Smile

I finally decided to get myself  into the 4G world to really see if its worth chasing after. After much consideration (I think some of you doubt that when it comes to me about gadgets and technology), I got myself the YES 4G Huddle device bundled with the credit and all. I made the informed decision by browsing their webpage and reading all……ALL the info there…….here is what I learnt:

They definitely do not put all the info you need to know there………which is a given marketing thing…….so here are things you should note:

a. You do not pay as you use technically. If you don’t use anything you will be still charged RM30 a month. I learnt this after calling their hotline and asking

b. If you decide to go to the value pack, you do not have to pay the RM30 but you must reload after 30 days. If you don’t all leftovers will be lost. If you do, your remainder will be transferred to the next value pack reload to the unlimited. Supposedly you can accumulate as much as you don’t use. But thats the trick!!! you’ll have to spend at least RM68 a month! One day late in reloading and you lose everything!

c. Don’t be surprised if you see an RM50 charge because its stated that they’ll charge you that somewhere on the website. So technically when you pay RM1199. You’re supposed to get RM 800 credit and RM 400 Rebates. But you’ll be left with only RM750 credit and 400 rebate.

d. Your rebates cannot be used to get value packs so you have to spend it at normal 9sen rates.

e. read all the info on the website carefully before you purchase. They are not so direct after all with many things not as plain as it may seem

f. installment plans are only for maybank, citibank, hsbc and hong leong bank only.

If you’re tech savvy, setting up is easy and a breeze. unfortunately when I did set it up at home, there was no coverage……how sad…..just 30 m from my house, it works but not at my house. My house has some kind of signal repellant. Even mobile coverage is tough on all networks…..

So I took it out to Bukit Indah’s Mcdonalds and it was awesome. I got a DL speed of 12mbps and UL speed of 3.5 mpbs. Sweet! That’s faster than my singapore singtel and M1 line by miles which I averagely  get 3mbps DL speeds. On the way  from my house to McDonalds, I used the 2nd Link highway and it only got disconnected at 3 spots but not for long so much so trapster on my iPhone worked fine with no disruptions. Occasionally I speed tested the connection every 3km and I was getting an average of 1.8mbps DL but only 0.5mpbs UL even and low reception areas. House to Mcdonalds being about 10km in distance. Not bad at al. On my way back I used the back roads and reception was non existent for about 2km.

I also tested the Yeslife calls when I was there but I got disconnected twice. Probably not very stable yet. But I didn’t try more to verify the problem.

So in summary, what do I think? I was right to assume that it was not a network that was ready to take over my prepaid number. I was hoping though that it would be. With the intermittent disconnection it won’t be an ideal phone replacement as of yet. But I certainly hope they get there soon. But I think they work better than any other mobile broadband in malaysia I’ve use so far. Coverage put aside, the speeds are excellent and again, I hope they keep this up.  It was a very pleasant browsing and using session I had with my iPad and iPhone. Latency was good compared to my experience with competitor P1.

I’ll be going to test this on the road from Johor Bahru all the way to Subang Jaya this Monday. I’ll blog about it. I’ve tried using Maxis all the way but I had many points where I was on GPRS and internet was useless. I hope that Yes would give me a good connection on the way. That would make my day! At the mean time, if you’re looking to get YES ? If you need internet on the go, it seems like this is a good way to go but check for coverage first. There are no refunds. Cheers!

COMING SOON! ROAD TEST

Hi everyone I would like to introduce you to the newest member of the family. It is a bitter sweet moment for us because in a little while we have to say goodbye to Shades. But I don’t want to think about right now and not let that spoil the moment of our joy. We have decided to name him Momo. He’s got a cute helmet buddy with his name engraved on it. One day probably you’ll see me riding cross the town with him. He’s attractive, cute, and quite hot too hehe.

I recently learnt through another blog how to treat him good and I think I’m not going to let any other guy touch him and do the work of servicing him myself. I’ve done it the first time already. Its really easy and wow how much it saves money.

It is the beginning of our attempt to be really frugal ermm more like my attempt to be frugal cause we’re praying we have enough to begin family life. Another benefit of our new family member is that he keeps me safe as a rider. He is a smooth and slow type and I can’t push him. He don’t like it. So I’ve been really slow hahaha. Less worries for those of you who have been worrying about me

Well Regina is really happy and so am I. So Momo, welcome to our family. We love you and we hope you’re here to stay for the longest time.

I know I haven’t done this for the super longest time. But when I heard the first song of this album, I said I must share it with those of  you who read my blog. This is Francesca Battistelli’s latest album and its creating waves on the billboard but more so on my creative juices. I’ve been waiting to hear an album like this for a long long time.

If you like Colbie Caillat and some of the really catchy pop tunes that you hear on radio with a little folk twist to is. This is the album to get. The hooks on each song is amazing! She write all her songs too!!! If you like singer songwriter type of music. I think she tops all the ladies I’ve ever heard in the gospel music category. I’m analyzing the music and she’s a genius! My only regret is that I never bought her earlier albums.

Usually you like only one song in an album. I like EVERY SONG! This is crazy. Super inspiring. This album is filled with catchy melodies, excellent arrangements, exciting harmonies. The mastering sounds excellent bringing the clarity of the music instruments so clearly that I can hear every detail of the album easily. Mixing is perfect as the engineers visualization of mixing makes me feel so intimate with the recording. Ian Eskelin has got into my books as one great producer too because of this. I’m a fan!

This album gets my satisfaction guarantee status! Donny if you read this you’ll love this album get it!!!! Actually anyone who knows me and trusts my taste you must get this!!!!!!

Sorry super super happy an excited on an album. This is like what I’ve been looking for a year!!!! I’ve spent literally thousands of dollars this year on CDs and this is the first that has got me so excited!

Okie now I’m going to hear this album a million times. BYE!

Let us skip the part where we have not been able to blog of late. It’s a new slate. It’s a new start. Ok?

In the past 3 years I’ve been moving like a nomad across Singapore from the East to the West. Finally I’ve found a place where the grass is greener and the birds chirp louder. A place that I call home……wait! It’s WE now. We call this place home. We finally moved to JB. Living costs in Singapore was impossible for us to afford.

A miracle happened when we stumbled upon this more than slightly humble home. It cost us literally zero to start off. The house was fully furnished. Brand smacking new and the same as my rental of a room in Singapore. No downpayment. No renovation necessary. Impossible you think? Apparently not. We were shocked too. God provided something amazing, more than we can hope or ask for. Some of you have been asking for pics and well I finally got them ready. Well let me take you on a tour of our house ok? Let’s begin the tour

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Honeymoon Destination: Pangkor Laut Island Resort – One Island One Resort.

I think Pangkor Laut was ideal for Leon and myself. For Leon, the nature lover and the Tarzan wannabe (I think of him as that because he talks about wanting to live in the forest close to nature!), staying at the resort was somewhat like staying in the forest. I told him the resort felt like a combination of Sentosa Cove and MacRitchie Reservoir. For me, it was secluded enough to get away from people (I needed to recuperate from all the wedding socialising) and feel like I was in paradise looking out to the cove Considering we only decided on the destination a day before departure after depositing Wedding Collections into the bank, this place was divine for us. There was only one type of room (Villa) to choose from for the duration of our stay and it was just right for us. It felt like the place was kept and prepared for us

Instead of going into details about the getaway, here are my personal favorites about the trip

1. Spending time alone with each other and sleeping as much as we liked!

2. Infrastructure/Landscaping. The whole feel of the resort was coherent. From the ferry ride, to the room, the restaurants and their color schemes that matched even the serviettes.

3. Food. GLORIOUS FOOD! My favorite would have to be the Soy Panna Cotta dessert (It was so nice I savored it and forgot to take a picture of it!). The texture is a little more firm than ice-cream but less creamy and taste like butter cookie with a light soy fragrance =) Mmmm….Absolutely delicious! Leon’s is probably the Nasi Lemak at breakfast =)

4. Sweet Gestures from Hotel Staff

5. Nice Sea View. It’s therapeutic to be eating and looking at the sea at the same time. Absolutely relaxing!

6. Nature. We could see Kites, Hornbills and Fruit Bats =) I’m sure there were more if we looked harder.

So far, a few people have commented that our honeymoon was too short. Some thought we didn’t go on one cos we were back at work 9 days after the wedding. I dunno. Time is relative. It was enough for us so it didn’t feel short

We are deeply thankful for the time, the place and the blessings from loved ones that made this trip possible If you are one of them, THANK YOU!

Here I am getting fat…..really fat….I noticed Adino has been writing about weight loss and I’m trying to follow and be as successful as he did in losing weight but I can’t seem to control my hunger panks. Sighs…..

Then I received a gift. Something I have been wishing for! Can you believe it? I got something that will probably cause me to be even more lazy to do the little exercise I have left. [...]

I feel like I want my nose so BIG!

Call me vain, call me whatever. I need this! I have delayed this surgery for a year now due to the lack of time to recuperate after the operation. BUT…..its taking a tow on me.

Ok ok on a more serious note what I need is no plastic surgery nose job. I’ve been having throat infections everyday. I’ve started to snore. I have sleep apnea. All this because I have this bad nose allergy that causes me to not be able to breathe from my nose.

I’ve drugged myself, got myself a dehumidifier, made changes to my lifestlye but I can’t get it off. So it is time to do it. It’s time to get my nose job done. BUT…..I really don’t have the time.

Getting it done will make me I think 300 percent more effective. But it will put me off the grid for 2 weeks at least I forsee. Can we afford that? Should I take the risk?

I haven’t been able to sing well. My throat hurts so bad. I really can’t stand how I have so little control over my voice because it feels plain BAD. I’m tired cause I don’t get enough oxygen when I sleep. I feel so weary…….then what is stopping me from getting it all done immediately? I don’t have the time….

Ridiculous as it seems, this is the scenario, this is the reality. Pray with me that I will solve this soon. I’m tired. I’m so so tired.

Don’t we all struggle a lot with these two issues? Do you? I certainly do….I mean….the list of wants never end!!! I’m here now at a place in my life where I need to decide loads and loads of things and decide whether it is a need or want.

We want to spend our life together…..we need a house…..but we want a nice house…..how do we balance that? Between a house that is functional and a house that is desirable

Anyways, if we buy a house in singapore, it will cost at least 200k SGD and that is a maximum of 700 square feet built up area. In comparrison, here is what I get if I stay in Johor for less.

View of the outside in the evening

It is 2340 square feet of built up area. Double Storey terrace house with clubhouse facilities. It is all fully furnished and air-conditioned and fully ready to move in condition.

No initital payment needed and no fees involved.

Living room with different furnishings

This is a picture of the living room not taken by a professional photographer

Dining Area

Master Bedroom

Look at the toilet....bathtub.....ooooooo...

Singapore the Cash above valuation is frightening now at 30k++SGD and that doesn’t include renovation and furnishing costs!!

So the Johor place is everything I want and need. The Singapore place is everything I need but don’t want. How do you decide?

These are not the only options we’ve been looking into and here I am LOST! How to decide? I can’t believe I have to make decisions such as these. It is time to grow up I guess. I have done all the maths. Done all the comparisons but how to decide?

Any advice?

Final Day of retreat. We were glad to be able to go to church at Penang Christian Centre. Incidentally, it was communion sunday and the service was intergenerational. The invited speaker was an evangelist who was in town. The message was a good reminder on our mission to evangelise and reach out.

After service, in a desperate attempt to find some New Year goodies, the Penang’s food trail brochure led us to a very inconspicuous shop that had over 60 years of history in making Nonya Kuehs. As Singaporeans, the first thing we thought of and asked when we entered the house was, ‘Where’s the display counter?’. Nope, there weren’t any display counters, just a wooden rack with some of the freshly made kuehs. Thus began the food tasting session.

Kueh Tasting

According to the owner who was the 3rd generation in his family running this business (the 4th generation doesn’t intend to take over the business), they mainly handled orders from restaurants and hardly had customers gatecrashing like we did =) Haha! Anyways, we left as satisfied customers, returned with bagful of kuehs and amazing homemade kaya!

Awesome Kaya

Lunch was yet another round of Penang Char Kway Teow! This time at the recommended street (forgot the name) on the Penang Food Trail brochure where the person cooking wears goggles to cook! Well, with good stuff always comes competition. If you are interested to check the place out, there are 2 of such cooks along the street. One male and one female. The female cook is the one recommended on the brochure but our local intelligence told us to go for the male cook instead. We were not disappointed.

After lunch, some of us went for Nandos while the rest went shopping. In the late evening, the troop prepared to go back to Singapore while Leon and I stayed behind to celebrate Valentines Day early.

We met at 9.30am in the morning and had the best breakfast in Penang! Old Town @ New World. Oooh, the Laksa Mee and Ipoh Hor Fun was fantabulous! Penang kway teow simply had this nice texture to it. Kaya and butter bread toast (a little different from Ya Kun’s) and garlic bread was good too! When we finished the food at our table, the food for the other table only just arrived so we ordered Nasi Lemak with Rendang Ayam. The Rendang Ayam was great! Basically, we just ordered the recommended food on the menu with the exception of the garlic bread I think. Their White Coffee lived up to it’s reputation. However, do remember to ask for less sugar if you are worried about becoming a diabetic.

Breakfast @ Old Town

Old Town Signature Dishes - Ipoh Hor Fun & Curry Mee

Jon Jon: I'm Not Interested In Adult Food

This Way Up To Penang Hill

We took it easy in the morning after a packed day yesterday. We lingered at New World for a while longer, some resting and some shopping. After that, our host drove us around to take a look at the town area. We decided to charge up Penang Hill after driving around for a while. The drive to Penang Hill took about an hour I think. It was quite a ride. Traffic was generally slow (perhaps compared to Singapore). Leon slept most of the way there.

The train took half an hour to get to the top of the hill. Weather conditions wasn’t that good so pictures of the view up there wasn’t great. It started drizzling when we were up there so we decided to wait awhile at the cottage restaurant to have tea. Fresh warm scones with strawberry jam and butter was good. The same as the one at Cameron Highlands.

Hilltop View

Us at Penang Hill

Group Photo

Dinner and rest in the evening concluded Day 2.

We missed our flight! A mere 15 minutes later than check-in time! What a way to start our trip. This was the second time in my life experiencing hiccups with travel arrangements. Stress. It was cheaper to buy new one-way tickets than to pay the admin fee to change our tickets (weird right?) so we got new tickets and caught up with the rest of the cell group in Penang, determined not to let this ruin our trip.

The rest had Char Kway Teow at Lorong Burma first while waiting for us to arrive. Once we checked in to Cititel at Jalan Penang, we left for the famous Chendol! We were chauffuered around in this nice big Hyundai. It takes all 11 adults, 3 kids and a baby!

Our Faithful Transport

Load Up People!...Erm...Prams First

Supermom and Kids

Boy, did the Chendol taste good and refreshing! – fresh ingredients with palm sugar that’s not too sweet. Yum! Right after that, some of the gang even tried Assam Laksa! For some Singaporeans, the highlight was the Ambra (not Umbrella) juice because we have not tasted it before nor seen the Ambra fruit back home.

Find Yourself A Seat Before The Chendol Comes

Chendol Smiles

Assam Laksa Right After Chendol...Main Course After Dessert

Tourists need to buy local produce. What is Penang famous for? Tau Sar Pia =) We went to Ghee Hiang. Leon and I felt that Him Hiang’s Tau Sar Pia was more fragrant and tasty.

Ghee Hiang Tau Sar Pia

Who's Cuter?

A&W Fix

What else do Singaporeans do besides eating? Right! Shopping! We we driven to Plaza Gurny to go crazy but most of us did not buy much. Hehe. Some of us focussed people went straight for our A&W fix. Haha. How can we ever touch Malaysian grounds without having our Rootbeer Float and Waffle?! Yum!

After about an hour of shopping time, we went out to walk along the waterfront. Unfortunately for us, the skyline wasn’t that clear so the picture didn’t come out that clear too. One interesting thing though was that our camerman (probably a tourist or student from China) counted from 3 to 1 instead of 1 to 3 before snapping That kind of tickled me. Hehe.

Actually, most of us were too tired to walk along the waterfront so we just sat down and rested. We were waiting for the night hawker there to open so we can go for dinner - kway teow mee, rojak, char kway teow wanton mee, fried chicken skin, popiah and claypot rice were some of the food we had. Interestingly, the hawker is a little like Chomp Chomp in terms of ambience. There wasn’t a lot of variety of food there and the variety was repeated about 3 times in that place. This summed up Day 1.

Buzzzz buzzzz…..I hear my wings sounding and I’m thinking…..oh boy when is this flying around going to end. Unfortunately, it is not going to anytime soon. We have been wanting to blog so much but my oh my things are happening at light speed and we couldn’t catch up.

So this is a summary of what’s been happening.

1. Church is embarking on this huge million dollar project that is making out worlds go crazy. When the time comes, we’re going to have to push things into warp speed…..

2. My studies, I’m on my last lap. Hoping to finish all the requirements and I will be done by June 2010. Almost 10 years now of part time study in bible school. Sweat. I’m hoping I don’t fail anything….keeping my fingers crossed.

3. This is certainly the most important and most pressing thing that is happening in my life. We are getting married this year. ( And no…..I have not dropped the question) I know what you’re thinking but it’s going to happen. I just gotta wait for the right time. But we’ve been planning like crazy jumping between KL and Singapore to just make sure we got some things ironed out.

4. I’m trying to apply for my PR and well, its quite a hassle. On top of it, there are so many things we have yet to sort out that I’m going nuts. I need my PR status to purchase a property here in Singapore and you know what? The place we buy will cost us 300-400k SGD. That’s like almost a million ringgit…..ridiculous. But rental is crazy too and we’re throwing money to nowhere like that. So…..we don’t see how we can get a place unless God works some miracle. But we’re praying hard. Any sort of housing advice is much appreciated at this moment.

5. The Live Worship Album Project has begun to kick in to full steam. I have to write a song this week and I have no inspiration at the moment. Honestly, this is the most stressful thing at the moment. I covet your prayers in this area.

There are so many things happening and we’re making sure we enjoy the entire process. Anyway I think we’ll blog about the process of us getting out wedding done so that maybe, just maybe someone will benefit from it. I’ll make quick short posts from now on because I can’t find the time to sit behind the computer to blog…….through this process however, please lend your feedback and help. We don’t know how to get things done here for our marriage and if you have some experience. Please do help us k?

Cheers!

Leon

On Monday, we finally got the chance to give Shades a bath. He is rather shy. Bathing in public is not what he likes but he has no choice. So he refuses to bathe often. However, this time he had no choice. We brought him to the washing area.

Well if some of you didn’t know (cause I haven’t introduced shades formally). This is Shades. He has been my best friend lately. Spending more time with me on the road than anyone else.

When I first walked past the shop, I knew I had to have Shades in my life. Regina was there that first time. She too thought he was the coolest looking dude.

We adopted him as our own. And now after that bath, he is sparkling as new. Just like when we first got him. Nice Nice

Shades is an Italian motorcycle. An Aprilia RS125 racing replica. This bike has won so many world championships.

Still the most beautiful babe stood beside it and made Shades look cooler. Hehe. Doesn’t she look cool.

I remember when I was reaching 16…..my heart beat faster and harder than it beat for the 16 years before that. It was time when a modern man has the passing rights to be a real man. For man and machine are meant to be together. It was time for me to be a true modern man and tame the first beast. I remember how my dad gave me instructions to be careful ‘or you’ll risk dying’. Oh how exciting!

My first bike looked something like this only blue in color

At last the day came that I was given the license to roam the world on this beautiful baby. I would park it right outside my school fence. Hop over when nobody is looking and run away! the 90km/h at full throttle felt like I could fly. Me and my honda C70. It was like we were meant to be.

Still it was our family bike and soon my brother and father knew this bike couldn’t support their need for a speed more than 40km/h when they were both on it hahahaahaha. So we got this sweet looking Malaysia made bike. The Modenas Jaguh. Oh did we feel proud to roam around in that chopper looking bike. Believe it or not, that bike is still at home….recently though she isn’t doing well.

She looked something like this

However because my parents felt it was to wild for me to roam the world out there on just a small yellow horse…they passed me my first car. A hand me down. But oooo she can roar. We called her ‘Leng Lui’ cause that sounded like the Nissan Langley model she was. Thats when I tasted my first taste of speed. 180km/h oooooooo……sweet. Anything slower than that felt like I would die….hahaha

Thats leng lui after she got dropsy.

Her bum bum

However I soon realised that I wanted a family and my dear leng lui was falling ill. So I got myself a decent looking car. I had the intention to mod it up till it looked like this….however…I never needed too cause I seldom had the chance to speed on it.

How my car looked like. Something like this la

This is how I wanted it to look

I however found myself too tame on four wheels. I’d fall asleep constantly even though I was pumping that techno down those speakers. Soon I realised I was born to be wild. Why was I kidding myself riding this car…

I sold that car and got this

Oooo since that….I’ll never go back….my Cagiva Mito has always been the bike that meant the most to me. Callie I called her brought me everywhere and healed my wounded soul. It hurt me so bad to say goodbye when I came to Singapore. Not too long later however. I had to say goodbye for real for I had to allow someone new in my life.

To all my friends and machines. You all will always be remembered for your everlasting love for me. Thank you for always serving and running with me whether rain or shine. Storm or wind. You were always there. I miss you all so much. Remember me. One day we may be able to ride the wind again together.

You know I’m absolutely apologetic that I haven’t had the time to setup everything perfectly on the blog. At last….the About Us, FAQ and Feedback Sections are functioning flawlessly. The blog design is up and nicely done thanks to the help of Adino…..visit his blog….its very very nice hehehe. You can click on those links or you could click those beautiful tabs at the side…..my advice…..click those at the side since they are so beautiful hahahaha.

We will be updating this blog regularly as we really want to pen down as much memories of our life. I hope to be able to work out the video and music streaming up soon. That would indeed make things rather fun won’t it? At the meantime. Please enjoy and I do hope you all will really come to know us better and vice versa. God Bless