Cyza Sector » Travel

Some of my UK Updates

cyza — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:12:39 +0000

As for today, we have already been in Newcastle for 15 days. There are about 45 more days for us to stay here. The whether is still very cold for spring. Everybody is adapting quite well. The kids have managed to adapt with the cold whether. However, we can see that they really miss schooling life. My other half is coping to be a full time mother while doing some of her proof reading work remotely. She told me earlier at the park (Nunsmoor Park) that if she had to follow me to do Ph.D for three years in the UK, she will be insane! Why? This is because she is already used to her career life. She has plenty of work to do and she could not imagine if she suddenly need to leave all those activities and become a full time housewife. Haha…luckily she will only experience this for 2 months only.

Our home

Our home is comfortable and warm. I wanted to blog about the house but I don’t have the time to do so. I want to upload as much photos and videos possible to show the house. Well that actually consumes much of my time. Just wait. I’ll make a special blogpost for my 2 months home soon.

Angel of the North. This is one iconic spot not to be missed if you come to Newcastle. It's so gorgeous and the panaromic surrounding view is superbly breathtaking. You may want to have your house window facing such fabolous view.

4 Season Clock

The 4 season clock here is quite tough to follow. The day is now far longer than the night. Wait till its summer and we will have longer daylight. Subuh (sun rise) is at 3.30 am. At 4.30 am the day is clear and Subuh has just ended. Then Isya’ is at 10.15 pm as of today. If we used another “mazhab’s” prayer time, the Isya’ is at 11pm. We have to get used of the clock.

My Tasks in this 2 months

What about my main purpose here? Doing some research attachment. I’m a man with a mission. I’m working as hard as possible to complete my thermodynamic modelling for my reactions. I have had 2 meetings with 2 of my supervisors here. The 3rd meeting will be next week. In each meeting, I need to show some progress. Who dares to meet the supervisor with zero progress!!! I won’t there to do that. I don’t have a face to do that.

Basically I have 2 major objectives coming to Newcastle University. I need to (1) write and complete my thermodynamic feasibility paper and (2) write and complete another paper – Glycerol to Hydrogen (GTH).

Then, I broke my objective to smaller parts. They are (1) to obtain the Gibbs free energy of all compounds related to my study as a function of pressure and temperature (2) to learn to use Matlab to solve 15 simultaneous non-linear equations (3) to write that thermodynamic paper (4) to write that GTH paper (5) to learn various new reactors available under the chemical engineering and advance material group (CEAM), and finally (6) to learn various other equipments available in CEAM.

Some of you may think that I’m having lots of fun here. However, you may not know the level of stress I’m having at this point. I’m trying my best to maintain my composure as well as balance in emotion and spiritual. Not only that I have to take care of my own tasks and mission, I also need to take care of my family and their feelings. The kids especially need some recreational activities to make them happy. They are not schooling for 2 months and that makes them bored.

I remembered one of the postdoc asked another PhD student in the research associate room I’m positioned, “How are you coping with your stress level?”… Aha… That surprised me. I think postgrads and postdocs here are quite stressful with their life. Maybe… I don’t know.

Hmm.. that reminds me that I also need to blog about my school and office here. I mean my work station. That will follow suit soon.

Visit to Angel of the North

OK enough about that. Let me just share a new video and photos on our trip to “Angel of the North“. It was really a wonderful visit. I saw this in movies or TV before. Suddenly, after renting a Ford Fiesta, drove it, I got lost somewhere I don’t know. I don’t have a GPS or satnav with me nor do I have a map. I just based on the main road called A167. Then I got lost. While figuring the way, I saw one big statue with wings and that is the Angel of the North. Gosh…Now I’m seeing it with my own eyes while I’m lost.

More photos of Angle of the North are uploaded in Facebook.com/cyzasector

House Hunting in Newcastle – Day #2 & #3

cyza — Sat, 05 May 2012 05:10:56 +0000

There are many important things to do upon arriving in Newcastle. The earliest was to make sure we received our luggage in the airport. Then, to have somebody to help us in the early days in Newcastle. That was pretty much done by Mr. Azizul and family who has been such a wonderful and charming host. Other post graduates also helped us a lot. Then the most important thing after that is for us to search for our own house.

So, the next day which is day #2, we got out of the house and start searching for potential houses via real estate agent. It was really tough to get a house to be rent for just 2 months. However, Mr. Azizul helped us around to visit more and more real estate agent in various locations and areas in Newcastle. I already know that this will be a tough assignment. Coming to Newcastle without a confirm place to stay in a weather that has temperature between 1-7 Celcius.

Ikhwan wondering... This was our first Metro ride to the city center from Mr. Azizul's house

Me and Mr. Azizul in the Metro train. He brought along his 2 year old daughter, Fatimah Arisa. Mr. Azizul's wife is the one doing Ph.D in Newcastle University and her supervisor and mine is the same. The only thing is I have not met my supervisor yet.

We arrived at this place which was supposed to be a potential place to stay according to the Newcastle University accomodation officer. Yes, the flat is available and can be rented for 2 months. It's very close to the university. But then the landlord do not accept children because according to her, the unit is small and not suitable. There we go... we need to search and hunt for house again.

After a long walk hunting for house, we stopped and check out this Restoran Nusantara, a Malaysian restaurant in the city center of Newcastle city. The owner is a Malay Malaysian and has operating this restaurant for several years already.

This is the Nasi Lemak (coconut rice) that we enjoyed. It cost about 5 pounds. The chicken portion is huge. It's equivalent to the chicken leg.

Then we continue walk again, hunting for another real estate agent to get another house.

Greggs is a popular bread shop in Newcastle. It is literally everywhere.

A view of some section of Newcastle city center while waiting for the bus.

On our way to visit another real estate agent.

Police horse unit in Newcastle city. We were on our way back home. Ikhwan pushing the stroller of baby Arisa.

Home sweet home. This is Mr. Azizul's house. This view is from the rear part and entrance is via the kitchen. His house is huge inside. That's why he and his family can host us.

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We’ve reached Newcastle Safe and Sound

cyza — Wed, 02 May 2012 05:41:10 +0000

Finally, after waiting for 10 hours in Amsterdam airport, we managed to be in the flight to Newcastle with a Boeing 737 KLM. There are various types of delay that made the flight delayed again. However this time, the delay was about 10 minutes and it was acceptable.

We landed at Newcastle airport at 5 pm local time (UK time). In Malaysia that is 12 am midnight. We hoped that our luggage flew with us. Luckily our luggage appeared at the collection belt and we were very grateful to God for everything. Despite of the flight confusion, flight cancellation, hours of waiting, finally we arrived safely in Newcastle and our luggage also correctly flew with our new flight.

We were fetched by the Malaysian community of Newcastle. One MPV and one car came to fetch us. Mr. Azizul (Newcastle Malaysian Chief (penghulu)), Mr. Khairi and Mr. Khairuddin took all the trouble to fetched us. We appreciate their kindness very much.

Ikhwan, Marsya & Alya posing outside of Newcastle Airport. They tried to get the feel of a very cold spring.

After getting out from the custom check point, we found Walker dispenser. This was one of our favourite chips while we were studying in UK 13 years ago.

Then, we we brought to Mr. Azizul’s house. He will be hosting us before we get our own temporary house for our 2 months stay in Newcastle. It’s good to have good, nice, kind and helpful friends like the Mr. Azizul + family and the other Malaysian community here. That’s the Malaysian spirit that we should cherish.

At about 7pm, we went to Mr. Khairi’s house which is within walking distance from Mr. Azizul’s. It took us about 5-6 minutes walk in the breezing cold temperature. I forgot to use my G-Shock Riseman to check the temperature. Later, I’ll definitely check.

Mr. Khairi and his family was hosting a his daughter’s birthday party. They served laksa penang and some nice caramel dessert. There were about 5 other families in the house and me and my wife got the chance to get to know them. It’s really cool event. My kids were all flat exhausted and slept at the couch.

At about 9pm, we walked back to Mr. Azizul’s house and prepared to sleep. Off course, before sleeping, I requested for Mr. Azizul’s password for his wi-fi. That’s how I managed to get hook of the internet now and blog about our first day, first night experience in Newcastle. Although it is brief, at least I managed to squeeze some time to record some of our initial adventure here in UK.

The birthday party that we were invited upon arrival at Newcastle. Mr. Khairi's home is at the Newcastle University accommodation flat.

Our sleeping beauties. So tired.

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The Conference in Shanghai, China

cyza — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 16:05:45 +0000

This entry is the continuation of Shanghai Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 that I have made earlier. In this entry, I’m going to briefly share our experience attending the conference. I’m sorry if this entry sounds slightly technical. The term Chemical Engineering will be highlighted several times. It might bore some of you! Hope you can bear with me…

………………………………….

Last December (2011), my wife participated in the 1st Scientific Publishing Research Workshop in Shanghai China from 20-22 December 2011 to present her technical paper about Progressive Freeze Concentration (PFC). The research is directly related to her own Ph.D and her present core research. I accompanied her to Shanghai and at the conference I joined as a participant. It was the first time we attended an international conference together.

Short Note: The Progressive Freeze Concentration (PFC) research project has recently won Silver Medal in the 13th INDUSTRIAL ART AND TECHNOLOGY EXHIBITION ) INATEX 2011 which was held on 16-17th Nov 2011 and Gold Medal in Malaysia Technology Expo (MTE 2012) which took place from 16-19th February 2012. Yep, that was announced yesterday! Congratulations from me to my wife. You go girl!!!

The workshop is not specifically tailored to chemical engineering only. It combines chemistry, biochemistry, maths and several other disciplines. I can say it is a highly multi-disciplinary workshop. The participants came from all over the world including United States, German, Japan, India, China, Greece, Korea, Malaysia and others.

Some of you might have not heard about Scientific Research Publisher (SciRP) while some probably have heard about it. SciRP is an academic publisher of open access journals. It also publishes academic books and conference proceedings. SCIRP currently has more than 150 open access journals in the areas of science, technology, and medicine.

: The President of Scientific Research Publisher (SciRP) giving his speech

: That’s me behind, sitting next to my wife. The two gentlements on the right are professors from India. The woman in front is a researcher from Greece.

: Some of the participants of the 1st Scientific Research Publishing workshop.

SciRP actually provides an alternative means of scientific research publication. The difference is only it is practices an open access system where anybody can read the journal free of charge. The other traditional journal from publishers like Elsevier require us to pay before we can read them. However, as students, most of us can have access to it because our university library have purchase the subscription from the publisher. Hence, we are open to write and submit to SciRP. The process is almost the same. The draft paper will be evaluated by editors and undergo strict requirement to ensure top notch quality of the article.

As for us Chemical Engineers, the most related journal is Advances of Chemical Engineering & Science. The journal is relatively new but is good enough for us to submit articles to them. Once thing to know about open access journal like this is that some fee will be charge to the publisher.

Overall, it was a very interesting experiences attending the 1st Scientific Research Publishing Workshop. I was really honoured to meet the founder and president of SciRP as well other professors, academicians and researchers from other parts of the globe. Besides expanding our knowledge we get the chance to meet new people and increase our networking (which is important in the real world).

: My wife presenting her technical paper. However, before she proceed with the presentation, she explained briefly about Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and also Malaysia. This is actually a platform where we become the ambasador of Malaysia. We need to promote and publicize Malaysia, don’t you think so?

: This is the panoramic scene outside the workshop room. The hotel where the workshop took place is situated in a resort style hotel. The view is actually part of a golf course. The temperature in Shanghai at this time is between 0-6 Celcius.

: This is another view of the peaceful scenery outside the workshop room.

: Lunch break. We were served with 10 course local Chinese dish. Frankly, the food is very different than what we usually have. Nevertheless we tried to eat some of the uniquely served dishes.

: That’s me in front of the hotel lobby where the workshop takes place. Check out the red banner on the top of the hotel lobby building. This is proof that this is the first SciRP workshop.

: Me and my wife walking around the resort compound where the conference took place. The background is actually a historical light house that was used by the ships few decades ago.

: This is the view of our hotel room. Ours were on the first floor. We commute to the hotel lobby and conference using a shuttle bus. We need to dial number 3 and they will come and fetch us.

I’ll be sharing a little bit more of our Shanghai Adventure soon. I would also like to inform that I’ll be doing my research attachment and also possibly attend an international conference in a foreign country soon. It’s nice to be traveling abroad once in a while.

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Pulai Desaru Beach Resort Treat – Part 2

cyza — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:39:36 +0000

Finally the 3 days 2 nights stay at Pulai Desaru Beach Resort ended. Was it a spectacular weekend? Hmm…It is a good way to spend a weekend but it was not a great one. We have not stayed there before so we appreciate the experiences. Luckily, it was a trip that was part of my wife’s work, that we don’t need to spend a flux of cash. Sometimes, these people need to get away out of the routine to entice new ideas to emerge and creative thinking to pop up. When everybody is relax and their family is happy, the motivation and drive to work smoothly flow. In short productivity and efficiency increases.

How true is this? I don’t know! Maybe it is true up to certain extend because everybody is placed in one place outside of their normal routine. Sometimes, I think it is a waste of money to do such activities. But when I think positively, there is some truth that the employee needs something different, something to excite and rejuvenate them.

Me and my love ones partially under water

The kids really enjoyed this swimming pool. Alya, the youngest is jumping into the pool while the others are searching for gold fish.

OK, enough about my musing. To make my story easy, let me share my experiences in a more straight forward manner.

Good Stuffs about Pulai Desaru Beach Resort:

Great mattress. So far the best mattress that I have ever felt compared to other hotels that I have stayed.
Spacious. The hotel room is large compared to other standard rooms.
A separate bath tub and shower. That is a plus point for me. I prefer shower and the kids will dive into the bath tub.
Swimming pool is one of the best pools I have visited compared to other hotels. They are large and provide generous space for adults and kids to swim or play.
Free carom game set, ping-pong and other games. However, we need to pay for other games like pool and arcade.
All the TV channels are clear. That’s good even if it is an old TV. I also managed to watched my favourite team being trashed away from the FA cup in the ESPN channel.

Not So Good Stuffs about Pulai Desaru Beach Resort:

The floor is covered with tiles. It is very cold to sit on it. There are chairs and beds, but sometimes we like to sit on the floor.
Food is not that good. Some of my colleagues (attending the workshop in the hotel) said that the chef life in this hotel is easy and not challenging. They are not a great job in presenting and serving fantastic meals. Something need to be done to improve the food quality.
Stingy. This is related to the towels. For a standard room, the hotel only provided 2 bath towel, a hand towel and a medium size towel. That’s all. When I asked the room service boy that sent us the additional hand towel and medium size towel (that were not in the room at the first place), they said, that is the normal practice. This is the first hotel that sadly limits its towel to the hotel guess. Why? Why?
Stingy II. Paid internet service. This is one thing that I hate from a hotel. I expect a hotel to give at least a free wifi service in the lobby if not the entire room. The last 3 hotels that I visited in the last 2 months provided free internet/free wifi – minimum in the lobby. I don’t care if we need a password as long as they provide the password free of charge to the guess. To make things even worse, the internet that I used is not stable.
Interruption from hotel staffs. This is really weird. This is the first time I experienced staffs requested to enter my hotel room to do some stuffs. The first one was a technician who wanted to replace the 4″ florescence bulb at the bath tub area. The second one was somebody who wanted to take the serial number of the old TV in our hotel room. Both happened in the same day. Even though I allowed them to enter the hotel room, I strongly believe it is not appropriate at all for these people to request to enter our hotel room unless we requested them to do something like repairing stuffs or making up the room. They should to it when the room is empty!!!

Well, those are just few plus and minus points about Pulai Desaru Beach Resort. Will I come back here? Not if I have to pay myself. This is mainly because I live in Johor Bahru area and the hotel is Desaru which is just 56 minutes away from my house. There’s no solid reason for me to spend a night or two in this hotel.

However, if you are from outside Johor, this hotel can be a good option for you. It has the swimming pool and beach. There are also nearby local restaurants and food stalls within 5 km radius for you to dine should you choose not to dine inside the hotel restaurant.

Finally it comes to Cyza Sector Hotel Rating. Based on my overall 3 days 2 nights experience, I give this hotel 3.0 Stars. I’m not a professional reviewer. I just provide my honest view based on my experiences.

Read Pulai Desaru Beach Resort – Part 1.

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Cyza Sector » Travel

Some of my UK Updates

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