It’s been 3 weeks since my Cambodia trip with Mel. It took me so long to blog about this because I was not overawed with Angkor Wat. Sure, it’s beautiful, but after 4 hours, you hear yourself say, “And then what?”. It’s all temples, temples and temples, perfect for you DLSR nerds.

We spent 3 nights there, and it felt like 3 years. Seriously, ONE night is more than enough. Don’t fall into the trap of buying a 3-day pass for the temple tour, it’s just not worth it because how much temples can you see before you get bored? Trust me, a couple of hours is more than enough.

Apart from that, food sucks - everything’s sweet, no matter how spicy and no sugar you tell them. Stall food cost USD1 minimum and food in cafes start from USD3 and above. Food is forgettable. If only Cambodians knew how we in Malaysia enjoy the greatest mix of food in the world.

Booze is OK - USD1 for the lame ass Angkor beer, which tastes bland, and USD3 for the other beers like Heineken etc. Guinness Stout is usually USD4.

You have to polish your bargaining skills if you want to buy souvenirs, start from 70% less than the original price and stick to it. If you really need it, then you can negotiate further, but if you only want it for the sake of wanting it, walk away and don’t bother. They will either call you back or you WILL get it at a cheaper price elsewhere. The Old Market is the only place worth checking out to buy souvenirs.

Tuk tuks cost USD1 per ride and nothing more. A dude tried to con his way when he quoted USD3, it took me less than 40 seconds to get him to drop to USD2, then USD1. Really can’t blame him, the white folks have once again tainted a laidback place with money and thanks to them, the prices are inflated. Thailand is CHEAPER.

We stayed at Molly Malone’s, which cost USD25 per night. Pretty decent stuff and it’s located right at the HEART of the town. The town, can be covered in 5 hours - WALKING. That’s how small it is.

Cambodia is certainly a place to visit ONCE just to get it out of your system that you’ve seen a wonder of the world. Apart from that, it’s just not worth the second visit.

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I gallivanted to Shanghai, China (my second visit after Guangzhou) as part of my company’s conference team for Sportel Shanghai, that took place in Shangri-la Hotel in Pudong. Here are some of the photos that I took. My verdict of Shanghai - nothing memorable.

Ladies, irrespective of country, seem to have an uncanny knack of overturning their vehicles. LOL.

Thanks to Mel, now I’m in the mood for flower photography too. Took this outside my hotel, Holiday Inn.

My company’s booth - 4 booth in total - the biggest exhibitor @ the conference.

Err, I forgot this building’s name.

Chilling out @ Yu Garden

Hot Macchiato - RMB30

At the Bund, overlooking Shangri-la

I was freezing to the balls in these shots. Temperature was below zero!

The highlight of my trip - the Maglev - speed clocked at 431km/h!

My first speed train. The trip to the airport was only 8 minutes, and ticket was only RMB40.

That’s all folks!

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How was your weekend? I spent my weekend taking Mel to the Portuguese settlement in Malacca. We spent the night, in Malacca, gallivanting at Jonker Walk, A-Famosa and the Portugues settlement. I’m sure Mel will blog about the outing at some stage. I wanna share with you the x’mas lights and colors illuminating the sky @ the Portuguese settlement. Christmas spirit is truly in the air! MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

Papajoneh has a pub in Malacca?

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2008 from Mel and I

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Ze Proboscis Monkey @ Lok Kawi Zoo

You and me baby ain’t nothin but mammals, so let’s do it like they do on the discovery channel

Fooling around with the macro mode

I waited for Mel to walk into the shot before taking it

@ BlueNote Shangrila Tanjung Aru - Radzie, Gallivanter, Papajoneh, Weichuen

Last night @ KK - BlueNote - we partied like pornstars!

Far top right - Amie Stan & Dinoza! Weichuen havin’ a gay moment squeezing my nenen

Find the easter egg!

Another one for the pages of memories

I love Kota Kinabalu, and especially the locals - Sabahans are so nice and I’m honored to be part of it, no matter how many buffaloes Mel’s mom ask me to get. See ya next August if all goes well!

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It was one of the MOST memorable trips in recent years. 12 blissful days in Kota Kinabalu with Mel, staying with her family @ Kepayan Ridge for 11 days and a sneaky night stay at Imperial Hotel thanks to Dinoza!

@ the YFitness KK launch party

Mel outside the mall showing off her 2-storey banner

I’m trying to impersonate her…errr… I’ll just stick to blogging

Catching Wei Chuen & Jacq by surprise @ Upperstar

This is Shemah’s eldest son, Buddy and next to him is an old baby

Chilling out @ Shamrock KK

Mel showed off her hairless nose…

A black & white pose (both the photo and the couple)

Someone gave me their wallet when I played the guitar…oops

Imperial Hotel - we got good intro rate thanks to Dinoza!

Mel’s nephews & nieces @ Tanjung Aru

Mel has good taste in football supporters…hehehe

An easter egg was spotted in Cocoon Kota Kinabalu

Mel AKA Kadazanbonita, Charlene Diane & yours truly @ Cocoon

The Cocoon/Shenanigans Gang (Radzie in blue)

Jacq, Mel, Wei Chuen & I

Alamak - sia sudah kadapatan! (from left - Dinoza, Amie, Mel, I, .. , Jacq, Weichuen)

That was painful…for Mel! Hahaha!

Wei Chuen, Jacq, Mel & I : 4 Sekawan!

To be continued…

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Just what I needed, a holiday to cap off my years of service with my company. The dates simply fell into place as I bought my tickets some 2 months ago. I didn’t know that it’ll coincide with my final day with the company. So that was an icing on the cake. I gallivanted to Langkawi with Ravind, my buddy of over4 years, and a great friend. 3 nights in Langkawi with the cable car, snorkeling at the Payar Island marine park and the mangrove tour were the highlights, though nothing to shout about. The worst was the Underwater World - as Ravind mildly puts it, we got butt-fucked for RM28. LOL.

Booze is still cheap, even at the pubs. I binged on Guinness Stout for RM10 NETT per pint! I bought myself a Gentleman Jack (Jack Daniel’s limited edition liquor) for RM95 and splurged over RM90 on chocolates. And for the first time in my life, I finally had CUBAN cigar! OLE! My fifth visit to Langkawi was a good one. BTW, you can rent a Proton Wira for RM50.

That’s the floating bridge

My balls shrank during the cable car ride. Yes, I’m scared of heights.

Luckily his surname wasn’t Chin.

Yup, this is not an illusion.

My favorite at the moment. Kilkenny too.

Dang! Isn’t this an international breakfast?

There were over 8 sharks circling the beach for food

Pulau Payar - don’t go there for snorkeling, it’s BAD! RM130 a waste!

Mangrove Tour: RM90

I fed this stingray right after I took this shot. It ate off my hand!

That’s a horse shoe crab

A really small cave, it was a drive thru

Throngs of eagles feeding on some fat that the guide threw

Idiotic authorities cut the stalactite to build a platform to view that same stalactite. How STUPID some people can be! 10 cm per thousand years!

No name?

RM90 worth of chocolates. Should’ve bought more. Yup, I’m a chocoholic!

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I used to love Waikiki until Bangsar started closing at 2am, unleashing unruly Indians to the place. And with the expansion of Waikiki a couple of years ago, heralded the end of a place where 80s music thrived. It changed its concept to incorporate live bands and hip hop music. I’ve been frequenting Waikiki since 2000, and stopped a few years later. With its second pub, and with what I’ve seen so far, this is the place to be. Everything else in TTDI Plaza sucks. Just stick to Waikiki Too.

This is the owner of Waikiki, Tony.

This is the owner’s brother, TM

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Off the Richter! It was energetic. I used to like the Black Eyed Peas, but now, I’m a huge convert. Loads of catchy songs since 2003, and I’m excited to see what they do next. Fergie embarked on a successful solo career. Will.I.Am followed suit. However, I feel they’re more devastating as a group.

We were pumped up right from the start, and it was a concert with a bit of everything. The last time I was at the Arena of Stars was when Boney M came to town back in 2001. We only arrived at Genting approx 8:30pm, just in time to see the start, and what a start it was - “Hey Mama”!

All 4 of them were brimming with vigor that impacted portions of the Malaysian crowd. Still, there were idiots who favored sitting down. Mongoloids like them should’ve stayed at home to watch Fugly Betty instead. “My Humps”, followed by my favorite BEP song of the moment - “Bebot”, “Don’t Lie”, “Shut Up”, “Gone Going” were next on the playlist.

The band took a breather while Will.I.Am took centre stage with “I Got It From Your Mama”, followed by Fergie, who I’ve never rated highly, swept me off my feet with a flawless execution of “Big Girls Don’t Cry”, a mediocre “Glamorous” & “Fergalicious” and a catchy “London Bridge”.

The band then regrouped for “Don’t Phunk With My Heart”, the crowd-stomping “Pump It”, their breakthrough hit, “Where is the Love” and the infectious “Let’s Get it Started”. There were a handful of other songs too. A 2-hour blockbuster of sizzling proportions.

The Black Eyed Peas also added a bit of variety to their concert. Fergie did a glorious cover of GNR’s “Sweet Child O Mine” (1 minute snippet), and BEP combined for the encore performing House of Pain’s “Jump Around”. It was astounding. Never have I been so electrified after a concert, apart from Bon Jovi in 1995 and MJ in 1996. This is now, officially, my THIRD favorite concert. It has kicked MUSE down to 4th. 8/10 on the Gallivanter scale.

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Our inaugural meeting.

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I finally met up with Andrew and Szelin the couple who found each other through my blog - yes yes, I’m blowing my own trumpet! Hahaha!) last Saturday (6th Oct 07) after almost 6 months. Chelva’s been itching to fondle the microphone for quite sometime and we did just that. I acquainted Mel to them. The first song I opted for was Bon Jovi’s Make a Memory.

I always made sure that I bestowed a couple of Malay songs and this time, it was Search’s Rozana, Awie’s Tragedi Oktober, Wing’s Bernafas Dalam Lumpur, Gersang’s Masih Aku Terasa. and Ella/Korie’s Pergilah Sayang. A 3 hour session that ended at 1am, and made us RM50 poorer.

Andrew, Sze, Chelva, Mel & Gallivanter

Mel and I then gallivanted to TTDI Plaza to suss out the pub scene. We were at this pub called Titanic, patronized by old timers, and it was a joy to see old couples jiving to oldies played by a live band. It left us in a state of admiration. I just hope that we do experience something similar when we’re at their age.

We then gallivanted to Chap’s to cap off the night. Mel then whipped out my trusty Canon Digital camera and off we went on yet another camwhoring session which led to a change in my blog header.

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