The Will to Survive

No one's gonna take me alive,
The time has come to make things right!
You and I must fight for our rights,
You and I must fight to survive!

Places to go in Penang:

Places to go in Penang:

Guerney drive
Mount Erskine
Georgetown
Penang Hill
Snake temple
Batu Ferringhi
Bukit Tambun
Eco Park
Campbell st, Guerney Plaza, queensbay, rope walk, little India, lorong
kulit

Batuk Ferringhi & Georgetown are definitely tourist traps, but that
being said, are the choice locations to stay. Ease of travelling,
vicinity to attractions and a vibrant nightlife more than make up for
the slightly higher accomodation prices. The various night pasar
malams are great for strolling in e cool evening breeze.

Taking a trishaw around Georgetown is an idyllic way to spend the day.
Try to bargain below 25RM per hour and it is worth it. Some of the
heritage sites charge for entry, but the only two worth paying for are
the Nonya/Baba clan house and the Khoo Kong Si clan temple.

Remember to bring your driving license. Taxi are hard to find and
expensive to boot. So rent a car if there are more than 3 of you.
Buses are also a good alternative to taxi.

Penang Hill is fantastic for the view and fresh air, but little else
to do up there. The 4RM tram ticket isn't overpriced at least. Avoid
the crowds at weekends and sweltering mid-day sun. Best times are
either early mornings or near Sunset with a view from e restaurants.
David Brown's restaurant is a upmarket place that commands the best
view on the hill. It serves classical English foods with an excellent
selection of roasts. Had the beef Wellington and J.A had Steak &
Mushroom pie. Both were excellent, with quality shining through. We
were stuck on the hill top after clouds closed in and the skies
crashed down on us, but with a bottle of wine and a warm fireplace
(sadly fake), we happily soaked up the atmosphere till late in the
night and caught the last tram down at 11pm.

Highlights:
1) Char kway teow @ Lorong Selamat's KAFE HENG HUAT.
2) Hawkers at gurney drive nice oyster omelette and wanton noodle.
3) Ferranghi Gardens @ Batuk Ferringhi Grilled Red Snapper with cheese very unique. Pineapple rice was very fresh & I like it that it in came in a freshly cut pineapple.
4) Beef Wellington @ David Brown's. 55RM it was by far the most expensive meal of the trip and portions weren't large either. The taste though more than made up for it. Perfectly executed!

I was hoping to not need this section, but couldn't in all fairness
leave this out. To think that it was only on the last day is a silver
lining at least. Enjoying meal after meal of great food, this really
disappointed:

"Low"light:

1) Jawa Mee - a Chinese version of Mee Rubus, it was cloyingly sweet
and disgustingly sticky
2) ALL of the food at Sunshine foodcourt opposite Sunshine plaza. The
food here is just sad... Feels like it was cooked by souless robots.

p.s. Photos will be added at a later date.

Sent from my iPhone

Of Beer & Men

You've all heard of wines and whiskies getting better the longer they are allowed mature, but have you heard of beers being matured? This special bottle of ale from Innis & Gunn is matured for an amazingly long 77 days (most beers don't go through this, they are manufactured and bottled as fast as possible to seal in the freshness) in an oak barrel before being blended and bottled. This is my favourite beer.

Sadly, it's only available in the US and European countries for now. I checked on their websites. When I dreamt about Manchester like I said on Facebook lately, I had a bottle of this in my hands. Ahh... sweet bliss.


I might miss Koppaberg as well, but this little bundle of exquisite brew is definitely on top of my Xmas list.

Tasting Notes:

Colour: Honey

Palate： Luxurious malt and toffee giving way to mellow oak
with vanilla overtones.
Balanced by the orange peel citrus character. Warming

Finish: Floral, soothing oak with vanilla more evident, lemon zest. Pour me another!

JA Rules

book-in-hand: Winter's Heart by Robert Jordan
listening to: Keane

J.A. Rules

I am always on time, you're just early

• 
  

抽烟是我的命根子

Beer? Hmmm... DARK beer?!?! Gimme!!!!!

我是车神

Always On Time lyrics - Ja Rule lyrics

Always On Time Video - Ja Rule Music Videos

Music Videos by VideoCure

十大酷刑

From J.A. : I will trim your eyelashes so that they poke into your eyes every time you blink until you have a phobia of blinking. Then you will finally go and get your eyelids done.

.... My gf is a sadist.

Sent from my iPhone

Life is Good

"Life is good. Everyone just over-reacts....even me"

SCAMMERS Roadtrip

Road trip to Melaka was a success!

Sunny top speed: 182km/h
Mazda top speed: 180km/h

The ironic thing was that the highlights of Melaka, chicken riceballs and Nonya food, were disappointing. We have better versions in Singapore. Especially the chicken rice!

To drivers out there: if you don't know the basic rules and ways of courtesy on e North Eastern M'sia highway, stay at home! Stop endangering other people's life - a right signal on the right lane means you are hogging, please move over to the left.

Sent from my iPhone

Hard and Strong

Song: A&E - Goldfrapp
Book: WoT Book 8 - Robert Jordan

Most people mistake these two to be one and the same, that their meanings are synonymous, even though they couldn't be more different than dogs and cats. Being a 'hard' man doesn't equate to being a 'strong' man.

A 'hard' man refuses to let events affect him. Mutely taking the knocks from life, he bears and endures with the hardships and stands resolute in his beliefs no matter the situation. Thus the tension in him increases as the stress and strain of life's reality test him time upon time. Until he passes his tipping point and has his hopes and dreams deflated like a balloon. Suddenly and dramatically. A 'hard' man is unforgiving, both to others and himself.

A 'strong' man, on the other hand, does let the events around him affect him. Accepting them and learning from them, he allows himself to be shaped by the lessons taught by life. Bending and twisting himself into the best possible sculpture with the materials made available to him, he changes and adapts and most importantly, he evolves. Changing for the better.

So folks, don't be too 'hard' on yourselves, but do rule yourselves with a 'strong' and firm hand. We all need a little discipline sometimes.

Haha

Do you think it misses us as much as we miss visiting it?

Back In Action

Been a long time since I've written anything on here and it's not for lack of anything going on in my life. Far from it in fact and I am barely able to fall over in exhaustion at times. The job in Shanghai is coming along fine - I get to learn and experience under the teaching wings of 2 experienced people in the water industry. Flying between Shanghai and Singapore is tiring of course, but the payoff is more than worth it. It is difficult to maintain a relationship in the midst of everything. To top it all off, the diving trip recently in Langkawi has GOT to be the gem.

Some housekeeping matters regarding the blog first. The chatterbox on the right has been taken down (as if anyone noticed to begin with) and I don't foresee putting up another one. Comments are still available of course, I have always preferred them to the chatterbox anyway.

For this first leisure dive, I got an underwater casing for JA's canon digital camera. Worked like a charm!

Random Convo (II)

Continuing from part I, another random burst of laughter amongst us

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ML:"Bro, you wana get a Jack size bed?"

Sam:" Huh?"

ML:" You know, got King size, Queen size... then Jack size lah"

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ML: "You know why the govt budget deficit? Build so many ERP gantries everywhere, but haven't turn on, of course deficit!"

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And for all the geeks in us... Star wars fans or not...

Christmas

Christmas is still roughly a month away and the glittering lights are popping up all over the shopping malls in Singapore. There might be a recession going on right now, but the stalls are still going all out to woo consumers to spend during this festive season. What I truly miss though, is something far far away, on the other side of the globe: the Christmas Markets in UK... especially the one in Manchester!

To my horror and dismay, I don't actually have in my possession any proper photos of the markets to speak of. No talking moose head on top of the wooden shed selling mulled wine and eggnog. (They are very friendly too, offering free cinnamon cookies to accompany your beverages as you warm yourself up).

The best start to visiting the market has always been this drinks shed as you pick from various brews like Mulled Wine (yes I am biased towards this, I am an alchie, so what?!), Eggnog, Hot Chocolate with flavourings like hazelnut or almond, Irish Coffee, etc. etc. You then cosy up in a corner with your friends as you warm up from the freezing temperatures and take in the crowd, smells, lights and fantastic atmosphere. From your excellent vantage point you spot an opening in the snaking queue around the Bratwurst Stall commanding the centre of St. Albert's Square and slip right in to claim some of those huge German Sausages before proceeding to browse through the offerings of the other stalls.

The old stalwarts of Danish Cookies and Chocolate coated fruit on sticks aren't to be missed. However, you don't have to rush there either because they will be there for the rest of the month, ready to gratify your sinful cravings (a mid-day or after school snack perhaps? City is sssssssssoooooooo near to Northern Campus after all) so for now, you are satisfied with just strolling amongst the crowd and checking out the newcomers and their wares. Over the past 3 years there have been delightful additions like giant choux buns, the pungent garlic cheese (I think there was once Brian, Clarence and I all bought a wedge of this back home within a day of each other), paellas were the newcomers 2 years back and hugely popular.

I will gladly admit that I am guilty of frequenting the Christmas Markets in St. Albert's and St. Ann's square way too often. I've even managed to find pick out respectable Xmas gifts from the trinkets stalls more than once. Oh yes, I am definitely a sucker for them. Maybe the Markets cast some sort of enchantment on me with their gay spirits and sprinkled Christmas dust onto me. Yes I am rambling, I know. But honestly, Christmas in Singapore just pales in comparison.