Travel Gears

Here are some of my travel gears when I go travelling. Some of these gears had been with me for a long time, back when I was still a student.

The most essential gears is the backpack. I bought this Lowe Alpine backpack back in 1998 when I was studying in Bristol to travel around Britain and Europe. This backpack is still solid without any physical damage to it. It is pretty small with 35 litre capacity. Should have opt for a bigger capacity such as 80 litre. But the 35 litre comes with an advantage as it can fit into the airplane luggage cabin without issue.

Another advantage of using backpack compare to trolley luggage is manuevarability when moving around city/town, airport, airplane rush and etc. The downside is after a while, the shoulder might sore if the weight is heavy.

I also bought this Lowe Alpine waist pouch with the backpack back in 1998. I used it mainly when travel in Europe. Useful t keep the passport and valuable items. Hardly use now but mainly used when cycling to keep my valuables.

I will also be using a smaller back pack. This is usually used when exploring places of interest. The small back pack usually will store my drinking water, small umbrella, compass, snacks and some valuables. It is also useful when going shopping as smaller item bought can be store inside it.

I used to carry a Victorinox Swiss Army pocket knife around when travelling but this is no longer viable as the airport security will confiscate this should one carry this in their hand carry luggage. Bummer!

Not many people will carry a compass but I shall carry a small compass to get my bearing whenever I get lost or leaving a MRT, METRO or Underground Station. With the help of a map, one will able to know where to head to the intended destination.

I usually carry a drinking water in my back pack whenever travelling to keep myself hydrated. The volume depends on the climate. Usually I pack 1 to 1.5 litre for the day.

Peppers Cafe, Tanahmas Hotel

On my birthday, we went to Peppers Cafe at Tanahmas Hotel. My last visit here was January 2007 where I proposed to my wife.

Peppers Cafe has a good atmosphere. The cafe undergone major refurbishment in 2006. Nice and quiet with relaxing songs. The cafe is equipped with wifi and one can surf the net here. Service is satisfactory.

Tanahmas Hotel is famous for its cheese cake. In fact the cake price is reduced 30% after 6pm. Since it was my birthday, there was a need for a cake. We picked a good looking cake, called "Tanzania" (RM7.50). It was not a cheese cake though. Mainly chocolate cake. It is sweet and delicious.

I had tried most of the food here for the past few years and I plan to have something I never tried before. So, I decided on the Panfry Fish Meuniere (RM21). The portion is small and didn't fill me up after I finished it up. By the way, the fish is nice and full of lavour.

My wife ordered Fish Head Mee Hoon Soup (RM22). The portion was quite large and I end up having to finish half of them as my wife unable to finish the meal. At first, I thought there will be a fish head somewhere but after finishing the dish, the fish head was nowhere to be sighted. Anyway, it is a nice dish and worth trying.

For drink, I ordered the famous Ice Lemon Tea (RM7). It was served in a huge glass. One will need to add sugar solution to the drink according to one's liking of the sweetness level desired.

For dessert, we shared the Sibu Famous Jelly Pisang (RM7). It is a mixture of banana, strawberry jelly, condensed milk, syrup and ice. It tastes really sweet, especially the strawberry jelly. It is a creative product/menu but didn't satisfy my taste buds.

Well, it was a good night out. I'm one year older now. Hopefully I will stay young forever.

It's My Birthday Today!

Today is my birthday and my lovely wife drew this pictures. The male pig is me and the female pig is my wife. I guess she really like pig as they are suppose to be cute. Both of the pigs shown above love each other, just like we do. Anyway, I notice an error by my wife. She wrote 3.12.08 whereas it should be 3.8.08 as the date when this sketch was drawn.

I am a bit nervous to face my birthday now as it is an indication I'm getting older now. Somehow, a year just pass like a flying arrow.

By the way, I share the same birthday as the late Queen Mother (of British)

Singapore Guide Book

I will be going to Singapore for holiday cum honeymoon from 7th -11th August (Don't worry, I had scheduled posts when I'm gone. So keep visiting for the latest post).

My last visit to Singapore was back in 2002 when I attended a 3 days course at Raffles Convention Centre and I stayed at the Swissostel the Stamford. Really nice hotel and view. In fact I still keep the welcoming booklet cum door card holder(My room is 3656). Inside the booklet are useful telephone numbers, hotel's map, introduction to the spa and restaurant. I would say Swissotel is by far the best hotel I ever stayed, in term of service and facilities. In a nutshell, I don't really get to sightseeing that much in my last visit there.

Whenever I go travelling, I will always have a travel book before hand to study the areas. Usually I will go for The Rough Guides travel book but this time I'm going for book published by Insight City Guide.

I been reading the book for months now and it is quite informative. All the pages are coloured and make the content rather interesting. There are maps inside it but I find it more concentrate on the tourist areas such as the civic district, Chinatown, Orchad Road and Sentosa Island. Slight coverage on the southern, eastern and northern Singapore.



The book also comes with free restaurant map guide which reviews some 60 of the city's best restaurants. That is convenient for the food hunters as it also distinguish the expensive, moderate and cheap prices restaurants.

The book also contains tips on moving around especially with public transport and comprehensive guides on hotels around Singapore. So far it gives me the information I needed but let's see how accurate it is when I get there.

Victor Gold Shuttlecock Review

Victor might not be a popular brand in badminton but they still produce some decent equipment. This time I will review one of Victor's shuttlecock, Victor Gold. Victor Gold is not their premium product, as far as shuttlecock is concerned.

Victor Gold is sold pretty cheap here. One can get 3 tubes for RM100 (That is 36 shuttlecocks, a dozen shuttlecocks in a tube). That is really cheap indeed.

As usual, the shuttlecock comes with its brand and model sticker behind the shuttlecock.

We are not impressed with this Victor Gold. It has poor endurance and won't even last a match in our 15 points system. Usually need to change a fresh shuttlecock in the middle of the match. Not sure you can see this clearly but after half match, the shuttlecock unable to maintain its round feather arrangement and deformed slightly, resulting in "spinning" when playing with it.

Pros: Cheap
Cons: Poor endurance

Collapsing Houses

I came across a news about a collapsing houses from a newspaper (The Borneo Post) on the 23rd July, reporting that a row of houses collapsed due to sinking foundation. The incident took place on the 22nd July.

So, I took the liberty to see the scene with my own eye. I cycled to the scene, which is along Kapor Road, Lane 6.

I got a shock of my life when I am about to arrive at the scene. The foundation is indeed sinking!


The structure either collapsed, slanted or cracked, making it unfit for occupation. The residents had been evacuated on the day of the incident. Some walls and roofs had fallen while the floors and other walls have slanted.

These houses were built on peat soil long time ago. The collapsed is believed to have occurred at the second unit on the row eight houses. This is believed to have pulled down the rest of the terraced houses on the same row in a cave in effect.

I plan to enter one of the houses (although it had been cordoned) to have a closer look. However without any safety gear, it will be suicidal. Besides, one will never know when the structure will crumble and it might collapse at any time. I will not want to end up as human splat.

Batman: The Dark Knight

I am an avid fan of Batman since I was a child alongside Spiderman. Maybe it is their characters that attract me. I watched their cartoons since I was a little kid.

I have all the Batman movies since 1989. The first batman movie starring Michael Keaton as Batman. Somehow, after the first movie, the next installment just kind of faded, in term of story line and public response.

Batman is a symbol of justice. I am sure some places in Malaysia will need a Batman to "clean" up the mess. Sibu for instance had been plagued by gangsterism issues for many years. Even the authority and the police are scare of the mafia coupled with corrupt politicians (ring any bell? almost the same situation as Gotham City). That is why Batman is my hero. After all, even Joker admits that Batman is incorruptible

In the Dark Knight, Batman met his arch enemy, Joker. Thank God Joker didn't die in this movie as with the 1989 movie. I am sure Joker will be locked up in Arkham Asylum and escape at some stage at the next installment. There isn't much details how Joker turned out to be he is today in this film compare to the 1989 movie. He probably turned to be Joker as a result of his violent father.

There is also less action from another villain, two face. His transformation from Harvey Dent to two face is well illustrated in this movie compare to Batman Forever (where Tommy Lee Jones stars as two face).

There is also a short appearance of Scarecrow. I am a bit disappointed with Scarecrow as the character suppose to be really scary as in the comic book.

Too bad Wayne's true love Racheal was killed in a bomb, set up by Joker. In the end of her life, she accept Dent's love instead of Bruce. I still prefer Katie Holmes as Racheal.

In this installment, we also get to see how Jim Gordon been promoted to Commissioner. We really need more people with his credential in our police force.

The Batmobile is badly thrashed by Joker's bazooka attack. The batmobile escape pod, known as the Batpod become the Batman's main transportation. Also missing in this movie are Wayne's manor and Bat Cave. Probably those 2 venues are still undergoing repair after been destroyed in the first movie. Batman's command centre now is in what i call "Bat Container".

At the end of the movie, when two face perished, Batman and Gordon realized the fallout and loss of morale in the city will suffer if Dent's acts of murder became known. Batman convince Gordon to blame him for the murders to preserve Dent's image. Hence a manhunt is issued for Batman. You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become a villain.