As appeared in Malaysian Naturalist, June 2018
Web link: Essence of water
Tuesday, June 13, 2023
Auto Chic-- Getaway car
As appeared in Options
The Edge -- Jan 10, 2011
The new X3 finds its place in the pantheon of BMW’s offerings and the multitude of four-wheel-drive vehicles zooming about in the market. by Ezanor MK
I’m “headin’ down the Atlanta highway”. But unlike the B-52s, I’m not looking for the “love getaway”. Instead, the new BMW X3 I’m driving is nosing towards Painted Rock Farm, where the international media are supposed to meet up at the mid-point range in the test-drive.
We’re in Atlanta, Georgia — which seems an odd choice for the launch of a model from the German carmaker — as evidenced by the number of eyebrows I raise telling people where the event is being held.
However, it’s clear in the mind of BMW that this is the place to be, with the US its major target market and the X3 produced at its sole American plant in Spartanburg, North Carolina, just a few inches on the map, but in reality some 274km from Atlanta.
The new X3, codenamed F25 — or BMW X3 xDrive35i (3.0 six-cylinder petrol) and BMW X3 xDrive20d (2.0 four-cylinder diesel) in full — the first variants launched, make a handsome bunch as they line up outside our hotel for the drive.
In metallic mineral silver and space grey, the sports activity vehicles (SAVs) — you can thank BMW’s niche categorisation effort for that — look slightly menacing, with their big kidney-shaped grills and high stance, but beautiful as the morning light plays on the curves and creases.
The new exterior has already garnered some positive attention from the press gathered here, and also on the Internet after the pictures were first posted some months ago, compared with the first-generation X3 launched in 2004.
Indeed, as I spot one example of its older brother, I can’t help blurting out — uncharitable though it may be — that, straight on from the back, it reminds me of Proton’s box on wheels, the Juara.
No real complaints about the looks of the F25, though, and as we set out, I also marvel at the luxe feel of the interior. Being in the passenger seat for the first leg allows me to look around, turning this way and that to peer at the rear seats and legroom (plenty of space there), bounce up and down in my seat (plush but not too squishy), run my fingers over the dash (high-quality plastic feels thick, but with a slight yield to pressure from my finger) and try out the cubbyholes (the one in the door will take my point-and-shoot camera but not my DSLR, while the glove compartment is also on the small side).
I’m mostly muttering to myself, at this point, as my co-driver, a veteran motoring journalist, is concentrating on getting us out of the city and onto the highway, as directed by the sat-nav, which is integrated into the centre console and features an 8.8-inch, high-resolution screen, the largest on-board monitor in its segment. However, this may be for the benefit of passengers, as well as children in the back — they can just look at the display to see how far it is to the destination, instead of asking “Are we there yet?” every five seconds — since the navigation runs alongside speed data in the head-up display.
Since it is also separate from the radio, when my co-driver isn’t looking (“Don’t mess with the controls, I don’t want to lose the sat-nav,” he had warned me), I tinker with the buttons until I find a station playing some light tunes to accompany our journey.
From the highway, we get on to some country roads, passing by glades of trees in wonderful fall colours, and soon it is my turn to drive. Me being so little, setting up for the right seating position takes a minute or two; the seat is boosted to the maximum height and moved forward slightly, the steering wheel is adjusted lower, and hey presto, I can actually see over the dashboard.
Reversing out of the petrol station where we had stopped, I forget to activate the reversing camera, which comes with a Top View system, and instead look out the rear window. It still feels miles away, but is easier to see out of than an MPV I once drove, despite the latter being all of 8cm shorter.
And because the X3 feels almost as big as a whale compared with the little car I’m used to driving back home, I gingerly ease it back onto the road, trying to keep in between the lines that seem to be too close to either side. I turn to my co-driver and ask if the roads in the US are smaller than in Malaysia. “No,” he replies laconically, “the car is big.”
At 4,648mm long, 1,881mm wide and 1,661mm tall, the F25 is 83 x 28 x 12mm bigger than its predecessor, bringing it closer to the X5 in size, and visibly bigger than the X1 at 4,454 x 1,798 x 1,545mm.
With the higher driving position, I lord it over the saloons and compacts that we pass. But, the F25 is no match for the Americans’ love for huge 4x4s, and I feel cowed as taller and more imposing Chevy Tahoes and pick-up trucks zoom past. It might find itself at home in Malaysia, though, among SUVs of a mostly similar size.
As for passenger capacity, it won’t fit 20, perish the thought, but five people will be more than comfortable. This disqualifies the F25 from carpooling a group of children to school or ferrying a big family for the balik kampung rush during the festive season, but a soccer mum would have no problems taking her children and all their kit to the field for practice, with the only possible concern being smudging the cream leather interior.
As for cargo space, 550 litres expand to 1,600 with all rear seats folded flat, and is plenty for a family’s luggage. The height of the hatch also makes it easy to load and unload, being neither too low, which might cause back problems, or too high, which could result in shoulder and arm strain.
With the eight-speed automatic transmission of the 35i, the drive is smooth, the engine ready to growl if pressed and content to purr when puttering along, which I’m doing, as I keep firmly to the back-road speed limits of 30mph (48kph) to 45mph. The unaccustomed height also makes me back off from taking corners too aggressively, though I suspect, with its four-wheel xDrive system, varying the torque to the front and rear wheels, and dynamic stability control, the F25 should act more like a saloon than a van, and offer great traction in the bends.
Following another stop, this time to take pictures of the F25 against the backdrop of the glorious autumn palette, my co-driver takes over for the last leg to the Painted Rock Farm in Palmetto, some 272km from where we started.
There, in the middle of a field, is a wooden pavilion — no rusting tin roof here — where we congregate for the launch briefing and lunch, which includes burgers and steaks right off the grill.
After lunch, we swap cars, and this time I set off in the 20d to tackle the 6.4km off-road course. Immediately, I forget that the diesel has a manual transmission and stall the engine. Luckily, with the Auto Start Stop function, it comes back to life as I press the clutch, and I just pretend that I meant it to happen that way. The Auto Start Stop function is great in that it conserves energy by shutting off the petrol engine when the vehicle is at rest such as at a traffic light. In everyday driving in KL though, I’m not sure I would be too thrilled with start/stop technology, especially as it has not become common in Malaysia. I can only imagine the embarassment, when you’re getting into gear — with the quite-loud rumble of the diesel engine, people around you might think that you’re turning back on the ignition after stalling. And in a traffic snarl, you’d be doing it repeatedly. I really don’t think I’m up for winding down the windows and telling the car next to me, “It’s a start stop thing, the engine cuts off … hey, where are you going?”
Lesson quickly learnt, I set off on the rocky trail of the off-road section, which comes complete with little stream, pitted paths and steep hills. Undoubtedly, the F25 is well up to the task, with its technologically advanced driving dynamics, drive train — the diesel engine churns out 184bhp and 380Nm of torque; the petrol, 306 and 400 — and braking. The steering also offers enough feel for me to catch a wayward rear slide and correct it — or perhaps the driving dynamics did that for me — without any heart-pumping, fishtailing action. So, the car won’t be shimmying wildly in conditions of less-than-stellar traction.
And, thanks to hill descent control at the touch of a button on the console, with speed set using the stalks behind the steering wheel, you can leave it to the vehicle to control your descent, without any drama — or indeed a foot on the brake pedal.
However, with a ground clearance of only 212mm, you won’t be able to take the F25 into our deep jungle, but it might do well on gravelly and uneven surfaces, such as the roads to the waterfall in Ulu Yam or a picnic spot by the river in Bentong, which would normally catch out low-slung saloons.
Job done, it’s time to head back. As the F25 meanders along the back roads, passing farms, patches of forest and the beautiful countryside of Middle America, I conclude that the new X3 is so placed — a middling vehicle, in terms of size, carrying capacity and off-road capability. Not quite a saloon, not quite a people carrier, not quite an off-road warrior. Perfect for a getaway then, for the average family with two children and a dog. Right in the middle — that’s where it’s at.
Web link: https://theedgemalaysia.com/article/options-auto-chic-getaway-car
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
A 'bisai hantap' time in Lawas for all
As appeared in Features
The Brunei Times -- Aug 25, 2007
SARAWAK'S northernmost town of Lawas usually suffers alienation due to its location, lack of size and infrastructure and from being just a spit of land between Brunei's Temburong and Sipitang in Sabah.
Travellers taking the road between Sabah and Brunei and further to the main body of Sarawak, have no real cause to stop in Lawas. Just two hours from the Sabah border and they're already in Temburong; another hour and they can stop in the bigger town of Limbang.
Last weekend, however, it was the place to be, as the biannual Lawas Fest turned the sleepy town into a hotbed of entertainment, competition and, ironically, camaraderie between neighbours who usually eye each other over the border hedge holding pitchforks. Figuratively speaking, of course.
The first sign of this link between the districts, separated for more than 100 years after the ceding of territories, is the theme of the Lawas Fest: "Maitah ke Lawas: Bisai Hantap, Ma Taga"
Some of you are nodding in understanding. But for those not in the know, it's an amalgamation of the three main dialects spoken in the area: Brunei Malay, Kedayan and Murut (otherwise known as Lun Bawang). Maitah Ke Lawas in Brunei Malay means "Come to Lawas" while Bisai Hantap is Kedayan and Ma Taga is Murut for "It's very interesting".
Pretty diverse for a small area with only 40,000 people, but that's Lawas, the last Brunei territory to be ceded to the Brooke administration in 1905.
The cleaving of the territories has since created great rivalries, especially in the sporting arena, which fits very well, of course, into the excitement of such a festival. Otherwise, there would be no hollering of encouragement and insults, no aching bodies, no sweat exerted for pride as teams from the territories of Limbang, Lawas, Beaufort, Sipitang, Papar and Brunei Darussalam battled it out in the regatta, top-spinning and the always popular tug-of-war.
And certainly no ringing of event venues with thousands of bodies, a sight which was impressive as the regatta went on -- hundreds of metres of river bank, on both sides of Batang Lawas, 10-deep with screaming spectators.
The excitement of the competition was even more, at times, than the entertainment offered at the three-day festival. Traditional dances, a police brass band, VIPs being pulled into dancing the "poco-poco" and a clown with balloons kept the visitors occupied on the first day in between events and trips to the food stalls, while the second day featured a concert and a fireworks display.
An event that was both entertaining and competitive was, of course, the bull race, a wholly local pursuit which was a crowd puller.
Laughingly called the Formula One (and Formula Two) bull race, the running of the beasts, with riders sometimes struggling not to slide off, was fun to watch not for the outcome, but for the handling of the ornery creatures.
Bulls are not racers by nature, and there is no one method which works in making the lumbering beasts head quick-time for the finish line, especially if you've created a track with corners. Some of the "cowboys" managed to get the bulls to go by pulling on their nose rings and tails at the same time, but that doesn't allow a free hand to steer. Some of the bulls only wanted to go in a straight line, and at the corner, the riders had to get down to change their bulls' direction by tugging on the rope attached to their nose rings.
Not too easy with some of the contestants, either, as they could see beyond the rope barriers a shady spot under a tree to munch grass, and headed for it with typical bull-headedness, pulling handlers off their feet in the process.
It was also a lesson in bull race engineering: the biggest bulls don't always win. They got to that size by sitting around eating, after all; those streamlined, aerodynamic models can go ahead and run and I'll just stand here looking very alpha-male, thank you very much.
The climax of the competition was, as usual, the tug-of-war, known here as tarik kalat.
A straight fight based on strength and determination, the men (and women, except in Brunei's case) competitors were heaving for pride and for glory, with supporters and spectators going for broke with their screaming probably heard all the way in the next district.
And in the final showdown for the title, with Brunei's eight brawny heroes taking on Limbang's men, the "neutral" spectators, those without their own teams to root for, were wholly behind the two teams.
It was a form of respect, in truth, for those who had gone far in the fight, and this encapsulated all that was good and great about the Lawas Fest a fostering of neighbourly ties.
The biannual fest is also part of Sarawak's plans to develop Lawas, the furthest town from capital Kuching -- all of 1,200km away -- bringing more attention to the area as the gateway to the northern part of the state. From there the highlands of Bario and Ba'kalalan are a mere six to nine hours by road, and more infrastructure is sure to improve Lawas's chances in the tourism industry.
A recent RM800 million ($364 million) budget from the Federal and State governments will go a long way to achieving that aim, which can only be strengthened by the organising of such events like the Lawas Fest.
The Brunei Times -- Aug 25, 2007
SARAWAK'S northernmost town of Lawas usually suffers alienation due to its location, lack of size and infrastructure and from being just a spit of land between Brunei's Temburong and Sipitang in Sabah.
Travellers taking the road between Sabah and Brunei and further to the main body of Sarawak, have no real cause to stop in Lawas. Just two hours from the Sabah border and they're already in Temburong; another hour and they can stop in the bigger town of Limbang.
Last weekend, however, it was the place to be, as the biannual Lawas Fest turned the sleepy town into a hotbed of entertainment, competition and, ironically, camaraderie between neighbours who usually eye each other over the border hedge holding pitchforks. Figuratively speaking, of course.
The first sign of this link between the districts, separated for more than 100 years after the ceding of territories, is the theme of the Lawas Fest: "Maitah ke Lawas: Bisai Hantap, Ma Taga"
Some of you are nodding in understanding. But for those not in the know, it's an amalgamation of the three main dialects spoken in the area: Brunei Malay, Kedayan and Murut (otherwise known as Lun Bawang). Maitah Ke Lawas in Brunei Malay means "Come to Lawas" while Bisai Hantap is Kedayan and Ma Taga is Murut for "It's very interesting".
Pretty diverse for a small area with only 40,000 people, but that's Lawas, the last Brunei territory to be ceded to the Brooke administration in 1905.
The cleaving of the territories has since created great rivalries, especially in the sporting arena, which fits very well, of course, into the excitement of such a festival. Otherwise, there would be no hollering of encouragement and insults, no aching bodies, no sweat exerted for pride as teams from the territories of Limbang, Lawas, Beaufort, Sipitang, Papar and Brunei Darussalam battled it out in the regatta, top-spinning and the always popular tug-of-war.
And certainly no ringing of event venues with thousands of bodies, a sight which was impressive as the regatta went on -- hundreds of metres of river bank, on both sides of Batang Lawas, 10-deep with screaming spectators.
The excitement of the competition was even more, at times, than the entertainment offered at the three-day festival. Traditional dances, a police brass band, VIPs being pulled into dancing the "poco-poco" and a clown with balloons kept the visitors occupied on the first day in between events and trips to the food stalls, while the second day featured a concert and a fireworks display.
An event that was both entertaining and competitive was, of course, the bull race, a wholly local pursuit which was a crowd puller.
Laughingly called the Formula One (and Formula Two) bull race, the running of the beasts, with riders sometimes struggling not to slide off, was fun to watch not for the outcome, but for the handling of the ornery creatures.
Bulls are not racers by nature, and there is no one method which works in making the lumbering beasts head quick-time for the finish line, especially if you've created a track with corners. Some of the "cowboys" managed to get the bulls to go by pulling on their nose rings and tails at the same time, but that doesn't allow a free hand to steer. Some of the bulls only wanted to go in a straight line, and at the corner, the riders had to get down to change their bulls' direction by tugging on the rope attached to their nose rings.
Not too easy with some of the contestants, either, as they could see beyond the rope barriers a shady spot under a tree to munch grass, and headed for it with typical bull-headedness, pulling handlers off their feet in the process.
It was also a lesson in bull race engineering: the biggest bulls don't always win. They got to that size by sitting around eating, after all; those streamlined, aerodynamic models can go ahead and run and I'll just stand here looking very alpha-male, thank you very much.
The climax of the competition was, as usual, the tug-of-war, known here as tarik kalat.
A straight fight based on strength and determination, the men (and women, except in Brunei's case) competitors were heaving for pride and for glory, with supporters and spectators going for broke with their screaming probably heard all the way in the next district.
And in the final showdown for the title, with Brunei's eight brawny heroes taking on Limbang's men, the "neutral" spectators, those without their own teams to root for, were wholly behind the two teams.
It was a form of respect, in truth, for those who had gone far in the fight, and this encapsulated all that was good and great about the Lawas Fest a fostering of neighbourly ties.
The biannual fest is also part of Sarawak's plans to develop Lawas, the furthest town from capital Kuching -- all of 1,200km away -- bringing more attention to the area as the gateway to the northern part of the state. From there the highlands of Bario and Ba'kalalan are a mere six to nine hours by road, and more infrastructure is sure to improve Lawas's chances in the tourism industry.
A recent RM800 million ($364 million) budget from the Federal and State governments will go a long way to achieving that aim, which can only be strengthened by the organising of such events like the Lawas Fest.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Who is this woman you call Mother?
As appeared in MyTake
The Brunei Times -- May 13, 2007
SHE'S the one who mops your brow when you're feverish, prepares your meals everyday, shuttles you to school like Michael Schumacher on caffeine, and sometimes sets down the law like a policewoman. But what do you really know of the woman you call Mum as a person?
Does she have a wicked sense of humour? Is she the life of a party, is she financially generous with family and friends, loaning money out to any and everyone in need? Is she remembered fondly by everyone she has ever met or do people cross to other side of the street when they see her coming?
It's often funny for children to grow up thinking that Mum is a set of things only to find out later that she's more than the woman who is at home all day catering to the family's needs or one who rushes around getting things done and disappears for hours at work.
And sometimes children don't even discover the woman who's Mum -- I didn't for years, since she passed away when I was a teenager, and did only because circumstances took me into her circle of friends from work.
My mum died in 1989. She was the woman I knew who worked odd hours as part of the Malaysian National News Agency, Bernama, had three kids, drove her own car, had a bit of a temper, suffered cats because the children liked them and was close to her siblings. Not much at all, really.
Then I grew up away from the family, in boarding school and abroad, and only had glimpses of her life from my holidays spent with aunts and uncles, where they would sometimes speak of their lives in younger days. I learned how she got into the newspaper business, working first for the Malay broadsheet Utusan Malaysia, where they swear she coined the word andartu to refer to the unmarried older woman, and then moving to Bernama.
Having finished with my formal education, I booted around career ideas and decided to try my hand at journalism too, joining a newspaper for about three years before landing at Bernama.
They were still there, some of my mum's oldest friends, and though they didn't recognise me at first, soon came to know my connection to the woman they had missed all those years. I even found someone who's related to my father in a distant way.
And yes, my mother had a wicked sense of humour indeed. Once on a whim, she filed a story "from the field" about a man eaten by a crocodile, and included quotes from the reptile itself about what had happened. And it almost went out on the wires except for the fact that someone noticed the talking crocodile and realised it was a joke.
She was friendly with everyone, bosses or runaround boys alike, and was generous to a fault with everyone, doling out loans and advice to those in need of assistance. Once she even gave a lift to a heavily pregnant woman and her husband who were trying to get to hospital and had been refused by taxis fearing she'd soil the seats.
I admit it was a bit unnerving to be accosted by people wanting to share their memories, as I could not help being compared with this saint of a woman who could do no wrong.
But then, it was an eye-opener as I realised you could never really know a woman just from the persona she puts on at home -- as a stay-at-home mum she's probably not the same woman who hangs out with her girlfriends, as a tyrannical disciplinarian at home she could be mellow and cool among her workmates.
You can hardly find out about these things by asking Dad, either, as cultural norms dictate that there are many taboo subjects within families, asking personal details about your parents being one of them.
So basically it's down to guesswork and observation, and really, you should take the chance to know your mother, especially on this opportune Mother's Day. Take her out, engage her in a conversation, treat her like a cherished friend — today is a good day as any to begin another level of relationship with her, your mother, especially before it's too late.
The Brunei Times -- May 13, 2007
SHE'S the one who mops your brow when you're feverish, prepares your meals everyday, shuttles you to school like Michael Schumacher on caffeine, and sometimes sets down the law like a policewoman. But what do you really know of the woman you call Mum as a person?
Does she have a wicked sense of humour? Is she the life of a party, is she financially generous with family and friends, loaning money out to any and everyone in need? Is she remembered fondly by everyone she has ever met or do people cross to other side of the street when they see her coming?
It's often funny for children to grow up thinking that Mum is a set of things only to find out later that she's more than the woman who is at home all day catering to the family's needs or one who rushes around getting things done and disappears for hours at work.
And sometimes children don't even discover the woman who's Mum -- I didn't for years, since she passed away when I was a teenager, and did only because circumstances took me into her circle of friends from work.
My mum died in 1989. She was the woman I knew who worked odd hours as part of the Malaysian National News Agency, Bernama, had three kids, drove her own car, had a bit of a temper, suffered cats because the children liked them and was close to her siblings. Not much at all, really.
Then I grew up away from the family, in boarding school and abroad, and only had glimpses of her life from my holidays spent with aunts and uncles, where they would sometimes speak of their lives in younger days. I learned how she got into the newspaper business, working first for the Malay broadsheet Utusan Malaysia, where they swear she coined the word andartu to refer to the unmarried older woman, and then moving to Bernama.
Having finished with my formal education, I booted around career ideas and decided to try my hand at journalism too, joining a newspaper for about three years before landing at Bernama.
They were still there, some of my mum's oldest friends, and though they didn't recognise me at first, soon came to know my connection to the woman they had missed all those years. I even found someone who's related to my father in a distant way.
And yes, my mother had a wicked sense of humour indeed. Once on a whim, she filed a story "from the field" about a man eaten by a crocodile, and included quotes from the reptile itself about what had happened. And it almost went out on the wires except for the fact that someone noticed the talking crocodile and realised it was a joke.
She was friendly with everyone, bosses or runaround boys alike, and was generous to a fault with everyone, doling out loans and advice to those in need of assistance. Once she even gave a lift to a heavily pregnant woman and her husband who were trying to get to hospital and had been refused by taxis fearing she'd soil the seats.
I admit it was a bit unnerving to be accosted by people wanting to share their memories, as I could not help being compared with this saint of a woman who could do no wrong.
But then, it was an eye-opener as I realised you could never really know a woman just from the persona she puts on at home -- as a stay-at-home mum she's probably not the same woman who hangs out with her girlfriends, as a tyrannical disciplinarian at home she could be mellow and cool among her workmates.
You can hardly find out about these things by asking Dad, either, as cultural norms dictate that there are many taboo subjects within families, asking personal details about your parents being one of them.
So basically it's down to guesswork and observation, and really, you should take the chance to know your mother, especially on this opportune Mother's Day. Take her out, engage her in a conversation, treat her like a cherished friend — today is a good day as any to begin another level of relationship with her, your mother, especially before it's too late.
Plucking up interest in learning the guitar
As appeared in Hobbies
The Brunei Times - May 4, 2007
GUITARS are the stuff of romance. So it seems, from movies with guys serenading their love interests with their trustee classical guitars to books featuring women swooning at the plucking of strings that also pluck at their hearts. No, really.
I suppose that's why in a survey by Men's Health magazine, two in three men said they had taken music lessons once in their lives and the instrument they typically "abused" was the guitar.
And that's why wandering along the streets of Amsterdam, I gravitated to a group of youths with guitars music transcends languages, especially if you don't know the words.
Guitars are also the basic instrument in almost any kind of music, and solos, especially those riffs on a fabulous Fender Strat in the arms of a rock band member, can raise your heartbeat and drive groupies to distraction.
The guitar also has the appeal of being quite an easy instrument to learn to play. You can even learn by going through books or surfing sites on the Internet, says Pat Nicodmus Goh, a draughtsman who has been playing the guitar since a young age.
"I started out just plucking at the strings and later picked up some pointers from books," he says. When easy access to the Internet came around, he made use of the world wide web to troll for free lessons.
And they are aplenty. A look at about.com will give you a link to "hobbies and games" and a section dedicated to guitars, with articles from "guitar buying 101" and "guitar lessons by email" to "beginner guitar lessons" by resident expert Dan Cross.
Recent 'A' Level graduate Viviana Metussin, who has been utilising her spare time learning the guitar at www.ultimate-guitar.com, says such sites offer simple and clear instructions with the added bonus of popular songs with their accompanying chords, making learning an instantly gratifying process.
"The drawback, though," Viviana says, "is that you may lose interest." She adds that taking up classes in the basic stages may speed up progress as an expert is on hand to track your performance and correct mistakes.
However, businessman Del Goh thinks otherwise, saying it could be better for beginners to learn from the Net if they are unsure whether they are really serious about the hobby.
And cost is certainly a factor. Contessa Music Centre in Gadong offers guitar lessons, from beginner to advanced levels, including the "rocker" mode, at $60 a month for a 30-minute class once a week. Onnie Perez of Contessa says the centre has had about 30 students of all ages in the past six months, though he admits not all came back for lessons after a while.
The dropout rate may not just be about expenses, though, as Viviana explains, "I would love to go for classes if I had the time for them."
But cost is still a factor, and not just regarding lessons. A good guitar can set you back a few hundred dollars and a hand-crafted one can be in the thousands, though you can purchase a starter for $80 at Contessa. Perez says he often advises beginners to start with an inexpensive model and work their way up to the better ones if they really love the hobby.
And as we speak in the shop, which has a number of classical, folk, acoustic and electric guitars, a businessman comes in to buy one for his daughter. A quick discussion and he pays for an inexpensive acoustic guitar, which he says is a requirement since his daughter's school started offering guitar lessons.
"It's not too bad," he says of having to buy an instrument that his daughter may or may not like, especially when she is already learning to play the piano. "It keeps them from being too wrapped up in computer games."
The Brunei Times - May 4, 2007
GUITARS are the stuff of romance. So it seems, from movies with guys serenading their love interests with their trustee classical guitars to books featuring women swooning at the plucking of strings that also pluck at their hearts. No, really.
I suppose that's why in a survey by Men's Health magazine, two in three men said they had taken music lessons once in their lives and the instrument they typically "abused" was the guitar.
And that's why wandering along the streets of Amsterdam, I gravitated to a group of youths with guitars music transcends languages, especially if you don't know the words.
Guitars are also the basic instrument in almost any kind of music, and solos, especially those riffs on a fabulous Fender Strat in the arms of a rock band member, can raise your heartbeat and drive groupies to distraction.
The guitar also has the appeal of being quite an easy instrument to learn to play. You can even learn by going through books or surfing sites on the Internet, says Pat Nicodmus Goh, a draughtsman who has been playing the guitar since a young age.
"I started out just plucking at the strings and later picked up some pointers from books," he says. When easy access to the Internet came around, he made use of the world wide web to troll for free lessons.
And they are aplenty. A look at about.com will give you a link to "hobbies and games" and a section dedicated to guitars, with articles from "guitar buying 101" and "guitar lessons by email" to "beginner guitar lessons" by resident expert Dan Cross.
Recent 'A' Level graduate Viviana Metussin, who has been utilising her spare time learning the guitar at www.ultimate-guitar.com, says such sites offer simple and clear instructions with the added bonus of popular songs with their accompanying chords, making learning an instantly gratifying process.
"The drawback, though," Viviana says, "is that you may lose interest." She adds that taking up classes in the basic stages may speed up progress as an expert is on hand to track your performance and correct mistakes.
However, businessman Del Goh thinks otherwise, saying it could be better for beginners to learn from the Net if they are unsure whether they are really serious about the hobby.
And cost is certainly a factor. Contessa Music Centre in Gadong offers guitar lessons, from beginner to advanced levels, including the "rocker" mode, at $60 a month for a 30-minute class once a week. Onnie Perez of Contessa says the centre has had about 30 students of all ages in the past six months, though he admits not all came back for lessons after a while.
The dropout rate may not just be about expenses, though, as Viviana explains, "I would love to go for classes if I had the time for them."
But cost is still a factor, and not just regarding lessons. A good guitar can set you back a few hundred dollars and a hand-crafted one can be in the thousands, though you can purchase a starter for $80 at Contessa. Perez says he often advises beginners to start with an inexpensive model and work their way up to the better ones if they really love the hobby.
And as we speak in the shop, which has a number of classical, folk, acoustic and electric guitars, a businessman comes in to buy one for his daughter. A quick discussion and he pays for an inexpensive acoustic guitar, which he says is a requirement since his daughter's school started offering guitar lessons.
"It's not too bad," he says of having to buy an instrument that his daughter may or may not like, especially when she is already learning to play the piano. "It keeps them from being too wrapped up in computer games."
Suzuki offers a friend in your corner
As appeared in Motoring
The Brunei Times - May 2, 2007
OK, SO I like motorbikes. And I like big bikes even better. Especially ones that look like they're going fast when they're standing still. Like the new Suzuki GSX-R1000.
It's big, though not as bulky as its 1,300cc compatriot also known as the Hayabusa, and it goes fast. Not that fast is a good thing, of course, so I'm not going to mention that the GSX-R1000 can go 300kph and has proven in tests to be the fastest production sports bike in the world, taking the title from Yamaha's R1.
So if we're not talking about speed, let's talk about all the new technology that has gone into the GSX-R1000, starting with the one most important to riders who love corners.
Face it, which road in the world doesn't have corners? You're bound to come across a few, unless you're only riding on straight highways and trust me, that's not something you want to do if you don't want your $300 to $400 tyres wearing out only in the middle.
Having ridden a few (smallish) motorbikes myself, I can appreciate the equation of powerful bike + tight corner + not so perfect conditions = slide. The GSX-R1000 deals with this by offering an adjustable engine setting controlled by a switch on the right handlebar.
This system, says Jeffery Yong of Suzuki distributor Shariff Auto Services, allows the rider to choose a lower horsepower setting for difficult situations like corners. "The GSX-R1000 is a powerful bike," Yong says, "and in a situation where the rider feels that tweaking the throttle will give the bike too much power and cause a slide, he can choose a setting with less horsepower."
Less horsepower, explains Yong, gives the bike more traction, not unlike traction control found in good cars. The ABC setting, he says, corresponds to the horsepower of a 1,000cc engine, a 750cc engine and a 600cc engine, respectively.
Another advancement for curve-lovers -- understandable, really, since Suzuki's catchphrase is "Own the Racetrack" -- is the electronically controlled steering damper system. As Yong explains, motorbikes going at faster speeds tend to wobble, thus needing a "hard" setting for steering. This setting, however, makes it difficult for the bikes to turn at lower speeds.
The steering damper system allows the bike to automatically create more damping force at higher speeds and lower damping force for lighter steering at slower speeds.
The bike's heavier body, standing at 172kg, compared to the 2006's 168kg, also makes for better handling, says Yong, especially as the model carries more horsepower than its predecessor.
The GSX-R1000 also has a dual exhaust with titanium tips and vertically-stacked headlights with a more compact projector high-beam.
The 2007 GSX-R1000 is the best that Suzuki currently offers, says Yong, as its 750cc counterpart has only made a superficial colour change for its 2007 line-up (Suzuki makes engine changes only every two years, he explains, and this is the year for the 1,000cc), while the 2007 Hayabusa is actually the limited edition model from 2004.
Shariff Auto has one more model of the GSX-R1000, the other, in a cool electric blue, being already booked. It is priced at $24,800 OTR. There is also one each of the Hayabusa, priced at $24,600 OTR, and the GSX-R750 ($20,800 OTR), just waiting for a rider.
The Brunei Times - May 2, 2007
OK, SO I like motorbikes. And I like big bikes even better. Especially ones that look like they're going fast when they're standing still. Like the new Suzuki GSX-R1000.
It's big, though not as bulky as its 1,300cc compatriot also known as the Hayabusa, and it goes fast. Not that fast is a good thing, of course, so I'm not going to mention that the GSX-R1000 can go 300kph and has proven in tests to be the fastest production sports bike in the world, taking the title from Yamaha's R1.
So if we're not talking about speed, let's talk about all the new technology that has gone into the GSX-R1000, starting with the one most important to riders who love corners.
Face it, which road in the world doesn't have corners? You're bound to come across a few, unless you're only riding on straight highways and trust me, that's not something you want to do if you don't want your $300 to $400 tyres wearing out only in the middle.
Having ridden a few (smallish) motorbikes myself, I can appreciate the equation of powerful bike + tight corner + not so perfect conditions = slide. The GSX-R1000 deals with this by offering an adjustable engine setting controlled by a switch on the right handlebar.
This system, says Jeffery Yong of Suzuki distributor Shariff Auto Services, allows the rider to choose a lower horsepower setting for difficult situations like corners. "The GSX-R1000 is a powerful bike," Yong says, "and in a situation where the rider feels that tweaking the throttle will give the bike too much power and cause a slide, he can choose a setting with less horsepower."
Less horsepower, explains Yong, gives the bike more traction, not unlike traction control found in good cars. The ABC setting, he says, corresponds to the horsepower of a 1,000cc engine, a 750cc engine and a 600cc engine, respectively.
Another advancement for curve-lovers -- understandable, really, since Suzuki's catchphrase is "Own the Racetrack" -- is the electronically controlled steering damper system. As Yong explains, motorbikes going at faster speeds tend to wobble, thus needing a "hard" setting for steering. This setting, however, makes it difficult for the bikes to turn at lower speeds.
The steering damper system allows the bike to automatically create more damping force at higher speeds and lower damping force for lighter steering at slower speeds.
The bike's heavier body, standing at 172kg, compared to the 2006's 168kg, also makes for better handling, says Yong, especially as the model carries more horsepower than its predecessor.
The GSX-R1000 also has a dual exhaust with titanium tips and vertically-stacked headlights with a more compact projector high-beam.
The 2007 GSX-R1000 is the best that Suzuki currently offers, says Yong, as its 750cc counterpart has only made a superficial colour change for its 2007 line-up (Suzuki makes engine changes only every two years, he explains, and this is the year for the 1,000cc), while the 2007 Hayabusa is actually the limited edition model from 2004.
Shariff Auto has one more model of the GSX-R1000, the other, in a cool electric blue, being already booked. It is priced at $24,800 OTR. There is also one each of the Hayabusa, priced at $24,600 OTR, and the GSX-R750 ($20,800 OTR), just waiting for a rider.
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