When Life Starts After Work

Hong Kong Travel: Day 3 Morning - Dim Sum at Cheers Restaurant

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:34:00 +0000

Frankly, I love Dim Sum. As recommended in my guide book, it’s a must to try in Hong Kong. That was why i made it a trip to try it in Hong Kong before boarding the ferry to Macau.

I found a restaurant called Cheers restaurant (欢喜大酒楼) nearby my hotel that served dim sum at around 11am. Hopefully the name meant that they want the customer happy with the food and not them happy with the billing part.

One of the thing in Hong Kong restaurant is that if you don’t come in group, you will usually be forced to share a table with other people. For me, I shared with 3 old-aged aunties that kept talking about their grandchildren, maid, the in laws, their neighbors, the property, the government, the….. Yeah, they kept refilling the tea and kept talking. I guess maybe when I got old I shall do the same thing too, talking about stuffs and forgot about it the next day and repeat the same topic everyday. Hmm…

Anyway, to order, all I need to do was tick the menu, pass it to the waitress and then wait for the food.

Not to make myself looking awkward while waiting, I pretended to read the Chinese newspaper even though I was not good in Chinese words… nice pictures…

So what I had?

Okay, I didn’t know if the waitress had made a mistake or my Chinese words understanding had reached a sucky level, but I could swear that the upper right corner dish were beef meatballs. Maybe the name of the dish was too fancy that it misled me. Because of my respect for my grandma, I was not supposed to take beef. Well, since I accidentally took it, hope it was a real meatball and not part of the bull’s genitals.

Well, the dim sum was okay, still love the one in Malaysia though. Maybe the one here were customized to local taste. How much did it cost me? HKD155 and they said that dim sum was the cheapest meal of the day! Ouch, my wallet hurted!

Hong Kong Travel: Day 2 - Budget Traveling, Victoria Peak & Lan Kwai Fong

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:01:00 +0000

The second day was the time I visited the more luxurious site of Hong Kong. Similar to the different of Penang island and mainland, Hong Kong island was where most upper class citizen stayed. I was quite impressed on how the transit track could be built under the sea, linking mainland and the Hong Kong island.

Budget travelling is when you try to minimize luxury transportation such as Taxi and utilize public bus or tram. I walked a lot everyday, never once in my life I put my legs to so much stress test. Well, it was also time to put my map reading skill to test and honestly I got lost a few time!

For example, I took this public tram till end of the line until chased out by the bus cleaner! L I was looking for Kennedy Road to get to Victoria Peak but ended up at Kennedy Town! By the way, it was a must try for the tram, except when Hong Kong was on heat wave because there was no air conditioner inside the tram!

Anyway, I finally got my way to Victoria Peak and there was nothing much to see but cloudy Hong Kong, blaming the heat wave again!

I bet it would be nicer on other days! By the way, everything is money, from the inclining tram to the peak to the panoramic viewing area of the peak.

Single journey: HKD22
Return journey: HKD44
Sky Tower entrance to see paranomic view: HKD15

During night time, the best place to be was the clubbing area. The famous area on Hong Kong island was Lan Kwai Fong. It was an upper class area with luxury cars and branded stores. Trust me, I lost count on the number of Porches, Lamborghinis or Ferraris.

By the way, guess what shop was this?

Anyway, this place was so famous that even the road sign was a popular spot.

Being ‘kiasu’, this idiot also ended up taking a photo there.

Did I mention this place was suitable for people from all walks of life and any religious background? I’m wrong? Why was a monk doing there?

Trying to enjoy the atmosphere, I ordered a glass of Hoegaarden even the price was HKD55. I guess a small glass would not intoxicate me much… again, I was wrong, I need two hands to hold the glass!

I took the 12.30am railway transit back to the mainland and walked back to my hotel while trying to act sober. J

Hong Kong travel: Day 1 Evening - Tung Choi Street (Ladies’ Street & Goldfish Street)

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 05:08:00 +0000

In the evening, I went to visit the nearby Tung Choi Street. Actually I was aiming at the well-known Ladies' Street (女人街). But to my disappointment, no pretty ladies, just like a Malaysian style Pasar Malam or Petaling Street.

Even the goods are not really for ladies. Can’t imagine a lady wearing these on their body.

Next, I headed Goldfish Street(金魚街). Do you know that in Chinese ‘goldfish’ also meant prostitute? So I thought I was a sort of red light district, so curiosity got the best of me to try exploring this area. Guess what I realize? It was really an area selling goldfish! Damn!

Hong Kong Travel: Super Tuition Teachers

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:23:00 +0000

One thing I find amusing in Hong Kong were these big banners or expensive advertisement, which were in front of big buildings,

or busses.

At first, I thought it was a pop group or some sort of new uprising superstars but when I studied the advertisement, they were all tuition teachers! It seemed that tuition teachers were packaged like superstars or idols in Hong Kong!

Even the newspaper advertisement was designed, staring a tuition teacher that looked like a celebrity!

The advertisement in TV was also quite amusing! Tuition teachers seemed like superheroes that save the day, helping students scoring As! So, superman or batman, try to beat that!

What happen to the usual celebrity or superstars that I have seen on tv? Are they not as famous as these teachers? Never know that teacher could be packaged like an idol or celebrity.. hmmm…

Hong Kong Travel: How Expensive Was The Food?

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 01:31:00 +0000

Hong Kong is famous of its food. Just try to walk into any food stall or shop and you will definitely agree with me! If you visit the right place, some food would bring tears to you (yeah it was that good); however when the bill came, it would usually bring tears to your wallet too (yeah, they were pretty expensive!).

The thing with Hong Kong is the living standard is so high that a cleaner’s salary is around HK$8000+ (which is around RM3600++). This meant that every Hong Kong folks I met was far richer than me. I was the poorest of them all! Gee, imagine being the lowest earning guy in this society! Maybe I should be the one cleaning the cleaner’s place, or the person who opened door for the hotel doorman, or even the guy who polished the beggar’s shoe while asking for tips from him!

So, how expensive was the food over there?

Wanton Noodle – HK$36 (around RM17)

I took this noodle at an ordinary eatery called “Yun Kei”.

Look at the Wanton’s size, as big as golf ball!

The noodle was tender and nice! Although the price was still bearable for me, it made me imagine the price for those famous foods.

Yinyong Beverage – HK$18 (around RM9)

Accompanying my wanton Noodle was Yinyong.

This beverage is made from a mixture of coffee and Hong Kong Style milk tea. It had a rich silky taste, but I suggested you finish it before the bill come.

So as you could see, a normal food plus 10% tax would be around RM36 in Hong Kong whereas in Penang if we were charged RM5 at a coffee shop, we would be scolding the cook, or probably his mother, his family or whoever related to him or her.

By the way, the roasted goose and pork rice was good too, again around HK$36.

Anyway, I also tried the famous mango desert at Hui Lao Shan (许留山).

It was priced at HK$32, so no matter what I need to show that it taste good, right?

Actually it did!

Well, I too tried the stinky tofu but forgot to put the chili sauce, so it was tasteless for me.

Felt like biting into a normal fried tofu. Oh ya, the strange thing was it smelled bad, really bad until you had the first bite, then the smell seemed disappeared. I think it might be too smelly until my nose or taste bud shut down, masking off the stinky smell.

A lesson learnt was that after eating stinky tofu, remember to cover your mouth when asking for direction, and if you were asking for the toilet, remember to let them know that you had stinky tofu, else they would think you have accidentally sh*t or pee into your pants.

Still, Hong Kong food is really too expensive for me. Can you imagine the price of the food in restaurant? Nah, better don’t imagine, you might faint…

Hong Kong Travel: As Bad Lucks Followed...

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:36:00 +0000

In my previous entry, I mentioned bad lucks following me to Hong Kong. Well, it’s time to elaborate that:

1^st Bad Luck: Heat

On the day I touched down in Hong Kong, heat wave started. The weather was so hot that Hong Kong Observatory issued a “very hot weather warning” the next day.

I with Malaysian-Design-Heatproof-body could not withstand the 35ºC. I was forced to change into a singlet but still sweating heavily.

I really didn’t understand some people who still managed to wear coat and tie in this kind of condition, either Hong Kong was full of crazy people or the people had blocked pores that preventing them from sweating! Gee, I was at the wrong place and wrong time! In addition, I packed a lot of long sleeves clothing and jackets, thinking the weather would be 28ºC!

2^nd Bad Luck: Lost

Getting too used to the transit in Malaysia where usually there is only 1 or 2 entry points, I actually printed a portion of the Google map to guide me to my hotel. I thought it should be quite straight forward – from A21 airport bus drop zone, Tsim Sha Tsui Station marked with green box to Ramada Inn marked with yellow box.

When my bus approached that area, I was surprised to see so many entry points for Tsim Sha Tsui Station ( ‘ж’ symbol marked with Green Box). I was immediately lost!

For a while, I was walking in circles, carrying a printed google map with blurry street names. Wrestling and rejecting lots of street people who was offering nice accommodation with cheap price, I managed to arrive my hotel 2 hours later under super hot condition. By then I thought I could finally have a nice bath and go for nice meal, but I was wrong!

3^rd Bad Luck: Hotel Problem

“Sir, we could not find your reservation or any payment made in our computer. Let’s us do some manual checking for you and get back to you shortly” I almost fainted after hearing these words from the front desk. I panicked and began to wonder whether I was scammed into paying a fake agent for my accommodation.

After telling the staff that I would be back after 2 hours, I left the hotel and went to a nearby park to draft for plan B.

It was not an easy task because hotels in Hong Kong were super expensive, in average a small room would cost HK$600++ (≈ RM290) unless you dare to try your luck with those offering cheap accommodation by the street.

Under enormous heat, not having a meal since I left Penang and body sweating badly, I tried to scout for nearby hotels with reasonable pricing. It proved to be difficult as many hotels were fully booked mainly by tourists from Indonesia and Philippines who took the opportunities of their public holidays to visit Penang.

2 hours later, I was glad that everything was settled and I managed to check into a small room.

Oh well, lesson learnt.

Need to do a final checking on the weather before packing for that country
Do not use the transit station as a landmark on the map because there might be multiple entries into that station.
Remember to print out the confirmation code after booking the hotel, or I might be sleeping on the street next time.

A bad start for my trip in Hong Kong? Stay tune!

Hong Kong Travel: From Penang to Hong Kong

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:15:00 +0000

It’s an unplanned trip, so last minute that I was:

Working in the office 15 hours before the flight (3pm);
Researching the internet on Hong Kong 12 hours before the flight (6pm):
Gave up preparing information about Hong Kong and bought a Frommer's Hong Kong guide book 9 hours before the flight (9pm); and
Only manage to finish packing 4 hours before the flight (2am).

I finally could have a few hours of sleep when I took the 6am flight from Penang International Airport to Hong Kong International Airport, although I was forced to sit other that my assigned seat because of an ignorant semi-bold and fat Penangite who landed his big bulky butt in my assigned seat, telling me in Hokkien “Air Asia can sit anywhere u like”.

I planned to tell him “If so, can I sit on your face?” but before I opened my mouth, the passengers behind told me that there was vacant seat there; so I just took the seat and tried to grab some sleep.

Arriving Hong Kong, I was greeted with the most complicated airport terminal – there were so many stairs, so many elevators and so many directions to go. So, no choice, I need to deploy one of my survival strategy,” Monkey See Monkey Do”, I followed where most passengers went (except the ones that went to the toilet), and found my way to the immigration area. I didn’t know whether it was me or the officer was having a bad day or he didn’t know English at all but when I greeted him with “Good Morning”, he responded with an odd expression, as if I was going to kill his family. Maybe it was because I was from Malaysia which was famous for H1N1 virus that he thought my existence would kill him.

After getting green light from the custom officer, I went to pick up my backpack and finally exited into the public area. My guide book recommended me to get an Octopus card for convenient purpose, so without hesitation, I went to counter to get one.

Before I flew to Hong Kong, I was advised to speak English instead of Cantonese or Mandarin unless my Cantonese was as good as the local. The reason was that most Hong Kong folks disliked or looked down on Chinese from China (or they called them “Mainlanders”). Speaking inappropriate Cantonese or mandarin would sort of associate Chinese ethnic folks with mainlanders; and it would certainly deny those travelers to some assistances or services. Wonder why so? Watch the video below:

Despite being a crown colony of the United Kingdom for more than a century, I found it amusing when the guy at the counter tried to explain the usage of Octopus Card in English. It reminded me of a guy in South Park Animation, the City Wok Restaurant Owner and yeah, he sounded like him:

Well, it seemed I was ready to meet Hong Kong by then; I boarded bus A21 and headed downtown with my HK$67 (HK$100 minus bus fare) preloaded Octopus Card.

Little did I know, my bad luck followed me to Hong Kong. Stay tune for the next entry.

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:01:00 +0000

Well, it’s time to do a checklist before leaving the country. Where am I heading? A country that Chinese or Cantonese folks thought that it smell nice. Here’s my chance to see if they were right or wrong.

My criteria of picking this country are:

It is a direct flight from Penang because I don’t like taking many connecting flights in an uncomfortable budget plane;
There is no need of any visa, so entering this country should be no problem for me;
I usually will relax myself watching dramas from this country, so there is a sense of familiarity; and
I know no one from this country, a perfect place to clear up my mind.

Let me do my checklist:

Travel Back Pack – the heaviest thing that I would be walking around with. Just in case, it got lost, I would lost my everything!!! I pray that the airport staff will not let this happen.

Changing the currency - RM1K could be exchanged to $2190! Not bad! Or is it not a good deal? Nah, it does not matter, as long as this is real money, then it should be okay. Hope that Queensbay money changer staff is honest enough.

Credit Cards – I don’t know which credit card is popular in that country, so let me bring all of them, Visa, MasterCard and American Express. This should cover all possibilities.

Universal Travel plug – This plug should be able to enter any hole around the world… oops I mean power socket. No worry for not able to charge my handphone, so I am still reachable by cell.

Disposable Underwear – I don’t want to wear the same underwear everyday although there is a suggested way that could make it lasts for 4 days per underwear (1^st day wearing it normal way, 2^nd day switch the front part to the back, 3^rd day flip it inside out, and 4^th day switch the front part to the back again!). So, to maintain my personal hygiene, just dispose it and use a new one everyday. A pack of 5 perfect for my 5-day trip!

Passport – My key to this country, luckily my face don’t change much.

My flight ticket / itinerary - If you still not able to guess where am I going. Time for me to show you my breakaway spot.

Well, I guess I have covered everything! 2 more days left!

Please don’t expect me to blog about it because I am not going to bring my laptop. I guess when I am back, I will be the same old me again! But if you don’t hear from me after next Thursday, I might either be lost or dead. Don’t miss me, ya? It’s probably a good thing being dead….

The Rain...

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 04:40:00 +0000

Woke up early for a volleyball session this morning, I really need sports to clear my mind up. Judging from the attendance, I guessed I was not alone, there were people affected by this changes too! I might be the stronger one instead. But again, I should be, I should be the one cheering but I really can’t. The most amusing part was everything started with a ‘why’ and ended with a ‘why’ also, really defied all logics.

Half way through the game it rained heavily. Usually I would just scold the weather but today I didn’t, I purposely stayed longer in the rain. It was like the sky was telling me “Wake up, man! Wake up!”

For the first time I enjoyed the rain, thanking it for assisting me shedding some tears and trying to wash away the pain. For the first time, I didn’t feel cold at all as I knew I deserve this big splash of endless water on me. I sat by the roadside, hoping for more until an uncle looked out from his window and got scared, fearing that I was some kind of thief lurking around, posing to strike at his property. I left the place immediately….

Last night, I came face to face with the cause. I really didn’t know what to do. I panicked and checked myself into the office washroom to clear my mind. Then I related the whole incident to a close friend. I guess this was the time that I was thankful for having a shoulder to cry on, a female shoulder. (Damn, I really sound like a pussy, right?) Anyway, thanks a lot, I really need the comfort and emotion outburst! It made me feel better after that, until I dare to face the problem… for a while.

Now, I’m planning to accept my fate, going towards comfort than wishing for something else. Don’t want to aim for excitement that all the time ended with pain. Maybe I shall bring some good news next year. Just wait and see…

Tonight, I shall get myself drunk. There is a BBQ with booze going on and I shall make use on that to clear up my mind.

Anyway, on Monday, I shall brave myself to come face to face with the cause. Maybe by then I shall be more prepared, maybe by then I shall be stronger. Still, looking towards my big break 6 days later, praying it come sooner.

Feeling Down...

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:09:00 +0000

I’m down….really down. The feeling is pretty awful. I feel like what to hide somewhere and escape to a place where no one knows me, escape from the reality of life. Every night I wonder how I could face tomorrow, how could I put on a brave and happy face accepting the challenges ahead. I have lost my appetite, I have lost my sleep, I guess I have lost myself.

Now I’m looking towards next week holiday for recovery, just somewhere I could find a peace of mind, somewhere no one knows me, somewhere secretive.

I never know I am weak in accepting changes, I thought I would be the happy one, but the pain is unbearable, it hurts till the heart, I guess I am human after all.

If only I think less, if only I am stupid a bit, if only I am not aware of what is happening around then I guess the impact is not that huge. If only… I am who I thought I should be… happier.

Hmm.. hope I feel better after bursting this out. Hopefully it eases the pain a bit. Was feeling like something stuck on my throat and not able to get it out, until I force myself to vomit out everything inside.

Please don’t ask me what happen, do not feel like sharing it at the moment. 8 days left for me to be momentarily invisible.

Professional Words vs True Words

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 16:00:00 +0000

In this professional world, usually when we said something nicely, in our heart we usually meant other things instead. I had such experience when speaking face to face with a guy in the office from a different department a few days ago.

The people from that department love leeching on our departments work and then make it as their accomplishment. It usually ended that they were awarded the highest recognition in their department, the Department Recognition Award; whereas our department only manage to ‘eat lime’ (‘食桔’, Cantonese meaning of having nothing when the effort is all yours).

So, I met up with that guy and tried my best to convey the message to him professionally, “I know that it is really inconvenient for you, but it is better that we follow the formal process if you wish us to assist you in your task. You know our department is currently overwhelmed with important projects and if you route your request to our managers then he could assign the correct priority or attention and we could work on it accordingly. This is because later your request is far more important than us and we did not response on time.”

Actually what I meant was “What the hell! @!#$%^&*(&^%$ You personally asked us to work on this without our manager knowing and then you guys just sit there while we do your job! In the end, what we got? NOTHING! And you guys get all the awards and all the promotions! You think we were THAT STUPID again?!!! We will make sure our manager SCREW YOU!”

So, the guy agreed and emailed to my project manager; and of course got a slap in the face because usually they just threw everything to us and asked us to solve the issue without knowing what really went wrong.

My program manager said this to them (censored or modified some content to avoid leaking out some work sensitive stuffs):

When I thanked my program manager that time, I realized he actually meant something like this “When you went to see a doctor, the doctor surely would ask you what’s wrong!"

Yeah, he got a point. You were not expected to go to the clinic, striped yourself naked and asked the doctor to check what’s wrong with you!

Not-So-Eerie Events @ First World Hotel

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 07:59:00 +0000

Finally can take some days off to spend my time with my family at our usual gathering place, but still need to check my work at Starbucks. L

So which Starbucks is this? Yup, Genting Starbucks.

Talking about visiting this ghostly popular place at the period when Chinese consider inauspicious (Hungry Ghost Festival month), let me share some eerie real events talked among my friends regarding the hotel that I am currently staying, First World Hotel; but with some twists in the end.

Midnight Visitor

One of my friend, Alex (not real name) visited Genting. He checked himself into First World Hotel. I told him that some hotel rooms were haunted, so it sort of scared him when he checked into a room with the unlucky number ‘4’ on the 14^th floor. The first thing he did was surely check whether any dead body under the bed and to his relief he found nothing.

It was around 3am, Alex just came back from winning a lot in the casino. He remembered me saying that if he won a lot ‘something’ might follow him to his room. So, he went into his room and tried to force himself to sleep. Drip, drip, drip… The sound of the dripping from the water tap seemed becoming louder and louder. The dripping sound was from his washroom where the tap water could not be shut tight. He got up his bed and shut the washroom door. Everything became quiet… sooo quiet…. until…. “Knock, knock, knock!” Someone knocking on his door at around 3.30am! He tried to shut his eyes but the knocking became louder and louder.

He could not stand it anymore and went to peep through the door. He freeze for a few seconds, a long-haired girl wearing red dress was at his door! He shouted “I did not do any harm to you, don’t come to me! I’m a nice guy!”. The girl then answered back “Mister, since you are a nice guy, why not pity me. Just cheap cheap RM300 and I could spend the night with you. I don’t have any business lately, please pity me”.

It turned out that she was a prostitute!

The Knocking Above

Another friend of mine, Jasmine (not a real name too) also checked herself into First World. While sleeping in the middle of the night, she was rudely awakened by knocking on the ceiling. She switched on the light and examined the ceiling. She peeked through here half-opened eyes. There was nothing there! Once a while, she could hear faintly screaming of a girl. She was terrified, and thus she called the reception, describing the situation and requesting a room change. Moments later, the reception called back, saying “Miss, we have called the room above and requested them to keep it down. Sorry for the inconvenience caused”.

It turned out that some couple was having ‘enjoying’ moments upstairs!

Well, this teaches us that sometimes First World Hotel is not as scary as we have imagined, but sometimes, it is …..

“Small White Face” (小白脸)

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 04:28:00 +0000

Have you heard of the term “Small White Face (小白脸)” or a guy that “eat soft rice (吃软饭)”? “Small White Face” although literally translates as a guy with fair complexion, doesn’t actually mean so, else me (yes, I look fair, don’t believe? Date me! Ho ho) and this guy would be in the same category.

As for “eating soft rice”, it doesn’t mean eating porridge. So don’t go around pointing at guys having his nice porridge, saying “Aha! Eat soft rice!”.

It is actually a Chinese term, saying a guy that depends on his female partner for living. In Chinese perspective, it is always expected for the guy to be the financial support for his female partner. For any couple related events or activities, he is supposed to be the one footing the bill. So, if you see a guy coming out from a fashion store with the female partner paying for his clothes or after a romantic dinner, the guy just sat there while the female partner paid the bill, the chinese around might started to brand this guy as “small white face”. So, now you could see how hard it is to be a guy nowadays, so does that explain why some guys transform themselves into a girl?

As for me, call me old-fashion but I always stick to this gentleman rule. Although some times I asked a girl to treat me to a meal or movie, it always ends up I insisting on paying for them in the end. That’s why I look down on guys who borrow money from his girlfriend or have relationships that end up the girls got cheated off her money.

Lately, I stumbled on some scenes from “Sex and The City” (For guys who don’t know what series this is, it is definitely not porn!) where a highly-paid female lawyer was dating an ordinary bar tender, it triggered me to wonder what if my girlfriend earns a lot more than me and living in a more luxurious lifestyle that I could not afford. For example, a regular dinner for her would be around how much I spend for my meal in a month. If we ‘clicked’, I would eventually become “small white face” because of affordability since I always hope to get the best for my love one. It would then be a tough dilemma of dignity vs love.

So, in this world of gender equality, it is wrong to judge a guy without understanding the situation? What’s your opinion? Hope I would get stuck in such situation.

By the way, I still look down on guys borrowing money from girls.

A Glimpse at My Past...

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 04:08:00 +0000

Things changed a lot! Not long ago, I was branded out-dated for not having a facebook account. After much persuasion I signed myself up, and got connected with a lot of my old friends. So much things have changed, lot of my peers seemed to have upgraded their social ranking:

Rank 1: Single

Rank 2: Married

Rank 3: Married with Kids

Rank 4: Dead

Thank god, all are still alive… I think, but most of them are in rank 2 and 3, while I am still in rank 1, so disappointing. L Even the most unpopular guy or girl, finally found their own happiness! I tried to stay positive and look at it from a different guy’s perspective to make myself happy:

Rank 1: Freedom

Rank 2: On a Leach Controlled by the Wife (or Wives)

Rank 3: On a Leach Controlled by the Wife and Kids

Rank 4: Total Freedom but Cannot Enjoy It.

I also felt fortunate that my previous feeling of disappointment of being rejected by the girls that I was after last time being compensated that they were no longer as attractive as last time. Some have shifted to watermelon shape instead of the previous ‘hour glass’ figure,

some looked older than my mum, some got my pity for ended up with abusive husbands or husband having extra marital affair (See? Not accepting me…), and some ended up being control freaks for their husband (phew!). Okay, I’m being extremely cruel in commenting this because of my previous cruel rejection by them (trust me, you can’t imagine what they did), but I could not believe myself that I could finally say this “LUCKILY I DIDN’T END UP WITH YOU!” It is definitely a final closure of my once broken heart, but I do still wish that they have happy lives ahead.

Anyway, I was glad getting updates from all my friends around the world. Some previous grudges were totally forgotten and those happy moments seemed flashing through my head, especially the funny volleyball one.

I’m still wondering, when is my rank 2?

I Don’t Know What Are They Singing, But They Are Good???!!

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:21:00 +0000

I don’t know whether anyone experience this before – You listened to a foreign song, you don’t understand what were they singing actually but ended up being obsessed with the band. This is what happens to me lately. Think of it, it is weird, right? Who knows they might be scolding me right from the beginning of their song till the end; while I am being stupid, enjoying them repeatedly cursing me. It might also be something like this:

Anyway, I got to know a band called ‘All Around Attack (AAA)’ after listening to the opening theme of a children-based Japanese superhero series called Kamen Rider Den-O. It was a happy song that made me searching for this band performing the same song live:

I became more obsessed after watching some of their live performances on youtube – great performance and great song; just that I don’t know what they were singing about.

So, anyone is having such experience?

How Come Female Cosmetic Brand Sound like Chinese Foul Words?

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 03:01:00 +0000

Last time when I was young, I learnt to pick up a few foul words because of bad influence. However, if my parents caught me scolding that, I would be in big trouble because usually they would be threatening to wash my mouth with soup water! Nowadays, it’s completely a different case; if any Chinese foul words accidentally slip out of one’s mouth, it might be the name of a famous cosmetic brand!

Years ago, when I was walking around the supermarket, i almost saluted the child who I thought was scolding her mother’s mother. I thought she was asking her mother to XXX up her mother, until I realized that she was just repeating a famous cosmetic brand name from Japan – Kanebo.

I don’t know the true meaning of the brand name but I do love the idea of ‘legalizing’ foul language into brand name. Imagine, I said this word when I was young, I don’t know whether I could be even speaking again (my parents wash my mouth with soup water, remember?).

I’m sure everyone heard of the Lancôme Paris, a prestigious cosmetics brand.

If the name was pronounced correctly, it sounded something like ‘land comb’; however if this brand name fell onto the mouth of a Chinese girl who don’t speak much English, then it would be a disaster! Once, I busted into laughter when I heard a Chinese girl asking her boyfriend to get her the facial product, “I would do anything for a ‘lan come’!” If I did not see that she was pointing at the product, I would have asked them to get a room! In hokkien, ‘lan’ actually means a male body part, and the pronunciation is different too. So, asking ‘it’ to come… you get what I’m trying to say. By the way, if it was said the over way round, there is a new set of meaning.

Last but not least, heard of this famous French brand?

I really don’t know how to pronounce the name, that’s why I never try to do so. Not that I am afraid to make mistake, but that my life would be in danger if I do so. Imagine I go to the perfume shop and said this “Hi, can I have a look at your ‘strange dick’?” I would be ended up in police station, because the only way I know to pronounce 'Guerlain' is ‘Guai Lan’ and what does that mean? Click here.

Hmm… I thought that it is hard to understand female, but it seemed harder to understand the name of their cosmetic products.

I Hate Promise Breaker!

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 09:55:00 +0000

I just realized that among my friends there is a promise breaker. Before that, I thought it was me that the person cancelled our appointment at the last minutes for a few times (Yeah, I thought I am not a nice person to hang out after work). However, this time it was work-related, and a few months of planning gone into waste. So, for sure I am pissed … but silently.

I guess the reason that I am so angry about this is because of my family. My father is a businessman, so every word he makes, he never breaks it. Breaking a promise is a very serious thing in business world. I am brought up in this condition, so I seldom make promises, usually use the word ‘maybe’ or ‘try’; however, when I make a promise, I do intend to keep it.

I remembered when I was in Form 3, I ended my friendship with a friend, after that person repeatedly cancelled the appointment at the last minute, each time promising would make it up to me during the next appointment. I guess I did a childish decision that time. But at that time I was sure that people who never kept their words did not worth it to get to know them.

Now, I am re-experiencing the same situation. So, in order not to make a harsh decision, I went researching on what I should do next and I bumped into a site where you teach you have to deal with such friends. The suggestion was … “You could abandon the friend and the friendship!”

Since I did that 12 years ago, I guess I would just lower my expectation on such friend, maybe try my best to stay a distance from this kind of person. Don’t think I would even talk about this with such friend.

Do you think that I am over-reacting? What’s your comment? But I am feeling much better after vomiting all my disappointment out… Thanks for reading. J

Password - Your Choice and How Do You Remember?

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 16:09:00 +0000

Our digital life revolves a lot on password. I don’t know about others but I have a lot of passwords to remember because some need different criteria:

ATMs: 6 digits
Office: Alphanumerical with at least one special character or different casing of alphabet; and the need to change it every 3 months
Public Emails: Some don’t allow special characters and cannot be too long
Some Online Forums: At least 8 characters long
Some Online Gaming Site: Maximum 8 Characters long.

That’s why I usually store all my passwords in a place where I protect it with another set of password. L Anyway, changing password is also a head-aching task.

When you run out of password to choose, you tend to use stupid ones, such as body part; but ends up having personal impact. J

So, how do you guys manage to remember all password? How do you choose a new ones?

Older Parents Got Abandoned

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 03:37:00 +0000

I get extremely upset whenever I read news regarding children abandoning their parents. I know it is no such a big deal in western countries because the children was forced to leave their home when they reached the age of 18 as a sign of reaching adulthood and the government no longer sponsors their living expenses. It might even be funny to know a guy still live with their parents at that stage.

Imagine, a guy bringing a girl home for a ‘coffee’ (you know what I mean because western countries have different ‘culture’) and when things got ‘hot’ the guy told the girl, “Can we keep it low, my parents are sleeping”, or half way through the intimate moment suddenly the voice upstairs (no, the voice not from god) asking “ Son, are you alright? Did you break ous favorite chairs again? We hear you banging on something at this hour!”

Anyway, Asia is a different place. Most government do not pay for children living expenses right from the time they were born. Parents usually fought hard for that so that we could live well and happy. When I started working, I realize that it is a very difficult feat. Working by itself is stressful enough, not to mention trying to fulfill the basic necessities of the children. However, it seems for some, when the parents get old and responsibilities have been switched, the children no longer do the same for their parents, some even abandon them and let institutes or hospitals taking care of them, such an irresponsible act!

I’m sure when everyone gets old, the only thing they want are to enjoy the golden years with their grandchildren. It should be a happy moment. I remembered my father told me this when I was young “I will always work hard to give the best to you”, I shall pass back this message to them in the future and also to my children. As for those that abandon their old parents, I curse that your children do the same to you! Hmmm.. or maybe this was how the chain of reaction started….

My Old Phone (No Mood for Blogging)

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 05:07:00 +0000

Okay, I have to admit it. Lately there is no mood for blogging at all. I mean blogging for the public, because I have made blogging as part of my daily task for my company – using blogging method to entertain everyone in my office. Yeah, how cool is that! But I still have to do my daily task, so ended up 24 hours was not enough for me.

Anyway, the other reason is that my crappy older phone is a turn off for me to snap photos or connect to the internet at home. Still cursing whoever that stole my phone! By the way, I learnt that in China, a new bicycle costs RMB90 (almost RM50) and a second hand motorcycle costs RMB600+ (almost RM350). So, you can imagine how rich was the person who stole my handphone which cost RM2K (almost RMB4000). Maybe for him or her, it was like hitting a jackpot! Imagine how many bicycles or motorcycles that person has now!

So, what phone I am using now? These 2 – Sony Ericson J230i and Motorola A780. The former one is for public use and the later one is for private / personal use. So, whoever have my digi number, yes, you are important to me. J

A780 is the one i’m using as a replacement for my stolen phone, it considered as the first phone I bought from the savings of my first, second and third paychecks 4 years ago. It was an high-end phone during that time with touch screen capability. Imagine how cool during that time when I flipped my phone and answered it and then I could use the touch screen feature for my work stuff! But now it feels like a brick to me.

Anyway, I love to find special reasons to get a new phone – my HTC TyTn II reminded me my first business trip, the cheap SE J230i reminded me of my current job that restricts camera usage in the lab and my A780 reminded me of my first job. So, before I have special reason to get a new one, I would try to make the best out of it. Well think of it, this phone is good in some ways, it’s crime deterrent in the first place. Don’t get what I mean? Watch this commercial.

Yeah, I won’t hesitate to throw it at someone because when I was working in Motorola last time, I got to know that my phone passed 3-storey height of drop test. That means if it’s a need, I could use it as a hammer to drive the nails into the wall or even smashing those hard shell crabs. Not bad of a handphone!

Still, this phone is getting old and partially malfunctioned. I could not answer it by putting on my ear because the internal speaker is dead but it is okay when I put on speaker phone mode. I felt like talking on walkie-talkie when answering the phone, there goes my privacy if I don’t have my headset with me. In addition, I lost my stylus and the external keypad could not be used anymore, only could use my hand on the touchscreen for dialing.

By the way, I was tempted by someone who recently got her hand on a suspected imitation Chinese phone. It was way better than those high-end handphones with those nicely integrated features. If not for the suspected high-radiation and the possibility of exploding in my pocket, killing my ‘reproduction engine’, I might be getting one for myself! Maybe I should rephrase my words, if I am a girl, I will get one! J

Funny China's English Language!

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Have you ever heard of a China Chinese speak English? I did and I almost vomited. Some Chinese wanted to sound sophisticated by mixing a few English words in their conversation but ended up sounding stupid in front of those English speaking folks. On my way to Shenzhen International Airport on Monday, I overhead a Chinese trying to say “Oh my god” on the phone, but sounded like “Owl might good”. To make it worse, the way he said those words sounded like singing with every word in higher key than the previous word (try mixing ‘Do Re Mi’ keys into ‘Owl might good’, then you should get what I meant).

A few days ago, I flipped through the hotel information guide and saw this statement under ‘Power’.

If you enlarge the photo, you would see this statement “220 dog days, 110 dog’s days”. I read a few times and really did not understand what it meant until I read the mandarin section - “220 V, 110V’. Wow, who translated this information guide? “Volt” = “Dog Days”? The translator either hated this 4-star hotel in Meizhou or the English standard over there was really low! I bet the later!

Lastly, another proof that the Chinese public has zero knowledge on English words or should I say the most common English cursing.

Sorry for those who do not understand the name on this signboard, but I bet you should be able to match its pronunciation. In Mandarin, it pronounces as “Hua De Fa” but it is acceptable if you make it sound like “What The F*ck”. I do hope that it is not the owner’s name. J

China Banned Google Using Stupid Reasons!

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:13:00 +0000

Okay, I promised that to update my blog everyday when I was in China, but sadly, I could not fulfill my promise because Google is inaccessible in China!!! This meant that all those Google related sites were being blocked too, including Gmail and Blogger services!

And the reason? Let me quote: “…searches could bring up links to pornography, content associated with the banned spiritual movement Falun Gong and information deemed harmful to national security…”

If you ever strolled around most places in China at night, you would realize that there were a lot (and I meant a lot) of barbershops which operated at night! And these barbershops were full of girls who dressed sexily. Curious me went to ask around and realized that these places were brothel in disguised! So, why not China try to stop these places instead of blaming Google? Don’t tell me that there is an unwritten policy saying “ Not allow to VIEW pornography but say yes to DO pornography?” Anyway, let me borrow the photos below from flickr’s dcmaster to prove my point (no choice, my phone was stolen, remember?).

Okay, China argued that some content that we managed to search was associated with the banned spiritual movement of Falun Gong. First of all, I never heard of such movement thingy until the Chinese pointed this out and made it as if when I pressed ‘enter’ at google search engine there would be an advertisement showing such action. Secondly, have you ever read this article regarding this specific movement able to hijack Chinese Satellite Signal to beam whatever video they want? If they could take over satellite signal, I bet it would be an easy job to take over any search engine, radio or tv broadcast around China, so why only shutdown Google? They should close down every mode of communicate around China!

Lastly, regarding information harmful to national security, I really don’t understand this point at all. Maybe the spies in China did not know how to use those special gadgets or methods to exchange secret information like how we saw in those James Bond movies but maybe relied on blogging? In additional, if you typed “China Military Information” on Yahoo search engine, there was more information as compared to Google search engine. Again, is this a solid reason?

Anyway, I think I better stop writing about this. Who knows maybe my life would be in danger when I click the ‘publish’ button. Maybe the Chinese has set up a special taskforce to monitor and silence people like me? If there is such taskforce, I think the best name for it would be ‘China Independent Brigade Against Influences’. Sound funny? Try gathering the capital letters and you will get what I mean. :P

Journey From Shenzhen to MeiZhou (My Phone Got Stolen!!!)

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:11:00 +0000

My phone was stolen! It was raining and the bus had just stopped at LuoHu bas station. There were already a few Chinese folks waiting at the door trying to sell umbrella. I decided it was best to ignore them because there was too many cheating case around. So, I struggled through the Chinese crowd and went to retrieve the luggage. After that I walked to the nearest shelter, by then I realized that my HTC TyTn II was no longer there! @#$%^&*

I went back to the place but the bus had just left; and I tried calling my phone but it could no longer be reached. My hatred against China and Chinese (China-made) had reached a new level!

Earlier on, when I was on the way to Shenzhen by flying with Air Asia, I realized that Chinese people not only talked loudly but could not sit still at all. After the flight took off, and “Fasten Seat Belt” sign was no longer on, I felt like someone had opened the cage and monkeys started to roam freely in the plane. My seat was kicked and pushed all the time when the 3 Chinese sitting behind kept moving around to talk with their 同志 (Counterpart). I barely could grab any sleep especially when anyone of them started laughing loudly. Damn, Monkeys!

So feeling tired and miserable, I got off the plane 4 hours later. All the passengers were then screened through by the Health officers to make sure that we were H1N1 free.

By the way, you should try listening to a Chinese (again China-made) trying to explain the procedure in English. It not only sounded like Korean but I really did not understand a word at all! From the airport to Luohu bus station, the bus ticket cost RMB20. I actually took lots of photos but sadly MY PHONE WAS STOLEN!!! *sniff sniff*

After blocking my sim card and grumbling over the lost phone for 2 hours (the phone that accompanied me to India L), I boarded the train to Meizhou. It was 5 hours ride and the ticket cost RMB73.

Again, I could not grab much sleep because every stop there was people selling stuffs, but this was no ordinary people, it was the train staffs themselves! They stop in the middle of the train and started promoting socks, toothbrushes, cigarette filters and counterfeit identifying device!

By the way, China is famous of using counterfeit stuff such as fake money, train tickets, phone, cigarette, etc. I was warned by my parents to always examine the money before receiving them because of too many this kind of cases! There were cases where u gave the shopkeepers real RMB100 note but later they calmed that it was fake and returned you a fake note.

So, arrived Meizhou at 8:45pm, checked into a hotel and then went for dinner at nearby shop. I noticed there were no stray dog around Meizhou, why? Because of this!

There were many shops selling dog meat! This means that if you want to have a dog in Meizhou, choose the small skinny ones like Chiwawa, not those fat and meaty ones like American Bull Dog; else the poor dog will become something like American Style Creamy Bull Dog Soup and “part” of the dog might become a real meat-‘balls’!

It was a long tiring trip to Meizhou, but I cursed the person who stole my phone! Hope my phone will accompany you to your grave! @#$%^&*()*&^%

A Night in LCCT (Sleeping On The Floor)

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:00:00 +0000

It’s almost 3am now, I’m in LCCT airport. For some personal or should I say ‘family’ reason, I was requested to go Meizhou, China. The journey later would be tough because I would need to take a flight to Shenzhen, bus to Luohu Bus Station and then train to Meizhou.

Earlier today or should I say yesterday, I took a 10:45pm flight to LCCT from Penang. Life started hard after that. I was sort of sleeping on the floor while waiting for my early flight to Shenzhen. Yeah, it flight like being homeless or being optimistic a bit it felt like travelling in budget – backpacker style. As I was blogging, here was the view from where I was sitting.

If you had looked closer, you could see a lot of people sleeping on the floor! I really respect some people because he could sleep on the floor while snoring as loud as he could, waking everyone around him!

Some fortunate folks were lucky enough to find chairs and tables to lay their heads on.

Anyway, there were some inconsiderate people too! While everyone was asleep, they were chatting and laughing loudly! It was even sad to know that they were Sarawakians because all of them were wearing ‘Sarawak ITF’. Don’t know what is that stand for, maybe “Sarawak IdioTs Federation”?

Well, try to grab some sleep! Hope I would not wake up naked, being robed. L Will do more updates on my journey later, if there is any wifi available. Sorry that i am not able to make this entry sound interesting because i am really too tired.

Malaysia Cinema Suck Big Time!

noreply@blogger.com (AsX) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:23:00 +0000

Hey! I had watched Transformer 2: Revenge of The Fallen! No, I’m not watching those pirated DVD, this is my proof.

But I ended up wishing I was watching pirated movie instead.

It was a rare sight seeing a group of only guys going to the cinema to watch movie with some of them not bringing their girlfriends, but it was logical because girls mostly would not be interested in this kind of movie and I also didn’t think it was a good idea to date a girl in front of scenes with the world coming to the end, unless that couple get turned on by scene with fighting robots, explosion and people dying.

Honestly, I did not enjoy the movie because all because of the cinema. I finally understood why pirated DVDs or downloads are popular among Malaysian. First of all, the movie was supposed to start at 5pm but ended up starting at 5.30pm. There was too much advertisements that I finished eating my popcorn even before the movie started. In additional, some advertisement suck big time! Imagine a war between human race short clip ended up trying to advertise a shampoo? Who approve such advertisement?!!

Anyway, towards the end of the movie when it was reaching the climax and I was at the age of my seat, suddenly the film got stuck and burnt. Nothing could be seen from the screen. It was such an anti-climax!

Not to mention about refund, there was even no apology or announcement given to the patrons by the cinema management. We were made to wait without any notice.

After around 15 minutes, the management managed to fix the problem and started playing a few scenes earlier. By then, I had already become confused because I had forgotten where I had left off and what was happening before that. To make it worse, the cinema cut away a big portion of the ‘broken’ scene, and I seemed not able to connect the storyline. Such a big disappointment!

In conclusion, DVD is still the best because our cinema is still not professional enough. What I mentioned just now is just a rare happening, those usual happenings like people chatting loudly on the phone, baby crying, and the people around you rudely showing off their smelly feet by taking off their shoes and the cinema management personal just ignore them, are usually the reason people go for pirated DVDs!