Woke up at an ungodly hour of 4.30 am to be picked up by Sean at 5-ish. We overshot the Broga Hill makeshift parking lot and got lost at the Broga Village. Almost hit a couple of dogs in the process too. Finally got our directions right after referring to the Broga police station who’s police officer on duty was nice enough to kindly paused his facebook session to direct us to our destination. No, I did not add  him on FB after that morning thank you very much.

The track up the hill was dark. Very dark to be exact as there was not even a single hint of light except from our torchlight. I recommend anyone going up there to bring at least one torchlight per person cause the route is quite rocky and slippery due to loose sand. Not to mention sudden gaps in the ground or rocks randomly positioned so you might trip, fall, break a bone and die. Okay so you won’t actually die but its still a bummer if you get hurt. A good pair of shoes are very VERY recommended as well. You’ll be needing the grip on the way down.

It takes about 30 minutes to reach the first peak at the initial climb but since it was our first time it took us less than 45 minutes I think. We realized that morning that we really need to work on our workout routine. Anyways, Once you’ve reach the first peak you will be rewarded with a nice cool morning breeze and an amazing view to behold.

The additional peaks are not hard to get to once you reach peak one as they are all nearby. The further up you go the better the view is of course. Perfect for outdoor photography it is something I’m grateful I brought my camera all the way up the hill that morning.

Having a cup of coffee at the top waiting for the sun to rise is such a refreshing feeling. Initially I was wondering on what the hell was I getting myself into committing myself to such a ridiculous thing so early in the morning. But as we both sat there we realized that life is short and if we do not do this now that we might never have the chance to. I felt like an old uncle and I had no regrets.

We continue our climb up to the final peak when the crowd dwindled down and we had almost literally the whole peak to ourselves. The peaceful quiet serenity was something that made me feel humbled by nature’s beauty. I was in awe with the type of scenery that I thought I could only see in other places but my own.

The highest point is about 400meters above sea level and if one should tend to be a little bit more adventurous the track continues 3.1 kilometers inward towards Gunung Tok Wan.

The journey downhill was faster but we had to take it slow and steady as the ground is soft and steep and that’s where you good shoes come into play. The last peak is only accessible by rope as you can see above. Its especially difficult when you are carrying your camera gear in your bag, tripod sling across your chest with your DSLR hanging around your neck. I felt like a commando going for a hike.

We ended the morning by stopping at Restoran Malaysia on the way back in Kajang for some EPICALLY AWESOME SUPER DELICIOUS MOUTH WATERING satay. Open since 1971 apparently, the shop is run by chinese and the satay cook by an old chinese uncle but no pork satay is served so I guess the place is Halal. You get you standard choices of chicken, beef, mutton, duck and fish of satay with original leaf wrapped ketupat. The meat is so juicy and tender and so infused with the satay spices I was stunned for a while after my first bite. It was that good. My favorite was the mutton satay. Its a simple corner shop located along the main road near the police station it is a must try and I believe this the where the term satay kajang came from.

In the end of that day, all I could say is that it was all worth it. Although tired and bruised all over with sore muscles and aching joints victory when reaching the top is simply…priceless. Cheers.

]]> http://clowonline.com/2010/02/19/broga-hill-escapades/feed/ 2 http://clowonline.com/2010/02/13/happy-chinese-new-year-of-the-taiga/ http://clowonline.com/2010/02/13/happy-chinese-new-year-of-the-taiga/#comments Sat, 13 Feb 2010 09:09:44 +0000 clow http://clowonline.com/?p=943 From me to all my friends and fellow readers I wish you and you family a year of prosperity, a year of jpy and a year of good health. GONG XI FA CAI!!! Kong Hei Fatt Choi!!!

Bye bye Year of the Ox and welcome to the Year of the Taiga Tiger. XD

Yeeeaaah….righto… There’s so many things wrong but hilarious I could say about this right now. The job I think about when I saw this was if you were a freaking MANWHORE!!! Ehem…so what Chronic Muscle Hardening job are you having?

I might have a lack of proper judgment lately but I’ve did something I cannot pull out off and well something that I might really regret at the end of the day…

Yeah…I joined another marathon. After years of telling myself to not inflict such painful self destruction upon myself, I still went and done it anyways. The money has been paid and now there’s no turning back. There’s 60 more days for me to train myself for this with one very simple objective. Qualify within the time given. I’m running the 10km distance this time. I guess some of you could easily do 10km in an hour but please do not mind me a person more accustomed to running only when he is being chased by thugs, wild dogs and stray vicious hamsters/cats.

One of my resolutions IS to lose 5kg by the end of the year so I guess this will ensure I’m actually going to do something about it.

Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicle Photoshoot.

Location: Taman Tasik Perdana(Lake Gardens)
Date: 27th November 2009
Time: Late morning/early afternoon
Cosplayers/models: Arisa, WednesdayRaven
Photographers: Clow, KCLee
Random help: Ping, Chris(the other one), Linkinstreet
Costume: Arisa

[View with PicLens]

Mini Kuroshitsuji Photoshoot.

Location: Fullhouse, Synway Pyramid branch
Date: 20th December 2009 (end of CF’09 Day 2)

[View with PicLens]

Vocaloid Photoshoot.

Location: Multimedia University, Cyberjaya.
Date: 25th October 2009.

Cosplayers
Rayray as Nigaito
Cutiepie305 as Ainone Kana
Mint as Ainone Kai
Angie00 as Hatsune Miku(Project Diva ver.)
Kazuikori as Yowane Haku
akiko wolf as Hatsune Miku(Black Rock Shooter ver.)
Chikoness as Toeto Luka
DeidaraGS as MechaKaito

Helper:
Beatbox
Zend
Exo

[View with PicLens]

The beginning of the year started off really bad with heartaches after heartaches. Living everyday was like a zombie living with the only purpose of eating brains. Sad. Pathetic really.

Then came the build up to Daicon. The event that I put my heart and soul in. It was all fun and dandy until politics kicked in and people who I once though as my friends became my foes. It pains me to see such an occurance but alas that is life.

My internship was a first taste of a standard salary man lifestyle. Very stable if I do say so myself but very boring as well.

Cosplayers. Geez…this was the year I finally came out of my shell and met so many great people in the cosplay community. Seeing them giving their best from making their costumes to trying their bestest in being in character really encourages me to organise more cosplay related events for them.

AFA09 was great other from me going all crazy at the end due to amassing tiredness. Apologies to my cousin Janice and Crystal if I scared you there. I feel if I was more energized it could be even more fun. My first full attempt at cosplaying as well. Not very well executed. Need more practice.

Cosplay photoshoot. I’ve been learning alot from every photoshoot I get invited too. Really happy got to meet many photographers as well like Aoshi and Linkinstreet and cosplayers alike too. Now I really need to upgrade my equipment cause I’m at my limits at what I can and cannot do with what I have. Any sponsors?

Last but not least….I’ve met someone. That certain someone was the one who lifted me up from all my deepest depression period ever. All these unexpectedly too for the both of us and I’ve never been happier in my entire miserable life…until today. Its about 2 months till the time of this writing since we’ve been together. No regrets. Thank you dear.

But what do I see in 2010? Organizing one of the biggest event I’ve ever conducted in my life, finally finishing my studies and starting my own company might be somewhere in there I guess. But anyway, Happy New Year to all my readers and all my family and friends and I wish you all a good health and great prosperity!!! Time to think of a new resolution this year. Maybe loosing weight may not be such a bad idea i think…

P/s: I wish a slow and painful death to all my enemies. XD

Apparently, as I was playing Castle Age on Facebook I got attacked by God and I defeated Him. I do NOT know what to feel now. The bigger question is…I know Facebook is famous and all but for God to have his own Facebook page? Jesus Christ.

This is incredible.

Dear Modern Warfare 2,

Fuck you. Why must you be so awesome? Why must you be THIS awesome? It has been years since I have place my grubby little hands on your (Call Of  Duty) series. Killing people has never been so much fun since 2001 the second World War in Nazi occupied Europe. Those were the days where pixels were still quite blocky and my limit was 20-30 minutes each time because my head will just hurt. Frame rate issue or enviromental texture maybe? But anyways, I do not have that problem anymore. Even on my computer that is 2+ years old. It is amazing how the new you can be run so smooth like a river running down an open battlefield.

But I do have an issue with you though. Whay must you have such an engaging plotline for your single player campaign? Is this some Hollywood conspiracy? How can you do this to me? You’ll just have us the player wanting for more. Thank god I have not played the original Modern Warfare yet. Will get a copy to try that out soon. But in the meantime can you not be so freaking good? I mean, how about my studies? I have a midterm and presentation and not to mention my Final Year Project research to do all in this week alone.

Climbing a mountain with ice picks have never been more exhilarating, going on snowmobile rides have never been such a rush and fighting against waves of Russian troops has never been as crazy as this. I even had a dream last night about this. You sucK Modern Warfare 2!!!! You suck for pulling me into the zone of no return. Damn you!!!!!!

Now If you would excuse me I have a game to finish work..yes..yes work…work to be done.

With love and hate,

Clow

P/s: Damn you Ganaesh for influencing me into this!!!

See you in the next update.

P/s: Yes, I do like cute stuff. You got a problem with that?

I had the lunch special to see what was the real deal with the food. Logic states that if one cooks good food and its cheap then other more expensive stuff on the menu should be good. Well I guess I just decided to give this particular theory a try. Lunch set comes with a soup of the day and a salad and your choice of entree (main dish).

Bread serve with some sort of garlic butter is usually served I think but it wasn’t served when I went there the 2nd time. In this pic the soup was celery soup, the next day it was pumpkin soup. I prefer the celery soup compared to the pumpkin soup. It was too think im my opinion. Had some curry powder mixed in it I think to give it an extra flavor but to me the more I drank the more it felt like Indian Dall.

Avacado Chicken

Large pieces of grilled chicken breat with mashed potatoes sanwiched in between topped with an avacado dressing. The Avacado Chicken was tender and the avacado mix gave it a slight tang to the flavour which was quite refreshing.

Steak and Chips

The steak was pretty good. I ordered for medium and it was soft, tender and juicy but it was cooked a little too rare  in my opinion as the meat towards the center was too raw for me. Had to ask for it to be resend to the kitchen for it to be recooked. I didn’t want to take the chance to ruin my holidays with food poisoning so I had to better play safe. The fries were fresh as we could taste the softness and the crunchy-ness of the outer layer of the home made fries.

Eton Mess

Salmon Wrap

Chicken Wrap

The salmon wrap and chicken wrap were what I would just call as alright. The chicken used in the chicken wrap was tandoori chicken and the smoked salmon in the salmon wrap was just so-so in my opinion. The potato chips were good as a snack though.

Baked Chocolate Pudding

But what I felt was the best item to have during my 2 times at The Apartment was the deserts. The Eton Mess although ironically messy it was refreshingly tangy and sweet but not so sweet until it causes diabetes after consumption. The fresh strawberry chunks with strawberry jam really creates a magnificent flavor with the meringue used. The baked chocolate pudding will definitely be a wet dream of any chocolate aficionado. Soft, sweet and warm chocolate all baked in a small cup/bowl with a side of vanilla ice-cream. The cold ice cream really brings a contrast to the warm chocolate. Truly a must try if you have a sweet tooth and an insurance policy.

Nice relaxing atmosphere for a chill out session but will I go again to try the main menu this time? Definitely, yes but I’ll have to save before I go first otherwise this student writer will be eating grass and riding a cat driven cart to campus for classes. Unless somebody wanna foot the bill of course. XD

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