Gunung Buah Bunga

It had been quite a while since the Gunung Buah Bunga trip, near Genting Sempah. Now trying to utilize the free times to patch back blogging time, haha.

Group Photo, as usual

I think it’s a Merdeka weekend holiday trip. Usually Buah Bunga is a day trip, but we just wanna make it more fun by camping on top. We start our journey from the vegetable farm behind Gohtong Jaya’s shop, where the entire journey is between 3-4 hours. One part of the road (I was told this is part of the old Genting Road, now filled with bushes) is filled with leeches, so walk quickly and stop yelling.

Quickie (Photo Taken will the camera is hanging from the Iron tower)

We are not gonna steal your food, Miss Guinea Pig

Stop Laughing, hahaha

There is nothing too exciting about this mountain, just some good exercise and get away to city headache. We have a stretch of TAR road (infested with some leeches, not as bad as some other legendary leech mountain), some small hills and a last water point an hour before hitting the peak. There is a mini iron tower at the top, with a nice view overlooking some mountains and town. Mountain is definitely a good place to leave the “city” reality temporary behind me while I think of how the hell am I going to reach the top (or go back down in time to have lunch).

Beware of Leeches

I got stung by a bee, just because the little bugger got trapped in my shirt (then you have to die, and I have to suffer). One of Mei Ru’s friend make it to the top and fall asleep upon the first chance she got, while the other have to go down on the same day with others because she is feeling sick. And also, I lost my sleeping bag at the LRT a day earlier, and luckily Kelly manage to lend me hers one.

Photo Links: Mei Ru's Multiply 1, 2 and 3

Breakup Plan

In life we always have numerous plan, I want to do this, I want to do that, but we end up didn’t quite do it. So here is another futile attempt to plan my future, but why bother? Because failure to plan guarantee my failure? Haha.

Since I exited the business, I would need to rethink carefully on what I should embark on next. It’s exciting; it’s refreshing and scary at the same time. I would count that this is my 4th attempt to survive under self employment. I like the idea, and I felt that I am drifting away from climbing the corporate ladder. If I choose the path of employment again, I might choose Singapore, just to try out some new environment and challenges. Before that, I would try my best to stand on my own feet.

What option do I have?

• I could proceed with more freelance software developments, which had been brining in small income all these years. I am weak in my business connections and sales, so I would have to figure that out.
• I could develop a product, but I still need the sales channel to make the effort worth while.
• I could continue with my Pet Project Malaysia Most Wanted, which I am very passionate about, and to make it more commercially viable.
• I could help my cousin more often at The Skill Academy, but teaching is not really my real passion.

Now I think of it, I still remember of my New Year resolution of RM 100K of business income per year, which had not been achieved for consecutive god knows how many years. I think I am still a relaxed person (or lazy) which haven’t gone through much hardship in life. If someone can be the successful CEO of Exabytes and become a millionaire by the age of 25, that prove age is not really a barrier. If I put my heart and mind to do it, nothing is impossible right? Right, I believe that. It’s how to convince myself on how to put 100% of my heart and mind to it. How to stop myself from slacking and giving excuses.

How is this time going to be different from the last time? How do I change my attitude and mindset? How do I brainwash myself and perform some neural programming.

There need to be Change. The plan is important, so is the execution, but the mindset and attitude is even more important. Though it is more easily said than done, but it could no longer be used as an excuse. It needs to be done through the good old fashion way, hard work.

The basic plan is freelancing to keep myself afloat (need to engage some help on this matter) and to do Malaysia Most Wanted until nothing more can be done. No regret. No excuse. To do until there is nothing left to do.

Broken Business Partnership

Another year had passed, another broken partnership, perhaps it’s time to rethink what I should do next. Before that, let’s have a postmortem on why the partnership failed.

Why did I exit? Not really about money, since we haven’t made much yet. It’s more on ideal on how I think the company should be run. We have 4 partners, 2 person works in the company, another 2 works outside the company. At first I am okay with the arrangement, since I am occupied with some problems to solve and to restructure the company and to keep it away from chaos. Besides, the 2 partners working outside would not bleed the company, and perhaps would add value and resources, or even help to bring in more business.

As time goes by, the company got more stable and we manage to employ some people, and the projects in hand might be overloading us as well. Since it’s hard to employ some good programmers, and they doesn’t come cheap as well, perhaps it’s time to bring all the partners under the same umbrella (or the same boat) and work together as a team in a more closely manner. I feel that we also need the synergy, as I felt apart from them and we aren’t really “working together” full heartedly in a “fulltime” manner to grow the company. I felt if you treat the company like a part-time affair, it shall remain a part-time business. I felt everyone should start bearing some risk, get out of their comfort zone, sit on the same boat and be responsible for the company, do or break kind of style. At least, it would force us to work together better and everyone would give all they have to make this work. When you burnt bridges, that’s where the real actions begin. If you still have your income coming from somewhere else, if you still feel too comfortable, if you still don’t need to take responsibility together, if this business is still a part-time affair (you didn’t spent most of your time working in the business, didn’t you, although you though that you might have gave priority to the business), I don’t see the company would have any future in it.

I have a heated argument with the partners, and they disagree with my view (they would not want to come in to work in the company). They have their reasons and arguments, and I have my ideals. After some thought, I decided to exit the partnership, since I don’t believe I could work under such arrangement for long term (basically I don't believe in the idea of going through the partnership in this manner). On the following week (after I state my decision to exit), they told me that they would leave their current company and bring some of their existing staff to work here. WTF! My first impression was that I was so screwed. I realize that they are not willing to leave their comfort zone until I force them to do so. As long as I am still there to guard the base, they could continue to remain in their comfort zone. So, it’s a loose-loose situation for me. It is ironic that I have to leave the company in order to have my ideal achieved. I was a money making machine for them, and they didn’t have my interest in their mind. I guess at the end, everyone is for themselves. I understand it’s just business, but I thought there is more meaning for the word “partnership” where we wouldn’t utilize others for our own comfort. I guess I was too ideal again, haha.

Is my decision correct? Like I always said, there is not so much of right or wrong, just what I believed and to stick with it. No turning back, no regrets. It’s time to think of survival and future plan from now onwards. I might have made some bad decisions here and there, but I don’t really know, do I? I know from the beginning business partnership is difficult, and I decide to give it a chance. Perhaps now I understand the formula for a successful business partnership slightly better (do I?). I still have a lot to learn, and to try, until I succeed someday.

After learning from some mistakes, what I should do next is the more important question.

Malaysia Software Business and IT Talent

I had not write for quite a while, not because nothing special is happening around me, but it’s just too much of them until I’m not quite sure what to talk about. Perhaps it’s a bad idea to jumble everything out in one post, as it would be too lengthy and might be lost at times. So, I’ll try my best to keep it lean and mean. BTW, my loyal readers (haha) ask me why I haven’t blog for quite a while, so here it is.

I said quite a while ago that business partnership is light marriage, and I think it is still true. And I just exited a marriage, haha. The good thing is, I am pretty open minded about it, though I had been married for a year by now. Isn’t all the time and effort wasted, I ask myself? Somehow I don’t think so, as I did learn something from it, and it sort of give me a better and fresher perspective, or at least a slight better idea on how to survive in the software business world. Life is not all about winning and success, although it would be ideal. A loser once said, failing is the mother of all success, so I kind agree with the loser.

I think the software business world is transforming quite rapidly in Malaysia for the past few years, and the barrier of entry for self-funded small startup had been raised. Why is it so? It’s because of the MSC is screwing our homegrown IT industry and giving funds and opportunities for MNC to suck our local resources dry. I was told MSC initial strategy is to help the local players, but they are too small and grow too slowly, thus it doesn’t look good on MSC's book. Then they decide to do some creative accounting and invite some global players, not only giving them tax break but to give them money as well so that they could suck on our local talents. Suddenly the industry had exponential growth, everyone is working in MNC using our own tax dollar and everyone is happy, except local ICT players. It had been harder to get local talents to fuel the business, and the cost of employment had gone up rapidly which the quality goes the other way.

I think more local talents are working for MNC nowadays, which could be a good thing due to the expected “Knowledge Transfer” effect which don’t usually happens very often. But I am worry for some fresh graduates who went to some initial high pay but dead end job, such as call centre and product support. Yes, you get RM 3000 or more as starting salary, which is absolutely very tempting. After a few years, you try to look for other job which pay higher than RM 3000, then you would found yourself in a dead end. You have no experience (taking call for years is not an experience to brag about), and taking another call centre job won’t get you higher salary or a better career. If you do product support, your career and experience restarted to ground zero when the product dies (or dying), which happens very often. Each product had an average life span of 5 years, and it’s a universal law each product will go down one day and being replaced by something else. If you choose a career such as a programmer (or Network Engineer or System Analyst), you might get paid a lesser starting salary, but at least you have a future as you gain skill and experience. You would be building upon a good foundation block, and could continue building upon it to get a better future.

My advice for the fellow fresh IT graduates of Malaysia out there:

• Programming is the most secure IT job out there in the market at the moment. Demand is always high, and supply is always low. It’s not an easy job, that’s why so many people choose not to do it. It requires passion, skill, patient and quite a lot of hard time.
• Don’t choose a job which could be outsourced to other country, such as a call centre job. Read the book “The World is Flat”. Someone is willing to take a quarter of your salary and work twice as long.
• Don’t depends your career on a product, or at least make sure the product had future (which I think is risky as well). Remember: when the product dies (either RIP or sales slowdown), you go down with it together.
• MNC could be quite merciless during cut cost exercise and retrenchment, so don’t ever feel too comfortable. Company loyalty (both way) is a thing of the past. Learning opportunity is always there, but be prepared for some surprises as well.
• Don’t be too specialized. Learn a few more skills, including soft skills. Even though you are a technical person, do learn a little bit about sales, marketing, business, management, communication and etc. Even though you are a Java master, do know a bit about .NET, PHP or C++.
• When you are a rookie, be patient and learn, think about money later (which will eventually come when you are really good). Humility is very important, and you could only afford to be arrogant when you are damn good. Don't be demanding or arrogant without something to support that.

Time had changed. I felt old now. God bless everything.

Work and Passion, how to do it?

I think once in a while, we would want to reflect on our life, especially about our job and what we would like to do. Then we try to think of our passion, about how we can chase our passion and whether we could afford to leave the things we are doing now. It’s a complicated thing, with a lot of concerns and uncertainty.

Today, I got a more systematic view about things and some small answers. Yes, we must chase our passion and do the things we like. Yes, money is important and we need it to support many things. So, we need the money before we can chase the passion. Unless we can turn our passion into money, else we will have to make enough money to support our passion.

So, how do we make the money? We can work very hard to make more money, but it shall consume all our time and energy. So, can we make money without working very hard? There is an idea of passive income, where it is the ability to generate income without actually working or physically attending the business all the time. What is the example of passive income? Perhaps rental gained from property investment, perhaps a website which automatically generates income with little supervision or perhaps a business which is run by a proper manager. Passive income means a mechanism which shall continue to generate income though we are sleeping at home and not going to work. Passive income does not means we don't have to work at all, but to work hard initially to create a system which can generate income without much participation from us at a later age. It's like a Money Making Machine. We create a Money Making Machine, and we don't become the machine itself.

So, why do we need to generate passive income? Can’t we work very hard to make the money instead? Yes, you could. The reason is to achieve financial independence. What is financial independence? It’s the day where we do not work for survival. As quoted by Robert Kiyosaki (famous for Rich Dad Poor Dad), it’s the number of days you can survived without working, and the number of days should be forever (at least until you die). So, how do I calculate that? The rough formula is your Net Worth (all your money and liquid able asset) divide by your comfortable daily expenses minus your passive income. So, the quickest way to achieve financial independence is to increase your net worth, reduce your actual expenses and increase you passive income. You could be super rich, or you could spend very little. Or, you could create a passive income which could actually match your expenses, and then you would have achieved FREEDOM.

Then you could work up in the morning; choose not to go to work, and start thinking of what you would rather be doing for the day. The idea is the easy part; the execution of the plan is the essence.

Bukit Wangsa Cheras a.k.a Ah Pak San (阿伯山)

This City Mountain is somewhere near Cheras, about 2 hours plus of trekking (5 stations) and you could choose to descent to a nice little waterfall. Though small, but it is still nice and cooling.

Direction: Along Jalan Loke Yew until you pass by Leisure Mall, look for a "Pasukan Pergerakan Am" sign or army base on your left (before the Toll). Turn left and go along until you reach a T-junction, then turn right and go along until you see some shop on you left. Turn left before the shops until you reached a new residential area named "Sunway Cheras". Bukit Wangsa Cheras is somewhere beyond "Sunway Cheras". There is an empty field there, followed a row of shops and followed by residential area. There shall be a lot of cars there during the weekend.

The steps are quite steep and challenging at some point, and should take around 2 hours to reach the top (station 5). There is not much of a view there, so your best reward is the waterfall. The descent to the waterfall is quite steep at some point, and the entire journey shouldn't take more than 3 hours (not counting the time you spent at the waterfall). There is a nice hut there build by the local community, and the place is just nice for 20 people or less.







Photo Links: Mei Ru's Multiply, Ah Bug's Multiply

Mount Bromo

The last day of the adventure revolve around Mount Bromo, which is relaxing yet interesting. We bunk at Lave View Resort, which looks like a resort in no mans land. We have to take a 4WD to go through some bumpy road which looks like Savannah, followed by ocean of dessert sands after it. It feels like we are being kidnapped and they try to hide us in some deserted place.

The resort is not bad, except for the hot water not working very well for the room upstairs. The food is decent. Anyway, it’s nice to be in a resort after battling Mount Semeru. We had a good night sleep, and the sleep is never enough.

We have to wake up early again to catch the sunrise at Mount Panajakan (I think) which oversee Mount Bromo. Bromo is a short little volcanic mountain, and the sunrise is on the far left of Bromo. The morning is still very cold, where we are in full winter suite and catch some local breakfast to keep us warm. The view point is pretty crowded with people with all sorts of camera, and the view is indeed worth it. Volcanic area in Surabaya usually seems dry and vast, and there is a kind of beauty attached to it.

Sunrise at Panajakan View Point

Out next stop is Mount Bromo itself, where we get to ride horse for around 10 plus minutes for RP 50,000 (about RM 20). Somehow, it seems fun and worth it, and there are a lot of horses running around. The ground is another piece of dusty dessert land, where we ride uphill and end up walking a couple hundreds of stair steps before reaching the top of Bromo. The smell of sulfur is obvious, and constant smoke comes out from the crater (not as magnificent as Mount Semeru). The view down is great, with mountains and vastness of dessert land. I saw a familiar scene of a walled structure in the middle of dessert, probably from those forwarded emails (or movie).

Bromo is behind us

Good Horsie

There seems to be a narrow path for you to walk around the mouth of Bromo, where a young European couple seems to be the only one talking the path. Too bad we are running out of time, and the path looks dangerous as well (Danger? Isn’t Semeru more dangerous?).

Some Hill around Bromo

Yeah!

Sandy Sand

The Adventure Team (us) split with the Reunion Team again after Bromo, where we proceed to water rafting. We had our photo session and all that. Again, the mountain area and its agriculture look beautiful and soothing to the eye. Sometimes, I do hope to live in the mountains, just that I am not sure what am I suppose to do there.

The water rafting is about 2 hour’s journey from Bromo, and it’s just Grade 3 (where Padas in Kota Kinabalu is Grade 4). Once you ride some big horses, small donkey is no fun at all. The experience is just so so, but since we already paid for it, why not. The local lunch is good, which some special jagung rice and small little salted fish (I probably eaten at least 20 of them, muahaha).


The journey ends with another 2 hours of travel and to rush for our flight. Air Asia didn’t come late this time, and we reach the air port 30 minutes before departure time. Alvin the Tiger book some front seat for us, and everyone is happy and tired. Mount Semeru is definitely memorable, and I am glad that we make it to the top. It is difficult, and perhaps it’s the difficulty which makes it worth it.

Photo Links: Mei Ru's Multiply, Wynn's Multiply, Michelle's Multiply, Tang's Multiply

Gua Tempurung

Chim organized an event to Gua Tempurung, where we spent a night at Ah Fong’s place in Tapah. I have to go through a meeting on Saturday which lasted from 10AM to 4PM, sacrificing my lunch and opportunities to visit the Property Fair for MMW. Mei Ru and I meet-up with Chim and company around 6PM at Siong Har’s place. His leg injury still looks serious to me (still bloated up), but friends and family claims it is getting better and he can start driving next week after 4 weeks of resting and treatment. On the same day, Christ and Wan Kam brought our Tai Kor for a weekend makan trip.

The journey is quite pleasant, where we had nice dinner at Tapah for RM 70++ for 5 persons, with pork, eel, fish, bean curd and “paku” vegetables (it’s a very good deal for me). Ah Fong’s hometown house is an old style wooden house which is super spacious. I saw a post-Atari era gaming console which uses tape cartridges, which is famous for games like Battle City and Galaxian. It was my first gaming console (when I was a kid) and I had so much fun with it, until my neighbor’s Sega and Super Famicon machine invaded the living room. Mei Ru had such a machine at home when she was young as well, thus she is quite addicted to it as well. Mei Ru and I had a few round before all of us hit the bed.

Grandfather Clock and Ah Fong, at her hometown's home

Breakfast at Kampar market, I think

Gua Tempurung is a HUGE cave, and it’s pretty hard to estimate the size of the hole from the outside. Entry is RM22 per person for the grand tour, which involved 3 hours plus of walking and include every corner of the cave allowed. There are cheaper and easier packages, but we are all hardcore mountain climbers with a reputation to keep, so we cannot take wimpy packages, muahaha.

Map of Gua Tempurung

The beginning involves some well paved track and quite some stairs. Our Guide, Mr “Andy Lau” (who happens to be a Malay named Mamat) show us some stones and stalagmite formations which shape like cat, tiger, dinosaur, Mona Lisa, Osama Bin Laden and etc. Some car drawings and wording on the walls by the Communist people, and the rest are just vandalism. The light is quite dim, so my video camera is pretty useless there, and my head lamp is not bright enough for it. Digital camera is still feasible, using the slow shutter, flash and keep the objects nearer.

Entrance

The Cave

Soon we leave the track and venture into the water streams, into total darkness with no more dim light but our head lamp. The water is not too cold, but refreshing. The tracks could get quite slippery and strenuous at some point, but it adds to the adventure. I won’t say that the cave has fantastic view, but it sure is huge and long (and probably easy to get lost as well). Certain part of the cave is extremely narrow and low, meaning that you have to crawl very low to go through it. If the place is slightly flooded, then you would have to hold your breath for a short distance (which seems very dangerous to me). Long pant and head lamp is definitely recommended, and make sure your car keys, wallet and electronic gadgets are water proof. Anyway, I think the most fun come out from the crawling in the water at the last part. I make a lot of effort to keep myself dry along the way, but all the effort is wasted in the end.

Tricky Rocks, crawl people crawl

There is one part where we need to slide down through some rocks, which are a few meters high. There aren’t any proper steps, so we need to slide gently. Chim is the first one to go (after the guide), and the whole cave is echoing when he stomp on the ground. There rest made it easily, as there is someone down there to hold their feet.

Man Hole

At the end of the journey, we get to enjoy some water Jacuzzi in the cave, which is a first time for me. The water is cool, and the ceiling view is one of a kind, and it’s not hot. The rock is smooth but not too slippery, and we could sleep on it and let the water flow across our body. It is nice, relaxing and enjoyable.

One of a kind, Cave Jacuzzi

The entire journey is nice and not too strenuous for us, so it’s quite a fun and relaxing trip. We meet up with Xiong Har and gang at Ipoh for lunch, where we eat at the famous Ipoh White Coffee Nam Heong shop. The food is good, and we try to get as much of Ipoh famous dish such as White Coffee, Dessert, Tauge Chicken, Salted Chicken, Soy Bean and etc.

Ipoh food, 2 thumbs UP!

The day ended safe and well, and thank you Chim for organizing and Ah Fong for the friendly hospitality.

PS: While Blogging about Semeru haven’t completed, Gua Tempurung had passed by. It takes a lot of time and effort to be able to keep track of everything.

Photo Links: Mei Ru's Multiply, Ah Bug's Multiply