不到长城非好汉

The title says it all, "Not a great man if you don't visit The Great Wall"

That was why, we took all the trouble and opportunity to step onto the once-considered, 7 wonders of the world, or is it still one of them, not sure though. It was drizzling and it somehow proved a challenging task for us.

We also visited the Forbidden City (crazily huge), Temple of Heaven and Tiananmen Square!

We also visited The Place, a place where you find lots of youngsters hanging out at night. They have a super gigantic screen right on top of your head with plenty of audio visuals to entertain visitors.

A picture speaks a thousand words. Enjoy some of the pics taken during my visit to some of the interesting places around Beijing.

Greetings From Beijing!

Today is my 4th day here in Beijing. Starting to adapt to the weather and perhaps, the local food here. According to my Beijing colleagues, weather here has changed since the last 1-2 weeks. It's supposed to be summer here, but we are still getting rain every now and then, and overall it's kinda cooling here, as if the beginning of winter. Weird!

Anyway, arrived here on Saturday, at 6.35am after a 6 hours flight from KL. Thought we could have a day out since our deployment activities were scheduled to begin on Sunday. Spent the whole morning in the hotel room doing some last minute configuration and core software upgrade.

However, we managed to find our way to the famous peking duck, in a restaurant near our hotel, 10 minutes' walk away. And we spent the evening visiting the Silk Street (something like Petaling Street back in KL, but this one's in a building!). Lotsa stuffs there, garments, accessories, electronics, but you really need to bargain your way for your desired items.

Visited Wang Fu Jing Street (Pedestrian Old Town) as well. It was really 'people mountain, people sea' there. Lots of shopping again. A mixture of new and old shops in different part of the street. There were a number of Beijing Olympic flagship stores there. Prices for these items are fixed and controlled by the governments, so no bargaining required!

Started working on Sunday till today. It was like, waking up early in the morning, heading for DHL office, work-work-work, then lunch, after that work-work-work again, and then head back to hotel. The very reason that kept us going was dinner! We really enjoyed walking around the streets looking for food, trying different local dishes each time. And of course, helping ourselves to the wide range of local beers in China. **slurps**

Things have been good so far, and I hope we would be able to get a sign-off from our end-users come next Wed/Thurs without any major issues.

Cheers!

I Proposed

What is marriage without proposal? (fuh yohhhh)

Today I officially proposed to Jan. Eventhough it's already a known fact that we're getting married, but a proper proposal is still as important. I was never good at anything like this, but anyway it's a once-in-a-lifetime occasion, therefore I wouldn't want to live my life regretting it.

It was nothing spectacular, not that I have the time to plan for it anyway. I figured I had to get it done now, before I start to get even busier with work in the coming weeks.

So how did it all happened?

1. Bought a bouquet of flowers (red roses + stargazer lilies) from Blooming.com in Midvalley ( apparently I was there to get some Chinese Renminbi :D )
2. Reached home, parked my car and place the flowers in my car boot.
3. Went in and pretended I left something in the boot, looking tired and worn out.
4. Asked her to get my laptop from the car boot...and surprise surprise!!
5. Followed her from behind, with the RING in my hand, and proposed to her at the door step, on my knees of course!!!
6. I got to say, it was never what she expected. She was like "I thought you are gonna do it in front of all our friends??!!!"
7. I responded with "Siao bo, pai seh la...I did it my way...want or don't want??" (my face getting red, biasalah)
8. She insisted I do it again with the presence of our friends (macam saksi la I guess).
9. After some sweet talk **wink wink**, she gave in. Drama ended with **hugs** and **kisses**
10. Sekian terima kasih.

Pheewwwww. Told you I suck at it. Anyway, one down, more to come. Marriage is never easy these days. Lots of things to plan and carry out.

Penguin used to sing it when she's happy and going back hometown. Today I just feel like singing this.

"Yippie yai yai yippie yippie yai...!!!"

Ex Factor

Today I got the news that my ex was getting married. Not that it meant anything to me, but nevertheless it left me wondering, do you guys get invited to your ex's wedding dinner? Reason I'm asking, simply because I was not!

We're still friends (I guess), chat online once in a while, talked over the phone sometimes (God knows when was the last time :D) Although things were not really good the time we broke off, but we came to a mutual agreement soon after, that it was the best thing for both of us. And I was glad it actually happened.

Nah I'm not going to be bothered or sulk, simply because I was not invited. I wish her all the best moving into a new chapter in her life.

Cheers!

Updates

Exhausted but yet excited with the aggresive project I'm currently supporting in DHL! Imagine, Euro 2008 started a week ago, and last night was the first night I was able to sit down nicely and catch the game between Spain and Sweden! How pathetic! Thank God today is an off-day for me. Anyway, even with the hectic schedule and not to mention the demanding customers we have to support, I'm happy as I have a bunch of entertaining and nice colleagues working together.

I had to wake up at 6am every morning since last Sunday, and reached home at 9-10 pm every day. It's pretty taxing, but I get to meet lots of people and learn new things everyday. Will be based in Menara TM for one more week, before going to Beijing for another 2 weeks end of this month. Project timeline is kinda tight and what's more, it's being concurrently rolled out to few countries over the world. Luckily I will only be supporting Asian countries. Got a lot of travelling to do over the coming months.

This year will prove to be a busy year for me. Projects aside, I will be getting married! ROM is on 08/08/08, which I hope will not clash with the Taiwan Beta support. And the wedding reception will be held on 06/12/08 in Melaka.

Catch up and update you folks with the plans as and when it comes!

Champions Of England

"...We are the champions, my friends
And we'll keep on fighting till the end
We are the champions, we are the champions
No time for losers 'cause we are the champions, of the world..."

Imagine standing in the crowds and singing along with them after the final whistle. Yeah that was how I tried to put myself in last night. Surely it will be an emotional and joyous occasion.

United fully deserved the title? C'mon, you must be kidding. Of course they do. The most consistent team and one that never fail to entertain. To be frank, at the beginning of the season, I'd thought Arsenal would be battling it out with United on all fronts, but certainly not Chelsea, no way.

Credits to the Blues, despite losing their 'Special One' halfway, they managed to get their acts together and put up a good fight. But in the end, United stood tall. With Chelsea only managing a draw last night, it has all but buried Avram Grant's ridiculous call for a MU-Chelsea match to determine the worthy winners of England, predicting both will end up level on points.

One down, one more to go. The Champions League final against errr...who? C-H-E-L-S-E-A, hell yeah Chelsea! Again, I'd thought Liverpool would have made it to the finals. Lucky Chelsea for that freaking penalty in the semi finals. Fingers crossed, I'm hoping for an entertaining final, and of course I'd be dying for a Man Utd victory in Moscow.

UNITED we stand!

History In The Making

Man Utd has just booked themselves a place in this year's Champion's League Final, beating Barcelona 1-0 at old Trafford, courtesy of a rare Paul Scholes' goal this season.

I jumped to my feet when he scored the screamer, which proved to be the crucial goal United needed. We will see a historic all English teams Champion's League final this time around. A classic encounter is on the cards.

Tomorrow will be the second semi-final match between Chelsea and Liverpool, who will fight it out for a place against Man Utd in the final. I'm hoping Liverpool will pull through, simply because I hate Chelsea.

Anyway, GLORY GLORY MAN UTD!

Eye On Malaysia @ Titiwangsa

These days, not many would love the idea of visiting Tasik Titiwangsa anymore. Unlike 10-20 years back, when every school trip to KL would not be complete without a visit there.

I'm a person who loves nature. I love beaches especially. Anyway recently, me and Jan paid this place a visit, mainly because we wanted to try the Eye On Malaysia. Outdated, but at least we didn't have to wait in the long queue :)

After a stroll in the park for about half an hour, we found ourselves directly in front of this huge 'eye'. Hmmm nothing to shout about really. Maybe we went at the wrong time. Night time would be much nicer. Couldn't care much though.

Below are some of the pictures we took there. For those who have yet to try Eye On Malaysia, below is the price structure. Worth it? I seriously don't think so. Purely for the sake of trying before it's taken down.

Needing Her

I thought I could live without her. Not needing her anymore. Now that I find myself in deep shit again, the beautiful memories with her resurfaced.

Each time I'm in this 'shit', I think of her. Needing her more than ever. My heart tells me "go get her", but my brain tells me otherwise. Gosh, it would be much more easier if I still had her with me. I know this isn't right, but I just couldn't help it.

I really hope the day will come, when I can totally forget about her and get on with my life.

Sick

Yeah and I'm oficially on Medical Leave today! Left office yesterday at 3.30 pm after consulting the company doctor. Down with flu and fever. Damn...

But this morning, was still able to go redeem our free McDonald's Sausage McMuffin! Steady right? Hey I'm really sick ok. Just that Jan dragged me to go get those free burgers. 10 of them! And one can only redeem 5 at any one time. FYI, McDonald's is giving away 1 million free Sausage McMuffin. How to get them?




Where to get your free Sausage McMuffin coupon?
1) At participating McDonald’s restaurants starting 14 April from 11am onwards. One coupon will be given with any purchase per customer per receipt.
2) Selected LRT and Monorail stations as well as commercial districts from 14 -18 April. One coupon will be given to each person.

Some sad stories to follow. Jan took 8 of it to the office. I took 2 and headed for Luke's place. He suggested we went for breakfast for some tea to go with the Sausage McMuffin. Off we went but damn we forgotten about our 'priceless' breakfast. Decided to take roti canai instead. How pathetic. Went back his place after that, and much to our disbelief, one of the McMuffin was gone. His housemate alerted us that apparently one of it was taken by the house CAT. She saved the other one, just in time. Blardy cat. I'm starting to hate cats now. After what happened to Jan the last time. And now this.

But, come to think of it, it's our carelessness . Shouldn't have left it there at the first place. Anyway, TGIF. Going to take my medicine and sleep over the day. Good day folks.

Hail The Red Devils

Man Utd have all but finished off Arsenal's season with a 2-1 win at Old Trafford last night. Trailing 0-1 just after halftime, they responded with 2 goals from Ronaldo and Hargreaves, for what seems like a result that would see the Red Devils retain their Premier League title for the 2nd successive season.

Things are looking great for United, already in the semi-finals of the Champions League, and on the verge of lifting the Premier League once again. Even my nephew Jarod knows what team to support.

Caya sama lu lah...next time can bring him watch footy and have some booze...LOL

Qing Ming Festival

Yesterday was the official Qing Ming festival, meaning Clear and Bright Festival. Its name denotes a time for people to go outside and enjoy the greenery of springtime, and also to tend to the graves of departed ones.

This year is the first time I joined my relatives for this festival. We were stucked in the crazy traffic jam for hours. Imagine having to drive to few different places for 4 tombs. An eye opener to me really. People mountain people sea. But at the end of a tiring day, I feel it's about time, we the younger generations learn a few tricks from our folks and let the tradition continues.

There was an interesting conversation between me and my cousin.

Me: Keong, few more years later, it would be us doing all these stuffs, as our parents would be too old edi...jia lat man...

Keong: 10 more years from now, everything would be much simpler edi laaa...go to the appropriate website, find your ancestors' tomb thru some allocated tomb number, and do the necesssary all online...

Me: Hahahaha there will be buttons eg. LIGHT JOSSSTICKS, LIGHT CANDLES, BURN HELL NOTES, OFFER FOOD...everything is just a click away...yesss laaaa...

CJ6??

Most of you might have watched the movie CJ7. This CJ7 character toy pet, 7 zhai, have been selling like hot cakes here in Malaysia. Even in pasar malams, I've seen lots of imitated ones.

There have been news, a downgraded version, CJ6 would be released soon! Keep a lookout for it.

Chilli Pan Mee

Fell in love with Kin Kin Chilli Pan Mee few years ago. It's located somewhere in KL town, which we find quite discouraging at times, keeping in mind the traffic hassle we have to endure to get there and back.

Found out recently that they have opened another branch! And it's located in Pandan Indah, Cheras. Couldn't be happier with the location this time. Up to now, we have been to this branch 3 times, including today's visit.

For more information about this delicious pan mee and what it's all about, go here

For chilli pan mee lovers, this latest outlet is located in the shoplots opposite Steven's Corner, right across the main road, facing the police station.

Cheers!

Moscow Awaits

Eagerly waited and followed the LIVE (slightly delayed on Astro though) Champion's League Quarter Final Draw minutes ago. Mixed feelings I had. 2 weaker teams left in the pack and obviously I would love Man Utd to be drawn against these 2. However, come to think of it logically, it would be better to knock the better teams out in this stage, than to meet them in further stages! If we can't beat them now, what difference does it make in other stages? The prospect of having 2 English teams meeting one another is scary but unavoidable, considering there are 4 English teams in this stage this time around.

The outcome of the draw?

Arsenal - Liverpool
Roma - Man Utd
Schalke - Barca
Fenerbahce - Chelsea

Forget about all your guesses and lets hope for a glorious outing for English teams. Personally of course I'm hoping for a ManUtd-Liverpool Finals in Moscow on May 21, 2008. This is highly possible considering both teams will avoid each other in the semis, if both could overcome their QF's opponents!

Glory glory Man Utd!

Kong Hey Fatt Choy

Wishing all of you Happy Chinese New Year. May the year of Rat brings you even greater success, prosperity, better health and abundance of wealth.

Some deco we did for our house, just to spice up the festive mood.

Even my futsal boots are RED in color!!!

Apparently the CNY celebration at the place I stay, was somewhat earlier than expected. We were treated with some lion dance performance, organised by our developers 2 weeks ago. Not bad and luckily, they were able to finish the performance, just before the rain started to pour. Look at the dark skies.

Alright, my last post in the Golden Pig year. More to come with the Rats running in. Cheers!

Battle Of The Pin-up Girls

The beauty of the tennis game isn't all just about the game itself. Throughout the years, we've seen more and more sweet young beautiful girls making names in the international tennis arena, making the game a whole lot more beautiful. LOL

As I am writing this, I am catching the live coverage of the Women's Singles Finals in the Australian Open between Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic. Battle of the 20-year-olds and undoubtedly, it's a battle of the pin-up girls. Both are so pretty and what matters most is, both plays wonderful tennis.

Maria is known for her powerful ground strokes and of course those high-pitched screams, which could be quite intimidating for some. Whereas Ana has a never-say-die attitude and a fantastic fighting spirit, in addition to her all-round ability in the court. Reminds me of Martina Hingis really. But, she's rather inconsistent.

OK just a short one here. Back to the game now.

**UPDATED**

The match has just ended and Maria Sharapova has completely outclassed Ana Ivanovic in straight sets 7-5 and 6-3. She's playing some fantastic tennis at the moment after her injury plagued year 2007. This is her first Australian Open Grand Slam title. Hopefully this will be a great start for more glory in 2008 for Maria. And to Ana, hope to see more of her in the world of tennis this year.

Cheers to both!!!