SA bits 57 - Rakan sekampung

My friend and ex-colleague, Terry. He came over from M'sia for a separate project.

"Nice to have someone to speak cantonese with" he says. " And dude you gained some weight, almost didn't recognise you!". I agreed with him on both statements immediately.
He stayed over last weekend, his workplace and apartment is about 30kms away from where I live. Distance is like traveling from PJ to Klang on the Federal Highway. Took him out to the usual few spots for food and sight seeing. He's probably going to venture more into other places in future, for example this weekend they plan to visit the Cradle of Mankind and Sun City. I'm sure they'll enjoy themselves in Sun City since it's a water park and summer's almost here :P

SA bits 56 - I've been neglecting this blog..

My apologies to my family whom I know would look forward to any news & postings here. I've been very busy at work hence nothing really interesting was happening which explains the lack of postings. But I'm taking this opportunity now to update this space.

What's been happening you might ask? Growing my own spring onions. Yes, it has been that dull..But it's really part of cost cutting :P I always never manage to finish the spring onions I buy until they expire in the fridge so I thought, what the hey, let's grow my own. These babies don't even need soil, amazing isn't it?

My spring onion farm

Speaking of cost cutting, the company (Motorola-Networks division) has recently announced a take over by NSN (Nokia Siemens). As we all know take overs are commonly followed by reductions. Reductions in workforce I mean. So there was our new boss speaking in a townhall meeting, assuring that this was a revenue related synergy instead of cost related synergy. Bla bla bla, no one can really assure us contractors of that in my opinion. So yea, days here are numbered.
Most of us have made plans to return to KL. That includes Suresh and Akash who will most probably be arriving in KL earlier than scheduled. Well, they have their own personal reasons. As for me, I have my personal reasons too. Unless of course they terminate my contract earlier than expected. Until then, tentative arrival date in KL is 28th January 2011. This would most probably be for good, I'll just have to see where the next wind blows and which direction. Or maybe I'll just park safely in KL. Never know...

With that in mind, the next few postings will be of my time spent here. All the "noinsense" that we've been up to :P.... I'm sure it will bring back much memories when revisited in the future, all my housemates, colleagues and friends.

SA bits 55 : Double trouble?

Look what I've got as a gift for my hospitality :P
Guna from NSTP (friend of Akash) bunked over at my place while waiting for his flight. He gave me this bottle as a token of appreciation. Not as smooth as JW Green Label though. Nevertheless, it was good stuff. Something to keep me warm during these winter nights :P ... and no, I'm not an alcoholic.

SA bits 54 : First time for everything

There's a first time for everything, and today I was told that I had committed a fireable offence :O
Somewhere along the line of work, tight project timelines and hectic scheduling, a process was not followed in terms of the company's purchasing policies and procedures. The guys in upper management are busy fixing it up and hopefully it will be rectified. Lesson learnt, and don't take policies lightly regardless of the amount of money involved.

SA bits 53 : To Johannesburg Soccer City for Uruguay vs Ghana Quarter Final match

I had a slightly different view in this match. More centered than cornered so to say. Traffic was horrible today since it's end of the working week. We (Vuyo the criminal and I) arrived early but missed the Brazil vs Netherlands game. We had a boerewors hotdog, a couple of drinks and into the stadium we went.

The bbq pit full of wors on the grill.

Hawker food SA style

The criminal and I... actually I look more like a criminal than Vuyo don't you think?

The more "centered" view :P

Random video of the crowd outside the stadium before the game.


Ghana played a very good game, it was just not meant to be. I was just updating my facebook status, stating how sad to see them play so well but still not make it due to luck. The ball is round indeed....

Seen here is a pic taken from FIFA.com that says it all. You can read the story here.

SA bits 52 : To Johannesburg Soccer City for Argentina vs Mexico

So I finally went for my first FIFA World Cup 2010 game, between Argentina and Mexico. Thanks to some tickets from Akash the 4 of us (Hemant, Naseer, Akash and I) braved the cold and huge crowd. It was cold alright, but we were ready.

We left home very early (3pm) hoping to catch the second half of the Germany vs England game in the stadium. We bought the park and ride tickets so that we only needed to drive to a designated parking area further away from the stadium and hop onto the feeder bus that ferries everyone to and from the the stadium. By the time we were inside the stadium it was 4.30pm and was just about going into half time. So we decided to walk around and explore the stadium more.

The long 2km walk from drop off point to the stadium

World cup memorabilia on sale!

Hemant, Akash and Naseer behind me.

Cops aplenty at entrance points.. I got frisked and man handled to check for any illegal substances or weapons :P


The guys taking a moment to absorb the view of....

Soccer City!


The design of the stadium is taken after the "calabash", an African pot. This is because it is most recognizable and automatically associated with the African continent.


Countless hardcore Argentinian fans!
Here's a few shots being upclose and inside the stadium.








It was getting cold alright...

Here's a view of where we are sitting, almost the same view from the Confederations Cup game last year. This was 2 hours before the game started.




Lost chinese boy...

And an hour later, it was filled up. Stadium capacity is 90,000 spectators. Attendance was around 86,500 that night.


And the teams began their warm up routine about half an hour before. This might or might not have appeared on the live telecast, but the fans were throwing toilet rolls onto the pitch, even during the game!


Players introduced to the crowd just before kick off.

As the game started we were all too busy trying to concentrate due to the noise :P but it was all good.
As we left, we took a chance to capture the Soccer City with lights on. It's really some view.

Until Friday for Uruguay vs Ghana, at least we have 1 African and 1 Asian team still in competition. Go Africa!!!

p/s Thanks Akash for the sharp pics.

SA bits 51 - Shakira Shakira!

I never liked Shakira, until last night when she performed in the kick off concert held in Soweto.
6 damn °C and she's dancing around on stage with a tube top, respect!!! And those hips really don't lie, goodness me.... :P

You’re a good soldier
Choosing your battles
Pick yourself up
And dust yourself off
Get back in the saddle
You’re on the front line
Everyone’s watching
You know it’s serious
We’re getting closer
This isn’t over

The pressure’s on; you feel it
But you got it all; believe it
When you fall, get up, oh oh
And if you fall, get up, eh eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
Cause this is Africa
Tsamina mina eh eh
Waka waka eh eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
This time for Africa

Listen to your god; this is our motto
Your time to shine
Don’t wait in line
Y vamos por todo
People are raising their expectations
Go on and feel it
This is your moment
No hesitation

Today’s your day
I feel it
You paved the way,
Believe it
If you get down
Get up oh, oh
When you get down,
Get up eh, eh

Tsamina mina zangalewa
This time for Africa
Tsamina mina eh eh
Waka waka eh eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
Anawa aa
Tsamina mina eh eh
Waka waka eh eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
This time for Africa



"Ngiyabonga Mzansi," means "thank you South Africa"

SA bits 50 - All hell broke loose today... in a good way of course.

I left home for the office at noon today, big mistake.
Today, 9th June 2010 is "Stand Behind Bafana Bafana" Day. At 12p.m, everyone is encouraged to show their support for South Africa's soccer team called Bafana Bafana. Not only did Bafana Bafana came to Sandton, so did everyone else! On a normal day, it would've taken me less than 5 minutes to reach the office. It took me half an hour today. This video shows why.

Close to 50,000 fans jammed the streets of Sandton, celebrating and blowing them vuvuzelas. Man, those things are LOUD! Here's a more environmentally friendly & artistic version compared with the conventional plastic cousin. The video tends to advertise Cape Town more if you ask me.

South Africa is ready,2 more days. The past 2 months have been a mad scramble and rush to finish off work and prepare the network for this event. Today is the official network freeze and we're apparently not suppose to do anything more for fear of breaking something :P. I just realised we're halfway through 2010 already..

SA bits 49 - Orlando Towers

I've always wanted to drop by here to have a look, so after lunch in craftsmarket Onur and I took a drive to Soweto. Drove around the township while he was trigger happy with his camera on the surroundings. Passed by Vilakazi Street and Nelson Mandela's home and also had a chance to witness someone bungy jump off the famous Orlando Towers in Soweto. I can imagine the adrenalin rush!

SA bits 48 - Glenwood

I moved in 3 weeks ago to this single bedroom place since Dorai left SA. It's so small that this is the only place possible for a panoramic photo, hahah. It's a view from entrance to the living & dining area. To the right is a small kitchenette and the door you see in front is to the bathroom. Next to it is the bedroom.

SA bits 47 - White lion? Not!

We have a manager (Onur) from Turkey who came to visit and assist us with the projects going on currently. I think I overloaded him with questions about Turkey :P... sounds like a very nice place to visit. Anyway, we went to Lion Park on Sunday morning (yes, again). According to him it was a very interesting experience (to be so close to a predator), and he also told stories about what a sorry state zoos in Turkey are, sounds familiar (Zoo Negara).
I thought we saw a White Lion (very rare breed), but apparently it's not. It's a normal species where it's skin and mane will turn brown much later.



Most cats were on their feet as it was close to feeding time, so we got more chances to take some nice pictures. Onur said after he deleted the ones he didn't like he was still left with 200+ pictures :O

Onur and a cub

Cheetarah lari laju, tertinggal baju....

SA bits 46 - Looks who's coming again!

Well well well, I want to go but that night may clash with a very important work night... damn it!

SA bits 45 - This is going to be a rough year at work...

I walk past this sign for about 10 times a day in the office and I feel that things will get from bad to worse based on the things lined up...