When I was living in KL, I didn’t use to do my grocery shopping in Carrefour as I found the quality of their products rather lacking and not as fresh as some other grocery stores. Unfortunately, my opinion of Carrefour was confirmed when I headed to Carrefour Tropicana City Mall last weekend for some groceries. Read on for our unpleasant experience at Carrefour Tropicana City Mall.

Not Fresh Products at Carrefour

I generally don’t like to make comparisons between grocery stores in Singapore and Malaysia but when I saw the state of some of the dry goods in Carrefour, I couldn’t help making that comparison in my mind. The Carrefour store in Singapore carries fresh and delicious-looking quality products while the dry goods I was looking at in Carrefour looked really bad. The onions looked like they were rotting with sandflies buzzing around them and I actually saw packets of dry chillies that were starting to mould. Needless to say, that cut my grocery shopping list much shorter!

Higher Prices At Carrefour Tropicana City Mall

In general, we found the prices at this particular Carrefour higher than other similar Carrefours. A box of Sunsweet prunes we were looking at was RM9 compared to only RM7 to RM8 in other Carrefour stores. Why are similar products priced higher in this store? Is it because it services the Damansara area and hence assumes people in that area have higher income levels? As a hypermarket, one would think that prices will remain controlled all across the country!

Terrible Service At Carrefour Tropicana City Mall

The unpleasant experience carried all the way to the check-out counters where we were served by inept cashiers who could not speak English or Malay well and screwed up the person’s transaction ahead of us, making the wait terribly long. While we were waiting in the queue, we saw a sign that promised a mystery gift for every shopper who brought their own eco-bag to the store. As we had our own bag, we filled it with our groceries and asked the cashier about the gift to which she rudely said it was for purchases above RM100. If that’s the case, please clearly state it on the sign as the sign had absolutely no indication of such a condition.

Purchases above RM30 from Carrefour entitles the person to free parking. When sis went to claim our free parking, the lady behind the counter told her it would only be valid for the first hour. However, when we went to pay our parking fee, a sign on the machine clearly stated that parking on a weekend was per entry and not hourly – which means we should have gotten our free parking. However, because the lady did not validate our ticket, we ended up paying RM2 for parking which was totally against the parking policy Carrefour had.

It was a very unpleasant shopping experience and I personally thought it a pity that a multinational company like Carrefour had allowed itself to degenerate that way. It will not cost much more to ensure good quality products are sold, to remove any rotting products and to train a team of good staff to serve your customers. We are, after all, paying customers and should be entitled to a good level of service.

Although I drive, I’ve never been good at renewing my road tax. Usually, a quick call to the salesman who sold me my car gets my insurance and road tax done in a jiffy. However, recently, I had to renew J’s road tax and as the usual salesman who helps me had left the company, I had no choice but to do it the hard way – on my own! I remembered some advertisements some time back on MyEG, an online service linked to JPJ that allows you to renew your road tax online. Perfect! So I gave it a try recently and managed to renew my road tax pretty fast! Read on for my review of MyEG below.

Renew Your Road Tax and Insurance Online

To renew your road tax via Myeg, you first need to purchase valid car insurance. You can opt to buy your own and ensure it is updated before you log in or opt to buy it from Myeg itself where they have comprehensive packages linked to RHB Insurance Berhad. Apparently, if you opt to buy the insurance from MyEG, you actually get a discount on the road tax renewal!

Logging on to MyEG and clicking Road Tax renewal will take you to the screen below where you will be required to upate your information.

It will then take you to the payment page and you can opt for Credit Card payments, direct debit or Maybank2U.com which makes it easy and convenient. Once you fill out the payment details, you’re done! Just sit back and wait for your road tax to be delivered to your house or office address within 1 day!

Best of all, renewal of road tax with MyEG does not require you to produce your car grant. That can be rather inconvenient if your car is still under hire-purchase as you will need to take the original copy from the bank, renew your road tax then return it. However, as the original grant does not get updated when you renew your road tax online, be sure to update it manually when you are able to so your grant reflects the correct information.

Contact MyEG Customer Service For Assistance

Any queries you might have during your online experience with MyEG can be answered by their customer service officers. I called them shortly after making my payment to check when they could deliver the road tax and they reverted rather promptly after checking to tell me I could get it by the next morning.

Some satisfied users have even gotten their road tax on the same day evening for renewals done in the morning. The recipient of the road tax package is actually required to sign for the document but I was a little surprised that I was not asked to produce my IC when I signed for it when I had read that previously they were rather stringent, even finger-printing recipients to ensure it does not fall into wrong hands.

The MyEG service comes with a delivery charge of RM8 which includes a RM2.95 service charge. Its a small price to pay for convenience especially if you’re busy working and don’t have the time to run around to get your road tax renewed!

Last weekend was a bit of firsts for me. It was my first time going on a food-themed treasure hunt in KL, my first time doing it with the Blogger Babes – PB, Beetrice and Rinnah and our first time in using Maxis Finder301! Read on for our experience in the Food Hunt and our review of Maxis Finder301.

Picture stolen from PB

Klang Valley Food Hunt Wasn’t In KL!

We had taken part in the Food Hunt organised by Time Out Solutions and Rasa Rasa in Penang two years ago but this was the first time they were having it in Klang Valley and surprise, surprise, we were hunting for clues mainly outside KL City! The only nod to KL was Bangsar Telawi area for our second leg which was not a good idea at all as Bangsar Telawi is notorious for its double parking and terrible traffic jams! Add some hundred over zealous treasure hunter cars who drive with their eyes upward looking for clues and you have absolute mayhem not to mention some rather dangerous driving!

Time Out Solutions Treasure Hunting Clues

I have to take my hat off to Time Out Solutions and the mega brains behind them who come up with the treasure hunt questions! Some were easy but some were real brain gymnastics and gosh, to solve some of them in the wee hours of the morning was really painful on my little brain! Some questions we thought seemed a little unfair but I guess that’s what separates the pros from the newbies!

Maxis Finder301 Is Not Clever

Note to Maxis – Do not beta test a new product when you require large numbers of people to log in simultaneously to look for places! The Maxis Finder301 is a new service Maxis is launching which acts like a GPS on your phone to lead you to places or food outlets. You’re supposed to send a keyword, e.g. “nasi lemak” to 301 and depending on your location, the service will spill out options (3 options each time) where you can go. You are not charged to receive the SMS but you are definitely charged each and everytime you send to 301 and if there are more than 3 options, you will need to keep sending back SMSes to get the additional options on the other pages!

As Maxis was one of the sponsors, the food hunt required us to actually use this service to locate eateries, police stations and banks to take photos of as part of our challenge. Perhaps due to their unreadiness or the sheer number of people logging in the service was terrible! At one point, we were within the Damansara Uptown and standing right outside Old Town Kopitiam and we kept receiving locations for Old Town Kopitiam in 1 Utama and Jalan Bukit Bintang! FAIL!!

We Finished The Food Hunt Half Hour Early!

When we started the hunt, our aim was to at least win something and we not only finished half an hour early but won ourselves a little hamper for our efforts! We placed 31st place out of 139 teams which was pretty good for newbies! You rock, girls!

*cough* Although there were some indications that the first prize winner and maybe even the second *cough cough* were employees of one of the main *cough* sponsors. If it was true, it was totally unfair and I think sponsors and their employees should have a separate category of prizes from those who actually PAID to join the hunt.

It left a bit of a bitter aftertaste but hopefully that wouldn’t put us off future treasure hunts with the Blogger Babes!

My main reason for doing a Lasik operation several years back was so that I could wear pretty and stylish sunglasses. And I was thrilled to buy my first pair of sunglasses once the operation was done. I am a bit of a brand whore so my first choice of sunglasses was to get a pair of branded sunglasses. That was until I was introduced to Polaroid sunglasses by which are the best sunglasses around especially if your eyes are a little sensitive to light as most Lasik patients are. Read on for my review of Polaroid sunglasses and why you should get a pair too!

What Are Polarized Lenses

Polaroid is actually a brand of sunglasses with polarized lenses for men, women and children. If you are unable to buy Polaroid sunglasses, try to ensure your sunglasses have polarized lenses as they have special filters to cut out glare and reduce eye fatigue.

Light hits our eyes both vertically and horizontally and while vertical light provides colours and contrasts, horizontal light often provides only glare especially on beaches or snow. Polarized lenses blocks the horizontal form of light to protect your eyes and provide better vision.

Why You Should Use Polarized Lenses

Personally, I have tried using polarized and non-polarized lenses and find a marked difference in both. I usually use them when driving and notice that while normal sunglasses reduces some light, there is still usually an overall glare especially off the windscreens of surrounding cars. Polarized lenses, however, filters the glare and light into one small spot on the windscreen of the car which gives me clearer vision and less tired eyes. I always use them on the beach and have been amazed at how well they work in cutting out glare from the beach and sea. I have actually been able to look out to the sea without squinting like I used to with normal UV filtered sunglasses.

A trick to testing polarized lenses are to place two polarized lenses on top of each other at opposite angles and the result should be total blackness if you look through it. I have tried it before and it really does work!

Polaroid has quite a nice range of sunglasses although they may be not be as sporty or trendy as sports sunglasses such as Oakley or Bolle. However, they are a lot more affordable compared to these brands at an average RM200 a pair. Its a good buy for a good pair of sunglasses to protect your eyes with!

What comes to mind when you hear organics? For me, it used to be images of healthy mung beans, alfafa sprouts, vegetarian tree-huggers and premium prices for everyday products. However, I was a little surprised to see that organic food goes beyond that when I was recently in a Justlife Organics shop.

Justlife Organics is a successful organics business in Malaysia that goes beyond simply selling organic food. They are trying to create awareness of a sustainable lifestyle inspired by their love for nature and respect for life. Read on to know more about organic products in Malaysia.

Organic Food in Malaysia

When I was browsing around Justlife, I was surprised to see that they carried quite a good variety of products from organic food, organic household cleaners, organic skincare and even recycle-able paper plates! They also have a good stock of organic and healthy eating books you can buy if you’re planning on embarking on an organic lifestyle. I even saw a setup of a bed with what I believe was organic cotton bedsheets! However, I was a little surprised that I did not see cloth sanitary pads for sale. For me, that together with cloth diapers are the height of sustainable and organic living!

I was quite impressed to see that they had a small selection of gluten-free bread and baked products. Finally, people who suffer from gluten allergies can buy and enjoy bakery products specially catered for them. In Malaysia, there is still a lack of special foodstuff for allergy sufferers and I thought this was a good step in the right direction especially with the rise of allergies in children today.

Organic Food Can Be Expensive

As expected, organic food is expensive which is ironic. The lesser you put in, the more expensive a food becomes! Eating healthily should not cost a dent in your pocket but with a box of organic soymilk going at RM19 instead of RM2.50, it isn’t hard to see why many people are not making that switch to organic foods.

The fresh vegetables are surprisingly more affordable with a small bunch of leafy vegetables going for less than RM3. However, fresh apples and bananas are at least three to four times more expensive which can put a financial burden on your marketing bills.

Personally, I think going organic is good and it might just be the preventive measure for allergies and health diseases. However, it is expensive and I believe, beneficial only if you eat all three meals at home with organic food. If you are like the average urbanite who eats out at least once a day on chemically infused food, it might not bring you much benefits at all.

If you are looking for Organic Shops in Malaysia, Justlife shops can be found at Ikano Power Centre, Queens Park, USJ 14, SS2, Puchong, The Gardens Midvalley, Seremban, Melaka and Penang (link to shops).

In today’s competitive world and the recent banking collapse in the US, the banking industry has no space left for wastes and inefficiencies. However, where every bank is shaping up to be leaner and meaner to retain their customers, I recently had to endure a wasted half day with Maybank just to replace my ATM card! Read about my experience below.

Maybank’s Slow And Inefficient Service

I lost my ATM card and was informed by the telebanker that I could get a replacement from any Maybank branch immediately.

Hence, I was up early the next morning and actually took time off work to head for the nearest Maybank to get my card replaced. I had to fill out an ATM replacement form at the main counter and that was where my nightmare begun.

My form was given to a bank officer who saw me shortly to inform me that they had to check my signature and details with the branch I opened my account with. I thought this would just take a quick phone call…WRONG! It took them the entire morning just to get a simple fax from my branch to verify that my signature was correct!

Better Service By Foreign Banks

Contrast this with HSBC where I was very quickly attended to and a replacement ATM was given to me within 15 minutes!

The Maybank lady even had the cheek to tell me that it was very hard to get hold of my branch because they did not reply. What kind of service is this? Shouldn’t the bank systems be automated with built-in security features to verify their customer’s accounts and details without having to rely on a piece of physical paper with a signature?

This kind of service is totally unacceptable in today’s competitive world where time equals money. And it is sad to note that our biggest local bank is not even up to scratch on their services to their customers.

Making every moment count is Maybank’s tagline. Well, they certainly made my every moment count when I wasted half a day at the bank for a simple ATM replacement.

The RM60 billion stimulus package that was announced by Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, on 10 March 2009 was met with some amount of scepticism by the public. It is Malaysia’s largest ever fiscal stimulus package and a huge increase from the RM7 billion 2009 Budget announced last year. While the amounts sound mind-boggling, how much of that is actually going to benefit the man on the street?

Read on for my review of the 2009 Mini Budget.

Creation of Jobs And Training Opportunities

• The Government has promised 63,000 vacancies in the civil sector – The lack of manpower in the civil sector might have been the reason for our reduced service levels. Hopefully the introduction of these new jobs will improve service levels and times.
• 163,000 training and job placement opportunities will be created to reduce the dependencies on foreign workers – The question that comes to mind again is whether factories are willing to hire locals at a higher price or whether local workers are willing to work the same hours and dangerous conditions that most foreign workers work in.
• Encouragement for post-graduate studies through research grants provided the post-graduate studies are done locally – There is a broad spectrum here as will that only mean local universities or private education institutions available locally? If they mean local universities, are there enough places for these Masters and PhD students?

Read more on the 2009 Mini Budget below.

Tax Reliefs, Subsidies & Investment Opportunities

• Tax relief on interest paid on housing loans up to RM10,000 for 3 years – The caveat here is that this refers only to property purchased with SPA dates from March 10, 2009 to 31 December 2010 provided it is not rented out.
• Subsidies on basic food necessities – Will that really stop the hawkers from increasing their food prices? It will take a mere shift of the oil price upwards for all of us to see our teh tarik increasing by 20 sen!
• Maintenance of toll rates – A budget that proposed a reduction in toll rates would probably have been better received by the rakyat!
• RM1.2 billion to improve infrastructure in Sabah and Sarawak - A tiny bit of that portion should be used to improve the flood mitigation in KL and the terrible roads.
• Auto-scraping scheme with RM5,000 discount on your new Proton or Perodua car – Would you prefer to take a new loan on a new car or drive your debt-free car?
• New LCCT to be built – What will happen to the old one that was built or merging it with KLIA to increase the traffic load in the latter?
• 50% discount on landing costs at KLIA - This will help only if the cost savings are passed on the the travellers.
• RTM to spend RM20 million to develop local music scene – Hurrah?

Will this budget take Malaysia out of the looming Great Recession and increase spending power for the rakyat? It remains to be seen and would be contingent on how the implementation of this mini budget will be done.

And here it is! The 2009 Oscar winners list!

BEST PICTURE: Slumdog Millionaire

BEST DIRECTOR: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

BEST ACTOR: Sean Penn, Milk

BEST ACTRESS: Kate Winslet, The Reader

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Milk

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Slumdog Millionaire

BEST ORIGINAL SONG: A.R. Rahman and Gulzar — Jai Ho, Slumdog Millionaire

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Wall-E

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Departures

BEST ART DIRECTION: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

More below!

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Slumdog Millionaire

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: The Duchess

BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY: Man on a Wire

BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY: Smile Pinki

BEST EDITING: Slumdog Millionaire

BEST MAKEUP: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

BEST ANIMATED SHORT: La Maison en Petits Cubes

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT: Spielzeugland (Toyland)

BEST SOUND EDITING: The Dark Knight

BEST SOUND MIXING: Slumdog Millionaire

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

As beautiful as the Slumdog Millionaire was, shot against the powerful background of a Bombay slum, it is questionable if it was the right thing to bring the child actors and actress out of the slum into Hollywood’s glam and glitz only to send them back into the slums again.

What do you think?

I’ve been looking out for a broadband provider for a while and was trying to find some alternatives to TMNet’s Streamyx as I had heard some issues users were grappling with their connection and coverage. So when I heard about the launch of the Wimax by P1, I was pretty keen to check out what they could offer.

P1 Wimax

P1, owned by Green Packet Sdn Bhd, is currently the first company in Malaysia to launch the Wimax coverage services. They certainly have the competitive edge over their other 3 competitors who are also holding the Wimax license but have yet to launch their package and services.

Wimax, in summary, is an acronym for Worldwide Interoperability of Microwave Access which provides internet coverage for a wide area especially in metropolitan areas. It promises higher connection speeds compared to most broadbands or internet connections which make it a popular choice for internet users.

Currently, the P1 Wimax coverage in the Klang Valley is as far ranging as the KL City Centre, all the way to USJ and even Klang. All across Malaysia, Wimax can be found in states such as Johor Bahru and Penang to provide optional broadband coverage to internet users all around Malaysia. You can check the coverage for your specific area here or with any P1 booths which are available in most shopping centres.

When I checked, I was sad to hear that my area was not in the P1 coverage but because it just skimmed the coverage area, I was given a demo P1 modem to test!  Read about my review of the P1 Wimax coverage below! 

Review of P1 WIMAX Services

I stay in a high-rise condominium and was advised by the P1 staff that connection is usually best from 15th floor and below due to their tower signals. However, depending on your luck and proximity to the tower, you might still be able to get a good connection from a higher floor although you are not in their coverage area.

The modem came in a little purple cloth bag with their P1 Wimax logo.

The P1 modem is a cute little fella with 3 blinking lights on top. It connects to a normal electricity input source and just requires a connection output cable to connect to your laptop. No messy telephone lines or wires to deal with!

There are 3 little lights that take approximately 30 seconds to start up. The middle light determines the connection and will blink red or green, depending on the availability of the coverage.

Fast Wimax Connection

All I had to do was to hook up the connection cable to my laptop and I was almost instantly connected without having to go through any broadband connection or dialing in! For an area out of coverage, I was actually surprised to see rather high connection speeds and was advised that their speeds can reach up to 1.24 Mbps, depending on the package you take. That is the fastest speed available in the market at the moment!

Problems with P1 Wimax

However, I found the signal a little erratic which could be due to the fact that I wasn’t exactly in the coverage area. My Gmail, for example, had some trouble loading although it stabilised after a while. Depending on the location of the P1 tower, the connection also varied from various parts of the house and performed best when the modem was placed close to the window.

I also found that the P1 modem may not work if you are using a work laptop where you do not have permission to install applications. This is because the P1 modem will actually install a little application in your laptop or computer to enable it to connect so you will have to ensure that your computer allows installation of applications.

P1 Wimax Packages

Currently, there are 3 packages available for sign-up which vary from RM49, RM99 and RM199 per month for speeds of 400Kbps, 1.2 Mbps and 2.4 Mbps, respectively. P1 was previously running a promotion which provided a free modem for every package sign-up. Unfortunately, this promotion has ended and modems now have to be purchased at RM199 for a 1 year contract. However, if you sign up for a 2 year contract, you will still be given the modem for free.

So will I sign up for the P1 Wimax?

Well, I do have some concerns about their connection speeds as my area is out of their current coverage area and the stability of their connection over a prolonged period. However, should your area be within their coverage area, I would recommend P1 Wimax. It is incredibly easy to set up and charges a reasonable price for the speeds it currently provides.

Update on P1 Wimax: Based on the recent comments, it does seem like P1 Wimax is still in its stabilisation phase and many users have complained of erratic connection speeds and poor customer service. You might want to wait for a while to see how this stabilises over the next few months before committing to a package.

It is a trend nowadays for hotels to sell loyalty card programmes to the public. Often, it is a discount card which offers all kinds of attractive benefits such as free room stays, free meals, discounts on meals and accommodation packages to their members. There are quite a number available in Malaysia which range from the expensive Shangri-La membership card to the Rennaisance card. However, one of the best hotel discount cards I have found in the market is the Starwood Privilege Card.

It is the best simply because of the wide range of hotels it offers under the Starwood Group. Internationally, the Starwood Group umbrella comprises the Westin Hotel, Sheraton Hotel and Le Meridien Hotel chains which allows great flexibility and choice in dining or accommodation packages. Essentially, you can choose to dine or stay at a wide range of hotels in Kuala Lumpur and around Malaysia.

Read more about their benefits below.

Interested members can opt to sign up for the card for a year and they will receive a booklet of vouchers which includes free accommodation at a 5-star hotel of your choice, food discount vouchers and a free dining vouchers. Membership is renewable on an annual basis and as with all things, the price of membership usually increases. It is now currently slightly under RM600 for a year’s worth of these vouchers which may sound expensive but when you realise that a free night’s stay in any one of their hotels could easily set you back RM400 and up, it does work out in the end!

The best part of the Starwood Privilege card is its dining discounts. The card essentially gives you discounts based on 100% divided by the number of dining guests, e.g. 50% off for two guests, 33% for 3 guests, etc. However, if you dine alone you don’t get 100% off but only a 50% discount! Hence, it is always most beneficial to dine in a pair as it allows you to sample gourmet food in a beautiful ambiance at very decent prices.

I have used the Starwood card before and am indeed pleased with the benefits they offer. It is a great way to treat the family to a lovely meal in a beautiful restaurant. However, I would recommend it only if you have the time and opportunity to frequent the hotels which are mostly located in Kuala Lumpur city. People who stay further may not find it so useful as they will have to battle the traffic jams just to take advantage of their cards. Starwood has also revised some of their benefits and removed the free night accommodation stay in Westin Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. Members can now only choose from Sheraton Imperial, Sheraton Subang or Le Meridien Hotel which are slightly cheaper than the Westin.

Nevertheless, it is a good membership card especially if you love fine dining and 5-star hotel stays! You can check them out here or call +603-2711 7259 for more information. 

Note: For 2009, the free night at Westin is back! Annual membership for 2009 is now RM620. Please contact me if you require a referral for your application.