Chiang Mai trip post mortem - Day 2

Late night at the bazaar followed by an early morning the following day. About 7am to be exact. Headed down for some simple American style buffet breakfast.

Today was supposed to be a hot spring, going to the Golden Triangle and Myanmar border day, but was rescheduled to the following day to accommodate other guest in the tour. So our agriculture day was moved forward.....and i mean agriculture. You don't need to go the Taiwan for that....Thailand also can what...

First stop was the Orchid farm that houses some common orchids like these...


to some that are never seem before around here, at least i have not seem them....

to some wild orchids....


After learning about the flora, we then head on to learn more about the faunas

More about elephants to be exact....We came here to look at and get closer at these giants which is almost impossible in the wild, even back home

The other attraction here will be the elephant show where the elephants will parade around the ring, throw some darts, paint some pictures, give a massage, move some logs and kick some balls.


The proceed to get some close up with the elephants...

there goes my white pants....tainted with dust, sand, mud and god knows what. Still its a truly unforgettable experience.

After leaving the camp, we head on for more flora lessons at the botanical garden. However all we saw there were the glass houses, meant to create the optimum condition the the plants it housed. To fully enjoy the botanical garden, it would be a day trip. Other stuff missed here will be the jungle trek and biking. Heck we did not even went into all the glass houses as it was rather rushed.


and that has gotta be the biggest lily i have ever seen in my life so far...


Proceeded for lunch before visiting the some craft makers. It started of with the Thai silk making factory where silk threads are extracted from the cocoons of the worms before sewing them into clothing or other silk based stuff.

It started with the parent moth which can lay about 200 eggs.


Which hatched into these worms.


Which will become individual cocoons. White ones are the China-melanine tainted- silks (lol) and the yellow ones are the Thai silk.


Which will be boiled, with the larvae still inside....talk about cruelty.


Before becoming silk threads which look like meehoon.


We then proceed to the leather, jewel and silver making factories. ( don't know why but it is just part of every single tour i have been to). Before heading to the umbrella...ella...ella...making factory(?) Not as many pictures already as getting on and off the van is finally taking a toll.


This dude here is actually painting on cloth. For a small fee, he can also put those images on a shirt, cap, bag....well you get the picture...

Finally heading over for some birds nest before heading back to the hotel for some much much needed rest.

Come to think of it. Eating birds nest is like eating the home of a bird which is made of twigs, saliva, where the bird shits, eats and does everything there. And it is so expensive...

Dinner was supposed to be a river cruise, but it ended up like a dinner on a motor boat.


It was rather disappointing, the food that is. We were served, mixed veg which had an overdose of pepper, over fried and extremely oily spring rolls, sweet and sour fish which had like 3 or 4 pieces of fillets and tom yam which was neither sour nor spicy(i find the one at a nearby mamak way more spicy and sour) with soggy prawns.

Plus the cruise was about 2 hours and we can't like get off half way as well. The ang-mohs behind us seems to enjoy this 'cruise' very much thou.

After dinner, we headed back and had another round in the bazaar, to get stuff we did not get on the previous day. Heck, even some traders recognized us and offered a lower price for their wares compared to the ones give the previous day. We had this banana roti which was actually roti canai with banana and glazed with chocolate. And a lime orange tangerine juice to drain it down..

Thats it for day two....

to be continued

Chiang Mai trip post mortem - Day 1

Just returned home from some much needed holiday. Yea....as some might know ( and i mean some), i went to Chiang Mai, Thailand for a good part of the week, i left KL in the wee hours on Monday and returned on the evening of Thursday.

The flight took off at 8:50am, which means we need to check in by 7am, which also means i have to catch the 5:30am bus from KL Central which means i need to get up at around 4am. Thats what i mean by the wee hours of the day. Upon getting the boarding pass, theres still more than an hours wait, so we had our breakfast at a fly infested McD. Boarded the plane for a near 3 hour flight. Fortunately an ipod kept me occupied. Yea..pictures were taken in the 1st 30 minutes of the flight before we all eventually fell asleep. The seats on the AirAsia plane were so uncomfortable ( no complains as its cheap), some other passengers and myself included looked for a row of 3 unoccupied seats, raised the arm rest and just slept there.




Arrived at approx. 11am Thailand local time, met up with the tour guide before heading to the hotel for a quick lunch. We had dim sum and its not that fantastic. Its like every other dim sum that we can have here.

After eating, checked in to the hotel for some needed rest although its just for a short while. What i can say, is that the hotel is pretty decent, for a 2 star hotel. We stayed at Star Hotel where the Night Bazaar ( think Petaling street or Batu Feringgi) is just a block away.

Headed to Doi Suthep after the short short rest. I don't really know what Suthep means, but Doi means hill. Its actually a huge temple located up a hill, where to main tourist attraction there is the golden pagoda and we had to climb up a fair flight of stairs to get there. Fortunately its quite cooling up there.



Those above were images outside the temple complex. The ones inside the complex are as follows. The pagoda was under maintenance, thus we can see bamboo frames surrounding it, like what you would see at a contruction site. Some locals making a business there offered to take a picture of us, using photoshop to cut and crop; so we can have a picture with the pagoda as a backdrop without those bamboo frames. Needless to say it was pretty crappy and poorly done photoshop. Its really a cut and paste job. I felt i was being conned of my 100 Baht ( RM10)

See what i mean, pagoda under contruction.....




From somewhere so high up, we can get a panoramic view of Chiang Mai, unfortunately the camera was not that great so was unable to get a great picture of it. Bet the view would be breath taking if it was at night.

Well, this is something you don't see here...or at least i have not. Its actually a flower which actually looks like a fruit before it bloomed.

We then head to a shopping complex, to shop around and see what thay have in store there. What i can say is....the menu at KFC and McD are different. hahaha
Right in the middle of the mall there was thi huge-ass aquarium which seems to attract more people the some of the stores there. Even the ipod there are much cheaper. A 8gb nano will only cost you around RM500. i don't think we can get that price around here.


We took a local cab ( tuk tuk) which is actually more like a huge bike wtih more seats back to the hotel.

The only thing preventing you from falling of that thing is actually a metal bar which is lower that your waist once sitting down....obviously i was clinging on my life throughout the journey.

We headed back after that to the hotel and headed out for dinner at a local restaurant, Kantoke restaurant, where we had this......

Clockwise : braised pork, mix vegetables, fried fish, smashed up tomatoes, no idea what is this,
fried pig skin, fried chickend and cucumber in the middle. Not really authentic Thai meal. It is refillable and you can actually eat until u explode. Of course it went with rice and glutinous rice. Booze were rather cheap here as well where a Mai Tai ( some concoction of liquors in a pineapple) cost only 150Baht ( RM15). But the main thing here is the traditional Thai dances and performances up on stage during the meal.

After dinner, head back to the hotel to freshen up before heading out again the the Night Bazaar. Well this was on our own. Looked around, shopped for some stuff around. The stretch of the bazaar may be long, but the actually sell almost the same stuff. Nothing really fantastic here and im still craving for some actual Thai delicacies. AFter shopping till about midnight, we headed back for some much much needed sleep.


to be continued.....

Why the England language is hard to learn...

If you've learned to speak fluent English, you must be a genius!

Pursue at your leisure, English lovers. Reasons why the English language is so hard to learn:

1. The bandage was wound around the wound.
2. The farm was used to produce produce.
3. The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4. We must polish the Polish furniture.
5. He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7. Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8. A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10. I did not object to the object.
11. The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12. There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13. They were too close to the door to close it.
14. The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17. The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18. After a number of injections my jaw got number.
19. Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21. How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France (surprise!).

Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. Quicksand works slowly, boxing rings are square, and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write, but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?

If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth? One goose two geese, so one moose, two meese? Doesn't it seem crazy, that you can make amends but not one amend. If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? Is it an odd, or an end?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship?

Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out, and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

P.S. Why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "quick"?

from www.lol.com

iPhone Vs Brick

Got this from Melvin who got it from somewhere in the internet. Funny crap...apart from the 'article' about the iphone found on thebestpageintheuniverse.com

Fancy an iPhone?

Avenged Sevenfold

Melvin sent me a song from this band; Avenged Sevenfold, titled Dear God. Saying this song is good, so i just took la. Judging from the name of the band, i assumed its some ganas, loud, head-banging, screaming song. Boy.....was it wrong...

What i have to say about this song is....its a very sad song yet meaningful song. Its as though using a song to wish or pray for someone's well being while being far away...and also a good song to keep one occupied or feel better when a loved one is far away..

Here's a snippet....

"There's nothing here for me on this barren road
There's no one here while the city sleeps
And all the shops are closed
Can't help but think of the times I've had with you
Pictures and some memories will have to help me through, oh yeah

Dear God the only thing I ask of you is
To hold her when I'm not around,
When I'm much too far away
We all need the person who can be true to you
I left her when I found her
And now I wish I'd stayed
'Cause I'm lonely and I'm tired
I'm missing you again oh no
Once again"

Not actually the best feel good song around, the vocals are quite rough but through that, you can feel the raw emotion they are trying to instill into the song.

Listen to it here.......


Bet most have heard the song " Fall for you" by Secondhand Serenade. Don't you think its a great song to play or even sing for a loved one? The lyrics is just suitable for that moment....confirm the gal will fall for you (lol).

Ciao

Days that went pass, and a disturbing sight

As a foreword, the last few days or week has just been awesome....really.

For starters, heard of the show Mamma Mia! ?
Its a remake of an old musical, into a movie which is hugely surrounds the songs by Swedish group ABBA. I would say its an interesting movie to watch; however some might not like it as the characters sing more than they talk. Its a matter of.....preference. It'd be great if you are able to have movie buddies or companion who are eagerly interested in this show, to avoid the snoring and distracting other movie goers. Good company just makes a movie a whole lot better...don't you think? They might just change your perception towards this flick, for the better or worse. You really have to give it to the cast for giving their best shot, covering the ABBA songs, who did quite a good job...

On a side note, Amanda Seyfried who plays a Sophie...is hot....mamma mia!!


Yea, my birthday just passed and i got this as a gift....
sweet....a ( i think) new design. or color of the nike mercurial. The one which you can often see around either in bright orange or red.

Went out with a a bunch of friends ( waijing, henry, eunice and jeremy) for a little makan. Initially we opted for Chilis but it was packed, so we moved on the Italianies which was also packed. We thought we left our number there which they promised to call us back after 30 minutes for a place, which they didn't.....
We finally settled down at Alexis for some food as the place wasn't that packed. They serve fusion food and it was quite pricey. Taste wise, not too bad but i still prefer eating at Chilis. That day itself just drained down 1 or 2 days worth of training. I just like had Nandos for lunch too. But what the heck, we shouldn't waste or compromise good food. Plus the Tiramisu we had for desert was superb.

I have frequent this steamboat joint at Kepong, beside the Carrefour there. They apparently serve porridge steamboat which was actually quite good. The ingredients are fresh and the porridge's taste was just nice, not too plain, not too loaded with MSG. Price wise...quite reasonable actually. The one im talking about here is Happy City steamboat, which can be quite packed during weekends and public holidays.

Gary brought us there ,insisting it was good and all. We all agreed and would literally give anything to shut his mouth that night. He was like ' instructing' us how to eat at that place. He was like, " no, this doesnt go here" , " no you only eat this at the end". Imagine this, they serve us cha koi which was supposed to be eaten with the porridge. He practically prevented us from dipping the cha koi into the porridge to eat half way through and insisted is HAS to be left to the end. This followed by another trip on Saturday, to the same place with a bunch of friends. It was more like a bunch of friend's friends.

Then came 1st Oct, we, myself, henry , eunice and jeremy went there again. The place was packed and we had to wait or camp for a table. We finally got our table, after 5 minutes of staring at the patron saying " get lost if you are not eating anymore". hahaha
Then, we had to wait for 10 more minutes for the to come and clear the table and another 10 minutes for them to come and take our order. The staff there are either blur or ignorant as they do not respond to you calling them and they do not commune in any other language apart from mandarin. So eunice being the only one able to speak ' fluent' mandarin.....we let her do the ordering....it was priceless. hahahahahahaha

Food came, we cooked it and ate it....good food..think again. As i made my way to the bath room to wash my hands and back i saw something really.....disturbing. They have a kettle to keep the soup for the patrons to refill....ever wonder where they got the soup from?
As i make my way back to the table is saw one of the waiter, nicely using the cover of the steamboat 'wok', filtering away all the solid food stuff from the soup while pouring the soup into the kettle. God knows where the previous patron left the cover on; over the rusty and dusty top of the gas tank, maybe? At the beginning you will get fresh, 'clear' soup and as you refill, they will give you recycled soup. Great right?

Apart from that, we had beer too. I wonder how the move the bottle from the cooler over to our table. Once the cap was popped, the foam starts overflowing. We pointed that out to the waiter...guess what he did. He uses his HAND...yes HAND, after handling not so clean plates, raw food and maybe a dirty cloth to block the foam from flowing out and then wipe of the access along the neck of the bottle....as thou he is giving the bottle a hand job. -_-

Shocked at how unhygenic this place can be, we finished the beer, cleared the bill and left. I dont think i will be back at this place for a meal ever again. I rather opt for the according-to-some-people-not-so-nice-steamboat at Manjalara. At least their service is better and are more hygenic ( or at least i have not seen them doing what i saw the staff did at Happy City Restaurant).
One word descibes it....ewwww.

Updates here and there

StarWars: Force Unleashed.

Finally, after a long wait, an interesting game for the PSP.

Just got my hands on it and what i can say about is.....awesome. The gameplay is great and the enemy AI are not as predictable as some other games. The time line this game took is between Episode 3 and episode 4 of the StarWars movies; where you play as Darth Vader ( for 1 mission) and as his apprentise, on a mission to kill off the Emporer and wipe out the last of the Jedi Knights....or something like that. Great game nonetheless.


Dang it, my left wrist still hurts after what i would call a freak accident in a futsal game, close to a month ago. Won't it like heal already...damn.. From the initial pain, i'd assume it would just a muscle strain and nothing too serious. But a badminton game last week, a little swing of the racquet, the pain came back....dang. i can't even hold the racquet properly.....now, i'd suspect it could or might be a hairline fracture....damn...hopefully not and i'd home its the the tissues or muscles there are taking its own sweet time to heal up.

Few days back, i signed up for some sort of personal training with an instructor at the gym, hopefully to whip me into shape. Im getting tired way too fast and easily in games. 4 classes since, id say....so far so good....lol. Im now more energetic ( except during the mornings) and hopefully get fitter. Plus recently i frequent the swimming pool more often ( puasa month, public pools are not as packed).

Football season starts again ( although this is like 5 matches too late). After the EURO, the world of football is dominated by transfer talks, about there this guy is heading to and for how much...After all the hustle and bustle, it finally settled down and start kicking some balls.

Seriously, i dont know what to write about....

Ciao

Due for an update....

Its been like ages since ive been here.....

Its not that i don't have time....but merely lost interest and i don't have much to write about...

A summarized update since.....

Got a new car....
Car got stolen.....
Olympics came and went.....

• Michael Phelps became best Olympian to date....( 8 Gold medals, 7 world records)
• Usian Bolt showed the whole world what sprinting is all about.
• Lin Dan showed Chong Wei who's boss.
• Beckham came all the way from US to Beijing just to kick a ball.

Permatang Pauh by election.....and the stuff that happened before and after it....
Fuel went up to RM2.70/ litre and then drop to RM2.55/litre
Spain won EURO 2008.....
Manchester United lost to some vodka drinkers in the UEFA Super Cup.
BPL has kicked off....
Joker's "why so serious" seems to be catching on....as well as " THIS IS SPAAARTAAA!!!!"
.......

and some more i guess.......cant seem to dig more out...

Let see....how can i make use of this space..........

Perhaps i can have my say of picks for the Yahoo! Fantasy football thingy that i seem to get addicted to again.........

Thats all i guess....


p/s: the new Honda Jazz is sweet!!!!

Stan Lee

ever notice, the creator of Marvel comics, Stan Lee made cameo appearances on all Marvel related movies?
X-men, Spiderman , Fantastic 4, Hulk, Ironman?
Stan Lee fans would notice it but will most movie goes notice it?

This is Stan Lee by the way

Check it out yourself. He's the old looking dude with white hair and wears sunglasses in most of the scenes. Something like the one above.




By the way, I just came back from watching the Hulk. Pretty short in some what interesting. Nothing beats Ironman still. What sucks is that most of what shown in the trailers...are not in the theatrical release. I hear there is an extra 70 minute of deleted scene which will only be released on a blu-ray. It kinda sucked if you dont have a PS3 when its out....if u're a Hulk fan that is.
And no, the much anticipated Ironman vs Hulk thing, is not in the movie. It may be in the 70 minutes deleted scene thou. BTW, the dude who as talking to General Ross in the end was none other than Tony Stark aka Ironman...in case u didn't notice. and the 'we' meant there is most likely the Avengers. Coincidence? guess not...haha

and for those who did not notice or watch the after credits ending of Ironman, it was about Nick Fury talking to Tony Stark about the Avengers.

Did I spoil enough for those who did not watch? haha

Some belated run down on Euro

Its been awhile since i last posted. Being rather held back lately. Late nights watching 22 or more men belting it out on a field over a single ball. Some how or rather, it kinda sounded rather wrong. haha.

Short brief run down on Euro.

GroupA
Portugal went through as expected along with Turkey ( so not expected). They totally deserved their place in the next round after coming down from 2-0 to win 2-3 against the Czechs in the same time knocking them out. Switzerland's fate was sealed in the 2nd game losing to the Turks. They saved some pride by beating a weakened Portugal 2-0. So position in groups : Portugal, Turkey, Switzerland, Czech.

Group B
Dark horses Croatia proved their credentials by topping the group; matching expectations of many after beating England home and away in the qualifying rounds. Germany went along after 3 lackluster performances; beating Poland and Austria somewhat unconvincingly and losing to Croatia. Austria's fate should be sealed in the 2nd game but a 92nd minute penalty was awarded to them against Poland, enabling them to fight for another day. From what i see, Poland and Austria seems only to make up the numbers. Their performances aren't really the most convincing. Final standings : Croatia, Germany, Poland, Austria.

Group C
Group of death. Thats what u call a group which comprises of football heavy weights Holland, world cup finalist France, world champions Italy and a not too shabby Romania. Holland set the tournament on fire with 3-0 and 4-1 wins over Italy and France before overcoming Romania 2-0 with an understrength team. Romania really should have followed them through but Buffon saving Mutu's penalty in match against Italy meant they will have to overcome the Dutch in the final game. France showed much promise but failed to deliver. Their final game against the Azzurris was a do or die but they lost 2-0; knocking them out. Final standings : Holland, Italy, Romania, Greece.

Group D
Spain matched Hollands 3-0 win with a 4-1 win over Russia. David Villa sealing the tournaments 1st hattrick since Patrick Kluivert converted 4 against then Yugoslavia in Euro2000. Followed by 2-1 wins over Sweden and defending champions Greece saw them through. The final game between Sweden and Russia was a winner takes all game. Russia with returning striker Arshavin proved they are of a different class compared to the Swedes; winning 2-0 with Arshavin scoring one goal. Greece left Euro2008 without a point and with only 1 goal to show. Final standings: Spain, Russia, Sweden, Greece.

Qfinal 1: Portugal 2 Germany 3
Schweinsteiger return from suspension and outshone Ronaldo in this game. He scored 1 and set up 2 other goals for Klose and Ballack which btw are almost identical. Freekick, cross, head, goal. Same case as their last meeting in the world cup where Schweinsteiger score 2 goals, almost identical and almost from the same patch of grass on the field.

Qfinal2: Turkey 1 Croatia 1 ( pk Turkey 3 Croatia 1)
After Klasnic headed in the goal in the last minute of extra time. Everyone thought that the Croats will go through. But Semir Senturk had other ideas as he volleyed the equaliser with seconds to go on the clock, setting up a penalty shootout. Croat star Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic missed their kicks before Rustu saved the 4th penalty from Petric. With Turkey converting all their kicks, Petric needs to score just to keep Croatia in. With his effort saved, the 5th kick is not required as the Turks jumped onto Rustu congragulating him after saving the shot.

Qfinal3: Holland - Russia ( later)

Spain 4 Russia 1; Sweden 2 Greece 0

A great night of football as far as EURO 2008 is concerned

In short, Spain putting 4 past Russia in their opening game as they ran rampant to a 4-1 win. David Villa scoring the tournament's 1st hattrick and the first one since Patrick Kluivert puts 3 past then Yugoslavia in Euro 2000. Cesc Fabregas adding the fourth goal in injury time. No complains can be made when your team has to face arguably the most potent strike partnership in the tournament.

Spains front line. David Villa - Fernando Torres.

Sweden ease past defending champions Greece with 2 goals. The 2nd was scrappy as it was a goal line scramble but take nothing away from the 1st. Great linkup play between Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrik Larsson, setting up Zlatan for blast the ball into the top corner.

Thats it for now.. Portugal - Czech Republic later...

Netherlands 3 - Italy 0

Result of the tournament so far...Little would have expected Holland to beat Italy, the World Champions in the matter they did. Plus Italy have not lost to Holland in the past 30 years prior to this. The last reversal was the Holland last lifted the European Championship if i recalled.

Italy without captain Cannavaro had no answer as Holland storm on to a 3 -0 lead thank to Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Wesley Sneijder and Giovanni van Bronckhorst. !st goals was controversial as it was from an offside position but not arguments can be made on the 2nd and 3rd goals. Swift counterattack by the Dutch undone the Azzurri's defense like a hot knife through butter.

Yes this is meant to rub it in for those Italian fans who say that Italy will kick Holland back to holan..haha
Its the end of an era for Italian football. being out played in the Champions league and now the European championships.

I just noticed that Donadoni ( Italy's head coach) look very familiar to a person we know as Dr. House. Maybe its just me....well, see for yourselves.

Roberto Donadoni

Dr. House

EURO 2008

EURO 2008 kicked off yesterday. After a long 2 weeks of football-less experience ( after the UCL final), now football fanatics can enjoy a month long of football matches with this tournament underday in Switzerland and Austria. It started with host Switzerland losing to Czech. Tonight co-host Austria will most likely get same fate; losing to Croatia. But you'll never know.

This above is the official ball that will be getting the most attention during the game, either grabbed or kicked. Supposedly faster, swerves more, giving players better control and better grip for the goalies.

These are how the participating teams are grouped

Group A: Switzerland, Czech Republic, Portugal, Turkey
Group B: Austria, Germany, Poland, Croatia
Group C: Netherlands, Italy, France, Romania ( clearly the most interesting group)
Group D: Spain ,Sweden, Greece, Russia.

Only 2 teams from each group will advance to the knockout stage and that is where the games gets interesting. Extra times and penalty kicks; every team giving their all score more goals.

I personally think its Spain's year this time round. They do have the strongest team on paper and their style of play is really interesting, fast attacking football. Who would argue when u have the likes of Iker Casillas, Carlos Puyol, Sergio Ramos and Carlos Marchena manning the defence;
Cesc Fabregas, David Silva, Andres Iniesta, and Xavi bossing the midfield as well as Fernando Torres and David Villa up front. Not forgetting people like Xabi Alonso and Marcos Senna available.

But as we all know, they have disappointed from tournament to tournament. sigh. Same goes to Holland. Great team on paper, but can't seem to deliver on the field. IT really goes down to tactics and a huge chunk of luck.

Notable absentee in this tournament will be England. haha..
you will not be missed. Thats for not performing in qualifying and not getting the results against the teams that mattered.

Ciao

Petrol Hike..RM1.92 > RM2.70

The inevitable has happened. The much talk about reduced subsidy of petrol prices since last year, i think, has happened.

Gone are the days where we enjoy RM1.92 per liter of petrol as our beloved government decided to remove the subsidy, raising the price of petrol to RM2.70 per liter.

And there rumors that it may still go up as we approach August given the increase of crude oil prices around the world. It will not soon before long that we will need to pay market prices for petrol which is about RM3.20 per liter before tax. After taxing it, it should be touching the RM4 per liter line. Those are the stipulated 'market price' of petroleum around the world...so they say.

Obviously most of us do not take this without a pinch of salt as it greatly affects drivers especially those form the middle or lower class in terms of income. Not only its harder for us to fork out a certain amount of money just to get ourselves from one place to another, but it will greatly affect our life style.

I just calculated my own car petrol price. When it was at RM1.92 per liter, a full tank for my car will be around RM67-RM69, approximately 35litres. Now with that hike, i will be paying RM97 for a full tanks for petrol. its about at 40% increase. How can it not affect the lifestyle of people.
Prices are on a rise but our pays are not really keeping up with it, not the way we like it.

Some may argue, don't drive; take a public transport. I'd say screw that. Our public transport system are everything but efficient. Not to mention safety is neglected for commuters of public transportation. I remembered once waiting nearly 2 hours for a bus which then takes another hour plus just to get me home. 3 hours wasted for nothing? I dare say that the hike wont affect cause that much concern if and only if our public transport system is a lot more efficient. The way it is managed leads to the need of everyone owning a car of their own in order to get from place to place.

Now it seems driving here is not really the way to go. Road tax cause relatively high...for cars with higher cc, car duty is enormous, tolls are damn expensive and now a liter of petrol can almost buy u a plate of nasi lemak tambah telur dadar + ais kosong.

I kinda foresee inflation happening as an increase of petrol will definitely lead to increase of prices of stuff every where...namely food. Even the price of padi has increased by 100%. Soon long gone will be the days where we have Nasi Kandar Ayam for less than RM5 at our regular mamaks. If this goes on, it may be a lot cheaper eating fast food.

As i type this, people are now making their way into petrol stations trying to get the 'cheap' petrol that will be no more as off midnight today. Its kinda like a war field there. People trying to get into petrol kiosk queuing up to wait for their turn...its madness i tell u.
I cant imagine the situation in Taman Connaught now. The infamous night market is there today, already causing a congestion there. Now add the 2 petrol kiosk there and god knows the number of cars there...both getting to the pasar malam as well as trying to get the last drops of RM1.92 petrol.

Thanks to Earl aka. kukujiao.com for giving me the heads up at 4pm today and i filled up my tank at 5pm while the news have not reach many and petrol kiosk are still relatively empty. I can still take my time to clean my windscreen. Try doing that at 9pm. you might just get slaughtered.
haha

A short video from Earl and u know what i mean



Thats all for now..byebye RM1.92/l petrol.