Conquest of Time

I like good watches. I always think that watches can show a man's taste. The design that I like is always simple and elegant. For a modern watch, I always fancy a Bell & Ross or an IWC Schaffhausen chrono. For a classical one, I would go for a Patek Philippe, Jaeger-LeCoultre or Girard-Perregaux. Of course the latter three are the jewel in the crown of watches. I can only see and dream...

Actually I am not really a watch aficionado, my knowledge about watch is only limited to some famous brands and mechanical complication of chronograph and perpetual calendar. Yesterday I had a chance to improve my knowledge about horology.

















The Conquest of Time exhibition was held at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre from 22 -26 Nov 2006. The exhibition featured 23 of the world's most renowned watchmaking houses.





































Not only a large collection of fine timepieces was on display, the exhibition also incorporated guided tours, watch making class, watch talks and watch appraisal. For the rich, this was a good place to add a few more watches to their collections or to have their Patek appraised by professional valuators and watch experts from Christie's auction house.

A watch making class was provided by Jaeger-LeCoultre for watch collectors and enthusiasts to explore and learn about watchmaking. In the class, attendees was guided by a watchmaker from Swiss and got to learn the various technique in watch assembly, first on a computer simulation software, then hands-on. I wanted to attend but the next class was already fully booked with a long waiting list.

















For the public, the Girard Perregaux's atelier was the best place to learn something about watches.






















It offered a guided tour which explained the four distinguished dimensions of complications in watchmaking - Chronograph, Perpetual Calendar, Minute Repeater and Tourbillon. I learned from here that a perpetual calendar watch knows when to add a day in a leap year by having a 48-tooth wheel (each tooth represents a month), with a tooth slightly different from the rest.

Girard Perregaux is famous for its Tourbillon, designed to counter the effects of gravity and other perturbing forces that can affect the accuracy of a chronometer. At the atelier, I also got a chance to polish one side of the Tourbillon bridge. I tell you, it requires a lot of patience and passion.

















This lady's day-to-day work is to polish watch components. It takes her 3 days for to finish polishing a Tourbillon bridge.

Similar to cars, watches are expensive toys for men. Some watches are more expensive than cars. A watch comprises 600 over pieces of component, each of them needs to be made to perfection. It is not hard to imagine why some of these watches are so expensive.

This Jaeger-LeCoultre is one of the most expensive watches I saw at the exhibition. Enlarge to see how much it costs...

Silent Mode

Damn! Bad mood because not enough sleep this week due to some external system issues. I am going to put my handphone on silent mode when I sleep... >:(

Team Dinner

Last night we had our another team dinner at La Bodega, Bangsar. Check out the posting at our team blog. : )

Gonbei Japanese Restaurant

Last Friday I joined 6 of my ex-colleagues and went for a big makan makan at Gonbei Japanese Restaurant in Starhill Gallery.





















The restaurant is designed by Yuhkichi Kawai, the man who created Starhill Gallery's Feast Village. It offers an authentic Japanese cuisine which is based on time-honored Japanese customs and traditions.

We were sitting at the counter on which is displayed a fresh selection of seafood on ice, meat and vegetables. Right in the center was the yakikata or grillmaster.

This is quite an up-market restaurant but we didn't bother much because our budget was RM4000...heheh...

Here is the story, 3 years ago my ex company wanted us to write some papers to be filed for patent. 3 years later, 4 of the documents submitted by our department were selected for public disclosure and the one I wrote will be filed for patent. We were given RM4200 in total as a token of encouragement. As I already left the company, my share of RM1650 goes to the department. So our target was to spend all the money.

We ordered some of the expensive dishes, including 2 kinki (rock fish) and 2 plates of omakase tokujo sushi (chef's special assorted nigiri sushi with premium toro, premium uni). The kinki fish was just about palm size and cost RM150, and the 10 pieces sushi cost RM180.

Kink (rock fish) - RM 150

This 10 pieces of sushi cost RM180

We also had wagyu kushiyaki (wagyu skewer), taraba kani tempura (king crab mud tempura), imo sochu and many more. I seldom eat beef but the wagyu kushiyaki was the best beef I have ever had.

Wagyu Kushiyaki (RM 28 per skewer)

Taraba Kani Tempura (RM 85)















Yakitori (RM 5 per skewer)

Imo sochu

Aspara (RM 10)

Ika Ichiiyaboshi (RM 18)

Tebasaki (RM 5 per piece)

Check out the bill for what else we ate. We will spend the remaining money soon...

Scoop

I just watched Scoop. I watched it because of Scarlett Johansson and Woody Allen.

I first noticed Scarlett Johansson in 'Lost In Translation' (didn't realise she was the little girl in 'The Horse Whisperer' many years ago) and then 'Girl with aPearl Earring' (I got to know Johannes Vermeer, the famous Dutch painter because of this movie). I like her not only because she is gorgeous but also because she is a very good actress. In Scoop, she wore glasses and loose shirt, not as hot as she was in 'Match Point'. I was wondering if she was pregnant.

As for Woody Allen, I only started to notice his movie after I watched 'The Curse of The Jade Scorpion'. His comedy has its own style with wacky humor, very different from those Hollywood no brainer comedies. It may not make you laugh as hard but you would appreciate his sense of humor. Besides comedy, he is also good in directing drama. His previous movie 'Match Point' was a really good one.

Scoop is about an American journalism student (Johansson) in London scooping a big story, and begins an affair with an aristocrat (Jackman) as the incident unfurls. It is very British like 'Match Point' with similar style of 'The Curse of The Jade Scorpion'. For those who are a bit tired of Hollywood no brainer comedies, 'Scoop' is something different for you.

World Vision

Today I received a mail with a child photo. She is a 12 year-old girl from Hebei PingQuan, China. I have never seen this child before but somehow there is a special feeling. I feel happy because I hope I will be able to make a difference to her life.

She is a child I sponsor via World Vision Malaysia recently, I just need to contribute RM50 per month.

How much can you do with RM50 a month these days?

RM50 is not even enough to pump a full tank of petrol, may be an OK dinner for 2? How about investing it in long-term development programmes that will give a child, his/her family and community a brighter future? Your contribution will be pooled together to provide clean water, health care, food & agriculture, education and economic development of the community where your sponsored child lives.

Check out the flash demo here.

You will be able to see the progress of your sponsored child and know how your contribution is being used. I think this is a good way to contribute.

A lot of people don't want to let others know when they contribute to charity. But nowadays many have changed their thinking, a lot of celebrities are involved in charity work to create some awareness and to influence others to do the same. I am no celebrity and can't influence many people. But if by sharing this can create some awareness to some who read this blog, I think it is good enough.






















If you sponsor a child after you read this blog, please let me know, I will be very happy. : )

Bad Cop

I have a friend who has his own principles in doing many things and I quite salute him for holding on to his principles. For example he never bribe. He just told me a story.

Below is the conversation between him and a traffic police after he was blocked for speeding.

Friend: 'Encik, apa salah saya?' (Sir, what did I offend?)
Police: 'Speeding'
Friend: 'Ya ke? Berapa kelajuan saya?' (Really? How fast did I go?)
Police: 'Melebihi had kelajuan' (Exceeded the speed limit)
Friend: 'Kalau begini macam mana?' (So how?)
Police: 'Saman 300 ratus' (300 Summon)
Friend: 'Macam tu encik bagi saman lah.' (Like that summon me then)
Police: 'Encik betul ke? Encik tak mau kawan?' (Are you sure sir? Sir you don't want to be friend?)
Friend: 'Kalau I salah, kasih saya saman' (If I am wrong, just summon me)
Police: 'Encik nak saman, tak mau kawan?' (Sir you want summon, don't want to be friend?)
Friend: 'I salah, I patut kena saman' (I am wrong, I should get the summon)
Police: 'Betul ke? (Are you sure?)
Friend: 'Betul...' (Sure...)
Police: 'Err....macam tu...tak apa lah.' (Err...like that...nevermind lah)
Friend: 'Tak apa? Tak boleh, I salah encik patut bagi saman pada saya' (Nevermind? Cannot, I am wrong you must summon me)
Police: 'Tak apa lah, I tau encik orang berbudi bahasa' (Nevermind lah, I know you are a good guy')
Friend: 'Betul ke? Tak perlu saman?' (Are you sure? Not summon?)
Police: 'Tak perlu' (No need)

Like this also can...wanna try next time?

The Departed

I just watched 'The Departed'. May be the original version has indoctinated in my mind, I prefer 'Infernal Affairs' more. The cops also speak too much foul languages, too much until I feel disgusted.






















Which version do you like?

Hectic Week

This blog has been silent for more than a week because I was too busy at work to update it. There was a big issue last week and then our ass were on fire for the following few days. Then there was a UAT and 2-day Zone Meeting followed by a Gala Dinner, it just messed up our already tight duty roster. :(

This is going to continue for quite sometime as Muraly is going to South Africa, Jason, Eric and me will be on vacation in December. Cheng's head will definitely grow bigger and bigger!!!

Yahoo! Mail Beta

I think a lot of people have switched to Gmail, including myself. I still have some mails being sent to my Yahoo! Mail but I haven't checked it for quite a while. I just found out that Yahoo! had launched a beta mail version which resembles your local mail application, just like MS Outlook. It supports drag and drop, shift and ctrl selection, as well as search function. The speed is very fast too. It's pretty cool...

Check out the screen shot...














Oops, you saw all my mails...but nevermind lah, since most of them are junk mails actually. This is the thing I don't like about this new version, I think Yahoo! Mail still haven't found an effective way to filter junk mails...

Anyway, if you still use Yahoo! Mail, you should switch to this new version. ; )

Fattest Me

The Kuantan trip was quite boring. My mom and I were flipping through some old photo albums and I saw a picture. My mom said that was the fattest period in my whole life...

Fattest leh...want to see?

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 九皇爺

Today is the 8th day of the 9th lunar month.

Nine Emperor Gods Festival (九皇爺) is held over the first 9 days of the 9th lunar month to celebrate the return from heaven to earth of the Nine Emperor spirits.

I remember I used to follow my mom or grandma to the temple for prayer when I was small and was still staying in Kuantan. I always came back home with a yellow colour strap on our wrist and a red stamp on our T-shirt. I have not done this for a long long time.

After I came to KL, I have been to the Nan Thien Kwang in Ampang with friends during the festival twice. I was just there to look around but didn't pray. The most suffering things to go to the temple during this festival period especially at night are the crowd, the parking and the smoke of joss-stick.















During the Raya holiday I went back to Kuantan with parents and happened to go to Tow Boo Keong again after so many years. We went in the morning, so there was plenty of parking, not so crowded and joss-stick smoke was endurable. Not a devotee myself, I don't really know how to pray. But I did perfom some prayer there with my mom's instructions.

I went back with a yellow colour strap on my wrist.

PLUCK

I am not a classical music lover but do enjoy it sometimes.

I was at Bangsar Shopping Centre yesterday and there were 3 classical musicians 'PLUCK' playing classical music (violin, viola and cello) at the concourse. Cheekily describing themselves as 'what happens when great music falls into the hands of talented idiots', these 3 crazy classical musicians play fantastic music with unique comedy style. They played 4 songs and it was entertaining.





















The trio will be performing at The Actors Studio from 24th Oct to 12th Nov. If you are classical music lover, or are interested to listen to some classical music but not the too formal orchestra performance, check out more details at www.gardnerANDwife.com.


Btw, this is not an advertorial and I don't get paid for it.

My Life in Sydney - Final Part

Some of you who have been reading my blog might feel a bit tired of my Sydney series already. This is going to be the last, just let me finish what I want to say, ok?

Australia is truly a multi-national country. You can see so many people from different countries. Just in the project I was involved, I had worked with Australian, Malaysian, Indian, Vietnamese, New Zealander, Singaporean, Irish, South African, Russian, Thai and Greek etc.

Many said if you migrate to Australia, you will be treated like a 2nd-class citizen. I actually asked a few of my colleagues who migrated there. They didn’t really answer me whether they feel like 2nd class citizen but they all think that Australia is a lovely country, much better than the country they came from. I guess it really doesn’t matter to them whether they are being treated equally as long as life is better in Australia.

So, after reading My Life in Sydney series sure you think I must be enjoying my time there. Well, not entirely…

Like other tourists, it was really fun for the first 2-3 weeks. When I first got there, I wanted to go here go there, do this do that. But after 2-3 weeks, I started to feel bored. Don’t forget I was there for work…

It was winter, and I really didn’t like it. The sky became dark at 5pm, it was cold and it rained very often. With the stress of work, no one to talk to, sometimes it was quite depressing.

The 2 biggest sports in Australia are Rugby and Cricket. They say Rugby is a men sport and Cricket is a gentlemen sport. Too bad I don’t like both, although I consider myself a sport lover. There are 5 free TV channels in Australia but sometimes there could be 2 channels showing 2 Rugby games at the same time. : (
F1 was only shown delay in the midnight. Luckily there was World Cup to make my day.

Anyway I still think Sydney is a nice city but I hope I can travel to more places in Australia next time.

My Life in Sydney - Part V

I always wanted to visit other cities in Australia but didn't have much chance due to my work. In one weekend my colleague got a car from her sister and we decided to go to Canberra. Australia is really a big continent. It looks so near in the map but actually takes more than 3 hours drive from Sydney to Canberra.


It was a rainy day and Canberra was colder than Sydney. We visited the new and old Parliament House, and the War Memorial Museum. I took a picture at the House of Representatives but unfortunately my memory card spoiled and I lost all the pictures. The pictures you see here are from my colleague's camera.

House of Representatives of New Parliament House

The War Memorial Museum is a nice museum but too bad I don't know much about the history of WWI. The only hall that I could make a connection was the invasion of Malaya by the Japanese during WWII.

War Memorial Museum

We stayed in a motel that night. That was the first time I stayed in a motel. After a heavy breakfast in the next morning, we went to Old Bus Depot Market.

Old Bus Depot Market

Before we left Canberra, we stopped by Lake Burley Griffin to take some photos.

New and Old Parliament house, seen from the northeast across Lake Burley Griffin

On our way back, we went into a small town called Goulburn and then the third largest city in New South Wales, Wollongong.

Goulburn town

A lighthouse at Wollongong

Many people said Canberra is just like our Putrajaya, nothing much to see except the government buildings. Well, I have to agree... May be because it was winter and raining, we didn't enjoy much. Anyway, at least I have been to Canberra, Goulburn and Wollongong. :)

My Life In Sydney - Part IV

The Hunter Valley is one of Australia's most famous wine growing regions, known for both its red and white wine varieties.

Like the Blue Mountain trip, my colleague and I joined a day tour. The day tour costs about AUD85 including lunch. Actually if you want to save money, it is much cheaper to rent a car and drive there, wine tasting is free anyway. However, you may not be able to enjoy the wine if you drove there.

We expected the tour to be in a group of 14 people. When the coach came then only we found out that we only had 6 people that day. We first stopped by the river side to have some biscuit and coffee together. The weather looked nice but it was really chilly there.






























A duck couple

The journey from Sydney to Hunter Valley took about 2 hours. Before we headed to the wineries, we first went for some cheese tasting at a shop called Smelly Cheese.

















Inside Smelly Cheese

The first winery we visited was De Bortoli Wines. Established in 1928, De Bortoli Wines is still family owned and proudly Australian. We tasted some white and red wine, including semillon, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, shiraz, merlot etc. I acted like a wine connoisseur although I didn’t really know how to tell between a good and bad wine.















There is no grape because of winter

We then went to the next winery – Peterson House. Peterson House is a maker of Premium Sparkling Wines, by the traditional methode champenoise process. There, again we tasted some white, red, sparkling and dessert wine. I started to feel drunk.





























Lunch at Peterson House

We had lunch at Peterson House and had a chat with each other before going to another winery.

Tempus Two is a winery famous for its attention to detail, including exclusive imported bottles, pewter labels, hand plunging of reds etc. But I was more impressed with the contemporary design of the winery itself. This time I did not enjoy the wine tasting much but paying more attention to the building and its interior.















Can you believe that this is actually a winery?











































Our last stop was at the Iron Gate estate. This winery has a much traditional building. Again, we tasted some wines and were given a quick behind the scene tour.
















Iron Gate Estate




















Grapes going through fermentation process in these stainless steel tanks

After 4 rounds of wine tasting, we had almost 30 glasses (1/3 of a glass) of wine. It was quite surprising that I was still standing. Normally I only drink 1 or 2 types of wine at one time and had no chance to compare one to another. This tour didn’t make me a wine connoisseur but at least I know what is a Semillon, a Chardonnay and a Shiraz. It’s really a good experience.

















I prefer white wine to red wine. What about you?