Thanks to all your kind votes and support, I have been chosen as one of the 30 bloggers to be part of Stage 2 of My Selangor Story 2010 (MSS) – a 6 day blogging contest around beautiful Selangor. Spearheaded by Tourism Selangor to promote Selangor’s cultural diversity & rich tourism resource, MSS brings together 30 bloggers from Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia to an exciting, all-expenses paid luxury itinerary for these bloggers to blog about.

Starting today (23th Sept) until (28th Sept), I’ll be visiting many different places, meet many interesting people, do cool activities, eat great food and most importantly blog about my experience.

As the competition kicks-off, here is the first day highlights in a short 4 minutes preview video.

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Bloggers arrive in style for registration at Subang SkyPark where Kapitan Kopitiam kindly hosted a welcoming tea. For fellow bloggers from Indonesia, Singapore, JB and Penang, they were flown in with special treatment courtesy of Firefly with VIP treatment from check in to arrival. Firefly is the official airline of MSS and on top of providing the tickets for participants and prizes, the community airline provides a cool FY jersey for everyone.

Despite not being able to experience Firefly’s in-flight service (obviously does not make sense to fly from Shah Alam to Subang ), I was pleased to be greeted by Firefly’s hospitality shown by the crew during the welcoming tea.

Thank you Capt Anthony Kok, Ms Sofia Sani, Mr Al Haffeez, Mr Bryan See, Ms Harleny and the rest.

Leaving the airport with some new friends The photo below courtesy of James/Firefly.

Am I going to be the 1st to be eliminated? luckily MSS is not a reality show with daily elimination!

We checked in to our hotel for the first day in my home city Shah Alam! The capital of Selangor, a city full with many interesting sights and activities where immediately we were briefed about the competition.

Followed by briefing by Pentax. Pentax is the official camera for My Selangor Story providing each of the bloggers a camera each.

I was assigned this Point and Shoot Pentax Model Optio H90.

It makes sense to have a point and shoot as a secondary camera for a travel blogger. I love the fact that I can take a photo with this Pentax in less than 5 seconds, something my DSLr can’t do. Also I can sneak in this camera to places DSLr can’t go.

But the most important thing is this cute little baby can take video! So my blog post will include both videos and photos

Cameras…. Checked
Itinerary…. Checked
Laptop….. Checked

Time to hit the road!

1st Stop… i-City, No.1 Technology City.

If you have a Facebook, you probably have seen lots of photos of your friends with bright colourful trees with LED lights. Yes, that’s the landmark of i-City

But there is more to i-City than just being the City of Digital Lights. I-Berhad, the developer of i-City has , obtained approval from the Government to turn the city into a knowledge hub with infrastructure facilities such as broadband speed of 20Mbps, fibre-optic network and a full gen-set back-up power supply.
We can soon expect new breeds of borderless technopreneurs to be the product of i-City! In the meantime, this IS the place to be for free lightning-speed internet access!

The free internet access is through wi-fi hotspots around the area and does not involve plugging in your laptops to the digital trees

I-City hosted us for a Steamboat dinner right smack in the middle of the trees under the light of a full moon. There are plenty of choices for visitor to have good food while admiring the beauty of the lights.

Yummy Seafood Steamboat.

I spent an hour walking around the park admiring the couples browsing each other beauty of the lights.

Thaipusam Theme

Chinese New Year Theme

Hari Raya Theme

Xmas Theme

Digital Safari? Reminds me of Mimaland once upon a time.

A good opportunity to try out the cute Pentax. I love this Panoramic Mode available on this camera.

(Photo taken from Pentax Optio H90)

It’s funny that i-City is only 5 minutes drive from my house yet, this is my first time exploring this new attraction of Shah Alam. Definitely not going to be the last one Check out i-City at www.i-city.my

From the bright i-City, we made our way to a happening ‘Pasar Malam’, Shah Alam’s own Uptown.

Located in Section 23, Uptown Shah Alam is a one-stop shopping bazaar selling things that you can usually find in a street market.

From hawker’s food…..

….. to bundle clothing….

….. to pets,

….and everything else you can imagine, you can find it all here in Uptown Shah Alam. He he he

If you’re looking for entertainment, try out the reflexology, playstation, karaoke on stage (no comment) or just chill out over a cup of kopi and watch wrestling on TV…..classic!

I was quite impressed that the whole business model of Uptown Shah Alam is driven by a commercial entity with direct support from Entrepreneurial and Tourism bodies in Selangor. Learning from the ups and downs of Pasar Pagi and Pasar Muhibah, Uptown Shah Alam is currently run by Dataran Usahawan Sdn Bhd.
Briefing on Uptown Shah Alam by En Aizul Hisham, MD of DUSB.

Encik Irwan Shah, the appointed Ambassador of Uptown Shah Alam.

The place is a showcase of local entrepreneurs with some of them have been extremely successful.

Uptown Shah Alam is located at Kompleks Muhibbah, Jalan Taugeh 24/17 Persiaran Sultan, seksyen 24, 40300 Shah Alam. URL: www.uptownshahalam.com

Despite ending the day at 2am, it was an exciting beginning to a 6-day journey Check out my Facebook for more photos of Day 1.

This past week has been nothing short of amazing for music lovers in Kuala Lumpur. On Saturday there was Heineken Green Room featuring The Rapture and MTV World Stage featuring the likes of Tokio Hotel and Katy Perry. On Sunday, we had By Demand: Coheed & Cambria, the highly-talented Orianthi on Wednesday; and on Thursday we had the honour of welcoming legendary rock n’ roll guitarist Slash to Malaysia for the first time ever, in conjunction with his world tour to promote his new self-titled album.

Crowds were beginning to converge at Sunway shortly after lunchtime, with several hopeful fans spotted toting guitars and cameras in hopes of bumping into Slash himself. (The writer actually bumped into Myles Kennedy but didn’t realise it until much later) There were actually a few decked out in top hats and/or leather jackets too, despite the fact that the concert was going to be held at an outdoor venue.

Opening for the top-hatted guitar god was our local rock legend Amy Search, as well as the winner of the “Bintang Rock Hot FM”, Blister, who won the right to open for Slash.

Despite having played four shows in the past week before his maiden showcase in Malaysia, the man himself showed no signs of fatigue, starting the show with the first track off his new album, ‘Ghost’.

With Myles Kennedy on lead vocals, Slash & co. played a combination of songs from the new album and bands that Slash has played in, with tracks from Guns N’ Roses (‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’, ‘Nightrain’, ‘Paradise City’), Slash’s Snakepit (‘Mean Bone’) and more recently, supergroup Velvet Revolver (‘Dirty Little Thing’, ‘Slither’). The surprise inclusion on the setlist was the AlterBridge song ‘Rise Today’, as a large majority of the fans in attendance were there for Slash.

After receiving a lukewarm response to playing an AlterBridge song, Myles Kennedy began introducing the other members of the band, before Slash in return introduced him to the crowd, resulting in a witty exchange between the two – after Slash went, “See dude? They love you!”, Myles replied, “Well at least I know someone loves me,” sparking much laughter from the fans.

Shortly after, Slash broke into a little shred-a-thon, wowing the fans while making a joke of the general preconceived notion that he’s best at the slow, emotionally powerful solos. With the fans still amazed after his virtuosic display of skill, he cheekily began playing the opening notes to that classic rock anthem that brought his old band Guns N’ Roses to the forefront of the music world, ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’. And to no surprise, everyone present went crazy.

The entire crowd began jumping and singing alon – it was honestly quite hard to hear anything, until the song reached its climax, with Slash dishing out his trademark face-melting solos, to which some enthusiastic fans began doing the air guitar routine, following the exact motions of the curly-haired, top-hatted guitar god onstage.

After playing ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’, the band went off stage, prompting the crowd to call them out for an encore. Chants of “We want more!” and “One more song!” rang out, as the crowd demanded their money’s worth.

Emerging from backstage for their encore, Slash & co. went on to perform the 2005 Grammy Award-winning song ‘Slither’ originally played by supergroup Velvet Revolver, triggering mosh pits and jump pits all through the crowd, before Myles Kennedy called out to the crowd in the lead up to the last song of the night. “Paradise what?” he asked several times, each replied with a unified scream of “City!!!”. What a tease! Slash began playing the memorable intro to the song as a fitting final song for the night.

WORDS Matt Liew PHOTOS Joshua Chay

Few musicians in rock ‘n’ roll can carry off a single name, and carry it with gravitas. That is except Slash. And few guitarists command as much respect as Slash (real name Saul Hudson).

The pioneering  member of Los Angeles-based hellraisers Guns N’ Roses  and  one  of  hard  rock’s  finest  guitarists  is  set to rock Malaysia for the very first time on Aug 5.

The Slash concert venue, subject to permits and confirmation, is tentatively Sunway Lagoon in Selangor.

“We’re still working on his permit. It shouldn’t be a problem for Slash to perform here,” assures Datuk Mohammad Mohammad Daud, deputy secretary-general of the Information, Communications and Culture Ministry, the powers that be in issuing performing license to local and international acts.

“However, we might propose a change of venue because we don’t think Sunway Lagoon is suitable for a rock icon of Slash’s stature.”

Back in blistering live form, Slash, 44, is touring in support of his highly acclaimed recently released solo self titled debut.

Slash’s touring band includes Alter Bridge’s Myles Kennedy (vocals), Bobby Schneck (guitar), Todd Kerns (bass) and Brent Fitz (drums). For a celebrated rock star that has such an illustrious past, Slash has confirmed he will perform a mix of his new solo material, Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver songs. Among the Guns N’ Roses classics featured in his concert sets include Civil War, Sweet Child O’ Mine, Night Train, Paradise City and Nice Boys.

Tickets details for Slash’s show in Malaysia to be announced soon.

Published May 26 2010

http://www.dailychilli.com/happenings/4014-slash-to-rock-malaysia

It was 17 years ago when I first received a special gift for my excellent UPSR exam results. A mini-compo stereo set that came with a high-tech CD Player which in the year 1993 is considered advance technology and exciting. I still remember my first CD that I bought to test out the set. It was none other than Guns & Roses Spaghetti Incident.

The reason was simple; nothing beats the sound of solo guitar and hard rock on a new radio set, no matter how funny the set look today!

Eventually from the Spaghetti Incident album I fell in love with Guns N Roses in particular listening to Slash in action as there is nothing cooler than the sound of lead guitarist mastering a music piece. Like many, my favourite songs would be the famous “November Rain”, “Sweet Child of Mine” and the less famous “Down of the Farm” and “Since I Don’t Have You”

Ranked #2 by Time Magazine in August 2009 in the “10 Best Electric Guitar Players of All-Time”, Slash is a rock legend. He is one of the most distinctive and in-demand guitarists of the last 30 years, equally confident working in hard rock and pop.

He is even cool enough to be a key character in Guitar Hero, “Now Everyone Can Be Slash” !

And many do not know that Slash is no stranger to Malaysia’s music industry. The master himself had a touch in one of our Rock Queen, Ella’s hit single. Check out the music video of Bayangan which features the sound of Slash on guitar alongside Ella’s strong vocal.

Click here to view the video.

I cannot hide my excitement when I first got to know that my favourite airline, Firefly is actually bringing in Slash for a concert in Malaysia! Yes, here in Malaysia!

For those Firefly and Slash fans, grab the early bird tickets at www.fatdeal.com.my or any Firefly Ticketing offices. If you are from outside KL, visit www.fireflyholidays.com for great travel packages for this concert!

I’m going to the concert alone so please feel free to contact me if you are going! The more the merrier!

See you all there and ROCK ON!

Salam 1 Malaysia…

Ogos ini lebih tepat lagi 5 Ogos 2010 bertempat di Surf Beach, Sunway Lagoon akan berlangsung sebuah konserto gitaris  lagenda yang dahulunya bersama kumpulan Guns N’ Roses iaitu Saudara Slash

Abang-abang yang membesar sekitar 80an – 90an paling tidak pun mesti pernah mendengar petikan gitar solo Saudara Slash kita ni bila kumpulan beliau mendendangkan lagu-lagu hebat seperti November Rain, Sweet Child O’ Mine, Don’t Cry, Welcome To The Jungle dan banyak lagi melalui radio ataupun kaset masa tu… nostalgia

Walaupun aku mengenali Guns N’ Roses sudah agak sedikit lewat (walaupun lahir awal 80an, aku masih muda ye .. haha) lagu-lagu Guns N’ Roses memang antara lagu-lagu yang aku minati. Terima kasih kepada abang aku sendiri, akibat tumpang melayan lagu-lagu seperti ini pengaruh ‘rock kapak’ masih sebati dalam diri sampai sekarang. Hip hop? Terima kasihlah ye… hehe

Berbalik kepada konsert Slash di Kuala Lumpur nanti, selain beliau ada beberapa lagi nama-nama besar dalam muzik yang akan turut memeriahkan seperti Kid Rock, Dave Grohl dan Ozzy Osbourne yang ntah apa-apa ntah tu.. haha

Yep. You’ve heard it. The rumours are true. You’d think after Singapore and Indonesia, we’d let the guitar god run away without visiting this sunny country first eh?

Ahh.. Slash. The big out-date hair. Those cool black sunglasses. The high-top hat. One of the most prominent guitar figures the world heve ever known, everyone knows you. Those college boys are trying hard to knick that Sweet Child O’ Mine solo. Even those little children know you from Guitar Hero. And that trademark cigarette between your lips, what are you teaching kids these days?

Yes the Guns & Roses guitarist will be coming to town. And let’s hope for one hell of a guitar crunching swash-buckling!

Details:

Date: 5th August 2010
Venue: Sunway Lagoon Theme Park

Admission:

Ticket sales start on 15 June 2010.

VIP: RM378
PS1 – RM253, RM178, RM128
PS2 – RM183, RM128, RM93

For more information please call the official ticket agent, FatDeal Hotline at 03-7862 2000 or visit www.fatdeal.com.my

“Saul Hudson (born 23 July 1965), better known by his stage name Slash, is a British-American musician. Best-known as the former lead guitarist of the hard rock band Guns N’ Roses, with whom he performed and recorded between 1985 and 1996, he later formed the eponymous Slash’s Snakepit and co-founded Velvet Revolver with his former bandmates Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum. His debut solo album, Slash, was released in April 2010.” (From Wikipedia)

Actually, I’m promoting my fourth Youthsays’ Campaign : Slash Live In KL. So, as usual, I hope all my reader can click on this link : http://malaysia.youthsays.com/firdhaus/Slash-Live-in-KL to support this campaign. It’s easy man. I only need your click my reader.

I also put Slash’s picture on the right side of my blog below Kit Kat and Messi picture. Feel free to click it all dear Help me, and I’ll help you. Trust me

ALL you rocker fans out there, be prepared to get Slash-ed!

Date : 5th Aug 2010 (Thursday)

Time : 6.00pm onwards

Venue : Surf Beach, Sunway Lagoon Theme Park, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Malaysia’s own rock star — Amy Search will open for the Slash Live in Malaysia concert!

Doors will open from as early as 6pm on August 5 at the Surf Beach at Sunway Lagoon Theme Park. The concert will begin at 7pm with a local flavour — fielding local young talents, including those from “Bintang Rock Hot FM” Search Showcase. This first session will be a competition, in search of young and amazing Malaysian bands to also be an opening act for the Slash concert.

After the showcase warm-up, Amy Search will come onstage for 40 minutes, performing some eight songs including his trademark Isabella, Mentari Merah Di Uluk Timur and Fenomena, followed by Slash, who will perform for an hour and a half. Slash will be belting out Sweet Child of Mine and November Rain with lead singer Myles Kennedy.

To get more details on Slash Live in KL – Click HERE.

I would like to thank both of them so much as helping me to solve my flight problem once I contacted and explained my situation throughout an email with Natalya last Monday.

The responeses of Natalya and Mahendran were so fast! Because I got a call from Mahendran this morning around 11am and he told me that my problem can be solved and makes me disburden and release from the issue. It is really out of my expectation!

From this case, I feel touch with the good services that provided by fire fly to me which is one of budget airlines in Malaysia.

For my point of view, Fire Fly services definitely up to standard even though it is just a budget airlines.

By comparing with other budget airlines, I would like to say Fire Fly is worth in the value. It is because all fare is including bagage allowance and some snack on the plane. Thus, I don’t worry any hidden charge from that.

I definitely will put Fire Fly as my first choice as I think services is the most important that make me feel comfort! Fire Fly, please keep your better services!!

Again, thank you so much Natalya and Mahendran! Your help is really appreciated!

Thank you, Fire Fly…
Boon

Malaysia – Firefly is bringing Slash, of Guns N Roses fame, to Kuala Lumpur for a concert as part of a new direction the company is taking which will involve organising more concerts.

Slash Live in Kuala Lumpur 2010 Concert will take place at the Surf Beach, Sunway Lagoon Theme Park on 5 August 2010. It will be the first of many concerts that Firefly plans to organise in and outside of Malaysia with the intention of positioning the brand as an airline that brings the fun and joy back into flying.

Ultimately, Firefly’s objective with the concert is to bring people together which it says is in keeping to its “Your Community Airline” tagline.

“It’s been exciting to see Firefly spotlight on one of the most talented rock artists in the world. This concert will give Slash fans not just around the nation but those living in the region, the best opportunity to see their idolised entertainer performing live and simultaneously enjoy the many wonders of Malaysia,” Angelina Fernandez, head of marketing and communications for Firefly said.

In conjunction with this concert, Firefly Holiday – Slash Live Concert packages have been created for all Firefly flights coming into Subang. Additionally, the special packages also apply to fans who wish to book their flights on Malaysia Airlines flights coming through KLIA.

Other partners involved in the Slash initiative include Tourism Malaysia as the sponsor; Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa as the official hotel; TV3 as the official TV station; and Tangeryne Dream hired as the agent.

More sponsors are expected to be announced next week.

http://www.marketing-interactive.com/news/20361