Friday 30 September 2011

A Day in Sepang F1 Circuit

Being someone who is involved in the meetings industry, we are required to source out for unique venues to organize events or to recommend to clients. We had the opportunity to inspect the venue with the H.H Tham, Head of Commercial, Sepang Circuit, and was pleasantly surprised that the F1 Circuit is not only selling race track but now they have expanded to selling facilities available on the venue. This circuit is highly suitable for incentive groups - to do activities on the circuit such as tour of circuit, driving lessons, race-off, special tour & tailor made events.


The Grandstand overlooking the F1 Track

Perdana Suite overlooking the rooftop

Roof top

The Race Control room is normally off limits to people not involved in the race, however, we got special access into it. We were told that during race period, owners and race managers would be sitting in this small room (can fit about 30 pax) to monitor the race going on at the tv screen. Owners/race managers can contest the outcome eg penalty to drivers, accident, emergencies.
Paddock Club has 4 large air-conditioned walls with attached tv panels on the pillars. Ideal for product launches, cocktail events even sit-down dinners.
Paddock Club overlooks the grand stand



VIP Suite at the Grandstand

The Paddock Suite is situated above the car garage
Media Centre - can fit 400 media with overhead TV screens. It can also be converted to a lecture hall or if for seminar hall for briefings

A view of the grandstand from the recer's view
Space behind the paddock is large enough for 3k pax with stage built. Again cost for staging outdoor event includes marquee, catering, stage, AV, lightings, etc

The Helipad where the Rain concert was held could hold 100,000 pax or more. Great for outdoor events eg carnivals, concerts. Equally big budget needed to stage the outdoor events for tenting, platform, sound system, etc


And the winner is.......yours truly!

Sunday 25 September 2011

Childhood daydream

When I was little, I always daydreamed that I could fly, literally. Back when I was in Kelantan when I was 9 years old, we used to live in a bungalow house surrounded by a small orchard overgrown with bananas and red and yellow rambutan trees. We used to see foxes crossing the lalang field on the side of the house or get the occasional house calls from small snakes or a crossing biawak, whom I think were confused with this house in its path to the other side.

We didn’t have many friends outside the house. So we had to amuse ourselves with our toys and made up games. I used to climb the railing on the second-storey building which was near the balcony, and it was quite a climb as there were no safety net below but we were determined to go to the front part of the house  which was actually the roof for the porch below, and then we would play and probably had some sort of picnic there. Or I would stare out the windows to look at orchard the below. I’d always dreamed that if I jumped out the window, then I’d be able to fly. God’s angels would break my fall and bring me to safety. I was tempted many times to jump out the window from the second story bungalow, each time the temptation was bigger than the last. But each time I grew more cautious of the inner voice, I didn’t know if that was my conscience urging me to be more sensible or was that my fear, preventing me from jumping out the window. Maybe it’d be a different story if I’d jumped. 

I guess the imagination of a child is boundless, but as the years passed they grew up, and that's when they gradually lost the magical feeling of dreaming and thinking that they could doing anything. They had to make the decision whether to jump or not to jump...      

Wednesday 21 September 2011

The Kampong View : Kedah



Gunung Jerai, Yan, Kedah



Wouldn't it be nice to have a view of the mountains when you wake up everyday? 
This view is picture perfect from my aunty's house in Sg Petani, Kedah, where it is surrounded by paddy fields. You can almost breath the mountain air, and let me tell you that the clean air was refreshing to the point that it made me dizzy.

Monday 19 September 2011

Kellie's Castle - Part 2

The Castle is indeed grand and eerie at the same time. The rooms for the children were quite sizeable and there were connecting passages behind what was supposed to be the bathroom and there were (what I think) is the escape or emergency stairs in the connecting passageway. It is quite an interesting architecture with its hidden nooks and crannies - especially on the lower roof top. Another unique feature is that the rooms are connected by an outside corridor - much akin to the hostel corridors, and one can really feel the eeriness when walking thru the corridors.
The daughter's room
Proposed bathroom in the daughter's room
The connecting passageway between the daughter's & the son's room and there's a staircase in the middle



Visitors were warned not to make much noise when entering Kellie's daughter room as it was said that her spirit still roams the place. I was told that there were strange happenings in the castle, when foreign film crews came and erected camera on a tripod to capture any supernatural activities during the night, they found in the recordings that it was knocked down by a white being - presumably Old Man Kellie himself. Paranormal crews from local and overseas have been coming in droves to study this phenomenon.

Prayer altar with imported stones & marble from India
A favourite place for wedded couples to take picture - where the picture was taken was on the lower rooftop, the couple are on the third floor and people can still go up on the upper rooftop, above the third floor (albeit the "gayat" feeling you get on top of a high building without security partition on the sides)






The elevator shaft for the 1st bucket list in Malaya
If you are a fan of history & paranormal sightings - then a visit to Kellie's Castle would not disappoint.



Sunday 18 September 2011

Kellie's Castle - Part 1

I was in Perak last June for work and one of the tourist spot that I have been wanting to visit was Kellie's Castle. It is situated in Batu Gajah, Perak, and roughly takes about 2 hours drive from Kuala Lumpur, and only 20 minutes to Ipoh town. I was fascinated with the historical side of the castle. It was built under the commission of the Scottish planter - William Kellie Smith in 1915 but was never completed due to his death when he succumbed to the pneumonia during his visit to Lisbon.The house was designed for his family to live in - wife, one daughter and one son - but after his death the project was abandoned and the family moved back to Europe.
Kellies Castle, 31000 Batu Gajah, Perak, Malaysia
The castle is surrounded by a moat and is on top of a hill - perfect for sightseeing and defending against enemy attack
Bear figure emerging from the batai tree at the compound of Kellie's castle. This tree was said to be 40 years old and the bear figure only emerged in 2006 and was the source of mystery to many who visited the castle
Castle is divided in two parts - front part is the new castle which is six stories high with 24 rooms and suppose to be installed with the first elevator ever to be brought in Malaya. It also has a wine cellar. At the back of the unfinished castle was the old house where Kellie and his family used to stay - ravaged by war and time.
Kellas House - built in 1905 but damaged due to war
The proposed living room on the ground floor

More pics & stories on Kellie's Castle - Part 2

Wednesday 14 September 2011

Sydney

I was in Sydney in June for work. Winter has just started and the weather was around 16 degrees. Not too cold but a bit chilly in the mornings and nights. My visit was brief but as it was my first trip to Australia, so I was considerably excited. I only saw the Sydney Opera House at night (no pic as my camera quality wasn't so good) and just missed the week where they had colourful lights on at the opera house. One of my regrets was not doing the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb because of time factor and any visit to Australia is  complete without looking at pandas and kangaroos. Australia is a melting pot of culture, races, religion, food - and its interesting to observe this in Sydney. I was told by one of the Melbournian in my office that Melbourne is much more diverse than Sydney and have more interesting to visit.   I am partly making it up for my Gold Coast trip in April next year and surely want to cover interesting activities while I'm there.

Sunset in Sydney
Seafood galore! Crab, lobster, prawns, clams, squid, huge fries. This order was for 2 persons. There were 3 of us and still we couldn't finish it....
Under the bridge overlooking Darling Harbour




Our main aim was to look for Paddy's Market
View of Darling Harbour
Paddy's Market to buy souvenirs and local produce - being the tourist that I am, needed to buy fridge magnets for friends and family. Cheap and reasonable prices too. The sellers are mainly outsider eg Chinese, Singaporeans, Vietnamese - hardly see any real Mat Salleh selling the souvenirs.
Abundant of seagulls at the harbour - they are considered as pests - as do kangaroos (shocker to us non-Aussie)
I really liked this artistic feature - real whale bones in transparent casing - it looks almost alive - a reminiscent of the whales' lives once upon a time

 
Traffic light for bicycles to Go! Bicycles is one of the main transportation for the people in Sydney - a good way to travel minus jam and you get some exercise too!