While enjoying my Saturday morning going through my Google Reader, I received call from XiaoSian. He called up to inform me that DingWen has passed away. Most of our friends will meet up in Kuantan to arrange for his funeral. That time, I was alone...with no one to confirm the validity of the statement. I texted SueYee, JenMeng, Joleen, talked to Josh, IM M@rimo. If it is meant to be an Xmas joke, that's way too much.


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I made a few phone calls and Joleen and BM agreed to car pooled down there to pay our last respect. I'm thankful that Irene comes along as she switches with me every 2 hours along this expedition. The 6 hours drive down is really nerve killing but luckily we managed to reach the funeral parlor just on time to pay our last respect. Unlike Penang, the crematory in Kuantan is hidden deep inside a Oil Palm Estate. We havta drive for 30km from FP to the crematory with an empty tank!

But the whole trip was quite well planned out. All of us have to work on Monday, hence we make a 1-day trip down East Coast. I've been driving a lot on the NSE, but this is the craziest trip I've done to my car. Recorded over 1000km of millage with 2 full tanks dried up right when I reach Juru Interchange. After the 16 hours trip, we are all exhausted.


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After the whole ceremony, the group of us catch up with some old times in Kopi Street somewhere near Kuantan Prima, Gambang. We have a few drinks and get updates from each other. Glad to know that not much changes on all of them after one whole year. We're still in our t-shirts and shorts and the way we speak is still the same.


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Ding Wen was really a friend. I couldn't have graduated if not for him. Whenever there's a dateline for assignment, when the project is about to due, or as exams are near, he'll be there. Handing me a copy of the solution and reminding me to submit on time. Without those, I'll still be a student wasting time in lecture classes. Besides, when I'm bored, he'll certainly be there to accompany me for supper at one of the mamak stalls. He's really my savior.


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Labels: Friends, Travel

11 hours plus of flight is not 开玩笑, really tiring, and this time surprisingly I can't fall asleep while choobee sleeps like a doll.

Hang out at Bangkok's airport for 6 hours before taking another short journey back. It's a nice trip, 10 days is too short for Germany trip, I'm not sure how other Malaysians can take the 10 days Europe trip and come back satisfied... No more holidays liao, havta get back to work. Will start planing my next trip after getting more leaves. Yawn~ back to my smelly bed. Updates shortly.

Labels: Travel

Walking 3 hours on torn boots

Having waked up early in the morning; we took a stroll around the resort. The morning mist makes the mountains so beautiful we started taking pictures of the surroundings. After getting ready for Stuggart, we found one huge problem, there was no taxi service. Tried to call a few numbers, but because it’s a Sunday, I thought no one was working.


Beautiful Immenstadt Landscape


What will today be like
What to do? I took out a map from the Resort Directory that showed us the direction to the station. Tossing a coin, we both agreed to walk instead of wasting such a wonderful day staying indoors. According to the map, the trip will only take around 1 hour max. But after walking out of the map, we still see no sign of urbanization. I started to try thumb lifting, but the cars just flew pass. It’s too late to walk back to the resort, and Irene told me that her boots was about to torn. “What better time can the shoes fail on us?”


Boots totally torn

We failed to catch the earlier train to Stuggart, so we called up Cirnelle letting her know about our situation. At the same time, we continued walking until at one instant, the shoe Irene’s wearing came split into half. “What kinda workmanship is that?” Cost down had shown its problem at the most critical moment. For the next 2 hours, we walked through farms and grasslands until finally we saw some people in the mirror lake.

The incident might have shocked Irene so much that she started singing and dancing while walking. It’s our 5-year anniversary, what was it that we did wrong to deserve such a punishment? Couldn’t I just give my girlfriend a better treatment? And we continued walking until at one time, Irene decided to take off her shoes and walk bare footed on the cold pavement. Crazy as it might sound; it’s faster to bare footed then to walk with a pair of torn boots.

Finally after 3~4 hours of walking (we lost count), we managed to reach the station at noon. Immediately we sat down at Doners Kebab stall to rest. The chicken burger and beer that we put into our stomach after 14 kilometers of walking taste extremely good. We’ve made it!!! Next year we can compete in the Penang Bridge full marathon.

We took the 1240 train to meet up with Kelvin (Cirnelle’s lollypop) @ Ulm. We felt embarrassed letting him wait for us at the train station all morning. Instead of getting angry, he sat there dressed to kill, reading up his favorite issue of Readers Digest. He gave us a warm welcome and handed me ½ a dozen of donuts he bought for us worry that we might be hungry. I for sure will never think so far for Irene’s friends, not even my own for that matter.

>>>>>> Click for More Day 3 Photos >>>>>>

Meeting up with Kelvin and Cirnelle


From left: Me, Irene, Cirnelle, Kelvin

Since we bought a weekend ticket (Wochenende), we paid €33 for a ticket that I can share among 5 friends. And as Kelvin met up with another Malaysian, we split out the ticket that saves us €15. With 3 guys in the group, naturally we talked about engineering, and I started to think about furthering my studies in Germany one day. I also got to know that these people are sensitive to the issues back home despite being ½ way around the globe

As we reached Stuttgart, Cirnelle immediately hopped on to Irene giving her a warm friendly hug with a pint of concern that we had been traveling so far. As I showed them Irene torn shoes, everyone couldn’t believe the experience that we’d been through this morning. Cirnelle brought out a pair extra shoes for Irene to wear. After getting her feet warm again, Irene slowly gained back her conscious. Parting with K’s friend, the couple (K&C) brought us around Stuttgart main roads. Like any other place in Germany, people are enjoying themselves under the sun, reading a book, or having a beer while enjoying the rays.


Stuttgart's Ice Cream, Yay~


K&C doing their thing


Yours Truely preparing for the foto


Look-see Look-see on the city

It was still too early for dinner after we finished covering the terrains. So K&C suggested that we sat down and chatted over a glass of beer at a nearby pub. No one drinks mineral water as beers are of the same price (alcoholic or otherwise). I learnt a bit about Nokia from K while Irene caught up with C.

>>>>>> Click for More Day 3 Photos >>>>>>

Spanish Dinner in Deutsch land

For dinner, Cirnelle treated us to a Spanish restaurant Enchilada (its funny how we get the name again). Irene ordered a glass of tomato juice, and for the Spanish, they takes it with a few drips of Tabasco sauce and a pinch of black pepper. She liked it so much she asked me to remind her to buy more tomato juice once we land back on Malaysian soil. For the main course, we had various type of pasta, some with rice fillings while others had meat and vege. All of us had a great time teasing and laughing. The environment was unique, but I couldn’t say the same with their cocktail. We ordered a Devil’s Tail to share around the table…all I can say is that it tasted like – medical syrup.


The lovely waitress that serves us


Our meal


One for the album


Devil's tail taking effect

Bid farewell with both K&C after dinner. Worrying about getting home, we booked a taxi over the phone. Once we reached the station, the taxi was already there waiting for us. Our body was all tired, sticking Salonplas all over our body before resting comfortably in bed.


>>>>>> Click for More Day 3 Photos >>>>>>

Labels: Travel

14 hours left in my clock before I'll be departing for Munich en route Bangkok. So far our preparation is minimal, a lot of last minute changes for me and Irene. Luckily most of the items in office already assigned to respective members from various departments, leftovers need to wait for me to come back and support.

Things we have yet to do:

1. contact yiling letting her know exactly when she's going to expect us
2. what the hell happen to may cheong??? is she gonna follow us or what?
3. finish packing our things into the bag...so much to take!!!
4. recharging my batteries
5. Forex - haven't get enough Euro

Aih~tonight she has to go train ppl dancing pulak, can we ever sleep tonight? Maybe I can get one of those pills the bus drives took to drive all day on the North-South Expressway.

Labels: Travel

Labels: Photography, Travel

I've been travelling a lot lately, but u must be wondering - what happen to all the photos? Erm, some are in my harddisc while others are still kept in the camera bag.

Instead of putting millions of words into this blog, I'll keep it short. Josh/Joleen invited us to have a dual date outing to Lumut as they exchanged an apartment with their membership with some hotels. The journey is rather long as we need to travel quite some distance off the highway. Luckily the roads are well tarred, just that there are a lot of heavy vehicles slowing us down.

The apartment is like all other - simple and nice; overlooking the golf-course and have a hint of the sea and mountains. After checking in, we took drove to the jetty to get over to Pangkor. We are not sure what they have in there other than seafood. But to our surprise we are being blocked by a swarm of car rental and taxi drivers. Without further delay, we took a proton after discounted price.

The beaches are full of people as it's a weekend, and we spent some time visiting the famous temples and scenic. By the time we come back, it's already time for dinner. Had a disapointing meal at a chinese outlet, but not much to complain also lah, since the place is almost dead at night.

The following day, we dip ourselves into the hotel's swimming pool. I tried to get Irene to swim, but being a mischevious me...I shocked her into tears before she can even get confortable in the water. Naturally, we have to take a nice bath back in the room before we check out.

In the afternoon, we spent some time in Ipoh on a few of our favourite hang out. Too bad by the time we reach there the lunch time already over. The bean sprout chicken and the salt steam chicken are closing. The only shop open is a corner lot with very rude and unfrenly staffs. No choice but to fill ourselves up as we are getting really hungry. Bring J&J to the caves, buy pomelo and some of their local biscuits. I hope we ain't that bad as a tour guide in this trip.

Thanks to Joleen for treating us dinner at JiuJiu Xiang as promised. Haha...nice food, great chat. Listen to some music at Halo, Juru before driving back to Penang Island. Thanks to Irene, Josh and Joleen for tolerating with me over the weekend. Love to have such short trips again.

Labels: Friends, Travel

We meet up with the delegates from England. On the journey to the meeting with the respective offices, we pass by a salt water lake with water flow control, listen to story about how Xiamen was when she was still a fishing village, and we also get to know that Xiamen organizes a marathon yearly at their 环岛路 (outer ring road). The 42km marathon path is considered the most beautiful one in the world, no doubt about that as I can see wedding studio taking scenic shots along the highway.

The people there are considered quite lucky as the normal working hours are only 9-to-5, unlike engineers like me who has to work from 8-to-6. The official fruit of this town is mango while the official bird is the white egret (白鹭). Businessman provide clean and healthy breakfast along the path to school/work 早餐公车, hence the locals don’t usually prepare breakfast at home. After the development, Xiamen now only have about 25% of the population are locals, while the remaining 75% are foreigners from other states.

In the morning meeting with 思明区政府, we get to see a great panoramic of the city. One will surely see the obvious contrast between the new and old buildings. You will also notice how much new constructions are going on and yellow cranes can be seen everywhere. The first thing you will notice when you step into a Chinese conference room is that they serve Chinese tea instead of Mineral water. The host talks about GDP, population, facilities, tax benefits and all those numbers that are important to investors. Despite knowing peanuts, I get to practice my listening skill and refresh my memory on the management classes I used to attend.

Later, we visit 观音山 that used to be a military ground as it is very near to 金门 (Taiwan). Villagers used to bring food to 金门 and in exchange received money. According to one saying, it only takes the boats men 4001 rows to reach the island. This place is only open to the public after 1979, and especially the recent years they encourage oversea Chinese to come back and invest.

From the business plan offered, here are some of the items I understand. The government has already defined certain criteria of developments like size, height and number of floors of the building as well as the nature of business. In China lands are not sold, investors are only allowed to least the ownership of land. The years offered are 50 for business offices and 70 for housing. What happens after that period of time and the terms for renewing are not discussed, as those officers are not informed as of present.

After lunch, we visit Kingtronics, which is among the first HK investors to build their factory in Xiamen back in 1984. Their main field is R&D as well as manufacturing ODM products for customers like Toshiba and General Electrics (GE). Products under their belt include hi-tech phones, GPS PCB modules, set top box, IPTV, digital recording, IP phone and much more. During his briefing, we get to know that GE factory in Penang & Kulim closes down because manufacturing are being taken by his factory.

R&D are collaboration of HK & US while Xiamen factory concentrates on manufacturing and engineering for cost efficiency and QA. During the factory tour, the boss shows us the assembly line which houses a lot of link machines which are purchased from overseas. Sorters, baking system and PCB maker are being shown as well. The handlers are fast but yet I can see that still a lot of manual labor work are in progress.

After the factory visit曾琦 the boss shows us his musical gallery where he sells a collection of piano, violin, and traditional Chinese musical instruments. During the tour, he also let us into his sound proof musical rooms that are used for national piano exams, and there’s also a room for ballet dancing. He’s constructing another building which will accommodate a 60-meter tall hall for national level competition right beside the gallery we are in.

Dinner is on 市委常委，副市长沧洲 宴请. The translator hired for the benefit of delegates from UK is very proficient in what he does. During his speech, the deputy mayor encourage us to participate in 2 recent activities in Xiamen:
8th of April – Electronics Convention
8th of September – International Trade Fair

It is shocking how much funding the local government has. We are sitting in a table that occupies the whole hall, and this long table can easily fits 40 to 50 people.

Labels: Travel

We wake up with a normal Western and Oriental buffet. Nothing to talk about. As we leave the hotel, late greetings from friends from college starts flowing in one after another. Must be the bad reception we have in the hotel I stayed in. Isn’t it weird, have WIFI but no GSM reception?

The pretty lady that being assigned as our tour guide brings us to a few tourist attractions. First stop is taking a boat ride 海上看金门. 金门 is actually a piece of land in Taiwan. When the political situation is tight back in the 70’s, the place is flooded with military ships flying missiles over the air. We also witness the oldest reserved canon from afar, which is only used once in history. The boat brings us across the Taiwan border and we are able to receive receptions from Taiwan network distributors. They served tea (RMB100 for 6 pax) and also provide in boat dancers to perform for us.

Next, we took a ferry to 鼓浪屿 (Drumming Wave Islet). Due to time constrain, we just have a simple scroll on a portion of the island. The local products are sold at crazy prices. The first shop offered a packet for RM20, but by the end of the trip, another shop offered the same package for RM8~! Imagine that. In the island, there’s no motorized vehicle. So even the banks have to hire people to carry the money by foot. Transportation is not a problem to the locals as the ferry operates from 5am – 12pm daily with a ferry every 10 minutes.

After lunch at a seafood restaurant, we went shopping at 中山路. Nothing interesting there for me, just apparels and clothes suitable for the ladies and fashion conscious men. A lot of local brands sell their suits for > RMB1000, not like China brands are cheap. On the contrary, there are also shops selling jackets for RMB100~150 at their pre-renovation sales. After walking for hours (time stops when you’re bored) found a shop that sells muar chee 叶氏麻嵫. Took a cab back to the hotel, and slept like a pig as shopping is really tiring for me.

Woke up by my roommate 传益 at 8.30pm. We ate at the restaurant across the road. The 12 of us gobble down at least 8 dishes with boxes of beer and hard liquor. The bill turns out barely reaching RMB300. Which gets me to think why our nasi lemak are sold so expensive. A few of them are debating about the rich families in Penang, this taught me that there are still a lot for me to learn about.

Wanted to drop by the Internet Café to clear some mails, but it turns out those places requires users be registered to use. Can’t blame the operator, as I believe it has to do with the government policy.

Labels: Travel

Penang Hokkien Association organized this trip because we received an invitation from the Xiamen Overseas Chinese Office. (华侨办公室—侨办). The objectives of the trips (which I managed to find out only later) is to visit XiaMen, understands it, and see if there’s any opportunities for us to invest over there. Our group represents the “Young Entrepreneur” from Penang, but there are at least 40% of our delegates over the age of 55. I just fit into the equation to bring down the average age of the group :P

The plane we took was nothing to brag about – small, poor in-house entertainment, bad food and shakes terribly when facing turbulence. Transit GuangZhou’s airport and have an hour of delay due to airport traffic and the rain. Like the saying goes: 清明时节雨分分。。。But thankfully, we managed to arrive in one piece. The pilots are well prepared for such challenges – and hence we need to pay them that much.

Xiamen is not a village where people still live on trees and use banana leaves to wrap themselves. The city has already developed into a metropolitan with freeways, outer ring road, and speedy railways. Xiamen and the surrounding countryside is famous for being an ancestral home to overseas Chinese and Taiwanese as well as one of China's earliest special economic zones in the 1980s. It covers an area of 1,565 km² with a local population of 2.01 million. [wiki]

Since we are invited by the local government, food and lodging are all taken care of by the offices. They checked us into XiangLu Grand [厦门翔鹭国际大酒店] which was built for the 2007 Beijing Olympics game (me thinks). Since it has not being operating for over 12 months, it’s not being rated yet. But in my opinion, it’s as good as the 5 star hotel I stayed in when I was in Hong Kong. There’s HDTV, WIFI, and the toiletry set is completed with body lotion. At every corner of the hotel there are waiter/waitresses standing on guard giving us the sweetest greeting.

The first night, we have our dinner with the director of Xiamen Chinese Overseas Office (let’s just call them XCO2). The round table fits all 30 of us, the largest table I’ve sat in, with seats reserved with my name on. The food is great, and the hospitality is unbeatable. In China, every meal we are served with over 12 dishes. In Penang, a normal wedding dinner only serves a maximum of 8. That’s not all, red wine is free flow and the host went from table to table to thank us for coming. (Even though she’s the one who’s giving the treat).

Labels: Myself, Travel