Kuen Cheng 2 Gladiators

WW & WL

2007-12-14T23:28:00.000-08:00

Here some of the photos to share with you

Invitation to Su Yin's big day 18/11/07

2007-11-16T04:21:00.000-08:00

对于南美洲这片遥远的土地，你怀着多大的憧憬？

对素音来说，那一趟的自助旅行就象跟旅途中遇上的人、事与物，
谈一场没有预设结果的恋爱！

想对南美洲有深一层的了解吗？欢迎你出席以下的活动：

29个阿智玻秘-单身女子之２９天南美洲精选自助行》
新书发表与幻灯片欣赏会

　　　　　　　日期：11月18日（星期日）
　　　　　　　地点：吉隆坡雪华堂
　　　　　　　时间: 2.30-5.30PM

Unlucky Day

2007-08-18T07:22:00.000-07:00

17May Friday while i was rushing my work, someone from next door came into my office and shout "WGA 26" whose car ? Shock,what happened to may car ? My car mirror was broken. I quickly check if my CD player is there? hey .... nothing was stolen. Infact i did not put anything in my car. The uncle next door told me not only my car kena, there were another car kena side mirror. Poor me!! this cost me RM$320 to change a new one although i could claim insurance.
This month very 倒楣.

Kena saman
Issued wrong passenger name have to pay re-issue fee myself
Overlook fish market (Sydney) in the final itinerary cause tour leader missed out this sightseeing and i kena complaint from organizer
Car's mirrow was broken without any reason.

I drove at speed 20-30 from my office Cheras back home, took me 40 minutes to reach home, usually take me 15-20 minutes. I drove at left lane, put on double signal, these impatient driver hon me. Hey!! come on i was not purposely drivng slow, didn't they see my mirror was broken? why should they follow me so close until not able to cut me. ? Why so impatient ?

After sending my car to workshop at Subang Indah PJS 11 (near Sunway College). I stop a taxi to send me to Summit Square, do you guy know how much the taxi driver charge me ? "Sepuluh Ringgit lah ... Ah Moi" Wah!! RM$10 for a short distance ... NO WAY!!! Can't remember how many taxi i stopped until i met a kind Pacik to send me there by meter, only cost me RM$3.20 and i pay the Pacik RM$5.

Story not ending yet ... After i finished i need a taxi to go home. Again, the taxi driver charge me RM$30 from Summit Square to Sri Petaling. "What the hell" all these driver ? (sorry!! i really very angry) . Finally, it cost me RM$14.00 back home with free "Immuse system" lesson (hahah..) the taxi drive is doing diret selling.

Not yet finish ... I called taxi to send me to workshop collect my car. Again, this lady very rude and impolite, ask me in Cantonese "地址，去那里，电话" then put down the phone. I was shock and not sure if there's any taxi or not.

What an unlucky day form me !!??!!

1228

2007-08-18T01:15:00.000-07:00

Please mark this date in your calendar, 28 Dec 2007!
Yes, it is my big day!!
I have counted all of you in for my wedding day. Hope you all will 赏脸！
Don’t worry, I will send you Invitation Card as reminder!

As both of us are not staying in KL now, we try to make it as simple as possible.
3 most important & fundamental things:-
Registration of Marriage – Done
Bridal Photo Shooting – Done
Reservation of Restaurant - Done

Till this moment, we have not decided where to settle down after married.
May be Bangkok, may be KL, and may be Singapore…
If we still can’t decide by Oct, to come back KL for good after married, we will not spend the money and effort to do up our house. Will use his parents’ house as our 新房。

Here’s some photos taken on our ROM day to share with you :)

Controversial Posting

2007-05-21T07:17:00.000-07:00

Check it out..... one post sparked bloggers outcry. Click here to check it out http://www.kennysia.com/archives/2007/05/trauma.php#comments

Two sides of the coin... but my view is.... what's up with all the negative comments.... don't like it... just don't read it...

When we were 34

2007-05-14T17:22:00.000-07:00

I feel honored to have friends of more than 20 years to spend my 34th birthday night with me, though there was no cake (whose fault? ), no candle-blowing and no ‘real celebration’, it is surely one of the most memorable birthdays I have ever spent in these few years. I believe not only me, but all that have come would have enjoyed the night, talking about our histories again. It was really fun to recall some of those very silly things that we did when we were small.

But to my surprise, some of the ‘very sensitive issues’ were being brought out too! Hope no one would feel being offended, after all, it was all ‘past tense’ and it was just meant for fun! Didn’t we enjoy being talked, and also talking about other people?

Though age is catching up (mid thirties oledi leh), don’t worry, I should remember this night for many more years to come, because….as least I have the Heineken Designer Glass! (the only birthday present received so far , only if this is considered one :p)

Anyway, thanks again friends, for giving me this fond memory, and hope our 友谊万岁！Cheers!

Gladiators at mid thirties....still full of energy!

2007-03-19T22:17:00.000-07:00

Earthquake at Sumatra, tremor felt in Singapore!

2007-03-06T16:30:00.000-08:00

At about 11.50am, 6 Mar, I felt my chair being shaken, I tot someone was playing a fool with me, I looked at my right, saw no one, then I turned to my left again, still no one at sight. I felt giddy.....it must be the sleepless night I had last nite that caused this scenario. Suddenly,my colleague besides me shouted 'Earthquake!', then everybody started to realise it, and simultaneously nodded that...yes, earthquake! But majority was still carried on with the work, only 2 of them ran down stair from level 5 (our office) for safety.

After a while, everybody was laughing and expressing how they felt about the tremor. As it was the first experience for many people, feeling how the earthquake is. Phone started ringing and we got to realise some of the companies actually evacuated their staff from the building, espcially those highrise building in the financial district. But, still no annoucement from our building management.

At about 12.15pm, we were asked to leave the building for early lunch.

We got back to work at about 1.30pm after lunch, by then, we got to realise that it was an earthquake that had occured in Sumatra which measured up to magnitude 6.6. While we were still talking about how it felt....we felt another wave of the tremor at about 1.52pm, this time, everybody jumped up almost simultaneously from the chair and shouted 'again!' ....but, just after a while, all got back to work again as there is no annoucement from the building management for evacuation!

After all, all of us still lack of 危机感. Imagine, what happen if the building really collapse due to the quake?!

Happy New Year!

2006-12-29T00:42:00.000-08:00

I went back to KL for the Christmas holidays, and of course visited some friends in KL.

A friend that I met, told me that she had met up with some really bad incidence last month. Her house was broken in twice in 3 days. She stayed in a single storey link house with her boy friend. The thieves had broken in from the roof. When they first released that the house was broken in, they had made a police report, and the police did come and took some photos and collected some fingerprints. Nothing much had been stolen. But this was not the end, the thieve were so daring that they came for the 2nd time the day after. Even though police report had been made, this didn’t scare the thieves away! And my friend was actually in the house for the 2nd time. When she heard some noises from the ceiling when taking her bath after returning home from work, she rushed out from the bathroom and shout for help. The thieves escaped though her boy friend and some of the neighbors did rush there to help.

After this second occurrence, my friends had decided to check the roof to see if anything they could do to stop this from happening again. This had then revealed another thing that really made my friend traumatized. When her boy friend climbed up to the roof, he realized that there were a few stools on the ceiling. For those who stay in link house, you would know that there is some space in between the roof and ceiling for ventilation purpose and people can actually move around in this space. The bastards were not there at my friend’s house for stealing only, what worse was, they had some other objectives. They had actually drilled some little holes in between the ceiling boards on top of my friend’s bed room and bath rooms. Can you imagine? They were there to peep my friend through the holes. What made my friend crazy was, these bastards even brought stools up there, just like watching some shows! And they had left some empty bottles of gum too, thus, showed that there bastards were sucking gum there, getting themselves high and excited!

No doubt, it was too careless of my friend to not realize the holes on the ceiling earlier, but, who could have imagine that their own house is still not the safest place? We had heard of those hidden pin hole camera in some indecent hotels, public toilets or fitting rooms, but could you imagined, you could be watched too in your own house?

My friend had then fixed up the alarm system, sealed up the roof, installed more spotlights around the house, and what ever not to make the house ‘safer’. But, this couldn’t chase away her nightmare and fear, till not, she does not dare to go back to stay in the house. She still has the feeling that she is being watched whenever she is in the house. I do not know how long it would take for her to get rid of the fear, poor girl.

It is fortunate that my friend is not hurt in this incidence. But don’t you think our society is sick!? Everyday, we hear about snatch thief, robbery, murdering, rape case….is this place safe for us? What can we do to ensure our safety?

Anyway, don’t want to spoil you mood for the new year celebration. Wishing you & your family happy and prosperous year 2007!

Take care and I hope the Southern Taiwan earthquake doesn't affect too much of your daily life.

Yunnan

2006-11-19T02:30:00.000-08:00

What's up?
All our gladiators have been very quiet recently...nothing interesting to share, or life is just too busy to blog?
I have been busy too recently.
After coming back from my Yunnan holidays, there were basically no time to rest.
Even the week ends were occupied.
And, despite being sick, I still have to travel to Manila last week for some customer visits.

Yeah, finally, I am back to action (to blog).
Well, I was thinking to share my experience of the Yunnan tour with you guys, but, most of the feelings, excitement have cooled down since I hv already back for so long.
Anyway, just to share some of the photos with you, hope you'll like it.

1- 七彩云南

2- 石林

3- 昆明地标：金马碧鸡

4- 大理古城

5- 大理苍山庙宇

6- 虎跳峡

7- 香格里拉大草原

8- 香格里拉大金钟

9- 藏族古屋

10- 藏族白塔

11- 玉龙雪山

12 - 玉龙雪山

13- 玉龙雪山

14- 玉龙雪山

15- 玉龙雪山脚下风光

16- 牦牛戏水于玉龙雪山脚下

17- 昆明大观楼

18- 昆明花市

19- 昆明花市

Welcome Aidan Kow!

2006-10-09T05:36:00.000-07:00

Yo all!

I'm a second time father today - Aidan Kow, looks like Brad Pitt, just like the father. Aidan can't wait to get out by 11:01am today, which is about 1 week earlier than the scheduled 16th Oct.

Why Aidan? Well, is one character from a Barbie Movie, a Prince Charming, of course. My daughter just insisted on that name (he will freak out later if he knows that I name him after a character in Barbie movie..). Well, not my fault, blame his sister.....

Still struggling to think of Aidan's Chinese name. Well.... with a weird surname like mine, is kind of difficult to find a name that rhymes... "Kow Wong Choy", "Kow Ah Kow", "Kow Fatt Tat", "Kow Tai Fok", "Kow Tak Wah"..... Difficult!

Any suggestion is welcome.

How about this?

2006-10-06T08:33:00.000-07:00

OK, we hv enough abt the art works from China, how about catching a glimpse of this one "Make in Singapore"?

Remember that I went for cycling at the East Coast Park on of the weekends, trying to catch some bikini girls for you guys? Well, no luck for pretty ladies, but, this sand castle. Quite nice, though not as interesting as those captured by Kow in SH. Just want to share with you guys.

BTW...中秋节快乐!
In my memory, besides during my first year in college where I stayed in student house, this is the first time I'm spending the mid autumn festival alone, away from home, without home-cooked food! Well, in order to make myself feel better, I tell myself that I must hv chicken for dinner! Thus, I went to KFC...

Be Artistic A Bit.....

2006-10-05T01:29:00.000-07:00

What did you see from this picture?

If you see a kuku... then you better get your head fix up a bit...

This is... a-hem..... ART.....

Passed by this exhibition just now while on the way back home. Since it is free, I gave it a go lar.

This is where the kuku comes from. Actually, pretty nice.... but, some how... it looks like a pirated stuff....
Looks familiar right.... Just because the Da Vinci code is hot .....

This is another one....

What do you see?

Nah... don't tell me kuku again....

For some weird reasons, this artist here made a sculpture with the title of "Grand father and grand daughter". Weird.... must they be naked with such a title? Also, what is the little girl looking at?

This is my favourite.

This is an art...... Guys, what did you see? A-hem.... you better fix up your head....

Strip dancing.... I spent 2 hours on this sculpture.

More dancing queens.... I spent only 5 seconds on this one.

This is weird.... I think the title is "The man in the pipe relaxing"....

Ladies doing boogie dance...

This is "Frogigolo when drunk"

This is "Doing Business In China"

Hey, actually, this one is kind of nice....

This is the sculpture of "Sleeping at work"... looks damn real right?

1st October - Golden Week Holiday

2006-10-05T01:06:00.000-07:00

In China, there are only 3 holiday seasons - Chinese New Year (End Jan or Feb), Labour Day (May 1st) and The National Day (Oct 1st).

That's all.. For some weird reasons, some wise guys from the government think that having all holidays lumping togather is a brilliant idea... Thus, 7 years ago, they implemented this Golden Week holiday for the whole nation.

That's it, no more holidays in between. After this week, I will have to wait till next Feb for the CNY.

Of course, there are good and bad things about this kind of arrangement.

Imagine, would you rather have the public holidays scattered accross the year or would you like it to group it within the same week?

For me, I would rather have the holidays spreaded out.

Because is a Golden week, the whole nation is in boogie mood. There are huge amount of people going around touring. In China, when I say huge amount of people - meaning is HUGE amount of people! Every where you see is just heads and more heads! Worst still, if the uncle from donno what village besides you want to spit, you have no where to run away!

A walk along the famous Nan Jing Walking Street says it all.....

You see nothing but people.....

People, people and people....... this is the scene in subway. This is shoulder to shoulder walk.... something like bumper to bumper....
This is the scene in front of a shopping mall..... how to shop like that?

Hv not been to Kukup Laut? Get some flavour of it here..

2006-09-22T15:50:00.000-07:00

Kukup Laut may sounds new to many Malaysian, especially those stay in central or northern peninsular Malaysia, just like myself. But, it is definitely not new to many Singaporeans. It is quite a popular place for Singaporeans to stay for a weekend there, doing nothing much, but for gathering, relaxing and eating.

It was being organized and sponsored by our Product Marketing Department heads (2 Deputy Directors) for a 2D1N trip to Kukup Luat on 9 & 10 Sept.

We departed from our office on Sat morning, about 9am and reached Kukup for a seafood lunch.

Kukup is a fishing village.

After the lunch, we checked in to the “holiday resort”.
However, the place seemed to me more a house than a holiday resort.

This is the ‘resort’ that we have rented, it has 5 bed rooms with air cond and 3 bath rooms, with water heater. Quite comfortable and spacious. As you can see, it is floating on the water. As it is built with concrete, I guess, PL is OK with it, as you won’t feel that it’s actually floating.

This is the path we took to walk from main road to our ‘resort’. A narrow walk way, with houses both sides. All are floating on the water during high tide.

The back yard, quite spacious, where we can have a few mahjong tables & do BBQ at nite.

During low tide, we can see the trees, the ‘tiang’ of the kelong, and the ships are ‘parked’ on the sea bed. It is quite interesting to watch the water to flow in so quickly during high tide.

As mentioned, nothing much we could do in Kukup besises indoor activities. So, thanks to 2 of the colleagues, that had arranged some games for everybody. The games were very ‘childish’, but everybody enjoyed it very much. It was really a good one to blend everybody together.

The resort was also equipped with Karaoke and DVD player. But the majority were more interested in playing mahjong and 荷兰牌. I hope my colleagues would not mind me putting up their photos here (I purposely make the photo smaller in size, so that you can't really see their face, can you?)...Or, if I get any ‘objection’ from them, then only I take it out loh! Anyway, none of them know about this Blog, guess, they will never discover…heeheeee

There is another exciting event, that is playing firecracker and fireworks! There was a stall selling all stuff of 非卖品。My colleagues from Singapore are all stunned with these firecrackers not to mention the fireworks sold there. Finally, they all spent a few hundreds buying all kinds of firecrackers and all were so enjoyed playing with it.

The next day, we went for 游船河。We were brought to see some of the fishing kelong.

After it, we went for another seafood lunch and then left Kukup for Singapore.

It was quite a fun & relaxing week end spent with colleagues that were normally fighting and struggling together during working hours. It not only helped us to foster better relationship, and understand each other better. Try it out with your colleagues too!

Something else...

Well, they could hv done too much BBQ and caused fire! See the photos below. We were told that 5 kelongs were burnt down. The fire was too fierce to be put off and the villages were being evacuated from the kelong near to the fire scene.

Loosing a hand phone?!

2006-09-17T17:31:00.000-07:00

I went to JB with my colleagues yesterday. For what? Just like most of the Singaporeans, to shop (to buy DVD/VCD as primary objective) and to makan.

It was quite jam at the custom and we took about 2 hours to reach JB from Singapore.
It was raining quite heavily by the time we reached. We went to our friend’s house first, who is our ex-colleague and still working in Singapore but travel to-and-fro between Sg & JB to work every day. When the rain subsided, we went to Sentosa to eat Bak Kut Teh. It was really nice to have hot Bak Kut Teh during rainy day, yummy! The Bak Kut Teh was really not bad, no wonder my colleagues said it’s a must for them to eat there every time they come to JB.

After that, the friend suggested us to go to the new shopping mall in Johor, at Tebrau. I couldn’t remember the name of the mall, but we were told it has the biggest Jusco in Malaysia. Ya, it was quite huge! And, it has some similar style as KLCC, with all the branded outlets like Esprit, Topman, MNG, etc.

It was too bad that one of our colleagues had to rush back to Singapore not long after we reached there, as his mother was hospitalized. He left alone by taxi back to Singapore. I was on the phone with him for a while before I walked into a shop where my other lady colleague was.

She was trying a pair of shoes and I was just looking around. Suddenly, I realized that my h/p was not with me, I searched through my bag, and couldn’t find it. I became panic, and my colleague started calling my number. It rang…but no one picked it up! I was so miserable and I knew that I had lost my h/p. However, I still made an effort to look around briefly and walked back to the way that I took before coming in to the shop where I realized I lost my h/p, hoping that I could find it along the way…but, didn’t find it.
I tried to calm down and figure out that I couldn’t have left it any other place besides that shop, as I could remember quite clearly that I finished the call with the colleague that left before stepping in to the shop. So, I asked the Sales Assistances, if they happened to see it. All of them, gave the same remarks, i.e. there’s no way to get your phone back if you have drop it, as it would be taken in no time!

With disappointment, I still looked around in the shop, I bended down to look under the counter and the stool where I ever sat down, and looked at each customer’s face, at the same time, my colleague continued calling my number. Out of my expectation, the security guide of the shop handed me the phone when I was approaching his direction. He told me that he found it on the floor…I was so happy that I could find it, it was almost miracle! I thanked him with full of relief and then left the shop.

I felt so lucky that I could recover my phone, but, seriously, I had doubt in the security guild’s integrity. I believed he had intention to keep the phone if I didn’t continue looking for it in the shop, and if the phone didn’t keep ringing….but in fact, the ringing tone was too soft for us to hear it from a distance. He could be observing me looking for the phone from the beginning, and hoped that I would give up. At the moment I walked towards him, he was afraid that I would hear the ringing (I think he has no time to turn off the phone yet) and initiated to hand the phone to me, pretending that he found it on the floor.

Anyway, anyhow, I couldn’t be sure of it, and may be, I shouldn’t think that way! Even if I was sure, I won’t say anything, as I was happy enough that I could find it and considered myself very lucky!

Side story...

Fortunately, I didn’t have porno photo/ video stored in my phone, else, I will be worried to dead! You know la, nowadays, youngsters in Singapore like to do that. Not sure if it was reported in Malaysia, a few mths ago, a student recorded her sexual activity with her boyfriend, and when she lost her phone, the video clip was being circulated in the whole Singapore island. And a few days ago, another case about a college female student, having sex with 3 others guys (4P as written in the newspaper) in a toilet for disabled, and the whole process was being recorded by another person using hand phone, believed to be their own friend. And the phone somehow was lost and again, the video clip was being sent and circulated! But don’t ask from me! I didn’t get the clip of course! It was described quite clearly in one of the Chinese newspapers that, the scene was quite daring! Sign…what has gone wrong with the young generation? A girl having sex with a few guys at one time, at a public place is already a crazy thing to do, and yet, they still have the chick to record it! There are people now discussing whether is it a legal offence to have done this kind of thing if being caught, and whether the authority can use this kind of video clip as an evidence to charge the offender. What do you think?

Bangkok…Re-discovery!

2006-09-16T22:43:00.000-07:00

Bangkok is always known as food & shopping paradise. For the past few years, I hv been going to Bangkok quite regularly. Shopping is always in the MUST DO LIST every trip that I go (regardless it is biz or personal trip), but, it was never the same when I shopped with 2 other shopping queens the last trip when I went in Bangkok.

I was in Bangkok to attend a Sales Conference (30 Aug – 1 Sep), with 2 men and 1 lady colleagues. We decided to extend stay over the weekend after the conference. My sis & her family (hubby and a 11 mths old baby) flew in to join us after work on Friday.

We went to the new shopping mall in Bangkok, Siam Paragon on Friday evening after the conference. But, our actual shopping marathon started on Saturday morning.
After breakfast on Sat, we started our ‘appetizer’ with the week end market, Chatujak.
For those who has never been to this place, make it a MUST the next time you visit Bangkok. You can basically get anything you want under the sky, provided that you can find it in this mass market.

It was getting hot, in fact very hot during noon time, thus, we left the place for lunch at about 1pm. After lunch, we continued shopping at Patrunam, a mall called “The Platinum Fashion Mall”. Patruman is known as a wholesale market. Most of the shops, stalls, and even shopping malls in Patrunam area are meant for wholesale. But, their definition for ‘wholesale’ is, as long as you buy 3 pcs (some require 6 pcs) of anything from their shop, it is considered as wholesale. The mall that we went, is quite a new one, and don’t be surprised by their window display/ presentation even it is a wholesale market. Basically, it has no difference from any other good shopping mall. And the wholesale price is about 60% of the retail price. E.g. you can buy 1pc a@ THB250 or 3pcs @ THB150/ea.

And, Patrunam is our ‘main course’. My sis and the lady colleague became so crazy with the price and the fashion they saw there (mostly clothing). They basically wanted to buy everything they see…..I was not that excited as it was not my first time there.

As the shops started to close at 6pm, we left the place, and proceed to MBK, another shopping heaven. Well, first thing to look for, of course were the lingerie. And, second thing, shoes! Well, we had quite a heavy ‘dessert’ in MBK. We shopped till they closed shop at about 9pm, how we hope that it operates 24 hours, not enough time for us!

So, the next thing was to fill our stomach, but, food became secondary for ladies when come to shopping. We went to Suan Lom Night Bazaar to have our dinner, and then, continued shopping there until almost 12 am! We didn’t buy much thing from Suan Lom, thus, I considered that as just a light ‘fruit plater’.
Can you imagine, our shopping marathon continued for more than 12 hours on that single day itself? My colleague confessed that she would never walk that much if it was not for shopping, and she believed that she could had walked the distance more than she would ever walked for half a year in Singapore!

The next day, Sunday, we made it a slow day, as we had set our target at the Patrunam, we realized that afterall, we could find most of the thing there at a very reasonable price. Thus, after taking our breakfast, we headed directly to the place and shopped till we left for airport!

Just to share some of our 战利品...
In summary, 3 of us bought at least 50 pcs of clothing (t-shirts, blouse, shorts, jeans, skirt…), most of them were below THB300 and 20 pairs of shoes at THB199/ea, THB250/ea and some TBH350/ea….! Not including others things like hair accessories and souvenior...Can you guys imagine that how much we had contributed to Thailand economy !?

This scene made me sick!

2006-09-12T04:58:00.000-07:00

I was walking to a nearby supermarket last night to buy some breads. As we are now moving into early autumn, the weather is quite cold. Last night was worse as it was raining pretty badly and was pretty cold at 19-21 degree.

Somewhere along the way, I saw this family of 5 was trying to catch a cab (they looked like someone from the middle east). Here in SH, rainny day is pretty difficult to catch a cab. I saw the mother was holding a baby, probably about 4-5 months old, running back and forth the street to catch the taxi, with the husband looking after another two older kids (probably 8-10 years old), he basically standing there doing nothing but watching the mother holding the baby running up and down....

The baby was soaking under the heavy rain in the mother's arm donno sleeping or fainted already. So I told myself, hey, are they without an umbrella? So I rushed up to the mother and offered my umbrella to her... Suddenly, I realized that the mother was holding an umbrella too herself, un-opened!

I was like thinking.... what the heck? Are you nuts? Why don't you use the freeking umbrella to cover your baby? Can't you tell that your baby is soaking under the bloody cold weather and rain? Is the baby breathing to begin with?

Worst still, they were in front of the supermarket, which means shelter was just right there for their kids. Was it really necessary to expose the baby under the chilling rain?

The parents smiled at me and told me that they don't need my umbrella... well, of course, they themselves have an umbrella too but they just didn't use it....

I shoke my head in disbelieve and left. Well, probably this is the way they train their kids.... give them hell when they are young... 天生天养

Sorry lar.... Since I am the father myself... I can't tolerate seeing baby suffering...

62 Pandora's Boxes!

2006-09-03T06:37:00.000-07:00

Guess what are these boxes?

My stuff from my apartment in KL. I went back to KL in the end July to pack up my stuff to Shanghai. Since there are quite a lot to pack up, I engaged a professional relocation expert, Asian Tiger, to relocate for us.

They were amazing. I have never seen anyone move house in such a professional manner.

What I need to do was point my index finger to the things I need to relocate, and they will just packed it up for us. We do not really need to do anything.

Even my daughter's 37 Barbie Dolls - They wrapped it up one by one as though they are 100k gold bar.

As you can see from the pics above, they packed up our goods in 62 boxes. That exclude all the furnitures and electronic goods (TVs, beds, air-cord, fridge, microwave etc etc) as I wanted to rent out my apartment as a fully furnished apartment.

Finally after 28 days of waiting, our shipments arrived! I finally got my trademill back and I can now jog in the morning before I go to work!
My baby got her horse too so that she can practise horse riding before going to school every morning!
Of the 62 boxes, we left 12 back home and shipped 50 to Shanghai.

Of the 50 boxes, my daughter's toys alone were already 12 boxes! Can you imaging. Thus, once unload all the stuff, the whole living room was filled with her toys.

And by the way, the professional movers do unpack and arrange all the stuff for you. Amazing that their service was THAT impressive! They don't come cheap too - total cost - about RM15k.

My wife eventually tidy up the whole place and now it looks like this. The biggest disappointment is that I can't move my 1,000+ DVD titles to Shanghai. Well....... pirated stuff..... better not lar.... I gave it all to my sister.

As for my apartment in Bandar Sri Permaisuri?

We moved out on Wednesday, and on Thursday, we rented out our apartment for RM1,600/month, with contract runs for a year. Not bad huh. Getting a good property agent is very important!

The secrets of settling your credit card(s) bill(s)

2006-09-01T09:10:00.000-07:00

I feel really good today. I finally settled one of the 3 credit cards I have been owing for more than 3 years.

One wise guy told me that credit card is a gift from hell. That...... is so true.

The same wise guy also said that if you have a scissor at hand, cut it off now.... (of course not, you need the card to pay your bill right? You need to slot that card into the machine to pay bill right [If not, go online banking] Well, isn't bank smart? Let you keep the card as long as you want?) Credit cards are addictive!

Nowadays in KL, you don't need to apply for a credit card anymore. The bank send it to you directly into your mail box which you never applied for one.

How many of you have C***bank mailed it to you directly which you never applied for? Well, I have! A Gold Card some more and I never applied for one!

Then out of a sudden.... the credit limit of the Visa Card mysteriously increased by 50%, and upgraded you to A GOLD CARD MEMBER, and you never asked for the increment and upgrade to begin with!

Stupid of me, I went and activated all of it, on top of the two bloody credit cards I already have in my wallet!

Not too sure about you, somehow, what I gathered, I realised that there are quite a number of people have the same story like I do (except my wife) - spending on future money and then pay up only the minimum 5%. In the end, they have a huge debts to settle off.

During the last two years, since I was on my own business with no stable income, I used up almost all of the credits that are available. Thus, accumulating quite a huge sum of debts - RM30,000 in total just on credit cards alone.

Then, I attended a seminar about financial planning. The wise guy told me that there IS a way to clear off your debts.

This is the idiot's guide to settle off your credit card debts - is very simple, but it works. At least it works for me.

If you have few credit cards' debts to pay off, focus on one card to pay off first.

When you are targeting THAT credit card to pay off, never use that card anymore under any circumstances. Pay only the minimum for the other cards, but pay extra for the targeted credit card - just one card! When you finish off with one card, it gives you the motivation (and don't you feel good!) to target the next card!

Simple word of wisdom, but damn useful for me. Now, I have finished off almost 30% of the remaining two cards....

Is a relief of not having to bear so much debts....

Die lar.... need to pick your brains.... dilemma here

2006-08-25T07:43:00.000-07:00

Okay, serious issue folks.... no sexy photos here....

Need to pick your brains here, and I need it fast. Please get back to me via your reply on this comment box no later than next Monday, 28th Aug yeah.

10 brains better than one here.

When Shit Hits The Fan!

Imagine what would happen if that really occurs man. Well, it happens.

Like that one....

You know lar, I was on my own before I came to Shanghai. I was handling this project with one Singaporean contact...

End Client: One company X lar.... (In Singapore)

The person who got the contract: Company Y lar...... (In Singapore)

Contract value: Not big lar, a couple of thousands only.

X wanted to get a report done, and Y got the contract. So, Y sub-contract it to me lar.

X is a bit demanding and always delay the reports delivery time. Originally, it suppose to be dued on March, but then, it was delay till June.

You know lar, I got my contract in May, thus, I can't follow through. So, I sub-contract the remaining portion of the work to Miss Z.

Of course, all parties are aware of this - Company X, Y and Miss Z all sign a contract about this remaining part of the job, which I suppose to finish but unable due to new assignment and due to the delay in Company X postponing the reporting.

Thus, everyone was happy until today, I received so many emails from Miss Z and Company Y.

Company Y complains that Miss Z did not perform her task well enough and they have to incur a lot of manpower to rectify the errors. Company X was unhappy with Company Y too as they claimed that the consultant they got is not good enough.

Miss Z, on the other hand, claims that these allegations are not true and she had performed her duty in due.

Company Y would only willing to pay her 65% of contract value.

Miss Z cries and claimed that this is unfair and she wanted 100% payment.

Thus, both of Miss Z came to me and ask me what should she do.

Company Y, has all the right to ask me to stay the fuck away since I was not involved in the contract. This is none of my business anymore as a new contract was signed.

Miss Z, a single lady, with 2 kids to raise, approached me helplessly that she needs to feed the kids and ask me for help. She told me that she had performed her work according to the contract. She needs this money to move on in life.

Since I was the one who introduce Miss Z to Company Y, I feel obligated to help resolve this conflict.

What would you do if you are on my position? I really wanted to help here.

Share with me your thoughts before I get back on Monday/Tuesday.

Fast fast reply please.

My 2nd Child is Born Today

2006-08-21T09:10:00.000-07:00

FYI, my wife has just added me another baby boy this afternoon at 15.05p.m. 21/08/2006. Baby's weight is 7lb10. His name is Gian X X ("Big WOK"! i haven't think of his name yet!)
What a day for me, worried & happy at the same time, my elder son was warded at the same hospital today as well because of food poisoning a couple of days ago. He discharged yesterday after 2 days of dripping & today go in ward again. damn coincidence. So, basically you can imagine, i was like walking up n down to see my kid & my wife one at 2nd floor & one at 5th floor @ the Sunway Hospital the whole afternoon. Those nurses at that two floors know what happened to me & keep on saying that I m a "lucky" father . ya ya ya "lucky guy", wait till the bill comes c how "lucky" i can be....mine might have add another zero at the back compare to Kow's medical bill. This "WOK" really "KUM".

More Deadly Than A Bird Flu

2006-08-19T10:31:00.000-07:00

As the season is slowing moving from summer to autumn now, is very common for people here to get a cold or flu.

I had a very bad flu last week. Since I had an operation begining of this year, I am a bit kiasee nowadays with flu. Thus, I went for a doctor - A GP okay, not an ENT specialist.

He gave me some medication as per the pix above.

The bill: RMB 980!!

That is almost equivalent to Ringgit Malaysia 490! For a flu! Can you imagine? I checked my company insurance coverage and found that they can only cover me for RMB440! I have to fork out RMB540 for the remaining of the bill.

I almost die of heart attack when I receive the bill. Next time, forget about the flu..... just live with it.....

More About Cycling In Shanghai - No Wet Bikini Ladies, For Sure....

2006-08-19T08:07:00.000-07:00

Quiz: Guess what is this?

A cycling license..... Works just like a driving license.

No joke. You NEED a license to cycle here in Shanghai.

If you break the law, you will need to show this license, just like the driving license. Except that you do not have the RM50 at the back of the license.

Amazing isn't it? There's more....

QUIZ: Guess what is the blue tag at the front of the bicycle?

Registration Plate Number. Yes, no joke, you will need a plate number on your bicycle okay. Just like a car. (BTW, this is not my bicycle - that's why I din't even bother to censor off number :D Let them catch lar...;P ). You will need to get a license plate (from tax department or something) the day you buy bicycle in Shanghai.

QUIZ: What if your bicycle got stolen? Or is taken by an alient?

You'll need to lodge a police report.... and claim insurance....... do you believe it?

Cycling on the road is very hazardous. This incredible hulk scene is common everyday. If you ever got stuck at his back...... it take you ages to overtake him....

Well, I do know how to cycle for sure.... but I am just not as skillful as they are okay. Even a 5 years old kid can cycle faster than I do - and yet, he can still manage to turn his head back at me and swear at me for cycling like a retard.

No more driving undang-undang for me. I have to get used to these signs now.

This is a jockey parking. Without the jockey service...

This is how they protect their bicycles. I wonder whether they ever polish it?

This is one of the greatest inventions here in China. Very popular - Electronic Bicycle - it runs on battary (fully rechargeable). Well, it works just like a motorbike and if the power runs out, hey, no sweat, you can cycle (and hence the padels are there). Cost - RMB2,000

The bike in yellow is even more fascinating. I nearly bought this. This is a foldable bicycle. You can literally fold it up and put it into a bag (and carry around). Isn't it cool? Usually people buy this for multiple transportation modes... if the journey is too far....

Imagine if you need to go on a journey like 20km away. You cycle to the subway station, then you fold it up. Take the subway. Once reach your intended station, you just unfold your bicycle and cycle to your destination. Isn't that cool? This bike probably cost RMB400 - RMB500.....

There are millions of bicycles on the road. Even the ladies here cycle with miniskirts on - they just don't care. That is distracting man. How to concentrate on the road like that? No wonder so many guys have accidient here while cycling. Well no pictures guys - let me try to get a few tomorrow....

Owning a car here is difficult. If you ever met anyone with cars here in Shanghai, chances are - they are cash rich.

People here buy car in CASH.

There is no hire purchase loan here in China. Even if there are banks which offers (very, very few), they need to see your property here. No property, no loan. No cash, no car!

Actually, cycling is fun, come to think of it....... :D I don't have that amount of cash.....

I have to get myself a good transportation... this damn place

2006-08-17T05:46:00.000-07:00

You know, one of the many things I have to get used to is living without a damn car.

We Malaysians are so pampered, especially for me, who would literally drive a car out for a journey like 30 meter to buy newspaper.

For the past 2 months, without a descent transportation is totally unimaginable. Not only for me, even my daughter complains to me on a daily basis..

"Daddy... where is your car?"

"Errr....... in Malaysia lar..."

"So you got car or not in Shanghai?"

"Errr..... No......"

"NO!!!!! WWWAAAARRRRRR! I don't love Shanghai, I want to go back to Malaysia!!!!!"

(My wife heard this....)

"I want to go back to Malaysia too you damn @#$%%^&*^%$, when I married you and you promise house lar, car lar, money lar.... now you shit head bring me to this shit place for a shit treatment...... you @#$%^^%$#%^*&$%#@;*&^*&^%%$#&#@^&*"

So the two of them protested like hell, violently..... (by the way, this event occurs on a daily basis here okay)..

Enough is enough..... I have it all.

So I am going to get myself a descent transportation. .. For the sake of my family.

So two weeks ago, we went to shop for a good mode of transportation.....

We spotted something really great. This is simply amazing..... The Ultimate traveling Machine. Perfect interior and have loads of space to put in grocery..... Leather seats somemore....

The price is a bit high for my liking but is still within my range. Hey, I need something that fit my image right?

So I bought it....

RMB 300. Plus one helmet RMB100. Pretty good you know.

I even have many admirers..... look at that....

The basket in front can put grocery and the seat behind can take one person. The seat I am sitting is leather.

Pang Ling came over to Shanghai last month and I offered him a ride..... but he dare not... Chicken! What's wrong with 90 minutes ride from hotel to restaurant?

My wife and daughter also dare not. But at least I offer... Not my fault if they dare not sit right? What is the difference between 2 wheels and 4 wheels? Not much right?

See.... your friend here is slowly localizing...... I am going to be a China man now......

Call me when you are in Shanghai okay? I take you for a ride!