It saddened me to see a forlorn cat in Kukup. With water everywhere, a swamp ain’t no place to keep a cat or dog. Without sterilization, the stray population grows and many became feral.
I know we can’t save the world always but we can be empathetic and help educate ignorant pet owners.
#strays #animals #cats #dogs #animals #swamp #kukup #johor
Three Little Dogs.
Stumbled upon an ‘awww’ moment.
Three homeless puppies watching a stray cat eat. Living on the streets, the trio would have learned early life lessons that cats scratch.
I shouted: Guys! Stop hoping. Cats don’t share.
Cat turned around and gave me a look that says: “Yeah. Get them off my back. I’m trying to eat here.”
Photographed at Kuala Pilah market one morning.
Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 320, f4, 1/200 sec.
#streetphotography #cat #dog #homeless #puppy #kualapilah #sonyalpha #a7r #zeiss
Son Of A Hotel Owner.
I had a childhood friend whose family operated a hotel with the grand sounding name of Hotel De Luxe.
When he went to London to study, his reputation as a hotel owner commanded a lot of respect. His uni mates thought it must be a legendary hotel like the ones in Hollywood or Rome, housed in an art deco building. He told them the hotel had a casino.
In reality, it was a ‘rumah tumpangan’ or a budget lodging house above the family’s coffee shop or kopitiam. The casino was the mahjong table in a corner. Lol.
The friend has since migrated to the states. I am sure he will make it big.
I know about rumah tumpangan as I worked for the late Malay movie legend Mustapha Maarof. He owned a production house and was very frugal. We, the film crew, must look for the cheapest hotels when were were outstation. It may sound tough but I now appreciate the experience and challenges of traveling on a shoestring budget.
Those ‘rumah tumpangan’ were the predecessors of today’s slick budget hotels. The walls or partitions don’t touch the ceilings. That means you can hear everything from the next room. There is usually a ceiling fan in the middle, a spittoon and a mosquito coil provided. A thermos flask for hot water and a bar of 999 Chlorophyll Soap were also provided. The anti skin infection soap was a good idea as the blankets were furry from wear.
If you are lucky, you can order food from the coffee shop downstairs. Famous Yong Suan and its nasi ganja in Ipoh is a good example. When the highway opened up, it eliminated travel time and the need to stop overnight. Unfortunately, the owners were not online savvy and made no affiliations with online agents and were unable to compete relying on walk in guests alone.
There was one in every town, big or small, to cater to the traveling salesmen and van drivers or delivery men. It is a legacy institution fast fading,
Picture of Lok Ann Hotel from 1938 boarded up and awaiting demolition to make way for the MRT. The Chinatown hotel is a venerable landmark with a coffee shop on the ground floor. Pic was taken in April 2015. The giant flag bearers were part of the flag vaulting team in a chingay parade. .
#history #rumahtumpngan
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
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/
