MAPS Ipoh

For this year’s company trip, we were treated with an all expense paid ticket to Movie Animation Park Studios (MAPS) in Ipoh, Perak. It’s no Pangkor resort trip but anything is better than nothing. We started very early in the morning, assembled at school by 6:30AM and left for Ipoh by 6:40AM. After a short break in Tapah, we arrived in MAPS about an hour and a half later. We were given goody bags and a bracelet to wear. You can bring in your bags/backpack but apart from a small water bottle, they will confiscate all of your food. Typical theme park capitalist bs.









First thing first, we were given a quick safety briefing. After that, it’s free and easy. We get to try almost every ride and attraction in the park. I said almost because some of them require separate coupons not included in the package that were paid for for us. On paper or brochure, there’s over a dozen attractions offered on the pack. However during our visit, some of the more appealing rides like Space X-Plorers and Hyperspin were ‘closed for maintenance’. Even the Boboiboy roller-coaster ride decided to break down while we were queuing to enter. The only memorable rides that I managed to try were Asteroid Attack, Stunt Legend Arena and the Sacred Riana Haunted House. Asteroid Attack is basically a giant swing which does 360 degrees spin which is sure to leave your heart in your mouth. Watch trained stuntmen do car and bike stunts in the custom-built Stunt Legend Arena. Sacred Riana Haunted House meanwhile is supposed to be scary and you can see the ladies screaming like a girl when they come out. As for me and much of the boys, it’s not that terrifying to be honest. I’d give it a 3 out of 5 stars. 

The rest of the rides and attractions are more suited to children below 12 so I did not try much of them. We were treated with lunch and high tea buffets throughout our stay. Overall I would recommend MAPS Ipoh only if your have school-going children. For adults like me, going there without your little ones is rather dull because the majority of the attractions are made for them. Entrance to the park is free but you’ll have to pay for each and every one of the rides/attractions which cost in average 3 coupons (up to 5 coupons per ride). One coupon is sold for 3 ringgit each and in average, your kids will want to try at least 10 rides in the park so do your maths. Food & souvenir are as always insanely expensive. 12 ringgit for a typical lunch meal not including drinks. Compared to Sunway Lagoon which is the benchmark, I would say the MAPS Ipoh is only slightly worse off in terms of attractions and facilities. I didn’t get to try all the attractions in the park because like I said, they were more for young children plus the fact that we were leaving by 4:30PM that day. If you wanna bring your family, go early in the morning before there’re too many crowd. The park closes at midnight every day.

LoFree Dot keyboard review

The LoFree Dot keyboard is an aesthetically beautiful mechanical keyboard which has caught my eye ever since it first came out a few years ago. But then as expected, it was prohibitively expensive, around USD100 each at the time of launch so naturally I can’t afford to buy it until a few years later when some secondhand units become available. Which is right about last week.

The LoFree Dot is about the size of a 60% keyboard. Designed to resemble a typewriter, it is thick and curvy all around. The keyboard charges through a micro USB port and the battery would last approximately a week on regular use. There’s backlighting with 3 levels or brightness, no RGB though. The keyboard layout is unmistakably Mac but you should have no problem using it with a Windows or Android device since it’s Bluetooth enabled.

The rounded keycaps stayed true to its typewriter inspiration. Beneath them are Gateron blue mechanical switches which is my favourite kind of switch. And now comes the bad part and also the dealbreaker if you ever consider getting this keyboard. The god-awful keys layout. You see, the LoFree Dot free doesn’t follow your regular 101 keys arrangement. Well most of it does but the backspace, right shift and arrow keys are arranged slightly different not like other regular keyboard arrangements. So you get typos, like a lot. Even after you attempted to accustom yourself with the layout after a week. The usual culprit are of course the backspace, right shift and arrow keys mentioned earlier.

The typos are just so bad that I practically sold it off just after a week and count my losses. What is the point of a beautiful, aesthetically-pleasing keyboard when you make numerous errors every time you type? It just defeats the purpose of typing. Unless they release future models that adhere to regular keyboard arrangement, I would advise against purchasing this keyboard, for your own sake.

Xiaomi Mi Max 2 review

While I had my reservations about getting another Xiaomi smartphones, the Mi Max 2 does have its advantages, one of them was the massive 6.44” screen. My previous Xiaomi phones, the Mi Note 2 and the Redmi 5A all had power button problems thus my reservations. After a while, they become stiff and hard to press. But I wanted a smartphone with big screen and the Mi Max 2, available for less than RM600 on Lazada was an attractive proposition hence why I got it. Sure there’s the newer Mi Max 3 but that’s way out of my budget.







Performance wise, you can’t expect much from a sub 600 ringgit phone. PUBG Mobile runs okay at low graphic setting. Despite the generous 4GB RAM, the Snapdragon 625 processor couldn’t keep up with the latest and greatest games. The Mi Max 2 comes preinstalled with Android 7.1.1 and upgradable to 8.0 Oreo. MIUI is okay I guess although I’d prefer it if they run stock Android like the Android One smartphones that they offer. The one I got is the 64GB version with a slot for micro SD card. If 64GB not enough for you, you can use a micro SD card as adaptive storage. Battery life on this 5300 man phone is alright. Not terrible but not that great either. Just over a day use on full charge.







Watching movies is delightful on the huge screen. However, I couldn’t help but notice the squarish screen and big bezels on top and below it. An eye compared to the rounded corner screen on newer Android phones. Also I couldn’t help but notice the glaring bright golden back on the phone. Wish I could get a white or black housing instead but at the time of purchase, they cost just a tad more which is silly to be honest and goes against my principle. What principle? Why pay more for the same damn thing just because of colour difference. Later I come to regret that decision because even though I use a casing most of the time, the bright golden housing still haunts me in my sleep.







Is it any surprise then when I sold this Mi Max 2 around two months later. Amongst the main reasons were the square screen, sub par performance, huge bezel and golden back cover. The massive screen is great for watching movies or videos but as a second phone, using it during my runs was simply out of the question.