I thought I will skip the alphabetical order and go by geographic location. Our northern most state is Perlis and it is called a gem since it rare and hard to find. Hence Perlis is truly difficult to find...no I mean it literally. It is so small that if you are passed Kedah at high speed, you might hit the Thai border before its too late to stop. Many border disputes occurred because motorist or public buses couldn't stop in time as they enter Perlis and will hit the Thai border. Thank goodness we have an excellent relationship with Thailand. Also, Southern Thailand is so much more backward, they believe that it was always an accident to hit their border. "Who the heck wants to come here?" is what they will tell their superiors.
But when you do stop in time, lets see what Perlis has to offer. In its history, Perlis has been shipped to Siam, Thailand, Kedah, the British, Thailand, the British and finally to Malaya when we got our independence. If you stay in any part of Perlis even the state capital of Kangar, you will find yourself oozing into a puddle of complacency in less than 48 hours. It is a very slow paced life, peaceful and tranquil. Meaning you might die without knowing it.
But there are museums in Kangar which will display Perlis rich history in a room smaller than a shoe closet. Then there is Homestay in Ujung Bukit if you want to regress your life to a state of puddle complaceny and experience village life where you cycle to the village and knock into a buffalo.
The Perlis State Park for some reason is Perlis' top attraction. From what I am reading it says it showcases the longest continuous range of limestone hills which are 500 million years old. So it means old and ugly rocks right? Well there will be caves, tracks, animals, vegetation and a whole bunch of nature to enjoy but when your state's top attraction are old rock, you know you are in trouble.
There are recreational parks in Bukit Ayer and Lake Melati where you can sit by the lake and be bitten by ants or take a boat ride and be bitten by mosquitoes. You can enjoy fruit farms and be bitten by bugs or just enjoy the Snake and Reptile farm and be bitten by poisonous snakes. Take your pick! Perlis also had a pretty healthy agriculture industry in sugar cane and mangoes. The sugar cane plantation is called Chuping neat Bukit Chuping and the Harumanis Plantation is famous for its mangoes. Hey I like Sugar Cane and Mangoes.
Padang Besar is the town at the Thai border and it is a respectable shopping location with many reasonable (cheap) stuff. You can also visit the Wang Kelian Sunday Market which ride to will take you across all the attractions I mentioned to the Nakawan Range at the Thai border. It is actually situated inside Thailand but they do allow visitors in without passports and you can spot duty free goods.
There are Pasar Tani (farm goods markets) and Pasar Malam (night markets)in different towns across Perlis. With so many "attractions" and its indecisiveness of joining which country, I suggested that we sell Perlis to Thailand to raise funds to combat our recession. So come visit soonest.
As you are in the north and making you way down to Kedah, you will stop in one of the most vibrant and popular tourist spots in Malaysia and that is....
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Visit Malaysia - Part 2 : Kedah
Here in the great state of Kedah (motto : We have rice coming out of our wazoo!), the most you will see are flat lands made up of paddy fields. Its nicknamed the "Rice Bowl of Malaysia" as it is our largest producer of our staple diet. However, that doesn't mean it is boring and sucks to the very depth of your soul. No sir it isn't. Damn close but it isn't. Kedah's most popular tourist spot is Pulau Langkawi or Langkawi Island. It has an international airport and its a pretty darn good place just to chill and be a surfer dude wannabe. So we start with Langkawi.
1) Langkawi
It is an island resort that is followed by a very romantic and mythical story (read totally unbelievable) about a person named Mashuri who cursed the island for 7 generations after she was framed and bled white to symbolize her innocence. I would have just taken off at that point! So Langkawi stayed in the backwater of Malaysian social economy until the alleged 7th generation passed on and our previous Prime Minister turned it into a major tourist attraction.
The biggest town on the island is Kuah Town where you will find some duty free shops and some decent restaurants but the island resorts are off town and there are many that you can choose from. Check out the many beaches that are washed by the Andaman Sea like Pantai Cenang, Pantai Kok, Burau Bay, Tanjung Rhu and Datai Beach. From Tanjung Rhu, you can see the shores of Thailand.
The places you should check are the Pulau Payar Marine Park where you can feed baby sharks against colourful corals and diverse marine lives. Another is Sungai Kilim where you can take a cruise along this river and savour the beautiful mix of mangrove forests, white sandy beaches and blue lagoons. You will also be taken to a floating village where you can have lunch and check out the fish farms that are found on the village. Along this cruise, you will get to see how the eagles are fed as raw chicken pieces are thrown into the river and a huge swarm of eagles like a scene from some horrific horror movie will come swooping down and you will think that they are going to pluck your eye balls and any other dangling body parts away!!! Not that I am afraid.
The Tasik Dayang Bunting (Pregnant Maiden Lake) is actually a volcano crater so that means it is SUPER deep and dark emerald in colour. Swimming in it is really relaxing if you don't keep imagining some deep sea monster coming up to pull you down and having you for supper! The legend of this lake comes from a tale of a heavenly princess who married a mortal prince. The had a child which died soon after birth (maybe from eagle feeding scare!) and was buried at the lake. As she returned to heaven, she blessed the lake so that should a childless woman baths in the lake, she will conceive soon after. Hardly an ad for birth control! So single girls, be careful when you swim here. Pls wear protection.
Underwater World of Langkawi is a giant aquarium with many interesting marine lives like sharks, rays, arapaimas, penguins etc. Then it is a hop away to the Langkawi Cable Car. It is in the Malaysian Book of Records for something but I am too lazy to find out but the view is fantastic. Situated at Burau Bay it also boast an impressive attraction of a 125m suspension bridge. At the foot of the cable car station, you can enjoy an Oriental Village where they sell an assortment of trinkets and souvenirs.
It would not be complete unless you visit the Tomb of Mashuri at Kota Mashuri. Also you will see Beras Hitam or Black Rice where the Langkawi people burned the paddy fields to stop the Siamese soldiers from having food. Till today the rice growing on these fields are black.
There is a Langkawi Wildlife Park which houses many animals in its natural habitat. If by now you are not sick of seeing animals or aspire to be the next Jacques Cousteau, this is a great place to visit. As for me, if I see another bird....
Langkawi is also the accorded the Global Geopark status by UNESCO for the preservation of its geological heritage. The park has been dubbed the "birthplace" or "fetus of the land" of our region and it has history dati8ng back to 550 million years. There are 3 geoforest that you can visit. The Machinchyang Cambrian dubbed the "fallopian tube", the Kilim Karst dubbed the "Placenta" and the Dayan bunting Marble dubbed the "Colon". All said and done, best to go with a guide or you might just poke your eye out with an ancient stick since you climbed all the way up to see some really old and mis-shapen rocks. So the guide will help you appreciate it more and dispel and suicidal tendencies.
After Langkawi, the rest of Kedah seems very backward. So you are not faulted for skipping it altogether unless you are driving up to Southern Thailand. Still some good places to mention are:-
- Lembah Bujang and Kuala Kedah museums, white water rafting in Sungai Sedim.
- The world's longest tree top walk at Guning Inas Forest Reserve situated along Sungai Sedim.
- Lasor Eco Park for 4x4 enthusiasts
- Ulu Legong Hot springs
- Merbok River Cruise about 10km from Sungai Petani town
- Homestays at Kampung Relau at Kulim and Kampung Raga at Yan
- State capital, Alor Star
Before you know it, its time to move to...
1) Langkawi
It is an island resort that is followed by a very romantic and mythical story (read totally unbelievable) about a person named Mashuri who cursed the island for 7 generations after she was framed and bled white to symbolize her innocence. I would have just taken off at that point! So Langkawi stayed in the backwater of Malaysian social economy until the alleged 7th generation passed on and our previous Prime Minister turned it into a major tourist attraction.
The biggest town on the island is Kuah Town where you will find some duty free shops and some decent restaurants but the island resorts are off town and there are many that you can choose from. Check out the many beaches that are washed by the Andaman Sea like Pantai Cenang, Pantai Kok, Burau Bay, Tanjung Rhu and Datai Beach. From Tanjung Rhu, you can see the shores of Thailand.
The places you should check are the Pulau Payar Marine Park where you can feed baby sharks against colourful corals and diverse marine lives. Another is Sungai Kilim where you can take a cruise along this river and savour the beautiful mix of mangrove forests, white sandy beaches and blue lagoons. You will also be taken to a floating village where you can have lunch and check out the fish farms that are found on the village. Along this cruise, you will get to see how the eagles are fed as raw chicken pieces are thrown into the river and a huge swarm of eagles like a scene from some horrific horror movie will come swooping down and you will think that they are going to pluck your eye balls and any other dangling body parts away!!! Not that I am afraid.
The Tasik Dayang Bunting (Pregnant Maiden Lake) is actually a volcano crater so that means it is SUPER deep and dark emerald in colour. Swimming in it is really relaxing if you don't keep imagining some deep sea monster coming up to pull you down and having you for supper! The legend of this lake comes from a tale of a heavenly princess who married a mortal prince. The had a child which died soon after birth (maybe from eagle feeding scare!) and was buried at the lake. As she returned to heaven, she blessed the lake so that should a childless woman baths in the lake, she will conceive soon after. Hardly an ad for birth control! So single girls, be careful when you swim here. Pls wear protection.
Underwater World of Langkawi is a giant aquarium with many interesting marine lives like sharks, rays, arapaimas, penguins etc. Then it is a hop away to the Langkawi Cable Car. It is in the Malaysian Book of Records for something but I am too lazy to find out but the view is fantastic. Situated at Burau Bay it also boast an impressive attraction of a 125m suspension bridge. At the foot of the cable car station, you can enjoy an Oriental Village where they sell an assortment of trinkets and souvenirs.
It would not be complete unless you visit the Tomb of Mashuri at Kota Mashuri. Also you will see Beras Hitam or Black Rice where the Langkawi people burned the paddy fields to stop the Siamese soldiers from having food. Till today the rice growing on these fields are black.
There is a Langkawi Wildlife Park which houses many animals in its natural habitat. If by now you are not sick of seeing animals or aspire to be the next Jacques Cousteau, this is a great place to visit. As for me, if I see another bird....
Langkawi is also the accorded the Global Geopark status by UNESCO for the preservation of its geological heritage. The park has been dubbed the "birthplace" or "fetus of the land" of our region and it has history dati8ng back to 550 million years. There are 3 geoforest that you can visit. The Machinchyang Cambrian dubbed the "fallopian tube", the Kilim Karst dubbed the "Placenta" and the Dayan bunting Marble dubbed the "Colon". All said and done, best to go with a guide or you might just poke your eye out with an ancient stick since you climbed all the way up to see some really old and mis-shapen rocks. So the guide will help you appreciate it more and dispel and suicidal tendencies.
After Langkawi, the rest of Kedah seems very backward. So you are not faulted for skipping it altogether unless you are driving up to Southern Thailand. Still some good places to mention are:-
- Lembah Bujang and Kuala Kedah museums, white water rafting in Sungai Sedim.
- The world's longest tree top walk at Guning Inas Forest Reserve situated along Sungai Sedim.
- Lasor Eco Park for 4x4 enthusiasts
- Ulu Legong Hot springs
- Merbok River Cruise about 10km from Sungai Petani town
- Homestays at Kampung Relau at Kulim and Kampung Raga at Yan
- State capital, Alor Star
Before you know it, its time to move to...
Visit Malaysia Please!! We need the job and the funds! - Part 1 : Johor
Well, its not all that bad in Malaysia and if just like any other Muslim country, we too have been victims of western propaganda and this is also partly due to our leaders being real morons! Malaysia for all the publicity its been getting, is really a very cool and nice place to hang out. Despite what you read, the majority of Malaysians are very hospitable, friendly and helpful....as long as they are not cab drivers. We all co-exist in peace despite calls from certain quarters (ie Islamic Religious Department and UMNO) to not befriend non-Muslims as we will lead the Muslims astray. If you are a practicing Muslim in Malaysia, you would think that Malaysians Muslims are a bunch of donkeys who are SOOOO easily enticed and tempted into sinning.
So to set some of the record straight, I would like to give you an update on some of the more interesting and exciting tourist spots here in Malaysia. Some of them are taken from brochures, websites and some personal experiences. Here we go in alphabetical order, talking about the Southern State of Johor (motto: What do mean the Wild West is gone?).
A) Johor
It is our southernmost state and connected to Singapore via 2 highways. It's capital, Johor Baru has very modern establishments for shopping and night life. It has really weird, unchecked and not at all subtle night spots with names like "Papaya Farm". You can shop for cheap use car parts which were probably taken from your car after it was jacked from you.
Unfortunately the current Johor royal family is made up of real imbeciles who can't even spell their names or tie their own shoe laces. They bully the commoners and pick fights to compensate for their lack of wiener size. So if you see a Johor royalty car, pls flash a book (since they probably can't read) which is like Kryptonite to them and avoid them at all costs.
However, there are some interesting places other than JB.
1) Some interesting buildings - Dominating the JB skyline is Sultan Ibrahim skyline which reflects both local and colonial architecture. There is also the Grand Palace, Royal Sultan Abu Bakar Museum and the Sultan Abu Bakar Mosque. They were named after successful, elegant and well respected previous Sultans.
2) Gunung Ledang or Mount Phir
Its the mythical mountain which is very popular to trekkers. It has a beautiful waterfall at the base of the mountain for the less adventurous. This mountain also spakrs off a lot of really interesting stories.
3) Endau-Rompin National Park
It is one of our largest virgin lowland forest and is a major conservation area where a large and diverse flora and fauna is found. I went there once with Microsoft on a 4x4 challenge and let me just say, there were lots and lots of bugs and leaches.
4) Desaru
It is the most popular beach resort south of the peninsula. Just like any beach resort, it has water sports but it also has an interesting agro-tour and Desaru Fruit Farm tour. Nearby, they have fireflies at the Lebam River.
5) Tanjong Piai
This is an environmental sanctuary made up of coastal mangroves and is home to may species of birds and of course..BUGS and LEACHES!!!!
6) Nasoha Spices and Herbs Paradise
It lies near the town of Pagoh where it is the home to hundreds of medicinal plants. I am just spreading the net here to catch as many interests as possible ok?
7) Islands of Mersing
The most famous being Tioman, which is a very commercialized (read civilized) island resort. But there are other dive spots like Dayang Island, Lang Island and Pinang Island which is a must try if you want to live on the edge. They are all within the Johor Marine Park
So there you go. I will start posting more tourist spots by states which I hope will give you a clearer view of our country. Bon Voyage!
So to set some of the record straight, I would like to give you an update on some of the more interesting and exciting tourist spots here in Malaysia. Some of them are taken from brochures, websites and some personal experiences. Here we go in alphabetical order, talking about the Southern State of Johor (motto: What do mean the Wild West is gone?).
A) Johor
It is our southernmost state and connected to Singapore via 2 highways. It's capital, Johor Baru has very modern establishments for shopping and night life. It has really weird, unchecked and not at all subtle night spots with names like "Papaya Farm". You can shop for cheap use car parts which were probably taken from your car after it was jacked from you.
Unfortunately the current Johor royal family is made up of real imbeciles who can't even spell their names or tie their own shoe laces. They bully the commoners and pick fights to compensate for their lack of wiener size. So if you see a Johor royalty car, pls flash a book (since they probably can't read) which is like Kryptonite to them and avoid them at all costs.
However, there are some interesting places other than JB.
1) Some interesting buildings - Dominating the JB skyline is Sultan Ibrahim skyline which reflects both local and colonial architecture. There is also the Grand Palace, Royal Sultan Abu Bakar Museum and the Sultan Abu Bakar Mosque. They were named after successful, elegant and well respected previous Sultans.
2) Gunung Ledang or Mount Phir
Its the mythical mountain which is very popular to trekkers. It has a beautiful waterfall at the base of the mountain for the less adventurous. This mountain also spakrs off a lot of really interesting stories.
3) Endau-Rompin National Park
It is one of our largest virgin lowland forest and is a major conservation area where a large and diverse flora and fauna is found. I went there once with Microsoft on a 4x4 challenge and let me just say, there were lots and lots of bugs and leaches.
4) Desaru
It is the most popular beach resort south of the peninsula. Just like any beach resort, it has water sports but it also has an interesting agro-tour and Desaru Fruit Farm tour. Nearby, they have fireflies at the Lebam River.
5) Tanjong Piai
This is an environmental sanctuary made up of coastal mangroves and is home to may species of birds and of course..BUGS and LEACHES!!!!
6) Nasoha Spices and Herbs Paradise
It lies near the town of Pagoh where it is the home to hundreds of medicinal plants. I am just spreading the net here to catch as many interests as possible ok?
7) Islands of Mersing
The most famous being Tioman, which is a very commercialized (read civilized) island resort. But there are other dive spots like Dayang Island, Lang Island and Pinang Island which is a must try if you want to live on the edge. They are all within the Johor Marine Park
So there you go. I will start posting more tourist spots by states which I hope will give you a clearer view of our country. Bon Voyage!
Service with foreign frown!
There is a very worrying trend that seems to be growing in KL's service industry and it is the influx of foreign workers in restaurants and hotels. While I am not against foreigners looking for a better life in my country, I draw the line when they have these FREAKING foreigners who work in a particular restaurant but have no idea what the menu is about, don't understand the language or the menu content and screws up my orders. One such incident happened at a Cantonese restaurant called Canton Bay at Sunway Pyramid.
Don't mistake it for Canton-i, which is a spin off from Dragon-i, serving good Cantonese dishes. There are many such restaurants like Canton-i. For example Kim Gary, Prince Cafe (in SS2) and Char Chan Teng. While they serve good quality dishes, they also have Cantonese or Mandarin speaking servers who are knowledgeable about the food and the menu.
What this really ridiculous Canton Bay has is a bunch of Burmese or Vietnamese who have no idea what the dishes on the menu are, who cannot recommend anything, can't tell you what ingredients it contain and worst off, because they don't know, they will screw up your order. What's even life threateningly worse, I spoke to them in English. I cannot understand why the owners will hire someone who cannot complement their establishment at all, to be their client facing people. To really, REALLY top it off, there wasn't a captain or a manager who can speak Cantonese in the restaurant. So there really was no one to help the people who are paying and will potential pay you some more.
I was there to try Canton Bay for the first time since I really enjoy Cantonese cuisine and I need my dose of Char Siew (honey grilled pork) and Siew Yok (roast pork). When I asked if they had it, the lady at the reception nodded enthusiastically. When I sat down and saw the menu, they had Chicken Char Siew. That should have been my cue to leave. The fool that I was, stayed back and continued my ordeal.
I was with my in-laws and my wife and she had to leave early so we asked if her dish can be served first. The waiter said ok and left. We waited 15 minutes for it. I didn't know if the waiter didn't understand, just pure lazy, pure apathy or just plain stupid not to at least inform us that it would take 15 minutes. Other dishes were also screwed up and when we told them, there was no apology or even any attempt to feel apologetic. Not even a smile. There were 10-12 workers running around but with nothing done. It was just incredible and if you know Cantonese dishes, they are relatively easy to prepare. So we weren't sure why the long wait for something we wanted urgently and why the screw up when they have so many workers and not that many tables.
So I paid the bill there for the last time. They gave me a discount card, which I left on the table and I walked out for the last time. I can't really blame the foreign workers seeing that they may their own challenges but I am not here to say gracious things about them either.
So I would recommend you try Canton Bay, which is at Sunway Pyramid's old wing just above McDonald's. But only if you want to see some Burmese waiter screw up your order and a bunch of them running around trying to look busy. I hope they choke on their Chicken Char Siew!!
Don't mistake it for Canton-i, which is a spin off from Dragon-i, serving good Cantonese dishes. There are many such restaurants like Canton-i. For example Kim Gary, Prince Cafe (in SS2) and Char Chan Teng. While they serve good quality dishes, they also have Cantonese or Mandarin speaking servers who are knowledgeable about the food and the menu.
What this really ridiculous Canton Bay has is a bunch of Burmese or Vietnamese who have no idea what the dishes on the menu are, who cannot recommend anything, can't tell you what ingredients it contain and worst off, because they don't know, they will screw up your order. What's even life threateningly worse, I spoke to them in English. I cannot understand why the owners will hire someone who cannot complement their establishment at all, to be their client facing people. To really, REALLY top it off, there wasn't a captain or a manager who can speak Cantonese in the restaurant. So there really was no one to help the people who are paying and will potential pay you some more.
I was there to try Canton Bay for the first time since I really enjoy Cantonese cuisine and I need my dose of Char Siew (honey grilled pork) and Siew Yok (roast pork). When I asked if they had it, the lady at the reception nodded enthusiastically. When I sat down and saw the menu, they had Chicken Char Siew. That should have been my cue to leave. The fool that I was, stayed back and continued my ordeal.
I was with my in-laws and my wife and she had to leave early so we asked if her dish can be served first. The waiter said ok and left. We waited 15 minutes for it. I didn't know if the waiter didn't understand, just pure lazy, pure apathy or just plain stupid not to at least inform us that it would take 15 minutes. Other dishes were also screwed up and when we told them, there was no apology or even any attempt to feel apologetic. Not even a smile. There were 10-12 workers running around but with nothing done. It was just incredible and if you know Cantonese dishes, they are relatively easy to prepare. So we weren't sure why the long wait for something we wanted urgently and why the screw up when they have so many workers and not that many tables.
So I paid the bill there for the last time. They gave me a discount card, which I left on the table and I walked out for the last time. I can't really blame the foreign workers seeing that they may their own challenges but I am not here to say gracious things about them either.
So I would recommend you try Canton Bay, which is at Sunway Pyramid's old wing just above McDonald's. But only if you want to see some Burmese waiter screw up your order and a bunch of them running around trying to look busy. I hope they choke on their Chicken Char Siew!!
Friday, December 26, 2008
The Modern Age - Are we NUTS??!!
I am in the IT industry and everyday I read about the latest and funkiest inventions and innovations that are coming out of these researchers' wazoo! Just take a basic PC (I bet half of you don't even know what PC stands for). When I started out 16 years ago, it had 2 colours; amber and green. Back then the computer or mainframe did some serious calculation for us but it needed days to do it and hardware the size of a whole Amazon village. Games were very 2 dimensional in the sense that it had a line moving horizontally and "hitting" a "ball" which was a moving dot over to the other side who had the same horizontal thingy. That took all our attention.
In today's world, our PCs are running off 1-4 GB of RAM or memory. That was the entire database of a large conglomerate back in the 80s. Today's PC has graphics that show gaming characters to be lively, vibrant and very human like. I think next they will have holographic images that can jump out and have an actual high-speed car chase in my living room.
However, I did read a recent article stating how household appliances are also getting smarter. This is very typical of the West. What's the point of making some appliance smarter that an average human user when an average normal user can't even stop the blinking "12:00" in a 20 year old VCR technology. Also these Westerners will make movies where there are Robots in the future or a central computer controlling our all appliances in the city and then one day....BAM!!! They turn against you, chop people into McNuggets and take over the world!! They make these movies but they don't pay attention to them. Didn't they watch "Terminator"?????
I did read about it and even saw some of these appliances sometime back. Smart devices like a refrigerator who can tell when you are out of milk, eggs, etc, a dishwasher or microwave that you can turn on from the office and a bathroom scale that transmits your weight to the gym. I am not sure why you NEED to turn on your appliances from the office. Are bosses impressed by it these days? It takes about 6-8 minutes to cook up a microwave dinner. That's shorter that it takes for a woman to undress, let alone shower, freshen up, etc. It's shorter that it takes for us men to scratch ourselves. What's the time constraint you are trying to solve here?
You don't need to start a dishwasher from the office, just invent one who will know you put dirty dishes on the kitchen counter or sink and it will yell at you, "Hey MORON!, Put those dishes here or I will tell the toilet bowl to flush upwards next time!". Likewise I don't need a fridge to tell me when the milk or eggs are out. I already have 2 VERY full proof systems today. My Mom and my wife. I would rather a fridge who knows I am going for my 4th helping of leftovers or snacks in the last 2 hours and refuse to open the door. I don't even want to know why anyone would want to transmit their body weight to the gym or anyway. I will be having nightmares of those tight body trainers at the gym laughing hysterically at my weight every time it comes in, "Oh My God! He is STILL growing!!!"
The horror is when the appliances learn to talk to each other.
Scale, "Did you know he put on another 2 kg last night1" The nerve of him. When he stepped on me, I could feel my alternator dual coil translucent modulator hanging on for dear life!";
Fridge, "What do you expect? That human whale ate a tub of Baskin Robbins and some onion dip right off the container. I am surprised he hasn't exploded yet!".
Toilet Bowl, "When he sits, his ass just spills all over my seat like a freaking cupcake!!".
Another thing is the user manual. Most look like its written by Martians with dyslexic problems. The have statements like "To enable the VGA demodulator for visual crispness, Enter the Command Monitoring Mode, select Edit and then change the default to reflect the situation in the Middle East to random focus and then bring the cosine after you removed the x from Pi."
So to those crack-smoking, exhaust-inhaling appliance researchers, we don't want our appliances to be smarter than us. We want them dumb like furniture or some of our Members of Parliament. I am sure my PC is already smart. In fact while I am typing these words, it is passing its time calculating all the text returns of Peninsula Malaysia as well as translating the works of Deepak Chopra to Rap. It may also be communicating to other appliances trying to stop me from advocating against smart appliances. In fact at any time, it may just pull th
In today's world, our PCs are running off 1-4 GB of RAM or memory. That was the entire database of a large conglomerate back in the 80s. Today's PC has graphics that show gaming characters to be lively, vibrant and very human like. I think next they will have holographic images that can jump out and have an actual high-speed car chase in my living room.
However, I did read a recent article stating how household appliances are also getting smarter. This is very typical of the West. What's the point of making some appliance smarter that an average human user when an average normal user can't even stop the blinking "12:00" in a 20 year old VCR technology. Also these Westerners will make movies where there are Robots in the future or a central computer controlling our all appliances in the city and then one day....BAM!!! They turn against you, chop people into McNuggets and take over the world!! They make these movies but they don't pay attention to them. Didn't they watch "Terminator"?????
I did read about it and even saw some of these appliances sometime back. Smart devices like a refrigerator who can tell when you are out of milk, eggs, etc, a dishwasher or microwave that you can turn on from the office and a bathroom scale that transmits your weight to the gym. I am not sure why you NEED to turn on your appliances from the office. Are bosses impressed by it these days? It takes about 6-8 minutes to cook up a microwave dinner. That's shorter that it takes for a woman to undress, let alone shower, freshen up, etc. It's shorter that it takes for us men to scratch ourselves. What's the time constraint you are trying to solve here?
You don't need to start a dishwasher from the office, just invent one who will know you put dirty dishes on the kitchen counter or sink and it will yell at you, "Hey MORON!, Put those dishes here or I will tell the toilet bowl to flush upwards next time!". Likewise I don't need a fridge to tell me when the milk or eggs are out. I already have 2 VERY full proof systems today. My Mom and my wife. I would rather a fridge who knows I am going for my 4th helping of leftovers or snacks in the last 2 hours and refuse to open the door. I don't even want to know why anyone would want to transmit their body weight to the gym or anyway. I will be having nightmares of those tight body trainers at the gym laughing hysterically at my weight every time it comes in, "Oh My God! He is STILL growing!!!"
The horror is when the appliances learn to talk to each other.
Scale, "Did you know he put on another 2 kg last night1" The nerve of him. When he stepped on me, I could feel my alternator dual coil translucent modulator hanging on for dear life!";
Fridge, "What do you expect? That human whale ate a tub of Baskin Robbins and some onion dip right off the container. I am surprised he hasn't exploded yet!".
Toilet Bowl, "When he sits, his ass just spills all over my seat like a freaking cupcake!!".
Another thing is the user manual. Most look like its written by Martians with dyslexic problems. The have statements like "To enable the VGA demodulator for visual crispness, Enter the Command Monitoring Mode, select Edit and then change the default to reflect the situation in the Middle East to random focus and then bring the cosine after you removed the x from Pi."
So to those crack-smoking, exhaust-inhaling appliance researchers, we don't want our appliances to be smarter than us. We want them dumb like furniture or some of our Members of Parliament. I am sure my PC is already smart. In fact while I am typing these words, it is passing its time calculating all the text returns of Peninsula Malaysia as well as translating the works of Deepak Chopra to Rap. It may also be communicating to other appliances trying to stop me from advocating against smart appliances. In fact at any time, it may just pull th
Monday, December 22, 2008
No English pls, we are Chinese
I am not sure what the hubbub is about based on recent comments made by this Chinese group who plans to go on a nationwide protest if the Government goes ahead to teach Maths and Science in English in Chinese schools. The president of Jiao Zong, the United Chinese School Teachers Association said they will go on strike since it will deteriorate the Mandarin language. I personally think it was very myopic of this association.
While they are very concerned about losing the proficiency in Mandarin, they don't seem to care about losing proficiency in the English language. If you have spoken to about 75% of our university students, you will know what I mean. I did interview some of our brightest from our best universities and many of them either did not understand what I was saying or couldn't even string a decent sentence together.
I am not talking about going for debates or reciting Shakespeare. I am talking about having a simple conversation in English. Some of them even asked if the interview could be conducted in Malay. This came from both Chinese and Malay graduates. The Malays want us to only speak Malay and the Chinese only want to learn Mandarin. No wonder we are SOOOO screwed up!! Maybe I should campaign for us speaking Hindi or Tamil as well!
It seems Malaysians are just conducting businesses with Malays and Chinese speaking people only. The biggest economies are in Eastern Europe, India, China and the US. While these countries are definitely very proud of their language and heritage, they are learning to speak many languages. An average educated European will be able to speak English, French, German and their own mother tongue. An average Indian can definitely speak English, Hindi and their own dialect. We pride ourselves of having a multi-cultural society but we don't want to assimmilate amongst overselves.
While I have a lot of respect for countries who are trying to have one language to encourage national integration, I really think that it is still very myopic of them, like Thailand and Indonesia. I think they will be a lot better off if only they encouraged speaking English. When I was in Hong Kong, China and Korea, there were lots of classifieds, advertising people who can be paid by the hour to converse English with. While we were there, my son and I were always followed by people who wanted to speak English with us. This was especially so in Korea. And here we are, trying to kill it. What arrogance and ignorance.
My kids go to a Chinese school not because I think the Chinese school system is better. In many ways it is not. Many of my generation were brought up in a "Kebangsaan" or Malay school and we turned out fine. I sent my kids to a Chinese school for them to learn and be proficient in Mandarin and forgive me for being ignorant but I think teaching 2 subjects in English is hardly going to diminish the proficiency of Mandarin!
The again, what the heck do I know!
So, I just want to say to this group, that they can go ahead and protest. I want balance for the future generation and I want them to learn as many languages as possible. Not because I am a Chindian but you can poll other Chinese and see the results for themselves. No one appointed these guys as our spoke people so they can go jump in a very deep lake and have bacteria and fungus crawl up their colon and lay a colony of puss inducing lavae. (Maybe I overdid that statement).
For this, I do salute the Education Ministry for taking the right steps and not reacting rashly. So for the sake of our young ones, let us learn more than 1 language. Maybe I should have written this in Chinese since I bet they don't know what the heck I just wrote, Probably wondering what puss is!!
While they are very concerned about losing the proficiency in Mandarin, they don't seem to care about losing proficiency in the English language. If you have spoken to about 75% of our university students, you will know what I mean. I did interview some of our brightest from our best universities and many of them either did not understand what I was saying or couldn't even string a decent sentence together.
I am not talking about going for debates or reciting Shakespeare. I am talking about having a simple conversation in English. Some of them even asked if the interview could be conducted in Malay. This came from both Chinese and Malay graduates. The Malays want us to only speak Malay and the Chinese only want to learn Mandarin. No wonder we are SOOOO screwed up!! Maybe I should campaign for us speaking Hindi or Tamil as well!
It seems Malaysians are just conducting businesses with Malays and Chinese speaking people only. The biggest economies are in Eastern Europe, India, China and the US. While these countries are definitely very proud of their language and heritage, they are learning to speak many languages. An average educated European will be able to speak English, French, German and their own mother tongue. An average Indian can definitely speak English, Hindi and their own dialect. We pride ourselves of having a multi-cultural society but we don't want to assimmilate amongst overselves.
While I have a lot of respect for countries who are trying to have one language to encourage national integration, I really think that it is still very myopic of them, like Thailand and Indonesia. I think they will be a lot better off if only they encouraged speaking English. When I was in Hong Kong, China and Korea, there were lots of classifieds, advertising people who can be paid by the hour to converse English with. While we were there, my son and I were always followed by people who wanted to speak English with us. This was especially so in Korea. And here we are, trying to kill it. What arrogance and ignorance.
My kids go to a Chinese school not because I think the Chinese school system is better. In many ways it is not. Many of my generation were brought up in a "Kebangsaan" or Malay school and we turned out fine. I sent my kids to a Chinese school for them to learn and be proficient in Mandarin and forgive me for being ignorant but I think teaching 2 subjects in English is hardly going to diminish the proficiency of Mandarin!
The again, what the heck do I know!
So, I just want to say to this group, that they can go ahead and protest. I want balance for the future generation and I want them to learn as many languages as possible. Not because I am a Chindian but you can poll other Chinese and see the results for themselves. No one appointed these guys as our spoke people so they can go jump in a very deep lake and have bacteria and fungus crawl up their colon and lay a colony of puss inducing lavae. (Maybe I overdid that statement).
For this, I do salute the Education Ministry for taking the right steps and not reacting rashly. So for the sake of our young ones, let us learn more than 1 language. Maybe I should have written this in Chinese since I bet they don't know what the heck I just wrote, Probably wondering what puss is!!
On to Vista!!
Hidey Ho readers! Merry Xmas folks, for those waiting in anticipation of my favourite holiday. Happy holidays for those just getting an extra day off. Shortly after my last entry, my PC was attacked by something which took over the browser and then didn't allow me to boot the PC. Worst, I can't even use the Windows XP CD to re-format and boot my PC (my Windows XP is original ok?). So I had to do the dreaded thing!
Which was to install Vista on PC. Let me sum up all my years of reading English, listening to others and all the education I have gotten into 3 word to describe the Vista upgrade experience. That is "It was cool!". By the way, my Vista was original too. The perks of STILL having friends in Microsoft.
The whole experience took very little time (bear in mind this is Microsoft Windows we are talking about, so little time may still be longer than a Mac) and there was very little intervention from the user. I am still tweaking the pictures and settings and all the other stuff for my PC and it has been a pretty darn good experience. At this moment (only 2 days since installation), I am really savouring Vista.
Though my comment would be, that it looks a lot like a Mac OS. I don't know who copied who and since I am no longer in Microsoft, I neither care nor wanna know. However, I would recommend Vista (unless something tragic happens to my PC) highly if for just the speed and the look n feel. However, all good things come with a price.
The price is a high RAM configuration. I am using the Vista Ultimate and I bumped up my RAM to 4GB. If you don't want to move it up, there are other versions you can choose from, which I am not going into details. It's also best to have a good CPU speed.
For a while now, I have been steadily building my interest and liking for the Mac. The Mac Book and Air Mac is really something extraordinary. It's really a good toss up between these Vista and OS X. To me, either is just as good. Vista will have LOTS of problems with virus, worms, bacteria, antigens, etc. OS X will have to get more apps on it.
So all said and done, have fun with your PC, whichever you choose. If you kids don't have a PC or Mac, this is the best time to get them one. Happy surfing and Merry Xmas!!
Which was to install Vista on PC. Let me sum up all my years of reading English, listening to others and all the education I have gotten into 3 word to describe the Vista upgrade experience. That is "It was cool!". By the way, my Vista was original too. The perks of STILL having friends in Microsoft.
The whole experience took very little time (bear in mind this is Microsoft Windows we are talking about, so little time may still be longer than a Mac) and there was very little intervention from the user. I am still tweaking the pictures and settings and all the other stuff for my PC and it has been a pretty darn good experience. At this moment (only 2 days since installation), I am really savouring Vista.
Though my comment would be, that it looks a lot like a Mac OS. I don't know who copied who and since I am no longer in Microsoft, I neither care nor wanna know. However, I would recommend Vista (unless something tragic happens to my PC) highly if for just the speed and the look n feel. However, all good things come with a price.
The price is a high RAM configuration. I am using the Vista Ultimate and I bumped up my RAM to 4GB. If you don't want to move it up, there are other versions you can choose from, which I am not going into details. It's also best to have a good CPU speed.
For a while now, I have been steadily building my interest and liking for the Mac. The Mac Book and Air Mac is really something extraordinary. It's really a good toss up between these Vista and OS X. To me, either is just as good. Vista will have LOTS of problems with virus, worms, bacteria, antigens, etc. OS X will have to get more apps on it.
So all said and done, have fun with your PC, whichever you choose. If you kids don't have a PC or Mac, this is the best time to get them one. Happy surfing and Merry Xmas!!
Saturday, December 13, 2008
A Chindian Love Affair
It is always interesting that I get asked a lot by women about what we Chindians think or want in love. I don't have many girlfriends but I got a lot of girls who are friends. That's because I sincerely believe that there is a feminine side of my thinking that has been influenced by going to the market and meeting all these "aunties" since I was young. So what I get is a lot of women who want to be my friend but not my lover since they treat like one of the girls....honestly, I ain't complaining. I get inroads into the maze that is the female mind and someday I am going to make a fortune off it.
There is nothing particularly special about Chindian men. We want the same things other men want and how we are, depends on how we were brought up and the external influences we were exposed to. I think there is an expectation on Chindian men to be more sensitive than an Indian, less chauvinistic than a Chinese and more romantic than both. Well, most of the time, we are. Better looking to! You should really see my Chindian cousins. If we weren't in Asia, they would be in the Oscars by now!
I think there is also a very real expectation for the Chindian men to make the first move. Men, I think has been tasked to always make the first move when it comes to meeting a girl he likes. I really don't understand that! How come we got this stuck on us??? I know women don't have it easy as well and I go down on my knees every night to thank God for letting women have children. And because of that, we get stuck with the wrong end of social standards.
If you read a women magazine, you will always see 2 major surveys happening. "Why men are scum" and "How to get men". There are articles mentioning on how to change a man, why men are so inept in bed, why men don't listen, why men can't do the housework, etc. These are standards IMPOSED on us! We didn't agree to them! We didn't agree that climaxing fast was a bad thing (like we can help it!!), we didn't agree that we had to make the bed only for it to be messed again tonight, we didn't agree that it has to be THIS clean and we certainly didn't invent cleaning instructions for garments.
Most of all, I don't remember agreeing to have to make the first move!! I know women have to endure childbirth and I don't mind taking some of the standards but this is taking it too far! Do you know the mental torture and anguish we endure thinking of a good line and trying to get you women alone so that we can use that line??? Thinking of a good line is PURE torture. We don't need jail sentences for some criminal offences.
Judge, "Mr. Johnson, you are sentenced to coming up with a good line to get know that hot girl sitting in Starbucks."
Mr. Johnson, "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!".
We have to come up with a line that will
1)don't make us sound like a pervert or a cheezy loser
2)sound interesting so that she doesn't snigger at you and then tell her friends about you so that the whole female community knows to look out for the loser that is you
3)original. What else is original??? It's been 50,000 years since the first caveman used a pick up line ("UGG! UGG!")
I have had women come up to me complaining about the lame pick up lines they have encountered by means of implying that they didn't EXPECT a Chindian to come with something that cheezy and uninteresting. Which just adds more pressure on us....unnecessarily!
Even if I had to come up with a line, why is it that you girls all travel in herds?? I have to wait for you to leave the herd before I make my move so that even if you reject me, I wouldn't self combust. That's what happened when I first met my wife. I noticed her from a distance at a party and after many hours of figuring out what to say, I finally picked up the courage (meaning I had a lot of alcohol) to approach her. Problem was, she was sitting with a group of friends, some 30 of them. I approach the herd like a lion stalking a herd of gazelles (I wanted to say buffalo but that could be used for grounds of divorce) and came from the back and through the side to touch her arm and whispered, "Would you like to dance?"
This is where I am so convinced God is sadistic and has a sick sense of humour. Just like the gazelle, they saw the lion and was just waiting for it to make its move. The moment I finished my question, everyone in the herd stopped talking and looked at us. This is the moment where you can hear a cricket in the backgroud. If she said no, I would have given my left leg for a hole to open up and I fall in all the way to Antartica. Thankfully she said yes. I was so relieved I almost didn't notice her. It took me 30 minutes of dancing just to get my heart beating normally again.
So women, please understand that these standards are set by YOU! If we falter or stumble along, do cut us some slack since our biological make up does not support such standard upholding. Also, we Chindians are just the same. We just want food, love and an occasional silence. We will follow your standards if you can just stop complaining once in a while!
There is nothing particularly special about Chindian men. We want the same things other men want and how we are, depends on how we were brought up and the external influences we were exposed to. I think there is an expectation on Chindian men to be more sensitive than an Indian, less chauvinistic than a Chinese and more romantic than both. Well, most of the time, we are. Better looking to! You should really see my Chindian cousins. If we weren't in Asia, they would be in the Oscars by now!
I think there is also a very real expectation for the Chindian men to make the first move. Men, I think has been tasked to always make the first move when it comes to meeting a girl he likes. I really don't understand that! How come we got this stuck on us??? I know women don't have it easy as well and I go down on my knees every night to thank God for letting women have children. And because of that, we get stuck with the wrong end of social standards.
If you read a women magazine, you will always see 2 major surveys happening. "Why men are scum" and "How to get men". There are articles mentioning on how to change a man, why men are so inept in bed, why men don't listen, why men can't do the housework, etc. These are standards IMPOSED on us! We didn't agree to them! We didn't agree that climaxing fast was a bad thing (like we can help it!!), we didn't agree that we had to make the bed only for it to be messed again tonight, we didn't agree that it has to be THIS clean and we certainly didn't invent cleaning instructions for garments.
Most of all, I don't remember agreeing to have to make the first move!! I know women have to endure childbirth and I don't mind taking some of the standards but this is taking it too far! Do you know the mental torture and anguish we endure thinking of a good line and trying to get you women alone so that we can use that line??? Thinking of a good line is PURE torture. We don't need jail sentences for some criminal offences.
Judge, "Mr. Johnson, you are sentenced to coming up with a good line to get know that hot girl sitting in Starbucks."
Mr. Johnson, "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!".
We have to come up with a line that will
1)don't make us sound like a pervert or a cheezy loser
2)sound interesting so that she doesn't snigger at you and then tell her friends about you so that the whole female community knows to look out for the loser that is you
3)original. What else is original??? It's been 50,000 years since the first caveman used a pick up line ("UGG! UGG!")
I have had women come up to me complaining about the lame pick up lines they have encountered by means of implying that they didn't EXPECT a Chindian to come with something that cheezy and uninteresting. Which just adds more pressure on us....unnecessarily!
Even if I had to come up with a line, why is it that you girls all travel in herds?? I have to wait for you to leave the herd before I make my move so that even if you reject me, I wouldn't self combust. That's what happened when I first met my wife. I noticed her from a distance at a party and after many hours of figuring out what to say, I finally picked up the courage (meaning I had a lot of alcohol) to approach her. Problem was, she was sitting with a group of friends, some 30 of them. I approach the herd like a lion stalking a herd of gazelles (I wanted to say buffalo but that could be used for grounds of divorce) and came from the back and through the side to touch her arm and whispered, "Would you like to dance?"
This is where I am so convinced God is sadistic and has a sick sense of humour. Just like the gazelle, they saw the lion and was just waiting for it to make its move. The moment I finished my question, everyone in the herd stopped talking and looked at us. This is the moment where you can hear a cricket in the backgroud. If she said no, I would have given my left leg for a hole to open up and I fall in all the way to Antartica. Thankfully she said yes. I was so relieved I almost didn't notice her. It took me 30 minutes of dancing just to get my heart beating normally again.
So women, please understand that these standards are set by YOU! If we falter or stumble along, do cut us some slack since our biological make up does not support such standard upholding. Also, we Chindians are just the same. We just want food, love and an occasional silence. We will follow your standards if you can just stop complaining once in a while!
Merry Xmas!!!! And I am broke
Every year, we go through this major capitalist holiday to drive the retail industry up and our wallets down! It's that time of the year again, it's Christmas! Despite my Mr. Scrooge impersonation, this is my favourite time of the year. I love Xmas but not because of the presents. I have not gotten much presents for Xmas even when I was a kid. Sometimes we get something and sometimes we don't. Because we were poor, you may not get the things you want. But it's ok. We didn't complain. Not if you want to live to see New Year's. But kids these days will get you where it hurts!!!!
They want to have everything on their list even if it's a 3-storey bungalow by the lake! Anyway Xmas is a great time for me to reflect on how I have been over the year. Was I good, was I bad, did I do what I supposed to do and how do I get paid more for doing less, next year.
So in true Xmas fashion, we trudged to the malls to buy presents for our young ones and our loved ones. I am not sure who started this present thingy for Xmas but I am sure organizations like Toys R' so-expensive-you'll-sell-your-kidney-as-downpayment are involved. I don't understand why they don't do it for Hari Raya or Chinese New Year where the WHOLE community gets involved! Every year at Xmas non-Christian parents are being suckered into buying presents by the capitalist economy and their kids. Yes, their kids!!!
Kids today know how to lay that massive guilt trip on you. We can't do that in my time. My dad would have just shot me and left me on the sidewalk to die and society would have agreed with him! Today, you can't turn the corner without some child psychologist chastising us in the way we bring up our children. What I realized though, my generation got A LOT of ass whooping yet you don't see us strapping bombs to ourselves and blowing innocent people up. You don't see us storming hotels and killing people. The next generation of new age, no-ass-whooping kids do. You do the co-relation and tell those child psychologist to take a long walk off a short cliff!
Anyway, my daughter Mandy is very into music, movies and musicals. At 7, she is now very into High School Musical and lately Mamma Mia. When I say into, I mean she watches it 5 times a day to the point where she can memorize the lines and ACT it out! So I definitely want to encourage her as I have no intentions of working into my 60s and I need a millionaire offspring to support me in my old age. I decided to buy my 7 year old an iPod Touch. It's the latest and coolest (don't even think about arguing with me on this one) MP3, MP4, wifi, PDA, thingy-in-a-palm-and-entertains-you thingamagic! Ok? If you don't know this, you gotta stop being a jungle family and move out of the Amazon Basin!
We went to the Mac Studio store at Low Yat Plaza to let her choose her iPod. You should have seen her face! It's gonna cost me but that look was priceless! Of course, after saying that I realized that I was STILL going to have to fork out RM1,200 for it and no one was paying me back. There she was, humming and happily hugging her iPod as we walked to Sungei Wang with my cousin KLY and Yee to get some game consoles for their loved ones.
There is this really cool guy who has this dinky little store but he has EVERYTHING for your gaming needs. All I want to say is that if you are shopping, you want my sister-in-law Caryn with you. You will get the best deals even if you don't know what it was.
So while my nephews and cousin were choosing their Nintendo Wii and PS3, I turned and realized that my first born was sitting there sulking a little. He is having his UPSR exams next year (yes he is 12 already next year) and I didn't want him distracted from his studies. So I told him I will get him his dream console the XBox 360 next year. He absolutely loves the XBox 360 but as a kid, when Microsoft comes out with the XBox get-more-money-from-you model, he will ABSOLUTELY love that too since he used to LOOVE the old XBox I.
So with all the present buying and his cousins getting the Wii and someone else getting a PS3, Mikey was just being super left out. I looked at him and he sat there mournful and gave me that large, pearly tears eyes look that just wanted me to wrench out my organs. So despite not having enough cash on me and not wanting to give my credit card to incur more charges, I broke down and borrowed money from my cousins and bought my son his XBox 360 for RM1,750. See how this works? But strictly speaking as a dad, both the iPod Touch and XBox are SOOOO COOL!!!! I have tried the Wii and that is pretty spectacular too! I am waiting for the PS3 to be unwrapped to see how that boggles the senses!
It would NEVER have worked with my dad! You could tell him what you wanted and he will grunt and he will decide if you get it or not. If you don't and give him the mournful and teary eyed look, he will kick your ass.....with a tyre iron! Mom was a little softer since she uses only 1 leg to kick you.
But it's Xmas and that's what it all means this season. It was the birth of our Lord Jesus, it's a season to give to less fortunate and it's a time to get suckered into being broke. So if you see a aerodynamic man by the road looking for handouts, take pity and give him something. I prefer XBox games.
They want to have everything on their list even if it's a 3-storey bungalow by the lake! Anyway Xmas is a great time for me to reflect on how I have been over the year. Was I good, was I bad, did I do what I supposed to do and how do I get paid more for doing less, next year.
So in true Xmas fashion, we trudged to the malls to buy presents for our young ones and our loved ones. I am not sure who started this present thingy for Xmas but I am sure organizations like Toys R' so-expensive-you'll-sell-your-kidney-as-downpayment are involved. I don't understand why they don't do it for Hari Raya or Chinese New Year where the WHOLE community gets involved! Every year at Xmas non-Christian parents are being suckered into buying presents by the capitalist economy and their kids. Yes, their kids!!!
Kids today know how to lay that massive guilt trip on you. We can't do that in my time. My dad would have just shot me and left me on the sidewalk to die and society would have agreed with him! Today, you can't turn the corner without some child psychologist chastising us in the way we bring up our children. What I realized though, my generation got A LOT of ass whooping yet you don't see us strapping bombs to ourselves and blowing innocent people up. You don't see us storming hotels and killing people. The next generation of new age, no-ass-whooping kids do. You do the co-relation and tell those child psychologist to take a long walk off a short cliff!
Anyway, my daughter Mandy is very into music, movies and musicals. At 7, she is now very into High School Musical and lately Mamma Mia. When I say into, I mean she watches it 5 times a day to the point where she can memorize the lines and ACT it out! So I definitely want to encourage her as I have no intentions of working into my 60s and I need a millionaire offspring to support me in my old age. I decided to buy my 7 year old an iPod Touch. It's the latest and coolest (don't even think about arguing with me on this one) MP3, MP4, wifi, PDA, thingy-in-a-palm-and-entertains-you thingamagic! Ok? If you don't know this, you gotta stop being a jungle family and move out of the Amazon Basin!
We went to the Mac Studio store at Low Yat Plaza to let her choose her iPod. You should have seen her face! It's gonna cost me but that look was priceless! Of course, after saying that I realized that I was STILL going to have to fork out RM1,200 for it and no one was paying me back. There she was, humming and happily hugging her iPod as we walked to Sungei Wang with my cousin KLY and Yee to get some game consoles for their loved ones.
There is this really cool guy who has this dinky little store but he has EVERYTHING for your gaming needs. All I want to say is that if you are shopping, you want my sister-in-law Caryn with you. You will get the best deals even if you don't know what it was.
So while my nephews and cousin were choosing their Nintendo Wii and PS3, I turned and realized that my first born was sitting there sulking a little. He is having his UPSR exams next year (yes he is 12 already next year) and I didn't want him distracted from his studies. So I told him I will get him his dream console the XBox 360 next year. He absolutely loves the XBox 360 but as a kid, when Microsoft comes out with the XBox get-more-money-from-you model, he will ABSOLUTELY love that too since he used to LOOVE the old XBox I.
So with all the present buying and his cousins getting the Wii and someone else getting a PS3, Mikey was just being super left out. I looked at him and he sat there mournful and gave me that large, pearly tears eyes look that just wanted me to wrench out my organs. So despite not having enough cash on me and not wanting to give my credit card to incur more charges, I broke down and borrowed money from my cousins and bought my son his XBox 360 for RM1,750. See how this works? But strictly speaking as a dad, both the iPod Touch and XBox are SOOOO COOL!!!! I have tried the Wii and that is pretty spectacular too! I am waiting for the PS3 to be unwrapped to see how that boggles the senses!
It would NEVER have worked with my dad! You could tell him what you wanted and he will grunt and he will decide if you get it or not. If you don't and give him the mournful and teary eyed look, he will kick your ass.....with a tyre iron! Mom was a little softer since she uses only 1 leg to kick you.
But it's Xmas and that's what it all means this season. It was the birth of our Lord Jesus, it's a season to give to less fortunate and it's a time to get suckered into being broke. So if you see a aerodynamic man by the road looking for handouts, take pity and give him something. I prefer XBox games.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Budget Airline - Budget Courtesy
Mr. Travel would like to take some time to comment about the airline he took recently on an 8-hour flight to Gold Coast. Some of us are budget travelers and when you are traveling in a large group, you get more "budgeter". So we were very excited when we saw that Air Asia flew to Coolangata. We booked a promo ticket on this premier budget (which is quite an oxymoron) airline but we didn't count on a budget service, budget plane, budget food with budget taste and definitely budget courtesy.
With Air Asia, the first thing you see from the advertisement are all the nice flight cost to the many destinations that they fly to but what they don't tell you is that you have to pay for EVERYTHING else that after that. Airport tax, fuel surcharge, baggage handling cost, overloading cost, food, water, neck-pillow, blanket, eye-shade, air conditioning, seats, seat belt, windows and the air to breathe.
Every bag checked in was charged extra and if you exceed 15kg, that's extra too. No pleading or courtesy extended since it is all captured in the system and cannot be changed. Coupled with all these charges, it's no surprise that some of the passengers were seen selling their blood just to cover this unexpected cost. For domestic flights, the further you can travel is to Kota Kinabalu and that is about 2 1/2 hours away. So you can go without food and you don't want to try the so-called famous "Pak Naseer Nasi Lemak" which tastes just like our roadside nasi lemak, only more stale and expensive.
But when you are flying 8 hours and no food or water is allowed on the plane (due to security reason, cause God knows what you can do with plain water when hijacking a plane), you have no choice but to buy their overpriced and super tasteless meals. On top of that the condition of the plane looks as if it just came out of Afghanistan Air (motto : someday we will have a plane that flies).
My seat (to and back from GC) cannot recline. The overhead reading light doesn't work and so does the service light and the arm rest was falling off. It was hanging on for dear life and if I so much as break wind in its direction, it was going to fall off and die. I swear I am not making this up. The service was pretty cold as well. While they were not rude but they certainly weren't there to make this a better experience for you. It's as if they can't wait for this flight to land so that they can get rid of you.
When we were coming back, there wasn't even enough food to last the first block of passengers. There were passengers who pre-booked and it was cheaper but I think you should have at least enough for half the plane. So when I included all the cost incurred on this flight, it wasn't that much cheaper than Malaysian Airlines. I so miss the normal airlines where you can check in as many bags as you want, drink as much as you want, bring your own food, have your reading light, given comfort items like eye-shade, neck-pillow, pillow and blanket. It cost RM35 on Air Asia without the pillow. Pillows don't exist on Air Asia.
When I traveled with my kids, the MAS crew made them felt very welcome with gifts, colouring books, hot chocolate and will try to help them settle. No one cares for you on Air Asia.
There was this one incident when I took Air Asia to Krabi. The Chairman, Datuk Pahamin was also on the flight. He stood at the front and nodded at people coming in. Not sure what that nod was for but being polite, most people nodded back when an old man in a total white outfit looking like a hospital attendant, nods at you. But he made such a fuss when his bag didn't arrive on time and got the staff to personally get out into the baggage truck to get his luggage. I guess he had a corpse to deliver. Also there was a priority boarding feature for those who wanted to pay extra for it. So being the Chairman, he just barged into the priority lane, ignoring the queue (incidentally were made up of his customers) and staff's protest. Since he was wearing all white, the airline people at Krabi probably thought he was some cheesy lounge singer who wanted to board first without paying the extra.
When I read the in-flight magazine (which you can't take back by the way, unlike MAS' "Going Places") where they publish letters from alleged passengers, saying how they enjoyed their flight, how courteous the crew were and how tasty their food tasted, I couldn't help wondering if it was true or just hallucination from the lost of blood they had to sell to get into the plane.
I hope MAS completes their merger or whatever and start driving more promotions to help us budget travelers since I don't have that much more blood to spare.
With Air Asia, the first thing you see from the advertisement are all the nice flight cost to the many destinations that they fly to but what they don't tell you is that you have to pay for EVERYTHING else that after that. Airport tax, fuel surcharge, baggage handling cost, overloading cost, food, water, neck-pillow, blanket, eye-shade, air conditioning, seats, seat belt, windows and the air to breathe.
Every bag checked in was charged extra and if you exceed 15kg, that's extra too. No pleading or courtesy extended since it is all captured in the system and cannot be changed. Coupled with all these charges, it's no surprise that some of the passengers were seen selling their blood just to cover this unexpected cost. For domestic flights, the further you can travel is to Kota Kinabalu and that is about 2 1/2 hours away. So you can go without food and you don't want to try the so-called famous "Pak Naseer Nasi Lemak" which tastes just like our roadside nasi lemak, only more stale and expensive.
But when you are flying 8 hours and no food or water is allowed on the plane (due to security reason, cause God knows what you can do with plain water when hijacking a plane), you have no choice but to buy their overpriced and super tasteless meals. On top of that the condition of the plane looks as if it just came out of Afghanistan Air (motto : someday we will have a plane that flies).
My seat (to and back from GC) cannot recline. The overhead reading light doesn't work and so does the service light and the arm rest was falling off. It was hanging on for dear life and if I so much as break wind in its direction, it was going to fall off and die. I swear I am not making this up. The service was pretty cold as well. While they were not rude but they certainly weren't there to make this a better experience for you. It's as if they can't wait for this flight to land so that they can get rid of you.
When we were coming back, there wasn't even enough food to last the first block of passengers. There were passengers who pre-booked and it was cheaper but I think you should have at least enough for half the plane. So when I included all the cost incurred on this flight, it wasn't that much cheaper than Malaysian Airlines. I so miss the normal airlines where you can check in as many bags as you want, drink as much as you want, bring your own food, have your reading light, given comfort items like eye-shade, neck-pillow, pillow and blanket. It cost RM35 on Air Asia without the pillow. Pillows don't exist on Air Asia.
When I traveled with my kids, the MAS crew made them felt very welcome with gifts, colouring books, hot chocolate and will try to help them settle. No one cares for you on Air Asia.
There was this one incident when I took Air Asia to Krabi. The Chairman, Datuk Pahamin was also on the flight. He stood at the front and nodded at people coming in. Not sure what that nod was for but being polite, most people nodded back when an old man in a total white outfit looking like a hospital attendant, nods at you. But he made such a fuss when his bag didn't arrive on time and got the staff to personally get out into the baggage truck to get his luggage. I guess he had a corpse to deliver. Also there was a priority boarding feature for those who wanted to pay extra for it. So being the Chairman, he just barged into the priority lane, ignoring the queue (incidentally were made up of his customers) and staff's protest. Since he was wearing all white, the airline people at Krabi probably thought he was some cheesy lounge singer who wanted to board first without paying the extra.
When I read the in-flight magazine (which you can't take back by the way, unlike MAS' "Going Places") where they publish letters from alleged passengers, saying how they enjoyed their flight, how courteous the crew were and how tasty their food tasted, I couldn't help wondering if it was true or just hallucination from the lost of blood they had to sell to get into the plane.
I hope MAS completes their merger or whatever and start driving more promotions to help us budget travelers since I don't have that much more blood to spare.
Friday, December 5, 2008
That's my Wonder Woman!
Doesn't she look lovely? Though I think the real Wonder Woman could "fill" better in the chest department. Don't you think?
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My cousin KLY took the pics. Thank goodness there was a male who was still in the right presence of mind to do it! I was just smitten! Well, if you are nice to me, I will tell you what colour it is.
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My cousin KLY took the pics. Thank goodness there was a male who was still in the right presence of mind to do it! I was just smitten! Well, if you are nice to me, I will tell you what colour it is.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
The Twilight Zone!
As a multi racial country, we are exposed to many different cultural habits, features, rules, religion, etc and of course the supernatural. We are a land full of stories on the supernatural and surprisingly each culture seems to have their own versions. It's like the supernatural tend to haunt their same race. So a pontianak (Malay vampire) is never seen by a Chinese as is a Chinese corpse-hopping, arm-out-straight vampire never goes near an Indian. As of course we Indians tend to be dark so its not easy to spot us and because of that, we scare the hell of the ghost more than they scare us. (We are an endless supply of dark jokes! Don't blame me, I didn't make us).
I have a few stories that happened to those around me recently and I thought it would be interesting to share with you. Just after Raya in October, my business partner's General Manager and his team had a brainstorming session in his office room about their sales plan for next year. They wrote in neatly on the glass wall in multiple colour markers and decided to call it a day sometime around 9pm. Everything was locked and everyone went home.
Next day, when he unlocked his room, he saw that the words have been jumbled up, suddenly taken a form of a wavy snake and all over the place. I thought initially it was a prank but when I saw it, I can tell you that it was just too much to do for a prankster and it the words were too neatly broken off or lying down to be a prank.
A few days later, this GM heard footsteps on the roof of his office and the gypsum board started to bounce up. Ok...maybe its just a very big rat.....from the Cretaceous period. Then one day, the first person to arrive at the office accidentally tripped off the alarm and as the agreed procedure, the security office called to ensure if all is ok. Before this person can pick up the phone, it stopped ringing. Nothing was thought of it, until it rang again. This time when answered, the security officer on the line wanted to speak to the designated person and told the receptionist that another person answered the earlier call and identified herself as "Rosie". There was no one else in the office and no one was called Rosie!
That was the last straw and the next day a medium was invited to look over the office. The findings were that, it was a spirit of a young orang asli (indigenous people) girl who meant no harm and was just playful. The spirit was invited out (the medium didn't say where, maybe she went to the next floor).
The office is in Mutiara Damansara which together with Damansara Perdana used to be the Kg Bukit Lanjan area that is forested and was an orang asli settlement. So many of them were buried there for decades. Another story is about a family living in Damansara Perdana and one night, the couple heard their daughter talking to herself in her room. When asked, she said she was talking to an old man. Prayers were held and the apparition stopped.
The Red Box at The Curve also had its share. A friend of ours went there one night with 4 other friends and when they paid their bill, they were charged for 7. Naturally they disputed the bill but when shown on the CCTV, there were 2 other girls sitting in the same room with them as if part of the group. These 2 figures were blurry but you can make out their shape as young girls. The management allegedly waive all charges on account of their "technical" problem.
I have also heard stories of people who could see and/or hear spirits and I have one such friend, also a business partner. She and her 4 year old son could see. She once saw her boss at his own funeral being sad and shocked. She kept seeing him for a while in the office and once even said "hi" to her. This same friend and her son saw mist come into their room at First World hotel in Genting Highlands, transform into a guy and 2 ladies and casually just floated from the window and out her door. Guess they were taking a short cut!
When she was little, she kept seeing this tiger at her grandma's house and could even touch it and play with it when no one else could. Of course she didn't know better than and for some reason this tiger spirit didn't like her cousin and would scratch her until she is bloody. Only then did they realize it was some supernatural tiger spirit.
Her son also saw a a little boy floating by their car and waving at them, when they were waiting for the husband to get in the car. But the scariest was that one time, when she was sleeping, she turned around and saw a spirit sleeping between the husband and her. Poor husband!
I can't wait to tell you my own experiences but at this moment, it's already 12.30am and I'd better got to sleep because that white towel by the corner is starting to look as if it wants to get up and talk to me.
I have a few stories that happened to those around me recently and I thought it would be interesting to share with you. Just after Raya in October, my business partner's General Manager and his team had a brainstorming session in his office room about their sales plan for next year. They wrote in neatly on the glass wall in multiple colour markers and decided to call it a day sometime around 9pm. Everything was locked and everyone went home.
Next day, when he unlocked his room, he saw that the words have been jumbled up, suddenly taken a form of a wavy snake and all over the place. I thought initially it was a prank but when I saw it, I can tell you that it was just too much to do for a prankster and it the words were too neatly broken off or lying down to be a prank.
A few days later, this GM heard footsteps on the roof of his office and the gypsum board started to bounce up. Ok...maybe its just a very big rat.....from the Cretaceous period. Then one day, the first person to arrive at the office accidentally tripped off the alarm and as the agreed procedure, the security office called to ensure if all is ok. Before this person can pick up the phone, it stopped ringing. Nothing was thought of it, until it rang again. This time when answered, the security officer on the line wanted to speak to the designated person and told the receptionist that another person answered the earlier call and identified herself as "Rosie". There was no one else in the office and no one was called Rosie!
That was the last straw and the next day a medium was invited to look over the office. The findings were that, it was a spirit of a young orang asli (indigenous people) girl who meant no harm and was just playful. The spirit was invited out (the medium didn't say where, maybe she went to the next floor).
The office is in Mutiara Damansara which together with Damansara Perdana used to be the Kg Bukit Lanjan area that is forested and was an orang asli settlement. So many of them were buried there for decades. Another story is about a family living in Damansara Perdana and one night, the couple heard their daughter talking to herself in her room. When asked, she said she was talking to an old man. Prayers were held and the apparition stopped.
The Red Box at The Curve also had its share. A friend of ours went there one night with 4 other friends and when they paid their bill, they were charged for 7. Naturally they disputed the bill but when shown on the CCTV, there were 2 other girls sitting in the same room with them as if part of the group. These 2 figures were blurry but you can make out their shape as young girls. The management allegedly waive all charges on account of their "technical" problem.
I have also heard stories of people who could see and/or hear spirits and I have one such friend, also a business partner. She and her 4 year old son could see. She once saw her boss at his own funeral being sad and shocked. She kept seeing him for a while in the office and once even said "hi" to her. This same friend and her son saw mist come into their room at First World hotel in Genting Highlands, transform into a guy and 2 ladies and casually just floated from the window and out her door. Guess they were taking a short cut!
When she was little, she kept seeing this tiger at her grandma's house and could even touch it and play with it when no one else could. Of course she didn't know better than and for some reason this tiger spirit didn't like her cousin and would scratch her until she is bloody. Only then did they realize it was some supernatural tiger spirit.
Her son also saw a a little boy floating by their car and waving at them, when they were waiting for the husband to get in the car. But the scariest was that one time, when she was sleeping, she turned around and saw a spirit sleeping between the husband and her. Poor husband!
I can't wait to tell you my own experiences but at this moment, it's already 12.30am and I'd better got to sleep because that white towel by the corner is starting to look as if it wants to get up and talk to me.
Running around in the Land of Oz
So there you have it, a brief peek into our little long-awaited, truly deserved and utterly enjoyed vacation. There are of course lots more that we did but we spent A LOT of our time at these theme parks mainly for the enjoyment of the children. Next round, it's going to be for the adults. But there were other places that we would like to talk to you about mainly Surfers Paradise and our apartment. We spent most of our evenings at Surfers Paradise since that was the only place that was opened after 5.30pm. We did try to head out to Robina Town but the place was a ghost town by 7pm.
I took these pics below because I was curious to see how many pants and shoes were crossing the road on their own without anyone in them and I was trying to goad this man into racing with our van. He was too cool to be enticed.
Below are some pics of our apartment which was very clean, orderly and super comfortable. We had all the comforts of home...except for a maid. The view was gorgeous as it overlooked the Nerang River where there are parks along side it as well as a marina.
We have a heated pool as well though I never used it since there can be 4-season weathers in a day in Australia. Even better, there was a washing machine and a dryer. Luckily Melissa is doing the laundry else our place will just stink of 5-day old clothes!
Surfers Paradise was a little township with nice condos by the beach and lots of souvenir shops and food with fries. 7-Eleven in GC really sold everything, including petrol!
On the last day we found a Malaysian Chinese restaurant and IT WAS HEAVEN!!! Luckily there wasn't any banana leaf place else I would have been on it like a fat kid on a Snicker bar!
So there you have it. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did in bringing it to you. Feel free to drop me a line if you need any info that I can help you with. One last thing, buy some cup noodles and stay away from the fries.
I took these pics below because I was curious to see how many pants and shoes were crossing the road on their own without anyone in them and I was trying to goad this man into racing with our van. He was too cool to be enticed.
Below are some pics of our apartment which was very clean, orderly and super comfortable. We had all the comforts of home...except for a maid. The view was gorgeous as it overlooked the Nerang River where there are parks along side it as well as a marina.
We have a heated pool as well though I never used it since there can be 4-season weathers in a day in Australia. Even better, there was a washing machine and a dryer. Luckily Melissa is doing the laundry else our place will just stink of 5-day old clothes!
Surfers Paradise was a little township with nice condos by the beach and lots of souvenir shops and food with fries. 7-Eleven in GC really sold everything, including petrol!
On the last day we found a Malaysian Chinese restaurant and IT WAS HEAVEN!!! Luckily there wasn't any banana leaf place else I would have been on it like a fat kid on a Snicker bar!
So there you have it. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did in bringing it to you. Feel free to drop me a line if you need any info that I can help you with. One last thing, buy some cup noodles and stay away from the fries.
Dreaming in Dreamworld
I am not going to elaborate too much about Dreamworld (thank goodness!). After all the other parks, there isn't much that is different here. So why are we here? Well we came all the way, so.... There were a few cool rides and there is a very good children section sponsored by Nickleodeon.
The cool rides were "The Claw", "Wipeout" and "Mummy 3". "Mummy 3" was not a ride but a horror house where they made it dark and smoky. It was difficult to see and many times we bumped into walls and had made-up people jump out at us!
There was once where the person jumped out and scared us out of our wits. Then she (I think it was a she) went back into the wall but by then we lost our bearings and didn't know where the exit was, so we asked the wall "Where is the exit?", while still shivering. She answered in a gruffy voice "To the left". In our quaking voice we said "Thank you". My son (who is afraid of his own shadow) cried out "You are going to trust her??!?!?!". HAHA! I am sure I won't be arrested and tortured too much once his book on his tortured childhood comes out!
The other rides were "The Claw" which looks like the picture below. The round part where they sit is being swung like a pendulum while that round part turns. Just by looking at it has made my digestive system want to go in total reverse! Mikey and Aaron rode it....twice! Can you say "Yesterday's lunch"?
Another ride called "Wipeout" seats you in a longish contraption and twist and turns you upside down, inside out, downside in! I really salute people who can ride these type of rides whose design was obviously inspired by medieval torture contraptions!!!
>
Some other thrill rides are like Mick Doohan's motor coaster where you sit in a simulated motor bike and cruise around REAL fast. The Giant Drop which freefalls you for some 100 feet and Tower of Terror (which was closed), a ride which propels you 90 degrees vertically and Cyclone, vomit inducing roller coaster.
Below are some of the Nicklelodeon rides as well as some cartoon characters popping out to take pictures with kids. That day the temperature was about 37 degrees upwards. I pity those folks in the costume. I bet they were high school kids who failed their finals and this is their detention.
The cool rides were "The Claw", "Wipeout" and "Mummy 3". "Mummy 3" was not a ride but a horror house where they made it dark and smoky. It was difficult to see and many times we bumped into walls and had made-up people jump out at us!
There was once where the person jumped out and scared us out of our wits. Then she (I think it was a she) went back into the wall but by then we lost our bearings and didn't know where the exit was, so we asked the wall "Where is the exit?", while still shivering. She answered in a gruffy voice "To the left". In our quaking voice we said "Thank you". My son (who is afraid of his own shadow) cried out "You are going to trust her??!?!?!". HAHA! I am sure I won't be arrested and tortured too much once his book on his tortured childhood comes out!
The other rides were "The Claw" which looks like the picture below. The round part where they sit is being swung like a pendulum while that round part turns. Just by looking at it has made my digestive system want to go in total reverse! Mikey and Aaron rode it....twice! Can you say "Yesterday's lunch"?
Another ride called "Wipeout" seats you in a longish contraption and twist and turns you upside down, inside out, downside in! I really salute people who can ride these type of rides whose design was obviously inspired by medieval torture contraptions!!!>
Some other thrill rides are like Mick Doohan's motor coaster where you sit in a simulated motor bike and cruise around REAL fast. The Giant Drop which freefalls you for some 100 feet and Tower of Terror (which was closed), a ride which propels you 90 degrees vertically and Cyclone, vomit inducing roller coaster.
Below are some of the Nicklelodeon rides as well as some cartoon characters popping out to take pictures with kids. That day the temperature was about 37 degrees upwards. I pity those folks in the costume. I bet they were high school kids who failed their finals and this is their detention.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Oh Crikey! Danger! Danger! Danger!
This was our farthest location that we went to. It was a 2 1/2-hour drive up north close to Sunshine Coast to a place called Beerwah. What's located there is Australia Zoo or informally known as Steve Irwin's Zoo. It's located on Steve Irwin's Way. That's right, it's the zoo of the late crocodile hunter and it is a terrific place. It really exuded the passion, enthusiasm as well as the love for the animals of the late Steve Irwin.
Since Australia doesn't have any tigers or lions, the role of the most vicious predator falls to the Saltwater Crocodiles. That is why the zoo is full of these crocodiles who really are amazing creatures....that is when they are behind the exhibit fences and you are safely on the other side. These mouth-full-of-teeth creatures can grow to be more than 20 feet long. Check out this croc!
Each animal feeding was accompanied by their respective zoo keepers and you can tell that they really care and love for these animals. We were told that Steve used to go into the kitchen to look at the food prepared for the animals and if the food is not fit for him to eat, it's not fit for his animals as well.
These otters used to take a branch and lean it against their enclosure so that they can climb out of it. They then venture around the zoo eating other animals' food and then come back before dawn to wait for their breakfast feeding, after removing their "escape" branch. They were caught on camera! Amazing!
The zookeepers aren't prima donnas either, meaning they help around the zoo doing manual labour and cleaning chores as well and not just the cages but also the general areas. In most zoos, I do see these zookeepers only keeping to their animals and the janitors are tasked on the cleaning of the compounds.
There was a place where they had a people write on that bush whacker jacket that Steve wears. There rows of the jacket are where people paid tribute to the one powerful personality who is championing the saving of wildlife in Australia. Check this site out Save Steve's Place.
It was very sad and at the same time impressive to read these messages ranging from sadness, well wishing and asking the family to be strong to those who pledge to do something about Australian wildlife. Standing there I really felt sad for the first time about this fella Steve whom I always thought was a bit reckless and a clown for all his antics. Looking on, I realized what he was trying to do and he was a true hero for reaching out to something that both you and I will either not be able to do or just don't want to.
So I stood there with my children as we silently absorbed in the enormity of this persona and the coming to a realization of how bright this personality is. His catch phrase and Aussie slang (which I imitate very well, thank you very much) of "Oh Crikey" now means a lot more than just a TV personality trying to sell his shows. It means something a lot more serious and something a lot more fundamental....saving of our planet, one animal at a time.
Moving on, the kangaroos are in a location where you can feed it, pet it or just chill out with it. The kangaroos are probably so sick of us coming in with corn and wood chips in our hands, poking them, stroking them. Geez, they don't know where those hands have been!!! They probably do it because they too love Steve and to humour us. You can actually see some of them, just sitting there with that expression like "If we stay still, maybe he will go away!" or "Or no Maureen! For the love of God, not another gawking human child!!".
The koala I don't understand. What is the purpose of an animal that wakes up to eat for 2 hours and then sleeps 22 hours a day??! They sleep high in the trees, they don't have any natural predators, they don't eat any pest, they don't help polinate plants, they just sleep and eat. That's their purpose in life. At least the cockroach helps decompose garbage and spread disease which helps the circle of life. The nature's laziest animals are just there for show, pretty much like supermodels. No real purpose and no help whatsoever. Just high maintenance. No wonder they are only found in Australia; they are too lazy to move around!
There was a "Crocoseum" which was fashioned as a Coliseum-type place which allows us to see how they feed and run away from the crocs. Oh Crikey mate!
There were Tasmanian Devils which looked nothing like Tazz from Loony Tunes. This little guys looks like it can rip your arm off. There was also a lazy Dingo which is Australia's Wild Dog and a Wombat which looks like a cross between a pig and a rectangular box.
But all said and done and truth be told, after absorbing all that wildlife karma and saving-the-planet aura, I don't think I wanna see another koala or kangaroo for a long while!
Since Australia doesn't have any tigers or lions, the role of the most vicious predator falls to the Saltwater Crocodiles. That is why the zoo is full of these crocodiles who really are amazing creatures....that is when they are behind the exhibit fences and you are safely on the other side. These mouth-full-of-teeth creatures can grow to be more than 20 feet long. Check out this croc!
Each animal feeding was accompanied by their respective zoo keepers and you can tell that they really care and love for these animals. We were told that Steve used to go into the kitchen to look at the food prepared for the animals and if the food is not fit for him to eat, it's not fit for his animals as well.
These otters used to take a branch and lean it against their enclosure so that they can climb out of it. They then venture around the zoo eating other animals' food and then come back before dawn to wait for their breakfast feeding, after removing their "escape" branch. They were caught on camera! Amazing!
The zookeepers aren't prima donnas either, meaning they help around the zoo doing manual labour and cleaning chores as well and not just the cages but also the general areas. In most zoos, I do see these zookeepers only keeping to their animals and the janitors are tasked on the cleaning of the compounds.
There was a place where they had a people write on that bush whacker jacket that Steve wears. There rows of the jacket are where people paid tribute to the one powerful personality who is championing the saving of wildlife in Australia. Check this site out Save Steve's Place.
It was very sad and at the same time impressive to read these messages ranging from sadness, well wishing and asking the family to be strong to those who pledge to do something about Australian wildlife. Standing there I really felt sad for the first time about this fella Steve whom I always thought was a bit reckless and a clown for all his antics. Looking on, I realized what he was trying to do and he was a true hero for reaching out to something that both you and I will either not be able to do or just don't want to.
So I stood there with my children as we silently absorbed in the enormity of this persona and the coming to a realization of how bright this personality is. His catch phrase and Aussie slang (which I imitate very well, thank you very much) of "Oh Crikey" now means a lot more than just a TV personality trying to sell his shows. It means something a lot more serious and something a lot more fundamental....saving of our planet, one animal at a time.
Moving on, the kangaroos are in a location where you can feed it, pet it or just chill out with it. The kangaroos are probably so sick of us coming in with corn and wood chips in our hands, poking them, stroking them. Geez, they don't know where those hands have been!!! They probably do it because they too love Steve and to humour us. You can actually see some of them, just sitting there with that expression like "If we stay still, maybe he will go away!" or "Or no Maureen! For the love of God, not another gawking human child!!".
The koala I don't understand. What is the purpose of an animal that wakes up to eat for 2 hours and then sleeps 22 hours a day??! They sleep high in the trees, they don't have any natural predators, they don't eat any pest, they don't help polinate plants, they just sleep and eat. That's their purpose in life. At least the cockroach helps decompose garbage and spread disease which helps the circle of life. The nature's laziest animals are just there for show, pretty much like supermodels. No real purpose and no help whatsoever. Just high maintenance. No wonder they are only found in Australia; they are too lazy to move around!
There was a "Crocoseum" which was fashioned as a Coliseum-type place which allows us to see how they feed and run away from the crocs. Oh Crikey mate!
There were Tasmanian Devils which looked nothing like Tazz from Loony Tunes. This little guys looks like it can rip your arm off. There was also a lazy Dingo which is Australia's Wild Dog and a Wombat which looks like a cross between a pig and a rectangular box.
But all said and done and truth be told, after absorbing all that wildlife karma and saving-the-planet aura, I don't think I wanna see another koala or kangaroo for a long while!
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