I have to admit, it is quite common to have legendary figures in our history who are called Michael. Michael has an interesting trait, which is always to make a comeback, which in this case is in sports. Let's talk about the famous Michael who made a comeback with the number 45. Everyone remembers that period when people say his reputation will be at stake. He went on to win 3 more NBA crowns with the Chicago Bulls with Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman.
There are many other legendary Michaels like the king of motorbike racing, Michael Doohan. Of course, many claim that he only started conquering the sports after his generation of great racers retired or forced to leave because of injury. We are talking about Wayne Rainey, Kevin Schwantz and Wayne Gardner. Michael Owen is another promising Michael who when first feature in the England's national team, was hailed as a prodigy. Of course, to be fair to him, his career was very much interrupted by club politics, bench warming and injuries. He is also so called given another chance for a comeback with his new signing to Manchester United. One wonders how Liverpool will treat him when they face each other. In water, we have Michael Phelps, who is the king of swimming. However, at the current 2009 World Aquatics Championships, we see world records broken with ease and the controversy is centered on the use of polyurethane as a swimsuit material. The suit that is getting a lot of attention is Arena X-Glide.
Now, Michael Schumacher is going to make a comeback. His comeback announcement overshadowed the announcement of BMW's plan to quit Formula 1 after this season. He is no doubt a legendary Formula 1 figure and to return to the very difficult and confusing Formula 1 season is as good as suicide. There goes his reputation!!! Well, perhaps Michael wants to prove to the world that his previous titles are independent of Ross Brawn. Top Gear's interview and many articles published when Brawn GP suddenly emerge from nowhere to Formula 1 stardom this season seems to imply that Michael Schumacher owed Brawn for his Formula 1 success. Perhaps Michael has a point to prove to the world!
It will not be easy though. This season Ferrari struggles like mad in the competition. It is perhaps their most turbulent season in Formula 1 history. Massa's unfortunate injury fortunately didn't go so severe that his life will be threatened. I was quite worried when he was in the state of coma for the last few days. Thank goodness he survived. His crash really made 2009 a terrible year for Formula 1 thus far. I will say many people are lost like me to know where this season is heading actually. There are so many issues at hand with even the future of Formula 1 is at stake. Michael's comeback will definitely bring some cheers back to the gloomy season.
Not all comebacks are a success. Michael Jackson tried but did not make it. Michael Jordan tried when he was still fit and he went on for great success. However, his second comeback showed he was way off his mark. Although that second comeback did not destroy his reputation, one clear indication is you need to be extremely fit to return. I am sure Michael Schumacher is fit enough, just leaving the Formula 1 in 2006. However, he must learn from the other legendary Michaels and know his physical limit. I should say prove his worth and point, then leave the sports on a high! He may not have a mathematical chance or the fitness to win the title this season or he may not continue next season but we want to see the old Michael back! His return will let me reconsider seriously attending the Singaporean Grand Prix!
KOTA BAHARU, July 30 (Bernama) -- Kelantan State Secretary Datuk Mohd Aiseri Alias said he was worried with a survey that showed university students had no qualms about accepting and giving bribes.
He said the survey conducted by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) showed that 30.5 per cent of the students interviewed were willing to accept bribes if they have the power and the opportunity.
On the other hand, he said 15 per cent of the respondents were willing to offer bribes to facilitate business deals and 23.7 per cent more would do likewise to prevent actions against them.
"This is alarming as the wrong perception of corruption has crept into the minds of university students, who are our future assets," he said when opening the Public and Private Universities Enhancement Seminar organised by the Integrity Institute of Malaysia (IIM) at Pantai Cahaya Bulan here Thursday.
Mohd Aiseri did not mention the sample size and the background of the students surveyed.
He said efforts must be done to correct the perception by inculcating good values in the human capital development.
On the IIM, he said it was currently implementing the second phase of the National Integrity Plan (NIP) (2008-2013) to combat corruption, fraud and abuse of power in the private and public sectors.
Earlier, IIM deputy president Mustafar Ali said the society's perception on corruption, fraud and abuse of power had greatly improved over the past five years through the first phase of the NIP implementation (2004-2008).
Mustafar said the IIM was currently conducting a study on the society's perception towards the integrity of the media with the aim of promoting national integrity through the media and journalism.
Automatic not in terms of gear transmission but as in self-winding watch. The mainspring is wound automatically by the natural motion of the wearer's arm. It was invented by Swiss watchmaker Abraham-Louis Perrelet in 1770 for pocket watches. Abraham-Louis Breguet improved it further around 1780. John Harwood finally made it into wristwatches in 1923. The Rolex Watch Company improved Harwood's design in 1930 and is used in their model Oyster Perpetual.
Rolex Oyster Special Edition Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona Leopard Mens Watch (Price: USD52K)
As a poor chap, I cannot afford the Rolex Oyster Perpetual series which costs around USD4K to USD52K. The poor chap choice is on Fossil instead. There are 15 products so far under the men category from leather to metal to wood. I exceptionally love the ones which can show the interior, giving us full transparency to look through the arts, crafts and science of horology. These are retailed at USD195. 20.5 to 266.67 times cheaper than the Rolex Oyster Perpetual.
Well, it has the window case back so you can see from both the top and bottom faces the works of horology in the watch. Let's look at both metal watches in detail.
Fossil partnered with product designer Philippe Patrick Starck to come out with some nice designs. One of the coolest I find for women watch is the S+arck - Rumeur (USD150), both the black and white designs.
My friend, Alvin, blogged about how good this movie was during his visit to Thailand recently. It must be good from a tough critique like him, who seems never to be too impressed with things, always maintaining his cool. Hehe! I mean if he thinks it is good, it must be good!
Russell seems like a very enthusiastic and energetic chubby boy who wants to achieve his best for his uniform body, despite meeting many challenges in life. He reflects me when I was just as active when I was in my primary school, wanting to achieve all the badges in my uniform group. You look at the amount of the badges on his uniform which is a testament of his determination to collect them all! He seems like a very cheerful boy who is so positive, very patient and never give up despite meeting a tough obstacle in a very stubborn and hard to please Mr. Carl. His over-enthusiastic qualities seems to get Mr. Carl very annoyed and irritated indeed. Mr. Carl looks like the I'm-not-interested-about-anything, I-don't-give-a-damn, I-don't-care, not-my-business type of man.
I guess the excitement that draws from the trailer is their exact contrast and opposites which will make them difficult to work as a team. However, stuck in a situation where both of them are in the same boat, I mean plane, I mean house that is flying around, Mr. Carl has no choice but to face the reality of going through his journey with Russell, no matter how reluctant he is with his annoyance and irritating characteristics. It resembles a grumpy old grandfather and a curious young grandson relationship bonding in an adventure of a lifetime. The ability to go through an adventure together despite the huge age gap between them is what will make the movie interesting.
I guess the adventure will get more exciting when they encounter a talking dog named Dug and a huge bird named Kevin along the way. The chemistry built between all four contrasting characters will definitely create a storyline which we can't wildly anticipate, definitely making the animated movie something worth waiting and watching for!
He looks like a composer like Mozart or Beethoven.
I am sure you have seen the latest Guinness advertisement 'TO AUTHUR!' Well, Authur Guinness (1725-1803) is the Irish man who gives you the dark Guinness Stout. A portion of the barley is flaked (i.e. steamed and rolled) and roasted to give Guinness its dark colour and characteristic taste. This drink is even older than Coca-Cola, which was introduced in 1886.
I personally love the stout more than any beer. Simple reason is because of the better aroma and richer taste. It is less bitter too. OK, I am not a regular drinker so this is just an opinion of a very rare drinker.
Authur's Day will be celebrated on 24 September 2009 to commemorate these remarkable 250 years. There will be many events for the celebration. There will also be a contest which is giving you three remarkable experiences of space, sea and studio. Try your luck, you never know if you never try. I know, this is harder than winning the jackpot lottery but a chance is still a chance! I wonder whether drinking the stout under the sea or even perhaps in space will make you drunk easier or harder.
Brainwave is the hottest thing for inputs to the computer system. I have seen a news report from Toyota weeks ago about using the brainwave to control wheelchairs.
The Emotiv demonstration is another example using the same method but controlling the computer system. Exciting times ahead!
A colleague of mine is considering to get one set for research. I heard it is around USD2500. Then we are discussing about achieving better results with no hair, meaning we should shave our heads clean! Haha! I told him we just need to shave those input points so we look like modern monks!
TWO women have filed for divorce on grounds that their husbands’ unusual sex drive is linked to black magic, reports Metro Ahad.
Syarie Lawyers Association deputy president Musa Awang said in the first case, the couple had been married for a year.
“The riddle to the husband’s unnatural sex drive was answered when a relative of the wife saw the husband in the house when the family had seen him left for work earlier.
“The relative heard the husband’s voice in the bedroom and upon checking, found an ‘individual’ in the room looking exactly like the husband,” he said.
Musa said that the wife had since filed a complaint with the religious department and applied for fasakh.
(Fasakh means ending a marriage by the Syariah Court after hearing the wife’s complaint).
In the other case, Perubatan Islam Mustajab specialist Nazri Md Isa said an 18-year-old woman had filed for fasakh after her husband asked her for sex more than 10 times a day.
Nazri said according to the wife, the husband had the ritual of going to the bathroom before having sex with her.
“It all started when he had sex with her 17 times on their wedding night. The wife did not suspect anything then as she thought he was merely performing his duty as a husband.
“But when the situation persisted, she discussed the matter with her mother-in-law, who told her that it was a normal behaviour.
She told her own mother, who brought her to the religious department to file a report because the latter thought it was sexual abuse,” he said.
Investigation found that the husband’s demeanour was strange.
The wife and her family had a shock when they found “two individuals” that look alike in the bathroom.
Religious leader Datuk Abu Hasan Din Al-Hafiz claimed that it was not impossible for a man to have sex many times in one night if he was “friendly with the devil”.
“It is not impossible for the devil to have carnal intercourse with the man’s wife.
“This happens because the devil can appear to look like the husband,” he said.
He said that while it was normal for a man to want sex two or three times a day, anything more than the usual would most probably not be the husband but the devil.
There are many contradicting opinions on this. Therefore, I must salute Fujifilm for taking the bet with FinePix REAL 3D W1. They also have a viewer named FinePix REAL 3D V1. If you ask me, I still believe stereoscopic / 3D vision is a field that will only start taking off if they can minimize or cut off totally the different degrees of the feeling of dizziness while viewing by most people. I'm eager to see how well this product will perform. We heard about how Philips stopped their autostereoscopic displays production. Will this 3D market take off instead?
The five Heavenly Kings of berries are being mixed by Marigold to create the Powerberries drink. The beverage industry comes out with creative mix now and then. There was a time when aloe vera mixture was used and then came nata de coco. Along the way, the find ways to mix different fruits together, mixing fruits with vegetable. You come out with all kinds of combination. Sometimes some combination are really odd, you will question the kind of taste from the mix.
These last few months they are heavily advertising this new 5-in-1 powerberries drink.
The berries are: acai berry blueberry cranberry mulberry rasberry
I bought it out of curiosity and it can't be so bad since berries are antioxidants. I thought that the taste is very close to the blackcurrant drink, Ribena. Oh and by the way, this drink is only available in Singapore at the moment. I can't find it anywhere in Johor Bahru.
LOS ANGELES, July 22 (UPI) -- Hollywood director Sam Raimi has agreed to head up a live-action, big-screen adaptation of the video game franchise "World of Warcraft."
Variety.com said the "Spider-Man" and "Drag Me to Hell" filmmaker will direct "Warcraft," while Warner Bros. co-finances and distributes it.
Legendary Pictures and the video game publisher Blizzard Entertainment are also involved in making the movie, the entertainment industry trade newspaper said.
"Warcraft" is "emblematic of the kind of branded, event films for which our studio is best known," Variety.com quoted Warner Bros. Pictures Group president Jeff Robinov as saying.
"At its core, 'Warcraft' is a fantastic, action-packed story," Raimi said in a statement.
My friend just got his Doctorate degree recently. I managed to attend the ceremony since it is near my lab. Two other close friends who are suppose to be in the list were not able to attend because of work.
Now that he finally earned his title Dr., I am just considering whether to get my head permanently damaged. His mom came to attend his graduation ceremony. It is definitely a time of celebration after going through the hard work of getting the thesis done.
Some juniors which I taught as a tutor also graduated with their Bachelors degree. My, it just seems yesterday when I taught their classes. I feel so old now.
I also managed to met a senior who attended the ceremony. He is the self-proclaimed God of Renderer. I was part of his team before in a project during my undergrad days and I have to admit he was indeed really damn good. He is now designing in WOHA.
There are four great classics of China. Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which is currently depicted a lot in movies, is one of the most famous among the four. This is followed by Water Margin / Outlaws of the Marsh, Journey to the West and Dream of the Red Chamber / The Story of the Stone. I saw these four characters on sale for SGD2 each. I thought why not get them since they are famous characters in the Chinese classic world.
The Journey to the West has four main characters. They are: Tripitaka / Xuánzàng (玄奘) / Táng-Sānzàng (唐三藏) Monkey King / Sūn Wùkōng Zhū Bājiè / Zhū Wùnéng Friar Sand / Sandy / Shā Wùjìng There is a fifth character, the horse, a dragon prince.
The story is about a Buddhist monk, Xuánzàng's pilgrimage to India during the Táng dynasty in order to obtain Buddhist religious texts called sutras. The Bodhisattva Guānyīn, on instruction from the Buddha, gives this task to the monk and his three protectors in the form of disciples — namely Sūn Wùkōng, Zhū Bājiè and Shā Wùjìng — together with a dragon prince who acts as Xuánzàng's horse mount. These four characters have agreed to help Xuánzàng as an atonement for past sins.
Unfortunately, they do not sell the horse character but suddenly a kangaroo appears from no where.....I mean Australia.....how did the journey ended up Down Under?
My first ever phone generated and rendered on 3dsMax
Comparing two mobile phones which are 9 years apart is a tad too unfair, especially in the electronics industry where Moore’s Law is still the ultimate truth today. It is like comparing a VHS with Blu-Ray. However, we must not forget that the process is important as where we arrived today is a result of what we have gone through.
Nokia 3310 itself was the revolution of that time as it was one of the most successful phones ever invented with 126 million of units sold. It is considered among the most mobile and slimmest mobile devices in those days. It was 2001 when I had it as my first mobile phone to enter university. It was so popular that every 10 people you met, you were bound to find at least one owning it. I remember leaving the phone behind in public places twice and managed to get it back as nobody really wanted to steal it. They managed to call back my friends to get me to retrieve it back. It is still functioning today eventhough it is left in the drawer for many years now. One of the most solid and durable mobile phones ever designed. You just can’t get rid of it! :P
Before we even compare the Nokia 3310 with the HTC Magic, we must first compare with the most revolutionary phone of this age, the Apple iPhone. The comparison chart below showed that even after 7 years later, the Nokia 3310 is not really that bad after all!!! Of course, we are just comparing a few basic features just to make us Nokia 3310 users feel good.
The HTC Magic however can do video recording, memory card and colour display so HTC Magic > Apple iPhone > Nokia 3310. :)
Back to the main topic, it is definitely unfair to compare the Nokia 3310 with the HTC Magic. They are from different eras where many technological creations are not available yet or are not implemented onto the mobile devices during the Nokia 3310 days. For example MP3 and digital camera were already widely available but not implemented on mobile phones yet. There were no 3G, MMS, Email, video, GPRS, GPS, EDGE, WLAN, Bluetooth, USB, radio and WAP then. Accelerometers and digital compasses are not integrated into mobile devices design until only recently and there were only limited internal memory available. Therefore, we must compare apple to apple and that means looking at features which both of them possess.
First off is audio. I still recall that we only have monophonic ringtones then which we can download for free online or for a price or create ourselves. I found myself making music just to come up with the national anthem and hit songs then like Ayumi Hamasaki’s Evolution. It was really a show off then to be able to get the most updated ringtones. We were joking that we wanted to see people’s reaction when the national anthem ringtone got off ringing in public! We were expecting people to quickly react standing in attention as a show of respect and honour. As someone with music background, composing ringtones is a piece of cake and I find myself getting requests from friends and relatives to generate songs after songs. Looking back now, I should have sold my service instead! Sigh! Nowadays, we can play so many audio formats that is available that I believe there is nothing trivial anymore to get the latest songs into ringtones.
Next up is the user interface, which is the crucial element for a mobile device’s success these days, its heart and soul. The HTC Magic’s magic comes mostly from the Google Android operating system, which is one of the biggest and most important features that drives it. It is the first ever open source operating system, which makes it very attractive for everyone, especially developers and us researchers. I am looking forward to test the 3D graphics to the maximum to benefit my current research interest in mobile 3D graphics. Open source means anyone can be part of the development and that means more freedom. It is an interesting concept to test in the mobile world, which at this point of time is making everyone excited. The world is your oyster, the possibilities are endless and the sky is your limit!
It could break or make the industry but this alternative route is shaping up to perhaps another revolution. This is especially because it transcends all manufacturers and is therefore hardware independent. Like the OpenGL graphics, we can also run this operating system on almost any mobile device, across all platforms. In comparison with Nokia 3310, we were just constrained with anything they gave us which we could not change. We are pretty much stuck with what Nokia gives us, restricting us to follow their interface rigidly. The only thing you can customize is the cover.
This open source concept paths the way for the success of the Android Market, which is basically a user driven content distribution system. This is not possible with the Nokia 3310 which disallows any input or output of software. It is the best channel to connect developers to the users. You can easily bring your applications to the world, be it free or paid. It follows the trend of the successful App Store service to download from iTunes Store. One such good application is the Documents To Go, a solution to view, edit and create Microsoft Word and Excel files on Android. Microsoft Office is heavily used today in the world that having a mobile version which is interoperable is definitely very crucial.
The other important feature with the Android operating system is the user input method, especially the ability to do touch (to some extent multitouch) on screen and using the trackball. It has been made popular by the Apple iPhone but now what is important is how we go from here. Touch is more intuitive and natural, thus making it a hit interface for everyone. You are no longer being constrained by the buttons. This freedom is what makes the HTC Magic so magical!
Of course, I still appreciate some technology being integrated into the HTC Magic which has been only a dream 9 years back on the Nokia 3310. The most crucial thing is the mobility it brings to integrate some important devices and documents we carry around. It replaces the following five items / functionality which makes our lives more mobile.
(i) GPS and maps - I am pretty much constrained by the use of the GPS device in my car. Although this device can be taken out, but the battery lifespan is generally around 3 hours at best, making mobile navigation almost impossible. I don't even need to go to maps to tell you about the hassle of opening large A0 prints.
(ii) Digital camera - I do not need to bring an extra compact digital camera with me. This is crucial as sometimes you need to take photographs or even videos during an emergency or accident, as well as the ability to capture important moments in life when it appears.
(iii) Book - With a larger screen, it means that we can read on it. I no longer need to bring a physical book along with me with applications like RepliGo Reader and AcroBible Lite. I can just read on the go. This is a kindle or UMPC equivalent that reads e-books. E-book could be the next big thing after MP3 as Barnes & Noble is creating the world's largest online electronic book shop with virtual shelves holding more than 700,000 titles!
(iv) Internet - I do not need to bring my laptop around as I can connect wirelessly outdoors, even with one hand. This makes Internet surfing very easy as you can even do it with one hand in a crowded bus.
(v) Gaming - I am a Nintendo gamer since the invention of Gameboy and NES. Vintage games are still great even until today! Applications like the Kidd GBC allows me to play these games without bringing another game device out.
The Nokia 3310, no matter how mobile phones progress, will be part of the mobile phone revolution in its colourful history, just like the Apple iPhone. I should keep my Nokia 3310 as safely as my Michael Jackson Thriller vinyl record as they can become retro or vintage valuable collectors' items say 20 years from now. You may have movies coming out portraying the early 2000s with Keanu Reeves carrying not the Nokia 8110 but the Nokia 3310! It could be the coolest thing to use right then!
Trinity, can you copy?
The three corner fight!(I know there is still Windows Mobile but who give a F#*K! They suck big time and BlackBerry is for businessmen!)
The Taiwanese company, HTC, with its commitment on the Android means it sees great potential in the operating system to reach new heights to overtake iPhone’s popularity. They may not be able to entirely bring down the Finnish company, Nokia’s dominance in the mobile phone market so easily but the Android is their best bet to dethrone anybody, including the powerful Symbian. Can they finish the Finnish off? We as customers are definitely eager to see more competition as we are going to get the best deals with great features at the end of the day. My money now is on HTC to invest in Android as the best chance to become the world leader as it has a great head start and is currently the avant-garde Android dedicated phone developer. The fast availability of the upcoming model, HTC Hero, is a testament of that!
We have heard for the last week about this solar eclipse. In Singapore, we will get to see it around 08:40:51 AM to 09:43:55 AM local time. I hope the sky is clear tomorrow!
This solar eclipse is the longest total solar eclipse that will occur in the twenty-first century, and will not be surpassed in duration until June 13, 2132. Totality will last for up to 6 minutes and 39 seconds, with the maximum eclipse occurring in the ocean at 02:35:21 UTC about 100 km south of the Bonin Islands, southeast of Japan. The North Iwo Jima island is the landmass with totality time closest to maximum.
Well, it stands for that as a movie title which talks about the history of ICAC, which is actually Independent Commission Against Corruption, a Hong Kong establishment by Governor Murray MacLehose on 15 February 1974. Hong Kong was still under British rule then and this commission aims to clean up corruption in the government and the Royal Hong Kong Police Force.
The film is more like a documentary with some action storyline about those years in the 1960s and 1970s Hong Kong where the gangsters and criminals ruled the streets as the police had to follow their orders. 90% of the police were corrupt as mentioned in the film. You see underground prostitution, gambling and drug dens becoming legal everywhere in Hong Kong. The policemen will go around collecting protection money all over town for anything possible.
You also will see a scene where the gangsters threw an innocent guy down a few stories to his death as a grandma was walking by. The grandma blew the whistle to alert the police. As the policemen arrived at the scene, they pretended nothing happened as they saw that the gangsters were involved. The gangsters just took the body away from the scene to clean up the mess. You see another member using water to clean up the blood stains. Then, the grandma wanted to give a statement but the police told her the guy was not dead yet and it would take her 2 days to get all her statements recorded. She gave up because of so much hassle and left the scene, grumbling that she definitely confirmed that he was dead.
ICAC was established at a time when corruption is so common in the streets. They recruited talents graduated from the University of Hong Kong (The Times Higher Education - QS World University Rankings 2008 ranked 26th, 2007 ranked 18th). They faced a lot of challenges, threats and even death to their members for going after these criminals and gangsters. We also get to see how ICAC interrogates their suspects. They use all kinds of tactics but physical abuse. I remember one of the suspects was so terrified that he told the ICAC officers to kill him. They answered that they are not allowed to even touch their suspects during interrogation, not to mention kill them.
Malaysia has the equivalent anti-corruption fighting commission called Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), which used to be Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA). However, the reputation is no where near the ICAC of Hong Kong. You just need to look at the annual Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index score to know who is really doing the job well. I recommend this film to all Malaysians as our country definitely has a lot to learn from Hong Kong, who has better Corruption Perceptions Index score than us! It is not the best film ever released from Hong Kong but I believe the Hong Kong culture of corruption is a good case study to educate ourselves.
Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index Score 2002 Hong Kong 7.9, Malaysia 4.9 2003 Hong Kong 8.2, Malaysia 5.2 2004 Hong Kong 8.0, Malaysia 5.0 2005 Hong Kong 8.3, Malaysia 5.1 2006 14th place Hong Kong 8.3, 43rd place Malaysia 5.0 2007 14th place Hong Kong 8.3, 43rd place Malaysia 5.1 2008 12th place Hong Kong 8.1, 47th place Malaysia 5.1
BREAKING NEWS: Barcelona Sign Ibrahimovic From Inter For 40m Plus Eto’o - Spanish Press The Catalan press has reported that Barca have completed the singning of Ibracadabra...
Barcelona have reportedly concluded the transfer of Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Inter for €40m plus Samuel Eto'o and Alexander Hleb on loan.
Another new record I see in Johor Bahru today! That means you can easily bargain for SGD1=RM2.445 minimum! Very close to the target of RM2.50. If this base rate stays stable, we can easily see a push to the target.
In Singapore, the exchange rate is SGD1= RM2.4420, I don't know how much you can bargain though.
Electricity rates will go up soon, bus and taxi fares to go up and a new fuel price rate coming soon that will further kill us consumers. Your pay never goes up, no bonus, bleak economy and the Ringgit value keeps falling. Maths and Science to go back to be taught in Bahasa Malaysia. Nobody on the streets trust the authorities anymore, even those who are suppose to protect us. These are good signs to give you a clear prediction of the future of the country.
Only good news? Any user who pays toll 80 times or more per month will be given a 20% discount. Use your brain and calculate. If you travel through the toll twice a day for 30 days a month (including weekends when you don't work), you can only reach 60 times. Even those lorry drivers who drive full time can't reach this target. This is only for users of the Touch and Go and Smart Tag systems, and not for those who use cash to pay for their tolls.
We finally went to visit Pekin Restaurant to try the food after countless of people saying how good it is. My doctor friend eats there every weekend! Rich people....
This was supposed to be our first choice for holding the wedding dinner at Johor Bahru but I decided that the location will be hard to find for those coming from Singapore. The environment is also not nice and the place smells of oil from frying.
Pekin Restaurant has a few branches in Johor Bahru. You can check the website link for the rest. The one I gone to is rather old, probably had been there for ages.
RESTORAN PEKIN (SENTOSA) No.38, Jalan Baldu Lima, Taman Sentosa, 80150 Johor Bahru, Johor. 07-3332928, 3320902
Lala RM24 - yellow wine gives it a sweet taste which I don't really like. Coming from the Foochow background in Sibu, we are used to drinking our red wine not so sweet. This is the most expensive dish among all that we ordered.
Buns with pork RM12- when I first see the pork, I thought they serve us pork from the tin cans from China. They look so identical. Normally pork served with mantou ( 馒头) are darker in colour, almost pure black. However, once I tried the pork, it is absolutely great. Really damn nice! When I open the bun / mantou to insert the meat, I found out that they have sesame seed in them, which gives them all an extra nice flavour.
Pekin Duck RM23 - the sauce is way too sweet!!! In the end, we ate it without the sauce at all. This is the first time I saw the wrapper to be mixed with eggs to give it a yellowish colour. It tasted fine. The duck is well done, absolutely superb. I still miss the one I had in Kota Kinabalu, the one my 2nd granduncle brought us to eat.
Vegetable (Asparagus) RM8 - simple stirred fried version with garlic. Nothing to complain, well done.
Fu Zhou Yu Ni (orh nee) RM15 - my wife loves this yam dessert alot but we failed to find one here that is to our liking. Most people here like to present this dish with the oil with deep fried onions on top. It tasted weird, like having kampua instead. This one is great but they add glutinous rice as the cover for the yam. It tasted alright but perhaps we are too full already. This is also the first time where I see red bean to be used. I have seen people using pumpkin (as in our case too) and sometimes sweet potato. It is really good, not too sweet and yet tasted great. Next time we will see if we can order one without glutinous rice.
Nuts RM2 - average. I had tasted better ones before.
Tea RM3 - the Tie Guan Yin (铁观音) we ordered was miserable. There is no taste at all and is one of the worst things I had in Pekin Restaurant.
Rice RM1.20 - even the rice is well done.
Total RM88.20 GST 5% RM4.41 TOTAL DAMAGE: RM92.61
In the menu, I spotted the most expensive dish, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall (佛跳墙), to be priced at RM1,888. Mamamia!
