Category: Thoughts

Fresh As Tesco

A 4 KG carton of honey mandarin oranges I bought from them are still juicy today, some 20 days later. In comparison, a box I received as a gift around the same time were already dried up and some oranges are rotting.

Amazing that the Tesco ones stayed so fresh, juicy and tasty so many days after purchase. It was labelled as Fujian Yongchun Honey Mandarin imported from China by Kaishen Trading. Was cheap too. Cant remember the price but hope co-shopper Johnny can remember.

Shopping for perishables is a hit and miss affair and it depends on luck, I know. I was twice lucky and was also happy with the CNY pineapple tarts bought from Tesco.

Panasonic Lumix GM-1, ISO 200, f4.5, 1/160 sec.

#tesco #mandarins #fruits #oranges #shopping #fruits #cny #tescomalaysia

Inside Imbi Plaza Today

There are many laptop repair shops, all manned by courteous Pakistani people.

It may look or feel no different from certain corridors in nearby Low Yat Plaza where many foreigners, who are sales personnel, try to lure you into repair shops when you window shop.

The Pakistanis are less aggressive here and less scary than the Ah Beng vendors at the mobile phone kiosks in Low Yat Plaza. Those greet you with an automated “Yes?” when you walk near or sneak a glance at their wares. I call them the ‘yes men’ of LYP 🙂

Panasonic Lumix GM-1, ISO 200, f4, 1/60 sec.

#imbiplaza #mall #itmall #shops #history #malaysia #pakistan #kualalumpur

Most Memorable Imbi Plaza Feature

A follower on Instagram Aina Liyana (@pfrsch) commented about remembering one of my blog posts mentioning how the escalators at Imbi Plaza always break down.

I replied saying I am happy she remembered as it was probably written in the 80s and 90s. Also I was dismayed they are working today. That shattered memories that were so characteristic of the now forsaken mall.

I once described it as the world’s only static escalators. They are always in a state of disrepair and the area was dark. Still is.

You may attribute it to Malaysia’s famous lack of maintenance culture, lousy escalator technology or callous disregard for customers when one is ahead or successful. Probably it was also because it wasn’t built or designed with big crowds in mind.

As you can see, Imbi Plaza’s famous escalators are also as narrow as the narrowband dial-up Internet connections available then. It was surreal and painful to see at the time, large and endless crowds stomping up and down nosily.

Because only one direction can be accommodated at any one time, there was a silent unwritten rule about waiting for the break and change of flow. Not the happiest thing, if you are hugging a heavy CRT monitor in a box.

All these happened in the decade or two before Low Yat Plaza (LYP) opened in 1999.

Panasonic Lumix GM-1, ISO 800, f4 1/60 sec.

#imbiplaza #mall #itmall #escalator #history #malaysia #kualalumpur

We Became IT Savvy Through Imbi Plaza

We Became IT Savvy Through Imbi Plaza.

Went to Imbi Plaza today. It brought back so many memories. The once bustling place faded when Low Yat Plaza replaced it as the IT hub. Imbi Plaza had so many shops selling cloned stuff then. It was also the place to go to get a replacement Thundercom 56k dial up modem when it was fried by lightning. Yes, kids. Those days were rough.

When your hypocritical foreign friends, who lectured you about IP rights, come to town, you take them there and they will load up with software worth a few thousand dollars for under RM 100. Imbi Plaza was a must stop for tourists. By now, a whole generation of millennials have probably grown up not ever experiencing it.

People used to buy MP3 music tracks there too. And who can resist those clipart compilations? Clipart is now dead, sadly. Imbi Plaza was also the place to go to get blank CDs if you want to burn copies

I bought a 17″ IBM CRT monitor then, Biggest then and weighed a ton. Almost broke my sagging Artwright 4 feet 2 tier computer table. Everybody had an Artwright 2 tier or aspire to own one then. If you own one, it meant another trip to Imbi to get a flatbed scanner and a buzzing dot matrix printer.

Either you go to Imbi Plaza or you wait for the annual PC Fair.

To its credit, Imbi didn’t handle porn. The most adult material you could get was a copy of Leisure Suit Larry. Adult films and titles were the domain of the red table cloth guys outside a 7-11 or the night market.

The sidewalk cafes next to the old coins and numismatic shops are still there. There was also a stamp (philately) shop. These are some of the non-IT shops I remember. There was a also a Pineapple shop inspired by Apple.

Today, my friend Johnny had a delicious looking beriani rice from one of the sidewalk mamaks. Not surprise to see Pakistani food such as biryani since the computer repair shops are now mostly operated by Pakistanis.

Panasonic Lumix GM-1, ISO 400, f4 1/250 sec.

#beriani #biryani #imbiplaza #rice #itmall

Love At First Sight

I saw a random post on Malay friend Ku Jie about a shop in Sungei Wang. I like reading Ku Jie’s posts, all along, as she is an animal lover and cat rescuer herself.

This time she posted about taking her daughter to an optometrist shop in Sg Wang. I messaged her and she gave me the address and the Sungai Wang floor plan without hesitation. Love at first sight on her readiness to share. Thank you, sis. Apparently, the shop is all the rage and it went viral in Malay Facebook circles.How come? We non-Malays know nothing about Chinese shops in Chinese Central lah.

The shop sells good quality prescription glasses relatively cheap. RM 65 with the frame, it seems. RM 200 something for bifocal or multi focals. Since my old glasses were getting too scratchy, I was excited as I have to be careful with my money. My eyes were getting tired fast when I work on my upcoming book’s layout.

Good friend PuiSee Chu understood the importance of good vision and she agreed to take me there. No tough interrogation or lame excuses. At the shop, we were greeted by the friendly and clumsy optometrist Michael. Clumsy because he accidentally switched off the eye examination machine before he printed out the readings!

So it means testing my eyes a second time. I chose the frames, paid him and he told us to come back in an hour. I made two pairs, one for mild near (short) sightedness and another for long sightedness (reading).

They cost RM 70 a pair with frame and they may be a better fit than those Daiso ready made or ‘pasar malam’ ones which my GP recommended. Some smart alecs will try to discourage you but ask them if they are willing to pay the triple or 4X or higher prices for you.

I asked Michael if he keeps the records so I can call up to order a pair by phone should I break or lose them and he said can order by name. Anyway, I took a picture of the printout just in case.

The shop is Eyewear, Lot G 103, G Floor, Sungai Wang Plaza, Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 03 2143 1448.

Try at your own risk but do let me know if you are happy or satisfied. I am. Like phone shops, there are many copycats on the same floor or row. So stick to the tried and tested one.

What did we do while waiting for the specs? Since we were at Ah Beng and Ah Lian Central, we went for Chinese hipster food in the form of Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tarts. Haha.

Asus Zenfone3, ISO 304, f2, 1/60 sec.

#eyewear #glasses #optometerist #sgwang #asuszenfone3 #asus