Let’s go back in time when you were a little kid. Ever had a plane fly by you which got you all excited pointing at it soaring majestically across the sky? Well, I have.

Living near the Penang International Airport a decade ago, made me hear those roaring, thunderous sounds every other day.

I’ve always wondered how it’s like to stand at the restricted area of the airport runways to watch a plane go by up close. Thanks to MAS Plane Spotting session, a group of 20 bloggers & photo enthusiasts were selected to experience it for ourselves, with police escort too!

We were shooting away while he had nothing to do
I don’t blame him, do you? =P

It was insane for me (who despises early mornings) to drag myself outta bed to meet up with the rest at a very unearthly hour. Who wakes up at 6am on Saturday mornings? ROAR

Jon, Yatz, Myself & Aaron

I arrived Sepang with Wings, Yats and Dale. We were situated atop a hill to shoot the the planes. Click the pictures below for a clearer panoramic view of different angles of the runway

I reckon we were at the back end of the airport, as I saw lotsa cargoes being loaded onto the planes.

All I shot were mostly the arrival of the airlines at top speed – instead of departing, as what we initially hoped it would be.

Arrival of Air Asia!

Arrival of Indian Airlines!

But all hope is not lost! All of us relocated from Sepang and went to the front section of KLIA runway. This was that highly restricted and dangerous area I was talking about!

To get to the other side of the runway, we had to dangerously leap across the drain. No one was allowed to enter this zone, as anyone who does would be deemed a trespasser.

But with permission from MAS, we had access to this area. Whee! Most of our initial shots were either horridly exposed and we had trouble with getting our desired shots as the weather was too hazy and cloudy with extremely random sunny spots in the sky.

Very dull sky

Don’t mess with Mother Nature, she gets cranky at times! Ohwell, if ya can’t get shots of flying planes… shall we settle with flying birds instead?

I guess not. Let’s try again!

With a telephoto lens, I was able to get myself a handful of shots that I was pretty pleased with. The rest were – sadly – destroyed shots, exposures gone wrong! It was indeed a challenge for all of us, to shoot fast-moving planes taking off and those in the sky more than 200m away in this temperamental weather.

Check out the planes taking off from the runway -

Cathay Pacific Airlines from Hong Kong

Indian Airlines departing

and 3.. 2.. 1.
WE’RE ON AIR!

A captivated Esther & Jon

During this MAS Plane Spotting session, we were able to not only check out MAS Aeroplanes, but other airlines as well.

Apologies, my shot of the FedEx plane really did not do. Anyway, here are some of my successful shots of the other soaring planes :

GMG Airlines from Bangladesh

If you’re Malaysian, I’ll slap you if you don’t recognize this
Air Asia!

Indian Airlines from duh, India

It was nice of Jon, Esther, Salina and the rest to bring some snacks and water for us!

Stuffing our fat faces with ze muffin

Aaron & I

ChickenWings, Jason & I

Oh and thanks to Seet, each of us had a Polaroid shot for ourselves! Shake it like a Polaroid picha yo.

But there’s nothing like a Nikon shot.
Wanna see some proud Nikonians?

Bah, I’d better run for cover before the Canon,
Sony and Panasonic users skin me alive.

This whole experience made me somewhat more intrigued with planes and its aerodynamics. There must be very creative craftsmanship of a plane for it to lift itself thousands of meters above sea level!

All these planes in the 21st century have certainly gone a looooong way since creation of the 1st plane by the Wright brothers.

Imma share with you some useful information I’ve looked up :

MAS plane was slightly nearer for me to get a closer shot
And coincidentally managed to shoot its rear end as well!

I’m proud of our national airlines – aren’t you?
MAS rocks! It was a brilliant idea of having this whole event

Charity is always the way to go! I reckon most people/organizations are into the trend of offering aid or even contributing back to society. Coronar, a giant PR & Media corporation has recently taken their social responsibility to the next level by throwing a charity carnival for their 57 Foundation

But one who realIy caught my eye was Athena Beh. Her take on Mariah Carey’s ‘Hero’ was enough to blow us all away! One heck of a powerful voice, yo.

She handled the crowd really well with her wit and charm –no wonder, she’s one fine lady!

There was a hand spas and arm massage booth as well, with the adjacent booth selling finger food and fluffy soft toys for children.

Oooh and there was a body art booth too. Pretty painted faces and bodies were their main attraction! Alas, I didn’t have time to pimp my face as I was busy running around taking pichas.

But guess what I spotted from afar?

FYI The 57 Foundation covers areas such as educational funds, medical funds and natural disaster funds. I came back inside right on time catch the mock cheque presentation by Visiber Pte. Ltd.

Woots! Happy 1st birthday to Clive!
For those not in the know, Clive is a Lifestyle Men’s magazine packed full of yummy goodness; perfect for every man’s reading pleasure. Sponsored by Guinness, they chose Zouk’s mainroom as their den to party the night away.

Thanks to Randi the Account Manager of Clive, I was invited to attend their bash. Gracias babe!

Yay I like this angle

Lots of people were already thronging the entrance by 9pm, and I saved time off Josh from waiting for hours on end by passing him another VIP ticket at the entrance. Muahaha. Oh and randomly, I love the flare of the spotlight behind us.

Met up Griza & Tian Chad somewhere inside

Inside, it was waaay better than packed sardines – it was packed with urban party people! I made a beeline to the stage to get a better view.

This is 1 outta 5 of the finalists for Clive’s Ventures Out Race. Think Amazing Race ala Clive! Congratulations, I bet the entire journey was an adventure!

But unfortunately the winner of this challenge, Eric, was unable to attend this party. So he recorded a “grammy” video for all of us to watch via the Samsung LCD screens. Pretty ingenious ey

Grats dude!

A treasure hunt game was then in motion whereby the guests are supposed to hunt around for colorful cards to win themselves freebies and money-can’t-buy tickets to catch Arthur’s Day with the Black Eyed Peas. How can generous can one get? Now, that’s what I call rad.

It’s time to make way for more snazzy action! Emceed by both Mix.FM radio announcers wacky Pietro and the lovely Jay Menon, they made the condom-banana game and the sticky-tape game come to life.

A group of dudes were chosen from the crowd to partner with a bevy of beauties, which happen to be Clive Mag’s covergirls and other TV personalities.

Pietro being extremely suggestive in his jokes as usual made it sound extremely naughty and brought us to suspense as to what game was in store for them.

When the girls heard it they were freaking out! But they competed well against each other. C’mon babes, show ‘em men what we’re made of

The ladies were all supposed to pick a partner and wear condoms onto the bunch of bananas hung around the mens’ necks. The pair who could do it in the fastest time was declared the winner.

And you won!
Whooo fast fingers eyy babe?
LOL

Next, was the sticky-tape game. Pietro stuck duct-tapes onto the male volunteers and all their partners has got to do was to remove it off them. Pretty simple aye? But wait – there’s a catch! The ladies were only supposed to use their mouths.

Once the catch was announced, it was apparent that men and women will always be different in a certain manner. Check out the expressions I shot below –

Anyhoos, regardless of whatever they had in mind, they had to do it anyway LOL but they enjoyed it all the same with all the coy smiles and laughter on their faces.

The party ensued with lucky draws with the Grand Prize being a 3 days 2 nites stay at the Berjaya Tioman Resort. There were much hollas of joy in the house as more and more people bagged their freebies!

The lady above was over the moon when she walked away with a new Sony Ericsson cellphone. Sigh – some people get all the luck don’t they? ROAR.

After all the winnings and crazy cheers, the stage entertainment was coming to an end. Now, it’s up to you to take the party to full swing. DJs pumped up the volume and now, it’s only you, the dance floor and the whole party to enjoy all night long

Once again, Happy Anniversary to Clive and their team! Good Job! Oh and.. psst- I had extra stickers on me. Because I’m happy like that. Thanks Clive!

and *COUGH*
this is how you wear a condom
PUT ON 6 AT THE SAME TIME

no way, I’m kidding aren’t i?

Sorry dear readers! Was away for the weekend and have been busy with proposals and plans lately. Anyhoos, here’s the dirt on what I was up to one night – having gastronomic voyages as usual, but this time it’s in no where else but Bulgaria.

With an adorable Bulgarian serving me drinks!

Yup, I made a teeny weeny short trip to Penang for this much anticipated event. I was invited for the Penang Food Bloggers Food Gathering held on the 15th August 2009 in a very authentic restaurant called Vintage Bulgaria. For those who are geographically familiar with the Penang, it’s located in Hillside, Tg. Bungah.

Humble on the outside; but get in and you’ll be pretty impressed

There were altogether 3 levels of this Bulgarian Restaurant. The Penang Floggers had booked the entire 3rd level for 30+ pax. Oh and FYI, the dress code was either red, white or green as it was Bulgaria’s national colours.

Prior to the event, I went for a little walk around the whole 3 storey restaurant for a sneak peak at its interior. So guys, Imma take you on my lil visual tour now aye?

Upon entering

The bar

You dine here!

Families enjoying their dinner on both the levels
seperated by a semi-spiral wooden staircase

Very authentic aye? I adore the wooden furnishings, pebble walls and the wheel-shaped chandelier. Makes you feel so at ease – just like in the comfort of your own home. Now, this is the kinda setting that completes a wonderful dining experience.

Street lamps

Couldn’t resis camwhoring with it

Lights, camera, let it roll!

Anyway, remember the adorable Bulgarian that served me mango juice? Well, that’s actually the restaurant manager – Andre. He personally made his rounds to entertain and helped the guests.

The drink that kickstarted the event

We were served an entire set meal which consists of a few choices of entrees, main courses, desserts and drinks. I OBVIOUSLY chose fish as my main course being a hardcore fish lover – but Imma share all the dishes that we had anyways.

The waitress serving our choices of soups

Choices of :
Mushroom Soup served with vintage garlic bread
and
Seafood soup

I preferred the Seafood Soup anytime, very much better than most Seafood Chowders I’ve tried. The Mushroom Soup was not to bad as well, with that piece of vintage garlic bread, they can never go wrong.

Time for the main course!
Here were the choices :

Chicken Stroganov
It was boneless chicken drumsticks cut into strips cooked
with mushroom, cream, wine, herbs and spices

Chicken was relatively tender and I absolutely love those capsicums. The sauce had this tangy and unique taste too. Not a bad choice for poultry lovers!

The Bulgarian Platter
There were a mixed grilled trio of Bulgarian sausages and pork fillet

I found this rather bland, which tasted like almost any other pork fillets and sausages. It wasn’t a favorite among my tablemates as well. It wasn’t bad though as it was pretty filling, but could be better.

Plovdiv Ribs
They were tasty pork ribs grilled till tender

My grandma would love this. Pork ribs had always been a usual for our family dinners back at home, and this one was grilled to its finest and had the authentic taste of how pork ribs should always originally be.

My choice of dish
Baked Codfish with Creamy Mushroom sauce

Two words – AMAZINGLY FRESH. Love the texture too. Sorry but hey, I’ve always been partial to fish. So what else can I say but give a biased opinion about this dish? LOL anyways, the peeps at my table had a bite of my fish and all of them agreed in unison.

But as much as a hardcore fish fan as I am, nothing comes close to this winner

Bulgarian Pork Djolan
It’s their traditional roasted pork knuckles

Succulent, bursting with flavour and unlike any other. All of us gave this Pork Djolan a thumbs up and even requested for more. This was all before I was told that it was an all-time favorite among the previous crowds of customers.

Good till the very end
A must try – no doubt about that!

As a wrap to our heavy portions of main courses, came the desserts. We had choices of Chocolate Soup and Chocolate Creme Brulee. They were both cocoa based, but my choice would definitely be the Chocolate Soup… hands down!

The smooth and creamy taste of chocolate
is now drinkable!

We set to work the cameras, pens, notebooks and our tummies. And even camwhored along the way! Well, all work and no play makes bloggers a dull one, no?

Pic courtesy of Ken

She mastered d art of camwhoring on the 1st lesson!
Woots jie!

With buddy Ken

With ‘big sis’ Anna

With Restaurant Owner Sylvia & Restaurant Manager Andre
Woo hooo for Bulgarians in the house!

This event was also sponsored by a local cake house, Winter Butterfly Homemade Cakes and a gellato outlet, Gelatisimo. Gelatisimo outlets are branched in Penang’s Gurney Plaza and KL’s Mid Valley Megamall.

Rich and abundant Oreo crumbs
My fave of the day

Camwhored with the Gelatismo boss
Great idea of opening his outlet in Gurney!

HAPPY 4TH TO THE PENANG FOOD BLOGGERS!
Thank you for a wonderful time