JOHOR BAHRU REVISIT

As always, Johor Bahru is the most convinient outside Singapore place to visit. The only inconvinience is the immigration as well as bringing your passport along.



As I have noticed earlier, there are alot of Indians in Johor Bahru. You can even go through a street just like Little India of Singapore. Thus, it won't be surprising if you can find a temple easily.



I am always attracted by this tall building which is the state secretariat building. I had been there once before but without a camera. This time around, I go on a Saturday and it is noon time so the whole place is closed down. This massive building built in 1940 on Bukit Timbalan dominates the skyline of Johor Bahru. During World War II, the Japanese occupied the building as a fortress and a store dump when planning attacks on neighbouring Singapore.

The Saracenic character and fine mosaic detail particularly of the Grand Hall make this one of the most interesting buildings in Johor Bahru. Suddenly, you feel like you are in Europe because of the age and size of it when you are just below it. It reminds me of Peter Stuyvesant's 'Breakaway' advertisements for some reasons. It houses the state secretariat as well as the other departments of the state government. Visitors may find the grand hall of particular interest just like me. I was unable to go in at the first time because I don't wear formal enough for such a permission. Looking downhill, you can see the skyline of Johor Bahru.



You have old buildings at the east and west of the building. I have no idea their functions and names but I know I saw armies around both during my first visit.



You can see one of them with alot of canons at the front. Probably as a support for that tall fortress during the war times.



My friends and I headed to City Square as always to shop. It is the nearest possible shopping complex to the immigration and Singapore itself.



Opposite City Square, you can see this gigantic building which will be the new Malaysian immigration. It was built during the planning of the then prime minister, Dr.M to build a new bridge to link Malaysia with Singapore. Hopefully that new building will clear the traffic flow at the immigration, at least in Johor's side if possible.

SIBUGUYS

The much popular Sibuguys is back! It is a Yahoo group that shares the passion of Sibu guys. It is purely graphical and it is by invite only. I put a link at the right hand bars. Guys, join in and together we can make it a success!

Sibuguys

Just leave your e-mails here and I will invite you guys.

SATISFACTION GUARANTEED!

EARTHQUAKE STRIKES AGAIN!

As reported by CNN, an earthquake after midnight local time (GMT+8) with a preliminary magnitude of 8.2 or 8.5 struck off the coast of Indonesia slightly below the December 26th 2004 epicenter. However, it is on the same fault line that launched the deadly tsunami on December 26th 2004. Of course, eventhough it is slightly smaller than last time's 9.0, scientists warned of a possible tsunami hit yet again.

Charles McCreary said he could not be certain that the quake, which was 30 km deep and 203 kilometer (126 miles) from Sibolga on Sumatra Island, would cause a tsunami.

"There is a potential for some wave activity," said Julie Martinez, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center, in Golden, Colorado.

The quake occurred at 11:09 a.m. ET (1609 GMT), and is considered a "great" earthquake, the largest of seven grades. The grades are very minor, minor, light, moderate, strong, major and great.

Tsunamis are distinguished from normal coastal surf by their great length and speed. A single wave in a tsunami series might be 160 kilometers (100 miles) long and race across the ocean at 960 kph (600 mph).

When it approaches a coastline, the wave slows dramatically, but it also rises to great heights because the enormous volume of water piles up in shallow coastal bays.

On December 26, a 9.0-magnitude quake triggered a massive tsunami that devastated Asian and African coastlines in nearly a dozen nations, killing at least 175,000 people.

HIVE



I have been noticing this bee building its home on my window for some time now. This is getting serious, I don't want it to build an army of bees to sting me! I better get rid of it real soon!



How? I have never destroy insects or any animals unless they are creating harm to me. Self defence naturally. Well, I don't know how to destroy the hive. Any ideas? Seeing how much effort the bee put in to build the nest, I feel so guilty to just destroy the whole thing.



The progress of the shape is like this now! I wonder what the final design will be like. Very creative indeed. I was thinking of applying some axe brand medicated oil on it before clearing it. Is that the queen bee building its nest? I really have no idea. Any bee experts out there? By the way, is it even a bee?

KEE MEI SIEW POW




I heard they are the best in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan. I have never been to Negeri Sembilan though, just bypassing it. My friends from there told me this is so good I will die if I see them and not eat them! Haha! Abit exaggerating though, but I gave it a try since they have a branch in City Square, Johor Bahru.



They have really nice skin/crust. The thickness is just nice so you don't need water to eat with it. However, there is only chicken ingredient in this branch. I heard there is also a selection of pork in Seremban itself.



I really love it. Very nice, the crust won't crash into small pieces like most which I really hate. I don't like those where you will need some plastic bag or to have your hand to collect all these pieces for every bite you take. It still taste great even after it is left cold. The journey back to Singapore sometimes can be quite long depending on the jam.

Next time you drop by Seremban or see their branches anywhere in West Malaysia, give it a try. I'm sure you won't be disappointed. Costs RM1.10 per piece I think.

HAPPY EASTER SUNDAY!

I went with my bro & a friend to an Easter Sunday service by Adam Road Presbyterian Centre when the speaker, Reverend Michael E. Raiter, the Director of Missions, Moore Theological College told a joke.

Three men are sitting next to the coffin of their best friend when one of them asked a question.

"What do you want people to say about you after you died and have people like us sitting beside your coffin now?"

The first friend answered, "I want people to say that I was a successful doctor and gave alot to charity."

The second friend replied, "I want people to say what a great teacher I was and a good family man who raised my family well."

The last friend said, "Look, he is moving!"

On a more serious matter, I realized nowadays that every event that you are inviting people to go especially the church's events seemed to have something to lure you to go. That is free meal. This is very bad! It seems that the FREE word is used as a bait for people to attend events. The free lunch or free dinner is indicated in bold, capital letters or even bigger fonts in the announcements just to tell you that it is far more important than the event itself. It seems to suggest that people will only come to the event if there is free meal. The events include the enrolment service of the Boys' Brigade and even the ordination of a pastor. It is very sad and just seemed not right to me. A very bad publicity to the church members and go-ers. Oh well, just my opinion.

The sermon talked about the last chapter of Mark on Jesus' resurrection. The speaker shared about the popular Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code which excited me. However, just by going into the accounts and not proving the book wrong made me quite disappointed. I was expecting something more. It is just like how the Roman Catholic announced that they wanted to prove the book wrong by proving alot on Leonardo da Vinci's facts. This also disappointed me because I am not interested to know how true Leonardo's life was being known to us.

What I want them to prove is the facts against the truth of the Bible. The genuineness of the truth. The writers of the Bible, the Priory of Sion and of course the other scrolls like the Death Sea Scrolls. I want them to prove what Robert Langdon (a professor of Religious Symbology at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts) said was a big fat lie. Anway, a movie on this book will be made and we have Tom Hanks starring in it. Hope it will be just as good.

JOANNA KRUPA



Guys, I always want to talk about this beautiful lady but I never found the time. Today is the time! On Dec 9 2004, she received the award "Maxim Woman of the Year" in the category "best model 2004"! She is also one of the world's top 10 supermodels of 2004 by TV Media magazine as well as voted sexiest woman in the world 2003 & 2004 by magazines from four continents.



Joanna Krupa is a 5'7" beauty from Poland, was raised in Chicago and now lives in California. Do I need to introduce further? Go to her site to visit her!



Joanna Krupa

ELISHA AERATED MINERAL WATER



What do you get when you mix a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle with a aluminium can? You get the head and body of both combined! This interesting transparent can drink is made in Xiamen, China.



They even have the logo designed in both Mandarin and alphabetical characters. Cool! It is aerated so you get this interesting carbon dioxide gas supplied or charged into the mineral water.



It is a green apple flavour drink with natural green apple fruit flavour essence and refined fructose. The flavour is not that strong because you can still feel that it is mineral water.



It is using the old style ring where you lift it all up! Unlike nowadays where most aluminium cans will have rings where you lift up n push back so the whole piece is still staying inside the can during and even after drinking it. This probably makes it more convinient to recycle as well.



Since this is a fragile can, they discourage you from putting at the top freezing part of your refrigerator for fear that solid ice may break the whole can apart. So far, this is the only drink I saw in the market with such packaging. Interesting indeed!

Oh, did I forget to say that the drink tastes good? Quite refreshing!

XO FISH 'ROUGH' BEE HOON



In Singapore, unlike in Sarawak, they called the 'rough' and bigger version of bee hoon, well, simply rough bee hoon if you translate directly from Mandarin. We don't call it bee hoon at all in our place. There is this famous kopitiam selling XO fish rough bee hoon at Holland Village. I don't know whether it is the best but I love it much! My friends and I dropped by for a meal. The fish used are tender and quite fresh. Well, at least the soup probably made you feel so! :)



They use genuine XO to mix the soup so you will feel the alcohol heat once you drink the soup. This is not to get mixed up with XO sauce. XO sauce is one of the favourite flavour in Singapore used for some food and dishes. I am not sure but it is likely that the combination of dried shrimp, dried scallops, garlic, and other seasonings first graced the table of one of Hong Kong's pricier dining establishments. Furthermore, it's probably not a coincidence that the creators of XO sauce chose to name it after a popular but decidedly expensive brandy. Its spicy flavor is used to enhance stir-fried meat, seafood, tofu and vegetable dishes.



I think they are Cantonese. Since they speak Cantonese and most of the dishes are Cantonese style dishes. This fried chicken with prawn paste is one of them which we ordered. Nice. Crispy, hot, great sauce to compliment with lime.

78 & CREATIVE



I always have this urge to take bus no. 78! Haha! I don't care where it will take me, I love to just be inside and bring me all the way!



Coincidently, I am going down Creative's headquarter last week. Bus no. 78 is one of the bus services which goes through the route there. You know Creative, the makers of Soundblaster soundcards. They even have a walkthrough museum to showcase their development of soundcards. From the early stoneage of long big ISA cards to the more smaller nowadays PCI cards, you get to see them all! You will also get to see ancient computers on display.



You can see a big square they have at their headquarter. There are children probably from some childcare centre having some physical education at the area.

BIOPOLIS









I have always wanted to go but never have the chance. It is so near yet I cannot find the time to go in for a look. Finally, one night my room mate was driving so we checked that place out as we went out for dinner. It looks much smaller than what I anticipated from looking afar.







Biopolis is the high tech biomedical science hub that Singapore invested heavily on. It supposes to be a research and development centre for different fields of biomedical science. The facades are pretty interesting, some are with irregular shapes. The neon-lit highlights at night also made the buildings look very high tech and obvious from far away. Bridges linking buildings to buildings are also crying out for attention at night. They are nicely lit to bring out the beauty of steel and glass prominently.

FOOTBALL: LEAGUE REMAINING POINTS

Let's look at the top 3 standings for all 3 leagues and analyze the points with their possibilities leading to the league crowns. We also look at the remaing fixtures that each top 3 team will play for the rest of the season.

EPL
Chelsea W24, D5, L1, F58, A10, PTS. 77
Man Utd W19, D9, L2, F48, A17, PTS. 66
Arsenal W19, D7, L4, F68, A32, PTS. 64

8 matches remaining which means 24 full points are up for grabs. Manchester United are 11 points behind Chelsea. Arsenal are 13 points behind Chelsea and 2 behind Manchester United.

Chelsea play Southampton away, Birmingham home, Man Utd away, Arsenal home, Fulham home, Bolton away, Charlton home and Newcastle away.

Man Utd play Blackburn home, Norwich away, Chelsea home, Everton away, Newcastle home, Charlton away, West Brom home and Southampton away.

Arsenal play Norwich home, Middlesbrough away, Everton home, Chelsea away, Tottenham home, West Brom away, Liverpool home and Birmingham away.

Chelsea is still in the Champions League competition while Man Utd and Arsenal have an upper end with this advantage as they are out already. Although both are still in the FA Cup competition but definitely it will be less pressurizing than playing in Europe. Man Utd can help cut the deficit with the encounter with Chelsea and Arsenal too have the same chance. Both must win if they are considering closing the gap. Newcastle may have to do them both a big favour if the crown will be decided until the last match of the season. Both Man Utd and Arsenal have Everton who can spoil any of their dreams along the way. Newcastle will also be meeting Man Utd and wants to win it against them. Liverpool have a date with Arsenal and could equally destroy their dreams with that meeting. Chelsea seem to be steady enough to go all the way to clinch the title unless injury or duty in Europe hinder their winning streak. If they continue their form right now, nothing will stop them but only slips.

LA LIGA
Barcelona W21, D5, L3, F54, A18, PTS. 68
R Madrid W18, D3, L8, F49, A25, PTS. 57
Real Betis W13, D9, L7, F47, A37, PTS. 48

9 matches remaining which means 27 full points are up for grabs. Real Madrid are 11 points behind Barcelona. Real Betis are 20 points behind Barcelona and 11 points behind Real Madrid.

Barcelona play Real Betis home, Real Madrid away, Getafe home, Malaga away, Albacete home, Valencia away, Levante away, Villarreal home and Real Sociedad away.

Real Madrid play Albacete away, Barcelona home, Levante away, Villarreal home, Real Sociedad away, Racing Santander home, FC Sevilla away, Atletico Madrid home and Real Zaragoza away.

Real Betis play Barcelona away, Levante home, Villarreal away, Real Sociedad home, Racing Santander away, FC Sevilla home, Atletico Madrid away, Real Zaragoza home and Mallorca away.

All 3 are not in any other competitions so it will be a fair competition until the end. Barcelona is going to play Real Betis which may give Real Madrid a favour if Betis can win. Valencia could also do the damage to Barcelona. Real Madrid themselves are facing Barcelona in a must win encounter. Villarreal though may spoil the party for both Barcelona and Real Madrid. Real Madrid and Real Betis must watch out for Atletico Madrid too which will not be an easy opponent. Barcelona look steady now and nothing seems to stop them to win the title. Real Madrid can only win the title if Barcelona slip along the way and they in return must win every single match left if possible.

SERIE A
AC Milan W20, D6, L3, F49, A17, PTS. 66
Juventus W20, D6, L3, F47, A16, PTS. 66
Inter Milan W11, D17, L1, F53, A35, PTS. 50

9 matches remaining which means 27 full points are up for grabs. AC Milan and Juventus are on equal points and Inter Milan are 16 points behind them both.

AC Milan play Brescia home, Siena away, Chievo home, Parma home, Fiorentina away, Juventus home, Lecce away, Palermo home and Udinese away.

Juventus play Fiorentina away, Lecce home, Inter Milan home, Lazio away, Bologna home, AC Milan away, Parma home, Livorno away and Cagliari home.

Inter Milan play Bologna away, Cagliari home, Juventus away, Messina away, Siena away, Brescia away, Livorno home, Sampdoria away and Reggina home.

All 3 are still in the Champions League so it will be a fair competition till the end unless any of them are being kicked out along the way and another or more goes all the way to the finals. AC Milan and Juventus may decide the crown by the match against each other. Inter Milan may spoil the party for Juventus with the encounter. I see the competition going to the end with a mistake by AC Milan or Juventus to give the title to another.

"YOU GOT SERVED!" MALAYSIAN STYLE







I was at City Square, Johor Bahru yesterday to witness the breakdance competition. It was cool and I was surprised that Malaysia has some very talented youngsters who may become among the best someday. I was stucked there for hours just to witness the grandfinal teams battle. The individual events are interesting too.







The dance floor is a little bit tight and they should have a bigger space. Probably they can't get a bigger stage than the one already available and so they just made do with this one. It was not surprising that some contestants fell off the stage after they lost control of their "inverted helicopter spinning" routine. One dude even fell off and almost hit the table of the judges. It was full house as crowds gather around the boundary of the stage from every single floor of the shopping complex. They just love the competition!







The format of the "LORDS OF THE FLOORS - HIP HOP DANCE COMPETITION" is following the "YOU GOT SERVED" crew vs. crew battles. The only thing lacking is the many group dance coordinations which will make the competition more exciting. Still, they did show and try some great moves and synchronized dancing routines that made the crowd cheered widly, including me! The crews are not too bad so organizing these kind of competitions should be done more frequently in the future. This will instill more interest in the younger generations. I always admire breakdance. It is beautiful, a mixture of gymnastics and dance.

I took alot of videos so if you guys are really interested, I can always send you guys a copy. It is in low resolution though, since I didn't anticipate such an event and so was not prepared when I was there.