Another Barbeque

As planned we had another BBQ yesterday. With some mutton and a bag of french fries left over from last weekend,  some fresh chicken and sausages Woon Hwan and I managed to deliver another successful mini BBQ. Even when Tzy Wen confirmed that Tzy Shih would be joining us as a last minute guest, we managed to pull through with enough food for everyone. Most of the credit must go to Woon Hwan this time around. By the time we were ready to start the fire I was so hungry that I complained of it, which is unusual. Then I realised that I had only eaten 2 pieces of pastry since having my lunch on Friday! Thankfully Mark had started to cook the french fries while we were waiting for the charcoal to light. I raided the first batch of fries before the could be brought out the BBQ. Sorry guys!

Since it was planned as a mini BBQ, we sort of underestimated the amount of charcoal we would need to cook everything. The first to hit the flames were the chicken and sausages. They cooked in almost no time at all. But then when it was time to cook the Pièce de résistance . . . .

the charcoal fire died!

It took Shih, Tzy Wen and I a good 20 minutes to restart the BBQ using  whatever little charcoal and our cock brand fire starter (honestly, the brand is called Cock!) we had leftover.

In the end the fire was just big enough to cook all of the mutton and sausages so  everyone could have their fill. The only disappointment was the Japanese sweet potatoes that Tan bought at a nearby supermarket.

Everyone chipped in . . . . wait a minute . . . what did Alvin do for the BBQ? Oh, I remember, he DID clean the sweet potatoes and wrap them in aluminum foil. Bravo Alvin.

Michael Jackson 1958 -2009

What shocking news these days. Michael Jackson, the King of Pop has died in a hospital in Los  Angeles of a suspected cardiac arrest. Michael Jackson was born Michael Joseph Jackson on August 29, 1958 and passed away yesterday June 25, 2009 at the age of  50.

The man was an icon in my late school going years. When the album Thriller (above) was released in 1982, I was in form 3. Although he has release numerous others, I will probably remember Jackson for this album alone. All the parties I went to (not many in those days) were playing songs from this album. Within a year of it’s release this album became and still remains the top selling album of all time!

The man himself became an enigma not long after. His life took very strange and morbid turns and I lost interest in his career. The world will remember him for his music and his dance steps. He took dance choreography to new heights. He practically invented and perfected the “moonwalk”.

All of today over the radio and television networks, the world was awash with news of his death. Radio stations were playing his music almost nonstop, just like they were back in the early 80’s!

His later life was filled with controversial stories and accusations,  sexual scandals to rumours of horrible physical deformity due to excessive plastic surgeries. He spent the last few years of his life in a middle eastern country returning to the United states only recently to prepare for a 50 concert tour which now will never happen. It was also rumoured that he had embraced the religion of Islam (as did his brother Jermaine) and took on the name Mikaeel Jibril.  I suspect the fame he sought for. . . . .  and received did not bring him happiness. Rest in Peace Michael, for I guess you never did in this life. Here now is the Title Track to the the best selling album of all time.

Weekend BBQ

A few slabs of mutton, 2 dozen chicken wings, french fries and Japanese sweet potatoes, add some friends, mix in a few drinks and what have you got? A great BBQ with lots of laughs. That’s what happened at my place last night and it was lots of fun. I did not manage to take many pictures with my camera as I was busy entertaining, after all I was the host. At the end of the day I found some pictures on my camera taken by some of my guests last night.

Woon Hwan helped me with the shopping and  preparation. His recipe of barbeque sauce, garlic, onions, oyster sauce and brown sugar for the marinade was a huge success. But I’m afraid that pose is not Hahahaha! Trust me he was completely sober when he forced someone to take that picture.

The fire was lit on a portable barbeque pit which had seen better days. We had build the “pit” around it using some clay bricks and wire mesh.  The house which I am staying in has a great layout where the living room and garden is at the back. I fondly call it the front of the house. Anybody driving past the house will not be able to see this part of the house. Almost absolute privacy.  Here you see some of my friends sitting around the small garden waiting for the meat to cook.

After the  food and a few drinks and a short card game, I had some satisfied guests as evidenced by the following pictures.

Because of the fact that one of my invited guest did not show up, we had some food left over. It should be enough for a mini cook out next weekend! Maybe then I shall be able to take more pictures.

How do they do it?

While walking past a restaurant this evening I was stopped dead in my tracks by this sign that said . . .

Now I do not speak nor read Chinese but I am sure curious to know what the sign goes on to say. Now HOW do they do that to a chicken? And for god’s sake WHY? Does it make the meat taste any better?

And How do I verify that I got what I ordered?

Customer (to waiter): Are you sure this chicken was castrated?

Waiter: Errr I don’t know sir, we just trust the cook.

Customer: Well, I want to have a look for myself, ask the cook to show me that errrr part.

Waiter: Errr sir…. you want to see the chicken’s “that part” for yourself?

Customer: yes you heard me and bring the cook along too.

David Carradine dead at 72

David Carradine was found dead. The star of the TV series “Kung Fu” was 72 when he took his own life in his Bangkok hotel room. I had followed this TV series when I was a young boy ( I guess back then there weren’t many TV series to watch anyway).  I will update this article soon. Right now it is bed time.

Forest Research Institute Malaysia

Note: This post was kept in draft form since October 2008 and only edited and published today.

After attending a black and white art photography exhibition recently, my friends and I decided to try our hand at a bit of Black and White film photography for ourselves. We had bought some Black and White rolls of film a few months back but had never gotten around to using them. So we had decided to meet up early Sunday morning and head out to the Forest Research Institiut of Malaysia which is situated in the district of Kepong. That night I opened the container in which I had kept my own Nikon FE and an FM2 belonging to my brother in law. I found that the batteries had long died. After changing the batteries I loaded the first roll of film in at least 5 years. All the memories of my solo photography trips came back in a flash. TTL at that! hahaha! (Pun intended) Ok , enough bad photography jokes.

We arrived at around 9 a.m with our camera equipment. Each of us had our own digital SLR cameras, while Guna and I had brought our film SLR cameras loaded with black and white film. 5 cameras and about 10 lenses in all! Not light by a long shot. I have been here before so I decided on the route. Before long we were climbing up the Rover Track towards the highest point in the park. Not 10 minutes into the walk, Guna’s film camera’s film advance lever encountered problems and disconnected itself from the “take up” spool. With his film camera out of action, Guna concentrated on his digital shots. Here they are photographed at the beginning of the trail. It’s been quite a while since I took this picture but it does look as if Guna brought along 3 cameras.

Beadon tried a few shots with the FM2 and admitted that he kept glancing at the film back after every shot looking for an LCD screen! Hahaha! Suffer dude. That was how most of us did it pre digital. To quote him, “The hardest thing about film is that you have to wait until it’s processed before you can see if you s@#%*ed up”. Actually, he did quite well when I lent him the FM2 to finish off the roll of film.

This picture of the canopy of trees did not come off well at all. It was already 9 a.m in the morning and I think the sun was too high up by this time.  At the end of the Rover’s Trail I came upon a large crop of Hibuscus trees which were flowering. Yup it’s the Bunga Raya and i have not seen one in a long time here in Petaling Jaya.

Then we came by an abandoned house. There are many old but interesting looking houses that house the staff that work here in FRIM. This house seemed to have been abandoned for quite long time. It’s architectural style is something you do not see anymore in modern houses. It has a central courtyard which seperates the living area and the kitchen and toilets. I guess the idea is to keep the “dry” and “wet” areas of the house seperate. I was not very happy with the pictures I took on that day. Not many would look good in bkack and white.

This tree had a an interesting coloured moss growing on it. It was like someone had sprinkled tumeric powder (it’s what the malay’s call kunyit)  on it’s bark. But I thought picture itself was not a good candidate for black and white conversion.

Here is tree root that was exposed by soil erosion. I thought it would look good in black and white but after some photoshop and grayscale conversion it did not look so good. A better candidate than the tree bark but not what you call a great black and white picture. What do you think? Does it look better in colour or b & w?

Finally after sifting through my pictures I found a great picture which I thought would look even better in black and white. This is it after conversion and applying some vignetting. Anyone care to comment. I have loaded a rather larger picture file than I normally do if anyone wishes to download it.

I have not been back to FRIM since that visit back in  September last year. Who is up for a walk this Sunday?

True Fitness, Truly Brainless

Today after work I decided to ride my bicycle around Subang Jaya and USJ. No particular route was planned but I ended up outside a local gym called True Fitness. Since I was on a drive to get myself fit again, I thought I would go inside and ask them about their membership plan.

Switch on your speakers and you can hear loud, very loud music coming from the gym. Actually it was coming from the reception area of the gym. It was so very loud that I could not have a conversation with the receptionists even when I raised my voice. What you can hear from the video was music recorded while I was a good 20 feet from and outside it’s entrance. Needless to say I walked away from the loud music and the stupidity of it all. It might call itself True Fitness but the people running it are Truly Brainless! Why would you put a disc jockey at the entrance of your establishment and blast your potential customers with loud music. So loud that he cannot even hear himself speak. I think I have been to discotheques  which were quiter!

A few minutes cycling brought me to the Subang Jaya Municipal Council Stadium. There were quite a few people making use of the field and the running track. There I found my housemate. He too was on a fitness drive . . . . of some sort . . . . I think . . . . well you decide . . . .

That . . . . was his version of running.  Usain bolt he’s not . . . maybe more of an Insane Blot. Hahahaha! Wait a minute . . . . isn’t there a load limit for the high specification track? Now we know who actually caused the damage to these tracks. Well, at least Arnaiz knows HIS True Fitness because he surely wasn’t pushing himself . . . . or anyone else. hahahaha! Ok, Ok I had better stop here before I get  (as he would put it) a “Severe Beating”.

Rejoining and the landing

Exiting the low pass over the Selangor river Dylan banked the aircraft left and then right so that we flew one more time around the town of Kuala Selangor. Here above you can see the bridge that spans over the Selangor river.  The bridge was only built in the last 20 years or so. Not so long ago the only way across the river was by using a ferry. Nowadays this bridge is part of the “new” coastal road that will link Port Dickson in Negeri Sembilan to the South of Kedah.

Our flight back to the runway at Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah airport took us over the Northern part of Klang where we turned inland. While we were approaching the town of Klang we heard the Air Traffic Controller attempting to contact another aircraft in our vicinity. By coincidence it was the other Cessna 152 belonging to the Subang Flying club, 9M-BEA. After a few unsuccesful tries the ATC contacted our aircraft and asked Dylan to try contacting 9M-BEA. We too had no luck.  Some 5 minutes later we heard the pilot of the other aircraft contact the tower and was rewarded with a stern warnign by the ATC to keep radio contact.  I had actually thought that9M-BEA had crased somewhere and was about to suggest to Dylan we go look for them! hahahaha!

I was surprised to see that Klang now has a Tesco outlet.  I think the road next to the tesco is jalan Meru which leads north out of Klang town.

Very soon we were over the city of Shah Alam and already very close to the airport. Below are the two of the most recognizable bulding in Shah Alam. the State Secretariat Building and the State Mosque.

Minutes later we were given permission to join the circuit and land at the airport. Even from 1500 feet it was quite hard to make out where the airport was. It took me a good half a minute before I recognised the runway. If you’ll look carefully, there is a rather large and  annoying speck of dust on my lens which shows up quite clearly on all the pictures I have taken on this flight. I did not really notice it until I viewed them on my computer.  I wondered how it got there because I had taken time to inspect and lcean my lense before the flight.

Now I know the reason why. The “air-conditioning” on the Cessna is provided by two vents which protrude formthe wing leading edge into the cabin. You can see one of them in the picture above. These vents channel air from a snall hole in the leading edge of the wing into a retractable tube and into the cabin. I am quite sure that the dirt on my lens came from the air rushing out from this vent as I pointed my camera forward. Also in the picture is Dylan’s video camera which he lodged between the coaming panel and the windscreen in an attempt to record the landing. On viewing the tape (yes, it’s an old model videocam which still uses tape) later we realised that the scratches on the windscreen had given the auto focus mechanism of the camera a suitable target. The result – a very blurred view of the landing! Next time we’ll have to switch off the auto focus.

Flying is an expensive hobby. The cost to rent the Cessna 152 is RM420 per hour. The flight today costed Dylan RM770. I had promised to share the cost with him which I promptly did.  But Dylan loves to fly and he has to get anough flying experience to qualify him for his ATPL. This would mean he has to fly quite often and at great cost to him. In the meantime, I can get access to flying in a small aircraft. he has promised to take me up again soon, this time in the evening so I get to see the sunset from up there.

The Flight

After being bugged by my readers I finally find time to update last weeks blog. Now where was I? Dylan had meticuluously checked everything on the aircraft before we started the engine. As you’ll notice there is only one of it so we cannot really afford any trouble with it midflight! Hahahaha!

Here is a picture of Dylan speaking to the Ground Control for taxi clearances. Ground movement of aircraft is strictly controlled. No aircraft may cross or enter taxiways without the express permission of the air traffic controller.  Runway incursions which is defined by the Federal Aviation Administration as “Any occurrence at an aerodrome involving the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle or person on the protected area of a surface designated for the landing and take off of aircraft.” can and has caused mas fatal accidents. The following is a recreation of a recent runway incursion.

Dylan had actually  allowed me to taxi the Cessna up to the point where we we supposed to enter the runway but I did not have confidence (lost my guts)  and handed back controls to him just prior to entering the runway. Anyway I had pictures to take.

Nowadays the airport probably handles no more than 10 percent of the trafifc it used to but even then we had to wait for this ATR72 belonging to Fireflyz to land and vacate the runway. The take off run was fairly short and Dylan rotated the Cessna at about 60 knots. The stalling speed of this aricraft is about 40 knots.

Here is one of the first pictures I took after takeoff. Below us is the town of Rawang. Now 60 knots is only about 110 kilometres per hour but it took us no  more than 5 minutes to reach this point. Outbound Dylan was told to watch out for incoming traffic at 3000 feet but we saw none.  Otherwise i could have posted my own video of a close call just like what this guy had done.

Our flight plan for the day was to fly North follwing the North South Expressway up to Slim River and turn West toward Kuala Selangor, then South till we hit the town of Klang and rejoin to land at Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport at Subang.

We did not see the aircraft that was supposed to be on the reciprocal heading but soon the tower confirmed that both aircraft had psssed each other. Dylan then took the Cessna up to 1500 feet and gave the controls to me. I have studied the theory of flight over and over again but controlling an aircraft firsthand is really different. It takes a lot of getting used to. Mainitaining our heading of 320 degrees Magnetic while having to maintain 1500 feet altitude and a speed approximately 80 knots was tough. Turn and you will lose altitude. Pull up to recover lift and you will lose airspeed.  Remember this aircraft stalls at 40 knots. Below that we fall like a rock! On one of my manouvers the speed actually fell to as low as 60 knots and scared the hell put of me but strangely enough Dylan was unperturbed. Ok back to the view.

It’s amazing what you can see from up there. There were 3 houses situated on a ridge in the middle of an estate just to the west of Slim River. You can see one of them clearly in the topmost  picture.  You can see the road that leads up to the house in the foreground. If you were to drive past this area, you would never have been aware of the existence of these house which sits far above the estate land and factory below.  I would love to be the estate manager or owner who lives in these houses.  Just a little further on we came upon a runway seemingly in the middle of nowhere. According to Dylan this runway belongs to the estate we just left behind. Situated at the other end of this runway in the clump of trees  is a sort of  “clubhouse” where you can land and have a few drinks before you take off again. if you look closely, you can see an aircraft parked under the trees nearby the “clubhouse”. I htought this was really cool.

After a while we headed on to the coast where we will come to the town of Kuala Selangor. Just before reaching Kuala Selangor we arrived overhead the town of Sekinchan. If you’ll remember I had blogged about the paddy fields here a few months ago. Now you can see that the Paddy fields are no more green.  My guess is that the harvest was just over and the replanting is about to begin soon. Who will join me to revisit this area at the end of the year?

Within 5 minutes we arrived over Kuala Selangor. This town had been my “playground when I was a little boy. My Aunt had settled down in this little town some 30 years ago when she married the town’s Penghulu and our family would often visit her and stay overnight in her kampong house. Kuala Selangor has long since changed from those days but I have never seen it from the air.

Above is Bukit Melawati and it’s lighthouse as seen from about 1000 feet.  From up here the hill does not look very high but as you can see it is the highest point in the whole mouth of the Selangor River. Ths was why the former Sultan of Selangor built a fortress up on this hill and placed cannons facing the Straits of Malacca.

After receiving permission from the air traffic controller  to linger and operate below 1500 feet in the area over Kuala Selangor, Dylan took us down to 100 feet over the river!  You can see the bridge that crosses the river just ahead.

Flying with Captain Dylan Morvryn Baskaran

A few months ago one of my colleagues earned himself a Private Pilots License  (PPL) which entitles him to fly any single engined fixed wing aircraft below 12000 kgs in weight. He mentioned that he had to fly as often as he can to clock flying hours so he may go on to earn himself an Air Transport Pilot’s License (ATPL). I asked him whether if it was possible that I could join him on one of his flights. So with that, I found myself waiting for him at the Old  Subang Airport. I had sometime to myself before he arrived so I wandered around the area where I had parked my car. I am quite sure i have stepped all over this area before but I could not remember what was here before. Here is how it looks like now.

Had it still been standing, The North wing of Terminal 1 of Subang Airport would have filled this photograph! Now, some 12 years after it was abandoned and some 10 years after being torn down, nature has once again reclained this piece of land. If I am not mistaken, the staff canteen must have sat just off to my left. IHow I wish I had taken photographs of these buildings beack then.

Dylan arrived shortly and after registering my name at the guard house, we tok a stroll to the small aircraft hangars. This is where the Subang Flying Club keeps it’s offices and aircraft. We had arrived quite early so there was hardly anyone in any of the hangars. This gave me the opportunity to nsap a few quick pictures of the aircraft that were parked there.

There were a lot more small aircraft than I used to remember back then. Lots of interesting looking aircraft. There was a yellow bi-plane.  An American registered twin engined aircraft and  a Diamond Industries DA42. That’s the cool looking twin engined high tailed  aircraft you see in the picture above. The last picture is of a Cessna 172 which belongs to the flying club. We will not be taking this one today as it is a four seater and costs more to rent.

The aircraft Dylan flew us in today was the Cessna 152 which had carried the registration number Niner Mike Bravo Echo Juliet (9M-BEJ).  This aircraft is a 2 seater but had lots of cargo space in the back. it also had an emergency locator beacon installed. Thank god we had no reason to use it today.  The cockpit layout was pretty simple but boy was it a tight squeeze. Now I know why pilots have clip boards which fasten on to thier thighs…..coz there is no space in the cockpit to even put a fixed clipboard!

Can you guess what Dylan is doing in the pictures above? It’s part of the pre flight checks that he has to do before he even accepts the aircraft. The little wooden stick ini his hands is the fuel dip stick! Literally! Her ehe is seen dipping the stick into the fuel tank to check for the physical fuel level. There is another tank inthe other wing which he checked later. In total we had enough for about 3 hours of flying time but we will only be in the air for half that time.  More updates tomorrow and more interesting pictures.