Located in the south-western coastline of the state of Victoria, the 285km route of Australia's Great Ocean Road is exhilaratingly the scenic route of centuries' worth of nature's magnificient handiwork.
From state's capital Melbourne, the whole journey passes through Torquay, Anglesea, Lorne, Apollo Bay, Port Campbell, Warrnambool, and finally Port Fairy marks the end. Experience the stunning sight of long-winded road which lovingly matches with treacherous coast to form the magnificient sea sculptures; not to miss the Eagle National Park and the lighthouse located at Split Point; as well as many strategic scenic lookouts along the way: Teddy's Lookout in the town of Lorne, Cape Patton Lookout near the Wyne River, and of course the Mariner's Lookout located on the highest point of Appollo Bay, offering panoramic views of the whole town, the coastline and the bay's port.
Another must-see landmark won't much not to Twelve Apostles which near to Port Campbell. There is no other spectacular sight other than the platforms build right at the edge of the cliffs for these tantalising natural monoliths rising from the ocean's surface, and towering 65m in height. In the Port Campbell National Park itself, there are some amazing and wild rock formations spots, like Loch Ard Gorge, Gibson's Steps and London Bridge.
Wish one day the money and annual leaves are accumulated enough to carry rucksack unaccompanied or 1 or 2 interested friends to Victoria. Can then stay at my cousin's house in Melbourne, and borrow her car to drive through awe-inspiring Great Ocean Road.
* more information can be got in greatoceanrd.org.au
Stretching along from Jalan Sultan Ismail, to Jalan Kia Peng, Jalan Binjai and Jalan Ampang in the vicinity of KLCC, there are so noticable with high-rise residences of luxurious condonimiums, service apartments, penthouses from skyline landscape view. Among these futuristic and eye-catching architectures in the foray are SDP Properties with its Park Seven, Tan & Tan Development's Cendana, Binjai Residency, K Residence, Stonor Park, Suria Stonor, The MARC, The Meritz, The Avare KL etc, which perfectly complements the world-class glittering Petronas Twin Towers, and forms the splendours of the KLCC.
Lifestyle and fine living are set among the most consideration by properties developers. On top of that, there are some pull factors which can win buyers heart. Averagely priced from RM1mil to RM6mil, the units are spaciously designed with 2,000 to 3,000 sq ft. This lifestyle craze symbolises the status of being elite residents, which to a broad spectrum of working professionals, high net worth people, top-class societies and affluent retirees. The high priority of security like state-of-the-art security systems, 24-hour security patrol, video intercom link to guardhouse, card access system and CCTV is another factor to draw buyers also. Besides this, residents indulge in the convenience of city living. While staying in the inner city skyline with the touch of comtemporary greenery, they also never lost their easy access to the modern infrastructure facilities, frenzy shopping malls, and commercial hub in the city.
The resort-liked ambience is also another irresistable attraction. Residents would find more abundant enchanting paved footpaths and tree conopied walkways within the condominium enclaves. The generous water features, lush landscaped lobby areas further embrace the serenity that residents are thirsting for amidst the highly air-polluted of city.
The sleek KLCC look, with Petronas Twin Towers arrogantly placed in the middle of the city, should undergo the robust development, where comtemporary modern and classic highly touch its equillibrium. The promotion of residential developments and the injection of more life into the inner city are kudos.
Dalian, a rapidly growing city in north-eastern of China, was under Japanese occupancy for 40 years since year 1905. Albeit those years Chinese were brutally ragged and violated, this nightmarish experiences and memories had gradually faded when time flied. Not only that the Japanese's cultural affinity is still deeply-entrenched in Dalian society and its vicinity. Chinese there speak fluent japanese language, and when strolling through the enchanting, aptly named Japanese First Street in downtown Dalian, you will bump into many Japanese-style restaurants, with exact faux rice-paper lamps and shoji sliding doors, as well as Kimono-clad women standing out of these restaurants to acquire any passers-by.
This bravo atmosphere thus has atrracted many Japanese MNCs like Hitachi, NEC, Matsushita, Sony etc to establish their support center or software house in Dalian. Figure shows that $375 million stands as Japanese outsourcing to Dalian in 2004, which it is a double-level amount from 2002. Spontaneously peoples relate Dalian to Banglore which is major US-based MNCs outsourcing in India. Despite there is still long journey for Dalian to reach $17 billion in revenues brought by Americans to Banglore, it's yet somehow a nimble and steady step taken by Dalian city council to grab this opportunity and let the figures soar organically based on some of their strong factors.
Main factor is the easiness to seal the deal with low costs, yet skillful and intuitive knowledge-based workers. Averagely it's around $300 monthly salary to hire a software engineer, which is tenth times cheaper than their Japanese counterpart.
Secondly, the much cheaper land in Dalian is something to delight Japanese too. Other than that, all 22 universities and technical institus had produced 26,000 experienced software engineer to fulfill the work demand, and these higher institutions ensure also 3,800 software engineering graduates annually. Plus the generous incentives offered by local government, it's undoubtedly something irresistable for Japanese MNCs to flock to Dalian.
