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What FYI & FYA Really Means - Updated

2011-01-11T18:10:00.002+08:00

Updated Version. If you have additional ones, please post a comment so I may insert them.

Ever wondered what FYI & FYA really mean?This is what we always use in the office when we send emails and this is what it really mean at the back of our minds. It is so true for all of us in the working world. For the noobs joining the working world, take heed. You need to outwit, outsmart and outplay your corporate competitors.

1) For your information. (FYI)
- I don't know what to do with this, so please keep it.

2) For your action. (FYA)
- I don't know what to do with this, so I'm passing this shit to you.

3) Noted and returned.
- I don't know what to do with this, so please keep it for a little while.

4) Review and comment.
- Do the dirty work so that I can forward it and sign off with my name.

5) Action please.
- Get yourself involved. Don't worry, I'll claim the credit.

6) For your necessary action.
- It's your headache now. Woohoo!!!

7) CC to
- Here's a share of the headache.

8) BCC to
- I'm telling someone important that I'm working and sharing the headache with you.

9) For your approval, please.
- Put your neck on the chopping board for me please. :D

10) Action is being taken and will revert in due time.
- I lost your correspondence and still trying to locate it.
- I'm busy! Bother me next week!!!

11) Please discuss.
- I don't know what this is all about. So please brief me.

12) For your immediate action.
- Do it NOW! Or we'll all get into trouble!!!

13) Please reply soon.
- Please be efficient. It makes me look inefficient because of you!

14) I am investigating/ processing your request with the relevant departments.
- They are causing the delay, not me! (Eyes open really big with an innocent look)

15) Thanks & Regards.
- Thanks for reading all this bullshit.

16) For Your Eyes. (FYE)
- I really don't want to be the snitch so I am sending this to you so you can tell the whole damn world.

17) End of Business day. (EOB)
- I'm just making your life miserable and I'm going for a movie later.

Auld Lang Syne

2010-12-23T18:10:00.002+08:00

As the year approaches the end, parties will be organised, dinners will be had, people getting drunk, girls getting knocked up, making resolutions only to break them on the 1st day of the new year and well more boning.

And I am sure the ever popular Auld Lang Syne will be sung. here's the Scottish version as Scots speakers would sound. Just a guide. Try it for a change than the normal English one.

Shid ald akwentans bee firgot,
an nivir brocht ti mynd?
Shid ald akwentans bee firgot,
an ald lang syn*?

CHORUS:

Fir ald lang syn, ma jo,
fir ald lang syn,
wil tak a cup o kyndnes yet,
fir ald lang syn.

An sheerly yil bee yur pynt-staup!
an sheerly al bee myn!
An will tak a cup o kyndnes yet,
fir ald lang syn.

CHORUS

We twa hay rin aboot the braes,
an pood the gowans fyn;
Bit weev wandert monae a weery fet,
sin ald lang syn.

CHORUS

We twa hay pedilt in the burn,
fray mornin sun til dyn;
But seas between us bred hay roard
sin ald lang syn.

CHORUS

An thers a han, my trustee feer!
an gees a han o thyn!
And we’ll tak a richt^‡ gude-willie-waucht^‡,
fir ald lang syn.

CHORUS

Poems In Toilets

2009-07-31T13:47:00.003+08:00

Excellent poems by not so famous poets... found on toilet doors and walls..........

A budding poet trying his best...

Here I lie in stinky vapor,
Because some bastard stole the toilet paper,
Shall I lie, or shall I linger,
Or shall I be forced to use my finger.

Before he graduated to be a poet, he wrote this...

Here I sit
Broken hearted
Tried to shit
But only farted

Someone who had a different experience wrote,

You're lucky
You had your chance
I tried to fart,
And shit my pants!

Perhaps it's true that people find inspiration in toilets.

I came here
To shit and stink,
But all I do
Is sit and think.

There are also people who come in for a different purpose...

Some come here to sit and think,
Some come here to shit and stink,
But I come here to scratch my balls ,
And read the bullshit on the walls...

Toilets walls also double as job advertisement space.......

(written high upon the wall)
If you can piss above this line, the Australian Fire Department wants you.

Ministry of Environment advertisement.

We aim to please!
You aim too! Please

On the inside of a toilet door:

Patrons are requested to remain seated throughout the entire performance.

And finally, this should teach some a lesson... Sign seen at a restaurant:

The hands that clean these toilets also make your food...please aim properly

On Death's Fast Lane

2009-07-07T16:29:00.003+08:00

A funeral marks the end chapter of a human life on earth. Friends and family express their grief, give thanks for the life, some swear at you at which has now completed the journey in this world.

On the way to lunch, I saw this funeral procession with the hearse. They were transporting the deceased to the burial area I guess. But the thing is, do you have to be a road hog and use the fast lane when you're moving slow. And this on the Federal Highway.

Come on, the guy's already dead and won't be in a hurry to go anywhere. Maybe the family is on the fast lane to get rid of the dead person. Maybe the family can't wait to dip their little fingers into the honeypot.

Don't grief and hog roads.

Bean Bag

2009-07-06T15:31:00.003+08:00

This bean bag costs RM238. Not inclusive of the douchebag on it. He's kind of a bean bag. Anyway, a douchebag is somebody like Ryan Seacrest.

Definition of doucehbag :- somebody who you think is a complete retard who has surpassed the levels of jerkiness.

Or you can be this douche bag :

Videogames - Space Invaders, Pong & Tetris

2009-07-01T14:21:00.003+08:00

Gone were the days of Atari, Sega Saturns, Genesis & Megadrives, Commodore Amiga, Super Nintendo and the el cheapo and copy cat Micro Genius from either Taiwan or China. Ah the nostalgia. They were all based on 8 and 16 bit gaming.

And what games did we had back then?

Tetris

Pong

Space Invaders

No better school than old school!!

Iranian Girl Shot Dead - Where Is Their Vote?

2009-06-23T13:54:00.008+08:00

You call your country a Revolution? Is this your brand of government?

But this pushes the boundary. Why so much hatred against your own flock? Why kill your own people? Remember, you are not judged here by humans but you will face your own judgment with your maker. You will only create more hatred and prejudice.

Don't blame it on others but yourself. Look at this. You're the infidel. Be brave Irani(s). Stand up for what you believe in. Make the change.

Where is their vote?

Nine Words Women Use

2009-06-11T16:41:00.004+08:00

If you are a man reading this, be forewarned every time you go into an argument with women. Doesn't matter whether she's a friend, wife, gf, fuck buddy, etc. Think hard before you decide on anything.

If you are a woman reading this, have a good laugh and relax. Men are being enlightened.

(1) Fine:
This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

(2) Five Minutes:
If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been give five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

(3) Nothing:
This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

(4) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!

(5) Loud Sigh:
This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and
arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)

(6) That's Okay:
This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can give a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

(7) Thanks:
A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you're welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true, unless she says 'Thanks a lot' - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not
thanking you at all. DO NOT say 'you're welcome'. that will bring on a 'whatever').

(8) Whatever:
Is a woman 's way of saying F--- ! YOU!

(9) Don't worry about it, I got it:
Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking 'What's wrong?' For the woman's response refer to # 3.

Sound Of Music

2009-04-13T01:51:00.006+08:00

More than 200 dancers were performing the version of "Do Re Mi", in the Central Station of Antwerp, Belgium. With just 2 rehearsals, they created this amazing stunt! Those 4 fantastic minutes started on the 23 of march 2009, 08:00 AM. It is a promotion stunt for a Belgian television program, where they are looking for someone to play the leading role, in the musical of "The Sound of Music".

Imagine this were to happen in downtown KL, at one of the busiest LRT stations. It would havoc man. I'd guess most Malaysians would walk by and think the dancers must be mad. Those whom know The Sound Of Music would stop dead in their tracks. I know I would. Even though this stunt was pre-planned, the performers still had fun. Look at their faces and the enjoyment.

A commenter on the video said:

A moment - No pain, no worries, no sadness, no hunger, no inequality, no pressure, no anger, no racism, no fighting, no insanity, no hate.

I truly believed that. It's inspirational and makes me wonder what we all could do if we're not too busy bickering with ourselves and and minding our differences.

Sunny Stormy

2009-04-01T16:38:00.004+08:00

I was smoking on the top floor of my workplace with a few buddies when I saw something interesting.

It was quite warm and hot but surprisingly the sky was also overshadowed by clouds. I didn't had my camera with me except for my Nokia E66's phone. At 3.2 megapixels with auto focus, I can live with it for casual shoots.

Out whipped my camera and the shot was taken. It just attracted my attention. And if it attracts my attention, it will be shot. Went back to smoking and a few moments later, the landscape change and no more clouds.

What's on your mind when you see this image?

Lata Kijang Waterfall

2009-03-30T16:56:00.004+08:00

Definitely after food, we were all really itching to do something and did something we did. We punched in the name of Lata Kijang into our Garmin GPS navigation devices and off we go. Lata Kijang should not be confused with Lata Kinjang of Tapah, Perak. Lata Kijang is near Jelebu in Negeri Sembilan.

When we got there, the fall was beautiful. Almost majestic. I think Lata Kijang could be rated as one of the tallest waterfall in Malaysia. It might just be the tallest. I am guessing it is at least 60-80 metres tall. Lata Kijang is situated near a forest reserve called Hutan Lipur Lata Kijang near Gunung Besar Hantu (this translated into Gigantic Demon Mountain). Weird name for a place. And yes you actually see this sign board at the Orang Asli village as you start your second leg of journey. You'll pass by two villages and a work camp I think.

The access road was previously paved. But what we went through wasn't pavement. For the most part it is paved and the rest of the it are gravel and earth tracks. Even the pavement was fitted with potholes deep enough to use as a baby's bath or probably a potty. You can try accessing it with your typical car but no guarantees on what it'll fell like once you get back to tarmac. If you know what I mean. I guess a 4WD is much more advisable.

The trail to the fall is around 26-30 kilometres in once you turn off from the trunk road. It took us an hour to get to Lata Kijang at average speed of around 40km/h and with us driving trucks. 1 Mistubishi Triton and 1 Toyota Hilux. This trail is considered super highway for trucks.

We passed by a camping site across a river. We thought of crossing the river with our trucks until I started a recce. The water was too deep and we didn't had any recovery gear with us. So, better not. Yes, we chickened out. This spot will be great for an overnight camping or bbq trip.

Thing is I saw a sign showing that trespassers will be shot. No shit. This site is only half way through and no where near the fall.

You'll see that the natural surroundings are still nearly unspoilt. But, it is a Felcra site so naturally some of the area has been logged/cleared for rubber and oil palm plantation. Look at the picture. Autumn leaves. I am thinking they're actually new leaves and branches.

Nearly 300 metres before the fall, a huge tree has fallen across the road. That blocks your access via vehicle. It is advisable that you park your vehicle before you reach the fallen tree. There is a clearing for parking around 400 metres before the tree. The tree has actually broken half of the road. So from here on, it's a walk.

Look at the waterfall. It's impressive. You have to experience it yourself. Hard to feel or describe it with just pictures.

Lunch in Broga @ Min Kee Restaurant.

GPS coordinate:
N 3 11.72
E 101 59.26

Lunch in Broga @ Min Kee Restaurant

2009-03-24T15:27:00.003+08:00

It's been quite a while since I went on a 4WD trip and nothing much happened last weekend. We kind of got bored with such inactivity. Looking at our beloved trucks rusting. They yearn for action. However, 6 of us decided to have lunch in Broga. Yes, this is the place of the infamous incinerator fiasco that happened few years back.

We met at the Shell station before the LDP Cyberjaya toll (Cyberjaya bound) at around 12:30 pm. Our place of lunch is called Min Kee Restaurant in Broga. By the way, Broga is located in Negeri Sembilan. This restaurant is a quaint little restaurant situated after the police station. The police station will be on your left and the restaurant will be on your right side. Min Kee is situated next to an orange building.

We ordered 5 dishes in total and had to wait for nearly an hour for the first dish to arrive. The wait and hunger pang was cooled down by ice cold beer. The thing is, there is only one cook. He will cook and he will also prep all the ingredients all by himself. The chef looks cool and he sports a gold earring on the right ear.

We wanted to order the chef's specialty i.e. brasied duck stuffed with herbs. This didn't happen as we had to order a day in advance and the guy who found this place didn't order.

We ended up with wild boar meat curry. The meat was really tender and had a really nice aroma to it. It's cooked dry curry style and the gravy was just superb. we polished off the gravy by trying to soak it in rice. This dish is highly recommended.

Next came the kung po frog legs. We didn't really enjoy this as the meat came through half cooked. I had to request the waitress to send it back to the chef for a new replacement. The next one came through disappointing as well. I wouldn't recommend this dish.

We ordered ginger fried deer meet. Now this dish was good. Just the right flavour and the meat was tender. Usually, deer meat is quite chewy but this was different and there isn't the usual smell associated with game meat.

We ordered vegetable as well. But it is just ordinary vegetable dish. Typical Chinese stir fry style. Before the last dish came, we weren't satisfied with our lunch. It felt like it wasn't enough and something was missing.

We felt like we didn't had enough. The sense of discontent that our stomachs always tell us. We felt the meal was just incomplete.

Lo and behold, next came out last dish. A specialty of the restaurant. The butter deep fried whole tilapia fish. Tilapias usually stink of mud due to it being a freshwater fish. The smell just wouldn't go even if you wash it, doesn't matter which method of cooking and the smell will just translate into taste. Quite yucky.

This dish had no unpleasant smell, no muddy taste, and all those horrible thing associated with cooked tilapia. We enjoyed this dish tremendously. The fish was filleted into pieces and deep fried together with the rest of the whole fish. Accompanying condiment is chilli sauce. The fried butter was a tad salty but was enjoyable nevertheless. I give this dish two thumbs up and comes recommended.

The price for 6 of us came to around RM 120.00 for drinks and food. This is quite reasonable with us having deer meat and also wild boar meat.

Min Kee is located @:
2795, Jalan Tokong, Pekan Broga, 71750 Negeri Sembilan

GPS coordinate:
N 2 56.167
E 101 54.751

After lunch, we made a trip to Lata Kijang. Till the next post.

Warhammer 40,000 : Dawn Of War 2

2009-03-01T23:33:00.010+08:00

For the unintiated, Games Workshop just released Warhammer: 40,000 Dawn Of War 2. This is a sequel to Dawn Of War. The 40K universe was invented in the eighties and now the game is published bt THQ for Microsoft Windows and developed by Relic Entertainment.

This game is set 40,000 years into the future here it is the Dark Age, after the fall of Man. Humanity's domain spreads across millions of worlds, governed by a fascistic theocracy with a God-Emperor being worshipped as God.

Dawn Of War 2 uses an updated version of the Essence Engine, Essence Engine 2.0. Essence Engine 1.0 was used to power Relic's World War II real-time strategy game Company of Heroes and its two expansion packs Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts and the upcoming Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor.

What this means is that AI has been improved but for me not tremendously. There is a heavier focus on cover, which gives more substantial defensive bonuses, squads will seek cover when under fire, your units can be suppressed by fire, units can gain experience, etc. If you'd played Company Of Heroes, you will get the same game type.

The game seems sluggish even though on low settings. Quite heavy requirements in the graphics department. In this sequel, you don't have to micro manage anymore unlike Dawn Of War where you have to find resources, manage tech trees, build buildings for different units, etc. Now you still have to find resource but, the bliss is you manage your tech tree and troop requisition from a single building. You just need to update the building to get the units you want. This gives you a more tactical game play instead of a traditional RTS; build, amass and rush.

The opposing AI will give you hell for your troops. No shit. As you go move along in the game, you gain additional squad leaders, each with their own distinctive strengths and weakness. The game play is nice with the COH engine but it tends to get tedious after a while with a repeated style of playing. I think the multi-player would be much nicer.

In this release, you have 4 races i.e. Space Marines, Orks, Eldar and Tyrannids. Yes, you heard me right Tyrannids. And man, they're vicious like the Zergs in Starcraft. Been wanting to play Tyrannids for a while and they don't disappoint.

In terms of the graphics, it is the best seen yet so far for a RTS with personality and barely restrained violence.Things like squads or units being sent flying over the air by a grenade or mortar is just spectacular and also gives you an idea of what weapons were used.

Anyway, Dawn Of War 2 was released in Malaysia on 16 February. I am a fan of Warhammer 40,000 and yes I would recommend getting the original game DVD. It's only RM 169.00. Saw a life sized action figure of a Blood Raven Space Marine in The Curve. It was a gimmick for the launch. Enjoy.

Dear Malaysian Politicians

2009-02-27T14:35:00.001+08:00

Dear Malaysian Politicians,

Please stop the power chase, call for a truce and focus on the economy.

I do not claim to speak on behalf of all Malaysians, but I have strong convictions that many share my sentiments.

Our concern today is not who rules the country or heads the state governments but the looming bad economy.

Whether Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat leads, it is meaningless if Malaysians have no job to go to, no money to pay rent and no means to put food on the table.

I am a business owner, like other business owners and managers of corporations I have a responsibility to ensure people under my care and payroll continue to have jobs and a decent income to take home. We work hard and willing to go the extra mile to make sure our nation not only survive this crisis but come out stronger and wiser. We need your help.

Let me explain. I am in the business of Training, Development and Consultancy and have 20 people in my team.

Saedah is 42. She keeps the office clean and helps organise the training rooms. She has four children and her husband is unemployed. She was first hired on a part time basis, because she is very hard working and has a great attitude, we offered her a full time job to help provide a stable income for her family. Even then, when her third child started school this year, it was a struggle for her to buy new school uniforms and other necessities. Saedah lives on a ‘kais bulan, makan bulan’ basis, so, if she is jobless, her tap runs dry.

Samsuri is 27 years old. He lives with his sister and her family in a low cost government flat in Sunway. He does our despatch, helps with various clerical works and occasionally acts as a driver. During the first week at zubedy, we learned that he not only did not have money to buy new clothes and shoes for work, he had no money for lunch. Like Saedah, if he has no job, his tap runs dry too.

Alicia in Client Servicing turns 26 this year. She lives with her dad who is 71 years old and retired. Her mom passed away when she was little. Alicia is a hard-working team member, has a gentle caring outlook and fun to be with. (We like to poke fun at her as she blushes easily). Last May her dad went through a major operation, thank God he has recovered well. Alicia needs a job, both for herself and her dad.

Sudesh, 38, is one of our facilitators. When his father passed away last year, he moved back and lives with his mother in Seremban. He shuttles between Kuala Lumpur and Seremban daily, leaving home sometimes as early as 4 in the morning and returning late at night. He is no stranger to hard work and sacrifice, he knows what he needs to do to survive and to care for his mother, but he too needs a job.

Like fellow Malaysians, every one of us in zubedy needs employment, those that live from hand to mouth like Saedah and Samsuri and others like Alicia and Sudesh with family to care for. We Malaysians need the Malaysian economy to be strong. We need you, our leaders, to work hard and to work together to make our economy viable.

So this is my plea.

Pakatan Rakyat, please stop your attempts to take over the federal government and persuade BN’s lawmakers to join you. Stop all legal proceedings, no more 916 and let go, just let go. The nation can wait till the next general elections if they want change. By doing so, Malaysians will see your party as caring, unselfish and gracious and give you their support in the next elections.

Barisan Nasional, please stop any attempts to take over PR states and win over PR’s lawmakers. You have proven your point with Perak. The nation can wait for the next general elections if they want your party. Focus all your talent, energy and hard work in steering the country out of an economic downturn. By doing so, Malaysians will see your party as caring, unselfish and smart and give you their support in the next elections.

BN and PR! Call for a truce. Get together and compromise. Someone has to give in. Or has hate consumed your heart till it blinds you? You can do it. You have enough intelligent people between you. I am sure you can find solutions. Take the nation to heart. That is why you are in politics in the first place.

Focus on the people.

Focus on the economy.

Source is from Anas Zubedy.

Roses @ only RM 40 For Valentine's

2009-02-10T20:19:00.005+08:00

Ooooh, I just found rather cheap roses for sale and you can only buy it from one place. It's available @ mysimplifieds.com. I think it's cheap and reasonable. You have the option of paying online or printing a coupon and you pay when you pick up the flowers on 14th Feb @ Cineleisure, Damansara.

They're even giving out an offer where the first 50 buyers whom buys online will be provided with free delivery. But of course, there are terms and conditions. You need to be within certain areas for delivery.

Go check it out. It isn't everyday a local start up like mysimplifieds would pull a stunt like this. Heck, not even mudah does it.

It's 2009 and I still get to keep my job

2009-02-02T17:31:00.003+08:00

I am sure you guys have heard of the closures by Intel and even Western Digital. Times are bad and I believe we're in a recession and our economy is depressed. During CNY, I can see lesser people spending money and eating in more. It might not be cheaper but you would have economy of scale.

The politicans should come and live on our levels and don't expect us to change our lifestyles. They should indeed change. No shit sherlock.

You are now either not working, being asked to take long leave, work only a few days a week so that corporations could save money.It's now the employer's market. And those of you still with jobs, learn to appreciate the fact that you still have a job.

Recently, I was given a 3% increment and less than 2 months bonus.. Hell, it's so freaking low that you think you'd threaten your boss by resigning. Better not do it. You might not even get a job. It's time like this you should help your company to pull this year through.

I take a different perspective. 3% is still increment and still goes into your EPF and my employer contributes 15% and myself contribute 11%. That's 26 freaking % okay. Think long term people.

Anyway, have fun this year peeps.

Joy to 2009

2009-01-07T15:59:00.002+08:00

I am seriously happy today. Reason being I can now fit into my pair of Dockers that I couldn't wear for the past 1 year. Yes, I was fat. Ok, fat is not the right word. I was overweight and still is overweight. Anyways, I've dropped 3 kilos in the past one month.

I was just browsing through my wardrobe last night and just tried on my pant.s Lo and behold, I could fit in and the pants didn't feel tight.

Seems like it's going to be a good year, I hope. I 'll keep my fingers crossed and my butt cheeks crossed.

Now, let's just wait for the yearly appraisal results and not forgetting the bonus(if any) and increment news. Let's see how motivated are we going to be this year.

Taiping Lake Gardens

2008-12-15T22:29:00.008+08:00

Taiping is infamous for many things and amongst one of them is the Taiping Lake Gardens. This Taiping I am writing about is not the Taiping in Taiwan. This Taiping is in the state of Perak in Malaysia. The name Taiping is made up of two Chinese characters 太 (tai - 'great') and 平 (ping - 'peace') that means 'Everlasting Peace'. Taiping was founded on the discovery of tin ore and much of the activities were based on that. Heck, Taiping had the first railway station, railway line and the first locomotives in Malaya.

Taiping is a fairly compact town and most places of interest are hardby the town and within walking distances. But you might want to do a check on that :). Taiping boasts of having the oldest and first botanical gardens in Malaysia. It was created out of abandoned surface tin mines. That's why you see pockets of water around.

Taiping Lake Gardens is famous for a stretch of road lined by century-old rain trees (Samanea saman). Their branches always arch down towards the water's edge and creates such serene feeling that you'd think you are in a memorial of sort. Like the kingdom bowing down to you to celebrate the return of the king. And the rain trees always seem to know where to head to for the water.

It always pleasures me to take a walk around the lake gardens. Most of the times, you'd be lucky to spot the ice cream man. Ice cream is still served the way it should be, the potong way aka ice cream potong. With crushed peanuts on ice cream served in a cone, heavenly.

I think it's just something that we need to preserve or remember before the years go by and they start disappearing one by one. Just like how the cycling mamak is now gone forever and now replaced by those blood suckers in a dainty decorated shop calling themselves the original kandar. Do they even know what kandar means?

I used to pay the lake gardens a visit every weekend with my father. We'd ride his crummy, dedicated and a robust machine of a kapchai. The Honda 70 with the round lights. Man, those were the good old days of motor bike rides. It just don't feel the same if you're in a car. We'd visit the huge concrete slides.

It's quite a good place to either have a family picnic, to laze around and not forgetting a place for love birds which much shade and vegetation around. It just sort of calms down the wrecked nerves when holding hands for the first time. Sorry, no kissing under the sycamore tree. This is the tropics yo.

Maxwell Hill (now known as Bukit Larut due to some inferior superiority complex of some people). I still call it Maxwell Hill. Well, your problem if you don't agree with me.
It's just close by and rises majestically over the lake gardens and Taiping.

There are different themes to the lake gardens. There are places with lots of roman pillars and some of the ponds have those cute snaking Chinese type of bridges. I hope they don't replace it with some geometric design of sort. That'll just be so sore. Sore to the eyes and heritage of Taiping.

There is skating ring where people used to roller skate. Yes, roller skate. I lived through that era yo. I had a pair of skates once ad we used to have roller skate parties. Then, came the roller blades and spoilt all the fun. Like a little step child that didn't get enough attention. It takes more skill to roller skate than blade.

Ahhhh, this gives me some nostalgic feeling. We used to snap a lot of photos at this granite/concrete dinosaur. This was the place. This was the thing. If you ever visit taiping, you must pay homage to this dinosaur. It is situated near some slides next to a lake.

Oooh this is the 200th post. Enjoy.

The previous posts on Taiping:
Trip back to Taiping 2008
Trip back to Taiping 2007

Sambal Udang Petai

2008-11-23T22:40:00.002+08:00

Made a trip back to Taiping during the Deepavali holiday (25 to 27 October). No special reason. Just went home to chill out. Mom cooked me petai sambal udang and this is more of a nonya style of cooking. Syiok I tell you.

Petai is also known as stink bean (Parkia speciosa). Yes, the bean does stink especially the toilet. Strong smelling urine and poo up to two days or longer. Petai, either you hate it or love it. I love it. It is a green and round bulgy shaped bean and it looks quite cute. It doesn't taste sour but more towards bean sweet type of sweet and it is crunchy.

I still don't know how to cook sambal udang petai but I'll learn from my mum. So, if you have a recipe, please share it with me.

Some people eat petai with sambal either raw or boiled. I like to my eat petai barbecued or cooked as sambal udang petai.

One of my mum's specialty is steamed fish. Simple yet delicious. It may look simple but it's not easy to cook the fish to such state of firmness and moistness in the meat.

I think the fish she chosed that day was a type of ikan bawal putih aka white pomfret. Quite an expensive fish. Just steam it with shallot, ginger and soy sauce.

I took some shots of the Taiping Lake Gardens. Will publish those later.

1901 Hotdog 19 Special

2008-11-20T10:08:00.004+08:00

What a marketing ploy. Hotdogs priced at RM 1.99. But, it is limited to two hotdogs i.e. New York Chicken and Chicago Beef. Naturally I took the New York Chicken. I bought four of them hotdogs. Usual prices are RM 4.99 per hot dog. Excluding 5 % tax though.

This promo happens every 19 of the month. You guessed it since it's 1901. Maybe 19 Jan, hot dogs will be free since it's 19/01?

Line wasn't that log as I was at Centrepoint BU. I am betting that other places like The Curve would have more people lining up and busier.
My only complaint was that you won't get what you pay for. The garnishing relish was so little you could count them. If you want to do an offer, please do it right. Heck, even their poster sais according to their operating procedures. I get more when I pay the actual price.

1901, if you want to do a promo, then do it right and give customers the same things you get when you pay in full. Talk about a corporation that don't live up to what it says.

No harm trying once. I'm not going to buy the next 19 again.

My EPF Dilemma

2008-11-16T13:22:00.004+08:00

If my pay is RM 5,000 a month, I get to take home RM 150 extra. What's the point? It's my retirement fund and RM 150 won't get you far nowadays. Let's face it, the official inflation rate is 3-4%. Now the real inflation rate is way much higher than that. The official rate don't take much things into account.

What the heck can RM 45 do for you? People in the lower income group will just spend it for food. Even a 10 kilo rice won't be enough for a family of 4 or 5 persons. And if you're in the lower income group, you should not even have that many kids. Heck, you won't even be reading a blog.

I'll lose more in the long term assuming that growth of 5% in dividend every year for two years is used as a benchmark. You'll lose even more if you calculate till the time of withdrawal at age 55.

What I am trying to say is that since we're being forced to take the 3% cut in EPF rate, will my RM 150 be subjected to income tax? The government did not clarify this when announcing this measure. If the RM 150 is subjected to tax, that is so fucked up.

This can only happen in Bolehland.

Close up shot with Sony A350

2008-11-15T14:41:00.002+08:00

What do you think about this image? Taken using Sony A350's stock 18-50mm.

Anybody know what is the name of this flower? Click on the thumbnail for a bigger view.

The flowers looks like little birds perched to get a feast.

Your thoughts appreciated.

Krabi - Places To Visit

2008-11-10T10:58:00.005+08:00

Too bad when I was in Krabi, I didn't had thec hance to visit Sra Morakot or also known as Emerald Lakes. This will be another reason why I should return to Krabi. I'd love to canoe in the swamp and visit the caves. Heard it's a very gratifying experience.

Anyway, apart from Tiger Cave, we visited another temple. This one has a reclining Buddah aka Sleeping Buddha. The temple is called Wat Sai Thai. It's quite near the place we stayed in and not very far from Krabi town. It's not really a temple temple. There is this one huge Bodhi tree in the front of the temple.

A small cave is used for storage. There are nice art artifacts around the place. I don't think people would dare to steal them ( I hope).

The place is also a crematorium.

We also visited a place called Fossil Beach. It is also known as Gastropod Beach.

Some descriptions about Fossil Beach/Gastropod Beach via Wikitravel.

Located 17 km from the provincial capital, within Ban Laem Pho, Susan Hoi is accessible via the same route as Hat Noppharat Thara. A road sign to this shell cemetery is visible when one reaches Ban Sai Thai. Once a large freshwater swamp, the habitat of diverse mollusks of about 2 cm in size, Su-san Hoi features a slab formed from a huge number of embedded various types of mollusks which can be dated to approximately 40 million years ago. With changes on the surface of the earth, seawater flooded the freshwater swamp and the limestone elements in the seawater enveloped the submerged mollusks resulting in a homogenous layer of fossilized mollusk shells forty centimetres thick known as Shelley Limestone. With geographical upheavals, the limestone layer is now distributed in great broken sheets of impressive magnitude on the seashore.

Seriously, the rocks are in huge slabs all over the place. There is an entrance fee though.
200 Thai Baht for foreigners. That's quite expensive. The fee is used for the preservation of the site. Not sure how much of that will go into the preservation.

I was there after the place was closed. Didn't pay anything. Hence, why the pictures are at dusk.

There seriously was a lot of mollusk shells in the rocks. I didn't peel them. Also, when you visit the place, please take off your shoes/sandals/slippers. They will cause abrasion that will wear off the shells and the rocks as the rocks are limestone. Very susceptible to damage.

And please do be careful. The rocks are very slippery.

Some descriptions on what the stones contain. Only one in English. The rest is in Thai though.

Previous post on Krabi:
Krabi - Places To Visit
Krabi - Places To Visit
Krabi - The Trip

Till my next road trip.

Fuel Prices Are Down

2008-10-31T18:43:00.002+08:00

Great news for those about to top up. Fuel prices are going down. It will take effect tonight midnight/Saturday morning @ 12:01 am. Since the world price has dropped below USD70 per barrel, it is only natural to do so. Also, it seems that DPM will announce measure to counter the current global financial crisis on November 4 for Malaysia.

Anyway, I don't think I will see a long line or jam cause by people wanting to fill up their tank. It will only happen when the price goes up. Lame idiots I tell you those people.

The new prices are:

Petrol RON97 = RM 2.15 per litre
Petrol RON92 = RM 2.05 per litre
Diesel = RM 2.05 per litre.

Krabi - Places To Visit

2008-10-28T16:20:00.003+08:00

We had actually planned for a visit to the outlying islands of Krabi in the Andaman Sea. We didn't want to go out with the tour type of activity and wanted to spend our slow and leisurely time without being hurried. And we don't want to be around other tourists.

So, we ended up hiring a long tail boat for Thai Baht 3,000 which is equivalent to RM 300. Split up into 4 and that will only cost RM 75. Not too expensive and not too cheap. But we have all the privacy and time in the world. We dictated where we go and how long we stayed at each place. Money well spent.

The normal tours include meals and drinks and ours didn't. So, had to pack our own lunch and drinks. The tours would most likely be cheaper but I don't care. It's my way or the highway style of travelling you see.

We were picked up from our hotel around 9 am in the morning to Noppharat Thara beach. It's near Ao Nang Beach. That's where all the boats depart. Captured some images. So, click on the thumbnails for a bigger view.

On our long tail out of Noppharat Thara beach.

He was our boatman and guide for the day.

We went to 4 islands and a beach.

First stop was Railey (otherwise spelled Rai Leh) Beach or also known as Phra Nang Beach. There is a small cave here where people actually worship penises. It's called the Princess Cave. A cave to virility.

This was a rock formation island seen on the way to Railey beach. Looks like a giant dick with balls.

Islands.

This is the Princess Cave temple. A temple to virility.

Saw this guy balancing himself on a tight wire. He was quite good actually.

Krabi as seen from the sea. This was capture out at sea on our way to Koh Kai.

Koh Kai from afar. It's a famous island with a rock formation that looks like a chicken's head from a certain angle. Didn't go to the other side of the island for that angle as we wanted to start snorkelling.

The water is still clear. Sadly, the corals are either dead or dying or trying to survive and multiply. I guess this could be due to environmental stress from the tourist boats dropping their anchors or to the effect of tsunami. There were a lot of tiger fish around. Whilst we were snorkelling, our boatman was happily swinging on his hammock in the boat. Yes, he had a hammock fixed.

View on the beach of Koh Kai. Clear and pristine waters still.

And view of Koh Tup from Koh Kai. You can actually cross over to the island during low tide which we did. I tried to cross over to Koh Tup but managed to only go a quarter of the way. The current was way too strong. Imagine waves from two sides smashing up to you. Gave up and waited for the low tide.

This is during near low tide. View of another small island from Koh Tup. It's called Koh Si.

During low tide.

There were quite a lot of Caucasians with some of them sunbathing.

View of Koh Kai from Koh Tup.

See the sand banks during low tide? The 3 islands are connected to each other during low tide and you can swing by either island that fancies you. The combination of the islands are called Thale Waek.

We crossed over to Koh Si from Koh Tup and then moved on to Koh Kai and returned back to Koh Tup. Our longtail was waiting for us there. We were lucky we there during low tide.

We were among the first to cross over to Koh Kai and thereon, more tourists followed us. I guess they wanted us to test the water first. No pun intended.

We went on to Koh Poda. The island was littered with small bits of trash and drift woods on the beach. This was a rock formation seen from Koh Poda. It's a great place to just lie on the beach.

Some random chick on Koh Poda. Koh Poda is usually the last island stop on the way back.

We reached Noppharat Thara beach around 6 pm and most tours finish around 4 pm. As I said, RM 300 well spent.

It was low tide and we saw one longtail got stuck in the mud near Noppharat Thara beach. The boatmen and passengers had to push the boat. Lucky we didn't have too.

Look at the extreme low tide.

Previous post on Krabi:
Krabi - Places To Visit
Krabi - The Trip

Krabi - Places To Visit

2008-10-20T03:39:00.008+08:00

Tiger Cave Temple (Wat Tham Sua)

We visited this famous temple in Krabi. Not to be mistaken with the one in River Kwai near Bangkok. This temple is about 5-6 kms from Krabi town centre is there are many signboards leading to the temple. They're quite accurate apparently. It is a Buddhist temple and there are monks and nun living there. The temple compound is huge and is surrounded by lime stone hills and a small pocket of rain forest.

One word of advice though, there are monkey around. So try not to bring food, water or jewelries when you're around. They might snatch it away. I've seen that happened a few times to some girls.

There is a rock formation that resembles a tiger's claws and hence the name. There is a flight of stairs leading up to the top of a limestone hill where the view is spectacular. There are also some Buddha statues, stupas and some other statues. The problem is, you need to climb up 1237 steep stairs. You'll see in a while.

Here are some images. Click on them to have a bigger view. No entrance fee to visit the temple. You could perhaps be kind enough to drop a donation into the donation boxes.

A pagoda with the statue of Goddes Of Mercy also known as Guan Yin.

Lots of monkeys around. These guys love to play around this water feature and love to climb along the rocky feature. Lots of catfish inside.

Among the many Buddha statues in and around the temple.

This is the start of the 1237 stairs' climb. Tiring I tell you.

A monkey perched on the Beggar King?

Not even 1/3 the way up. Look at how steep are the stairs. My suggestion, go early in the morning so the sun and heat won't tax you.

View from some point of the climb.

By the way, there is a toilet half way up. You can relief yourself there. However, do remember to bring your water supply. There are no stalls nor drink stations.

The post marker showing you the final step to ascension.

The Buddha statue at the top of the hill.

There are caves big and small around the temple complex. One of the caves was turned into a worship area.

Looks like either tigers or jaguars.

The many types of Buddha statues. Very beautiful craft and detailed.

There were peddlers selling talismans, lockets, bracelets, etc. Not sure if they're sanctioned by the temple authorities or they're just private sellers.

Saw a sweet young thing taking an afternoon siesta. It was quite a hot and humid day.

Here's the condition of my truck. Damn dirty.

The only tiger I saw was this. I guess the closest relative around for miles.

Khlong Thom Hot Spring Waterfall

Some locals call this place Crystal River. Maybe it was because it was near the Crystal Lake which I did not have the chance to drop by during my visit to Krabi. Will remember to visit the next time round. The hot spring is around 60 kms from Krabi town. Quote far away from town. I am sure you'll be ok with transport if you're on those corny cheesy tour package.

This is me and my navigator (coincidentally my buddy) getting lost and despite all the technological advancements such as a GPS navigator module, you'd still refer to a map. The girls were in the back enjoying the air-conditioning.

And here we are at the hot spring. This is unlike the hot spring we commonly see in Malaysia. This hot spring rocks.

The water flows from a thermal stream and cascades into small little pools like the image below. There are around 7-8 pools and can comfortably fit 4-5 adults in each pool. Nature's own jacuzzi. Surface of the rocks are smooth. Carved out by the water for centuries.

The temperature ranges from 35-40 degrees Celsius. The mineral salts contained in the water are said to ease a number of ailments, including rheumatism, sciatica and skin complaints. Don't stay too long in the pool though. Maybe maximum of 15 minutes. I made the mistake of staying too long in the pool and I got dizzy. Too hot and too long.

Hot and cold. You could take a dip in the hot spring and then jump into the cold river below it. Shell shock I tell you. Your balls will shrink like it will never see daylight again.

Here, they charge entrance fee. And since it is a typical tourist spot, foreign tourist pay exorbitantly to enter as compared to locals. The entrance fee is THB 90 which is roughly equivalent to RM 9. Still not too bad.

Previous entry on Krabi:
Krabi - The Trip

Krabi - The Trip

2008-10-16T13:45:00.006+08:00

I went to Krabi, Thailand right smack in the middle of their protest/demonstration and basically I arrived on the 1st day itself when the airport was closed. Nope, I didn't take a flight. I actually drove there with the wife and 2 close friends of our (another couple). 2258 kms return with drive around as well.

My truck was quite dirty and this was before even reaching Krabi. Not due to rain but due to the amount of dust.

And guess what, driving with diesel and toll consumption was only RM 750 and that divided by 4 persons was only RM 187.50. Definitely way cheaper than even flying with AirAsia. At that point of time, AirAsia tickets would cost us RM2.2+k for a return trip. Heck, that is not even inclusive of the transportation around and return to the airport.

Actually, there wasn't any protest or even people around as I passed by the airport. Maybe during the day as I arrived at night around 11 pm. We started off from KL at 7 am. Also, don't believe everything you see or read in the mass media. Sometimes, news tends to be sensationalised. And I figured that Thais in comparison to Malaysian and Singaporean drivers, are the most courteous (after Haatyai - in Haatyai they drive like Malaysians). Highway 4 is to Krabi and is not actually a highway but more towards a trunk road.

Anyway, here are some images I took of the food we ate somehow.

The Thia version of Coke/Pepsi. It's called Big. Taste quite good actually.

Singha. The local brew. Packs a punch and is really smooth. Dirt cheap.

We stopped on the way to Krabi for a short rest. We had the clear soup chicken tom yam variety.

The owner of the shop also suggested deep fried prawn cakes since she don't prepare the infamous Thai fish cakes. It crunchy on the outside and oozes flavour and soft in the inside.

This a typical after meal or during meal drink of Thais. It warms and you could add ice if you want too. Taking this drink on a hot day is really refreshing. It's just pandan leaves in warm water with some sugar for taste. Pandan is also known as pandanus. The rest that we didn't finish off, ended up being bottled by us. This is a must try. Simple and refreshing.

On one of the days there, we tried their fried pork. It's basically just pork with some fat on them being deep fried.

This is their soup. The noodles are of the Thai variety. Thin and long made out of rice flour. The Thai version of spaghetti. There are different varieties of soup for the noodles. Noodles in soup are always served with a big plate of taugeh (bean sprouts) and basil leaves.

You can ask more of this if you finished yours. Some places place a charge while some don't charge. Ours didn't :)

Every Thai meal would have these condiments served. Dry chilli powder, pickled chilli, grounded peanuts, etc.

We managed to try out some local desserts as well.

This is corn with shredded coconut meat. Very tasty and sweet due to corn and coconut meat. This was cheap. Only cost us RM1.

This is boiled Chinese water chestnut. Somehow this wasn't palatable to me. I guess the chestnut lost its sweetness after being boiled. Water chestnuts are supposed to be cooling for your body.

Pork rice. Contains fried pork, barbequed pork pig offals.

This is pork rib porridge. Excellent dish. Very peppery and very tasty. Great for cold nights. The meat on the ribs was so tender you can literally pull out only the bones out of your mouth. Melts in your mouth meat.

Went to Tesco Lotus and found some other desserts. Visiting Tesco on a holiday? You must be mad and that's what we did.

Fuel Price Down But Will Food Prices Come Down?

2008-10-15T09:57:00.005+08:00

Fuel prices are down. But will the price of food come down as well? The food operators used fuel price hike as a justification apart from high cost of raw food material.

Fuel station operators claim they are losing money and can't continue their business. Then, how aout fuel station operators in Singapore, Thailand and other parts of the world where fuel price is at market rate? They're still in business and making money. Look at the profile of the local fuel station operators and you get what I mean.

Trip To Singapore Zoological Gardens

2008-10-09T12:58:00.004+08:00

I was paying a visit to Singapore during the Raya holidays. Singapore still only allow 1 day of public holiday for Raya whereas in Malaysia it is two days. Paid a visit to Singapore Zoo. One of the best zoos I have been to. Ok, maybe not that many. I've been to Taiping Zoo, Zoo Negara (that was eons ago), Caversham Park in Western Australia and this is my second time to Singapore Zoo.

Quite a nice zoo with it's open concept. Of course the animals are still caged up. The animals are kept in spacious, landscaped enclosures, separated from the visitors by dry or wet moats. You don't actually see the moat as they're either covered up with vegetation or below line of sight.

Was a good trip as I met up with friends whom were coincidentally in Singapore as well. Quite a hot and humid day it was. There weren't may people around but it was crowded nevertheless.

Took some images of the animal exhibits. Click on the thumbnails for a bigger view.

Playful otters. Boy, they stink.

Some hogs. Look at them balls.

White tigers. Very majestic and imposing.

What are you looking at? Eat this.

This looks quite obscene. It has been cut off.

Lonely African goat.

Monkeys.

This was an Arapaima moat. This was taken during a token feeding time.

The zoo keeper just fed the fish with pellets and these monkeys were eating them.

One of the pelicans at the splash show.

Orang utan.

Polar bears chilling out. Hot and humid day. Lucky bears. They have air conditioning. Reminds me of the bears in Golden Compass.

Giant land tortoises.

Komod dragons. Their saliva is so full of dangerous bacteria that a small gash on your would be enough to kill you.

Some African rodents. One male was trying to mate but got disturbed by another.

Poser monkey. Cute though.

Another type of gharial.

Crocodile. A few crocs were adopted by Crocs. The popular footwear.

A bumblebee.

The smartest ape around? Chimpanzees.

Baby chimp.

A very menacing and colourful monkey.

Proboscis monkey. A very funny monkey. It's stomach is always bloated due to the gas from the food they consume. They will die if they consume sugary items and their bellies will blow up.
This guy is the alpha male and was quite aggressive with me. It was following me where I was moving and loves to snarl. Funny fellow.

Ducks.

Iguana.

A bird that was stealing nectar for the butterflies.

Mouse deer or also known locally as Kancil.

A very blue bird.

Looks like a skunk.

Flying fox or also known as giant fruit bat.

Very cute fellow.

The king of the jungle and cats. Only the females will hunt.

Meerkats. Very ferocious during feeding time.

Ostrich.

Cheetahs.

Zebra.

African rhino.

A queer bird.

Gnu.

Can't recall this.

Polar bear.

Pink flamingos.

I give up on life.

Hornbill.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this installation. Preserve and conserve your environment.

Global Crisis and 1997-98 Asian Crisis

2008-10-08T15:17:00.005+08:00

Remember when some Asian countries was facing speculation and financial services collapse in 1997-98? Those countries tried to bail out the companies in their countries to prevent the collapse of economy? Western countries then slammed those actions and said should not be done in spirit of fair economy. Western countries wanted Asian countries to borrow from US or rather the IMF so that they can take control of the economies. Doesn't matter anyway since US is the biggest contributor/owner of IMF (International Monetary Fund).

Tun Mahathir stood tall and told them to go fly kite and bailed out companies and our country was quite shielded and Malaysia made progress in economy till the day Tun Mahathir stepped down as PM.

And now, look at US, England and even Australia bailing out their banking companies to prevent a collapse of their own economies. Damn hypocrites I'd say they are. Now they're scrambling to save their own economy from their own economic hitmen they were so trying hard to protect during the Asian economic crisis. Serves them right.

Drive up Cameron

2008-09-24T20:14:00.002+08:00

Took a drive up Cameron Highlands on Sunday. Just a short hop on a leisurely day. Not the crummy vegetable, strawberry farm, flower farm type of drive.

Well, it was more towards myself riding shotgun in a friend's truck. Save the environment. We're carpoolers. We actually planned to drive up to Gunung Brinchang for an off road trail but somehow that didn't materialise. We took the highway up from Simpang Pulai.

We drove in to a waterfall situated behind some farms. That waterfall has long since dried out. There were pipes snaking out and I am guessing the water is channeled towards the farms. Quite depressing actually. I am not sure if those farms are even legal to begin with.

We stopped by the road to get some fruits and we saw a fruit that is quite queer. It's called Kledan. That was what the orang asli woman told us. Tastes like rambutan and lai chee. Has the texture of langsat. It's sweet actually.

That's a friend of mine haggling for the kledan.

This bunch only cost us RM3.00. Cheap.

We were the truck up front and was waiting for the rest to finish their purchase of durian.

Yup, went into some mud pool behind some dingy looking vegetable farms.

There is this tunnel at the waterfall dug into the hill to channel water. Someone told me it was built by TNB to channel water from Kelantan. I am guessing this water could be for the water sharing project. There is also a trekking path that will bring trekkers to a mile stone that shows the border of 3 states i.e. Pahang, Kelantan and Terengganu as a single point.

3 trucks made up this time round. 2 Mitsubishi Triton and 1 Toyota Hilux Vigo

It was drizzling nearly the whole afternoon. Well, durian under rain is good I guess. Gives you that rustic and authentic feel.

And antother friend raids or rather molests the jungle for his garden back home in PJ.

The look of content.

Good place to camp even. Just make sure you bring a spade or hoe. No toilets around.

Michael Backman - Malaysians need more from government

2008-09-19T01:26:00.003+08:00

Another new article from Michale Backman. Offering views from a different perspective.

Read on. His original publication is here. Here's an image capture of the article from his site.

Malaysians need more from government
By Michael Backman
The Age
September 10, 2008

THE other week, someone in Malaysia emailed me the report of the doctor who examined Saiful Bukhari Azlan — the young Malay man who claimed in June that Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim had sodomised him.

I, along with heaven knows who else who has also seen the doctor's report, now know that Saiful's anus was pink rather than blue, had signs of good oxygenation, and that his rectum showed no evidence of bleeding or damage.

I repeat this somewhat in-your-face description because it encapsulates the direction that political discourse in Malaysia has taken: decency and propriety have been dispensed with — it really is a case now of no holes barred.

Indeed, the last decade of Malaysian politics has been dominated by endless debate about what Anwar Ibrahim — who was first charged with sodomy in 1998 — might or might not have done with his penis. Meanwhile, questions such as how the nation's wealth should be divided between the races, or how the Government should distribute contracts, remain unsettled.

Malaysia protests that it is a conservative, largely Islamic country, but you wouldn't know it judging from its sex- obsessed politicians. The latest allegation of homosexual rape against Anwar is ridiculous. Not so much the homosexual aspect, but the rape. The idea that a relatively slight 60-year-old with well-known back problems could hold down a tall, healthy 23-year-old man unassisted and rape him is pure rubbish.

Indeed, Saiful seemed to change his story after he first claimed to have been sodomised. Perhaps it dawned on him that if the sodomy appeared in any way consensual, then he too would be charged.

Saiful's escalation of the allegations is convenient for Anwar too. The claim of rape allows Anwar to honestly deny the claim. The claim of sodomy could be more problematic.

Although many of Anwar's supporters worldwide have never countenanced that there might be any truth to any of the sodomy allegations — perhaps due to an element of homophobia on their part — rumours about Anwar have circulated in Malaysia for years.

Hanif Omar, Malaysia's well-regarded police chief between 1974 and 1993, has said that he warned then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad about Anwar's alleged homosexual activities — which included involvement with a transvestite and a foreigner just before Hanif retired. He was concerned that Anwar was exposing himself to the threat of blackmail but Mahathir refused to believe the allegations.

Anwar spent time in jail for the first set of charges, which eventually were overturned. But they were overturned on a technicality. Two of the three presiding judges said in their judgement that while they believed that sodomy had taken place, the dates could not be pinned down.

But should allegations of sodomy disqualify Anwar from office? The risk of blackmail has significantly diminished. After the last 10 years of "did he or didn't he" speculation, Anwar barely has a reputation to protect on this score.

In any event, why should sodomy between consenting adults disqualify one from office when allocating millions of dollars in contracts to one's relatives seems almost a prerequisite for high office?

By any measure, one is a personal and a religious matter, whereas the other is quite clearly criminal. It really is a case where those living in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, particularly when those houses are worth millions, despite the fact the occupants are only on government salaries.

The bigger problem for Anwar is that in 1998 he was also charged and jailed for asking police to heavy witnesses into withdrawing their statements against him. That any deputy prime minister should have done that is unthinkable. Now, it is this that is Anwar's real crime. By comparison, the sodomy allegations barely matter. But of course people are far more titillated by sex than by matters of governance.

Now that Anwar is back in parliament, he has targeted September 16 — next Tuesday — as the date on which he will attempt to have the Government fall, as Government members switch sides to his coalition of opposition parties.

Malaysia's Government is tired, complacent and out of ideas. It needs some time out. All governments need this, which is why in modern countries, parties take turns at being in government. There is now a quantum gap between the government that Malaysians deserve and need and the government they get. But is Anwar the answer?

If he does come out on top, it would be nice if he doesn't award lucrative contracts to his friends, or manoeuvre his supporters into key positions in the national media, like he did last time. He must reduce the Government's role in business and not exchange one set of cronies for another but get rid of cronyism altogether. He must make bold, precise statements that he will allow the judiciary to be completely independent, that he will tightly define corruption and adopt zero tolerance towards it, applying this stance most harshly of all to his friends and colleagues. And he must guarantee media freedom.

He might also like to decriminalise sodomy too, not because of all the trouble it's given him, but as part of a push to modernise Malaysia.

A worldwide economic downturn is coming and the Malaysian Government really does need to be enthralled by more than the colour of the interior of someone's backside.

ISA on Civilians? Sandiwara from BN?

2008-09-15T16:44:00.003+08:00

How could you use ISA on civilian with the reason her life was threatened? If she's threatened, then accord her with police protection. Luckily, she was released 18 hours after her arrest.

Her 18 hours ordeal under ISA is now published here. English version since I don't read Chinese.

And now BN ministers are crying foul on ISA being used against her. Even de facto law minister quit. At least he was noble enough to quit.

What a farce this has been. ISA should have been used on the person that caused all this racial stir. And that person only got a suspension and will go on a nationwide tour? Come on police, is this not threatening national security?

This is a case of shooting the messenger. Sounds like Sparta to me in the movie 300. Is this another sandiwara?

You figure it out for yourself.

And damn it we didn't

2008-09-11T01:01:00.006+08:00

Ahmad Ismail is suspended for 3 years from UMNO with immediate effect and still no apology and remains stubborn.

So what will Gerakan do now? Penang state MCA is not happy with the result. And MCA (in entirity) is happy with this result. So MCA, what will you do now?

After more than 30 years, now only code of conduct?

Go figure.

Damn it if you do and damn it if you don't.

2008-09-09T17:53:00.004+08:00

With the whole fiasco going on about the Ahmad Ismail calling Chinese as pendatang, I am wondering why no ISA action has been taken towards that Ahmad Ismail. Is he not threatening public order and national security? The words he spoke could incite chaos. Hindraf got thrown into ISA just for demonstrating. This is worse and with UMNO Penang making threats to shoot a journalist? Badawi says the words spoken by Ahmad Ismail were of his own opinion and not of UMNO. And yet till now, no calls for action against Ahmad Ismail were heard from UMNO members.

Also, the armed forces general have proposed to the government to take action against instigators. Army chief, please stay out of civilian issues. You're overstepping your boundary or unless you are hinting to us that something like emergency is going to be declared.

I am wondering who does he consider as instigators . Is it the Malays or non-Malays, specifically Chinese?

Go figure.

Bali - Celuk, Ubud and Tegalalang

2008-09-06T01:10:00.008+08:00

We visited the usual tourist spots.

We first visited Celuk. Celuk is a place or rather a district in Bali where all the artisans are located. There are stone smiths, silver smiths, painters (with art galeries), wood carvers, etc. You can find a lot of jewelry and decorative items for your home here. Things like blown glass wares, rock carvings, jewelry from rings to necklaces, paintings, traditional Balinese art, etc.

Look at how detailed the jewelry makers can get.

I took a picture of this woman working on the above jewelry piece. Attention to detail. I asked for permission first.

If you like to purchase some jewelry, you can negotiate. Each piece has its price and if you like one means you like it and it's going to be hard to put a price on one that is unique. Always start negotiating 50% of the listed price and try to reach a point you're comfortable with. If they don't budge, just walk away and go to another jeweler or shop. I'd bet they'll call you back.

Celuk and Tegalalang is hardby each other. But having said that, the distance in Bali is always relative as the roads are quite windy and will take you quite a while to get from one place to another. And Bali is big.

These are some of the artist at a cooperative. The artists in the Celuk or village tends to form a cooperative.

One of the wood carving nicely done up.

Tegalalang is famous for its rice terraces on hill slopes. Most of the the rice or paddy is of the Beras Bali. Bali variety. The place looks good but I went to another place that is breathtaking and the rice fields are so big.

If you are in Ubud, don't miss out Ibu Oka's Babi Guling. I'd dare say the best. Well, that's because I only tried one place. Not sure about the rest. But I have been told Ibu Oka is good.

There is also a royal palace next to Ibu Oka's place. It's called Puri Sareen or Ubud Palace.

Puri Saren Ubud (Ubud Palace) is an Ubud Kingdom Palace with beautiful Balinese traditional houses as a residence of Ubud King. It is set in the center of Ubud with traditional art market just in front of it and it is found by Ida Tjokorda Putu Kandel who has commanded from year 1800 - 1823. This palace is an artistic cultural life center, while the traditional market is the symbol of local economics resident. The existence of Puri Saren as a palace is equipped by a Wantilan/auditorium that is a large building of meeting room and a banyan tree as shelter place at the daytime. The traditional market is the place of society economics and its existence is always border on palace as artistic cultural life center. It means that the both pole meeting is describing the dynamics of society and kingdom life.

Balinese men has a traditional headgear called Udeng. You will see most Balinese men wearing it on the streets or when they go to temples aka pura. I bought a white one with silver threads.

If you love shopping, you'd love Ubud market. They sell everything from carvings, Indonesian batik, clothes, to hair clips and stuff. This will be a place to test your bargaining skills. Let's see how good you are.

I took a walk around the back streets of Ubud as well. I believe you ought to to get to know how people in the country live and how they interact with people. Usually, the back lanes are places where you see things most tourists won't see.

Till the next installation.

Previous posts on Bali:

Bali - Tanah Lot
Bali - Beaches
Bali - Kecak & Barong Dance
Bali - Hike up Mount Batur
Bali - Balinese Food

4WD @ Pertak & Kerling

2008-08-25T14:54:00.005+08:00

Went off-road again yesterday. This time round we did two trails. One @ Pertak to reach Gunung Kutu and the other one was back to Kerling. And boy, was it fun. We had 11 trucks with 2 Hilux and 1 Frontier.

It was hilarious and we had a panicky moment went a Triton nearly turned turtle. The driver went up too high on the ledge while tackling a rocky/boulder path downhill. Luckily there was a member there that quickly gave the Triton a jolt.
The Triton basically was on two wheels. Just like the stunt movies.

One piece of advice to those interested in 4WD, please get a good walkie or a CB. You'll need to communicate with your convoy or when asking for help.

I'll let the pictures do the talking this time round. Click on thumbnails to get bigger view. Enjoy.

Start of trail to Camp site 1.

Breakdown due to immobiliser. Hilux owners, please check with your nearest Toyota service centre.

Camp site 1.

River crossing.

The boss.

Camp site 2.

Still stuck and with the wheels spinning, the rubber got too hot.

Trail to Camp site 3. we didn't continue as it was raining and the river was rising. And the boss got stuck here.

Yup, we had a tug of war. We used the two snatch to pull the Triton out. 8 of us.

Bali - Tanah Lot

2008-08-21T10:54:00.006+08:00

Ah yes yes, it's going to be 4 months since I visited Bali. Nice place with a lot of culture and sights. If you like culture, like to visit temples and basically do nothing but absorb in the life, Bali's the place for you. And to think of the atrocity where I haven't even posted on the places to visit. Got some coercing from some friends. I was supposed to post up places to visit in Bali but due to some reasons I can't fanthom, couldn't quite find the time to do it.

Anyways, there'll be a few post in regards to places of interest in Bali from my own experience. Not from those glitzy trying to scam you rip you off brochures.

After checking in to the hotel, we went for lunch and thereon to Tanah Lot. Tanah Lot according to the local Balinese language means "Land In The Middle Of The Sea". And yes, Balinese people do speak Balinese. A language/dialect of its own which is distinct from Bahasa Indonesia. You'll see lots of carvings in stones like the one below everywhere in Bali.

Tanah Lot is situated in the Tabanan Regency, south of Bali. You'll be fed with amazing sights on your journey there as you will pass by villages and rural area. One word of advice, there will be an entrance/parking fee and they're segregated by locals and tourists. If your guide is good enough, he will take you to the local station to pay the fee. Mine did that and he was good. I'll post up more about him in another post so you can hire him if you want to.

The temple complex at Tanah Lot is not huge but it is big enough.

Please be aware before entering the temple complex itself, you will pass by a market. People will hassle you to buy their wares. Don't look if you're not interested and just say 'Tidak Mahu'. Sometimes, these peddlers will be present within the temple complex too.

Sometimes Tanah Lot is known as Tanah Let which means "ancient land" or Tanah Lod which means " land to the south".

Some explanations on Tanah Lot

Tanah Lot is said to be the work of the 15th century priest Nirartha. The story goes that during his travels along the south coast he saw the rock-island's beautiful setting and rested there. Some fishermen saw him, and bought him gifts. Nirartha then spent the night on the little island. Later he spoke to the fishermen and told them to build a shrine on the rock for he felt it to be a holy place to worship the Balinese sea gods.

The Tanah Lot temple was then built and has been an important part of Balinese mythological history for centuries. The temple is one of seven sea temples around the Balinese coast. It was said that each of the sea temples was to be within eyesight of the next so that they formed a chain along the south-western coast.

At the base of the rocky island, poisonous sea snakes are believed to guard the temple from evil spirits and intruders. There is said to be one giant snake which also protects the temple. It is believed that this snake was created from Nirartha’s scarf when he established the island.

I saw a snake there but it's no sea snake. It was a python more for photography purposes and you have to pay to the owner. Commercialising history and lore.

Next to Tanah Lot is a rock formation called Batu Bolong. It's basically a rock bridge with a hole as an arch below the bridge. There is also a small temple or pura (Balinese for temple or shrine).

Tanah Lot is a great place to visit for sunset. Great photo opportunities. Too bad it was cloudy the day we were there.

We arrived at Tanah Lot when the tide was low. This is the best time as there are many tidal pools and you'd be able to walk over to the temple of Tanah Lot.

There is a small shrine where you are blessed by some temple officials. They'd sprinkle you with water from a spring that never dried up, always flowing and it's fresh water. You'd be amazed. They will then put a flower on one side of your ear and press a few grains of rice on your forehead. After all, most Balinese are Hindus. Just that the way Balinese practice Hinduism is different from India or anywhere else.

Great view of the sea and you'd most likely see waves crashing against the rocks. Tanah Lot is also where I had my first dinner in Bali and where I watched the Kecak Dance.

For the ladies, please make sure you're not menstruating when you visit the puras as Balinese Hindus deem you to be unfit to enter the puras. Please respect their beliefs. There will be sign posts on this nearly every where to remind visitors of this.

Till the next installation of Bali.

4WD @ Gopeng With Mitsubishi Triton

2008-08-11T11:21:00.008+08:00

The event was dated 27 July 2008. Sorry, only had time to post it now especially it's another image galore. I believe this might be the last trip for the coming month since it's the Hungry Ghost month now.

Around 10 trucks went this time and we had a Hilux with us. Our medic codenamed Tango Bug. Location this time around was Gopeng, Perak. We went into the oil palm estate.

We brought in loads of durian and mangosteen. And I really mean loads of them.

For the first time we actually took a group photograph next to a river near our stop site. Here's the gang. Not in full but nearly.

It was also near a place in Perak where the Orang Asli village has a guide that will bring you to see the world's biggest flower i.e. Rafflesia. We weren't allowed to go any further than the village. Strange as they don't actually own the land. Maybe it was private land. Not everybody went with the drive though. Only 5 trucks went it. The rest was parked at the stop site.

We backtracked and look for another 4WD route. We found one where we had a very shallow river crossing. The crossing was already laid with concrete foundation. There was a problem though. The end/start of the crossing had a depression even the trucks can't cross.

Well, we all had no choice but to wait till we finished the job.

So, we all had to leave our trucks and start piling stones and rocks. Took us quite a while as we had to look for big rocks and the depression was quite deep.

Once that was done, all that we had to do was to cross the river.

The only Hilux in the group.

One by one we crossed.

As usual since I take images, there won't be images of me driving. This time around, one member was cool enough to help me take a few images. My rarely seen black Triton. :)

We went on driving for the next 1.5 hours deeper inside and had no problems. We reached a place where we had to stop. The bridge had collapse and only motorbikes or 2 wheelers could pass.

It was a beautiful scenery at the bridge. Just look at them images. Wonderful serene beauty of nature. Do your bit to conserve and preserve.

One the way out, we lost our way for a short while and took a wrong turn. That wrong turn was a mess for us as we turn down into a decline and there was this huge rock in the middle of the track. It hit my skid plate and my axle. Spark flew. All trucks had their bottoms on the rock except the shortbase Mitsubishi.

4 trucks reversed back to the right track. The Hilux was on the 3 wheels and somehow managed to regain traction. It burnt its clutch in the process though.

One Triton went forward in the wrong trail, made a U-turn and got stuck in the mud. It was really stuck and we had to recover that dang truck.

Come join us next time if you own a truck. Leave a comment with your contact details if you're interested.

Close up shot with Sony A350

2008-08-07T18:05:00.003+08:00

What do you think about this image? Taken using Sony A350's stock 18-50mm.

Anybody know what is the name of this flower? Click on the thumbnail for a bigger view.

Your thoughts appreciated.

Chelsea, Chelsea, It's A Blue Day

2008-08-05T12:44:00.009+08:00

Chelsea, Chelsea, it's going to be a blue day.I know I know it's a bit too late. Last Monday (28 July 2008), I attended Chelsea's Asian Tour 2008 practice session. And on Tuesday (29 July 2008) was the actual day where Malaysia Selection went up against Chelsea and Chelsea won 2-0. Shah Alam Stadium, Selangor, Malaysia.

Our boys put up a good fight and they performed better than our actual national team. Our national team is a farce and a disgrace. But, I have nothing but kudos to the selection for that. Our boys still puncture in the 2nd half where you can see them slowing down. The problem with our game is that politics is involved, our players have no flair for the game,we do not have good training and development programmes, we do not have enough exposure and bad player attitude.

I have now fulfilled one of my life's goal as well. It's to watch my favourite footie team Chelsea play in real life in a stadium. I fulfilled another goal in May this year. Another one struck out from my list. Full squad was in Malaysia with the exception of Drogba. Even Deco was here.

I took some images of the training session. Actual match is on video. Will post that later.
Click on the thumbnail to get a bigger view.

Scolari was here.

Training starts.

Ballack and Terry.

Huddle up boys.

Ballack giving it good. Real good.

Stamford The Lion was here too. Cute bugger.

Petr Cech.

Practice game on.

Get you wuss.

End of game.

Done with training.

Found some chicas at the practice session as well.

Fuel Subsidy - How To Claim

2008-08-04T11:36:00.003+08:00

I am sure most of you are now aware that we can claim RM625 for a car's fuel rebate due to the increase in pump price in June. It could be a hassle for you to actually visit a Post Office and line up.

Good news then. With the Internet age and with Pos Malaysia trying to stay relevant, you can now claim your fuel rebate online. Yes, via Internet and on Pos Malaysia's site. All you need to do is to visit this link and register if you're not a member yet. You can either claim via direct credit into your bank account or via money order. For direct credit, just key in your car registration plate number and follow the simple steps. For money order you need to input your home or mailing address.

I have just done mine this morning. The system is a bit slow though but still my hats off to Pos Malaysia for this initiative. Not sure about any additional charges as there wasn't any charge advisory. It'll take 3 days for the money to be credited into your bank account after you claim your rebate.

4WD @ Kerling With Mitsubishi Triton

2008-07-24T11:44:00.006+08:00

Lots of pics for this post. Right after the recce to Jalan Kebun on Saturday, we made an impromptu plans for Sunday's activity. This time we went to Kerling. It's a small town located near Kuala Kubu Bharu ( KKB) in Selangor. What better way to spend time during the weekends. Good to just go out and enjoy nature.

This time 5 Mitsubishi Tritons went. It was a mud trip. Mud everywhere, slippery inclines and full of bends. It was a logging trail that went quite deep in. There is also a mini hydro-electric plant being constructed. No leeches *phew*. Our Tritons were really dirty and full of mud after the trip.

The undercarriage was especially bad and mud caked up. Here are some images capture during the trip. Click on thumbnails to get bigger view.

We crossed a small river and this is us getting ready.

First Triton crossing the river.

Done with the crossing.

Second Triton crossing.

look at the happy driver. Finally putting his Triton to good use.

His Triton looks like a turtle with that canopy, yes?

3rd Triton getting ready to cross.

Having fun in the river.

3rd Triton crossing the river.

After crossing, we stopped to enjoy the scenic view and have a few cans of beer :). What's a trip without beer eh. We didn't throw any rubbish on the trail. We kept everything in bin bags. So should everyone else. Leave nothing but tyre and foot tracks.

We saw a waterfall on the way in.

This is another waterfall that we found. Nice clear and cooling water.

The troop of Tritons.

Each individual Tritons at the last stop. This was us after going through mud and stuff. No one got stuck. No recovery needed.

Another stop. This time having bananas. Wish we had instant noodles or mee in a mug.

There was another river crossing at the place we stopped. We didn't go any further as it was getting dark and the trail after is quite hardcore. Not prepared for hardcore on that day. i was told after this crossing, it will be only 6 kms from Fraser's Hill. Maybe we will try it the next time round.

It was so beautiful. So tranquil and serene. But sadly, these places may not be around anymore in the future. I strongly believe we should preserve and conserve our jungles. They are after all a legacy we'll leave for the next generation of people.

4WD Recce @ Jalan Kebun

2008-07-20T03:05:00.007+08:00

What a funny and adventurous day today. Had bah kut teh for brunch with the bunch of Triton Gang members. On the way back after lunch, we stopped by a 4x4 shop just to take a look around.
We saw an interesting deal for an ARB tow snap (stretchable 20%) that costs RM320. Encourage one of the gang to get it since it was a snap. This was an actual blessing as we discovered much later during the recce.

Later after lunch we went for a recce trip to Jalan Kebun. We wanted to know the place where all the 4WD enthusiast would go for a short mud trip during the weekend. Just a day trip.

There were 3 trucks. Two Mitsubishi Triton and one Ford Ranger. The Recce was sort of a success and we'll be informing the rest of the gang. Maybe, we'll plan for a mud trip but that will depend since most of the gang had modded their trucks more for speed and lifestyle than for off-road.

Here's a collection of pics during our recce. Click on the thumbnail to have a bigger view. Lots of laughter and sarcasm. No seriousness whatsoever.

The Ford Ranger wanted to enter the mud arena first. The path is quite narrow and the driver couldn't see the hole on the right. The soil looked hard and dry but it was pretty much soggy. I believe he went into a drainage pit.

Only 3 wheels were in contact with the ground. As you can see, the whole front right went into the pit. And this Ranger is already jacked up in height.

3 wheels in contact. Won't help much engaging 4x4 and trying to drive out of this mess.

The Ranger had to be recovered with by a Triton. Well, the Triton looks more like a turtle anyway with that canopy.

After recovery.

The tyre imprint on the soil.

Ok this is my truck. Looks clean but there lots of mud splashes and clumps on the truck body.

The Ranger went into a mud pit again. Got stuck again even with MT tyres. Very soggy condition. Had to be recovered again. This was where the new tow snap saved the day. Can't use a normal snap to jerk as it doesn't have elasticity. We had to tug and pull slowly. Might damage the chasis if we were to use a normal snap.

Mud pit. Went down to take a look after we got stuck several times. It was pretty dumb of us. We'll recce on foot first the next time round.

The Ranger driver tried to drive over a crest to leave the mud pit. Went up high over a crest and slammed down hard. No skid plates and got stuck. We found out later the radiator was leaking. Ranger overheated and had to be towed by Triton again.

Well, that's all for a recce day out. Wish I had brought along a video cam. It would have been really funny watching the video.

Pun Choy @ LYJ Restaurant, Sungai Buloh

2008-07-06T13:56:00.006+08:00

Ok ok this dish is not new and many people have written about it. So, I am just going to tell you that I ate this recently with a bunch of cool friends. Of course, there'll naturally be some chicas.

Pun Choy is definitely not halal as the whole dish is full of pork and lard which makes the whole dish yummy. But, to some it would be overkill of lard and may be an acquired taste for some. Pun Choy is also known as pen cai or big bowl feast. You'll know why as you read through and see the images. Chinese name is 盆菜 which means basin vegetable (in direct translation).

Pun Choy is a famous Hakka dish (though this was the first time I heard of it) but I have seen this dish served in various Hong Kong movies :). Pun Choy is served in a pot (some shallow or deep but don't let if fool) and can fit anywhere between 10-12 persons. I'd suggest at least 12 persons to a pot. Each pot only cost RM238 and that's roughly RM20 per person. The RM238 price is for the list of ingredients below and may cost more if you order additional ingredients like shark's fin, etc

Everyone will dig in to the food and the ingredients are arrange by layers. I was hesitant what to eat at first but heck I just digged in. We are supposed to eat it layer by layer but we got impatient. Tonnes of food in the pot ranging from fake abalones, pacific clams, shitake mushrooms, mid sized prawns, fish that was turned into fish paste, half roasted duck, half poached chicken, bean curd, chicken feet ( I personally find this repulsing), pork ribs, pork, some type of hardened clear glass noodle, broccoli, cauliflower and the whole pot is served on a portable stove to keep the food warm.

You must try Pun Choy with glutinous rice. Simply heavenly when laced with the gravy and lard from the pot. A marriage of taste and aroma from all the ingredients.

This won't be the food for you if you don't entertain the idea of sharing body liquids as everyone will dig in with either their spoon, fork or chopsticks. By the way, you need to book the dish in 2-3 days in advance and you'll have to either pay the full amount or a deposit first. Just to make sure you're serious about the food I guess. For me, it was an enlightening experience. Apparently, the waitress told us that Pun Choy must be cooked around 5--6 hours in advanced.

The location of the restaurant could be hard to be found. But, the easiest way we discovered was to go via Kota Damansara. The restaurant is opposite a school. We had this Pun Choy dish @

LYJ Restaurant, PT 11, Jalan Perkhidmatan, Kg Baru, 47000 Sungai Buloh.
Tel: 03-6140 2698
Operating hours: 11.30am to 2.30pm, 6.00pm to 10.oo pm.
Closed on Monday nights and during CNY.

For the Habanos lover in me

2008-07-05T11:48:00.006+08:00

It's not everyday you could watch how a master roll cigars. Better yet, the master cigar roller rolls something special for you. I had the privilege of enjoying that on 30 June 2008. I had two Churchills and a corona rolled specially, personally for me. This was also the first time Senor Yoel rolled cigars this way.

The tobacco leaves for my cigars were laced with cognac. Martell Cordon Bleu to be precise. And the best moment of all was when Senor Yoel actually autographed on the package for my cigars. Now, how's that for personalisation. The aroma of the finished cigars were heavenly. I am going to cure those cigars in time for me to smoke when I move into my new home. And maybe keep them in my soon to own humidor.

Here's a video of my specially rolled cigar by Senor Yoel Ulacia.

Senor Yoel is a cool guy and great company to hang out with. People may be intimidated by him at first, but once he warms up to you, there's no stopping to laughter and drinks. When I meant drinks, I really mean drinks. Alcohol for the uninitiated. Cigars go well with whiskey and cognac. With great people and great cigars, pure bliss.

I had a chance to meet him a couple of days after his cigar rolling demonstration for casual chat and drink. And I am going to meet him again tonight for drinks and chats. Another cool guy that accompanies Senor Yoel everywhere is Ricky. Ricky is a Malaysian and he is a great person. Good for chats, smokes and even drinks. Very friendly and knowledgeable.

The passion held by Senor Yoel is strong and I believe he has hone his skill for a very long time already. Each and every cigar roller would have their own way of perfecting the art of cigar rolling and Senor Yoel is no exception. It takes great passion, love for cigars and dexterity to be where he is today. It's not easy rolling cigars and it's even harder to perfect the skills needed.

Here are some images taken during the cigar rolling event held on 30 June 2008 and when my cigars were rolled by Senor Yoel.

Rolling the first of my cigars.

Finished one and he's saying no, no not satisfied and continue to work and perfect that single Churchill.

Look at the cigar man. Awesome.

Takes great skill and patience too. Staring on the second stick.

Ahhh, and lacing it with Cordon Bleu :)

Finishing the 3rd stick.

Senor Yoel personally autographing my cigars. People go for celebrities. I go for the exotic and the very rare occassions. Dude, I get to personally meet a Master Cigar Roller from Partagás and a Quality Controller at that.

And he's done. Muchos gracias Senor Yoel.

Once you've tasted genuine Habanos, nothing else comes close. Trust me on this.

Meet & Greet - Cigar Roller @ The Embershoppe, The Curve

2008-06-26T16:36:00.003+08:00

There will be another cigar rolling demonstration coming soon to you. This is a 2nd meet and greet session. More info on the first session here.

This time around it won't be the same guy again. Mr. Yoel Ulacia Diaz will be the representative from Partagás.

Mug shot of Mr. Yoel. Click on thumbnail for a bigger view. Yes, yes he looks really spaced out.

Yoel started as a beginner at Francisco Perez German Tobacco Factory (Partagás) in 1997 and advance to became the Quality Controller.

His long strings of accomplishments includes being best employee and was considered as a representative at the Vanguardia Nacional, a rare accolade for any cigar roller.

Yoel is much sought after for his skill and experience. His passion for cigars is parallel to none.

Details of the event are:
Monday, June 30 2008 from 6:00 pm (+8 GMT) till 11:00 pm. This event will be held @ The Embershoppe located in The Curve, Damansara.

There will be some refreshments served. Join the party and get rid of Monday blues!

Amidst the delightful food & drinks, come and meet the 1st Secretary of Cuban Embassy and his friends.

There'll be lucky draw prizes to be won.

Best of all, freshly rolled cigars by Yoel Ulacia Diaz.

Bali - Beaches

2008-06-23T03:17:00.008+08:00

When you go on a holiday on an island (ok, Bali is huge but still an island) you'd naturally do what most people would do, visit and relax on the beaches.

Bali has beautiful beaches whether for water sports, sunbathing (topless :) ) or just to sit down and soak up the sights and sounds.

I had the opportunity to visit a few beaches and well some are spectacular and some are not.

I took some shot of the beaches. Click on the thumbnails to have a bigger view. Sorry, no topless pics here. And too bad that when I went to the beaches, it was low tide. Darn.

This is what the locals call Dreamland. It's a very nice beach even when there's low tide.
Good for surfing, relaxing and sunbathing. Word of caution though, the undercurrent here is quite strong. So be cautious. You will be approached by peddlers. Don't worry, they're to rent you a big umbrella and deck chairs. They will also bug you non-stop for massage and hair-braiding. The umbrella and deck chairs will cost Rupiah 50,000. Dreamland is actually a property development by Tommy Suharto.

The image below is of Nusa Dua Beach. I have heard great reviews of it. It's plain bullshit. I find nothing great about Nusa Dua. The nice stretch of beaches are all taken out by the resorts lining Nusa Dua. The public beach is crap. Hence, not much pics.

This is Candidasa beach. This is just right outside Goa Lawah. The best thing about this beach is that the sand is black. Nobody sunbathe or do any activities around here.

Sunset @ Candidasa.

We went to Sanur beach as well in Sanur. It's a nice place for wind sports likes surfing and wind-surfing.

Traditional boat on Sanur beach.

Someone wind-surfing in Sanur.

This is the most popular beach in the whole of Bali. Kuta beach. I don't like this beach. Too crowded and there are too many pesky peddlers around that will bug you non-stop. Prices here are atrocious. This beach is really famous for surfing. There are classes held here if you want to learn surfing.

Girls sunbathing on the beach. If you look carefully, there's a topless girl but she is facing downwards. Damn eh.

Waves are good for surfing.

This is a beach on Tanjong Benoa. This beach primary activity is purely water sports. Go there if you really like water sports. I didn't ask for the rates as I was not interested.

My previous post on Bali's traditional dance, volcano hike and Bali's food.

Pangkor Island Resort with Sony A350

2008-06-19T16:32:00.005+08:00

Just came back from Pangkor Island last weekend. It was my yearly Marketing Division trip. Had much fun as usual with the people, beach, sun, games and drinks. Around 100+ of us went in 4 buses.

Pulau Pangkor is an island off the coast of Perak in north-west peninsular Malaysia, reached by ferry from Lumut (a small coastal town that links to Ipoh, or from Sitiawan). Pangkor is famous for its fine beaches and a mix of low budget to 5 star accommodations.

Teluk Nipah and Coral Bay on the north west of the island is extremely popular with travellers from Europe. The quality of sand is far more superior in the Pasir Bogak Beach as compared to elsewhere on the island. The sand is golden brown, quite similar to most leading prime beaches.

We stayed @ Pangkor Island Resort. The sand on the beach was white and soft. The water calrity wasn't good but enjoyable nevertheless. We didn't go anywhere outside of the resort as we had team based activities day in day out. There were birds flying around, hornbills and eagles.

This would be my 3rd trip to Pangkor. The trip was a stoner. Few of us was flat out on the beach one night. Couldn't even crawl back to the room. One of us went skinny dipping. Ahaha. Damn, was flat out so couldn't snap a pic.

Here are some of the images. Click on the thumbnails to get a bigger view.

View of the sea from my room's balcony.

Rock solid enjoyment.

Chica under the sun.

Hmmm.

Sweet girl she is. She don't taste sweet.

Somebody is really gung-ho in slapping somebody.

Say hi yo.

Rest and relax.

Hot babes in da pool.

Soaking it in.

View from the ferry before berthing @ the small pier.

@ the small pier.

Mitsubishi Triton With Sports Lid

2008-06-17T15:00:00.006+08:00

For those whom have pick-up trucks, the problem with having a truck is that you don't have a boot space at all. Of course we do have an actual boot space. Just that it's not covered since it's a truck bed.

In order to solve that, I recently modded my truck and fix in place a sports lid. Now, I have a huge boot space. The lid opens up to 45-50 degrees. Well, enough to pop a dead person in. Now, i won't have to worry about luggage when I go on a road trip. Heck, I could even use the boot space to sleep if I go on off-road trips. I just raise the lid and drape a mosquito netting over and voila, instant tent. Just make sure it doesn't rain or else I have to sleep in the truck.

With a sports lid, you'll have better coefficient drag (CD) rating. There was a drag effect due to the open trunk bed at high speeds. Well, hopefully can help me to save on fuel cause since there is less drag, and less drag means much more efficient fuel consumption that will then lead to lower fuel cost for me monthly.

Anyway, here's the image of the sports lid. I did a minor work on the lid by putting on a Ralliart Spirit Of Competition decal. Click on thumbnail for bigger view.

Naval Intelligence - Divert Your Course

2008-06-11T01:08:00.006+08:00

This is an alleged actual conversation that happened between a US Naval ship with Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October 1995. Radio conversation transcript released by the chief of naval ops.

Canadians: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid a collision

Americans: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the north to avoid a collision

Canadians: Negative. You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid a collision

Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert your course

Canadians: No, I say again, you DIVERT your course

Americans: This is the aircraft carrier USS Lincon, the second largest ship in the United States Atlantic Fleet. We are accompanied with 3 destroyers, 3 cruisers and numerous support vessels. I DEMAND that you change your course 15 degrees north. I say again, that's one-five degrees north , or counter-measures will be taken to ensure the safety of this ship.

Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call.

Mitsubishi Triton With Skid Plate

2008-06-07T19:05:00.003+08:00

Fear not diesel pick up truck brothers. Fuel hike shall not douse the flames of our passions for out trucks. Suffer not the fuel hike to live.

MMC Malaysia will be releasing two new Triton versions i.e. 2.5 l turbodiesel 4x2 and the much awaited 3.2 l turbodiesel 4x4. The 3.2l will use the Pajero engine. Not much cosmetic changes anyway. Possibly the front grill. Road tax will be a killer though.

Anyway, I have just modded the front skid plates of my Triton. Click on the thumbnail below to view a larger image. It cost me RM300. Bought it via a Triton kaki that was in Thailand. Custom made. Have a look here. Sadly the site is in Thai. Well you could try using Google Translate.

I have received several stares from truckers and motorists alike. Look menacing?

9th Grade Master Cigar Roller from Cuba

2008-06-06T15:58:00.005+08:00

Have you ever wondered how cigars are actually rolled? I do and so 9th grade Master Cigar roller from Cuba came to Malaysia recently. His name is Mr. Hocniel Diaz Valdes. A young chap. He has attained the highest grade in cigar rolling and is now the instructor @ Partagás. One of the infamous brands.

He came for an event @ The Embershoppe in The Curve on 3 June 2008. Partagás is the name of two brands of premium cigar, one produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and the other produced in the Dominican Republic from Dominican, Mexican, and Cameroon tobacco for General Cigar.

Here are some images taken during the event. Click on thumbnails for a bigger view.

Leaves used to roll the cigars.

Cutting tool to make sure cigars are of the same length.

Selecting the leaf for the cigar skin.

The master himself starting the cigar roll.

Selecting the leaf for the roll.

Pressing the leaves into a bundle to start rolling.

Rolling and compacting the cigar.

Tying up the loose end to compact the cigar.

Rolling and finishing of the tip of the cigar.

Cutting the rolled cigar to ensure the they're of the same length.

The finale. The cigar.

The master @ work on other cigars.

This is resume. That book is a compendium of all cigars made available by Partagás.

All the cigars rolled by the master was kept in this humidor. I wish this humidor was mine.

Bali - Kecak & Barong Dance

2008-06-02T13:53:00.014+08:00

So, what would tourists do when they visit a country other than theirs and in a different region at that? You watch their traditional dance or cultural performances.

I did what the typical tourist would do. I watched the Kecak dance on the same day I arrived in Bali. Kecak dances will usually be held from 8 pm onwards. It is also known as the fire dance but let's just call it Kecak dance for the sake of familiarity. I watched this dance in Tanah Lot as I was there for the sunset. So, we figured, what the heck. Might as well watch it.

Kecak dance tells of the Hindu epic of Ramayana (translates to Rama's Journey). It is an epic love story of a Prince Rama rescuing his love, Princess Sita. Prince Rama is helped by the white monkey called Vanara. There isn't any music or gamela (traditional orchestra) accompanying this dance. Instead, there is a circle of men chanting in a rhythmical chak chak kechak kechak chak chak throughout the 1 hour or so dance while swaying their hands and bodies.

Here are some of the images from the dance. Click on thumbnails to view larger images.

Dancers getting ready with the elaborate costumes and make-up

The main character of the evil king that kidnapped Princess Sita. We'll sort of. He isn't into the character yet.

One of the women character getting into set.

Look at the elaborate headgear. Simply marvelous.

These men sat in a circle and chanted for an hour or so in a very hypnotic stance. Kecak has been known to be hypnotic.

Vanara the white monkey. Locals call it Kera (monkey) Putih (white).

One of the performers. This was captured after the dance finished. Beautiful eh.

And then there is this dance called Barong dance. Barong is probably the most well known dance. It is also another story telling dance, narrating the fight between good and evil. This dance is the classic example of Balinese way of acting out mythology, resulting in myth and history being blended into one reality.

The story goes that Rangda, the mother of Erlangga, the King of Bali in the tenth century, was condemned by Erlangga's father because she practiced black magic. After she became a widow, she summoned all the evil spirits in the jungle, the leaks and the demons, to come after Erlangga. A fight occurred, but she and her black magic troops were too strong that Erlangga had to ask for the help of Barong. Barong came with Erlangga's soldiers, and fight ensued. Rangda casted a spell that made Erlangga soldiers all wanted to kill themselves, pointing their poisoned keris into their own stomachs and chests. Barong casted a spell that turned their body resistant to the sharp keris. At the end, Barong won, and Rangda ran away.

The gamelan troupe that accompanied the Barong dance.

Barong is a character in the mythology of Bali. He is the king of the spirits, leader of the hosts of good, and enemy of Rangda in the mythological traditions of Bali. Banas Pati Rajah is the fourth "brother" or spirit child that accompanies a child throughout life. Banas Pati Rajah is the spirit which animates Barong. A protector spirit, he is often represented by a lion, and traditional performances of his struggles against Rangda are popular parts of Balinese culture.

The dancer. Graceful and so full of facial expressions.

The lion barong is one of five traditional Barong. In Bali each region of the island has its own protective spirit for its forests and lands. Each Barong for each region is modeled after a different animal. There is a boar, a tiger, a dragon (or serpent) and the traditional lion. The lion is the popular one as it comes from the Gianyar region where Ubud (the home of tourist viewed ritual) is located. Within the calonarong, the dance drama in which the Barong appears, the barong responds to Rangda's use of magic to control and kill her to restore balance.

The Barongs.

This one looks like Chinese lion.

Somebody can die or get seriously injured in a Barong dance. It is said that if Rangda's spell is too strong, a weak soldier may not be able to resist it, even with the help of Barong. He may end up hurting himself with his own keris.

Another dancer.

The masks of Barong and Rangda are considered sacred items, and before they are brought out, a priest must be present to offer blessings by sprinkling them with holy water taken from Mount Agung, and offerings must be presented.

We had to pay Rupiah 50,000 each person for each show. It's quite a standard rate across Bali. if you're required to pay more, just walk away and look for another place that chatges Rupiah 50,000. You can see these dances in Ubud too.

My previous post on Bali here.

Bali - Hike Up Mount Batur

2008-05-21T15:09:00.009+08:00

A VOLCANIC EXPERIENCE - I've done one of the things I want to achieve in my life. Hike up a volcano. I can now strike this out from my to do list. :)

Picture and text galore. Click on the thumbnails to view bigger images.

Mount Batur as seen from the foot of the mountain. I didn't realise it was steep. Maybe that's the reason why you start in the wee hours.

That was my thought when I hiked up Mount Batur during my Bali vacation. Apparently, Mount Batur is still an active volcano. I could still see steam coming out from the crevices, ground and rocks. Well, it still had sulphur. So I am saying it is still active. :) . The first historically documented eruption of Mount Batur was in 1804, and it has been frequently active since then. The last know eruption was in 2000 and Mount Batur rises up to 1717 metres above sea level at it's highest summit and is located in the locality of Kintamani.

Steam coming out from a hole in the ground. This was where some guides cook bananas and eggs to feed their hungry hikers. We dug around 5 inches into the ground and it was hot. We took out some palm sized rocks. We could actually still hear crackling sound of molten magma inside the rocks. They were red hot.

The journey started @ 2 am in the morning from where I stay in Seminyak to Kintamani region where Mount Batur is located. It took a drive of 2 hours through dark roads passing by many villages with gradual increase in altitude. This is a piece of Bali, that's a bit farther from the beaten tourist track, where most tourist would see from afar and not hike up. Mount Batur, considered sacred by the Balinese, is a fairly easy journey up one of the world's most active volcanoes leading to a strange sight. We had to wear a white sash as we hike up. It's to pay respect to the volcano and the area due to it sacredness.

Steam coming out of the rocks and ground. Natural spa treatment.

My travel guide (yes, I hired a guide for 9 days) took us there in his Toyota Unser and he negotiated with a mountain guide for the hike up. Yes, you need a guide to hike up unless you feel really lucky. It's quite dangerous as the path up is riddled with loose pebbles, gravel and stones. The slopes, covered with an exotic combination of alpine lichens, jackfruit trees, bamboo, areca palms, poinsettias and pine trees can be treacherously slippery and narrow, and the vertical crater walls below can be unexpectedly steep. Next to the path would be a steep drop/incline. So, get a guide and don't be el cheapo. You're on holiday yo.

And yes there are monkeys around. Seems like Bali has them everywhere.

Anyway, it's a strenuous hike up the 700 metres to the summit. Fit people will not face problems. It could be a challenge for those whom aren't fit. I nearly gave up twice. I realised that will power was more important than brute physical strength. My motivation was what I wanted to achieve. To hike up a volcano and to sip hot tea and have a bottle of Coke on a volcano while watching sunrise. The best feeling in the world I tell you. A jubilant an triumphant feeling that you've achieve something.

My travel guide got us a mountain guide for Rupiah 200,000. And that price x2 as it depends on how many people in the group. The more people, the lesser each person have to pay. Total damage for us was Rupiah 400,000. That translates to roughly RM 140. Cheap. Besides the mountain guide, there will be a drink seller that will follow you or your group up. Always one mountain guide and one drink seller. Life is not easy for them but they have the initiative, the drive and the effort no matter how poor they may be.

Don't worry if you're not fit. The guide and the drink seller is very supportive and will wait for you. They will even hold your hands and help you hike up if you need that extra hand.

This was my mountain guide. He calls himself Charlie. Some other guides calls him Mr. Bean. He's a funny guy. Comes highly recommended by me.

We reached the foot of Mount Batur @ 4 am and we had freshly brewed hot Balinese coffee. We started the hike up @ 4:30 am. Boy, was the weather cold. Ok, I wore long sleeved shirt and shorts with sports shoes. Take my advice, wear them shoes and not sandals. You'd thank me for that advice. Bring a torch light along. If you don't have one, the guides will provide you with one. They're those little lighter cum torch lights.

The first 1 hour was a walk in the park and it got really bad after that. It took my wife and myself 1.5 hours to reach the top. There are actually two small huts at the top where you can sip hot coffee or tea and watch the sunrise. I went to the second one that is nearer to the summit. Less people, amazing view and you have privacy. The first one is crowded and noisy. Why? It's because of people whom don't seem to know how to behave themselves.

On the way to the second hut, there is an inactive cauldron. What would you have done if you were there? Shout like an insane maniac into the cauldron and listed to your echo. Haha. Yeh, I was retarded for a short while. We reached the hut and we sipped hot tea. Nothing beats having hot tea with banana and hard boiled eggs on a volcano and looking at the sunrise.

Best hardboiled egg ever. Most amazing sunrise I have seen so far in my life. Simply priceless and amazing.

Look at the view. Just plain magnificent. God's Acre.

Gunung Abang in foreground and Gunung Agung (still an active volcano 3000 metres) in the background.

Lake Batur aka Danau Batur.

Lava flow during one of the previous eruption. That little island was the only thing that survived the flow and is considered scared now. There is a small pura (temple) there. The rest of the village was burnt to the ground by the lava.

The direction of the lava flow and where it originate from. The dome was blown out in the eruption.

One hiker was crazy enough to lug some para gliding equipment up. This is what I'd call passion and living life as you should. You only have such a short time. Make the best of it. Our mountain guide told us that. You know what? He is damn right.

Usually after the hike up, they mountain guides will take you up to the other peak and then return to the foot of the mountain. However, as crazy as I am, I wanted to take a look at the active crater where the magma is still there and sulphur blows out like nobody's business.

We went to a spot where we have to slide down the side of another crater. The volcano can be almost "skiied/snow boarded" down on the small fine volcanic sand and pebbles. There is a trek down the of the slope I went that feature "lava skiing." Close as I can get to actually skiing and total enjoyment after suffering from the early morning hike up. I have a video on this. Will post up once transferred from the Handycam.

This was the active crater that we went to. The white plum of smoke is actually sulphur and it really stinks. We went off the beaten track. Most hikers won't come to this area as it is still dangerous due to the nature of Mount Batur being an active volcano.

Sulphur on the rocks at the live crater.

Here's another image of the crater with sulphur on the rocks and the plumes.

These rock formations looks as though the Gods is watching the world.

My previous post on Balinese food I had during the vacation is here.

Bali - Balinese Food

2008-05-12T16:22:00.009+08:00

While some people were celebrating Worker's Day and drinking away, I embarked on my vacation to Bali with my lovely wife. Sort of a honeymoon. The Island of Gods. Boy, did I have fun or did I have fun. :) It was a much needed vacation. I needed to de-stress. It was a 9 days' trip. I took lots of pictures and videos. Food was great. Sight was splendid.

I've been to Phuket and now Bali. I'd rate Bali higher than Phuket. People are still out to get your money, but they're not as hard pressed as Thais. They're much friendlier and warmer. We totally enjoyed the food experience.

Anyway, I'll start with the tour guide for food in Bali. Let's see.

This is Bebek Bengil. Bebek is duck and bengil is dirty in Balinese. So, the dish is called Dirty Duck. There's only one place that serves this dish and it is Bebek Bengil in Ubud. This is deep fried duck. The duck will be marinated in bumbu (mixture of herbs and spices) and then deep fried. The portion served is half duck and is priced around Rupiah 65,000.

Bebek Bengil has a nice ambient and setting. The moment you step into the restaurant, it's a different world altogether.

You will dine amidst a paddy field and you will have your own gazebo where you sit amongst cushions and cross legged (any way you like for that matter). Very tranquil.

This is Gado-Gado. Indonesian mixed vege. Something like our pasembor (rojak for Klang Valley) and eaten with peanut sauce and sambal. You can find this locally in Malaysia.

We had this Balinese food immediately after we have checked into the hotel. This is called Ayam Goreng Pendewataan (or was it Kedewataan). Chicken is deep fried and served with local sambal (chilli paste) and pickled chilli. Condiments were some fresh vegetables and some really deep fried innards. Be careful, the pickled chilli is spicy and hottttt. Sounds like a chic eh. This is a must try. The restaurant is located directly opposite Bora-Bora Resort in Seminyak. This is priced around Rupiah 20,000.

Okay we had this coconut during the kecak dance. It is a cultural dance based on the Ramasita story of the Hindus. I will post on the culture in a later post.

This is the infamous Babi Guling. I had this and I wanted more. Damn it, give me more. This is equivalent to the suckling pig we have here. But this, tastes 100X better. I dare you try it. I swear I will never eat pork the same way ever again.

Served with rice and succulent and tender pork meat. You will be served with a crispy roasted pig skin, some innards and a small piece of a sausage made of innards. I totally enjoyed the sausage and that was the first time I actually ate innards. Never before and I wanted more of it.

You can either order it with rice or just order the meat. Meat order will cost Rupiah 30,000 and if ordered with rice (Babi Guling Special) is Rupiah 35,000.

Polish off the rice and meat. Leave the skin as dessert. That's how the locals eat Babi Guling.

This is how the Babi Guling looks like. A whole pig roasted. Spices and herbs stuffed into the pig before being rolled roasted over ember fire. Only eat Babi Guling @ Ibu Oka in Ubud. No where else. The most famous and delicious of all.

Bintang beer. Local Bali beer. Smooth taste. No bitterness. Less CO2 and cheap. Small bottle will cost around Rupiah 7,500 @ Circle K. Circle K is a 24/7 convenient store. Indonesia's version of 7-11.

Jave you heard of Bumbu Bali in Pusat Bandar Puchong? I went to the original and the real thing. This restaurant is situated in Tanjong Benoa near Nusa Dua. Serves REAL Balinese food. Not authentic but REAL. Cost is quite expensive but well worth it. They have cultural dance show every Wednesday and Friday night from 8-9pm. From the image (clockwise from top) we ate Bebek Satay, Chicken Salad (forgot the name in Balinese), Seafood Bumbu Curry and rice crackers. You dip the rice crackers into the local sambal. Spicy and hot. You have other condiments of vegetable. The bebek satay is served on a mini BBQ pit with real fire in it. More to ember.

This is Ayam Bakar Taliwang. Mini chicken and the origin of the dish is from the island of Lombok. The breed of the chicken is basically Taliwang. Like quail. It's equivalent to ayam percik locally but more succulent. I had this in Ulun Danu. Ulun Danu is a lake situated near Bedugul and is featured on the back of the Rupiah 50,000 note.

Had a dinner one night in Nomad restaurant. It's situated in Ubud. Nice food, reasonable price but quite lacking in service. I found a strand of hair in my mee kuah and no action was taken by the restaurant staff. The food served could cost a bomb back in Malaysia and could be equivalent to fine dining dishes. Nice ambience too.

This is mee kuah or also known as Bali Curry Mee. Had this in Nomad. The menu is quite extensive in terms of food and drinks. Try their Nomad cocktail. The menu has an interesting story on the owner i.e. Nyoman Nomad.

Had bakso for lunch after I have visited Besakih. A huge temple complex built in the 8th century. Very nice aroma and cost us Rupiah 10,000 a bowl when in other places it'd cost Rupiah 5,000 max in other places. Maybe due to Besakih being a tourist attraction. We had the bakso with timpit which is basically nasi himpit.

Cheap nasi campur for dinner. had this at a makan place called Stop...makan nyukkkk!!. Situated on the main road in Denpasar and opposite Carrefour. Yes, they have Carrefour in Bali. Enough already. They're not living on trees. Priced slightly cheaper than Malaysian nasi campur.

More post will come of my vacation to Bali. Stay tuned.

Buddy's Wedding With Sony A350

2008-05-02T01:27:00.005+08:00

Congratulations guys. Both of you are made for each other. So, now let's wait for the twins or triplets to come out eh. It was a very simple yet graceful event. Happy faces was everywhere. Friends, relatives. My buddy had it really easy when the chi muis didn't torture or demand acts to be done. Lucky no Brokeback Mountain style. He only had to sing one favourite love song for the wife. Even with that, he failed miserably and the heng tais all became dead woods. LOL. I'd tell you if it was Nirvana, we'd all be rocking and head banging.

When it comes to love songs, we're as bad as straight guys trying to be gay.

Here are some of the pics I took with my Sony A350 on stock lens. These images are for the daytime tea ceremony. Didn't take the night as I wanted to concentrate on eating the food. :p Click on the thumbnail to view a bigger image.

Visit to Sendat Waterfalls, Ulu Yam with Sony A350

2008-04-23T15:33:00.008+08:00

Boy, was I surprised on my birthday. Had a barbeque plan but was cancelled as everybody flew their kites and I had to cancel it. Got a present from my lovely wife. She gave me a Sony DLSR-A350. Dang, I had wanted to get a DSLR for a very long time and now I have it, I am still euphoric.

Anyway fast forward a week later, joined a trip organised by some blokes from Mitsubishi Triton owners' forum. We went to Sendat Waterfalls @ Ulu Yam for lunch and proceeded to the falls. Not even a softcore trail as Protons could even drive in.

Had a chance to test out my DLSR with stock lens of 18-55mm and 50-200mm. Quite ok lenses but I wouldn't say they're the greatest. What I like about the A350 is the Liveview. It works exactly like how a normal compact camera will work. So, A350 will be good for those interested in getting a DSLR. You'd feel comfortable right away.

You can see the metering, the focus, the spot focus. Unlike Nikon or Canon's type of liveview, their screen will blackout when focusing and taking images whereas Sony's won't. The Liveview on Sony works just by flicking a switch. It's that easy. What you see is what you get but then not entirely. As you won't be able to see the bukeh (means the blurring of the fore or background. some say bokkeh).

I love this DSLR and will start to take more images and exploring what the settings and DSLR has to offer. I have prior experience with film type SLR as I was required to use one for creative multimedia courses during uni days.

Check out the shots below and let know your thoughts. Click on the thumbnails for a bigger view.

This image was taken using the 50-200mm lens at full 200mm standing 2 metres away.

This image was taken using the 50-200mm lens at full 200mm standing around 20-30 metres away.

This image was taken using the 50-200mm lens at full 200mm standing 20-30 metres away.

Million Blog List

2008-04-16T15:25:00.000+08:00

I've just stumbled upon this blog aggregator. Not in the real sense. But, aggregator nevertheless. I added myself to the list and hey I am @ #373. It's an initiative to find out if there is really more than 700,000 bloggers worldwide and this site wish to achieve the listing of 1,000,000 blogs. How long to achieve that? I am guessing maybe another 18 months?

Well, if you're interested, click here. Page design is very Wikipedia styled.

Western media miss the real Tibet story

2008-04-16T13:31:00.003+08:00

I have always considered Dalai Lama as a politician and nothing more that that. A politician. Why would he want to escape from Tibet during the annexe of Tibet by China? He was afraid. Afraid of being captured as a rebel and because he can't accept the way the Chinese government operates.

If he is fighting for a better and freer Tibet, he should have stayed in Tibet and rally the people like how Aung San Suu Kyi did in Burma. I still call it Burma as Myanmmar is term coined by the ruling military junta.

He claims to be Bhuddist monk. But, why is he heading the government in exile of Tibet in Dharamsala? Why must he stay in hotels (some of them are renowned brands) when he can easily stay in a Bhuddist monastery in the countries he visits? I am sure security forces will be able to provide good security. Staying in the monasteries will make more people look up to him as an actual spiritual leader.

Anyways, just my thoughts. Not to stoke any hate. Read what Michael Backman thinks below.

Western media miss the real Tibet story

By Michael Backman
The Age
April 9, 2008

AFTER several years of highlighting wrongdoers in Asia in these pages and providing viewpoints that run counter to prevailing wisdom, I've at last received my first death threat.

Probably not that serious (it came anonymously by email) but something of a career milestone, nonetheless. It came from someone who claims to be a Tibetan refugee in India and a follower of the Dalai Lama.

My correspondent informed me that the next time I visit India I will be killed (eaten, he said) and my family will never find my body.

What annoyed my correspondent was a column I wrote last year for The Age in which I highlighted some aspects of the Dalai Lama that most media reports ignore: the fact that in running his government in exile, he has been extraordinarily nepotistic by appointing many relatives to senior positions, and that during the 1950s, '60s and into the '70s he was personally on the CIA's payroll, for example.

Last week, the column was reproduced without permission on a North American website and, in the context of the problems in Tibet, it added to the already fraught emotions of those who care strongly about this issue.

The original column was written to coincide with the Dalai Lama's visit to Australia last year. It was written to
counterbalance the huge, uncritical media coverage given to the Dalai Lama in the Australian media at that time.

I have always felt that the coverage accorded to the Dalai Lama in the Western media has been excessively
favourable and uncritical, just as the media coverage in China of the Dalai Lama is appallingly biased but in the negative.

Clearly, in the past few weeks, ethnic Tibetans have been killed by the Chinese military. This has been widely
reported.

But it is also clear that ethnic Chinese have been murdered by ethnic Tibetans in racially based attacks. This has not been made as clear in the Western media. And yet, the Western media were rightly appalled in 1998 when ethnic Chinese were raped and murdered in Jakarta for similar reasons — perceived excessive economic control at the expense of non-Chinese locals.

In Lhasa, four Chinese girls and one Tibetan girl were burned alive when a clothing store in which they worked was set alight by Tibetan protesters. But the rampage against the Chinese was not as simple as an attack on Han Chinese. Ethnic Chinese Muslim traders were also rounded on. Muslim traders have a centuries-old presence in Lhasa, a legacy of the ancient Silk Road. But in the unrest two weeks ago, the main mosque in Lhasa's old quarter was also burned down.

The apparent swamping of Tibetan culture by Chinese migrants is a tragedy. But the killing of ethnic Chinese small-business people, or indeed anyone else, is also wrong and no doubt one of the reasons why the Dalai Lama has threatened to resign.

But again, the treatment of this seems to suggest the Western media have their own bias when it comes to
reporting on Tibet. Unfortunately, this blunts criticism that can be made of China when it comes to its own
propagandising.

With regards to China and Tibet, unequivocal right does not reside on either side. Both sides point to sound
historical arguments to bolster their case. China genuinely believes that Tibet has long been a part of China. The Tibetans genuinely believe the opposite.

Ordinary Chinese in China regard the Tibetans as thankless and selfish. On my last visit to Beijing, one young
Chinese described them as aggressive and unappreciative of all the development that China has provided them. I told him that their main concern is that they are being swamped by Chinese migrants seemingly as a calculatedattempt at cultural genocide. A look of surprise flashed across his face. He'd not heard this argument before and yet its logic clearly appealed to him. He'd never heard it because the Chinese media have never reported it.

Nationalism has been rising in China, so it is unlikely that such a view will get a hearing in China. Many Western investors will probably find their passage in China eased if they make clear statements in favour of China on the issue too.

Potentially, China did do ordinary Tibetans a great service when it overthrew the rule of the Dalai Lama, the rich monasteries and a coterie of wealthy aristocratic families whose members typically were so laden with Sicilian coral, Iranian turquoise and Burmese rubies that they could barely move. The overthrow has its parallel in King Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries of England that had developed a stranglehold over the land and the lives of the peasants.

Unfortunately, in Tibet's case, what replaced theocratic, self-serving rule was scarcely much better — the Chinese Communist Party. The local despots were replaced by foreign ones.

The first Starbucks in Lhasa is probably only one or two years away. This is a tragedy, too, particularly for the many rich Western travellers who would rather Tibet stay stuck in the Middle Ages for their own personal enjoyment, much in the same way economic sanctions have preserved Burma as the world's largest living museum.

The vested interests that surround the Tibet issue are many and make it a great deal more complicated than
simple slogans such as "Free Tibet" suggest. If China is ever going to neutralise this issue, it is going to have to
learn to act with a level of sophistication, maturity and self-confidence that it now lacks. Apologising to Tibetans for their suffering under Chinese rule will need to be part of the package. But obviously such a degree of enlightenment is years off.

Published @ The Age.

Earth Hour

2008-04-03T14:58:00.005+08:00

Created to take a stand against the greatest threat our planet has ever faced, Earth Hour uses the simple action of turning off the lights for one hour to deliver a powerful message about the need for action on global warming.

On 31 March 2007, 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour - Earth Hour. If the greenhouse reduction achieved in the Sydney CBD during Earth Hour was sustained for a year, it would be equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road for a year.

In 2008, 24 global cities participated in Earth Hour at 8pm on March 29. Earth Hour is the highlight of a major campaign to encourage businesses, communities and individuals to take the simple steps needed to cut their emissions on an ongoing basis.

Earth Hour started as a joint initiative between WWF-Australia, Fairfax Media and Leo Burnett for the city of Sydney. The intent is for the event to be adopted by other residents, communities, businesses and governments around the world so they too can help demonstrate that individual action on a mass scale can help change our planet for the better.

If you're interested to know more, please visit Earth Hour. There is also a Facebook group if you'd like. Let's calculate our carbon footprint here. Takes less than 15 seconds. You can lower your carbon footprint simply by just planting a tree or a potted plant.

The company that I am currently working in has actually implemented this on a daily basis where lights in the office will be switched off from 12 PM - 2 PM. Saves cost.

Fitna - The Movie

2008-03-31T10:59:00.003+08:00

Just recently, a politician from Holland i.e. Geert Wilders made and released a movie of a tirade against Islam. Geert Wilders is a politician from a party named Party For Freedom.

Verses from the Quran was quoted with clips or deeds of the Moslems depicted and relayed to the verses. If the translation is right, then it is a very scary thing. A holy book preaching so much violence and so merciless. The context of the text may be taken too literally or could be misinterpreted. Yes, other holy books may preach violence as well whether we realise it or not.

But, this looks even worse. If from what I have read from the Quran (I have an English version), it could be a book that incites hate for first time readers. It's like Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler's doctrine. Take a careful look at the video where there is a scene the Moslems proclaiming support for what Hitler did during WW2 to the Jews.

On 15 August 2007, a representative of the Prosecutors' Office in Amsterdam declared that "dozens of reports" against Wilders had been filed, and that they were all being considered. Due to this position on Islam, the Dutch-Morrocan rapper Appa, when interviewed about Wilders for a newspaper, said “if someone were to put a bullet in his head, I wouldn't mind”. Wilders charged him with threatening with death. Appa denied this, saying that he wouldn't care (if it happened), accusing Wilders of harboring the same attitude towards Muslims.

Is this the way Moslems would act? Is it all about death and vengeance to others? We're no longer living in the times of Jahilliah. Why can't Moslems use positive reinforment and start educating people on Islam. I said EDUCATING. NOT CONVERTING OR HARVESTING.

Here is the video in two parts. Any Moslem readers care to enlighten me on the inaccuracies please?

Part1

Part 2

Malays Disrespecting Royalties

2008-03-26T10:41:00.005+08:00

Looking at the BN or rather UMNO fiasco in Terengganu, it is very disheartening. The Sultan of Terengganu is currently our DYMM Agong. If UMNO is disrespecting the Sultan, they are disrespecting the Agong. This means treachery. Traitors. In Malay, that is Derhaka. And this is punishable by death. Remember who invited the Japan to invade Malaya during WW2? No? Go figure.

Looking at the fiasco in Perak, LKS did apologise and admit his follies to the palace and Sultan. UMNO wanted to lynch him and screamed he didn't respect the Sultan and Malays.

Now tell me, what THE FUCK are the Malays going to do against Malays who now revolt against the royalty now since it is coming from UMNO? And you say Indians and Chinese have no love for Malaysia?

I don't see any protests, demonstrations or pickets. How would you want other people to respect you as Malays when you Malays don't even respect yourselves and are hyprocrites. If BN (more specifically UMNO) holds a demonstration, it's ok. If others, you will be greeted with water cannons, batons and ISA.

Malaysian voters open the door for Anwar Ibrahim - Michael Backman

2008-03-18T03:15:00.003+08:00

Malaysian voters open the door for Anwar Ibrahim
by Michael Backman
The Age
March 12, 2008

MALAYSIA Boleh! (Malaysia Can!) is Malaysia's national slogan but after last Saturday's elections, the real slogan should be Malaysians Boleh! for ordinary Malaysians are to be congratulated. The humiliation they handed their government at the federal and state elections demonstrates how politically sophisticated and mature they have become in the face of a high-handed and patronising government.

Five state governments were won by the opposition and federally, the Government had its worst showing ever. But it was the clinical precision in which voters went about their business that was most impressive.

Zainuddin Maidin, the information minister, lost his seat. A measure of how complacent the Government had
become was its appointment of the inept Zainuddin to the role in the first place. His appalling performance on Al Jazeera television late last year was a very public international humiliation for all Malaysians. Voters did what Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi did not have the guts to do: they removed him from office.

Malaysia's media has become so discredited that local bloggers are now hugely popular. Zainuddin had
patronisingly warned Malaysians about false information spread by bloggers. They responded by voting one of the most popular bloggers — Jeff Ooi — into parliament.

The birthday of Samy Vellu, the long-serving public works minister and head of the party that represents Malaysia's Indian community, coincided with election day but it was Malaysians who got the birthday present. Samy lost his seat.

No one is more to blame than he for driving Malaysia's Indians into their pitiful state as second-class citizens. His deputy also lost his seat, as did the head of the party's youth wing, its vice-president, and the head of its women's wing. The party barely exists now.

Meanwhile, a lawyer who championed the rights of Indians and who has been detained without charge since
December because of it, won a seat in a state parliament — a seat in which the majority of voters are actually
Chinese. It seems that ordinary Malaysians have a greater sense of fair play than their Government.

The Government lost power in the state of Penang. Lim Guan Eng, the much-respected new chief minister, was arrested and jailed in 1994 after he distributed a brochure complaining about the handling of claims that the (then) chief minister of Malacca, Rahim Thamby Chik, had sexual relations with an under-age girl who happened to be one of Lim's constituents.

Unbelievably Thamby Chik was not charged for what amounted to statutory rape but Lim was, for having distributed the pamphlet. How embarrassing for Abdullah that he must now deal with a chief minister that his Government so unfairly jailed.

Only the state government of Sarawak was spared voters' ire but only because it had its elections last year. But nature will bring change there too. Its long-serving, outstandingly greedy, cancer-stricken chief minister is soon to learn that a shroud has no pockets.

More broadly, the very legitimacy of Abdullah's Government is open to question. At the federal level, the opposition received 47.8% of the vote; a remarkable result given voting fraud, a frightened media that gives the opposition almost no positive coverage, and severely rigged electoral boundaries. As it was, about a third of eligible voters did not vote, meaning that Abdullah's Government was returned by only four out of 10 eligible voters.

Late last year, I met with former finance minister and senior ruling party lawmaker Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah at his residence in Kuala Lumpur. He told me how appalled he was by the direction Malaysia had taken. He said that Malaysia needed a free media and a truly independent judiciary. He decried the corruption and nepotism that had beset the leadership of his own party. "But why don't you stand up in parliament and say these things?" I asked.

"Because the media would be instructed not to report it," he said.

If the opposition parties and their leaders can put their egos aside and think strategically, they have a chance of giving Malaysia what it sorely needs, a stable two-party system.

Opposition figure Anwar Ibrahim will become eligible for election next month with the expiry of the ban following his criminal conviction.

The nightmare scenario for Abdullah is that Anwar's wife, who was again elected on Saturday, will resign in the coming months, forcing a by-election at which Anwar will be elected. He might then help to coalesce the opposition parties into a more unified and effective voice. If he were to lure the Chinese-based MCA and perhaps the Sarawak-based United Traditional Bumiputera Party away from the ruling coalition, then the opposition would have precisely half the members of parliament. And if just one more government member were to walk — Tengku Razaleigh perhaps — then the Government will fall after 50 years in office. The current 13-party ruling coalition would be replaced by a five-party coalition. Whether or not this happens, there will be constant tension from the fact that it might.

Abdullah has emerged as probably Malaysia's most pointless prime minister. The election results are an
unmitigated disaster for him and his Government. If the opposition is sufficiently disciplined and the ruling coalition starts to crack, then his nightmare has only just begun. Could Abdullah negotiate such a minefield? So far his political talents don't seem to have stretched beyond using chemical-laden water cannons against his own people. It would seem his days are numbered.

See the published version here.

Trip Back To Taiping

2008-03-14T17:32:00.002+08:00

Made a trip back to Taiping to exercise my constitutional right to vote. It was a solemn affair. I was there at the voting station and voting stream at 815 am in the morning. Boy was the process fast and with a number of negligible amount of people.

Took my voting slip, went to the booth and pangkah and slipped them in for Parliament and DUN to the ballot box.

Taiping was raining throughout my stay over the weekend. Took a snap with my phone's cam (forgot to bring back digicam) of the hill opposite where I stay.

Looks like the Scottish highlands eh. Dark and gloomy. There was once where the sun's rays were shining through the clouds. Some part of the hill was lighted and some not.

Previous post on Taiping here.

BN denied 2/3 majority

2008-03-10T02:12:00.003+08:00

I know everyone now knows that the Opposition or Barisan Rakyat has denied a 2/3 majority to BN. BR even took the states of Kedah , Penang, Perak, Selangor & Kelantan. I did remember Khir Toyo said he wanted ZERO opposition in Selangor. It seems he's ZEROed.

Congratulations to BN on forming the next Federal government. BN, now you have much to do to regain the trust of the rakyat. Do not threaten nor intimidate. Congratulations to BR for the splendid tsunami. It seems the Chinese and Indians are now fed-up of MCA and MIC. The Malays have even swung the votes to BR. Now, this is what I call democracy where we are now going beyond racial lines. BR, now out your shit together, no bickering, no power grabbing.

The rakyat that gave you the mandate is now watching over how you will perform for the next 4-5 years. Hold true to your election promises and manifesto. Protect the interest of the rakyat and the country. Yes, we realise that there is a lot of shit to clean up and things to put back together. Yes, there will be disturbances from those that lost to make your life and work harder. Persevere. BR, you are now a collective voice. Use it.

DAP's National Address Video

2008-03-07T19:21:00.004+08:00

Since all the mainstream medias are blocking out opposition coverage or rather not covering them at all, DAP and the rest of the Barisan Rakyat has used the Internet. Here's a video address by Lim Guan Eng of DAP.

I do not totally agree with what he said especially on Petronas money. We can't be using RM 35 billion just to give out money. What Malaysia need is better education infrastructure and policies. The RM 35 needs to be spent on building Malaysia's infrastructures. Some of the money are for subsidies (bad I know but necessary nevertheless) and for emergency/invesment funds for the country. I's just like your monthly pay. You don't spend everything right? You keep some, you spend some, and you invest some.

Using RM 35 billion to pay off people is just plain unrealistic.

Chinaman and a Malay having a conversation

2008-03-03T13:55:00.003+08:00

Oh I didn't know my last post on why Malaysia Needs A Strong Opposition was my 150th post. In order to celebrate, here's a little joke. Gives us some moments of laughter before the raw deal happens this Saturday. I am sure a lot of people will be glued to TV for results or check the Internet.

Two old friends - a Chinaman and a Malay were having a conversation recently ....

A pek: Lu potong zaka ada bagut ka?
Ali: Manyak bagut. Bila lu potong haa lu punya barang manyak bersih loo...
Apek: ?!! err ... saya kawan ada cakap, potong zaka aaahh.... manyak ploblem..
Ali: Apa probrem ?
Apek: Manyak buang lui, lagi aahh .. dia punya performance tatak bagut...
manyak cinang semputloh ...
Ali: Cehh... apek, lu apa celita... saya suda lama potong.
tada apa problem... bini saya manyak puas woo...
Apek: Lu mini puas sama itu potong zaka ka?
Ali: Ya laa. Bila lu potong aahh... lagi sedap maen woo..
lu lagi lambat pancut..
Apek: ???!!! err... lu punya 1.3 atau 1.5??
Ali: ??!! woi apek cakap baik2 sikit ha .. saya punya 6 inci laa..
Apek: ??! Tiu nia ma... lu jgn maen2 haa.. mana ada potong zaka 6 inci..
Ali: Cilaka apek ni...nah tengok (unzipped his trousers)
Apek: Chee sin punya olang.....gua tanya baik2 ... lu tunjuk lu punya lanchiau..
Ali: Abis... lu tarak percaya..saya tunjuk la..
Apek: Saya tatak tanya sama lu punya lanchiau...
Saya tanya lu pasal itu nasional car... potong zaka..
molo punya olang..
Ali: Aiya... apek... lain kali lu sebut betul2la....kasi susa saja..
Bukan potong zaka la.... proton saga........

Malaysia Needs A Strong Opposition - Michael Backman

2008-02-28T17:08:00.001+08:00

Malaysia needs a strong Opposition
by Michael Backman
The Age
February 27, 2008

SHOULD Malaysians bother to vote? The corollary of this question is: does the Malaysian Government deserve to be re-elected? The answer to the second question is no.

In the past few years, the Malaysian Government has presided over an extraordinary number of scandals that are appalling by any standards: the trade minister's allocation of car import permits to friends, relatives and supporters; the billion-dollar fraud at the Port Klang Free Trade Zone; the outrageous and much-flaunted wealth of ruling party politician Zakaria Md Deros; the claims that a High Court judge allowed the lawyer representing a rich businessman to write for him his judgement in a defamation lawsuit; an immensely rich chief minister in Sarawak state who is allowed to rule as if it were his; and so on.

The Malaysian Government richly deserves to pay for all of this at the ballot box.

So the next question is: should the Malaysian Opposition be elected to office? Again, the answer is no.

The Opposition is a shambolic assortment of the disaffected rather than a competent, alternative government. In no way is it ready to govern.

All these questions are pertinent because Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has called elections for March 8.

Elections are fought tenaciously in Malaysia as if the South-East Asian country is a fully fledged democracy. But it isn't. It is democratic in that elections are held, but they are not fair. The ruling coalition has been in power in one form or another since independence 50 years ago. One reason for this longevity is that there are legal and institutional biases that favour the Government.

Malaysian electorates are severely malapportioned. The smallest electorates are rural; the largest are
metropolitan. The largest have about six times the number of registered voters as the smallest. This means that the votes of those in the smallest seats count for many times those in the larger seats.

This sort of bias meant, for example, that in the last general elections held in 2004, the ruling coalition won 198 or 91% of the parliamentary seats with just 64% of the votes cast. The Opposition won only 21 seats or 9.6% of the seats compared with 36% of the popular vote.

Had the Parliament reflected voters' actual voting intentions, there would have been 79 rather than 21 Opposition members elected.

Outright fraud is another way in which Malaysians are cheated when they vote. Tens of thousands of dead people are believed to have voted in the 2004 elections. Exit polling is difficult, but it is assumed that these voters overwhelmingly favoured the Government. Credit must be given when it is due — the Government did eventually remove hundreds of thousands of deceased voters from the electoral roles. But the damage had been done.

Also at the last elections, thousands of Malaysians who turned up on polling day found that the electorates in which they were registered had been changed without their permission or knowledge. Thousands of voters were shifted into Opposition-held or marginal electorates. Absurdly, even family members living in the same house discovered that they had been registered in different electorates. Most Malaysians do vote for the ruling coalition, so the effect of this was to swamp the votes for the Opposition.

Multiple voting is another problem. Indelible ink is used to mark voters when they vote, but it is not compulsory.

Next month's election is being held a year early. Why? One reason is because Anwar Ibrahim, who was deputy prime minister until he was charged and convicted of corruption and sodomy in the late 1990s, will only be eligible to stand for election after April 8 because of the convictions. The sodomy convictions were overturned because of uncertainty about the dates on which the alleged acts were supposed to have occurred, but the corruption verdict stood.

Anwar is unfit to hold public office, regardless of the Government's manoeuvring against him. The sodomy issue is irrelevant. The serious charges against him are the corruption charges, which relate to Anwar asking the police to heavy two witnesses into withdrawing their statements against him. On this, Anwar was convicted with irrefutable evidence.

That the deputy prime minister of any country should do such a thing is unforgivable and yet Anwar has his
backers, mostly in the Western media.

Most Malaysians found his criticisms of their Government shortly after he was removed from office to be
transparently opportunistic, given that he had been a senior minister in the Government for 15 years. But while Anwar is more popular outside Malaysia than inside, he is still a rallying figure for the discontented.

So what should Malaysians do? Firstly, in a country where voting is not compulsory, they should vote. There's no point complaining on internet blogs but not bothering to vote.

Given the Opposition's unpreparedness to govern, the Malaysian Government is best returned. But it does
deserve a good, hard kick. Even more, it needs a significant and strong Opposition to help it govern better. It needs greater accountability and scrutiny, which a strong Opposition in Parliament will help provide. That is what good governments everywhere have and need.

Of course, tiny Singapore is an exception but Singapore is a country in name only. The reality is that the Singapore Government is a glorified city council.

Malaysia, on the other hand, is a diverse and complex country that wants to be modern. It needs to be governed like one.

See the published version @:

http://www.michaelbackman.com/NewColumn.html

http://business.theage.com.au/malaysia-needs-a-strong-opposition/20080226-1v0i.html

Election Fever Is Heating Up

2008-02-25T00:49:00.005+08:00

Now that Nomination Day (Sunday 24 Feb 2008) is over, next would be the ceramahs to be held all over the country by both BN and also BR. Nice change of name from Barisan Alternatif to Barisan Rakyat. Reflects a much more solid and mature alternative to BN. Just like the Democrats vs Republicans.

BR has also came out with a nice poster. Got the poster below from RPK' site. There's a larger version here. So nice, I am just going to put it in my blog. However, putting the poster does not necessarily make myself a BR supporter and with saying that does not make me a BN supporter.

Let the games begin with the cry of Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war.

Highest Inflation Rate In The World

2008-02-21T16:40:00.004+08:00

In my perspective, Zimbabwe is the worse country to live in right now. Zimbabwe is now a country in the throes of its worst economic crisis in decades. Critical shortages of food, fuel, foreign currency, and, in some areas, water beset a nation where the official inflation rate tops 7,600 percent. Some analysts believe the real figure is much higher and climbing fast.

Zimbabwe's inflation rate has hit 100,000%. Yes, you read it right. 100,000% inflation. And their solution to the inflation? Print more money. Zimbabwe just came out with a 10 million Zimbabwe dollar note. That's alot you might think. That note is practically worth nothing. Zimbabwe officially holds the world record for the highest inflation rate.

Imagine a loaf of bread costs more than USD1,000. A gallon of petrol costs USD9,200 @ exchange rate of 250 Zimbabwe dollars to USD1. That's like a 1gallon=3.78 litres of petrol @ RM7,500 per litre. That's madness.

30 Reasons Girls Should Call It A Night

2008-02-20T13:45:00.005+08:00

What would you give to view collection of drunk and passed out ladies on the floor or even in the toilets? Imagine girls drunk over the toilet and in the bar, often with their panties showing and their faces three sheets to the wind. Drunkenly dancing on tables or collapsing in the street used to be a source of acute embarrassment for young women the morning after the night before. Today, they are more likely to boast about it.

Facebook has gone wild and mad with a group called *30 Reasons Girls Should Call It A Night*. An online collection of girls in various state on drunken madness. There are more than 170,000 members now and boasts of more then 4,700 images. The pictures are taken in real scenarios with real people by real people. Truth is funnier than fiction. There is no shame for these girls.

Here are the *30 Reasons Girls Should Call It A Night* when they go out clubbing.

If you can relate to any of these.. you must join the club @ Facebook!!!

1. You have absolutely no idea where your friends are.

2. You have absolutely no idea where your car is... wait did you bring your car??

3. You've become convinced that dancing with your arms overhead, shaking your ass, and yelling WOO HOO is truly the sexiest dance move EVER.

4. You've suddenly decided you want to kick someone's ass and honestly believe you can do it (bitch...i ain't playin...).

5. You start singing 80's songs at the top of your lungs and showing off your dance skills to the car next to you.

6. Your bladder becomes amazingly full every 10 minutes.

7. You sit down and the room and people around you start spinning profusely.

8. Your slurring your words so bad, that nobody can understand what your saying and then when they say what, you can't even remember what you were talking about.

9. You've come up with the brilliant idea that you can create less hassle on your friends by just "sleeping over" at a your guy friend's house.

10. You see beers all over a table so you lift each one up until you find one half full and chug it when no one is looking.

11. You talk to stupid skanks you really hate and tell them you really do like them and that ya’ll should be friends.

12. You pass out at the party. And the next morning there is writing all over your face and limbs. (If you pass out with your shoes on, you are fair game).

13. You find yourself peeing behind random buildings.

14. You become overly enthusiastic when someone offers you $20 dollars to make out with your friend (when you totally would have done it for free).

15. The man you're flirting with used to be your TA.

16. You've suddenly taken up smoking, and become really good at it.

17. Every conversation starts with a booming, "DON'T take this the WRONG WAY but..."

18. Your make-up is smeared all over your face and somehow you have still managed to make out with 5 different guys. very classy.

19. The urge to take off articles of clothing becomes strangely overwhelming.

20. Your eyes just don't seem to want to stay open on their own, so you keep them half closed and think it looks exotically sexy.

21. You yell at the bartender, because you think he cheated you by giving you lemonade, but that's just because you can no longer taste the vodka.

22. You think you're in bed, but your pillow feels strangely like the bathroom floor.

23. Your hugs begin to resemble wrestling take-down moves.

24. You begin to think you're a really good dancer and anyone within arms reach becomes your new dancing partner.

25. You've taken off your shoes because you believe it's their fault that you're having problems walking.

26. You can't feel your phone vibrating in your pocket and then when you look to see what time it is, you find you have 7 missed calls from someone you
"supposively" met at the last party.

27. One minute you're strutting your stuff, the next minute you're rolling on the ground, and you can't seem to remember the transition.

28. You can no longer feel your face or limbs so you flail your body about to try to regain feeling.

29. You call your ex-boyfriend 1,000 times and leave lots of really nice voicemails saying that ya'll need to hang out more.

30. You start hugging strange people and having great conversations with strangers at whataburger.

RM1

2008-02-15T05:52:00.001+08:00

This is damn funny. Was posted to my Funwall in Facebook. enjoy.

That day I go up north with Linpeh to Ipoh to eat Taugeh chicken lice, then on the way kambing back to KL he suddenly shouted ...

Linpeh : OI!!! STOPPTHE CAR!!!
Me : What??!!
Linpeh : STOP THE CAR!!!
Me : HERE? In the middle of nowhere? you crazy??!!! no way!
Linpeh : Stop the car or i will shit in your car!
Me : MCH!!! ok ok I stop!!! I stop!!! Stop where ?
Linpeh : There! u see the bush there?
Me : Ok ok now get the outta my car and go shit in the bush!
Linpeh jumped outta my car and run as fast as he could into the bush while i stay in the car and wait for him to finish his business ....
A few minits later my phone ring ... I see see its Linpeh.
Me : Halo! You shit that time need to chat with someone only can come out izzit?
Linpeh : Oi! Your car got tissue paper anot?
Me : Tarak! Sand paper u ngam anot?
Linpeh : Mahai dun play!!
Me : Really tarak wan leh! In my boot there really got sand paper wan!
Linpeh : Diu la! no tisue how to wipe?
Me : Err ... use leaves la!!!
Linpeh : Mch! no leaves on the ground la! if wanna use leave kenot climb tree naked ledi! Lu siao ar??!!
Me : Aiyaks! lidat ... lidat ... ermm
Linpeh : Diu! Faster help me think la!
Me : OH!! use money!!! you got one ringgit anot?
Linpeh : Got! Then?
Me : Use it to wipe la!
Linpeh : Use one ringgit to wipe?? U sure can anot??!!!
Me : Can la!!! last time my relative also done something lidis before geh! trust me!
Linpeh : MCH! if you bruff me then u die!
Few minutes later I can see Linpeh emerges from the bush ... something dont seems very right, the way hes walking is somehow wrong .... so i got down of the car and asked him ...
Me : Oi your shit too hard your asshole koyakED izzit?
Linpeh : No lah! this time my shit soft soft sticky sticky one! got undigested taugeh sommo!
Me : Then why u walk lidat wan??
Linpeh : Niahma! all thanks to you la!
Me : Why me?
Linpeh : You asked me to use one Ringgit to wipe my ass lar diu!
Me : Yar ... dint that do the trick? If one ringgit not enuff then u use 2 ringgit la!
Linpeh : Mahai!!! 2 Ringgit??!! I where got so much coins??!!!

12th General Election

2008-02-14T03:26:00.007+08:00

UPDATE:

Nomination is on 24 February and Malaysians will cast their votes on 8 March 2008. Don't grumble about the current government. Make a change or balance with your votes.

AAB has just announced the pembubaran parlimen/parliment dissolvement yesterday on 13 February 2008. It was in the news everywhere.

The best thing was, he announced this after the said that parliment won't be dissolved on 13 February 2008. And he gave a ridiculous reason that he needs to confer with the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong. Please lah AAB, you cold have just said no comment or something to that effect and not lie to our faces instead. What are your PR people doing?

Another piece of news is of Ipoh Timur MCA division deputy chairman Datuk Thong Fah Chong.

He said:

' Projects planned for the people may be affected if they vote in an opposition candidate'

'requested a RM10mil allocation for the project, but due to lack of continuity, the plan could not be carried out.'

'As I was not re-elected, the allocation fell through'

Are you trying to tell me that if you are voted out you won't carry out your job to the community and specifically the Chinese community since you're in MCA? Is this a threat? You'd rather watch people suffer from floods than pursue what you have started and rather let it rot and die so that Opposition will get the brunt of the blame?

Come on now Malaysians. BN is giving threats that if we don't vote them in or the lose the majority, they might not help the rakyat with development. I'd figure they just want to pocket the money themselves. Development will still go on whether we like it or not and whether we vote in the opposition or give BN lesser majority. It is demanded by the rakyat. We need the balance of power. Look at what the BN loafers have done throughout the 4 years the were under the AAB admin with more than 90% majority? Basically not much and look at the corruption level and the sluggish economy.

Do you want to vote in arrogant people who gives threats? They're like gangsters roaming our current streets with the police force being ineffective. Do you want to vote in a PM that lies? Do you want this for your future? And remember, the country and rakyat deserves the government since they voted for it.

One last thing. Beware of your votes being hijacked by ghost voters. Check your details @ SPR here.

Happy Chinese New Year

2008-02-04T14:20:00.000+08:00

Happy Chinese New Year! It's the year of the rat. A rodent that thrives on hardship and also an opportunist. Careful, rats can bring diseases as well. Sounds familiar isn't it? Sounds almost human like. Anyway, to those driving back to hometown or going out of state, drive save, have a good holiday and Gong Xi Fa Chai.

Here are some images to refresh your eyes before a drive. Whatever rocks your world. :)

All New Fiat Punto 1.4

2008-01-29T17:21:00.000+08:00

Have some shots of the new Fiat Punto 1.4 to be sold in Malaysia. Saw 3 of the cars, two maroon and one sky blue in a car park of Kelana Jaya.

Colours are not bad and shape may take a little getting used to. Shaped like an egg. Comes with sky-roof. That's two sun-roof for the noobs. Instrument panels look quite good and very driver friendly.

Here are some images I took. Click on the thumbnails to view a larger piece.

Also, the driver of the car informed me that the new Fiat Brava is coming soon. A turbo-charge 1.4 intercooler engine with an output of 150 horsepower. Wait for that man.

Just AutoDetailed - Mitsubishi Triton

2008-01-20T20:11:00.002+08:00

This is my car. The Mitsubishi Triton or sometimes known as Mitsubishi L200. The big black beast.

Coming from the winners of the Dakar Rally, this beast is powered by a 3rd Generation CommonRail diesel engine. Powered by a DOHC 16 valve 2.5 litre turbo-charged intercooler engine rated with 136 horsepower @ 3,500 rpm with an impressive 314 of torque @ 2,000 rpm. Big boot space and perfect for a family camping holiday. Just setup a tent on the cargo bay and you're set to go.

Had my truck detailed as I figured it was neglected long enough. You have to see the results of the autodetailing in real life to appreciate how much work went through the process. I sent my truck to Darren @ Autodetailed. You can read his blog here. A satisfied customer I am.

Changed my original wipers to PIAA Sportza carbon fibre silicon wipers.