Suddenly In Miri

It's been months since my last blog post. In fact, I am suppose to blog about my trip to Melaka but everything came to an abrupt end during the intense period of studying for my finals.

Didn't even log into my Blogger account for ages. Obviously, there will be a massive gap in the timeline of this blog.

I was enjoying life in KL, went to Melaka during my last post...then suddenly *poof* I am in Miri, Sarawak now.

The obvious question will then be, what am I doing here in The Land of Hornbills, Kolok Mee & Kenny Sia?

*answering my own question*

Well, I am here to do my internship, attached to a large/huge/gigantic multinational company for 20 long (hopefully not miserable) weeks.

I am not going to name the company though, in case I need to badmouth them here in my blog in the future. Due to my tendency to procrastinate, I am actually already into my 2nd week of internship.

I depart from LCCT on 12th April. Since I will be relocating myself there, there is quite alot of things to bring along. My 2 luggage bags looked like it's going to burst open anytime.

And when I check in both my luggage bags, imagine my horror when I found out that it was overweight by a whopping 7kg & for that I was charged an extra RM105! That's almost the price of my flight ticket itself!!

My friend's luggage bag was even larger, he can even fit a washing machine in there if he wants to. And for that he was fined close to RM200. That makes me feel a whole lot better ha ha

It's like going for the movies & buying another seat just to put your popcorn. Thanks alot Mr Tony Fernandes.

Two hours later, we arrived in Miri. The airport is so much better than LCCT. It makes LCCT looked like Tesco with check in counters & lots of chairs.

For all you ignorant city dwelling people who thinks Miri is just a small shanty town. It's actually a Bandaraya which puts it on the same level as *gasp* KL.




We checked into Imperial Hotel in the heart of Miri. We get an amazing room with kitchen, washing machine, Astro, a double bed & daily buffet breakfast to boot...all paid for by the company.





We lived like kings, at least for 5 days.



It has been an enjoyable 1st week in this part of Malaysia. Will try to blog more about life from the eyes of a KLite in Miri, but don't get your hopes too high though ;)

Menara Taming Sari

It's good to be back blogging after a long absence, was kidnapped by Choy San as Renaye will say.

Truth is, things had been rather hectic lately but still, I managed to find some time for a trip to Melaka over the weekend. The place certainly transformed a great deal since my last visit...

Noticed that there is a newly added phallic symbol at the heart of Melaka called Menara Taming Sari.

It's actually a revolving tower named after the keris belonging to the (fictional?) local warrior, Hang Tuah. Hang Tuah meanwhile is the idiot who killed his friend out of blind loyalty.




The legendary keris now is said to be in the possession & part of the royal regalia of the Sultan of Perak. We need verification from Datuk Nizar for that though.

A ride on the revolving tower cost RM 10 per person with MyKad. The cashier insisted on seeing ours before giving us the 50% discounts. Oh, well...

The 7 minute ride is supposed to offer you a glimpse of the development taking place in Melaka.




From above, we get a good view of the Eye on Malaysia ferris wheel, another newly added tourist attraction. Are they trying to turn Melaka into a World Heritage Theme Park now?

On a clear day, you can probably see pirates cruising along & lording over Selat Melaka as well haha




The sampan is actually the Maritime Museum, a must visit for every rombongan sambil belajar to the Bandaraya Bersejarah.




Nothing wrong with that of course, for museums are great places to learn about the past. A place for antiques, old & out dated stuff.

Ahh...that explains why there is a Muzium UMNO here ;)

Red Cliff 2

What better way to usher into the New Year than having a bloody and violent Chinese history lesson at the movies right? And we can all thank John Woo for saving the CNY movie genre with this 2nd part of Red Cliff.

After feeling slightly cheated by the trailer for the 1st movie, we are finally treated to some awesome battle scenes in the 2nd. But not before another hour of intense build up & strategizing.

Do I have to remind you to wear your helmet every single day?

Well, things are never that easy with the Chinese. Even war acquire a deeper, more philosophical meaning.

Listen as Zhou Yu (Tony Leung) & Zhuge Liang (Takeshi) spout out fortune cookie quotes, Sun Tzu's teachings and Confucius sayings at every opportunity.

Also, this being a John Woo film, expect to see some trademark stuff from the director like...

His fetish for white doves

The bird look tasty roasted or deep fried

The theme of brotherhood. Hmm...is it me or is the relationship between Zhou Yu & Zhuge Liang really pushing the boundaries of 'brotherhood'?

Sometimes brotherhood takes a
bad seat when you need a smoke

And Chow Yun Fat leaping out sideways with two guns blazing. Nah, that was just wishful thinking on my part.

Sliding down the rails & toothpick is optional

Apparently, the Chinese also invented many of the methods employed in modern warfare.

Biological warfare, grenades, sophisticated crossbows and kamikaze attacks were all used in the battle thousand of years ago.

Heck, we even saw the soldiers play an ancient form of football (called Cuju) with skills that would make a Brazilian proud.

Ahh...another testament to the greatness of Chinese civilization. This will definitely make your skin glow a brighter shade of yellow. Just perfect for the New Year.

Do The Right Thing

The banners are up, security suddenly tightened, posters and articles trading accusations filled the walls of faculties. All these can only mean one thing...the campus election is around the corner.

Once again, the fight is on between the pro-aspirasi and pro-mahasiswa factions.

Although, student bodies are prohibited from being affiliated with any political parties, it's little secret that one faction is pro-establishment (pro-aspirasi) while the other is anti-establishment (pro-mahasiswa)

Student politics are a reflection of national politics, no matter how the authorities try to conceal it.

Perhaps mirroring the political situation outside of campus, the odds are heavily stacked against the opposition in the campus polls as well. The authorities are known to throw their backing behind pro-aspirasi candidates to ensure their victory.

During my 1st year, all Chinese students were made to attend a gathering to listen to some talk by the representatives of the Chinese student committee. We were told specifically not to vote for the pro-mahasiswa or 'green faction'

This is what happen when you let them win

If they came to power, the Chinese students will suffer. There will be strict enforcements on our attire & entertainment will be forbidden (except nasyid performances). Our campus will be turned into a Taliban approved learning centre!

Those possibilities alone are enough to make us gullible 1st year students make the 'right choices'.

Random picture, nothing to do with this post whatsoever

And for those of us who live in residential colleges, rumours that we will be kick out of college if we voted for the 'wrong' candidates will be passed around every year.

College authorities made it clear that they support the pro-aspirasi candidates. More intimidating is the fact that the ballot paper is marked with a serial number traceable to our names.

Doesn't matter whether those rumours are true or false, the majority wouldn't want to take the risk.

Nobody really cares about student politics anyway. Student activism is severely curtailed in Malaysia unlike their counterparts in other countries, where they are influential in initiating political, social & economic changes.

Student activism means standing in from of a tank to make a point

But here, the candidates are reduced to fighting over petty issues like prices of food in cafetaria and the bus schedule.

I hope I do not get into trouble for my rantings. Did I not mentioned that threats and intimidations aside, the campus elections are 100% clean & fair. And I promise that when election comes, I will do the 'right thing'

Der Die Das

My German classes are starting next week. I will be taking Level 4 but unfortunately, I can still hardly string a proper sentence in German. Listening to native speakers is a challenge but...I am going to persevere.

I know, it might not be as cool as learning Japanese or Korean. Yet, I am glad I am learning German as an extra language because :


1) when I see an object, I will quickly classified it as masculine, feminine or neutral. In German language, everything falls into those 3 categories.

So, a table is masculine, pig is neutral, a cup is feminine etc etc...

2) it makes me want to try & watch a German movie. I did watch 'Der Untergang' eventually.




It's a great movie about Hitler's downfall...but I gave up trying to make out what they are actually saying in German halfway through the movie. Reading the subtitles are so much easier.

3) when I order a burger at McDonald's, I knew that 'ich liebe es' written on the box means 'I'm lovin' it'




4) I found out that Deutschland is actually Germany, not Holland.

5) I discovered that some English words, such as kindergarten are borrowed from German.

6) I can spell using fancy alphabets like ü, ä, ö and ß

7) I will not starve to death if stranded in Germany, but what I eat will be limited by my vocabulary, meaning - bread, sausages, potatoes & onion soup.

8) I can pronounce Michael Ballack & Bastian Schweinsteiger's name correctly.




9) whenever I watch Project Runway (can't believe I actually admit it), I like hearing Heidi Klum bid farewell to the contestant using the German phrase 'auf Wiedersehen'

10) I can now curse in four different languages.

Double Doses of Donnie

The Americans have SuperMan

The Japanese have UltraMan
The Chinese have Ip Man

My heart has been filled with heavy anticipation ever since the released of the impressive trailer for the movie, Ip Man. After watching the movie last week, I can safely say that the movie surpassed my every expectations.

It was so good, I watched it TWICE! Yeah, I know I am such a sucker for Donnie.

The movie was set in Foshan (Wong Fei Hung's kampung) during the 1930s. During the time, Foshan was thriving under the economic boom & the affluent residents took up martial arts as a hobby.

The bustling town centre even has its own Martial Arts Street where countless martial arts school are situated in close proximity to one another. Each specialising in a different sect of kung fu.

Little known fact #1 : Ip Man can kill 2 stones with 1 bird

Ip Man (Donnie Yen) though isn't the master of any of them. Rather he is an aristocrat who lives in a Western style bungalow, and did not seem to need to work for a living.

He spends all his time practicing Wing Chun much to the chagrin of his wife.

Little known fact #2 : Ip Man can sneeze with his eyes open
& lick his own elbow

Now, when it comes to acting I didn't expect much from Donnie. But as Ip Man, he is unbelievably restrained & subtle, even funny. This just proves that miracles do happen during the festive season.

In the 1st half of the movie, we saw Ip Man taking on opponents in a mostly friendly manner. Carefully making sure to get his wife's approval through eye contact beforehand.

Then, the Sino-Japanese war broke out. The once bustling city was devastated. Food were scarce under the harsh Japanese rule. The Chinese are fragmented in spirit & martial arts became the unifying force. Sounds familiar huh?

Little known fact #3 :When Ip Man smokes, the cigarette gets cancer

The storyline may be generic but the usually cardboard villains get a more sympathetic treatment here.

The story is quite engaging but we all came to see some serious butt kicking. And it doesn't take long for that to happen on screen.

The fights are the best I have seen for a very long time. Absolutely jaw dropping stuff.

Little known fact #4 :Ip Man is so fast, he can run around the world
& punch himself in the back of the head

The Wing Chun style is authentic, distinctive & a joy to watch on screen. Those machine gun like punches still amazed me even on repeated viewings.

The fights can be brutal & bloody. But the amazing choreography from Sammo Hung makes it all look like poetry in motion. Those evil Japanese deserves them anyway.

Little known fact #5 : During WW2, the leading causes of

death of Japanese are....1. Heart disease, 2. Ip Man, 3.Cancer

Against Ip Man, the Japanese karate exponents doesn't even stand a chance. During 1 particular scene, he took on 10 of them & leave a pile of bodies behind (a nice homage to Bruce Lee's similar scene in Fist of Fury)

Ip Man is like a one man army. How the Chinese lost the war against the Japanese is beyond me.

Donnie faints after hearing that Tony Leung is going to play Ip Man.

Well, this is not the only biopic on the Grandmaster. Wong Kar Wai is said to be making a movie about Ip Man with Tony Leung playing the title character. This must be some kind of joke. C'mon Tony? The last thing I wanted to see is Ip Man butt naked!

Anyway, a sequel this time with Donnie Yen reprising the role is currently in the works as well. I am excited already.

As you have probably noticed, I am struggling to fit in more hyperboles to describe the film. So, if you are just going to watch 2 movies before the year ends, watch Ip Man TWICE!

Trapped Inside a Disco

Bush wants you to shut up

The Americans apparently had been employing a new method of torturing detainees being held in Guantanamo & Iraq....by using music.

Extremely loud music played directly into the ears of detainees, designed to induce sleep deprivation, prolong capture shock & disorient detainees during interrogations.

I think this is one of the cruelest form of torture, right there alongside water boarding.

We all knew how music can totally mess up people's minds. After all, we too had our own Guantanamo moments before.

Those orange jumpsuits are as bad as the music

Like the neighbour who insist on sharing his love for heavy metal music with you. Or radio stations that keep on playing the same songs repeatedly throughout the day.

Just how many times can you listen to Soulja Boy in a day before you start contemplating suicide?

The prisoners were subjected to higher degrees of brutality of course. One detainee describes being left in a pitch black booth for up to twelve hours with the heavy metal music blaring.

Imagined the royalties they would have earned

Unsurprisingly, heavy metal and rap are most often featured on the torture playlist. Some of the most common being Metallica's Enter Sandman, Drowning Pool's Bodies, AC/DC's Shoot To Thrill & Eminem's White America.

I think the prisoners will go equally crazy if being forced to listen to Mandopop love songs by Fahrenheit, Twins or F4.

The guards do have a sick sense of humour, like choosing the song Staying Alive for torture when the victim is certainly wishing for otherwise. Blasting prisoners with Britney Spears's music, so that they too suffered like the rest of the world.

Some of the choices are bizarre like the Sesame Street theme song & Barney's I Love You, You Love Me song. I agree with the Barney song though, it traumatises my childhood before.

Let me entertain you with a song, my only song

The irony here is that, America being a country that always positioned itself as the defender of human rights are violating them so blatantly. Nobody should be subjected to such sadistic form of torture....

Nobody, not even that irritating neighbour of mine.