Hard at work trying to optimize Fat Pengy's site now. Will optimize it for better user experience and also to pull in more visitors.
Hopefully things will get better come november. Big plans coming soon.

Was teaching Science today to secondary 1 students. The topic was on drug abuse. Very interesting topic.
Played "Puff the magic dragon" by Peter, Paul and Mary. Song was really old school. Back in 1963 actually. None of the students have heard of the song.

All of them thought the song sounded very kiddish, with dragons, kings and knights and all in the lyrics.

They were surprised when I told them that there was a controversy back then that the song was implicated to marijuana smoking, and was the song of the hippies back in the sixties.

Interestingly, Singapore banned the song in 1963! Hahahaha.

Played reggae music in class as well. "Ganja in my brain" by Sizzla. As well as introducing Bob Marley, Jamaica, rastafari and the usage of cannabis and marijuana.

I categorize this entry under "Work" because even though it's dinner at Swissotel Merchant Court's Ellenborough Market Cafe. Its dinner sponsored by Panasonic Asia.

We (the KWN boys, KCP and I) were very fortunate to have free lunch today (Pizza Hut) and dinner at a posh restaurant. Dinner was excellent.

But before that we had this welcoming ceremony to do make them feel at home in the school. I had to give a keynote presentation on what the Multimedia club is all about. Bummer.

Anyway lunch was good. Pizza Hut was delivered to the school. There was plenty to go a round. Well there were 3 extra boxes and some garlic bread left. I took a box of pizza back to the staff room and shared it with the colleagues.

Dinner was excellent. Again, KCP and I took this opportunity to eat as much as we like.

The Sashimi was good, salmon and tuna was fresh. Had it with wasabi. Damn good. The durian puree was creamy and delicious. It was really funny to see the reaction of the Japanese bosses from Panasonic Asia not able to take in the durian. They said the smell was just too overpowering.

Good thing we agreed to run the next day.

I was damn bloated after the dinner.

Got a call from an unknown number toda at about 12 noon. Good thing I picked it up. Usually I would just ignore it. On the other line was Johnathan. The teacher in charge of the New Zealand team for the KWN compettion.

Before this I wondered what time the Kiwis reached Singapore yesterday. Because they told us they would be heading to Singapore by bus.

Well, Johnathan is kind of free right now. The rest of the team and family went on their own itinerary. A hotel city tour.
Met up with him at 2pm outside the Meritus Mandarin hotel.
He got a good deal there from the online travel agency called wotif.com.
200++SGD for a room per night. I thought that's pretty OK for a 5 star hotel right in the heart of Orchard road!

Met up with him, had lunch at Plaza Singapura.
Got a message from Wen Jun and Ben asking me to get Kayla's or her mum's phone number because Afiq from the malaysian KWN team wants to contact her.

His son just turned 1 year old yesterday. So he better get something back for him.

After lunch we headed to paragon's toys 'r' us. He spent a total of about 50SGD in soft toy and thomas the train toys for his 2 sons.

We discussed a lot of things from education to politics, to the military and discussed a lot about the cultures in Singapore and New Zealand. I find it very refreshing.

He told me there would be a FIFA club world CUP going on today at 6pm —Auckland VS Egypt's Al-Ahly. Good game. We wanted to watch it on the big screen but decided not too 'cause usually we can't hear the commentaries clearly. So we bought chips, drinks, he got beer for himself and we headed back to the hotel room.

The game was good! Strangely, the Auckland team comprises of amateurs. They played well against the Egyptians who were pros.
I had to meet a friend at 8pm. Damn. I could have stayed a bit longer. I could only catch up till the first few minutes into the second half of the game. It was getting interesting when the Egyptians scored a goal in the first few minutes of the second half.

Well we bid adieu and he said he'd give me a call again the next day regarding Kayla's contact no.

Woke up real early today. Think it was about 630 am.

Wore the new Yellow Adidas T-shirt. Nice. Well actually I bought because I didn't bring much clothing. Heh. Lazy packer.

Anyway we went for breakfast at Wild Rice again. Nice selection of food. Well, some dishes are repeats from yesterday's lunch. I think.

Today we're going to the Petronas Twin Towers. We set off right after breakfast.

Our team felt really bad yesterday night because all the kids from all the countries gave us little gifts as a token from their country..well maybe except for Vietnam. But that's alright because it's their first time participating in this competition.
Hahahah we didn't think about this at all!

So after dinner yesterday Clarice rushed to buy some chocolate covered marshmallows and some chocolates. The boys thought of staying up all night creating a podcast and burn them into CDs and give to the other kids from the other countries as a token. By the time we finished shopping for the chocolates, (and adidas t-shirt...heh) CD-roms, it was already close to 11pm.

Chong Peng and I went down to their room and suggested they just give out the chocolates and then make an announcement to film the kids from the other countries the following day. The will carry out an interview. The the compiled video will then be posted on to YouTube and the link to it will be sent to them via email.


Wah. The younger generations have it good really. Fast easy communications, so easy to share videos and stuffs to the world. Impressive. I remembered back in my teenage years the best communication technology for us then was the pager. Even then I do not have the luxury to own one.

Well anyway on the bus on the way to the Petronas Twin Towers, Ben and Sherman made the announcement and gave out the chocolates.



We reached the Kuala Lumpur City Cnetre (KLCC) and proceeded inside.


We had to queue up to get tickets to visit the sky bridge. Its the bridge that links the two twin towers. The tallest twin tower in the world.

By the time it was 10 the tickets were sold out. Well, we didn't have to queue for the tickets actually. It's all been settled by the Panasonic organisers. We had to wait for our turn to go up the lift.


While waiting, Ben, Sherman and Wen Jun went round to interview the kids from the other countries.


In the mean time we viewed video clips on the background information and history that leads up to the materialization of the building.

The skybridge allowed us to see KL from a helicopter view. It was the 41st floor of the tower. Nice view.


After we're there for about 10 minutes we were ushered back to the lift where we had to wait for the rest of the KWN delegates to finish the tour. They went with another batch of tourists.

We killed time by trying out the exhibits they had there.


We then headed for California Pizza.


Ben was raving about how good California Pizza was and all. I thought "Wow this must be really good!"

So we had two rounds of vegetarian pizza. I thought there was nothing to shout about. That explains our facial expressions here.


I joked with him saying I was disappointed in his taste of pizzas. Hahahah.

Oh and Chong made a comment about the pizza. "This is the first time I see broccoli on pizzas!" Jonathan, a teacher from New Zealand came to our table said exactly the same thing! That was really funny.

While we had some time waiting, Ben, Sherman and Wen Jun went to interview the rest of the kids from Australia, Indonesia and Thailand at the balcony outside the restaurant.


After lunch, we headed for the Petro Science centre. We were given 2 hours to spend time inside. Chong Peng asked Clarice if we could just go in for 5 minutes and then come out to shop around. She said better not. Turns out, we had a lot of fun inside that we thought 2 hours wasn't enough!

While waiting in line to take the "Dark Ride", we were entertained by the staff there with smart science tricks and illusions.

The Dark Ride was a slow one. And its the only way to proceed on to exhibits found inside the Petro Science Centre. Oh well.


The vehicle that we went on looked a huge motorcycle helmet. Once we're inside, I felt as though we're in the flintstones' leg powered car.
And here's Ben looking silly in the car, in the dark.


Once we're inside, we tried out all sorts of science fun stuffs.



Don't ride rickshaws with Chong Peng. Its a bone rattling experience!


Everybody sing! —"Ben the Builder!"

Touching hot magma!


Oh My! What big fangs you've got!


Engineers at work.


Earthquake simulator


Feel how a figure 8 skater would feel as they spin on their toes at super speed!


This one's really funny. This Thai girl from the Thailand KWN participants tricked me into looking inside the barrel. When I looked into it, I felt a gush of wind blown straight into my face! I was fooled into looking at the end of a bellow!


Testing our football skills.


Trying out for baseball pitcher. See how fast you can throw. Best timing for me is 47km/h


How fast can you run?


Waiting for our helicopter ride at helipad H1.

Its been a swell day. We didn't want to move on to the next station. We've been told to be outside of the Petro Science center at 3 and the time was already 250pm when we realised we had to get moving!

And to think we only wanted to spend 5 minutes in here and then shop around KLCC. hahaha


When we finally got out, everybody was waiting for us. Clarice was calling me on the phone asking where we were.

Well, for all things that are good and all, it has to come to an end. So we were then ushered to the lobby where we then made our way to the bus.

And then head out back to our hotel.

We were given time from 4pm till 615 to wash up, go shopping and all. Basically free and easy time.

At 615 everybody gathered at the lobby where we headed for Mdm Kwan's restaurant. Famous for its Nasi Lemak. Pretty expensive for Nasi Lemak, about 14RM. But everybody should try it. It is good! I guess its worth the price. But hey, Panasonic's sponsoring this so I've got nothing to complain even if it turns out otherwise.

After dinner at Mdm Kwan's, the boys wanted to go for bowling. Thy rallied all the other kids to go with them, parents teachers and all. Chong Peng and I reminded them curfew is at 1130pm. We'll be checking on them to make sure they are back in their hotel room by then.

In the mean time, we went shopping for gifts for our loved ones and of course for myself. Bought a f ew more t-shirts, this time a dry fit Nike. Got it at a very good deal again.!

By the time we reached our hotel room, we were both dead tired. The film "Alexander" was showing on tv. We were both too tired too watch it even if we wanted to.

Super slack.
Woke up at 5am today, stuffed my bag with the barest minimum for the flight to KL.

Took a cab and reached Chong Peng's place at 615am. We then headed for terminal 2, reached there about 635am.

Got a message from Yvonne saying she can't go with us. In her stead will be Clarice, her boss.

Met up with Wen Jun's parents, and later Benjamin's parents. They looked very happy, and a bit sleepy. Well I was.

Clarice arrived about 10 minutes before seven. She gave us our flight tickets.

We then headed for check in counter for flight SQ106.

After checking in and gone through the immigration checks, we headed to get coffee. I haven't had anything for breakfast and I am damn hungry.

So Chong Peng and I settled for tea/coffee and polar puffs.



Got the window seat. Well actually it's Clarice's but she's ok with me seating there.


We touched down at Sepang Airport at about 930 am. We took the shuttle train to ferry us from the airport to the immigration. That's the only way to reach the immigration side really.

We then took the van to reach Boulevard Hotel in Mid Valley Kuala Lumpur.



Nice place. 5 star hotel I think. We checked in to our hotel room. The boys' on the 11th floor, mine and Chong Peng's on the 19th floor room 5. Clarice's on the 10th.



While Clarice settled our hotel checking-in, we got to know our Indonesian counterparts in this competition. The girls were from an elementary school in Jakarta.



By this time its about 12 noon. We headed for the 9th floor where Wild Rice is. This is where we had a really sumptuous lunch!
I've never had so much for lunch. Good buffet spread, ice cream, pastries and all the works. Never felt so satisfied during lunch before.

The boys reported to me they "broke" the ironing board. Great. "What next?" I thought.


After lunch we headed to the lobby where we were lead to the cinema area which is on the 3rd floor of the Mid Valley Mega Mall. This is where we were all seated and waited for the awards ceremony to start.




There were 6 other countries participating; Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand and Vietnam. This is the first time Vietnam is participating in this competition.

All the delegates from the different countries were present except Thailand, which came in the middle of the speech made by the Panasonic Asia Pacific region's boss.

Every team from each participating country were requested to make a introductory speech regarding their work and also a bit on the process of the project. Benjamin, Sherman, Wen jun went down to the front and presented. They did a wonderful job.
Very steady and confident.



All the videos from the different countries were projected on to the huge silver screen. Benjamin seated next to me commented that the feeling is "different" viewing their work on the big cinema screen. I agree. It felt good.

After we watched all the videos, I strongly felt Indonesia deserved to win. Their anchorwoman is really good. She really captured the attention of the viewer. The editing and soundtrack is also superb. A close second is New Zealand. I really like the video from the Vietnamese team which I felt deserve to win 3rd after New Zealand.

The moment came and the awards were announced. The Singapore team was called out first. The boys won the award for best script. Ben said the award goes to Timothy. He was the one who wrote the entire script. Well done.


And the winner was no surprise to me. Indonesia! And runner up is New Zealand.

After the award ceremony, we  went back to the hotel and decided to go to the gym and have a swim in the pool. But turns out me and Chong Peng didn't go for a swim.
The boys couldn't go to the gym because they are underaged. So they had to settle for a swim. That's just too bad.

After the gym we had dinner at Wild Rice again. It was an appreciation dinner with performances to entertain us.


After dinner we went shopping at the Mid Valley Mega Mall. Got a good deal at the Royal Sporting House. A yellow Dry-Fit Addidas T-shirt was on sale for like 12SGD only!

Good thing I got it. The stores here close at 10pm. I got it just when the store's about to close. I am a happy man.

By the time I reached back to the hotel room, I was dead tired.

And so I missed work again for today. Had to prepare some work for students to do today. Charles had to cover both my Science classes for today. Its his last day today, so I guess the parting gift was perfect. hahahaha.

I brought 2 students to the competition. Took a cab which costs 17SGD. Will claim this amount when I get back to work.
Reached the competition area very early. The students didn't waste time to practice on the replica track.

10am — Well so far the timing for them is 10:82. Not bad. WRSS' team got 10:45!!! Amazing.

1130am — PH-2 — had an even better timing than PH-1: 10.55!!!

Finally the day for pizzas is here. The canadian-pizza delivery man was a bit late. But it was good anyway. The winning team I am referring to are from 1E5 and 2E2. They won the green car competition around May 2006 and I thought they deserved it for their hard work and perseverance. The team that came first was the boys team, second place was the girls' team. Each team was very competitive.
2E2 team comprised of all girls as well.
Besides that, 6 boys from 1E2 also deserved the pizza day because they won the basketball event during the school's family day which was held on the last day of school right before the June school holidays.

Good ideas must always share. Must thank my Co-form colleague Wei Shan. Gave me an idea about getting the class into groups and challenge each other on designing paper gliders that can fly the furthest distance. Topic for CME was on working in a team. This definitely shows how these young people can learn and realise how working in a team can make or break the competition.
Well, 3 teams won, one for furthest distance, one for best decorated, and one for best flying style. 5 people in each group.

Bought them these!


I like cadbury chocolates. I hope they like it too. The ones I bought is made in Australia, so there's no problem with them salmonella infected chocolates like those recalled in Britain.