Malacca Site Visit 2/10/2009 - Day Two: It's Hot, Hot, And Did I Say Hot!!!?  

Posted by Daniel^_^Chin

*Sorry for the late delay, here's the second day of Malacca site visit.

Woke up in the morning (can't remember the time) and ate our first breakfast in the hotel. Nothing special, there were local food like fried rice and noodles, hash browns, mashed potatoes, cereal, buns, cakes, fruits, omelette, etc.

At least that managed to keep my stomach full for the rest of the morning.

Time for another tutorial session before we go for site searching. Luckily I got an idea about my site already.

My site was located at the carpark near the bridge. I chose it because of the human and traffic flow around it and also the fact that the bridge is used by almost everyone to cross the river. Overall it's strategic for expanding my media empire (evil laughs), uhh...my client's media empire...^_^"





The sun was getting hot by then, and I mean very hot. I don't know what terrible things had the generations of Sultans done to deserve this curse of the eternal scorch by the golden beam. But I guess the tourists are loving it every single day.

And I had to stay at my site to sketch and take photos. It did not take a genius to note down "incredible heat during midday" as part of the site analysis.

We even climbed to the second floor of the huge red building that sells cookies to get some good views.





After that me and Jin Fong crossed the bridge to the other side to take some photos of the buildings there.


St. Xavier's

We even went into this shop that sells old money bills and coins for collectors. Both of was staring at the bills behind the display glass and as an avid collector, she was getting too excited. After some chatting with the owner, she managed get some for her collection. Yes, use money to buy money, nothing wrong there :D. I was interested in some of the Chinese coins though, but didn't get any :(.









Shop owner: I'm so happy that young people like you are still interested in collecting old money.

Yes, collecting old bills and stamps is rarely seen today. I myself didn't even touch my stamp books for years, let alone my pathetic little collection of money and coins. I'd rather collect my thoughts for now though.

But I digress.

Time for some break and cool down. So we went for some cold dessert and horrible fruit rojak. It is safer to eat the Indian rojak in Malacca instead.



We couldn't stand the heat and went back to the hotel. On the way me and Chris stopped by a shop that sells famous popiah to takeaway some for lunch.



The popiah was good, nothing like what I've tasted before. The ingredients were different and they came in quite big proportion too. Got in a bit of an accident with the dripping sauce and my pants but all was well as long my tummy was happy :D.

Time for another brief tutorial session again to check on our progress before we go out again. I was just looking forward to the night market setting up in a few more hours.

By evening, stalls were already setting up. We grabbed some snacks and were joined by a few friends for dinner.




Walked (and whined) all the way from Jonker Street to a restaurant that sells the infamous satay celup. I personally don't mine walking a few more miles just for food.



Total bill around RM60 if I'm not mistaken. It wasn't the most hygienic way of eating but as long as this not-very-clean-freak doesn't get stomach ache he's fine with it.

Went back to the night market again since we didn't have time to look around earlier. A few of them wanted to try out the fake tattoos at one of the stalls.

Jin Fong having her butterfly faux-ttoo done



Kim and her Indian inspired hand faux-ttoo



Emrys wanted his Chinese (phonetically translated) name, 恩历思 and his girlfriend's on his inner arm.



Me and Chris had to do some research to draw out certain Chinese characters that weren't in the catalogue. The font was too pictogram-ish. What we did was we referred to the radicals on other characters in the catalogue.

Remembering what my other friends did last night. I suggested that we go to the St. Paul's church around midnight for fun.

I was a bit disappointed actually. It wasn't that scary. The inside was dark but I could still see where I was going. I hope I wasn't being sacrilegious. The abandon church didn't look haunted to me, but isn't there a mausoleum nearby or something? A God knows how many soldiers had died around the fortress centuries ago. Maybe I should check back the photos I took O.O.

And so went went back and had a drink at a bar until it was closing time.





Two days gone and one more to go. Time for museums!







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Malacca Site Visit 1/10/2009 - Day One: The Old Town and the New Town  

Posted by Daniel^_^Chin




Woke up at 1 something in the morning because I slept in the evening (crazy biological clock). Did some packing and shower before heading out for the 7:30 am bus to Putrajaya Sentral. Once we arrived, we took the ERL to Bandar Tasik Selatan and from there we took LRT to Plaza Rakyat to board the express bus from Puduraya to Malacca Sentral. There was actually an easier way, which was to use the bus provided by college that costed a whooping RM70 for a return trip to Malacca. Crazy ain't it? My cost to Malacca including public transport and return bus fare was less than RM45.



I've been to Malacca many years ago but I have never really walked around the old town area. This time I was eager to explore and tried as much food as I can.

Arrived in Malacca at 11 something. We told the city bus driver about our hotel, which was Hotel Puri but ended up being dropped somewhere near the Studthuys. It was drizzling when we crossed the river and searched for the place to have some cendol. It wasn't long before we found the 88 antique shop.

It was my first visit to the shop and I couldn't wait to try the infamous cendol here. We ordered two bowls of Baba Cendol and sat in the central courtyard. The shop looked like a typical old shophouse piled with antiques badly taken care of.

The cendol was very good. The thick brown sugar tasted sweet and aromatic but not too overwhelming. It paired so well with the coconut milk and when eaten together with the grainy shredded ice and smooth cendol, everything just melts into heaven in your mouth. I personally can do without the cendol (how ironic) because the brown sugar alone was enough to make the dessert taste good.

OMG I'm drooling all over this pic now...

After the sweet welcome dessert to Malacca, we tried to find our hotel as we really had no idea where was it. Luckily we stumbled upon it without much of an effort and ended being one of the earliest to arrive.

The hotel was nice and pleasant. The entrance made it look no bigger than an other shophouses in that area but once you enter and walk from one space to another you'll start to wonder if you've gone through a portal into another realm ten times bigger. I personally have nothing to complain about this hotel during my stay, except the air conditional in the room which wasn't cold in the afternoon but became freezing in the early morning.

After checking in, we had an hour for lunch before briefing. I initially wanted to take the Indonesians to Donald and Lily Tan's Nyonya Restaurant but we couldn't find it, so in the end we went to the 88 antique shop again =.=". This time the 9 of us ordered Baba (or Nyonya?) Laksa and Chris ate the Chicken Laksa. I ordered Durian Cendol, Chris wanted Ice Kacang while the rest tried the original cendol.






When we were eating, almost everyone in the shop were coughing (including other customers). It was very funny as one person coughed after another. I didn't know what was wrong since the laksa wasn't that spicy, but still glad that I didn't cough. After I finished my food, suddenly a few coughs escaped my throat O.O.

Me: *rummaging for my sanitizer* Quick, kill the germs before it's too late!
Everyone: o.O"""

Blame the H1N1 warnings everywhere...

After lunch we had a briefing where we were told what to do for our site visit. Then it was time for us to explore the streets and the culture around.

A few shots that I took while searching for my site:

Fire Station



One of the many temples...

Famous Cheng Hoon Teng Temple, the largest outside China?


People filming there


Would love to get in this thing...maybe next time...


Just thought that this particular shop was funny because besides having the same initials, its name sounds similar to Yves Saint Laurent too o.O"


Before we crossed the bridge to the other side, Chris and me went into one Tart & Tart Bakery for some tarts (obviously).


My Peppermint and Kiwi (Mint was better, cause I like mint~...)


Chris' Mocha and Cheese sumthing...


We went further and further and eventually ended up at Taming Sari. We met the Indonesian gang and persuaded them to go for the tower.

It was fun to rotate high in the sky and you can see the whole malacca underneath.





Because I've never been to the new developed side of Malacca, we went to the Dataran Pahlawan after that. Mahkota Parade was too far for our tired legs.

Still lost and undecided on my site. Sad.

It's getting dark by then, so I sat on a bench opposite the Stadthuys and started sketching for my rendering assignment. (This sounds so somber and melancholic but it wasn't :P)

Tummy's grumbling, time for dinner. At first we thought there'll be a night market but as it turned out that there wasn't any night market from Monday to Thursday, we went to an unknown shop for dinner =.=". My food bible didn't help much at that time, most of the shops were closed and everyone was too tired to go any further. Not all good food is in Jonker Street you know.

Skip that awful dinner. Screw that coffee shop.

There was a briefing at night. Everyone was sweaty and tired. I still didn't have a site and I needed a shower.

So we all went back and bathed. Chris (the roommate) was too sleepy and slept but I still have to meet my tutor, another Chris (the evil one) =.=".

We outside the hotel with Kimberly, Emrys, and Aunty Fong and met the other classmates. They told us that they went to St Paul's Church just now (it's almost midnight) and it was CREEEPYYYY!!! We were so excited (maybe only me) and wanted to go too. But then evil Chris appeared out of nowhere (actually it was an alley) and we went to The Geographer's for some night chat.

Nightlife on Malacca was quite nice. Many tourists like to go bars or night cafes for some drinks and entertainment.

At around 1 something we returned to the hotel for some sleep. Still thinking about my site when I went to bed.

End of day one.

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Design 101: How Do You House a Client?  

Posted by Daniel^_^Chin

In less than 9 hours I'm going to Malacca for a site visit. I can hear my tummy rumbling now, longing for decent food outside the Cyber Hell Pit.

The purpose of this particular trip is to sketch some historical buildings and also to find a site and do a site analysis for my upcoming design project. Basically this project is about designing a dwelling (not house) for a client that we chose, or rather, drew from a box (a la lucky draw). Only that I wasn't lucky and got a guy that I didn't know of - William Randolph Hearst. But I consider it as a challenge that I would like to take. There are other clients such as designers, artists, graphic novel characters, models etc.

Of course I had to do research to find out more about him. I even watched "Citizen Kane" which is a classic movie where the story of the protagonist was actually written based on Hearst's. It's not an accurate insight into my client but since it's quite a famous movie, it wouldn't hurt. The cinematography is quite good considered it's a black and white film without the props we have today.

It's very hard to define a real man (as oppose to a graphic novel character) but Hearst was a newspaper moghul who's not afraid to expose the ugliest truth, even if he had to make the news ugly himself in order to boost circulation. He introduced the Yellow Journalism, which is a way of publishing news by sensationalism and crude exaggeration. The big headlines you see today in the newspapers and the comics might be originated from Yellow Journalism.

I know it's starting to get really boring. You can see how difficult is it to design for a guy so complicated and not so interesting (compared to The Joker, or Leonardo Da Vinci).

We had to do two a3 size posters, one is to show our understanding of our clients and another is about possible spaces and designs for them.


"The Poster today! Hearst is the Devil behind the war! Come and buy it!"

Let's see what design will come up in the end. :D

By the way, today I went out with my course mates to buy materials and I got this from McD:



Missed the pink one but feel like getting the rest o.O. The lime green and grey are pretty cool.

Looking forward to tomorrow and update is coming soon. Till then, so long!

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Badan Warisan Malaysia and Some Places  

Posted by Daniel^_^Chin


It's still holiday on last Friday, and while we don't have classes, Chris and I went to the Heritage Centre for some research on our Communication Principles reports. We we talking about it few weeks ago but it's only on that day that I knew Gusti, Reza, Ami and Ryan were joining too.

It's such a hassle to go KL from Cyberjaya. But since I've been here for 2 years I'm kinda used to it already. If you were to join me on one of my journeys you'll probably throw up and die on the streets.

Image taken from flickr


The place is quite near Pavillion KL, along Jalan Conlay. There was this traditional Malay building style Hotel opposite.

I'm feeling the roof.


The heritage centre is just a small colonial bungalow that looks like a cross between a museum and a residence.

Whatever they are building behind is certainly gonna ruin the view.


There's a 60-year-old traditional Malay house at the left upon entering the gate. According to one of the staff, it was brought all the way from Kedah and reassembled here. How is cool is that!

It's a penghulu house if I'm not mistaken


Back to our main purpose here - research, research, RESEARCH! So we were brought to the Research Centre, where the staff already had our resources piled up nicely on the table. I forgot to mention that you have to inform them on your visit in advance and let them know what you need.

Entrance


Standing outside the Research Centre.


This was where we did our research.


The staff even knew some of my lecturers who always go there. At the end we had to pay for using the resources and also for photocopying some of the books.

After that we went to Pavillion for lunch and then KLCC. I even cut my hair there and it's something I've never done before (the hairstyle). I feel so unsymmetrical now, like this: 'o.O|

















What??? Gah! No pics, no! :P

Bye!!! *flipping ma hair* na~ na na na~ na~~~

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Raya Break!!!  

Posted by Daniel^_^Chin

A new update? Yes, and this rare "phenomena" can only happen during the holidays. My last post was written at the start of the semester, therefore you can conclude that I was too busy to update my blog. It's not that I didn't have time to blog, it's just that all the free time I had not doing my projects were used to entertain myself - movies, tv shows, and even buka puasa with my housemates(I didn't fast but I did break fast :P). All these were done to keep myself sane.

The first project for design just finished and now we are entering a critical phase, where everything collides together and interfered with each other, our lives, our time, our sanity. Chaos.

But before that, thank god it's the festive season. After all the rendang, lemang, ayam masak merah, we will have mooncakes!!! And in no time we'll be munching muruku cookies and oh boy, how I wish to gain weight soon before I disappear into a stick...

Teluk Intan has a Sushi King restaurant now! What a surprise O.O. I hope it doesn't close down, you know, when people only go there for green tea and a few plates of sushi. Went there on Sunday and wasn't too happy with the service. Anyway it's a good start. With Mc Donald's, Old Town Coffee Shop, Steak Factory, and Sushi King opening at the same place, this particular location has become the new hotspot and is always full, especially at night.

I just came back from a gathering with old friends at McD. I couldn't help but noticed that most of my friends had gained weight, and somehow I felt happy for them. And then there was a sight you probably won't see in McD for 10000 years:

A couple using umbrella in McD :D (do not attempt this at home as it's very inauspicious)

How sweet. And they do it every year, every time we celebrate the girl's birthday. Youngsters today just don't take a relationship that seriously anymore(says Kang Zi the wise, old alter ego). So please marry soon :P. Actually they are not officially a couple yet, but looking at what they've done all these years, I'm sure that they are one, in their hearts. There's no need to be official about it. I know it doesn't make any sense(the umbrella not the couple). The girl used to bring an umbrella everyday to school. One day, there's a sparkle and since then it became the symbol of love and caring for both, like the lyrics: Know that we'll still have each other, you can stand under my umbrella...by Rihanna. This is the Romance of the Couple Under the Umbrella ella ella eh eh eh...(fyi, this happened before that song came out, it's the original umbrella love)

Enough of them already, they take up too much space in my post, anymore and I'll have to charge an advertising fee. It's all about me, yes, myself, and I. (I'm starting to feel ridiculous at this ridiculous hour)

That's all for now, ciao!!!

Raya is still on, to be continued...


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It started...  

Posted by Daniel^_^Chin

Semester just started and Drama Mama is rolling again!

This year's July break was a very well-spent, unlike the previous one. I took up an internship in GRA Architects and was very grateful for what I've experienced. I would really like to thank so many people but it's not like they'll read my petty blog anyway. One month plus was not a really long period but it certainly was MORE than 3 months rotting in the cave. I'm certainly hanging on to my tiny little uncrushed scrap fantasy before I hit the real world. Before this I couldn't wait to graduate, but now when I think of it again, why not savour what you have while you can?




The first day of class was really too bad to be true. I woke up with a groggy head got the shock of my life when I look in the mirror. I didn't sprout a tentacle out of my ear, nor did I become a Smurf. My right eyelid was swollen and I looked like I was squinting permanently with one eye, kinda like seducing myself?

How could this happen? It's like the Christmas tree being chopped off during Christmas day, or breaking your leg before the day you were supposed to participate in a marathon. So expectedly unexpected. Maybe I'm just exaggerating. But you get the idea.

I told myself it was just a puffy eye and everything will be fine. But the more I looked at it the more I freaked out, of course I didn't touch it but it felt wrong. My eye was a bad almond shape and it looked so funny that at a point I was laughing at myself.

I went to check about it on the internet and didn't really like what I read. It was a website called wrongdiagnosis.com and I should've given myself a kick for not reading the obvious.

Mr Obvious says, "Well duh it's called wrongdiagnosis.com so why are you still there?"

You can't blame me since I was half-blind, or a quarter, if you count the half squint...

Two semesters ago I had a pain in the throat and went to check online. And I thought it was a heart burn. =.="

This time it was either conjunctivitis, dacryocystitis, or other terms that made my eyes hurt more. I was hoping for a mild case of infection or maybe an insect bite at the same time though. But I had to go to the doctor (I don't have the male ego in the health department). I didn't want to go to college looking like Captain Jack Sparrow on crack.

Clinic was packed with people wearing ugly green masks, not that I was surprised. I thought I should wear an eye patch and join the club.

Fortunately it was just an infection, but I didn't know the cause, since I actually changed my pillow case the night before. And I didn't remember rubbing it, or did anything to it. I got a bottle of eye drops and a pack of antibiotic, which was what I needed. But the girl also gave me a pack painkillers.

Pharmacist (I hope she's one): Painkillersonetablethreetimesaday...
Me: *sounding totally perplexed* Okay...???

I hope I'm not being ignorant but painkillers for a small swell in the inner eyelid of my right eye? Was she trying to dig more gold?

I went to college in the afternoon anyway. It wasn't a big deal anyway since nobody realised until I pointed it out to them.

Me: Do you know what's wrong with me today?
Girl: Your hair? (I didn't have time to do it)
Me: No...
Girl: Your nose?
Me: =.="
Girl: Your shoes? Clothes?
Me: *pointing to my eyes
Girl: Your glasses!!!
Me: No, my right eye, it's swollen...
Girl: Really?

It's getting better now but I have to finish the antibiotic? It's not like I'm having a flu. There are rumours of cases in my college but I do hope they wear nicer masks since we are such a creative community...

Trust me when I say H1N1 is not the worst. I saw "The Seven Signs of The Apocalypse" in The History Channel and the disease (or diseases?) mentioned in the Book of Revelations scared the sh*t out of me.

That's all for this update. See you again!

Live LONG and prosper!!! Yea I hope you do!

It's still swollen...go twinklie!


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