So Nua

[Fun]Top Gear

2009-07-25T08:48:00.000-07:00

To all the girls out there, remember the name "Top Gear", it will be your boyfriend's secret lover, your husband's mistress. Nope it won't be the pretty lady he stared as she walk pass by, it won't be the new secretary you husband has just hired, and it won't be Megan Fox that will stole his heart away. It will be Top Gear, Top Gear and Top Gear alone that can do that. And if your boyfriend doesn't know what is Top Gear, dump him. He is a homosexual in disguise.

Before you fanatically question your other half about Top Gear. Let me explain what it is. Top Gear is the greatest show on Earth, Solar System, and some say the whole universe(the person who say that is me.) What makes Top Gear so great? It definitely has the perfect formula: Three wacky host with funny British accent, lots of supercars, crazy stunts, and not forgetting, The Stig.

Top Gear, the best in Earth, Solar System, and some say the whole universe.

Before you close this webpage and navigate to some chick website, you should realise that there are pretty good reasons you should know more about Top Gear.

1. Know thy enemy.

It is, and it has always been the toughest competitor you will face in the battle of gaining your boyfriend's attention. Forget about the television. Forget about the computer games. In the long run, Top Gear never lose.

No, it is NOT gay to be obsessed with a show hosted by 3 middle age men.

2. Think Top Gear as your boyfriend's future profession

Pay attention to the three male hosts. They are the Alpha males that you should model your boyfriend after. These guys have the dream job any boys would want. Drive supercar, write about them, wreak a Kelisa, write about them, blow a car up the sky, write about them, and earn money. What other job could you possibly want your boyfriend to look for?

Drive supercars? Most definitely.

Wreak a Kelisa? Why not?

Launch a car into space? Of course!

3. Talk Top Gear with your boyfriend, and it will be the most attentive conversation they have.

Have you ever talk to your boyfriend and find his attention wonder to something else, perhaps the pretty girl at the next table? Top Gear is your solution and savior. Just mention anything from Top Gear and your boyfriend will surely be in his most attentive state.

This is how surprised your boyfriend will look like

when you mention the name "Top Gear".

4. If you can't beat them, join them

Of course you can't beat Top Gear! Take that crazy thought off your mind. Instead, go to the nearest magazine stand, and get your beloved one a copy of Top Gear Magazine. Trust me, he will love you more than ever.

Yes. Top Gear invaded Malaysia long long time ago.

Don't be jealous of Top Gear's existence in your boyfriend's life. Instead, live joyfully with it. Embrace it. Your boyfriend will love both Top Gear and you even more. Not equally though, he will still love Top Gear more but then again, he will definitely think that you're getting more interesting ;)

P/s: I am writing this purely for the goods of all the girls out there. It is not because for the past two weeks in my life, I have nothing interesting to write about. Nope certainly no that.

[Art] Amazing Architectures

2009-07-12T07:42:00.000-07:00

The world is all hyped up about recycle right now. We try to recycle everything: plastic, paper, metal, used eletronics, and even the late Micheal Jackson. What about buildings? Have you ever thought of turning any old building into something new and different? Someone did it.

Their names are Dick van Gameren and Bjarne Mastenbroek. They are two Dutch architectures who converted concrete resevior tanks of a former sewage plant into a luxurious, modern small apartments in Amsterdam, United Kingdom. The name of the apartments? Behold. They are called "Apartments in a sewage plant". Not quite a creative way of naming considering their profession, but I guess this name is simply more atonishing than any other names they could have come out with.

This is definitely the most beautiful sewage plant in the world.

http://www.dickvangameren.com/showProject.php?id=9409&lg=en

I was simply amazed when I read about their work. The idea may sounds disgusting, but they ended up doing a wonderful job. To have such creativity and innovation, the building and its creators have my utmost respect and admiration. This is certainly a place I want to visit if I ever end up in Amsterdam. As for living there, I might want to have a second thought ;)

[Food!!!] Thailand Fast Food

2009-07-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

Why do I picked to blog about fastfood in Thailand? Cause it's fast, it's yummy, and it's delicious!

Fast food has a lot more variety compared to the ones in Malaysia, since they don't have to follow the "Halal" food regulations. I have tried different fast food during my trip in Bangkok. So ladies and gentlemen, here are the top 3 listed best fast food in Bangkok by Mr William Nua Lang!

No. 1 MOS Japanese Fine Burger & Coffee!

I know. This is a thing that is unheard of to most Malaysians. Burgers are always associated with Western cuisine and culture. So what exactly defines "Japanese fine burger"? They sell japanese style burger. Like the chicken teriyaki burger my friend had. They sell rice burger. Just imagine, the two pieces of bread become rice patty, while the meat patty becomes ginger fried pork. Sound special? It tasted fimiliar, honestly. Like some home cooked dish that my mom prepared. But in the end, I still prefer my MOS beef & cheese burger. A thick beef patty, with a slice of cheese and tomato, and an amazing onion sauce! The taste is unforgetable! So remember, if you ever see this franchise when you are in Thailand. Go in and order a MOS beef & cheese burger set!

Beef Patty, cheese, tamato and gravy. Yum!

The MOS Beef & Cheese burger set.

The chicken teriyaki burger.

MOS Japanese Fine Burger & Coffee.

No. 2 McThai Samurai Pork Burger!

Yes. They called themselves McThai over there. Ever since I have arrived at Thailand, this is the meal I've been waiting for. Not tomyam kung. But "the pork burger they are selling in McDonald in Bangkok". It tasted good. But most of the enjoyment comes from the thought of eating a pork burger in McDonald. It is a luxury that I can never enjoy in Malaysia, sadly.

Served with fries and drink, as usual.

The pork patty tasted like chicken.

No. 3 KFC Wingz ZABB!

No. They still called themselves KFC over there. And the big old fat Colonel is holding a bucket of chicken as always instead of greeting you Sawadeekap. But they do have different type of food. Like the Wingz ZABB that I had tried. Forget Hot & Spicy, forget Fiery Crunch. They are nothing compared to these little chicken wings. In fact these little spicy snacks is how the Hot & Spicy should be. One bite and you can feel the burning sensation in your mouth. Absolutely great!

Sadly, this is all that's left after 10 minutes.

To those who are slightly confused, I did tried a lot of local Thai food. The local Thai food had a wide variety thus they are harder to be written about. So here's this small sneak peek of what new things I have tried in Bangkok. There are more posts to come. So stay tuned :)

[Travel] Bangkok Jam

2009-07-05T02:30:00.000-07:00

Bangkok, it is a beautiful city with its own unique traits, people and culture. On June 15th, I landed in the international airport of Suvarnabhumi, excited to begin my first experience in Thailand. I was very excited to see if things people say about bangkok is true or not. Some say it is a friendly and welcoming city. Some say it a densed, dirty and overpopulated city. I was eager to find out the truth myself.

Bangkok city view from the hotel I stayed.

I have spent 13 days there, which most of the time in office working and training. But when the night comes, when the office hours are over, I began my journey exploring the city center of Bangkok, bit by bit.

What’s so different about Bangkok and KL? The first thing I notice was the design of the buildings overthere. Compared to KL, the buildings have an obvious blend of oriental elements. I’m used to the modern architecture design in KL. So the buildings in Bangkok have an unique force of attraction to me. Too bad, the lack of a camera with me really cost me a lot. I wasn’t able to capture those building and their exotic oriental designs.

Victory Monument. Right in the center of Bangkok city.

What’s so similar about Bangkok and KL? The equally frustrating traffic jam. At the first night I experienced my first Bangkok Jam. It was horrible. A one km journey actually took me slightly less than one hour. This is the first time I experienced the density of the city. They have trains over there like LRT in KL, but just like in KL, it doesn’t help much in reducing the heavy traffic. In fact, there’s even boat service for people to get to places. I didn't get to try that though.

Be cool. Be the dog.

For the people over there, they are friendly and welcoming. Put my Thai colleagues who are most friendly and warm aside, I feel that people in bangkok are more polite. They speak and greet softly. They will treat people, especially foreigners, politely even though they can’t speak or understand English. There’s even one time where I managed to buy myself lunch by using hand gesture with a hawker. She smiled all the way during our ‘conversation’, not even showing any sign of frustration.

Sawadeekap from Mr. McDonald.

Erm... I meant Mr. McThai.

In the end, I like this city. Like other places in this world. It has its bad and its good. It has its special attractions that make it unique. For certain this will not be my last experience in Bangkok. Next target, backpacking trip!

[Food!!!] 潮宴 Chao Yan @ 1Utama

2009-06-14T06:12:00.000-07:00

Went to "潮宴 Chao Yan" @ 1Utama for an early Father's Day celebration since I am flying to Bangkok tomorrow.

Chao Yen. Photos are not of good quality since they were taken with my 1.3mp phone camera.

There're a lot of choices available in the menu. Being a Teochew Lang myself, most of the dishes look fimiliar to me. However, my family took almost 20 minutes to decide what are we going to have. This is an unusually long time for us. Must be the Teochew gene making us more picky this time. After a long discussion, we finally ended up with these four choices.

The first is a marinated roasted duck slices dish, one of the chef's recommendations in the menu. A few slices of roasted duck topped with quite an amount of pepper and served along with a saucer of sweet sauce. To me, it doesn't taste as good as it looks. The pepper was too much, making the taste too strong and peppery.

The thing on top the duck slices, if you can see, is actually a row of peppers.

Too peppery, not that nice.

The second dish is pig's ear slices served as a cold dish. I never seen this dish before, so I thought to give it a try. The pig's ear slices are served with a lime sauce. They are rather tasteless by themselves, but the sauce adds some freshness and some flavour into them. They are also very chewy since there're some soft bones in the slices. Not bad for a try.

Pig's ear. Looks good, sounds disgusting, but taste is ok.

Next dish served is a plate of vegetable cooked in soup. It tasted nice, even for a meat lover like me.

Vegetables. No further comments.

The last dish is pig's blood cube and chitterlings cooked with salted vegetable in a claypot. With a typical long English name and disgusting-for-some ingredients, the dish itself was pretty good. It has a rich but not overwhelming taste. I like the chitterlings. As for the blood cubes, I don't eat them usually but I forced myself to eat a cube. It was tasteless with a small hint of bloody smell. As usual, it is disgusting.

It looked good. The chitterlings are well done but the blood cube is a no-no for me.

We had these dished with sweet potato porridge. It is one of my favourites.I'll definitely recommend it to those who are going for Teo Chew cuisine. I was too busy eating that I didn't took a photo of the porridge.

After the dinner, my dad ordered a bowl of sweet mashed yam a.k.a "Ou ni". It was served in a little adorable pumkin bowl. I didn't even care about how it taste, the bowl was getting my attention. Hahaha.

It's a pumkin!

With yam and ginkgo inside.

Overall, the restaurant is worth a try if you ever feel like having Teochew cuisine. But as a Teochew Lang myself, I felt that my aunt's cooking is better than what they served us. Anyway, it is for Father's Day celebration and we did had a good time. That matters more than the dishes.

To all my friends and readers, Happy Father's Day!

[Life] Workplace Story

2009-06-11T07:02:00.000-07:00

This is the 4th day I entered Xeersoft as a non-intern staff. To give a brief introduction of my company, it is a wonderful workplace with lots of friendly people and an uplifting atmosphere. I like my company. Even when work gets a bit boring and overwhelming, my colleagues are still a bunch of young, ambitious and fun people that make the boringness and tiredness go away.

Xeersoft: Integrated Global Business Solution.

To give an example, yesterday morning I started the day feeling lazy. It was full moon the previous night and I turned into a full Nualang. After a whole night of Nua-ing, the mood of Nua-ness still stayed inside me when I went to work. My motivation and spirit were slow. I was half day dreaming and half hoping that the day could end fast so I can go back to bed. That was when Chew, my "Big sister" in Xeersoft, shared with me a meaningful article.

How to come out better and stronger

In short, this article gives a good idea on the correct attitude we should have towards our job. The author suggest that we should not make money or salary our motivation to work. Working should be an opportunity to learn new skills, meet new people and develop ourselves into more capable person. We should always work hard and work more. Get rid of the "I will only work overtime if I get paid" mentality. Even if your motivation is money, there has been no one who gotten rich from overtime pay or allowance. In fact, by working more and working hard, we can better ourselves and create more opportunity to success in life.

I do hope that all my friends, no matter working or studying, can read through this article and understand the author's message. Personally, I find the article a fascinating and powerful insight.

It is true that I was half motivated by money. My mentality when I started working was to get more spending money so I can buy the things I've always wanted for.

My dream phone.

My dream laptop.

My dream car.

My dream wife(s).

But this article makes me realised something important. When I was in internship in the same company last year, I enjoyed what I did even though I had a lot of tedious tasks. At that time, I was always learning new things and exploring something new each day. Compared to a few days ago, I wasn't really enjoying what I do. My motivation was to get my first salary (To be honest, I'm still quite anticipated about it now XD). Since money was in my mind, I don't see the fun part of learning in it.

Thanks to the inspiration from this article, I was reminded how I enjoyed my internship last time. Slowly my mindset adjusted and now I am feeling motivated to work. Furthermore, I was given an opportunity to go to my company's office at Bangkok so basically I get to have a free trip there. Yea ho!!!

On fire!!!

Yes. Work is enjoyable and fun. I am all set for more achievements.

[Food!!!] Tao @ AutoCity, Penang

2009-06-06T10:01:00.000-07:00

Went to Tao @ AutoCity, Penang last Tuesday.

What've we found at the main entrance.

It is an Asean cuisine buffet restaurant serving mainly Japanese and Thai cuisines. The restaurant design is much Zen themed. The combination of wood element, bamboos, dim lighting and soft music makes a nice atmosphere for dining. There's also a lounge serving wine outside the restaurant area, but we didn't went in.

The pathway to the restaurant.

The variety of wines at the lounge.

As for the food, me and my friends didn't eat a lot that night actually ( I suspect a few of them being shy, hahaha... ). However we did managed to get to taste a few dishes which were pretty good.

The main highlight for me that night is the Misoyaki, thick slices of Butterfish grilled with miso. The fish itself has oily flesh, which I guess that's how it gets its name from. The flesh leaves a rich taste in my mouth. Add in the aroma of miso, it is definitely my favourite food of the night.

Misoyaki. So good that I finished this whole plate all by myself.

My second in rank is the seafood teppanyaki stick. Slices of salmon wrapping a piece of spring onion and then cooked teppanyaki style on a stick, it taste good and the balance between the salmon and spring onion doesn't make me feel "jelak" ( Malay term for cloyingness). It is served real fast and eaten real fast too until the cameraman didn't managed to get a picture of it.

The third one is the steamed unagi. Unagi, being all time favourites, is not bad when steamed. Compared to the normally grilled unagi, the steamed one is softer and juicier but slightly tasteless too. I would prefer the grilled one. However the steamed unagi is the only unagi dish on the menu that doesn't come with rice, and we hated the idea of rice-filled stomach.

Steamed unagi, unique but overall so-so.

There's a lot of other food that we tried that night but didn't make it into the cameraman's photographing. The main reason is because the rest of us were eating at a speed that is much more faster while the cameraman likes to take his time adjusting different light modes and slowly take a few shots for one dish. I hope you all can half guess who the cameraman is. Yes, he is the irreplacable, charismatic and respectable God of Nua-ness, Wei Thek, who lives in a dimension where he rolls himself to the toilet, his on-time means 15 minutes later to us and his watch is meant for accessory purpose only. But thanks to his photography skills, we managed to get a couple more shots of food for the night.

First time I see an unagi handroll eaten using chopsticks. Impressive skills.

Chawan mushi, steamed egg in a tea cup.

One of my favourites but the one at Tao is not very good.

The salmon, as popular as always, is the first dish we finished.

The only dish on the table that I didn't try.

It was some rice ball with prawn, not tempting enough for me to reach out for it.

After the dinner, not surprisingly, Wei Thek INSISTED that we have to go to Bed for a drink. So there we went. However, I would like to inform those who were not there that night, that the lovely Ah Ying wasn't there. For Wei Thek's sake, I sure hope that it was only an off-day for her and we still can find her there waiting for him next CNY.

Looked here, looked there, but can't find Ah Ying anywhere.

Luckily for the rest of us, we managed to leave after having one jug of Heineken only. No people got drunk. End of story.

[Life] Graduation

2009-05-30T06:45:00.000-07:00

Yes!! I am finally a university graduate. On 28^th May 2009, 4.30pm, as I have finished my last exam in the Main Hall Extension of MMU Cyberjaya campus, I have ended part of my life as a university student. And now, home sweet home in my humble room enjoying a glass of ice cold honey, I find myself in the right mood of Nuaness to write about this experience of my life, as an university student.

It is the same old story for most of us. You finish SPM and you reach a cross junction in your life. Where should you go? Form 6, college or university? For me I have to admit that at that time I had no idea about where to go and what to be. So I ended up choosing to study in IT. The almost possible and only reason for that? Good old Counter Strike 1.6 and Diablo 2. Hehehe.

Thou shall follow the Lord of Terror into the path of IT and programming.

However, reality turns out to be something else. As I go into MMU as a student in IT, I realized it was not going to be terrorist-killing or demon-slashing fun that awaits me. Instead, boring subjects similar to those in secondary school welcomes me into my foundation life in MMU Melaka Campus. Physics, Einstein’s mathematics, Moral, and even English. At least there’s no Kimia or Biology in my course plan.

As I go into the degree course, life took a major turn for me. I have to do my degree in MMU Cyberjaya Campus so eventually I moved to there. I was quite excited in the beginning, due to the fact that the Melaka back in the days was boring and lifeless. Thinking that Cyberjaya = closer to KL = more fun in university life, my naïve thought were shattered once I moved in. No, it’s not like you cannot go to KL from Cyberjaya. It is just a 20 minutes drive to Sunway Piramid in Subang Jaya, and another additional 10 minutes to reach One Utama Damansara. It’s just that I forgot the fact that 70% of my time is going to be spent in Cyberjaya, and that makes all the differences.

Cyberjaya is a jungle, quite literally. When I first moved in there in 2007, all it has there are office buildings, Lim Kok Wing University College, MMU, two mamaks and a few apartments. I wouldn’t complain for the fact that there are no shopping malls or cinemas. But when you put any Penangite into a place where there are less than 10 choices of places to eat, you are putting him into hell.

The green terrain is all trees and jungle. Cyberjaya the intelligent city? Not quite literally.

However, things started to get better after my first year in Cyberjaya, it started to have some new shops and new places to hangout. Right now, life isn’t that bad over there after all. For food, there are Secret Recipe, the ever-popular place to get a birthday cake, Oldtown for yumchas and some pool, and a few Arabian restaurants that serve really good food. For entertainment, there is a cinema nearby in Alamanda Putrajaya which is around 15 minutes drive away. It might not be as good as KL or Sunway or Damansara, but it is good enough for a movie with friends.

Time flies and here I am. 3 years later and graduated. There’s a saying that university life is the most exciting and important times of your life. I would half agree to that. Most exciting? Nah. It is up to you to create more and more excitement in your life, no matter how old you are. Most important? For me it is. Through the up and downs that I have faced in these few years, I have changed and grew up into who I am today. I have done some mistakes that I wasn’t proud of, and accepted some disappointments that I can’t changed. But in the end, I turned out fine and happy to be who I am now.

To my friends, we have arrived at another cross junction of life again. Some of us going for further studies, some of us decided to take a break first, and some of us going into working life. No matter what you choose, I wish you all the best in your life. This is not a farewell. This is a war cry to continue to live as who we are and fight for what we believe in. Life awaits, my friends. Cheers.

P/S: The following video is a speech given by Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple during the graduation ceremony in Standford University in 2005. It was shared to me during my industrial training and i guess now it is the perfect timing for me to share it, especially to those who likes motivational and inspiration speeches. Enjoy ^^

[Movies] Che: A Revolutionary Life

2009-05-20T08:03:00.001-07:00

Ernesto "Che" Guevara, this name might sound unfimiliar to most of you. But this guy had his picture became of one the world's most popular image.

Do you recognise him now?

Che is a true revolutionary. He spend one year of his youth traveling around Latin America countries on a motorcycle, only to find out the commoners there suffers of poverty, disease and hunger. It was then that he decide to become a revolutionary, to help these people. He spent his adult life involved in guerilla armed struggles to overthrown dictatorship. He was one of the major forces behind the Cuban Revolution in 1950's. After the success in Cuba, Che left the country to continue his journey of revolution in Congo and Bolivia. Sadly, in October 1967 Che was captured and excuted in Bolivia. Hence the end of one of the most infuential leaders of our times.

An interesting character indeed. I was thrilled when I first found out that a movie about him was made. Two movies, to be exact.

No cooler pose than holding up a rifle while looking at your feet.

The first movie or the first part was called "Che: the argentine" a.k.a. "Che: part one". This movie focuses on Che role and involvement in the Cuban Revolution. It also reveals how Che sees himself as a revolutionary and his determination to achieve his goals. "Win or die". My favourite quote from the movie, was when a reporter interviewing Che.

Reporter: What is the most important quality for a revolutionary to possess?
Che: L'amor. (Love)
Reporter: Love?
Che: Love of humanity... of justice and truth. A real revolutionary goes where he is needed.

Benicio Del Toro looks almost like the real Che in this movie.

"Che: the guerilla" a.k.a. "Che:part two" focuses on Che journey in Bolivia after he left Cuba. It shows struggles he faced during his battles in Bolivia, towards the end where he was captured and executed.

Benicio Del Toro did a great job acting as our hero here. The directing of the movie keeps the story at a costant pace although it gets a bit boring in the middle of part two. The battle scenes wasn't as epic as the other war movies but they are full of suspense and anticipations. To wrap it up, this movie is a must watch especially if you enjoys biography movies as much as I do.

Chapter 1

2009-05-20T04:32:00.000-07:00

Yes. My own blog, finally.

In celebration of the spirit of Nualang, I decided to take a nap b4 continuing new post.

This is, the Nualang way of life. Cheers.