Dimsum's Corner

First post for 2012

2012-01-07T23:07:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!!!

Yea, 8 days late but who's counting eh. We still have a whole full year ahead of us.

And finally realised the Jump Break function for blogger. Urgh, that took a while.

Inner voice: Yea, about damn time. Making us load tonnes of pictures on stuff that no one cares about! And also what's with new functions when there are hardly any new posts at all??

*Ignores inner voice*

Anyway, New Year ! Time to get productive ! Let's do it !

Inner voice: Just like all the other "productive" years gone by ...

Note to self: To do something about the voices inside.

Pilot 111 Bangkok

2011-11-06T01:02:00.000-07:00

News of the flood in Bangkok has been pretty alarming. The media broadcast on the worsening flood created a panic buy rendering supermarkets and 7-11s with empty racks. Couldn't find any instant noodle, can food or drinking water anywhere.

The Thai government announced a 3 day emergency holiday. Including the weekend, I had a 5 day holiday here. Everyday I peep out my window only to see my streets still dry and the weather sunny. Wanted to go out but kept wondering what if that area was flooded. On the 4th night, I could no longer stand being cooped up in the hotel another day. Called up a fishing guide asking if the ponds are affected.

"Brother...no flood here lah."

Alright. It's on. Lets do it.
The cab arrived punctually at 7am the next day. Today I was going to Pilot 111 lure fishing pond. A pilot with badge number 111 owned this pond, hence its name. The guide turned out to be some ex army anti media kinda person.

"All lies. They say here flood. Where's the flood? All lies!"

I am really new to lure fishing. Attempted it a couple of times, but never caught anything before on lure. Wait, I did catch a blind haruan before, but that's probably because it was blind. So, this was more of a fishing class rather than a fishing trip. Theory and practical. And I was not disappointed.

There were 11 ponds here with every pond exclusively having a single species of fish. There were 5 main species here: Giant Snakehead (toman), Barramundi (siakap), Featherback (belida), Pacu and Asian Red Tail Catfish.

Breakdown of what I paid for this trip:
Fishing license : 500 baht
Guide : 1000 baht
Equiptment rent : 500 baht (including a whole boxful of lures)
Cab : 1500 baht

Even the parrot here goes 'krappp'. One heck of a noisy bird.

My guide for the day, Bad Boy. Speaks pretty good English and almost sounds Malaysian with his lahs. Definitely a recommended guide. His knowledge in fishing is really admirable. He explained in detail the characteristics of the fish, casting methods for each species, and really goes all out to see that you land a catch. And he won't let you take pictures of the fish he caught. "You have to earn it yourself to take pictures" he said smiling.

For 500 baht equiptment rental, I'd say it's pretty cheap considering the ammount of lures available.

Colorful little froggies.

More froggies.

Fish lures in almost any kind imaginable.

First target, the Giant Snakehead, the toman.

The moment Boy saw the way I held the rod, he knew it was going to be a long day for him. He then thought me the correct way of holding it where you have to put out your index finger on the rod so that you can feel when a fish bites the lure.

He caught a toman on his second cast. The theory for tomans, is that you have to piss the fish off and it will come attacking on the lure. He instructed me to cast it off, wait for 5-10 seconds to let the lure sink, then reel back fast, stop for a second, then repeat. Another more advance technique was to keep whipping the rod down while reeling back in. Had problem doing the advance one as my movement was really stiff. Took some getting used to.

First toman caught by Boy.

The razor sharp teeth of the toman which left marks on the lure. He also said that it had the biting strength to crack the lure and also bend hooks. And always to use the tool (I have no idea what the tool is called. The one used to clamp the fish's mouth and also serves as a weighing scale) to clamp the fish before removing the hook.

Boy took in his 8th fish already and I still haven't caught a single one. He was starting to get depressed due to his responsibility as a guide. He kept changing lures, testing them out where he'll easily land one before passing it to me.

Problem was I wasn't sure when the toman attacked the lure. And by the time I realised that was a bite, I'd be too late.

Was reeling back my lure, when I felt a bite, immediately I whipped it back and this time, I felt a feedback. Line started shooting out of my reel, and there it was my prey splashing around the water trying to free itself.

Finally, I landed my first fish. My first ever toman.

Once I knew how the bite felt like, the number of hits started to climb.

Landed my 6th toman, and I decided to move on to the next species, the Featherback.

For the Featherback, it was more relaxing. The technique was totally different, explained Boy. This fish is a slow fish. He changed the lure to a smaller sinking lure (sorry if I am using the wrong terms) and instructed me to cast, wait for it to sink deep and reel back in slowly, really slowly.

A good change of phase. Good time to relax my arms which started to burn and fingers which started to blister.

Felt a small tug, and whipped it back, and started reeling it back in.

My very first Featherback!

Not. Turns out to be a tilapia. Back in Malaysia, I really hate this fish. It always disturbs the bait and they are really puny back there. At least this is quite big, my biggest Tilapia so far.

This fish eats anything. There was once we got bored from not catching anything, so we hooked a ciggarette butt and we caught a tilapia with it. -_-"

Soon after that, I landed this.

Boy's instructions were spot on. There were a few other guys casting there and none of them landed anything. For a moment, there was a sense of pride. Haha Spoon fed instructions though. I noticed that they were reeling in fast, and guess that made the difference.

"Kill....me....noww...."

The sun was up high by now, and started to burn. Had to wear a long sleeve to prevent major sunburns.

Then I had to borrow a straw hat from Boy. I noticed that the other anglers were prepared for the sun and were stylishly protected. Shades, cap, sleeve extensions, scarfs. I was the only one looking like a farmer there. -_-"

The lures used for the Featherbacks.

We stopped for lunch after that. It felt good being out of the sun for a while. Had beef fried rice which cost 120 baht. Pretty reasonable for an outskirt area like this.

Had a go at the Barramundi pond after lunch. Boy didn't give me any guide this time. He wanted me to try and catch one on my own. I tried the previous two techniques and some other ones but I just wouldn't get a bite. The other anglers made it so easy reeling in fish after fish.

Boy's theory was "If you are not getting anything, that means your technique is wrong. The fish will always tell you if you are right."

After an hour, I still had nothing. Decided to move to some other species first. Next pond, the Pacu pond.

For the Pacu, Boy switched the lure to a noisy one, one that rattles when I shook it. Just reel it back slowly, and this Piranha looking fishes will attack it.

Caught a few here and decided to go back to the Barramundi pond. The Pacu here were smaller than the ones caught back home.

Boy landing a Barramundi.

He used a strange technique for this one. I was wondering what he was doing. He was just whacking his lure on the water a few feet from where he was standing. He was slicing the water which swift cutting movements to the left and to the right. I couldn't believe it when suddenly a huge Barramundi attacked his bait and he reeled it back in.

Laughing, he said this was his 'cheap' method of catching it.

I was skeptical while trying this. Attracted a lot of attention as well. Passerby s were wondering what the heck this farmer was doing. But a short while later, my line shot out of my reel. This technique really works.

This fish gave out a strong fight and jumped out of the water while trying to free itself. I really love this fish.

Boy thought me the method for fishing the Barramundi normally later. The trick was to reel it back slowly while whipping the rod down. Whipping the rod down makes the lure swim swiftly upwards and this catches the fish attention.

Note to self, another angler who was landing a lot of this fish, was reeling in really slowly, while flicking the rod downwards.

Just another species more to go, the Asian Red Tail Catfish.

For this one, the bait was a long rubber worm bait with a huge hook with a sinker. Cast it off and let the lure sink all the way to the bottom. Stand side ways, and just move the rod a foot by foot to the side till the rod is facing you. Reel it back to the line, and continue the process.

This fish is definitely a bottom feeder, and by doing so, it will make the 'worm' bounce on the waterbed.

This catfish gives out a cry when it's out of the water. Went something like 'ngek ngek'.

The lure used for the catfish.

So, I managed to catch all the main species over here at Pilot 111, many which I have no idea where to look for in Malaysia. Was an awesome fishing class for me and I learnt really a lot today.

Already itching for another trip here.

Bangkok with Joy, part 2

2011-10-02T08:51:00.000-07:00

Day 3.

Woke up early today for a half day trip to Ayutthaya, an ancient capital of Thailand. I will just let the pictures do the talking in this post.

"Yay! Road trip!"

Ah, I knew I wasn't the only one with such eyes.

First stop, Wat Yai Chaya Mongkol, place of the Sleeping Buddha.

Buddha: Sigh. How to sleep with all these people posing here...

Buddha: No eye see ...

The stairs leading up there is higher than it seems.

Joy still being excited and enthusiastic. Poor gal only realized how high the place was when we got on top. Had to slowly crawl down due to fear of heights.

Mmmmmm roast duck...

Yea, the weather that day was burning and we climbed many flights of stairs.

Some ants nest on some flowers.

More ants.

Awwww dumbo.

Awwwwwwwwwww dumbo (yea, running out of things to say)

Dumbo: You touch, you pay!

Group pic of the guys.

Next stop, was the famous Buddha in the tree area.

Well, they say that the Buddha will slowly emerge as the tree grows. Was here 3 years ago, and guess the tree hasn't grow as much.

This place still amazes me with all its ancient ruins and statues. A mark of how a great civilization can just crumble to the ground.

Ancient crap.

It started off with this picture. Then we were trying to get a nice 'in air' picture, but with the (serious) lack of sync, the pics didn't quite had the effect we expected. Yea, check out the person in green pants and checkered shirt (Yea, I mean you Lala Liaw!)

Tsk tsk tsk. What mean ... what mean ...

Sigh ...

Shakes head ...

LOL.

ROFL. Face the camera lah!

Background stranger: Whoa. Let's get out of here.

Lucky this one not you screwing up.

Yea, this is how it's done.

Jumping can be pretty exhausting. Managed to grab a nap on the ride back.

Last night in Bangkok, and we spent it in Khao San road. Stayed here the last time, and they simply have everything here. Food, bars, massage parlors, clothing, you name it. A colleague who has been around (close to a year) says that the travel agents here are the cheapest around. Haven't engaged any travel agents here so far, so I will take his word for it.

A toast to the last night in Bangkok (I didn't know that I'd be stationed here for 2 more months the following week.)

End of day 3.

------------------------------------------------------

Day 4.

It was time to leave. All good things must come to an end.

"It's all your fault we can't stay longer, bitch!"

"I don't wanna go home..."

"Now, I can finally rest ..."

Bangkok, you just can't get enough of it.

Bangkok with Joy - part 1

2011-09-28T08:54:00.000-07:00

Right before I was posted here, Joy and friends and I actually had a short vacation in Bangkok.

So, this is what we did a couple weeks back.

Day 1.

Excitement (or rather energy level) is always high at the start of a vacation. Here we are on the way to the airport.

We stayed at the Budacco Hotel, within the Pratunam area. A nice cozy place to stay where the street was filled with food stalls, and peddlers and shops selling tshirts, dresses, underwear, you name it. Our location is also walking distance from Platinum Mall and many other malls. Perfect for the main objective of the trip, shopping.

Welcome to Budacco, the living place.

A fairly new hotel apparently, where everything is clean and in good condition.

Joy inspecting the room.

So, the main objective of this trip was shopping. I was like "Yeah, lets do this!" thinking how much a person can shop.

48 hours later.

I CANT FEEL MY LEGS!!!!! CHOP IT OFF! CHOP IT OFF!!!!!!!!! HOW CAN THEY SHOP SO MUCH??? How can they? Sob sob...

Back to that present day.

We had a quick shower after checking into the hotel and headed out for some street food. Street food in Bangkok has always been awesome. Can never quite get sick of it, 5 weeks ago me thought.

The guys wanted to visit one of the famous shrines and off we went. They said it was just somewhere around the corner. We walked, and walked and walked, stopped to ask for directions and walked and walked again till we finally reached the shrine. I think we walked about 10km (exaggerated of course, should have been at least 5km, at least!).

Some of the cool stuff we saw along the way.

"Gods...grant me the strength and will to carry on shopping, a quick tongue to haggle on prices, and rejuvenation of my body and soul when I'm weary."

This shrine was flooded with people. If I recall correctly, it was the four face god, where people pray and offer flowers and joss sticks to four sides.

After that, the shopping began. It has begun.

It must have been haven for the rest I bet. For me, most of the clothing there were for women, and most of the shirts I liked didn't fit. I am like "COME ON! MOST OF THE PEOPLE HERE ARE FOREIGNERS! HOW CAN YOU NOT HAVE SIZE FOR ME, AN ASIAN!"

But I did enjoy the ice cream here at Gelate. Can't recall if it was at Central World or Siam Paragon. Their presentation is amazing, teasing me, beckoning me for just a lick.

"Come to me baby. You know you want me."

"You like blueberries baby? Stop fighting so hard. I am here for your taking."

It does taste as good as it looks. Rich creamy ice cream that tease your taste buds when it slowly melts in your mouth.

Joy: It wasn't that good lah.

Later that night, we had street food for dinner. I always believe that one must try the street food in a foreign country. That's how you experience the culture of other countries. Food symbolizes culture.

Joy: You are just cheap lah.

We had barbecued pork meat, sausages, intestines, prawns, squid , som tam, and the salted baked tilapia fish. I just love the salted baked fish. Hard on the outside, soft on the inside. Just rip off the hard char-coaled skin and the flesh inside is perfectly cooked to the right amount of saltiness. Simply delicious, and it doesn't burn a hole in your wallet.

And of course, what is Bangkok without going for a massage. Foot massages for only 200 Baht an hour here. Can it get any cheaper? After walking the whole day, the soles of my feet now gives out an electrifying and excruciating pain.

As the masseuse squeezes and massages my feet, the overwhelming comfort overcame me and I slowly drifted into sleep.

Joy (still smiling) feeling "tickled" by the masseuse. Poor baby. Massages gives her agonizing pain rather than comfort.

End of day 1.

..........................................................

Day 2.

The massage the night before really helped. The pain in my feet was almost gone now.

The day was spent shopping for more clothes, bags and shoes. Man, gals can really go crazy over here.

Later that evening, we headed to Chinatown for dinner. A busy street bustling with people, hawkers selling roasted chestnuts and fruits, restaurants brimming with patrons. The smell of food in the air, the flashing of neon light signs, the sounds of laughter and chatter.

We had dinner at this seafood restaurant, Lek&Rut.

With it being filled with this many patrons, there has to be something good coming from their kitchen.

Yea, the food was good if I recall correctly. Sorry about the lack of pictures. We were starving by the time the food came. Finished in an instant.

Some restaurant sign which I thought was cute.

We then headed down the street for more food. For food, I can walk. So, we were headed for 'kue chap'. Flour, rolled really thin and chucked into a peppery soup with a mixture of pork (meat, blood cubes and intestines) and more, roasted pork (siu yok)

Huge pot of peppery soup.

The peppery taste was strong, but just right where you can still taste the meat. The roasted pork was still crunchy after being soaked in the soup. Mmmmmm, writing about this suddenly got me craving for it. Maybe I will have this for dinner tomorrow.

Went back to the hotel after that, and then for a massage.

End of day 2.

To be continued ...

Bung Sam Ran, Bangkok

2011-09-25T04:06:00.000-07:00

Finally, I managed to pay a visit to one of the world's famous freshwater fishing venue, Bung Sam Ran, or Bung Sam Lan. After reading so many reviews on this place, I just had to come.

I booked the Giant Siamese Carp and Catfish package with www.FishSiam.com which had a special promotion going which offers another person to share the package for free. Manage to convince (or rather con) Dee Lern to join me for the trip, considering that he has never held a rod, a fishing rod, in his whole life. Paid 7000 Baht for it which included return taxi ride from hotel, fishing gear, bait, 'private bungalow' and guide.

The cab picked us up at 8am and departed for Bung Sam Ran. The journey was around 40 minutes from Sukhumvit. We were in a town area, when the cab went into a small road and behold, a fishing haven.

Comparing with the price list here, I'd say the package was a pretty good deal. More or less the same price, but without the hassle.

The place was really huge, and you can see Giant Mekong Catfishes playing on the water surface. A lot of these catfishes. No wonder some tours even dare to offer 50% money back if you didn't manage to catch a catfish above 35 kilos.

Thank god that it didn't rain today. It has been raining almost everyday in Bangkok so far, and today was cloudy. Just the way I liked it.

The place was like a resort, and was a good getaway from the hectic life of the city. They had 'private bungalows' with rooms for family members (who don't fish) to chill, a small massage parlor (found out later why it was a good idea to have one there), a mini arcade, and restaurant. They also had a complete fishing gear shop and also a shop that fixed broken rods and reels.

Our 'private bungalow'. No, I am not complaining. A good shelter and space where you can chill, and fish without being disturbed by other people. Or rather disturb other people. As Dee Lern has never fished before, and I have never experienced such big fish before, it was great to have this little space for fishing.

Our guide, Bui. A guide here is really worth getting over here. They will make your bait (Bui did a good job here. The neighbour's bait keep breaking off while casting), keep casting and reeling back the line every 5 to 10 minutes, always keeping an eye on the line to know if a fish is biting, and guiding you when you are tackling the fish (perfect for us, beginners).

How the line is setup over here, for Mekong Catfish. For the Siamese Carp, they use the bottom fishing method.

How the bait (chicken feed flavored with pandan syrup)is setup. And that bait is bigger than my fist. No wonder they gave us 50kg of bait.

Bui will cast it off for us, and let the fishing begin!

Didn't have to wait long before the line start to rip out of the reel.

First catch of the day, a 6 kg patin. The smallest catch of the day, as if giving us a warm up round. The rest were 20 kilos and above.

Dee Lern with his virgin catch. Still afraid of the fish, and posing far from it.

Biggest catch of the day. Or rather bigeest catch in my life so far, a 40 kilo Mekong Catfish which took me 40 minutes to bring in. This damn catfish (all the Mekong catfish) fight hardest when it gets to shallow waters. This bugger ran off three times when it was near the net up place. Every damn time when you think it's over, you are so wrong.

The fish is almost as big as Dee Lern. Eventually, he had the guts to pick up the fish.

How the rod bends ...explaining the repair shop.

Still looking cool here. These fishes takes about 15-30 minutes to land, ripping arm muscles, hips and knees. Later on, whenever the string is ripped into the water, he went "NOOOOOOOO! I CANT TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!!!"

Neighbors in action.

In total we caught 23 fishes. I have two swollen fingers now, and aching arms as I'm posting this entry. My only complain is that all the fishes we caught were Mekong catfishes. We did try for the Giant Siamese Carp, but according the guide, these fishes are easier to catch during the winter (must be their cold season here). But besides that, this place is just awesome.

Bung Sam Ran, none stop action and definitely an experience. Simply amazing.

Escorts in Bangkok 2

2011-09-25T01:20:00.000-07:00

I just love the train rides over here. It's just so convenient. It is linked to almost every big mall in the city, and everywhere is just so accessible.

During rush hour, the trains here are packed. Really packed. Everyone squeezes into the train like sardines cramped into a can.

So, I was on my way back to the hotel and the trains were overflowing with people. There was this foreign guy with his local escort right in front of me, with their backs facing me. The guy then gave her a nice grope in the ass.

The girl, turned around, saw my face and furiously glared at me. I could almost hear her telepathically screaming at me "I AM GONNA KILL YOU ASSHOLE!"

Or it could have been "YOU SQUEEZE YOU PAY!!"

So, on the topic of morality, we can't say that escorts have low moral values. It's just that everybody has a price. Which reminds me of a story some time back.

My sister brought up a story where her friend asked her "Would you give a stranger a blow job for a million bucks?" She was showing her disgusted face saying that she would never do it. My immediate response was "A million bucks?? I'll give any stranger a blow job for a million bucks. Cash upfront!"

So, everybody has a price.

Fried insects review

2011-09-25T00:51:00.000-07:00

Protein food in Bangkok.

Around the Sukhumvit area, you will definitely bump into stalls selling these fried insects. In general, they are crunchy and taste really salty with some flavoring of curry leaves. More of a texture thing I'd say. They pretty much taste the same.

They say that you'd only find these insects stalls in red-light district areas. Mmmm must be the protein.

Bought back a mix of every insect there for 50 Baht. For a small bag of a specific insect cost 20 Baht here.

Crickets.

These critters are easy to eat. Soft body, not much crunchiness and easy to eat. Couldn't really taste a distinctive taste.

Water beetle (I think so)

Well, the lady selling it said they were cockroaches. I don't think so.

These were the biggest insect being fried out there. Pretty intimidating I must admit.

Underside of the Water beetle.

This bugger is really tough. Soft but tough as hell. I couldn't chew through it at all. Took me a while to figure out how to eat this thing. Managed to rip its body off, and could push out stuff from its abdomen. I thought it was flesh. Later realise then they were round, so it could be eggs.

Soft and chewy. A pretty unique texture. Hope they are dead and won't breed inside me.

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrr. It just won't tear.

Eggs squeezed out of the abdomen.

Dunno-what-the-heck beetle.

This one I gave up. The exoskeleton was really really hard as if biting into a rock. Almost lost a tooth there and had some funky taste. Ripped off the head, tried sucking on them but there wasn't much fluid either.

This, I gave up.

Grasshoppers.

Really crunchy and salty. Definitely goes well with beer. Doesn't have a unique taste either.

Frogs.

Same frogs I use for bait while fishing snakeheads (haruan).

Now I know why the fish loves this as bait. They taste like chicken. Slightly chewy, but at least for frogs, its meat you are chewing on..

Caterpillar?

Crunchy and salty. See. Told you most of them were just salty. This one can be easily consumed.

Grubs.

My favourite of the lot. Texture wise, I'd say it's like fish roe. It's like eating a lot of mini dots. No wonder it's a delicacy in many places.

Too bad they were really small. Would have been awesome if they were the size of the water beetle.

Som Tam Restaurant

2011-09-20T09:44:00.000-07:00

Starting to get a little sick of the street food already. Well, guess for myself, I really need variety. Starting to miss nasi lemak, roti canai and my own barbecued burgers already. Damn, I also miss the stir fries and chinese dishes back home. FUCK! Mamak food! How could I leave out mamak food! KNNCCB! FISH HEAD CURRY!! SAMBAL!! ARRRRGHHHH!!!

Ahem.

Strayed away a little from the topic.

So...

Decided to have a proper meal the other day instead of the usual street food. Met up with some friends at BTS Siam station, and it was just somewhere down there (gee...that's really helpful). Name of the place was Som Tam.

According to Choi, the queue today wasn't bad at all. Must have been the heavy rain. The restaurant was patronized by a lot of locals, which indicates that the food should at least be of some kind of standard.

The place also boasts of awards and newspaper and magazine articles.

They took our orders while queuing so that we could eat as soon as there we got our table. The food price was pretty reasonable too.

Price list (that is if you can make it out from the small pic)

A view of Som Tam restaurant.

Some noodles with chicken floss. Weird combination, but the taste was pretty good surprisingly.

Pork neck meat, if I'm not mistaken. They did the ordering.

Gluttonous rice served in a cute basket.

Should have ordered more of this. We were still hungry at the end of dinner.

Som Tam.

Some fried chicken.

Some meat and fishball soup. I really enjoyed this one.

The aftermath.

Well, for those dishes, we paid about 600 Bath, which was pretty alright considering how the food taste. The portion here is a little small, so it's alright to order a couple more dishes.

Now, I'm hungry again. Off to cook some instant noodles.

Random photo shots

2011-09-18T03:19:00.000-07:00

Was going out for lunch today when I bumped into a Malaysia colleague, Choi, who has been here about 5 months now. He was going out for some random photo shooting, so I tagged along.

We boarded the Skytrain from Nana station, transited at Siam station, and headed towards Saphan Taksin station. Here, we could get to one of the Chao Phraya jetties where we could travel the river to various locations. Note to self, take the boats with the Orange flag as those were the cheapest. 14 Bath each time you get on the boat.

A scene at the Central Peer.

Was supposed to have volcanic fried mussels and oysters for lunch. I can't even begin to imagine how that dish would look like, so anticipation was high. Reached the place and it was closed. KNNCCB! (didn't have breakfast and was starving) Most of the shops were closed on a Sunday over here.

KNNCCB!

Some random shots of area.

Every room had their own balcony and it looks pretty neat from afar.

Close up of the balconies.

Wat Suan Phlu. Had my share of temples some years back, so no more temples this time round.

Petrified baby monks.

Some scenes from one of the hotel's jetty.

The streets here were quiet and the weather was cloudy, just the way I like it. It's a nice change of pace to the normal crowded tourist areas where people flood the place, peddlers and tuk-tuk drivers harass you and traffic was heavy.

Quiet lil streets.

Thailand schnauzers. Thought one was noisy enough, wait till you see three barking ferociously (still so cute) at you. Went ahead, and dropped by again on the way back, this time quiet and licking my hand already. Really lousy watch dogs.

Walked pass the France Embassy, and a friendly security guard told of a good place to take pictures where the building was about 150 years old.

It was just a row of the old building, but surprisingly, people still stayed there.

Choi in action.

More action.

Lagi banyak aksi.

Monkey stance shot.

Don't play-play. Still got cable TV.

And gym.

Another one of those moments where people ask me why are my eyes closed. THEY ARE NOT!!! I SEE YOU!!!!

Flower sacrifice.

Escorts in Bangkok

2011-09-17T08:37:00.000-07:00

Apparently, the area I'm staying in, Sukhumvit, is one of the big red light districts in Bangkok, says the tuk-tuk driver. Damn tuk-tuk drivers. Asked me five times on a short trip back if I wanted a Thai girl. Persistent bastard.

Yeah, and stop giving me that suspicious look. I went home alone that night.

...

I am home alone every night. Urghh! --> feels a suspicious stab from Joy.

Was having some siu yok noodles at Soi 11 (the street where all the bars are and almost every foreigner had a local escort in arm) when I saw how easy they picked up the girls.

An ang moh just walks by, sees a girl sitting by the street, and goes "Hi, how are you?". Girl stands up, puts her hands around his arm. Done deal. Just like that.

Interesting. Urgghhhh! Been feeling a lot of stabbing pains recently. Must be the som tam.

Tony Stark

2011-09-14T09:51:00.000-07:00

Finally, a nice body and suit for Tony Stark.

Do forgive the half ass picture though. Should have done a better job.

Head from Hot Toys Iron Man Mark IV. Body from Art Figures AF-002 Bagheria.

Definitely value for money.

Last I checked, Toyzmaniacs, Endah Parade Sri Petaling still has some stock.

Anime noodles

2011-09-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

The anime culture seems to be quite big over here in Bangkok.

UPDATE: Damn bloody spicy!!!!!

The Hand

2011-09-14T09:16:00.000-07:00

Another one of those awesome purchases where others would find useless.

Citadines Bangkok

2011-09-14T08:43:00.000-07:00

Wow.

2 years 2 months and 4 days since the last update. That must be a new record for procrastination.

Anyhow, to my loyal fans, LOOK WHO'S BACK!!!!!!!!!

Fans: BOOOO!!!! FUCK OFF!!!!! 2 YEARS?? YOU CANT JUST WALK IN AND PRETEND LIKE EVERYTHING'S NORMAL!!!! KILL!!!!!!!!!! KILL!!!!!!!!

Well, lets put the last two years behind us. Let's start a new chapter here.

And this new chapter begins in Bangkok.

Yeah, I finally started traveling again. Well, I've only been here 4 days and haven't really left my hotel room.

Fans: LIAR!!! TIGER SHOW!!! PING PONG SHOW!!!! LADY BOYS!!!!! HOOKERS!!!!!!

SHUT THE FUCK UP! Geez. These voices I'm hearing. Can get really irritating. So, where was I ...

Oh yeah, Bangkok. Haven't left my hotel room, so this post will be about my room. It's a Studio Apartment really, and it's a small cozy place with everything needed. Citadines, the name of the place. They are really big and in Bangkok itself, there are at least 3 that I know of in the Sukhumvit area. They have also mushroomed all over Europe, and Philippines. Well, at least that's what the poster in the elevator says. Anyway, enough publicity about this place.

Here come the pictures.

Mini little hall.

Hall from different angle.

Movable TV and working area.

Working area. Keep cursing to why they didn't have drawers.

A small but complete lil kitchen. Fucking water boiler doesn't work though. Complained but they say its for safety reasons, where the water clicks off seconds after being switched on. I don't buy that.

Place where I spend most of my time. Sleeping of course.

Drop me a buzz if any of you (that is if anyone is even reading this) drop by Bangkok.

Will be around for at least two months.

Snake killer

2009-07-10T03:47:00.000-07:00

No, this is not an Indian cat. Some kampung cat which had its fun with the snake, killed it and coolly walked away.

Indian Delicacies

2009-07-10T02:54:00.000-07:00

One of the horror stories before I came over was how easily everybody got food poisoning over here in India. Some said it got so bad that you are unsure whether to puke it out or shit it out.

One thing they didn't tell me though. Food here ~~is godly~~ taste good as hell.

I only managed to try their chapati, naan and briyani so far. Yea, you can easily get them back home, but its a total different league here. The ammount of side dishes accompanying the bread, and the tantalizing aroma immediately sent my taste buds craving for more, even now as I am writing this. The existence of curry back home is a mockery to the curry served here. ~~God, I might spit at the fake Indian food back home.~~

Another thing India is famous for should be their mangoes.

I bought two kilos of these mangoes for only 70 rupees (RM5). Sweet succulent fruits they are. You could even separate the flesh from the seed by squeezing it with the skin still on, and then suck the flesh and juice out from a hole.

All this great food here, and guess what, no diarrhea.

Wait. I did have slight diarrhea, but that was from having 6 mangoes in a go.

Incredible India

2009-07-08T08:13:00.000-07:00

Headlines this morning was all about the Pakistani terrorist launching rockets into Punjab.

I am in fucking Punjab. Thankfully it was some other city near the India-Pakistan border.

Yup. I am now in Chandigarh, Punjab in India. It was just a week ago when I was still enjoying my favourite meal of herbal pork stew aka bak kut teh in Malaysia. After enduring weeks of horror stories from India, here I am to witness the truth with my very own eyes.

Honestly, I still find it hard to believe that I am in India. It is a very surreal feeling and I only have fragments of memory of how I got here.

Transited at Changi Airport for a whole 7 hours

The moment I landed in Delhi, it felt different. I have never seen so many Indians in my entire life. No, that is not a racist statement. They were just … everywhere. It was a freaking sea of brown people.

I got into a car, and headed to my hotel in Gurgaon, Delhi. I felt safer in a roller coaster ride. The roads of India had no rules, more like a free for all deathmatch. They accelerate with their horns, come within inches from each other, stop abruptly in the middle of the freaking highway after missing a turn, drive in reverse and also drive opposing the traffic. Longest ride of my life.

Crashed the moment I reached my hotel in Gurgaon, Delhi. Woke up about 5am the next morning due to time difference and got ready for another long road trip up North. It was only 280km apparently to Chandigarh, but the freaking trip took near 6 hours. It was interesting the first 2 hours. Their road transportation varied from lorries, cars, rickshaws, bicycles, to horses, cows, and even donkeys. You could even find warthogs running around freely.

A view outside my hotel in Gurgaon. And I thought Malaysia was hazy.

Looks like this area was bombarded.

The scenery for the next 200 kilometers was more or less like this:

Poverty.

Abandoned.

Messy.

And barren.

The surroundings improved slightly up north. There were more trees, a lot of paddy fields and less dusty. Chandigarh is known as the greenest city in India and that is quite true with trees and parks surrounding the whole place. The place isn't as crowded as Delhi and more men in turbans could be seen around.

But you can still easily spot horses and cows in Chandigarh.

Reading and hearing about India can only tell you so much. Experiencing it for yourself is a whole different thing. Really. How the heck did I end up in this ~~shithole~~ fascinating country.

Play-Asia.com

2008-10-30T01:55:00.000-07:00

Ever since I came upon Play Asia, game shopping had never been easier. Just a few simple clicks, and a parcel would be delivered to my office within ten to fifteen days. Ample duration to finish off a game comfortably. Plus with a 5USD discount coupon with every purchase, that'd easily make it cheaper than most places in Malaysia.

Shopping around for original games around here can be pretty disappointing. Besides Gamer's Hideout at the Cineleisure, I can say all the other shops are pretty fucked up. Showing off their fucking attitude when their products are marked up sky high. URRGGggHHggHH!! Just thinking about it makes my blood boil. Just die maggots scums!!!!

Only problem would be its just too convenient. Too convenient. I am leaving my room less. I am getting glued to my couch. Game after game delivered to me. Life couldn't be better. MuAHAhAhAhAhAhA!!!!

Bangkok, finally

2008-10-04T18:58:00.000-07:00

Okay, guess it took me a while to update it. Well, lets just keep it sweet and short.

The inn which we stayed at, Sawasdee Banglumpoo Inn. It was pretty cheap, so I didn't have much expectations about it but it turned out pretty alright. This inn had the least negative comments on the net, and personally I have no complaints about it at all. Clean, cozy and perfect location (just beside Khao San's road where all the night life and entertainment was.)

Khao San road. A really lively place filled with pubs, clubs, massage parlors, hawkers, restaurants, peddlers, convenient stores, you name it. The whole street was filled with foreigners and Thais trying to take advantage of them. Tuk-tuk drivers kept pestering to take us for hookers and happy ending massages. Yea, I guess you can get almost everything there on Khao San road.

First day was spent at the huge market, Chatuchak. Huge is an understatement. If you can't find something there, most probably you won't be able to find it anywhere else in Bangkok. They sold almost everything, from food to clothing to pets to giant Buddha statues. It was like some maze and it was easy to get disorientated over there. The noise, the energy, simply fascinating.

Boat noodles, one of the Thai food which you can find anywhere. Spicy soup which blended perfectly well with the meat and noodles. This was one of the stalls at Chatuchak with cauldrons of boiling soup and mountains of meat. This stall is flocked by the locals themselves, and that is the best indication that the food there rocks.

Mmmmmmm, yea I know. My mouth is watering too...

Some Jamaican shop (ran by Thais) at Chatuchak selling Rasta stuff, from Bob Marley t-shirts to bongs to marijuana designed accessories. Somehow you can find these Rasta themed shops easily in Bangkok. And in Khao San, there are many outlets who braid and dread hairs. A good place to be Rasta-rized.

Huge prawns being baked alive. Can't get any fresher than this.

Went for Calypso, a cabaret show later that night. One of the most talked about cabaret show in town. Got tickets from a tour agency at my inn and it was cheaper than purchasing it directly from the official booth itself. If I recall properly, I paid 600 baht for it when it costs 900 baht at the official booth.

I really enjoyed the show. Would definitely go again if I were to drop by Bangkok again. The beautiful ~~boys~~ girls, the changing backdrop, the lightings, the costumes, the lip syncing, the humour, the music, ~~some nipple flashing~~ was simply spectacular.

No, those aren't real ostriches. Everyone seems to ask if they were real. Notice the fat human legs under the bird.

They portrayed many different cultures from Japan, Korea, Spain, Europe and of course, Thailand.

A spectacular play where they incorporated a war/fight scene into a beautiful dance.

After the show, we thought of heading to Patpong for some night life. But a fucking tuk-tuk driver had to spoil the night. He brought us to some secluded back alley and insisted that that was Patpong. There was only one dodgy bar there with a couple of pole dancers. He later then added that it was some big Buddha day in Bangkok and all the other shops would be closed. Not convincing. Asked him to bring us back to our inn.

Along the way, he offered to take us for some food which we agreed to coz we were hungry. Ended up bringing us to some restaurant with lobsters and expensive looking fishes. A bowl of tomyam there cost 500 baht. Fuck this guy. We walked out and decided to head back to our inn, with or without that fucker. He sent us home and charged us triple the fare insisting that he brought us to a few places. He even had the cheek to give us his card and ask us to call him the next day as he could bring us around. It can be pretty insulting being treated like a moron.

..............................

The actual plan for the next day was to head out to Ayutthiya, on our own. Thankfully and luckily, we came across a travel agency and booked a tour there for the following day. And it only cost 500 baht for a day's tour. Change of plans and we decided to visit the other famous spots like the Grand Palace, temple of Dawn and the river tour.

It was about a 15 minutes walk to the area, and during that 15 minutes we were approached by a few tuk tuk drivers who insisted that it was big Buddha day celebration and the temples were only open to locals. Seriously, fuck them all. Everyday is some fucking big Buddha day to them and there would be a few special temples open to public that they could take us to. We ignored them and carried on with our original plan, which went smoothly.

To all the Buddhists who become vegetarians every now and then, I believe there must be some sort of contradiction in the religion practiced. Well, I dunno. It's your choice.

The majestic view of the Grand Palace.

A fusion between European design and Thai architecture.

We hired a tour guide over there for 300 baht, and it was worth every baht. It wouldn't have been that interesting if we were just trying to appreciate walls and paintings and Buddha statues. Add a little pinch of history to it, and that can really spice things up. Yea, I know my shirt is a little tight. I was conned. I was told that the cutting was bigger and was the same as double XL. Fucking whore.

After that we went for a river tour around Bangkok. Paid 700 baht for it, and it was a pretty lame tour. Took about an hour staring at mud colored waters and houses on stilts. Only consolation was that I could rest my tired feet a little.

The river tour ended at Wat Arun, Temple of Dawn. Whatever man. By this time, I was tired of walking and sick of looking at temples. Yea, splendid architecture, nice stone carvings, nice Buddha statue, but I can only take so much a day.

Another pic of Wat Arun.

Another damn pic of Wat Arun.

Scenery from the top of Wat Arun.

Oh yea, we went to another temple after that, Wat Po. Yea, yea, nice big sleeping Buddha there. NEXT!!!

We were basically in Bangkok for four days and four nights. Ample time for us to have a day trip, a nice evening nap, and night trip. So, we decided to check out another one of Thai trademarks - Muay Thai. We paid the most for this ticket, a whooping 2000 Baht!! Ring side tickets!!

Foreigners would be sat around the ring. There was a section with filled with policemen and another section filled with locals. ALL the locals were screaming, jeering, shouting and betting openly. A pretty scary sight. They somehow managed to place their bets just by giving hand signals and nodding. But it was rowdy as hell. Wouldn't want to be there for a 100 baht.

Most of the fighters were kids or in their early teenage years. Was kinda disappointed with that fact. Yea, they were bulging with muscles and stuff, but they were kids!! My opinion changed the moment the bell rung. Those kids could fight! Slashing kicks and piercing jabs. Any of those kids could kick my ass easily. Or rather rip my ass!

One thing about them, I really admire their sportsmanship. Even after being pounded and having blood spilled, they still respect each other and life goes on as usual after that. I bet if that was a tournament in Malaysia, a gang would be waiting after the match to finish up the winner.

.....................

Third day in Bangkok, Ayutthiya.

Woke up real early that day, grabbed a quick breakfast (more boat noodles) and headed to the pick up point. A couple of Japs and some Europeans were in the same tour. We fitted into a mini bus and the journey was near to two hours. A Japanese sat beside me and slept on me the entire trip. Nice. Never had I imagined that I would sleep with a Japanese. Okay, I guess slept on and slept with gives a whole different meaning.

Anyway...

....

...

..

.

That fucking Jap!! 2 hours of Japanese drool!!

Luckily, we decided to go with the tour. Initially, we planned to take a train to the area and explore it on our own. If we had done that, I bet we would have wasted a whole day doing nothing. The ruins were situated far from each other, and there was hardly any vehicles around. Even if we had charted a taxi, it would definitely be more than 500 baht each.

Our tour guide for the day. Looks like Yoda, and speaks like Yoda. "Ayutthiya very old. Very old it is."

One of our first stops. Can't recall much of the details, but this really took my breath away. There was just too many steps to the top.

More ruins.

This place was my favourite of Ayutthiya. It was under Sri Lankan influence and the pagodas were really fascinating. You haven't really been to Ayutthiya unless you've been here.

Would definitely go there again in future. Seeing it in pictures cant even compare.

Some warning sign which prohibits certain actions. We only came across this sign at the last stop, so I guess it's already too late.

We already did this.

And this.

This ruins kinda gave me the Mayan feel. I never expected myself to enjoy historical ruins, thinking that its just some old destroyed wall and rocks. But I guess I can't really explain it in words. The word fascinating has been overused in this entry.

One of the Buddha statues which was still in good conditions. Most of the others were destroyed and severely damanged (most without heads).

And this is the most bizarre thing in the area. According to Yoda, the Buddha statue is buried in the ground and rises out of the earth along with the growth of the tree. It took more than 30 years for it to rise that high. So he says.

Checked out MBK, one of the largest malls in Bangkok on our last night. More shopping and we drained every last baht we had.

Dinner at MBK's food court. Totally different from Malaysian food courts. Clean, cheap and excellent food.

Bangkok. Missing it already.

Prawn fishing

2008-06-28T06:28:00.000-07:00

My first prawn fishing trip turned out to be a pretty sweet one.

I had been rather skeptical about prawn fishing all this time but was I wrong. These little critters tend to bite at a much higher frequency and the tugging at the super light rod can be really exciting.

Hmmmmmm.....prawn.......

Hmmmmmm............cholesterol.............

Okay okay! It was more exciting cause I was actually catching something?

Even removing prawns from the hook can be 'fun' with their pincers pinching and nipping around.

Time to look up some prawn recipes.

Bro's first gig

2008-06-26T07:36:00.000-07:00

So, my brother had his first public gig. And being a supportive big brother, I decided to sacrifice a precious Sunday to watch some gig.

His band, Unexpected Mercy, received invitations to perform at the Alliance Française de Kuala Lumpur, some French language school along Gurney Road. Took me half an hour to hail a freaking cab to get there. None of the cabs ran by meter and the price varied from ten bucks to as high as fifty bucks (this mofo was really pushing his luck).

Alliance Fancaise de Kuala Lumpur

I was expecting it to be some stage in the city with lots of sweaty people moshing around but when I got there, I was wondering if I was at the right place.

The mansion

The grand stage

It was just a tent set up in the garden with some mats on the grass. Some Frenchies were lazing on the grass munching chips and gulping beer, enjoying the racket. It was quite pleasant when the bands played some slow songs, accompanied by the sounds of birds chirping and gentle breeze.

And then came my brother's band. Unexpected mercy my ass! It was us who were begging for mercy for them to stop.

WOOOOOOORRGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!
WAAARRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

WWWAAAAAARRRRRRGGGHHHHHHH!!! ORRGHHH! ORRRRGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aron on the bass, 2nd from left.

Apparently, they were singing some English song (so I was told) . The only word I understood from them was "Thank you." at the end of their performance.

Hot french chick

But it was a rather different Sunday compared to the normal boring ones, so I guess it wasn't a bad day after all.

Freedom Festival 2008

2008-05-15T18:50:00.000-07:00

"FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" yelled Tracy, whenever she met us or saw us online prior to the rave.

Yea, we went for the Freedom Festival 2008 (last week, yea, this post is long overdue) at the Admiral Marina, Port Dickson. "Two Days of Sun,Sea and Sand with two Wicked Experience, two Times Fun" was the theme for the festival, but we only went for a day and reached there at night, so we didn't see the sun, the sea and the wicked experience was cut down more than half.

But heck, it was my very first rave and it wasn't too bad. Tracy was ecstatic one, being a fan of Tiesto and Cosmic Gate. Cosmic who? Yea, I'm not really a fan of trance but at least I've heard of Tiesto. So a little new experience wouldn't hurt I guess.

Secret characters yet to be revealed.

The gang. Mee Loon, Marvin, Tracy (doing the muka cipet) and Jackal being fascinated with Tracy.

When we reached there, the whole place was brimming with cars and we had to park a mile away. Bengs made good money out of nothing charging sky high prices to park cars on their bapak punya jalan. At the entrance, we were checked thoroughly for drugs, weapons, liquor or whatever illegal we could smuggle in. Even the airport check wasn't this bad.

The moment we were in, we were swarmed by skimpy clothed girls over and over again trying to sell us cigarettes. They kept pestering us even though we've bought a few already. Luckily we could just ignore their lustful voice and persuasiveness. All of us but one. Jackal. He was conned into getting more cigarettes.

There was basically two stages in the area. The main one played trance and another smaller one playing club tracks. This one played the club hits.

Cosmic Gate in action at the main stage.

We headed over to the main stage and joined a huge crowd who were all head banging, shuffling, dancing, screaming, whistling and chilling. Trace started doing her joget and Marve started his free style. Eventually Marve got high enough to strip and dance topless.

A closeup of the DJs from the screen.

By the time Tiesto came on stage, we were all like crammed sardines in a tin. Everyone just went wild and the energy in the area was just crazy.

I guess Tiesto's music was that good that it made people horny and make out.

We reached there about 8pm and it ended at 3am. 7 hours of standing and head banging totally drained the life force out of me. I could no longer feel my legs by then and I was glad as hell that it was over.

Besides the rave, we basically rounded the whole of Seremban. As far as I remember, we were just eating and sleeping most of the time. Had a taste of some of the best delicacies in Seremban, courtesy to Marvin.

The first thing when it comes to Seremban's delicacies is their beef noodles, so they say. We had this one at the Seremban market. It was okaaayyy la...

And Serembanians always boast about their siu pau. Here we had it fresh out of the oven. Consumed it piping hot and it was heavenly. Really loved their egg tarts. The real deal.

Marvin's weird bitch who attacks her own tail like her nemesis

We dropped by here again the next day for massive tabao-ing.

Second round of beef noodles. This one was a shop specializing in beef noodles and I really loved it the noodles there. Makan sampai pecah.

The heavenly beef noodles of Seremban.

I'm missing those few delicacies already.

I want more....

Another failed trip

2008-04-19T17:19:00.000-07:00

Decided to go fishing again after a long time and after much persuasion, managed to con two guys into accompanying me. We decided to go to the same place again even though the last few visits rendered fruitless. Everything turned out the same as the last few visits. Exact same pictures, exact same result = fishless, exact same lunch spot.

Sukida. Time for a spot change. Even the other anglers didn't seem to hook up anything.

Sunny and Law

Law's first attempt at the toss

Freaking catch of the day

Broga's ikan bakar where the location is not even shown on the GPS

Curry mutton

Curry style ikan bakar.

Some greens

Nyonya style ikan bakar.

The greenery surrounding the restaurant

Time to scout for new places. Even the pictures doesn't feel appealing anymore.

First scare

2008-04-17T09:22:00.001-07:00

I received a short call from my housemate, Julian.

Then I received another sms from him and my iPhone went black.

I clicked on the unlock button. Nothing happened. I tried turning it off. Still nothing. Zero response. Silence. This can't be happening. I only had it for a week. This can't be really happening.

Fear started building up and after ten minutes, still nothing.

The only thing that kept playing in my mind at that time was:

"KNN CCB !!! THAT FUCKING GUY DAMN SUI MAN!! NIAMAH KNN CCB!!!!"

All this while, I always joked about him being a total jinx to me. At that time I was ready to redefine a word in my dictionary forever.

jinx (jngks)
n.
1. A person or thing that is believed to bring bad luck.
2. A condition or period of bad luck that appears to have been caused by a specific person or thing.
tr.v. jinxed, jinx·ing, jinx·es
3. Julian
To bring bad luck to.

I rushed home hoping that it just ran out of juice. When I reached my room, I suddenly heard a familiar sound. It felt like years since I last heard that melodic tune. It was my phone. It was ringing. It was fucking ringing and I could answer it.

It turned out that the unlocking feature somehow screwed up. I plugged on the power and I managed to unlock the phone. It still had the problem after I unplugged it, and I tried restarting the phone. It worked perfectly fine again after that. Like the past hour was just a bad dream.

I finally managed to breath again.

I checked my pulse and it was back to normal again.

Relieved.

Oh yea. *cough* Sorry about that Julian. I can be pretty superstitious at times.

No hard feelings ya.

*cough*

iPhone

2008-04-15T21:25:00.000-07:00

Finally got my new baby. Farewell my soap shaped phone. No more pubic hair in screen jokes. No more laggy Symbian shit. Cooler ring tones to wake me up.

First and foremost, I would like to thank a couple of guys who made it possible.
1. Kevin's boss : who brought her over from US
2. Kevin: for devirginizing her (or rather asking somebody else to crack it)
3. Kiam: for escorting her over from Penang
4. Winghon: for fetching me over to the PC fair to collect her.

Had been using it for a week now, and I still find her a real beauty. Her sleek curves, brilliant display and minimalist design is simply incomparable. She makes me wanna touch her all the time, and only by touch would she get moving.

I've always wanted a touch screen phone and this one is simply wonderful. In a short while, I got used to gliding my finger around the screen and typing using the keypad was no problem at all despite my two fat thumbs. The dictionary function really helps a lot during typing, so a typo doesn't really matter at all. Only thing that bothers me is that the phone is now fully covered with fingerprints.

And now I have music in my pocket all the time. The iPod function is pretty cool (okay, it's just another friggin mp3 player) and it'll take a while before I get bored with 16GB of songs. But I ignored Trace's advice and synced my music using iTunes on another machine and it just erased my whole play list. Why the freaking hell cant it just add some songs to it!!!?? Fuck iTunes!

Having wifi on the phone is another cool feature (kononlah can always stay connected). But browsing on Safari turned out to be pretty sweet. It displays at a comfortable size and its just perfect for browsing blogs. Mail attachments can be opened without problems and so far I've tested .JPEGs, .PDFs, and office documents which is fitted the screen really well. The iPhone also has EDGE but I disabled it and only depend on wifi to download and surf. Learned from a friend's mistake where he downloaded stuff using his edge and was charged about RM200 for 20MB of crap. Heard some guy from Singapore ended up in debt of tens of thousands after downloading movies using EDGE.

But every rose has its thorns, and she turned out to be quite a bitch. Just needed some getting used to.

First of all, it doesn't recognize all the contacts from the SIM card. Thanks to the web application SIMport, I was able to copy out all my contacts from the SIM. Only then did I realize how unorganized my contacts were. It was a total mess as this phone sorts it out nicely using first name/ last name. Still slowly resorting my address book.

Another problem would be dialing and smsing out. Had me cracking my head trying to figure wtf was wrong with it. Turned out that instead of dialing the number 012xxx, we had to dial the whole number +6012xxx. Which also means, I have tonnes of numbers to edit again.

There's a mixture of love and hate when it comes to the SMSing. I love the SMS layout where it is arranged in a form of chat where you can see all the previous SMSes in a form of dialog. What I hate about it, there's no draft and forwarding. Had to retype a sms a thousand times when I was figuring out why the friggin message just won't get through. Well, there should have a web app for it but I haven't really been searching.

The chat box style SMS

No MMS at the moment, though they say it works fine using the webApp Swirly MMS but the freaking package doesn't seem to downloadable at the moment. Well, not a big user of MMS, so I can live fine without it for the moment.

There's a couple of other hiccups that had been bugging me. Thankfully the webs applications are able there to save the day.

Overall, the iPhone can be summarized as one hot bitch.

And I'm loving it.

The mad rush

2008-04-15T18:03:00.000-07:00

It must have been at least 4 years ago. I vaguely remembered swearing never to attend another PC fair again in my life.

I called up Winghon, the most experienced person to look for when it comes to PC fairs. It was his turf after all, as KLIA used to be mine. As far as I know, he hasn't missed any of the recent fairs. Met up with him at Subang and drove to KL in his mini car.

The place was hell. People swarmed the area like ants coming out from an anthill. They were everywhere. Pick pocketing and ass grabbing should be a stroll in the park.

Decided to get a laptop for my dad. Recalled him complaining about the dying machine at home. This plan was totally ad hoc and I had totally no idea which model to get. Thanks to the flood of people, I really wanted to get it over with. Decided to get the Compaq F762AU as reviewed by Winghon. However, the main reason would be that Winghon had already downloaded all the drivers for the machine. A real time saver.

The HP booth was packed with people. I didn't even have the chance to get their attention not to mention ask any questions. Well, noticing that the rest of the guys in front were either bargaining or asking questions, I just said out loud that I wanted that unit. I got an immediate response. Really good service indeed.

The rest of the fair was really suffocating. And a waste of time if you are not looking for something specific. I bought another two external drives along the way and when I was done, I was totally worn out.

I then had to collect something from a friend who was at the HP booth, which was in the 2nd hall (out of 7 halls if I recall correctly). By this time, the crowd was at its maximum and even a short distance felt like a mile. After picking up my stuff, no thanks to the fucked up layout, I had to go through all the halls again, struggling through the horde of never ending people. I could hardly feel my legs.

When it was over, I was totally drained. Mind, body and soul.

Never again shall I step into a PC fair.

Never.

10K BC/ Kamikaze Girls

2008-03-20T08:50:00.000-07:00

One man's meat is another man's poison.

"Its a really nice show. The suspense is good! Its a war movie! You must watch it!"

Those words kept playing in my mind throughout the whole movie. How could I be so naive to trust the words of a 20 year old. I was not moved at all throughout the whole movie. Not a tingle of excitement. Not a pinch of suspense. Shouting of cliches like "Unite and we shall win!", "I won't leave you! I'll come back!" and those kinda shit, sent shivers of boredom down my spine.

A more suitable poster for the movie.

Even writing this lame review pisses me off.

Verdict: Total waste of time.

________________________________________________________________________

On the other hand, I caught another movie later at home. At least something I enjoyed and at the comforts of my own room. Maybe I should just give up the cinema.

Kamikaze Girls.

A really colorful movie indeed. Its the kind of movie that exaggerates everything and simply full of crap. Definitely not for those guys who like to question the logic of a movie. Full of crap but absolutely hilarious.

Momoko the Lolita

The movie is basically about the meeting and friendship of two girls from two utterly different fashion culture, one a Lolita (doll like fashion with lots of frills, lace, petticoats, and head-dresses) and the other a Yankee (lets just say female bike gangster). Kamikaze Girls portrays a very colorful display of the pop-culture phenomenon and also other classic Japanese culture such as the yakuza, pachinko, biker gangs, etc.

Ichigo the Yankee

Ryuji the unicorn

A film of pure joy and delight.

10000 times better than 10000BC.

Yea, I'm still not over it.

Paintball

2008-03-02T07:52:00.000-08:00

A nice firm grip on the marker somehow provided an assuring sense of security. The feeling of being armed somehow boosted one's ego and confidence; the feeling of eliminating everyone that stands in the way. Breathing went heavy the moment I put on the face mask. The small body vest was just there for formality, it hardly covered anything of me.

I tried recalling the strategy planned earlier. Move in pairs, look out for each others back and my team was supposed to flank left. Simple enough. How hard can following some fundamental battle plan be. It was gonna be a walk in the park.

We lined up at the starting point. Hostiles were already aiming their markers at us hoping to get a lucky shot. I could feel the sweat trickling down my back and my hand was shaking, and the shaking wasn't from hunger. Adrenaline was gushing through my veins. A natural high.

The countdown was initiated. I glanced a look at my partner, and she nodded acknowledging me. Stick as a team, flank left. The horns went off. The battle had begun. Everyone started shooting at god knows what. We sped to the first bunker.

Bullets (or rather paint pellets) showered the bunker that was covering us.

What was the battle plan again?

...

Fuck the plan.

Shoot anything that moves. Trust no one. It's the survival of the fittest. Partners will only drag you down. I went into berserk mode.

Berserk mode

Soon enough, the battle was over. We obliterated all hostiles. My partner was long "dead" due to my treacherous actions. Well, sacrifices need to be made at times. It was all worthwhile. Still standing at the end of the battle was all that mattered.

After weeks of cock talk about paintball, finally arrived the day for the real thing. We gathered at TTSports Paintball Park in Subang on a wet Saturday morning. Despite the wet weather, the turnout was good totaling about 31 people. Divided into teams of 8, we battled each others round robin style.

Agent 067. Codename: Penguin.

Didn't suffer from any injuries or marks, but the damage of the pellets could be seen on other victims. Well, pain is good. Inflicting pain is even better. Keeps the excitement high at all times.

That's not a lovebite. He was raped.

Paintball is good. Count me in the next time.

2008-01-22T19:23:00.000-08:00

Just a note to remind that I'm still alive.

My disappearance so far has been documented in this other blog of mine.

Starting to slowly break free from the prison of lifelessness.

Xmas suprise

2007-12-25T18:11:00.000-08:00

So, I was watching some old movie on the wee hours of Christmas.

My phone rang. Some unknown number.

Sigh. Another Christmas greeting perhaps. I picked up.

There was a little gal crying and sobbing at the other end.

"Where's my mommy? I want my mommy!"

I swear I wasn't sleeping with any hot mom that night.

I listened carefully and I was very sure that it was a little gal.

And the sobbing sounded real enough.

I hung up.

I continued with my movie. And another and another after that.

I love movies.

Team Fortress 2

2007-12-17T06:21:00.000-08:00

So, some people had been complaining that I haven't been updating my blog. Well, I haven't really been around lately. Had been busy exploring new places, making new friends and discovering new horizons. My new world was pretty fresh, exciting and new everyday.

Until a power trip. A power trip that blew up my home router which disconnected me from my new found world. I'm back to the real world for a bit till I get that bloody thing fixed. Well, before I disappear again, I guess I'll talk a bit of this virtual world I've been living in, the world of team fortress 2.

Group picture before the massacre begins.

Welcome to the world of Team Fortress 2. I fell in love with the art concept the very first time I saw it. The characters just seem so lovable and fun, so I just bought it without much consideration. As usual, it was something impulsive and I started regretting a little when I got home. Heck. I pop the disc in and I stepped into the new found world. I never looked back.

Besides the art, the game concept was a whole new story. This game was all about different classes with unique strength and weaknesses. Each one of them have their own functions and team work was the key to the game. Game play was just capture the flag and territory capture, but the amount of fun provided was simply endless.

The first person view of a Scout, who is all about speed but also the most fragile.

Pyro doing his victory dance. A close combat specialist who torches you to the depths of hell.

Engineers, the main pillar of defense. Their sentry guns will rip any hostiles in sight.

Mr. Demoman who beats people up with a bottle of whiskey and Mr. Sniper who will pop your head a mile away.

The Heavy Weapons guy, slow and dumb, but deadly as ever.

The Soldier who blasts rockets from his bazooka.

So far, I'd say its a pretty balanced game but the rest of it depends on the other gamers out there. It can be pretty fucked up being teamed up with only engineers who just camp at base. Gaming with different people everyday can surprise you with things they do. There was once when this fucking n00b medic followed me (I was playing a spy disguised as an enemy) and healed me at the enemy's base, which practically screams "Shoot him! He's a fucking spy!"

Oh heck. I really need to replace that fucking router.

I am having withdrawal symptoms.

I need to reconnect....

...*

Pangkor, never ever again

2007-12-03T07:48:00.000-08:00

After the wonderful Langkawi trip, I went for another island trip last weekend - Pangkor. If it weren't for a family trip, I would never even have considered going. The next time somebody wants to go to Pangkor, family or no family, I'm out.

Well, Pangkor is a really small island with almost nothing at all. If Langkawi is famous for its chocolates and booze, then Pangkor should be famous for its salted stuff. Salted fish, salted jelly fish, salted sotong, salted this, salted that. At least I have some interest in chocolates and liquor. Only my mom and aunts were ecstatic entering shop after shop buying more and more salted stuff.

A flower looks anytime better than any salted fish.

We tried squeezing 13 people into an Unser which obviously failed, so we took a bike instead. But zooming through the island on a bike turned out really fun. It was real fun till we passed a rubbish dump. I vomited on my brother's head.

A temple with disneyland theme. Donald Duck still looks a little bit Donald but Mickey turned out totally retarded.

Mickey Mouse with a down syndrome.

The only thing I enjoyed most during this trip was seeing my little cousins have fun. Their genuine laughter, their never ending energy, not a single worry for the world. I feel fucking old. Shit.

Cousins with the traditional Piss sign. Told them that the Piss sign was for losers and they never did much of it later on.

Cousins having fun.

Cousins having more fun. Fuck. There's no picture of me having fun.

These kids will pose with anything. I think they posed with every damn creature out there. They posed with the toad.

Posing with tortoise.

Posing with ...errr...watever...horse.

One heck of an evil rabbit.

Tormented turtle.

Flying in da sky.

The only consolation there was a lot of seafood and a lot of sleep. Real lot of sleep. Yup, I think that's about it for my recent vacation. I can't even think of anything else to write about it.

Pangkor is canceled out forever from my list of destinations. From now on, Pangkor no longer exist on my map.

Langkawi, never again.

2007-11-19T05:50:00.000-08:00

So, I was pissed off at work. I was burnt out. I was frustrated.

I wanted out. I wanted a vacation. That would bring me back. That would refresh my spirit. I needed a vacation. The next thing I knew, I've booked 3 tickets to Langkawi the coming week. Yea, being broke, it had to be Langkawi instead of somewhere new, fresh. The idea of sitting at the beach, reading a book and puffing a joint sounded relaxing and refreshing.

And so my short break started. Hanged out pretty late the night before and that practically screwed things up. Touched down in Langkawi pretty early, flight was just 40 minutes. Fantastic. So much time saved and we had a full day to hang out at the beach. But, we were all dead tired from insufficient sleep, checked in the hotel and slept till dark. Went to Kuah town. Went back to hotel, slept again.

End of day 1.

The inn we stayed at.

Nice scene of a cool evening. Only problem is it looks exactly the same with any other beach. I took countless pictures at Phuket and they fucking look the same. Why do I even bother.

Marvin after too much pot.

Stuff stoners do when they are high.

Never mind.

Can't really recall what we did on the second day.

Lets see, I cant actually recall how many times we went to Kuah town. Chocolates, liquour, chocolates, liquor, chocolates, liquor, chocolates, liquor, chocolates, liquor. Its amazing how we could go into every shop looking at the same shit over and over again.

I think we spent some time at the beach on the second day. I can't really recall. Memory kinda fuzzy lately. But I think we did. Cam whored a little, talked cock a little, and we went to Kuah town again. We somehow turned an island vacation into a shopping spree.

Hot wheels.

Marve showing off his ~~nerdish~~ intellectual side.

Shopping, shopping and more shopping.

Kids, don't do drugs.

The only tourist spot we went to was the cable car. I was really looking forward to this place. I'd say this was the best place to be in this whole freaking island. The breathtaking view of the surroundings below, the majestic cliffs, the thin cool air, the eagles soaring. I remembered my last trip up there just like it was just yesterday. Finally, I was there again. BUT the whole place was blanketed by mist and we could see shit. Fuck!

The journey up.

The Final Fantasy-ish scene.

Sober Marve.

The tormented duo.

If I were to commit suicide, this has to be the place.

Middle eastern taking a crap.

Third day. Finally we spent the day like a vacation by the beach. Went floating about in the sea, sat in the sand and lazed around the beach. Too bad that was our last day there and we were flying home that night.

Angry pussy.

Pearls of sand.

I got a bit to engrossed in taking a macro shot of this sucker that I didn't realize the waves coming in. The last picture I took for that day. Thought my Nikon was a goner. Had the critter for tea.

Goodbye Langkawi.

We took the last flight home. Which got fucking delayed.

Back to work.

I'm still pissed off, burnt out and frustrated.

Need another vacation.

Tranquility

2007-10-03T10:47:00.000-07:00

Chilin Waterfall Part II

2007-09-29T08:16:00.000-07:00

Alright, alright. I just left those pictures there stagnant for a bit and everyone starts bitching about how naked da entry feels. Guess the phrase 'A picture is worth a thousand words' ain't that true after all.

So...

This time we departed again for the waterfall with new faces. Useless bunch who slept at the back on the way there. Lousy road trip mates.

The lively trio - PJ, Meiseen and Lay Yean.

"This is for sleeping at the back bitch!"

"WOOOOORRRRRRRIIIAAHHHH......"

Apart from soccer, the rest of the trip was all about trekking. Light trekking at least. Nothing compared to Irau, though we got slightly lost at one point and the memories of the jungle started flooding back. Trekking here is pleasant with not much uphills and steep cliffs.

Narrow paths with lots of ferns and bushes.

Small puddles where the gals got cocky and went "Oh, this is what you mean by getting wet."

They weren't laughing much when we started crossing streams which varied in depth. The water there was icy and refreshing. Kept me awake even when I only had 3 hours of sleep, no thanks to mahjong.

And the trekking got tougher along the way.

The place lived up its name as a fish sanctuary where countless fishes swam in schools. The sight of 'kelah's swarming the area was a spectacular sight.

The sucker that gave Marvin a blowjob. And only Marvin.

Some stick insect.

This picture is dedicated to Meiseen for preparing our lunch. The other two are just there as decoration. Thanks to Meiseen for da ~~crummy~~ tasty burgers.

Gaya stuff.

Aura of darkness.

Alright, I've lost mood to write. Writers block. Thinking about it, all the streams look the same anyway.

Conclusion, we reached the falls, it was fun and here are the pictures of da falls.

Falls 1

Falls 2

Another view of falls 1

The end.

Chilling Waterfall

2007-09-03T18:44:00.000-07:00

So, I woke up at bloody 6am when I have problems waking up at 8 on a working day. Decided to do a random trip to some waterfalls near Fraser Hills - Chilling waterfall.

Armed with only this map (contribution of Ryan), we started our journey. The rest didn't really think we'd actually get there. But we defied the odds and made it there without much difficulty.

Selangor dam. Beautiful place. Some guys were fishing there for "paksohkong" aka baungs. Beautiful place to fish despite the many signs that prohibit fishing.

Entrance of Chilling. Didnt know that it was a fish sanctuary. Apparently those signboards and arc are new.

The welcoming signboard which wasn't too welcoming. Open: Tuesdays to Sundays. We were there on a Monday. Perfect. Decided to trek in and not give a damn. But we couldn't go far as there was some guard there who stopped us. Urgh. End of the trip. Bloody hell.

More warnings on the way.

Our last stop where we were not allowed to cross the bridge. Even at this shallow stream, we could see many fishes swimming around and the water was pristine clear. What a beautiful sight. I was contented waddling a bit in the ice cold water and inhaling the fresh cool air there. It made my day.

Marvin: Self denial.

Gal: WTF! You fucking made me take leave and come on this fucking trip and this fucking place is closed on a fucking Monday???

Marvin: Now look here bitch. You better shut your trap there before i give you a fucking bitch slap.

Found some other stream downhill and we soaked there for a bit.

Reached home by noon.

Damn it.

We'll be there again one of these coming weekends.

Damn it.

Hanabi

2007-08-26T06:07:00.000-07:00

Some of my amateur photography of some fireworks display.

Archers Down

2007-08-01T21:40:00.000-07:00

Started a tank again.

But seems like its not going too well.

Fishes dropping dead by the day.

At least this one had its last supper.

I wonder if it actually chocked itself to death.

Its nice playing Death once more.

A day at the President's house

2007-07-16T00:04:00.000-07:00

The title sounds like some porn title.

Anyway...

It was a Saturday morning. Mr. President had some problem at his home and being a VVIP, we peons were required to provide service there. Was sulking when I dragged myself out of bed in the morning. What a great way to waste a Saturday.

Reached his home at Bukit Damansara and his home was just sweet. Huge ass house, pool table, , bar lounge, and a fully equiped jamming studio. It really rocks being rich. It really sucks tending to such rich people on a weekend.

At one point, my handphone was running out of juice and I had to make a phone call. Mr.President heard me and offered his charger.

Me : Errr, my phone is a Nokia.
Mr.P: How dare you bring a Nokia phone into the home of Ericsson's president. Nokia. Ericsson's staff should only use Ericsson products.
Me : Hmmmmm. But I'm with HP.
Mr.P: But that is a Nokia. Its not even HP.
Me : Lalala

The topic of music came up and turned out that music was his passion. He started talking about his career in the music industry where he proudly said he once did some production for Bob Marley and even Abba. He then invited us to his jamming studio.

Picked up his Musicman bass and shoved it to me. Regretted ever mentioning that I played the bass. He sat at the drums and started to play a beat. "Come on! Play something!" he insisted. Shit. I'm so dead. Played some anime tune and it went well for a bit. If I was gonna play something, might as well play something that he'd never heard of before. He then showed a bit of some music production stuff which was alien, cool and interesting to us. But he really showed us one thing that we don't see everyday - passion.

Turned out to be a rather interesting day after all.

I want a dog

2007-07-05T01:45:00.000-07:00

If i were to ever get a dog, I am definitely getting this costume for it.

Potter

2007-07-02T07:38:00.000-07:00

Was sipping a cup of ice cold green tea at Sushi King the other day, and I overheard the conversation of a few girls at the next table. Apparently the topic was on the upcoming book, Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows. They sounded pretty passionate about it, arguing if Harry will die or live happily ever after. I wonder how many people will camp at KLCC this time just to be the first ones to read the book.

Well, the only reason I read the first 6 books was because the English was simple and easy to understand. I'm a simple guy I guess. And cheap as well. I will just do what I did for the last 6 books - wait for the kiwi to buy it and borrow it the moment her whole family finishes it.

Its just fantastic how an author can become a billionaire just by writing a fantasy story of a wizard kid. With all the suspense and tension building up as the release date draws near, J.K Rowling had better not screw up the final piece of her masterpiece.

Turns out, Harry was just a normal teen smoking pot and was high and fucked up when he imagined the whole wizard thing.

Yea. That would be a perfect ending.

I love swimming

2007-06-25T19:38:00.000-07:00

So, I had been swimming a bit lately.

Learning how to do the dolphin movement in order to learn the butterfly. So much for the dolphin as it looks more like a manatee to others. Saturdays are now spent floating around ~~on Marvin's float~~ gazing at ~~staring up at the blue sky and white clouds~~ the dark crimson sky above hoping that a hellgate will open up and let orcs out to wipe out mankind.

So...

Last week, we decided to start diving. Yea, there were only three goofballs in the entire pool who played around the pool. So, I was the first to dive. Did an almighty leap, high and far. Was curving nicely into the water already and I suddenly realised something - the pool wasn't deep enough. Sliced through the water, my hands made contact with the pool floor at top speed, sending tremors down my back and neck and I think I heard a snap.

Twisted my neck severely and I swam like a good boy after that.

Manga passion ignited

2007-06-18T19:29:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've been into manga again. All thanks to a fateful gathering where I came face to face with the manga Vagabond at Borders. Had been searching for it for so long and finally, there it was, the only manga which is worth collecting to me. The art and work of Takehiko Inoue has always fascinated me. If that name doesn't ring a bell, then perhaps the manga Slam Dunk should.

Vagabond, based on the legendary samurai, Miyamoto Musashi can basically be summarized to slashing, blood, sex and flying body parts. Yea, it sounds shallow but it is worth every buck of mine.

And imported mangas here are bloody expensive and has severely burnt my wallet again. All thanks to that fateful meeting.

The mask

2007-06-18T18:02:00.000-07:00

Putting the blame on someone else has always been easier than putting it on your own. And it eats my insides especially when the blame is no where near the truth and the problem was caused by the user's own smart ass decision.

But it is somewhat enlightening to see the real face behind the mask of smiles and laughter after an incident like this.

Lalala

2007-05-28T17:57:00.000-07:00

Time and again, this blog is suffering from a drought of updates due to the lifelessness of the author.

People say that I experience all kind of shit. I didn't quite realize it but those kind of stuff, just happens. Experienced something new again yesterday.

Was deploying some laptops to a bunch of snooty brats, fresh from universities. Cracking lame jokes, thinking they're cool and shit, not realizing the cruelty and harshness of the real world. Didn't pay much attention to them thinking how they'll slowly perish bit by bit.

When I was back, my colleague told me that one of them asked him a question:

"Is your colleague gay?"

Man. That's something new indeed. I wonder if its a random attempt to find a homosexual partner. But anyhow, fuck him.

He is so gonna lose his data once he experiences some pc problems.

Lalala...

Lost staring Meiseen

2007-05-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

Finally a close friend who made it to the papers.

Coverage on Meiseen being lost on the Star.
Coverage on Meiseen being lost on the NST.

I bet at that time, she was all exhausted, thirsty, hungry and scared. Poor thing.

At that very same time, I was enjoying the scenes of Spiderman and Hobgoblin kicking Venom's ass. Poor thing.

Based on the info provided by the papers, I can see that the newspaper isn't a realiable source of info after all.

Neo, it is time for us to make it to the papers. About the plan to rob the Post Office, drop me a ring.

Phuket

2007-04-25T00:48:00.000-07:00

It all started with winning two free Air Asia tickets to Phuket at FlyFM birthday bash. In the end, we got our own tickets after we failed to redeem our prize from Air Asia. Finally, my first trip overseas. I have never been outside Malaysia (not even Singapore) and this was my virgin plane ride. It turned out just like another bus ride, only that this time it was flying. So much for my anticipation and excitement.

So, we touched down in Phuket and took a cab to our hotel, Royal Crown in Patong.

A scene at Phuket airport

The cab dropped us at this tour agency so that we could book our activities to Phi Phi Island the next day. We didn't have much choice as we didn't do enough research (for my case, zero research)and had no idea what to do in Phuket.

The lady that talked to us at the tour agency. Her name was Oil. Yea, minyak.

Walk to Patong Beach

Checked in to our hotel and we started to walk the streets down to Patong beach. Armed with only a map, we started walking about blindly. Luckily it was straight forward enough and soon enough, we reached the beach. It was kinda fun being lost in translation where the locals there hardly speak any English. We even had problems ordering food where we just pointed to whatever we wanted. I tried my luck by choosing randomly from the menu, but in the end, the food that I got seemed pretty normal. Disappointment.

Welcome to Patong Beach

They had lots of people peddling food around like this. In one end, they have a wok with burning charcoal in it. They mostly sell sausages, jerkies and meat balls which they'll barbeque upon purchase.

The moment we reached Patong beach, the gals started shopping for their bikinis. Girls will always be girls and girls always take forever to buy something. During that infinite ammount of time, this was what they missed:

The sun set at Patong Beach. It was a fantastic feeling seeing the sun slowly drown into the sea and it felt good being carassed by the soothing ocean wind. People were jogging, swimming in the sea, playing fetch with their dogs, and enjoying the magnificent scenery over a mug of chilled beer. For a moment there, I found peace within my soul.

Here are more pictures of the sunset for you gals.

Sunset view. Breathtaking.

Another sunset view. Magnificent.

Marvin attempting suicide. Spectacular. Brilliant.

Bought some beef jerkies and roasted pork intestines from this dude.

Close up of the food selection of the stall.

Roasted pork intestines with their special made sauce. A delightful snack.

We had dinner after that at a cozy Thai restaurant. Having dinner in a foreign place somehow felt good. It was our vacation mood that stirred up our stomach juices. We had some decent "normal" food like:

Pineapple rice

Tom yam

Chicken soup. My first try at the sourish Thai chicken soup which tasted pretty alright.

Kiwi enjoying her dinner

Gals posing after dinner

We took a walk around the area after that which was basically filled with restaurants, souvenier shops selling beads and clothing, and lots of foreigners. I really loved the lights and life in the area.

Somehow, not even one of the locals there guessed that we were from Malaysia. Japanese, Korean and China were their main guesses. Later on, whenever we were asked where we were from, we said that we were from German which caused a bit of uncomfortable silence.

Prices of stuff there are normally hiked up real high where you are supposed to bargain. The conversation there usually goes something like this:

Lay Yean: How much?
Peddler : 1000 bath.
Lay Yean: Too expensive.
Peddler : Okay. You name your price.
Lay Yean: 500 bath.
Peddler : Okay. Deal.

I totally suck at bargaining. My conversation went something like this:

Me : How much?
Peddler : 1000 bath.
Me : Too expensive.
Peddler : Okay. You name your price.
Me : 200 bath.
........uncomfortable silence.........

After roaming the streets, we decided to chill at some Live house. The street was filled with Live houses playing different genres of music - jazz, techno and rock. We chose Rock City and it was a good choice. The music there was really good and got us in the groove.

Rock vs Metal

The music got to the guys sooner than the gals.

The pose was pretty addictive and soon spreaded.

Real addictive

A bit too addictive to some.

That was it for the first day. Took the tuk-tuk back to the hotel and got a few hours of sleep. The air con that night malfunctioned turning the room into a furnace. Luckily, exhaustion took over soon enough.

................................................................................

Woke up early the 2nd day for Phi Phi Island. The tour agency picked us up and brought us to the jetty at Phuket. Didn't prepare anything for breakfast and we were soon starving.

The person in charge at the jetty. We asked him some questions in plain English and to our big suprise, he replied in good English with a British accent. It just doesn't seem right hearing it from him.

They also have Jamaican Thais there.

Our guide for the day. He behaved like a normal Thai.

We soon departed to Phi Phi Island and a couple of other islands. We did the normal beach activities like snorkelling, sun bathing, fish feeding and checking out babes in bikinis. The sceneries there were beautiful, but similar to other islands. They look just like the ones in Langkawi. There weren't much corals around and it was a bit overcrowded for relaxing.

Some of the shots taken during island hopping:

The Magma Bug, a venemous bug that's closing in to extinction.

Serenity

Tsunami Evacuation Path

Welcome to Krabi Island

Lay Yean in Krabi

The lonely kiwi

Marvin giving his shot at being a bitch

Marvin giving his shot at being a Yakuza henchman.

A group with no chemistry at all

The trademark play dead at the beach pose

Parasol seats that cost 150 bath

Coconuts and watermelons tasted heavenly when we were dead hungry

A floating Lay Yean.

I love the beach

We stopped by at some island where the monkeys were the main attraction there. The guide advised us to be careful as the monkeys can bite. I was a bit reluctant to feed the monkeys with watermelons as I was really hungry myself.

Monkey feeding

Kiwi didn't take the guide's advise seriously and the monkeys started attacking her when she got too close.

Monkeys that drink Coke and Beer

Viking cave. A place where they harvest bird nest a couple of times yearly.

I was dead tired and soon found myself sleeping comfortably on the shoulders of a Scottish. When I woke up, I was the laughing stock there. And later on, people went "Careful with that guy. He's gonna sleep on you."

Reached our hotel in the evening, took a dip at the swimming pool, washed up and headed out again to Patong. We needed food. Stopped by some local hawker and had some mixed rice. Hawker food here is pretty cheap. We later came upon this hawker stall where they speak a little English. We tried their Thai Salad called Som Tam which made our lips and toungue numb from the spiciness.

Preparing the som tam

Som tam ingredients

The prepared dish that burnt out tongues.

Friendly Thais

Mini gas station

Tickets to the Muay Thai boxing ring was kinda expensive. Managed to take some picture of them while they were parading around town.

We shopped around for souveniers and then headed for some Thai massage. Even in Thailand, I get fat jokes from the locals here. My masseur saw the other 2 gals and thought that it was a group of gals. She opened my door and saw me and went "Holy shit." Marvin's masseur kept laughing at her colleague who was giving me a massage. She made it sound like she's never massaged a big guy before. Our conversation went something like this:

Masseur: You run every morning?
Me : Err, no, why?
Masseur: Your legs very strong and hard.
Me : Hmmmm....
Masseur: You like ice cream?
Marvin : He likes to eat everything.
Masseurs: Muahahahhahaha
Masseur: Just joke joke. Don't angry.
Me : Hehe joke joke.
Masseur: You so big. Need at least 2 hours to finish massaging.
Masseur: Sumo. You sumo.
Me : -_-||

And that was only the conversation in English. They spoke a lot among themselves in Thai and kept laughing. Well, at least they had fun I guess. I just paid 250 bath anyway. I bet my masseur felt underpaid.

Went back after that and had a good night's sleep.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3rd day.

Didn't do much that day. Just walked around the other side of town and shopped around at a mall. And we headed back to the airport soon later.

3 days 2 nights just isn't enough for a good vacation. Due to the lack of time, it was pretty rushed trip. An extra day or two would have been perfect.

Sino Phuket

Ladies

Gents

I didn't know that acrobats were considered handicapped here in Thailand

Good bye Phuket

Irau conquered

2007-04-15T05:44:00.000-07:00

I still can't feel my legs.

Did my first ever serious jungle trekking at Irau, Cameron over the weekend. Drove there after work on Friday and reached there about 1am after a grueling 5 hours drive. The roads were pitch dark and winding downhill. Not that I was driving, but it was pretty exhausting. Got stalled at one point where our cars couldn't get pass a damaged road. It was uphill and slippery and the tyres couldn't get enough grip. We had to patch up the road with rocks before we could pass.

Reached our designated area about 1am and there were already other tents there. We hastily set up our tents. The timing was just right as it rained soon after that. I easily drifted off to sleep from exhaustion. A dreamless slumber.

Wake up call started about seven. By that time, there were already lots of movement and laughter around us. Got out from my warm comforter and hurried to find more warm clothes. The cold pierced through my bone.

Breakfast preparation. Hot drinks never tasted this heavenly.

We brought lettuces, cheese and ham for our breakfast. I totally forgot about some forest taboos where it's not advisable to have pork there and we decided to play along. Had some peanut butter sandwiches and some cup noodles. Then other guys started frying their luncheon meat. Screw the taboo. The ham sandwich tasted damn good.

Foot count.

After breakfast, we packed up the tents and started to gear up. Packed up our lunch, energy bars and fluids. And we were set. We were pumped up and spirits were soaring. We started off at exactly 0800 hours.

Everything seemed alright at first. This wasn't too bad, I thought to myself. Trekked uphill and downhill, taking pictures and goofing about. The terrain there was totally natural where we had strategically locate roots and rocks to grab and step on. At that time, the word fun still played about my mind. I was loving it. I was still loving it.

Me at the start of the journey. Happy, overflowing spirit, and clean.

View from some clearing.

Bamboo entrance

Ryan, the organizer and also my colleague, with the first signboard. Another 1.95km to go. 1.95 km. Bah. That's all?

Climb climb climb

At 1030 hours, the mood started to change. Less talking, more pit stops. The large group splitted and there were now only 7 of us in the team. Water supply started to go low. Knees started to go wobbly, hands started to ache. Hardly photographed anymore. The surroundings started to look the same. I started to groan whenever I look at a steep hill.

Dragon scarabs. Bettles that feed on flesh. There was a point where we had to fight our way through their nest and barely made it out alive. Lost 3 friends there. Must go on...

First summit - False peak

1130 hours, we reached the first summit, False Peak. Such an ironic name. The last stretch to reach this summit was more of will power. I didn't believe Ryan anymore when he said that we were reaching soon.

"You said we were reaching soon an hour ago!"

"Don't worry. We are reaching soon."

"Rite."

Had a break up there where we munched on energy bars and bananas. Water supply started to drop dangerously low. Luckily Ryan sponsored me a bottle of 100 Plus for the rest of the journey. The summit there wasn't too impressive. Just a small clearing with some boulders to sit on and rubbish dump there. There are just so many uneducated people out there.

Rested about fifteen minutes and we decided not to wait for the other team. Some of the girls decided to back off at this point. I was pretty tired but I had to push on. The Irau trip wouldn't be an Irau trip without reaching Irau.

White monkey pot (directly translated from Periuk Kera)

The entrance to Irau. Let's go.

More jungle scenes

More monkey pots

A boulder stretch

There was one stretch where we had to scale up slippery rocks. It was pretty challenging here where we had to scan for tree roots to pull ourselves up. With my draining strength, I started to regret coming to this trip.

Till I reached this area. The area was lushly carpetted with moss and for a moment I forgot all my exhaustion. For a moment, I thought I saw Smeagol taking his afternoon nap on one of the moss carpeted boulders.

More moss. The pictures here are crap compared to the real thing.

Irau conquered

1230 hours. Mission accomplished. I conquered Irau.

But I was totally disappointed with the summit. I was greeted by even more rubbish compared to False Peak. Fuck those people. It was such a turn off. After all my gruelling effort, this was what I get? It's like having sex and not having an orgasm. I rested there for a while, ate my ham sandwich and started to go trek back.

I forgot the fact that if it took me 4 hours to get to the summit, it would take me at least another 4 hours to get back. The only difference now would be my breaking legs and arms, dangerously low water supply and dying spirit. I didn't have a choice. I had to trek back.

The trek back to False Hope, I mean False Peak, was hell. I was breaking. Physically and mentally. Now there were only three of us. I slowed down a lot and I asked the rest to go ahead as I was really pulling them back. Soon they were out of sight. I didn't even bother going downhill slowly anymore. I just slided down as much as I could. Quite a number of people overtook me. I couldn't recall how many times I stopped to rest. I ran out of water. I finished my last energy bar. I unconciously pushed on.

I reached the first signboard which says another 400 meters to the camp site. Must go on, I screamed inside. I started moving. I didn't stop at all. I mustered all the spirit I had to drag my totally drained body. 1650 hours. I saw someone coming out. I led out a sigh of relief. I must be near the camp site.

Me: Hehe. So, how much further is the camp site?

Guy: I'm not sure. Should be quite near I guess.

Me: It's already 4.30. Don't you think it's a bit too late to depart now?

Guy: Depart? I'm just reached here from Irau. You are the one heading to Irau. Aren't you?

I was fucking heading back to Irau. I was so sure I was taking the correct path back. I was so sure that I wasn't sure who to trust. I stood there stunned for a while. I decided to follow the guy. Thank god I did. I was just ten minutes away from the camp site. Must have been the pork I took. I wonder what would have happened if that guy didn't show up.

I stepped into the camp site. There were lots of people camping there now. A bunch of uncles cheered and clapped when they saw me. I was totally covered with mud. None of the hikers looked that bad. I didn't care. The jungle felt like a dream. My whole body was shaking. I didn't care. I made it out. 1700 hours. I was in the jungle for 8.5 hours.

I sent these pants to the laundry and they threw it back at my face

We had dinner and I slept like a log that night. We all slept like a log that night.

Some of the pictures we took the next day:

Lone tree

Picture of people taking pictures 1

Some group picture

She tried taking my picture but I took hers first

Tea plantations. I never get sick of these sceneries.

Had breakfast up at the Boh factory. The cakes this time were bad. Didn't even finish them.

Flower 1

Flower 2

Flower 3

I still can't feel my legs.

The Italian Language

2007-04-11T17:42:00.000-07:00

Got to know an Italian here after fixing his laptop. Funny old chap in his fifties. Ever since, I had been learning some Italian words whenever I bump into him. So far its been just the usual greetings like:

Buon giorno : Good morning/ afternoon
Buona sera : Good evening
Arrivederci : Goodbye
Grazie : Thanks

Today, he decided to teach something of a new syllabus.

"When you are pissed with your boss or anyone. You can say this, Grande minata."

"What? Fuck off?"

"No, no, no. It means you shake your balls too much."

"Grande minata."

"Si. Grande minata."

Penang and back

2007-04-08T03:53:00.000-07:00

I let out a sigh of relief when I stepped into my front porch. I was glad to see my own home after surviving a road trip to Penang and back. Yea, the “stuff” Marvin ordered finally arrived and the only way to retrieve it was to get “it” personally from Neo. There were no other alternatives. Delivering it was too risky. Too suspicious. They decided not to take any chances. Retrieving it in person was the only way.

Marvin : So, you’ve got the directions to Penang?
Me : Yea, we just go up all the way and stuff.
Marvin : Just up there and stuff? What’s stuff man? Did you get the directions or not?
Me : Leave it to me man. Have some faith.
Marvin : We’re all gonna die.

Penang. I recalled stepping on the island two years ago. The trip up was hard. Mentally exhausting and physically draining. All thanks to Meiseen’s play list that consisted of tracks like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Animaniacs, Ghost Busters and Smurfs. Should have just left her behind when we had the chance.

One day. That was all the time we had in Penang. We only managed to visit Kek Lok Si and try some of Penang’s trademark food. We wanted to visit the Butterfly farm but Neo wasn’t man enough. This guy had a phobia towards butterflies. Yea, you didn’t misread it. Butterflies.

Kek Lok Si. I’ve been here a couple of times but I still found myself enchanted by this place. The Buddha statues, the pagodas, the architecture, the engravings on the walls and pillars, the serenity. This place is simply magnificent.

The pagoda. This was my first time scaling the pagoda. My thigh cramped on the way down. I am gonna die next week when I scale Irau at Cameron.

Rich in colors.

I have no idea what they call this thing.

A very detailed engraved wall.

Some fish gong.

We only donated a buck but we whacked the bell countless times. In the end, it costed us like twenty cents per gong. No wishes will come true for cheap skates like us.

The majestic statue of Kuan Yin at the top of the temple.

View of Penang from the pagoda.

Year of the boar.

Year of the bitch.

Dragon pillar

Another view of the temple from higher grounds.

Almost went up Bukit Bendera but the timing was kinda out. The tram only departed an hour later and we were on a pretty tight schedule. Next time perhaps.

This guys make lousy road trip mates.

It wasn't too bad for a one day trip. I somehow felt like I was there for a couple of days. Our first road trip and it turned out pretty good. More to come definitely.

Old Boy

2007-04-02T17:49:00.000-07:00

"So, how many kids do you have?"

A user suddenly asked me out of the blue. I noticed that he was handling his kid's insurance.

"None. How old did you think I was?"

"35."

"Man. That's sad."

That wasn't the only case. I had been facing this situation quite often lately where most of them think that I look that old. Kids start calling me Uncle. My aunt's friends mistook me as her brother. People start asking about my kids.

I wonder if there's even any advantages in looking old. Gals like matured looking men? I dunno. I can't think of any advantages of looking old. You tell me.

Sigh.

Indifference

2007-03-14T23:45:00.000-07:00

"People who play the PSP are dumb. Let me rephrase, people who play the PSP are idiots!"

My housemate suddenly said that to me last night.

Me : What did you say? Why do you say that?

Homie : Coz the screen for the PSP is so small. Who the hell would wanna game on it.

Me : Dude, its a fucking handheld. It is meant to be small.

Homie : Whatever. The screen is too small. Gaming is only fun on big screens.

Me : So, what games do you play?

Homie : Lets play Age of Empires II. I love that game.

Me : -_-"

I hate people who make comparisons between things that are of different class to begin with. A handheld is meant to be small, light and portable. And my housemate is comparing it to a console which is meant to be stationary and connected to an external display. How can someone compare things of different class with different purposes? It's like comparing guns of different classes.

"Dude, why aren't you hunting racoons with a missile launchers?"

I wonder why do I even bother explaining to people who aren't even interested in the first place. Firstly, most of them haven't even tried out the stuff that they are criticizing. And most of them are so stucked with their own opinions that whatever others say wouldn't even matter. I still get people saying "What is so fun about fishing? If you want fish, just get them at the market!" I've had enough with these kinda statements. The next time somebody ask me something similar, my reply would be "Fuck off!"

Plus. Who the hell plays Age of Empires II nowadays. That is ancient history.

Static

2007-03-08T16:47:00.000-08:00

I finally figured out that I have a fetish for stationary objects. The latest addition for this fetish of mine would be my back bumper.

I still can't believe I reversed right into my gate last night. It was just a simple reverse, but I soon heard the crunching of metal. My first reaction was repark nicely, turn off my head lights, and hide for a while. Not even sure why I did that. It was a reaction. After making sure that there were no neighbours looking, I reversed out again and drove off.

A small portion of my car's back was crumpled. It really looks like a crushed tin can. This car will be gone before I even know it. Soon...soon...

Lets see. So far, I've rammed a lamp post, a no parking sign, a divider and my gate. All none moving huge ass objects. No problems with moving objects so far. Or has the moving objects been doing the avoiding. Sigh. My dad had been weeping ever since he passed me the car. He was driving it for a few months and he kept it in tip top condition. I've only had it for a few months and its heading towards eternal damnation.

Killing me softly

2007-02-27T04:48:00.000-08:00

4th week at Ericsson.

The working environment here is a whole new world compared to my previous place. Ex-place, when users there have a computer down time, they rejoice and go yum cha. Over here, when users have a computer down time, they are fucked, so I am fucked. Barely a month and I've gotten an official complaint and already scribbled 4 names in my Death Note. Suprisingly all females.

People never fail to amuse me. The different mentality, actions and reactions. And over here, there are lots of foreigners whose mindset still remains alien to me. Handling people is fun, but it can get frustrating as well due to all the different shit you encounter. But some of them, are just ridiculously unreasonable. It is just bull crap I'd say.

There is this lady. Lets call her B. It is just a coincidence that the word Bitch also begins with the alphabet B. So far, B is the most ridiculous/unreasonable person I've ever encountered in my life. Finishing a plate of bull crap would be a whole lot easier than trouble shooting for her. Some of her infamous tag lines:

"I am not going to waste my time explaining the problem to you, but I want the problem fixed when I'm back." and walks off.

"No, you cannot have my password, so you cannot restart." and walks off.

"I want it fixed now and I mean now."

"No, I will not let you access remotely. I want you right here right now."

She acts like she's the only person working in Ericsson and she isn't even a VIP. She expects us to attend to her the second she calls when our SLA (allowed response time) is three days. She doesn't even want to cooperate to the extend of not telling the actual problem. How the hell do you fix a problem when you don't even know the problem. To make things short, B's a bitch.

Working here builts character.

I ain't complaining.

Welcomed to the real world.

if i could...

Cina New Year

2007-02-20T17:01:00.000-08:00

Happy Chinese New Year.

I can't recall how many times I actually repeated that phrase. Nothing new this year. Same old relatives, visiting and gambling. Nothing interesting.

Wait. I broke my brand new bed. Scared the shit out of my bro. According to him, the conversation went something like this:

"CRACK" (Bed collapsed)

Me : Whoa. Wtf????

Bro: You fucking broke the bed.

Me : Oh.....SNOREEEEE........ZZZZZzzzzZZZZZZ.....

Bro: WTF.

Indian Entertainment

2007-02-14T21:43:00.000-08:00

Lately, I had been calling India a lot to lodge for part warranty. A real test of patience. They will put you on hold for at least half an hour and torture your soul with some sad depressing song. So, its quite normal for me to have the phone on loud speaker.

One day, after hanging up on some Indian guy, I started my normal daily squabbling with my colleague which went something like:

"I give you two tight slap, bish-bish~!"

"I kick you, dush-dush!"

We went on like that until we heard a voice from the phone:

"Sir, could you kindly disconnect the phone?"

"..."

-_-''

High

2007-02-14T16:56:00.000-08:00

2nd week in Ericsson.

Still semangat at the moment where the will to learn is still burning at the moment. Got screwed by a few users already so far, slowly adepting to the trend here and adding more people to my search-and-destroy list.

Was at the CC room the other day patching up network cables for a new floor. These switch rooms are really stuffy and hot. To make it worse, they were coating that particular room's door with shellac at the same time and the fumes were breath taking. Now, the room was hot, stuffy and intoxicating.

Started patching.

Started sweating.

Started breathing heavily.

Started to hear my heart beat picking up pace.

Started to feel light headed.

Soon, I was sitting there stoned trying to figure out why I was there in the first place.

Fresh air tasted real sweet after that.

New Job

2007-02-06T09:01:00.000-08:00

Goodbye KLIA, Hello Ericsson - Cyberjaya.

Yea, I finally started my new job with Hewlett Packard and started serving in Ericsson yesterday, 5th February 2007. A fresh start. A new hope. A new life?

Started off my first day with a gastric. Yea, I was too used to the long breakfast hours in MAS and was somehow expecting the same here. Turned out they don't take breakfast here and I had my first meal of the day at 3pm. Almost died there.

Lesson #1: Have breakfast before work.

I will survive.

I love pineapple tarts

2007-02-06T08:23:00.000-08:00

I can't remember the last time I went back to my hometown, but I finally decided to do so. And I had to choose the perfectly right time to go home where Chinese New Year is just around the corner. Which also means a long list of housechores to do. My mom's favourite chore for me would be to scrub the outside floor and drain which I really dread doing. I really see no point in it cause this are the places which really go un-noticed. No one goes "Wow. Your drains are sparkling clean. I wish I had drains like that."

For a whole week I had to feint hibernation to escape from housechores. The only thing I helped mom with was to help out with the preparations for pineapple tarts. Nice to chew, nice to taste, hell to make.

The basic ingredients for pineapple tarts - pineapples!

The grinding of pineapples. The worst process of all. The grinder is so damn dangerous where a slight mistake can be bloody. It is during this process where extra spices like skin and blood is added to the paste. (Mom's cookie business drops drastically after customers read entry) And to make things worse, the pineapple happens to be a very acidic fruit. Once a cut appears, the rest of the process will be hell. The rest of my process was hell.

This would be the process where the grinded pineapples are sieved to get rid of its juice.

Which results in infinite supply of pineapple juice. This is where we add some sugar and boil the juice so that it can last longer. I take my juice without sugar where it will ferment a bit after a couple of days. It tastes like pineapple beer after it ferments and I totally love it. Well, friends get disgusted with tomato juice and say that I have weird taste for loving it.

Further cooking of the paste where real spices like star anis and sugar and some other stuff is added to it and cooked till the paste is all dry and nice.

That would be it for the preparation for pineapple tart paste. After that would be adding it to the pastry and baking. These tarts are my favourite for Chinese New Year. Without them, CNY just wouldn't be CNY.

Happy Early Chinese New Year greetings.

CNY Blues

2007-01-22T19:56:00.000-08:00

Dreaded time of the year has begun.

My housemates started blasting off Chinese New Year songs all day long.

"Tong Tong Tong Chiang Tong Tong Tong Chiang Sing Nian Lai Loh ~~~~!!"

Sigh.

Need to get a bigger amp soon.

†

2007-01-21T22:55:00.000-08:00

"So, which church are you from?"

"Huh? Do I look Christian to you?"

"Err, yea. Your style and the way you talk."

"Hmmmmmm....."

From the way I talk huh. Reflecting back on the way I talk, I realize that I swear a lot and use the fuck word quite a bit. Very holy of me. This was the first time experiencing this situation. Started to wonder when did a person's outer style defined their spiritual beliefs. Not that I mind such situations. These religion stuff never bother me at all. I am free.

Not sure what's the objective for this post, but not everything needs a reason I guess.

Broga Ikan Bakar

2007-01-21T06:09:00.000-08:00

Went fishing again. Started of at 4.30 am this time. The craziness. Fished till noon. Caught nothing but a heat stroke. What a way to spend a Sunday. Decided to have a good meal to make up for it. Called up a friend and asked if there's anything good in the area. We were directed to a place famous for their ikan bakar.

The path that leads to the place. Not convincing at all. We kept chanting that we'd kill the friend if the food there sucked.

Shop sign board.

The place was surrounded by rubber trees and lush greenery. Could see the hills from there and it was a really nice scenery. The gentle breeze and fresh air really stired up my appetite.

The restaurant had a pond right beside it and it was filled with red tilapias. Oh, I forgot to mention that they only serve tilapias there, fresh from the pond.

People can personally "pick" their fish there and send it straight for the baking. It was just the matter of seconds for them to get a hook up.

Shop menu. Whatever it says.

The fishes are baked over charcoal. Food cooked on charcoal always taste good. I'm not sure why but they really taste good. Only problem would be that it'd take a freaking long time. It felt like forever waiting for our food today. Or maybe I was just hungry.

We ordered 3 types of ikan bakar (original, nyonya and asam), curry mutton, some okra/ lady's fingers, and some ginger duck. Quite a big order considering that there was only 3 of us. I know the picture looks disgusting, but it was pretty alright. The fishes there were really fresh and didn't taste of mud. The cooking style was kinda bland, which is good in a way where we could really taste the fish. No point in having fresh fishes if the taste were to be covered by some other flavour.

Curry mutton.

Okra.

The bill came up to RM81.20. Calculative cina didn't even spare us the twenty cents. For 6 dishes, I'd say the price is quite alright. I enjoyed the environment and I'd come back again someday. Next time for beer and ikan bakar.

Fermented Milk

2007-01-09T05:46:00.000-08:00

Stagnant blog becoming stale and sour after being abandoned for some time.

Well, the only update in life would be me getting a new job. Yea, I managed to smooth talk my way through the interviewers and secured a position in Hewlett Packard. Will start providing services in Ericsson, Cyberjaya starting next month. Got the job verbally a couple of days back, but the feeling didn't really sink in till I actually signed the papers.

Guess the plan of trying some other work line which is more long term failed where I fell for the short term temptation - higher pay. Somehow, my feeling towards this new job is kinda numb. Can't feel much enthusiasm nor motivation towards it. Need to gather my spirit together by February.

Woo hoo.

'07

2007-01-02T19:31:00.000-08:00

Year '06 is gone. Year '07 is here.

Starting off the new year with lazy bones and heavy spirit. The long vacation has taken its toll on me. Was off for nearly a month and dragging out of bed this morning was a real struggle. Its been a while since I woke up to the morning sun.

Celebrated the new year getting intoxicated and wasted. And slashing some pals in Soul Calibre III. By the time I was sober, it was already the last day of the holidays. Time was taken for granted again. But it was a good holiday. I've found inner peace. I no longer feel bored doing nothing at home. I can just sink into my favourite couch and stare dreamily at the blue sky. I'm a dreamer.

I turn 24 this year. Still a nobody. No new year resolutions. Maybe one. Promised somebody that I'd refrain from intoxicating material.

A brand new year to look forward to.

It's gonna be a good year.

Slumber Beckons

2006-12-23T20:37:00.000-08:00

A blind woman tried to kill me today. Was walking when she inserted her pole in between my feet and I broke it. Alright. I didn't break it. I just tripped. Walked in front of her and the pole somehow went between my feet. Luckily the blind woman didnt start beating me with it. That would have been the most humiliating situation ever.

Went back at 3am. Dead tired. Was trying real hard to fight off my sleepiness. Pinched my legs and slapped my face. Thought I was alright. All of a sudden, my head flung around banging my head against the door. I fucking dozed off. I fucking crashed. I crashed at a bent at 100kmh. I can't really recall how it happened and how I got out of it. I guess it must have been my reflex which saved me from mortal danger. Didn't even stop. Car was still moving, so I guess it was still in one piece. I was awake as hell after that.

After inspection, the car wasnt tooo bad. Some deep scratches and dents.

Regretted not taking friend's offer for not bunking over.

Too late for regrets but people level up after surviving a regret.

I'm still alive. My game resumes.

Caught in the act

2006-12-21T21:54:00.000-08:00

Was taking a nap, snuggling lazily on the make-shift mattress, when suddenly my boss opened the door and walked in. Damn colleague forgot to lock the door.

Uncomfortable silence.

"Err...was just taking a nap..."

"It's alright. It's lunch time."

More silence.

Though he said it was okay, I can't help feeling guilty.

Fucking colleague.

Body checking

2006-12-21T21:47:00.000-08:00

I just hate those body checks done by the security where they grab and caress you from head to toe. I wouldn't have mind if the one checking was some hot chick but getting caressed by another dick is just so wrong.

Endured this procedure thrice so far throughout my time here. There was once where I was going onsite with 2 other colleagues and I was the only one checked. Damn.

There is something wrong with my face.

Cameron Highlands

2006-12-18T22:59:00.000-08:00

Went on a gay family trip to Cameron over the weekend. It was a good escape from civilization. One hundred percent rejuvenated. One hundred percent fresh. And I took MC today just to blog about it.

The gay horse that says "Welcome to Cameron".

Cactuses.

More cactuses.

Cactuses again.

Flowery trip. The whole place was filled with flowers. Flowers for sale. Wild flowers. Flowers everywhere.

Picture of some farms.

Some other farm.

Bees at a bee farm.

Visited the Boh Tea plantation over there. A long ride up but the scenery up there was simply breath taking. The air there had a strong aroma of tea which kinda drove me high. Sipped some tea and munched some scones up there. It was a wonderful flazy feeling.

Tea plantation again.

Overheard a bunch of foreigners there saying "I've seen enough of tea plantations for my whole life."

Taking a piss up there felt real good.

Cameron. Could be a freaking boring place as the place is just filled with flowers, fruits,vegetables and farms. Nothing much. But its the perfect place to feel lazy and floaty and dreamy.

Yet another fishing trip

2006-12-13T08:38:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling too lazy to blog, so I'll go with "show and tell" style.

Azlan. Fishing freak. No more turning back and beyond any hope. Wonder how he got addicted in the first place.

Sunny. First time joining in to fish. Caught the most fishes for the trip. Fucking beginner's luck. n00b.

Karupe. Next...

Biggest fish for the day. Fought the monster for almost half an hour. And nope, Azlan wasn't the one to catch it.

Picture of horses.

More picture of horses. I took so many horse pics that day. By the time we were about to take pictures of fish, I totally drained the batteries. Left Sunny cursing the whole day.

First catch of the day from Sunny. A lampam.

My first catch. A moon-fish.

Lady getting her ass kicked by the horse.

I'm feeling lazy. Might eleborate when i feel like it.

Drift King

2006-12-11T06:49:00.000-08:00

I survived my first real drift.

Was turning at a blind bend when I saw a crashed car there. Tapped on my brakes and car just started drifting beautifully to the left. It would have looked cool if the road was bending to the left, but life is ironic, so the road bended right. I managed to stop my car in time, parking beautifully inches away from the stationary car. Thankfully there wasn't another car behind me.

There were 4 guys in the crashed car, and they reeked of fear. I drove off, smiling and enjoying the adrenalin gushing through my veins. It took me a while to realize that I was actually shaking like hell over there. Excitement or fear, I wasn't too sure.

I hope those guys managed to get out of there safely, as they were really in a dangerous situation. Someone less skillful would have rammed right into them.

SMile

2006-12-05T19:11:00.000-08:00

Some noodle shop oba-san commented that I lost some weight and look much thinner now.

Made my day.

Made me happy.

Only realized that the bowl of noodles was a bit more expensive when I got home.

The damned

2006-12-05T00:55:00.000-08:00

Had been suffering from writer's block this couple of weeks. Gonna write some crap up so that other people don't get irritated looking at the picture of the frog.

A friend invited Marve to some concert kinda event and he somehow managed to convince me to go. He thought that it was like some grand happening concert with cool bands and lots of chicks. I was expecting the usual kinda gathering where I'd pretend to smile and look happy but feel like an asshole within.

The first thought that crossed my mind when we reached the place was to turn around and run. A couple of guys standing at the entrance which led up a stairway litted by candles arranged all the way up. Thought I accidentally walked into Falun Gong cult or da KKK. Anyway, I felt an errie feeling run down my spine. Anyway, couldn't run away as they spotted me and speared me up the stairs.

Walked into a room with more candles, mats on the floor, sacrificing altar, blood, skulls and lots of spears. Alright, alright. My crapping is going way lame. It was a hall litted nicely by candles with nice decoration and a small stage in front. The bands performing were alright, but then again, we were all sitting cross-legged on the floor so I was more concerned with my numb feet which felt like a million ants biting. Yea, my blood circulation sucks big time and I always get dead feet. We decided to sneak out soon later.

I never had a thing for religious kinda gatherings. Be it a Christian gathering or a Buddhist gathering. Havent been to a Muslim gathering though. I get uncomfortable singing praises at a church or holding hands saying praise at the dinner table. And the last time I went to a Buddhist gathering, I almost died trying to control my laugher while reciting sutras/ chanting in Pali. As much as I enjoy reading or learning on religions, I just don't feel right getting involved with them.

Guess I'm damned after all.

There. No more picture of the frog. Hope everyone's happy.

Keroro Gunsou

2006-11-22T19:59:00.000-08:00

Had the most boring day ever. Was bored of moping around the house doing random nothings, so i decided to lock pick into my housemate's room to check out the porn on his pc. Nothing much, nothing arousing. Then I came across this anime -Keroro Gunsou.

Again, my first impression was wtf. Yea, I know I'm going wtf a lot lately but upon first impression, I thought that it'd most probably be some dumb boring cute anime. But hell was I wrong. It's the funniest anime I've seen since School Rumble. The plot is about this frog like alien trying to rule the world but somehow, he aint really motivated and always gets distracted. I think. Just watched a few random episodes and that's what I think the story is about.

Definitely in my must watch list.

Fuckers

2006-11-22T11:47:00.000-08:00

Came across this post at Gizmodo.com and I was like wtf. Some people really have nothing better to do.

Here we are, contemplating on how to afford a PS3 and this fucker turns one into a bbq pit. MOFOs.

FlyFM Birthday Bash

2006-11-20T16:58:00.000-08:00

This entry is just to serve as a reminder so that Kiwi doesn't sneak off to Phuket on her own. And also a warning to Kiwi to not sneak off to Phuket on her own.

Yea, for the first time in my life, I hear our lucky draw number being chanted out digit by digit till the end. And at the first draw. Didn't really know how to react to it and almost missed redeeming the prize. Air tickets for two to Phuket, and free accomodation for 3 days. Anyway, this is all thanks to Marvin who won some tickets to the FlyFM 1 year old celebration which was held at Extreme Park, Sunway.

Started off with doubts as it was cold and rainy. Thankfully, some of the local bands (OAG, One Buck Shot, etc) managed to pump up the atmosphere and get the crowd wild. We decided to leave when the crowd in front started behaving like monkeys in heat, jumping and bonking other males of their kind. Thankfully it was near the end of the show and we were starving our guts out.

Again, a reminder: Kiwi, don't sneak off with the tickets!!!!!!!!!

Horse Attack

2006-11-13T07:44:00.000-08:00

My colleague and I went fishing at Sukida on Sunday. Yea, the same place where my colleague got kicked by a horse. I was laughing my ass off when he told how the horse kicked him and stuff. How scary can a horse get, I thought. Damn, how wrong could I get.

We just finished fishing and were about to start packing when those bloody horses started prancing over. Four of them. Pony size horses but still stood tall reaching the length of my shoulder. I was holding a packet of bread where one horse snapped at it. Holy shit. Scared the hell out of me. Hid the bread in my bag and ran for cover. The horses started tearing up everything they could ignoring our threats. They tore open our chips, bait and anything that seemed edible. It wasn't a laughing matter anymore. I was terrified of them. My friend almost got kicked again when he lifted a stick up high to scare the horses away, avoiding it just when the horse turned around to kick him. It was no longer a laughing matter.

Fucking horses.

Diet Day#end

2006-11-12T07:19:00.000-08:00

I've been living a lie.

After ten days of dieting, and countless packets of soya milk, I hereby declare an end to this nonsense.

Well, maybe its not all a waste since my appetite has been cut down to at least half. And knowing how big my appetite originally was, half is a big accomplishment.

Alright. Moving on.

What's next...

Diet Day#11

2006-11-08T04:16:00.000-08:00

Had been car pooling with my house mates whenever I'm doing the day shift. The good part about car pooling would a couple of bucks saved on petrol and you can point a finger at your car mate saying that he's the reason for being late.

The bad part of car pooling would be that you don't control your own time. And worse if your colleagues are the type who dilly dally and take hours planning dinner. And worse of all if you skipped breakfast and lunch and dinner starts at 9pm. A hungry man is an angry man. I was fucking pissed, so wishing that I had driven myself.

Dinner was late, heavy and pleasant.

Diet Day #10

2006-11-07T19:14:00.000-08:00

Dieting during the day is harder than I expected. Drinking at breakfast while colleagues munch on their breakfast isn't an encouraging thing. For the first time, I am actually thankful that the food in the cafeteria tastes like crap.

Worked late today. Which meant late dinner. My limit is about eight pm before my hand starts shaking and foam starts gathering around my mouth. Dinner was good and heavy. A complete meal consisting of fish, pork, chicken, tofu and vegetables. Guess food tastes good if you take it once in a while. The last time we had them almost everyday, and even the best of food tastes sickening if you have it too often.

Diet Day #9

2006-11-06T17:11:00.001-08:00

Haven’t slept this blissfully in a while now. Today was spent lazing around the house feeling numb and floaty. Didn’t do a single thing today where I’d just lie on my favorite sofa staring at rain drops fall. I’ve discovered inner peace.

Took me a while to realize that it was already dark and I haven’t had anything to eat for the day. I’m adapting to the diet schedule. Dinner was lazy. Boiled frankfurters sandwiched between bread and topped with mustard and ketchup. Another successful diet day.

It’d be nice if everyday was as dreamy and floaty as today.

Diet Day #8

2006-11-06T17:10:00.000-08:00

A Sunday. The seventh day of the week and a rest day as declared by God. Therefore, a rest day it shall be.

Woke up early for squash today only to find that all the courts were fully booked till later in the evening. Splendid. I’m just not meant to sweat out. Too bad the alternative plan wasn’t a really healthy one. Dimsum, dimsum and more dimsum. Thank God it’s my rest day. My first solid breakfast in a week. Noticed the reduction of intake and that’s a good sign.

Tried out the bass guitar at Marve’s place after that. The joke of starting a band came up a couple of weeks back, but after a few more gatherings, the topic was still on, so maybe we’d give it a shot after all. Guess we need new activities to spark up our consistently boring and meaningless life. So, we’d have our vocalist, Lobak; Marvin our lead guitarist and I’ll be trying out the bassist role. I know nuts about music and I’m tone deaf. This is gonna be one hell of a fucked up band. Anyway, we still have vacancy for drummer. Anymore losers out there who might be interested?

Then, time for the main agenda of the day. Met up with Tracy, Luke and Lobak at Shogun to satisfy all the cravings and lust that have been torturing me over the week. It is time to put an end to that torment. Food never tasted better. Had lots of healthy bean curd and a couple of other stuff. I am still on diet after all. With this, I hope the cravings will leave me alone for at least a month.

A day well spent.

Diet Day #7

2006-11-06T17:08:00.000-08:00

Diet went smooth today. Yea, it’s still on. Yesterday was just unavoidable. It didn’t fail at will. I can do it. Diet is still on.

Had a late dinner and slept with a full stomach today. Had a decent meal consisting of some tuna, chicken balls and some vegetables. But an hour or so after dinner, I was overwhelmed by exhaustion and I just dozed off. It was 11pm, so I guess my bio clock is slowly ticking back to normal. Though I jumped up awake at 3am again. This time, thankfully, I manage to drift back to sleep almost immediately.

I was jokingly complaining to my brother that I still see no results of me dieting. Well, he was saying that there should be visible results in about 4 days and it has past my 6th day. So, he consulted his up-line on my situation, and he told me that I’d need at least 8 months. You are too fucking fat, he said. Damn it. Who in the hell won’t lose weight while undergoing a liquid diet for 8 months? I’ll give it another 2 months at most for this product to prove itself. It’d cost more than a thousand bucks if I carried on that shit for 8 months. I rather be fat but happier with a thousand bucks more to spare.

Diet Day#6

2006-11-03T20:23:00.000-08:00

Diet plan failed.

I am so weak. I thought I could at least last a week straight. I can't even follow a simple diet schedule. Well, I knew it was impossible in the first place when I had plans for the day with friends. Consolation would be the small portion of lunch I had. A miserable portion of steak which could hardly fill my appendix. Guess that would be pretty harmless in a way.

Dinner was massive, again. Pizza Hut all thanks to a majority vote of friends. It sucked being the minority group where you get overuled by the lot. So, we had pizza and I had 4 slices. 4 slices and I wasn't even pushing it. The rest (guys) only had two slices and were complaining that they were bursting. I wonder if there is that much difference in appetite and storage. Or rather that others have better self control.

Diet Day#5

2006-11-03T20:13:00.000-08:00

Today went all too smoothly. I totally skipped my breakfast and lunch. Guess I woke up just in time for dinner. Still having problems correcting my bio clock. Tried sleeping from 2am only to finally sleep at 7am when rays of light scared me back to my dark room. The worse part was not about not being able to sleep. It was hunger that was driving me nuts. A mental torture. I was at the verge of snapping when thoughts of salmon, octopus and snails kept flooding my mind. I could almost taste them.

Woke up, mentally snapped and started calling anyone who might be interested in joining me for a buffet. Too bad nobody was interested in binging on a weekday. Even the unemployed ones. Such a sad day. Then Kiwi asked me out for tennis which I happily agreed to because I was so sick of playstation-ing, reading, sleeping, and practically doing nothing. I was sick to the gut.

And the bird had to ffk when I was halfway driving to meet her, because she forgot her shoes. Well, actually I was thankful to that cause I was already shivering from hunger. Yea, I shiver when I get too hungry. And after shivering for a while, my arms and hands start cramping up. No shit. Happened a couple of times so far and it is not pleasant.

Had some pork noodles and some seafood (lala and balitung or siput hisap). Food tasted heavenly, especially after eating my own shitty cooking for a week straight. Again, a memory of the past was triggered. I had always thought that sucking out the flesh from the ‘siput hisap’ was a pretty natural and easy thing to do. Only when I came to Uni did I find out that it wasn’t an easy task for others. A couple of my friends had problem sucking. There was one ended up bashing/cracking the shell up and then only eating the flesh. Primitive and pure instincts. Reminds me of a National Geographic scene where the bird swoops up a clam/snail and letting it drop down to the hard rocks below, cracking the shell and exposing its tender and delicious flesh.

Diet Day#4

2006-11-03T20:11:00.000-08:00

Yea, diet is still on. Though some weird symptoms started to arise. Was watching Land of the Dead where zombies rip and tear people open throughout the whole movie. It was one heck of a bloody movie. Guts being ripped out from the body, decapitation, finger nails snapping and lots of other bloody scenes. A mindless movie which might be fun to watch with a group of friends. But never on an empty stomach.

Zombies ripped intestines out, I saw strings of sausages. Zombies chewing on human meat with blood oozing everywhere, I saw lamb chops with thick mushroom gravy. Zombies munching off own hand, I did stare at my own hand for a brief moment.

Not a good sign. But manage to pull through the day.

Dinner was healthy today. Ingredients wise, but not proportion wise. Green vegetables, some balls, noodles and lots of tofu. I bet I could feed a family of three with that portion. Too bad I had realized it only after I finished cooking. Almost puked from over eating. Guess my friend wasn’t exaggerating when he said I totally sucked at estimating.

Equiptment Upgrade

2006-10-31T09:48:00.000-08:00

My latest toy.

Uses professional quality heavy weight, hard anodized technology for maximum durability. It has a stay cool riveted handle with soft touch insert for exceptional comfort and feel; and is oven safe up to 260 degrees Celsius. (Oven gloves required when removing from the oven) The pan has a PROMETAL bonded anodized interior for an even heat distribution and the ultimate in easy food release and cleaning.

Culinary skills +8
Food preparation +3
Food taste +5

Finally I can con myself into thinking that my cooking skills is vastly improving. The handle of the old frying pan broke off a couple of days back. Cheap ass shit. Never ever buy a 5 piece culinary set that only costs twenty bucks. It was almost too good to be true. A 5 piece set consisting of a frying pan and pots of various sizes including glass covers. They didn't look too shabby but then again, the idiom 'Can't judge a book by its cover' was created for a reason. Each time we cook with those cheap ass pots, the handle cooks itself as well. Always adds the aroma of freshly melted plastic to our already bad cooking.

Good things aren't cheap and cheap things aren't good.

Diet Day #3

2006-10-31T09:14:00.000-08:00

Reality is starting to sink in where I'm starting to doubt the success of this project. The more I look at the shake, the more it's starting to look like mud water. So far, I've been getting pass it by feigning sleep but lately, I've kinda gotten sick of sleeping already. Even in sleep I dream of teriyaki lamb and buttered snails.

And it's only the 3rd day.

Anyway, manage to barely pull through today where I finally decided to have early dinner. Today's menu, slightly better than last night I guess, consists of french toast stuffed with tuna and Italian sauce, a hearty portion of omelette and a cup of green tea. Though I think I overdid the egg part - 4 eggs for a meal. Human mistake. Thought of adding some onions to the french toast, but ended up chopping too much onions thus making it impossible to dip the bread in, hence the omelette. Another 2 eggs was used for the french toast. Guess that will make up to my excessive masturbating.

Talking about french toasts brought back some fond memories. My Uni housemate, Neo, was planning french toasts for dinner, so I told him that it'd be nicer if he added peanut butter or jam to it. Simple yet incomplete instructions. After spreading peanut butter and dipping the bread into the egg, he slowly let the bread into a wok of boiling oil. The peanut butter got burnt and started floating and eventually staining the wok. His dinner was basically ruined. I forgot to tell him that he was supposed to fold the bread after spreading the peanut butter, leaving the spread untouched within. Never again did he trust me on any culinary advise.

Good old days.

Diet Day#2

2006-10-30T08:25:00.000-08:00

Diet today went smoothly I guess. The proposed diet strategy would be having Herbal Life drink for breakfast and lunch while dinner could be the norm. So, I followed obediently for breakfast and slept through lunch. Dinner was free for all, so I guess I made it for the day.

I hope. Dinner seemed to be rather on the heavy side. 4 beef patties, half a loaf of bread, 2 eggs, a couple of onions, 2 mugs of Nescafe and lots of mayonnaise. Not convincing at all.

Plus today's activities was a minimal rate where I slept almost through the day. I slept during my midnight shift, I went home and slept till dusk, and I slept again after dinner. Still find it hard to believe. Wonder if I have some bear genes in me that grants me the ability to hibernate.

Just what is going on with my life...

Dieting ... yet again ... yet to fail

2006-10-29T11:03:00.000-08:00

It's freaking 3 o'clock in the morning and my will power is slowly yet steadily diminishing. The image of a Big Mac and a cuppa chocolate milkshake keeps popping up with increasing frequency as it draws closer to dawn. Dinner was at least 8 hours ago and that seemed like an eternity ago. A can of salmon spread and a few slices of bread. Had been trying hard to avoid any form of solids after dinner but I guess it doesn't really work when you are doing the midnight shift.

"You are fucking fat."

Words from my brother who just joined some MLM company, Herbal Life, trying to sell me some 100% guaranteed lose weight drink. Yea, which reminded me of the exact same product which I bought a couple of months back. The same product which I failed miserably to take in replacement of meals to which I took it as supplement to my meals. The exact formula introduced to those whose objective was to gain weight. Things, of course, went ugly.

Being reminded of how expensive that damn protein shake costs, I've decided to go through the hellish dieting schedule once more just to finish up that shake drink. Still can't shake the thoughts of burgers, milk shakes, lamb chops and escargo off my mind. Almost at the verge of breaking.

I can't wait for dawn. For breakfast.

This diet shall not fail.

Open Season

2006-10-25T06:09:00.000-07:00

Its been a pretty long time since I last laughed my ass off in a cinema. This movie is a must watch. Did I just hear Lobak go "Wtf? I'm too good for some shitty kid movie!". Hmmmm. Better get my hearing checked one of these days.

Anyway, this movie is the cutest thing I've ever seen in a while. I know cute sounds kinda gay but heck, those criters are so damn cute. Simply put, this movie is cute, funny and short.

For the first time in a while, I wasn't frustrated, bored and pissed off after watching a movie. Good stuff.

Judgement Day

2006-10-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

A friend had been begging me to post up something new or rather anything new as it burns his eyes every time he comes in to check for updates and sees the image of Paris Hilton there. So, this entry might be a forced entry.

Was hanging out with a friend the other day and he was like going "Hey, lets go check the gals out and rate them." I went with the plan and the conversation went something like this:

"Whoa. Check out that girl in red. She's hot. I'll give her a 7."

"She's ok. I'll rate her 6."

"How bout that one? Urgh. Wrong angle. She's just a 3."

"Errr, she ain't too bad right?"

"Whoa. Hot mom at 3 o'clock. Man. She's a 8~! Her husband is a lucky dog!!!"

"Dude, who are we to judge people like this? I think I can hear those gals over here rating guys as well. And you are like point five."

"Wtf! Nice way for pulling us back to reality point one!"

Somehow, it just didn't feel right rating people like that.

It just felt wrong.

Near Death Experience

2006-10-16T02:34:00.000-07:00

l0bak: yesterday i almost died
l0bak: final destination style
cute_dimsum: shit
cute_dimsum: balak?
l0bak: i'll tell u
l0bak: http://www.mallcom.com/store/fr/DVDRED181.jpg

l0bak: while u're at it
l0bak: look at that photo
l0bak: i almost got killed by that
cute_dimsum: wtf man
cute_dimsum: haha
cute_dimsum: shit
cute_dimsum: over masturbation??
l0bak: who?
l0bak: oo hahahah
l0bak: damn wrong image
l0bak: http://www.kleegeindustries.com/stag4big.jpg

cute_dimsum: WTF MAN
l0bak: damn hahaha
l0bak: karma
l0bak: was removing a poster on the stage
l0bak: and some other guys dissembling the stage
l0bak: then the stage collapsed

Never make this kinda mistake while chatting with a blogger who had been running dry on stories.

Valkyrie Profile Silmeria

2006-10-15T22:20:00.000-07:00

"This game is the coolest ever~!"

"Dude, thats like the 7th or 8th time you've told me that! Shut the fuck up!"

Yea, I have been repetitively singing praises to this game and that has been bugging my chat mates. Chat mates ... that sounds kinda gay. Anyway, back to the game. Check this out.

Did I hear someone scream out 'Lolita fetish!!!'? Hmmmmm, anyway, it's been a while since I last saw a CG opening that made me want to play the game real bad. Real bad. Maybe that's the reason why Xenosaga sucked real bad during its final moments. The animation was top notch and the voice dubb was done professionally. The voices matched the characters' personality pretty well and that is really important when it comes to dubbing. You wouldn't want to see and drool over a pretty babe only to get an erectile dyfuncion when you hear her speak with the voice of a man.

The story so far has been interesting and development is good. The game is based on Norse mythology which covers characters like Odin, Einherjars and of course, Valkyries. And being a sucker for mythologies, I am really driven by the story of this game. After all, what is a RPG game without a good story? Xenosaga still pisses me off till this day. Anger ... Must let go ... happy thoughts ... happy thoughts ...

Last but not least, the system of the game is done in a unique and interesting way. Collection of runes to learn a skill and items to custom make weapons would be another addictive element of the game. The battle system is created in a way different from other turn based RPGs where this one goes with AP (action points) which requires one to plan his strategy wisely. The player also have the choice of battling off the whole team or enemies or finishing the battle quick by slaying the leader. And the action and animation for the battle scenes are done so beautifully that one could just watch it over and over again and still think its cool.

Ultimate coolness~!

Drool~!

"Shut up already~! Enough of your shitty reviews!"

"You shut the fuck up!"

Alright then. I guess that's all for the preview of Valkyrie Profile Silmeria.

Death to Xenosaga 3

2006-10-11T18:48:00.000-07:00

I am so dying now. I screwed up my off days and didn't fine tune my sleeping time, so now I am struggling to stay awake after 2 hours of sleep. Getting dizzy, vision getting blur and holding back the urge to puke.

Wasted my offdays again. Compulsive gaming ... again. Swapping between Dota and Xenosaga 3 only to rest for lunch and dinner. Good news would be that I finished Xenosaga 3 and can move on with ~~my life~~ some other games. Bad news would be that I actually finished Xenosaga 3.

The game sucks big time. Still find it hard to believe that I spent 40 hours on that shit. The only thing driving me to finish the game was the thoughts that I have already wasted 20 over hours and the game was gonna end soon. The next 20 hours was hell. The plot was vague (maybe because it's the 3rd and final series and I didn't play the first two), but hell, was it boring. Can't believe it even went religious in the end and for the first time, there was no satisfaction after defeating the final boss. There was no glorious CG movie but instead, it dragged on for another hour or so bitching up the final touches of the story. The only cool thing I can say about the game would be the mecha battles. But then again, I hate mecha.

Of course, this is just my normal biased review.

Next up, Okami and Valkyrie Profile 2.

Drifting ... yet again

2006-10-03T10:48:00.000-07:00

Days seem to be slipping by me pretty fast lately. Maybe it's because of my damn schedule. 12 hours sleep, 10 hours gaming and another 2 hours doing miscellaneous stuff and the day's over again. Urgh. My youth. Gone with the wind.

Lemme try to recall what happened during the last few days. Yea, I was intoxicated with shit for the past few days. Being high and light headed for too long made me hard to differentiate reality and fantasy. Not that it actually matter. At the moment, yesterday, today and tomorrow would just be like any other day. A sucky day.

What else? Oh, I learnt never to ignore my low fuel warning the hard way. My first hike in search of petrol for my car. And also to ignore a mosquito when it gets into my ear. The other day, this mosquito went into my ear and I shook so hard that my specs flew off the balcony and smashed one floor below.

Life. Hardly entertaining.

Lesson in life

2006-09-24T22:22:00.000-07:00

My friend was fishing the other day when a horse approached him. The bugger had been pestering the anglers around by stealing their bait. The horse, not my friend.

So, my friend and the horse looked eye to eye.

The horse made the first move and went for the bait.

My friend slapped the horse.

The horse turned around.

My friend was about to celebrate his victory when the horse gave him a kick in the groin.

Alright, not his groin, but the horse kicked his ass.

Luckily, he just suffered some bumps and bruises.

Morale of the story - never slap a hungry horse.

Dead Or Alive The Movie

2006-09-19T20:23:00.000-07:00

I rather be dead.

Somehow, I have a talent for picking bad movies. Really bad ones. Then it reflected on me. I was the chosen one. Chosen to sacrifice time, frustrations and the price of a movie ticket and a large popcorn. And it is my destiny to warn others of these trash movies so that they do not suffer the same fate. Let’s hope I’m not too late.

I didn’t even plan to watch a movie that day. But loitering alone in a shopping complex somehow made me change my mind. I accidentally stepped into the cinema’s lobby and found myself looking at a list of movies that weren’t appealing at all. Then I came face to face with the D.O.A poster. Right away, images of the DOA I know came flooding through my mind. When I came to my senses, I was already munching popcorn and sipping coke in the cinema.

The show started and in 5 minutes, the nightmare began. When I contemplating on watching the movie, I was thinking how bad a movie could be. Well, it couldn’t have been worse. Fake CG, ugly chicks, boring fight scenes, and ridiculous story line. Urgh. A complete disaster. Even the attempt to spice up the movie with hot and sexy scenes was a total turn off.

What I was expecting:

Ayane the babe

Kasumi the adorable

Tina the beauty

What I saw:

Ayane the eyesore

Kasumi the horrible

Tina the bullshit

Call me sick but I rather fap to those CG gals than those real gals featured in the movie.

My own little world

2006-09-16T09:47:00.000-07:00

Is ignorance bliss?

Or would is it better to face the harsh truth?

You tell me.

Foot reflexology

2006-09-16T08:24:00.000-07:00

I finally gathered my courage to go for foot reflexology and I was so glad I did it. It was the best thing ever having my feet massaged, poked and pampered. Felt like I had a brand new set of feet.

Had always wanted to try it out before this but I had a phobia for foot reflexology. All thanks to a cousin of mine. Or was it my uncle. Not too sure about that. We weren't too close I guess. Well, he was a foot masseur, so I asked him to give me one. He squeezed one of my toe so hard and it felt like someone kicking me in the nuts. Didn't dare to try out ever since.

But those days are gone. Muahahaha. Face your fears. Embrace them. Conquer them.

NHK ni Youkoso! Welcome to the NHK!

2006-09-13T03:33:00.000-07:00

No, it's not what you think it is.

When I finished watching the first episode, the first thing that went through my mind was "What the fuck~!". I was almost hesitant to carry on with the anime, but boredom got the better of me, so I watched it anyway.

Turned out that it wasn't too bad after all. Well, it wasn't very good but it caught my attention. The story was about this guy, Sato Tatsuhiro who was a hikkikomori, which literally means that he has chosen to hide and withdraw from social life. Then comes along this girl, Misaki, who tries to rescue Sato from his mental state. Well, they'd most probably end up together as that is surely to happen in typical animes.

The unique thing about this anime would be Sato's involvement in game development. A hentai game. Now, that's something you don't see everyday.

Check it out for a change. It's not bad and no, it's not some hentai.