KL International Tattoo 2007

With a new banner tied to the car, once again we made our way in the direction of KL but this time to Stadium Merdeka where KL International Tattoo was being held. We had to park our car at VI, a school that was of walking distance to the stadium.

On the way, we met a group or “Gerak Tempur” army practicing their self defense techniques. Being a black belt holder myself, I approached them and asked for their permission to take a few photos with them. The guys were not only delighted, they even invited me to strike a few self defense poses with them. Best of all, I even managed to get a short video clip that proved that this 35 years old still has got the “moves”!







I bought 2 tickets worth RM 20 for the two of us and made our way towards the stand facing the middle of the grand stand. There I met Mr. Arawi, the man who was in charged of the Malaysian Brass Band. Here I would like to apologize for not taking note of his rank in the arm forces. Mr. Arawi was co-ordinating the performance of his bag pipes students and when I took a few photos with them, Cris noticed that the image was being flashed on the big screen. She immedietly took a photo of it as I maintained my position. I was very happy as the same image was shown on all 3 big screens erected around the stadium. It lasted a few minutes but those were the few minutes that truly “introduced” me to all present, participants and spectators alike.






After that, taking photos with everyone became very easy. Most of the people present had seen me on the big screen so they even offered to have a picture taken with me before I could even ask. Things are looking brighter.

















I asked the personnel there on how I could take photos with the participants and he told me that they were all stationed in the area behind the mock wall concealing the participants’ village from public view. He also told me that the area was off limit to the public. I thanked him and spent about half an hour thinking of a strategy to penetrate the “fort”. When I was studying, I actually took up an extra curriculum activity under “ROTU”, short for Reserve Officer Training Unit. Unfortunately, when I was transferred to another branch of the same collage, I was requested to change my curriculum to Tae Kwon-Do as there was a serious need for an instructor to coach the students for the upcoming inter collage sports meet. Reluctantly I gave up my days as a training army officer and coached the team to glory. My students did so well, they made me so proud. They not only won the individual medals, they even swept clean the team events. Kudos to them for giving their best.

OK, back to my earlier predicament. I suddenly got the idea that I thought will work and proceeded to inform Cris about it. She was speechless and all she gave me was a look of pure disbelieve. I told her that she could wait for me outside while I approached the “fort” on my own but she declined. Together we made our move and when we stopped by an officer guarding the gate, I told him exactly what I had rehersed earlier and surprisingly he waved us thru! Pure heaven! So into the fort we went and these are the few photos that we took until the camera's batteries gave out on us.



















Unfortunately, by penetrating the fort, we missed out a lot of the performances that night. Thank heavens the show will continue on a nightly basis until the 9th. We made our way home with renewed determination to catch the full show on the closing night, 9th Sept. 2007.

You Got To Be Kidding

“You got to be kidding” were the exact words that my friend, Cris said to me when I revealed to her about the car banner that we have to collect from Subang Jaya before 5pm. Cris thought that I had gone mad and I told her yes, probably she’s right. I’m mad enough to print my own car banner as well as stickers to promote my noble self… hmmmmm

I had made a few calls earlier to friends asking about the possibility to gate crash the budget presentation at Parliament but they told me that it’s suicidal because it’s a very closed ceremony. There goes my chance to be featured in papers or TV news.

We made our way back to Subang and had so much laughter when my friend, Stephanie, finally managed to tie the back banner to my Kenari. Cris told me that the car looks cute with the banner on.



So for those who are still desperately seeking that elusive RM 200 spotter’s reward, make sure you keep an eye out for my car on the road. I’ve made myself easier to be spotted so it’s up to you make the next move. Whatever you do, just make sure you maintain a safe distance trailing behind me. We do not want to end up at the mechanics! Happy driving!

For those ELUSIVE journalists out there, come on man, give me a break, all I need is just a small pic of my buddies & me in the papers. So if you want to do a short story on why I'm so into this, mail me NOW!

Cheers ya all…

Making Dream Possible

I went out early to KL with Cris, my business partner and a good friend hoping to catch the launch of MATTA fair at PWTC. When we got there, the queue was so long I nearly lost hope. Suddenly, I had an idea to pull a stunt (read about it after the competition is over because at this moment, it’s a trade secret!) in order to score us the required tags to enter the exhibition halls.

I left Cris at a corner and went off in the direction of the registration counter. In less than 5 minutes, I was back with Cris with 2 tags in hand. Cris could not believe her eyes and laughingly, we made our way towards the exhibition halls.

First visit was at Holiday Tours, the travel agent appointed by RHB to coordinate their customers Travel Money Card arrangement. Thank you to the staffs of Holiday Tours for sharing my enthusiasm and wishing me luck for the competition.





After that I walked around and as expected, many stopped me along the way asking about the cut out. So the whole day I spent explaining about the competition and taking so many photos, my cheeks hurt. I had a great time at MATTA as many of the exhibitors as well as general public were very supportive by agreeing to take photos with me.













I got a treat from Tourism of Thailand when they offered me a free massage session for a full 10 minutes. It was exactly what I needed after carrying a heavy bag on my back walking all over MATTA Fair. Thank you so much and your great gesture was very much appreciated.






I seriously thought that the massage that I got earlier was super great so I told the news teams from China Press about it. They told me that could not feature me in the papers but thanked me for the info. I told them that it does not matter as good things are meant to be shared.
























My wonderings took me to this booth that has a great banner with a message that was very appropriate to convey my feelings running this competition. Acting as a vehicle to make all of the recruits’ dreams possible, the competition is also meant for all of us to have fun and share the joy being friendly Malaysians to one another. All we have to do is to work hard in our effort to turn that dream into reality. Thank you so much to Mix FM as well as RHB for putting together the competition.

To all whom I met at MATTA, thank you for the beautiful experience that we shared together. Mail me, send me your suggestions and share with me your comments on this competition. I may not be able to reply immediately but I promise that you’ll hear from me within a week. Till we meet again, take acre and God bless everyone.