Walking around (Jalan Jalan) Pulau Pinang (Penang Island), after my Penang Bridge Half Marathon 2010 I had one half of a day to go around the island. Well, particularly it has been almost 2 years since I set food foot here. It’s also like 3 years ago when I first came here in 2007. So what is Pulau Pinang famous for? Of course, it’s the variety of food one could get to eat.

What happened after the run, me and Kyuzo were practically asleep until 2pm and got up to find lunch. Decided to eat at the mee goreng (fried noodle) stall. Well, enough to satisfy the hunger I supposed.

Soon it was night and our host, Ms Su Lynn brought us for food. I decided to opt for Lok Lok (food dipped in hot water) for dinner.

Fret not, this is only a part of what I had.

Secret: I do eat a lot BUT I also don’t really gain weight. *BISH*

So after that it was a drive to Batu Feringghi in the night and time for some night shopping for *ahem ahem* DVDs. After that about 10pm, decided to head back to Penang town to try the Koay Zhap (pork lard in starchy sauce) which I haven’t had for 2 years. ARGHHHH… didn’t get to. It was close that day. I was wondering did the uncle took a break? Maybe he ran the Penang Bridge Run also.

Soon we just head back to the house and had our fair share of watching DVDs and doze off soon after.

Next morning, it was a working day, Su Lynn needs to go to work, so were dropped off at Original Kayu Mamak Restaurant. Me and Kyuzo ate Nasi Lemak (Scented Coconut Rice) and Tosai (Indian Thin Crusted Flour Bread) and Vadai (Indian Biscuit with chillies) each. Well, that’s what you get for running in a run. Appetite has grown bigger.

Nasi Lemak is still a local delicacy. Though excessively eating this could lead to very high cholesterol level.

On the first day, I still remembered taking photos of how my weird mind perceived them to be. Here are a few shots.

BEWARE OF DOG…. errrr where’s the dog?

Fire Hydrant?? What’s the use if it’s already opened?

Of course let’s come out of my weirdness and look at something else instead.

Now where is this place? Some people might recognize it though. I am sure the next picture will roughly tell you where I was.

Ahem… still ain’t sure? No kidding.

Ahhhh.. finally, something familiar? Yes, it’s a sculpture of a snake. One of the 12 Chinese Zodiac animals. The most magnificent one. Of course, how about me taking a picture of myself with one of the animals that somehow would finally reveal my age.

It’s been a hard day’s night, and I am working like a dog. Seems to me that’s what it means.

It’s just so many pictures one can take here. Even a signboard can look better than normal. It’s all about the angle.

Sometimes angle plays an important part when taking a photo. How one position their photos and camera. This is something I would talk about in a new website that I am doing and preparing. Learn more about it there.

If you’re still clueless as to where’s the location. It’s at Ke Lok Si, the temple up on the hill near to Ayer Itam. Speaking of which, there’s a famous food up around Ayer Itam. Wait for it… wait for it….

AYER ITAM ASAM LAKSA

Look at how thick the gravy is. Yes, it was me, Chin Ann and Kyuzo once again when Chin Ann fetched us from Original Kayu restaurant and from there we headed towards Ke Lok Si and now for some food before we head home to Kuala Lumpur again. It’s better to eat some Asam Laksa (Sour Assam Laksa).

What was the response after eating this? Here’s what.

Chin Ann had 2 bowls of Asam Laksa and Kyuzo smiling after having his fill of Asam Laksa. You can see how delicious it is.

Then finally it was time for us to leave Penang. It will be many more days before coming back to Penang once again. Who knows, it could be the year after with only a few more months to 2011.

Though some people took it too seriously as he looked upon the shores of Penang Island and wondered to himself.

Yes, we took the ferry back to the mainland. It was then a drive all the way to Kuala Lumpur. So see you again Penang Island. Who knows, I’ll be there most probably next year Penang Bridge Marathon 2011. This time aiming for the 42km run.

BYE BYE PENANG!!!

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All these time, I have gone through articles and notes in the Internet regarding entertainment (concerts and award ceremonies) being held in Malaysia (or those that are gonna be held). Malaysia as we all know is a very diverse culture, seemingly with the mainstreamed Malay, Chinese and Indian community the majority of it.

Note: Anyway these are one of those random thoughts that I have when I was reading about the facts of Malaysian entertainment. So if you think you can’t handle this, please excuse yourself.

Another important reason as to why I was suddenly thinking of reading articles about Malaysian entertainment was due to the fact that I stayed up to watch “Badrul oh Rahul” – a local movie in 2008 with actors Riezman Khuzaimi, Jasmin Hamid and Aida Aris being shown on television last night. Yes, I do watch Malay movies (1Malaysia right? Who says I am Chinese that I must watch only Chinese movies and I can’t watch others?)

Aida Aris – main actress in this movie as Rita

Synopsis of the movie is kinda catchy. Here’s the synopsis in the Malay language considering that it’s a Malay movie.

Badrul bekerja sebagai penjual barangan di syarikat jualan langsung. Wajahnya mirip Rahul, pelakon Hindustan. Beliau sudah berkahwin dan mempunyai dua orang anak. Suatu hari Badrul telah menerima tawaran untuk menjadi model pakaian walaupun ditolak oleh isterinya, Tipah. Kemudian, Badrul telah berkenalan dengan Rita yang juga model di syarikat terbabit. Badrul memberitahu Rita yang beliau merupakan ahli perniagaan dan masih bujang. Lama kelamaan Badrul telah jatuh cinta dengan Rita tetapi takut diketahui oleh Tipah lalu beliau meminta nasihat dari rakan beliau, Damri. Damri menyarankan supaya hubungannya dengan Rita diputuskan dan jangan menjawab panggilannya. Rita berasa sedih lalu meminta nasihat daripada Ika, yang kebetulan pula adik ipar Badrul. Rita mendapat tahu Badrul telah menipunya, sebenarnya Badrul sudah berkahwin dan mempunyai dua orang anak. Walaupun begitu, Rita tetap mahu menjadi isteri kedua Badrul. Sesuatu telah berlaku antara Tipah dan Badrul yang mengakibatkan Tipah lari ke rumah ibu bapanya. Apakah sebenarnya yang berlaku?

Anyway, I still remembered the time when Sharifah Amani (yes, I know about this actress as I watched her act in Sepet) received her award for Best Actress in AIM 2006 and she spoke these words,

“I will feel like stupid if I speak in Malay, so I’ll use English”

Yes, that’s what she said, and a prominent Malay newspaper quoted her in another way (which also angered the fellow yorais) which deliberately said that this was what she said.

“I feel stupid if I speak Malay”

See the difference. When will they ever learn?

Zee Avi

Now, there was another artiste from the local scene that prompted headlines and one that was recently famous due to her Youtube videos which was none other than local celebrity Zee Avi (born Izyan Alirahman). Due to her busy schedule, she had to deny a few interviews from newspaper and the media. Somehow most of them are medias from the Malay language and then it was linked that she didn’t wanted to do interviews in the form of the Malay language. The claims were non-stop that she has forgotten her Malaysian roots.

What a way to welcome home our local artist, don’t you think so.

International Artistes

Now let’s move on to the international artiste scene. Who can ever forget about the Pussycat Dolls making their appearance in Malaysia, dancing and singing to their hit numbers.

Strangely enough, they were caught not wearing underwear (panties) in one of the photos and thus the ‘shooting’ began. Well, after that scene, every international female artiste/s that comes down to Malaysia to perform had to accustomed themselves to the ‘laws’ of the country and dress with less skin. One of the noted one is Gwen Stefani.

Ever since then it has gotten strict and stricter, which explains that most artistes now chose Singapore as their hub in South East Asia to perform rather than the restrictive Malaysia.

Back to the Local Artistes

Anyway, let’s get back to the local artistes.

More importantly Sharifah Amani (one of the artist that I follow from Malaysia)

picture by www.budiey.com

She was critized by some of the netizens that she has forgotten her Malay roots (because of this photo), some even go to the point that ever since she had a ‘Mat Salleh’ boyfriend, she is becoming more and more daring, etc. Just look at what she’s wearing then you’ll know why the criticism is all about?

I wondered what are the roots they’re talking about? Let’s all go back to the time of P.Ramlee then.

P. Ramlee and SalomaP Ramlee and Saloma

I still remembered way back in P.Ramlee’s time (yes I do watched his movie, even though I am not Malay but a Malaysian), the female artiste all looked stunning with their curvaceous body and dressing. Those days Joget was fun thing every race could enjoy.

I wondered why no one ever bothered to say anything during those times but why now only they’ve started talking about what is deemed sexy and not allowed to wear. Political reasons? I guessed we will never know.



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It’s time to see how did the Bon Odori festival 2010 held in Shah Alam went by. Well, this post actually continued from my last post, where I was at the BlupBlup event and the reason I left early was to get my ass over to Shah Alam at Matsushita Sports Complex to find a proper parking space and to attend this event.

Bon Odori is once a year and this will be my first time attending Bon Odori in KL area. My previous Bon Odori which was like 4 years back was in Penang in 2007. Time flies, and that was the time when i first met the group from Penang.

Here was what happened. After the event, I went straight to the Bon Odori festival and got this fan for keepsake. Not bad, a souvenir to bring back. Chin Ann tagged along.

Greeted with the fact that there are many girls and guys here in Japanese costume. Like the above, the girls are dressed in Yukata, though I ain’t sure if they were Japanese though. As it was a Japanese festival, my first thing that came to mind is, ahhhhh FOOD. Too bad I didn’t get anything much that day as I was broke. Only had RM20 in my wallet, I could only afford this.

Unagi Don for RM10

At least my stomach need to eat first before we carry on exploring the whole place. Then there was a sign board which was promoting Japanese tourism. There was even a model there for anyone who wanted to take photos or take together photos.

Of course, I don’t think that she is Japanese. People though have been saying I look more Japanese, so what happened if I were to stand side by side. That’s what I did.

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It was 23rd April 2010, Daniel Chew or known as DanielCtw got invites for Sa Ding Ding 萨顶顶 Live in Malaysia Complimentary Ticket and went to watch her concert at Dragonfly KL Dance Club. Well, all this thanks to dearest Yen who got me the complimentary tickets.

Without knowing at first who was this artiste, a background check was done to see what would be in store when attending this concert. Well, little did I know, her songs were nominated for Grammy Awards.

Here’s a simple background of Sa Ding Ding.

Chinese name: 薩頂頂 (Traditional)
Chinese name: 萨顶顶 (Simplified)
DOB: December 27, 1983 (1983-12-27) (age 26) Inner Mongolia
Occupation: Singer, composer, songwriter, record producer, choreographer

Now that we have a few background on Sa Ding Ding, it’s time to see what’s the view like in Dragonfly Club. Though darn, have to pay RM30 entrance fee to the club (get 2 drinks) before getting to see Sa Ding Ding live.

Sa Ding Ding arrives for the opening song. Noticed the amount of people with cameras in the crowd. DanielCtw did not get to stand with them as he prefers going further thus with an ISO of 1600, shot this shot from very far. Well, with only a 55-200mm f/4.2 – f/5.6 and NO FLASH, it’s the best he can do.

So what? Shots can still be stunning. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

A simple close up shot of Sa Ding Ding.

After presenting her first number, she sort of relaxed and talked to the crowd.

Darn camera piece down there.

To avoid the other cameras, A reflective shot was taken on the glass panel of Sa Ding Ding (萨顶顶).

Sa Ding Ding sang songs that are so called unheard of, with songs created in her own language unknown to other mankind. The artist also knows how to have fun with the audience and danced like she’s in a trance and I was glad I got to go for this concert. Okay okay, she’s pretty la…. I know I know.

Finally she went back stage and brought a prop, a tambourine. While entertaining the crowd, she danced and danced for a long time with the tambourine.

I wished the stage was higher.

Of course, she really does know how to have fun with all the band members. Dancing to the beat of the guitar. Cool eh…

Though there is one time she looked like one of the artiste that I like. None other than….

Kwon Boa. Well, it’s still Sa Ding Ding though. Was expecting she would be changing costumes at certain time, but looks like it never happened.  Well, while on stage, Sa Ding Ding talked about how this is her first visit to Malaysia and hope that the audience would love to listen to her music. She explains how it’s so hot in Malaysia unlike where she comes from.

Towards the ending of her final song, she waves to the crowd and does what she does best, entertaining the crowd with her bizarre and weird music which the WEIRD ONE enjoyed. Well, of course, I enjoyed the concert, I even dance to a beat while on the camera (Jason who tagged along thought otherwise though).

Finally with the ending of the final song, she presented to us all her band.

Left : Keyboarder, Drummer, Sa Ding Ding, Chinese Instrument, Guitarist

Finally time to leave the stage. Though after 5 seconds, a partial of the crowd yelled “Encore!“. The DJ there asked everyone to be silent so that Sa Ding Ding would give a final performance before leaving. After about 10 seconds of silence in the club (yes.. imagine silence in a clubbing area) Sa Ding Ding appeared once more. She sang a romantic love song and this time the crowd took part as the waved and swayed their hands.

Definitely a concert worth watching. Well, for me that is. Well, unlike those who got to watch Kelly Clarkson, I get to watch this instead. Nearly wanted to buy Sa Ding Ding’s DVD + CD album at a promotional RM40. Too bad not enough cash. Darn.

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As most of the readers and twitters that followed me, you will know that on Friday 2nd April 2010, I will be off to Kota Kinabalu again. This time will be the 3rd successive year going there. Though there won’t be any mountain to climb this time. What a day because it’s going to be a company trip, and my flight is at 1040am later.

Yes, I can’t wait to splash once again in the island of Sabah, East Malaysia. I love the nature there. Somehow the nature over there can’t be compared over here.One of the island is Pulau Manukan.

Wonder what changed this year? I’ll be live blogging from here and yes, do keep track with me on this blog and on my twitter.

Adios. Gonna finish packing. Next trip after that? Where?

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