Alternator Prowl China Police edition

One of the souvenirs I brought back from Beijing is a KO (Knock-off) Alternator Prowl in Chinese Police car design. Simply put, it is a copy of an alternator toy with chinese police car decos; and a very good one for a superbly low price of 50 Remembi = Rm 25.

We'll start with the box. The box is using an almost similar box of the Binaltech Prowl, with manual booklet, display cardboard and plastic holder. Upon seeing the box you would not know that is a copy unless you noticed the different logo and the absence of the "TAKARA" and HONDA copyright. Even though it is using the Takara Binaltech box, the car is unfortunately is of Alternator quality.




Underneath the box shows what other alternator prowls are available.


The contents of the box.


The close-up of the car mode. The entire car is white in color with the "great wall" chinese police force logo and decals similar to the police cars in Beijing. The plastic quality is ok and the door, hood and boot fits tightly, unlike some KO alternator where the doors and hood will swing open if you turn the car upside down. Even with the engine inside the hood, the hood remains shut. It's like this company used to make Hasbro's alternators!!! There are no Honda or Type-R logos visible on the car.




The parts which can be opened.


The transformation to the bot mode, for a Knock-off, is similar to that of an alternator. Some of the KO alternator/binaltechs I have can't complete the transformation or their bot mode looks weird because some of the parts are larger than the other etc. This kind of toys have strict tolerances, and any defect can ruin either the bot mode or alt mode. For this particular KO, the transformation was smooth.

The bot mode meanwhile is on par with the alternators. Joints are tight and not too loose, although one of the foot joints was a little too tight. The hood easily locks into the torso. Overall good bot mode.

Heads up!


Front


Side


Back


Comparison with Barricade.


Note: Click on the image to enlarge

Beijing Trip 2

This is part 2 of my photo post from my Trip to Beijing. Part 1 showing day 1 is below.

So off to the great wall of China! Quite hazy compared to yesterday. Dunno if it is haze or mist or fog, but if you are a pilot it is really hard to see anything.

This photo shows part of the great wall across the valley.


The gate to Beijing from a small city to the left of the photo.


Part of the wall is steep.. very steep with no breaks in between. Uneven steps and the steps has sunk from constant used. So I climbed up to the tower at the top...


Only to see that you can climb even higher to the next tower. Needless to say, we turn around after that and head back down.



Next we head to a cloisonne factory where they make all this fragile pottery china. Can see how these items were made. They create the pots using copper and copper fillings. If in M'sia leaving all the copper stuff outside will result all of them gone overnight.



Then we head to this wax museum showing the periods of the Ming dynasty. The quality of the figures to say the least... China QC. There are limbs in not natural positions and some of the displays are really gathering a thick layer of dust. Then some of the exhibits are either gory and funny. Like one showing the emperor in bed with a common lady while a minister tries to speak to him outside but prevented to do so by his jaga. Then one jaga in a "HURRY UP LAH!!" stance at the door.

This one shows a "spy" in action


One the way back to the city center pass by the water cube and the bird's nest. Cannot really go near as it is still under construction.




Spotted by the "Bukit Bintang" area of Beijing for a while. There we stopped by a Macdonald's to see what they have on offer. There is grilled chicken (something like char siew chicken) burger & egg with ham pie, something different from here in M'sia. Darn, why our mac so lousy wan???


This ends my post showing photos taken on the 2nd day.. more to come !!

Here are some of the photos taken during my trip to Beijing.

The place shown below is the OCT theater where we saw a theater performance called "Golden Mask Dynasty". This is a relatively new building, with very very advanced stage. There is one scene where water was pouring from the stage to simulate a massive flood.



This is the 1st hotel we stayed in Beijing. The hotel is rated 4-star but the inside like 3-star. The next day the tour leader decided to change to a more "better" hotel. Gald we did as the other hotel was waayy better.


So off to the forbidden city the next day. This is the entrance to the forbidden city that we have just passed called the Meridian Gate.


Next up is the Hall of Supreme Harmony. This place is where the Emperor's speeches are made for everyone to hear. AS you can see it is under renovation for the games.


Before entering the Inner palace where the Emperor's throne is, will passed by these 2 gold lions
The male


and the female


Once inside can see the emperor's throne. As you can see the stuff is very dusty.


We then exit the forbidden city by the Gate of Divine Might. We walked from Tianemen Square>Outer City> Inner City> exit by gate of divine might. There are 9999 and a half rooms so to speak, but of course we din go into every roomlah.


Then afterwards we went to this "tea house" to get to know more of the tea available in China (but can be bought in m'sia, m'sia sell everything). I mention this place coz our tour group consisted of several Malays since it is my father's company trip. So we went with the English speaking group, while the chinese tour mates went with the Mandarin speaking group. The english speaking group majority malays and to be frank, they dun drink much chinese tea. My mom drinks tea, but can buy from Gojo tea shop in Gardens MV, top floor near Borders. So the presenter was quite upset that she could not make any sales from our group. She even said something like ".. do you have a problem with this so and so tea...". Needless to say, we quickly cabut from the room after that.

The mandarin speaking group took longer that our group so we did buy something after that, but not the stuff the presenter was trying to push us. Managed to bargain to get a "pee-pee boy". Basically it is a small sculptor where the boy will "pee" if the water is hot enough for the tea is poured onto him.



So that ends my post for the first day in Beijing.

Here is a photo showing the floor layout of the hotel we were staying. Read the sentences:P

Take a look at all my souvenirs I brought back from Beijing, China :)

Went to Beijing for holiday from the 4th to the 10th of June 2008. Didn't post anything immediately after the holiday coz too tired after the trip.



The list of souvenirs are:=
1) KO alternator Prowl in China police decals (amazingly accurate and well built)
2) 3 big hand-painted fridge magnets (2 of them has QC problems, haih China makes the worlds magnets and can't even get its own magnets right!!!)
3) Great Wall "hero card"; you buy it when you climb a short (but extremely steep) portion of the great wall at the top
4) OCT theater ticket (some theater performance)
5) Beijing 2008 soft toys
6) Beijing 2008 2-D fridge magnets (this ones work well)
7) Thermo-sensitive Beijing 2008 mug (decal change color when hot water is poured)
8) Forbiddden Palace museum fridge magnets (the one with the red and yellow baju)

and many more souvenirs which my parents bought for themselves. As you can see, i'm more of a fridge magnet/soft toy collector type of tourist.

Anyway the trip to Beijing was great, although it can be a little better. Few things about this Beijing trips:-
1) Tour agency will bring you to some tourist sales place like those selling pearls, tea, herbal medicine etc, bring you into a room (not locked I can assure you) and give some lecture/demo and after that expect you to buy. Can't blame the tourist companies, its their tourist dept. directive. And the prices are not cheap either since you are paying tourist price. One of the places sell burn cream and the demonstrator actually BURN himself with a glowing hot heated chain to show how effective it is. Some can even get upset if they know they will not get the sales.
2) Shopping in their "pasar malam" type of shopping center can make even the BEST bargain hunters KALAH TERUK. Some of the sales ladies/men are well verse in English and know how to bargain to their advantage. Also they will quote a substantially higher price and you need to bargain it down to appropriate levels, though the price of TF there seem like those in toy shops in KL.
3) Beijing has been cleaned up for the 2008 games. No kidding, all the buses are new (including our tour bus), the streets are repaved and alot of places are still under construction (will they make it). But some roads can see 1 storey high walls along the streets to block the view from the main road of the houses/shops behind it. Like DBKL build a huge mural to block the view of some setinggan houses around KL from the road.
4) The new Beijing Terminal 3 airport is BIG. BIIGGGGG.
5) Our flight from KLIA to Beijing was delayed, so had to stay in the KLIA air-port hotel (no not Pan Pacific, the hotel inside the satellite building) for 1 night, depart in the morning.
6) Beijing is hazy.
7) Great wall is STEEP.
8) The birds nest is cool :)
9) There is ALOT of Knock off stuff. Fake Ipod, fake cell phone, fake Ultimate Bumblebee, Fake Leader OP, fake Louise Vutton wallet, Fake ... anything!! Even saw fake X5 and CRV.

I have shipped my 360 to my friend over in Singapore to get my 360 fixed. The shipping cost roughly RM 145.00 with return by some courier company. Not the usual Fedup though. Anyway it took only 1 day for it to reach its destination in Singapore. Not bad for my first ever stuff sent by courier.

My 360 get to visit Singapore instead of its owner ... rigghtttt.

Right now I'm on a "puasa" from buying Transformers figures. After the HUGE buying run last month, the only TF purchase I made this month is the RM 211 Bt-06 Corvette Tracks. Other than that no other TF was purchased. It didn't help that my 360 broke down and I have to spend money to repair it.

Maybe next month I'll get 1 or 2 figures, then the following month another 2. Its getting wayyy to expensive to maintain such a hobby.

Another reason why I'm not keen to "invest" in such indulgence is after a msn conversation some time ago. Had a chat with a former school mate of mine and i told her that I spend quite a lot on toys.. i mean TF figures. She was a abit taken aback and said why dun I go out more. Then I pulled her leg by saying why dun she introduced some of her friends to me.

After that she said that i was too obsessed with toys and very unlikely will introduce me to someone since I'm too into toys :P

So I guess from that conversation it proves one thing: Girls dun like boys who are too obsessed with their toys/games/computer/cars/hobby!!!! Note the bold word obsessed. Meaning still can have a toy hobby, but in moderation and have something else to do.

Now I wonder if girls like ppl who are obssessed with girls.....

I have always believe that PC gaming is better. Cheaper games, availability of mods, tried and true controls for games like First Person Shooters & Real Time Strategy, ability to cheat easily, can put in your friend's save game if you give up (never used, but its nice to know you can do it) and free online gaming. ** Yes, I know PC can play ahem games, but nowadays I buy ori and have so far never bought any pirated game ***

Having an Xbox 360 is great and I can tolerate certain things like have to pay to play online if the service is good, but then things like need to PAY to unlock cheats, need to PAY to unlock stuff on the disk (cough cough EA, Chromehounds), cannot mod the game, need to pay for .. everything, even your DISPLAY PICTURE if you want to customize your looks and use a different display picture than the initial ones provided. Imagine paying MSN to use a different picture provided :P

But since it is working fine I can tolerate the above issues since I can still can play the 360 without certain things.

BUT NOW, my 360 is NOT WORKING ANYMORE!!!!! AARRHHGHH!!

I am now contemplating my options the best method to fix it. If it proves too expensive to claim its official warranty I will fix it cheaply then if it dies again I'll leave it for dead. Cheaper to invest in a PS3 or to keep my PC running.

So for those of you thinking of getting a 360, make sure you are in Singapore or have good contacts there or willing to buy a backup. Wait till M'soft release the newer version which is claimed not to die so fast.

Till then, get a PS3 where you can watch blue-ray discs and still be able to play GTA4.

Or just get a PC.

Halo is overrated anyway (for someone who was spoilt by BF2PC, Unreal tournament PC, DOOM 3 PC (Xbox version was simplified) , Dawn of War, HL2, Crysis)

P.S : Forgot to add, it does not come with a wifi antenna. So if you want to connect your 360 to your wifi router you got to fork out RM 300 the 360 wifi adapter, which is PURE GORENG since I can easily get a usb wifi adapter for less than RM 100 if you buy a generic brand and the 360 is designed to only accept is own kind. Oh, PS3 comes with a wifi antenna in built.

I have been contemplating to get the wireless adapter for some time, but always shoot it down due to the ridiculous inflated high cost of it (like our cars here, TAXED to the maX!!!). Now that my 360 is spoil, good havens I didn't buy it.

There is a limit on how much one can spam on an internet forum.

Take for example the Transformers thread on Lowyat.net. Its members are ridiculous spammers. They can post until an entire thread is up in less than 1 week. Mostly picture spams of their collections. Of course there are some posts like "Good morning" or "going to so and so place, will check out TF". But from July 2007 to April 2008 they had gone through from V1 (the first thread) to the current V27. That's right, 27 threads of nothing but transformers: pictures, chit chat etc. Then in between got some out of topic stuff as well.

Mind you, a thread need to reach 2500 posts before a new one is needed.

So much so that the moderators decided to put a stop to the practice coz the other threads in the sub-forum like Gundam, hot Wheels, PVC figures have not even reached their 5th thread yet. Though our TF fan base exploded after the transformers movie, recently it there is more spam posts than last time.

That's why now the thread is a little slower now, but more meaningful posts, instead of the usual picture spam.

Can't blame Lowyat.net staff anyway. I would say it is one of the biggest forums in M'sia, with 100k over members. With so many forums and sub-forums thier servers are bound to fill up quick. And server space and power isn't infinite.

Here's a recap on the amount of Transformers figures I have at the moment:-

1. Voyager Rescue Ratchet
2. Deluxe Jazz
3. Voyager Thundercracker
4. Deluxe Bonecrusher
5. Deluxe Brawl,
   
6. Takara Voyager Blackout,
7. LEADER MEGATRON,
   
8. LEADER BRAWL ,
   
9. Deluxe Barricade,
   
10. Takara Deluxe Longarm,
11. TAKARA LEADER OPTIMUS PRIME,
    
12. Deluxe Bumblebee 08,
    
13. Deluxe Payload,
    
14. Legends Optimus Prime,
    
15. Classics Jetfire,
    
16. Classics Grimlock,
    
17. KO Smokescreen,
    
18. KO Grimlock,
    
19. KO Dead End,
    
20. Alternator Ford GT Mirage,
    
21. Legends Ironhide,
    
22. Legends Desert Blackout ,
    
23. Deluxe Landmine,
    
24. Alternator Shockblast,
    
25. Alternator Swindle,
    
26. Alternator Silverstreak,
    
27. Alternator Dead End,
    
28. Offroad Ironhide,
    
29. Voyager Hasbro Incinerator
30. Takara Masterpiece Starscream,
31. Hasbro DVD Masterpiece Optimus Prime (yes, the biggest Optimus Prime there is)
    
32. Classics Rodimus (Hot Rod)

Dun ask me how much it all adds up :)

But there is more coming soon:-

1. Alternator Optimus Prime
2. Alternator Rumble
3. Alternator Wheeljack
4. Binaltech Bluestreak
5. Binaltech Jazz (movie redeco)

Would be concentrating on Alternators and Binaltechs from now on. The other TF toys are rather... kids toys.

Saw a link to a website called "what your name means" from Lyn.net.

So i type in my name and the result was:-
You entered: **** ** ****

There are 10 letters in your name.
Those 10 letters total to 56
There are 3 vowels and 7 consonants in your name.

Your number is: 11

The characteristics of #11 are: High spiritual plane, intuitive, illumination, idealist, a dreamer.

The expression or destiny for #11:
Your Expression number is 11. The number 11 is the first of the master numbers. It is associated with idealistic concepts and rather spiritual issues. Accordingly, it is a number with potentials that are somewhat more difficult to live up to. You have the capacity to be inspirational, and the ability to lead merely by your own example. An inborn inner strength and awareness can make you an excellent teacher, social worker, philosopher, or advisor. No matter what area of work you pursue, you are very aware and sensitive to the highest sense of your environment. Your intuition is very strong; in fact, many psychic people and those involved in occult studies have the number 11 expression. You possess a good mind with keen analytical ability. Because of this you can probably succeed in most lines of work, however, you will do better and be happier outside of the business world. Oddly enough, even here you generally succeed, owing to your often original and unusual approach. Nonetheless, you are more content working with your ideals, rather than dollars and cents.

The positive aspect of the number 11 expression is an always idealistic attitude. Your thinking is long term, and you are able to grasp the far-reaching effects of actions and plans. You are disappointed by the shortsighted views of many of your contemporaries. You are deeply concerned and supportive of art, music, or of beauty in any form.

The negative attitudes associated with the number 11 expression include a continuous sense of nervous tension; you may be too sensitive and temperamental. You tend to dream a lot and may be more of a dreamer than a doer (err... I really do tend to dream alot :P). Fantasy and reality sometimes become intermingled and you are sometimes very impractical. You tend to want to spread the illumination of your knowledge to others irrespective of their desire or need.

Your Soul Urge number is: 6

A Soul Urge number of 6 means:
With a number 6 Soul Urge, you would like to be appreciated for your ability to handle responsibility. Your home and family are likely to be a strong focus for you, perhaps the strongest focus of your life (true true) . Friendship, love, and affection are high on your list of priorities for a happy life (really true, need gf :( ). You have a lot of diplomatic tendencies in your makeup, as you a able to rectify and balance situations with an innate skill. You like working with people rather than by yourself. It is extremely important for you to have harmony in your environment at all times.

The positive side of the 6 Soul Urge produces a huge capacity for responsibility; you are always there and ready to assume more than your share of the load. If you possess positive 6 Soul Urges and express them, you are known for your generosity, understanding and deep sympathetic attitude. Strong 6 energy is very giving of love, affection, and emotional support. You may have the inclination to teach or serve your community in other idealistic ways. You have natural abilities to help people. You are also likely to have artistic and creative leanings.

If you have an over-supply of 6 energy in your makeup, you may express some of the negative traits common to this number. With such a strong sympathetic attitude, it is easy to become too emotional. Sometimes the desires to render help can be over done, and it can become interfering and an attitude that is too protective, rather than helpful (too helpful and sometimes like to hear ppl's problems instead of my own). The person with too much 6 energy often finds that people tend to take advantage of this very giving spirit. You may tend to repress your own needs so that you can cater to the demands from others. At times, there may be a tendency in this, for becoming over-loaded with such demands, and as a result become resentful.

Your Inner Dream number is: 5

An Inner Dream number of 5 means:
You dream of being totally free and unrestrained by responsibility (MERDEKA!!!). You see yourself conversing and mingling with the natives in many nations, living for adventure and life experiences. You imagine what you might accomplished (zzz and dreaming once again:P).

So a small bit of it is kinda true in a way. The website is here:-
http://www.paulsadowski.com/Numbers.asp

On Thursday had to go over to Kuantan to meet the Bomba officer there. Had a project in Bukit Tinggi Pahang which required a little clarification on the fire-fighting system. The plans are submitted to Bomba Pahang, hence the need to drive all the way there.

yup, drove over 600km from SJ to Kuantan and back to SJ in 1 day. So here was the timeline:-
6.00 am left home and refuel car
6.15 left SJ by Kesas, then using MRR2 to go to Karak Highway side
6.45 Karak Hwy, Gombak toll RM 5.00 toll
7.00 Karak Hwy, Genting Sempah tunnel
7.30 East Coast Hwy, Lanchang toilet stop
9.30 Reach the Kuantan interchange, RM 19.20 toll from Karak to Kuantan. almost 10 cent per km!!
10.00 in Kuantan, lepak a bit to 2.00 pm coz the officer is only in afternoon
So 10.00am to 2.00 pm went to Teluk Cempedak, lepak at Kuantan Megamall
2.30 Left Kuantan, heading back to KL
5.00 pm, went up to Bukit Tinggi from Karak Hwy to see my site, located at almost 800 meters above see level. The location of the site on top of the hill will make any structure and infra engineer sweat. Fortunately I'm doing mechanical services :P
6.00 back on Karak Hwy to head back to KL
7.00 back home

So its 300km to get there, 300km to get back. The toll tally is like:-
Kesas Hwy RM 2.20 X 2 = RM 4.40
Karak Hwy MR 5.00 at Gombak toll , RM 3.00 at Bentong (Pahang side)
East Coast Hwy RM 19.20 from Karak to Kuantan
East Coast Hwy RM 19.20 from Kuantan to Karak
Karak Hwy another RM 5.00 and RM 3.00
Kesas Hwy RM 2.20 X2 = another RM 4.40

So total cost for toll only is a whopping RM 63.20 both ways, excluding petrol!!!!

But I must say, the Karak Hwy and East Cost Hwy is very nice to drive and if you are willing to risk saman (I didn't) you can speed all the way to Kuantan, though the Karak Hwy have a lot of sharp corners and the road is very undulating and steep. There were countless times whereby bigger cars (even kancil) overtook me. The speed limit for east coast Hwy is 110 kph.

The East Coast Hwy the transit ticket is very unique whereby it is a card unlike the Plus ticket which looks so outdated (still using magnetic strip!!)


Kuantan is pretty well run and clean I must say. Telok Cempedak, a popular beach spot was very clean and well maintained. Then in Kuantan got no toll road unlike say here there are tolls everywhere!!! No wonder BN still in Pahang, they are doing quite a good job there!

So this is kinda like my first out-station trip on my own using my car. Last time went to JB by bus or tumpang contractor or colleagues. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Then for my car it is the first time it went out-station too. yes, 14 years old and the furthest it has ever been is Nilai. Never been to Pahang, never been to Genting, never been to Perak even. Even though it is 14 years old the ride is smooth at 105 kph and the steering is straight. Of course, I just had it serviced less than 48 hours before, but on such a long trip a service would be necessary.

Oh, I must add that I have upgraded by phone to N95 from N80. Dad got a N95 but the battery life of the N95 couldn't keep up with the amount of calls he makes and receive every day. So I exchanged my phone with his. So far battery life is ok for me since I do not have many calls, but on this trip to Kuantan I only left bout 25% at the end of the day coz I took photos and surf wifi for almost and hour.

TOMOLO is VOTING DAY!!!

Time to exercise my right as a Malaysian and Vote!!!

and yes, my vote is secret :)

Got a new Transformer last weekend, and it is not the usual for age 5 and above toy. It is rated 15 and above and very very detailed.

Got myself a Takara Masterpiece Starscream :P

Finally!!!



Very very detailed. cockpit can open, nose cone can open, air brake can open. A true Masterpiece. Now to save up RM 700 for a MP-04 (Optimus Prime Masterpiece with trailer)

Here's my new soft toy I bought :P


Looks familiar? I bought the Starbucks bear dressed up as a mouse with red shirt and holding some sort of good luck knot. Costs RM 50 though, but have to wait another 12 years b4 he comes out again :P

I realized that I have TOO many photos :P almost 700 photos all together. The majority of them are family photos, however some I can put here to show a few things.

First up, the part of Tokyo which I stayed on the second day there. Stayed at the Keio Plaza hotel just opposite the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building in the Shinjuku area.



Quite a famous building actually. Raced around it in PGR 3, blew it up a few times in some PS2 game, and when I was there didn't know I will come here although i was thinking will I come to this place or not since I have seen this twin towers before.

Then the 3rd day I was at mount fuji area it snowed heavily the night before. The result: winter wonderland in the morning!!


Taken from the balcony of our hotel. Imagine, almost a palm length thick of snow came the night before.

From my hotel room window, not facing the lake unfortunately


So no choice can only visit mount fuji visitor center. See the thick layer of white snow? It is fresh white snow. The visibility is bad and cannot go up the mountain. Bought my Mount fuji soft toy from here.


See how heavy it snowed last night? :P


Luckily as we went over to the volcanic hot spring area can see the mountain.. although can't see the peak.



But after that we went to a shrine on top of a hill can see the peak finally :)


The 4 sided shrine on top of hill overlooking a city.


Now that mount Fuji is covered, now onto food!!

At the lake side hotel naer mount fuji had crab for dinner


Then on X'mas eve had this steamboat dinner in a typical japanese restaurant in Kyoto. Extremely hard to get up after that.



And the best of all, unlimited sushi!!
Yes, I took a little too much. The colors dun represent any value or type of dishes unlike our sushi king here. At a sushi bar in Osaka. My plates are on the left. The wasabi is very sauce-like, unlike our wasabi powder-rish. Also, I took too much wasabi!!!


... and yes, we were trying to outdo each other



The last day went over to Universal Studios Japan in Osaka. The entrance arch at night


There are also lots of Myvis... i mean Passos around too. My bro which has a Myvi was busy snapping away. Like this myvi here.



Or this Myvi inside the Toyota themepark in Odaiba, Tokyo.


or this Daihatsu Boon here, spotted on the 4th day.




And lastly, I mentioned about their hi-tech toilets, well, one hotel had this seat with a heated seat. There is a stop button, front spray button, back spray button and water pressure control. Oh, the water is heated too.

Let's recap on how much i have spend on Transformers so far

**** looks at total ***

errr nvm.

Now someone mentioned I collect until I can fill an entire shelf full before I get fed-up.

Well judging by the amount in the below picture,


Getting fed-up is loooonnggg overdue :P

Here is the first photo album of my Japan trip. This one shows photos taken at Tokyo Disneyland. Click the photo to enter.