Weblog
Thursday, August 28, 2008
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Check out this website:
http://malaysiafinance.blogspot.com/
I kinda like it because it covers all the issues mainly on investments, economics, politics along with pretty girls photos at the side! Basically it all boils down to money and girl (ya ya very shallow and "worldly" I know), while you're tired reading business stuff you can "refresh" your eyes with those chicks' photo.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
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Kena saman
While it is not my first, I've been given summon receipts for few times given my frequent outstation travelling. It is inevitable, the part I hate about Malaysia is there is TOO MUCH flexibility. I followed the speed limit - 90km/hr along Shah Alam and 110km/hr along north south highway. I was stopped at the road block and to my "surprise" I got called into a corner. I demanded to know where I had gone over the limit, the police gave an unconvincing and casual answer.
He had a summon note on his hand but demanded to settle personally. To be honest, I had already paid a non bribed price before and it was quite a bit, my expenses this month is higher than the usual so I definitely have nothing against losing less of my money (不要和钱作对).
I know christians may give me advices like "better than you're against God with your actions" and stuff, but really what can you do if you're under such circumstance in Malaysia? If I am in Singapore and I really did sped, fine I accept it - the police shouldn't be wrong over there.
I really began to ponder, whether is it that I sped slightly over the limit for that short length of route which so happen to have camera (I was overtaking the car in front using the right lane) or I was just plain unfortunate.
Now you law abiding practical people in developed nation, isn't it more practical to bend the law at times in Malaysia?
Saturday, August 23, 2008
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Bangkok trip 2nd day
10th July 2008 night – special edition
Going naughty! (OMG what am I doing in their room?)
11th July 2008 –Floating Market
Finally! The much acclaimed cultural venue of Thailand – a must go so they claimed.
We rented a taxi there, the taxi driver sorta pakat-ed with the rent boat service there. In the end we agreed to rent the boat an hour for 300 bath (which is fairly reasonable, thanks to wai khay’s research on the price).
Wohoo~! Here we go!
Yes, we were pretty excited. To tour and shop on water channels on a boat was pretty unique and unordinary. The only water city that was in my mind before this was the “smokeless city” I built in warcraft3 map editor when I was 19, so you can imagine there ought to be some excitement in seeing this.
Of course, the water city and this water kampung ought to differ…vastly.
Basically the 3 of us have already set different roles while in the floating market…
Chee Kang….eat eat eat
Wai Khay….shop shop shop
David….snap snap snap
Chee Kang (happy cuz can eat a lot :p) and Wai Khay (not so excited mood cuz no nice stuff to shop)
Floating market – small market site
Basically floating market sells mainly decorations and wooden souvenirs, with a little bit of fruits and food along the way.
Fruits and spring rolls
Honestly speaking, it was rather a disappointment. I have always imagined a colorful, rich and noisy scene along the channels with boats barely squishing their way through…but it turned out those were just pictures painted on the tourism guidebook.
Making coconut biscuits…quite nice!
Floating market turned out to be just a few water channels with shops and boats selling stuff, and a coconut sugar processing plant.
But of course, things are not as bad though – I love the food and coconut plant there!
Coconut cream + coconut slices on a biscuit – very nice desu!
Fear factor? Chee Kang trying out fermented coconut drink
The fermented drink turned out to be nice, not to mention nasi pulut mango too! Yum yum!
Coconut sugar processing plant
Eating soup based mee on a boat was my first experience
11th July 2008 noon - Wat Arun
After the floating market, our subsequent destination was Wat Arun.
Wat Arun
Entering Thailand’s serious theme park – Wat Arun and the King’s palace
This place, my friend is the most grand, sacred, expensive venue for all of Thai’s socially high ranking people ranging from monks to the king himself.
Saw a monkey there? It was a depiction of “shun lu kong” (monkey king) learning something from the Thai religious figure (lets just call him Fergie)….
What is your guess on what is the monkey and others are doing with Fergie?
A) How to play play station
B) Learning the odds of who will be winning the current by-election for Permatang Pauh
C) Discussing about who will win English Premier League
The answer is….
..........................
..........................
..........................
C ah!!!!!!!! C for crap that is…
The golden wat
Initially we were pretty impressed with all these unique architectures and rich cultures, but after hours over seeing golden, pointy stuff and statues, we got bored.
Thai literatures and fairy tales painted alongside temple walls
Thai worshippers use lotus to worship their religious figures
We entered the temple that houses the jade Buddha, something like the most precious Buddha statue.
The hall has its 4 corners and ceiling painted with different creatures and structures, all facing towards the jade Buddha seated at the front. Shoes must be taken off, no cameras (not even non-flash) nor videos allowed and everyone must kneel down while entering the hall. Yeah, it was that sacred (hence the reason no actual photos of the hall were available here).
Things were taken so seriously with it that photos and videos are totally inhibited even if taken from OUTSIDE the hall – which is at least 30 metres away shielded with walls.
One thing I hate about the security is despite being such a distance away, tourists were hurdled with “curses” such as “If you record/take the photo, you will go to hell/ turn into a pig in your next reincarnation”
Of course, I was never going to give up – this was taken with 6x optical zoom.
Personal religious opinion ahead (warning to possible offenses ahead)
Of course, I never buy into the securities’ curses, simply because:
I have a bigger and real God
The jade Buddha photo taken by authorities and sold outside the hall.
On one hand no photos were allowed, the other photos were taken by authorities and sold outside. So much for earning money at the expense of “going to hell” right?
There was also a hall which houses the enthroning of the king, which photos are prohibited (understandable since it is made of pure gold and we were at very close proximity)
King’s palace
After enduring much heat, bumping onto wrong ends (we bumped into a university thinking it should offer cheap lunch) and long hours of continuous walking, we finally found a place to settle for lunch!
Very nice, cozy place with superb tasting food and reasonable price (50 bath per dish, 25bath per drink)
They serve lunch open air nearby the restaurant too, but you dare to eat meh? Quite dirty I reckon…
We headed to the nearest quay for a boat ride alongside the Chao Phraya river.
The river name sounds like a curse word “Chaaauu Phraya a…kanasai man”
Public transport boat 17bath per route
Some other famous wat la…I forgot the name
We forgo the temples as we got too sick of it and were too tired.
Chao Phraya river route
Somehow this boat transport system reminds me of Queensland, but of course, this is a smellier and less appealing version. :p
Sampheng street (near Yaowarat street)
Now, don’t you despise this petaling street look alike street – it is definitely much cheaper, nicer and longer!
In this crammed, humble looking walkway (much like hong kong streets in the 70s) lies many many more surprises of treasure!
So contradictive right, in the midst of old streets got one modern wholesaler. This is the shop where I bought all the cute girly stuff as souvenirs for all the female friends.
Football merchandise – look almost perfectly original (maybe in fact they ARE original)
Cute stuff
There were so many varieties of things to buy here they make Petaling Street look so normal.
SHOPPING WAS NEVER THAT FUN FOR A GUY!!
Seriously, these stuffs are so cheap, nice, delicate and well made I began to think whether does S&J (the new souvenirs and deco franchise) gets their stock from here (Think good business opportunity).
One Arsenal mini jersey key chain was sold for 40-50 bath there while the same thing costs RM12-15 here in Malaysia.
Chinatown
Welcome to Hong Kong everyone…in thai version that is – Chinatown!
Ads hanging all over the sky…I really think it looks like Hong Kong in the 70-80s lo
What’s next baby? Definitely Seafood!!!
Wohoo~! I’m gonna eat you fresh~
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Miss kiasu always take a snap before eating :p
BBQ prawns
Tom Yam Seafood (drooling…)
The oyster super big lo
Curry crab
And a lot more la!
Trust me, no thai seafood restaurants I dined in Malaysia before is as good and cheap as this. 1 plate BBQ prawns, 1 plate cockles, 1 plate friend rice, 1 tom yam seafood, 1 curry crab, 1 fried oyster with egg, and 1 milky crab for 1150 bath (RM115).
All in T&K Seafood restaurant! (along Yaowarat street).
Cabbages & Condoms:
If you were to ask me to which place is more worth going - floating market or the Cabbages and Condoms restaurant – I will definitely choose the later.
This is a restaurant opened by the “Condom King” of Thailand. Inside, you will find all sorts of things related to condoms and sex.
Education before sex
Please don’t mistake this for another episode of “Baba the elephant” cartoon. This one is not that educational ;)
Clothes and deco made of condoms
The food and drinks are very nice –though costly too
Very cozy environment
Date your girlfriend in Cabbages and Condoms, grab a free sample and head straight to bed after that – what perfect plan.
Apologies – not all special events/ photos covered.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
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Bangkok trip – July 2008
Finally!!! I managed to salvage time for this (1 month late sorry :p).
9th July 2008 – Arrived at Bangkok airport after much hustle from work to airport to Bangkok (p.s Air Asia isn’t very comfortable at all! But I am satisfied for the price though)
Not me (much handsome) and not my gf (much sexier). Sorry, don’t kill me for this :p
Trust me, the Bangkok airport is also very canggih – at least they have curved escalator.
First stop. Soi Cowboy – near our 4 star hotel (thanks to Kang’s dad who got it for RM100 per night!)
Soi Cowboy. Definitely a sin city.
Now Soi Cowboy has nothing to do with American style cow herding/ jeans/ US district, (though a decent looking American chick would be more than welcome :p) it is actually your Malaysian version of chau kit or what Cantonese call “kai tao” (chicken nest) LOL!
Trust me, you don’t wanna mess yourself around and get HIV as a souvenir. The first Bangkok flavored greeting I got arriving was a SCRATCH (ouch! a harsh one!) from one of the XX/ XY confused chromosome homosapien while all I did was touring around. I was so afraid of catching HIV that I have to keep reasoning to myself HIV can’t be transmitted through nails and there were no wound.
(Maybe she scratched me is because I negotiated for a price and then ignored her/him)
10th July 2008 (Thursday)
What kinda road sign is that?!
On the first day, Bangkok gave me the impression of a city comprising mainly of old streets but modern public transport. Although the streets were not as dirty of KL’s, the pedestrian walkways were pretty run down and packed with hawkers selling soup based mee.
First stop was the “ancient city”, a tourist attraction with all the small scale reconstructed version of important Thai buildings/ temples across the whole of Thailand.
Recreation of Wat Arun (me thinks)
The great thai king arises
The silver palace – look who is in the pic! It is said that queen Elizabeth visited this building, yada yada etc
Miniature models I like! It shows the actual surrounding of the palace, so cool!
It was supposed to be a nice place to visit but the constant rainfall really did manage to dampen our strong spirit. After 3 hours of being soaked my body was too tired to continually explore enthusiastically and my camera lens was already wet. The pictures that were taken turned out a pain.
Miniature version of famous-angkorwat-like-structure-which-I-forgot-the-name
Crocodile farm:
While I wasn’t too keen on crocodile farm because it should be your typical crocodile and alligators domicile with some crocodile show, the show turned out OK.
Ahh! Don’t step on my balls (notice the two coconut just outside his anus)
I think the tiger would be so frustrated it would tore me into pieces if I really did gave his balls a kick.
On top of the typical crocodiles, there were abnormal alligators/crocodiles kept in different enclosure
Tailless alligator.
Among other examples were almond coloured, black, curved tail, jawless etc.
But of course, they were all too smelly to endure watching.
It was said someone committed suicide by jumping into this. What painful alternative, death should be quick and painless.
Crocodile “fishing”
I reckon the crocodiles here weren’t treated well. Their pools were full of algae, their waste isn’t managed properly and worst still they were starved so that they would be other kids’ toy of fishing. Steve Irwin would probably felt upset seeing this from above.
Argh…I hate my job..
Heck! They even used their mouth to pick out the notes placed inside the crocodiles’ throat.
Everyday we as employees gave complaints about our conditions etc, but when I looked at these guys I really respect and pity them at the same time. Respect because for the sake of living, they have the courage to go through these ordeals over and over again for the majority of their career; pity because they don’t earn enough to live comfortably and I thought wage discrepancy should be lesser in Asian countries.
Thai uni students actually wear uniform, cool (somewhat uncool). But me likes their sexy uniform though :p
Gosh Wai Khay, so ham sup– touching shi hui’s butt (LOL!!)
Wai Khay even said it felt like carpet very nice to touch!
Nana street
Walking along nana street to hunt for local delicacies and sight seeing.
The most typical thing you see in Bangkok streets is row of 80s’ style shops (more like ss2 type) built parallel along modern public transport system of monorail/light rail transit, the best part is these monorail tracks have pedestrian tracks just right below (Not the pedestrian track on the ground). Hence walking and using public transport became convenient and practical.
Along Nana street
Nana street is the so called Arabian/middle east area. We wanted to opt for local thai delicacies but yet we ended up in a Lebanese restaurant – how ironic.
The only place in the world with Ronald Macdonald’s doing Sawadikap - “saw-a-D-cup” LOL
Trying out local delicacies – bbq meat.
Trust me, I was lying in the picture, it was so bad I practically forced myself to swallow it – after I took a closer look and discovered it is chicken lungs OMG!
Nvm la, 50 cents only.
At night:
We headed to Suan Lum night market (Lumphini station). Basically to sum it up, the night market consist of shop rows selling stuff ranging from decoration, accessories, food, to fashion.
Colorful plastic flower petals
Very nice lo the lights…(dunno what to describe more)
Oh yes, speaking of the night market, it also has a super huge sheltered night food court (something like ss2 one) along with a big screen. Trust me, we should do something similar here in Malaysia and it’ll sell well.
The night food court, open air experience but sheltered at the same time, along with nice food, performers (hot girls) and big screen playing EPL. What more do you expect? (kinda shallow, but its good enough la)
Patpong (Silom Soi 4)
With little time left, we headed to Patpong (8 pounds) after our dinner in Suam Lum. Basically it was another lower classed red light district area filled with pubs and thai girl show. Of course, if you ought to opt for shopping, there was also a (rip-off) night market area.
One of the things I like about Bangkok streets is the night scene. On one hand you have big roads and LRT; the other you see pedestrian streets jam packed with hawker stalls exactly adjacent to the main roads while advertisement boards fill in the gap above between the shops and the LRT routes.
Night scene in Bangkok.
Waiting for the train to come
Colorful taxis!
Friday, August 15, 2008
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Short note:
I know it was revealed the little girl singing was just miming and some fireworks were prerecorded. I read about criticisms labelling it a cheat/fake/doing no justice to audience/ china only cares about their own image (which is true in some sense). But come on, technically it wasn't a cheat, it was just different way of presentation. There is nothing "cheating" about a girl miming another girl's voice (discrimination part aside).
Australian papers were comparing the opening ceremony in Beijing to theirs in Sdyney dated 2000. They wrote theirs had more sense of humour while the chinese's was too serious. They even compared both girls who sang. Oh come on Australians, don't be so pathetic! Just because of your biased thinking that Australia is always the best doesn't mean that others can't be better than you are! There is a limit between loving your nation and joking yourself with what you said that offend others and makes no sense. First it was "winning the world cup" and now you can't take it that other country outshone your effort. You reap what you sow.
david_scz
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- Name: David
- Country: Malaysia
- Metro: Kuala Lumpur
- Birthday: 12/9/1985
- Gender: Male
- Member Since: 2/29/2004
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Currently under the "definement" period, have yet to set definitions on many ways of life
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