June 2010

These. Are My Books (Excluding Comic, Of Course)

Introducing you—my book collections

Nothing close to impressive, of course.

I cannot afford printed books because they are so freaking expensive. I rather spend on beer! At least it can buy me a night of happiness (bad call, I know). However, I do read a lot of eBooks.

eBooks are books in electronic format, which doesn’t require any printings on paper. Plus, you can always get free version of it…….. NGEK NGEK NGEK.

(Topic of book + ebook + download) – Google ‘Em

I am teaching you to illegal stuffs here, which is good :P

These.

…are books I bought in Singapore, during my April trip at West Malaysia. So far I’ve only finished reading half of them.

This means I didn’t spend enough time inside toilet.

Yes. I read while I am shitting.

Why? During the time I spent in toilet, no one disturbs me.

Those time I spent in toilet… are my ZEN(禪)moments™ :)

And this is the main reason for buying printed books.

These.

…are books I brought back from Australia. I gave away a few books because it’s not worth keeping.

Three of ‘em are textbooks, the only textbooks that are worth keeping. I sold the rest of the textbooks.

University education only taught me how to cite and do reference, and a few unimportant stuffs. I am not implying university studies are not important, it’s crucial for some. But sometimes, we learn more from our mistakes and life-lessons.

Let me ask you, do you still remember what your lecturer taught you 3 months ago?

Half million gone down the drain, kesian my dad.

If you look at the photos closely, there’s two boxes of games—World of Warcraft. I keep these because it helped me saved a lot of my money (but wastes time) :P

So far, 4 books were lend out. (I keep records of my books because they’re so freaking expensive)

These.

…are my magazine collections.

Complete Men’s Health Magazine (2007-2009). From these magazines I learn a lot about food, sport and body. However, I stopped purchasing it when the contents are starting to repeat itself.

One of my friend, Olivia, says,

“Why you still buy these magazines after all these years? You look the same.”

Shit.

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Ahbing Haz New Gadget: Blackberry® Bold 9700 2 Review

I am officially a proud Blackberry® Bold 9700 user :)

Bought a Blackberry 9700 under DiGi Smartplan™. Unlimited internet blablabla… wanted to get this phone since March, but couldn’t find a good reason for replacing my phone.

And now, my Nokia N95 finally dies. After 30 months of constant abuse and, rare case, swimming sessions. I am still surprise how it can survive for so long. Nokia phones really tahan lasak!

Now gimme a crab, I want to crack the shell with N95. See who wins :P

Anyone wanna see how my N95 looks like right now? It’s cruel and obscene, especially to Nokia hardcore fans. (hello @tallboyz)

The main criterion for choosing Blackberry® Bold 9700 is simple—I want buttons. So I can text while driving (yet to master that skill, still practising)

This is the second generation for Blackberry® Bold 9700, it replaces a trackball with a trackpad. I have to say, this little thing is awesome! Makes navigation so much easier. You only need to rub…

I love the word “rub” :D

Sorry, I couldn’t find a better word to fit this description.

Blackberry® Bold 9700 also comes with a 3.2mp camera. I love this camera cause it doesn’t produce the “chik-chak” sound like my old Nokia N95. This makes candid shots much simpler.

I wonder why no sound—I remember reading an article about the regulations on the compulsory camera sound on certain country to prevent under-skirt photos. Malaysia is included I think.

Without sound is much fun laaaaa of course!

Edit: OHHHH… got CHIK-CHAK sound! but barely noticeable :)

(I took a candid shot here, after England lost to Germany at #WC2010. The fans fell asleep at Cafe – http://tweetphoto.com/29492923)

Now with this phone connecting to my Twitter, Facebook 24/7.. I am more active on Tweetphoto. Follow me at Twitter @ahbing

And one of the features that differenciate Blackberry® Bold 9700 from other Blackberries is the sexy leather.

Barely noticeable in many occasions, but it does make a difference. I like this feature cause it makes Blackberry® Curve (lower spec) look like a toy :P

On top of Blackberry® Bold 9700, there are two buttons.

Left: Keylock—you only need to press once to lock and unlock your phone. I am going to show you more geng-chau function later on.

Right: Mute—this requires no explanation. If your dad calls, you press this button and it’ll shut up your dad. There’s a function which it will send automatic message to your dad

(e.g. Don’t kacau me first, I call you back later!)

Nah, just kidding :P

On the left side of the phone—A headphone jack for music, movie or hands-free. In Malaysia, you don’t need hands-free.

Traffic police is happier that way, you make whole Malaysia complete.

The right photo is a fast-access button to any application you want. In this case, I set the button to Blackberry Messenger. You can set this button as camera, email, activate bluetooth, music player—almost any function.

On the right side of the phone—Another fast-access button, similar to left one. And a volume controller for incoming calls.

What I like about these buttons are, all of them can be assigned to different tasks. Memang syok.

Blackberry® Bold 9700 comes bundle with a leather case (holster) too. This case…. don’t play play. Got hidden mechanism wan.

After one week of using this phone, I only realised that this holster has a magnet inside. You put the phone inside, it’ll automatically lock keypad.

You can also set the phone to vibrate only when it’s in holster, or automatically pick up phone when you pull the phone out.

So many awesome setting to play with @.@

The holster also designed to expose the speakers so the alarm goes off loud and clear every morning. Get your ass up!

Oh by the way, my current ringtone is Justin Bieber—I will immediately pick up incoming calls to avoid her singing any longer.

The charger port also conveniently exposed! These people are genius.

The bottom of the phone is… two metal thingie… which I have no idea what’s it for.

Anyone can tell me what’s it for ah? I push, rub, touch, scratch—nothing happened. It looks awesome nonetheless.

I am a big fanboy for Blackberry® Bold 9700 now hehehehe.

My BB Pin is… nah, not going to let you know.

ONLY GIRLS ALLOWED :D

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2+2 Kundasang Trip: The Amazing View and Awesome Experience

I went to Kundasang with my mates.

The plan started with total of 8 of us. At the day before departure, only 4 of us can make it—Sha, Suk Ching, Raymond and me.

Rain poured heavily on departure day, but Raymond insist we must go. It’s now or never.

I took my father’s car and vrooooooooooooom, to Kundasang for the first time.

I also made sure the tank is full, it’s not funny to get lost in middle of Sabah.

There are Orang Utan every where and I scare they will eat us.

Did some study on Google Map on the day before departure. Took a photo too, just in case ^^;

I don’t want to end up at Sarawak.

When I become billionaire, I want to make a straight highway to Kundasang. Why? The total journey is around 60km from Kota Kinabalu, but due to the geographical factor, it takes 110km to arrive.

But that is unlikely to happen. I rather build a bridge to connect East and West Malaysia.

The weather makes the driving difficult, I wonder how my dad drove to inner Sabah 20 years ago when there’s no road yet (my dad is a land surveyor, Chinese says “量地官”, but is a real one)

I couldn’t drive fast with such weather and slippery road. On top of that, the girls shout when I overtake a lorry. every. single. time.

“Let me teach you one thing—if you are scare, close your eyes.” I told them.

“I close mine too” I added.

Few kilometers before arriving Kundasang, there are shop lots that sell tourist merchandise, gwai lou love these place. Perfect location to buy souvenirs. If you are coming over to Sabah for a visit, stop by here and grab a few items.

Make the locals rich.

This was my first time driving my dad’s car.

Damn, I want one too!! I want to hit a kerbau and see who win.

After another hour of sesat jalan…

We finally arrived at destination

Celyn Resort Kinabalu :) Photo taken at dawn.

Despite sesat jalan for one hour (or more), we finally reached our destination.

The locals lead us to a small and muddy route that doesn’t seem accessible by car.

At the end of the road.. there’s a hidden paradise :)

The view from our room. Mesmerizing, isn’t it?

If got girlfriend here can hug, wahhh damn nice /fantasy

One double bed room cost RM168 per night.

I had great sex.. I shared the same room with Raymond.

Bleh..

We bought snacks enough to last one whole week.

… and that haven’t includes the beers, soft drinks, mineral water and cordial.

Our water bottles and snacks inflated due to the difference in altitude pressure. I wonder if our lungs and brain expands like that too?

What about our reproductive organs? Hmm… food for thought.

Tiger Beer sponsored our trip too. Keeps me happy whole night.

We make good use of every utensils in Celyn resort.. we use a hot kettle to cook sausages, and also Indo-Mee!!

Don’t be surprise when you taste hot-dog in your coffee next time. You’re damn unlucky.. hahahahaha.

We wanted to cook Maggie with kettle, but on second thought, the damage done are irreversible.

VIDEO!!!

What’s in this video:

  • Sha iz Bing, Suk Ching iz Raymond
  • Dancing robot
  • Crawling in my skin
  • Magical cupboard

Only 52 seconds, all credit goes to Raymond.

After bored staying in room, we decide to go out for more photos.

As expected, it was cold.

However, to make it even worse, we felt that it’s not only us who are taking photos…

Did I tell you why we pick this resort?

………. ghosts. Two of them.

…. I am not supposed to share what freaky incident happened that night.

So scary.. until all of us cannot sleep.

You know what’s so scary? Sha’s face was bitten by 7 mosquitoes. Her face become pumpkin, that’s why it’s so scary hahahahhhaa. (Sorry Sha!)

Their favourite photo of the night…

My favourite photo of the night.

/squeeze

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Tales of Four Virgins – Expedition to Sydney (Day 4)

This is a series post from Australia summer trip. This post marks the fourth day of the trip, which is also my final day at Sydney. You can find previous series here, here, here and here.

This is how we started our day…

On the fourth day, we parked our rented car outside backpackers hotel. The car park only allows to park between 7pm-7am. We thought one of us will wake up and remove the car, but we were wrong.

We couldn’t wake up on time (expected), so we received a summon letter. Luckily our car didn’t kena tow away.

Shit happens during travel—but that’s an experience we won’t forget.

No arguments involved, we laughed at each others stupidity whole morning ^^;

We start off our meal at Chat Thai, a famous authentic Thailand cuisine.

The food here is really awesome, not to say the waitress…. FREAKING HOT. We look at the waitress more than we look at our food.

If I own a restaurant, I will hire my waitress from model agency. This is an awesome marketing technique. I want to go back badly, lol.

We accumulated 3 days worth of stinky cloths, and a fair share of ridiculously stinky socks. Time to load up washing machine. We need a new batch of fresh cloths for our remaining 6 days trip at Cairns.

We received a summon letter earlier. Urghh, maybe I have to rephrase that again. We received a summon envelope earlier. Yes that is right, we received an EMPTY envelope.

We wanted to go to Police station to inquire more details. Spent whole hour walking around city, then we realised the police headquarter was only behind our backpackers.

And.. the empty envelope is common practice. We need to wait for official summon to mail to us later, and require to pay by credit card.

(Damn, so mafan =_= We want to pay cash cannot meh? We are rich bastards, our parents print money wan ok!)

Travel tips: study your destined location before you travel. You will save heaps of headache and frustrations by spending a few minutes studying the map.

The kampung boys are excited to see their own kampung name at big city. Immediately take photo! Hahaha.

Sydney Haymarket—similar to Malaysia’s Chee Chiong Gai. Lots of MIC (Made In China) stuffs. Bought a tripod for $7.

What happens to that tripod now? ROSAK. Survived 2 months only.

Cheapskate takes photos at photo sticker booth, for free! :) Did you know? photo sticker booth provides the perfect lighting, bring in your own camera and snap kaw-kaw. Look at my teeth, so shiny bright. Like superstar haha.

The last time I took photo sticker was 6 years ago. And I paid RM12 for those little stickers. I feel so stupid now, lol.

This is a Ramen restaurant’s menu—we had hard time accessing this restaurant because the elevator to this place is ridiculously old and dirty. We had a feeling that we were heading into a old brothel ^^;

Before coming to this Ramen shop, we already had a meal at Taiwan dessert shop. (Video below)

Let Ahbing sifu teach you a skill.

Look at the photo above, I am not the main object of the photo.. we’re focusing on the LADY behind me. We often use this skill to survey the chicks surrounding us. Works perfectly every time.

Did I mention that we had 3 meals within 4 hours? one of our stupid friend dared us to eat the fourth meal. Damn regret to finish the ramen (including soup!). I had to say yes, cause I have balls of steels.

… but a weak stomach.

One of our trip motto was “Step into restaurant every 100th foot steps”

Here’s a video taken at Taiwan dessert shop—I teach you how to survey girls using a mad technique (not taking photo). And Jerry performs live magic on a train. You’ll be impressed. I promise.

Here’s highlight on Day 4

• Everyone didn’t wake up early to move car away from Loading zone. Jerry moved it while others continue to sleep
• Laundry
• Walk to Sydney Police Center to make report, and how to solve the empty letter
• Brunch is Chat Thai. Thai girls are pretty.
• Chester go cut hair, we go “zhu mama” for  Taiwanese  snacks
• Haymarket
• Ramen Khan hidden in small dirty elevator
• Chester dare Jerry to eat more
• Another meal at Din Tai Feng
• I go look for bookstore. Saw Madang (Korean Restaurant) at back alley. Female customers look like Girls’ Generation [SNSD]
• Public transport, double deck train. Seats are foldable
• Chris and Jerry took car out from car park and fill petrol, Chester and me hit the pub.
• Sleep? Maybe not. One hour later wake up go airport, still drunk.

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Top 15 Best Food at Kota Kinabalu (Ultimate Guide to KK Food™)

P/S: Ultimate KK Food Update (2011): 43 Food You Must Not Miss in KK

After one whole month, hundred ringgit spent, and 3kg heavier.. I finally completed this post.

Prepare your tissue box, and stick your head closer to the screen, cause this is the Ultimate Guide to Kota Kinabalu Food™

(…tissue box is for saliva)

1. Bak Kut Teh 肉骨茶

There are many Bak Kut Teh restaurants around Kota Kinabalu (KK), and I believe this is KK most famous Bak Kut Teh restaurant. Why? This year alone, I met 2 different food shows filming there, Taiwan and South Korea respectively. This restaurant could be one of Malaysia’s icon at other countries.

Food hosts all over the country have visited this restaurant. This restaurant is equivalent to the Char Kuey Tiao auntie at Penang (but the Bak Kut Teh boss is friendly).

2. Chicken Wing  雞翅膀

Chicken wing has become one of the icon food at KK these few years. It all started by a little chicken wing stall at Beverly Hills. The owner has secret recipe that makes whole KK people crazy for his wings.

I remember buying this wings for RM1 each during my high school period. Few years later the wings quickly became RM1.80 when the reputation and fame caught up.

3. Ikan Panggang 燒魚

This is stingray, the same species that killed Steve Irwin, the crocodile hunter. This fish is not a human killer in nature, but once they were killed and put on a hot grill — they taste awesome! Especially with sambal and fresh lime juice, cooked on banana leaf. Yummy to the max.

4. Damai Roti Kahwin 麵包

What’s so special about roti kahwin? This roti, don’t play play. Got story wan.. let me tell you.

This bread has revolutionized the fate of shoplots at Damai. The kopitiam, call Foo Yuen (富源), makes the most awesome bread in the world that it *melts* in your mouth the moment you put it in. I am having difficulty on how to put this into proper words, you have to try it yourself.

This restaurant has practically changed the face of the street, many new food businesses appeared to cope with the hungry crowds, shops around closed down and converted into restaurants, attracted many stalls too. Now the street is call “Wai-sek gai”. You say “Damai roti kahwin” to any KK folks, we will say “ahhhhhh yes yes yes, you’re very smart ha! let’s go yam cha”. This kopitiam is never empty.

Fu Yuan also takes their Teh C Ping into a whole new level. 1/2 of the drink is evaporated milk… trust me, you’ll be in heaven.

5. Guo Min noodle 國民干撈面

Guo Min restaurant is famous for the chewy noodles and home-made fish cake (blue bowl), I prefer to order fresh fish slices or chicken slices. Beef tendon noodle is one of their specialty too.

This restaurant at Sunnygarden was visited by Ah Xian (Astro food host) recently. You can see his face on every wall, lol.

6. Hilltop Fish Noodle 魚雜米粉

This restaurant was recommended by my relatives. It’s their favourite because the soup is more tomato based and the ingredients are most diversify. You can order fish bladder, stomach or any intestine for your interest. I don’t think they serve fish scales though. There are many fish noodles restaurants at KK, it’s difficult to list them all in this list so I decided to pick this one.

You can also try Hung Kei Restaurant at Damai, which is my personal favourite. And another one called Wang Wang restaurant, listed below.

7. Coconut Pudding 椰香布丁

This is not exactly the MUST-HAVE food in KK. Since the list is mostly noodles, I think I add a dessert into the list.

Coconut pudding is one of my favourite dessert since young. If you never try coconut pudding before, I urge you to try out the coconut pudding at a seafood restaurant called Xia Zhong Xia (蝦中蝦) at Hilltop.

Make sure you only go after 6pm, and they only serve limited servings per day. So far, this is the best coconut pudding I’ve tasted at KK.

8. Ngiu Chap (Beef Noodle) 牛雜面

Can you resist beef noodle with tasty thick broth? There are plenty of famous beef noodle around KK, and one of them is at Lintas 33 bread shop. You ask any KK fella “hey which ngiu chap best in KK?”, you might get 20 different replies.

How did I pick this restaurant? I close my eyes and simply pick. This restaurant damn lucky. Despite simply pick, the beef noodle standard is definitely above par! :)

9. Inanam Custard Bread 下南南麵包

My dad used to buy this custard bread for me when I was young, I say, around 10 years old maybe? He bought a dozen of these custard cake, not a normal number for afternoon tea. But rest assured, the rest of the week I will treat my dad like a King! (he knows me weaknesses).

And guess what? I can finish the buns in few hours. Then my mum will scold me cause I am always too full for dinner..  and I finished it all by myself (without sharing with sister).

When I grew up. My dad’s friends and relatives will say “wahhh.. your son very tall and huge oh!”

“Of course la, you have no idea how many buns I fed him.” My dad replied.

10. Roast Duck 燒鴨

My dad says this restaurant serves the best roast duck noodle in KK. He announce the “greatest roast duck noodle” to everyone he knows. My dad often solves his brunch here, for many years. If I don’t trust him, who should I trust?

Personally, the roast duck noodle never fails to impress my taste buds. I grew up eating there, probably ate hundreds of ducks which accumulated all these years.

The yellow thingie (attached photo) is 春卷 (Chun-Gain in Hakka). I only came to realize (while collecting resources for this post) that Chun-Gain is Sabah specialty, you can only find this food at Sabah! No wonder I never see anyone selling this at West Malaysia.

What is a Chun Gain? Chun-Gain is the Chinese version of pork sausage — without the preservatives enough to mummified you. Once you start eating, you can’t stop.. very addictive.

11. Sheng Rou Mian 生肉面

“What? Raw Meat Noodle?!” (direct translation in Chinese). Eww.

You may be disgusted by the name of this dish. However, for KK people, this dish name is the most heavenly dishes we’ve ever hear. This dish is created for the love of pork… no, this noodle is not served with raw pork meat. I believe the original name derives from boiling the pork in hot broth before serving — thus the soft and tender thin pork slices.

What makes the soup damn special? The minced pork lards. The dry noodle is perfect combination too. Why? You tarik the noodle once, and you quickly send down the dry noodle with soup. Wah.. kesyokan x 10000.

Sometimes I wonder, do they mix the noodle with pork oil too..? I rather don’t want to know the answer. I rather die young than quit eating this dish.

Best place to eat this dish: Lintas (a few similar shops around)

12. Wan Wan Fish Noodle 旺旺餐廳

This is another KK most famous restaurant — Wang Wang restaurant. This is one of my favourite restaurant I mentioned earlier above the post. Wang Wang restaurant serves the most expensive fish noodle at KK (based on my experience). However, they have a valid reason for charging premium price — they serve quality and high standard fish, and damn delicious one. You’ll happy to pay the premium price after your meal — trust me.

The noodle itself is a dish of its own. As you can see from the photo above, the noodle contains fried shallots, green onions and mince chicken. Qualify as a complete dish. The soup base — you have two main soup base to choose from, tom yam or normal one. Both taste absolutely awesome. I didn’t say that because I am promoting KK food, it’s true – you have to taste it to believe.

This restaurant is also one of the favourite spot for food shows. Even one scene from TVB seriese Born Rich was filmed here. You can see 3 Hong Kong actors tarik noodle into mouth while filming ^^;

13. Tuaran Noodle 斗亞蘭面

Tuaran noodle is a local delicacy. I can guarantee you that this noodle cannot be found anywhere on Earth but here. I can be honest with you, this is a simple dish. Yet, this noodle has that special taste that keeps you looking for more.

Long ago, this dish only can be found at further district call Tuaran (hence, the name of the noodle). However it’s too troublesome to drive 20km from central business district to eat this noodle. Eventually a few restaurant offer this dish around KK area.

This dish might replace Char Kuey Tiao in 10 years time. You’ll never know.

14. Tanjung Aru Zu Chap 豬雜面

It takes me 3 weeks to finally have the chance to eat this dish.

This old kopitiam only serves during the morning, and the noodles are usually sold out before noon. Why is this restaurant so damn famous, for many generations? (The restaurant is very very old)

One word: DELICIOUS

For your information, they serve only one dish, and that’s pork intestines with noodles. They have perfected the recipe, and the recipe has been passed down for two generations (or three?)

The routine is a bit different when you go to this restaurant.

“How many people?”

“3″

“Which part do you want?”

“……[insert pork intestine name]”

“OK”

======

Tips: or you can say “cham-cham”, which means MIX everything and all hell breaks lose ;)

Oh, did you know why it takes me 3 weeks to finally eat this dish?

Answer: They already sold out by the time I wake up at 10am ^^;

15. Pan Fried Dumplings 鍋貼

OH. MY. GOD.

“This is only a pan-fried dumpling” anonymous says.

“NO, this is GUO TIE, the ultimate bestest-best-best-best food you can find at KK” I reply arrogantly.

“Have you ever try eating a dumpling that meat juice burst out every time you bite?” I added. “You will repeat the first sentence…”

.

.

This is the end of the list… hungry yet?

P/S – I’ve prepared the location for you

Pinpointing the exact locations of the food listed in this post. Steal it, and share ;)

(Click Here)

Applauds for the food stalls/restaurants for making a difference in KK food scene. Quietly, they have put in much effort and maintain quality standard to ensure KK foods gets mention locally and internationally. And of course, I encourage everyone to try the good food listed here.

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