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Kek Lok Si Lighting 2009

Waco — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:05:19 +0000

Each year during Chinese New Year, Kek Lok Si (极乐寺) at Air Itam, Penang will be lighten up with beautiful lights at night and will last for about 30 days. I did not visit it previously but this year, I paid it the first visit in the evening.

I parked my car at the bottom and walk all the way up to the temple’s car park. There are many photographers carrying their DSLR camera and tripod there for some nice pictures. When I arrived at about 7:15pm, I can see some photographers standing at the opposite side of Kek Lok Si, on top of the hill for some firework shoots. This also mean that I stood at wrong location to take firework photos.

Shooting night scene is a nightmare without a tripod. I bought a tripod on the same day for my point-and-shoot camera. The photos look better now with a tripod.

Kek Lok Si will be lighten up for 33 days starting from 21-Jan-2009. Time will be from 7pm to 12am. For 25-Jan, 26-Jan, 27-Jan, and 9-Feb (除夕，初一，初二，元宵), lights will be on from 7pm – 7am of the next day.

The scene is really excellent. There are thousand of lantern hanging around. Most of them are by donation. The flowers are blooming and decorated with lights as well. Kek Lok Si spent RM300,000 this time for decoration.

As a whole, you should visit Kek Lok Si during this lighting event. Pray for good luck in the new year. Make a wish there. Remember to bring a camera. Tripod is your good friend.

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List of KFC running 24 hours in Malaysia

Waco — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 02:38:20 +0000

Hungry at night? The list above shows you a list of KFC restaurants running 24/7 in Malaysia.

Mr. Pot Coffee & Toast – Now western food goes 24 hours

Aeon Shopping Center, Bukit Mertajam

Waco — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:47:12 +0000

Yesterday was the first day of Hari Raya and I spent some hours in office to update some status back to US counterparts so that they can proceed with their work during this long holiday (see, how committed I am). Thinking of where to eat for lunch, I eventually stopped by Aeon Shopping Center at Bukit Mertajam before going back to hometown.

Aeon Shopping Center (Front View)

Fortunately it is quite easy to find the shopping complex (see wikipedia). If you come from Penang Bridge, easiest way is to make a U-turn below Kulim-Butterworth highway (same junction in which if you turn left you will go to Sunway Carnival). Alternatively, you can also make U-turn somewhere at Megamall (which is nearer but maybe illegal). You can also refer to the map I drew below:

Aeon Shopping Center Roadmap

The shopping center was opened in 22 August 2008, which is rather new. I reached there at 11AM and Jusco will only open at 1PM due to holiday!!

Luckily the shops around still opening. The shops are quite similar to those in Queensbay Mall, such as 老爸茶 (La Ba Cha), Kenny Roger, Nandos, Secret Recipe, Johnny, KFC, McDonald, Laksa Shack, and so on. Some new restaurants in northern region are such as Black Canyon, Hongkie Recipe, Big Apple, Che Go Korean BBQ, Food & Tea Hong Kong, and so on.

For my first visit, I had my lunch at Food & Tea Hong Kong which hopefully can have a review of it soon.

Pillars - Landmark of Aeon Shopping Center

Malays playing congkak

Aeon Shopping Center (Rooftop Car Park)

The shopping complex is spacious with higher roof and reflecting marble floor. There are many entrances from car park so make sure you do not get lost in the building. There is a rooftop car park as well. There is a cinema inside, which will definitely draw some crowd during weekend as well as weekday.

Overall, the shopping complex is promising. Due to the fact that there are too many shopping complexes around, it is expected that the competition is high and definitely some are perform better than the others. Only time will tell who is the last winner of this shopping complex war.

What “MOT Penang” Didn’t Tell Their Employees

Waco — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:52:30 +0000

Recently I seldom read headlines on local newspapers due to too many dumbaxx news involving politician like to use “backdoor”. Instead of following the news and spin around, I usually jump to IT section inside the newspaper, which at least technically more enjoyable. Today, for some reasons, I continue reading the headline which sound like the following:

The Star, 5-Aug: High-Risk Deal

It is regarding Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) investigating a case involving a sub-par Singapore IT company being assigned RM1bil Malaysia project in upgrading communication system for policemen (Hmm… sound familar). It is actually not intesting until you read the rest on page 3:

The Star, 5-Aug: Upgrading project was first given to well-known MNC

Oops, the project was given to a well-known MNC initially and the government passed it to a local IT company to handle it (but somehow it ends at a Singapore IT company hand operated by Israelis??). Also, it said currently only RM45 millions had been approved and the government had decided to scale down the project. This leads to doubt on the survival of that MNC company in Malaysia which was an issue before election this year.

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