kl

Last day at work

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brave new world

Today is my last day at work and I must say that I have mixed feelings about moving to KL. I am excited at the prospect of working at the new company but I will miss all my colleagues and the familiarity (comfort zone?) of working in this company for 11 months.

E, you have been a great mentor and I couldn’t have asked for more from a superior. Always willing to give more than receive, generous with advice from your experience and above all, going beyond the call of duty and being a friend to me instead of a boss. You have a great sense of humor and you accepted me despite all my piercings and tattoos and am able to look below the surface to see what I don’t even see myself – as a talented and gifted person. You have made me more confident about myself and my abilities and for that, I am forever indebted to you. I love you as a bro, heterosexually speaking, of course. You will be missed. Thanks for all the good memories.

J, thank you for your kind offer. It takes a great leader to be able to talk to his employees as a friend and to genuinely care. You will be in my thoughts always.

A, I was surprised that you are such a humble person despite your wealth of knowledge. Always unassuming and quick to smile, your imposing stature which made me think of you as unfriendly in the beginning has quickly changed to one of respect. I will miss your comments about politics and general life. I will miss the good conversation and your easy going nature.

J, thanks for being the first one to approach and befriend me. In spite of all that has happened, I still appreciate that you included me in your social circle when I just started work.

A, thank you for the ride home…and dreams come true. 😉

To my two teammates S and S, thanks for everything, we work as a team and nothing can break that. Esprit de corps!

…off to a brave new world!

…until the cows come home

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until the cows come home
Until the lembus come home…

I have been withholding this post and I think that now is the right time to reveal my plans for the future. I have decided to move to KL to work and have submitted my resignation letter a while back. I feel the need to strike out on my own and gain experience and skills in a more competitive environment while I am still under 30. 😉

I will be moving there for good this weekend and have been busy arranging for my car to be shipped over (and other miscellaneous stuff). I will be working in Kelana Jaya – which is technically in PJ, but the entire Klang Valley is referred to as “KL” by Sarawakians. :p

Regular sixthseal.com programming will resume tomorrow. Cheers all! 🙂

I’ll see you all in KL! =D

How much are you getting?

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speak no evil

Remuneration issues tend to be rather sensitive and most people employ the “Speak no evil” approach to surveys on wages. “The wages of sin is death” and all that aside, I’m very curious about the market rate around KL and Klang Valley (including other states in Malaysia). How much are you getting? Please state your chronological age, gender and profession if you feel comfortable divulging that information.

I’m happy with what I’m getting right now, but it’s just like the itch you can’t scratch. I’m just interested in the market trends for different professions.

Sharing is caring. 😉

(Curiosity also killed the cat, and I’m using way too many idioms in this post)

TuneHotels.com KL review

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tune hotel display

I first heard of Tune Hotels when I saw their functional display at the LCCT terminal at KLIA. It sounded like a great concept – a clean budget hotel with the basics and prices starting from just RM 9.99. It’s operated by the AirAsia conglomerate and I decided to book a room to experience the concept hotel.

tune hotel

The hotel is located near the Medan Tuanku Monorail Station and the interesting thing about the hotel is that it’s not called Tune Hotel. It’s called TuneHotels.com. It’s like 1997 all over again, with the dot com craze. The other thing that impressed itself upon me was the vast amount of advertising that’s plastered around the facade. It’s like the hotel is one gigantic billboard!

tune reception

The price of the hotel rooms fluctuates according to demand, much like AirAsia tickets. I got our double room for RM 48.99. The price is for the room only, and everything extra is charged. Towels and soap goes for RM 15, air conditioning is charged at RM 6.83 for 5 hours and RM 13.49 for 12 hours, and WiFi is available for RM 12 for 24 hours.

tune anchor

TuneHotels.com also implements the interesting concept of “anchor franchise tenants” – there is a 7Eleven, a Subway and another franchise eating establishment at the lobby. TuneHotels.com has a very stringent check-in policy. The check-in time is at 2 pm and no one gets to check in before the designated time. Thus, there’s a huge queue of people waiting at the lobby, which usually ends up patronizing the franchise tenants. Amazing marketing…

tune hotels exterior

The check-out time is at 10 am – 2 hours before the regular 12 pm check-out time for hotels, which is something to watch out for. I didn’t remember and was awakened from my blissful ethanol induced slumber at 11 am by housekeeping to politely remind me that the check-out time is at 10 pm. They don’t charge you for overstaying though, so it’s still alright.

tune rooms

The rooms at TuneHotels.com are as small as everyone says. There’s hardly enough space for two people to pass through the corridor! It looks a little like a love hotel too, as my girlfriend commented – there are pink neon lighting surrounding huge mirrors (probably for increase spatial perception) and the luminosity from a lot of the fixings are neon in nature. The bathroom is a little small and cramped, but I can’t complain for the price – and it’s very clean to boot.

tune room ads

One thing you may have noticed from the photos is that there are a lot of advertisements even in the room. I could count a McDonald’s ad, a CIMB Bank ad, a Visa card ad, and a Maggi instant noodles ad vying for eyeballs in the bedroom itself! It’s staggering!

tune floor ads

An advertiser sponsors each and every floor at TuneHotels.com too, much like the KL Monorail…

tune fav

…this is my personal favorite. 😉

tune danger

The architect of TuneHotels.com is a proponent of the minimum space, maximum occupancy philosophy and this leads to the height of the rooms being extra low. I nearly hit my face on the ceiling fan (when it was on full blast!) while standing up on the bed. Granted, there are signs warning you against the perils of the low hung ceiling fan causing unfortunate incidents, but still…

tune anna

You get to meet a lot of people at TuneHotels.com too, the backpacker types – this is Anna from Gold Coast, Australia who kindly pulled up a chair for me when I went down for a smoke at 2 am in the morning (which was why I look half asleep). She’s here on a modeling assignment.

tune end

I’m impressed with Datuk Tony Fernandez’s business acumen. Sponsored floors! Advertising in the elevators! Franchise tenants! The commercialization of the TuneHotels.com operation is staggering. Personally, I don’t mind as long as the savings are passed down to the guests. 🙂

Laksa Shack

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laksa shack

Laksa Shack is a franchise operating along the trend of establishing hawker food fare in the air conditioned comfort of malls. It has outlets throughout Malaysia and specializes in laksa, as the name implies.

laksa shack interior

Laksa is a noodle soup dish originating from Malaysia and has two major variants – curry laksa and asam laksa. The first one is santan (coconut milk) based while the latter is a medley of sour and tangy notes from tamarind. Sarawak laksa is an offshoot of curry laksa but I tend to prefer the asam laksa more.

laksa shack asam

Asam laksa has no coconut milk and is based on a fish paste broth with tamarind, which gives it the distinctive sour taste. I find that very appetizing, and it’s served with translucent thick rice vermicelli instead of the thinner version.

laksa shack operation

Laska Shack is a quick service operation and offers Asam Laksa, Johor Laksa, Curry Laksa, Laksam Kelantan, Tom Yam Laksa, Laksa Nyonya Melaka, Sarawak Laksa and Laksa Lemak Singapore. The soup base is all pre-cooked and kept in heated receptacles at the counter so they just need to pour the right gravy on the right kind of noodles.

laksa shack drinks

I went with my girlfriend to the outlet at MidValley Megamall and we shared a Laksa Set (RM 14.90) which comes with the laksa of your choice, 2 pieces of otak-otak and Sirap Bandung Cincau. The drink (left) is a rose syrup drink with milk and cincau (black jelly). I ordered another drink (right) for RM 5.50 – Ipoh White Coffee Cincau.

laksa shack set

This is what the Laksa Set looks like. The laksa ordered separately costs RM 9.90 each and the drinks will set you back RM 5-6 so it’s usually more cost effective to order the popular laksa set. The two pieces of otak-otak came really fast – the operation at Laksa Shack is all very streamlined.

laksa shack otak

Otak-otak (literally brains-brains) is a fish paste snack wrapped in banana leaves. Laksa Shack offers the steamed version and the otak-otak is (very) highly processed, leaving very little taste, as is oft the case in mass produced bulk food.

laksa shack asam laksa

The Asam Laksa at Laksa Shack is surprisingly good for a quick service restaurant. The soup base is tantalizingly sour and comes with pieces of fish. I find tamarind based broth to be very appetizing and drank all the soup in the dish.

laksa shack asam laksa macro

I didn’t quite like the fish pieces though – it seems to be sardine to my untrained palate and sardine is one of the few aquatic lifeforms I do not like to eat (due to taste rather than any sentimental PETA/Greenpeace ideology).

laksa shack end

You can probably get better laksa for a lower price at regular hawker stalls but Laksa Shack offers the experience (and convenience) of eating hawker food in air conditioned comfort inside a mall. I have seen this trend take off and I suspect the end is nigh for the novelty value of hawker-food-given-premium-treatment concept eating establishments.

It’s going to jump the sardine soon, mark my words. 😉

My sister’s wedding @ KL

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kl wedding

My sister had her wedding reception in Restaurant Oversea at Jaya One in PJ last Saturday. I was in KL for the weekend to attend the wedding – there will be another one this Saturday in Sibu, where I would be the MC for the night. I have been instructed to tone down on my jokes coz I commented about her cleavage in the KL wedding and she nearly went into hysterics and rushed into the toilet to fix her dress. Heh!

wedding table kl

My sister is the polar opposite of me, personality wise. 😉

me sister kl

I’m going to cover the Sibu wedding ceremony (which I haven’t figured out how to do while being the MC at the same time) so I didn’t do much at the KL wedding, which was more on the groom’s side, so here’s a montage of the events:

montage

This is my new extended family:

group kl

I had a pretty embarrassing pre-dinner moment when the person manning the reception counter was on the phone and couldn’t seat us. I gave an off-hand sarcastic comment to my date and my aunt in KL which I’m sure she heard. I found out later that the receptionist was my sister-in-law. Major faux pax. Not a good way to start a relationship, I’m sure.

Oops…

AirAsia – The perils of mis-clicking

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air-asia-mishap

I booked a return air ticket from Sibu to KL just now and mis-clicked on the departure date. I didn’t really notice the erratum until I checked the itinerary in my email. I went back and made amendments to the chronological discrepancy and was charged RM 150 for the “Change fee” (blue arrow).

It came up to a total of RM 165 for the clicking malfunction (green arrow) which is fair enough, considering Air Asia’s status as a no-frills airline and it was my mistake anyway.

However, it would be great if AirAsia allows for changes to the arrival/departure date and time for a certain period of time after the initial booking – a grace period, if you will. I suggest allowing changes 15-30 minutes after the initial booking gratis before the “Change fee” is levied.

This will allow genuine mistakes to be resolved without the fiscal penalty while avoiding last minute changes from indecisive travelers due to the short grace period for changes.

Anyway, that’s my two cents on the matter. I’ll be going to KL to attend my sister’s wedding reception in PJ. She’s already married – the ceremony was held yesterday at Auckland, New Zealand and she’s coming back with her husband and my parents for the KL reception before heading home to Sibu for the reception over here.

I’ll see you all in KL! 🙂

Camwhoring with Ringo Tan of Cheeserland

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ringo tan 1

I was in KL about a month ago to…er, attend to my sister’s wedding arrangements and met up with Cheesie at O’Briens before I was scheduled to fly back home. I have gotten a new external hard disk and while transferring photos over, I realized that I have several shots with Ringo after lunch.

ringo tan 2

Cheesie left me with a very good impression, she’s very down to earth and has a bubbly personality, which makes for a great dining companion. 🙂 Anyway, we went outside for a bit of camwhoring after lunch – some of the photos were taken by passerbys at 1U but Ringo has perfected an excellent technique of taking photos.

ringo tan 3

She taught me how to take self portraits of us using one extended hand, which I never really got the hang of. It’s her 4th blog anniversary at her own domain so on head over and wish her a happy blogniversary. 🙂

Hail to the Queen of Cheese! 😉

Wine Cellar – Ambassadors of Fine Wine

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wine cellar

Wine Cellar is a dubbed as the Ambassadors of Fine Wine and they rightly deserve the title. The place has a vast selection of wines and runs regular seminars and wine tasting sessions. These people are very passionate about wine, and it shows. 

wine cellar seminar

I spent an evening there with Nicole having dinner at Tasting Room (review upcoming) and attended a wine tasting seminar entitled “How to bluff your way through Bordeaux” conducted by Ron. I love the unpretentious presentation and they seem eager to share their knowledge about wine. 

wine cellar nicole

The wine tasting seminar showcases the two types of Bordeaux wines and how to differentiate them. My palate is less than sensitive so I’m probably the worst person to be attending a wine appreciation session but I do like wine, being the tipple of choice after distilled spirits. 😉 

wine cellar afterparty

The Wine Cellar people are very down to earth and I spent an enjoyable night talking to them and drinking wine after the Chelsea match. It was at some point during the night that someone suggested Nasi Lemak Ganja (so called due to the spicy sambal, not the addition of cannabis, much to my disappointment ;)) for supper. 

nasi lemak famous

Regina drove down to the stall, which is actually called Nasi Lemak FAMOUS… 

regina chicken

…and choose several pieces of chicken for our nasi lemak. 

nasi lemak prepare

The proprietor ended up making 12 packs of nasi lemak for take away. Heh! 

nasi lemak ganja

We adjourned back to Wine Cellar and had the Nasi Lemak Ganja together with some wine and port. It actually goes quite well with the more flavorful port. 

lindsay

This is Lindsay… 

me lindsay

…and the obligatory XX Chromosome pose. 😉 

wine cellar group

Thanks for a great night people! I was quite inebriated when I ended up at Grace’s apartment and passed out, rather than slept. 😉

KL Trip Day 2: Nicole Tan and Chelsea Asia Tour 2008

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nicole

I was busy with the preparations for my sister’s wedding for most of the day before Nicole texted me and asked if I was free for dinner. She was the one who wrote the rather alarming article about me in The Star and now that the fallout is (or seem to be) relatively over, I wanted an autographed copy of the column. Heh!

me nicole

Well, in all fairness, it really wasn’t her fault coz I consented to the interview but the headline was a bit on the sensationalist side. Nicole is a really nice person in real life, we had dinner at Tasting Room in Bangsar and polished off a couple of bottles of wine. The full review of Tasting Room wine bistro will be in a separate post.

driving nicole

Anyway, at some point during the night, it was decided that we were to drive down to Shah Alam and catch the Chelsea – Malaysia friendly match after all. Nicole wanted me to drive her car down (!). I was a little shocked and awed by her faith in my driving skillz, especially with the number of collisions I have under my belt and the two bottles of wine plus several other glasses during a tasting session in me.

me driving

I did find it quite amusing that I’m actually qualified to be a designated driver – I’m probably the worst candidate for that. I’m also secretly honored by Nicole’s faith in me driving her car down to Shah Alam, so I put on my best Sober Expression (TM), and took the 1 hour drive down to the Shah Alam Stadium. I noticed that she did take precautions to fasten her seat belt though. 😉

nicole car

I didn’t quite know my way around KL and Shah Alam so Nicole was giving directions from the passenger seat while Grace slept at the back. It took us a little more than an hour to arrive due to traffic congestion and the poor road signs to the stadium where Chelsea was playing. I also remembered missing an exit three (3) times in a row due to my inebriated state and having to make a long U turn back only to miss it again.

chelsea tour

Shah Alam Stadium was packed full of Chelsea (and the odd Malaysia) fans and I had a ticket in addition to the five (5) I gave out in the Heineken Chelsea contest so I decided to go in and take a couple of photos and videos.

pitch

The stadium at full capacity.

second goal

Chelsea scores the second goal of the match. 2-0.

snacks

Snack vendor catering to the crowd.

frenzy

Frenzy – the minority Malaysia team supporters lamenting a missed opportunity.

final score

Final score: 2-0 to Chelsea.

Watch the video of the Chelsea Malaysia friendly match. This is the Chelsea Asia Tour 2008 – Malaysia event.

The girls weren’t keen on going in due to the crowd and I couldn’t find the other bloggers so I left after a bit to drive back to KL. I heard the score was 2-0 to Chelsea when we headed back to Wine Cellar to have some more to drink. More about that in another post. Cheers!

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