HOPe & Fun 2.0 Charity Carnival day at Dewan MPHTJ Bukit Beruang - 19 Aug 2023 [DONE]

Seems that these are difficult times indeed - there seem to be quite a few charity events lately. Just a month after the Fund-raising Carnival at my old high school (St David High School), today there was the HOPe & Fun 2.0 Charity Carnival organized by the Agapecare Society of Melaka, held at the Dewan MPHTJ Bukit Beruang.

H.O.P.e. by the way it is written, stands for "Help Other People event", and is the 2nd such event organized by the Agapecare Society, hence the 2.0. The first fund-raiser was held way, way, way back in 2006! Almost 20 years ago! 😲

My family and I have a habit of going early, so we arrived roughly half an hour after the official start of the event at 10am. Public Service Announcement - even though it was a Saturday, currently free "weekend" parking was only given on Monday's and Tuesday's. That's right - for Saturday and Sunday, you still need to pay for parking either using the scratch coupons or SVP Smart Parking app (which seems to work reasonably well). There were parking bays in the hall area, however, they were reserved for the volunteers, so we parked outside along the row of shops nearby. Wanted to stay for up to 2 hours though (foreshadowing what was coming), things didn't quite go exactly as planned.

There were a couple of food trucks open for business just outside the Dewan MPHTJ Bukit Beruang - the one that caught our attention was the one from Cowrasa - selling milk, yogurt and ice cream! 😋

Going into the hall, noted a counter from Oriental hospital offering free basic health check and an assortment of pre-loved (fancy way of saying used / 2nd hand) clothes, books and other stuff for sale. Just like the recent carnival at St David, all transactions were via coupon / voucher, which we had also bought earlier to avoid wasting time in the queue. Even the stuff for sale AND food trucks were accepting only coupons as payment. Notably there was no queue today, so looks like many other people also followed suit. There were some tables and benches set up in the hall where we could sit down to eat. A few row of chairs were also arranged in front of the raised stage, where there were some dance and song performances by students and also senior citizens. The old folk were quite good, playing renditions of classic "oldies" like "young ones" by Cliff Richards as well as lagu keronchong melayu & baba nyonya on their guitars, ukulele, tambourine and beatbox.

The stalls outside boasted a small but highly varied selection of food and drinks, cookies, even one selling fresh satay. There were also some games booths and one selling potted plants as well. There was more space to stand under the tents, so was not so congested, though the crowd was not as large as the one at the St David event. Again, I was in "full emersion mode" so did not take any photos - need to kick back into blogger mode if I'm going to be writing posts such as this in the future.... 😅

First round of food (I purposely did not eat breakfast at home so that I could maximize food intake here) for me was some Nasi Lemak from Jasin, Siew Pau, fruit tarts. As we had time, walked around some more, and bumped into my ex-high school mate and ex-colleague. One hour into our arrival, the sky darkened, and it started drizzling. As time went on, it got heavier until it became a downpour. Fortunately, there was ample space in the hall for everyone to seek refuge from the unforgiving weather. We just found ourselves a bench near the stage and continued to watch some of the performances.

One thing to note - this hall was set up for badminton, so the lighting was arranged to evenly light up the center of the hall where the courts were. The stage was, however, practically unlit, so this did serious injustice to the performers, who were literally singing and dancing in the dark. Not sure if it was because the organizers did not turn on the stage lights, or just that there were none to begin with....

A quick time check - our 2 hours were up but there was no sign of the rain abating. It did ease off, though was still not possible for us to make it back to our car (lesson learned for future outings - do bring umbrella). So, with the last of our coupons, we bought a sizeable haul of milk and ice cream from the Cowrasa food court. Ice cream had to be consumed on the spot, and so happened by the time we finished, the rain had become a drizzle and we had our chance to leave after passing our unspent coupons off to someone.

Well, all in all, for a good cause, and although organized by Agapecare Society, there were no religious elements in this event so all were welcome to join and participate. If there were one thing I feel they could have improved - it was on the publicity. If it weren't for the fact that I knew someone from the organizing team, I would never have known about this event. A pity as all in all was a good effort and successful charity / fund-raiser in my humble opinion. Also a chance for us to give back to society and enjoy some quality family time together! 😀

 

Fund-raising Carnival at St David High School Melaka - 22 Jul 2023 [DONE]

There's a phrase in Malay, "Seperti Kacang Melupakan Kulit", which literally means, like a peanut forgetting its shell. In the context of my secondary school education, proud to say this does not apply! 

When I first found out about the (then) upcoming fundraising carnival to be held in St David High School, happy to find the responses from my fellow ex-schoolmates in our Whatsapp chat group. To be frank, there were only SOME of us who actively voiced their wish to join, and in the end only SOME actually did turn up (both on time and late).

The link to the event's Facebook page is <HERE> 

I knew traffic would be bad, and available parking extremely limited - nothing changed since those days.... Sort of reminds me of the situation at Infineon on a rainy day.... My family and I arrived shortly before 9am, but by then it was already very crowded, with many students participating in the carnival as well as manning the counters and food stalls. Also on active duty were the teachers, but not from my time as those who had taught us earlier were all retired (yes, I know I'm THAT old already).

As with most events these days, in order to ensure good fund management, all transactions were in the form of cash vouchers that could either be purchased beforehand or during the event itself at the appropriate counter. Very fortunately, I had purchased earlier, as there was a very, very long queue at the counter during that day.

Right inside the entrance, there was a fire truck parked there on display, though it was gone before noon. Possibly some emergency calls.... The assembly area which was open-air during our time, was now fully covered with a high roof. There were several counters there, and highlight on display were the electric vehicles (EV's) from Volvo. 

The school hall where we had several memorable events back in the day (including our stage performances and debates) was used for jumble sales. 

The food stalls were located at the school field. Unfortunately, in order not to damage the track / football area, the 3 rows of food stalls were placed very close to each other, leaving little room for the bustling crowd. We basically could not stop or walk slowly between rows, so I had to resort to multiple passes to identify what they were selling on both sides, and finally zoom in to the stall to buy something. There were limited seating and tables to eat (not everything was easy to eat standing up), so we ended up sitting at the stairs near the vocational classroom block (at least that was I believe they were from last time, not sure if they are still used for the same purpose nowadays).

The students were really going out, to push sales of the food and drinks. I remember my Americano being prepared by a teacher, who somehow was over-enthusiastic when it came to adding sugar.... 😅 

Not sure if it was part of the event, but there were a few students in full cosplay mode - and a few in cross-gender outfits as well. Possibly to promote the face-painting counter, there were a few students going around as well. Seems to be working, as the queue to that counter was even longer than then queue for the vouchers!

The remove class block classrooms were used for games booths, where we could try our skill and luck (mostly luck) to win several small prizes.

It did drizzle lightly, but that did little to dampen the spirits - the crowd was huge and did not thin down towards midday. Our ex-schoolmate group was supposed to gather at 11am, but somehow few came a bit late.

Photos above taken by my friends, credit to them. Somehow this time I did not really take any, as was fully engrossed in the event.

And a short post on the school's Facebook page on the outcome of the event with some photos can be found <HERE>

My family and I had a good time. For my especially to see my alma mater once again, in better shape then when we graduated. Telling some old time stories to my kids about the time when I was their age. Unfortunately, we had to leave after noon, so I did not manage to meet some of my ex-schoolmates who came much later. Overall, was happy to have managed to attend. Congratulations to the organizing committee, teachers and students for making this a successful fund-raising carnival! Looking forward to the next such event!

November for Cancer Awareness

The 1st of Nov marks the beginning of 2 closely related events for men - Movember and No-Shave November. Time to put away the shaving equipment for the month in the name for a good cause. While these annual events have been organized for some years now, they are still many who might never have heard about them. Let's look briefly at each, starting with Movember.

The Movember movement was started in 2003, in Melbourne, Australia by two friends (Travis Garone and Luke Slattery) as a challenge with 30 takers (known as Mo Bros and Mo Mo Sistas). Over the subsequent years, the movement gathered both momentum and global recognition, and as of 2017 has grown to a rank of 49 of the world's top 500 NGO's. Funds are raised to address the key contemporary health issues faced by men : Prostate and Testicular cancer, mental health and Suicide. In order to gather support and awareness, participants grow moustaches throughout the month. The "rules" are quite simply:
- Register at movember.com, and start 1st November with a clean shaven face.
- Grow and groom a moustache through the entire month of November.
- Moustache only - no beards, goatees, falsies
- Actively create awareness and promote discussion to raise funds for men's health
- Be a true gentleman (once committed, do it seriously and don't misuse)

Then there is also the No-Shave November movement, which, as the name describes, is where the participants truly stash away razors, electric shavers, blades, etc., again to promote cancer awareness. Notice the key difference here that while grooming is permitted, "No-shave" is not only limited to facial hair.... Those interested can sign up at no-shave.org. This movement had a soft, informal following for many years prior, but only kicked off officially in 2009 by Chicagoland Hill family in relation to their father's (Matthew Hill) death due to colon cancer in November 2007.

Besides these two events, there are other similar events such as Mustache March participated by the US Airforce (but more of a good-natured defiance of facial hair regulations) and Decembeard (promoting awareness of bowel cancer).

This year, while I don't officially join by signing up, I have decided at least to give it a go by attempting to refrain from shaving for the entire month. Somehow, due to genetics, I would say growing a beard seems possible for me, though the density around the cheeks is a little low. Never tried growing a moustache only, so perhaps going with the full beard approach would be less "unnatural". Prior to this, the longest I've ever gone without shaving was roughly 2 weeks (usually during my business trips to Munich, where most of the folks around have beards anyway, so I'd blend in quite well). Of course, here in Asia, the bearded look is not common, especially in the typical office environment, so I may have to do some "adjustments" if needed. Important to look professional and not dress sloppily, otherwise will look like a homeless vagabond.

Whether or not for the undeniable cause to promote cancer awareness, or just a reason not to shave - for me cancer is indeed a terrible affliction that has impacted many people i know personnally - friends and my own family. While sometimes cancer can be genetic, lifestyle and environment is also a factor which we all need to be aware of. At least for that we can control, we need to take active steps to mitigate the risks and to spread the word to others around us. I also support the Relay for Life cancer awareness movement, the one here locally organized by the National Cancer Society of Malaysia (Melaka side) which usually has their event in April at Dataran Pahlawan.

For those of you reading this, I hope you can also take note of the importance of Cancer awareness and prevention, and try to find out as much as possible to incorporate into your lifestyle, as well as spreading the word to those around you!

High Tea @ Avillion Legacy Melaka

Seems that my change in organization was as good enough a reason for old friends to come together. As some friends in particular group were not from the same company as I was, we decided that lunch was not possible due to limited time. Hence, in looking out for a suitable place, my friend Din suggested we try out the High Tea @ Avillion Legacy Melaka. And so we did this fine Saturday afternoon....

The Avillion Legacy Hotel is situated along Jalan Hang Tuah, close to the HSBC bank and opposite the former Soon Seng Plaza / Fajar Shopping Center (should ring a bell for those of you who are familiar with Melaka many years ago). Parking in the multi-level car park of the hotel is free (as of this time of writing), but note that it was a bit dark and narrow (which might challenge those of you with large vehicles). Managed to get a spot on the 2nd level. The restaurant / cafe was on the ground floor, right next to the hotel reception counter. Of course, air-conned as it was fully indoors. High Tea details here or as shown below:

Details as seen on a smartphone screenshot....

Starting from 12pm and ending at 4pm, it seemed more of an extended lunch rather than high tea. We agreed to meet there a 1.30pm, which was nice as it was after the initial crowd and not too late that all the food would be gone. Luckily we made reservations beforehand, as even at that time all tables were full, and it looked like additional tables were set up into the lobby area to cater for everyone. Special promotion rate for this - buy 3, free 1, with special rates for senior citizens and children! No indication on how long this promotion will last, so best to catch it before it's gone....

It was not as large as the Zest Cafe @ Ramada, and the food served was not as varied, however, for less than half of the price, I'm not one to complain. Besides, the usual fruit and dessert counter, the bread counter was basic (one type of bread with a toaster, and one type of bun with butter). They had mushroom and red bean soup close by. The main course counter had butter rice, chicken, asam pari, japanese tofu and mixed cabbage / cauliflower. Special counter for roti john, waffles and pizza. For hot drinks, there was black coffee, tea and teh tarik - the last one to me being a bit sweet for my taste, but that's teh tarik for you. Over at the other end, seems the ice cream was moving quite fast - by the time I was there, there were only strawberry, yam and corn favour left, and 5 empty slots where the other flavours were. Seems that the food here was limited, as they didn't top up once finished. This meant that even though you reserved a seat, there might be nothing left to eat if you got there late. As we sat, ate and caught up on old times, looked like there were still some people coming in after 3pm - hope they weren't disappointed!

I liked the balanced layout - the number of tables, food counters and space did not give me a feeling of congestion, even with the additional tables set up encroaching into the lobby. Place was well lit, and suitable for kids and and also the elderly. The staff was quite attentive - our water glasses were refilled quite promptly and empty plates cleared. I did not manage to try out every dish served. Fortunately, there was no loud background music playing - good if one was trying to strike up a conversation.

In short summary and conclusion, all in all, no complains from my side. Reasonably priced with a comfortable environment too. Recommend to give it a try if you're in Melaka over the weekend, but be sure to call and make reservations first!

Building a Championship Team - 2019

It has been slightly over a year since our last team building at Avillion Admiral Cove, Port Dickson. Fueled by strong business demand and an insatiable appetite for innovation, our team has grown not only in maturity and experience, but also with many new faces to bolster our ranks. Thus, an ideal time for this year's event, around the theme of "Building a Championship Team".

Team building is what it was all about in these 3 days....

I stepped out of the elevator at the seventh floor of the Ramada Plaza Hotel, where the Bunga Raya Ballroom was situated. There weren't many sites in Melaka with such a large hall, which was a pre-requisite given we had at any given time easily up to 120+ people (and this was after splitting the group into several small sessions). The hallways and corridors were well lit, but as it was just past 7am, only a skeleton crew scuttling about setting up the place - business as usual for them. In spite of their busy routine, some of them did smile and greet me, while others continued oblivious to my presence.

The actual event was scheduled to start at 8.30am with the arrival and registration of participants. No, I am not on the organizing committee anymore, but coming early does have its benefits - one of which was securing a nice parking spot in the multi-level car park of the Ramada Plaza Hotel. Even though it was a weekday, and expectedly there weren't many tourists, with over a hundred participants, parking would definitely be a problem for late arrivers (hahaha, just like back at the main plant).

This year's team building was only for a day, so it was crucial to set the venue as close as possible to minimize transit time. The main objective of this event, as the title suggests, was to build a championship team. Not forgetting, of course, keeping the team together and delivering high performance results....

As time was limited, in essence the program was broken down into 4 activity sessions, with a great lunch (more on this below) and strategically timed afternoon tea break to break up the post-lunch lethargy.

A shout out and promotion for Iverson Upskilling Sdn Bhd

Unlike last year's event, this year's team building was run entirely by Iverson Upskilling Sdn Bhd, which took care of practically everything except the photography. Thus, everyone has the opportunity to immerse themselves in the experience. Kudos and salutations to the new Infineon organizing committee for a great selection, and of course to the team at Iverson on a job well done. From Infineon, the highest ranking on the scene was Mr Loh JS, who had the honor of delivering the opening address as well as the closing speech. The main trainer was an interesting and colorful character who we have come to know as Zen for short (full name is quite lengthy due to a mixed Chinese-Iban-Spanish lineage). Zen proved to be the right person for the job - overflowing with energy and connected well to the team. I was really inspired by his confidence and delivery, and will try to enrich my own presentation skills accordingly.

The Ramada Plaza Hotel was surely no stranger to anyone familiar with Melaka, being here for many years (since I was a kid, as far as I can remember). Located in the old part of Melaka town, there were many interesting old-school eateries and shops in the surrounding streets for adventurous visitors and tourists to discover. Public transport would not be my first choice in getting here (luckily I have my own transport), but in this modern age one can easily invoke smartphone-based services (ie, Grab) to get around. Besides, there was always the option to carpool with the colleagues, if you find a suitable match. The hotel has a gym, pool on the 9th floor, the Zest Cafe on the ground floor (highly recommended, best mixed buffet in Melaka, IMHO) and a Chinese restaurant with Dim Sum on the 1st floor. I have never actually stayed in the hotel before (being local, no need to spend unnecessarily), so I do not yet have a hotel room review.

Back to today's event. We started the day with the mandatory safety briefing from the hotel staff, covering the key points on fire safety and evacuation. Good to see this is becoming a norm....

After the introduction and opening by Zen and JS, we started the day with some stretching exercises to warm up. Throughout the session, there was a lot of emphasis on inter-personal interaction. A good method to employ here was to ask everyone to get up and go around high-fiving each other in order to start the mingling. By asking the audience to pair up with someone new, this mixed up the crowd who would otherwise naturally gravitate to the usual clusters. Sure, bonding with the usual team is good, but looking at the big picture, teamwork extends beyond the usual project / lunch-group. As the number of employees in Infineon Melaka alone steadily approach 5 digit figures, it's important to be able to tap this vast network and not impose personal limitations.

There was also a session on self-reflection, where we were asked to associate ourselves with one creature. For this exercise, mythical creatures like dragons and pegasi (plural of pegasus?) were allowed, but those that were too abstract were not (that disqualifies the entire cast of Pokemon). Next, we had to list down the three traits that we had in common with this creature. Finally, the fun part, to make this creature with clay that was placed under our seats (where you usually found the life-jackets if you were in an airplane).

Besides physical activities, we had also a personality test according to the Mind Styles (tm) Model developed by Dr Anthony F. Gregorc. Briefly, assessing ones affinity to four main learning categories defined by matrix of Perceptual Abilities (Concrete vs Abstract) and Organizing Information (Random vs Sequential). This, we arrive at CR, CS, AR, AS traits. Of course, this does mean the entire population was stratified into one of four stereotypes, but rather, their relative mix / tendencies. Zen used the analogy of someone learning to swim, with each of the personality traits using an approach reflecting that particular mind style, so the team could better understand. For instance, a CR personality would use a trial-and-error approach (jump into the deep end of the pool first, and then try to learn swimming), while the opposite AS personality would research the topic inside-out (reading, coach, YouTube) before every getting wet. As the assessment is to find one's dominant affinity relative to each of the mind styles, one usually has two or three dominant styles. For me, I'm slightly more inclined to CS/AS (tied) with CR just below. Lowest is AR. Again, nothing wrong with the results, as each person as his or her individual style. What's important is to recognize our own tendencies and preferences, as well as to be aware of others (especially the opposing styles - don't blame them, it's just the way they are).

That was the only session where we had to think hard. The rest was a lot of physical stuff (considering everything was indoors), with even a line dance-off, where we were given a short time to compose a short sequence (but no idea what music would be played later). Fortunately, all the songs fitted well to our 8 count steps, just with different tempos - imagine the chaos if they had a 3 count waltz beat played instead!

Focusing on the outcome is equally important, and it's essential the successful endeavors are recognized and celebrated in order to positively reinforce the behavior and continue to fuel the passion for excellence. Especially in the East where people have the tendency to down play achievements or even humbly brush aside the fruits of their own labor, instead of taking credit where due.

Of course, what would a team building be if not for a grand finale event with one massive collaboration? For this, we were broken into 16 teams and given the task to build sections of a bridge (with certain height and width requirements) that would be later joined together to form a single long structure, some of us took turns attempting to drive a remote control 4x4 all the way from one end to the other. Fortunately, somehow, our makeshift structure of manila cardboard, paper cups and sate sticks held together with glue and strings!

Well, in end, everything went smoothly and we managed to finish our event shortly before 5pm – a full hour earlier than planned. Nicely summarized by JS in the end, it was really a fun, energetic and uplifting experience aligned to the goal to bring the team closer towards being faster, more stable and innovative.

What I liked about this event was it was well planned and executed by Zen and the Iverson team, who managed to shoehorn the entire program into the time-span of a typical working day. It never felt rushed or behind schedule, and at the same time managed to cover the key aspects of visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning within the activities. I've said it above in paragraph 6 and i say it again now - a great job done by the Infineon Fun Organizing Committee and also Zen and company for uplifting our spirits and rekindling the bonds between team members. As a senior member of this department, I know most of the other colleagues, but there are still many new faces and people to know. Most of all, it has been a long time since I fully joined as a participant, as usually I'm on the organizing committee.

On the cons side... hmm, I'm really stretched at my keyboard to think of something. Reason being, no real downsides or cons IMHO, and not about how to best phrase it diplomatically. The venue was good (plenty of parking when coming early), food and refreshments was good, planning and execution was good as well. If I had to improve on something, perhaps I would dare recommend it to be a 2D1N event, with an overnight stay and some free time (just like last year). Well, I think that could always happen in the future....

Speaking of future thoughts, at the end of this event, my key take-away points are the personality test, inter and intra team collaboration and of course, having fun with the team. We had a rich and diverse mix of people, from various backgrounds, levels and seniority. As Zen pointed out, putting together a team of champions does not necessarily guarantee a championship team (look at English Football as a good example) - the key, you guess it, is in working together, recognizing our strengths and celebrating our achievements!

Some of us grew especially fond of our clay-ations, like this little guy now permanently on display back at the office....

BE Development MAL Team Building 2018

Months of planning and preparation, and it all boiled down to this fine morning on the 28th March - our first ever team-building session organized by our Fun @ BE DEV committee.

Opting to drive instead of hopping onto the buses, which we booked to ferry our team members to Avillion Admiral Cove and back, I had the luxury of starting my journey a little after 8am. As long as I could arrive well before 9.30am, which was when we planned for Day 1 to begin with the arrival and registration. We had a huge team, so we had to arrange for five separate 2D1N sessions spaced at least a week apart. For each session, we booked two large express buses - which was just enough, even considering some staff opted for own transport like me. In order to maximize exposure and networking, we did randomize the mix to ensure each department and functional sections were spread out across all five batches. Of course, there are always the minority who will find some reason to swap sessions to be together....

Taking a drive through the Air Keroh toll and exiting at the Pedas-Linggi to continue along the trunk roads, it takes me on average a little over an hour to get from my house to Avillion Admiral Cove. Traffic is virtually non-existent at the early hours of the morning, though once off the highway, I had to keep an eye out for cows (and their byproducts), goats and even monkeys which could appear out of nowhere along the "kampung" roads. Luckily, these roads were mapped out on Waze, so at least I didn't get lost during the first session.

We had a fixed schedule to follow - after arrival and some light breakfast, we started off with the introduction and ice-breaking in one of the huge event halls, aptly named Commodore 1 and Commodore 2. For each of these sessions there was at least one member of the local DEV top management. The morning session was run entirely by our committee - MC, games coordinator, registration and general help. And of course, my forte - photography. This was the only part where brainpower was needed, as top management presented the key performance indicators and message to move forward as a fast, stable and innovative team.

After lunch, we then brought the group down to the field for some outdoor physical challenge. This was the main reason we chose this venue. Luckily, we handed this part off to the event organizers, who were actually full time staff of Avillion Legacy Hotel. Haha, talk about multi-skilled staff!

Even though it was completely on dry land, some of these challenges involved copious amounts of water, so one way or another, everyone got wet eventually. For some motivation and friendly competition, the team was split into several equally sized groups, and had to complete challenges working together as a team. Scores were allocated based on the time it took to complete the challenges - the faster they finished, the higher the scores. In the end, the winner and runners up received prizes. At the end of the physically stressful afternoon, the reward (as some may see it) was the Flying Fox. Most of the folks did not give any second thought and immediately rushed to sign the indemnity forms. Those who were overweight, expecting, or with some other excuse (like myself, for example) stayed safely on the ground and cheered our brave colleagues on.

By the time this was over, everyone was exhausted, and thus everyone adjourned to their rooms (twin-sharing for everyone, even the top management, which was fair). At last, some time to shower and rest (or wander about the hotel grounds, for those restless / hyper-active people). Dinner was served at the Trader Food Shop (same place as lunch), where the event crew demonstrated yet another talent by putting on a special fire show for us, complete with tribal costumes and real fire!

After dinner was over, we were not done for the day yet. Assembling back in the Commodore hall, we got everyone sitting in circles for some quick game of "SAT" (pronounced like Start but starting with S instead of ST, and without the "R" sound for RT at the back - hey, don't blame me, it's not an English word). I will create a post on to how to play this game in this blog soon. Once enough people were knocked out, we let them perform a short dance number for fun. Some folks were quite lucky to get knocked out more than once.... :)

After everyone was in jolly mood, and the food was halfway through digestion, it was time to get down to a more serious note for the fireside chat. This was basically a Q&A session with top management, and for those who were bashful and would rather ask in anonymity, we had a teddy bear box prepared for secret ballot slips.

We tried to keep to the time schedule, and dismissed by 9.30pm. By then, most of the people were tired and retired to their quarters. However, as there was a bar / pub with a singing Filipino band (they were there for most of the sessions), the nocturnal among us clocked in some overtime for "networking" purposes....

I never did manage to do a proper walk-through of the hotel room, but I could say the rooms were clean and comfortable. It was quite quiet, as it was quite a distance from the main road, plus no other buildings / hotels immediately adjacent to where we stayed.

The following day, it was free and easy up to 10am, which was not so exciting as it sounded, as breakfast and the gym here opened quite late, and there was nothing in the surrounding area of the Hotel. Ironically, it was a beachside hotel, but without a beach, as there was a marina (sort of like a parking lot for boats) here instead and rock everywhere else. The energetic folks (and those who went to bed early, no doubt) jogged around while some others took a more laid-back approach while waiting for the morning session to start. Once everyone was ready in the hall (late comers would be penalized, so everyone was punctual), we started off with the group-photo shoot, before starting the indoor games session, again, conducted by our talented multi-tasking hotel staff. There was a prize given to the top two teams of Day 2 as well, so those who did not win the outdoor games earlier had another shot at redemption. Finally, after everyone has had their fun, it was time for the summary and closing by top management, before heading down to the Trader Food Shop once again for lunch. The buses were ready to depart at 2pm, after everyone has had their fill.

My personal take on this - well, as mentioned, a total of five session were needed to cover everyone, while keeping the group to a manageable size of not more than 70 people for any given session. It was not a "full turn-key" event, so we as the committee still had to be present to take care of things except for the outdoor games (Day 1) and indoor games (Day 2). Taking turns, still, I ended up going for all 5 sessions, having to cover for games coordinator and even as the MC for some of the sessions (without neglecting my photographer role). It was a good experience for me, as I found I rather enjoy organizing such events, even as the MC, working with a wonderful and supportive committee. Also happy to have met the helpful and talented hotel staff / event crew, who were critical in making each session a success. We were also blessed with good weather, as it did not rain during any of our outdoor sessions.

I also got to know many new people (which was not surprising, as in our daily work we tend to contact those only directly related to our scope). Overall, I believe we mostly achieved our objectives of boosting the team spirits and igniting the spark of camaraderie in our hearts.

It was quite taxing on us as a committee (especially those who went several times) and for some sessions, we had only less than four of us. For future improvement, perhaps we could find a way to have fewer sessions, and still manage to keep things running smoothly with ~100 people at a time.

Well, once again a big thanks to all participants and everyone who worked hard to make this BE Development MAL Team Building 2018 event successful - looking forward to a lasting collaboration and networking, and an even better Team Building event in the future!

Volunteering as a helper at the Relay For Life Melaka 2017

Some time at the end of last month, my old highschool friend, EF, contacted me  to ask if I'd like to help out as a volunteer for the then-upcoming Relay for Life Melaka event. Now, to be honest, I believe I had never heard of such a thing before, but as long as it did not clash with any of my other plans (and did not require me to actually do any running), I was otherwise more than happy to help out.

For those of you who (like me) are new to this, briefly, the Relay for Life was an overnight charity event aimed as raising funds, awareness, supporting and remembering those who have themselves or know someone who has had an encounter with Cancer. Organized by the National Cancer Society of Malaysia, the event generally involves a continuous relay of participants around a track. This year, the event was held at the Dataran Pahlawan field in Melaka Raya. Participants need not run - walking was fine. The goal is to ensure at least someone is still going round the track at any given time. This is to symbolize the continuous battle against cancer, which never sleeps (hence the event taking place over night). You can read more about it on their web page : http://www.relayforlifemalaysia.com/about-relay/

I arrived relatively early (nearly 7pm), considering my official shift duty was from 12pm to 4am. Again, this was to help out EF who was tasked as one of the main co-coordinators for the event. Already, there was no parking as all available bays were full (even with so-called VIP access - reminds me of my company parking....). So, I just temporarily double parked long enough to unload the stuff from my car before driving off in search of parking. In the end I had to park in front of the TNB, Banda Kaba, which was some 15 minutes walk away from Dataran Pahlawan. Was going to be for some exercise that night....

There were lots of people there, a mixture of volunteers and walk-in participants. There were food stalls set up with some game booths as well. There was a small stage set up at the entrance of the shopping mall, where there were some stage acts (singing, dancing, etc.).

Though generally stationed at the volunteer tent, I was there as a general helper, after all, so in principle this means looking out for whatever needs to be done and help out as best as possible. Thus, I was involved in carrying stuff, registration of volunteers, distribution of water / t-shirt to allocated volunteers, making rounds / spot checks, cleaning up, sorting of waste for recycling, etc..

At 8pm (or some time shortly after, as it was hard to keep things punctual with so much going on), it was time for the Luminaria event, which was when people lit up candles inside paper bags with messages written on them. Each was uniquely hand-decorated.

To ensure that there were sufficient people going around the track through the night, there were many participants who camped in the middle of the field, and took turns going round and round. Most of them appeared to be secondary school children, though I'm not sure from which school they were from. Participants could register themselves in teams of 10 (RM450 per team), Adults (RM50 per person) or Kid (RM20 per person). Registration for cancer survivors (both adults and kids) is free. Each Luminaria was sold at RM5 each, and F&B coupons sold in strips of RM10 (in denominations of RM1 and RM2). For over-night participants, tents were sold at RM70 (for those who did not have their own tent), while the space to pitch their tents was for RM30 per tent.

Helping out too were some RELA members, which were tasked with ensuring only people who registered and paid at the counter were admitted to the field (everyone was given a wrist band upon registration, including us volunteers). Also, later, to ensure that the said school children were kept in check. As there were limited bottles of water and t-shirts, it was a challenge to keep the distribution in control only to those who were identified. This entails having to deal with the occasional volunteer coming over and "insisting" they deserve to get a t-shirt, a box of mineral water, some other free-bies, etc..

It was quite "happening" before midnight, with all the activity going on, but after 12pm, the stage shows ended, the crowd dwindled, and it was down to just the volunteer group and the over-night participants. From there on, keeping awake while seated at the volunteer tent was rather challenging. Especially since they did not have any coffee available.... :(

As it turned out, some of the volunteers did not turn up on time (some did not turn up at all), so I was glad I was prepared to stay longer than planned. And stay longer than planned I did - in the end, leaving only around 9am, to send the paper carton boxes and plastic bottles to the Tzu Chi recycling facility at Air Keroh before finally heading home to catch up on sleep lost over the night before.

Do check out their Facebook page for many photos / videos covering this event : https://www.facebook.com/RelayforLifeMelaka/

Well, now that it's over, looking back I found it was a new experience for me - I've volunteered as a helper before, but not for an all-night event such as this. Due to a busy day prior to the event, I did not manage to get an afternoon nap to shift myself into the right timezone. Fortunately, the following day (Monday) was a public holiday in conjunction with the installation of Sultan Muhammad V of Kelantan as the 15th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, so by Tuesday, I was back to normal just in time for work.

Coincidentally, 22 April also happened to be Earth Day 2017, but that's another topic for another blog post.... :)

Smurfs : The Lost Village - IFX Movie Day

It was the Melaka Historical City day last Saturday. A fine weekend with family and friends (who work at the same Great Place as I do) at the GSC Aeon Bandaraya Melaka, for another Movie Day organized by the IFX executive recreation club, Club81. This time round, the movie of choice - Smurfs : The Lost Village.

As mentioned in my previous post (http://marvinchong.blogspot.com/2017/04/beauty-beast-outing-to-gsc-aeon.html), originally I had in plan to watch the slightly-controversial-awhile-ago Beauty and the Beast. With the rest of the movies offered being somewhat unsuitable for kids, this was basically the only feasible choice left. I try to keep the rest of this post spoiler-free.... :)

Where Beauty and the Beast was a live-action remake of the cartoon, Smurfs : The Lost Village is a fully animated show. Seems to be a reboot of the movie series, as the earlier 2 movies from Sony Entertainment Pictures was a live-action + CGI combo. While there was no practical way to make a Smurf any other way than through CGI, I found that in the previous 2 movies, the lead antagonist portrayed by actor Hank Azaria did not port well into real-life. So, the decision to revert back to a "real" cartoon is IMHO all for the better.

Now, this being the company movie day, it's always necessary to register early to get a good seat. This is the reason for the large crowd of people outside the entrance of Aeon Bandaraya Melaka well before the official opening time of 10am. The only other time you'll see this is during the occasional J-card member  day sale. To be honest, not many chose to watch this show, so in the end the cinema hall appeared to be only 80% full.

After registering, there was enough time for breakfast before the show started at 11am (another advantage to coming early). We sat down at Hailam Kopitiam on the ground floor (opposite Old Town white coffee) and basically went with the breakfast sets as we expected that to be the fastest option, given that we had 5 adults and 5 children at the table. Well, that's true for the most part, with the exception of the half-boiled eggs which came with some of the selected sets. How late, you might ask? Well, let's just say, our decision to split the group and collect the complimentary popcorn / drinks while the others finished breakfast was a wise decision, as we just barely made it in as the pre-show ads were about to end.

For the company movie day, there did not seem to be a differentiation in tickets - all of them were "adult tickets" and priced accordingly. Cost is as follows:-

Adult ticket:
Ticket price - RM11.07
GST (6%) - 0.66
Entertainment tax (25% of ticket price before GST) - RM2.77
Total - RM14.50

This was for the normal ticket, which was RM1.50 cheaper than one with enhanced Dolby Atmos.

As for the movie itself, without giving too much away, I can say that all the "mandatory" Smurf elements are there - Smurfs individual behavior / characteristics according to their names (which makes you wonder how one would name a new-born Smurf), Gargamel + Azrael  as the complementary pair of villains. As one might guess for shows of this type, there's a fair amount of songs and singing, though none of the tunes stick to your head like those typically found in Disney movies (yes, you know I'm comparing to THAT recent show again).

Well, in the end, I see my kids were entertained. The U-rated family show was watchable for me (not quite the death-by-boredom experience that I feared).

Event - 3D 2N Camping @ Berkelah Waterfalls, Gambang (off Kuantan, Pahang)

Fresh from the recent hardcore 4x4 adventure to Selancar (http://marvinchong.blogspot.com/2017/03/upcoming-event-hardcore-off-road.html) and Blood donation campaign (http://marvinchong.blogspot.com/2017/03/upcoming-event-blood-donation-april-2017.html), the Puma 4x4 Club is organizing the next camping off-road event to Gambang (off Kuantan, Pahang).

This trip will take place during the 3 day weekend at the end of April 2017 (as Monday, 1st May is a public holiday due to Labour Day). Actually, the plan is to assemble at the Puma 4x4 Office / Club House @ Malim Jaya at 2.00am on Saturday, 29 April 2017. Yes, you read it correctly - 2.00am. So, it' essential to get everything prepared and catch some sleep early the night before.

Entry fees are RM150 per non-member and RM100 per member. If there's any one of you who would like to join, more information can be found at the Puma 4x4 event page : https://www.facebook.com/events/606312219648551

Unfortunately, this trip also clashes with the company trip organized by the Infineon Recreation Club, Club81, so I had to make a tough choice to give up my place (which I got after spending some time on the waiting list). It's been some time since I've been on a camping trip, so hopefully this trip will not be too much for me to handle! :)

Will definitely post a detailed write up of the trip and post a link here once done - stay tuned for updates!

[18 April 2017] Event updated, with the specific location being the Berkelah Waterfalls, as well as some minor details. For full information, do check out the Facebook event page in the link above.

[2 May 2017] Event successfully completed! Do stay tuned for my first hand account of the experience! Meanwhile, check out a short video montage I've managed to put together:

Club81 Day Trip to Sunway Lagoon (Mar 2017)

Cap picked up from the souvenir shop at Sunway Lagoon

It's the start of the week-long school break. An excellent time for the friendly Infineon Melaka executive recreation club (Club81) to organize a family day trip to the Sunway Lagoon Theme Park.

Now, the Sunway Lagoon Theme Park's operating hours were from 10.00am to 6.00pm. Thus, in order to get to our destination early enough to allow us to make the most of the opening hours, the plan was to assemble at the Infineon main guard house at 7.00am to board the buses. Yes, I'm sure we could have planned to assemble earlier at 6.00am to avoid the shift change crowd, but such a plan would likely be challenging, especially since there were many families with kids (including us).

As per the plan, the buses would thus depart at 7.30am. Unfortunately, this time slot coincided with the change of shift - hence we had to wait for the factory buses to leave before our buses could enter the bus park. That didn't set us back too far, so with a mild recovery plan and smooth traffic, we managed to reach our destination as planned!😁

While in the bus, we were informed that absolutely NO food and drinks were allowed to be taken in from the outside. Officially, this was to avoid litigation against the park management in case of food-related ailments. Of course, we pretty much figured out the most likely TRUE reason behind this... (especially since food prices inside were hiked - a 500ml bottle of water is sold for RM4.50). However, at the entrance, we were told that bringing in water (which is apparently not classified as a "drink") was OK. Can anyone out there clarify this point? But alas, we left all our water in the bus, so through the entire day, we ended up spending RM18 on water.😞

As we were in a group, the buses dropped us off at the Surf Beach Entrance, which was next to the Sunway Lagoon Hotel. There was ample space there for the organizing committee to set up a counter for ticket collection and even a group photo.

Our package granted us access to all rides in the park save for a few (which we needed to pay per ride if we were interested). Namely, the Bungy Jump, Go-kart and something called G-force - all of which were in the Extreme park section. From the nature of such rides, I would personally get on them even if I were PAID to ride! 😁

Well, once into the park, we decided to indulge in the wet activities first, as there's a chance the rides would be closed in case of heavy rain. The entire park was built around a large body of water, half of which was shallow for good old family fun, while the other half was for boating. First order of the day, get a locker as it was not allowed / possible to bring bags on board many of the rides. A single locker was RM22 and the larger luggage locker was RM43. The good thing was that they were for multiple entry, so once you've got yourself a locker, its yours to use for the whole day. This meant that the lockers were rather limited, though, so in our case we had to walk to the other side of the park to get an available luggage locker. The lockers were keyless. After registering a locker, it's tied to the barcoded wrist tag. There's a scanner for each bank of lockers, which intelligently pops open the right locker upon scanning. The wrist tag was waterproof and quite durable to withstand the rigours of the theme park, without fading. Though, it did take me several attempt to align my wrist to the scanner.

The wrist band also served as an electronic wallet, so one could practically load up some currency into the wrist band, and leave all the stuff in the locker. A good system, as you can imagine, someone would have to sit out on the fun to keep a hold of all the stuff if there wasn't such a system in place. The refunding can be done at the entrance / exit - the shop is INSIDE the park, so be sure not to go out first before getting your refund. Of course, cash is always acceptable. This made it possible for us to wander the park in our swimming attire (yes, at least here everyone was doing it, so it didn't feel out of place).

At this time, the latest park map is as below. You can get the latest map at their website : https://sunwaylagoon.com/park-map/

Many of the rides were height limited, so for those with kids, need to pay particular attention to the minimum requirement. Once your kids are above 1.2m, then every thing's open game...!😃

Most of the wet rides required us to carry tubes up to the starting position of the ride. The tubes were in shape of a figure "8" and thus required us to go in twos. We settled for kid in front, adult at the back. There was only one ride, the Jungle Fury, which needed a group a exactly 4 - no more, no less. This one had everybody sitting in a large round raft (which sort of resembles an inflatable baby pool). Due to the lack of experience, for this ride I sat at the "front" and was facing backwards all the way down. Not sure if it's less scary or more scary this way...?

As we were going to be very much "interactive", I did not bring any camera with me, so our memories are found only in our minds and not in a memory card.... Besides, I did not have any suitable gear that could withstand bring exposed to the elements on a typical day at a water theme park.

Well, towards noon, we had our lunch at the in-house Burger King shop, which was quite small with just a few tables for patrons. After that's it's back to more fun. There was an attraction called the 5D Waterplex, which was basically a first-person view 3D movie with movable seat platform and fan / water spray / lighting effects in sync with the movie. 3D glasses were provided which just managed to fit over my glasses, so it was watchable. The movement was mild - no need for any seatbelts or safety restraints. My opinion, though, was that the screen was too small and too far away, so it was not a very immersive experience, compared to, say, the Singapore Omnimax Theater.

At roughly 4pm, it started to drizzle, then increased to a full blown downpour. We were lucky to have covered all the main activities by then, so we spent the time getting showered and changed back to regular clothes, and stopping by the Souvenir Shop to make the best of the complementary coupons given as part of our package. As the park closed at 6.00pm, we made it to the exit earlier to avoid the potential crowd at the refund counter. By that time, the rain had receded back to a light drizzle.

We had roughly 2 hours to go till the arrival of our buses, so we walked over to the Sunway Pyramid shopping mall and walked about, taking our dinner there before returning to the Surf Beach Entrance pick up point by 7.30pm. I'd not been to Sunway Pyramid since my college days (which was many, many, many years ago). Glad to see that the ice skating rink is still there, and perhaps someday we could give it a try. Initial reaction from my family is that no one was willing to do so, though, so perhaps this plan would take some time to implement.

We boarded our bus and started the journey home as soon as the last passenger in our bus finally returned (late, but before 8pm). There was a concern that traffic would be heavy. However, the traffic was relatively smooth, even with an unfortunate accident on the North-South highway, so we arrived back at Infineon before 10pm. That was good, as we did not get caught up in the change of shift at 11pm.

Well, in the end, we were tired but happy the way this trip turned out. In spite of the poor weather in the later half of the day, we had managed to make the best of today and really enjoyed ourselves. It was a good event made possible by the organizing committee of Club81 - and to them I offer my sincere gratitude! 🙌

Haha, I just realized that while we brought sunblock, didn't actually remember to put it on. Hence, in the next few days, don't be surprised if you see me with a nasty (and painful) case of sunburn. Keeping fingers crossed and hope for the best!

Event : Blood Donation - 9 April 2017

(Stock image from Pixabay)

[Update, 9 Apr 2017 : Event carried out successfully. Thanks to all donors and volunteers, the staff of Melaka General Hospital, and everyone else who made today's event a success!]

The Puma 4x4 (Malaysia) Club is not just about offroad adventures and camping. Next month, on 9 April 2017, the club is organizing a blood donation campaign in collaboration with the Melaka General Hospital. The even will be held at the multi-purpose hall of the Melaka Presbyterian Church at Taman Malim Jaya. This is not a church event, so all aspiring blood donors from all faiths are welcome to join. They will give away a small souvenir donated by the event sponsors to all successful donors.

Well, if you are a regular donor, or interested to sign up for the first time, do mark your calendar and make it a point to attend. Do your part to fill the National Blood Bank and save lives!

For more information, do check out the event at the Puma 4x4 Club Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/events/284028805360198/

My post on such an event some years ago : http://marvinchong.blogspot.com/2012/05/blood-donation-campaign-with-puma-4x4.html

Event : Hardcore off-road adventure to Selancar, Johor (18-20 Mar 2017)

(Stock Image from Pixabay)

The Puma 4x4 (Malaysia) Club will be having it's first event of 2017 with a hardcore off-road adventure to Selancar, Johor. The event is scheduled for later this month, from 18 Mar 2017 to 20 Mar 2017. What's "hardcore", you might ask?

Well, traditionally, the Puma 4x4 Club has members that cater to both ends of the scale. On one end is the typical family camper, who love the experience of camping in the fine outdoors, in the middle of nature, by the stream / waterfall. Such events are more akin to family holidays, where the destination is more appreciated than the journey. Of course, to get to such untainted spots (which are getting rarer as time goes by due to increasing development activities) you would need to get a decent 4x4 vehicle. Granted, even a Perodua Kembara would be able to get you to most of the places where the typical sedan might bottom out, important is the body to ground clearance.

On the other hand, there are those who really find and take the most difficult route between 2 points, which requires the base model 4x4 to be augmented with snorkels, winches, raised suspension and mud-terrain / centipede tires to take on road-less terrain (they basically make their own). The drivers themselves are armed with ropes, hoes, machetes and chain saws (one in awhile, there's a need to DIY a log bridge from a few fallen trees). It's possible for both groups to start and end up at the same campsite, but the hardcore team would arrive much later, taking the hardest path between two points....

Of course, only a Sith deals in absolutes (to borrow a phrase from a galaxy far, far away), so common folk like you and I will fall somewhere in between. While we do have a few rough riders in the Puma 4x4 Club, the general motto is to get everyone in, have fun, and get everyone out, safe and sound.

For details on the trip, for those of you looking for the latter kind of adventure, do check out the event on Facebook at : https://www.facebook.com/events/1457178594316458/

As for this trip, I'm obviously not THAT kind of adventurer, so I'll sit this one out and wait for them to share some photos when they get back...! :)


[UPDATE: 23 Mar 2017] Event completed successfully, for those interested to see how it turned out, you can find the photos at the Club's Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10155208319559295.1073741827.297484144294&type=1&l=3632d4c62e

A musical night at Heng Ann Association

It's a rarity that I attend events like these, but this one's in support of my old friend, Tee Sie Yen. To be frank, up to today, I'm not really sure of what the details of this event. It's somewhat encrypted:

I'm not one of those who can read the above without assistance from my translator....

 Nonetheless, going too were Chong FC and Sim, as well as Goh KK. At least I wouldn't be along that night. The event was organized on 11 September 2012, which was a Tuesday. Now getting to a function outside of the company on a working day at 7.00pm was always a bit of a challenge to me, partly because of my usually working hours (which extend way past the official 5.15pm company requirement) as well as the increased density of traffic at that time (main contributing factors being people leaving for home, and the 7.00pm change of shift for many factories). Well, just for that day, I was OK to make an exception.

So, I arrived on the scene straight from work at 7.00pm. I knew as Heng Ann Association, parking was limited. Either you came very, very early to get a parking spot, or park far, far away (parking illegally on the road side and obstructing traffic is against my core principles and ethics, so I won't go for that option). Of course, in this part of the world, coming early to park first in places like these will almost certainly mean you will go back last, because someone will surely come fashionably late and double park, boxing your car in. So, I decided to park my car in a well lit area roughly 200 meters down the road. A little bit of exercise didn't hurt. I was alone after all....

A bit of an advisory note while were on this topic. Regardless of where you park your car, do not leave anything of value inside. Not even something that might appear to be of value, like a bag in the back seat. These days, times seem to be bad, so there's a risk of someone breaking into your car even if you're in a well lit area with many passersby. So, I brought my company-issued laptop along for the show.

The hall was not very large, so the distances between tables was quite limited. There was just enough room for the waiters to serve food for dinner. Luckily there was something to eat, as I failed to register this when I was told about the event. A minor communication issue that turned out for the better, not that I'm complaining.

As there were only 4 of us, we shared the table #12 with a another group, which appeared to be all from the same family. The event started eventually, and it was genuinely entertaining to watch the singers, most of them appear to be above 40 years, belt out Chinese tunes. I'm far from an expert when it comes to this subject, but Sim told me these songs were from the era of previous generation (not surprisingly). They say life begins at 40, so you can really see the splendid results of hard work and preparation that the performers must have put into the show. No doubt many hours of rehearsals have been put in, and I am thankful to have been present to see the results.

From a photographer's perspective, as I was just a casual guest and not officially covering the event, I wasn't going to be moving around much. Plus, the lack of space between table didn't exactly help, as I don't want to be avoiding the waiters and bumping into other seated guests. So, I just had a single telephoto zoom lens used for the entire event. This meant that I could take reasonable detailed photos of the on-stage activities from where I was seated (roughly three quarters of the way to the back of the hall) just by standing up briefly to fire off a shot. Not so ideal, but an acceptable compromise given the constraints in place. At that range, a flash would have been useless, I had to rely on using high ISO coupled with F-stop of 1/2.8 to minimize motion blur.

Back to the event. At that range, even from looking at my photos on the back of the camera, it was very hard for us to figure out which one of the performers was my friend, Tee. Chong FC joked that in performances like these, everyone was elaborately dressed and with full make-up, so you'd be hard pressed to recognize anyone just the same.

Well, in the end, I did manage to meet up with her briefly, so I at least one of our guesses was correct! :)

A good exposure to public events, and a good photographic opportunity (I fear my photographic equipment has been idling away in the dry box for far too long).

Looking the part and sounding it too, these performers really went the extra mile to put on a wonderful show that night!

The entire cast of the show lined up on stage, in front of a captivated audience.

Retro look - I wonder if people really did get dressed up like this way back in the 60's and 70's?

Must bring back fond memories of youth for both the performers and the senior members of the audience....

The Nyonya/Kebaya outfit is synonymous with the local cultural heritage, and still looks fabulous when worn today.

Not to be left out, these Men in Black (and white) belt out a couple of tunes of their own.

A solo performer on stage showcasing her vocal talents to the crowd.

Red polka-dots are back in fashion, but the gentleman by the side looks "plain" in contrast.

The pink ladies - where'd they manage to get all the matching outfits?

Finally confirmed that is my friend, Tee Sie Yen, in yellow on the left. 

Puma 4x4 Club Anniversary + Charity Dinner 2012

The Puma 4x4 Club is a versatile group, equally at home be it in the remote jungles or formal dinner occasions. They recently celebrated it's 7th anniversary on 8 September 2012 by holding a charity dinner at the Lu Yen Yen Restaurant at Limbongan.

A bit of club history. The Puma 4x4 Club Melaka, was officially registered on 16 Jun 2005. The members were very active and soon, they got the attention of 4x4 enthusiasts from other states as well. As more and more members from out of Melaka were joining the club, the core committee took up the challenge to expand the scope of the club to the national level, and in 6 September 2009, the club was successfully upgraded to the Puma 4x4 Club Malaysia.

Planning for such an event was a daunting task. It took many meetings at the club house in Malim Jaya (opposite the Marco Exhaust shop), fueled by tireless commitment of the organizing team, as well as Tiger Beer.... :)

Tan Poh Huat (a.k.a. "Lau Tar"), Jackson Goh and the rest of the committee going over the minute details....

My last activity with them was at the Blood Donation drive at the 916 Hotel in Melaka Raya. As it was for a good cause, I got myself 4 seats and went together with my wife and kids. When we arrived, there were many empty tables awaiting the arrival of the dinner guests.

I almost had not time to eat, really, as I was helping to cover the event with my camera. It's always a challenge to figure out what was going on and to get into a good position to cover an event. Unlike in an open public event where you're with a pool of other photographers, for functions such as these, you're part of the photographic team. Therefore, strange as it may sound, I choose position myself where there are no other photographers. This is because I don't want the organizer to end up with what are essentially the same photos (taken from the same angle) from the different photographers. If everyone is the same, there's only need for one, so I always try to be different (in a positive way, of course).

The was of course the usual on-stage speeches by the VIP's. Not really a fan of local politics, I honestly declare that I only recognize one VIP, namely, Datuk Wira Gan Boon Leong, who was a former body builder and weighlifter. My father told me that he once pumped ironed with the Datuk in the gym back in their heydays. Even though he (the Datuk, not my father) is now 75 years old, he still has a very strong grip, as I recalled when I got the chance to shake his hand.

The dinner was officially opened that night with the ceremonious beating of the gongs by the VIP's on stage. The dinner guests were entertained by martial arts performances as well as guitar and singing. The entire event was recorded and projected onto a large screen on the left side of the main stage, so even those sitting right at the back could see what was going on. And it was a really long way to the far end of the hall - there were 100 tables set up that day, seems to be even larger than the hall at the Equatorial Hotel (area-wise not counting the height).

My son, Christopher, was quite active and roaming about the hall like his usual self, but as soon as the activities got started, miraculously he managed to keep still at the table. Now, I had with me my trusty SB800 flash, but to get natural looking photos, it remained in my pocket for most of the evening. Yes, I have large pockets, or rather, when in photographer-mode, I dress functionally - the more pockets, the better.

Perhaps it's the 100Plus drink that did the trick...?

The expenditure for the dinner came from the sale of tickets and sponsors, and some committees took it upon themselves to sponsors certain costs as well. All in the name of charity. The proceeds were donated to some of the local charities on stage. No mock cheques this year, though....

Towards the end of the night, the VIP's and sponsors were given a token of appreciation up on stage. At that point, there was not much more going on, so I decided to avoid the traffic jam and left with my family for home.

All in all, a great event put together with the hard work and dedication from the Puma committee. May they continue to have many more great successful events both in the jungle and back in civilization! :)

This duet act from KL. To be honest, the guy was doing most of the singing.

Datuk Wira Gan Boon Leong with the rest of the VIP's on stage for the opening ceremony.

Martial arts display in progress. Real or not, those *swords* are really dangerous.

If you're familiar with Chinese culture, you'll know that they are all shouting "YAM SENG!!!".

Martial arts training starts at a young age. The next Michelle Yeoh in the making?

A guitar duet on a shoestring budget. 2 talented girls + 1 guitar.

The guitar club brought to the event loads of talent to keep the diners entertained