Pearl of the Orient

My family and myself recently took a drive to Penang. We were attending a wedding ceremony there. Since it's Penang, I gotta write a little something from my experience there!

Going to Penang isn't new for any of us, but something about the island would get us real exited! Before this, we had visited almost all the tourist attraction Penang island has to offer. Heck, we even circled the whole island, all the way from Gelugor and back to Batu Ferringhi. Well, since we went over for a function, all of us couldn't really travel as much as we did the last time. That doesn't mean we didn't make some time for fun!

Well, let me start from the beginning; our travel plan. We wanted to stay at a hotel in Georgetown, since that's where the wedding hall is. I started browsing for few websites which lists hotels by specific location; say at Georgetown or Batu Ferringhi. Most of the websites I stumbled upon are not anywhere near user friendly. One website (penang-hotels.com) on the other hand was very systematic! I like the way they made the search very user friendly, complete with thumbnail of the hotel with an approximate price (Hey, it's the internet! I'm quite sure there may be better websites than this one. But after thorough searching, this came up on my browser first). I used this feature to pick a hotel that's appropriate for my family's budget.

Of course, I didn't book the room right from the website. The link above also allows you to check for vacancies, and book rooms right away. Unfortunately, the vacancy information given is not entirely true (maybe?). Despite showing many vacancies, a call to the hotel says that there are none. I don't know, maybe they reserve some rooms for their patron's who book online. Then again, when I mentioned this to the front desk, she boldly challenged me to try to book and see. A little rude, if you ask me.

Anyways, once at the island, we drove straight to Batu Ferringhi Beach. The decision was quite spontaneous, since we just wanted to just drive around, and come back to the hotel just in time for the wedding.

On the way to the island.

We didn't regret making that spontaneous decision! My my, the weather that day was perfect for a beach stroll. It wasn't very hot, the breeze was calm, and the water was chilly. This was about 2pm. Well, it may not be as cool as Pulau Redang beach, nevertheless, the view that day was breathtaking! Below are some photo's I snapped via my cell phone. All the photo's here was posted to my Instagram account, hence the square frame.

Awesome beach view!

Smooth waves!

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Oh, It's Just Malaysia

There's been so much of discussion lately about the unity of fellow Malaysians. Well, with all the political drama going on, why wouldn't people question our unity. What people fail to notice is the lighter side of our unity.

If you're a Malaysian, you'll know that most Malaysians sees eye to eye on many things. For starters, most of us think that we are above average drivers. Try driving on the highway, and you'll find someone challenging your ego soon enough. Among many 'threats' I find that continuous flickering of the headlight takes the cake.

What about being punctual? Personally, I've came across many instances where parties or events was held up because of  reasons like late arrival of VIP, technical problems or (my personal favorite) waiting for more crowd. Let me share something happened in high school once. All us prefects are supposed to gather up after recess. When I went to the gathering point after recess, only about three people were there. We waited for about another 30 minutes when other prefects finally start showing up. One of my friend whispered to me "Here comes the Malaysians." I know, prefects are supposed to be punctual, but let's just leave out that bit for now shall we. I think it's an open secret that whenever you organise something, you always announce the starting time half an hour to one hour earlier than the actual starting time. You know, just in case there are emergencies. You can't complain though. I've been organising some events myself, and you will never know when something happens during the last minute.

While we are on the topic of Malaysians, let me share something I got from the internet. This article is about why terrorists could never succeed in attacking Malaysia.

1. Terrorist decides to blow up KLCC. He drives to KLCC with the intention of planting the bomb there, gets stuck in a 2-hour jam, and blows himself up in frustration. PLAN FAIL.

2. Terrorist decides to bomb Ipoh as a practice session before targeting KL. He drives for the first time on the highway to Ipoh trusting the signboards to get him there, and ends up in Lumut. Terrorist drowns himself in the sea in frustration. PLAN FAIL.

3. Terrorist decides to blow up Puduraya. While walking to his destination, the bag in which he keeps his bombs gets snatched by snatch thieves on a motorcycle. He pulls on his bag’s strap desperately and dies after being dragged 100m on the road. PLAN FAIL.

4. Terrorist decides to blow up Port Klang. He succeeds!! But the next day The Star, NST, Berita Harian and Utusan publish an article on page 10 headlined “Boy playing with fireworks injured in minor explosion.” PLAN FAIL.

5. Terrorist decides to bomb Johor Bahru. He rents a house as headquarters and the night before the dastardly deed, three men with parangs break into his house, robs him and kills him. PLAN FAIL.

6. Terrorist decides to bomb Kedah to paralyze the rice bowl of Malaysia. That night, while secretly setting up the bomb during a heavy thunderstorm (so that no one sees him), Timah Tasoh Dam hits danger level, authorities open the dam gates and he is swept away in the floods. PLAN FAIL.

7. Terrorist decides to blow up Bukit Bintang. Upon arrival at destination, he is accosted by a pimp and spends the night in the arms of a beautiful woman. At dawn, authorities raid the place and arrest him. PLAN FAIL.

8. Terrorist decides to blow up the MACC building as he is a strong advocate of corruption. He enters the building, but before he manages to plant his bomb, he is found dead after a fall from the 14th floor window. PLAN FAIL.

9. Terrorist decides to blow up Serdang Hospital. He enters the hospital lobby, hears a loud crashing sound and looks up to see the ceiling collapsing on him. He dies. PLAN FAIL.

10. Terrorist decides to blow up Genting Highlands. On the way up the mountain, a speeding bus driven by a 18-year-old boy without a driving licence crashes into his car and kills him instantly. PLAN FAIL.

MORAL OF THE STORY: MALAYSIA IS INVINCIBLE TO TERRORIST ATTACKS!!

This was meant to be a joke and not to offend anybody. I laughed throughout the list and thought that it would be a waste if not shared. The awesome author of this list is Shirley Mohan. I asked her permission personally before posting it here. Hope you guys had a good laugh like I did!

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Framed

I love photography! I snap anything that captures my attention. It doesn't matter if it's a beautiful scenery, weird people behavior or something ironic.

For some images, you need to tilt and position the camera in a specific way to get a good shot. Sometimes I have to snap lots of pictures to get that one 'perfect shot'. During this process, I would be experimenting my camera by changing modes and anything else of the like. There has been many times where people gave me weird looks whenever I snap something. To make things worst, I only have a compact camera, not a DSLR (I wish I had one). So the 'professional photographer' first impression is not there (I got so used to this, that somehow this built my self confidence). I guess its all in a days work for an above-average-level photographer.

My friends were kind enough to borrow me their DSLR for a day or two, so I had the opportunity to experiment with a few cameras. My personal favorite is still Canon. I prefer Canon's camera interface, compared to Nikon. I'm sure Nikon fans would think otherwise :-P
I wish I had one for myself, so that I can learn how to create effects via camera in my own time. Not that a compact can't do the effects, but it has limited AF intelligence, compared to a DSLR. Besides, I don't really fancy those new compact camera functions, like it snaps when you smile, touch screen or it snaps whenever there's movement.

Anyways, in this post, I want to share some funny (or rater ironic) things that I spotted around. All of these images was snapped using my cell phone (cell phones are perfect substitute for camera when it comes to spontaneous photography), so excuse the pixelation.

 

McDonalds at the middle of the road!

 Holy crap, Captain Malaysia is real!

 

I dunno, maybe they spell it in this way in another country :-/

 

At my university...

 

At a mamak shop in Penang.

 

I wonder what the driver did to make the other guy mad...

 No comments...

 

I didn't know how to respond to this warning....

 

Then again, maybe it's normal in a gas station...

There seem to be some problem with pictures using this blog template. I can't adjust the size of the pictures. If the details are not clear, just click on the picture to see the original size. I'll rectify this problem soon...

These are just pictures that I took recently. I have loads more in my archive! Maybe I'll share them in the future.

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Narasimha Caturdasi

Its Narasimha Caturdasi tomorrow, so I thought of sharing something about Lord Narasimha. The lila of Lord Narasimha is well known, so I'll not go into that now. For those who want to know the brief lila, here's the link. I want to share the size of Lord Narasimha by comparison (just for you to get the idea).

In the Ramayana, Ravana went to Bali Maharaj to look for help. Bali Maharaj, knowing the position of Lord Ram, declined to help, and tried to convince Ravana to give up. Ravana of course, didn't listen to Bali Maharaj's advice. In order to show Ravana that he doesn't have a chance, Bali Maharaj invited him to a huge mountain. This mountain was made of boulders of diamonds. Bali Maharaj then said to Ravana that he will give the mountain to Ravana only if he can lift it first. Ravana tried to lift the boulder, but to no avail. Bali Maharaj then revealed to Ravana that the mountain is the earing of Hiranyakasipu, decorated with diamonds.

During the fight between Hiranyakasipu and Lord Narasimha, the earing fell down to Sutala Loka. Now, can you get the general idea of the size between Ravana and Hiranyakasipu? Alright, now fancy this, 'just as one can easily crush a wasp between one's fingernails, so in the same way the body of the wasp-like demon, Hiranyakasipu has been ripped apart' by Lord Narasimha. Get the idea yet?

Lord Narasimha appeared in that particular form, just so that it doesn't contradict with Lord Brahma's boon to Hiranyakasipu. More about this boon can be read from the link stated above.

Fun Facts:
Ravana was Hiranyakasipu in his past birth (This is based on Jaya and Vijaya curse).
Bali Maharaj is Hiranyakasipu great grandson (Prahlad Maharaj's grandson).
Bali Maharaj is the king of Sutala Loka

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Proton vs Mitsubishi

When Proton Inspira was announced, many people joked about how Proton was copying Mitsubishi's design. In fact, I've come across many bloggers who made fun of the engineers working for Proton. The boys from my university was poking fun at how cheap Proton is, to "carbon copy an awesome car like Lancer". I was surprised that many Malaysian's are not aware of the engineering behind Proton.

What many people don't know is, most of Proton cars are Mitsubishi old models. They were re-badged and renamed into a more local tune. Proton Gen-2 was the first 'Proton's car', (excluding Proton Waja), including its engine (yes, i know right!). Proton and Mitsubishi were partners for many years. The proof? Well, here are the pictures...

Proton Saga

Mitsubishi Lancer Fiore/Mirage (4th Gen)

Proton Wira

Mitsubishi Lancer (6th Gen)

Proton Perdana

Mitsubishi Eterna (7th Gen)

Proton Juara

Mitsubishi Town Box

Besides these models, Proton Tiara was also re-badged, but its not by Mitsubishi. Proton Tiara has the same design as Citroen AX. It seems that Proton Savvy is an 'upgrade' to Proton Tiara. Interestingly, Proton Savvy looks almost like the Mitsubishi's Concept Global Small design. Not only Proton, even Perodua models was re-badged. I won't go to the details of Perodua now, since we're on the topic of Proton and Mitsubishi.

Interesting isn't it? For the past 25 years (26 this year), we Malaysians are driving old Mitsubishi models in the name of national car. Nevertheless, Proton are coming up with their own designs lately. Perhaps their partnership with Lotus could make some significant changes soon, besides their Proton MSX and Satria Neo R3.

By the way, what do you guys think about the Pahlawan Series?

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harer nama harer nama harer nama eva kevalam, kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha

“It’s not the body that people love, but the soul. The body is a temporary vehicle. Without the soul, the body is like a car without a driver. I see through my eyes, smell through my nose, taste through my tongue, hear through my ears, feel through my skin, think through my brain, and love through my heart. But who am I? Who is the witness, enjoyer and sufferer that activates my body?”

~His Holiness Radhanath Swami in The Journey Home book~

Cool quote isn't it? I believe this quote strongly suggests the presence of soul in one's body, and the significance of it.


When I was at campus, I could hardly go to any family gatherings. There's always something during these gatherings. I've missed quite a few important ones. I thought the one month semester break given was good enough to attend to any of my family gatherings. Unfortunately, during this break, I had to attend to a funeral and other prayers of the like. Well, it is family gathering nevertheless, but not at all like how I was anticipating.


You see, the death of this relative of mine was very unexpected (she had a stroke). We met her two weeks before, and she was speaking like any other normal person. The news came as a shock to us all. The same thing happened when we heard the news of Uttama prabhu passing away.

Attending the funeral of this relative of mine reminded me of the famous quote "You're not this body, you're the soul.". Yes indeed! Many people out there know this fact, but don't behave like they do (this includes me... well, to  certain extent :-P). There's a story from the Pandavas I wanna relate here. When Yaksha asked Yudhistira about the most wonderful thing, Maharaj Yudhistira replied that, "Eventhough everyday one sees living entities dying, he still acts as if he will live forever.". I couldn't agree more.


This paragraph took me a while to type. I keep typing examples, and at a certain point, it looked like I was going off topic already. I was relating body conscious activities like grooming for a long time, making money as the center of the universe and some other similar ones. I think I'll just skip the examples. You get what i mean right?


People are doing so much, just to maintain their stay on Earth. This includes physical working, mental and emotional drama. All for what? When asked about the purpose of their life, the answer would be simple; "I dunno, make money, and enjoy? And then when die means die lar". What most people don't realise is what happens right before, during and after death; how the soul passes on; and what happens to you after that. People who do, would start fearing death. The case is not the same for most of the devotees that I know. Well, that's because they're crystal clear of their goal of life, and the process of achieving it.


So guys, to sum it up, for those of you who are trying your best to ignore the call for some boundary and rules in your life, I would like to say that its time to stop being a coward by ignoring and running away from the inevitable.

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One Hour's Sleep Before Midnight Is Worth Two After

I recently finished my finals. I guess it goes without saying that I had to burn the midnight oil one too many times. Well, I do hope the effort is worth it!

During this studying process, many of my friends came up with different theories about how we can do 'quality studying' by 'sleeping smartly'. Funny how we can stay awake till late night and don't need these tips during non-exam seasons. Anyways, I wanna share what they said, and what I found out from the internet.

One of my friend heard from his girlfriend (she's doing MBBS) that sleeping from 11pm to 3am is the best. According to her, even though elementary school calculation says its 4 hours of sleep, its actually equals to about 8 hours of sleep. He was explaining about the 'sleep calculation'. I forgot the details of the calculation, but it was something like; 1 hour of sleep after 11pm is equal to 2 hours of sleep, and the calculation anytime after 3am is back to normal maths. Like i said, i'm a little foggy on the details, so excuse the mistakes. I'll get back to my friend, and update the details soon. He also said that his girlfriend is following that sleep pattern, and she's not feeling fatigue during the day. I thought "Hey, its a great deal! Double amount of sleep for half the time. Why not test it. I don't have anything to lose!". We decided to test the theory on that very night.

So I went to sleep at 10.45pm, just to make sure I'm already asleep by 11pm. Both of us woke up at 3.30am. At first, it was hell trying to open my eyes, and get myself out of my cozy comforter. To add fuel to the fire, it was really cold as it rained few hours ago. I somehow got myself out of the bed. For the first 2 hours, studying went smoothly. After that, I was too sleepy to study further, so I slept for another 1 hour (from 6-7am). I tried again the next day, and the same thing happened (FYI, that includes the rain). I could not continue doing this everyday as my group study friends normally stay up till 2am to study. I notice one thing though. Studying early morning after some rest feels really GOOOD! Well, after all, there's a solid reason why devotees wake up early in morning to chant! I think the extra concentration was because all my friends are already asleep, and there's no notifications in Facebook... haha

The next day, I asked a fellow devotee,who's also a lecturer in my university, about the sleep calculation thingy. He mentioned that its true, and the scriptures did mentioned about it. Then he looked at me and said, "That's why we're supposed to sleep early". He also explained to me about the calculation, which, again, i forgot the details. Looks like i have to update this post with significant details soon.

Ever heard the phrase "one hour's sleep before midnight is worth two after"? Looks like there's some truth in it after all, not just something your parents say to make you go sleep early! I googled to find out details about sleep, and how we can make most of it.

After doing some fair amount of research, i noticed that the world don't need another how-to-sleep-better article. Many people done extensive research about this matter. There are many solutions given for optimum sleep too. Among all these, i really like this article. Happy reading!

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