First Time: Ski Dubai (Indoor Ski Resort)

The Malaysian snowboarders

I love snowboarding so much, maybe i can say i'm bit crazy about it. For me, it's like falling in love at first try when I studied in a university at Alberta, Canada. After my graduation, i went back to Malaysia, a tropical country where summer's all year long. So, i thought it's the end of my snowboarding experience. I sold all my equipment to my friends in Canada.

View from the highest peak of the ski resort

Recently, i went to Abu Dhabi for a company training. I was free during the weekend, so I decided to go snowboarding at one of the world's largest indoor ski resort, Ski Dubai located in Mall of Emirates in Dubai. After almost 2 years I stopped snowboarding, surprisingly I still have what it needs to be a good snowboarder. I thought, it would be difficult for me to snowboarding after quite some time. It's such great feeling to be snowboarding again. I can feel the adrenaline running in my veins producing dopamine.I tried to improve my jumping skills and i guess it's getting better, i guess I can considered this as warm up for me before going to mountain in Korea next January. Really looking forward for the trip.

View from the the end of the run

Ski Dubai is not a big ski resort, it only has 22500 squares metres skiing area which 2 lifts, a quad lift and a tow lift. So, basically, Ski Dubai is the smallest ski resort i ever been. It features 5 slopes of varying steepness and difficulty. It also has world's first indoor black run with length of 400 m. For me, the best thing of this ski resort, it has it's own terrain  park with quite variations of boxes, rails and jumps. Overall, paying UAE 300 dirham for the day pass is worthy to snowboarding in a place where there's huge desert outside the place.

Entrance to the quad chair lift

They also have snowpark for those who dont want to skiing or snowboarding

First Time: Oracle University

       It's totally a different week for me this time, quiet hectic i should say but i have to admit it's a bit relaxing compared to the previous one. why? cz I'm attending Oracle training at The Gardens North Tower, Bangsar. It's a PL/SQL course with focus on Oracle 11g. As per my job scope, supporting pdms, I was the one who chose to attend the training and I found it's really interesting and useful for me.

They call it university but only have 4 classrooms..:)

     The course is called Oracle Database 11g: Program with PL/SQL and it's a 5 days training with class instructor. The course is divided into 2 parts; the 1st part covers the fundamentals of PL/SQL within 2 days and the 2nd part of the training will go deeper about PL/SQL especially developing programs and subprograms and also compiling the program which covered within the rest of the week. I'm quite new with database and I just started learning couple months ago, but since I use PL/SQL developer quite heavily in my daily works, I would say that I'm pretty much familiar with it by learning by myself and helps and advices from my seniors. However, formal training would be nice and informative, furthermore it's totally free, my company pays for it.c",)

The Gardens North Tower, Bangsar.

things i learnt; anonymous block

Yamaha FZ150i

no modification's done yet

Here you go, behold my Yamaha FZ 150i. After quite some time, mulling which bike should I get, finally I made up my mind. I was so close, so damn close about to take Kawasaki Ninja 250 SE, but then I changed my mind due to some reasons. At the end, I booked the FZ on Aug 10 and the day after that, it's already available for me to pick it up.

Few days before booking, my friend and I went to few motorcycle/bike showrooms, surveying the best price and package available in town.  We found out that, the price is pretty much similar at this area, only the package is bit different. Some shops offer different type of free items, disc lock, fork lock, rain coat, helmet etc.

Anyway, below are the specs about the bike. Honestly, looking at the details, it's worth buying the machine with the price tag. Furthermore, it has fuel injection system which gives better fuel efficiency. Based on my experience, a full tank, you can go roughly about 400 km. Amazing, isn't it? Couldn't ask for more.

Manufacturer	Yamaha Motor
Also called	Yamaha V-Ixion in Indonesia
Production	2008-present
Predecessor	Yamaha RX-Z
Class	Naked sport bike
Engine	150 cc, liquid cooled 4-stroke,SOHC, single cylinder
Power	11.10 kW @8500 rpm
Torque	13.10 Nm @7500 rpm
Transmission	5-Speed w/multi-plate clutch
Wheelbase	1282 mm

worth spending every penny on this Yamaha FZ 150i so far, satisfied!

fibre arc helmet

Blood Donation

My company's Loss Prevention Team (LPT) organized a blood donation campaign recently at the KL HQ.It's an annual program for the company and it has been done since 3 years ago.This year, the target of the campaign was 120 bags of blood.

I haven't done blood donation before this and I was tempted and keen to try and feel how it's like.So, I registered for the campaign and fortunately, I passed all the requirements as listed below.

My first bag of blood that I donated, more is yet to come

1. Must be healthy and feel healthy during the donation day.
2. Age from 18 to 60 years old.
3.  Must have a minimum weight of 45 kg (99.2 pounds).
4. Slept for more than 5 hours the previous day before blood donation day.
5. Not taking or under any long term medication/pills.
6. Did not take any medication e.g.: Antibiotics (for the last 7 days), Panadol / Paracetamol (for the last 1 day) before donation.
7. Must not come with empty stomach. No fasting required.
8. Not involved in any of the activities below:

a)      Homosexual

b)      Bisexual

c)       Having random sex partners and frequent sex workers

d)      Illegal intravenous drug user

e)      Have a partner of the group above.

9. Last blood donation must be more than 3 months ago.
10. For female donors;

*not pregnant

*not menstruating

*not breastfeeding a new born child    

11.   Do not donate if you have lived in Europe from 1980 till now for a period of more than 6 months or longer.

It's a good experience for me and it's not hurt at all although the needle used to suck the blood was pretty big. Initially, I admitted that I was bit scared when I saw the needle but i guess that's normal. No need to worry since the nurses know very well how to do their jobs in the safest way.

I was thinking, maybe after 3 months, I would like to donate again. It's a noble job and it can help a lot of people who are in need. Feel glad i'm able to help someone although I wouldn't know who are they.

together with Kamal donating blood

Mega Machine : 2700 tonnes Crawler Transporter

It has been awhile since my last entry in this blog, I was too busy with my new job but I have no intention to stop writing here.

damn! it's so huge but too slow to move

Anyway, recently, while browsing internet, I found this very interesting article about, what i would say, most probably the biggest and slowest transport in the world. I heard about it before but I havent seen the picture. It such a amazing thing, I never imagined that human being can build such thing. Just take a look at the pic, it's so massive, you can see a man who's standing next to the machine looks just like ant.

What it's used for? Actually, it's specially built for transporting space shuttle from the assembly building to the launch pad since the shuttle couldn't really fly itself to the launch area.hehe.c",) Below are details about this monster machine:-

Nick-name: Hans and Franz (have no idea how they come out wt these names)
Year built:   1965 (since then it travelled 2526 miles)
Speed:        Blistering 2 miles an hour (2mph) with 437 gallons of diesel
Weight:       2700 tonnes
Dimension: 20-26 ft high / 131 ft wide / 114 ft long
Wheel:       4 sets of double tracks, each weighing roughly 60 tonnes
Engine:      Diesel with more approximately more than 3000 hp

Which one??Yamaha fz 150/Kawasaki 250R/Kawasaki ER6?

To be frank, I'm a big fan of motorcycle since I was a child. I'm always impressed and astonished when I see someone's riding a big bike especially on the highway, passing by me fast and furiously. I have a dream to own a superbike someday in the future, but to make it true it would cost me a fortune. Superbike is really expensive here, most of them cost more than a price of a car.

yamaha 125 z

 I used to have my own motorcycle before this. My first motorcycle was Yamaha 125 z which I bought after I finished my secondary school. I'm not from a rich family, but since I really wanted the motorcycle badly, I started saving some money since I was in Form 3. Most of my scholarship money, I kept in the bank and I would only take some of the money in case if I urgently need it. Alhamdulillah, all praise to Allah, my saving was enough to pay for the deposit of the motorcycle, not a brand new one, it's a second hand motorcycle but overall it's still in a pretty good condition. Unfortunately, I used it for just only, as far as I can remember, 5 months. I got an offer to further my studies to Canada and due to financial issue, I had to let it go. Even though it's just a short period of time, I always cherish the moment when we're together, 125z..c",)

Now, I have a stable financial income and I'm living away from my family in KL, I guess it's the best time for me to get a new bike. It's still under consideration, I admit that I need a bike but it's not a necessity yet. For the time being, I'll keep my eye open for few motorcycles that I'm interested.

yamaha fz 150

my opis mate on kawasaki er6f

650 cc bai..hehe

kawasaki ninja 250

Fox in The House

it came to us, got trapped cz tried to eat bird

poor thing!my friend gave it banana.

Last week, something weird happened. A fox was trapped in a bird cage at my house because of it's fault. My housemate and I never had plan to catch it. I personally thought catching a fox is against the law, correct me if i'm wrong, but i do believe it. It's totally not our fault. It entered the cage maybe thinking that there's bird inside, but it ended up remained there for few days cz the cage was automatically locked from outside. It tried to escaped but nothing's successful. There's another fox came which I thought might be it's partner and tried to help. Both were pretty wild, when we came close, they snarled angrily. So, for the first few days, we stayed away from the fox. However, it became exhausted trying to escape after 2/3 days, it couldn't even make any sound anymore when we came close. My room mate bought some banana and gave it to the fox. Initially, we're thinking to sell it to someone, who knows, myb we could make some money.hehe. But, we didn't have the buyer, so the idea just went away just like that. After about 5 days in the cage, we decided to let the fox go. Hope in the future the fox would come back paying us a visit.c",)

First Time: Bukit Bendera aka Penang Hill

great view from the top where we can see the Penang Bridge

One of the main attractions in Penang Island is the Penang Hill or also known as Bukit Bendera by locals. It definitely a must-go place if you are in Penang. The trip to Penang wouldn't be complete without a visit to this great place of relaxation and serenity.

Penang Hill is the highest peak in the island with 833m from the sea level. The temperature of the peak ranges from 20 to 27 Celcius and average of 21 Celcius. The coolest period is between June and October. Due to its special climate providing cooler environment to the Penangites, Penang Hill has become one of the most developed highland in Malaysia. Initially, it's development was started by Sir Francis Light who found the location during his horse riding trip in 1887. In 1906, the british spent about 1.5 million dollar straits to build a funicular railway to go to the peak. The construction finished in 1923 and from that time, the development of the hill grew rapidly. Nowadays, there are lots of facilities available there such as mosque, Indian temple, hotel, warung/stalls, high class restaurant with British style garden, bird park, canopy walk, post office, police station and many more. Recently, the government decided to change the funicular train and reconstruct the track with current and better technology. The project took about 2 years to finish and the new train is open to public starting last April.

one of the most developed highland in Malaysia

I went back to Perak last week and I got a chance to go to Penang. Since I neven been to Penang Hill before, I asked my beloved lady to accompany me to go there. So, last Saturday, off we went to Penang Hill together with Athirah, my gf's little sister pretty early in the morning. Since it's weekend, we expected there would be lots of people there. Once we arrived there, we could see lots of cars were parked at the lower station area of the train. I managed to find an empty car park but it's pretty far from the station, so we have to walk and exercise a little bit.

British style garden restaurant

The ticket is pretty cheap, I should say. I expected the ticket would cost around RM 15 or more, but then actually the return trip ticket is only RM 8 for adult and RM 4 for student, kid and senior citizens. However, foreign ers need to pay more, RM 30 for the return trip. It was my first visit to the hill, I was very excited  and happy, Furthermore, I was accompanied by the one that I love very much. We actually have been to most of all the attractions in Penang except for the Penang Hill. We came here couple times but the timings were bad, where the railway was closed to public due to construction.

lower station of the railway

behold the new train equipped with air conditioner 

the track to the highest peak of Penang Island

at the only area with double track

old train coach that was replaced

going through a tunnel before arriving at the upper station

mosque of Bukit Bendera

With the brand new train, I think Penang Hill definitely could attract more tourists and help to generate more revenue for the local tourism business operator specially in the area and Penang generally. Me myself would come again for sure cz for me, I found Penang Hill is such a beautiful and amazing place for relaxation in quest for peacefulness from the hustle and bustle of the busy town. I really enjoyed my outing to Bukit Bendera/Penang Hill with my dearest and Athirah, it's such a great opportunity for me to be closer to the nature and the one that I dear and care so much.

the return trip ticket to the top of the hill

awesome scenery, we can see whole Georgetown from the top

what a lovely place to spend time together..:)

off we go down the hill

Pudu Raya and Blk Kampung

Last week, together with my sister I went back to my beloved village, Kg Parit Mat Ali, Kuala Kurau cz one of my best friend was getting married. I missed his 1st wedding reception ceremony at the bride's home. I didn't wanna miss his side wedding ceremony cz it's a once in a lifetime opportunity for me unless he has plan get married again.:). So, I decided to go back home for the weekend. I knew it's gonna be hectic cz of the short time and got so many things to do, but I thrived for it. I thought it would be awesome to attend a best friend's wedding where some of my secondary school friends would be there, it's like a small gathering after quite some time we all separated into our own paths.

Normally, I take the train to go to Parit Buntar. Unfortunately, the ticket for second class with bed was sold out, none was available for me. Actually, it's totally my mistake. I supposed I should buy the ticket bit earlier instead of getting it 2/3 days before the departure date or I can just simply book the ticket a week or two earlier, and when I have time, I can just go and pick it up at KL sentral or any other KTM komuter station. I thought there would be not much people travelling with train since it's not a holiday season and no public holiday around, but I was wrong. I ended up not getting the ticket I promised to get for my sister.

Plan changed, I guess it would be better to take bus rather than train with sitting seat since bed was sold out already. Price wise, bus is cheaper few ringgit and the trip takes less time to arrive at my destination. In addition, I have difficulty to sleep in train since the lights are always on all the time and there are always people's movement ongoing with addition of the sounds made by the train coaches. In my experience, I admitted that I managed to fall asleep but it didn't last long, after 2/3 hours I woke up automatically myb because of the bright and bit noisy condition/environment.

From my rental house, I took Putra LRT to Masjid Jamek and then from there, I rode Star LRT to Plaza Rakyat. From the station, I walked to the Puduraya and it took  me less than 5 minutes to the terminal. Surprisingly, the bus terminal has changed a lot since the last time that I came here. If I'm not mistaken, the authority shut down the terminal for about a year to renovate and reconstruct to a new face to accomodate the users with better services and facilities. Now, it opens back myb since last April but only for certain sections. Some of the sections still close for access, for example, the food court myb will be opened later in near future myb within next few weeks.

Anyway, in my modest opinion, I think the new Puduraya is definitely better than before. In term of the condition of the terminal, it's cleaner and more comfortable especially for the waiting area. The authority has equipped most of the public access areas with air conditioners and schedule monitors also are provided at certain locations for the convenient of users to check the status of the buses. However, complaints are still heard from some of the unsatisfied users regarding limited facilities for the disabled. It's still new and fresh, the authority will need time to straighten the things out. Hopefully, things will get better as time flies. I honestly applauded the government to upgrade the 35-year-old terminal for the sake of the people.c",)

monitor to check the buses status

area to enter the boarding section

entrance to the boarding section

escalators are available for use but not the elevators

info counter at the center of the terminal 

ample signboards to guide the users in the terminal

waiting area; clean and comfy

ticket counter area at the upper level of the terminal

OFS1 Abu Dhabi

with bunches of great guys from all over the world

on my way to play futsal 

Just got back from Middle East and Asia Learning Centre (MLC), Abu Dhabi for my OFS1 which started on 24th April 2011, still bit tired but I'm so happy finally I landed at my beloved home country safe and sound. It's such a great experience spending time with bunches of new hire from all around the world, definitely would be one of the most memorable experience in my life.

So, what the heck is OFS1? Basically, as far as I'm concerned, OFS1 is an introductory course for new employees of blue company, where these employees will be provided with lots of information about the company especially about the preschool, school, standards, regulations, policies, history, nature of business, benefits and packages and many more. Honestly, for me, a week is not enough to know and learn about this great company with roughly 110 000 employees from 140 nationalities working at more than 80 different countries around the world. Indeed, this company is the world's largest oilfield services company, it really makes me proud to say this as I'm part of it for the time being before I'll be kicked out from the company in case I fail the school program.tehee. Hopefully, I can survive and successfully make it through. Every time meeting seniors, all of them will say enjoy your honeymoon before the hard parts come soon. One of them said you better run away while you still have the time to cz the school will be tough and difficult, fortunately she did mention that my segment will be bit easier compared to the other segments. That is what I really want to hear,..c",)

the accommodation provided at the training centre

Enough about the program, let's talk about the training centre and Abu Dhabi. I flew with 4 other Malaysians in a direct flight from KLIA to Abu Dhabi and the journey took about 7 hours and 35 minutes. We arrived at the Abu Dhabi International Airport (ADIA) at about 11:45 pm. We actually were told that someone would hold a placard to greet and help us getting transportation. However, we couldn't find anyone holding any related placard at the arrivals. After about 10 minutes, finally he came. Better late than never. We were really tired and just really wanna go to bed since the program actually started at 8:15 am in the morning, so basically we only have few hours to check in for the accommodation, unpacking our stuffs and sleep before getting ready for the classes.

comfy bed to sleep

After checking in, I was given the access card and I headed to my room. To my surprise, we're given single room and the room is awesome, it's like 5 stars hotel. It has everything I wanted and it's so comfortable. The next day, I got chance to explore the training centre. Honestly, overall, I found the training centre is awesome, well-equipped with everything that I need; gym, sport hall to play badminton, futsal, nice canteen with heavenly choices of food and drinks, pool tables, grocery store selling necessities, media and entertainment rooms. It's perfect and I never ever gotten bored while staying there with so many things to enjoy.

the dining hall/canteen; must come 3 times a day

playing wii sport tennis, used to play dis game lots wt my beloved gf

view from my room, in the middle of a desert

in a shuttle bus going to Marina Mall

At the training centre, shuttle buses to Abu Dhabi and Dubai are provided for the convenient of trainees transportation. However, the shuttle bus is not available everyday, only for few chosen days at certain time. If interested to take the shuttle, booking should be made at the accommodation receptionist prior to the trip. Taxis are also available to go to Abu Dhabi everyday but going to Dubai by using taxi is strictly prohibited for trainees. I took the shuttle bus to Abu Dhabi twice for souvenirs shopping, the first one, I went Mazyad Mall and the second trip, I went to Marina Mall. Mayzad Mall is bit smaller compared to Marina Mall and just about 30 minutes drive from MLC. On the other hand, it took me about an hour to Marina Mall. I got nothing else to buy other than souvenirs and furthermore, I found generally most of things in Abu Dhabi are bit expensive compared to Malaysia especially electronic stuffs. Just for a sake of comparison, Iphone4 in Abu Dhabi costs for about 3500 dirham (roughly equivalent RM 3100), but at Malaysia, Iphone4 is only RM 2500. The cheapest key chain and fridge magnet that I managed to find cost about RM5, sold at Carrefour. Other than that, I mean if you go outside the hypermarket, normally key chain will cost around RM 20-RM 35. That's so expensive. I know people here are damn rich, but selling a key chain and fridge magnet for that price is a rip off.c",).

posing for a snap at Marina Mall

ice skating rink, smaller than one in Sunway Pyramid

look at what i found, RR Phantom

watching CL semi final:Real vs Barca on a huge screen wt fantastic sound system in media room

Prayer room aka musalla

outside view of the sport hall

behold the sport hall, great facility for futsal