Friday, October 30, 2009

Bye-Bye Wijaya Baru

30 October 2009 - This day marks the end of another chapter of my working life. After 3 years and 4 months (since 1 July 2006), I finally left Wijaya Baru Sdn. Bhd. This is the second longest working period for a company after GB.

It was good experience. It is probably the least pressure work in my life, and it is also the least importance of me as a Manager in the company.

It back south for the next chapter, but entirely south. Stop short at JB. First time working in JB. First time with a PMC, and first time 5-days work week. Can wait for it.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Movie No.17

10 October 2009 - Tsunami at Heundae.

Was very lazy to post this. But as October is approaching an end, need to put this up, just briefly. Supposed to see this 2 weeks ago. But caught if anyway. I think for an Asian standard, this special effects for the tsunami is credible. I actually like.

My rating: 4 of 5.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Movie No.16

26 September 2009 - Movie No.16 - A Perfect Getaway


This is not the movie I wanted to see. After failing to get a ticket in the normal box office for that Korean tsunami movie, I checked out if it is available on Gold Class. The TV monitor shows that it is on for the 9pm show. So I thought, that with the EON-GSC Credit Card, it would be Ok to catch it on Gold Class. And after all, it is also a treat for my buddy's birthday. So the first time in Gold Class. The entrance to the theater is a long walk along a carpeted aisle from the elevator - I think it is probably to make it grander. The seat was like those recliner chair, where you can make it flat and watch the movie in style and comfort. And there is a blanket to cover in case if cold. The price of a ticket is RM50. Using the credit card, get 10% discount. Therefore cost is RM45. For 2 tickets - RM90. And with my bonus value, deduct another 50%. Therefore I paid only RM45 for 2 Gold Class Saturday night movie tickets.

The shock came where I found that it was not the movie I wanted to see. But this 'perfect getaway'. A cast of total strangers for me. Never seen or heard about them. The best scenes from this movie are the excellent of Hawaii. The story lines probably stole from a well known phrase - the actual villains are the most unexpected ones. It also boast of 2 very memorable scenes (to me) - the pulling of a dagger by a lead lady from her thigh after she was stabbed, and later she took the dagger to stab the bad guy on the hand.

My rating - 2.5 of 5.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Movie No.14 & 15

12 September 2009 - It's been quite a while since the last movie. So, I decided to go for a double dose today.

But first, let me introduce the new card in the market - GSC-EonBank Credit Card. I just got the card last week. Using the card to buy tickets, enable you to get RM0.50 or RM1.00 discount from each ticket depending on the price of the ticket. However, even with the discount, it is still more expensive than the Wednesday tickets. Therefore this is only good for non-Wednesday tickets. You can't get discount for Wednesday tickets. But the best thing about this card is that you will be given free value of RM50 for Gold card and RM100 for Platinum card to be used when purchasing ticket. Every time you buy a ticket valued at more than RM10, you can use that free value to get 50% off the total ticket price until the whole free value is consumed. And the first year fee is waived. Where to get??


Movie No.14 - Where Got Ghost? Another of Jack Neo's production.


To me, the star of this movie, which consists of 3 short stories is this guy - Richard Low, whom appeared in the first story as a bogus monk. He is a well known face in Jack's movie. Perhaps the most memorable one is that 'I Not stupid' famed for that phrase - 'Limpeh kar lee kong'. In terms of acting skill, he far surpassed that of Henry Thia. He is even better looking than Thia. But Thia's lucky star shines brighter than his. But anyway kudos to this guy.



However this fare from Jack seems to be a little disappointing, especially in the last story which he and his 'best buddies' appeared. Their acting is just average and the jokes contained within are meager. In contrast the acting from the guys in the first and second stories are far superior. From the poster shown above, there are the ones on the left and right of the picture. They are well know faces in Singapore drama serials as 'care-leh-feh' (or better known as extras). They provide the saving grace for Jack Neo's in this movie.

My rating: 2 of 5


Movie No.15 - The Ugly Truth


A romantic comedy. My type of movie. The review from the The Sun paper shows that this is quite enjoyable. So the decision. However, was much disappointed. Compared this with The Proposal, this one is pretty bad.

Firstly, the chemistry between the 2 leads, to me, was not there. They are much prettier and better looking than the pair in The Proposal but the superiority stops here. Acting wise, they lose out flat. This movie depends heavily on the sexual connotation to provide the laugh. The biggest laugh is that in the restaurant and the vibrator courtesy of Ms. Heigh, whom is also the co-producer.

My rating: 2 of 5.

So two below average movie for one night. But it was well worth because I only pay RM8.50 for 2 movies.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Michael Hui Live Talk Show

8 August 2009 - Astro broadcast this guy first talk show in Hong Kong sometime back. Everyone knew him as the eldest Hui brother. That talk show was very entertaining and refreshing. A Chinese stand-up comedian. Not heard off. But it was reported his 2 shows in Hong Kong then were very well received. So when I knew that he was going to perform in Genting, I simply must catch that. But I bought the cheapest ticket available. RM90 for the 'mountain' seat. I reckoned that we were there to hear him and not so much to see him in performance. Therefore even with a seat far away from stage would be OK, considering that there will be giant screens available (well, that was my assumption).


It was my first at the Arena of Stars, Genting Highlands. The hall is smaller than expectation, but probably big enough. My seat is about 10 steps down from the highest seat and at the left (facing stage) most edge.





The show opened with clips of his earliest movies. Then he was accompanied to stage by a group of kompang players. There are reasons for showing the clips as during the show, he was trying very hard to relate his talk with the show, to flashback scenes from the show to his current talk. But I guess most of the audience would have forgotten them. I did except for one scene. I think it was the 4th movie - Security Unlimited (摩登保鑣). That scene where he taught his brother Ricky Hui to drive. That really brought back some funny memories.

The most disappointing thing about the arena has got to be the big screen. Firstly they are not giant screen that I hoped they were. Secondly, the quality of the screen is worst. There are very dark and one could hardly much from the screen. If this were to be a singing concert, then it would be terribly disappointed visually.





In terms of joke content, some of them were from his earlier show in Hong Kong. The only 2 local flavours (as I can remembered) was about Bangsar and Tongkat Ali. As expected, he utilised lots of his facial expression to generate laughter, as in most of his movie. His wife was probably the biggest victim, as he protrayed her as a 'san-pah'(3-8) woman in his jokes. Overall it is entertaining, but slightly short of my expectation. A 2-hours show with 10 minutes break. Ended with a Sam Hui's song, as the encore part.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Bio-Life Walk A Hunt

2 August 2009 - The third in a series of Walk Hunt by Bio-Life, after Ipoh and Penang, finally comes to KL. Wasn't sure why the organizers asked us to be there by 7am. We were the first at the flag-off point at Hotel Sentral in Brickfields. Crazily we waited until about 8am, when only they start the morning, pre-hunt, work-out session, something which they did in the previous 2 legs as well. Then the briefing and finally flag-off at about 8.30am, 30 minutes before the official flag-off time of 9am.



Despite the additional 30 minutes free time given, we finished the hunt at 1217pm. 17 minutes after the end time of 12noon. This cause us a penalty of 17 points. 1 point per minute. A record for us.

Flag-off from Hotel Sentral, Brickfields


At the end, it was good enough for a podium finish at No.5 - losing out to 1 regular and 3 other non-regular teams. The prize was a 3 smaller bottles of Bio-life product, with a market value of about slightly more than RM100. Not bad for a hunt fee of RM30.


Prizes for the Winners - but ignore those electrical goods. They were merely there for decorative purposes only. Not given out as prizes. The prizes were those Bio-life hampers on top of the table.


Well, was this a good hunt? Yes and No. Yes, because it was another podium finish, despite the master and more regular hunters were not around. No, as we could have fared better.

Again, we were let down by treasures. Only managed to get 1 out of 2 - losing out by 10 points. And that big fat penalty points - 17. We were still trying to look for answers during that 17 minutes penalty time, but we got zero answer. Therefore nonsensically wasted 17 points. So for the next hunt, must get full treasure points and NO penalty time points.

And, the team this time - WK, Angie and my cousin, Jessica.

The next leg - Mallaca, Here we come.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Movie No:13 - The Proposal

1 August 2009 - The Proposal

A romantic comedy using an old formula. But nevertheless entertaining.

What I like of this movie?

Sandra Bullock - I think she is fantastic. She don't have to resort to silly lines for the comedic effect. Her acting, expression is good enough to tickle my funny bones. And she is good. I remember her best in the 'Speed' series, but she shines too in comedy. Well done, Sandra. Incidentally, this is her first No.1 movie in 10 years.

Alaska - When I first knew that they have a Governor for Alaska, because of Sarah Palin, I have always wondered why. No doubt Alaska is a big state, but my impression is that the whole state is covered with snow everywhere. And nothing more than a snow-covered state. How wrong was I. The shooting was probably during the hotter months of the year, maybe summer. And it shows a very beautiful and scenic Alaska. The midnight sun reminded me of Bergen, Norway where I was holidaying in Year 2001.

Betty White - My favourite Golden Girls. I actually thought that she had passed away, but fortunately no. At 87, she is still elegant. And she still shines as a comedy actress. Way to go, Girl!!

My rating: 3 of 5

Friday, July 31, 2009

A Quiet July

This has been a quiet month. No hunt, no movies. Wednesday nights instead of movies became TV nights. I was catching up with that La Femme Desperado series on Monday to Wednesday nights. It finally came to an end on Wednesday.


This is also a month of Rosy Business - the TVB hit serial of the moment - starring Wayne Lai and Shereen Tang. Two TV serials veteran who should hit it big this year in the TVB awards ceremony, I hope.


There are supposed to be 2 hit movies for the month: Transformer and Harry Potter. But I gave both a miss. It was so difficult to get a ticket for the former, that when tickets are more easily available later, I lost the interest and the novelty to watch. As for the latter, since my movie kaki got a free ticket to watch and I don't normally watch a movie alone (except if it is incredibly good), I gave this a pass too. Morever, my movie kaki commented that it was long and boring. So TVB series seems to be a better option to pass my nights.

Starting from next month, Tuesday nights will never be the same again. Since I moved to True Fitness, Tuesday routine has been free weights and then Body Combat class from 8-9pm. But since about 6 months ago, I cancelled off the Combat class after the weights. After gym, I'll take-away a Subway sandwich and dashed home for shower to get ready for 2 interesting 'woman' TV series on 8TV.

The two are 'Ugly Betty' and 'Desperate Housewives'. For those couch potatoes, these 2 series should need no introduction. Even for those who don't watch TV that regular, should have heard of both.

What I like of Ugly Betty? Sometimes, it is difficult to apprehend a girl like Betty Suarez can be noticed in corporate New York City. This series, I think, tries to tell that inner beauty works. I can't even imagine it happens in KL, let alone the Big Apple. And that relationship between Betty Suarez and her boss, Daniel Meade, seems too real to be true. But then, this is what I like about this serial. And the supporting cast - Amanda (my favourite dumb blonde), Mark, Willy (Wilhe... something), Hilda, Claire - are really fantastic.


I can't figure out how the American TV put Desperate Housewives in the Comedy category in their award shows. This more a drama than a sit-com to me. The best part of the hour long show is actually the narration at the end of each episode. It summarized the message and the moral of the story that each episode tries to convey. It is mostly about the behaviour, character and moral of the people around.


Both series ended their current season last Tuesday, 21 July 2009. Till the next season.

Hopefully, August could be more exciting. Looking forward to the Biolife hunt on Sunday. Too bad the Walk KL hunt on Saturday was postponed. Otherwise, it will be 2-days back-to-back hunt. Haven't tried for a very long time. And I am looking forward to the Michael Hui Talk Show at Genting the following week. Yup, tomorrow will be better!!!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

You Will Never Know

I had about 40 Indonesian workers at my work section. I know the name of about 80% of them. 95% of them by face. Another 5%, I would probably not recognize them even I pass them by the road. I kept the mobile numbers of about 10% of them. These 10% are those that I can trust to get things done through a phone call.

This morning, one of them called me to inform that there was an accident on site. As they were walking to work, a taxi driver knocked into 3 of them. I was still at home then. I told him to get the ambulance. And I then called my supervisor to follow up. I then got to know that 1 died on the spot, 1 broke his leg and the third has some bruises on the leg. The first one belongs to the 5% group, while the other two is in the 10% group. Later they called me to ask for a day off as a respect for the dead. It seems that this is their culture back home in Java. I checked with the boss, but he insists that the critical earth removal works need to proceed, but other works can have a day off.

I was told they will go the mosque to pray for the dead, and some will make a trip to the hospital to visit the guy who broke his leg. (The third guy need not be hospitalized). Then I saw some guys who were wandering around, not sure what to do. Anyway you can't spend the whole in the mosque.

Life is so unpredictable. You will never know what will happen tomorrow. (An over-rated statement that being said too many times.) I am very sure that the guy who was dead never expected himself not to see the end of today. I asked who this guy was. They told me his name but I can't relate it. Later, when I went back to office, I had a look at his photo, but I can't visualize him on site.

What will happen to the guy who broke his leg? If he had difficulty walking properly, I don't think company will retain him. He has to go back home. What can he do back home? What will happen to him in future? He was only here to work!! I probably have bigger sentiments for this guy. Someone who can work and reliable. He don't talk much. I do hope that he can be well.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Kaspersky / PJ Blogger Carnival Hunt

20 June 2009 - A two hour walk hunt around Jaya33 mall.

Despite being only 2 hours, it was an action packed hunt. 10 hunt questions, 3 spot-the-tagline questions, 5 spot-the-cropped-picture questions, 3 challenges and 2 treasures. The 3 challenges are: Challenge 1 - 5 questions about PJ to be answered within 1 minute, just before flag off; Challenge 2 - strike a pose with the Kaspersky cardboard for the camera; Challenge 3 - 10 online questions on Kaspersky - hunters are given a notebook to search for answer online. Challenges 2 and 3 are to be completed within the 2 hours hunt time.

The team for this hunt - Fong, Angie, Sallehudin (hunt with him for the first time) and myself. To start off, Angie did the picture questions, I tackled the tagline questions and Fong/Din did the hunt question. We answered all questions. But during the answer presentation, found out that we were wronged on 2 hunt questions. We cracked both, but did not write the full answer. We only got half the online questions in Challenge 3 right. Simply because again we did not provide the full answer. Fong googled the question for the answer instead of going into the directed website to look for answer. Our answers were not complete. These probably caused us a top 3 position.

Final result: 4th placing. I think we did pretty well to outplace some of the Masters' team.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Movie 12 - I Corrupt All Cops

30 May 2009 - I Corrupt All Cops


I am not a fan of the Hong Kong gangster movies. In fact, I loathe watching them. This was not my choice when buying ticket at TGV 1-utama (I was there for Terminator), but due to unavailability of other tickets, this seems to be the only choice.

Fortunately, was not too disappointed at the end.

What I liked about this movie?

Tony Leung Kar Fai and Anthony Wong acting. Little wonder that they were Best Actor winners.

The make-up on Alex Fong face after he was hammered by the police, as he was made a scapegoat. That make-up artist should get an award.

That 'woman' who used her body and charm to succeed in the underworld by aligning herself to the police, but still had the power of choosing whom she wants to bed with (She chose Eason Chan over Tony Leung, despite Leung position being higher than Chan). And along the line, fight herself to be the number 1 wife, despite being the number 9. The cat-fight scene in Eason Chan's apartment, amongs his wifes, was crude but classical.

Overall flow of the storyline is OK, although at the end the success of ICAC was fast-forwarded.

I would on most instances avoid a non-comedy Chinese movie, but this was an acceptable exception.

Rating: 3/5

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Movie 11 - Angels and Demons

16 May 2006 - Angels and Demons


The first one, The Da Vinci Code, was rather confusing. Already forgotten the storyline. The second one, which actually took place earlier than the first one, was rather straight forward. I would probably remember the storyline years down the road.

I must say it was pretty exciting. The whole movie was just about the last four hours before midnight. The movie shots of Rome and The Vatican are awesome, though the shots of inner Vatican may not be real.

Why I like this more, as compared to Da Vinci's Code? Less complicated story, faster pace, excellent Rome scenes, Tom Hank's acting, Ewan McGregor, the Papal election and less complicated 'anagram' to solve.

I had planned to go to Italy for many years ago, but never seems to realise it. Probably I should take it more serious in planning the trip to Italy.

2011 Italy, here I come.

My rating: 5/5

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Australia 2009 - Sydney

G'day mate.

My second visit to Sydney. And it remains my favourite city. Somehow, Sydney presents to me as a vibrant, exciting, casual, friendly and lovely city. It is not as rush as KL, but a pace faster than Melbourne. The first time I was here was in 1995 - a good 14 years ago. 4 days here, and probably not sufficient. I would love to have a longer time, not as a tourist, but to experience life here as a local.

When I was first here, the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House were 2 major landscapes that fascinates me most. Especially the bridge, from the engineering point of view. It was unfortunate that the bridge climb was not available then. Subsequently when it was opened, I vowed that one day I will return to Sydney for that climb. Therefore the first thing I did when arrived in Sydney was to go for the Bridge Climb. The Climb is the single most expensive itinerary of the entire trip. Worried that I may not get a place in the climb, I reserved on line before leaving Sydney. The Bridge Climb cost AUD189, which works out to be about RM497 (based on 2.63 exchange rate). This would more than enough to get a VIP seat for the Wang Lee Hom concert in KL. But I think it was worth the money, as the experience is marvellous and unforgetable. Going to the very top of the bridge span, which is 2 times the height of the tallest fin of the Opera House is a moment to be remembered. The climb was meant to last about 3.5 hours, but due to our smaller group (only 6 of us in the group), we were up there for about 4 hours.

The first day in Sydney was basically spend at Circular Quay doing the bridge climb. After the climb, the sky is already dark. The Rocks was also closed. The only thing left to do was to take pictures of the Opera House at night, something that I had not managed to do during my first visit. Sydney skyline at night is marvellous.

The second day, with an extremely fine weather - blue sky and bright sun, we went for the coastal walk from Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach. Accoring to one of the website (lost that link), this was supposed to be one of the best coastal walk in the world. And quite rightly so, if the ocean and beaches are your thing. Though the sun is bright, the walk is not as tough due to the breezy and cooling wind. We took slightly more than 2 hours to reach Bondi Beach. We ended the Sydney beach itinenary with a bus ride from Bondi Beach to Watsons Bay for the Doyle's Fisherman Wharf Fish & Chips. The Gap, next to Watson's Bay is spectacular. Thrilled me first time, it still does the second time.

The third day was to Blue Mountain. It rained in Sydney that day, but not in Blue Mountain. So that was a very good planning. We took a train from Sydney Central Station to Blue Mountain - a 2-hour journey. Then in Blue Mountain, we took the Trolley Bus to travel around. Blue Mountain to me, is like Cameron Highlands. A few towns that eventually make Blue Mountain. But we were only in Katoomba, the main town and Leura which is within the route of the Trolley Bus. I read a lot of guides and travel forums where all recommended a visit here. I would have also recommended this, but I suppose it is not a must. The reviews in the travel guides and forums are probably slightly exaggerating, especially on the The Three Sisters. I think the comments are just a little big over-rated. If you have a day to spare, yes, why not dropping by Blue Mountain. Otherwise, doing it on a second visit is still fine.

One of the highlights of Blue Mountain is the Scenic Ride. Yes, that was something, especially the Scenic Railway. But the ride ended too fast to feel the thrill. Doing the ride again, will cost another AUD10 dollars. Doing both the Railway and Cable rides cost AUD19 dollars, if you purchase the ticket at Scenic World. But if you get it from the Trolley Bus Agent, you will save a dollar.

After getting back from Blue Mountain, we headed to Chinatown and Darling Harbour. Darling Harbour was the place that I could least recognised. A lot of development had taken place. The Sydney skyline viewed from the Harbour is impressing.

The last day in Sydney was disappointing. It rained early in the morning. Then stopped. We managed to get into the CBD area. Then it started to rain again. We were trapped at the New South Wales Art Gallery for few hours. The last stop was in Chinatown for dinner. The last time I was in Paddy's Market, I could only see the flea market section, not realising that there was also the fruit and nuts market as in Melbourne's Queen Victoria Market. Comparing the price of both markets, Paddy's Market seems to be lower than QVM.

Then it back to Central Station to catch the bus back to Melbourne for the conclusion on this trip. Though I'd mentioned that I will never be back to Sydney, I would love to stay in Sydney. My favourite city.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Australia 2009 - Melbourne

This is my first visit to Melbourne. The most common thing I heard about Melbourne is the '4 seasons in a day'. During the 3 days that I was here, I did not get the summer, but it was cold throughout the 3 days. And it rained in the evening of the first day.

Throughout the 3 days, temperatures were ranging from 11 Celcius to 20 Celcius. That for Malaysia would be considered as cold.

Doing the tourist stuff in Melbourne for 3 days is quite easy.

Day 1 - Melbourne CBD and Docklands
Day 2 - Yarra River and Southgate
Day 3 - St. Kilda's

The best thing about Melbourne for tourist in terms of transport is their free City Circle Tram and Tourist Shuttle. The tram made a loop in both directions around the City Center, stopping at every tourist destination along the way. And it is very easily recognizable. The Tourist Shuttle - a bright red colour bus - runs a little big farther than the City Center and it goes across the bridge to the Southgate Precinct.

The best thing about Melbourne trams are they stop at every road intersection, either before or just after the traffic light at each road intersection. Thus you don't need to walk far to a tram stop. However, it also because of this, traveling in a tram is very time consuming.






Melbourne Docklands is a newly developed suburb in the west of Melbourne city. And it is one very interesting area. Very artistic with colourful buildings and interesting sculptures.








The Melbourne Jazz Festival coincides with our visit. For this year the festival started on 26 April 2009 - the second day of our arrival. They have an opening show at the square at Federation Square. It was a very cold evening and it drizzled half-way through the performance, but none of those watching made a dash from the square. The weather rewarded them by stopping the drizzle and the show continued. We left half way through the second performance due to the very cold weather.




Southgate precinct - just south of the Yarra River - is also a Art Center. It houses, among others, the National Gallery of Victoria and the Arts Center. We took the opportunity to visit the National Gallery and the featured Bugatti exhibition. Southgate also has a very nice food court area. Asian, European and Mid-east foods are all available.





St Kilda Beach, further south of Melbourne City, is easily reachable by tram. I noticed a very sizeable Indian population in this part of the city. The beach was practically deserted due to the cold weather. Luna Park, an amusement park, was also closed. But I can imagined the place to be crowded with people during summer and it would be a very busy place.




Queen Victoria's Market, another interesting place in Melbourne. A very big market that sells food and non-food related stuff. But I was more interested in the food area. Though there are many stalls, but the varieties are very similar. There are the fruits and vegetables on the open air section. The meat and poultry sections are indoor. I bought two type of salami (cured sausages) back. I think Australian sausages are pretty tasty.

My impression of Melbourne - A slower pace city compared to Sydney or probably even KL. Less vibrant. Lots of Asians. The city center is surprisingly small for a well-known city. Newer developments around the city such as Docklands and Southgate make it more vibrant. A mixed of modern and older buildings in the city itself. I will not choose to live in Melbourne. The following photos generally depicts Melbourne and its night scene at the Yarra River.









Australia 2009

Last year (2008) in November, MAS did a promotion on their online ticketing flying from KL to Melbourne. That's when I booked the ticket for this trip - a good half a year ahead. Ticket costs at RM1623 return. I would say that was a bargain, although subsequently there are other cheaper rates quoted online.

The itinerary for this trip as follows:
Out from KL to Melbourne:
Depart: Fri, 24 Apr 2009, 21:30
Arrive: Sat, 25 Apr,2009, 07:00
Flying time: About 7 hours;

and back:
Depart: Sat, 02 May 2009, 15:00
Arrive: Sat, 02 May 2009, 21:10
Flying time: About 7 hours.

I found out an easier way to get to KLIA. I took a cab from home to the Bandar Tasik Selatan LRT Station to catch the KLIA Transit. This train costs RM29.50 and took 29 minutes. A much lesser hassle and cheaper than going all the way to KL Sentral for the KLIA Express.

The full itinerary planned for this trip is:
25 April 2009 - Melbourne
26 April 2009 - Melbourne - Night: Leave for Sydney by bus
27 April 2009 - Sydney
28 April 2009 - Sydney
29 April 2009 - Sydney (Blue Mountains)
30 April 2009 - Sydney - Night: Return to Melbourne by bus
01 May 2009 - Melbourne
02 May 2009 - Return back to KL.

And I am glad that the plan was perfectly executed.

Click here for the full pictures album for this trip.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Oversea Holidays

My very first oversea holiday was in 1995. That was when I packed my bags from Singapore and moved back to Malaysia. Then without a job, it was the best chance to go for a carefree holiday with no work worries. And go as many days as I can afford. Unfortunately, probably due to that was the first time I actually left for a place so far away, I felt a little bit of home-sick after 1 week and thought of coming back home ASAP.

That very first oversea trip was to Sydney, Australia. February 1995 (can't remember the date) - I flew from Kuala Lumpur to Sydney. After 4 days in Sydney, I took a bus from there to Gold Coast and spent 2 nights there. Then I flew home from Brisbane.

Summarizing, all my trips aboard:

1995 - Australia - Sydney & Gold Coast
1996 - Thailand - Bangkok & Pattaya
1997 - Netherlands, Belgium, England - Amsterdam, Brussels & London
2000 - New Zealand - Christchurch, Rotorua & Auckland
2001 - Denmark, Sweden, Norway - Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Stockholm, Oslo & Bergen
2002 - Hungary, Austria - Budapest & Vienna
2002 - Hong Kong
2004 - Thailand - Chiangmai
2005 - South Korea
2006 - Thailand - Chiangmai
2007 - Thailand - Phuket
2008 - Indonesia - Bali

This year, 2009, I made a return trip to Sydney. Among the places I have been to, Sydney remains my favourite city. Following this, I will posting some photos that I have taken during this trip

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Hospice Klang Treasure Hunt

19 April 2009 - This is my third Hospice Klang hunt.


The first was in 2006 - then teaming with WK, Angie and Wong PW. This is the hunt that supposedly ended the hunting life of Mr. Wong. We went home empty handed. The second was in 2007 - with WK and Angie. The first time where there was only 3 members and we won a prize - 10th place. An achievement. This year we - myself, WK and Angie - teamed up with Fong.

Unlike the previous year, where the hunt flagged off at the Klang Hokkien Association, this year was in Klang Executive Club. As such we missed out on the Association's Bak-kut-teh breakfast. So, no breakfast this year, but we have the Starbuck's Coffee - provided FOC to participating hunters.

During briefing, the COC mentioned that the first question would be a tough one. I repeated that to the rest. So, in a certain way it brought the mood down, and what's more early, early morning trying to crack a difficult question, psychologically we were already out. The question is actually straight forward, but its the spotting the right words 'within' that is not working.

Hunt briefs:
30 questions - 15 in Part 1, finish that and exchange for another 15 in Part 2 at mid-point control - 5 points each - total 150 points
2 Treasures - 10 points each - total 20 points

I guess this could be considered as one of the easier hunt, with 5-6 tough ones - which need to crack the brain slightly more. The rest should be a breeze for regulars. In the first part, we actually spent about 20 minutes (or perhaps more) on a question for the fugitive.

Overall, it is a good hunt for us, as far as points and positions are concerned. We were placed 7th with 145 points (out of a total 170 points) - dropping 5 questions. We even out-placed some of the Master teams.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Movie 10 - Race to Witch Mountain

18 March 2009 - Race to Witch Mountain


This is the WWE's ex-superstar wrestle - The Rock

And this is The Rock in real life - Dwayne Johnson

And he is the star of this movie. And he can act. And not surprisingly so, as he has been acting since the WWE days. Lots of practices there. Anyway, this movie is fictitiously entertaining.

Have always wonder why most good aliens landing on planet earth looks very human, and those bad aliens are always monstrous looking. Humans are good aliens??

My rating: 3/5