Fear Factor Fearless Challenge

Update : I got selected! Thanks Nuffnang! Yay!! See u peeps this Saturday!! All the best overcoming your fear!

Im sure many of you have heard about Astro's latest programme : Fear Factor Selebriti Malaysia 

The Celebrities

Soon to be aired on Astro Ria 104, the prize total is up to Rm200k up for grabs by these celebrities. The celebrities are :

Dafi, Arja Lee, Elfira Loy, Roslan Shah, Kaka Ashraff, Ezlynn, Johan Ashaari, Jehan Miskin, Celina Khor, Ammar, Atu Raja Lawak, Alam Wakaka Crew, Ajak Shiro, Dazrin, Hairul, Farish Aziz, Akim, Azam Pitt, Nik Michael, Arthur, Zoey, Dr Faiz, Gambit Saifullah, Azri, Zawen, Hafizul, Fairul, Didie Alias, Isham, Iz OIAM and Yassin.

Aaron Aziz commenting on the show

You might not be able to join them in Cape Town, but thanks to Astro and Nuffnang, they gonna have Fear Factor Fearless Challenge for  30 lucky bloggers + 1 supporter each.

*Update :

Now you might want to join them on their roadshow to overcome your fear at these locations :

@Sunway Pyramid on 15 and 16 December 2012
from 10 am - 8 pm

@Dataran Teluk Cempedak, Kuatan, Pahang on 22 and 23 December 2012
from 10 am - 8 pm

Promo vid : 

*drooling* eh.. i might go there myself :P 

Here's what i needed to do :

"What your biggest fear is and how it affects your life?”

Umm. Depth of the ocean. Yup. thats it. Open sea. Anything associate with deep water. Err.. including the deep pool. I must admit. i cant swim. floating maybe, but i will eventually sank. People said that you will stay afloat in sea water. i beg to differ. maybe its the panic attack, or maybe im just afraid i got attacked, drag down to to deepest trench and no one will ever find me again. 

Im an adventure seeker. I climbed the highest mountain (in Malaysia je la) and rode down slopes of Kundasang, venture into deep jungle for a week till i lost few KGs of body weights in Pahang n Kelantan, but when it comes into open water, all the tough, macho thing seems like faded away. just like that. *puff* nada.

What trigger my fear i have none to share. but it probably because of growing up reading too much folklores and science fictions, about Kraken, nasty Mermaids and creatures lives 20 thousand leagues under the sea, and the list continues. 

 they do exist right?

Will i able to breathe, will i suffocate? that thought alone constraints me from enjoying swimming at sea and such. 

 err. i dont mind if these mermaids captured me though

 errk.. they might turn into this one. x jadi lah :P

Although i took part in adventure races and some of the challenges requires me to do something related to water, i will have like hard time to sleep weeks after it ended. Like back in 2008 when i had to jump off a ship from a wood plank, it took me like, i dont know, until someone shouting 'Come on, you can do it!' and all the motivational encouragement to make me jump. Yup. i took that long. eventually, i jumped. and that few seconds inside the water enough to freak me out.  it was dark, lonely, cold, pitch black. i was equipped with floating device alright, and i tried to stay calm, but if i was holding someone's hand at that time, i probably have crushed it.  Since then, i try to avoid anything that related to swimming or jumping into the water. 

i would love to try doing the triathlon, but one of the discipline is, open sea swimming. the distance -3.5 km okay. i had friends doing it all the time, and they said it's doable. again, i beg to differ. im different. probably my bones were made of half mix of cement or something. Nah. i'll stick with duathlon or just running on a flat road. I love the idea of scuba diving too. but that just it. i wont do it.not in this lifetime.

ok. thats the boring part. Here come something that u might actually interested in :


Browsing through the list of participants for Astro's Fear Factor Malaysia, my favourite vote goes to : .

Team Johan Ashaari and Kaka (Bawaku Pergi) < have to put la, krg korang ingat Kaka football player pulak

 Will team JoKa triumph?

Why do i support this team? 

I hate Johan. dont get me wrong. Hate his acting laa.. esp as Botak in Juvana. I hate bullies. I dont get bullied during school days, but i hate those doing that, like what he did in that drama. Nonetheless, i enjoy the drama, except the abrupt ending.  Ever since, i follow his career.

Why Kaka? Err, i like her singing. But how tough she's gonna be? well, i think she have to stand tall with Johan to win this challenge. So, are you guys game?  

Vid of Kaka n Elfira Loy during the Bootcamp

Oh u wont get to see them eating those horrible food or anything that gross out, but im sure they will have to do something that might test their fear to its limits.

re : from my point of view, even the toughest all men team must have afraid of something. something slimy or smelly or small, crawling maybe. I hope team JoKa will overcome all their fears and victorious.

You can also follow Fear Factor Malaysia via twitter : @FearFactorM for more updates.

oh ya, and worth mentioned : 

“Fear Factor House – Is your chance to experience Fear Factor live!"

*source from official Facebook and abg Budiey. Follow the blog for more stories / vids on the show. Pics is copyrighted to its rightful owner.  

*and my blog background is sunset at sea. lol. i like it. as long as im not in it. fine with me. 

Penang Bridge International Marathon 2012 - Non Pictorial

Took part in this year's Penang Bridge International Marathon under Half Marathon Category, that 21 km in distance. Did a HM earlier at PJ Half Marathon, and i did 2h and 21 minutes back then. Lets see how good did i do this time. and its probably the last edition to be held here. next year, 2nd bridge!

This year, crashing my brother is law place @ Relau, jalan2 cari makan @ Penang at the same time. Err last year pun sama gak. Its gonna be an annual thing for us lah i guess.

Pre race (17 Nov 2012) 

11.30 am - arrived at Queensbay Mall from Taiping, went for race kit collection. In and out around 10 minutes. bought 2 packs of power gel. just in case. i know im gonna find a free one lying on the street. i just know it.

Noon - time for some Nasi Kandar. ate a full plate @ Nasi Kandar Pelita near USM. Haven. I wanna add another plate. Eh, im running tomorrow's morning. tak jadi. Price according to your appetiate. ours around RM5.50 each.

Evening - Stopped for some groceries @ Sunshine Supermarket. Its not a supermarket. Its like a small Mall. bump into a coffee promotion at the entrance. took part and won 10 packets of white coffee. :P Kaki terpeleot (twisted leg) sket. = Padan muka. 

In-laws called. Gonna meet up for makan2 at Bukit Mertajam (about an hour away). Free makan, who can resist kan? Ibu mertuaku belanja lagi. Destination : Restoran Puncak Mutiara.but took us 6 U-turns and almost 2 hours to get there. Sesat. but the Kambing Briyani is worth it. dont like the 'welcoming' smell though. Service is ok. portion wise, ok. Makan duduk bersila. Lots of choices of food. Harga makanan blh tgk website dia.

9.45 pm - left Restoran Puncak Mutiara for Relau.

slept at 11 pm.

Race Day (18 Nov 2012)

What i had before the race :

2 biji kurma, half a cup of cold chocolate drink. Continuous hydration since early of the week. Err, habit dah minum air suam every time. U should too.

but im too sleepy. had to woke up. its a must run event that i've been preparing for.

bought a bottle of purple Gatorade on the way to Queensbay Mall (where the starting line is). Mat Rempits dominating the streets. Patrol cars were going here and there. What a morning.

2.45 am - arrived the starting point and catch up with Sazmie, Fadli and Bai before doing a proper warm-up. its a must. Penting tu. More than 34k runners will be running today. wonder how will i fair in today's run? weather super fine btw. i dont feel like talking too much. Eyes half open. Keep burping last nite's kambing beriyani. oh well.

3.00 am - gun off! took me few minutes to actually cross the starting line because of the crowd. this time im gonna do it right. running at my own pace rather than running too fast like last year's marathon. most of my friends probably running in FM category. i chose to run in this category as somehow, i enjoy this category more. did a FM last year, finished it in 6hrs and 45minutes. but for this one, i might finish it under 3 hours. then boleh balik tido.

the first half an hour seems a bit boring, its still dark.. and its too crowded as i tried zig zagging to escape it. atleast most of them were running. the view of the bridge during this time of the hour is magnifique!  plus the view of sea of runners in front of you, as you were trying to make your way up front. good luck with that.

3.38 am - saw a group of Kenyan (not sure which category) already did a u-turn and running fast towards then end of the bridge. I've yet to arrive the main span at this point.

3.40 am - a guy in his wheelchair passed me by. everyone's clapping as he made his way through. tried to run alongside him, but he left me once he get a momentum.

3.48 am - arrived at the main span. someone hit my balls (bukan tahap senak la) while running through a group of runners slowing down at the WS, i pushed him a lil bit. soft push. mind where you swinging your arm next time. ok im good to go. U-turn is nowhere to be seen.

3.51 am - saw a guy with seriouly big afro hair. a familiar face. except his hair is now much, err.. bigger.

4.00 am - reached the U-turn. its not even half way yet. ate half of the gel. feel the boost of energy. neck kind a hurt. turned off the mp3 player. im sleepy alright.

4.07 am - reached the 10km mark. yay! 11 more km to go. its humid and i need to do smoething about it.

what do you think i did? 
a : take off my running vest
b: pour some water on the top of my head
c: running by the roadside pavement?

answer is C! Ha! i wont take off my running vest la. besides, pouring water does help, but makes your vest heavier. by running on the roadside pavement, its kind a lessen the hard impact of the tarmac. its made of cement, and a slightly higher than the road level, thus gave me some cool wind to help with the heat. but if u stumble and fell down off the pavement, its the looongg way down, off the bridge. do it on your own risk. im not risking anything. i know what im doing :)

a banana man (i think he's from Japan) were seen passing me by. even a banana can overtook me and left me 18 tiang behind. Yup. its one fast banana. i only wish him 'Gambate'.  Sish. I want to run in rambutan costume next time. Probably can golek2 sampai finish line.

4.25 am - its 15km mark and im still running! its almost the end of the bridge and im heading for another U-turn near the Caltex station, and back to where i started first. at this point my leg kind a hurt. those running for FM making their way forward from this point. All the best. Tried it last year. takmo dah.

but somehow i still going strong. at this point i stop occasionally for hydration (plain water only). still on the hydration plan, every 25 minutes or so. i think using this water belt hurts my neck.

and told you i found a power gel. GNC punye. blh guna utk next run. Last year if ound 2 tubes of GO Gel. ate one, saw another one tp malas nak pick up. 

 5.05 am - reached the 18km mark. doing the power walk and running every now and then. felt the effect of lack of sleep. you body says 'get some rest by the roadside' but your mind keep pushing saying 'if i stop now, i will not move at all and end up sleeping by the roadside'. I listen to what my mind said. Body rebel by making the legs seems kind a heavy. And im busy thinking about all this until it reached the last KM! phew.. and phew..

5.30 am - reached the finishing line! wohoo! timing : (please see pic below)

Left the venue around 6 am with my brother in law. couldnt stay much longer. too sleepy :P

This information (if relevant) i would like to share. 

During the race : sipping Gatorade (perisa anggur tu) every 25min or so. one small bottle.
Stop at WS after an hour running for plain water only.


Post race : a bottle of drinking water + 2 cuppa of iced cold Milo = im blessed! Cont with a plate of Tosai and nescafe ice!

Evening - Went for a stroll @ Queensbay Mall. Got myself a Subway + one free Sub (with a coupon from 15th Nov paper). Tummy full and

Continue Cari Makan for Pasembor @ Padang Kota, Georgetown. Overcrowded, hawkers pushing you to eat what they are selling, beggars, but nice busking. Food terrible. Nice view though. and met Fariz with his wifey and friends while at it. RM25 (based on your selection, could be more)

ok. 2nd destination - Char Kueh Teow Sani - full house. Lucky to get a table. Recommended. cuma wifey kata takde kucai. agreed with her. Rm 4.00 biasa, Rm5.00 special.

Ok. 3rd in the menu : Burger Bakar NZ. Near Sunshine Supermarket entrance. Ok, this is overwhelming. Too much food :P but i must try this. this is our last night here. end up i ate it the next morning. Juicy and good. Rm5.90 only.

Left for Putrajaya the next day. I think im gonna do HM only for now on.

p/s : I did these kind of thing only when i had a distance run. Normal days? haa.. tak buleh.. :P akan jadi gumuk.

abbreviation :
FM - Full marathon
HM - Half Marathon
WS - Water Station

*This post is solely based on my own experience as a runner. U may, or may not take this as a guide as everyone's body is different from each other. The best thing is to know your own body and your own limit before attempting a distance running*

TS Dayout Little India, Klang

As part of promoting Selangor as one of the best tourist destinations in Malaysia, Tourism Selangor has been organizing monthly outings, known as TSDay Out, targetting locals (or foreigners) that love to join an outing around places of interest in Selangor and get to know up-close what that particular place has to offer. Bloggers/photographers mainly made the corum, besides, its free. You only need to play a certain amount as commitment fee, and you are in. The fee will be returned once you are present on that day. And 6 lucky participants will be rewarded for their best picture of the day. Participants were selected from  Tourism Selangor's Facebook and Twitter, so start following them now if you are not.

I arrived around 7.45am and met with Fariz, Ms. Dian and Nigel for a breakfast at Mahboob. Interesting enough to meet Fariz since he is a runner too!  Had a plate of Nasi Lemak and nescafe tarik. Kenyang.

We gathered at Pizza Hut in Bangsar (the one next to BV) before boarding the bus that took us to Klang. We arrived Klang an hour later, making our first stop at Sri Nagara Thendayuthapani Temple. We were given short briefing by Mr. N.P. Raman, KL and Selangor Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Klang District) Chairman, before taking an opportunity to snap pics of the historical temple.

Mr Raman giving a briefing on the history of the temple 

The Interior. No photo to be taken pointing direct to the statue.

 

Soon after, by foot, led by Mr. Raman himself, we make our way towards few other historical buildings namely Klang Fire Station, Gedong Raja Abdullah before stopping at Klang Railway Station. A short briefing was given by Ms. Dian of Tourism Selangor on the history of the railway station, and what a resourceful lady she is. She even knew pretty much about the service :P (read : bukan ayat bodek).

hey im watching you too!

they dont make this kind of signage anymore kan?

a florist shop occupied an old coach

Ok. Moving on to the next agenda. Makan. 2nd breakfast actually. and this time at one of the famous kopitiam around, Chong Kok Kopitiam. Im still full from earlier breakfast, so i just go for a nescafe ais and a toast with butter sejuk 1 keping :P (RM 1.80)

view from inside the drink counter

Toast with Butter sejuk 1 keping

We walk passed the Sultan Abdul Aziz Gallery (known as White House of Klang) and i took the opportunity for a photo shot with the guard with a cool uniform. The gallery display royal paraphernalia, artifacts and memorabilia, but it was closed that day.


                                                                                                             Nice kan uniform dia?

            click pic to enlarge and what it means by KM 0





















Finally, we are here in Little India! Time shown 5 minutes after 11, and we will be having our lunch at Restoran Archana around 12 pm. Thats also the place we will meet again and submit 5 photos (each person) that were taken around little india, with the theme 'Colours of Rangoli'.



Masjid India Muslim on the background.

Ready, Set, Snap!

I made my way around the stalls selling all kind of variety of things, from clothes and foods and praying equipments, as well as freshly made muruku and tairu! I made my first stop at a stall selling colorful laddu, i end up buying few colored out that actually tasted good (but too sweet for me lah i think). yes. im sweet. terima kasih. whatever. 3 laddus cost me RM2.

The ambiance itself gave this place its own kind of attraction. It is, for your info, a famous shopping area with 100 pre-war shops and an important income generator for Klang. Its kind a bring back the memory back when i was younger, helping out my dad selling burger during such festival at Batu Caves. Except that was at night and they were showing this movie on a white curtain screen afterwards.




 Among other items that were on sale.

 

 

There were couple of other events going on during that afternoon, coloring contest for children and cooking competition for the adult. some of the participants were nicely dressed in colorful Sari. 




















  
The day that i finally knew what does Tairu taste like..

As i made my way along row of stalls, i stop at the end of the line, eying this stack of white colored water on display with a note saying, "Tairu, Muru, Available Here" *hehe.. terer tak aku translate?".

I was tempted by the auntie that selling it, she said it taste just like Vitagen, when it mixed with Ribena or Sunquick. Add some sugar (or salt) and walla! it cost me RM2. So i embrace myself for something i never try before in my life, here goes nothing.

*Surrrrpp* *ahhhh* yelah. It taste just like Vitagen! :P and tummy filling too. At this point, i totally forgot about nasi daun pisang lunch and went around looking for something else to try. End up at this stall selling freshly made murukku and give em a try for only rm2 per plastic.  Mmg semua harga makan hari ni RM 2. :P

 

Its 12.03 pm and its getting hot. So i made my way to Restaurant Archana for nasi daun pisang (banana leaf rice) lunch. we have a choice between fried fish or chicken, served on a banana leaf and mix it with gravy of your choices. as i was mentioned earlier, i am already full. only eat a small portion of it. Rugi weyy..!! Alas, after that an announcement from Ms. Renuga says that we will meet up at the stage around 1.20pm for the closing session. catching up with Hazman on his food blogging experience and few useful tips on blogging too. Thanks!

Yummy!

offers Vege and Non-Vege Menus

Around 2.00 pm the session concluded with the prize giving ceremony to 6 participants with best pictures of the day, each won themselves RM250 cash. Congrats!

We departed Klang for KL around 2.30 pm. 

Its great catching up with bloggers i've met before, and those of newly met, share few thoughts and points, and adding up my knowledge about Klang itself. Being a Selangorian doesnt mean you know everything about Selangor, thus having this kind of outing really and 'eye opener' for Malaysian, that we have interesting places to visit even it just an hour drive away.  Looking forward for more interesting outing next month!

It was raining on our way back,  and reached Bangsar 10 minute before 4. Till next outing.

Tschuss!


Abbreviation : 

BV - Bangsar Village
TSDay Out - Tourism Selangor Day Out

 I hope you are 'happy' reading this post, otherwise, i will send you for this treats! :P 

p/s : read the warning sign - *have a nice weekend*

Life & Times Travel KL Fabulous Food Hunt 2012

This will be a double back post, since there's 2 different event on both Sat and Sunday. Hope i dont really bored you to death reading this one :P Have a great Monday! (im off for 3 days, nursing my sick son, down with chicken pox)

Life & Times Travel KL Fabulous Food Hunt 2012 was held for the 2nd time this year, with over150 teams signing up for prizes totalling 14k. All the team will be competing each other using only public transportation (taxi, LRT, bus (no one took the bus i think) and the first team with complete stamps in their passport wins!

Sounds easy right? Well, lets see if u have the 'appetite' to do this :P

 Photogroup session before flag off @ 10 am

 

 Fellow comper/racer Dyat n team

 

 Team Burp! Excuse Us!

Photo Hunt

Most of the answers lies inside the Central Market itself, and we are done after 20 minutes. There were 9 Qs related to food/restaurant and 1 general Q. And man how long since i last went inside this place and its now look kind a revived! Fresh kind a way.

Clues. Can u guess the answer based on the pics below?

By completing this task only then you will get your 'passport', clues to where you have to go next.

CP 1 - Mamak's Roti Canai
(CP - Check Points were not in sequence and in order of completion)

Venue : Restaurant Annexe Nasi Kandar, Central Market
Task : Finish two pieces of roti canai and a glass of Teh Tarik

As easy as it sounds, try eating with everyone has their eyes on you, and try to gulp everything down as fast as you could. Elah was the first to take the task, and man, from the way he look, its not that easy. He said that he had to dip that roti canai in the Teh Tarik to make it easier to swallow. Bijak! Took him about 5 minutes.

Moving on. We strategize by taking the furthest CP before doing the nearer on. Alas, CP 8 only open after 12.30 pm. so we have plenty of time before that. While on the train, theres 3 'treasures' that we need to find/do. and one of it is group pic on a moving LRT :

and with the signboard @ Taman Melati station :

CP 2, 3, 4 - Taman Melati Utama eateries
Venue 1 : Sate Kajang Haji Samuri (by the time we reached there, they said the satay is not ready yet)

Venue 2 : Steamboat : This was easy. only 4 sticks of hot steamboat that Elah forced Lek to eat as fast as he can.. haha..

Venue 3 : Restoran Upin dan Ipin : Fakri did this task, a plate of Nasi Ayam and tall glass of orange juice.

Back to Venue 1 to complete the sate task. Im the one doing this one. Easy. 10 cucuk sate. Settle. Didnt know that the one that just cooked tasted so juicy and soft? (ayat promote nampak?) seriously, this one better than ours in Taman Warisan.

While at it, Fakri manage to get a cab and we move on (reaaallly slow uncle driving this cab) and reached the next CP in 10 minutes.

CP 5 - Rampai Business Park - Cendol Anyone?
Food :  Mee Rebus and Cendol. Lek taking up the challenge and i was the one looking for another taxi. We managed to get a daring cab driver this time, if only he had a better taxi. But still the effort counts!

CP 6 -Nasi campur Norizan, Kampung Baru
Food : as per picture below :

Nasib baik! i was the one yg volunteer utk makan this time.

Elah having a fun time eating sambal belacan!

talking bout supportive team mates. Yup, he did that throughout the race

CP 7 - Nasi Lemak Double ! @ R.A. Nasi Lemak, Kg. Baru (next to Dang Wangi LRT Station)
Well, this one was easy. all you need to do is makan 3 suap, hirup air teh o tu. then ulang sampai habis. haha.. Senang kan?

Its lunch hour btw

I took up the challenge and sambal dia pedas ah!

This time, the cab driver also a hunter! how lucky! now we got ourselves another possible teammate candidate, esp for driver position. He knew the streets pretty well and get us to the next CP in a jiffy! we opted for him to wait and bring us to the final CP.

CP 8 - Fierce Curry House, Jalan Kemuja, Bangsar Utama
Food : Rice with curry, and no water? (Lek told us that the marshal ask him to find his own drink)

I didnt get to snap a picture since Lek was eating so fast then when i came out of the toilet, he's done!
and boy how we rushed to the finish line...only to end up in KL sentral instead! Lucky us, the taxi driver still around and he did came back to take us the the right place.

CP 9 - Where the race ends

Yay! habis pun

old Istana Negara can be seen in the distance

We reached Best Western Premier Dua Sentral the same time as Team no. 4 @ 12.49pm. There was 2 other teams that reached the hotel earlier, and they by default, didn't complete the last task as the Curry house only serve the food only @ 12.30 pm, but as they reached there earlier, the marshal stamped their passport and by that, making them valid to check in at the finish line. We did complaint alright, and Team no. 1 did verbally confessed, but all the organizer said was Sorry, we couldn't do anything about it. This kind of thing although seem just a small deal to you maybe, but for us that have been racing since morning, it is a big deal. We tried, but no one seems to bother whether they did eat or not.  

As for us who reached the finish line almost at the same time with Team 4, the rojak challenge needed to be done together. A split second separates us, and Team no. 4 rushes to the lift and refused to let us ride together. Elah n Lek ends up in another lift, causes us to be Team no. 4. 

The prize giving ceremony began around 5 something after couple of rounds of lucky draws.

Team Burp! Excuse Us! - 4th Placing. :P *fakri was not in the pic*

Its all about having a great time but ending with a terrible miscommunications and bully. Its heart breaking to see the frustrated faces of my team mates, but hey, there's always another race to win right? We made our way back to Central Market on foot while enjoying the view around.

Murals along Sg. Klang riverbank

Till next year then. :) Tschuss!