Bangkok - First Time

I was so looking forward to getting away from KL, after weeks of being bogged with wedding details. And getting off the plane, made me realise that it has all been worthwhile, tagging my wife along with me on this honeymoon.

Now, this is my first trip to Bangkok and I had no expectations of what it would be like. The air is polluted, the streets are clogged, with cars and people alike. And to make my experience worse, I developed a fever couple of hours after arriving there. Yes, my body finally had time to break down after running around on my wedding day. My poor wife had to take care of me in the hotel room that evening, and I slept through that evening/night without taking her anywhere. And behind our room was a rail line, which the darn drivers can't seem to take their hands off their horns.

Would I return to Bangkok? Yes, if only for the mega malls, namely, Siam Paragon & Central World. The former had to be my favourite of them all. Paragon itself has its own departmental store all on its own and within it, mega brands were aplenty. It was akin to walking around Pavilion in Kuala Lumpur.

And how they deco their display shelves was simply attractive.




And this is only one of many rows of pens, I can't find such varieties in KL

You know, all this while I never tried Auntie Anne's while I was in Malaysia. Fearing I would have nothing else to eat but Tom Yam all the time, I settled for a pretzel while feeling peckish. And I enjoyed it. Very nice indeed. Trust me to go to Bangkok to try this instead of back home.



They even had a Lamborghini Murcielago on display in the mall outlet. How cool is that?



When I recovered the 2nd day, we walked a little bit more and were able to see what goes on at night after seeing all the props and all during the day. They can publicly have beer festivals just outside of the mall. And there were many of them.

The only cute thing I saw there was the restroom doors at Baiyoke Boutique Hotel where we stayed. No time to visit any of the infamous Tiger Shows nor any of the temples, which the latter having no pull factor on me.


Do you know which to go to?

Well, I'm still in Phuket now. Will share my thoughts on it at a later date.

Quality of Life - KL vs Perth

It's funny how each and every time I visit Australia, I resent Malaysia more and more. It's not the people I resent, but the quality of life we get dollar for dollar. And people sometimes wonder why I choose to visit Australia, time and time again. So, here is my attempt to rationalize why I say the quality of life there is of higher quality. I will try my up most best to compare apple to apple and orange to orange. But where it differs, the content or logic is the same.

I'll start with McDonald's. I usually have the Sausage McMuffin with Egg set in Malaysia. It cost RM7.80 tax excluding. In Perth, I took the Bacon & Egg McMuffin set. Both comes with a hash brown and coffee or tea. And that only cost me AUD$4.95 WITH tax.

Cars are so darn cheap there. A Toyota Altis 1.8G would cost us approx RM119,000 whereas the Ultima Sedan, which is what Australia calls it, is, get this, only less than AUD$40,000 with full leather trim. That's a whopping 79,000 difference, dollar for dollar. My most recent trip, I saw a Ford Focus which sells for RM120,000 here in Malaysia for A$20,000. Oh, did I tell you there isn't any toll? I didn't? In KL, you just can't get by without going thru toll plazas every now and then, here and there. Oh, and in shopping malls, parking is free. And in some part of the city, free parking is also available albeit only 1-2 hours. Free parking in KL city? Hahahahahahahahaha .....

Here's the cruncher, petrol, which our dear Malaysian Government tries so very hard to convince the locals who knows no better. Petrol prices fluctuates according to the market. During my most recent trip, the most expensive I saw was AUD$1.43 per litre and the cheapest was AUD$1.41 per litre. When you shop at supermarkets, like Woolworths for example, you get 4 cts off petrol too, which we paid AUD$1.39 when we fill up the car one day. In Malaysia, a producer and net exporter of oil, we previously paid RM1.92 per litre. And recently, a hike which yten puts our petrol at RM2.70 per litre but reduced 2 weeks ago to RM2.55. Oh sure, economics comes into play and all but at the end of the day, I'm just showing how we pay so much but get so little. But I so resent the government for saying, "We are still amongst the cheapest you will pay for a litre of petrol. Here you pay RM2.70 but in Australia, you pay RM4.29 (AUD$1.43 x 3 exchange rate)". What a load of crap.

There are stuffs that are more expensive there too, but you get so much more back because of the excellent infrastructure and support to the people by the government. I've a colleague who wonders what's so good about visiting countries like Australia. He doesn't like to travel unnecessary. And he'd rather travel to Asian countries where he can speak his mother tongue language. And that is fine. But one has no right to comment on the negatives of going to somewhere he or she have never been before.

We make do with what we earn here in Malaysia, but to those who haven't been elsewhere, you haven't been living. It's really an eye opener. And to think that I've only just begun. Where next? After all, according to Bukit Bendera UMNO division chief, Datuk Ahmad Ismail, we chinese are squatters and do not belong here in Malaysia. So, why stay? I'd rather spend my money elsewhere when your own countrymen do not see us as equal.

She Knows, I Know, But I Have To Go

Leaving is not easy, but I must go, even if it is for a while. So much to do, months to go. If only I am as resourceful as her. But deep down, she understands I have to go, and that eased the agony of leaving.

I shall return for my life is with her. And only with her, I am complete. Wait for me.

Perth (June 2008)

It's easy to get lost in time when the air is fresh and clean, the skies are almost always blue, the sea breeze making a mess of my hair and compounded further by good company and family I've not seen in 3 years. Yes, it's been that long.

And winter is always my cup of tea to make a getaway great. Despite raining during our last couple of days there, I managed to get some really good photos and I personally feel so relaxed during the entire trip. The 4 legged family are always great. I find peace in dogs and cats, but fuiyoh, the moment I met Oscar, the word calm was deleted from my dictionary. He sniffed, he jumped, he clawed, and just hit the repeat button, you know what I mean.

He's always like this jumping on people



Only when he's on a leash will he sit and be still, though not all the times. And I've got to remember to bring some fly swatters over there next time as that's the only thing he has 'some' respect for



So much so, I had to hand built a fence to keep him away from the laundry area. I didn't know my carpentry skills was that good. Tired but satisfied seeing the dog looking at me and unable to get through.



Being there with my fiancee was something different. Perth has always been like a second home to me mainly because of my family there and Perth being the destination where I gather my thoughts and unwind from stressful Kuala Lumpur. It was somewhat different also because of my sudden interest in amateurish photography. Always carrying my trusty basic DSLR with me, I snapped at anything I liked, food and scenery. She always complains that I don't like to take people :P I guess mainly because I used to be camera shy like this cat, Lil' Mouse



But I'm getting the 'feel' of it lately and it has improved. Or have I? But what I love taking are always close up shots, macro shots to be more precise. And especially food. Yummy ....

Ok, so we had Japanese, in Australia ...










I had this in Hillary's Harbour, food was alright, service was bad


And I couldn't miss out on this, McBacon




We got hungry while walking in the city one afternoon, it cost AUD$4 but without onions, he charged me only AUD$3.50. Wow, 50 cents off onions, not bad.




We had this really huge burgers in a small shop in Freemantle. Mine had bacon and a mouth watering beef patty. Bliss ..


"Can I finish that?" ... of coz she did, she being her :P


I had quite a few breakfast sets over there. This being one of them with a hash brown.


I had this at Wild Fig on my last day there. A breakfast set for lunch ...




During my 10 days there, I had this waffle 4 times. Costly, but oh so worth it.




I'm not really a big fan of 'Italian' food. I hate Italy for that matter. But this spaghetti marinara that I had at Sorrento's was really good. Great choice of restaurant on my last night there.


This is called Vegetarian Nightmare - Pepperoni, Ham, Bacon .....


Ok, enough about food. There used to be this cafe named Bien that sells amazing fries. Unfortunately, they have closed down before I managed to introduce it to my fiancee. Well, now to plan my next trip since Air Asia is starting it's maiden flight there in November and at a cheaper airfare. When?

Light Sleeper

I stand corrected on how I define people who consider themselves light sleeper. Well, eat your heart out. This guy is the epitome of that defination. Try beating this.


Found this guy sleeping on a bench while I was in Macau. I initially thought nothing about it but found it perspectively wrong.


His head was about an inch or 2 off the bench.

Looking at the size of his neck, no wonder it could support the weight of tis head. I am lucky he didn't wake up to see me snapping. Otherwise, he would have levitated me to such heights, I would think I was a magician.

Hong Kong & Macau

Having been to Hong Kong and Macau for the first time, my impression was such that I will not pay for another trip to Hong Kong. The 2 full days I was there were more than enough. When I travel, shopping is usually not a big part of my itinerary or priority. I love seeing the lifestyle of the citizens and just walking around to enjoy the sights of the country.


The Group (which was way too huge for my taste)

I always thought Hong Kong was a great place to visit. I've come to appreciate the diversity of the different countries I've been to and I must say, Hong Kong is least appealing of them all. Congestion and rudeness of the people was really an awakening for me. Japan in a sense was overly populated too, but the infrastructure was so well planned and implemented it didn't leave me gasping for air. And they were so friendly and polite, despite not many being able to speak proper English.



You know, I didn't realise there was a ruling against snapping photos of steward/stewardess. Just before take off, I snapped a pix of a stewardess who was upfront near the cockpit. Wah, in no time at all she walked up to me. I was expecting, "Sir, could you email me that pix you took of me? You look like a professional photographer and I'm sure the pix looks awesome". Instead, "Sir, Air Asia prohibits photos of the crews to be taken. Can you please delete that?" So, this is what I shot instead.




Air Asia's resident ghost

Arriving in Hong Kong in the evening, we had to toil like slaves, dragging our luggage bags up and down subway steps and pedestrian walkways. By the time we checked into the hotel, we were like a pack of hungry wolves in search of meat. At the first sound of pork, I ordered what the rest ordered. Thinking it was lean pork. My ignorance was such that I didn't realise "Chi Sau" meant pork trotters.





Even the noodles had a rather smelly fragrance that I could not make out. My poor empty tummy that night :-(

I have to mention that I missed the cable car ride due to my acrophobia. Hence, the following pix are courtesy of Jocelyn, Air Asia's ghost who followed our every footsteps.


Fainted just looking at the pix



I missed the food since I wasn't up there with the group. But the upside to it was, I had plenty of time to refine my photography and managed to catch Alien vs Predator Requiem for the 2nd time :-) There weren't much photos of Hong Kong which I found fit for my blog. But when I was in Macau, it was a complete change for me. Neons were everywhere and I've never seen so many casinos converge in such a small area before.







Every casino was unique in their own way. The few we were at had performances by dancers, singers, musicians and the likes. Some were scantily clad of course. But what I loved most was the availability of free flow drinks served at the casinos. Though not all, MGM Grand was one such casino which offered juices, hot drinks, milk and etc. Some only offered mineral water.

Read the price tag *fainted*

Oooh, my favourite time of the trip was in Zhuhai. We were on the look out for cheap massages and we stumbled across one just after crossing over from Macau. My colleagues were asking them on the price per hour coz I couldn't understand what they were saying. When he came back and told me it was 20 bucks per hour. I was like, "ok, that's cheap". Then he went, it was RMB20 which is about RM10 per hour. Full package please : 3 hour body massage, manicure, pedicure & ear cleaning. Total cost = RM55 +/- Let's do that again.

We had some free time to spare coz it was still early to crossover back to Macau. Some of them who had already walked a little bit was saying we should go to this one particular shop. And walk we did and eventually ended in a shop selling this.




Eric? Yvonne? How was it?

The food was nothing great, though I kinda like the 'tan tan'.




The infamous egg tart


Ham Chim Peng

When will I place my foot back in Hong Kong? Sponsors anybody? Now I can't wait for my next break in June .... yippee.