Iran receives missile shipment

Enough said.

Malaysian Customs

Here's how things work...

I order some toys from the States, thinking I'm getting some good discount.

The stuff is sent, and I await my loot patiently.

I get a PosLaju from PosMalaysia telling me my stuff was detained at Customs.

I had to drive 75km to KLIA, plus an RM6.80 toll each way, and try to release my stuff from the Customs.

They told me that I have to fork out 5% for import tax, and 10% for sales tax.

WTF??

Oh, that makes a total of 15.5% tax by the way... The sales tax is calculated after the import tax is added in. You have to pay a sales tax on your import tax. What sales tax?! There's no sale involved! It's for personal consumption! You're detaining my goods, and EXTORTING me for 10%?!

Wait, it gets better.

This tax is on your Cost & your Freight & the Insurance on your Freight.

Double WTF?!

I had to pay a sales tax on the import tax of the insurance for my freight! And let's not forget that this was freight for goods that was only half delivered to me, and was costing me an additional RM30 just to pick it up from the airport myself....

The shipping was USD78 for gosh's sakes!! I am getting taxed for my shipping!!

You know what this feels like? It feels like having your German Shepherd hit by an 18-wheeler truck, and seeing it smeared across 2 miles of highway. Then receiving a bill 2 weeks later for the road crew cleaning up the guts off the highway...

And this is just an innocent hobby!!

If I had been importing a shit load of Clinique eye-shadows, I would have been safe, cos that crap is tax-exempt. But if a friend overseas were to SEND ME A PRESENT, I'ld be taxed to kingdom come!


So, here's the thing now...

All these tax stuff? It's at the disgression of the customs officers. They have a big book on what's taxable, but that's just guidelines. They don't want someone to get hold of that book, and find loopholes to avoid custom duties. So they have the disgression to say what goes or not.

I'm not a charming fellow, nor having a gift of gab, nor the boobs to turn men's heads. But I am able to look pathetic. This comes from dressing comfortably & modestly, wearing hair that hasn't seen a comb in weeks, and youthful looks that make people think I'm 5yrs younger than I actually am.

Eventually, he only gave me an 8% tax on the whole thing, cos he trusts me that I'm not a rogue trader, and that I really did buy all those toys for myself. That's the kind of disgression that the customs guys have.

That still took a bite out of my savings, but it didn't completely obliterate all of what I saved from ordering overseas.

Lesson learnt: make smaller orders. Merchandise worth less than RM500 will be released through customs with no problems. Anything more, even a gift, will be taxed.


And on the way back from KLIA, I passed an over-turned poultry truck. Not a pretty sight. Dead chickens scattered all over the highway. So, those of you in Klang Valley, do stay off the discount poultry for the next few days. Just in case someone tries to sell the roadkill.

DVD Media

Sometimes, my Search-Fu turns up some incredibly informative websites, but I often forget them again when I need the information later.

So here, I'm bookmarking it on this blog.

If you've got a DVD-R burner, you'll find this useful too. Because if you have mountains of data to backup, you'll appreciate knowing what kind of DVD media you should use.

I recently gambled and bought 100pcs of DVD-R discs. They were irresistably cheap at rm48 per spindle. Turns out, this batch was made in Singapore, supposedly one of the places with better manufacturing processes.

We'll see.

Finally... I can delete my ...um... "backup" of Battlestar Galactica.

OOTS: #309

Lots of funny cryptograms in the latest Order of the Stick.

Have been getting lax about putting up the translations. But here it is:

Panel 3: Elan, I'm in love with you.
Panel 5: Elan, I'm in love with you. Completely in love. Love, love, love, love!
Panel 7: My dad is being held ransom by an evil dictator. I'm not really in the thieves guild anymore.
Panel 9: I cheat at solitaire. I have a tattoo you've never seen. I kissed a girl once. OK, OK, more than once!
Panel 11: Elan, it turns out I may not be exactly what you would call -

Did you guys know that the best place to get the fastest translation is on the Giant In The Park's own message boards? Check it out here the next time I don't deliver the translations.

Antike: Risk on 'Roids

Played a fantastic game last weekend...

Friday night, I dropped by my friendly local gameshop to pick up a book: Primal. It's a much anticipated book that many of us had waited ages to get. Got a special price due to my status as PressGanger, a position I might elaborate upon some other time.

There's quite a good crowd at the shop that night. Many were there for Primal, either to buy, or to hassle those who bought it for a quick read.

Yes, this is what I do on some Friday nights. No pubbing, no dancing. Completely devoid of wench nor wine. Just basking in the camaderie of fellow gamers.

Then someone brought a new boardgame: Antike.

It is a game of conquest, almost like Risk, but runs much faster with no dice-rolling for combat resolution. Antike is German for Antique, refering to the age of the ancient civilizations around the mediterranean region, like the Greek and Arabic civilizations etc.... probably...

We got a group of 6, mostly first (me) or second time players. It took no more than 15min to learn to play, and another 10min to get a feel for the flow of the game.

You collect resources in the form of gold, marble, iron or coin; which you then spend to build cities, troops, galleys, temples, technology etc. Sounds simple, and it really is.

But the action is fast paced, and the tension is sharp. It requires constant vigilance of your borders, and non-stop mindgames with your neighbours to anticipate aggression.

I won the first game I played by feigning weakness all through the game while my neighbour's aggression was diverted elsewhere ^_^.

Everyone was so charged that they couldn't stop at just one game, and we went another round even though it was already midnight. This time I was most aggressively attacking, but victory eluded me.

Got home at 2.30am, still too charged to sleep. The moment I closed my eyes, the math and numbers rattled unceasingly in my head, trying to come up with a superior strategy to dominate the board.


The guys who brought the boardgame will be putting the game up for play at their new cafe opening on 1st May.

Be sure to check out:
The Settler's Cafe
32, Jln SS22/21 Damansara Jaya
47400 Petaling Jaya.


This is affiliated with the Settler's Cafes that are already enjoying popularity in Singapore.

And here's the correction...

There's the profit-taking action...

But with each correction, the market gets stronger... The short term speculators dump their gold when they've taken some profits. And then the true believers will immediately catch the lower prices and further build up their positions. Thus the roller-coaster ride from 540-620-645-605-620-613.......

Now the dilemma... Head out and buy more now... Or hope that it'll sink further to 580?

The Midas' Touch

I have been monitoring the price of gold for almost two years now. When I started in 2004, the price was 380USD/Troy Oz. Today, it just hit 640/oz.

The price has been climbing steadily ever since. I've been telling almost everyone who'll listen on how risky stocks are now, how inflated real estate is, how interest rates are frighteningly low, and how commodities is where the next boom will be at.

But then, a conspiracy nut like me carries little or no persuasive force.

About 2 years ago, Warren Buffet took out his money, sat on a lot of cash in foreign currencies, and bought a whole lot of silver at slightly more than 5usd/oz. Today, silver is at 13.80/oz. Maybe somebody will listen to him instead?

I bought my first 5g of gold at 390/oz. Would have thrown in a lot more, but my finances were distracted by my apartment. And during this time, gold rose to 460/oz. Even when I had some money to invest again, I procrastinated until it went over 500/oz.

I'm glad that I added to my position last month before this recent explosion. But I curse my hesitation for not doubling or tripling that position.

At such high levels, there's bound to be some profit-takings soon, leading to a price correction. I can only hope that it'll pull back to less than 600 again so that I can buy more.

Kg Sungai Pusu

It's somebody or another's birthday today. Don't really care. The public holiday is the thing.

Moses came up with the insane idea of hitting Kg. Sungai Pusu. In the abscence of better ideas... why not?

This is a small village up near UIA, in Gombak, near the highway that goes to Kuantan. The village gives access to the trails into the Gombak Forest Reserve.

Parked our car at a gas station, and cycled 5km to the village. Bumped into another group of bikers there and got some directions from them.

The trail guide as described in the KLMBH website is no longer accurate. Somebody is trying to build some kind of apartments between the village and the forest reserve. Not sure what the deal is with calling it a forest reserve if people can just come in, chainsaw up a swath of trees, and level a mountainside and build as they like.

The old way into the forest no longer exist. Instead, have to go around the construction site and climb up a muddy slope.

It was a good thing that the other 4-men group caught up with us, and showed us where to go.


Got mud everywhere. Sticky yellow mud. Mud in the gears, in the pedals, in the brakes, on the suspension staunchions... I shudder to think of all the work it'll take to get my bicycle cleaned and lubed properly again...

Mud kills moving parts. The suspension of clay particles is a lovely slurry that will grind away moving parts. Mud got into my disc brakes, and cleaned off a good layer of braking compound till I lost all grip whatsoever with my front brakes. Had to readjust the brake pads.


We followed the guys up the muddy hill, into the forest, and downhill till we hit a stream where we could take a break.

The trail is very damaged. 4WDs had cut deep into the trail, and subsequent rain had eroded those tracks into mini gullies more than a foot deep. Much unlike Kiara, where MTB enthusiasts regularly repair such damage. This Gombak trail gets no such love, and it's just going to go from bad to worse.


We didn't even manage to make it to the lake. And Moses was ambitiously hoping to cut thru the reserve, and come out from Zoo Negara, some 20km away.

By the time we climbed back up... pushing the bike most of the way, we've done a solid 4hrs in the trails. Not a bad day's work.

There were some sphincter clenching downhills that were an absolute thrill!

And I also got to test out my GPS in the jungle canopy. No deal. Disappointed that I can't get a fix most of the time. Probably need to upgrade to the latest Garmin 60CSx which uses the newer SIRFiii chipset that is more sensitive and can even pickup radio signals reflected off buildings and such.... But that's worth almost the price for a Troy ounce of gold...

Joker x4

Just came back from a holiday in Hanoi.

There's a bit of back-log at work, but not as much as I feared. Still, it'll take a few days to take care of them before I can begin blogging at work.

I took a few notes during the trip. And in the days to come, I can begin to serialise my trip.

Won't be a lot of pictures here though...

I didn't pack my camera.

I carried a single back-pack, with 7.5kg of clothing, a toothbrush, 10 AA alkaline batteries, and a small sleeping-bag.

No toothpaste. No razor. No books. No PDA. No phone. No charger. No camera. The only electronics I brought was a wrist-watch and my GPS receiver.

It was a 9 day holiday, with 3 old buddies, whom I will proceed to introduce...

Benjamin Chua, http://tehtariksatu.blogspot.com.

President of this photography club, favours artistically framed shots.
Fussy eater. What's the big deal with boiled dog?


Ravinder Singh
Favours panoramic shots.
Master of the irrelevant, irreverant comments.


Wee Loong
The man for soulful portrait shots.
The chief reason that made this holiday most enjoyable. Teaching him to play Bridge was a non-stop laugh-fest worthy of a Monty Python skit.
Gets into verbal duels with 8 yr old girls.

Norman Chuo
No camera. GPS navigator. Keeps the group moving in the right direction.
The enemy of class. Sneaks yau-char-kuei into Parisian-themed cafes. Gets gas-y after certain foods.


There are many advantages to travel in a group of four. Taxis. Room arrangements. Sleeping berths on the train. But most importantly: Bridge!


The Holiday:
Day 0: Getting to Singapore
Day 1: The Flight
Day 2: The City
Day 3: The Sea
Day 4: The Train
Day 5: The Trek to Mt Fansipan
Day 6: The Tribes
Day 7: The Kidnapping
Day 8: The Bulge
Day 9: The Return

Hanoi Day 9: The Return

Last day in Hanoi.

Pretty much bored with the Old Quarter already. But isn't enough time to venture much further either. So just walked about and picked up some last minute souveniers.

Saw a couple of overweight Vietnamese today finally. Apparently, they only come out on weekends.

Lunch was buffet dim sum. Again, not impressed by their attempts at chinese food. But ate well, and I finished off the last of my Dong.


Cab to airport. Flight back to Singapore.

WeeLoong worked quickly and got phone numbers of the stewardess. It seems that one of their perks was that they get to fly anywhere on Tiger Air for free, and bring up to 5 friends too.


New low cost carrier terminal.

Ben lost his luggage. Spent a fair bit of time sorting it out.

Last meal together, and squared our accounts with each other before we went separate ways.

Bed at 1am... Not looking forward to waking up early to make my way back to KL and start work...

Hanoi Day 8: The Bulge

Quote of the Day:
"Is it just me, or was there a bulge in his pants?"
---Ravinder Singh---

The train pulled into the station way too early in the morning. Wasn't much to do but to hike back to the Old Quarter to find ourselves some accomodation, hopefully one that will let us dump our luggage with them until check-in time.

When we got to the lake, we were greeted by a most unusual sight. There's a crowd doing a Para Para Sakura routine at the park, at 5 in the morning. There's even a boom-box and aerobics instructors. It was... most interesting to see...

But all that energy seemed a mockery of our state of sleep deprivation. I blame WeeLoong. If it weren't such a laugh playing Bridge with him, we might have gotten more sleep.


I found an ATM and managed to withdraw some money. Visa Electron is THE best way to manage your vacation funds. I didn't have to worry about carrying a lot of cash, nor about ending up with unused Dong at the end of the trip. Bank conversation rates, but an RM12 bank charge per withdrawal.

And I have money again!! The world had missed its chance to rid itself of my evil! My buds could have abandoned me broke and penniless on the mountains of Sa Pa (and there's no ATM there). But now I'm back! And Norman's evil shall prevail !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We found a Pho shop opening early, and we had some great breakfast.

The people here are amazing. They're dressed before 5, finished their aerobics by 6, and the breakfast places are all ready for business. They're amazingly industrious people.


After breakfast, the REAL Salute Hotel was open for business. I logged the position of the hotel when we were exploring Old Quarter, so it was easy finding it again.

After dumping our bags, everyone felt we needed a caffeine shot. We found a classy Parisian-themed cafe directly next to the lake. Well, I thought it was a bit too much class. So I proceeded to take my sandals off, laid my feet up on the low barrier around the lake, and ate YauCharKuei that I sneaked under the table, while dunking them in my mocha coffee.


We headed towards the Ho Chih Minh Mausoleum first, before it closed at noon. There's a long queue of tourists, veterans, school children, government representatives etc all waiting to see the embalmed body of Ho Chih Minh. No electronics were allowed in, and we had to pass through a metal detector. My YauCharKuei was confiscated at this point. I suppose they don't want people to munch at the show.

Well, the mummy was amazingly well preserved. Everyone gets to walk around the display case, and back out through a different exit. It was an orderly, and respectful affair.

This also provides the context for Ravi's Quote of the Day...


We hit the HCM Museum next. It's a very large memorial to the life of an amazing man who commanded the love and respect of an entire country. There are lots of photos, archived documents, artifacts, sculptures, dioramas etc. There are helpful guides who offered to help us with the stuff that we won't be able to read. But we didn't have the mental fortitude for the history lesson so we passed on the guide and just looked at the exhibits on our own.

Came out of the museum feeling a respect this man who has done so much for his country. Museums are often propaganda-ish, and tell a very one-sided story. But this memorial is sincere and heart-felt. Is it right to feel more respect for this communist leader, than I have for the fore-fathers of my own democratic country?

WeeLoong wanted to take a picture of someone High-5-ing a photograph of HCM. Fortunately, we were able to dissuade him. Else we might have gotten lynched by the patriots.


After this, we saw the One Pillar Pagoda, which is miserably dwarfed by the two large monuments around it.

Then headed north to the West Lake, just for the sake of seeing it. By which time we just wanted to get back to the hotel and sleep the rest of the day away.


Dinner at Little Hanoi, proudly advertising itself as being featured in Lonely Planet. The food was over-rated.