Breaking Down

My Dell Axim x51v PDA is breaking down bit by bit, day by day. First, the WiFi stopped working, without informing me. In terms of value for money, it is really not worth the S$600 I paid for this PDA. I only used the WiFi for a couple of times, and then now it just refused to work, and goes on permanent holidays.

Then the Adobe reader on the PDA, seeing that the WiFi can stop working, stopped to work too. I uninstalled the software, installed it again, but then it just refuses to open any PDF file for me.

I only used this PDA for about 3 years plus, and then now it has turned itself into an expensive piece of paper weight. Or the only use is it will act as my personal entertainment device when I take those cheap budget flights.

Times have changed, and electronic gadgets also change. The morale of the story is that when you get a piece of new electronics, make sure you use it to its full capacity, to get back every single dollar's value from the electronic gadget, before that piece of once expensive gadget become a piece of expensive paper weight.

Slow Sales at Dreamstime.com

There is a noticeable slow down in sales for me at Dreamstime.com. I was a couple of dollars away from the minimum payout amount around a month ago, and I am still a couple of dollars away from the minimum amount now.

The downloads at Dreamstime is almost at a standstill, although I have a number of new photos just came online.

Actually, out of the many microstock agencies, Dreamstime is one that I notice slow down after we are into this current financial crisis. No matter how diligently for me to upload to dreamstime, the download number just doesn't seem to move.

Maybe a new strategy is needed for me, and the sales team at dreamstime.com.

Merlion Back to Normal

Saw it in the news that the Merlion statue at 1 Fullerton has been repaired, and the water jet in its mouth started to pump out water again. However, the waves below the statue are still under repair.

When the Merlion was struck by lighting, some Feng Shui master said it might have helped Singapore bear the brunt of some bad luck, now the Merlion is repaired, I am wondering what would the Feng Shui master say this time.

There are two possibilities:

1. The Merlion recovers, so Singapore has also weathered its worst financial crisis and going to recover.

2. Since the Merlion recovered, the Singapore has to bear the brunt of the whatsoever bad luck :P

Anyway, whatever the master says, let's hope for a better tomorrow :)

Day Trip to Kluang - Part III

OldTaste Cafe

Last time I tried OldTown Cafe, which was just so, this time in Kluang, I tried the OldTaste Cafe at Kluang Mall.

Fried rice with fried chicken drum stick was what I ordered. Didn't expect much actually, especially the fried chicken drum stick. Usually fried drum sticks are very dry and taste like chewing rubber. However, the OldTaste fried drum stick gave me a positive surprise. The outside is crispy, yet the inside is still juicy and tender. The essence of the chicken drum stick has been skillfully preserved under the crispy cast.

They also use minced shrimp shells in their fried rice. The shrimp shells gives the rice a special frangance. The rice is soft yet delicious.

I must say I quite like the food at OldTaste. It gives people a feel of the old & dreamy colonial days of Nanyang, a name referring to South East Asia in Chinese. The calm and peace of enjoying a cup of local Nanyang white coffee in a hot, dizzy Sunday afternoon.

Oh, here I must make a special mention of 'white coffee'. You will see this term bumping up almost everywhere in Malaysia. 'White Coffee' in Malaysia means coffee produced roasting the beans with magarine. White coffee is quite a hit in Malaysia. Many people like white coffee. White coffee powder is also readily available everywhere. A packet of white coffee only costs you RM6.00 at Kluang Railway Station.

You can find Part I here & Part II here.

Earth Hour - 8.30pm, 28 March

Saw a poster about Earth Hour, asking people to switch off their lights for an hour starting at 8.30pm, 28 March.

I still support this movement, although it is mostly symbolic, without any substance. The amount of energy saved by switching off the light for an hour will not be too significant. If people are serious in saving energy, then they should do it everyday, on everything in their daily life.

Just look around where you live, do you see all those lights shining bright like sunshine from 7pm to 7am in our HDB blocks? Is it good? Of course it is good. People who come home late will never worry about walking in the dark. Is it energy efficent? Of course no. Can we do something to save some energy? Yes! But the will to do so? Mmmmh.... In doubt.

If you are serious about saving life, then you should never have excesses, which is quite on the opposite of stimulating economy. Just walk around the food court or hawker center you frequent, how much left-over food do you see? Our ladies are so health conscious that half of the rice in their plates are left. In the older days, people used left-over food to feed pigs, hens & roosters, but now what do they do with the left-over food? Rubbish bin. Everyday there is so much wastage of precious produces from our Mother Earth.

Day Trip to Kluang - Part II

You can Part I here & Part III here.

Kluang Railway Station Cafe

The prime reason we went to Kluang is to try the food at Kluang Railway Station Cafe. How can we give it a miss then? We arrived at around 11am, yet the cafe was still packed with people, most of them Malays with families.

We ordered Nasi Lemak, Roti Bun, Kopi Susu and some green stuff which I don't know the name.

The Kopi Susu is not the ordinary coffee, it is very strong in AFTER taste. When the coffee first went into my mouth, I didn't feel much, but after it went down, then I felt something strong going up my spine and then all the way to the top of my head. And then I felt a bit dizzy, sleepy for the rest of the day. Oh, don't worry, that's my normal reaction to strong coffee. The only other time that I got such a strong coffee was when I was back in Milan the other time. However, this Kluang roasted coffee does not have much aroma smell, a pity.

The way food is being served in the Railway Cafe is very much based on trust. For example, we ordered Nasi Lemak. The waiter just put a few packets of Nasi Lemak on a plate and then put it on our table. We can eat as much as we want, then later on when we pay, we just tell them how many packets we have eaten.

Do you see how small in size their Nasi Lemak is? One packet is just for 3-4 mouthful. Two peanuts, around 5 ikan bilis. The chilli sauce is not bad, but quite common to me.

What I like most is their Roti Bun. The secret is in their Kaya. It is sweet and smooth, combined with the softness of butter, and the crispiness of the bun, it is just a perfect combination.

We also ordered this green stuff which I know no name. Basically it is the sticky kind of rice wrapped in banana leaves. In the rice, the filling is coconut with some yellow ginger (?), not too sure. Maybe when it was served to us, it was already cold, so the taste was not that fantastic.

There are two Kluang Railway Cafe shops. One, of course, is at Kluang Railway station itself. It is also the original shop. The cafe itself is just two small wooden sheds. The other cafe is in Kluang town centre. The shop space is much bigger & cleaner. If you don't want to fight with the crowd at the railway station itself, you can go to the one in town. I have not tried the food there, so I can't really comment.

Tomorrow, I will write about other food found in Kluang. Stay tuned...

Day Trip to Kluang - Part I

Part II is available here & Part III here

Got up at 6 o'clock in the morning, reached Kranji MRT station at 7.30am, then took Bus 170 to JB, arrived at JB CIQ building at 7.50am, then reached JB train station at 7.55am, bought train ticket to Kluang at 7.59am, which cost RM14.00/ticket for 'superior class'. Everything went according to our plan.

Then we discovered KTB, the Malaysian train operator, is one of the greatest teacher in the world on patience. It constantly tests its passengers' patience. Our train was supposed to depart JB station at 8.28am and arrive in Kluang at 9.43am. That was the very reason why we got up so early, arrived in JB so early without having our breakfast. Guess what happened? At 9.30am, 13 mins from the time that we were supposed to arrive in Kluang, we boarded the train at JB station. It was more than 1 hour late! My Malaysian travel companions' comment: You should count yourself lucky the train has actually arrived :)

JB Railway Station, Waiting anxiously for the train

Instead of 9.43am, we arrived in Kluang railway station at 11.00am. One of the reasons why we wanted to go to Kluang is we want to try the food at the famous Kluang Railway Cafe. We enjoyed our hearted, although a very late, breakfast at the Railway Cafe. The food was not bad. I will talk about it in Part II tomorrow.

Kluang Railway Station

Kluang Railway Station

Kluang Railway Station Cafe

Kluang is an easy to navigate small town. From the railway station, there is one straight road. At the end of it, you can see a tall building with the word 'PRIME' at the top (you can actually see it from the railway station). That is where Plaza BCB is. Plaza BCB is an older shopping centre in Kluang. It is small in size, yet there are still a lot of shops vacant :) The archor tenant is The Store.

The road in front of Kluang Railway Station

Right next to Plaza BCB is Kluang Bus Terminal. If you can't get a train ticket to your destination, you can try to get a bus ticket here. Plenty of buses.

Diagonally opposite the bus terminal, that is Kluang Parade. Giant hypermart is within Kluang Parade. Kluang Parade opened in February 2007, so it is more modern than Plaza BCB, but there are more vacant shops in Kluang Parade than in Plaza BCB :P On the 3rd floor, only about 20-30% of the shops are occupied. It looks like business is bad, but what I don't understand is I kept seeing advertisements pasted on shop fronts looking for shop assistants. Interesting...

If you walk a bit further from Kluang Parade, you will see a building with a big word 'Pacific' on it front. That is Kluang Mall in Jalan Rambutan. Kluang Mall opened in January 2009, so it is newest mall in Kluang. As you can expect, people all flock to the newest, biggest mall. Business in Kluang Mall seems to be much better than the other two malls.


As a whole, Kluang is a dreamy, sleepy small town in the center of the Malaysian state of Johor, about 100km north of Johor Bahru. The pace is slow, life seems to be very relaxing, the food is not bad. It is convenient to walk around without a car. I kind of like this small little town.


In terms of photography opportunities, I can say there are many and at the same time, there is none.

If you go to Kluang speicially for photography purpose, maybe you would like to bring along your many props, and model(s). There are lots lots of nice place to shoot with your model(s) in this rustic town. If you are there for relaxing, for the food, then you can just leave your camera at home. Just shoot with your handphone camera, that's about enough, if you are not too critical.

As we couldn't get a train ticket for the return trip, we took the bus. The cost is RM9.75 per person from Kluang to JB Larkin Bus Terminal. We departed at 4.30pm, arrived in JB at around 6pm. From Larkin, we took SBS bus 170 to JB CIQ. Immigration clearance was fast, but the queue for Bus 170 was terribly long. It wound around many times. You could hardly tell where the end was. Luckily there was no serious traffic jam on the causeway, so we managed to board a bus at around 6.55pm.

Attack on Microstock Sites

iStockPhoto got an email phishing attack recently. You can find more details at this link: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/03/phishing-attack-takes-down-istockphoto/

Another site, Dreamstime, has recently implemented a verification code when you submit new photos.

Looks like economy is bad and more scams and con artists are at work...