Havana Estudio 9th Anniversary Party -- Teaser!

Theme : Gangstas & Divas

No Manners Nor Cow Sense

... on second thoughts, I shouldn't insult the bovine species.

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The country can forget its hope of becoming a developed nation anytime in the near future.

Why?

Because its people have 4th world mentality. I know there's no 4th world but that goes to show how bad the M'sian mentality is. What's makes it worse is that we have good facilities (those that are not leaking or collapsing) but the way some M'sians behave, it's better that we DON'T have any good facilities.

Simple manners seem to delude them. For example, just this morning, I held the office door open for a woman who was entering the office behind me. Not only did she not say a word of thanks to me for holding the door open for her, she acted like I wasn't even there! As if the door magically stayed open by itself. Gosh, I shudder to think what type of example she's setting for her children. (Yes, I dunno why I even care to hold doors open for people here. But it's a habit -- a good one, I think -- that I'd picked up from the States. Unfortunately, people here never seem to appreciate it. Maybe next time I should just let the door slam on their faces. Hah!)

And it is beyond me, how people can instinctively know how to keep their own homes and cars clean, but totally disregard the cleanliness of public property, places, etc. It's like, just because they don't own the place, they can do whatever they want to it. For example, I have seen countless people throw rubbish out of their cars while on the road. And with children in the car some more! Don't you feel like strangling these people???!!! That's like, stealing from a shop in front of your own kid and telling him/her "Hey boy/girl, it's ok to steal, you know". Hellooo!! What are you teaching your children??!!! In Bangkok and many other countries, you can actually notice people throwing their trash in the garbage can on a regular basis. Children even. Here, you see the parents littering.

You know how the public toilets, even in our canggih shopping malls like Suria KLCC, are always dirty and wet with paper towels/toilet paper thrown indiscriminately (on the floors, outside the bin, etc.)? It is such a disgrace! Heck, we even have Toilet Usage Guidelines on the doors of the toilets at my office :

I think it's quite pathetic that a sign has to be put up to teach people how to keep the toilets clean. Don't you think this is just plain, simple common sense that you don't even need to think to know what to do???

On the other hand, public toilets in Bangkok malls are so clean! (I'm comparing mall-to-mall). They were dry and not a single scrap of paper on the floor. Whereas in M'sia, it's a rare instance indeed to find a toilet cubicle with DRY floors! In the US, wet toilet floors are unheard of!

I don't understand why. Is it our toilet habits? How different are our toilet habits compared to the Thais? Do they throw rubbish differently from us? Not that I know of. I mean, you have a piece of trash, you look for a trashcan and throw it in there. It's not rocket science.

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Before anyone starts cursing me for dissing M'sians and M'sia, yes, I will consider leaving this country if ever I have the chance, if things do not change for the better. Though it would be quite a sad day for me if that ever happens because this is home (though it feels less like it everyday, after hearing what spews out of our MPs mouths). No, it's not just about dirty toilets. But what with an incompetent and corrupt government running the country, legalized discrimination, and faux freedom to practice the religion you wish (yes, refer to the Lina Joy case and those preceeding hers), faux freedom of the press, speech, etc. etc... we are definitely heading down the drain. I don't want to but I feel I have to, or at least, plan for the future "what ifs". Like, what if the govt. decides to pass a law that says non-Malays have to be like this or that, or must abide by this or that. Like JN said, if they're going to treat me like a second class citizen in my own country, might as well BE a second class citizen elsewhere.

I don't believe that the grass is greener elsewhere. Every country has its pros and cons. But to be celebrating our 50th year of independence but not getting the fundamentals (e.g. equality in race/gender/work, transparency of the govt., press/speech freedom, human rights, etc.) firmly in place all this while is just wrong. If there are signs that show that the govt. is sincere and actually working to make things better, even though we're not 100% there yet, then it's not so bad. But problem is, there isn't any. And people can still be so happy happy, celebrating our 50th merdeka without anything substantial to show for it except more buildings and lesser forests.

I don't remember it being like this during P. Ramlee's time, or my parents time, from the stories that they've told me. There was so much more racial harmony and freedom back then. No such thing as that petty "Muslims cannot wish non-Muslims a Happy Deepavali" sort of crap.

So what went wrong?

So sloowwww!!

Aiyoh! I'm taking so long to do up my new site! Bleh...

No time! No tiiimmmeee!!!!

:-(

Athens, Italy?

We were watching Travel & Living the other day and there was a segment on Greece.

Me : I wanna visit Greece one day. And Italy.
CL : Athens is in Italy, rite?
*Me and sis looked at him blankly.
Me : Err, Athens is in Greece la.
CL : Eh? Where's the Colosseum then?
Me : That's in Rome la!
CL : Oooohhhh, I meant to say Rome! Heh...

Farney. Hehe.

What Kind of Boss...

What kind of boss, upon hearing that her staff are practically suffocating from noxious glue fumes due to renovation works, tells her staff to email the property admin people because she "isn't THERE (i.e. on the same floor) to smell the fumes"?

What kind of boss, upon exiting the elevator on the said floor where the renovation works are taking place, takes a whiff of the paint fumes and flees back down to the safety of her own room and even utters "I don't know how you all can tahan the smell. I cannot tahan!"

And does NOTHING to try to temporarily relocate her staff to a less hazardous work area until the renovation works are completed?

Which resulted in one staff having to be given emergency oxygen due to constricted airways from breathing in the glue fumes (and is now forced to take steroid pills to expand her airways) and another having severe headaches from the same. The doctor has even ordered the said staff who encountered breathing difficulties to NOT enter the office in the next few days lest her breathing problems recur.

Yep, that's the type of boss that I have.

Welcome to the world where the boss couldn't care less about his/her staff's well-being and deserts his/her employees when it suits him/her.

Yay for me.

Bleh...

Revolting Sights

I was at the Tmn. Tun pasar malam yesterday evening to look for my favourite boiled peanuts. As I was walking along, I passed by a few vendors selling meat - chicken, beef, and I don't know what else as I wasn't looking and trying to pass by as fast as I could (I don't like the meat stalls, for its smell and sight of raw meat). Then I noticed a most revolting sight. At one of the beef vendors, there was a full head of cow in the middle of the table! It wasn't a skinned head of cow; it was the complete head of cow, with it's bits of fur visible!

Yeck!! I know they are selling beef; is there a need to display the dead animal's head to drive the point to potential customers what they are selling?

Yucks... I coulnd't find my boiled peanuts vendor so I did an about-turn and left. After seeing the cow's head, I quite lost my appetite for anything.

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Another quite revolting sight, in my opinion, is the suckling pig served at Chinese restaurants. For those who are not familiar, the suckling pig is a Chinese delicacy, which is actually a piglet, roasted until it's flesh and skin is crispy and golden brown. Read here for more description. So, these restaurants would serve this dish on a large plate, chopped up into rectangular bite-sized pieces and arranged to form a shape of a flattened pig on the plate, complete with its head and hooves, all cooked of course.

Each time I see this dish being served (usually its a mid-course dish), it would turn me off the rest of the dinner coz I just feel so sorry for the piglet. I mean, it's just a baby. And piglets, to me, are pink bundles of cuteness (I haven't seen one up close). And for it to end up on the dinner table before it had a chance to grow up is quite sad. And to make matters worse, it is served with its head staring back at you at the dinner table. Bleck.

Same thing goes with lamb. But at least, they don't serve lamb dishes with its head on the plate.

o_O

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No, I don't eat pork, beef, lamb, mutton, venison, ostrich meat or any other meat except for fish, some seafood and very rarely, chicken.

By choice, not for any religious reasons.

Bunch of Clowns...

... and that's being very generous.

*****

...sexual predators do not just decide to rape. They could be encouraged by their environment every day of seeing sexily dressed women. So I feel that it is better that women dress decently.

I am just voicing my personal opinion that women should not dress indecently as this could create lustful feelings in men.

Women who dressed indecently were also sexually harassing men.

~Shahbudin Yahaya (BN-Permatang Berangan), state Islamic Religious Council President (quoted from TheSun, Friday, May 25 2007).


I've never paid attention to politics in the country until recently, where there have been so many ludicrous happenings in our Parliament/Cabinet sessions and the way the government is handling various issues in the country. It's quite difficult to ignore them when they are in the headlines every single day. Really, I didn't know our government is so happening, man!

So apparently, according to that man named above, it is women's responsibility to ensure that we do not create lustful feelings in men. OK, so this is not the first time our Stone-Age MPs have made such sexist remarks. Nor would they be the last, seeing that these same types of morons keep getting elected into office.

First of all, I think this fella has tremendously little self control, if he says that just seeing a sexily dressed woman will make him lustful. Which is quite ironic seeing that he IS the state Islamic Religious Council President. I thought among all people, all these religious leaders are supposed to be role models to their followers, and as such, be able to resist temptations more easily than an average man. Well, to be fair, he didn't say that HE would be lustful but men in general, but then again, he must've had some experience since he made the remark and he must've made the remark based on some evidence, right?

Secondly, everyone has their own definition of sexy and decent dressing. A man who's in the "lustful" state of mind, would probably think a tudung-clad, baju kurung-wearing female is sexy. Just look at the number of rape/molest cases and what the victims were wearing they were sexually assaulted.

Seriously, I just feel like slapping all these stupid MCP MPs. OK, that was a very childish comment but really, I feel like they just need a good whacking coz they don't have the brains/common sense (see, no common sense again! It's like a trend these days) to think logically. So talking like civilized adults just won't work with them coz all of them are led by their dicks.

Geez, from the bocor issue, to comparing the dilapidated state of the Parliament with the looks of a 50-year-old woman, to comparing new brides with toilets, our MPs are such a joke.

Hey people! You want to see clowns in action??? Come to Malaysia and just listen to our MPs talk!

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Oh Oh... guess what? Our govt. has decided to hire someone to help teach M'sians how to keep toilets clean! (TheSun, Friday, May 25 2007, Pg. 25) Woopee! We are a developing nation with the world's tallest building (at one point in time) and the biggest this and longest that, but we don't know how to keep our toilets clean so we need someone to teach us how to do it! Hahahahahah! *falls off chair laughing*

Do People Have Any Common Sense These Days??

I don't think I'll ever understand the general M'sian psyche. I don't really want to, coz that would probably mean I'm like them (God forbid!) but it would be so much easier to understand why they choose not to use practical, common sense in their daily lives.

Don't get me wrong; I do NOT think that I'm better than everyone else. Far from it, actually. But I do think that I have more common sense than the average Joe on the street, judging from the incidents that I've seen/been through.

For example, if you want to kill yourself while pumping gas with your vehicle engine running, should any accident occur (God forbid!), by all means, go ahead. Go find a gas station that's completely empty and you can pump all the gas you want with your engine running and risk killing yourself. Fine, go ahead. But when there are tons of people around you (especially me, right in front of you, minding my own business and pumping my gas), I do think it's rather selfish for you to be happily pumping your gas away with your vehicle engine running, without consideration at all for the rest of the patrons of the gas station, not to mention the employees there. Although I haven't heard of anyone getting killed YET while pumping gas with his/her vehicle engine running, I'm not willing to take the risk. There's a reason why the list of PRECAUTIONs are pasted near each kiosk i.e. Don't Smoke, Shut off your vehicle engine and mobile phone, etc. etc. So simply instructions also cannot follow, is it? It takes a lot of effort for you to just twist your ignition to the OFF position, is it?? PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE, thank you very much.

I'm not sorry if I've offended my friends who do pump gas with their vehicle engines running. Seriously, it's your life and the lives of people around you. Like your girlfriend or wife, sitting in the passanger seat of your car. Or your parents in the back seat. Or your friends in both the passenger and back seats. Yeah yeah, I sound preachy but nothing drives home the fact that LIFE IS SHORT like knowing someone who got killed in an accident that could've been so easily prevented.


Another so so simple common sense thing that people don't do, I don't get. You know there are markers around a parking space, right? Sometimes they are rectangles, sometimes they are the corner borders. You do know that you are supposed to park WITHIN the rectangle or within the corner borders, right? What??!! You're saying you don't know?! Then why the hell do you think those rectangles/borders are there for?! Decoration, is it???? DBKL got nothing to do, they go paint rectangles on the roads is it??? Your condo management collect all your maintenance fees just to draw ugly rectangles around your condo compound for fun, is it???

Gawd! So infuriating! Just now I came back from class and found that the stupid fella who parks his/her car next to my space, makan into MY parking area! And you know what? This is not the bloody first time! What I normally do is that I would park oh-so-very-close to the fella, just to be in my box. If he scratches my car also never mind. As long as the fella has great difficulty getting into his car, padan muka! This time, I sooooo wanted to write on a big piece of paper "PLEASE PARK WITHIN YOUR SPACE". In fact, I was looking for a blank piece of A4 paper in my car but couldn't find :-( So I thought I'd go upstairs and get some paper but as I was walking back, I thought twice and decided not to. The ONLY reason why I didn't do it was coz I didn't want to give them any reason to retaliate and start complaining about us feeding the stray cats. Which is another long story altogether so I'm not going to even start on that (but I think I already did that in a previous post, haha).

Even more infuriating is when you're at a crowded mall carpark and you notice a free space from afar but when you get there, you see why no one has taken the spot. It's coz the stupid bugger parked in the next space decided that his car is soooo grand, it has to take TWO parking spaces!

So there you go. Two of many many incidents where M'sians (this is a generalization based on numerous firsthand-witnessed cases) do not display an ounce of common sense.

I think I should just stop trying to figure it out. Waste my brain cells only.

Hmph.

@#$%^&*

M'sian drivers have no common sense and courtesy whatsoever!! GAAAAAHHH!! Yes, I know this topic has been written/discussed to death but REALLY!

If you see someone ahead of you giving an indicator that s/he wants to merge into the left or right lane, you give way to the person, no? At least, I do... if s/he gives the indicator early enough and not last minute.

So there I was, I had to do a U-turn under the flyover near Dynasty Hotel and turn an immediate left after that. So I had already indicated before I finished my U-turn and I made it out of the U-turn before any other vehicles came from other directions. But this bunch of bikes coming from the opposite direction (the traffic lights had just turned green), they just wouldn''t give way! HALLO! I'd already indicated! And I reached the road before YOU morons did! Buta is it???? What else do you expect me to do?????!!! Some more dare to honk at me!! WTF, man!

Bloody morons/assholes/idiots/nincompoops/bastards.

GAAAAAAHHHH!!! So angry. Some more so early in the morning. Spoil my day only.

GGRRRRRR!!!

New Home!!

I have a new home! I have a new home!!!!! YAY!!! It's gonna be so much fun to set it up and decorate it anyhow I like!!!

A new website lar... :p But it'll take some time before I can get it up and running coz I don't have as much time as I want to work on it.

Watch this space! :-)

The Westin, KL

So recently I was invited to spend a night at The Westin, KL, free-of-charge. Of course I jumped at the chance! Me being the jakun that I am i.e. haven't stayed in enough of 5-star hotels to realize that it is just a room with a bed and bathroom and tv. But hey, 5-star hotels are usually COOL rooms with awesome bathrooms and really plush beds! What to do, I'm no high-flyer, so I dun get sent all around the world to stay in 6-star hotels and attend very important meetings :-/

My history with The Westin : I've only been in there twice, and that wasn't even up to the rooms. Once, to attend a DKNY fashion show and another to attend an artiste's press conference in Qba.

Anyway, me, Westin, FREE! Weeeeeee, here I come! Haha... :-D

The Doorway (this one is comparable in length to the Intercontinental Hotel in S'pore)

The Bathroom... it's quite big, with a separate WC and shower stall

The condiments (?) section and bath items

I got me a Berty!! He ONLY costed me RM35! That's like THB350!! Do you know how many things I could get with THB350??!!! :-O Anyway, I like my Berty. I was wondering, do they have different toys at different Westins around the world? Maybe I could make this my new hobby -- collect all the different toys from all the different Westins around the world! Yay! Duh, like who's gonna pay for my airfare and hotel charges??? *smacks self on the head*

This is the ONLY hotel I've been in in KL that actually displayed and provided condoms and pleasure enhancing warming lubricant anywhere on its premises! (ok lar, the drugstore in the lobby doesn't count). So cool!!

I saved the best for last! My favourite feature was the bed! It was so soft and warm and comfy, I didn't wanna get up and go to work the next day! *zzzzzzzzzzzz*

The View from the 21st floor... day and night... I definitely like the night view better.

And that concludes my one-night stay in The Westin KL.... *sigh of contentment*

Customer Service...

... is non-existent in this country.

A colleague was relating his experience with Jaring. He had called up Jaring's customer service line to find out information about registering for their broadband service. He'd put in an order and he was told that he had to go to a Jaring outlet to complete his registration. First thing the customer service agent didn't go was to tell him exactly what documents he was required to bring along to complete the registration. Secondly, when he got there, they couldn't find his order no. Then, when he read the Terms & Conditions on the form, one of the T&Cs said that subscribers can cancel their subscription within 7 days if they are not satisfied with the service. My colleague double checked with the Jaring person. The person said no, subscribers cannot cancel the service and must sign a 1-year contract. And even if they wanted to cancel the service, it would be subjected to a Jaring technician's inspection and their approval of your reason to cancel the service.

I've got a few comments here:

1. The T&Cs are printed in black and white on the form, thus, it holds as an agreement. The Jaring person can say whatever s/he wants but it's all merely verbal and whatever is on the form takes precedence.
2. Which idiot operator would think consumers are so stupid that they can just tell them any grandmother story pertaining to the T&Cs? Waaa, like that, anyone can say anything and disregard the T&Cs then! Where got such thing?!
3. Why do I need the technician to approve of my reason to cancel my service? As far as I'm concerned, I just need to tell you why I'm canceling the service, just so you can TRY to improve your service. But I don't care if you think my reasons are correct or wrong.

In the end, my colleague told the Jaring person that he will try the service and if he's not satisfied, he'll cancel within the 7 days and see what they (Jaring) will do.

My boss related her experience with Streamyx. She had wanted to set up a WiFi network in her home but when she asked the Streamyx people to set it up for her, they said that they didn't know anything about setting up WiFi and they told her to do it herself! Come on lar, you are an internet service provider. Customers can have access to the internet, regardless of whether via WiFi or not, so it is part of your domain to assist your customers in both methods!! With WiFi becoming more common and easily accessible these days, it is only common sense for you to upgrade your staff's knowledge and expertise with the latest technologies in order to serve your customers better. That way, when people see that your staff actually know what they are doing and can offer value-added services, they would be more than happy to recommend your service to their contacts. Which, ultimately, increases your income. But see, these dungus (you know who they are) prefer to lose income and rot in outdated technologies than spend the money to invest in their staff training. The least they could do is refer the customer to their partner who specializes in WiFi. Their installation services are contracted out anyway so what's so difficult about getting a partner specializing in WiFi?

But it's an infinite loop. At the end of the day, if consumers don't voice their dissatisfactions and act to ensure something is done to address their dissatisfactions, the service indsutries will continue with their lackadaisical attitude and continue to bully consumers.

I know I'm guilty of this as well coz sometimes, I'd think "Aiyah, so small matter only. No need to complain lar." or "It's too troublesome/inconvenient to file a complaint lar. Forget it." but then you see, all these small things add up and the more we turn a blind eye, the more daring these people/companies will get. And in the end, we consumers are the ones who will pay for our lack of action.

However, in saying that, the ONE place I wouldn't complain would be in any restaurant. If I don't like the food/service at a restaurant I'm in, I would just not return to the place again and I would not recommend it to anyone I know. Or I will only complain AFTER I've had my meal and plan not to return again ever. Everyone knows why. Heh.

One good experience I had recently was at the LCCT. We'd arrived back from Bangkok and were queueing up at the the immigration autokiosk (is that what it's called?) to scan our passports. There were 2 scanners and two long queues so they opened up another counter to manually scan the passports. The immigration guy who was manning the counter was such a pleasant fella, smiling all the way. And the scanning was very quick. So I was satisfied with that service. Fast and pleasant, that's what I like.

Why can't all services be like that?

Puppies for Adoption

Email from the Animal Rescue Network:

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PUPPIES FOR ADOPTION

These puppies were rescued from the streets of Pandamaran, Klang and are in need of good homes.

All of them have been nursed back to health and all of them are already spayed and vaccinated.

Kindly contact Pat Lim at 016-6568 997 for more details and for viewing of the puppies.

If you know anyone who might be interested in adopting, please forward them this email. Serious and responsible owners only, please!

Thank you for helping our furry friends. Remember, love needs no pedigree!

Hopeless... just hopeless

I was walking around my condo grounds this morning, trying to look for one of the stray cats that I was planning to take to the vet to get neutered, when I bumped into one of the residents who stays in the unit few floors below us.

Resident X (peering into the cat carrier that I was carrying) : Eh, how come empty one?
Me : I'm trying to catch one of the stray cats.
Resident X (eagerly) : Oh, you're taking it to the SPCA?
Me (to cut a long story short) : No, I'm taking it to get castrated so it doesn't fight with other cats.
Resident X (visibly disappointed) : Oh...

Sorry lar... I'm not going to take the stray cats to the animal shelter coz the shelters are already overflowing as it is. And the cats that are around here would most likely be euthanized (i.e. killed) coz they're not the cute, adoptable types that people seem to like. So no, I'm not going to do the dirty work of first, taking the stray cats to the animal shelter and second, having the record that I'd voluntarily sent a healthy animal to its death on my head.

Bah... people.

Honesty...

... is always the best policy.

One of the notable experiences that I've had in my recent BKK trip went like this...

I was a Paragon shopping for shoes when I saw this pair that I liked. So I asked the sales guy to get my size. He went to get the size and when he came back, he was apologetic coz they didn't have my size but they had one size larger, which he had brought with him. I said it's ok, I'll try it anyway so he took the shoes out of the box. When he picked up one of the shoes, he took a look at the inside sole of the shoe and his face became even more apologetic and he indicated that the inside of the sole was a bit dirty, and was kind of reluctant to pass the shoe to me. I said never mind, I'll try it anyway just to see if the size fit.

In the end, I didn't buy that shoe... but I bought the same design in a different colour! But what struck me was that the sales guy didn't try to cover up the dirty sole and hassle me to buy it, which was what would've happened if this occured in KL. If it were here, I think the salesperson would've said "It's ok, can wash one" or "Never mind, it's on the inside so nobody can see".

So yeah... I appreciated the sales guy being honest about the dirty shoe... and I ended up buying two pairs of shoes from his section of the shoe department :-)

Another good experience I had was when I was shopping for belts at MBK. Was at this shop that sold belts of all kinds so it was a bit overwhelming coz there were belts everywhere. So I saw this belt that I liked; it had some fake sparkly stones on the buckle. The salesgirl who was helping me got one for me and after trying it on, I decided I would get it. When I was about to take the belt, she started looking for another belt in the same pile and when I looked confused, she showed me that there were a couple of stones missing on the buckle so she was getting me another one. Now, how nice is that??? That's how customers should be treated! I bought 5-6 belts from that shop :-D

Outside Paragon, waiting for a cab to Suan Lum Night Bazaar

Four-faced Buddha... outside one of the malls...

Aahhh... Bangkok...

Things I love about Bangkok:

1. Super efficient, clean, and well-organized BTS Skytrain and MRT.
2. Wide selection and up-to-date fashion in the shopping malls.
3. Reasonably priced (and some very cheap!) clothes and shoes.
4. Super cool markets that consist of tons of stalls selling everything from clothes, to souvenirs, to home furnishing, decorative items, candles, bags, shoes, knick-knacks, etc.

So that was my birthday gift, a trip to Bangkok. Thanks, babe! :-x

First of all, I just love love love how organized, efficient, clean, and well-planned Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS) Skytrain is! And they make efficient use of the space beneath the train tracks as well i.e. there is a pedestrian walkway one level below the train tracks along the shopping district (Chit Lom-Siam stations) and this walkway is connected to all the buildings/malls along the road! Talk about integrated, man! After getting off the train, you don't even need to go down to road level to get into the malls; just walk to the building you want, and chances are, it's connected to the walkway. So cool! Their MRT is exactly like Singapore's, it's like the same architect/engineer designed/built it!

And the best thing is the entire place is clean and well-lit. You can see that proper planning was done coz the result is an efficient and well-organized transportation system. KL's Putra LRT, Star LRT, and Monorail is nothing compared to Bangkok's BTS SKytrain and MRT systems. Our train system is like a haphazard network built randomly and later, the powers-that-be try to integrate them but fail miserably coz our city councils don't PLAN properly!

Bangkok malls can rival Singapore malls anytime! Needless to say, KL malls fall way behind in terms of selection, latest fashion, and prices. I think KL gets the outdated stock from Bangkok and Singapore coz we seem to be behind in the latest fashion. And this outdated fashion stuff is sold at such high prices too! Talk about being ripped off, man!

One good example is the lingerie. Take the Wacoal brand, for example. The price range of a Wacoal bra is around THB480-590 (depending on the style) and they have so many different designs, even those fancy ones with sparkly stones on them, which only costs THB590. Here in KL, a normal, boring-looking standard bra from Wacoal costs at least RM80 and if you want to get the fancier designs (if there's any, to begin with), you can expect to spend RM150 and above. But that's IF they even carry those designs here.

And the shoes, oh my! I think the shoes department at the Siam Paragon is 10 times the size of Isetan KLCC and a million times better in terms of selection and fashion. A nice, chic pair of heels that I really like costed me THB1080 whereas in KL, I'd have to first FIND a pair of nice shoes that I like and chances are, it's gonna cost me at least RM150 for that nice pair of shoes. Which is why I hardly buy really nice shoes in KL and end up having to wear the not-so-nice ones coz I just cannot justify paying that huge amount for a pair of shoes (yes yes, this is my post-Nine West 50% off period :p I no longer buy Nine West shoes in KL even if they are 50% off coz firstly, I don't want to pay RM159 for those shoes and secondly, we get the outdated stock).

So, the main malls to head to in Bangkok, based on my recent experience, are:

1. Gaysorn (lots of designer stuff - out of my budget even for Bangkok!)
2. Central World Plaza (the Zen Central departmental store has some nice clothes, ok to buy if there's a sale)
3. Siam Paragon (the Paragon departmental store is awesome! There are other outlets besides this store, designer brands and such. Their supermarket and food court are very nice and trendy-looking, as well)
4. Siam Center (I bought 6 pairs of shoes for only RM150 (gasp!) at one of the shoe shops here. Lots of outlets like Levi's, VNC (I think this is Bangkok's version of Vincci), Bossini, etc.)
5. Siam Discovery Center (Adjacent to Siam Center. This one has a lot of home decorating stores like Habitat, Loft. The Loft has lots of cool knick-knacks)
6. Mah Boon Krong (MBK)

*You can stop at Chit Lom (Gaysorn) and walk all the way to MBK (National Stadium). Or the other way around, whichever you prefer :-) Please note that these are only the malls that we managed to visit. There are MORE!

MBK deserves a write-up all on its own! It's like a classier and trendier Sungei Wang but 10 times the size of Sungei Wang. The number of shops there is just staggering! Just the shops selling apparel can make you go crazy, there're so many of them! And you can find a shop selling denim clothes here, and the next shop selling formal gowns, and another selling baby clothes, it just goes on and on and on! Amazing! Just remember to bargain when you're here. I bought a dress for THB700 at one shop and found out later, in another shop, the same dress in a different color for THB550! And the THB700 one was already the bargained price from THB950! So it pays to browse around first before buying but you'll need lots of time here coz there's just soooooo many shops! If you want to head straight to MBK, just take the BTS Skytrain to National Stadium.

Suan Lum Night Bazaar is another awesome place! It's similar to Chatuchak Weekend Market, just smaller but even so, there are still tons and tons of shops to look around! We didn't need to go to Chatuchak this time around and the best thing is, it's closer to the shopping district than Chatuchak and it opens every night, if I'm not mistaken. They have an enormous food court/beer garden, with many many stalls selling different types of food. Just like Chatuchak, different sections of the bazaar sell different things so you've got one section specially for home furnishings, another for apparel, and another for souvenirs, etc. It's not as big as Chatuchak but even so, there are more than enough stalls to keep you busy for a few hours, especially if you're like me and like to stop at almost every stall, haha! To get there, just take the BTS Skytrain to Sala Daeng and follow the signs to the MRT (there are very clear signs, you can't miss it!). Take the MRT to Lumphini and the bazaar is literally at the exit of the station.

One thing I noticed right away about the malls in Bangkok and the things that they sell, is that, there's a classy, trendy feel to them. It's rather difficult to explain but when I go to the malls in KL, the things feel like, they're "cheap" (in looks, not in price). But in Bangkok, the things are reasonably priced and they have the classy feel as well. And they are well-organized and not all jumbled up here and there like in the malls in KL.

All in all, we spent 4 days almost entirely on shopping! Phew! I walked so much until my tailbone hurt! :-O And even then, I couldn't look at everything that I wanted (i.e. bags and cosmetics) coz I was just too overwhelmed by all the different things they have there!

Here's a glimpse of most of the stuff we bought :

Shoes, tops, dresses, shirts, bags, baby clothes (for my sis), undies, etc...

Wall hanging, pillow cases, salt & pepper shakers, tidbits...

...and he got a Deuter 35 + 10 L backpack (THB4200), a suit tailor-made plus 3 pants (THB4500), and many more other things!

That's it, man. I'm not going to shop in KL anymore. I just need a twice yearly trip to Bangkok to cover my shopping needs for the entire year!

The Thais are generally courteous and they seem more tolerant of each other as compared to Msians. Drivers almost always indicate when they change lanes on the roads, even on highways and they GIVE WAY to others on the roads, even in the traffic jam. On the first night, we took a tuk-tuk back to our hotel and the guy got lost so he stopped at one of the nicer (i.e. more expensive) hotels to ask for directions and the security guy (?) of that hotel, nicely dressed in a suit patiently explained to him how to get to where we wanted to go. Isn't that nice? I tell you, if in KL, the tuk-tuk guy would probably just get told to get lost! Especially if he stopped at one of the 5-star hotels.

Another thing I love about Bangkok is that the people respect and are kind to animals. Even stray ones off the street. People don't chase them away, they just let them be. It's like, they know that these animals have as much right to be on the streets as them. And I think this makes the animals less edgy and more calm (most of them seem to be sleeping most of the time) and less likely to bother the people. Almost all the animals I saw there had collars on them. Outside our hotel, there are street vendors who set up their stalls along the street to sell their wares and there is this black/white dog whose owner seemed to be the lady who has a stall there and the dog just sleeps underneath her stall. How cool is that?! Among all the dogs I'd seen when I was there, I don't think I've even heard one of them bark!

Dog lying under its owner's stall (it's got a collar on)

Many of the stalls at Suan Lum Night Bazaar had cats. And all these cats have collars on them (wow, people actually CARE to put collars on their pets!). And they just stay in the stall with their owners, they don't run out and make a nuisance of themselves. I just find it so fascinating! And such a stark contrast to M'sia. Zen Central at Central World Plaza even allows toy dogs into the store! Gosh, I'm 100% certain that there will never be a day when I'd see a pet (cat, dog, whatever) allowed into any store/building in M'sia! Unless it's an animal hospital/clinic, that is.

Kitty at Suan Lum Night Bazaar... see, it's got a collar too!

Oh, and Thai policemen and security guards are slim and trim! Unlike M'sian policemen... I shall leave it at that.

Colourful fruit made of green beans...

Cool escalator at the new Suvarnabhumi Airport...

Bangkok's got a fan for life here! Till next time, BKK!! :-D

Stoopid humans

Some people just have no compassion and no sense of civic duty.

There are stray cats around my condo grounds. Me and my family feed them. In addition to that, we get them spayed or neutered so they don't reproduce, and release them back where we caught them. With this bunch of "resident" cats, it minimizes the infestation of stray cats coz these cats have "claimed" the area and other newcomers would think twice about invading their territory. This is not just coming from me, studies on the benefits of the TNR (Trap-Neuter-Release) method of managing stray populations have proved this.

However, the people who live in this same place that I do, all they know how to do is complain complain complain about the stray cats and not do anything to help the situation. I'm losing my patience with these people who can complain and complain about the cats scratching their cars but are doing NOTHING to help the situation! So what if it's a flashy car? At the end of the day it's just a piece of overpriced metal that depreciates by the day. The only reason the cats sleep on it is coz it's warm and seeing that they have no homes, they have to find someplace warm to keep themselves alive. Why can't people comprehend simply animal survival instincts?? My dad was doing his rounds last nite and bumped into this resident who kept complaining the cats are a nuisance. My dad told him he has no conscience. Way to go, Dad! Gawd, I cannot tahan these people! They don't even know that we are spending the time and money to get these animals fixed for THEIR (the humans) benefit as well!

Seriously, these people can buy their flashy cars and spend large amounts of money on ridiculous things but they don't THINK of the simple things they can do to help the strays. No one's asking them to go out and save all the animals. Just put a little effort to think what they can do to make their community a better place. The stray problem is NOT going to disappear overnight as long as there are still unfixed strays out there and people are still allowing their pets to breed indisriminately. And getting management to capture the strays and dump them somewhere else is NOT a solution coz that's just throwing the problem somewhere else and making it some other community's problem.

These people earn tens of thousands a month vs. me, who earns less than 5K a month. Do you know how difficult it is to want to try to get these cats fixed but having to watch my pennies each time? And having to have to limit the number of cats that I can get fixed each month? I don't think what I'm doing is extraordinary or noble. I just want to make things better for both the strays and the people who live alongside with the strays. And to stop the stupid residents who only know how to complain from complaining even more! Every time I hear of someone complaining, I'd get really anxious and I dread the day when the management will show up with the wire cages and catch the cats and dump them goodness-knows-where.

I know some like-minded individuals who are doing the same as well i.e. spaying/neutering strays animals. But for every one of us, there are like, 100 other people who only know how to complain complain complain and who care more about their flashy cars and expensive hobbies. There's nothing wrong to have fancy cars and expensive hobbies. But just THINK about those less fortunate than you, and I'm not just referring to the human ones but also the four-legged ones. THINK, when you are in your warm bed and dry clothes on a rainy night, there are kittens and puppies shivering out there without shelter. THINK, when you are driving your fancy, air-conditioned car, there are hundreds of cats and dogs risking their lives and becoming roadkill when they make a wrong estimate and decide to cross right in front of your flashy car.

But more often than not, this person driving his/her flashy would be more concerned about the damage caused to his/her car rather than the badly injured/mangled animal lying on the road.

A lot of times, people make me sick. You'd think we were given the ability to think and feel in order for us to make the world a better place for us and every living being. But no, we only use our brains (WHEN we even use it) for our own good.

One of the residents here has someone in the family who is pregnant and who isn't supposed to be around cats. They have 3 young cats. Or rather, had. What did they do? They kicked the cats out of the house and the cats are now living at the guard house at my condo. Sooner or later, some residents is going to do what they do best. COMPLAIN. And now I'm trying to rush to see if I can find homes for them before the management decides to catch them and dump them. They are such young things and are very friendly. And it is so unfair for them to have to pay for their humans being such assholes who treat them like objects they can keep and dump at their pleasure. Gggggrrrrrrrr, it makes me soooooo MAD!!!

And people who claim they are so pious and religious but show no empathy at all towards animals?? Bah! Don't preach to me how good you are and how you follow all God's words if you can't even show compassion to a four-legged living creature. Didn't God say that we should be kind to ALL living creatures?

Some day, I hope all the animals will revolt against humans and take control of the world. And do to the humans, what the humans did to them.

GAH!