BLok PaRaDiSE

I need to quit this job….

Osaka’s

Grand Palace!

October 2005, FLY ME TO OSAKA!
I had a short 12 hours stay in Japan, short……. very short……
A trip on the Japanase railway was totally confusing! It is like a total web loop and just like where the spiderman would like to stay in. This is the greatest web of railway I have ever seen! Walau!

Difficulty in conversing with the Japanese make the matter worse. But what we need to know is …. only speak english to the young guys. Don’t expect the older generation to understand english.
By using alot of body languages such as finger pointing, head shaking, and pictures….. finally… FINALLY! I am able to reach to the Osaka Palace! Wow! Totally awesome! Great stuffs!

BUT…. 4.00pm ….. closed! Alamak! Too bad….

Nevermind la, go on to another place la. Take another complicated train ride…
Everyone is going about the train station in great speed. Energy is very strong here. And there stood I, gazing at the railway map….. wondering…. where am I on the map….

Some asking around again… and I am on my way to the Umeda Building. Supposed to be a place where I could overlooked Osaka in a high and grand place. Yep, you have to buy tickets just to go to the top floor of the building, but you would be pleased to know that there are pretty Japanese girls greeting you and guiding you on your way up.

And true indeed, an excellent and panaromic  view of Osaka. It was a bit warm at 28 degrees C but with the wind blowing off the heat, it was excellent to gaze at Osaka!

Me and Osaka…. a weird couple….

A short trip and some japanese noodles…. are the only memoirs of Osaka.

But I forgot to mention beautiful girls, noisy Pachinko machines, the super huge choices of hand phones…..

Pretty jap chick’s on display for caricature…

Super large collection of phones on display, just choose what you want!

 

I was at the BOSS Training in JB for 5 days. I went there by flight and was staying at the Mutiara Hotel just beside Holiday Plaza. It is a truly interesting experience and hopefully it will really be able to guide me to survive!!
That’s me in the suit after a 3 meters high jump into the water. Cool!
No doubt that everything is very interesting which include’s the HUET Training.

And the guy slip and this caused lots of tension!
Experiencing breathing underwater, excruiating! Superb! It was totally relaxing!

What else, there is also a fire fighting training. Using fire extinguishers and also water hose. And that was really fun! Wearing gears and tanks! What a hard job! Fire Fighting!!!

As long as the fire don’t burn you, it’s ok!
And let’s not forget great places and great food that JB has to offer! This is the Melbrum Walk. This is a food heaven! There are lots of different food, ranging from Malay food to Chinese food. Excellent stuff, I say!

And I’ll have to say that the seafood is definitely the best here in JB! I had the ikan bakar that I dreamt of eating when I was back at the Aquaria! Delicious!!!!!

Here’s Adrian with me eating great stuff in Melbrum Walk!
So, guys and gals out there! If you ever go to JB, you MUST drop by Melbrum Walk! It’s equavalent to Heaven!!!

People say that Kelantan is an Islamic state and true… it is…. but Kelantan houses one of the most splendid temple or temples (if not only one). Each and every temple in Kelantan is magnificent in its on area and splendour. Truly Amazing!!! ( *And I am not the crocodile hunter* ).

Damn! I am good at hunting crocodile!!

Here is the Standing Buddha. It’s total architecture is fantastc with a statue of buddha standing as the main entrance to the temple. Truly great! Every piece of the architecture combines the arts of the Thai people and a bit of the Chinese people. And it really show you what happens when dragons (chinese) and serpents( thai) meet!

The Standing Buddha of Kelantan

Just a few steps away from the standing Buddha lies another awesome temple. This particular temple is constructed to look like a ship. As if the worshipper are stepping onto the ship to pray to their gods. Never have I seen a temple built in such a way that it resembles a ship.

The Ship Steak House…nono…It’s a temple!! Hopefully it don’t sink! Haha!

Then the most marvelous temple that I have seen is the temple of the Seating Buddha! It is totally awesome and it gives an grand feeling and the mightiness of the Buddha! Totally superb! This is the best temple have seen, it feels like the Buddha is sitting on the blue clear sky.

The mightiness of the Buddha!

The whole statue itself is made by stones, and no paint is required! Every piece of it put together! Definitely high architecture!!! A must see! You will feel a very serene overlooking it!

Totally awesome Buddha!!!!

Then, we must have the Sleeping Buddha! This buddha statue is extremely long! How long? I don;t really know! If you have known that the state of Penang has a Sleeping Buddha, then you need to know that Kelantan has one that is more or less as large as the one in Penang! It is totally fantastic for Kelantan to have 3 Buddhas of great size and great craft!

Super long Sleeping Buddha!
And around the Buddha and the place of worship is draw the story of the Buddha. It is long and drwan in great details with strong looks of 3D.

Kelantan still host some of the best statue for the Buddhism. Below is the 3 face Buddha and a large statue of the Guan Yin.

The three headed Buddha! Astute!
It is totally fantastic for an islamic state like Kelantan to house all these great temples!

The Holy Guan Yin…….
With Kelantan buddhism strongly influenced by the Thailand culture, strong resemblance of Thai can be found. Here is a show of Kelantan’s Serpent Temple.

Serpent Temple!!!! But there is no snake there!
For those who are interested with temples, it is really a must go for you to Kelantan! All these temples are located nearby…. i mean a few minutes drive away….. So don’t just think that Kelantan is all Islam only!!!

The main center of attraction- Aquaria

I have visited the Aquaria. It showcases fishes from the deep sea. You will be able to see sharks and many many other fishes that I don’t know at all.

It was totally a fantastic experience!!

It is currently on promotional prices at RM 20.00 for adult and RM 10.00 for children before 31st of August 2005. Normal price would be RM 38.00.

Can you find nemo?

Views of the underwater creatures is excellent. Over here is a coral and a picture of nemo. It is a must go for all fanarics out there.

I went on a Sunday and the extreme line up was for 2 hours just to get to the ticketing counter!!!!!

I’ll suffest you guys going there on week days. It closes at 9 pm.

A round and around trip would take you not more than 2 hours. But hey, it’s worth the price!

Sea horses jumping up and down

Certainly one of the best thing going around is the underwater tunnel.
It has a conveyor that brings you round and round the tunnel. It is here where you can see all the sharks whether they are male or female!

A view of the underwater tunnel….

And hey! This is where you can see your ikan bakar fish!

Ikan bakar fresh from Aquaria! Catch them if you can!

Sorry that it took so long. SO for my fans out there, I am about to reveal my trip to Kelantan.

I spent 11 days at Kelantan. So this the shedule of my stay there.

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DETAILS OF EACH PLACES AND EXPERIENCES WILL BE ELABORATED IN OTHER POSTS

I have had one of the greatest opportunity to be invited by my friend Lee to stay at his home at Kota Bharu (KB), Kelantan. And then I also had the pleasure to be invited to stay at my friend, Wee’s house at Pasir Puteh (PP). They have been great tour guides for my whole stay there.

27/7/2005 - Wednessday

I bought my ticket at Putra Station and took the laste night bus at 9.00 pm Transnational bus to KB. It costed me RM31.00 but my dad paid it for me. Hahaha!

The bus trip was terrible~ finding it ver hard to fall asleep with such a small and cramped space. With all those guys reclining their seats for sleeping, it just gets your legs jammed thight without ADEQUATE space to change position.

But you just have to sleep, right?

28/7/2005 - Thursday

6.30am
- I have reached KB. I was a damn long trip. And hardly got any sleep. Once reaching the KB bus terminal, I call up my friend Lee to fetch me. It seems like did not had any sleep too… as he was waiting for me. Well, Wee said that I should be arriving at 4.30 am….. but the bus was running late…

7.30am
- We went to Pasir Puteh to look for Wee. And things was running a bit late.
He brought us to some beaches near PP.

9.30am
- We went to Tok Bali and the view is simply fascinating. And next we proceed to Pantai Bisikan Bayu at Semerak. We just went there to look see look see.

A bird’s view on 2 clowns- hehehe

‘Small foot steps for me…. one super leap for mankind’

11.00am
- Wee then brought us to Besut, Terengganu to have a taste of ‘Original’ keropok lekor - which i was craving for - but ithe taste just didn’t turn out the way I expected it to be.
-Then we visited a Wat…dun ask me what is a wat…..it means temple in Thai. We went back to PP and went to buy food at their weekly Pasar Mingguan.

The famous Terengganu keropok lekor……

1.30pm
-We went to Jeram Pasu, a great, small waterfall, to have a taste of Kelantan ‘natural’ water….
But we went to buy milk at a pusat proses susu. It was a great chance too!

4.30pm
- We were back at PP and Wee went to play basketball. Lee and I just cheer him on and chat with his ‘good friend’, Ah Tak (means everything also can).

7.30pm
-Bathed and prepare to go for Wee’s mum school Lions Club donation dinner.

8.30pm
-There was a great fiesta. The Lions Club presented the students with school bags and shoes and had a makan feast. There’s plenty of food and fruits! Durians, mangosteens, rambutans, just great! And free too!

11.30pm
- We played PS 2 games untill 2 am and slept.

29/7/2005 - Friday

8.30am
- Today is Friday and it is a public holiday for all. And the Chinese don’t like to go out on this day as there are lots of Malays everywhere. Expecially public places and beaches. The Chinese here simply dislike the Malays. And that’s my conclusion.
- We went to Pantai Cahaya Bulan (PCB) - The Beach of Passionate Love- And to the Kelantan once famous Hotel Perdana.
-En route to PCB, we went across an area filled with jagung and kacang rebus ( sweet corns and steamed peanuts) sellers and also a Batik production area. For those looking for souvenirs, this is just the place! Kelantan is definitely famous for their Batik! You could visit their Batek factory if you are lucky!

1.00pm
- Went to KB Mall, Billion, Mydin and all others supermarket in KB.

KB Mall, the best of Kelantan Supermarket. Same standard with KL’s Midvalley

Fantastic view of KB from KB Mall….not to be missed

And let’s not forget the all famous FIRST Mydin supermarket in Malaysia!

5.00pm
-Said farewell to Wee as he wants to go to JB do to something, and I spent the night at Lee’s house.

30/7/2005 - Saturday

12.00pm
-Today is on the historical parts of Kelantan.
-Kelantan all in all has a total of 6 museums. This is the :

State Museum
This museum showcast the Kelantanese cultures and the history of it Sultanate. It gives you a thorough picture on the Kelantanese culture and life style.

The famous Wau Bulan of Kelantan ( Kite )

And here is also the Kelantan tradisional instrument.

‘Quickly take the photo before the museum staff notices us!’

And here is the traditional cinematography of Kelantan. It is called the ‘Wayang Kulit’. The wayang kulit of Kelantan carries with it strong resemblance of Thai culture. Therefore there is Thai arts engraved on it. The wayang kulit acts as the characters in a storyline while the puppeters control them following a tune of music and dialogs.

The wayang kulits (puppets)

The specialty of this wayang kulit puppet show is that the audience is not looking at the puppet itself. The audience will be watching at the shadow of the puppets. A drop of light be put at the back of a screen while the puppeters play the puppets. Therefore the shadows of the puppet will drop against the screen.

Looking at the wayang kulit show

The puppetters for this wayang kulit show is getting scarce and I personally have never watched a real/live wayang kulit performance before. So, you’ll be very lucky if you can watch it.

Next, the WAR MUSEUM
Did you know that Kelantan is the place where the Japanese forces first landed when they invaded Malaysia? Now you know! This museum has lots of relics left behind by the Second World War. This is a must see for all those war fans!

Some replicas left behind by the Second World War

TOO TIRED TO CONTINUE…. LATER LA>>>> COME BACK LATER

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is out! And I have had a great opporturnity to be able to grab my hands on one…. for totally FREE!!!

As lame as the title seems, if we translated it into BM , it will means —-> Harry Potter dan Putera Setengah Darah…. someone must have sucked the prince’s blood.

And the malay readers will start saying it as a vampire book. Proclaimed HARAM book. And there goes about this book destroying and intoxicating the young readers mind to believe in the existence of witches and wizards.

This book… is pretty good. It is worthy of the long 2 years wait ( for fans of harry potter like me). This book is much much much better than the old Order of the Phoenix! The order of the phoneix was a total crap. It is one of the worst stories i have ever read….and not to describe that it is very long ( the book is 700 pages ) just to finish the damn book.

But again i think that the title of Half-Blood Prince SUCKS!! There is nothing much related to the prince at all. And Voldemort did not appeared at all.

This time the book bring the reader through less heroism of Harry, and it is more CSI-Miami like. It guide the readers slowly and reveals the secret for the destroyal of Voldemort.

And in this story, at last Albus Dumbledore is dead. Killed by the (Half-Blood Prince)….. I just dun wanna spoil the reader on the storyline—- you gotta read the book—– sigh….. I am never a great fan of Harry cause he is just some stupid young guy with lots and lots of guts. No brains at all.

But Dumbledore is totally adorable! And he is dead. I would rather say that the next and the 7th and Final book will bring us the death of Voldemort and an end to the Harry Potter series. Ya indeed, I hate the idea of Dumbledore dead.

And then there is these teenagers love stories… love stories of Harry, Ron, Hermione. They really sucks! Who care the fuck what their love life is? I must say that there are times when reading the book, I thought that I am reading a teenage love story. Sometimes these chapters are quite long too…with those pancing ikan style love story…yes no  … yes no….. Cheh! Just dragged the story longer.

All in all, minus the love stories…we will be able to read the whole story at around 400 pages. But well, I must admit that this love stories are much better that the inert details and Harry’s frustation recorded in the Order of  the Phoenix. So for fans out there, expect no stupid adventure, and be prepared for very strong and complicated plot.

Pot the Potter

Welcome to the blogging world, Lok. Things are not as encouraging as they seems you know. Everyone thought blogging is easy. You just have to write some pieces of craps and millions of people will come and have a look at you blog. But again, things does not seems as easy as that. This is totally bull shit!

My Friend are telling me that there is a formula for a good blog, and that’s why they are called professional blogger. Full time bloggers….

This is not as easy as IM. You just have to write things out in a very arranged and great manner.

But curse this blogging sphere!!! It is so damn difficult!!!

I might just as well keep it very simple and stupid. Wasting time and effort to get photos of quality. But for those foregner who are planning to visit Malaysia, please do come. Malaysia is a GREAT place!!!!

I am going to show you a place where you can meet leng luis and also enjoy a great chinese tea aroma.

Welcome to Purple Cane!

This place is called THE PURPLE CANE TEA SHOP. Where you can meet nice promotors who are willing to serve you ( not that type of serving)– chinese teas.

Chinese tea is a favourite pass time for, who else but the chinese. But chinese tea is a healthy drink and it is halal. Everyone can drink it. You don’t expect pork oil there. HAHAHA!!!

Leng luis inviting you into the shop…

With their great smile and cute faces…. and also their umbrellas, they will want you to try their today special offer.

Chinese tea, sir?

And they also sell some chinese herbal eggs, quite nice you know? You just gotta try them!

"Lai lai lai! Fresh Herbal Eggs! Buy 1 Free 1 but Pay More!"

Sometimes they might just pose for you to take pictures of them.

"Say TEA!!!" Hahaha!!!

Or you could just take pictures with them.

Walau eh, uncle! Hehehehe…..

Sometimes they posed too much…..

"This is the latest palm top."

And they forget what they are selling.

And that’s all from THE PURPLE CANE TEA SHOP!!

"Come and visit us again!!!"

Thanks to Purple Cane for the fantastic pictures taken. And as I forgot to ask your consent, thanks anyway….hahaha….

" Have a TEA have a PURPLE CANE TEA !!!! "

After a long effort, I am finally going to blog about Malaysia Transportations. Sorry, Cyndy, that it took me so long. But here it is!!!

Here’s a map describing all the routes of the trains.

Route Maps for the trains

You can visit this site for more extensive information on the trains.

http://www.kiat.net/malaysia/KL/transit.html

This is primary going to be on the various transportation found in the city of KL.

The best way to move around in KL is of course by……. TRAINS!!!!

There are STAR, PUTRA and also MONORAIL in KL.

The KTM snailling down under….

This is the KTM commuter train, one of the most classic modern transportation found here in KL. It has….. very very long yellow body…. comfortable nice chair….. very very long travel distance ( which also amounts to very very long wait ). Thumbs down.

But the KTM does bring people crossing over from state to state.

Let’s have a look at the interior….

Hmmm…it’s designed perfectly for standing……

It does not look very encouraging is it? So does the platform for boarding…

The modern world of KL…..

But then again, let’s not forget that it the most classic of KL’s modern transportation.

As we travel slowly to KL Sentral…. by the KTM of course!!!

A bird’s view inside KL Sentral

You would be amazed that it look so alike an airport. And this is also what the Malaysian call as ‘Inland Airport’.

The bird flew out and got hit by the car….

It is of international standard with alot of cultures, stalls, sellers, and lots and lots of advertisement…….

Oh SHIT! I am in TM Celcom Zone! Better hide my hotlink!!!

And the stalls….. business here is thriving!!!

Candies for you and me!

Wow! Just think about going overseas just to buy chocolate…. I can just get it here anyway…. hahaha….

Then lets hop on into the PUTRA LRT!

The LRT are one of the best transport in KL. It distances are just nice and the frequency of the LRTs are very high.

Every 6 minutes, there will be another PUTRA LRT passing by.

You can just feel the speed eh, mate?

But be very careful not to jump into this:

The track of the LRT….

This is 700V of electricity! I hears that there was once a thief who snatched a young lady (why must it always be old lady) hand bag and tried to run across the platform as it looks very safe. But in the end… he just became the Kentucky Fried Man… brought to you by Putra LRT.

Next, I am going to show you the Monorail. It is a newly build transport. The space is cramped and it is not that frequent. And guess what…. it is a single rail train designed by Malaysian.

It mainly connects people to the Bermuda Golden Triangle, where young people got lost …. it’s a great transport to move around  KL. Nice aircond and everything.

The monorail….HSBC bought it?

It has one of the best advertising schemes ever. Everything is advertised! This is the platform:

Wow! Nice body platform! PeeWEET!!!!

And have a look at the interior:

Look at that….. only monorail gives you a great view of KL

Your ticket pays for everything but no girls included….

And then there is the ERL or the KLIA Express.

The fastest train in Malaysia!

You can board this train from KL Sentral to KLIA airport or vice versa. This train is really fast. And it does reaches it claim of precisely 28 minutes reaching its destination.

Here, I am going to show you the good old bus…

The Bus that travel on the road…. very "Ong" number!

The buses does indeed take you to a large area of places. The fares maybe cheaper but no doubt, they are prone to traffic jams and cars… But it is good enough.

This is the Klang Bus Station:

Need a ride to Klang, brother?

KL is the centers for these buses. And be very careful when travelling with buses. There are alot of different main stations that bring you to your destinations. So watch out! Typical stations are at Bangkok Bank, Kotaraya, Klang Bus Station, and Jalan Silang.

So if any guys and gals reading this post, and have any views or comments regarding Malaysia Transportation, please leave your comments! Just tell me which transportation is the best! I think that PUTRA LRT is the best!