Death looms near.

I hope the title didn't scare my readers. It's not like its the end of the world, nothings gonna kills us all such as a zombie outbreak or World War 3. Its just...

YES! I've finally got my hands on the coveted Razer Deathadder mouse for my computer. It's the most expensive mouse I've ever bought, and probably will always be. It cost me RM190 for it. Above is the box, and beside it is the certificate of authenticity. It proves to be worth the price.

It has 5 buttons, two of them is at the side, used with the thumb. A glowing scroller wheel, and a glowing Razer logo in the center. It's size is a little bigger, and also slightly heavier than the conventional mouse. It takes me quite some time to get used to it, since my thumb is so stiff, and my hand is so small for its size. After some time, its beginning to prove to be very useful for me.

A shot of the Deathadder with The Orange Box gaming mousepad. Yes and I've finally find use for the mousepad, because I'd rather not risk using the Deathadder without it and scratching the bottom part of it. Though it is a little big for my table, I just cover a part of it with my keyboard, no harm done.

Gordon Freeman, from Half-Life 2, with the Deathadder. The glowing Razer logo looks so cool.

Side shot of the Deathadder with the Heavy Weapons Guy from Team Fortress 2. Notice the buttons on its side.

Lastly, I'm really happy to have it for my computer, to the extent of unplugging and keeping it safely and not letting any of my family members use it. The old laser mouse is still in good condition anyway. I don't know whats gonna happen if I let them use it, because they are just so rough. A few of my old mice are spoilt because of this.

Before any of my readers start posting comments, please consider the following points:-

1. I bought the Deathadder with my own money, not my parents.
2. I did not make this post to show off, I'm just expressing my happiness here.
3. No, I am not rich, I just can afford it, and I'm happy that I can.
4. If you are gonna say that I'm rich or showing off, turn off your browser, or just stop reading.

Well I guess that's it. I gotta continue getting used to my new mouse.

Xi'An / Beijing Trip Part 3

Yes I procrastinated a whole week. I'm very lazy because college haven't started and somehow I don't have the motivation to finally complete the entries of my adventures in China.

Well, one of the nights that I actually enjoy while in China is when they took us to some local street marker. Something like our Pasar Malam, but it consists of only food. There are also bizarre food being sold there of course, such as scorpions, larvae, porcupines, starfish and the ever so good smelling tofu, you can even smell it from across the street.

And the time has finally come, the best part of the trip I consider, the trip to the Great Wall of China. There are several different starting points, and our group start at the same one. 3 checkpoints, but we can choose to go further if we can. From the 1st to the 2nd checkpoint, its pretty easy, but once I reach the 2nd checkpoint, it gets very tough. I had to stop and catch my breath while climbing the stairs halfway a few times. Believe me its not as easy at it looks.

The next morning, we went to the front gate of the forbidden city. While on the way there, somebody tried to make a scene. It appears this man wanted to commit suicide, as he's standing on the window sill on the 3rd floor of a hotel. I dont know whats making him hesitate though, as hes only seen throwing some papers which I have no idea what it says, and I'd rather not get involved. When we reached, we were told about the "Feng Shui" of the whole Beijing City. Then we were brought into a room with a whole lot of jade statue of a lucky animal. Of course, after some explanation of its usage, the promoters started rushing in hoping to somehow get some business from us. My family couldn't afford them of course, but there are some business.

The day after, we prepare to go back home. 1 more shopping trip before that though, its really rough for me because im not used to it. Then we finally depart for the airport. Everyone is pretty reluctant to leave because it was so much fun together these past 7 days. When we reached the airport, we bid farewell to our tour guide, Sophie, and the friendly "sifu" bus driver. Thanks for everything.

Thats about all I can remember about my adventures in China for 1 week. Weeks of procrastination made me forgot quite a number of places I went. I'm pretty sure there are places which I forgot to mention, but I've completely forgotten about it. Here are some pictures to make up for it.Fried Starfish?
I didn't know porcupines can be eaten
Scorpions and larvae

The view from the Great WallThats my shadow on the far right =)

The gate in front of the Forbidden City.

P.S. I will make another post later at midnight, latest by tomorrow, about another new addition in my family of electronic products ; )

Xi'An / Beijing Trip Part 2

After much procrastination, I've finally found some time of which I got so bored I decided to publish the 2nd entry of my trip to China. Well, I'm just lazy, what can I say about that?

I've completely forgotten what places we exactly went, so I guess I'll just have to say the notable places which can easily be remembered. The first one was a ride with trishaws in a small town, beside a big and beautiful lake. "Beer Street" is what they call it, as there are a whole lot of shops where they sell beer. Apparently beer in China is much cheaper compared to soft drinks and even mineral water. We also went into some house where they owner talks about the town's history and showed us how to make dumplings, which is a common food in Beijing. After tipping the nice and friendly trishaw guy, we got on foot along a shopping street. Doesn't have much attraction besides the cultural design of the buildings, and this shop aptly named "Sex and the city" which obviously grabbed my attention. "What does this....shop offer?" was my thought the second I saw the name. When we were about to leave, we came across this aged man. He was holding what looks like a large Chinese ink pen and started writing on the floor. Apparently all he used to write was water, and the floor was brick so the Chinese characters appear clearly on the floor. His writing was very beautiful too. If I remember it right, he wrote "Have a happy time in Beijing" to the tourists (us). Everyone was impressed by his ability.

Next thing I know, is the anticipated trip to the Forbidden City (sorry Shannon >.>). We got off the bus in a large square in front of the forbidden city to get a walk and snap some photos, there are quite some stuff to see on the outskirts too. Holy cow the road to the Forbidden City itself is so long, it took about half an hour from the square to the front gate. Inside, it's obviously huge. It took hours to walk from start to finish, and we didn't even look at everything there is to look. And thanks to some big shots visiting (Probably for the Olympics), our trip was delayed. The notable things inside the Forbidden City would be the Emperor's bedroom, dining palace and the large places I don't remember what they are used for.

The next trip will be the Summer Palace, the "backdoor" of the Forbidden City. It has a very beautiful garden with a lot of decorations. There are also statues of animals. Notable ones are the "Kilin", a mythical beast with a dragon's head, lion's tail, ox's hooves, deer antlers and fish scales on its body. The dragon, resembling Emperor's, and the phoenix, resembling the Empress'. This time, the phoenix is put in front of the dragon because the Summer Palace was built while it is ruled by and Empress. We then walked the "Long Corridor", which is 728 meters long, and has more than 14,000 different painting decorations. That corridor itself took us about half an hour to finally reach the end. Then there was this big "Marble Boat", which can't sail due to its weight. It's used as a dining place for the Emperors.

That's it for the first part of Beijing. Here are some pictures.

Outside the Forbidden City



Emperor's ThroneThe exit of the Forbidden City
Statue of "Kilin"
Statue of Phoenix
Statue of Dragon
A pagoda by the lake.The Long Corridor, notice the painting on the top part. Not a single is the same.
The Marble Boat

Xi'An / Beijing Trip Part 1

Okay, I've finally decided to write my adventures in China over the past week now. I can't help but feel sorry for myself if I don't record my adventures here.


3rd March, left the house at about 9pm to the airport via a cab. Got there pretty early, probably the earliest since we ended up waiting for the tour company people. Boarded the plane at about 12am. So it begins, the 6 hour flight from KL to Beijing. It's a midnight flight, and I got bored real quick, since I'm most active at midnights playing games. Since I cant even play my PSP and listen to songs with my phone, I tried to sleep, but with my neck partially hanging sideways, it hurt pretty quickly. I did fell asleep I suppose, because I remembered I tried to sleep 3 hours before I'm supposed to reach my destination, and when I woke up, its already bright outside. I thought "Wow we must be reaching soon". Thats when I realized, its only 5am! What the hell? 5am and already this bright? I cant sleep with all the light shining in my eyes. So I just stay awake until I reach the destination.

4th March, Reached Beijing Airport at about 6am, gotta rush to another flight because we need to go to Xi'An first. When we were waiting for our luggages, a man showed up saying "The plane's about to depart". Everybody rushed to check in the luggages again, luckily we still made it in time. I really regret eating the food that doesn't even taste like human food, I threw up during the flight because of the dumb turbulence which lasted the entire flight. We immediately went to some garden, which is supposed to have lilies, but since its already spring, they're gone. It's raining, so its basically real cold. Went to lunch, and went to the hotel to get some rest. Went to "Big Goose Pagoda" after the rest. Nothing much, just a historical pagoda where this monk used to decipher Indian transcripts into Chinese. Oh yeah, our tour guide in Xi'An is called Eddie, hes a good guy, and speaks English pretty well too. Went to dinner after that, and then we went to some place I forgot the name. My phone ran out of battery, so I didn't manage to capture any photos. It's real cold out there, pretty much shivering the entire time. Watched a real nice and cool light performance. It's like projecting a movie on a screen of water. Went back to hotel afterwards.

5th March, had breakfast at the hotel, it doesn't taste that good, expected from hotel foods. Went to some Huaqing Pool, a hot spring where Lady Yang Guifei takes her bath, along with the Emperor and some other people. Chef's are considered honorable people because food is very important to the people back in the days, so they have their own hot spring there too. I forgot where we went after that, so I'll just skip that part. Went to lunch, and then went to the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, where the Terracotta warriors were buried under the earth. It's one of the historical places which I like there, theres a place there called the Circular Vision, which depicts how the history of the place, how its dug up and the excavation process. Its named Circular Vision because inside, its like a theater, but with screen all around, and it's like you yourself are on the spot. Imagine driving a car, looking at the front and back, thats how it works. Then we went inside the excavation sites, there are 3 pits. The 1st one was basically the outskirts, the remaining two was pretty deep, and researchers decided that it must be the headquarters, as statues of chariots and high ranking officers are found there. Quite a number of the statues are still intact, while most others were destroyed during a rebellion against Emperor Qin. Again, I forgot where we went after that. I will edit this part if I remembered. Thats about all I have to say about Xi'An, which used to be the capital of China, now switched to Beijing.

Part 2 will consist mostly of Beijing. It could take 2 posts though, as I'm there for 5 days, and visited a whole lot of places. If I have the time I will update it later in the night. Here are some pictures I took at Xi'An for now.
A nice flower decorationThe "Big Goose Pagoda"Statue of BuddhaThe Terracotta Warriors, in the 1st pitThe destroyed Terracotta Warriors in the 2nd pitThe fully intact statues of a kneeling archer, and an officer with a horse, in the 3rd pitThe complete Bronze Chariots

Back home

Im finally back home in Malaysia after 7 whole days in China. It was pretty tiring, and hard without the Internet too. Still, the fun of being able to go overseas, visiting some great places, and meeting fun and amusing people is very enjoyable. Only times where I will miss my computer will be the time before sleep, but I usually fall asleep real quick after being out for a whole day. I would really like to talk about my experience while I was there, but I just came back, and I'm real tired. I will do it in the day. I may take about 3 posts too, so don't expect me to be able to recall and write everything down that quickly.

Time Out...

It's time for me to depart to the airport. I will be off to Beijing for 1 week and will be back on Saturday midnight. Hopefully I can somehow get online over there so I can keep in touch. I will try my best to get a gift for everyone, as long as I have the money of course haha. That's it, I gotta go now, see you guys and peeps in a week.