Happy Birthday Elysees

Yesterday, my friend who owns a cafe downstairs had to organize a birthday bash for a 7 year old girl. She's half French and half one of the Sarawak natives.

There were 20 odd kids from l'école française some where nearby where I live.

I was surrounded by more that twenty 7 year old kids the whole afternoon. They had marshmallows, popcorn, candyfloss, face painting, and they even dance.

Seriously, these 7 year olds have been watching too much of MTV. They look so natural with music and all.

Most of them look very mixed. It's like a little gathering of the littles of the United Nation.

And the birthday present was... un velo / bicyclette, yes a bicycle!

Un moment mon cher, regardez moi, sourire svp!


Then...

VOILA!!!!

Goodness, my Lateness!

My office hour is 8.30 to 5.30.

For the past weeks I have been late everyday.

I know some of you out there have the same habit, or just have the privilege to be late.

One day I was speeding downhill near my office. I was late as usual but I was already about 500 meter from my office. I thought I was the only guy who was late. As i approached the traffic light Mr. D70s was zooming like a maniac.

I smsed Mr. D70s: You are bloody late boy!

He responded: And so are you XXXXXX

But I reached the office first :P



And today, I was late again.

Oh common, it's monday. Office should only start at 10.30 on Monday. We can come at ten, have a cuppa and talk about how great or shitty our weekends were. Its like the best antidote for monday blues.

Bumped into my friend who worked in the same building.

I am so late. My office hour starts at 8.30 and it's freaking 9

She went: Mine, starts at 8.15

I told you, I am NOT that bad. There are friends of mine who are later than me today.
Hey you out there.
Admit it!

OK, now I have to get off my seat. I have hundreds of acres of industrial land to sell....
*sigh*

no title

mengenali mu
satu keindahan

bergurau dengan mu
satu kebahagiaan

menyakiti hati mu
cuba ku elakkan

satu permintaan ku
agar perhubungan kita
kekal berpanjangan.

image:

bunga kerak nasi.

shot at pura tanjung sabtu.

it gives out a wonderful smell especially at night fills the fresh air of pura despite its tiny size.

pura veranda is felt with the smell, every night!

imagine!

Aisle seat 02

These were the views i had on the return journey.

I couldn't help it. I had to share it with someone when I saw the magnificent effects on the horizon. I actually broke my silence and asked my neighbour to have a peek.

He was fascinated too.

The sun was leaving us.
Our part of the world had turned to night.
On the other side, a beautiful day was just about to start.

My neighbour, later I found out, was actually a timber tawkey. A dato' of course, as addressed by the cabin crew. I complained about the industry exploiting our resources damaging our environment. He claimed that he did it systematically together with reforestation program. He admitted though with the reforestation program, only our next next generation will see the result.

The rate of exploitation is too fast.

We talked about a lot of things after that. Typical businessman, always careful when they talk about the government. Yet, he was quite blunt, relatively, expressing his dissatisfaction with the current political and economic situation. Yet, everybody has to kawtow lah.

What to do!

COFFEE, tea or me? (Revised, again!)

I was walking alone downtown Perth with my camera and tripod.

A guy (an Arab) stopped me and offered AUD20 to take his pic.

I took his pic and he was happy with the shot and offered AUD20.

I declined his offer. Instead, I took a stick of his cigarettes. After a couple of puffs it tasted very bitter. I chucked it.

I promised to email him the pic.

I didn't.

It happened in front of this cafe (which was already closed)

Stranger, in a strange land, met another stranger.

What a strange request, I thought!

OK. I was requested to post the pic of the guy.

I hope I won't get sued for this:

Know him?

(wtf-03) Nobody got fired? How come?

Putrajaya is falling apart

The high court is leaking

The Parliament House is leaking and some major electrical problems have been detected. The symbol that represents our democracy and constitution is wet and now could be on fire.

The big boss has not issued any statement except for he already “kering tekak”. If he, the number 1 man, cannot do anything until losing his voice, what can other people do?

And, with all these fuck-ups, miraculously not a single person has been fired.

Does accountability mean anything in this country?

Its depressing to watch Berita Perdana nowadays. I can gain more knowledge watching Animal Planet.

*Sigh*

Hay Street @ Night

St Georges Terrace

Quiet night along one of the main streets of Perth's CBD.

Hardly any car, and it was just after 10pm.

(WTF-02) - Why water proofing was NOT included?

Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu went up to the rooftop of the building yesterday, he found five to six spots that had leaks.

The august Parliament House has become the latest casualty of shoddy maintenance and defective structures, despite the Government pumping RM90mil to restore and renovate it several years ago.

The facelift gave it an impressive interior but the installation of water proofing equipment was NOT INCLUDED in the contract.

text credit: www.thestar.com.my
pix credit: www.orang-utans.com NOT www.parlimen.gov.my

Adelaide Terrace revisited - REVISED

Mr D70s,

exposure: 1/20 s at f/3.5
exposure mode: auto
exposure program: aperture priority
ISO spee ratings: 400
focal length: 18mm
focal length in 35mm film: 27mm
max aperture value: f/3.5
metering mode: spot
flash: did not fire
orientation: normal
exif color space: sRGB
custom rendered: normal process
white balance: auto
digital zoom ratio: 100%
scene capture type: standard
gain control: 1

bla bla bla bla

Boo Doo

TM works in Cyberjaya.

Like me, he’s also from the East Coast and we are lunch buddies, or rather, budubuddies.

TM the buduboy called:

Hey buduman, lets do budulunch in buduland

I responded:

Hey buduboy, since it’s a nice bududay, yeah, let’s have budulunch in buduland with our budubunch (my colleagues).




It’s a great buduworld.

Have a great bududay!

1,2&3

ONE


TWO


THREE

Pura Update

I was in Kuala Terengganu earlier today.

After lunch appointment, I went to Pura to check out the renovation progress.

Stopped by a hardware shop to check out some materials for the bathroom wall and the floor Ghrumoh Atah Tow (Rumah Atas Tol - one of the 9 houses). TITS likes terracotta with slates. I like terracotta for flooring too but prefer another really unique fine grooved rough marble materials (the shop owner didn’t know the name either!) which almost similar to those I saw in Bangkok, Bali and Jakarta hardscape. Slates are too common nowadays, I think. The materials I like are rustic but still give unique modern look.



I hope TITS reads this post and agree with me ;-)

We are not happy with its progress.

Every time I go to Pura I always promise myself to be there more regularly than I could so that a lot of things can be done faster but….. OK lah I will visit Pura again soon and try to convince the State to work faster. As at now, it is not quite presentable to visitors.



TITS also presented to me the drawing of a jetty to be built by the river at the edge of Pura estate. It looks good and gives a lot of value to Pura Tanjung Sabtu. Soon, guests can go to Bandor ( Kuala Terengganu town by boat- motor penambang). And that is very uniquely Terengganu. I am very happy with that.



I managed to catch a good nap after tea on the verandah of Ghrumoh Sunga Neghruh (Rumah Sungai Nerus - DZ’s favorite) with my shirt off enjoying the breezy quiet afternoon. I woke up almost maghrib when the dayang dayang prepared bekang kuoh ikang (bingka kuah ikan, I think!!!). Yummy!



The food at Pura is always good! Everything is prepared by the dayang dayang homemade, from a scratch.

As always, I was glad to be back at Pura and left the beautiful royal homestead with a heavy heart.

Promise will go there again, soon!


*written at Kuala Terengganu airport. Hot, humid and no wifi.

Colorful life....

I think you are going to hate me after reading this posting.

I met up with my friend earlier today and she / he told me that her / his life is colorful because her / his cousin made really unconventional decision in her / his (the cousin's) life. My friend thought her / his life is very colorful compared to people I know.

She / He was wrong!

I was at a government office later and bumped into an old acquaintance. She / He told me about her / his life recently. She / He just came back from abroad and did something very unconventional in her / his life, most of us would not believe it. My jaw dropped.

I called up my friend with supposedly colorful cousin and I told her / him that her / his life is not that colorful when I told her / him about the story of my acquaintance's life which far more colorful than her cousin's. She / He agreed.

I know this post means nothing to you out there except for the 2 people I met today.

I really wish I could tell such juicy facts of life because they are really-really great blog material.

Unfortunately I have to protect my friends interest.

In life, somethings should be kept untold.

Sorry!

:-P

Aisle seat 01

(WTF-01) Who did we vote to represent us?

On Wednesday, Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang had raised the matter of leaks at the entrance to the media centre in Parliament when backbenchers Datuk Mohd Said Yusof (BN-Jasin) and Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) said:

“Where is the leak? The member for Batu Gajah also leaks once a month.”


source: The Star 12 May 2007

pix: from Ulu Watu, Bali (Far far away from Dewan Parlimen)

KLIA revisited (for the gxillionth time!)

There are a lot of nice angles in KLIA.

I have not made a point to really take my time and shoot as I normally rush from ERL straight to the check in counter.

This cought my attention just before I boarded the aircraft.

This is how working life should be

I have clients form Australia. Been dealing with them for several years. They are very professional and easy going. I like to deal with them and to some extend, they are now my friends. We can hang out and have a couple of drinks, if not more and just chat. The best thing is we did NOT talk about DEALS or WORK outside the office.

Most people leave the office, latest 6pm. If you stay longer, people might think you are a recently landed immigrant.

I had the pleasure to have dinners and lunches with my clients and their colleagues. Nobody talked about work, or how to make more money or secure deals. We talked about holidays, history, politics, the government, budget etc etc, over glasses of local vintages.

It is very common for them to take like 6 weeks off, go to France, stay at a country house in an olive plantation or a lock house by the canal, drink wine, play tennis, rent a convertible and drive to Italy, stop by Cote d'Azur for a couple of days.......

And they are not even Managing Directors!

Seronok kan?

sms from Shanghai

I am now in Hooters Shanghai. "Hooters makes you happy". So true :-)

The new owner of D70s is gallivanting in Shanghai....

He'd better come back with nice pix of The Bund!

I am in trouble!

I have been eating like a pig (again!)

Business luncheons and dinners are no good! They come in big calories.

There's nothing much to do at night here. No night life except for weekends.

So I have been stuffing my face with heavy meals, snacking on their cookies (as big as roti canai) and tried varieties of Kit Kats.

Perhaps I should go out and take some night shots tonight.

I should hit the gym soon....

**pix credit: nestle

Movies on board

I seldom watch movie, unless my friends initiate a night out with dinner and all. It is so hard to get like 4 people to be available at one time.

Yesterday I watched 2 movies in one goal, on board and I love them both.

Happy Feet and Catch & Release.

**warner bros.

I laughed my head off watching Happy Feet. I guess that gave me good appetite to eat the airline food. (surprisingly not bad at all). KL recommended the movie before but I did not take it seriously as it is an animation, but the issues are very grown up.

**sony pictures

Catch & Release is an emotional roller coaster. In a way I can relate to the stories and the message behind the movie, well some parts of it at least. I had to take a deep breath and suppress my tears.... hehehe tak macho langsung!

Its a good movie about friendship too! How we cannot be too comfortable being too close to friends. We have to adapt to the progress and changes in life, regardless. Nothing in this world is permanent! Nothing!

If you are down, go and watch Happy Feet.

If you want to forget about your previous relationship, DO NOT watch Catch and Release.

I LOVE MY 50mm FACE!

Kiara

While waiting to have lunch in Taman Tun, I "accidently" went to the bike shop, my "Toys-R-Us". After browsing through the jerseys, I ended up buying a very nice pair. I have to say Leong of KSH (bike shop) can sell ice to eskimos.



I smsed Tiger Hill: I have got a new set of MTB jersey, we have to go to Kiara.

Met Tiger at Devi's at 8.30am. He was late not because he went out partying last night. He woke up at 6am and serviced the bike.

I suffered quite a bit at the beginning of the ride because my fitness level was relatively low due to lack of saddle time. But Tiger took me to new trails which surprisingly very very nice and not severly lung busting. For the first time during my ride in Kiara I did not really curse at the developers who have been raping the green lung. With the area left we can still design and build series of MTBing tracks.

Unfortunately I ended the ride with a pinched flat and rolled my bike home under the blazing sun, but I had a great time riding in Kiara today.

Will ride Kiara again, soon.

Aftermath - A massacre

No, it's not post algebra class activities.

It was a dinner at Fatty Crab (Taman Megah) and we ate like a pigs.

Naturally we ordered: steam crab, chilli crab, chicken wings and fried rice.

Too hungry to shoot as we were like predators attacking the crustacea and the result is this:

Artist's Statement

I was about to doze off while reading a used FOCUS - Fine Art Photography Magazine, Issue October 2006. Bought at Mont' Kiara night market for RM9.

Brilliant magazine.

Before I go to sleep I would like to share this quote by Fernando Pouche with my friends out there who are passionate about photography:

"If something is beautiful but I do not feel something special, then I do not photograph. Why make a photograph if it is not something special? I want to give people the chance to feel something special while looking at my images. How to achieve that if I am not myself moved when I look through my camera? This has caused me to photograph less each year.

Often, less is more."

Do visit: http://www.fernandopuche.net/

Ok, good night!

Fluke

Just because some drunken guys left a bunch of empty beer bottles on the spotlight that lit up the trees of the War Memorial in Kings Park, Perth, I ended up with such a great shot!

This was taken last year when I was walking around to get the best evening view of Perth skylines. A couple of days later I found out the best view was actually from across the river, Perth Yacht Club.

It can be a nice wallpaper for your desktop. You can arrange the icons around the bottles.

p/s please note:
I do not intend to promote beer drinking.
This image is just a nice work of photography.

Pura Tanjung Sabtu in TROPICAL STYLE

I am very proud of Pura, and TITS.

TITS informed me today that Pura is featured in the book Tropical Style, photographed by Jacob Termansen, a personal friend of his.

I called up Kinokuniya and they have a few copies at about RM99.00 each.

I already booked one for me.

Get it! You can offset it from your tax next year!

photo credit: http://www.clearlightphotography.com/

TIMES The Bookshop Warehouse Sale

Got this from KYap:

TIMES is extending the sale until the *6th
of May 2007 *(Sun) at the following details:

Time: 10am - 8pm

Contact: 014-227 3635

Venue: 2nd Floor, Dataran Hamodal, Block A, (behind Colgate), Jln Bersatu
13/4, Seksyen 13, 46200, PJ

Keramaian di Loteng@Jalan Bangkong

Again, great parties at the AtticKL@Bangsar.

The first party on Saturday nite, the celebrity bar tender was Dr. K, an eye surgeon. He was sharply dressed in white shirt like Tom Cruise in the movie Cocktails. I managed to get the first drink but the second one never arrived.


He was sweating while complaining the A/C was not working.

The A/C was working.

ATan: K is not used to so much attention!


K admitted to me: This is more difficult than an eye surgery!

A few nights later the celebrity bartender was a sleek looking airline pilot. He attended the bar like a pro. I was impressed. I guess that was easy compared to flying an Airbus A320.

The name of the cocktail that nite was In Bed with KC.

A naughty friend of mine commented: The cocktail is definitely better.