Lucky Ball Pool – Feeling Lucky ?

LUCKY BALL | POKER POOL 

- Feeling Lucky ? (this ain’t gambling! haha)

Just recently I was introduced to a new form of gambling by my buddies (yes you know who you are!.. you evil culprits). It utilises a american pool, billard table or snooker table and a deck of cards plus some money of course. I found the game pretty fun and thus would like to share with those of you who haven’t heard of it before, some simple rules on how its played.

Who’s Feeling Lucky Punk?

Overseas, people call it Poker Pool… but locally in Malaysia, it is better referred to as “Lucky”. Why is it called lucky? Well… for me, whether you go home empty handed or rich with satisfaction is all due to your luck when dealt with the cards. Apart from that, it also depends on luck as to whether your opponents get the same cards as you and whether the balls are properly positioned for you to make killer shots. So apart from skill needed to pocket balls or sabotage people by playing safe, you also need to be DAMN FREAKING LUCKY!

Poker Pool / Lucky should be played accordiing to the General Rules of Pocket Billiards unless explicitly noted otherwise in this specific Bank Pool rule set.

In Brief… Poker Pool is a game that combines the skill of pool with the luck of the cards in poker to create a game that requires different strategies each time you play. (Because of the different cards dealt.)

Objective of the Game

A full rack of the standard 15 pocket billiard balls are racked “inverted” (i.e. top of the triangle facing the bottom) at random with no preset order. The middle ball at the Top Flat row is taken out as a “hand ball” for an opponent to throw into the rack when the starting player is shooting off. This creates an extra form of randomness and “lucky-ness”. The game requires two to six players, however general consensus seems to indicate that playing with three players is the most desirable. Each player is dealt between 5 to 7 cards depending on whether you want a quick game or a slow game. If there are 3 players, then I have found 6 cards to be pretty optimal.

Card to Ball representation is as follows:

• Ace = 1 ball
• 2 = 2 ball
• 3 = 3 ball
• 4 = 4 ball
• 5 = 5 ball
• 6 = 6 ball
• 7 = 7 ball
• 8 = 8 ball
• 9 = 9 ball
• 10 = 10 ball
• Jacks = 11 ball
• Queen = 12 ball
• King = 13 ball

The 14 and 15 rotation balls are considered LUCKY CASH BALLS (which will be explained later on). The object of the game is to run your hand out. If you got two NINES, two SEVENS, one TEN, one QUEEN, then you will need to have the balls 9, 7, 10 and 12 potted into the pockets. You do not let your opponent know your cards so if they happen to pot your particular ball (which you are holding) then all the better for you. Players are only allowed to pot balls which are in their hands. Potting a ball in hand will entitle the player to a “PASSPORT”. If they pot the wrong balls, then their “PASSPORT” status (if any) is revoked and they are penalised by having to take another card and paying a penalty “fee” to the “money pool (which might be used to cover table costs at the end of the night). If you happen to take a card (e.g. THREE) when the ball is already potted then you need to take another card until you reach the one whose ball is still on the table.

Special LUCKY CASH BALL – Rules

Having a PASSPORT is where the fun and money is. If you have a passport then you can shoot the 14 and 15 LUCKY CASH BALLS and get paid for it. Having a scratch during an attempt to pot the lucky calls will result in you paying out the same agreed amount out to the penalty pool (not so lucky eh). If you already have a passport from previous turn, and you happen to pot a LUCKY CASH BALL directly after an opponent has finished his turn, then you get to claim the full prize from the previous opponent. If you happen to pot the lucky ball by having the lucky ball bounce off a cushion then the prize money is split between the players. You can alternate between the lucky balls to earn your prize but you will not earn the prize money if you hit the same lucky ball twice in a row. They have to be alternate hits. If you hit a lucky ball after hitting a ball in your card hand then the prize is shared between your opponents. And this can go on and on until you miss or get fed up earning your opponent’s money in which case you miss and the turn goes to the next opponent player.

Important to note: Each time a lucky ball is potted, it is taken back out and placed at the mid end of the table opposite of the other lucky ball. That means there is always one lucky ball at either half of the table after placing. If the lucky ball is moved during normal play then it can be left in the play positions.

Determining Start of Play

There are different ways of determining who starts. Additional single cards are normally dealt to determine the order of play. The highest starting first and the lowest starting last. The winner of a round will get paid a certain amount of prize money but he will also need to contribute to the table pool money for having such good arse luck. The winner of a round will get to start first during the next round. 

Once a player misses a shot to pot in any of the balls in his card hands or misses any of the lucky balls (which can be used for placing purposes), then the turn moves on to the next opponent in line. If a player is penalised, the turn also moves to the next player.

The above play is rotated and payments are made until a player finishes his cards on hand. Each time a ball in your card hand is potted either by yourself or an opponent (if he has the same cards), the card is placed out onto the table for all to see. Upon reaching your final card, you have to announce it to your opponents so that they can take extra care in noticing which ball you need to pot in order to finish your game.

Penalty and Prizes

Here are some rough guidelines on the penalty and prizes which you can use during your game. This is an example of a 3 player gaming style:

• Finishing a Game First (2 dollars per opponent)
• Finishing a Game by way of last ball shot after an opponent’s turn has lapsed (Full amount covered by the previous opponent who led you to your last shot i.e. 2 dollars x no. of opponents)
• Entering a lucky ball without passport on hand – No Money – Resume Play
• Entering a lucky ball with passport in hand
• If done direct after your previous opponent
• Direct shot – 2 dollars from previous opponent
• Cushion shot – 1 dollars per opponent
• If done after you pot a ball in hand – 1 dollar per opponent
• Potting wrong balls which are not in your hand – Take one Card Penalty and Pay 1 dollar Penalty to the pool money.
• Scratching the white ball – Take one Card Penalty and Pay 1 dollar Penalty to the pool money.

Strategy

There are different and numerous strategies in this game. Most are hinged on the players involved, skill levels, etc. As in any card game, bluffing comes into play as a shooter who doesn’t have an open shot may not elect to make contact with one of his balls, performing a bluff, but perhaps positioning a legal ball or locking up another player’s options.

Add comment November 25th, 2006

WebSMS2u Plugin

WordPress WebSMS2u Plugin Introduction

Tested with flying colors with WordPress Version 2.1

This WordPress Plugin was developed so that people with self hosted WordPress Blogs are able to integrate into their blog systems the ability to send SMS to a phone number as well as receive postings from users.

Features: 

• Send SMS to any Phone Number or Multiple Phone Number (separated by commas, e.g. 601212345678,601912345678 will send to two numbers at once)
• Send SMS to any telco provider as long as they are on WebSMS2u’s coverage list
• Post Articles by sending in an SMS to your WebSMS2u account.
• Control how received messages are authenticated and posted
• Ability to send Normal or Unicode Messages
• Use either SEND and RECEIVE functions individually or BOTH at the same time. It is up to you.
• etc….

Requirements: 

• WordPress installed on your host server (Unix/Linux Server)
• Operating System follows WordPress’ requirement of a Unix / Linux Server.
• A WebSMS2u.com Account Package.
• Available credits if you need to send Outgoing Messages

 Plugin Downloading
Plugins can be adjusted and re-programmed by hackers or unscrupulous people to grab sensitive information like username and password settings. As such it is advised that copies of this Plugin be obtained only from WebSMS2u.com
This Plugin is downloadable and available at:
http://www.websms2u.com/docs/wp-websms2u.zip

Installation Instructions

1. Unzip the Plugin Zip File.
2. Upload the entire ‘wp-websms2u’ folder to your plugins folder (E.g ‘wp-content/plugins/’)
3. All files should then be sitting on ‘wp-content/plugins/wp-websms2u/’
4. Activate the plugin on the plugin screen of your WordPress Administration
5. Proceed to the Options Screen to configure your websms2u options.

Configuration Settings
Once you have activated the Plugin from your WordPress Administration, proceed to the Options Screen to configure your wp-websms2u plugin.
The latest version of this plugin (Current Version: 1.1) has the following configurable options which are basically split up between Incoming Message Settings and Outgoing Message Settings

Incoming Message Settings
Allow Receiving of SMS Posts
If you wish to allow or enable posting of articles to your blog, then you need to check this option. Only when this option is checked will posts be accepted via SMS to your WebSMS2u Account. If this option is selected, please ensure your WebSMS2u Account (Login Here) has been set to forward messages to the URL where your Plugin is at. (E.g. http://www.yoursite.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-websms2u/wp-websms2u-receive.php)     Allow anyone to post
If this option is checked, that means anyone will be able to post to your blog. This is to control so that normal people will not be able to simply post to your blog unless they are registered users.Immediately Publish Posts
As the name implies, checking this option will result in posts from SMS to be posted immediately. If this option is not checked, the status of the message is set as ‘Draft’ instead of ‘Publish’. This is a good way to ensure people do not post nonsense to your blog if you happen to allow anyone to post to your blog as per the option above.Default Post Title
This will be the Default Title that is used for SMS posts unless the sender specifies a Title for the Post in his/her SMS. To define the post title from the SMS, the user simply has to enclose the TITLE in brackets [E.g. (THIS IS THE TITLE) The rest of the message will be in the body].
SMS without specified TITLE in brackets will use the Default Post Title.

Outgoing Message Settings
Allow Sending of SMS to Mobile Checking this Option will open this service and option to people on your blog.
Warning: You need to be careful of this option as Spammers can use this option to send Junk to your handphone at your expense. As all messages are charged to your WebSMS2u account, having a spammer hit your SMS sending page can quickly deplete your credits in your account. Please use this option at your own risk.     WebSMS2u Username
If allow sending of SMS to Mobile is activated, you will need to enter your WebSMS2u.com Account here. This is used to authenticate the plugin with the WebSMS2u.com service to check if you are a valid user and whether your account has the required credits to send outgoing messages to your target number.WebSMS2u Password
Just like your Username above, your WebSMS2u.com Account Password needs to be entered for authentication and sending purposes.SenderID
Set the SenderID here so that the recipient of the message will see this as the Sender’s ID. Normally you might put your Blog’s name or your Name here to identify it. Please ensure that you adhere to the maximum 11 Alpha-Numeric Character limitation (or in the case of Numeric Characters Only, up to 16 characters maximum).

Destination Number
Set the Number of the Mobile Phone where you want all messages to be sent to. Ensure the number begins with the country code or messages might get lost. (For Malaysia, e.g. 601212345678 or 601912345678)

Maximum Characters
You can limit the number of characters per message where people are able to send to you. Each normal message has a 160 character limitation. Chinese or Unicode Messages has a 70 character limitation. You are able to set a maximum of up to Base Limitation multiplied by 3 (E.g. 160 x 3 = 480 characters for Normal Messages, 70 x 3 = 210 for Unicode Messages). Setting a maximum threshold level will mean people have the option to type up to the maximum level, but you will also be chargeable to a maximum of 3 credits depending of the length of the message.

How-to Use

Incoming Messages:

To use this option, all you have to do is (1) ACTIVATE and configure the Incoming Message Options and (2)point incoming messages sent to your WebSMS2u.com Account to your Plugin URL. Once those two things are done, all you need to do is send ‘SMS ‘ to the phone number 32355. To use this option, all you have to do is (1) ACTIVATE and configure the Incoming Message Options and (2)point incoming messages sent to your WebSMS2u.com Account to your Plugin URL. Once those two things are done, all you need to do is send � to the phone number .   

  Syntax for postings without Subject Title specified:
SMS JOHN Hi how are you (Will send a message to John’s account with the message ‘Hi how are you’Syntax for postings with Subject Title specified:
SMS JOHN (Greetings) Hi how are you (will send a message to John’s account with the message ‘Hi how are you’ along with the Title ‘Greetings’. Basically the plugin will recognise words in the brackets and treat it as the Post Title.

Outgoing Messages:

To use this option, all you need to do is (1) ACTIVATE and configure this Outgoing Message Options and (2) Create a Post or a Page with the following syntax:

[ wp_websms2u_form ]

(without the spaces)

To use this option, all you have to do is (1) ACTIVATE and configure the Incoming Message Options and (2)point incoming messages sent to your WebSMS2u.com Account to your Plugin URL. Once those two things are done, all you need to do is send � to the phone number . 

1 comment November 19th, 2006

Christmas and New Year is coming (again!)

Yes, its that time of the year again… end of the year.

Most of us have just gotten used to writing 2006 on our cheque books and now we will soon have to adjust and start remembering to write 2007 instead. But before that, Thanksgiving and Christmas Sales would be starting soon enough.

Have you compiled your wishlist as yet? I wonder how I can get my wishlist out to my friends and relatives…. perhaps I should just post it here on this blog? Nah… that would be pretty in their face and sad if I don’t get anything from my wishlist. Last I heard, Santa doesn’t really read blogs. To have his elves read and compile lists would just be too much of a headache. Anyway we shall see how things go. As for more down to earth and realistic people like yourself, I’m sure you both excited about Christmas with the holidays and all but also dread going out into the crowd to make your Christmas gift purchases. Oh I can just imagine the long queues to go into the car parks and parking lots as well as to drive around for half and hour or so just to look for a space then squeeze your way into the mall and then queue again to make your payments at the cashiers.

Perhaps I should do my purchases early and online this time round! Sure I might not get the thrill and joy of walking around…. but who needs the stress. And by ordering online you can have the gifts mailed to you without the hassle of having to drive out and walk around thinking of what to get your love ones.

 So what’s there to get for your love ones? Gosh I don’t know. I’m sure a quick search on google or yahoo will yield interesting results and ideas. Maybe you can search for:

• KIDS / CHILDREN – ‘Christmas toys for age 5-10′
• GIRLFRIEND / WIFE / MOTHER / SISTERS / FRIENDS – ‘Cosmetics, Apparals, Clothing, Cute gifts, books’
• GUYS / HUSBAND / FATHER / BROTHER / FRIENDS – ‘Gadgets, stationary, cool stuff, books’
• Me – ‘Trex-SE, Cool Gadgets, Office Toys, etc’ (oh gosh.. sorry.. the wish list was coming out)

Anyway as you can see… my ideas are pretty limited but as I mentioned, this is the season to be jolly and if you’re here on this site, I’m sure you must be looking for ideas on what to buy. Sorry if this article didn’t help…. Just treat it as though you were stuck in the queue if you were to be out and about. Remember… Online is the way to go.

p.s. Don’t do your shopping too last minute or your parcels might only reach in 2007.

If you’ve got a suggestion or have a wishlist, do list it down here so that we can all  have ideas on what we can buy. Who knows, the person buying you the gift might accidentally stumble upon this page! hahah

Merry Christmas Everybody!

2 comments November 9th, 2006

Perodua Bego- Coming soon….

Another National Car? This Perodua Bego color definately looks a bit off! Sure suits Kuala “LUMPUR” though. For those of you who don’t know what “LUMPUR” means…. its MUD in Malay / Indonesian language.

2 comments November 8th, 2006

Bali – Indonesia

A trip to an exotic Island… BALI (Indonesia)

 

May Lee and I made a trip to BALI in December 2005. I would have to admit that that was one of my most memorable trips abroad. Perhaps its the company but the place itself was enchanting. I loved every part of our stay and I’m sure so did May Lee.

As usual we travelled by AirAsia to Depasar which is the airport in Bali. Back then, we flew straight from KLIA since all AirAsia flights were still operating from KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) instead of LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal). By the way, KLIA and LCCT is just about 20 mins away. They both share the same airport and runways except their buildings are on the opposite ends of the tarmac & runways.

Anyway the flight to Denpasar from KLIA only took approximately 3hours. The flight was pretty enjoyable. We had to purchase some cup noodles while onboard since it was a pretty long flight. Upon arrival we had someone waiting for us to take us to our hotel or rather our resort. May Lee managed to choose the prefect place via the internet. She decided on PUTU BALI and it was situated in Seminyak area (which can be seen on the map). The place was lovely to say the least. We were really happy with the city resort. We felt so at home and really enjoyed our stay there. You can check out some pictures of the room in our album.

We tried quite a few restaurants while in Bali (well you’ve gotta eat right?) but our favourite would have to be BEBEK BALI which was just located within walking distance from our resort. The food was yummylicous and the pricing was more than reasonable which resulted in us having dinner there for two nights!

Another wonderful dining experience was experienced at SHARKYS at Jimbaran. Its a beach side restaurant and we had wonderful CHEAP seafood there with the most romantic ambience! There was a sunset, there were people singing songs to us, there was nice food, there was sand under our feet, wonderful breeze from the sea, sound of the sea crashing onto the beach, and wonderful company…

We managed to visit many places during our visit. Even though we missed out on Tanah Lot, we did manage to get go Uluwatu. It was a sacred place with wonderful view and lots of monkeys! Breathtaking.

Another wondeful experience was the trip up to Kintamani. The now extinct volcano in Bali was covered with mist when we got up there. We had a nice buffet lunch and waited… and waited… and waited.. for the mist to clear. Finally the mist cleared and we managed to grab a few shots with the volcano behind us from the restaurant.

The trip back down was just as wet… it was drizzling but our driver was very nice and he gave us some wonderful laughing experience  when we brough us to see the padi fields, art centers, silver centers (Perak… not berak *grin* *sorry private joke here, pls ignore*) and shopping heaven at Ubud. We figure Ubud is also another good place to stay the next time we go Bali. Although a bit secluded, it does have it own little Bali charm which I think I can fall in love with!

Do check out our Photo Album on our Bali Trip. More pictures are located there to show you what a beautiful place Bali is. I recommend this destination to anyone who’s never been there before. No need to think twice…. just grab an air ticket and go for a wonderful get away on an enchanted island. Wonderful place and Friendly People.

Last but not least, I’d like to convey my sincere condolences to friends and families of the people who have lost their innocent lives in the tragic bombings at Bali. Terrorists should be eradicated at all costs!

 

Add comment November 6th, 2006

Astro Max

Is Astro Max as good as they say? Here’s my personal account on what its like to use Astro Max.

I managed to get hold of an Astro Max unit due to Astro’s initiative to reward faithful existing clients the opportunity to experience this new service via free upgrade of our existing unit with a brand spanking new Astro Max unit. With that…. who can complain?

I was happy to hear of the free upgrage from their notification letter and quickily called the Astro center to have the upgrade sent to us asap. I was informed that it will take about 3 weeks to have the unit delivered over but to my surprise again, it was delivered by one of their agents only after 3 days.

During installation we had to change a “receptor?” on the satalite dish because apparantly one of the sensors in it was damaged. What used to work for the old Astro unit will no longer work for the new Astro Max unit. This is because the new Astro Max unit requires all the sensors or receptors to work properly before it is able to operate properly. The changing of the part cost like RM80.00 (if I remember correctly) so… so much for the FREE upgrade. In any case, we’re still happy to receive the free unit F.O.C.

The Astro Max unit is touted to have various features:

• Pause Live TV
• Rewind Live TV
• Records 60 hours of Live TV
• Watch another show while recording another

Astro MAX highlights:

• 80GB hard disk drive.
• 60 hours of programme storage capacity.
• 2 tuners – watch two time-conflicting programmes.
• Creates a 30 minute buffer in the programme you are currently watching.
• Lets you control live TV with pause, rewind, instant replay, slow-motion and frame by frame.
• Fully integrated with the Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) for easy to use recording

My Personal Experience (after a couple of months usage):

PROS

• I like the recording capability of Astro Max. The fact that we can record while watching another channel is a good plus point
• Furthermore the ability to set the unit to record at a pre-designated time and interval is also useful.
• The rewinding feature while watching Live TV has also been used but not all the time. Its good to have none the less.
• The fast forwarding feature for pre-recorded shows are a good feature. I find myself fast forwarding past all the adverts. I wonder how they can charge as much now to advertisers. Most people will just fast forward through them right? … unless you’re dead bored and would watch anything out there.

CONS

• Unlike old Astro units, this Astro Max unit takes ages to load! When you click on a button from stand-by or start-up it boots up like a PC. After all it is somewhat like a PC with a 80GB Hard Disk in it. This is what you see when you start up….
• I have experienced lots of software issues with the unit. Luckily they’re really not that life threatening and I can close one eye and “reboot” when I am faced with such situations. I wonder if it uses a Microsoft Windows operating system… what’s with the reboots? Anyway some of the software problems I have encountered are:
• Slow Startups. It takes up to 20 seconds or more for the unit to start showing a channel. The old units will normally display a channel within a couple of seconds.
• Auto Checking and Updating of unit when starting up and sometime while watching astro
• Channel Information sometimes does not show up automatically at all when changing channel. All I see is a channel number without the name of the channel. Everything else is blank. I will need to press the INFO button before I can see the name of the channel and also name of the show.
• Unable to record certain channels. Sometimes I will be able to records Channel 30 WLT but sometimes it doesn’t even give me the option. I am sure this is not limited to Channel 30. Why is it I can record sometimes and I can’t at others?
• Unable to start and watch pre-recorded shows during rain or poor signal strength. How frustrating have you felt when you want to watch astro and it starts to rain? Ok so you decide to watch pre-recorded shows… After all they are pre-recorded and you don’t need signal strength to watch it. But then, due to some unknown reason (probably software related rather than hardware), the unit is not able to start up without proper signal even though you are planning to watch pre-recorded MYMAX shows.
• Hanging of machine. What’s new here? In order to get out of hanging, pressing any other button will not help. You actually need to swicth off the wall switch and back on again and keep your fingers crossed that the unit will boot up correctly. Of course in the meanwhile, you will need to wait for the starting up again. Sometimes it takes up to three reboots to get things to work properly. What gives?

 

Would I purchase my own Astro Max? - The answer to this is perhaps NO. Though it has all the perks listed above, it also has all the problems listed above. For ordinary Astro users, I think the old units will do just fine. However if Astro is able to address my concerns above and have them rectified, I think it Astro Max would be the way to go. After all, the features are good things to have. But from how I see it, Astro Max still needs a lot of tweeking to carry out. The hardware might have limitations but the software is definately way below par.

NOTE: This article is based on personal experience and need not be a full and complete representation on all users of Astro Max.

 

To find out more about ASTRO MAX service you can find it here at

http://www.astro.com.my/astromax/

 

 

20 comments November 5th, 2006

Langkawi – 6th October 2006

My Birthday Present from May Lee…

a get away to a far away island…. “Langkawi”

 

I just learnt that Langkawi is named after HE LANG “Eagles” and Kawi which is apparantly from some rock (Batu Kawi). And true enough during one of our trips out when island hoping, we saw plenty of beautiful eagles swoop down from the sky in a feeding frenzy offered by the tour guides. I believe they were feeding them Chicken Intestines and Guts. Hmmm yum yum…

DAY 1 - Our trip started in the wee hours of Friday. Yes, we took a day off so that we could hit the islands a day earlier. We arrived at KL Sentral as usual and boarded the LCCT Airbus. RM9.00 each way per person could be considered dirt cheap. We arrived at LCCT and ate at this this oriental restaurant. Nasi Lemak wasn’t that great but anything is good to fill the tummy esp during breakfast. May Lee was kind enough to check us in while I tried to gobble up the rest of the food. Oh yes.. did I mention we were rushing through our food as usual? Poor girl… gotta live with me… always slowing her down.

We finally boarded the noisy and cramped Airbus from Air Asia. Who could complain more seeing that the fares were dirt cheap and thus as a result… “Now everyone can fly”…even the less educated ones. Anyway shan’t let people like that spoil the holiday now shall we?

So we tucked away into our seats and took a quick nap and before you know it…we have arrived at Langkawi. Checking out couldn’t be easier… in fact we just walked out of the airport and into this hall full of operators offering car rental. We picked ourselves a Proton Wira Manual 1.3 for RM90.00 for the entire duration of our stay (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). Pretty cheap considering we just pumped about RM25.00 worth of petrol for all our journeys across the island.

After picking up the car at the airport, we proceeded to drive to our Hotel – Awana Porto Malai. It is located in a pretty secluded end of Pantai Cenang which got us a little worried as we did not see any gas stations along the way. And knowing these car rental people, there is normally just enough gas in the car to let you reach the nearest gas station! I swear they siphon the fuel out to their own cars. Anyway knowing our luck, we reached the Hotel without finding any gas stations. Apparantly it was on another road not that far away from the hotel, which we only found out from the hotel staff. Phew!

After checking into the hotel, we decided to take a drive to the east side of the island towards Kuah Town. A slow leisurely drive took us about 30 mins or so. That was inclusive of stopping by at our much needed Gas Station. We pumped in RM20.00 into the tank and we were on our way. Upon reaching Kuah, we drove around a little and then decided to stop by Eagle Square (located on the Map). We were stuck there for a while due to a sudden down pour. After about 20 mins of waiting, the rain stopped and clear skies were upon us. We took some nice shots with the Eagle Statue.

There after we dropped by a shopping complex nearby. It was pretty deserted. Perhaps it was because it was a Friday hence everyone was working and it was also during off-peak season. Quiet as it was, we left and started to hunt around for local delicasies for lunch! We went around the restaurants around Pantai Cenang but couldn’t find anything to our fancy. Food prices were rediculous over there! We settled for cheap ol Malaysian Mamak store near the Underwater World.

After we filled out tummies with Curry, Noodles and Rice, we dropped by Underwater World to see if we could spend some time there. A quick check at the counter for the pricing gave me a shock of  my life! How could they be charging more than Under Water Aquaria in KLCC? Plus did I mention that the place was so run down compared to the Acquaria which is so much newer and larger? They must be off their rockers to want to charge so much. Surely they should maintain attraction sites better than this? It seems as though they were just waiting for paint to fall off the walls. We ended up at the DUTY FREE CENTER just about 50 meters from the Underwater World Building. Bought some snacks to bring back to the hotel and enjoyed the airconditioning. Yes it’s a Hot Day!

Back at the hotel, we got into relaxation mode. Took a shower, switched on the TV and snoozed till dinner time! What’s for dinner? We found this nice friendly chinese restaurant not too far away from our hotel. Maybe about 5-8 mins drive away. We indulged in seafood, crabs and veggie. The food surprisingly was not expensive at all! And it sure tasted good.

DAY 2 – We woke up pretty late on the 2nd day because we were not feeling exactly too well. Perhaps it was because we were caught in the rain during our visit to Kuah Town the day before. The haze situation also did not help as it gave us sore eyes and throat problems. Anyway a deserved rest was in order which was why we, once again had to rush through breakfast! The food at the hotel was pretty okay. Nothing much to shout about… perhaps it was becuase of the rushing. After breakfast, we went to the Hotel’s Recreation Office and signed our lives away for an Island Hopping Excursion. The 3 hour trip saw us visiting some Pregnant Woman Island which has a nice fresh water lake a short walk from the docks.

After spending an hour relaxing and dipping our feet, we adjourned to our next destination which was the “Eagle Feeding” feature. You wouldn’t believe the number of eagles there are in Langkawi (hence the name as mentioned above). There were just too many to count and seeing them swoop down to pick up food from the water was just an amazing site and experience.

Our third destination was another 1 hour stop at a serene beach on one of the many islands. Again this island was inhabited by monkeys (no, not the humans… I’m referring to the real ones silly!) which seem to welcome visitors by grabbing whatever they could get their hands on. We saw monkeys eating Twisties (Junk Food) and also managed to capture a picture of a monkey drinking Pepsi!

When the hour was up… we went back to the dock where our “speed boat” was to pick us up. Little did we know, the engine decided to give up on the owner. We had to wait for the poor guy to fix his engine. He was drifting further and further away. The other people we were with were getting a little worried as they had to catch a flight with little time to spare.

After getting back (on time for our dear travel friends to catch their flight “we think they made it…haha”), We spent the rest of the afternoon at a Public Beach along Pantai Cenang. We also adjourned back to our hotel’s pool for a dip after that. It was hot and the sunblock nearly didn’t manage to do its job. We did get a little sun burn but that’s the whole idea of being out in the sun isn’t it ?

During the evening we went over to Datai Bay supposedly for dinner but it was too expensive so we ended back at the same Chinese Restaurant and indulged in some really good food and an exceptional price. The entire drive was pleasant and we managed to get a few shots along the way. We checked out the hotels there and they were really secluded. I guess people who go there actually want to get away from it all. The drive took us approximately 45 mins or so. Oh… yes, we had to pump another RM5.00 into our little old trusty rental. It was a gamble though to wonder whether we would make it back with enough fuel to spare for the next day’s trip back to the Airport!

Day 3 - Our flight was in the afternoon so we could for once during this trip have a nice relaxing no rush breakfast. Somehow the food today tasted better than the other days. We could also try more food and rest and relax back up in our room before checking out. Ahhhh… this is what a holiday is all about… finally no rush…

*RIIIIIINNNNNGGGGG* ….. *HELLO?*

*This is the front desk… I’m sorry to inform you that its past check out time….*

…. gosh here we go again…. Let’s go to the airport and grab some grub there. A quick hop into the car and we were on our way back to the Airport.

Yes! My fuel calculations were correct! We made it to the airport with fuel to spare! Lets see what they are going to siphon out of the tank this time. *Evil Grin*

Our Air Asia flight left on time  on our return journey back to KL. And again before you know it… the captain is announcing that we will be arriving shortly in LCCT, Sepang.

We’re landing???… but all I see is clouds! We can’t be landing!…. *touch down*. Oh gosh we were landing…. what’s with the clouds??? Hey wait a minute… those are not clouds! Its the haze! ….. Welcome back to Hazy KL!

Click Here to see more photos of our Trip to Langkawi

1 comment November 2nd, 2006

Maxis lucky number – 888

As I was at KLCC for lunch on Monday 30th October 2006, I went to Maxis Center after lunch to check with them how to set my APN (Access Point Name) into my phone so that I can send posts (which was successfully done on Monday itself through sheer determination) via MMS to my blog.

There were 14 persons ahead of me and I had to wait approximately 30 mins or more to get to my turn. All I knew was that I had enough time to go down to the lower level’s toilet (where you don’t have to pay) at the Center Court and walk back up and stand around and wait till my legs grew tired. When it came up to my turn… I asked the staff there how I could set my phone up. He did some keying in onto my phone… then half way decided to give up and asked me to type in the Server Address to my phone myself (talk about good customer service eh) and decided to send off an email address to the URL. I’m like thinking to myself… what in the world are you doing? He finally gave up and asked me to call their Data Center which had a 1800 number. All this testing and all was completed within 5 mins or less. Now what in the world was I doing waiting in line for so long just to have someone try their “luck” in sending off a message when he apparantly did not even know what he was doing?

 Anyway I managed to call the 1800 number…. and a person called Jenny attended to me. All she could do was give me instructions on how to set up my GPRS and MMS settings on my Nokie phone. I wouldn’t say the information was useless because even though the instructions were not specific enough, talking to her made me aware of certain settings and possibility on the phone. Anyway I managed to twiddle with my phone and got the MMS sending to work! So thanks a lot Jenny. I owe you one and perhaps you also help saved many hours of my precious time.

So what’s the deal? Well… the whole point of this post (DUH… talk about long windedness) was that I got a waiting number slip (which I duly scribbled all over it while waiting and also while talking to Jenny) with the special number 888 ! Yes isn’t that the loveliest number you have ever seen? If you decide to go buy 3D or 4D with it and you happen to win, do share some of the winnings with me ok?

Here’s a picture of the Winning Number! hehe

 

 

 

Add comment November 1st, 2006

SMS Forwarding to Email

You have received the following Message From WebSMS2u.com SMS Forwarding ServiceTime: 2006-11-0109:06:22
From: 6012xxxxxxx
Text: THIS IS HOW YOUR POSTING WILL LOOK LIKE YOU ARE NOT A REGISTERED USER. THE SYSTEM WILL TAG YOUR SMS AND SEND IT TO THE EMAIL PLUGIN
MessageID: 67601682
Shortcode: 32355NOTICE: To stop receiving messages to your Email Address, you are advised to log into your WebSMS2u Account and change Email Address for the forwarding of received SMS Messages. If you believe you are not the intended recipient, then please forward this email to admin@websms2u.com so that we can take further action.

The above is a sample of how the WebSMS2u Forward to Email Feature + WordPress (wp-mail.php) will look.

How does it work?

 If you send a message to me by typing SMS OPP and send it to 32355, a copy of your message will be forwarded to my predefined forwarding email a/c in WebSMS2u.com. Once the wp-mail.php or any similar plugins are run. The email message is then grabbed from the email account and posted onto the blog here. As you can see the sender’s phone number is automatically grabbed from the sender so the messages will have to be edited if you don’t want the numbers to show. Don’t worry, I will edit the numbers off so for privacy reasons.

What are the requirements?

 If you want to test this feature on on my BLOG then you need the following:

1. Ensure you are a Malaysian Handphone User
2. If you are NOT a Malaysian Handphone User, you need to configure your SMSC into your phone to use any Malaysian Mobile Operator (see below on the example settings for Maxis)
3. Send a message to me by sending to SMS OPP [MESSAGE].
• Example: SMS OPP Hi how are you? This is a test message from Mr. Pinkie.
4. Send the Message to 32355
5. Wait for your message to be approved. Once approved, you should see it on the blog under Mobile Entries Category

COSTS NOTE: WebSMS2u.com charges RM0.30 per messages sent through the system. WebSMS2u.com also supports re-forwarding to an alternative mobile number (which is not activated in my case) so that I can be notified via my phone of incoming messages. Reforwarding of Messages will cost additional (ranges from RM0.11 to RM0.145 depending on how much you purchase the credits from)

If you want this feature for your wordpress a/c then you need the following:

1. WordPress (and perhaps it will work for other email blogs too)
2. Account with WebSMS2u.com
3. Set up WebSMS2u.com to send copies of received messages to an Email
4. Get your wp-mail.php or similar plugin to grab the emails and post them onto your blog

Optional: You can also use the wp-websms2u.php hack/plugin and get WebSMS2u.com to automatically connect to the script to automatically check, authenticate users and insert the SMS Content into your posts without having to go through forwarding to Email. – You will need to be hosting your own blog or find a wordpress blog that allows you to insert scripts/plugins.

 

Example Maxis Malaysia SMSC Settings – (Used to configure your phone only if you do not have a Malaysian Telco Line)

Message Center Number: +60120000015
Messages sent via: Text
Message Validity: Maximum Time
Default recipient number: (not defined)
Delivery Reports: No
Use GPRS: No
Reply via same centre: No

 

Add comment November 1st, 2006

SAMPLE SMS POSTING

THIS IS HOW YOUR POSTING WILL LOOK LIKE YOU ARE NOT A REGISTERED USER. THE SYSTEM WILL TAG YOUR SMS AND SEND IT TO THE EMAIL PLUGIN

Add comment November 1st, 2006