Petaling Jaya

Petaling Jaya (PJ) is a suburb, or satellite area, of Kuala Lumpur. I'm not sure if PJ is really a city as it pretty much spans everywhere west of KL. Addresses in PJ are remarkably "structured" yet damn confusing. The area is divided into numbered sections, which to further confuse things are denoted with just S or SS. It takes me a while to understand addresses in PJ, especially these sections are not necessarily 'in order', i.e. section number is increasing going North. No, you can find S52 between S8 and S9.

I work in, I believe, section 4, or S4. It's a commercial/industrial area with many old factories, perhaps built in the 60's. It's about 3 km from PJ Newtown (to me it's a newer set of shops and offices) and about 1 km from PJ Oldtown (guess what, an older set of shops and offices). As is in KL, roundabouts are everywhere. Some are effective, some others aren't and just actually make things worse during the rush hours.

[Read more...]

Deepavali

Just got to know another public holiday: Deepavali (or Diwali in India?). Call me ignorant, but this year is the first year I'm in a country that celebrates Deepavali. As long as it's a day off, I'm good.

From wikipedia:

Diwali, also called Deepavali is a major Hindu festival that is very significant in Hinduism, Sikhism and Jainism. Known as the "Festival of Lights," it symbolises the victory of good over evil, and lamps are lit as a sign of celebration and hope for mankind. Celebrations focus on lights and lamps, particularly traditional diyas (as illustrated). Fireworks are associated with the festival.

Diwali is the name used by North Indians for the festivals while South Indians call it Deepavali. However, both names literally translated mean the same, which is "row of lights".

Diwali is celebrated for five consecutive days at the end of Hindu month of Ashwayuja. It usually occurs in October/November, and is one of the most popular and eagerly awaited festivals in India. Diwali comes exactly twenty days after Dussehra. Hindus, and Sikhs alike regard it as a celebration of life and use the occasion to strengthen family and social relationships. For Hindus it is one of the most important festivals, and beginning of the Hindu year. Hindus celebrate Diwali to mark the time when Lord Rama achieved victory beating Ravana. It is also a significant festival for the Sikh faith. In modern India, Diwali is now considered to be more of a national festival, and the aesthetic aspect of the festival is enjoyed by most Indians regardless of faith.

[Read more...]

Tea breaks

Among the culture shocks I've experienced, tea breaks is one of a few that stands up. Every day at 10 AM and 3 PM, many people take a 15-minute tea break. Of course, it usually takes longer than fifteen minutes because they just don't drink tea, but have some snacks as well. Many people even go as far as half-portion of nasi lemak. It's confirmed, by a Malaysian friend working at BCG, that it's the culture, especially for the government workers. WTF! We ain't a government corporation.

This tea breaks must be one of the European, or more specifically, British customs. As this website says frequent tea breaks are the bane of office productivity, I can't agree more. Having spent most of my professional development in the U.S. these breaks are just total productivity loss. But there's also arguments for the tea breaks. This article, The Case Against Global Culture, argues that the tea breaks allow interactions with people, which in business context will help cooperation on work issues.

[Read more...]

Mont Kiara

So I completed the moving in to the new place in Mont Kiara. It's a nice area and looks safe for family living. Close to my daugther's school - within walking distance. The only downside is a lot of construction works are still going on. Petronas Twin Towers is the view from my unit, but it may last only for the next two years as there is a new condominium complex being constructed right on the way.


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mont Kiara, is a northern suburb of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is strategically located at the heart of Klang Valley. Mont Kiara is only a 15-minute drive to either Petaling Jaya or downtown Kuala Lumpur. Taman Tun Dr. Ismail is only 5 to 10 minutes drive via the Penchala Link tunnel on Sprint Expressway.

Mont Kiara is an extremely successful global condominium township with full broadband services for residential and business users - a first in Malaysia. Complemented by a resort office-retail complex, the strategically located Mont Kiara enclave in Bukit Kiara attracts a high expatriate population, representing more than 30 nationalities and particularly the Japanese and Korean who comprise almost half the total residential population. Mont Kiara, an area known for its large number of Korean expatriates, has recently seen a huge increase of Korean restaurants, retailers and groceries stores around the township area.

Mont Kiara is also close to an equestrian club, a golf club, a stadium, business centres with banking and other facilities, as well as a Japanese school about 15 minutes’ drive away.

Educational Institution

Served by two international schools, (American (Mont'Kiara International School), and British (Garden International School)).

Shopping

At Plaza Mont Kiara for Mont Kiara Funday (Sunday) 'Arts, Bric-a-Brac & Crafts' (ABC) Market launched in March 2000, showcases 100 exhibitor stalls spread over a 38,000 sq ft fountain courtyard in Plaza Mont Kiara. An innovative concept in its own right, the ABC Market epitomises the 'Made-in-Asia' dream featuring an amalgam of culture, arts and crafts where you can find antiques, books, vintage apparel, clothing, household decorative items, educational toys, children wears, crafts, jewellery, bags and shoes, potted plants, fruits, great asian food and lots more.

The daytime market is held every Sunday and has a most appealing open-air retail character. Shopping environment is made cooler with the jolly green shade sails and misty fans.

The ABC Market attracts a motley crowd of at least 3,000 people throughout the day. Operated by Sunrise Berhad, it serves mainly to promote Malaysian arts and crafts to the public, as well as provide an avenue for households to clear their collections, entrepreneurs to sell popular items and motor traders to hold their snazzy car exhibitions. Over the years the market has carved its niche as an integral part of the lifestyle in Plaza Mont'Kiara.

Night market called Fiesta Nite (Pasar Malam) at Plaza Mont Kiara delights crowds at the fountain courtyard every Thursday (6pm-10pm) night with something for everyone.

Throngs of after-six office workers from Plaza Mont Kiara and Desa Sri Hartamas as well as residents from the surrounding condominiums and nearby housing estates make their way to the market to walk, chit chat and shop around the courtyard for dinner.

[Read more...]

Indonesian Wedding

Wedding parties in Indonesia, at least those that I'd been invited to, are eye-popping to most non-Asians. Several main differences between Indonesian weddings and American weddings (which seem to be on extreme ends - Chinese wedding I've ever attended was kind of in the middle) are the involvement of parents and the number of guests invited.

Indonesian weddings, like what I had seven years ago, and what my sister just had last week, usually funded mostly, if not all, by the parents. It's them that really wanted to "show off" their achievements: the money they've made so they can arrange such a great party and invite so many people who I probably know only one-fifth of them. Total guests invited in my wedding were 2000 (1000 invitations), and every single of them was fed in buffet type dinner. That number is half of what my parents and in-law were thinking about doing.

Although I truly think it's a waste of money and is very taxing to the couples (traditional clothing, weird costumes and make ups), I'm not sure if I'll be able to not do the same thing to my kids. Peer pressure. However, things are changing. Who knows twenty years from now it's no longer the parents' responsibility to fund the wedding party? That'll be good.

A website for expats in Indonesia considers being invited to an Indonesian wedding fortunate, an opportunity to gain insight into Indonesian culture and social more.

[Read more...]

First Day

First day at work after 25 months and 12 days off from full-time job. Though first day at work, or a new place (e.g. school), is nothing new anymore, there's this thing that sometimes bugging the mind. I randomly googled "first day at work", and here's one of the articles popped on Google.

An article (for college graduates) in youngmoney.com says by the end of the day you should be able to find the bathroom, break room, supplies, photocopier and fax, know your contact number, know the names and roles of co-workers, and know responsibilities and major projects. Well, you definitely must know what your roles and responsibilities before even accepting the offer. But this is for fresh graduates, so definitely most of them are clueless.

[Read more...]

Yahoo! Fantasy Football

Here's the thing I've been doing week-in, week-out from August until May since 2000: Yahoo! Premiership Fantasy Football. I just checked my Fantasy profile, it's not that bad! Although my overall rank (out of all the teams registered) has been going down, 99% in 2001 to 98% last season (2005), it's been a great achievement as the number of participants has also grown up exponentially (not proven). What's been consistent is my performance in the private league. Champions in the league of friends, and top four in the private league of Indonesian players - for five years in a row. Despite my hate of the Gooners, I would choose Thierry Henry as the best player in the league - though it comes with the highest price as well.

[Read more...]

Oh, Jakarta...

Jakarta is just too crowded and has far too short and narrow streets. While it's nice to see everyone again, family and friends, commuting from one place to another may take half a day. If that is not stressful enough, add millions of motorcycles into the equation!

Wikipedia claims Jakarta's population is 8.8 million. I heard, and believe, it is over 15 million during the day and about 12 million at night while everyone is back home in Bekasi, Tangerang and Bogor. Make no mistake, however, that the nightlife is amazing.

From Wikipedia:

Jakarta (also Djakarta or DKI Jakarta), formerly known as Sunda Kelapa, Jayakarta and Batavia is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Located on the northwest coast of the island of Java, it has an area of 661.52 km² and a population of 8,792,000 (2004).^[1] Jakarta has been developed for more than 490 years and currently is the ninth most densely populated city in the world with 44,283 people per sq mile.^[2] Its metropolitan area is called Jabotabek and contains more than 23 million people, and it comprises an even larger Jakarta-Bandung megalopolis.

Jakarta is served by the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. Since 2004, Jakarta, under the governance of Sutiyoso, has developed its new transportation system, which is known as "TransJakarta" or "Busway" and in 2007, Jakarta will establish its newest transportation system, the Jakarta Monorail. Jakarta also is the location of the Jakarta Stock Exchange and the National Monument.

[Read more...]

Mixed Perception about Europe

Europe is nice, but it's definitely different from America (of course, you moron!). We traveled to London (I went to, of course, Manchester), Paris, and Amsterdam via Frankfurt.

Frankfurt airport is nice. Big McDonald's with huge playground. That helps. London is freaking expensive and the meal size is small. We paid twice as much dollars of half of the portion. We missed the fish and chips, but the city tour was excellent. Manchester is old, but Old Trafford is truly the theater of dreams. (Our trip to) Paris was a mess. It must be the hotel where we stayed at. It was somewhere very close to one of the train station, but far from the city center (or at least the Eiffel tower). Cab drivers don't speak English, and it took us more than one hour to get a cab at the tower. The train from Paris to Amsterdam was nice but a bit boring. Surprisingly we enjoyed Amsterdam (I changed the hotel while in Paris -- we stayed in two nice rooms at Swissotel). Internet was free in the business center (I had to go to internet cafes in London; in Paris it was in a small, non-air-conditioned room). The food was great (lots of similarities to those in Indonesia). Tours were great too. The train back to Frankfurt was, again, nice but boring and a bit stressful as we must quickly get down at the airport. Flying back to Singapore, though, was excellent with Singapore Airlines.

[Read more...]

Moving Out

Moving from one apartment to another in the same city or state (e.g. from Ann Arbor to Ypsilanti to West Bloomfield in Michigan) was difficult enough. The good thing was all those places were within driving range (less than 45 minutes apart) so we could manage to have a little overlap between the end of one and start of another. That helped moving in the non-essential items on earlier days (several trips in a day or even a week). The bigger and more critical ones, e.g. sofa, TV, could be moved on the d-day with a U-Haul or Ryder trucks (Ryder trucks are much better, by the way).

Moving to out-of-state, e.g. from West Bloomfield, MI to Durham, NC, was way much more challenging. No more multiple trips to move the non-essential items. Another challenge was to drive both cars, plus the truck. So we decided to rent a service. But at least we knew exactly what, or where, we were getting into.

Moving out of the country was a mess. First of all, we didn't move directly to the final destination. The target was KL, a couple of months after when we had to move out. So we had to 'stopover' in Jakarta while looking for the new place in KL. Second of all, the electrical items were not compatible. It's 120/240v and 60Hz in the U.S., while Indonesia and Malaysia are using 110/220V and 50Hz. The options were to buy transformers - lots of them, or to sell or giveaway all the electrical items. And cars too!

Despite having taken the Pricing Strategy class, I failed to analyze the 'market'. Everything we offered was initially way under what the market valued. The responses were overwhelming. The only bargaining power I used was to hold the items until the last days. It definitely helped for things like TV, DVD player, or mattress.

Another complication was the booking of container, including the attempt to "maximize" it. Some friends would ask for shipping of their goods with container, of which we couldn't make money from :) This includes all the necessary documents from and to the Embassy.

As messy as the others was the packing as we decided to not use the professional service to pack. We used Two Men and a Truck to load the container. That was when we realized all the money we could've paid for the service would've been worth it every penny. These people rocks, and they just know what they do.

[Read more...]