Month: February 2010

Nanyang Rich @ Old Klang Road, Kuala Lumpur

Nanyang Rich is a newly established Chinese coffeeshop located at Old Klang Road. The name Nanyang Rich is very similar with Pappa Rich, a well known chain of Chinese Coffeeshop in the Klang Valley.


The logo is somehow very similar as well to Pappa Rich’s logo. Both also got man sipping something.

Some people asked me whether I am an ambassador of Pappa Rich due to my constant tweets about them. No, I am not their official ambassador but I would love to have them as my client!

Anyway, I made a trip to Nanyang Rich to try out their stuff. Initially I was reluctant to go. I drove pass the place couple of times and the place doesn’t seem to have any customers.

With no customers = no consumption of raw materials = leftover stocks = possible stale stock = possible food poisoning.

Notwithstanding the risk of ‘bombing’ the toilet bowl whole day, I braved to Nanyang Rich for breakfast.

The interior is quite similar with Pappa Rich. The only thing that lacked was customers. I was the only customer there!

Immediately after settling down, a waiter came up to me and said, “Remember me? I used to work in Pappa Rich!”. -_-

He then said, “your usual right? steamed bread, coffee and half boiled eggs?”. I was impressed!

The selection of food and beverages are quite similar with Pappa Rich. In fact, my steamed bread, coffee and half boiled eggs tasted quite similar to the ones at Pappa Rich. Nanyang Rich is like a cheaper version of Pappa Rich!

Then now comes the issue whether Pappa Rich can successfully sue Nanyang Rich for passing off and copyright infringement. I am not sure whether Pappa Rich has initiated any action against Nanyang Rich but I think if they did they would have a high chance of success. Although Nanyang Rich may rely on the case of McDonalds v McCurry case, I am of the view that the case is distinguishable.


McCurry!

In the Court of Appeal judgement of McDonalds v McCurry case, it was stated that, among others, McDonalds and McCurry serve different type of food and the type of customers patronising them are different from each other. In the present case, Pappa Rich and Nanyang Rich serve the same type of food and their potential customers seem to be the same. It would be interesting to see a legal action in this case.

However, with the amount of customers at Nanyang Rich, I am afraid that they will die a natural death before Pappa Rich can do anything.

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Address:
No99, Batu 3,
Jalan Klang Lama
58000 Kuala Lumpur
Phone: 03-79800729
Opening Hours: Mon – Sun:07:00 – 00:00
Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?profile=1&id=306910144848#!/pages/Kuala-Lumpur-Malaysia/Nanyang-Rich/306910144848

The Digital Edge 25: The #yorais mob

I was invited as one of the panelists for the Edge’s the Digital Edge podcast episode 25. Many thanks to ShaolinTiger for the referral. You can check out the podcast page at http://www.theedgemalaysia.com/highlights/158535-the-digital-edge-25-the-yorais-mob.html.

The podcast recording was done in a small meeting room of Text100 at Northpoint Mid Valley. The recording was done through John’s (of the Edge) microphone plugged to his laptop. The podcast recording session lasted around an hour – although it felt quite long.

John Lim, Grace Chin, David Lian and Foong Cheng Leong discuss:

1. Mark Zuckerberg says that the age of privacy is over – so can Malaysians expect our status updates and Twitter feeds to be private?

2. Minister for Information, Communications, Culture and Arts Datuk Seri Rais Yatim says that Malaysians should not be too immersed in social networking sites, leading the Twitterverse to respond with #yorais

3. An upcoming proposed amendment to Malaysia’s copyright act looks to seek more control over digital content. Can we expect a day when new business models like this to come up in our countr

Download this episode (right click and save), subscribe using iTunes, or stream below:

Adelaide, Australia 2009

While I was in Melbourne, I made a trip to Adelaide for a wedding and also to MC the wedding.


Signboard at Melbourne Airport – don’t make jokes about bombs in bag.

Adelaide is a small quaint and tranquil city. Although it was summer, it was quite cold. It felt like winter! Thank god I brought a jacket along.

I stayed at the bride’s house. The groom house was about 8 houses away. The wedding was a mixture of Vietnamese and Chinese wedding. We had the chip san leong ceremony (the tasks were pretty mild) and also tea ceremony. Further, there was also a church ceremony at an old church.


Check out the cute outfits! 😀


Moments after the bride threw a bouquet of flowers. Check out the lady on the right in pink dress…fightooooooooo…..hoorryuukueeennn…

The wedding was held in a restaurant of some sort of Italian related club. There was a dance floor for people to dance (not fengtau but ballroom dancing etc). A and I MC-ed the wedding. We made little preparation as we only confirmed our participation as MC a day before the wedding. Fortunately, we didn’t screw up.


My friends bought their own wedding cake! Looks tasteeehhhh


Lobster yo!

The wedding went well! On the next day, the groom and the bride brought us to Barossa Valley 😀 More details later

I was only in Adelaide for 4 days. The 1st day was spent on preparing for the wedding, 2nd day was spent on the wedding, 3rd day was spent at Barossa Valley and the last day was spent on last minute shopping. I overshopped, spent rm1600 on 2 suits. I won’t be buying any more suits for the next 5 years!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year from www.xes.cx! 😀

Umeng was in Macau and China and he bought me Mcdonalds’ Chinese Zodiac Valentine Doraemon Plush Set! It has 13 pieces of Doraemon dressed in the 12 Chinese zodiac animals and also 1 holding a love signage (for Valentine’s Day).

Check out the pictures!


Comes in this bag


Comes with Doraemon Angpow too!


Pig – This little fellow caused a stir when it was pulled from the Singapore McDonalds. Read all about it here.

Climbing @ Lactic Factory, Melbourne

Before my Melbourne trip, I wanted to climb outdoors. Wei Chen showed me couple of his Mount Arapiles outdoor bouldering pictures and it looked pretty good!

Unfortunately, it was summer time hence it is quite dangerous. A bush fire might happen while we are there. Therefore, we decided to climb indoors instead. My friends brought me to Lactic Factory, a bouldering gym not too far from the city centre. I was there 2 times in a week!

The gym consists of two floors. Each floor has a bouldering wall. The second floor wall has a roof.

The gym also has a very nice lounge with loads of book regarding climbing.

The entrance fee is about AU$13 per entry. First timers are required to sign a disclaimer form (as usual).

Routes are pre-set by the owner and changed from time to time. Dont need to crack your head to set your own routes.


View from 2nd floor

The climb was awesome as they had plenty of routes to try. Most of them power moves. Tire my muscles quite quickly.

Most of my friends were pretty good climbers. Some of them climb 3 times a week. They said there’s nothing much to do in Melbourne hence they climb 3 times a week. Fortunately, fatty Gavin Tan was around and hence I didn’t qualify as the worst climber wahahahha

The only drawback about this place is the toilet. It doesn’t have a place to wash your feet. I had to do some yoga moves to get my feet up into the basin.

Address
1 Studley St
Abbotsford VIC 3067, Australia
Tel: (03) 9416 2508
Wesite: thelacticfactory.com.au

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Unique Chocolates

I was in a convenient store buying chocolates for my friends and I spotted these..


50% His and 50% Hers. Look at the “equal” distribution..


Girth Control – Helps you avoid thinking about “it” for up to 15 minutes! Name and packaging made to look like birth control pills


I’m a Libra!


Bochox – For relief from symptoms of wrinkles and crow’s feet. Who needs Botox?

From my research, Girth Control and Bochox are made by a New Zealand company by the name Bloomsberry & Co.

Source: http://www.dionlabel.com

Bloomsberry & Co. chocolate is far from boring.

Bloomsberry & Co is taking a bite out of the chocolate industry with their witty packaging and delicious chocolate. Graphic designer Giles Barker and his wife Vanessa Kettelwell are the brains behind Bloomsberry & Co. Their chocolate is harvested from cacao trees in warm, often tropical, areas. Cacao bean is one of the main ingredients in chocolate and is found within the cacao pods, these pods are harvested once they hit the ground. The quality of Bloomsberry & Co chocolates are due to the patience and precision they take during the harvesting period.

“There are some big players in the chocolate category, but by creating a unique gift item with a story behind our brand, Bloomsberry transcends that,” says Mr. Barker. “Chocolate packaging is typically a very traditional and serious business – we are coming at it from a very different position.” Different position is right! In a world of boring packaging these chocolate bars contain names such as bochox, emergency chocolate, girth control, and lusty. With their bold colors and humorous slogans it’s no wonder why this New Zealand based company is now spreading like wildfire. Bloomsberry & Co can be found in Manchester, Melbourne, Paris, Singapore, and New York. The chocolate bars can be found in retail chains such as Barnes & Noble, Borders books, and Whole Foods Market. To learn more about Bloomsberry & Co you can visit their website here.

Check out their Facebook page for more stuff! And not to mention their official page.

Melbourne Food Guide – Sweet Delights

The main cause of my weight gain but it was well worth it. There are plenty of places in Melbourne to satisfy your sweet tooth. Here are some of my favourites.

Suga @ Royal Arcade, Bourke Street, Melbourne

Suga was also one of the places that I wanted to visit for this trip. Suga is well known for its rock candies which come in various flavours.

The rock candies at Suga comes in a few layers and have all sorts of designs embedded on the front. For example, pineapple flavour would have a pineapple logo in it.

The candies are made in front of everyone and usually you will find a crowd standing in front of the shop to see the process.

[Note: you can get something equivalent in 1 Utama now]

Address
Royal Arcade,
Melbourne VIC 3000,
Australia
Tel: (03) 9663 5654‎

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Il Dolce Freddo @ Lygon Street

Some people has claimed that Il Dolce Freddo serves the best gelato in Melbourne. Located at Lygon Street, this place is usually packed with people.

Durian gelato is famous here. However, I am not a big fan of durian hence I didn’t try it. Instead I had cookies and cream which tasted not bad 😀

Address
116 Lygon St
Carlton VIC 3053, Australia
Tel: (03) 9639 3344

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Little Cupcakes @ Degraves Street

Degraves Street is a small lane between Flinders Street and Collins Street. It even has its own Wikipedia page.

In this little lane, we found one shop selling cupcakes by the name Little Cupcakes. As its name suggest, it’s a small shop selling small cupcakes.

We bought a piece of cookie and cream cupcake and also a piece of Belgian Chocolate cupcakes. They were very moist and rich in chocolate! Absolutely great!

I’m not a big fan of cupcakes as they are too sweet for me. However, the cupcakes at Little Cupcakes take the cake as it is not too sweet.

Price is a little bit steep though. A piece was $2.20. Nevertheless, its a price worth paying for such scrumptious delight.

Address
7 Degraves St
Melbourne VIC 3000
Tel: (03) 9077 0413
Website: www.littlecupcakes.com.au‎

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Koko Black Chocolate @ Royal Arcade, Bourke Street, Melbourne

Koko Black Chocolate is just a few doors away from Suga. It is a small cafe cum outlet selling high quality chocolate.

Gavin recommended that I try their hot chocolate here but since the weather was slightly hot, I had a glass of iced chocolate instead. It came with 2 scoops of chocolate and vanilla ice cream and also chocolate flakes. It tasted really good. Very rich and obviously very fattening. Made me feel like doing 100 burpees immediately ala Yakitate! style.

Also at Koko Black, you can buy premium chocolates back home. I bought some snowman chocolates back home 😀

Address
Shop 4 Royal Arcade
335 Bourke Street
Melbourne 3000
Australia

Website: www.kokoblack.com

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Never Let Your Bum Bum Touch The Toilet Seat

I’m talking about peeing in public toilets. ;D

 I once mastered the art of sorta squatting and hovering my bum just above the toilet seat so as to avoid really sitting on it. You see, I am not one of those ladies who bring paper toilet seat covers along with them wherever they go, nor do I actually buy any.

 A few months ago, I started getting lazy. I’d just plonk myself onto the toilet seat at the office toilet and forgetting that there’s definitely germs on the seat, right? But I was just lazy.

And occasionally, I’d find a pimple on my left bum cheek. I don’t know why but it rarely happens to my right bum cheek.

Then I witnessed how the cleaning ladies clean the office toilets. Great.

After mopping the floor, they just use the MOP to clean the toilet seats and covers, you see. EUWWWWW EUWWWWW gross!!!

Horrified, I’m back with hovering my bum above the toilet seat. But it is rather tricky when you need to poo and no doubt you’ll be working out your thigh muscles!

And if you need to take a big dump and you’re afraid people may hear your poo plonking into the water, just chuck some toilet paper in before you begin. The paper definitely muffles the sound! ;D
NB. This post would have been great with a picture demonstrating my bum hovering technique, but I was unable to have my colleague snap a picture of me in the loo, sorry!