Permy Mall

The brand new Permy Mall is fast taking shape these days.

It is scheduled to open on 11 Nov 2011. There is only two floors, ie, ground and 1st floor. Giants Supermarket will be opening their branch there. Behind this mall, there is a "small" township which is still quite "cold" but...

... I was told that rental has been moving upward these days and it cost >RM3000 for a ground floor shop lot. Let's hope that there is success in this new place!

Mr Crocodile, we sacrifice for your freedom

The newspaper reported that the attempt yesterday was a failure in trying to catch the crocodile. The croc must be laughing at the human for being so naive. But the battle against the reptile is not without a price being paid. I counted five dead fishes... both big and small. There must be more under the platform which cannot be seen!

A big dead carp ...

Another big dead carp ... see the bruise inflicted on them.

A headless sultan fish ... I think the croc is the culprit here!

A dead sultan fish... see the bruise caused by the net.

There are now so few fishes that bread can be seen floating in the lake. Never before!

The worker fished out some of the dead fish. The red carp is about 15 inches long! So pity and such a waste. Mr Goh (canteen operator) complained that some of the workers miss-handled the fish when they were caught in the net.
Enough is enough! This way of catching the crocodile is causing more damage. All the beautiful fishes are almost all gone now! When there is no more food for the croc, the ecology is out of balance, and it will be a real danger to human. Perhaps, the council should built fence around the whole lake and turn this into a crocodile lake!

Mr Crocodile, can't you just surface?!

In this serene and beautiful man made lake, ...

...  also called the Bulatan Park, lives a small crocodile. The authority let the water out last week and on Saturday night, they came to "catch" the elusive croc using a big net. Of course, there was no success as the men had no night vision. However, most of the fishes were now gone! I think that was their biggest harvest! So, this morning the people from the forestry came again ...

... to try their luck. They were armed with sticks and net. Ok, the cracker should not be for baiting the croc. I have no idea whether there was any success today. Perhaps I will find out tomorrow.
But seriously, will the croc causes any harm to anyone? Someone was worried about the kids! I personally think that it is our fear that has overtaken common sense. I could be wrong here but what has the expert got to say? Remember that the croc has plenty of food in the lake and I don't think they will take on human.

World top 10 bloggers

Read this article about world top bloggers. It may inspires you to start blogging and make some money. As for me, I am still earning peanut! I did not even bother to check it out. I just wanted to let the system surprises me one day.

No chicken in town!

Believe it or not, there was hardly any "whole chicken" for sale for the last one week. I asked around and no one seems to know the reason. One of them think that it was due to the recent Hari Raya celebration. I don't think so. I believe it is the tactic used by the farmer to raise price. So now, there are just a few chicken around and the price is about RM1 higher than usual. Buyers will just buy them. Later, more will be released into the market and the price will still stay. Ok, ok, speculation by me only!
I walked around e-Mart this morning and confirmed that there is no whole "standard" chicken.

ok, chicken heads at RM4.50 (90 pence) per kg. In developed countries, this is for making animal feeds or pet food!

Bishop nose for RM8.50 per kg!! It is a delicacy here! This need to be BBQed! I like it also.

ok, got eggs! Plenty of them. But not very cheap also.

Fine... no standard chicken but there are "old" chicken for sales. These are premium chicken. Oppp... some old hens also. So be careful with "old chicken" as they are good for curry only.

Fine, no chicken, I will look for alternative cheap protein. I bought 4 of these "monk fish" or 和尚鱼 for RM10, ie, at RM5/kg. Many won't eat this fish also as the skin is thick. But more importantly, the body has a row of "dots" which make them looking like the spot on the head of monk! So, I called it "monk fish".
Update 28-Sept-2011: Reported in newspaper today that the local poultry farmer are giving up their chicken farm business!

Freak Accident at Pujut GK roundabout

Just now around midnight, a Naza Sorento 4WD (Korean car) was involved in a freak accident. The car was seriously damaged. The firemen arrived quickly to wash off all the fuel...

The car on its side

After it was put upright. Note that the front windscreen was smashed ...

I was told that the car jumped the curb (kerb) and the back wheel was ripped off!

See the back wheel ... there was nothing left!

The front right wheel was damaged also.

Ready to be taken away!
I was told that the driver was unhurt but in a daze. Is he drunk? I don't want to speculate here without evidence.

Good bye, rabbit

It was many months ago when I noticed that our rabbit did not gain weight even though he ate none stop! However, he had been eating normally until two weeks ago when he suddenly became very weak and could not even stand on his four feet. 

I knew something serious was happening to him. Over the last four days, he lost his appetite and ate very little. Yesterday, he hardly ate anything. But he remain high in spirit. This morning, we found him dead...
We already started to miss him...
... every time I see his empty cage.
Sad... I don't think we are going to keep another rabbit. Good bye rabbit!

Mr Crocodile, where are you?

In this normally peaceful Bulatan park and man-made lake, someone sighted a crocodile. In fact, my friend who has been walking this park for the past many years claimed that he saw the crocodile last year when it was still quite small.

But how does this crocodile ended up over here, no one really knows. One thing for sure, the crocodile was sighted again a few days ago...

... resting on this abandoned oil well. The authority has since set up bait and net hoping to trap this smart 4-feet long croc! But will the reptile actually take the bait? No one again know. One thing we also know for sure is that this lake is full of fish and the croc may prefer fresh food!
The authority is now releasing the water and hope to find the croc....

The water level has since drop by about a foot! Will the croc simply hide in this hole? Or in the bush? Or climb up a tree (if it can)?..

Or hide under this platform? Whatever, I wish the authority luck in catching this reptile.

Nikon announces Nikon 1 Mirrorless Camera

Nikon makes the 1 V1 and J1 mirrorless compact system cameras officially official. Each will sport a CX-format 10.1 megapixel CMOS sensor, a new 1 lens mount and full HD video.
A quick look at some specifications:

• Still frame burst rate with locked AF: 60 fps!!! No one else comes close at the moment
•  Both cameras will record full 1080 HD video at 60i. Slow motion movie mode is available at up to 1200 fps.
•  Hybrid phase and contrast detection auto focus, switching from a 73-point phase-detect mode into contrast detection with AF illuminator in low light conditions. Auto focus is now split second! As a high end DSLR camera user, I am now very envy of this!
• Native ISO range of 100-3200 with a Hi setting available for a 6400 equivalent.
• Optional mount adapter allows all F mount NIKKOR lenses to be used!
• The CX format sensor provides a 2.7x crop factor. 

Nikon 1 V1

• No built-in flash but will accept external flash units.
• Optical viewfinder (useful as it save battery)
• Capture 12 bit NEF RAW files. 
• Available in white or black.
• 920k-dot, 3-inch LCD monitor with protection glass and a wide viewing angle.
• Record full 1080 HD video at 60i. Slow motion movie mode is available at up to 1200 fps.
• Estimated price: US$899 or RM2700

Nikon 1 J1
Very similar to the V1

• No optical viewfinder 
• Built-in flash
• 460k-dot, 3-inch LCD monitor with protection glass and a wide viewing angle.
• Record full 1080 HD video at 60i. Slow motion movie mode is available at up to 1200 fps.
• Body and lens are both available in 5 different colours!
• Price US$650 or about RM2000

• 1 NIKKOR 10mm f/2.8 pancake
• 1 NIKKOR VR 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom
• 1 NIKKOR 10-100mm f/4.5-5.6 VR PD-ZOOM
• 1 NIKKOR VR 30-110mm f/3.8-5.6

For more information, click here.

January 2011 Koren students visit Varanasi Ashram School

we have T-Shurt Painting program and we are best in this :)

Niah NP Weekend

It's been a while since we overnighted at Niah NP, the weekend after the trip to the West country seemed ideal to recuperate from jetlag and just hang-out listening to the sounds of the rainforest. We booked a fan-cooled chalet at Niah Park and stayed for the long weekend.

It was a quiet weekend of just lounging about with windows open and ears perked up to listening to the incessant calls of barbet, broadbills, hornbills and numerous sunbirds that flit through the idyllic minimalist garden setting. With comfy chairs set up on the verandah facing flowering hibiscus, we savored the views of a pair of Brown-throated Sunbird that came to visit flowers on an hourly basis. Fleeting about the same path, beautifully painted butterflies came and went.


Male Brown-throated Sunbird.


Female, Brown-throated Sunbird.


Male, Purple Sunbird/Van Hasselt's Sunbird.


A beautifully marked male Golden Birdwing Troides Amphrysus.

Our chalet situated not far from the river afforded us unparalled views of the comings and goings of visitors to the park. The weekend being a three day weekend proved to be busy for the boatman and park staff. Visitors came and went at all hours from 7am till late in the afternoon. Outside of those hours we had the park to ourselves, it's akin to living in a simple manor surrounded by a large well tended garden.

We took our meals at Batu Niah rest-stop, 30minutes away by car. Reason being the canteen was rather sluggish with limited fare on offer. At the rest stop, food on offer ranged from chicken wings, roti canai, mee kolok and all sorts of other delectable local meals simply prepared.

Milky Way in the garden.

The drive out gave us a chance to scan the skies for some magical dark sky wonders. Being away from the brightly lit Miri City ie. less light pollution gave us clearer views of the surrounding nite skies. On one of those nights, perhaps only the 3rd such occasion in our umpteen years in Sarawak, we were blessed with a spectacular view of the Milky Way ... right from the front porch of our humble chalet.

The stay Niah NP gave us the quiet weekend we longed for, delectable little pleasures meant to be taken in small doses.

Information for visitors:-

Niah Caves NP offers a range of accomodation choices :

a) Fan-cooled dormitory rooms-4 rooms per house, 4 single beds per room with attached bathroom and shower and a huge common living area. Best value for money at $40/room.

2) Fan-cooled chalets-2 rooms per house, 4 single beds per room with attached bathroom and shower. Comes with a refrigerator, living and kitchen area. A steal at $159/house.

Also on offer are the air-conditioned VIP chalets and air-conditioned chalets. For enquiries, please call Niah Caves NP at 085-737450/737454 or fax 085-737918.

More information on the park can be found here.

Images and text by Nazeri Abghani/MNS Miri/2011

Developing country

We are supposed to be a developed country in another 9 years. The other day one of our ministers said that we have a huge natural resource of herbs. If we can harvest them and market them, this could turn us into a developed nation! I was just thinking to myself... China had been harvesting herbs for thousand of years and they have a remedy for all kind of diseases using just herbs. Yet they were still so poor until they open up their economy. So, to get rich, one must make money from others and not from one pocket to another. For a nation to get rich, the only way is to earn plenty of money from other nations like what China did. In this country, we have law makers who are blur... very blur!
Ok, for now, I just wanted to talk about local economy. When I was small, I paid 20 cents and I got a bundle of pau/buns. Inside, the filling was good and plenty. Now...
this gigantic supermarket in town is asking for RM3.99, ie, almost 80 pence, for 3 of these bun! When I open  up one of them, I was shocked to find the bread to be very loose and the filling was a miserable amount!

I just came back from my overseas trip and found that what they serve in their country was good. Ok, it was "expensive" for prepared food but the quality was far more superior! Isn't our cost cheap? I think the businessmen are profiteering! We should stop buying if we don't get value for money. Even at the reduced price of RM1.19, I will not buy them anymore. It is still expensive because the quality is bad!

Click on the above picture so that you can see the prices clearly. You will notice that the price is actually cheaper than Malaysia. Our labour cost is cheap and they pay 6-8 pounds per hour! What is happening to our economy?

Pujut 7 Bridge

At the moment, anyone going across Pujut 7 bridge will experience a huge delay during the peak hours. The other day, my ex-colleague told me that the delay was 90 minutes due to a minor accident. The queue was merely 1 KM but remember that the whole Pujut was at a standstill! All these will become a thing of the past ...

... when the extension from a 2-lane into a 4-lane bridge across this beautiful Miri river is completed.

The main contractor is Shin Yang and I know that they are a responsible contractor who will not abandon ...

... the construction half way through. In just a matter of a few months, their progress had been impressive.
The Pujut 7 roundabout is also being upgraded. I will update with photos when I got the time to go there to shoot.

Countdown tonight

Tonight, there will be countdown to Malaysia Day at North Yu Seng Road (where Ming Cafe is), Miri. I was told that the place will be full of celebration. So arm yourself with camera and march to that place!

Namewee came to Miri

11 Sept 2011
Namewee came to Miri today to promote his full length movie, Nasi Lemak 2.0. He was in Imperial Mall this morning.

He was there to "throw" posters, gave some talk, etc and I was lucky to grasp one poster thrown at my direction simply because my arm is longer than most of the youngsters. As expected, he was swamped by his fan! To see all the photos, click here.

Mini Accident Mega Jam

This evening, I noticed that all the small roads near where I stayed...

...  were jammed up with cars. I was trying to fetch Joshua to tuition school. After I was caught in the jam for half and hour, we finally decided that we should cycle to the tuition school! In 30 minutes, we didn't even cover 300 meters! How disgusting! I thought it was a major disaster! So, after "delivering" Joshua, I decided to do some investigation!

So this is the accident, which happened just across the Pujut 7 bridge and just after the petrol station!

Thanks to the tow truck which arrived at 7:20PM. In just five minutes, the car was towed away!

Literally every road in Pujut was jammed up. I noticed that our drivers are extremely busy body! They all slowed down to look at the unfortunate car! Some of them look for some 5 seconds before moving on! During peak hours, this behaviour is simply unacceptable. Worse, no one respect the yellow box at Pujut 7 traffic light. Do you know the use of the yellow boxes?

If You Use Methodist Hymnal

If you use the United Methodist Hymnal, this resource on the net is most useful:
http://www.hymnary.org/

Hymnary.org is a comprehensive index of 5,064 hymnals and 1,076,480 published hymns, with scores, media, and information from sources such as Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology, hymnal handbooks, and experts in the field. Thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Hymnary.org now contains the entire Dictionary of North American Hymnology.