Manila Trip (Day 1, Feb 18 2011)

Day 1

My very first outstation trip of the year. Yes!! I was so looking forward to it. Firstly because my wonderful and awesome MA friends are there and secondly, there is Mr Tony Fernandes to thank for such cheap flight tickets (but I'm still dissatisfied that I had to pay my airport tax when I returned. Anyway, that's a separate story, I will take it offline with you Mr Fernandes).

Rina and I woke up as though we had to sahur (Malay language for eating like there's no tomorrow during the fasting month). Well, Rina had it worse cuz I think she woke up at 3am and only managed to get a 2 hours' worth of shut-eye prior to that. As for me, I have my house location to thank for. Only 20 minutes away from LCCT. Ah, the little things in life :)

Anyway, flight was at 7:25am via AK662. Reached there around 5:30am and went for check-in. Flight departure was delayed for 30min or so (damn you AA!), so obviously that would translate to us reaching Philippines (from hereon shall be known as PH). So when we reached around 11:30am or so, I texted Teddy (our multi-role-playing MA friend, as shall be demonstrated later).

We landed at this airport which is like 2 hours away from Manila city (kill me!) and which would also obviously mean that Teddy had to drive ALLLLL the way to the airport and brave through the 2 hours journey back to Manila as well. Now, this is the moment where I have to express my utmost gratitude for such wonderful hospitality shown by my friends. *sob sob*

Anyway, when we landed, the first thing that came to my mind was, "Was Lotte pulling my leg when she told me that the weather in Manila has been around 25 degrees or so?" Man!!! It was scorching hot and I could see poor Teddy running towards his parked car like 200 meters away (with no umbrella!).

So, yea, Teddy eventually came to pick up our luggage (and us) and we drove back to Manila city. Wow, if you thought jams in KL were bad, you are absolutely wrong. Come to Manila and experience the joys of driving in bad jams and bad drivers (with offensive/ defensive driving skills). But the horror of being stuck in a jam wasn't that bad cuz there were some pretty interesting sights to be marvelled at. Reference below.

Yan: Oh wow, banana plants

Teddy: Nope, those are just grass (said nonchalantly with a Tagalog accent)

Yan: Okayyy.... (silence for the next 5 minutes)

Rina and I in the car, while Teddy went to answer nature's call.

Ahh, coloured air. We have that in KL as well.

Billboards. Like really, lots of 'em.

They are HUGE.

....and distracting.

Now you see what I mean?

This is their version of LRT/KTM/monorail.

Cheap and widely available.

After taking like 20.5 light years to reach the Manila city, we headed straight to Eastwood Mall (which is like super near to the Citibank Consumer building). Went to one of the restaurants for Thai food.

I love Citibank.

Ooo la la.

Waiters and waitresses going the extra mile; performing to a song and dance. In fact, I was made to understand that the traffic policeman do that as well. Too bad I did not have a chance to witness it.

Pretty cool huh?

Prior to going to PH, friends have warned me to be careful due to the recent incidents that took place in Manila (bombing, kidnapping, etc). However, when I reached to the city, I got the exact opposite feeling. So for those that are having doubts about going to PH, here is when I do my sales pitch: GO! You would feel so much more at home than you are in Malaysia or anywhere else in Asia. People there are super friendly and they speak very sweet-sounding English. I could not have been more amazed by their hospitality. It is really indeed PH (Philippine Hospitality), unlike some stupid-ass country that claims to provide that kind of hospitality as well. You know what I'm talking about.

So yea, back to my story. In the midst of having our Thai food (can you believe it? came all the way for Thai food? the irony), Lotte showed up and after that, we proceeded to this mall for a little shopping :)

OH MAI GAWD. You would not believe how HUGE their malls are. This mall that I went to (and it's not even the biggest one yet) was seriously huge. Probably twice the size of Mid Valley. There was so many of everything, dresses, tops, shoes, bags, this that knick knack paddy whack. I bought 3 baby cardigans and a pair of slippers. Guess how much were the cardigans?

When I went to the cashier to pay, I was again WOW-ed by such amazing hospitality and customer service. There were 3 ladies at the cashier; 2 of the ladies were looking through my cardigan, I was like "Come on people, just get on with it already. I have more shopping to do!"

Then suddenly one of the ladies said to me, "Excuse me ma'am, there is a slight defect (some loose threads forming a 1mm hole on my pink cardigan) on this cardigan. Would you still like to proceed?". That moment, I felt like I was the Queen of the world, getting such VIP treatment. Then I asked her back, "Erm, is there another spare at the rack? Do you want me to go to the rack and get it?". She replied, "No ma'am, just wait here. We will get it for you."

As I recollect on my experience that day, I thought to myself, "Where on earth in KL can you see our cashiers doing that?" In fact, they would even try to hide the defect and quickly try to sell it off. Our Malaysian customer service staff can definitely learn something from this experience.

Anyway after all that, we headed to Greenbelt to have dinner and also to meet up with the rest of the MAs.

Yes, we came all the way to Manila to have Thai food. I bet that's the irony that Pol's considering as he flashes us with that smile of his. But food's great, no complaints :)

We The Kings performing at Greenbelt. The day could not have been any better :)

After chilling and catching up over dinner for more than 4 hours (I think!) at the Thai place, we decided to call it quits for the night.

Tomorrow's gonna be sight-seeing day! Yee-hah!

Kita- The Flash Mob (June 6th)

Phew! That's all I can say, after a long but fruitful day out with young folks who are matured in mind. It was an awesome experience and I would like to share that with you.

Woke up at 7am this morning. Damn tired cuz yesterday night I attended a colleague's wedding dinner at TTDI. Anyway, that's besides the point. OK, after waking up, I checked the CausePlay inbox to see whether there were any last min matters that needed to be taken care of for today's mob. None. Checked the fb wall. None. OK, went to get ready, and headed off to the ERL station.

Reached KL Sentral around 8:29am. Obviously, no one was there. Ah, I remember now. I would have hung out more at the ERL Waiting Lounge, but there was a blind man sitting beside me in the train, so I had to guide him up to the exit area, hence I couldn't hang out in the Waiting Lounge. Anyway, so, I went to Burger King to wait for the rest of the CausePlayers.

8:30am

8:35am

8:40am

8:45am

Ping! I see the guys from IACT College lugging bags of T-shirts and freebies and also posters. Amazing kids I tell you! Went to introduce myself. They're so damn cool, with their tattoos, sense of fashion, hair, glasses, piercings. How I wish I had lived that path during my teens. Hmm *dreamy*

Anyway, slowly one by one the CausePlay mobbers started trickling into the meeting point. By then, it had already been 9:10am.

So, finally we headed into the bus (our designated "flash mob tour" bus), with our McD breakfast sets waiting for us :) Yummeee..

First stop was Times Square at 10:30am. We started off by singing the "Negaraku" while being blindfolded. Then the IACT lecturer recited a poem by A. Samad Said. We removed our blindfolds and started singing childhood songs. It was so awesome cuz it was accompanied by the kompang. The shoppers were just staring at us, some taking photos, some shooting videos.

Next, we headed off to Central Market. Yes, I know, probably one of the more dodgier places in the heart of KL City. It was kinda like Chow Kit Street, with all the stalls selling arts and crafts. Saw this stall inside Central Market selling T-shirts with really catchy statements printed on them. E.g., "Naked Inside" using the Intel Inside logo. Wanted to buy one of the shirts, but they were trying to rip me off for RM35. I was like, you might as well rob me in bright daylight.

So, at 12pm (I think), we did our thing again at the area near the kereta lembu. Cool, had better responses from the crowd, cuz Central Market being the area where tourists frequent and not forgetting the very very dodgy immigrant workers.

Next, we headed off to Kompleks PKNS Shah Alam. When we first landed, we got a vanilla sundae. Yippee! Then we went around the complex with our Kita T-shirts on, drawing a lot of attention from the public cuz they were thinking that we were from some kinda mob (like a kongsi gelap), which is kinda true right? We ARE a flash MOB group :)

So, at 2pm (I think), we did our thing again, right smack in the front entrance. People from McD and the shoppers were watching but didn't really do much (except for one lady that was recording our gig). So, I told Kim that the crowd was kinda "stoned" and she took it as "they were too stoned cuz our gig was so awesome". Right.

Then, we had our lunch at the park (by the lake) opposite Kompleks PKNS. Nice view (but dirty water), slightly breeezy but damn hot. Good company. Everyone just sat on the benches and ate the nasi goreng.

After that, we headed off for our last stop which was at Lot 10. This time, we didn't sing. Instead, all of us did a formation in a straight line, hands locking with the person next to each other, while being blindfolded, did a freeze. So, technically it was a blind freeze. Damn awesome cuz you know Lot 10 being a hot spot for tourists, we managed to get the attention and awareness that we wanted.

So, all in all, tiring day but really amazing. Enjoyed meeting fun and young people (cuz they make me feel young) and learning from them at the same time :)

Shoutout goes out to:

Jacqueline

Cody
Thaqifah
Khiflani
Siti Zurya
Elina Suyani

Shaheera

Aris Hushaini
Mohd Faisal
Zackrey
Danial Hasif
Muhammad Amirul
Mohd Fazrin Shah
Ainul Hafzan

Daniel

Steven

You guys ROCK!! Looking forward to next week's!! :):)

VFM: The Videos

Here you go. Enjoy!!

VFM: Post-mortem

All I can say about VFM is...

AWESOME!!! Never would I have thought that it would be such a success. It was indeed a catapult of success vs the Christmas Beatboxing & Singing Flash Mob. I loved every single moment of it, and I'm sure the participants and the photographers did as well.

Here's a brief account of what actually happened at KL Sentral (1st wave of VFM).

I arrived at KL Sentral at about 12:57pm. But even on the way, my phone was already ringing off the hook cuz I was receiving phone calls and sms-es from the participants enquiring and confirming certain details. I have never felt so popular in my life =p

So, when I reached, I met up with Charz and Fran. Thanks to them, the VFM had a big-ass hailer to scream out the instructions to the participants. So, slowly one by one, the mobbers started trickling in. Some came in couples, some in groups, some single. Went around meeting the mobbers. It's very interesting that these people actually came to know about the VFM through a 3 or 4 degrees of separation method (i.e. they found out via their friend's friend's friend's friend, obviously I do not know any of them). I love facebook. If there was no decent man left in the world, I'd take fb anytime, hands down (even if it turns out that fb is a "She").

So, by 1:30pm, we started with the briefing (although it was originally scheduled to start at 1pm, but you know the Malaysian attitude) using the big-ass hailer mentioned above. The mobbers were very supportive, paying close attention to the modus operandi and asking when they had doubts. Could tell that they were very very keen and supportive. Oh, note to those that ffk on us, go and screw yourself.

So, we divided ourselves into little teams with a leader (either voluntary, or forced voluntariness =p) and designated locations to each team. Main focus was on the concourse area of KL Sentral, just outside McDonalds.

At 2pm, we started. Oh, btw, there was this group of German ladies who looked suspiciously-keen, so I went up to them and asked whether they were there for an event. The lady was like, "Oh yea, we're here for a flash mob". My heart was screaming in JOY. I said, "Yes, you're right on time, we're just about to start. Why don't you get settled and join in?"

So, at 2pm, we started. I did not freeze cuz there was no videographer, so me being the kuli, had to step in. There was literally silence as commuters started stopping in their tracks and wondered what was going on. People started taking out cameras and their handphones and started recording. We even stole the limelight from this bunch of girls dressed up in Cosplay! Muahahaha. They ended up moving to the sideline and whispering to each other (probably cursing us LOL).

So, me being the kuli, was walking around recording in my not so canggih videocam known as the E71, was also trying to stir things up. I went up to some random commuters asking, "Apa yang sedang berlaku ni? Kenapa semua orang beku je?" I even overheard the Information Counter officer calling up his superiors and saying, "Semua orang tak bergerak. Beku". LOL, it's kinda funny how we translate things from English to Malay right? Freeze= Beku.

Come to think of it, he was actually pretty silly. He should have seen that I was one of the mobbers cuz I was carrying that big-ass hailer on my right shoulder. Probably the sight of someone carrying a hailer at KL Sentral is normal to him. LOL.

Anyway, there were tons of poses. Most of them attempted to stay grounded, like a mannequin. But I'd have to give them credit for pulling it off as this was their 1st time freezing in public for 5 minutes. Bravo!

So, at 2:05pm, everyone unfroze and moved away. Then, came back the noise and hustle-bustle of the KL Sentral scene. Then, we all re-grouped back at the briefing area for a de-briefing. Kudos to the photographers for moving with such speed capturing all they could in 5 minutes. Such professionalism. We will definitely hire you (for free) next time! ;)

So, after the debriefing (which ended around 2:40pm), we took some group shots and a couple of police officers came to "kacau" (sorry dude, no wang kopi for you). The policeman asked me whether I had the permit to do such event here at KL Sentral. So, I proudly took it out and waved it at his face (silently screaming "Take it suckaaaa!!). Nah, I didn't scream THAT out, but I politely told him that I had the management approval. He glanced through it, as though he was trying to spot some grammatical error. When he couldn't find fault with it, I innocently asked him, "Encik, ada apa-apa masalah ke?". Then he mumbled something and said, "Oh, ini management tahu, tapi kita polis tak tahu". WTF has an event IN a building got to do with them?!?!?! Helllooooo?!?!?!

Anyway, after that whole rigmarole was over, we all headed to the Monorail station, secara beramai-ramai like a Mickey Mouse platoon. LOL. We reached Times Square (TS) at about 2:45pm. Still early, so the gang went to Starbucks to hang out while I went to meet with the TS Officer to co-ordinate some last minute logistics.

First wave of TS VFM was at LG floor, where they were planning to slot in our gig right after the 8TV CNY Promo Tour. Lucky Styvee. We ran a little off schedule, so we started off slightly later, at about 4:45pm. It was right smack in the middle of the concourse area, where any blind person could see us. Great stuff. Reporters from every imaginable press was there. You name it, you got it. The Star, Nanyang, Sin Chew, Berita Harian (OMG!!!). So, that was my first shot (and very possibly the only shot) at stardom. So, they asked me all sorts of questions and I answered all of them. I was so beat by then I wanted to faint right in front of them. So, they asked me how to write my Chinese name and how to spell my English name. Good sign right?

Anyway, 2nd wave of TS VFM was at Ground floor, right smack in front of the main entrance. This time around, the paparazzi moment was even dialled up further. Camera flashes were all over. I took part in the freeze. Yea, wanted to experience it since I already missed out on the previous 2 gigs. My pose was with Keith, trying to shake hands midway. I could feel sweat trickling down my forehead and my leg muscle was screaming "Move your leg, damnit". Seriously tiring. Every second felt like an hour. Sometimes, you feel like you wanna scratch your hands, or wipe away your sweat, or turn your neck, or move your leg. YOU CAN'T!!

When the 5 minutes ended, me and Keith shook hands and walked away casually. Then, we all gathered at the main entrance for a group shot. I de-briefed the mobbers and thanked them. Really grateful to them for showing up. It meant the world to me.

After that, I departed for home sweet home, with an ache starting to build up on my right leg, and smiling like an ass at the same time.

What a day.

And if you're wondering why I even bothered to type out this long-ass piece of article when a video or pictures can tell more, I choose to. Because 10 years down the road, I may have suffered a case of amnesia (*touch wood*) and I would love to feel and relive the moment of what fun really means.

P/S- Video and pictures should be ready in 1 week's time. Patience is a virtue. Amen.

CFM: The video everyone has been waiting for

OK here we go. Key takeaways:

1. Yes, the echo from the train was fking loud. So, I would give props to the beatboxers and singers for making it work. You guys rocked!

2. Yes, we only had 1 cameraman. Yeah, it goes back to the whole thing of ppl ffk-ing us during the last minute. Lesson learnt. What goes around comes around. We wished that we had more volunteers who could help us shoot the flash mob from different angles, so that you could actually see the reactions, smiles and "wow" coming from the passengers. Sometimes, you need to be present physically to be able to experience the "WOW" factor. Take for example, it's exactly like watching Avatar on DVD. That's just sad man.

3. Thanks again to everyone who participated! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2010!

Euphoria: Christmas Flash Mob

So, the Christmas Flash Mob (CFM) was on Dec 20th, Sunday at Putra LRT. 2 words to describe it, "Fking awesome".

A couple of notes to those who ffk us during the last minute: Thanks for not coming (I mean it seriously and sarcastically). You know why? I'll tell you why. It was indeed a blessing in disguise because we couldn't have managed the logistics when we were beatboxing and singing inside the train. It would be too big of a gob to move about (if you know what I'm saying). So, yea, thanks again for not coming and blowing us off last minute. What goes around, comes around.

OK, now I shall begin deciphering the euphoria of the CFM. I'll tell you why it was so "Fking awesome":
1. It was the first ever in Malaysia and I'm pretty sure it was the first ever in the world. For those of you who are thinking of challenging this statement, pls try your very best to search for videos of a group of people "flash mobbing" public transportations while singing AND beatboxing.

2. We totally rocked it even though 15 of us showed up (vs initial target of 30). Like I mentioned above, logistics would have been tougher to co-ordinate. And if you think that beatboxing and singing in the train is easy, you are damn wrong. Imagine having to beatbox for 6 whole minutes continuously while moving from 1 tram to the next and having to balance yourself standing and trying to outdo the noise caused by the echo of the train moving through the underground tunnnel. If you think you can do it, show us what you got. As for the singers, since there was limited number of singers, we had to also outdo the noise caused by the echo. Oh, not forgetting also to keep check of the stations that we had to get out at. Otherwise, we would be ending up in Gombak or something.

3. We definitely brought a whole new meaning to flash mob, whereby long gone are the days where people just imitate whatever that ImprovEverywhere is doing (freezing, doing some train party, pillow fights, etc). CausePlay combined beatboxing and singing this time around. The next flash mob would be even bigger and better. If you wanna be part of it, you know who to contact.

4. The participants were not just young, but they were talented as well. Did I mention that they were very sporting as well? Props and kudos to the beatboxers, all ranging from 16 to 20. You amazed me and the hundreds of Malaysian LRT passengers who can testify to that. You showcased your talent and you were not afraid or shy to show the world what you got. A typical Malaysian would just stand by and watch and go "oooo" and "ahhh".

5. The reactions from the LRT passengers was something that money can NEVER buy. All the uncles and aunties who have obviously never seen people beatboxing turned to look, teen couples smiled and sang along with us, youngsters took out their cameras and videocams (for those who were carrying it there and then) and started recording. A couple of foreigners even wished us Merry Christmas after the CFM. Like I said, P R I C E L E S S (kinda like the MasterCard advertisement).

6. There were no rehearsals done. We only gathered 2 hours earlier to conduct the briefing and did a trial run before the CFM. Obviously, people have come from all over the place and we didn't wanna take up too much of their time. A beatboxer even came all the way from Malacca and another singer looked us up (instead of being invited to the event). Kudos!


Once again, a MASSIVE shoutout goes out to:
BEATBOXERS
Kimsng: For being the right-hand person for the CFM, key female beatboxer [http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=629197000&ref=ts]

ABeatC: For being the show-starter and also the lead male beatboxer. Oh, not forgetting video editor [http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=1029405567&ref=ts]

Koujee: For also being the lead male beatboxer and for providing the "enthusiasm" and "humour" to the group [http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=100000421152230&ref=ts]

Danil: Muhibah pilot boy, who also happens to beatbox [http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=714195620&ref=ts]

MC Rave: Cool dude, thanks for showing up man [http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=1362886079&ref=ts]

M3: Another cool dude, thanks for showing up [http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/megatdanial?ref=ts]

Ice: "Hi, I'm Ice" "Hi, I'm Fire" All the way from Melaka, beatboxing for the fellow KL-ians [http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/AisBatu?ref=ts]

Bei: Another female beatboxer. Arigato! [http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/bbbei?ref=mf]

SINGERS
Keith: TQ for being so proactive. Look forward to your participation next round ;)
Peggy: Yes, we all know the long working hours ;) But, I'm sure you can still spend time to come and join us for the next flash mob
Psych majors: Jasmine, Felix and Cheong
Lee Yee: Bei's twin sister! Who can always throw in some beats! You go girl ;)

CAMERAMAN
Yow Fung in da house!! People thought you were shooting some film/movie :p

Do look out for the video. Will post it soon (once it's done being edited).

Cheers,
CausePlay

Trip down memory lane

OK, so today was sorta like my off-day cuz most of my kids went off for a break (after their final exams). So, after lunch, I was kinda free and my mum wanted me to get my lazy-ass to do sth productive (now you understand why this blog title if appropriately named lazy-ass).

So she was like, "Oh, let's go and make some dresses".

I was like, "Huh?"

Then she said, "Yeah, I already bought 4 metres of cloth for you. Faster. Take your bag. Quickly go"

Then we went. So, after driving for like 1 hour (yea, I know, talk about walking the extra mile eh), we finally reached.

Reason why we travelled so far was cuz there isn't a tailor here that makes dresses. So, there we were, in some very very old tailoring shop by the roadside.

This was the tailor's dog. So adorable. Apparently, somebody gave this tailor the dog a few years back. The dog was barely breathing. Apparently abused. Poor doggie :(

After that, we were so hungry cuz I didn't manage to have lunch. So, we went to this town to have lunch.


This is a RM6 curry mee. Selling at a kopitiam (not Old Town Kopitiam, but just plain kopitiam). When I was Standard 6, this bowl of curry mee was selling at RM2.80. Apparently, the prices go up every year and never comes down. Kinda like our age, if you think about it. Can only go up and never come down. Anyway, I was really hungry and I couldn't care less about the price.


This is mummy's wantan mee. Guess how much it costs? RM5. Can you imagine? A plate of wantan mee selling at RM5?!?! I don't think the one near KLCC costs as much. But mummy was hungry as well, so she couldn't be bothered.

Oh btw, we also ordered a can of coke. RM2.10. My mum's eyes nearly bulged out when the auntie said RM2.10. She thought she heard wrongly. The auntie must have thought that we were from some kampung. LOL!