INFINITI

An INFINITI FX35 SUV being spotted in Taipei when I was off for lunch

Ever heard of one of the car brands called INFINITI? If you heard of LEXUS, which belongs to Toyota, or probably ACURA, which belongs to Honda, you probably would understand the concept of flagship brand, INFINITI.

Like Lexus and Acura, Infiniti is the flagship luxury brand by Nissan which is built for specific car market segments like United States, Canada, South Korea,Taiwan and etc hmmm... there is no such model in Malaysia, not even in Singapore which has a higher affordability in high end vehicles compared to Boleh land. Inifiniti cars are mostly built on the existing platforms of Nissan cars with additional features and also with additional engine performance compared to the Nissan counterpart.

To INFINITI, it is not only about rebadge, it is about bringing higher end products to tailor to higher level of expectations.

More pictures of INFINITI FX models: http://www.infiniti.com/fx/

My Birthday Present

I received a mysterious birthday present "officially" when 27th of January 2007 kicked in (Exactlyat 12 am midnight). I would say "officially" as I've got it with me one month before my birthday and I have been carrying it around with me wherever I go, It is in my luggage all the time (even now), but I just couldn't open it before that day, and no cheating was allowed.

The "mysterious person" knew that I would cheat, so the present was locked in a Deuter pouch with a pin number padlock and the pin number was not given to me until my birthday...

At 12 am sharp, I was informed of the PIN number.

The present is inside this Deuter pouch, and is locked with "high" security padlock

"073" is the PIN number to open the shackle of the padlock. The curiosity is killing me, as I might receive a sabotage from an enemy.

I got a self-designed greeting card, and something inside the box!

Take a look at this self-made greeting card, with my favorite lomo picture on it.

Wow! This person is super creative, with maps and our pictures, traveling around the world??

Lift here? oops, i read the content inside already, private and confidential, it is a "maphia plan" to be implemented on the countries shown on the maps, not convenient to show :p

What about this box? Let me see...

There is a pen inside, Wow! with my name carved on it! Yay yay! I won't lose my pen anymore!

My name...我的名字

Wait, wait, there is a pen drive.

Let me plug it in, a bomb?

It seems to be a video file, but too bad, the file could not be opened correctly, so, it remains as a mystery until today..

This post is dedicated to someone with a great passion, a million thanks to my "mafia partner", *Miho.

Tun Dr Mahathir's former home sweet home
Me and Miho made a spontateous decision of visiting the former residence of the ex Prime Minister on our way back from the Lake Garden one day, the spontaneous wind blew and brought us here, Galeria Sri Perdana.

Galeria Sri Perdana was the official residence of Tun Dr Mahathir between 23 August 1983 to 18 October 1999, during this period of time, it was known as Sri Perdana. Entering Sri Perdana has been one of my dreams since 10 years ago when my brother-in-law told me about this place. A lot of "mysteries" have been unlocked after an "unguided" tour to it (You could freely visit any part of this property without much restriction). The most important thing about this tour was, they didn't collect admission fee from us, wow! We saved money for better dinner that night!

Miho told me that her family was once invited by Tun Dr Mahathir to his residence during Hari Raya when she was a little girl and her impression on Tun Dr Mahathir's residence was not the same, she could only remember, a stair with lots of lots of lots of steps...

The main entrance, It takes some effort to go up the slope and reach the house

This house was initially built for someone from the top management in the Malaysia Mining Corporation before it was taken over and renovated by the government to serve as the official residence of the PM.

There are altogether 10 cars being parked outside the house for exhibition purposes, the cars are no longer used. All of the cars were given to PM as his mode of transportation by different companies. Among them are, a Mitsubishi FTO (Given by Mitsubishi Motor Corporation during the official launch of the model in 1995.) a Nissan President (Given by Nissan Corporation Japan).

Lexus and Mercedes Benz S Class

SEL 600!! It is not cheap to drive a car with such capacity, when you floor the pedal, you are burning your money

This was the official car used by PM last time during his duty, which carries the number plate, "Proton 2020". I thought It had been returned to Proton last year. Seriously, this car really carries high exhibition values.

The family photo. Take a look at the lady on the second of the third row (Next to Tun), she is Tun's daughter-in-law, I think she is a chinese

One of Tun's grandsons, this cute little boy again looks like a chinese. I remember he mentioned about him sending his grandsons to Chinese school, may be he was one of them.

Another elegant family photo

Pictures of the Emperor of Japan (Emperor Akihito) are being displayed too, it shows that Tun treats the diplomatic relationship with Japan as high importance.

The private dining area for the family

The banquet for the internation quests

This barber room is quite interesting, It reminds me of the barber shop i used to go during primary school :)

There was an old Malay's saying, "Tak Kenal maka tak cinta" (You won't love someone if you know nothing about that person), probably this is one of the reasons Galeria Sri Perdana opens its door to the public. I didn't manage to take pictures of every part of the house, these are all that i have. There are more to explore at Galeria Sri Perdana, why don't you pay a visit, and let us know?

Proton GEN 2 Encounter

I was walking on the street in Taipei one day and something familiar caught my eyes. There was a Proton GEN 2 being parked along the street, with Taipei registered number plate. Out of sudden, I could smell the aroma of our national pride.

A Proton GEN 2 in Taiwan almost shares the same price tag as SUZUKI Swift in Taiwan (About RM 60,500), Not really sure how they manage to promote the car in Taiwan as Proton does not have the level of technical maturity as high as compared to other cars being sold here.

I guess, probably "Lotus tuned" is their selling point, or perhaps, what Jeremy Clarkson always suggests about proton to his viewer, "My first Lotus"...

You got two options, Suzuki Swift and Proton GEN 2, where would you head for?