"If I Had to Get Stuck in a Shopping Mall, With Zombies Surrounding the Place Which One Would it Be?"
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Sometimes, in your idle moments, when your mind isn't dwelling on any serious matter, I'm sure that you've wondered to yourself, "If I had to get stuck in a shopping mall, with zombies surrounding the place (ala I Am Legend), which shopping mall would it be?"
Ok, so maybe you've never thought about it. Most sane people wouldn't. But in an attempt to identify the best shopping mall in Malaysia (or rather, the Klang Valley), the question was raised that if you had to be stuck in a shopping mall, which one would it be, and why?
I promptly suggested that the reason that one could be stuck in a shopping mall was due to the ravenous horde of zombies mincing along outside. I guess that reason is as good as any (despite being rather inane).
These may be what the zombies look like. (photo credit to copypastegames.files.wordpress.com)
What do you think?
Do leave the reason you've chosen any of the above in the comment box below! Happy voting!
The Nuffnang Asia Pacific Blog Awards 2009 @ Singapore!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Day 1 - The Nuffnang Asia Pacific Blog Awards 2009
It was early on Friday morning that I caught a cab from my place in KL to the Asian Heritage Row, where the bus was already waiting. Yenli and I boarded it, and managed to find spots behind Jolyn(the girl who looks different every time I see her) and Eng Seng, which made the long journey so much more fun.
Yen and I, dying of boredom in the bus.
You know its no longer Malaysia when you see 'Singtel'.
An artistic photo of Spoon, and Eng Seng (credits to Yen).
Jess! (recovered from her illness, and ready to take a million photos in a day).
The room was cosy, contrary to popular belief.
Yen experiments with the amenities.
The toilet bowls are clean, and odour-free!
Jolene Lai had flown in earlier that morning, and dropped by our room to pay a quick visit, before going down to the lobby where the bus was waiting. Look at that headpiece!
Before long, we were done (with commendations to Yen, whom, apparently, had never gotten ready for dinner in so short a time before). The bus was already waiting, and in grand fashion, whisked us to the Pan Pacific, one of Singapore's finest.
Yen and I. This time, not as dishevelled.
Carol at the compulsory Nuffnang registration table.
Finally, I got to meet Chee Kiang in person. After all the events that Jolene and I attended, this was the first that I got to see Chee Kiang at. Although we were both the presidents of our respective Interact and Leo Clubs in our school, strangely enough, we've never met.
Jolene and Chee Kiang, resplendent in front of the backdrop.
Yen and I take our turn in front of it.
After some thought, we might have met during one of the English Essay-Writing competitions that they had back in primary school, at a district level.
Josh Soo, former colleague, uni-mate, fellow nonsense-talker. Likes wearing singlets, and hates wearing jeans.
Jolyn (who looks different again) and Yatz (who looks totally different with short hair).
Kenny Sia (who bagged the Best Entertainment Blog award.. more on that later) and I.
I wandered over to Jolene and CK's table, to talk, but the music from the band was slightly overpowering, so I just snapped a few pictures, and wandered back.
Here's a snapshot of the nominees.
...and here's a snapshot of the people taking a snapshot of the nominees.
Yee Hou, who has perfected the art of camwhoring. The brilliant dude managed to get all of us safely to and from Singapore, and coordinated the logistics of the journey (as well as the dinner) brilliantly. Kudos to you, and thanks for the photography tips. (I will let you know when I manage to get a picture of Megan Fox's ..ahem.. body parts. *cough*)
Xiaxue, Singapore's most prominent blogger, bagged 3 awards on that night, including Region's Best Blog.
Diese, Yen, and Jolyn, in varying shades of green.
Yen, and long lost friend Karen.
Yen's long lost friend Karen, and I.
Anne Marie!
Trying to be artistic and aristocratic and all kinds of tics.
Yen and I proudly displaying our Nuffnang Candy Jars.
Yenli promptly fell asleep, so I went out to meet up with Jolene and CK across the street to do some catching up. Strangely enough, although we all stay in Subang Jaya, we had to go all the way to Singapore to yumcha. It was fun, of course, just reminiscing about old times, and pondering upon highly theoretical situations (i.e. would you let your daughter date a rebel with a good heart?), and stuff like that. Before long, it had turned 3 a.m. , so we bade each other farewell, and adjourned to our rooms to sleep.
CK and Jolene.
End of Day 1.
Day 2 - The Uniquely Singapore Tour
Yen and I woke up at 8, and hurried down to the lobby where the buses were already waiting to shuttle us off to our first destination - The Royal Selangor Pewter Musuem in Clarke Quay. It was a guided tour of the museum, and at end of the tour, we tried our hands at shaping a pewter bowl (surely the highlight of the tour). This was followed by the Singapore Flyer.
Yen, looking bright and chirpy, despite having only 7 hours of sleep.
Jolene, whom we managed to meet in the morning, before the tour began.
The Royal Selangor Pewter Museum, in Clarke Quay.
Old Photo.
If you never knew the temperature that pewter melts at, now you do.
We ran over to a nearby 7-11, to get breakfast.
Yenli.
Yenli putting on an apron, and getting ready to hammer away at pewter.
Delicate hands engraving the pewter.
Pewtersmith hard at work.
Yenli's bowl starts to take shape.
Carol, hammering away happily.
My completed pewter bowl. Can see the names there?
Yenli, proudly displaying her hammers.
Our guide explaining the sights along the 1/2 hour turn around the wheel.
Singapore, from its highest point.
Farah and Peach! Fellow Malaysian bloggers.
After alighting, we made our way to the souvenir shop, where I discovered fake children.
Carlos, the jolly Filipino blogger. (Did I mention that the bus we were on housed the entire Filipino blogger's contingent?)
Carol and Timothy.
The next stop was Maxwell Food Court, where, based on Vern's recommendation, we had chicken rice.
We also had bubble tea.
About 15 minutes later, we disembarked at the Chinatown Heritage Centre.
Many Chinese surnames, and their origin.
Typical Chinese breakfast.
I become a rebel.
Emo photo of Yen (which would eventually become her Facebook profile photo)
Emo photo of me (which would eventually become my Facebook profile photo)
Yen is very proud of taking this picture.
We were supposed to both sit at the sewing machines. However, after setting the timer, I ran and sat ont the wrong chair. I had no sewing machine to pretend to use, so I just held some scraps of cloth on the table.
After the intense session on Chinese history, we made our way to the Mint Toy Museum.
The owner of the toy museum. I've never seen such passion in a man for his toys.
Yen and I, dead tired from the walking around.
Alodia, Filipino blogger. She and her sister, Ashley, were tiptoe-ing about on the glass floor, and taking photos.
Beatles Memorabilia.
It was about 5.00p.m., and the busload of tourists were feeling tired, so a majority of them opted to head on home and rest. For some of us however, we simply couldn't go by without stopping at Orchard Road for a spot of shopping, so the bus dropped us off there, and promised to return for us slightly later.
The Die-Hard (Kiasu) Contingent.
Alodia and sister reminds me of the Powerpuff Girls, for some reason.
The Filipino Bloggers, Peach, Alodia, and Ashley.
We split up, and Yen managed to procure some stuff, before we met up again at the bus pickup point, and headed back to the hotel. There, we freshened up, and watched The Eye, before we walked around the block to find food. We ended up at the same Hongkie Store that Jolene, CK, and I had supper, and sat there for hours, just talking and catching up. Good fun, indeed.
The Eye.
Dinner at the Hongkie Store.
End of Day 2
Day 3 - The Trip Home
Yenli was rather unsatisfied with the round of shopping the night before, so we made plans to return to Orchard Road the next morning. I went out for an early breakfast (Yen was still asleep) at the nearby market, and came back to find Yen already ready to shop. The shuttle bus to Orchard left the hotel at 9.55 a.m., and the 2 kiasu Malaysians were on it, with plans to buy cloths, and eat MOS burgers. Sadly, when we arrived, most of the shops weren't even open, so we travelled down the street, in hopes of finding a shopping mall to go into.
Here's the pork rice I had for breakfast.
Orchard Central.
This is the closest to the Merlion that we got.
Sex shops don't open before 11a.m.
Yenli wanted to walk into Carrefour, just for the sake of it.
Since we couldn't find a shopping mall, we looked around for an MRT station to take, also just for the sake of it. The ride was SGD2 per person, and we happily paid up to travel to Somerset, which was only one station away. Talk about jakun-ism.
The station has many escalators.
Yen looking very touristy.
Mirror photo.
This can never work in Malaysia.
We ended up back in Orchard Central, where we were MOS Burgers' first patrons of the day.
The brightly lit sign.
Rice bun with savoury meat patty.
With that, we took a cab back, and quickly checked out from the hotel. Before long, we were on board the bus, and on our way home. Besides several stops at various rest areas, the journey (again) was rather uneventful, and comprised mainly of sleeping and eating snacks. At the very late hour of 9p.m., we reached KL, and all the bloggers went their separate ways.
At the Yong Peng rest stop.
Of special note, of course, were the delightful conversations with Yenli, and the whole trip served as a bonding session with a very good friend, whom I got to know just a bit better over the 3 days in Singapore, including several strange and hilarious moments, i.e. being freaked out in the middle of the night (I will never see Teluk Intan in the same light again). Thank you, Yenli, for being a gracious (and highly amusing) guest. =)
Lastly, many thanks to Nuffnang, for the opportunity to be part of this historical occasion. It couldn't have been easy (or cheap), bringing all of us together from 4 different countries to a singularly special event, but somehow, you guys pulled it off with nary a hitch. My hat goes off to the people at Nuffnang Singapore, Australia, Philippines, and of course, Malaysia, for a job wonderfully done.
For more photos, click below, to view the Facebook albums;
No, its not exactly what you think. You can toss the whole image of scantily-clad Playboy bunnies jumping around on a bed, smacking each other with fluffy pillows and screaming with glee (the very stuff of male dreams) right out the window. Well, maybe you can take some time to walk to that window first.
Playboy. The Fragrance.
It was the launch of the new fragrance by Playboy, and since I was in the Midvalley area, I thought I'd just pop by to snap some photos. Inevitably (and not very surprisingly) I was late, and missed the earlier part where the Nuffies paraded around in their bunny ears in an attempt to win the bags (read: Burberry) that were being given out. Still, I managed to bump into Joshua and Serge (the avid cameramen who are everywhere), Griza, Cindy, TimandAudrey, and Adele.
Cindy, complete with bunny ears. I'm not sure if they had to return them, in the end.
This guy was in the Canon Photomarathon, and decided to head down here to snap some pics of bunnies. Good choice.
They have a voting booth!
Yes, even Playboy Bunnies need to get registered. Its like mengundi.
Rabbit-head keychains, anyone?
Vertical Playboy.
Playboy Fragrance. For Men.
I finally met Adele! The random meetup at Asia Cafe will never really work.
An imported Playboy model, and a happy local man.
Now, if you drive this around, you'd be called 'The Player'. Unfortunately, putting that logo on the hood of my Kancil just won't work as well.
Redmummy and Tzia, who won first and second place, respectively. Congratulations to them!
I only saw the chairs on the way up the escalator.
When you start talking to chip canisters, you know that either;
a) You're overworked. b) You're hallucinating. c) Your life has no krrunch whatsoever. d) All of the above.
So, when the green canister suggested that I head over to Singapore for a long overdue getaway from the hustle and bustle of Kuala Lumpur, it sounded like a pretty good idea. Even if it came from a metallic tube approximately a handspan in length and filled with potatoes.
After thinking carefully about it, it wasn't too far-fetched an idea after all. It had been some time since I last had a holiday, and the neighbouring island was ideally close enough to take a quick trip over, and back before the next workday began. However, upon stepping onto Singaporean soil, I wouldn't really have a clue as to where to begin, and what to do.
Luckily for me, that Pringles can had logged onto Visitsingapore.com(I have no idea how) and spotted a tab called "20 Unique Things to do in Singapore". Being a rather time-pressed (and lazy) fellow, I asked him/it to choose 5 of the more interesting things to do, out of the entire 20.
Knowing that I'd be quite interested in starting the whole trip with a nice relaxing stroll around a scenic place. The first locale that came to mind would be the Pasir Ris Park, where one can do all kinds of relaxing things, i.e. fishing, strolling, mincing-about, etc.
Look how scenic the place is! Says the Pringles canister.
After the relaxing session, I'd like to drop by the Mustafa shopping centre, which, apparently, is open 24 hours (kinda like a huge 7-11), and has everything under the sun. I'd normally like to get my compulsory souvenir shopping out of the way early, and this seemed like a rather ideal place to get what I needed.
Its along Syed Alwi Road. The Pringles Canister can read signboards.
Next in line would be theBottle Tree Village, a quaint little weekend haunt that is the home to unique bottle trees, and is touted to be one of the most relaxing places to hang out at.
I can imagine lying on the grass and looking at the sky the whole day.
Here, I'd be able to forget my worries for just a little while, as I walk around the landscape, which has a seaside resort feel to it.
Having had a relaxing day, I'd want my night to be slightly... different. Rather than head down to town to revel in music and dancing, the Pringles Canister recommended that I call up the Asia Paranormal Investigators, to book a tour to purportedly haunted sites in Singapore. I grew up reading the thin, black, singapore Ghost Stories paperbacks in MPH, and it would certainly be cool to finally walk about in the same places that those ghastly events (again, purportedly) took place.
Apparently, you can see the image of a face there, which is scary. Then again, a talking canister is pretty scary, too.
To end the whole day, I immediately felt like just settling down on a comfortable chair in a semi-dark restaurant, and rest my feet. The canister suggested that I drop by Wala Wala, a cafe bar located in Holland Village, which plays host to live bands and serves salads and the like.
Spot the Green Canister!
Apparently the pizzas here are delectable, and would be one of the must-haves if you're over there. Of course, it'd be great to end the night with a lively and stimulating conversation with a nice, stunning lady, who has a penchant for weird-looking guys that talk to chip canisters.
But one can't ask for everything. `
Having done those, I'd call it a day. After all, with limited time, one can only visit so many places (especially when you lug a snack around everywhere, and have meaningful conversations with it).
Which is why, of course, I'd come back again, if only to say hello to the Merlion.
For further info on all these places (and more) visit the Uniquely Singapore website. Or better yet, just go straight to Singapore, and find out all about it there.
Of Running Blindfolded and Helping People While Doing It...
Monday, October 05, 2009
For those of you
reading this, have you ever tried doing any of your daily chores with
your eyes closed? (no, sleeping does not count). I'd bet that it'd be
pretty hard to accomplish anything if you had to do it with your eyes
closed. Try, for example, driving to work, typing a report, or even
take a shower, without the benefit of sight, and see how many times you
drop the soap bar into the toilet bowl.
I find it pretty hard to walk around in the dark in Malacca, even with the help of a walking stick.
Now, imagine running 42.195km without being able to see.
Challenging?
Well, that's what Karen is going to do. And no, its not because she's blind, but its because she's going to run blindfolded, and all for a good cause too.
Ms. Siah will be taking part in the Standard Chartered Marathon coming up in December, and in order to raise funds for the Kiwanis Down Syndrome Foundation in Malaysia, she's going to be doing it blindfolded, with a running partner to help guide her along the way.
Now, to help her out, just visit the Ammado website, where you can read all about the cause, and how you can do your part to help out this inspired young woman do her bit to help the suffering. You can make a donation, leave encouraging comments, or just wish her well, and I'm sure she'd be grateful for any (or preferably all) of the above.
If you're a blogger, you can also help spread the word by taking a photo of yourself blindfolded, or simply write about it in your blog. Here are some samples of how you can do it.
Its normally on a
Monday morning, that somehow, the workplace suddenly becomes the
quietest and most comfortable place to take a quick nap. Add the
lulling hum of the air-conditioners, and you've got the best sleeping
spot in the world.
Monday blues...
...can sometimes be broken by the random appearance of chip canisters.
Though, sometimes, I'd prefer not to be bothered...
...chip canisters can make a pretty good impression.
I refuse, at times, to believe that my life isn't full of krrunch.
...but with the right words...
...my resolve is easily shaken...
...and I soon look to the chip canister for a solution to my krrunch-deficient problems.
Stay tuned for...
Indulge in the Uniquely Singapore Experience - With The Pringle's Canister!
Disclaimer:
1. I do not sleep in the office. 2. I actually find my job extremely satisfying and challenging. 3. I do not talk to canisters of chips when I'm at work. Well, not all the time, anyway.
