Leading the wild into the ways of the man…
HB 
Got this ticket while I was picking up my replacement credit card – Swipe keeps wanting to change replacement with transcendent which is ironic. Heh.
Anyway, that spot is technically not a parking space but people park along a row anyway.
Unfortunately, being this close to Raya, the police are extra vigilant. Just hope they don’t have increased rates like during CNY.
I don’t even know if this will post due to my setup but let’s try and see. 🙂
Kota Tua is loosely translated as “Old Town” and it’s the old part of Jakarta. It’s also known as Old Batavia and you can still see the scars of the 1998 riots here – burned buildings are still around and refurbishment hasn’t touched most of it yet.
We were staying at a hotel just nearby and one morning, Jazz woke me up to experience the place. The streets were closed on that day, due to a function that’s happening on the square.
It was the event itself that caused the closure of the streets – it’s called Hari Bebas Kenderaan Bermotor Kawasan Kota Tua 2012 which translates to “(Motorized) Vehicle Free Day (in) Kota Tua Area 2012”. Heh.
Kota Tua is bordered by a canal called Kali Besar which is famous for its overpowering stench. I could smell it, but it wasn’t anywhere as bad as I was told.
The beauty of Kota Tua Jakarta lies in its vibrant community of stalls and buskers – there were people playing various musical instruments and I even saw an improvised percussion system made of glass bottles nestled on a wood frame!
This is one of the refurbished buildings – their post office. It’s part of their efforts at making this historical town into a UNESCO heritage site.
It is primarily a tourist attraction with it’s souvenir stalls – there’s also a theater called Museum Wayang there that plays traditional Indonesian Wayang Kulit (a shadow play with puppets).
Several vendors also offers rides on pimped up (or rather dolled up) bicycles for two, complete with flowery hats.
However, it’s definitely worth a visit – you can catch a local puppet show or grab a snack from a roadside stall. I had Otak Otak Ikan which is completely different from the soggy fish paste we get here.
The Indonesian version of otak otak is crispy and eaten with a chilli paste. It’s cheap street food, I think I paid less than RM 1 for this.
Kota Tua Jakarta has something for everyone. It’s called Old Jakarta for a reason – a lot of history and heritage can be found in this area. I’ll allocate at least half a day for a proper visit, and a full day if you want to pop into all the museums and catch a wayang kulit show.
…or you can just sit at one of the cafes and watch the vibrant scenes – families at play, people collecting discarded cans for recycling money, old men chatting animatedly while standing around in loose circles.
Wait, before that, let me just prep you just in case you win. *pretends to be an expert
You want to be a suave guy right? The one that gets all the girls, instantly attracts women, and has a badge for Player Please on foursquare?
Okay, maybe not that last one. 😉
From my years of experience and…er, social experiments (cough), I have heard that girls are attracted to three things.
Call it evolution or whatever you will, it’s true to a certain extent but it would be sexist not to explain further. There’s also two other attributes which attracts females.
Of course, there are exceptions to everything, but if you have just one of the 5 attributes above, you’re basically sorted. The most important thing is actually confidence.
It’s tied to the “classic three attributes” and it’s the reason why people in that category always gets the girls. Confidence and a zest for life turns women on, the power, money, fame is just what gives those men confidence.
I know I’m grossly oversimplifying it but confidence along with a healthy respect for women while being charming and romantic hasn’t quite failed me yet. You can also hack the system if you’re (un)lucky enough to be born with the dark triad of personality traits. It’s surprisingly effective for what Wikipedia diplomatically calls an “accelerated mating strategy”. Of course, there are a lot of other factors I don’t know, take this as you will. 😉
Back to the contest!
Excuse my very real excitement. This is the best contest prize I’ve ever seen, bar none! There is only one grand prize so it’s extremely exclusive. How would you like to go at a secret island retreat with a supermodel by your side just for you?
This could be you!
Okay, I’m not the winner, she’s a friend of mine and we’re not on a island but imagine:
The island is not some shabby island near Malaysia but one that’s internationally recognized as one of the best beach vacation spots! The supermodel will be accompanying you and only you. It’s the ultimate dream! 😀
Travel. An exclusive Caribbean island with white sandy beaches with hot celebs and single women from all over the world. A supermodel by your side during the entire trip.
Guess who the supermodel is?
Fay Hokulani
You’ll be the envy of everyone!
Okay, here’s how the contest works. It’s done in conjunction with the new deodorant from AXE and here’s how you go about it.
1. AXE Malaysia Facebook contest
There is only *one* grand prize and here is where you win it! It’s the 4D/3N trip to the Caribbean with Fay Hokulani! By the way, you get to bring 1 guy friend along too!
It’s so simple! Just submit your most creative beachwear photo and comment away to woo the lovely Fay by 31st August!
This is where you can win the exclusive trip to Anarchy Island with Fay Hokulani as your travel companion so submit your entries and get more details at the AXE Malaysia Facebook page now!
You’ll have bragging rights for all eternity! Heck, your grandchildren will *still* be talking about this way after you’re six feet under.
2. Exclusive contest for bloggers
Nuffnang will be organizing another contest exclusively for bloggers. The aim is to choose two of the most suave and charming bloggers to represent Malaysia at Anarchy Island!
You just need to write a blog post about your best efforts to attract members of the opposite sex. Playa playa, come out with your best pickup lines and tell us how good you are at the game.
Showcase how you approach people, attract attention and ultimately get the girl or guy of your dreams!
Create a video to better flaunt your flirting skills to go together with your blog post for more points. The two best blog posts will each win a trip to Anarchy Island!
There will also be 10 consolation prizes of 1 year’s worth of AXE products worth RM 200 each.
Get more information about how to participate and win on the Nuffnang contest page!
AXE Anarchy is the new deodorant for both sexes – AXE Anarchy for Him smells fresh and fruity with sweet woods for an irresistible and addictive finish while AXE Anarchy for Her has soft florals and a light finish that screams delicate and fun. You can win an entire set of deodorant just by predicting the final 24 contestants! 🙂
I’m joining the contest to Anarchy Island – it’ll be awesome to win a trip there with Fay Hokulani eh?
…and it’s not my fault! 
This guy rear ended me while I was driving along LDP just now. Anyway, if you use that highway you’ll know that it’s almost always perpetually congested. I was moving at a leisurely 20-30 km/h with the start and stop traffic when I suddenly felt an impact from behind.
I got out of the car and noticed he was still inside, looking a bit lost and shocked. I just said “Dude, what’s wrong with you?” and he got out and apologized.
He said a car cut into his lane so he was forced to cut into mine and couldn’t stop in time before he hit me.
There was a looooooong line of cars behind us but surprisingly no one honked so we moved to the side. I wanted to lodge a police report to claim insurance but he wasn’t very keen on the idea and wanted to settle it privately.
I was also in a rush and the damage to my car wasn’t that bad – he hit the inside of the bumper and probably damaged the rear proximity sensors. His car was much worse off. I asked him how he wanted to do it coz he mentioned he didn’t have a lot of cash on him and he offered RM 200.
He seems like a nice enough guy, and I’m due to fix my bumper and all that anyway, so I agreed and we left it at that. These things happen anyway and it’s basically a minor fender bender. 🙂
That was the topic of the sermon at Calvary Church, Damansara Heights at the 5 pm English service just now. I thought it was quite interesting, something to think about at least. I’ve been trying to find a church that I’ll be comfortable in.
I haven’t been to church in a long time. It’s 18 years by my count, excepting the time I went to Wesley Methodist Church in Sibu last time I was back to visit my mom (and I thought it was election time too).
I’m not used to loud and expressive praise and worship sessions – I was raised as a Christian, went to Trinity Methodist Church in Kuching and Wesley Methodist Church when I was in Sibu. They’re both UMC sister churches and we use the hymnal – usually droll but somehow peaceful hymns.
This is totally different. However, I think that the ability to unlearn and relearn new things is a prerequisite in this fast moving social media age and I found myself enjoying it by the second song (which I would really like to know the title of).
I’ve been procrastinating in going back to the church – I left the congregation when I was 12 coz I didn’t believe in it anymore. It’s more than just knowledge, it’s the hypocrisy and politiking that I see which made me lose faith in Christians.
I’m sure I’ve said this before but one thing my dad said that caused me to reevaluate is – Don’t look at the Christian, look to Christ.
…also I have my own personal reasons for going. You can call it the opiate of the masses but there are no atheists in foxholes too. 😉
Nifty way to hold the Eucharist cup.
However, I’m still trying to believe. I think I’m moving towards that direction but I don’t think this church would be a good fit for me. I prefer to contemplate in a quiet setting and speak to my personal savior and this isn’t very conducive to doing so. It’s also an Assembly of God denomination which has doctrinal differences from Methodists, the biggest one being:
The Assemblies of God believes in the Pentecostal distinctive of baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.
That goes against everything I believe in. I find that churches like these tend to coerce people to do so (speak in tongues) which leads to a lot of people faking it to make it. I was at a seminar a while back in Sabah where a Canadian group came to speak – they’re also Pentecostals and during a blessing session, everyone (about 300 people) fell down, “consumed by the holy spirit”.
I didn’t. There were people behind me waiting to hold me and one of the pastors whispered to me – “Just lie down”.
I don’t want to coz I didn’t feel the touch of the Lord. I was the only one standing in a group of 300 threshing and moaning people. The sheer pressure to join them is quite incredible and I believe that’s what most people were going – just succumbing to the pressure. I stood my ground though. It was hard, and I’ll be lying if I said I didn’t feel self-conscious but I don’t want to pretend to do feel something I don’t.
I won’t judge, Matthew 7:5 says the famous words about that but in matters of faith, I ALWAYS defer to my dad. He’s hands down the most pious person I ever met – a True Believer. I trust him in these matters.
Thus, I’ll probably be still searching for a church that fits the doctrine I believe in. I can’t say I’m a Christian right now, and I’m still trying to reconcile God with science, life and sociology – things I believe in like evolution, LGBT rights, massive allegations of fund mismanagement (hey, they’re human and humans sin).
I also want to make sure that I’m doing it for the right reasons and not using religion as a crutch to get me through some hard times.
I’m really opening my mind here after 18 years (it’s actually longer, I stopped believing but continued going) of being an agnostic atheist – I want to believe and I know it’s not your prerogative to show yourself to me God, but you know, it would help a lot, especially right now.
I’ll end this post with a prayer. 😉
God, grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
and Wisdom to know the difference.
Heh! It’s actually non-religious, it started from AA but I learned it in NA, it’s called the Serenity Prayer and AA/NA isn’t a Christian foundation – it accepts people from all faiths and religious discussion is prohibited.
This should be called The Hunt for Red October Prawn. Red Prawn or Udang Merah is known locally in Hokkien as “Ang Heh” – it’s a breed of durian only available in Penang – there’s too much local demand (and exports to countries like Singapore I imagine) for it to come down to Klang Valley.
Thus, after 4 meals before 12 pm we finally drove to Balik Pulau (it’s where the orchards for Ang Heh are) where I ran down to stall after stall only to be told the same thing:
There are no Red Prawn durians. The season just ended.
One stall sold his *very last* Red Prawn durian to a customer just before we came.
I had almost given up at this point when the next stall claimed to have Red Prawn. In fact, there were 4 of these luscious durians.
Red Prawn is characterized by it’s red colored flesh and small seeds. It’s not bright red like the Sarawakian local ones, although some can have an orange hue, with just a tinge of red, or striped. I paid RM 45 for one durian – it’s RM 25/kg after a bit of bargaining.
The durian only had 5 seeds!!!
That works out to about RM 10 per seed. It was delicious though, definitely worth it for durian lovers. 🙂
Suanie got another one to take away, this has more seeds and it’s heavier, cost RM 50. There’s also various other Penang-only durians on offer – you can listen to the proprietor talking about it.
Koh Tsu Koon is also another famous durian strain but I couldn’t afford to part with another RM 50 for a tiny durian, despite it being famed for having miniscule or no seeds at all, which is a running joke about the ex-Penang CM.
All in all, it was a good durian hunt – I got to eat Red Prawn and even though it wasn’t as red as what I tasted on a previous excursion, it’s good. It tastes like Red Prawn.
Sarawak also has a bright red colored durian (as does Penang, which has several). Red Prawn is pretty good, and at that price point, a bargain compared to overrated durian strains like Musang King.
We sapu-ed two out of the four Red Prawn durians left – it was the end of season for that strain, D15 is still going strong though. 🙂
It’s Olympics season and Malaysia has a contingent of 30 athletes to participate in 9 sports in the London 2012 Summer Olympics! We’ve got our very own competition here in the spirit of the Malaysian delegation and you’ll also get to win gold medals! 🙂
…but first, a little bit about gold.
I’ve been monitoring the forex market lately, coz I have some Euros that I need to change to pay my rent. Just keeping an eye on the dismal Euro exchange rate – it has been steadily dropping by the day, it’s 3.78 last time I checked. The USD is also on the decline, and when things get to be this way the price of commodities like gold increases.
It’s the traditional hedge against a recession and gold is universally accepted as the basis of currency – federal banks have to hold the same amount in gold and silver for banknotes it issues.
Anyway, back to the topic on hand Maxis is running a contest called Launch Your Way To Gold to commemorate the Malaysian contingent going to the Summer Olympiad! The grand prize (there will be 5 for each category) is a medal made of pure gold worth RM 12,000!
The contest is based on how the Olympics is run – there are 5 categories in which you can participate in. You can choose one (or all five) based on your strengths – whether it be writing, photography or even stuff like costumes and poses.
There will be a pure gold Olympic medal to be given out to the winner of each respective category, which are:
Olympian-A-Like
This is where you flex your muscles and pose like an Olympian. Do you know how to do great impressions? Well, here’s where you can show off how well you pull things off! 🙂
Tribute To Our Olympians
Gifted with the written word? Write an essay or a nice catchphrase and submit your most creative tribute to the Malaysian Olympic athletes. You can also use pictures, illustrations or photos to supplement your entry.
Captioned By Fans
This is for those who always has a witty remark at hand. Images will be posted here and it’s your job to caption them. I found this one particularly funny. Heh.
Rings of Creativity
You know the 5 interlocking rings symbolizing the Olympics? You can make your own here out of anything – just get that creative mind in gear and put together your own interlocking rings with cheese ring snacks, tires, or whatever that looks vaguely circle-ish. 😉
Malaysia’s New Rally Cry
Are you good in getting people riled up (in a good way)? Well, here’s your chance to submit your most powerful and stirring slogan if Malaysia were to host the Olympics!
Besides the five pure gold medals worth RM 12,000, there’s also a host of other prizes guaranteed to make you drool – iOS and Android smart phones and tablets are up for grabs. There’s also daily prizes and daily winners for Maxis Prepaid Internet Starter Kits, cloud storage space and ebooks.
Read all about the prizes, get more details and submit your entries now and Launch Your Way To Gold!
Gold medals worth RM 12,000 awaits! 🙂
I just came back from Penang! Tim and Aud had their Up themed wedding last night, on the 28th of July 2012 – a date I’m sure will be plenty significant to them for the rest of their lives. 🙂
The wedding was held at Straits Quay Convention Center and the place was done up really nicely according to the theme. I really liked the floating house held up by balloons.
It’s actually pretty cool to have a theme like that – there were helium balloons everywhere like in the animated film Up.
The food was catered from E&O Hotel and I found the first dish with the ostrich meat really good. Also on the wedding dinner menu is the signature E&O Pe Pa Duck. Gotta love the wedding favors – it’s a mini jar of honey that says “Meant to Bee Together”.
I really liked how the couple looks so happy in this photo while pouring champagne.
It’s pretty much like a fairytale wedding in that everything was fascinating and wondrous to behold, since there were bright colors everywhere.
Congratulations Mr and Mrs Tiah! Here’s to an adventure of a lifetime and may you both grow old loving each other for a thousand years! 😉
DJ Ferry Corsten a.k.a. System F came down to spin at the new Heineken bottle launch at KL Live. The entire place has been transformed into something that looks like Emerald City from the Wizard of Oz.
Even the invites look awesome!
It was all Heineken green – the entrance was emblazoned with an asymmetrical neon light feature that gave off a new and different, exclusive even, ambiance once you stepped into the threshold and embraced the pumping music inside.
I arrived early and had dinner at Dirty Nelly’s – it’s right beside KL Live. I opted for the Sausage with Mustard Mash and Sweet Sour Red Pepper. It’s described as a “jumbo pork banger” but I was taken aback at the sheer size of it when it arrived.
It almost made me feel inadequate. 😉
Thanks for dinner Heineken! Cheers to Ee Lin from the brand team for picking up the tab.
Anyway, I was surprised by the sheer amount of people inside. KL Live was packed. I met a lot of new people and got reacquainted with plenty of old friends that night.
It was awesome!
I happened to be wearing a white shirt that day, and after a lot of festive merry-making to the beats of Lap Sap (the opening act), DJ Ferry Corsten came on stage and got the entire crowd cheering.
There were bouncers in front getting everyone to stand back while the crowd pushed forward to take photos. I had wisely *cough* positioned myself in the front before DJ Ferry Corsten’s set was on so I was right in front. I didn’t know why the bouncers were keeping people away until he came onstage, the music started, and fireworks and flames went off in a dazzlingly well choreographed moment.
I was caught by surprise by the wonderful pyrotechnics display that I didn’t manage to take a shot of it – some of the debris landed on my (white) shirt. So that was why the bouncers were keeping people away from the stage – there was going to be pyrotechnics . Heh. *hindsight 20/20
DJ Ferry Corsten kept the energy going high and with the free flow of Heineken beer going, the crowd was moving right along to his beats. He played a great set.
It was the launch of the new Heineken bottle with nifty new practical and aesthetic features detailed in my Heineken contest post and Heineken threw a huge party with an international DJ just for it.
It’s just how Heineken rolls, being a premium beer.
You’ll be seeing these new Heineken bottles replace the old ones right about now. I nicked the photo below from Heineken’s Facebook photo album to better illustrate it. 😉
Oh and before I forget, there’s a contest going on with truly awesome prizes! The 3 grand prizes includes a trip to Sensation in Taiwan! You need 50 points to stand a chance to win and there are 3 ways to gain points:
1. Toasting Friends
You basically send your Facebook friend a new Heineken bottle and if they send it back to you, you’ll get 1 point. I’ve detailed this in my previous post and you can refer to the app for more details.
2. Check-in via Facebook
This is where you check-in via Facebook when you go out for a drink at participating outlets.
Here’s an example. You can earn a maximum of 1 point per day and you’ll need to verify the check-in via the app after you’ve done it. Don’t worry if it doesn’t appear immediately, each check-in can only be verified after 12 am on the next day.
There’s a list of participating outlets – I see a lot of familiar places in my hometown of Sibu. Heh. You can filter via state to see which are the ones that will earn you points.
3. Scan Heineken ads with iSnap
This is an interesting one – if you have an iPhone or Android smartphone, download iSnap (it’s part of The Star Mobile app) from iTunes Store/Google Play respectively. I have it on my Sony Xperia S. Search for a Heineken ad in The Star newspaper and scan it. It’ll earn you a staggering 5 points! 🙂
The prizes that I mentioned? The grand prize is a trip to Sensation in Taiwan! It’s held in Kaohsiung and there will be 3 winners for this dance music festival! There’s also 200 personalized editions of the new Heineken bottle to be won. Imagine how cool it would be to own that! I won’t even drink it, it’s the kind of stuff you display.
Go to the Heineken to.a.star app and start collecting points now and you might be on your way to Taiwan! 🙂
I had an great Saturday night at KL Live. I had a few beers from the new Heineken bottle (which is the real star of the night), enjoyed mingling about and Heineken was thoughtful enough to provide water (Evian, no less) to rehydrate yourself after dancing. 🙂
I have this peculiar habit. I use shower gel when I’m in KL and soap when I’m in Sibu. It’s not like there’s no shower gel back home, in fact that is what we use. Only problem is, it makes me smell like a little girl. Considering it’s either belongs to my mom or my niece (probably the latter), I’m not very surprised.
Thus, I end up being the only one using a bar of soap in Sibu.
I usually get it myself.
I don’t know what my dad uses but I think it’s the generic flowery one, which isn’t exactly what you want. It’s considered ungentlemanly to smell better with more floral notes than your date.
Okay, I just made that up but you get my point.
I’ve always used Dettol and last year they came out with a range of shower gel for men. Dettol High Performance for Men is the first product by Dettol designed exclusively for men (if you didn’t get the label ;)). There are two variants – Extreme and Aqua.
I’ve been using Dettol for Men Aqua and Extreme for almost a week now and I like how the shower gel is in a container that has a proper grip.
This is very important in a bottle that doesn’t stand and use a pump to bring up the shower gel. A hand-held container has to have grip (see side) or else you’ll end up dropping it when you reach for it with slippery lathered fingers. I don’t know how many times I’ve dropped my shower gel in unsavory places while backpacking.
(loofah isn’t mine)
Dettol for Men Aqua has a more invigorating smell and keeps your skin feeling hydrated while Extreme is a classic masculine smelling shower gel that lasts the entire day.
I’m already a Dettol user so the question for me is:
Would I use Dettol for Men Aqua instead?
The answer is no. I’ll use Dettol for Men Extreme instead. Heh.
I’m switching to that coz I love the manly smell and it provides the same germ protection qualities and deep pore cleansing properties inherent in the Dettol brand. However, since everyone has a different olfactory perception – check out both and see which one you prefer more.
I personally like the smell of Dettol for Men Extreme – it’s a matter of preference, really. I love it coz it makes me smell masculine. Seriously, it does, try it out and see!
You know, sometimes you just grab whatever is available (there’s a bottle of shower gel here that one of my ex-girlfriends left and I use it when I run out) and go out smelling like a rose.
Smelling like a rose is perfectly fine, a highly exalted attribute even…for females. It doesn’t work the same way for men.
Fun fact: I also noticed that if a couple uses the same shower gel, you practically cannot smell each other! You have to use different shower gels so you can smell your girlfriend/wife/It’s Complicated (TM).
There’s a fun and funny survey going on that asks a lot of quirky and sometimes thought-provoking questions on Facebook and tells your your “Man-Level”.
I won’t spoil it for you but some of the questions are truly laugh out loud funny. 🙂
You also get to upload your photo, choose one from FB or take one on the spot – it’s important for later.
…and there’s this mouse destroying click fest that is a surprisingly fun mini-game (gotta love a bit of destruction) before the results are unveiled. 🙂
What type of man are you? I won’t say I’m close to Bear Grylls (don’t drink my own pee) but Poh “Punisher” Punchballs seems pretty manly to me. Heh. Find out when you take the survey at the Dettol Malaysia Facebook page. There’s a lot of interactive stuff that you can play around with plus a RM 150 Dettol hamper to be given out each day for the lucky 50th person to complete it.
The new Dettol High Performance for Men range is my choice for showering right now. I won’t make you want to poke your eyes out with shots of me doing that so go check out the Unleash The Man app instead.
