Great Expectations!: February 2007

24 February 2007

Trip to Malacca

My wife's uncle from Bangkok and his family were in Malaysia for their annual holidays. Some of them stayed back after their tour of Malaysia. We organised a trip to Malacca for them on the fifth day of CNY. It has been along while since I have been to Malacca even though I have always wanted to go their for a photo shoot. So, this trip was a good opportunity for me to shoot the scene of Malacca. The weather was terribly hot but it was worth the trip. The first stop was the Au Yong Hill Resort. The place was a great place for shooting the flowers and "fung shui" sculptures. The onward to other historical places in Malacca city. Lunch was at a Nyonya restaurant called Ole Sayang at Melaka Raya. As usual, the restaurants hiked up the prices of their food to capitalized on the holiday season. The last stop was at St. Paul's Hill. I could not find the ruins of the A'Formosa fort which is near the hill. Maybe it is undergoing restoration work.

An old pre-war building on the way to Au Yong Hill Resort

Lovely and matured bougainvillea flowers at the hill resort

The hot sun shinning trough the beard trees

A morning glory?

Some of the caged fowls at the hill resort.

A traditional Nyonya lantern at the Ole Sayang Restaurant were we had our lunch

The St. Francis Xavier Church

S. Paul Hill

CNY Shoot

Here are some shoots I took of red objects around my house during the long CNY holidays:

Fascinating world of bra and breast

I bumped into this article which was posted on 14 February 2007 with very interesting facts on a bra survey done in Europe:

In the first survey of its kind, a bra making company says British women are more bustier than their European counterparts when it comes to cleavage size.

Surveyed by bra maker Triumph International - Europe's largest manufacturer of women's underwear, the report said that more than half of the British females wear a D-cup or larger as compared to Italian and Australian women who are using A- and B-cup section of the lingerie.

According to the London Daily Star, B-cups are worn by Austrian women while a quarter of French women have more bust size which can fit into D-cup.

Triumph also added that Denmark bagged the second position after Britain while Austrians fell somewhere in the middle. Nearly 57 percent women in Britain have big breasts, with Denmark second on 50 percent, followed by Holland with 36 percent.

The smallest breasts belonged to women in Italy, where 68 percent had a size B. The Swedes and the Swiss garnered the largest number of A cup sizes, with 14 percent.

I wonder what is the average size of bra for Malaysian women are? Huh.. Size A..B but not D!!

Here's another interesting article:

Half of British men claim they know their partners bra size

- Marks & Spencer Survey Reveals Truth About Lingerie Shopping -

It's good news for women this Christmas. A survey from Marks & Spencer, the UK's leading lingerie retailer has proved today, 4 December 02, that British men know their way around the lingerie department. Half of the men surveyed claim that they know their partners size and a resounding 85% of men claimed that the last time they had bought lingerie as a gift their partner had liked it and worn it.

However, a quarter of men surveyed still claim they would feel embarrassed or uncomfortable when shopping for lingerie for a partner, and one in five feel they would be nervous and confused.

Further key findings:

When it came to finding out a partners size, 15% said that they would take time to check their partners underwear drawer for their size before they went shopping, 20% said they would simply ask their partner. A mere 4% said they would ask a shop assistant to guess the size, dispelling the myth of 'she's about your size' and only 3% said they would gamble with a guess, once in the shop.
Most popular purchasing colour for men was black (33%), while 29% of women chose black. Most popular with women was cream/white at 32%.
16% of men chose red, just 7% of women saying they would like to receive red lingerie.
A staggering 80% of women claimed that when they had received lingerie as a gift they had liked and worn it.
Only 1 in 10 women swapped their lingerie gift for something else, with 6% of women lying to their partners and never wearing the gift.

"This survey has disproved a whole host of myths surrounding men and how they buy lingerie. It's great to know that when men buy lingerie as a gift, their partners like and wear what they buy. It looks like it's going to be a very merry Christmas for women all around the country!" Commented Sarah Hawkins, Marketing Manager, Marks & Spencer Lingerie.

But guess who has the biggest breast in the world? It's not a pair of natural breast but a it's thee biggest silicon breasts in Brazil which belongs to a 27 years old Brazilian model, Sheyla de Almeida. She is 1.6m in height, weights 56kg, and have a figure of 113cm - 54cm - 95cm.

The quest for perfect body made Sheyla de Almeida went through 14 plastic surgeries in various parts of her body. Her first 235ml silicon implant was carried out in 2002 in China. Today, 1200 ml of silicon are implant into each of her breast. She is actually considering enlarging her present size with additional 1300ml into each breast !

However, the biggest natural breast as listed by the Guinness Book of Records belongs to Norma Stilz who has absolutely huge natural breasts which is about 28 pounds (14 kilograms) each. each. In 1999, the Guinness Book of World Records named her as the woman with the world's largest natural breasts - and as owning the biggest bra ever made. You can visit her site here.

Wow that's too much to keep me abreast!!
Footnote: My friend, Mazhar will be the most enjoyable person reading this posting. So Mazhar, enjoy!!!

18 February 2007

Family Portrait

Since everyone was at home on the first day of Chinese New Year we took the opportunity to take a family portrait with my parents, brothers, sister, sister-in-law, children and nieces.

Wow, I did not realize that the family has grown from the four siblings to a larger family of 14.

Chinese New Year Photos

We started the first day of Chinese New Year by wearing our new cloths. Too bad my wife have to rush off to the airport to meet up with her uncle and family who is arriving for Bangkok for their holidays in Malaysia. My children and I dressed to to best for our journey to my parent's house for the first day of the new year

Here I am in my elegant new silk shirt which I bought in Suzhou during our least trip to China. This is the first time I am wearing this expensive silk shirt which cost me RMY390-00 (about RM140-00). Wow I look like a typical Chinese tycoon!

Carrie in her double breasted blouse. I told her that the blouse looks like the one the singer from My Chemical Romance in the song The Black Parade.

Wah.. Esther looks like a model dress in this red blouse and taking this photo outside our house. Incidentally, she is an ardent fan of the show American Next Top Model. Could she be Malaysia's next top model?

Darren putting on his new socks and shoes. He is also wearing a new red T-shirt which was bought by his mum and a new pair of pants called Tough Guy.

This pair of shoes belongs to Esther which was bought by her mun. Looks very cute and elegant.

A Satanic Pact with the Ghost Rider

Just like last year, we were also at the cinema just before the reunion dinner to watch Jet Li's "Fearless", my children and I were again at the cinema to watch "Ghost Rider". Looks like it's going to be like a family tradition.

I have known Ghost Rider from Marvel comics when I was younger ( I was a comic collector too). However, I only knew that Ghost Rider is a motorcycle stunt man during the day and at night he becomes the Ghost Rider to fight evil. Well actually, the story is about a young stunt driver named Johnny Barton who sells his soul to the devil and separates from the love of his life. As part of his deal with the devil, Johnny continues to be a stunt driver by day, but at night he becomes the Ghost Rider, a force who hunts demons in the presence of evil.

The effects and the CGI were great making the Ghost Rider character quite convincing. The only complain that I have is the actor. They choose Nicholas Cage to be the Ghost Rider. He looks a bit too old to act as Ghost Rider. I prefer the younger Johnny Barton (I don't know him name) to be the Ghost Rider.

Overall, the show was enjoyed by all of us. I would recommend it just to enjoy yourself over the Chinese New Year holidays.

16 February 2007

Gong Xi Fa Chai!!

It's the time of the year where we bring out the hong pow, the good food and most important the good side of us to greet each other "Gong Xi Fa Chai". The new Chinese Lunar year will be celebrated on 18 February 2007.

The new lunar year will be the year of the Pig (or the Boar - word to be used by my Muslim friends) which is the last animal of the zodiac calendar.

People who are born in the zodiac year of the Pig are usually an honest, straightforward and patient person. They are a modest, shy character who prefers to work quietly behind the scenes. When others despair, they are often there to offer support. This type of person is reserved with those they do not know too well, but as time passes and they gain confidence, those around them may discover a lively and warm-hearted person behind that mask of aloofness. Despite those born in the year of pig having a wide circle of friends and acquaintances, they have few close friends who understand them and share their inner thoughts and feelings. It is easy to put trust in pig type; they won't let you down and will never even attempt to do so. Such people simply want to do everything right according to social norms. (Extracted from Wikipedia).

As usual, I am not a greeting cards person. I have enjoyed taking photographs and customising my photos as my new year greetings to all my friends and readers.

My last message is may the year bring abundance prosperity to all of us (especially let the bullish bull market keep on going on and on through out the year) and most of all, may you all stay in good health and be happy.

15 February 2007

Wasted lives

Extract from The Star, Thursday 15 February 2007

Motorists ‘ignoring advice’

KUALA LUMPUR: The 55 deaths in three days was a great disappointment to the police in view of their appeals and advice to motorists.

The police said 15 deaths were reported on Tuesday, which is the third day of Ops Sikap XII.

Nine of the deaths involved either motorcyclists or their pillion riders while others comprised two pedestrians, a car driver, a van passenger, a lorry driver and a cyclist, the police said in a statement here yesterday.

Six fatalities occurred in accidents on state roads, four on federal roads, three on highways and one on a municipal road.

A total of 1,117 accidents were reported in the country on Tuesday, during which police also issued 13,964 summonses to traffic offenders. – Bernama

When will the motorist ever learn. Every time there is a festival, the police would launch their traffic safety campaign. The Government will send out messages to inform the motorist to be careful while driving back to their home town or any destinations during the festive season through various media like the television and radio. The Prime Minister even put up a full page message in the papers to request the public to care for themselves on the road.

With all these messages and campaigns, the number of road fatalities remain high. WHY??????
horses and all the king's men could not put Humpty Dumpty together again!!

So if the people especially the motorcyclist are not bother about their lives, I think the Goverment's and the police's effort in having the safety road campaign is a real waste.. a real waste of the tax payer's money, a waste of human resource in the enforcement of the law but most of all a waste of lives!!

14 February 2007

Valentine"s day again?

Yeah I know, it's Valentine's Day today. So what's the fuss? Showing love and affection on this day February 14 only by buying gifts and flowers.

In my opinion, show love and affection should be done and can be done on any day. I do not see any significance of a Valentine's Day. It's just a gimmick by people who just want to make a big profit out of selling cards, chocolate, teddy bears and flowers on this day. In fact all these thing can be bought any day of the year but the sale of these things peaked on Valentine's Day just because it is used as a token of love and affection.

Come on .. wake up, Valentine's Day is a day to make people who sell the things rich!!

10 February 2007

I can feel the CNY mood...

The Chinese New Year will be celebrated next week. However, my organisation started the celebration much earlier, this week. It began with the distribution of a Golden Nugget to each staff. The Golden Nugget is actually a big gold coloured plastic container. Inside the Golden Nugget, there were a pair or Mandarin Oranges, a pair of "sticky cake"(glutinous rice cake or nin koh) and some chocolate. The Golden Nugget symbolised abundance fortune and prosperity.

The next day (Friday), the celebration continued with the arrival of a Lion dance troupe. The troupe comprises two lions together with the drummer and cymbal player. Joining the Lion dance troupe was two God of Prosperity. The pair of lions started to dance in the office area and was trouping to all the cubicles in our office. The two God of Prosperity followed the lions by distributing packets of fortune cookies. After completing the trouping of our office area, the lions went on to two other office floors on the adjoining building.

The celebration continued with a high tea session with "low sang" sessions. Cakes and noodles were also served at the high tea. I started with the low sang.. wow it tasted good and I went on for another round of it. I did not take much of the other food because I still have to reserve some space in my stomach for dinner at home.

Everyone was happy with the early celebration of Chinese New Year in the office. All of them were very happy to receive the Golden Nugget as the Chinese New Year gift. Actually, since I joined the organisation in December, I have received the following gifts such as bags, bath towel, mouse pad, T-shirt and a water tumbler. I have never experienced having receive so many gift in such a short duration of employment.

To add on to the Chinese New Year mood, I bought two bundle of pussy willow from IKEA today. Each bundle cost RM16-00 .. very cheap. When I reached home, the pussy willow was placed into a glass vase. Looking at the blossomed and unblossomed white flowers on the pussy willow really bring in the mood. I could not help myself to snap some close up photos of the pussy willow.

Looking at the calendar, with the Chinese New Year drawing so near, I suddenly remembered that I have yet to do one very important thing.. to change new notes. No new notes no new year. So I better make arrangement with my friend of my previous organisation to get the new notes.

08 February 2007

2008 Acura NSX

Less than a month after I post the Honda Accord coupe Concept, now comes the 2008 Acura NXS with Advanced Sports Car Concept which was debuted at the 2007 North America Auto Show. For those who are not familiar with the name Acura, it the luxury arm of Honda where most of the cars are sold in the US (Just like Lexus which is also the luxury arm of Toyota).

It's still in the conceptual stage but its a sure knockout car with sleek lines and a very aerodynamic body. Feast yourself on the images and the video of the launch.

04 February 2007

Upgrading to Vista? Think Mac.

I got this e-mail from Apple. I think it's a great idea!!

Upgrading to Vista? Think Mac.

It's time to get a Mac. If you're thinking of upgrading to Vista, you'll probably need a new computer. Why not get a Mac? It's simpler, more secure, and way more fun. And it works with the stuff you already have, like printers and cameras. So before you upgrade anything, you owe it to yourself to check out a Mac.