New Love, The Volkswagen Touareg

I'm in love. I've been always admire macho 4-wheel drive, especially the Freelander from Land Rover. However, the scary story of repair history for Land Rover's range of model keeps me away from even touching it. It's scary even for Alfa Romeo driver like me. Yea, go figure.

So I'm all out looking for new love. The usual on-the-road is not something I admire, and last week I watched a movie, and something caught my eyes. Repo-men, the new movie that will be released on 19th August 2010. This particular ride that all repo-men driving is crazily beautiful. The black matt colour, all covered in mud & dust, wide body kit, crazily offset super large wheels, and 4-tube exhaust. I did a search, and it's the new Volkswagen Touareg!


The all new Volkswagen Touareg 1st Generation that's modified in the Repomen movie. Looking at the size of the wheels, I think it's easily 22"! Fabulous!

Here is some screenshots of the original Volkswagen Touareg 1st Generation Facelifted launched in 2007.

The model that's available in Malaysia is the Touareg R-Line 3.6 V6 FSI Petrol version that's punching out healthy 280bhp and 360Nm torque. The On-The-Road price is currently standing at RM437,283.20 excluding insurance (source from Volkswagen Malaysia website). Crazily premium and nice. Some of the specifications for your digestion:

Gearbox: 6-speed Tiptronic gearbox with Dynamic Shift Programme
Drive System: Full Time 4XMOTION  Permanent All-Wheels Drive
Emmission Category: Euro 4 compliant
Fuel Tank Capacity: 100 liters!
Top Speed: 218km/h
Acceleration 0-100kmh: 8.6seconds
Hill Climbing Ability: 45degree
Side Slope Angle: 35degrees
Wading Depth: 500mm
Features: ABSplus, Electronic Brake Pressure Distribution (EBD), Eletronic Differential Lock (EDL), Electronic Stabilisation Programme (ESP),  Engine Brake Control (EBC), Immobilisation, Traction Control System (TCS), Roll-over Sensors, Hill Accent / Descent Assist

Crazily lots of systems within the car, but Free Lander still king of the off-road with its superior Hill Descent Control and 4-wheel Drive System. Hopefully Volkswagen will bring in the cheaper model of 2.5 R5 TDI Petrol version that giving out 172bhp and 400Nm torque to make it more affordable to me =)


A scene in the Repomen's Touareg in action. Beautiful.

Below is the trailer of the Repo-men. Enjoy =)

Chemor Villages Restaurant @ Chemor

Another prime food spot in Ipoh, and my duty to present a very good place for Claypot Sang Yu (Claypot Snakehead Fish) or known as Ikan Haruan in Malay.This place is located in Chemor, as the name suggest, Chemor Villages Restaurant. It's almost a 15 minutes drive from Ipoh, considering no traffic congestion condition in Ipoh area =)


The frontage of the new shop for Chemor Villages Restaurant in Chemor, Perak. They used to operate at the side of the road in a hawker type condition, and they have just recently moved to this new place, cleaner, more spacious, and no doubt better environment. Good thing is that they are not charging more expensive that earlier place. Bravo on that.

This place is actually quite far (15 minutes from town) to Ipoh-an eyes, so we don't normally went that far for lunch. My friend loves this place very much, and most of the time I'm eating at this place is with him. No exclusion this time, we were there last two weeks ago.

New Lease of Life

I'm always of the impression that there is a big change in spending pattern of the new generation in everything. One particular item that got me scratching my head in puzzle is the handphone. Lots of young people are willing to spend over RM2,000 for the latest model like iPhone or Blackberry or HTC, when the phone itself might be their one month salary.

It's alright to buy what heart desire for all the hard works but for an item that depreciates faster than a car, where are the senses? The latest handphone model can be easily worth less than half of the value after a year, which we are talking about 50% depreciation. That means you will need almost 12 years to have your money to appreciate 50% by investing in Fixed Deposit of current 3.7% rate. Crazy? Your call.

For me, I'm never willing to spend more than RM1,000 for a hanpdhone, that's my limit. I'm a gadgeteer so I still love the latest model as well, and with that budget there is actually lots of choice. As said, latest model will depreciate half of the cost in the 1st year, then why not take advantage of that and get a 2nd hand phone?



I'm currently using the Jan 2007 model of Dopod D810 which I bought 2nd hand at RM800 last 2 years ago, which means at 2008. Dopod D810 is the prime smartphone model selling at RM2,700 with a non-functional GPS in its glory time. I saved up RM1,900 by delaying my desire for a year! I searched online and found an upgrade to activate the GPS, a real bargain. I think this piece is worth around RM300 only now. Imagine the phone depreciate RM1,900 after the 1st year and RM500 over the 2nd & 3rd year.


Some screenshots of the original Windows Mobile 5.5 that's pre-installed for the Dopod D810.

Thanks to the programmers from XDA Developers, they have been working very hard to develop ROM upgrade for smartphone even old one like Dopod D810. The latest revision is Windows Mobile 6.5 that's running on Manila Touch 2D that's similar to the trademark Touch3D in latest HTC model. Anyhow as when recently I'm tired & bored with my Dopod Interface, the XDA given my old machine a new lease of life with the new ROM. I reckon with the recent ugprade, I don't mind sticking to it for another year =) Nice.



My current new interface of Dopod D810, loving it.

For those out that loves gadget but the new model seems always out of budget, I've some recommendation. Why not try out Sony Ericsson Xperia or HTC Hero? Both of these are selling less than RM1,000 for used unit, do some search, I'm sure you can find something for yourself. Cheers.

Funny Mountain Tau Fu Fa @ Ipoh

I am a Ipoh guy so naturally I received lots of questions on what & where is the good food in Ipoh. I did mapping for my friends from time to time and this particular place deserves an extra highlight. I'm going to show you the best Tau Fu Fa in the town. There is nothing comparable in KL or Malaysia, so far.



The shop open up in the morning and this is the usual sight at the front of the shop. It's a drive, eat and pay system. All cars will be lining up and wait for their turn, while the kids will run around serving the food.



This shop is crazily famous for its soya & tau fu fa, and the name of the shop is Funny Mountain Soya Bean. That's a funny name, but it doesn't matter when the food is that good. No need to mention the name, all ipoh mari will know this tau fu fa shop. My dad told me that this shop has been around when he is still a boy, that's almost 40-50 years ago. Nice.

Restoran Boston Baru @ Klang

I worked in Klang earlier and my wife is from Klang, so I'm quite familiar with the area. What's the good food in Klang other than Bak Kut Teh? Here is the ultimate recommendation, Steamed Lala at New Boston. Crazily delicious and I will still go back all the way for this!



This place start serving around 7.00pm and it opens all the way till 2.00am (that's the latest I stayed, maybe they close later than that) There are lots of table there, around 40~50 tables and you will have difficulty finding a seat no matter what time or what day you got there. In normal times, you will have to wait for around 45~60 minutes for the food to be served, because of the crowd. If you are early & lucky, then probably 30 minutes earlier. The food here worth the wait, or else where come the crowd, right? Still interested? Keep reading.

Paddington House of Pancakes (PHOP)

Ladies & Gentlemen, I present the Paddington House of Pancakes or known as PHOP. This is one of my favourite restaurant around the town, because I'm a pancake lover =) I've been visiting it quite regularly, but only this time with my Canon S90. I grab some shots to share while having dinner with a good friend of mine that loves food as well.



There are 3 branches opened up in KL, located at One Utama, The Curve and The Gardens. I've been to One Utama & The Curve branch, and both are fabulous. The shot in this review is in the The Curve. Paddington House of Pancakes is basically a restaurant franchise bussiness available from their website. They serves wonderful pancakes related dishes and it taste really good.

Ishin Japanese Restaurant @ Old Klang Road

It's been very long since we've eaten Japanese food, mainly because of our busy schedule. This day I suggested to try out the newly open Ishin Japanese Restaurant at Old Klang Road. It has been getting over thousand fans over the facebook in a few months, so off we go again. Hunting for some better japanese restaurant.

If you are heading towards OUG from Midvalley direction, it's just located on your left opposite the 3rd Mile Square. It's located in a bungalow just beside the main road. Once you reached there, there are surprising lots of staff to guide you where to park. I think they have more staff at the parking than the restaurant. I will share more of my experience below. Here is a shot of the restaurant from the Old Klang Road.



Parking is plenty and they do double parking around the restaurant as well. No jockey parking though, but they will request for you to remove your car if other diners are leaving. I think it's a disturbance in the middle of the dinner to remove your car, but it might well worth it if the food is good. Let's see.

Hong Bee, Fine Nyonya Cuisine @ Cap Square KL

On the other day, we happened to be hanging around in Capital Square Shopping Complex, and we thought why not look around the place for lunch. In fact, I think lots of people don't know where is Capital Square Shopping Complex, at least I didn't know earlier. It's actually a small shopping mall that's located off Jalan Dang Wangi and very near to Jalan Tun Ismail. The building is comprised of 4-storey and a TGV with 6 halls. It's an integrated lifestyle mall with condominium & office tower within the vicinity.

As we are scouting around the ground floor, we found this shop named Hong Bee, Fine Nyonya Cuisine. Nyonya Cuisine, yes I'm familiar. But Fine Nyonya Cuisine, that's something new. So quickyl we grab a seat. The place is basically empty when we got there because it's a weekday in odd hours like 10.30am.

There is meaning in their shop name, where the "Hong" means Rich while "Bee" means Taste Good. So their shop name is Rich Taste Good, yes of course. Where got Not Rich but Taste Good? Just a lame joke, forget about it.


The front shop display of Hong Bee explaining origin and specialty of their Pai Tee.
As we are seated, I can't help to notice the environment is very good with stylish modern touching. The food is very down to earth, and available from stuff like Kaya Butter Bun till Portugese Curry Devil.

1simpleplan is 1 year old

Today marked the 1 year anniversary of this blog and I've been through incredible experience. The whole blogging idea started when I suddenly have the urge to share my life experience with others, hoping to give inspiration. My friends have been asking me why I'm still writing the blog, since there is not much people reading it! Here is the answer. This blog is not only sharing the experience with others, but also to myself, as a reminder that I should continue to live a fulfilling life & achieveing life goals on this wonderful world.

There are lots of people that wasted their time around but by writing blog, it makes you think, what you are going to do over this weekend or next month. If I don't have anything to post over a month, then I started to think there is something wrong, that I need to go out there and do something more meaningful. That's part of the reason why I joined marathon, pursued my childhood hobby of photography, bought the Alfa Romeo experience and etc.


13th July 2009 till 12th July 2010 Food Journey Mosaic

Maybe this blog has not such big influence to my life, but part of it, it does affect my decision. With the experience, I think I live a more fulfilling life over the last year comparing to earlier years. Blogging takes up quite a lot of my time, but no regret as when I read back my post, it keep reminding me of what's my goals and what I wanted to achieve in my life. As you can see in most of my post, I'm currently pursuing foods & documentary photography, where I will continue to do so in the future.

I will continue to keep this blog going on and thanks to all readers for supporting. Hope you do enjoy the content but do let me know what you want to see more in my blog. Thank you!


13th July 2009 till 12th July 2010 Life Journey Mosaic

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KL Marathon 2010

Here is the final piece of the KL Marathon 2010 story that I promised. My wife snapped away hundreds photos and it took me forever to sort it out. Finally I have some time to throw it up the web but beware, this post is heavy with images. She did some very good job, let's go and take a look.

The KL Marathon is held on 27th June 2010, and a week after the run, I felt much more energetic and younger. I believe that's the main reason why there are so many people joined marathon, it keeps them rejuvenated and having a sense of achievement. We left house quite late and it's already over 4am, so most major road is closed. We left with the only choice to take up the Padang Merbok parking area, but by the time we reached there at 5.30am, it's already full packed! We drove around and parked at a spot very far away. It think it's almost 3km away, sigh, thought of saving my energy for the run. Failed.


Here is the scene at Dataran Merdeka at 5.30am. Bear in mind that the full marathon & half marathon runners have already left the place, but it's still very much packed! My guess is right that more than 50% of participants is into the 10km run, but it's a little over my imagination. As adviced by sifu, I quickly find the location of toilet and take the queue.