Is this Tony's Hotel?

Took this picture when I stopped at the intersection of Jalan Sultan Ismail and Jalan TAR.

Don't you think this building has an uncanny resemblance of what's painted on an Air Asia's planes' body?

Aha...presenting Tune Hotel....A one of its kind hotel - value for money (from 9.99 peeps!) with the comfort of five star hotel mattress with turn-free technology and power shower in the bathroom (doesn't come with toiletries; air-con and towels though - You have to pay for these extras! It's a no frills hotel peeps!)!

What more can you ask for RM9.99 (assuming you get this deal)...? Giving Tong Foongs and Hotel Malayas a run for their money! A good choice for the discerning budget travellers.

Genius this Tony!

Sunday blabber

Wifey cooked chicken rice for lunch and dinner yesterday. We had dinner around 6 p.m and after performing maghrib prayers I offered the kiddos McD pie. Ever since they launched banana pie, I've been hooked to it! The Ringgit McSavers is a good deal. Burgers and the rest are quasi-banned in my household, though purely for health reasons! They'd probably have them once a month or may be slightly longer (they used to have them every other day)! With this mom&dad-imposed-ban, they are eating more healthily at home!

Drove the three boys for a spin to a McD which is five mins' drive from home and ordered 10 banana pies, 2 apple pies (basically we cleared the whole batch of pies there was), 2 sundaes and one McFlurry! Man.... ! RM30 for dessert - ain't it expensive? It's 3/4 of our weekly budget of fish for the household...! Things ARE expensive these days....It used to be my pocket money for the whole month when I was in a boarding school (OR was it RM50?).

I guess I went overboard when placing the order...there're still 3 pies and a sundae left stored in the fridge (for tomorrow)!



My Poupon is bald! Sis mms me yesterday with this piccie...She got Poupon shaven. They are in Muar for the weekend. He looks cheekier somehow spotting this hairless-do!

Now we are off for an unplanned picnic at a nearby stream!

First time

A visit to an Indian barber shop is like going to a hair salon, a men's grooming centre and massage parlour simultaneously! I experienced it two days ago.

I don't frequent it regularly preferring a proper hair salon for want of an up to date haircut.....Come to think of it, even if I had engaged Vidal Sassoon personally my hair still remains un-stylable..So why bother? LOL!

In fact I may only have had haircuts at Indian barber shops about 10 times for the last 15 years. But, two days ago I tried something which is out of my normal routine. Finished exercising and decided to have a haircut. Somehow, my instict dictated me "Indian barber shop"! And why not? So I drove to one near my home.

The one which I went is owned by two young Indian barbers...!

Plonked myself on the seat and gave the younger of the two instruction on how I wanted my hair done. And he asked "Mau cukur sekali ka?" (Do you want a shave?). I was that scruffy looking that he had to ask....! Never in my whole life that I need assistance to shave my facial hair! Yes I do admit that I feel like being pampered once in a blue moon (who doesn't? In my case though, pampering sessions are never on my list of must-do's!) but not at a barber shop.

I have this to confess...Accompanying my dad on his three-weekly-visits to barber shops when I was little had made me develop a certain phobia! Dad used to (may be he still does - this shows how detached I am with his routine nowadays) get his facial hair shaven by Indian barbers after his haircuts. The sight of a barber wielding a shiny open-edged-knife waving it in the air and slicing through the facial hair gave me the creeps (I was after all about 6 or 7 then) that I swore on my life to never get a shave from a barber....Gille*te double edged disposable razors will do just fine for me, thank you very much!

Anyway back to the story, the adventurous side of me took control of the day and I replied positively to the barber's question! He had this tube of shaving cream like the one my dad used to have umpteen years ago and started lathering it on parts of my face for for the shaving ritual. I was a bit tense when he started brandishing the knife in the air (does he need to do that?)...!

I was pleasantly surprise, though, with his skills as the razor danced lightly on my face - may be it was the amount of cream applied by him which made the shaving process a painless adventure. Truthfully, I have never had a clean shave like the one I had by the barber! I was extremely pleased with the end-result - no occasional stubs found on my face as I usually would it if I had done it myself using a Gille*te!

And oh...at the end of the shave, he asked me "Mau pusing kepala?" (Do you want me to twist your head?). And I said why not....He put one hand under my chin and the other on my head and twisted it and "crack"...! My shoulder and head felt sooo light after that! And the finale was a short shoulder massage...Heavenly!

For RM12, a haircut a proper shave and a bit of shoulder massage - it's a steal! I would definitely go back!

BTW pic above is that of Yusof having his haircut two months back......

Nice cozy mall

Pic above was taken at the entrance of Amcorp Mall, Taman Jaya in Petaling Jaya.

I used to frequent this mall quite a fair bit to hunt for old stuff - old blue and white porcelain, furniture, urns - junks basically. Come Saturdays and Sundays the mall will be filled with all sorts of stuff (new and old alike- vinyls, books, brassware, plants, toys, furniture and the list goes on) and peddled from temporary stalls all around the mall. It's a hive of activities. If you are looking for antiques, come really really early before the professional antique dealers swarm the mall!

However my mission this time, two Saturdays ago, was of a different kind. I had this craving for a plate of cantonese mee (deep fried vermicelli or sauteed kuew tiow (rice noodle) with a dash of soy sauce on which a thick sauce of chicken/seafood stock with egg is poured over) and Amcorp Mall came to mind since it boasts a few food outlets which I have not tried before save for the kopitiam (traditional chinese coffee shop) on the ground floor. Went round and spotted Uncle Chili which at one glance I thought was Chilli's!

Uncle Chili serves a variety of chinese noodles and dishes. Their specialty which I soon noticed (since the rest of the patrons were ordering) is deep fried fish fillets served in a bamboo container - quite interesting (which I will definitely try on my next visit)!

Of course I did not have to think hard and quickly ordered a plate of cantonese mee! It was reasonably priced - RM5.00 (less than USD2.00) and taste-wise - passed with flying colours. The sauce was neither thick nor watery...Ingredients were fresh and the noodle was just right (I had a mix of vermicelli and kuey tiow). They had pickled green chilli too!

I had some time to kill after satiating my craving and was told by TRM that Amcorp has a few bookshops (second hand and brand new) which sell cheap books! There is the Pay less Bookshop, three rental bookshops (one of which stocks really new books - opposite Book Axess), Book Axess (cant remember the exact name either Axess or Exess or ?) and a back-issue glossy mags shop (prices are RM5 - for offers and RM9.90 for the rest). As I did not have much time to browse...I only managed to get two books for Yusof (the Animporphs series 2 for RM10 and they were brand new!) , one each for Umar and Ibraheem (books published by Usborne for about RM12 and RM19 each - it would have made me poorer double the amount in other bookshops), old National Geographic mags for Khadijah and Vanity Fair (Suri and parents on front cover) & Home and Garden for wifey! Sigh.....again no books for me as time was limited (whoops...I did buy UK Men's Health November issue for RM5)!

At Book Axess, the shipment of new books, according to the salesgirl is once a month! They are cheap and spanking new!

Uncle Chili on lower ground floor of Amcorp Mall


My yummy cantonese mee

Hmm....London for RM9.99?

Friday January 5, 2007
AirAsia X London flights from RM9.99
KUALA LUMPUR:
Fly Asian Express (FAX) will fly its long-haul operations using the brand Air Asia X, under franchise from AirAsia, starting July. The flights will have two classes - super economy and economy. In-flight entertainment and food will be available for purchase onboard.
Fares to London will start as low as RM9.99, excluding tax and surcharges. FAX has been given rights to operate long-haul flights to destinations in Asia, Australia and Europe.
AirAsia CEO Datuk Tony Fernandes has a 50% stake in FAX. The
other two FAX shareholders are AirAsia deputy chief executive Kamarudin Meranum (30%) and former AirAsia chief financial officer Raja Azmi Raja Razali (20%), who is also FAX CEO.

The above report is from today's Star and the pic is taken from Singapore Straits Times. Hmm....the caption which I saw on tv3 today (the programme "the Exchange") for the loang haul flight was " Now everyone can fly.....X-tra long".

I really admire Tony Fernandez for his vision to make Malaysia as the global hub for international long haul flights. He is really in to the second phase of expansion of Air Asia. The first phase being establishing the brand Air Asia!

Well the day has come, according to my partner, Ping, that we can shop every month in London! Well, I must add this...flying there is no problem now but spending in pound sterling....?????

Hey KLites - ur new year present!!!!!

Check this Reuters' report!

Well.....another inflationary contributor for next year......!