I may not be a sport person (My size has spoken all.) but I certainly know what is going on in the arena. I may not be as knowledgeable as those hardcore fans, but the basics are there.

Sport (especially football) is a common topic among people and one just need to know a bit of here and there to help and keep the conversation from dying off. On top of that, when it comes to sports, be it on the track, field or court, some names are just impossible not to be heard of.

Cristiano Ronaldo and David Bechkam have been hailed as the “God” on the field for their amazing skill with their feet. Rafael Nadal, the tennis king that has not only won many tournaments but also hearts, especially the females. What about Lewis Hamilton that became the world’s youngest F1 champion in just two seasons? Also, Michael Phelps that bagged eight Olympic gold medals in Beijing recently?

These names and individuals have stunned the world with their skill and made an impact in their field respectively, inspiring others to work harder to achieve their dreams.

Together with ESPNStar, SportsCenter India, Asia & Malaysia, Score Tonight and many other on-air program has started a joint initiative online and on air voting contest to select the most popular sport celebrity among the 16 nominated “champions”.

The 16 nominees are Manny Pacquiao, Valentino Rossi, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Torres, Sir Alex Ferguson, Tiger Woods, Sachin Tendulkar, Rafael Nadal, Michael Phelps, Cristiano Ronaldo, Nicol David, Usain Bolt, MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Kobe Bryant and Abhinav Bindra. You can click on this link to check out their profile.

Honestly, while doing a compilation for the picture below, I could only recognize 10 out of the 16. Haha! Amusing, but that’s more than half already, not too bad for someone who doesn’t keep up to date with sports news or read the sports section.

Anyway, yes, you read it all right, our Malaysia-born world No.1 squash queen, Nicol David is in the list. Seriously, to be nominated itself is already an amazing feat and pride of the nation.

The mechanism to decide the winner is as follow:

- 16 sports personalities have been shortlisted.
- They will be introduced 2-per day on ESPNSTAR.com with specific pages from November 19.
- The Open Draw will be conducted Live on SportsCenter on the evening of 28 November.
- The process will be streamed Live on ESPNSTAR.com
- Voting will open immediately after the draw.
- The voting mechanism will be in the form of a knock-out.
- The 16 will be paired against each other.
- The pairings will be made available for the public to cast their votes for a set period.
- The winner with the most votes will go through to the next round.
- This is repeated for a quarter final, semi final and final.
- The Winner will be announced Live on the SportsCenter program of December 31.

Whether Nicol David is voted as the champion or not, it doesn’t really matter. I am a realist, I don’t think she can win, but the least we, Malaysians can do for her is to vote her into the second round, at least. She has been treated rather “unfairly” and unjustifiable for her efforts and hard work that she has put in to be the No. 1 squash player.

To cast your vote, just click on the link here. Seriously, vote for Nicol as I think she deserved more than that.

Click here to vote!

On another note, I hope my favourite sport personalities aren’t teamed up together. It would be a very difficult choice for me then. One thing for sure, I ain’t voting David Bechkam! Heh!

So… I was one of the four invited guests, alongside with Sidney from “Big Boys Oven“, Gina from “Mini Bites” and Khai Ling from “KL For Khai Ling“, to share our experience and personal thoughts about blogging (Reaching out and I chose to be a blogger, two topics.) in Bloggers Buff 2008, held at PWTC on November 22.

Sidney, who is the public relation cum marketing manager behind “Big Boys Oven” who provides baking classes, bakes wedding cakes and etc..

Gina, a writer by profession who specializes in writing poems and other artsy stuffs.

Khai Ling who blogs about the night life or her clubbing outings in KL. Her facial expression reminds me of a rabbit or rat. Heh!

From left, the moderator, Felicia, Khai Ling and Gina. Honestly, Felicia was extremely nervous, so nervous till at one point, I thought she was going to faint from it.

While the crowd was a little unexpected, I had a good time sharing my own experience. On top of that, it was my first time being invited as a blogger to talk cock share my thoughts. Heh! Another tiny yet significant milestone for me, as a blogger.

I tried my best not to bore the audience out as generally, I am still a rather boring and dull person. Surprisingly, a few audience came up to me during the break and complimented that I was a pretty funny guy.

Two of them, Jason from Jason Mumbles and CMate from Mini-Bites were interesting enough. - Bloggers Buff 2008 by Kavi.

One of the organizers, Tim Fernandez even offered to feature me as their Malaysian blogger in their online magazine. Okayyyy… Now, that’s scary. Not counting on it actually, but still, WTF. Seriously, me, funny? And I thought my jokes are bad.

That being said, I am feeling pretty proud shiok sendiri about it.

P/S : Thanks to Chong for staying back to help me take pictures.

Click on the picture for a full size 3096 * 4023 resolution.

We woke up early as we needed to catch a bus to Sun Moon Lake 日月潭.

Sun Moon Lake is the largest body of fresh water in Taiwan and has one of the island’s loveliest natural landscapes. At an altitude of 762m, the lake is backed by high forested mountains and boasts good weather year round.

Lonely Planet.

While we were walking towards the bus station, a taxi driver came up to us and offered us to fetch us up to Sun Moon Lake for a price. After a lengthy discussion with Ah Yong, we decided to take the cab instead of the bus in order to save time and also, the price difference between the cab and bus was not that big. The taxi was a 7-sitter Toyota Wish and we were definitely amused with our “backpacking” style.

“I thought we are supposed to be backpacking?”
“We are, backpacking with style mah!

The taxi driver dropped us off in front of a hotel.

The good thing about not booking our hotels in advance is that we get to bargain on the spot.

“NT2400 for a room of four.”
“But our friend last time rented a room for only NT1600.”
“Is it? Hmm… Like that, NT1800. Ok?”
“On!”

The NT1600 was real, but it was meant for two, not four. Ha!

Obviously, the room was meant for couples, with the red / warm lighting and hearts all over the room, pillows and blankets. The room was definitely worth every single dollar spent. LCD TV, clean toilet, soft beds and pillows, working and powerful air conditioners and strategic location. What more can you ask for RM180?

We put down our “burdens” and went out for a walk and also to have our lunch.

Off we went to the tourist information center to get some information on what to visit / sight see and do in Sun Moon Lake. A guy there gave us some tips and even suggested a solid plan for our journey to Alishan National Scenic Area 阿里山国家风景区 tomorrow.

Lunch was at a restaurant just opposite our hotel. I had beef stew with rice.

Sarsi 黑松沙士.

Braised egg 卤蛋.

Beef stew with rice 茄汁红酒牛肉饭.

We walked towards Shui She Pier 水社码头 and there was nothing to do except enjoying the cool breeze, beautiful scenery and photo shooting.

After loitering around the port for some time, we walked along the trail and went up hill.

Me!

That was our half day tour at Sun Moon Lake village. We later took a boat tour around the lake, but that’s for another post as I don’t want to flood this post with too many pictures.

It was Friday night again, Jian dropped by my place to pick me up for dinner. Not knowing what to eat, we headed out for town in search of some eye-catching spanking new cafes or restaurants.

As we were cruising along the coastal highway, Jian chanced upon this particular eatery, which I later recalled reading about it from a fortnightly local pullout that recommends good food in the historical city of Malacca. We decided to give it a try as we were lazy to scout anymore.

A pretty standard kopitiam interior, but brightly lit and very spacious. The wooden tables and chairs looked pretty cheap for today’s standard. I reckon one could carry it, smash it on one’s head and it did break into two easily. Moreover, it was far from comfortable, especially for the ones fitted against the wall. Ventilation was good even without air conditioners.

The shop branded itself as the place that sells traditional homemade noodles and pan mee. The menu practically consists of only six types of food, fried, curry, soup version, dry version, tomyam and prawn. Then, you have the option to choose from thin noodles, broad noodles, kuey teow, rice vermicelli, pan mee and etc.. That’s about it, no rice-related food. All you can order is noodle, noodle, noodle and more noodles.

To add in some varieties, they have a number of finger foods like fish balls, deep fried seafood tofu and etc. Also, they sell barbecued stuffs like hot dogs, chicken, prawns, pork balls and fish balls at RM1 per stick.

Also, they have really cheap breakfast combos. For less than RM5, you get toast breads, half boiled eggs, hash browns and a cup of coffee / tea. Sweet!

Jian’s mango drink.

I ordered some barbecued chicken to go along with my fried noodles. It was nicely marinated with curry powder and then barbecued. For RM1, it was decent enough although the size of the meat was really small. I later ordered another two sticks of hot dogs as well.

Together with the barbecued stuffs, came the chili sauce. I was grinning from ear to ear because this type of chilli sauce is always my favourite. The chilli sauce that my grandmother used to make whenever we have chicken rice. It’s hot, it’s spicy, it’s a little sour and most importantly, it’s delicious. How I miss my grandmother’s homemade chili.

My fried noodles came rather quickly. Two pork balls, a few strands of vegetable and a spoonful of minced meat. That wee bit of minced meat made the just-another-fried-noodle dish tasted better, or at least, stood out from others. Taste wise, it was average for a simple dish like this. The noodles were springy, probably because it was homemade rather than machine produced.

Jian ordered his dry version of pan mee.

Overall, taste wise, it was mediocre and the portion was quite small, even for small eater like Jian. Due to the untoward incident that left a very bad and sour aftertaste, I am not going to put a picture of the shop’s outlook or even recommend it. Also, I heard from my two sisters who went there for a drink found worms in their herbal drink. All the boss offered was to waive the fee for the drink from the bill, nothing else.

I was taking pictures of my food and interior of the restaurant, just how like I always do whenever I visit a new restaurant or cafe.

It was until when the boss, who looked like a late 20’s chao ah beng that has quite about 30% resemblence to Singapore’s famous actor Mark Lee 李国煌, came over and spoke to me.

The boss stutters (A speech disorder involving hesitations and involuntary repetitions of certain sounds.).

Conversation was in Mandarin, but translated for blog usage.

“You… You… You… You cannot take pictures, do you know that? Why are you… you… you… you taking pictures? Do you… you… you… you know that you are scaring away my customers?”

“Huh? How does me taking photos scaring your customers? Why I cannot take pictures? I love photography and I want to take pictures to keep, that’s all.”

“You… You… You… You still cannot take pictures.”

“Why? You tell me why first, then I shall see.”

“You… you… you… you still cannot take pictures.”

“Why lah?”

The boss left.

Not satisfied with the answer, I proceeded to continue to take my pictures. However, with respect, I took off my external flash and proceeded to take pictures without any flash, to avoid disturbing other customers. On top of that, I have always choose a corner table at the end of the restaurant or a mcuh more quiet area to avoid disturbing other people when I take my pictures.

After finishing my meal, I proceeded to call the boss for the bill.

“Boss, I just to love to take pictures. Don’t worry too much.” (I was trying to be nice.)

“You… you… you… you still cannot take pictures, do you… you… you… you know that?” (The boss said with a very disgusted face and bad attitude.)

“What’s the problem?” (I said in a very agitated tone.)

“You… you… you… you still cannot take pictures. I… I… I… I CAN CALL 999 AND ASK THE POLICE TO COME AND CATCH YOU.”

“……” (I was dumbfounded for 3 seconds.)

“Boss, you actually want to call the police to come to catch me just because I take pictures of my food? Are you out of your mind?”

“……”

He left.

I left the restaurant in a very agitated mood and not wanting to go back there again even though the food was quite good.

I would have politely keep my camera if you give me a valid reason, but definitely not when you don’t have a valid reason, speak to your customer in such tone and with that disgusting look. Moreover, all you ever know how to say is “You… You… You… You cannot take pictures.”, like a three year old child arguing.

If you are selling designs, I understand. If you are selling unique items, I understand. However, it’s food. How can I copy the ingredients used, method of making / cooking, tastes and etc. through a picture? It’s just pure bullshit. If you are confident with your food, why are you afraid of people exposing your business or eatery? If you know your food sucks, why bother to start a restaurant in the first place? Most importantly, there was no “No Camera” sign,

Later, after coming back from home, when I tried to reenact the scene by speaking like the boss, I realized how funny it was.

I wouldn’t have laugh at him for his stuttering, but when he threatened to call the police to catch me because I was taking pictures inside his shop, I couldn’t help it but to find it amusing, ridiculous and absolutely ridiculous.

Amusing, indeed.