Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Sennheiser Sports Earphones

I got my first set of Sennheiser Earphones about 18 months ago, and I was totally blown away by the quality of the sound. One word, IMPRESSIVE. I got this PMX 70 mainly to be used for jogging purposes.

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After so much of torturous use, my earphones finally gave up and the cable has torn. Sennheiser Singapore agreed to have a look at my old earphones before deciding whether I am entitled for a warranty claim. By the way, the earphones come with a 2-year warranty.

Not wanting to wait for the claim, I decided to go for a new set, and I got the PMX 80 instead.

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Yet, another good set of earphones. If you like music, Sennheiser audio system comes highly recommended. I know it’s not as famous as other brands eg. Bose, Sennheiser provides some nice quality earphones for everyone.

By the way, this set of earphones costs RM 250 ~ RM 300 in Malaysia. And I got it at a lower price from E-Bay. Beware of counterfeits though.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Kelantan Trip – Part 1: People and Places

It has been my wish to visit Kelantan and Terengganu since I was young. I don’t know why, but I am curious of the different, unique cultures of the local people.

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So last Friday morning, my friend and I departed towards Kelantan with another friend, HX and her mother. The journey took approximately 5 hours and we stayed at HX’s aunt’s house at Tumpat.

One of the must visit places are the beaches. We dropped by Pantai Sri Tujoh for a breeze of salty air. Quite a lot of people visit this beach during the evenings.

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Another beach would be the famous Pantai Cahaya Bulan. This weather was hot when I arrived, and there were not many people on the beach. Perhaps there would be a crowd during evenings?

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Other beaches include Pantai Irama, Pasir Puteh etc. Some of the beaches are clean while some others may be a bit dirty due to lack of maintenance. I’m sure that after you have visited the cleaner beaches of Redang and Pulau Perhentian, you’ll feel that the sea water near to mainland is cloudy and dirty. I’ll discuss more in another entry.

Anyways, there are quite a lot of temples around Kelantan, surprisingly. Kelantan is known to be of a Muslim state, but the Chinese still have the rights to their religion. I must admit, some Chinese people thought that Kelantan is a hard place to live in, but it seems to me that if a person can adapt, this place has lots of heritage to enjoy.

The first temple I visited was Wat Pikunthong near to Tumpat. At this temple, you can also enjoy some nice Thai style Nasi Kerabu and congee.

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Next, I visited a small temple near to Kota Bharu town area – 妈祖庙 (Matzu Temple), a nice place with a long history.

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Later, we went to a newly built temple near to Kota Bahru – Wat Phothikyan Phut Thak Tham (菩提願菩萨道精舍 – 双龍寺). Quite grandly built I must say. The temple welcomes its visitors with two huge dragon at the front gate. Close to the gate is a gigantic wishing tree, where people make their wish under this tree.

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One of the tallest Buddha statue ever built.

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This temple is located at Kampung Balai, 16300 Bachok, Kelantan.

A few other temples are worth taking note of such as Wat Matchimaram at Kampung Jubakar, Tumpat…

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Wat Pothivihan with the largest reclining Buddha in South East Asia.

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As for food, so far food in Kelantan has not disappointed me. All the food I ate was so good. Although I am a Lacto-ovo-vegetarian, it’s not hard for me to find food around Kelantan.

One of the must try food is their Nasi Kerabu as mentioned above. Another must try is Kelantan’s Nasi Dagang and Nasi Lauk.

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Kelantan also have Masakan Padang as mentioned in the Bali post, but it is better known as Masakan Sumatra here. This is also known as the economic rice in the Chinese culture and Masakan Sumatra originates from Indonesia.

Also, I noticed that the Kelantanese consume really heavy breakfast in the day, such as having Nasi Lauk, glutinous rice with dishes, satay (BBQ meat sticks) and many more heavy breakfast.

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Then at night, HX brought us to a shop selling tasty western food. They even have a vegetarian set for me! Well, the price is a bit expensive, I admit, but they certainly tasted fantastic. If you’re around Kota Bharu, do stop by and have a try!

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This 20 years old shop is located behind Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) and the address is as below:

386-Q, PT40, Rumah Kedai, Buluh Kubu, Jalan Pintu Pong, 15000, Kota Bharu, Kelantan. You can call Mrs. Ho at 012-9082740 or 016-9259982.

Other good food to try includes Budu (fermented anchovies sauce), ayam percik and many other desserts such as dodol etc.

Anyways, since Zaiyed is working in USM Kubang Kerian, I called him out for dinner and we had a great time chatting together. Definitely one of my best friends.

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To my friends who feel that Kelantan is just another undeveloped state with majority of the people are Malays, you are SO WRONG. You can even get pork here in Kelantan. So, stop listening to all the rumours about how bad Kelantan is, and come experience Kelantan for yourself!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

FEStival… Again…

Again… Another Festival in FES… like never ending only.

As usual, dance by Dance Club, band performance by Music Club and martial arts demonstration by Taekwondo club.

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I like the following shot very much…

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GTF, making the impossible, possible.

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From some sources, this event took 19 days to plan and execute… that was amazing!

Well, things went well and they’re quite good.

 

P/S: Funny, why so arrogant? Just because you have more customers doesn’t mean that you’re doing better than other people, when you’re providing the service for free! Anyways, it’s not right to blame other people when you’re not doing a good job of contacting other people.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Walkabout KL

This very first time I entered Central Market at Pasar Seni, I was amazed by the many arts exhibited there.

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Most of the things are for sale here, and some of them are worth collecting.

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Some very interesting perfume bottles in one of the shops at ‘Malay Valley’.

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A tourist around the art market.

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Then my friend and I headed over to Petaling Street. Lots of stuffs for sale, as expected, but beware of phony merchandise. 

Anyways, I spotted some shops selling some beautiful flower arrangements. They’re quite affordable too.

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Next stop, the Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve, just around the KL Tower.

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The park opens at 7am and closes at 7 pm. You may camp there if you wouldn’t mind feeding blood to the mosquitos.

Anyways, it was nice to walk around KL, but I think I miss the element of human in the photos… I should pick up the courage to go ask permission to shoot other people’s photos more…

Sunday, June 20, 2010

簡單的快樂

今天一早做環保。又有師姑用心準備的早餐,還有午餐可以打包,真是幸福。

下午到慈青與人醫會的聚會,難得有機會見到那麽多未來的醫師與護士,真令人歡喜。還有那麽多不為錢,要救人的醫師。

當時遇見了UPM的同學問一問,了解了,做了決定。應該是會到那裏去深造。

剛剛才跟學長說可能要去UPM,需要解決住哪裏的問題,不到五分鐘,中區的學姐就來關心了。真感動。很有安全感的,有他人的關心,真是一家人。

晚上回家之前,與慈青媽媽和學長姐一起坐下來喝茶。很奇怪的,覺得很特殊的一種感覺。

感覺上,把一整天的時間讓出來給慈濟,都是值得的。每次都得到不同的收穫,不同的感覺。

感恩有那麽多人的陪伴。

Saturday, June 19, 2010

IELTS

The test was better than I’ve expected. Hopefully things went well.

Well, I shall know the results pretty soon…

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Taman Tasik Perdana Butterfly Park

Took some time off to visit the butterfly park at Taman Tasik Perdana with 2 other friends.

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The park opens at 9 am and close at 6 pm. Entrance fee at RM 8 and additional RM 1 for the camera. So make sure you grab lots of photos before you leave.

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18SX… These two butterflies are mating…

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Sweet sweet nectar…

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Kinda hard to see a group of butterflies together, the mother/father and the child. Anyways, most of them are black and yellow, so patience is put to the test if you wish to take photos of the colourful ones.

Anyways, definitely a fun but tiring day.

 

P/S: Another doctor replied me… so happy!!!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Hot choco-latté

Went out with Greg today to get something I didn’t expect to buy in a long time. Well, change is good I guess.

Then we sat down, sipped some chocolate, enjoyed the fabulous cake, and talked for almost 2 hours on all kinds of things. Well, along the way, we learned something new, and realise the truth of life.

 

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Thanks to Greg for the company.

 

By the way, got a response from someone… and I’m so happy for the prompt response. Hoping that I could get what I’ve always wanted. Wish me luck, and also to other job hunting / research grant and funds hunting friends too. =D

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Love and Compassion

Today, a dear friend helped me realise something I’ve been pondering for a long while.

Love and compassion may mean something quite similar, but they’re in fact, different.

 

A person with love may not have much compassion.

A person with compassion, will definitely have love, and the love, is beyond self, beyond boundaries.

The values of compassion goes further, it means that you still love the person no matter what happens, no matter what fault he/she has, no matter what culture, believes, norms, or religion the person has.

 

Now that I’ve understood the difference between them, I now understand how some people are just different from the others.

Thank you, Peter S.

 

 

 

P/S: Note that not all people apply to the “rules” as discussed above. It’s just an opinion, and some people are just different from others.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Garden Pond

Attempts to mimic the natural pond, this small garden pond houses some small fishes to the big tortoise. The pond may not look like one great majestic pond in the park, but it certainly bring joy to children who dropped by for a visit.

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I’m a bit worried about the lightings recently installed. I think it needs some more attention before the wires get overheated during prolonged operation.

 

By the way, life is about choices. And sometimes, when you can’t make that choice just because you’re lack of something, it’s just sad ain’t it? Anyways, keeping the hope alive here, and may all things proceed smoothly according to plan.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Colourful sunset

The colour is just nice… but I think I need to flash it… Will try again next time.

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Saturday, June 5, 2010

Bus Tickets

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While I was cleaning up my room before I move out the other day, I came across some of the coloured bus tickets I have collected from UTAR over the years.

The funny thing is, they even spent time printing bus tickets with colour! So I guess, it’ll be another memory of UTAR.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Little bit of ants…

After a heavy torrent of rain, I headed out to my faithful garden for an adventure of insects. Not only I didn’t get lots of good macro shots, I was almost bitten to death by these annoying ants.

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At least I tried… but I need to try harder.

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Can’t I be just like these hardworking ants?

By the way, should I really really really consider UTAR again? Advice anyone?