I had the chance to attend the meet and greet session with the Malaysian football team aka Harimau Malaya thanks to Nike Malaysia. The event was held in-conjunction with the team’s effort of winning the recent AFF Suzuki Cup 2010 where they were against Indonesia in the 2 legged finals.

As i have written in my previous entry, it was one of those moments where the whole country stood still and cheered for Harimau Malaya.

Adrian followed me as he is an ardent fan of Malaysian football, where else i follow updates off and on whenever i read the papers.

Before coming for the event, Adrian asked what i was wearing cause initial plans were i wore my Man Utd jersey and he wore his Liverpool as that night we planned to watch the FA Cup match anyway. Fortunately, i told him i am wearing a normal Nike jersey and he ended up wearing Barcelona’s jersey.

Why did i say fortunately?

This being a Nike event, it’s obvious that the attendees should at least refrain from wearing competitors outfit, hahaha. In fact they did announce that anyone with Adidas shirt won’t be allowed for the meet and greet session.

Nike Malaysia actually had limited stock of the Harimau Malaya’s jersey during the event. As i know most shops in KL have already sold out.

Fans waiting eagerly for the event to start. Adrian and i were just too busy ….

… eating.

We actually lunch at Wong Kok prior to this event. What a waste. If not we would have stuffed ourselves with the buffet.

K. Rajagobal, the coach of the Malaysian football team observing the upcoming players that could one day play for the Harimau Malaya.

One of the highlights of the event is actually having the chance to see the Ultras Malaya. They are so passionate about the national football team that they have came out with a number of chants.

This is them chanting thank you K. Rajagobal, LOL. Quite catchy. More videos at the end of the post.

The exhibition futsal match consisted of the current squad players with upcoming players. In between the game, the coach himself took to the field and showed a thing or two to the youngsters.

It was then followed by a press conference where Nike Malaysia said it was going to extend it’s contract with the national football team. Good news i guess since the jerseys have been quite a head turner especially with the new design.

It’s only the price that is still stopping me from buying. Not everyone can afford a RM 249 jersey

We were then all ushered to the next futsal court where we had the chance to finally meet and greet the coaches and players.

We all had to make a line and only 2 at a time were allowed to go at any point of time.

It was at this point where i realized why the players were confused when i was trying to snap a photo. A lady actually came up to me, not sure if she was one of their spouses or PR personal and asked about my cassette.

Yes my cassette.

She thought i was trying to pull some prank on the players by asking them to pose for my cassette, HAHAHAHA. Have to thank April for this.

I then showed her that it’s my iPhone and she was like OMG i need to get this casing as well!

Hahahaha so there you have it, i confused the Malaysian Football team because of my iPhone case. The fellas are definitely friendly and so were the coaches!

I even joked to Mr. Rajagobal and Mr. Cheng Hoe when Adrian was trembling while taking my photo with them, LOL.

Adrian, thanks for the ride!

Here are the remaining videos of the Ultras Malaya doing their chants

The final week of 2010 was probably one of the best final weeks of the year i had so far. Started off with the AFF Suzuki Cup where Malaysia met Indonesia in the finals. Putting the stupid laser beams aside, i can easily say it was the one time where everyone in Malaysia was one, united. No race, no religion but Malaysian instead. It even came to a point when i was packing food and the fella manning the store asked …

“You are Malaysian?”

I was like in a state of shock cause finally, finally someone asked the right question and not the usual, what are you? what race, bla bla bla. This fella is actually an ardent fan of the Malaysian football team and he was giving extra chicken to his fellow countrymen. HAhahaha nice gesture.

My room mate’s cousin was getting married and i was invited to witness and also photograph the ceremony as i haven’t been to a Punjabi wedding before. Honestly speaking, it was damn nice and colourful!

The Punjabi community are very closely knitted and i had the chance to see that first hand. What left me in awe was how close were they to their Chinese neighbour! There’s a part of the pre-wedding where the ladies would dance around with one of them dressed up as a bridegroom and bride. I followed the group as they danced around the guest but they suddenly danced towards their neighbour’s house and i was baffled.

The owner of the house actually opened her doors and invited all of them to dance in their hall !!!!

I have never seen anything like that and just had to record it !

Neighbour also started dancing There’s always a first for everything.

Finally on New Year’s eve, i was invited to celebrate New Year with my cousins and nephew/nieces. I was forced to gulp down wine and beer though i never liked both. But over the years of attending family functions, i have slowly learned to drink beer -_-! Would definitely go for sparkling juice anytime but that would not look good especially when you are forced to mingle with your boss and colleagues in future; social drinking. So which better place to learn to increase your tolerance level for alcohol if it isn’t your cousin’s house.

About 1am plus we called it a day. One the way back i was stopped twice at the police roadblock asking for my nationality -_-! The moment i replied in Bahasa, i was given the hand signal to move on

On New Year’s morning i went to temple as how i would do with my family in Penang. On the way back, while driving on the Bukit Jalil Highway, a car cuts right in front of me … on a highway …. and he suddenly slams the brakes.

*Bang*

This could very well be the main highlight for the whole year besides backpacking to Cambodia. Not only was i able to watch Man United live but was able to watch them in action twice !

This only happened because of the recent bombing in Jakarta at the hotel that the team would be staying during their stay there. Though Australia offered 1 million pounds for them to play down under but Sir Alex declined and ended up playing in Malaysia twice.

The crowd for the 2nd game wasn’t as much as the first game but nevertheless i still had fun watching with a bunch of crazy people.

I bought my tickets a few months back when i was back in Penang and it was Angeline who reminded me about the match, surprisingly, LOL. She said she would want to see Man Utd lose. And that’s coming from a hardcore Arsenal fan. Ask her to spell Henry’s full name and she will ask me to fly kites.

Anyway, she was only able to attend the match day itself and thus i was alone for the training day. I met a bunch of people whom i didn’t know but later on was forced to accept their phone numbers and email addresses so that i could send them the pictures T.T

The atmosphere for this first leg of Manchester United’s Asia Tour 2009 was definitely different when i attended Chelsea’s game last year at the Shah Alam Stadium.

Parking alone for the training session was a complete nightmare. Most roads entering Bukit Jalil was jammed up to the highway. I followed a bunch of cars which drove against the traffic and ended up near the Hockey Stadium which coincidentally is the best place to park for any function held at the Bukit Jalil Stadium. Why you must ask ? Because for the training day, the 1st and 2nd match day, i had no problem getting out of the carpark and reaching back in less then 25minutes. Just follow the signboards indicating CarPark F.

Training day alone managed to attract nearly 30 thousand people to watch both the national squad as well as Manchster United train. I was even more baffled when i saw most ‘ang-mohs’ running to the nearby jersey stalls and getting themselves our national jerseys equipped with a strap on their foreheads showing Malaysia, LOL.

Locals are in Red and the ang-mohs in Yellow.

The training lasted for slightly more than an hour. It was really a joy watching Rooney blasting the balls as how he would in EPL.

The day finally came, it was match day !

I realized forums all over the net predicted a landslide victory and this was based on the last scoreline which was Man United 6 – 0 Malaysia. Six nil might be a bit too harsh but i was expecting probably three to four goals.

On the way to the Blue gate, i met Gusman and his dad lining up at the Violet gate. It has been yearsssss since i have seen him. His father definitely didn’t change a bit, lol.

The match was to start at 5.30pm and people were already flocking into the stadium as early as 3pm. Angeline and i followed suit. So in that spare time, i took loads of unnecessary pictures of people with the same replica jerseys and of course camwhoring. With dolphin around, it’s compulsory to do so or i shall face the wrath of the evil dolphin later on.

I was damn proud wearing my jersey as it’s one and only replica jersey i have. The rest are all ermmmm ahem ahem ones, grade AAA to be exact. I was lucky enough to get this jersey with my name on the back together with the number 10 and it was all thanks to Angeline

Having a jersey with a name on it could be a bad idea, especially with my name on it. People kept calling me for no reason and at times a few of them asked which character is that.

It seems anyone who comes with a different jersey especially Liverpool, Arsenal or worst still Man City jersey becomes the focus and will be jeered and made fun off. Like this fella above, he had to bear the constant shouting he gets from our section. But of course everyone knows it’s nothing serious. LOL.

On the 2nd match day too one fella bearing the Chelsea jersey sat a few rows in front of me and he got the same treatment. This time around, Jon, Daniel, Andrew, even Andrew’s sister never gave face, hahahaha. Everyone jeered.

Out of the blue, the section on our left started jeering even louder because someone was in an Arsenal jersey, LMAO. Our section also kaypo and started jeering that fella.

I couldn’t actually see and after zooming in with my camera only did i realized how everyone was staring at this Arsenal fan. LOL. Eventually he left for the higher tier.

This kept on happening off and on at different parts of the stadium. Once you hear jeering, you would definitely see one odd fella being in the center of attention.

The 1st match day was definitely better than the 2nd one simply because no one knows what to expect. Imagine 100 thousand people where mostly were in red and probably a few patches of yellow scattered all over representing Malaysia. No one knew how would Malaysia fair.

In fact, moments before Amri, number 17, scored that audacious goal, he was constantly being booed for his selfish play. In fact every other Malaysian player were being booed too and there was a reason. They just wouldn’t freaking pass. The ball would be brought all the way towards the goal just for them to blast it towards the moon.

Amri became a local hero when he scored the 2nd goal and that’s when most Man United fans were wondering if Malaysia would be able to do the unithinkable.

That’s when Owen, Fabio, Brown and Tosic were brought in to win the game. Owen was under the spotlight especially after signing for United for free.

Five minutes towards the end of normal time, Owen did score after the ball bounces off Giggs who tumbled with the keeper and the whole stadium went berserk ! It was Owen’s first goal for United and it was eventually the winning goal for the game.

As United marched out of the field, one fan somehow managed to get on to the pitch and he ran towards the team. One of the guards or so called bouncers, managed to catch hold of him. Malaysian security then stepped in and held him tightly. That’s one crazy fan. LOL

It was after this game, they did announce that Man United would extend their stay in Malaysia and play a rematch on Monday. On Sunday after catching Ice Age 3 3D (my rating: 6/10) with Angeline, i bumped into Andrew and we both got our tickets from Rock Corner in One Utama.

Home made banners were everywhere. Some were easy to understand, some needed time to decipher and some i just don’t get it -_-!

Some were really creative, LMAO.

This kid was proudly waving a huge Man United flag during the match.

The second match was actually Andrew‘s first. He couldn’t make it for Saturday’s game last minute. That’s why it’s clearly shown on his face how excited he is, hahaha. As for the rest, Jon, Daniel, Joshua and me, it was our 2nd match watching. Semangat gila.

That afternoon, i got a call from Cedric and he said he was also coming since he was staying 10mins from the stadium.

Andrew kept blowing the horn throughout the match, hahahaa.

Man United had a different line up compared to Saturday’s game. Most of the substitutes were given the start. As for the Malaysian team, there weren’t much changes.

This time around, the focus was on Amri. Scoring twice against United definitely made Malaysians believe that finally a player who posses a certain skill to finish in front of the goal. Fans kept cheering his name, some even had jerseys with his name on it. Fans wanted the ball to be passed to Amri so that he can do the exact same thing on Saturday.

But of course all that never did happen. The moon was back on target. The Malaysian keeper took one step forward by kicking the ball towards the substitute bench. The hardcore Malaysian fan in front of me shouted, “Kejap lagi mereka masuk lah, bukan sekarang.”

ROFLMAO !!!!

The final scoreline was 2 nil to Manchester United with Macheda and Owen being on target.

It was really a joy watching them play for both the days and i couldn’t have asked for more. The next time i would be watching them has to be at Old Trafford for sure !

I was alerted by my parents that i was suppose to be the driver for my brother when he comes down to KL to catch Chelsea vs Malaysia but after realizing that the match was gonna be held at Shah Alam Stadium, i tagged along …. and at the same time burning a hole in my wallet.

I didn’t join him at the same stands because the ticket i got was slightly cheaper.

So instead, i joined Jin Boone, his gf and his friend

The streets around the stadium were filled with people bearing both Malaysian jersey, flags and also Chelsea’s. Stalls were set up to sell merchandise from either camps. After a closer look i realized most of it were imitation and mind you the price set for the items were quite steep for my liking. But i did end up getting a Man Utd key chain >_<”

Besides seeing the faithful fans of both camps, there’s also tonnes of fans from other clubs. Some even ran down the road parading his jersey to everyone before running off -_-” Real childish and probably because of that, security officers were deployed all over the stadium, just in case if a donkey like the example given gets into trouble.

Then there were random people who showed off their jugging skills on the road …. probably hoping that some scouts might just ….. just spot them -_-” LOL

We all had our dinner at one of those stalls before entering.

As we entered, we were stopped cause it seems cameras weren’t allowed -_-” Then JinBoone as usual wouldn’t go down without a fight, so he literally slapped the security officers with a bunch of questions and the next thing we knew, we were in, hehehe

One of the other reasons why i didn’t hesistate to go for the match was to see the new coach of Chelsea, Scolari. Personally i like to see him during a match, such an animated fella Besides Scolari, Deco was also why i was there. That fella is small in size but the way he passes and scores …. is something worth paying for.

Yes yes i am a big fan of Man Utd but i don’t see why can’t i support individuals from different teams

While snapping around, i was approached by this fella. He was asking me all sorts of questions about my camera and also whom was i supporting. Later on he told me that his father was the assistant coach for Malaysia

The atmosphere in the stadium was electrifying and everyone was cheering their lungs out

Deco

Wayne Bridge with John Terry looking on

Anelka

Jin Boone in action

LOA case (Lack Of Attention)

Probably you would be wondering why isn’t there much photos of the players. That’s because the pictures taken weren’t really zoomed up close and most shots were taken when they were in action. So that’s why i decided to put up a few

A red devil fan ?

Through out the match, JinBoone and i encountered the biggest chelsea fan and i don’t mean physically. This girl who was seated behind us, kept on cheering for Lampard and don’t get me started when Shevchenko came on to the field. She even had a Chelsea flag with her at all times

The match ended with 2 goals i think or was it 3 goals ? What ever it is the Malaysian team did put up a good fight, the only thing lacking was the finishing. In fact they could have scored at least 2 goals.

I am wondering when will other EPL teams come by Malaysia again

P/S: Robinho has been bought over by Manchester City !!! Now who would have thought of that when the transfer deadline ended ? Goodness gracious ….

UPDATED: A lot of people requested for the full video, so it’s finally added at the bottom

Finally EURO2008 is here !!! And i am pretty sure there’s gonna be lots of people going to work or even class with panda eyes or maybe skip it all together if they have the chance. During these games, people usually gather around at mamak stalls but i on the other hand rather watch it at home with a bunch of friends and Mister Potato in my hands. This definitely doesn’t sound like me at all but trust me that’s what i do most of the time. With the hike of petrol price, watching at home definitely is the better choice and i won’t be surprised if price of mamak food does increase anytime soon.

For most of the time, i would have 2-3packets of Mister Potato for a match. Hahaha i do eat like a wood chipper when it comes to potato chips >_<” and it’s all the better since Mister Potato is currently having a competition for those who collects the most seals or pouches. These seals and pouches are then exchanged into football points where you can redeem prizes later on. And the prizes are eye poppingly crazy !

For the 30 top football points collector, they will receive a Total Football Tour at Manchester, England ! This includes the Stadium and Museum and it’s worth RM 15000 ! @_@ So stim can.

Besides that, there are also monthly prizes to be given away which are autographed football jerseys. So this doesn’t just limit to Manchester United fans, you can also win a Liverpool or even a Chelsea jersey

Recently i have been chosen to be part of Project-T and my group, Group Ho Liao had to come out with an idea on how we could get a lot of pouches and seals to stand a chance to win the trip to Manchester. The ideas that we brain stormed are then assigned to each individual and come out with a short video. Knowing that we are scattered around Malaysia and will not be able to appear all together in a video, we decided to have a packet of Mister Potato as our link.

It starts off with our Ho Liao boss, KY giving ‘blessings’ for us to start the video, hahaha. Okok the real deal was Muzaffar *another Ho Liao boss* wanted to know how could he win the trip to Old Trafford and KY will explain to him with the help of his 5 Ho Liao members *coughs* Thomas comes in with his brilliant idea which was to go on a Mister Potato diet. By doing so, he would be able to consume more Mister Potato and collect more pouches or seals. The funny thing is, Thomas is already sooooooo THIN ! Hahahah. Now that, i can’t wait to see Kevin on the other hand was gonna do it the old fashion way, which is to steal Mister Potato. Not one but a few Mister Potato. I mean when you steal also must think BIG and going for one would be ‘potong stim’. While trying to escape, he stumbles upon someone whom he knows and that would be the climax Foong’s idea was her son demanding Mister Potato, hahaha. Wouldn’t that be easy for her ? LOL just wait for her son to finish one pouch by one pouch and in no time she’ll be flying off to Manchester. Debra …. where do i even begin with her idea hahahaha. Just like a kissing booth whereby you pay to be kissed, Debra will be going on dates in exchange for Mister Potato, lololololol. Obviously one pouch isn’t gonna do the trick, so it depends on how much the date is willing to offer … And finally me …. >_<”

My idea was to photocopy the pouches and seals @_@

Yes yes PHOTOCOPY @_@ *KY i am so gonna strangle you for this idea* I am gonna photocopy the pouches and seals in hope of getting myself to Manchester. LOL

The description above is in NO particular order So do check out the video for the overall view and this is my part for the video. Kinda potong stim cause everyone did super long duration and mine was up within 20 seconds -_-” Oh and mine is in Tamil, hehehe.

Please bear with us as this was done in a super duper short time and it was during weekdays -_-! Hohoho

Episode 1: KY Speaks
Episode 2: Yapthomas
Episode 3: Hamlet’s Hero
Episode 4: Satkuru
Episode 5: Foongsite
Episode 6: Debfong
Episode 7: Sultan Muzaffar

“When you think football, think Mister Potato !”

UPDATED: A lot of people requested for the full video, so here it is Do remember to drop by the other member’s blog to see what they have done to get their part ready for this 5 minute video

“So how long is yours ?”

” … close to 8 inches”

“Ganassss, girls got kacau you or not ? LOL”

“No ler, some girls scared ler. Not easy to walk around”

-

-

Photography is definitely an expensive hobby, whether its a piece of plastic to diffuse the flash or a bag to house the camera and accessories, everything is bloody expensive. But nothing beats taking a good photo and Juon Wor here went to the extend of getting a 70-200 f2.8 lens. For those who have got no idea what that means, it’s an expensive lens that is used for zooming -_-” I mean a REALLY expensive lens and it cost more than my camera itself >_<”

I followed Juon Wor to get his lens and since he had a couple of hours to spare, we decided to walk along Penang Road to snap a few pictures.

I was already having a hard time carrying around my bag and my camera round my neck and God knows how Juon Wor was managing his crazy long lens with his camera. I tried it on my camera and it’s so heavy that i would probably need to lift weights if i ever decided to buy, which isn’t gonna happen

The weather too wasn’t kind enough as it was scotching hot.

Speaking of cameras, a few weeks back i met up with HungWei, Aaron and Hugo at Midvalley. Aaron finally got his flash and so he officiated it while we had dinner at some Vietnamese Restaurnt.

Aaron showing off his spanking new flash

The sight of flashes bouncing off the ceiling off and on had attracted a few people to have a glance on what’s happening on our table. Hung Wei in particular had fans throughout the dinner

Later on we adjourned to Kim Gary. Before Kim Gary, we followed Hugo to get his money changed for his backpacking trip.

Then out of the blue, Dolphin appeared out of thin air …

She too got excited with the flash and decided to play with it … which caused HungWei to …

… keep an eye on Angeline. See his ever ready hand. Just waiting to pounce if anything goes wrong. Hahahaha.

Now i shall continue my hibernation. Can’t wait to watch Italy VS Holland later at night

Have any of you heard about this top secret project kicked off by Nuffnang lately? For the benefit of those who have no clue, let me brief you on what is it about, to give you a clearer picture.

This top secret project, codenamed Project Trafford has been initiated to gather 40 bloggers on the hope of conceiving unique or rather mind-blowing ideas to pitch in for a certain product. The word Trafford has probably struck a chord in some of you already but if that doesn’t sound familiar, it actually refers to Old Trafford which is the homeground for the Red Devils, aka Manchester United. Let’s say the grand prize winner has something to do with Old Trafford and for those who aren’t fans of Man United, there’s still prizes which awaits you

The prizes are made possible by Mister Potato in their current campaign and all you have to do is collect as many Mister Potato seal and pouch. By doing so you will actually collect football points and you can redeem attractive prizes.

If you are still vague about this whole Project Trafford thingy, fear not … more will be revealed in the upcoming entry but in the mean time, let me introduce you to my fellow team mates.

Everyone knows that two heads are better than one but what happens if you have 7 heads ? I have been placed in group H which consist of 2 group leaders and 5 members.

The leaders are:

KY (kyspeaks.com) – shares his adventure looking for things that goes into his stomach, publish some of his attempts in photography, and write about a lot of absolutely fascinating stuff!

Muzaffar (sultanmuzaffar.blogspot.com) – might be the first ever in Malaysia to have been invited to a press conference as a member of the media. Astro Ria recognised that his comprehensive – obsessive even – coverage of Akademi Fantasia since its debut season.

The five members are:

Foong (foongsite.com)- She has been blogging entirely about Penang events, happenings, some reviews of things, food and places and personal rants.

Kevin (hamletshero.blogspot.com) – He has just done studying in Singapore. Finally free from the burdens of school and decided life has to be lived to the maximum, now.

Thomas Yap (yapthomas.com) – Currently living on his own and work as a travel agent, he is humble yet friendly, love to meet people and always have a say on something. He has a passion to make a change for the better of his country and to be one day be at the helm of Malaysian politics (yeah right).

Debra (debfong.blogspot.com) – Currently studying A-Levels @ HELP Uni College. Has vowed to wipe out the mosquito & housefly race in 10 years time because simply they are the most annoying things And i do bite

… and of course Me

Project Trafford initiated!

I just couldn’t help it

Probably the most nail biting match to date !

Manchester United Champions of England and Champions of Europe !

Yeah it’s a super short update and i have lost my voice @_@”

P/S: Sivanesh thanks for the ride

That’s what i thought when i saw the title. Chelsea sacks Jose Mourinho ??? I don’t understand why did they let him go so fast.

I have to admit that he is a special one. Okay maybe not, since he got sacked but he is definitely a unique manager.

Now i wonder who is going to replace him? Guus Hiddink?

p/s: I am not a Chelsea fan but this piece of news did open my sleepy eyes like this @_@”

p/p/s: I loved the way Ronaldo apologized to his old club when he scored the goal Go Man Utd ! Oh and those goals from Arsenal, simply breath-taking …

The past few weeks has been nail biting for me as the English Premier League draws to the end of the season. With 5 points advantage and 3 more games remaining, Man United had a chance of clinching the title if they won against Man City and Chelsea were to either draw or lose to Arsenal.

Man United had their moments but Man City did go all out and in the end they lost to a Ronaldo penalty. With one hand on the trophy, the attention shifts over to the Emirates stadium.

I only watched the final 20 minutes and both teams were really going all out. In the end, they drew at 1-1. By then, United fans were going wild.

Glory glory Man United …