Hv not been to Kukup Laut? Get some flavour of it here..

Kukup Laut may sounds new to many Malaysian, especially those stay in central or northern peninsular Malaysia, just like myself. But, it is definitely not new to many Singaporeans. It is quite a popular place for Singaporeans to stay for a weekend there, doing nothing much, but for gathering, relaxing and eating.

It was being organized and sponsored by our Product Marketing Department heads (2 Deputy Directors) for a 2D1N trip to Kukup Luat on 9 & 10 Sept.

We departed from our office on Sat morning, about 9am and reached Kukup for a seafood lunch.

Kukup is a fishing village.

After the lunch, we checked in to the “holiday resort”.
However, the place seemed to me more a house than a holiday resort.

This is the ‘resort’ that we have rented, it has 5 bed rooms with air cond and 3 bath rooms, with water heater. Quite comfortable and spacious. As you can see, it is floating on the water. As it is built with concrete, I guess, PL is OK with it, as you won’t feel that it’s actually floating.

This is the path we took to walk from main road to our ‘resort’. A narrow walk way, with houses both sides. All are floating on the water during high tide.

The back yard, quite spacious, where we can have a few mahjong tables & do BBQ at nite.

During low tide, we can see the trees, the ‘tiang’ of the kelong, and the ships are ‘parked’ on the sea bed. It is quite interesting to watch the water to flow in so quickly during high tide.

As mentioned, nothing much we could do in Kukup besises indoor activities. So, thanks to 2 of the colleagues, that had arranged some games for everybody. The games were very ‘childish’, but everybody enjoyed it very much. It was really a good one to blend everybody together.

The resort was also equipped with Karaoke and DVD player. But the majority were more interested in playing mahjong and 荷兰牌. I hope my colleagues would not mind me putting up their photos here (I purposely make the photo smaller in size, so that you can't really see their face, can you?)...Or, if I get any ‘objection’ from them, then only I take it out loh! Anyway, none of them know about this Blog, guess, they will never discover…heeheeee


There is another exciting event, that is playing firecracker and fireworks! There was a stall selling all stuff of 非卖品。My colleagues from Singapore are all stunned with these firecrackers not to mention the fireworks sold there. Finally, they all spent a few hundreds buying all kinds of firecrackers and all were so enjoyed playing with it.

The next day, we went for 游船河。We were brought to see some of the fishing kelong.


After it, we went for another seafood lunch and then left Kukup for Singapore.

It was quite a fun & relaxing week end spent with colleagues that were normally fighting and struggling together during working hours. It not only helped us to foster better relationship, and understand each other better. Try it out with your colleagues too!

Something else...

Well, they could hv done too much BBQ and caused fire! See the photos below. We were told that 5 kelongs were burnt down. The fire was too fierce to be put off and the villages were being evacuated from the kelong near to the fire scene.

Loosing a hand phone?!

I went to JB with my colleagues yesterday. For what? Just like most of the Singaporeans, to shop (to buy DVD/VCD as primary objective) and to makan.

It was quite jam at the custom and we took about 2 hours to reach JB from Singapore.
It was raining quite heavily by the time we reached. We went to our friend’s house first, who is our ex-colleague and still working in Singapore but travel to-and-fro between Sg & JB to work every day. When the rain subsided, we went to Sentosa to eat Bak Kut Teh. It was really nice to have hot Bak Kut Teh during rainy day, yummy! The Bak Kut Teh was really not bad, no wonder my colleagues said it’s a must for them to eat there every time they come to JB.

After that, the friend suggested us to go to the new shopping mall in Johor, at Tebrau. I couldn’t remember the name of the mall, but we were told it has the biggest Jusco in Malaysia. Ya, it was quite huge! And, it has some similar style as KLCC, with all the branded outlets like Esprit, Topman, MNG, etc.

It was too bad that one of our colleagues had to rush back to Singapore not long after we reached there, as his mother was hospitalized. He left alone by taxi back to Singapore. I was on the phone with him for a while before I walked into a shop where my other lady colleague was.

She was trying a pair of shoes and I was just looking around. Suddenly, I realized that my h/p was not with me, I searched through my bag, and couldn’t find it. I became panic, and my colleague started calling my number. It rang…but no one picked it up! I was so miserable and I knew that I had lost my h/p. However, I still made an effort to look around briefly and walked back to the way that I took before coming in to the shop where I realized I lost my h/p, hoping that I could find it along the way…but, didn’t find it.
I tried to calm down and figure out that I couldn’t have left it any other place besides that shop, as I could remember quite clearly that I finished the call with the colleague that left before stepping in to the shop. So, I asked the Sales Assistances, if they happened to see it. All of them, gave the same remarks, i.e. there’s no way to get your phone back if you have drop it, as it would be taken in no time!

With disappointment, I still looked around in the shop, I bended down to look under the counter and the stool where I ever sat down, and looked at each customer’s face, at the same time, my colleague continued calling my number. Out of my expectation, the security guide of the shop handed me the phone when I was approaching his direction. He told me that he found it on the floor…I was so happy that I could find it, it was almost miracle! I thanked him with full of relief and then left the shop.

I felt so lucky that I could recover my phone, but, seriously, I had doubt in the security guild’s integrity. I believed he had intention to keep the phone if I didn’t continue looking for it in the shop, and if the phone didn’t keep ringing….but in fact, the ringing tone was too soft for us to hear it from a distance. He could be observing me looking for the phone from the beginning, and hoped that I would give up. At the moment I walked towards him, he was afraid that I would hear the ringing (I think he has no time to turn off the phone yet) and initiated to hand the phone to me, pretending that he found it on the floor.

Anyway, anyhow, I couldn’t be sure of it, and may be, I shouldn’t think that way! Even if I was sure, I won’t say anything, as I was happy enough that I could find it and considered myself very lucky!

Side story...

Fortunately, I didn’t have porno photo/ video stored in my phone, else, I will be worried to dead! You know la, nowadays, youngsters in Singapore like to do that. Not sure if it was reported in Malaysia, a few mths ago, a student recorded her sexual activity with her boyfriend, and when she lost her phone, the video clip was being circulated in the whole Singapore island. And a few days ago, another case about a college female student, having sex with 3 others guys (4P as written in the newspaper) in a toilet for disabled, and the whole process was being recorded by another person using hand phone, believed to be their own friend. And the phone somehow was lost and again, the video clip was being sent and circulated! But don’t ask from me! I didn’t get the clip of course! It was described quite clearly in one of the Chinese newspapers that, the scene was quite daring! Sign…what has gone wrong with the young generation? A girl having sex with a few guys at one time, at a public place is already a crazy thing to do, and yet, they still have the chick to record it! There are people now discussing whether is it a legal offence to have done this kind of thing if being caught, and whether the authority can use this kind of video clip as an evidence to charge the offender. What do you think?

Bangkok…Re-discovery!

Bangkok is always known as food & shopping paradise. For the past few years, I hv been going to Bangkok quite regularly. Shopping is always in the MUST DO LIST every trip that I go (regardless it is biz or personal trip), but, it was never the same when I shopped with 2 other shopping queens the last trip when I went in Bangkok.

I was in Bangkok to attend a Sales Conference (30 Aug – 1 Sep), with 2 men and 1 lady colleagues. We decided to extend stay over the weekend after the conference. My sis & her family (hubby and a 11 mths old baby) flew in to join us after work on Friday.

We went to the new shopping mall in Bangkok, Siam Paragon on Friday evening after the conference. But, our actual shopping marathon started on Saturday morning.
After breakfast on Sat, we started our ‘appetizer’ with the week end market, Chatujak.
For those who has never been to this place, make it a MUST the next time you visit Bangkok. You can basically get anything you want under the sky, provided that you can find it in this mass market.

It was getting hot, in fact very hot during noon time, thus, we left the place for lunch at about 1pm. After lunch, we continued shopping at Patrunam, a mall called “The Platinum Fashion Mall”. Patruman is known as a wholesale market. Most of the shops, stalls, and even shopping malls in Patrunam area are meant for wholesale. But, their definition for ‘wholesale’ is, as long as you buy 3 pcs (some require 6 pcs) of anything from their shop, it is considered as wholesale. The mall that we went, is quite a new one, and don’t be surprised by their window display/ presentation even it is a wholesale market. Basically, it has no difference from any other good shopping mall. And the wholesale price is about 60% of the retail price. E.g. you can buy 1pc a@ THB250 or 3pcs @ THB150/ea.

And, Patrunam is our ‘main course’. My sis and the lady colleague became so crazy with the price and the fashion they saw there (mostly clothing). They basically wanted to buy everything they see…..I was not that excited as it was not my first time there.

As the shops started to close at 6pm, we left the place, and proceed to MBK, another shopping heaven. Well, first thing to look for, of course were the lingerie. And, second thing, shoes! Well, we had quite a heavy ‘dessert’ in MBK. We shopped till they closed shop at about 9pm, how we hope that it operates 24 hours, not enough time for us!

So, the next thing was to fill our stomach, but, food became secondary for ladies when come to shopping. We went to Suan Lom Night Bazaar to have our dinner, and then, continued shopping there until almost 12 am! We didn’t buy much thing from Suan Lom, thus, I considered that as just a light ‘fruit plater’.
Can you imagine, our shopping marathon continued for more than 12 hours on that single day itself? My colleague confessed that she would never walk that much if it was not for shopping, and she believed that she could had walked the distance more than she would ever walked for half a year in Singapore!

The next day, Sunday, we made it a slow day, as we had set our target at the Patrunam, we realized that afterall, we could find most of the thing there at a very reasonable price. Thus, after taking our breakfast, we headed directly to the place and shopped till we left for airport!

Just to share some of our 战利品...
In summary, 3 of us bought at least 50 pcs of clothing (t-shirts, blouse, shorts, jeans, skirt…), most of them were below THB300 and 20 pairs of shoes at THB199/ea, THB250/ea and some TBH350/ea….! Not including others things like hair accessories and souvenior...Can you guys imagine that how much we had contributed to Thailand economy !?

This scene made me sick!

I was walking to a nearby supermarket last night to buy some breads. As we are now moving into early autumn, the weather is quite cold. Last night was worse as it was raining pretty badly and was pretty cold at 19-21 degree.

Somewhere along the way, I saw this family of 5 was trying to catch a cab (they looked like someone from the middle east). Here in SH, rainny day is pretty difficult to catch a cab. I saw the mother was holding a baby, probably about 4-5 months old, running back and forth the street to catch the taxi, with the husband looking after another two older kids (probably 8-10 years old), he basically standing there doing nothing but watching the mother holding the baby running up and down....

The baby was soaking under the heavy rain in the mother's arm donno sleeping or fainted already. So I told myself, hey, are they without an umbrella? So I rushed up to the mother and offered my umbrella to her... Suddenly, I realized that the mother was holding an umbrella too herself, un-opened!

I was like thinking.... what the heck? Are you nuts? Why don't you use the freeking umbrella to cover your baby? Can't you tell that your baby is soaking under the bloody cold weather and rain? Is the baby breathing to begin with?

Worst still, they were in front of the supermarket, which means shelter was just right there for their kids. Was it really necessary to expose the baby under the chilling rain?

The parents smiled at me and told me that they don't need my umbrella... well, of course, they themselves have an umbrella too but they just didn't use it....

I shoke my head in disbelieve and left. Well, probably this is the way they train their kids.... give them hell when they are young... 天生天养

Sorry lar.... Since I am the father myself... I can't tolerate seeing baby suffering...

62 Pandora's Boxes!

Guess what are these boxes?


My stuff from my apartment in KL. I went back to KL in the end July to pack up my stuff to Shanghai. Since there are quite a lot to pack up, I engaged a professional relocation expert, Asian Tiger, to relocate for us.

They were amazing. I have never seen anyone move house in such a professional manner.

What I need to do was point my index finger to the things I need to relocate, and they will just packed it up for us. We do not really need to do anything.

Even my daughter's 37 Barbie Dolls - They wrapped it up one by one as though they are 100k gold bar.

As you can see from the pics above, they packed up our goods in 62 boxes. That exclude all the furnitures and electronic goods (TVs, beds, air-cord, fridge, microwave etc etc) as I wanted to rent out my apartment as a fully furnished apartment.

Finally after 28 days of waiting, our shipments arrived! I finally got my trademill back and I can now jog in the morning before I go to work!
My baby got her horse too so that she can practise horse riding before going to school every morning!
Of the 62 boxes, we left 12 back home and shipped 50 to Shanghai.

Of the 50 boxes, my daughter's toys alone were already 12 boxes! Can you imaging. Thus, once unload all the stuff, the whole living room was filled with her toys.

And by the way, the professional movers do unpack and arrange all the stuff for you. Amazing that their service was THAT impressive! They don't come cheap too - total cost - about RM15k.

My wife eventually tidy up the whole place and now it looks like this. The biggest disappointment is that I can't move my 1,000+ DVD titles to Shanghai. Well....... pirated stuff..... better not lar.... I gave it all to my sister.

As for my apartment in Bandar Sri Permaisuri?

We moved out on Wednesday, and on Thursday, we rented out our apartment for RM1,600/month, with contract runs for a year. Not bad huh. Getting a good property agent is very important!

The secrets of settling your credit card(s) bill(s)

I feel really good today. I finally settled one of the 3 credit cards I have been owing for more than 3 years.

One wise guy told me that credit card is a gift from hell. That...... is so true.

The same wise guy also said that if you have a scissor at hand, cut it off now.... (of course not, you need the card to pay your bill right? You need to slot that card into the machine to pay bill right [If not, go online banking] Well, isn't bank smart? Let you keep the card as long as you want?) Credit cards are addictive!

Nowadays in KL, you don't need to apply for a credit card anymore. The bank send it to you directly into your mail box which you never applied for one.

How many of you have C***bank mailed it to you directly which you never applied for? Well, I have! A Gold Card some more and I never applied for one!

Then out of a sudden.... the credit limit of the Visa Card mysteriously increased by 50%, and upgraded you to A GOLD CARD MEMBER, and you never asked for the increment and upgrade to begin with!

Stupid of me, I went and activated all of it, on top of the two bloody credit cards I already have in my wallet!

Not too sure about you, somehow, what I gathered, I realised that there are quite a number of people have the same story like I do (except my wife) - spending on future money and then pay up only the minimum 5%. In the end, they have a huge debts to settle off.

During the last two years, since I was on my own business with no stable income, I used up almost all of the credits that are available. Thus, accumulating quite a huge sum of debts - RM30,000 in total just on credit cards alone.

Then, I attended a seminar about financial planning. The wise guy told me that there IS a way to clear off your debts.

This is the idiot's guide to settle off your credit card debts - is very simple, but it works. At least it works for me.

If you have few credit cards' debts to pay off, focus on one card to pay off first.

When you are targeting THAT credit card to pay off, never use that card anymore under any circumstances. Pay only the minimum for the other cards, but pay extra for the targeted credit card - just one card! When you finish off with one card, it gives you the motivation (and don't you feel good!) to target the next card!

Simple word of wisdom, but damn useful for me. Now, I have finished off almost 30% of the remaining two cards....

Is a relief of not having to bear so much debts....