Blog 0.9 The rules of engagement

Five photos from Suvarnabhumi Airport to Salil Hotel.

View from the plane. Its about an hour and a half flight from Kuala Lumpur.

Coming out from the massive Suvarnabhumi airport.

Nice golden things every kilometre of so on the highway from the airport to the city

At least he wont get wet in the rain.

Oh look its a pharmacy.

Now no one at the 2010 Australia MYCNM Badminton Open knew the rules of badminton, not even the officials. So the following information has been ripped from the Badminton World Federation website. From my understanding

Singles

At the beginning of the game (0-0) and when the server’s score is even, the server serves from the right service court. When the server’s score is odd, the server serves from the left service court.

If the server wins a rally, the server scores a point and then serves again from the alternate service court.

If the receiver wins a rally, the receiver scores a point and becomes the new server. They serve from the appropriate service court – left if their score is odd, and right if it is even.

Doubles

A side has only one ‘set’.

The service passes consecutively to the players as shown in the diagram.

At the beginning of the game and when the score is even, the server serves from the right service court. When it is odd, the server serves from the left court.

If the serving side wins a rally, the serving side scores a point and the same server serves again from the alternate service court.

If the receiving side wins a rally, the receiving side scores a point. The receiving side becomes the new serving side.

The players do not change their respective service courts until they win a point when their side is serving.

Now its on to youtube tutorials. LETS GO TIGER SMASH!

Review 0.7 Salil Hotel, Thong Lor, Bangkok, Thailand

It's another Jaystin goes to Bangkok adventure story! Oh yea please click on the Telstra ad on the right! It will make my Telstra prepaid mobile battery last longer. Thanks!! Telstra prepaid rocks!

Map of the two Salil hotels. Ripped from their website.

Walking along from Sukhumvit Soi 55

Walking straight takes you to Sukhumvit Soi 53, but turn right to Salil Hotel

This alley leads to the hotel. On my right is a picture framing shop.

Further down and you will begin to see the Salil hotel signs.

You will pass by this massage spa if you are coming from Sukhumvit soi 55.

The front of the hotel

Lovely balconies. Straight ahead is the restaurant

View from the restaurant

Suddenly it became dark.

The restaurant.

Hotel tuk tuk is parked right outside.

I couldnt start the tuk tuk because I had no key, duh.

You will see altars like this everywhere in Bangkok.

Alfresco area. Tuk tuk is parked right behind this area.

Zooming into the restaurant from the alfreso area.

Walking into the restaurant

Not much to see out the restaurant windows. Nice view

Door from hotel to restaurant.

Lobby coming from the restaurant

View of the very small lobby from the reception area.

Nice & clean neighbourhood, safe area and quiet street

Like it says on their website its located in a nice quiet area that is Thong Lo. Is it safe? Well, I have walked at night from the hotel to a nearby 7-11 and back (please visit the thai 7-11 site to listen to the smashingly awesome thai song) and didn't get mugged nor harrased during my stay at the hotel.

Communication

I was nearly done filling my details on their online booking page but cancelled in the end because I had to go and fry and egg and intended to continue my booking after dinner. However, I received an email from the hotel that I needed to fill an payment form to complete my booking. I thought the hotel had hacked into my computer. That was spooky. Anyways I replied back to them to please cancel my 'initial' booking as I will re-start over. The reply was instantaneous. Emails was being replied back and forth, it was as if we were like on Windows Live messenger. I remember it was around 9-10pm Melbourne time.

So yes communication is fast and furious. To call the hotel dial +66 2 6625 4803. Its best not to call as the man who answered the phone cannot speak english. I am not sure why the emails were communicated in good english.

Free airport transfer

After exiting customs and immigrations at Suvarnabhumi Airport, our confirmation email from the hotel instructed us that our driver will wait at Arrival gate 3 at the time of our arrival. I emailed to them that we might be late coming out from the terminal. Their reply was the driver can wait for hours until we complete customs and immigration. Top marks. So upon exiting terminal and making our way to Arrival gate 3, I spotted my name on those name cards and the driver was way before gate 3. Luckily I spotted my name. He walked us to the airport carpark and the trip took about 30-40 minutes. It was around 4-5pm Bangkok time. Traffic was crazy jam.

So yes despite being told to wait at Arrival gate 3, do look out for your name as the driver might be waiting at other gates.

Café de Salil

The package I selected included complimentary breakfast. I must say the food is great. The food varies from day to day and it was served hot such as fried rice, bacon, fried eggs on demand, cereal and cold milk, yoghurt and even porridge.

Free Tuk-tuk to BTS Thong Lo skytrain station

The tuk-tuk is not always available. I got on it the first night to get my orientation. Its something one must experience. So before coming back to the Thong BTS skytrain station, at least call 5-10minutes before you reach the station because there's traffic to consider, other people might be using it or it might not be available. That same night we waited a good 20-25 minutes. So you have been warned. The hotel is seriously a 3-5 minute walk. I ended up walking back to the hotel most of the time.

Free DVD and Free Internet

The movies were not the latest but its a good idea. I did watch "Lars and the real girl". There was cable TV on a big flat screen as well. I didnt bring my eeepc so I couldnt tell you how fast the internet was.

Rooms

The long awaited section. I did have a look at the 1st floor rooms and the ground floor rooms. MY advise is to request to stay on the ground floor. The rooms on this floor compared to the first floor is HUGE. The room is just perfect. No complains. There's even a balcony that looks out to nothing. Yup a white wall. I guess you could put your pet dog or baby out here. *O*

Just opposite these venetian blinds is the lobby. This is the corridor to the four ground floor hotel rooms.

My room 102

Nice big single beds. Its criminal to call them single beds.

The thermostat. It gets really cold. Air-conditioning WORKS!

The art piece should belong in some French museum.

Wardrobe has safe which is 'portable'

Mini fridge and kettle.

Sink area. Water splashes out too easily.

Toilet area

Bathtub area. I had a nice soak in the bath.

Woah flat screeeen.

Bad points

While very little. I must point them out. A couple of the light switches didnt work. A couple of the plugs to charge my camera didnt work. I had inform reception so we won't get charged for any 'damage'. However the lighting was more than adequate and as you could see the lighting is bright enough. There was also plenty plugs to charge a hundred cameras. LOL

Final comment and rating

If you have the chance, just another reminder to request to stay on the ground floor. Maybe even stay in room 102. ^_^

This is a great stay. No complaints but then I was out for most of the day. Complimentary breakfast was great. I was full as. All you can eat. yummy.

Price : 5 out of 5 stars

Overall rating : 5 out of 5 stars

Woah another perfect review. Am I high?

Guide 02. Planning a holiday in Bangkok: "Hotel recommendations"

I really wanted my bangkok post titles to be called "Jaystin goes to Bangkok" but I like organising my posts so the boring title of 'guide' it is.

OH YES PLEASE CLICK the TELSTRA AD on the right hand side column! I just topped up my TELSTRA pre-paid mobile! I wish you had Telstra pre-paid so I can call you. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Accommodation

First things was to look for a hotel. Staying at lebua at State tower was out of the question unless I happen to be the illegitimate love child of my boss. Luckily "Bangkok also offers a number of smaller boutique hotels for discerning travelers seeking uniquely designed lodgings and personalized service" - Wikipedia.

"Boutique hotels are usually intimate, luxurious or quirky hotel environments and differentiate themselves from larger chain/branded hotels and motels by providing personalized accommodation and services/facilities" - Wikipedia.

After many many and again many hours researching google, the following boutique hotels were the most appealing to me. Remember I am a discerning traveler and all discerning travelers will tell you that your budget should be about AUD50 +/-10 per night at a bangkok boutique hotel.

Strictly speaking paying more than AUD70 per night is too much but paying less than AUD40 per night is unhealthy as I've come across horror stories about these cheap hotels and most of it involved a lot of cockroaches and one naked old man.

So after much researching, here's my top four boutique hotels. Remember these prices were quoted to me during the month of January/February 2010 so the prices may be more competitive now and you may get a better deal at other hotels. These are the hotels that I think are great and so am recommending them. If you think otherwise, stop reading!

Baiyoke boutique hotel
- expensive but highly recommended and rated
- Furthest walking distance from the Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS) and in this case the ASOK BTS

Citichic boutique suites
- Close to the Baiyoke so about the same walking distance to the ASOK BTS
- just as expensive

P2 hotel
- the cheapest among the four hotels I selected
- unfortunately a bit to walk to the CHIT LOM BTS

Salil hotel
- Rates is in between P2 and Baiyoke/Citichic
- The closest walking distance to the THONG LO BTS

So as you can see for me, walking distance was the main factor and room rates was second priority. So Salil hotel @ Thong Lo was my choice. CAUTION: There are TWO Salil hotels (One at SUKHUMVIT SOI 8 and the other is at SUKHUMVIT SOI THONG LO) so book carefully.

To be honest, I thought I booked to stay at Sukhumvit Soi 8 but I realised soon after receiving the confirmation email from the hotel that I would be staying at Thong Lo. So I cannot stress enough to book carefully. But it turns out Thong Lo is the newer of the two and its nice, quiet and safe area. The private residences around the Thong Lo area are very $$$, its like HUGE and NICE. Let me put it this way, if I was Thai, I'd live in Thong Lo and all the Thai ladies would say, "He's pretty fly for a Thai guy".

In my initially itinerary, I had planned to stay at one of the islands of Bangkok, Koh Samui. The hotels that I selected after much research:

- Nora Chaweng Hotel Samui

or

- Baan Samui Resort

As you can tell from the website, Nora Chaweng looks quite exquisite and Baan Samui Resort looks like a prison camp. However, I cannot remember for the life of me why I went with ahead and got a quote from Baan Samui Resort. It might have been the hotel's good location and despite looking like a prison camp it is actually a nice place to stay. And oh, Nora Chaweng was plenty more expensive. Remember are you a di$cerning traveler or my boss's child?

I didn't end up going to Koh Samui because I had booked too late and the flights to the island were very expensive and I, being a discerning traveller couldn't justify paying so much Thai baht just to stay 1-2 days on the island. So my advise to you is to book your flights to the island as well as the hotels REALLY REALLY EARLY (if your itinerary includes a trip to one of the islands).

There are several ways to get to Koh Samui when you are in Bangkok but the least painful way is to just get a taxi (for 400 THB) from Bangkok city to the airport and fly out to the islands. Bangkok Airways flies out from Suvarnabhumi International Airport to Koh Samui. So book on their website and select Suvarnabhumi to Samui. Alternatively, you can fly from Suvarnabhumi to Surat Thani and take a boat ferry to Koh Samui, and the discerning traveler will ask you, "why?". We only have xx days to spend in a foreign city so wasting half a day or more to get to your destination isn't very discerning now is it?

I think I've covered hotels so its stay tuned for more Jaystin goes to Bangkok adventures!

Foodview 0.6 The Manhattan Fish Market, Kuala Lumpur

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I have returned from my journey of discovery and training on the mountains of Malaysia... or so I thought. I was supposed to discover the legendary badminton move the 'Tiger-smash' and the 'Dragon-drop shot'. But no... that didn't happened. I instead went to about 30 different restaurants on a culinary expedition. Yes, my boat trip got lost at sea and I ended up on the shores of Malaysia and ADIDAS*.
*ADIDAS - A Day I Digest And 'Sapu'

Sapu means to 'sweep' in the Malay language. Not sweeping as the floor, or kicking someone but to sweep all the food on the table directly into my mouth. Yum. Actually I don't know if people still use this term. It was good while it lasted (in my tummy) but...

Back to the real world. The 2010 MYCNM Australian Badminton Open (ABO) preliminary seeding rounds got on the way. And here are the top seeded players

01. Nat Chan (Current Australian FIFA 2010 world champion)
02. Mr.P (Yup that same Mr.P that we all know and love )
03. Jaystin Unicorn (That's me and yes thats mah real name yo)

By the way, I have ordered the Gundam Unicorn for under AUD20. It should be in my hands in 2-3 weeks. Sweet.

04. Donna Legend
05. cK Tree
06. Suzuki Swift
07. Crystallised Sugar

So thats the official ranking of the tournament.

Results of Day 29
N. Chan def D. Legend
7-5

Mr. P def J. Unicorn
7-6

Tune in same BATminton channel and the same BATminton time for more results. There was lots of doubles action but I cant remember any of the results.

Now my trip brought me to Malaysia where I spent most of my days 'training', spent a day in Singapore and 4 days in Bangkok. So where is this foodview? Just hold on.

On my first day in Malaysia, I went to Kuala Lumpur, Selangor at this shopping complex called the e@curve and ate at this fish and chip place called the Manhattan Fish Market. My last foodview was also a fish and chip place. If I have to compare this two restaurants in terms of badminton scoring it would be

Manhatten Fish Market def. Top Catch Fish & Chippery

15-0

I think this fish and chip place is the one! I've died and gone to heaven repeatedly with every bite. Yum! The fish was fresh, the batter was thinly coated and crispy. The chips could be better but I give this a high rating because its called FISH & chips and not CHIPS & fish for a reason, you know!?

The key to why this restaurant's fish and chips ROCK is their garlic butter sauce that they smother the fish in. Oh my gosh I am getting fish&chipgasm again just recalling it again.

Here are the photos

Left: Table top - Cant eat that. Right: Grilled Salmon and chips I ate this as well but the battered fish was better.

Left: Close up. Right: Even closer

Left: Here is the heaven-sending fish with chips. Right: Look at the fresh meat.

Free dips. Sweet chilli, garlic chopped in oil and tartar sauce

For drinks, I ordered some sort of mixture of 7-up and orange syrup. Very cocktaily.

Last but not least Calamari rings. So crunchy and not rubbery nor salty. NICE!

Obviously we all can't just leave our studies or work to travel to the world to improve our badminton. All I am suggesting is that IF you have to go on a journey and it happens to be at the curve, Kuala Lumpur, drop by this restaurant.

Taste : 5 out of 5 stars

Value : 5 out of 5 stars

MY first ever perfect rating for a foodview. So stay tune in same BATminton channel and the same BATminton time for more overseas foodviews!

Blog 0.8 The 2010 Australian MYCNM Badminton Open

The 2010 Australian MYCNM Badminton Open. This inaugural tournament has been sponsored by Riget Reeb(TM).

For those unfamiliar with this brand, this is a company that was founded in 1997, by a man by the name, Phillip Riget. It has grown to be one of the world's largest exporter of chilled Tiger ribs with an annual turnover exceeding AUD 9.6 billion.

A statement from their website, "we can assure you our livestock have been grazing on wide open pastures for the majority of their lives and are guaranteed to contain:
No Genetic Modification
No additives
No growth hormones
No artificial feed
No antibiotics"
[Information taken from www.rigetreeb.com]

With a big international company sponsoring such a prestigious event held right here in Melbourne, who wouldn't want to participate?

Therefore to ensure that I will be the one holding the Riget trophy, I will be taken an absence of leave from this blog to travel to the following badminton nations. Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. Singaporeans don't actually play badminton, I am just going there to eat Tiger meat.

I managed to book the next boat to Thailand and this trip will take approximately take 1 week one way. Therefore I will spend 2 weeks at sea with only 1 week to find a badminton player and train altogether. So I will probably get a total of 3 days training.

So long and goodbye. Remember 3 weeks.

PS.
Congratulations to cK tree for becoming a big potato. Welcome to the human world.

Blog 0.7 Injury days are over

I visited my family doctor for a checkup on my injury. It has been 3 weeks since I strained it. Been laying off it and I tell you it felt like forever.

[Green word are spoken by me and red words are Dr. Phil's.]

Hi Dr. Phil, I am still suffering from severe depression.

Oh is it time already to checkup on own your injury?

Why you have to say it like that?

Like what?

Injury... You think I'm a wimp? Gym is my life!

Coughwimpcoughsneeze... excuse me, I have a cold.

Anyways, let's have a feel of your injury.

Dr. Phil pokes and prods my left tricep area/elbow joint and asks me if I feel any tenderness or pain. I didn't feel any.

Looks like everything is fine

Dr.Phil then whips out a 10kg dumbbell from under his desk.

Give me 10 reps.

I do 10 slow repetitions of standing bicep curls and I didnt feel any pain!

While doing my reps, "Say why are you wearing flip flops to work. That's like so unprofessional."

Why don't you start beating your arch rival? That's like so embarrassing. Yes, that's right, you told me about your blog. HA!

I keep quiet and concentrate on my reps.

Dr. Phil then swaps my 10kg for a 12.5kg dumbbell. I begin to wonder if I am at a clinic or Gold's gym. By the way, like why doesn't Gold's gym open in Melbourne?

No pain? Looks like your injury days are over!

Wooo...

Hold onto your hooo for a bit longer, you are only half way there because..

Dr.Phil quickly turns on his radio and a familiar song was playing...

its time for you to to rehab

I say no, no, no

Do you want the pain to come back huh, huh, huh?

I've waited for a long time and you just said I'm fine

And now you want me to go to rehab? I won't go, go, go!

-End of my visit to Dr.Phil-

Summary : Basically my strained is healed but I have to take it easy on the biceps and nothing over 10kg on the left hand. Might take another 2-3 weeks until I am fully recovered and back to pumping 60kg again. Ooooooh I can't wait. The passion is being reignited. I cannot wait to get back to normal. I've learnt my lesson to not be overzealous again, ever! Let's go rehab!

Gym 17

Feeling lazy... i really mean it. my logic is since not doing doing biceps or chest just focus on back only.

Back

Smith machine Deadlifts.

Set 1 20kg 10 reps

Set 2 30kg 10 reps

Set 3 40kg 10 reps

Set 4 60kg 10 reps

Set 5 60kg 10 reps

Set 6 60kg 10 reps

Trapezius

Dumbell shrugs.

Set 1 50kg 10 reps

Set 2 50kg 10 reps

Set 3 50kg 10 reps

Set 4 50kg 10 reps

Calves

Seated calf raise.

Set 1 50kg 10 reps

Set 2 50kg 10 reps

Set 3 50kg 10 reps

Set 4 50kg 10 reps