Malaysian Number Plates

I have always been amazed at the multitude of letters on the number plates of Malaysian vehicles. Never knew why or how to identify where the vehicles are from. If you ever had the same problem, this post is for you.

Malaysian license plates have one or more letters followed by 4 numerical digits. The general colour scheme of the plates are white lettering on a black background. I said general because this does not apply to all groups of people for example the diplomats.

These license plates are issued by the Malaysian Road Transport Department however vehicles are registered by state and each bear the state’s unique identifying letters, thus the multitude of letter combinations.

I have the letters listed below for your reference:

Kuala Lumpur W
Selangor B
Perak A
Penang P
Kedah K
Perlis R
Kelantan D
Trenggannu T
Pahang C
Johor J
Melaka M
Negeri Sembilan N
Sarawak Q
Sabah S

Other special groups:

Diplomat DC
Military Z

I hope this allows you to figure out where the %^&((*& guy, who just overtook you at 160km/h, is from!

Fourth Landy Improvement

Today marked another landy improvement project, the 4th in the series so far. I have long eyed a change in shock absorbers. There was an earlier plan last year to bring in some shocks from the UK but the plan fell through. So once again the hunt for new shocks led to Nam Seng, who carried a pretty good stock of Koni Shock absorbers.

After much consideration, I took the plunge at got in installed today. See below specifications of the ones I installed.


KONI Heavy Track™ SPX Performance Shocks

Tested in the rough deserts of Morocco, Heavy Track SPX Performance shock absorbers ensure greater stability and greater stamina for both drivers and vehicles off-road. On the road, you can count on greater comfort, a higher level of safety, more stability and better road holding. In short, Heavy Track SPX Performance shock absorbers are perfect 'all road' shock absorbers, regardless of driving conditions.

KONI Heavy Track™ SPX Performance Shocks Offer Additional Features:

Compress-to-adjust design allows adjustable dampening for on or off-road conditions.
Twin-tube design improves ride quality and durability.
Steel stone guard for maximum protection of piston rod and seal.
Damper characteristics specially tuned for off-road use.
Specially set bottom valve for 4x4 use.
Larger reservoir with more oil for improved heat transfer.


The bright red shocks look quite good

Verdict so far: money well spent! the ride is smoother and soaks up most of the minor irregularities on the road. The car is slightly higher than before, giving the Landy a good ride height. Actually, it did not raise the truck just rather bringing it back closer to original.

Now I wonder when and what will be the 5th landy improvement.

My Baby Niece

My Niece

I have a new niece. My sister delivered yesterday at Thomson medical centre to a healthy baby girl.

Joelle Wong Jyn Ern
2.74 kg
47 cm
@ TMC, 1747 hrs

Photos at Baby Joelle

Oympus Mju 725 SW

I have finally bitten the bullet and done it; gone ahead to buy an underwater camera system. This was an issue long considered both whether there was a need and also which system to get.

To shorten a long story, a digital system was decided on even though there was an initial temptation to get a dedicated underwater film camera. It was to expensive to get a professional housing to fit my digital SLRs. It was a futile attempt to get the canon underwater housing for my ancient powershot S30.. There was little choice but to get a newer camera together with the housing.

Though I have never considered thr Olympus line of cameras, closer research revealed quite a gem for my purposes and lifestyle. Intro the olympus mju ( prnounced mew). It is a compact point and shoot camera with 3x optical zoom and reasonable control of all functions. Most attractive is its built in ability to withstand shocks and water up to 5m in depth. Now I can take the camera out in the rain, spalsh it with mud, jump into a pool with it and even go kayaking with it, all without using the housing.

So now I proudly own a Olympus mju 725SW. With the underwater housing PT-033, the operational depth is extended to 40m.

Model: Olympus Mju 725SW
2 original Olympus Li-ion batteries
PT-033 underwater housing
1 GB and 512 MB xD cards

10 March 2007 Surprise!

This marked the part 2 of this year's birthday celebrations. This involved a rather sneaky but ingenious plan hatched by fran to make this a surprising but memorable occasion.

It all started when my friend, Farhan, messaged and asked me out for coffee on Saturday at 5pm. This was rather odd as we have never met for coffee before dinner. I was not keen initially but he was surprisingly persistent. So since he claimed to have a dinner appointment, I agreed as we would have to split before dinner. So we met at TCC at Velocity.

Farhan needed to wait for his wife to turn up so we sat around till about 7pm when she turned up. He then asked if he could come to my place to see a couple of textbooks. Strange request so it sparked a suspicion that something was brewing at home. I tried not to think too much about it otherwise I might spoil my own surprise. Ha.

When we came up on the lift to the 19th floor, there was a catered dinner outside the lift landing. There was no one around and my home door was closed. However, there was a stray slipper belonging to our neighbour outside our house. So there must be others in our house.

When the door opened, I was surprised! Not so much that there were people in the house waiting for me to get back but rather the number and breadth of my friends who where invited. It was rather overwhelming as they were friends who I have gone through significant activities together but due to work commmitments, have not met for quite some time.

There was a birthday sign hanging from the foyer beams and 4-5 streamers of stars at the door entrance. There was a cake with 3 candles with the number 30 made from wax at the top. There were so many people to speak but so little time.

The Lims
Yiyong and Jasmine (minus lucky)
Felix and Alicia
Andrew and Wan Ling
Fred and Lay Fang
Laurine
Karen and John
Vernon and Jocelyn
Desmond and Julie
Graeme and Shanren
Farhan and Haslina
Dehui
Ivan (minus Juan)
My family
Fran's family

It was a very good gathering. I did not have enough time to speak to everyone as much as I wanted to. The atmosphere was good and time all too short as soon friends had to go.

I have to thank my wife, Fran, for working so hard to make this all happen. To organise the dinner, getting my friend's contacts and arranging for them all to be here. Most difficult was to orchestrate my departure from home and making sure I got back when needed.

I do not have photos of my own but here are those taken for me...

My Big 30

Here is just a shot of me.

9th March 2007 Gordon Grill

It was a long day waiting for the time when Fran was going to celebrate my special day with me. When the time came, we met at the Goodwood Park hotel car park where she had made arrangements for dinner.

I have heard of Gordon Grill before but did not suspect that she might be bringing me here to dinner. The ambience was good but the place was not large. It was rather empty when we got there with only a table of japanese diners. It was a different setting from Morton's. The place was famous for its steaks and the Wagyu beef served. This was an opportunity to try the wagyu that has so often been raved about.

I had the lobster bisque soup and we shared a platter of oysters. Main course was a nicely done wagyu beef cheek with a slab of foie gras. The beef cheek was good and aged well but I could not feel the marbling that the wagyu is famous for. It was very tender nonetheless. What really stood out was the foie gras. It was oily and putting a piece of it in the mouth, it just melted away. It was magnificent.

What was distinctive was the meat trolley that went around if diners decided to order the steak. Slabs of wagyu prime rib and angus filet mignon lay wrapped in the wooden trolley. Prices were high with a 10gm of wagyu steak costing $4.50. An average steak of 250gm would have cost $135. We hesitated to do the prime rib thing but after dinner, it was clear that we would be back to dinner here once again.

Dinner was washed down with glasses of cafe lattes and a birthday cake to commemorate the occasion.

So for if you have something special, this place would be a good place to try out

Gordon Grill
Goodwood Park Hotel
67301744 for reservations
dinner hours from 7-1030 pm

It was a very good and pleasant birthday dinner.