Maori Experience Weekend..

Few weeks ago my friends and I went to experience a cultural trip in one Maori Village somewhere in North Shore, Auckland. Pardon me for this scrappy post. I should have posted this earlier. However my procrastination always seems to get the best of me. Therefore I'll make this short. Overall it was a great trip. Learned some new things such as doing the 'hangi' (mother nature's own oven), weaving flax leaves, and doing the haka. The best thing though was able to get my 8 hours sleep. Here are some of the pictures I've taken during the trip.

Group photo taken in front of the 'marae'..

A view of Auckland City from the Harbour Bridge..

I wished they can put 'Selamat Datai' as well..

Me and Nigel carrying plywood for the fire..

Layering the food on top of skin burning loads of metal rods..

Before..

After.. succulent chicken drums and lamb..

Walking through the tracks of nature..

How's my flax weaving skills?

Theatre of Dreams..

Red Devils: God's Favourite Football Club..

There's a certain red football club in the Barclays Premier League (BPL) associated with the devil. Ironically, it seems that God is a great supporter of this team. It's local rival, a smaller blue team, is somewhat failing to produce any good results after splashing millions of pounds on overrated players. Other clubs envy them, try to copy them, try to dismantle them, but still they are yet to show any signs of misfuctioning. Manchester United is undisputedly the greatest football team on Earth.

Common sight every year..

As you can see from my intro, I am a self-confessed Red Devils fan. I may not be the most fanatic, knowledgeable, greatest of all the 80 million supporters globally, but I must say that they are very entertaining to watch and would give you a great rush of adrenaline in your body. Watching them play for the first time when I was in high school (thank you Astro) was the moment I fell in love with this club. I get to know prolific players such as Beckham, Dwight Yorke, Cantona, Charlton, and a boy called Ronaldo. Then there are living legends who are still playing until now. All hail Giggs and Scholes. These are among the great players who have contributed all their sweat and tears for the club. With their passion and skills, they dominated the pitch like Alexander the Great going to war. Since then, I would try to watch as many games that they were playing.


In the past few years, Manchester United have been to a lot of ups and downs, mostly ups. Record after record is being created, or bettered, trophies and awards have been collected all around the world, individually, or as a team. Such a magnificient feat for a team to achieve an explosion of recognition. About ten years ago, Manchester United Football Club had the honour of achieving something yet to be duplicated by any other team. That's winning the treble, of course. The FA Cup, Premier League, and Champions League during the season of 98/99. Last year, they've won the Premier League and Champions League, on both competitions leaving Chelsea in second place.

King of Kings..

Looking at the present, Man Utd are now deemed by the media as a possible candidate of achieving the quintiple, winning five trophies in one season. After winning the World Club Fifa Championship in Japan and Carling Cup, will they be able to get their hands on the FA Cup, Barclays Premier League and Champions League? I must say it's crazy, but not impossible. Early this season, I did not expect Man Utd to come this far. All I ever wanted this season is just another trophy. Just one. But it seems that they can always go beyond expectations. After other clubs spent some money on talented players, I thought this is going to be a challenging year for us. But look at the situation now. The Red Devils are going to face Internazionale in the 2nd leg of the Champs League quarter finals, looking good to win the BPL, and have a high possibility of lifting the FA Cup in Wembley when May comes. I would like to use a quote from the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, 'Football, bloody hell!'.

Winning the Champs League: Priceless..

Well, nothing's impossible. If they win the quintiple, I'll be the happiest person among my friends who support other English teams. I'm looking forward to rub some dirt on their faces when their team do not win any trophies this season. On the other hand, if they did not win the remaining trophies, I'm still going to rub dirt on their faces when my team comes top on my fantasy football league at the end of this season.

Cristiano Ronaldo preparing for Champs League..

Footnote: This blog should not be taken emotionally. Don't feel too offended if you're not a Manchurian. You can write a blog and talk about how great your club is. (which i've done doing.)

Waiheke Island..

Last week my friends and I had a group trip to Waiheke Island. There was an exhibition about huge sculptures around the island. Initially I thought it was not as fun as I expected. Dark and cloudy skies that morning seemed to foil my plans to go there. Our ferry from Auckland to Waiheke Island was supposed to depart at 10am. My watch showed 9.50am after Acap and I returned our rented car (that we used to move to Railway Campus few days earlier). I said we wouldn't make it. Strangely, we ran to the ferry terminal like fugitives, hoping for something good to happen. Running early in the morning with jandals without any warm up is not a good idea for anyone. Once at the ticketing counter, the lady said the next ferry is due in an hour. Aiyoyo.. I said to myself. Then a loud voice started calling my name. As usual it was Sheryll who came to the rescue again. She was shouting from the ferry gate, waving her hands like mad for us. After heaps of twists and turns, I finally boarded the ferry which headed to Waiheke Island, along with my other friends.

One of the views on top of the ferry..

After approximately 40 minutes, we arrive at the Waiheke Ferry terminal. A beautiful place, i must say. We were greeted by a few lovely ducks moving smoothly on the crystal clear waters.



approaching waiheke island..

waiheke ferry terminal..

We started our exhibition trail walking alongside the coastland. and there was the first sculpture. it was a dog (i guess..) made from railway tracks.

an expensive art/flop? : 50 000 dolars


another sculpture: man with a thousand eyes looking at the Waiheke harbour..



it would be easy for rescuers to find fancy boats like this one in the sea.




what's the metaphor behind this?


my favourite.. army meerkats.. haha..


world domination?


Sheryll: the cheerful Mona Lisa?




wood plane which couldn't fly..




being one with nature..



drowning heads..


this one seems quite creepy..

After completing our tour of the exhibition, we went to a beach nearby. It's so lovely. Nice weather. I couldn't resist the temptation of swimming in the turqoise blue water. I just wish I had brought my spare clothes, though.. haha..

which way is the beach..

nice..



hopefully Tanjung Kidurong will be like this one day..

After spending time in the waters, we went to town to have our lunch. Then we went straight back to the ferry terminal to return to our beloved..

AUCKLAND!

Festival Makanan Laut di Viaduct Harbour..

Hola.. accidentally woke up early on a Sunday morning. Well, i might just well spend some time here then. Few weeks ago I went to the Auckland Seafood Festival. It was held near the Viaduct Basin. Obviously my main purpose of going there was to get cheap or free seafood. A one dolar crayfish would be good. haha. Unfortunately, the food was drying up wallet (including the 15 dolar door tickets). A salmon kebab costs me 2 dolars, a paellla (a rice dish cooked on a large pan) was 12 dolars, and some seafood sandwich punched me 6 dolars. As a consolation, I sampled lots of smoked salmon, tuna with crackers and mussels.

this is where the paella was cooked.. tastes like seafood beryani..

The above picture shows the 'Blessing of the Fleet' ceremony. It's a ceremony for the people to remember loved ones who have died in the sea making sure everyone is able to enjoy fresh, yummy seafood.




this is the Viaduct Basin. Lots of luxury boats and yatches here. Hopefully to have one or more myself in the future. hahaha..

Fact: Higher Blood Pressure=Low IQ..

In his research, Jason Allaire, an Assistant Professor of Psychology at North Carolina State University suggests that 'If you have high blood pressure, on days when your blood pressure spikes higher than normal, cognitive ability is worse than normal. (M2 Magazine, 2009).

This shows that if you always feel angry, restless, or irritated, you may be less clever than you'd supposed to be. I believe my cognitive abilities have yet to find its peak because of my temper. I get angry over trivial stuffs, on top of crucial ones. I can see most students like me are somewhat depressed about their life. Why is that? Maybe it's because how things have changed since their childhood. No more easy money from their parents, no guaranteed food everyday for them to eat, or thinking about what their life would be in the future.

In my humble opinion, depression could be a sign of humans incapable of achieving their own made standards, which no one in the world could achieve. They always assume they have failed miserably because plans did not go their way. When their depressed, their blood pressure becomes higher thus making them less intelligent.

I admit that when I'm 'less intelligent' i'll go berserk. I'd say bad things, have bad thoughts, and punch a wall or two. People surrounding me will be affected. Further damage will be done if they couldn't understand me or I couldn't understand them. As you can see it's not a good thing to do if your trying to be a role model.

So, how do we prevent this? Chill out. Try to be calm as possible. Don't add the spark if there's fuel on the floor. Go the gym. Play counter strike. Play football. In the end, you'll be fine again. And your ready to attempt of becoming a smart guy again.

p/s: pardon my negative emotions in this blog. feeling a bit tensed right now. haha. might go kick some balls later.

Aiyoyo, Teknologi..

When I was in primary school, I am always fascinated with radio cassettes. It was considered 'cool' during those days. It was very difficult for me to ask my parents to buy one. As far as I can remember, my first cassette was one of the previous Backstreet Boys' albums. I played it over and over in my dad's car. I also bought the 'Power Rangers the Movie' original soundtrack. I bought it because I'm a great fan of the first generation of the Power Rangers franchise. Go White Ranger!!

During boarding school, my main source of entertainment was from my walkman. I think I had 5 walkmans because I lost 4 of them. My first walkman was given by mother. It was made by Avon, a company which deals mainly with cosmetics. The walkman had a built-in speaker in a shape of a heart. I had a problem with my self-esteem then. haha. And then i realised that i'm a gadget freak. Always looking for the big brands, cool functions and great designs (To be honest, I have a bad habit of showing off, huu..). My last walkman was an Aiwa, fully digital, with silver metal finish and a cool graphic display.

Few years later, MP3s were making waves all around the world. And what better way to join the band wagon than buying an MP3 player. My first MP3 player had a capacity of storing approximately 90 songs. That's a lot, i said to myself, comparing it to radio cassettes. How things have changed within a few years. My current MP3 player can hold up to about 2700 songs.

It's quite amazing how people can think of making these gadgets and technology. I wonder what's in-store for us in the future. Maybe a device which can interpret our personality and plays songs which compliment it.

p/s: I'm hoping for a faster and bigger internet bandwitdh in the future.

budaya minum kopi..

hoho.. berjaya juga saya menulis blog baru pada minggu ni.. ketika membazir masa melihat gambar di laptop, saya terjumpa gambar yang menunjukkan beberapa minuman yang dibuat oleh saya.. *lihat gambar di atas*

di dalam gambar ini terdapat minuman seperti double shot (cawan kecil kiri), latte (cawan besar), flat white (cawan kecil kanan), dan coklat panas.

apa yang menarik perhatian saya tentang gambar ini adalah bagaimana budaya minum kopi di malaysia berbeza di new zealand. di new zealand, kopi dibuat melalui roses yang agak lama. biji kopi terlebih dahulu dikisar, susu dipanaskan sehingga berbuih, dan cawan yang digunakan dipanaskan. orang di new zealand agak mengambil kira kualiti kopi yang mereka minum. kuantiti susu pula akan menghasilkan variasi rasa dan tekstur kerana kepekatan kopi yang berbeza. mereka dapat mengesan kualiti kopi yang baik atau yang kurang enak.

di malaysia pula, kopi hanya ibarat minuman biasa yang dibayangi oleh minuman lain. secara amnya, teh tarik mungkin lebih popular di malaysia. Hanya dua jenis kopi yang biasa dikenali di malaysia, kopi 'o' atau kopi susu. mungkin 'neslo' boleh dianggap mocha atau macchiato malaysia. Cara penyediaan kopi agak mudah di malaysia berbanding di new zealand. kopi segera boleh didapati hampir semua kedai runcit atau pasaraya. tambah sahaja gula dan air panas.

walaupun terdapat perbezaan yang agak ketara dari segi penyediaan, rasa, dan juga penilaian, yang penting kopi dapat dijadikan alat komunikasi yang efektif. pergi sahaja ke warung atau restoran. pasti ada sekumpulan warga emas atau warga belia menikmati secawan atau segelas kopi bersama kenalan atau sanak keluarga. apa yang penting di sini adalah kopi akan menjadi lebih sedap jika dinikmati bersama rakan2 atau insan tersayang.

p/s: minum teh 'c' peng ketika sarapan harus dicuba semua orang..