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MySQL Varchar Can Now Contain More Than 255 Characters

Published January 3, 2009 in Database. 0 Comments

Found an interesting new feature for MySQL when I was randomly reading the MySQL 5.0.x change logs.

VARCHAR columns now remember end space. A VARCHAR() column can now contain up to 65535 bytes.

Prior to MySQL 5.0.3, varchar can only contain up to maximum of 255 characters. However, from MySQL5.0.3 and onwards, we can now declare varchar with more than 255 characters.

Don’t Exceed The 65,535 bytes Maximum Row Size

However, do note that, the maximum row size for MySQL is 65,535 bytes, shared among all columns within a row. Which also means, if you have more than 1 column in a table, declaring a column with varchar(65,535) is not feasible. Besides, UTF8 characters can also require up to 3 bytes per character.

Trailing Space Will Be Retained

Prior to MySQL 5.0.3, any trailing space of a string will be removed when it’s stored as varchar. But beginning from MySQL 5.0.3 and later, varchar is handled with better conformance to standard - trailing space will be retained.

Find Out Which Program is Using Internet Connection

Published December 29, 2008 in Software and Tips & Tricks. 2 Comments

At today’s age with Internet connection availability becoming a common lifestyle companion, it’s practically impossible for your computer not having any program unknowingly accessing Internet in the background, as long as your PC is connected to Internet.

Even if you’re not running any web browser, IM client (such as MSN, Yahoo! Messenger) and email checker, chances are there will still be some programs running background scheduled jobs to check for software updates.

So, how do you know which exact program is actually communicating to the Internet?

I’m using NetLimiter 2. It’s available for Windows. The free version of NetLimiter 2 is featuring a simple monitoring tool, which is showing a listing of all programs currently requiring incoming or outgoing network connection.

Besides, you can also generate network traffic statistics of a program, for a particular date.

Download NetLimiter 2

Hoa Lu The Ancient Capital City

Published December 29, 2008 in Travelogue. 0 Comments

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After visiting Hoa Lu Tam Coc, we were brought to the ancient town of Hoa Lu, where it was once the capital city of Vietnam (during that time, Vietnam it was known as Dai Co Viet 大越), during the age of Vietnamese dynasties under Dinh Tien Hoang’s ruling.

In Hoa Lu, many ancient sanctuaries and tombs can still be seen today.

As shown above are some scenes of Dinh Tien Hoang Temple. In the Vietnamese history, Dinh Dynasty was the imperial dynasty of Vietnam, with Dinh Tien Hoang (Lord Dinh Bo Linh) vanquished the upheavals of Twelve warlords.

Beautiful and Breathtaking Sceneries

Historical values aside, the landscapes outside of Dinh Tien Hoang Temple was breathtaking too!

During my Hanoi trip, I didn’t really enjoy the Hanoi city. However, I love the outskirt areas of Vietnam, particularly Hoa Lu.

Hoa Lu Tam Coc - Enjoy Beautiful Limestone View from Water Level

Published December 28, 2008 in Travelogue. 1 Comment

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While Ha Long Bay wasn’t as great as what I had expected, my third day itinerary has given me a satisfying trip with an unique experience. There were 15 of us, and we paid USD20 each to book for a day trip to Hoa Lu - the ancient capital city of Vietnam under the Dinh Dynasty.

The journey from Hanoi to Hoa Lu via highway took us about 2.5 hours, with 1 stop along the way.

Rice grains were easily spotted everywhere in Hoa Lu. They were left on the floor under sunshine for drying.

Hoa Lu Tam Coc - The Little Ha Long Bay

Our first stop in Hoa Lu, was a visit to Tam Coc (means three caves) at Boi River. Similar to Ha Long Bay, Tam Coc is also known for its picturesque limestone caves and islets.

Why should you visit yet another topology of limestone caves? Trust me, Tam Coc is not just “yet another limestone caves”; it offered me a distinctive experience.

Along the way to Boi River dock, you will find many stalls selling conical hats. This is because, the 2-hour boat ride under direct sunshine could potentially be quite hot for your skin. To me, I found it all right; as it was year end, the outdoor temperature was around 18C - 20C, comfortably cool despite the direct sunshine.

Visit Limestone Caves by Sampan

At Ha Long Bay, we were boating on big junks on the sea. However, at Tam Coc, we were visiting the spectacular natural scenes by rowing sampan (we didn’t need to row ourselves la hehe). Imagine these:

no sound and air pollution from mechanical engines
you can hear sound of splashing water, which comes from the contact between rowing pads and water
you’re enjoying the scenes from low level perspective (very close to water level)
the limestone caves are all so near to you

By these simple descriptions above, I’m sure you can tell that it’s so different Continue reading ‘Hoa Lu Tam Coc - Enjoy Beautiful Limestone View from Water Level’

Ha Long Bay, Thien Cung Cave - Thousand of Junks Cruising at the Bay of Descending Dragons

Published December 28, 2008 in Travelogue. 2 Comments

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Cooling Sunny Hanoi

Woke up at 6am, opened up the curtains, and immediately, I was caught in surprise. I didn’t know that my room was directly facing the east!

See! What a trilling morning to begin my day in a foreign country with a beautify sunrise view.

According to the second day of our itinerary, it was a day trip to one of the UNESCO world heritage spots - Ha Long Bay, located in the Gulf of Tonkin, northeastern part of Vietnam.

Journey to Ha Long Bay

From Hanoi to Ha Long Bay, it was a 3.5 hours journey by bus via highway, with 2 stops along the way. However, don’t pay high expectation by the word “highway”; the highway in Vietnam is like some of the better-built old trunks in Peninsula Malaysia.

While the first toilet stop was at a typical souvenir center preparing to “slaughter” tourists with inflated prices, the second stop was quite interesting. The second stop was at a road-side stall selling pineapples and dried lychees.

There was this pretty Vietnamese lady selling pineapples.

At the back of the pineapple stall was a small residence of wooden houses, and there was this simple toilet. Since there was only 1 sheltered toilet, so we leave it to the girls. Guys le?? Look for a tree at the nearby bush and pee lo..

They were still using traditional wood-fire cooking. All the pots were burnt to black.

Probably The Only Place with 1 Thousand Junks

Due to the surge in touristic attention and principal of supply-demand economic model, the local business entities stared deploying a lot of junks into Ha Long Bay, aiming to maximize their returns. In order to minimize the potential environmental and heritage value degradation, Vietnamese government has enforced a law to cap the maximum number of registered junks at 1000 units. If not because of this regulation, I think it would be practically impossible to take a seascape picture without capturing any junk into the view. Continue reading ‘Ha Long Bay, Thien Cung Cave - Thousand of Junks Cruising at the Bay of Descending Dragons’

Cooling Sunny Hanoi

Published December 1, 2008 in Shutterbug and Travelogue. 0 Comments

After coming back from Hanoi trip on 11th Nov, I’ve managed to complete the post-processing of pictures on the following day. However, last week only I’ve uploaded them to my Flickr, each picture with a relevant title. Now, I better post up my travelogue before the fresh memory goes into my “archive” due to insufficient space :p

Hanoi has always been one of the traveling destinations in my wish-list, mainly because of its picturesque attractions seen on blogs and Flickr. Last year, Hanoi was beaten by Krabi for company trip. This year, due to budget constraint for Guilin, Hanoi has finally been realized as the destination for company trip 2008.

Hanoi Flooded; Should The Trip be Rescheduled?

Our departure was scheduled on 8th Nov. However, a week before our departure, we were stumbled with news headlines like “Hanoi Flooded”, “Hanoi Flood Toll Rises”, “Hanoi Still Under Water”, “Hanoi Hit by The Worst Flood in 20 Years”, and etc. Situation was getting worse when these negative news and related pictures were excessively circulating within the company, and yet without anyone of us knowing the real situation. (You know la.. a lot of times, news are relevant but not exactly precise) Soon, directors raised security concerns, and the organizing committee must look into alternative options.

Rescheduling of flight was financially infeasible, as we need to absorb 100% lost of AirAsia tickets. Luckily, we have a tour agency (Holiday Tours) to manage our groud tour. With our agent’s help, by liaising with Hanoi counterpart, we have got confirmation that the flood was only affecting the new developing areas in Hanoi, not the Old Quarter and French Quarter, where Hanoi attractions are located. The tour agent in Hanoi has also sent us a number of pictures captured from Hanoi Old Quarter on 5th Nov morning. Gladly, scenes shown in the pictures given were very promising.

Besides, I have also managed to find a news article, which exactly critized the way that Hanoi flood incident was reported by most news channels. All were hoo-haa-ing on the flood, but none was highlighting that the tourist attraction centralized areas were not affected. In addition, blog posts from a couple traveling in Hanoi, were also not suggesting any sign of depressing tourism situation in Hanoi.

Witnessed how “precise” the reported news were.

So, we were blessed to have booked our accommodation at Vietnam Trade Union Hotel, which is located in between of Old Quarter and French Quarter. We were told that it is one of the highest altitude in Hanoi town.

Watching Sunrise from Airplane

As we were flying with 6.30am flight, I’ve purposely chosen seats on the right side, so that I’ll be facing the east. I must say, watching sunrise from airplane is an amazing experience!

Greeted with Sunny Hanoi

When we arrived at Noi Bai International Airport on 8th Nov at 9.15am, it was a sunny, breezy and cooling morning. Temperature was 25C.

Collected baggages, met our Vietnamese tour guide Jackie Chan Lee, and boarded to a bus heading to Trade Union Hotel Hanoi. Continue reading ‘Cooling Sunny Hanoi’

Food I ate in Jakarta

Published November 7, 2008 in Travelogue. 1 Comment

At Jakarta, I had all my meals in air-conditioned restaurants. No no.. don’t get it wrong. Not that I’m so well-paid to only spend my meals at air-conditioned places, but I wasn’t too comfortable with the road-side food stalls served in mobile carts.

Anyway, even in the restaurants found in shopping malls, I was still paying less than what I’m paying in KL and PJ. So, why take the risk :p

On the first day of arrival (arrived in evening), I didn’t travel out for dinner. Instead, walked out 5 minutes from Aston Rasuna, and came to Pasar Festival. There were a few common fast food names spotted, but none of my interest. Then, I decided to give Bakmi Top 17 a try. In Indonesia, Bakmi means “noodles with meat”. It is brought into their culture by Chinese merchants.

Ordered a plate of seafood bakmi and a cup of Vietnamese coffee. Looks good, but taste was normal. Not bad, but I consider it an average one.

Breakfast? Of course I had it in hotel lo hehe… Aston Rasuna was quite generous in the breakfast servings. Considering drinks, there were choices ranging from coffee, tea, fresh milk, plain water to 4 types of fruit juice (orange juice was served every morning). Besides cooked dishes, a wide variety of breads and cakes were served too.

My workplace was Menara Duta. There were 2 air-conditioned restaurants at the basement serving lunch. One selling beef satay, and another selling cooked dishes. For all 3 lunches there, I was at the restaurant selling cooked dishes. The portion of serving and pricing of food were good. For about RM5, I had a decent meal with a cup of fruit juice. I simply just love the fruit juices there - very very thick.

They served quite a variety of set meals. This, laksa ayam (chicken laksa) and a plate of rice, came in a set. Portion was quite big, as the bowl of laksa actually came with beehoon too! Continue reading ‘Food I ate in Jakarta’

Kuala Lumpur City Night View from Lookout Point

Published November 5, 2008 in Shutterbug. 5 Comments

Went to Lookout Point yesterday evening after work, even though the weather wasn’t promising. The rain has just stopped when we were about to leave office.

GPS coordinate: N3 07.803E101 47.757

So, as expected, the type of sunset view that we would have imagined, wasn’t there. It was just too misty. At times, the KL Tower and Petronas Twin Towers were totally covered by mist. Being able to get the above picture was lucky enough :p

The roof of Bread & Olives Restaurant at Lookout Point.

Some photo kakis all geared with their photography gears.

Due to the discouraging view, I decided to temporarily “sao gong“, headed for our dinner at a western food restaurant there, known as Bread and Olives.

When we’re done with our dinner, wohohohoho…. the view was totally clear from mist. We had a clear night view of the Kuala Lumpur skyline.

Zoomed in to the Petronas Twin Towers.

The Twin Towers rendered blur by manipulating manual focus.

A Place for Night View, Not Food

My only comment for Lookout Point is, it’s undoubtedly a place for a very wide angle of Kuala Lumpur skyline, but probably not a place for food I have only went to Bread & Olives, so not fair to generalize the statement. However, generally, comments on food places there are quite negative.

I couldn’t accept the fact that Bread & Olives doesn’t accept credit card. Ya we were asked to pay in cash. Wah lao.. if a guy brings a girl there for first date, and thinking it should be possible to depend on credit card, that would be damn bloody embarassing. Couldn’t find any ATM machine at hill-top too.

How Did I Travel in Jakarta by Taxi and Bus?

Published November 3, 2008 in Travelogue. 6 Comments

As mentioned in previous post, when I first arrived at Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, I engaged with Garuda Bird taxi counter, as I couldn’t find Blue Bird. Later on, by asking Blue Bird taxis in city, I was told that there’s actually a Blue Bird counter at the airport.

Right in front of Aston Rasuna, there was a service station dedicated to Blue Bird. So, traveling around was very convenient, as taxis were readily available. Similar experience I had in some big shopping malls as well; dedicated Blue Bird depots were available.

Is Blue Bird The Only Trusted Name?

Contrary to general believe, Blue Bird is not the only Indonesian taxi operator you should trust. However, we should recognize Blue Bird Group, instead of just Blue Bird. Another major group under the Blue Bird Group’s umbrella, is Pusaka. Have a look at this page to learn about all logos under Blue Bird Group.

The most prominent feature, the a windscreen sticker labeled with “Blue Bird Group”.

Transjakarta Buses

There’s no light rail transportation in Jakarta. However, they have a close-match alternative - Transjakarta. Transjakarta buses operate in a fixed route with fixed stops. Besides, at most places (not all), Transjakarta buses have dedicated busway lane too.

At fixed rate of 3,500 Rp (about RM1) / trip, you can get to any station within the route map. Yes, no matter how you transit, still same flat rate.

There’s a Transjakarta station (GOR Sumantri, corridor 6) just about 5 minutes walk from Aston Rasuna.

How did I travel to some places with Transjakarta?

Menara Duta - From corridor 6, stop at Setiabudi Aini.
Grand Indonesia / Plaza Indonesia - From corridor 6, stop at Dukuh Atas and transit to corridor 1 (heading to Kota). Then, get down at Halte Bundaran HI (Hotel Indonesia).
Plaza Blok M - From corridor 6, stop at Dukuh Atas and transit to corridor 1 (heading to Blok M). Then, get down at Halte Blok M.
Glodok (Chinatown) - From corridor 6, stop at Dukuh Atas and transit to corridor 1 (heading to Kota). Then, get down at Halte Glodok.
Monas (National Monument) - From corridor 6, stop at Dukuh Atas and transit to corridor 1 (heading to Kota). Then, get down at Halte Monas. Alternatively, you can also stop at Halte Gambir 1 of corridor 2.

Tips for traveling with Transjakarta: Continue reading ‘How Did I Travel in Jakarta by Taxi and Bus?’

My Comments on Aston Rasuna, and First Impression on Jakarta

Published October 27, 2008 in My Thoughts and Travelogue. 2 Comments

Before reading this post, you may want to check out some pictures I took at Aston Rasuna.

Overall, I have a very good impression on Aston Rasuna. Of course la… 2-bedroom penthouse for myself :p Ok, let’s get to some concrete negative comments:

I am staying at 26th floor, but there’s only 1 lift serving even floors ><” Hate waiting for the lift, and I need to stumble upon many stops too, before coming down to G floor.
Called house-keeping to get me a universal AC power plug, but waited for more than 20 minutes. Not just that, they brought me a malfunctioning plug! Really sweat. So called again and waited for awhile. That time, my laptop battery was already running very very very low.
Balcony is locked! So-claimed, for resident’s safety. I want to take some night view pictures also cannot.
Free broadband access is provided, with pass-code to be renewed daily. However, the Cat 5 network cable given is a bit short. Not long enough to reach the access point from the table at living room, without moving the table away from center of the TV.

OK, that’s all some negative comments I have for Aston Rasuna. On the positive side are:

Security is good. Each bag and baggage is scanned at hotel entrance, and there’s also a security check-point before coming into Rasuna residential compound.
Penthouse is very spacious (if I say this one more time, sure kena hantam when I back to office)
Bed sheets, furnitures, toilet and cupboards are very clean.
Breakfast is satisfyingly good. I love the fruit juices.
There’s a Blue Bird taxi station outside of Aston Rasuna. So, convenient and reliable transportation mode is readily available.
Swimming pool is designed for swimming, not water-splashing :p (I don’t like a nice-to-see pool with many curves here and there)