Sekinchan Paddy Feilds

One of the scenic places along the coastal area of Selangor is Sekinchan. If you do not know, Sekinchan is the "rice bowl" of Selangor. I took a few shoots of the paddy fields in Sekinchan. The scene was beautiful with the strong green colour of the paddy with the beautiful sky and cloud. Some of the cloud had turn gray because the rain was coming soon. The photos below are some of the shoots that I have taken.

Trip to Selangor Costal Area

After rotting at home for the past 5 days due to the long Deeparaya holidays I was back to office on Thursday and Friday. The streets of KL were also deserted and the journey to and fro home to office was a breeze. The situation will be back to normal on Monday.

I decided that I need some fresh air and decided to travel to the coastal side of Selangor for some photo shooting. So, off I went in the early morning driving to places like Kuala Selangor, Sekinchan and Sungai Besar.

Took some nice shoots of some historical place in Kuala Selangor and nice scenery of the paddy fields at Sekinchan.

The above photo was the lighthouse at Bukit Melawati at Kuala Selangor. The lighthouse was built in 1907 which is 100 years old.

In view I am writing this posting quite late and I have yet to touch up all my photos, you guys will have to wait for more photos and stories will be coming.

My pet gold fishes

It has been a long time since I have mentioned about my gold fishes. It has been slight more than a year since I started my aquarium of fishes. It took a while before I learn how to keep the fishes alive. Many gold fishes were dead before I finally learn how to keep them alive as long as possible. The fishes in the picture below has been with me for over a year. I can really see them grow from time I bought them. The only main problem that I have currently is to maintain a crystal clear water environment in the tank. The water tend to get a bit cloudy after I changed the water. I could not maintain the clear water environment as what the shops were able to.


My last count of fishes in my tank was 20 which exclude the big Bandaraya fish that have grown from a 2 1/2 inches baby Bandaraya when I bought it till it has grown to about 8 inches now. He's a bit naughty and tend "play" with the gold fishes by sucking their bodies (The Bandaraya fish was suppose to such the algae which grown on the glass wall of the tank.. that's how it got it's name).

20 fishes are a bit crowded for a 2 1/2 feet tank and the fishes are growing. See how it goes, I might even expand the size of my aquarium or even get a new tank in future.

KLCC Tower

The new Toyota Camry Vs the new face lift Honda Accord

WARNING: Toyota car owners or fans do not proceed to read this posting.

You would know that I am a Honda fan and writing a comparison between the Camry and the Accord would a very bias one. Still I would want to write about my opinion about the new Camry vs the Accord.

The Accord was face lifted on it's back side with new LED lights. Looks kind of a Mercedes. The change in the design was to suit the US market. Read more of the test drive and opinion of the new Honda Account from Paul Tan.

The Camry was just launched in Malaysia just less than 2 weeks ago. The car was fully "imported" from Thailand because it is not locally assembled like the other Toyota model. I managed to view the car at a nearly showroom. My comments on the car is as follows:

• The back looks like a BMW 7 series.

• The front grill looks like an Audit A4 or A6

• The centre console separating the driver and the passenger was hugh. I guess it is used to hide off the air condition duct and blower which caters for the rear passengers.

• The air condition comes with Plasmacluster, the same concept used in refrigerators to keep the food fresh. What are they trying to imply? The car is a fridge to the passengers or if you want t be fresh stay longer in the car while switching on the air condition.

• The gap between the front grill and the radiator and air condition grill was hugh with nothing covering it (The Accord has a cover over the gap to keep a good look of the engine compartment).

• The air intake to the carburetor/fuel injection unit was exposed right in front of the engine compartment/

• The price... huh.. the lower version which is the 2.0E was RM139K (OTR) while the 2.0G is RM149K (OTR). More expensive compared to the Accord.

Overall, the Camry did not impress me at all. The design and the pricing was not able to entice me to have a second look or consideration for a change of my car.

The Accord is still my favorite. (I was planning to post a photo of the new Camry here but after much consideration I decided not to).

See how bias I am to Honda compared to Toyota!!

P/S Follow this link to a nice Honda Accord Site Made in Thailand.

Festive Greetings to All my Friends

I did the above special greeting card from the photo that I shot at KLCC.

Happy Deepavali
and
Selamat Hari Raya
to all my friends.

More photos from KLCC

More photos from KLCC. The connection to blogger was very bad. Took a long time to get the photos uploaded.

Photo shoot at KLCC

I went on a photo shooting spree after work at KLCC. It was the best time to there after work because the Muslim were rushing off to buka puasa making KLCC quite empty. Took the photos from the festive decoration on the main concourse of KLCC. Enjoy:

Happy Birthday Papa Chan

Yes, it's my birthday today. My 45th Grand Birthday. Why Papa Chan? Well, the children wrote on the envelope of the birthday card was addressed to "Papa Chan Kok Kuen". Today my wife ordered the birthday cake from Secret Recipe where the top of the cake was written as "Happy Birthday Papa Chan" (see photo), so I decided to wish myself "Happy Birthday Papa Chan"!!.

OK, the dinner for the birthday was held earlier on Sunday at SouledOut.. yeah the kids and me were a bit high from drinking the red wine that we ordered. Today, as usual, birthdays are celebrated at home with a cake. This time around, the cake was a Chocolate Walnut cake from Secret Recipe. It seems that we always ordered our cake from this shop.. the cakes are really nice for the price that you pay. I was wearing the T-shirt my children gave me during the cake cutting ceremony. Ahh.. no need to say much, just look at the photos.
In the morning my wife presented me my birthday present. It was a Mount Blanc roller ball pen. What a surprise! I have seen these pens at the Mount Blanc shoppe at KLCC and they cost a lot. The pen that was presented to me cost about RM1K. For the moment, I will not use it daily (my usual daily pen is a Parker roller ball). I will keep it in the box safely at home until the time to really show it off.
I would like to thank all the well wishers who have wished me Happy Birthday via phone and e-mails and SMS. Especially t my lovely wife and children, Pauline Goh, Zainab and Monica who called me, Tricia,Thiaga and Siva who have e-mailed me, Patricia who have SMS me who have called me over the phone. Also thanks to Margaret for the lovely present.

Deeparaya 2006

I would like to wish all my friends a Happy Deepavali and Selamat Hari Raya. The above are the pictures taken from the lobby of my office where a giant kollam and a greeting card were placed.

Cheap stuff rather than to send greeting cards.. save cost and thre trees!!!

Dinner at SouledOut

I took the whole family out for dinner tonight at SouledOut for my early birthday celebration. Why SouledOut? Well, if you have read my previous posting, this my favorite place for food. My family also like it here. This time around I order a bottle of wine just to spice things up. A bottle of Stepping Stone, which was an Australian red wine was on offer. Everyone except my mother-in-law and Esther were drinking the wine.Carrie was enjoying the wine so much so, the alcohol went up to her head and she was blushing red on (see her photo). I have earlier order a chocolate hazel cake from the restaurant. However, after the meal, everyone surrendered as they were already full and could not eat the cake. So I have to cancel the order for the cake. Never mind, there will be a birthday cake on Tueday whre the family will eat it at home.


My children bought me a T-shirt for my birthday. The even have sign a birthday card for me. It was was thoughtful of them to get me the present and the card. The money came from their own pocket money. Thanks for the lovely present!

A dent in my pocket!

Last Thursday (5 October), I started my day by sending my children to school. When I turn the car key, it could not start.. the battery went flat. I have sensed that something was wrong with my car. The engine did not kick off as smooth as usual. Since the car is only 1 year old and I just used it for 24,000 km, I could not have guess that the battery would knock off that fast.

I took my wife's car to send off the children to school. Came back to home to remove the battery ad took it along to the nearest tyre shop. Bought a new battery which cost me RM175-00. The mistake that I made was that I did not check my car warranty book. Actually, the batter comes with a 2 year warranty (when I thought the warranty was only for 1 year). Called my sale person to check whether I could claim for the cost of the replacement batter. She said I could not claim since I already have bought another batter. She said that I should have called her. What the heck, calling her in the morning at 6.45 am, I wold not have thought of that further more normally car battery come with 1 year warranty.

I also noticed that my front tyres have very thin threads as compared with the rear tyres. So I thought I will send the car to a tyre shop to rotate the tyres from front to back. On Friday (6 October), off I go to a Goodyear tyre dealer (since the original tyres are also Goodyear) and request them to rotate the tyre.

The four tyres were taken off and staff also inspected the brake pads. They notice that the rear brake pad on one wheel has worn off and requested me to change the brake pads. I agreed to the change of the brake pad but both brake pads of the rear wheel have to be changed. So brake pads cost me RM190-00. The staff also recommended me to change the tyres with thin threads since they noticed that the thread were unevenly worn off. At first I did not want to change the tyres because the tyres were still new (1 year old). Looking at the tyres again made me concern about safety, so I asked the price of the new tyre ..RM330-00 each. OK lah, change lah because of safety sake.. there goes RM660-00.

After the tyres were changed and balanced, the car have to undergo a tyre alignment test. Guess what, they told me that all the camber of all four (4) wheels were out. If I do not adjust the camber, then the tyres will wear out unevenly. The cost to recalibrate the camber for each wheel is RM90-00. There go another RM360-00.

By the time I get back my car, the whole bill cost be RM1,200-00. OK, paid the bill and drive the car back home. while driving, I noticed that the ABS warning light was switched on. Drove the car back to the shop and asked them why the ABS warning light was on. They mentioned that it is normal because the wheels were jacked up during the period of servicing and would set the ABS warning light on. The light will go off after some time of driving. The staff took the car for a spin but they could not get the ABS warning light off. Since Friday was Mid-Autumn festival and the staff was closing the shop to get home early to have dinner with their family, I agreed to come back the next day (Saturday) to allow them to check the wheels again.

On Saturday morning, I was again at the shop to get the ABS warning light off. The staff cleaned the pads and the sensor with air spray, checked the ABS connectors and wiring but still they could not find the fault. Since the ABS is part of the car's electronic system, they even jack in a electronic diagnostic tool to check the diagnose the problem. But their diagnostic tool could even communicate the car's electronic system. In the end, they gave up and requested me to come again on Tuesday (today 10 October) in the morning so that they can send the car to another place where they have proper diagnostic tool. OK lah, what to do, since the brakes are working but the ABS is not I still can drive the car. It is very annoying seeing the ABS warning light on at the dashboard.

Came back to office on Monday and asked for some time off in the morning so that I can send my car to the shop as early as possible and hoping to rectify the problem within 1 or 2 hours time. I was informed that any time off need to seek permission from the big boss. Huh, what a difficult task. Never mind lah, I would apply for emergency leave since I still have quite a number of days leave left.

So today (10 October) after sending my children to school, I was preparing myself to send the car to the shop again. However, I thought it would be a better choice to send the car to the Honda workshop where the mechanics would know the car better and would also have the proper equipment to diagnose the problem of the ABS. Furthermore, my car is also due for its 25,000 km service with about 700 km to go. So off I went to Old Klang Road, the Honda workshop for Roda BB.

Why did I go there instead of the normal Honda workshop at Cheras, Wegro? Because I have called my sale person and asked her to check with the staff of the workshop how long will it take to get the ABS problem solved. She came back and told me that it will take a while and further more they do not have the spare parts for ABS should there be a need to replace the part. For Roda BB, that's was the place where I sent my previous Honda City to for servicing. The service there was good and they really check the car thoroughly and provide good advise on the car of the car. Therefore, it would be a better choice to send the car all the way to Old Klang Road.

Off I go to Roda BB, I told the staff there my problem and also requested for the regular servicing of the car. When the mechanic finish the routine servicing of the car (lubricant change), the car was hooked up to a diagnostic tool which was then connected to a notebook. They ran a diagnostic check using the software at the notebook and they result was a faulty speed sensor on the right front wheel. The cost to replace the sensor.... RM500-00. OK, OK, I requested them to change the sensor. They told me that the will have to get the sensor part in which will arrive in the afternoon. I told them it's fine since they can get the part and fix the problem within the day. If I were to send my car to Wegro, the staff will definitely request me to leave the car at the workshop and to collect the car the next day.

Since the time taken to repair the car will be quite long I took a bus to Mid-Valley where I bought myself a cinema ticket to watch "Miami Vice". When the show ended I took my lunch where I received a call from the workshop at about 2.45 pm to advise me that the car is ready for my collection. Now that's what I call good service because they have earlier mention that the car could be ready by 5.00 pm.

Guess how much was the total bill... RM730-00, spare parts, lubricants, transmission fluid and cost of labour.

With all the cost added in, I have spent RM2,100-00 for the past few days on my car. Now that's a dent to my pocket. Running short of funds now and with the long Deepavali and Hari Raya holidays coming, I will be broke for the month (unless if they are paying the salary early this month!!)

Nice baby photos

Found this photos at Photokaki. No, I am not the father nor the photographer. The pictures were very cute, so I would like to share it in my blog.



 

The news was out!

Yesterday the news of my transfer to my new posting was circulated to the whole organisation. I got calls and e-mails from people near and far. Near I mean in KL, far, I mean as far as in Sabah.

Some of them called to say congratulations thinking that my transfer was a promotion. Some called to asked how come I am back to my old department which I have left 10 yeas ago. I told all of them, that it was not a promotion transfer, my grade and salary remained unchanged. It was just only a transfer and no matter where I am in the organisation I still need to work.

The nice thing that when the calls and e-mail arrived, I felt happy because these are the people who has known me for such a long time and was concerned on my well being. I can say that these people are my friends and colleagues who have been supporting me all this while. And it was their support that have kept me in in this organisation. It made me realised that I have done something in my previous posting that have had an impact on them, work wise that is!

Absent for a while

I would like to apologize for regular followers of my blog that I have not been posting any of my writings. Actually, there is no actual excuse, can I say that I am a bit lazy to write or I cannot find to things to write about.

Well after my last blog posting, I been transferred to my need job posting. I was there since 20 September, and I have to learn my new assignments were assigned. I was glad that I am reporting back to my previous boss who has been in this department for the past 2 years. Since we know each other and how each other's work, we got along very well and shared our thoughts to the messy situation that the organisation is experiencing.

I was assigned to evaluate test plans, sign them off for testing and subsequently verify the test results before I sign it off for implementation. Come to think of it my assignment is rather powerful. If I don't sign off, nothing can move!! But it's not all fun, coming to the end of the month, every one was after me to sign off their test results because they wanted the new implementation at the end of the month. Wow, on 28 and 29 September was the worse, tons and tons of test results arrived on my table waiting for my verification and sign off. Luckily, I managed to sail through without much hitches.

I was assigned a staff who I have known for a very long time, but his reputation is not good. Why? Medically he is not that good, eye problem and skin problem. What more is that his MC is piling high almost once a week (from what I gathered).

Apart from the signing of test plans and results, I was also assigned to plan out the training requirements and program for other staff in my department. That task is easier said than done.

Apart from all the happenings, I was kept in touch with the happenings at my previous department. I gathered that there was some difficult situations in my previous department which has created some dissatisfaction among some staff. Huh... I think to myself that they were so lucky when I around when most of the administration things and decisions were made by me. Now they have to fend for themselves. I am confident that everything will go through OK as time goes by.

I am getting on fine with my new assignments. Luckily for me I have been exposed to most of the systems of my organisation and did not find much difficulties in carrying out my work. I am confident that I can get on very well.