BEWARE OF WHEN RECEIVING MSN PMs!

Was listening to music from my computer when an msn pm arrive from someone in my contact list. Hmmm she rarely MSN me b4. So I decided to have a look at the pm.



Looks like a message from her. But something just isn't right. I know her not that well but I suspect something is not right coz:-
1) I heard she dun like to go clubbing, so its odd for her to have party photos (from her blog somemore she is working her socks off)
2) Even then she is not the type to share photos
3) We are not VERY close friends, not even in her click
4) Why is her photo account using my MSN nick ljm16? Shouldn't it be her msn account?
5) Some really unknown website, unlike photobucket/flicker/imageshack
6) Plus she is offline

I really felt something is not right with this message. This is not the first type of message coming from her account. Previously alot of other similar type of message coming from her, but maybe just the usual spam.

So I decided to click the link mentioned and see what the website show. I was expecting some porn website, since it has such a suggestive message.



You will come to a page asking for your msn nick and password. Which to me is weird coz PHOTOS SITES such as Photobucket/Flicker WILL NEVER ASK FOR YOU MSN account or password to VIEW the stuff. Unless the user set a password, which is 100% not tied to your msn account.

True enough, a simple google of "cefcell.com" reveals this page.



SO please, if you receive any MSN from me, or anyone from that matter, PLS BE ALERT. My MSN nick is quite common and worth alot (ljm16), so there could easily be alot of impostors out there. ALWAYS SPY-CHECK! (like in Team Fortress2)

Red Alert 3

Been playing the newest Red Alert recently, Red Alert 3. Graphically it is wayy more superior than the previous versions. Since they added more naval warfare into this game, they made the water effects extremely nice to look at, with reflections of the units on the water.

The story is wayy over the top this time around. Red Alert 1has a more serious tone to the units and story took a slightly more realistic path with units based on their real-life counterparts. Red Alert 2 was slightly wacky, with its expansion going wayy over the top with flying saucers, giant brain on treads and mind controlling botak fellas.

Red Alert 3 throws everything out of the window. Its so over the top that EA decided to make it more like Boob/Playboy Alert 3 with the more female characters and cleavage. The hero for Allies, Tanya, is now a blond, which unfortunately as expected from a blond, isn't that very good in the game. Previous Tanyas from RA1 and RA2 can mow down infantry like a giant lawnmover. This Tanya lacks range to kill infantry and can be killed by even a big group of conscripts. Last time Tanya range is wayy more than normal infantry range, hence can mow down infantry which is what she excels at.

Other than that, the units are also bizarre or copied from elsewhere. The developers really took their imagination way ahead than any sane designer would do. The most ridiculous is the Japanese Hero unit which is a ..... school girl. NO JOKE!!! Geezz you think they would think of a more crazier unit.

Anyway:-
Mecha tengu = Macross veritech with gerwalk and jet mode
King Oni = Giant Gundam
Athena cannon = Take the Hammer of Dawn from Gears of War and make it a giant trailer
Mirage Tank = Mirage tank and prism tank in one, but with less range.
Dolphins = Like in RA2
War Bears = War Bears that can attack ppl

Ok, there is alot of units, but if you think EA did a QC check before shipping the game, you are wrong. The game is buggy out of the box. Luckily mine is ori so can patch it up and now it is running ok.

The problem when you play it for the 1st time is that the game will try to access the EA site to check for updates, hence freezing up the main menu. I solve the problem by literally pulling my LAN cable out of my pc, to stop it from connecting to the internet. Makes you think if they did it on purpose....

Anyway the game is quite simply, WHY SO SERIOUS?

Unlike other serious game like World in Conflict, which other game got gerwalks? Might be cartoony to some ppl though, hence it is sometimes called Toy Alert 3.

Some Lego I want

I always liked Legos. Especially the ones where there are big, complex, expensive and quite unlikely your parents will buy it for you if you ask for it.

So when I saw the latest Clone Wars stuff from Lego, I kinda like the Clone Republic Gunship. Its big, has lots of stuff and unfortunately, overpriced. Here it costs a WHOPPING RM 800 (or 799.9999999999). I could have sworn I saw it costing SING 199.90 when I was in Singapore (or was it? cannot remember). Converted to Ringgit, even if it is SING 1 = RM 2.50 it is still less than RM 500!!! Tempted to get one, but after seeing how overpriced this thing in M'sia (like CBU/CKD/any car here), potong stim to get it. Available funds I have, but too much to buy over a short period of time, so buying one of these will easily blow 2-3 months allocation for "other stuff". And by the time Masterpiece Grimlock arrive which will cost more than this thing I think got no money left :P

Some pictures of it.




The one available is the second version after the Episode 2 version shown below.

The vista isn't fully clear.

On the online dictionary, vista means:-

–noun

1.	a view or prospect, esp. one seen through a long, narrow avenue or passage, as between rows of trees or houses.

2.	such an avenue or passage, esp. when formally planned.

3.	a far-reaching mental view: vistas of the future.

sauce:http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vista

But on my computer, Vista is an operating system from Microsoft which installed when I bought it. Since my pc is a new pc and is capable to run Vista, plus a graphic crad which utilizes Vista's Direct X 10, I decided to install Vista Premium with almost all the fancy bells and whistles. Vista Ultimate was in a way, overpriced.

Anyway, like the title, the vista isn't fully clear.

Some wierd things about Vista:-
1) I have to DISABLE the firewall that it came with so that Windows update can contact its server. You heard it right, I have to off Windows Firewall coz W. Firewall is blocking Windows update and W. Update cannot contact server. To think that both are from the same family....

Oh, apparently Windows firewall doesn't like Windows Defender as well...

2) It will pop up a window asking to continue or not whenever I try to do some things which it thinks is supposed to be the work of the admin.

Like to disable firewall it will ask if I should continue or not.
Like trying to run an install program on an ORI CD game it will ask if I should continue or not.

I have heard that it is good in the sense that if a malware decides to install something, the pop-up will come out, so its a mixed blessing.

3) My computer can start up on its own when there is power connected to it.

No, my house dun have ghosts, but kinda weird when you are half way sleeping and it turns on by its own. I dun remember my XP or windows 98 pc turning itself on when I was in college. I dun remember my parents calling my why my pc suddenly turn on its own.

Could be the "wake up on LAN" is enabled, but I never had a problem with previous pcs. Wierd.

So these are the 3 things which I find it weird on my pc.

Trying to think of something to post

*** Blogger's block ****

Arrghhhh..

Tomica 2008 Subaru Imprezza WRX STI and EVO X

Managed to find a car which I really want recently; the 2008 Subaru WRX STI hatchback 4 door tomica car. Bought it from the Litt Tak shop in Sg. Wang 6th floor for RM 12.90. Jusco MV had them at a discount, but yesterday I when I was there, there were NONE. NO Yellow hat GTR, no Subaru.

I saw the real thing when I was in Singapore, ironically looking for the tomica version of the same thing. Up close, it is a car you really want to get if you can afford. Taking styling cues from the Ford Focus, Subaru made its latest Imprezza a hatch instead of a sedan. Better try something different than going against another sedan AWD which is the EVO X. Nonetheless both stand out against each other quite well.

The box for the Subaru and EVO X


A face-off between the 2


Ready to race?


Subaru can open bonnet, EVO X the 2 front doors


Pictures of the real thing



A picture of the Choro-Q WRX with other Choros

Takara Tomy Drift Light Package Nissan Skyline R34

When I first saw that a small remote control car capable of drifting would be available soon, I immediately thought it was worth checking out. Afterall, it is small, about 1:26 scale and costs less than RM 150.

So recently I bought the Takara Tomy (Takara merged/marry/combine with Tomy) Drift Light Package Nissan Skyline R34. Basically it is the small version of the Drift Package where the car is 1:10 and the budget and track required is much much bigger.

Bought mine from the same place as tkt, Litt Tak shop at Level 6 Sg. Wang.

The car I bought is the Yellow R34 Skyline. There is also red AE86, white with Carbon fibre bonnet RX-7 and blue Nissan 180zx. I would like a Subaru Imprezza, but the next best thing would be a skyline.


In total it needs 5 AAA batteries; 3 for the car and 2 for the controller. I would prefer it uses 2 AAs since AAs are more common and an even number would make buying batteries easier, since batteries always come in even numbers.


The back of the box showing its key feature. Too bad its in Japanese and I got absolutely no clue what it being written


The overall content of the box. There is a manual (100000% in Japanese but with informative pictures), an insert showing the other drift cars, decals for the car, the car body in a protective cardboard compartment, the chassis, the wheels and drivetrain package, the controller and other stuff. Oh, they give you 3 sets of wing mirrors just in case you drift too close to something or crash (where you will for the 1st time). I am impressed by the fact that the packaging is extremely neat and they use minimal plastic bags and cellophane tape to wrap the bags. Like 1 plastic bag can have 2 compartments to store 2 different items and still need 1 cellophane tap to wrap. And they wrap it extremely small too so save space in the box.



The size of the drift light package compared to its bigger brother. As you can see it is wayy smaller than the big one (and waayyyyyyy smaller than the real thing)


If you have assembled a Tamiya 4wd car before, then you know what to kinda expect, simple snap into plastic pieces. However unlike a Tamiya car you will need a philip head screw driver to unscrew the plastic holding the batteries. Also you do need to make sure the contact points of the motors are proper since the first time I played the steering didn't work (motor contact points not properly touching).

Once you get it up and running it can really drift, and best of all, you dun really need a big room. I have seem ppl drifting on a conference table!

I have yet to place the stickers on the car, but the car body even without the decals it looks GOOD. The paintwork is better than my BT-19 (uneven blue) and BT-20 even.

Short trip to Bentong, Pahang

On the 12th of August made a trip to Kuantan to hand over some a Bomba submission for a project in Pahang. Since the project is quite a large project, a 10 storey condo at the top of Bukit Tinggi, Bentong, Pahang, the Bomba submission is to Bomba HQ in Kuantan. Would prefer it to be in Bentong since it is nearer KL, but oh well.

Getting to Kuantan is easy using the East west tolled Highway, but the sheer distance and length of time needed to get there is too long.

On the way back from Kuantan stopped by the local authority office in Bentong to ask a few questions. Also went around town to see how it has developed since I was last there. You see, my family stayed in Bentong since before I was born and came to Subang Jaya after when I was standard 1. So standard 1 I was in Bentong, SRK Sg. Marong to be exact.

How has it changed?

Alot actually as well as same things remain. The road system in town has changed that some roads are one way. The town padang is still there, the hospital is still there, SM Sulaiman has increased the number of blocks (I used to play in their field since my mom was a teacher there), the Shell and Esso stations are still there, the Majlis Perbandaran Bentong is still there, SRK Sg. Marong is still there in one corner and even the shop which made the upholstery for my Wira 14 years ago is still there (so my Wira DID venture to Bentong last time).

Got more buildings compared to last time, the market is still there but very neglected (no new paint), the cinema is still there but portions of it is for shops now, the 2 doctor clinic's are still there.

So ya, it was a trip down memory lane for me. A good 16-17 years since I left Bentong. Now as an adult I went back to town since I got a project in the area :P

Anyway, I took this picture on the way back.




Along this road there is a Chinese school, and some of the students there use bicycle to get to school. Compared to here we are all so pampared got driver/parents to fetch and send us to school in air-conditioned comfort. Also quite safe to cycle in a small town since not many cars.

Trip to Singapore August 2008

Last week spend bout 3 days in Singapore to lepak and for shopping. Took the bus there from Sunway Pyramid to Harbourfront in Singapore. The bus we took wasn't the usual express bus where it is driven by Hamilton or trying to break the KL to Singapore record though. The bus we took is the double-decker Aeroline bus. The trip to and fro costs roughly RM 160, or RM 80 per way. Quite steep compared to the regular Bas Express, but then you get comfy seats, an onboard meal and a small lounge to lepak (too small unfortunately). Plus there is a someone like a flight attendent in addition to the driver if you want anything. Oh, got on-board movie too.


The bus before departing Sunway Pyramid at 9.30 am


The onboard meal; Subway with turkey breast and ham



Stayed at the Oxford hotel somewhere near Bugis area. Within walking distance to Orchard Road and the Bugis Junction shopping complex. Our first stop was the Singapore Flyer. This is not some small ferries this is something like the London Eye, only bigger (so they claim).


The Singapore Flyer is located at Marina Bay, near Suntec City and right next to the Singapore GP grandstands and pits. From the Flyer can see the grandstands and pits under construction.


Across the river/sea/creek/bay/whatever can see a golf course


As the canopy/bubble reached the top of the wheel, can see the Singapore skyline


The Pan Pacific hotel can be seen a short distance nearby. We are higher than the penthouse now :P


After the highest point the new Casino development can be seen under construction.


Another picture of the Singapore skyline before my handphone battery went dead. I was busy snapping away when it suddenly died. Must be too much for something like an N95 where I checked my GPS location in the bus on the way down to Singapore and took alot of photos:P


After that not that many pictures coz it was then whole day shopping along Orchard Road :P From one end to the other end:P

The return trip was from Harbourfront back to Pyramid. Depart at around 6.30pm and arrive bout 11.30pm.


Overall it was a pleasant trip, with me bumping into Woon at Bugis since he had a game of Mechwarrior there. But over in Singapore I can't help but marvel just how efficient their transportation and taxis service there. Not to mention it was as clean as Japan. No wonder Singaporeans like their country so much, since their government really take care of them. Compared to here...... dunno where to start.

And things seem to be affordable too. If you earn in Sing (dollar to dollar comparison) the costs of things there are cheap. Again, compared to here... dunno where to start.

Oh, Singapore is also very very liberal. Enter their bookshops and their magazines are different. Example: Compare Singapore version of Stuff to our version, ours seem more covered up :(

Kelana Jaya Putra LRT Station parking Part 2

This is Part 2 of how its like to park your car at the LRT station and coming back at night. I can't help to wonder if RapidKL or the Gov aka Pak Lah ever care for us. A picture tells a thousand words, so I'll show you who it is like when you come back after a Looong day at work.

There are not much lights for the area right next to the station, except maybe this small illuminated part. That part used to be part of the main parking area. What a great waste of resources.


Now for the view from where my car is. Dark isn't it?


Looking towards the east it is no better


As I sat in my car ready to move out, a train passed by.


Picture taken when i was about to leave. Have not on the headlights yet, but at 8:11 it is VERY dark


Do note I took the photos with my N95 with night mode on and it is still dark!!! If a main station is like this, I wonder how it is like for those smaller lesser known stations.

In fact this week, Pak Lah, as part as the by-election propaganda campaign, decided to take the KTM and Putra LRT to work. He made it as though he finally realized how severe the problem is. Fact is, the problem has been ignored for FAR FAR too long.

Sorry my dear PM, it's a case of "its too late to apologize" by One Republic.

On the good side, atleast someone in RapidKL took the initiative to order more trains for the Putra line. Hope it arrive sooner :(

Nowadays, I dunno why, dun feel like playing computer anymore. Dun feel like playing my 360 anymore. Even buying TFs no longer give me the satisfaction like last time (maybe the TF movie fad is over).

Maybe I just need to get out more, get out from the nest and be on my own.

Maybe coz of all the needs of a person, I have yet to fulfill one more..

Let's see:-
Car>got
house>got
secure career>got
money>got but not that much, but not too little
club membership > screw it, i'm not a sportsman
powerful computer to boot> got
nice handphone> got
credit card> my own personal one.. yup, got


so what's the missing need? well this is one thing your relatives will bug you left and right every new year, every dinner and so on, so yeah, I hope for the best to fulfill this need....

Kelana Jaya Putra LRT Station parking

LRT is convenient, fast and ok to the pocket (not cheap, but not too expensive either). But getting to and from the station from the house is another story. Unless you live near one, you need to drive to the station and park you car there.

In the morning it is safe coz there is a lot of ppl coming in at the same time and can park nearer to the station. Going back is another story. If you park some distance away, like underneath the power lines, then going back to your car late is very very dark. also, there is not proper pavement and not even proper road!



Picture shows in the evening as I approach my car. I park here around 11 something since I got a meeting in the morning. usually I tumpang my dad since he work in Kelana Jaya. Dunno how much I have saved in petrol and parking :P

It is possible to extend the parking area even more, since there are ample space beneath the power lines. But is is very very far to walk!!!


If there is any rant, well there is alot actually, is this:-
1) 2 years ago when I started working the area beneath the power lines was FREE after a certain period since there aren't many cars
2) Parking fee went from RM 1 to RM 2 and now RM 2.50
3) Atleast the crusher run is still.. flat. The other area nearer to the station is like the moon. Over-roading goodness? Come here!!
4) No lights, no security (as if anyone cared anyway)
5) Cars parked extremely near to each other, so need good parking skills. Luckily the big boys (aka big S-classes and the like) are not parked here.

I have been playing around with Facebook for while, adding friends which I have not seen in a loooooonggggg time. Also adding some applications onto my profile page. Some of the apps are.... weird. Got vampire game one, mobster game one, poking your friend type.. Then got some which are to say, more useful. Like the one which tell you where you went to.

One app, called the meaning of my b'day app, kinda tell abit about me.



But some are not so accurate, so here's what I have to say:-
Lucky Color: I prefer light blue actually
Personality strenghts: Am I attractive and have a good charm? If I do have it I won't be single anymore..:P
Personality weakness: Yes... I am very impatient. In games I RARELY play sniper coz I cannot stay still and wait in one spot for long.
Successful career path: fashion.. yeah right, me myself also dun care about fashion (Nike? Adidas? Puma? All overpriced clothing!!)
Sense of humour: Raunchy ... totally opposite!!! I'm more gentlemen-like right?

As for the description? Sometimes my head DO end up in the clouds, dreaming bout non-value added stuff. Dream big and think different is true as well. Also i am laid back and fun-loving at the same time, not really want to push myself too hard just for monetary gains. Have to consider bout quality of life also.

Too bad I can't see what other ppl's b'day mean.

I now have both a Facebook account and a Friendster account.

The difference between the 2? One has your profile and shows the friends you have, the other shows your profile, the friends you have plus some apps where you can poke/play/bite/fight/tase/race/etc with your friends.

It's like Facebook took the Friendster concept and added in extra stuff to do. The good thing is that both are completely free and to add apps you need not pay a single cent (unlike M$ Xbox Live service, pay for everything!!!!).

One thing I noticed on Facebook, some have their relationship status as 'married'!! So fast???!?! Maybe coz they dun want 'buayas' (male and female) to kacau them, but still, got married already?

Oh ya, gone are the days where ppl use ICQ anymore. Now everyone use MSN.

This morning I saw bout 5 super/rare cars at ONE intersection. Was at the Tujuan traffic lights, the one where you make a U-turn to go into USJ 3/4 and back to SJ.

First I saw 1 M5 silver color one to my left, waiting for the traffic light to turn green. I also waiting for the traffic light to turn green so that can make U-turn to go to SJ. Then opposite side a Merc CLK 200 turns right to Jalan Jengka. I though, hmm, Sunday morning everyone will bring out their Sunday cars. As the light changed the cars from Jalan Jengka turns right to Jln. Tujuan and lo and behold, a Yellow Porsche zips by me. Thinking there might be more, 2 more EVO 8/9 zips by soon after. Sooo.... everyone bringing out their Sunday cars...

On the way back pass by some of the bungalows in my taman, USJ2. The CLK earlier stopped by one of the bungalows and parked by the side of the road. So as I slowly pass by it, I saw a 350Z decorated with wedding decorations inside the bungalow. The best man in his CLK 200 visiting the groom? This orang kaya really kaya like hell.

Anyway one thing that irks me this morning was something on the radio. Was listening to Hitz.fm playing Rihanna's "I dun wanna do this anymore" when to my great surprise, they censored the word "gun" from the song!!!!! WTF WTF WTF!!!! You know the part she sings that she want to shoot the fella with the gun? well they silenced the word "gun"!!

If RTM I can understand, but this is a private station!!! Watlah this country!! Like mighty morphing power rangers, some idiot think 'morphing' sounds too close to 'morphine' , some drug. Geez, as if kids know wat morphine is.

In fact gone are the good old days when cartoons show ppl holding guns blowing each other up. Example: Transformers Generation 1 has both sides carrying guns and shooting each other to scrap. Now the latest Transformers Animated most of the "good guys" have melee weapons with only the bad guys have guns of some sort. Still they prefer to fight melee.

If that is not enough, I saw a DVD for the cartoon Thundercats with something you would not believe; an 18PL rating!!! Contains scary scenes etc. errr..... did the person who slap on that rating ever saw it as a kid? Or kids these days are too "soft" for big men fighting in their spandex against a very dark evil vampire? I used to see the cartoon as a kid, even have the "ThunderTank", but now cartoons are all.... boring. No gun fighting (the best part), no super cool vehicles, no real evil villains.

Ok, enough rant for today...

Tomica die-cast cars

My brother collects small Hot Wheels/Matchbox sized cars called Tomicas. These type of die-cast cars are different from the usual HW/MB cars in the sense that they are more detailed and more realistic. Unfortunately it is also double the price! Still I prefer Tomica compared to HW since HW tend to make weird or ridiculous cars. Toilet bowl car? Yup, HWs did make one.

The different between Tomica and HWs is that they are from different regions. Tomica is of course from Japan and is made my Tomy (which has merged with Takara, tainting Takara with its QC problems, but then Takara gains Tomy's distribution network). Hotwheels is from the US. Tomica has a more realistic approach to thier toys whereby their cars are based on real cars (like Toyota Passo, EVO X etc), their playsets on toll plazas in Japan (with no stopping Smart Tag lane to boot!!) and life in Japan.

HWs on the other hand is more the cars which will highly remain in the realm of fantasy of on the race track. Their playsets are all about... CRASHING. Jezz HW cars have such funny paintwork and to play them you crash them... rigghtt..

Anyway bought these cars yesterday from Sg. Wang. The Hummer and EVO X is very hard to find, so I was lucky they had stock that day.





The doors can even open!!

Binaltech BT-19 Bluestreak and BT-20 Argent Meister

After a few months of waiting, I finally got myself 2 new Transformer Binaltech number 19 and 20. BT-19 is Bluestreak who represents a Blue Subaru Impreza, while BT-20 is Argent Meister (Agent Jazz) who is Silver RX-8 with Mazdaspeed Body kit.



Both come in the usual Takara Tomy Binaltech box but with only the display stand and instruction sheet only. No more instruction booklet and collectible card like last time. The story is printed on the bottom of the box :(



But the instruction sheet is not really as bad as the Hasbro's one with some Nippon words to guide you.


As for the cars themselves.... let's say if you are expecting Takara quality then you'll be disappointed since it is tainted with Tomy quality. For Bluestreak different parts have different shades of dark blue while for Jazz the silver paint is not as perfect as one would expect, but still acceptable.

Bluestreak


Argent Meister


However if you are new to the Binaltech scene, and wish to own atleast 1 binaltech without paying ridiculously for the early Takara version which can go into range of RM 300-500 each, then this is a good buy. Just dun expect the quality of a Takara but not as bad as Hasbro. Atleast they still give you the box to keep you cars safe.

I still have 2 more coming, BT-21 and BT-22. BT-21 is Arcee which comes in a S2000, while BT-22 is Convoy who comes in a Dodge Pickup truck. Both are die-cast, and Bt-22 will surely weigh a ton since the mould is very big (which may explain why BT-22 is currently delayed lol).

After that will get the Nissan GTR transformer. Too bad it is sized to 1:32 instead of 1:24. But still, it is a GTR!

Beijing Trip 3

Moving on to day 3 of my Beijing trip. Have not been posting for a while, so since I'm free today time to continue!!

So we when to this fresh water pearl factory to see just how many pearls are there in a fresh water oyster. The number of pearls in a fresh water oyster numbers around 20-30 instead of a sea oyster which we all know only has a single oyster. My bro bought a pearl necklace (not so biglah) for his gf. A just opened oyster showing the pearls.


The rest of the day was spend shopping though all the "Sg. Wang" type shopping complexes. Mind you, the level of customer service in M'sia is 1000 times better than in China. Out there, you have to bargain to kingdom come, otherwise you will get rip off. Its bad enough the product is a FAKE, but they still wanna charge a high price. Even worse are those sales person who knows english, since they can counter offer you.

Anyway at one of the places where my bro was shopping for a LV wallet (of course not reallah), the shop sales ppl hold his hand for a while when my bro was walking away from the shop. Btw, there are alot of fake goods such as; fake Ipod with similar packaging and casing (but lacking the signature apple ipod dial), fake nokia N95 (I got the real deal), fake Kingston 32 GB thumbdrive (which some of our members bought for fun, only to KONG when wan to use here), fake TF toys such as ultimate bumblebee, leader class movie prime, copy binaltech and the one I have, a fake alternator. Dun get me started on fake nike/reebok/(insert brand here).

For the taxis here, there is ALOT of Hyundai Elantras and Volkwagens being used. In fact due to the close proximity of South Korea, somehow the local gov bought a very large fleet of Hyundai Elantras to be used as taxis. Make out Saga taxis extremely outdated and lousy. Infact, compared with other countries, we have among the smallest and most outdated taxis. In Europe there are E-class taxis, Thailand Vios taxis, China Volks and Hyundai Elantra, Japan Toyota Crown etc.

Day 4 we visited the Summer Palace, where the Emperor pergi lepak during the summer period. It is like a big man-made lake resort with emperor proportions. One empress (yes, empress) even used money meant for the navy to build/renovate the place (using rakyat's money wrongly again).

The view of the lake and temple on the hill at the summer palace. Extremely hazy though.



The longest corridor in the whole. The pictures painted on the beams are all unique to one another.


The famous marble boat. Looks like in a very bad shape.

Another view of the lake front and the hill


The view of the 17 arches bridge when viewed aboard the dragon board. The lake has a dragon boat which shuttles between various gates in the area.


Later in the day all of us took a trishaw ride though the narrow lanes of a "hutong". Hutong is something like a village with narrow lanes and the houses are extremely near to each in the city. The trishaw have no suspension with some parts of the lanes unpaved and uneven makes the ride very bumpy but fun. Fun to ride in a hude convoy though.


So at the end of the last evening in Beijing, we had another glimpse of the Bird's Nest Stadium. The stadium is not very big when viewed from a far, but I think once you been inside a big stadium, then you will appreciate the sheer size of it. Ever wonder why the price of steel is so expensive? Well I think this is one of the reasons....


Nearby is the new media center in the shape of the Olympic flame and the countdown digital display to the opening ceremony. When we were there the number of days to the Olympics is only 60 days.


So the next day we depart from Beijing from the new Terminal 3 airport. It is VERY BIG. VERY VERY BIG. At the main terminal when you enter the entrance you can't see the other end. Equally amazing is that the roof have openings to allow sunlight in, conserving energy and cutting electricity costs.




So how was the trip? I would say I enjoyed quite well although there were some minor hiccups. In fact the start of the trip was a real eventful one and we thought it was a no-go.

The original plan was to meet up at my dad's office in Kelana Jaya at around 8.30pm, head to KLIA aboard a chartered bus and catch the flight at KLIA. But it didn't went smoothly in the sense that the day we supposed to depart is the eve of the petrol hike, so everywhere is jam like hell coz ppl were trying to pump in at the last minute (dun blame the motorist, blame the person who decided to announce it so suddenly). To cut it short, the bus sesat, arrive slighly late, then had problem getting out of Kelana onto the highway until finally we arrive at KLIA in time.. all coz the flight was delayed (hmm, now maybe we ARE supposed to fly off).

If that is not enough, the plane which was supposed to fly out to Beijing had some problem so the flight was cancelled! Stranded in our very own KLIA, the airline (Air China) put us in the Satellite Building hotel (yes, a hotel INSIDE the satellite building) and sort of upgraded us to the next MAS flight in the morning at 8am. I say upgraded coz the original plane was a smaller plane than the one used by MAS. Not to mention MAS serve better food. So in the end we did depart for Beijing and landed in Terminal 2, not the new T3 that our earlier flight was supposed to go. But hey, in the end we did depart from T3 after all :P

Here's a mural in Terminal 2 showing the sights of China.