Track Day at Pasir Gudang

Been here before with my Alfa Romeo a few months back, chasing our PG King from behind is not an easy job. In fact all of us failed, even a GTR, EVO X and WRX STI, due to the lack of the track knowledge and experience. We just managed to enjoy ourselves driving the machines to the limit, as well as the drivers'.

Now with my new babe, wished to have a show of the Return of Jedi, ...... unfortunately, again when others failed, I couldn't even get on the same track as he did. Bike and Car practice sessions are separated....damn!! Anyway, I am a street fighter, not a race track expert. So left the fight back to the street later and lets the track challenge begins......

By the way, go tracking is not all about speeding. We go on track to drive our machines in full. Test the limits of the machines as well as the drivers in a totally safe and enclosed circuit. Once we know much more about our machines, we definitely drive/ride more safely on the road. On top of that, we do enjoy speeding up our babes to 200 km/h +, without worrying too much about traffic police and heavy fines.

At the end of the day, we are just having fun, and it is not a bad idea for a social gathering or outing within our pilot group. We all love speed, and of course we love to talk about machines and how well we can control them too.

If you wanna speed, do it as we do in a safe environment, especially for those guys who don't have the ability but only guts in their hands. Knowing what our machines can do is far more important than just wack them and trash them with an improper manner.

Drive Safe !!

New Toy in the House

An eye catching black 2 wheeler had just popped up around mid day along the east coast drive next to the beach on Sunday. Back home browsed thru the magazine and looked for the spec. Next thing on Monday afternoon this cool toy became one of my dark custom collection.

This award winning, 4 times Supersport championship, 4 consecutive years best in class black babe is designated as - Triumph Daytona 675 Triple.

What makes it more unique to me? Daytona is the only production bike in the mid-class market offering 3 cylinders engine, and I found that it is lighter and faster than iL4 but smoother and easier to ride than V2. What a nice try Triumph!!!

British made, for most people it is a con, but I reckon it is a pro. It has soul and characters. Japanese machines are big NO NO for me, but Ducati is everywhere on the street nowaday and losing its uniqueness，and MV Agusta is out of my reach at the moment.

Maintenance consideration? Why should I be worried when it is under full factory warranty for 3 years??

By the way, "God of Speed" Michael Schumacher had choosen Daytona 675 for his Euro Supersport Championship in 2008-9, and I always believe he is more than capable to make the right choice anytime. If he knows what he is doing, no doubt that I am not far behind.

Can't wait to park this British beauty side by side with her American dark custom counterpart - Harley Davidson Nightster XL1200N, to complete the picture.

Now, what is next?? May be a phantom black Ferrari 430SC would fit in the garage well。

What's Love？ Feat. SoulJa / SKELT 8 BAMBINO

日本三大性感美女/顶级AV女优：Rio柚木提娜、吉沢明歩、Mihiro朝美惠香的豪华合作！三人在音乐故事中爱上了同一个男人，究竟最终是谁能够得到他的爱？唯美的爱之伤MV！！

What's Love?
Tell me da meaning of true love come on
What's Love?
Cuz I've been looking for true love come on

What's Love?
いっそのこと抱いて抱いて抱いて
きっとまた笑って　泣いてないで
やっぱりほら　寂しいから
明日がくれば　それでバイバイ
“爱してる”なんていらない
本当のことだけ　教えてよ
キミの中にあるリアル
“爱の诗”听かせてよ
so baby hug me hug me hug me
cuz言叶だけだとどこかでempty
气持ち伝わらずに空回り
うすい　言叶より确かなその温もり
so love me love me love me
气持ち先走りbut意味がわからない
ただ　どっかで求める　つながり
谁でも良いわけじゃねぇがさみしいso
Whats love?　目には见えねぇ
风のように　姿かたちもねぇ、なのに
草木は摇れ云流れ
凉しげな风に仆らは愈されて
so　”Whats love?”　”Whats love”?
今はまだわかんなくて良いcuz
何时か自然に知るだろう
その时にyou'll know, this is love
いっそのこと抱いて抱いて抱いて
きっとまた笑って　泣いてないで
やっぱりほら　寂しいから
明日がくれば　それでバイバイ
“爱してる”なんていらない
本当のことだけ　教えてよ
キミの中にあるリアル
“爱の诗”听かせてよ
分からない　分かりたくない
なんで结局こ一なっちゃうんだよ
嘘ばかり　伪りだらけ
もう何も信じられなくなるよ
欲しいものならあげたハズなのに
赖りない“I love you”
これ以上近づけないの?
叫んでしまう“I missing you”
yo　人は皆どこか寂しがりやで
ただただ　谁かに爱されたくて
なのに伤つけて　伤つけられての
缲り返しに　疲れ果てて　マジ
”What's Love ?”　意味忘れて
けど　True Love?　あると信じてぇ
だから　それまでオレは待ち续け
Till the day I can say yo this is love
いっそのこと抱いて抱いて抱いて
きっとまた笑って　泣いてないで
やっぱりほら　寂しいから
明日がくれば　それでバイバイ
“爱してる”なんていらない
本当のことだけ　教えてよ
キミの中にあるリアル
“爱の诗”听かせてよ
What's Love?
Tell me da meaning of true love come on
What's Love?
Cuz I've been looking for true love come on

What's Love?
いっそのこと抱いて抱いて抱いて
きっとまた笑って　泣いてないで
やっぱりほら　寂しいから
明日がくれば　それでバイバイ
“爱してる”なんていらない
本当のことだけ　教えてよ
キミの中にあるリアル
“爱の诗”听かせてよ
What's Love?
キミの中にあるリアル
What's Love?
“爱の诗”听かせてよ

Lost Horizon

"The Art of Travel is to Deviate from One's Plan" ......So thats how I started my journey to the Southwestern part of China, where most of the minorities population live.

Friday afternoon, company called me that I have another 14 days leave to burn. Well, nice to hear that, but what am I gonna fill those days then? Pulled out a map and spent 15 mins of thinking, finally pointed my finger to a place where I always want to be and never been there before.

Next morning, which was only 15 hours after I confirmed my leave with company, I was on a flight to Kunming, Yunnan. Nothing much in my head at that moment, no plan, no schedule, just a suitcase and a camera. , and off I went.

Arrived Kunming from Singapore via Haikou, spent a night there. Next day on a flight to Lijiang, where my journey began. Kunming - Lijiang - Shangri-la - Baoshan - Chengdu,  13 days road trip from city to town then to remote area, and from highways to small roads then to mud tracks, a good clean reliable 4X4 served me well throughout the trip.

Temperature ranged from 6 - 30℃, altitude started from 2500m in an old town to 5587m above mean sea level on top of the snowy mountain, driving speed from 120km/h on highway down to <15km/h on a small track in the mountain. All these happened everyday in my road trip, as the locals say "4 seasons in a Mountain", and that means I would experienced 4 seasons while I go thru one mountain.

Driving on a track up and down in the mountain was a lot of fun, with one side up a steep mountain and the other is a cliff where is only 0.5m from your wheels. Every turns would made me feel like driving off the mountain into the valley.

Reaching my destination took me 6 hours of driving from my last stop followed by 2 hours of horse riding and 20 mins walking/climbing thru the mountain, which lead me to an isolated town - Stone Town. Located next to the Jinsha River, away from the outside world. This town is well protected and remote from any commercial influences. Spent 2 nights there resting and thinking will definitely purify and clean our souls.

Beautiful scenic places, nice people, interesting culture and amazing Lama temples are catching my heart as well as opening my eyes. There were too much to say and too much to remember. You gotta be there to expereince and see, then that will be your own memories forever.

The mysterious valley of the Blue Moon, Shangri-la. Hidden from the rest of the world, Shangri-la is a haven of peace and tranquility for the world. The purpose of my trip was end up showing that ideal places to live can and do exist.  They may only be forgotten or lost lands which only need to be found.  May my journey is to help you find your lost horizon.

ཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས།  Zhaxi Dele !!

Thought of Living Aboard

"You are the hero of your own story.  Make sure it's a good one." - Tom MacNaughton

I'm sitting on the flybridge of my friend's Silverton 33C looking out the port side on his cruiser today, just poured an espresso. No music, no radio playing, quiet.

Sometimes its hard to explain to others what the fascination really is about boating.

There are many reasons for owning a yacht and living aboard. Rest and relaxation, spending time with friends and family, and enjoying the great outdoors. But owning a boat also adds to the quality of life. Once aboard all cares disappear and the world takes on another meaning. Boating gives you an independent, resourceful and adventurous feeling.

With the earth covered 2/3 by water, there are countless waterways, rivers and oceans to explore. So cast those lines and explore.

Take advantage of all that boating has to offer, I sure intend to.

So why am I wanna living aboard?? Why trade of living in a nice apartment for a 44ft long boat?? Well, here are some of the benefits of giving up a land base and living aboard....

• I have a water front property surrounded by water 360 degree, swimming pool that does not need cleaning, interesting and friendly neighbours often with different cultures.

• Cruising and living aboard lets me share a back porch with many billionaires. Anchor next to luxury yachts which cost millions and millions of dollars. Those billionaires and celebrities are out of our reach in normal life, but we all meet at the same BBQ place or on the pontoon in the marina.

• I will gain life skills, meet challenges,  wake up every morning with the sunrise on the horizon or watching sunset from the deck, are intimately connected to the environment and have an education from the universe.

• You see places like ocean reefs with amazing coral and bird life, whales breaching, dolphins on your bow wave things that you would properly never see if you weren’t a cruiser.

• Away from the polluted air and crowded street, bus and kid noises in the morning, annoying neighbours whose are only 4 feet away from the front door or 2 feet opposite the bedroom windows. If I don't like my neighbours, simply call the marina deck master and change my berth in 30 mins.

Be brave, cast off the lines that hold you to shore and follow your dreams, living aboard and cruising is a totally different world!!

Initial D 朝圣之旅

 

 

终于完成了一个年轻时候的梦想，就是去了自己最喜欢的动漫画 "Initial D 头文字 D" 的发源地 - 日本Gunma的Mt. Haruna。 动漫画里面的场景，从山顶，路段，湖边，餐厅，便利店，加油站等等一一的去找去看，不止可以享受驾车的乐趣，还可以欣享路上美景和美食。这次日本的Road Trip还是近年比较满意的。

 

     

 

日本的公路整齐漂亮，驾车人素质没话可说，我最讨厌的慢车跑快线的情况基本不会发生，而且路上的休息站也设备齐全，提供舒适的环境做Fuel Stop。车载GPS也好用得不得了，回来才发现我自己车里面的GPS怎么就那么落后呢。。。

 

  

 

豆腐店因为改路，去年已经拆掉了，可惜啊!! 不过其它地方根本没怎么变，还是可以一眼就认得出来。问题是因为以前飙车太厉害的原因，山路现在基本不能跑了。差不多每个弯位都设有减速Speed Hump，正常开过去也感觉奇奇怪怪的了，要Drift根本不可能，而且我上山下山跑了几次，在这路段Drift的人不是疯子就是高手，因为高手还可以玩得过去，疯子就是直接找死了！！

 

 

 

现在是日本的雨季，不过幸好天公造美，大部分时间也可以让我打开车顶来跑。过了Gunma，下一站就是Fuji，然后是Hakone，可以的话真的就想这样一直跑下去。

 

 

 

谁说去日本就是要购物逛街花大钱的？我就两个背包，一个相机，一辆敞篷小跑车，一样可以尽情的享受不一样的日本。其实日本郊区比市区更好玩，更舒服。明年的Road Trip计划里面除了意大利，日本应该是不可少的，不过下次的Road Trip就要安排加上几天Harley Davidson的份，这样路途就更加完美！！

 

 

 

最后还有要谢谢路上加油站的漂亮妹妹们和餐厅的风情女老板的开玩笑调戏，让我的旅途增加不少乐趣，也令我一路的心情也非常极度愉快，哈哈哈哈！！！

Sunday Breakfast Run

First unofficial Alfisti gathering at Big Splash ECP today. Met some nice chaps, and had a reasonable good engine run thru the island. I say reasonable run coz most of us was trying to compliant with those retarded-people‘s-protection or incapable-person's-assistance speed limits......however, sounds like an easy thing to do while driving other cars may not apply to Alfa owners. Revving 6K rpm on 4th gear gives us 150 kph already, and don't forget there are 2 more gears to go.

Poisoned badly by the Novitec exhaust, BMC filter, strut bar and Ti side shirts from fellow alfisti, I believe my 2010 bonus is half gone already. Luckily SIA treats us well enough, hahaha......

Up coming next gathering will be up north for a better "engine carbon cleaning process" and some nice seafood. I reckon that would be an ideal weekend for me and my bella, hmmmmm....180 kph sounds like a good start!!! 

Pan Call at RGN

"Pan Pan Pan, Tower, MI517 maintaining heading 225, engine shutdown, request radar service, level off at 5000 right turn to HGU."

 

When it all comes to real life emergency, SOP is the only way to ensure we can get back to the ground safely. By then, we would all appreciate the training we have been given in the Sim. It is as real as in the sim, and vice versa!!!

 

Landed overweight 5 tonnes with one engine and Oil Qty/PR read zero without exceeding any safety parameters, I reckon we did a pretty good job that night.

 

 

 Slip-station in an isolated country wasn't any fun. Hotel and food was good enough, but apart from that, Yangon is a city that you can't expect anything. People and seafood there are nice though.

 

According to company policy, we are not allowed to talk much about it. Since this incident is still undergoing investigation, and company obviously doesn't want this to go public, that's all I can put down here for now.

 

At the end of the day, SOP, Training, CRM and cool heads are all that matters in flying. It may not happen to most pilots in their entire flying career, but for some lucky ones like me and my crew, we have seen it and experienced it.

All About Road Trip

Longed for a road trip back home, in this nice early Autnum April, I have got the chance after stucked in a 50Km X 40Km island for 2 years.

 

 

 

Driving is a lot of fun, especially with good friends. Either cruising at 70Kmh or spinning at 150Kmh, road trips are a must for every real petrol heads, according to my Motoring Bible.

 

 

 

But the sad thing is the speed cameras and  police radars are so serious nowadays in Australia. Double demerit points and fines during weekends and holidays. Undercover cops are everywhere.......that's kind of annoying and degrade of the driving enjoyment. I asked a question that does it help to lower the accident rate? the answer is NO. Our fabulous Oz government just wanna increase their income via this "clever" heavy penalty system...what a sarcastic idea on top of our 40% tax rate policy.

 

  

 

Anyway, driving is still my favourite activity in life. In Sydney, Audi S4 was my great companion, and the Mercedes was a good runner around town. Hardly compare to my Alfa in Singapore in terms of performance and pleasure of shifting , but the luxury and comfort that Italian can't match with Germans by all means.

 

 

 

Looking forward to my F360 in Sydney in the near future and more road trips ahead. Speed limits???? What the hell is that???? I don't know and I don't care........simply just press on gas pedal and steer to the right direction!!!!