
Durian candy mysteriously appeared on my table today. There was
durian sweets wrapped in translucent wrappers which tastes like…well,
durians…

…and also durian chews, which tastes like durian nougat (the crunchy type).
It’s not even durian season…
Leading the wild into the ways of the manβ¦

Durian candy mysteriously appeared on my table today. There was
durian sweets wrapped in translucent wrappers which tastes like…well,
durians…

…and also durian chews, which tastes like durian nougat (the crunchy type).
It’s not even durian season…

I went to 99 during the weekend and I saw two things that greatly impacted my outlook towards the meaning of life.

There was the cell phone with the most accessories for one…the
sheer audacity of the wanton accessorization of this cell phone had me
speechless for the most part of an hour. There are various trinkets on
it as well as a Buddhist amulet.

I also accidentally took a photo of Jesus Christ. The Savior of Man
is alive! He was seen holding a can of beer, presumably to understand
this beverage that wasn’t available in the days of wine and bread in
which he lived in. We postulate that he was trying to understand
civilization in this day and age…so there you have it. WWJD @ 99
(What Would Jesus Do at Ninety Nine).
He would get a beer, that’s what.
Jesus Christ…what a question to ask. π

I’m told that it’s the Bak Chang festival today. Penny brought a
couple of the rice dumplings to the office today – it’s a twist on the
popular bak chang, with a unique filling catering to Malaysian taste
buds…it’s a sambal bak chang.

This is what bak chang looks like – it’s a pyramid shaped rice
dumpling wrapped with a single, long pandan leaf and bound with string.
There are various different shapes and sizes, some smaller, some
looking like a box, there’s literally all sorts out there.

This is what the inside of the sambal bak chang looks like. Sambal
is a spicy paste that’s commonly eaten with nasi lemak in Malaysia.
Phensedyl dry cough linctus is a cough syrup by the pharmaceutical
giant Aventis and it supposed to be the number one cough syrup being
abused in Malaysia, India and parts of Bangladesh. It is reportedly banned in Bangladesh [essentialdrugs.org] due to its high rates of abuse and pharmaceutical diversion into the black market.
However, the cough formulation listed there seems to be different
one from the Phensedyl I got – it seems that Phensedyl used to contain
Promethazine HCl 3.6 mg per 5 ml, Codeine Phosphate 9 mg per 5 ml and
Ephedrine HCl 7.2 mg per 5 ml. The one I got when I went back to Sibu
costs RM 25 for a 90 ml bottle and lists Promethazine HCl 3.6 mg per 5
ml, Pholcodine 5 mg per 5 ml and Pseudoephedrine HCl 20 mg per 5 ml (!).
It seems that they swapped the (relatively) high codeine content in
the previous formulation of PHENSEDYL for pholcodine, which is widely
known in recreational circles as having no recreational value at all,
despite being an opioid (synthetic opiate agonist). This is due to the
inability of pholcodine to be metabolized to morphine
[opioids.com] unlike codeine and its ilk. The promethazine content is
retained, but ephedrine is replaced with a higher content of
pseudoephedrine, at a staggering 20 mg/5 ml.
Phensedyl also contains a small amount of ethanol (that’s just a
fancy name for alcohol ;)), but the content is negligible. I ingested
this in the hopes of evaluating the psychoactive potential of
pholcodine (wanted to see for myself), but alas, the experience was not
in that direction, but it went in a direction that provided a rather
insightful, but unpleasant direction – anticholinergic activity…
Substances ingested:
Pholcodine 90 mg (total)
Pseudoephedrine 360 mg (total)
Promethazine 64.8 mg (total)
Download: PHENSEDYL [sixthseal.com]
I did not feel the pholcodine at all, and I’m convinced that it does
not have any recreational potential, like the medical literature
suggests. The pseudoephedrine manifested itself by keeping me awake and
making my blood pressure skyrocket and giving me constant cranial and
retinal pressure for about 6 hours, but the worse (or most interesting,
depending on how you look at it really ;)) bit was the promethazine. I
drank the whole bottle of PHENSEDYL and that gave me 64.8 mg of
promethazine.
Promethazine is a phenothiazine derivative with antihistaminic,
sedative, antimotion-sickness, antiemetic, and anticholinergic effects.
The last bit is that part you have to watch out for – an
anticholinergic overdose gives you hallucinations. These are not LSD
type hallucinations, and I would not call it a hallucinogen by any
definition of the word. The experience is more like delirium –
anticholinergics are a well known delirient. There are a lot of
substances such as belladonna alkaloids, scopolamine and others which
can cause a anticholinergic activity – the most well known of it being
Dramamine.
Yes, it was like a Dramamine “trip”, but shorter in duration.
Promethazine in that dose was apparently enough to push me into a
delirium for close to 6 hours, with after effects lingering on for an
hour or two after that. I had full blown audio hallucinations and some
realistic visual hallucinations. The problem with an anticholinergic
trip is that you can forget that you’re on something – it feel like
you’re sober, but the world just turned upside down on you. I’m glad I
had sufficient experience with other psychedelic substances to ride out
this one…it wasn’t a pleasant experience, but it was enlightening. π
The audio hallucinations were the most vivid and realistic component
of the anticholinergic trip. I keep on hearing conversations, one of
which was about me by two of my coworkers, and I swear, their voices
were completely realistic, right down to the intonation, and the
“conversation” came from beside me, but when I turned, the voices just
shifted to the other side. I also kept on hearing vivid ringing sounds,
bells, sirens, and most of all, my name being called out by various
parties, some voices of which I recognize, and some I didn’t. I was a
little disconcerting, but I knew I was on the anticholinergic
rollercoaster, so I just…er, held on for the ride. π
This is what I managed to write during that sleepless and delirious night:
START
the first thing inoticed afte the initial; “high” (if uou can call
it that has passed is that the RGB netting seems to have stck on the
walls so i excused myself.
thats the interesting bit -there s a ehporic lift when the syrup
hits, and that lasts for about 15-30 min before going to delerious
mode, without euphria.
i was having problems with orienttion and motor cordination but i
managed to get into my room and then BAAM the fuckin syrup hit. v.
intense and can be frigthening…except i already know that i’m due for
a delieriant trip, so i just rode it out.
the entire night was filled with full blown auditory hallucinations,
from other people speaking, to people i know talking, and there’s more
= there’s alwas a voice to your side, smetimes calling your name,
sometimes just stating a irrelevant phrase or calling another person.
but the entities are so close to me that i always think they’re talking
to me.
confusion
extremally dry mouth
auditory hallucinations, can hear various people conversing natually (ny coworkers
sounds are frightenig
severe disorientation, hard to appear sober
i looked into a mirror and saw a parellel universe. it was
amazing,it looks REAL, so real that the mirror is forgotten. i saw
myself too, and he was smiling at me. i knew it was me, but he still
managed to startle me.
ringing sounds are always on (eng eng eng eng eng sounds) but when other audio sources are obtained the ringing goes away
I HAD a severe case of cotton mouth (dry mouth) too. it’s appaling, no fluids can quench the thirst.
posters can appear to be 3d and deeper meanings are reveaked, i just saw it on this old one i put up when i was 13.
strong deleriant effects, i had full blown real hallucinations twice
during the trip, and the field of view is always wierd, like something
is wrong here. Auditory hallucinations are so strong (fucking
impressive) that i heard a 3 way conversation with some of the people
in the office. their sounds are reproduced perfectly too. CEV;s are
also present, very good ones too.l but the auditory hallucinations
impressed me the most.
this is an accidental use of a anti-choinegic substace – i was after
the pholcodine, but i got an anti=chlogenic insteaed. but i appreciate
the unintentional ride though. π
not for inexperienced users or those who can’t handle substances.
since youre in for long ride, you need to be able to tell yoursef tht
you’re okay anything strange is just hllucination not for the weak of
mind. it’ll blow your socks off.
END
The most interesting experience about the anticholinergic delirium
was the bit where I looked into the mirror and saw another parallel
universe and another person looking back at me. I didn’t realize that
it was me at first. I smiled at him, and he smiled back. I tried to
touch the face, and it almost appeared as if I was going to
go through the mirror before I started and realized that it was just
me…before forgetting it was me, and then remembering it was just me
again.
That’s the interesting bit about anticholinergic delirients – it’s
like a fever dream, it feels so realistic, you can forget you’re
delirious, and the audio hallucinations are so vivid, with bouts of
complete delirium with accompanying visuals which you can forget are
visuals. It can be very disconcerting, and most people would call this
a bad trip. I would like to try this again, in higher doses (but
without the pseudoephedrine) to see what complete delirium feels like.

Orange Peel cigarettes are one of the interesting cigarettes out
there in terms of being obvious about their target market. The
packaging of the cigarettes is distinctly orange and the wrap liner
shows that this is another line from DJ Tobacco, the manufactures
behind the DJ Mix series of cigarettes.

The Peel series seems to be a new line of cigarettes for DJ Tobacco’s portfolio, and this is the flavor that Mr Lim [gmail.com] in Langkawi is kind enough to mail me – it’s called Orange Menthol Peel and the cigarettes are just exactly that…they taste like oranges!

The aluminum foil that can be seen as the pack is opened up can only
be described with one word – zesty! There are various different angles
and font sizes of PEEL on the cigarette foil in bright orange and it
appears to look like a citrus windfall. The sharp citrus tang can also
be smelled upon opening the pack – it smells like oranges too!

There is another surprise when I removed the…er, zesty foil. The
filters on the Orange Peel cigarettes are brightly emblazoned with PEEL
Orange Menthol with colorful dioramas of orange representations. This
cigarettes not only looks like its orange flavored, it tastes and
smells like oranges too!

PEEL Orange Menthol cigarettes come highly recommended from me – it’s the closest thing to smoking an orange! π

Our Malaysian girls go to work on motorbike
Legs spread wide wide
Skirts all hiked hiked
Thighs flashing white white

I went to the pharmacy when I was back in Sibu last week and asked
my friend for something new to try. I’ve always been curious about the
cough syrup that the locals in Malaysia abuse, since it’s not pure
codeine based syrup, but also contain other potentially CNS active
ingredients such as antihistamines in possible large doses and
pseudoephedrine. I was wondering what kind of “high” they get off from
this.
Thus, I went up to my friend (who owns the pharmacy) and told him I
wanted “the cough syrup that locals abuse”. He’s familiar with it,
obviously, since he’s sold quite a bit of it to various characters of
generally dodgy disposition. He immediately pulled me over to one side
of a cabinet which has cough preparations of various colors.
“This is the one you want,” he said, while pulling out red colored
syrup in pharmacy filled cough syrup plastic bottles. It’s the one that
the locals who want a cheap high get, I was told. I asked him what it
contains, and he said it just contains codeine, a small amount of
antihistamines and some pseudoephedrine. It goes for RM 1 per bottle
and I’m told that most users drink 1-2 bottles to get “high”.
Right then, I said. I’ll drink 3.

Download: The cough syrup that locals abuse [sixthseal.com]
…and so I did.
I felt a mild sedation consistent with codeine after ingesting 3
bottles of the generic cough syrup on an empty stomach. I also felt the
pseudoephedrine, but that was also mild. My estimate on the contents
would be about 20 mg of codeine and maybe 35 mg or so of
pseudoephedrine per bottle. I did not felt the antihistamines, nor did
I feel any high dose anticholinergic side effects, so I postulate that
the antihistamine content is too low for any significant impact on this
cough syrup formulation.
It wasn’t much fun, IMHO. It feels like a low dose of codeine, a
very slight, hardly noticeable opiate warmth with a concurrent slight
CNS stimulation due to the pseudoephedrine content. It’s a cheap and
dirty high. I would not take it again since there are more elegant
pharmaceutical solutions out there.

The new Pizza Hut Pesto Meatballs Pizza comes with
the tagline “A True Italian Feast Awaits You” and it’s described as “a
freshly baked pan pizza coated in savory tomato pesto sauce made of
basil leaves and garlic, then topped with juicy, premium Italian
meatballs”.
The advertisement for the Pesto Meatballs Pizza even features the
word “Eccellente!”. Excellent, I thought. π We went to Pizza Hut to
check out the new Pesto Meatballs Pizza – this was in Sibu, I forgot to
write about it until now.

The tradition of having a spinner game is still retained with this
new Pizza Hut promotion. The Pesto Meatballs Pizza comes with a Double
Spinner game to allow the patron to choose (kinda, it depends on Lady
Luck) from a wide range of Pizza Hut menu items from drinks to pizzas.

We ordered the Pesto Set 2 since there’s a party of four, and that
comes with a large Pesto Meatballs Pan Pizza, a tortilla pasta salad
(choice of Cool Lime Veggie or Thousand Island Tuna – we went for the
former), 4 pieces of Breadstix (choice of Parmesan or Hazelnut Cinnamon
– we opted for the latter), 4 soup of the day and a pitcher of Pepsi.
The Cool Lime Veggie tortilla pasta salad was good – I love meals where
the serving receptacle can be consumed. π

Pizza Hut also has a new dessert promotion – The Golden Icy
Delights, which is “an exciting combination for the adventurous”. It’s
rich golden potato balls served with vanilla ice cream and topped with
yummy drizzles of chocolate. It’s really good! The hot potato balls
(doesn’t sound quite right, but it tastes right :p) with ice cream
provides a contrast and texture that’s very interesting and tasty.

Here’s the Pizza Hut Pesto Meatballs Pan Pizza – there is an option
for chicken or beef meatballs and we choose the latter for maximum
compatibility (everyone eats chicken). The new Pesto Meatballs Pizza is
delicious, although the initial sight was a little disappointing due to
the discrepancies between the marketing literature, which shows
absolutely huge meatballs and the much smaller meatballs in the real thing.

I suggest that Pizza Hut can pick up our new variant of the Pesto Meatballs Pan Pizza – I present to you, the Pizza Hut Pesto Chicken Wings Pizza! π

I noticed this girl at the Sibu airport as we were about to board
the plane – this was taken at the aerobridge, her name is Elle and
she’s studying at Swinburne University in Kuching. Her movements
conveys a fragile beauty about her…it was in the way she moved, and
how she reacted when I told her I wanted to take a photo of her –
graceful, and with a hint of fragility, melancholy, even…

This is Cadbury’s Buttons minis muffin mix – it’s a box that
contains premixed muffins and I liked the chocolate buttons on this
one, so I got a pack of it to do some baking at home. It’s a tradition
of sorts to cook something together with my gf when I come back for
long periods of time.

The Cadbury Buttons mini muffin mix opens up to reveal a large
packet of the chocolate muffin mix, a small bag of Cadbury’s Buttons
minis, and 12 muffin paper holders. I love these self contained muffin
premixes, it has everything you need inside. Just add water. π

Well, it’s not as straightforward as that, but it’s not exactly
rocket science either. The back of the box details the steps for making
the muffins (just 5 steps!) and the stuff you need to complete the
recipe, as it were. The instructions require 1 medium sized egg, 45 ml
of milk and vegetable oil (optional). That’s all easily found in the
kitchen…just combine that with the package ingredients and we have
ourselves some chocolate muffins! π

This is the prepackaged chocolate muffin mix…it’s the ready-mix-just-add-water type of powder.

There’s also a bag of Cadbury Buttons, which I took the liberty of partaking before the actual muffin making process…

They even thought of including 12 paper muffin holders inside! Nice…

The first thing we did was to empty the big bag containing the chocolate muffin mix into a bowl…

…and an egg was cracked on top of the chocolate muffin premix after that.

I couldn’t find any full cream milk, so I got a small packet of UHT
Low Fat milk and poured about 1/5 (estimated) into the entire mix.

This is the goo a.k.a. muffin mix that resulted from all the effort exercised above.

The bowl was put in the mixer on the highest speed setting for about a minute or so, until the consistency looks about right.

Here’s what the Cadbury Buttons minis muffin mix looks like after
the electric mixer treatment – it’s starting to look like proper muffin
mix, nice and thick with a semi-fluid consistency.

Half of the Cadbury Buttons were emptied into the muffin mix, as per the instructions on the box…

…and a spoon was used to fold the chocolate buttons into the muffin mix.

The paper muffin receptacles were arranged and the final muffin mix
was spooned into them. The first few were filled sparingly, coz I
thought the muffin mix will expand, but then I realized that there’s
too much muffin mix to spare and started filling the rest with more of
the mix.

The muffins were arranged on a baking tray and the oven was
preheated to 160 degrees Celsius. We forgot to do that earlier, but no
worries, we needed to put the remaining half of the Cadbury’s Buttons
on top of the muffins anyway…

…and so we did. You’ll see that there’s only 11 muffins here…I
thought one of the paper muffin cups were missing, but we found it in
the box…after the muffins were done. Oh well. π

Anyway, this is what the chocolate muffins look like before it went into the oven.

The muffins were sent to their purgatory with the timer set for 15 minutes…

…and you can see the muffins start to rise after a couple of minutes.

Finally, I present to you – the baked Cadbury Buttons minis muffins!

The muffins tastes great straight out of the oven – it was hot and
chocolaty, with the buttons providing texture to the muffins. It’s
great with a glass of cold milk. π