EM Trip with Mum

24th-26th Nov 2012
Mum's 1st trip to East Malaysia

My mum has never been to East Malaysia. I go almost every other year for some reason! Decided to take her to Sabah. We rented a car at the airport and after a quick lunch, we drove to the mountains - Kinabalu National Park. The journey was truly a spectacular view. There were challenging parts of the journey trying to get past slow trucks but we made it! Had an early dinner and stayed in Celyn Resort Kinabalu. The road leading into the resort can be pretty terrible. Not the resort's fault. It is a public road and therefore the responsibility of the local government. The resort has a great view of Mt Kinabalu (we stayed in the Kinabalu Wing). It was a cloudy day so by night, it was just pitch black.



The next day, we drove to the starting point of Timpohon trail. We were back in KK town by afternoon to have a nice seafood lunch. We checked in to Klagan hotel. It was decent but please don't book through a 3rd party website even if the guarantee you it is the lowest. Apparently it was slightly cheaper to book directly. Liked the free wifi and free parking for guest. Plus the elevator stops on the parking floor too. Very convenient.

We had a great seafood dinner at Dowish Seafood Restaurant. Love the shrimp cooked with coconut water and fresh scallops. 3G in KK can really improve because trying to get online proved to be challenging. Maybe just gotta print out addresses next time. We explored a number of must eats but some are a let down. Other than the seafood, Hilltop's Coconut pudding is just amazing. Glad we found it before our flight back.

We will be back for more food the next time.

HoWT Asia 2012

3rd-7th Oct 2012
Houses of Worship Technologies - Asia 2012

It was an interesting 5 days attending the sessions and at the same time catching up with some friends in Singapore. Have to admit that the exhibition was more interesting than the workshops for us. Checking out the latest technologies and possibilities for DUMC's upgrade, live streaming as well as the phase 2 project. The possibilities are just endless (if you have unlimited budget). Plus, some stuff may cost us more back in Malaysia.

We also had the opportunity to meet Steven Yeoh, technical director from Hope Church, Singapore. They recently moved into a new premise within a mall (Textile Centre) and have done up the place with lots of thoughts in regards to audio, visual and lighting acoustic treatment. We were definitely impressed with their equipments but more impressed with how the place was done with so much input by Steven at the planning stage. Basically, AV design was priority for the place.

We stayed with the salvation army throughout the conference. A small decent apartment for 4 of us.

Dive Perhentian!

21st-23rd Sep 2012
My 6th Dive Trip

Was a last minute decision to join Sam on this trip. I have been wanting to check out Perhentian Island. So I was right, the journey there was a long one but since we slept through the night, it was bearable. The trip cost us RM500 without boat transfer and food. Together with the chartered bus, it cost us more than expected. Accommodation at Bubu Long Beach was quite decent with twin sharing, air-cond and water heater. Strangely, the organisers never shared the bills/receipt of the trip.

Diving was ok. Visiblity was average and the sites we went weren't too spectacular. The journey back was quite torturing. Felt that my whole Sunday was totally wasted. We started our journey after breakfast. I envy 2 of our divers who were from Singapore cause they took a flight back. They got home by 12pm. We got home at 12am!

After the trip, I realized there was an interesting Vietnamese wreck nearby (darn!). Moral of the story, always do your own research of a trip.

Dew Crew Retreat 2012

16th-18th Sep 2012
Dew Crew took a simple retreat this year… what else better than an eating trip. Once again, we went to Ipoh and stayed at the same place and of course ate a lot. We need to do something to justify this eating next year. Lol.

Other than eating, we did took lots of photos at Gunung Lang and Kellie's Castle.

Legoland Malaysia

6th-8th Sep 2012
There has been lots of hype about the opening of Asia's first Legoland here in Malaysia. When the opportunity came for a free entry, who would have refused? Somehow, it gave many people the idea that it was very much like a theme park. But like the name, it is Legoland.

The place was not entirely open to the public yet. There was still a few days to go and therefore some of the rides were not available during my visit. There wasn't as many rides as I expected. The whole place had Legos everywhere though. Pretty cool for Lego fans.

From that visit, I conclude (at the moment) the place is targeting at younger children (some of the boat and car rides are more for the age of 8 and below or people who admire the work of lego and just want to take lots of photos. My friends and I completed almost every activity available in less than half a day.

The water park will be ready in a few years. Looking forward to that.

My First Tattoo

I could still remember I wanted to get a tattoo and eyebrow piercing when I was in college and I asked Jee Ing to accompany me to Sungei Wang and a few other places to check it out. In the end, I didn't. Simply because I was too afraid I couldn't get a job after that. I could get a tattoo then but wasn't too sure what I would want on my body permanently.

So, here I am, more than 10 years later and I still want to get a tattoo! Haha. So I figured I will!

Called up an old friend who is a tattoo artist. Dropped by and got it done in 15 mins. The pain was wayyyyy over exaggerated. It is nothing compared to pimple extraction. I was told this could be addictive. I have a feeling so. ;-)

What is #stop114a?

What is #stop114a?

http://stop114a.wordpress.com/what-is-section-114a/

Dive Sipadan with SWV!

19th-23rd July 2012
Dive Mabul, Kapalai, Sipadan! My 5th Dive Trip
It is a 15 months of planning (and savings) for this trip to be possible.

Had been looking forward for this for so long. The ultimate dive site of Malaysia. We stayed on Sipadan Water Village on Mabul Island for this 5D4N trip.
It all started in the wee hour of the morning for the 7am flight. Here's how the journey to SWV is like for us.
50min taxi ride from PJ to LCCT
2 hours and 50mins flight from LCCT to Tawau
2 hours van ride from Tawau airport to Semporna Jetty.
1 hour boat ride from Semporna Jetty to SWV.

*whew* Glad SWV arranged decent transport for us. It was a real long journey. After our briefing and lunch, we checked into our rooms and got ready for our check out dive. Honestly, the traveling very much exhausted most of us but seriously, the sight of the place makes it so worth it. The water was so inviting!

It was a great dive experience with Dive Masters - Fauzy, Ramily and Niger. Saw so many firsts - Giant Mantis Prawn, Lion Fish, Sweet Lips, Ghost Pipe Fish, Cuttle Fish, Giant Frog Fish, Clown Trigger Fish (Robocop), School of Barracuda, Grey Shark, White Tip Shark, Black Tip Shark, Nurse Shark, School of Jack Fish, Red Fire Goby, Gigantic Grouper, Large Parrot Bumphead, Giant Moray Eel, Baby Spotted Sweet Lips and Mandarin Fish.

Probably the only thing that was disappointing was that we had to abandon Barracuda Point for our dawn dive.
The old film underwater cam (SeaLife Reefmaster RC SL515) wasn't great but at least I had some photos underwater.

One thing for sure, I'll be back!

Jacky Cheung 1/2 Century Tour

12th May 2012

I have always dream of attending Jacky Cheung's concerts. So watching him live is a dream come true. Think I sound like a fangirl… because I am.

Since I bought numbered seats, there is no need to rushed to Stadium Merdeka like my previous concerts. It was a magnificent sight. The stadium was absolutely packed. Don't think any other event would have such a crowd. Staring at the 3 large LED projection, I remember a tech supplier once mentioned Jacky Cheung's concerts rents the most equipment - 100 moving heads - this was at least 4 years ago.

At 8.30pm, the lights dimmed and the crowd roared, video playback started and the crowd went crazy (hey, no opening act!) Dancers with umbrella dancing and suddenly…YAY, Jacky appears on an elevated platform. As he tap dance, the visual of water splashes on the LED screen behind him was just timed perfectly. The video playback was a love story specially designed for his live concerts to communicate the message of his songs even better. The video stars Shu Qi.

After a few dance number, he headed to the swing with one of the dancer and they kinda flew. The swing was lifted up to the video projection of the moon behind. Very nice! Next, the screen suddenly seem to have disappeared and Jacky appeared on an upper level of another stage. After a few songs, the stage he was standing on started to tilt from 90 degrees to an angle he could just walked on to an elevated platform. Amazing! What come next made everyone realized in awe that as it flips over 180 degree, it is actually the same LED screen we saw in the beginning of the concert! Nice.

He wrote a song in dedication to Lydia Sum of her influence in his life. Dancers dressed in costume with mascot and large balloons were pretty cute. After all that, he toned down and came to a smaller lower stage to the audience and did a little Jazz session with his pianist and double bass. He was a little disappointed at the response of the crowd after the 1st song, well you don't expect everyone to know how to appreciate Jazz. Haha, but the crowd continued to encouraged him as his following Jazz songs were jazzed up version of his popular songs. It was pretty nice, as he puts it, he could see the faces of this sitting near him, and this is just something he enjoys doing. Normally he does only 1 song, but somehow one lead to another and yea, it was nice, gives a nice touch to familiar songs.

After that he returned to fast paced songs (he claims to have seen people yawning) that he…or he used to have danced very well before. Remember that he ended one song with a split and that really got the crowd screaming. I am little jealous that he can still perform a split at his age. Then there was a little chopper that appeared midway of the songs and it flew like the swing earlier. It was spectacular with fireworks and laser lights. Truly a great show. It was nice to hear him interact like how he wants us to remember his dancing because he wasn't sure when will he be back and if he could still dance that way. Throughout the concert, he repeatedly apologize for his performance in December 2011. Apparently he was unwell (during the 4 consecutive nights concerts) I am truly impressed by his spirit of excellence and the energy. At 11.30pm, he asked to confirm that the audience was not working the next day because he wanted to sing more songs….We ended around 12.10pm That was a solid 3 hours and 40 minutes concert with very short interval for costumer change. Salute this guy and his voice never fails to deliver each song perfectly.

Technically, I thought the band and Jacky sounded amazing. Great job sound engineers! I sat at the very extreme side of the stadium and everything just sounded great! Vocals and instruments was very crisp and clear. Video playback was done very well and middle and side screen video mixing was really good. Lighting effects was impressive as it changes from one scene to another.

Take a break - Langkawi

25th - 28th February 2012

Probably the most impromptu flight tickets I bought. Just 2 weeks before the trip. Needed to take a break before moving to a new department. Managed to drag Tee Hui with me.

It was fun just driving around Langkawi in our little rented Viva. Practically went around the island and tired ourselves! We visited the 7 Wells (Telaga Tujuh), cable car to Mount Mat Cincang, The Datai, Black Sand Beach and feasted in Kuah Town. It was a really hot during the day and rainy at night. We had nice walk on Cenang Beach and chilled at the Oasis Bar and Restaurant - where they served pretty decent juices. Enjoyed chilling at The Loaf in Perdana Quay too. We actually hung out there twice!

The last time I was in Langkawi was with my mum in 2000. Won a free ticket with accommodation then. This time, since we were paying, we went for a budget place - Casa Fina. Couldn't find my ideal beachfront. This accommodation is still rather new. Hope they continue to maintain the place well as I could see light stains here and there. It is very strategically located, just walking distance to Cenang beach and right across from the Underwater World with many shops and restaurants around.

It was a good 3.5 days. Wish it was longer.