A Brief Review of Belawai Beach

Belawai Beach had now become among the most popular relaxation and family gathering spot for people around Sibu. With the completion of Sibu-Tanjung Manis road, which allows accessibility from Sibu to Tanjung Manis via land transport with only 1 hour of driving distance, the Belawai Beach which is just additional half an hour's driving from Tanjung Manis became the nearest seaside view reachable by Sibu people.

1.5 hours driving to the beach is an acceptable distance for Siburians. Before this, the nearest beach is at Mukah Division which required double time consumption of the current. Thus, during weekend or public holidays, Belawai Beach will be crowded with visitors and don't be surprised if big portion of them are from Sibu.

Currently, there is no resort operates at the beach side, but a company named Reki Enterprise which I heard is the land owner of one small part of the beach had prepared some basic picnic facilities such as picnic tables, barbecue set, wash rooms and restaurant for the visitors.

These facilities are chargeable. A picnic table with a barbecue set will be charged RM4 per session (until you leave the place). If you want to use the toilet, you need to pay RM0.30 and RM1.00 for those who wish to take a bath and clean up the body after playing at the beach.

During peak period especially public holidays, you may need to pre-book the picnic facilities or else you may go back with lots of disappointment. Shelters are limited so do prepare umbrellas just in case of hot sun or sudden rain.

 

The beach itself is clean but the sea water is light brownish in color which contributes to the imperfection. Anyhow need to be thankful as with the Belawai Beach, Sibu people can now have more chances to experience picnic and spending leisure at a seaside than ever before!

Top 10 Sharing in 2009

It is the last day of year 2009. Over the year, there were plenty of happenings around me which I shared it out in this blog. Now is time to reveal them back in this edition of Top 10 Sharing in 2009.

1. Flood On 6th Day of CNY
Frequent flood occurred in Sibu in the year 2009 resulted from the shallowed Rejang river bank but denied by some local politicians. The highlight of the flood was on the 6th day of Chinese New Year.

Other related posts:
+ Flood Again N Again
+ Something Happened On Rejang River


2. A Short Trip To Batang Ai
Just happened to have chance to visit this place, a tourists attraction point in Sarawak near the small town of Lubok Antu and also one of the hydroelectric power plant in Sarawak. Due to the time constraint, it was just a short visit, but the mountain water and its surroundings were absolutely impressive!

Other related posts:
+ A Small Town Named Lubok Antu
+ View of Sri Aman


3. My First Working Trip
This was my first working attachment in KL for a period of 2 months. Is a good experience in my life with the good hospitality from colleagues in KL office and also my siblings. Staying at Savannah Condo near Bukit Jalil and it was a hectic routine travel to and fro office and staying place everyday.

Other related posts:
+ My Working Trip Accomodation
+ My KL Office
+ My Working Routine Life In Metropolitan
+ First Working Experience At Client Site
+ Trip Back From First Working Attachement
+ KL Attachment Footprints Part 1 - Accomodation
+ KL Attachment Footprints Part 2 - Workplace


4. Hunting For GT Girls!
Being in KL during F1 Malaysia Grand Prix season was a great experience. Besides had chance to see various kind of branding promotion going on, F1 cars were displayed to the public at major shopping complexes. The most important thing is - if there are cool cars, there will be pretty girls around! I walked from The Pavillion till Suria KLCC to hunt down these so called GT girls just for to take nice shots on these hot girls for the view of Just Sharing readers!

Other related posts:
+ Met With GT Girls @ One Utama
+ Formula One Fever in KL


5. Pretty Show Girls At PC Fair @ KL Convention Center
PC fair in KL is not just about a fair to promote or sell the latest information and telecommunication technology. It is also an occasion where pretty and hot show girls gathered as a method to attract visitors to the branding and products they represent. Despite crowded, I successfully sneaked through the crowds and snapped the photos of these show girls just for Just Sharing "buaya" readers! That was the first experience pretty girls willing to post in front of my compact camera with sweet and heart-melting smiles!

Other related posts:
+ PC Fair Show Girls Brighten The Day
+ Inside PIKOM KL PC Fair 2009


6. Half Day Trip to Sg Klah Hot Springs Park
Sg. Klah Hot Springs Park is a tourism spot in the state of Perak. During my working attachment, I had a chance to visit to this place. It was on holiday time so the place was crowded. Soaking the legs inside the natural hot warm ground water was a new experience to me and it helped in blood circulation. A nie place to visit.

7. Lake Fishing @ Three Pillars Farm
Three Pillars Farm is a local lake fishing attraction venue in Sibu. I am not a fishing enthusiast, I just happened to went there with bunch of friends who would like to experience the fun of fishing. A lot of funny and interesting things happened in this first fishing experience. Although we went back with empty hands, but all of us enjoyed the process.

Other related post:
+ The Story of The Three Amigos Went Fishing


8. A Short Visit to Memoryland!
Attended university roommate's wedding reception in Kuching. Had a great reunion with few buddies which we used to share our study life together during those years. Had a chance to revisit our memoryland - UNIMAS old campus which we spent 3 years of our life there and left us with a lot of sweet memories. These memories will remain in our heart forever!

Other related post:
+ A Short Reunion at Roomate's Wedding


9. 1st Borneo Lantern Festival
It was the first ever lantern festival being organized in Sibu. Approximately 7000 lanterns being hung high above the street. When the light was switched on at night, the view was pretty impressive! The lanterns had been arranged in such a way that it symbolized a dragon flying across Sibu's sky, where the dragon head was located at Tua Pek Kong Temple and the tail at Sibu Gateway.

Other related posts:
+ Seven Thousands of Lanterns @ Sibu Streets
+ The Beauty of Pagoda Under The Eyes of Tanglung


10. Sibu BASE Jump 2009 @ Wisma Sanyan
It was the first ever event of its kind organized by the local council where the jumpers came from all around the world. The world record holder of the most best jump done in 24 hours Mr. Gary Cunningham also took part in this event. Watching a human jumped from top of the tallest building of Sarawak was a heart-beating experience. Comments left by the foreign jumpers in this blog are certainly encouraging!

Other related posts:
+ Sibu BASE Jump 2009 - The Jumpers Story
+ Sibu BASE Jump 2009 - The Parachute Folding Demonstration

So, year 2009 is going to be ended and we will welcome the coming of year 2010. Happy New Year to everyone and hope we all have a blessed year ahead!

Review Of Fleet Smash Power FT-555

Here is the replacement badminton racket for my Yonex B-2000 which cracked last week. This time, it is not Yonex anymore. I understand that Yonex is still one of the most favorite brand in badminton sport, but that's also the reason it's price is higher than other equivalent products.

So, this time around, the brand of my choice is Fleet. Maybe this brand is not as well-known as Yonex in badminton products range and it not yet be seen on international tournament, but recently I noticed the rise of this brand for being the major sponsor for various local badminton competitions.

As claimed, Fleet is a Taiwan brand using Japan technology. Japan technology sounds confident to me, but that's not the reason I bought this racket. It is the key features of the racket as well as the price that attracted me.

I am not sure the exact model of this racket, it should be Fleet Smash Power FT-555 (by combining the printed wording on the racket). I tried multi-time searching for information regarding this model, but just can't get the exact one. Perhaps it is a phased out model?

Anyway, who care? What I am more concern is its usability. The first thing impressed me at the very first sight is the weight. It is light and good to handle.

However as a player who prefer attacking style, a light weight racket doesn't bring advantage to me. Lighter racket will only mean the power of smash will depend more on my arm strength. Well, I am pretty confident of my arm strength, so I would like to give it a try. ^^

The price is pretty reasonable, affordable, and suits my budget. That's the main reason of my choice! RM150 with free string, grip, bag, wristband and a pair of Fleet stocking, I just couldn't find any reason to reject it. It is probably a promotion item.

The frame is made of Hi-Modulus Graphite while the shaft is made of Utility Titanium High Modulus Graphite. Sorry, I couldn't elaborate further on these technology terms, what I know is just they are some sort of latest technology material used to produce the racket. For an amateur badminton player, I guess that information is sufficient for me!


However if you look carefully on the shaft, you will notice it is flattened in the middle. This is a new technology in badminton racket evolution which give extra flexibility to the racket. A flexible shaft said to be better in defensive playing where you can flick the shuttle further and easier.

I found that it is quite true. I think it was the combination of light weight and flexible shaft that gave me the backhand hitting experience that I never had before. Backhand which require much wrist strength tends to be a weakness for me, but with this racket, I could perform it with less energy yet more accuracy.

Talking about the smashing power, well... with 23 lbs of string tension compare with 18 lbs on the old racket, I not dare to say the power was double up, but I am pretty sure that the smashing sound was pretty scary! My smash became sharper as the light weight of the racket allows me to bend my wrist easier.

However I still couldn't get use to the drop shots with this racket. With the used amount of energy applied to the drop shots, the shuttlecock tends to get too high or over powered. I think it is the matter of getting used to the racket. I am sure the situation will improve after more practice.

As a whole I conclude that I personally feel that Fleet Smash Power FT-555 is a nice badminton racket to have especially if you prefer a light weight racket with flexible shaft. It gave me a good experience of badminton playing and I am looking forward to the next badminton session!

The Ambience @ Cafe Cafe Sibu

As I promised, in this post I will just share about the ambience in Cafe Cafe Sibu which I rated it as a more "luxury" choices of eating establishment in Sibu.

The cafe is located at a very old shop house but the owners managed to decorate and use the space nicely while preserved some of the traditional building structure.

The ambient lighting makes the place look dim, but gives the feel of soft, relax and romantic. It is a good place to have date with the love one, but sometimes the place is a bit noisy especially when it was crowded with patrons.


Connected to the upper floor is a wooden staircase. The white candles decorating the red wall along the staircase is very unique and outstanding.

There is a space with long table which can accommodate a group of around 16 people at a time to have dinner. It is an ideal space for a big family or friends gathering.

The monotone feather pictures hanging on the wall look simple, but it certainly produces some contrast effect to the big red wall and makes it more colorful and presentable.
As I mentioned before some of the original old shop structure are preserved and decorated nicely to give the classical feel to the customers.

Well, I would conclude that it is a romantic yet affordable place to have dinner with its great surrounding and environment. But don't be too surprised when half way you express your love to the love one, you hear somebody shouting and singing happy birthday song which may spoil your mood and the whole ambience! ^^


Here is the full address of the cafe if you wish to pay it a visit:

Cafe Cafe
No. 10, Jalan Chew Geok Lin,
96000 Sibu,
Sarawak.

District 9

I know it was a bit late to write about this film, but I just managed to watch it last night with my buddy at an alternative cinema, Star Cineplex.

District 9 is a science fiction film talking about an alien spaceship somehow stopped on the sky of Johannesburg, South Africa. Human then cut into the spaceship and discovered a large group of unhealthy arthropod-like creatures inside the ship.

In order to help these "aliens", human had set up an area called District 9 to be some sort of refugee camp to accommodate these extraterrestrial species. However, due to some social issues caused by these aliens, human decided to relocate them to a more remote place named District 10.

Wikus van der Merwe was assigned to lead the relocation. During the operation Wikus accidentally sprayed some fluid from a canister onto his face which caused mutation. Wikus then was hunted by MNU, a private military contractor for experiment. He hid into District 9 and helped an alien named Christopher and his young son to activate a hidden command module and back to the mothership and departed the earth to their own planet.

Anyway, this is just a very brief summary about the movie. There are still a lot of interesting storyflow in the film I didn't mention above, such as Wikus can operate alien's weapons with his mutated DNA, why he wanted to help Christopher to activate the command module and so on. You better watch it yourself.

This is definitely a very nice sci-fi movie to watch. In some part of the movie, it uses mock documentary style of shooting. It has a very unique storyflow and is a very creative and imaginative film. I would rate it 8.0/10.0!

Tsunami At Haeundae

Just watched Tsunami At Haeundae, the first disaster oriented Korean film ever made and the first Korean film I watched on big screen.

Generally, the film was set place at a vacation hot spot named Haeundae at Busan which draws one million visitors to its beaches yearly. While the local were having their everyday affairs peacefully, a local geologist who is specialized in tsunami research discovered some abnormal activities occured under the East Sea. He tried to warn the Disaster Prevention Agency about mega-tsunami that may hit the penisular, but his warnings always end up with ignorance. One day, while the locals as well as the vacationers were enjoying the hot summer at the beach, a mega-tsunami was headed towards Haeundae at 500 miles per hour causing severe destruction.

The selling point of this film in my opinion is the CG effects rendered the tidal wave that causing the mega-tsunami and brought massive destruction to the town. Other than that, it was just another Korean movie which featured love story with comedy and heart-touching elements decorating the storyline.

As a whole, the CG effects was impressive, yet if compare to the similar disaster films produced in Hollywood, such as "The Day After Tomorrow", Korean CG skills still have much room of improvement in term of its realism of the effects.

I would give 6.5/10 for this film!

Street Fighter IV PC Game Review

Currently I am playing the latest fighting game, Street Fighter IV. It is the latest Street Fighter game in the market.

[The selection screen]

If you are a Street Fighter fans, these screenshots may look very familiar to you. Yeah, it is what a Street Fighter game is all about, the familiar characters and also the background. However, differ from the previous versions, the models and backgrounds are rendered in 3D, but the gameplay remains the traditional left-right 2D control.

[Sagat fighting with Ryu]

[Guile (left) - one of the most significant character in Street Fighter game]

In this version of Street Fighter, almost all the most well-known faces in the game's franchise are back. They are:

• Ryu - a Japanese martial artist
• Ken - Ryu's former training partner or rival
• Chun Li - a female martial artist from China
  
• Guile - a former special force from US
  
• E.Honda - a Japanese Sumo wrestler
• Blanka - a green beast from Brazil
• Zangief - a pro wrrestler from USSR
• Dhalsim - a yoga master from India
• Balrog - an America boxer
• Vega - a Spanish cage fighter
• Sagat - a Muay Thai master
• M.Bison - the leader of the criminal organization Shadaloo

[Chun-Li and Blanka]

Then, there are few new faces added to the game.

• Abel - a French mixed martial artist
• Crimson Viper (C.Viper) - a female Amerian spy with long hair
• Rufus - a fatty fighter
• El Fuerte - a Mexican luchador (wrestler) similar to Rey Mysterio in WWE

[Ryu vs El-Fuerte]

[Abel hit the fatty Rufus]

There are also some additional characters who needs to be unlocked by completing the Arcade game:

• Dan - Complete Arcade mode with Sakura
• Fei Long - Complete Arcade mode with Abel
• Sakura - Complete Arcade mode with Ryu
• Cammy - Complete Arcade mode with C. Viper
• Gen - Complete Arcade mode with Chun-Li
• Rose - Complete Arcade mode with M. Bison

[E.Honda slammed Vega onto the ground]

Here are some bosses to be unlocked:

• Akuma - Complete Arcade mode with all unlockable characters except Gouken
• Gouken - Clear the game with either C.Viper, Abel, Chun-Li, Dictator, Ryu OR Sakura, without continuing and scoring 2 perfects and 3 or more ultra finishers
• Seth - Clear the game with the remaining characters you haven't cleared the game with yet to unlock Seth

[Master Ken in action]

[Ryu Vs M.Bison]

After trying it, I found that it was a nice game to play especially if you are a Street Fighter game's fan. The control remains the same, but it was the 3D rendered environment and the great graphic that will give you a fresh and great experience!

[Guile with his alternative uniform color was fighting with C.Viper]

[Balrog with his heavy punch!]

[Dhalsim with his fire ability]

Minimum system requirement:

• OS - Windows XP or Windows Vista
• CPU - Pentium 4 2.0GHz or higher
• RAM - 1 GB or higher
• HD Space - 4.5 GB of free space
• Graphics Hardware - DirectX 9.0c/Shader3.0 or higher compatible, NVIDIA GeForce6600 series, ATI Radeon(TM) X1600 or higher, VRAM 256MB or higher

[E.Honda got an electric shock from Blanka]

Recommended system requirement:

• OS - Windows XP or Windows Vista
• CPU - Intel Core2Duo 2.0GHz or higher
• RAM - 2 GB or higher
• HD Space - 4.5 GB of free space
• Graphics Hardware - DirectX 9.0c/Shader3.0 or higher compatible, NVIDIA GeForce8600 series or higher, ATI Radeon(TM) X 1900 or higher, VRAM 512MB or higher

[Vega prepared to fight E.Honda]

[C.Viper with her electric punch!]

[Zangief showing his "Smackdown" skill]