Under the weather with the current hot weather!

The current hot weather spell in Malaysia is wrecking havoc to many people's health including me and my family members! From the earlier month of heavy thunderstorm uprooting trees we now have a soaring heat wave!


Usually when Chinese New Year is around the corner the weather get rather hot in Malaysia. If we are not careful to hydrate properly and take proper rest after doing day to day activities (well sometimes it was just not possible! So many things to do! Work commitment and what's not!) we could easily get fever and catch the flu. I myself have been under the weather for the past one week, considered as rather mild, but it did made doing my job a little difficult with lethargic fatigue and fuzzy thinking.


My 19month old son seems to be down with fever, cough and sore throat. It was rather difficult for him to sleep at night, waking up several times and crying from the soreness in the throat.


This hot weather didn't spare my mom-in-law, family members and friends too. All seemed to down with sore throat and flu of various sorts. Just got to keep up our health by taking more vitamin C and drinking water and barley to cool down our body system from this terrible heat wave!

Hailstorm and uprooted trees in USJ

Surprising that today's thunderstorm was pretty severe. There were reports of hailstorm during heavy rain. The downpour also uprooted several trees causing traffic congestion. I just finished my lunch at Subang Parade and decided to take chance to go home to USJ as it was time for baby to go home and sleep. Wife was having a meeting in USJ 19 City Mall and she called to inform there was some minor flooding of the roads and hailstorm. It is rare to have hailstorm since my last experience was during my childhood. The return journey home was difficult as we approached near my housing area, many trees has fallen due to strong winds from the thunderstorm. I had to grit my teeth to pass by the narrowed roads from fallen trees and broken branches. Made some tweets to Hannah Yeoh, our incumbent MP for Subang Jaya. She did mention the MPSJ people were on the way to clear the trees. Many did reported and tweeted about the uprooted trees and provided the location for the works department to clear the road. Anyway, we managed to arrived home safely and my mom-in-law place baby to sleep in his cradle. This storm was rather heavy and peculiar today. Guess the world's weather is going to get more extreme year by year.

KLIA arrival hall, waiting for visitors to come

KLIA arrival hall can be a hustle and bustle place. Today, being a public holiday, the crowd is less as I wait for my visitors from Thailand to arrived. Their flight has already landed and it takes approximately 30 minutes to reach the KLIA arrival hall from disembarking, clearing immigration and collecting luggage. Giving my time here on a weekend to fetch the visitors because my boss did not have spare time for the rest of the week as he needed to fly off to Indonesia for sales meeting. Fortunately he agreed to provide a replacement day off. So time wise, I did not waste though my matching time with family would not be matching. Work is work I suppose. As long as it didn't become workaholic in nature with sufficient rest and recreation time in between, it should do. Meanwhile, just waiting here at the KLIA arrival hall and whiling away my time, fiddling with my mobile to kill time while waiting...

Runs and Marathons are getting expensive

I noticed that runs and marathons in Malaysia here are getting
expensive! Gone were the days when I use to pay about RM5 to RM10 to
submit my application forms for these kinds of races. That was a short
5 years ago. Nowadays the minimum I see is RM20 and that is also
rather rare. Most are going for RM30 and above with the most expensive
being the PJ Half Marathon at RM50 / RM60! So much that my uncles and
I decided to boycott it!

The organizers would advertise and say that part of the proceed will
go to charity. Oh, really? So how much percentage will go for charity?
50%, 30%, 10%? I doubt the increase for application form and
organizing of such runs require such a high cost especially since the
number of participants is huge.

What about the sponsors? Are they pulling back their sponsorship too
making the organizing of such events more costly? I still see many
sponsor whenever there are races, so just why is it getting more
expensive?

Perhaps the increase in fees is inline with the rate of inflation in
Malaysia? Like a bowl of noodle would say cost RM3 five years ago now
cost RM5, a hefty 40% increase, so likewise a race fees that cost RM10
five years ago now cost RM30 is a hefty 60% increase (with the excuse
added that part of the proceed is for charity of course)

I think the rate of inflation in Malaysia is getting higher. Just the
other day I bought a 200gm Nescafe Classic refill pack for RM17. I
seemed to recall some months back I paid about RM12 for the same
refill pack. This is indeed a very steep rate of inflation!

Anyway, runs, races and marathons in Malaysia is getting more
expensive and instead of choosing which kinds of race and location to
participate, I now have to scrutinize their fees too and decide
whether the entrance fee for the race is justified or not for me to
participate.

[update 21/10/2011] There are many runs nowadays that comes with charity tied-in. Mizuno Wave Run on 15/1/2012, used to be RM30, now with the added charity element, the fees is now a whopping RM60! I know charity is suppose to help the lesser able people and organization get funds, but there are other ways to get donation funds without having to fleece from people who just want to take up the challenge of the run without being force to make donations. I may sound like a grouse, but I do make donations here and there. But when activities are tied in with charity and the fees for joining such activities become a 100% increase from previous fees, I think it is not justified. It just makes it look like bad inflation.

Finally found a run for RM30, the MPSJ 2011 10km run on 4th December looks like the best fit for now.

SS Two Mall

Decided to pop in SS Two Mall for a break from my sales call. Imagine my surprise this PJ shopping mall still need tenants to fill it up. At this moment it was still rather empty. SS2 mall had been open for 6 months now, so it is going to take some time before more shops come in. Most biz owner won't simply plunge in just yet till there are more customer traffic. And yet if they wait too long, good shop location may be snapped up by those who are willing to take the risk of low initial sale. After a quick walk through I was already bored with the place as there weren't many interesting shops to see. May as well settle down to Old Town White Coffee here for an afternoon tea set break. Bon appetit!

Empire shopping gallery explosion

This was truly shocking! The Empire Shopping Gallery in Subang was one of my favourite hangout with family. The explosion was rather shocking and reminds me how fragile life can be.

Fortunate that this happened in the wee hours of the morning at 3.45am. Shudder to think if it happened during a full crowd of shopper and what if it happened during the weekend? That is a sobering thought!

Meanwhile the Empire Shopping centre is closed. Last night while drinving pass it was so dark! Far different from the usual brightly lit neon lights to advertise the various shops and brands.

So will just have to wait till all the investigation and repairs before it is back to business as usual.

Speed Trap Locations in Highway

.. Not sure how accurate is this information that was passed to via email. I thought it might be helpful to fellow highway travellers to keep a look out for this speed trap devices attached under the bridges. I have not seen any of them yet, so will just keep this info for reference for now. Sometimes we do receive misinformation. It is kind of difficult to verify this until I see the speed trap device myself. Meanwhile, drive safe and keep to the speed limit. I know sometimes it is kinda boring to drive at 110 kph at most stretches and extremely boring when driving 90 kph at certain stretches. I find the most comfortable speed seemed to be at 120 kph which is not too fast and not too slow but unfortunately the traffic law for Malaysian highways and expressways maximum is only 110 kph. So have to obey the traffic rule or else get slap with a summons. And then wait until the PDRM gives a reprieve and discount to settle your summon. Well, seem to be on going activity every few years so I'm holding on till the next discounting exercise! Haha! -- PLUS North Bound (ke Utara) *Under a bridge at about 456km, Sg Buloh junction. *Under a bridge at about 459km, Bukit Lanjan interchange. *Under the overhead restaurant at Sg Buloh. *Under the last bridge before Sg Besi toll at 309.2km. *Under the bridge at 296.5km, Bangi junction. *Under the newly constructed bridge at 289.0km, after Nilai North junction. *Under the bridge at 286.5km, Nilai North junction. PLUS South Bound (ke Selatan) *Below signboard at about 454.6km and 455.2km, Sg Buloh layby. *Under the bridge after Subang junction at 11.3km. *Under the bridge at 22km, Bukit Lanjan junction. *Under the bridge before Mint hotel, Sg Besi Toll. 80km/h only! *Under the bridge at 302.8km, Kajang junction. *About 1km south of Bangi junction, both south and north bound outer lanes *At 296.5km and 297km, Bangi junction. *Under the newly constructed bridge at 289.0km, before Nilai North junction. *At 285.5km and 285.8km, Nilai North junction. *On center divider at 251.8km and 253km after Senawang junction. *After Alor Gajah junction at 213.9km, next to water theme park. *Behind the right hand crash barrier at 198.4km. Elite Central Link East/North Bound *On left hand side at 4.8km after Batu Tiga/Shah Alam exit *Under the overhead restaurant at USJ/Hicom junction about 8.5km. 90km/h zone! *Below the bridge before USJ/Hicom junction at 10.5km. Elite Central Link West/South Bound *Under the overhead restaurant at USJ/Hicom junction about 8.5km. 90km/h zone! *Below the bridge before USJ/Hicom junction at 10.5km. *After exit from KLIA toll to the airport, below Jalan Pekeliling flyover.90km/h NKVE East/North Bound *300m before Jalan Duta toll, 60km/h! *Behind crash barrier on the left when going towards Jalan Duta toll, at 24.9km, 80km/h! *Below bridge at Damansara Junction, 17.5km NKVE West/South Bound *Behind crash barrier on the left when leaving Jalan Duta toll from KL, at 25.3km and 25.7km, 80km/h! *From Jln Duta, below the bridge, 23km, 80km/h zone! *From Jln Duta, at the underpass at Sg Buloh Y-junction, 22km. *Behind crash barrier at Damansara Junction, 17.7km and 16.8km *Below railway bridge at 11.2km *Under the bridge at Shah Alam junction. Kesas East Bound *Under the bridge at 44.8km, downhill run after Puchong junction. Kesas West Bound *At Sg Besi side of East Bound Toll. Kuala LumpurCity *Jalan Duta; below the flyover at the Damansara junction, 70km/h zone. Klang *Dual carriageway between Klang and Port Klang. Towards Klang direction, at about 13km mile stone. 70km/h only! East Coast *Road sign at Karak highway is inadequate especially at Y junction; if you are unfamilar, go slow. *East bound, downhill run after Raub junction. *Maran, 60km/h zone. *Paya Bungor, 70km/h zone. SPEED TRAPS IN JOHOR South Bound *Tangkak junction. *Under the bridge after Yong Peng North junction *at 97.3km. *Ayer Hitam junction. *Sedenak junction. SPEED TRAPS IN PERLIS, KEDAH AND PENANG North Bound *Around Ayer Hitam in 60km/h zone. *Before Perwaja Steel. *Sg Petani junction. *Between Seberang Jaya junction and Sg Dua Toll. *PenangBridge at island end.Speed limit 80km/h. South Bound *PenangBridgeisland end. Speed limit 80km/h. *About 2km before Juru Toll Speed limit 90km/h. SPEED TRAPS IN PERAK North Bound *Under the bridge at 197.1km and 198.8km, afterKamunting Junction. *Under the bridge at 204.3km, after KamuntingJunction. *Under the bridge at 208km, before Kamunting Junction. *Under the bridge at 214.8km, before Kamuntingjunction. *Ipoh Vista Point at about 263km. Speed limit 80km/h. *Under the bridge at 271km, Ipoh North Junction. *Under the bridge at 274.4km, Ipoh South Junction. *Under the bridge at 286.9km, Simpang Pulai Junction. *Under the bridge at 296km, Gopeng Junction. *Under the bridge at 352.6km, after Sungkai Junction. *Under the bridge at 353km, Sungkai Junction. *Under the bridge at 373km, Slim River Junction. South Bound *Under the bridge at 199km, before Kamunting junction. *Under the bridge at 241.9km, at Kalau Kangsarjunction. *Under the sign post at 296.1km, before GopengJunction. *Under the bridge at 297km, at Gopeng Junction. *Under the bridge at 300km, after Gopeng junction. *Under the bridge at 308.6km, after Gopeng junction. *Under the bridge at 372.6km, at SlimRiverjunction.