One Day Pilot

Recently, I bought into a bunch of groupon-type of deals to spend an amazing out-of-the-ordinary weekend. There was this thing called One Day Pilot and I found the deal on JackCow.com.

The One Day Pilot tour covers flying above the KL city and one of us gets to the co-pilot the plane (yep, that’s me!).

So I went with my friend Elle and my sister Ashley last Saturday.

We arrived at 1:00 PM but there was a delay due to the morning haze, and that one of the previous passengers threw up in the plane. They had to clean it up before we board it hence the additional delay. LOL

2:30 PM and came our turn to climb the Cessna plane, the model I’m growing to be familiar with now. The pilot’s name is Hazim and small world indeed, he knows my skydiving instructors!

So we flew from Subang airport and made our way to the city of KL. The pilot handled the take off and landing, but while in mid air I get to steer the plane. πŸ™‚

There’s a reason why pilots need years of training to fly a plane safely. And I was just the wanna-be pilot for a day – wait, more like an hour, lol

This was our first time viewing KL city from the top, not among the ridiculous traffic jam for a nice change!

Ashley recorded most of the journey – here’s the 4 minute version video I uploaded on YouTube:


After an hour of breathtaking view and some adrenaline rush from flying the plane, we got our feet rooted back on Earth… and got our certificate of participation!

The View Was Better From The Plane

So I finally did it! It took me one full year to be mentally prepared to do this… seriously!

When I learned from my friend Shaun Ng there is static line jump in Segamat, Johor I decided it’s time to go for it.

Immediately, I blasted a text message to all of my friends I thought would be interested on my iPhone. And only Nic answered my crazy skydiving offer. (he had a lot of second thoughts and ‘what ifs’ but unlike me, he sure didn’t take a whole year to prepare!)

So we both went for it. A couple of weekends prior to the skydiving activity, Nic and I went for theory training at the instructor’s house in Cheras. Learned how a parachute functions, what to do in case of emergencies, briefing on exiting the plane, working the parachute and landing on the drop zone, etc. That took about 6 hours.

Thus 16th April, Saturday came. And off we go…


For me, the scariest part of the skydiving jump was exiting the plane. It was more so scary on the second jump (recorded in the videos above). The pilot didn’t stop for anything and I was afraid of being blown away before getting into position. Thank God I survived to tell the tale. πŸ™‚

I felt like Iron Man so to speak LOL okay seriously, I felt like I’ve conquered a new mental barrier and it was a personal breakthrough for me.

After the two successful jumps, all of the skydiving participants – 9 in all – received the certificate for completion of training and our own skydiving license!

This is something I’d love to do again in the near future. πŸ™‚

Puncak Damansara

It’s been more than a month since I moved into my new place. I am so glad that all the dust has settled finally and end of this month, I’m throwing my housewarming party! πŸ™‚

So what do I think of my current place?

Granted, Puncak Damansara is not as classy as Casa Tropicana. However my new place of stay made up a lot in convenience and to me, this carries a lot of points.

Let’s start with…

The Pros

Number one: I’m paying a lower monthly rent. πŸ™‚ Today’s real estate climate in the Klang Valley has gone insane. Properties that used to cost RM350K last year is now going for RM450K.

While many reliable sources claim there will be a rest estate bubble burst, I didn’t have the luxury of waiting.

My real estate agents came back with disappointing news, telling me that rentals are now going for RM1800 a month – usually unfurnished. I might as well be buying my own property, only problem is I didn’t have the time needed to do so.

So my objective to was to find a place to stay for at least one more year, enough time for me to scout for a new property to buy and renovate.

After a series of disappointing results from my real estate agents, I decided to take time off my Internet Marketing projects and look for my own place. 3 apartments later, I found this deal through iProperty.com.my.

Now I am paying a few hundred RM less every month compared to my previous apartment I was renting!

Number two: convenience. This is of BIG, BIG, BIG importance to me. I live alone and while I enjoy great privacy, doing chores on my own make me wish I was staying with my mom.

But check it out… I’ve got a washing machine in the kitchen that I can use and wash my own clothes. And if I want to use the laundry service, it’s just downstairs.

I must add, I’m now staying at a lower floor here compared to back at Casa Tropicana! So going in and out is faster.

There is a wholesale market within walking distance where I get my groceries from. I am gradually moving towards cooking from home so I buy most of my ingredients and items here.

Car wash? Right outside my apartment for just RM8! There’s also a bay within the apartment area I can use to wash my car if I choose to do it myself, something that wasn’t available in Casa Tropicana.

And how about meals? There are mamaks and Chinese restaurants within walking distance.

Speaking of which…

Number three: location. Leaving this place is faster now since I’m only a few turns away from the NKVE. πŸ™‚ I can just walk to Centerpoint (which I did on a lot of occasions by now).

Totally eliminates a huge need for driving around most of the time. πŸ™‚

Oh, and an extra bonus:

The previous tenant overpaid the electricity bill so I don’t have to pay any of it for the next 2 – 3 months. YAY πŸ™‚

Of all I’ve mentioned, this has got to be the most convenient place I’ve lived on my own to date. I feel so lucky to be able to get this place!

But of course, it’s not without its downs.

The Cons

Security. Now you would think this should actually belong to “The Pros” but I personally think security here is too tight beyond reason.

It was one week before I would get my own resident access card. Since I need the card to enter AND exit the building, I often had to wait for the security guard or a resident to open the door for me.

Security here is less friendly too, though for obvious reasons. The apartment is surrounded by squatter housing area.

This area actually has a high potential to become a prime land of properties, but prices here are hampered by the less flattering squatter houses. (which turned out to be good for me in getting this deal) However I suspect in a few more years, even that will change if not sooner.

The car park is small too. When I first arrived, I was so sure one day I would scratch my car. I didn’t realize it would happen so fast – Day 3, that is. I hit the side of my Toyota Vios when leaving the car park one day.

The turnings here are so small and ceilings so low. On top of that, I have to drive my car up 3 floors so I am not really compelled to drive out.

In response to the problem, I traded cars with my mom. I am now driving the Myvi, our first car whereas my mom took over the Vios. Had no problem since as I am now driving a smaller car.

The convenience of food, groceries and common necessities nearby really helped so I don’t drive out unless I have to or I want to go on a date. πŸ˜‰

So yep, I’ll be here for at least one year. I wonder where I’ll be next!

Kura Paradise

Haha, great news! Mom and Ashley got a contractor to build us a grotto at the backyard in our Johor house πŸ™‚ Took a few weeks to complete as the workers had to resume work before and after rainy days.


Inspecting the pond under contruction with a senior kura!

Finally our beloved Red Ear Sliders have a bigger home! We don’t have to keep buying a bigger tank from now on.

Mom also wanted to put a Mother Mary statue.


The pond 99% completed

All the kuras need is a bigger platform for them to bask, as they cannot be in the waters all the time.


What it looks like at night

We had a problem though: the water level was high enough and surrounding rocks low enough for the bigger turtles to possibly leave the pond if they wanted to. Case in point…


Monster Kura trying to escape!

So as a temporary fix, we placed the fences and plants surrounding the grotto.


Fences around the grotto. Plants were later added.

Here are some more pictures of our kuras in their new home:


Kuras treading in the water

They converge at the sides only when they know they're getting food!

Hyper Kura swimming

Am so happy the kuras have a bigger, nicer home in our backyard now! πŸ™‚

PICTURES by Ashley

April Updates

1. Last month was a terribly busy month and I must add, high stressful. In between launching my online coaching program and shifting to another apartment, I had to juggle most of the responsibilities on my own. If there is a severe disadvantage to living alone, this is one of them.

2. So I launched Edmund Loh Coaching on 10th March, and the following day I was to move to the new apartment, Puncak Damansara. And you know what happened at the same time? The massive earthquake and tsunami hit Japan!

3. For the next one week, I couldn’t go online from my new place. TMNet said they can reconnect my line in the next 5 to 7 working days. So I had to continue my launch from the cybercafe and friend’s home. (I must admit, it was an awesome excuse to go to Evelyn Toh‘s house πŸ˜› )

4. Sucks that the launch didn’t live up to my expectations even though I had gotten in substantial enough students to start the webinars. Could feel the world mood is DOWN and all the media attention was on Japan. Cables were down so this meant some parts of the world experience slow to non-existent Internet connection. I strongly feel that had I done this at a different time, the results would have been A LOT better. Not that I could have predicted the disaster, of course.

5. The apartment was in a rough shape when I moved in. Part of the challenge was excess of furniture. So it took some creativity to rearrange them and move the unwanted items into the store room.

6. Took me two more weeks to get used to the new place, and get everything I need for it. Finally! I will be throwing a housewarming party end of this month.

7. On another note, I already reaped my rewards from the sale of ClickBank Gamers! It did a quarter million dollars in sales in its launch week, and made it to #9 in ClickBank’s E-Business category. Tony Sanders and Dylan Loh are up for another launch called CB Niche Blueprint in July. I might as well continue participating in the partnership.

8. My live trading account doubled too! Withdrew all my funds from PFGFX and am pouring the deposit back into TadawulFX on Elle‘s recommendation. πŸ™‚

9. Have been participating in some affiliate contests the past month too. Scored first place for Khai Ng‘s Inspiration DNA 2.0 and #3 for The Real Guys 72 hour contest (#7 overall). Looking to double my existing mailing list to 100K subscribers by end of this year… that’s my Internet Marketing goal!

10. UPDATE ON MOM: we admitted her to the SJMC middle of last month for radiotherapy treatment. It was successful. There is very little residue of cancer on her left neck now after the treatment. All she has to do is consume more calcium, take some minor post treatments and go for a check up again in August. Mom got off rather easy compared to the horror stories I’ve heard about other cancer victims. Her case was peanuts and the fact that the doctors didn’t sweat about it was comforting to see. πŸ™‚ Thank God!

11. The other half keeping me occupied throughout March – directing my short action film “Office Siege“! I don’t want to spoil this yet, besides we are only 2/3rd done with the raw footage at the moment. I will be learning to use Adobe After Effects and do some CG work from my camera man and co-storywriter, Brian Lee. I estimate the final product will be 5 to 7 minutes… and more kick ass than our first try. πŸ˜‰

12. After I was done with most of the apartment moving, I went on with what I had been putting at bay for quite some time: to begin my gym training. I chose Qunling to be my trainer. He was my scout senior back in my high school days. He is now a fitness trainer and I’ve seen one of his clients got good results i.e. lost significant amount of weight. Qunling is no B.S. – enough of a reason for me to go with him. I signed up for 15 sessions to get gym training from him on a one-on-one level. I am nearly half way through the sessions at this time of writing.

13. The highlight of this month has to be skydiving! Nic Thooi and I went for a theory course in Cheras last weekend, and we’ll be heading to Segamat, Johor with Shaun Ng (the guy who introduced me to this) hopefully this weekend.

14. Scuba diving is next, but probably something I’d learn to pick up only the following month. Waiting up on Sook Yen on this.