Bradley's Old Fashioned Weblog

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  • To My Dearest Wife, On Valentine’s Day

    We’ve had so many good times together and made so many wonderful memories, like getting caught in the rain on the lift at Sentosa, walking along Patong Beach at night in Phuket, and you chasing me around the dining room table in the Philippines with ‘balut’.  These are memories that I’ll always cherish and, even more, I’ll cherish the fact that we have a lifetime together to make new ones.

    I couldn’t have asked for a better wife.  You’re kind, loving, beautiful and patient.  You’re good to animals and hard working.  You have a great sense of humor and you’re fun to be around.  Whether I want to watch a movie and pig out or go jog for 3 miles you’re up for it.  You let me have my choice more often than you have to.  You’re always there beside me, supporting me and motivating me to do better, whether my goal is to learn another language or gain the next level in Cafe World.

    Even when times have been tough, we’ve stuck it out together.  No matter how grim the situation, I always knew that things would be better because you were there beside me.  At the end of a hard, stressful day you were there to lay down next to.  In the morning, you greeted me with a smile.  Oh, and you always had cheerful words to keep me going like, “Stop complaining.  Life is harder in the Philippines.”  Ha ha!  So true!  You always remind me of what it is we have to be thankful for and it helps me to focus.

    So, on this day, and every day, I want you to know how much I love and cherish you’re being in my life.

    Happy Valentine’s Day darling.  I love you.

    You’re my best friend, my love, my life.

  • Kuala Lumpur Cats

    Kuala Lumpur Cats

    These are just some of the cats we saw while we were in Kuala Lumpur.

     

    This is Mr. Jinja.  He’s a cat at Hostel Cosmopolitan.

     

     

    This is Whinny, Mr. Jinja’s friend.  She also lives in Hostel Cosmopolitan.

     

     

    This cat was hanging out in an eating area in Kampung Baru, begging for scraps.  I gave it some chicken.

     

     

    This girl was working at a satay stall we stopped at for a late meal.  In fact, we got there just before they were closing.  As they started packing up, cats started showing up.  I was wondering what was going on until the girl working at the stall pulled out a bag of cat food to feed them.  She seemed really excited to see the cats, and she had a good laugh when my wife ran over to watch them and had her photo taken with them.

  • Bukit Nanas and Dang Wangi

    This area is located along the path between the Bukit Nanas monorail station and the Dang Wangi train station.

    It looked really nice so I stopped to take a few photos.  I forgot to take a picture of the name of the building that was adjacent to this outdoor area, but it had something to do with Malaysian timber, and it was also the place where I saw the Pinis Gobel boat.

    I was a little surprised to see that the path for the interchange was above ground.  I’ve gotten spoiled in Singapore where the interchange is all underground and you use tunnels to get to the other line if you have to.  I like that better because then I don’t have to deal with the sun and the lack of air conditioning.

    Anyhow, part of the trip to between the lines includes going over a major road.  There’s a pedestrian bridge.  Unfortunately, the escalator on that bridge is broken and it appears to have been that way for a long time.  None of the pedestrian bridges I’ve seen in Singapore, except maybe one on Orchard Road, have escalators so we just used the stairs.  Apparently, the average Malaysian doesn’t want to deal with that though because everyone else walked out into the road and then used a spot where the center barrier had been broken down to get through.

    I’m kinda surprised that these people want to run in traffic, but I remember seeing them doing it in Chow Kit where the traffic is a lot heavier.  They’re pretty brave, considering what a fast moving vehicle can do to the human body.

    Anyhow, we were happy to notice this on the transit map this time around.  The last time we went from KLCC to Chow Kit we went all the way to KL Sentral.  Taking this walk from one line to the other saves a lot of time and RM.

  • Misquoted By The New Paper

    Relax – An inconvenient fee: “Another frequent budget airline traveller, Mr Bradley Farless, 28, a US citizen who is visiting Asia for work and leisure, had bought a pair of tickets from Tiger Airways for a flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur earlier this month.

    He said: “It is not a small amount when you add it all up. And who is stopping them from increasing this amount in the future?””

    When I read this I kinda just pulled one of these numbers:

    Last month I was interviewed by phone by Veena Bharwani, a reporter for The New Paper.  She had initially contacted me by e-mail because of a Tweet I made expressing dissatisfaction with the amount being charged as a ‘convenience fee’ by Tiger Airways.

    I have no problem with what she quoted me as saying.  I just wanted to point out that journalists should be bound by a sense of integrity, to not put quotation marks around a summarization of the writer’s views and then attribute it to another person.

    Yes, I do agree that the fees are high when you add them up.  We paid a 6 dollar convenience fee per person per direction, or 24 dollars in total.  But, I didn’t use those exact words.

    I never made the second statement, even passingly.  That’s the writer trying to attribute a quote to me to validate her own opinion.  It’s not even correct English.

    I do agree with her assessment, because what is to stop them from raising the fees in the future, on the vague grounds of processing fees and some other such nonsense?  I want to just use Amazon.com as an example.  When’s the last time you made a purchase on Amazon.com and had a 6 dollar fee added onto your purchase for ‘convenience’?

    The convenience of shopping online is that there are supposed to be less fees and less hassle.  It seems to me that these fees the airlines are charging are their way of milking customers for a few extra dollars to help them edge their bottom line higher into profits.

    Here’s the fishiest part of it:  If you go to a ticketing office you can get tickets without paying the convenience fee, but you aren’t allowed to take advantage of online ‘deals’, meaning you pay more.  But, if you go online to get the ‘deal’ you have to add in the ‘convenience’ fee, which means that you’re probably paying the same as what a person at the ticket counter is paying.

    In the end, what’s the difference?

    But, back to the matter at hand, it would be good if people who make a living off of journalism learn to do it right.  Learn the art of paraphrasing.  Don’t put words in people’s mouths, even if it’s something positive.

  • Kuala Lumpur’s Monorail and Pickpockets

    In addition to a train system, Kuala Lumpur has a monorail system.  It’s fun to ride, but it’s really slow in comparison to a train, which makes me wonder why they bothered to build it at all.  I suppose the answer is that the distance between the stops is so short that having a train run that route wouldn’t make sense.  Also, the route is very curvy.

    The stations are almost identical to train stations.  You have to get in line and buy your ticket, then you insert the ticket into the turn-style, wait for it to pop up from the center of the machine and grab it as you walk through.

    The ticketing system that Kuala Lumpur uses for its trains and monorail is absolutely ridiculous.  The lines of people waiting to buy a ticket are sometimes incredibly long to the point that they block other pedestrians trying to use the sidewalks outside the station.  They need to get with the times and do what Singapore does and just use a prepaid transit card.  It’s much, much more efficient.

    Anyhow, you go up to the platform, wait for the monorail to show up and then go about your business.

    The monorail cars themselves are nice.  There’s plenty of seating and space to stand.  It also has a lot of windows so you can see the area around you.  When the monorail takes a sharp turn, the track and the whole monorail tilts, which is a little unnerving.  Better than walking or taking the cab though.

    Some interesting things to note are that the train platforms don’t have what I like to call “dummy doors” around the tracks.  There is a waist-high railing, but they expect people to use common sense when it comes to standing to close to openings where the monorail doors open.  I guess they don’t have any issues with people trying to leap in front of the monorail to kill themselves.  The actual train stations, on the other hand, which are underground, do have the extra doors.  I think that’s more for keeping the air conditioning in the station than anything else.  New York City should follow that example.  It gets hotter than Satan’s anus in those train stations in the summer.

    There are signs on the platforms warning you to be wary of pickpockets.  As the monorail train approaches people have a tendency to push towards the openings where the doors will open.  When people start packing close together like that, it’s a great opportunity for people to get pickpocketed.

    I know that from personal experience.  Some little punk ass kid tried to pick my pocket while I was waiting for the monorail this past trip.  He was wearing a coat draped over his shoulders to hide the fact that his opposite hand was reaching from under the edge of the coat to try to get into my pocket.  Tough luck for the bastard that I’m not an oblivious idiot… and that I wore shorts with pockets that button.

    I knew something was up with the kid because when I moved he kept moving up next to me.  When I felt the tug at my pocket I pushed him away from me.  He should feel glad that I didn’t accidentally push him in front of the monorail while trying to get him away from me.  Even if the monorail hadn’t hit him it’s a long way down to the ground.

    So, ya, keep an eye on your belongings while you’re there.  Most of KL is pretty safe looking, but so is Singapore and people are getting stabbed in broad daylight here now.

  • Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers at Night

    This was our third visit to Kuala Lumpur but we’d never seen the Petronas Towers lit up at night.  We stayed in the mall below it late, browsing the book store, so when we were leaving we stopped by to snap a few photos.

    This was taken from the back side of the mall where the fountain is.

    And this is just a random tree that rings the fountain.  It has some strange looking fruit on it.

  • Chinese New Year 2010: KLCC Suria Decorations

    KLCC Suria Mall had some decorations set up for the Chinese New Year.  There were these neat looking decorations hanging from the ceiling:

    As well as a stage set up with a woman playing a song on an instrument.

    Also, near the rear exit by the fountain they had this screen set up.  Groups of people were posing in front of it to get their pictures taken.

    The decorations look nice, but they seem a bit sterile to me.  I think Singapore will do it better.  I’m looking forward to seeing the Chinese New Year festivities later this month.

  • The Truth About The McDonald’s Prosperity Burger

    When we went to the airport over the weekend we left the house kinda late, but our flight was delayed so we had time to get something to eat.  There’s a McDonald’s in the Budget Terminal, so we took a look at the menu and decided to try the Prosperity Burger.  I’ve never seen it anywhere else and it’s only put on the menu around Chinese New Year.  This will be our last CNY in Singapore so it made sense to try it at least once.

    Well, it wasn’t as good as I’d hoped but it had a nice taste to it.  I think I enjoyed the curly fries more than the burger though.

    The “truth” I mentioned about this burger is that they do in fact sell it in the US.  Well, they sell the patty anyway.  The Prosperity Burger is nothing but a McRib sandwich with black pepper sauce instead of barbecue sauce.  So… good job at marketing, but bad job at creating a unique product.

    The other “truth” about this burger meal is that it’s a serious gut bomb.  It felt like I had a lead weight in my stomach for the rest of the day.  Maybe we just weren’t prepared for the amount of grease involved in that kind of meal anymore.

    I’ve heard some of my family and friends say they wouldn’t mind seeing those curly fries at McDonald’s in the US.  They make me miss Arby’s.

  • California Pizza Kitchen at KLCC Suria Mall

    California Pizza Kitchen at KLCC Suria Mall

    While we were in Kuala Lumpur over the weekend we decided to go down to KLCC to look around and have dinner.  We weren’t sure what we wanted to eat but as we were looking at the electronic store guide I saw that there was a California Pizza Kitchen in the mall.

    Neither of us had ever eaten there before so we gave it a try, with mixed results.

    The ambience is very, very nice.  The place has a clean, uncluttered, modern look that was refreshing and relaxing.  Also, the service staff was incredibly friendly and helpful.  No complaints there.

    The food wasn’t too bad, I guess, but what bothered me about it is that everything was incredibly oily.

    The first thing we ordered was an appetizer.  I think it was called an ‘avocado turkey bacon roll’ or something along those lines.  It’s the first item on the menu under appetizers.  It was described as a fusion between Eastern and Western flavors and was basically a cheesy, gooey, extra greasy egg roll.

    While eating the thing the hot grease was running out of the roll all over my fingers and forming a small puddle on my plate.  That’s a definite no go.  Also, the taste of the oil was a bit overpowering, to the point that I couldn’t even distinguish the taste of the avocado.

    In fact, in this second photo you can actually see the grease dripping from it.

    Shortly after finishing the appetizer the pizza showed up.  We got a thin crust ‘Sicilian’ pizza.  Thin crust pizzas are usually less greasy than full crust pizzas.  Unfortunately that’s not the case with CPK’s thin crusts.  It was oily as well.  We went ahead and finished the pizza, but after the second slice I could’ve walked away from it.

    My wife and I have changed our eating habits over the last year and we’re consuming less and less oily foods.  It’s better for us, and less oily foods taste better anyway.  I was reminded again of how good Trattoria’s pizzas are in that 313 @ Somerset mall in Singapore.  CPK’s offering wasn’t even in the same league and cost nearly the same price.

  • The Best Way To Get From LCCT (Or KLIA) To Kuala Lumpur

    This is assuming you care about how thick your wallet is when you do get to the city.  If your only concern is speed then your best bet would be to just get the RapidKL train that goes from KLIA to KL Sentral.  I don’t think that train stops by the LCCT, but if you’re flying into the LCCT I doubt you’re going to want to ride that train anyway.  The last time I checked I think the tickets were 35 RM per person, per trip.

    So, if you’re looking for the best way to get to Kuala Lumpur without paying excessively high fees, just use the bus.

    LCCT

    As you’re walking out of the LCCT terminal, just past customs, you’ll see some booths on the left with people selling tickets.  If you go through the sliding glass doors and see the sign for the toilet, you’ve gone too far.

    You can get a round trip ticket, good for one month, on the Aerobus for 14 RM.  That’s a damn good deal and the ride isn’t bad at all.  The train gets you to KL Sentral in about 20 minutes.  The bus does it in 50 minutes for a fraction of the cost.

    After you buy your tickets, exit through the sliding doors, walk forward until you see the McDonald’s, then make a right and follow the sidewalk down past the Mary Brown and the Coffee Bean (or Mr Bean?  forget which).  You’ll see buses pulled up along the sidewalk.  You need to find berth number 4.

    The buses you’re looking for will look like this:

    KLIA

    There are similar buses going out of KLIA.  It may be the same operator, but I don’t remember for sure.  I’ve only flown into KLIA once, whereas I’ve gone through LCCT twice.  I can’t remember exactly how to get to the buses but there are signs.  The costs are nearly the same as well.  I think the tickets are 9 RM apiece.  I don’t know if there’s a deal for getting a round trip ticket.  Regardless, it’s still cheaper than a train and definitely cheaper than a taxi.

    Bus Service Quality

    If you’re wondering about the bus quality, they’re in good shape.  Depending on what countries you’ve been in you might be used to seeing beaten up buses.  That’s not the case with the buses shuttling between KLCC / KLIA and KL Sentral.

    The buses are clean.  There’s no eating or drinking allowed onboard.  The seats are pretty comfortable and they recline.  It’s a luxury type bus with cushioned seats, rather than a city bus with hard plastic seats.  So, you get to really relax.  There’s no TV or radio in them but they are air conditioned.

    KL Sentral

    The buses all drop you off on the lower level of KL Sentral.  That’s good because most hotels / hostels / etc. are along the train or monorail routes and you can easily get to the train or monorail from the drop off point.

    For the train, you just go up the stairs and into the building.  You can’t miss it.

    For the monorail you have to go around the block that’s adjacent to KL Sentral.  Depending on how soon you go (relative to this post) you’ll notice that the area you have to go around is under construction. It’ll be to the right of the bus as it pulls in.  Your best bet is to just follow the crowd.  A lot of people will follow the sidewalk around to where the monorail is as they get off the bus.

    Here’s a map to give you an idea:

    http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=KL+Sentral&sll=1.352083,103.819836&sspn=1.022803,1.245575&ie=UTF8&hq=KL+Sentral&hnear=&radius=15000&ll=3.134088,101.686696&spn=0.071946,0.071946&output=embed
    View Larger Map

    (Zoom in to the see the building and the train, monorail and RapidKL drop off points.)

    The bus will drop you off on the road that’s just below the RapidKL marker on this map.