KLCC Travel n Shopping Paradise

Joining a friend for high tea at Starbucks in Mid Valley Mega Mall was a casual affair. When I am not travelling or writing about travel and holidays, we normally like to gather for a cup of tea. In this case as it is Starbucks, a cup of cappuccino. I love their cheese cakes but....

I brought along my umpc laptop computer, knowing very well there are wifi at Starbucks. My friend brought along her own laptop, a Sony Vaio. She was already on the web when I arrived but was too busy in her "work", she hardly notice my arrival. I took a little peek from behind her and instantly knew she was involved in some forum discussions. So what forum was she on today? It wasn't a forum, she said. It's MyLot, a social networking site. What's the big deal?. Social networks or forums are more or less the same. You join one, go in to read or post a comment, or maybe ask a question. Isn't that what's all about?

No, I was wrong, that's what she said. This is no ordinary social networking. This, you can start your very own discussion. When you post a topic, within minutes you will see comments coming in. That is because many are online reading and replying to discussions. She just posted one while waiting for me, now she is too busy replying! Can't blame her really, because I can clearly see there are at the very least 20 comments waiting for her reply. She went on to explain what MyLot was all about.

What's great about this social networking site is that you get paid for replying to comments! The more you reply, the more money you get! You can also get paid by joining other member's discussion and reply to those. There are practically tons and tons of topics you can discuss. Topics such as love, relationship, money, pets, work, parenting, business, travel, food... you name it. Some discussions are ridiculous. Why would I join in to a topic such as "You want to know how I cook rice?". And yes, tons of comments. Its not an intelligent topic of discussion, neither are the answers captivating. But so many replies and comments. And every replies earns money! I wouldn't mind joining in if I am getting paid either.

To participate in the MyLot discussions, you have to be a member. Its a free membership, anyone can join. Once in, you will get paid each time you post a reply to a discussion. You can even start your own. There are more money to be earned if you write a review for one of the many available in "task". Each review pays a certain sum and pays good. Why not ask your friends to join in and have fun? They will also be paid separately too. On top of that, you get further earnings for referrals! MyLot pays well and if you need proof of payment, there are lots to verify MyLot is a genuine social networking site.

Find out more here MyLot

You need a Paypal account for your earnings. If you do not have one, you can get a new Paypal account free here.. Paypal

Calling all make extra money fans! Join me on myLot! Discuss make extra money topics and make a little money while you're at it.

When you travel to Kuala Lumpur, you probably would have checked in to one of the hotels along Jalan Sultan Ismail. If so, you are the lucky ones. Hotels along this stretch of the road are 5 star hotels with good dining and excellent cuisine on their menus. On the other hand, if you happen to travel to Kuala Lumpur with just a backpack, you are even luckier! There is nothing like travelling and visiting a place on a shoestring budget and get to shop for stuffs you can hardly find any where else. These are not designer labels but are items you would proudly hang on your walls to display for all to see. Travelling on a shoestring budget means you really have to look around for good and cheap restaurants and accommodation that's affordable.

Jalan Bukit Bintang, the renown "Bintang Walk" is a favourite for both foreign and local travellers. Not because it's surrounded by many new shopping malls, but it is a place saturated with multitude of cultures. Of late, middle eastern restaurants and shops sprouted in every corner of Bintang Walk.

A place worth exploring for travellers is a stretch of road just off and adjacent to Jalan Bintang called Jalan Alor. This used to be a favourite hangout for many locals including me. A place filled with food stalls of every taste and flavour. Now the place of Jalan Alor has in addition to the local dishes, Turkish, Scottish, English, Australian, Italian and French. These new restaurants don't have the price tag of a five star hotel but they are affordable, authentic and the foods are down right delicious! If you don't fancy these, then hop along to the others serving local cuisine.

Here too are several inns, budget hotels, apartments and guest houses where you can get accommodation for a day, a week or even a month. Some even have "bed and breakfast" concept, very popular in the United Kingdom. Do not be alarmed that some of these are operated by English and Germans!

For shoppers? Bintang Walk has much to offer. Well known among locals for their multi media and computer related peripherals is Low Yat Plaza and Imbi Plaza. travellers and shoppers are advised to check out these two malls even if you are only just browsing. These two malls are notorious for the extremely low pricing policies! It is the cheapest place to buy computer and other digital products. Laptops, desktops, LCD TVs, MP3, MP4 players, routers, DVD discs, you name it, they have it. Brands like Toshiba, Dell, Sony, HP, Acer, Apple, Asus and others.

Travellers and shoppers to Kuala Lumpur also have to bear in mind, multimedia and digital products are tax free!

Burberry

GUCCI

In this recession period would all these designer labels do well? But travellers and locals seem to browse the merchandise, rather then doing an actual purchase. This new shopping mall have all famous brands you can ever find. Obviously they are targeting a niche market. You can tell locals who are "loaded" with cash when you see one. A quick glance at all the visitors, I cannot pin-point a prospective rich client. I would say they come under a category called "curious visitors", it would more appropriate.

I am an avid follower of a local blogger from Penang who has been blogging since 2003. Her latest post I read today should serve as a lesson for other Malaysian bloggers. We know blogging for money can be a lucrative past time, hopefully raking in Rm 2000 or Rm 3000 monthly if one has become "Pro" status. I also knew of some making Rm 10,000 a month. These bloggers usually have been blogging for several years and has acquired the tools of the trade, so to speak. So during my recent visit to her blog, I was caught by a big surprise. Her earnings was Rm 30,000 this month! This sort of salary scale is huge, and even many top Malaysian CEO's don't reach this level of pay. Good job blogger 5xmom ! You made us proud.

So when your friends ask you coyly about your job, do not feel blogging for money is anything to laugh at. If done right and full of professionalism, it may even be your full time money earner to support your whole family. If 5xmom can do it, so can any of you. Getting paid almost $10,000 USD is not a small figure by any standards. Bloggers should take his task seriously if he has the intention of earning money from it. Learn all you can from whoever has made it to the top. The internet is another source of free information. Many long time bloggers are willing to part their expertise to share their experiences with you. They can teach you a thing or two, and who knows?. You might be as successful as them, if not better.

Making money from blogging has never been an overnight opportunity. It takes time, effort, knowledge and driving web traffic to your site or your blog. Your combined earnings from Google Adsense, private advertisements and/or post paid jobs can generate a substantial income if you take your job as a blogger seriously.


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Redang Island

Exotic Beauty of Malacca

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Fancy a weekend getaway and travel to a remote island with fine sandy beaches and deep blue seas? Pulau Redang may just be the place you need to visit. A budget traveller's choice, Pulau Redang has everything a person needs to relax and bask in the tropical sun, lazing and do nothing else. If studying marine life is your forte, go snorkeling and watch in real life what National Geographic has been showing you all this while.

Travel to Langkawi Island, an archipelago of 99 islands located in the north-west of Malaysia belonging to the Kedah state. I have heard so much about it but have never been there. I knew there is a legend of a Ledang Princess and the International Maritime Show held annually in Langkawi, that much I know. Travel and shopping in Langkawi is often a common reason for locals to visit this beautiful island. Moreover, it is "tax free" as well. What sort of shopping would one expect out of Langkawi? And how shall we get to travel there?

We decided the best way is to travel is by air. And the airline obviously has to be Air Asia, a new and young "No Frills" airline much like "Ryan Air" of the United Kingdom. In the short span of just a few years, this small airline, salvaged from a local airline gone into liquidation, has emerged to be the most popular of all air travel to local destinations. Pricing is only a fraction of other domestic airlines.

The CEO of Air Asia, Dato' Seri Tony Fernandez (left of pic)

The flight from Sepang International Airport to Langkawi was just over 2 hours. The minute we got on the Air Asia's Airbus A300 plane, we hurriedly occupied the window seats, for it was a free seating arrangement. I was surprised to noticed a young gentleman who looked like the airlines CEO at the far end of the aisle. The air stewardess standing beside me confirmed that it was the "Boss" himself when I pose the question to her. When our "V.I.P" approached nearer, I asked if I could take a photo of him. Not only did he obliged but insisted we have a photo together! So Dato' Seri Tony Fernandez took the camera from me and gave it to the air stewardess. Such a nice and kind gentleman and a definite contribution to his airlines in my eyes for having excellent PR skills towards his passengers.

The sight from the side window of the plane was breathtaking as we approach the landing strip. I could see countless numbers of islands of different shapes and sizes. Which is the main island of Langkawi? I didn't realise until much later that Langkawi was actually made up of 99 islands!

On arrival at the airport, we were greeted by a man from a taxi service outlet located at the main terminal. To travel around and doing some serious sight seeing, you must rent a car to optimise your experience in Langkawi. We chose an MPV which cost us $23.00 a day which was cheap. For a party of 6, it works out to be less than $4.00 each. The petrol in Langkawi is cheap anyway, being a tax free holiday resort.

We had earlier booked 3 Superior/Double beds chalets at Berjaya Langkawi Beach and Spa Resort before our departure from Sepang International Airport. The rates were $120.00 a night for these lovely chalets. Some of these chalets are at the sea front, with a gorgeous view of the open sea. Others like the ones we had are built on stilts resembling much like ancient village homes.

A typical village style chalet in a tropical rain forest setting.

What we discovered in Langkawi is the cleanliness of its beaches. It somehow reminded me of the beaches in California when I was there, minus the Californian holiday makers of course. I still give it the thumbs up for Venice Beach. None the less, the beaches here is clean and the waters are crystal clear. Our kids just could not wait to take a dip in the waters. Its a pleasant surprise not to see a big crowd of holiday makers here, a big contrast to other beaches I have seen else where. One would describe it as peaceful and serene.

Sea front chalets at Berjaya Langkawi Beach and Spa Resort.

Laptops, mini and ultra portable, such as the Asus EeePC 900 seems to be the favourite among students, professionals, writers and computer freaks like me. Go to shopping malls that sells computers, and you will find numerous well known brands joining in the bandwagon to get sales. The mini laptops are fairly cheap usually around $180 has the same specification of its larger cousins. The mini laptops ultra portability and small size is ideal for those who are always on the go.

It is for this reason I drove down to my local multi media shopping mall and purchase a Asus EeePC 900 mini laptop computer or it is sometimes called ultra mobile PC (umpc) for short. This is definitely the most versatile of all laptop computers. With a screen size of only 7 inches this tiny wonder can easily be put inside one's briefcase without the added weight of the normal notebook computer.The price is cheap considering, for I only paid $190 for mine. This comes with a memory of 2Gb in Ram, hard-disc with 170 Gb, built-in wifi, 3 USB ports and a built-in webcam. It also comes with original Windows XP Professional operating system.

My Asus EeePC 900H

I have been using my mini laptop computer for about 4 months now and I have not had a single complaint about my this laptop computer. I do practically everything on this tiny beauty. I do my online work anywhere I want to including train rides, taxis, on holiday; just about anywhere and anytime. The stand-by battery last for 4 hours, this is long enough for me to do my whole day's work on my internet. Now I don't even open my other laptop computer. Why need to? I have got my new Asus EeePC 900H mini laptop computer.

Places where you can get good bargains for mini laptops are Low Yat Plaza in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur and my favourite place the Multi Media Shopping Mall in Section 14, Petaling Jaya.

When you thought that now the whole world is practically in financial turmoil, and making money wasn't that easy, one would have to watch what they spend on and how they spend their money. But money speaks volumes; it can make or break a business, crumbles a fundamentally solid and strong bank, it can change our lifestyle or it can convey a wrong message to developers of properties that times are still good.

In Kuala Lumpur, the latter seems to be true as new developments such as huge shopping malls are sprouting up almost on a monthly basis, if not daily. Before anyone has a chance to explore what has in store for shoppers, another new shopping complex opens its doors. Many of the new ones have not even enjoyed full occupancy rate as far as anchor tenants are concerned. Why then another new mall starts its maiden launch? It all boils down to the shoppers and their spending power.

My family and I was out taking a casual stroll along the famous Bintang Walk right in the heart of the city and I remarked to my wife about the new mall in front of us that just open it's doors to the public. We looked at it and was taken in by it's glittering array of lights, much resembling that on Christmas Day; and the beautiful swaying palm trees on each side of it's grandiose main entrance. Without hesitation, we hurriedly walk across to the other side of the road and into the mall. There were 5 levels of shopping area with shops, boutiques, hair salons, jewellery shops, pharmacies, stationary, supermarkets, departmental stores, restaurants and countless numbers of others. What strikes me most is that the shops are there, but where is the crowd? Yes there were some, but with such a low traffic, I doubt any of the shops can barely make any profit. This was 3 months ago and I have re-visited the same shopping mall 3 more times. Each time I visited the place, it's still the same old story, there are no visitors!

Shoppers are there but not to this new mall but the other existing ones. Shoppers have the money; they dictates who lives and who dies in the "battle of the malls". Right now it is any body's guess how well this new mall will fare in the months to come. Only time will tell; only the shoppers will decide.....

Posted by J.A. 16Th. June 2009

Exotic and Historical travel destination; Malacca. The Dutch, British and Portuguese have had at one time been here, a historical city south of metropolitan Kuala Lumpur. The city of Malacca has been conferred a World Heritage status and rightly so too. No other place in Malaysia can one find such a large population of Portuguese descend who has made this city their home. Rich in history, it's monumental landmarks, the beautiful and enchanting floral landscapes and it's diversity of cultures, Malacca is indeed a place not to be missed when visiting Malaysia.

Some of the popular shopping malls people frequent in Malaysia. Many of the malls are fairly new. Designer labels are common items in these malls.

Low Yat

KLCC

Posted June 12th. 2009
Chinese, Pinoys, Malays, Indians, Poruguese, Eurasians, English, Kadazans, Dayaks ...............
The list goes on , for these are among some of the citizens of Malaysia that made us unique.

It has often been mentioned and said in numerous articles around the globe about Malaysia's cultural heritage and its multi-cultural, multi-ethnic society. To the world at large, this potpourri of culture, races, festivities and social blending is usually not well understood. While being a Malaysian myself, I have had my own experiences in the social behaviour of other countries. England being my second home, has had it's own acute social problem in tackling the sudden influx of numerous ethnic minorities from other former Commonwealth countries. I enjoy living in the UK, enjoyed being a Londoner, but that does not mean my life of 12 years there did not has its "downside". I find tolerance towards other races rather low amongst the Brits.

Travelling has been a great interest of mine. I have been to Holland, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, France, Canada, USA and many other countries. I dare to say I feel racial tolerance is an issue in most countries. Ethnic minorities are not particularly well understood with regards to their culture and believes. The "new immigrants" thus resort to keeping their lives to themselves and seldom socialise. This in return, creates more misunderstandings towards their cultural believes.

Malaysia is not perfect but major races namely Malays, Chinese and Indians which made up of the majority of the population have lived together since before independence from the United Kingdom in 1957. The fight for independence and the eventual "marching" by the 3 major races (Malays, Chinese, Indians) represented by their respective leaders to ask Queen Elizabeth II to grant full independence to Malaysia indicates the tolerance and cooperation among the major races. This creates an atmosphere conducive enough to extend to the other minorities in the country. These minorities many of whom are the indigenous people here are gracefully accepted as fellow Malaysian without any questions asked.

So why is Malaysia so different and tolerant towards other races? Why many other countries find race relation an issue? The reason is simple enough. Malaysians grew up together with their multi-racial friends. They were all born in Malaysia and not "new immigrants". Racial disharmony becomes an issue if fellow citizens were not naturally born in their country of residence. The culture, believes and religion "imported" into the new home usually bring about curiosity and caution to the host country.

We are lucky, we are Malaysians.

Ever wonder why western countries are talking so much about recession and we here in Malaysia is not feeling the pinch? I was having coffee the other day with an old friend at Starbucks in Mid-Valley Mega mall and the subject of economy slowdown cropped up. I commented on a recent newspaper report that General Motors in under receivership under the Obama administration. So many jobs will be lost and thousands upon thousands the livelihood of employees of GM will be affected. General Motors has become an iconic figure in the US and the effect of it's downfall will be catastrophic. He commented that here in Malaysia we have a good life unlike the US. We don't have the recession! How can he say that, I asked. Look around and for goodness sake, read the papers, I said. There are so many American factories closing down due to poor electronics and computer sales.

But when I look around me, I see Malaysians bustling around and coming out from those "exclusive designer" shops and boutiques with shiny expensive merchandise in their hands. Are we not in a recession? More importantly, do these shoppers realise there is a global financial crunch? Why on earth am I in Starbucks paying almost RM10.00 for my coffee anyway? I could easily have my coffee anywhere else and it would only cost me RM1.50. Little did I realise I am as thick headed as these shoppers.

Most high end properties are not selling well. The five-star hotels have low occupancy rate, the government said it has no money. But the KLCC-gites like me are out enjoying ourselves! This is KLCC, this is Malaysia!

Malaysians tend to have a "tidak apa" attitude. It literally means, we couldn't care less. When the unfortunate happens such as the Asian financial crisis a few years back, the Malaysian starts frantically cutting down all the luxuries and revert to village style living.

When will we learn? Or should I say, when will I Learn?