Happy New Year 2009!

Greeting from me, Vincent Loy to all who viewed my blog:

Best wishes and luck to all!

May u have the upcoming year with happiness and joy! Enjoy year 2009!

—- This is my  blog 50th posts..celebration to my blog too! Hurray!…

Congratz my blog…haha…

Ending the year 2008 with 50 posts…and over 1000 views from u all! Great results for me!

Bye, see u all next year! — +++ — +++ — +++ — +++ — +++ — +++ —

Repost: Love Melody from TVB drama “Pages of Treasures” by Alex (Eric Suen) with Hill (Vivien Yeo).

Play the video and listen to the melody while viewing my blog! Thanks!

Wonders of the World (compilation of all)

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: (all destroyed except Great Pyramid)

• Great Pyramid of Giza
• Hanging Gardens of Babylon
• Statue of Zeus at Olympia
• Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
• Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus
• Colossus of Rhodes
• Lighthouse of Alexandria

Honourable mention: Ishtar Gate.

Seven Wonders of the Medieval World:

Stonehenge

Colosseum

Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa

Great Wall of China

Porcelain Tower of Nanjing

Hagia Sophia

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Honourable mentions: Taj Mahal, Cairo Citadel, Ely Cathedral, Cluny Abbey.

Seven Wonders of the Modern World:

 – Channel Tunnel.

– CN Tower.

– Empire State Building.

– Golden Gate Bridge.

– Itaipu Dam.

– Delta Works.

– Panama Canal.

New Seven Wonders Foundation’s seven wonders of the world: (the exact list)

– Great Wall of China.

– Petra.

– Christ the Redeemer. (the eighth wonder)

– Machu Picchu.

– Chicken Itza.

– Roman Colloseum.

– Taj Mahal.

– Great Pyramid. (Honorary candidate)

USA Today’s New Seven Wonders:

– Potala Palace.

– Old City of Jerusalem.

– Polar ice caps.

– Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.

– Internet.

– Maya ruins.

– Great migration of Serengeti and Masai Mara.

– Grand Canyon. (people’s chosen eighth wonder)

Seven Natural Wonders of the World:

Grand Canyon

Great Barrier Reef

Harbour of Rio de Janeiro

Mount Everest

Aurora

Parícutin volcano

Victoria Falls

Seven Wonders of the Underwater World

Palau

Belize Barrier Reef

Great Barrier Reef

Deep-Sea Vents

Galápagos Islands

Lake Baikal

Northern Red Sea

Seven Wonders of the Industrial World:

SS Great Eastern

Bell Rock Lighthouse

Brooklyn Bridge

London sewerage system

First Transcontinental Railroad

Panama Canal

Hoover Dam

Man-made travel wonders

1. Giza pyramid complex
2. Great Wall of China
3. Taj Mahal
4. Machu Picchu
5. Bali
6. Angkor Wat
7. Forbidden City
8. Bagan Temples & Pagodas
9. Karnak Temple
10. Teotihuacán

Natural travel wonders

1. Serengeti Migration
2. Galápagos Islands
3. Grand Canyon
4. Iguazu Falls
5. Amazon Rainforest
6. Ngorongoro Crater
7. Great Barrier Reef
8. Victoria Falls
9. Bora Bora
10. Cappadocia

The compilation above are all related to the seven wonders of the world.

All info obtained from wikipedia. For more detail, please refer to wikipedia too. Want pictures, search for yourself to find the beauty of the wonders!

Really wished to go to every wonders listed above, all around the world…haha..which is almost impossible..

current Top 10 tallest buildings in Kuala Lumpur

let us see the top 10 tallest buildings in Kuala Lumpur (my hometown), the capital city of Malaysia which are all over 200 metres tall.

one of the booming cities in South East Asia besides Singapore and Bangkok.

1 & 2. Petronas Twin Tower -452m, 88 floors, current world tallest twin buildings, former world tallest buildings, designed by Cesar Pelli. (1998)

3. MenaraTelekom – 310m , 55 floors. (2001)

4. Menara Maybank – 244m, 50 floors. (1988)

5. Empire Tower – 238m, 62 floors. (1994)

6. Maxis Tower – 212m, 49 floors. (1998)

7. AM Bank Finance Building – 210m, 50 floors. (1998)

8 & 9. Berjaya Times Square – 203m, 48 floors. (2003)

10. K Residence Tower – 202m, 50 floors. (2008)

huh..there are actually a lot of highrises at Kuala Lumpur which has over 230 buildings approximately….majority of them clustered in the city region to create a beautiful skyline…

however, at night the buildings are not decorated with colourful lights..a lot of them are just dark and can’t be seen at night..only Petronas twin Towers and Kuala Lumpur Tower that are brighten with beautiful lights.

The KL Tower (421m, 15 floors) (1995) – fifth tallest telecomunication tower in the world.

the Kuala Lumpur skyline:

Beijing National Stadium

commonly known as Bird Nest stadium or Beijing Olympic Stadium…this stadium is a real engineering marvel for us…great architecture here too…

 – located in Olympic Green, Beijing, China (on a straight axis along with the Forbidden City and Tiannanmen Square). (refer to Google Earth and check it yourself)

– Designed and built basically for the beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games and for future athletics sports or other events.

– Costs US$423 million, world largest steel construction.

– Designed by a Swiss architecture firm, Herxog and de Meuron in April 2003.

– Originated from the Chinese ceramics, implemented steel beams in order to hide supports for the retractable roof for the appearance of bird nest.

– later the design of retractable roof is removed after considering some recognizable aspect and to reduce budget.

– Ground breaking ceremony on 24rd December 2003.

– Official opening of the stadium on 28th June 2008.

– On 14th May 2008, the grass filed of 7811 square metres was laid in 24 hours.

– Was a joint venture among architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, project architect Stefan Marbach, artist Ai Weiwei, and CADG which was lead by chief architect, Li Xinggang from China.

– The basic design principles are being porous, collective building, a public vessel and a nest scheme.

– consists of two independent structures, standing 50 feet apart; a red concrete seating bowl and the outer steel frame around it.

–  24 trussed columns encase the inner bowl, each one weighing 1000 tonnes.

– Original seats capacity designed: 100 000.

– After removal of roof and simplification of design, the seats capacity becomes 91 000 for olympic.

– After the olympic, the seats is now reduced to 80 000.

– it is the world 21st largest stadium in terms of seats capacity (91 000)

– the farthest seat is 140 metres from the center field.

– temperature and air flow of every surface were optimized to increase ventilation.

– removal of retractable roof after incident of collapse of roof at Charles de Gaulle International Airport reduced the construction budget to US290 million from US$500 million.

– the structure is now lightened, which helped it to stand up to seismic activity.

-construction: 17 000 workers.

– 110 000 tonnes of steel made in China was used.

– considered as the most important public space in Beijing.

– hosted the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games (opeing and closing ceremonies) as well as atheltics sports and football.

– famous quote by the chief architect of CADG, Li Xinggang:

” Why does a Chinese bowl or a Chinese window have this kind of pattern? Maybe the Chinese people like things to appear in this irregular way, but underneath there are very clear rules. The Bird’s Nest developed in this way”

huh..quite a lot of info regarding this stadium..i love this stadium..and i will be going to Beijing next Chinese New Year to see it myself…yeah! can’t wait for that day to come!

26th of December..christmas is over..

time passes so fast..the long awaiting christmas is over..and now we are all waiting for new year countdown celebration…

today is 26th of December in year 2008, a normal day (a Boxing Day actually)…but when we looked back to the same date in 4 years ago, year 2004, something terrifying the Earth had happened

i think everyone knew what i am trying to say…and yes…the Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami,,,

the day after all the christmas celebration along the beach comes to a sudden miserable day when gigantic waves strike…everything just went into rubbles in the waves’ direction….

the tsunami took over 225,000 lives and affected fifteen countries, Indonesia(worst hit), Sri Lanka(worst hit), India(worst hit), Thailand(worst hit), Somalia, Myanmar, Maldives, Malaysia, Tanzania, Seychelles, Bangladesh, South Africa, Yemen, Kenya and even Madagascar.

it is the second largest earthquake ever recorded by a seismograph with a magnitude between 9.1 to 9.3

This earthquake had the longest duration of faulting ever observed, between 8.3 and 10 minutes. It caused the entire planet to vibrate as much as 1 cm (0.5 inches) and triggered other earthquakes as far away as Alaska.

pictures and info taken from wikipedia…

may god still bless those who have lost their lives under this unpredictable and disastrous tragedy…take this day as a remembrance day…

What have I done in year 2008?

before year 2008 really ends..i would like to list down some important things of which I have done throughout the year…

Places I have been to: (Oversea)

1. Taipei, Kaohsiung, Taichung (Taiwan) – Chinese New Year holidays.

2. Chiangmai, Chiangrai (Thailand) – Hari Raya holidays.

Top 5 most favourite TVB dramas that I have watched:

1. Heart of Greed aka Moonlight Resonance.

2. D.I.E.

3. Forensic Heroes 2.

4. Wars of in Laws 2.

5.The Four.

Runescape (my only online game):

1. completed all the special holiday events (Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas)

2. completed all the non-member quests and achievement diaries.

3. speed up my combat level till level 70 (my current target)…reached..now..just stop on training my combat already…very tired..

4. achieved over 200 friends (maximum for non-member).

5. have gone adventuring through every parts of the non-member land.

Online accounts that I have:

1. Friendster

2. Tagged

3. Facebook

Masterpiece that I have done for university assignments:

1. Models.

2. Presentation boards.

3. Projects.

4. Oral presentations.

5. Other assignments (uncountable).

—in year 2008, i am pursuing Foundation in Built Environment (architecture)…did a lot of works already…huh..a lot of challenges ahead !

—creating and writing on the only blog: this blog..haha…very active! u will see me always updating my blog with interesting posts!

drawing of the skyline of Kuala Lumpur..

this drawing is totally and 100% drawn by me..copyright reserved!

actually, i drawn this one long time ago in one A3 sized cartridge paper…now feel like want to promote my masterpiece..so put the picture of it up here..to let u all see and view!

actually, the locations of the buildings drawn are estimated to be in the position drawn..some are compacted together so that it fits into one A3 size paper…the height of the buildings drawn are approximately based on scale..quite accurate!

hope u all enjoy my drawing..i think i have drawn it for around 4 hours..appreciate it!haha..no joke..very serious when drawing this..i got a big interest in drawing the skyline of my hometown city, Kuala Lumpur, which currently ranked 8th in the world!i think KL deserves a higher ranking compared to others above like Singapore and Toronto.

if u are malaysian and live at KL, can u identify each buildings drawn here? if u can, then u are KL skyline fans too…haha

boring christmas…

no where to go..just stay at home…watch tv…..play computer, online…..write this post…haiz..

in Malaysia, no snow, no winter, no real santa, no real christmas tree, no present, no surprise, no fireworks, no feeling at all!

like ordinary day only..go learn driving for second time..quite nervous..but still can control the car then okay lah…by next year february i can drive already..yeah! anyway, wish u all merry xmas again! because it will be almost over!

did santa dropped by in front of ur house and left u a present? I didn’t, but i did hang up my unwashed stockings for him to smell if he really come! Haha…joke only….Ho!Ho!Ho!

expectation on new year 2009 fireworks..

a new year will come, fireworks is like a must in every city like London, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Sydney, Singapore, Taipei, etc….

everybody shouts and cheers in the crowd..countdowning from 10 to…new year! then will be absolutely followed by ..bing!bang!bong!FIREWORKS!

i love fireworks very much..because it is beautiful, fantastic, and will only be displayed for few minutes once or twice in a year…so can’t miss it!

this year i would like to watch the fireworks display by Taipei 101 (the current world tallest building)… this skyscraper had already hosted new year fireworks for 4 years until 2009, at first, they said no more fireworks..but then spirit is high and every Taiwanese as well as others (like me) oso demand for fireworks again! and then they have it! Hurray!

According to http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=810854&lang=eng_news&cate_rss=news_Fun_around_Taiwan,

this time fireworks will cost NT$30 million too (same with previous year) but with some fireworks of different style, all running for 188 minutes(same with previous years too). 16 000 bursts of explosives will be used and will be highlighted in three colours (red – auspicious colour in Chinese culture, gold – wealth and prosperity despite the recent global financial crisis, green – love of earth and nature)…very symbolic and meaningful!

The fireworks will be environmentally-friendly, which means smoke produced will be reduced intensely…The bursts of fireworks will produce not only a visual effect but also a sound effect….The spectacle will duplicate the exciting whistling sounds of Yenshui’s exploding beehive rockets. In addition, an image of possibly a pair of hearts is to evolve for all to see but this is still technically being tried and tested…….

The pyrotechnic bursts normally go up but this time all those watching will see an unprecedented and patented reversal of direction of the fireworks to create the effect of having the image appear at a high point first only to be brought increasingly nearer to the crowd watching from the ground below…

more detail of the upcoming 209 fireworks at Taipei 101..please go to

http://www.taipei-101.com.tw/ch/Corp/news/news_detail.asp?id=132

for me, i think Taipei 101 looks like exploding during fireworks..haha…the style of fireworks affected everyone thought of the fireworks at Taipei 101…

at my hometown KL,a lot of places will have fireworks display..Sungei Wang Plaza, Dataran Merdeka, KLCC (Petronas Twin Towers), Sungei Wang Plaza..and many others…but the fireworks here are not pretty nice..just normal..but at least better than nothing…

last year countdown to 2008, i saw the fireworks at KLCC..wao..8 minutes long..a lot of fireworks.but boring style and synchronisation..got music, but no style…haiz..only few parts are interesting..but i expect and wished to see more styles of fireworks in KL with better synchronisation to music…fireworks doesn’t need to be in a very long period of time..the most important is it’s intensity and excitement!

let us look back on previous year countdown fireworks on different buildings…

a picture of Taipei 101 during 2008 new year fireworks!

a picture of Petronas Twin Towers during 2008 new year fireworks!

a picture of Two International Finance Centre during 2008 new year fireworks!

hong kong..uum..something spectacular is that the whole city is having fireworks display..other part very little fireworks only..the focus is on its current Hong Kong tallest, Two International Finance Centre…the fireworks looks typical with Taipei 101..with some style and trick of sequences…

other place i’m not sure..i didnt see their fireworks….if u have watched other places with fireworks..feel free to share ur view with me!…..

Happy New Year! Best wishes to all in the upcoming year of 2009!

recalling 2008..welcoming 2009

year 2008 is almost over..time really passes so fast..so quick..that memories still laid on those events happened over the year..let us recall back…

in this year, we have seen the greatest natural disaster after the boxing day tsunami few years ago…not only one..but two disasters on two different locations under the same continent, Asia…

all these happened in May, when on 3rd of May, we have seen the Cyclone Nargis killing over 133,000 people in Myanmar. On May 12, we have seen the 8.0 magnitude earthquake at Sichuan, China that killed over 87 000 people.

                                            The Cyclone Nargis (image from NASA)

                                                          Sichuan Earthquake

of course we have seen other natural disasters oso like Typhoon Hagupit, slight earthquake, blah..blah..blah…we do have man-made disasters too..mainly suicide-bombing, terrorist attack in Mumbai, train crash, riots, recent pirates hijacking at Somalia coast….

                                                      Terrorist attack at Mumbai, India.

in 2008, we have also seen some important political matters..presidential election of United States of America marking the first African-American president by next year, Barack Obama, political crisis at Thailand that shows resignation from three prime ministers due to violent demonstration especially at the two main international airports at Bangkok, as well as the uprising opposition parties in Malaysia showing the ruling coalition with slight majority win on 8th of March but losses of five states to the opposition…

             The 44th President-elect of USA, Barack Obama.

  Violent demonstration of anti-government protesters at Bangkok    Survanabhumi International Airport in November 2008.

Map showing states in Malaysia being lead by Barisan Nasional (government) and the opposition (PKR,DAP,PAS) after the general election on March.

we have also seen some of the good news  and events throughout the year..

The Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games is successfully held from 8th to 24th of August..the grandest sporting games of the world…with the most-watched opening and closing ceremonies as well.

    This year we have also seen as well as experience the Global Financial and Economic Crisis that struck United States before spreading towards the whole world, mainly Asia too…many people losing their money, some even declared bankcrupcy, some suicide, some borrow “shark loan”…haiz…in Malaysia, we experienced increasing food and fuel prices too..eventhough government lowered the fuel price ten cent by ten cent, it is still very high!! burdening…want to eat oso need to think..expensive?affordable?haiz..

in year 2008 we have oso seen something funny..but quite serious indeed..the current President of USA, George Bush is being attacked by shoes at the recent meeting at Iran in December, luckily he was not being hit..Iran people appreciated the brave journalist who threw shoes towards the most hated person in their lives and declared the day as the Throw Shoes Day! Haha…

For me myself in this year, i have passed it quite happily…in previous Chinese New Year, i have been to Taiwan with my family and relatives together…enjoy looking at Taipei 101 (the current world tallest building)..haha..i love this building a lot..

i have been to Chiangmai and Chiangrai at Thailand during Hari Raya holiday too…u can see my holiday experience at Thailand in my previous post..

this year, studying in Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, Cyberjaya, Malaysia in Foundation in Built Environment beofre proceeding to Bachelor of Architectural Science next year..

now i am already 17 years old..next year would be 18 for me…haha…old already….

huh..the most important thing is that I have started this blog in year 2008…haha..great! Loving Year 2008 with this interesting blog by me!haha..

Every thing can come in coincidently..like love in the air(the picture above)..so u r now coincidently reading my post..haha…

how do i welcome year 2009? hmm…like normal day loh…yes..countdown to 2009 is coming!!! hope i can go through 2009 happily too!!

Wish u all Merry Christmas and Happy New Year too!

Hope u all will keep on reading my blog next year too!! Thanks !!!

End the year 2008 with this post! Enjoy!