Malling at Leppavara

Usually, when I'm on training in a foreign land, I would've covered much of the city by the middle of the week. Not this time. There's no sign of snow, yet it's freezing cold. You get some light drizzle in the morning once in a while, but the ground is dry. The puddles turn to ice, so you have to careful where you tread. And it's dark and gloomy most of the day. If you're lucky, you get sunlight for about 6 hours - from 10am till 4pm. When you're out and about, you definitely need to have a beannie, a scarf, and gloves on, or you won't last long. Every time I take off my gloves to take some pictures, I need at least 15 minutes for my hands to recover.

Fortunately, there's a mega-mall right across the Leppavara train station. Instead of going straight back to Helsinki to hole up in my hotel room, today I decided to go window-shopping. Wasn't much fun because I'm not looking for anything in particular. Bought two Christmas postcards - one for my GF and another for my Bavarian penpal. The cashier informs me that for €0.50 more, I can actually get 10 postcards. Very tempting, but nah. Dinner is a Hesburger meal. I don't think it's reindeer meat, though.

Helsinki to Karaportti and Back

It's a bit of a hassle getting to Karaportti because I've never been there before. Most of our technical training courses used to be held at Kutojantie. Before, from my hotel along Mannerhaimintie, it's just one bus ride away, which is quite convenient for me as I usually wake up late and time my 15-minute breakfast just so I can rush out the hotel doors and hop on the bus.

First thing you wanna do is get yourself a regional tourist ticket. This one covers Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen, and Vanta, covering all transport services - tram, train, bus, metro and ferry. That's €33 for 5 days (120 hours). From Mannerheimintie, take trams 4, 7, or 10 to get to the city centre. From the post office, it's a short stroll to the central railway station. To get to Karaportti, take the train to Leppavara station, then the bus to the training centre. Trains Y,S,U,L,E,A all pass by Leppavara, though I prefer the A-train that terminates at this station. From here, you can take buses 28K, 29T, or 3 to Karaporrti. To return to Helsinki, just do the reverse.

Bangkok to Helsinki

After only 5 hours of sleep, it's time to have buffet breakfast with the champions - the SEA Games participants, specifically. With the shuttle bus leaving for the airport at 9:30am, there's not enough time for me to sneak into the city for a quick tour. Contented myself with walking around the hotel premises.

More airport woes. After queuing up at the check-in line for half an hour, the lady tells me that I have to pay THB700 airport tax. Well, it's not my fault that my flight was delayed and I have to check in again the next day. So off I go to the Qantas office and get them to pony up the 700 baht. By the time I sort everything out and get to the boarding gates, it's an hour before departure.

The Finnair plane is pretty cramped, and no personal video screens. If you're bored, you can rent a PSP. If you're still hungry after the meal, you can purchase instant noodles, Pringles, cookies, and chocolate bars from the stewardesses. Spent the 10-hour flight reading the newspapers and magazines. Since it came highly recommended, I also watched Disney's High School Musical 2. Call me old-fashioned, but I don't think it's natural for kids to suddenly break out into song and dance every time there's five of them around. I'm leaving this to the tweens.

Things got interesting when we touched down. I turn on my phone, and five minutes later I got an emergency page. Apparently, the hard disks of the Sunshine OSCs are acting up again. Strictly speaking, it's none of my business anymore, but they don't call me Mr. Nice Guy for nothing. Turns out the engineer is on-site to change the disk array controller, and wants to know how to turn off the boxes. On the other hand, our customer wants to know how to switch the traffic to Rosebery if the OSCs will be offline. Taking the €22 airport shuttle to the city, I quickly checked in to my room at Crown Plaza, and logged on to the Internet. A few emails later, I managed to quieten things down, so I can have a few hours sleep before I attend my training.

Sydney to Bangkok

Not a good way to start my vacation, I mean my business trip to Finland. It's a good thing we got to the airport early because there's a very long, snaking queue to the check-in counters. Not a good thing for my GF's parking ticket because she decided to hang around till boarding time. Half an hour after our supposed take-off time, the pilot informed us that one of the switches on some control panel is defective, and needs to be replaced. Everybody had to get off the plane and cool our heels at the Qantas lounge. About time too because I'm starting to feel hungry already. Some light refreshments and an hour later, we're on our way to Bangkok.

With nine hours of flight time to kill, I started my movie marathon with Stardust. The movie is based on the book by Neil Gaiman. I've read Gaiman's Coraline before. After watching the movie, I'm guessing the book version is probably better. Story is about this guy Tristan Thorn who is smitten with the town bimbo Victoria. Victoria is supposed to marry rich guy Humphrey on her birthday. On a whim, she says she'll marry Tristan instead if he can bring her this star that they saw fall down from the skies. Tristan goes off in search of the star, which turns out to be a beautiful girl by the name of Yvaine (played by Claire Daines). He's not the only one after the star though. A group of witch sisters plans to capture the girl and eat her heart, which is supposed to bring them back to youth. The princes of Stormhold are after the girl's necklace. Anyone who has the necklace can then lay claim to the throne of Stormhold, as decreed by the deceased king. During the epic battle at the witches' castle, the witches and the princes were killed off during the melee, leaving Lamia the witch (played by Michelle Pfieffer), Tristan, and Yvaine for the final showdown. In an inspired move, Yvaine tells Tristan to close his eyes, and she busts forth her blinding star power, incinerating Lamia in the heat blast. Tristan picks up the necklace and goes on to rule Stronghold. (I missed out a big chunk of the movie when the couple were aboard Captain Shakespeare's flying ship, but like most of the other subplots, it's not important in this kiddie movie.)

Next up is 1408. I've heard good things about Stephen King's earlier movies, but not the newer ones. This is no exception. Or maybe horror-suspense movies just don't work on people who are half-asleep. In the movie, John Cusack plays Mike Enslin, who goes around visiting haunted houses and writing summaries for horror tour guide books. For his latest adventure, he checks in Room 1408 of the Dolphin Hotel in NY. The room has a pretty gruesome reputation. No one has has ever survived an hour inside the room. The guests either commit horrible suicides or die of "natural" causes. For the next hour of so, we see scary flashbacks, ghosts and apparitions, eerie noises, hallucinations, sudden shifts in temperatures, clocks counting down, etc. Mike realizes the room is alive and is out to get him. In a desparate move, he decides to go down fighting and torches the room. The firemen breaks into the room and rescues him. End of story.

Disappointed with my choices, I go for a sure winner: Family Guy. Have seen some of the episodes before, but still darn funnee! I need all the good humour I can get because I missed my connecting flight from Bangkok to Helsinki. By the time the airport staff picked me up from the Qantas lounge, went through immigration, picked up my baggage, checked into the Rama Gardens Hotel, it's already 2:30am.

Christmas around the World Concert

Was supposed to be at King Street Wharf at 6:30pm for a farewell dinner. Got to Darling Harbour half an hour late because my Good Friend spent the better part of the afternoon crying her eyes out watching John Lloyd and Bea in One More Chance. It's a good thing she didn't have to drive - I don't she has the energy left.

The farewell dinner was for a friend who's moving down to Melbourne for a month. My guess is depending on how things work out, she might stay there for good. Anyway, the chosen restaurant was Casa di Nico at The Promenade. Lots of people around the wharf for a Saturday night. Maybe because it's the start of the Christmas season already. I had filetto di barramndi, while my Good Friend had fettuccine ai gamberi. The price is quite expensive - $30 for the mains (each), but well worth it. I even finished off the leftover complimentary garlic focaccia, which turned out to be $5. :-)

By 8pm, we had to give up our tables, so we moved on to Cockle Bay to watch the Christmas around the World Concert. Santa came to the aquashell via jetski, escorted by two of his elves. Bob the Builder and Alvin and the Chipmunks were also on hand to entertain the kids and the kids-at-heart. The Australian Youth Choir with a 20-piece orchestra sang a few classic Christmas songs, then we had a Chinese song and some Aussie-inspired ones. Can't remember the title of the Chinese song; it goes like "Gong xi, gong xi, gong xi ni!" Actually, it's supposed to be a New Year song, but let's not nitpick. There was also a lighting of the Christmas Tree in front of the exhibition centre. At 9pm, my Good Friend gave a start, and the fireworks were on. I didn't have my camera with me this time, so I was able to enjoy the fireworks display - instead of taking pictures through a viewfinder.

After the concert, some of the group had ice cream at Gelatissimo, then coffee and chocolate at Harbourside.

Dinner(?) at La Campana

A friend's going back to Manila for a month, so she decided to organize a farewell Christmas get-together at the La Campana Spanish Cabaret along Liverpool Road. She probably didn't have the chance to look up the restaurant at Eatability because most of the reviews are pretty bad. She wasn't the only one fooled. My sister had a look at the set menu, and liked it so much she decided to come along, even if she had to part with $40. And this is my sibling who works out at Parramatta, and reckons a $20 meal is already expensive.

So we got to the restaurant around 7:20pm. Place is a bit dark for my liking, but I guess that's part of the ambience. While waiting, we were given some breads and dips and plates of antipasto with barbequed vegetables and olives. Service is pretty slow. After like half an hour more, came the entrees - calamari rings, patatas bravas, and meatballs. There was another major delay, while the guys put on a show - a lady in red doing the flamenco, a couple doing the salsa, and a semi-nude girl doing the samba. Later, the emcee came on and got random people from different tables to partner up and do some dirty dancing for our enjoyment. Afterwards, they got more people to join in a conga line/circle. All this time, there was no food on the table.

With every passing minute, the volume of the music was getting louder and louder. After multiple requests and an eternity later, the paella valenciana was served. Semi-cooked, soggy, and too salty. Fortunately, my Good Friend and her colleague had to leave early. They didn't have to endure the food and the music. It was getting too noisy, I joined my sister outside the restaurant. Boy, was I surprised. There are now bouncers with metal detectors stationed at the entrance, and I had to get a UV stamp on my wrist in order to get back. The restaurant had turned into a disco! After a while, the rest of the group also came out of the restaurant. Apparently, they got tired of waiting for the creme caramel, and just left. Wise decision, guys. As I always say, cut your loses and move on.

Into the Wild with My Good Friend

My colleague was kind enough to give me his tickets for tonight's preview of Into the Wild. Directed, produced, and written (the screenplay, not the book) by Sean Penn, the movie is about Christopher McCandless and his adventure into Alaska. Christopher (aka Alexander Supertramp), played by Emile Hirsch, is not like most other teenagers. After graduating from Emory University, he donated his life savings of U$24,000 to Oxfam, left home, and went hitchhiking across America. Along the way, he met some unique personalities whom he became good friends with. By doing odd jobs here and there, he managed to save enough to buy the supplies he needed for his stay in the wilderness of Alaska: a .22-caliber rifle, a few boxes of rifle rounds, a machete, a knife, a sleeping bag, a fishing net, a bag of rice, a camera, a notebook, and some books. Fortunately for him, he found an abandoned beat-up bus in the middle of a snowfield, so he made that his home. Days were spent hunting game, collecting water, sprucing up the bus, and reading books.

It was all good for a while, until reality sets in. His bag of rice is not going to last forever; there's less game for him to catch; and I'm sure he's finished reading all the books he brought along. He packs up all his stuff, and leaves his magic bus, ready to go back. While he only needed to cross a small stream during last winter, now it's a raging river, and there's no way he can cross it. With no food left, he started eating roots, berries and leaves. He did have a book called Tanaina Plantlore to help him identify the edible plants, but too bad for him he read the wrong page. He had been eating some leaves, which are indentified as inedible. These things are poisonous, restricts the digestive system, causes nausea, immobility, and ultimately death.

Christopher, ever the brash smart guy, knows what's coming, so he quietly goes into his sleeping bag, zips up his jacket, and waits for his time to come. He was 24, having survived 112 days in the Alaskan wilderness.

By the time the movie ended, my Good Friend and I were famished. We dived in the nearest Chinese restaurant and ordered Hainanese chicken rice and roast pork rice.

Late Night Rendezvous at Maccas

So my Good Friend's friend's sister has a friend whose brother from San Francisco is here for a vacation. She thought it's a good idea to introduce us, since both families are Fil-Chi. Not knowing which coffee shops would be open at this time of night, we decided on that McDonald's restaurant along Canterbury Road. The more we talked, the more we're convinced the world is getting smaller - different schools but same classmates, different religion but same acquaintances, different workplaces but same colleagues, etc.

Coffee with ASIMO

Honda's ASIMO is coming to town, as part of his(?) Alive and Unplugged Australian Tour. Last day today at Darling Harbour's Palm Grove, then he's moving on to Parramatta's Prince Alfred Park. I've got a slight fever, but I just had to go to his show, and see how he compares with Sony's QRIO. Watching Japanese robots move around is probably not her thing, but my Good Friend was nice enough to drive me to the city. We got to the ticket tent an hour before the 4:30pm show, and was told all tickets are gone - even for the last 6:30pm show. Just my luck.

There's also the inaugural Sydney Christmas Parade, which we also missed. All that's left is the Christmas Village at Tumbalong Park. There's song-and-dance performances on stage, picture-taking with Santa, and the many booths promoting tourism, climate change, the Bee Movie, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and others. Starbucks was full, so we went to Gloria Jeans Harbourside. Who would we expect to meet there if not my Dad and sister?! You bet they're surprised. Such a small world.

Massacre at Heartbreak Ridge

It's a good day to let out some steam. The past few days I've been stuck in Mascot doing integration and SAT for Flexi-ISN, and things are not going smoothly. Mainly IP connectivity, firewall rules, and hardware redundancy. Anyway, it's an hour's drive to Heartbreak Ridge along Richmond Road. I got there half an hour late. Fortunately, I was still able to catch up. Each one of us is given a camouflage overall, a JT protective mask, a Tippmann Model 98 fully-loaded paintball gun, and four full bottles of paintball pellets. The ladies get extra gloves, vests, and neck protectors. That's what I call unfair advantage.

For starters, we had our first engagement on a flat terrain with lots of triangular metal structures for cover. The mission is simple: reach the enemy territory without getting hit. I tell you, getting hit is almost a certainty, and it hurts pretty bad. Imagine a small plastic pellet the size of a big holen hitting you at 300 feet per second. Managed to get a guy right smack in the goggles, which made my day. After two games, we moved on to a forest terrain with lots of tree cover and wooden barricades for protection. The objective is retrieve a "nuclear bomb" in the middle of the field and plant it in enemy territory. Managed to score a few hits, but that gave away my position, and I was eliminated before the game finished.

We had a group rest, bought a few more bags of ammo - these pellets are expensive!, and came back for more. Our next game is on dry land with lots and lots of grassy mounds and hills. Objective is simply to eliminate the enemy troops. Gameplay became slower and more intense this time because visibility is very limited, and everyone's trying to conserve ammo. To make things more interesting, there's a hill in the middle of the field, and each team is supposed to keep their flag raised at the end of 5 minutes. Of course, the guy who goes up the hill to do that will surely be hammered with pellets. We could've won the game, but at the 10-second mark, the other team made a rush for the flag, and even when we sprayed them with bullets, they just kept on instead of falling back. Oh well, as they say, it's just a game.

Our last match was played out in this massive forest terrain complete with a dividing small stream with three bridges. 30-on-30 all-out war. Objective is to storm the enemy fortress. Pull on this cord that will set off an explosion to signal a win. By now, everyone's pretty good with the gun, so it's long drawn-out battle. I managed to nail a couple of guys, but I didn't see them raising their arms to signal a hit. Some sneaky son-of-a-paintball-gun flanked me and got me in the shin. Ouch! Not sure what happened afterwards, though I think it was declared a draw.

Lunch is one Domino's pizza (supreme or meatlover's) per person. First time I managed to finish a pizza in one sitting by myself. A special game was arranged after lunch, and it's called mangers vs. the others. Now we're talking. A lot of the managers chickened out, so it became a one-sided shoot-out of 10 managers against 20 engineers. Talk about a massacre - they never had a chance. It was all over in a matter of minutes.

I did a quick count when I got home. Aside from bruises and scrapes on the knees, I got two hits on the shin, one on the kneebone, one on the thigh, and two on the arm - all of them red, black, and blue. That was fun.

Sculpture by the Sea, Dinner by the Bay

It's time for Sculpture by the Sea again - the annual free outdoor sculpture and art installation event along the Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk. The original plan was for me and my good friend to take the train to Bondi Junction, then bus to the beach. Her Mom and auntie and cousin decided to join in at the last minute, so she ended up driving the whole party to Bondi from Burwood. Our coins are only enough for an hour's worth of parking, so this is going to be short.

Starting off at the Bondi Pavilion, it takes us about 20 minutes just to get Bondi Icebergs. Another 20 minutes has us passing by most of the sculptures along the coast and up on the clifftop. With 20 minutes left to go, we headed back to the car park. Back at my friend's house on the bay, we had a quick dinner of fried rice to end the day.

Auction Action with the Guru of Waltz

It's true what they say about worrying too much in advance. We had set our sights on this quaint little Federation house in 4 Stewart Street in Eastwood up for auction. Nearing a hundred years old, this 4-bedroom, air-conditioned, 553-sq. m. property is quite well-maintained. Close to shops, station, and school. My sister was fretting about how much we should bid, how much buffer we should allocate, who to do the actual bidding, where we should physically position ourselves during auction day, etc. We even got a solicitor to go through the contract. I was telling her that with that kind of location, it'll definitely go beyond $800k. Turns out I was right.

The auction proper started around 10am. The auctioneer mentioned that he'll start the bidding at $600k. Apparently, somebody wasn't paying attention. When the auction started, this Chinese guy offered an opening bid of $700k, which totally blew us out of the water. Even the auctioneer was surprised. A couple of interested parties kept the ball rolling, until this guy joined in the latter stages and started trumping all the other bids. He managed to get the property at a price of $816k. Interestingly, he only saw the property this morning. Ah, to be rich and naive!

Went to see Guru at the Hurstville Civic Theatre with my movie buddy. It's the second time I was late, and she had to reserve a seat for me. Wasn't my fault really. By noon, we were still in Eastwood. Had lunch in half an hour. Drove back to Campsie, then to Hurstville in record time. It's a movie about this young cocky villager called Gurukant Desai (Abhishek Bachchan), who started out working for Shell in Turkey. Not content to work for the white man, he goes to Mumbai with wife Sujata (Aishwarya Rai) and brother-in-law Jignesh (Arya Babbar) to make a name for himself. He joins a trading fraternity, bets heavily on polyester when nobody else would, and hit paydirt. From there, he started his own company called Shakti, and by hook and by crook, he dominated the industry. Now, it wouldn't be an Indian film without some dramas (and song-and-dance numbers). He was hauled to court for making bribes and evading duties and taxes. He was being bashed by the media. His sidekick committed suicide for unwittingly admitting they're not doing the right thing. There was a stockholder backlash because the company's shares took a dive, etc. In the end, he got off lightly for arguing that he did what he did to make the business successful. For the good of the millions of stockholder, for the good of India! Yeah, right. The movie didn't mention this, but apparently, it is based on the life story of India's richest man, petrochem tycoon Dhirubhai Ambani, the owner of Reliance India.

A few things I didn't like about the movie:

• The song-and-dance numbers. They have absolutely no value-add to the movie. They are there simply to show off the entertainment prowess of the actors. Ok, assuming it helps to set the mood or something. Do you really have to perform the song in its entirety?
• The mish-mash of shooting styles. Every shooting style known to man is implemented here, which distracts from the story.
• Soundtrack overuse. Every single minute of the film is backed up by sound effects. I know how to read subtitles. I know how to read the actors' faces. There's really no need to blanket the whole movie with soundtrack to tell me what I should be feeling.
• Cliched plotlines. Again, almost every plot device known to man is used - the midnight elopement, the train chase, the dashing idealist-journalist marrying the beautiful, crippled girl with MS, the wrist-slash suicide, the mild stroke, the hospital bed crying scene, the rousing rich-vs-poor speech, the courtroom drama, the triumphant return to power, etc.

Anyway, I just learned that I have to start brushing up on my dancing skills again, particularly the waltz. (Can you actually waltz to The Way You Look Tonight?!) Last time I did ballroom dancing was during college PE. In a week's time, I'll be dancing again. Watch this space.

Pepper Lunch Dinner after Death at a Funeral

Second funniest movie of the year after The Simpsons Movie. My movie buddy and I was supposed to watch another film at Dendy, but we didn't want to wait another 2 hours, so I suggested Death at a Funeral instead. Directed by Frank Oz and written by Dean Craig, Death at a Funeral is a barrel of laughs despite the sombre title. Right from the animated opening credits with a symbol of a coffin moving over a street map, you'll know this is going to be interesting. The dead father who has yet to come out of the closet, the struggling son living under the shadow of a much successful novelist-brother, the midget lover out for his share of the inheritance, the drug-dealing cousin whose bottle of recreational drugs disguised as Valium goes missing, the nervous fiance of the niece who took the Valium and goes naked in public, etc. - outstanding performances from a stellar cast. In spite of all the commotion and the interruptions, the son manages to deliver a passionate and heartfelt eulogy, which ended the movie nicely.

Some choice quotes from the movie:

Daniel: Who is this?
Undertaker: Pardon me?
Daniel: This is not my father.

Sandra: Tea can do many things, Jane, but it can't bring back the dead.

Martha: Simon.
Simon: [behind the bathroom door] Simon.
Martha: Simon!
Simon: Simon.
Martha: Sy!
Simon: Mon.

Uncle Alfie: Touch and go! Touch and go!

Simon: [when the coffin started moving] I knew it!

After the movie, we dropped by the MCA to pass the time before going to St. Patrick's Church along Grosvenor Street for afternoon mass. I may be a non-practising Catholic, but I reckon it wouldn't hurt if I enter a church once in a while. The mass took about an hour. After all that sitting, standing, and kneeling, I'm starting to feel hungry. Passed by the Pepper Lunch restaurant along George Street, and we went in for a sample. The unique concept of this "fast-steak" franchise is a metal plate heated to 500 degrees Fahrenheit (260 Celsius) by an electromagnetic cooker. Raw steaks like chicken or beef with rice and sauces are then placed on the hot plate where it cooks right in front of the customer. Most stressful dinner I've had so far!
:-)

James Bond at Manly Jazz Festival

The Manly Jazz Festival is on it's 30th anniversary this year. Running for three days until the Labour Day holiday, the jazz festival has 5 stages stretching from Manly Wharf, through The Corso, to the Manly Beach. It's just the perfect day for a jazz festival - the sun was out, trees along The Corso providing some cover, and a light sea breeze blowing. I listened to The Postmen at the Council Forecourt Stage, then continued on to a husband-and-wife band called Viva playing the guitar and the accordion. Moving on to The Corso Stage, the Benny's Boys were playing. At the Ocean Beachfront Stage, the full-bodied and versatile Michelle Nicole and her band performed till 4pm. I took the opportunity to sit on the roadside and read John Gardner's For Special Services, where Ian Fleming's James Bond seduces the girls, drives fast cars, foils the bad guy's plans, and saves the world. Back at the Council Forecourt Stage, the Chatswood High Stage Band was wowing the crowd. Would've loved to stay, but I had a ferry to catch.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Fiesta at Passello

Went to Darling Harbour to watch Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in IMAX 3D with a friend. Thanks to Star City, I managed to score 2-for-1 tickets for the show. Regular admission is $25 per adult. It's a good thing my friend has watched HP: OofP before. Last time I went to an IMAX theater, I had to leave in the middle of the film because I started getting really dizzy and was just about to puke. The screen size was really impressive, the movie was not. I've read the book, and thought it's a waste of the paper it was printed on. The movie is not much better. The recurring problem with Harry Potter (the book) is the weak plot and the lame side-stories. Rowling tries to spice things up with a myriad of characters and their little histories, but in the end, I still don't feel for them. Take away the clumsy love triangles, the secret magical trainings, the juvenile pranks, the petty house rivalries and faculty politics, and all you end up with is Voldemort trying get into Harry's head, and the showdown between the Order and Dumbledore's Army vs. the Death-Eaters and Voldemort. That segment at the Department of Mysteries is rendered in 3D. That's about the best thing about the whole movie.

Always recommended to have something to eat before the start of a movie. Halfway into the movie, my stomach's growling already. By the time we finished the movie, made our selection from the Sydney Entertainment Book, and got a table at Passello, my stomach has given up complaining. The beef lasagne and the chicken caesar salad taste quite good. Actually, anything's good when you're hungry. For dessert, we had hazelnut chocolate and green tea latte from Starbucks. Checked out the Earth from Above photo exhibition along the Urban Stream, featuring 120 large-scale aerial photographs by award-winning French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand. By the time we finished viewing all the pictures, it was already 11:30pm. Parking at the Exhibition Centre - $18. A great night-out - priceless.

KL Day 6 - Merdeka Parade and Wayang Kulit Concert

Had only a couple of hours sleep before I was awakened by my ringing mobile phone. One of our customers is in our (Sydney) office today and wanted to see if I'm around. It's actually good that he called - if not, I'll be sleeping till noon. Hopped down to One on One for a quick breakfast, then out of the hotel by 7:30am. Again, long queues at KL Sentral for tickets to Masjid Jamek. With my infinite patience, I managed to get to Merdeka Square around 8:30am. Lots and lots of people milling about. The streets are still closed, and everywhere you'll find Perdana Executives and other flashy cars parked. The Merdeka parade has already started without me. Masses of people in colorful costumes passed by, then floats of different themes, sizes, and shapes. After that came the military troops, the trucks with onboard missiles, and fighter jets thundered across the sky. Due to my average height, I didn't get to see much of the parade. There were some earlier attempts to get the people in front to sit down so that people at the back can appreciate the parade, but there wasn't enough momentum, so everybody remained standing.

By 11am, the sun is at its maximum heat setting, so I decided to head back for the hotel. Paid RM50 for 24 hours of Internet access so I can send off some emails and complete my eValuation. Finished by 3pm, then went to KLCC to cool off. Bought tickets for tonight's The MPO Meets Wayang Kulit. Killed time by window shopping. There's quite a few tempting sales from Isetan, Hush Puppies, and G2000. Ended up buying a pair of Primavera shoes. Much to my surprise, my special friend called up and was asking for a favor. Well, aside from that High School Musical 2 DVD, she wants me to meet up with this guy based in KL, who's the long-time penpal of her friend. Sure, no problem. I'm just a stranger in a strange land - what's the worst thing that can happen to me? I passed by Galeri Petronas and spent about an hour checking out the current exhibitions: Building Merdeka (an architecture retrospective from 1957-1966) and 50 Ways to Live in Malaysia (a series of paintings and works by 50 local artists depicting Malaysian life). The gallery is also showing videos of the more memorable Petronas TV ads for the past few years. Don't understand a word they're saying, but some of them are quite funny and interesting.

By 8:15pm, I proceeded to Dewan Filharmonik Petronas for tonight's performance. Called "The MPO Meets Wayang Kulit", it's supposed to be a fusion of East and West, Kelantanese shadow puppetry meets the orchestra. The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra commissioned Adeline Wong to compose “Empunya yang beroleh Sita Dewi”. The piece revolves around the famous "Ramayana" episode, where Sita is abducted by the demon-king Ravana. Most of the piece has dalang Saupi bin Isa narrating the story, and the orchestra provides the soundtrack. I have to say I wasn't too impressed with the shadowplay. It's basically Rama and Ravana fighting each other - portrayed by two puppets chasing and bouncing off each other. After the intermission, we had some real classical pieces: Georges Bizet's Jeux d'enfants and Ottorino Respighi's La Botique Fantasque, with the Overture to Rossini's The Thieving Magpie for encore.

KL Day 5 - Merdeka Eve

Tonight is Merdeka Eve - Malaysia celebrates its 50th foundation day. My plan was to go to Dataran Merdeka tonight to see the midnight fireworks. My colleague suggested I go to KLCC instead. One, it's less crowded, and two, the fireworks might be better. I can already see myself at the KLCC park taking pictures of the fireworks with the Petronas Towers as the backdrop. Sweet.

9:30pm I went down to the concierge to check Suria KLCC's closing time. Might as well go there half an hour before closing to do some shopping. The shops close at 10pm, BUT there won't be fireworks anywhere in the city because the government wants to "encourage" people to attend the official ceremonies at Dataran Merdeka, and see the fireworks from there. Since the Malaysia Int'l Fireworks Competition is being held in Putrajaya, fireworks can also be seen from there. No way am I going to Putrajaya at this time of night. By the time I got to KL Sentral at 9:45pm, the station is packed with commuters. Four long queues and only two very patient (and chatty) ladies manning the booth. Don't even think about using the ticketing machines because they're all shut down for tonight.

Got to Masjid Jamek station around 10:30pm. The roads leading to the Merdeka Square are closed and replaced with stalls selling banners, caps, light wands, souvenir items, food items, drinks, etc. The whole area is packed with revelers and onlookers. Most of the tall buildings around the square are bathed in multi-coloured lights. Some even have scrolling images projected onto their side. In front of the Sultan Abdul Samad Building is an elevated stage where the local officials and foreign dignitaries are seated. Across the street are rows and rows of seats for special guests to view the street performances. There are song numbers from the local pop stars, cultural dances from the different states, etc. - none of which I can understand nor see, except on the giant screens. It was hot and humid throughout the night, and the camera on my neck is getting heavier every minute.

Ten seconds before the clock strikes twelve, everyone started the countdown. 3..2..1..Blah! No fireworks. The emcee shouted "Merdeka!", and a few politicians made some rousing speeches. What a night! When there was still no fireworks by 12:45am, I gave up and walked back to the train station and had a meal at Burger King. As to be expected, the place is full, so more queueing and jostling for seats. Just as I was enjoying my burger and fries, I heard loud noises and cheering. They've started the fireworks without me! Wolfing down my burger, I rushed out of the restaurant just in time to catch the last few fireworks over the KL night sky. Better than nothing.

KL Day 4 - Thean Hou Temple

Spent most of the day helping the local engineers fix up the TA rulebase to allow MMS and walled-garden FOC charging. Also started going through the SGSN datafill for a new RNC to be integrated next week.

Left the office a little bit early at 5pm. The plan is to go to Thean Hou Temple just a few kilometers away from Le Meridien. The tourist pamphlets recommend taking the Putra train to Bangsar, then from there it's a short taxi ride to the taxi. Something must've gotten lost in the translation because the Bangsar taxi passed by my hotel, circled around it, then continued on to the temple. The cabbie even charged me a contract rate of RM15 because it's the peak after-office hours. After dropping me off, he asked if I want him to wait around or if he should come back to fetch me because the place is pretty isolated, and there's not many taxis around. It's true that the temple is situated on top of Robson Hill, and the only way to reach it is via small side road off Jalan Syed Putra (Federal Highway). Still, I told the cabbie I'll take my chances.

Spent about an hour exploring the temple. For one of the largest Chinese temples in Southeast Asia, it doesn't get much visitors. It's quite grand and majestic though. The temple has four levels. The first level houses the marriage registration office, a souvenir shop and a canteen. On the second level is the multi-purpose hall where cultural and religious activities are held. The admin office and resource centre are on the third level. The main temple shrine is on the fourth level. Upon entering the temple hall, the central altar is dedicated to the Thean Hou Goddess. To her right is Guan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy. To her left is Shui Wei Shen Niang, the Goddess of the Waterfront.

After the tour, I realized I'm in a fix. The place is deserted, and I'm the only patron left. The long downhill walk to the main highway is pretty dangerous because the road is winding, there are no sidewalks, and cars would be whizzing by just a few feet from me. From the highway, it's another long walk to the overpass to allow me to cross the road. After like half an hour of trying, I managed to flag down a vacant cab. The ride back to the hotel? Only RM3.