Deepavali Delight at Starbucks

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On Tuesday there was an undeniable energy in the air. It was Deepavali, a festival celebrated by the Indian community all around the world. Closer to home, I celebrated my public holiday with two free beverages from Starbucks. The reason why I do not go house visiting is simple, most of my Indian friends are not local KL folks and they are probably celebrating somewhere too far to go.

Back to the free beverages. There was this clever marketing strategy by Starbucks to attract customers and promote their brand. In their Deepavali Delight promo, every customer can redeem two grande beverages without needing to purchase anything. Cool huh?

In making sure that I am eligible for the free drinks, I decided to drop by the Setia Walk store a tad early. Even so there are already kids and old folks queueing. Just look at the thirsty crowd!

As the clock struck 12pm, the line began to move. As for me I had a wonderful moment gazing around taking pictures. Even though it’s Deepavali but Starbucks has launched their Christmas promo month ahead with red-white-green tumblers and mugs and the ever cute teddies.

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My Mukah trip: Part 2

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What is there in Mukah that makes this town tick? It has got to be the food here. ‘Sago’ and ‘umai’ are inseparable to Mukah like a diamond is to a ring. The ABC, known as air batu campur among the locals, is also a must-try.

Our host for the trip was Anita, a woman who had lived in Mukah for her entire life. She served us umai and sago worms upon our arrival for late supper. I tried her umai before, back in the university days, as she would fly over to Johor to see her son Eddie who is also my friend. This trip was my very first endeavor to try the sago worms.

The umai is made of raw fish. The fish is cut and sliced into pieces and are then mixed with lime, vinegar, chilies and onion to taste. As far as I know, the acidic vinegar and lime somehow caused the fish to turn from raw to cook. The gist in preparing a good umai is of course the fish. As fresh fish is easily available in Mukah, it is no doubt that the bountiful catch is used to make umai.

A trip to Mukah is never complete without trying the sago worms. I have heard about this squirming and wriggling live sago worms ever since when I was young and saw countless tourism ads introducing the sago worm. You are going to think I am kidding you when I tell you that the worm is as big as my thumb. It is the size of an adult’s thumb. Try wriggling your thumb now and imagining that the thumb in front of your very own eyes is the sago worm.

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My Mukah trip: Part 1

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Hello Mukah! Famous for its fisheries and once thriving sago industry, the town of Mukah is located about 2.5 hours from Sibu by road. It’s also famous for its Pesta Kaul which is celebrated by the local Melanaus. With only two days in town and having to travel in a group, I tried to cover the must-do things in Mukah, though not all of them.

The Chinese Temple and Sago Factory Chimney

The Tourism Board wrote this on a placard “The Sago palm thrives in the peat soils in the Rajang Delta. In the 19th century, local chieftains grew rich from the labour of farmers who extracted the starchy pith of tall palms manually. In the early 20th century the price of sago flour fell sharply. Thus the Mukah factory closed, leaving behind a 20 metre-tall brickwork chimney.”

This is the iconic chimney, standing proudly against time and weather, beside the Chinese temple on the left bank of Mukah River. The Chinese Temple, known as Tua Pek Kong also holds much history. It was built in the year 1879, some 133 years ago, where the temple committee had to look after the welfare of the Chinese community.

Wet Market and Fish Market

A few steps away from the temple is where the wet market and fish market are located. Mukah has always been known as a traditional fishing town, even until today it’s the livelihood of the Melanaus and Chinese here. Most markets are closed in the afternoon, but here in Mukah, business is as usual under the burning hot sun.

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That’s it for September

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Just as the tide pulls the ocean, time waits for no one. The month of September came and went. For as long as I remember, September has always been a special month for me. Known for its transition from summer to winter, autumn, it’s the month I was born.

Since my last post, I had been busy with my technical attachment. Working in the consultant firm is an eye opener where I learn to adapt to new culture and insight. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Dr. Nik & Associates for accepting me for six months. For the first three months, it has always been on-the-job training and working to meet project deadline. I remember Dr. Wong said to me, “Our deadline is yesterday”.

Apart from that, few of my friends got married during this auspicious month. I also took this opportunity to fly to Mukah to attend Eddie and Lydia’s wedding. Another couple is Kay Huei and She Hooi in Kuching. Then there’s another couple whom I missed their reception, Fang Yih and Teng Hung. Seeing everyone getting married really prompt me to think. I did ask myself when will I find a girl and start settle down? Seriously, I have no idea. God has His arrangement for me, this I firmly believe. Marriage, is after all a sacred and life long journey, there is no need to rush.

Thirdly, the geek in me made me spent money buying a new notebook. It is a new MacBook Air, replacing my old Dell Inspiron 640m. My first laptop was a gift from mum to me for my graduation, an honour in Bachelor of Civil Engineering. The MacBook Air is my choice because it fits most of my criteria – light, look and feel, lasting battery, familiarity with the operating system. A gift for myself for my birthday!

All that said, there are only three months left before we party for 2013. Looking forward to walk through 2012 with determination and pulling together whatever goals that got loose in the course of days wasted due to procrastination.

P/s: I’m gonna introduce Mukah to you in the next post. Hopefully I can finish editing the photo by next week. :)

Traffic Congestion

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Often it leaves me wondering what causes traffic jam. Is it due to our inefficient road system and public transport or the driver’s attitude or something else. Being a guy who came from the smaller city of Kuching who moved to a big city of Kuala Lumpur I want to share my fair share of the traffic horror I face everyday.

Traffic congestion in Kuala Lumpur

You see I stay in the southern suburb and has to travel to the northern part of Kuala Lumpur everyday. The place where I am currently staying is not connected with the LRT line (the LRT extension will be completed in 2014) so I have to drive to work everyday for now. On a typical morning rush and evening peak hour, my commute usually takes around 45 minutes. However, when the traffic decides to get nasty the commute time can take up to 2 hours. Scary isn’t it?

What then causes congestion? Let’s have a look.

Curiosity creates congestion

Curiosity does not only kill the cat but it creates massive jam. Just imagine each driver slows down for 5 seconds to take a glimpse of whatever accident that has just occurred on the road. The first car took 5 seconds to peek, the second car who is behind take 5 seconds to post a tweet or Facebook update as he passes by the accident scene, the third car slows down so his girlfriend can jot down the car plate number and the fourth car take out his smartphone to take a shot of the accident scene and the list goes on.

Assuming the traffic backed up to 1km from the accident scene and assuming an average car length is 5m including the clear distance, the 200th car (1000m divide by 5m) would need to trap in the congestion for 16.7 minutes (5 seconds multiply by 200 cars). If its a 2km crawl, you get trapped in the jam for around half an hour. That explains everything! Cumulative explosion!

The bad weather

Secondly Malaysia is blessed with tropical weather. More often than not Kuala Lumpur and its surrounding experience convectional rain especially in the evening. Whenever it rains during the rush hour, every driver should expect congestion. Most drivers would drive at a slower speed as a safety precaution due to the limited visibility caused by splashing rain on the windscreen. And motorcyclists hogging one land under the flyovers to seek cover. They are not to be blamed though as not enough facilities are provided for them.

Misuse of emergency lane and side parking

For some selfish reasons, some drivers find no shame or guilt in misusing the side lane which is for emergency purposes. A three lane road becomes four lane. Being Kuala Lumpur, there are stretches of the road where wider lanes converge to narrower lanes and these create unnecessary bottle neck as vehicles have to weave in.

Another yet infamous selfish act is to park at the roadside even though clear “No Parking” signage is displayed. People side park for their own convenience. Some do it to pick up their children from school while some needed to run their errands but couldn’t find a proper parking space or they are just to lazy to walk so they side park. All these small selfish acts of ours are causing nuisance to other motorists at large!

Exercise patience

What can we do then, in our small ways, to help ease traffic congestion? We are a civilised nation. For one, we need to be less of a curious cat, be more understanding when the weather gets bad and don’t be selfish for our own sake.

Despite the congestion, most motorists exercise patience. This is a good start as nobody would want to stuck in the jam and bombarded with loud honks.

A Sovereign Hill Ballarat Experience

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This post has stayed in the draft column for so many months, today I am going to bring it to light. It’s the continuity of my summer Australia vacation last year….

After spending a day in the orchard plucking fruits, Aunt Jessie arranged for us a day trip to Sovereign Hill. She told us we could immerse ourselves in the rich history of the goldrush days at Ballarat. Furthermore it was summer, the open concept museum was  really alive with performance and visitors alike.

Early in the morning, Aunt Jessie packed sandwiches and drinks for us, we even brought the fruits we bought from the orchard the  previous day. Our very lovely cousin Phedra offered to drive us to Ballarat. Cruising through meadows the journey from Melbourne to Ballarat via the Melton Highway took about 1 hour 30 minutes.

The first time I set foot to this ‘barren desert’ it almost seems like I was in the Hollywood movie set. Wooden houses and shops, old mills, salons, bakery, goldsmith, blacksmith, and whatever trades you name it needed to sustain the economy during the goldrush era.

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Come September

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Come September, it’s my birthday. I’m waiting for a Nike+ Fuelband or a fixie bike as a birthday gift or a birthday treat at Ishin Japanese restaurant.

Come September, I will be flying to Mukah in Sarawak for the first time. Just can’t wait to savour the umai ikan and the live ulat sagu in the Melanau town.

Come September, I will become a godfather.

Come September, I will be training hard for my two 10K runs in Putrajaya and Kuching in October. What’s the target? I am going to set for a 5 min/km pace.

Come September, I want to shed that 2 kilos hence bringing down my weight to 69kg. Less weight means I can run faster right?

Come September, I will be completing the third month of my technical training with a local consultant.

Just squeezing out some time to post a short update on life.