Fred's Blog

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

I’m 28, I just quit my tech job, and I never want another job again

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Thursday, June 25, 2015

Kuala Lumpur: street life

The diverse cultural mix of KL is evident everywhere, but I think the following picture captures the essence of urban street life.

Click here to watch the band in the picture above perform. If I were a talent scout I would sign up the singer.

Check out the cultural diversity of the crowd in this YouTube video featuring singers Najwa Latif, Sleeq and Syamkamarul.

our Pakistani waiter at the Arabic resto

Jalan Alor (Alor Street) famous for its street food featuring Malaysian, Chinese and others

Chinatown market

Kuala Lumpur: the Petronas Towers

The Petronas Towers, also known as the Petronas Twin Towers (Malay: Menara Petronas, or Menara Berkembar Petronas), are twin skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur. They were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004 and remain the tallest twin towers in the world.

They are the headquarters for Petronas, an international oil and gas company wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia.

The towers were designed by Argentine - North American architect César Pelli. A distinctive postmodern style was chosen to create a 21st-century icon for Kuala Lumpur.

The 88-floor towers are constructed largely of reinforced concrete, with a steel and glass facade designed to resemble motifs found in Islamic art, a reflection of Malaysia's Muslim religion.

Below the twin towers is Suria KLCC, a shopping mall, a 140,000 m2 (1,500,000 sq ft) upmarket retail center featuring mostly foreign luxury goods and high-street labels. Click here to watch a video taken inside the mall.

Also below the twin towers is the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas, the home of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.

Spanning 17 acres below the Towers is the KLCC Park with jogging and walking paths and a fountain with incorporated light show. Click here to watch my video of the light show.

Kuala Lumpur: the KL Tower

The Kuala Lumpur Tower (Malay: Menara Kuala Lumpur) is used for communication purposes and features an antenna that reaches 421 meters (1,381 feet), making it the 7th tallest freestanding tower in the world. It is an iconic backdrop to many sites of interest in KL.

Menara Kuala Lumpur was officially inaugurated on October 1, 1996.

The tower also acts as the Islamic falak observatory to observe the crescent moon which marks the beginning of the Muslim month of Ramadhan.

The main lobby of the upper ground floor is decorated with exquisite glass-clad domes that sparkle like giant diamonds. These domes were designed and arranged in the form of the Muqarnas by Iranian craftsmen from Isfahan.

When constructing the KL Tower, the builders took special care to construct a retaining wall around a 100-year-old jelutong tree (Dyera costulata).

Kuala Lumpur: the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park

The Kuala Lumpur Bird Park (Malay: Taman Burung Kuala Lumpur) is a 21-acre public aviary. It houses more than 3000 birds representing more than 200 species in an enclosed aviary.

Kuala Lumpur: an evening of karaoke with new friends

I went kicking and screaming ... karaoke? .... really? ... but then, I met this group of people.

Now, I'm a believer. I watched like a child as each of them turned into Avril Lavigne, Beyoncé or Chris Medina. 7 of us packed in a medium sized karaoke room, 3 microphones and plenty of passion. I wasn't in their league, but they said they'd have me back.

One of my favourite souvenirs is music. Here are 5 songs by Malaysian artists.

Artist(s) / Song

Cakra Khan / Harus Terpisah