Sungai Lembing Trip - Part 1

‘Where is Lembing ar?’ That’s the million dollar question I asked, day before the trip. And yes, I made the decision to go with my ACS fellas, without knowing much detail about the location and plan.

One of my colleagues did mention to me its in Pahang near Bentong, which ‘should be about 1 hour’ drive from KL.

On that very day, I was told that it will take ‘only 4 hours’ to reach there...*sweat*...

They say ‘knowing is half the battle’ (the G.I. Joe quote), but it only applies in war. For a vacation, it’s sometimes more exciting if you happened to have no clue of what lies ahead (Yo! Joe!).

So the journey begins... with full of surprises!

And hiccups... *cough cough*...

After having our breakfast,


Ah John's car is not in good condition...




We have no choice but to change to Ah Ken's car...


Ms. Yong is teaching them a lesson...


Ah John felt threatened...

Anyhow, we managed to drive our way up to Lembing.


Next, the Sg. Pandan Waterfall!

to be continue...

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CBC 35th Anniversary - Photos & Video

Tetsuo Kurata Interview - Kamen Rider Black / RX

After 20 years, Tetsuo Kurata, well known as Koutaro Minami in the Kamen Rider Black/Rx series, is finally back in his suit again. Remember when I was a kid, I always look forward every Thursday evening to watch him in action. The show was dubbed ‘Baja Hitam’ in RTM1, and was very popular during that time. I even went on to rent the video for those episodes that I missed.

Black is one of the most popular series among all Kamen Rider franchise. After watching the following interview, I started to appreciate the effort they put in to make this franchise a success.

OMG! He’s in his late 40s now…





His appearance in the latest Kamen Rider series.



Compared to 20 years ago…



Such memorable scene @_@

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Pain Au Chocolat

Interesting read from rbc.net

An entry I read on a favorite blog caught my eye. It was the morning of his ninth wedding anniversary. Not having a lot of money, the writer ran out to get his wife, Heidi, their favorite French pastry—pain au chocolat. After sprinting several miles, he arrived home, exhausted, to find her in the kitchen just pulling a chocolate-filled croissant out of the oven. It was pain au chocolat.

That husband, Jeff, compared his life with Heidi to the lives of the people in O. Henry’s short story “Gift of the Magi.” It tells of a man who sold his lone possession of value—a pocket watch—to buy hair combs for his wife, who had sold her long, beautiful hair to buy a gold chain for his watch.

Having no money concerns would be great—but realizing the immeasurable value of the people we care about is more important. We sometimes need a reminder that acquiring “things” is not nearly as important as appreciating the people God has placed in our lives. When we practice putting others’ interests before our own (Phil. 2:3-4), we learn what it means to love, serve, and sacrifice. In fact, that’s how we pattern Christ in our relationships (Eph. 5:1-2).

Life, love, and chocolate taste better when shared with others. — Cindy Hess Kasper

I want to share with those I love
The highest joy I’m thinking of,
Not just what brightens all their days
But what will give God highest praise. —Hess

Love is never afraid of giving too much.

Be imitators of God . . . . And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us. —Ephesians 5:1-2

Short review of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

I’m a big Transformers fan. The first show wasn’t as good as I expected, but at least it lives up to my childhood. After another 3 years in waiting, the sequel is finally here! And it is worth the long queue and the uncomfortable sits (TGV cinema not recommended…).

TF2 packs a lot of punch in terms of action sequence. It’s like the director has in mind that ‘the story isn’t going to stand out anyway, so just put more chase sequence and explosion then’. Indeed, it works well.

It has very brief story telling and most of it was glanced through quickly with few dialogues. New audience will have hard time understand it, but for us fans, it was well explained. However, some of the transformers (Ironhide, Rachet, Arcee, Sideswipe etc) didn’t have much character development or even dialogue.

Fans will be happy to see Optimus Prime having more action this time. I was even surprise that they include Pretenders, Soundwave, Ravage, Constructacons etc. Maybe they should include Headmasters in the next sequel. The detail CGI presentation also makes the character more lively.

Well, some of the robot killings are pretty brutal so parental guidance is advised =) If you are looking for intense action and lots of explosion, this is the show to recommend.

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Donut Craze - Krispy Kreme Donuts

I'm not a big donut fan but due to the ‘Donut Craze’ in Malaysia I was dragged (willingly) into this phenomenon.

The latest hype is the newly opened Krispy Kreme Donuts. People were queuing like mad on the first few weeks of its launch. You know KLites lar, everything also curious, small accident at road side also need to stop by and look see, in the end say its non of their business, but caused huge traffic jams.

Went to Berjaya Time Square with Ruth on Saturday and we stopped by Krispy Kreme for breakfast. She once queued quite long to get the donuts but this time seems not much people. Some staffs even had time to approach us and explain about the promotional items. I was like, ummm ummm, ok ok… buy 1 dozen you save RM6.00, umm, ok ok… got new peanut butter donuts, wow… ok ok… In the end we only ordered two donuts and a cup of drink, so the promotion doesn’t really help…

I wasn’t too surprised that there’s less crowd after 1 month operation. The sweetness might not favor Malaysian liking. My family and friends find Krispy Kreme donuts too sweet compared to JCO and Big Apple. The price point wasn’t that attractive also, as they are selling at RM2.80 per donuts and RM2.50 if you order a dozen. In JCO and Big Apple you can get one for as low as RM2.00.

New York Cheesecake

For me, my favorite is the New York Cheesecake and Cappuccino donuts. However, I’m joining marathon soon so this ‘sin food’ is best avoid at all cost. I’m also competing with my sisters to see who will reign the biggest loser :D.

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Look Mum, No Controller!

3 years ago, Nintendo blew us away with it’s innovative Wii remote. It is selling like hot cakes because it redefines casual gaming to a whole new level.

This year, we have Sony who comes up with a ‘two stick’ controller, which I think it’s really out of date. Then we have Microsoft announcing its new interactive gadget, the Project Natal, which combines motion capture and voice recognition to the gaming world.

Motion capture is not something new, the Playstation Eyetoy already did that, but in mere 2D space. The painting and ricochet demo they’ve shown looks creative but nothing new to me. What impressed me is the ‘future demo’ where you get to interact with an AI kid and the environment in 3D. They also showed off some cool games like racing, fighting and skate boarding, without the use of controller. Able to select the on screen menu by flipping your hand looks futuristically cool, like in the Matrix or Minority Report.

However, I’m still optimistic on how they are going to pull it off perfectly, as we know that ‘Microsoft does not get things right until version 3’. Guess I still prefer sitting on my comfortable sofa with my controller rather then jumping here and there in front of the TV. Yes I’m a little too old for that…

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A bottle & 2 cups of coffee

A forwarded mail that my friend sent to me.

During the philosophy class today, the professor stood on the platform without saying a word. He took out an empty mayonnaise bottle and a bag of golf balls.

He filled all the golf balls into the empty mayonnaise bottle. He then asked the students if they would agree that the empty bottle was now full.

The students of course agreed.

After that, the professor took out a cup of small cobblestones from under the table and he slowly poured them into the bottle while shaking it. Soon, the cobblestones filled up all the gap in between the golf balls.

Then, the professor asked the students again if they would agree that the bottle was full?

The students said yes.

Again, the professor took out a cup of fine sand from under the table.

Following the same method, by pouring while shaking the bottle, he filled up the small gap in between the cobblestone with the fine sands.

Professor: “Is the bottle really full now?"

Students: " Yes, it should be full. No more gaps".

Just as the students thought it was over, the professor brought out two cups of coffee from under the table and he slowly poured all the coffee from the cups into the bottle until not a single drop was left.

After pouring the coffee, the professor smiled at the students and said, “Now the bottle is truly full".

The students laughed together with the professor.

Then the professor started his lecture.

"Do you know what I am trying to teach you with my demonstration today?"

"I am using this mayonnaise bottle to tell you a philosophy of life"

"This empty mayonnaise bottle represents our life"

"Golf balls are the major things in our life, such as God, family, children, friends, health and love.

It doesn't matter that life is without those cobblestones and fine sands. But if our life is without the major things above, it will be meaningless.

The small cobblestones will be like "the other things" in our life such as job, house, car, etc.

As for the fine sands, they are just like the small little things in our life, those trivial matters which are not important.

If I began my show by putting the fine sands into the empty mayonnaise bottle first, there would not be any space for golf balls and the cobblestones.

In the same way, if I were to fill the cobblestones in first, there would be no space for the golf balls either.

Just like our life, if you spent all your precious time on those trivial matters, you wouldn't have time to do the important things.

Therefore, we should spend more time on the things which are related to our happiness.

Be with our children more often.
Spend more time for parents, grandparents and other family members.
Pay attention to our health.
Do not worry about the unfinished household chores.
Do not worry about rooms that have not been cleaned up.
Do not worry about not tending the garden.

There will be time for us to do these things.

Give more thoughts to those major and important things in life!

There is only one life.

Life will only be meaningful if we are clear about the importance and priority of things in life.

A student raised up his hand at this point of time

"Professor, what about the two cups of coffee? Do they mean anything?"

"I am glad that you ask the question", answered the professor.

The message from the two cups of coffee for us are,

No matter how full our mayonnaise bottle seems to be, we will always have time for coffee with our friends.

It seems that we are always busy as though the 24 hours we have are not enough.

If you still think that way, please remember the story of the empty mayonnaise bottle and two cups of coffee.

Japanese Karee Rice - Agefuku

Despite having more and more new Japanese restaurants and outlets opening, Japanese curry rice in Malaysia still wasn’t that popular. I’ve been to a few outlets and ordered curry rice, but the taste and quality disappoints me. Maybe Malaysians don’t really enjoy having curry rice that are not spicy compared to the local nasi kandar. Or maybe curry rice just sound like food that you will have it in jail.

So behold, Agefuku Japanese restaurant, which has been sitting near my workplace (Taipan USJ 10) for years without me noticing it. There are two sections; the top floor serves ala cart and buffet, while the ground floor serves the so call ‘Japanese Fried Delight’, or Japanese Fast food. While many would fancy the buffet on the top floor (due to the Japanese Buffet trend in Klang Valley), I find the fast food section more interesting. For some reason, we were happy to see the word ‘non-halal’. In Malaysia, very few Japanese restaurant would dare take the risk to serve pork in their menu, so kudos to Agefuku. And yes, pork plays an important role in Japanese food.

We tried the Japanese curry (Karee) rice with fried pork cutlet, and I can tell you that this is the best Japanese curry rice I have ever had in Malaysia. The meat is tender and juicy, the portion of rice is just nice, and the best part is the curry sauce, which is the exact taste I had in Japan (thick, sweet and a little spicy). It satisfies my taste bud every time I pay a visit.

Lately there is a promotion on certain items which cost only RM 3 for a main course. I am a little worried because such promotion could hint that the business is not doing very well. RM 3 for ramen or teriyaki chicken rice is certainly a loss making move, as the average meal there cost about RM 10. I have experience in a restaurant where they are doing RM 2 breakfast buffet. What we get is bread, butter, fried rice and some fried noodles. The restaurant closed after 1 week… So the lesson here is not to undervalue your product.

I hope this bold move will not jeopardize the restaurant. I believe there’s an opportunity to grow and to build up their reputation. They already have good food, good location, and they are the only Japanese fast food player in the region. So please gambateh and 生き続ける! (stay alive…)

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Best Found Media – BFM 89.9

Long have I waited for such radio station to arrive. Most of the radio channels I listened in Malaysia have been either crappy or meaningless. Although some were entertaining, some DJs went overboard, playing fool on the listeners, and spitting jokes that are lame.

In BFM, not only you get the latest news headline every half an hour, there are tons of interviews with businessmen/women and entrepreneurs. Though I think that the interviewers could still improve in their questioning, the interviews are inspiring and motivating, especially in the morning when you stuck in the traffic jam going to work.

For those who are not staying in the Klang Valley, you can still tune in online here. You can even download Podcast in mp3 format for previous interviews that you have missed. Now that’s Best For Malaysians.

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