Happy Chinese New Year!

Wishing all Chinese a wonderful prosperous new year ahead :-)

Top 10 Must-Avoid Travel Destinations

Here's a list done by Costas Christ, Editor of Global Travel, for Peter Greenberg's Don't Go There! book. Here we go, brace yourself:

1) Cancun, Mexico
2) Santorini, Greece
3) Orlando, Florida
4) Kuta, Bali
5) Dubai, UAE
6) Myanmar
7) Antartica
8) China Beach, Vietnam
9) Costa Rica's Over-developed Coast
10) Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

Of course, the editor gave a brief justification on why these were chosen. Read more about it at NatGeo website.

Happy New Year!

OK, first of all, I DO feel guilty for not making an internet wish during Awal Muharram, which marks the NEW YEAR in Islamic calendar. That was just on the 29th Dec. So, I guess I missed it.

Then all of a sudden 31st Dec came in. And again, I missed this one. Today is the 1st day of '09, so it is kinda late to say, "Have a happy new year."

Good thing being a Malaysian, I have another chance to greet people with New Year wishes. And that would be on the Monday of Week 5 - Chinese New Year.

Having said that, I have 5 more weeks to come up with new year resolutions. Anyway, for those still feeling the vibe of New Year, be it Awal Muharram or 2009; HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU! May the new year bring better health and wealth to all of you :-)

A snippet on Penang

When we travel to another country, we somewhat dress like how they dress. For example, you go to Stockholm. It's cold there. Everyone wears winter clothing. So, you wear those too. Or if you go to Africa, you'd wear those khakis.

Yet somehow, when it comes to Penang, most people got it wrong. It must be that somehow, it's embedded to them that Penang people goes around in parios or bermudas (only). If it's the Europeans thinking that way, that's 1 thing. But funny thing is, Malaysians, e.g. from KL, seem to think that way too!

But I guess, it shows just how open and unique Penang is. Penangites just could not care less if you walked in a 7E shirtless. Or goes about the night market in parios. Now... try doing THAT in KL!

Hobbies.... & Children

The thing about hobby is that, it changes. You can say that it follows the wind. But if there's anything that'll break the wind, it's your kids. Yes, those pesky little beings that walk all over you, slap you for no good reason and shout at you for thinking they said 'tummy' when what they said was actually 'gummy' even though they pronounced it 'tummy'.

So, a question to the humans who feed these little human-looking tornadoes, can you actually 'make' time for your hobby?

For an average working family guy, weekend is the best time to work on a hobby. Heck, I look forward to it every working day. But the thing about these tired-less merciless machines are, they talk.. and very loud too. Just as you take the first breath of weekend, they say, "Space Chimps!!!!"... right at you ear.

Well, basically this explains the dusty guitar, bass, ukelele collection that I have. Not to mention rusty radio controlled gears. And a stamp collection book (sshhh!).

Hobby-bearing future daddys, until your kid is about 10 or old enough to join your hobby, I heard those zipper bags can keep your gears free from fungus.

But the funny thing is, the missus's hobby seems to be unaffected. Maybe it's God's way of repaying their painful labor ordeal. Either that or those little tazs are not really into handbag collecting...

Dec's Blog! 11/12 hit rate! Not bad!!

As usual, during worktime, I browse pictures in Flickr.

But before I start on my routine monthly head-banging dunnowat2write tasteless blogging, let's be clear on 1 thing: I am NOT a 'pro' photographer. I'm just one of those guys who loves viewing things from idiotic angles but does not have enough RAM in the brain to store the image longer than 20seconds. Hence, me + camera.

Anyway, here's my thought on photography. I know you don't care. But, so do I.

I think, the real essence of photography is capturing the moment. Not just an image. It does not have to be sharp. Or with perfect color rendition. It's about re-living the split-second moment every time you view it. Not many pictures have this 'mojo'. It has to be effective. It has to 'move' you.

I tagged a few photos from flickr as my favs. And when i view those again, it moved me again and again. And these pictures are not over the world sharp or with spot-on colors. My measuring stick on an image has always been the same when I view images from NatGeo mags. The good ones are those that gives out that magical feeling that made me go "Wow! How the heck did this guy do it??!!".

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tjasha/3095086459/

The Cheapest Hello

Something that I wanna share. I think most people out there already know but,hey, I need to blog something for November (Remember? My '08 resolution was to blog at least once a month - what is life without sharing, right?).

Anyway, how much do you think a 38minute long-distance call from USA (Oregon) to Penang (fixed line) would cost? USD40? USD30? Nah... USD0.86. Yes, that's a mere USD0.021 per minute. How?

Well, Skype of course! OK, so I'd looked like a moron talking to a laptop. But Sara, on the other end, was on a fixed line phone. And the clarity and quality could not be better. If I call her on her cellphone, it'd be USD0.058 per min. Well, sometimes, the line gets a bit noisy and breaks a lot, but not always. Just hang up and try again.

If you are not comfortable talking to a laptop, use the earphone. Or better yet, buy one of those USB-connect Skype phone.

Surprisingly, SMSing thru Skype is a bit high. It's USD0.097 per SMS. But it's cheaper comparatively speaking. And another thing, you can even set caller ID when calling someone. Cool huh.

At times like this.... go CHEAP!