Everyone wears croc shoes these days… from young little kids to older grown up adults. Apart from the fashion statement, what drives people to wear these fully rubberised shoes? Is it so that they can walk around without getting electrocuted? Can’t be coz there are holes on top of most of these shoes and water can easily get in through the top… So what else could it be? Perhaps its because its so comfortable and people like like having rubber wrapped around themselves as a sense of “security”.
Whatever it is… these shoes don’t come cheap although there are some cheap imitations out there which is easily available in Malaysia. Even my little nephew has got a croc of his own which my Choy San Yea (God of Fortune) couldn’t even resist trying! Everyone wears croc shoes nowadays! I gotta get myself one but I somehow don’t think it’s my cup of tea.
September 28th, 2007
Submitted by: Adrian
Guess what? I just found out that with the latest system update (version 3.0u) for the Wii, you can now use your USB Keyboard to enter text when on the messaging and shop channels. Not all types of USB Keyboards work but some Microsoft, Logitech and Apple Keyboards have been reported to work fine with the Wii. This should save lots of time without having to use the Wiimote to click in your alphabets one by one…. especially true when you need to type a relatively long message to your Wii buddies! This one is a good edition. Try it out on your machine, it might work! Kudos to Nintendo for this useful update.
September 5th, 2007
Submitted by: Adrian
Hi all, Adrian and I wanna share our pix with you….He took some time late last night to load them up (*muaks*).
Yes, I finally got to take pix with Mickey and Minnie after I hit 30!!! Hahaha… We also visited Madam Tussaud at The Peak in HK. In Macau, we visited the Senado Square, St Paul’s Ruins and the world’s largest casino, The Venetian which opened on Aug 28!! http://www.venetianmacao.com/en/home.aspx It is really huge has 850 gambling tables, 3000 suites, 350 high-end retail shops, 3 man-made canal, etc etc… Overall, it was a tiring walking-trip, enjoyable but slightly tainted by the utterly rude attitudes of the people from HK, Macau and mainland China mainly…
We have yet to sort out our wedding registration pix (cos Adrian need to create a WEDDING section on his website first)…. This trip was arranged last year, when I managed to get the free tickets from AirAsia, but I say the timing was quite good, as it happened a week after our wedding registration, and hence took Adrian’s mind off the reality – THAT HE IS MARRIED!!! Hehehe….
Enjoy the pix! Love to all!
http://www.ourplaypen.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=23&page=1
September 4th, 2007
Submitted by: May Lee
When I was in HK, I managed to get two pairs of Caterpillar Boots since it was on offer and buying two pairs entitled me to additional “bulk” discounts. The shoes were comfortable and definitely cheaper priced than over here in Malaysia. I was indeed happy with my purchase. However the next day when I was in Macau, my friend mentioned to me that she saw on the news that Caterpillar boots had a recall due to some faulty boots. Apparantly these boots are not resistant to electrical currents as labelled, which means the wearer of these boots are susceptible to electrical shocks. I have checked and the Stock Numbers do not match that of my boots *phew*.  Anyway for those of you who own Cat Boots, you can check if your boots match the following Stock Numbers: P88033 or P88034.
Additional full details are available at http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07291.html
September 2nd, 2007
Submitted by: Adrian
We have all heard about Wii Straps breaking under pressure but which Wii Controller strap do you own? You can refer to the picture below to see which Strap you own. If you own the original strap instead of the newer strap , then you should proceed to the Official Nintendo Wii Site to order your replacement!
If you own the Original Strap, it might break under pressure. Don’t take risks… don’t harm people and objects around you. And remember, even if you have the newer strap, you should try to stay calm and collected when playing Wii Games and not let go of the controller under full swing. Of course that’s hard to do, knowing how addictive and exciting Wii games can get!
September 2nd, 2007
Submitted by: Adrian
Kuala Lumpur - Macau - Hong Kong - Macau - Kuala Lumpur in 6 days! That’s the sign of what’s to come and how busy and hectic we’ll be getting!
Sunday, 26 August 2007 - At the sound of our alarm at 2:30am, we jumped out of bed and started to get ready to proceed to KL Sentral to catch our bus ride to LCCT (low cost carrier terminal), Sepang. We drove to KL Sentral from our house in Bangsar and managed to drop the car off close by the office for my dad to pick up later during the day. We managed to catch our 3:30am bus. On the bus we caught some shut eye but soon enough we found we were already reaching LCCT. Upon arrival we met up with Lim Fong and Eric who have also just arrived a few minute before us. Immediately we checked in and proceeded to grab our early breakfast at Mc Donalds. Hmm Big Breakfast… yum.
At approx. 6am we managed to board our flight to Macau. This was an introduction of what’s to come. During our flight, there was a gentleman sitting opposite us who was from China. He was cutting his nails onboard the plane and letting his nail clippings fly & drop all over the floor. If that was not disgusting enough, he proceeded to cut his toe nails by lifting up each leg in return onto the chair. I’m sitting there wondering… is what everyone say true? Are the Chinese really that unrefined? Then again, that’s probably their way of life and they might not know better…. or so I thought…
Our flight arrived Macau International Airport at 10:30am and we quickly caught an airport bus (AP1) to the Ferry Terminal which was about 10-15 mins away. We caught the ferry run by First Ferry company as we wanted to land on Kowloon side instead of Hong Kong Island as our hotel was on Nathan Road close by the pier. Our next encounter with HK Culture is when I asked the cabbie if charging for additional luggage was normal. He responded by pointing to a notice stuck on the side of the door, got out and slammed the door after him. Hmm… that’s surprising! Well… if he wants to slam his door, I figured I could help him do the same to the passenger side as well but I decided against it. Didn’t want to aggitate anyone unnecessary… thought I think I already managed to aggitate him by the simple honest question.
Our rooms in Imperial Hotel was adequate. Again the people in the front desk and reception had terrible attitude but there were one or two of the staff who was very courteous. The rooms was small but not TOO cramp, however Lim Fong and Eric’s room was more of a squeeze but then again when you’re in HK, you should hardly be in the room. And when you’re in the room, you’ll be glad there’s a place for you to rest your tired legs so it doesn’t bother you too much anyway. The bed sheets were a little musty and the pillows, well they were well used and smelt a little funny.
After managing to rest a little, we met up with Wilson, my long time buddy from Middlesex University days who took us around to the shopping places, Lady’s Street & etc. It was good catching up with him and we managed to have some delicious “Mango Loh” desert along with some interesting simple rice dishes like ginger beef rice & etc. The chilli oil and beef noodles are also a must try in HK together with the dim sum which I would say is more or less comparable to those found here in KL. Great to know we’re not missing much in terms of dim sum quality. Oh did I mention that the one ton noodles’ texture is a must try? Anyway Hong Kong is a food haven as everyone knows and there’s always different kind of food for different budgets. Oh yeah we found it a little costly to have HKD30 noodles but we soon got used to it after a couple of meals. On a side note, when we got back from HK and went for breakfast, we found the food in KL ridiculously cheap as compared to HK as we only paid RM10.00 for eggs, toast and drinks for two person. How do you beat that?
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While in Hong Kong, we managed to go up to The Peak where we visited Madame Toussaud as well as took some pictures from the roof of the peak building. Boy was it windy up there and the view was just amazing. Anyone who hasn’t been up there is strongly advised to take a ride up either by Bus or Tram. We took the shorter method which is by Tram which climbs up approximately a 45 degrees incline when going up and a 45 degree recline coming down. The power of the trams are just amazing especially since it’s carrying such a heavy load of people on board.
After rushing down from The Peak, we took the ferry back over to Kowloon and rushed over to the Hong Kong Cultural Centre to see the Symphony of Lights show. It was pretty amazing and they have it every night (I think) at approximately 8pm or so. Certain days you have the announcements in English and certain days are in Cantonese or Mandarin. Unfortunately we got there on a Mandarin day but that’s fine because the music and the lights were enough to awe anyone. When looking across the causeway, you could see 18 of the tallest buildings on Hong Kong Island lighting up in perfect synchronisation with the music. The show is only for approx 15-20 mins so its not too long to be standing on our tired feet 
The next day, we left for Hong Kong Disneyland early in the morning. We got to take pictures with some of the Disney characters. Most of them were pleasant except for the person inside Winnie the Pooh. He was such a prick. Not going to complain much about him here but as playful as he was, he gave me the impression that he was just a flirtatious idiot behind the costume. Anyway enough said… I guess you can’t be pleased everytime even when you’re at Disneyland. As we were getting pretty tired as the day went on due to the intense heat & later rain, we managed to watch only 1 show which was the Lilo & Stitch Interactive show. It was pretty ok except it was a little kiddy. We also managed to catch the Space Mountain Ride which was pretty good. Just as we were ready to leave, after walking along the shopping street back out towards the main entrance, it started to rain. We covered outselves with the bags that came with our merchandise and ran for the Trains that were to take us to our next destination, The Discovery Park Shopping Arcade, which was right next to the Tseun Wan MTR station. I managed to pick up two pairs of Caterpillar Shoes while I was there and they averaged only about RM250.00 per pair. What a bargain coz they cost a bomb back here in Malaysia!
The Following day, we moved out of our Hotel after having a quick last breakfast and headed to the Ferry Terminal which were to take us back to Macau. Instead of taking the First Ferry, this time round we took the Turbojet Ferry which departed from Hong Kong Island instead of Kowloon side. The ride was slighlty shorter and definitely better as I didn’t feel sea sick like how it was when we went from Macau to HK. Upon arrival at the Immigration however, we were greeted by a long queue going into Macau. The reason why there were so many people was because the VENETIAN just opened in Macau only about 2 days back! Here we are stuck with all over tourists as well as people from Hong Kong coming over to check the new Venetian out. Anyway we managed to clear the immigration after about 30 mins and we were also lucky enough to find our shuttle bus outside the Ferry Terminal (after a brief search and panic) that took us back to our Grandview Hotel located at Taipa Island.
Grandview Hotel in Macau was such a far cry from Imperial Hotel in Hong Kong. Apart from being cheaper and coming with breakfast for two, it was also larger, cleaner and such a pleasure to be in. I guess that’s the difference between being in Macau and being in HK. Such a big difference and such a big pleasure for us to come back to something better as our holiday neared its end.
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We did some walking around Macau, compliments from May Lee reading the Map wrongly. I swear we almost covered the entire island on foot! Well it felt like it anyway but in the end, all the walking was worth it as we managed to find the restaurant (near the Kwan Yin Statue) she aimed at finding in the first place. We had our wonderful seafood platter dish. Can’t remember what its called as she did the research and ordering but I can still imagine the taste in my mouth! The service was first class and the owner looked like a friendly chap. In the restaurant, there was a table at the end with 4 women seated down, playing Mah Jhong and sipping red wine! No wonder they call Macau a Gambling Heaven.
Next came The Venetian. This is definitely a place to visit! Apart from playing a few rounds there and enjoying their free drinks! you can walk around for some shopping as the casinos on the bottom ground floor is easily accessible and viewable from the upper shopping levels. The Venetian also has the usual Gondolas which I thought was a silly idea. I believe there are 4 different canals and they all seem pretty short. The rides are charageable and I don’t understand why people would pay just to ride in one of those for such a short distance. Now, if the canal actually went around the entire mall in one long loop! Now then that would be a different story. People who are too lazy to walk could just hop onto one of those (if they have a pass of course) and take a ride to another section of the shopping complex. If the Venetian takes up this idea of mine, please do remember to pay me a little commission for my ideas (ya right as if I will get anything).
Anyway, that’s about it for this particular trip. I think we did loads! and the walking sure managed to kill my poor leg. Again travelling back on Air Asia was another experience, this time round having a couple cut infront of our queue and we actually thought they were from China but what do you know…. they were sadly Malaysians. Such a disgrace to our country fellowmen. I actually have a picture of them taken to be put up here but I decided against that in the end. I’ll just give them the benefit of the doubt even though the lady was just being a bitch for voicing out. Sad to say, either her partner didn’t understand what we were bickering about or he just didn’t think she right to start off with to be defending her. Anyway just needed to let off some steam after being around rude and inconsiderate people and perhaps she was just there at the wrong place and at the wrong time. Poor thing…
For more photos, please proceed to the photo gallery http://www.ourplaypen.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=23&page=1
September 1st, 2007
Submitted by: Adrian
I was at “The Curve” this morning for Border’s book sale as well as lunch with the family. After that we popped over to Cineleisure for a walk and found out that there was some sort of Cosplay (Costume Roleplay) Competition taking place there. Managed to take a picture with one of them. She’s got a sword… so do I!… Well I borrowed that from my nephew who was too shy to take a picture with this pleasant young woman. Anyway she’s got a nice costume don’t you think?
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Actually all the people there had great costumes. Check out the following picture. This elf guy, his staff and his classic mean look…
Wanted to get some games for my Wii from Cineleisure Shops but the selection wasn’t that great. I suppose, I’m still happy with getting my games from either Mid-Valley or from my Original Shop down town.
Pictures were taken from my Nokia 6300 Phone (just 2 Mega Pixels). I suppose that’s good enough for web & blogging usage. Need to keep my hands and subjects steady though. Speed a little too slow to capture clear quick shots.
August 19th, 2007
Submitted by: Adrian
Hi there. For those of you who wish to show some patriotism the right way (instead of writing songs which disses the country… even though “unintentionally”), feel free to grab the picture below (Right Click “Save As”) and post it on your website. Please do not link directly to the graphic from your site as I might move it anytime at all in the future. Plus, its not nice to leach bandwidth You’re free to use the design which I have come up with. I believe, not only should we fly the flag on buildings, we should fly the flag online!
Take this picture and place it on your site!
If possible, please put link back to this page on your site to tell people they can use this picture. Also do drop me a mail or comment to let me know where you’re placing this picture. It’ll be interesting for me or others to know how far and patriotic people are! haha (Ed Note: Experiment #1121)
Happy Merdeka to all Malaysians out there!
August 9th, 2007
Submitted by: Adrian
Wario Ware Smooth Moves is one game that should not be missed by any Nintendo Wii owner. This is another innovative game that highlights the capabilities of the Wii. It also highlights the uses of the controller which can be held in a variety of ways. Each method of holding the controller has a unique name and some of them are: The Waiter (holding the controller like how a waiter holds his tray), The Umbrella (holding the controller upright like how you’d hold an umbrella), The Elephant (holding the controller infront of your nose making it look like an elephant’s trunk), The Remote (holding it like a remote control), The Handlebar (holding it with both hands like how you would hold a bicycle’s handlebar), The Artist (holding it like how you’ll hold a pen), etc etc… you get the picture.
The game has a collecetion of 200+ mini games. Each game is a mixture of speed and reaction. You have a couple of seconds to get the grip/stance right and then doing whatever the instructions asks you to do.
Its fun and addictive and I managed to finish the game in approx. 2.5 hours. Of course I had quite a bit of practice previously. Who’s Wario you might ask? Well he’s Mario’s younger brother 
July 18th, 2007
Submitted by: Adrian
For those of you who bought an original Nintendo Wii, you would have tried the Wii Sports game that comes along with the entire package. A few of the sports available are; Tennis, Golf, Baseball, Bowling and Boxing.
They are all good fun. I personally love the bowling, tennis and golf games. Apart from working out a sweat, it also promotes interaction esp with the opponent, spectators as well as with the console.
Bowling is pretty realistic and its fun to see how ppl scream and shout at the console hoping that the ball will end up where its supposed to. It definately makes you feel like you’re in the bowling alley. The plus point is that you don’t have to pay expensive lane fees for each new game!
As for Golf, its also nice fun because it creates the feeling that you’re actually playing the game without being in the hot sun. Of course I can’t play real golf for nuts but when I chalk up some experience, I’d try out the Tiger Woods golf game, which seems to be more technical. A little mistake there would cost you dearly! For now Wii Golf is nice and simple and suits my needs
Won’t be turning PRO soon I guess.Tennis would have to be my 2nd favourite Wii Sport but it does get a little tiring especially when you’re trying hard to return the perfect shot to your opponent. Plus I have not yet mastered how to perform ACE SERVES yet. There has to be a way to do it right? My nephew does it all the time effortlessly but that’s from just waving the controller left and right infront of him. Not by any means a realistic serve. But if it works… what the heck!
Boxing on the Wii seems retarted. Perhaps I’m not doing it right but the shots are too limited and non-responsive. The system doesn’t seem to detect jabs too well. It also can’t do hooks, upper cuts, body shots & etc. Definitely not the FIGHT NIGHT experience but it does work out a sweat nonetheless.
As for Baseball… well… I suck at swinging the bat. Seem to miss or contact it at the wrong time. Those who indulge in this are reminded to put on the STRAP. If you happen to lose the grip on the controller, that’s the only thing stopping it from flying at warp speed towards someone or something friendly. Â
All in all the FISHER PRICE Mii characters are cute and make the entire Wii Sports experience a pleasure without putting too much seriousness realism in the game. Nintendo has done right by including such a simple yet innovative game that highlights the features of the Wii.
July 18th, 2007
Submitted by: Adrian
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