Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu

I've just finished reading Laurence Bergreen's and was totally absorbed by it.

A couple of interesting things
- Pharmacists (and by nature the retail pharmacy setting) have always been competitive all the way back to Marco Polo's time

- Thought he only mentions the island of Socotra in passing, this piqued my interest to do more research about it. This is one of the places that I must visit before my time is up.

Dragon's Blood Trees, so called for the red sap they secrete, photo by Mark W. Moffett, National Geographic

So Why Can't I Resist From Buying That...

... gadget? shoes? dress? or camera? Usually the last one for me. I recently read about this concept of 'ego depletion' and it may explain a bit. What it means is that willpower (or any conscious effort that require self control) is a limited resource, like the amount of petrol in a car. So the more we use our willpower, the more liable we are to giving in to our splurges at a later stage. There are 2 experiments that demonstrate that it exists (and if you're not interested just skip the colored text below).

Experiment 1

- A bowl of radish and a stack of chocolate chip cookies were placed on the table

- Subjects were asked to skip one meal to induce hunger and then split to 3 groups - control (who didn't eat either the radish or cookies), radish and chocolate.

- The radish group were placed in the room with both foods and asked to eat only the radish while avoiding the chocolate, and vice-versa for the chocolate group.

- All participants asked to solve an unsolvable geometric puzzle (which was unknown to them).

Results: The radish eating group gave up earlier than both control and chocolate group, which both had similar times.The radish eating group also felt more 'tired' after the puzzle.

Interpretation: The radish eating group had to use more willpower to avoid the chocolate and have used up some sort of psychic energy.

Experiment 2

-The problem with the first experiment was that the task was unsolvable and it can be argued that the radish eating group was 'smarter' in realizing this and therefore gave up earlier. 

- The participants were asked to watch videos, some being humorous and some sad. 

- They were split into 2 groups, one was asked to suppress all emotion when watching and the other had no restrictions. 

- The subjects were given anagram letter sets.

Results: The emotion suppressed group had far fewer anagrams than the other group.

Interpretation: This proved further evidence that some resource was depleted after an act of self control.

Hang on a minute? Isn't life a series of choices?

Sleeping in vs hitting the gym

Reading up on recent developments vs Facebook-ing

Healthy lunch vs not so healthy

Getting the camera vs saving for that vacation

So back to the question... why can't we resist? Simple. Its because we've been working too hard and making too much of the right choices lately. *GRINS* Go have that fried chicken. It's better for you on the long run.

Beach Outing

It's been a long time since I had a beach picnic. I think the last one is when my mom came over and we went island hopping. Last weekend was a long weekend and when my wife's colleagues organized one, I was looking forward to it.

We had a couple of hours with nice blue skies before it started getting cloudy. It rained after we left.

My wife's company bought an inflatable boat as their location always suffer from bad flooding during the rainy season. So I had a go in it.

With the new addition coming to the family, it'll be quite a while till we're able to have an outing like this again. This was quite a timely trip.

(all pics taken with Oly Trip 35 and Ektar 100)

2 Weddings in 2 Days

The last weekend was a very memorable one. Here's why...

The Batu Pahat Wedding - Saturday

With only 3 hours sleep under our belts, Milton, Ken and I set off from PJ at around 3am plus. We didn't know much about what was in store but the plan was to reach Batu Pahat at around 7am where we will fulfill our roles as hengdais. 

The windscreen wiper hard at work against bird droppings (or night insects)

The games were not really that tough actually... I think we managed to get in quite easily with our dignities intact.

Must have been one hell of  a stag night

Emmanuel (the groom) is from Batu Pahat and we were quite fortunate to have Milton (a Johorian) drive us around as he was able to provide a running commentary on the sights and histories of the places we went to. However, the driver is from Muar and since there is some rivalry between those two towns, the commentaries were at best, completely biased. 

'Muar is a great country, I hope you all brought your passports!' 

As we were waiting for the lift at the hotel lobby where the wedding dinner was taking place, I casually commented that the hotel was bigger than any we've seen at Muar. Not missing a beat, Milton the driver asked, "Ted, how will you be going back later leh?" I quickly muttered something about quality over quantity to appease the Muarian. 

Congratulations to Emmanuel and Shermaine!

It was a very beautiful wedding and I'm glad that I did not miss this. After the dinner I followed Ah Seng (the part time magician) back to KL and was back on my pillow at exactly 3.30am. Exactly 24 hours...

The Klang Wedding - Sunday

In contrast to Saturday's hectic schedule, this was literally a walk in the park. It was a very laid back affair. The only minor hiccup was being called together with the guys on stage to dedicate a chinese song to Ah Seng. Thankfully I learnt from my Sibu experience and lip synced all the way (it was the exact same song by the way). My wife and I really enjoyed the company of our ex-university mates, some of whom we rarely get the chance to see since we stay in Kota Kinabalu. 

Congratulations to Ah Seng (no relations to the magician) and Thien Thien

As we were driving back to PJ, my wife commented that Ah Seng and Thien Thien are the last couple in our batch to tie the knot and therefore we should see less red bombs appearing in our mailboxes from now. The idea goes something like this. 

Anticipated trends in wedding invitations in years to come

The past couple of years we've seen many of our friends and peers getting married (Point A) and the next peak (Point B) will be when the children of our friends/peers get married. That will probably be 20 years or so down the road. So that means we are somewhere in the decline to the trough of the graph.

Then I suddenly realized that none of my 3 housemates are married yet. When I told my wife about this, we realized that the same goes for her as well. Crap! 

How long till the next one? 1 year? 1 decade? (disregard the fella at the top - he's expecting his baby girl soon)

I don't know when they will marry, but I do know that within 10 years time prices for air tickets will not stay the same. And I cannot promise that within the next 10 years the head count in the Ch'ng family household will remain at 2. Fortunately I have a few things up my sleeve.

1) Get them LV-ed

...and by LV I mean Louis Vuitton. I'm taking a leaf out of LVMH's tactics here in acquiring Hermes shares stealthily and at half the current market rate. Based on the principle of 'money in my pocket is better than money in your pocket' I can offer them their advanced ang pows at today's market rates. Regardless of how the market rates for ang pows will be like 10 years down the road, the ROI on the principal sum that I've handed to them should give them a better profit depending on how wisely they invest that money. So far only 1 person has rejected this proposal...

2) Get them to marry Sabahans

This will save me a lot of money do them a big favor since Sabahan girls are really pretty. Any girls (or guys) interested please contact me through this blog.

3) Get them to marry together

Since there will be a lot of repeating names on the guest list, why not get them to tie the knot all on the same day? I'm sure many more people will turn up for this instead of attending 3 separate functions. Some more they can save on the cost for the wedding dinner! An even better idea is that if my 3 housemates marry my wife's 3 housemates. 

"What??! Why you so cincai one? How can simply marry like that?!" my wife asked when I suggested this. However she saw the merits of my side of the argument when I pointed out that it will be six separate wedding functions, versus just one big one. One shot kao tim all. 

If any of my housemates are reading this, please don't take any offense yea. You know I talk a lot of rubbish sometimes (but I'm quite serious about the advanced ang pow thing...please consider it carefully). It was great meeting all of you, and I look forward to the next time that will happen again. 

Olympus Trip 35 : A Review

Again, yes I have to admit, another impulse buy and from the same seller that I bought my FED5C as well. I've since ignored all his posts on his blog and facebook page. I think nothing but a mint condition and reasonably priced Leica can tempt me any further than the collection I have now... I hope.

The Olympus Trip 35 also has a selenium light meter (around the lens) but that is where the similarities with the FED ends. The FED is a rangefinder, this is a compact point and shoot. The FED can break your skull while this one will probably only give your skin a bruise. The FED is a bit complicated to use while the Oly can be drawn from your bag, shot and returned in under 5 seconds without your subject even aware of what you have done. The soft click of the shutter helps as well (take note all you stalkers...).

I got this camera before I left for Australia and I quickly shot a roll of Velvia using it. I got mixed results. That made me quite hesitant in bringing this camera for the trip. Thankfully I decided to ditch the FM2 and bring this one along due to its lightness. 

All in all this was a very fun camera to use. Composing was easy enough and since it is practically a point and shoot all you have to do is click the shutter. I especially love the color and contrast of the images thanks to its Zuiko lens. 

After analyzing the shots from the first test roll, the failed ones were mostly the ones that were shot in very dim light while the outdoor shots were perfect. So I kept this in mind while I was in Australia and used it exclusively for the outdoors. However I've been following a Flickr group  for quite some time now and I always marvel at their ability to coax some great images from their Trips in very low light conditions. I don't believe my Trip is not capable of this. I'll need to go and try again. 

If you're thinking of buying this camera, go ahead! There is one thing that you have to be wary about. This camera is essentially a point and shoot and therefore the selenium light cell is key to its functioning properly. Do make sure you confirm that this is in working order before buying. Even if you end up with a non working meter, they're so cheap that you can just get a new one or if you choose, replace the meter. Olympus sold 10 million of these cameras over the years so you don't really have to worry about parts. Hey, maybe I'll get another one for myself too...

Posts with Oly Trip 35 - Beach Outing

Phillip Island Penguin Parade

There are a lot of animals that are unique to Australia - kangaroos, wombats, koalas are among a few of them. A lesser known one is the Gippsland earthworm found in the state of Victoria. These giants can grow up to a length of 3m. Of all the animals we saw down under, the one that I will remember the most are the fairy penguins.

(Image from Wikipedia)

These penguins are not as famous as their more well known cousins the Emperor Penguins. They weren't even  among the 3 different species of penguins featured in the animated movie 'Happy Feet'. They are naturally very small in comparison to other types of penguins with the average adult measuring under 50cm therefore earning them their name (Fairy Penguins, Little Penguins, Little Blue Penguins).

You can see these penguins in a zoo (we saw some of them in Sydney and the Gold Coast) but I do advise you to see them in their natural habitat, Phillip Island. It makes the experience that much more special. There are many day tours that operate from Melbourne that will take you to Phillip Island.

The penguins normally go out fishing as a group at dawn and return to their burrows just right after sunset. This is a safety precaution. Though they are master swimmers and divers in the water, they are not very good at walking. They feet looks disproportionate and not capable of sustaining their own weight on land. If you see them up close, it almost looks like its struggling to walk - almost always stopping and panting after a few steps. Imagine sticking two 20 sen at the bottom of the iPhone and try making it walk. Very wobbly and unstable. It is this handicap that makes them easy targets when they go out and come back from fishing. 

They're not always on time you know

It is also this handicap that makes viewing this awesome penguin parade possible for us. There are stands and walkways built all around the beach where the penguins come home. At the appropriate time, we will be ushered out to fill the seats and await the penguins' return. Once the first group of penguins come ashore, the main spotlights will be switched off within an hour. So normally what  everyone will be advised to do is adjourn to the walkways where we can get a more intimate view of the penguins. Touching is definitely a no no and so is photography. There are many park rangers scouring the vicinity so its better to keep the cameras in your bags. 

An amazing fact is that penguins are generally monogamous. When they find a mate, its really 'till death do us part'. Literally! Penguins will only find another mate once their current ones are deceased. Also, have you ever wondered why penguins have black/blue backs but white bellies? Its another safety design. When penguins are in the water, airborne predators will have a hard time differentiating the penguins from the air thanks to their black/blue coats. The same goes for seaborne predators who look up and see the white bellies that are similar to the rays of light shining in from the sky.  

After many of the tour buses have left, our tour guide asked us to follow him to a corner of the car park where we found a couple of penguins in a dark corner. There weren't any rangers around so I quickly snapped a shot in bulb mode. Can't risk using the flash because that will be like throwing flashbangs in front of them. 

If you're ever in Melbourne, I do urge you to consider going for this. Looking at our itinerary in Melbourne, I thought the highlight of the whole trip will be the 12 Apostles and the Great Ocean Road. I wasn't expecting much from the Phillip Island day trip but I was proven wrong. This was a lot more memorable to me than looking at huge rocks and winding roads!

We couldn't pet them but we did bring one home

I'm Back!

I've spent the past couple of weeks travelling around Australia and its been a blast. There were many things to prepare and attend to but it was all worth it. My wife and I visited Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast and Brisbane in a space of a couple of weeks and left with many fond memories and pictures. 

A kangaroo gets close

There will be more posts on the trip after the photos have been sorted out. I do plan to make them into an album as well but that will be much later. Here are some thoughts on the trip...

- Zebra crossings (the ones without traffic lights) mean nothing in Malaysia but over there, they are very important. Pedestrians always have the right of way on zebra crossings ... a concept that I found very hard to get used to. I almost ran over 2 people and had to remind myself to slow down and look out for people each time after that. 

- Koalas sleep 20 hours a day! And don't call them koala bears. They're not bears.

- 50% of the people we meet in Brisbane are Asians. 

- It must suck to be a tourist from China. Souvenirs are all made in China and I wonder how its like to fly over seven thousand kilometers to a foreign land and buy products at prices that will cost a trivial sum if they had bought it at home. I didn't see any Malaysian products there though I did pity the fella who was driving a Proton Persona (Wira). 

This kangaroo got too close...heheh

- Planning a trip all on your own as opposed to going for an all-inclusive tour package (like our Korean trip last year) is a lot more fun but tiring. No one is there to greet you at the airport, take your luggage and ferry you around. You have to read maps, learn train routes, decide between different modes of transport, etc.  It was a great experience but will think twice before doing something like this again. 

- Nothing beats the feeling of coming home. Really.

Mobile Blogging

I'm giving this mobile blogging a go and updating my blog from my iPhone. Now this isn't the first time I've posted from the phone but this is the first time doing so while uploading a picture.

I'll be going to Australia later this week so it's just as well that I discovered this option of emailing the picture from the iPhone camera roll to a predetermined blogger mail account.

I'm also glad that my friend Mr Procrastinate is no where to be seen. I've started packing slightly earlier than usual. It was a tough choice deciding what cameras to bring but I decided to go with my gut instinct and bring 4. With few days left to decide that may change. But no matter what I bring, I know it'll be a great trip and am looking forward to it.

Vegenomics 101

A very common gripe among those involved in retail is the constant threat of a price war with your competitors. On the short term this may benefit the consumers and those who gladly cut their prices, but on the long run this may make the business too competitive and many players will exit altogether. The retailers who remain may find that while they have the volume, their margins are so pitiful that they wonder why do they still want to do whatever they do. It is usually the retailer with the deepest pockets that will survive. As for the consumers, there are less shops for them to choose from and maybe they have to drive further to find the things they want.

But wait...if you think retail is tough - have you been to a market?

I was at the Kundasang Market a few days back and it really got me thinking - how do they survive? If you see the picture below, the 3 red arrows are the same items being sold but by 3 different stalls. The same goes for the blue arrows. Yes - the stalls are really that close to one another.

So lets say the average space between two tiangs (columns) can accommodate 2 stalls. From the picture all the way to the end I can see around 8 tiangs. Given that I took this photo somewhere in the middle of the long market, there are probably around 25-35 stalls in that one long stretch of road. All selling more or less the same thing. *Gulps*

To their credit, most of them offer the same pricing. There were some who after peeking over their shoulders to see if their neighbors were listening, quoted slightly below market rate. There were a few that were more enterprising and sold additional items that the rest did not - flowers, cacti, etc.

However, I should not judge them based on all my preconceived ideas. They may seem to have many challenges, but who knows they do make a lucrative living and are very happy with what they do. The latter one being what I consider as an invaluable resource.

Weekend Getaway

It is interesting to note that there aren't any public holidays in March. So we decided to utilize our complimentary voucher for a night's stay at the Shangri-La Tanjung Aru Beach Resort and give ourselves some time off.

This was the very same venue where we held our wedding dinner a year ago and the service provided by the team at the hotel impressed us very much (In fact, they were so much in demand that when we attended a wedding dinner at an auspicious date here last year, we got lost trying to look for the correct venue. A manager found us wandering aimlessly and took us to the correct venue. We were told they were hosting six wedding dinners that night!) This time round, they were able to match that top notch service again.

A handwritten welcome card found in the fruit basket

L'Occitane Toiletries!

Our stay was a brief one but we've managed to squeeze as much into it as humanly possible.We hit the gym, played some tennis (or rather spent most of the time picking up balls), did some swimming, roasted in the steam bath and the sauna, simmered in the jacuzzi and had a great 5 star buffet breakfast. The only thing that we failed at was getting access to the Wii consoles at the Kid's Club - our impersonations of 10 year olds failed spectacularly.

The view from our patio

What a weekend it has been! If you have any more complimentary vouchers Mr Andrew Steele, please don't hesitate to send it my way. You know how to contact me, heheh.

CNY 2010

When people ask me where I am from, I will often hesitate before I reply. Should I say I'm from Rawang, my place of birth? I've never spent much time there though...Or Brunei, where I spent most of my early life? Then people will answer, 'Oh so you're Bruneian then?' which I am not. Or Penang, where a huge number of my relatives are? ...but I'm not familiar with Penang. More often than not, I will say I am from Petaling Jaya and although that's not technically true, it does save me a lot of unnecessary hassle.

Despite all the geographical confusion, there is one place that is always a constant - and that is I've spent all my Chinese New Years (those in my living memory) in Penang. And this year is no exception.

Double Prosperity 'Special'..Heheh. Top one's chicken, bottom beef

Air con rationing at Tune Hotel...you want more? Pay lor

Up Penang Hill

Bloody hot weather this year! No clouds in sight

The bronze Kuan Yin at Kek Lok Si temple, which unfortunately was closed on that day

Elaborate wall carvings at Kek Lok Si

Pumpkins! Lots of pruning work required to make it look like this

A flower at the Kek Lok Si

Misai Kucing, at a different temple though

The famous Air Itam laksa stall

It looks messy but it tastes good

Heheh... A cousin who supports Man U didn't finish his nasi lemak when he found out it was called Nasi Lemak Liverpool

Chestnuts from the Chowrasta Market

Nothing welcomes you into 'Uncle-hood' better than saying 'Here's your ang pow' as opposed to 'Where's my ang pow?'