My Life-My Feelings-My Opinions-My Friends

Aftermath of Travelling

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:00:00 +0000

It's been a week since I came back from travelling 2 weeks to the jungle.. well, logging camp. Me, becoming darker.. and thinner perhaps? haha..

It's not easy travelling to logging camps, it's extremely tiring. But, as from positive side, I gain a lot of experience from it. It's not my first time going, but this time I went to most of the camps of our company in Kapit area.

Dusty, like dessert, if there's no rain.. and really muddy if raining heavily. that's the condition in campsites mostly. I experienced nearly no water to bath, experienced dusty weather, car broke down etc.. good experience? probably..

Anyway, photos will be uploaded if got time later... cao..

June 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:37:00 +0000

It has been 19 days past for June 2009. Eventful month I can say. Princess travelling, I repaint and rearrange my room, met some important people, she came back, mom's birthday, her mom's birthday, my birthday then her dad's birthday, 3 colleagues leaving. And my company's MD look for all of us in our department to talk to us and know us.

As for money part, I'm really totally extremely officially broke already. Nearly all events stated above, except the MD part, i spent money. Even for my confirmation at work I spent money this month as for me and 3 other colleagues who got confirmed within these few months treated everyone in the department Nasi Lemak to "thank" them.. duh..

As for lessons part, I learned 顺服. Lazy to find english word for that now. I heard same thing twice from different person (Inlcuding MD) today. I guess that's what God wants me to do after struggling few weeks wondering what I should really do for my future.

11 days to end this month. What will happen in the next 11 days? Still going on. God bless me and my princess.. hehe..

Nice start for the weekend..

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 05:44:00 +0000

Ah.. she's back.. I never thought everything will turn out as planned even though it was a mess the day before she's back.. The welcoming home event.. LOL~~

Not gonna share much here though.. She's still so adorable after 12 days not seeing her.. ^^

Missing Princess...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:36:00 +0000

I'm like.. really missing my princess so badly...

she's gonna be flying back from Melbourne tonight... but not gonna be back home tomorrow.. FRIDAY!!!! my goodness..... urghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh............... 9 days she's not around that feeling is BAAAAAAAAAAAAAD...... awful....................... :'( missing her too too too much I don't even know how to describe the feeling... i just want her to be here now... I don't even care about anything else anymore... nothing matters already....

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sorry for acting like this.... just missing her too much...

David Archuleta - To be With You

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 09:20:00 +0000

Specially dedicating this beautiful song to my precious princess...

I'm missing you here..

Everyone is No. 1

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:30:00 +0000

I joined a seminar. They put up this song. I never know there's a song like this. Motivational. I think I'm gonna listen once every single morning.

I'm missing her...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:49:00 +0000

too much....

Possibilities of coming back alive

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:04:00 +0000

It is around 6 months later after dying.. After dying for so long, I finally click it again and give it some deep thoughts..

I'm planning to resurrect this blog... with new face and probably new name... with help of someone extremely close..

Wonder if previous readers will come back here though. Let's give it a try anyway.

See you all shortly.. hopefully..

Current Feelings.....

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 15:34:00 +0000

I guess it's going to be emo post again this one?

I don't feel happy now... disappointing... but this time i'm not gonna say why. Don't really wanna expose what I'm doing that made myself so disappointed. I hope I won't ended up like this for the rest of my life.

and I'm still not recovering from flu after 3 weeks.

I better go sleep.....

:(

2008 Canary Wharf London Motor Expo - Swedish & American Makes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 15:24:00 +0000

Date: 15 June 2008
Venue: Canary Wharf, Docklands, London
Tube: Jubilee Line, DLR

I grouped this 2 makes together as there are not many Swedish makes around. American cars are not easily found in the UK and not cheap due to its market size. British people doesn't really like American cars...

Anyway, cut short all the stuff and lets have a look at Swedish cars first. Volvo came to the expo and most people around only know Volvo from Sweden. Other car makers in Sweden? I'm not sure about it myself... lazy to do research though...

Swedish - Volvo

This is the Volvo C30 hot hatch. I love the front but don't really like the rear view... looks a bit awkward...
C70 convertible
I love convertibles and I think C70 is quite a handsome looking car. Volvo nowadays really design good looking cars... not like in the 80s and early 90s... boxy tank design... gee...
XC90
It was launched few years back to grab a share in the European SUV market to compete with other SUVs like BMW X5, VW Touareg, Audi Q7 etc.
XC60
Latest SUV from Volvo which is smaller than the XC90 to compete with BMW X3 etc. This unit at the expo was the only unit in UK as it was not yet on sale by the time of the car expo so it's a left hand drive. Looks very very nice if compare to the BMW X3.
So much for Volvo.

Heading towards American cars. American cars are usually famous for its size, high fuel consumptions and strange designs. Due to that, it was not widely accepted around other parts of the world, and nowadays even Americans don't really like the idea of it. Famous American marques include Ford, GM, Chevrolet, Cadillac and etc.

Cadillac

It's an American marque which is very famous among the celebrities. It built strange cars and etc. Anyway...

Escalade
Celebrities like Escalade, rappers loves it. I don't know why... but they just love it.
CTS4
This looks better... Not much comment as I'm not too familiar with American cars....
STS
Probably the elder sibling of CTS4. Probably something like BMW 3 and 5 series's different. I prefer the CTS4 over this STS.

Chevrolet

The car Chevy displayed is the famous Corvette Z06 sports car. The only model displayed along with it's convertible version. As there are not much difference, i just put one here.

Hummer

Hummer, a brand of GM, is a controversial brand. It was started as a military vehicle but it was then mass produced to the consumer market. Hummer, totally famous for its massive size, massive engine displacement and massive fuel consumption. The H2 then tries to make its way to Europe but it didn't sell at all. Until the H3, which is the one shown here, start selling a bit. Smaller in size, smaller displacement but still high fuel consumption if compare to other SUVs. It's not as huge as H1 and H2. Even though most people doesn't like, celebrities still love it. Even Becks got a Hummer.

Anyway, that's all for the Swedish and American section. I'll cover about modification and special section if I got time later.

Fuel Rebate?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:06:00 +0000

Something about the motorcycle I use for some time. It doesn't have a working speedometer nor fuel gauge. I didn't really care about the speedometer as it's an old bike and it's not going to go like over 80km/h maximum anyway. The thing I can't stand is the broken fuel gauge. The fuel gauge just went out of order when I come back from UK. I didn't know and I broke down on the road once because of it. It ran out of fuel. dammit.

Well, my journey from home to office is around 20 minutes. Not far, but for a half wrecked motorcycle, it's hell bad. I'm feeling the price of the fuel here. Few years ago, I can pump full tank by RM5. Now, RM5 is only over half tank. This RM5 has a story today.

As the day starts, I brought the half wrecked motorcycle to the fuel station, nearly empty tank. I took out my wallet, pull out the RM50 note to the counter, "Pam 6, 5 Ringgit" and hand over the money. The Malay girl at the other side, took my money, nodded, touch the screen - - Pump 6 - - RM5 - - Tender RM50. The screen then shows RM45 change. The Malay girl took 4 RM10 notes, 1 RM5 note, actually she should stop, but she continued and took 2 RM1 notes, making up RM47. I thought she was kidding. She counted the change once. I thought they offer RM2 of fuel for every RM5 pumped. She counted again, and hand me the money over the counter, with the 2 RM1 notes on top. I took and say thanks, put back in my wallet, and go straight to the pump and fill my tank up.

I start to look around, like nothing happen, while turning my eyes towards the counter. I saw her smiling, looking at me... I pretended nothing happen. I know she suddenly realized she got me the wrong change. I was thinking if she's going to come out to get my RM2 back, or shut the pump off so I can't refill as much. After I finish, I ride the half wrecked motorcycle away to work, like nothing happen, while laughing.

Even though it's only RM2, but it makes difference. My lunch today only cost me 70 cents as the full price is RM2.70.

For RM5 of fuel, I get discount of 40%, not bad eh. But I think the poor girl needs to put her own RM2 back into the cash register....

Worst Bank Experience Ever!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:05:00 +0000

Yeah right.... We'll help you get there... in "no time"...

From KitKat's blog, I saw his complaints about this bank. Last weekend, I heard complaints about their car loan services from a friend... today it's my turn to complain... DAMN!!

Well, I got myself a job, and the company requires me to open a bank account at that bloody bank. Well, I'll try to explain.

From my office to the nearest branch, journey is around 20 minutes by using 2 wheels, due to traffic, cars will consume more time to reach the destination. My lunch break is 1 hour 30 minutes. That seems really long as some offices only have 1 hour lunch break.

So I took my motorbike and went to the petrol station for refill, adding traffic and such, with exhaustion due to concentrating on the road, and going to another bank to get my deposit to open the new account, I reached my destination at around 12.30pm. I walked into the bank, the security old man gave me a number to queue up, but due to that there's not many people I felt quite lucky. Until I saw the wall which states that opening bank account doesn't need any numbers and just queue up at counter 1 and 2, well, including Fixed Deposit services. I was thinking, well, I;ll have a try, but the lady at other counter said I need to go there to queue... O___O" I saw 2 person queuing up and 1 lady standing at the counter quite long already. I rushed towards the queue... but it was too late... another lady suddenly appear in front of me... so there's 3 person in front of me... and 2 counters, there's only 1 open. That doesn't really piss me off until I knew that they need the MYKad reader to open the bloody account!! and there's only 1 at counter 1!!! What for setting up 2 counters with 1 person working and only 1 card reader!!! It took ages for the people in front of me to settle their stuff... I waited for 40 minutes for my turn... and took like nearly 10 minutes to finish everything. The time is 1.20pm and there's only 10 minutes left. There goes my lunch break... but I didn't care and went for lunch before "flying" my motorbike through heavy traffic at around nearly 1.30pm. I reached there 10 minutes later.... half the time I use to reach the bank cutting everything else out.

For me... I was more lucky than KitKat as he doesn't get his card on the day while I got mine on spot! but damn... totally poor service... Banks should set up sufficient counters for customers to open account!! It's their bloody business and they should be happy that there are people coming to open up account in their bloody bank!! Instead they only have 2 counters and using some extra process time due to slow card readers and lack of card readers.

RHB Bank sucks!! Rotten Hole Bank...

2008 Canary Wharf London Motor Expo - German Makes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 08:23:00 +0000

Date: 15 June 2008
Venue: Canary Wharf, Docklands, London
Tube: Jubilee Line, DLR

The previous post is all about British cars and now it will be German cars. Germany has lots of history in car manufacturing. Most of Malaysian people are more interested in Mercedes, I really don't know why as I'm not a huge fan of it, but now I think it had already improved and it starts to catch my attention a little bit. As for other German manufacturers, there are Audi, BMW, Volkswagen, Porsche and etc. For me, I'm a total BMW fan.

In this Motor Expo, Audi did not participate and it does not participate in the British International Motor Show (BIMS) as well which is totally disappointing. Anyway, here are the pictures I took of the German marques.

Volkswagen

Volkswagen (VW), what do you think of when I mention it? Many people know VW Beetle, the classic cute car which started production since 1938 until 2003. In 1998, the New Beetle rolled out of the production line and sold since then, but the classic Beetle was still in production and was phasing out.

This is the New Beetle convertible which was displayed at the Motor Expo along with other VWs.
Another VW which grab the attention of the crowds is the VW Golf or known as VW Rabbit in some countries. The 2 models displayed at the Expo were the Golf Mk5 GTI and R32. Among the 2 models, most people choose to drive the GTI 2.0L rather than R32 even though R32 has the 3.2L V6 under the hood as to fuel consumption and many said the GTI is a better driving machine.
The difference from behind.... Silver one is the R32 while the red one is the GTI.
Other than the Beetle and Golf, there are still many more models available. Here are few of them which were displayed at the Expo.

This is the New Passat, similar size to the BMW 5 Series or the Mercedes E-Class.
This one is the Phaeton, the most luxurious is VW fleet.
This is the VW Eos convertible, another of my VW favourite. It's not too big and it's a convertible. The price is not too attractive though. I think it should be a fun car to drive.
As for SUVs, VW has 2 models displayed. The smaller Tiguan and the huge Touareg. Personally I go for the Touareg if I need to choose one.
Well, so much for the Volkswagen at the Expo.

Mercedes Benz

For the Mercedes Benz, I did not have much to say about it as I'm not really a big fan and I had seen too much of it running around. There is 2 models which I would like to share though. That will be the new CLC class and the facelifted SL. Other one displayed is the S-class and maybe there are others? I forgot... There are only 5 photos taken at the MB section and I'll show them all.

This is the CLC, looks quite similar to the old C-class hatch, but with uglier rear lights and the new C-class lookalike lights. I seriously doubt that the designers were drunk when they design the rear lights, and the cheapo wheels. They called it an entry level sports coupe!! Must be joking... No wonder it had poor reviews...
And the new SL facelift model. This unit which was displayed here actually was sold already. I wonder who bought it. I can't feel my adrenalin rushing at all.
Overall, I think I like the new S-class more and I think the best model will be the CLS which was not displayed at the expo. AMG models are more interesting but they are all not there.

Porsche

Yawn.... for the designs of Porsche.... every single one of them looks so similar that I can't really differenciate some of them... facelift no facelift it's all the same. In the end, I still love the classic ones as they have more characteristics.

Well this is the Cayenne GTS, a more powerful Cayenne. People around are saying the Cayenne looks horrible. I can't deny it though. In the end, I only love one thing about it, when the engine starts to consume fuel and roars. A true monster under the hood. Design wise.. duh...
This is the Cayman... I don't know what is special about it...
The 911 Turbo... I only know it is expensive... and it's a turbo.
and that's... Porsche..

BMW

BMW, I'm lovin' it, really. My wallpaper is a BMW, on my table there is BMW picture, my dream car is a BMW... geezz...
BMW, Bayerische Motoren Werke, or known as Bavarian Motor Works in English, used to build aircraft at first, that is why BMW logo is a blue and white propeller. It was founded in 1913 by building aircraft, then after World War 1, 1924, they start to build motorcycles. Then their automotive history started since even before 1924 as proposals and prototypes. They build their first car since 1927 onwards. Read more here.

So much for that, here are some of the models displayed.

This is the new 135i and the one displayed is the M Sport convertible version. They say the 135i is the replacement for the old E30 3 series which is still famous until now that no other BMWs can replace for it's niche handling. Actually this 135i really is similar to E30 in its size as the current 3 series has already grown up a lot in size like all other cars.
The 135i has paddle shift fitted.
The other one will be the X6 xDrive35d which has a controversial design of hatchback on a SUV body. The X6 has its own class which is called SAV, which stands for Sports Activity Vehicle.
I think it looks fabulous in real, better than in the picture. Even though some people doesn't like the design, I love it as it got its own character which nobody dares to think of.
And finally... my dream car.... The M3. This unit is the E93 convertible model.
It has the classic M3 wheels like previous version. The M style quad exhaust pipe for the new 4.0L 420hp V8 under the hood.
The guy then suddenly came out with the key and ignite the V8. My goodness it sounds so so nice and powerful!! Well, he revved the engine for a few times then there goes the roof. The roof retracted in 22 seconds.

Well, that's all for the German cars section. I'll post more about others in later posts...

2008 Canary Wharf London Motor Expo - British Makes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 08:41:00 +0000

Date: 15 June 2008
Venue: Canary Wharf, Docklands, London
Tube: Jubilee Line, DLR

Just around 1 month before the 2008 British International Motor Show, the Canary Wharf London Motor Expo was held. It was not too big if compare to the BIMS as it was not so international and it was held mostly open air. As there are quite a number of the car models were shown, I grouped them into the makers' nationality in order to show you all better.

The first category will be British makes. That will be Land Rover, Jaguar and Aston Martin which are among the biggest in Britain, and another one will be Beira, which is a small car manufacturer which is not so famous. But unfortunately, Land Rover and Jaguar were both bought over by Indian car manufacturer, Tata, just few months back.

Land Rover

Land Rovers are well accepted by British and Middle Eastern people, and quite a lot of fans around the world for its rugged appealing, luxurious equipments, good performance, size, powerful engines.
As the world nowadays are struggling on fuel prices, Land Rover are still good sellers around. Land Rovers are always known as gas guzzlers, meaning that they consumes a lot of fuel due to its huge engine capacity to cope with rugged environments. Both Diesel and Petrol options are available. This orange unit which the boy is carrying below is the Land Rover G4 Challenge model.
The British Police are using the Range Rover for patrol as well.
As this year is their 60th Anniversary, Land Rover specially build a 60th Anniversary Defender SVX to mark its success over the years. To read more about its 60 years of history, you can click here.
This is the Range Rover Sport TDV8 HST which is quite popular on the streets nowadays.
This is the Discovery TDV6 HSE.
And the Range Rover Vogue SE which is the most expensive among the few shown.
This is the Defender 110Xs Station Wagon. Defenders are the most classic of all Land Rovers as the first one looks much alike it.
Land Rover also sets up the Land Rover Experience for the crowd to experience its capabilities.

So much for Land Rover though...

Jaguar

Jaguar, another British brand which has loads of histories. It all started since 1922 which is much earlier than the Land Rover. Read more about it here.

As I see Jaguar cars on the road everyday, I didn't really take too much photos of them and now I really regret it. Well then I can only show you the latest model of Jaguar, the XF, which attracts the world to it for quite a while. Unfortunately, there's only 1 photo of the XF.
This is the XK-R which is has a super charged 4.2L V8. It really roars.
That's all for the Jaguar. Seems quite unfair though.

Aston Martin

Aston Martin, the official Bond car across the years of James Bond movies since the DB5. It was founded in 1913 in London. This is the latest Aston Martin DBS in James Bond movie, Casino Royale and the upcoming Quantum of Solace.
The DB9 Volante which was introduced at the year 2004.
and the V8 Vantage which was launched in the year 2005.
Aston Martin is one of the lucky ones to be placed under the roof. Guess it should be because of it's exclusivity? but why Jaguar is at the outside? not so exclusive? Well...

Breckland Technology

Breckland Technology, I never heard of it myself as well. After I searched its website, I found that Breckland builds low volume sports cars and it had long been recognized around. I first known this company by its exhibited latest model, Beira V8. It will only be launched at November later this year.
The Beira will run on both petrol and LPG by its GM LS2 6L V8 Engine. Read Spec here. That's all for the British Make segment. Next posts will be German makes, and others...

Avril Lavigne visited me...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:26:00 +0000

I was getting a gift from my recent interviewer, a book of vouchers for some Buddhist charity sale, which states that only interviewees who failed to get a job in the company will get... I felt a bit disappointed.. but then I went into the house...

~~~blur~~~ due to memory lost ~~~

Then suddenly Avril came visit me. She stepped into the house... I was really really surprised she came as she is a super super star... never imagine it!!! She came in low profile, minor makeup, just a normal blouse and skirt.... We chatted... she is really really friendly... like a true friend... I still can't believe it...

~~~the day just passed~~~

I remembered that she aksed me to call a friend who lives nearby as well... but due to that I don't really know if the friend was in or not I didn't call and just told her like that. She agreed. I forgot who's camera was there. It was a DSLR camera. I took it and took a few shots of her. We were sitting in the bedroom floor though... then I took the big camera and took myself some photos together with her.

I don't know what happened but it didn't saved into the memory card... I was quite disappointed... but anyway we decided to continue chat. I asked her about her marriage. I asked her why did she get married so early. ~~forgot what she really said~~ but I remembered her saying life is like worth $15?? er... I forgot really.. and she said that her marriage is very well... I felt happy for her... then we played a while...

It was around after 11pm at night, as I saw the time, I suddenly remembered that I still didn't have a record (eg. photo) of her came visiting me today. I grabbed my phone (which has a camera) ... then my family came back... my dad spoke to her a while... my brother was surprised she was here...

I continued to attempt my photo taking with Avril. My hands were around her shoulders and she's happy to take a photo with me.. then... suddenly people rush in... into the photo which I haven't take. Then I waited for them to settle... then more people rushing in....

Then I woke up.... my hands were still in that position around her shoulders... damn it... It was just a dream... with no ending... how I really wished that I can take that photo together with her with my phone... then it might appear for real in my phone when I wake up... damn....

It's 20 minutes after I wake up now... I never posted anything as soon as I wake up from sleep... Scare I'll forget this dream so... record as much as I remembered before I forgot about it...

Avril... are you gonna come visit me someday?

Avril Lavigne - The Best Damn Tour 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:50:00 +0000

Venue: London The O2 Arena
Date: 4 June 2008
It was my first live concert that I attend and it was my first time seeing Avril Live, again and it was my first time sitting in The O2 Arena London which is the most popular venue in the world!!
Unfortunately I went alone.... which was a little disappointing, but I met a Greek Avril fan who sat beside me. He was a nice guy though. Anyway....
The concert is made up of 2 parts. First part was Jonas Brothers' performance which was only around 30minutes. There were lots of Jonas fans as well who went there but of course mainly for Avril.
After their performance for around 30 minutes, preparations for the REAL concert starts... more people started to gather up and I'm not very sure if all the people down there were using the right tickets... but anyway... it was hell lots of people down there... I got my seat this far from the stage!!! which is a shame as I was hesitating too much before buying tickets so in the end I only got my tickets around April which is 5 months after the tickets were released...
30 minutes later.... The Best Damn Tour London officially launched!!! And of course the first song is the hit single Girlfriend in her latest album "The Best Damn Thing". Well... spot Avril yourself.... it was too far away... urgh...
Image on the big screen beside the stage...Avril on piano for the song "When You're Gone". Avril on acoustic guitar... forgot which song was that...
Avril on drums... also forgotten which song was that... :(
Avril on electric guitar...
And the ending song... "Sk8er Boi" which is one of her famous songs in her first album "Let Go". It really stirs up all the fans....
And there goes 2 hours... it really felt shorter than ever... good times really flies...

In the end, I edited a video of some footage which I took with my camera... As I only had 512Mb of memory, I didn't took longer videos. So... enjoy...

Weekend in Sunderland

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:28:00 +0000

It was 22nd May, which is back dated around 3 n half months ago. Few days after CCK visited me in London for few days, I decided to buy coach tickets to visit Sunderland once again. Most of them are having their exams while CCK was feeling bored all the time as he had long finished his final exams.

That day was my last day working in Pret so I had a long weekend not working therefore I had time to go on a short weekend away from London... It was around 9.30pm when I arrived Victoria Coach Station. It was my first time using it though.
There it was.. the time of my coach departing for Sunderland... I waited for around nearly 2 hours for boarding...
As if some of you may be thinking why am I taking the night bus... Well, I was thinking of maximise my time in Sunderland really. If I took the night bus, I can sleep the whole way and arriving Sunderland at around 6.30am in the morning. Unfortunately, I was not sleeping very well in the bus for the whole way... The bus was stopping half way around 2am for toilet break and there I took this photo of the bus.
As the bus engine rumbles stably... clock ticks away slowly.... it was sunrise. This photo was taken at 4am. It was summer back then that's why.
Half an hour later..... gorgeous isn't it...
but that means I didn't really slept at all for the whole way.... 2 hours later I arrived Sunderland... really really quiet in the morning, luckily it was exam day so Jefferey woke up early for preparation so he got me the keys for his room, which was my room when I was back there. After 30 minutes in the room I straight jump into bed to catch up my sleep... Until then still only Jefferey and CCK know I was there in Sunderland.

At noon, I went out with CCK to fetch Laiyee as they all finish exam. Everyone was surprised by my presence but didn't really talked much. As most of them buzzed off, CCK, Laiyee, Jeannie, Felicia and I went off to Ashburne campus to see a very interesting exhibition.

If There Ever Was - Exhibition of Extinct & Impossible Smells
It was indeed very special and no fancy colours whatsoever..... just smells!!!!
Click the photo to read what the exhibition was about.
This little fan thing here produces the smell which is written on the wall, 1 for every type of smell exhibited. It is hidden inside this black stripe just in front of you and it will generate smell when you approach to read the descriptions on the wall.
This is how the whole exhibition looks like. Special? Anyway, the smell included fragrance of perfumes to the smell of sun to the rotten smell of the Mir Space Station and others. I think the worst smell should be the rotten smell of Mir Space Station though.
After finish the short exploring of the strange exhibition we went outside to have a walk as the weather was lovely that day.
me with the stick....
and Jean with the unusual obsession of doors....
nice stone carving?
That ended my first day in Sunderland really. Not much but it was something.

Angel of the North

CCK and I went to Gateshead, Newcastle for the Angel of the North the next day. As it was one of my "mission" for that trip, and CCK doesn't have chances to go yet, we went together as others were preparing for their next paper.

It is just a very big steel sculpture which stands at a road junction, but it is so special that it represents the north of England and it is one of the landmarks in England. It has 90,000 visitors every day and 33 million visitors every year!! Imagine that!!

We took the "Angel Bus" which passed by the sculpture located beside the main road and has nothing around, well, just some random houses. The work of the steel sculpture started at July 1997 and was assembled 7 months later at February 1998. It weighted 200 tonnes and has height of 20 metres and wing span of 54 metres.
Click this photo to read some facts on it...
I can say this is the highlight of the visit.

Next day, Sunday, I went to church with Jeannie and ended up in my room transferring photos and some cam whoring...
In the afternoon I went out with CCK to buy some stuff... and God knows what that burnt marks on the ground was... Did CCK sat there?
Well this photo was actually taken before our visit to Ashburne Campus. We were waiting for the campus bus, felt bored so we went into David Goldman Informatics Centre at St. Peters campus.
Monday, 26 May around 6.30am I went to the bus station again...
I left Sunderland around 7am and that was my last trip up north....

CCK Visits London

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:59:00 +0000

Date: 18 May 2008

CCK came down south to London from Sunderland by coach to visit me. I actually forgotten how many days had he came down as I only actually accompany him to come out for a day as I was working back then. It was Sunday. I brought him around London to visit various places and did crazy stuff.

At first we went to Brick Lane which I thought should be nice to show him but in the end he didn't really liked it so I cancelled my plans to bring him to Borough Market. I brought him to the O2 then the fun begins. I didn't actually took photos for the journey we walk from O2. At first I thought it was not far to walk from O2 to Cutty Sark but in the end we keep on walking according to the sign boards at the side of River Thames for more than 2 hours!! Passing by old docks, smelly factories, streets and etc we finally reached Cutty Sark, we went down to the under river passage to walk across River Thames and took DLR to Central London. Weather that day was not fabulous as it was cloudy and drips were falling all the way when we were walking.

Anyway, reaching Central London, CCK wanted to visit 30, St. Mary Axe a.k.a. The Gherkin, which is one of the landmark in London.
It is a commercial building which is very expensive to rent and the companies in it are all very big organisations.

It was so quiet at that area as that day was Sunday. Some visitors were around there as well visiting this marvelous architecture.
Just around the corner, there is the other special building, Lloyds Tower. It really does look like a factory but in fact it is an office building. As far as I know Lloyds is a big souvenirs company and there is one small shop at the building.

And just down there a bit is the Leadenhall Market which is featured (if not mistaken) in Harry Potter movie.

After visiting Gherkin, I brought CCK towards London Stock Exchange (LSE) at St. Pauls Cathedral which he really really wanna see. I didn't took any photos of LSE myself, so, can't show here. We went towards the cathedral at the back of LSE.

Just down the cathedral, we walked towards the Millennium Footbridge.
It is headed towards south bank which the Tate Modern with the tower is situated. From south bank, St. Paul's Cathedral looks stunning.
Continuing our walk at south bank, we walk towards Big Ben to end our day out...
This place is quite famous among the skaters...

I definitely like this photo. It's well taken with the Parliament House as the background.

After that day, CCK didn't really had a good time as I didn't have time to accompany him and he went out alone, with long and tiring journeys, so he decide to go back to Sunderland 2 days later. Then, I decided to visit him that weekend.... which will be mentioned in the next post... stay tuned...

Good bye London

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 23:08:00 +0000

Well, I officially left London 6 hours ago. I'm at Chelmsford at the moment but might go back to London for a few days to finish what I'm suppose to finish before leaving the country.

Feel... strange.... Excited, disappointed, sad, happy, not sure... when I took the train from Streatham to Central London just now, when the train pass by all the views which were so familiar... I'm thinking... this is it... the final time I will see all this views... feel kinda sad really...

What is going to happen in the next 2 weeks? not sure. I still need to plan. I still have problems on my luggage. TOO HEAVY!!!! Too much stuff and I need to get rid of more stuff.

Anyway, I'm going to sleep. Aunt's friend from KL is visiting tomorrow. Gonna watch TV for most of the afternoon tomorrow for the V Festival which is on for 2 days with all the celebrities and music rally...

Final night at Flat 5

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:59:00 +0000

I can't believe it... It's my final night sitting in this room writing a post. Tomorrow night I won't be here anymore.... I will not stay in London anymore after tomorrow evening. Even though I might come back next week, it is not permanent stay.

This week, I sold my table, my drawers, the exercise machine, 2 fan heaters and even my paper bin which looks very nice. Didn't really made a lot from selling all those items, but at least it is sold to people who is gonna love and care about it. And the money I made from them will at least let me have some change for moving around in the next 2 weeks.

Really having headache packing. I sent 1 carton of approximately 40kgs back home. The carton just left my room this morning, with my printer inside, which cost the most in that carton. My room has only small items laying on the floor and a shelf which is not sold, my luggage, a bag and laptop bag. I don't think at the moment I can make my luggage be 20kgs as I still got too much stuff inside. I don't even think I can buy more stuff to bring back anymore. I throw away older clothes, gave part of my clothes to charity, and throw away all the stuff which are unnecessary.

Geeez.... After leaving the flat tomorrow, there is no way I will be back here anymore...

I hope I can really catch up with all my dated posts which were all suppose to be up since months ago next week when I'm really free, before leaving this country which has far better quality internet line than back home, which I'm gonna be suffering totally.

All the crap in this post... random mumbling... Gonna sleep now. Good night and good bye to the night view from this window.

OK Go - Here It Goes Again

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:42:00 +0000

What the heck is that? Well, it's a really unique music video. I first heard this song and the video from this year's Big Brother 9 on Channel 4. It was one of their task to perform this music video.

The whole music video is just simple and cheap to make, only time needed to practice all the moves. I think it only involves 8 treadmills and a camera that's all.

Anyway, enjoy the video and tell me what you think.

Too Busy - Too Short - Too Early

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:51:00 +0000

I just realized that blogging is not in my "must do" list anymore nowadays and it gets worse and worse. I can see that my post is accumulating, and is getting less and less each month.

It had been a roller-coaster in my life for the past weeks which I didn't write anything here. I still had loads to write about what I saw in this fabulous city, but I just can't get into the mood of preparing the pictures and share with everyone. I am also aware that there are not many people left who still access to my blog, even the usual ones. Even me, myself, doesn't really read others' blogs as I don't really have time for it. Well, maybe just 2 which are related to cars, that's all I do everyday.

My new job is continuing to kill me. It is so bad that I just feel dead everyday when I arrive home. It's too much to explain about the job, but then. I quit again, today. Actually not today officially as I am starting to play with the manager by calling sick for the next few days. I am still in probation period and I already fed up with the whole thing! Sick and tired totally.

It's reaching the end of 6th August 2008, 1 day to the Olympics. Just feel like writing something here. I don't really know what am I thinking now, what am I doing now, how do I feel. Totally complicated feeling. I am leaving this flat in 9 days time, which means I am leaving London for good. Made decision in such a short time. Then from 15th August, around 2 weeks time, I'll be on MH1, seat 47F. I really don't know what am I going to expect after landing, what am I going to expect in the next chapter of my life, what am I going to be anytime soon, when will I come back to this greatest city in the world to stay. What had God prepare for me? How am I going to cope after leaving all the advance technologies and facilities behind which are only to be found here?

It's gonna be more busy from tomorrow. Planning. Packing. 21 days to go. I can't believe it, but I don't really have a choice. It's too early to go, but, life decision.

This Camera is Expensive....

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:15:00 +0000

I went to Play.com just now to get myself a 2gb SD Card for my camera so I can take loads and loads of photos next Monday when I attend the British International Motorshow. This is the show that I wanted to go the most even before I arrive England. The SD Card cost me £6.49 with free delivery. I will most probably receive it at Thursday or even tomorrow if fast enough.

Anyway, about the title. After I buy my stuff, I continue to browse through most of the interesting items which I am thinking of buying in the future. I came to the digital camera page and there was more than 350 results. Near to the end, I found out this.

This is the Canon Eos 1Ds Mark II Digital SLR, and it cost freaking £4999.99 while the high street retail price is £6499.99!!!! I can buy a damn car with that price!!!!! Even a used BMW 3 Series with that price!!!! More freaking is that the price only cosist of the camera's body!!! die...

That is the most expensive camera I have ever saw since I know something about camera... Bloody hell this thing really can cost that much only for its body... without lenses. Well, the camera is a 16.7Megapixels which is crazy that it can enlarge anything on your face, probably near to a microscope...

Gee... When can I buy that....

Borough Market London - Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 14:43:00 +0000

Date: 3 May 2008
Venue: Borough Market, London Bridge
Tube Station: London Bridge
Camera: Canon Powershot A430 4.0MP

Related Post: Borough Market London - Part 1

Bakery

Bread, baguettes, cakes, cookies, pastry. The traditional food for European people. It has lots and lots of history and they are still eating now. There are too many types of bread that I still can't recognise them all.

Baguettes, Croissants...

Tarts, cakes, etc...

Oat cookies

Traditional Gingerbread man

If not mistaken, the brown bread with square on is call sour dough.

Cheese

CHEESE~~~!!!!! It is so so popular here that it has tonnes of cheese available in too many sizes and varieties. I really am not an expert in cheese so I just try to capture some of the special ones. I just know that some of them like blue cheese smells very strong and other cheese... I have to no idea... there are cheese tasting at nearly every cheese stall so I tried some. Not bad at all but it is really not cheap.

Blue Cheese?? Is that Fungus??

Goats cheese, for goat milk lovers...

What kind of cheese is that?

What do you think of the price?

This thing here, is one of the new stuff that I know only after visiting Borough Market. That 2 yellow thing is cheese while the grey metal machine is something like a stove, it melts the cheese from the top. When the cheese melts, they scrap it off and spread it on either bread or potatoes... Trust me, it taste really really nice. People are queuing up for it... again... not cheap. 1 portion of toast cost £3 which is so small that you can finish in 3 mouthful. Potatoes and pickles portion will be £4.

Seafood

Seafood, a must for a market. It is exotic usually but you can find cheaper seafood here as well depending on your budget. Alive or dead, they all have.

There we have, clams. They open it and customers just grab it straight away, eaten raw with some lemon juice on it. Many Asians eating though. When I was there, a Hong Kong family was there eating as the clams were opened up. I really lost count of how many they eat but in the end they pay £25 for the 'meal'.Slurrrrrrpppppp......................

Look at these lovely fishes and prawns.... mouth watering.....

XXL Madagascar prawns.... £39.60 per kg... maybe 2 prawns per kg?

Sea Urchins...

Sweets

British people loves sweets and desserts. Their chocolates and sweets are so sweet that you will choke by it.

Chocolate truffles stall....

Cranberry, quite famous around. It sells sweets and dried fruits and nuts... Everything you can think of...

Specialties - Salt

What can I say... Salty!!! Even salt has so many varieties and mixtures... I wonder how they use them.... it's not cheap....

Normal French sea salt....

with herbes de provence...

with seaweed....

with hot spices....?

....and with Oregano and wine???? my goodness.... salt with wine....

Ostrich....

There is 1 stall which is specialized in Ostrich. As under the meat category, I already introduced Ostrich meat... and here.... Ostrich Feather Dusters!! £6.95 for one!! I wonder who's gonna buy and use it.... that price...

and this!! What for??? £14.30!!!!
Ostrich Grill..... Doesn't really taste interesting though... £4.. damn...

Well, that is all about Borough Market... A very interesting place to visit.

Birthday.....

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:50:00 +0000

Today is my birthday. The worst one since I can remember my birthday...

4.30a.m.
Wake up. Realized my tongue doesn't feel well. red spots. dunno what the hell....

4.40a.m.
Realized the green jacket that my aunt gave me as present is gone... The first thing on my mind was I must have left it on the bus yesterday when I came home as I fell asleep due to too tired after work. That was the first time I didn't wake up on time to drop off the station which I am suppose to drop off. Second thing in my mind, that jacket has lots of memories... too much... I decided to go to the bus garage to look for it after I finish work.

4.55a.m. - 5.40a.m.
Blessing. The buses today were so smooth that I reach my work place earliest since I start taking bus to work. I need to take 3 buses to work, sometimes if the first bus is late, I will be late for work.

6a.m. - 2.30p.m.
Work as usual. I started to get unwell at around noon. Diarrheoa around 1.30p.m. when I was still working in the frozen room. Crap!

2.30p.m. - approx 3p.m.
Shopping for food.

3p.m. onwards
The traffic was so horrible that I took 2 hours to get home. I need to take 52, 2 then 159 to get home. When I was waiting for 2, the first bus driver doesn't open the door, making all people wait for 5 more minutes for next bus, second bus, when it arrives the station, it became "not in service" so... e2 more minutes, 2 of the same bus came. After that, I was stuck on the roads for nearly 1 hour to take the final bus, then traffic again... so 2 hours to reach home.

5.20p.m.
Reached home then went out again to ask for my jacket. Went to bus garage, no records of missing green jacket found. bus No.2 is not using that garage, I need to go to the other one to ask. I didn't get my jacket nor can't confirm if the jacket can be found.

5.45p.m.
Got home and watch final episode of TVB drama - Forensic Heroes II. I don't know what to feel.

7.15p.m.
Felt hungry.... alone at home... cooked spaghetti... birthday spaghetti... adding Organic canned chopped tomatoes into the sauce as an extra, with some small frozen prawns which I bought some time ago... and adding the last mushroom I got... I ate alone at the kitchen window... standing...

8p.m.
Back to my laptop and get 2 more birthday wishes.... altogether until this second which Cathy... but Liwan using her messenger, which she already gave me wish just now.... around 10 wishes... thanks people...

As a conclusion, this year's birthday, I am poor, lonely, sad, angry, unwell, just lucky to have people still remember my birthday, and thanks to Angel for sending a birthday card to me, which arrived far too early due to miscalculation. That is my best present so far this year.

Anyway, happy birthday to me. Presents will appear anyway.... eg. Visa extension news, get my pay for the month, and maybe more? I want more presents!!!!! to cheer me up. hehe...