Cafe Kereda

80's Music

2011-11-05T08:52:00.000-07:00

Rumah Melayu

2011-10-06T08:30:00.000-07:00

Kampong houses are detached houses and they usually have no fences around them The traditional Malaysian house serves the housing needs of the majority of people living in rural areas of Malaysia. It was evolved by the Malays over the generations, and adapted to their own needs, culture, and environment. Basically a timber house with a post and lintel structure raised on stilts, with wooden, bamboo, or thatched walls and a thatched roof, the house is designed to suit the tropical climate. Notice that they are built with stilts below and they have large windows. This is mainly to keep the building cool and the stilts elevate the building to keep them away from floods.
Ventilation and solar-control devices, and low thermal capacity building materials are part of the building heritage. House construction is highly systematized, like a modern prefabrication system, but with a much higher degree of flexibility and variation. The house components are made on the ground and later assembled on the building site. A very sophisticated addition system, which allows the house to grow with the needs of the user, is an advantage for the poor because it allow them to invest and build gradually rather than shouldering one huge initial financial burden.

The traditional Malaysian housing process is highly autonomous, largely controlled by the user. Guided by building tradition and the village carpenter, the owner-builder designs a house that is uniquely suited to the family's socioeconomic and cultural situation. Not only does the traditional approach foster a better match of house to user, it keeps the cost down by eliminating the need for professional intermediaries such as architects or developers.

Self-help and cooperative labour are the resources upon which the owner-builder relies. The traditional Malaysian house has an open interior, promoting good cross ventilation and lighting and allowing the space to be used for many purposes depending on the season, occasion, or time of day. Since most activities take place on the floor, the need for furniture is minimal; bedding materials and sleeping mats are rolled up and stored during the day to eliminate the need for separate living and sleeping quarters. Interior spaces are defined, not by partitions or walls, but rather by changes in floor level; they may be respected or ignored, allowing the house to accommodate larger numbers of people than usual during, for example, feasts.

Thus the traditional Malaysian house exhibits greater versatility and more efficient use of space than does the modern house, where spaces are limited to the specific use determined by furniture and partitions. The traditional Malaysian house has, over the years, evolved a very efficient addition system that grows according to the needs of its users. The core unit, or the ibu rumah, is the basic living unit for the small or poor family. The kitchen and toilet are often located on the exterior. From the ibu rumah, many additions can be made as the family grows bigger or as it acquires the means to build a bigger house. Additions are usually done in the spare time available during the agricultural or fishing off-seasons.

Building a traditional house is a continual process, often taking months or even years to complete, with the pace of work and quality of construction controlled by the user. The basic addition possibilities are classified into three different types, but there are infinite variations in sizes and heights, and various combinations of types and quality according to the needs of the user.

Kinabalu - World Heritage Site

2010-10-01T14:43:00.000-07:00

After a gruelling two-hour bus ride from Kota Kinabalu to Kundasang only 80 km away I finally arrive. The views are gorgeous all the way, mountain tops appearing from behind the clouds, lush rainforests and valleys are a constant sight.

Whose stupidly moronic freaking idea is it to pay a ton to walk up some stupid rocks, up to some stupid peak, continuously panting for air, eating power bars all day and finally getting a horribly sting in your knee? I paid for this so I'm doing it!

But it is still morning and I am all happy. I show up exactly at 8:00 at the Mesilau park entrance. The trail starts at around 1890m, and goes on for 8 km to Laban Rata at 2370m. Another 2.7 km on is Low's Peak at 4095m. These first 8 km are pretty uneventful, boring jungle-trek, clouds constantly moving up with me so the magnificent view is always obscured.

On the way up I greet the people coming down from yesterdays' climb and they hell horrid stories for numbing coldness, pitch black and strong, mind-freezing winds. Sounds good.

After 6 hours I finish the 8 km to Laban Rata. Time to rest till the second part of the climb. At 2 am, after putting on some warmer clothes - now at above 3200m - we continue our trek. Trees have given way to rocks; and all that marks the way now are the ropes to cling on to. Each sign marking another 0.5km is a picture worth taking.

Even though the climb is much easier now, a bit akin to the Frodo tour in Lord of the Rings, it is very tough. The air is thin, it is hard to breathe and I have to stop a bit every 100 or so meters. The only upside is that my guide is panting, wheezing as hard as I am. Or perhaps he's just faking it to make me happy? We'll never know.

6.15 am There, made it. Exhausted. Happy. Exalted at 4095.2m. Awesome.

I marvel at the astonishing beauty of this corner of Borneo, take a deep breath and think, I made it.

There isn't really anything else to do. The sun comes in and out of the clouds as they're constantly pushed up against the rocks.

After about half an hour we headed down.

Going down is like hell itself. It is cold, the rocks slippery. It is cold. I said that already, but I must stress it again. It is cold. The gloves I bought come in handy to cling onto the ropes in case I slip - which I did.

At Laban Rata it's the stairs. Stairs made of wood, I hate them. I hate them so much I cannot even describe it in words how much I hate them. I really hate them. My left knee is hurting again. It is now sheer willpower that keeps me going. Every step down is horror on my knees, going up is like putting my quads in a furnace, yet as I put one foot down, the other follows. Don't really know what kept me going though, honestly. How much of a stupid idea I thought this on the way up, it is now much, much worse on the way down. Only stupidly idiotic crazies do this, not me. Why?

Finally, at 18:05 we reach the gate. I will walk no further. I am cold, hungry, thirsty, tired and just beaten to death. No one should do this, especially not pay for it. Honesly. I will testify if needed.

So You Want To Stop Smoking

2010-09-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

If you want to quit smoking cigarettes, you're among the growing number of people trying to improve their health by kicking this deadly habit. You have many stop smoking tools to choose from but there are few that will work effectively for most smokers. A new and effective solution to this problem may be the electronic cigarette.

You should likely learn what a smokeless cigarette actually is before you are going to be able to determine if it is something that you either care to try or purchase for yourself. You should learn that this is a simulated cigarette, shaped like an average cigarette but made out of durable plastic for the most part. Instead of getting a new cigarette, you simply refill a container with a new flavored liquid.

At the press of a button, or the inhalation by you, you are getting a small shot of a vapor version of the nicotine and flavoring, much like taking a drag on a cigarette. That really all depends on the model that you have chosen to buy, as there are both manual versions of the e-cigarette and automatic ones. The manual requires the pressing of the button with the inhalation, while the automatic reacts to the drag like response instantaneously with no button pressing.

Now you might be thinking: how could you be assisted in cessation of smoking through the use of this device? This is really a product that you can use in conjunction with a strong will to quit. The benefit of this product, is that it allows you to get smaller doses of nicotine without the other harmful chemicals and things that are in the normal cigarette. The fake aspect might become a little less gratifying, as the addiction is as mental as it is physical and soon enough you are done wanting to smoke altogether.

You might also care to know that since this is inhaled vapor, there is no smoke to bother anyone else. So you can literally smoke just about anywhere without complication. Even many airlines, airports and the like are allowing the use of the e-cigarette, as there is literally no threat to the people in the vicinity of the smoker or the air quality on the plane.

But apart from the use of electronic versions of cigarettes, what else might be able to help you stop smoking effectively? Certainly there are a number of different supplements and products, but do any of these have real results? Many have been helped by gums and patches, and even a great many people have found that the only solution is quitting cold turkey.

If you wanted to learn a little more about the electronic cigarette and how it could possibly help you stop smoking, hopefully you have found what you were looking for in this article. Granted there is a good bit to know about this product, but this should give you a good knowledge base to get you started.

The Will To Blog

2010-09-23T17:12:00.000-07:00

I’m often asked about privacy concerns when it comes to blogging. Many people describe privacy concerns as a generational thing and generalize broadly to say that younger people are happy putting up pictures of themselves and those in their lives on Facebook, or posting their thoughts about sex, relationships, and jobs in their personal blogs; older people aren’t.

It really isn’t that simple, however, sometimes you may find out what your own comfort limits are only by crossing them. For me, the guideline is this: I will put online—in any online space, regardless of password protection or site membership requirements—information I would feel comfortable sharing with a friendly stranger I speak to on the street.

Would I be willing to show someone like that the photos I had taken for publicity purposes? Of course, and I’m also happy for that person to get a glimpse into my interest in travels, and life via the photos I share on Flickr. Am I OK with sharing my professional background and experience online? Yep, and I do that on LinkedIn. How about Facebook. That social networking site has spaces for me to tell people about my interests, relationship status, and lots of pictures too and yes, I’m happy for pretty much anyone to have access to that stuff.

By most standards I’m pretty open. What I don’t share online—anywhere online—are the private details of my life. The things I might share with one or two close friends in conversation, or that I might perhaps only tell my wife. (That sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? Well, lots of people share everything.)

So I’m curious, where do you draw the line? And why do you draw it where you do?

Profitable Blogging

2010-09-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

More and more people are realising that blogging is one of the best ways to start your own online business. It requires minimal start up costs, you can build an impressive and loyal readership over time and once you know how to monetize your blog it can also bring in a decent income that will keep on coming even on the days when you don’t update your blog.

There are several ways to set up a blog online. You could use WordPress, Blogger, or another free site that hosts your blog for you; or alternatively you can set up your own blog under your own domain name.

If you want to make serious money from blogging, you must have complete control over your blog – and that’s something the free blogging accounts won’t give you. You’ll be bound by their terms and conditions and that usually includes not being able to actively promote anything. There are plenty of people who have established a blog only to have it removed without notice some weeks or months later.

It will cost you a few dollars to buy your domain name and set up a web server that will host your blog, but the benefits will far outweigh the cost involved. It can literally be as little as $20 a year we’re talking about here – and that buys you total freedom.

Once you’re ready to set your blog up you’ll need to choose a good theme and layout for it. You might find one that relates to your choice of subject else there might be one you just like the look of. But there are thousands of templates available for you to use – a simple search on Google will reveal the ones that will be best suited to your topic.

But perhaps the most important question is what you are going to blog about. The whole world is your oyster here – some people blog about their lives in general; some blog about their jobs; some blog about their hobbies; some tell the world about their kids and what it’s like to be a parent, and still others blog about the weird world of celebrities. But whatever you choose to blog about it needs to be something you are passionate about. Don’t forget, you are going to be writing about this topic several times a week, and if you don’t have the enthusiasm for it, that will show in your posts – and no one else will have the enthusiasm to read them.

Okay – so you’ve got your subject. Now you have to start writing your blog posts. If you take a look at just a few of the blogs already online, you’ll notice that the length of the posts varies a lot. Some people only write a paragraph or two each time, but you’ll get better results if you go for something a little longer than this. Around 400 to 500 words makes for a good post with a lot of information in it; some people write hugely long posts that are thousands of words long and could be called an e-book by another name.

But you can also take the format of this blog, by posting a short blog entry which leads into a longer article. This has the benefit of highlighting a lot of blog posts on the home page of the site, and people can then click through and read the ones they like the most.

You should remember however that there are no real rules when it comes to blogging. Over time you will naturally find what works for you, and your blog will settle down into a nice pattern that both you and your readers will enjoy. You’ll find your character and personality will start to come through in your writing too; don’t fight against this as it is one of the hallmarks of blogging. It is, after all, a personal account of an individual’s life and experiences, so show people what you’re made of! You’ll get a more loyal – and bigger – audience like this.

So you’ve got your blog up and running and you’re posting to it on a regular basis. The next step is to get it in front of as many interested eyeballs as possible.

One great way to do this is to submit it to as many of the social bookmarking sites as possible. You can also join social networking sites and build a profile which contains a link to your blog. Other no cost ways to generate traffic include writing free articles for article directories with a link to your blog at the end, and creating signatures at the end of any posts you make to internet forums, and also in all the emails you send out. When you really start thinking about it, you don’t actually need to spend anything to generate plenty of traffic.

All we need to do now is monetize the blog itself. You’ll want to generate some money from all the visitors you’ll start getting, and there are plenty of ways to do this easily. Google Adsense is probably the most well known method – you can join the program for free and display contextual ads that your visitors will be interested in to maximise your click through rate.

There are also a handful of websites which give you the opportunity to get paid for each blog post you make on a specific subject. Pay Per Post and Review Me are two such examples, and they will pay you a certain amount of money to review a product or website for the owner. In a similar vein you can also review and recommend other people’s products through affiliate links inserted into your blog posts, and earn money on commissions earned through any purchases people make.

And once you’re more established you can offer ad space on your blog too, and charge a fee for both classified and display ads if you wish. What could be better than setting your own price?

But there is one final step you can take with your blog if you enjoy a change of scene every now and again. You can sell your blog! Once it is established and has plenty of revenue and traffic, you can usually sell it for ten times its monthly revenue.

And then, you can start all over again with a whole new subject!

Affordable Wireless Broadband - Can You Live Without Them?

2010-09-22T02:38:00.000-07:00

The internet is almost like a lifeline to me. Who can live without social networks like Twitter and Facebook? Currently, I am subscribing to Celcom Unlimited Broadband and love its reliability.

I sometimes communicate with my siblings through Facebook because it is much more fun to have thousands of pairs of eyes reading all the little notes. It doesn’t cost a thing, compared to sms.We notice that Celcom is providing a rather decent price package for those who seek reliable connectivity. For a merely RM48, you are never without the internet again. If you grab their early bird package, you can save another RM10, making it RM38 for the first 3 months.

If you are looking for a bundle, i.e. a netbook plus a modem, Celcom is also offering some attractive package. There are so many choices, I guess it is easier to visit Celcom and get their customer service to help you decide. Just visit any Celcom branch, blue cube outlet or participating dealer nationwide to subscribe today!

I have subscribed to Celcom broadband for two years or maybe more. So far, I must say that the coverage has been good. I could even log on to my Facebook when I am on the highway or other remote kampongs.
There are several other things to note about Celcom. They are the largest mobile broadband community and known for their dedicated customer service which has won the Best in Asia Pacific award. The company is also Frost & Sullivan Mobile Broadband Service provider of the year for 2 consecutive years.

One other thing that may interest those who are good with the ringgit and sen is the RM500 tax relief with Celcom Broadband. I know I am sounding like Celcom’s salesman but hey, if you are happy with a service, you share. Celcom site has all the information you require to help you choose a plan that best suit you.

Cafe Barbera Bangsar Park

2010-09-07T13:56:00.000-07:00

Bangsar's best-kept secret. The Cafe Barbera concept provides a venue to relax, have fresh upscale food items and beverages, efficient service with courteous attendants, soft cafe seating. Located at 18 Lorong Marof, the same row with Restoran Rebung. It's a quaint little cafe with nice ambience. If you want a cozy afternoon for coffee, this is the place to be.

The simple laid back and relaxing interior makes Cafe Barbera ideal for those who want a quiet meal or a long chat over cuppa.

Aglio olio spaghetti (RM20) prawns, garlic and olive oil, chilli flakes, sunderied tomatoes, basil and parsley. tasty butt too samll a portion to be a main course. The parawns were firm and succulent. The chilli flakes gave the pasta the right balance and sundried tmoatoes gave the the pasta a tart and sweet flavour. I liked this but onl as a snack.

Pesto Cheese and Mushroom Pizza (RM20) button mushroom, onions and black olives topped with parmesan and mossarella cheese. The addition of pesto top of the pizza was ingenious; it was nutty aromatic and complemented the pissa toppings.

Cappuccinno Italiano (RM8.50) is pretty decent with nice layer of foam. For those who prefer them cold can try Cappucinno Shakerratto (RM9.50).