Greeting from Manila

I landed in Manila on Sunday afternoon. The flight was delayed by half an hour because the plane that was ferrying people from another destination reached late at KLIA and the plane need to be prepared for our flight to Manila.

This is my first trip to Manila and I was looking forward to see a new country. From the Ninoy Aquino Airport I travel to my hotel which is located in Makati which is the financial centre of Manila. Across the hotel, there were many malls, the biggest is the Greenbelt area where there are malls named Greenbelt 1 to 4. Then there was another shopping mall call Landmark and there is also SM. All the malls were connected by overhead bridge walk ways.

The weather was warm with slight rain. I come to understand that June to October is the raining season Philippines. I just hope that there will not be a typhoon during my 1 week stay here.

I had my dinner at a restaurant called Mr. Forrestor where I had their specialty which is boneless ribs. I took the opportunity to have the local beer, San Miguel (the photo is at the end of this posting)

Here are some shoots I have taken from my room and during my strolls around the Greenbelt and Landmark area.

Saturday 23 June 2007

I could not think of a proper title to put in this posting so I just want to put int he day date of this posting.

I thought I could have a longer sleeping hour than normal (I wake at 6.00 a.m. from Monday to Friday) but I was required to send my son to his school's sport day at the football stadium. He is required to be present at the stadium at 7.30 a.m. and the event would end at about 11.00 a.m. I not too keen of staying too long at the stadium to watch the event because there are so many students running around, parents and family member roaming around and the events are boring. So I took along my camera just to take some candid shots.

While his sport events were on going, I sneak out of the stadium to go down to town. I have not been roaming in town for a long time since I was on my long assignment in Shanghai. At the same time, I need to perform some chores when I am there. It was still before 10.00 a.m. and the Bukit Bintang area was still not fully awake. The shops in the complexes were still not opened for business. I took the liberty to snap a few shoots on the street of Bukit Bintang.

After completing my chores at Bukit Bintang (what chores? well you will you later on in my future posting) I got back to the stadium thinking that the sport events would have ended. However, there was still the last events to be conducted... Teacher's events.

Well looking back, the manner in sport day events are held does not differ at all from my own school days. There is the march pass by the respective teams (by House colour), there would be a VIP to officiate the events, there would be the athlete's pledge, inter-school events and ending with teacher's events. The only difference is that during my time, sports day was held at my school's field now.. it is held at stadium.

Here are some preview of the photos that I have taken and more are available in my Flickr album.

People's Park - Shanghai Slideshow

Happy Birthday to Darren

Today is my son's birthday. He turn 11 today.



Anyway, the usual, cake from Secret Recipe. He choose the cake Espresso Cheese. When I took the cake from the shop I was surprise that the cake was heavy. When we cut it up, there was a bih layer of cheese. Good choice but everyone could not take a big slice since we just had our dinner.

His sister, Carrie, bought him a radio control truck as his present.

Congratulation of our Prime Minister who is getting married on Saturday

Wow, what a surprise news received today that our Prime Minister is getting married this Saturday (9 June) to Jeanne Abdullah. It was reported in many news clips that Jeanne is a distant relative, has been taking care of the prime minister and his house since his wife, Endon Mahmood, died on Oct. 20, 2005. It was also mentioned that Jeanne was the ex-wife of the brother of Endon Mahmood.

The statement on the Prime Minister's Office web site said Jeanne Abdullah, who will turn 54 on July 29, is the eldest of four siblings. Jeanne is the ex-wife of Endon's brother. Then this would mean that Jeanne is actually the Prime Minister's sister-in-law!!!

The statement said Jeanne has "wide experience in the administration and hotel sector after being involved in managing several famous hotels in Malaysia, including Hotel Hilton Kuala Lumpur and Hotel Pan Pacific."

She has also worked before as ... manager of the Seri Perdana Complex (the prime minister's official residence)," the statement said.

It said Jeanne has two daughters, Nadiah and Nadene, from the previous marriage.

The wedding will be held at the prime minister's official residence and will be attended by close family members only, it said.

Anyway, it would be good for the Prime Minister to have someone to keep company after being a widower.

6 months into my present job

Time really fly.. it already been 6 months since I join my new organisation. Looking back into the these 6 months these are the highlights:

• Stepping into a new office on the first day of reporting to work. Attended the briefing session and had a small tour of the new office.
• Went for a team building course in India and getting to know my fellow colleagues in there.
• Attended a month's course to familiarise myself with the new banking system.
• Spend a month in Shanghai to get the my hands dirty with the operations of my new job.
• Being away from my family for the longest duration of time, feeling homesick.
• For the first time, I was not been able to be with my wife and daughter to celebrate their birthdays.
• Going back again to Shanghai after spending less than two weeks at home.
• Back in KL after spending three weeks in Shanghai.

Half way through the year and still have not a full grasp of this big organisation I am in. The structure of the organisation is far more complex from my previous considering the big network of branches and offices all over the world.

One nice thing, I get to see many places, talk and meet with many people from all over the world and I hope there are more happenings for the next 6 months!!

Linkin Park - Minutes to Midnight

Linkin Park released their latest album Minutes To Midnight after a lapse of almost 4 years. The album before this release was Meteoria which was released in 2003. I managed to get hold of the album which was released in Malaysia on 14 May 2007 (I was in Shanghai on that date but could not find the album being sold there).

The first single from the album is What I've Done which has been playing over the radio and the video was shown over the music channels. The album for the first time featured the photo of all the members of the band. The album was produced by Mike Shinoda and Rick Rubin. Rick is a very famous producer who have worked with many rock bands such as Red Hot Chili Pepper , Shakira, Justin Timberlake, Dixie Chicks and Metallica, just to name a few.

On the first time listening to this album, it sounded a bit different as compared with their previous albums. Chester Bennington, the lead singer, explained that the album is a mix of punk, classic rock and hi-hop beats. And for the fist time, Mike Shinoda sang lead vocal for a full
length track of the song In Between rather rapping as he usually does.

I have been listening to the album this afternoon and have not really got the hang of the songs yet (except for What I've Done). I will make my comments on the songs later on.

What I've Done - Video