My first attempt at still life photography and studio lighting with Kev’s assistant on the lighting.

Shot with Canon EOS 5D with 85mm f1.8. ISO 100 1/125 f2.2.

Sorry, there’s no behind-the-scene for this one because I forgotten to take a picture of the setup.

Two (2) weekends ago, I joined Kev and his colleagues and friends to SkyTrex Adventure at Taman Pertanian, Shah Alam. Technically, it was my second attempt at SkyTrex. My first time was a couple of months ago with a group of cyclist friends.

Aside from Skytrex, you can also choose to rent a bike and cycle within Taman Pertanian. The bike is rent on hourly basis. If you asked me, Taman Pertanian is a really nice place to ride because most of the places are shaded and there are numbers of hills to climb. Good for us cyclist, properly bad for those who are not used to riding for hours.

For those who are interested to go for Skytrex, best advice is to call in to make advance booking to avoid any disappointment because it can be really packed during school holidays and public holidays.

Skytrex only opens on weekends and public holidays. While on any other day, Taman Pertanian is still open for visits.

In order to get to the Skytrex destination, you can either rent a bike and ride over there. Or you can always hop on to the free bus shuttles provided.

At SkyTrex Adventure, there are different level of difficulties stages to accomplished and twenty two (22) stations in total.

Upon arriving, we signed as a group to get our gears.

The tickets for Skytrex Adventure are as follows:
Adult - RM35
Children - RM25
(the above fee is inclusive of entrance fee)

Alternately, you can always get the package which inclusive of transportation from Pasar Seni and back for: RM55 - Adult
RM45 - Children

Before we could proceed to any of the Skytrex stations, we were each given a form to sign to ensure that we understood their rules and regulation.

We cam-whored while waiting for our turns at the training stations.

And I caught Bobby on camera doing the Donald Duck’s quack and mimicking Stitch’s voice.

Here I am. All gear up to start my first training.

The training stage is really easy and that’s just one (1) story high.

And here come the real thing. The four (4) stories high ladder to start off.

And more ladders to climb. And yes, it just get higher.

That’s me climbing up the four (4) stories high ladder.

The zig zag wooden plank. This can be really scary, if you’re one who are afraid of heights.

Lydia doing the flyfox. This one is easy.

Not sure what is this one called. But it sure can be pretty tricky if you don’t get it right.

During our first Skytrex attempt, one of my friend didn’t manage to catch the last rope and she ended up swinging back to the start. I mean, the start of this one.

For the weak heart, there are chicken escape everywhere. If you think if you’re not able to finish the whole challenge, feel fee to use them.

This is one of my favourites, where you swing yourself to the big giant net like Tarzen.

Overall, we had fun. But the second time isn’t as scary or as exciting as the first attempt because you already know what to expect. That day itself, we practically spent the whole day at Taman Pertanian because there were some technical problem at the first station which caused  the delay. We arrived at 11am and only left the place by 5.30pm. While the first time, we only spent three (3) hours altogether.

And here’s a Christmas tree (that made out of plastic bottles) from Singapore’s Night Safari.

On the 1st of December 2008 was World AIDS Day. Kev, myself and some cyclist friends gathered at Berjaya Times Square that very morning for a ride. We were there as early as 6.30am.

Surprisingly, many cyclists turned out on that day. Some even brought their family members along.

There’s a couple who came with their tandem bicycle.

Some came with mountain bike.

As for me, I came with my road bike.

Uncle Choy and his friend were there too.

Uncle Choy brought his foldable bike, known as folding bike, which weigh 11kg. If you wish to get anything lighter, it would double the price.

Apologize about the video. I oriented the camera wrongly because I thought you were taking a photo. LOL!

While some came with some rather interesting looking bike. This one is called the recumbent bicycle which places the rider in a reclined position.

There were different type of recumbent bicycle. This one only have two (2) wheels.

Just before the event start, me and Hsing Ling were camwhoring.

At approximately 8am, the ride officially took off. We were escorted by police and support cars throughout the ride. And we practically cycled the whole of KL city. It was a really rare opportunity as it would usually be really dangerous to ride in town due to the traffic.

Fancy some local indie music gigs? Time Out KL presents, Time Out: On The Up is back again! Bringing you four (4) more local acts.

Featuring…
- Guitar and violin duo - The Snow Symphony
- Pop jazz band - Rumi
- Alternative rock band - A Mantle In The Sea
- Blues rock vocalist - Prema Yin.

On 17th December 2008 (Wednesday) at…
- 8pm
- No Black Tie, 17 Jalan Mesui, Off Jalan Nagasari, Off Jalan Raja Chulan, KL.

Get 50% off on entrance fee by clicking here. You will only pay RM10 instead of RM20.

For advance booking or inquiries, please call..
- 03 2142 3737 (call after 5pm)

** For more info about the artists/bands mentioned above, click here.

About three (3) weeks ago, I attended the Stylo X party at KL Plaza. The event marked Stylo 1st anniversary in Malaysia and was also held in conjunction of World AIDS day (December 1st) which was few days after the event.

Stylo X was supposed to be a private party and only selected people who write in to RSVP get to be on the guest list with a given access password to the event. But the event didn’t seem very exclusive as it seem to be. Yes, there are many high profile personnel, and yes, models and designers were there too. Then again, it wasn’t nothing to shout about. I was expecting more than that, perhaps a fashion show or two.

The theme for Stylo X was “Sexy in Red”. People who came were dressed in red or a pinch of red. The entire place was also covered and sprayed in red. The whole concept for the event was adapt from a rundown graffiti warehouse. Very interesting though.

Christmas trees were decorated with condoms in conjunction with Word AIDS day.

All the outfits in the photos are put together by our very own local designers using condoms. I didn’t believe it until I had a closer look at it.

The interior of the whole setup was decorated with red cloths and sofa, chandelier, candle and spot lights. Which gives you the dark underground feel.

Kenny Sia was also present at the event.

An international female deejay was spinning that night.

And they had some models to model some of the designers outfit.

Bumped into many familiar faces from Zouk relaunch event. They seem to be all over the places. Haha…

The whole event was just alright. There were free flow of alcohol and wine and some food too. I also noticed most of the shops at KL Plaza were closed for renovation. Probably they are doing some upgrading or so.

Just last week, I attended Time Out Comedy Thursday at Little Havana. On a Thursday, of course.

The event was scheduled to start at 9pm and I went there right after my evening classes. The event started a little late. So, I managed to reach in time. I packed by stuff by 8.30pm and drop my stuff off at my car which was parked at  the end of the road. Luckily I was in my sports shoes else my feet would have hurt by the time I reached there.

At Little Havana, people hanged out after working hour to chit chat, order some beer and play snooker with their friends. Quite a nice place though. In fact I really do like the ambiance of the place.

Well, that’s just the ground floor. The Comedy Thursday event was held upstairs. They have this very cozy little hall with a bar as well. A big backdrop was hung on the stage where the comedians will be performing.

Before the comedians came out to do their thing. Matt, the MC for that night start off with a little of joke of his own. Matt did sounded nervous at first when he came on to the mic, from his tone. But he was alright after that. He did a little ice-breaking session by warming up the crowd and he also sang a song to introduce each of the comedians, which I thought it was pretty creative and catchy.

The first stand up comedian who came on stage, was Zac. He started off some jokes about being an alcoholic, and then continue with analising the meaning behind Beyonce’s song - If I were a Boy.

His performance was alright. It’s a good start, I would say. Supposingly, he wasn’t scheduled to perform that night so probably that explain why he wasn’t fully prepared.

Next was Chi Ho. His performance was really good. He put on the typical Ah Beng character and even talked like one. Reminds me of how Russle Peters would have put it.

One of his jokes was about shooting Batman movie in Klang. Which goes like this…

Batman: Hey Alfred. Could you pick me up?
Alfred: Why Sir?
Batman: Someone has stolen my batmobile.

LOL! That one was really hilarious! It’s somewhat true that car really get stolen in Klang. And another one was engraving on the ring which sound like this…

Just recently, me and my girlfriend exchanged ring. Not those expensive type, but those cheap time. So inside the ring, we get to engrave words for our partner. So, the one I gave her, was engrave with “I love you”. Because I really love her, mah. But my girlfriend was really creative, the one she gave me was engraved with “Please put it back on!”.

Haha… That one was good. And there’s another one which I really enjoyed the most was how he made fun of Michael Jackson dance. Saying how it all started was… “Aik! Wrong parking!”, and MJ had to do the dance move to move it back, and he continue to do the “shaking thingy” and “Oooowww!” That was really hilarious! Who would have thought of that?

And next up, was Davina. Supposingly, she is the first local comedy who is a girl. Althought I do know her personally, I can’t be bias on my judgement. Right? So, this is me being really frank. Her performance was just okay. For those who may have heard or know of her, she a TVC talent and as well as an actress for local threater. Yes, she may be funny in person and even in pictures. But sorry to say that stand up is just not her thing.

Whenever she tried to tell a joke, she has a tendency of shouting it out loud that we can’t even catch a single word she said. And oops, there we missed the joke. In my opinion, one should always be clear and be heard by people when doing a stand up comedy. Else people might not even get the joke. Sorry, Davina.

Davina’s birthday was just two (2) days ago (she shares the same birth date with Britney Spears) and the so we all celebrated her birthday with her. I thought that was really sweet of them.

Then, it was Kavin’s turn. Kavin was really funny. He did a joke that goes like this…

Parents, do you have kids? Never ever do this to your children.
One day, a mum and a kid was in the LRT. The kid was running around and Kavin was also in the same train. The mum couldn’t get the kid to sit still so she told the kid, “If you can’t sit still, the man over there going to come and scold you”, pointing at Kavin. Kavin on the other day, was confused because he was innocent and didn’t know what was going on. The kid got a little scared, he sat down for awhile and few minutes later, he was running around again. The mum scolded the kid again, but the kid didn’t listen. After awhile, Kavin got a little annoyed. So, he stood up and grab the kid and said, “You have been warned!”. Shaking the kid with the horror look on his eyes.

That one sure reminds me of Russle Peters’ line - “Somebody gonna hurt real bad. Somebody!” Hahah…

Then later on, the continue about how people adding each other on facebook and how guys only look at what profile picture girls would place for on their facebook. Also on how some people change their facebook status so often. Haha… That one was good too.

And finally, Jimmy from Canada did a nice wrap up for that evening. He wrote two (2) songs which one of them was “I Hate Singapore”.

Jimmy is a very good stand up comedian with many years of experience. Some of the jokes he made was really spontenouse. Here’s a joke which he made that goes like this…

At Singapore, a guy came up to Jimmy, wanted to shake his hand. Jimmy put out his left hand while holding a glass of beer on his right. The guy responded and said, “Sorry, we don’t shake with our left hand because we do dirty things with our left hand”. So, Jimmy said okay, and put out his right hand and then he realised something and said, “Oh no! I can’t shake you with my right hand because I’ve been doing dirty things with my right hand since I was 14!”

That was one of his maturebation joke, by the way.

Anyway, if you ever feel like you could do a good laugh. Be sure to make every first Thursday of the month available. Get 50% off on entrance fee by clicking here. You will only have to pay RM10 instead of RM20.

More write up about the event, click here, and here. And also check out a snippet video from that day’s event, here.

Two (2) weeks ago, I attended the mifa’08 (Malaysia International Fashion Award) fashion at The Garden MidValley with Steph. It was our second time attending mifa. The first one was at KL Convention Center last year.

This year round, or I would say both this year (this and last year). Based on my experience, the event was poorly managed.

Firstly, those who emailed or called in to RSVP for the event are counted as walk-in visitor because they were not given the black and white copy of the invites even though they told us to print the email and show as proof. WTF!?! To obtain those invites, you have to be “somebody” and I really mean “somebody somebody“. Either you know people from the inside or you’re a designers or some sort of VVIP/VIP. Which I don’t give a shit! But after all, they are their big bosses.

Secondly, even though they may have plenty of unoccupied seats inside in the hall, they have to let the VIPs enter first. So big deal, eh? And we, the normal people/walk-in visitor/the nobody have to wait till all the VIPs are seated first and if, BIG IF, IF there are still available seats, then only they will let you in. Wah lau wei!!! A little too much, right? This really put people off, you know? What happened to those people travel to KL from outstation, and some took the trouble to take leaves just to attend the shows? This will really discourage them from attending the following year.

And thirdly, so what if it’s a big event? Very BIG EVENT, hor? Why are there so many restrictions? Why spend so much money on publicities when they can’t even hire the right people to manage the event properly. Oooooh, I understand… Mifa is a profit making event and all they want is to take money from the government. Oops! It’s true anyway. Sue me!

Anyway, this year around, the running settings were better compared to last year. There were more seats and the place were bigger as well. I personally do like the decorations and the combination of colours used on the runway. They even have chandelier in the hall. Very classy.

Our very own Miss World Malaysia 2007 - Deborah Henry was the host for the entire event.

I only attended two (2) of the shows on the first day of mifa. Couldn’t really bother to attend the reminding one even though I have RSVP them. You know why la. And also because I didn’t want to take the risk of being disappointed if they really do ran out of seats and I might have to resort to hanging outside and yet still pay for parking. The parking was not cheap at all. That day itself, I spent 11 hours at MidValley and the parking fee came out to total of RM8!!! Just imagine if I were to attend all four (4) days event. Siao wei!!!

I’m not too sure the Gala night turned out. But those events were not open to public. Hmmm… How can I ever on the list?

The Truely Asia show was very boring. Nothing to shout about and some of the clothes are just so not practical. Yes, it’s creative but ermmm… I don’t know. On the other hand, the mifa8 show was really good. I was in fact very impressed by the work produced by the participants! They were only students and I thought their design really rock it! *two (2) thumbs up* But I do wonder how many of them really made the outfits themselves. I’m sure it is impossible to produce ten (10) outfits all by themselves. Okay, it is possible but it wouldn’t be as easy.

Just less than a month ago, Bondi Beach Grill & Bar was first open at The Curve. Located next to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Restaurant.

For those who have been to Australia would probably heard of Australia’s famous beach called Bondi Beach, located at suburb in Sydney.

At the moment, the restaurant is not fully done as they only open on the 15th November 2008. In future, more decorations will be added according to Bondi Beach theme. So make sure you drop by to check it out.

Apart from that, Bondi Beach is the only restaurant at the Curve that has a toilet. Seriously, no joke.

Anyway, if you fancy a nice place to hang out after a busy day at work, Bondi Beach is a place you would want to be. Why is that so? The ambiance is very cozy and there’s Retro Music by DJ Warren V and DJ Soya from 10pm onwards. Not forgetting that they have free WIFI connection.

Enough said about the environment, now let’s move on to the food. Yummy! At Bondi Beach, they serve simple homemade backyard BBQ style dishes. The steak are grilled and their sauces are specially prepared to suit our taste.

Appetizer/Main
Grilled Oyster topped with buttery BBQ sauce
RM21/RM32
**This one taste really good. A must try!

Appetizer/Main
Prawn Pinwheels
Spiced tiger prawn grilled, on a bed of curly endives
RM16/RM21
**This is really good too. The prawns were very fresh and I love how they were grilled.

Giant Skewer
Seafood Kebabs with Dill
Tiger prawn, soft-shell crab, squid, tenggiri, courgette, cherry tomatoes served with tartar sauce
RM38

Open kitchen concept is practiced at Bondi Beach where customers can see how their food is cooked and prepared.

Flamin Kitchen
Meat, fish and seafood selection
Sirloin
RM28

Flamin Kitchen
Meat, fish and seafood selection
Solmon (served with Lemon Herb Butter sauce)
RM28

Flamin Kitchen
Meat, fish and seafood selection
Rib Eye
RM32

Flamin Kitchen
Meat, fish and seafood selection
Fillet of Dory
RM21

If you notice some of the steaks do not come with sauce. This is because the sauce has to be ordered separately and they cost RM3 each. With this option, customers are given a choice to select their preferred sauce to go along with the stake.

There are 10 sauces selection to choose from:
- Bondi BBQ
- Mushroom
- Black Pepper
- Roasted Tomatoes Salsa
- Lemon Herb Butter
- Cajun Remoulade
- Provencal Herb Butter
- Cafe de Paris
- Three Pepper Butter
- Red Chili Aioli

Among the sauces that were presented that day were - Bondi BBQ, Mushroom and Black Pepper.

**My favourite have to be the Mushroom sauce.

And here come the dessert…

Dessert
Apple Cinnamon Comb
RM12
**Highly recommend

Dessert
Honey Grilled Banana With Coconut Flakes
RM8

Here are the two (2) chefs that prepared the dishes that night.

And those who attended the food review sessions were:
Ken, Sidney, Joshua, Thomas, Aaron, Celine, Stephanie, Stanley, Chunglern and the restaurant manager, CS (in front)

Their operating hours are:
12noon - 11pm (Sunday - Tuesday)
12noon - 2am (Wednesday - Saturday)

Set Lunch available from RM14.90++

Everyday is beach hour @ Bondi
Drought Beer from RM32++ / Jug

For reservation, please call Jieh at 012 7311 883 or email to operation.bondi@gmail.com

Bondi Beach Grill & Bar
Lot 146, The Curve,
No. 6, Jalan PJU7/3,
Mutiara Damansara,
47860 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Tel: +60 3 7729 2441
Fax: +60 3 7729 4852

**Photo courtesy of Chung Lern and Ken.
**Special thanks to CS and Thomas for inviting us for the food review.

Just last week, I have finally gotten my shoes for the Malaysian Footwear Design Competition I joined in September. Really like how the actually shoes turned out based on the design I sent in. Well, unfortunately I won’t be able to post any pictures of the shoes, not till the competition is over. Most likely would be mid of December, as I was told.

Anyway, have you ever wonder how our shoes are made? Or where is it made? In Malaysia? Definitely.

The guy over here is applying a layer of glue onto the base of the shoe to attached the sole onto it.

Different people are in charge of doing certain part of the shoes. It sure reminds me of Santa’s little elf working in the factory.

This lady here is in charge of producing the paper pattern for the shoes design. Very similar like how we would draw paper pattern for clothes.

The guy over here is adding cushion on top of the sole. This is only done for certain shoes like Hush Puppies. Well, if you’re aware that that was one of their selling point, which is “comfort”.

Those are plastic shoe moulds, I think? Not sure what it is called. It comes in different sizes based on human feet size and also different length and height for different heels height.

If you’re thinking of getting your shoes custom made, you might just need to get one of these - to fit your feet.

This is how leather are cut into pieces. Machines are used to cut leather because leather itself are comparatively thicker and harder to cut than PVC.

And this is the guy who made my shoes. Well, he’s the boss actually. Very cool guy who know a lot about shoes.

Here are some little facts that I know…

• Not all shoes you see in the stores are made in the same factory because different factories only made a certain type of shoes. For example, men and ladies, heels and flat, etc.
• Some shoes are comparatively more expensive than the other because of the material that are used as well as the layers of sponge added for comfort. While some are expensive because of the amount of swarovski crystal used on them.
• Swarovski crystal are actually very cheap to get. Especially if you get them from China. In bulk, of course.
• 2,000 pair of Vincci shoes (for one design) take 2-3 days to finished.
• In overseas, Vincci shoes are sold as VNC.
• The material used on Hush Puppies shoes are all imported from overseas.