mind the gap

End of the Noughties

2009-12-30T23:41:00.002+08:00

The first decade of the Twenty First Century will soon come to a close. Hopefully this blog will see a revival in 2010.

Happy New Year!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

2007-02-18T16:29:00.000+08:00

Selamat Tahun Baru Cina! Gong Xi ! Gong Xi! Being the year of the Fire Pig, we've had some fun with sending out congratulatory SMS's! Received some good ones too. Here's what I got from a few friends:

S%ny*:
Anjing Pergi, Babi Mari
Suey Pergi, Ong Mari

Tahun Lepas, Sudah Pergi
Tahun Ini, Mesti Happy

Kena Magnum, Kena Loteri,
Dalam Maybank, Banyak Money!

D!rh#m (Works for the Halal Corporation): "I decree this year to be non-Halal"

Well, I know a lot of jokers, that's all I can say..

Anyway, what did I do over the festive weekend? Obviously spent some money on my kart suit, dinner at TGIF Curve and watched "The Good Shepherd" on DVD at home. What a long and confusing movie. Had promise though since it was about the birth of the CIA, but it was too long!

Woke up late today and went over to DeLima for brunch. Tried the Mee Rebus Johor for the first time, after I received rave reviews from Azzad whom I met there yesterday. Tapau'd nasi campur for Soefi as usual and have spent the whole afternoon uploading photos to the internet, while watching "Heroes" on TV and enjoying the afternoon rain! Bliss.

Anyway, surf on to my Fotopages for the newly uploaded gambars - click here for more...

OK, we have an open house to look forward to in the evening! Ciao!

New Kart Suit

2007-02-17T18:18:00.000+08:00

Bought my new Karting Suit today, the Alpinestars K-MX5 size 52 Euro, from one of the my-Kart members. Good deal at RM600 (RRP GBP 125)

Seal of Approval

2006-12-23T20:38:00.000+08:00

my-KART Grand Final 125 sprint race - 4 car pile up!!

2006-12-04T23:42:00.000+08:00

I started this heat at P14, but thanks to this pile up, went up a couple of spots and finished the heat at 7th place! heh heh...

my-KART Grand Finale Prize Giving Video - Dec 2, 2006

2006-12-04T23:40:00.000+08:00

2006 Karting Season Round Up

2006-12-03T17:39:00.000+08:00

I had a pretty good 2006 Karting season. Our team, Tail Happy Racing, came in 3rd overall for the my-KART Enduro series, I came in 3rd place in the K2/70 category and 7th overall in the K2 championships.
We had our my-KART Grand Finale event yesterday at City Karting Shah Alam, where we ran the 80cc and for the first time, a 125cc sprint race, as well as an Enduro race to cap off the season. The rain started pouring down a minute after we ended the Enduro, and kept us nice and cool during the prize giving ceremony.
We also brought in 2 my-Kart "Angels" for the first time to liven up the event.

Some more photos below.

my-KART Grand Finale - Dec 2, 2006

chilling out on the balcony ..
messing around
..

Tail Happy Racing secures 3rd place on the podium

..
running the lucky draw session
3rd Place for the K2/70 category

Tail Happy Racing:

Home Sweet Home

2006-11-04T19:58:00.000+08:00

Map of my residential area

Kart Circuits in Malaysia

2006-10-15T16:20:00.000+08:00

Sepang

City Karting Shah Alam

Elite USJ

last morning

2006-05-13T23:38:00.000+08:00

11 May 2006
sadly it's my last morning on the island. rained hard this mornimg. my cold's nearly gone! day before ray, carl kirsty and i trekked to the southernmost beaches, near arwana resort. beach was littered. but great view of the sunset on the boat trip back.
great day yesterday. took the rawa island snorkel trip. was the best ever! swam with turtles again. then back at resort reefs saw a couple of sharks!

Greetings from Perhentian!

2006-05-13T23:37:00.000+08:00

8 May 2006:greetings from perhentian! 7 hr drive from kl via kuantan, taking into account 30mins food break! arrived k besut by 2.30pm. got on the 3pm ferry and got into coral view by 3.30pm. sadly had a cold so not sure abt diving! met carl and family. our chalet was perched on the hill, cool! dinner at the resort, bbq. day 2 still not good. decided to snorkel anyway. brilliant! saw reef shark, turtles and grouper. later carl, ray and i trekked down the beach to teluk keker. good snorkelling! took boat back for rm7 each. dinner at chinese place. bbq jackfish rm60 for 2 pax. won poker that night

and the winner is......

2006-05-04T00:34:00.000+08:00

DOPOD 577W!!!

Yes, I purchased my new smartphone at 9.30pm 3rd May 2006. I can surf the net on the phone now!

Top of the Mornin!

2006-05-03T12:16:00.000+08:00

Aaahh..good morning, or rather good afternoon! It's another lazy lazy May Day ...it's great being on vacation...he heh.

As you can see I've been lining up some chill out music to get in the mood for next week's island getaway, and Bob's definitely my uncle!

Been a good couple of days. Had a "crabfest" at the Fatty Crab Restaurant last night with chin chinmany and his lovely family, plus some of the old friends I've not seen in a while. Found out that my favourite aneh's gonna be a father soon; congratulations! His wedding in Ipoh was one of the best weddings I've attended ever!

Bhangra's the word....HEH!!

Speaking of Bhangra, I'm all set for this Friday's Cameronian Arts Awards night. The theme is "My Malaysia" and we actually tried to shop around for decent batik shirt that would suit me. However, I looked really weird in batik and we stumbled upon some nice "kurthas" in Kamdar Jln Tuanku Abdul Rahman which looked really good on me for some strange reason. Well, they were so good I bought two pairs just in case I have to "balik India" one of these days!

House cleaning's going pretty well too. I've "liberated" my office and have set up the WLAN via the Aztech ADSL wireless router with 4 LAN cables + wireless thingy bobby. The two notebooks are connected now and the only thing left to do is to get a new monitor and liberate the desktop computer. Still have loads of photos on there which I don't want to lose. May go out to Low Yat or 1-Utama or Megamall to search for cheap monitors.

The other thing I have to get is a new mobile phone! Yes, it's been 2 years since I bought my current phone, the Nokia 6610i and it's still pretty good, but the company allows me to change handsets every 2 years and provides RM 800 subsidy. And I'm willing to top up to Rm1500 or thereabouts. All I want is a phone that will take photos, play some music and also has WLAN. The Nokia N series looks good but may be over budget. Was also looking at the DOPOD 577W but that's also over budget.

Nokia N91

Dopod 577W

This Nokia 6680 seems to be within budget, but I'm not sure if it has WLAN though. Have to check it out at the Nokia store. It is a 3G phone though....

Aaahh...decisions decisions..

IsLAND Music Mannn...

2006-05-02T18:47:00.000+08:00

Music for this weekend in Perhentian Mannn...

Video Nostalgia - Guns n Roses "November Rain"!

2006-05-02T00:54:00.000+08:00

One of my all-time favourite songs!

Video Clip from Wicked the Musical - "Defying Gravity"

2006-05-02T00:46:00.000+08:00

This is a clip from the musical we saw earlier this year on Broadway, "Wicked".

Video Nostalgia - Late 80's: "Come on Eileen"

2006-05-02T00:41:00.000+08:00

A favourite of the toffee nosed public schoolboys in the late 80's!

Island Season Starts!!!

2006-04-29T00:33:00.000+08:00

It's the first day of my holidays...school's out, yippee!! Yes, it's that time of year again when my notebook shuts down for two weeks, and I'm free, free! No more night time teleconferences, no worries, be happy!
Well, plenty to do over the next two weeks.

Ol big chin will be arriving in town tomorrow so that'll be a laugh! Have a wedding to go to on Sunday, and will be meeting up with our in-house interior designer to discuss plans for D'Shire.
Most of week 1 will be dedicated to getting our houses in order, cleaning out the rooms and sorting out the books in our house, setting up the WLAN, and hopefully getting the apartment sorted.....then The Cameronian Arts Awards is on Friday so will have to look a little "GQ" in order to blend in with the artsy crowd.
Then next Saturday will be dedicated to motorsports, when I defend my unprecedented high number of championship points in the My-Kart league, followed by an evening with 30 GT Queens at the pre-launch party of the KL International Motor Show.
We'll then be zooming off at the crack of dawn on Sunday to Perhentian Island...whoopee! Yesss Mannn, islandd mannn....scooobaaa with ol big chin heh heh....that's pretty much the deal for week 2, and then we're back into the grind!!...phew!

Shakira Shakira!

2006-04-27T18:08:00.000+08:00

Photos from the High Performance Challenge (HPC) Event, Sepang, 8th April 2006

2006-04-20T12:00:00.000+08:00

Some photos of the event courtesy of Hafidz Fahro Rozi (Huffiz), our resident photographer.

Log on to http://www.hpcevents.com for more information on HPC.

The rest of Huffiz's photos may be found on http://www.my-kart.org/web/image/tid/15

Azlan wasting yet another photo on the empty pitlane

Jules & Azlan on their joyride *grin*
Kah Beng & Azlan ignore Deanna while admiring the Lotus
Quiet, let's take this car for a spin (Jules & Azlan)
looking blur!

Good Friday

2006-04-14T17:49:00.000+08:00

Well it's the end of Holy Week and Easter weekend is upon us. I actually feel that work has slowed down enough for me to pause and reflect on the past couple of months. It has been a short week for me, as I took leave on Monday and Tuesday was a day off for Maulud Nabi.

Had a great weekend actually. I was enlisted as an instructor for the High Performance Driving Challenge in Sepang which was organised by a friend and supported by My-Kart. THe HPDC is an organised driving event which aims to teach new drivers basic motor racing skills. You basically bring in your own car, and if you're a complete beginner, you will be assigned an instructor throughout the day. The instructor will teach basic racing lines and strategies, as well as ensure the participant understands and adheres to the track safety regulations. A bunch of my-karters were chosen as instructors due to our track and motor racing experience.

Anyway, it was my FIRST TIME on the Sepang track! I must admit it was a scary proposition at first, but once I got into the first car, a BMW 535i with a novice driver, and started teaching him the lines, I was in familiar territory again. Man! that Beemer was fast! The driver had good instincts too. The 2nd car was a Malay dude in a Mazda6; also not bad but both him and the previous driver were pretty cautious, which suited me fine! Unfortunately in the last session I got into a Mazda RX7 with a gung-ho driver! He was pretty good overall, had the confidence, correct racing lines...but a little bit TOO confident down the back straigh of Sepang. There were 2 cars in front. We overtook the first, and I could tell he was trying to overtake the 2nd car, but I knew he couldn't make it and held up my hand to signal "BRAKE!"..which he did...but due to the high speed the tail drifted and we eventually spun 180% and hit the Mazda 6 (same guy I had before!). Phew! I had a great view looking BACK at the back straight of Sepang! Well, that was the end of my fantastically exciting day! Due to the incident I even got to go up to the Control Room..amazing! Also took the Honda City out on track for 2 laps...well, not doing that again unless I have loadsacash to burn on tyres and brakes!

Anyway, been travelling a bit since the New York trip. Went to London in early February for a week, then Manila the week after, and later in mid March, I found myself in Chester and London again! That's all the travelling I'll be doing until early June when I go back to London!

In the meantime, April seems to be a month of celebrations, motor racing and next month I'll be out in Pulau Perhentian, woo hoo!!

Mahopac

2006-02-11T13:17:00.000+08:00

We stayed over in Pak Su's new house in Mahopac, in upstate New York. Pak Su kindly fetched us from Newark airport on Sunday afternoon (29th Jan) and drove us up to Mahopac, about 2 hrs drive from the airport.

It was a comfortable ride in his 4 month old, huge Jeep dunno what model...but it's the biggest Jeep I've seen and has all the mod cons...DVD player, GPS, "Stadium" seating and "Moon Roof". This vehicle can really "bunuh anjing"...and lots of them too!!

We arrived in Mahopac around 4pm, met Auntie Tini and Adam at last. After unloading all the Malay delicacies and Korean DVD's, we freshened up and went straight out to Danbury in Connecticut to look around the big shopping malls and eat dinner.

We ended up at the "Red Lobster" restaurant around 6pm, and it was just like "Fatty Crab" back in PJ...not the restaurant, but the queue to get in! Very popular....and not because it was Chinese New Year...in fact, I think we were the only Chinese-looking people around; anyway, the restaurant had a great, transparent system of managing the queue...they handed out these devices which are actually wireless receivers that will vibrate when your turn's up! Cool.
A word about American portions. Although we ordered seafood because everything else would not be kosher, them portions were big! I think we were full after the starter course! I ordered the Rainbow Trout because I remember mum used to cook us rainbow trout curry back in Oxford! Anyway, it was delicious, and I was the only one who finished my main course! But in America, it's pretty common to request a doggy bag to bring leftovers home, and that's what happened, at least cousin Adam had his Monday school lunch sorted out!

Mahopac's a really quiet, rural commuter area. It surrounds Lake Mahopac, which is actually one of the many reservoirs feeding New York. Houses are largely made of timber and have big compounds, and it's pretty close to the big shopping areas of Danbury. Most people work and commute to Manhattan daily, via the nearest rail station in Croton Falls. Takes about 15 mins to get to Croton Falls, and then a 75 mins ride to Grand Central Station.

DIY's pretty big over here, at least in Pak Su's house! I've been told that the house was on the market for many years and needed lots of renovation. Pak Su's idea of fun and relaxation is to pop over to the nearby Home Depot, pick up a door, and fix it to the new toilet. In fact, he built Adam's study room (in the photo...Adam, sorry for taking over your study!!..btw notice the flat screen TV under the shelves...I want one too!!!), and the front entrance area, and everything else actually all with his bare hands! This is a big shift in culture from Malaysia, where mum and dad's idea of fun and relaxation is to design the kitchen, pick out the best tiles and other materials, and then call the friendly contractor to built the whole thing! In the USA, contractors don't come cheap, and you'd probably end up spending 80% of cost on labour because you'll need to pay his wages by the hour, and also his lunch, beer, snacks, petrol, etc...So, DIY's big! I tried DIY once. Tried to fix some bathroom fittings and ended up drilling a hole into the water pipes...ooh, not clever!

New York, New York!

2006-02-11T12:25:00.000+08:00

Reflections on our trip to New York, Jan 29 - Feb 2, 2006.

Downtown Manhattan Skyline - Jan 30th 2006 sans Twin Towers.

Met my "brother" in New York's Empire State Building.... More photos & postings to come...

We spent the whole of Monday Jan 30th exploring the "must see" New York sites in one day. Fortunately the weather was VERY kind to us...the son shone brightly and the temperature was unseasonably high and hovering around 69 Fahrenheits...yes, the Yanks still use Fahrenheit and I think that's in the low teens in Celcius.

Although not many things come for free in the USA, with entrance fees typically around USD 10-15 to enter museums, Empire State, etc...we found a real bargain...the STATEN ISLAND FERRY! It was free! The authorities built a new ferry terminal in Lower Manhattan and ferries leave every 30 mins and the trip to Staten Island lasts around 45 mins. Of course, there's nothing much in Staten Island and tourists only take this ferry ride because it sails right in front of the Statue of Liberty. So, instead of paying USD 15 or so to board the Liberty ferry that takes you to the island, disembarks, and allows you to go up the statue, the free ride is great value for money! And given the right conditions, ie sunshine, good camera, ...you'll get brilliant photos of the statue as well as the Lower Manhattan skyline.

I'll take Manhattan!!!

We went round Lower Manhattan in the early afternoon, walked around Wall St among stock market traders on their lunchbreak. Dropped by a Borders bookstore before proceeding on to Ground Zero.

Ground Zero is like a giant construction site now. It gave me chills down my spine just thinking about the tragedy that happened at that very place. The area's fenced up by there is a subway line running through the heart of Ground Zero. The authorities did a good job in resuming all the vital transportation services, but the challenge now is to rebuild the place on top of those live subway lines.

There's a great store right in front of Ground Zero called "Century 21", which is essentially a discount store which many New Yorkers and tourists flock to for great bargains. Incidentally it was "Tax Free" week and also Sale week for the store, so it was jam packed with people. We didn't actually enter the store until two days later, after we met a young couple in a nearby Starbucks who asked us for directions to the store. They told us about the great bargains,etc and that prompted us to return to the area two days later. Despite the "low prices" it still doesn't compare to KL shopping, so I ended up buying a scarf for myself!

Coming up......Mahopac, Upstate New York, Times Square, Azlan strikes the lottery twice and the strangest "museum" in the world...which is in front of Bombay Palace!!

Bienvenido a Miami

2006-01-26T11:56:00.000+08:00

It's 10.56pm Wed night and we've been in Miami for half a week now. Arrived on Sunday from Newark where we spent one night in order to catch the right connecting flight.
The hotel's pretty good but the location's a little boring...good for a convention but not much to do especially for Soefi! We explored South Beach and Downtown Miami on Monday; South Beach or SoBe was cool and I think has developed even more since my last trip here....and this time we also went to the Lincoln Road shopping area which was a big pedestrian mall with al fresco dining, cafes, etc. The weather on Monday was great.
There's a monorail system called the Metromover which is actually free and covers most of Downtown Miami; pretty funny because they use the exact same monorail trains as the KLIA system that links the main terminal to the International satellite building!

Tuesday and Weds were really hectic convention days. Went back to Lincoln Road on Tues night where we heard a motivational speaker (actually an ex GM who's now coaching a Florida U football team), and tonight we went on a dinner cruise in Miami bay...quite good, open air but the weather was a little cool so we had to wear jackets!

We have another 4 days in Miami before we head back up north to New York, where it's been snowing all week!

USA here we come!!

2006-01-21T01:45:00.000+08:00

Yes, we're all set and ready to go! It's been another hectic week, and a very long Friday spent trying to frantically finish off my work, pick up my flight tickets (yes, last minute!) and handling 3 night time telephone conferences! Phew!

And on top of that, trying to adjust my bodyclock to Miami time! It's 1.45 am now and less than 4 hours before the KLIA Limo arrives at our doorstep. We have a 20-odd hour flight ahead of us: KL - Stockholm - Newark, then one night in Best Western Newark so that we can catch a connecting flight the next morning to Miami.
Trying to stay awake all night tonight, as the plan would be to sleep on the first leg of the journey and awake between Stockholm and Newark. Hopefully my plan works out!
Couldn't get a business class upgrade for Soefi but will try our luck again at the check in counter; the travel agent advised us to go early and try our luck!

It will be a busy week for me in Miami as I'll be attending a global conference followed by a 2-day meeting. Don't think I'll see much of Miami, but luckily we have the CNY holidays to...see NY! heh heh...

OK very corny! I'll try to update this blog with photos, etc from the States. Ciao!

Mixed start to the year

2006-01-14T13:43:00.000+08:00

I've survived the first two weeks of 2006 unscathed! Work was OK although I did not meet my work life balance aspirations, but will work on it! Right now, busy with preparing for the USA trip and ensuring all bills are paid, and sorting out accommodation and transportation details, and most importantly, to ensure we have MONEY!!

Anyway, shocking news today that a friend's father passed on suddenly on the golf course! He's a well known theatre personality.

Anyway, some links for my trip:

Newark to Manhattan links.

Cholesterol - Food for Thought!

2006-01-03T20:47:00.000+08:00

I received my medical report today, and it was generally good, except for the fact that I have too much "bad cholesterol" and too little "good cholesterol". My uric acid level was also near the risky limits. Yikes! I have the usual executive's health problems; too much stress, too much food and too little exercise.

It's not that surprising since I've dramatically reduced my sporting activities and increased work over the last 6 months or so. Used to play squash at least twice a week, on top of regular jogging, and eating healthy food as prescribed in the "Body for Life" programme.

Well, it's a new year and with it, new behaviours. My resolution will therefore be: more exercise, less fried food and no more nasi lemak, teh tarik, roti canai and banana leaf rice! Might even consider turning into a "pescatarian" like my sister...not!

Happy New Year 2006

2006-01-01T18:21:00.000+08:00

Wishing all friends and family a wonderful new year 2006.

It's been a great two weeks holiday for me to cap off the busy busy year of 2005. We managed to catch up with our friends and hit the malls to watch movies (Constant Gardener, King Kong and The Chronicles of Narnia starring the magnificent and majestic Aslan the Lion...I'm a star, really, pity they misspelt my name!), sort out and renewed my passports, got the US visa for the wife, and generally cleaned out our house!

We ate loads of fatty crabs for Christmas Eve, attended my cousin's "aqiqah" ceremony for her baby on Christmas Day and drove off to Pangkor on Boxing Day. The Teluk Dalam Resort wasn't so great so we hired a little Kancil car for the day and circled the island about three times in search of excitement, finally settling on the beach at Teluk Nipah to eat lots of food and where I also hired a canoe that I took out to the nearby coral island.

Came back to KL in time for "Tows"kay Bram's party and got an interesting insight into the lives and activities of superbikers. Well, they basically ride around the country in their bikes in search of great food...I like that!

New Year's Eve was spent mostly on the track in Sepang with the My-Kart gang. It was the inaugral, pilot My-Kart Intercompany/Car Club Challenge 2005 and my team, Shell 2, came in 3rd after a 90 mins endurance race. It was pretty tiring as each driver races for up to 20 mins non stop, but the real endurance tests the kart's performance over 90 mins, not the driver!

Had a quiet dinner in Jack's Place in One Utama, chilled out at Coffee Bean, and got stuck in the jams getting out of the shopping centre but we managed to make it to our guardhouse by the stroke of midnight! So, during the first few mins of 2006, we parked out car by the roadside and watched the fireworks over the Ikano Power Centre in the distant horizon!

There's another busy year ahead of me! We'll be in the USA in 3 weeks, and I'll be in the UK at the end of Feb for a meeting.

Here's hoping for a good year ahead!

Cova Villa

2005-12-18T22:54:00.000+08:00

Latest news. At around 5pm today, wifey and I decided to put down money to book the Cova VIlla !

Kota Damansara Beautification Project: S’gor Govt to heed the views of property owners

2005-12-18T13:19:00.000+08:00

Extract from Malay Mail Report Dec 13th 2005

The Petaling Jaya Residents Association (Pejra) is urging the authorities and the company involved in the RM10 million development of a 45-acre flood mitigation lake in Section 2, Kota Damansara, to form a joint consultative council with residents’ representative.

This, according to Pejra, is vital for identifying problems affecting the residents before earthworks on the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) reserve start.

“It is vital for the authorities to discuss with property owners before the project commences,” said Pejra president S.S. Rajalingam yesterday.

When contacted, the Selangor Government’s housing, building management and squatters chairman, Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Ahmad Dahlan, said a meeting with 23 property owners and the residents was held yesterday morning in Kota Damansara.

“We had the meeting with the property owners and residents to discuss and identify their problems with the project,” said Mokhtar.

Also present were representatives of developer Pharma Exel Sdn Bhd and the Petaling Jaya Municipal Council (MPPJ).

“So far their response has been positive and their problem will be looked into by the developer and the council,” said Mokhtar.

He said one of the problems raised by the residents is the fear of increased population density which could make the area too crowded.

“We discussed this earlier with the developer and they will reduce the density of buildings from 27 storeys to between 21 to 24. This will help to make the area more livable,” said Mokhtar.

“They will also work on solving the traffic problem, including a suggestion for one-way traffic.

“It is hoped that the development will not bring destruction to the environment but provide a better quality of life for residents,” Mokhtar said.

Last Friday, The Malay Mail reported that the lake will be turned into a recreational park after the RM10 million facelift.

The State Government has also planned for 10 acres of the land to be developed into six blocks of apartment units and a commercial block unit.

When completed, the recreational park will have walkways, interconnecting bridges, view decks, boating service, and aquatic plants that will also serve as a natural filtration system in the lake

Year End Shut Down and Re-Boot System!

2005-12-18T13:14:00.000+08:00

Hooray I'm finally on leave! It felt like the last day of term on Friday 16th December, in the evening there was even a small celebratory outing to the cinemas with Fazz, Ju, Yus and Faridah to watch the semi chick flick (because Mr RAFE Fiennes wasin it), the Constant Gardener.
As usual I get the urge to do all the things during my leave that I've not been able to do, like a little bit of grass cutting, renewing my passport, cleaning out junk from my office and generally eating lots of food. Oh, and yes, trying to start a new fitness regime too... hmm.

Went to Shamyl Othman's wedding reception last night, which was pretty interesting because he's a young film director, and son of veteran film director Othman Hafsham, or fondly known as Mr H. Interesting because this was the first time I've seen both bride and groom get up on stage and actually sing two songs really well. The bride was in a small band, is called Siti and has a great voice.

Wifey woke up early this morning for brunch with her mum, so I took off and had my own brekkie at the local mamak in Kota Damansara. It was cool morning (actually,, it;s raining now!) and I felt like communing with nature, so I headed to the Kelab Golf Seri Selangor clubhouse to have another teh tarik, surrounded by golfers and with a great view of the golf course! Feel like picking up golf again, but not at KGSS as the price has increased a lot! yikes! RM150 ++ for a decent 18 hole round....not doing that again! May join Yus on Wed though at his course.

On the way home I spotted the "Di Cova" development sign board and headed for the site office. I remember this development generated some controversy and was highlighted in the national papers because it was being built in an area that was earmarked for conservation, etc.

Anyway, there will be 6 condominium blocks (whoah!) and a commercial Small Office homoe Office block and shops. The block that will be launched late Jan will cater for students from SEGI College, hence they're trying to sell the units to investors with guaranteed rental retunr (GRR) scheme. So, if you buy a unit costing RM270k, it'll be big enough to house 6 students, and you sign an agreement to rent that back to the developer for Rm1800 per month for 3 years with an option for another 3 years. And get this, the SEGI college is expected to have a student population of 10,000! About 30% of these students will be foreign, and as each block can accommodate around 2000 students, there's more than enough demand for accommodation.

Things are really picking up around my area. May be very good news for my D'Shire villa apartments, but may also mean congestion on the road leading to my house! Also, Found out that the piece of land right next to the SEGI college is slated for the "Tropicana Medical Centre". So, lots of doctors and nurses may be moving in too!....hopefully we'll have good healthcare on our doorsteps, but would not like to hear the sound of ambulances and see the sight of hearses coming in and out of our neighbourhood! Hmm, I sound like one of the NIMBY's (Not In My Back Yard) people who protested against the Channel Tunnel in the UK!

Anyway, it's been an interesting morning. Hopefully the rest of my leave will be more interesting than this !! May go to Penang for some food binges, and perhaps even Langkawi.

The home stretch!

2005-12-03T20:26:00.000+08:00

Wow, December has descended upon us in a blink of an eye! The years are really whizzing by faster than before! At work everyone's frantically trying to close out the year's targets while at the same time planning for a smooth start next year.
In my case, there's a big trip to the USA and Europe from late Jan to early Feb for work and also Chinese New Year. Wifey will also follow this time as it will be her first trip to the USA!

Things to do for that trip include getting a US Visa for her. There's some procedures online and apparently it takes a week or so but we'll try to do it as early as possible in view of holidays and stuff. Here's a link to the US Embassy in Malaysia

So, the plan is that we leave Malaysia on Jan 21st morning for New York City, arriving in Newark Jan 21 evening too due to the time difference. Connecting flight to Miami's around 9am the next morning so we need to stay in one of the airport hotels.
Here's some links for Newark Airport hotels.

We'll be in Miami around noon Jan 22nd and will head out to a place called Key Biscayne. Apparently a nice tropical resort island just off Miami. Will be having a conference there for about a week, but at the moment we're not sure which hotel we'll be staying in.

The conference and meetings end on Sat 28th Jan and the following week is chock a block full of public holidays in Malaysia due to CNY, FT Day and Awal Muharram. Hence it made perfect sense to just stay on in the US of A for a holiday. Not sure if we'll stay in Florida after the conference, and visit NASA, Orlando, etc as the wife's very keen to visit the Big Apple! It's been her dream to visit this city for years and I guess I feel kinda of guilty going off on that US trip in 1999 and then boasting about it to her! heh heh...

Pak Su's living about 45 mins north of NYC in Upstate New York, and I was told today that the shopping in Woodbury Common's quite good.
Supposed to leave NYC by 4th February, and I will head to a destination in Europe for another conference while wifey will head straight back home to KL. Will post more details as I get them.

Can you spot me in these photos?

2005-11-25T11:49:00.000+08:00

Day at the Races: A1 GP Sepang

2005-11-20T18:22:00.000+08:00

Had a great day at Sepang today, many thanks to theFazz who has outdone himself by getting us invites into the Perdana Suite! Us boys were able to rub shoulders with Malaysia's leadership, corporate and motor racing movers and shakers.

Photo above taken after the race with Tun Dr Mahathir and A1 GP founder Sheikh Al Makhtoum.

Check out my fotopages for more photos of the event.

My-Kart 2005 Group Photo

2005-11-19T14:15:00.000+08:00

This photo was taken at last week's round 9 event in Shah Alam.

Go to my Fotopages for more...

One 'flu over the cuckoo's nest!

2005-11-19T11:27:00.000+08:00

What bad timing. I caught "human flu" over the last 3 days, just before the A1 GP weekend! Had to decline a couple of open house invitations too, but I'm doing my best to get well in time for Sunday's race! theFazz has one precious invite to Sepang's Perdana Suite which is the best place in Sepang to watch races....they've got food!

It's been a hectic 2 weeks post-Hari Raya. Went to Singapore on 8th Nov to meet up with my US counterpart and meet people in the Singapore office, and then a 2-day "workshop" with our boss. It also happened to be the week when the top 500 leaders of my organisation turned up in Singapore for some big pow-wow, so it wasn't surprising that the little chiefs also tagged along and had more meetings with their little indians....and so on and so forth. There was an obvious overspill to KL as well which was the reason why we had a 9am "town hall" meeting with one of the big cahoona's from the US on the first day back from Hari Raya leave.

After Singapore, my US friend came over to KL to get a feel to how things are run here and meet people in KL, Cyberjaya, etc. It was a good trip for him and we went to the usual tourist haunts such as Petaling Street, KLCC and even made it to Hartamas Square and Finnegan's. This guy enjoyed the rugby that was being shown live there...the England Australia match played last weekend.

At the same time, another team descended on KL and politely asked me to organise dinner at the Malaysian Petroleum Club, which I did provided I get to eat too! Anyway, I think the flu came on Wed or Thursday, which was when things quieted down a bit...it may have been exhaustion, I don't know!?

Well, I'm trying to get well by this afternoon...the A1 GP beckons!...and next week it's the my-kart Enduro so I hope my back's fully recovered by then too!

Hari Raya 2005

2005-11-05T16:23:00.000+08:00

It's been a relatively quiet Raya this year. The streets of KL were clear as usual, with the odd tourists here and there taking advantage of the holidays to visit famous spots such as the Dataran Merdeka.

Visit my fotopages to view the Hari Raya photos.

View of my garden 3 years ago.....

2005-11-01T15:52:00.000+08:00

I remembered taking this photo about 3 years ago. I had a view of the golf course then...and the car parked out front is different too...sigh!

Puasa Postings Day 28th: Happy Deepavali!

2005-11-01T15:16:00.000+08:00

Wishing all my Hindu friends a Happy Deepavali! It's also day 28 of Ramadan and we're getting ready for our own festivities, Hari Raya Aidil Fitri. Been getting up at 1pm AS USUAL, but once I'm up it's straight to the house work!
Since all the gardeners are away on Deepavali leave, I borrowed dad's "helicopter grass cutter" on Sunday and had it put together at the SS2 shop yesterday. As soon as I got home it was straight out to the lawn; I was happily cutting away at the grass and had at least one-third done (as you can see from the photo), until I ran OUT OF PETROL! Hahaha! Well, it was already close to buka puasa time anyway so I cleaned up the front yard and rushed out to get some food from the stalls, only to find out that they ran OUT OF FOOD! Yikes! Called back home and decided to head out to 1-Utama instead for some Yoshinoya beef rice (at this point I wish to apologise to my Hindu friends...sorry!)! Yum! It was a good change from all that Malay food anyway!

Anyway, we got home and decided to watch "City of God" on DVD. Great, violent movie a la Scarface about gangsters from a Rio de Janeiro slum, or favela.

Anyway, it's a real peaceful day today but after getting up at 1pm, I've been busy cleaning out the porch and backyard. Will be getting some petrol soon for the lawnmower, but at this moment, I'm taking a rest and settling down in my study to surf the 'Net. Wishing everyone a happy holiday!

Coldstream Guards

2005-10-29T17:01:00.000+08:00

Read about one of my school mates who's about to complete a tour of duty in Iraq. He's the guy standing third from right.
http://www.shinycapstar.com/optelsitrep_b.htm

Here's a photo of my school, Teddies...formerly a predominantly boys school, now turned fully co-ed...

Puasa postings - Day 25: Viet food & rainy test drive!!

2005-10-29T15:20:00.000+08:00

Well it's a Saturday and I'm up at 1.30pm again!! Feels like Groundhog Day..or weekend! Had an interesting time last night. Buka puasa with TheFazz, Ju, Euss72 and Faridah at Du Viet Bangsar Village. Went for the Rm40 all you can eat "Sedap Giler!" buka puasa promotion again!

Well and truly stuffed our faces but the best was yet to come. TheFazz was due to pick up his new BMW 525 (just like the one in this photo) from a dodgy (well, AP holder lah) car dealer in Jalan U Thant, and we all volunteered to "teman" him in the process! I think TheFazz is going "all out" this Raya...baju baru, kereta baru, go-kart baru...and speaking of go-kart, his go-kart co-owner "TheFussyOne" seems to have "awek baru" heh heh....finally!

Anyway, it rained cats and dogs last night but it didn't stop the boys from bombing down Jalan U Thant, testing suspension, ride, braking power, etc...all while listening to Quranic verses being played on the radio..alhamdullillah it's Ramadhan after all right? The girls also had their test drive...they managed to keep in Ju's brand new car (its a Fiat, right?)....two cars in 2 weeks that's really going all out hehe he!

Anyway, I'm finally on leave!!! However as usual we'll be in KL over the Raya period and I'll probably stay around and clean the house, and finally cut that grass in case mum & dad decides to drop by on Raya day! Gotta finish up some work as well cos I've got a busy week after Raya in Singapore with the boss lady.

Anyway, wishing all five of you who read this blog, Selamat DeepaRaya!

Puasa postings - Day 19: Slow Sunday...

2005-10-23T16:49:00.000+08:00

Same old story today. Woke up at 1pm (he's a real champion!), read the papers and then did some housework. Started surfing the net at 4pm and now just testing out some more blogging features.

Here's looking forward to my next holiday!!

Puasa Postings - Day 18: Laaazy Saturday!

2005-10-22T17:58:00.000+08:00

I guess this will be the second weekend I totally waste away! Feels like I'm just catching up on sleep deficit throughout the the working week. Yeah, at least I woke up for sahur on time and had the usual single sausage sandwich; I've been having my daily sausage for sahur and still not sick of them (yet!). What have I done today? Woke up at 1.15pm! (what a champion!) and stumbled down to the living room to read the newspapers. I know cousin Wolf called me around 11am but I was too sleepy to answer. Maybe he wanted to invite me to the Gleneagles hospital to visit baby Soraya? Not sure. What a week. Two babies and a death. Was supposed to visit TowsKay's baby on Wed, or was it Thursday, then there was the PM's wife death, and on Friday babySoraya was born. Heard that JohnBoy's aunties passed away on Thursday too...two at a go! Poor fella...wifey went over to their house to help Su with her essay.

Anyway I've been surfing the net most of this afternoon...right now it's about 1 hour to berbuka and I should start thinking of where to eat. We've generally avoided the buffets this year, and instead eat at home or at my parents...and on the odd occasssion that we DO go out, it will be for a normal meal at a restaurant. Went to Jakes last week and to the Manhattan Fish Market a couple of days before that. May go to MFM again tonight..fish are food, not friends!!!

Anyway, theFazz asked us to suggest buka puasa options for my-kart...we may opt for a Deepavali dinner instead! Hey, all the banana leaf restaurants will be closed though!...hmmm...banana leaf....<snap out of it!!!>

digital cameras!

2005-10-22T16:38:00.000+08:00

Desperately seeking digital camera!The Panasonic Lumix looks very promising though!

Links

http://www.digitalcamera-hq.com/

The House of Commons

2005-10-22T16:05:00.000+08:00

CorneliusFudge has just been appointed MP in the new House of Commons http://www.kwim.net/thoc/

Malaysia's Loss

2005-10-20T17:26:00.000+08:00

Sadly the PM's wife passed away today after a courageous fight against cancer. May she rest in peace.

Hurricane Wilma!

2005-10-20T17:11:00.000+08:00

Looks like Florida may be hit by a hurricane this weekend!

The satellite image below updates every few hours...cool!

Kinky Blue Fairy

2005-10-20T09:37:00.000+08:00

Heard this on the radio. Adam Carruther's girlfriend's blogsite http://www.xanga.com/kinkybluefairy. Adam's blog http://thepowerwithin.blogspot.com

United States visas

2005-10-19T14:51:00.000+08:00

Need to to get a US visa for wifey for the upcoming Miami/New York trip.

http://www.unitedstatesvisas.gov/

http://usembassymalaysia.org.my/

TOWS Dynamic

2005-10-19T12:07:00.000+08:00

http://www.tows.com.my/about_us/default.asp

Link to ToWs Dynamic website.

Sleep!

2005-10-19T11:04:00.000+08:00

My sleep pattern's all messed up this week! I've been religiously waking up for sahur since the start of fasting month, and ploughing straight into work at 6am. Somehow my body just gave up on the routine this week...I've gone back to sleep after sahur twice now, and this morning, completely forgot to wake up! Lucky I had that maggi mee at midnight, I was feeling a bit peckish after the not so filling buka puasa at All Star Cafe MidValley. A chicken sandwich is NOT enough for buka puasa! Looking forward to tonight's departmental buka puasa at the new hip and happening KL Hilton!

Anyway, I have to start wrapping things up at work for the year and plan ahead for next year. Boss already told me to "think strategic", "work smart, not hard", "build your team" etc etc. Wokay boss lady! We'll be doing my performance discussion tomorrow before she flies off to Nippon land for her holidays! How come these mat sallehs take off for 1-2 week holidays every 2 months? That must be the "working smart" bit! That's it, gonna get a slave or two for next year!

Next year....we have a workshop in Miami just the week before CNY. Good timing, the wife wants to follow. About time too, she hasn't been to the US and still remembers the time I took a month's holiday in the US, right after I proposed to her, and went with my friend instead! Have to sort out the flight, cos she expects business class! I think my Enrich points is just enough for an upgrade to Business class to New York, from NY to Miami it'll be one of the US airlines I suppose. Yikes, it will be Jan/Feb and reallllly cold! I remember going up to the roof of one of the ill fated twin towers, boy was it cold! Crazy! Must have been -10 deg C wind chill factor!

OK, better do some work now!

Language tool

2005-10-14T23:42:00.000+08:00

The language tool doesn't work as well as I hoped! Anyway, had a looong day as usual and finished it off with terawih prayers; this time in Flora Damansara with cousin Wolf. Flora Damansara is a group of apartments, low to medium cost, and quite dodgy looking actually. I was surprised to find out that someone bought a unit for RM145k. Bad deal. He could have bought a nice apartment in Kota Damansara.

Puasa Postings - Day 10

2005-10-14T23:30:00.000+08:00

Estoy probando la herramienta de la lengua de Google. Está realmente fresca. Bien, acabamos de terminar los 10 días de Ramadan y todo va bien hasta ahora. Agradezca la calidad que el fin de semana está aquí. http://translate.google.com/translate_t

Phnom Penh!

2005-10-08T23:39:00.000+08:00

Yeah! Phnom Penh looks promising. Targeting 2 Dec for 2 nights....Air Asia package. Should be fun.

Go Holiday!

2005-10-08T22:57:00.000+08:00

Had a look at Air Asia's new promotions today. They have a couple of new destinations like Phnom Penh and there are discounts for travel before 20th Oct. We were thinking of going to Bangkok about two weekends from now, but then again, it's fasting month so we're not too sure if that's a good idea. Another alternative would be to pick a weekend after Raya. Stil thinking about it.

Puasa Postings - Day 4!

2005-10-08T14:34:00.000+08:00

Made it to the 4th day of Ramadan and all's well. Being a Saturday, I slept after sahur and woke up at 12.30pm! I guess it made up for lack of sleep during the last 3 days. I would usually wake up at 4.30am, have my big breakfast of sausages and eggs, and go straight to work on the computer at home from 6am onwards. Would take a break around 8 or a8am, shower, and drive into the office. The office canteen now sells food after 2.30pm but I prefer to leave at 5pm and drop by the stalls at Kota Damansara. Prices are cheaper there than Taman Tun, I guess to cater to the surrounding low cost population, although there's an increasing number of well to do customers from the newly completed developments such as Seri Utama.

Went to terawih prayers everyday so far. It was pretty challenging trying to keep awake on the first two occassions. Went with cousin Wolf on the first day - he told me I was swaying at one point - actually I did have one or two instances on "micro sleep"! Got better last night at the Cecawi surau.

Will be breaking fast at Prima tonight and tomorrow we have a birthday buka puasa for a friend at a restaurant in Mont Kiara. Prices of ramadhan buffets are ridiculously high nowadays, with the most expensive being the Lemon Garden Cafe in Shangri-La at RM101 nett per person! How much can you eat? Certainly misses the point of fasting.

Puasa postings - Day 1

2005-10-05T10:24:00.000+08:00

5-Oct-2005.
It's the first day of Ramadan! Managed to wake up promptly at 4.30am today for sahur. About 3 years ago, we found out that the best meal to have during sahur is just the usual, big English breakfast, plus oats and dates. Eventually that just became sausage and eggs! So, after nearly a year of not cooking, I woke up early in the morning to fry some deli sausages, eggs and toast. Forgot to check on the gas though, as the flames looked really weak!
In past years I would go back to sleep right after sahur, but this morning I tried working from home from 6am onwards, as it would give me a good opportunity to at least talk to people in the US who are about to end the previous business day. Managed to call this lady in Houston, who was literally about to step out the office when I called at 6am (5pm in Houston!). Made her stay back for an hour heh heh...

Read some emails after the call but felt really sleepy around 7.45am, so I thought it would be a good idea to lie down and rest a bit on the sofa. Bad news! Slept and woke up at 8.30am! Not doing that again! Anyway, I'm still tapping away on the keyboard, and had some good documents done and emailed, so overall has been a good start to puasa.

Nowadays I still like to go into the office at least for half a day, since it gets really boring at home and sometimes even depressing. Actually I think the wife prefers me out of the house so she gets some quiet reading time to herself! So, I'll be heading out to the office at 12pm and attend the lunchtime religious talks before going back into work by the afternoon. Berbuka time's at 7.05pm I think, so I should really leave by 5pm to get some food at the stalls. I'll check out the Kota Damansara stalls today, it's been improving over the years and not as crowded as Taman Tun's. May attend terawih prayers in Bangsar though...but my usual mosque would be Taman Tun...good crowd there...

Liverfool vs Chelsea

2005-10-03T23:01:00.000+08:00

ha ha ! heard that Liverfool were thrashed 4-1 by Chelsea last night! I was with cousin Wolf and his LFC fan club at "Showru" last night, the only one not wearing the red champions t-shirt. As soon as Chelsea scored the penalty around the 30th minute, it was time for me to go as I was seen as the "jinx"! Had to go off to TSB Bangsar anyway for the Separation 40 cast party, where I had a great time watching Anita and Margaret play "who would you do"? Hmm....

Puasa postings - 2 days to go...

2005-10-03T22:33:00.000+08:00

Just heard the announcement that bulan puasa will start on Wed 5th October. This was a few seconds before I had to dash back into my office to attend a teleconference with my virtual global team. Had quite a full day today, although it started slow. Woke up at 9am and got into work by 10.30am. Lunched at "PJ Hills" with the banana leaf bunch, and back to the office, for a sleepy afternoon!

Went to Ikano for dinner (thai teppanyaki...what a combination?), haircut, and shopped for essential buka puasa and sahur food items, ie dates, sausages, bread and yoghurt. All set for fasting!

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2005-10-03T22:26:00.000+08:00

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Food Glorious Food

2005-10-02T19:24:00.000+08:00

It's 7.30pm and I'm still full from lunch. That sums up my day. Woke up in time for Shazal's majlis bersyukur for his new baby. It was interesting since the actual majlis, and doa, were all performed by the womenfolk, while the men "lepak" out in the porch waiting for lunch to be served! Seems the Minangkabau traditions are seriously followed in that family! Met several of the neighbours, even the new ones that moved in the last 2 months, as well as several members of his family. Good to know that almost everyone who lives here plays golf, and post raya golf games were already being planned!

I only had time to sample a bit of the food before rushing off to my aunt's place nearby to eat REAL Minangkabau food! Yeah...mum cooked her masak kuning rebung with prawns and crab, there was a huge serving of ikan bilis masak belado, ulam with sambal, my aunt's famous sambal sotong, fried chili catfish, ...ooh, I take back what I said earlier, I'm getting hungry again!

After stuffing my face I had 20 mins to rush off to KL PAC in Sentul to catch Separation 40, and pick up the tickets for Karen and friends. Luckily the theatre was well airconditioned or else I would have certainly dozed off with all that food in my belly! Then again, that wouldn't have happened since it was such a good play...

Gonna meet up with cousin Wolf to watch the Liverpool match against somebody. Just to set the record straight I support Man Utd, but unfortunately everyone else I know supports Liverpool...

Separation

2005-10-02T19:05:00.000+08:00

Just watched the Singapore-Malaysia collaborative play, Separation 40. It's easily the best play I've seen this year, and it's not because the missus was in it!
The play explores the separation of Singapore and Malaysia 40 years ago through a series of sketches, and you can read more about it here.

If the playwrights had intended the audience to experence the roller coaster of emotions that people must have felt during the separation many years ago, then they've done a brilliant job.

Although we learnt from history books the politics and reasons behind this event, it was a real surprise for me to learn that it was such an emotional time for people on both sides of the causeway.

As a young Malaysian born in the early 70's, I have no emotional ties to Singapore. It has always been a foreign country to me, albeit one where I hold fond memories of numerous shopping trips. Being an only child at the time, going to Singapore meant shopping for toys toys and more toys on Orchard Road. In those days KL was not exactly the shoppping mecca it is now, and going to Singapore was a big thing for me! And somehow, the soto ayam was, and is, much better in Singapore than KL!

Anyway, after having thought about it, it must have been a really scary time for the Singaporeans. I didn't realise that they felt "betrayed" by Malaysia, and it must have felt that way, since back in 1965, it was just a tiny island city which was facing huge racial problems and a communist insurgency. No wonder LKY cried on Aug 9, 1965.

Lazy Sunday

2005-10-02T01:25:00.000+08:00

I think I'm getting a little carried away with blogging this weekend. It's nearly 1.30am and I'm still at it! Blame it on the Streamyx! Just received an SMS from my horsey sister that she's dropped the alien one off at Cambridge. Well done sis for being the only member of our family to make it to an Oxbridge uni...don't think your older siblings didn't try (hard enough!). I'm sure you'll turn out to be the best "psycho" in the world!

Well, have to sleep now. There's a "majlis bersyukur" (or was it bercukur?) at Shazal's place just in front of our house, then a family makan makan get together at mak lang's (what else does this family do when we get together...makan lah!!). And at 3pm I'll finally be watching Separation 40! Lazy Sunday? I don't think so!

World domination

2005-10-02T01:07:00.000+08:00

Many thanks to eezie for the Personal World Map. It's obvious that I want to travel the world!! But cheh! Only 19 countries visited so far and 89 to go. Gotta hit those little European ones to bring up the numbers...and got Vietnam/Cambodia lined up too. But I would sure like to go back to China, especially in the winter to stock up on cheap winter jackets and suits! And those tasty little lamb skewers...yum!

My Personal World Map

2005-10-02T00:54:00.000+08:00

visited 19 countries-
like to visit 89 countries

Create your own world map

Bali Bombed again

2005-10-01T23:57:00.000+08:00

Sadly another series of bomb blasts has just hit Bali again. Cafes in main tourist areas of Kuta and Jimbaran Beach were targetted this time. At the time of writing, about 19 people are feared dead.
What's especially upsetting is that I spent my honeymoon in Bali, right there on Jimbaran Beach. The terrorists targetted the busy and popular beach front cafes, which at 8pm on Sat night, would have been full of locals and tourists out enjoying their seafood dinner by the beach.
No matter what your beliefs, it is unthinkable how anyone could justify this barbaric act against other human beings.

My prayers go out to the people of Bali.

I'm back!

2005-10-01T16:13:00.000+08:00

I'm doing really well...this is my 3rd blog for 2005! But hey, I finally have broadband setup at home..thank goodness for Streamyx!...

Anyway, a brief summary of Qtr 1 - 3 of 2005:
Moved into a new global role in my company. Global role has crazy working hours but the travel opportunities were good. Yeah, went back to London 3 times this year and to the US of A on 2 occassions...more to come. Even made it to Deutschland..and that after more than 10 years of having learnt German at school.

Generally stressed out. Oh..just tried scuba diving for the first time a couple of weeks back. My mate's goin out with a well known celebrity .. he's really chuffed eh? she seemed happy too...hmm. Stayed at KL Hilton last week...man, what a hotel!. Back to diving...yeah, did that in Tioman...I'm gonna sign up for the open water course next year, probably in perhentian.There's a sailing trip lined up for Dec this year....with my mate the Jimmy Hill lookalike.Go-karting...still going strong...I crashed into the tyre barrier 2 weeks ago at Sepang...the back pain's just about gone by now.

My goddamn garden's still a mess....with all this dengue going around I better do something about it before somebody slaps me a big fine!

Re-financing this house o' mine.... gonna get cash cash cash...yippee!!

Sadly, my atuk passed away peacefully back in July....really affected me a bit I must say...since I was 25 mins too late to say goodbye before his last breath.

Puasa starts next week....gotta readjust my working time and tell my mat salleh colleagues all about fasting and why I can't speak to them at the same time each week...
Ok, running out of things to write...the only other thing I remember is I'm supposed to buy a new car.

Separation 40.... check out kakiseni.com

My apartment!! don't forget to renovate and rent out that apartment....target by Jan 1 to get a tenant lah!!!

Went to Malaysian Idol finals in Genting last week. Phew! the previous 5 days were hectic....a couple of workshops...my US colleague flew in from Houston but we had a good time sampling Malaysian food!....

2005-07-16T16:52:00.000+08:00

Had a chat with my crazy friend. Funny enough he suggested that I pursue and MBA program, with funding from EPF withdrawal.

Some links:

http://www.careerdynamo.com/business_school/malaysia_mba_2.html

http://www.asianexec.com/s_education/index.asp

http://cgs.oum.edu.my/index.php?op=view_p&m=6&lm=1&page=11

http://www.um.edu.my/ccm/navigation/academics/faculties/FPP/programmes/postgraduate/MBA/

http://www.managementcentre.com.my/mba/mbaoverview.htm

Sources of Funding:

i) EPF Withdrawal: http://www.kwsp.gov.my/index.php?ch=139&pg=149&ac=1244

2005-06-24T19:58:00.000+08:00

This is my first blog entry as a 32 year old!

China Trip - Day 1. Beijing

2004-11-22T16:53:00.000+08:00

MONDAY 22 November 2004. Arrived in Beijing at 6.30am. Surprised that the overall flight time was only 5 hrs 45 mins and only slept lightly. It was obviously dark when I looked out the airplan window upon arrival, and not many streelights on the ground. Captain announced the outside temperature was 1 deg celcius, whoah! Not been in this weather for at least 2 years since the trip up to the mountains near Melbourne.

Airport looked fairly modern, KLIA-ish structural beams. Had to fill in a health declaration form that was then fed into a machine and once you exit that checkpoint, there are camera to check your temperature, a SARS detection measure.

Passport control was a breeze, massive mural of the great wall beckoned beyond the immigration officers. Good advise from JX that there were "locker rooms" by the baggage reclaim area where you can actually change into warm clothes. There were about 5 rooms and this caters for mainland Chinese who hail from warmer southern climes.

After changing into smarter winter gear, I followed JX out to the taxi stands, past all the ticket touts and into the "official taxis". Highway from the airport to Beijing was nice and straight, 3 lanes each, with drivers crazier than in Malaysia. Learnt later that the driver population only boomed from 2000 onwards, so the average driver only has 3-4 years experience, scary!

Headed straight to the China World Trade Centre, a bunch of offices, hotels and underground shopping parade where the company's located. Dumped our bags and went down to the Metro on our way to Tiananmen Square. After failing to get onto the first train due to massive sardine like crowds, we managed to hop on to one and went through 6 stops towards Tiananmen East station.

Hooray! I was finally in the heart of Communist China! We were there from 8am and wandered through the crowds of local and overseas Chinese tourists, snapping photos, and onto the Forbidden City, where we bought entrance tickets by 8.30am.

9.30am out of Forbidden City, up to the Jingshan Park for views of the Forbidden City and Beijing surrounds. Felt hungry after climbing the steep hill, and took a taxi towards WanfuJin the main shopping thoroughfare. Couldn't find a local restaurant open as it was already 10am, so had to make do with KFC! Aaargh! However, consolation was that we had chicken wraps and hot soup, items not on the menu in KL. Then back to the shopping, where I picked up a "Jacker" for RMB 100 after some mild bargaining, and JX bought some books for his wife.

Then it was back to the office for work by 12.00pm. Phew! What a day! Need strong coffee!

saa73

2004-11-20T01:24:00.000+08:00

Post Hari Raya Blues...

Well it's the 6th day of Syawal and I'm all set to go back to work next week. I actually feel that I've achieved something this Ramadhan. Let's see; I went for sembahyang terawih, for the first time, voluntarily, at a mosque, and actually enjoyed the nightly routine. There's something special about listening to Quranic verses after a day of fasting, a sense of peace, it was just so soothing. Had to skip three days of fasting though due to an overseas trip to Manila, but that will be "paid off" fairly soon. I was a little disappointed to find out that I actually did not lose a single kilogramme of weight, cheh! And after conciously skipping those big huge ramadhan buffets. Not sure what to tell my karting buddies, we were supposed to trim ourselves down for the upcoming endurance race!

Next comes the "open house" season which lasts all the way up to the end of Syawal. You put back what you would have lost in the preceding month! Hari Raya day itself was the usual dash around the Klang Valley to visit grandparents, parents, in-laws and aunties. Good thing the whole family livemore or less within a 30km radius! Sae us from having to go through the horrendous "balik kampung" ordeal; clogged highways, accidents, yuck! This is the only time of year we get to enjoy KL all to ourselves .. hah hah!!

Actually, for some, WE are the kampung folks that people return home to visit! Yeah, talking about them Melayu Barus who work in exotic locales such as New York, London, Milan and Milton Keynes.... they all flock back home to KL!

Well, for me, I'm flying outta this place next week. Off to the People's Republic of China, to Beijing. Should be cool, or literally cold! Checked out http://www.weather.com and found out it's the same temperature as Oxford...that's my benchmark, I know roughly how Oxford feels like in late November...crappy!

Will be staying the first night in Tianjin, and thereafter the rest of the week in Beijing, apparently at the Guangxi Plaza Hotel . Looks promising, though some websites claim it's 3-star, while in others it's 4-star. Well, see how it goes. Was told it's RM150/night and we're on a tight budget anyway!:).

OK, this is a good place to sign off. Look out for my China updates in the next few days!

Saa73

2004-11-10T23:08:00.000+08:00

Ramadan Reflections

Testing

2004-11-06T16:09:00.000+08:00

Just re-testing the email to Blog feature.

2004-09-14T22:09:00.000+08:00

Driving in my Car...

On Sept 10, 2004, I finally waved goodbye to the Alfa Romeo, and welcomed "DIGIT" to the family.

Honda City 1.5 VTEC. A good buy.

2004-07-08T23:56:00.000+08:00

The 48 Laws of Power

Gotta pick up more survival skills. This book should provide some ideas.

Link to more details.

2004-07-07T22:14:00.000+08:00

Green Mango Drink!
Have not blogged in the last 3 weeks. Let's see what happened:

- Mum's birthday 20th June
- I turned 31 on 22nd June! Went to Telawi Street Bistro
- I remember KL was VERY hazy during my birthday week. Had to attend a course at the Prince Hotel and fight KL traffic!
- Went to Manila from 27th June to 1st July. Flew by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. Boy, this airline sucks!
- Stayed at the Mandarin Oriental Manila - a mere 5 mins walk from the office - but that didn't stop me taking a taxi to work every morning!
- Enjoyed the cool wet windy weather in Manila (actually a typhoon hit the the northern part of the country!). Pool lessons from an IT vendor, and karaoke with colleagues at Red Box in the spanking new shopping centre in a park, Greenbelt. Went to measure for a Barong at the tailors and brought back some Otap, Rosquillas and Green Mango drink mix! Got to remember to try bibingka again the next time I'm there.
- Got back and dad reported car trouble! Timing belt broke and as I write, the car's still in the workshop. Hoping it won't cost a bomb this time!

Anyway, will check in later...

2004-06-12T21:46:00.000+08:00

Durian Runtuh!!!
No, not the "Wall's Ice Cream" promotion!
We're well into durian season in Malaysia and they've been falling from the trees in our little orchard out in our little village of Lenggeng in the past 2 weeks. Funny how these durians started falling when mum's in London..hmm, I wonder if she planned it this way, because by the time she got back, the durians would have started the fermentation process and hence qualify to be tempoyak!

Well it's been a fairly busy week. Of all weeks, this was the one when my bosses from overseas decided to descend upon KL for one of their regular meetings. I took the opportunity to turn this into a good thing, and lined up several activities to keep them busy - we had bowling, dinner at the Sundanese restaurant, and even karaoke! Our GM had a rather peculiar request during karaoke though, he asked for all the different groups to sing their national anthems, which was really interesting as we got to hear the national anthems for the Philippines, China and even the "Flower of Scotland". Sadly our Australian colleagues could not work our whether to sing "Waltzin Matilda" or "Advance Australia Fair", which didn't really matter as they did not know the words to either song!

Squash! Yes..I'm really getting into the swing of this game again! Keep playing twice a week at least and I should improve. I'll have to pluck up more courage to play at the Lake Club though...playing with different people really helps.

Around the world, an eventful week. While the former World War II Allies celebrated the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings, the 40th President of the USA quietly passed away.As he was being laid to rest on June 11th, it was singer Ray Charles' turn to leave this earth.
For the rest of us, life goes on, and life will get pretty interesting with the start of Malaysian Idol and the kick off of the UEFA Euro 2004 Cup on June 13th!

2004-06-05T22:05:00.000+08:00

Of Squash Racquets and Tempoyak
Bought my new squash racquet last night at One Utama - Head T-160 "The Power of Light" that cost me RM233 after 30% discount from the original price of RM339. The Royal Sporting House also gave RM 20 vouchers to boot. Tried playing with it today at the Lake Club. As usual, everytime you hit about in those squash courts, a senior member would come up and ask for a game.."Young Man, how about a quick game?" Gulp! THat usually spells trouble, for although the member may be well into his 60's, he would use more skill & experience rather than brute strength to give yours truly, a truly great runaround in the courts! Yes, even my ultra light T-160 Head racquet was no match for "Uncle Looi"! Funny enough, I started dreaming of tempoyak in the last set!..aah..tempoyak..some love it, most loathe it! Been trying to get instructions on how to make this from my mum. It's durian season in Lenggeng and dad's been transporting durians, mangosteens and rambutans from the dusun. But tempoyak seems easy enough to make...but beware! explosions can happen! I guess that's why durians & tempoyaks are banned from hotels, planes, trains and buses. If the 9-11 terrorists knew about tempoyak well....
Anyway, time to make some!!

I actually found a discussion on tempoyak in Google:
forums.egullet.com/ index.php?showtopic=23925&view=getlastpost

Mum's Instructions on How to Make Tempoyak
-Remove Durian flesh with fork and put into bottle.
-Add one teaspoon of salt on top, fill only half the bottle.
-Loosely cover bottle with paper for 2 days then put into fridge.
-Ta da! Tempoyak!
[Warning! Don't fully fill up the bottle...you run the risk of explosions!]

How to Make the Sambal
- 2 chilli merah & 6 chilli padi.
-Tumbuk & put salt.
- That's it! How much simpler can it be?

Maybe I should start another Blog entirely dedicated to Mum's recipes...."Manja Mama's Recipe Online"?; "Minangkabau Secret Recipe Online"?..hmm...

2004-06-01T22:38:00.000+08:00

SAMAN!!
I was not able to renew the road tax for my Alfa Romeo due to being BLACKLISTED by JPJ, mainly due to the accident I had back in Oct 2003 which resulted in the summonse which I conveniently forgot to settle! Luck for us the Government of Malaysia's efforts to promote ICT via the Multimedia Super Corridor enables repeat offenders like me to view summonses online! I even subsribed to eServices tonight.

JPJ Online Blacklist Inquiry

eServices

2004-05-30T23:34:00.000+08:00

My new handphone.
After 2 years of waiting I finally purchased a new handphone today. Mobile phones come feature packed nowadays; games, camera, organiser, radio. I was using a Nokia and wanted to upgrade to another Nokia phone, as most of the functions are pretty similar within brands. It was a relatively simple process - for some reason I wanted a phone with camera AND radio feature...something to keep you occupied while travelling alone I guess, and within a budget of between RM1000 to Rm 1500, since my company's subsidising Rm800 of this purchase.
As luck would have it, the Nokia 6610i met all these requirements and was well within budget. It didn't take long for me to play around with the phone and decide on this model. I was glad that not 10 mins after the purchase, AmBank Credit card services called to confirm if I had indeed just paid for a phone using my Mastercard. This call was both reassuring and since I was already using my new phone, was able to listen to the new ringtone! Funny enough, even my Grandad called later that night...how come nobody called me when I was using the old phone??
Well, I have now entered the world of Multimedia Messaging, GPRS, etc...

Anyway, some links:

NOKIA Website

MAXIS Website

2004-05-22T00:49:00.000+08:00

Formula 1 mechanic
One of the best jobs in the world must be the Formula One pit stop crew , in particular the wheel changers. This is how it's done.
"Wheel changing: Each wheel has two crew members. One operates the compressed air-driven gun that removes the single, central retaining nut. The other removes the old wheel and fits the new. The gun man then re-attaches the nut and tightens it to around 500 lb/ft (pounds per foot). The wheel nut and the socket of the gun are magnetised to prevent the nut falling to the ground. This whole process takes around three seconds."

Three seconds! And I think nowadays there are 3 wheel changers, not 2, so that means 1 second of work per person!

"To prevent the nuts working loose, the right-hand side of the car uses right-handed threads, the left-hand side of the car left-sided threads. This means that the guns of the right and left sides have to work in opposite ways. Teams usually color code them to denote which is which. Each wheel man has a spare gun with him and usually a couple of spare wheel nuts too, just in case.

Imagine, you get to travel to all the F1 locations and during the race, probably spend a total of 30 seconds of doing actual work. This is assuming it takes you 1 second to take off that tyre, and you do this probably 6 times in a race, and perhaps another 10 times during qualifying heats including training, give or take a couple of seconds - 30 seconds!

From the "Anatomy of a Formula One PitStop"

Jordan Ford Team - Careers in Formula

Absolutely Formula One

2004-05-22T00:38:00.000+08:00

Moo!
Scientists revealed today that thousands of people in the UK may be harbouring the mad cow disease without showing any symptoms. They could be carrying this disease for 10 years or more. Another fact, this disease only came to light around 1986. Guess who was living in the UK and feasting on Great British BEEF in the late 80's and early 90's! Earliest symptom include personality change. Help! Do tell me if I act "out of character", yeah!
Whoever thought it was a good idea to feed herbivorous livestock MEAT, must really get their heads examined!

More about Mad Cow Disease

2004-05-20T23:34:00.000+08:00

Re-Finance Home.
It's about time I settle this. Need the "moola":

Citibank Housing Loan

HSBC Homeloans

Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad

Some tips from KIM Realty on securing a home loan

EON BAnk

I think I'm elgible to withdraw some money from EPF? It's been 3 years since my last withdrawal: EPF Guidelines

Standard Chartered Homeloans

Malaysia Housing Loan Search Engine

"O-Mikes Apartment"

2004-05-19T23:45:00.000+08:00

Bukit Jalil Golf Resort Membership

It's been more than 5 years since I joined this club. It seemed a good idea at the time, but sadly I've not played golf at this club for more than 2 years. Yet I'm paying Rm100 per month. It's about time I sold off this membership and will target to do so by end June 2004.

How?
Golf-Asia.com - this seems to be catered for Singaporeans though
The Star On line? Some classified ads below. Hey, someone wants to buy memberships!

BKT JALIL GCC wanted urgently. Payment immediate. Tel: 016-3683703, 03-58823145, 03-58823061 14/5/2004
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BKT KIARA Club for sale. Price RM5,200 neg inclusive transfer fee. Contact Foh at 80236262 or 016-3555138 15/5/2004
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BUKIT JALIL Golf Club urgent sales @ RM9,800 incl transfer fee. 016-3683703, 03-58823145. 03-58823061 14/5/2004

BUKIT JALIL Golf + Family Membership at RM10,500 including transfer fee. Please contact (owner) 019-275 1316 14/5/2004

2004-05-19T23:38:00.000+08:00

iMAX @ Berjaya Times Square.
Read about the new iMax movie theatre that will be opening soon in KL's Berjaya Times Square. Supposedly the 3rd largest iMax screen in the world, it promises moviegoers a great view regardless where they sit in the huge, 500 seater theatre. Another distraction for us KL'ites, I guess. Anyway, it will be opening on 1st June so I'll probably check it out July onwards when the curious crowds thin down, hopefully!

Links:
Berjaya Times Square IMAX Theatre
Berjaya Times Square website

2004-05-18T23:07:00.000+08:00

"Flies & Foreigners" links.
Synopsis from KLUE's website: Flies And Foreigners tell the story of Nora and Jeka who are about to be married. When Jeka brings Nora home to meet his mother, she discovers the chaotic surroundings of Jeka's home and wonders just what she has gotten herself into. Directed by Jo Kukathas, this
play is a black comedy about a domestic crisis.

http://www.hitz.fm/oap/infozone/hitz/detail.asp?catid=7&catname=Arts+%26+Entertainment
http://www.theactorsstudio.com.my/shows.phtml
http://www.kakiseni.com/events/theatre/NTc4MA.html
http://www.klue.com.my/event_view.cfm?id=8405

2004-05-18T22:57:00.000+08:00

Michael Moore..
This guy's funny. Read his book, "Stupid White Men" last year and it was hilarious. Read my lips...no more bush!!

2004-05-18T22:32:00.000+08:00

Skuasy.
Apparently that's the word for "Squash" in Bahasa Malaysia. Played a couple of rounds with my colleagues today in the office squash court. Have to find some tips on how to improve my game:
World Squash
Guide to squash
Squash talk
10 squash tips
squash racquets

2004-05-18T22:15:00.000+08:00

Karting.
I love it. I loved it so much that I ran my company sports club Karting section for the past 2 years, and even help my karting "kaki" set up a karting club, my-kart.
Why karting? Put it this way, I'm a closet speed demon and the very fact that I drive an Alfa Romeo says a lot about me. Anyway, organising these races were pretty good for my ego since I tended to end up in the top 3 consistently, but obviously after a couple of races, people tend to improve and I found myself struggling to finish in the top positions. Naturally, I blamed my weight, which was why I tried the "Body for Life" regime! It worked actually! Although my body did not transform itself to be eligible for "Mr Universe", I did lose around 7 kilos but that earned me 0.5 secs on the track.
Anyway, I would recommend that you try the 3 month regime because some of the daily routine turned into good eating and exercise habits which have lasted beyond the initial 3 months.

Some links:
City Karting Shah Alam
Kartquest (Sunway Extreme Park)
Rosedi Kart

2004-05-17T23:51:00.000+08:00

Neng, Song, Sam, Say, Haah.... That's 1,2,3,4,5 in the Thai language. Had dinner with a colleague from China, James, this evening at "Thai Noodle" in 1-Utama. James is now in Malaysia on a 2 year assignment just to work with me. [Send me more slaves, I say!]
Interestingly, James first came here 2 years ago for a three month stint, and in that short time, made lots of friends, fell in love with our country, and found his true love! What's more interesting is his perception that the ethnic Chinese in Malaysia, are "more traditional than in China", as he would say.

2004-05-17T23:47:00.000+08:00

Comments???

2004-05-17T12:27:00.000+08:00

Another test...the comments didn't come out earlier.

2004-05-17T10:28:00.000+08:00

Another test. Testing if the date is corrected and comments link appears.

2004-05-17T10:17:00.000+08:00

Email to Blogger publishing. I'm in the office and testing this feature out. Hope it works!

2004-05-17T00:12:00.000+08:00

Enterprise. Watched yet another episode of Enterprise. Malaysia is about two and a half years behind the US. Today's episode was special though, because "Kota Bharu, Malaysia" was mentioned.
Imagine that! In the year 2151, the parents of Lt Malcolm Reed, Chief Armoury Officer of the USS Enterprise, are apparently living in Kota Bharu, Kelantan! Amazing!
I guess the "Malaysia My Second Home" programme must have worked out after all, and one must assume that Kelantan has finally caught up with the rest of Malaysia and be developed enough to be considered as a great place for retired Brits to set up home!
We're talking 2151 here, which means that if Barisan Nasional captured Kelantan back in the 2009 elections and never lost the state back to the opposition, that Kelantan would have enjoyed 142 years of development to be noticed as a great place to retire by foreigners!
Kelantan Boleh!
Anyway, here's the link to the Star Trek official website, and a pic of my favourite Vulcan, Commander T'POL, she can beam me up anytime!

2004-05-16T23:41:00.000+08:00

I'm trying to figure out how to insert photos. Apparently you are only allowed to link to photos which are already hosted elsewhere. Here goes..

prima damansara pool

2004-05-16T18:16:00.000+08:00

Blogging's quite easy really. I've been mulling over how to use this blog facility. Should be a useful way to log interesting websites and forums that interests me. A good way to "lepas geram" and write anything and everything that goes through my mind. A good way to record my experiences and travels, and not forgetting food!

How to get started? Hmm....wrote a little about my recent 2 weeks leave.
Let's see what else happened between April 26 - May 9th:

1) Went to Phuket for 3 nights. Ate lots of "phad thai" on the beach. Wife loooves phad thai...
2) met up with family...in-laws and mak su's barbeque
3) watched lots of TV. I think we experienced "reality tv" overload. At this point, I've actually followed "For Love or Money", " American Idol", "Survivor", " Queer Eye for the Straight Guy", and " America's Next Top Model". Aaargh! I blame 8TV for the majority of these shows...somehow they're more interesting than regular shows like "Enterprise".
4) My wife was selected for a new game show called "Risiko". Went to the preliminary briefing, then the actual shoot which was really interesting as it was the first time I actually witnessed a full production in action. She won that round by the way.
5) Spring is here, and with it, SPRING CLEANING! My God, we managed to clear out wifey's back room, my back room desk, AND most importantly, the masterbedroom! Cleared out wifey's desk which was full of crap, and dusted the whole place. It actually looks liveable now! Relocated this PC to the "prime area" next to the window, so I actually have a nice view of the bit of golf course (Kelab Golf Seri Selangor), while I'm on the Net.
6) Rearranged the living room - piano relocated from under the stairs to be placed by the window next to the TV, running machine goes under the staircase, and black leather sofa from Bangsar Indah goes by the running machine. Space looks refreshed now..and you get a view of the garden from the new sofa;
7) Started DIY! Yes, I bought some bathroom fittings, and borrowed dad's power drill. I figured out how to fix those fittings to the wall, and even checked the DIY website for tips. Despite all this, I made the classic mistake of drilling into the water pipes behind the wall, and I quickly learnt how I reacted in tense situations, and how my wife thrives under pressure! The moment I struck the water line, and it was I imagine, like how it feels like to strike oil!, my first instinct was to plug the gushing water, which I did by fixing a screw into the hole. Unfortunately, water had to gush out somewhere, and leaks sprung at the staircase wall, and as I found out to my horror later, down in my living room TV area! VERY lucky that despite leaking near live electrical equipment, nobody was electrocuted! Phew! Managed to find a plumber who was so nonchalant about it all...apparently this was a common mistake and he said he knew, from the moment I uttered the first few words to him on the phone, that I had hit a water line. What a professional...he's good!

Anyway, the drama occurred two days before my return to work. I reluctantly opened my emails on Sunday afternoon, started replying on a few urgent ones, and still only managed to clear all outstanding matters by the following Thursday. Sheesh!...that's the price of taking long holidays!

2004-05-16T11:38:00.000+08:00

Well it's been over a month since I started this blog. It's really not that difficult to use; see, I even changed the layout of this blog!

I took a well deserved rest at the end of April. Now, taking two weeks off work may sound like a good idea, but everyone dreads the thousands of email messages that await them on the first day back!
Heck! What's the point of taking long leave if you have to log in every 2-3 days and get stressed out for nothing. This time, I made sure I did not log into my office network, and stashed my office laptop in one of our back bedrooms! Phew!
I made a promise to myself that, between 25th April 2004 - 9th May 2004, thou shalt not log into work AND switch thy handphone!
There, that's done. Now my wife and I were free to take our vacation in Phuket, Thailand.

Thinking back, it was quite stressful just to PLAN this trip to Phuket. After my return from the Karachi business trip in March, I logged into Air Asia's website and found a great bargain for flights from KL to destinations within Malaysia and also to Thailand and Indonesia. For those of you not familiar with this part of the world, Air Asia is Malaysia's very own no-frills airline and run by Richard Branson-like CEO Tony Fernandes. Tony grew up in the music industry, and was apparently the man behind the Anugerah Industri Musik (AIM), Malaysia's version of the Grammy Awards, I suppose.

Anyway, I digress....

Back to the story. Basically, I found some really cheap flight tickets to Phuket which worked out to RM 160 per person, return (incl tax). Of course, at the time, I forgot about the RM 50 airport tax for passengers travelling out of Thailand, but nevertheless it was a bargain! To make things even simpler, you could even book a hotel at very competitive rates from Air Asia's website, which was fantastic!

This was actually going to be my first trip on Air Asia, or any no-frills carrier for that matter. I was a little hesitant at first, but damn it, it was cheap....Rm 160 return to Phuket.. that was excellent...."Now Everyone Can Fly" .."Power to the People" I say!..

I also read that Juan Pablo Montoya also took an Air Asia flight to Phuket after the Sepang F1 in March. Well, if Air Asia was good enough for a loaded millionaire F1 driver, then it's good enough for me!

So, I clicked away and booked a return flight for 2 to Phuket, and 3 nights stay at the Club Andaman Resort in Patong Beach, Phuket, all for less than RM900! I clicked "confirm" and it was all nicely paid for...now all I had to do was hop on the plane and enjoy the sun, sea and nightlife.

Then around March 29th some Malaysians were injured in a bomb blast in Sungei Golok, South Thailand, which prompted the Malaysian government to issue a travel alert to the 5 muslim majority provinces in Southern Thailand. Ok, Phuket was way, way up north, so I was not worried.
Unfortunately for me, my company went a step further and issued a travel warning to Southern Thailand; INCLUDING Phuket!

The next few weeks were a little stressful...I was cautioned by my company's security manager who questioned my commitment to the safety of my family, blah blah blah...and it sent me scrambling to find alternative holiday venues, like some nicer, safer islands in Malaysia such as Pulau Redang, Pulau Pangkor or Pulau Perhentian (non Malay speakers SHOULD be able to figure out what "Pulau" means by now??)

I read up on the news on Thailand and prayed for peace in the southern provinces, purely for selfish reasons I must admit! Lucky for us the situation was stable and the security officer gave me the green light about a week before my holiday!

The holiday was great and I may even write about in this blog, or my travel website. Unfortunately it coincided with the bloodiest day in Thailands history when over 100 misguided muslim youths were killed by govt forces in the south. That happened on the day before we left Phuket and we were as shocked as the rest of the Thai nation on that day, when TV stations aired the gruesome scenes of the dead youths every hour on the news....

2004-04-08T00:19:00.000+08:00

I am writing my first ever Blog at 12.20am on April 8th 2004. I should really be going to sleep by now.