I arrived in Langkawi after taking a one and a half hour ferry ride from Kuala Kedah at about 12 o’clock midday. I am there partly on business and since the accommodation is covered by the event I am attending, that’s one less thing to worry about. Did I mention that I am staying in Westin Hotel, it’s just beside the Jetty.

First thing to do if you arrive by ferry or plane, is to get your transport sorted out. Rent a car and you won’t be disappointed and it’ll make your life a lot easier. To rent a car you can get the cheapest at MYR 50 (about 16 US dollars) per day. The rental is cheap partly due to huge competition from the locals offering the service… but expect to get what you paid for. I don’t worry about getting nice car or anything. One other thing, choose the rental company well and make sure the insurance is covered with the rental.

This is a side view of Pulau Dayang Bunting roughly translated as Pregnant Maiden Island. This shot was taken just as I disembarked from the ferry. The strange name of the island is due in part of how the island looks from a certain angle. Get the angle right and you can see as though a pregnant woman is lying on her back. Folklore says that any woman who swims in the lake will get pregnant!

The name of this bay (pic above) somehow escapes me but it situated very near to the jetty (about 5 minutes drive) there’s a small resort at the beach and even though its just 5 minutes drive from the town, it’s a bit secluded and peaceful. If you like peace and quiet while having the convenience of not being far from town, then this is the place for you.

As the sunset approaches, me and the wife arrive at Awana Porto Malai, situated in Pantai Tengah. It’s at the western part of the island. If you look at the map above its at bottom left of the map. I didn’t go into the resort but the picture is taken at the entrance of the resort. The sun sets beautifully here.

My hotel is situated at the town center Kuah but when night comes, finding a good local restaurant can be a bit of a challenge. On the second night of my stay on the island, I’ve traveled to Pantai Chenang just to check out the local scenery. To my surprise, there’s huge number of local eatery there and even authentic Arabic restaurant. The prices are very reasonable. If you are into seafood - this is the place for you. The road stretches about a kilometer and both sides of the streets are lined with various restaurant and stalls. What I did was park the car and just stroll along to find the best restaurants that suits my taste.

One of the must see places on Langkawi is definitely the cable car ride. It is situated about 3 kilometers away from Burau Bay. The cable car ride is not for the faint of heart. The ride is so steep that at one point it seems that we are traveling at an angle of 60 degrees! The top most summit is about 750 meters above sea level and on top of it is a magnificent view. You can see the Island all around.

There are two stops provided on the ride. The first platform is about 650 Meters above sea level and the platform is about half the size of the second platform. You can stop here a wile before continuing to the top most level.

The bridge in the picture above is a suspended bridge giving a clearer view of the Eastern part of the Langkawi. For those with vertigo or a fear of height, don’t even think of going onto the bridge. You can feel the bridge rocking back and forth as you walk on it.

A sight to behold. the view is just breath taking and at the top the air sure seems so fresh and cool.

The final night of my stay is at Mutiara Burau Bay Resort. Its about 2 minutes drive to the cable car ride. The resort offers chalet accommodation. There’s a lot of boats at Burau Bay and they offer chartered boat rides to nearby Island. Theres is a resort located on another Island called Rebak and the only way you can go there is by boat.

The last time I went to the Island is about 3-4 years ago and it is amazing how the Island has improved and evolve during such short period. This is definitely a must go place if you ever come to Malaysia.

This the latest take on my current progress working on the gundam. As you can probably see the picture ain’t perfect due to the fact that it’s taken using my handphone.

The headless gundam picture is due to the fact that I have to re-do the whole head again. I’ve painted the head and I saw that the seam on the side of the head makes the head unsightly. I’ve tried to spray the head with a coat of Mr Surfacer 1000 and it turns out looking bloated. Mr. Surfacer 1000 is quite thick and covers even the panel lining. The solution to this: Paint Stripping.

I’ve put the whole head in acrylic thinner and leave it there for a few hours. Next step is to scrub excess paint off and redo the whole thing again… What a drag. Enjoy the pic in the gallery

This is a short update of the MG Strike Gundam I am working on. The parts are all completely done with preshading and a few coat of FFA (future floor acrylics) have been added to the parts. Pictured above is a piece of the armor of its foot. Since the base coat is black, the red is somehow turn into a darkish red color instead of its gaudy red color.

This is one of the pitfall of using Max Technique as you must take into account of how the base coat can affect the top coat. Funnily enough, the color white will not be affected when used with black base coat. These are some of the color affected: red, yellow and blue.

Eventhough the red turns out a darker shade of red, you can enhance the red color by spraying a coat of clear red. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any clear red at the moment… this is some of the technique I learn from using the Max Technique. I did apply this technique when I was airbrushing the yellow bits in model and it worked.

The FFA worked really great on the model. I was half expecting to get the kit to get all shiny, but instead I got a nice satin type finish. Apart from that, the model smells great thanks to its scented properties.

Sungai Lembing is an old mining town situated about 40km from Kuantan. The name Sungai Lembing can be translated as “Spear River”. The mines was said to be existed since prehistoric period and it was commercially mined since 1906 by a British company.

One of the must visit place in Sungai Lembing is the museum. Picture above shows the opening time of the museum and best part of all there is no entrance fee!

The view is taken from second floor of the museum. The museum itself is converted from the Mining Manager’s Old Bungalow. Nice, huge and may be a bit creepy.

This is one of the display available in the museum. Apart from these old mining equipments, there were dioramas and even mining shafts (simulated) of course.

The mine entrance is located on few meters away from the museum entrance. It’s located on top of a hill and this is one of the four mine entrance. Since the mine is no longer in use it can be dangerous to enter it unsupervised. What really bothers me is the lack of signage to warn people from entering the mine.

Driving through the town can really transfer you back in time. It’s really amazes me every time I drove from Kuantan to Sungai Lembing, it seems that the closer I get there, the farther back in time the time seems to turn back.
More and more of the original inhabitant of the town is moving away to big cities. It is a shame if such historic town is left to become a ghost town. I always like to think that the town of Sungai Lembing is conduit to connect the present to the past and such place must be preserve.

The base color may not necessarily be black. You can use a totally different color. In my case, the base color for the white armor is dark brown.. the reason I use the color is to give a dirt like outline of the edges.

Another thing I learn from doing this is that the parts looks so much better with this technique as oppose to without using the highlighting technique. Not to mention it is much more challenging and interesting. The hard work really pays off…

This are some of the first take on the currently on going IWSP Gundam. These pictures are taken using my Sony Ericson K-801 camera phone. Sometime the pictures turn out decent enough… but for these initial shots, it lacks the clarity.

The initial coat (base coat) are flat black used on all of the IWSP pack. The wing are one of the more difficult place to apply this technique due to its large flat surface. Getting the even tone across of the areas take a lot of getting used to. There are a lot factor you need to consider such as the air pressure, and getting the right amount of paint with the right amount of air to it.

Since I am using a dual acting airbrush, this is not a huge problem.If you don’t have a dual action airbrush, my suggestion is get one! Doing the Max Technique takes a lot of time and patience.

The IWSP cannon looks pretty decent when using this technique. It gives the impression of high intense heat on gun’s metal surface making the paint a bit faded. I’ll post more pictures when more progress are made. The inner frame of IWSP gundam has been painted and shaded and it looks cool. More pictures will be uploaded soon.

Kepada penggemar murtabak, pasti tidak akan melepaskan peluang untuk menikmati murtabak istimewa ini. Saya dan keluarga selalu berkunjung ke Pekan untuk mendapatkan murtabak Mengkasar ini. Ia sangat popular di sini, pernah beberapa kali masuk paper pasal kedai ini dan pernah juga masuk Jalan-jalan Cari Makan TV3.

Kedai ini terletak di Kampung Mengkasar, Pekan. Senang je nak cari sebab kedai ni letaknya tepi jalan. Nampak je signboard Murtabak Mengkasar, kat situlah kedainya. Murtabak ni lain sikit dari murtabak biasa sebab ia macam ada inti kat tengah. Lapisan inti tu kena masak dulu, kemudian baru letak dalam lapisan yang seterusnya kemudian baru masak lagi. Saya tengok macam letak bancuhan telur kat luar lapisan tu. Cawangannya terletak di Bukit Sekilau bersebelahan dengan UITM Kuantan. Tapi, saya lebih suka pergi ke Pekan cari yang original!! Pada bulan puasa terutamanya, ramai yang bukak gerai murtabak ni. Mereka buat ala-ala Murtabak Mengkasar lah….letak nama murtabak Pekan. Jadi orang ingat samalah macam Murtabak Mengkasar ni. Saya pernah beli, tapi rasanya tak sama dengan Murtabak Mengkasar.

Harga Murtabak Mengkasar ni sepadan dengan saiznya, murtabak biasa RM5.00 & murtabak special RM7.00 sekeping. Kalau dah datang Pekan ni, tak sah kalau tak pergi Kampung Padang Polo. Betul-betul dekat kawasan istana. Petang-petang biasanya ada orang main polo. Bolehlah tengok orang main polo kat sini & anak-anaklah yang pastinya sangat seronok menyaksikan permainan ini.

Alang-alang dah cerita pasal Pekan ni, banyak tempat-tempat menarik yang boleh dilawati seperti Muzium, Rumah kelahiran Tun Razak dan sebagainya. Bagi yang minat kain sutera, kat sini bolehlah beli sutera tenun Pahang yang eksklusif.

Sehingga kini yang saya masih mencari kuih apam balik yang dikatakan menjadi kegemaran Tuanku di Pekan. Pernah cuba beberapa kali mencari kedai tersebut tapi tidak tahu di mana letaknya. Sekadar ingin mencuba dan merasa keenakannya. Itu saja.

Earlier this month I decided to buy a wireless modem. After resisting the temptation for so long, I finally succumbed to the urge to going wireless. I’ve got an AZTECH USB Modem that I have been using for years connected to my desktop PC.

I used to disconnect the modem to my desktop and connect it to my Laptop when I want to connect the laptop and work on the laptop while watching the TV. But this prove to be a challenge for me since my three kids will start tripping over the phone wire and inadvertently cause the modem to fell down from the table and get disconnect. A wireless modem seems to be the only solution to my predicament.

When it comes to wireless modem, I am totally at loss. I don’t how to set up all those DNS and what not. I may have technical background but wireless network setup is whole different ball game.

Searching the internet, I somehow found out about D-Link DSL 2460B Modem. What’s great about the modem is that the setup is absolutely easy. All I have to do is insert the CD and choose my ISP. From the list I wager that they have all the major ISP provider for the whole world and they certainly didn’t miss out the ISP in Malaysia.

Select your ISP and you’re good to go.. you have the option to setup the security for your wireless network i.e. your wireless connection security codes… you don’t want your neighbours and their cats and dogs to be able to connect to your network and cause serious slow down… I need all the bandwith I can get for my P2P network!

This is another great thing about the modem… Bittorrent runs smoothly on this. From my research on the internet, somehow I got the impression that not all wireless modem are able to perform this feat. With this modem it’s no problem.

The modem is setup in such a way that it is connect via ethernet port for my desktop and wireless connection to my laptop. When both computers is accessing the internet, there are absolutely no problem. Even with both computers connected to Bittorrent it still works fine. All in all this modem is great for my use and I’d recommend D-Link DSL 2460B Modem to anyone who don’t have the technical knowledge to set up a wireless modem.

I was clearing my handphone memory and downloading the pictures taken with my hand phone and these are some of the photos taken during my visit to Kelantan earlier this month. The beach was spotless clean and there are not so many people at the time since its not the weekend.. (middle of the week in fact)

Since it was a long time since me and the wife ate at the stalls near the beach we decided to eat some of the specialty dishes there. Some seafood fried with flour… not unlike a tempura.

The sky was clear and the sea was deep blue. This is one of the favorite tourist spot to Kelantan. It is situated on not far from Kota Bharu, about 10 kilometers away.

You may be tempted to take a dip into the sea, but beware that it isn’t as calm as it look. Death has been reported to occur at the beach especially school children. This may be due to under current near the shore of the beach.

If you visit Kelantan, make a point to take a look at the beach.