Kiwiland just around the corner

I'm so excited!!! Just a few more days now than it's hello New Zealand - land of blues & greens & sheep! My fav animal. Still get excited when I see one hahah so jakun. What to do.. who ask Malaysia not to have sheep..

Still got tons of work to finish though before I leave. Panicking now coz it's not all done yet but I'll get it done.

Here I come!!

Sheep :)

Happy Merdeka Malaysia

Memorable Merdeka Commercials

Buildings are being draped in the Jalur Gemilang and flags are proudly flying outside houses and on cars — yes, Aug 31 is just around the corner again.

Besides patriotic displays and the annual National Day parade, Malaysians can once again look forward to television commercials that touch the heart. Hee's some of the best Merdeka commercials that are still talked about to this day.

Petronas

When we think of Merdeka commercials, we immediately think of the works of the late Yasmin Ahmad. There is no doubt that her Petronas advertisements have been among the best — if not the best — in celebrating National Day.

Yasmin started producing these commercials for Petronas in 1995. Her commercials — always character-driven, always heart-felt — are powerful because of their emotional and sometimes nostalgic appeal.

The first, One Little Indian Boy, is memorable not only because it was the first ever Merdeka-themed corporate advertisement but also because its narrative focused refreshingly on members of a minority race.



The commercial is about an Indian boy who remembers how his father once dressed him up for a special occasion and hoisted him up on his shoulders when they arrived at a gathering. Puzzled, the boy looked around and saw a man standing on a platform shouting: “Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!”

The man was our first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, and the place was Stadium Merdeka.

“Things have changed now and Father is already gone,” says the boy, now all grown-up. “Although we are living better, sometimes we forget how things got started. For me, that day was the most special day in my life.”

One of Yasmin’s favourites is Tan Hong Ming in Love (2007). For this project, whose theme was Our Children are Colour-blind. Let’s Keep Them That Way, she and her crew went to several schools in the Klang Valley to conduct candid interviews with children, including a certain Tan Hong Ming who shyly professes his affection for his Malay friend, Umi Kazrina.

Another commercial worth mentioning is Param’s Bicycle, which traces the lives of three young boys — an Indian, a Malay and a Chinese. It shows how they grew up together, braving both the good and bad times, all the while remaining steadfast friends.

All these commercials are different but share a similar outlook. They teach us to remember the essence of nationhood in our multicultural society by conveying messages of peace and harmony. Over the years, many have tried to produce similar commercials but the Petronas ones will always have a special place in our hearts.

But now that Yasmin is gone, what will happen to the Petronas ads? Their latest advertisements, directed by Hafiz Ibrahim, is about two teams building a vehicle for their school’s Design & Innovation Competition. As they work on their invention, Raju’s dad, who is pushing his cendol cart past them in the rain, almost gets hit by a car.

The boys rush to help, but Raju’s dad tells them to go back to what they are doing — he doesn’t want Raju to turn out like him. Raju’s teammates then come up with the idea of adapting their invention to the requirements of Raju’s dad. They design a super high-tech cendol vehicle and manage to win first place in the competition.

The commercial ends with their bitter rival, Farid, and his dad driving past the cendol stall. After much persuasion, Farid’s dad convinces his son to be a bigger person and try out the cendol.
Raju’s team welcomes Farid with open arms. All is well.

The line, “Our real strength lies in our heart”, ends the commercial.



Maybank

Petronas is not the only company to have come up with great National Day ads. For Malaysia’s 50th anniversary celebration, Maybank came up with a unique commercial that tickled Malaysians.

For this ad, the bank enlisted the help of Leo Burnett and Yasmin. It was done entirely in Iban with subtitles in English, Chinese and Malay. The scenes were shot in Bau and Kapit, using an East Malaysian cast.


The commercial starts off with a young lady in London speaking on the phone with her mother. This is followed by flashbacks to her childhood days, where we see the young girl’s teacher explaining that there are no tigers in Sarawak.

Her mother, however, says otherwise. She points out the tiger motifs that are all around them, such as on the mat, her dad’s tattoo and a locket given by her ancestors. The tiger is seen as a protector in Iban culture.

Returning to London, the narrative has the young lady telling her mum not to worry about her being abroad as there is a tiger there looking after her. He’s tall, handsome, strong and a Malaysian, she jokes, as the camera pulls away to reveal a Maybank branch with its tiger logo behind her.

The commercial is memorable not just because of its unexpected light-hearted ending, but because it revolves around the Iban community.

Maybank is continuing with its 1Malaysia message this Merdeka with another two TV commercials and four print ads. Keep an eye out for them.




TM

For Malaysia’s 52nd Merdeka celebration last year, TM produced an excellent commercial called As 1 We Care, based on the idea that anything is possible if we band together.

The commercial, filmed by Osman Ali together with ad agency Draftfcb Malaysia, begins with a group of multi-racial families celebrating the birthday of a young girl, Citra, when she suddenly faints.

The girl is rushed to hospital. When the doctor says a rare blood group is needed to save Citra’s life, friends and family send out an appeal to the nation. Everyone, regardless of race or religion, rallies together to donate blood for the young girl.



TM’s Merdeka commercials this year still revolve around the 1Malaysia concept, picking up the thread from last year’s Hari Raya and Chinese New Year commercials.

It shows a boy, Asri, selling kuih at a Ramadan bazaar. Thinking that he can earn more money if he goes it alone, Asri decides he will manage his stall all by himself. He turns down offers of help from his best friends Mei and Kumar.

When Asri realises he can’t manage the stall, he turns to Mei for assistance but she walks away in a huff because she is upset that he thought she only wanted to help him for a share of the profits. Kumar, seeing Asri struggling to cope, hurries over to help. Despite her hurt feelings, Mei, too, joins in to help.

The three friends —and by extension, the three races — are united in the end.


This year, as certain groups and, shockingly, educators, try to incite racial tension in the run-up to Merdeka, we could all do with positive reinforcements. Long may such ads live.

Day my condo flooded

Sunday 15 August 2010

The unit downstairs have been complaining bout my leaking pipes for sometime now and after many checks, I finally told the mgt that they could fix the leaking thing although I'm still sore about why I have to pay for it since it's the developer's fault for fixing shody pipes in the first place.

They quoted me RM1K for the job and started a whole day's work on Saturday. He said I could only turn on my main the next morning so I did just that and went for dim sum lunch w Su & Edmund. I came back to this :

My kitchen

Can't really capture the damage as the water does not appear well in the photos. But basically, they did a shitty job which clogged up my drains and the main was gushing out, filling my outside balcony to ankle deep in water! The water overflowed to my kitchen, then my living room which soaked my carpets and drowned my TV switches, then flowed to my computer room which also flooded my plugs (thank god comp is alright) and lastly the water flowed into my master bedroom. That's shit loads of wasted water. And I have to bloody pay for it.

My soaking wet carpets

Living room

Wet carpets & rugs took 4 days to dry

Wet plugs in the computer room

Took my entire Sunday to clean up the mess. The cheek of him he wanted me to pay RM1500 coz he said he did more extensive work to fix it! Refused to pay full price & settled with RM700.

Flow Riding

Friday 20 August 2010

Sunway Lagoon invested RM3 million to install a new attraction to their theme park.

It's included in your entrance fee at no extra cost. Introducing - the Flow Rider!

It's a surf simulator which pushes up a constant stream of water so that you can surf in a static wave. Great for those who want to practice surfing, bodyboarding or wake boarding in a 'safe' environment. No fears of undercurrent, drowning or sharks!

Even Aaron Soo, Sunway Lagoon CEO, jumped in. Such a sporting approaching 50 CEO. Was just like a lil kid.

Sunway Lagoon CEO Aaron Soo showing us how it's done

Revathi was invited to write about it and she brought me along. Perks of the job! Awesome! Here we are trying to figure out how to hold the board.

This is how you do it...



Ready, set...



GO!!!

A lil helping hand..

Tried the wakeboard too but damn was it hard!! The instructors made it look damn easy. An excellent shot of me - macam pro je - but in reality, I lasted all of under 2 seconds.

Look Ma, no hands! And then...

Aik!!..


Crash..

Had two gorgeous huge bruises on my thighs. NOT because I slammed into anything but because of the water pressure. I was abused by water!!! wtf?? hahha but damn worth it. Continued our water adventure riding all the slides in Sunway hehe. I love my job.

My souvenir

@ the tracks with Michelin

Saturday 21 Aug 2010

After a tiring day at Sunway Lagoon, I had to get up early the next morning for a day at the tracks. It was a Michelin Pilot Experience where Michelin rewards its customers, dealers & staff from the Asia Pacific region (India - SEA - Korea - Australia) with a playday at an F1 circuit.

It's held once every year over a period of 2 weeks. Michelin invested quite a lot coz they bought all the cars & maintain it here in Sepang. Today, 5 M'sia media were invited.

Launch was a loud rave affair as the open up the garage doors to reveal this :

Our toys for the day

First up was the GT5 which uses a 6 speed motorcycle engine. We get to drive it 3x round the South track twice. First time to get a feel of the track then the 2nd round full throttle. Did bout 180kph or something like that. Was concentrating too much on the road to check the speed.

Here's how to work the gears..

Our mean machine

Me in full race suit - damn hot k

Tried some gokarts too

They switched us to the Formula Renaults after lunch. Much closer to the ground and much faster. Could almost feel the hot tarmac under my butt.

Learning gear change on the simulator


Ready to roll

More racing toys

Tried our hands at changing F1 tyres at high speed

The pro drivers were called in next to take us for a spin around the tracks. First was 2 Porsche GT3 Cups racing each other with us as helpless passengers. Quite scary to see how they play & overtake each other at full speeds during turns. Sat in a 2 seater Formula Renault next which was even more scary as it's not covered and you can feel the wind pushing the car side to side. Sticks like glue to the ground.

Porsche GT3

Trying to overtake

The 2 seater Formula Renault


Look at them run

Bibendum & I

Incredible India

4 - 10 August 2010

Official trips have been kinda slow in coming. This my first overseas trip for the year! Can you believe that?? Well, AirAsia X flew its first flight to New Delhi (5 1/2hours) on 4 Aug 2010 & me & other medias were on it.

We touched down at Delhi’s spanking new Terminal 3 Indira Gandhi International Airport to an elaborate welcome by the Airport staff as we were the first Malaysian carrier to land there. It was the first time I received a certificate of congratulations for landing in an airport!

Had a very fancy smanzy hotel at Le Meridien, New Delhi. Check out my pad!

AirAsia X was giving away a promotion of flights for 1 rupee! That's less than RM0.10!

Old Delhi was the capital of Islamic India before the British built New Delhi as their imperial capital. Although modern developments are mushrooming all over Delhi in preparations of the upcoming 2010 Commonwealth Games, the allure of Delhi’s historically rich past is still very much alive, if you care enough to look.

The tranquil ruins of Humayun’s Tomb is one place you can go to seek refuge from Delhi’s noise. Built by the wife of the second Mughal emperor Humayun in the 16^th century, the structure’s architecture is a fusion of Persian and local cultures which eventually lent inspiration to the magnificence of Agra’s Taj Mahal.

Enjoy some quiet time at Humayun's Tomb

Rajasthan

Most people who visit Northern India travel the classic Golden Triangle circuit of Delhi – Jaipur – Agra – Delhi. We were no different as that route basically highlights the best of the region for those with limited time.

The desert state of Rajasthan is reminiscence of the rich and romantic past of the maharajas and their lavish lifestyle. The Pink City of Jaipur exudes such charms, painted so to welcome the Prince of Wales in 1876.

It is a bright and cheerful city where camels and painted elephants have as much right on the roads as motorised vehicles do. There is beauty to be found in its arts – blue pottery, semi-precious stone jewellery and block printing; and wonder to be found in its culture - snake charming and traditional Rajasthani puppet shows. As always, colours play a major role in giving Jaipur its identity.

Amber Fort - Jaipur

Shopping is a major sport for all who visit Jaipur, with rows and rows of enticing shops beckoning eager shopping enthusiasts and their less enthusiastic partners. Bargaining is the name of the game but deflecting the never ending advances of persistent traders can be exhausting and infuriating at times. Just be careful not to wander too far in.

Fascinating stuff at the bazaars

Oh bought loads of Himalaya products. Think Mazlan bought the whole store. You can get a herbs bottle here for RM6 when its RM46 in KL!! What a rip off in importation cost. Bought some herbal hangover pills too. Not sure if it works though. Deep says it doesn't.

Himalaya galore

Although the tourist attractions such as Amber Fort, Hawa Palace, City Palace and Jantar Mantar have its own individual appeal, it would be the unplanned visit to a small village on the way to Agra that I cherish the most.

As we disembarked from our tour bus, word got around that ‘foreigners’ were in the vicinity and so a horde of school children in blue uniforms came rushing out to gather around us. They were as much fascinated with gawking at us as we were fascinated with them.

The children followed us into the village, eager and curious, coming very close to the verge of touching us. We saw the humble homes they live in and the animals that shared the same compound. Women in colourful saris went about their business, tending to their kids and carrying out household chores. Their hard life was apparent but they stopped to share a smile.

Further in was a private school where young children in red uniforms were sitting cross-legged on the enclosed roofless compound. It was a scene straight out of the 1950s P Ramlee movies. My heart went out to these kids who despite their learning conditions, seem determined to seek knowledge. Their discipline was a stark contrast to the public school children in blue uniforms.

The private school kids

Uttar Pradesh

The state of Uttar Pradesh is better known for hosting one of the most beautiful Seven Wonders of the World. And what a wonder it is. The Taj Mahal in Agra is every bit as mesmerising as people paint it out to be. Words can’t do this magnificent white marble justice as its glorious beauty is simply breathtaking.

Watching this monument of love gleaming in the reflective rays of the early rising sun would be one that I would cherish forever. I looked on in amazement taking in the hushed audience, as though an unspoken rule required them to appreciate this marvellous beauty in respectful silence.

The Taj up-close is even more amazing as it reveals intricate carvings inlaid with 43 different types of semi-precious stones. You just have to marvel at the elaborate complexity of the artists’ skilful work. Later on, I took the liberty to do some yoga at the Taj’s grounds.

The magnificient Taj Mahal

It would be a pity to visit Agra and not travel a little 40km further west to the fascinating Mughal ruined city of Fatehpur Sikri, a World Heritage Site.

This magnificent red sandstone city was the capital of Emperor Akbar between 1571 and 1585. Its grounds are airy and peaceful with fascinating structures to explore, such as the palaces he built for his three wives of Islam, Christian and Hindu faith.

There was something different about this place which I only realised after a while. It was the freedom to soak in the sights without being hassled by pesky traders! Alas, that peace was short-lived as the darn touts returned in droves at the nearby Jama Masjid.

It was hard to appreciate the beautiful mosque and the spectacular 54m-high Victory Gate there when there are kids following closely at your heels everywhere you turn. If only they understood the concept of personal space.

Despite the annoying peddlers and the summer heat, India is a fascinating country where its rich history and vibrant people will sure to be calling you back for more.

Cities I've been too

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