Marina Court Resort Condo Hotel Kota Kinabalu

I am glad Jugjet Singh Randhawa remembered the name of the hotel the NPC entourage from KL stayed in while in Sabah. Finding a forgotten hotel is like reuniting with a long lost friend. Because of the big entourage, we were put up in an apartment/condo style hotel. It is near The Klagan @ Riverson featured earlier.

I have forgotten the names of many hotels I stayed because I didn’t keep mementos or records. Entire hard disks were also lost in crashes. After the introduction of blogging and social media, at least there are some written records or pics archived in the cloud somewhere. Many times, we lose touch or are no longer friends with the people we traveled with. So it is hard to even recall a name.

In a stroke of bad luck, both me and travel partner lost all pics we had from an extensive tour of Vietnam. She too cannot remember the names of all the hotels we stayed.

This hotel brought back some fond memories. My apartment mate was the late Uncle Bernard Khoo, better known as the blogger Zorro Unmasked. He left for heaven in 2014. The late Bernard, being fatherly and naggy was put in charge of the beer inventory. We carted so many crates to Sabah. Bernard was annoyed by people who came to our unit to drink and left unfinished cans lying about. It as a cardinal sin for drinkers according to Bernard.

Marina Court Resort Condo hotel is impersonal but functional. A chartered bus picked us from the guardhouse daily. I don’t recall a lobby or reception area. There are some things I like about it. Main thing was the location facing the ocean. the then South China Sea and Pulau Gaya. What does that means? If you stay on a floor high enough, you get a spectacular view, especially during sunset.

I will follow with a couple of pics if I can find them. This post is in memory of Bernard Khoo (1940 to 1974).

Book or see Marina Court Resort Condo Hotel.via this link. http://www.mycen.my/marina-court-resort-condo-hotel-kota-kinabalu/

Men With Hats

Meet two of the chefs who will be bringing us fine cuisine in the “Kampung In The City” Buka Puasa buffet during Ramadan at the KL Convention Centre.

On the left is Chef Mohd Noor Bin Mus, the Chef De Cuisine from Kedah. On right is Chef Amir Muhamad, the Malay Food Chef from Johor. He was formerly with Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur.

They will be responsible for the regional touch of some of the dishes to be served. The buffet starts from 5th to 20th June. Cost per pax is RM 115 nett. See preview pictures in previous posts.

See also the Press Release at MyCen PR on FB for more info.

Incidentally, “The Safety Dance” was one of my favourite 80s songs by Canadian new wave/synthpop band Men Without Hats.

Bang The Rusty Gong. Hail The King! – Part 2 of A Two Parter

Anyway, back in KL in the early 2000s, I discovered our own Flea Market that was naturally also a Thieves Market. It as known as Pasar Karat or Rust Market and was located at the back of Petaling Street, Chinatown. There was an obvious clue that it was a Thieves Market and it didn’t require Sherlock or Combo to decipher.

It was that many of the shoes displayed on the ground were only one half a pair. Yet there were many customers happily choosing. Maybe they lost half a pair. I was told that if a drug addict or burglar climbed over your fence and stole your shoe, there is a good chance of getting or buying it back here. Because thefts happen at night and the thieves need to unload stuff fast, Pasar Karat opened as early as 5 am to cater to such sellers. Expectedly, they don’t welcome cameras, unless you intend to sell yours. This was the only pic I had.

Many of the non stolen items were like old telephones, tap fittings and vintage radios. Many items were severely rusted, living up to the bazaar’s name.

One morning, I went with a friend at 5 am and we walked around and saw a 20″ LCD TV for sale. 20″ flat screen was a big deal then, Yes. FOL (F Our Lives). Eager to find out the price, we were told by traders to wait for The King. Only The King can set the price for everything there including a hot water shower and a rusted axe. It was so bizarre but we waited. This King must be a burly gangster type with tattoos, like any “fence” buying stolen property we speculated.

At 7 am, there was much excitement, when a scrawny Chinese guy with thin limbs came honking on a three wheeled motorcycle with a sidecar. He was shirtless and a former polio sufferer. Everyone bowed and clasped their hands against their heads. Bang a rusty gong! Royalty is here! He jumped on top of his motorcycle sidecar and picked up a Nike Air Max or similar and raised 3 fingers. It meant RM30 and there were loud oohs and ahhs from the crowd surrounding The King. He was The Man and sellers and buyers respected him. That was back in 2004. Not sure how much has changed. That famous Yuk Woo Hin Dim Sum shop where we feasted before going rust shopping is now closed.

End Of Part 2 – continued from Part 1 in previous post.

Finding Jarnail Singh In Perth

Finding Jarnail Singh In Perth

Searching for an old long lost friend is incredibly frustrating. A million similar names turned up. It’s a jungle out there. Finally found an unexpected break but may NEED YOUR HELP.

Anybody with a Linkin account? I dont have a Linkin account and I dont understand how it works. I was searching for an old college mate who migrated to Australia. Searched on Google and found him on Linkin. Saw his picture and he has aged as all humans do. But I can recognise him. There are some clues in his resume that suggest he might be the same person.

Last I met Jarnail Singh was when he was known as George and was a hotel management student in Chur, Switzerland in the 1980s. During our last online contact he told me he switched career to become a server admin and migrated to Australia. Before G-mail, every precious mail on Outlook was lost. Sadly

If you have a Linkin account maybe you can message him? All I need you to do, is for you to contact him and asked if he was from Ipoh and studied in Switzerland and was George then.

As I recall, he was a bit sensitive about his childhood name after settling in Australia and disowned it. Maybe is a “born again Sikh” thing? Nobody knows him by George anymore, he told me by our last email. Then, please tell him politely that his old freind TV Smith in KL is longing to contact him. Please contact me at tvsmith@gmail.com or by Facebook, if he has one. I am excited by the development and prospect. Thank you so much to anyone helping.

The Linkin link is https://au.linkedin.com/in/jarnail-singh-9bb8ab70

Update: Kind friends, please update me if you made contact so he doesn’t get spammed repeatedly. Rian Maelzer. I now you are proficient with finding people through Linkin. Maybe you can help or guide me?

1st picture is of me and George drinking in Switzerland.

2nd pic. Crazy George calling home to Ipoh in winter and was in a sarong after we drove to Austria looking for drinks after midnight.

3rd pic is his current profile pic in Linkin.

George, George, George of the jungle
Lives a life that’s free
Ahhh
Watch out for that tree!