Withdrawn Raya Advertisement

I was not aware of this advertisement until recent forwarded email with this clip attached and titled Iklan Raya TV3 yang ditarik balik. I didn't bother to read the content of the email and went straight to the video. When I first watched it, I was marveled. The advertisement was a breakthrough. It was fantasy like and different from all the previous ads.

I have to admit that the flying beca and the pak cik did reminded me of Santa and his sleigh. But I was not so sure what drove them to withdraw the advertisement. So I went back to the forwarded email and read the content.

It seemed like a group of pro-Islam was accusing that the ad contained non-Islamic element and demanded immediate removal. I did agree with them on the non-Islamic element but personally I thought it wasn't such a big deal. I bet no Malaysian who has access to TV service has not seen any of Santa scene or Siddharta Buddha...oups, I did not even detected the Buddhism and Hinduism lotus until being highlighted by this group of minority.

I think this advertisement is cool for it managed to demonstrate the true cultures of 1 Malaysia. True 1 Malaysia shall be a culture which represents part of past and future of each Malaysians regardless of the ancestry background. It's time for us to unite and we all know that unity begins with tolerance, acceptance and assimilation in you and me!

Dissapointment from the Selection for KBS International Exchange Program

This article was written on 30 March 2010 but left unpublished till this moment I decided to spill it all out.

I was disappointed not that I did badly in the camp. I did well and was very outstanding despite me unwilling to fight for chances to outshine everyone there. I felt that everyone should be given equal chances and treated equally. We are all leaders, the cream of our respective organizations. None deserved to be abandoned at the floor. So I just went with the flow and be myself all the time.

I was sad to discover the true fate all fellow Malaysians. I have expected the selection camp to be very competitive but it turned up to be easy. Speaking in English in a bunch of non speaker, so called young leaders whom have dream of leading our country was the easiest I could get there.

I did not understand why majority of delegates there could not speak in English at all. Worse when I discovered that they have already went through one round of selection at their respective state. How can we send ambassador out to promote Malaysia when this person can't even speak any known language at the international arena more over a total foreign language?

Secondly I was disappointed to know that fellow Malaysian young leaders are shallow. In example, my group was given the topic Education to present on. The first idea that came to my fellow team mates' thought were we should present the good and the bad side of what education can bring to us. For good, just highlight his life during adulthood with good career while on the opposite side we will present how the teenage boy would end up being druggies or 'mat rempit'. Why druggies and 'mat rempit'? Was this all that we have? Was this idea appropriate when we are suppose to be Malaysian ambassador?

I respected them and listened to their ideas. Finally when my comment was needed, I managed to convince them on our role here in representing fellow Malaysian youths. I managed to remove the negative elements from our presentation and drive them to the right direction that was to promote Malaysia Education system internationally.

So we came out with brilliant ideas, making 3 scenes for our sketch. In scene 1, we wanted to highlight the education system we have now and our adaptation in making our education aligned with the IT and knowledge base era. One of the example quoted which was astonishing to me was the 'E-book' program launched at the Terengganu state. At first I was puzzled to learn about the program as my fellow team mates knew about the project at the surface only. They kept mentioning about e-book and quoting the physical appearance of the 'e-book', not knowing about what we called as Classmate PC or netbook in general.

Scene 2 discussion was the most hilarious one. We wanted to present what has education brought to us in terms of R&D achievement. So we brainstormed on the inventions by fellow Malaysians. Believe it or not, one can quote 'Microsoft buat Intel Core 2 Duo. Designer it orang Malaysia'. I almost laughed out loud listening to him. I would not blame him for not knowing who designed the processor but despise him for mentioning anything about Microsoft and Intel Core 2 Duo. Thank god, I was there to correct them on this!

Another invention quoted was a fellow Malaysian created a cure to stomach ulcer from mangosten extract. Someone asked what was stomach ulcer and the answer given was gastric...hahahahahaha. Forgive my shallowness. I just don't know the equation for stomach ulcer is gastric. btw I have not heard of any absolute cure to stomach ulcer nor gastric. I didn't say much about this as I wasn't in health care profession.

Scene 3 was about a foreigner

Youth without independent thinking...barely followers in nature. Just tried to outshine peers, but in real fact all are followers.

On the last day, we have our final challenge. It was a public speaking for merely 1 minute. I was nervous too but still manage to do it spontaneously. Earlier, I prepared a 5 minutes speech on the Government Transformation Program. I expected many to talk about 1 Malaysia but I doubt many knew the true concept of 1Malaysia what more about GTP. However I decided to change my topic to 'How to speak in public and how to overcome stage fright?' after listening to few others. They were trembling and shivering. Many could not speak fluently what more spontaneously. I wanted to help them and I mean it. I have no intention to be the best and fight for a place on the kapal belia. I just wished that these future Malaysia Ambassadors would not embarrass us during the exchange. However it was sad that I have been given too little time to share with them.

Holiday Season

Another posting which was left unposted for close to a month in my list....glad that I finally find some time for it.

The original posting time of this posting was 3rd January 2010.

Happy New Year to all my friends!

It has been a while since I last update my blog...just didn't have the urge to update my blog especially during this festive season.

I was in holiday mood since the week I was suppose to visit Sungai Lembing in Pahang. However thanks to rain god, our trip has to be reschedule and most probably without me in it :S

As we were already in Karak Highway when we received the call from the owner of the chalet, we diverted our journey towards Bukit Tinggi instead. Though Bukit Tinggi wasn't much like I have anticipated, I enjoyed my trip there with the companies...I have much great time sweating ourselves trying our luck to get a synchronous jump shot.
So from the initial plan of 3 days 2 nights trip at Sungai Lembing, we spend our time in Klang Valley. So much has been done together...karaoke at Neway, One-U, bowling at Times Square, hiking at Broga Hill, flying kite at Kepong, 'chor tai tee' at EP's house, shopping at multiple malls and on food hunt. Love spending time with them...

my favourite meal...I just love those desserts

KKM and JKN Kelantan sucked!

I wonder if this was normal for them?

My sis received her posting letter pretty late if compared to her friends. The letter mentioned that she is to report in for duty to JKN Kelantan on 16 Oct(Fri). As the letters were sent by KKM in bulk, she has to call the state office to confirm the reporting date since it is holiday in Kelantan (Friday is an offday in Kelantan). The officer asked her to report in on Monday, 19 Oct.
My mum and I accompanied my sister there. We left for Kelantan on Sunday. On Monday morning, we headed to the Jabatan Kesihatan Negeri(JKN) Kelantan at Wisma Persekutuan. She was there to report to the state authority. Family and spouses were kept waiting outside while the newly transfered pharmacists were directed to the meeting room. An officer walked in at close to 9am and deliver his welcoming speech. After a winding speech, they were told by the officer that their transfer to the state were not made known to the JKN Kelantan, hence nothing has been arranged for them. Anyway, they were asked to report to the Jabatan Farmasi at Pengkalan Chepa.

So we rushed to the Jabatan Farmasi, hoping that her placement is based on 'First Come, First Serve Basis'. It took us approximately 15 minutes to get there but we were kept waiting long. The newly reporting pharmacists were kept waiting in the meeting room again while parents and spouses were all waiting outside.

While we were waiting, the officers were busy...busy dilly dally, chatting and moving in and out of 'dewan makan'. They were all busy with their Jamuan Hari Raya I supposed. So we could only wait, wait and wait only.

Finally at close to 11 o'clock, one of the newbie's mother who is a doctor, started to 'mengamuk'. Complained to the officers impatiently. Thanks to her mother, finally the 'Penolong Pengarah' went into the meeting room to meet the newbies. Another round of winding lectures, they were told that the department was not prepared for their transfer in. So they were asked to wait till after the placement list being endosed in thier Wednesday department meeting and letter would be out by Thursday morning.

My sisters and her new colleagues asked what should they do before they know their placement and guess what he replied? He said something like this, "Kamu kena datang ke office seperti biasa dan buat apa yang sepatutnya." ...puzzled, 'What can pharmacists do sitting in the meeting room together all day?'

Since we were there with May, she decided to take a few days leave and only return to office on Thursday to get her posting letters while we could venture and discover Kota Bharu.

However on the Tuesday evening, she learnt about the posting decision was out from her friends....didn't the officer mentioned that the list would be out no earlier than Wednesday? the meeting got brought forward, canceled or what :-( My sister and WT were sent to Hospital Machang, in a small and slow pace town. What worsen their emotion was when they discovered X( a 'he') actually got posted to Hospital Raja Perempuan Zainab II. X met up with the officer personally and told the officer that he was a first class honour student and it would be a waste to send him to those hospitals in rural area...well well, I didn't know that the results would matter even after working for a year. Ridiculous!

There were a lot other factors that the officer could take into consideration...gender and distance from the newbies hometown, and the past year performance were more important in my opinion...or to be fair, just do a random draw. Again this prove that in Kelantan, officers were super inefficient and their words could not be taken seriously.

So on Wednesday morning, my sister and WT went to the office to collect their letters and to appeal the department's decision. It was pretty tough for girls to start off their life in an alien rural area. They didn't get to meet the officer. According to his asst., he was away in Johor and would only be back few days later...trying to hide away ya?

My sis and WT have no other choices but to report to Hospital Machang as being commanded. Hospital Machang...physically, the hospital compound was big but the number of patience was low. The bed occupancy was low, approximately at 50%. There were 4 doctors and guess how many phamacist they have. There were 6 pharmacist.

1 hospital : 4 doctors : 6 pharmacists

Given the doctor pharmacist ratio was 1 : 1.5. Crazy! More pharmacist than doctors!!!!!!!!!!!!! This huge hospital was

UNDERUTILIZed and OVERSTAFFed.

They have been hinted that working there was pretty easy...'boleh bergoyang kaki'....

However big the hospital was, there was no quarter for them two. My sis and WT were initially promised a quarter, so we didn't bother to hunt for house elsewhere since the quarter looks fine but later were to receive call from the hospital staff saying that they have overlooked. That huge quarter must be emptied and reserved for another soon to join doctor. Damn...'sekejap boleh, sekejap tak boleh'.

With this kind of management and attitude, Malaysia's public healthcare sector can never progress and we people are going to suffer.

Signing off,
Poor Malaysian

Her move to Kelantan

Instead of Medan, I am off to Kelantan today. My sister get posted to Kelantan. Which exact hospital or KK is still an unknown. She was hoping to be place within urban area.

So Kelantan here I come...going to jalan jalan cari makan!

Oh yes...we may head up to Cameron Highland for a short holiday if she manages to get a week off duty...

Ll update on our journey later! Tschuss!

Bukit Mertajam : Chin Kang Hu Restaurant

Found another cheap eating place nearby Juru area. Chin Kang Hu Restaurant (真功夫美食館) is located at Taman Bayu Mutiara, the taman on your left from PLUS Juru exit heading South. They are a row away from the Lin Restaurant (7- village Noodle House). They have started operation in early July but only have their official opening on the 29th July.

The exterior was attractive with the red and white coulor theme...nicely lid and with lots of parking spaces available. I bet you will surely be able to identify this shop with a huge cartoonized Bruce Lee as their icon.

The interior was comfortable too. Wide space, 2 shop lots made into 1 huge dining place...simple white tables and chairs with some features wall...I am a big kid myself...love the Bruce Lee cartoon in his iconic yellow suit...and with its high roof, it is less sophisticated despite the crowd.

Food variety...was rather poor...varieties of steam rice. For non rice, only few types of noodle available.

As both my sister and I were not a fan of rice, we chose to go for their signature Hokkien mee and Kuey Teow soup but ended up in disappointment. The hokkien mee has only average hawker standard. The Kuey Teow soup was good...better than average hawker but slightly behind the 7 village.

The variety of side dishes was poor. Their signature lobak was no longer available, so we went ahead with their fried fish ball and fried spring roll. We were disappointed with these both...both portions were extreme small. The spring roll was hard but not crunchy. It tasted nothing more than the oily chunk.

After this visit I wasn't sure when will be our next visit. We will probably give it another try on their nutrition steam rice or perhaps when we were running late and unable to catch the Lin Restaurant on time....and when I am poor...their dishes are cheap

My 1st DSLR

Finally after long craving for one, I got myself a DSLR....my Canon EOS 1000D with 18 - 55 mm kit len.

So my first photographing event was on last Saturday. Got a few shots from Yeap Yau's house warming and hundreds from Bon Odori 2009 at Esplanade.

Please enjoy my productions from Bon Odori.

I think they are Malaysians....I love their summer kimonos...
she is our best model...many diff face expression and not much movement...good for me to train my portrait shooting skill

she has to face more than 20 cameramen at a time and for quite some time

the central stage

sis and a beautiful girl

paper doll for sale

Japanese hand painted vase and jars

Japanese dolls up for sale

colourful water balloon up for 'fished'

the most crowded stalls...fishing the baloon and fish up the gold fish '捞金鱼'

this little boy tried his luck for few rounds...finally managed to get 2

mummy hepling the model daughterat the fishing water balloons stall

金鱼佬 at the 金鱼挡

trying her luck...she managed to fish 5 to 6 with 1 paper net

these were the young drummers of the night

Dr Lim G E graced the festival

one of the many food stalls around...roasted chicken by xxx hotel...can't recall which hotel was that from

my sis enjoying the takoyaki

the takoyaki...octopus balls

the japanese pan cake...taste so so

the takoyaki...can get better ones at Jusco QB

pan fried

performers from Perlis and Kedah

they can really dance very well

this was their 3 continous dance...yet they could still be so lively

from the MJA and PJLC...demostrating the BonOdori dance

The rasa sayang moves were very beautiful...very graceful

Malaysians too could look very beautiful in Kimono

one of the best performance I managed to catch on the day

I like this girl very much....very lively move

with the ghost like mask

with the mask

the trainer...she was very lively...very energetic

great performers and great performance

for more photos, please refer to http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=92520&l=028d6a033e&id=533382630

Weekend getaway from Penang...in KL and Malacca

On my 3584, I speed down to KL on Friday evening with my parents. We departed from home at 6.45pm and arrived in KL at 10.15pm...3 and a half hour...that was a pretty fast journey :D

Arriving at KL, my first stop was at Serdang Raya, Yoke Heng Restaurant for the yummy claypot lou shu fan and pork ribs. This was on of the many eating places I missed of in Klang valley. Why can't they have their branches in Penang? :-(

Yoke Heng...famous for it's claypot lou shu fun

our claypot lou shu fun...order 2 person share...it is enought for 3

their famous pork rib...with marmite sauce

I started my Saturday with breakfast in the renowned Woo Pin Fish Head Noodle, 湖滨鱼头米粉 at Taman Danau Desa. It was located within the Ho-A-One Seafood Steamboat Restaurant. This was another place which worth driving long for. It took me about 15 minutes drive from Cheras but with a toll at Conought...If not the paying expressway, it will take me an hour on MRR2 then into the KL Seremban highway.

Ho A One Steamboat house the Woo Pin Fish Head Noodle in the morning

After dropping my aunt and cousin at home, we sped off to Malacca. It was a smooth journey down. It took me about an hour and a half to Ayer Keroh toll...followed by another few minutes drive to my brother's place situated at the back of MMU.

Then we headed to Taman Desa Duyong for the Sakura House. It was a terrace house converted cafe...very homey feel. As it was a home cooked Japanese meal, you could not expect too much...rich in choices but tasted so so. However this may be a value for money option.Next stop, we was at the Dataran Pahlawan...went round and round in search of parking lot...I hate this place for we always could not get a proper place to park or ended with a fine note by MBMB...damn MBMB!

Sakura House...1 simple bento only cost

The presentation was good but personally I didn't really like nor dislike the food...just not a recommended place to dine in if you are Japanese food fans

mum's Unagi Bento

We was in Dataran Pahlawan for a mid day food hunt mid stop...our stomachs needed some time to process all our intakes. So we went for Transformer...yeah finally I got to watch it...and it was a great choice for family time...but !@#$^ to the guy sitting next to me. He has been coughing throughout the 2nd half of the movie...causing me having to use my Dettol sanitizer all time...every time he cough, I would have to apply once...Didn't he know what hygiene means now especially with the H1N1 outbreak?

Not to be missed...we had a tea break before the show...though I was full, I could not resist my long crave for drink...my favourite Chocolate milk shake at Wong Kok Restaurant. The thick chocolate milk shake topped with chocolate ice cream was just irresistable.

After the movie we drove for half hour to Umbai for ikan bakar. We ordered a ikan pari bakar cili, butter prawns and squids platter. The main dish, ikan bakar was rather dissapointing...the chili was way too strong and covered the frest taste of the fish. The butter prawns and squid platter were delicious. Not to forget, the otak-otak was good as well. Normally people love to have these dishes with Nasi Lemak but not for me as I was sparing my stomach for next round.

Then, we headed back to town. We went to my favourite cafe in Malacca, the Nadeje Patisserie...We ordered an original mille crepe, strawberry mille crepe, tiramisu mille crepe and a cheese cake. I loved the original mille crepe most. It was best to go with black long coffee....dark and sugarless.


On Sunday morning, we went to the Museum Cafe(Jonker Dessert 88) for the world best cendol...this was always my choice of cendol...better than our Penang Teo Chew Cendol. Cendol. Besides cendol, the Baba Laksa was also my favourite. Unique in it's own way...unlike our Penang laksa nor our Penang curry mee.
After the heavy santan meal, we walked down the street in search for our gifts...the pineapple tarts. As we walked along the road, we found a busy stall selling traditional Nyonya kuih...We got a whole big bag of 'Ang Ku Kueh', Pulut Tai Tai, kuih bingkai and ondeh-ondeh....yummy! These were made fresh in the morning.

We then continued our tour with biscuit feasting at my frequent visit stall...I didn't the name but I just knew my way there. Their tarts never failed me. So we bought a box of pineapple tarts and a box of lotus paste cookies. Mum also got hold of 4 packs of mee sua.

As we were very full but has nothing much to do while waiting for stomach to give a little space, we headed to the Coffee at Cathedale Coffee Art

Next was another biscuit feasting time at Yong Sheng...I always love to shop here. 1.The biscuit taste good, 2. Affordable price as a gift, 3. Good service (the sales person kept offering ;D but my stomach was just too full :S and they deliver it right to your car), 4. We are already their VIP customer (get 15% discount).

I really have given up but as my parents were not very frequent visitor in Malacca, they wished to give Nyonya cuisine a try. So we headed to the Ole Sayang. Ordered a asam fish, ayam poh teng, sambal udang and sambal kangkung. My mum initially said she didn't want to eat rice, just a few bites of those dishes would do, ended up having need of additional plate of rice while for me, I got 2 spoon of rice...need the rice as the flavours were too strong to be taken like that. Anyway it was a great meal for everyone.

Finally we left Malacca at 4.20pm after stuffing my stomach meals after meal in shortly one and a half day. We reached Penang at 10.10pm...so it was a 5 hours and 50 minutes inclusive of a stop at the Seremban Siew Pau Empayar and few other intervals.

I enjoyed traveling with my parents...they were food enthusiacs like me :D

Photos here are from my old collections and from the internet...didn't have my camera with me.