To me, one of life’s greatest joys is to watch other people spend money. You share their excitement in getting a new toy, and at the same time, spend zero ringgit of your own.

Closely following that is the joy you get by being able to convince someone else to buy the exact same toy you’ve just spent too much money obtaining. So after I shelled out some 1.5k getting myself the brand spanking new Canon S90, I managed to con three unsuspecting victims into doing the same thing. The new proud owners of S90 are jaclyn, cindy, and cheesie, hohohoho.

The S90 is Canon’s high end super compact camera, sharing the same big sensor (1/1.6″) and Digic 4 processor as the Powershot G11. It’s small, sleek, has a fast lens, and very good in low light. The camera’s got a two different control rings that makes it very easy to adjust its various settings too. For more information, look at the hands-on preview at dpreview.

I took the S90 back to Penang last weekends, and while Elfie and friends were too tired to eat and decided to chill at their motel, I took the opportunity to snap some pictures in town.

These pictures are straight out of the camera with zero post processing, not because I want to show off what the camera can do, but because I am lazy.

boom boom pow

I wonder if the stereo on this motorbike actually works? It’s got that dial thing that looks like a car’s speedo and tachometer, but where are the speakers?

hello sexy in red

An old classic, love the color. I like how the background actually still matches the production year of the car.

door-less barber shop

A proper old school Chinese barber shop that seems to have gotten left behind in time. You want a massage with that haircut?

saloon basking in evening sun

A slightly updated hair saloon with air conditioning unit, chairs outside should you need to have a smoke while waiting for  your turn too.

joss stick

I have no idea why giant joss sticks are always pink in color.

Khoo Kongsi in rear view mirror

Khoo Kongsi is one of the grandest buildings in Penang, and sadly I haven’t actually been in it. Must find an unsuspecting victim to go with me one of these days. Did you know part of Anna and the King was shot at Khoo Kongsi in 1999?

There are a few more photos taken at the same time at my flickr set. Cheers!

Tags:  canon,  Penang,  Photography,  s90

Posted by KY | 29 Comments »

I found myself at Central Market in KL a couple weeks ago in search of a particular little gift, and as it was quite a while since I last did any street shoots, I bought my trusted little Canon DSLR with.

central market

The last time I went to there must have been over ten years ago. In my memory, I always associated the place with the likes of Ben Thanh Market in Ho Chi Minh City, or a very scaled down version of Chatuchak in Bangkok, full of traders offering all sorts of touristy and artsy merchandise in a crammed, hot, and very sweaty environment.

picking an altar

As it turned out, to my surprise, Central Market is fully air conditioned! While there are still many stores selling anything from religious statues, post cards, photo frames, art works, jewelries, cloths, 101 types of souvenirs, you can also find Old Town and a couple restaurants and food court within the main building.

guardian buddha

Note the giraffe statue right next to the wooden Buddha on the picture above. Cheesie bought them all the way from Bali while we have them right here in the heart of KL. I have a feeling these things are probably made in China anyway.

windless wind chimes

In addition to plastic and rotan sepak takraw balls (which hurts like a bitch if you try to do a header), wind chimes seem to be a popular item around here though there isn’t any wind at all inside the building.

snoozing artist

The annex at the back of the main building houses quite a few local artists, some with very impressive looking masterpieces. For a small fee, you can commission a painting of yourself in pencil, water color, or even oil. Business wasn’t exactly brisk on that Sunday morning though.

catching a breather

The street to the right of Central Market is cordoned off for pedestrian access only. Hawkers and street artists have taken up this space to offer anything from cold drinks to barely bearable music.

grabbing a bite

I took a breather at the side of the building with a can of chilled Coke, looking at the hawker arranging her keropok lekur, and wonder how this place will look like in another 10 years.

****************************************
Celebrate Like A Champion

This portion is to help me hopefully win some MU tickets and a jersey woohoo! (from TGB’s entry)

• Name 4 of the Manchester United legendary players.
  Bill Foulkes, Bobby Charlton, Eric Cantona, George Best
• Name the founder of Smirnoff Vodka, and the country Smirnoff originates.
  Pyotr Arsenievich Smirnov, Russia
• Complete this sentence, stating the partnership between Smirnoff and Manchester United:
  Smirnoff is the official Spirits Sponsor and Official Responsible Drinking Partner of Manchester United.
• What is the latest Smirnoff’s Limited Edition bottle called?
  Smirnoff® 21, Smirnoff® limited edition promotional pack.

Ahhh, after a hard day’s work on the field, ze Champion gets a bit of a rest!

Tags:  black-and-white,  KL,  kuala-lumpur,  Photography

Posted by KY | 15 Comments »

It’s been a pretty fun 3day 2night trip to Krabi, but the photos and a proper blog entry will have to wait till I manage to gather a bit of time. For now, here are some photos I took during a particular long walk to Melbourne University with Mellissa during my visit last month.

no pets allowed

Established at 1853, Melbourne University is often regarded as the second best university in the country. The architecture of the buildings is a mix of old and new, some seemingly from Victorian era, while others are ultramodern mosaic of glass and steel.

John Medley

The John Medley building houses the school of culture & communication & political science. This was the building we had to go to submit Mell’s essay, and she claimed that it is always a 50-50 chance to get to the correct side of the building. A walk across the bridge is needed otherwise.

Old Quad

Old Quad and Old Arts are two of the original buildings from the establishment of the campus. I have a feeling that some the floors might have been refitted, but that did not take away the charm of the architecture. Very beautiful (but I heard, not very comfortable in very hot or very cold weather).

Old Quad looking out to Old Arts

The little garden between Old Quad and Old Arts is a popular place for students to take a break for a smoke in between classes. Not that there were any students when I was around though.

the pillars for tomorrow?

The part of Old Quad building featuring many beautiful pillars is a popular place for wedding photos. Just outside the pillars is a grass field where many students sunbath in the summer, if there were any of them.

between main campus and law building

The university is actually pretty big, as illustrated by the photo above, the walk between main campus and the law building can be a bit of a drag. Luckily the scenary helped a bit. We spent around an hour or so walking around the area before heading back to the city.

Tags:  melbourne,  melbourne university,  Photography

Posted by KY | 20 Comments »

A couple weeks ago I swapped my bike for a new Satria Neo CPS from Proton Center of Excellence for a 3-day test drive.

The Satria Neo is arguably one of the best looking hatch backs out on the road, and the CPS version has a few improvements that makes this even more so. The unit I came in a shiny black coat with the bigger rear spoiler, body kit, and the new 16″ rims that looks quite a lot better on the car compared to the original Neo’s “blink blink” rims.

Proton Satria Neo CPS

On the inside, the improvement in workmanship can be clearly seen compared to some previous models. The dashboard is clean and minimalistic while sporting blue and yellow illumination that makes reading the speedometer and tachometer very easy in low light condition.

I particularly like the two-tone semi-bucket leather seats for the driver and front passenger. They are not only visually rather stunning, but strikes a balance between comfort and seat position rigidness when you need to keep yourself from sliding off the seat around a fast corner.

Interior of the Satria Neo

The in-car entertainment unit scrolls out a “PROTON SYMPHONY” text whenever it is turned on, and while the sound system isn’t particularly high end, it does carry itself pretty well. No upgrades shall be necessary if you’re not an audiophile.

The one possible downside of the interior, depending on your body height, is the relatively low headroom for driver and front passenger. At 5′6 I am still quite comfortable with it, but I reckon those who are over 6′ tall would have a harder time especially if you are those who likes to sit closer to the steering wheel.

the 16″ Sports Rims with 195 50 R16 tyres

Other than styling and slight interior changes, the Satria Neo CPS differs from the regular Satria Neo in another crucial item, the engine. While the regular 1.6 Satria gets 110hp (112ps), the 1.6 liter Campro CPS engine in this car gets 125ps at 6500 rpm and 150 Nm of torque at 4500 rpm. That’s a good 10% increment achieved by a variable valve lift system in the new motor which Proton refers to as Cam Profile Switching, hence the acronym CPS. This is similar to DVVT, VTTI, VTEC and other technologies.

Rear shot, Proton Satria Neo CPS

3 days and some 200 km later, I must say that the car did not disappoint. Handling, especially around the bends was very good, the car felt steady and there is minimal body roll. Sound insulation is another aspect that I really like about this car, while you can hear the engine roar above 4-5k rpm, outside traffic noise is rather muted (view video taken in the Smart Tunnel below).

Fuel consumption also seems to be pretty good for this car. I collected this car with the gauge pointing at half tank, and returned it with slightly less than 1/4 tank after closed to 200km of mixed highway and city driving.

more photos at flickr set

The Satria Neo CPS goes for RM 57,763 (Manual) and RM 60,763 (Automatic Transmission), that is a lot of car for the money. Price quoted from Proton Edar.

Tags:  car review,  lunch money,  proton,  satria

Posted by KY | 46 Comments »

Mell and I just had Vietnamese pho at Mekong a couple blocks away (will blog about the place and other restaurants for sure) at Swanston street, and I decided to process pictures taken in the last two days and share some of them here.

Melbourne City night view, taken from Franklin/Swanston

I stay at the Verve apartment with Mell. The building is located at the corner of Swanston and Franklin, the edge of the busiest part of the city. At 20 odd floors, you get to see pretty much the whole city. It is rather magnificient, especially at night.

The city is very well planned, roads are relatively wide with very pedestrian friendly side walks that are, at places, wider than the roads for automobiles. Walking is pretty much the main mode of transportation here, every intersection is equipped with pedestrian traffic lights that not only blinks, but beeps too (for the blind). Very handy.

a typical Melbourne city tram

Crisscrossing the city are the electric trams. You can get on the tram for $3.70  (valid for 2 hours). Most of the trams stops at the middle of the road, unless it is a one-way street, like the one on the photo above. The trams are pretty much like the LRT without the elevated tracks, and running on a much slower pace.

State Library of Victoria

Architecture of the city is a mixture of old and new. You have the State Library of Victoria on Swanston that was opened way back in 1854 sitting right next to the QV Village that was opened in 2003.

Queen Victoria Village – QV

There are also dedicated cycling lanes in most roads, I guess cycling works best during this time of the year when temperature hovers around the low twenties and mid teens.

the ceiling of Melbourne Central

To travel to the suburbs or further, the train stops at Melbourne Central, which is doubles as one of the larger shopping complexes in the city. There’s cinema, restaurants, shops, and an office tower. Interestingly, the Melbourne Central railway station used to be called Museum.

a mini cooper at the intersection

While cars are a lot more affordable, it is quite a bitch to find parking spaces in the city without breaking your bank. Since public transportation is very good in the city anyway, there is virtually no traffic jam in the city.

a restaurant by Lygon Street

The city is pretty much overrun by Asian. I did not see any whites at all on the first night. The sidewalk of Swanston street (the busiest street in Melbourne) is basically 80% Chinese.

Lygon Street, however, looks more like the Australia I expected. We had lunch with Pinky and Kit and actually were the minority. The place is littered with many Italian restaurants, and appropriately referred to as Little Italy of Melbourne.

Chinatown in Melbourne

Little Bourke Street is a little one-way road that is the whole Chinatown of Melbourne, which, incidentally, is also the oldest Chinatown in Australia. Like most Chinatown in the world, there are plenty of Chinese restaurants everywhere. We had lunch at a restaurant called Red Silk on Sunday and it was actually rather delicious.

I’ll attempt to create a food map for this city (as much as I can anyway), so watch this space!

Tags:  australia,  chinatown,  melbourne,  photos,  swanston,  tram,  Travel

Posted by KY | 45 Comments »