Malaysia Great Sale

When I was in Malaysia last weekend, it happened they were having the Malaysia Great Sale. Singapore also has its great sale in Jun, but the discounts are not really that attractive, unless you brave the crowd.

It is a bit different in Malaysia. Many shopping centres and shops participate in the great sale, and the cut is really deep. Some items are at 70% discount, and many others are at 50%, 40%, 30% discounts. You rarely see such deep discounts in Singapore. To make it more sweet, the shops are not really that crowded. I was in Klang's Bukit Tinggi Jusco and KL's Mid-valley Mega Mall, the shops were not jam pack. You could shop at ease, without rubbing other's shoulders.

Malaysians sales assistants are mostly youngsters. They may not have very good product knowledge, but they are at least friendly, and approachable.

The Malaysia Great Sale is in March, August & December. If you don't want to miss those sales, plan your trip Malaysia at the right time :D

Klang Bak Kut Teh 肉骨茶

Bak Kut Teh, literally translated into English is Herbal Pork Broth. Basically, it is pork cooked with herbal soup, and you always have tea to go with this dish, that's how the name Teh (which means tea in Hokkein) comes. This delicacy is said to originated in Klang, Malaysia. Up to this day, this is still a dish that the Chinese in Klang are proud of. There are many many shops selling Bak Kut Teh in Klang area, there are good ones, but there also bad ones. Over the good Friday long weekend, I tried out 3 of the shops selling this speciality.

1. Teluk Pulai
2. Qi Xiang (奇香）
3. Qing Xiang (Backstreet Branch) 庆祥 （后街）

Teluk Pulai serves the clay pot version of the Bak Kut Teh. The meat is tender and just nice. Other than Bak Kut Teh, they also serve other dishes such as fried vegetables. You can satisfied all your taste buds there.

Qi Xiang also serves the clay pot version of the Bak Kut Teh, but they also have a 'dry' version of the Bak Kut Teh, which is a new invention, a new development of an old dish. The dry version is more spicy, cooked with soy sauce, lots of green & red chilli.

Qing Xiang is the most most authentic version, which Bak Kut Teh is served in a bowl. This shop is said to be the No. 1 in Klang, and they are only open for the morning. On weekends, by 9am, their Bak Kut Teh is sold out. If you don't want to miss it, be an early bird.

Personally, I like the Teluk Pulai version most, followed by Qing Xiang and Qi Xiang. Some warning though, all 3 use a lot of MSG. In terms of hygiene, many may frown on Qing Xiang's practice. As they are short of man power, they don't clean the tea cups! Customers leave the tea cups on the table after use. The next batch of customers must use the boiling water provided to clean the tea cups themselves. So if you are there, don't forget to clean the tea cups yourselves, ok?

All 3 shops are in the Lan Hua Yuan (蓝花园）area which is near the Federal Highway. A hand drawn map is available here.

Too bad, I have no pictures to show for now. My PDA and my laptop simply refuse to talk to each other. :(

Easying of the Traffic Jam at Woodlands Checkpoint?

I had wanted not to mention this man, but I have no choice to to mention him directly. Who is he? He is Mas Selamat Kastari, who is said to be the head of JI in Singapore. He was arrested under ISA, but successfully escaped from a detention centre on 27 Feb 2008. Ok, he is said to be a terrorist, who planned to hijack a plane and crash it into Changi Airport. The plan has not been materialised yet, luckily, but his escape is just equally lethal as his plan. Ever since his escape, thousands of people suffered, and Malaysians are the worst affected.

Before and on March 8, the election day in Malaysia. Thousands of Malaysians who were on their way home to vote had to walk from Marselin MRT station to the Woodlands Checkpoint. Why? The traffic jam had paralysed the public transport almost completely.

Last Thursday night, I joined the thousands who were on their way home for Good Friday holiday, and walked from Marselin MRT to Woodlands Checkpoint. On the way, all the cars were standing still. There was hardly any movement. The roads had been turned into a huge car park!

At Woodlands checkpoint, long queues everywhere, although more counters were opened to cater to the high volume. Those who were in the long queues were mostly foreigners, Malaysians included. Singaporeans are more lucky, if they hold the new passport. They can make use of the automatic clearance facility to pass. All they need to do is scan their passport, then pass with their fingerprint verified. Fast and swift :D

At Malaysia immigration, the counters for foreigners were mostly empty. The usual long queues were gone. The immigration hall looked like a ghost town.

When I came back to Singapore this afternoon. Everything was very smooth. The long queues of lorries and trucks and cars along the road leading to the Woodlands Checkpoint were suspiciously absent. I was wondering: Has Mas Selamat been captured? Or something has changed? Or just that my observation was wrong? Mmmmm...

Microstock: Poor Lighting

I submitted this photo to Shutterstock under "Editorial - No release needed", but it was rejected for "Poor Lighting--Poor or uneven lighting, or shadows. White balance may be incorrect."

I don't know why it is considered "poor lighting". What I suspect is there are people in the foreground shadow. Although this photo was submitted as "Editorial", I find that they, in general, don't like photos with 'more' regconizable faces. If the guys (or gals, of course) in the photo are far away, with barely regconizable facial features, they are more willing to take the photo in.

Truth or Lies

Someone posted a video clip at YouTube.com, of a documentary from the National Geography Channel, on Tibet.



And someone wrote an interesting article, about Tibet before 1950. The article is available at the link below:

http://www.michaelparenti.org/Tibet.html

There are many one-sided opinions in the mass media, which are contributed mainly by the supporters of the supreme spiritual leader. Probably we should always hear the other side of the story. One-sided story tends to be biased, most of the time.

The Fall of Soviet Union, The Rise of Russia

Soviet Union was long critized by the west, for the communist rule, the planned economic, etc, etc. The last ruler of Soviet Union, Ah Go, listened to the friendly advice from the west, from the 'democratic' countries, took necessary actions that gained him respect and praise from the west. Came one day in 1991, the Soviet Union that stood up on her own feet for almost a century, collapsed over night. Very nice indeed. Within one day, we had 10 more heads of state. So nice.

Ah Go gained even more praises from the west, for his ingeniuous act to disintegrate his own country, give up his own power, reduce himself from a head of state of one of the only two super powers in the world to a pensioner living on miserable pensions from the state.

His successor gained even more praises from the west. Boris managed to put his new country's economy into a mess. The country defaulted on its debts. People were living in a living hell. But, Boris still gained great praises from the western countries.

Boris decided he like alcohol more than his job, so he handed over his job to a tough guy, Putin. Putin ruled with an iron fist, sorted out the country's economy. People again can have enough food on their table, enough money for them to spend, and even can afford overseas holidays. Putin was condemned by the west, for making Russia a rising power.

The five-circle game is fast approaching. The sleeping dragon is waking up. How can that be allowed to happen?! Sleeping dragon shall forever remain sleeping; otherwise, it should be slayed. In such a case, the pawns are coming on stage. A former slave master is again, trying to regain his power, his power almost as powerful as a local emperor.

Microstock: Poor Composition

Photography is an art. It is just another way of saying photography is subjective. Different people may have vastly different views on the same photograph. Unfortunately, in microstock, you always have to pass the reviewers, before your photo is accepted and put up for sale.

Reviewers are supposed to be experienced photographers and have enough experience in the microstock industry. However, they are still humans. They have their likes and dislikes, they have their own bias. One photo accepted in one stock site does not guarantee the acceptance at another.

For example, this photo of part of the dome in Florence, Italy, is accepted by Shutterstock, but has been rejected by Dreamstime for poor composition. In general, the reviewers are right. In this case, even though the photo was accepted by Shutterstock, the sales numbers are really small, so probably the Dreamstime reviewer is right.

House Warming

Had a house warming last night at my flat. Some of colleagues came over to 'warm' up my flat :D

My Indian friend told me they also have house warming in India. They usually warm some milk on the stove, offer some milk to the gods, then the host drinks the rest of the milk. That is the house warming ritual. For us, hehehe... I think we only use the body heat to 'warm' up the flat:D Well, more traditionally, you are supposed to cook a meal in the new flat, and invite your friends to come over for the food. Cooking a meal in the kitchen signifies the 'fire' is lit, and the bigger the 'fire', the more prosperious the family living in the flat will be.

For me, I only ordered some Pizza Hut delivery for my guests. New age, too troublesome to really cook for 10+ guys.

Fit brought his XBOX over, which provided most of the entertainment of the night. The most popular game of course is the football game. The fighting game was not bad. 'Rivals' in the office settled their woes in the 'fighting ring' :D The least popular game was car racing. None of us seemed to be a good driver.