Pick Pocket!

Again...heard someone lost his wallet inside the train. But this time the victim is a father with his son.

I was on the way back from the Popular Book Fair in KLCC Convention Center. Saw a middle-age man stopping me and asking am I Chinese. I said Yes and ask him why. He was kind of shy and told me that he lost his wallet in the Putra LRT. And his kid is hungry and thirsty. So would like to ask for RM10 to buy lunch for his kid. I am feeling kind of sympathy for the kid. So, never think twice and pass him RM10. (I was thinking of giving him RM50...But this is too much and he doesn't need RM50 for a meal.)

Then he is asking for my mobile number. Because his sister is coming and he will return the money to me. Pass him the name card instead. I am fine if he is cheating me. RM10 can be a lot to me when my bank account is empty...and my wallet also empty at the month end. Just that I am believe to Karma. If he is alone and definitely i will not give him a single sen. Just because of the poor kid.

There are lot of people out there asking for money. Giving all kind of excuses. I am not sure they are telling you the truth or not. But most of them turned down by me. And this is the second time i gave money to a stranger. Remember that, I was somewhere in town and had kind of happy mood. Because i was going to clubbing with my the other half. And it was the Guiness Stout Black party in Zouk. Met a Sarawakian in tourist wear. Said that he was left by the tour guide and his group. And now he is rushing to take the LRT to KL Sentral and then will take the ERL to KLIA. And he left his bag and wallet inside the bus. So, asking for RM50....

Remember that i recorded down his mobile number. But ended up that number can't dial through. (I should dial that number on the spot. But I never... ) I was having some kind of weird feeling that...I am 100% believe with what he said. Not sure it is a type of black magic or I was really stupid. Told my the other half after that. She just said...you are too kind. Know that she was trying to make me feel better. Thank you dear... But i'm know that i am kind of stupid...

It is hard to be a good person sometime. You will end up suffering by helping people. And it is hard to be a bad person also. Because feeling sad and down when saw people suffering and we are not helping out at all.

There are few tips to teach you on how to prevent the pick pocket inside the train or bus. (There are Star LRT, Putra LRT, Monorail and bus services in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya. And of course there are lot of pick pockets too.)

1) Make sure you are not withdraw the money at any train station ATM. As the pick pocket waiting for target all the time.
2) Make sure you don't put (especially male) your wallet at the back or side pocket. Especially those with very loose pant/jean. As the pick pocket can take out your wallet easily without your notice.
3) Pick pocket mostly come with 2-3 people in a group. If you were hit/bang by someone, hold your bag or wallet tight and make sure your bag or wallet still being with you.
4) Make sure your bag (Female) is zipped or locked. As I can see lot of ladies carrying with big bag. And most of them doesn't care about their bag is wide openned.
5) Try to stay away from the crowd. As pick pocket like to squeeze within the crowd and steal...
6) If you saw any pick pocket, report to the officer in train station or shouting and pointing your finger towards them. Let's everyone know how they look like. As I saw there is an Arabian couple was caught. (I am not offence to any Arabian. As this is what i saw personally in the train station.) A young couple's wallet and mobile was stealing by this Arabian couple. And someone saw it and shouting at them. The wallet and mobile were thrown away immediately. But too many eyes saw what they did and get caught on the spot. Good job people...!
7) Don't showing off your high-tech mobile, PSP or MP3 in public.

C.affinis and C.cordata collection trip - Part 2.

B and J finally arrived on Day 2 early morning. And we were sharing our experience about the C.affinis scene we saw on the Day 1 at our breakfast. They seem like regret that they can't join us on the Day 1. But keep begging us to bring them back to the hidden paradise for the C.affinis. Hahaha...Too bad. Day 2 is fully reserved for C.cordata var cordata. Since it is almost 2 hours drive from Kuala Krai. And we were spent nearly half a day to drive around. We were trying to ignore B and J's request and told them that I will bring them back to that place on the Day 3 while going back to Kuala Lumpur.

JS. One of the primary school teacher aka our member who crazy about aquatic fauna and flora came and joined us for the breakfast. And he told us that he went to that place before. But didn't take any flora from the stream. As he wasn't really a fan of aquatic flora last time. So, he is decided to join for fun this time.

I was almost fall as sleep after the breakfast and cooling air coming in from the car windows. When i woke up by T and he said that we are almost there. This is a typical Malay village. Most of the people in the village are very friendly. But met few of the young guys riding on a motorcycle and asking for money. T is good in the Kelantan slang Bahasa Malay and he is told him off.

This is the first stream we stopped. It is just next to a resident area.


And you can see there are pails here. Believe some local people bathing at here.


Beside bathing..they thrown the rubbish in here too!!! If compare to the stream which full with C.affinis. This stream is totally horrible. As the local people just never care and littering everywhere.


But we were lucky to see the C.cordata var cordata are doing quite well in here. The whole stream filled with fine sand. It is not easy to unroot this crypt also. Because of their root are growing deep inside the sand bed.



This is the bushy growing at the riverbank. From the root to the leaf, it is around 3-4 feet long. Amazing right? J and myself couldn't help and jump into this area and trying to take a few. But before we are manage unroot anyone of it. B and Littar were shouting at us, said... Leeches!!! J and myself stop the action immediately and quicky swimming to opposite and trying hard to climb up. As we were panic and failed to climb up after several tries. I think we were looked like quite funny. The rest of them was laughing non stop...

I was kind of panic due to what i was told by T a day before. Said that there is a local guy bathing in that stream and the leech went inside his backside and leech laid eggs inside his colon. After that the eggs hatched and there are hundred or thousand of small leeches sucking his blood. Ended up he has gone through several surgeries to remove the baby leeches and eggs.


I was laughing at J and there is a 4inches long leech stayed on his leg and sucking his blood. J stay cool and watching on how this ugly blood sucker sucking his blood. After minutes, this 4 inches blood sucker turning into 6 inches long and 2 inches thick. Look like a sausage filled in with fresh.

After that scene, none of us dare to go down again and prefer to stay at the dry area. Here are some drying up C.cordata var cordata.


One of them just about to bloom...


Manage to collect some of them which i can share with the rest of the hobbyists in Kuala Lumpur. Tired but excited. Worth to drive 5 hours to here.


After we were back to hotel to wash up, found out there is a 5 inches leech stayed at my waist. Littar joking with me that quicky check on my private part. At night, we were joyed and had a wonderful dinner with T and his family by local dishes. (Malay mixed Thai food)

C.affinis and C.cordata collection trip - Part 1.

It is my pleasure to know T from Kelantan, Kuala Krai. As he was just into planted tank and learning from us on how to indentify the aquatic plants. I was so excited that he sent me the photo of 2 cryptocorynes which he has found in jungle. Hold on hold on... I will introduce to you guys what cryptocoryne species he has found. Let me share a bit of info about Kelantan and Kuala Krai first.

After confirmed the date with T. (Kelantan still praticing of half day or full rest day on Friday. And working on weekend.) Myself, Liitar, B and B's bf get ready to drive for 5 hours from Kuala Lumpur to Kuala Krai. Due to B's bf busy work load. They only join us on the second day. Littar and myself start the journey at 5am. We were taking a slow and relaxing drive from Kalak highway - Bentong - Gua Musang - Kuala Krai.

It was a cool morning. After 3 hours plus drive, we decided to stop nearby Gua Musang for the fresh air. Gua Musang is the lime stone area as you can see from below pictures.

As I am remembered that we were pull over at one of the oil palm plantation to warm up. We were climb up and down to look for small stream. But seem like we got no luck. So decided to continue the journey to Kuala Krai as T seem like can't wait to see us. (He was keep calling us. And this is the first time meeting up with him.) T has booked 2 rooms for us in one of the "5 stars" hotel in Kuala Krai.

Once we were arrived in Kuala Krai, T brought us to the "5 stars" hotel in town. As I was told by him that there are only 2 hotels in Kuala Krai. This is the most cleaner and expensive hotel in Kuala Krai - Seri Maju Hotel. The bed room with attached bath room. But the bed room full with the fungi smell. This is not a good sign. But we got no choice as it is the only "5 stars" hotel in town. (I couldn't imagine how was the other not so clean and cheaper hotel.)

This is the picture taken on the next morning. As you can see the whole town covered by fog. Kuala Krai is located on the high land of Kelantan. So that you can see fog is everwhere in town at the early morning.

After checked in the hotel and settled our lunch fast, T brought us to a hidden paradise which is an hour drive from Kuala Krai town. And hafta walk 30 minutes to reach this place. It is still a primary jungle where you can see there are quite a number of Orang Asli riding the motorcycle or walking through this place.

Honestly tell you that, this is my first time i saw so many cryptocorynes. I was stunt and don't know where to start to take the picture. The river is full of C.affinis. Once my leg slowly went into the river, I can feel that i am stepping on the C.affinis. There is not empty space for my foots!

River is very sandy and smooth flow. Below the cryptocoryne is cover with the leaves litter. Follow by the small size of substrate size like 1-2mm and fine sand at the most bottom.

There are some emmersed form.

Those under under strong current are growing longer and greenish. The whole place is under shade.

Some unknown moss growing on the drift wood.

2 of my shy friends T and Littar collecting some C.affinis for their aquarium.

Only the emmersed form will blooming.

We were spent around 2-3 hours just to take pictures, enjoy the scene, catching some fauna and collect some C.affinis. It is not easy to unroot the C.affinis. Due to we didn't bring any tools, but just using bare hands and fingers to dig it out one by one. This is a very painful experience. As all of our fingers were scratched and bleeding. T's finger nail was almost came out...

Life on an oil rig.

Guess more of you guys thinking of it must be fun to work on the oil rig. Or it is fun to visit the oil rig. But I would like to say....It is no fun at all. (Well..it is a working place. No Fun Fair. Of coz it is not for fun. :p) I was like one of you. Feeling so excited and can't sleep at all when told by my manager that I need to fly to oil rig for some networking related issue.

My first visit to the oil rig is somewhere near the Vietnam. Which took around 1hour and 45 minutes fly from the Ketir air-port by helicopter. Before step onto the helicopter, thought that it is something like the Donald Trump's private helicopter. Must have air-conditional, drinks and wash room. Hahaha...dream on!


This is the one which can take up to 14 people.


Before I am step inside this helicopter, were arranged to sit inside a room for the safety briefing. Teaching you on how to escape from the helicopter if there is any emergency. (Yes. I've learnt that from the survivor training.) And you need to have the HSE Safety passport to work in the oil rig. Different company have different rules applied. And you will need to attend the survivor training and pass few "escape from helicopter exam" to get the safety passport.

Due to the first time, i was quite worrying about not to turn on the mobile, laptop, camera and other eletric equipments. So, unable to snap the picture of the beautiful oil rig which located in the middle of the blue sea.

The pictures in here were taken on my second trip to oil rig which located near the Labuan, Sabah. The first trip was kind of rush and it was "a day trip". Second trip was a 2 weeks trip which need to setup some servers and network equipments. As it was a new oil rig. So, there is no bridge was up to link the DTU (drilling area) with the cabin/office where we are staying. The only way to go up to the DTU is by the crane and a bucket.

So this is the crane which "trasnfering" people and goods. The DTU was around 8 storeys high from the sea surface. If you are lifting up by the crane, then you will be around 10-12 storeys high. The view from top to the bottom is scary but cool. Unable to snap the picture because of both hands were holding the bucket tight.


This is the bucket...Look steady?


This is how we lifting up by the crane. And need to follow the correct steps and position to stand and hold on the bucket. Else, you will make the bucket swing and might have chance to fall into the sea.


There are lot of rules need to be followed while on the rig. Once you break one of the rule and caused the injury. You might be blacklisted and send back to onshore. So, when i was arrived together with other engineers. We were briefing by the rig doctor or the safety officer about all the rules and regulations.

Here is the life boat which can take up to 22 people. And our name tag just place on the board next to the lift boat. Once you are going to the DTU, you need to bring along the name tag and place on the board which next to the life boat on the DTU.


Since i am just a small tinny engineer, I was arranged to stay in a 4 men room. The room is clean and comfy. But the air-conditional is very strong. I was wearing a long-sleve shirt with a jacket + blanket at night.


The laundry workers will clean up your bed and blanket daily. Just like the 5 stars hotel...


I had spent nights here. Most of the time i slept at 8pm. Since there is not much entertain or things to do after worked. So, sleep early and wake up early. (Need to wake up at 5am. Wash up and breakfast. Start work at 6am till 6pm. 12 hours shift.)


Everyone assigned with a blue basket which you can place your dirty clothes including your underwear, stocking and etc inside. Then put it infront of the door. The laundry worker will collect, wash and fold it nicely for you. So, normally i will change mine and put it there at night. And i will get it back on the next morning.


Blue...one of my favourite color. Especially from the deep blue sea.


Imagine you are on the staircase at the raining day...


Sunny day yeah... But we can't really predict the weather... Especially you are in the middle of the ocean.




The fishing boats.... The far big ship is the cubin/office from another vendor. And yes, there are few companies and vendors involving in this billion dollars project.


Check out the top left corner. The screen showing the Katrina was going to passby the rig. And we were advise to abandon the DTU and stop all the works for 2 weeks. So i was there for a week plus and do nothing. Just surfing net...watching the movies. (We have a wall hang 52 inches LCD TV inside the entertainment room.) And can you believe that I had watched The Speed for 7 times!


Overall, this is a very good and healthy place to work with if you have works to do everyday. If not, you will get bored very fast. As you can't simply walk around the rig. You can have nice food everyday. The food here as nice as 5 stars hotel. They will provide the local and western food for you to choose in every meal. And you can eat as many as you want. I love the smoke beef...

I can't stand of the days spending on the rig without doing anything. Jumping on my boss several times. Muahahaha...finally, i am managed to come back before the Christmas.

Here is the last picture taken from the DTU at the late afternoon while waiting the crane to "bring" me back to the cabin.

T

What a relief after my examination of Citrix Presentation server v4.5. (Job related) Friends keep calling, PMing (private message in the forum), SMSing...and asking why I didn't update my blog. As they are feeling excited to read my blog. Hahaha...There are so many things I want to write. But with my limited English and low end camera I am having. So, i might disappoint you guys sometime.

T. Normally pronounced by the Tarantula hobbyists. Please check out the explaination of Tarantula at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarantula. First into this when one of my female friend gave me her Grammostola rosea. Said that her boyfriend left her and that was his pet. But due to lack of experience and knowledge of keeping T. It died in my hand after months. Sorry Kit...

Since the Grammostola rosea died. I couldn't look at the empty container and feeling itches to get 1 more to try out. So, I am learnt from mistake and joined the local forum The Malaysian Tarantula Society. http://www.mtsociety.com/forums/index.php. Learnt some tips and the behaviours of the T. I am hunting for a niec T to keep. But $$$ is my another concern. Since I am not a millionare or those who doesn't has any commitment. (Paying few thousand ringgit to my house and car loan every month) Lucky that there is a member from the forum offering me the sling of the Singapore sp blue. Got it dirt cheap... But the only problem to keep sling is, they are very tinny. You can feed them with fruit fry or baby crickets. But it is hard to get baby crickets. So, i have to get the adult crickets (normally fish shop selling RM1 with 15 pieces) and tearing off the leg and feed to the small T.

The most exciting moment is to watch they are moulting. Before and after a week they are moulting. They will stop eating. So, you have to take out their food if they leave it there overnight untouch. Most of the sling T prefer moist and humid enrivonment. That's why we put a layer of moist/wet peat moss inside the container. And please remember that, there is no small gap on the container. The T can squeeze out from the gap easily. I've lost 2 small sling last time. Hopefully, they are not hiding in my living place now. Eventhough their venom will not kill us. But it will still making you suffer.

There are several type of Ts available in the market now. But I am prefer to keep the bird eater. As their size is bigger if compare to others. And it is not advisable to handle your T by using bare hand. The best choice is not to touch them at all. Friends asking am I touching or let them rest on my hand or shoulder before. I said no. I prefer to watch they are hunting for the cricket or the pinky. (Pinky = hamster's baby or rat's baby) Know you guys thinking of I am a psycho and cruel. Why have to feed pinky to the T? Well...it is to provide them with better protein once a a month or once every few months. Then your T will grow bigger and nicer colors.

Here are my current bird eaters.

Nhandu vulpinus. Got the bid in the above mentioned forum.



Cyriopagapus sp.blue . The metalic blue/purple T which I like the most.




Keeping this from 1inch + till around palm size. Growing fast and good appetite all the time. You must watch how it hunt for the cricket. This T like to kick hair when i am getting close to it. (They will kick the hair on their legs to attack you. So, don't get your eyes close to them. You will blind if the hair stay inside your eyes.)

Lasiodora parahybana aka salmon pink bird eater

Slippery Little Sucker?

Oh man...Cina Ah Pek ** like me first reading it and can't get what is mean. But feeling like it is kind of dirty...What is slippery? And why must be little sucker? Oh...my gosh.. it is dirty... (Sorry. I am a Dirty Cina Ah Pek).

And keep thinking of it is a "dirty" shop for quite sometime. And shy to ask around. (Slap myself... why i was ZZZZzzzzzz....in all my english classes when high school) After a while and explained by one of my banana friend **, said that the SLS meaning is fish!!! And he keep laughing at me. (Come and speak Mandarin with you. And it will be my turn to laugh at you...)

The SLS is owned by Kevin Tan and his partner Joe Lim. (Business partner but not life partner yeah...) Actually I knew Joe since donkey years ago from a forum. The forum was a forum special design for FLOWER HORN! What the hack? Why supporting the hybrid fish? If you are asking me this. I can't really answering you. As I was first saw it, found it was quite a smart fish. You can train it to swim in circle or jump above the water surface to get the food. Ok...skip this and keep for next time.

We were in qutie a big group and Joe is the only one who keeping the pure Southern America and Central America cichlids. As he was trying hard to brainwash us not to keep flower horn. Not a great success he has. But he is managed to get a small group of hobbyists into pure cichlid. That's why we came out a club named as Malaysian Cichlid Association aka MYCA. And I was "put on the table" ** to became the President of MYCA. So shame that a president who doesn't good in cichlid.

Due to lot of conflicts and this club wasn't last long. We were quiet for quite sometime. And Joe "hook" up with Kevin after that. Kevin was introduced to me by Joe. First saw Kevin and made me recalled of "Smiling buddha". He is cheerful, friendly and knowledgable guy into aquatic fauna. Same like Joe. Most of the time I can't pronounce the Latin scientic name of the fishes. But that is just an easy job for them to memorize and pronounce.

On the left is Kevin and the right with cap on is Joe.

http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2007/7/26/central/18263003&sec=central

They were first operate their business at Kevin's home in Damansara. All the hobbyists need to make an appointment to pay a visit. This was continue for a year or two before they move in the current shoplot. But i would like to say the new shop is a totally new concept for a fish shop. No dead fish smell. No more wet floor. No more warm and sweaty environment. But with air-conditional, sofa, magazines and display tanks to admire with.

The main display tank at the entrance.

Marine and cichlid display tank at the main hall. Sofa and magazines will make you stay one whole day over there. No more smelly evironment...



This is the fish room. You can select all soft of exotic aquatic fauna from here. Clean and dry floor.


Here is the product sales area. Notice the monitor there? Yes. You can use that PC and online to surf the internet. Pornography is allow too. (Provided no underage kid over there) And if you bringing along your laptop. You can use the FOC wireless also.


Is it different with the traditional fish shop? So far it is the only fish shop selling most of the exotic aquatic fauna/flora with such an comfy environment in Malaysia. Because you will bring along your wife, husband, kids, girlfriend or boyfriend there wihout any complain. So, it is nag prove!

Another reason i like to hang around there is because of SLS always getting the expects like ADA Malaysia distributor, 1st MAC Official Nano Tank Competition Champion and the 2005 International Aquatic Plant Layout Competition top in Asean to host the workshop and sharing all the aquascaping skill, knowledge and etc.

Here is the link for all the workshops.
http://www.slipperylittlesuckers.com.my/workshop.php

If you have problem or you just get "poisoned" and planning to get an aquarium at home. Try to spend an hour or not to read through the articles in there:
http://www.slipperylittlesuckers.com.my/articles.php

Oh ya...another thing is. Bring more cash or credit card if you are going there...

** Cina Ah Pek. Cina = Chinese. Ah Pek mean old man in one of the local China dialect. So, cina ah pek mean a chinese who is Chinese educated. But speak and write in broken english.

**Banana. Banana here is not the banana we are eating. But a chinese who is English educated and doesn't know how to speak, read or write chinese.

** Put on the table mean was force to be in the position which i don't want to. Not Willing to.

What is ISO Speed? What is F-stop? What is.....

Oh man...was questioned on this yesterday. I was like...WHAT? Not sure what is it all about. Faster google and see whether I can get any answer from google or not. But still blur on all these. Spending 2 days reading on it. Got a bit of info and idea from here and there. Still feeling not really understand about it. Hafta get a few books and read it after my next Friday exam (Citrix Presentation Server v4.5).

What is aperture? Here it is explanation... http://www.homephotog.com/tutorials/aperture.shtml

What is the ISO Speed? Here it is...
http://www.great-landscape-photography.com/iso-speed.html

What is F-stop? Basically it is refer to aperture as well. But check on below link for more info and explanation. I am believing that there are lot of so called photographer don't know anything about this. http://www.paragon-press.com/lens/lenchart.htm

Receiving few messages from MSN and Yahoo. Asking why there is no update in my blog today? Dude, be patient... I hafta get ready for my exam. I am promise you that I will write something interesting for you.

Malaysia Flora Fest 2008 Photography Contest.

Mel, my office colleague who i always shared my flora photograph with. She has read from the Sun newspaper and forwarded a copy. Asking me to join this competition for fun. I was kind of excited and thinking of which photo should I submit to. But very disappointed after reading one of the rules. One of the rule asking for :

Digital format entries must be delivered in JPEG format file burned in CD/DVD and is no less than 5 megapixels. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel A megapixel is 1 million pixels. And my camera highest resolution format is 2272 x 1704 = 3,871,488 which is only 3.8megapixel only. Thought that my Olympus MJU 410 has 4.1megapixel? (Correct me by leaving the comments if i am wrong.) So, i am disqualified to join this competition. As i am keeping lot of flora and mother nature photographs which are all lower than 4 megapixel. :(

Terrarium to Andrew.

Guess most of the people do not know what is terrarium. Terrarium is under the category of vivarium. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrarium. As well as Paludarium. (I will cover the topic of Vivarium and Paludarium next time.) Terrarium can be totally dry. Like a desert to keep Gecko and other reptile. But there are some keeping it as species tank. Like the tank for poison dart frog or tank for the helmet orchid. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corybas_(genus)) (I will come out this topic later on as well.)

Y (A doctor and also a hobbyist into Cryptocoryne, wild orchid and carnivorous plants) went to Penang and helped me to collect this Exo-Terra artificial water fountain from Andrew. Here is the back view of the water fountain with a pump.


After connected the pump to the hose...Cover it up.


Here is the front view....


With the cover on...


Here are some live plants for the terrarium. Coral pelia, Spagnum moss, Aquatic moss, Ferns and unknown bamboo.


Here is the Ex0-Terra 1 feet x 1 feet x 1 feet terrarium tank with artificial background. The front with 2 glass doors which you can lock it. Hard this tank since weeks ago. Not yet really have time to do the setup. Until i have received the water fountain last night.


Actually was planned to do this over the weekend. But i can't stop myself and feel like want to up it asap. Due to the tank is only 1 feet height. And the water fountain is almost a feet tall also. I can't place a layer of net to seperate the clay balls from the base of the tank. Else, the water level will be too high. And cause the leaking from the front door.

Place the water fountain in. Fill in with the clay balls. (It is to prevent the soil or sand to go through and spoil the pump)


Place in some river rocks. So that the layout won't look so flat.


Filling in the river sand and then the plants....


And...Ola... It is done. All the steps look like very easy. But it took 2 hours to complete. As I was trying to place the plants in one by one and arranging it nicely. As I had quarantined all the plants and growing it for few weeks before using it.


Some unknown soft type of bamboo.


Aquatic moss. Unknown species. I think it is Vesicularia sp.


Coral pelia...


Know that most of the people don't like this messy look terrarium. Because it will take a month to grow nicely. And require to trim, change water or add-in new plants in between. The left side from background to foreground are fully covered by coral perial. Mosses are cover up the wall. This tank was surpose to up for Andrew to keep his poison dart frog. Was worrying that he might not like it. So sent him this picture this morning and asked for his opinion. He said..NICE! And he will use this terrarium for his new pet -Helmet Orchid. I was thinking like...Lucky. Else, i have to redo again.