apakejadkejadhar

Whitney Houston - 1963 - 2012

2012-02-12T07:46:00.000+08:00

Whitney had a slew of hit records. I dunno why, but when the news of her death was out yesterday, the first song that I wanted to listen to was from her My Love is Your Love album. Perhaps this album was out when I was at college and I had lots of time to listen to it. Anyhoo, I thot this is one of the coolest song of that came out late 90/ early 2000 when everyone's writing was all about girl power and angst against their ex, boyfriend etc. The first verse always had me in stiches. If you had the time, do check the video clip in youtube for this song. . It was the new Whitney then. Very uber badass I must say. Don't look up the remix/club version though, yucks.

Ms Houston, you are indeed an icon. So this is: It's Not Right But It's Okay (which she won Best Female R&B Vocal Performance at 2000 Grammys)

It's Not Right, But It's Okay

Friday night you and your boys went out to eat

Then they hung out,but you came home around three
If six of ya'll went out then four of you were really cheap
'Cause only two of you had dinner
I found your credit card receipt

It's not right but it's okay
I'm gonna make it anyway
Pack your bags up and leave
Don't you dare come running back to me
It's not right but it's okay
I'm gonna make it anyway
Close the door behind you
Leave your key
I'd rather be alone than unhappy

I'm packing bags so you can leave town for a week
The phone rings then you look at me (why'd you turn and look at me)
Said it was one of your friends
Down on 54th street boy
So why did 213 show up on your caller ID
I've been through all this before
So how could you think
That I would stand around and take some more
Things are gonna change
Cause I won't be a fool anymore
That's why you have to leave
So don't turn around to see my face
There's no more tears left here for you to see

Was it really worth you going out like that - tell me
See I'm moving on and I refuse to turn back
See all of this time I thought I had somebody down for Whitney
It turns out you were making a fool of me

It's not right but it's okay
I'm gonna make it anyway
Pack your bags up and leave
Don't you dare come running back to me
It's not right but it's okay
I'm gonna make it anyway
Close the door behind you
Leave your key
I'd rather be alone than unhappy

It's not right but it's okay - [It's not right - so okay baby]
I'm gonna make it anyway [I can pay my own rent]
Pack your bags up and leave [pay my liability - take care of my babies]
Don't you dare come running back to me
It's not right but it's okay
I'm gonna make it anyway [get up and leave]
Close the door behind you
Leave your key
I'd rather be alone than unhappy

It's not right but it's okay [I'm gonna be okay, I'm gonna be alright]
I'm gonna make it anyway [I'm gonna be okay, I'm gonna be alright]
Pack your bags up and leave [I'm gonna be okay, I'm gonna be alright]
Don't you dare come running back to me
It's not right but it's okay [I'm gonna be okay, I'm gonna be alright]
I'm gonna make it anyway [I'm gonna be okay, I'm gonna be alright]
Close the door behind you [I'm gonna be okay, I'm gonna be alright]
Leave your key
I'd rather be alone than unhappy [there's no more tears left here for you to see]

It's not right but it's okay
I'm gonna make it anyway
Pack your bags up and leave
Don't you dare come running back to me
It's not right but it's okay
I'm gonna make it anyway
Close the door behind you
Leave your key
I'd rather be alone than unhappy

It's not right but it's okay
I'm gonna make it anyway
Pack your bags up and leave
Don't you dare come running back to me
It's not right but it's okay
I'm gonna make it anyway
Close the door behind you
Leave your key
I'd rather be alone than unhappy

Bagaimana pun jua....

2012-01-29T23:34:00.002+08:00

AJL 26 - 2012

Opening

Act 1 - Ahvang Jamal with Alleycat's Senandung Semalam. Terpempan akak. Terpempan uols. Leather pants is totally forgiven. Guruh petir tu ada sedikit kureng. Tapi sebab suara dia best again all is forgiven. Kenapa la aku tak dapat ticket nak tengok kat Bukit Jalil sigh

Act 2 - Ahvang Awie pulak. Sepatah haram aku tak tahu lagu ni. Suka hati kau lah labu. Rambut kau tetao ganguan perasaan. Dah hujan pulak sekarang. Hebat pyro ke lampu ke apa benda ni. Company mana buat ni agaknya.Boleh la hire kalau nak buat birthday party sendiri lepas ni theme filem Jodie Foster & Bill Paxton - Twister.

Act 3 - Akak Sheila yang nampak kurus. Damn. Menyanyi lagu cari makan sejak 20 tahun. Err.... boleh tak panggil Ahvang Jamal lagi sekali. Dancers as usual nyemak aje.

Maka keluarlah MC berdua. (Please lah berdua aje) Baju yg gegirl cantik. Yg boboi pakai tie ke tuala kesat pinggan kat dapur tu? Mintak mahap saya tak paham sangat konsepnya. Err butang kat kot pun macam terlebih je. Right skang cue explanation about the night's theme - Air. Aku dengar macam white noise aje... the conclusion that I got? Saya nak buang AIR mendengarnya, sambil mengalirkan AIR mata?

1. Wanita Seluruh Dunia - Projek Pistol:

Hello ahvang2 on the trumpet, trombone and saxophone. Rambut Edrie tetap terbaik (masih tak tahu saloon mana dia pergi). Arrangement and the vocal surprisingly sedap. Cool idea adding in the brass section. Good job! If the lyrics have more depth, perhaps the song will have more substance and might stand a chance to win something tonight.

MC - bla bla bla bla bla deblab lalala yada yada yoya yoya ....Pistol Air. Main tembak-tembak Tah amenda.

2. Sedetik Lebih - Edry Halim/ Jac

Ok nothing beats Ah Vang Nuar I suppose. OK focus. Baju Jac cantik. Sweet color. Dia memang sentiasa pandai pilih what looks good on her. Anyhoo, I thot her voice was too edgy for the song. SO feeling to ada lari sket. Nevertheless, I think she did a very good job considering ni bukan lagu dia kan.

MC - bla bla bla super sub yada yada yada.. penyanyi yang digantikan. You are touching me. Nonsense.

3. Kekanda Adinda - Monoloque/ Atilia:

Ada makcik joget lambak...opps tu penyanyinya. Ok this is too busy. Semua benda nak letak. Nak main guitar tapi pakai kain pelikat. Nak letak angklong tapi ada drummer boy dari sekolah mana ni. This reminds me of the yearly inter school koir and band competition. Cuma aku tak nampak orang pegang recorder dengan castanette aje. Serious macam kelas muzik genderang sekolah rendah. I'm not progressive? Thank god. Next!

MC - pot pet pot pet pot pet.. Depa ni kena kejar train ke apa. Asyik tersyasyul aje.

4. Gadis Semasa - Yuna:

Aku memang tak tau lagu ni. So the first 5 minutes tu macam ... apakah ini? Nak nyanyi ke tak ni? Hmmm.. I can't decide whether I'm liking or dissing this song. There are parts of the vocal that shows some potential and exude coolness. What I can decide though.. is that I'm convinced that I am distrubed and keep on thinking how does one talk to the person sitting next to them with the head gear? Hoodie? On their head... hmmm. Eh dah habis pun lagunya. Good. But what the heck do I know. Suppose if Pharell Williams is producing your song, you must have some fierce music chops.

5. Kalau Berpacaran - Sohaimi Mior Hassan, Altimet & Ana Rafali:

Alamak, ada kedai-kedai kopi pulak. Ok jangan tengok gegirl nyanyi. Gediks la pulak (I guess the song calls for it). Dengar aje. Ok setan naik motor ye. I think this song is nice. They do not need the actors and the surrounding scene. But I thot Ana Rafali sitting amongst the dancers at the table, cool jugak. Tak perasan pun dia.

MC - tepuk amai-amai...belalang kupu-kupu.. tepuk biar ramai.... zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Oh they were talking about something else? Sounds the same aje.

6. Cinta Muka Buku - Najwa Latif/ Ika Latif:

The video clips of all of the youtube cover version was a good idea. The couple berlakon-berlakon dating not a good idea. The chelo (errr.. tapi tak sedap) not a good idea. Pink is sweet, the dress is not. But against all odds, 16 year old performing for the first time at AJL, I still salute you. There maybe some jitters, but she still hold her own court. A for effort.

Anugerah Juara Mobile - err ye la buat la apa-apa yang patut.

7. Karma - Faizal Tahir:

Standy for over dramatize and flair. Err.... boleh tak terbosan kejap? Hmm esok rasa macam nak pakai suit kaler purple la pergi keje. Macam Barney? All I can say.. the scarf is nice. Hmm why is there no goreng pisang when I need one? Ohhhhh ada kacang pagoda.......BRB.

MC - ada kebakaran? Piano terbakar. Wow.. tak berminatnya.

8. Kisah Hati - Alyah:

Charlie Chaplin? Music Box? Not bad... kudos for idea (the music box..not the charlie impersonator). Tapinya...Tangan tak penat ke? Tak pening ke? I thot the stage looks nice. And her vocal and music sounds good. Baju pun cantik. One thing that I like about this performance is that, dia kuar sorang-sorang aje. OH damnnnnnn spoke too soon. Tu dia Hero Malaya Ah Vang Remi la pulak...sighhhhhhhhh

9. Sungai Lui - Aizat:

Ok bunyi akuarium sape pulak ni. Kenapa dia pakai seluar hijau? Errr... ada sand art pulak. Nice! Tapi if win best performance, mamat sand art ni la patut dapat duit. Hehehe As I said before the song is a great song. But there are better songs out there. So All the Best Aizat.

Australia Open break sat... alaaaa tak sukanya this si Joko menang. Sian Nadal.

10. Penakut - Yuna:

Selamat datang ke pameran lampu over stock dari China. Seriously? Seriously? Bila aku dengar.. ini tidak adil ... ini tidak adil, rasa macam pening plak. At least the arrangement is better than her first song I think. Whatever la.

MC - Sape buat rambut gegirl ni? Le buroks.

11. Awan Nano - M Nasir/ Hafiz:

Silence please! Herman Tino memang terbaek. Best opening. Oh pakai t-shirt kodi dengan track bottom je. Cayalah. The vocals was superb. But I don't really feel the arrangements 3/4 of the song tapi ok la. Ok aku memang kata Herman Tino kena datang. But I would've choregorafed it differently. Aku rasa Hafiz aje yang nyanyi with feel. This one deserve best vocal, best performance and best song. Ambik kau!

12. Seribu Sesalan - Ning, Jac, Shila Amzah:

Standby, semua nak tunjuk vocal chops masing-masing. Err apsal sorang lagi pakai kaler lain? Awwww... I think the night already peaked with Hafiz. So whatever left is not relevant dah. But still this is a good song. And the 3 ladies did a good job indeed. Ok the forums are buzzing about people's ass. Hahah tak senonoh!

Closing:

Tribute to Sudirman by Black, Azlan & Hazama. Soalan, sekarang ni seluar kaler hijau is in ye? Ok, seluar hijau, scarf purple tadi, julian lenon glasses..oh ott hoodie. Right.Hmmm

The music arrangements by Ramli MS, tak perlu dipersoalkan la. I thot it's unique. Tapi yang tengah terkinja-kinja atas stage ni apa ke halnya? CHow Kit Road.. Chow Kit Road.. my fav masa kecik-kecik. Hehehe. Actually terasa macam disconnected pulak. Apasal audience ni refer liriks? Takkan tak tau lagu ni? Mana kacang tadi...BRB.

The AWARD goes to

Best Performance - Alyah (Kisah Hati) - Nice!
Best Vocal - Hafiz (Awan Nano) - Yeayyyyyyy! Alamak tak tukar baju ke?

3rd Place - Karma - Faizal Tahir & Audi Mok

2nd Place - Beribu Sesalan - 3 Suara. OK please be graceful people. Tergolek sudah...

Best Song - Awan Nano - M Nasir/ Budi Hikayat/ Hafiz - Yezaaaaaaaa. Hahahahah M Nasir's speech memang best. And I think a big credit goes to Budi sebab aku rasa lirik lagu ni memang best.

T-shirt, track bot and Herman Tino Rawksssssss!

Congratulations! And Good Nite!

Whoa..

2012-01-28T22:00:00.000+08:00

Punyalah busy, I almost forgot. Tomorrow is AJL 26. Sheila Majid will be performing the opening act. Yippeeeeeeee

Let's take a close look at the finalist:

1. Kalau Berpacaran oleh Shohaimi Mior Hassan/Ana Raffali/Altimet (Shohaimi Mior Hassan Shohaimi Mior Hassan / Ana Raffali / Altimet) --> A good song to start the night with

2. Karma oleh Faizal Tahir (Audi Mok/Faizal Tahir/Audi Mok/Faizal Tahir) --> Tak tau lagu ni

3. Penakut oleh Yuna (Yuna/Yuna) ---> Ini agak bosan, ini agak bosan.. eh lirik dia ini tidak adil, ini tidak adil..heheh opps.

4. Sedetik Lebih oleh Anuar Zain (Edry Abd Halim/Edry Abd Halim) ---> Aha, might win. Wish Ah Vang Nuar would sing this himself

5. Gadis Semasa oleh Yuna (Yuna/Yuna) ---> Tak tau lagu ni

6. Awan Nano oleh Hafiz (M.Nasir/Budi Hekayat) ---> My pick for Best Song! I lobes this song!

7. Cinta Muka Buku oleh Najwa Latif (Najwa Latif/Ika Latif) ----> Cakap la apa pun, sebab budak ni dari Batu Pahat, aku cakap lagu ni best. A 16 year old to write, perform and sing, market and brand herself out on the net deserves nothing more but total respect!

8. Beribu Sesalan oleh Ning Baizura/Jaclyn Victor/Shila Amzah (Kevin Chin/Tinta) ---> Aha, might also win. Also look out for adegan sabung menyabung suara. Might turn out beautiful.. or ugly :p

9. Kekanda Adinda oleh Atilia & Monoloque (Monoloque/Monoloque) ---> Annoying.

10. Wanita Seluruh Dunia oleh Projek Pistol (Boy Clifford/Boy Clifford) ---> Close 2nd Annoying

11. Sungai Lui oleh Aizat (Aizat/Anas, Aizat/Anas) ---> Lagu ni sedap, sayangnya there are stronger song out there.

12. Kisah Hati oleh Alyah (Manusia Putih/Manusia Putih) ---> Lagu ni pun boleh la. But don't think it can win.

So kita tengok esok, will I be singing a different tune, ke out of tune langsung with my prediction ni. Akhirkata, Awan Nano and Herman Tino rules!

Everytime You Go Away

2012-01-28T05:46:00.004+08:00

Last week, me & my colleague discovered that some verses in this song indirectly represents exactly what we felt forthis particular bi-weekly meeting that everyone dreaded. Memang lawak. Either way it's a great song. I like the version in Rebound. How cute is that guy singing it at bedtime ;)

Everytime You Go Away - Hall&Oates, Paul Young and tah sape lagi

Hey
if we can't solve any problems
and why do we lose so many tears?

Oh
so you go again when the leading man appears.
Always the same theme
can't you see
We've got ev'rything going on and on and on.
Ev'ry time you go away you take a piece of me with you.
Ev'ry time you go away you take a piece of me with you.

Go on and go free
maybe you're too close to see.
I can feel your body move
does it mean that much to me.
I can't go on singing the same theme'cause can't you see
We've got ev'rything
baby
even though you know:
Ev'ry time you go away you take a piece of me with you.
Ev'ry time you go away you take a piece of me with you.

Can't go on singing the same theme'cause baby
can't you see
We've got ev'rything going on and on and on.Ev'ry time you go away you take a piece of me with you.
Ev'ry time you go away you take a piece of me with you.
Ev'ry time you go away you take a piece of me with you.
Ev'ry time
ev'ry time you go away - but I don't care -
You take a piece of me with you. Ev'ry time you go away -
Ev'ry time you go away - don't leave me all alone

And breakin' up a piece of me. Ey'ry time you go away.

You Can Do It!

2012-01-22T15:19:00.000+08:00

I dedicate this song to the Australia Open 4th Round match between Li Na and Kim Clijsters. Exciting match, true fighting sprit from both ladies. Kim won even when she had to strap down her ankle. With a set down, she managed to claw her way back in the 2nd set, winning a tie breaker though she was 4 points behind. Let this be an inspiration for 2012.

Lobes you, Kim!

Keep Your Head Up - Andy Grammer

I've been waiting on the sunset

Bills on my mindset
I can get deny theyre getting high
Higher than my income
My income's breadcrumbs
I've been trying to survive

The glow that the sun gives
Right around sunset
Helps me realize
This is just a journey
Drop your worries
You are gonna turn out fine
Oh, you'll turn out fine
Fine, oh, you'll turn out fine

But you gotta keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh
You gotta keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh

I know it's hard, know its hard,
To remember sometimes,
But you gotta keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh.

I've got my hands in my pockets,
Kickin these rocks
Its kinda hard to watch this life go by.
I'm buyin in the skeptics,
Skeptics mess with, the confidence in my eyes

I'm seeing all the angles, starts to get tangled
I start to comprimise
My life and the purpose
Is it all worth it,
Am I gonna turn out fine?
Oh, you'll turn out fine

Fine, oh, you'll turn out fine

But you gotta keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh
You gotta keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh

I know it's hard, know its hard,
To remember sometimes,
But you gotta keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh.

Only rainbows after rain
The sun will always come again.
Its a circle, circling,
Around again, it comes around again

Only rainbows after rain
The sun will always come again
Its a circle, circling,
Around again, it comes around,

But you gotta keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh
You gotta keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh

I know it's hard, know its hard
To remember sometimes,
But you gotta keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh

Keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh.
Keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down, eh.
Keep your head up, oh,
And you can let your hair down

1st Concert for 2012

2012-01-14T22:28:00.001+08:00

Yes, it's Awie & Ella... at Istana Budaya no less.

There are 6 shows, and we chose the one in the afternoon. Macam tak kuasa nak keluar malam-malam and nak cari parking kat Istana Budaya tu kan. It's not that it does not have enough parking, it's just that there's no parking at all! Apakah all cultured people (kononnya) nak watch arts-whatnot-kesenian, naik helikopter nak pergi sana? Or naik bas atau kayuh basikal mungkin? Apakah.

Ahh who cares...

We only care about the show! And what a show it was. 2 hours non stop of songs upon songs. Awie and Ella playing tag entertaining the audience. No intermission. Bak kata Awie pun, boleh kena buasir! For the first time for a long time, I didn't even record any songs on my phone, sebab nak concentrate punya pasal. Dah la sekarang ni acik-acik kat Istana Budaya dah pakai laser beam power zass. Siapa-siapa yang nak capture picture or record anything kena la pancaran laser.

The concert is suppose to start at 3. Tapi biasa la, pukul 3 tak penuh pun lagi. Memang tak paham bahasa. I suppose half of them got free tickets, so suka hati la nak datang pukul berapakan. Macam open house gitu. The show start at 3.10pm. Nasib baik... kalau tak dah nak terlelap dah. Ada jugak orang yang masuk dekat 4.30pm. Salah print apa ticket? Tergangu aku nak feeling-feeling.

Awie and Ella was not disappointing at all. Very impressive energy and vocal performance, though they already had 2 shows before. I suppose back then, to make it, you must really, really have the chops. Suara depa memang maintain! Speaking of maintain, Ella tersangat la slim! 45 years old looking fine..Damn!

My favorite song? From Awie... most probably Tragedi Oktober. Oh of course, Iris! Then from Ella, (since she didn't sing 'menyonsong matahari' aku), perhaps Sembilu... it's because she got down and run around the crowd. That got everyone in shrieking frenzy. I also love Pengemis Cinta arranagements. And the closing ... I lobes Gemilang and Terima Kasih. Seronok dapat jerit2 macam orang gila. I just wish that Ella sang Permata Biru instead of Awie.

Akhirkata, boleh tak saya nak tahu saloon mana Edrie, Ella and Awie pergi? Edrie dengan Ella... sebab rambut is to die for! Gila cantik ok. Err... Awie.. supaya aku tak pergi kedai tu :P ..heyy but I'm still a fan!

Dengar kata lepas ni Anuar and Ziana pulak. Dah perform kat Espalande, Singapore... takkan tak nak perform kat Istana Budaya ;)

Better Things

2012-01-07T20:05:00.000+08:00

It's already a week into 2012. Still feeling uninspired. Instead of writing up that resume or getting on that cross trainer, I'm browsing thru the net, looking for a pick-me-upper song. Here's some that I like:

1. Maybe This Time (from Carbaret) - performed by Kristin Chenowith
2. Home Sweet Home - Motley Crue (but do check the one with Sponge Bob on YouTube! hahah)
3. Stop Crying Your Hear Out - Oasis
4. Time of My Life (from Dirty Dancing, Patrick Swayze can't get any cuter!) - Bille Medley and Jeniffer Warnes
5. Call It What You Want - Foster the People
6. Tonight Tonight - Hot Chelle Rae (La La La Whatever!)
7. Smile - Charlie Chaplin

My favorite is this one from the Kinks - Better Things

Here's wishing you the bluest sky,
And hoping something better comes tomorrow.
Hoping all the verses rhyme,
And the very best of choruses to
Follow all the doubt and sadness.
I know that better things are on the way.

Here's hoping all the days ahead
Won't be as bitter as the ones behind you.
Be an optimist instead,
And somehow happiness will find you.
Forget what happened yesterday,
I know that better things are on the way.

It's really good to see you rocking out
And having fun,
Living like you just begun.
Accept your life and what it brings.
I hope tomorrow you'll find better things.
I know tomorrow you'll find better things.

Here's wishing you the bluest sky,
And hoping something better comes tomorrow.
Hoping all the verses rhyme,
And the very best of choruses to
Follow all the drudge and sadness.
I know that better things are on the way.

I know you've got a lot of good things happening up ahead.
The past is gone it's all been said.
So here's to what the future brings,
I know tomorrow you'll find better things.
I know tomorrow you'll find better things.

Here's to better things in 2012. Aminnn.

And for goodness sake, please let it be Barney and Robin's wedding!

Amsterdam - 25th March 2011

2011-12-31T23:55:00.000+08:00

I'm sure you have watch one of those funny Mr Bean episode where he's doing something completely innocent and then he gets into a spot of bother that turns into a full blown madness, ended up with him naked somewhere in a ditch? Hold your horses, this story will turn out to be one of those episodes. By far this is the best Klutz Cop story there is yet.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We woke up at 5 am in order to catch our train to Amsterdam if not mistaken around 6.00 am. The streets were deserted but there's a few cars passing by. We just walked to Gare du Nord from our hotel. Dah sampai, sempat pulak posing dengan train dulu. Sempat jugak pergi kareb sementara tunggu train.

Gare du Nord heading to Amsterdam

We only had a email copy of the ticket. The bar code looks macam tak lepas je. So we asked at the ticket counter and the clerk said that it's perfectly acceptable. So we head to towards our coach which of course had to be at the very end.

And that's when the adventure begin.

We were suddenly stopped by two plain clothes lady police! WTF! But since we were not doing anything wrong, we were calm. We answered their question and showed them our tickets and passport. They went thru our stuff and finally let us go. Tah kenapa la dalam ramai-ramai orang, kitaorang yang kena check. Macam penjarah ke muka kitaorang ni. Actually we were stopped again at the Paris airport on our way home. Banyak la jugak soal. Dah la aku tengok police tu lagi macam gelabah sebab kena cakap English dengan kitaorang and our English seems more fluent than them. Anyway, we didn't give it a second thot and went on to locate our coach and seat. Again before we enter the train, we show it to the officer by the door, one glance at the printed email, he showed us to our seat.

Please note, at least there's already 5 people looking at the printed email ticket including us.

So all settled. I'm so happy to be on the train again. The Thalys seems more comfortable than the Eurostar that we took from London to Paris a few days before. Suddenly a guy approach us and saying that we got his seat. Puzzled, we showed him our ticket and true enough, we are in the correct seat. So the guy just didn't make a fuss and went to look for another seat. I notice that everyone seems polite and don't mind changing seats. Kalau kat Malaysia, mau dah terkeluar anak tekak bergaduh.

Finally the train made its way out of the station and it is on! Sebelum trip ni, macam-macam la aku berangan nak buat kat Amsterdam. Memang semua tu evil thots la kan. Hehehe. The ride is about 2-3 hours. With some stops at Brussels, Antwerp and Rotterdam. Kitaorang pun apa lagi, zzzz.

An hour in the ride, the conductor start to check tickets. When she get to us, she had trouble scanning the bar code in our email. She apologizes because there seems a little problem with the system. So kitaorang pun sambung zzzz lagi. Half an hour later she came back to us. There's a problem. Your ticket is on the wrong date. It's for yesterday. YESTERDAY?

OMG! Apakah yang telah kulakukan? Semalam aku sedang berpelesaran di Eiffel Tower. We quickly read the email again. Indeed it the ticket was for yesterday. Aku rasa muka aku masa tu dah cuak campur takut campur rasa nak mati semua la ada. I can hear my heart beating in my ear! The lady conductor bless her heart, assured us that not to worry. "I can see how you might have made the mistake. You bought the ticket on 25th of Jan. You think that the ticket is for 25th and not 24th". She told us, that we can stay on till we reach Amsterdam. But we need to sort out of return tickets. I can't thank her enough.

Darn it! Dah la train ni nak stop banyak lagi tempat ni. The seat might have been reserved by someone else. What else can we do but to feign sleep for the next 2 hours. Adooi... terseksanya la. Tutup aje mata. Aku dengar commotion around us. Agaknya ada orang bising kitaorang ambik seat depa. Tapi memang kitaorang buat bodo je la. That was the longest 2 hours of my ride. Kalau dari London ke Paris ambik gambar sampai seribu. Ni takde satu pun gambar aku ambik. Takut punya pasal!

Nak jadi lagi cerita lawak, train tu pun kena detour sebab ada train lain pulak yang rosak on the track up ahead. Shit happens in multiple kan. We are still counting sighhh.

Finally we made it to Amsterdam with heavy heart. On the platform, we met the nice lady again. She told us not to worry. Maybe you can talk to the station master to explain your problem. Siap cakap have a nice day lagi tu. Semoga dia murah rezeki. Kalau dia evil, kena pulak aku turun tah kat tengah ladang lembu siapa kat Belgium ke tadi. Pengsan!

So now semua evil plan is put on hold. We need to sort out our return ticket. Sighhh. I know this is gonna cost. Goodby cheap ticket. We get to the ticket office and got a number and waited for our turn. Sekali tu, nak jadi cerita burung bayan.... tetiba ada pulak police officer datang ronda-ronda kat situ. He saw a single briefcase that was unattanded befhind a pillar not far from where we were seating. He was asking around who's bag is that. Takde siapa mengaku. I have a bad feeling about this.

5 minutes after that, he came back with a police tape and a few of his friends. And to my dismay, he open his mouth and said "Everybody out! Out!" Shit ada suspected bomb pulak. Celaka la siapa punya bag tu. But thinking again, if the police start to ask around, kitaorang la in deep shit. Looking at our ticket, we shouldn't be here today. Kitaorang pun cepat-cepat cabut. Jangan toleh belakan!

Damn it Malik! Memang la stress tapi bila dah ada bomb scare pulak aku rasa mcm sangat ridiculous... aku pun tergelak. Goodness, what else will this day bring. Kakak aku dok membebel, ha tu la kau ... ha tu la kau tu la kau. Adoiii...To calm us down, we went out from the Central Station and into a cafe by the cannal. Minum hot chocolate and chill kejap. After an hour, we try our luck and seems that the ticket office is open again. Well suffice to say we had to purchase a new ticket and it cost a bomb. But after a day that we had so far, I'm not arguing about money.

By the time we buy our day pass, dah penat dah. Takde mood pun nak buat apa. But since we are there, we try to cover what we can. I find Amsterdam noisy and smelly and haphazard. Bila nak cross jalan, you have to watch out for bikes, trams and dogs. Perhaps sebab dah ada blunder ticket tu jadi tak seronok. Hahahaha

We went out the cannal tour ride, Rijkmusuem, Van Gogh museum, Red Light district (hahaha), take picture at Iamsterdam. And yes, we did find Hard Rock Cafe and buy loads of t-shirts. And yes, we did ride the tram. We even tried the herring. OMG tak sedap! If given chance we would want to check out Kuekenhof, to see tulip in bloom, but there's not enough time. We didn't visit Anne Frank's house as there's a long queue. You could take in Amsterdam in a day. Dari pagi sampai petang boleh la habis. But if you want to go to Kuekenhof, that will be another day I guess.

Here's some of the pictures

Centraal Station Amsterdam

The famous canal

Mari beli t-shirt lagi

I amsterdam with Rijkmuseum in the background

Van Gogh Museum. Beli poster yang tak gantung lagi

'Coffeshop' near Red Light District. Tak berani pulak nak masuk.

Tried a bite of fresh herring. Fav snack of Amsterdam. Rasa nak pengsan ok.

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With that, I end my 2011 entries. May 2012 bring new adventure that will take me to new (hopefully far and exotic) places. And hopefully no more encounter of the Klutz Cop kind.

Happy New Year!

Getting Crabby

2011-12-25T11:22:00.000+08:00

We always wanted to eat Chilli Crab in Singapore. Tah berapa kali pergi asyik tak sempat aje. So this time around, dah siap-siap google nak cari Chilli Crab yang halal. Surf punya surf, a lot of people recomended this place, along Changi Road name Kampung Chai Chee Restaurant . Check out their website

Walaupun aku tetiba telah demam and had breakouts all over the body. The symptoms were all pointing to measles. Gosh bila yang aku pergi Singapore tak sakit. And we also had to ditch the idea of going to USS. This happen masa pergi tengok Belinda Carlisle and gang. Alhamdullilah diberikan jugak kekuatan and rezeki and dapatlah merasa chilli crab ni. Kitaorang naik cab aje pergi. Bagi address kat cab driver. Habis cerita.

Chilli Crab cecah dengan fried bun. Sedap gila bun tu!

Closer look

Nasi goreng kampung yang masih terkenang sampai hari ini

Memang sedap and price is reasonable. Tapi if nak belanja orang kat sini accept cash aje. So if rasanya nak melantak tak ingat dunia, bawak la duit banyak-banyak ye. Will definitely come back next time.

Jogja - 19 to 22 Oct 2011 - Part 3

2011-12-24T17:47:00.000+08:00

Nothing is plan for today accept to visit the Kraton. And also what is this place call Taman Sari. Everyone was talking about it. Tu la sebelum pergi tak google dulu semua benda ni. We had breakfast at the hotel which had a pretty decent spread. My friend was raving about head messages around Jogja. Tak jumpa pun. So instead I booked myself a 3 hour massage at the hotel later in the afternoon.

Kraton or palace or Istana is open for the public to have a looksy. A lot of people were miling about dok ambik gambar. While purchasing the ticket to enter the palace, we were approached by this uncle. Who turned out to be Indian from Canada. From here on, I say this again - It only happen to me.

This guy, who I shall refer to as Uncle Vinod (not his real name. I do not want this to be traced back to me in anyway. Hahaha), wanted to join us as he said that he did not understand mostly what's being said. So since we can speak English, he would like to join our company while going around the palace ground. We got an English speaking tour guide who took us around. We saw a number of the Sultan's gift collection, clothes and pictures. Ada meja makan tu macam meja makan kat rumah Tok aku kat Muar pulak aku tengok.

Kraton ground

After the tour we tip the lady guide. Turns out Uncle Vinod's middle name is Al Kedekudsi. He claimed that he have yet drawn out cash from the ATM. Ya right. We then went on looking for Taman Sari. I thought there's like a water park or garden somewhere not far from the Kraton. Taman Sari used to be a place of leisure for the Sultan. Agaknya macam summer palace ke? Or weekend gateway palace?

Uncle Vinod still followed us when we met David who's kind enough to bring us to the Taman Sari. Which is now in ruins. It's wedge in between the settlement of the Kraton household. Semua orang nak jadi Prajurit so that you are part of Kraton and get to live around the Kraton. Davis is also a Prajurit who also oversee's the conservation of Taman Sari. Kena kencingkah kami? Mungkin juga. Tapi I had a thoroughly enjoyable day as David seems very knowledgable and keep on dishes bits and pieces of interesting facts of the place.

For example, he brought us to the bathing complex, which has not been used since 100 years ago. There's two pool. One is for siler siler (nama lain utk gundik or concubine) and one is solely for the king. Even the queen is not allowed. So while siler-siler is taking a bath ala Pamela A in Baywatch I would presume, the king will be looking from the tower above, having the chance to choose his pick for the day. If he likes someone he will pick a flower from a newby plant (which was planted for this one and one purpose only) and threw it to her in the pond. Having the golden ticket ie flower, Ms Siler is now invited to bath with the king in his pool. Later they will retreat to the nearby room for an afternoon delight. Macam nak pengsan tak dengar?

The siler pond. On the left the viewing tower. Picture taken by Uncle Vinod al Kedekudsi

This is where all the magic happens! (Creepizoid!)

David also took us to secluded section of the Taman which was in complete ruins. He said that in one of these rooms that the Sultan will meet up with his other wife from the other world - the famous Puteri dari Pantai Selatan aka Nyi Roro Kidul aka Suzana Sundel Bolong yang si Kay intrigued sangat tu. Dah la tempat tu gelap and creepy. He said that those who lived around the Taman still see her from time to time. By that time, aku dah duduk luar dah tak nak dengar cerita. Takut siut!

As the hours go by, uncle Vinod became more annoying. Memula macam semangat la nak translate all the things that David told us. In my head I thought, hmm if I ever going to be a travel writer or travel show host I must always appear cheerful and able to explain things. That last like half an hour, lepas tu aku dah duduk jauh-jauh je dari dia. Si Kay pun.. lama-lama aku dengar dia explain .... bla bla bla de bla bla de bla... something like that la... yada yada yada daddadyaya da something like that la. Hahahaha. Aku paling bengkek bila dia sibuk suruh aku ambik gambar dia guna camcorder dia. Jadi director pulak, you should walk slowly from this angle and that. Don't forget to push record. Eh banyak la cengkadak plak. It's ok you can explain things while shooting the video. I should have left a few second of malay curse words monologue when I had the chance! The final straw came when uncle Vinod sibuk pulak jadi makcik balik dari pasar, nak tanya kenapa aku tak kawin lagi. Dude, in this blistering hit, please spare me this nonsense.

The last place that David took us was the Masjid Bawah Air. An underground praying area complete with secret tunnel from the Taman Air. That's a pretty cool place. Macam bomb bunker pun ada. After that, we concluded the tour and said our goodbyes. Uncle Vinod sibuk pulak mintak email etc. By then aku dah cross the street to buy some drinks. Panas yang amat. And tak kuasa nak layan si mamat ni. Kay apparently gave him his email. Lo and behold, he did write to her a month after that. In fact, he even called her. And called her from Canada. Apakah?! I told Kay, if he ever ask of me, please say I'm dead.

Inception style staircase at Masjid Bawah Air.

Jib under the open roof of Masjid Bawah Air.

After that we went back to the hotel in style. Naik becak sorang satu. Ok Jib naik dengan mak dia la. Hahahah.

Naik Becak keliling Jogja

Later in the evening we went out for las minute shopping. Kali ni aku pun join in the frenzy at kedai Batik. The whole of Malioboro street has nothing but kedai batik. Seluar batik, beg batik, baju batik, seluar dalam batik semua ada. Somehow we thought that the selection at the batik Kraton shop that we went on the first day was nicer. Syabas Kartini kerana telah berjaya menjejaki kedai itu dalam kepekatan malam. Masa tengah pusing-pusing cari kedai tu terdetik dalam hati, kot tetiba ahvang becak ni nak keroyok aku pulak kan. I don't think that I have the energy to run. Perhaps a better defense I thot maybe I can tell them that I have HIV :P Alhamdulillah semuanya selamat.

Dan selamat balik ke 1Malaysia bak kata Jiben.

So Mayan ruins next?

Jogja - 19 to 22 Oct 2011 - Part 2

2011-12-23T22:00:00.000+08:00

Today is activity is to explore Candi Borobudur and Prambanan and it's surrounding area. I just found out that Sungai Solo ie. from the song Bengawan Solo.. is a few hours away. Tapi tak ada apa pun kat situ. Even the tour guide/ driver said that "Di musim kemarau ini...", which we echo " tak berapa airmu?". Hahaha. Kay pulak fascinated nak jumpa long lost aunty dia nama Suzana somewhere in Pantai Parangtritis, which is also not far away I suppose from Jogja. But we thought, let's take it easy and see how thing goes. The main agenda is visit the chandi mandi.

We got the driver from the hotel's contact. Punya la malas nak cari suruh orang hotel cari. So the guy call us up and pick us up the next morning. It will be 500K rupiah for the whole day. Boleh la, malas punya pasal kan. First thing we ask him to do is to take us for breakfast. He stop at a shop along the way. Makan nasi dengan lauk pauk. Sedap gila ikan keli tah masak apa ni

Borobudur

The tour guide/ driver help us to obtain entrance ticket into Borobudur. Mahal jugak la. Dapat la discount a few RM by buying from him. I have been warned that the place will be swarmed with penjaja-penjaja who will pester for you to buy things. Beli dari sorang, satu bukit kejar kau lepas tu. I know that drill. So it's game face! Bring it on!

It's about 200 meters walk perhaps across the yard heading towards the tourist office and entrance to the place. Turun aje dari van, dah 20 orang tunggu. Dengan payung, topi, baju, ayam, itik and tah apa benda lagi. Aku memang hati batu sebatunya. I have indeed perfected my blank expresionless face. Just block all the sound and look straight ahead. They smell fear and emotion. One thing to note, never say anything. Not a word. If you say, "nanti la.. karang", kau balik nanti dia tunggu la pulak. Hahaha. Si Jiben telah diwarn tak payah la nak membeli. Tapi dia tumpas juga, nak membeli topi. Ha ambik kau sekali aku pusing dah macam kena kerumun dengan gremlins. Akhirnya semua berjaya masuk dalam tourists office dengan jayanya.

The driver left us there after passing us the ticket. Nak masuk kena pakai kain la pulak. And tetiba the guard there asked us,

"Surat mana?"

"Surat apa?"

"Ya surat begini.. (pointing to a stack of papers). Kena ada surat baru boleh masuk"

"Habis ticket ni nak buat apa?" (dah la mahal)

"Kena ada suratnya juga"

Maka high blood pressure aku pun go upstair!

"Surat yang macam mana? Siapa yang nak kena tulis surat ni pulak? Kertas apa nak pakai tulis surat ni?

Apa bezanya ticket yang dah beli berapa ratus rupiah ni dengan surat? Surat beranak? Surat cinta? Dekat mana nak dapat surat ni? Bila masanya nak dapat surat ni? Siapa yang nak kena sign surat tu? Raja mana?" ha ambik kau...

"Ya tadi beli.. tiada surat?"

"Saya beli ticket bukan surat. Tak tau, driver yang beli ticket. Dia bagi ticket aje"

In my mind, kalau nak masuk tempat ni pun nak peleceh memang nak kena la kan. Nak suruh aku menyuap pulak ke? No way. Aku sudah bagi icy stare dekat guard tu. Sikit lagi mungkin aku kena tembak pulak kat situ. Nasib la si Kartini sangat bertenang. Dan guard tu baik ati nak callkan driver kitaorang. Berlari la pulak datang driver dengan the so called surat. Serious shit lama sikit, akan aku suruh guard tu baca segala surat yang ada kat situ... apa benda la yang ada dalam surat tu. Yes I am an ASS. But seriously explain kat aku apa rasionalnya aku membeli ticket tapi still tak boleh masuk. Kalau tak nak bagi masuk, jangan jual ticket tu.

Anyhoo, setelah friction tersebut, we made our way to the Chandi. Sangat panas ye kawan-kawan. Jauh pulak tu nak jalan. Along the way ada lagi gerombolan yang nak jual-jual benda. This time offer nak sewa payung and yang lagi best, service nak tolong dukung budak-budak kecik naik atas. Bila kitaorang senyap aje, tak paham-paham bahasa dok pester-pester lagi. Aku dah geram, aku tanya dia, "kalau angkat saya boleh? Berapa rupiah?" Terdiam kejap mamat tu. "Ya yang kecil aja.." "Ha kalau nak angkat saya boleh. Kalau tak payah". Bengkek gila mamat tu. Pastu mesti dia maki kitaorang sebab si Jiben sudah tergolek masa naik tangga. Nasib tak apa-apa.

Seriously tempat tu panas and tangga-tangganya sangat steep. Macam nak luruh jantung aku memanjat. Ada 7 levels, each represents something. And every level tu aku kena take a break. Finally sampai jugak la ke langgit ke tujuh katanya. Samapai la ke level-level stupa yang macam loceng-loceng tu. In the recent Amazing Race, they had to count the buddha statue with the different hand gestures. Aku rasa kat bawah, macam ada info board yang tulis all this info. Memang ngok mat salleh tu semua nak kira satu-satu. Ada beribu benda tu around the place. Photo shoot pun bermula. Baju aku dah lencun dengan peluh. Nak turun pun macam nenek tua. Kalau tergolek, kena la panggil balik brother yang nak offer angkat budak tadi!

Assortment of pictures at Borobudur

Merapi

Next destination is to Merapi. Kitaorang semua tertido sikit punya sedap dalam van. I think I might have even snored! Pastu terkejut dengar dengkur sendiri. Hehehehe.

It was about a year ago (25th Oct 2010) that the mount erupted. We can still see the path of destruction along the way up. There's a lot of black sand that is being mined from the river nearby for construction. Pokok-pokok semua dah nak tumbuh balik, tapi pokok-pokok yang terbakar dulu tu still ada lagi. It was very cloudy that day, so tak nampak puncaknya. You can go on motor ride (motor scrambler no less) along the mountain's path to take a closer look. Macam gatal je nak pergi. Tapi kang sape pulak nak cari aku atas gunung tu if anything happen. So lepak-lepak kat bawah je. Despite the hot sun, the temprature up there is very pleasant.

Greens yang dah mula tumbuh among tunggul-tunggul pokok yang terbakar dulu

Very cloudy day, so tak nampak puncak Merapi (kata tour guide tu la)

Untuk celebrate kejayaan dapat melihat Gunung Merapi, kita makan jagung bakar. Terbaek!

Prambanan

Another must visit candi is called Candi Prambanan. Like Borobudur it is also listed as a World Heritage site. The place here is more bertenang and suitable for picnic. This candi is actually a Hindu temple while Borobudur is a Buddist monument. But these days majority of folks in Jogja are Muslims.

Nak masuk, kena beli ticket lagi ye. Kitaorang dah pergi ke kaunter meant for local folks. Baru terperasan that the entrance fee for the locals is way cheaper. We could've easily pass as local as well. Aku pun pernah terbaca blog sapa tah yang berlakon-lakon jadi local and got to buy the cheaper tickets. Memang tak senonoh. Unfortunately, aku terlupa that fact. And masa si Kay dah senyap-senyap beratur, aku terpanggil plak dia. "oit awat kau beratur kat situ?" Hahahahha pecah tembelang. Sorry kak non, lain kali kalau nak berlakon sila brief supporting cast sekali. Hehehehe.

There's a few separate site for the temples. The structures are not as high as Borobudur, but man the place is huge. Jauh gila nak jalan. Jiben at one point, "Kenapa kita dekat sini? Saya nak balik hotel". "Saya pun nak balik hotel" Hahahahha. Nasib kat entrance tu ada tempat makan. Mari la makan dulu. Though tak sesedap tempat breakfast tadi, lapar punya pasal. Layanz!

Assortment of pictures at Prambanan

Si anak kecil yang hampa kerana tertipu kena jalan berbatu-batu (ironically... sambil tengok batu). In the background, si ibu yang masih tegar membeli belah

UGM

By the time we got out of Prambanan, dah petang dah. But it's still early. We still have the driver till 5pm. It was just 4pm. So we asked him to take us to the largest and oldest national university in Indonesia, Universitas Gadjah Mada. Known to the local as UGM.

Coolness! The campus is just like UM in KL. The faculties are located along the the main roads around the city. We could see all the students lepaking and riding their bikes. Ada macam-macam fakulti. Aku nampak Perhutanan la... Medical la.. Falsafah la. We even stop for photo op. Pastu ada sorang budak sudah nak merajuk sebab mak dia nak posing sorang-sorang. Hahahah kesian dia.

Budak kecik yang hangin dengan maknya yang asyik nak posing and tak bagi dia 'enter frame'

Famous landmark. Mesti ambik gambar, macam la grad dari sini kan

Don't you just love the localized English word? Prioritaskan.. sekali baca ingat Senorita :P

Jogja - 19 to 22 Oct 2011 - Part 1

2011-12-22T23:47:00.000+08:00

Jogja was not part of the travel plan for this year. Memang dah lama berangan nak posing ala Lara Croft kat Borobudur.. Mayan Ruins... or Angkor Wat. Tapi tak sempat-sempat nak plan. Plus dah kopak pulak after so many sessi berpoya-poya tahun ni.

Akan tetapi tiba-tiba tepikir pulak challenge baru. Can I do a tri-nation visit within a month? Well not exactly a month, but a few weeks apart from each trip. 14-17 Sept to Bangkok, then 8th-10th Oct to Singapore and 19th-22nd to Yogjakarta, Indonesia. All I can say is that, I'm still alive. But between these 3 trips, tah berapa kali aku MC, tah berapa klinik aku pergi and tah berapa kali boss aku geleng kepala sebab assortments of sakit yang kuar including measles scare! Sigh, note to self, lain kali, please allow longer period to regroup and reenergize!

Anyway, back to the trip. Makanya sampailah aku and Kay and Jiben ke Jogja. Flight pagi buta pukul 6 pagi ke. Again note to self, no more early flights please. Nasib baik naik bas dari KL Sentral ramai orang. Dapat la aku tido dengan aman sampai airport. Tahun ni ni la trip aku mencemar duli pergi LCCT. Seriously, the terminal need a bigger space. Lain kali, buat je la semua benda besar-besar, even if half of it is occupied by hantu ke penunggu ke... eventually nanti tak muat jugak. Tak payah la susah-susah asyik nak buat construction nak extend itu ini.

Jogja just had a festive weekend sebab anak raja dia baru kawin. Dengar kata 3 hari 3 malam pesta tari menari gilang gemilang diadakan. Satu bandar tutup, makan semua free la apa la. But by the time kitaorang touchdown, dah habis la pulak. Perhaps it's a good thing jugak, sebab semua orang dah balik. Kang nak pergi mana-mana susah pulak. Tapi if dapat sibuk-sibuk ambik gambar best jugak kot.

The taxi driver who drove us to the hotel patiently explained what had transpired over the 3 days before. All of the who's who that came over. He tried to console me by saying, "Takpe.. ada lagi anaknya yang masih belum kahwin. Nanti bisa datang lagi ke Jogja". Somehow, this is one thing that I am amazed of the Indonesian people. They are very proud of their heritage and culture, they love to share and tell you everything. And they tell it so beautifully, terpegun aku dengar. Macam best sangat, padahal takde la apa pun. This driver who spoke so softly manage to answer all of my questions about Jogja in that just few minutes ride. Tak payah nak wiki-wiki.

Unlike aku naik teksi kat KL ni. Somehow conversation always get tangled into politics. Just last months, the uncle behind the wheel, tetiba riled up and keep on repeating..."dia cakap dia main punggung... lepas tu dia cakap balik.. ha itu C4 punya case macam mana... dia main punggung ... dia C4...kita semua tengok wayang hari-hari" We started of talking about a chinese restaurant, tah macam mana end up here. No doubt memang kelakar. Aku gelak gila babi dalam teksi tu, but makes me wonder what kind of conversation would he have with tourists. Sama jugak la bila naik cab kat Singapore. Asal tau je kita dari KL, "So how's your Mr Najib?" Macam la aku PA dia kan.

Opps... sudah masuk simpang lain pulak ni. Back to the trip. Sorry.

We booked ourselves into Ibis Malioboro. A bit pricey sebab charges tak included breakfast. Damn. The room is very nice and most important, memang sebelah mall. Tu sebenarnya sebab nak duduk sini. Unfortunately it was too early to check in, so wandered off to check the place around.

Keluar je hotel, ada la pulak pakcik-pakcik kayuh beca ajak ronda-ronda. Since we have nothing better to do, on aje la. Yang lawaknya, tah kenapa la kitaorang ingat yang kitaorang ni boleh muat dalam satu beca. Bontot aku aje dah 3/4 beca tu. Pendek kata after the ride, aku rasa bontot aku kecik sket sbb padat sungguh dalam beca itu. Pakcik tu bawa la kitaorang jalan along Malioboro, then around the Kraton which he said is still closed and stopped at Batik shop. Ibu Kartini tertewas disini, dan telah memulakan sessi membeli belah tak hengat dunia.

Dah almost nak balik tu, baru la aku tersedar yang pakcik kayuh beca tu tak pakai kasut. Untuk menjadi lebih dramatik, dia turun pulak tolak kitaorang bila ada tempat-tempat yang naik bukit. Kitaorang offer nak turun, dia kata tak apa-apa. Tapi dok terjerit-jerit panas bila pijak jalan tu. Macam la aku ni mendera hamba abdikan. Imagine it's ripe in the afternoon, memang la tar atas jalan tu gila panas kan. Aku dah start la masuk mode hati batu. I told Kay, be prepared to get ripped off. I told her to pay the guy. Sebab karang kalau aku yang bayar, mau naik darah bila dia nak buat sob sob story. Nasib masa bayar tu, it was he price that he said before. Still la mahal kot, sebab sebenarnya murah aje naik beca ni. It was 30K rupiah = RM10 la. Aku saje je tanya, kenapa tak pakai kasut... there you asked for it... siap dengan muka nak menangis dengan tangan-tangan ... cakap la pulak tak mampu nak beli selipar. I just rolled my eyes and walked off. Ingat aku tak nampak kawan-kawan dia dok gelak-gelak kat tepi tu. Kay kata aku tersangat skeptical. Hahahahha.

By then dah tengahari, so soru time. Katanya kat sini food sangat sedap. Tapi aku rasa takde la sangat. Ada certain kedai sedap, ada yang macam hampeh. Along Malioboro ada a lot of stall called Lesehan. I think it meant kedai yang bersila atas tikar getah, on the kaki lima. Which is ganguan perasaan sebab nanti perut berlipat bila nak makan. We went to a stall which has proper stool and table. For the first meal in Jogja... wah sedap banget! I had Nasi Gudeg? Which (aku hentam aje ni kalau salah sorry).. I think meant the gulai/ kari urat/tunjang yang ada kat kedai-kedai nasi padang. Kay had Nasi Goreng apakenda. Rupa macam lemau, tapi rasanya 1st class!

And wash it down with bergelas gelas Es Teh. Aka Teh O Ais. Tapi sedap. Rasanya macam teh botol. Aku assume semua teh kat sini berasal dari teh botol. Es Teh is the source of my horrid coughing for the next 3 weeks sampai doctor almost nak suruh aku pergi chest scan!

Cheers!

Paris 2011 - Part Quatre

2011-12-21T22:16:00.000+08:00

Bonjour!

Last day in Paree. Last day in Europe. Last day of the holiday :(

This morning we woke up early and head out to the places that we haven't been to. First stop is Notre Dame. Ada la pulak Sunday service. Public are allowed to enter for free. Mcm eerie la pulak. There's also paintings in the church tapi malas nak tengok. Pergi just nak ambik-ambik gambar je. One of the main attraction is to climb till the bell tower and take a closer look at the gargoyles guarding the cathedral.Tak kuasa la aku kalau masuk bab panjat memanjat ni.

This is what it looks like outside

And this is in the inside

Next the other museums that we haven't visisted. Top of the list, to see Auguste Rodin's work at Rodin Musuem. He is a great sculptor whose famous work includes the Kiss, the Thinker and the Gates of Hell. The scultures were real and to the detail. Memang blown away. The museum itself was a former hotel with a manicured lawn. Cantik

If you are visiting, do not miss going for a walk around in the garden. A number of sculptures are located around the ground. One of it is the Thinker

Inside, you will find the Kiss. The room is full of different version of the Kiss. Let's call this Make Out room.

This is my favorite is the below bust. Made from clay. Macam real kan.

Next we wanted to go to Musee de Orsay. Partly because we already bought a set of Orsay and Rodin ticket. Cheaper. Tah kenapa kitaorang ingat dekat musuemnya. We keep on thinking this building across the street with a golden dome is the musuem. After half and hour walk, we reached the place only to discover that it's actually an army musuem. WTF. Sekarang sudah penat.

And kenapa patah balik all the way to Rodin tadi sebab nak kena naik Metro. Musee de Orsay is actually located across from the Lourve. Adoiii pagi tu aje, berapa ribu steps tah kitaorang jalan. Nasib bila sampai sana, we get to skip the queue sebab dah beli ticket dari Rodin tadi. Kat sini dah tak berdaya nak jalan. We just pass thru to see more works from Van Gogh, Gaugin, Renoir, Boudin, Monet and tah siapa lagi. Memang best, tapi dah tak larat nak enjoy.

Around 4pm, we made our way back to the hotel. Sempat lagi tapau McD tu. Sampai je hotel, sedar-sedar our airport pick up dah sampai. Tak sempat nak makan McD terus angkat bag semua and make our way to the airport. Our flight was a night, so we had a good 3-4 hours at the airport, to sort out nak claim segala GST. The custom officers tak check pun barang-barang kitaorang. Nasib baik. Kalau aku bukak bag aku, tak tentu boleh tutup balik. They are full to the brim.

Ramai pulak jumpa orang Malaysia kat situ. Semua nak balik via Dubai. Masa nak get refund untuk GST tu aje ada geng bukit yang sangat kecoh, membuatkan minah yang kira duit hangin. Hangin pun hangin la dik, janji dapat duit. Heheheh. Flight dari Dubai ke KL pulak, aku duduk sebelah makcik Arab yang anaknya duduk KL. Takpe ke makcik tu rupanya dah pernah duduk Malaysia. Nasib baik aku tak goreng-goreng dia pasal KL. Heheheh nak sampai KL, makcik tu siap tukar sim card Digi. Hebat tak hebat!

With that, we touch down in KL on Monday 28th March at 9.30 pm. Alhamdulliah semuanya selamat. Alhamdullilah jugak semua yang plan nak buat dapat buat. And looking back, I think one of the pleasant surprise from the trip was seeing the Sunflower by Van Gogh at National Gallery in London and again at Van Gogh Musuem in Amsterdam. Never I imagined that I get the chance to take a close look at the masterpiece.

Just like this trip of a lifetime - Manifique!

Paris 2011, Part Trois

2011-12-20T00:28:00.000+08:00

Today is Saturday. The day before, we actually went to Amsterdam. That will be a post of it's own. Hari ini ialah shopping day. First stop, Gallaries Lafayette . Actually takde la nak membeli sangat, walaupun everything was on sale. Sempat lagi satu round kat LV and Longchamp.

Mak aii... ramainya manusia. An advise, if you want to go to LV or Longchamp, baik pergi ke Printemps (sebutnya Pran-tom.. or something like that). Orang tak ramai and tempat lebih bertenang. One of the main focus today was to buy macaroon yang dikirim oleh M_M_Biru.

We bought them from two places, the first one is Pierre Herme at Galaries Lafayette. They are all so pretty and classy and woweee. Macam sayang nak makan. The rose flavoured from La Duree kot.. is to die for. Macam rasa sirap bandung. We packed and keep this in the fridge dan berdoa it will make it during the trip. Hand carry tu... gila precious cargo. Kat airport pun ada jugak La Duree tapi malas nak explore sebab it's in a different terminal than the one of our flight home. Selamat sampai and aku rasa M_M_Biru makan suku sehari. So over 2 dozen... heheh that last about... entah...hehehe.

The whole day went by with a blur. I wanted to get ipad2 beacuse it was release just the day before. Hah, dream on! Berjam pulak pusing-pusing cari Apple Store kat area Opera tu. Dah petang hujan pulak.... but we got a great place for shelter. Mari membeli t-shirt.

We end the day with a quick photo shoot at Arc de Triomphe. Arc de Triomphe sits in the center of Place Charles de Gaulle. (Roundabout yang gila banyak kereta). It was built to honour those who have fought in the French Revolutionary and Napolean wars. Beneath it lies the tomb of unknown soldiers from World War I. Kitaorang malas nak pergi sampai sana, so ambik gambar from across the street aje la.

Malam sebelum tido, we went online to purchase extra luggage on the flight. 60 kg tak cukup! Hahahah. Hotel ni ada pay as you use internet kat lobby. Bagus betul.

Bonne nuit!

Paris Trip, 2011 - Part Duex

2011-12-19T23:27:00.000+08:00

Objective hari ini ialah satu dan satu aje - La Vallee Village. The outlet mall just outside Paris. Hahha actually I have no idea where it is, just tau train stop aje. It's one stop before Disneyland. It's the Express RER A, and the station is Val d' Europe. Train ni kena hati-hati before naik, do check which station it will stop. Kalau tak nganga je kang train tak stop kat station that you want.

Ni la rupanya station Val d'Europe. To go to La Vallee, just take the escalator up and out the exit..

Then turn right and go into the shopping mall.

Just walk till the end of the mall till you see this sign (should be on your left).

Then out the door.. and voila, you have arrived at paradise

The first shop that will greet you is Longchamp. Borong jangan tak borong. We bought almost 10 bags ke, segala mala size semua ada. Puas hati uols! My sister also bought a Samsonite luggage. Memang tengah sale. So segala hasil tangkapan di masukkan dalam luggage maka senang nak angkut balik hotel. Hehehehe.

Tah pukul berapa kitaorang habis memborong, tak ingat pukul berapa balik. Tapi balik kejap je rasanya, pastu petang tu keluar balik. This time for River Seine boat ride and going up Eiffel Tower. Memang nak naik malam. Kononnya nak tengok lights around Paris. Punya la sejuk!

The boat ride was fun. Get to see the buildings on both side of the river. Masa kitaorang naik tu ada pulak segerombolan school girls. Asal nampak guys tengah lepak2 by the river bank, asyik cheer aje. Seronok jugak. Lalu la segala mala bridge yang dalam video clip 'Someone Like You' by Adele tu.

The boat ride is very near Eiffel Tower, so lepas boat ride boleh naik the tower pulak. Just that those yang naik naik malam kena ingat that they will only have one entrance open, so the queue memang lama. Kalau siang-siang 4 entrance will be open. Maka sambil menunggu, tah berapa juta pose la aku ambik. Pastu area in banyak orang jual-jual souveniers. Memang murah la, but berhati-hati sebab sini katanya orang selalu kena pick pocket. Alhamdullillah, we were ok.

This is what the view from above looks like

Tour Eiffel

Paris Trip, 2011 - Part Un

2011-12-18T23:43:00.000+08:00

We are off to Paris today. We called a cab to bring us to the St Pancras station. Tak kuasa nak naik tube. Barang banyak and bag sgt berat. Bag kakak aku dah selamat pecah tayar ok. So bila tarik bag tu, macam tarik lori satu tan.

The train ride is two hours. I snap perhaps thousands of pictures along the way. By noon, we are in Paris. The train stopped at Gare du Nord (Nord = North). If you're heading towards Venice, Italy, it's Gare du L'est (East). This I learnt from The Tourist.

The Eurostar train ride was amazing! Best gila. Though the coach is not as luxurious and romantic like the one in the movie, the seats are still cozy and comfy. We bought the ticket online and print out the ticket from the kiosk at St Pancras station. Pretty easy. As long as you buy way in advance, ie like a few months in advance, you might get the chance to get the cheap fare like we did. We paid 81 pounds for 2, 1-way ticket. So it's about RM400++.

At first masa nak check in dah risau that our bag are too big to put into the carriage. Tengok2 orang lain punya bag memang macam circus troop! Tapi berat gila babi ok bag kitaorang. Nasib la ramai orang nak tolong angkatkan bag tu letak atas shelf at the end of the carriage. Tapi muka semua orang memang menyesal la lepas tolong angkat bag kitaorang! Hahahaha. Masa sampai Paris, ada group of boys.. students kot, yang tolong angkatkan semua bag kitaorang letak atas platform. Serious shit kalau kena angkat sendiri, turun dari train, sah2 aku tergolek jatuh bawah train. So since dah atas platform, boleh la tarik slow2 macam kura2, till kuar dari station. Terus ambik cab, straight to Hotel. Actually hotel tu kalau jalan mcm 500 meters downhill gitu, takde la jauh sangat. Tapi dengan bag yang berat, tak sanggup la kan.

We booked ourselves into Holiday Villa. As in Holiday Villa yang ada kat Malaysia tu. The hotel is near Cadet Metro and ada McD and Supermarket nearby. Hidup la kita orang. Atas ni picture taken from our room's window. Then we met Malik the guy behind the reception, who was super excited when he found out that we are Malaysian. I think he was Morrocan or Turkish. Sibuk pulak nak practise Selamat Tengahari, Apa Khabar bla bla bla. When we told him that we want to go and have lunch, he brought us to this Turkish/ Moroccan restaurant yang actually dah habis lunch service, tapi sebab tu member-member dia, tak kisah la.. depa kata jom makan.

What was on the menu? Cous-Cous. Hahahahah. This is our first time with cous-cous, so muka pun jadi pus-pus. Pada aku sedap aje. Kakak aku la tak lalu. Check out her face. The roasted chicken is to die for ok. Melambak pulak tu serving nya. Wash it down with Mint Tea. Sedapnya. Then for desert, diabetic induced baklava! Baru la engine warm up sket

So off we go to the Metro and our first stop is the Grand Palais Royal - Lourve Museum. Or Musee du Lourve. Dah penat posing maut, kakak aku suggest marilah mengukur Champs de Elysee pulak. So we took a loooooonnnngggg stroll from Lourve all the way down to Champs de Elysee. It was the start of spring, so pokok2 semua togel-togel lagi. Tapi Parisian is already out enjoying the sun. All over Jardin de Tulleries, semua orang dah mode baring-baring on the grass sambil cuci mata. Unfortunately, the sidewalk, rumput pun tak tumbuh lagi, ada pasir aje. Sudahnya, kasut aku berdebu macam pekerja construction.

Along Champs de Elysee ada pulak orang bagi free sample Miss Cherie Dior. Berapa kali kitaorang pusing-pusing untuk dapatkan free sample tu. Ended up with almost 30 vials! Hahaha tak payah beli. Then ada pulak Sephora. Macam la tak pernah jumpakan. Eh, masuk jugak. Aku pun tak ingat beli apa. But I did came out with a paper bag.

Sambil posing-posing lagi, tetiba nampak cahaya kegembiraan, dari seberang jalan. Wah apakah itu? Itu ialah

Dengan pantas, kitaorang pun lintas. Sebelum tu, ramai pulak yang dari tanah besar tetiba hello hello kat kitaorang. Rupanya, memang certain outlet (do we call it outlet) ada quota imposed. They will check your pasport before any purchase and if dari tanah besar toksah la mimpi nak borong banyak-banyak ye. So depa2 ni akan hang around the place to look for volunteers to buy them the bags. Apa ke gila.

Wah, saya terpegun or if you will, terpempan di dalam kedai itu. Semuanya macam tiba-tiba rasa mampu nak beli. We went around the place just to enjoy the atmosphere and admiring the beautiful things that we can't afford. Whilst browsing, one of the sales assistance named George, came to us. Kitaorang tak panggil pun, agaknya dia dah bosan nak layan geng bukit yang datang dengan kecoh macam nak beli ikan.

My sister already had in mind apa benda dia nak beli. Aku je la yang masih menengok2. Kononnya nak beli Speedy.. but it's just not me. So George suggested something else. Which I fell in love almost instantly (not with George) but the bag. Si George of the Jungle, pun lagi nak tokok tambah. "I think this bag is really suitable for you". Ye George, I think so too.

The cashier desk was swarmed with geng bukit, so George suggested that we go upstairs. Lo and behold, kat atas was meant for a different kind of clientelle. He asked us to have a sit while he sorted out our purchases. So duduk la kitaorang amongst the French taitai who is from head to toe, clad in LV (enjoying her champange no less).. and this Arab dude who just ordered esppresso. George takde pulak offer tah goreng pisang ke air sirap ke kat kitaorang, but we were enjoying the ambience still.

Kejap lagi, George pun datang dengan our credit card slip, sign kat situ je. Tak payah susah2 nak bangun. Ha ambik kau, bag besar gedabak sorang satu. Fear not, George shall help with our bags (tapi dia tak nak tolong angkatkan bag Sephora aku... hahahha) Angkat la pulak bag2 tu turun escalator and send us to the door, but not before pointing to us the nearest Metro from their shop. George V Metro (of course!). Lepas au revior au revior, kitaorang pun kuar la kedai and pergi Metro tu. Which is dekat gila as in like 10 steps away. I swore I skipped those 10 steps. Gembira gila hutang kredit card makin banyak :)

Sampai hotel, with one look at our shopping bags, Malik said "Oh you went shoppping already" Oui!

Later that evening we went out again, to visit Lourve. On Wednesday, it is open till late at night. Besar gila tempat ni. Manage to catch a glimpse of Mona Lisa. Quite nice jugak pergi malam, orang tak ramai sangat. The place is so huge, you actually need more than a week to really enjoy the place.

I wanted to see Naploean's Apartment. Sesat la pulak. Ya rabbi nak pengsan ok. It's from one wing to the other. Disebabkan dah sesat, banyak la section tak dapat tengok. We didn't get to see Venus de Milo, but I did catch Madonna on the Rocks ie yang dalam Da Vinci's code tu.

The museum memang beautiful. Aku mesmerized dengan paintings on the ceiling. Almost every room has one. But yes, after a while penat la kan. Dah la tak paham semenda. Most paintings are from depiction in the bible kot. And tah kenapa some section, keep on showing exposed boobs, boobs, boobs and more boobs. OMG.. it's like porn.

Malam tu terus tido tergolek tak ingat apa sampai esok.

One Gold Medal to rule them all

2011-11-22T21:38:00.001+08:00

500 gold medal forged.

170 went to them.

but ......

One Gold Medal to rule them all, One Gold Medal to find them,

One Gold Medal to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

(and that One Gold is OURS! My precious...heheheh)

I take my hat off to you.

Well Done, Harimau Muda!

Bangkok Trip (Lagi..) - 14 to 17 Sept 2011

2011-11-21T08:30:00.000+08:00

Bangkok. Again. 3rd time. This time with my sister pulak. She's been nagging me because she's never been to Bangkok. So here I am again. We bought the MyDeal or was is Groupon package for 600++ per pax. Flight (Lufthansa) and hotel - First House Hotel. This is the first of my tri-nation holiday gateway. Hahahah that sounds so poyo, but tengoklah what happen nanti.

The flight was great! I would definitely fly with them again for short trip around SEA. We got great service for an affordable price. The seat was spacious and comfy, there's In Flight Entertainment and of course snacks. They did serve nice looking cold sandwich, tapi kitaorg tak makan la kan. Halal tah tidak. The flight is actually meant for long haul Bangkok - Frankfurt, but they make a short stop? Detour? To KL. Making us happy campers.

Unfortunately the opposite that I can say about the hotel. The room was circa 1970's horror film with a bed made of stone! Aku tahulah siapa manufacturer tilam hotel tu. The excruciating pain of tossing and turning in the middle of the night is all coming back to me now. Adoi. But... there's always a But. Don't write off the hotel just yet. Will let you know later on. The hotel do have a newly furbished room, but you have to add in some $$$ for an upgrade. Forget it.

Highlights of the trip

1. A great tour guide

The package came with a half day city tour. So we got a tour guide to take us around. He's name is Chocolate. He can speak Malay and English and don't know what else. I like him because he is not annoying. And funny! He's the one in pink t-shirt. Macam rupa aku tak? He did ask me if I am from Philipines. I told him, I thot I looked like Thai. Gelak golek-golek dia.

He took us to see a budha statue near Siam Paragon, then across the Choa Phraya to visit the Wat Arun temple and the assortments of kedai jual leather goods, madu and jewelry. Kami tewas di kedai jual madu. Belilah pulak sekilo madu. Tah nak buat dengan madu tu. As usual trip on the boat across the river memang seronok, walaupun less than 5 minutes. Even then, dah nampak paras air dah naik. Area dekat jeti yang kitaorg naik tu pun dah naik air. Nasib masa tu Bangkok tak banjir lagi

2. Discovery of Lorong-lorong gelap yang penuh dengan kedai

Remember I said earlier that do not write off the hotel just yet? Here's why. As soon as you stepped out from the hotel, dah ada kedai dah! The whole place is a wholeseller heaven. And business starts as early as 7 am. All the markets, shops that you see in Bangkok, get their supply from here. So the price is way... wayyyyy cheaper from anywhere in Bangkok. Tak payah pergi Chatucak ke Platinum ke. But it's just that you need to buy all item at least in 3 in order to get the wholesale price. We saw this same exact t-shirt that my niece were going gaga over in Berjaya Times Square, selling only at RM6 a piece, while she paid RM21 in KL.

Lorong-lorong tu memang sempit and full of 1001 macam baju, seluar, etc. In between ada pulak yang nak jual nasi la, jual betik la... So nak shop kat sini kena fit, dah makan siap-siap and kena berani. Sebab, bila dah banyak sangat kedai, kitaorang dah macam claustrophobic pulak. Hahahah tapi hasil tangkapan tetap lumayan! Disebabkan semua benda dah ada kat sini, tak payah susah-susah pergi tempat lain, maka boleh rest lagi lama kat hotel and tak payah go thru jam di Bangkok yang gila brutal!

Platinum Mall is also within walking distance. Tapi lepas shopping kat lorong-lorong yang best tu, tak minat dah nak shopping kat sana :P

3. Yana Restaurant

Sedap gila babas! Finally tom yam power zass! The restaurant is located in MBK on the 5th floor if not mistaken. Aku masih terkenang tom yam and green curry dia. Sighhh...Let the picture do the talking.

Hmm... mungkin untuk Tom Yam itu, I'll be back :)

Malaysia vs Chelsea - 21 July 2011

2011-11-20T16:00:00.000+08:00

3rd time is the charm? I don't think so. Dah penat! In the span of a few weeks, ada 3 match. Macam la main kan. Padahal datang setakat nak makan burger dengan kuaci aje.

The atmosphere is a bit different from the Liverpool match. It seems that everyone is rooting for Malaysia! A number of free tickets were given out due to poor ticket sales agaknya. So of course yang datang tu tak minat Chelsea kan. Aku je la yang lengkap berjersey bagai. Hahahah. Pun begitu, Malaysia tetap di hati!

Malaysian team were mainly consists of the Harimau Muda who played in the Sea Games. However, ada juga Harimau Tua yang part of the team. Harimau Tua semua dah tak larat nak lari ok! Chelsea won 1-0. Even the one goal was controversial. I agree that it did not cross the line!

The next day, the team was hailed as hebat banget! I disgaree. The score did not prove anything. Chelsea player hardly gave 25% on the pitch. They were sort of walking around aje. If they really played 100%, tah-tah dah 20-0. However, I give A+ for both Malaysian goalkeeper. They were excellent and made countless saves. My heart goes out to the substitute keeper when the ref awarded the goal.

Aside from the joy of alternating between eating kuaci and yelling, my night was mared by the sounds of bubuzela right in my ears! GERAMMMNYA! Aku rasa yang dok tiup tu memang dah pekak, sebab tu telinga dia tak pecah. Mula-mula it was just bebudak terjal belakang aku ni, sekali tu tengok ada this guy who looks like his the pillar of society with 3 kids in tow yang dok wholeheartedly meniup benda tu.

OMG! Bro, lu APA HAL? Dulu masa sekolah teringin ke nak masuk band main trumpet tapi tak dapat ke? Bro lu memang berhutang darah dengan gua. Kalau gua tahu lu duduk mana, memang gua beli bubuzela tu hantar rumah abang. Anak kau, sorang satu aku belikan. Semoga depa main kat rumah hari-hari, especially bila lu nak tido. Padan muka lu, Bro! GRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Malaysia vs Liverpool - 16 July 2011

2011-11-20T12:00:00.000+08:00

It was the weekend so Liverpool fans were out in the throngs. My officemate said that he wanted to be there by 3 pm. Punyalah. The match starts at 5pm. Mesti panas.

Anak beruang pulak sudah membuta tak ingat dunia. Call-call haram tak dengar. Kononnya nak bertolak pukul 3. LRT heading to Bukit Jalil is packed to the seam. Kitaorang sumbat-sumbat jugak masuk. I think my jersey was even caught in the door. Ada pulak yang ngok tu sibuk nak marah-marah sebab orang tolak-tolak. Kak, lain kali naik helicopter sendiri pergi stadium ye. Kalau setakat naik setahun sekali, lepas tu nak marah-marah, tak payah naik. Dah tau bawak anak beranak ipar duai semua, better naik transport sendiri pergi.
Bukit Jalil was a sea of Reds! Big Bear aje yang pakai jersey Liverpool. The rest of us, dah siap berjersey Malaysian (finally). Well me and Hamstead. Auntie Chik choose to wear t-shirt Tanah Tumpah Darahku.

It was an exciting match. 9 goals! Liverpool won 6-3. But those 3 goals from Malaysia brought the whole stadium on their feet! Best gila. Syafiq Rahim scored a beautiful goal. AndSafee Sali drove home 2 more goals. Even Mr daBomb made a quick appearance and help to set up a goal.

Though our seat was not really great (we sat under the giant screen), we had a great time. Takde la rasa macam mengantuk lepas balik tengok match dengan Arsenal. The weather turns out nice after all. Dan walaupun both team were very entertaining, I'm taking my hats off to this adik burger. To me he's the unsung hero of the day. Takde dia, lapaq kebuluq semua orang!

Malaysia vs Arsenal - 13 July 2011

2011-11-20T09:01:00.000+08:00

Malaysia lost 4-0 to Arsenal. There was even a penalty for Arsenal. The game was boring. Except for the 5 minutes, before the game where everyone happily did the Mexican wave. We actually left early with 15 minutes to spare. Hahaha memang gagal!

Bandung Lagi - 23 to 25 July 2011

2011-11-18T09:38:00.000+08:00

Aku kembali lagi. With a Vengeance!

Hahaha. Katanya dah tak nak datang lagi for the next 5 years. Tapi 2011 menyaksikan saya kembali lagi ke Bandung untuk kali yang ke-4 since 2007. I'm here with Ija and Rosli. If you are looking for suggestion for a cheap trip, please read elsewhere. We book ourselves on MAS flight, check ourselves into the Premier Lounge before boarding and stayed at a decent 4 star Apartment Hotel in Bandung. In total, we paid about RM600 per pax for the flight and 3D2N stay at the hotel.

We stayed at Grand Setiabudi Hotel & Apartment along Jalan Dr. Setiabudi. Which means near Rumah Mode :). The rooms are small. Luggage kena letak luar. The room that we stayed in ada 2 bilik, 1 with queen bed and the other with a single bed. Ada living room and small kitchen. Kitchen masak maggie and buat milo je la. Ada small dining area juga. Just nice for the 3 of us. Lupa pulak nak snap photos of the room sebab by the time ingat, bilik tu dah macam kapal karam.

To me acceptable la, sebab naik MAS which you don't have to worry about food and baggage charge etc.Tapi excess baggage, tetap excess baggage. Apakah! MAS hari tu serve cous-cous and daging masak apa tah. Sedap!

And we also got ourselves a driver for the whole day for 500K. Mahal kot, coz I heard someone manage to get 3 days for just 1 Juta. I have totally lost my bargaining skill. Or perhaps yang dapat 1Juta for 3 days tu, actually cewek-cewek yang muda belia yang senyumannya mengoda. Senyum kitaorang ni tak laku dah. Hahahah.

Highlights of the Trip:

1. Hotel's Buffet Breakfast

Plenty of choices and sangat sedap. My favorite as always is the bubur nasi with assortment of condiments and sup. Ija pulak hilang akal dengan segala unidentified sambal. There's also selection of continental breakfast. Setelah membelasah segala fruit juice, fruit, toast, omelets and bubur, sambal, keropok, tempe, wedges, yogurt tah apa lagi.... mari pergi melabur. Baru bersemangat nak kick off the day.

2. Joyride on Angkutan Kota

Wheeee.... sekarang dah expert sket naik Angkut. Plus our hotel location is perfect for Angkut to go to Rumah Mode. It's about 500 meters (ke?) from Rumah Mode and its going downhill. Nak jalan boleh jugak but dangerous sebab banyak kereta, motor and tah apa lagi. So baik naik Angkut. Nak lintas ke rumah Mode tu memang tahap gila. Kalau nasib baik, polis ke jaga dari Rumah Mode tu will stop the traffic and help us cross the street. Nak balik pulak kalau jalan kaki naik bukit so baik tak payah. Jauh sikit kalau naik Angkut and it will stop across the street. Nak lintas tu as usual sangat mencabar, so pandai-pandai lah ye. Trick aku selalu lintas dengan orang local. Heheh.

3. Benar-benar Hilang Akal di section kain di Pasar Baru

Aku rasa aku dengan Rosli memang dah kena sampuk hari tu. Kena sampuk dengan brother kat kedai kain. Sekali dia tebar kain tu, seribu kali mata kitaorang rambang. Aku rasa dia memang letak dadah dalam teh botol yang dia bagi free tu. Sudahnya, aku beli 5 kodi kain, Rosli beli 3 kodi. Kain kaler oren pun nampak cantik. Padahal kat Malaysia lagi murah! Rosli lain kali, sebelum masuk kedai kain kita kena ingat baca doa banyak-banyak. Jadi macam Ija yang dah taubat. Langsung tak nak turun floor kain tu. Sudahnya kena tunggu kitaorang sampai 3 jam! Dah tidur dalam cab, pun kitaorang tak jumpa lagi jalan pulang. Apa dah jadi dengan kain 5 kodi aku? Entah..... nak hantar pergi jahit, tak hantar-hantar lagi. Sighhh

Check out hasil rampasan perang kitaorang. Siap kena panggil potter tolong angkat barang. Boot kereta tu penuh gila!

Then, on to more exciting activity iaitu memeriksa hasil rampasan perang

4. Makan - makan
Got the chance to try out places yang tak sempat nak try. Discovered a very interesting name for a kuih. Aku gelak non-stop. Ni la rupa kuih tu. Macam karipap-karipap cinta kan?

Cuba teka apa nama kuih.. or kue tu dari menu ni

Then kitaorang ada juga try Sundanese food. Ok la.. pedas campur manis-manis.

Nasi dia bungkus comel-comel macam ni

Pastu lauknya mix and match sesuka hati. Ni mix of tempe, ayam and tah apa lagi.

5. And... the mother of all highlights:

Sebelum aku cakap apa dia. Ini adalah sedikit nasihat dan juga peringatan untuk diri sendiri. Apabila anda dah shopping non stop dari pagi sampai petang, kalah orang menoreh, kalah orang bajak sawah, please take 5... if not take 30. Kerana apabila penat... jangan terkejut kalau ini berlaku

Ok gambar ni cilok from Facebook Rosli. But notice anything funny? Look closely on bahu Ija..tiba-tiba ada no 3... Percaya tak, dalam sibuk pilih-pilih baju, ada orang tu lupa nak bayar! O... M... G! None of us perasan till dah kuar dari kedai tu. Boleh tu ala-ala tak bersalah letak baju atas bahu... pastu jalan kuar selamba. Masa bayar tadi cashier tak perasan, masa keluar pak guard tak perasan. I suppose yang lagi kelakar ialah muka kitaorang yang panik. Aku dah terpikir yang worst je...ie kena tangkap plak masuk jail. Nasib selamat balik

To Rosli and Ija, I had a great time! Thanks for everything. Ke mana kita lepas ni? Jakarta or Surabaya? Apa-apa pun, tolonglah bantu kawan korang ni supaya jangan excess baggage lagi!!!

Anugerah Turun dari Langit Part III

2011-11-17T10:00:00.000+08:00

These are some of the pictures captured from the recent Raya Haji and Fasting month, when we were down in Batu Pahat. In no particular order...

1. Chicken Chop from Jeng Kuan

Kedai ni dah wujud since I was little. So is the Chicken Chop. Many eon years later, it's still taste the same. Muah!

2. Sirap Bandung from Mat Syah

Dah makan nasi beryani, kena minum air sirap bandung. 1 part sirap, 1 part susu cair and 1 part ice cream soda. Ice secukup rasa. Rasanya? Macam turun dari langit.

3. Nasi Ambeng Makcik kat Param Depan Kelab

Perghhhh. Terbaek wa cakap lu! Murah dan meriah pulak tu. Sadly, makcik ni kata next year dia tak nak berniaga dah. Dah tak larat. Oh makcik.. you will be missed :(.

4. Lontong Makcik kat Param Depan Kelab

Mutu dan keunggulannya sama dengan Nasi Ambeng tadi.

5. GP Jalan Zabedah

O.M.G - tiada kedapatan goreng pisang yang bertaraf lima bintang ini di mana-mana. Kena cecah dengan sambal kicap pulak... ....lost for words kejap.

6. Mee Rebus Pasar

Pasar ada banyak kedai. Hehehe ni kedai yang betul-betul sebelah kedai jual suratkhabar and magazine.

7. Satay Pasar

Ianya tak sedap. Ianya Sedap Gila Babas.

Uihh dah la... Kita simpan yang lain untuk masa lain pulak. Sekarang sudah lapar. Sendiri padan muka.

Fix You - Coldplay

2011-11-16T09:29:00.001+08:00

When you try your best, but you don't succeed
When you get what you want, but not what you need
When you feel so tired, but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse

And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone, but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

And high up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Tears stream down on your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down on your face
And I...

Tears stream down on your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down on your face
And I...

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Here I Go Again - Whitesnake Live in KL, Oct 30 2011

2011-11-15T13:00:00.000+08:00

Hmmm... almost the similar title as my first post back in 2008. Interesting. Anyway I'm talking about the song by Whitesnake. This was named as the one of the Top 10 Hair Metal Balad. Read more here. Well, lobes most of the song there, but currently this is my favorite.

So when I read that Whitesnake was coming to KL, hatiku gundah gulana. I don't want to miss the opportunity to catch them live performing this song, but gosh, I only know one song. Was it worth RM98?

Then, the news is out. Ella is going to open for them. Say whhhaaat? How can I miss this? But, still how am I going to survive the rest of the concert? I just want to see the opening act and the last song that they would be performing. Hahahhahah

Tiba-tiba menjelma cahya...aaaaaa. Ianya datang dalam bentuk SMS dari kakakku. 'Aku menang Whitesnake!' Yahooooooooooooooooooooo. Free tickets! I'm so there. Padahal demam and batuk kongkang tak baik lagi.

So instead of practising lagu Whitesnake, practise pulak lagu Ella. Hahahahahah. Macam nak exam, siap spot pulak lagu apa dia nak nyanyi. And guess what, tekaan ku tepat belaka. She opened with Nuri! Takpe ke, akak je yang excited tak tentu hala kat depan nyanyi lagu tu. Lepas tu dia nyanyi pulak Sembilu. Pastu tah lagu apa tak ingat, but she did sing Layar Impian. Takpe ke, orang kat depan stage tu macam blur je sape Ella. Aku je yang terkinja-kinja lebih. Tak pulak batuk?!

Oh did I mentioned that we got the most expensive ticket, which puts us right smack in front of the stage. In the 'mosh pit'. With the camera crane keep on whizzing above our heads. Hahahah. How are we going to last? The mosh pit was pretty empty. Hey the ticket cost RM358. So the organizer let everyone out on the mosh pit. Tiba-tiba tempat tadi yang penuh dengan pakcik-pakcik rock tua, dah penuh pulak dgn mamat-mamat rock yang suspiciously, tah mandi ke tak minggu ni.

Oh no..... but the band is about to start. So we stayed a while longer to see the band up close. Takpe ke.. dapat duduk depan Reb Beach. Whom to this point I have no idea who he is. He's the very jambu looking dude who by the end of the first song already had his shirt unbuttoned. And he's 47?!! We then went and sit at the empty seats further away from the stage. Kemah gagal.

But wow.. what can I say. Great concert are those that you could enjoy the songs together with a great crowd. This is one of it. I may not know the lyrics but their song sounds da bomb! The band was great. David Coverdale still sound awsome. Macam mana dia jaga suara. Whitesnake, if I'm not a fan before, I am now.

And finally, please rise for the moment that we have been waiting for. This will be my Get Psyched song to get me thru what's left of the year.

Here I Go Again

I don't know where I'm going, but I sure know where I've been

Hanging on the promises in the songs of yesterday
And I've made up my mind
I ain't wasting no more time
Here I go again, here I go again

Though I keep searching for an answer
I never seem to find what I'm looking for
Oh Lord, I pray you give me strength to carry on
'Cause I know what it means
To walk along the lonely street of dreams

Here I go again on my own
Going down the only road I've ever known
Like a drifter, I was born to walk alone
And I've made up my mind
I ain't wasting no more time

I'm just another heart in need of rescue
Waiting on love's sweet charity
And I'm gonna hold on for the rest of my days

'Cause I know what it means
To walk along the lonely street of dreams
And here I go again on my own
Going down the only road I've ever known
Like a drifter, I was born to walk alone

And I've made up my mind
I ain't wasting no more time

But here I go again, here I go again
Here I go again, here I go

'Cause I know what it means
To walk along the lonely street of dreams

And here I go again on my own
Going down the only road I've ever known
Like a drifter, I was born to walk alone
And I've made up my mind
I ain't wasting no more time

And here I go again on my own
Going down the only road I've ever known
Like a drifter, I was born to walk alone
'Cause I know what it means
To walk along the lonely street of dreams

And here I go again on my own
Going down the only road I've ever known
Like a drifter, I was born to walk alone

But Darling I'll Keep The Key... Retrolicious Oct 8, 2011

2011-11-14T10:00:00.000+08:00

Just leave a light on for me!

And cue: Screaaaaammmmmmm.

Yes, I'm back for the Class 95 fm Retrolicious Concert. Last year was Debbie Gibson and Rick Astley. This year, featuring Human League, Belinda Carlisle and Bananarama. Wheeeee.

Lo and behold, I owned a Belinda Carlisle CD. (I believe I 'got' this from Ngantukalways who is still pissy because I went to see Belinda and she's still pondering why she didn't just come along. For the record, aku dah bagitahu dia sebulan sebelum itu ok). So the whole month, I have been driving to work listening to the CD start to end. I am ready!

As usual, we took the bus to Fort Canning. It was less than 10 minutes ride from our hotel near Bugis Juction. (More details on the trip in other post). We got a slide pack, info pack whatever you want to call it from the organizer, a few days before. Hebat tak hebat. They did learn from last year so now there's a few more entrance being put in place. We didn't want to come too early in order to avoid the long queue.

So when we arrived, yeay no queue. But still W.T.F, they had cordone off the area around the entrance. The way in, was way up the hill in the dark! Grrrrr. Apa-apa je la. Janji boleh masuk. There you go, the place is already packed! So we made our way through the crowd and decided to stand at the edge of the stairs. Then.... we notice that there's an empty spot near the so called VIP tents. We forged our way thru... and hell yes, paradise! The place is quite deserted. We get to sit near this group of people who has obviously brought a 'picnic basket' (thought it was not allowed). Keyword here is SIT! And since the place is on the top of the hill, we got the best view as well. Ho ho ho...

So guess what, all thru Human League performace, we get to lazed around on the grass ala woodstock gitu. Hahahah. Sepatah lagu pun tak tau kecuali 'don't... don't you want me?'..err no I don't

Then everyone was up on their feet for Belinda. Termasuk la aku. Yang menyanyi macam orang gila. Hey this after all, a very expensive Karaoke session. There were a few interesting groups around us. One was wearing 80s clothes that is 3 sizes too small for them. Then there's a group that can't stop taking photos. Then there's a group that was super excited to scream out the chorus to Summer Rain. Somehow they got me hooked as well

Oh my love it's you that I dream of

Oh my love since that day

Somewhere in my heart I'm always

Dancing with you in the summer rain

Doesn't matter what I do now

Doesn't matter what I say

Somwhere in my heart I'm always

Dancing with you in the summer rain

Then the highlight of the show - Bananarama. But I don't really know their song except Love In The First Degree. I watched Bananarama in those 'prison' garb over and over again on MTV when I was in primary school. We left before the encore. Great that we did, coz with less people on the street, it's easier for us to grab a cab. Dah expert sket compared to last year.

Will I be back next year? We have to wait and see :)

Kumpulan Gagak Hitam

2011-11-13T16:56:00.001+08:00

Dulu kan ada cerita famous yang ada ketua budak motor nama Farouk. Kumpulannya nama Kumpulan Gagak Hitam. Mungkin kalau ada version kumpulan tu skang, ni la rupanya

Tak sangka dulu Kumpulan Gagak Hitam adalah bekas Kumpulan Gigi Gongak. Heheheh termasuk la Tok Ayah! (Who's 74th Birthday is this month)

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH... (especially yang si cheeky bear yang highligted below)

It's Not Over Tonite - Maroon 5 in KL, 29 April 2011

2011-11-11T23:11:00.000+08:00

Just give me one more chance to make it right
I may not make it through the night
I won't go home without you

It's official! My new favorite Maroon 5 song is Won't Go Home Without You. It used to be She Will Be Loved. I got hooked watching Kelly Preston in that video clip.

Right the concert itself...hmmm. Maybe it started off on the wrong foot with me. There was a mile long queue going into the venue. The concert should start at 9 but by 9.15 I was still outside. W.T.F? Right the stadium has at least 50 assortment of entrances including the emergency entrace and the countless window. But no, the organizer decided that it will be far more interesting to just open 2 entrance. And stationed approximately 2 people each at the entrace. 1 person to check your ticket and the other to check your bag.

Bayangkan blood pressure aku masa tu. Brother jaga pintu tu pun kena la sedas dua tembakan. "Berdua aje keje? Kenapa dua? Lain kali letak sorang ni aje. Kitaorg ni datang bukan nak tengok consert, saje suka-suka nak beratur ramai2".

Right perhaps I didn't get the memo. The concert it not start for another half an hour. Well maybe my facts and timing here are wrong, but boy it felt like eternity! Eternity bukan macam perfume. Eternity bukan macam lagu Robbie Williams. Eternity macam Infinity!

Once the concert start, dah gelap pulak. Ramai lagi yang takde seat, so kena la duduk kat tangga. Dah la steep gila seat yang murahan ni. Asal tak jatuh udah la.

Anyhoo, Maroon 5 kicked the night off with Misery and a bunch of songs that I'm not familiar with. Bangsa yang tahu chorus aje. Tapi layan tetap layan. Half way mengantuk pulak :) Ok.. I'm a fan.. but not that big fan. Okkkk... I didn't do my homework. M&M Biru mesti hangin dengan statement ni.. sebab dia nak pergi tak dapat dibenarkan oleh Ketua Warden. Heheheheh

The sound system was not that good though. Or maybe the place that I'm sitting is just not the sweet spot. But the recording that I got on my mobile wasn't that bad. Still managed to get a passable quality of recording consisting of Adam's voice, the girls next to me singing and me screaming.... to Sunday Morning.

That may be all I need
In darkness she is all I see
Come and rest your bones with me
Driving slow on Sunday morning
And I never want to leave

I will definitely be back if Maroon 5 ever in KL again. This time, we will move like Jagger? No?

I Went to Justin Bieber's Concert (there.. I put it in print)

2011-10-02T00:04:00.009+08:00

Wow! I didn't blog anything in September? Punya la pemalas.

Well 2 of the 3 arnab celebrated their birthday in September. Sorang lagi in August. Happy Birthday! They got their birthday present way earlier. In April. When Justin Biebs was in town with Selena Gomez in tow.

Yes, I took the whole gang to the concert. Unfortunately Hamstead can't join because he has to stay in the hostel. We fetch the girls from Seremban, having had permission to ditch school. Dah la pergi konsert, cabut sekolah lagi. What a good example I'm showing. But this is one chance in a live time. Lepas ni Justin Biebs dah tak nak datang Malaysia... or dah tak famous dah.

We took the LRT to Stadium Negara. The whole place is already packed. Nasib hujan petang tu dah berhenti. The stage is miles away. Takde apa pun yang nampak. Amira words was.. "Kalau la kita dapat duduk kat depan sekali tu (the mosh pit in front of the stage that is packed with what looks like 500 thousands screaming girls)... tak tau macam mana nak cakap. Kita NAAKKK duduk kat depan situ". My thot was 1) Busuknya nak duduk ramai macam tu 2) Nanti tak boleh nak bernafas 3) Nanti pengsan 4) Tak kuasa nak berdiri. I'm happy where I am.

The concert started lambat sket. After Mizz Nina get the crowd going, Bieber masih tak muncul. Tapi the DJ managed to get the crowd pumped up. I don't know should I say I'm happy.. or worried that Malaysian teenagers really know how to party. Party terkawal la. At least they get to let off some steam and have fun. Even the parents pun aku tengok sama naik. Pantang DJ tu cakap apa, all I can hear is SCREAM, SCREAMMM, SCREAAMMMMMMM and SCREAM some more. Sometimes I joined in. Which is exhilarating. Harap takde siapa la pulak yang kena histeria malam tu.

Finally Justin came out. SCREAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. I have no idea what song he was singing, tapi some of it is pretty familiar. Mesti selalu on air. I keep on asking Anis ni lagu apa. Amira langsung tak boleh ditanya sebab she's either screaming, singing or in a state of disbelieve. I must say... best jugak lagu2 si Bieber ni. Ada sape-sape nak belikan saya pulak birthday present CD Justin Biebs? If the night is not on the scale of 10 yet, keluar pulak Joel Madden from Good Charlotte. Whaaatttt??? And towards the end of the concert, Justin jump down to meet the fans and get mobbed by the crowd.. or 16 year old girls. Perhaps as an apology for saying 'Hello Manila" at the begining of the concert? Hahahahahahah

The next day, internet war started between the fans from the neigbouring countries. Katanya, concert kat negara mana yang lagi best. Hahaha. The Hollywood observer made a remark that Justin was seen happiest in KL... sbb the girlfriend was in the house. Adooii lawak.

But I must say, this is one of the best concert that I have been to this year. I am now a Beliebers? (whatever that means). The next day, Amira spent 20 minutes on the phone convicing her friend that she saw Bieber last night. Hahaha.

London Trip, 2011 - Part 5

2011-08-27T01:31:00.010+08:00

We sign up for a full day tour. We bought the tour package from AirAsia (aparently mcm lagi murah dari site lain), while we were in KL. We will be visiting Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Oxford. The gathering point is at a bus station. We went out bright and early fearing that we will be left out again. Haha lucky we were early, because somehow we managed to get off at the wrong tube station and had to walk a good 15 minutes before finding the bus station.

Right, the tour counter is still closed. So we went to buy some snacks at the convenient shop. Snack apa nya. It's a spinach and cheese samosa, and lamb samosa. Pagi buta belasah makan merepek meraban. Tapi sedapnya, tak boleh nak cakap.

Here comes the bus. It was packed, but we managed to grab the seats up front. Bukan la nak dengar sgt apa tour guide tu cakap, just that supaya boleh turun naik cepat sket. Hmm, what was the tour guide's name. Was it Mike? Why do I think he was Paul? Ok let's just call him Mike. It takes about 45 minutes to get to Windsor, so apa lagi.... zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle ni rupanya dekat dengan Eton. Agaknya dulu bila bosan2 weekend, Wills and Harry dapat la fly kejap.. balik rumah Tok depa. The bus parked far away, so we had to walk a bit. Huffing and puffing, akhirnya sampai. When we got off the bus we were right in front of the pack, tapi bila sampai kat entrance of the castle, as usual jadi yang last sekali. Even nenek2 tua dalam group tu pun dah sampai dulu. Damn, we are so not fit!

At Windsor, we get to round the ground a bit and then get into the State Apartment and also take a quick look at the Queen Mary's Doll House collection. The Doll House was eerie yet fascinating. It's an actual working house siap electricity and plumbing, besar gila! All the artwork in the house (though a miniture) are actual art work contributed by real artist. Buku pun dijadikan miniture. Since we're not able to take any photos, check out here for more info.

Next the State Apartments. It consists of rooms and rooms of many splendour items. Some of the rooms are still used for official functions to this day. There's lot of paintings and deco and furniture for you to get your self lost into. Thru out the walkabout, you are given an audio guide. So you can have everything explained to you at your own pace. Tapinya.. kitaorang ni jalan laju aje. Audio tu baru explain item no 13, kitaorg dah sampai 15. Apakah.

Windsor aslo has Changing of the Guard ceremony. Dang! Kalau tahu, tak payah bersusah payah nak tengok kat Buckingham Palace. There's also St George Chapel that we can visit, tapi macam malas nak masuk. We were stucked watching the guards again, when we itching to get into the giftshops.

I just wish that we had more time to berangan inside the Castle. Unfortunately, the tour is on tight schedule. Tour guide tu sangat garang ok. Their main concern is that if we are late and get stuck in traffic, the driver might have to work longer that he should (a concept that is totally lost on a Malaysian). So we had to rush off.

If you have a day to spare when you are in London, do not miss visiting it!

Stonehenge

Burial ground? Worship ground? Alien Landing Area? It's fascinating because no one knew who brought these kick ass stone and arranged it in a circular pattern in the middle of flat, Salisbury Plain. No one knew why either.

When we arrived there, my first thot was, enghh ni aje? Tak besar pun. My second thought was, Tipah Tertipu. We paid 10 pounds? 6 pounds? To enter the gated area where the stones are. Believe me it looks the same near or far. If you can, give this place a miss. Or if it's part of the tour, just hang around the giftshop. I know this is one of the World Heritage Sites, but really.. it's just a set of old looking stone. I was more intrigued with the hundreds of sheeps grazing the grass nearby.

Oxford

Off to Oxford City. Where the Oxford University is. Where everyone cycle to class?
The city (which look like a town to me) is made of hundreds of colleges. It also has a lot of intersting architectural building including the Radcliffe Camera (picture below). Which is actually a library, a circular library. Didn't get the chance to go in though.

There was a lot of restoration work on going. Even the cobbled street is being repaired. Kinda of lost it's rustic musty feel I must say. I didn't get much from the tour in Oxford, but you do get the wee bit feel of student life there.. I And yes, I bought the t-shirt as well! Hahahaha.

We arrived back in London sometime after 6pm. The tour dropped us off near Paddington Station. Jalan kaki je la balik hotel. But not before tapau something for dinner. We discovered that there's this halal Turkish shop nearby that sells lamb chop and kebab and what not for just 3.99 pounds. Whaaa.... kalau tau, hari2 aku mencekik kat sini.

Malam operasi pack barang yang patutnya masuk kontena rather than suitcase. Tomorrow, we are off to Paris! Yipeee.

London Trip, 2011 - Part 4

2011-08-14T18:27:00.005+08:00

Hari ni nothing but shopping till you drop in the agenda. We book ourselves a seat on the Shopping Express to Bicester Village. Outlet shops in the town or village of Bicester.

There was a pick up from a hotel a few doors from us. So we waited at the lobby of Styotel in Sussex Garden for the pick up. The pick up was slightly late, but all is good. We arrived were briefed that once we arrived at the tour office we were suppose to join the queue for the tour that we are on. When we reached there, that's what we did. I saw the black bus parked on the road side but think nothing of it. I suppose they want to check our booking first before they let us board the bus. There was a another Malaysian family with us in the queue.

The bus was suppose to depart at 8.30. We were there around 8.15. Come 8.30, we are still standing there macam stupid fools. Guess what? The bus left us. No one ever came to fetch us from the queue. WHAATTTT. We went to ask the office and they were asking where were we? We were here damn it. No one told us to board the bus straight. The guy told us to go to the queue. Bloody hell!

Arghhh... argue argue argue.. the guy at the counter suggest that we take a cab and catch the bus at it's last stop (one of the hotels) before it left London. We said no and opt for refund instead. The other family said that they will try to catch the bus.

So what now? We said heck with it, we will try to catch the train to get to Bicester. The Chiltern Railways operates from London Marylebone station. So back to the tube off to Marylebone. Sigghhh... this is time wasted already. For the name of adventure (and shopping), why not? Once reached the station, we went to the information counter to check which stop to take to go to the outlet shops. Hahahahahah. We get a lot of confused look. Here's why, Bicester is pronounced 'Byster' and not 'By-ches-ter'. Leicester is 'Lester' and not 'Laicester'.
So people next time, if you want to ask for direction, just write the address down and show it.

Right all that sorted out. Yikes. The train cost a bomb. More expensive that the Express Bus that we ditch. Tak kisah la. Marah punya pasal. Hehehehe. The train ride takes about 1 hour or so, so there's time to relax and enjoy the scenic view. Good thing about the train is that the ticket for the shuttle to take you to Bicester Village is included as well.

Finally we're there! Let the shopping begin. So where to first? We went into Burberry sebab berangan nak beli coat macam Emma Watson. Hahahha. Nasib takde size. Kalau tak.... My sister bought a wallet there. Then, masuk Tods plak. Oh no... the wallet that I want takde plak. Tapi beli jugak wallet kat situ. Then we went to Clarks. Macam orang gila beli kasut! Never trust yourself in a store that provide shopping basket as soon as you enter it. After that bosan dah. The rest of the shops macam tak menarik sangat. There's a lot of branded shops there tapi barangnya tak best sangat. Pun begitu berguni jugak la nak pikul lepas tu.

Kitaorang jumpa balik Malaysian yang nasib sama tertinggal bas dengan kitaorg pagi tadi. Gelak2 je kitaorg. Nasib kitaorg naik train. Boleh la balik sesuka hati. It is more expensive if you take the bus, but you will need to wait till 4pm to get back. So if dah takde barang nak beli, nganga la situ sampai ptg. Plus, I don't think there's halal food there. So better prepare a light lunch if you are planning to go there. Kitaorang as usual, bila dah shopping memang tak ingat makan! Hahahah.

Reached London and went back to the hotel to ditch all of our stuff. Lepas tu keluar lagi. Shopping lagi. This time at Primark Oxford Street. This place is like Mydin. Ok la.. maybe slightly better than Mydin. But the clothes are cheap. CHEAP! I bought a pant suit for only 30 pound. Tah nak pakai kat mana. Tapi sebab cantik and murah punya pasal. The place is packed to the brim. Nak try baju? Forget it. Just know your size and hope for the best. Orang punya ramai, aku sampai berpeluh! Padahal kat luar sejuk. By the time we got out dah gelap! Hahahah tapi puas hati!

That night we had curry for dinner. Went to the small restaurant nearby. Ada sticker London Curry Club. Should be good. Punya la penuh tempat tu, meja rapat2. Nak duduk, kena tarik meja sebab there's no space to move around. At first, we were seated on the first floor, then waiter yang gila tu, ask us to eat downstairs pulak, near the kitchen. Whatever la asal dapat makan. Finally the food is here. SEDAP GILA! Enough said. I don't think I even had time to snap any pictures sebab dah kebuluran sangat.

Hearts Breaking Even - Bon Jovi

2011-07-28T22:49:00.004+08:00

It's been a cold, cold, cold, cold night tonight
And I can't get you off my mind
God knows I've tried
Did I throw away the best part of my life
When I cut you off, did I cut myself with the same damn knife
Hide my tears in the pouring rain, had my share of hurt and pain
Don't say my name, run away, cause it's all in vain

My heart's breaking even, now there's no use we even try
Hey I cried, Yeah I lied, Hell I almost died
Both got our reasons, let's just fold the cards and say good-bye
It's all right, just two hearts breaking even tonight

It's been a long, long, long, long, long time
Since I've had your love here in my hands
We didn't understand it, we couldn't understand it
But, nothing's fair in love and hate
You lay it all down and walk away , before it's too late
We danced all night as the music played
The sheets got tangled in the mess we made
There in the stains , we remain,
No one left to blame

My heart's breaking even, now there's no use we even try
Hey I cried, Yeah I lied, Hell I almost died
Both got our reasons, let's just fold the cards and say good-bye
It's all right, just two hearts breaking even tonight

Go on, get on with your life, Yeah - I'll get on with mine
Broken hearts can't call the cops, yeah it's the perfect crime
Twisting and turning the night keeps me yearning
I'm burning alive
I'm paying the price again
But I'll see the light again

My heart's breaking even, now there's no use we even try
Hey I cried, Yeah I lied, Hell I almost died
Both got our reasons, let's just fold the cards and say good-bye
It's alright, just two hearts breaking even tonight

yeah
yeah

Oh I'm going, gonna walk out the door
Saying you don't care for me anymore
That's alright, just two hearts breaking even tonight

I feel like singing this song after Harimau Malaya's elimination from the World Cup 2014 qualifier by the old lions. Harimau Malaya, all I can say is work harder next time. And I salute the Malaysian Goalkeeper.(Apek pakai jersey hijau macam Green Lantern la!)

Although we’ve come to the end of the road...

2011-07-26T10:43:00.010+08:00

Who did not get teary eyed during the final installment of Harry Potter's and the Deathly Hollows? Ok most probably a lot of people, but not me. Of course we have read the final book long before the final wave goodbye from Harry, Ron and Hermoine at platform 9 3/4, but still... I can't help feeling sad? Hmm what's the word for it? Sayu? Touched, perhaps. Just look at how much they have grown up.

I managed to sneak in a visit to platform 9 3/4 at King Cross while in London. Actually this is not the original wall in the movie, just a mock up. Heheh tak kisah nak jugak posing. Hoping that it will take us a step closer to Hogwarts.

Also, while visiting Oxford, the tour guide pointed out the 'thunder bolt' mark on the pavements around the town. It was rumored that the author got the idea from here, to put the famous mark on the forehead of the boy who survived the dark lord. Cool eh?

Hoo boy.. I have to say it's one of the best pop culture ever! 7 books that changed our lives. I bought my first book at a mall in Kuching and I bought my last one at Tesco (yes Tesco) at 7am in the morning. This was after the war of who gets to get the book first. Frenzy madness! I think one of my friend finished the whole book in one night.

My favourite book? I love those with simpler tones. I hate it when the storyline gets too twisted and Harry got too serious. The first book really opened a new world to me. Just as Enid Blyton had trigger the inner detective in me with Famous Five, JK Rowling had enchanted me with the Magical World. The brilliance of it is simply mind blowing! I want to say I love the one with the Tri-Wizard Tournament, but the ending was very dark and sad. Well... not that sad if we think that the bloke who was killed at the end of the movie went to become a major hearthrob in a another franchise.

Favorite Character? It has to be Ron and Hermoine. I'm actually bored with Harry's character. Hehehehe. Pun begitu, if you read the book and watch the movie, I have to say hands down, the casting of each and every character is perfect to the tee. Anyway, I think these two, Ron and Hermoine is adorable together. (Least to say about Harry and Ron's sister whom I don't care that I don't recall her name now :P)

Favorite Spell? I lobes the Confundus spell. It makes people confuse! I could use this whenever I'm a tough spot. Another close favorite is Accio. It's the spell that could summond or bring things to you. Very useful to fetch a glass of water while watching tv or for finding the missing remote. Read more spells here

Favorite Professor? Hmmm.... Maybe Lupin because he's class seems to be the most useful. And I thought McCounagall is pretty cool as well.

Favorite Supporting Character? Who did not love the twins? I kinda like Luna Lovegood as well. Somehow she's less anonnying than the others.

Favorite Villan? Can I say Nagini, the snake because it freaks me out the most? Hehehe nah.. I think I will give this one to the accentric Bellatrix Lestrange. Even her name sounds exotic.

Favorite 'transformed' character? Hello, Mr Neville Longbottom. Kudos for standing up to the enemy and destroying the last hocrux. But come on... check out the pictures below. Enough said.

As for you three, thank you for the great adventure! You will be missed

London Trip, 2011 - Part 3

2011-07-11T07:55:00.014+08:00

1. Today we started of at the London Bridge. We got out of the tube near the Tower of London. Didn't go there though. Tower of London is where the Crown Jewel is kept. Also a world heritage site i.e: ada entrance fee nak masuk, i.e: tak masuk le. Before walking down the bridge, we bought postcard to sent back to Malaysia. We mailed it at the post box at the foot of the bridge. Sampai jugak postcard. Very refreshing walk... until we met a couple in the middle of the bridge that wanted us to take their picture. After that, my sister suddenly realizes that she had lost her glove. Hahahha the whole day dia kata couple tu yg try nak cilok barang dia.

2. Next on the agenda was supposed to be London's Tate Modern. We took a bus that actually pass thru the London Dungeon and London's Eye. Snap photos from the bus je la. As usual, we missed the stop. The sign said Tate Modern with an arrow pointing straight ahead. Ingatkan the next stop, rupanya tidak. Maka pusing2 la naik bus. We ended up at Covent Garden. Ada market selling knick knack paddy whack and fruits and stuff. Nature calls pulak. Nasib ada toilet. My sister went and bought a box of strawberry's for 1 pound. Sedap gila. Makan banyak lagi kang nak pi toilet la pulak.
So where to next? Malas pulak nak patah balik cari Tate Modern tadi. My sister suggest that we should check out Traffalgar Square during the day plak. Plus there's art musuem there as well. Tetiba ternampak pulak ada M&S kat situ, and I said NO! Or else we wll never finish the sight seeing.

3. We went into the National Portrait Gallery next. Partly sebab nak terkench lagi. But suddenly rasa macam best pulak. We sort of skip thru the place sebab bukan kenal sangat pun tah sape-sape orang-orang tu. The building was old yet very beautiful. Aku macam mesmerized kejap. Of course we spend more time at the gift shop other than any place kan. Tapi terasa la macam cultured campur ala-ala poyo kejap.

4. Next to the place is the National Gallery, London. If the Portrait Gallery had me charmed, yang ni totally blew me away! Terubat frust tak jumpa Tate Modern tadi. I shall blog separately about this. Seriously best gila! I could spend months in there (which is bull... but I will tell you about it later). The best part it's free! Those who plan to come to London, should stop by here. I have to say this place is one of the highlights of my holiday. Writing about it brings me back fond memories... sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

5. Sekarang sudah lapar. And we don't know where else to go but Jom Makan which is just next door to the gallery. How cool is that. Siap ada lunch buffet for 6.50 pound per person. Apa lagi. Mari melantak kawan-kawan!

6. Lepas tu, we walked to Trafalgar Square again. Dekat je. Nak ambik gambar dengan singa time terang plak. Ni la hasilnya attempt kitaorang nak masukkan singa and muka kitaorg berdua jugak. Jeles aku budak kecik tu dapat duduk dgn singa tu. Nak panjat tak larat!

7. Lepas tu it was back to Oxford Street to pay real homage to M&S. Shop till kedai tutup. Kejayaan hari ini ialah light coat yang super cool. Boleh la melaram esok. Punya la penat. Nasib ada cafe yang boleh duduk lepak. Sempat plak belasah hot chocolate yang sangat lazat penuh berkrim. And it comes with this super sweet thing call biscuit Curls (the brown thingy on the saucer). Deep it in...Sadap wa cakap lu.

8. That night, we went to try the nearby Fish and Chips. Fish and Chips yang dimasak oleh bangla. Hahaha. Besar gedabak portion dia. Yang aku punya tu macam sekor ikan. Terpengsan nak habiskan.

Blues at The Bridge!

2011-07-03T23:06:00.012+08:00

Let the pictures do the talking:

Outside the stadium compound. Managed to get a tour in. The next day is a match with Man City and Chelsea won!

Leading to the musuem

Get to take a peek into the press room

The changing room is pretty bare. Hmm...

My favorite, the walk out to the pitch. Siap ada bunyi crowd tu.

This is the sight that greet us outside the tunnel. Wuhooo!

Where the special one use to sit ;)

Me, all smiley

Shed End, entrace for the visiting team supporters.

May Chelsea will be Champions again!

London Trip, 2011 - Part 2

2011-07-03T16:03:00.009+08:00

London - Day 2

1. First stop today is Big Ben. Which is the clock tower at the Palace of Westminster which is also known as House of Parliament, along the River of Thames. We got out from the tube a little bit disoriented and looked around wondering where the heck we were. La rupanya dah sampai at Big Ben. Hahahah. We caught the clock chiming at 9am. Apa lagi, posing time.

2. 300 shots later, we made our way to Westminster Abbey where the Royal wedding took place. Dekat aje tapi kitaorg pusing-pusing sebab confuse tengok map. If masuk Amazing Race, definitely the first team to get kicked out.

3. 500 shots and counting, we walked towards Buckhingham Palace. Thru St. James Park. Konon nak menikmati the blooming flowers, instead we walked on the outside sebab the park is full of dogs. Finally reached the Palace and book a spot for the changing of the guards. Punyalah ramai orang. We found ourselves facing the main gate at the center and we are at the front. This doesn't happen often. Selalunya gagal la kan. OMG... memang nak give up dah pun. We stood there for 2 hours! Rupanya start around 12 mcm tu. Nak pengsan ok. Dah la tak makan.

And guess what, the ceremony took place in the palace compound, behind the gate. Tak nampak apa pun. Dapat la tengok guards marched in and out aje. Pastu ada la policeman yang patroling around the crowd blocking the view. Cist kau, Mr Plod. But he did gave everyone reminders about pick pockets. Aku pun dah boleh hafal line dia. That's how long we were there.

Finally it's showtime! I set my DSLR on multiple shot mode. Kalah paparazi. Tah berapa juta frame aku shoot kat situ aje. Memang la takde apa sangat benda tu. But if you are ever in London, do catch it once. Kalau orang tanya, boleh la cakap dah pernah pergi. The guard wore grey due to the cold weather. The red ones are for summer.

4. Arghh finally that was over. We rushed off to Chelsea sebab dah book tour. Hehe. This will be a posting on it's own. Can't believed that I actually made it to Stamfod Brigde.

5. After Chelsea, it was almost 5 kot. Still tak makan. I managed to grab some chunky fries or they call it chips while my sister went to kench. We don't want to get on the tube since it's tiring to go down the staircases. So opted to take a bus. Best siot! We sat on the top deck, camera ready. Nasib we got on the right direction. The bus pass thru the uber glam Chelsea/ Kensington area..berangan lagi. Then passed the Victoria and Albert musuem..."eh I want to go there tapi dah terlepas.." then the bus made a turn and up ahead is... Harrods. Turun turun. Nasib sempat.... but only to find it packed with human from every nook of the planet. Ramai gila. Tak larat nak tengok semua benda. Kat 1st floor lagi dah gagal. Tapi sempat la beli magnet. Hehehe.

6. Then we hop on the same number bus again. Heading towards Oxford Circus. Next on agenda is to visit this sports outlet at Oxford Circus, namanya Lilywhites. Sungguh suci nama itu. Suci dan tenang. NOT! It's a 6 floor crippling madness! Ok cripple part tu ialah aku. Nak tau rasanya macam mana? Challenge yourselves climbing 6 sets of staircases, carrying loads of stuff (including the 3 big bags that you just pull out from Chelsea Megastore), while holding your pee and being hungry at the same time. Tadi eksyen tak nak kencing.

Only with the last burst of adrenalin and a fleeting courage from my shopping demon that I managed to pull this thru. Serious macam nak kena renal failure. Kononnya nak beli jersey and cari running spike. Of course it had to be on the top floor la kan. Pastu stress sebab banyak sangat barang-barang best tapi aku tak berdaya nak tengok. Bila bercakap dgn orang pun aku dah memang menjerit-jerit macam orang gila (sebenarnya nak tahan kencing and tempat ni takde toilet!). Lagi gila bila kakak aku sibuk pulak nak beli boots (yang OMYGOD kat Malaysia pun dia dah ada, tapi haram tak pakai). Tah boots tu pun nak pakai pergi mana lepas ni. GRRRRRRRRRRRRR... nasib ada tempat nak duduk. Pergi la cari boot ke terompah ke capal ke apa tah yang dia nak beli.

Bior menyosal boli jangan menyosal tak boli!

7. When we got out, dah gelap dah. Dapat la ambik gambar kat Oxford Circus. Pastu ingat nak tengok West End show tapi dah lambat sangat plak. So kitaorg pun jalan la thru the west end area.. ingat nak cari bas nak balik... 30 mins later, we found ourselves outside this restaurant that says 'Jom Makan'. Allah telah memperkenankan doa aku. It's a Malaysian restaurant! Yipee. Next to the National Art Gallery. Tah sape la ownernya. Dapat la duduk dengan tenang. And yang paling penting, never in my life, I'm so thrill to find a toilet! It's warm and cosy!!! Hahahahah. Setelah menunaikan hajat, makan pulak beryani lamb, baru la batery recharged!

8. Jalan pulak ke Trafalgar Square and photo ops with the huge Lion Statue. Semua orang macam fit gila boleh panjat naik statue tu. Aku nak jalan pun tak larat, sorry la nak panjat memanjat ye. Gambar rupa macam haram sebab gelap.

9.ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....................

London Trip, 2011 - Part 1

2011-06-27T21:37:00.007+08:00

London - Day 1.

Arrived in London in the afternoon. Took the train with our big ass luggage in tow. I shall not bore you on the details of lugging the luggage around the many many staircases in the depths of London. Suffice to say, aku macam borderline nak nangis dan menyesal bawak barang banyak.

First nak kena check in hotel dulu. We booked ourselves into one of the cheap bed and breakfast along terrace. We got down at Paddington station. Looks easy eh. Not when u discovered that there's 5 different exit to choose from. Once on the street level, we lost of bearing totally. The 10 minutes walk jadi 20 minutes walk. And it was drizzling. Grrr.

Finally we arrived at the hotel. When I say hotel I meant the cupboard under the stairs. We were first offerred a 'super nice' room at the top floor. You will love it (my ass!). Top floor = attic. Top floor = climbing endless staircases. Ya rabbi, staircase punya la curam and sempit. Ingat one flight je. Dah sampai the first landing, eh tak naik lagi.. dan lagi.. dan lagi. Till dah naik tangga yg kecik aje mcm nak masuk reban ayam pulak. Setibanya di puncak gunung everest itu, si mamat penjaga hotel serta merta dianugerahkan darjah kebesaran pulau keb*b**n. Kerana statement2 dia yang sangat cheebs. 1. "I can see that you are going to have problem climbing up the stairs" (he said that to my huffing and puffing face!)
2. Masa nak turun, boleh dia cakap dengan aku, "Excuse, can I go first...". Dah la tangga tu muat aku je. Nak pulak dia menyelit. Nasib aku tak tolak dia ke bawah. Or worst aku pulak yang tergolek 3 tingkat ke bawah.

So we settled with the small room on the same floor as the lobby. Small as in kena take turn nak bukak luggage masing-masing. Small as in nak pergi toilet, sorang kena lompat duduk atas katil for the other to manuver jalan macam ketam nak bergerak. Small as in.. oh well you get the drift. Come and think of it (if nak kira exchange rate), itulah hotel paling mahal pernah aku bayar dlm sejarah kehidupan. If I pay that kind of money elsewhere ie kat Msia, aku dapat duduk 2 bilik agaknya. Satu bilik khas utk aku berak and satu lagi khas untuk aku tido.

But the Paddington area is great. Senang nak cari halal food. We had curry and fish and chips. Even found a fast food shop that serves rice and lamb chop. Nasib tak jumpa the shop earlier. If tak mati aku hari2 belasah lamb aje. Also tempat tu rupanya dekat dengan Imperial College London as well as St Mary Hospital. Tempat Prince Wills beranak dulu. Pagi-pagi jalan kat area tu nice la with the flowers blooming. Berangan jangan tak berangan.

Right settled check in. Now what? Kakak aku yang bawak everything but the kitchen sink nak beli jacket pulak. Though so plan for shopping today, that's exactly what we did. Dari Marks and Spencer ke Gap ke tah apa benda lagi. Aku macam terpegun kejap menengok Food Market kat M&S. They have chocolate popcorn! And raspberry 2 box for 1 pound. Assortment of biscuits. And did I mentioned chocolate popcorn? It was raining the whole evening that day. So all sight seeing went out the window. Balik room terus terbongkang.

Itu Patutnya Saya (heheh)

2011-06-19T12:14:00.002+08:00

This just in. I like this song very much. I'm now a teen bopper fan. This is a mindless entry.

That Should Be Me - Justin Bieber/ Rascal Flatts

Everybody's laughing in my mind
Rumors spreading 'bout this other guy

Do you do what you did, what you did with me?
Does he love you the way I can?
Did you forget all the plans that you made with me?
'Cause baby, I didn't

That should be me holding your hand
That should be me making you laugh
That should be me, this is so sad
That should be me, that should be me

That should be me feeling your kiss
That should be me buying you gifts
This is so wrong, I can't go on
'Til you believe that that should be me
That should be me

You said you needed a little time for my mistakes
It's funny how you use that time to have me replaced
Did you think that I wouldn't see you out at the movies?
Whatcha doing to me?

You're taken' him where we used to go
Now if you're trying to break my heart
It's working 'cause you know

That, that should be me holding your hand
That should be me making you laugh
That should be me, this is so sad
That should be me, that should be me

That should be me feeling your kiss
That should be me buying you gifts
This is so wrong, I can't go on
'Til you believe that should be me

I need to know should I fight for our love or disown?
It's getting harder to shield this pain in my heart, ooh

That should be me holding your hand
That should be me making you laugh
That should be me, this is so sad
That should be me, that should be me

That should be me feeling your kiss
That should be me buying you gifts
This is so wrong, I can't go on
'Til you believe that that should be me, ooh

Holding your hand, that should be me
The one making you laugh, oh baby
Oh, that should be me, yeah

That should be me, giving you flowers
That should be me, talking for hours
That should be me, that should be me
That should be me

Never should've let you go
I never should've let you go
That should be me
Never should've let you go
That should be me

Never should've let you go
Never should've let you go
That should be me

I dedicate the song to the following. Hahaha.

33rd time's the charm!

2011-06-02T07:58:00.003+08:00

2011, Birthday no 33. Looks pretty cool, but celebration is kept at bay (at least till the weekend heheh). Then again it's still 8am :P. Bercakap macam all birthdays were celebrated like Sweet16 on MTV. Hahahah. It's just like any other day I suppose.

Do you still remember all of your birthdays all these years? Where you were, what you did, what you ate, who you celebrated with, yada yada yada... I can't even remember my birthday last year. Had to look it up my own blog. Ohhh rupanya aku kat Qatar. Now I remember, I went for a shopping spree at BHS. Heheheh. So walaupun malas, I shall write something in the blog about my birthday this year... as a reminder for next year.

So what words of wisdom shall I part for my 34th year predecessor?

Well, dear future me, please remember to drink loads of water, cut your credit card spending, for heaven sake please exercise (your 32/33 old self still saying that it's too hot to go jogging outside) and please try to catch Adele and Streophonics live!

Finally I shall post this song, which I have been saying Scotty should sing on AI (which he did, with Tim M nonetheless, yipee), and not just because I think I might be a shotgun trotting, truck driving, possum eating, trailer park living, redneck in my former life (this sudden interest in country songs is a bit menakutkan); it's because I like this song for its simple yet deep lyrics.

Apa aku merepek ni syaitan?!!!

Oh and yes, Khairolinski, Happy Birthday! Sangat best ada 'twin' friend. Heheh. Here's to us working again on our Birthday :(

Live Like You Were Dying (Tim McGraw)

He said I was in my early 40's,
With a lot of life before me,
And a moment came that stopped me on a dime.
I spent most of the next days, lookin' at the x-rays,
Talkin' 'bout the options and talkin' 'bout sweet time.
Asked him when it sank in, that this might really be the real end.
How's it hit ya, when you get that kind of news.
Man what ya do.
And he says,

[Chorus]

I went sky divin',
I went rocky mountain climbin',
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull name Fumanchu.
And I loved deeper,
And I spoke sweeter,
And I gave forgiveness I've been denying,
And he said someday I hope you get the chance,
To live like you were dyin'.

He said I was finally the husband,
That most the time I wasn't.
And I became a friend a friend would like to have.
And all the sudden goin' fishing,
Wasn't such an imposition.
And I went three times that year I lost my dad.
Well I finally read the good book,
And I took a good long hard look at what I'd do
If I could do it all again.
And then.

[Chorus]

Like tomorrow was a gift and you've got eternity
To think about what you do with it,
What could you do with it, what can
I do with with it, what would I do with it.

[Chorus]
Sky divin',
I went rocky mountain climbin',
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull name Fumanchu.
And I loved deeper,
And I spoke sweeter,
And I watched an eagle as it was flyin'.
And he said someday I hope you get the chance,
To live like you were dyin'.

To live like you were dyin'.
To live like you were dyin'.
To live like you were dyin'.
To live like you were dyin'
He said I was in my early 40's,
With a lot of life before me,
And a moment came that stopped me on a dime.
I spent most of the next days, lookin' at the x-rays,
Talkin' 'bout the options and talkin' 'bout sweet time.
Asked him when it sank in, that this might really be the real end.
How's it hit ya, when you get that kind of news.
Man what ya do.
And he says,

[Chorus]

I went sky divin',
I went rocky mountain climbin',
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull name Fumanchu.
And I loved deeper,
And I spoke sweeter,
And I gave forgiveness I've been denying,
And he said someday I hope you get the chance,
To live like you were dyin'.

He said I was finally the husband,
That most the time I wasn't.
And I became a friend a friend would like to have.
And all the sudden goin' fishing,
Wasn't such an imposition.
And I went three times that year I lost my dad.
Well I finally read the good book,
And I took a good long hard look at what I'd do
If I could do it all again.
And then.

[Chorus]

Like tomorrow was a gift and you've got eternity
To think about what you do with it,
What could you do with it, what can
I do with with it, what would I do with it.

[Chorus]
Sky divin',
I went rocky mountain climbin',
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull name Fumanchu.
And I loved deeper,
And I spoke sweeter,
And I watched an eagle as it was flyin'.
And he said someday I hope you get the chance,
To live like you were dyin'.

To live like you were dyin'.
To live like you were dyin'.
To live like you were dyin'.
To live like you were dyin'

The (Mis) Adventure of Buying a Car

2011-05-28T21:37:00.011+08:00

My first car was a sweet looking Kelisa. The experience of buying it was not sweet though. I believed my exact words that I screamed in the car showroom was "Mana xxxx? Dah mati ke apa?" I kid you not. Mak aku pulak due to my size is super worried that the car would flipped over if I drive too fast. Oh how I love to defy her :P

Anyhoo.. padan muka suka melawan cakap mak. Kelisa tu asyik la kena langgar till I got bored so I told myself.. lagi sekali kena langgar, I'm going to change it.Of course la kena langgar lagi! My next car is a dashing Savvy. I had a fair share of arguments with the car dealer as well. I did throw a nasty spell or two which revolves around the business will go bust. Which it did? Or did they just relocate :P? Anyway, the car handles like a dream. I drove it around the hell bend corners with a calm confident. That is until I burnt it to death. Well near death. It was not the same after that. Kesian dia.

So I say 2011, will be the year of a new ride for me. So which car?Choices choices choices. Macam banyak duit turun dari langit kan. I think I bore almost everyone with the argument of car choices. The endless trip to car dealership (heheh ni kakak aku dah rasa nak bunuh diri). Masalahnya takde yang rasa terpanggil nak beli. Yang menmanggil-manggil, tak mampu pulak nak beli.

The list goes down to City and Forte. The later had all the features that had me going. The stop/start button and 6 cd changers memang terbaek I would say. Tapinya not everything is perfect. Malas nak cakap apa yg membuat aku ganguan perasaan dengan kereta tu. Just one thing that bug me to the core. I went to a few dealership just to get a look and feel and there's this one particular one... had this particular dumbass as a salesperson. He had this smug Im-above-you-all look. Nevermind that he called my sister, 'mak akak'. Nevermind that he had this sinister smile that says I can't afford the car. Macam cibai. Well, guess what? Kau masa menyanyi dulu pun tak best ok. Perasan bagus!

Sorry for the emo sidetracked. Now back to the car. A friend suggested, if City why not Insight. Hmm I had a few qualms about the car, particularly how much will the batery cost later if needed to be replaced. But she did brought a point. It's a CBU car. Bila lagi nak merasa fully imported car, kan? Betul jugak. And so begin my
3rd adventure of buying a car.

Like I said, I had enough of sales people. So I seek my friend's help to get an order in. I told her, "aku nak bayar je duit and pi ambik kereta, heheh". So the plan was in motion. We were going to get the car from a dealership in Johor. I was pretty keen since the plat no would be JM*. Now the color. Nasib ada 4 variation aje. So that's 4 indecisive week. Kejap A, kejap B, kejap C. Arghhh right just pick and choose. All done, just wait for your car in a months time. Nice!

Allah tu Maha Berkuasa. Tiba-tiba, tsunami pulak kat Jepun. All car production was impacted. First it was delayed, and later on, it went grinding to a halt. My friend told me that the chances of getting the car is pretty slim if not delayed a few more months. I read in the forums and lo and behold, the head office of the company had a memo out asking that their dealerships around the country to stop taking orders all together. Chances are now not slim anymore, it was next to none. Alamak, takde mood dah nak tukar kereta.

The reason I wanted to change car was that my old car was due for some part changes. Particularly I had to change all four tyres. Since now the plan to change car dah out of the window, so I had to fix up my poor car. Ah, now it feels like brand new. I have good feeling about it.

Allah tu Maha Kaya. Setelah a few days I had my car fixed, I got a miscalled on my mobile. Sape ni. So I called it up out of curiosity.

"Saya Yati"
"Yati, mana?"
"Yati dari ..H****. Kat BP. Akak nak tak Insight?"
"Hah? Ada stock ke?"
"Ye ada stock?"
"Serious?"
"Serious..Nak tak?"

Oh darling... I so WANT it.

I forgot to mention, I also read in the forum that one should try their luck at smaller dealership, should they have surpluss of stock for the car. So I did that. I did call a few branch but have totally forgotten about it. I don't think that it would even be possible that one still have stock. People are waiting for their car since Dec.

It dawn to me, ye lah agaknya sebab sebelum ni ada niat-niat jahatkan tak nak tukar tayar semua. Once I did that only then God allow me to sell off the car and get a new one. Tak payah tunggu-tunggu pun. Orang call lagi tanya nak ke tak. Sighhh.

The next 7 days went by with buzzing car buying activity. If I think back, ada ke orang beli thru phone calls aje? Memang gila. Alhamdulillah everything went well. I had to bank in the money and scan and email the payment slip. Endless phone calls to the sales lady. One snag came to signing the loan documents. Tak kuasa la nak turun south to sign them. The lady punya determined suggested that we meet half way. She called me on Saturday in the am and a few hours after that, I met her at Restoran Jejambat Melaka tu. Tolonglah bagitau aku if you know anyone else who sign their loan agreement at A&W? Overlooking the PLUS highway. Hahahahah memang kerja gila!
I don't feel like tendering for a special registration number. Apa-apa la.. asal dpt JM* tu.

Aku memang tabik spring kat minah sales ni. She delivered as promised. She even arranged for my old car to be sold off to a 2ndhand car dealer. I went and picked up the car the next weekend after I signed the docs. Hujan la pulak. But she still patiently go thru all briefing about the car feature, sales, manual and insurance. Aku angguk-angguk je. Sebenarnya she had lost me at the Ipod USB cable in the car some 1 hour ago. Pastu siap belanja makan asam pedas yang sedap gila. Yang paling tak tahan, siap ada sessi ambik gambar pulak untuk penyerahan kunci. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. She said that she will send me the photos. I'm glad she hadn't!

So here's saying good bye to my old ride and welcoming a new one. Semoga semuanya OK.

Getting around London

2011-04-24T23:30:00.008+08:00

At first we were all about the underground. Tube ke sana sini. However, after a few days, we prefer the bus more.

Ya rabbi, the staircases around the underground station is BRUTAL! If you have luggage, it will be even tougher. We did come across a few that has escalators, but the rest....dream on. And sometimes, you feel like a rat goiing thru the maze of nook and corners to get to a different line. Bila dah penat, this is not exciting at all. My motto every time met with a staircase is DIG DEEP! Tah berapa kali la aku dig deep. Nasib tak patah kaki.

From the area that we stayed there's a lot of buses that goes to most of the London main attraction. I love it as we get to see the view and not stuck underground, and of course we can forgo the nasty staircases. However, unlike KL, the buses, though it's passing the whole stretch of the street, it will not stop at all the bus stops. So you will need to check one by one... which sometimes, before you know it you have trotted half a mile already!

A few tips though

1. We bought the daily pass after 8am, which is after peak hour. So it cost 6.60 rather than 8.20 during peak hour.

2. The daily pass works on the trains as well as the busses. Naik la sampai nak tergolek pun.

3. The cab is not that expensive, so if you have too much luggage, naik je la. Dari patah pinggang angkat bag naik tangga. The black cab may cost more, so you can also ask your hotel manager to call the local cab. Aka mcm taxi sapu. Just check the price first.

4. If there's any escalator, it's always hidden. If rasa nak cacat naik tangga tu, spend a few minutes looking around first.

Anyway, one of our memorable bus ride was from Stamford Bridge to Oxford Circus. We sat on the top deck and got a great view of everything. The bus went thru Chelsea and South Kensington area (kononnya apartments yang hip lagi happening). Dapat la berangan kejap.

The streets are packed with super cool cars such as this. Bila la nak drive kereta ni.

Then it passed the Victoria and Albert Museum (which I wanted to visit, but just didn't find the energy to..)and then it came to.. Harrods!

We didn't really plan this, so we just jumped down at the sight of the green (emerald) building. Harrods was every bit that people has been talking about. However, I suppose we were tired and the sight of thousands of people milling about in it, just don't do it for me. And we did went thru the food hall... there's a smell that just bothered me, so we skipped that as well. Note to travellers, never go here during weekends I suppose. It does have the same vibe as Sogo, during Aidilfitri sales.

We then, took the same numbered bus to continue our journey to Oxford Circus. Why are we looking so much forward to Oxford Circus? Well... it's not really about the lights and all... but we heard about this one shop called LilyWhites.

It's 6 stories of nothing but marked down sports item. Anything you want (well almost), they got it. Disebabkan nak separuh mati naik tangga kedai tu aje aku tak beli everything in sight. Is it really cheap? Boleh la... the main agenda was to look for running spike for my nephew. After the main agenda (which of course must be located on the 6th floor) is aquired, anything goes. Sudahnya... we ended up with a big bag of god knows what.

Opps sidetracked about shopping.

Right. Back on train and bus rides. Well, the train rides wasn't all that bad. One thing that I would tell anyone who would want to visit London, go and enjoy the architecture of the train stations. You know those 4 stations that is on the original Monopoly Board? Fenchurch Street, Liverpool Street, Marylebone and King’s Cross. Visit those if you have the chance and take a peek at how beautiful and quaint the buildings are. It's free and inspiring. Even some of the platforms inside the underground is pretty cool. Very Potteresque movie.

Unfortunately, I realized this all to late and only able to admire the view from far for a split second. Here's some of the shots that I managed to snap:

This one is taken while waiting for train at Paddington Underground.

This one is the outside of St Pancras Station. (The terminal for Eurostar).

Tapi I suppose, the one tube station that I really want to go was Warwick Avenue.

Why? Sebab saya suka lagu ini:

Warwick Avenue by Duffy

When I get to Warwick Avenue
Meet me by the entrance of the tube
We can talk things over a little time
Promise me you won't step out of line

When I get to Warwick Avenue
Please drop the past and be true
Don't think we're okay just because I'm here
You hurt me bad but I won't shed a tear

I'm leaving you for the last time, baby
You think you're loving but you don't love me
I've been confused, out of my mind lately
You think you're loving but I want to be free
Baby you've hurt me

When I get to Warwick Avenue
We'll spend an hour, but no more than two
Our only chance to speak once more
I showed you the answers, now here's the door

When I get to Warwick Avenue
I'll tell you baby that we're through

I'm leaving you for the last time, baby
You think you're loving but you don't love me
I've been confused, out of my mind lately
You think you're loving but you don't love me
I want to be free, baby, you've hurt me

All the days spent together, I wished for better
But I didn't want the train to come
Now it's departed, I'm broken-hearted
Seems like we never started

All those days spent together when I wished for better
And I didn't want the train to come! Oh, oh

You think you're loving but you don't love me
I want to be free, baby, you hurt me
You don't love me, I want to be free
Baby, you've hurt me

Trip of a lifetime (London, Paris, Amsterdam) - March 2011

2011-04-20T09:30:00.003+08:00

After much deliberation, finally we decided to go for it and book ourselves to Europe. To date the logistics into this trip is the craziest I have ever done. Everyday ada je new information (sumbangan kakakku dan forum rempit semalaya) and changes to our 'itenaries'.

This is not a holiday! It's short of a military operation to bring back Dumbo ok! Unfortunately, though the logistic is of monumental military war fare, the execution is of course not with precision. Mother of all trip of course comes with a mother of all klutz cop moment. Sighhh... I'll get to that if I have the energy.

Our trip begin with a 16 hour flight from KL to London. We took Emirates. So there's a few hours of transit in Dubai. Dapat la strech your legs and take a breather. That's the only positive thing that I can say about the flight. The good thing was when we are on the ground. Hahahah.

Everyone say that their flight is better than MAS. I shall reserve my 4 letter word come back to that. All I can say is that, alhamdulillah selamat pergi and balik.

Our journey begin at 02:10 am on Friday from KL and arrive at Heathrow London on Friday at 11:00 am. We spent the next 5 days in London. Visited most of the must see place and managed to squeeze in a tour of Stamford Bridge (Wheee), Windsor Castle, Oxford and Stonehenge. We stayed in a storage room in Sussex Garden near Paddington. I would recommend the area to anyone... but if you could go to another hotel. Go for it.

On Wednesday, we managed to book the cheapest fare out of London on the Eurostar... heading to Paris. I lobes the train rides. Far more comfortable and a lot more exciting than naik flight. Fare murah, of course la naik 2nd class coach. Bukan la mcm dalam cerita Tourist tu.. yang JD and AJ boleh dating2 berdua je sambil makan-makan. But still 2nd class coach tu pun dah best. Statement mengada la kan. Cuba suruh naik KTM Sinaran Pagi pergi let say Penang ke... sumpah mati hidup balik aku tak nak. (actually tak pernah pun naik keretapi.. hmm)

We booked ourselves into Holiday Villa (as in Holiday Villa Subang tu) Lafayette in Paris. Kepada semua Malaysian, stay here. Seriously only Malaysian can run the hospitality business. Dari kapal terbang, hotel, hinggalah ke rumah urut ah tong. Malaysia Boleh! The hotel may not be a 6 star hotel, tapi the location, the service, the room.. memang puas ati. It's near Gare du Nord (the train station that you arrived from London) as well as Metro Cadet. And ada banyak halal food around and a McD and supermarket around the corner.

We were in Paris for the next 4 days. We went to Amsterdam for 1 day from Paris. Naik train lagi. Thalys pulak. Train ni lagi best dari Eurostar. Amsterdam is a bit chaotic to my taste. Paris is a bit more cheerful kot. My head sometimes still rings with Bonjour Madame... Bonjour Madame.. Bonsoir..Mercii Mercii... Au revoir. Ye statment mengada.

We flew back to KL, on Sunday night the following week. After 9 days in Europe, we have to say au revoir :( Again transit in Dubai.Sempat shopping lagi tu. Flight semuanya penuh aje. Suka betul orang naik airline ni.

Arrived savely in KL, on Monday at 9.00pm! With 4 circus troop equivalent luggage ... and more than 2000 photos in our camera (yang aku pun x larat nak tengok), coats that we have to send for dry cleaning and may not be used again (hopefully not ;P). The next two weeks, jetlag tak hengat. A few times, I sneak a few naps at the office sebab mata dah kalah mat gian, langsung tak boleh nak bukak. One time, I think I fell asleep behind the wheel at 4.30pm. Nasib selamat sampai rumah.

Hopefully, dimurahkan rezeki so that there will be another Europe excursion to come. Amin.

There's a lot of photos that I like from the trip. Almaklum sudah hangkut DSLR pergi sana. This one will always remind me of the nice train ride across Europe. Bebila rajin, I shall write about the places and things that we do while we are there.

Talented, gifted...(fulamak) Malaysian!

2011-04-13T07:59:00.008+08:00

It started of one day, when I heard this catchy song on the radio. As usual, when we really wanted to know who sang the song, the program will cut into commercial. It happened again a few days after that.

Ini sudah tidak boleh jadi. I NEED TO KNOW WHO SANG THIS SONG. So begin my 3 day quest on the net. Usually G88gle is very kind to me. I could get all the info that I wanted within a few minutes. But this time, gagal. Ini menyebabkan saya menjadi lebih bersemangat lagi. All my lucky guesses, bombed. This is not D**fy, nor Ad3l3, nor P1x13 lott, nor Bey0nc3. No. No.

I can't remember exactly how I managed to track this down. But I suppose I poured every single inch of the radio's website to find their playlist for the month. All I can remember was that the trail brought me to a lot of blogs writing about this new Malaysian singer, who's name I have never heard before.

Malaysian. This song is barangan buatan Malaysia. OMG. I couldn't be more thrilled!

I spend the whole night reading about the singer. Downloading the songs. Watched all the video's of her on Utube. Added her on FB. Memang blown away! Rupanya she was all over the music circuit last year, in fact a whole lot years before. She had performed at F1 events, Sunbrust (that I actually went to), plenty of live gigs in KL (if they still call it that these days). She opened for Michael Buble and Babyface, for goodness sake! How could I miss all these before? (macam la aku Who cares. Good thing is, her first album is finally out. I will definitely get it (or adakah kawan-kawan saya yang baik ati nak ati nak belikan as a birthday present :P)

True that her songs may not be many Malaysian's cup of tea, tapi kata nak jadi world. And there were a lot of noise around who her father is, so that is why she could pull something like this. Whatever la. Ada ramai orang yang bapak dia have a lot of resources jugak, takde pulak anaknya produce something that I like. Ada jugak mangkuk ayun mana yang post a lot of negativities on the her first video clip. Bergaduh pulak berpage2.Sighh. Whatever lagi. I'm all about good music, especially if it's from a Malaysian.

Presenting Najwa - who I hope will keep on writing and performing crazy good songs like this one:

Got To Go – Najwa

This time I'm gonna live my life
I ain't no stepford wife
No I ain't perfect
Gonna find somebody who's worth it
And no you ain't that person
Coz i caught you constantly flirtin'
With my best friend

So I guess I'll say goodbye
I'll find me another guy

Why (why why why)
You always makin' me
Cry (cry cry cry)
No I can't stand it
No you can't be my man
It don't matter who you are,
Even if you were a star
You've got to go
(Go go go go go go)

Read my lips I'm leavin'
And no no I ain't teasin'
This time it's for real
Gotta find you another girl
Coz this one sure ain't stayin
By the time you finish what you're sayin'
I'll be gone

Me and Ms Jun

2011-04-11T23:25:00.015+08:00

Hehehe... that's what I heard when Michael Buble performed his encore with Me and Mrs Jones.

To date, this is the most expensive concert tickets that I have ever seen in KL. Though that is the case, the place was packed. Kaya raya orang KL ni. By the time I wanted to purchase the tickets, tinggal tickets yang mahal gila. Itu pun selling fast! Nasib ada orang nak jual ticket. Dapat la tumpang sekaki pergi tengok with old classmates from Uni.

The evening was damped by a bit of rain, so that put a bit dent on all those yang kononnya nak dress up to the nine. I ditch my heels (as if..) and end up with rolled up jeans and selipar. Hahaha.

Arrived early, so managed to find a decent parking spot. Managed to brave the rain and climb the stairs and found our seats. Rupanya those that bought the tickets on the tier above us were having trouble because the roof was leaking! Tu dia, dah sessi bergaduh la pulak. Nasib our seats are not impacted.

I was looking forward to the opening act. Najwa! She was one of the reason that I got to go, go, go to the concert. Will blog separately about this :). And then right on the spot, out came Michael.

He is very talented and down right entertaining. Memang boleh cair la dengar suara dia. 2 hours went by without me realising it.

I was a bit disappointed when I saw his setlist. He's not going to sing Quando Quando Quando... but he made that up with Me and Mrs Jones. Adoiii.. tak dapek acik menolong do. Memang top notch bukak baju award moment! (Actually a lady somewhere in front row, did took off her blouse and threw it to him. Gila!). Here it is again.. Me and Ms Juuunnnn ... eh Mrs Jones :P

Me and Mrs Jones, we got a thing going on
We both know that it's wrong
But it's much too strong to let it go now

We meet ev'ry day at the same cafe
Six-thirty I know she'll be there
Holding hands, making all kinds of plans
While the jukebox plays our favorite song

Me and Mrs, Mrs Jones, Mrs Jones, Mrs Jones
We got a thing going on
We both know that it's wrong
But it's much too strong to let it go now

We gotta be extra careful
That we don't build our hopes too high
Cause she's got her own obligations and so do I
Me, me and Mrs, Mrs Jones, Mrs Jones, Mrs Jones

Well, it's time for us to be leaving
And it hurts so much, it hurts so much inside
And now she'll go her way, I'll go mine
But tomorrow we'll meet at the same place, the same time
Me and Mrs Jones, Mrs Jones, Mrs Jones

EB who was MB gf then, sang background vocal on this song. Sounds good actually.

Presenting Mr Darcy

2011-02-27T01:25:00.012+08:00

The many wonderful characters of Colin Firth

My Fav - Jamie, in Love Actually

The Importance of Being Ernest

The jealous husband in English Patient

Mark Darcy - Barrister

But that's not the first time he plays a Mr Darcy. He was in Pride and Prejudice.

The beautifully made, Single Man. Nominated for an Oscar in 2010.

Not the only time he played a gay guy. Harry Bright in Mamma Mia.

And, to date, the most compelling character of all - King George VI in The King's Speech. An outstanding performance worthy of an award. All the very best for the Oscar

* Everyone should see The King's Speech. It gives a little insight of the history of the royal family. Fascinating!*

Mixed Tape, anyone?

2011-02-26T22:02:00.005+08:00

Have you seen one of these baby lately?

Well.. not since the birth of ipod, iphone and ipad, I suppose. Heck I have not seen a walkman or discman for a veryyyy long time. Untuk sesiapa yang tak tahu. Benda ni namanya Kaset. Tape. Cassette Tape. It rules sometime in the 80s and early 90s.

I had a great collection of mixed tapes coz I went a great length of getting em all right. Late night patiently waiting by the radio, to hit the Record button at the precise moment, so that the recording is just crisp. Since I live in Johor, I had the best of both world ie all the best Rock Melayu songs from Pilihan Bersama, as well as the latest from the pop charts on Top 40s on the Singapore radio.

Bloody hell it's hard work. I had to scan the newspaper to see what selection of songs will be aired on Pilihan Bersama and had to sit thru the ramblings of the DJs to wait for the song to start. Then I discovered something....

There was this shop in town that can do mixed tape for you. At the same price of a cassette masa tu. Around RM17. Lo and be hold. They can do any songs as long as they have the albums on their shelfs. A cassette could fit around 17 to 18 songs. I remember that I had C.I.N.T.A of XPDC on one side and Baby I Love Your Way by Big Mountain on the other. What a sic choice! Hahahahahahahaha.

These cassette was a great entertainment thru out my teenage years.Zaman sekolah dulu takde duit nak beli bateri selalu, so if nak rewind or foward the tape, kena selit pencil in the kaset and spin it with your hand. Hahahahha. Nak jimat bateri kononnya! I wish I know where they are now. What a treasure!

Anyhoo, the above picture is actally the cover of my iphone. Nice camourflage huh?

It did fool a lot of people. The best yet was after a few days after I use it to take picture at the office. My colleague came to me and said.. "Ohhh it's your phone. I thot it's a new type of camera". We laugh for a good minute. "I must have look stupid to you, holding a cassette like that". Hahahahahahah.

Here's to all of my mixed tape. This song is definitely on one of them (the original of course, not the Fat Boy Slim version). I just heard it on the radio and got me to start to reminise...sighhh

Brimful of Asha - Cornershop

There's dancing behind movie scenes
Behind the movie scenes - Sadi Rani
She's the one that keeps the dream alive,
From the morning, past the evening,
Till the end of the light
Brimful of Asha on the forty-five
Well, it's a brimful of Asha on the forty-five
Brimful of Asha on the forty-five
Well, it's a brimful of Asha on the forty-five
and singing illuminate the main streets and the cinema aisles
We don't care about no government warning
about that promotion of the simple life and the dams they are building

CHORUS
Everybody needs a bosom for a pillow,
everybody needs a bosom
Everybody needs a bosom for a pillow,
everybody needs a bosom
Everybody needs a bosom for a pillow,
everybody needs a bosom

Mine's on the forty-five
Mohammed Ruffi (forty-five)
Lata Mangeshka (forty-five)
solid state radio (forty-five)
ferguson mono (forty-five)
Mon public (forty-five)
Jacques Dutronc and the Bolan Boogies
the Heavy Hitters and the chi chi music
All Indian radio (forty-five)
two in ones (forty-five)
ovvo records (forty-five)
trojan records (forty-five)

CHORUS

CHORUS 2

7-7,000 piece orchestra set
everybody needs a bosom for a pillow mines on the RPM...

* What does this song mean? Read here

Going GaGa at Grammys

2011-02-14T11:40:00.009+08:00

Yes, I'm on leave today specifically so that I can catch the live telecast of the
53rd Grammy Awards. Bliss.

Lobes:

1. The opening tribute to Aretha Franklin. The 5 ladies mmg have crazy vocal chops! What I love is that no one try to outshine the other. Great vocals, great songs. R.E.S.P.E.C.T. (also lobes Jennifer Hudson who looks hot in the pants. bila aku nak kurus mcm dia ni)

2. The trio - B.O.B, Bruno Mars and Janelle Monae. The slow rap by B.O.B is genius. Bruno Mars singing Grenade, 50s swing style is out of the world. And (aku tak pernah dgr sebenarnya) Janelle suddenly truning sort of white thrash teenage angst performance is actually cool though her voice mcm tak suit sgt. But seriously, I got nottttt...nothin on you guys!

3. Lady Gaga - I love that her costume is actually simple yet edgy and slutty or whatever you want to call it. Her performance is really pump up! Maybe being trapped in the egg helps a lot. Hahahah. You are indeed born this way!

4. Donnie Walhberg looking haaawtt presented an award! (Is there a Malaysian version of the Walhberg bros?)

5. Miranda Lambert's House That Built Me. Beautiful lyrics. Kudos that she won Best Female Country Vocal Performance, thumping Ms Underwood's Temporary Home (which I also like). Ms Underwood is no where to be seen. Am I missing something?

6. Eminem's Performance. I admit, aku tak paham sepatah haram yang dia nyanyi, but he was so pumped up, he brought the house down. Cool that he won Best Rap Album!

7. Lady Antebellum's I Need You Now. Brilliant. Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

8. Mick Jagger. Priceless!

9. The boys from How I Met Your Mother. Awesssome!

10. Top Ten List by David Letterman

11. Train won with Hey, Soul Sisters!

On the fence, Enghhh:

1. Cee Lo, Gywneth Paltrow and the Muppets. I love the song, I thot Gywneth sounded not bad.... I fucking hate the muppets! I hope Cee Lo's doing this out of mockery. It sure was funny though. And I thot the lyrics is super cool!

2. Usher. I always love his performance. Somehow, I think he lost steam. Maybe dah tua. OMGGG.

3. Anak Usher. J Bieb. He's solo 'Baby Baby' on guitar is way better than the half cooked mortal combat show, Never Say Never. He has the voice. But I think he needs more Umphh to pull out that kind of performance.

4. Hillary Scott's acceptance speech. Makcik, it's boring! Keep it upbeat and cool y'all.

5. Album of the Year and Best New Artist winner. Who are these people. But still, congrats I suppose?!! Err...

Pure WTF

1. J* Smith. I'm not a big fan of budak tak akil baligh ni. Let him stew a bit... and then he'll be da bomb. Seriously.

2. R*h*nn*. Yes the songs are great. But I think she thinks she's hot, perasan. Whatever la.

3. The whole bunch of rednecks syok sendiri (not including Bob Dylan). Trade the banjos with BB guns and shoot yourselves in the foot guys. Don't get me wrong. I love Country Music... but too much southern flair rasa mcm pening. Having said that, the front man of Mumfords and Sons, is comel!

4. K Perry. Somehow, aku rasa mcm bosan tengok muka dia. And showing her wedding I assume on the background makes it lame. I know she's going for the sweet Valentine theme, but all I got is LAME.

5. Matt Bell's shout out to pregnant gf. Eiii. (Ok maybe I have angst against people in love sbb loser and single... but still ... all I can think of is.. Skank!)

All I can say now is that I should have bought Lady's Antebellum's album the other day. (Now I have to go out and get it).

And now, presenting Song of the Year:

Need You Now

Picture perfect memories
Scattered all around the floor
Reaching for the phone 'cause
I can't fight it anymore

And I wonder if I
Ever cross your mind
For me it happens all the time

It's a quarter after one
I'm all alone
And I need you now
Said I wouldn't call
But I've lost all control
And I need you now

And I don't know how
I can do without
I just need you now

Another shot of whiskey
Can't stop looking at the door
Wishing you'd come sweeping
In the way you did before

And I wonder if I
Ever cross your mind
For me it happens all the time

It's a quarter after one
I'm a little drunk
And I need you now
Said I wouldn't call
But I've lost all control
And I need you now

And I don't know how
I can do without
I just need you now

Whoa, whoa
Guess I'd rather hurt
Than feel nothing at all

It's a quarter after one
I'm all alone
And I need you now
And I said I wouldn't call
But I'm a little drunk
And I need you now

And I don't know how
I can do without
I just need you now
I just need you now

Oh baby, I need you now

p/s: Ngantukalways - mengakulah that you are listening to country. Lady Antebellum won: Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals and Best Country Album!!

pp/s: Thank You M&M Biru for keeping me company during this award show :)

Ku Ke Udara Lagi

2011-02-06T01:19:00.004+08:00

...Bersama mu kembali
Dengan rangakaian lagu-lagu
Juga pesanan

Ku sebagai penghibur
Engkau mendengar di sana
Kita saling mengharapkan
Di dalam hidup ini...

33 years in the music industry, with 33 musicians, presenting 33 songs, Francissca Peter had her first solo consert at Istana Budaya. Of course akak akan pergi tengok. And tengok I did.

As this is the first time, kasi chance la kan. Tapi a few peeves yang nak jugak aku highlight. 1. Konsert start lambat, orang dah restless. 2. There's like 4 separate intro before Fran actually came out and sing. 3. The switch between songs sometime macam tak smooth. She need to better fill those gaps. 4. 33 lagu, bontot pun dah kebas. Hahaha. 5. Dancers tu tak payah. Macam show RTM pun ada jugak. And 6. Cepat sangat the konsert peak.

The peak to me was when Roystan Sta Maria came out to sing with her. Awwwww... how come there's not many great duet songs around these days. Listening to Siapa Dia Sebelum Daku live from both of them is priceless. Tapi the song after that lagi best... Tak Kenal Maka Tak Cinta. Skang lagu tu asyik main dlm kepala..."Biaarrr (dulu masa kecik ingatkan 'Diaaa') jauh di seberang.. Kasihh tak mungkin hilaanggg". From far Roy looked the same. Tapi bila tengok gambar dekat, memang la dah tua.

Of course Fran hit the ball out of the park with all of her ballads. The orchestra was brilliant thru out. She sang Kerna Terpaksa with Manan Ngah (asyik nak cakap Eman Manan) on guitar. Memang best gila. Her voice hardly change, still maintain. She also performed with Imran Ajmain. Ok la.

Sadly, the place was not packed. Banyak seat kosong. I suppose the ticket was a wee bit expensive. However yang datang tu mmg peminat tegar, kecuali kitaorang berdua yang asyik blur.. ni lagu apa? ni lagu apa? dah masuk lagu no 20.. my mind start going... bukan tadi dia dah nyanyi ke lagu ni? Akak kat sebelah kitaorang tu punya la suka. Siap jerit2 panggil Fran.. then the spotlight fell on her.. cist.. terlibat pulak kitaorang.

Ok la, skang saya mau layan jiwang sendiri dengan lagu dibawah

Siapa Dia Sebelum Daku - Roy n Fran

( F )
Aku selalu memikirkannya
Siapa dia sebelum daku
Gadis kau puja hingga kecewa
Kini kau tak menyatakan

( R )
Aku pun jua sering tertanya
Siapa dia sebelum daku
Pria kau puja hingga merana
Kau merahsiakan dariku

( R & F )
Sejak kau wujud dalam hidupku
Semuanya telah terpadam
Bak bayangan yang indah
Di malam purnama
Di telan mentari pagi

( R & F )
Apa disentuh sejarah dulu
Hanya menyakit hati sendiri
Telah ditemukan kita berdua
Engkaulah sinar hidupku

Engkaulah sinar...
Engkaulah pelita...
Engkaulah sinar...
hidupku

p/s: masa kecik-kecik dulu.... tak reti lirik, belasah nyanyi.. 'Bak tatangan yang indah'. Memang ada masalah pendengaran betul.

What's going on?

2011-02-04T22:53:00.005+08:00

Entah...

I've been so out of touch with everything. The hell week is over. Hopefully next week tak seteruk this week. Yeah I know orang lain ini la minggu bersuka ria. Not for me it ain't. Enough about work.

Now catching up on the sports front.

1. Aussie Open - Yeay Kim wins again. Finally an Aussie Title for her.

Going into the match, tak tau nak sokong siapa sebab excited jugak an Asian finally gets into a Grand Slam final. Dah la Li Na ni dah kalahkan Kim the last time they met. Nail bitting moments all the way. Better luck next time Li Na. I lobes your speech :) I thot it was rather sweet in non cheesy way whatsoever.

2. Andy still not winning a Grand Slam :(.. tell me quando, quando, quando Andy ooiii.

3. Chelsea is fourth on the table - WTF? WTF? WTF? I haven't catch a single match of them yet. Punya la lost interest.

4. Namun, dalam ke'WTF'an, tiba-tiba Tico Torres moved to Chelsea :)

And, to unrest in Eygpt, I hope peace will prevail and the Malaysians over there are safe and arrives home soon.

What's Going On - Marvin Gaye

Mother, mother
There's too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There's far too many of you dying
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today - Ya

Father, father
We don't need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today

Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Talk to me, so you can see
Oh, what's going on
What's going on
Ya, what's going on
Ah, what's going on

In the mean time
Right on, baby
Right on
Right on

Father, father, everybody thinks we're wrong
Oh, but who are they to judge us
Simply because our hair is long
Oh, you know we've got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today
Oh

Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Talk to me
So you can see
What's going on
Ya, what's going on
Tell me what's going on
I'll tell you what's going on - Uh
Right on baby
Right on baby

Bola Emas

2011-01-17T13:16:00.007+08:00

That's what the translation say of Golden Globes. Hahaha.

I'm at home while waiting for the contrator to do some reno work. Managed to catch half of it before I had to switch off the TV sebab they have to paint the walls behind it. Hmpph.

Anyhoo... lobes the winners. Here are my favorites:

Yipeeeee! Colin won the best actor award. Can't wait to watch King's Speech.

Next, Chris Colfer aka Kurt. Yeeayyyy Gleeee

Then, Claire Danes. Ok saje nak post gambar laki dia jugak. Heheh no idea what this role is about, but I always like her as an actress. Love the dress as well. Plus this is her 2nd Golden Globe win. Hebat.

Ok, this guy didn't win, but in my book he's a winner all right. He was great in Social Network. However, the pictures that I found of the guy he's playing real life.. errr.. tak comel pun. Also love that Social Network won the best screen play and direction.

Also, spotted a lot tonight though tak menang - 'Marky' Mark Walhberg. He's one of the producers of Boardwalk Empire. Also nomitaed for his role in The Fighter. I wish I could be one of his funky bunch ;P

Ok yang ni pun saje gedik nak letak. I wonder if Blue Valentine is as tear jearking, heart wrenching as Notebook.

Hmm 2010 Sexiest Man of the Year nowhere to be seen pulak.

I was hoping that Depp would win for his role in Alice in Wonderland, tapi tidak nampaknya. It's ok. Here's the full list of nominee and winners.

Can't wait for the fashion police tomorrow. I don't really get the shoulder pad revival, but I thot Leighton Meester looks great in one.

And my favorite of all is.....

....Jenny from the Block in Zuhair Murad!

The Silver Jubilee goes to ...

2011-01-09T21:53:00.006+08:00

Masa kecik-kecik dulu, I think there were two things that I looked forward yearly. The Final of Malaysia FA Cup and Juara Lagu. I can't remember when I stopped bothering about Malaysia FA.... but I never missed watching Juara Lagu. From Azwan Ali to Ogy to these 3 stooges ops Mod Squad (whatever.. I thot they should bring Ogy and Azwan just for this 25th year). From K Melah's blinking hearts to KRU botched pyro to the rock kapak era to Pak Ngah's domination with Ethic Creatif to Ning's hig Falsetto to the uprising of the Indie acts, saw it all.

25 years - hats off to the TV3!

Brilliant opening: I was 8 when Francisca Peter won Muzik-Muzik with Manan Ngah. I loved that they opened with her. Of course she doesn't look like she did then, neither do I. Hahah. Next is Nash (who I think is already on his way to see a doctor). Jerit pun jerit la bang, esok seminggu hilang suara pun tak apa. Janji sedap. Ohhh then came out M Nasir. I lobes his performance. He is very composed. Hate the dancers as usual.

1. Sempurna (Yuna)
The ochestra was brilliant at the beginning. Her vocal was brilliant. Her playing the keyboard was brilliant. But somehow, I'm not feeling this as much as I did during the semis. Personally I think she should have just let it be low key and just have only the orchestra to back her up. No doubt she is very talented. Whatever it is, this song still have my vote to win something tonight.

2. Berlari (Tomok/ Tomok & Shazee Ishak/ Tomok)
Tommy Tomok!!! Alamak..ni MJ ke apa ni? The changes in the arrangement is great. I think vocally Tomok could've done better. I was not going to say much about this performance.. but I can't. The Slash celup is absolute rubbish. Baik pakai songkok bang. Baru aku respect sket. Right this is not about you but Tomok. The camera during this performance is a bit slacking, can't really see the choreography.

Asal usul nama Tomok? Pulau tomok? Kampung Tomok? APABENDANIHARAMJADAH (font size 500, bold). Siapa tulis script ni? Angkat tangan, sepak muka sendiri.Kuat-
kuat!!! Haish.

3. Pelita (A.P.I/ Loque)
OK. I never paid any attention to this song before. No idea what it is about so I don't really understand what's with the 'I'm injured' theme. And the accompanying band in black robes. Err.. lepas tu drummer kena lari ke depan utk jatuh kiok beramai-ramai. Tak boleh ke tergolek kat drum set tu aje? Err..Ahh...hummm... err tak tau nak cakap apa la.

4. Kebahagiaan Dalam Perpisahan (Shahir/ Edry Abdul Halim)
What do we call a guy who came on stage wearing a cape? ...A cape? ...A cape? A f*ck*ng capppee! (ok ni lepas dia kibas-kibas cape ni macam Zorro). Ok NO front shot please, seluar ketat sial. Yang makcik ni bercakap-bercakap, meroyan kat tepi ni kenapa? Kenapa la N.A, kau nak terlibat dalam kancah pertelingkahan ni? Aku dah tak paham hujung pangkal lagu ni. Alamak.. Captain Cape kena penampar sebijik. Apakah? E, you should have done better. This boy should just stood there and flex his vocal cords to the max.

5. Drama King (Meet Uncle Hussain & Black/ Taja/ Tun Teja)
Ramli MS and the Orchestra really outdone the opening of this song. Lobes it! Lobes the coats. Hate the pantomine or whatever they are called. Eye brow raising over the tights Black is wearing. Anyhoo I don't know if the sound in the stadium is better, but I think the band is tad too loud. Black's vocal is drowning.Hmm I begining to think that this performace is a bit overrated. I have such high hopes for this song. I hope it will still win.

6. Noktah Cinta (Hafiz/ Ajai/ Sheikh Qalam)
Ok I stand corrected. Ada jugak jawa dari masai ni. You can't go wrong by going back to basic. Kan senang nyanyi je macam biasa. Ok...dah keluar pulak scene tembak menembak....I spoke too soon :( What's with the white suits ni? Ada sale kain ela kat Jalan Tar ke? At least his vocal is great. And the song does sound good.

ADOOOIII the script is really killing me. TAK BOLEH BLAHHH DE!

7. Tolong Ingatkan Aku (Ana Raffali)
Hmmm. The guitars were nice. Sounds like some country act in the Grammy's. Not bad at all. What's bad is that you have such a huge stage, and you choose to sing in a cage? Ok this is rubbish. If I close my eyes and just listen to the song and vocal, I would say it's a good performance. The unnecessary gimmics are spoiling this show.

8. Selamat Malam (Faizal Tahir/ Audi Mok/ Faizal Tahir)
OK disturbing pulak aku tengok akak pregnant ni. OK ni dah blow out of portion. Dah keluar Aziz Satar pulak. Ya rabbi, lagu ni sedap. Suara sedap. Kenapa nak ada orang berlakon merepek meraban ni. Tak paham aku. Lepas tu dah ackward si FT ni nak rock kangkang sendiri kat depan. Arghhhhhhh apa benda ni????

9. Ku Ada Kamu (Adira/ Edry Abdul Halim)
My first thot was, eh opening Olympics kat Beijing. 2nd thot, hedious dress. But I will overlook all those, because I love this song. I thot her vocal was not bad except she didn't managed to sustain it in the end. I love the arrangement. I hope this performance will win something.

Ok script pengacara ni dah masuk kurang ajar. Nyampah tahap gaban sial.

10. Extravaganza (Bunkface/ Sam Bunkface/ Bunkface)
OK vocal tu memang ke laut lepas la. But I have to give props for the useage of the stage, visuals and lights. Nampak mcm stylo la jugak. Other than that, aku macam termenung kejap masa ni. Suam suam kuku aje vibenya. The low key bridge was nice though.

11. Sofea Jane (Black/ Sham Kamikaze & Iswandy/ Farril)
White lagi. Lebih stok baju sekolah ke? Errk..Back to business. I lobes this song. But I have this nagging feeling that his vocal lacked the umpph that makes this song beautiful. Macam kureng feelnya. OK la kasi chance la nak tarikkkkk part last tu. Best vocal? will see.

SOO SWEATTTT. I'm sweating here dude, cut it already.

12. Hanyut (Faizal Tahir/ Audi Mok/ Faizal Tahir)
Nampaknya harga besi juga dah murah. Ramai pulak bawak props besi2, jaring2, cage. This song is great, no doubt. Vocal is great as well. Huyoooo masuk dalam air. Ada baldi ke kat situ? Baju basah jangan bukak bang. Nanti kena ban lagi. Hahaha. So far props ni paling hebat. Kudos.

13. Jahat (Stacy/ Edry Abdul Halim)
The shaolin getups were kinda cool actually. Too bad the song came out the end of the night, when the show has lost it's steam. Nevertheless, Stacy did bring it. Dah 3 kali dia masuk final, don't you think it's high time that she's awarded something. Best performance ke. Whatever the outcome is, good job Stacy!

14. Mencari Konklusi (Hujan/ Noh Hujan)
Again the orchestra sound great! Overall the music sound dramatic and loud, the way it should be I supposed, which is good. I think half of the audience is already asleep. So this should wake them up. I'm really disturbed with what the drummer is wearing on his face though. Otherwise, biasa aje performance ni.

Aku rasa yang tak menghampakan setakat ni Ramli MS and his orchestra aje.

Now comes the part that I have been waiting for. First up, K Pah. OMG! Ni la Vocal terbaik malam ni. Kau Tinggi Di Awan Biru, this song really blew me away! Finally something to save the night. Oh Di Mana, here comes the soul train. Layannnn. Bila pulak keluar Latif Ibrahim or Herry Amir! Hahaha. Wuhuuuuuuuu Sekebun Cintaaaaaaa!!! Tu dia Anggapanmu Ziana Zain. Vocal pun da bomb. I like! We can hear that the crowd is loving this. I shall ignore the baju yang over the top tu. Madah berhelah plak. For this segment so far, aku memang frust la tak dapat ticket nak tengok live :( Waaa.. Nampaknya ni pun akan join Nash pi jumpa doktor esok. Nasib boleh control lagi. Good job.

Alamak... CT.. buang tebiat nak bersilat pulak. OK, I'm not big on these kinda of songs. Boleh la.. Hmm lagu etnic lagi... Bring on Aku Cinta Padamu, let's go old school! Ye la vocal chops kau memang best. Dah macam konsert dia pulak, syok sendiri pun ada. Cindai ni ok. Aku suka juga. Tetiba nak berdance pulak makcik ni. Suka ati la beb. Yang kelakar tu bila kau geli hati sendiri bila step salah.

The result

Best Vocal - Hafiz (not bad)

Best Performance - FT (no surprise there)

3rd Song - Nohktah Cinta (eiiii)

2nd Song - Drama King

And the Silver Jubilee goes to.... (turns to be the biggest surprise of the night), Ana Rafali with Tolong Ingatkan Aku. Whoaaaa! Aku tetap kata idea nyanyi dalam sangkar tu budus. But I do agree, the song great. I was hoping Yuna bagged the title though. Congrats Ana!

Akhir kata, tolonglah tahun depan panggil aku jadi pengacara atau paling tak mintak tolong tulis script, after tonight with those three... anyone who can speak would've done a better job. Me included.

Good Night and Good Luck!

It's here again

2011-01-08T23:21:00.003+08:00

Yes, AJL is here again. And again, aku tak dapat tiket nak tengok live! Grrr... penat tunggu on 31st Dec, tapi rupanya tiket keluar hari lain pulak! 900 tix gone within 30 minutes? Nampaknya tengok kat rumah aje lah.

Damn It, Malik!

Anyhoo, esok perintah berkurung at 9pm. The songs this year are great. My personal favorites are Sempurna, Drama King and dengan tak malunya mengaku jugak suka Sofea Jane and (gasp) Ku Ada Kamu. Jawa dari Masai tiada dalam senarai, I like! Looking forward to tomorrow night :)

1. Sempurna (Yuna)
2. Berlari (Tomok/ Tomok & Shazee Ishak/ Tomok)
3. Pelita (A.P.I/ Loque)
4. Kebahagiaan Dalam Perpisahan (Shahir/ Edry Abdul Halim)
5. Drama King (Meet Uncle Hussain & Black/ Taja/ Tun Teja)
6. Noktah Cinta (Hafiz/ Ajai/ Sheikh Qalam)
7. Tolong Ingatkan Aku (Ana Raffali)
8. Selamat Malam (Faizal Tahir/ Audi Mok/ Faizal Tahir)
9. Ku Ada Kamu (Adira/ Edry Abdul Halim)
10. Extravaganza (Bunkface/ Sam Bunkface/ Bunkface)
11. Sofea Jane (Black/ Sham Kamikaze & Iswandy/ Farril)
12. Hanyut (Faizal Tahir/ Audi Mok/ Faizal Tahir)
13. Jahat (Stacy/ Edry Abdul Halim)
14. Mencari Konklusi (Hujan/ Noh Hujan)

2010 - In Reflection

2010-12-31T20:43:00.005+08:00

The thing is that... I can't recall anything that I would like to reflect upon. My mind is still reeling with Malaysia winning the AFF Suzuki Cup. It will never get old, I tell you.

This is definitely my favorite moment in sports this year. Terbaaekkkk!

So instead, I just want to wish everyone a great 2011 ahead.

I shall conclude 2010, with this song...sebab Bon Jovi Live at Madison Square Garden is on 711, and they are playing this song. It's da bomb. May one day (in 2011 harapnya :)) dapatlah tengok depa ni live in action.

In These Arms - Bon Jovi

You want commitment
Take a look into these eyes
They burn as fire, yeah
Until the end of time

And I would do anything
I'd beg, I'd steal, I'd die
To have you in these arms tonight

Baby, I want you
Like the roses want the rain
You know I need you
Like the poet needs the pain

And I would give anything
My blood, my love, my life
If you were in these arms tonight

I'd hold you, I'd need you
I'd get down on my knees for you
And make everything alright
If you were in these arms

I'd love you, I'd please you
I'd tell you that I'll never leave you
And love you 'til the end of time
If you were in these arms tonight, oh yeah

We stared at the sun
And we made a promise
A promise this world
Would never blind us

And these were our words
Our words were our songs
Our songs are our prayers
These prayers keep me strong
And I still believe
If you were in these arms

I'd hold you, I'd need you
I'd get down on my knees for you
And make everything alright
If you were in these arms

I'd love you, I'd please you
I'd tell you that I'd never leave you
And love you 'til the end of time
If you were in these arms tonight

Your clothes are still scattered all over our room
This whole place still smells like your cheap perfume
Everything here reminds me of you
There's nothing I wouldn't do

And these were our words
They keep me strong, baby

I'd hold you, I'd need you
I'd get down on my knees for you
And make everything alright
If you were in these arms

I'd love you, I'd please you
I'd tell you that I'd never leave you
And love you 'til the end of time
If you were in these arms tonight

If you were in these arms tonight
If you were in these arms tonight
If you were in these arms, baby

Like the roses need the rain
Like the singles need to change
Like the poets need the pain
I need you in these arms tonight
If you were in these arms tonight

Harimau Malaya - Champions!

2010-12-29T22:49:00.012+08:00

Well Done Malaysia! Finally a team that brought the fans back to the stadium, a team that we can be proud of. May the young players continue to be level headed and keep this momentum going. Malaysia memang BOLEH!

(err...Say NO to any Kuda Tua or Double Prancing Pansies from now on, please!)

Beam Me Up, Scotty

2010-12-27T14:41:00.004+08:00

Laser beam pun jadi issue. Kalau nak kalah tu kalah jugak. Read here

Lain kali pakai ray ban macam Cyclop ni ....

....supaya boleh concentrate main bola and tak jadi pusing macam ni.....

....tapi kalau dah malu sebab kalah tu, boleh la buat macam ni....

Wohhhooooo... ok la aku agree stop it with the lasers if it's going to kill the match's momentum. Tapi on the other hand, being pro footballers... itu pun boleh jadi distraction ke? IN YOUR FACE! Ambik kau, lepas berlagak nak walk off, kena 3 biji. Terbaeekk wa cakap lu.

Oh pembetulan, yang main ni bukan la 100% Harimau Muda. Tapi memang muda belaka la semua orang. Paling tua, no surprise no 17. So skuad ni Harimau Malaya. Iyolah.

Kudos tu no 9. He's a great playmaker. Paling tak tahan sebab muka dia selamba. Also kudos tu substitute no 26. Sorry la gelakkan janggut sejemput awak tu. Gol tu memang cun. Pendek kata, kudos la semua orang sebab tak menghampakan. Tak terkata semalam. Jerit, melompat, tergolek, terajang semua ada. Yang pasti, akak bangga uols sebab tak sia-sia letak Jalur Gemilang kat balkoni rumah.

Ha, untuk 2nd leg ni. Sila behave ok. Baca here. Kang main kat Bukit Jalil lagi, satu KL pergi kang langsung tak dapat tengok.

Serbuk Harimau Kuat

2010-12-26T07:04:00.006+08:00

Kisahnya anak-anak sedaraku yang tak pernah tengok match bola di stadium. Kitaorang memang suka pergi tengok matches yang ada Malaysia main, baik bola sepak or hoki. Dulu selalu jugak pergi dengan Bapak. Yang suka sebab nak makan burger murah je..(tapi sekarang tak murah pun).

Tiba-tiba, skuad harimau lemau dapat masuk semi-final. Main di Bukit Jalil. Since ni cuti sekolah boleh la bawak the two boys pergi. Sebab malas nak drive, naik la LRT. Budak dua ekor ni excited gila. Dalam LRT, supporters Malaysia siap berjersi dah ramai dah. Sampai kat stadium, semua ternganga sebab lagi ramai orang. Atmosphere memang best. We can feel that everyone is pumped up. Siapa-siapa yang rasa tensen tu, patut pergi tengok untuk release tension. Boleh jerit sesuka hati, takde sape nak marah. Tapi kalau team yang disokong kalah, jangan pulak jadi lagi tension.

Masuk je stadium, tu dia... Malaysia hari tu main dengan 30,011 orang. 11 atas padang, 30,000 lagi kat stand. Dah lama tak dengar orang nyanyi lagu Negaraku punya semangat.

Since the word go, the supporters memang non stop bersorak. Every ball, every pass, every ref caution, every tackle, every flagged raised, every shalala, every whoa whoa, every shing-a-ling-a-ling, semua orang cheer on. Ok la cheer with a mix of "bodoh...PASS la...aarghhh..ref buta...oiiii...gilakee...apa...benda dia BUATTT tuuuu???...crossss...croossss....adooiiii....BOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

First half, score masih 0-0. Tapi lapar la pulak. Tadi eksyen tak nak beli siap-siap. Mak aiii... ramainya orang nak beli burger segala. Memang instant millionaire siapa jual burger malam tu. Mula-mula kitaorang duduk dekat goal Vietnam. So memang best dapat tengok Malaysia attack. 2nd half, pergi pulak duduk the other side. Betul-betul belakang goal.

2nd half Malaysia main pantas sikit. 1st goal score... the crowd went WILD!!! Eh.. tetiba disallowed pulak. Huh? (Ok aku rasa ni memang jahat la..) tapi, heheheh aku tak salahkan those yang baling botol kat lines man yang raised flag tu. Kuat betul tangan semua orang...boleh baling sampai ke padang. Whatever la... after that Malaysia scored another 2 goals. Tak boleh nak cerita betapa gembiranya semua orang. Baik yang kecik (macam ada adik depan kitaorang ni), sampai le ke pakcik-pakcik, makcik-makcik. Sorry la brother yang layan blues sorang-sorang depan kitaorang. Sebab aku jerit betul2 kat telinga dia. Hahahah.

Alamak! Adik ni pun pakai no 17 la... hahaha

Perasaan balik bila team menang ni lain. Semua orang senyum je. Dalam LRT pun masih lagi nak bersorak-sorak. Kesian orang-orang Betnam yang terpaksa berlakon-lakon macam orang Malaysia jugak dalam LRT tu. Everytime sampai stop, orang yang keluar cheered...orang dalam sambut... Hai, sakai jugak.

Overall, this team is pretty good. Though takde most of the main players. (Adakah ini menunjukkan the main players sebenarnya tak la berguna sangat? Erkk) The back 4 plus the keeper, I have nothing but respect. Memang depa main a tight game. Yang striker and midfield tu kadang-kadang tah apa2. Tapi stamina semua orang mmg bagus la. 90 minutes masih berlari lagi la.... So keep it up. To my surprise jersi no 17 tu main lagi. Ya salam... aku macam tercengang bila dia jadi super sub. Rupanya counterpart dia Mr Pamungkas pun still main lagi.

To Skuad Harimau Muda - may the force be with you tonight. Final ni kita orang support dari rumah je la. Hari ni kita akan pasang flag kat balcony. To those yang pergi stadium, hope everyone will be safe. Semangat-semangat jugak, tapi jangan la caught up in unnecessary fight dengan sakai-sakai yang keluar dari hutan tu.

Kepada anak-anak sedaraku, nanti kita pergi beli proper jersey. Takkan jersey Chelsea ada yang ori, jersey Malaysia nak beli yang ciplak punya.

5A, 1A, 7B are not first class seats

2010-12-25T08:24:00.006+08:00

When I saw the sms "Beb, 5A", I was thinking ... apa ke mabuk member aku cakap pasal seat dlm kapal terbang ni. It takes a few minutes to register that it was the UPSR result that I have been nagging her to check.

Hehehe... the joy of knowing the result and messing with the boy who is scared and worried for days. "Nanti Aunty Jun jangan ketawakan saya ye kalau saya nangis". Ok aku baik sikit la.. saying somewhere along... apasal pulak nak nangis. Dah habis pun examnya. Kakak aku lagi evil la kan, "Mesti la ketawakan.. heheheh".

Congrats bro!

Anugerah Athlete Harapan katanya. Nasib dapat 5A!

"Jika kau fikirkan kau boleh, kau pasti boleh melakukan. Nanti boleh la Standing in the Eyes of the World" (Caution: Jangan Poyo!)

And.. a few days back, the same friend delivered another good news. Result PMR Hanani pulak. 1A 7B. Not bad at all! Congrats Kakak!. Memandangkan ni Xmas, nanti Santa Claus akan pergi shopping and get you something.

To my friend, your help will still be needed. Ramai lagi ni anak sedara nak exam. Heheheh. Any peace offering bills, send it my way please. Thanks beb!

And to all... Merry Xmas! Ho Ho Ho

Bidding War

2010-12-12T23:04:00.006+08:00

Takku sangka epal menjadi nangka.

I almost choked when I heard the news over the radio. Q won the bid to host 2022 World Cup. Nevermind the drama over who won bid for 2018, I'm more interested in this one. I got mixed feeling on this. Impressed, cynic and a touch of WTF.

Don't get me wrong, I do support their bid. Been there, did that, bought the t-shirt (and magnet) literally. Hmm come to think of it.. where the heck is my 2022 t-shirt. Read more about this here

Getting back to the point:

1. "Macam mana nak main dalam 50 degree in summer months? Gila ke". As my friend said, "Eh, depa banyak duit. Don't be surprised dia boleh buat stadium semua air-cond"

Believe it. They are planning to build 6 climate control stadiums. Oh, and there's someone in FIFA suggested, why don't the games be played in January/ Feb instead. My take on it, climate control stadium might be super cool, but it will be tough to fight the heat waves, sand storm and sudden migraine from the bursting heat outside the stadium and hotel.

Read more here

2. "Got Beer?". Alcohol is only served in hotels in Qatar. Will it be available at the venue? I hope they won't change the law on this. Nasib la kan, siapa nak minum, minum la air mineral ke Oren Rani(serious kuda sedap nak mampus!) ke kan. Even, per say if UK won the bid, I think they should ban alcohol as well. Nanti semua tu encourage orang jadi hooligan.

3. Live telecast - I'm disappointed to say that I did missed a few vital matches because there were no live telecast on TV. Kena subscribe tah channel apa tah. There were a few matches were shown halfway.. then tetiba jadi beach volleyball. Or was it handball. (OMG! Writing this is bringing back my angst!). So I had to resort to go and watch it at (not proud of this) kelab malam. Super sleazy ok. Tapi tak kisah la, ada super big screen, and food sedap.

I truly love what this guy wrote. Kelakar beruk.

Though they suck on the TV live telecast, but they do put a kick ass 'street party' for the games. Well, granted it was part of the 2022 bid, but check out the tent that they put up in Suoq Wakif. TV besar gila complete with tempat lepak. Fully air condition.

4. Tickets - Me and my colleague bought a ticket to watch the local league cup final. Memang la sampai lambat, tapi boleh we were refused addmission sebab stadium dah penuh. WTF? Ada ticket, patut boleh la masuk. It seems that is a norm. Bangsa dia suka hati masuk, ada ticket ke tak. Hamba abdi yang lain ada ticket ke takde ticket ke, boleh la balik rumah aje. How can they manage this during the WC nanti? There's about 10 years yet to educate themselves that the world doesn't revolve around them (try to tell that to the O&G company yang berlumba-lumba datang sujud kat depa, hahah), and other human beings have rights too. Especially if they pay for their tickets damn it!

Sudahnya hari tu, kitaorang posing-posing lemau aje la keliling stadium.

Sighhh... There was a colleague, a Q dude who had serious passion for football. He even wrote a few articles about footie in the local newspaper. I saw the clippings at his desk tapi haram tak paham sebab dalam bahasa Arab. I wonder what he must have felt about this. Most probably he will not be watching WC on his 50 inch 3D TV (kaya gaban!), comes 2022. Tah-tah jadi commentator kat TV. Tah-tah lagi jadi player or coach on Q team. Hahahah.

So will I return on 2022 to watch WC? Hanya Tuhan sahaja yang tahu. Kalau ada rezeki, apa salahnya :)

p/s: adakah ni telah membantu mereka menang bid itu? boleh dapat free flight ticket tak nak pi tengok nanti? :P

Dubai Detour - June 2010

2010-11-21T18:54:00.006+08:00

In the spirit of SATC2 holidaying in UAE, we managed to sneak in a short trip to UAE as well during my assignment in Qatar. Terlupa nak blog about this. Better late than never I suppose.

So we went to Dubai. For a mother of all shopping trip. The summer sale was in full bloom by the time we touched down in Dubai. It's only an hour away from Doha via flight. Got ourselves a cheap flight on FlyDubai (UAE answer to AirAsia). As for the hotel, after studying the map of old and new Dubai, cross referencing it with the Metro station location, matching them up with the satelite images of all the major shopping malls and interviewing Dubai natives at the office, we choose to stay at Rose Rayhaan Hotel by Rotana. It's not just some hotel, it's the tallest hotel in the world! The room was top notch (not just because we were on the 68 floor) and we got a pretty sweet deal. After the financial crisis, luxury became murah dan meriah in Dubai :)

Like I said, this was a mother of all shopping trip. Dubai has just got every label, store, brand you could think of in this world. You name it, they got it. And they got it at discount sebab tengah summer sale. It's pure hard core sale pulak tu. For example, if TamaGucci is on sale, you could find the latest item at 50%. Bukan macam Malaysia, dah la item from previous 10 season, pastu discount 10%. Itu pun barang dah kena pijak-pijak. And, (kami sungguh bersyukur ke hadrat ilahi) while we were there, the Malaysian RM was pretty strong. So with the great exchange rate and loads of discount, the god of shopping is smiling upon us and sending us loads of credit our way. Ladies, warm up your credit card and ....(need I say more?)

Before I continue, may I say again this is a mother of all shopping trip. Did we visit the Ski Dubai? The Underwater World? The Aquarium? The Fountain? The dessert? I will simply say a polite No. Tidak. Nada. Nehi.

We did however went to Harvey Nichols, Bloomingdales, Galeries Lafayette, Saks Fifth Avenue, Agent Provocateur, Alexander Mcqueen, Hermes, LV, Gucci, Burberry, Armani, H&M, Dubai Mall, Burjunam Mall, Wafi City Mall, Dubai Outlet Mall, Mall of Emirates, City Center, Virgin Store (borong t-shirt, best gila), Souq Naif (twice, sampai dah bersila dalam kedai jual Abaya (gedik name for Jubah) and baring kat sofa dalam kedai jual segala mak nenek kain chiffon, silk and tah apa lagi). Walaupun ni mother of all shopping trip, kami masih lagi waras dan tak hilang akal. Most of the shop tu masuk nak cuci mata, sambil posing-posing poser aje. Then we had fun, having all of our small purchase gift wrapped! Hahahah memang dasar 'villager'!Tapi dekat Souq Naif tu memang hilang akal jugak la. Maybe sebab tak makan lagi. Tu la never shop when hungry, nanti semua nak beli.

For some strange reason, tah kenapa kitaorang gila terjal dalam Hersey's Chocolate World. We even took pictures to be printed on a bar of chocolate! (Ok ni lagi worst..) and tah kenapa aku gila happy nampak Reese ni, siap posing scandalous lagi. After second the picture was taken, it just dawn to me.. shit.. I must made the Bangla/Nepal/Pinoy in the suit a very happy person today. Kakak aku lagi best, "Eh haram la ambik gambar peluk-peluk, kang kena tangkap pulak". Tak terpikir pulak aku. Hahahahaha

And like I said, you name it, they got it. Siap ada kedai nama Klynn. (Klynn, sudahkah kau merasmikan present aku? On second thought, no need to answer that).

Ada jugak Miss June. Bila pulak akak design baju ni?

Well, somewhere during the 3 hectic days of window shopping, we managed to squeeze in, going up the tallest building in the world. Granted it was in the mall. Heheheh. Burj Khalifa - stands over 800 meters tall (Petronas Twin Tower is at 452meters) with over 160 levels, was techincally the tallest building in the world somewhere in 2008. The building was officially launched in January 2010 . We get to go up the observation deck which was on the 124 floor. You have to get tickets to go up. I shall not bore you with the facts and figures, have a look here for them. Unfortunately, the weather was not that clear. The sand storm was kicking in that weekend. So there was not much view, just hazy everywhere. Bila dah bosan, apa lagi... kitaorang la orang yang paling eager sekali kat gift shop kat situ. Heheheh.

A few tips on Dubai:

Check the weather. Try to come during cooler weather so that it's nice to walk around.
There's Metro (train) but it's not that extensive. You need to get around in taxi which could be pricey.
The shopping malls are HUGE! Get fit and wear comfortable shoes if you are going to rough it, so to speak.
The low cost terminal is super crazy and queeing could be hours. I just can't figure why. Do come in early.

Before we know it, it's time to go back. We promise ourselves that we should come back here and do all the tourist thingy properly. Siap simpan tu Metro card, konon nak guna lagi. Hahaha. Insya-allah, kalau ada rezeki lagi :)

Di Mana Kan Ku Cari Ganti

2010-11-09T21:41:00.005+08:00

We got invites to watch the live recording of the Konsert Penghargaan P. Ramlee Di Mana Kan Ku Cari Ganti that was shown on History Channel 555..When we saw the line of artist that was going to perform, ni tak boleh miss ni.

It was on 24th Oct. On the same day of our flight from Bali. Kalah YB, rushing here and there. The concert were held at DBKL Auditorium. We parked at the basement.... somewhere near datuk bandar's designated spot. Rasanya kitaorg park kat pengarah pokok tumbang ke (something like that kot) punya spot. Hehehhe.

We were seated on the 2nd row from the stage. Ingat duduk tepi selamat la... rupanya ada pulak camera tu kat situ. Maka kena la buat game face sepanjang malam. Dah la dengan tak mandinya aku pergi. Pulak tu kitaorg duduk sebelah makcik yang super enthusiastic. Aku rasa banyak kali camera tu capture makcik tu. Memang berdoa supaya tak nampak batang idung kitaorg.

A few of the performance was good. Yang lain biasa-biasa aje. Ada yang kena a few take. Dah masuk repeat yang no 3, rasa macam nak nangis pun ada. Tak kisah la. I'm here to enjoy P Ramlee's work. Siapa pun nyanyi, tetap sedap. Pastu, curi-curi ambik gambar, tapi mostly goyang.

Below were the few yang elok

In the last picture, the girl in pink is P Ramlee's cucu. She did a great job on Bunyi Gitar. At the end of the night, aku cuma frust takde siapa nyanyi lagu ni:

Gelora by P Ramlee and Saloma (from Seniman Bujang Lapok, 1961)

Jiwa rasa gelora
Kasih pada teruna
Bukan kerna intan permata
Kerna budi bahasa

Kasih bukan paksaan
Sayang bukan mainan
Jiwa dan raga jadi taruhan
Ooooo pujaan

Rinduku padamu
Kekanda idamanku

Kekasih dikaulah
Oh! adinda puspitaku

Murni sungguh impian
Indah nian harapan

Jika tercipta taman kencana
Ooooo bahagia

Rinduku padamu
Kekanda idamanku

Kekasih dikaulah
Oh! adinda puspitaku

Murni sungguh impian
Indah nian harapan

Jika tercipta taman kencana
Ooooo bahagia
Ooooo kekanda

Ooooo adinda

7 Year Itch

2010-11-03T09:57:00.004+08:00

7 Years and counting?...

-cartoons clips do not belong to me. It's the property of whoever that is mentioned in the clip and posted it to the net in the first place-

It's all about SPA

2010-11-02T18:44:00.006+08:00

This is my third trip to Bali. Since I've visited all of the Pura and Gunung. I thot this should be a leisure and I'm a bum kinda of holiday. Since we didn't have anything specific to see in Bali this time around, we thought why not we do nothing but SPA aje. We ought to go to the mother of all Spa and spend on nothing but the best. And yes, we shall also eat nothing but the best Nasi Padang.

We booked ourselves into Vira Bali. Ingat dekat dengan Discovery Mall and Kuta Square. Well, to them dekat la kot. To us, we'd rather take the 5000 rupiah (RM1.75) taxi ride to the mall. The hotel is next to a church and rather quiet since it's far from the hustle and bustle of Kuta. I'm ok with it, but it would be better if there's a 24hr shop next to it. (Actually there's one about 70 meters away... tapi pada aku jauh tu). Facilities is great. Pool nampak cantik. Tak pernah sekali pun aku masuk. Bathroom is nice and TV mcm2 channel dapat. The folks at the reception are also very nice and helpful. Suka tanya depa benda-benda merepek meraban tapi depa layan jugak with a smile :)

So how did it go?

1. It rained most of the time :( I always picture Bali as hot and sunny. So the raincoat was the first thing I discarded while packing.

2. There's a major upacara right smack in Kuta. Aparently it has been going on for a month. Kuta has become machet total (gridlocked)! Grrr!!! I've googled hi and lo to make sure that there's nothing specific going on this time.

3. Spa was not as great as we pictured it. We wanted to try out this 2 particular Spa. We should have booked it while in KL. We just can't get hold of the actual Spa. Contact number semua takde. So we resort to check around. Most of the taxi driver would recommend us to go to Anika, which is charging in USD. Mahal gila. At those prices, Baik aku book myself into some 5 star hotel in KL and get the same treatment if not better. One guy suggested another Spa which resembles rumah atuk aku masa zaman perang dulu. So terima kasih daun keladi je la.

We ended up at Febri's. 5 hours spa for about RM210. Boleh la. Tapi tak best sangat pun. Most of the Spa around Kuta is already westernized and owned by Mat Salleh. Dah tak authentic. Semuanya service lebih kurang aje. They focus on volume rather than quality. The first day tu, we did an hour of massage at another Spa called Lemon ke Orange tah. A few doors from our hotel. Lagi la tah hape-hape. The beds were just separated by thin curtains!

I notice that Balinese do not have any qualms about personal space and nudity. Selamba aje tarik segala benda. At one point, my ass was really on display. Tah sape lalu lalang tu boleh nampak agaknya. Suddenly I kept on hearing the female voice that we would hear of parking vending machine. (The one that says "Please pay the ammount on display. Please pay the ammount on display"). I kept on hearing "Please look at the ass on display. Your ass is on display. Ass is on display. Ass is on display". Sialan.

Dah tu, nak mandi.. Boleh dia tanya, nak mandi sekali tak dengan kakak aku, sebab takde tempat nak tunggu. APAKEJADKEJADHAR?!. Kalau dia paham cakap english, akan aku jawab "I will not dignify that question with an answer". The last time I took a bath with my sister was when I was 6. And that was just because I was scared of 'Jaws' that would come out from the kolah, ok. Tuala pulak sesuai la untuk budak umur satu tahun. It's the kind, tarik ke atas bawah exposed, tarik ke bawah... you get the drift.

Ingatkan ni sebab Spa murah, it will not happen at Febri's yang nampak macam ada standard sket. Hmm hampeh. Sama aje. "Ya jangan malu-malu". Tengah kitaorg berkemban, berendam dlm jacuzzi ada pulak... jantan-jantan mana nak siram pokok. Boleh? Patutnya jantan off limit la kan. Tak paham aku.

And the mother of all horrors, out massage 'cottage' is out in the open ok. Aku rasa kalau orang nak mengendap nampak aje. Cuma dah tak kuasa nak tanya lebih lebih. Shower and bathtub semua kat luar. Memang ganguan perasaan. Aku rasa kalau malam mesti banyak nyamuk.

4. I was also looking foward to dine on the beach at Jimbaran. Unfortunately, hujan lebat la pulak. So had to eat indoors. But it was still nice. Plus, we ordered jagung bakar. Ada perisa pedas and manis. Nice. Pastu order Teh Botol. Tak boleh order Heineken ke Tiger kan.. so boleh la jugak poser-poser dgn botol. Hahaha so sad!

5. We got to eat Nasi Padang. Tapi pricey la pulak. Kitaorang asyik suruh taxi driver tunggu and we went to tapau. Agaknya kalau makan hidang lagi murah kot. Food dia memang pelik-pelik. Aku ada tanya this chikedis looking thing in a small packet, rupanya.. usus ayam. Usus ayam? Banyak la ayam yang dah kena sembelih.... sebab ada banyak packet. And banyak usus dlm satu packet. Aduuss...

6. Kitaorang beriya nak pergi Sukawati. Konon nak shopping. Tapi punya la jam, by the time sampai dah penat. Before that the driver also recomended that we should checkout Krishna. Macam Mydin. Jual semua souvenier Bali. The driver kept on saying,"Nyaman mbak disana.. lebih nyaman". Aku imagine.. dlm aircond.. cooling and tak panas macam kat Sukawati. Nyaman apa kebendanya. 5 minutes in the place, peluh aku macam dah aerobik 1 jam. The place is packed with people. Tah berapa bas yang datang. Nak queue bayar satu hal lagi. Adooiii.. I suppose if you are not in a rush ok la. Murah jugak la barangnya. We like it better at Matahari at Kuta Square. Lebih kurang je harganya. Bertenang sket tempat tu.

7. I wanted to go to Tanah Lot because missed it during the last visit. Disebabkan jam, almost didn't make it to catch the sunset. Nasib sempat. I don't remember that Tanah Lot had a lot of shops selling t-shirt and things, tapi skang ni dah banyak. Sempat jugak makan jagung bakar. Sedaappp.

8. We saw Kechak Dance again. Dah half way thru. Bagus la.. sebab aku malas nak tengok dari awal. The audience tak ramai. I still feel that the first Kechak Dance that I saw some 16 years ago was the best. This one, the kechak is small... but siap ada lighting effects tu. Hahahha dah advance la sket. Everyone was seated close to the performance. I kept on looking around to make sure that the Hanuman do not pull out something cheeky like sitting next to me. Mau aku nightmare seminggu!

9. Bali Slingshot. No, kitaorang tak naik. Tapi sempat la witness orang naik. Gila babas. I was already to shoot the people being slingshot, in a blink of an eye, the thing was catapult into the air. If aku naik, dah sah-sah la muntah hijau!

10. It was time to go back. We didn't know that we still had to pay airport service. Nama je dah pergi 3 kali. Kena la pulak tukar duit lagi. cilakak. Lain kali sila sediakan duit ok. 150,000 Rupiah ke per person.

We took MAS to and fro. Memang tiada tolok bandingnya MH! Makan sedap. Spacious. Pergi lagi la sedap kan food. Balik ni sebab catering dari Bali, ada sket kureng la. Tapi aku mmg cheesed off masa nak balik sebab semua orang tak reti nak beratur. If kata seat 30-44 board dulu, orang lain tunggu la. Ni row 20 dah masuk pastu sibuk nak susun-susun barang. Dah hold up semua orang. Kalau kata bodoh, marah pulak.

Till next time, Bali!

Short Trip South

2010-10-31T21:58:00.007+08:00

Disebabkan terpanggil untuk pergi Retrolicious Concert, maka kena la pergi Singapore. Nasib baik ada Jetstar flight yang murah. RM60 nett per person. Dah la naik dari KLIA. I like! Lagi murah dari naik bas. Well... bas yg executive tu la. Bukan yang RM30 dari Pudu tu. Pergi je murah, balik mahal. So balik, plan naik bas pulak. RM75 per person kalau tak salah.

Hotel pulak, nak jugak duduk area Bugis, sebab nak pi makan di Wak Pariaman. Kalau boleh nak duduk kat dapur dia. Hahahah. Nak cari hotel murah, yang walking distance dari kedai tu, tapi tak sanggup nak duduk kat baackpackers hostel. Macam mana nak jadi world traveller ni? Surf punya surf, jumpa la hotel ni. Takde la murah pun. Tapi sebab nak dekat punya pasal, book je la.

Santa Grand Hotel at Jalan Kubor. Our verdict? Biasa je. Plus point, it's very near to Wak Pariaman (tapi jauh sket dari kedai murtabak), 5 mins walk to bus stop nak pergi Orchard Road and boleh la nak jalan pergi Bugis MRT and Bugis Junction. Facilities dalam room biasa je. Landmark Hotel tu lagi nicer, but mahal sket la. Satu malam je kan, so tak kisah la. Skang ni sangat suka naik bus dari MRT, sebab tak payah bersesak dengan orang and susah payah nak figure out to buy the ticket. Bus nak ke Orchard tu every 15 minutes. Bus no 7. I think the fare is about SGD 1.20. The bus stop is called Before Sultan Mosque on North Bridge Road.

Of all the days in the year, we choose to be here when people are eager to be married on the special date 10.10.10. Sudahnya, Wak Pariaman tutup pulak sebab ada wedding reception. Huk alo. Never fear, every dark cloud has a silver lining. The silver lining comes in the form of Kedai Hjh Maimunah.

It prepares authentic and delicious Malay lauk pauk. Sedap and murah. My lunch was only SGD 3.30. Pastu stress sendiri sebab menyesal tak ambik banyak2. We were watching the guy at the cashier punching the numbers and estimated roughly that a family of 5 can eat a big feast at an average price of SGD15-18. Semua lauk hidang and tengok gaya orang order macam esok nak start bulan puasa. No wonder the shop had to be extended a couple doors down and siap ada 2 tingkat tu. Unfortunately, Sunday the shop is closed. Melepas la nak try benda-benda lain pulak. Next time la ye.

We wanted to go to Universal Studio, but decided against it. Dah penat berconcert, ada pulak muntah kang naik rides. The hotel also told us that there might be possiblity that ticket were sold out because it's the weekend. Being the wuss and lazy we are, we like to agree with that very much. KIV for next time. We will plan a special trip just for Universal Studio. Duduk dari pagi sampai malam buta.

So now, where to go since we have the day to kill? Pergi Mustafa lagi. Tah apa benda nak beli pun aku tak tau. And true enough, I've run out of things to buy. Almost bought a PSP, but senses kicked in. Almost bought a new headphone, but yup inner senses said no. Damn you, inner voice! Jadi beli apa? We went crazy at the food section. My sister star purchase was a bottle of Nescafe. We checked the price in Malaysia it was RM24. She paid about RM11. Bangga gila. Lepas tu ketawa sendiri sebab, why the heck that we travel this far and end up buying Nescafe.

At 6.30pm, we boarded First Coach at Novena Square. Bosan jugak nak menunggu sebab there's no proper waiting area. Aku memang dah kiasu nak tengok movie onboard. Lama pulak nak tunggu pakcik tu on server dia. Only after the Custom check in JB baru boleh tengok. Nasib kat Kastam takde check and takde orang.

The movie choices were not that great, but I haven't seen 40 year old virgin, so layan je la. Mother of all horrors, cerita ni gila babi tak censored. Nasib orang keliling aku semua dah tidur, if not depa ingat aku tengok porn ke. By the time we stopped for a toilet break, news start to spread that there's a massive traffic jam from Simpang Ampat onwards. Ada accident. Alamak.

Turns out, it was a fatal accident. 13 people were killed. All the while we were stucked, we could see ambulances and police cars rushings from both side of the highway. After almost 2 hours of slow crawl, we reached the accident scene. It was too dark to see anything clearly, but we can see that a bus had overturned, a flatten vehicle and a banged up divider. The traffic from KL was at a stand still. Rupanya the accident occured sometime before 7pm. It was already 11pm when we passed by. I was thinking seteruk-teruk semua orang yang terstuck dalam jam ni, teruk lagi orang yang mati and injured dalam accident ni. Semoga yang meninggal tu sentiasa dicucuri rahmat. Read about it here

It was sad to read that those who had died are mostly teenagers, colleage students. It reminded me of the University days where we were the normal bunch of people taking these buses, for either a fun weekend in KL or going back home to Johor. Pastu sebelum naik bas nak kena tapau burger extra mayo dulu (patut la gemuk). Suka kalau driver tu drive laju-laju, supaya cepat sikit sampai. Mujur la umur ni panjang lagi. Alhamdulillah.

We reached KL around 1am. Nak terkencing yang amat. Nasib sempat sampai rumah. Nampaknya lepas ni idea naik bas ni akan diabandonkan.

Stay safe people.

Never Gonna Give Together Forever Up!

2010-10-15T23:17:00.012+08:00

Debbie Gibson. Rick Astley. Singapore. I'm sold.

So as soon as I saw the email notification from SISTIC that Class 95 fm in Singapore is organizing a concert featuring Debbie Gibson, Rick Astley and Johnny Hates Jazz, I mentally booked my flights and bought my concert tickets. All those time, when I was practising those dance moves on Electric Youth, never would I thought I get to see Debbie Gibson in concert. And let me tell you about Rick Astley, when I was 7 I thot he was the cutest thing on earth (turns out he still is heheh). Regardless this was a few decades too late, I'm not going to miss this.

Concert was at Fort Canning Park. My sister and I, arrived 30 minutes before 8pm. Only to discover there was a long line to enter the concert. When I say long line, I meant looooooong line. Imagine, queueing up from KLCC all the way to Pavilion. Actually I didn't even get to see the end of the line, because we went straight up front, dengan muka selamba badak, and just cut in. Amazed that the 2000 odd people outside, patiently queue and not a single word of utter anonyance! If kat sini, dah selamat dah semua organizer kena pijak. Ada ke concert nak start, beribu lagi orang kat luar. Satu je entrance opened. (It reminded me of a concert not long ago in Bukit Kiara). They were stressing about safety and all, but what about them selling xxx amount of tickets in the first place when they know that the place can only accomodate x amount of people only. Aiyoo.

When we got in, the whole area was already packed. Everyone was prepared for a leisure night out, already spread their tikar and blankets on the grass, picnicking. OH MY.. thank god we sneaked in. There's no way those people outside can get in. The organizer told everyone that this is a STANDING Concert and not a sit down concert. Everyone gladly got up and squeeze in tighther. Again. Amazed. If kat sini, dah runtuh dah stage tu kena terajang dengan semua orang. I just wish that the concert were in a bigger venue so that it does not inconvenient anyone.

I stood 98% of the night from 8pm till almost midnight. Sweating and thirsty the whole time. Nasib tak muntah. Dah pukul 11.45 tu dah macam pening-pening lalat la jugak. Hehehe.

But I'm willing to forget all of this because the concert is simply AWESOME! It's like going to karaoke with 7000 people. Singing without a care in the world. Before the start of the concert, they play slide shows? Montage? Of things that had happened, movies and songs that were famous, toys that were first introduced each year thruout the 80s. The crowd keep on cheering at everything because they are all so familiar. Who doesn't know Madonna songs, Top Gun movie, Transformer and Teenage Ninja Turtle cartoons, Nintendo, shoulder pads... list goes on and on.

So first up was Johnny Hates Jazz. I only know two of their song (partly because I googled them before coming) - Shatered Dreams and Turn Back the Clock. During the rest of their set, I amused myself by checking out other people. Hehehe.

Next, Debbie Gibson. Though she just turned 40, she's all superfit and toned.

However, to my terkejutness, she sounded like Britney. Even looked like Britney during her first two albums. I pretend to not hear this and sang along to Electric Youth, Out of the Blue and Foolish Heart. Then came Lost in Your Eyes. Screeeammmmmm! She got the crowd to sing the first verse and everyone put their heart and soul into it. I suppose those lost teenage years came flashing back to everyone. Hahahahah.

She completed her set with Dancing Queen. Why? I have no idea. I was a bit disappointed that Debbie did not sing We Could Be Together and those songs from a more recent album like For Better or Worse and Didn't Have the Heart. Baru full blown jiwang karatz. But of course this is an 80s concert, so it's ok.

Next up, the cute, the cheeky, Rick Astley. He kick things off with Together Forever. Screaaaammm. He sounds great if not better. He thrown in a couple of his greatest single: She Wants To Dance With Me and Strong Strong Man (suddenly I like this song very much). Thenm to my delight he sang 'When I Fall in Love'. Hulamak...tercair kejap. This is my favorite part of the concert I would say (with Debbie's Lost in Your Eyes a close 2nd).

I can't believe he used to look like this:

Now he looks like this:

Finally, he closed of the great night with the song that was behind the Rickrolling phenomena - Never Gonna Give You Up.

With that, I've officially been - Rickrolled!

Jeritan Batinku

2010-10-05T19:34:00.004+08:00

It blew me away! It blew me away listening to the MPO playing the score to Jeritan Batinku. If P Ramlee were around he sure would be very proud of it. Yup, it's my first time at the DFP. Arrived early and managed to sneak a shot. Our seats were at the upper circle. No complains because we were right in the middle and from where we were, we could see all the action going on. If you just let yourself go, you could really lose yourself with the music and the movements of the bow stroking the violins (ok statement poyo, but it's true!).Sighhh.

It was a concert. Nonetheless it was Sheila Majid's concert. MPO Celebrates 25 years of Sheila Majid. It was worth it! Over the years I've been to a few of her concerts. KuMohon at Stadium Negara with Anuar Zain and Dayang Norfaizah opening for her. Then there was the one at KL Convention Center a few years back. I guess this one is really special as she was accompanied by the MPO.

Highlights:

1. She is super toned! Am very envious of her toned arms.
2. Loved the instrumental/ score Jeritan Batinku and Dia by the MPO. Dia suddenly sounds like something that came in a Walt Disney movie. Mesmerizing.
3. Loved Sheila Majid on Emosi. Emo kejap.
4. Loved the crowd signing (termasuk la aku yang perasan suara sedap), complementing the orchestra.
5. Loved the seating at DFP. Didn't feel blocked like those at Istana Budaya.
6. The cute dude on Violin right behind Sheila. Hehehehe.

Check out the photos here: Gua website .These were from the 1st Oct performance I suppose. We went on the 2nd Oct. She wore a blue and glittering diamond crusted number that night. Check out the cute guy, in the close up picture (pic no 3). Hehaw.

p/s: I wonder how much does the guy on Cymbals is getting paid? Hmmm.....

Freaky Friday

2010-10-02T09:25:00.003+08:00

..well, that was yesterday.

I wore baju kurung to the office today. The last time I wore baju kurung was I think more than 3 years ago. I have been there for almost 7 years. I ditched Baju Kurung after a good part of a year, simply because malas nak gosok. My normal attire would give the cleaners at the office a run for their money. Hehaw. Everyone was giving me the look. If I recall correctly, these were some of the remark:

- "Tebiat ke apa kau hari ni?" Accompanied by an arched eyebrow.
- "Why you dress funny today?" (my favorite).
- "Eeiii...baju kurunggg. Eh ni first timekan you pakai baju kurung?".
- "Aikkk. Ni apasal pakai baju kurung hari ni?" Accompanied by suspicious look.

Little that they know, sebenarnya aku nak pergi open house petang semalam. But before that, a lunch date with kawan-kawan lama dari zaman U. Mula-mula nak makan kat Saba...la tutup pulak Friday. Nasib kedai sebelah Ariania, serving Iranian food bukak. Sedap jugak makan kat situ. Sahabat-sahabat, thank you for a good time and lunch. But the funny thing was, of all the days, semalam la nak hujan lebat pulak. Langsung stranded dalam kedai sebab takde payung. Baru je cakap.. harap tak hujan...the sky opened up and pour it's content. Creepizoid... tapi sebenarnya suka sebab boleh lepak lama lagi....tapi lama tu dah jadi lebih sejam, melampau la kan. Nak tak nak kena la redah jugak hujan with high heels, baju kurung and all... Habis rambutku yang penat blowdry tadi. Tapi alhamdulillah, none of us jatuh tergolek dalam hujan. That will be the mother of all horror!

Later in the evening, a few of us from the office pergi open house pulak. This is the best part of all. Ada LAKSA JOHOR accompanied with SIRAP BANDUNG ICE CREAM SODA. Entah berapa gelen aku minum, sebab tuan rumah keep it coming aje. Heheheh. Pastu memang mengaku, akak makan laksa 3 round, complete with sambal belacan and condiment yang cukup segalanya. Gambar tak sempat nak ambik, sebab concentrate makan.

Yati, if you are reading this... THANNKKK YOUUUUU :) Memang best gila laksa kau tu. Nanti satu hari yang indah I shall attempt recipe laksa kau. In the meantime, now you know where to send the laksa if ada leftovers. Rain or shine, ribut taufan... akan kugagahi jua pergi ambik ;). I said it yesterday, I will say it again, laksa kau tu telah membuat Raya aku tahun ini lebih bermakna... Heheheheh.

Balik office pastu, melambak issue. Tergolek-golek jawab email, jawab phone. Ambik kau! Tapi tak kisah... sebab hari ni dapat makan best :)