Malaysian International Fireworks Competition 2008

As the title suggests, I was priviledged to attend the event twice. Once on 24th (Team Spain) and another on the 29th (Team Australia). It was my first attempt at taking fireworks with my compact so I thought maybe I could learn a little before moving on to a D-SLR. I borrowed a tripod and head off to the event. It was quite embarassing when I arrived there because every tripod had a DSLR attached to it and I have a small compact on it. I was actually surprised when I looked at the pictures taken cause the pictures actually turned out pretty well.

Team Spain

Team Australia (Finale)

In conclusion, the sight of countless fireworks going off one bye one is just simply breathtaking. There is no way of saying it except that it's an event one should not miss. I'll surely look forward to next year's event and hopefully it will be better than this year.

No I didn't die in KK

Haha! It's been so long since I last blogged. You guys might have thought that I have died in KK. Haha! Well I didn't but was kind of close to it when I succumbed to the cold and failed to reach the peak! GAGH!

But nevertheless, I attempted and reached the height of 3668m out of 4095m. It was quite a view even from up there. And when you're back down, you just cannot believe that you were up there less than 24 hours ago. Anyway, below are some of the pictures of the climb.

This is near the beginning where everyone is still OK

The road is long and steep

Top of the world

Actually, I think it is not that hard to reach the summit. The key points are, practice and exercise before the event and equipment. For me, I had neither as my head lamp decided to fail the minute before the climb. Left without a light, I had to follow other people's pace and hence had to use more energy to climb blindly and not knowing which step has the least inclination. I only had 4 practices prior to engaging Mount Kinabalu and that too I think is a contributing factor to my downfall. In addition to that, the coldness actually got a hold of me and broke me. I succumbed to the cold wind of 2-3 degrees celcius and after trying to hold it, my body gave up and at then, the battle is over. All I wanted was to head down and sleep.

But after thinking through it over and over and over again, I think it is possible to reach the summit if I've taken the proper steps and if everything goes to plan. I would like to attempt it again if given the opportunity and would definitely try my best to make it to the top. Do contact me, if you're going in the near future.

A tough challenge ahead

About a month ago, I made a decision which would very much stretch me to the limit in every way. The following picture will help show you what the challenge is.

That's right guys! I'm going to climb Mount Kinabalu. The problem is that for an unfit guy to climb up, they normally require an intensive training of at least 3 months to be fully trained before going up. I only have 4 weeks and only the weekends to prepare. Is it enough? I sure hope so but initial trainings has proved that I have a problem with dehydration, low stamina and quite heavy to pull my own weight up.

Over the course of 2 weeks, I've been training at Bukit Jalil Park for the staircases, Pak San / Bukit Wangsa / Bukit Puteh for the trail hikes and Bukit Kiara for building up my stamina and cardiovascular systems. I'm supposed to go to Batu Caves today, but due to an unforseen circumstances in work, I have to come to office to work in the morning thus ceasing a chance to train myself.

I hope I'll be able to make it all the way to the top and back in one piece. I'll try to get the pictures up here once I'm back. Till then, keep me in prayer and do join for my trainings if you would like to.

The idea of sharing...

It's a rather cheesy topic to talk about but a recent event prompted me to pen this down. Many of you all would know that I do not like to share my things. I like to have my own snacks, my own drinks, my own PC, gadgets and all. The only thing I seem to share is my collection of avi's. Anyway, to cut the long sotry short, I'd like to ask your opinion on sharing based on a scenario I've recently observed.

I recently visited a family whose parents had young children. The kid was playing his own toys all to himself. After a few minutes, another family came to visit. A kid of similar age joined in. The father of the first kid asked that he shared his toys with the new comer. He was a little upset as the other kid does not know what or how it's supposed to be played and end up throwing the toys just to hear and see how the toys react when its thrown. After a couple of times the new kid threw the toys, the parents stopped him and later went home after their visit.

The incident got me thinking. Why risk share something you have set up nicely to someone who don't know what you've been doing? Supposed it's a Lego and you've aseembled yourself an impressive object only to be thrown or torn into pieces? This also raises a question, why is it that when someone visits your place, you are asked to share your toys / PC / things with others? And why is it that when you visit someone's place, you are asked to allow the host to let you play? If i've let them play with my things, why can't I have straight access to other people's stuff too?

Am I to sacrifice the stuff I care to let others play and vandalize it? Am I to let other people take advantage over me? Supposed a really dominating person were to always take advantage of our kind offering to allow them to play something and we wait patiently for our turn but we never get it, what are we to do? Nothing? Are we to do anything to stop them from being like that? Do nice people always finish last by allowing others to domninate and take advantage of us?

Let me know.

2 Days of Freedom!

Whoa! I just got back from a really really cool weekend. I had the opportunity to go for a festival for 2 days in Port Dickson to witness Tiesto's Elements Of Life Tour in Malaysia! In addition, several other famous DJ's were there such as Ferry Corsten, Cosmic Gate and several other upcoming DJ's. They all played different music and styles with various displays and pyrotechnics which provided a very uplifting and energetic atmosphere.

However, for both nights, Tiesto only came out at about 12AM when we've all already used up most of our energy cheering, shouting and jumping for the earlier DJ's making us less energetic for Tiesto. It is such a shame that Tiesto didn't put up much of a performance on Friday due to some inconsiderate people shining bright lasers into his face and eyes while he's performing. Nevertheless, he still put on quite a show but it wasn't until Saturday night that it was the best! Below are some of the videos taken for the event. I bought a 4GB SDHC Card for my camera to enable me to record 90 minutes of the event. I was able to record about 70minutes before my battery gave way. Enjoy the following:

Cosmic Gate - Nebula + Everything (Freedom 08 EOL Tour)

Tiesto - 10 Seconds to Sunrise (Freedom 08 EOL Tour)

Tiesto - Break My Fall (Freedom 08 EOL Tour)

Tiesto - Elements Of Life (Freedom 08 EOL Tour)

He's a Pirate (Freedom 08 EOL Tour)

Tiesto - Adagio For Strings (Freedom 08 EOL Tour)

You will notice that I did not have any videos taken on the Friday night (9/5) as I thought cameras were not allowed in the concert hall. I only brought it in on Saturday for the recordings. I apologise for the poor video quality especially on the first Tiesto video (10 Seconds to Sunrise). This is due to the fact that i over zoom in and soomehow the camera was not set to focus on Tiesto but rather on the stage. For the other videos it's a little jerky as I was constantly shaken by people walking and pushing about their way to the front as well as me jumping or moving to the beat. Nevertheless, the audio is still pretty awesome!

I look forward to future occurance of such concerts and would gladly welcome other DJ's like Armin Van Buuren or DJ Shah or Aly and Fila to come and show their stuff and play their music. The choice I made to go to the concert is not a mistake and I hope that my videos will encourage and grow the community of trance fans.