freedom

From that which is sucking life out of me, I have.

FREEDOM!!

thirty plus one

I can't believe I'm turning 3-1 tomorrow.

It seemed like such a BIG IMPORTANT number.

Chemical Brothers was playing on my CD during my drive home, and I'm just thinking how I miss those days where we would dance and dance until the lights went on. Once in a while I get this deep longing to go dancing, but my partners in crime are all either (a) married with kids, (b) has quit the social scene or (c) has left the country.

I wanna go dancing...

she said "lola"

This is an old familiar song and I always thought it was about a girl. Hmm...

Clever and delightfully funny!

rewarding the undeserving

KUANTAN - Satu pertandingan motor bergerak perlahan bakal diadakan di Pahang, sebagai satu usaha Kerajaan Negeri mendidik golongan mat rempit agar berhemah di jalan raya.

Menteri Besar, Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob berkata, pertandingan itu bakal diadakan setiap bulan atau dua bulan sekali dan akan menawarkan hadiah sebanyak RM10,000 kepada pemenang.

"Dalam seminggu dua lagi, saya dan Exco Belia dan Sukan, Datuk Wan Adnan Wan Mamat serta Exco Pelancongan, Datuk Shafik Fauzan Sharif akan bertemu kumpulan mat rempit di negeri ini.

"Sepatutnya 200 orang nak datang (jumpa) tetapi telah meningkat kepada 1,500 mat rempit yang akan datang. Saya akan berjumpa dengan dia orang dan saya mungkin buat satu pertandingan jalan (lumba) motor perlahan.

"Siapa perlahan dapat hadiah. Kita buat dua kilometer (perlumbaan). Hadiah untuk johan mungkin RM10,000," katanya ketika berucap pada majlis Sambutan Hari dan Minggu Belia peringkat negeri di sini hari ini.

- SINAR HARIAN

If I am Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob, I would consider donating the monthly prize money to:

(a) the tractor driver who need RM30,000 to pay for this wife's chemotherapy, hormone and radiation therapy expenses. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and spinal metastases and has four school-going children. He works seven days a week and overtime just to make ends meet. To make a donation, you can write out a cheque to Perak MCA stating the name of Kong Yook Fah at the back, and mail it to the Perak MCA headquarters at No. 90-92, Tingkat Satu, Jalan Sultan Idris Shah, 30000 Ipoh; or

(b) help out the family in Sungei Petani that has not got enough food on their table. The four siblings who ate soil to stave off hunger are now being warded at the intensive care unit of a local hospital; or

(c) the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), who provide subsidised dialysis treatment to people from the lower income group. The NKF is a non-profit organisation that's in desperate need of funds as they will face a shortfall of RM12 million this year. Read about their plight here.


RM10,000 for a slow motorbike race? Seriously? You really think that this will somehow magically turn them useless mat rempits into good sons overnight? If you want me to go slow for the race, I will go slow la. But on normal days when there's no slow-slow race, I can do the rempit-rempit wat... no sweat.

Obviously, not much brain power was employed in coming up with that usaha kerajaan negeri. If you really mean to do something about this, then be serious! I suggest hauling off a couple of them (sebagai sample bagi yang lain cukup la) to do some hard labour work, shave their heads botak and kalau masih tak sesal, rotan sampai panggil mak seratus kali. You telling me this is less effective and not cheaper?

Mat rempits do not desperately need our help. They are a golongan sampah masyarakat who doesn't have more productive things to do. Provide them with programs to channel all those misdirected energy into, but don't buy them with money. As if there's not enough incentives going around.

RM10,000 can go a long way in helping those who really deserve it, like the ones I've mentioned above. Ironically, all 3 articles appear in newspapers on the same day. Here you have the kerajaan negeri that doesn't know how to spend the extra cash it has, and then you have people who desperately need money to sustain life.

What gives?

Chengdu how-do-you-do

#1. I used to think that a job which allows me to fly here there everywhere is da bomb. I'll be one of them with a jet-set lifestyle, hopping to different capital cities in different continents every month. Oh, the places I would visit, the people that I would meet, the stories I would tell (and the envious stares back home I wouldn't mind getting)! Glamour aside, travelling for work is basically just that, for work. And it's tiring.


#2. Everything else aside, being above the clouds still takes my breath away. When I look up, all I can see is a blue as deep as the ocean, and I imagined it blending with black, like watercolour art, as it merges with the darkness of outer space.


#3. Airasia’s on-flight meal is really tak glamourous langsung. All I got was that box of chicken rice; no appetizers, no desserts, not even some water to wet my lips. But, it’s one of the better plane food I’ve had, even better than MAS’s chicken or fish.


#4. We touched down around 6pm. It was really foggy in Chengdu (and apparently it remains so pretty much throughout the year, with about 10 days of sunny not-so-foggy weather) so it’s no surprise that flights to/from Chengdu are frequently delayed. I've experienced it before. Above are not just random people but, random people dancing in the street, a common sight in China.


#5. For dinner, we went exploring at 宽窄巷子 (literally: wide narrow alley) or China Lane. It's a collection of restaurants, bars, retail shops and even a B&B housed in renovated/refurbished traditional mini courtyards. While some of those buildings look really old and deserted and creepy, I read somewhere that they're mostly newly built.


#6. Grand entrance to a restaurant. Like a traditional Chinese courtyard, it opens up to a square space in the middle with adjoining buildings along the 3 sides. Since this is a restaurant, table and chairs were set up in the middle court for those who prefer al-fresco dining.


#7. Pretty cool Starbucks. Looks traditional from the front, but totally white, square and modern at the back :)


#8. Next morning we flew into Panzhihua. The airport is quite special in that it's located on a hill or mountain and thus has a short runway, and it only service flights to/from Chengdu. As you can see, the plane is parked just behind the terminal. We saw them unloading our luggage and we reckon it would've been faster for us to just grab it from the carts instead of waiting for it to get on the conveyor.


#9. I’ve not taken a good look at Panzhihua before mainly because I usually sleep during the journey, hehe. It's not a touristy place and the environment's rather dusty and dry. Mountains are brown and tree-less, something I find... strange. But on the way down from the airport that day, we saw this breathtaking landscape of endless mountains and valleys.


#10. That’s the airport. I reckon it must be the only one in the world at such an altitude.


#11. Huaping is where we're at again. This is the town taken from the roof. My mum thought it looks like some Italian village. I thought it looks more like Hanoi, without the mountain range :)


#12. Biggest shopping complex in Huaping consist of several stall operators selling handphones and jewellery and a supermarket...


#13. Where one can find Lays of all flavours! – lime, cucumber, blueberry , spicy Sichuan, braised pork, roasted chicken, etc. The fruit flavours are interesting but I'll go with any of the meat flavours anyday.


#14. We had barbeque for supper that night. Barbeques are especially popular during winter time coz the heat from the food and fire instantly warms you up. We wanted small portions of everything we ordered but they came in huge bowls. The chicken itself was about 6.6 kati (one kati = about 600g) and for that alone they charged us 250 yuan! It's more expensive than a nice roasted chicken at a good and famous restaurant in Shanghai. Kena conned big time.


#15. This is an elevator mat. It's changed daily to reflect the day of the week. I can't fathom why they do it save for to remind people what day it is. It's a China thing.


#16. Is it a hidden Mickey??


#17. It's a panda! On our last day in Chengdu, we had a chance to visit the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. It's about an hour away from Chengdu town and it's an absolute must-see coz pandas are sooooo cuteeeee.


#18. The first panda we saw was a sleeping one. To be fair, this is not a lazy panda as they sleep most of the time. Conserve energy and what nots.


#19. This is a tooooo cuteeeee red panda, also an endangered species. There were about 6 or 7 in that enclosure and the park keepers were trying to capture them, for some reason. Those buggers were treading slowly but their dodging techniques are first class. They're also very good tree climbers.


#20. Where the park keepers were not kacau-ing them, they were chomping non-stop without a care in the world. I suspect red pandas are native to China. Look at those Chinese eyes, haha.


#21. Sleeping with their paws dangling, haha.


#22. Sleeping with their butts facing passing visitors, haha.


#23. Ah, finally, a non-sleeping one. He/she was chomping while lying on its back, so relax can.


#24. Tulips of all colours. No need go Holland to see!


#25. This is a young adult panda. They're super active and chomp a lot. We got lucky coz it was feeding time when we visited ^__^


#26. So that's why they're all awake and chomping! Pandas have an artificial thumb that enables them to hold bamboos with one hand/paw while they eat. Like a monkey! Or you and me! :)


#27. Chomp chomp chomp.


#28. My favourite panda picture of the day!


#29. The caption is so cute, hey.


#30. Young adult pandas having some fun time.


#31. After all that cuteness overload, we head over to Jinli Street for some shopping. Jinli Street is similar to China Lane, except 3 or 4 times the size. From the Travel China Guide portal, "it is recorded that as early as the Qin Dynasty (221 BC - 206 BC), Jinli Street was the most famous place for baldachin - a rich, ornate cloth. And it was one of the busiest commercial streets during the Shu Kingdom (221-263). Hence, it is known as 'First Street of the Shu Kingdom'."


#32. I also read somewhere that Jinli was constructed around 2003/2004. I really don't know where is the truth but I like the idea of walking down an old trading street. Since Chinese New Year is just around the corner, there's a festive feel to the place with all the lanterns and stuff.


#33. Nearing the end of the maze is a long stretch of tea houses and street food. They're by far not cheap at all but it's a good way to sample Sichuan fare. For extra kick, give your skewered meat a dust of chili powder. It's soooo good in the cold weather.


#34. Wishes for good health, good luck and wealth hung on branches.


#35. When night came, the area was aglow with soft orange and red lights. That's how they do it in the olden days before Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. I was told a poem was written onto the lantern. My Chinese language knowledge obviously very lacking here, hehe.


#36. Making the dragon beard candy. It started out with one huge ring of warm sugar and he stretched it multiple times until the sugar become fine threads. It's like making lā miàn except he used sugar instead of flour. Geddit? It's the best dragon beard candy I've tasted! Those packaged ones sold in supermarkets just does not do it justice.


#37. The 23:55 flight out of Chengdu, also the only international flight that night. Bye-bye Chengdu.