Taroko National Park

A visit to the Taroko National Park (太魯閣國家公園) during the autumn is beautiful. It’s the closest experience with nature and its beauty. Water from deep mountains is so clean, so pure, you can really see that it’s blue…

In order to encourage more visitors, some paths are created for visitors to walk through. Due to this reason, you may experience some water dripping on top of your head, and in some areas, you may observe increased risk of getting hit by a rock.

There has been several cases of deaths due to falling rocks. So during typhoon or heavy rain, visitors are strongly discouraged from visiting this place. If it’s sunny after heavy rain the day before, please don’t even consider visiting this hazardous place. Nonetheless, nature is just fascinating and you can experience it all in Taroko Gorge and National Park.

Some aborigines here making business out of arts and harvests of the forest.

Somewhere at the swallow grotto (燕子口), we had to wear safety helmets for ‘some’ protection, cause even with safety helmets, it doesn’t deter larger rocks to crack your head like an egg. So some visitors chose not to wear them.

I think the most interesting part of Taroko gorge are the rock formations and the layered stones, some close approximate to the Grand Canyon in the US. View the photograph below with red-cyan anaglyph 3D glasses for best result.

This trip there may only be a one day trip, but the view up in the mountains was breath taking. I would want to spend more time there, and I’m definitely looking forward for a second visit.

Weekend in Taipei

I spent my weekend in Taipei when my course mates were out on a camp. Don’t worry about them, I’m sure they’re doing just fine with the typhoon passing by Taiwan bringing torrents of rain and some occasional strong wind.

My train trip there was basically sponsored for, to attend the 2011 Taiwan Scholarship Orientation, and since it was the weekends, I asked for an extended stay in Taipei. So on Saturday, I met up with some friends, dropped by one of the most beautiful places in Taiwan. It was YehLiu Geopark (野柳地質公園), located on the North-East side of Taipei, about 45 minutes bus ride away from Taipei Main Station.

Before entering the geopark, we passed by a little town. It’s basically a harbour for deep sea fishermen to dock their boats and sell their harvests to the middle person.

An easy going town indeed!

This dish below was a surprise! It’s known as the ‘sea vegetable’ (海菜) and it’s crunchy…

It’s a geopark because of the stone formations. It’s interesting… but still far away from the Grand Canyon though.

As aforementioned, typhoon was passing by Taiwan, bringing lots of rain and wind. Still, that did not deter anyone of us from going forward. Many put on their rain coats and brave through the strong wind.

Then in the evening, I met up with my UTAR friend who’s doing her masters in Taiwan.

On Sunday morning, I had a short walk to Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall (中正紀念堂).

At 10am, I witness some interesting ceremony where the guardians of the door change shifts. They had to perform some gun-throwing-flipping-stabbing, salutations etc. before the official change of shift actually took place.

By the time the ceremony has ended, some ladies, such as the one pictured below, had fallen in love with the men in uniform… haha

Basically, it was a nice stay, cooling weather but a bit too much of rain due to the typhoon. Still the night stay at Taipei Hostel was quite comfy and it’s very much affordable too! Comes highly recommended the next time you intend to stay in Taipei.

A cruel 10 minutes

Again, I was reminded of how bad the condition of our public transport is.

The journey from KL Sentral to Mid Valley by KTM train takes only 5 minutes to arrive. But these are the things that would lead you to frustration:

1. Frequency of the train is normally 20 minutes, with extremely high frequency of delays.

2. The number of people rushing into the train is extremely high, with over 50 people going into one carriage at once.

3. Frustrated with the long queue, people from the back of the queue would squeeze the people in front to go in, hoping that they don’t have to wait another 20 minutes for the next train to arrive.

4. The squeezing and pushing leads to the high frequency of theft.

So how are we going to move forward? With this speed of upgrading work, we’re moving backwards to be in par with India.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

 

Just like sequels of many hit movies, this movie sequel could be a bit dull sometimes. The plot may come very much anticipated, with occasional twist of plots.

To say that this movie is fantastic is a bit of an overrated. The movie was overall nice but like all movies from Michael Bay, this one has more explosions and gun fights, with awesome use of military technologies and soldiers.

 
The really intriguing part would be how they manipulated history, to a stage that you may come to realize that all the space expeditions may be just frauds. They've been to places where no one would expect, like Chernobyl in Ukraine and the Angkor Wat. Still, at the end of the show, you'll see that the whole movie was just about the great epic war, trust and ignorance.

So, to watch it in 3D or not? Good question.
Many Hollywood movie producers hoped that this movie would help to give the 3D technology a push, as of current, 3D screenings are not doing as well as expected. Well guess what, not worth the money to watch Transformers in 3D. The effects are quite normal, and even worse, most of the actions were kind of slowed in order to accommodate to the 3D movie development. In short, it's like you're watching high speed actions in slow-mo.

So here's my rating:
Storyline/plot: 7.5
Visual FX: 9.5
3D FX: 6
Overall: 7.5

Owh ya, if you haven’t watched the first one, please do so before you watch the third.

127 Hours

Watching this 127 Hours was very much like watching a horror movie. Rather than scaring you because of ghosts and something gory, this movie scares you because of reality. Anything can happen to you just like that.

Here are some take away lessons:

1. Never, never EVER go somewhere adventurous alone. Always have a companion, or at least inform them where you’re going.

2. Always bring sufficient water with you. Drink your own urine when you’ve finished your fresh water. Bring some biscuits along too.

3. Stay as calm as possible when you are in a crisis.

4. Don’t ever buy any cheap Made-in-China multi tools, when your life depends on it, get the best you can afford. Get a REAL SWISS-made knife…

5. Always pack for emergency when you go out for trips. Always assume that you may be in danger and in need of the emergency pack.

And what did Aron learn?

1. Your family comes first. Know how to prioritize.

2. Even he believes in Karmic Laws. He believed that it was he himself who brought this accident to himself.

3. He is now thankful and grateful that he survived.

Aron Ralston (on the left) and James Franco

See this video as he described how he amputated his arm.

Technology Update

Sometimes when you get old, you need a boost of technology update.

I’m not asking anyone to buy anything here, but at least update yourself about the latest technologies available on the market.

I went to PIKOM fair today, didn’t see much new stuffs, but would like to share some info with everyone.

**If you find this article a bit bias towards certain brands, my apologies; cause I didn’t have enough time to explore all the things. Hey, knowledge is everywhere! You’ve got to keep learning.

1. Super LED by LG

Saw this high energy savings Super LED from LG. Save some extra 25% energy compared to LED, and some 45% compared to conventional LCD. (Not sure about how true it is, but worth to know.)

2. Flicker-Free 3D display by LG

Coming out soon, perhaps next month. So much better than the active shutter 3D glasses you have to wear. This flicker-free 3D display has larger viewing angles and better light penetration. Best of all, no batteries on the glasses = less weight on the glasses.

Take a look at LG Cinema 3D USA for more info.

3. HD+ and High Gamut Range Professional LCD Display by Asus

This stunning LCD Display by Asus produces some beautiful colours on the screen. HD+ because it displays image beyond HD (conventional HD : 1920 x 1080) and the High Gamut Range ensures that the colour representation is as accurate as possible. In short, more natural photographs with HD+ quality. Visit site: PA246Q

4. Docking Tablets.

Instead of just getting a tablet, get one with docks enabled. Like the one from Asus Eee Pad.

Unlike other tablets in the market (including iPad), this one yields a higher resolution screen, with support of HD video. Best of all, the extra docking is included with the whole package, and you can get up to 16 hours* of battery with the dock.

Take a look at the video. Loved it very much!

And according to many posts on Facebook, everyone can’t wait to get their hands on this Transformer. A charmer indeed! Visit site: Eee Pad Transformer TF101

5. Sandy Bridge: 2nd Generation Intel i3/i5/i7 processors.

I know this news has been here for quite some time, several months ago, still worth a share for those out there looking for a new laptop or computer soon. The Sandy Bridge processors has got a higher memory bandwidth and they come with built in graphics on (processor) die. Better graphics performance? Definitely. However, discrete graphics is always better than built in. =D

6. P1 WiMAX upgrading to LTE-TDD

Very new news update, where WiMAX would be launching LTE-TDD (long-term evolution-time division duplex) network by the end of 2010, (hopefully no delays). This technology would enhance wireless access speeds, with top speed reaching 120Mbps (equivalent to 30MB/s or approx. 3000 KB/s). The best thing is, you can simply upgrade your existing P1 WiMAX network by a software update. Read the news on The Star Tech Central.

A millionaire in Jakarta

Simple. Go to the money exchange, hand over RM 350, and be a millionaire in Jakarta.

Jakarta is one of the busiest cities (I’ve been so far), and the traffic jam is horrible.

You see motor and mobil (motorcycles and cars) going around, with the motorcycles weaving through the traffic. If you’re not competent riding a bike in Indonesia, don’t ride one. Nonetheless, travelling by motorcycle is the best way to go around town.

Instead of wearing a helmet, some others wear a cap or hoodie instead.

To be hemat (safe) when you cross the road, you can literally blindfold yourself when you cross. If you observe the traffic before you cross, it’s either you’ll never cross the road, or you’ll get knocked down by a vehicle. The drivers on the street evades pedestrians, not the other way round.

Less traffic lights on the streets means less traffic jam even though the place has high vehicle density. Giving an opportunity for the local people to earn some living.

You pay for parkir (parking) and you pay again for the person who lead you out from your parking slot. They even provided parking spots for ladies.

Lots of gratis (free) stuffs around to lure more people to purchase, and the advertisements on cigarettes filled the TV screen and the billboards along the road.

Shopping malls are grander than ours, with brands not even found in Malaysia and Singapore, and things may be dirt cheap as well. You can get a pirated DVDs as low as RM 1.80 each.

As usual, food here is good, and one of the most popular – masakan padang.

On the other side of the Jakarta Town, you’ll see a different group of people trying to survive on the streets. People who make a living by pushing carts around, selling all sorts of stuffs. Plus, because they can’t afford to buy a car, the carry all sorts of things on their motorbikes and push carts.

And again, because there are more motorcycles on the street, they have motorcycle wash all over the place.

They can’t use money to buy fancy stuffs, so they built them.

Some scenes you don’t see much in the big city of Jakarta…

Family coming together to enjoy.

People repairing motorcycles by the roadside.

Selling of colourful motorcycle seats.

Jaw dropping graffiti art…

And lastly, some other photos to share with everyone:

People here are survivors. They grow up working hard, learning all the street skills we didn’t learn in school. So you think that they’re weak? Think again.