Penang Rocks

I did my part by voting today for a change.(Everyone at home did the same) Glad that this CHANGE has happened after all these years.
Confirmed: Opposition takes Penang - 8.52pm
Unofficial result: The opposition will form the next state government in Penang for second time in history. Gerakan, then an opposition party, won Penang almost 40 years ago. The DAP-PKR-PAS combination has collectively won at least 24 seats out of the 40 seats.
I hope that we the Penang people will deserve a better goverence from now on.
Feeling :- awesome and good

Koh Samui 18-23 August 2007

Here are some photos I took during the trip.


Half moon party




Delicious seafood dinner for 2


Rock climbing


Early morning street at Chaweng, Samui



The view from the top( Angthong National Marine Park)

My Trip to Taipei on 1-5 March 2007

View from the Hotel window

Just had a memorable eating, shopping and fun holiday with wife in Taipei. Here is my Trip write up to Taipei on 1-5 March 2007

1/3/2007 Departed from Pg/HK/Taipei CX flight, arrived at Taipei 3.15pm. Took Kuo Kuang Airport bus to Taipei Main Station (NT125 each) the bus ticket booth is on the left side as you come out from custom check point... From Taipei Main Station just as the bus stop there are taxis waiting. Got a taxi to Neijiang Hotel (NT110). Check in hotel, room was alright clean (NT1280Thurs, NT1480Fri, Sat, Sun). By then it was 4.30pm. Made a call to visit TSA in Taipei, quickly grab a cab to TSA. Took a bus No 260 back to Taipei Station. Went to the TRA to collect and pay for the train ticket to Hualien (booked the train ticket online) so just gave the ticket counter the reference ID number ( NT1604 for 2 tickets found trip) then took MRT to Shihlin NM. (Alight at MRT station Jiantan) Had dinner there fried oyster, bread will beef filling, Taiwan sausage plus walked the NM Street shopping. Back to the hotel around 11pm.

Taroko National Park-Hualien

2/3/2007 Woke up early 5.30am, depart from hotel 6am to Taipei Main Station for Hualien 7.10 am train. Grab a bit e at 7 Eleven shop. Train ride was comfortable and the journey was 3 hours, arrived at Hualien 10am. Quickly went to the taxi stand and got a cab for 1 day use NT1900 (2persons) to tour Taroko National Park. Bought some local fruits and lunch at Buluowan Park also had some local food at the beach. We cover all the tourist site (Shakadang Trail, Eternity Spring, Buluowan Park, Swallow Grotto, Tunnel of Nine Turns, Tiansiang, BiaYang Trail) and end the tour around 5pm back to the Hualien train station as our train is 6.00pm arriving at Taipei 9.00pm. MRT to Ximen where the hotel is located use EXIT 1 as you come out turn left then right the hotel is at the corner of the junction traffic lights. Went walking around Ximen pedestrian mall plus had some local food and snow ice with mango and strawberry. Slept at 12 midnight.

Taroko National Park-Hualien

3/3/2007 Woke up 8.00 am, Left hotel for Martyrs Shrine to see changing of the guards( A MUST To See) arrived at Martyrs Shrine at 9.30 am missed the first changing of the guards had to wait for the next one at 10.00 am. Bought 1 day pass for MRT (NT150each) Ximen MRT toYuangshan Exit 1, took bus No21 to Martyrs Shrine but we miss the bus stop so have to walk back for quite a distance. Going back to MRT Yuangsan from Martyrs was a breeze. Then proceed to MRT Shihlin Exit 1 walk straight board bus No255 to National Palace Museum, spent around 2 hours there, (Ticket NT160 each). Return to MRT Shihlin after the tour at the museum had lunch at one of the local shop (again local food). Frankly the Taiwanese food is not as tasty as Penang food; no hard feelings. What the heck; need to try the local food to feel how it taste.

Changing of the Guards- Martyrs Shrine

Depart for Xin Beitou reaching there at 3.00 pm. Went for the hot spring at Spa Spring Resort (private room costing NT1080 for 1.5 hours) It was nice after the hot spring bath and walk to the Hot Spring museum and around the town for a while before heading to Danshui. Manage to see the sunset which was beautiful and had street food and shop for local food to bring back home. Things here are cheaper then downtown. Depart from Danshui for Ximen, and from Ximen to MRT Houshanpi (Wufenpu-ladies shopping) Shopped until around 11.00 pm before heading back to hotel.

4/3/2007 Woke up 8.00am. Depart for CKS Memorial Hall Exit 5, Took lots of photos, spend about 1 hour then to Taipei City Hall. Took a walk to Taipei 101 about 15 minute’s slow walk. Got the tickets to go to the 89 storey viewing gallery (NT360 each). By the end of the viewing it was around 12 noon so head downstairs and had a good Japanese buffet @ Wasabi Taipei 101 (NT800 each). Good and variety of food and nice environment. After lunch went back to Ximen area for shopping until 6pm before going back to Wufenpu for another last minute ladies shopping until 11.00pm.

5/3/2007 Depart hotel at 8am took cab to Taipei Main Station (NT80) got the Kuo Kuang airport bus ticket reaching airport terminal 1 at 9.20am.(traffic in the morning is heavy so better be early than miss the flight) Flight was 11.20am CX Taipei/HK/Penang. Arrived at my home sweet home around 7pm.

My daughter coming PMR exam

This coming 2nd October marks the beginning of my daughter PMR exam. For the last passed few weeks I have noticed that she has been studying hard. All I wish, as a parent can wish, is for my child to do well in the exam.



I promise her that she can use the computer online for no limit of time after the exam. Hopefully she can have the fun, joy and all the time to spend online until she is fed up. Most of the time I do set a time limit my children online. I feel there must be some control over their time spend online or else they will hook up online most of the time and it's dreadful.


something for my daughter to cherish

Learn to Listen

One soft skill we should all develop is to be great listeners. Be it with our spouse, children and friends. However, we have built into our daily lives a series of habits and patterns and our subconscious automatically kicks in when we hear something be it good or bad. This is due too the stress and worries we face each day from our work and daily lives. We sometimes jump into conclusion without analyzing the words we hear. Majority of us do that. Perhaps we hear without listening correctly.

If we do not like what we hear, we invariably switch off and consequently; we misconstrue messages or just stop listening. We should at least digest the words and ponder. Stand back and really listen to what is being said. Stop and think before hitting “auto-respond ”.

I think I still have to develop this skill in making me a better listener especially listening to my children. With my spouse and colleagues I think I have achieve great success.

“Figure out what went wrong, not who was wrong, when communication breaks down.”

# It has been a while since I last wrote.

My Son PMR Results

I think I was more nervous than my son when I fetched him to his school to collect his PMR results on 22 Dec 2005. We left our house around 9.45am and I was having a good conversation (dad and son talk) while I was driving.

As we reached his school there was a large crowd of parents and students all patiently waiting for the PMR results to be announced. After waiting for more than 30 minutes all the students were asked to go to their respective classroom where the results slip were given. After queuing and getting the results, the first reaction was, Aiyoh Chinese got B………….. As I was standing beside him trying to get a glimpse of the results slip but could not figure out what he had got for the rest of the papers he sat for. Without much emotion in him, he said the rest of the papers OK. Only then did I realize that he had got a good result 7A and 1B.

I can tell that he was not too happy with his Mandarin paper but I console him that the results were excellent and he had done a Good Job!

I can tell you one thing is that my son is a very confident person until sometimes I think he is over confident. But up today exam has been smooth sailing for him. Got to think of how to reward him maybe some cash will be good for him beside he has most to the things teenagers have.

By the way I got him a Nike basketball shoes (Zoom LEBRON ll Low) so there goes his reward which was rather expensive by my standard.

Family Hong Kong Holidays

View from Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center-Victoria Harbour

Well, came back from my holidays and have being pretty busy at home. I have not been able to use the computer that frequent because my kids have monopolised both the PC we have at home.

Looking back at my family trip to Hong Kong and Shenzhen from 1-6 Dec had me thinking of the wonderful moments we spent. Shopping and meals/food are not cheap in HK. Clothing’s, electric goods, hand phones are about the same price in Malaysia. (Except if there is a sale) We went to Mongkok area for shopping; prices are better there comparing with Tsim Sha Tsui.

Places of interest we visited in Hong Kong; Avenue of the Star, Science Museum, The Peak (Victoria Peak), Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, Aberdeen Harbour (Jumbo Floating Restaurant), Disneyland (the kids just had a wonderful time)


Jackie Chan Palm print-Avenue of the Stars

Places of interest we visited in Shenzhen; Windows of the World, Splendid China. Btw in Shenzhen, I was conned by a merchant when I bought a SD card of 1GB that turned out to be 32 MB and 1GB MP3 that was only 128MB. The retailer actually show us the info of 1GB on the notebook but when I reformat the devices at home it turn out it be 32MB and 128MB.(Beware, I think there are lots of conned retailer in China)

Glad to be back in my sweet home Penang and enjoying our local food. I can tell you nothing beats Penang food.

Disneyland- View from tarzan house