These 2 months I’ve been traveling quite a bit. I’ll be off to Bali, Indonesia for 3 days (company trip).
But Bali…heard a lot of about it, everyone’s been there, seen too many photos of it, heard many bad things about it. Let’s see whether my perception will change when I come back.
BIMBOBUM PLEASE POST SOMETHING!!
LG has just started an online contest where participants must either create a video using clips that are provided (“Director”) or alternatively, become a fan of a video that was created (“Fan”).
To win as a Director, participant must create a video by choosing 6 clips from a list of clips provided in the website. Video with the most votes will entitle them to the grand prize or weekly prize.
As for a Fan, participant must choose a video that they wish to promote and then invite friends to join the contest. The highest accumulated number of virals entitled the participant to win the grand prize.
The prizes are the grand prize of a LG Scarlet 35” LCD or a weekly prize of a LG Hi-Fi.
In creating a video, a Director will have to combine 6 clips into one and then insert dialogs into any of the clips.
When I first surfed the contest website, there were not many videos. I watched two videos and I was almost bored to death.
I thought I should come out with something different. Hence., I created two videos but I think one got rejected because it was too crude. The second video (below) was approved!
Direct link
Note: The dialog box is supposed to be on the bottom but it became a bubble form instead.
Please vote for me!!!
Related Link:
LG Scarlet Website
This is a season to eat durian falalalalalalaa..
Everybody smells like durian fallallalala
And it’s true that many people smells like durian during this season. I was at the live performance of the local reality show Gangstarz – standing next to celebrity judges Ajai, Sheikh Haikel and Jaclyn Victor.
All of a sudden, the smell of durian slowly trickled into my nose. I had to quickly take a step backwards to escape the smell. Euw.
When I first heard about Gangstarz, I thought it’s some reality show that appeals to the Malays. In fact, when I was at the hall, 99% of the audience was Malay. I thought I would bore myself to death.
But after catching it live, I was wrong. It’s one of the best local reality shows around. The contestants consist of groups from Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. To my surprise, this show is broadcasted in Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia but only those based in Malaysia can vote.
The singers sang extremely well and many of these foreign singers sang in Malay. They had to practice over and over again to get their pronunciation right. But for the grand prize of US$100, 000, all these hard work are well worth it.
3.5
Hosts
Paragon Child
All the contestants
My favourite singers are 3.5 and Paragon Child. I hope one of them wins!
Climbing buddy, Tetek Soon and his friend, Jonathan started a gym by the name Pushmore early this year. It’s no ordinary gym – here you won’t find the ordinary gym machines.
Tetek Soon
On Saturday, Yaacob, Cris and I took up the challenge. We started off with some mild warming up e.g. squats and rope skips. We had also the opportunity to play with kettlebells, some sort of weight that is shaped like a cannon with a handle. Holding and using a kettlebell requires certain guidance. And it’s bloody heavy.
Medicine balls.
After our warming up session, we tried their workout of the day (WOD). Everyday Soon and Jonathan will come up with a new workout to kill us. On Saturday, we had to pair up and go through 10 minutes of tyre flipping and PushBreast (pushing 2 kettlebells up in the air).
PushBreast
Soon – check out the muscles.
After 10 minutes, I almost died. And for 2 days, I felt like I got run over by a truck. Another friend said he couldn’t eat for 2 days.
AWESOME!!! I can’t wait to get there again!
Pushmore is having a promotion for first timers – first timers get to try out for free. Just bring a pair of sneakers. Their workout of the day is posted on their website and blog. The workout usually last less than 1 hour.
If you’re a fat ass and needs to lose loads of pounds, Pushmore is the right place for you.
Related Links:
Pushmore blog – Check out their Workout of the Day
Pushmore.com.my
http://www.flickr.com/photos/anna-rina/2330983148/
http://anna-rina.com/blog/?p=327
http://matcat.blogspot.com/2008/06/kettlebell-workout-in-park.html
Kedai Kopi City @ Gaya Street
Tuaran Mee is a special dish that originates from the town of Tuaran, a town not far from KK City. I was told that Tuaran Mee comes in a few varieties – e.g. soup based or in thick sauced. At Kedai Kopi City, they serve Tuaran Mee fried with Chinese Wine. If you like the taste of Chinese Wine, this dish is highly recommended as it’s extremely aromatic.
The other recommendation is their “Wat Tan Ho” (Chinese style fried noodles). I’ve not tried it myself so please don’t beat me up if you don’t find it tasty.
You should also check out their menu. It comes in Chinese and in Engrish.
“Hua Dan Ho” is actually “Wat Tan Ho” and Mee Tuara Wong Jio. Nice..you don’t need to go to China or Japan to read Engrish.
Related Link:
Kedai Kopi City | Gourmet Borneo
Just across Kedai Kopi City, there’s a stall selling “baked buns”. It’s not bad.
Little Italy
When you think of Kota Kinabalu food, the last thing you probably think about is Italy food. But in KK City, there is one famous Italian restaurant by the name Little Italy. When I was there, it was filled with locals and foreigners alike. The place was packed too.
Their loyalty card – comes with Google search keywords!
The 4 of us ordered pasta and pizza. I was told that their tomato based pasta is excellent. I got myself a meat ball spaghetti which tasted good. The other recommendation is their marina spaghetti. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to try that.
Pizza on the other hand is thin crusted and yummy. But it too a little bit time to arrive as the pizza is baked on the spot. Nevertheless, their service comes with a smile – excellent.
Map
Little Italy
Ground Floor, Hotel Capital,
Jalan Haji Saman
88813 Kota Kinabalu
Sabah
Tel: (6088) 232231
Gaya Street Sunday Market, as the name explains, is a market held every Sunday. It features local handicrafts, food, plants and even animals.
Actually more than that, they sell
candy floss
mosquitoes repellent plants
grass
tshirts
Looks like Julius the Monkey from Paul Frank.
dogs
The cage is soooo small!
fishes.
Damn, Check out the size of the sucker fish on the bottom.
They also have massages by the blind
and a handicraft store which plays music using their wares.
I saw a man dancing in front of a music stall.
He looks like the d00d from Kennysia’s Kuching Shuffler!.
Continued from here
We stopped by Pine Resort at Kundasang, a countryside town located at the foothill of Mount Kinabalu. Pine Resort is located up a hill hence it’s a good place to check out the scenery. Many climbers stay in Kundasang before they embark on their journey to Mount Kinabalu. Perhaps the notable bit of Kundasang is the War Memorial, which was built to remember the 2,000 plus Australians and British prisoners who died during World War II.
After lunch, we stooped by the Kinabalu National Park. We drove to the entrance where everyone would enter to climb Mount Kinabalu.
What a name..
At that time, many people had just finished their climb to the peak of Mt Kinabalu. Most people looked extremely exhausted.
We took some pictures and walked some trails before heading home.
Best record so far – 2 hours 39 minutes to reach the peak of Mount Kinabalu!
“Snake Hill” Trail.
Took this picture while standing on a cliff. Can you see a waterfall?
We stopped by a coffee shop for a break. The shop is divided into two parts, one part being the convenient store and the other part being the coffee shop.
Place your cover charge to enter the toilet on the left box.
I spotted one pastry by the name “Biskut Pising” that they were selling. It’s made of banana and it’s green! I tried it. It tasted like crap. Too sweet and too dry.
An hour later, we reached KK City. A one day trip is indeed tiring. Nevertheless, I would highly recommend that one especially photographers drive out of KK City to experience the nature.
On a bridge – the river is almost covering the bridge!
End of this year, I’ll be off to Raileh Beach, Krabi, Thailand again to climb. I can’t wait!
400km from Kuala Lumpur, the state of Perlis was never known for their rock climbing activities. But last year, the Mammut expedition team set up climbing routes at Bukit Keteri and Gua Kelam. A video of the process can be seen below.
My palms!! My feeet!! They’re all wet!!
Related Links
Rock Trip, Keteri, Perlis 31 Aug-2 Sept 2007 | ARC IIUM Website
Rock Climbing Routes: Asia/Malaysia/Perlis/Bukit Keteri
My one and only indoor climbing gym will be shifting to a new premise soon. With Nomad Climbing Gym gone for few months, the only choice we have is Camp 5 – which charges an exorbitant rate for entry. At the moment, Nomad Climbing Gym charges RM14 per entry while Camp 5 is RM25 per entry. I heard that Camp 5 will be raising their entry fee to RM28. It’s like paying cover for a club!! And club comes with a complimentary drink!!
To be fair to Camp 5, they have excellent facilities and a nice toilet for patrons to use. In Nomad Climbing Gym, they do not have their own toilet. We have to use the public toilet to wash up. I have to put my leg in to a basin to wash my feet.
Camp 5 hasn’t been on top of our favourite hangout place as there are many gym rules that we had to adhere to. In Nomad Climbing Gym, we can, among others, go topless and play silly games. In Camp 5, we gotta be prim and proper. Bloody Posers.
Nomad Climbing Gym has been my playground for the past 4 years. It’s sad to see it go.
No..Ping is not shoving the bottle up Mikey’s ass.
Taken from the guess the body part entry.
Mock err…credit card??
In conjunction with Nomad Climbing Gym’s departure from Summit Shopping Centre, they will be holding a climbing competition on the 10th of August 2008.
It starts at 10am and ends 6pm – 10am – 1pm is for top rope competition, while 2pm to 5pm is for bouldering. RM 10,000 worth of cash and prizes to be won. The categories are as follows:
– MEN Top Rope
– MEN Bouldering
– WOMEN Top Rope
– Novice TEAM event (3 pax mixed)
It’s a good chance to see Malaysia’s best climbers and bid Nomad Climbing Gym @ Summit farewell.
More info @ Nomad Adventure Official Website
Couple of years back, on the first day of my Certificate of Legal Practice (CLP for short, a qualifying professional examination for foreign law graduates), I was down with food poisoning. I eventually failed that paper and had to resit for it. I felt like crap when I got my results. I felt like I’ve disappointed the whole wide world.
But what can be worst than missing the paper itself. One Ganesh wrote to the Malaysian Bar Council website to highlight his grievances with the road block set up by the police on Monday. Numerous roadblocks were set up by the police after they received ‘very real’ evidence that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will lead a demonstration at parliament. The roadblocks caused a massive jam.
Here’s a reproduction of Ganesh’s email.
I refer to Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar’s apology with regards to the massive traffic jams caused yesterday.
What Syed Albar does not realise is that, not only were people late in reaching their offices and thus productivity was affected, many people also missed important examinations.
Monday was the first day of the Certificate of Legal Practice (CLP) examinations held in University Malaysia (UM). As the examination was 9am, many left much earlier from their houses. As for me, I left 7am from my house located in Subang Jaya. Usually by 7.30am, I would be passing EPF.
However, to my shock and horror, I only reached UM at 10.30am, by that time, it was too late to sit for that particular paper. I was crawling in a standstill jam all the way on the Federal Highway. It was too late for me to turn and use any alternatives as it was a bottleneck jam everywhere and impossible to use any other alternatives.
Many people sitting this examination were either late or just failed to turn up because as one knows, reaching late to the examination hall, one would be barred from entering the hall.
And the CLP examination is such, that if you miss just one paper, you might as well resit the whole examination the next year as you would clearly fail the whole examination having not sat one paper completely.
The shocking thing is that, this is the last year of the examination before it is scrapped for good. So, how is one going to sit for the examination again?
To make matters worse, there were no protest at all. Even if there were protests, we have had many other protests before, and it was all peaceful protests. So why were there virtually every other road being blocked in KL causing a massive gridlock in the whole Klang Valley?
Some were aware of the roadblocks but many were not aware of the roadblocks as the public were not for-warned about the roadblocks much earlier
As Datuk Syed Albar was a previous lawyer, I am sure he understands this predicament of those aspiring to be lawyers. As this is the last CLP examination, many are stuck now, not knowing what to do. Many have sat this examination several times, hoping they would pass this last attempt before it is abolished next year.
I also read that one candidate who was caught in the jam jumped out of her friend’s car, stopped a motorcyclist and begged him to take her to the examination centre where she proceeded to take the examination.
My heart goes to Ganesh and the poor chaps who missed the exams.