HARRY'S PIE IN SYDNEY

I remembered this place from the various food show particularly by Anthony Bourdain. This was supposed to be "the pie" in Sydney.


I was not that hungry as I just had breakfast but had to try the pie. I was greedy and ordered the pie with the signature mashed potato and peas.


For me, it was only OK. I found the ginger and spice a tad too strong for my liking. Well, it would definitely taste much better on an empty stomach.


At least, I have eaten at the famous Harry's Pie.

Until the next time, cheers.

AIR ASIA - AN "EXCEPTION"AL AIRLINE

I fly very often with Air Asia from the beginning and have very high respect for its innovativeness. I also believe very strongly in open competition which they have done very well. The service were very good but of late both the counter and inflight service has been lacking.

Is it because it is growing too fast? During the last Hari Raya Puasa, it was chaos in the airport. Our flight (my family with 3 children) was delayed and they moved us to another flight and then our luggage did not arrive until the next day. It seems Air Asia has a policy of not giving compensation if the luggage is not more than 24 hours delayed. So one has to be in his clothes overnight. Sorry to say, this policy stinks and looks like it is trying to get away from its responsibility.

Anyhow, what is more interesting is what I observe on my flight back to KUL last week. I have never seen so many "issues" on a single flight before and this is what I mean by creeping problems coming into the airline.

1. there was an Air Asia staff with her mother seated in 12E and F (emergency row).
2. flight crew more interested to talk to her than to serve customer.
3. the mother seemed aged by allowed to seat in 12F?
4. the staff was allowed to place her handbag on her seat both for takeoff and landing.
5. a flight attentant accompanied her to seat on 12D both during take off and landing.
6. a man come to seat in 14D, when the attentant was him to move back to his seat, his answer was "I am an Air Asia staff, it's OK" and the attentant allowed him.
7. upon landing the attendant seated in 14D moved to the end of the plane. You know when everyone get's up and stand in the aisle, how difficult it is to move around?
8. then another attentant moved from the back to the front carrying an envelope to pass to somebody in front when the aisle is full of passengers. Imagine the pushing and shoving around.

After experiencing this flight, I just had to write about it. I am going to post this into the facebook and hope someone from Air Asia will read about this and take some action.

I will still fly Air Asia as it is still worth to do it. Recently, I flew Jetstar and MAS. Service is very crisp in Jetstar but very surprising was MAS service. The service was GREAT. One of the reason why I fly so often with Air Asia is that MAS service use to suck and it is such a hassle to purchase their tickets (unlike Air Asia) but they seem to get the service right this time. I have never seen the crew working so hard before (flight from Sydney to KUL). Not only that but sincere and efficient service.

Maybe, that's the right word....Air Asia service is getting "fake" or "forced".

Until next time, cheers.

Pattaya Floating Market

We passed this place daily to get to our hotel in Jomtien from the city proper. Initially, I thought that it was not worthwhile going as we had been to various floating markets in Bangkok. However, the day before we left, we decided to go and see for ourselves. It was a hot day and I hoped that we would not fry in the sun.

However, this place is not the same as in Bangkok. The place was a maze of buildings connected by walkways and bridges. There are boat rides one can take and also people peddling their wares from boats such as in Bangkok.

One could have the food from confortable pavillions and just order from the boat making this a much nicer place than in Damnoen saduak which was packed like sardines (when we went there quite a few years ago). Maybe with much lesser crowds, it is always better.

At the entrance of the market.

The first place that we came across was a small temple dedicated to the Hindu God, Ganesh. Quite a number of Thais do worship to Hindu deities in tandem with their Buddhist faith.

At the entrace of the temple.

Quite a nice place to enjoy some noodles and other delicacies.

One shop that we had a ball was one selling fake food like the ones you see in the window of a Japanese restaurants. I did notice these being used in some Chinese restaurants and some shops at the Suvarnabhumi Airport (roast ducks,etc.) as well. It is not just about cooked food but fresh food as well.

My children were so tickled especially my daughther. We ended buying small sushi candles as gifts for their friends.

Fake fruits and veges...very real.

Fake roast ducks.

Fake steamed chickens and veges...

The veges look so real.

Yummy sushi candles.

The market also had fried insects and worms. I tried to get my kids to try but they would not budge. I've tried them before. It's not too bad.

Saw this cute sugar and creamer holder. Not sure why, I took this photo.

They even had a basker that looked like a Red Indian but on closer look, it is one of the tribal clothes from the north of Thailand, I think. His music was not too bad.

There were many shops selling the normal touristy souvenirs and handicraft famous in Thailand so I thought, no need to keep showing them in my blog.

Overall, a nice place to spend a few hours, shopping and eating.

Until the next time, cheers.

DIRTY TOILETS IN PWTC

When I was in PWTC recently, I must say that I was quite shocked to see the condition of the toilets there. It was old, dirty and not working well at all. The WCs did not flush well and not maintained at all.

I was there at around 10am and to see it that dirty so early in the morning means that no maintenance was done at all. Imagine the condition at the end of the day.

Dirty and old toilet seat fittings.

WC not flushing well at all. Imagine if it is a big job....yuks.

No toilet paper at 10am?

Look at the dirt.....phew.

Dirty and smelly urinals.

This place being marketed as a premier exhibition centre does not reflect well at all to the owners and managers of the building.

I hope that they will do something about this very soon and not give Malaysia a bad name for the condition of the toilets.

Until the next time, cheers.

HILARIOUS ARTICLE IN MALAYSIAN INSIDER

I found this article to be really funny and may even apply to other cultures as well. However, please take in this a light note.

1 Squat Toilet — Art Harun (http://m.themalaysianinsider.com/articles.php?id=40952-1-squat-toilet--art-harun)

OCT 20 — The Malays do their big business in the toilet by squatting on two pieces of whatever is available. In modern times, these toilets are called squat toilets. That is, I believe, the accepted Malay custom when it comes to the act of releasing one’s excrement. Nowadays, I am appalled by the fact that many Malays have abandoned this custom. They have now opted for sitting toilets where they would sit on the toilet seat and do their big business. This is so not Malay enough.

I am even more appalled that hotels, restaurants, shopping complexes, office complexes, airplanes, buses and whatever have seen fit to do away with squat toilets. This robs me and other Malays — and even the non-Malays — from practising the Malay custom. If nobody could practise this Malay custom in its entirety anymore, I am afraid there won’t be any Malays left in this 1 Malaysia. The Federal Constitution defines a Malay as someone who, among others, practises the Malay custom. So, without being able to do my big business on a squat toilet, I wouldn’t be able to practise the Malay custom. And I am afraid I would become non-Malay under our Federal Constitution because of that. I am appalled. I am therefore proposing that a law be enacted pronto to address this problem. Doing business on a squat toilet must be made compulsory to all and sundry, especially the Malays. Anybody who is caught sitting on a toilet seat while poo-ing shall be guilty of an offence. Anybody who is found guilty of that offence shall be subject to a fine of RM50,000, imprisonment of not more than five years and six lashes on their bare buttocks. All buildings, be they shopping complexes, office suites, hotels or whatever and all vehicles — whether normal fare or cheap fare — be they airplanes trains, express buses, ships, submarines etcetera shall be absolutely required to have squat toilets in the ratio of 30:70, namely 30 per cent sitting toilets to 70 per cent squat toilets. If not, the building or vehicle owner shall be guilty of an offence punishable by a fine of RM10,0000, imprisonment of 50 years, and 12 lashes per toilet Meanwhile, Imams, or their assistants, with the help of Rela members or members of any residents’ association are legally permitted to, without warrant, break into any premises; or stop any vehicle or break into them, public or private, regardless of the time of the day, to inspect whether there are sufficient squat toilets in that premise or vehicle or whether any Malay person is poo-poo-ing on a sitting toilet or otherwise therein. These people shall have the power to arrest. They also may use force to carry out their duty as such. It shall be within their absolute discretion as to the intensity of or what force to use. I hope with this proposal, a very important part of the Malay culture and custom shall be preserved. After all, in Slovakia, anybody who does not poo-poo under a tree — which is their custom — is guilty of an offence. So, what others do, we must do, too. No matter what. Otherwise, we would be left out. Let’s work together towards 1 Malaysia, 1 Culture, 1 Custom, 1 Stupidity. And 1 Bongkumness. — art-harun.blogspot.com

Until next time, cheers.

Toilet in Central Festival Mall

The public toilets in Central Festival Mall in Pattaya uses a lot of sensor products which is convenient for the users. Most importantly, it was clean and well maintained (however the mall is pretty new).

I was also impressed with the handicapped toilet which was well designed with large doors and well equipped by those requiring such facilities.




Until the next time, cheers.

A quick visit to Rayong

During our holiday to Pattaya, we took a drive to Rayong which was about 60km away from Pattaya. Rayong is known as the eastern seaboard of Thailand and is home to its petrochemical and petroleum based industries.

A closer look at a petrochemical plant.

The entrance of the Utapao air force base.

I understand that it used to be a sleepy seaside town but from the little I saw when we were there, it had developed quite well.

A view of the city centre.

Due to the better roads now, Bangkokians are also making this place a weekend getaways. The beaches are also quite well known and not as crowded with foreigners like Pattaya. It is also a getway to a number of islands with beautiful beaches.

We only spent a few hours there and went to a city beach called Saeng Chan beach. This beach is not for swimming and what we saw there very interesting.

There were quite a number of developments but also many abandoned projects and buildings. Also along the beach were many huts by local fishermen processing dried seafood.

A view of one part of the beach.

A fish sauce precessing factory. Great smell!!!!

A fish drying area.

Another view of the beach with the plants in the background.

A large diety along the beach.

Huts where dried seafood is processed.

The weather was cloudy with light rain which made the place look even gloomier as most places looked dead.

We came across a restaurant which had a few patrons and since it was quite late for lunch and we were hungry, we stopped for lunch.

I was a bit apprehensive and worried that the food may not be fresh or not tasty enough. Boy, was I wrong. I must say that it was one of the most tasty Thai food which we have eaten. Maybe the sea breeze and being hungry helped.

Yummy fresh seaweed salad.

Phra ka phow. Pork with basil leaf. One of my favorite.

Deep fried crispy fish in fish sauce. Fantastic!

Kheng som...a variety of sour and spicy soup.

Prawn fried rice....wow really good. Seriously.

Rempeyek, Thai style....again really good. A little sweeter than the Malaysian/Indonesian version.

At least, we went back satisfied with a great lunch.


Until the next time, cheers.

Short holiday in Pattaya

During our recent trip to Pattaya, we decided to stay away from the crowded city beaches and after looking around the web, we decided to stay at Ravindra Resort in Jontiem beach, south of Pattaya. It is around 8 kms from the city, not far if you have a car but quite troublesome if you do not have one and it can be expensive if you keep going up and down. However, the hotel do provide shuttle service to the city.

Sunset from the city beach....wow....beautiful.

As we have our own transport, this was not an issue and it was perfect. The beach here is not crowded (only those staying in the resort and the neighboring hotels). The resort is new (about 1 year old) and well designed and maintained.

Occupancy was very low except when they had conferences. It seems that is the only way to get in the crowd nowadays. I read that the overal hotel occupancy this year for Pattaya is 27%...wow, that is bad.

We could see from the businesses that it is not a good year for Pattaya but most are optimistic about next year...if the political issues in the country are resolved plus other factors such as the H1N1 virus and gobal economy situation.

The kids loved the beach and the pools (there are 3 pools) and with the low occupancy, sometimes we had the whole pools to ourselves.

Along the way to the city, a new Mini Golf has been built. The kids loved the place but we only had time to go once but for 36 holes. I must say that the French owner did a good job and it is of high quality. Hope he does well.

It was a good short holiday and the whole family has a good time.

Until next time, cheers.