Travel

had a flying month. literally a month that i flew a lot. I was lucky enough to be rewarded 2 incentive trips after a rather intensive 6 months of working life. Come to think of it, I have actually visited a good number of cities in a very short period of time. Before age of 18, the only city that i have visited outside Peninsular Malaysia was Medan, but ever since then, i was just bombarded with all kind of cultural diversity across a big piece of land.

Usually i preferred to mention myself being to city A or city B, rather than been to the country that city A located at, because even across a city, the building, culture as well as the socio-geography can be diverse enough to spin my head around, what's more its between the cities. For foreigner, KL might be the representative of Malaysia, but we fellow Malaysian know very well it is just impossible to have the capital representative the whole truely-Asia-shit. Maybe, just maybe, i want to look at each country from the angle that their own countrymen look at.

I must proudly said here that although before age of 18, i've not travel much outside malaysia, but i've actually covered a big area of Malaysia, here's the major cities/tourism spot that i HAVE NOT been to only:
Kota Kinabalu (or the whatever Api that they r calling now)
Miri
Kota Bharu
tasik kenyir/Taman Negara
Perhentian/lang tenggah
Ya...i think that's probably the whole list

Here's the list that cities that i have been to:

Medan, indonesea 1996

hatyai, Thailand 2003

2004
Changi airport (not been to s'pore till now)
Dunedin, NZ
Christchurch, NZ
Queenstown, NZ
Wanaka,NZ
Timaru, NZ

2005
Wellington, NZ
Taupo, NZ
Auckland, NZ
Rotorua, NZ

2006
Bangkok, Thailand
Milfort sound, NZ
Franz Josef, NZ
Lake Tekapo, NZ
Kaikora, NZ

2007
Adelaide, Australia
Melbourne, Australia
Sydney, Australia
Hanoi, Vietnam

2008
HangZhou
ShangHai
ShenZhen
Hong Kong

i have the habit of writing down story, comment on each cities that i have been to. I have always wanted to post all the written things into my travel blog as a safe choice to keep my memory. However, until today, i'd only key in my travel experience during year 2005...looking at the rate it goes (10 km/h writing speed vs 120km/h traveling speed), i am getting worry that this little resolution of mine will not be fulfill for many months to come....

Kisah Benar

Was driving pass the 'notorious' SS2 this afternoon, witnessed a motorcyclist along with his crime partner snatch a handbag off man's hand.

He was holding gf's hand while another hand holding the pink colour ladybag. They were standing at the small isle that divided the opposite traffic flows. It's so hard to be a man nowadays, just trying to be nice to the lady, and then this snatch thief just took it away. Imagine both agonizing both the man and women in this incident.

What's more irony is that, this snatching incident happened right in front of the bundles of flying flags that printed both party's candidate face. Talk about voting for the better tomorrow. HA!

it would be more irony if you look at all the promises that the candidates said should they be elected.

HEAL THE WORLD~~ MAKE IT A BETTER PLACE~~~FOR YOU AND FOR ME AND THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE~~~

Age of Empire 12

I was so itchy hand that the other i bought a Age of Empire 3 Asia Dynasty DVD to play leisurely. After playing for about half a day, i got a little bored of it, then i start reading the newspaper. And hey, guess what, we have a far greater game happening right now, its the Age of Empire 12, Malaysia Dynasty!

in the games, the involver use gun to win the battle, which is far more visual. But here, we use words and tricks to kill opponent in no time. Less interesting for the audience i must admit, but as a matter of fact, it is far more menacing than what we can see with our own naked eye

Compared to previous few elections, i am sure this is a far more different election ever for most of the people. First of all, internet, youtube and blog to be more specific, have touched thousand's heart ( or anger) that could potentially brings a different to our rather boring parliament.

Blogger Jeff Ooi has finally decided to get into the dirt pond in the hope of cleaning it up, making him one of the most high profile candidate. Although i'm surprise and find it a bit ridiculous to see the Lingam's tape owner Mr Goh to be a candidate, but having him around indeed make this election far more interesting to most younger generation and hopefully wooing more of us to come out a cast a vote and KILL THE BLOODY WOLVES~~opsss, that's for AOE 3 game, i mean, defeat the undeserving opponent.

For chinese speaking community, there's another high profile handsome looking candidate that is getting a lot of limelight. Mr Wu, formally a debater, then DJ, manager and eventually high profile candidate of MCA has stirred lots of controversy as well as supports for his foes and fans.

He may not be comparable to Arnold, but he was formally involved in entertainment industry, and seriously, i really hope to see more of people like him to involve in politics. Why? because non-voters are the biggest group that can cast their vote and shape the government into a glass-hour shape, making all the ham sap lo mesmerize by our beauty :)

sam pat

the whole malaysia is going sam pat.

sam pat, sam pat, 3 8, 3 8; the number sound so auspicious that it is driving all the Toto lovers go frenzy over this set of number. All kind of combination was thought by the gambler in the hope of hitting the jackpot.

To a great extend, election is just a game of numbers. So i guess, we are just being chinese by grasping every single right opportunity to gamble :) obviously election hold a far greater mission than giving us the numbers to have fun with, but to a certain social economical group, it really have limited impact to their life. Striking lottery, maybe, election, nah...

Read a comment on newspaper regarding their candies that government been giving to chinese and tamil school on the past 2 weeks. It is believe that government have been given about about RM120million on improving these schools. The author said, if we capture the progress in graph, you would see stagnant line with giant leap every 5 years. And we are OK and HAPPY with that for the past 50 years. Our memory spasms are just too short i guess, or maybe, we cant read the graph?

We all know a lot of things only improved every 5 years, for example, the road condition around LDP. Residents in PJ area sense election the earliest, because the road condition been improving since November, and we are HAPPY and OK with that. Maybe we cant read the graph, but hey, we can read the sign now. hooray~

many people are predicting this election would be the first real triumph of democracy, and i was really anticipating to see that happening, dreaming one day we will have a Hilari and Othbamat that openly debate on live tv broadcast, and no body know who is the winner until the result is out.

However, i became skeptical when i realize the enormous number of people that did not register themselves for the election. The Y generation condemn every single thing that government doing not right. they crave for equality. But when we given the chance to make a change,

"can do it online ah?"
"nobody told me about registration also!"
"rocket have my support in my heart"

Sadly, i will be on my way back from Shanghai on the sam pat day. I am missing out my first ever opportunity to vote. I hate that feeling. damn it....

best love quote of 08 valentine's

1. if my love for you can be measured, then it must be thicker than Samy's face

2. my love for you is eternal, like the wig on Samy's head

3. If you insist on putting a time frame for my love for you, then i would say, its longer than Samy's serving years.

4. the world may change, but i promised i will still looks like me, sound like me, and 100% is still me

disambiguation

365 days ago, i was gazing at the star, mesmerized by the galaxy of stars that shine upon the sky, wishing myself to be sliding on the milky way with you by my side as the shooting stars fly by.

365 days later, i am gazing at the brighten sky, mesmerized by the golden lining drawn by the fireworks, praying that my family and i will be healthy and safe for the upcoming years.

it was so serene, and cold. 3 degree Celsius if i am not wrong. i can vaguely see your face through the lights that exist 3,000 years ago.

The burning praying items are heating up my face like giving me a facial treatment, and the fire crackers are so noisy that i have to write this thing up to kill my time. The whole street is brighten up by fire, firework and housing lights that has nothing romantic to talk about

happy valentine's day, 14/2/2007

happy Pai Ti Kong, 14/2/2008

Bang bang

when u are too confident or you are just taking thing for granted, somehow, it will get you into some unexpected situation.

As i was heading heading home unusually early from work...okey, i lied, its a norm thing, but that's besides the point! AAAANYWAY, since i am heading home early, obviously i cant make any toll claims as i would not like to see how my boss looks like when the receipts stated there 3pm. So i used my own smart tag to go through the toll.

Just like what most of the people would do, i slowed down to around 40km/h (okey, maybe its 60 km/h), as i was entering the smart tag lane.

"beep"
Sweet, no need to slow down further.
50cm: eh, the barrier seems a bit slow
30cm: ok, this is REAL slow
15cm: BREAAAAAKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK~~~~
5cm: !@#%$!#$$!$#

the break sound was so overwhelming that i pay no attention to the colliding sound. Alarm begun to ring while the metal barrier beginning to swing to the side. Its quite impressive that the palang thingy got a security pin in which when a car hit it, it would drop down by about 10cm to reduce the impact then only swing it to the side.

At the end of the day, my car left unscratched, but i still made a complaint to avoid more driver being victimized.

My question on what would happen if i hit the metal thingy was answered today in the most practical way. So, i was happy :)

see, life can be fun.

了.解.

因为太了解 我无法坚定 这一次会要掉眼泪的决定
有些遗憾只能一个人听 很对不起 我还是珍惜 所有的事情

newsmaker of the year 2007

If you are a newspaper lover, 2007 must had been an entertaining year to read on. And for once, newspaper is even more interesting than to follow on the Hokkien drama (which apparently, still got 2 more years before the story will end). A lot of people are upset and calling it a downfall of the society, but my answer to it is, how can you call it a downfall when we had never gone up to any place yet?

This is the the best time of the world, this is the worst time of the world

just a small recap on who actually deserved to be name newsmaker of the year, we had...let's see, Zakaria the huge-ass bungalow owner, Hisshamuddin the keris waver, Najib the denial, and Khairy the riser. Oh wait, there's still JPJ the (10 years to learn the problem) slow learner, Nanli the arrested officer, bersih/hindraf rally the anger, BN the embracer of all the leakage and tunnel, ISA the unstoppable, flood victims the sufferers, samy the wig owner, inflation the killer, namewee the singer, lingam the lawyer, Attantuya the trial (may the justice be on your side), and of course, Abdullah the jet plane owner.

Hey wait, did i miss out the space traveler? Nah....He dont even has a DVD dedicated to himself only...Dr Chua is still cooler. Too bad he is the 2008 story, of else he would have been the clear winner. with election coming up, its quite hard for him to stay on to be the winner of 2008 newspaper,sigh...you should have announced the story a day earlier, now you are risking of losing the throne...

so who's my pick? i guess i would choose our beloved timbang. Bacteria can only grow on optimum environment that has the right temperature and moisture. With so much leakage and tunnel story, no wonder these bacteria grow well in the environment...

2008

congratulation to all of us for being older, once again......

yesterday i was victimized by friends, being cheated to be the traffic ranger for them. As they were stupidly sitting at some random restaurant at 1U, i was even stupid by driving towards the Curve. it was 10.40pm. The traffic is quite bad, but its still moving, and it actually took me 25 minutes to reach the curve and get a parking right next to the curve. I think i got it there fast because of my 'cutting' skill as well as a little bit of luck. I feel bad for conning whole bunch of them to stuck in jam, but at the same time i wanna drag them over. So at the end i sent a sms that read like this' i have arrived, the traffic is bearable'....

My friend who was in the car with me complaint that there's no way people understand what it means by bearable, n THAT's exactly the whole point~ unluckily, i messed with the smart one, got a reply "yup, got it, love you baby" which exactly means nothing, in revenge of my useless traffic report... @$%@$%

The count down was good, besides the point that i missed out the count down,missed out the crowd, missed out the screaming and missed out a big fraction of the firework. Ya, i do get the jam, the sweat, the aimless walk, and yeah, THE alcohol :) but i'm happy,because i have not seen such crowd for ages, and have not done things just for the heck of doing for quite a while too. I'm probably too old to go for anymore countdown real soon( you will feel so too when you overheard people saying they are form 2 and form 4 in the toilet).so ya...feels great to be silly on the last day of 2007, and the first few hours of 2008

wishing you all to have a bearable year ahead.........hehehe

2008 resolution

1. gross annual income of RM 100,000
2. sponsor myself and parent to visit my 3rd sister in Manchester
3. complete my long-overdue travel blog (doubtful resolution giving fact tat i have 3 more countries to write on and soon i will be traveling to another 2/3 countries)
4. complete reading 2 books per month (time to clear my mini bookstore)
5. achieving targets that i have set myself for my job(s) :)
6. saved up RM15,000 to be my reserved bank for the possible investments
7. constantly upgrade myself in order to have in dept understanding of financial related topic
8. learn a new skills, probably something useless but fun
9. maintain the routine of attending gym session at least 3 times a week.
10. still have at least RM20,000 in the bank after completing all the resolution above.

Big dreams to have, i know....

love

In terms of family wise, my family and I had gone through a very very difficult year. For the past 50 years, year 2007 is the most unsatisfied year that i have ever gone through, that's what i mum told me. I can fully understand the statement. God knows how many sleepless nights we all had gone through in the past year. I really have a good taste of mental exhaustion, and i vowed to do anything in order not to let my family go through all this thing once again.

i do understand many things are out of my control, but reflecting back, there are still things that are achievable and i have yet to accomplished. By adjusting it slowly, i am beginning to draw out time to spend it with my parent in quality. I can feel their joy whenever i drove them out, paid for the meal or even just buying a RM50 clothes for dad. I know it was the act, not the things that i have paid for make them happy.

The family is once again back into the routine, but somehow, somehow, after all the stormy nights, this routine family life tastes so sweet. And now, we have all grown up, and nobody can actually recall when was the last time all of us were gathered around, but deep down inside, we all know well, our bond is stronger than ever.

in year 2007, friendship has come into another meaning to me. i am meeting back friends that i have not met for years. I have left a good bunch of university buddies for good, and the good old mate welcome me as always. Thanks to internet and cheap air flight, there isn't much sadness involved during my departure, but at the same time i do question myself if i have actually met some good friends out there.

Adjustment was made to accustom myself to the once familiar way of hanging out. No more crazy shit party, replaced with football crazy feast. Less alcohol, more teh tarik. And damn, why do malaysian stay so widespread? why cant i just walked over to the town and have a jug of beer with my mate? From time to time, i still feel slight upset for having no one and no where nearby to have just a sip. You just know some friends are meant to do selected things with you only. Calling my best friend to Laundry would probably make 2 of us feel like donkey that accidentally walked into the market.

i missed being crazy, but i am grateful i am no longer being crazy. Feel sorry for those who failed to withdraw from it and take a greater look around the world, but i guess they are happy. I was happy. In fact, i could have been happier if i was being more crazy, though i might ended up not being who i am now.

relationship wise, things have definitely gone complicated. Certainly we have a path that will keep us apart (distant wise) for good few years. If there is a thing i am really not sure of, that would definitely be what lies ahead of us. But trust me dear, you are not the only one that feeling lonely. Even the lone ranger wish to have a person to hug on at nightfall.

i know i've been blessed with love. Thank you for all the love that you have given me.

Regret

few weeks back i suddenly recalled a good number of songs and movies that i have regretted not watching it. With a bit of luck and the advancement of china p2p and Emule portal, i managed to get hold of lots of old movies and songs that i thought i will never get to watch or hear it again.

few weeks later, i wasnt happy at all. I get what i am not suppose to be able to get hold of. I lost my regrets in life. funny idea, but really, what life really is if you dont have a slight regret over the past. I always think of the good old time in New Zealand. There's so much i've done there, at the same time, there's so much that i have not done. And it was all this undone regret that make me dream of New Zealand, and regarding it as the best time i had. i regret for not doing crazy things that i was offered to do, i regret for doing as little as one thing that i can label it as 'crazy'...all this imperfection make my 3 years life such an unforgettable experience

2007, just like any other year, flied by with most of the resolution undone. Of course there are things that i did much better than i expected, at the same time, many regrets happened that still haunting me at this very moment. What failed me before drive me towards what lies ahead...that's what i hope and what i aim for.

More...what's more than that...i did it...my way~~~

Career

after coming back to malaysia, i have a surprisingly smooth path of career. Things just got so well that i actually got too carried away. I had some bumpy ride in between the year and being burnt for quite a bit. However, i was extremely grateful for the mistake that i had made. I was brought back to the earth, understanding that there is no haven to shelter me anymore. What i am today is what i did yesterday. coincidently, i will actually start from scratch on the 1th of jan. I gained nothing by experience in the past 6 months, but i know, these experiences worth more than anything i can imagine of.

at the age of 23, i have achieved many that most fresh graduate dare not to dream of. Maybe, just maybe, if you actually dare to dream, you will achieve it. So in year 2008, i have set my target, i have set my dream, have you?

looking back into the time

once again, we have arrived to the end of another year. Still remember how much hoo-ha newspapers have made during new year eve of year 1999, and with just a blink of an eye (or maybe not..) we are almost approaching another decade. Anyway, this is the time, and perhaps t he only time we recall and reflect on what we had done for the past 1 whole darn year. it's not exactly a bad thing to do i reckon, given the fact that most men don't ask for direction, so this is like a pit-stop for men to sit down, take a look at the map, and decide on where to go next.

2007, a very interesting year indeed for me. At the first half of the year, i was still questioning myself on what to do next. At the second half, I'm back to my motherland and with much blessing, i have found my reason to gung-ho and lived through the rather exciting months.

at the beginning of the year, i was constantly looking for opportunity while working as a cleaner. I failed to see where can i head to, hence i took a bet of using all the money i earned as cleaner to backpack around Australia in the hope of understanding myself better. i knew i was ready to head home, but i just cant find the reason to it. Melbourne was really an eye opening for me. I found myself lost track of time on the cross road of Swanston and Flinders Street,as i can no longer explained myself whether i am at 21th century or Victorian era.

If they just keep walking and never look up, then they must be local, one of the fellow backpacker told me that. Indeed, people are just too busy looking at the traffic in the hope that they can jay walk and save up their previous few second. Everyone seems so busy, but the times seems to be playing some tricks to the building around here, and i seems to be affected by the building. My mind was totally blown away by what i've seen here. The clock seems to have paused a few second for me. I turn 360 degree just to look around. Strange thought flowing into my mind. i stared dully to the traffic flow. Why am i here. Where do i belongs to. how do i end up here.


time to go home