Just came to know that 2008 is 'Visit Kedah' and 'Visit Terengganu' year. So, in conjunction to the event, do spent some time to pay the rice-bowl of Malaysia a visit. If you like nature, such you will not be disappointed with the utter serenity and greenery of the paddy field.
Kedah is in the northern region of peninsular Malaysia, bordered by 3P and 1T (Perlis, Penang, Perak and Thailand). There are quite a lot of interesting places to visit especially Langkawi. Find out more from here. There are quite a lot information from the website. Like it. Cool.

• Atma Alam Batik Art Village
  Air Hangat Village
  Beaches
  Craft And Cultural Complex
  Eagle Square
  Galeria Perdana
  Raya Golf Resort
  Homestay Experience
  Island Horses
  Ibrahim Hussein Museum
  Kuah
  Langkawi Cable Car
  Langkawi Canopy Adventure
  Langkawi Crocodile Farm
  Langkawi Golf Club
  Langkawi Falls
  Mahsuri’s Mausoleum
  Morac Go Karts
  Padang Matsirat Village
  Rice Museum – Laman Padi
  Sailing And Marinas
  Telaga Harbour Park
  The Golf Club Datai Bay
  Traditional Malay Kampong
  Underwater World Langkawi
  Wildlife Park
  Birds
  Wildlife
  Caves
  Coral Reefs
  Geology And Geopark
  Mangroves
  Rainforest
  Waterfalls

History Of Kedah

Recorded history of Kedah often starts at the Bujang Valley, located in central Kedah. This maritime kingdom at Bujang was visited by Indian, Persian, Arabs and Chinese traders as far back as the 4th century CE/ AD(CE: Common Era).

For many centuries, the Empires of Sri Vijaya and later the Cholas all exerted their influence and domination over this Kingdom. Kedah Peak (Gunung Jerai), at 1217 metres, provided the navigational landmark for ships in the Malacca Strait. The Bujang Valley was a collecting centre for products of the Malay Peninsular and a transit trading post for ships awaiting the change of currents and monsoon winds of the Indian Ocean. Traders soon propagated Hinduism and Buddhism and their culture, building shrines and temples along the coastal area, evident from artefacts found at the valley.

It is warm to have family visit. My nephew is now 17 months old. Infants grow up very fast. Such a gala moment to have such gathering. But i am not around.

It's breathtaking to walk in the woods in winter. Leaves no longer green, weather is moody and groomy. Certainly a great experience for me.

Cool. Watch out for Queen Elizabeth II is going to use YouTube to deliver her Christmas message.

This is unbelievable. So, you better watch up when and if you ever bring your family to any zoo.
It is not only happening in Malaysia but the following countries as well. Hope the 5 years old 侯芊彤 will get well soon.

• Singapore - 豹脫逃藪貓行兇 星動物園傳意外
• China - 香江野生动物园发生意外 受惊大象发狂撞游客

動物園罕見意外
花豹發惡爪傷女童
updated:2007-12-23 20:05:22 MYT

（首邦市訊）國家動物園的花豹獸性大發，從籠子伸出“豹爪”爪傷一名首次參觀動物園的5歲女童，導致她的上顎、唇部及背部受傷。

這起罕見的意外是週六（12月22日）約4時許發生，受害者侯芊彤當時與哥哥接近籠子參觀花豹時，花豹曾2次嘗試捉住他們，首次嘗試無法得逞，但第2次再伸出豹爪成功捉住妹妹的衣服。

受害者侯芊彤的母親說，丈夫雖然立即衝過去救女兒，但是女兒的身體已經被爪傷，而花豹也馬上放手跑掉。

她說，這個花豹參觀區沒有水池、指示牌或其他安全欄桿，參觀者可自由接近。

source

Labels: baby

When people say 'Thank you' to you, how do you reply and what is the correct way to reply?
All the while, i have been saying 'You're welcome' and wrongly typed 'You're welcomed' in my recent email. Does it make any differences?

From simple Googling, how out the following.

The two phrases have different meanings.

The proper phrase, "You are welcome" says that the person is welcome to whatever you have given them.

The other phrase, "You are welcomed", which is not generally used, implies that the person is being welcomed to wherever they are, as in "we are welcoming you into this place". Notice that the sentence does not say who is doing the welcoming, only who is receiving the welcome. It's an awkward phrase and should not be used, even when you are truly welcoming someone to a particular place.

So, when someone thanks you, just say "you're welcome" and if you want to welcome them to some place, then say "welcome to my ..."

source

So, remember to acknowledge others thanks without the 'd'. I used to hear the following recently:

- No problem.
- Thanks, you 'r most welcome.
- Not at all.
- Sure.
- Please don't mention.


Whatever is it but remember that it is impolite not to reply.

Synonym to Hari Raya Haji, today is the day. Wish all my muslim friends to have a happy and wonderful day.

It is celebrated by the Muslims on the tenth day of the last month of the Muslim calendar. This is an occasion celebrated marking the conclusion of the annual Haj - the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, when the pilgrims are given the title of Haji for men and Hajjah for women. Thanksgiving prayers are offered in the mosques. An animal is sacrificed whose meat was distributed among the relatives and the poor.

Wishing all my friends and family have a wonderful X'mas. May the new year brings you joy, happiness, health and prosperity. Keep in touch.

Yesterday was Perl 20th birthday. Perl 5.10 was released in conjunction to the birthday.
Perl 5.10 full of new features that i am yet to test out. Features like named captures in regular expressions, state variables for subroutines, the defined-or operator, a switch statement (called given-when, though), a faster regex engine, and more. Isn't it coool?
Learn more from here.

Heard that Perl6 is on the way. Hope it will be a great breakthrough. All the best Perl. I love you.

I am impressed with recent new features by GMAIL.
a) New Coloured Labels
b) AIM chats

The former offer a useful and unique visualization for me to easily differentiate the source of my mails. Was using GreaseMonkey from Better Gmail, but not functional with new upgrade of GMAIL. However, we are blessed with the latest cool features. Do try to organize your mail with this feature.

For IM, great to see the AIM has been added in Gtalk and wonder will the the other services MSN, Yahoo IM will be added. Maybe not ......

It has been 22 months since the goverment increase the petrol price. Well, we should be ready for another increment soon depending on when the GE date. CNN money stated that it is USD 88.75 for today.

Labels: facts

Out of sudden, a friend of mine just posted me a question about Malaysia and i suddenly realized that there are so many facts that i have neglected about my own country. This is what i found out recently.

Do you know that the total surface of the earth is about 510,065,284 km square and about 70.8% water coverage and only 29.2% land coverage. That makes up to 148,939,063 km square of the land area. The top 8 largest countries are Russia, Canada, China, US, Brazil followed by Australia, India, Argentina.

Malaysia? She is the 67th largest countries in the world with 329,847 km square (0.22% of the earth). Not bad also lah. By the way, there should be 232 countries in the world. We have 27,544,000 of population which is 43rd largest in the world. KL itself has 2 million people.

The smallest country in the world is Vatican City (near Rome), 0.44 km square. That's why it is still retained the city name. Population less than 1,000.

Labels: facts

Labels: baby