kuching developments part 1

Eventhough Kuching is lacking behind Johor Bahru, Penang and probably Kota Kinabalu in terms of developments.. (physically) but this few years, a few interesting projects will sprout out across our beloved Kuching. Personally, i always look at Kuching as this laid back town.. only housing estate everywhere with tonnes of shophouses but there will be slight difference in the future where projects like the spring mall have become a kickstart for the city. Nevertheless, i share the enthusiasm with every kuchingites hungry for developments..

here are some recent and future projects in Kuching

the Spring mall:-



boulevard shopping mall, this is only the first phase.. next up is the second phase mall + hotel :-



greenheights mall, with cold storage as anchor tenant :-




Kuching Plaza renovation:-






xintiandi mall in samarahan:-


borneo convention centre kuching(bcck) and kuching tower :-




one jaya mall, small type mall:-



precinct88, another small type mall:-



kuching citymall, a well-planned housing+hypermall+shophouses:-



one TJ, a one stop lowyat of kuching :-



dun kuching, the new administrative building:-




vista tunku in petra jaya :-


plaza merdeka, located at the old chambers :-

novotel interhill, by accor.. with portion of the building for shopping :-

tun mustapha complex

dewan bandaraya kuching utara

EUROTRIP 2008

ROME, 20, 21, 22 May 2008 - After an anticipated 11 hours flight from KLIA, finally we have arrived in Fiumicino Airport, Rome. My first impression was that he airport was like underused because the airport was not as busy as i have expected due to the fact that rome is one of the number one tourist destinations. then, i realize that we arrived at 0700 hrs local time.. hmm. its 6 hours difference here in Italy and getting your handphone to work isn't a problem since roaming service is provided by Malaysian phones oprerators with telecom companies abroad. There's no bus service from this airport to the city centre (according to the people asked at the airport) but there are train services just 5 minutes walk to the upper floor. the ticket costs 11 euros. As you hop on the train, it will take you along the countryside of Rome, with lots of red flowers and village houses until the panorama eventually takes you into the classical and modern city of Rome.

We arrived at Roma Stazione Termini at approx 10 am and the environment was quite hectic. As the tourguide for Rome together with Faiq, we decided to head straight to the hostel. Montestella Hostel is just a 10 minutes walk from the termini. Check in time is at 12 so, we have to put our luggage at the counter and spend the time to get to know Rome a little bit. We were divided into 3 groups of 4 and every group is free to go on their own way and get back to the hostel at 1145 am. The first day in Rome was quite devastating because it was raining all day long and we were all wet most of the time. The first thing to settle was the Roma Pass. We searched for the office at the termini untill the bus station outside but the office was just at the lane of train where we arrived from the airport this morning.. on the last lane(27 if i'm not mistaken).

Later on, we had lunch at a nearby pizza shop and have our first authentic italian pizza. I tried the anchovies which does not really satisfy my tastebud. My first encounter with pizza wasn't really a nice one but i'm sure the next time i won't pick pizza with anchovies topppings. at noon we went back to the hostel and chechked i. later in the evening we walked across town towards whatever structure that looks outstanding. we stumbled across the first huge majestic basillica on our way, St. Maria. Without any proper place to go, we decided to just walk around the streets of Rome and find some souvenirs and sight seeing whatever that comes across. As the sunshine starts to appear, drops of rain starts to tumble down again. the rain gets worse and as we walk through the rain, we found a nice little coffee shop, a suitable place to get away from the rain. Italy is also famous for their expresso, so trying coffee here is a must eventhough if you're not a coffee lover.

Souvenir shop is everywhere in Rome but there are some tips to get a cheap souvenir like keychain. first, you have to survey different shops because the price difference can be huge. there's this one souvenir shop along Via Cavour that offers cheap stuff, not really much difference in price but its quite worth if you convert 0.50 euro to RM. bargain is not really a way to get a cheaper price in Rome because shops here are quite hard to negotiate in terms of bargaining. however, there are places that you can bargain such as the souvenir stalls which are usually supervised by bangladeshi. there is a stall next to the arch beside the colosseo that sells very cheap keychain if you buy in bundle. i bought 10 keychain for 1.33 euro each, the cheapest in Rome that i founded.

utm unibo workshop 2008

Held in 21-28 january 2008 in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia(UTM) , Johor, Malaysia. A joint collaboration between UTM and Universita Di Bologna (UNIBO). There were 20 students from UTM and 8 students from Italy joining the workshop this time. It was a nice experience to be in the workshop. All of the Italian friends were very nice and friendly. The Italian participants stayed in Hyatt Hotel, JB and they have to get to UTM at 9am every morning, that's like half an hour ride on the bus.. along the workshop basically we did studio works most of the time and also going out wandering around JB city..

enjoying fresh breeze on balai cerapan

Everytime we went for lunch or dinner, we surely stuck at any shopping complex for the italians to shop some stuff.. especially the girls..haha..LOL! by the end of the workshop, the winners of the competition were announced and my team won 2nd prize.. nice one! but congratulations to all of the winners and every team that participated. The final day was quite heartbreaking and everyone was sad to leave and some girls even cry(the italians).. well, most malaysian girls are sad but just so ego to show their sad feelings infront of other people. anyways, it went smoothly and everyone enjoyed the workshop so far!

singapore river cruise

Later on that day, we have a peer evaluation where everyone voted for whoever they choose to vote. The tough part is the result.. The result announcement was made 2 weeks later which is late than what we had expected...geez! After the whole evaluation thing, only 12 students were chosen and i am one of them.

no. 2, not bad eyy..

HOORAY! lucky me.. so, i'm looking forward to go to Italy this spring end and hopefully this will be one of the best memory i will remember. Our plan is that we're going to go to Italy and on the first week touring around Italy.. Venice, Vatican bla..bla..bla.. then the 2nd week is the workshop, and then the 3rd week we'll be going to UK, Paris and Barcelona. So, looking forward for this trip ;)

post-portfolio

at last, today was the last day of portfolio where everything just ended for this semester and the new semester has started for me.. looking forward for the next semester's project which is urban.. heard that urban is one of the hardest semester for every architecture student.. my final accessment on 12/11/07 was going quite well.. crits from lecturers had helped me a lot.. i don't reject peoples' critique.. i absorb and try better next time.. the only problem i had was with myself.. and also computer ..i'm not fully satisfied with my work and there are things that are unrealised.. but personally i think i've improved from sem to sem.. that's what important.. during portfolio yesterday.. everything went smooth as well but our marks have not been given and i'm very anxious to know our result!

temporary freedom

yesterday was my presubmission but i didn't complete my dwgs.. i managed to only complete my plans, a section and a 3d perpective.. 3 days before the presubmission, i was like a possesed guy sitting in front of my LCD.. anyway, about my work.. i think i did quite ok.. though, i was satisfied that i finished my 3d perspective (which is not really complete) in time.. just that i didn't complete my dwgs but thats ok bcause this is just a PRE submission and i will take revenge in the final submission.. huahuhahua..

so, feel free to leave your comment on my design...