Quite a number of my school friends has grown in size, especially over the waist. When I was back to my hometown of Heavenly Peace (Taiping), I manage to meet up with some of my old school mates. The last I’ve seen some of them was almost a year ago. Then they were already large, but this time, it was worst. The large ones keep getting larger and the not so large ones are catching up. Some of my friends used to be school athlete and some were skinny to the bones those days. What could have caused such explode of size?

I keep reading that US is having this ‘Fat’ epidemic and I don’t believe this is just a US problem alone. Looking at my friends, I believe we are seeing the same epidemic here in Malaysia too. Some of the probable cause of this epidemic was though to be from the invasion of fast food enterprise, less healthy eating, a ‘fat’ virus and radiation that changes the person’s gene to be fat. What ever it is, it is quite alarming.

Me and my wife was graciously given a complimentary hotel stay at Cinta Sayang Sungai Petani a couple of weeks back. We drove there on Friday evening and arrived at the hotel before sun set. Sungai Petani was labeled as a green lung according to the Wiki and it was evident the minute we enter Kedah. The padi fields have just been replanted and green field covers the horizon like a layer of silky carpet grass. As we head north, this can bee seen on both side of the Highway.

The Cinta Sayang Resort was built in the mist of a high class residential area, with golf courses woven among beautifully crafted bungalows. This gives the impression that Sungai Petani residence eats with silver spoon. The main activity at the resort was evidently Golf, complimented by Equestrian, Archery, an Inviting pool and Karaoke lounge. Not being a golfer, these limited activities actually could not fill the entire day and so we venture out to nearby attractions.

Sungai Petani itself do not have much attractions. Of all the travel search on the web, only the clock tower in the middle of the town is mentioned to be the pride of the town, and yes, also the fact that the town was labeled as a green lung. Close to Sungai Petani (30 minutes drive) is a place called Bujang Valley, that is where some ancient temples were found and the temples dated back as early as 300 AD, which is the same time as the Maya Civilization in Mexico. Getting there was fairly simple. From the town clock tower there were signs directing us to the Archeological Museum.

The air conditioned Museum house the excavated artifacts that has Hindu, Buddhist and Islamic Influence. The temples were just located next to the museum, and some of them were reconstructed from ruins. There were about 50 temples found in the valley, but only a handful is located next to the Museum. It was quite impressive what the ancient civilization has built, unfortunately, only the temples were left, and little were known of how things were at that time. How large was the city? Was there a ruler? What was the livelihood then, and what happen to the civilization. Nevertheless, a visit to the museum is truly enlightening and we were amazed by some of the excavations. One example is a hexagon shaped temple and another was a stone with fine engravings (picture).

This is great place to visit on a weekend with the family, truly educational for the young as well as the old. And the best part is, Its Free… well, just the petrol that you burn getting there.. And some junk food to keep the kids quiet on the way.

If you are from Malaysia, and thinking of getting an Ipod, and price is your decision factor on which model you want to purchase, go get it in Singapore.

I don’t understand why Ipod in Malaysia or Apple products in retrospect are significantly more expensive than those sold in US or in our neighboring country Singapore. Is it because those items are tax differently in Malaysia? Well, I send a feedback through the Apple Malaysia site and currently awaiting for their reply. I will post their reply as an update later below, that is if they reply.

Looking at the price comparison, I am amaze on how significant the difference are. I look at 3 Ipod models, Ipod Nano 2G, Ipod Nano 4G and the latest Ipod (Video) 30G. The items were priced at RM969, RM1219 and a whooping RM1599 respectively. Now, if we were to just go across the causeway, the 3 products are prices at RM775, RM975 and RM1220*. Wow, I could get a 4G in Singapore for the price of a 2G in Malaysia. Now, comparing the price from the US, the 3 models are sold at RM751, RM934 and RM1129*. The prices are not too far off from Singapore’s price, and unless you have friends or family coming back from there, it might not worth the effort. Internet purchase over Apple.com site in Singapore also provide free engraving similar to what was offered in US.

Well, sometimes the warranty of the product only limited to the country of purchase. So, I dig into the warranty sheet for Ipod and found no statement of such. It makes sense, as this is a product designed to be portable and so the warranty needs to reflect that too by having a global warranty. I suggest readers to check this out for them selves and not just take my word on it. Also, this warranty statement hold here could change in time. Just a small disclaimer there….

Now, what about the Ipod Care package? (the extended warranty for another year) Well, that is priced at MR224 in Malaysia and could be purchased at anytime before the standard 1 year warranty expires. The Ipod Care Package in Singapore on the other hand was priced at RM241. Wow, for once, there is something cheaper in Malaysia for Apple.

So, there you have it, If you are getting an Ipod, and the price is a decision factor, Singapore is a good buy…

*Prices are obtained from Apple.com US and SG sites and converted to Ringgit using Nov 1st 2005 exchange rate.

Fireworks hazard seams to be a problem that never goes away, even the government calls for a ban a few years ago. Kids with fingers blown off seams to glaze the media FrontPage on every holiday celebration. Don’t the kids know the Hazards of fireworks? The truth is they don’t. I know, cause I was once a reckless kid with all sort of imaginable stunts.

It was back in the days where fireworks were still legal. My favorite arsenal was the Chinese red cracker that usually comes in a pack of 2. Each would contain somewhere close to 24 tiny red crackers. What I would do is to take them out and burn them one by one. I would stuff them into a metal pipe and then let them rip. That caused the loudest bang. Little that I know, that was so hazardous. It never cross my mind that the metal pipe could burst and the shrapnel could rip off my hand or any of my body functional part. Not till a few years later when I got wiser and realized, that was what happens to those kids that got their hands blew off.

So, the call to band the fireworks and proper enforcement will not do any good to the kids, as they know nuts of safety. What we should have is proper education of what and where could go wrong and the consequence of taking the risk. A shock treatment of how to operate without a hand or even a small thumb. Many don’t realize, if we loose any of the fingers, our hand can still function, but without a thumb, there goes the hand. Can’t even grab a cup to drink or write, and image typing without a thumb. It will take a lot and lot of getting used to.