Switch!

It's final. I've switched over. Streamyx is history. And 3G-broadband is here to stay. When I signed up for Maxis Broadband, I was a bit skeptic - is it fast enough? is it reliable? But after 2 weeks, I'm sold. The fact that I could still be connected no matter where I go (with 3G coverage) - now that's priceless. It has been a month now. And I'm loving it. Adios Streamyx.

Kuching, Sarawak

Kucing is Malay for ‘cat’. Asked a Sarawakian on why their capital city was named after an animal, and you’d get the simplest of reply: “coz there’re many cats here”. But fear not, for I can pledge that, in my 3-nights of vacation in Kuching, I did not detect a single cat-poo anywhere. Not even a whiff of it. In fact, Kuching is unbelievably clean that it was even voted as one of cleanest town in M’sia; so the brochure says.

Enjoying the Air Asia 'cheap' ride

Food
Ah, the most important agenda in traveling, or life. For breakfast, Rojak Kucai is the fav of the town. Not nasi lemak, nor roti canai. Kinda looks like Pasembor. But served with fried chicken. And it goes with something that we’re all familiar with – the all-Malaysian teh tarik. Other than this, I can’t find anything more unique about its food in comparison to West Malaysia. Except that, Sarawakians don’t really dig on spicy and hot-chilli food. Seafood - is a must. Try the butter prawns or anything 'sea'. Anyway they do it, it’s gonna be good. We went to a place called Top Spot, located on the 6th floor overlooking the gorgeous view of the town. But, the service was super-slow. I’ll surely return, but I’ll make reservation first.

Waterfront
This internationally acclaimed piece of river-bank is beautiful for night strolling. There are handicraft and food stalls and even sampan-ride to cross the river. Word of caution though, the food is a little expensive. The infamous giant ‘teh tarik’ is RM18. Regular fruit-juice that’s packed with ice instead of fruit-juice is RM6. The food is just so-so. And the service, again, was painfully slow. There’s a River Cruise restaurant-ferry with loud music that operates there. But, as soon as I heard it was playing NKOTB song, I decided to pass the ride.

Trying to 'blend-in'

Marsha really enjoys watching this. Really-really enjoying it...
... that she even found herself a dancing partner!

Cultural Village, Santubong
Located near Gunung Santubong, this mocked-up village is a crash-course on learning about the people of Sarawak. We gawked and gaped and froze half-dead at the RM60 per person entry fee, but once we’re in, it was worth it. But if you’re bringing along the whole family, aunties, uncles and long lost cousins, better check the wallet first. The whole ordeal will be ~4-6hours, so, bring that stroller. Love it.

Flying crocs. Why do we have to piss them off?

Crocodiles and Wild Animals
Yes, wiki-up Sarawak, and Orang-Utan will pop up on the screen. We managed to go to Jong’s Crocodile Farm. And Marsha loved it. Be sure to go there during the feeding time at 11:30am.

Handcrafts and Souvenirs
Stuffs made from wood and beads are a big thing there. Blow-pipes are cool too. Uniquely Sarawak. So are sago, pepper and kek-lapis. So, don’t worry about not being able to buy enough souvenirs.

A sweet pair of ... cats.

People, Roads & Transportation
Unlike West Malaysia, Sarawak consists of multi-ethnic communities, all 28 of it. But the general commonality is that, most of them are fair-skinned. There are many museums around. We hit the ‘Cat Museum’ that was surprisingly fun – for kids. Contrary to the ‘Borneo’ tag-line, Kuching town is surprisingly up-market and beautifully done. A drive at night paints a different picture. The whole town is strategically lit-up to display a wide array of colors and effects. It’s really breathtaking. And best part; the roads around town are amazing. It could even possibly stump KL. But the public busses are still re-living the 60’s. Avoid that. And tourists are aplenty. So, you’re never alone.

Did I mention that Marsha really lovesss the dancing show?

In short, Sarawak was a blast! And that’s just coming from us who were just gyrating Kuching, that’s only a tiny dot in Sarawak’s map. In future, I’d probably not go to Kuching anymore, but really looking forward to check out other parts of Sarawak. Special thanks to Vi for putting us up and driving us around. We’ll never forget it. Great experience!

Cellphone & Multimedia Shouldn’t Mix Too Much

The biggest limitation to making a cell-phone an equivalent to a micro multimedia computer is always the same; the battery life. Use the phone as a phone; you’ll have 3-5 days of stand-by. Use it as an MP3 player; you’ll have 12-20hours of usage. And use it as a video-player, 2hours – max.

I face this issue on one of my travel. Loaded with an MP3 and video-capable phone, complete with ‘offline/flight-mode’ to accompany me during those lonely hours of commuting, I ended-up NOT using it at all, for fear of battery drain-up – which is the LAST thing I need upon reaching the destination. And if I did, I would’ve gone to the phone booth to make calls and look really dumb – mainly coz the numbers that I want to dial is IN the dead phone. I guess, phone manufacturers should state clearly: “The multimedia functions are your license for bragging rights and not to be used like a real multimedia tool.”

So travelers, go get yourself an iPod, a portable DivX player and an internet-browsing-picture-viewing-gaming PDA, and save the phone for making calls. And if you think you need a hand-bag for this, if it makes you happy, by all means ;-)

iPhone

Reality bites. Just as I was reaching over to my iPhone to answer a call, I realized that - I don’t have one. Sigh. The reason to this psychopathic delusional behavior is that, for the past 21hours, I’ve been reading nothing else on the Internet but iPhone’s reviews. I’m such an iPhone expert now, that I’ve even studied the ‘inside’ of it (more info here, at anandtech.com).

It’ll probably be early next year until it docks Malaysia. And I sure do hope that Mr. Jobs comes up with iPhone version 1.1 by then. Coz the one released on 29th June is just a tiny short of some features that I want. So, here’s my list for Stevie.

3G HSDPA (or better) Support
Bluetooth Support for File x'fer, synch. & A2DP
MMS, definitely
Video Recorder
Auto-focus Camera, capable of macro shots
Web-browser with Flash support

Feature wise, Nokia N95 probably is a better “multimedia-phone” than iPhone. But, iPhone’s amazing UI and tasteful package are peerless. Making it luxuriously priceless. Just like an iPod. But, being a hardworking Malaysian, it’s a big spending for a phone. And until it meets my small list of ‘must-haves’, I’m sticking to my N95.

Eh, wait a minute… I don’t have N95.

My Useless Guide to Compact Digital Camera

Digital cameras are getting cheaper by the day. Nowadays, for just RM500, you can get an 8 omigod million eye-ball popping pixel snapper, really. But before you run off and get yourself one, check out my must-haves based on my compact digi cammy eXperience (the capital ‘x’ is used just because it looks cool), because in the end, there’s no substitute for quality.

Image Stabilization
You need this, trust me - unless you’re a micro-surgeon. Hand-shake is inevitable. Especially when you’re holding something light and small.

Wide-angle Lens
My current cammy doesn’t have this. And how I WISH that I have it. 28mm lens make a LOT of difference. 35mm, now that wide-angle is available, is downright cruel and should never have started life.

Fast Start-up
This is the BIG prominent gulf between cheap and expensive camera. A good camera should take ~1.2 to 1.5 second to boot-up. Cheap 8MP camera will take 2 years to do so. And next thing you know, by the time you’re ready to shoot, the subject has grown beard.

Fast Operating Time & Shooting Speed
Another big difference. This is where some cammy makers applaud themselves with their 3rd-Gen Venus engine or Digic ver 2.4 processor in their multi-million ads – when nobody actually cares or understands. But, truth is, cameras must be fast – be it moving on from function to function or snapping hysterically. Try deleting a picture. If it takes 2sec to do so – it’s a crappy camera.

External Controls
The more buttons it has on the outside, the better. 3 most important buttons that you need externally is Delete, Flash and Movie to Still. Ya, the less buttons it has, the better looking it is. But, some practical standpoint, I’d rather have all photographic functions to have dedicated external buttons.

Battery Life
Check the reviews in the Internet (you cheap-skate!) and pay a special attention to this. Buy only if the battery could snap-up ~150 to 200 pictures on a single charge, and that the battery only requires ~30mins to be fully charged.

Well. I’m no pro in this. But hope this helps. It's 2am, and to hell with typos and grammar mistakes. Ka-chow!

Potty-trained

Potty-train is a BIG deal. Marsha started her training when she was 1.5yrs old. And at 2+, she’s graduated. Well, she still needs to take up night classes. But, as parents, we are very happy. Coz now, with ~70bucks of saving a month, we can resume our habit of buying useless stuff like auto mags and hair-clips (ask the missus). Anyway, this would never have happened without the initiative, patience, persistence and perseverance of… Marsha’s nanny, our maid, Kak Hindun. So, if you wanna ask us about potty-training, just call the house and talk to Kak Hindun straight ;-)

We’ll be upstairs; reading mags and testing out hairclips.

Terima kasih, Kak Hindun.

Sceneries of a 20-min-drive

Things that you can see in Boleh-land in a 20-minute drive.

1)Unswimmable rivers
2)At least 5 food stalls by the road side
3)Around 3 law-breaking road users
4)An old rotten bus (at least)
5)An infested abandoned dog
6)If you’re lucky... open-burning
7)If you’re really lucky, you can see the guy who does it
8)And of course… *drum roll*… a toll booth!