magicspirits~*

Ye Olde Smokehouse Cameron Highlands – a review

2011-07-29T17:02:00.005+08:00

Recently, I’ve been very into this Groupon thing and I swear I’ve lost more money to them than saved – just by the sheer amount of things I’ve bought from them. So anyway we saw a groupon for Ye Olde Smokehouse at Cameron Highlands limited to a 100 Groupons. I’ve always loved this place since I first went there when I was 12 with my parents and my dad bought me a steak (which I couldn’t finish cause it’s such a huge plate!). So I naturally jumped at it and tried to get the whole gang to go with me. Mind you, we have 10 people.

The deal was for 2D1N Stay at Smokehouse Hotel Cameron Highlands for 2 people + Full English Breakfast worth RM400 but we bought it for RM250.

(1) Reservations

When I was making the reservations, I tried to get it for all of us to go and stay at 5 rooms – so we will all be up during Lyn’s birthday. Ok, I do understand that I was making a lot of enquires and trying to organize a group trip is no easy feat. The person who took my reservation (through email) was so skittish about it and answered all my long queries with short-handed answers. Fine. I’ll excuse that because I felt that (a) Not everyone can have flowery English and (b) I was trying to make a big reservation which can be complicated, and I also made a change to the date, and I was asking a lot of questions. BUT technically, I am the customer. I can ask as much questions as I want. It doesn’t excuse the very short-handed but fine never mind. I let it pass.

In the end, because they couldn’t accommodate all of us, Group A when up on a Fri (took 2 rooms) and Group B when up on a Saturday (took another 2 rooms) and Group C will be up later this month (with 1 room).

(2) Group A’s experience

Group A on Friday arrived late. And this is according to KLCW’s story to me since I was not in Group A.

When Group A arrived they were ushered into the general lobby area where they were asked to take a seat first and have some welcoming drinks. They also ordered some scones (which according to them was overpriced and overrated) and just sat there for the longest time ever waiting for some service. Finally KLCW went up to ask them, “So when can we check in?”

Answer: “Anytime!”

???????

Never mind. They checked into Hilltop 1 & 2. That night, the electricity flickered on and off. The lights constantly went on and off. But Group A being nice did nothing but complain a bit at the front desk – got free shortbread and marmalade jam and went on their merry way to meet us – Group B.

(3) Group B’s experience

The wet porch greeting us - a rainy day arrival

When we arrived, it was raining heavily and we didn’t have an umbrella. So HC drove up to the front of the hotel for us. I ran up to the lobby to check in and was greeted with the most unfriendly “YES?” I have ever encountered in my life!

Yes, I know I am a kid who doesn’t really look like I have the cash or the money to stay in a RM600 hotel room and just ran into your high class hotel, shaking raindrops all over – but excuse me? Aren’t you supposed to say “WELCOME!” not “YES?”

Not only that they took FOREVER to check us in with no welcoming drinks! (Inconsistency!) Never mind. We left to have lunch and told them to bring our bags up to the room. We requested the same room as Group A because they said that the room was really large and huge. So in Hilltop 1 & 2 again we were. It was really large – Hilltop 1 is anyway – not Hilltop 2. But since it was connected, it suited us just fine.

Hilltop 1

Breakfast the next day, we headed down at around 10am and were seated on a table with no settings and CRUMBS on it. Then the waiters proceeded to ignore us for 30 minutes. Although the place was full, there's no excuse. You wouldv'e known firsthand the amount of people staying overnight - hence the amount of people dining during breakfast - lack of staff is NOT an excuse for poor service.

Food quality wise - I wasn't asking for much. It filled me up but it's no Jarrod & Rawlins that's for sure.

We didn’t experience anything funny until after Breakfast – the electricity flickered on and off again. Then the TV in Hilltop 2 EXPLODED! I’m NOT JOKING! Smoke, and explosion! Worse than that – my 3GS was charging at the same time! It refused to turn on!

Later on back down in KL, I brought my 3GS to the shop who told me that the IU blew – which can happen when a surge and resurgence of current happens over a short period of time! This confirmed that the inconsistent electricity source at the smokehouse was the cause of my 3GS blowing.

I was damn angry and went to the front desk to complain when we checked out. And the BEST part was the receptionist said, “It’s actually not our fault – it’s TNB’s fault!”

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don’t care if it really actually WAS TNB’s fault. Have you ever heard of customer service? Isn’t this the part where you say “I’m sorry that happened” instead of shifting the blame to some other third party? I don’t care if its TNB’s fault – it still happened on your premises which make you responsible for it. First rule of customer service – the customer is always right!

And when I was so damn pissed off with that answer which they tried to shift the blame to TNB – the next part was possibly lottery winning. “Your friends stayed there the night before and they already complained about it what.”

WTF does my friends staying there the night before having to do with anything? Are you trying to imply that we shouldn’t have stayed there because a complaint was made before? What are you really trying to say really?

And you know what the saddest thing about this is?

The smokehouse has lost none of its beauty that had enraptured me as child. It is still so damn gorgeous with a colonial air that rivals so little others. The building itself is magnificent and so goddamned charming. The grounds are so beautiful with beautiful gardens littering the place with beautiful flowers. It’s almost as if it’s trying to tell you a story – a really, really old story. So filled with history and charm, it is truly a magnificent place. There’s beauty in the air, and stories in its walls.

Super beautiful grounds surround the Smokehouse Cameron Highlands

It’s a really sad thing that such a beautiful place as such TERRIBLE service. Terrible really. We were ignored at check-in, ignored at breakfast, all our complaints were ignored – worse excuses were made… Just really bad service for what is supposed to be a beautiful first class hotel.

P.S> My 3GS is still fried and not back to me yet. Repairs cost RM300. Smokehouse management, if you ever feel like you wanna pay me back for me, feel free to because I'm still pissed.

The Malaysian Brain Drain - Don't change the stars on your flag just yet.

2011-04-22T09:19:00.006+08:00

"It doesn't feel like the country is mature enough to tackle its problems right now. When we are ready to face our problems, I'll be ready to come back"
[From: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/21/malaysia-fights-brain-drain]

If everyone thought like this where does change start happening? No matter what has happened to give you dissatisfaction, never forget that it is the opportunities presented to you in your home country (no matter how screwed up and corrupt) that has enabled you to make that move across.

Take a look at how many times Lim Kim Siang and Lim Guan Eng has landed themselves in jail. Now, look at how far Penang has come today. How a transparent and fair government makes such a huge difference.

If you feel there's something wrong with your country, CHANGE IT. Don't wait for someone to change it for you so you can idly sit by and just return when all the blood, sweat and tears have already been shed and reap the benefits you do not deserve.

So before you change the stars on your flag, have you tried to change home first?

Marathons, The Energizer Night Race, and Malaysians!!

2011-04-18T09:44:00.004+08:00

Honestly! Yes, the organizers had it coming. But honestly, people achievement is more of a concern than any free gifts you should be obtaining. One guy even proudly posted up on FB that he had pressured the organizers into giving him a group of 60 runners a full refund and didn't quite care that the others didn't get it. To him, he proudly stated that it is his right to demand a refund and it is not any concern of his how the other people are.

It is your right to demand a refund if you feel you have been cheated or there has been misrepresentation on any part. It is not alright to demand it for selfish purposes. It is alright to demand it for the running community and to ensure that similar situations do not happen but for your own selfish reasons and for not highlighting the matters of concern is just too much.

A refund is not going to change anything if you do not bring forth the issues at hand. Why were there no medics, no water stations, no organization, possible health and safety violations, possible riot and stampede situations, etc etc?

Also, achievement for running is incomplete with highlighting the issues again. Why run at all if you are just running for the goodies? Run because you have to qualify and highlight the fact that no proper marshaling was available to ensure proper running and full circuit completion. Mailing a finishers medal to me now will have little sense of achievement if a finsiher's medal is being given out to anyone and everyone.

Thirdly, spamming without bringing forth the proper concerns is a waste of time. Stop encouraging everyone to spam CEOs/Marketing directors/Organizers with a mere "GIMME MY REFUND NOW!". What is that going to achieve. Complain wisely and with TACT. Highlight issues at hand and provide proper constructive criticism not four-letter words.

Most of all, stop encouraging rioting and uncivilized pressuring. Complaining to organizers is fine. Do it with tact and with civilized words, pointing out all mistakes made so it will not be repeated. That should be the main point in complaining. To highlight the incidents that have happened that HAVE ENDANGERED THE LIVES OF RUNNERS not to claim a sense of your own personal money back.

And for goodness sake, a marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres! If you ran 11km, you did not run a marathon! Don't soil the name of marathoners.

Energizer, in this stage and age where social networking spreads and highlights so much more than the media ever could, damage control is prudent for your branding. Of course, our attitudes aren't helping but please, do something before it escalates. Even if it is just a short apology ensuring people a full apology later. There is still nothing on your website and it's been more than 36 hours...

Energizer Night Race Malaysia 2011 - A Review : Oh, what have you done!

2011-04-17T12:34:00.005+08:00

Alas, the infamous night race.... As an F1 fan I awaited this race with eager participation due to the fact that it was on the circuit. As an avid fan who's been on the circuit many times, I knew how dangerous this race was going to be. Sepang F1 circuit isn't the most lighted of places and it is incredibly deserted. Still, we trudged our way over there. My gang arrived first pretty on time at 630pm. We trudged our way out from the parking to the circuit.

#1: Signboards. There were no markers/signs or anything to show the directions to the race area/race kit collection area or anything! Instead once you reach the grandstand there's a small poster-ish thing telling you to use the access tunnel under the circuit to get to the paddock/motorhome parking area. I question the need to use the tunnel - why not track across the circuit. Please keep in mind you are expecting 10000 participants. Why put the event area in the motorhome parking when it can be in the grandstand mall area? As I said I'm very familiar with Sepang and none of the layout made any sense to me whatsoever!

#2: Pre-race info. Before the race, me and IC were discussing it's logistics and both of us received no race info what-so-ever. IC even when to the website to check and showed me the check-in times which were on the same page as REGISTRATION. Say what? Nothing was e-mailed, there wasn't a section on the website for pre-race info. NOTHING. It was only much later that CH pointed out, a little bit of info was in the FAQ section which is buried deep down on the bottom right of the webpage. Really? Who's going to look at that?

#3: Headlamp collection. After you exit the tunnel in a very haphazardly arranged corner TWO guys are handing out the headlights to a few thousand people causing a jam to form at the end of the tunnel. We had no idea what was needed to collect it but when you approach the men they mark on your bib. No prior information was given about this when actually if you put up a sign that simply says 'please have your bib really for colelction of headlights' wouldn't it have been much better? And really? Two men for a few thousand??

Much later, V came and met up with us with three headlights in his hand. We stared perplexed at him as he explained that when he reached the headlight station NO ONE was there to man the section hence, people were just grabbing handfuls of it and walking off with it. Well what do you expect? If you leave it there open with no one to man it, isn't that like an open invitation?

IC who was the latest friend to turn up to the circuit said he walked past the tunnel and didn't even know there was headlights collection there. There were apparently no more headlights and IC didn't get any.

#4: Pre-race briefing: In the that vast motorhome land that we were in now, there was no signs/no information what-so-ever to show how to get to the circuit, how to get to the start/finish line, nothing, nothing, nothing. Racers were lost and I saw a few of the 42 and 21 runners who missed the flag off time. Ridiculous.

#5: Race marshals and MEDICS!!! J wasn't feeling well even before the race but she said she wanted to run. But about 2km in she was really feeling very bad. I slowed down my pace and walked with her making sure that she was ok the whole way. Why? The circuit was dark, the roads are wide and get this: NO RACE MARSHALLS OR MEDICS were on site. There was only two tents set-up one my guess would be about 2.5km in and the other about 4.5km in. But along the way there was no assistance no marshalls, nothing to show or light the way. All you need is for one person to go off into the corner and faint and that's it! No one would even know he's there!! Please keep in mind this is a night race in a poorly lighted area. Surely, you should've been more prepared than that!

Upon return, I asked CH, V and IC how the situation was for 21k. It was even WORSE. There was no marshals and the roads didn't even have lights!! Worse is that they are running outside on the same roads with no proper directions on how many loops to make and which direction to go off to. Now, I'm not a competitive runner so I don't care. But lots of people in the 21 and 42 are competitive runners and I can just imagine how frustrating it is to run and not know where to go having to ask for directions along the way.

Then the fact that you are running on poorly lit outside roads, if you have no race marshals or medic on a constant look out how are you going to know everyone is safe? Most people I know who are in trouble often move to the side as to not disrupt the running flow to rest/vomit/catch a breath/whatever - but if you are unaware of this due to the lack of constant vigilance, someone might've just fainted at the side of the road and fact is that no one would even find him until morning!

I saw many 21k runners in my second loop (yes, I'm so pathetic that the 21k runners caught up with me) and many of them were asking "Are you running 21k?" "Is this the correct way?" "How many rounds are we supposed to make?"

Also on my second loop, my friends apparently collected a band to mark the passing of one loop at the start/finish line. when I arrived at the start/finish line with J, because we were so late, it was like chaos all over! People were sitting on the track without anyone shoo-ing them off. I had no idea I was supposed to grab something because of the poor organization. No one told me, and there were no markers. How the hell am I supposed to know? All I did was avoid the litter of people SITTING on the track. (What the hell were they doing there in the first place?)

Oh ya. They were missing one water station too!

#6: Start/Finish line. which brings me to 6 the start/finish line. Why were people allowed to loiter around? There was no race officials to do their job, NO DRINK STATION at the start/finish line and the worst of worst was no medic again! The start/finsih line is the most crucial point because that's were most people start feeling faint. Just because you have finished the race doesn't mean that you are ok.

True enough, someone collapsed at the start finish line and there was no medic on site. I saw a flurry of runnign from the lone organizer fella running around screaming into her walkie-talkie. "MEDIC MEDIC MEDIC!"

WTF?

#7: Goodie bag riot. There was chaos after the race in the fact that I really didn't quite know where to go, what to do and where to be at. I finally found my gang in the corner and they told me they got a goody bag for me. I stared at them stunned. How did they manage to grab an extra one. Their answer: they finished quite early so when they were there no one was manning it and the organizers at the side was ignoring them and wasn't handing it out to them so they just grabbed it themselves. WHAT? Why is no one manning your counter??

Then the best part is that while we were waiting for the 21ks to get back someone walked past PW and asked her if she wants a finisher's medal. HUH WHAT? Apparently, the organizer gave her a whole bunch so she has some extra! #@$%! WHY ARE YOU DISTRIBUTING FINISHER'S MEDAL LIKE FLYERS??? I ran so painfully to complete the race within the stipulated time and I find out that you are distributing medals like it means nothing??!?!? And I'm not even a competitive runner and you the pain I feel about this! ARGH!

Much later on as more people started coming back, they queued up for the race packs (which were incomplete by the way) with no signs or organization what-so-ever. I wasn't part of the Q so I don't quite know what happened but apparently soon after the organizers refused to hand it out to them. If I had queued up for it and you didn't give it to me, I will be damn mad too!

#8: Press release. To contain the escalating tempers and annoyance, the organizers shut down the collection center and promised to courier all packs to the participants. That means if I run or don't run I still get a race pack? How is that fair? They also promised to release a press statement on their website and as of now I'm seeing no press release despite the fact taht they promised it will be up by 12am.

#9: Parking. Both us and V parked in proper designated areas. We paid RM10. V paid nothing. Why?

The track was getting deserted by the time we left it around 1150pm. But outside I saw some 42k runners still going at it. When they arrive at the circuit and see it completely blank how are they going to handle it? Please remember that the area was getting so deserted already by the time we left and I just don't understand how the organizers can just desert the place while people are still running. I also don't understand why no damage control is being done. PR people for Energizer should be scrambling to contain the situation right now.

Fact is they were lucky no one fainted and died, they were lucky no one threw a punch, they were lucky they managed to get off relatively scot free. And really. they should be doing something about it.

I feel so dejected that all my efforts racing against the time to complete, actually it doesn't even matter anyway. The people who walked behind me is still going to get the medal. The people who didn't show up is also going to get the medal?

I'm not getting this thing that's going on at all. I'm just confused.

How can such a large corporation do something like this?

So much for my cute drawing I drew before I took part in the run.

Ubah Sarawak!

2011-04-15T15:11:00.005+08:00

Link to ABC feature on Taib and his hold on Sarawak : Please click here and watch.

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2011/s3191901.htm

The link above is an ABC feature on Taib's stronghold on Sarawak done very generally and yet so significant. 10 minutes is all it takes to make a surface feature on suffering of the people of Sarawak.

When I look at Penang today, I often feel like I'm in a different country not a different state. All it takes is for you to elect the right people into the right seats. Change can happen for Sarawak too!

Sarawak is the richest state in Malaysia yet, none of its people reap its benefits. Although it is still has a long way to go before we can relax Taib's firm grip on the state, remember that small change can lead to bigger change in the future. All politics need an opposition. That's democracy. Please vote responsibly.

http://www.sarawak4change.com

Anthony Neely's ' Lesson One' - an oversight.

2011-04-14T10:59:00.007+08:00

Now that I've had more time on my hands to google all of Anthony's lyrics and really fully listen to his album, I gotta take back a few of the things I've said on just a one-go-listen of his album..

Yes, as I've explained before, me = zero knowledge of Chinese. I only get a general gist of an idea of a song that is carried by voice and emotion but not meaning. So now that I’ve had more time on my hands to google up the songs and get a somewhat concise version of the meaning of his songs, I have to say I’m totally in love with it.

As you know, I’m such a morose and pessimistic person who adores the darker side of a human being. The darker side of us is artfully beautiful when manipulated correctly. And most of his songs are so very artfully dark! I love how that even the most emo of songs (散場的擁抱) is so dark and cruel. He wasn’t just talking about unrequited love in a jealous manner; it so magnificently incorporated the elements of insecurity and most importantly a dark inferiority! I love how it was actually an intense torture of the inferiority felt rather than just another jealous love song.

Then of course, there’s his most famous song ‘Sorry That I Loved You’ which on surface if you aren’t really listening to what the song is saying, sounds like a typical love song of regret, remorse and depression. When in actual fact, it is an immensely cruel love song about how we fall out of love. Cruel, but very much the reality of the real world which is what makes the song so endearing despite its rather simple lyrics. He is really is quite good at subtly weaving darker elements into seemingly emo music.

Also, I noticed how the songs are leaning more towards the western side of having verses, choruses, and a bridge rather than the Chinese repeated thing which I have never quite understood. Understandably, change cannot happen too suddenly as the bulk of his listening audience is still the Chinese speaking community who are more used to the repetitive music. So although he still incorporates the repeated elements in, he is subtly bringing in more unrepeated verses to his music and subsequently to the Chinese music world.

Essentially, he sounds almost tortured in the album. It’s almost painful to listen to him because his voice as well carries a very emotional tone to it. You can feel the suffering, the pain, the anguish of all the darker elements he really tries to incorporate in. So essentially instead of just feeling emo, you start empathizing and feeling the anguish yourself. Brilliant. (But still the thing I like most is the unrepeated thing. Really!)

It’s like art. Listening to him paints black and white lines of the beautiful torments of love in my mind. And I love it!

Banana's view of a fake "kwailo" - An Anthony Neely / 倪安東 - Lesson One 第一課 review.

2011-04-06T12:55:00.014+08:00

As you know, despite being a pure Chinese, I am a banana (don't speak a word of mandarin)... Despite that, I have friends who are more in touch with their inner Chinaman than I am so I'm not completely oblivious to the Chinese world of entertainment. A few months ago in our 8 hour ktv session, I first heard 'Sorry That I Loved You' by some unknown Chinese artist. It wasn't until months later when I heard it again in the night market that I remembered it. PW then commented that he was a "fake Chinese".

This came a few days after A gave us Media passes to the MY Astro Music Award show. Being a non-Chinese speaker with 5% knowledge of the Chinese entertainment world, I was bored to death and even ended up falling asleep in the last hour. Still, Media passes means if I stretched my hand out I could touch Wang Lee Hom's shoe. Me being a non-Lee Hom fan was extremely annoyed my his nonchalant and pissy attitude throughout the whole night off cameras. (On cameras, he was fine. Oh, deceit!) He was arrogant in his attitude and showed little appreciation towards his ongoings the whole night. It was single-handedly the most Hollywood thing I've ever seen to happen to an Asian community. Hence, my comment after the show was that Lee Hom was a "fake Chinese". Because there was nothing remotely Chinese about that man except the words coming out of his mouth.

So when PW mentioned another "fake Chinese" he naturally intrigued me. I went back, did the whole google thing - didn't find out much thanks to the lack of English info available. But his name was Anthony Neely. I grabbed the album and listened to it. And videoed all the other performances of him on the reality show 'One Million Star'.

Random: One Million Star is grammatically incorrect!!! Do you mean there are one millino stars? What?? Makes no sense!

When A who works for an English speaking TV Station was trying to interview Lee Hom after the award show, he was rejected. He commented that Lee Hom was not helping himself because he had the potential to reach out to an entire audience of Bananas thanks to his American-ness.

As I was listening to Anthony's (or 倪安東 as he is better known as) album, I noticed that he was really not a fake Chinese at all! He's a fake kwai-lo! This is a bit of a glass half-full/half-empty kind of situation.

Both are Americans who both have nothing remotely Chinese about them. I mean, as I listen to Anthony's 'Sorry That I Loved You' - there was nothing remotely English about the song except the words coming out of his mouth. The song, the tune, the emo, was all so very Chinese despite the ironic fact that it was entirely in English.

It was then I realized that despite Lee Hom being on scene for far longer than 倪安東 has, 倪安東 actually has more potential to reach out to an entire world of Banana speaking Chinese. In this world stage, with youtube and all media so easily accessible, you really get various people who barely understand Chinese listening to Chinese songs. With the potential to breakthrough to an entire worldwide audience full of them - even if it's through youtube, is an achievement of its own.

Many of 倪安東's songs on his album like 散場的擁抱 and 藏起來 still have a very emo typical Chinese tune to it. His voice has a rich, dark and almost eerie tone to it. It effectively brings forth the emotion needed which I think is incredibly important to banana listeners who don't quite understand what you've saying. When you are left with no words to listen to, the only thing you are left with is tone and music. He hits all the right tones with the slower tunes so much that it hits your emotions even without understanding the words being the song.

The only two English tracks of the album 'Sorry That I Loved You' and 'The Blower's Daughter' looses the essential feeling left in his Chinese songs. While pleasant, I already explained that 'Sorry That I Loved You' still has that Chinese tone to it while effectively captures the attention of his intended audience - the chinese speaking community. whereas his cover of Damien Rice just doesn't quite match up to the original. Whilst Rice's version was raw and cutting, Anthony's was much more emotional and less sharp. It gets the target audience appropriately but doesn't quite reach the English speaking ones.

There were some downs to the album - like the incredibly bland 幸福事小 which I felt didn't showcase his rich tone or background and 不耐煩 which also didn't carry much emotion and sounded manufactured rather than hand crafted.

Still the more upbeat and almost eccentric tunes like 纏鬥 and 惡夢, have an incredibly distinct Western tinge to it interwoven with an almost Jay-Chou-ness to it all. It's like a Western man trying to embrace Chinese. (As opposed to Lee Hom's a Western man trying to be Chinese.) I think that is the factor that makes his album so unique. The fact that he knows he really isn't a pure Chinese or a pure American and is proud of his heritage and isn't afraid of both sides of it - instead uses it to his advantage to interweave both sectors of his life to come into a unified unit.

Because of this, from a Banana's point of view I think give him a few years, 倪安東 can reach out to more Banana audiences than Lee Hom ever could, despite their almost similarities.

Anthony Neely's (倪安東) debut album Lesson One 第一課 is released by HIM International Music and is available in stores now.

Disclaimer: This is a personal opinion and not an advertisement.

The over-exaggerated guide to traveling to Malaysia ...

2009-06-08T12:23:00.011+08:00

I wrote this as a guide for F when he came to visit but I think it's quite comprehensive if I may say so myself! =) So I decided to share it... The keyword here is exaggerated... But my philosophy is 'better safe than sorry'... Also, this may be specially catered to F's situation but a lot of stuff generally can be recycled and reused to suit another person's situation... Hence, I'm proud to present - 'The over-exaggerated guide to traveling to Malaysia' ...

1. When packing, prepare for overweight-ness. Pack your bags in such a way that if you were to be overweight, you can easily remove some of the heavier items and repack easily for check-in.

2. Prepare yourself for weather change. Although it is not cold in M'sia it is normally cold on airplanes and in airports. You should bring along at least one light jacket. However, REMOVE your jacket BEFORE stepping out of your plane into Penang Airport. (I said plane not airport!) This is because the walkway from the plane to the airport is not air-conditioned and the sudden humidity can be too much for you to handle. (Even I nearly suffocated.) Also, about an hour before landing in Penang REHYDRATE yourself with some H2O from the air stewards. Avoid drinking sodas and coffees on the plane as it dehydrates you.

3. Food - Don't forget everything on the airplane except alcohol is FOC. If you are hungry ask for some nuts or something. Drink is free so drink all you want. Before you arrive you can ask for an extra bag of nuts to eat if you are hungry while waiting for your next plane. I'm cheapskate. =)

4. Mints or gum is always good because on a 14 hour flight you are bound to get bad breath. =) It's also nice to chew on when you are bored with nothing to do...

5. Transit - When you arrive, don't forget to check if your next plane is in the same terminal or somewhere else. Sometimes, you might have to sit a bus/train to go to the next terminal for your next flight. You can buy anything at the airport in USD but don't unless you really need it cause it's all overpriced and expensive. Ok, maybe you can buy a bottle of water if you are thirsty and a present for me. =)

6. If you are sick, don't cough in front of airport officials or they won't let you fly!

7. When you arrive in Penang, people can be a bit uncivilized (comparatively). Prepare for people to shove you or something like that. Don't let people bully you and steal your trolley. ='( Like they did to me... ='( (Someone stole my trolley in the Pg Airport!)

8. When you fill in the immigration form, (get it from the air stewards. Oh! Bring a pen!) you need my address and telephone number which is: *censored*
Your purpose of visit is: Vacation.
You are staying with: Friends
Your duration of stay is : 2 months

You aren't bringing a bunch of money so you don't have to declare anything to customs.

8. Safety - Don't leave your bags unattended. It might be confiscated by airport officials in fear that you might've hid some bomb in there. Or someone might've decided you look rich and wants to steal your bag. Always watch your bag and belongings. Don't put your wallet in your back pocket cause people can pick it out without you noticing. At least if you put it in front, they have a harder time picking it. Don't put money, passports, and other valuables in backpacks either as a backpack is facing away from you and people can easily steal stuff from it without you noticing!

BEWARE: Drug-trafficking - There are several instances where drugs can be "implanted" into your bags by someone else trying to bring drugs into the country. That's why you should always, always watch your bag to make sure no one is secretly trying to use you as a secondhand trafficker. Also, watch your check-in bags when you pick it up from the carousels after arriving. Check to make sure that no part of it is 'sliced' open as this might mean someone has been trying to put something into it. If it has, check your bag and if anything suspicious is found, report it BEFORE going through customs. Drug-trafficking in M'sia leads to capital punishment so take extra care.

9. Malay factor - When you arrive in Malaysia, because you look like a Malay, people might speak Malay to you... That's ok. Just answer them back politely and tell them you don't speak Malay and they will talk to you in English. Everyone in M'sia can speak basic English so this isn't a problem... Malaysians are generally polite and helpful people. All you have to do is ask. =)

10. When you are out on the streets beware of snatch thieves (people who ride scooters and snatch your bags from you then ride away...) Also carry bags facing away from the street side so they can't snatch it.

11. Don't count money on the street or in visible areas. Doing so is extending an invitation to criminals to rob you.

12. Tipping isn't practiced here and service sucks anyway so DON'T tip anyone - except me for writing this lovely guide for you.

13. Dress moderately. Wearing your bling-bling watches are nice but they just attract the attention of criminals. In fact, actually don't even bring them... Referring to the snatch thieves above, leave your Burberry and Coach handbags behind as it is also a statement of wealth. Don't wear too much jewelery, especially shiny things - whether they are expensive or not! Such things are a display of wealth and you are just 'inviting' people to rob you...

14. Racism, Sexism, Sexuality, and Politics - if you don't know anything about it, don't say anything about it.

And so concludes my over-exaggerated guide to traveling to Malaysia ... What do you think? Comprehensive enough? =)

Fiction Recommendation: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

2009-05-12T17:14:00.002+08:00

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman essentially is a children's book. Yet, by the very sound of the title and the illustration on the cover, you can sort of guess that it's not anything light and fluffy.

Honestly, I have never been a fan of Neil Gaiman. I thought his adult fiction was boring, unexciting and very, very confusing and dull. However, I have always been a big fan of children's literature so naturally, this attracted by attention.

I love children's literature because you can be dark and scary and coat every single word with double meanings and yet, it will still remain essentially innocent. And this is exactly just that.

The book is story of a boy named Nobody Owens who is raised in a graveyard by ghosts when his family is murdered. He is adopted by an old ghost couple and becomes the ward of Silas - an honour guard. As he grows older, he starts to realize that there is more to his guardian than just what appears on the outside. He also starts to realize his role in the story and why he was brought to the graveyard.

The story is so very interesting, quirky, dark and deep and yet, somehow, light and fun. You definitely will get more and more intrigued by the darkness and suspense building up in the pages as you go on.

It's not something normal and it's not something you come across every day so I definitely recommend it. The book is very thin - easy to read and would make a good bedtime story.

Though for some reason, I'm not going to let anyone below 15 touch it. Much too dark for a supposed 'children's' story.

Cheng Ming and the pollution.

2009-03-31T20:08:00.003+08:00

Every Cheng Ming, I always go into thinking.... I watch the thousands of pieces of paper go up in smoke up into the air. Yet, I know there really isn't much you can do about it. Take my family for instance.... Try telling my Grandfather or Aunt that we aren't going to burn paper as offerings to our ancestors this season. I probably won't survive to finish suggesting the idea... And my grandfather is no villageman. He is an educated man who reads 4 newspapers every morning and can debate any topic as widely as a person who specializes in it. Yet, you'll be hard pressed to convince him to stop burning the offerings.

Is burning bad? Of course it is, yet culture and tradition and whatever it is has a bigger hold than any other environmental issue... You can try to educate everyone on open burning and yet when it comes to Cheng Ming, they'll still burn it.

Let's take a look at what we are doing here ok? Paper is mostly cellulite that comes in the form of (C6H12O4)n. Now for the sake of argument, let's pretend that all paper is most basic hence, n=1 and that burning here is scientifically perfect.

Hence, burning 1 mole of C6H12O4 consumes 7 moles of oxygen and gives out 6 moles of CO2 and 6 moles of Water...

Now 500 sheets of 80gsm paper weighs 2.5 kg. Hence 1 sheet is 0.2g. Now, paper used in offerings can't be that high of quality so let's divide it by 2 then by 2 again as the paper is way smaller than standard size. So let's assume that one piece of offering paper is 0.05g.

So burning one piece of offering paper will give out an equivalent of 0.088g of CO2 into the air. One family will fold at least 30 pieces of paper so one family burns 1.5g of paper per grave. LEt's assume each family visits 4 graves bringing the total paper burned up to 6g per family. And there are at least 200 families at one graveyard = 1200g of paper burned. And say 10 graveyards in Penang = 12000g of paper.

So Penang itself burns 12000g of paper a day during Cheng Ming. We have released 11.056g of carbon dioxide into the air per day. Say this goes on for 3 days, we have successfully released 33.170g of CO2. That sounds little but remember that CO2 is a gas. At STP, this is equivalent to 10897 LITRES OF CARBON DIOXIDE.

I'm not saying stop tradition. I'm just saying control it. Burn what you have to and cut back on the useless things like paper cars and DVD players and air conditioners and clothes...

I wonder if anyone will let me do a study on how Cheng Ming contributes to global warming every year....

P.S. I painstakingly counted all that by myself. Ok, I will admit I'm not too good at doing equal counting seeing as how Chemical Engineering has brainwashed me into that nothing-converts-perfectly state of mind so I do apologize if the figures aren't right but it's something like that as far as I can remember....

My letter to Robert Pattinson

2009-03-02T23:53:00.006+08:00

Dear Robert Pattinson,

Since there are so many people worldwide who want to date you (or by your defination, scream at you) I just thought I should put up a good fight and make a proposal to you and give you reasons on why you should date me.

1. Unlike most of your fans who think you are dashingly hot and handsome, I happen to think you are uglyly handsome. Ugly is good because ugly is unique. Yet, the fact that you are ugly and still capture my attention means that you are special.

2. Love at first sight. I fell in love with you the first moment I saw your half-gay portrait on mugglenet the moment you were confirmed as Cedric Diggory. Then I stared at the picture longer and started to find all the flaws in it. I then spent 3 days after watching The Goblet of Fire cursing you for destroying the beautiful gorgeous image of Cedric I had built in my mind. But I still fell in love with you at first sight. Not for the seconds that followed but the very first sight all the same.

3. I read somewhere that people who like you are (or as you claim only scream at you) either older women or young teenage girls. I am proud to announce that I’m not a young teenage fangirl but unfortunately I am older…. By just 4 months. Still, we are both born in 1986! And will both be 23 in 2009. Isn’t that just perfect?

4. If you end up dating Natalie Portman I might curse you because it’s not very fair. I like her very much and to hate her just because of you is reason for me to hate you. But still, I can’t hate you because I love you! Ta-da!

5. Unlike many fangirls and/or Hollywood acquaintances who are going to want to be with you for your money yet hide that fact from you, I will graciously reveal it now that I am with you for your money, that I love money and that you have it. Yet, despite all that, I don’t need your money. I am a qualified engineer with the resources to get my own money. But why do that when I can have yours? :)

6. I quote this article:

“She stood outside my apartment every day for weeks – all day, every day.
“I was so bored and lonely that I went out and had dinner with [her].”
“I just complained about everything in my life and she never came back.”

Though I really can’t be bothered to stalk you so often (I have better things to do with life like google pictures of you being stalked), I dare you to do that to me. Because everything that you can complain about, I assure you I can complain about it 10 times more. Oh and if you take me to dinner I promise to stalk you. (Provided you pay for my ticket to London or LA or wherever you are seeing as how I am in Malaysia.)

7. If you were with me, you will be forced to stop that glowering look you give cameras that make teenagers fall for you and only the cute amused smile you give paparazzi. Thus, you lose all your teenage fans and no one will scream at you anymore Ta-da!

8. I love your personality that I know nothing about. Despite claims that you are not as charming as Edward Cullen and all that rubbish, you ‘dazzle’ me as much as Edward does Bella. Looking at all of the reasons to hate you that I have listed above, I still somehow managed to love you. Therefore, you have officially ‘dazzled’ me and thus, it is only your responsibility to right it by dating me.

9. While being in Hollywood can get frustrating, I assure you you will find no better partner than me simply because I am a bit of a loner too. I can’t be bothered about many things in life which I deem as trivial. So you are free to do whatever you want at whatever costs. Meanwhile, I will be sleeping after spending your money buying myself a gorgeous big bed.

10. I have OCD. Therefore, any house of yours will be neat and clean. Cleaned by the maid I have hired from your money of course. :D Then I will double clean it. For the first 2 days to impress you. Then I will just hire a second maid.

So because you say people don’t ask you out on dates, I’m going to do one better. I have thus, listed reasons on why you should date me before asking you out on a date. Isn’t this the best date proposal you have ever received? So don’t date Paris Hilton, Rob, date ME!

And here it is – the big question:
Robert Pattinson, would you like to date me? :)

Regards,
Your admirer.

Photographically artistic..................................... or trying

2009-01-26T18:49:00.003+08:00

@Hearst Castle, San Simeon CA

The view of the Neptune Pool from the tier of the guest house... In the background, the hills of San Simeon browning in the summer sun.

@Seacliff Beach, Santa Cruz CA

The Annual Santa Cruz Fireworks Review spurts out over Monterey Bay

@ Cedar Point, Sandusky OH

Waiting in line for Maverick, a fountain finds itself photographically intriguing through the leaves of a nearby plant.

@ Cedar Point, Sandusky OH

As the evening sun sets, a seagull takes cover from the shade of a car...

@ The Sky

Flying to San Francisco, the airplane window frosts up with beautiful patterns of snowflakes.

Celebrating one year three months and the last anniversary together

2008-10-08T11:17:00.002+08:00

The best and most expensive set of helium balloons I have ever gotten!~ :)

Pictures paint a thousand and one words

2008-07-24T06:33:00.003+08:00

Marinis'

2008-06-14T07:15:00.006+08:00

Ok I just thought it was time I blogger properly about my life though no one probably wants to hear it. My second job is at Marinis'. On my feet all day selling CANDY.

AND I LOVE IT.

As an employee I get to sample all the candy (I'm gonna grow FAT and/or get diabetes!) and boy, oh boy, do Marini's make good candy! It's really the best! Unlimited supply of candy. (Ok, not unlimited but still.... !)

And there's something about working at a candy store and handing candy to people and watching their smiles whether they are big, old, small, young, tall, thin, fat, or BLAH! and watching that childlike mischievous glint in their eyes and the look of pure happiness at eating candy regardless of age that just makes me feel a little lighter. I never had a lot of candy as a child and because of that I think I might OD on it. :)

Lets talk a little about Marini's.

This is Marini's famous salt water taffy.

It's porbably our best selling product and in an hour I sell at least 10 packs of these. I haven't actually tried it yet I'm embarrassed to say because I'm not so much of a taffy person.

I'm more into the chocolates and the candy!!!!! Lots of gummies! YUMMMMY! And all kinds of chocolates! My favourites are definately the chocolate coated gummy bears! HEAVEN!

And then there's FUDGE. LOVELY LOVELY FUDGE! The best has definately got to be the mint chocolate fudge. OH MY!

I love my second job. :) That's all I can say!

Olive Garden

2008-06-09T10:30:00.009+08:00

So last night me and F went to Olive Garden in Salinas (1 hour from SC). Olive Garden is a chain of Italian restaurants. Not too bad food. Wonderful door person who was really nice. But a totally horrible server who didn't do a good job at all. Sometimes I think that servers really take things for granted. Sucks. I hate bad servers.

Wine wine wine which I didn't have because I forgot my ID. Darn it.

This is water and whats so fascinating is that the straw is stuck to the cup which completely facsinated me =)

Minestrone. =) Yay. Yum.

Ceaser Salad - relatively normal

Peach Fresco (non alcholic due to lack of ID sighhhh) and a Cherry soda that is just the best thing I have drank in a long long long time. I love cherry soda and somehow the cherry soda at Olive Garden just tastes so marvelous.

My dish. Garlic Shrimp Caprese. Honestly not that good and I don't really like it. Reason is because it was a bit on the dry side for the shrimp and the taste of the pasta was slightly bland.

Chicken alfredo. F's dish which I liked better than mine.

My dish at the end of the night. =)

Address:
Olive Garden,
1580 North Main Street,
Salinas, CA 93906

Attack of the dancing food..

2006-11-27T20:53:00.002+08:00

At first, there's just a turkey.

And then there's a dancing turkey...

And then the dancing turkey falls into the pie and his head disappears. What's that supposed to mean? That the turkey is now in the pie? That we now have turkey pie? That's a very disturbing thought.