Canon EFS 17-85mm F4-5.6 IS USM

Bought this lens last Saturday from MIR FTZ. The lens was about 3 months old and still under warranty. Quite satisfied with the lens and it's the best walkaround lens compared to kit lens. The IS help a lot especially those low light photography. The contrast of the image are also slightly improved.

All the shots below are handheld and with Image Stabilizer (IS) ON, no tripod were used.

Selamat Hari Raya and belated Deepavali

Even though it is late, but still need to greet all muslims Selamat Hari Raya and all indian Happy Belated Deepavali..

It's better late than never..


Time passed by so fast... Yet I still wondering in my own world....sigh...

开斋节快乐！

时间过得很快，不知不觉已经到了二零零六年的年尾了。

我还在我自己的世界里梦游着。。埃。。。。

Home town...

It's been ages since the last time I drove back to my hometown - Perai, Butterworth, Penang. Finally back to my hometown today. This will be short stay here, I will be back to KL on Monday morning.

Initially, my plan to start my journey back at 4am in the morning, unfortunately I was to tired to wake up at 3am in the morning. Started off my journey at 6:15am in the morning and reached my house about 9:15am - The total journey was 2 hour and 30 minutes from Kuala Lumpur to Penang. That was fast! I won't say how fast I drive but picture convey a thousand meaning. So take a look on the photo.

It pays to reach Penang in 2 and a half hour. My RM82 bucks full tank petrol just gone like that. Wah, I not going to do that again. The petrols just like swallowing water.

I was too tired to think when I first reach my house. Not much changes in Penang, can still smell the slow paced life here. Everything is slow - the development, the cars and the building too...

I was so tired till I just fell asleep when I lie onto the sofa. It is much more comfortable to be at house.

*yawn* time to get back to sleep again...

Back in one piece...

Back in one piece from Dubai...finally. The journey was freaking tired and juiced up all my energy. 7 hours of flight plus 4 hours different time zone really make me sick.

I was so happy thought that I can give myself a break and rest when I come back. Things are in a mess - I have to do my laundry, pay my overdue phone and broadband bill, check my car, repair my stupid pc that won't switch on which I don't know what happened to it, clean up my super duper dusty keyboard and mouse, clean my abandoned room, claim my 1GB of SD card (winning from PIKOM Photography Contest) from the post office...bla...bla...bla... and so on... Piles of work need to be settled in a day..

It's 1.30am now, tomorrow need to work yet still can write these crap. I am just abnormal. Sigh...

IBN BATTUTA MALL

Busy..

It's been more than a week since the last time I update my blog. There's a pile of work need to be clean up recently. The work getting tougher when added up with a lots of communication and coordination issues. Basically everything in a mess...

I need some break after work. In Dubai, the shopping center opened from 8am till 12 midnight during Ramadan Kareem. At night, I took a ride down town to Nassar Square and did some window shopping. The things there basically are cheap. You can get a good bargain there if you know how to bargain well.

..

Pile of SH*T

Yeah, it's been few days since I update my blog. My situation not really good, in fact there is pile of SH*T for me to clean it up. I wish I can come back next week.

In Dubai, during Ramadan Kareem (This is what the locals there call, in malay it is known as 'Bulan Puasa'), it is hard to get food during lunch time. I have no choice but to pack food from petrol station or some indian restaurant that offer delivery. Sick of Indian food, tandoori chicken, masala, what ever chicken tikka ...ish. I have been eating Indian food for the past 4 days.. I think I gonna get sick if I continue eating that.

Talking about Dubai, I have been busy lately cracking my head to clean up those pile of SH*T. It's almost two weeks here in Dubai, I still haven't get used to the time and weather here. I still sleep according to Malaysian time. The weather here is freaking hot and burning in the day time. I found some of the skin already pilled off from my arm.

If I stay here longer, I think I gonna get heatstroke and homesick.

All right, till then, I need to go and continue cleaning "THE SH*T" =)

No time for photo, will post once I downloaded my photo into hard disk. I found that my Canon EOS 350D original battery surprisingly can last for 2 weeks after normal usage, it is really unbelievable!

Ok! I better cut the crap and continue working..

Before I end my crappy blog, here's some link to share for auto lover:
http://www.autoblog.it/

Ciao.

Ramadan Month in Dubai

Today is the starting month of Ramadan in Dubai. It is the my first time to see how the other country's Muslims life during the Ramadan month.

I was told by my agent today is the start of Ramadan. All the restaurant include McDonalds, KFC, Shakeys, Chillis etc will be closed daily from 6am till 5pm. NO FOOD will be serve! Yup NO FOOD will be serve till 5pm DAILY! I finding hard time to look around for food, luckily some indian restaurant have delivery service to send the packed food to your location.

I have been warned by my agent DO NOT EAT IN THE PUBLIC. According to the local there, it is AN OFFENCE to eat in the public during the month of Ramadan include DRINKING WATER! They didn't tell me about the PENALTY for EATING IN THE PUBLIC during Ramadan. It is better to play by the rules and play it safe!

During the month of Ramadan, all the office hour changes to 8am to 3pm (Normal office hour for Dubai's government sector was 8am - 3pm from Sun - Wed, 8am - 1pm on Thurs. Public sector was 8am - 6pm from Sun - Wed and 8am - 1pm on Thurs) daily except Thursday which is 8am - 1pm. Imagine the how they work yet earn big bucks.

For those who plan to visit Dubai, think twice before you plan your holiday. You don't want your trip to Dubai to fall on Ramadan month. I have no choice, but to 'tapau' some food from Carrefour.

Work is getting tough, meeting deadline is a must and yet the Ramadan month, working time cut short. Therefore everything must in the plan. Problems are everywhere; to ensure the plan goes smoothly - the only thing I can do is PRAY! (First of all I am not Muslim, and I worship different god. The difference between Muslim and me - Muslim pray 5 times a day where as I pray ONCE I got into trouble!). See what kinda person am I? lol. God gonna be angry at me if IT knows I am such an idiot!

Tomorrow is Sunday and it is my 7th day in Dubai. I don't really know how long I going to be here, but for sure I need to solve the problem before I going back home.

It is a lucky day for me to get such a good WIFI signal in my apartment I occupied now.

That's all folks!

Ciao! 再见！=)

Photo Photo Photo...

Photo speaks a thousand word and it conveys a millions of meaning.

Emirates Towers

Bur Dubai Abra wharf

Inside Gold Souk


Start of the locals daily life at Gold Souk

Friday - A weekend in Dubai

Friday is a holy day for those Muslims in Dubai. Therefore it is consider as a weekend (Sunday is our weekend in Malaysia). Most shop either closed or open from 8am till 12pm, then from 4pm till 10pm (This includes shopping mall as well).

The traffic are clear and not like weekdays where the car are bumper to bumper on Friday. I finisned by job early today therefore I am going for a tour simple around Deira area. My agent's engineer drives me around the area.

First, we went to the Gold Souk in northern part Deira. I don't really know the meaning of Souk but I think it refers to market, because when I check out the map of Dubai, there's a few popular Souk in Dubai such as Spice Souk etc. Gold Souk is an area where all the shop sells jewellery at a very competitive price. Most of the shop are own by the local there. I don’t stay long there because there's nothing caught my interest.

Later, we went to Baniyas Road, beside Dubai Creek where the history and evolution of small village into one of the world's famous tourism spot began - Dubai.

For yours information, Dubai are divided by a creek called Dubai Creek. If the Arabian Sea is on the north and the 'mouth' of the creek face north, the left side of Dubai is called Bur Dubai where as the right side of Dubai is called Deira (Pronouns as dieeeera). Basically Diera is known as the Old Dubai.

In the old days, when there is no bridge, the local people cross the creek with a boat or water taxi. In Dubai, the local calls it ABRA. It takes about 5 minutes or less to cross the creek.

Beside Baniyas Road, there is a place where all the boat load and unload the goods to distribute to the nearby city like Sharjah on the north, Jebel Ali Port and Abu Dhabi on the south of Dubai by sea.

We have taken a ride on abra to cross the creek to Bur Dubai, there is a few heritage site there but we don't have enough time to tour around. The ride was fun thou.

I get back to my apartment around 11am. After taken bath and everything, I set my foot from my apartment and headed to nearby bus stop. The nearest bus stop is about 150 meters away.
It is quite easy to catch a taxi in Dubai. I got a taxi in less than 2 minutes. Headed towards the Emirate Tower (I have no idea where to go initially, and just pick and go from the map).

Emirate Tower is one of the famous landmarks in Dubai where the Emirate Boulevard Mall is located. The shops inside Boulevard Mall are designer brand. Everything is luxurious there and the prices are hefty high.

I walked around Emirate Tower, and cross the famous Sheikh Zayed Road (14 lanes road) headed towards Holiday Plaza where I had my McDonalds lunch there. Never ever try to cross the road because you never make it to another end! Trust me! This is not 2 lanes Malaysian highway, the car there average speed at 120kmph! Imagine you need to cross 7 lanes first before you reach the center divider, then another 7 lanes...no! no! I used a pedestrian underpass to cross the road instead. Beside McDonalds, nothing much to see except the architechture and building engineering around that area. The view was fantastic. Both side of Sheikh Zayed Road are surrouded by high rise building. It was too hot to walk around to shoot some photo.

Finally, decided to go to another shopping center - Deira City Center. I took a taxi to Deira City Center. It is quite easy to get taxi, and there are total of 14000 taxi operate in Dubai. The fares are relatively cheap compared to Malaysia and you get to sit in a brand new Toyota Camry. The taxi in Dubai use digital meter to calculate the fair and it is controlled by the Road Transpot Department. Therefore don't worry, you won't get conned by those taxi driver. The taxi fair is basically AED 3.00 once it is hired and AED 1.50 per kilometres.

Deira City Center is the latest attraction in Deira. 340 shops under one roof include Carrefour, Debenhams, Virgin Records and 11 Cinemas. Most famous brand can found there. I have a stroll down the mall and had my dinner there before heading home to my apartment.

The journey is tiring but it's quite enjoyable to travel and backpack around Dubai.

That's all for today.

Gold Souk in Deira

Dubai Creek

Abra - Water Taxi

Emirates Tower

Sheikh Zayed Road

High rise building around Sheikh Zayed Road, Jumeirah, Dubai.

HUMMER H2 Limo?

Limo HUMMER and Baby HUMMER?

Life in Dubai

The wireless connection here is unstable. On and off connection.

Since the second day in Dubai, there is much work coming in and everything is in a mess. For the past two days, I have been to site and doing some measurement.

Today is Friday, it is a weekend in Dubai like Sunday in Malaysia. In Dubai, Friday and Saturday consider a weekend for them.

My brain stuck now...it is 6am in the morning. I have difficulties get my email sent and MSN online! Phew....

The temperature is getting unbearable - hot in the midday and there is a possibility of getting heatstroke.

I went to Gold Crest tower at Jumeirah Lake area - maybe 10KM south of Deira City Centre. Went up to 32nd floor to do some inspection work. The view from Gold Crest tower is breathtaking and superb. The famous self proclaimed 7 star hotel - Burj Al Arab, Jumeirah Palm Island, Dubai Ski can be seen. Beside that, Burj Dubai - worlds tallest building - 1000m can be seen under construction.

Taken a few shot on the view of the area. I will try to upload once I got FREE WIFI access at Starbucks Coffee, Coffee Bean or Costa Coffee.

I have tried out McDonald's Chicken Foldover in Dubai, it is called McArabia. Last night went to Deira City Centre Shopping Mall do some grocery shopping. The mall is huge and it accomodate 340 shops inside the mall include Carrefour, Debenhams and some famous brand.

Till then...

View from 32nd Floor of Gold Crest Tower - Jumeirah Lake, Dubai.

View on the South of Jumeirah Lake, Dubai.

World's tallest building (1000m tall) - Burj Dubai under construction.

Panoramic Dubai

Panoramic scenery of Dubai International Airport and it's surrounding.

Taken with Sony DSC P-10 and stitched with Photoshop CS2

:-p

Dubai's first look

My first day at Dubai gives me a different perception and impression on it. Dubai is a nicely planned and crafted metropolitan. Dubai's development are booming and exploding too fast. The landscape planning and architechture here are very impressive, especially their engineering and high quality of work. The weather here is around 40 degree during day time and down to 38 degree at night. It is a quite hot compared to Malaysia's weather but still bearable to work under the sun.

On the street or highway of Dubai, it is feel like you are in the United States. I saw a Ford MUSTANG GT and HUMMER H4 zoom pass by. These are American muscle and favourites automobiles. The sound of MUSTANG GT are sweet, when you hear it you know it can smoke Ferrari's or Japanese sport tuner - piece of cake. The average automobiles I have seen on Dubai road are mainly luxury vehicle eg. Audi A8, Porsche Cayenna, Toyota Prado, Chrysler Dodge Sebring etc and so on, to many to listed here. Mostly are 2.5 litre and above vehicle.

I have been to the site today. It is quite messy there and most work are hanging or did half way. Several measurement need to be taken down to adjust some run. The site are called Dubai Festival City's Harbour Plaza. It is a 5 star rated contstuction project. Situated just beside Dubai Creek and the view from the site's 16th floor was breathtaking. I can see Dubai International Airport on the northern part of the building and Dubai Creek, Bur Dubai can bee seen on the southern part of the building.

My dinner was a simple one. I bought a Chicken MrTadla Black Papper salami and Shawarma Bread from the supermarket. Both the salami and bread is nice. I will try out other recipe tomorrow, maybe try to add some arabian cheese on top of the salami.

Some of my friend said: "Wah! So nice can go Dubai..." Yeah Dubai is indeed a very nice metropolitan but the objectives that count. If you go there for vacation, it is definately a place to be there. Working there is another different story.

That's all for today... =)

Dubai Creek as seen from 16th floor of my project site - Harbour Plaza

Northern part of Dubai as seen from Harbour Plaza.

LEXUS and Toyota Showroom in front of Harbour Plaza

Another breath taking view of northern part of Dubai, Dubai International Airport.

Last but not least - my project site - The beautiful Harbour Plaza

Day 1 - Welcome to Dubai

Welcome to Dubai. It is 0255H early in the morning now, the time back in Malaysia should be about 0650H. Suffered from jet lag and 4 hours different in time zone makes me sick.

My flight arrived at Dubai International Airport (DXB) at 1855H yesterday. The entire journey took about 6 hour 45 minutes. The new Dubai International Airport Terminal 1 gives me a good impression and I can say it is up to the par with KLIA or even better.

My arrival in the airport was greeted by the company agent in Dubai – Mr. Navin. When I walk out from the passenger meeting area to the car park, whoalaah! I saw a Porsche Cayenne just parked at the road side. Tons and loads of BMW 7 and 5 series, Chevvy (Not a normal 1.5 or 1.8cc that we usually see in Malaysia, it is a 3 liter and above car, MPV and 4WD), Peugeot, Mustang etc. By the way, Dubai traffic is left hand drive (Same as in United States). Talking about the road in Dubai, it is an eye opener for me - a NORMAL road in Dubai, 3 lanes for each direction in the city area.

The place I am staying is called Embassy Suites Apartment, the apartment was not really new but it is extremely BIG. It is located in Deirah, Dubai, UAE.

Mr Navin bought me to a restaurant for dinner; it is a buffet dinner with mostly Indian, China, Arab and Thai cuisine. First time in my life I try out camel meat. It is a little hard compared to chicken but not as hard as the lamb or beef and the taste is freaking delicious. The tender and juiciness of the camel meat cooked in Arabic style is superb.

It takes me an hour to blog this, unfortunately there is no internet connection available in the apartment to post this.

All right, jet lag is bad. Now I am extremely awake and got nothing to do beside watching CNN and playing with my new phone.

That’s all…

Target destination

Altitude...ground speed...temperature...distance...E.T.A.

Destination Dubai...

Welcome to Dubai...ready to land...

My apartment in Deira, Dubai, U.A.E.

Deira a.k.a old Dubai, the oldest clock tower roundabout in Dubai seen from my apartment.

Sunrise...

High class apartment suit...

Old Clock Tower Roundabout...

KLIA

Yup, I arrived at KLIA earlier. Carrying two rucksack and a luggage with a total weight of approximately 40Kg running around KLIA like a mad dog is extremely tiring. Now still in KLIA, sitting in front of Delifrance blogging this article.

The food is freaking expensive here, even in Delifrance, they still charge 5% government tax. I don't know why cause here in the Satellite building everything should be tax free. Another rip off!

I have a few things to say about the food by Delifrance. I would expecting a quality from Delifrance, unfortunately and sadly it is very very very very very very....dissapointed. After I ate the lasagna and so called 'chicken soup', the taste is terribly way down the drain and nowhere near any western food stall beside the road. Yucks! I would never ever eat at KLIA Delifrance anymore, no way! Looks nice but taste sucks!

Whoops! I wonder if any of the Delifrance worker saw me writing this and condemn their food to the max in their premises. Who cares, I telling the truth what.. I will post up the pic of lasagna and chicken soup when I got my connection there.

It's 1447H now, my boarding time is 1535H at Gate C34. Still half an hour to go before taking a long 7 hour flight to Dubai, UAE.

All right, that's all. Need to save some laptop battery for in flight entertainment when I am bored sitting at tiny spaced economy class seat!


Lasagna and cream of chicken soup from Delifrance KLIA


Blog at Delifrance KLIA.

Time time time...

It's 0706H, 17th September 2006. Can't really sleep well last night even thou I slept quite late. Still have a few things to prepare.

The time in Dubai is 4 hour before the time in Malaysia. I need to syncronize my watch to Dubai time.



The local time in Dubai now:

Dubai

The local time in Malaysia now:

Kuala Lumpur

Gearing up for Dubai...

It is freaking 2209H , 16th September 2006 now. Less than 24 hours remain before flight to Dubai. Guess what? I still have not pack my stuff, my clothes still hanging on the balcony, the luggage are cleared but there is nothing inside there. The only things that sit inside my little compartment in my luggage - The medicine. All sort of medicine - food poisoining (Which I always into it!), gastric, Panadol, medicine for flu and the famous Asian brand 'mother of all' medicine - Pil Chi Kit Poh Chai Yin (It heal all sort of sickness and it is locally reconized as NATIONAL CURE FOR DIARRHEA ).
There is a situation here - What am I doing here? I have not pack anything yet and still I can sit in front of my PC blogging this crap? (Sorry if any of my vocabulary usage offended you, I was thinking of categorize my blog as "PARENTAL GUIDANCE" for young viewer below 18 years old).

Back to the topic. This evening went to MPH and check out 'LonelyPlanet Traveller's guide to Dubai'. For yours information, the exchange rate for RM1 equals to 1 AED(Arab Emirates Dirham) - in short RM1 = AED1. According to the 'LonelyPlanet' guide, the cheapest (budget) for a cup of coffee is AED 8 and a budget meal is AED 10 ~ AED 25 (I said budget meal, I doubt this doesn't include Mc Donalds (or Mc Dubai or what ever it it called there), not sure if Mc 'D' exist in Dubai - If so, I would be the happiest person on earth to try out their Big Camel Burger..lol. Do your math, if you failed your math - no worries CLICK HERE (Universal Currency Converter by XE.com) and you will know how much it cost just to stay alive in Dubai!

Anyway here are some crappy photo to share - Hall of my apartment in a mess...

My tools of the trade to Dubai. Without them, I won't be able to come back in a piece...

Check out the mess in the hall of my apartment...
I bet my mom gonna scream at me if she see this...

That's all for tonight...
More crap coming soon...

My Contact Number in DUBAI

My contact number in Dubai, UAE +97150-4540547
--
Regards,

C.W.Geh

Test message for email blogging and proven it works.

Busy day at work

I am late again for work today. Unfortunately the reason is neither overslept or traffic jam. I bumped into my ex-colleague on the way to work. It is been quite sometime we met, so both of us chat for 'a while'. We barely chat for 10minutes and I am late for work.

As usual, I walk into my office like some macho guy. My workload for today quite heavy but tried to finish as fast as possible.

My lunch was sumptious, we went for some hot soup lunch in Seri Kembangan market. It's a small hut behind the mainroad of Seri Kembangan, but the dishes are superb.

Around 1600H, I received a shocking MSN message from my colleague. "You got to go to Dubai". Gosh, I replied back "When is the flight ar?". "Sunday 2200H flight to Dubai from KLIA!". Oh my god, all my plan for the following week just ruined like that and the worst part is the ticket is open ticket. I got some briefing from my seniors that the job might last for 3 weeks or worst still 1 month.

Crap! I doesn't have enough time to prepare myself. I calculated from the time I got the news, it is just merely 36hours before my flight.

They going to brief me in detail tomorrow on the schedule of the work there. I know something must have gone wrong.

I got no choice, but to plan and solve the problem. Later I going to find my ex-colleague which is also my master 'sifu' at site. A very very experienced person on site...

All right have to stop right here. Got to go now....

Will update more infomation regarding Dubai and post more picture when I got there...

The exact location of Dubai. Just incase you don't know whereabout it dubai.

Wee hour....again?

It's 0027H, 14th September 2006. Surprisingly I still awake. I just came back from 'yum cha' session with my ex-colleague. The table topic today is to exchange idea, experience and information on each other work, life and future. As usual, we have been gossiping about anything during yumcha session just to release our daily work tension.
Our main subject is our boss. As usual, we talked about every single inch of him from head to toe. I got to know one of my colleague have been a negative mood. I believe things happened for a reason. There is no doubt my colleague mood is affected by the working environment or some other factor. The probability of mood affected by working environment is higher from my point of view and based on the discussion and gossiping during yumcha session. I won't elaborate more on this cause I should respect my colleague's privacy and it is not a right way to discuss about people's problem here.

One of my colleague did mention about 'HOPE' and the word 'HOPE' suddenly came into my mind. There is one Chinese proverb (direct translation from Chinese but the meaning still the same) saying: "The higher is the hope, the higher the dissapointment".
I believe we are mature and rationally enough to judge certain issue or 'things'. The saying got their meaning but NOT always correct and can be used in any situation.

I neither totally agree or disagree with my colleague opinion cause I respect and agree in certain point of her opinion and I have my opinion to added on top of hers. In my humble opinion, all the while we have been working. But most of us doesn't know our objective of life (this include me as well!) and what do we hope for when we do this or do something. There might be a lot of reason behind it but every single individual have different needs and hope.

From my point of view, we SHOULD have HOPE when doing something. Even it is not a big HOPE, but atleast we expect to see some result when we do something. As an example, when a hen lays an egg, we do hope that the egg will hatch into small chicks. From small chicks, grow into a hen or rooster. This is what normally people hope for. BUT... what if the egg doesn't hatch into chicks? What are we going to do about it? Are we going to left it there till it become a ROTTEN egg? Or, we can sell the egg to earn some income to support the family? The 'fate' of the egg is all in our hand:

1. IF the egg hatched into chicks, then there will be another hen or rooster to lays more egg. We can sell off the hen or rooster to earn bigger income together with the egg.
2. IF the egg doesn't hatch. We can either leave it to become rotten egg or make full use of the unhatched egg - sell it to earn some income or cook it so it feed us.

The OPTION is always on our hand.

We should put a HOPE on everything, not too much till it hurt our feeling or demotivate us. HOPE is NOT everything, it is a small portion of our life that keep pushing us go ahead. Without HOPE, there is NO LIFE. A little HOPE will bring a person to the next level. So get your brain moving, think twice before you try to give up on HOPE.

All right it is 0100H now. That's all for today. I will try to share more in the future. Any critics and comment are welcomed.

=)