Month: May 2017

I Met The Teh Tarik Poster Boy Called Hang Tarik

I Met The Teh Tarik Poster Boy Called Hang Tarik.

F&N Beverages Marketing launched the F&N Teh Tarik Mega 2017 event at Mydin Hypermart USJ yesterday.

On hand was Radhi Khalid, aka Hang Tarik F&N. He demonstrated his skills in making the frothy or pulled tea while performing Malay martial arts or silat, and dancing to traditional Hari Raya tunes.

The tea is a unique Malaysian concoction where it is a popular drink at roadside tea stalls. A cultural icon in many ways.

The pulling is the mixing from two containers to mix the milk and tea well and also to cool the brew, and to make it frothy. It is the showmanship element in dragging a long stream of tea between two vessels that made it appealing and legendary.

According to Hang Tarik, who is also the brand ambassador, the secret to a perfect cuppa is to ‘kahwin’ or marry F&N’s Sweetened Condensed Milk with F&N’s Evaporated Milk.

I had one iced version served there, made with F&N’s Evaporated Milk and I loved it very much as It is less sweet. Will try this at home.

Pic of Hang Tarik pulling hot milk tea pulled from publicity posters.

#fn #fntehtarik #tehtarik #tea #milktea #posterboy #fntehtarik #fnmilk #malaysian #mamak #hangtarik

Valuable Lessons Learned

Valuable Lessons Learned.

Sharing my experience so others may learn or benefit when it happens. My Unifi Internet broadband connection went down with the landline since last night. Contacted a friend in TM but she couldn’t help much. She did suggest something helpful. She said one surefire way to get their attention is to tweet @TMConnects.

Interestingly and unexpectedly I received a SMS text via my mobile phone saying “Dear TM Customer apolozize [sic] there may be some delay in restoring svc (my phone number) at your area. Expected new restoration date by 20/05/2017 06:59 PM”. Unexpected, because I have not made an official report to TMnet as yet. What does this means? It means TMnet is now proactive and is able to detect a fault on its own! Wow. Haha. It is contacting customers automatically when they detect a fault? Amazing!

Anyway, I tweeted TMConnects and received a prompt reply. The reply said they checked and a fiber cable was broken about 1 km from the exchange and that immediate restoration was underway. Damn. I thought this type of problem was over without copper cables but improperly done digging can still damage optical cables, if that was the cause.

The Twitter Support is much better option than calling a support number with an endless queue and clueless operator. You get quick answers on Twitter DM. The handler is friendly and good humoured. But have your TM account number ready. And always have a backup via a phone with data and a Twitter account to have access to this support option. Get both done before disaster strikes.

Then another problem came about.

I have preciously tethered my PC with wireless hotspot with my previous Samsung phone. Oddly, it no longer works with my new Asus phone this time. Didn’t work with my mom’s Samsung too. I surrendered and let Microsoft troubleshooter analyze the connection problem. I rarely do that. It found another connection active. The PC has its own wireless receiver or dongle on the motherboard. I forgot all about a network cable plugged in. Pulled the cable out and wireless hotspot started working again. Phew!

If you find the tips useful, save it somewhere accessible offline. You won’t have Internet to read this when you are in a similar spot.

Pic: Slow speed capture of streaming evening city traffic made it looked like light pulses (data) passing through a fiber optic cable.

#tmnet #unifi #fiberoptic #fiber #fibre #optical #telco #internet #tm #tmconnects

Let’s Go Kosovo

OK. I’ll jump the gun a bit and reveal some happy news. I received a booking for a hotel in Pristina, the capital and largest city of Kosovo. Kosovo is a partially recognised state in Southeastern Europe that unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in February 2008.

It became the Republic of Kosovo. War torn Kosovo’s capital is Pristina and it has a strong Albanian community with a very rich historical and cultural heritage.

I am happy not just for the unusual travel destination and the chance to learn and see more of the unfamiliar country. The “booker”, a friend, soon messaged me to tell me it was her who booked the hotel. It made me doubly happy not just for the sale but because she had previously visited 23 out of 48 countries in Europe.

It is gratifying to know such a savvy and experienced traveler has confidence in the system I set up in the form of MyCen Hotels (http://www.mycen.my/). Looking forward to her pics and crediting her when she returns.

Mother Teresa, known in the Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta. was from Albania, the neighbouring country of Kosovo.

Pic: The Great Hamam of Pristina (an Ottoman era monument) and the Imperial Mosque. (left) The Catholic Cathedral of Blessed Mother Teresa. (right)

Pic by Bujar Imer Gashi (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Masjid Terapung Puchong

Sun, rain, mist, algae and moss. I have a lot to say about pond scum and our famous “lack of maintenance” culture but I’ll save it for another day or until I visit again. Good thing, the serene and beautiful mosque made it more bearable.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 2500, f8, 1/160 sec.

‪#‎documentaryphotography‬ ‪#landscape #algae #floating #mosque #masjidterapung #puchong #pond #pondscum #‎sonyalpha‬ ‪#‎a7r‬ ‪#‎samyang

1000 99

There was a recent news story entitled “Boy Who Was Stricken With Polio And Is Wheelchair-Bound, Now Owns 800 Minimart Outlets
Throughout Malaysia”.

Link to article: http://www.malaysiandigest.com/frontpage/29-4-tile/674400-boy-who-was-stricken-with-polio-and-is-wheelchair-bound-now-owns-800-minimart-outlets-throughout-m-sia.html

People forget that the poor guy, Mr Lee Thiam Wah, almost became a victim of racist, vicious and unwarranted boycott campaign targeted at 99 Speedmart after the elections.

I went out of the way to support him because I knew he was a genuine rags to riches story, a disabled person AND most of all, he is a non racist.

His staff used to tell me he treats them well. The irony about the absurd boycott is that he employed over 8000 staff, who are mostly Malays.

In my travels and exploration, I always see a 99 Speedmart outlet in every unknown and new neighborhood. I was thinking this a network more extensive than police stations or post offices. Surely it will be worth gold in future. Power to the hardworking man in a wheelchair. What an inspiring story for entrepreneurs.

Update/edit: I checked their Facebook page and 99 Speedmart has already opened its 951 outlet, nearing a grand total of 1000.

Website:
http://www.99speedmart.com.my/