The Hypermarket Price Wars

In case you are not aware, there is an ad war going on in Malaysia.

I guess it was started by Carrefour when it brought out an ad in the papers comparing itself with another hypermarket (everyone knew it was Giant) and claiming that its prices were cheaper. Tesco was next - its ads claiming that it is cheaper than 2 other unnamed hypermarkets (Carrefour and Giant?).

Now Giant (under Hong Kong’s Dairy Farm) finally strikes back.

NOTE: Carrefour's Malaysian website is still under construction. Negative points for that.



BTW, this is #19 Photo entry for the 30 Days of Photos Challenge. Didin't have a chance to take any creative pictures today.

Tags: 30dayphoto carrefour hypermarket tesco

Flickr Upload Limit

Yesterday I signed in to Flickr and got the following message :
Whoa! You have used up 100% of your uploads for this month!

Anyway here is #18 Photo entry for the 30 Days of Photos Challenge. The Michelia champaca
tree is in front of my in-laws house. Took the picture at night - it was pitch dark.

Tags: 30dayphoto

World Class Facilities But..

Went to Putrajaya AGAIN and finally settled everything (I hope) and they promised that they will have everything ready by next week. I will write a long post about that in the future or maybe not.

Putrajaya is amazing with magnificent buildings, clean roads, amazing architecture and modern facilities. A truly well planned and modern city.

Of late there has been a lot of talk about how dirty and poorly maintained public toilets were giving Malaysia a bad name and what the government was doing about it. I am sure you know where I am going, by now.

The Government doesn't have to look far. I had the opportunity to visit a few toilets in the 'Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia' (Immigration Dept.) yesterday and they were filthy. There was no soap, no tissue, broken fittings everywhere and the stench was horrible. Cigarette butts everywhere.

And I simply can't understand why people don't flush after they have done the job. What's so hard pushing a small knob? And why do people leave the water hose in the "shit hole" after they have done their job? Ughhhhhhhhhhh!

Someone commented that it might have something to do with the large number of "low class" people from a neighboring country in that particular building. This may be true but what are the people who are supposed to take care of the toilets doing? The authorities must realise what impression the facilities are making on visitors from other countries who come to renew their visa, to apply for an employment pass and so on.

Another visit to the "Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara" revealed similar conditions.

It was much better in the Ministry of Home Affairs HQ. Maybe because they don't have that many visitors. No, I am not a toilet inspector. It is just that I spent almost the whole day running from one office to another and I drank a lot of liquids. And when a guy has to go, he has to go.

The thought that always come to mind is what one leader said about "World class facilities but Third class mentality".


Anyway, this is the 13th entry for the 30 Days of Photos Challenge.

Magnificent buildings.

That's a bridge.

Tags: 30dayphoto Putrajaya

Tower or tree

No. 8 entry for the 30 Days of Photos Challenge.

This telecommunication tower is supposed to blend in into the surroundings but it stands out like a sore thumb. I guess it is better than the normal ones. Not sure who the tower belongs to or whether different cellular phone companies are sharing the same tower.

I have been a loyal Celcom prepaid user for quite sometime now. Initially was a Digi user but got and sick and tired of their low coverage whenever I traveled outside the Klang valley and changed to Celcom. I heard that Digi services are much better now. I have never tried Maxis but it seems like out of every 3 people I know in Kedah, 2 of them have a Maxis line.

Was seriously considering of moving to Digi and even had two numbers (one Celcom and one Digi) at one time. However, I didn't renew the Digi number for a few months. When I tried to, I had a shock when I discovered that the sim card was no longer working. Even worse when I found out that they had given the number to someone else - and it was a nice number. I hate Digi now.

Here are some reasons why I think Celcom prepaid is the best:

- Largest network coverage in the country, covering 95% of the populated areas.
- Their 8 Pax service whereby I can register up to a maximum of eight (8) numbers either from Celcom 013, 019 or Telekom Malaysia fixed lines (calls: 15 sen/minute and 1 sen/sms).
- I also got to upgrade my old sim card to the new 3G card during their promotion period.
- Cheap international roaming services. I put in RM100 and it lasted for the whole period (around 8 days) I was in Australia even though I was calling back to Malaysia every day. I even had around Rm5 credit left when I came back.
- Not sure whether they will take away my number if I don’t renew for 3 months after the network access has expired.

I am sure they are going to come up with more offers as the fight for the Prepaid market gets more aggressive.

Tags: 30dayphoto Celcom Digi tower

Ikea and Mamak

Ikea has nothing to do with Mamak stalls (unless some mamak puts Ikea funiture in his stall). Just wanted to make the title interesting. Actually these are my #5 and #6 photos for the 30 Days of Photos Challenge, respectively.



Taken in the Ikea store in Damansara. After I took this picture, one of their staff (a girl) came up to me and told me that photography is not allowed. I didn't see any warning anywhere. Well! No more free advertising for you guys then.



My favourite mamak stall. We will normally have our breakfast of 'roti canai' or 'nasi lemak' with a cup of hot 'teh tarik' almost every morning. For those who didn't know, 'mamak' refers to the ethnic Indian Muslim comunity in Malaysia.

Tags: 30dayphoto Ikea Mamak Photography

Apartment to Let

Visited our Flora Damansara apartment. All defects have been fixed/ repaired and I am quite happy with MK Land now. They did a good job.

After a lot of consideration, both my wife and I agreed that it is best for us to rent out our apartment instead of moving in as I still am traveling back and forth between Kedah and Kuala Lumpur. It would be more convenient for her to continue staying with her parents.

Well here are the specifications of the apartment:

- 1080 square feet
- 3 bedrooms + 1 Utility room + 2 bathrooms+ kitchen and living.
- Near to Ikea/ Tesco/ the Curve and 1 Utama
- Big swimming pool

We are asking for a rent of RM1000/ month.

What is so special about our apartment?

- Partly furnished (most of the stuff is from Ikea) + a TV and washing machine.

- FREE PRIVATE CAR PARK

- Big balcony with an excellent view of lake and surrounding hills.

Check out my previous posts.
- Keys to our apartment
- View from our apartment

If you are interested to view the apartment (only on Saturdays and Sundays mornings), please send me an e-mail (ahoklah@gmail.com) with your contact number.



BTW, this is #4 Photo entry for the 30 Days of Photos Challenge.

Tags: Apartment 30dayphoto Photography

The Candle

I am now in Kuala Lumpur and have a lot of nice pictures in my camera but I suddenly realised that I had left the USB cable in Kedah- which means I won't be able to transfer the pictures to my computer here. !@#$%^&*

Used the old trusty Canon Powershot to take this picture.



Noticed the candle stand with the blue candle outside our bedroom door. Thought it might be interesting. The candle is my #3 Photo entry for the 30 Days of Photos Challenge.

Tags: 30dayphoto Photography