Central Locking Installation

Black Widow Kit

Couple of weeks back I got my hands on a DIY 4 door central locking kit for our car. The used car we got doesn't come with central locking and it's really a hassle (call me lazy) to manually lock the doors.

The kit costs $69.00 and includes 1 master and 3 slave actuators, a whole lot of wires and 2 remotes.

The electrical diagram

Before I got the kit, I did my research online and found that it's quite easy to fix it up. But I didn't read the fine print (a certain level of understanding of electronics is required).

So I was quite stunned when I saw the electrical diagram. Even the guy at Strathfield where I got the kit from advised me not to do it unless I know what I'm doing. Leave it to them he says, but he probably just wants to earn my money.

It costs a ridiculous $65 per door to have it fixed. That's $65 X 4 + $69 = a whopping $329

All the wires from under the steering wheel

There are so many wires at the drivers kick panel that I'll be 80 by the time I identified everyone of them. I also risked electrocuting myself (slight exaggeration but 12V does hurt) and messing up the car's electrical circuitry.

There wasn't much chance for trial and error as I didn't want to end up with a few thousands dollars worth of scrap metal just for the convenience of central locking.

The various equipments needed

Taking off the door panel

Another main obstacle was removing the door panels to which I'm proud to say I'm an expert at now. haha It took us 2-3 hours (me & roy) to remove our first panel, which we did in the dark with a fumbling torchlight.

All the wires lead to a central control box

After installing all the actuators at the separate doors, I linked the wires under the carpets to the main controller under the steering wheel.

I was able to locate all the main wires except for the headlights, which will blink to indicate the remote has been activated/deactivated.

After an exhausting search (turning your head upside down and searching in a cramped environment), I finally gave up.

Fixing back the door panel

Everything works just fine now, without the indication. I am so proud. haha

It took me a total of 3 days spread out over 2 weeks to complete. Now I can include "Central Locking Kit Installation" into my resume.


Technorati Tags: Central Locking, Car

Cocolo Restaurant Randwick

Cocolo Thai & Japanese

During the weekends we went over to "The Spot" for dinner. It's about 5 mins drive from our place and it's like the local entertainment place, complete with a small cinema.

We seldom dine here due to the inflated prices, and we could get better value for our money just a couple of streets down the road.

Interior

After browsing around the different eateries and being flabbergastered at the $25 noodles and $35 steak which is obviously inflated many times over, we finally chose Cocola with it's reasonable prices.

Cocola is an establishment that serves both Thai & Japanese cuisine.

Tom Yum Soup

The wife decided to go for the Tom Yum soup, which isn't spicy eventhough we requested them to rev up the spice factor. It's always the case for thai eateries in Sydney. Tom Yum doesn't really taste that good if it doesn't burn our intestines and make our lips swell.

But spice apart, the taste was reasonably good. Just they should probably serve it in a bigger portion. (and they shouldn't charge extra for rice)

Grilled salmon Bento Box

I ordered the Bento Box which was quite value for money. It included grilled salmon, rice, soba noodles, seaweed, tempura, adegashi tofu, 2 slices of sweet egg and miso soup.

Grilled salmon was quite tasty for a dish that's apparently designed for a value picker diner like myself.

Overall it was quite enjoyable to dine out and just to enjoy the evening out. =p


Technorati Tags: The Spot, Sydney, Thai

Blue Mountains

Couple of weeks back we decided to head out to the Blue Mountains, about 2 hrs drive west of Sydney.

Honeymoon Lookout

We've visited this area last year but we couldn't see a thing due to the unrelentless fog. This time around, the weather was gloomy and thunderstorms were forecasted. But we decided to give it a shot anyway.

Queen Elizabeth was here

See how blue the mountains are

It doesn't portray in the pictures but the mountains really had a strange blue hue to it, hence the name "Blue Mountains". It remains a popular tourist destination and a holiday to Sydney would be incomplete without a visit here.

Three sisters (background)

The Great Ocean Road has the 12 apostles, and blue mountains has the "three sisters". It's basically 3 rocks that are strategically located in a pristine environment.

Legend has it that the 3 sisters fell in love with 3 men from a neighbouring tribe but the marriage was forbidden by tribal law .... link.

Close up

Some would claim that it's nature's creation. But to be frank, a rock's a rock, no matter how grandeur the name may seem. =p

The previous time we were here the fog was so bad that we couldn't make out any sisters and had to pose as the 3 sisters ourselves. haha

Gateway to the 1st sister

Steps going down

Now this is where we could actually climb/walk over to the 1st sister. It was quite scary for me (who's afraid of heights). The last time it wasn't that bad as the fog covered up everything. The clear weather today ensured that everything was in sight, all the way down below.

Walkway to the 1st sister

Entrance to Scenic World

Naked statues outside the Scenic World

The old me would had taken a shot like that as well, but considering that my status is now "Not available" I decided against it to prevent conflict. Besides, the wife was just beside me. ;)

Next we moved on to Scenic World, where we paid $28.00 pp for 3 rides, the Cableway, the Skyway & the Railway.

The Railway

The railway was quite an exhilirating ride as the inclination when it descended was 45 degrees or almost that. Eventhough the ride only took about 1 min but it did feel like a roller coaster ride and set the hearts pumping.

Look at how steep it was

The rails

The tracks were used to transport minerals from the mines down to the towns. It's actually quite amazing that the tracks are still in tip-top condition considering that mining started in the 1800s.

The platform - I just wonder what'll happen if the brakes doesn't work?

Miners from faraway land

The mines

This is a replica of how the mines looked like in the old days. The only modes of transportation back then was horses and human legs. Moving tons of minerals without mechanical assistance is no mean feat.

Rest houses

Life back then was probably quite miserable. The climate here is much cooler than Sydney, even with all the green house gases. So one can only imagine how freezing it was back in the old days, when there's no heaters and electricity.

The Cableway

After a supposedly 10mins walk (ended up spending 45 mins walking around due to different detours - the worst being the treehouse thingy that took 10 mins to reach but was an absolute disappointment) around the old mining area, we used the Cableway to get back to the Scenic World entrance.

In the Cableway

The Cableway is a huge cabin that ascents and descends via the cable. It can probably take more than 50 people and the view of the waterfalls and the surrounding scenery while we slowly ascent was quite memorable.

The Skyway

At the Scenic World entrance, we then took the Skyway, which is a horizontally moving cable-cabin.

See-through glass

We were offered the view of an entirely different section. But the Skyway was unique in the sense that the mid section of the cabin consisted of glass that become see-through whenever the operator flipped the switch.

Wentworth falls

This place was actually quite amazing and we would have given it a miss was it not for Roy's persistence. It was just a small street located in the middle of nowhere, literally. And it took us more than half an hour to locate it.

It's still in the Blue Mountains area but its in one of the small towns.

The view was breathtaking

We knew of this place through a traveller's magazine. Strangely there isn't any sign whatsoever that pin-points the location.

The place was deserted

It was actually a good thing that they didn't advertise the place with signboards and stuff as it is very rare to actually find a nice spot with amazing views not swarmed with tourists.

Carvings on the stone floor

Someone carved a date on the stone floor everytime they were up here, once a year since the 1970s until it stopped abruptly in 1994 .....

Cars that went overboard

..... that's probably what happened in 1995 before they had the chance to carve the date on the stone floor.

R.I.P.


Technorati Tags: Sydney, Blue Mountains, Three sisters

Testicle Pizza?

A serbian chef is publishing a new cookbook titled, "The testicle cookbook - cooking with balls". A fitting title for a cookbook that offers various recipes to cook testicles. Read more here.



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I also wanna buy this house for $2.20. I had better surf ebay more frequently to get offers as such.



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The attack of the bare breasted bandits. Need I say more?

Frankly speaking, I don't mind being attacked. hehe

EEEEEEEEEEEEE!! Chicky Feet

I'm sure caucasians will freak out when they touch this. haha.

Chicken Feet complete with nails

Not many butchers stock up chicken feet, and even if they do it is often not displayed. Except this particular shop in chinatown that proudly displays an entire bucketfull of chicken feet, despite the stares from revolting caucasians.

Personally the only chicken feet I take is from Yum Cha, dipped into delicious black sauce. Did I mention the chicken feet here are humongous? Probaby twice or even three times the size we're normally accustomed to.

And they're damn cheap. Only $1.80/kg.

Process of cutting the nails

Despite the delicious crunchy texture, chicken feet are actually quite hideous, even scary for some in it's natural apperance.

It looks and feels almost like a human's fingers, baby fingers. And the worst thing about buying our own chicken feet is that, we need to cut the toenails. *shivers*

It feels like grabbing some dead guy's fingers up and clipping his nails for him before burial.

How it looks like without nails

The sound the nails make prior to its breaking point, *kleak* or *crack* just sends shudders down my spine. You know that eerie feeling you get when your nails break or you hear someone else's bones breaking? It really feels disgusting.

Look at that! How's disgusting is that?

I wouldn't dare to touch the feet after the nails had been clipped even if you paid me to. FYI this procedure was conducted with a pair of scissors.

Leftovers nails

I wonder if the chicken felt any pain?

Mooncake Shopping

Mooncake shopping in Sydney was relatively trouble free. Contrary to our opinion that trying to find mooncake here would be like finding needle in a haystack.

Market City

All we had to do was to browse through the gigantic selection of various mooncakes available at Market City & World Square. Both are prominent shopping complexes in the heart of Chinatown.

Assortments of mooncakes

Mooncakes from HK, Vietnam, Malaysia etc in various sizes and colors were all available. The variety was really impressive.

Display Hut

The last time I went mooncake shopping was in Malaysia, during my secondary school time ... at one of those grocery shops at Green Road. We would make tea and shift our mahjong table outside and eat mooncake while playing with lanterns.

Even while we were in Singapore the only celebration we did during mid-autumn festival was to visit the lights show at Chinese Garden.

Strangely being here, we had a strong urge to buy mooncake, play lanterns, celebrate and just to find back that little bit of "chinesy" feel in this white land.

Fruit flavoured mooncake

I wanted to try this fruit flavoured mooncake. But was afraid the taste would be too weird. It looks really cute doesn't it? All the different colors.

Initially we tried to find the 家好月圆 brand from the HK TVB series. But the closest we could find was XXXX from vietnam. I'm sure the TVB series wouldn't use a mooncake brand from Vietnam wouldn't it? So in the end we ended up with this particular brand.

Retail price is $18.00

For 4 pieces of mooncake

Brand name imprinted

I like the way the mooncakes always seem to glow in their skin. Inviting you to eat them..

Lotus with single yoke

The lotus was very chewy, not too sweet and the yoke adds a subtle salty taste. The crust implements the chewy factor with a little bit of crunch.

:P

HAPPY BELATED MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL!

We were checking out the story of mid-autumn festival on wikipedia and there are so many versions but were all quite interesting. I like the idea of a medicine pounding rabbit.

This year's theme at Chinese Garden Singapore was HELLO KITTY! Looks very nice.


Technorati Tags: Mid-Autumn, Mooncake