London - Great Britain

The big ben. London House of Parliment.

It is not in my inital plan to go there. I never plan to go London, but due to the difficulty of getting a hotel book at Bacerlona, I have to go London.

Let me lift up London Bridge to prevent it to fall down.

I want to use one word to describe London - DIRTY. The train station is worst than Pudu Raya, Brits just throw rubbish everywhere without any second thought. In the train, on the escalator before you go into the station, on the street...every where. The air is dirty too which I don't understand why. Everyday when I got back to the hotel, when I wash myself, my booger is black in color! I guess Milan, Italy will be similar to London like what Kam had said.

super dirty. every where is dirty, everything is dirty. The air, the tube(underground), the street...

Especially plastic bottle is every where.

Yeah...taking picture with rubbish at Thames River.

The only place which is clean is the area around Buckingham palace.

The park in front of the palace.

A Malaysian malay boy is chasing after the bird.

Buckingham Palace.

London is a very unique place which has two different sides. Total extreme two faces in every everything. There are places which are clean, is extremely clean. There are places which are dirty, and when I said dirty, it is really really dirty. There are people who are super polite, will addressed me: Madam, this way, please; and people who are super rude with their words, will teased me when I walked by: hey baby! Nicholas said this is the beauty of United Kingdom. And, some old lady will wear so gracefully but you also can find those punk hair style, or youngster with piercing and tattoo all over their body. Too bad I didn't snap their photos. However, tattoo for them is an art.

The taxi driver drive like mad, can compete with Penang driver. Haha...But, their double decker is very punctual. I guess they have some GPRS system on every bus. Before the bus reach, there will be a signboard is displaying how long it takes for that bus to reach the bus stop.

Double decker!

London is a very typical tourism spot. Every thing have to wait for so long to enter. For example. Madam Tussauds, London Eye, any famous place that you can name of, you have to queue for it. However, you can always pay extra to get the VIP pass.

London eye's capsule.

Super long queue to enter Madam Tussauds.

One thing I like about London is their Abbey and Catheral. Is amazing, speechless...maybe this is my first visit to Europe's church, so I am still very amaze with their structure and craft.

Westminster Abbey.

St. Paul Cathedral. Princess Diana wedding was held here.

However, there are some lovely part about London that make me smile. Every where you go, you can see lovely couple either kissing or hugging. They show their love to their love one openly, no matter gay, lesbian, young couple, or old auntie uncle. All of them are so enjoying in their own little world, don't care about how other people look at them. In fact, nobody will bother. I saw a gay couple was having their french kiss in the underground, and both of them look into each other eye for the whole journey. =) Still...this country got its own lovely side.

Netherlands - Holland

I would like to say, it is a heaven for guys. Nic was drooling over about going Amsterdam after listen to his classmate "detail" introduction on Amsterdam. I couldn't imagine if Nic was there, with Kam....add Jacky.....oh God....

Somebody favourite beer.

Amsterdam is a place which full of girls, coffees, drugs, tobaccos, sex toy shops, porn movie cinemas, alchohols, guys-services. Bla bla bla...isn't it guys heaven? There are famous with their red-light district. Around the red-light district, the "infrastructures" are really very complete. You can find sex toy shops which provide anything you want when you go naughty, and they open side by side, or just opposite. You can compare the price before you purchase it. There are hotel upstairs, "show-room" downstairs. And, even places for you to pee pee when you drink too much. Too bad, red-light district was not allow to take pictures. So, I can't show any pics here.

Can you see the green sign on top of it? The small guy was standing?

From the coffee shop's menu, there are coffee with marijuana, and some drink which contain unknown drugs in it.

My breakfast with choc drink. =)

However, after all the naughty act, if you feel guilty and want to confess, of course, there are places for you to do so as well. You can always go to St. NICHOLAS church to confess and ask for forgiveness. It is near the Amsterdam Central Station. Imagine this, Nicholas(moses) is going to St. Nicholas church from Nicholas Street and look for Father Nicholas.

St Nicholas Church

Nicolaaas Straaaat.....
hmmm...nicholas was famous there.

If you want some church which are nearer to you after you finish your naughty business, you also can go to Oude Kerk - The Old Church which is located in the middle of the red-light district. After your one whole night business, just walk down the hotel, turn a corner. There you go!

Since 1371

Oude kerk

Or maybe something for your brain? Museum + museum + museum?

Rijk Museum?

Van Gogh Museum

sex museum for knowledge too?

Ok...this blog is kinda too long with too many pics. I understand it take forever to load a blog which is full of pics. So, that's it for today. =)

Bye bye from me and Robbie Williams.

Norway

I never inform anyone except my close friends. Although this is a space to update Nic's friends about him, still I wanna update some of the reader of this blog that who might know me as well. Now, I am at Sandefjord, Norway. I am here because there are some projects going on that Norway do not have enough engineer. So, I am here to support the project. I do not know how long I have to be here. Basically, it is up to me.

I am here for the second week. Weather is fine, except for some nose bleeding early morning when I wake up from sleep. Now is spring and going to summer, for me it is the best time to be here. I missed the winter, although I heard that it is tough for a Malaysian to go through the whole winter over here, -15 deg. But, I am so sad that I missed it. Not because of the snow but it is because I can't snow skii anymore, go for whale-seeing and Northern Light. There is one indian engineer actually saw the Northern Light during winter. Aurora Borealis, you know? Argh!!

Activity is fine, because I will follow my coll to go fishing. I will join them soon, once I purchase my own equipment. And, watch EPL about 8pm time over here.

Go fishing lo~!

I am the photographer while they are fishing.

Accommodation is fine for the time being, because I am staying at a hotel. I am going to get an apartment soon. Once the office lady rent an apartment for me, I have to move out from the hotel.

My room with ar duck.

Food? er...so far so good, will update some food pic when I got the chance. Driving on the left hand side? er...so far so good too. I drove a few times, not too big problem for me. Speed limit here is 50km/h. The police are very hardworking so everyone drive very slow. No traffic jam, not many cars. I don't find a problem driving here. Time difference? not really as well...no jetlag problem for me.

The only problem? "Their" keyboard. Over here, Norwegian language is very dominant like Japan. You can't find English anywhere. Anywhere....Yes, they can speak, but they won't like French. Even their keyboard is in their own way....§£¤å€øæ...ya...all the weird symbol...and the key is at different place as well.

Any other questions? Anything else you want to know? Maybe you guys can post some questions, then I can answer through the blog (including Nic and Uncle)

Charity

I always want to do some charity. Like Seow's trip to Tanzania, no doubt is a useful, direct way to give help to those people who are needed our help. You are there to see, to feel and to live their life, and also to be able to give them the help that are practical and useful. Or like Bill Clinton, his foundation which helps uncountable people in the world, of course is a good way to give a hand to people who need it.

I...do not have the time like Seow, do not have so much money like Bill Clinton to raise a foundation or the influential power like Bill Clinton to promote charity and humanitarian work. Still I wish to give some help with what I can afford.

I am always very suspicious on those people who come and ask for donation. I never give any money for beggar or handicap. I always saw a lot of handicap can survive on their own, if they really wish to earn for their own living. It is not easy, but is not impossible.

I am also very curious about when I donate one amount of money to the association, how much the money can help, how much it will go to the "person-in-charge". And, how much and how badly they need the money. My mum always go to those old folk home or orphanage house to give ang pao during CNY. We always heard some stories about some of them are very rich because of a lot of people always give them help. So, everytime before go to those places, we will always had the headache, where else that actually really really need our help badly. I know there are a lot out there, but I don't know where.

Malaysia unfortunate people condition compare with other countries people like those from Cambonia, Lebanon, South Africa, or even some part of India, Malaysians condition are always better than the other. How bad they can be compare to African who got no food at all? I know some of Malaysian condition are really really bad, still got some people are worse than them!

The purpose of this blog - I sponsor a child from India. She is a little girl who stay at India, Kangayam. That is not the poorest place in the world, but she does need help. I guess...There is a trip to visit her on July, if I am free, I might go there, until then, I only can answer all you guys questions.

ps: for ppl who are getting blur on reading my post, please understand that my brain is always jump here and there, which means my words, when i speak, i can change from one topic to the other topic simultanously. So, pls read my every paragraph as a new points.

from abu dhabi...

thanks to cl, most of you would have already known that i'm currently in abu dhabi. i've just completed my first week out of 10 and as expected, this is gonna be a tough journey. just had about three/ four weeks of materials on reservoir engineering, formation evaluation (logging), well testing and nodal analysis cramped into our brain for the past 5 days which ended in a comprehensive exam. i've passed the perception test (online paper) and i'm still waiting for the result on the written part.

anyway, i'm currently blogging from home - luckily it comes with internet connection, albeit a poor one, but i'm thankful anyway. and home for the next 10 weeks is a place called cassells blue towers. a service apartment of some sorts. i'm thinking of posting some pictures up but unfortunately i haven't taken much photos around this place as yet. i'm still trying to get used to the place and schedule among other things. but rest assured, i'll put up some pic on my apartment and it's surrounding - especially the much hyped lulu hypermarket that cl mentioned about.

about my school. it's in a centre about an hour drive away from here - middle east & asia learning centre (mlc). it's basically a slb training centre and i'll get some pictures of that place too, but for now, you've just gotta take my descriptions for it - that place is a brand new facility in the middle of no where. i have no idea why it's built in such a place, but that's the way it is.

so, what else? well, the schedule for the next 10 weeks is hectic. i dun see much of a break in it but i hope that once i get the hang of it, i'll just be able to live with it. the only problem that i can see myself facing right now is the condition of my eye. for the past one week, once i got back from the classes, i just can't seem to be able to read much. i dun really wanna use that as an excuse but i'll have to monitor it closely and if i really have to, then i'll just have to know when to stop.

i guess that's all i have right now. i'll be sure to return with more pics for the next post. oh yeah, one other thing - this trip has opened up my eyes on certain aspects of my life. although it has been a much easier trip compared to the trip to oman previously (in terms of being away from my loved ones), it has revealed a few pertinent things about my personality and character. i've had lengthy discussions with cl and i'll reveal what this is all about some other time - probably once i get back to malaysia. till then, i've gotta concentrate on the reason i'm here - to pass this bloody school!

back to my books...

Locate Nic on the Globe

The invention of technology will shorten the distant between human. No matter you are at which part of the earth now, I am still able to locate you. (unless you are at the outer space). These are some photos from Google Earth to locate Nicholas apartment at Abu Dhabi. Since this blog is to keep his friends update about him, then let me update you guys, this is where your friend is right now. =)

Abu Dhabi. Please forgive me for my poor geography knowledge, I don't know where it is the first time I heard abu dhabi or UAE. =P

Ok...I know Dubai but that is because Dubai is over promoted by all the mega structures and events.

The town. Abu dhabi is the capital of UAE - United Arab Emirates (not dubai). Since this is a city after 90s, the town planning is good, look at all the building and road are well planned.

Opposite his aparment is a plaza/mall called Al Falah Plaza. The Lulu hypermartket is the anchor shop inside it, Nic bought his rm1.5 per egg from there. Lulu hypermarket...what a cute name. His friend told us that the traffic there is bad, real bad. Nic took one hour drive from his aparment to his training school every day, another hour to go back to apartment.

turning a new page?

after three tries, i'm finally confirmed to be heading to abu dhabi this friday 11th of april at 2130 hours. the next three months is not going to be easy. and with my eye condition, it's definitely not helping. but i'm not going to make that an excuse. i'll give it my best shot and whatever happens from there, so be it.

honestly, i'm nervous, scared and freaked out to be heading for school right now. i feel inadequately prepared. i'm just not sure if i know enough to handle whatever they throw at me in school.

but it's coming sooner or later and i might as well face it and get it over with. plus with school out of the way, my career path will be clearer and hopefully smoother.

ps: i was told the whole duration of the school will be hectic and tough. i'm expecting a crazy time there. so with that in mind, my blog might be left alone for a while. i guess this will be a good time to see if my partnership with cl on this blog works for the better or worse. =)

welcoming a new member...

if you've noticed, the previous post was not written by me. if you haven't noticed, you obviously have not read this blog before. anyway, i'm introducing a new member to this blog - ms kang chuu liu...

well, we've talked about this numerous times before as she has expressed her interest in maintaining a blog but has always been hindered by several reasons. so i've agreed to allow her into this space of mine and to blog whenever she wants to. i've given her total freedom in the choice of topic and also the language that she feels more comfortable with. so don't be surprised if you suddenly see a chinese post in this blog in the future.

although i've started this blog as a hobby and also as a space to voice out my opinion or whatever voices that go through my head and never bothered too much about attracting any number of readers, i do sincerely hope that this development will generate more interest in this humble space of mine.

and to cl, a warm welcome... =)

Malaysian Dreamgirl?

Adeline. Pretty pictures.
Cindy. Being boycott by other girls.
Eyna. Unique face but too quiet.
Fiqa. Malay and Chinese parentage.
Hanis. For me, don't know why she is in. =P

Jay. Indian got the genetic advantage on strong figure.

Nadia. She look fiece. =\

Ringo. Young is advantage.

For Nicholas, modeling is a tough job but they get pay for what they do. Like celebrity, they earn a lot of money by doing just one commercial adv or album. But, at the same time, they have to sacrifice their privacy and freedom. As an engineer who has a challenging job, outsider will not understand how boring it is a desk-bound job. As a business man who earn big money, outsider will not understand the risk and pressure they get through. As a marketing personnel who wear smart and nice to work every day, outsider will not understand how cruel office politics is in their field. Every job will have their sorrows stories behind the scene that no body will understand.

Modeling for me is not a easy job.

1. You need to be very determined to keep your body fit and in nice shape. It is not means slim, but nice shape which means regular exercise is necessary. You have to control your daily meal everyday. No holiday in 365 days a year.
2. You have to tolerate with the different working hour compare to usual office working profession. You have to wake up 3am in the morning, to start make up, to dress up and to go to the location, if you need a nice sun rise picture.
3. You have to take harsh criticisms from everyone and on everything. It is because different products will look for different characteristic on the models. Sometime, no matter how perfect you are, once you don’t suit the customer's product, they will criticize you like mad. Eye too small is wrong, but too big is also wrong…maybe the customers are looking for some moderate eye…You body too thin is wrong, too fat is wrong too…Of course. Your height too short is wrong, even too tall is wrong.
4. As we all known, girls are trouble. Imagine a industry that full of girls…OMG…back stab…small group…hypocrisy…competitive…wow…interesting ya?

There is a show which called Malaysian Dreamgirl. It is an internet reality show for the audience to vote for their “Malaysian” dreamgirl. The girls are competing not only for beauty or modeling skill but also on the personality and character.

Don’t be surprise that you never see this show adv in the TV or newspaper. It is because this is a totally internet broadcast show which means you only can watch it through internet. Internet nowadays can do everything, really everything. Imagine one day without internet? The city will be much more jam because every one have to go out to the town. Hahaha…(lame joke)

Recommended to watch the Episode 1- audition, Kenny Sia is like Simon in American Idol. And the sneak peek. Malaysian girl…haih…Nowadays Malaysian girls, where are the confidence and elegant? Sigh…

Along the show, there are some contestants with good body and face, but too quiet and doesn’t look like she is in a reality show. Some are so confident in speaking but the face and pose are just out. Hmmm….it seems like to get a Malaysian Dreamgirl is not that easy.

special dedication

this post is a special dedication to cl. you have no idea what she's meant for me in the past few months. i think she has no idea as well of how important she has been. =)

in a way, this duck holds special bonds between us. and everytime i look at it, it makes me smile. no matter how gloomy the day has been for me.

this post is for you, my love.

i love you.

not meant to be...

i'm talking about the celine dion taking chances world tour 2008. just not meant to be. disappointing but true. i've mentioned in previous post that i'm scheduled to be in abu dhabi by the 13th of april right? so initially when i heard that celine dion's gonna be performing in malaysia on the 8th of april, i was ecstatic! i bought the tickets and i've had it all planned out.

then came the news. it's postponed. and of all the dates - 13th of april. talk about unlucky number. i guess that's what you call fate. on the bright side, i saved myself almost 1000 bucks. damn. this silver lining does not shine at all.

third time's a charm

i'm scheduled to go for school on the 13th of april in abu dhabi. and yes, this is the third time i've been scheduled for the same school. the first two times were cancelled for unfortunate reasons. and the second cancellation left me so deep in the gutters that i was almost drowned by it.

right now, the only way for me to get past whatever i'm feeling right now, is to get through school. well, that's what i think anyway. get through it, get it out of the way. i've been stagnant at this stage for way too long, and it's gotta end.

this is not positive thinking, mind you. this is aggressiveness that is bordering on desperation. get through school. that's my goal. that's my light at the end of the tunnel. for now.

this picture that i took while on duty in oman seems to suit my feelings very well in this moment. a new day, a new start.

emotions

what makes us sad?

is it happiness? if we do not know the meaning of happiness, how will we be able to define sadness?

how about disappointment?

without any expectations, is there a way for us to still be disappointed? aren't we always disappointed when something does not match our expectations?

at the same time, when expectations are actually met or in the rare cases exceeded, aren't we filled with joy, relief and a sense of accomplishment?

but how long does that last before we set ourselves another set of goals, a higher level of expectation? and how long does it take before we expect too much of our own abilities? before we fall at our very own expectations?

plenty of questions and i've got plenty more where that came from. all questions, no answers. and i've stopped looking.

the core of humanity

they say humans are basically good with the potential for evil.

i say humans thrive on self-pity and anger and hatred and revenge.

how does that add up?

humans are humans. no more, no less.

miniature collection

it was unintentional but once it got started, i couldn't stop... =)

my first bottle of miniature wine was "hardys nottage hill - cabernet sauvignon" - a gift from jenny on xmas of 2001 if my memory serves me right...

meanwhile for the miniature liquor, it was during a trip to langkawi (around 2006, i guess) with a few of my uni mates...

right now, my miniature wine collection includes:

Fortant (France)
- Sauvignon Blanc 2002
- Merlot 2004
- Chardonnay 2004
- Cabernet Sauvignon 2003

Just (France)
- Chardonnay
- Sauvignon Blanc

Jindalee (Australia)
- Shiraz 2007

Redvale – Rivergum (South Eastern Australia)
- Chardonnay Colombard 2002
- Shiraz Cabernet 2002

Hardys – Nottage Hill (South Australia)
- Chardonnay 2006
- Cabernet Shiraz 2001

Carmen (Chile)
- Cabernet Sauvignon 2005
- Chardonnay 2006

Sunrise (Chile)
- Chardonnay 2003

Porta (Chile)
- Merlot 2003

Carlo Rossi (US)
- California Red
- California White

Blue Nun (Germany)
- Gold Edition
- Qualitatswain 2003
- Merlot 2003

Mateus (Portugal)
- Rose

187 by Paul Sapin (Collection Series)

Copper’s Bay (New Zealand)
- Sauvignon Blanc

River Bay (South Africa)
- Ruby Cabernet

Lizard (Australia)
- Shiraz Cabernet

Chilean (Chile)
- Cabernet Merlot

while the miniature liquor collection has:

Absolut Vodka
Absolut Apeach
Absolut Ruby Red
Absolut Pears
Absolut Mandrin
Absolut Raspberri
Absolut Kurant
Absolut Vanilla
Absolut Citron

Remy Martin VSOP
Otard VSOP

Bombay Sapphire Dry Gin

Bacchus Shot
- Cowboy
- Cowgirl

- my proud collection of miniature wine and liquor-

it's kinda tough getting those miniature wine as we have limited choices here in malaysia. and they dun really sell miniature wine in duty free shops. so i just have to be patient and wait. i would like to get more of those series like the "187 by paul sapin"...

in the meantime, i would be on the look out for more exotic french series...

- 187 by paul sapin -

and if getting miniature wine is tough, miniature liquor is almost impossible here in malaysia. so far, all my miniature liquors have come from duty free islands - langkawi and labuan. i've never seen them anywhere else!

the collection of the absolut series is pretty much completed (i actually have 9 bottles although there's only 8 in the pic above, the 9th bottle - absolut pears, was in hiding at the time the pic was taken). although my collection started out with only wine but these little juniors are just so cute i couldn't resist the temptation... =)

my next target would be the more classic liquors...

- one big happy 'absolut' family-

as you can obviously see from the pictures, i have a few bottles of liquor at the back too. i'm planning to have the complete johnnie walker series - red label, green label, black label, gold label and blue label. i once saw this collectible series where they have all 5 bottles in a nice wooden box but it is so darn bloody expensive! and that was in between the full sized liquor and a miniature - not too big, not too small... which is too bad, coz if it were a tiny bit smaller, i would have bought it...

in the meantime, i should start reading up about wine and stuff. i dun wanna be collecting miniatures blindly and not know a single thing about my collection. that would seem a tad bit silly on my part...

ok then, a simple post that's suppose to double up as an inventory for me has become really, really lenghty. i'll just stop here for now. more updates when my collection has any new member(s)...

*hint hint* - a couple of bottles of miniature wine/ liquor would make a really good present for me on any occasion =)

brace yourselves…

dear malaysians, the title says it all. at the time of posting, change seems to be on the horizon. as the result of the election is being announced, shocking news came one after another - several strong, “sure-win” candidates lost their seats by extreme majorities. i do hope that malaysia as a nation proves to be a matured democratic country to embrace this change and to take all the unexpected result as the voice of its people saying that something is wrong with the way the country is run right now…

with that said, i am pleased that the ruling party was given a run this time around instead of the usual stroll in the park for them. with louder opposition voices in the parliament, it does seem that the people of all races will be better protected…

btw, i am surprised that so many of my friends assumed that i would not vote. i would like to say that, just because i do not voice out my opinion or show much interest, does not mean that i do not have an opinion in the first place. and the scanned ticket below is proof enough that i performed my duties and responsibilities as a proud citizen of this nation… =)

new beginning

it's belated. i know. third month of the year and i'm talking about a new beginning.

anyway, it's something that i needed. i need a fresh start. for the past couple of months, i've been down in the dumps. depression seems too serious a word but i'm not too far off, i'm sure.

having this injury, forcing this break on me is worse than i ever expected it to be. at first, i thought i could treat it as a long break from work. i thought it's an opportunity for me to sit back and relax. how very, very wrong.

all this injury has done for me is impair my sight and shatter my confidence to pieces.

you see, i was in a hurry. all through life, i've always been in a hurry to get somewhere, to be someone. now this episode has put a two month break in my career just when i thought it was actually going somewhere. and it sucks. the worse part? i don't know how long will this last.

anyway, that’s not what this blog is all about. this blog is about a new beginning right? so i’m gonna try and forget all of this disappointment, and try to make things work for me… perhaps, it’s too early to actually claim a new beginning, but i’ll give it a try.

ps: i found out something surprising in this period of time. when i started this blog, i can only write when i’m depressed, frustrated, sad (you get the idea, right?)… my whole blog has a negative aura because of that. but with this incident, i just found out that i could not write in that mood anymore – my blog has taken a positive turn!

i shall end this post with a picture of the kauthar dessert in oman. despite the injury, it was a great experience to be there.

suicide

the blade ran swiftly through my wrists
a red thread blossomed into a stream
as it flowed, the cross washed away
with eyes closed, i drift with a smile