Monday, May 15, 2006
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Keeping Mum
This being Mother's Day and all, thought it will be the best chance to watch, and review, a movie on moms?
Keeping Mum, boasts some familiar faces like Rowan Atkinson and Patrick Swayze, and that girl who showed up in a few episodes of Coupling...
Naturally, you'll expect some humour. Mr. Bean plays a role he had some experience in, if you count his cameo wedding two of Four Weddings & A Funeral.
But this is also a movie about emotional bonding between three generations of women.
Mr. Bean is the vicar of a small English village. His wife is sexually frustrated. His daughter is not. His son is missing a pair, so he's the only one not having such problems.
And if you have a dysfunctional English family, of course your best course of action is to hire a housekeeper, from out of no where, and without checking any references. Then the housekeeper will repair all the dysfunction either through song, or with their jolly, aged wisdom.
It's a very curious fantasy... I wonder why.
It is later revealed that the wife grew up in an orphanage. Then there's a tearful moment when the housekeeper reveals herself as the long lost mother. And grandmother, mother and daughter find a common ground and bond emotionally.
But there's plenty of light moments for those of us (read: XY carriers) who don't like the Ya-Ya / Travelling Pants stuff.
And there are twists in the movie that makes it truly enjoyable. So don't be discouraged by the Joy Luck Club elements. And if you've got the DVD and not watching it in the cinema, you may even see some 16yr old flesh.
Keeping Mum, boasts some familiar faces like Rowan Atkinson and Patrick Swayze, and that girl who showed up in a few episodes of Coupling...
Naturally, you'll expect some humour. Mr. Bean plays a role he had some experience in, if you count his cameo wedding two of Four Weddings & A Funeral.
But this is also a movie about emotional bonding between three generations of women.
Mr. Bean is the vicar of a small English village. His wife is sexually frustrated. His daughter is not. His son is missing a pair, so he's the only one not having such problems.
And if you have a dysfunctional English family, of course your best course of action is to hire a housekeeper, from out of no where, and without checking any references. Then the housekeeper will repair all the dysfunction either through song, or with their jolly, aged wisdom.
It's a very curious fantasy... I wonder why.
It is later revealed that the wife grew up in an orphanage. Then there's a tearful moment when the housekeeper reveals herself as the long lost mother. And grandmother, mother and daughter find a common ground and bond emotionally.
But there's plenty of light moments for those of us (read: XY carriers) who don't like the Ya-Ya / Travelling Pants stuff.
And there are twists in the movie that makes it truly enjoyable. So don't be discouraged by the Joy Luck Club elements. And if you've got the DVD and not watching it in the cinema, you may even see some 16yr old flesh.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
fstab & mount
Situation:
One logical partition (/dev/hda5) formated in FAT32.
mount -t vfat /dev/hda5 /mnt/fat
Linux can now read all the files in that partition, but only the root has write access.
Neither
chmod 777 /mnt * -R
nor
chmod a+w /mnt * -R
works...
No errors. All the files just REFUSE to be chmod-ed...
But, if I edit /etc/fstab, and added:
/dev/hda5 /mnt/fat vfat users,owner,rw,umask=000 0 0
then
mount -a
Now I can chmod at will. And finally I can edit the documents in the FAT32 partition, while not logged in as root. WHY??
But it all works now, so that's the important thing...
One logical partition (/dev/hda5) formated in FAT32.
mount -t vfat /dev/hda5 /mnt/fat
Linux can now read all the files in that partition, but only the root has write access.
Neither
chmod 777 /mnt * -R
nor
chmod a+w /mnt * -R
works...
No errors. All the files just REFUSE to be chmod-ed...
But, if I edit /etc/fstab, and added:
/dev/hda5 /mnt/fat vfat users,owner,rw,umask=000 0 0
then
mount -a
Now I can chmod at will. And finally I can edit the documents in the FAT32 partition, while not logged in as root. WHY??
But it all works now, so that's the important thing...
Stupid people & Paris Hilton
I hate stupid people. This is a sentiment that I feel that I do not express often enough. Otherwise, there would've been a lot more people rolling on the ground after a meeting of my Nikes and their grapes.
Example of stupid people here. Also the teeming mobs of outraged parents blaming video games for their own lack of parenting abilities.
I find inspiration from Dogbert.
How many stupid people out there are already threatening my life with their irresponsible driving?! I can justify my actions as preemptive self defence.
On an almost unrelated note... I spent yesterday evening at Borders. Just to see what's new nowadays. There's a bunch of Band of Brothers spin-offs... An autobiography of Paris Hilton. I flipped through it just to plumb the depths of the dizzy blond. The plumb line didn't even get wet, and the plumbum bounced off the surface like a corpse skimming the Ankh-Morpork river.
Then there's a weird series of philosophy books, like Superheroes and Philosophy. Don't know what THAT'S about. Perhaps when I have the time to burn one day... But seriously, what demography was the book targetting? The niche intersection of small subsets of people who actually know the events of the Crisis of Infinite Earths, and also cognizant of the views of Aristotle? Much strange...
But the upcoming Bullshit and Philosophy sounds like something worth waiting for.
Incidentally, I saw a rather pretty girl at Borders. Reading the same Paris Hilton thing. RAPT-ly. Maybe she has the same curiosity and sense of irony as I did, far be it for me to make snappy judgments on strangers. But her hair was already 3 shades from blonde.
Just discovered that a far better place to meet interesting girls is in the pastry or cookbook section. Saw some sweet jailbait there. A really belated discovery. But maybe this knowledge can be passed on to help the younger generations.
The maternity and Feng Shui sections are a poor place for picking up girls, for obvious reasons of course.
Quote of the Day:-
"Mockery is an important social tool for squelching stupidity."
-------Scott Adams------
Example of stupid people here. Also the teeming mobs of outraged parents blaming video games for their own lack of parenting abilities.
I find inspiration from Dogbert.
How many stupid people out there are already threatening my life with their irresponsible driving?! I can justify my actions as preemptive self defence.
On an almost unrelated note... I spent yesterday evening at Borders. Just to see what's new nowadays. There's a bunch of Band of Brothers spin-offs... An autobiography of Paris Hilton. I flipped through it just to plumb the depths of the dizzy blond. The plumb line didn't even get wet, and the plumbum bounced off the surface like a corpse skimming the Ankh-Morpork river.
Then there's a weird series of philosophy books, like Superheroes and Philosophy. Don't know what THAT'S about. Perhaps when I have the time to burn one day... But seriously, what demography was the book targetting? The niche intersection of small subsets of people who actually know the events of the Crisis of Infinite Earths, and also cognizant of the views of Aristotle? Much strange...
But the upcoming Bullshit and Philosophy sounds like something worth waiting for.
Incidentally, I saw a rather pretty girl at Borders. Reading the same Paris Hilton thing. RAPT-ly. Maybe she has the same curiosity and sense of irony as I did, far be it for me to make snappy judgments on strangers. But her hair was already 3 shades from blonde.
Just discovered that a far better place to meet interesting girls is in the pastry or cookbook section. Saw some sweet jailbait there. A really belated discovery. But maybe this knowledge can be passed on to help the younger generations.
The maternity and Feng Shui sections are a poor place for picking up girls, for obvious reasons of course.
Quote of the Day:-
"Mockery is an important social tool for squelching stupidity."
-------Scott Adams------
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
St Petersburg & Jungle Fever
A reader was getting irate that I hadn't been updating the past couple of days...
Well, maybe cos nothing much had been going on... Was planning to go to a bike hash on Sunday, but skipped that cos wasn't feeling too well. The venue was also kinda far. And it has been raining recently so the tracks may be muddy. And also that I was at Settler's Cafe till 3am the night before.
I'm full of excuses. So will have to disappoint a few people. I'm sure more than a few were looking forward to hear about me getting injured again.
Was playing St. Petersburg, another boardgame by Rio Grande Games.
These guys are also famous for the award winning Puerto Rico and Carcassone, both of which I had played before also. I had many good times with Puerto Rico at Wolf's. Was getting quite good at it too, and won that particular event in last year's Board-lympics, but I sucked at Boggle and lost overall.
These kind of games sometimes have a rather complicated mechanic that takes hours to figure out from reading the instructions. But if you can join a game with experienced players, where all you do is decide what your actions are, while the other players decide where to put the colonists and what's a legal or illegal move, then it's much easier to pick up these games and have a good time all around.
Puerto Rico is fun. It's pure strategy. No randomness, after you've determined starting order (but that's also a test of your adaptability). Except when you introduce a player who has no concept of game theory, however many times he has played the game already, and keeps making moves that will inadvertantly help another experienced opponent. Yes, there are players like this... He never wins, but his X-factor-ness does mess up your carefully planned moves.
Carcassone is also a fun game. But it does involve flipping up cards from a face down stack, so there's some luck of the draw. Sometimes, you just don't get the piece that will earn you the mucho points.
St. Petersburg is more like Carcassone, in the sense that there is an element of randomness.
Objective of the game: earn victory points.
There are four phases in the game:
-the worker phase, where you use your limited roubles, to buy some worker cards, which will then generate roubles for you every worker phase from here onwards.
-the building phase, where you buy buildings, which will mostly generate victory points every building phase.
-the aristocrat phase, where you buy aristocrats, which will generate roubles also, and sometimes victory points, but far less cost effective than workers.
-the upgrade phase, where some random cards might upgrade your worker/building/aristocrat into something else that's usually more efficient in terms of production : investment.
So it's a game of resource management. Invest in enough workers that will give you a ready supply of roubles, which you invest in building more buildings that will generate victory points for you. Also, having a collection of artistocrats will give you massive bonus victory points at the end of the game.
So there is a delicate balance of building a cashflow, while earning victory points, and collecting aristocrats to give you that big VP payout at the end.
Failed to win a single game. But it was entertaining nonetheless.
But for more laughs, play something like Jungle Fever.
It's basically like Snap! Players flip over cards from their deck, until there is a match, and quickly snatches a wooden totem placed in the table centre. The slow guy will pick up the cards already flipped over. The objective here is to loose all your cards.
It really brings out the jungle in you. Charging you with adrenaline so that you are ready to pounce on the totem. It's somewhat stressful too, cos the cards don't show numbers, but rather elaborate shapes. And many of these shapes are deceptively similar.
But if one player is left-handed... Expect some injuries to happen.
Well, maybe cos nothing much had been going on... Was planning to go to a bike hash on Sunday, but skipped that cos wasn't feeling too well. The venue was also kinda far. And it has been raining recently so the tracks may be muddy. And also that I was at Settler's Cafe till 3am the night before.
I'm full of excuses. So will have to disappoint a few people. I'm sure more than a few were looking forward to hear about me getting injured again.
Was playing St. Petersburg, another boardgame by Rio Grande Games.These guys are also famous for the award winning Puerto Rico and Carcassone, both of which I had played before also. I had many good times with Puerto Rico at Wolf's. Was getting quite good at it too, and won that particular event in last year's Board-lympics, but I sucked at Boggle and lost overall.
These kind of games sometimes have a rather complicated mechanic that takes hours to figure out from reading the instructions. But if you can join a game with experienced players, where all you do is decide what your actions are, while the other players decide where to put the colonists and what's a legal or illegal move, then it's much easier to pick up these games and have a good time all around.
Puerto Rico is fun. It's pure strategy. No randomness, after you've determined starting order (but that's also a test of your adaptability). Except when you introduce a player who has no concept of game theory, however many times he has played the game already, and keeps making moves that will inadvertantly help another experienced opponent. Yes, there are players like this... He never wins, but his X-factor-ness does mess up your carefully planned moves.
Carcassone is also a fun game. But it does involve flipping up cards from a face down stack, so there's some luck of the draw. Sometimes, you just don't get the piece that will earn you the mucho points.
St. Petersburg is more like Carcassone, in the sense that there is an element of randomness.
Objective of the game: earn victory points.
There are four phases in the game:
-the worker phase, where you use your limited roubles, to buy some worker cards, which will then generate roubles for you every worker phase from here onwards.
-the building phase, where you buy buildings, which will mostly generate victory points every building phase.
-the aristocrat phase, where you buy aristocrats, which will generate roubles also, and sometimes victory points, but far less cost effective than workers.
-the upgrade phase, where some random cards might upgrade your worker/building/aristocrat into something else that's usually more efficient in terms of production : investment.
So it's a game of resource management. Invest in enough workers that will give you a ready supply of roubles, which you invest in building more buildings that will generate victory points for you. Also, having a collection of artistocrats will give you massive bonus victory points at the end of the game.
So there is a delicate balance of building a cashflow, while earning victory points, and collecting aristocrats to give you that big VP payout at the end.
Failed to win a single game. But it was entertaining nonetheless.
But for more laughs, play something like Jungle Fever.
It's basically like Snap! Players flip over cards from their deck, until there is a match, and quickly snatches a wooden totem placed in the table centre. The slow guy will pick up the cards already flipped over. The objective here is to loose all your cards.
It really brings out the jungle in you. Charging you with adrenaline so that you are ready to pounce on the totem. It's somewhat stressful too, cos the cards don't show numbers, but rather elaborate shapes. And many of these shapes are deceptively similar.
But if one player is left-handed... Expect some injuries to happen.
Friday, May 05, 2006
Things I've learnt...
... which isn't all that useful for most of you.
And I forget things, or lose my notes. But look, here's a way for me to commit my findings in a place that's easily accessible, and backed up more frequently than my own PC...
Just installed Fedora Core 4 Linux on my office PC. Because I've got that kind of time.
Linux is simply amazing now. Still remember the good old days when I was messing around with Slackware 5.0... Good times... Now the installation is effortless, and is faster than WinXP! I even have Chinese support, but I don't know how!
First order of business... The Firefox it came with was version 1.0.4.
Got version 1.5.0.3 from http://getfirefox.com. The difference? With the new one, I can organise the tab windows around.
The download came in a tar.gz. I just need to unzip it somewhere and run.
1.0.4 is installed in /usr/lib/firefox-1.0.4.
I create an alternate directory to put the new one, make sure it works first before I burn the bridges behind me.
Click on the script. Didn't work. No error messages when I'm in the Gnome GUI.
So, pop into a sh terminal, and run the script from there.
sh-3.00# firefox
I get back the same Firefox 1.0.4.
There's a script in the /bin directory that's referencing the original Firefox.
sh-3.00# ./firefox
./firefox-bin: error while loading shared libraries: libstdc++.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Ran a search for libstdc++.
Found libstdc++.so.6 inside /usr/lib
Ok... where to make Firefox 1.5.0.3 use the new library... Nothing in the .properties file. No obvious configuration file anywhere. Grab the source for Firefox and recompile the thing myself, and point everything at the appropriate libraries?? Hell no.
Well... Just fool it then.
sh-3.00# ln -s /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6 /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5
When Firefox looks for libstdc++.so.5, let the operating system point the way to so.6 instead.
sh-3.00# ./firefox
./firefox-bin: /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5: version `GLIBCPP_3.2' not found (required by ./firefox-bin)
./firefox-bin: /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5: version `CXXABI_1.2' not found (required by ./firefox-bin)
./firefox-bin: /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5: version `GLIBCPP_3.2' not found (required by ./libxpcom_core.so)
./firefox-bin: /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5: version `CXXABI_1.2' not found (required by ./libxpcom_core.so)
./firefox-bin: /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5: version `GLIBCPP_3.2' not found (required by ./libxpcom_compat.so)
Still doesn't work...
Some search-fu later:
http://ayo.freshrpms.net/fedora/linux/4/i386/RPMS.core/compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3-47.fc4.i386.rpm
Now it's OK.
Just delete the old Firefox, and edit /usr/bin/firefox, change all references to the old Firefox directory... And I'm done.
And I forget things, or lose my notes. But look, here's a way for me to commit my findings in a place that's easily accessible, and backed up more frequently than my own PC...
Just installed Fedora Core 4 Linux on my office PC. Because I've got that kind of time.
Linux is simply amazing now. Still remember the good old days when I was messing around with Slackware 5.0... Good times... Now the installation is effortless, and is faster than WinXP! I even have Chinese support, but I don't know how!
First order of business... The Firefox it came with was version 1.0.4.
Got version 1.5.0.3 from http://getfirefox.com. The difference? With the new one, I can organise the tab windows around.
The download came in a tar.gz. I just need to unzip it somewhere and run.
1.0.4 is installed in /usr/lib/firefox-1.0.4.
I create an alternate directory to put the new one, make sure it works first before I burn the bridges behind me.
Click on the script. Didn't work. No error messages when I'm in the Gnome GUI.
So, pop into a sh terminal, and run the script from there.
sh-3.00# firefox
I get back the same Firefox 1.0.4.
There's a script in the /bin directory that's referencing the original Firefox.
sh-3.00# ./firefox
./firefox-bin: error while loading shared libraries: libstdc++.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Ran a search for libstdc++.
Found libstdc++.so.6 inside /usr/lib
Ok... where to make Firefox 1.5.0.3 use the new library... Nothing in the .properties file. No obvious configuration file anywhere. Grab the source for Firefox and recompile the thing myself, and point everything at the appropriate libraries?? Hell no.
Well... Just fool it then.
sh-3.00# ln -s /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6 /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5
When Firefox looks for libstdc++.so.5, let the operating system point the way to so.6 instead.
sh-3.00# ./firefox
./firefox-bin: /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5: version `GLIBCPP_3.2' not found (required by ./firefox-bin)
./firefox-bin: /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5: version `CXXABI_1.2' not found (required by ./firefox-bin)
./firefox-bin: /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5: version `GLIBCPP_3.2' not found (required by ./libxpcom_core.so)
./firefox-bin: /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5: version `CXXABI_1.2' not found (required by ./libxpcom_core.so)
./firefox-bin: /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5: version `GLIBCPP_3.2' not found (required by ./libxpcom_compat.so)
Still doesn't work...
Some search-fu later:
http://ayo.freshrpms.net/fedora/linux/4/i386/RPMS.core/compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3-47.fc4.i386.rpm
Now it's OK.
Just delete the old Firefox, and edit /usr/bin/firefox, change all references to the old Firefox directory... And I'm done.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Epic Girl on Girl Action
I am often entertained looking at the kind of keywords that bring visitors to my blog. Asides from click-throughs from random blogs, or from selfrefresh & tehtariksatu, the most common searches are for Haley Starshine's cryptogram solutions on Order of the Stick. Some hits have been coming in from my Hanoi write-ups. But the funniest one was from an MSN search on "G-Spot". Other contenders like "tiger balls" was also amusing. The most mysterious being a hit from a Japan IP, solely on the write-up of The Bulge. Twice. Mysterious....
And now, with the misleading title from this blog, I wonder what kind of visitors I'll be inviting...
Anyway, to break the suspense, the title is referencing an epic battle of WarMachine I had last Saturday. It is a table-top war-game played with pewter miniatures. I liken it to a game of chess, but on a bigger board, played with more pieces selected from a wider choice of pieces.
And these pewter minis also had to be lovingly assembled, carefully painted, and meticulously detailed to bring out their best. It's a very nerdy hobby, but I find the craft pleasantly relaxing, and an excellent purgative for mental or emotional stresses. It's like reaching a vapid mental state, without the hangover nor the expenses of drinking. And remember the trouble I had with the Malaysian Customs, it had everything to do with this hobby.
What got me hooked on this game was the fantasy world built around the army pieces. Privateer Press began with some amazing creative talents, some names like Brian Snoddy and Matt Wilson, even I have heard of them before they formed this company. They began by creating the Iron Kingdoms fantasy world for an RPG system. Populated the world with xeno-races and monsters. Wrote the history, drew the geography and updated the politics of the kingdoms.
And finally creating the armies of the four warring kingdoms, each with their unique flavour and carefully fleshed-out protagonists. And each permitting different styles of armies and strategies. Then, last month, they added Hordes, the feral twin of WarMachine with new game mechanics whilst remaining compatible with the original game. Thus bringing four new factions into the Iron Kingdoms. And this was the new game that I HAD to get via mail order, in case the distributors here fail to receive their stock in time.
It's a good game. And there's a bunch of fun people playing it at Wolf's Game Shop, where I often hang out when I can. The hours spent battling, recounting past battles, brainstorming strategies, speculating on future expansions, discussing the stories (fluff), sharing painting tips, teaching or learning techniques, etc... It keeps my weekends full.
Sounds silly? Well, at least I'm not living my life vicariously through a soccer team half a globe away.
And I'm even the local PressGanger, responsible for running WarMachine tournaments and corrupting new players. Check it out, my name's listed.
Anyway, my opponent last Saturday night was Saleem, a Cygnar player. We played opposing sides of a vicious sibling rivalry illustrated in this story. This was the first time a 750pt game was played at Wolf's shop, and both of us were using new Warcasters for the first time.
Following is the battle report, which will make no sense to many...
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. ....
...whooops.... wrong notation...
My Cryx Army:
Epic Denneghra
1 Gorman de Wulf
2 Pistol Wraiths
2 Bloat Thralls
8 Bile Thralls
10 Croe's Cutthroats
1 Deathjack
4 Nightwretches
---748pts---
(Those who know my collection, will know that there's a lot of proxies here)
Saleem's Cygnar
Epic Haley
1 Lancer
10 Swordknights
2 Stormsmiths
1 Journeyman Warcaster
1 Thunderhead
1 Centurion
6 Trenchers
2 units of Battle Mechaniks & assorted gobbers
1 Eiryss, Magehunter
Cygnar deployed first. Knights on one flank with Lancer. Trenchers up the middle covering the two jacks.
I deploy my Biles to meet the knights. Croe and Pistols up one flank to greet the Trenchers. Bloats right up the middle. Deathjack up the middle waiting for a charge opportunity.
1st Turn
Cygnar advances. Trenchers felt threatened by Croe, and moves towards them. Centurion turns towards the assassins too.
Denny goes incorporeal and RUNS right into the frontlines. Croe's guys took a few unsuccessful shots at the Trenchers, but did kill a Stormsmith.
2nd Turn
Cygnar runs the Lancer forward. Hijacks an arcnode. Dominates another arcnode and tried to use it to belch on my Biles, without success. Some firepower was brought to bear on the Bloat, and killing it, but at some cost to tempo. Eiryss disrupts another acrnode. Centurion charges my ninjas, hitting only one. Trenchers did something useless. Dunderhead still hiding behind Trechers.
I wanted to slam the Lancer into the ditch. But the bone-jack I intended to use had its back turned the wrong way. Move one chicken to belch a grenade on the Trencher commander and kills him. Deathjack casts Dark Seduction on the remaining Trenchers and successfully turned them over to the dark side. Moved my new Trenchers away, giving free strikes to the Dunderhead, so that he helps me thin the numbers down to two. Thus opening a clear space to the Dunderhead. Denny moves up, stabs it with Eclipse, and Dark Banishes the 154pt Warjack into the ditch. ***PPPHHHHHIIIIISSSSHHHHH***
Pistols & Croe did something inconsequential. Biles moved in ever closer to the juicy SwordKnights.
Epic Denny was exposed. But she's just popped her feat, Shadowbinding all enemy models around her so they can't move. She only needed to survive this turn.
Turn 3
... This turn was unspeakably horrible...
A Telekinesis spell channeled through my own arcnoded hit my Deathjack and teleported him 2" to the right, into the ditch, right on top of the drowned Dunderhead.
And the rest of the battle.... Saleem will be bragging about it for months to come, so I won't bore you. But a double 6 from a Stormsmith did *just* enough damage to take out Denny. Lucky dice-rolls.
Else, my Croe would have the back charge against the Centurion, at (10+4d6)x8 points of damage. Biles would neatly take out the Swordknights and Eiryss. The Lancer will go into the drink. Epic Denny will heal up, then stay back, as the rest of my still intact army (with the exception of the swimming Deathjack) will corall Haley into her pen and lay down the hurts.
And now, with the misleading title from this blog, I wonder what kind of visitors I'll be inviting...
Anyway, to break the suspense, the title is referencing an epic battle of WarMachine I had last Saturday. It is a table-top war-game played with pewter miniatures. I liken it to a game of chess, but on a bigger board, played with more pieces selected from a wider choice of pieces.
And these pewter minis also had to be lovingly assembled, carefully painted, and meticulously detailed to bring out their best. It's a very nerdy hobby, but I find the craft pleasantly relaxing, and an excellent purgative for mental or emotional stresses. It's like reaching a vapid mental state, without the hangover nor the expenses of drinking. And remember the trouble I had with the Malaysian Customs, it had everything to do with this hobby.
What got me hooked on this game was the fantasy world built around the army pieces. Privateer Press began with some amazing creative talents, some names like Brian Snoddy and Matt Wilson, even I have heard of them before they formed this company. They began by creating the Iron Kingdoms fantasy world for an RPG system. Populated the world with xeno-races and monsters. Wrote the history, drew the geography and updated the politics of the kingdoms.
And finally creating the armies of the four warring kingdoms, each with their unique flavour and carefully fleshed-out protagonists. And each permitting different styles of armies and strategies. Then, last month, they added Hordes, the feral twin of WarMachine with new game mechanics whilst remaining compatible with the original game. Thus bringing four new factions into the Iron Kingdoms. And this was the new game that I HAD to get via mail order, in case the distributors here fail to receive their stock in time.
It's a good game. And there's a bunch of fun people playing it at Wolf's Game Shop, where I often hang out when I can. The hours spent battling, recounting past battles, brainstorming strategies, speculating on future expansions, discussing the stories (fluff), sharing painting tips, teaching or learning techniques, etc... It keeps my weekends full.
Sounds silly? Well, at least I'm not living my life vicariously through a soccer team half a globe away.
And I'm even the local PressGanger, responsible for running WarMachine tournaments and corrupting new players. Check it out, my name's listed.
Anyway, my opponent last Saturday night was Saleem, a Cygnar player. We played opposing sides of a vicious sibling rivalry illustrated in this story. This was the first time a 750pt game was played at Wolf's shop, and both of us were using new Warcasters for the first time.
Following is the battle report, which will make no sense to many...
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. ....
...whooops.... wrong notation...
My Cryx Army:Epic Denneghra
1 Gorman de Wulf
2 Pistol Wraiths
2 Bloat Thralls
8 Bile Thralls
10 Croe's Cutthroats
1 Deathjack
4 Nightwretches
---748pts---
(Those who know my collection, will know that there's a lot of proxies here)
Saleem's Cygnar
Epic Haley
1 Lancer
10 Swordknights
2 Stormsmiths
1 Journeyman Warcaster
1 Thunderhead
1 Centurion
6 Trenchers
2 units of Battle Mechaniks & assorted gobbers
1 Eiryss, Magehunter
Cygnar deployed first. Knights on one flank with Lancer. Trenchers up the middle covering the two jacks.
I deploy my Biles to meet the knights. Croe and Pistols up one flank to greet the Trenchers. Bloats right up the middle. Deathjack up the middle waiting for a charge opportunity.
1st Turn
Cygnar advances. Trenchers felt threatened by Croe, and moves towards them. Centurion turns towards the assassins too.
Denny goes incorporeal and RUNS right into the frontlines. Croe's guys took a few unsuccessful shots at the Trenchers, but did kill a Stormsmith.
2nd Turn
Cygnar runs the Lancer forward. Hijacks an arcnode. Dominates another arcnode and tried to use it to belch on my Biles, without success. Some firepower was brought to bear on the Bloat, and killing it, but at some cost to tempo. Eiryss disrupts another acrnode. Centurion charges my ninjas, hitting only one. Trenchers did something useless. Dunderhead still hiding behind Trechers.
I wanted to slam the Lancer into the ditch. But the bone-jack I intended to use had its back turned the wrong way. Move one chicken to belch a grenade on the Trencher commander and kills him. Deathjack casts Dark Seduction on the remaining Trenchers and successfully turned them over to the dark side. Moved my new Trenchers away, giving free strikes to the Dunderhead, so that he helps me thin the numbers down to two. Thus opening a clear space to the Dunderhead. Denny moves up, stabs it with Eclipse, and Dark Banishes the 154pt Warjack into the ditch. ***PPPHHHHHIIIIISSSSHHHHH***
Pistols & Croe did something inconsequential. Biles moved in ever closer to the juicy SwordKnights.
Epic Denny was exposed. But she's just popped her feat, Shadowbinding all enemy models around her so they can't move. She only needed to survive this turn.
Turn 3
... This turn was unspeakably horrible...
A Telekinesis spell channeled through my own arcnoded hit my Deathjack and teleported him 2" to the right, into the ditch, right on top of the drowned Dunderhead.
And the rest of the battle.... Saleem will be bragging about it for months to come, so I won't bore you. But a double 6 from a Stormsmith did *just* enough damage to take out Denny. Lucky dice-rolls.
Else, my Croe would have the back charge against the Centurion, at (10+4d6)x8 points of damage. Biles would neatly take out the Swordknights and Eiryss. The Lancer will go into the drink. Epic Denny will heal up, then stay back, as the rest of my still intact army (with the exception of the swimming Deathjack) will corall Haley into her pen and lay down the hurts.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
We live in interesting times
Was optimistically waiting for a correction in the price of gold, so that I can buy more... But apparently that didn't happen.It just kept rising and rising. At the point of writing, it's moving towards 675usd/oz. I'm looking at a 20% returns on my investment in just 40 days. Should have bought more, is what I'm thinking now... But will there be a correction soon?
Iran doesn't look like it's going to kiss and make up anytime soon. They just need to spout some rhetoric, and oil prices will jump. Read this.
And the USD just can't seem to pull itself out of a death spiral it seems. But that isn't necessarily bad news for all.
This is the conversion rate chart for USD to MYR. The Ringgit is looking better and better, isn't it? Although I'm not sure this is such great news either. So glad that I converted my USD to AUD just before this.Not that anything will matter much in the long run. I still believe that I'll see China as the next superpower in my lifetime. (Although, I'm making some broad assumptions with my definition of "lifetime", considering that Israel and Iran are staring daggers at each other, and Iran is so keen on having their new toys.)
Do you have gold yet?
Settler's Cafe, PJ
On 1st May, the first Settler's Cafe franchise opened in Malaysia.
Address: 32, Jln SS22/21 Damansara Jaya.
It's around The Atria, on the row of shoplots that is facing Giant's loading bay... The same row as the Michelin auto-shop.
It'll be opening from 2pm-11pm daily. Serving food, drinks, and lots of boardgames. Antike included!!!
A whole bunch of loyal Wolf's Game Shop supporters showed up on opening night and packed the place. I taught a bunch of guys to play Antike and managed to get two games in before we lost our numbers to the lateness of the hour and to other games. I won another game, bringing my win/loss record to 2/2. Both times that I try to go militaristic, I can't win.... This is a challenge that I must crack....
The Settler's Cafe is a quiet, family-friendly environment (unless there's a rousing game of Antike going on...) with polite, if not a little eccentric, staffs. I've seen most of them in their natural, uninhibited environment: they're a barrel of laughs most times, and it's almost disconcerting seeing them in a more sombre setting running a business.
Address: 32, Jln SS22/21 Damansara Jaya.
It's around The Atria, on the row of shoplots that is facing Giant's loading bay... The same row as the Michelin auto-shop.
It'll be opening from 2pm-11pm daily. Serving food, drinks, and lots of boardgames. Antike included!!!
A whole bunch of loyal Wolf's Game Shop supporters showed up on opening night and packed the place. I taught a bunch of guys to play Antike and managed to get two games in before we lost our numbers to the lateness of the hour and to other games. I won another game, bringing my win/loss record to 2/2. Both times that I try to go militaristic, I can't win.... This is a challenge that I must crack....
The Settler's Cafe is a quiet, family-friendly environment (unless there's a rousing game of Antike going on...) with polite, if not a little eccentric, staffs. I've seen most of them in their natural, uninhibited environment: they're a barrel of laughs most times, and it's almost disconcerting seeing them in a more sombre setting running a business.
Friday, April 28, 2006
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
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.
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:
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.
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.
Monday, April 24, 2006
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.
Friday, April 21, 2006
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?
Thursday, April 20, 2006
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.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
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...
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...
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
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
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 SinghFavours 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
Sunday, April 02, 2006
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...
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...
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Hanoi Day 8: The Bulge
Quote of the Day:
"Is it just me, or was there a bulge in his pants?"
---Ravinder Singh---
"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.
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