Unethical Travel Agent in SS 2 - Wins Vacation Services Sdn Bhd
My parents and a few of their friends had recently decided to take a tour package to Chiang Mai. being senior citizens, tour packages are always a better option for them as they don't exactly like to do research and plan their journey, harhar!

So one of the ladies walked into a travel agent in SS 2, Wins Vacation Services Sdn Bhd, and got some package details to share with the rest of the group. The group decided and paid a deposit first.

My dad MSNed me one fine day, telling me they had made arrangements to go to Chiang Mai for a holiday at the end of the month, and even told me their flight would depart at around 10am. Which was good for them cos that would mean they wouldn't have to wake up in the wee hours of the morning and rush to the airport. Couple of days later, my mum informed me that the travel agent had conned them, and now their flight was departing at 7.20am instead... Which means the group has to be at the airport at 5.20am. WTF?!

This was the scope I got from my parents: My parents had gone to the travel agent to pay the remaining sum of the tour package. Before making the payment, my mum clarified with the sales girl/clerk/whoever that was there attending to her, to ascertain the flight details once again. "So the flight is at 10am+, right?" to which the girl said yes.

The moment money was handed across the counter, the girl reached out and took another itinerary from under the desk, and informed my parents that the flight has now been changed to 7.20am, instead of the "agreed" 10am. My parents were of course, taken aback and questioned the girl. The girl insisted that the flight will now depart at 7.20am, and not at 10am.

Talk about a fast con job. Fucking agents pulled a really fast on here, and I'm pissed.

My parents are now going around telling all their friends about unethical travel agent. I also did some research and found out this agent is a member of MATTA. I advised my parents to lodge a formal complaint, we shouldn't let such unscrupulous agents get away with such ease.

Stay away from this travel agent. Here are their MATTA details:

COMPANY INFO
Member No. : MA2404
Status : Active
Address : No 41M, Jalan SS2/64, 47300 Petaling Jaya Malaysia
General Telephone Line : Not available
Telephone No. : (603) 7875 4168 / 6168 / 9168
Fax No : (603) 7875 5168
Company Email : winsvac@hotmail.com
Website : http://www.winstravel.com.my/

Contact Person : Mr. Lim Chan Hong (Director)
Email :Not available
HP No. : Not available
Official Representative : Not available
Alternate Representative : Not available

MATTA INFO
MOCAT KKKP No : 4563
Nature of Business : Inbound, Outbound, Ticketing
Bumi Status : Non-Bumiputera

Emo-ness
It's been a little over a year since the 2nd time. Yet on days like this I still feel the pain. I feel hurt. It's as though I've been treated unfairly for reasons I will never know. I don't like it at all.

They say time will heal all wounds. I still need more time. I failed to see the beauty it in already. Or maybe I just don't want to see it altogether. Not right now. I don't place importance on things that don't exist. It was never in the equation in the first place. In the modern age now, it's not a mandatory requirement anyway. Just an optional check-box in my books.

I hate days when I feel emo. Bleh~

Sudah Potong?
The recent P1 Wimax "Potong" ad has caused a little furore in some womens' group. The groups have voiced out against the ad, saying it's rude, distasteful, degrading and contains sexual innuendos. Some also added that the very word "potong", which means "cut" in English, is bad for all ladies to listen.

If you haven't already seen the ad, watch the YouTube video links below to get the better idea of the ad:

Cantonese version


BM version


This is my take on the ad: When I first saw it, I LOLed. Really. I knew what the key message was. P1 is asking consumers to "cut" their existing contract with their ISP, and switch over to them. The message was delivered in a different way. Rather that be straight upfront, as in, just tell consumers to switch ISP, the dialogue was written in a different manner. It probably made people "think" that "potong/to cut" = "circumsize".

Now, I want to pose this question to those that are against this ad. What are you guys actually so mad at? The very words "potong" and "cut"? We use these 2 words a lot in our daily conversations bah. Also, there's ice-cream "potong". So does that mean we have to ban this ice-cream now? What about the Quickcut hair salon service, which offers a quick 15-minute hair cut? Should we ban them too? And what about Streamyx's counter-attack on the very same P1 WImax radio ad? A whole lot of "potong" and "cut" there too. Maybe we should ban them as well.

The ad did a good job in delivering its message. It can't be held responsible should you choose to think "senget".

Obnoxious-ness
If you're familiar with Ikano, there's a shoe and luggage repair shop at the lower ground floor. Hubby and I made our way there this morning, because one of the handles on our luggage bag needed repair, and one of my favourite pair of heels is also in need of repair. Mind you, this pair of heels has been with me for a good 3-4 years and have seen better days, but I love it because it's so easy to pair it with any outfit and it's comfortable :)

As we walked into the shop, we noticed a stack of luggage bags in front already, all tied up. I also noticed several boxes of Salvatore Ferragamo shoe boxes all piled up just behind the counter. On the right were some more shoe boxes, mostly couture labels. The aunty who was manning the counter was busy talking to one of her staff, noticed us waiting to speak with her and gave us a clear nod to approach her.

I took out my heels from the shoe box and showed it to her, and asked if they can repair it (one of the heel straps had come off from the underside). "Can repair..." she said in Cantonese. "But first I wanna ask you... How do you wear your shoe har?! Why wear until here faded wan?!? Why does the tip have dents on it?!"

... I was clearly in shocked and didn't know how to reply her. Like, all I asked was if they can repair the shoe. And she started questioning me how I wear my shoes! She was lecturing me like a mother would lecture her son for not scoring straight As in his examination. My shoes were freaking 3 years old wei! Any good fabric would fade in colour over time, and sometimes you will knock into steps and pebbles bah. You don't expect a shoe to still be in tip top shape after constant usage, do you?!?

She proceeded to hard-sell (and I really mean HARD-SELL) the anti-slip fabrics. Telling me and hubby that they're the only ones that use gwailo (imported) materials, while others use cheap stuff. She even took out all the various anti-slips just to "educate" us about it. She even grabbed one of the shoe boxes (which so happen, was a pair of Moschino heels) and told us "See? This client wants to put anti-slip, and we will pair it with the leather anti-slip, cos she wants more expensive material.."

She went on and on and on (I seriously detest aunties like this, damn annoying giler) lecturing and hard-selling even more when hubby showed her our luggage bag. "Oh, you see this frame ah, it's wood! That's why so tahan! Nowadays luggage bags all cheap plastic! All spoil easily! Yours still good cos the frame is wood!"

In the end, we "thanked" her for her "consultancy" and said we'll think about her quotation to repair both the bag and heels. MCH, all we wanted to know was:

1) Do you do such repair?
2) How much?

If she had spoke to use nicely, perhaps I would've considered getting my heels repaired there. But fuck! I certainly didn't expect to get a full blown lecture. Moreover, the cost to repair both the items were even MORE than the actual cost of the bag and shoes! Ya lah, you go repair all your Fei-Lat-Gai-Mou (Ferragamo in China-beng slang) and Gucci lah!

Of Credit Cards & Even More Taxes
Recently during the announcement of the Budget 2010, the gomen announced that for every credit card the rakyat owns, they now have to pay the gomen tax for it.

Yes. Tax. For each of the credit card you own.

Their reasoning was to promote more prudent spending among the rakyat, which in return will result in less bad debts. So, in order to protect the rakyat from going bankrupt because of credit card debts, better the rakyat give some of it to the gomen too, hor? After all, the rakyat is already paying income tax every year, paying to use the highway everyday, paying excise duties for the cars they buy, paying gomen tax for the food they eat etc. What's a little more tax, right?

So for each principle card you own, your tax is RM 50. For each supplementary card you own, your tax is RM 25.

I'll bet you, lotsa people are gonna start canceling their credit cards, especially those that hold multiple cards. Imagine someone holding 8 principle credit cards. He/she will have to pay RM 450 annually to the gomen.

Hubby and I own cards from 2 banks. We normally use just one bank, the other acts as a back-up. With this recent announcement, we're looking to cancel one of the cards liao. We're so not gonna fucking pay the gomen extra tax. Cis bedebah!

Alexis @ The Gardens, MidValley (sucketh)
The boss took the whole department for lunch recently, and the location was Alexis @ The Gardens, MidValley. Here's a snippet of some of the food we ordered and what we experienced...

From left (clockwise): Alexis menu, Interior, Chicken-sumthing, tiramisu with cognac, nasi lemak, fish & chips, baked seafood pasta & wagyu beef cheeks.

I won't go back to Alexis, at least not The Gardens outlet. Here's why:

1) Upon entering the premise, my colleague and I informed the waiter standing outside that we had reservations under the company name. He casually waved his hand to the wall, just to indicate our table was somewhere there.

2) The waiter that was serving our table had a face as though he hasn't been getting any bedroom action in months.

3) That same waiter acted really lansi (snobbish) to my colleague when my colleague pointed that he got his order wrong... "You ordered ice coffee, I gave you ice coffee..." WTF!

4) A colleague who arrived late was patiently waiting for her food, just to see it go to another colleague who had already eaten. The waiter with the stone face was not smart enough to see all the empty plates and bowls on the table in front of us.

5) My boss spotted some weird fabric in his glass just as he gulped down his coffee. He informed the waiter with a stone face, to which he apologized and offered to replace the drink, but my boss decided that he had enough.

6) Food was ok only lah. I thought my wagyu was a tad too salty. And the attitude of the waiters were as though they fucking own that shit hole and everyone patronizing the restaurant owed them the freaking universe.

7) Alexis @ The Gardens, your waiters sucketh.

Men & Women
Women:
I like your blouse/skirt, very nice la *touches fabric*

Men:
You will never find them touching another guy's shirt/trousers/jeans and giving compliments at the same time. Probably if the guy stretches his hand to touch another guy's shirt/pants, that guy will freak out and say "WTF?! Stay away you homo!"

Women:
I'm going to the ladies...
Oh, I'll come with you...
Me too...

Men:
You will never find them going to the gents together-gether. Unless their plan is to sabo each other in the loo.

Dim Sum Brunch @ Noble House, KL
Once again, the bunch of us made our way downtown, this time to Nobel House to check out their dim sum buffet. A friend of ours had made reservations over a month ago for this, which I had completely forgotten (haha!) until she brought it up a week before the reservation date.

So 8 of us made our way on a bright Sunday, and prepared to gorge ourselves with some delicious dim sum~ @ RM 39 ++ per pax (I really must stop eating like this! :P)

Interior of Noble House.

Noble House serves Chinese gourmet creations and delicacies with a modern touch. being located in a midst of some huge bungalows downtown, parking is a kinda limited. The interior of the restaurant is pretty open-air, with contemporary furnitures and deco. In the centre of the ground floor is a small water feature (typical Chinese feng shui, hehe!).

One of the functions rooms.

The array of steamed dim sums available.

We were ushered upstairs to one of the main function halls for the dim sum buffet. There was quite a wide range of dim sums for you to choose from. From the steamed dim sums to the fried varieties, you'll be spoilt for choices! There was also Peking duck! OM NOM NOM NOM NOM!

Fried dim sums. There were more to come!

Claypot stews and soups.

There were also mini claypot dishes available. You can choose from chicken in Chinese wine to porridge. Just pick your choice from the dishes on display in front, and the chefs will prepare them on the spot for you. The chicken in Chinese wine ("wong zhau gai") was really really nice :D I shared 3 bowls of that with a girl friend, ahaks!

Even salmon sashimi was available!

Cold dishes such as prawns and salad.

Pig's ears, sedap~

Some fried dim sum variety.

The package my friend had reserved also included one bowl of shark's fin each, but I didn't take any (gave to hubby instead, hehe!)

Roasted pork belly! *crunch*

Some dishes were definitely more popular than others. Waiters were kept busy clearing tables and refilling dishes at the buffet counters. In fact, I think the chefs will periodically change the buffet dishes, and some dishes which were not available earlier, became available!

Don't waste food!

Last but not least, take only what you can consume and do not waste food :D We made sure we ate everything we all took, haha! There were also desserts available, and I absolutely loved the honey dew sago! I had 3 bowsl of that dessert, oh-la-la~ Overall, we had a good NOM NOM time at Nobel House. Hubby and I were still feeling full right up till dinner time, LOL!