Year: 2004

Mandarin Oriental Hotel, KL

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mandarin oriental

This is the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. It’s located right in the middle of KL and is considered a 5 star hotel.

rrma invite

I was staying there courtesy of MAC (Malaysian AIDS Council – more
about that later) and when I arrived there, my gf’s brother told me not
to open the car door – someone will do it for me.

mo door.jpg

…and sure enough, someone did. It’s become something of an inside
joke since. 😉 The reception was fairly opulent and the receptionist on
duty asked me if I wanted a queen or king sized room and told me it’s
all paid for by MAC.

mo room 1

Thus, I went for the queen sized room (MAC is a charity organization, non-profit).

mo room 2

The queen sized room was nice, with a welcome fruit basket (which I only ate the green apple, as I’m not a big fan of fruits).

mo fruits

The fruit array, with cutlery for the more refined ones amongst us to use.

mo view suria

The view is towards Suria KLCC…and you will notice some suspension
wires in the windows. Management left a note to apologize that they’ll
be doing some window cleaning the next day.

mo bathrobes

Bathrobes! Slippers! Why, I’ve never had these in my life. The luxury! 😉

mo bath

The bathroom seems very nice.

mo wash

There is a shower and a soak tub in there too. I found the porcelain throne to be very pleasant to sit on.

mo toiletries

The toiletries are very complete – sewing kit, razors, toothbrush and I finally got to know what an enamel board is.

mo toothpaste

I was about to think of the questionable logic of providing toothbrushes but no toothpaste, until I found it inside.

mo work desk

This place makes me feel like saying, “Go away, I’m a very busy man!” 😉

mo minibar

Here’s a look at the mini bar – a select range of mini liquor bottles and Mandarin Oriental’s own bottled water.

mo pringles

Heck, they even had an agreement with Pringles to have Mandarin Oriental Pringles.

mo suria link

Mandarin Oriental is also linked to Suria KLCC, the shopping center beneath the tallest twin towers in the world…

suria klcc

…and the shopping opportunities it offers.

Mandarin Oriental is a nice place to stay in…if you don’t have to
pay for it, of course. 😉 I’ll write about the Red Ribbon Gala next.

MAC Red Ribbon Media Awards

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rrma 2004

I am honored that MAC [mac.org.my] found my Guide to HIV Testing in Malaysia
[sixthseal.com] post noteworthy. I will be flying to KL tomorrow
(Saturday, 18th September) to attend the award ceremony and I will be
staying at the Mandarin Oriental before flying back to Kuching on
Monday (20th September), all courtesy of the Malaysian AIDS Council. I
will write a full report of the event when I get back. I’m truly
honored by this recognition. Cheers to MAC and Ely Azyze! 🙂

Kuching Waterfront Merdeka Day 2004 National Closing Ceremony

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w04 waterfront

There was apparently some sort of big brouhaha going on at Kuching
Waterfront last night, due to our inability to achieve some semblance
of mobilization with the car due to the traffic massive congestion.
It’s Penutupan Bulan Kemerdekaan Peringkat Kebangsaan or Closing Ceremony for Merdeka (Independence) Day at the National Level.

w04 first

Since we’re effectively rendered immobile, we decided to brave the
throngs of people and see what’s going on in there. Kuching Waterfront
has been designated as the National venue for the end of Independence
Day celebrations.

w04 crowd

There was a huge police presence and an even larger crowd, probably due to the bigwigs, er, I mean, dignitaries that were there. 😉

It started off with a colorful boat parade:

kch wfront1

Download: Kuching Waterfront Boat Parade [sixthseal.com]

There were a lot of colorful neon boats floating down the river – 14 in all, each representing the 14 states of Malaysia.

w04 tie fighter
Here is one that looks like a Tie Fighter.

w04 biggest

There was also arcs of light to illuminate the skies, as it were. Here’s another video of it:

kch wfront2

Download: Kuching Waterfront Boats [sixthseal.com]

w04 bigwig arrive

There was a loud police boat escorting a yatch ferrying the
dignitaries after that. They docked beside the river and drove the fans
(?) crazy with all that flag waving and loud cheering.

w04 bigwig dock

I know the Yang di-Pertuan Agong was there, that’s the highest
royalty figure in Malaysia. Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi was there as
well, and that’s the top guy in Malaysia.

w04 bigwigs

The other entourage comprises of varies Chief Ministers and Heads of States. Political figures.

w04 performers
The performers waiting to go to the…

w04 float
…floating platform in the middle of the river.

There were people waiting dockside to go to the floating performance
stage (probably for security reasons) and there was some dancing and
singing after that. We promptly left. 😉

Sega2 Mini Video Games #5 – Amy & Rouge Tennis

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amy tennis

Amy & Rouge Tennis is the latest game in the Sega2/McDonald’s
joint promotion. It just came out today and it’s the first one to
feature different covers on each side. The one above shows Amy, and the
picture behind that shows Rouge.

rouge tennis

This is Rouge. The non-mirror image packaging is novel, I postulate
it’s coz this game features two protagonists instead of one. I think
Amy is meant to be cute and Rouge meant to look like some faux bad ass.

tennis wrap

Here’s the plastic shrink wrap it came in. It’s the now standard, relatively thick covering with the name of the game on it.

tennis manual

This is the manual. I’ll be honest and say that I can’t make head or
tail (no pun intended) of the game rules. I don’t know how to play it.
This is definitely the hardest to understand game in the series – it
has the most complex game play by far.

amy rouge tennis

Here’s the mini video game in all its glory – pink motif, and a nice sticker with the characters on it.

tennis control

This one also follows in Shadow Basketball’s footstep in the
controllers – it has two left and right toggles to move the
character(s) and a blue button to hit the ball or something. I think
you switch from Amy to Rouge at some point.

tennis bg

The pre-painted background is the most colorful one to date – the
two characters are represented at top right and top left with colored
detail and the game field shows a full length tennis court.

tennis gameplay

This is not something I could finish just by repeatedly pushing the
button. I still can’t finish it. I don’t know how to play it. I can’t
finish it! Does that make me stoopid?

Kafe Pelangi

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kafe pelangi

Kafe Pelangi is located at Choice Super Mall in Kota Semariang. I’ve been having my lunch there for three days in a row.

Lunch – Day #1

pelangi day 1

This is what I had for the first day – nasi campur, tapai and kopi peng.

pelangi tapai

Here’s a closer look at the tapai. It tasted sour…a bit too sour. I assume it’s been left out there for a bit too long…

pelangi nasi campur

This is what I had for nasi campur (mixed rice) – curry chicken, brinjals cooked with chilli and a pumpkin/vegetable mix.

Lunch – Day #2

pelangi day 2

This is lunch on the second day. I just went for Malay style chicken
rice coz we were in a hurry. I also had two pieces of fried mini spring
rolls and a coke.

pelangi spring roll

The mini spring rolls were vegetarian and costs RM 0.30 each. It’s alright I guess…at least it’s not sour. 😉

pelangi chicken rice

Here’s a close up of the chicken rice. Nothing to write home about. It’s chicken. It’s rice.

Lunch – Day #3

pelangi day 3

This is the third and last day we ate at Kafe Pelangi. I had Mee Jawa, a sandwich, a piece of kueh and coke.

pelangi sandwich

Here’s a closer look at the sandwich. We see that it’s a sardine, cucumber and egg sandwich.

pelangi kueh

This is the kueh – it tasted sweet, with a dusting of something salty at the end.

pelangi mee jawa

This is the Mee Jawa. It tasted good, spicy and nice.

I think this is probably one of the more thorough reviews I’ve done
on an eating establishment that is, to call a spade a spade,
substandard. 😉

Spain Smint Supports Smoking

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smint promo

I found this Smint promotional packaging which has Smint,
er…mints, in a Pez-like dispenser and a Smint lighter! Light up the
day with a free Smint lighter, it said. Now, I’m sitting there (or
standing rather) wondering about why they would package a lighter with
Smint.

free smint lighter

Are the marketing people aiming to capture the smoking demographic
by throwing in a free disposable lighter to go with their cool, sugar
free (with Xylitol), breath freshening product? Or is there a more
insidious marketing plan in place…an unholy agreement between big
tobacco and Smint to put lighters in the Smint that are Made in Spain
to encourage children to smoke?

smint no kiss

Or maybe to burn ants or whatever children do nowadays, I don’t know. 😉

Now, my dear readers, sixthseal.com is not going faux political or
quasi activist on you, I just wanted to see if I could make a post
title with four S in a row. 😉

Dutch Sushi

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dutch sushi postcard

I received a postcard from Jasmine
[blogspot.com], who went to Amsterdam and is definitely having more fun
than I’m having. 😉 She knows what I’m interested in and I just love
the postcard cover:

dutch sushi

Dutch Sushi! Heh! Jasmine, can’t wait for you to come back to Kuching. 🙂

Frugurt Yogurt

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frugurt yogurt style

I just couldn’t resist…I thought it looked cute, and when I picked
it up and shook it, its eyes rolled in a hilarious manner so I just had
to buy it immediately. Heh! It’s just too funny.

frugurt office

Frugurt Assorted Yogurt Style is now sitting on my work desk. I just got it last night and I predict it would be a big hit.

frugurt assorted

It tastes great too. It’s a bizarre blend of yoghurt and fruits and
it has nata de coco at the bottom. This is a video clip of me in my
workplace with the Frugurt container. It’s so funny.

frugurt

Download: Frugurt video clip [sixthseal.com]

The video was shot by Bernice. To all my coworkers, please feel free
to help yourself to the Frugurt on my table. It’s great and more
importantly, it’s hilarious. 🙂

The amazing cigarette price hike in Malaysia

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malaysia cig price hike carton

We expected a 3-4% price hike. We expected it to be under RM 6. We
expected a couple of cents increase. We were wrong. It turns out that
each pack is selling for RM 6.50 now, and that, my friends, is a
fucking amazing (I’m not good with math, so I’m covering up for it by
not calculating the percentage) increase. It’s a RM 1.10 increase! Even
the contraband Rave cigarettes are going for RM 3.50 now.

There seems to be a consortium of coffee shops who started putting
the RM 6.50 (for “premium” brands like Marlboros – the ones I smoke,
Dunhills etc) in effect yesterday. Two places quoted me that price,
though some grocery shops are still selling it at the old RM 5.40
price. It’s a good thing I have a friend who owns a chain of grocery
shops and he’s selling it to me at RM 50 per carton (RM 5 each) for
Marlboros. It’s all legit, MY watermark, new stock etc. He’s a good old
friend I’ve known for 9 years, and he promised to freeze the RM 50 per
carton price for me and some of our close friends.

Don’t ask about reselling though, I won’t do that, like I said we’re
good friends…”blood brothers” in Chinese. :p The price hike is a
bummer though, and although some sources claims that the figure is not
confirmed yet, all the places have put the cigarette tax increase in
place, so that’s a moot point. I didn’t stock up though, coz I can
always get it from my friend at our “old price” (RM 50 per carton).

pm lm

Nevertheless, when he came over to my place late last night, I told
him I’m switching to L&M (another Philip Morris brand which tastes
kinda like Marlboro) in protest. RM 35 per carton (retail is RM 4 per
pack) sure beats RM 50 any day. I will always love Marlboros but
sometimes the government goes a little too far with this anti-smoking
campaign. I’m sure it’ll buffer the coffers of Malaysia’s war chest
too, this tax increase. I’ll love to see a study if it leads to an
increase in crime when nicotine starved low income bracket groups find
themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Well, I’ve got work to do now, I’ll update again later and reply all
comments then. Have a nice Monday everyone, and to all cigarette
smokers out there…I feel for you, mate. We’ve been shafted again and
again…I imagine this amazing price hike is going to compensate for
the expensive botched “Tak Nak” anti-smoking campaign.

KFC Garden Salad with Popcorn Chicken

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kfc garden salad

This is KFC’s latest introduction – the KFC Garden Salad
at RM 3.80. It’s a variety of vegetables (it differs in Peninsula
Malaysia and East Malaysia) served with Thousand Island dressing on the
side.

kfc garden salad popcorn

It also comes with an option for Popcorn Chicken (KFC’s mini chicken nuggets) for a “complete meal” at RM 5.

kfc garden salad serve

This is what KFC’s Garden Salad looks like. It’s served in a plastic
receptacle and the vegetables are cold. There are also two packets of
Thousand Island dressing and the salad is served with a plastic fork.

kfc garden salad view

We have lettuce leaves lining the bottom, a bedding of shredded
carrots, corn kernels scattered throughout the salad, cucumber sticks
lining the tray and sliced tomatos on top.

kfc garden salad w chicken

The popcorn chicken is served separately and I scattered it on the salad.

kfc garden salad w dressing

The Thousand Island dressing is then drizzled liberally…

kfc garden salad final

…and the KFC Garden Salad with Popcorn Chicken was half heartedly
tossed. You can’t get much tossing done with a plastic fork, I can tell
you that.

Nevertheless, I found it delicious – all the vegetables tastes
fresh, cold and crunchy and the crispness of the lettuce tasted
wonderful with the hot popcorn chicken. I wonder what the regional
variations are – I know the ones in KL have red capsicum, which we
don’t.

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