Aquarium Fan Review

Jebo (small one) - very noisy since day one. Powerful? Well, I can accept it but as it becomes older, it's so noisy that I have to send it for retirement permanently after several attempts to clean & oil it.



Jebo (twin fans) - very quiet compare with the single fan one. I find it not powerful and getting worse as it gets old. I have 2 of these. After several years....1st set got a damaged fan (meaning only 1 of the twin fans is working). 2nd set is working but totally not powerful.
Ista (small one) - Very powerful - will beat Jebo anytime. Very noisy...it's very obvious at night.


Mr. Aqua Super Tornado Cooling Fan - In terms of noise level, this is the best option so far - very quiet indeed. It's so quiet that I thought it was not turned on. It's not as powerful as Ista's but in comparison with Jebo's, it's very good. It's rather bulky and heavy though.



Dymax fan - I was told by the LFS that the quality is uncertain. It may last only 3-4 months if you're unlucky. I did not bother to check it out after hearing such comment from the LFS.

I have tried another fans which I cannot remember the brand - it is white colour and the box has Japanese words. It is totally not powerful at all.

Useful Simple Techniques In Aquascaping

Some simple useful techniques used in aquascaping and fish keeping:

1. Before pouring water, place a clean plastic bag or even the plastic bag of aquarium soil to cover your plants and soil. Pour the water onto the bag to avoid messing up the new plants and soil.

2. Create a slope that is higher at the back and lower at the foreground to create depth.

3. To prevent landslide, use rocks to block the soil.

4. Cheaper way of creating a higher slope at the back of the tank is by using lava rocks underneath - save the cost of aquarium soil.

5. Since most of us don't use any hood for the planted tanks to prevent heat being trapped in the tank leading to higher temperature (not good for the plants), if you have jumpy fish, place cards (old credit cards, points collection cards, etc), the green dishwasher pads, etc to cover up 4 corners of the tank to reduce suicidal cases of fishes. Not proven with Hatchet fish though.

6. Cannot find driftwood of the shape you want? Use aluminium wire tied to a driftwood to create fake branches. Cover the aluminium wire with black filter wool tied to the aluminium wire to cover up the wire. You may tied some moss over the fake branches after that. Don't over do it! Otherwise the tank will look very unnatural.

7. Algae growing on plants? Turn off your filter. You can try shooting Seachem Excel onto the affected areas with a shringe and leave it for about 30 minutes before turning on the filter again. Some sensitive plants will die as well. I have done that with Cryptocoryne wendtii, Anubias nana and Echinodorus tenellus. Don't try it on Vallisneria sp. Very useful to fight BBA.

Beware of Highway Con Men

When driving at Federal Highway, beware of some Indian men offering to help if your car breaks down. One of them is around late 40s/early 50s and another one is late 30s/early 40s.

Here's my first hand encounter. 1 motorcyclist passing by pointing at my tyre. 2nd bike (Indian man) passing by also pointing at my tyre. I came down from my car and saw my tyre full of pink coloured oil with some smoke. 2 Indian men on a bike offered to help. When trying to drive the car, I realised the brake was not working. Thinking it's a minor issue, I let them help. They took the tyre out saying the brake disc needed to be sent to the workshop to be checked. The partially bald Indian guy stayed back with me. The younger one went to the workshop. I received a call via the handphone of the bald Indian man from a Chinese lady asking for my car model in order to get the right replacement part. The younger Indian guy came back with the parts and the bill was over RM1900. They asked me to pay on the spot with additional workmanship cost. I had not enough cash and no ATM card. I paid them RM100 after some argument. They left and left behind a handphone number for me to contact them if I wanted to pay up. The phone number is 016-9192917 (owner is VJ/Dewa/a complicated Indian name). I sent the car to my personal mechanic. My mechanic told me it was a con job and the car replacement part was not so costly - I was the second victim among his customers. The first victim encountered the same scenerio.

The bald man told me his name was Suresh. The younger one he said was Dewa but when I asked the younger guy for his name, he gave me a complicated Indian name. Then he shortened it to VJ. I believe no real names were revealed. The workshop's receipt was in Segambut but it took less than 30 minutes for the younger guy to reach back Federal Highway (near Mid Valley) - this is fishy. I think this is a con job collaborated among Indians and Chinese.

After sitting down to analyse the Indian men, I realised there are a lot of fishy matters about them. The bald guy told me they worked with Petronas but later in the conversation he switched to Shell. So I asked him whether it's Shell or Petronas. He said his Chinese boss owned Petronas and Shell gas/petrol station.

Fishy Issue # 1: Neither of them were wearing Petronas or Shell uniform.

Fishy item #2: If I were a big boss of Shell or Petronas, I would kick the hell out of their Chinese boss for collaborating with the competitor.

Fishy item #3: I don't think there's any Chinese owning Petronas gas station.

They don't dare to accept cheque and online banking transfer. They only dare to accept cash, so they cannot be traced.

The con men probably took my original brake disc for trade in and got the re-con one for me.

The men claimed they're originated from Penang island but working in Brickfields and stayed in Bangsar. Now I am looking out for any suspicious looking Indian men around me in case they come for revenge...

CO2 Cylinder Refill/Purchase - Syarikat City Corporation

For those who are into aquascaping, the best location to refill CO2 and purchase CO2 cylinder is:

Syarikat City Corporation,
30, Jalan 13/108C,
Taman Sungai Besi,
57100 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-79836366 or 03-79833214
Fax: 03-79813344

The company opens at 9am daily (except Sunday). Please take note that they work half day on Saturday.

The price is lower than any of the local fish shops. The waiting period is also faster than any of the fish shops as you get the refill on the spot. No waiting period of a few hours or even days.

Recently I have found out that the cost of refilling CO2 has increased. It used to be RM10 for any sizes of CO2 cylinders but that's no longer the case now. Here's the CO2 refill price list:

5 lbs - RM12
10 lbs - RM22

The price of CO2 cylinder has gone up too. It used to be RM120 for 5 lbs CO2 cylinder and RM150 for 10 lbs CO2 cylinder if I am not mistaken. The current price list of CO2 cylinder with gas is:

5 lbs - RM140
10 lbs - RM160

Laos - Jewel Of The Mekong

It's not so common for travelers to visit Laos comparing with the rest of South-East Asian countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, etc. I personally only aware of two friends who have visited Laos - a Malaysian and a French. One of them gave me some good pointers about the country that was totally unknown to me. Yes, I had a sense of insecurity.

Kuang Si Waterfall:
A Very Friendly Hmong Lady Who Let Us Visited Her House:
Hmong Village:

The noodle I love:

Street of Luang Prabang:

It's good for me to find out by myself that Laos is in fact safer than my own country. I did not see any criminal activities there. Nobody will try to cheat you like the Vietnamese or Chinese. Yes, they may hike up the price knowing that you're a foreigner but you can bargain all the way down to the price you're happy - this is a pretty common practice in South-East Asia. The living standard has gone up in recent years due to the hike of petrol price. I could no longer get 50,000 kip taxi ride to the airport. Instead it cost me 70, 000 kip. T-shirts cost around 15,000 kip. Lao coffee powder was purchased at Luang Prabang for 50, 000 kip a bag but later found out they were available at 32,000 kip in Vientiane. Currency exchange to kip can only be done in Laos. Thai baht and US dollar are widely acceptable. 10,000 kip is about USD1 or RM4.

Tuk Tuk - The Main Transportation In Laos:


A Stupa At A Temple In Luang Prabang:

Bring along a torch light if you are afraid of the dark because their electricity availability is inconsistent. You may encounter sudden black out while walking half way on the street in total darkness, but it would last only a few seconds.

A Temple In Luang Prabang (Forgot The Name):

My trip basically covered the UNESCO site, Luang Prabang, and Vientiane. Luang Prabang is ideal for nature lovers especially if you fancy waterfalls (i.e. Kuang Si waterfall and Tad Sae waterfalls). Just bear in mind that there's no water at Tad Sae during dry season. I skipped Tad Sae waterfall. I decided to skip the cave because I did not know how to appreciate caves. I also skipped the cruise at the Mekong river because to me it's just another muddy river. There were plenty of temples to visit such as Wat Xieng Thong, Wat Visoune, etc. Try searching via Google and you will find plenty of temples in Laos. In Luang Prabang, you can climb Phousi Hill to have a good view of the city by following a stairway path. There's a temple on top of the hill.

Shophouses along Mekong riverside:


Hawker At Mekong Riverside:
The people are generally friendly and helpful. They speak better English than Vietnamese. It's comparable to Cambodians. It's always useful to learn some basic Lao as you travel in this country. If you know Thai you will obviously know how to count 1 to 10 already because they're the same. Their language has some similarities with Thai. Knowing simple Lao helped me to bargain and seek for help easier. The following are some of the list of words I find useful:

Hello - sa bai dee
Thank you - khawp jai
zero -soon
one - neung
two - song
three - saam
four - si
five - ha
six - hok
seven - jet
eight - paet
nine - kao
ten - sip
eleven - sip neung
twelve - sip song
thirteen - sip saam
twenty - song sip
twenty one - song sip neung
twenty two - song sip song
thirty - saam sip
1,000 - phan
10, 000 - sip phan
100,000 - loi phan
now - diow nee
later - la gon
afternoon - tiang
morning - dthawn sao
evening - ton lang
night - kaang keun
today - meuh nii
tomorrow - meuh euhn
black - sii dum
white - sii khao
blue - sii faa
green - sii khiao
red - sii daeng
gray - sii ke thao
brown - sii nam taan
chicken - gai
beef - neua
fish - pbaa
shrimp - goong
egg - khai
vegetables - phaak
fruit - maak mai
bread - khao jii
rice - khao
rice noodle - pho
coffee - khaafeh
water - naam
juice - nam mak mai
hot tea - saa hawn
soap - saabuu
shampoo - saapom
pen - bik
how much is this? - anee tor dai?
I don't want it - khoy bor yak ow
no - baw
yes - maen laeow
please -kalunaa
I don't understand - khawy baw khao jai

In Vientiane, forget about Kao Lao Restaurant if you're seeking for cultural show and local food. The food was made for Westerner's taste and they taste awful for South-East Asian's taste. The cultural show is just 3 musicians playing their local musical instruments accompanied by one or two dancers with limited space for them to move. One of the hotel staff mentioned to me, "That's not true Laotian". It's not worth the money you have to spend for it. Look for other better option to spend your money. If you want to taste the real local food, try their street food if you dare. It's not very hygienic based on the way they hold the food with bare hands and I had stomach upset once but I believe it's not as bad as India.

It's a very relaxing and slow pace journey comparing with Bangkok or Hanoi. No traffic congestion. No rat race. Don't expect any huge shopping complex in Laos either. However there are some luxury hotels if you have money to burn. Night market and morning market are the places for shopping. Most of the stuff sold are cloth related handcraft and t-shirts. It is one of the lowest cost trips I have come across.

Vietnam - The Land of Dishonesty?

The trip to Vietnam is an eye-opener that everyone is trying to con you. The taxi drivers, the hotel owners and the hawkers are all trying to con foreigners that visit their country. I don't mind them hiking up the price but they way they try to cheat foreigners is so obvious and it clearly shows that they're not honest. Here are some personal experience:

1. Hotel Democracy's employee in Hanoi did not properly replace the bottles of mineral water and beer in my hotel room's fridge after the previous client left. The amount of the items listed on the door of the fridge was in Vietnamese that foreigners could not understand. On the last day, the hotel's management charged me for the mineral water that I did not consume. Luckily they did not charge me for the 3 missing cans of beer.

2. I bought some Vietnamese oranges that was supposed to be juicy and sweet as the one the hawker let me tasted. However, the ones I bought was different quality. They're juicy but not sweet at all. Even the colour of the flesh of the oranges looked different from the one I tasted.

3. A taxi driver in Hue tried to give all kinds of excuse to charge us extra even though the taxi fare had been agreed upon before we took his taxi. This proved that he was very dishonest and did not keep to his word.

4. The cheap Vietnamese t-shirts I purchased had all the colour faded and spreaded on all parts of the t-shirt. For the same price in Cambodia, I could get better quality ones. At least the Cambodians are more honest to tell me the difference between good quality and bad quality ones, even though the bad quality ones are not as bad as Vietnamese ones.

5. Roadside food vendors tried to sell large amount of food I did not need. It's an opportunity for them to make quick money by selling a lot to foreigners who could not speak Vietnamese. They would show you the unhappy face if you rejected the large amount of food and insisted on paying less for smaller quantity. I felt like walking away from such vendors a few times.

Generally, the Vietnamese are not honest. I am not saying all Vietnamese are not honest but the number of them that try to con you exceed the honest ones. I am not looking forward to visit this country again. I'd rather visit Cambodia.

There are also other elements that are not very positive about Vietnam:

1. Lack of public toilets. Men and women are very likely to end up doing their "business" in the bushes if you're traveling on a long distance public transport. Don't be surprise if you catch someone doing "business" in the middle of a field, even in Hanoi.

2. The beds on the train are filthy. I saw blood stain on the bed I was sleeping.

3. The toilet on the train is filthy but at least there's a toilet. There's no toilet if you travel by bus.

4. Drivers of public transport are reckless and drive very dangerously as well as speeding.

5. Public transport tend to be overloaded. You will notice passengers sleeping and sitting on the floor eventually as the driver try to make more profit.

6. The price of food is not cheap in Vietnam. They could be more costly than Malaysia sometimes especially when they try to rip you off. A restaurant tried to rip us off by charging us 100,000 Dong (~ RM15) per dish in a small town. Luckily, I decided to walk out of the restaurant.

7. All the food taste the same eventually. Malaysian food is still the best due to the influence from multi-culture.

MBPJ Strikes Again! FAS Tunnel Closure!

I have no doubt that MBPJ is run by idiots and morons. I have been trying to give them some credit but so far I can't find anything that they deserve to be credited. They can't plan. They can't solve any problem. That's ok! Unfortunately, they create more problems in the name of solving problems.

In Ara Jaya, these idiots have decided to close FAS tunnel because of large amount of traffic passing by that area. In other countries, they don't close any roads to ease traffic congestion. They build more roads to solve the problem. I doubt these government organisation ever looks East or West. They just look into their pants.

First, these idiots turned the old tunnel to Ara Jaya into one way and re-routed the traffic from LDP heading for Ara Jaya into FAS tunnel. Now FAS is going to be closed and all the traffic has to go through a longer route via old Subang Airport road. Do you see their idiotic idea solves any problem? Absolutely not! They're going to create more traffic congestion in Subang and more petrol will be burnt.

Is Malaysian authority being environment friendly? Yes, they're friendly in generating more CO2 to kill Mother Earth.

I am very disappointed by the relevant authority in this country that wastes the tax payers' hard earned money with all their brainless projects such as building roads to be closed or building tunnels to be closed.

Somebody please fire these idiots from their jobs! I don't mind if they sleep on their jobs but please don't destroy our lives and country!


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Latest Update:

Email is sent to MBPJ based on the email address posted on the notice board in Crimson but the result is:

"Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

mroslan@mbpj.gov.com

Technical details of permanent failure:
Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 550 550 5.7.1 <mroslan@mbpj.gov.com>... Relaying denied. Proper authentication required. (state 14)."


There is a massive traffic congestion in Jalan PJU 1A/41 and the old tunnel because of the FAS tunnel closure now at 8.00am on 22nd Apr, 2011.