Life

Just last weekend, we spend a day among the Temuan tribe in the rain forest of Pahang with the CSR team from Sanofi-Aventis. The day started with our quick drive up the Karak highway to a little sleepy village called Sang Lee. The primary economy of this little village is heavily centered on its durian orchards. It does boast a charming little watering hole by the interesting name of Kedai Runchit dan Sayor Choy Hing (review here) that specializes in old town goodness coffee and curry wild boar noodles. As the crowd is much larger than what they were used to, the Sanofi staff had to improvise and started to help out, dishing out noodles, putting condiments and little saucers of chilies -- and it looks like many of them are capable of running a noodle stall too!




With our fill, it's no surprise that we don't tell our passengers how rough the journey can be. I know many KL-lites complain about our pot-holed city roads but those are silky smooth compared to where we're going! And the main rule when going off-road? Tread lightly. In all circumstances, respect the terrain and respect the ground you're going on. Trying to bull your way anywhere gets you into trouble... or your vehicle with problems. We also never travel alone which means that the buddy system helps to get you out of trouble too! Then again, I serve a miracle-producing God and the same God that can part the red sea, can easily dry up a 4x4 trail. On Friday evening, a text message came mentioning torrential downpour and an impassable road. Well, we still go in faith. The news wasn't so good the next morning while we're having our wild boar breakfast but still we went. Have faith!

Well, watdidya know? The trail was bone-dry!!




{continue to read on for more...}

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Just had a friend move into his renovated (or as the Americans would say "remodeled") home a few weeks back. It's kind of interesting to see how much thought goes into a project of this scale or magnitude. It also reflects a lot of our own personal experience with our current and previous dwellings as well as our current requirements and situation. For example, he has three kids and all girls so the bathroom for the girls has separate cubicles for showering and doing your business in addition to the sink and mirror -- in tech speak, single-core triple-threaded bathroom! Some of the little things you wouldn't really notice or want can get pretty handy down the road such as two-way light switches - done reading? flip that switch by the bedside to go to sleep. Want to prevent anyone with a cheap radio transceiver from opening your auto-gate at night? Put a switch and turn it off at night. Well, the list goes on...



I've just done up my house a about a year and a half ago. It is a 45-year old house that used to sell at about RM10,000. During that time, I had other friends and colleagues doing up their own homes at the same time so it was good to share experiences with each other. We could have written a book! Or should have! Anyways, here are some things that we found we had in common.

1. The price quoted to you will never be the price you finally pay.

The lowest bid usually has a bunch of assumptions that are generally wrong or worse yet, you'll get smacked with a bill for every little change. The highest bid usually covers all the bases but still you will end up paying more. I ended up choosing the middle quote but I still paid more. Some things are unexpected of course such as a friend's home had a car swallowing sinkhole under the living room and cost him two weeks and a loaded cement mixer to plug it. More reasons below!

2. Buying the stuff yourself is always cheaper but not always

You can always get cement, aggregates (sand, gravel, etc for mixing into concrete), steel, etc cheaper but you've gotta let the contractor make some money. It's also not so practical to obtain a truck-load of sand every week for example. Plus remember, you'll bound to have some pilferage. These "foreign" workers building your home are bound to sell a bag of cement here or there. Unless you are on-site daily, you can't tell the usage rate. Plus, exterior work have require remedy or re-doing if it rains while they start the cement or plastering work for example. I decided on ONLY getting the slightly more premium or aesthetic type of things. We went to Niro for tiles (and they have great customer service - read why). We also went to Han Lim (near Niro, Jalan Tandang, PJ) to get bathroom fixtures like my rain shower, sinks, mixer taps. Then off to Mectrades, KL, Jalan Pasar, to get those fancier light switches. While you're at Jalan Pasar, might as well get some lights too. Rest of the stuff, we let the contractor provide -- already too much to handle to sweat the basics.

3. As with point 1 and 2, do get a sanity check

My boss at that time was quoted RM120 per down light fixture and another RM120 per point for the wiring. That was simply absurd. If you don't know the price of things or would like a second opinion, always check the quote. My electrician quoted only RM100 per point including the fixture, light bulb and wiring. He was also quoted RM5,000 for a 7-foot wide kitchen counter top. The going price at that time was only about RM120 per foot-run and RM250 per side. We're looking only at the total RM1,340! Even if it included tile-work (going at RM4.50/square foot) it wouldn't come close to 5K!

4. Sometimes, you gotta put your foot down and insist on things done right or your way

My wife and I are taller than the Malaysian average. We also wanted a counter top at a comfortable height for us. Contractors like to do things their way not because it's best for you, but because it's easier and cheaper for them. Of course this is not always the case but it actually is quite likely the case from mine and other friends' experience. Sometimes, you let them because it may not be a big deal for you but always remember that you'll be living in that home and for a decent amount of time too. Since we were doing our wiring (45-year old electrical wire is ripe for disaster), I insisted on several things, some being fully galvanized rigid electrical conduits to run my wires to and from the main switch/circuit block. I also insisted on star-topology (which costs more but a blown fuse only affects that small circuit vs the whole room for example) and of course, proper sharing of the three phase power so that a failure of any phase meant only partial loss of power in any room or area. Even if such things didn't cost more, it's more work but if you want something, you got to insist on it.

5. Things never get done your way when you're not around

You want your project completed on time? Show up randomly. Once I just circled around a few blocks after a visit and caught the previously hard-at-work crew lazing in the shade and smoking. Constant checks also allow you to spot certain things that aren't done right and correct them. Also, invariably (see number 6) you will change things so seeing the progress allow you to sometimes fine-tune certain things. Generally, the tops of windows match the tops of doors but in cases of ground floor bathrooms, you might want otherwise.

6. You will definitely change your plan while in progress

This is almost a given. It also of course depends on the size and scope of the work. For someone who's building a house from ground up will have more changes that one who is just remodeling the kitchen. I think I had over a dozen changes from window heights to where some windows will be. Bathroom layouts and switch placements were changed. Roof-line, roof-style and even slope were changed. I know everything is a compromise of sorts unless you have unlimited funds but hey, get the best you can. We even changed the color of our kitchen tiles (Thanks to Niro, at no charge!). So, going back to point number 1, yes, buffer for a 20-30% cost above and beyond the quote.

7. The project time line is always too short

Isn't this like everything else in life? Anyways, most contractors will give a more optimistic time line and not include things like material delivery delays or most of the time, weather related issues. The older the house, probably some additional surprises like that hidden beam or some other delay will crop up. Again, factor in at least 50% more time required. We were told 4-5months. It became about 9 months. Like giving birth. Goodness!



At the end of it all, just be patient, try to enjoy the process (even though you feel like going postal!) and best of all, try to share that experience with friends. It makes the whole thing a bit more bearable.

If you're currently or have renovated or remodeled your home and have a tip or story to tell, or plain disagree with what I said above, drop me a line here! Would love to hear them experiences - good or bad!

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While there are off-road enthusiasts and aficionados who love nothing more than a challenging trail, I prefer to do some good in the process. Besides, you'll going to end up with some vehicle damage anyways -- kind of guaranteed except that they vary in terms of severity. Most of the time, their cosmetic, scratches, scuffs and the like but you might get some dings or dents in under body panels. It can always get worse like shredding your tires or breaking a suspension. Why do it if it's not for the welfare of some poor, neglected and needy folks? These are our orang asli, the indigenous peoples of Malaysia. The original inhabitants of the land, they've been marginalized and mostly displaced and they need our help!



This August 28, 2010, Sanofi-Aventis, that big pharmaceutical firm is bringing doctors and pharmacists into the interior jungles of Pahang. It's going to be quite a challenging track with foot deep mud, river crossings and 30 degree ascents and descents. Obviously they'll be needing vehicles so if you have a 4x4, do drop me a note. If you have a virgin 4x4 that you've never put that lever/dial into 4x4 Low mode, give me a call. Stock 4x4s can manage this trail although it's strongly recommended that you have either all-terrain (AT) or mud-terrain (MT) tires. The stock highway tires (HT) are not so suitable for the thick mud.



That said, like good photography, equipment only gets you so far. It's the person behind the camera or the wheel that matters. On a similar trail like this, we had 9 vehicles from the Land Rover owner's club of Malaysia that had two vehicle breakdowns and two parts where we needed to extract them. You wouldn't think a short-wheel base Defender 90 would get stuck would you?

If August 28, 2010 is not a good date for you, you can always drop me a line and I'll see what other upcoming trips we have that you can help out or participate in. There's one early in December for sure. I typically go several times a year; usually to the interiors in Pahang around the Bentong-Raub area. The tracks are fairly narrow (single-lane) and range from easy to challenging. They are not extreme trails nor do they qualify for rain-forest challenge kind of difficulty. Any decent stock 4x4 with low-range gear, limited-slip differentials and all-terrain tires can make it.




p.s. Did I mention you get to sample some excellent wild boar curry noodles and durians too?

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A month back, I was helping with selling fund-raising dinner tickets for SEMOA which stands for Semenanjung Orang Asli (Indigenous Peoples of the Peninsular). They were raising funds to help empower the next generation of Orang Asli kids who lack not only a lot of basic things we city folks take for granted but most importantly, the access to education. They purchased a large plot of land in Raub and opened the Kebun SEMOA which I covered here.

I generally do pro-bono photography work for SEMOA so when, Pastor Timothy called me at the last minute to cover the event, it was definitely a yes.

The SEMOA Fund-raising dinner for the Orang Asli children was held at the Chinese Assembly hall in KL. It was co-organized by the Melia Hotel Kuala Lumpur. With over 70 tables, it was really wonderful to see so many people show up in support. There was a small souvenir booklet along with several performances, including Francissca Peter, Elvis "HT Long" Presley, AMPAC and CDFM Ballet. The food was excellent and so was the dessert.

It's also interesting that they had Arno Thony, GM of Melia KL and David Jones, the President of the Malaysia-Europe Chambers of commerce in attendance and also giving speeches. Arno had this wife, daughter and son even performing a couple of musical performances! A bit sad to see no local company or MD/Director/GM participating in what is a Malaysian cause. Hong Leong and a few others had notable mentions in the booklet but sending some senior people would have lent more credence.

The guests also had a lot of fun as both Francissca and HT Long mingled with the crowd. At one point, almost everyone was on their feet dancing away. Here are some of the photos for the night... if you want to see the entire collection, you can head over to the OA Ministry Blog over here.

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As one of the first TM Streamyx customers way back in 2001, ten years is a long time to wait for decent broadband. Streamyx was good when it launched but like anything in Malaysia, it just stagnates. Anyways, my parent's house is among the first few areas for Unifi, unlike where I stay now which is low on TM's priority list just because the exchange we use is pretty run down.


The speed is great but the installation purely sucks. Don't get me wrong, the guys did a decent job and were quite clean but I think the first thing Telekom Malaysia should have done is not to assume each household has a single PC. Secondly, the installers should not assume the cable drop is next to the phone table and next to the TV set. So here goes the installer bitching about my complicated setup... see below and trying to charge my mom RM12 per meter run of CAT5 cable. Good thing I have a box (a thousand feet) handy. CAT5 cable run in my parent's home, measured from the switch is about 85 feet (26m) to the TV area, 75 feet (23m) to the guest room, 65 feet (20m) to Rooms 1 and 2.

Since I wasn't around when the completed the installation, they managed to hoodwink my parents into believing that all the PCs are already connected. As my parents didn't know how to run any network testing, all they did was try to load some websites. They even forgot to testing printing. My mom tested printing from her PC (in the guest room) though so she thought everything worked. Yes, it works but half the house is still on Streamyx!! See below diagram.

I dropped at 4:30pm and first thing I did was to do a cable trace. Not liking what I found, I turned off the ADSL connection and immediately two PCs lost internet connectivity. It's obvious why. These are the things I immediately configured or changed:

1. Change the Router’s Administrator password (defaulted to blank!)


2. Turned off the Wireless on TM's DIR-615. (If you intend to use it, rename the Wireless Network Name/SSID)
   * The default SSID uses the customer’s name, i.e.: subscribername@unifi.


3. Disable Remote Access to the router


4. Enable Firewall, including blocking scan, DOS attacks, service filters, the whole enchilada....


5. Adjusted the DHCP port range so it didn't conflict with my other devices that were statically assigned

Here's how the network finally looks like:


It looks like I've to be around and end up doing a fair bit of work if (when TM decides to upgrade the Sungei Way exchange) I subscribe to Unifi and their installers come to my home. It's way more complicated that my parents!

By the way, I didn't play around much with the phone service or the IPTV service. It's not that attractive to me at the moment but hopefully it'll change in the future. I'm hoping for pure SIP services from TM in terms of the voice side...

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