A Mechanism for Refunding Streamyx Subscribers

* Post inspired by Jon. Not plagarising you dude, juz working on the idea. :-P *

Step aside, mechanism for racial relations.
Step aside, mechanism for judicial appointments.
Step aside, mechanism for government transparency.

Behold...

THE MECHANISM FOR REFUNDING STREAMYX SUBSCRIBERS.

Intro:
Lately (as a matter of fact, it has always been), Streamyx (an internet service provided by the government-linked TM Bhd) connections have been below satisfaction. Subscribers of all categories were furious and disappointed by the kind of service they have been provided. Not only that the service provided was in spite the high price of the package, but also the assurance and promise by the government to provide fast and stable internet connection to the people. Despite the target of the government to have a broadband-penetration of up to 50% by 2020 (how many percent I dunno la, but it's quite an ambitious target), efforts so far have been deminishing.

This mechanism is designed to comfort the subscribers' frustration and disappointment for waiting hours to load a 1 minute clip on Youtube or retry 4 thousand times just to log into their Windows Live Messenger account. The comfort will be in the form of cash returns/rebates calculated based on a set of simple equation.

Extra info:
Although it has been known that the undersea cables near the coasts of Egypt has been damaged, the mechanism should still be implemented as the speeds promised by Streamyx was of a 'best efforts' standard. What it means is that the mechanism should be implemented to punish Streamyx for not putting in their 'best efforts' to ensure the connections are re-routed to the appropriate servers.

Modus Operandi:

The rebates will be calculated based on every kBps that Streamyx missed for that particular second. Id est, rebates will be calculated every second.

Terms
8kb (kilobits) = 1 kB (kiloBytes)
1 day = 24 hours = 3600 minutes = 86400 second

Equation:

You know, we can use some kind of widget or gadget to monitor the current connection speed. I have a desktop gadget that monitors connection speed, so I do know that Streamyx is screwing with my connection.

Let's apply the equation to my case:

Assume average kBps lost is 10.
Subscribing to 66 package (512 kbps = 64 kBps)
Total kB I SHOULD be getting per month = 64 kB X 60 X 60 X 24 X 30 (assuming that it's on 24 hrs a day) = 165888000 kB or 165888MB or 165 GB.
Therefore price per kBps is 66/165888000 = 3.9786X10^-7, or 0.0000004 sen

Therefore Streamyx should be rebating me 10 X 0.0000004 = 0.000004 sen every second.

Multiply it for a day and a month = 0.000004 X 60 X 60 X 24 X 30 = 10.3125

Therefore in my case, Streamyx should be refunding me RM10.3125 every month, so my package should only cost me 56 instead of 66.

And do not forget 10 kBps less is like the best speed I can get. Most of the time I'm at 25 or 30, which means I'm deprived of 39 to 34 kBps most of the time. Multiply by 3 and I should be rebated RM30 every month.

Or even better, to punish Streamyx, we set an amount for every kBps missed, for example 1 sen per kBps missed. Not bad huh?

Yes i know, what about the spikes like a sudden increase in bandwidth that's above our subscribed speed? That's not our business la. They give us free, what to do? So no negative rebates for every kBps above our subscribed speed. The kBps missed shall be put zero.

A more accurate way of applying the equation would be:
for example,

1300.00 PM - 63 kBps = 1 kBps deprived
1300.01 PM - 54 kBps = 10 kBps deprived
1300.02 PM - 2 kBps = 62 kBps deprived
1300.03 PM - 15 kBps = 49 kBps deprived

total kBps deprived in that 4 secs = 1 + 10 + 62 + 49 = 122
in that 4 secs, Streamyx should refund me 122 X 0.0000004 = 0.0000488 sen.
In the long run (by billing date), it would add up to a big amount.

Discussion:
There's a flaw in the equation coz not everybody leaves their connection on 24/7, me being one of them. Taking the unused bandwidth into consideration is impossible coz Streamyx might argue that it's available 24/7, juz that the user does not use it.

Streamyx could not also argue that when user weren't using the service, the connection speed is assumed to be maximum. This is because there were people who leaves their connection on 24/7 and can monitor the fluctuation.

The equation is perfectly applicable to limited bandwidth users, like the Rm40 package subscriber. Time is money, and money is time.

Conclusion:
The government should open up the market and allow for more competition in the broadband business. This is to ensure the Streamyx service is still competitive and affordable enough. For the time being, a mechanism to rebate subscribers should be employed to ensure a fair treatment of consumers. If no mechanism can be deployed, Streamyx is welcomed to employ my equation.

LOL. I really wished Streamyx would rebate subscribers. So that we can use that money and subscribe to another package to make up for the desired speed we want.

Taking matters into our own hands? We should've been a long time ago.

P/S: As of writing this post, my speed is lingering around 15 to 18 kBps, with one youtube vid loading. SMH Streamyx. No wonder people hate you. Damn it even went down to 500Bps at one point. WTF.

EDIT: Hrmm there seems to be a REAL compensation mechanism for Streamyx subscribers. You can file a complain when there's a downtime and possibly ask for some form of compensation. Dunno how well this 'writing in' thingy works, but if each and everyone of us flood them wit complain mails, maybe they will initiate an automated compensation mechanism.

Unofficial Streamyx FAQ

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Things my parents will take as an equivalent to taking drugs

Things my parents will take as an equivalent to taking drugs:

- driving manual
->reason: 'manual so mahfan. You need to keep changing gears. Summore your hands all occupied already! If drive auto so good! You can answer phones! You try drive manual to KL and see.'

- driving fast
->reason: 'aiyoh... drive so fast for wat? I noe my car can go fast, but so wat? Afterward got anything happen den how?'

- driving (light equivalence to drugs)
-> reason: 'aiyo... nobody drive meh? Your friends cannot fetch you meh? Only you can drive meh? Aiyo so mahfan... You goin to fetch who?'

- gettin a gf
-> reason: 'aiyo so young why you wan a gf la? next time you finish study already, den you find a good job, earn lots of money, den girls will line up in front of you la. Study first laaa.'

- watching porn
-> reason: I have no idea but it has been since we've got internet. Quite reasonable but seriously the fear of it is like gettin caught takin drugs. LOL. Shhh....

- swearing
-> reason: I once said 'knock gau the fella', and got a stern stare. 'Gau' is not even a swear word, it's like an emphasiser to a word, mostly swear words.

- cycling
-> reason: 'aiyo... outside so many cars... so dangerous... Aiyo dun wan la. I noe you 3 minute heat one. Buy already put where? Aiya no need la. Very dangerous ah.'

- not turning the fan off after I got up (okay this is overdoin the list LOL)
-> reason: 'oi, *looks at fan wit a chin jerk*'

LOL I know a few of the stuff I listed were reasonably opposed by any sane parent, but the rest is juz unnecessary worry, right?

And the same thing has been opposed for pretty much everytime I bring it up. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
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Net Noobs, Read This, I BEG You.

I'm so terrified. OMG OMG OMG!!1!!

MSN'S CLOSING DOWN MY ACCOUNT!!!! (Not to mention that Windows Live is the new platform of all Microsoft's online services since few years ago)

AND IT'S GONNA CHARGE ME MONEY TO CONTINUE USING IT!!!

FRIENDSTER IS GONNA CHARGE ME AS WELL (or close down depending on wut version of the mail you got)

OMG I'VE GOTTA FORWARD ALL THESE MESSAGES AWAY SO THAT MY ACC IS ACTIVE!!! AND MY FRIENDS AS WELL!1!!

And CITIBANK'S GONNA DONATE $1 FOR EVERY DUDE I FORWARD THIS MSG TO!! GREAT CHARITY!!!


Kids. No Microsoft is NOT going to close down your account coz it's inactive. It's gonna close down your account anyway if it's inactive for 90 days. And no they are not goin to charge you to use their services coz they are earning big bucks by putting ads in the services alone. They charge you = you quit = no user = no ad = no money. You think they stupid?

And no Friendster is not closing down your account coz their server is overcrowded. Wut they do is they buy more server, like they always do. Terminate user = no user = no ads = no money. You think they stupid?

And no Citibank is not gonna track your forwarded mail and donate *insert amount here* for every person the mail is forwarded. 1st it's an infringement of privacy to track an email w/o a court order or some sort of thing. 2nd if Citibank wants to donate money, you think they need your opinion on how much to donate? 3rd I could've simply add names to the list of names in the petition. 4th the mail has been circulating for AGES and I have yet to see any reports on sombody donating some money based on the number of times some mail was forwarded.

For the record these hoaxes have been known since the start of free email services (circa 1997?). And I've known about it for a damn long time. I even doubted it when I received it my first time.

Wan pruve ah?

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/overload.asp

Juz one of the donations hoax:

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/medical/brian.asp

So kids, learn to use the internet.

The only mail worth forwarding are the ones wit LEGITIMATE information like the phone emergency codes, or jokes.

And believe in the existence of a free and neutral net. It's free, so it's free.

Forward this message around and you'll get 10 free internets. Eef u don, d internet godz weel commandz seriouzkat 2 kik u in d ballz.

P/S: This is to no offence towards anybody whatsoever. Sort of like a PSA. I'm juz sick of the same hoax getting to the same person over and over again.
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Pics

Few more pics hanging around in the folder.

If only the electrical lines weren't there...

Probably the most attempted shot by everyone. Bored in class, played wit cam, upload pic. Except this was a planned shot. Nice eh the background goes all blurry.

I dunno wut my intentions were wit this shot.

LOL cam wasn't quick enough to capture the raindrops.

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Misc

Went thru my photo collection folder.

Taken quite some time ago:

A spelling mistake in a book shop. The irony is that a spelling dictionary lies on the promo rack nearby. It doesn't spell 'Genaral' in it. LOL.

You noe HSM? You noe the craze revolving around tweens?

It wasn't really that much of a surprise that The Star ran an article on it. The cam is good enough to capture part of the photo article. Click on it to enlarge.

The only surprise came from:

LOL I noe the tune of the catchy songs gets stuck in your head, but you sing it EVERY FCKIN SINGLE DAY? Somebody needs to introduce him to rap music.

I wonder who's posters he collects. Vanessa Hudgens? (haveyouseenhernakedpicsohmygodtheyarehorrible)

Honestly I haven't watch HSM3 yet. I've heard that it's good though.

Next:

Ze ol' plastic jenga. I forgot wut you call 'em in english.

I realise I'm spending quite a lot of time playin wit my little cousins whenever we get back to our hometown. I'll play wit their little minds and have some childish fun wit 'em. But damn I actually got beaten in a game of jenga after a 5 match winning streak. THEY TEAMED UP TO FRAME ME! They're only 9 and 8 years old. LOL.

Ppl write emo posts, I take emo shots. Emo shot of mah kar. Badly composed. Aiks.
(I seriously need to mark up mah slang tok, lolkat iz eatin into mee)

Traffic camera. I wonder if it actually works. Or it's activated only when the red light's on?

Death sentence to Proton. He's even sure about it!

I never realised that my blog's passed the 200 post mark until a few days ago. It took me 3 months last year to get to 100, and this year 12 months for the next 100. I guess it's a slowing trend huh?

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Duncha...

JUZ HATE DRIVERS LIKE THIS?

Number plate covered up to protect law-abiding ones.

The lorry trying to cut queue by bypassing the entire queue and hope for some noob to give in to him. Hey smartass queue up like everyone else in the line. Yes thank god for 2.0 megapix, the license plate is clearly seen. You can even see the signal lights blinking towards the lane. Mind you the lane the lorry was in is going right, so he's not switching lanes, he's hijacking lanes.

Happened too many times to me. Yes I'm a noob driver but I'm impatient enough to get pissed by this kind of shit.

I kena from a Myvi b4 (white one!), and a Viva (maroon w/ heavily tinted windows).

Damn.

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Conflict

See, almost everyone that's known me long enough know that I'm really into the climate change issue. Yes I used to talk to friends about the importance of solving it, the issues, the facts (remember polar bears? LOL) and stuff. I was really into it since watching An Inconvenient Truth. It blew me away. The cause was so alarming that it snapped me right away that we really need to do something about it. I was so into the whole issue I got myself a place as a PM in the school's recycling project.

And I've always known that it'll be an uphill task coz the awareness is really not there yet. People don't understand the situation, or simply, don't care about the situation. It makes me wonder whether these people are too afraid to known what they have (collectively) done to nature and chose to escape from responsibility.

My cam spoiled the view. The stadium, at night, was really spectacular.

But lately, specifically since that last recycling activity of the year, I have been doing a lot of thinking and re-evaluating.

I've picked up a hobby. Or you can put it this way, comfort zone.

I never liked the idea of driving. Back then when I was Form 4 , there's once after koko my mom brought me to the industry area and let me drive the car. You noe industry area, cars are all parked, so not much movement. Wide roads with huge corners. But I was afraid. I got into the driver's seat, put it to drive (yes, it's an auto, shame on me) and drove. The car has got a volume that I wasn't ready to get used to. The motion of turning the steering wheel. I just couldn't take it anymore. By the next corner, I said it's enough, and got back tot he passenger's seat.

So early this year I got my license. Yea normal stuff, didn't have that driving discomfort coz you noe Kancils are small. Then I inherited the car my dad used to drive. But I didn't really start exploring it until I started school in June. Yes a whole 6 months I was either letting the car rot or driving like a noob.

Then came the time where all the outings require driving. It's ok. But the more I drive, the more comfortable I felt about driving. I liked driving. I really liked driving. It even came to a point where me and my family was on a long journey to Pangkor. Halfway thru I couldn't stand the feeling of sitting at the back and asked to sit beside the driver. Yes. I couldn't stand facing the headrest, lookin at the side of the car wit the scenery passing by my side. I like looking at where we're goin. I like the feeling of leading the car to somewhere.

It was all juz cruising. Until I started driving to tuition and fetching Meng Yong. You noe having a friend that actually encougares you to go that bit more faster. So everytime I explored the car's potential a bit. Bit by bit, I started to have this urge to push it to the limit. So I started revving the engine (coincidentally the oil prices dropped, :-P) , pushing the RPM past 3500 (yea previously i juz let it change gear automatically, lazy to oomph it up). Add in with the little physics I learnt, I started to feel the force of accelerating. That feeling of the seat pushing against your back, that G force acting on your head when going thru corners. Yes, those feelings.

Then came yesterday where an old friend of mine talked about driving thru some quite, long, straight roads. To quote him: 'this is for the passion'. There wasn't really a lot of passion in cars, or even driving for that matter, I juz felt comfortable driving. Like I said, a comfort zone. So I said okay. It was really a short notice thing. Juz few hours before we went off.

So I waited for him near his house, and followed him to fetch his friend, the one that he talked about a lot. Meeting his friend was like meeting a legend. Not really that spectacular but he's been talkin about him for like, the entire duration I've known him. So his friend lead the way and I juz followed, paying no attention to the roads we're goin.

It was 10pm. The road he lead me to was really empty, wit long straight stretches, even some hilly parts. It was so long that I even drag raced him a few times. Yes, that long. Was fun doin that drag thingy. We came up to speed, and as soon as I see him trying to go faster than me, I floored the pedal and juz raced. The scene was funny coz I seldom see this guy since we ended F5, and we're doin wut them kids use to talk about. I actually laughed when I saw us both cars trying to outrun each other. LOL.

You should noe where this is.

Then we came to the illuminated bridge. Stopped, and enjoyed the night view. This is a city Dr M visioned to have the kind of night life that cities liek Paris have. They've done the physical part, but it doesn't have the soul of famous cities.

Blurry pic. I need a new cam phone.

Then we exited the city. Was lookin for toilet but in the end held it till home. There were quite some corners. He went fast into the corners and I was trying to keep up. Goin thru a corner at 90, my first time. The steering wheel stiffens, your tendency to understeer increases, and that fckin car behind me is having his headlights on 'high'. Def a good driving experience.

So I returned home, excited to tell me dudes about the whole thing. Than I thought, I juz drove for nothing. Seriously it was an unneccessary drive, a whole 80KM of it. We drove aimlessly around town. The carbon footprint is really big. But I enjoyed it. I liked the feeling of being in the cockpit and taking control of the car. But what I'm doin is against my principles!

I preach about solving climate change, of which car emmisions contribute a big part of the excess greenhouse gases. But I'm driving aimlessly, of which I actually enjoy! It's like a pastor preaching about abstinence but back in his room he traps little boys and molest them. It's like a respectable police officer taking bribes (I doubt those in our country even feel guilty about it). It's like teachers asking students not to smoke but back in his house he has stacks of weed, smoking one every night.

Hypocrite? I dun consider myself one, it's juz a conflict of principles.

I even thought of giving up the PM post in the recycling project. The soul is not there anymore.

You noe wut? I think I'll continue enjoy driving, and still preach about solving climate change.

Anyone has any route that's long and straight and endless and near-toll-free? Got toll nvm la, as long as it's not expensive one.

I'm drivin a Waja, in case yer wonderin.

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Muvees

Been watching quite a few movies this break.

Watched The Day The Earth Stood Still. Had probs telling the ticketer the movie name coz it was too long.

Even the name was shortened on the ticket. Freakin RM11!

To be honest I knew nothing about the movie beforehand. I only knew it's something to do wit lots of futuristic CGI and natural disasters (poster looks like Day After Tomorrow. Or was it Before? I dunno didn't watch that one either).

And so I watched it anticipating another CGI + disaster movie. Turns out it was indeed full of CGI. Disaster? Kinda fictious though... Man 'borns' into Earth. Mission was to nego wit humans to spare Earth. Americans paranoid over more-superior civillisation. Refused talks. Man's father GORT unleashed bugs to eliminate humans. Man touched by rare example of human behavior. Sacrifices himself to save humans. Humans return to polluting Earth. Humans die.

Yes I made the last 2 lines out.

The only thing that interests me in the movie is 1) the vague message about environmental crisis and 2) the actress that plays alongside Keanu Reeves and 3) Jayden Smith. He's cute ain't it?

The fact is that I dun resonate wit fiction movies. See fiction movies are different from animation, of which I like (not japanese kawaii anime. No not those... I'm talkin about the REAL kind of animation, Pixar Dreamworks kind. Even cartoons will do for me). Animation is meant to be man made. Fiction movies, on the other hand, is trying to mix reality and fiction. C'mon, we all know it's impossible to heal yourself quickly by smearing placenta on your wound. Yes there're stem cells in placenta and research is underway but it's still fiction to see a wound heal up so quickly.

My point was made when all we talked about when we left the cinema was about the CGI the actress (gorgeous but forgot her name :-P) and the funny bits (look out for Klaatu speaking mandarin). Fine maybe it's juz about this particular movie that lacks substance (it's full of chemical substances though, one was even named 'classified' or some sort). But seriously overall in fiction movies, there is rarely substance (note, love is not substance, please. Love is an over-exploited theme that even Disney movies that are supposed to appeal to tweens have. Gosh wut do tweens noe about love. Again, movies, not cartoons. Aladin and Sleeping Beauty is allowed to break the rule).

Another point I would like to make is that movies meant for comedy is not categorized as fiction. Bruce Almighty. It's funny. There, point made. For comedies all rules are allowed to be broken. This is where hero movies and comedies separate. Hero movies try to imply some kind of moral value or story, but it just doesn't connect. It's fiction. That's it.

Want moral values? Watch Crash. Want story? Watch World Trade Centre. Movies that are meant to be applied to real life, not some fictious blood-sucking lengzai flying around.


EarthDay got 2 stars from TheStar, Twilight (of which I haven't watch and have no plans to watch) got 1 star. Cry, Twilight fans, cry. Read the last 3 paragraphs of the cutout on Twilight. Transporter got 2 star as well. Action movies, no comment. Action ma, rules allowed to be broken. The movie is made to showcase action-packed-ness.

I'm lookin forward to Yes Man. Jim Carrey won't go wrong. He even did the bungee jump stunt himself! Quote: "That's the first time an actor is replacing a stuntman." Saying Yes, man...

Oh yea watched Madagascar, the first one. Sequel not yet watch. Like Chris Rock said, "talking animals won't go wrong". I think Pixar and Dreamworks make animationa in 2 parts: 1 part to satisfy the kids, 1 part to satisfy the adults. Funny and cute bits to entertain the kids (of which the lines do not matter), and deep meaningful parts for the adults. Go back and watch Toy Story (1 and 2) and you'll noe.

Oh yea. Dun mix sci-fi and fi together yea. Sci-fi is meant for science fiction thingy. I'm juz furious about fiction movies. Wait, is The Day the Earth Stood Still Sci-Fi? Shit I juz freakin contradicted the entire post wit juz one sentence. WTF...

I'll try to twist this back to my favour.

Erm, fiction movies shouldn't mix reality with almost impossible scenarios. (fuck isn't that why it's called fiction?). I say if wanna make fiction movies, make everything fiction, at least most of it.

Did I juz phailed?

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Hrmm...

LOL Haven't been updatin often. (coincidentally, most blogs that I follow start their posts with the same thing. The semester break does break the rhythm of blogging huh?) Whenever I come online, somehow I'm able to spend hours watching Top Gear clips on youtube (there, another famous keyword that you google stumblers can rely upon to redirect to this blog. Juz in case you really were redirected to this blog by the keyword 'Top Gear', k you can leave now coz your hit has already been recorded).

LOL Bill was the first Prime Minister of the USA. Many more to be named by Astro.
(The mistake was corrected by the time the talk was aired)

Does it really take an outsider to tell us who or what we are and what have we accomplished and could've accomplished? Despite payin someone some bg bucks to tell us the obvious, I doubt most of the audience couldn't give a damn about wut he said.

A cute little baby cockroach my friend found when we were out for dinner. It's cute ain't it? We found it in a cup of chocolate. Tot it was undissolved choc powder. It even has it's legs and anttanae intact! Great job!

So few days ago ylup said the moon would be the brightest. I see no difference. Another friend sms-ed me about the phenomenon. I checked again. Biggest in 18 years? I bet the same thing was reported last year, and the year before, and before...

Yesterday dropped by the the PC Fair after tuition. (YES I noe it's not the pic of the PC Fair, it's the pic when we're to GO to the PC Fair).

Booth babes were scarce. Yes they might be wearing hugging outfits, but still...
Dell babes were the best though. The Dell promos... Not that convincing.

Thumbdrive prices are tumbling. Early this year I bought a 4GB for Rm50. Now you can get an 8GB for the same price. I project 16GB to be RM50 at the end of next year and 32GB be Rm50 at the end of 2010. Wanna bet?

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*drip* *drip*

Ah gosh. Down wit this flu thingy i guess. Yesterday still has this water literally dripping from my nostrils. It's mucous, but its consistency is like water, so it drips. Damn...

Had some medication and the dripping stopped, but traded it wit some headache and slight fever plus some minor sore throat, and of coz blocked nose and snezing. Now my eyes are hurting, I guess from the full day of being online. The weather's hot and humid. I guess that must've gotta do wit it.

But I still managed to watch a few movies. Finally watched Rush Hour 3. Not as funny as the previous ones but still not that bad. Chris Tucker + Jackie Chan won't go wrong.

Casino Royale. I watched Quantum of Solace BEFORE Casino Royale, so I was caught in between while watching QoS. Finally got the whole story after CR. So Vesper betrayed James, but James loved her. I knew QoS was about revenge but had no idea why. And how come nobody told me that Bond got hit in the balls several times? He even neary got killed by some drug induced cardiac arrest. And this film was made 2 years ago! WTF how come I never knew that it was in the film?

Camille was hot on screen, but try googling her pics and... Well you'll know when you do.

And damn I think it's the wisdom tooth that's bothering me. It's growing sideways and it's sharp. So from time to time it'll close down and cut my inside cheeks. Damn it's so annoying I'm considering removing it. But damn all over the net they say it's painful la, face get swollen la, infection la this la that la. Shitz...
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MAH DIGGS BIGGAH DAN YORRSSS

Yea went for something like an adventure trip to Jeram Besu Recreational Resort at Raub.

Reached there after an approx 2 hour journey. It seems our activities started without even reaching the resort itselt. Came to a purpose-built house to get ready for the 4WD adventure.

Chor dai di-ing on the bus. The game would get stuck to us throughout the trip.

The 4WD ride was exciting as the road leading to the waterfall was very bumpy. With the powerful modified 4WD, the ride's sorta like a roller coaster. Summore certain parts of the road was literally hillside. Went across milo water, curry water. You name it. The 4WD is like a jeep la, more like a pickup jeep where we get to sit at the back of the jeep, open air one. So like when the 4WD zooms past the road we can feel the air gushing.

Then we came to the waterfall site.

Not exactly there yet but you get the idea.

River. (DUH)



The waterfall. Water flow wasn't supposed to be that high but it rained so we get a stronger waterfall.

Water's freezing cold. Add in the rocks at the bottom of the waterfall. One small knock and the pain stings like nobody's business. More often than not it would result in a bruise.

After that we head towards the resort. CRP Jeram Besu, Raub, that is.

Nobody would've noticed the error if they didn't correct it themselves. LOL.

After dinner we went for a night walk, in the orchard/secondary jungle around the resort. Sorry no pics coz it was drizzling and would probably turn into a rain. It didn't rain of coz.

Saw glow-in-the-dark fungi (was it mushroom?), quail (wild?), firefly (was lucky coz it wasn't the best condition to look for fireflies), and some other stuff I couldn't recall at the moment.

Not to mention the abundance of creatures in the resort itself.

Some ant-like insect with jaw-thingy.

Some pointy insect.

The proudest moment. A firefly in the room. It flew into the room by itself so no accusation of capturing fireflies.

Baby leopard. Mom says it's a wild cat, which isn't techincally a leopard. I dunno...

Turkey. Is it a turkey?

A goat. It smells like mutton curry.

Jacky the chimp. Apparently it hates females (human). Reminds him of a failed previous relationship?

There was supposed to be a sun bear, but it died few years ago.

The next day we went for a cave tour.

Guide said it's an 'introduction to caves' cave. 'Noob' cave?

Focus on the middle piece. Looks like a bowling pin?

Legend has it that some buddhist or hindu from India came to the cave a long long time ago. Then the next 2 formations were formed. Legend la...

Looks like a ship?

This one was supposed to look like an elephant.

Then we entered the cave.

A very young stalagmite formation. Said to be few hundred years old.

The stalagtite formation that drips mineral-rich (calcite?) water to form the stalagmite below it.

We crawled thru a cave tunnel.

And saw light at the end of it. Sort of...

Some poisonous cave insect. Has prawn like features...

This was supposedly the light source for the 'Theater of Light"...

But camera cha siu pau so can only show you a blurry pic of the 'stage'. Seriously the whole section looks like a theater.

Some cave formations around the 'theater'.

Further at another part of the cave, an agak agak figure of 'Guan Yin'.

Some crystal formations.

The reason we shouldn't touch the cave formations especially the ones marked with a red tape is coz we would distrupt the chemical processes that is occuring. We'll be introducing oxides to the 'living' formation and contaminate the chemical composition. The formation would turn black and stop 'growing'. So kids listen to your guides!!

The bunch of termites juz outside the cave. I dunno, that's wut the guide said.

Next stop was jungle trekking at a forest reserve. We're goin to see the Rafflesia flower!


But coz we were goin to cross the river and stuff, it wasn't advisable to bring electronics along. So sorry man no pics. But the whole adventure was either full of challenges (mud slips, river crossing, climbing over dead trees), or full of leeches, depending on which part of it you enjoy the most. The Rafflesia flower was really like what we see in the paintings. Bright colors, and the flower looks plasticky. The buds look like cabbage. Takes 9 months for it to bloom and 7 days for the bloom to close. Of the 7 days, 1 day you'll smell a flowery fragrance, the rest a rotting smell to attract insects. That day we smell neither. Maybe it's coz of the rain the day before.

There should've been a campfire but it was raining that night so no campfire. Last 2 nights were full of Chor Dai Di-ing, cubing and mobile gaming. LOL. Had fun la chatting around.

Next day check-out from the resort but trip wasn't over yet. Headed to a peanut factory (or should say processing factory?)

Intro started wit the peanut tree (or bush? Or shrub? Plant?). They don't plant peanuts here in the country anymore. Most import peanuts from around the region.

This one with a distinct pattern is from Cambodia (or was it Vietnam?)

This brown one from ShanDong, China.

This factory produces flavoured peanuts. Flavoured as in savoury or roasted, not as in chocolate or durian. LOL. They 'marinate' the peanuts in a boiling brine (for the savoury flavour one).

Closer view.

After it's done marinating they dry it under the sun.

Close-up.

After drying, they roast it in a roasting machine. Used to be hand-done.

Then it's off to Quality Control. Obviously those that you won't eat are discarded.

These workers are filtering the peanuts for other products. You noe the kind of fried peanuts? No shells, right?

After QC it's off to packaging.

I have a sense that this factory is something like the Google company. See the basketball board? Employees can play bball when they are done wit the work? LOL

The factory also makes prawn crackers.

Next and last stop is the bean curn factory. Thought got mushroom farm to go but no more... :-(

Bean curd residue(?).

So like, to make bean curd you need soy bean.

This factory uses 'Premium Quality Soybean' imported from Toronto, Canada.

You process it, then separate the soy bean milk from the residue.

If you wanna sell soy bena milk then your job is done here. To make bean curd, you add edible plaster (some kind of coagulant laaaa) so that the soy bean protein thingy sticks together.

Put the curd into the mold and pressure press it to get the water out.

And yer done.

To further process it:

Deep fry the tofu cubes...

...in this...

...and you get 'taufu POK'!

And that's the end it the trip. Made some stupid vids along the way but it's all fun. LOL. Spontaneous creativity woi.

There were also a few inside jokes from the trip that's gonna stay wit us for a long long time. Can't stop laughing at the male dominance thingy.

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