Confessions...

I've got a confession to make... I've indulged in some vice back in the UK... and had a whooping good time :P. hahaha. Anyway it all started when my department decided to have some timeout to chill so they decided to head over to the races... and it's the Portsmouth Greyhound Stadium. Check out the website here. Actually whenever we head over to Portsmouth Town we saw this huge sign but none of us ventured in before. So they had a group discount for all of us plus food, drinks and... a betting ticket.

The Portsmouth Greyhound Stadium

In total there's about 12 or 15 races per day. So being the jakun's that we were... we started betting on the first race itself. My "wise" strategy was simple... 1st race - take dog number 1, 1nd race - take dog number 2 and so on... so happily placed my bet (2 quid!) on dog 1 for the 1st race...

My 1st race dog!

So what happen is they'll put a mechanical hare running around the circuit and the dogs will juz go after it like crazy... so for the first race... waiting in excited anticipation... 3...2...1... and off they go... my dog was leading!... I'm screaming my head off... then... came to the first corner... alamak kena nudge by the other side dog... terbabas... the dog tergolek golek... got up again and ran... but left behind oledi... so there goes my strategy...

Others have a different strategy... pick the dog that crap the last... in theory it should be the lightest... :P... well work for some dogs... but not for all haha..

The crapping dogs...

So basically spend the whole nite chit chatting, placing bets, eating and kinda wind down from stuff... cool... all in all.. I didn't make a loss... but a gain of 3 quid... :P... enough for a sandwich in the afternoon hahaha...

The dogs prancing away

My first winning ticket on race 2... actually took dog number 2 for race 2.. haha!

Yups... so just a short update... should be the last on UK... dun wanna bore u guys with things there... so cheerios...

p/s - Heh wonder whether pastor will find out... :D

Books...

Since there's quite a lot of free time during the weekends I caught up with one of my favorite past times... reading... bought quite a number of books that I actually have to SHIP it back to Malaysia... weighs about 15kg... would definitely have exceeded my baggage... (by the way I check in my luggage at 24kg... :P...)

Anywhere here's the list of reading materials I purchased:

1. Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
2. Angels and Demons - Dan Brown
3. Season in Hell - Jack Higgins
4. Force 10 - Alistair McLean
5. Vulcan 607 - Rowland White
6. Rough Guide to England... (very important book!)
7. AA Pocket Guide: England
8. The Illustrated Home Recording Handbook
9. Sound on Sound (Music Production Mag...)
10. Computer Music: Beginner's guide
11. Linux in a Nutshell
12. Linux Pocket Guide
13. Rainstorm - Forgot author's name
14. Grand Designs (home design mag...)
15. Ideal Home (home design mag...)

... and a Noah's Ark book for my niece!... :D

Might be other books/mags that I didn't list down... left the box at my office... haha... anyway it's been fun catching up with reading... but I still rate Tom Clancey as one of my favorite authors... clear, articulate and detailed writing... based on a lot of facts rather than fiction... ;)...

Stay tuned on my next update about... dogs...

Cheers...

Edited 16/7:
Rainstorm is actually Steel Rain by Tom Neale... :P
Additional book was Storm Warning by Jack Higgins

Whirlwind Part 2

As promised, this is the 2nd installation of the Whirlwind Trip series ... :P... Anyway after a night's stay at Penzance we were actually undecided where to go. Only decided during breakfast where we should head to and decided to go over to Lizard's Point (the most southern tip of the British mainland) and also to the Eden Project.

The Lizard's Point is about an hour's plus drive from Penzance. The views in Lizard's is superb unspoilt natural beauty. You can wiki up The Lizard here. Lots of history and significance of the place is mentioned. I would rate it better than Land's End which is a little too commercialized for my taste.

The Lizard Point

Awesome, breathtaking view from the top!

The boathouse @ The Lizard's Point... skin divers and spear fishing guys set off from here

Suppose to be some posing glamour dudes... :P

Mainly farmhouses are around this place... lots of "booby traps" around like the one you get here in Malaysia... hahaha.

Gigantic rock formations...

After spending sometime trekking around the walk paths we decided to head to the Eden Project. Just heard about the place but don't really know what it's all about. Was contemplating among ourselves whether would the place be worth the 15 quid entrance fee (RM105!!). The space looking stuff sold it (check out the pics below), so off we go.

Basically the Eden Project is a project (duhhhh....) where different environments is recreated in a sphere (called biome). They try to replicate the exact environment to the extent that the plants can thrive and grow. When we were there the 2 biomes ready were the tropical biome and the mediterreanean biome. The desert one is in the middle of construction. The Eden project tries hard to send the message of global warming, recycling, energy efficiency and they are aiming to be a zero waste site, meaning they reuse/recycle 100% of every waste produced. Cool huh?

Malaysia is listed on the tropical biome and they have an actual replica of a rumah kampung and even the old kapchai used!... I was pretty amazed how close they could replicate the malaysian environment... it was really hot and humid! Anyway much more information and pics can be obtained from the wiki site here. Meanwhile some of the pics below:

The biomes. On the left is the tropical biome while the mediterreanean biome is hidden

Signboards in BM!

The tropical biome, similar to the jungles of Malaysia

The Mediterreanean biome

Basically that sums the quick trip that we had. It was interesting, tiring and petrol consuming trip. Haha... so that's it and I'll cover 1 last place in my next posting... cheers!

Only 1 word

it's HOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!

Cheers....