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Zürich - Day II

2009-08-22T16:28:00.000-07:00

Day 2, Octavia and I didn't wanna waste our last day hibernating in the hotel so we decided to take a walk to the city.

Curious dog

Crowne Plaza is around here

For lunch, we had kebab and Corona beer. Then it was back to hotel, and back home...

Next up...

Ahmedabad

Mahatma Gandhi

5 December 2008 - Zürich

2009-08-21T14:18:00.000-07:00

Zürich Day I
As promised, this post is all about Zürich. Zürich is a beautiful city - old and rustic with a lot of history, just like most of the other European cities. It is also where I had my first experience with snow. I'll never forget when I first stuck my tongue out into the freezing air to taste snowflakes haha.

And the tour we've decided to go on was Mount Titlis that claims to have snow all year round. Luckily it was winter anyway so snow was in abundance!

In the tram on our way to the pickup location for the tour

Judith and Octavia(hmm...notice how this post is similar to that of my Paris post)

The rest of the pictures there on was a blur because they were all taken from the bus. But this is a nice clear-ish shot of of a 'cottage' on the way up to a little town called Engelberg where Titlis is.

'Cottage'

so excited to see snow!

From Engelberg, we took a cable car up the mountain. The weather got worse as we ascended. We were told that the temperature would drop as low as -17°C outside!!

Brrrrr!

As we arrived, there were a few places from which we can start. This is the glacier tunnel. Apparently the temperature in here never goes higher than 0°C. Hence the glacier stays frozen and the tunnel remains even during summer. See this little column I'm leaning against? There are buttons on top of it with names like "Disco" and "Pop" ...etc. Press on a button and the tunnel is instantly played with the choice of music. As for me, I pretty liked the "Yoddle"!

Yoddle-lay-hee-hoo!

Surprisingly, the particular tour company we decided to join that day had us and two other people only...

This is what happens when you set FOUR cameras on timer to go off at the same time

Later on, we put our sustenance towards cold to the test and out we went into the blizzard!

Dense!

What's a snow experience without snow angels?

Lunch time. The best thing about the cold is you get to sip chocolate at its best - super hot and frothy! Mmm mm! And by the way, that meal there was heavy on the cost, literally! They charge by weight up there so you really 'watch your weight' when you eat, mind the puns!

Leaving Titlis

I love this picture because of its background. Stunning mountains nice pine trees. It's as if God was coating His Black Forest Cake with icing sugar...sweet :)

Next, the tour took us to the city of Luzern (or Lucern)for a little souvenir shopping, in case we didn't get enough of them at Titlis.

Back in Zürich Central Station, there was a night market made especially for Christmas. There were pushcart stalls everywhere selling decorative items and everything Christmas. They even had stars projected on the ceiling!

And there stood this huge Christmas tree with white glittery things all over it. A closer look and we realized these white things are in fact...

...Swarovski crystals!

-n-

Paris - Day II

2009-07-12T11:16:00.000-07:00

Long delay there from Day I to Day II. Mostly because I was so lazy...and photobucket was giving me upload problems. Anyways this is Day II of Paris:

Day II, I set out to explore Paris on my own since none of the rest wanted to leave the hotel. I rented a bicycle from the self-help bicycle stands available in many parts of the city, pretty convenient stuff.

Panorama of Paris

The French Statue of Liberty by the Seine

Then of course there were brands like these:

And these are just some of the nice scenery taken which look very postcard-ish...

I finally arrived at Notre Dame, the iconic landmark of renaissance Paris. This is where Quasimodo the hunchback bell ringer came from!!! Haha

Infront of Notre Dame, which means "Our Dame" or "Our Lady"

Here are the people who helped me took a picture of me in front of Notre Dame. They were doing a bit for some TV channel or university video project...

They say Paris is the most romantic city in the world where one finds love and falls in it, I say it is also a weird city where one finds strange encounters:

A car is parked outside a church...

The police spotted the car...

The police woman takes a look at the car...

Is it just me or is the car damn weird looking. So is it because it was parked at a no-parking zone or were the police as amused?

The day was short lived, I had to report for work in the evening. I had late lunch after my day around Paris and what an expensive place to live in. A plate of steak with a glass of apricot juice cost €14, that's MYR70!

So there you go, Day II at Paris. Sorry I have to keep the posts concise and limit the number of pictures since I'll have tons of posts coming up.

NEXT UP - ZÜRICH

Paris - Day I

2009-03-14T03:03:00.000-07:00

It's been exactly four months since I first step foot into Paris. It was my birthday when I arrived. I can still remember the thrill when I peeked out of the aircraft window. And just before I disembark, my colleagues gave me a surprise birthday bash with cake and all - business class style :D

Here's just a summary of events
The next day, Cass, Cherry, Karen and I decided to tour Paris:

That's chez Clément restaurant - quite a posh place. Le Meridien(where we stayed) is just a few doors away.

We headed down Avenue de la Grande Armée towards Arc de Triumphe. There we had breakfast by the street - French omelette with sausages and a hot cup of chocolate, coupled by the cold autumn(near winter) weather <- This is my dream come true, man!
Rue Saint-Ferdinand

Arc de Triumphe

To go to Champs Elysées, we have to go through an underpass.

Champs Elysées

From Champs Elysées we took a train to the Louvre.

The infamous glass pyramid of Louvre

The Louvre is situated in a huge courtyard where there are statues everywhere. Cass is with one here hehe

Outside Louvre there's a pond for ducks and gulls to feed. While I was attracted to the birds, this little French cutie caught the girls' eyes. Her dad was kind enough to share some bread to feed the birds

We continued our journey to a shopping mall called La Fayette. On the way we stopped by a little shop for some crêpes just around Place de la Concorde

Place de la Concorde

Crêpes!

After crêpes, we were off to La Fayette to shop. Louis Vuitton? Anyone? Not me!
On the way...

Lost?

Crossing Rue Duphot at Boulevard de la Madeleine

...found a church - The Madeleine

Inside Madeleine

The National Music Academy

After a couple of hours waiting for the girls to get their LV stuff, we could finally go visit the Eiffel Tower!

Down by the road just before the tower, there's a working carousel and a few snack stalls. This particular stall looked very amusing...

...dizzy...

The sign says Churros bien chaud. Churro is a spanish pastry very much like doughnut but is deep fried. Read more about it here
This is how it's made. First the CHURROMAN squeezes the dough out of the machine, which molds it into an long 8 sided star like PLAYDOH. He then cuts the dough into desired length, right into a hot pot of oil.

Churros bien chaud - Very hot Churros!

Once the churros are cooked to golden perfection, he tosses them with sugar and voila! It's done. :D

A 'pyramid' of churros cost 5 euros and with and addition of 1 euro, you can have nutella chocolate for dips!

yummy!

Just in time for a group photo after some yummy churros

Being under the Eiffel tower was surreal. I remember having to see pictures or watch movies(like this one here) of the Eiffel tower and think "how I wish I were here", and here I was it was right under my nose...in a way.

The queue at the tower was tremendous! We waited for almost an hour to get our tickets. To go all the way up to the top of the tower costs 12euros but it was worth it after all. The view was breath taking even though it was freezing up there.

A view from the top indeed!

North, South, East and West pillars

Later that night after returning from sight-seeing, we went for a feast of mussels at Léon de Bruxelles near our hotel.

That's all for Day I in Paris. In Day II, I will be out and about in Paris alone, on a bicycle!

Hoorah!

2009-03-14T01:24:00.000-07:00

I have finally decided to get off the couch and start posting some pictures here. Yippie! There are tons of pictures coming up. Here's a teaser :P

Taman Pertanian

2008-05-26T02:24:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago my sister, Kelly and I decided to go have a look see the very 'famous' Taman Pertanian in Shah Alam. I've been there when I was a little boy but only remember passing by the padi fields...and that is all. Since Kelly's dad would take his morning jobs here every Sunday, we decided to bump into him that day.

As we approached the entrance of the park, there were multiple sign boards that had different names to the park, which was pretty confusing. Once there, there wasn't much amusement to it. It was just a normal park. I remember the crowds of people cramming on the little tar road to see the park when it was newly opened. Here are some pictures taken there.

Here is a monument at entrance of the park (where you pay to enter). It's some sort of concrete monument that signifies a tree that bears all fruits. You can see concrete durians and mangosteens here.

Kelly and my sis, Suan pose for the camera. Here is where we waited for the park to open. We had free sausage McMuffins for free courtesy of me!

Heard what the parot said? No. The parot made no noise. The myna bird on the other hand can make motorbike honks!

Just in case you guys don't know what a myna is, this is it. I didn't take this photo.

It's like a little zoo here. There are so many animals!

There are porcupines!?

...and a domestic cat...

God knows what this turkey is fussing about!

Lizard. Spotted it when I was taking a picture of myself by the lake.

The most fun thing to do while you're here is to cycle. Once you're tired, the next best thing to do is to take the bus.

There were lots of flowering plants too but I didn't get to take most of them properly. Here are some:

Here using macro, my favorite styles of all, I took a bed of fallen mango flowers.

If I were 75, there would have been countless pictures of Bunga Raya just like this.

After the whole morning on bike, we resorted to taking the bus and had a final view of the whole park without having to walk. It's really relaxing to just sit back and enjoy the view...

... and some good'ol fashion ice cream!!

'Ais Krim' served old school style! Yummy!!

Last Day at Work

2008-05-21T22:20:00.000-07:00

Towards the last day of work, my colleagues and I planned to have a little feast to celebrate since three of us are leaving the company, Alright I know it's a little late, my job ended 30 April which was almost a month ago, but a post is still one if there's a story to tell.

So one fine Friday, we decided to makan at Italiannies in 1utama. It was my first time there.

Here are all the people who were there, including myself of course

There are a handful of Italian food to choose from but most of us had Carbonara. The carbonara there was wonderful. Just look at it!!

Carbonara

Lasagna("la-sa-nya")

Macchiato(that's "maki-ato")

Veggie Pizza

All the food here is scrumptious...but you don't have to take my word for it. Just look at Paul. Pictures indeed tell more than words :D

And for dessert....

Ice Cream Cake!

So there we go, all three of us Paul, Elvin and I leaving - Paul is with Public bank now, Elvin is in Maila (Manilla) and the team is now left with James and Sunny and two of our supervisors...sigh. Well, leaving or not leaving, I wish you guys all the best. May the force be with you.

It's Black! It's White! It's Micro Jession!

2008-04-14T18:35:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of names to this drink. Some call it Hak Bak, some call it Cham, others just say soya bean cincau (cincau = leong fun = seaweed jelly). Whatever I you we they he she it call(s) it, it's a white colored drink with black jelly strips.

Lunch time. My supervisor Yong, guai lan colleagues James, Paul, Sunny, Elvin and I squeezed ourselves as usual into a car like self-packing sardines and chose Taman Megah as our lunch spot that day. We'd usually go there for the Gu Lou Yok (Old fashioned pork) rice. There, the drinks man would come and greet us and take our orders in English and Hokkien.

"SHAMONE!!" (that's Paul in the background...)

That day, the man's daughter (or so I pressume) came to take our order. I had a sudden craving for soya bean cincau and I didn't know what they call it here so I just said "soya bean cham leong fun" and hoped that it would be 'standard' enough for this area.

"OK, one Micro Jession" said the lady.

I had no idea what she just said. Confused, I turned over to look at James...

"Yala, Michael Jackson mah" he said, that soya bean cincau is called Michael Jackson in this area.

I was dumbfounded. And since Sunny always gets Michael Jackson and Lambo (Rambo) mixed up:

Soya bean + Cincau = Micro Jession @ Lambo

Anyho...

I finally own a laptop after so many months of waiting. I stated before in my previous post that I was considering only HP Compaq Presario V3700 series and also DELL Inspiron series but ended up buying something else. I've been told that it's not the best deal in town, but I'm loving it anyhow. Call me superficial if you may but I looooove how it feels - so solid!! So berqualiti!!

The Y410

A closer look

So here's the specs:

Lenovo 3000 Y410
Processor: Intel® Core®2 Duo processor T5550 (1.83GHz, 667 MHz, 2MB L2 Cache)
Memory: 2GB DDR2
Hard Disk: 160GB (5400rpm)
Graphics: Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100

Everything else is standard: Bluetooth, Wifi, 6 cell battery, integrated 1.3MP web cam, 3 years extended warranty and insurance.

Everyday since I got my lappie, I can't wait to go home to it. And now I'm waiting to leave the office!

It's all about PCs

2008-04-10T18:29:00.000-07:00

As I sat in front of my desktop PC trying hard to revive him but to no avail, I wondered what it'd be like in 50 years' time when Human-PC bond is much, way much more humane, and also euthanasia were to be legalized for PCs....

Priest: "Dear Lord, we've gathered here today to mourn and witness the 'going' of a breakthrough, a bold processor, a technological legend, and most importantly a friend. Look not at how poorly it performed, but at how it marveled and changed people's life...and who better to remember him than his equally loyal friend..."

Me: "He has been my loyal PC and friend for the pass 5 years *sobs* We've done so, so much together. I'll never forget the good times we had - the downloads, TORRENTS, movies (box office and ohlala!!), mp3s, surfing, and he even helped me in my assignments and projects *sobs sobs* He's so much a part of me that while he has been sick for the pass few months, I couldn't help but feel 'sick' as well. He's in lots misery and suffering. And now, it is an honor for me to end his 'pain' on behalf of him, for him. Rest in peace my friend. *SOBS* " ----Blue screen of death----

"Oh Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling"

Yes, lets not look back in time but look forward to new oppoturnities. For example, PC fair starts today. And my, where do I start. So many unloved PCs available to your liking - desktops, laptops, palmtops...what's next? Buttops? ( BUTTOPS! not recommended for pregnant or nursing women, As with any buttocks units come in one standard fit-all-buttocks size. Buttock pads not included. BUTTOPS! )

With my PC coming to the end of its product life cycle, I am already eyeing on a couple of laptops. After a while of deciding, this is the list of laptops that I may consider getting:

HP Compaq Presario V3700 series

Dell Inspiron 1420 (Dr Pepper not included)

I just found out that Dell is giving a free upgrade to 3GB of RAM as PC fair promotion..hmm not bad. Well, can't decide now. Will see how things go there and I'll update here (with the new lappie, of course) when I've bought it. So PC fair tomorrow, anyone?

Snapshots: Bee's Eye View

2008-03-21T12:48:00.000-07:00

Recently I've been particularly fond of taking really close-up shots of the things I see. Here are just a couple of them, mostly taken in Cameron Highlands.

Sour one!!

This is the Rose Garden, just a few minutes up the hill from Brinchang.

These two photos are really just common moss found in longkangs, only closer.

These photos were taken in the Rose Garden as well.

I was at my uncle's during Chinese New Year and one evening my cousins were out taking their dogs for a walk in the park when I noticed the sidewalk was covered with all these yellow flowers.

Aunt bought this chocolate-mint from Australia that had this weird mint crystal formation inside the chocolate. To eat it, you have to chew fast and make sure the crystals don't end up in your tongue!

Happy Chinese New Year

2008-01-28T21:57:00.001-08:00

First of all, Merry belated Christmas hahahah and Happy New Year. I apologize there are no many updates these days. Reason being I've been busy with work and too tired after work...and my PC is dead so I can't do much editing.

My blog is one year old! What a great year it was..

In the spirit of a great new year, here's a little story of what happened just a couple of days ago. My backpack was stolen while I was away from the car. Nevermind how it happened, what's most saddening is I've got a list of treasure inside:

1. Company laptop
2. Company handphones (all two)
3. Company simcard
4. My passport (lemme say that again...MY FRIGGIN PASSPORT!)
5. My birth certificate (you think this is bad?)
6. All my photocopies of education certificates! (It can't get any worse?)
7. Original certificates. Everything (You have just met the stupidest person in the world)

What a stupid mistake to be so careless. What a stupid thing to do...to put original and photocopies of everything together. And why the hell would I be carrying my passport and birth certificate around? Yea, in that 'great' spirit...I had to look on the bright side of it and be positive about the whole thing!?

So you guys out there who lost your wallet or IC and think you're damn unlucky and damn suay, think again. I've lost my IC before, too.

Have a blessed new year.

GARGH~!

Headlines

2007-12-20T18:07:00.000-08:00

Here's what's been going on since my last post.

I found a job. With James' help, I landed myself in a mobile phone company that produces phone I never have thought of buying (I do mean this in a neutral way. No, really!!) :P Here's a hint. It's American. Its not bad actually. Most of time we have more fun than work, which involves testing phones. And speaking of the phones, uhm... great phones...yee-ah...

Anyway, working life sucks. Mainly because I have to wake up at 6.20am, take a shuttle bus to Putrajaya Sentral then take another bus to Kelana Jaya Station...(phew!) and again another shuttle bus to the office. I really dread waking up so damn early. Have I mentioned how bad the jam is? No? Well you don't wanna know.

I miss taking pictures, with a camera that is. Camera phones just don't cut it (doh!).

The Gardens, taken with a XXXXXXXX X9

I was in Singapore recently with Jon, Ena and Ayu. It was my first trip there in 13 years and it really changed my perception of Singaporeans and their country.

Singaporeans and Malaysians are the same in so many many ways. We have mamak, we speak Manglish/Singlish and most importantly we were one same country once...braders and sisters wat. But what makes them them now is that they are kiasu [kia = afraid, su = defeat. kiasu = afraid of being defeated]. They really are! They're arrogant, self-centered, and self-efficient. They will never be caught dead losing (No offense my fellow neighbors). Everything they do, they do their best and they're best at what they do. Just look at how well they're doing now relative to Malaysia.

Enter Singapore at the customs and the difference is apparent. The custom officers' attitude clearly shows. As we passed the first check point, we realized we needed an autopass and so we enquired the custom officer. He gave crystal clear directions in perfect English to where the office is. And because we missed that too, we had to ask another officer. This time, it was a woman. Jon winded down his window and was immediately attended to.
"Yes?" she said
"We missed the custom office for our autopass" said Jon
"Alright, what you can do now is pull over and you'll be guided by the officer over there"
No fuss.
She yelled to another man and told him what we needed. The man hastily guided us to a safe spot, pulled us over and lead Jon to the office. Jon returned to the car in no time with the autopass, a stash of papers and clear guidelines.

One could only imagine how Malaysian customs is. In fact, no need to imagine! As we left Singapore and entered Malaysian customs, we handed our passports to the officer. He looked at the passports and asked
"Malaysian?"
"Yes"
"OK" said the officer and handed the passports back to us without checking nor any stampings.

Sigh.

Clarke Quay

Last week, my sis, Jon and I (Kelly couldn't make it) went to a MYCAT (The Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers) event in Zoo Negara. It was an awareness event for people to sign the petition to urge the government to amend the Protection of Wildlife Act, which does not cover the protection againts use of products made from tigers.

The Malayan Tiger

Crime scene

meow?

Mary had TWO little lambs

Giraffes

Elephants

Feed them elephants for RM1

er...sky

Jon, me and sis.

Where is the show?

I work in the pantry(yes, the test team works in the pantry). The pantry is consists of a fridge, an oven, James, Sunny, Paul(a), Elvin (Mr Low), Chee Leong and Cina Ling. Its not a bad place. In fact its better! Wide angle view of the golf course just outside, seperate air-con unit for the pantry, and lots of biscuits. Sometimes people buy us nice food. We eat. Sometime people keep THEIR food in the pantry. We eat. Whatever (food) comes in will never see daylight...muahahaha! That's just how things work...

What I see everyday at work

I apologize for the low quality pictures. I'll try to get hold of my camera again, then i can take high resolution picture of the cake I sat on this morning....

end

Graduation Part II - From a different perspective

2007-10-19T12:20:00.000-07:00

Flowering tree near FOE

Lecture Hall

Fish Tail Palm

Leafcutter Ants

Bunga Raya

Jalur Gemilang

Fungus

Graduation Part I

2007-10-17T10:01:00.001-07:00

We've been through lots of crazy times but this one really sticks with you

After five years of hard (err...yeah) study and lots of occasional fun, I've finally graduated!! No more sleepless nights trying to study, no more lectures and tutorials, no more trips to the library and fun club activities...which is kinda sad. :( But just imagine or recall that great rush of relief after last paper, all I could feel was a sense of freedom......sweet freedom pouring over me. And what made it greater was that I only had one paper!! :P

Seeing my friends graduate before me was weird. It was alot like the movie Home Alone, except there were no robbers, no snow, no toys or tricks. At the same time, being with the juniors was kinda awkward, too. I don't know what to say when I meet people and they ask me what year I am. Is it final FINAL year or what is that alphabet that comes after Epsilon...Zeta?! I felt like a wrinkling raisin among the grapes and the Sunmaid left me behind! :(

"Just grapes and sunshine!"

One of them raisins who were left behind as well was William and he's one crazy raisin! The day we finished our exams William, Jon and I went to Shakey's Pizza for lunch. After lunch we went bowling. At night I went for a movie with Jon, Kelly and my sister. We watched I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. The day after we took some shot of MMU for memo...for the whole friggin day! It was non-stop! And I haven't recovered from my sleeplessness then. IT'S CRAZY MAN!

We started with FOE since it is our faculty building. I remember it when I first came to Cyberjaya, we all had to share it with FIT and other faculties which did not have enough class rooms at that time. It was run-down 'cos the fibre glass panels were not fitted yet and the sealed crack marks were showing all over the place. Now that it's covered, let's hope it doesn't collapse. heheheh

Good times, great taste, at FOE(yeah, we have eaten here too)

They use to put nice red carpet from the corridor up to the first floor whenever a VIP comes to visit, but not anymore. Now the floor is painted red and paint is no where near red carpet when it comes to class. It just isn't cut for it la.

"Yes Y.B., we engineered this"

The stairs look kinda weird at first, it sacrifices the ground floor entrance just to add grandeur to the entering VIP, which leads straight to the FOE Office. That's when the FOE kaks run away in their slippers and hide in the pantry.

Stairway to FOE

William and I decided to take a picture of us bottom up with our heads sticking out from the 2nd half floor. We had the camera ready and set for 10 second timer. Here's a chronology of what happened:

10th second - arrive on 2nd floor
12th second - arrive on spot, too late
15th second - laugh and pant
25th second - still panting
35th second - think of idea
40th second - *bulb lights up*
50th second - calls friend
90th second - friend arrives, makes fun "why not put the time for 5 hours?"
100th sec - friend clicks camera
120th sec - camera snaps
Hence a two minute shot.

Peekaboo!

Taking pictures in the tutorial room was CRAZY! We wanted to try something funny so we did this. Somehow the resulting picture reminds me of the tutorial sessions we all used to have in Beta and Gamma...packed like sardines, stuffy as hell and sometimes it even stinks! Actually the picture doesn't really depict how it really was la. But you get the drift.

Kid, please DO try this at home!

The lecture room on the other hand looks kinda sad. It was right after the morning exams and the doors were locked. Nobody was around...So quiet...

Where have all the students gone?

Perhaps they've all gone for lunch. -_-" huhuhuhu! As forme, I'm definitely out of MMU and right now I picture my life to be like this picture below, reaching out for survival......in other words INCOME! I'm still jobless and looking but I have good hopes. The me on the left won't come so soon yet la of course.

Penganggur melompat-lompat

FOE overlooks FCM/FOM building just across the corridor that leads to the library, the lecture halls, Tau cafe, new FIT building, grand hall...

and the library where nerds meet, including myself. I miss the library in Melaka campus more. It was cozy and had a better study environment.

I have yet to post some more pictures of my 'graduation'. There are a handful more so it's gonna take a while. It has been fun making Part I. For more picture, do drop by William's blog!!

Goodbye MMU

2007-10-10T16:27:00.000-07:00

Coming up next, I'll be posting photos taken during the last days of my university life, and maybe some old ones too!

Ulu Yam (29 July)

2007-10-06T07:18:00.000-07:00

Two months ago, William's friend's friend Leona from FCM wanted to take pictures of a waterfall for her assignment. William suggested to drive her there while we tagged along in a car whose owner shall not be named *Winks* hahaha!

And so we arrived at this little village at the foot of the hill...there were people selling fruits and vegetables by the road. It was a muddy day. We didn't know exactly where the waterfall is and Jon's GPS only took us as far as the main roads go. So I went and ask a fruit seller lady. She seemed like she spoke mandarin, so I asked...

Me : Excuse me, can you tell me the way to the waterfall?
Lady: Ha mi ar? (What? in hokkien)
Me : (In Hokkien)How do I get to the....

at this point, I was figuring out how to say 'waterfall' in Hokkian

Me : (still in Hokkian)...the place err...where the water comes down...water...water....

the lady watched me as I mumbled...then suddenly she got what I said...

Lady: Oh!! Air terjun ar?
She went on saying that she didn't know how to get there, and directed me to the opposite stall for further inquiries...
...and we finally got to the waterfall.

Brokenscrew and err...monkey?

Leona and 'EAGLE!'...actually her real name is Liu Yan

After a while at the waterfall, we were joined by a group of enthusiastic elderly trekking their way to the highest part of the waterfall. Amused by our doings, they asked where we came from what what we're doing...and later we (well...only me) even took a picture together. They were from the Malaysian Buddhist Co-operative Society in PJ.

Then a group picture of us...next to some skinny dippers...

William, 'Eagle!', Leona, Jon, Me

It's funny how I always attract insects...

...they love me!! hahahah

Later that day, William brought us to Rawang...and his grandmother's house where there were chickens, dogs...

I think they are an item ler...

...and nice food, too. hehe. Didn't get a good picture of the whachamacallit hot sauce over crispy fried noodle...mmmm
Of all the things, I had to take a picture of William's bitch...

What's Going On?

2007-07-21T02:21:00.000-07:00

Here's what's going on. It's my last semester, I have only two subjects to take and I get only three days of classes per week! It kinda sucks, I still can't find a part time job so Wednesdays and Thursdays are when I sit and rot away in front of my soon-to-kong PC.

Saga seeds

I decided to have a break in Ipoh last weekend to freshen up a bit. Ipoh is still the same old - still a little underdeveloped to be called a City. As for my home, nothing much has happened. My dog Goldie is still limping from an accident about a month ago, my rabbit Oreo has moved out (to the backyard) and my family is doing fine.

Close-up on a leaf

Back in Cyberjaya, it's my big sister's birthday. And to celebrate, we all went to Wong Kok Restaurent in Jusco Equine Park for dinner (if you must know, it's the greenest restaurant there)

It's one BIG Teh Ais for one BIG sister...

...but only one SMALL cake and she's all laughs!

The girls take a groupie while the guys eat.

Friday 20th July...

You guys know about Nicole's Chanel No.5 advert, well I found a couple of very stupid but very funny parodies of that advert! This amazingly similar one is by Ronni Ancona. It really got me laughing my guts out! And this is by MADTV.

Airplane waiting for clearance.

After robots in disguise, an upcoming movie and one of the most anticipated of all is The Simpsons Movie! Opening in GSCs on the 26th July.

Somebody ate his shorts alright!

Me and Brokenscrew decided to get tickets for the gang at 1U. We were relatively late as to getting the tickets, apparently tickets were already on sale in Cineleisure but man we can't wait. Upon reaching the ticket counter, we asked the lady:

wacko: "Hi, may I know when's the first show for Simpsons?"
lady : "Huh?"
wacko: "The Simpsons...the movie"
lady : "Simpsons?"
wacko: "Yeah."

The young lady gave a confused look and checks the computer. As a movie ticket teller she doesn't even know what The Simpsons is!?

lady : "We only have here" (pointing at the list of movies available)
bkscw: "But I went online and checked, we can buy (The Simpsons)tickets online already"
lady : "I'm not sure"
bkscw: "Can we buy tickets ahead for 26th?"

The lady checks the computer again

lady : "26th only got Harry Potter"
bkscw: "When is the showtime for The Simpsons?"
lady : "Wait ah..."

She turns around and asks the guy at the next counter *whispers*. The guy walks to corner and checks for "The Simpsons"

guy : "26th"

There, so much for asking for the time of the show...and all the way there! Dumbfounded, we lepaked in 1U for a while. We bumped into Alan.

And we had early dinner at Burger King.

Alan wanted to watch Dead Silence, but was too chicken to watch alone. He described what the movie is about...and tempted us to see this 'Saw'. Me and Brokenscrew wanted to watch Vacancy but in the end the Chuckie wannabe won our hearts over the motel room.. Ooo and believe me, I've seen some good horror fillms but this little ventriloquist dummy, Billy is creepier than you think!

The Perfect Wife

The Perfect Doll

Here's the poem from the movie about the ventriloquist named Mary Shaw:

"Beware the stare of Mary Shaw
She had no children, only dolls
And if you see her in your dreams
Be sure you never, ever scream
Or she'll rip your tongue out at the seam!!"

Moving on

2007-05-31T11:59:00.000-07:00

My hostel room

I have longed for this for sometime now... finally I've finished my FYP!! Whoohoo!! While others are probably graduating already, I have another semester to go :( but with only two more subjects I think its gonna be a relaxing one.

Graffiti of Nicole Kidman on hostel wall

So here I am having my holidays. Bored and depressed as ever. Ahh I can't tell why I'm miss my hostel room so much, but I do and I made a little GIF in memory of my room haha.

Moving out was trouble enough...imaging moving back in.(takes a while to load completely)

Notice the sky got dark as I packed. Haha.. that's just how long it took to pack. Later that night, my dad sis and I took the SMART way into the city. It's free for a month so like others, we took advantage of it to see how its like.

See how the road diverges underground?

The tunnel looks like any other tunnels though we know why its such a big fuss. It's even documented in Discovery Channel. Find out more about SMART here!

A glimpse of Cyberjaya in the morning

2007-04-03T22:34:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I had problems sleeping and have stayed up through the night most of the time. So I decided one day to take a picture of the rising sun, just breaking into the skyline of Cyberjaya.

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig!

2007-03-17T04:36:00.000-07:00

It means "Happy St. Patrick's Day!" in Gaelic or Irish. We don't celebrate on grand scale here in Malaysia but to all Irish and Irish wannabes ;P have a great St. Patrick's Day!

Dusk

2007-03-10T12:15:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, brokenscrew , Ezriq and I went to Cyberpark for a jog. Instead of jogging I ended up taking pictures...but none had them in it haha :P

This is as near as I could get to the lotus...a drying one though

The 'jetty' by the Cyberpark lake

The sunset was a beautiful and a sad sight. Although it's goodbye to the sun for now...but we know it's gonna come back and shine again tomorrow... hehehe... how poetic... :P

Gong Xi Fa Chai!

2007-02-28T10:03:00.000-08:00

It's a little late but Happy Chinese New Year anyways!! I didn't have much time to edit the photos but here are they - some shots taken during chinese new year.

Every year, unlike most people who balik their kampung, my family and I would head down to our BIG 'kampung' - K.L. where my father's family is. It really beats the jam.

On New Year's Eve after our reunion dinner, we would hang out and chat and maybe have a couple of drinks. This year, we decided to take a casual family potrait like the one we took a few years ago, except we have a new addition to the picture...my cousin's miniature daschund.

Top row - My dad, mom, uncle(5)'s wife, uncle(5), uncle(2), uncle(3)'s wife, uncle(3)
2nd row - Chen, Wei, Pei Yee, How, aunt's husband, aunt
3rd row - Hong, June, Suan, Me, Boy & Gogo
Seated - Grandpa, Jade, Grandma

Chor 1
traditional dishes for chinese new year:

'Mi Suah' - Wheat flour noodles with 'Sang Choi' in meat ball soup

'Cai Choi' or vegetarian dish (not really) - made with soy curd skin, ginkos, glass noodles, mushrooms, oysters etc cooked in some sauce made from fermented ingredients

and then of course there is dessert

Longan & Lotus Seeds

Chor 2
The second day of Chinese New Year, my uncle had an open house party and had all his family and friends over for a feast. There was also lion dance! Grrr!

hyped up or should I say legs up after pealing open a pomelo

oh yeah they even came into the house...to bless the house.

and now to give blessing the lion dancers too :)

Snapshots of Home

2007-02-14T11:03:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more shots taken in Ipoh.

Old Town

2007-02-14T09:13:00.000-08:00

10 Feb

Here are some photos I took of Ipoh Old Town when I was back home last week

This is the coffee shop my family and I hang out for lunch and tea...they make the best "bak ko pi" (white coffee) and my favorite Milo + Kopi Ice!

Old Town Flats

Was wrapping up my little photoshoot when I walked pass a workshop. He told me I could take a picture of him...

...and his jack

Eyes

2007-02-06T21:16:00.000-08:00

25 Jan

Everybody has seen The Eye on Malaysia. Pictures were taken, comments were given...it's minuscule compared to The London Eye. Ok maybe that is an overstatement. Truth is although it is only 60M in height and has only 42 gondolas, it's probably every kid's wish to get a ride in it. (refer to http://calvinlow.photoblog.com)

The other day my sister and I went to Jusco Equine Park and noticed a ferris wheel across the road. It had 10 'cages' with fancy lights around it and hell it was literally spinning away! So fast the 'cages' were swinging away from the wheel! I couldn't take a picture of it up close...but we gave it a name - Eye on Equine Park.

I thought, what is going to happen to these fun fair ferris wheels? It's funny now to look at them and give names but ironically there's a hint of patheticness. I'm sure everyone of us had wanted to ride in one of these when we were little but now that there's The Eye on Malaysia, who will ride these eyes?

Calvin: The Plastic Surgeon

2007-02-06T20:48:00.000-08:00

24 Jan

Christy, my ex-colleague now, has a bad case of undereye bag. So she came to me for help. I had her undereye bags removed and here is the before and after picture. The results are astounding! :P

Chee Wan's Birthday

2007-02-06T20:22:00.000-08:00

23 Jan

Two weeks ago, we all went for dinner at Red Tomato, a new found restaurant cum café in Bandar Puteri just opposite Giant Supermarket. Those who were there - Me, my sis, Jade, Kelly, Sharen, June Yong and Birthday Girl Chee Wan. A great place for Western-Asean fusion cuisine.

Student again

2007-01-29T09:34:00.000-08:00

First day back in campus after being away for such a long time. Back for classes and all...lol I can't believe I actually miss studying and going to classes!

Classes were alright since it's only the first day. I only had two hours of class today :P As I entered my first class, I was surprised to notice that the tables were so neatly arranged...so neat it barely looked MMU.

The FOE - Faculty of Engineering. As you can see it is covered by a layer of fiberglass to hide the construction flaws.... the walls were cracking!!

Had orange juice in the morning.

Morning sun in hostel

This is my last day using the Sony DSC-W1. I had to return it to my boss cos' I've been hogging it for too long lol... Goodbye Cybershot... I'll miss you!

Overrating Dove

2007-01-27T12:02:00.000-08:00

What do we do to keep our skin soft and supple...like baby skin? In today's world, there are so many products from scrubs to lotions to keep our skin feeling silky smooth. This is not news but these days people want fast and effective ways to get the job done and get on the go. So, the hype on moisturizing shower creams seem never ending.

Just a week ago, my sister bought me a shower cream. Not just any shower cream but a Dove®. I'm sure some might still remember the "Wey, my skin like the baby skin...amazing!" advert. It's all true. I have not really tried the cream versions but as for the bars they are really soggy and they melt easily...hard to handle. Plus, eventhough they lather, they don't make good cleansers. So I tried the cream version, I thought maybe it'll be the same and I had to use it because I was out of soap.

It started off alright but gets a little too 'slimey'. On a hot and humid day or just another day when you're extra oily or dirty, it gets even slimier. What worse is no matter how much you apply, because its ¼ moisturizing cream, it won't lather up at all! My skin drank up the moisture alright cos' in the end it sort of dries off. Feels as though you're just putting cream all over your body and there's no squeeky clean after-shower feel.

I don't mind using Dove® when I feel like a pamper and that's all it does. I must admit it is wonderful for drier skin types. As for guys, let's just stick to a cleanser that actually cleanses, not one that only moisturizes. There's a reason why cleansers and moisturizers are named what they are :P Or at least make it clearER... But until they come up with a moisturizer that cleanses, my point on Dove®'s over-moisturizing qualities as a cleanser will remain underrated.

Dove Parody: Bird.

Come Monday...

2007-01-26T09:56:00.000-08:00

22 Jan

This is a pass given by the custom officers at KLIA to enter the cargo area there in Sepang. Boss took me and Kak Saini (colleague) to collect new goods shipped in from Germany because he needed me to take photographs of the new items for logistic purposes.

It was my first time going to the cargo...there wasn't much to see except for planes flying really close. Not close enough to burn your hair though. Apparently, the entry used to be free. Now it costs RM10 per person just to enter and we barely spent more than 20 minutes there! But it says daily pass so I suppose RM10 is for the whole day. Nevertheless, it used to be FREE!

Work's done...Great success! Boss took us to LCCT's Asian Kitchen for lunch. The entire place was stuffed with travellers. By the way, the porridge there sucks so if you ever go there even as a last resort, don't order porridge.
Seriously, I'd go for McD's anytime...even if it means there are no seats left and I had to sit outside by the M like this guy.

LCCT from the carpark.

Later that night, my sister, Kelly, Sharen and June Yong (they are all colleagues in Ericsson) and I went to Puchong for dinner. We picked the one opposite Tesco...the one that has fried chaw kui...I have no idea what the name of the shop is. It says RESTORAN *blur*

Notice the circle in the picture. There was a debate over it between me and some friends. Blind Massage Centre is it a massage centre that offers massages only to the blind? Or a massage centre that hires the blind? Or is it all just a hoax...they are not actually blind?!

Back in K.L.

2007-01-26T07:18:00.000-08:00

21 Jan, evening...

Ipoh Mali

2007-01-25T14:04:00.000-08:00

21 Jan

I forgot how peaceful and beautiful Ipoh was until I got home last week. Early in the morning (around 10am :P) I had heaps of time to kill before packing again to balik Cyberjaya. Had an egg for breakfast as usual -did you know that adding ½ - 1 teaspoon of fresh milk into a half boiled egg eliminates its fishiness?- and then it was photoshoot time. Check out the pictures!

The terracotta pond in the backyard of my house has grown into a little city of its own. :P

"Take a picture of me!" Goldie wants to be photographed. I had to or...

...she'll bite. :O So I snapped a few pictures but eventually things got ugly...

...some things are better left unseen... :

These just bloomed in my backyard. They emit some really wicked fragrance even the ants are attracted to it.

Later, my dad, my sisters and I went to town to buy cake(s) hahaha to celebrate my dad's belated birtday which was on 16 Jan. We passed by Canning Garden (Guai Woh Yun - Literally means expensive and peaceful garden). I like this picture. It's probably one of the greenest neighborhood in Ipoh.

...On my way back home.

No matter how much green there is left in Ipoh, we know it can not last. Let's hope we know what we're doing...cheh... :P

Guess That Animal

2007-01-25T13:24:00.000-08:00

A number of people have commented on my pet, most of them didn't even know what it was before they commented. Type your answers in the comments page...

Lunch at Kota Kemuning

2007-01-25T12:16:00.000-08:00

18 Jan

The other day during lunch, Christy recommended me Yam rice with Pork soup, it's really something I wouldn't order myself. So Jyh Shyn, Christy and I went to NTS coffee shop. Jyh Shyn ordered indian rice while both of us tried the yam rice...

Love to see this fella eat... he really helps your appetite.

Nice! but very small portion. I had to add another bowl of rice for RM1!! A little too expensive for so little.

Took this after lunch.

You've got DEW!

Dirgahayu Oh Putrajaya!

2007-01-25T11:45:00.000-08:00

And so it began my first actual photoshoot with this little Sony... Jon wanted to try out his EOS 400D, so we headed straight for Putrajaya. As compared, his cam most definitely took clearer, crispier pictures. See for yourself http://brokenscrew.blogspot.com

Took some pic of this building with Jon's cam, took this with mine. I prefered mine.

I found the floor pretty reflective...and slippery...

The α, β and γ

2007-01-25T06:44:00.000-08:00

First it was Xanga. Started blogging in 2004 when Celine introduced it to me. It was pretty popular that time but exactly one year after I started, I just stopped...and my blog died there and then....

Just a few months ago when I started my industrial training in a company called Centrionics (sole distributor for a few analytical instruments brands such as Mercury Instruments, Waltron, ENOTEC etc...must advert abit...hehe) I was given a laptop, a company handphone and most intriguing of all a camera...not a great one but probably one of the leading ones during its time - a Sony DSC-W1. And the adventures began...

I figured I'd take some photos and put them up in my blog, that's when I went back to Xanga but only to find out that it could only store up to 100MB of images. So I resorted to photoblog, unlimited uploads, but only 20 pics per post per day...and it lacked functionality and customizations. So finally I gave Blogspot a shot.