Perth, Australia

just got back from the Swan Bells, Perth. hangin' out at night by the Swan River, it really reminds me of Putrajaya back in Malaysia, Presint 2 to be exact. in fact, nothing much different. the city scraper layout and town planning are pretty much the same. i wonder if this is just a coincidence.

anyway, note to self, Perth is a good retirement place to settle. shops and restaurants closes at early evening, normally 8pm, 6pm on the Saturday and even 12-5pm on Sundays. dinner has to be at home i guess. convenient store closes at midnight. what, no 24-hours service?

walking at night during the weekend, quite happening. silent town at night, but people walking by quite a number, cheering the night with friends, dresses beautifully, nice-looking cars, party on private boat, nice.

Perth seems like an international town, many asians around from chinese, malay, indonesian, korean and japanese. all in one place. food? pretty much easy to get and halal food is easy to find.

looking forward for a nice outing tomorrow, sunday in perth!

rambling 2

this month sometimes 5 years ago, i still remember working as a cashier at one of local cybercafe for 12 hours at night (9pm - 9am), and doing unit trust fund sales during the day. how i did it, i am not too sure myself. but somehow, i did it.

working in cybercafe gave me a lot of time practicing my web design skills, that's how i got to do some designing for local companies.

unit trust? i did a few sales, but it was a joke to me. i am not a sales guy.

3 months working in cybercafe, then i decided to quite and go all out focusing on design. i secured a few job based on mouth to mouth marketing. not a huge success but i survived anyway. 9 months i survived in this business without doing any other job. it was full of hard work. i remember renting an office space in Rawang, sleep inside the store room (it was huge and empty anyway), eating the same roti canai every single day, living with only less than RM10 bucks for a week, struggling on petrol meeting clients and more..

i remember being broke.

9 months past, i could not take it any longer.. i got a myself a job, and till today, 4 years of working a full-time job. ups and downs was never the same to compare to my Rawang experience.

and today, my pocket is never empty. it got me stuck somehow, i dont know what to eat.

KL - Phuket - Ko Phangan - Phuket - KL

wow, just cant imagine i made it to ko phangan in thailand, though it was a pack-and-go plan during malaysia's peak holiday season.

we do have direct flight from KL (subang airport) to Ko Samui (nearer to Ko Phangan) unfortunately all seat were fully booked. i nearly cancelled the plan knowing that it was fully booked, but having a friend with me, makes it a little crazier. so we divert our route from KL to Phuket, stayed one night (it was a great night in phuket though!). we arrived at Phuket at about 6pm in the evening, lucky to get a nice hotel room at only 600 thai bhat, just at the corner of Bangla Road (phuket's most happening road)

since our mission is to get to Ko Phangan, we had to leave the next morning at 6.45am to get a bus. the pick-up van was so puntual, right at 6.45 sharp it's already in front of our hotel lobby.

the van took us to phuket city, about 1 hour jorney from patong. then we took a 5-hour bus ride to Suratthani, change bus and get another 1-hour bus ride which took us to the nearest pier. from the pier, we took a speed boat to Ko Phangan, arrived at the shore at about 1 hour and 30 minutes later. and then we took a taxi to haadrin beach where all the happing is.

damn, 6.45 we started our journey and we only arrived at haadrin beach at about 7pm in the evening (includes all ride and transit time).

nevertheless, it really was worth it. haadrin beach is one in a million.

the next day, we departed at 12 noon, repeat the same taxi-boat-bus-van ride. spend another night at phuket and depart back to kl the next morning.

there it goes, basically we didnt actually get to spend our 'day', but our 'night' was crazy and awesome!

i used to go to bali few times a year, maybe now i'll go for phuket

ko samui, now now now!!

ok this is a little mad, yes i have already planned this ko samui trip last month, but a friend who supposed to me my partner for the trip, bail out, so i have then cancelled the plan.

but last night another friend got to know that i am on leave now, and so happen that they are all planning to go to the same place today! oh, little rushing isnt it? all flights fully booked, we have to make a diversion, stopping at phuket maybe. since it's a last minute deal and school holiday period, airplane it will be, and damn that's where all of our cash will flow away. so, no shopping or partying in samui or thailand or where ever it may be.

wedding photog

the last time i hold a dslr camera was sometime 6 months ago, during my good friend's engagement ceremory. and today she called me again to take some other photos for her brother's wedding reception which will take place tomorrow, and here i am now staying in bahau for one night, in preparation for tomorrow's event.

it's pretty good to be in this photography field really, when we get the chance to travel around town and sometime out of town, and all expenses are taken care of.

my current job takes me places, so even if i quite my job and put a little effort to stay in photography, i will still travel around anyway.

photography is my hobby, i love taking pictures of landscape and portrait, but this wedding thing is so new to me.

rambling

some thing got me excited for the past couple of weeks, been working with mix and match all day long, never let any of my off days gone without doing anything. good thing, i have things to do. bad thing, i'm getting skinnier!

to go or not to go

it's friday and i've heard about the interview tomorrow, should i go or just ignore it?

same old, same old

it's only 7am in the morning, and i enjoyed every minute here at home, preparing breakfast and having it while listening to soothing sound from my playlist, breathing fresh cold air, facing the cold morning outside, gloomy blue-sky while the sun taking it's own sweet time climbing up. watching the main road and rushing cars, slowly the traffic gets heavier.. pedestrian walks quickly rushing to office, and some taking sweet time at the coffeehouse. all i can see right here from the balcony of my house. a sip of coffee.. umph

i always love this moment

without @twitter and #facebook

i just realized that i am too attached to twitter and facebook when i was in Beijing last weekend. i seriously didnt remember that china has a strict internet access, even google in china is being watched, only certain results will appear and click-able.

it makes things worse when i imagine for any emergency. what if my mobile roaming doesnt work? how do i share breaking news with my family, friends and followers in malaysia or other parts or the world?

it gets funnier when i go nuts in-front of my lappy thinking of what to surf online while i was in china, :S

i wonder why i cant access twitter and facebook in china, why they have to strict access to those sites, do they bring any harm? in what sorts?

oh guess what, even blogger cant be accessed, too!

early wake-up

it's only 5am, and i have my eyes wide open. the fact is that i slept much earlier, as early as 4pm in the evening yesterday. bad. oh other words, i slept for 13 hours.

grats

this job is not my finest decision

what i'm doing now is definitely not what i really want to do exactly. this job is taking my time, all time for a year now.

previously when i work in office, i have all the freedom, i can do many things before and after work, even sometimes during work. had lotsa fun with colleagues you see everyday, organizing outdoor activities, sports, outings and team buildings.

what i'm doing now, is not like before. this job take me places, but i miss the moment having people i know around me in office.

i miss the joke, the cheer, the laughter, the spirit of achieving target, the teamwork, the unity.

it all does not exist now. working with different people every single day, with many characters to deal with, to face with. building rapport seems harder, almost impossible.

and i'm home on sunday, finally!

the last time i spent my sunday at home was last year' december, been quite awhile. now i have fridge at home, still empty inside except for one bottle of drinking water. perhaps today is a good day to shop some groceries and fill up my fridge.

right now i'm at the living room with my lappy, with coffe and maggi mee next to me while watching tv. so long i didnt switch on this tv, lucky it's still working.

friend just tweet me about the sarawak trip, and today is a good day to do some study on the trip. happy sunday :)

to koh samui in march and sarawak in June

just got back from Osaka, Japan. such a clean place, where the road is empty but the subway is packed with millions of people rushing to get home after work. lovely japan and the people. cant wait to be there again.

next month will be the month i waited for, for my trip to koh samui. the plan is to take a train to hat yai and continue the journey by bus to surat thani, then from there, proceed by boat to koh samui. actual planning is 5 days with air ticket, but considering train and bus travel, friends and i have to add extra 4 days.

new plan popped up this morning when another friend suggested me to backpack to sarawak, exploring the whole sarawak next june/july and i said yes, definitely. i have been dreaming to travel to sarawak since i was in school sitting on those small wooden chair facing the green board (but mind goes wandering). i still remember the time when i emailed few travel agency to get quotation on sarawak package, but somehow my school saving always goes to other stuff.

this time, i'll go.

Kansai i'm coming!

just got back from Jakarta, an awesome place for night life i guess. then i'll be going to Kansai, Osaka today, and the temperature reading is at about 10 degree celsius, not as bad as Incheon, and that's almost about the same temperature in New Delhi, phew~

i've never been to Kansai, and my flight today will be at 11.30pm (gmt +8)

other than food, which i know it would be quite costly, now i'm searching for anything else that i can do over there.

Antara Ayer Dan Jakarta

i'm going to Jakarta shortly, the last time i went there was the last new year, a month ago. i love Jakarta, i love Jakarta, i love Jakarta.

-8 degree celsius and coffee

and now i'm at the hotel room, waiting for sun to rise above head, so that it does not feel so freakin' cold like now. it's 10am in the morning. waiting for the right time to break the hotel door and have a look around town.

Korean tv. i always feel so good listening to Korean and Indonesian.

to shiver in winter

my flight tonight will be at 11.30pm, arrival sometimes in the morning. keyword, morning.

i bet i'll be cold as hell that i will go shiver. god help me. winter coat please help, but i doubt it since i've never face such a weather in my life.

things to do in Incheon, Korea perhaps will remain as only a plan. if the weather is doing good with me, chances are friends and i will go visit somewhere, or just hop around town.

the morning thought

it's morning and i am now having my coffee with some toast and eggs. it's almost a daily routine to have a breakfast like this, and i guess it's pretty much the same for everyone else. only different here, we have an option to have western or local breakfast.

today is an off day, and tomorrow i'll be going to Incheon, Korea. weather forcast says current temperature in Incheon is -18 degree celcius. i cant stand a minute under -1 degree, and how am i gonna face whole day under -18? hope winter coat will give me enough heat to stand just a little while. 

going away during winter perhaps never a good idea. 

i just sipped through my last cup of coffee. need to order another one, now.

later today, i made a promise to myself to go out to pay bills, summons and pay a visit to my mom. she just ordered a fridge for my house. therefore i have to take the fridge and bring back home. luckily my brother own a truck so i can cary the giant without any problem otherwise i have to rent a truck somewhere else.

my house currently furnished with all the necessary, except fridge. thanks mom :)

Apple

i just bought macbook pro. i am not happy when i figured that i cant do much with it, since i am not familiar with apple computer system. how to use right click on macbook? and how do i set up internet connection if i have my pda as a modem?

hell, this is tough and i need some time to learn.

sleepy head

mata pedih kepala pun pusing. badan sakit tapi masih malas nak tido. keyword, "malas nak tido".

blergh~ sleeping is the easiest action i can do, but to put it in better words, i just dont want to sleep, yet.

India

i just got back from New Delhi, India. not a long holiday, just a short one.

while in New Delhi, i stayed in Le Meridian Hotel, nicely decorated hotel with modern design, however the architecture are still an old one, the hotel just had a face-lift not too long ago.

so yeah, places i visited? not much, spend some time with fellow colleagues to the Janpath and Sarojini market. these two market are the two quite well-known market in Delhi, this is the place where you can bargain for almost everything sold here. nice? it was just okay. the majority shops here are selling clothing items.