Photo Shooting

Last weekend went out for makan-makan at a Taiwanese restaurant. The food wasn't very special except for the eel. so I ended up practising my photo shooting more than enjoying the food. These are 2 of the shots that I personally quite like...

Some CSI effect with Photoshop

How is it? ok or not?

Sleeper Bus

During my last trip to Yunnan, we had to take a night bus from Kunming to Lijiang. We were told that it was a sleeper bus with about 35 seats and with our legs fully stretched. It was a bit hard to imagine until we saw it...


























At the front of the bus, it has 3 columns of double deck bed with 2 aisles separate in between. The last rows contains 5 double deck beds. The bed was about half the size of a normal single bed and you can hardly turn your body. Even I found it cramp not to mention those who have big body size.

Anyway, it was really a good experience. : )

Photo Manipulation

As I mentioned before, some shots that I took during the trip was quite disappointing. So today I tried to manipulate one of them using Photoshop. Although the result is not really fantastic (not so real), after some cropping, gradient tool for blue sky, level, colour and contrast adjustment, the result is more presentable than the original one.



















Before


























After

Of course, I hope I don't have to manipulate my photos if possible.

Lei Duo Duo (GoodBye) Yunnan

Just came back from a 16-day backpack trip to Yunnan with Yongo Travel. Initially I wanted to go to Beijing this year, but had to cancel it due to some reasons. Actually I have never thought of going to Yunnan before this, as I die die must go for a trip to breakaway from work, I signed up for this trip alone. But with good companies and breathtaking scenaries, there is no regret. Although a bit tiring, the trip was really enjoyable.



















Transit at the latest Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport

I was learning my new Nikon D40x along the way, luckily there were some 'sifu' around. Most photos taken are actually quite disappointing (only notice that after downloading to PC). I have to blame my skill although some was due to cloudy weather most of the time.


















Omega Bend of JinSha River （金沙江）


























Great view on the way to ZhongDian aka Shangri-la



















White Water Terrace　（白水台）, one of the three in the world



















































松赞林寺@Shangri-la



















Snowing at 飞来寺



















MingYong Glacier


























Playing snow at 白马雪山白马丫口,　4292m above sea level



















Trekking at Tiger Leaping Gorge (虎跳峡）


























Want to jump, anyone?


























View from my my room at Tea Horse Guest House



















万古楼@丽江

I think the worst tourist experience in China would be its public toilet. Dirty and stinky. The standard design doesn't come with any door (may be the locals don't need it as some don't even bother to close the door when doing big business), 2 compartments sharing the same drain with a little wall separating in between. You may be able to tell what the guy next to you was eating by looking into the drain.


























Despite the greatest toilet view, I just couldn't do it, can you?

Angka(t)sa(yapunya)wan(g)

These 2 days I have received some emails and read some blogs (kennysia and jeffooi) about our government hero being called a space tourist. I think the best name comes from one of jeffooi's blog comments:
Angka(t)sa(yapunya)wan(g)

Chow Tai Fook Fine Jewellery

Today I went to the Gardens for a walk. Among all the branded stores, one really caught my attention: Chow Tai Fook Fine Jewellery.

A quick check in Wiki tells that it is under Chow Tai Fook Enterprise Ltd. owned by Hong Kong billionaire Cheng Yu Tung (鄭裕彤).








But why on earth they want to use 'Chow Tai Fook'? Must they follow the parent company and can't use a more classy name for their jewellery store? I really don't understand, the name is so 'Ah Beng' that can't relate it to the up-market at all. May be it works in Hong Kong, but I doubt the rich people in Malaysia will like the name.

I don't know lah, may be I am not rich enough gua. But if I am, I would rather buy a Tiffany lah...right?

Back Side Job 2

After last week's incident I didn't actually check my car thoroughly. I didn't lost anything else in my car except the 2 bags in my car boot, so I thought everything else was ok. Didn't that I know that that mother f**cker was also trying to steal my car!!! I think I was just too 'bingong' after the incident and never use key to open my car door, I only realised this just now...damn...




















I called up Honda Service last week and they told me the car boot lock costs about RM200 to fix. But now with the door lock also damaged it should cost me another RM200k...@#%$#%$#^$&%^&^%

Back Side Job

While many were waiting for the arrival of our 50th Merdeka Day, I was busy with going to police stations. After working late on Merdeka eve, I went to have dinner as usual near by my house. When I was back to my car, the alarm sounded differently and I found that 2 of my bags were stolen from my car boot. It was just within 20 mins...

I lost a company laptop, thumb drive, cheque book, calculator and some documents. I reported at Puchong Jaya police station but was then asked to report another one at Bukit Puchong for investigation. The police officer told me that nowadays thieves use sensor to detect the laptop battery and they only need 5 mins to do the job.

The laptop is almost 3 years old and shouldn't worth much now. It is the data inside that is more important to me, somemore one of my projects was going 'live' the next 2 days, luckily it went smoothly yesterday....




















Some idiot sodomised my car...

After the back side job my car is suffering from constipation and the boot can only be opened from inside my car. :(

Lam's Farewell

Last night we had a farewell dinner for Lam at Las Caritas, USJ. 14 of us turned up including Imeo and her chai chai + sister, who came all the way from Seremban.




















Las Caritas is a mexican restaurant and there was quite a lot of customers. The food was quite good, at least for my wagyu beef. But nobody enjoyed better than Mabel, she had the presidente wagyu beef that comes with foie gras.

Somehow the session felt more like a normal dinner. Lam, you forgot to give some speech lah...













































Eric quickly button his shirt up after seeing Yi Wei arrived with her sexy 'silk stocking' outfit.





















We went to Putrajaya to see some fireworks after the dinner. There were a lot of people and it was so so jam when we reached Putrajaya. We were just in time when we arrived. Most people were like us, want to see fireworks for free, that's why we could only see from far far away and my amateur camera could only take some lousy fireworks photos.

The fireworks lasted for 15 mins and everyone was rushing back right after that. It was even more jam on the way back. The car was stand still on the Seri Wawasan Bridge, I could even take some photos of it. We almost finished listening to 2 CDs in the car, and took us about 1.5 hours to reach USJ.


























I think it is still ok to go watch 15 minutes of fireworks in Putrajaya but certainly not worth it to be stuck in the jam for 1.5 hour. Because it was already too late, the night ended without a third session.

Thank You For Smoking

I just watched 'Thank You For Smoking' last night. This is a comedy about a tobacco lobbyist, who spins on behalf of cigarettes while trying to remain a role model for his twelve-year-old son.

























Although the background of this movie is about tobacco, the movie is not trying to promote smoking cigrettes. It is more on how one can argue about a subject.

Your main target is your audience and not the person you are arguing with. Sometimes you don't have to answer directly to the question asked. As long as you can prove that the other person is wrong, you are right and the audience will be convinced. Nick Naylor, the main character in this movie is really good at that.

I like this movie not because I work in a tobacco company. It is entertaining and the way this guy argue is fantastic. No wonder this is a recommended movie for MBA students of Manchester University, may be they can learn how to argue better after watching it.

My Nephew - 弟子规

Last year I posted about my nephew reading 弟子规. Recently he even knows how to apply it. That day I took his bag in front of him, he said '倘不问 即为偷', meaning taking other's belongings without permission is considered stealing.

Yesterday I was looking at him eating. Then he said his teacher teaches that it is not nice to look at others eating. I just smiled and continued to look at him. Then he said '不关己 莫闲管', meaning don't be busybody if it doesn't concern you.

I was speechless...

Global Warming

Recently there are a lot of news, articles and awareness campaigns about global warming. I believe there are many people who are now aware of global warming but have not done much about it, including myself. Sometimes I feel a bit guilty about it.

When I stayed in hotel, I used to leave everything on, lights, air con, heater, simply because I thought I have paid for them. I liked to put a paper card in the key slot so that lights and air con are always turned on even when I am going out. But when I stayed in the hotel 2 days ago, I thought about climate change and switched everything off when I was not using it.

This is only a small change but I think it is a good start for me. Actually even a simple change in your daily life can make a difference.

Dormant Account

When I was small, I like to open many bank accounts and get as many ATM cards, not that I had lots of money, but somehow felt proud to have more cards. Over the years I have closed many of them, leaving 2 that I use frequently except the stupid Bumiputra Commerce which requires me to close at the branch which I opened it...really stupid (I opened at Batu Gajah when studied in Perak).

Yesterday I just found a passbook from Bank Simpanan Nasional. I have almost forgotten that this bank still exists. I can only remember its ATM machine was always out of order whenever you wanted to use it. I didn't know that I still have a few hundred bucks and the last update date was Feb 97...Luckily according to them I still can get back the money from Bank Negara by filling up a form.

Lesson learned...it's better not to have too many bank accounts...number of accounts doesn't matter, only the amount in the account does.

Leaking Toilet 3

Still remember my leaking toilet problem 2 months ago?

After I fixed it, there was no update from the owner and apartment management, so I also didn't bother.

This morning I saw the owner downstairs (she doesn't stay here), I was on the phone and didn't talk to her. But when I put my thumb up she smiled at me. I guess there is no more leaking now. :)

My colleague also bought the same sealant but it is not effective. I think mine works because the leaking might be due to a hole but not the entire floor, and white cement + sealant is good enough to patch the hole.

An Inconvenient Truth

It's getting hotter and hotter these days...so what do we do? Take more shower? Yeah...right...

I just watched 'An Inconvenient Truth', winner of Best Documentary in the 79th Oscar, it is about Global Warming.


























We know about Global Warming, but most of us ignore it. We think that this is happening slowly. We think others don't care, why should we. We blame others for not providing the facility for us to recycle, we blame the government etc etc.

This movie shows us how bad the situation is now, and it's getting worse at a real fast pace that we could hardly imagine. If we don't respond NOW, it will be too late...

Of course it's easier said than done, but we better respond now.

I think everyone should watch this movie, and they should show this to students in schools. These words are shown at the end of the show, which i think is good to share...

Are you ready to change the way you live?
The climate crisis can be solved.
Here is how to start
go to

www.climatecrisis.net

You can reduce your carbon emissions
In fact, you can even reduce your carbon emissions to zero.

Buy energy efficient appliances + lightbulbs
Change your thermostat (and use clock thermostat) to reduce energy for heating + cooling.
Weatherize your house, increase insulation, and get an energy audit
Recycle
If you can, buy a hybrid car (well, I think the government should remove excise duty and tax for hybrid car...I have to blame the government for this one)
When you can, walk or ride a bicycle
Where you can, use light rail and mass transit
Tell your parents not to ruin the world you will live in
If you are a parent, join with your children to save the world they will live in
Switch to renewable source of energy
Call your power company to see if they offer green energy.
If they don't, ask them why not.
Vote for leaders who pledge to solve this crisis, write to congress
If they don't listen, run for congress.
Plants tree, lots of trees.
Speak up in your community
Call radio shows and write newspaper
Insist that America freeze CO2 emissions + join international efforts to stop global warming
Reduce our dependence on foreign oil; help farmers grow alcohol fuels
Raise fuel economy standards; require lower emissions from automobiles;
If you believe in prayer, pray that people will find the strength to change
In the words of the old African proverb,
when you pray, move your feet.
Encourage everyone you know to see this movie.
Learn as much as you can about the climate crisis
Then put your knowledge into action.

Long Silence

I haven't been blogging for quite a while, was really busy...and lazy.

It's time to start writing something again. : )

Rock Climbing

I tried Rock Climbing in Menara Summit many years ago. It exercises your whole body and is a very good sport. You have to go with someone because you need to belay each other while the other is climbing. I tried several times but then stopped because of other commitment.

Few weeks back our company set up a climbing wall at KL Convention Centre as one of the games for the Zone Meeting. Many had fun climbing it and it just rekindled my interest to climb again. This time I wanted to try out the largest indoor climbing gym in Asia, Camp5 in 1 Utama. It is bigger, has better ambience and of course more expensive.

Today I went with my colleague thinking that we could have some good exercise and fun. It turned out that you must declare you know how to tie a Figure of Eight knot, the belay technique and some other basic rock climbing stuff. Too bad I have forgotten all these after 5-6 years. We wanted to join the 1 hour crash course but too bad the next slot would only be available 2 hours later.

The Figure of Eight knot that I have forgotten

We ended up watching '300'...

Lesson Learned:

1. Check out all the information before simply walk in.
2. For beginners, better go to Nomad Adventure in Menara Summit to learn the basic first. It's cheaper somemore the marshal will teach you the basic stuff for free.

Em-Pay2u

Today I received a mail telling me how to make lots of money by just shaking my leg...This 'Kap na' can be found at http://www.myempay2u.co.nr/. It also provides some URLs as proof trying to convince people, obviously this is another pyramid scheme...

The idiot who wants to con people named EN. KHALIDZULHUDDIN BIN ZAINAL and can be contacted @ 017-6322435 and YM ID: mysticalogy. He also gives his bank account numbers asking people to make payment to it:

MayBank Account: 164100262532
BCB(CIMB) Account: 01130033119528

I am wondering if police can set up a trap and arrest this idiot? Or is there any Danny Ocean who can con this guy back?

D&G Session

Yesterday was the 14th day of the Lunar new year and we celebrated it with a D&G (Driking and Gambling) session. Before the session a few of us had dinner at Tony Roma's, too bad some couldn't join due to various reasons. Tony Roma's is famous for its pork ribs but unfortunately the one in Malaysia doesn't serve pork.


























The D&G session started after dinner and 3 more joined us. One would be stunned with the amount of liquor we brought. We thought someone would be sleeping with the toilet bowl but it didn't happen.




















After a few rounds of mixing and drinking, everybody went for Wii and PS2. The Wii session saw Eric emerged as the new shooting king (Eric, I will be back) and we finally saw Cheng in action on the PS2 dancing mat. For those who missed it on both Zone Meeting and yesterday's session, stay tuned for the upcoming video...

I didn't drink much but I have been sleeping all day today and am still suffering from a hangover. Everyone was having a great time and we will definitely have a session like this again.

Leaking Toilet 2

After I complained about the leaking toilet problem to the developer, they sent 2 plumbers to take a look at it.

They first checked the water pressure for 15 mins but it didn't drop, so they ruled out the pipe problem. They suggested me not to use the toilet for a week, if no more leaking, then it has to be the floor problem.

After a week, they found it strange that the bathroom downstairs still leaks. The only possibility now is thewater actually came from the air-con pipe. They then suggested me not to switch on the air-con and cover any gap between tiles with water proof cement.

When I went to hardware shop, they told me that water proof cement is sold in 25kg, and only used under the tiles. This means that the floor must be hacked. As I try not to do any hacking, I bought a liquid sealant and squeeze the whole 500ml bottle into all the holes i could find between the tiles. Not feeling that this will work, I went bought another water proof sealer. First covered the holes with white cement, waited for a day to dry, washed the floor, waited for another day to dry and applied the sealer 3 times.

Ta...da...Look at the tiles, it's still wet and shining.


























I have sacrificed many days trying to fix this thing, just hope it will work.

Will see...

Bad Day

I had a bad day yesterday. I upset somebody and I felt bad about it. On the other hand, I have done my best. These few days I woke up feeling like shit, wanted a break but couldn't and really stressed out.

Last night my mind was full with lots of 'what if...', what if i won 12 millions....what if...

Now I just want to sing 2 songs 'Bad Day' and '半斤八两'...

seemingphoto.com

My brother just told me about his ex-colleague who is a good photographer. Check out his travelling photos at www.seemingphoto.com. The pictures are awesome. This guy is a good designer too. Photos are put into album and looking at them can be quite therapeutic. I had a bad day today but feel much better after enjoying some of the photos. I think this guy is so good that can be a National Geographic's photographer.

I really feel like getting myself a dSLR soon...

The Prestige

I just watched 'The Prestige' last night. The ending is 'good', good as in so unexpected, really lives up to its name - 'prestige'.


























Watching 'The Prestige' reminds me of David Copperfied. I remember that I didn't like to watch magic shows other than DC's when I was small. He made other magicians' tricks looked cheap. I can still remember him walking through the Great Wall of China; making the Statue of Liberty disappear; escape from a chained raft while being hung above Niagara Falls. Sometimes he liked to make the audience think that he failed, but suddenly appeared from the other end. That was the prestige, and he is the master of it.

Anybody knows how he did all these? Did he used a double? owned a Tesla machine or a teleporter? May be the one who was being chained to the raft was his double. More interestingly, I wonder if he lives a life like Angier or Borden; constantly looking for new tricks; worry about others trying to steal his tricks; keeping secrets from others...

Perhaps only DC knows...

Nice Pictures

These days I always try my best to take good photographs. I like to use natural light whenever possible so that it looks natural and the original feeling is preserved. Some are not badly taken but most of the time the results are still not what I wanted.

It's really not easy to take good photographs. Not only that photography skill is essential, it also requires a lot of time to observe the environment and patience to wait for the right moment. It's especially hard to catch the best moment of an event, once you missed it, that's it. This is why I hate taking photos for someone's wedding, I feel bad for taking lousy photos for other's big day.

Today I came to know about this photographer called Louis Pang in Kenny Sia's blog. I like his photographs because of his style, and he takes fantastic wedding photos. They look so natural and the angles are excellent. I think that these photos are more natural than those taken in studio. The best thing is, when the pictures are nice, the persons in it don't have to be good looking but still look good too.

Check out his blog for some nice photos [I have also added the link in my blog so that I can check it out every now and then to 'tou si' (learn secretly from the master)].

Leaking Toilet

I received a call from the management office of my apartment today, saying that my neighbour downstair complains that the water from my master bedroom toilet is leaking into hers.

The toilet looks pretty bad, the ceiling already turned brown. After open up the ceiling, you can see water drops all over the top and some already crystalised and formed stalactite. I was hoping that it was just leaking pipe but it looks more serious than that.

Everyone told me that when this thing happens, it's always the owner upstair's responsibility to fix it. If really have to hack all the tiles and fix this, it might cost some money (2k?) and how am I going to monitor the work for few days?!!

Since this doesn't actually affect my toilet, I really wanted to ignore. But after looking at the situation and being a nice guy, I also pity the lady (pity myself too). The apartment is just over 3 years and it's already leaking water. I have always been told that IOI is a good developer but I am really disappointed with them now. I am going to COMPLAIN and COMPLAIN and COMPLAIN, if they don't want to pay for the cost, I am going to spread this and tell people not to buy their property.

So angry now.... >:(

Oops, my brother just bought one!!!

Left Right Hands

We live in a world which is dominated by right handers. Do you realise that many products are designed for right handers? e.g. can opener, scissors, guitar, sharpener, bowling ball and bowling shoes etc. It is difficult to cut paper following a line with your left hand using a normal scissors. I find this lefties FAQ site quite interesting.

People who know me know that I am a left hander. My hand always 'fight' with the guy sitting on my left when eating. But actually I am not a pure left hander. Except for writing, drawing, painting and eating, I use right hand to do most of the stuff as others do. I use scissors, mouse, open door, hold racket, play bowling using my right hand.

Normally lefties only use left hand to do most of the things, I am not really sure why I am different. I thought about this and figured out that I feel more comfortable using my left hand for things that require a bit of skill with fingers. For the rest that doesn't require much skill, I can adapt to the right-handed world easily.

Many cultures including Chinese consider using left hand something bad and a lot of parents would force their children to use their right hands. Actually left handers simply have a more dominant right brain, which means that they might be more creative. I always think it is not right to force kids to use their right hands. If they prefer to write or draw with their left hands, that means they are more comfortable using the left hands and the results could be better. Jimmy Connors, Martina Navratilova might not win a Grand Slam if they were forced to use right hand to play tennis when small; the same for Yang Yang and Zhao Jian Hua in badminton.

Do you know Leonardo Da Vinci is also a left hander? For those of you who only know him from 'Da Vinci Code' or the painter of 'Monalisa', he is also an architect, anatomist, sculptor, engineer, inventor, mathematician, musician and scientist.

Apple iPhone

Apple iPhone is really cool. It is an iPod, a Phone and an Internet Communicator.
It's a bit hard to imagine how cool it is without watching the Macworld 2007 Keynote Address yourself.


























Even a non gadget guy like me can't wait to have one in my pocket!

Too bad it will only be available in Asia in 2008...

Ah Yat Abalone

Last Friday I went for another makan makan session. Yes, another heavy one.

My ex-colleagues decided to spend the remaining money from Gonbei makan makan session at Ah Yat Restaurant. Each of us had the RM138++ set which came with:

1. Buddha Jumps Over the Wall or Shark fin - The shark fin came in pieces, but lacked the texture, didn't taste like what we normally have at wedding dinner. May be this was a small shark.
2. Abalone + sea cucumber + mushroom - Yummy abalone.
3. Cod fish - I didn't like the cod fish that much, may be it wasn't warm.
4. Stir Fried Kai Lan
5. Fried Rice
6. Almond Soup

We also ordered a Peking Roasted Duck and a 2.6kg Alaska King Crab. After eating the duck skin, the meat was then fried with ginger onion, looked like beef or deer meat and tasted quite nice. The King Crab was cooked with cheese, it was the best crab meat I have ever tasted (this is far better than the Snow Crab at Team Dinner. Btw, it was RM280 per kg, which is almost double the price of Snow Crab).

Oh no, I really need to watch out my cholesterol already!!!

Team Dinner

My team had another team dinner last Saturday at Unique Seafood. It was a fun night.