I had to get something done in Kuching during the weekend and took a bus after work on Saturday (RM 40) and arrived late evening. The bus ticket costs RM 40 and it takes about 7 hours for the journey. Irene picked me up and we did the photo shoot in about an hour or so before heading for dinner.
I stayed at Transit Point, the latest competitor to the Singgahsana Lodge and it only cost RM 35 nett for a room with WiFi (!) and a queen sized bed. The Singgahsana Lodge on the other hand costs RM 30 nett for dormitory style accommodations sleeping 10 people in a room.
Irene called me at around 11 pm and it was decided that we were to do some clubbing and meet up with some old friends since I was already here. I was a little dubious since I have to wake up at 6 am in the morning to take the 8:30 am express boat back to Sibu but I figured I haven’t gone clubbing in a while so I went for it.
I also drink Heineken draft during my regular sessions, not just for advertorials, okay. :p
I was sitting at the bar with Irene and I suddenly had an ethanol inspired idea to pass my blogger name card to random people. Pimp my blog and all that. 😉
I walked over to two girls beside to our left and passed out my name card to them, and one of them recognized my name. Michelle (pictured above) has read my blog before and was introduced to it by…
…Wendy! Thanks for reading! 🙂
We stayed until 2 am and went over to Azza Burger to eat the famous Azza Burger with everything inside (my favorite post drinking session meal when I was in Kuching). We also partook in the famous Chinese amber fluid (Tsingtao in cans) and I ended up sleeping at 4 am, which is a really bad idea when you have to wake up 2 hours later.
Snooze Alarms is an anagram for Alas! No more Z’s !
I was supposed to wake up at 6 am but I overslept and woke up at 7:40 am, rushed to pack my bags and called a taxi to bring me to the wharf in Pending where the express boat departs at 8:30 am (RM 45). The express boat takes about 5 hours, which is a little faster than taking a bus. I made it in time and after a bit of expense tabulation:
Sibu – Kuching bus: RM 40 Accommodation: RM 35 Kuching – Sibu express boat: RM 45 Total: RM 120 (Price not inclusive of dinner and drinking session)
It is possible to travel on a budget if you don’t mind the long journeys by non-aviation means of transportation. You can always sleep on the bus/express boat and I arrived in Sibu at around 2 pm on Sunday. 🙂
I’ve always wanted to do three things before I kicked the bucket – write a book, travel the world and direct a movie. I haven’t got the chance to do the first two but the last one is finally within my reach. I don’t even have to purchase a high quality video recorder, rent an expensive studio or deal with actors overdosing and dying on me before the voice overlay is done. 😉
Wardrobe malfunctions are minimized and temper tantrums avoided. It’s pure fun!
LG Scarlet is running an online contest where you get to direct your own video. The action sequences and adrenaline pumping music in the LG Scarlet video is amazing to work with. You can customize it by adding snap scenes and your own captions and it’s very user friendly.
The contest will be run for four (4) consecutive weeks and there will be a weekly prize for the Director that accumulates the most votes. There will also be a grand prize at the end of the contest.
If you’re not interested in being a Director, there is also a concurrent contest for being a Fan. The Fan wins by having the highest number of successful virals. A viral is defined as a vote garnered (gained in plain English – I just use garner coz the LG Scarlet movie reminds me of Alias) from that particular Fan’s video promo link.
I have tried to decipher that statement and it just means that you basically promote the video you like either via your blog or email and you get an extra vote for every registered user that votes for that particular video link. The more registered users you get, the higher your chances of winning.
There will be a weekly and grand prize for both Fans and Directors. The weekly prize is a Hi-Fi Micro FB163 for every week of the four week campaign and the grand prize is a 37″ LG Scarlet LCD TV!
Now, you can finally be the director of a video without learning to use video editing software with more buttons and menu items than you can shake a stick at.
I’m registered under sixthseal.com as a Director and you can vote for my video at the LG Scarlet site. I’m planning a vote buying campaign where I pay RM 1 for every person that votes for me. Terms and conditions apply.
Terms and Conditions: RM 1 will be sent via snail mail for every valid registered user who votes for me. This vote buying campaign is only open to Malaysian residents. Please send a SASE (Self Addressed Stamped Envelope) with an RM 1 note in it for processing fees. 😉
All kidding aside, head on to the LG Scarlet website to register as either a Director or a Fan and participate in the contest. This is one of the most interesting Internet viral marketing strategies I’ve seen – my hats off to the people at LG.
Calling all armchair/office chair directors! Here’s your chance to Shine (reference intended). 😉
I was due to fly back to Sibu last night and since I had some time to kill (and also coz I wanted to meet Ringo ;)) I managed to get in touch with her and meet up with the big cheese at O’Briens in 1U.
This is the delicious dairy product herself, in her stealth mode disguise. She has the exact same cell phone as mine.
O’Briens is known for it’s gourmet coffee and handcut sandwiches…
…and their tagline “See your food made fresh in front of you”, kinda like an open kitchen thing, except it’s an open counter of sorts.
Cheesie went for the healthy option, with the Smoked Salmon on Shambo (RM 13.50) under their Low Fat Lifestyle menu, interestingly dubbed “Guilt Free Food” with everything having under 3 grams of fat.
This is the Peach Blush (RM 10) that she ordered. My first impression was that she seems to wear a lot of bling. This girl has color coordination – most of the articles she wore has gold trimmings!
I went for the (much) less healthier option of the O’Briens Crambo Club Hot Toastie (RM 16.50). The sandwiches at O’Briens are all served with crisps, which is a nice touch. I love putting Pringles in sandwiches, it makes the texture with white bread (untoasted) very interesting. Crispy!
I also had the large Cappuccino (RM 8.50) which comes with a shamrock froth finish. I have seen Guinness doing that for draft stout in some bars, it must be an Irish thing. 😉
Cheesie has a very bubbly personality and I felt very comfortable talking to her. We also had a lengthy intellectual discourse on methods of improving Cheesie’s Wardrobe. Heh! It was great meeting up with you Ringo! Jesus, now I sound like a fanboy. I have also noticed that I will be needing Botox on my forehead very, very soon. 😉
…and no, this is not an advertorial nor was any payment (monetary or otherwise) arranged for me to do this Cheesie post. =D
I went to the Mummy 3 press screening at GSC, Midvalley at the ungodly hour of 9:45 am with Timothy, Samantha and Cynthia on Tuesday. It was held a day before the premiere and two days before the official release date. I haven’t been to a press screening before, cheers to Nuffnang for that coz I’m a huge fan of movies.
The interesting bit about press screenings is that you have to insert your cell phone and digicam into this envelope thing (with an attached ID) so no cell phones are allowed in the theater itself.
Anyway, we got a Mummy 3 press kit with a text insert containing the list of credits and other filming anecdotes as well as a CD Press Kit with goodies like photos, production notes and the trailer and other information. I found it quite interesting to read, it’s not just the standard plot guidelines but experiences about the difficulties of filming in China and other behind the scenes stuff. The press screening also comes with a free drink and popcorn voucher.
I was looking forward to the Mummy 3 movie coz I’ve watched the first two and found the franchise highly entertaining. It’s nice to be one of the first to watch the movie. Brandon Fraser is back and he’s as good as ever even though he seems to be trying too hard to be funny in some of the scenes.
I loved the plot about The Dragon Emperor which is (very) loosely based on mythology behind the terracotta warrior statues in China. Unfortunately, I had a rather late night the previous night and the sleep deprivation compounded by the extremely cold air conditioning and dark atmosphere of the GSC cinema made me very sleepy (and I have a very strong suspicion that I actually had a couple of microsleeps ;)).
It’s not due to the movie though, The Mummy 3 was great and it has a great plot twist in the beginning and ends well with the standard happy ending that the series is renowned for. It’s a feel good popcorn (caramel, not salted) movie that makes for another great addition to the Mummy franchise.
Jet Li’s character is great, and although he doesn’t have a lot of dialog, his on screen presence fits the character well. He’s menacing and in command. However, it was Isabella Leong’s performance that steals the show. I felt that there was no on screen chemistry between Luke Ford and Isabella Leong but she just has the poise and grace for this particular character (with a slight peppering of melancholy).
I took unpaid leave to go to KL for three days and two nights to attend to her banquet details over here. It was so hectic to meet with the parents from the other side and decide on the details – my sister is a bit of a stickler for details. She and the fiancé is in New Zealand and the marriage ceremony is going to be held there but the banquet will be held in KL and then Sibu.
My sister has been in NZ for more than 10 years so I don’t see that much of her. But hey, being the only sibling she has, she’s counting on me to arrange her banquet details on this side. My dad is working and my mom couldn’t go due to a family emergency (my maternal grandmother has Alzheimer’s) so I was the designated Poh representative.
They’re both doctors so I’m not sure how the marriage would work out though with health care professionals working such long hours and all. 😉
The submissions for the contest to win a ticket to the Chelsea match on the 29th of July 2008 and the included pass to the Heineken House has been carefully harvested, measured, sieved, filtered, marinated and roasted to perfection. The fermentation process was a little on the lengthy side, my apologies about that, but here are the winners:
Suresh Krishnan-Dass 017-700XXXX You’re the very first person to get BOTH of the bonus questions right, which is amazing due to the admittedly vague nature of the photos. Kudos for that! You just won a ticket to the match and the included invite to the Heineken House.
Elaine 016-202XXXX The Blur Queen also managed to get both the bonus questions right. Respect! You’re the second one to do so, congratulations! 🙂
Melvin Raj 016-371XXXX Melvin also got both of the bonus questions right, with the additional information that the firm was originally known as the Chelsea Shed Boys. Cheers!
Nurvia Ooi 012-395XXXX Nurvia won by pure virtue of speed. The email was the first one in that had all the questions answered correctly. First post award. Congratulations!
Shakira 016-354XXXX This one takes the cake in pure effort and length. She wrote a very lengthy email with educated guesses of the possible answers to the bonus questions. An except: picture two: you are standing. the clue is firm.. standing firm? or are you talking about a football firm?
answer: 1. Lampard stays firm in Chelsea as I have just read in the newsletter… 2. Chelsea Headhunters, the firm where people formed with the intent to engage in fights and inflict pain with members of firms from other clubs. Riot! Sound like a bit of fun :] I know in 2006 that 2 players received death threats from the Headhunters. I will wikipedia that later to see what I can find.
Congratulations to all the five winners! You each get one (1) ticket to the Chelsea Asia Tour 2008 match at Shah Alam Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at 8:45 PM on the 29th of July, 2008 and one (1) invite to the Heineken House courtesy of Heineken, the sponsor of the contest.
The answer to the first bonus question is The Rising Sun pub where Chelsea was founded (thus the hint “Origin”). The second bonus question with the hint “Firm” refers to Chelsea Headhunters – the football firm of Chelsea.
Judges decisions are final and based on purely unscientific qualitative standards. 😉
Thank you all for participating and I’ll be calling the winners to verify their attendance. I want to ensure that all the winners can go, so should any one of them be unable to make it, the ticket and pass will be given to another submission selected at random* with priority given to the first few people who emailed me with the correct answers.
Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack, Joe Cole are all coming for the friendly match against Malaysia. Be at the Shah Alam Stadium on the 29th of July to watch Chelsea play against our national team!
*Fine Print (TM): You have to answer the phone within 6 rings coz I really don’t want to be on the phone the whole day. 😉
Have you ever wanted to be a designer for Nike? Here’s your chance! Project Lightweight is a contest initiated by Nike for talented young student designers. Lighter, stronger, and faster is the Nike design philosophy and this initiative is open to all college and university students to design a future lightweight product for athletes.
Nike is encouraging aspiring designers from all disciplines to participate in the contest. You just need to design any product (not just footwear, but apparel etc) for any sport. Project Lightweight is encouraging futuristic designs for a new lightweight product – your imagination is the only limit here.
The best thing about this contest is that entries are not just limited to a specific medium such as film, art, installation, or product. In fact, complete freedom of design is encouraged! Each entry must be accompanied by a description of the design (limited to 200 words). You can even email a consulting expert at projectlightweight@email-nike.com.my to seek advice or ask any questions.
I know what I’ll like to see – a Nike shoe that is lightweight, breathable (but water repellent for those rainy days) with a Bluetooth connection AND a kinetic or piezoelectric energy harvesting system that can power not just the Bluetooth interface chip, but an iPod or cell phone as well. I don’t know how that can be achieved, but hey, think out of the box and all that.
“You run like a girl!” “My grandmother can run faster than you!” Have you ever been taunted before? Hopefully, with the latest products coming out of the Project Lightweight contest, we won’t have to put up with those insults anymore…coz we’ll all be running on lightweight footwear! 🙂
That’s the beauty about the Project Lightweight design competition – it’s meant to showcase YOUR point of view. YOU get to decide on what a lightweight footwear (or apparel) should be like and submit your entries to the Project Lightweight website. Calling all aspiring designers of all disciplines. The future is yours!
Ready? Set. Go!
Go forth, and create history!
(and design a lightweight pair of trainers so I can outrun mall security next time)
Project Lightweight is offering a grand prize of an all expenses paid trip to Nike’s World Headquarters in Oregon, USA. The winner would not just get a chance to tour the grounds (which is called The Campus, much like Microsoft’s headquarters) but will also have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit the “Kitchen”, where the top designers of Nike brainstorm and design new products.
You’ll also get the chance to meet and pick the brains of Nike’s legendary design team!
Project Lightweight Design Competition The competition allows participants to design any product (e.g. footwear, apparel etc), and they are not limited to any particular sport. All submissions must be made between 1 – 31 July on the Project Lightweight website www.nike.com.my/projectlightweight.
For more information, log onto www.nike.com.my/projectlightweight for full details on how to enter, participation requirements, submission details and other terms and conditions.
Clare has left for Kuching just now and bought me breakfast at Mitsu Tea House in lieu of sexual services rendered during her stay here. 😉 I’m kidding of course, I was just little more than her personal driver during the week she was in Sibu.
Mitsu Tea House is just about the only place you can get decent dim sum in Sibu. There is an al fresco seating area at the bottom…
…and an air-conditioned enclosure at the first floor. Mitsu Tea House was totally packed this morning – it seems like it attracts the Sunday morning crowd in droves!
We finally managed to snag a table after a short wait and a waitress took our order. You can tell I woke up at an ungodly hour from my ruffled hair. I usually don’t do Sunday morning breakfasts. 😉
Mitsu Tea House has the ubiquitous dim sum carts doing the rounds but you can order a la carte from their menu as well.
Mitsu is one of the more successful eating establishments in Sibu with Mitsu Shabu Shabu offering Japanese cuisine and Mitsu Tea House with its impressive dim sum portfolio.
We ordered Chrysanthemum + Green Tea (RM 4 per pot), a mixture of two different tea leaves (and flowers). It came in a store branded teapot and cups, much like the eating receptacles over here.
Steamed Pork Meat and Abalone Sauce Buns. This is pretty good stuff…it’s a little like “little dragon buns” where the sauce is sealed in the bun pouch itself…
…and can be eaten as you eat oysters. Slurp it down. 😉
Lo mai gai (sticky glutenous rice) is another dim sum staple but Mitsu Tea House’s version disappoints. It was under flavored and lacking in carnivorous content.
Steamed Shrimp Dumplings (har kau) was very good though. It has two shrimps in each dumpling and tasted exquisite!
We also had Baked Cream Custard Pastry from their Dim Sum Pastries menu and it was alright….tasted like a Portuguese Egg Tart.
Mitsu Tea House also serves noodles and we saw a lot of other tables ordering this. The waitress told us the Dry Fried Noodles with Beef was one of their specialties and we finished off the brunch with this carbohydrate laden dish.
Mitsu Tea House has just about the best dim sum you’re going to get in Sibu. It’s the only specialized dim sum place in town but be forewarned – the crowd can be oppressive. There wasn’t an empty table to be seen in the entire establishment!
Hmm…there’s something about tea leaf divination… 😉
Kingwood Resort Mukah is a beach resort located in Mukah. It has 99 rooms sprawled across a huge compound that borders the beach and the facilities and buildings are all very new, having only been completed a couple of years ago. It’s perfect for a short weekend retreat.
The palm trees that greets you with it’s swaying fronds and the cool sea breeze coming in from the beach makes for a very nice and relaxing environment. The horizon is visible from the…er, horizon and covers the entire…well, horizon. 😉
The main hotel building is a 3 story structure in the middle the resort compound. Kingwood Resort Mukah has facilities ranging from swimming pools to tennis courts. It’s very well maintained and looks clean and new despite being constantly exposed to salt water.
The lobby of the resort is decked out with rattan chairs and has free WiFi coverage.
Hail to the King, baby! 😉
The decor is very antiseptic, which may not be a good thing for a beach resort, but it gets brownie points for being clean and brand spanking new.
The rooms start from RM 322 nett but we got a special deal from Henry so we only paid RM 160 nett for a Premier Room with a sea view with a published rate of RM 368 nett. He was also kind enough to throw in lunch and breakfast for two. Cheers!
The Premier Room is equipped with two queen sized beds, which I always took to mean as one designated for activities which leaves wet spots on the sheets and the other for sleeping in. 😉
There is also a writing desk, a couch, TV with Astro, complimentary tea and coffee making facilities and wardrobes.
There is a modern shower unit made of transparent glass and an adjacent toilet. I reminded Clare to shout “Fire in the hole” should she flush the toilet while I’m in the shower coz that makes the water go scalding hot. It’s proper travel etiquette when sharing rooms. 😉
The toiletries provided are pretty standard so you don’t have to bring your own toothbrush or shaver.
The best part about the Premier Room is the balcony outside the window. It allows the cool sea breeze to come in and commands a great view of the beach. It also serves well as the designated smoking zone.
The view from the Premier Room also covers the swimming pool at the resort and the gazebos scattered throughout the beach front.
Video of Kingwood Resort Mukah from the balcony
Henry was kind enough to prepare a complimentary lunch for us, so we went down to the Palm Beach Cafe. The Palm Beach Cafe is the only dining establishment in the entire resort, so unless you’re bringing your own food, that’s where you’ll be eating during your entire stay. 🙂
Palm Beach Cafe has been decorated with Melanau elements and the cultural aspects of Mukah. The huge fishing net featured on the wall reflects the fishing industry Mukah is so well known for.
There are al fresco seating arrangements with a water feature right by the poolside.
Henry had prepared two servings of the Melanau Fried Rice that is one of the signature dishes.
Our waitress was a pleasant girl from Bintulu that somehow wound up working in Mukah for reasons we didn’t delve into.
She served us fresh orange juice and warm water while the lunch was being prepared.
The Melanau Fried Rice comes with generous amounts of seafood in the fried rice and is served with an egg and a huge fish cracker.
The portions at Palm Beach Cafe is huge, with me barely managing to finish the dish, which usually costs RM 12 ++ while Clare ate about 3/4 of the food.
There is a unique water feature surrounding the Palm Beach Cafe with ripples of water shimmering in the afternoon sun.
The resort area is also a nice place to take a leisurely stroll with gazebos and concrete chairs for sitting down should the need arise.
Video of view from the beach front
I figured we would go for a swim after the lunch despite having forgotten my sunscreen and we went down to the poolside.
There are pool chairs and a small kiddy pool in addition to the main pool.
It was fun to soak in the water and swim a little.
It’s a very nice feeling to relax at a beach resort after a working week.
We swam in the pool until it was evening then went back to the hotel and took a shower together, er…I meant took turns showering before heading down for dinner.
We ate again at the Palm Beach Cafe for dinner, it being the only restaurant there and what not. It was decided that we’re going to check out the western dishes for dinner.
There were a group of people having a function there so the food came out a little bit slow but that’s alright since it’s a vacation and all, so there are no fires in dire need to be put out. 😉
I had the Kingwood Macaroni (RM 11 ++) which is stir fried macaroni with prawn, minced chicken, mixed vegetables and beef bacon. It doesn’t taste as good as Clare’s order.
Clare has the Fettuccine Carbonara (RM 14 ++) which, as it’s name suggests is loaded with carbs. 😉 It’s stir fried fettuccine with beef bacon, onion, garlic, black olive, mushroom and cream. The sauce is very creamy and it tastes much better than the stir fried macaroni.
We went for a walk on the beach after dinner…
…and adjourned back to the hotel room to drink some wine. I had brought a bottle of wine and several bottles of liquor for some liquid entertainment at night.
Clare also brought her Anything and Whatever drinks which works as a good mixer for the cheap Joker liquor that I got. It’s very relaxing to kick back once in a while and get some drinks in and just smoke at the balcony while talking the night away.
The morning view when you wake up in the morning and open the balcony to breath in the sea breeze is amazing.
The hotel provides a free buffet breakfast so we woke up at 8:30 am the next morning to eat breakfast before we headed down to Palm Beach Cafe.
I noticed that the Palm Beach Cafe logo is actually made out of wooden spatulas!
The buffet breakfast has a wide range of options ranging from fruits, cereal and pastries…
…to hot food like fried noodles, curry chicken and fried eggs.
I loaded up my plate for a huge breakfast in anticipation of all the walking that was in store for us in Mukah.
The hotel was kind enough to concede us a late checkout time of 3 PM so we still had time to go for a swim after the trip to Mukah town.
We packed our bags and took the 3:30 PM bus back to Sibu. You don’t actually have to travel down to Mukah to catch the bus, the bus route takes it through the resort so you can actually flag it down as it passes by. I got the driver to drop us off at the resort instead of bringing us to Mukah town when we arrived the previous day too.
It was fun to take a trip down to Kingwood Resort Mukah. The resort is very well maintained and clean and the beach front locality provides a very relaxing weekend getaway.
