Overpriced rentals in Coventry

Last Saturday, I went to pick up my wife from her friend's house in Nottingham. They live in a 4 bedroom terrace house. It even has a basement. I was so shocked when I learnt that they paid the same monthly rental like us - only£400/ pcm. It's a great location - just opposite a play ground and walking distance from a school and shops.

For the same amount, our friends Mozard and Nana's were able to rent a much bigger house in Birmingham.

Our house is a 3 bedroom house, but now after we have converted one of the small rooms into a walk-in closet and another into a study/ guest room, so in the end, we technically only have one bedroom we use. Yes! The kids sleep with us. I guess the only plus point of our house is the huge backyard at the back - the biggest among all our friends.

Our backyard last Winter.

Of course house rentals depends on the furnishings, presence of garden, parking facilities and of course the location. The thing is that here in Coventry, our house rent is considered cheap. The average for a 3 bedroom fully furnished house is £500 upwards depending on location. All our colleagues tell us that we got ours cheap. However, I should point out that most of them live either in Leamington Spa where rental for a single room is around £300.

I simply can't understand why house rentals are so high here in Coventry. Logically, it should be lower than in Birmingham, which is the 2nd largest city in the UK. Nottingham, even though Coventry has a slightly higher population, is far more prosperous. Probably the population has something to do with it. Going back to basic economics principle of demand and supply and their relation to price.

Of course there are exceptions and some guys did get lucky, like one of our friends who was able to get a 3 bedroom, newly renovated fully furnished house in Foleshill for only £380/ pcm.

Anyone here from Coventry who thinks that house rentals are overpriced?

Happy New Year of the Rat

Gong Xi Fa Chai

Updated : 10, Feb, 2008

Wishing everyone a very happy Chinese New Year. It began on Thursday, February 7, 2008.

According to the Chinese Zodiac, this year is the 'Year of the Rat'.

Unlike the West where this rodent is seen as a dirty pest, in the East it is a respected animal and symbolic of wit and wealth.

Home alone with the kids

My wife is in Nottingham attending a course. I drove her to the bed and breakfast where she is staying, yesterday evening. It took me around an hour to reach there from our house in Coventry. So it was me and the two kids. My daughter was a bit upset but the boy didn't seem to notice his mum's absence. She's coming back tomorrow evening. They are not going to their kindergarten tomorrow and I will have the whole day with them.

It kind of feels odd without her in the house though we have had experience working at different places miles apart in the past. We miss you.

I am an Uncle

Say a big Hi! to my first niece Jade Océané. Congrats to Fred and my little sis Jules. Really happy for you guys. She's a cutie.








The mum


Proud dad

Katy has always something to write about

It's been quite sometime since I last visited 'I’m Blogging That' blog. It was on my old blogs "to review" list but ..... (excuses, excuses). Anyway, blogger Katy Castro is a work at home Mom who currently resides in Las Vegas. She blogs on a number of topics but mostly related to the blogosphere and on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), something that I am keen on as well.

One of her latest posts gives tips on ways to "make your free theme unique". It's a post that all new bloggers should read. I totally agree with her. Come to think of it, I know of several long time bloggers who are still using the generic Blogger templates. Talking about themes, I really like the new blog design. It's a bit "girly " with the pink colours but why not.

One new rumour I just learnt from her blog is that Google might start offering sponsored reviews in the near future. That's great news and I am really looking forward to signing up if it does go ahead.

There are loads of interesting posts on her blog. I am really looking forward to her series on ways to improving your page rank. As the tag line of Katy's blog goes "Because there is always something to write about."

Vote for Katy on the 2008 Blogger Choice Awards.

Down memory lane in Bangsar

I was going through my old website on Geocities (my first), which has not been updated in a very long time. Reading the stuff I wrote several years ago brought back a lot of pleasant memories. One of the pages was on Bangsar, a suburb on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, which was then our favourite place to hang out. Here is what I wrote with some minor editing (last updated in 2002):

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Think of Bangsar and images of food, coffee and beautiful people immediately comes into my head. if you are in Malaysia and looking for a bite, a drink, a book, carpets, furniture or just want to hang out and watch the World go by... just go to Bangsar. This is where people come to see and be seen.


Clockwise from top left: 1. Jalan Telawi Tiga, Bangsar at night; 2. In the morning; 3. a slimmer me (MBA days), 4. at Bangsar Bowl with my wife-to-be and Rama.

Caffiene addicts are in luck here - There are several cafes you can choose from - Starbucks, the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.... You will find these cafes packed even on week days and you know the Asian Crisis is over now (or is it?) - People are flocking back to Bangsar. Well since I first started this page, I have lost track of the places that have closed down and new ones coming up to take their places.

If you are thirsty for a different kind of drink - the alcoholic kind, don't worry, Bangsar has probably the highest concentration of pubs and bistros in the whole of Malaysia. I suggest you try 'Grappa' for a good selection of wines and 'the Roof' for a place with a view. It has got a new "Blue" look now. According to Bangsar regulars, the "IN" or "COOL" places to hang out are 'Bar Flam' and 'Finnegan's'. The most amazing thing is that they are all on one street - Jalan Telawi 3

If you are hungry, you have a wide variety to choose from - ranging from Italian and French to Thai and Indian cuisine and of course modern "fast food."

For those who love sea food, just head for the 'Sea Food Village'. One good point about this place is that it has its own parking for its patrons.

'Jolly Green' is the big food court with a green roof and a car park below. If you happen to be short of cash and can't afford to go to on of the expensive restaurants, go to the mamak stalls inside Jolly Green or ones outside which open up in the afternoon, next to the Sea food Village.

You cannot beat Devi's Corner in terms of price. Try the Butter Nan> with Tandoori Chicken there. They have several types of Tosai too. You can also try their Nasi Lemak there and wash it down with Teh Tarik - which literally means 'pulled tea' or with a glass of Teh O Ais Limau - Ice lemon tea. They recently renovated the whole place and it looks and feels much better now.

Just along the road is the newly opened 'Lotus'. Clean and bright but slightly more expensive than the former. This place is as busy as Devi's.

Another Indian Vegetarian restaurant is 'Madras Woodlands' - the same row as McDonalds. You may miss it as it is not on the ground floor. There is a wide choice of North and South Indian dishes. The food is reasonably priced. I love the VIP meal and the chapati set.

I just don't know why Bangsar has a lot of places with the names of colors - 'Jolly Green', 'the Grey', 'the White Room' and the 'Red Chamber' and so on. I visited the Red Chamber some time back and guess what...I really liked the place, they have created a really cozy ambiance. With sofas, curtains, real cool music - ethnic, arabian, sufi and so on - and as the name suggests, a red colour theme. The best thing I liked was that none of the dishes were above RM20 and the food was really good. Try the Asam Laksa and you will agree with me. I really love the "Little Red Rubies" which is a drink made from coconut water plus milk and few other ingredients. Bad news for Vegetarians, not much for you there.

Just upstairs is 'the Harem' run by the same management. With an Arabian theme you take off your shoes, just lie down and get comfy. However, do not try eating and drinking lying down - you may drip Asam Laksa all over your shirt. The "Shisha" (a type of scented, non-tobacco hookah) is a big hit there. Yes, people actually pay to inhale scented smoke. I noticed something new, there were more girls (dressed to kill) as compared to guys. Anybody got any answers? I wonder if there is some truth to the rumour that there are more girls than guys in the Klang Valley.

If you are into books, there are a few places where you can grab something to read. There's 'MPH' for those with a lot of money, just opposite Madras Woodlands. It has the widest choice, plus mags, stationeries as well as music CDs and cassettes. Then there is 'Silverfish books', next to Devi's. You have to climb up the narrow stairs. It has got a small but good collection of books including used ones.

However, the best bargain can be had at 'City Book Rentals' on the other side of Bangsar. More precisely at 40 Persiaran Ara Kiri, Lucky Garden. That's behind 'TMC super market'. Their rules are simple, you pay an amount for renting books (used). You can then give it back after reading it and then you get back most of the money back. Some really good books there. I got 'Forward the Foundation' by Issac Asimov today for RM20.

Don't be surprised if you suddenly happen to see a lot of people on Sunday. It is because the Pasar Malam or night market is open. Numerous stalls sell every imaginable thing from fake watches to vegetables and clothes. However, its getting tougher to get pirated CDs and VCDs now after the authorities clamed down on the illegal trade.

Just down the road is the 'Bangsar Shopping Complex' or BSC (now Bangsar Shopping Centre). Just a few months back, it was a dead place with several closed shop lots. Anyway most of the goods sold there were overpriced. Will definitely miss the GSC cineplex and the Bangsar Bowl - a bowling alley. Not very crowded and reasonably priced. However, after the renovation it is starting to pull in the crowd. The customers are mostly expats who live nearby. I personally feel that the place is highly pretentious and materialistic but I guess that's how the World is now-a-days.

In Bangsar, you have people spending hundreds of dollars on a single dinner and driving around in Ferraris and at the same time come across beggars as well. You can see the "CD people" packing their wares before the enforcement agencies raid the place. You can sometimes see young kids dead drunk, puffing and partying away like there's no tomorrow. You can see "Mat sallehs" - Westerners with SPGs (Sarong Party Girls) wrapped around their arms.

Yeah! You are right. Who am I to judge?

Bangsar has something for everyone and I am a part of the crowd as well.

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Correction! I was part of the crowd. Wonder how many of those places I named here are still in business?

Bloggers are Opinion leaders

Have you ever wondered who the most influential people in the World are? Are they politicians or are they the celebrities - actors and actresses, singers? Paris Hilton? I certainly hope not because apart from a few, majority are definitely not good role models.

I asked a few of my friends and quite a few mentioned their parents. Some mentioned peer groups and in particular- the opinion leaders. So who are these opinion leaders?

Searching for a suitable definition, I cam across several. Wikipedia defines an opinion leader as "the agent who is an active media user and who interprets the meaning of media messages or content for lower-end media users. Typically the opinion leader is held in high esteem by those that accept their opinions".

However, I prefer the definition given by Ronald S. Burt in his paper "The Social Capital of Opinion Leaders" in The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 566, No. 1, 37-54 (1999). According to him,

"Opinion leaders are more precisely opinion brokers who carry information across the social boundaries between groups. They are not people at the top of things so much as people at the edge of things, not leaders within groups so much as brokers between groups."

By this definition, I guess a lot of Bloggers are indeed opinion leaders. We share and carry information among various groups around the World. We bloggers can proudly say that we are indeed the most influential people in the World. Organisations, Governments and companies that ignore that fact do so at their own risk.