iPad Air - From Funny Bunny Point of View

I have an iPad mini, and I like the size of it very much. I hesitated for awhile until finally I decided to switch, from 7.9" to 9.7" screen. It sure take a little getting use to, but I'll be okay real soon I guess. Anyway, this is not going to be the usual review you saw from other website, comparing soecs and comparing with previous generation iPad and etc. I'm just sharing my thoughts about this piece of gadget that I have been using these few days.

I really love the mini, but seriously, it is really slow. And I always have issue with it's wifi, the connection always seems weak. And after the iOS 7 update, the chipset's age gets even more apparent. So, why Air and not the mini with retina display, or maybe something else like the Nexus 7 or Galaxy Note 10? Well, seriously, in the market, currently there's only two tablet you can consider: iPad or Nexus. Oh, if you need water proof, Sony has something to offer. Other than that, forget it. So I decided to go for Air instead because: free iLife and iWorks suite from Apple, and the retina display for mini will surely hit by some production issue (and it's already proven with user reporting with image retention issue on their screen).

I wanted to start making full use of the iLife and iWorks apps, on a mini, with the limited screen estate, it is going to be hard and tuff. While I still think that the mini serves better in terms of reading books and playing games, but we have to compromise somewhere, don't we? So I trade in my mini for the Air. It's light, it's fast, it's slim. But that pretty much sum it all. I'm amaze by the engineering effort put behind this device, I'm already aware of the speed of the A7 chip as I have the iPhone 5s, the weight... Well, it's lighter obviously, but it doesn't have that WOW factor in lightness like the iPhone 5 during it's debut. No touch ID is really a bummer, I guess Apple is saving it for next year, otherwise there will be no new feature to talk about in their keynote. The speaker is too bassy to my liking, otherwise every other thing just works fine like the iPad you use to know of.

All in all, the hardware of iPad Air is amazing, really, no doubt. But there's really nothing much to talk about other than that. Is it because there's no innovation in it? Well, not really. I would say iPad was already a great and refined product to begin with during it's first debut, therefore there's really nothing much can be done to take a leap other than making it faster slimmer lighter. But one thing that I really can see for room of improvement is on the software side. Sure iOS 7 is great and nice, but seriously, on the iPad... A lot of times it just feels like a blown up iPhone. Apple really should focus on making iOS better for iPad, as currently there's a lot of potential in it that's got wasted.

So what's the problem with iOS on iPad? The waste of screen estate. On the iPhone, you get a 4" screen, I can surely forgive Apple for only allowing app icon to show on screen while we need to get into notification centre for other information that we need, but on the iPad, with such huge screen being used to just shiw rows of icons... It's a total waste. Well, maybe they have to make sure the OS is not that much different from the iPhone than on the iPad, but it really is degrading my user experience with it. On the androids, you can choose to put all sorts of widget to display info that you need, and now with KitKat coming, there's a home screen for Google Now which shows you all information that you want and need in a single page. That's something really useful, and if iPad can do that, it would have been great.

Another things that can be improve will be multi window or multi apps running simultaneously on screen. On a phone, this feature is rather meaningless, but on the tablet... It's going to be a whole new level of experience. It will make the tablet gets closer to replace your laptop or desktop. There are all sorts of apps that designed for iPad, which is one of the main reason I have switched from android tablet to iPad (yes, I used to own an android tablet until I fed up with it), and this is really good. If only Apple can improve the iOS for iPad further, otherwise we will probably be seeing just incremental upgrade for years to come.

All said, I have some plans on my mind to make my new toy really work it's ass for me. Even now this post was completely typed out and posted from my iPad Air, which is something I normally do only on my laptop. I'm exploring the possibilities of spending the money on an iOS devices (where you can literally get yourself a laptop with the same amount of money) and we'll see how things work out ultimately. And if android tablets really catches up someday in terms of overall product built quality and user experience, who knows I might even switch back to android for their "openness". Till then, I'll still enjoy tourturing my iPad while still hoping deep down in my heart that the iOS can really improve further on the iPad.

iPhone 5s - From Funny Bunny Point of View

Okay, I wanted the Gold iPhone 5s so badly. But sometimes we just have to bow to faith. I can't get myself a gold one at launch, instead the Space Gray version was offered to me. After much consideration, I decided to just take it. And now I want to share some of my thoughts of this phone here... I'm not going to review deep down into the specs and etc, you can get all these else where. I'm just an ordinary user who is looking for a ordinary smartphone that can meet my requirement, and my requirement is fairly simple: a phone that's convenient to use in one hand, fast and fluent, don't crash or hang for no reason, doesn't need me to worry too much about it and just get all the job I throw to it done.

Why iPhone 5s... well, I had a great experience using iPhone 5 with iOS 6 last year, and I have given the phone to my girlfriend. Then I've been using Xperia SP until I started to fed up with Android once again, and I'm so eagerly want to dive back to the gated garden wall. Obviously, iPhone 5s is the only choice for "upgrade" and iPhone 5c is essentially the same as iPhone 5. Anyway, here I am, with my Space Gray 32GB iPhone 5s and its sexy RED leather case from Apple... and let my sharing begins!

First, let's talk about hardware. 5s is identical with 5 from the outside, and since I like the 5 pretty much, of course I enjoy holding 5s in my hand. Aluminium and glass, it just feels solid and premium in hand. Particularly, I like the size of the phone which is extremely comfortable to operate with one hand, and the earphone jack is at the bottom, the only logical place to have the earphone pluck in. I'd always dislike the existence of the home button, but this time around, I'm glad that it's there, because deep down lies the Touch ID sensor. I must say the sensor is freakingly accurate and useful. Unlocking phone with thumb print versus with passcode... I would say thumb print is a little faster, but not really something to wow about. The best part is you don't need to key in passcode or your Apple ID password over and over again and all these are simply replaced by a touch of your finger. Pretty cool, but yet practical. I certainly want to see this to be implemented in the future for mobile payment purpose. Previously the 5 can last me more than half a day under heavy usage and a day under normal usage, the 5s betters that by giving close to full day under heavy usage and almost a day and a half under normal usage.

Now, let's talk about the grey area between hardware and software. 5s comes with the industry leading 64 bit A7 processor, first of its kind. There are tons of articles about how good a 64 bit processor can be, but does it really live up to the hype? Running iOS 7 between 5 and 5s, you can easily notice that it's smoother on the 5s. Apple native apps are all 64 bit supporting by now, and all of them are running nicely with no issue under iOS 7. Third party apps however, is a different story. Some apps have updated to support iOS 7, while some are not. Those haven't will actually causing problem once in a while... those already updated to iOS 7 but still in 32 bit, it still need some time in order to make full use of the processor. And the M7 chip... looking forward to see how developer can make full use of it too.

Another feature that Apple talks about is the camera. Well, it is obvious that the camera in 5s is better than the 5, especially under low light condition. Not to forget as well on all the new feature such as larger sensor, faster aperture, dual LED flash, burst shot, slow-mo video, live photo filters and improved panorama shots. One thing I like about iPhone's camera, is that it is all auto, and the result is satisfying for most of the time. It's so easy, you just need to swipe to get into the camera app and start snapping. For me, this is how a camera should be for smartphone. I find it no point to actually allow the smartphone camera to have the ability to do all sorts of setting for ISO, aperture and shutter speed... I can use a pro camera when I want to have full control, smartphone camera is just not for serious shooting, it should be fun and simple! Image quality wise, no comment as I didn't really care about comparing to other phone, it's just a camera from a smartphone, what do you expect from them?

After running iOS 7 for some time, I find it to be a really nice upgrade from iOS 6. A big step forward for iOS user I would say. I still don't really like some of the new icons as they are too flat, anyway I can live with that. Overall I like the new font, and the new implementation of gestures in controlling the software is simply amazing. I wonder why all these gestures are added only until today... Apple claimed that iOS is the most advanced mobile OS in the world, for me, I think that claim is a little too much. It may not be the most advance in the world, but it is actually the best OS so far for mobile gadget, at least for me. 

Okay, I have covered most of the user experience of running 5s. Is it the ultimate phone to own by everyone? No. Is it the perfect phone to date? Hmm, yes and no. I would really prefer if Apple can stuck a 4.5" screen and make it as slim and sexy like the 5s, and they can use a screen with lower power consumption (IGZO screen has been rumoured for so long...) to prolong the battery life further. Optical stabilisation would be added advantage, and if they can get more developer to dive into the 64 bit ecosystem, iPhone or iOS to be precise, will get to the top of the world in no time. For those who really prefer to slap a large plastic over your face, you know who you should look to. Those who want to use only pirated software or not willing to pay for quality apps, please continue to stay in your open playground. Other than that, I can't seems to find a reason not to love the iPhone 5s.

To sum it all up, in terms of specs, indeed the 5s is the most forward thinking phone in the industry as of now. Apple doesn't throw in 10 bits of features into the smartphone just to find them as a gimmick in the end and none of them to be useful, they certainly done enough research and engineering to come up with a solution that "it just works". iPhone 5s can really be the future of smartphone, but still, it is not there... yet. When developer started to flood in and support the 64 bit OS, when apps are optimized for iOS 7, when all the tiny bugs have been ironed out by Apple... the iPhone 5s will undoubtedly become the future of smartphone.

Sony Bluetooth Headset SBH20 - From Funny Bunny Point of View

Sick of the stock headset provided from Sony together with my Xperia SP, so I decided to get a new headset to replace it instead. There are of course many choices out there in the market, but still, I'm more towards using wireless option. Sony has always been making some good bluetooth headset, so I decided to stick with Sony and get a SBH20. There's another offering at the moment, SBH50 which shows caller ID, track informations and etc, but I don't really need those, so I opt for the cheaper SBH20 instead.

First up, the connectivity. You may connect this headset through Bluetooth 3.0 pairing, or you can tap it to your phone through NFC for immediate pairing. It is a great idea, but there are still some hiccups once in awhile on the NFC. In ideal condition, you just need to tap your phone on the headset, and it will automatically pair the devices in a few seconds. Sometime it takes a little longer, and sometime it doesn't pair after the first tap, and you have to tap it again... but once it is connected, everything seems to be working well so far without signal dropping halfway through. Anyway, I believe all these are more towards software refinement, it can certainly be better and improve in the future.

After pairing, now let's enjoy some music. You will get the usual play/pause, next track and previous track, and volume control on this headset. So there's not much a problem to navigate through them. The sound quality of the headset is very good. I would say great if compared to the stock headset bundled with my Xperia SP. Nice quality sound with balance overall output... which is just what I wanted as I don't want to use bass heavy headset. The body itself act as a clip, so you can clip it anywhere on your shirt while leaving your phone in your bag, or you can enjoy using the phone without the need to worry the wire tangling here and there, extremely helpful when you are travelling in a crowded bus or train.

Next, the hands free talk quality. While it enjoy some amazingly sweet sound when playing music, receiving a call through it is another story. It's not to say the quality is poor, but as compared to listening to music, you can definitely feel the difference. The voice quality is ok, although it can definitely be better. It's not that loud, but at least it is clear enough to be heard... All in all, the scoring for this part is just average. The battery life is fairly acceptable. I have been using it daily for at least 2 hours a day listening to music and receiving a few calls, it can last me almost the week with one charge. All in all, I'm very happy with my purchase and I have been enjoying this headset very much. I really would recommend people to get one of these instead of tangling all the wires here and there on your phone. It's time to free up yourself!

Sony Xperia SP: From Funny Bunny Point of View - Extended

Battery life is considered OK, light usage of calls, sms, browsing and facebook-ing generally will allow almost 2 days usage period. So even if you abuse it more, I think it shouldn’t be a problem for it to last for a day. But one weird thing that I notice is the battery percentage indicator is rather inaccurate. For example, at the moment it shows 70+% of battery, after you put it to sleep for awhile and come back to the phone later, it may shows 80% this time around. The bundle earphone/hands-free is really low quality in terms of make. Last time around Sony has bundled a great earphone for the Xperia Ray, not sure why they can’t do the same here this time. Well, anyway the earphone still manages to do what it should do, but the sound quality is really average. 

One particular annoying problem with this phone is on the wifi reception. Since Xperia Ray, the wifi reception of Sony’s phone has always been below average. Imagine I’m sitting in front of the fiber broadband router, and I’m only getting 2 out of 3 bars of signal. Sony really has to work hard to improve their wifi connectivity. I have also found some software glitches from time to time, like unable to connect to LTE, or music play through the walkman app will pause for no reason by itself. Well, all these glitches can be solved by a simple restart of phone, but it sure hinders the user experience. So, in order to get a “smoother” experience all day, restart your phone daily. 

Google Now can be access by holding the home button down. This is one of the selling feature for Jellybean software, but coming from Ice Cream Sandwich & iOS 6, I’m pretty much new to this new feature Google introduced us. I’m still exploring what can actually be done with it. For the moment, I’m just running the weather card and some transit info on it. On a side note, if you are looking for similar spec mid range phone out there, you may take a look at Lumia 820 if you are willing to hop into WP8’s garden. For the Android side, Samsung Galaxy S4 mini and the rumored HTC One mini can be in your shopping list as well.

Sony Xperia SP: From Funny Bunny Point of View

Just got myself a Sony Xperia SP when signing up a new corporate plan in Singapore... anyway, the reason I got this is just because it is dirt cheap. Anyway, for those who may or may not know, I started my smart phone journey with first device from Asus, which is running Froyo... follow by Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray (from Gingerbread to Ice Cream Sandwich), follow by iPhone 5 running iOS 6. In between, I have got myself with Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7" which runs Ice Cream Sandwich initially and then get an upgrade to Jellybean, which was the worst gadget purchase I have ever made in my life... and now ended up with iPad Mini running iOS 6. So I'm reviewing this Xperia SP from the point of view of a person who used and lived with different OS and brands before this... so let's see what this device has up it's sleeves...

I won't talk so much on the technical spec sheet, for me, user experience is always more important than the spec sheet alone. You may have the fastest processor and the best spec out there, but if people don't feel comfortable using your device, there's no point at all... yes, Samsung, I'm pointing this towards you. So let's begin with the outlook of the phone, this will usually be the first thing which attracts you anyway. From the outside, Xperia SP comes with Aluminium frame, glass front and plastic back. The glass front will be more or less standard for all smartphone nowadays, the Aluminium frame is a nice touch. It feels solid in hand, giving it a "premium" feel. The plastic back is matted, and feels a tiny little bit of rubberised, which again is very nice and comfortable to hold, touch & grab. The other noticeable difference, or perhaps the signature of this device would be the transparent band at the bottom. This band basically flashes different LED light which serves as notification purpose. An iconic identity for the Xperia SP. In terms of physical buttons & port, you'll get your USB port on the left, earphone jack on the top, volume rocker + power button + camera shutter on the right, nothing at the bottom, 8MP shooter + LED flash + speaker on the back. All in all, buttons and ports placement are ok and accessible, although I do prefer the headphone jack to be at the bottom, a more sensible location for me, but it's nothing major here. Speaker on the upper part also prevents your hand from blocking the sound. This device is not to say slim in profile, but all in all it feels solid in hand. Only complain would be the width of the device is a little too much to my liking... sometime it feels uncomfortable to navigate the touch screen with only one hand. If Sony can reduce the width, or maybe the thickness, by a little, the ergonomics should feel much better.

After mentioning the outlook, let's look into operation wise. As I prefer single hand operation, the 4.6" screen is a little too large for that purpose. If the screen size is something like 4.3" to 4.5", I think it would be the best size for single hand operation smart phone (Apple, this is for you to take note). Talking about the screen, it's 720p, so it's crystal clear for sure, but he viewing angle is really poor and the screen do appear washout as compared to other competitors. Anyway, touch gesture is responsive enough to register, so overall it is acceptable. The speaker delivers loud and clear sound thanks to xLoud from Sony. The camera is the major downside of this device though. Picture quality is moderate, most of the time you will get noisy shots, and the camera app is a little slow and sluggish at times. Although you do get tons of settings customization, but all in all it is surely not the camera that you can rely on as a replacement for point & shoot camera. Well, for this price point, I would say it is acceptable, but still it can be better as the competition is fierce in this segment. The transparent LED notification band is nice to use to stay alert with updates, but if omitting this band can reduce the size and weight of the device, I'm more than happy to let go of it. Anyway, it is still pretty cool to have the LED flashing and blinking while you are listening to musics & browsing pictures. The back cover can be removed to insert micro Sim and micro SD card, while battery is non-removable (with power bank getting cheaper, I don't see the need to really have removable battery, it's pointless).

Now, let's move on to the software part: the Jellybean. The Sony's version of Jellybean skin is by far the "lightest" skin I have seen. HTC's are ok, with a home screen dedicated for blink feed, while Samsung is the most heavily customized skin. It's not to say it is not good to have a heavily customized skin, but the problem is if the customization ends up with a phone that constantly lags and having glitches here and there... what's the point of doing so? Anyway, people who knows me knew that I dislike Samsung, well, it's not because I like Apple and therefore dislike Samsung, it's more like the company is pissing me off with their product and services... Alright, back to the topic. You will standard Android Jellybean stuffs here... I particularly like the "tasks" button which opens up recently used apps plus a few short cuts for those gadget we will use from time to time such as notepad, timer, voice recording and etc. This really improves the smoothness of operation and getting into those apps. Other than that, Sony also throw in some nice Apps addition like Walkman, Album, Movies and etc, which user may or may not even use it. Other than that, lock screen shortcut, widget, notification center with shortcuts all are standard Android features that will be more or less the same on all other Android running devices.

So, let's wrap up. All in all, I would say this is by far the best mid range Android phone I have tested in shops and used up to date. With the mid range price point, you are getting dual core processor, reasonable camera, NFC, LTE, Jellybean... what else to expect for the bang of the bucks? The Jellybean here is running acceptably smooth (at least for now), with some glitches and lag once in a while (which is acceptable and not to the point of annoying), pretty much thanks to the lightly skinned Jellybean software. Samsung's version, although there are some features like split viewing of multiple windows at once and etc, which might be useful (the keyword is "might"), but in the end makes a device to be running slow, lag and sluggish resulting in inferior user experience, which is something I can't tolerate or compromise on. I'm not completely stating they are bad, but in the end it is up to you to decide what compromise you want to make, based on your preference. For me, I need smooth, stable, almost zero lag and one hand operable device over functionality and features, that's why I ended up with iPhone 5 before this. And Samsung really needs to start copying Sony on the choice of material used, they are really good at it. Since the days of Xperia Ray, the material & build quality of Sony's phone has been pretty satisfying. For now, I must say I miss the build quality of iPhone 5, with iOS 7 coming soon to address some of the shortage in terms of software side, I believe the next iPhone will be even better and greater to be beaten, in terms of my own preference of course. But I think I might start to miss the slightly larger screen on this Xperia SP when I jump back to iPhone. As often Android device will become slower and slower as time goes by, my personal preference might change with time & technologies may advanced faster than we can imagine, so we'll see what is going to happen in the near future. If I get myself the new iPhone, I'll share with you my experience as well.

台湾自游行

为了追寻梦想，我从迪拜跨越了半个地球，来到了台湾。搭乘国泰航空从迪拜飞往香港，全程耗时7小时，然后在香港国际机场等待约一小时后，转机前往台湾。一个半小时后，终于抵达台北桃园国际机场。全程其实并不能说得上是安稳舒适的，但毕竟已经习惯了这样的长途飞机，所以并没有多大问题。在飞机上虽然沉闷，但是精神都花在调整时差上，所以不知不觉就已经到达了目的地。在入境大厅和二姐与他的男朋友会合后，我们便前往我们下榻的民宿。放好行李后已经是傍晚时分，我们便出发前往台北的第一个景点：士林夜市。在这里我初次看见了那么多的小吃，和我们常去的夜市大有不同。品尝了许多“士林专有”的小吃，在街上走走逛逛，然后便回到民宿休息了。

第二天，我们来到了另一个台湾有名的地方：忠孝东路。就算没有到过台湾的人也会知道这里有着这么的一条路。其实也没有什么大不了，就是一个充斥各式各样的商店的商圈。连同敦化路，我们在这里消耗了大半天的时间，感受着到地的城市气息。但是由于今天是周六，所以商店大部分都在12点后才开始营业。所以早上我们到了一家叫做“高雄五福鲜虾扁食”的小店吃着早餐。这是一家很有历史的老店，食物味道很不错，可能还是延续着古早的原汁原味吧？看见店里摆放着大明星曾经到访的照片，照片里的店面和现在依然没有任何改变，可见老板对传统的执著，以及他那如何抵挡时代进步影响的努力。过后我到了台北钢弹基地去想我的钢弹模型“朝圣”，然后便出发前往南港去追寻彩虹…这也是我来到台湾的主要目的，前往观看日本第一天团L’Arc~en~Ciel的台北站世界巡回演唱会。

第三天，吃过早餐我们便出发乘搭台北高铁前往台中。来到台中，我们包了一辆计程车载我们游玩一天。第一站我们来到了日月潭。和死海一样，日月潭虽然是一个湖，但是由于是一个很大的湖，又有一点的浪潮，难免会让你觉得置身海边的感觉。湖水清澈蔚蓝，海天一色，然后还有着原住民那一丝丝的神秘感。在这里有着庙宇，有着老街，有着穿梭原住民文化村的缆车，当然少不了的就是到地的原住民料理。吃过午饭后，我们离开了日月潭，来到了文武庙。文武庙里供奉着孔子，岳飞，关羽等文武名人。这是一座很壮观的庙，有着几个大殿，然后周围还有不少小景点可以让你慢慢细心感受。由于时间迟了，当我们抵达埔里酒厂时展览厅已经关门了。于是我们来到了一间叫“18°C巧克力工房”的店面。这里可以让顾客自己制作巧克力，一个十分贴心的服务。由于人潮很多，短暂逗留了一下我们便前往逢甲的民宿去。安顿好房间后我们来到了逢甲夜市到处逛逛。

第四天，我们坐着同样的计程车，来到了野柳地质公园。这一带有着许多奇形怪状的石头与峭壁，都是被海风与海浪长期侵蚀而造成的。大自然的力量真的不能小看啊！沿着海岸，沿着石壁，走走看看，然后还爬上了一座小山…但是山上却没什么特别的景色。山下的景色还更为漂亮。接着，下起了细细的雨，我们离开了地质公园，来到对面的一家餐馆享用午餐。过后，我们来到了九份老街。不知道是否因为下着细雨的关系，整个老街看起来更有感觉，更有味道…真的有如大家所形容的：“越夜越美丽”。逛到天黑后，我们把行李放到入住的民宿那里，然后前往基隆庙口夜市去品尝基隆小吃。

第五天，我们转搭另一辆计程车，来到了黄金博物馆。在这里，除了感受着当年大家那艰辛的淘金梦，仿佛还能够感受到他们梦醒之后的那段淡淡忧伤。这里有着一块200公斤重的黄金，有兴趣的人可以去摸一摸。下一站，我们来到了黄金瀑布。其实也没有什么特别，就是一个瀑布，不过平常看见的瀑布都是在黑褐色的石头堆积而成的地方畅流，但是这瀑布周围都是橙黄色的石头，所以看起来像“黄金”一样。由于天还在下着细雨，所以我们并没有逗留太久，便前往下一站：阴阳海。可惜由于风浪太大，不然我们可以看见海上有着蓝色与褐色的海水…过后，我们来到了十分大瀑布。这里有着吊桥，有着火车道，有山有水…可以说是大大满足了我们的摄影欲望。逗留了一阵子后，我们便启程返回台北，然后入住在西门町的一家民宿。当然少不了就是在这里逛逛。

第六天，我们来到了中正纪念堂，窥看台湾的历史过去。还记得当时看见步操步经过大厅然后步进电梯的瞬间…脑海里第一个感觉就是：“WTF？操步还可以搭电梯？”过后，我们来到了北投地热谷，感受着那滚烫与恶臭的天然温泉…过后当然还是去找了一家温泉旅馆来泡了下。泡了两个小时后，整个人就好像充了电似的，这么多天的疲劳一洗而空。接着，我们来到了淡水的渔人码头和情人桥，等待日落的降临。拍了许许多多的照片后，我们便到淡水老街去医饱肚子。

第七天，我们先到故宫去参观展览，然后便来到Hello Kitty餐厅享午餐。食物其实只是普通，但是来到这里的人根本不会介意这些吧…然后，我们来到了台北101，除了逛逛，还上了观景台，等待日落。太阳下山后，我们来到了五角船板餐厅享用的美味的一顿晚餐。最后，当然不能错过的就是美丽华摩天轮的夜景。

第八天，我们回到了桃园机场，然后带着依依不舍的心情，离开了台湾。从16号到23号，这八天七夜的台湾旅程，虽然很疲累，但是却看见了许多，体会了许多。台湾，它吸引我的地方，除了美丽的景色，还有的就是他们的美食，他们的人，他们的文化。从我相机里，从我眼睛里，从我的心里，我…认识了一个新的国度，体会了一段新的风情。有机会，我还会想再到台湾去走走看看，期待下一次会有另一段美好的回忆吧！

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Italy... an amazing journey

Well, never really thought of heading to Europe in my life... yet. And never ever thought of it would be this early... anyway, it turns out that I need to go for a business trip to Italy for 1 week. It's so sudden that I got no idea how should I react. A rush in preparing for the winter, and there I'd already boarded the midnight flight all the way to Milan. I do transit at Amsterdam, which I believe is another nice city (well, at least the airport is nice...) but since I'd just hang around for few hours in he airport, so nothing much I can tel about it.

The moment of my arrival to Milan wasn't so impressive actually. Touch down at Malpensa International Airport, but honestly the airport looks old even though it is just about 5 years old. Maybe this is their unique design that doesn't suit my taste? Have some upset moment when dealing with a waitress in a restaurant... Anyway, met up with Marco, one of my company's distributor at the airport while waiting for my colleague from Dubai to touch down an hour later. Have a nice chat with him while trying to get myself comfortable with the new environment. Jet-lag? Well, not really. I got a whole 14 hours of time during my flight to adjust myself according to the time zone. After my colleague landed, we head to the hotel in Assago, Royal Garden Hotel.

The next day, our distributor, Mr Francesco and Ms Paula pick us up to their office for a cup of Italian Espresso. It is very aromatic, but indeed it was too heavy for me and my colleague. Italian just like to drink such a concentrated cafe. We then head on to Turin, where we will have our meetings with other dealers and technicians for the upcoming training. There's about 20 of them, and they are really some nice and friendly guy. A bit of admiring them, as they gave me the feel of "work hard, play hard, eat hard, and enjoy every moment in your life". During the five days of training, which my colleague and I were their trainer for giving them training on my company's product, I think I'd learnt a lot from them, far more than what they had learnt from me I guess. Well, it is a nice experience indeed.

After the 5 days training ended, we head back to Milan and stayed back in the same hotel. The next day was Saturday, we woke up early in the morning and checking up what we can do for the day in Milan. Francesco and Paula pick us up from the hotel and we head for San Siro Stadium, the home for AC Milan and Inter Milan Football Club. From the outside, the stadium looks huge, but when we get inside, the feeling was totally different. One may start to wonder why the stadium feels smaller when you are inside... anyway, this is perhaps something good as it means when you are watching a match in the stadium, you are much closer to the footballers. A tour around the stadium and the changing room... follow by the museum which host all the trophies and jersey... it is a nice trip, even though I'm not a die-hard-fan but still I can feel the stream of emotion running in everyone's body.

Next, we head for a very nice lunch in Milan town center. Milan, far more artistic than you can ever imagine. Every building, every street, every corner, everywhere... you can feel the sense of art, sense of history, sense of heading back to the 90's, 80's and 70's... by the time we finish our lunch, it's already past 2pm. Our distributors decided to let us free to travel around as we like, and we really appreciate it. We first entered the Duomo Church, a really holly and magnificence place which everyone shouldn't miss. The design, the statue, the lights, the prayer, the decoration... everything is just perfect inside Duomo, is like we are entering to another dimension in the world. Next stop, we head for the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a shopping distinct to be precise. You can find a lot of nice shops and nice items here... but you must be able to have the money to spend as well. We went to the Via Dante next, another street for some shopping spree... and ends up at Castello Sforzesco, which is an ancient castle. Throughout the journey, we were greeted by snow... first time to see it in my life of 24 years. Well, honestly, it's not really that special. We'd been imagining too much and put a lot of fantasy in snowing... but when you are in it... it is just... snow.

Since we are no longer touring with our distributors, we have to find our ways back to our hotel. So we get our ass in the local subway which is called "Metro" and head to Famagosta, the nearest town to Assago. Then we take a bus and journey back to our hotel. The next day, we took the subway again from Famagosta to Cardona, and then we transit for Malpensa Express which ride us all the way to the Malpensa Airport. For our last few moments in the express train, we were farewelled by heavy snow... indeed it is very nice to see the whole world in white... but it is something that the local hate the most as they will have trouble getting around with their cars. Arrive at the airport, checked-in, do some last minute shopping, board the plane and ready to adjust my body-clock back to Malaysia time... by the time I leave Italy it was the evening, the sky is still bright. While the plane head towards Kuala Lumpur, I stared outside of my window... I was amazed by the scenery I saw outside. The sky is in half, a side is bright while another is dark. My flight is flying from the bright sky zone and entering the dark sky zone... slowly, slowly... the whole process last for about half an hour until the plane had finally entered totally into the night. Speechless, and I'm a little regret for not taking the pictures of it. Hope that there will be a second chance for me to do so.

Throughout the whole week in Italy, I found that Italians are very friendly towards Italians. Even if they don't know each other. I'd found that there are Italians that are very helpful to travelers who doesn't speak Italian language. And of course there are less friendly one. Italian food is simply superb. Their wine is something I believe cannot be found else where. A week stay in Italy, three hours of tour in Milan... everything just seems doesn't enough. Hopefully I'll have the chance to drop by again someday. To explore more on Italian food, to snap more pictures of the buildings, to learn more of the Italian culture...

And I'd almost forgot a very nice scene which I saw when heading to the factory back in Turin. We passed by a school everyday, not sure is it a primary school or kindergarten. It is not the type of school you'll see in Malaysia. It is a house, with a lot of windows, and everyday when I head to the factory, I can see parents are standing outside of the gate and starring at their children who were studying in the school through the windows... every time I see it, it warms my heart during the cold winter. A very nice scene that I regret for unable to snap it with my camera.

Well, that pretty much wrap up my experience of staying one week in Italy. My first stay in Europe as well, and it doesn't disappoint me, not at all. You may browse the pictures I'd taken through my facebook. For those who are planning to head to Milan, need not to worry as travelling in Milan is very easy and convenient. And honestly I'm starting to miss the atmosphere and food right now... till then, Ciao~

Gathering

Last nite had a small gathering wif most of my primary school frens... it's really nice to hav gathering like this... some of them i really havent seen them for years... glad tat we met again after such a long time... and our relation and bond is stil remain the same as before... this is something tat really good... touched... a small BBQ gathering where v all spend most of the time chit chating rather than eating... so in the end a lot of food is left... hehe... anyway, enjoy all those talking... seeing them and getting to know their recent condition... is really nice... there are stil some frens tat i havent meet up wif them yet... hope tat i'll hav the chance to do so... thank you to our big boss Mr Kok Fung for hosting this gathering and doing all the cleaning... it's nice to hav frens like u all... true fren tat can last for so long...

Hobbycon 2008

Hobbycon 2008 is here at Sabah Kompleks Asia City... 1st time been to event like this, it seems like the 2nd time of this event being held... not so sure... can check out their blog through the link in my webpage.

Went to this event with my friend this morning... a small scale event it is... not really a lot of things to see or buy but overall it still ok for me... so what is it all about?

board games...

figures...

cosplay...

There are gundam selling... without made model... it would be better if they display some made model and also prepare more stock of the model selling... there are card games... pc games... PS3 games... etc... comic drawing on the spot... some self made comic and handcrafts... but there isn't any real manga over there... maybe they should set a corner selling manga or maybe letting people to read some of it... cosplay event will be the major show on Sunday, but i can't join it due to JLPT... cosplay over there is quite ok... a bunch of Prince of Tennis fans there... notice the picture on top? The girl on the right actually is a "Prince of Badminton" cos she is holding badminton racquet... hehe... got 1 meatty version Zaraki Kenpachi... didn't take his photo... miss out the photo of "The Paper"... like her costume most... got some Tekken fans also... and last but not least the Haruhi Suzumiya dance...


Nice event overall, hope that it will be a bigger event next year... and maybe I can be part of them if possible? hehe... not a baf idea... most cosplay are presented by Kota Kinabalu Cosplay Club... wonder is there such thing back at KL... good job! And finally... a pretty girls picture... sorry cos it's a bit blur...

Japan Emperor's Birthday Dinner

Went for a dinner last night... Japan Emperor's birthday dinner... held at Sutera Harbour Resort... a very nice, big and high class resort and hotel at Sabah. Of course most of the invited guests are Japanese, and I'm proud to be invited along as well together with my fellow AJK of Japanese Clutural Club to attend the dinner. Nice decoration... nice food... nice wine! haha... buffet includes rice, beef satay, chicken meat, all sorts of bread, all sorts of sushi, all sorts of cake, fruits, and of course alcohol, juice and carbonated drinks. Drank a glass of red wine... taste good! Ate some sushi... not very nice; ate the rice... not bad; ate the cakes... most of them taste great, some are too sweet; the fruits taste great too! The chicken meat is so so only...

Anyway, a free dinner, so who cares! Hehe... enjoy the dinner very much. My handphone caught some pictures only... check it out under the photo column...

Tioman Trip 1-3July 2008

30 June 2008, 11.30pm

Depart from Pudu by Transnational Bus to Mersing...

1 July 2008, around 4am

Arrive at Mersing Jetty

Waiting for ferry which so-call to depart at 7.30am... so while waiting, those Gamblers start to itch their hands...

There some who is sleeping though... actually only 1... anyway, we then have our breakfast nearby and I bet Mr. Looh Tchuin is still angry about the issue that he was cheated by the shop owner 50 cent...

around 8am, we take the ferry & reach Tioman Island around 10.30am... we port at Salang Jetty and head towards our "hotel" to check-in...

The Salang Jetty...

well... our "Hotel"...

After Check -in and rest, we have our lunch nearby... and after lunch, guess what? Yupe... another rest of course... then some adventurous people suggest to have a jungle tracking... so we depart with 5 people heading towards the starting point... after some staircase, comes the jungle track. And believe it or not, just after awhile... maybe less than 5 minutes? 2 out of 5 people gave up and return... well, the 3 left over "still-adventurous" people continue their long long journey into the deep jungle...

Victory...

well, there's another aunty following us actually, stress out and tired, sweating totally... luckily she made it back with no major troubles...

This is what you'll see at the end of our tracking journey...

Dinner at night... seafood dinner, and after that some rest and gambling continue in our room...

2 July 2008, 10.30am

After breakfast, we depart from our "Hotel" by boat, heading to Genting Bay for 1st snorkeling.

Then Coral Island beach for some rest and lunch

And finally Malang Rock for the last snorkeling.

After some rest, we have our dinner at night... seafood BBQ dinner... after that we went to drink liquor and went back to our room...

3 July 2008

Well, nothing much actually for the next day. Wake up, breakfast, check-out... then we take a ferry back to Mersing and Transnational bus back to KL... reach around 7pm at Pudu and take KTM back to our respective home...