Planned and unplanned : Trip to the City

Last week, I had a two in one trip to KL, it was planned a week before that I need to attend the Prime Minister Hibiscus Award award receiving ceremony for my company at the Crown Plaza Hotel. Btw, I was just one of the company representative, not the one who went on stage to receive the award. But I was the one who had the opportunity to take good photos of the event, with the Deputy Prime Minister as the guest of honour. So coincidently, it was a school holiday (though my kids are both still in pre-school). My wife decided to join me for the two in one trip , work and vacation. I had initially planned my travel, with every single details , where to go, where to stay, where to eat and even what to buy. It was an almost perfect planning. I put everything on a white board in my SOHO (small office home office) and then translated them onto Excell File, laminated them on a piece of paper. Calibrated with my wife on the itinerary, she was quite ok with the plan, with some minor changes of course.

Day 1 :

1. We planned to depart early in the morning , 6.30am , but ended up departed at 9.30 am. Had our breakfast at the nearby stall - so we were bit off track the schedule, but still within the recovery time.

2. Stopped by at Bukit Merah R&R - just to buy some tidbits, took some shots but over exposed I may say. Still learning my new gadget. Nikon D90 18-200.

3. Stopped again at Sg Perak R&R. Took some shots, better this time. Met an old man who is also DSLR lover. He carried with him Nikon D60. I took the shot of the newly constructed tower. He was eager to see the shot in my DSLR view screen. I gave him my call card. Met him again later at Tapah R&R.

4. Moved on to the next Pitt Stop, my boss called me up when I was driving. He was surprised to know that I already left Kulim. Settled couple of things with him through the phone, and I continued my journey to Tapah R&R. Upon reaching Tapah, had a good lunch there. My wife took the Patin Masak Tempoyak , I would say, "superb" taste. I had that dish before but not as superb as the one at the Tapah R&R. Thumbs up Ikan Patin !! (though I dont really like Durian, but the taste of Durian has been very mild, just nice for a starving man on the move)

5. We reached KL in the afternoon, around 1.30pm. I didnt plan for any hotel for the night. The initial plan was to overnight at one of the budget hotel in Kepong. It should be convenient to us as it is located just 15 mins away from KL, and there are few shopping centres nearby. We had lodged there early of this year. Not bad for a low price hotel. But my wife prefer to stay in KL. So she called up Bintang Warisan Hotel, recommended earlier by my friend , and there was a room vacant for that night. We straight away headed to Bukit Bintang, heavy traffic , we got stucked and I missed out the junction at Jalan IMBI, need to make another round turn. Waste of time. Garmin GPS confused me by a small overlapping junction. But it is still a good gadget for a person like me who seldom travel to KL. We reached Bintang Warisan Hotel shortly, but looking at the surrounding , I felt that it was not a good idea to park my car at that area. Very very unsafe as their basement parking was under construction. I cancelled the plan of staying there. Plan B, called up Cititel Midvalley, and I got a room with twin bed. We checked in as soon as i secured the booking. Room was considerably nice biut small. View was nice. The ammenities were greats. Very convenient for family spree. After 2 hours of recuperating in the hotel room, we straight away went for a stroll down the Mall. Had our dinner at The Chicken Rice Shop . The original schedule was to go to Pertama Complex for my DSLR stuffs, but it had to be changed as it was not a good time to drive between 5pm to 7.30pm , we would definitely stucked in the traffic jam.

6. We spent the night at the midvalley area. Bought few stuffs for kids at the Toys R Us. Spent the night taking shots inside the room with both my Nikon D60 and D90. Output = craps !!!

Day 2 :

1. Had a good breakfast at Cititel. Then moved to Jalan Masjid India. My wife and kids had a strolled around that area. I escaped myself to Pertama Complex and SOGO. Bought a neck tie at the Reject Shop and only to find bunch of them on sales just across the street at SOGO. Bought a Nikon shutter remote at the Foto Selangor outlet. Grabbed 2 Shirts and a Smalto Belt for the award dinner ceremony.


2. Took my kids to KLCC though they look pretty sleepy and tired. Visited the Petronas Science Centre. Value for money I would say, but I only have 2 hours to spend there. We missed the Go Kart simulator and the Helicopter Simulator. My kids really enjoyed the visit there. Compared to Aquaria, I would still prefer the Petronas Science Centre. It has 2 sections, the first one is called Muzika where you can enjoy the sounds technology and also live show about musical stuffs. The second is the Petronas Science Arcade. First stage was the moving gondola taking us to visit the gigantic screens with superb sound system. Next was the practical science stuffs area. You need to spend at least an hour and a half inside there. Outside the ticket counter is the souvenir shops selling educational and science toys & games. Took me 20 minutes to find where I parked my car. My sense of direction was off tune. We reached Cititel nearly 4.30pm.

3. Departed from Cititel at 5.30pm to Crown Plaza Mutiara. The GPS again played its trick on me. I had made tripple round , around the Cititel. Only to reach 15 mins before 7pm.

4. I didnt bring my laptop due to security reason ( somebody might break into my car if they detect laptop inside with intel inside, it is always a burden to carry your company laptop in public, so I left it at home). Without reading e-mail, I was the only one wearing lounge suit where the other 5 guys were wearing Batik. Gulps..!! a little off tune. But who cares , that was the 5th time I wore the suit. And I dont have a good looking batik to wear as well.

5. The dinner went well , took couple of good photos and bad photos. I had overlooked on the exposure compensation, setted as negative 0.3. So some photos appeared to be dark. The shutter remote I bought this morning went perfectly well. Impressed some of the people. I was the only one bringing my Benroe tripod on stage. Overcame other photographers who only parked their tripod below the stage.

6. Reached Cititel at 11.30pm . As per plan. Had a good night sleep.

Day 3 :

1. Breakfast at Cititel again. This time I really walloped the Nasi Lemak. And some other stuffs. We had a last kopek walk around Midvalley. I visited two Guitar Shops. Too exclusive for a grunge alley player like me. We checked out sharp at 12pm.

2. We straight away moved to our pre-planned destination, Plaza GM. It didnt appear in my Nokia GPS but it did appear in the Garmin Malaysia Map. So we went there to scout for the area. We were told by friends about that place, the wholesale for small traders. The place is closed to Lorong Haji Taib. I know what is Lorong Haji Taib signature for. I stayed in my car with my two kids and my wive went alone to scout for the area. I was not comfortable to leave my car around that area. There are too many drug addicts loitering around.

3 . Nearly 3pm, we moved to our next accomodation, which was the Air Asia Tune Hotel . Had our lunch at the foodcourt below. Food was not that great, but to find another place would be time consuming. That was my first visit to Tune Hotel. Not bad for the price it offers. It meets my expectation. I planned to take a nap for 30 mins but turned out to be 4 hours. But it was a good sleep. As usual, my wife and kids already knew the expectation on my sleeping mode and style.

4. We went to SOGO as I accidently noticed that it was just nearby our Hotel. My wife bought a sales handbag and a wallet. We moved on after 30 mins.

5. Time for dinner, the initial plan was to go to Damansara Uptown for Satay Kajang, but I have deviated the plan again. Also cancelled the plan to Ikea as I dont feel like decorating my home. So I decided to take them to Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa. I typed in the GPS, more than 10 places of Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa. Then I select the food menu, there it was, only one selection of Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa Kg Baru. So we went.

6. Park my car at the roadside, nearby the stall. I could see the KLCC nicely placed at the background of the stall. Quickly grabbed my DSLR and started shooting. Went inside the area, saw a Baskers singing M. Nasir and Ebiet G Ade song - Berita Buat Kawan. I loved the environment, having accoustic sound while taking my dinner. Again, took my DSLR and started shooting the Nasi Lemak and Otak-otak. I somehow do not feel comfortable during the time. I felt like going back to my car to check for something. I quicly finished the dinner, paid at the counter and went back to my car. The first thing to check was the car window. It looked perfectly good , so my car was safe. It was just my precautious thought. I opened up the car boot and took the camera tripod. Started shooting the KLCC night silhoutte. I intended to go neared after this. My kids came after me. I put them inside the car. As usual, they will complain no air-cond, very hot etc. So opened up the front door and blink..blink...what the crap !!! The passenger window had been smashed , glass scattered all over the front seat. Surprissing I was not surprissed as it was actually pre-programmed earlier. Something triggered me upfront that my car window will be smashed. The culprit took the Sony PSP and a brand new handbag that my wife bought at SOGO earlier. All gone...gone...gone... 7. Plan B triggered in my mind, so the KL trip has came to the end. I could not stay there any longer with a broken window. Luckily nearby, there was still a car wash with some workers inside. They helped me to vacuum all the shattered glass. Plan B - went back to Tune Hotel, my wife packed all the stuffs and we checked out at 11.30pm. At least I had a four hours sleep earlier.

8. Pressing the "Go Home" button on the GPS - again, an unplanned tripped back to Kulim in the middle of the night. Next day is Raya Haji. I have never had experience going using highway to Balik Kampung as all the while I stayed in Kedah. But then, it was a good experience to experience the unplanned heavy traffic along the highway, with a broken window. We stopped by at Sg Buloh R&R to refill the tank.

9. I went to the restroom with my son, upon walking back to my car. Two foriegners believed to be Arabs , on a Satria Car, greeted me with "assalamualaikum". The two folk asked me aout Muslim food. I told them to go back to the R&R area just before the Petrol station. The asked whether KFC is Halal. I started to feel one kind already. He told me that he doesnt have Malaysian Ringgit and dont even know what Malaysia money looks like. He asked me to show my money. Not again, I just had a bad time with my car windows and now these two men were trying to conn me with some Jedi Mind Tricks. I knew that he was expecting me to open up my wally to show him the Malaysian money. In order to be polite to the tourist, I told him to wait and I secured my son to the car. I came back to him bringing a one ringgit bill. Who knows, probably he was really speaking for the truth. So I told him that Malaysian note has a King face at one of the side. He nodded and moved away.

10. Every single R&R were fulled with vehicles. I stopped by at few areas for Biological Break. We exited at Ipoh. I stopped at the 24 hours MacDonald. Had a burger at 5.30am. My son also walloped one. My wife kind of tired and stayed inside the car with my daughter.

11. Reached the last toll exit around 6.45am. Safely arrived home with a DIY window kit from recycle plastic bag . Though 20% of the event was unplanned, but it somehow ruined the plan of celebrating Raya Haji at my sisters house in KL. Approximate lost , RM1,500. I told my wife that we were still lucky as there are some other stuffs inside the car that are still secured. Probably the person who broke into our car really in need of money. Probably there is no other possible way to survive other than stealing. Anyhow I forgive him theoritically but what he/she did can hurt my family if it happened when we were inside the car, that would be a point for me not to forgive him without any punishment.

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Key Learnings :

Low-Lite :

1. It is always better to leave home early in the morning so that we can have sufficient time for

the unplanned hiccups.

2. My D90 just too heavy to be carried around & not practical for family outing photos. And the

risk of snatch-theft. Contemplating to buy the Point Shoot Nikon S1000PJ.

3. Benro Ball Head tripod is also heavy - reduced 38% of my energy. Utilization = 5%

4. My Lowepro Bag is also not practical for family travelling - made me lazy to take out the

camera. Would still prefer the old Jenova with side zip.

5. Bintang Warisan Hotel is not suitable for family but surely convenience for a single traveller.

6. Always carry along double sided tape & duct tape - you'll never know when your car window

will break.

7. Carrying two DSLR is a waste of energy, my wife dont really bother to take photos of me.
8. Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa Kg Bahru has marked the most expensive Nasi Lemak I ever ate in my life . RM1519 with Otak-otak as supplementary dish.

Break down of loses :- (RM1519)

a. PSP = 899.00

b. Memory Card = 120.00

c. Leather Handbag = 180.00

d. Women's Wallet = 10.00

e. Window Change = 120.00

f. Paid Bangla to polish the residues = 20.00

g. Paid an Indon workers to vacuum my car = 10.00

h. Cancelled the Tune Hotel stay = 125.00

i . Cancelled the Parking Fees = 8.00

Intangible loses : ( 80 points lost)

a. Time lost = 18 hours cancellation time in KL ( -50 points)

b. 3 hours = unnecessary time settling the window issue ( -15 points)

c. 3 days = cannot open the window waiting for the adhesive to thoroughly dry ( - 10 points)

d. Lost of wonderful time playing my favourite PSP Game "Winning Eleven" - the only game

that I play ( - 5 points)

Breakdown of gains (or cost avoidance) : (RM3,300.00)

1. Save 500.00 as we moved out from KL that night , else we would definitely go to Ikea and

Ikano the next dat - and surely bought some nice to have but not necessary needed stuffs.

2. I would have bought the 1000.00 accoustic guitar at Damansara Uptown area

3. Probably stop by at Digital Mall PJ to grab a laptop 1,900.00.

4. As usual my kids would nag for Toys 200.00

5. I would probably grab secondary flash - SB600 for 790.00

Intangible gain : ( + 200 points)

a. Experience the traffic jam on the PLUS Highway - else I would never experience that ( + 5 points)

b. Finally I dont have to nag to my wife and kids about the PSP - honestly I somehow felt happy

losing the PSP. Eversince I bought that game, my two kids always quarrel to play with it. My

wife spend most of her time winning the quarrel with my kids to play her favourite Pyramid

Game. Honestly they are not ready to take care such a hi-tech gadget. Scratches every where

and they never take care of that stuff. Broke the cover and broke the memory cards as well.

So thank the thieve for taking away the headache from me. Thanks Pal...I ,mean it. ( + 20

points)

c. It has proven that what MacGyver said is right, always carry with you a swiss army and a

duct tape. Thanks MacGyver, I always have faith in you !! ( + 5 points)

d. My wife actually admitted her carelessness that caused the incident. What a breakthrough !!

Thanks again Mr Thieve. ( + 50 points)

e. Probably if the car breaking incident did not happen, I would have gone to have a stroll at the

Chow Kit Flea Market - and probably the whole car got stolen or someone would have robbed

or snatch my Nikon or hurt my kids. ( + 80 points)

f. We finally "Raya" in Kedah - and I got the chance to Raya at my parents house and had my

mom's delicious Ketupat Rendang - no comparison of taste. ( + 20 points)

g. I also had the change to meet my old friend Zaidi that Raya whose parent house just across

the blocks. ( + 5 points)

h. Better preparation for the next day photo event & the event turned out to be great, though

tiring & dehydrating. ( + 15 points)

Hi -Lite :

1. Tune Hotel not bad - must go again with RM15 per night. The shower very cool - wide

diameter round shape rain hose.

2. Cititel a good choice to leave your family with at least a window shopping activities and good

food.

3. Tapah R&R = Patin Masak Tempoyak is a must. The rest area has always been my favourite

pitt stop. Love the surroundings.

4. Petronas Science Centre = must go again to detail the tour. I heard they make regular

changes.

5. Garmin GPS has done it again !! Thank You Abang Anis for giving it to me for free.

6. Plaza GM is cool for traders.

Conclusions :

Monetory Gain / Cost avoidance = RM3300.00 - RM1519.00 = RM 1781.00

Intangible Gain = 200 points - 80 points = 120 points

Note : I know I am good in Maths ....

The Town of Chronological Event

Salam 1Malaysia,

Today, I have again visited my beloved hometown, Sg Petani (aka SP).Btw, it is just 45 mins away from where I live. To me, SP has gone through an unconcious gradual changes, physically and spiritually. The most obvious change or transformation of Sg Petani is of course the rapid growth of the shopping complex and the latest landmark is the second TESCO building located near the Bakar Arang Industrial area (south exit of PLUS highway) . SP is also famous for her massive / variety of residential areas or "Taman" which I could hardly count . I was told that one of the the first Taman in Sg Petani is Taman Bunga Raya (sorry if I am wrong) , located next to my ex school , Ibrahim School. I was born in Taman Bunga Raya, house no 17, behind the railway track. Than we moved to Sg Layar, also house no 17 and then to Johor Bahru, Taman Sri Tebrau, ironically, also no 17.

Back in the 70's, I could vividly remember the glowing sign of the neon light displaying the supermarket logo called CITY. My mother used to teach me to spell C.I.T.Y each time we passed by the supermarket through the SP Bridge. (Just like I remember she taught me to spell the famous petrol station in SP , E.S.S.O though I am currently loyal to P.E.T.R.O.N.A.S). The CITY (also known as Sri Kota back in 80's) building was caught on fire several years ago, but the remaining structure still exist , located next to the SP Bus Terminal. It is one of the landmark most Sg Petanian would remember. Shopping spots in SP now are, Parkson ,Giant, Tesco (south highway exit), Central Square (centre of SP as its name appear), Billion (far at the Pekan Baru), SP Plaza (near the clock Tower), Village Mall and Tesco (north highway exit).

Back in the 70's, I remember there was a place called Garden, located at the heart of SP Town. A food stall famous for it's Satay & other delicacies. The place was a bit gothic. (In fact , SP was a Gothic City back in the 70's). But now the place has been turned into a shopping complex- SP Plaza and government office. Now food courts are everywhere. The famous food courts now are the Taman Ria Food Court, The Taman Ria Jaya Food Court, the Taman Sejati Food Court and the Clock Tower Food Court.

My favourite landmark, the SP Clock Tower has always been the logo of my existence as a Sg Petanian. Probably because the weekly Friday Pasar Malam back in the 70's and 80s was located next to the clock tower. The clock is like a monument that stands and observes the changes around her, years after years. There were some modification done a decade ago to her appearance, adding some golden plate to its main structure and peak, but its spirits remains the same. Few months back I took my family to visit the Clock Tower. Truly "lepak" there for an hour. Snap couple of photos. The clock saw me I guess. She possed for me with a photogenic look. The clock hold many secrets of mine. And I believe she has a secret on her own too.

I would have to admit that the people or the community in SP do change a lot. 20 years back you can walk around the SP town and will surely meet with at least one people you know. Today you can spend the whole day in the town from South to North, without finding anyone you know. I guess this kind of evolution applies to the other fast growing towns in Malaysia as well. There are so many outsiders(immigrants I may say), be it from neighbouring states or foreign countries that came to reside in SP. That made SP an international town of its own. Its not just 1Malaysia, but 1small world. And ironically those originally from SP have migrated to other parts of the world or town. I have friends who now live in Egypt, UK, Australia etc. Quite a number settled down in Kuala Lumpur.

Until the next Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Sungai Petani will be a town of its own generation. And I will be dropping by routinely, visiting my parents, relatives and friends. Till we meet again.