Alfa Romeo 147 TS 2.0SS

Friends have been asking me about my new ride, that I acquired since March 2009. It's the Alfa Romeo 147 Twin Spark 2.0 Selespeed. I've been dreaming of Alfa Romeo since my first encounter across the showroom in Ipoh, where my dad told me it is a sport car brand and it's very powerful. The dream pulls a long way and after 20 years, finally I own one.

Alfa Romeo is an Italian company founded in 1910 and currently owned by Fiat Group. Alfa Romeo 147 is a small size hatchback family car that is designed in 2000 and facelifted in 2004, while my ride is a 2003 model and fully imported from Italy.

The Alfa Romeo 147 2.0SS TS

Kedai Hong Kong Oil Chicken & Roast Duck @ Ipoh

It's been a while since I go back Ipoh, so this time, I'm craving for some local specialty that I have been consuming since kindergarten. I suppose as a Ipoh guy, I should have introduce more Ipoh food for all of you, so let's see.

The best duck rice in Ipoh, but I think it's also the best in Malaysia. I haven't found another duck rice that's better than this one, agreed by my wife. Sometimes it's personal preference, but duck lover wouldn't want to miss this.


The two shoplots entrance located at Tasek. Been eating here since I'm in Kindergarten.

AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D

My birthday is coming soon and my lovely wife bought me a present. A lens from my wish list, the Nikkor AF 50mm f1.8D. For all info, she actually bought me the D90 earlier and she just keep on adding "new member" into the family. Thank you and love you always.


Before un-packing of the new member into the family.


The lens is tiny (comparing to my 18-105mm) and come bare without any lens hood, pouch or etc.

dSLR or Compact Camera?

Lots of my friend are asking me why buy the dSLR when Compact Camera nowadays are already very good. They even said they can match the dSLR with their compact camera. A picture is worth a thousand words, so let's see it.


Photo taken with my Canon Powershot A570IS that retailed at RM1,000 when I bought it 2~3 years ago. I can't get any lights into the camera with Auto mode, so I turned to Manual and set exposure to +0 and ISO200 (the highest ISO with acceptable noise quality). Size: 3074x2304.


Photo taken with my new D90 with kit lens at auto mode. Size: 4288x2848.

25SX MTV

A friend of mine show me this great video, but it's 25SX. Don't say I never tell. Enjoy.

Bubba Gump Shrimp Company @ Sunway Pyramid

Last weekend my best friend came down to KL for his "personal" matter and he stopped by to meet up. Brought him to Sunway Pyramid and immediately I noticed that the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company has just opened up a new branch there.

Had a good experience with their service and food earlier at The Curve, so we decided to have our lunch there. It's located outside of the Sunway Pyramid main entrance, so you will need to make your way out the shopping mall and it is on the left side as you exit. You will never miss it.


The grand entrance and it is highly visible from the road.

Fast Lens for my D90 - Part 2

After a deeper research on the fast lens, 2 out of the 5 lens mentioned earlier are shortlisted. And as I mentioned earlier, lucky me owned the D90, or else I would need to cough out almost double the price for the lens I want. For those that's considering buying a Nikon dSLR, I urge you guys to take this issue into consideration as well.


Here is the explanation, which form part of the reason I bought a D90. Nikon is good in stripping off all the non-important function and sell it off to people that has a budget constraint. Almost all of the DX camera from Nikon do not have a built-in motor for AF, except for the D90. If photography is your new interest, then you should have already know you will never stop with the camera purchase, in fact it is only the beginning.


So for long term investment, it make all sense to get the D90 which is almost RM2,xxx more of the D40 or D60 which will save you even more in future. A good lens can easily match the D90 price or even double it, so the saving you have on the AF lens will actually help to justify the D90.


Shortlisted Fast Lens:
1. AF Nikkor 50mm f1.8D - RM 468.00 (easy saving of RM820.00 ~64% of item 2 price)
2. AF Nikkor 50mm f1.4D - RM 1,288.00
Note: price quoted from Nikon Malaysia website

Photography: Jom Scouting

Ok, this is the best I can get with my standard lens, need macro lens to get better result. =P

Mille Miglia Rims

I've been looking for a set of rims long before I got my ride, and finally found this.

Mille Miglia Emotion 17x8 PCD98. It weighs 24lbs each and fully imported.
Some photos for your viewing pleasure =)

* if you noticed the PCD is 98, which is special for my ride. Very hard to find. Normal car got PCD of 100 or 114.3. Of course, I can always fit an adapter to change the 100 to 98, but that feels not original =P further scared of wobbling when running at 210km/hr. hehe







Nice? Hope you say yes, because this piece of alloy cost almost a month salary. Going to hook it up to my ride soon and post some more photo.

Sate Kajang Haji Samuri

On our way back from Ipoh last 2 weeks, we skipped our lunch and ended up hungry approaching Sungai Buloh. So I suggested the famous Sate Kajang Haji Samuri to my wife for a quick bite, surprisingly she has never tried it before. Nice, because I have my D90 in the car, so ...


The famous sate kajang that's not located in Kajang


Price list, not too expensive and the portion for a sate is quite good. There are plenty of table even at the back of the shop, so find a good spot and the staff will take order from you. Unfortunately other daging are not available, so we took 4 chicken sate and 6 beef sate.


Camera testing while waiting for the food.


Portrait testing.


Finally stuff arrived, but where is the satay? They always provide the ketupat and timun with the sate even if you dont order them, but it is not free. Don't say no, cause you will eat it anyway.


She is so happy finally her coconut arrived.


And the final piece, sate kajang. It taste almost same as the sate served in Kajang, so this is a good alternative for people that passing by the R&R for a taste of the Sate Kajang. The bill came up to RM10.60, consider not bad for a quick bite.


I finished up the last sate and she did this. JK, posing for fun. That's my wife =)

Sate Kajang Haji Samuri
This shop got lots of branch around KL and Kajang but the one I went to is located at the Sungai Buloh R&R on North-South Expressway. Its located on the KL direction R&R.
Location Coordinate: N3 11.345 E101 35.193

Now you can comment

Ok, I thought it is funny why my friends kept saying cannot comment on my blog. Found the problem and fixed it! So fire it up. James, flame me if you want =P

Inspiration

Nick Vujicic. Life without limbs to life without limits.
Inspirational video that never fails to put tears in my eyes no matter how many times I watch it. I replay the video whenever I am depressed and began to realise that nothing is more difficult than what he is going through.


Nick Vujicic is borned in Melbourne, Australia with rare Tetra-amelia disorder. He got deeply depressed and started contemplating suicide at age 8. Thanks to his strength, now he is inspiring everyone around the world.
Everytime after watching the video, I am telling myself to be stronger and to live a more meaningful life. Thank you, Nick.