.

It's scrumptius mate!

Thailand, Laos and Cambodia
Walk the markets of these countries and you will be greeted by street vendors selling an amazing variety of fried insects as snacks. These orders of insects are commonly found : odonata (damselflies and dragon flies), orthoptera (crickets, grasshoppers, katydids), mantodea (mantids), isoptera (termites), hemiptera (water bugs, cicadas, backswimmers), lepidoptera (silkworm moths are popular), coleoptera (weevils, wood-boring beetles, diving beetles) and hymenoptera (bees, ants, wasps). Some restaurants serve insects as part of their menu as well.

Crunch crunch

China
Chinese people are known to eat ‘anything that moves’ so finding locals delighting in insect snacks and delicacies shouldn’t come as a surprise. Just head to a local street markets such as the ones in Tianjin, Hangzhou, Canton or the Wangfujing Night Market in Beijing for a weird and wonderful array. Silkworm cocoons, cicada larvae, fried locusts, crickets and grasshoppers, and eight-legged critters such as scorpions, tarantulas and spiders are a common sight.

Market in Beijing

South Korea
Beondegi or silkworm pupae is a popular snack for South Koreans. They can be bought on the streets, served in bars or restaurants as appetizers or bought in a can from a Korean grocery and convenience stores. Beondegi can be eaten boiled, steamed, stewed or stir-fried.

Beondegi in a cup

Japan
The Japanese have been eating insects for centuries, especially aquatic insects which were an important source of protein. Restaurants in Tokyo and many parts of Japan still offer various insect-based dishes such as hachinoko (boiled bee larvae), Inago no Tsukudani (stewed grasshoppers or locusts in sweet soy sauce), zazamushi (aquatic insect larvae), semi (fried cicadas) and sangi (silkworm pupae. Known as beondegi in Korea).

Hachinoko. Kelantan has our local version.

Columbia
Hormigas culonas, literally translates to “big-butt ants” in Spanish, is a priced delicacy in Columbia. These leaf-cutter ants are aptly named because of their large lower abdomen. Only the young queens and drones are harvested in the Santander region in spring after the rainy season when they surface to establish their own ant colonies. The ants are roasted and eaten as snacks, a favourite for moviegoers and as bar snacks. Termites and palm grubs are popular edible insects as well.

Big ass butts alright

Mexico
The agave worm, also known as the maguey worm, is the worm you find in tequila bottles. They are also eaten roasted, fried, cooked inside a tortilla or as part of a recipe for a meal. Chapulines or fried grasshoppers are a common snack which are also found commercially canned and sold in supermarkets and local grocery stores. Ants, rich in thiamine and riboflavin, are consumed both in egg form and as adults. Ant eggs, which are common in Mexican markets, are often cooked in butter and served in tacos. Ant larvae are canned and exported as gourmet food.

Here, have some chapulines

Africa

In Africa, many of the tribes eat insects such as termites, grasshoppers, caterpillars, palm weevil larvae, beetles, ants, and locusts. The wings of the termites are removed before roasting or fried and salt is added to taste. Guts of crickets and grasshoppers are removed before fried. Locusts are typically boiled and salted prior to eating. Another widely eaten insect is the westwood larvae, a caterpillar known as kanni. They are boiled and dried in the sun before eaten or used as an ingredient in vegetable soup. Another larvae, the palm weevil larva, is a large insect that is fleshy and grublike with a high fat content. They are collected from the trunks of palm trees and fried. An even larger insect, the compost beetle larvae, can be found in garbage, manure piles or swampy areas. The lower abdomen containing the guts is removed before being washed and fried. Some don’t eat it because they are taken from ‘dirty’ places.

Dirty buggers - compost beetle larvae

You can read the first part of the post here.
Published Star article here.

Grasshopper Big Macs anyone?

2010-11-25T12:10:00.003+08:00

I was working on an article on entomophagy, the practise of eating insects, and I found the topic to be so interesting that I would like to share it with everyone.

Did you know that while it might not be appealing to some, human consumption of insects is actually quite common in some parts of the world?

Mmm yum

In Asia, Thais, Laotians and Cambodians think nothing of snacking on fried grasshoppers, crickets, locusts or water bugs, dragonflies boiled in coconut milk is a delicacy in Bali and hachinoko or boiled bee larvae is a traditional Japanese dish. Moviegoers in South America eat roasted ants instead of popcorn and it’s considered good luck if the agave worm in Mexican tequila bottles ends up in your glass. One man’s meat is certainly another man’s poison.

Due to people giving birth left, right and centre all over the world, food resources are getting more expensive and scarce. It is not surprising then that the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is formally considering a policy paper to promote insects as food to the world. FAO held a conference in 2008 in Thailand on the theme "Forest Insects as Food: Humans Bite Back," to advocate for greater economic development of insects as food sources and will discuss the subject further in their upcoming 2013 world congress.

Professor Arnold van Huis

Dutch Professor Arnold van Huis, an entomologist at Wageningen University in Holland and the author of the UN paper, argues that bugs have high nutritional values, use less land and need less feed thus being cheaper to farm, and would produce far less greenhouse gas than current livestock. Health risks are also lower as being so biologically different from humans, insects are less subject to contagious diseases like the mad cow scare. Talk about an all-in-one solution to food security and global warming!

In an interview with Guardian, van Huis says that "The world population will grow from six billion now to nine billion by 2050 and we know people are consuming more meat. Twenty years ago the average was 20kg. It is now 50kg, and will be 80kg in 20 years. If we continue like this we will need another Earth."

In terms of combating global warming, the Professor’s latest research shows that farming insects such as locusts, crickets and meal worms emits 10 times less methane than livestock of cows, pigs, sheep and chicken. They also produce 300 times less nitrous oxide, also a warming gas, and much less ammonia, a pollutant produced by pig and poultry farming.

Being cold-blooded, insects don’t need to convert food energy into heat meaning that they need less food to grow. This makes farming insects a much sustainable alternative compared to farming livestock.

Farm me instead

FAO says that there are1,462 species of recorded edible insects with the most common coming from four main insect groups: beetles; ants, bees and wasps; grasshoppers and crickets; and moths and butterflies.

Some insects have as much protein as meat and fish. In dried form, insects have often twice the protein of fresh raw meat and fish, but usually not more than dried or grilled meat and fish. Some insects, especially in the larval stage, are also rich in fat and contain important vitamins and minerals.

Grasshopper BigMac

The arguments for eating insects sound very good on paper but would it take off in a world that has been softened by western cultural influences? Don’t hold your breath for ground grasshopper BigMacs with mashed crickets shaped as fries just yet but Malaysia does have a few places where creepy crawlies are part of its menu.

Kelantanese Teoh Yew Aun is also a frequent customer of a restaurant called 'Victoria Station' as it is located next to the train tracks in Tumpat serving fried bees. He says that "The first sensation you feel is the squishiness of the larvae before the crunchiness of the baby bees, much like goreng pisang batter. It’s hard to describe the taste. It’s very different because of the larvae but it tastes very good. Especially with beer.”

Entomophagy is also very common in various parts of East Malaysia where sago worms and other kinds of bugs are sold at local markets. I've tried live sago worms from Satok market in Kuching, Sarawak.

Eating the live sago worm at the RWMF 2009 Iban Longhouse

Elizabeth Chan says that there are a few restaurants on the way to Tumpat that serves insects. They go to Bankok Restaurant, near the police station in Wakaf Baru, for fried bees. They also go to Ahan Thai at Pengkalan Kubur for fried bees & sago worms.

I guess the UN will have quite a lot of work cut out for them if they really want to implement this proposal successfully. I’m just thankful that normal food is still very much abundant in Malaysia. Now where’s the nearest Ramly burger stall?

I've also compiled a list of countries where eating bugs are as common as eating chips.

What more could go wrong?

2010-11-12T16:53:00.000+08:00

29 Oct – 1 Nov

Road Trip #3 Taupo – Wellington

I’ve always been a believer of the law of attraction. Like attracts like and you make your day by how you begin it. Jump out of bed with joyous anticipation for the new day and a remarkable day you’ll have. Get up on the wrong side of bed? Well, the day can only get worse. Unfortunately, it was the wrong side of the bed that morning.

I should have known the signs. The day quickly degenerated from one issue to another. First was the parking. Wellington has weird parking systems and it is darn expensive to park in the city. We found this cheap Wilson parking that cost $3 to park till midnight and another $3 to park till the next eve. This stupid system didn’t allow us to pay for the next day so we had to walk back at midnight to put another $3 in.

After sorting out the parking, we headed into town for a cabaret show that promised a fun night out of performances, drinks and canapés that was supposed to start at 6pm. We hit the town in my best dress & heels to check out the entertainment scene. “Oh, the show guys aren’t here yet. Do come back at 7.30pm” says the staff at the adjoining café. 7.30pm? That’s 1 ½ hours away and I didn’t plan to kill time walking around wellington in my fancy high boots.

My Charles & Keith boots

My feet were killing me by that time and I was SUPER cranky. We turned up at the club at 7.30pm and handed our tickets only to find out that the show was cancelled 2 weeks ago! Wtf? But we just bought the tickets a few days back! The lady at the door kept arguing that it was impossible for us to purchase it but heck. I had the receipts. Told her we drove 5 hours to see the bloody show and all she can say is she’ll refund our tickets. She even had the cheek to say we could’t go for the replacement show coz it was double of what we paid. Boy were we royally pissed.

After walking off in a huff we decided to cool down with a couple of beers in an Irish pub. Bought the first round with no problems but for the second, this young waiter asked for my ID. He refused to accept my Press ID and driver’s license and said that if I couldn’t produce any evidence that I’m of legal age, I am not even allowed to be on the premises. Fine. I won’t buy then. Sent Jerry to buy the drinks.

As we were happily enjoying our drinks, this idiotic punk came up to our table and whined “I told your gf that she can’t even be here on the premises if she doesn’t have ID!” Well, we already paid for our food and it’s not even here yet. You refund our money then. “No, you have to leave.” Then call your manager. Just then the manager walked passed, gave the punk a look and said leave us alone. The manager was the one who served me the first time. He was nice enough to say sorry that his staff is extremely ‘vigilant and take their job seriously’. Hmph! It’s one thing if I’m a rowdy young drunk demanding for rounds but if we’re decent paying customers, wtf is your problem then? Thank you for the compliment but I don’t think I look THAT young. What a day. And we had to get up before midnight to pay for parking.

Weta Studios - where Sir Peter Jackson's visions become reality

My Precious...

The next day was much better and we spent it exploring Te Papa Museum and Weta Studios – home of The Lord of the Rings. They showed that amazing work that goes on behind the scnes. Makes you appreciate the skills, time, effort and money that go into entertaining us for a mere 2 hours. Was a pity we couldn’t meet up with Campbell though coz of his exams and we had to go off that eve.

East As

2010-10-28T12:28:00.002+08:00

1 - 9 October 2010

Road trip No 2!! This time it's a week long trip along the remote east coast of New Zealand - Moari heartland where the horses roam free! Left Taupo to Napier and Hawke's Bay (Jerry's hometown), then Mahia to Gisborne (first CITY not place, in the world to see the sunrise), round the east coast to Tiki Tiki for a horse ride, Whakatane and finally back to Taupo.

Sweet as East As

Napier's an art deco town. Built to resemble the art deco style of the states after the 1931 earthquake that destroyed the city. Went to Possum world - possum slippers cost NZ$99! And here I thought they were pests.

Above : Buildings b4 the 1931 quake
Below : Art-deco buildings after the quake

Our trip to Hawke's Bay could not have been at a better time. Hawke's Bay Spring Carnival was on! Basically a whole day at the races where people come dressed to the nines with those huge hats. Loads of drunken teenages in the skimpiest outfits possible lolling around. Great for people watching. Sad to say, our incredible betting knowledge (which was zlich) won us absolutely nothing.

Hawke's Bay Race Day

Stayed with Jerry's brother Martin at Havelock North. Besides the races, we climbed a steep hill and went to the petting zoo where this really really cute lamb shat on me when I picked him up! It made Jerry's day that moment. Esh. But ahhh cho cute!!!!!

Bloody steep hill at Havelock North

Love the petting zoo!

Gisborne, the first CITY in the world to see the sunrise, was next on the itinerary. Note that it says CITY, not place. They're so kiasu that they had to have the shortest river in New Zealand at a few metres too.

Gisborne - 1st city in the world to see the sunrise

Gisborne's the last big town we were gonna pass before we enter the remote Maori heartland of the East. Jerry has a friend at Rangituki where he used to bring the Kiwi Experience backpackers touring East As so to Reg's farm it was for some awesome horse riding. I'm so pleased with myself as I managed a few canters albeit a slight mishap of me tumbling off War Lord when he transitted from canter to trot. Jerry was quite concerned.. how sweet of him. Lucky it was on the beach and I fell not that badly. Could have been worse but all's sweet.

War Lord (white) and Dreadlocks

Treated ourselves to a nice motel at Opitiki after days skimping in our tent. Great 8 day roadtrippin East As. Will be back for more horse riddin.

North Island Big Trip

2010-10-27T10:54:00.004+08:00

9 -20 September 2010

After months of slaving away with work it was finally time for me to fly to New Zealand. Direct flights to Auckland are freakin expensive. MAS was like RM5200 and SIA RM4500 or sumthing. Found the cheapest way to travel. Thank God for AirAsia! Flight to Melbourne was bout RM1100 return and flew Melbourne - Auckland on Pacific Blue (Virgin's sis co) for bout RM1000. Not bad for the total cost huh? Only setback is that you gotta spend the night at Melbourne airport coz the flight reaches at midnight and the next flight out's at 10am the next morn. You can opt to stay at the airport hotel but that's another A$100 or more. Spent an uncomfortable but uneventful night on the food court's chairs.

Auckland's skyline

Auckland's pretty cool. Not as busy as KL but it has its own charms. Stayed at Jerry's sister Jane's place in New Lynn. Oh and met up with Shuk too! Elliot, Shuk's other half, cooked us beef rendang in conjunction with Hari Raya. So funny to have a gwailo cooking M'sian food haha.

As Jerry's Swiss friend Sandra was in NZ, we decided to wait for her and do a trip to Waiheke Island together. Waiheke's an island just a 40 min ferry ride from Auckland where rich people go to retire. Maybe like Bintan island is to Singapore?

Having Gluhwein at the backpackers

The weather's much better here than it was in rainy Auckland. Although it's so near, the sunny skies must have something to do with the protected coast or island weather. Did a few walks along the beach and to town. Visited a vinyard too.

The most memorable part of the trip was cooking a BBQ accompanied with Gluhwein (heated red wine mixed with spices) I brought from Germany. All the German girls said it smelt like Xmas. :)

The trip around the Coromandel was absolutely beautiful. I swear they have the best mussels in the world! Yumm!! Revisited places I went to when I did Kiwi Experience in 2005 such as the Cathedral Cove, Hot Water Beach and such but it was still good as I did it with Jerry this time. We even drove by Jerry's farm in Waihi which he sold a few years back (thank god! hahha it was in the middle of nowhere!)

Our trip from Auckland - Coromandel - Tauranga - Rotorua - Taupo

Coromandel Town, where the best mussels in the world are at

Revisiting Cathedral Cove

Jerry's old farm at Waihi

We headed up to Tauranga and Mt Maunganui next where Jerry's cousin Sandra stays. We came to see Jerry's Taupo soccer team play ?? damn can't remember. Anyway, Taupo won and the group photo with us in it came out in Taupo Times! Famous so fast hahha. After walking around the mountain seaside town, I realised I've been here before. Climbed the mount too. Stayed with Paul & Nise one night and Sandra's the next. Oh, and I went to my fist live rugby match - Bay of Plenty vs County Manukau. Bit dissapointed coz atmosphere was quite subdued. Maybe it was not that big a game. And it was sooo damn bloody cold! Bay of Plenty won anyways.

My first live rugby match at Mt Maunganui

Evil smelling town of Rotorua

Quite enjoyed Mt Maunganui. Jerry was thinking to buy a house here coz of the surf. Poor boy, surf conditions were not on his side. Brought his surfboard all over but couldn't use it once.

Last part of our trip was to Rotorua - the evil smelling place hahha - coz of the sulphur in the air courtesy of its active geothermal activity. I was in Rotorua in 2001 & 2005 and damn have prices gone up! The geopark I went to in 2005 was bout NZ40. It's double now! Luge was NZ15. It's NZ35 now. What a rip off. Tourists will wise up soon then nobody will go to their exorbidantly priced attractions.

Didn't do much touristy stuff but we did walk the free geoparks to check out the boiling mud and all. Gardens look so beautiful with the spring flowers in bloom. They looked really pretty. Now this is what Spring is supposed to look like! Not the cold front I came into. Always liked Rotorua.

Colours of Spring

Boiling mud pools & foul smelling steam

After more than a week on the road, we finally reached Taupo on 20 September 2010.

Lasangne Attempt #1

2010-10-18T13:45:00.001+08:00

Decided to make lasangne for dinner today but found out we bought the 'wrong' type of lasgne. It came in the form of spiral ribbons instead of the normal flat sheets but what the heck, we'll make it anyway.

Haha wonder how we'll lay it out

Did it anyway. Here it is with the meat on top.

Jerry spreading the cheese sauce on top of the meat

Can't call it lasagne so we decided on Meaty-Cheese-Spiral Lasagne-Sandwich. And it was so good we all had seconds! Not much left at the end though :(

I'm here

2010-10-14T11:50:00.002+08:00

Thursday 14 Oct 2010

Been in Kiwiland a month already! How time flies. Anyway, loving it here although it's cold but living with it.

Will update soon when I have time.

Kiwiland just around the corner

2010-09-06T00:04:00.004+08:00

I'm so excited!!! Just a few more days now than it's hello New Zealand - land of blues & greens & sheep! My fav animal. Still get excited when I see one hahah so jakun. What to do.. who ask Malaysia not to have sheep..

Still got tons of work to finish though before I leave. Panicking now coz it's not all done yet but I'll get it done.

Here I come!!

Sheep :)

Happy Merdeka Malaysia

2010-08-28T18:00:00.008+08:00

Memorable Merdeka Commercials

Buildings are being draped in the Jalur Gemilang and flags are proudly flying outside houses and on cars — yes, Aug 31 is just around the corner again.

Besides patriotic displays and the annual National Day parade, Malaysians can once again look forward to television commercials that touch the heart. Hee's some of the best Merdeka commercials that are still talked about to this day.

Petronas

When we think of Merdeka commercials, we immediately think of the works of the late Yasmin Ahmad. There is no doubt that her Petronas advertisements have been among the best — if not the best — in celebrating National Day.

Yasmin started producing these commercials for Petronas in 1995. Her commercials — always character-driven, always heart-felt — are powerful because of their emotional and sometimes nostalgic appeal.

The first, One Little Indian Boy, is memorable not only because it was the first ever Merdeka-themed corporate advertisement but also because its narrative focused refreshingly on members of a minority race.

The commercial is about an Indian boy who remembers how his father once dressed him up for a special occasion and hoisted him up on his shoulders when they arrived at a gathering. Puzzled, the boy looked around and saw a man standing on a platform shouting: “Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!”

The man was our first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, and the place was Stadium Merdeka.

“Things have changed now and Father is already gone,” says the boy, now all grown-up. “Although we are living better, sometimes we forget how things got started. For me, that day was the most special day in my life.”

One of Yasmin’s favourites is Tan Hong Ming in Love (2007). For this project, whose theme was Our Children are Colour-blind. Let’s Keep Them That Way, she and her crew went to several schools in the Klang Valley to conduct candid interviews with children, including a certain Tan Hong Ming who shyly professes his affection for his Malay friend, Umi Kazrina.

Another commercial worth mentioning is Param’s Bicycle, which traces the lives of three young boys — an Indian, a Malay and a Chinese. It shows how they grew up together, braving both the good and bad times, all the while remaining steadfast friends.

All these commercials are different but share a similar outlook. They teach us to remember the essence of nationhood in our multicultural society by conveying messages of peace and harmony. Over the years, many have tried to produce similar commercials but the Petronas ones will always have a special place in our hearts.

But now that Yasmin is gone, what will happen to the Petronas ads? Their latest advertisements, directed by Hafiz Ibrahim, is about two teams building a vehicle for their school’s Design & Innovation Competition. As they work on their invention, Raju’s dad, who is pushing his cendol cart past them in the rain, almost gets hit by a car.

The boys rush to help, but Raju’s dad tells them to go back to what they are doing — he doesn’t want Raju to turn out like him. Raju’s teammates then come up with the idea of adapting their invention to the requirements of Raju’s dad. They design a super high-tech cendol vehicle and manage to win first place in the competition.

The commercial ends with their bitter rival, Farid, and his dad driving past the cendol stall. After much persuasion, Farid’s dad convinces his son to be a bigger person and try out the cendol.
Raju’s team welcomes Farid with open arms. All is well.

The line, “Our real strength lies in our heart”, ends the commercial.

Maybank

Petronas is not the only company to have come up with great National Day ads. For Malaysia’s 50th anniversary celebration, Maybank came up with a unique commercial that tickled Malaysians.

For this ad, the bank enlisted the help of Leo Burnett and Yasmin. It was done entirely in Iban with subtitles in English, Chinese and Malay. The scenes were shot in Bau and Kapit, using an East Malaysian cast.

The commercial starts off with a young lady in London speaking on the phone with her mother. This is followed by flashbacks to her childhood days, where we see the young girl’s teacher explaining that there are no tigers in Sarawak.

Her mother, however, says otherwise. She points out the tiger motifs that are all around them, such as on the mat, her dad’s tattoo and a locket given by her ancestors. The tiger is seen as a protector in Iban culture.

Returning to London, the narrative has the young lady telling her mum not to worry about her being abroad as there is a tiger there looking after her. He’s tall, handsome, strong and a Malaysian, she jokes, as the camera pulls away to reveal a Maybank branch with its tiger logo behind her.

The commercial is memorable not just because of its unexpected light-hearted ending, but because it revolves around the Iban community.

Maybank is continuing with its 1Malaysia message this Merdeka with another two TV commercials and four print ads. Keep an eye out for them.

TM

For Malaysia’s 52nd Merdeka celebration last year, TM produced an excellent commercial called As 1 We Care, based on the idea that anything is possible if we band together.

The commercial, filmed by Osman Ali together with ad agency Draftfcb Malaysia, begins with a group of multi-racial families celebrating the birthday of a young girl, Citra, when she suddenly faints.

The girl is rushed to hospital. When the doctor says a rare blood group is needed to save Citra’s life, friends and family send out an appeal to the nation. Everyone, regardless of race or religion, rallies together to donate blood for the young girl.

TM’s Merdeka commercials this year still revolve around the 1Malaysia concept, picking up the thread from last year’s Hari Raya and Chinese New Year commercials.

It shows a boy, Asri, selling kuih at a Ramadan bazaar. Thinking that he can earn more money if he goes it alone, Asri decides he will manage his stall all by himself. He turns down offers of help from his best friends Mei and Kumar.

When Asri realises he can’t manage the stall, he turns to Mei for assistance but she walks away in a huff because she is upset that he thought she only wanted to help him for a share of the profits. Kumar, seeing Asri struggling to cope, hurries over to help. Despite her hurt feelings, Mei, too, joins in to help.

The three friends —and by extension, the three races — are united in the end.

This year, as certain groups and, shockingly, educators, try to incite racial tension in the run-up to Merdeka, we could all do with positive reinforcements. Long may such ads live.

Day my condo flooded

2010-08-22T23:10:00.006+08:00

Sunday 15 August 2010

The unit downstairs have been complaining bout my leaking pipes for sometime now and after many checks, I finally told the mgt that they could fix the leaking thing although I'm still sore about why I have to pay for it since it's the developer's fault for fixing shody pipes in the first place.

They quoted me RM1K for the job and started a whole day's work on Saturday. He said I could only turn on my main the next morning so I did just that and went for dim sum lunch w Su & Edmund. I came back to this :

My kitchen

Can't really capture the damage as the water does not appear well in the photos. But basically, they did a shitty job which clogged up my drains and the main was gushing out, filling my outside balcony to ankle deep in water! The water overflowed to my kitchen, then my living room which soaked my carpets and drowned my TV switches, then flowed to my computer room which also flooded my plugs (thank god comp is alright) and lastly the water flowed into my master bedroom. That's shit loads of wasted water. And I have to bloody pay for it.

My soaking wet carpets

Living room

Wet carpets & rugs took 4 days to dry

Wet plugs in the computer room

Took my entire Sunday to clean up the mess. The cheek of him he wanted me to pay RM1500 coz he said he did more extensive work to fix it! Refused to pay full price & settled with RM700.

Flow Riding

2010-08-22T22:49:00.025+08:00

Friday 20 August 2010

Sunway Lagoon invested RM3 million to install a new attraction to their theme park.

It's included in your entrance fee at no extra cost. Introducing - the Flow Rider!

It's a surf simulator which pushes up a constant stream of water so that you can surf in a static wave. Great for those who want to practice surfing, bodyboarding or wake boarding in a 'safe' environment. No fears of undercurrent, drowning or sharks!

Even Aaron Soo, Sunway Lagoon CEO, jumped in. Such a sporting approaching 50 CEO. Was just like a lil kid.

Sunway Lagoon CEO Aaron Soo showing us how it's done

Revathi was invited to write about it and she brought me along. Perks of the job! Awesome! Here we are trying to figure out how to hold the board.

This is how you do it...

Ready, set...

GO!!!

A lil helping hand..

Tried the wakeboard too but damn was it hard!! The instructors made it look damn easy. An excellent shot of me - macam pro je - but in reality, I lasted all of under 2 seconds.

Look Ma, no hands! And then...

Aik!!..

Crash..

Had two gorgeous huge bruises on my thighs. NOT because I slammed into anything but because of the water pressure. I was abused by water!!! wtf?? hahha but damn worth it. Continued our water adventure riding all the slides in Sunway hehe. I love my job.

My souvenir

@ the tracks with Michelin

2010-08-22T22:49:00.014+08:00

Saturday 21 Aug 2010

After a tiring day at Sunway Lagoon, I had to get up early the next morning for a day at the tracks. It was a Michelin Pilot Experience where Michelin rewards its customers, dealers & staff from the Asia Pacific region (India - SEA - Korea - Australia) with a playday at an F1 circuit.

It's held once every year over a period of 2 weeks. Michelin invested quite a lot coz they bought all the cars & maintain it here in Sepang. Today, 5 M'sia media were invited.

Launch was a loud rave affair as the open up the garage doors to reveal this :

Our toys for the day

First up was the GT5 which uses a 6 speed motorcycle engine. We get to drive it 3x round the South track twice. First time to get a feel of the track then the 2nd round full throttle. Did bout 180kph or something like that. Was concentrating too much on the road to check the speed.

Here's how to work the gears..

Our mean machine

Me in full race suit - damn hot k

Tried some gokarts too

They switched us to the Formula Renaults after lunch. Much closer to the ground and much faster. Could almost feel the hot tarmac under my butt.

Learning gear change on the simulator

Ready to roll

More racing toys

Tried our hands at changing F1 tyres at high speed

The pro drivers were called in next to take us for a spin around the tracks. First was 2 Porsche GT3 Cups racing each other with us as helpless passengers. Quite scary to see how they play & overtake each other at full speeds during turns. Sat in a 2 seater Formula Renault next which was even more scary as it's not covered and you can feel the wind pushing the car side to side. Sticks like glue to the ground.

Porsche GT3

Trying to overtake

The 2 seater Formula Renault

Look at them run

Bibendum & I

Incredible India

2010-08-22T22:48:00.011+08:00

4 - 10 August 2010

Official trips have been kinda slow in coming. This my first overseas trip for the year! Can you believe that?? Well, AirAsia X flew its first flight to New Delhi (5 1/2hours) on 4 Aug 2010 & me & other medias were on it.

We touched down at Delhi’s spanking new Terminal 3 Indira Gandhi International Airport to an elaborate welcome by the Airport staff as we were the first Malaysian carrier to land there. It was the first time I received a certificate of congratulations for landing in an airport!

Had a very fancy smanzy hotel at Le Meridien, New Delhi. Check out my pad!

AirAsia X was giving away a promotion of flights for 1 rupee! That's less than RM0.10!

Old Delhi was the capital of Islamic India before the British built New Delhi as their imperial capital. Although modern developments are mushrooming all over Delhi in preparations of the upcoming 2010 Commonwealth Games, the allure of Delhi’s historically rich past is still very much alive, if you care enough to look.

The tranquil ruins of Humayun’s Tomb is one place you can go to seek refuge from Delhi’s noise. Built by the wife of the second Mughal emperor Humayun in the 16^th century, the structure’s architecture is a fusion of Persian and local cultures which eventually lent inspiration to the magnificence of Agra’s Taj Mahal.

Enjoy some quiet time at Humayun's Tomb

Rajasthan

Most people who visit Northern India travel the classic Golden Triangle circuit of Delhi – Jaipur – Agra – Delhi. We were no different as that route basically highlights the best of the region for those with limited time.

The desert state of Rajasthan is reminiscence of the rich and romantic past of the maharajas and their lavish lifestyle. The Pink City of Jaipur exudes such charms, painted so to welcome the Prince of Wales in 1876.

It is a bright and cheerful city where camels and painted elephants have as much right on the roads as motorised vehicles do. There is beauty to be found in its arts – blue pottery, semi-precious stone jewellery and block printing; and wonder to be found in its culture - snake charming and traditional Rajasthani puppet shows. As always, colours play a major role in giving Jaipur its identity.

Amber Fort - Jaipur

Shopping is a major sport for all who visit Jaipur, with rows and rows of enticing shops beckoning eager shopping enthusiasts and their less enthusiastic partners. Bargaining is the name of the game but deflecting the never ending advances of persistent traders can be exhausting and infuriating at times. Just be careful not to wander too far in.

Fascinating stuff at the bazaars

Oh bought loads of Himalaya products. Think Mazlan bought the whole store. You can get a herbs bottle here for RM6 when its RM46 in KL!! What a rip off in importation cost. Bought some herbal hangover pills too. Not sure if it works though. Deep says it doesn't.

Himalaya galore

Although the tourist attractions such as Amber Fort, Hawa Palace, City Palace and Jantar Mantar have its own individual appeal, it would be the unplanned visit to a small village on the way to Agra that I cherish the most.

As we disembarked from our tour bus, word got around that ‘foreigners’ were in the vicinity and so a horde of school children in blue uniforms came rushing out to gather around us. They were as much fascinated with gawking at us as we were fascinated with them.

The children followed us into the village, eager and curious, coming very close to the verge of touching us. We saw the humble homes they live in and the animals that shared the same compound. Women in colourful saris went about their business, tending to their kids and carrying out household chores. Their hard life was apparent but they stopped to share a smile.

Further in was a private school where young children in red uniforms were sitting cross-legged on the enclosed roofless compound. It was a scene straight out of the 1950s P Ramlee movies. My heart went out to these kids who despite their learning conditions, seem determined to seek knowledge. Their discipline was a stark contrast to the public school children in blue uniforms.

The private school kids

Uttar Pradesh

The state of Uttar Pradesh is better known for hosting one of the most beautiful Seven Wonders of the World. And what a wonder it is. The Taj Mahal in Agra is every bit as mesmerising as people paint it out to be. Words can’t do this magnificent white marble justice as its glorious beauty is simply breathtaking.

Watching this monument of love gleaming in the reflective rays of the early rising sun would be one that I would cherish forever. I looked on in amazement taking in the hushed audience, as though an unspoken rule required them to appreciate this marvellous beauty in respectful silence.

The Taj up-close is even more amazing as it reveals intricate carvings inlaid with 43 different types of semi-precious stones. You just have to marvel at the elaborate complexity of the artists’ skilful work. Later on, I took the liberty to do some yoga at the Taj’s grounds.

The magnificient Taj Mahal

It would be a pity to visit Agra and not travel a little 40km further west to the fascinating Mughal ruined city of Fatehpur Sikri, a World Heritage Site.

This magnificent red sandstone city was the capital of Emperor Akbar between 1571 and 1585. Its grounds are airy and peaceful with fascinating structures to explore, such as the palaces he built for his three wives of Islam, Christian and Hindu faith.

There was something different about this place which I only realised after a while. It was the freedom to soak in the sights without being hassled by pesky traders! Alas, that peace was short-lived as the darn touts returned in droves at the nearby Jama Masjid.

It was hard to appreciate the beautiful mosque and the spectacular 54m-high Victory Gate there when there are kids following closely at your heels everywhere you turn. If only they understood the concept of personal space.

Despite the annoying peddlers and the summer heat, India is a fascinating country where its rich history and vibrant people will sure to be calling you back for more.

Cities I've been too

2010-08-17T11:46:00.001+08:00

Create your own travel map or travel blog

Top vacation rentals at TripAdvisor

Shooting the Olympus PEN E-PL1

2010-07-28T11:02:00.012+08:00

Mon 19 & Tues 20 July 2010

*All images shown are unedited and taken by the Olympus PEN E-PL1

After being poisoned by my photo colleagues, I graduated from a compact to buy the Canon 450D. Excellent decision but sad to say, I'm still using the programme mode as I have problems understanding the technicalities of camera speak. No idea how to work the camera in manual mode.

While I absolutely love my 450D (it's so easy to take 'professional-looking' pics! Esp at night), I have a few issues - size & bulk - it's rather cumbersome to lug about, especially when I'm getting active & dirty, & imagine bringing it on a night out to the club! People think I'm a pro coz of the size and god help everytime I ask a stranger to take a pic for me. Seeing that DSLRs are everywhere these days, you would think at least half wud know how to work it.

I’ve resigned to the fact that I can’t get the best of both worlds so each time I travel, I take both — my waterproof Olympus compact (which sucks by the way but the tech guys there are working on it as they've encountered some glitches so we'll see how the performance is when I get it back) and my 450D.

Then Toh said Olympus is organising a Media trip to test their new PEN series, the Olympus PEN E-PL1, a hybrid of sorts between the DSLR & the compact. It falls under a new system introduced last year (Olympus first in June 2009, Panasonic a few weeks later. Sony introduced it this year i think) called the mirrorless cameras.

What they did is take out the mirror used in DSLRs so the camera can be built small but retained the sensor size which is similar to the DSLR so the images taken are somewhat similar. Basically they are saying hey, here's a cam that can take DSLR quality images in a compact size.

The star of the trip - the Olympus PEN E-PL1

Olympus took us to several places over a period of two days to experience first-hand, what their cameras are capable off. I was given the Olympus E-PL1 with the M.14-42mm f/3.5 -5.6 kit lens while others from camera magazines were given the higher spec E-P1 and E-P2 models. L stands for Light apparently.

The new cameras also allow users the option of changing lenses. Olympus has the M.14-150mm f/4.0- 5.6 as well as the M.9-18mm f/4.0-5.6, and two more lenses will be introduced within the year. You can also use lenses from Panasonic.

Professional photographer David Chua was also at hand to share with us his experience with the camera.

Singaporean (but currently residing in Malaysia) David Chua

I found the camera very easy to use because of its iAuto mode, which decides all the settings for you. The Live Guide feature allows you to change the effects of your picture in live time, so it’s really easy for the novice to understand how the camera works.

Instead of fiddling around with the aperture to create depth-of-field, for example, there’s a slider that asks you if you want the background to be blur or sharp. You can adjust exposure by using the slider to make the picture brighter or darker. If you don’t understand confusing shutter speeds, the slider shows you how to "stop motion" or "blur motion". You can try it for yourself at http://www.evolvewitholympus.com.my/.

My enthusiasm increased when David passed me the telephoto M.14-150mm f/4.0- 5.6. The zoom is simply amazing! Really like this photo I took from quite the far away.

Taken with the telephoto M.14-150mm f/4.0- 5.6 lens

Another thing I absolutely love about the camera are its in-built art filters, which allows you achieve creative effects without having to spend time tinkering with the images in the computer.

The Pop Art mode gives bright colours, creating striking and colourful images; Soft Focus gives images a dreamy quality; Grainy Film produces grainy, high-contrast monochrome pictures; Pin Hole (my favourite) gives images a playful touch, as if taken by a toy camera. Diorama changes the scene you snap to that of a miniature model; Gentle Sepia creates deep dark shadows and soft contrasts for a classy atmosphere. All my art filter images turned out like professional shots every time.

Pin Hole effect

Diorama effect

Diorama effect

Pop Art effect

Grainy Film - B&W effect

Gentle Sepia effect

It's not that great in low light but passable la. Still love my 450D for night shots. Here's the best I could get in the cave without flash.

Taken under low light without flash

Normal mode

Oh, and my bestest bestest favouritest shot of all :

Taken with Pop Art filter using the telephoto lens

I don't need to waste 3K++ but soooo gatal wanna get the zoom lens one. Sigh... damn these marketing & PR people! :P Anyone wanna buy me one?? Or you can donate towards the 'Buy Joleen an Olympus' fund....

Olympus is organising a series of intensive four-hour workshops throughout the country for the public to try out for themselves, the functions of the PEN series. Olympus PEN owners are charged RM30 while non-owners are charged RM70. Check their website http://www.olympus.com.my/ for schedule.

E-PL1with M.14-42mm f/3.5 -5.6 lens @ RM2,499
E-PL1 with M.14-150mm f/4.0- 5.6 lens @RM 3,899
M.9-18mm f/4.0-5.6 lens @ RM2,499

Rainforest Festival rawks again

2010-07-15T11:38:00.025+08:00

Thursday 8 - Monday 12 July 2010

Can't believe this is my 5th Rainforest Festival in a row! Fell in love when I went for the 10th year anniversary in 2006. That's still the best year in my opinion coz of the Huun Huun Tu Mongolians, Malaysian DHOL Federation and Scottish Peatbog Fairies (the bestest bestest of all)!!!!

This year's a bit sad though as my entire gang didn't go. They were boycotting Sarawak Tourism's escalating prices. Left Byron & I but luckily we found our Trevor & gang was going along too so he hung with them.

Stopped in Telang Usan Hotel for our usual Sarawak Laksa.. yum! and for the gang to stock up on tuak. Me, I brought vintage from 2009 and 2008. Plus a bottle of Smirnoff.

Our mini bar, nothing compared to the Thirsty Blogger's mini bar

Stayed at Melanau Tallhouse in the village itself again coz it's cheap and damn convenient. Manage to catch two rainbows one evening.

Sarawak colours

Couldn't get enough of Sarawak Laksa so ate it for breakfast too washed down with Teh Tarik. Milk and curry in the morning. Not for the weak-stomached. Even Byron was balking.

Workshop scenes

Best part of the festival are the workshops where the artists give a sample of their music so we know what to expect and make sure we catch the bands we like. Women's Voices of the world was one of my fav while the percussions rule everytime. The Indian & Rajashtan bands were really good.

Watussi - Australian Columbian band

Love their performance! They Rawk! Very rockish Columbian sounds but these guys are all from Australia with most members having roots in Columbia. Byron..CD please!! Tx!

Another good band - Farafina from Burkino Faso

The crowd this year was not that big as I had ample of space to move from back to front each time. Dunno why the papers lied to say ticket sales increased. There were years when if you parked yourself in front, you can't ever move cause the crowd's just too great. The rain and mud didn't help much either.

Sexy muddy girls

Oh there was mud everywhere. The Matsys were having a ball.

I managed to stay relatively clean with the rest of the Media crew

All in all, great music as always. Still loving the festival but they gotta do something about the rising cost. Most likely it'll be my last year for now.

An eye-opening experience

2010-07-15T11:38:00.016+08:00

July 10 weekend

It never cease to amaze me how people from co-called 'similar' backgrounds in terms of background, social status & education, can be so very different when it comes to thinking. Our politicians are great examples. You wonder if they even have a brain when they come out with ridiculous statements.

Siok Hui forwarded me an email about a permaculture workshop on sustainable living, natural medicine & self defence. It's a 5 day course but for those who can't make the stretch, there's an option to take it over 5 weekends. I opted for a weekend as it would go well with my permaculture farm in Lenggong I'm writing about.

The ultimate objective of the worskshop is to build an Islamic sustainable eco-village. The organiser assured me that non-muslims are welcome but I must dress appropriately as it was held at Yayasan RASMA in Dengkil, some Islamic institution or community or something. No jeans (it's tight??!!). Fair enough. I wore a baju kurung.

We were to meet at the Bukit Damansara mosque to carpool and I was given the contact of a very well spoken guy. Meeting this guy was the start of an impression that left a bad taste in my mouth.

This guy was smartly dressed in slacks and shirt. Carries himself very well, distinguish-like even. He carries an American & NZ passport. As I was on assignment, I naturally extended my hand for the customary handshake which I regretted immediately. He politely rejected my hand and left me hanging with my outstretched arm in the air and a puzzled (and offended or indignant) expression on my face. I understood immediately. My mind understood but my pride and self worth did not. I won't lie. I WAS offended. I only experienced this once at a friend's wedding where the guy salam all the men and ignored the women.

Women were to go in one car, men another. Not wanting to cause a scene, I nodded my head to the rest of the men (Hell, I learnt my lesson) and hop in the women's car.

Most of the participants were foreigners, white men and such. The speaker Shaykh Hassan Henning Pedersen is Danish but lives in Jakarta. Some had jubahs, complete with skull cap & beards that you normally see middle easterns spotting. One Malaysian women was completely veiled, with only her eyes exposed. I didn't dare shake anyone's hand and I was wondering if the speaker thought me rude or approved of it. I was to interview him after all.

Danish speaker Shaykh Hassan Henning Pedersen

The workshop content was quite interesting and I did learn a thing or two. Shaykh told us to grow our own wheatgrass which I intend to do. You can get the seeds from Pure Life in Plaza Damas. Its website even has instructions on how to grow it. You can harvest your wheatgrass in 7-8 days. Is that cool or what?

Except for the occasional reference to religion which made me slightly uncomfortable as I can sense they are very passionate about the subject, the workshop itself was not too bad and the people were nice. They are all very engaging, highly intelligent and well educated. Although I did enjoy the content, I doubt I would be going for another as the environment is just not sustaible for me.

Those interested in the workshop happening from 26-30 July at RM700 per person can contact Latifah at 0176631562 or lattame@gmail.com.

Participants at the workshop

Life's Pleasures is ONE

2010-06-26T00:02:00.007+08:00

Friday 25 June 2010

Just realised that this blog turned one on June 13! How time flies!

Although there's been ups and downs, it's been a great year and I'm looking forward to even much better times ahead. Thanks for sharing my life with me. You guys are the best!

Luv, Jo

xoxo

I want a horse

2010-06-24T21:58:00.005+08:00

Wednesday 23 June 2010

Had such a great lesson today! Got a girl this time. A whitish-greyish beauty named Tordilla. Was a bit lazy at first but after I overcame my guilt of kicking her, she trotted and turned as I asked. Rode a little better with 1 hand holding the reins and the other holding the whip. Felt like a cowgirl yee har!! Anja, my German instructor was pleased.

I'll own my own horses one day and ride them freely into the country (If Jerry doesn't get me a pegasus yet). *sending my request out to the Universe now*

Horsies, you'll be mine one day

I'm officially a member!

2010-06-23T23:44:00.005+08:00

Monday 21 June 2010

I am proud to say that after going for several Sunday Karma classes, I am officially a member of Be Yoga, my friendly yoga centre down the road at Metropolitan Square, Damansara Perdana.

Be Yoga's reception

Place is run by Ninie Ahmad & Azmi. Joined for 3 months (RM488 for unlimited classes) as I'll be joining my sweetie in NZ in September. Getting quite addicted to classes as they have both pilates & yoga & a combination of yogilates & Chilates (tai chi & pilates!) ha, never felt so fit in my life! With horsie, Gasing, swimming, yoga & pilates, I'll be super fit & toned in no time!

Azmi & Ninie

Greening my life even more

2010-06-20T16:38:00.007+08:00

Saturday 19 June 2010

Was so inspired by Ladia & Hana after the visit to their permaculture farm in Lenggong, Perak, that we came home and planted our own little garden.

Herbs courtesy of Hana (top) and planted Japanese roses above the pond

(from l -r) Basil leaves from Lenggong in a plastic container (see! I'm recycling!), my smiley plant which became more bushy and my newly trimmed (by Jerry) bonsai tree

My balcony

Jerry had a great idea to cover the balcony rails with netting and grow creepers on it. Hope it grows fast! Maybe I should play Beethoven to them more often. Grow green babies, grow!

Feeling the fresher air already :)

Langkawi Sunsets (or lack of it)

2010-06-13T15:59:00.005+08:00

Friday 4 to Sunday 6 June 2010

Langkawi. My favourite duty free island where beer is cheaper than water. RM1.60 for a can of Skol. Not bad huh? Tiger's RM2.20 at the airport. I'm sure it's cheaper else where.

Balan (who's been an absolute darling!) of Astute Experience, a lifestyle membership card, hooked us up with Rebak Island Resort this time, the only resort on a private island run by the Taj Group. You need to catch a boat from Langkasuka Jetty for the 15min ride there. Sorry, no other way. Once you're there, you're kinda there. Great if you want to get away from the whole world but not that great if you want to be near the cheap booze of Chenang Beach. Just make sure you ta pau kau kau before you get to the island.

Our deluxe sea-view villa

Chiling at the private beach

Siok Hui hooked us up with a Sunset Cruise with her Japanese friend's company Crystal Yacht which allows guests to binge on a 16-course BBQ dinner and drink till you drop from the yacht's open bar for RM250.

Yacht Tiki - fits 36 pax

16-course BBQ dinner

Unfortunately, I was too green to enjoy the BBQ or the booze. Imagine passing up on the free flow food & drinks!! sob sob. But yes, I did. Jerry joked that he'll sell his house & buy a yacht coz he was enjoying the rare golden silence on my part. hmpph!!! Not myu fault the waves were so big!

The waves finally calmed down after we passed the islands into shelter. There's a submerged net hanging on the side of the boat 'salt-water jacuzzi' it seems, that we could chill in with a beer in hand.

As usual, the Aussies were the life of the party, with one 60 year-old guy who was celebrating his 39th wedding anniversary loosing more than he bargained for.

Chilling in the 'salt-water jacuzzi'

"Fuck my pants. As long as my beer's safe!"

Roaring into Lion City

2010-05-31T14:19:00.005+08:00

Friday 28 -Sunday 30 May 2010

Took advantage of the Wesak weekend holiday to head down to Singapore. Jerry needed to make a visa run anyway as his visa expires in a few days. Highway was damn bloody jam as everyone was going somewhere or another. Our bus ride took 5 1/2 hours to reach a rainy Singapore.

We stayed with Jerry's uni mate Shehan and his wife ET, both Sri Lankans. They were such nice hosts who cooked us a big Kiwi fry up for breakfast. Ironic that my first Kiwi breakfast should be in Singapore.

Shehan's Big Kiwi fry-up

Shehan stays in an apartment on Emerald Hill Road. The walk up is damn poyo with expensive looking cosy bars at the bottom and fancy heritage houses lining both sides of the road. Shehan said he asked about the rental there once and the agent said S$25K. A MONTH!! Sheesh. This is just a tiny double storey terrace shophouse mind you, although they are heritage buildings but S$25K??? That's like RM60K a month! That's disgusting. Might as well just buy the bloody thing. How can people throw so much money away? I can buy a low cost house each month with that amount.

Wanna rent these shophouses for S$25K a month?

Was supposed to meet up with Carolynn and Byron at Clark Quay that night but we got lazy and stayed home enjoying drinks with Shehan instead. Sorry you guys! Walked around the city the next morning. Damn bloody hot! Almost had a heat stroke.

The impressive Marina Bay Sands

Walking around town

Here comes my favourite part. Singapore's Night Safari!! Singapore never dissapoints when it comes to their attractions. I enjoyed their Zoo with Tanya the last time I was there and the bird park was apparently good as well (don't remember it though as I was young but I trust my daddy!) Night Safari is S$22 for the entrance fee and S$10 for the tram ride.

Being the kiasu buggers we arrived before 7pm, the opening hours of the park, to be treated to a tribal performance by... wait for this... a Borneon tribe!! What they doing showcasing our people?? I swear they were wearing Iban costumes.

Tribal performances

Had these yummy yummy Bongo lamb burgers for dins

It's really weird this night safari. The animals here are exactly like Singapore - everything's all in place and everything feels like they are putting on a show. You would expect to be squinting for lazy hidden animals only to catch a glimpse of its motionless backside in the dark but no, not singaporean animals.

We saw every single animal except for the Tapir and indeed, a glimpse of the rhino's ass. It's really weird. When you appraoch their enclosure, the animals are always doing something like eating or posing. The Fishing Cat was hunting for fish (ok, the keepers threw fish pellets into the water to make the fish jump) and the otters were swimming and posing on the logs like puppies begging for attention.

The hyena posed in the light (Lion King style) everytime a tram passed by and the leopards, lion & tigers all did the same. The kancils were happily munching away in the light just a mere 2 feet away oblivious to the noisy humans rudely pointing at them. The fruit bats were happily munching away right in my face. I could just reach out and...
At one point, I suspected the animals to be mechanical coz it's just unnatural to be moving about so actively everytime someone walks by! Like, it's too perfectly orchestrated. But I'm not complaining. I reckon the animals are just so used to humans and their food is placed in the light so they keep heading there.

ET, Shehan & Jerry for the tram ride

Love the zebra chairs!!

Various animals at the park

Flash photography is not allowed at most enclosures so I gave up trying to capture any pictures as it was just too dark for the pics to come out nicely. We ended up leaving the park at midnight. There was just so many things to see! Really enjoyed ourselves there. Highly recommended for animal and nature lovers.

Yours Truly is now 30

2010-05-31T14:18:00.006+08:00

Sunday 23 May 2010

Where have all the years flown to?? Seems like just yesterday that I was 23.. sigh.. yes, I've finally reached the big 3-0 and will it be downhill from now? Friends say 30 is the new 20 and age is just a number but I can already feel the effects. Recovery is not as fast as it used to.. but other than that, everything's like it always was.

I don't crave drinking and late night partyings like I used to in my 20s. Past birthdays have always been intimate dinners with the ones I love and this year was not going to be any different.

Horse riding is so darn expensive here. Seems like it's an activity for the rich so riding is not an often luxury. My birthday treat from Jerry was a gorgeous horse ride in the cool mountain air of Berjaya Hills.

Here we are at the top of the plateau.. you can just see Colmar Tropicale in the left corner

Explored the French-themed resort of Colmar Tropicale too

Daddy's birthday is 2 days after mine so we always end up having one dinner and one cake. But I don't mind sharing coz I my Daddy's cool :P (and he doesn't give a damn really. I suspect he's pretending to make a fuss coz his family expects him too). Dinner was at Courtyard, Damansara Heights. Food was good, especially the mushroom pasta yummm!!!!

Sis bought a green tea cake for us

Told Wifey that I wanted to have dins with my close friends and she said ok, she'll arrange everything. And boy did she arrange! Such a sneak! She told me she was taking me to Murni in SS2 for dins and no one wants to come for my birthday except for Ninja her cat. We ended up at d'Italiane in Sunway Giza, Kota D, where she invited over 20 people! Talk about a pleasant surprise! I love my wifey Susan Tan.

My bestest wifey in the whole world!!

TQ to Susan Tan, Edmund, Carolynn, Tyng Tyng, Redwan, Farshie, Jerry, Liara, Vern, Lilian, Deep, Henry, Max, Byron & Azim who made my 30th birthday such a memorable one. You guys are the best in the world. I am blessed to have such friends.

Susu, Farshi, Tyng Tyng & Carolynn got together and gave me the best birthday pressie ever - riding lessons at Bukit Kiara. Susu even got me a pink riding hat! I never felt so loved in my life. Had tears sneaking out as I hugged them. Susu, hat fits perfectly fine!

My pink hat for when I ride my purple pegasus

Continued the party at Boathouse in TTDI where Susu treated me & my astrological twin Azim to a flamin. Remind me never to mix wine, champagne & flamins ever again. Urgh... suffered whole of the next day for it.

Twins in da house..

Chilling at Bako

2010-05-20T14:17:00.003+08:00

Saturday 15 - Monday 17 May 2010

Heard so much about how nice Bako National Park is that I just had to visit it. Turns out it's pretty cheap too, only RM52.50 a chalet per night. Lonely Planet said that Bako is known for its beautiful parks but crappy accommodation so it was with much trepidation as we pushed the doors open.

The rooms were surprisingly not that bad. It's very spacious and basic, but clean. No hot water but there's a working fridge!

Our chalets - Not too bad what...

There are 18 trails within the park. Since it was afternoon when we reached, we decided to take the one hour (0.8km) Telok Paku trail. One of the best trails to see the Proboscis monkeys according to the brochures.

Bako has only 275 Proboscis monkeys left and they are only found in Borneo. We had to wait for hours by the beach before we spotted any. They started appearing later in the evening - funny looking creatures with a huge nose and a large white pot-belly. Their fur is reddish-brown with grey limbs and a white tail. My lens couldn't zoom far enough so this is the best shot I got. At least I can say I saw an endangered primate!

Check out his funny nose!

We did longer treks the next day - 2.5km to Telok Pandan Kecil (1 1/2 hours) and 3.5km to Tajor Waterfalls (2 1/2 hours). Was a bit ambitious coz we wanted to take the longer Lintang trail back (5.25km) but we ran out of water (excuse, excuse) so we took the shorter trail back.

Other animals we saw around the park were the Borneon bearded pig (they came right up to our chalets!) Paradise Tree Snakes, grass green whip snake, hermit crabs, annoying beruks and eagles.

Eee Babi!!

Paradise Tree Snake

Took a gorgeous picture of the planet Venus next to the moon.

Welcomes Shelly & greens to the family

2010-05-19T19:46:00.005+08:00

Wednesday 19 May 2010

I've been keeping tortoises since a few years back when I bought 5 tiny ones back home to my aquarium. These 5 beautiful creatures have grown steadily and a bigger home was built for them. As they grew, so did their appetite for adventure. One by one, they left for wider pastures - the grass is always greener on the other side you see (actually, I suspected they kamikazed over my balcony. May their souls rest in peace or may they have found a better home).

Anyway, out of the five (they've grown really really big!), only one loyal male remained. He's been alone long enough and deserved some company so one fine day after work, a trip was made to the aquarium shop in Sg Buloh and lo behold! a female tortoise beckoned to me from her container. She was a beauty this girl! Roughly the same size as him and oh was she active! She poked her sweet head out from her shell and wriggled her legs when I picked her up. I imagined her saying pick me, pick me! I had to bring her home.

I paid RM20 for her (yea, I know, there's plenty of free grown tortoises in Kiara Park and her previous owner would probably have given her to me for free but I take it as I'm offering her a better home, a new life) and packed a bag full of longkang fishes too. They love chasing them around the pond. Stimulates their mind I would like to think.

She took well to her new home - like a tortoise (fish) to the water (ha, lame). Jerry named her Shelly and gave our male a name, finally. He would be Tony from now on. They seem to take to each other and Tony even attempted to do some coupling after a while!

Here's Shelly!

Shelly in her new home

There was a nursery next to the aquarium shop in which I ended up buying a lil potted plant for my room. It doesn't need much sun apparently which is good. Yea! more greens and more cheers! Love the red flowers.

My new red and green addition to the room

Oh, and since we are on the topic of plants, bought this lil cheery fellow at the same nursery on Earth Day weekend. I was swayed by his bright green dancing leaves. Looks like huge tongues too. So buy more greens. Not only does it make your house prettier, it makes your air fresher and cooler too.

Dancing away in the corner - never fails to put a smile on my face

Land of the Hornbills

2010-05-18T20:51:00.008+08:00

Thursday 13 - Monday 17 May 2010

My cousin Alicia told me that her friend opened this new boutique hotel in Kuching that I had to check out. The owner Jacqueline, extended an invitation and we were off to see what this Batik Boutique Hotel is all about.

It’s a small, cosy, modern-like place. Only 15 rooms at RM250 a night. Batik’s the theme with the design covering the doors, beds, walls, lights, carpets and even toilets. Like the batik designs on the mosaic floor. She said they invested a lot on the design.

Batik-themed rooms

Jacky just opened a month ago in April and response has been encouraging although it could do better. She’s on a 6 month sabbatical (CIMB offers these schemes to staff. It’s called the Spa Programme - wtf???!!!) and decided to concentrate on this new project of hers during that time. Lucky CIMB staff. The other corporate companies should follow their example.

Kuching’s quite a nice, laid back town. There’s the waterfront, the historical streets, the really cool museum and the small handricraft shops. Make sure you try their Sarawak Laksa & Kolo Mee. The best ones are served during breakfast so get up early!

Kuching river during a downpour

Friday morning, another cousin Tracy picked us up to balik kampung to Bau, an hour away from town. Luckily my auntie & uncle were not working that day else I wouldn’t know what to say to my grandparents as they don’t speak English! Walked around the back to the farm where they grew crops and all the school kids were wondering what a sesat gwailo was doing in the kampung ha!

Went to Semenggoh Wildlife Centre on Saturday to see the orang utans as both Jerry and Alicia have never seen them live before. There are about more than 20 semi-wild orang utans there with Ritchie (who’s the same age as me) being the largest alpha male.

One of the cheeky orang utans at the centre

There were so many rules to adhere too.. don't make unneccesarily noise, don't laugh at Ritchie, don't let your kids cry, hide your food & water bottle, no flash, etc. There's been a few attacks on stupid people so don't think the orang utans are all cute and tame. They are wild, after all. The ranger said no one has ever won a wrestling match with an orang utan so don't even try. Hell yea, looking at Ritchie's size.. i wouldn't even think about it.

Part of the reason I was in Sarawak was to interview a local designer who's been promoting and expanding Sarawak art to the world. When to see Edric Ong at his gallery along the Waterfront (opposite the Chinese Museum) and he proudly showcased his work with the various indeginous Sarawakian tribes. His proudest achievement he said, was reviving and sustaining the pua kumbu weaving done by the Iban tribe.

Edric Ong showing us some of his work

Planted a tree

2010-05-10T08:04:00.013+08:00

Friday 7 May 2010

I was quite excited today as we were heading to Kuala Selangor Nature Park to learn about the mangrove forest and its importance to us and the ecosystem. There was a chance that we could plant some trees and seeing that Earth Day just passed, doing that would be just perfect.

Kuala Selangor Nature Park is a state-owned park run by Malaysian Nature Society (MNS), the only park in Malaysia run by an NGO. It's very well managed - funds are sourced by MNS through corporate sponsorships and education programmes while the current state govn (Elizabeth Wong to be more precise) supports them by providing facilities for the park such as chalets, auditorium, etc.

Ashok, who's based at the park and Shan from MNS HQ, showed us around. They said the trail runs 4km around the park with 1km of elevated broadwalk over the mangroves right out to sea.

Our first stop was a mangrove area that was struck by lighting. They were trying to restore the land and required loads of trees to be planted for it to return to its full glory.

Young tree saplings, bout 8 months old.

Tree saplings are cultivated till they are about 6 months to a year old before they can be planted in its natural environment. Mangroves are important to us as they maintain the economic and environmental balance. Without it, our river life wouldn't survive and our fishermen who farm cockles nearby, won't be able to make a living. 400ms of mangroves can stop tsunami and flooding, protecting the town of Kuala Selangor and all its inhabitants. Mangrove plants also have the unique ability to survive in both salt and fresh water and can absorb pollution and filter the air, helping us to breathe easier.

We were overjoyed when Shan and Ashok said we could plant some trees. The public can donate RM25 for a tree sapling and either plant it themselves or MNS will plant it on their behalf.

Here's what you need - a big planting stick, a tree sapling, a thin ratan stick and a raffia string. First, plunge the planting stick in the mud. Move it in a circular motion to create a deep, round hole say about a foot deep. Very tiring okay! Remove the bag from the tree roots - don't squeeze the roots! and place it neatly in the hole. Pat the mud back in place with your hands and tie your tree sapling to the ratan stick with the string. There - you've planted your own tree and done your bit for the environment!

Jerry planted 3 trees!

I was a bit tired after planting one tree – I know, I’m a pansy.. but ever strong Jerry planted 3. That’s 4 new trees for the environment yea!

Here’s more reasons why you should do your bit and plant a tree as well :

* One tree annually produces 91kg of oxygen to help us breathe.

* In a year, 40 trees will remove 37kg of air pollutants to reduce smog and air pollution.

* Four million trees will save RM68mil in air pollution clean up.

* Trees help offset greenhouse gases from our cars and homes.

* Trees improve our air and water quality.

* Trees provide home, shelter and nourishment to animals.

*Trees can make a home 20 degrees cooler, saving an average of RM595 a year in air conditioning cost.

* One young healthy tree is equivalent to 10 room-size air conditioners operating for 20 hours.

* Trees can increase property value by 20%.

* Trees are on the job 24 hours a day to improve our environment and our lives.

The 1km elevated boardwalk over the mangroves

We continued touring the park after that and visited the nursery before walking along the 1km boardwalk above the mangroves out to sea. There were fascinating tiny blue and red fiddler crabs all over the muddy floor, a few giant mudskippers and plenty of balitongs and they were huge! So much bigger than the ones we normally eat. Saw a black pit viper curled up at a gazebo’s roof too.

Pencil root mangrove trees

Kerengga nest

Long-tail macaques or more commonly known as beruks and silverleaf monkeys make this park their home. The beruks are the ones you see all over town, pests, really. Since all animals are protected in the park, the only thing the rangers can do is plant fruit trees further out in hope that they will migrate there. They have been breeding like rabbits and can get quite aggressive. One alpha male came charging up to me to grab the plastic poncho from my pants pocket. Careful carrying plastic bags in the park as the monkeys think there’s food in them. The silver leaf monkeys are much nicer and gentler. They are rarer though, and harder to spot in the park.

We bid farewell to the park after two hours and Shan invited us for lunch at Kuala Selangor’s many famous seafood restaurants. Food was yum!! Marmite crayfish, steam fish, lalas… he even ordered fresh morning todi which Jerry surprisingly liked with his Guinness Stout. Me, I still can’t stand the foul smell :P

Since we were in Kuala Selangor, we visited the new aquarium next to the Nature Park where all sorts of fresh water fishes were displayed. Nothing that fantastic – you can cover the whole place in 10 mins - but visit it anyway since it’s free and just right next door to the park.

Tame silverleaf monkeys at Bukit Malawati

Hehe check out the monkey spa

Another place you can go is Bukit Malawati, also just right next to the park. There’s a stairs you can climb from the road which leads you straight to the Poison Well where prisoners were tortured in neck-deep poison waters.

A little further away, nearer to the Museum is a troupe of silverleaf monkeys. They are quite tame as visitors feed them. They will allow you to touch or hold their human-like hands and feet. Babies are born bright orange and slowly loose their colour as they grow older.

Got annoyed cause I missed the turn on the way back to KL and took a long drive to Klang before joining the PLUS back to Subang. But it was a good day and I’m happy we contributed something, if only a small bit, to Mother Nature.

Leech fest in Endau Rompin National Park

2010-04-26T14:46:00.009+08:00

14 - 17 April 2010

We decided to venture into a national park next and the 4D3N camping package @ RM690 each by Journey Malaysia was just the thing.

Since the pickup was from Kluang, took the opportunity to call up my fav matie Paulie to see if we could bunk at his place. Paul stays in JB but his parents have a place up in Kluang so he said sure, we're welcome to stay. Turned out to be a funny story as his parents gave him the wrong keys and we spent half an hour climbing into the house trying to break in. His dad had to drive an hour up from JB to pass us the correct set of keys in the end. Malu only to let the old man drive so far.

Anyway, that's shy Paulie having breakfast at the Kluang Railway Station. Buns are not as good as I remembered it to be. Sigh.. franchising & commercialisation..

Orang Asli guide Lop & driver Man picked us at 10am from the station to take us on a 3 hour drive to the national park - the last 1 1 /2 hour of the journey was through 30km of half-sealed dirt roads with potholes the size of full-grown pigs. Urgh.. queasy.. almost puked.

Arrived finally for lunch at Lop's house. He led us to a small sampan which would take us an hour upriver to the start of our trek to base camp. The boat ride was my favourite part of the trip.

Our simple boat

The hour trek in to our Kuala Marong camp site was relatively easy although we were carrying our gears with us. The 2 guides - Lop & Choi - carried most of the stuff like our camping gear, food & cooking utensils.

The hour trek in to Kuala Marong camp site

Camp site's pretty basic. So different from the ones in Europe haha. No fancy campervans, laundry rooms or bars. Just a plain ground to set up camp, makeshift toilets, an area to cook and a few gazebos to lepak on. Oh, and no electricity. Besides us, the only guests there were 3 young Singaporean boys who left the next day. We basically had the camp site all to ourselves.

The Kuala Marong campsite

There is a nice part further up the river called Tasik Biru bout 5 minutes from our campsite where you can bathe in. Spent the rest of the day chilling there watching the Kelah fishes which are protected by the way. No fishing allowed here.

Tasik Biru, 5 mins from our camp site

Oooh! The orang aslis brought along a treat for us. 2 huge frogs!!! They skinned and cooked it for us stew-like. Yuums!!! Our meals are really elaborate too for the place we're in. Stir-fry chicken & veges, omelet, curry beef, etc. They even provided us with biscuits and tea during tea time.

Froggies for dinner... yuums!

They showed us how to look for and catch frogs too that night. Had to wade up the river in the dark coz I didn't bring a torch light. Silly me. These frogs apparently grow up to 1.5kg! Freakin huge wei! You gotta catch them at their hind legs. I tried catching a small one by covering him with my palm but let go when he squirmed underneath. Geli le..

We hiked to Buaya Sangkut waterfalls the next day. It's a gruelling 3 hour hike there and another 3 hours back. Trek was infested with leeches and I was so tired by the time we got back but felt good cause I finished it. Great exercise. Can feel my butt muscles tightening hehe. Built a bonfire that night and sat under the stars enjoying each other's company and telling stories.

Bloody leeches. I'm still itching - 2 weeks later. Infected pula.

Buaya Sangkut waterfall

It rained at 6am on the 3rd day and rain started seeping into our tent coz the fly wasn't secured properly. We decided to shift our stuff to the gazebo and slept the rest of the morn there in our sleeping bags. What a start to the day! But all part of the adventure..

Drying our clothes in the sun

Trekked to Upeh Guling waterfalls, quite a nice place 15 minutes from our camp. It's nicer than Buaya Sangkut but we didn't feel like taking a dip so just sat around enjoying the view.

Upeh Guling waterfalls

Trekked an hour after lunch to our next camp, Kuala Jasin. Camp site's not as nice as it's more 'modern' with lots of concrete and chalets (all unoccupied). Again, we were the only ones at the camp so we had an upgrade and set up tent on a gazebo. Place was filled with mozzies in the aft so we decided to trek an hour up the steep Gunung Jasin Barat. My poor thighs... but view at the top was good as we could see Upeh Guling falls (a tiny dot in the distance).

Headed back to KG Peta, the orang asli village on the fourth day. Lop showed us the various traps used by them to trap animals from mousedeers to elephants. Trapped Jerry in a cage too! Played with the blowpipes and I hit the baloon target! It was more plain luck rather than skill ;).

Orang asli devices to trap & kill various animals

It was a pity we didn't bring any money as I wanted to tip the guides. They were very good, friendly and helpful. It was a great 4 days in the jungle as we got to get away from it all and there was absolutely no pollution - machine or people - and the only noises we heard were the natural sounds of the jungle.

Redang - Conveniently packaged

2010-04-26T14:25:00.009+08:00

Fri 9 to Sun 11 April 2010

It was the weekend again and we were eager to go off on another adventure. Jerry wanted to go snorkelling. Dilemma time - All the nearby beaches are crap and the gorgeous ones so far away! Trimmed it down to Pulau Payar near Langkawi, Pulau Perhentian, Pulau Tioman or Pulau Redang.

My decision was made when my colleague Yasmin said that she was going to Redang that weekend. Turned out she went to Dungun instead hmph!! But alls good as I've never been to Redang so at least I can say I've been there.

Redang is funny in a sense that it's not convenient to make a trip to the island unless you buy the package deals from the resorts - all similar standard 3D2N deals which include accommodation, full-board meals and 3 snorkelling trips. Mask & life jacket rental @RM10 each is separate
. Here's a good site that has the rates, facilities & location of the resorts.

Being a cheapskate, I chose one of the budget ones at Redang Lagoon for the package deal of RM290 each. Cheap huh? Yea, but you'll see why later.

Our chalet for 2 nights - not bad - quite spacious w queen bed, air-con & attached toilet

Jerry wasted no time chilling in a hammock

There was plenty of food - buffet breakfast, lunch, tea & dinner. All local malay cooking of course but one night they provided BBQ which was quite a spread - fish, squid, chicken, etc

BBQ night - cook yourself

Redang Island has gorgeously fine white sand which is soo soft to the touch. The waters are pristine clear. Was surprised that we can see straight to the bottom as there were a few boats moored by the beach. The boat fuels don't seem to affect the waters much.

Clear waters in Redang

Saw this at a dive shop - hilarious! Why does the fish need an oxygen tank??

Let me tell you why you shouldn't take cheap packages. If it's too good to be true, it probably comes with many catches. At the risk of sounding racist, I would prefer if a resort has guests of mixed races.

Coming from KL, I happily brought my skimpy swimsuit (a 2 piece that is joined in the middle - yes, very sexy mind you) and thus received the stares of the other extremely decently clad guests (long sleeves, long pants. Even the guys never took their shirts off). What more, I was holding a Mat Salleh's hand. :P Poor Jerry was the only white meat there. The rest of the Matsys were staying at nicer upper class resorts.

Oh, and because we were paying budget rates, they packed the entire resort of god knows how many people into 2 small boats. It was a task each time to battle for squatting places on the floor. Made us feel just like refugees.

Check out the over-loaded boat. And this was taken after quarter of us were in the water.

Snorkelling was not too bad though. Went to deeper seas on the first day and the Marine Park and another site nearer to a beach on the second. Saw a puffer fish, a Moray Eel, plenty of Nemos and baby sharks!!! Jerry was attacked by a huge parrot fish who chased him for 50metres. hehehe. That's what you get for sneaking up on a fish enjoying his lunch. Pics taken with my underwater Olympus compact.

Mr Moray Eel.

The best snorkelling site for me was the area just in front of our resort. Plenty of marine life to see and 7 baby reef or sand sharks swim near to shore each day. Had the most fun chasing after these sharks.

Baby sharks - just right in front of our resort very near to shore

Nemo

Colourful corals at a shipwreck just off the Marine Park

Despite the refugee-like conditions of the boat trips, Redang is not too bad. Better go quick before the government makes it unaffordable for common folks!

Made it up Gunung Datuk!

2010-04-08T12:57:00.004+08:00

Sunday 4 April 2010

Woke up eager & all coz we were gonna make today a 'healthy' day. Walked down to Be Yoga at Metropolitan Square for the weekly Karma Yoga but class was cancelled that week! Darn. Was so looking forward to that. Karma Yoga is a free yoga class that happens every Sunday at 11am. It's good karma to give back to the community and the only t&c to participate in this class is a minimum donation of RM10 that goes to charity. The yoga teacher doesn't get anything.

Anyway... since yoga was cancelled, called up Su & Edmund to tell them we will pick them up earlier to head to Gunung Datuk in Rembau. This the directions to the place :

Get on the Seremban Highway and exit at the Pedas Linggi toll
Turn left after toll and straight on till you reach a roundabout.
Take a 3 o'clock and straight on till you reach a traffic light
Turn right at lights and continue for a few ks till you see the sign to Hutan Lipur Gunung Datuk
Turn left into the rubber estates and take a left at the fork
Continue till you reach the park.

There are a few parking spaces, a makan store, a surau and an office at the park. It's quite clean and orderly. You gotta register with the park ranger at RM3 per person. That's to keep track of you in case you don't make it down the hill. Ranger told us it's bout 2 hours up & 1 1/2 hours down.

Find a red sign and walk down the steps and cross a bridge at the river. The trail starts immediately after the bridge. We started our hike at 2.30pm.

It's a steep steep walk up. urgh! Was out of breath right at the very beginning. Jerry barged up the hill while I went at a slower pace to wait up for Su & Edmund. Su gave up after a while and told us to fuck ourselves as she sat down to read her book so its onwards up without them then.

Beginning part of the climb.

Su giving up while Edmund accompanied her - awww cho chweet

I slogged up after Jerry after that. That ox is so bloody fit he just kept charging up the hill. I thought I could keep up with his pace but I was sadly mistaken. The hill just kept on going up and up and up! No flat ground at all! If you ever been to Gasing, it's like going up that steep hill for 45 minutes non-stop! Urgh. I almost gave up as I couldn't catch up to him and almost turned back but then Jerry took pity and waited up for me. I would have never made it up that hill if it was not for his support. Thank you darling!

See the annoyed look on his face as he waited up for me? ;)

We passed a group who we thought was resting but as we neared, we saw a girl on a stretcher. Poor thing was hyperventilating as her friend was rubbing her chest to calm her down. Hope the same fate doesn't befall me!

After suffering for almost one and a half hours - remind me why I do this to myself again? We finally reached some huge boulders, an indication that the summit is almost within reach! We made it faster than normal as Jerry's a Speedy Gonzales. :P

The iron ladders were ricketly tied to the rocks with metal wires - not exactly the most reassuring thing at all. The ladders shift as we climbed! Had all sorts of paranoid images of tumbling head first down to the rocks below. It was almost 4pm by then.

Climbing up the first flight of ladders

We reached an open area at after the first flight of ladders only to be greeted by another 2 flights of dodgy metal rungs. These were worse than the first ladders as it actually moved under our feet!

Took a pic at the first open area. See! I made it!

The view was worth the climb. You can see the Straits of Malacca from there and a few ships sailing the waters. Greenery stretched as far as the eyes can see and birdies were flying high in the skies which was right next to us! You can even see the farmlands and dots of houses scattered below.

Chilled there for half an hour enjoying the scenery and each other's company before I got a bit chilly and wanted to head down. Thanks Su for the Snickers bars! The ranger told us it would take 1 1/2 hours to get down and I didn't want to be caught in the jungle when it gets dark.

The view at the top

We practically ran all the way down. Courtesy of Mr Gadd again who thinks he's some sort of sure-footed mouse deer or something. Bruised my leg and almost tumbled down. hmphh!

We reached the bottom in 45 minutes! But legs were all shaky by then.

Paid the price for it days and days later.. walked as though I had it from the back AND the front. Urgh... SORE. And why do I do this to myself again? Guess I never learn :)

A walk in the KL Bird Park

2010-04-04T09:35:00.007+08:00

Saturday 3 April 2010

Got up early to watch Anja teach some young girls to jump at Bukit Kiara. Enquired about the riding packages and it would cost bout less than a K for a package of 10 lessons. Hmmm contemplating... lessons would come in handy when I get my own pegasus huh?

We initially wanted to ride the Hop On Hop Off bus but was feeling lazy.. so decided to head to Lake Gardens instead and check out the... KL Bird Park! hahha haven't been there like since it opened in 1991! They were marketing it as the largest walk-in aviary in the world! Trust Malaysia to have the biggest, longest, widest, fattest, etc :P

Anyways, tix was RM15 for Malaysians and RM42 for non. Sheesh. What a price difference. Managed to sneak Jerry in for the Malaysian price hehe.

Birds at the park

The park's pretty cool. Quite a big one divided in to zones, among them the Flightless Birds, Oriental Birds, Hornbills, Flamingo Pond.. and can't remember the rest. Most of the birds are free to fly except for the predators which were enclosed in smaller cages. Weird. The small birds get huge flying spaces and the larger birds, cramped style. Guess they'll be eating all the birds if they were set free.

The park

Walked in on some storks performing some weird ritual

There's this Lory (Buring Nuri) feeding area where the birds will just flock to you to eat sunflower seeds. Greedy little buggers they are. Jerry said the red birds' feet were warmer than the green ones. Enjoyed the session very much.

Feeding the Nuris

We managed to catch the Bird Show where they had macaws and an eagle performing tricks for us such as counting, flying through hoops and riding bikes. Wonder if they enjoy performing tricks for humans like how dogs enjoy pleasing their masters? The trainer said it takes 6 months to teach a macaw one trick. sheesh. that's a lot of time. Thank god dogs are smarter.. but I thought birds were smart? Bird brains..

The bird show

The eagles were fed dead chicks and fish which were thrown into the air for the eagles to catch. We saw them gruesomely disemboweling the chick. Very graphic wei.. looked so pitiful coz can see its head and little feet.. Here's what was left of the chick.

Eagle kill

Park's quite a good place to go if you haven't been there in a while. Hey, a healthy day out is always good.

Instruments of torture from the dark Medieval days

2010-03-30T13:57:00.006+08:00

Sunday 28 March 2010

Human beings are sick. Well, you can argue that so am I cause I wanted to go for this exhibition. My colleague was telling me about it and since Jerry hasn't been to Malacca, why not kill 2 birds with 1 stone?

Tortura 2 is an exhibition of torture instruments & methods used during the Medieval days, one of the most violent eras in history. The exhibition has been making its rounds around the world and was featured on History Channel recently. The website said it ends in Feb but when we went there in March, the exhibition was still on (due to popular demand it seems) so try your luck or call them to check. It's at the Malay Museum (opp the square) next to A Famosa.

I don't know why people are so fascinated by gore. Is there a dark beast lurking in all of us? Why does the entire town come out in droves everytime there's a public execution and why do the cheers get louder when someone is further humilated or mutilated? Just think Hostel and you really doubt humanity.

I found this in L.A. Parry's 1975 book "A History of Torture in England" that attempted to explain why people would spend so much time & thought in inventing a device designed to hurt, maim and kill another human being.

"...What strikes us most in considering the mediaeval tortures, is not so much their diabolical barbarity … as the extraordinary variety, and what may be termed the artistic skill, they displayed. They represent a condition of thought in which men had pondered long and carefully on all the forms of suffering, had compared and combined the different kinds of torture, till they had become the most consummate masters of their art, had expended on the subject all the resources of the utmost ingenuity, and had pursued it with the ardour of a passion."

Some instruments of torture back in the days

Of all the heinous methods, this one was the worse for me - and it used such a simple device. This was simply called The Saw.

It was popular all over the country as tools are easily available and it can be done almost anywhere. Victims, both men and women, were stripped naked and hung upside down with their legs spread apart. It was a cheap way to torture and kill a victim who was often accused of witchery, adultery, murder, blasphemy or even theft.

The torturer will start sawing from the groin and because the victim is hung upside down, blood flow to the brain keeps the victim alive longer. Most pass out when the saw reaches the navel and die when it reaches the heart. The fucking navel! Can't imagine the agony. Don't want to.

The Saw

The rack is the most common one used across Europe, where the victim's hands and feet are tied at each end. A crank will stretch the ropes further, which in turn, pulls on the victim's hands and feet. The muscles and ligaments will tear from the flesh first and after more cranks, the limbs will be dislocated and eventually pulled out of their sockets with an audible pop. Some racks have spike rollers behind the back which maims and paralyses the victim.

The Rack

The Wheel consists of a large wooden wheel with many variations. Victims were tied to the wheel and pushed down a rocky hillside or across metal spikes. The wheel itself could also have spikes mounted on it, so the pain came from all directions. Victims are grilled over fire too.

This one is quite bad - the victim would have the bones in all four limbs broken in two places and the shattered limbs threaded through the spokes of the wheel. The victim might be alive for hours, enduring the agony of his or her mangled arms and legs and the relentless heat of the sun and birds.

The Wheel

The Iron Maiden was an upright coffin with spikes on the doors and insides. Once the victim was inside, the doors were closed and the strategically placed spikes would pierce several vital organs. Two spikes are positioned specifically to penetrate the eyes. The spikes are not long enough to cause death and even blocks the wound, so it might take hours or days before the victim dies an antagonising death.

The Iron Maiden

The Judas Cradle involves placing the victim’s anus or vagina on top of a pyramid-like seat for hours or days. Weights are tied to the legs to increase pain. If the victim did not die quickly enough, they would invariantly die from an infection.

Judas Cradle

On a lighter note, lots of renovation works have been done to Malacca and there are a few new attractions since Malacca was declared a UNESCO Heritage in July 2008. You won't be able to recognise the Portuguese Settlement as they've tiled the pavements, added streetlights, and the wooden jetty is concrete now. Diners sit within a brightly-lit square with proper concrete stalls now. Not sure which one I like better. Oh - and they didn't give a shit about Earth Hour :P

Tubing in KKB

2010-03-23T12:41:00.004+08:00

Friday 12 February 2010

If you're into rafting, you might already know that the water in Sg Selangor is way too low to do anything with it. There is another alternative though, although a much milder one. Try tubing instead.

Margy, the River Goddess, from Tracks, offers tubing upriver, somewhere above the dam. Rapids are not as swift (class I & II) as the rafting ones (class III - IV) used to be but it's still a blast anyway. Some pics from our ride before CNY.

More more about tubing here as I wrote about it for Star Weekender.

And since KKB is so near Fraser's Hill, why not make the drive up since you're already half way there?