Happy 51st Merdeka

Found this cake at the bakery in Jusco, Alpha Angle. It was made weeks before the actual Merdeka day, today. I am surprised why the owner put up a display notice on the cake - Display Only.

If I was the maker, I would not hesitate to sell it at any price. But not this one. Is there another meaning to this display? You tell me.

Jalan Gombak - Dark As Hell At Night

Because of the extensive roadwork for the expansion of Jalan Gombak (and Genting Kelang) all streets lamps from Jalan Chong Hwa till Sungai Mulia (5th Mile) have been rendered light-less and at nights, especially on rainy nights, you can't see a thing. Don't believe me, see the picture below.


Where got lights?


For a sub-urban road, bikers riding without lights and old people crossing the roads are a common sight. So are the many foreign students who are fond of dressing in black. Unless they look at you from the dark and flash a toothy smile, you may chance on them too late and hit a tragedy.

So, if you are driving along this stretch, please go slow and if on rainy nights, go extremely slow and keep your eyes on the road. I just hope the MP will take a ride here one of these nights and hurry the contractors in installing the lights. The pitch darkness is dangerous to all and sundry.

Story of the Setapak Tunnel

Do you know the story behind the Setapak Tunnel? The one which sits oddly under the road in front of the Setapak Police Station and approachable via Jalan Gombak if you want to go to KL city?

In the 70s, this tunnel had not yet existed. Jalan Gombak meets Jalan Pahang at a T-junction with traffic lights. As development came to the upper reaches of Jalan Gombak and Jalan Genting Kelang, backlogs became the norm. Then sometime in the 80s, work was given to a concessionaire to improve traffic along both Jalan Gombak, Jalan Pahang and Jalan Genting Kelang.

The tunnel was built, the traffic lights removed, and when the new upgraded road was opened, a toll booth was set up at Jalan Pahang near the Jalan Pekeliling roundabout, just opposite Tawakal Hospital. Toll was collected by the concessionaire for all traffic heading towards town - first 50 sen, then more. The reason: the concessionaire had spent money on upgrading the road. Traffic going home however, was not tolled.

After collecting for more than a decade, 12 years if memory serves me right, the toll booth was demolished. This is the reason why you find Jalan Pahang, which is two lane, opens widely to join the Pekeliling roundabout in front of Tawakal.

Eye on Malaysia Going South

Eye on Malaysia. Moving to Malacca.

Did you know that the Eye on Malaysia ferris wheel in Lake Titiwangsa is heading to Malacca at year's end? I wonder what the vast space built just for this purpose will be used as. Without the Eye, it will probably be as empty as hell. Maybe it could even attract youngsters to lepak there on weekends. Why the Eye had to be moved is because some rich fellas staying in Titiwangsa area complained that the attraction caused them hardship and sleepless nights because of the traffic generated nightly. Good now, the park will be a ghost park on weekdays, save for the few odd joggers on their nocturnal run.

Map: Desa Setapak

View Larger Map

This is the map of Desa Setapak

This is one good pharmacy

If you are around Taman Melawati, check out this pharmacy facing the Melawati Food Square. It is next door to Video Ezy. I am writing about it because the prices here are very reasonable.

The shop assistants are also very friendly and the boss is also quite generous with discounts. I now avoid the pharmaceutical chains and go here because the prices and range of products are good. Just when you think one brand is uniformly priced, this pharmacy proves you otherwise. So, if you are around the neighbourhood, check it out.

Royal Selangor Sale This Weekend!

Need more be said? Of course not! Here's two pictures that speak louder than any words can - of course, in a language only pewter lovers can understand!





Click on the pictures to see bigger ones.

Venue? Call them lah! And oh, don't forget, tell them you heard it first here!

Wanna Make Some Money This Ramadan?

Muslim readers take note. Wanna make extra cash this Ramadan? Go check out the Ramadan Bazaar tender listed below. This info is provided as a public service to you guys and gals.

(Tsk. Tsk. If you are operating a bazaar, can get some good discounts or not?)

Tadak Baca-kah? - Another ugly side of people frequenting Wangsa Maju

This shot was recently taken of an inconsiderate driver parking in a lot for the handicapped on top of Carrefour hypermarket. Just because the driver wants to get nearer to the entrance, the car was just driven into the blue lot reserved for the handicapped. If she was handicapped, then most certainly it was not displayed on her car as all should have been. How inconsiderate!

New Restaurant In Air Panas?

If you pass by the Air Panas padang, you will not miss this yellow building. It is actually a new restaurant. Food is cheap and premises clean. Sure beats the hawker centre opposite the market - which in the afternoons can be a hot house.

Since the fuel price hikes, several new eateries have been seen around the Wangsa Maju area, not just Air Panas alone. This is good, offering choice and variety in terms of pricing and gastronomy.

Let's hope in their frenzy of making money, these food operators observe some integrity and keeping their premises clean is a must -and oh, stop employing immigrants as your cooks if you don't know their health status.


The decade old hawker centre - needs some cleaning up!

New Junction At Jalan Usahawan Needs A Traffic Light

Watch out when you arrive at this junction.

This junction lies between the bend in the road from Genting Kelang (Jalan Usahawan) and the Kia service centre in Jalan Usahawan 6.

The new road has just been opened to cater to the low-cost apartment dwellers that have just moved in. What used to be a tiny laterite path is now a tarred road and more and more people are using it.

Accidents are bound to happen one of these days when a careless motorist loses his attention and drives into oncoming traffic.

So, when will City Hall put up a traffic lights?

Longkang Post This, But You Better Read It

YOU must be wondering why I am putting up this 'longkang' post. Well, take a look at the pictures.


Seen anything peculiar?


There you have it. Evidence of misdeeds!

Seen anything peculiar of this 'longkang' (drain) which lies beneath a dense foliage of casuarinas beside the perimeter wall of the Royal Selangor Pewter company at Jalan Usahawan? Look below then, in case you did not sense anything amiss. See the white stubs of cigarette butts?

If you wonder why I put up a post on these stubs, well, here is the explanation: The dense foliage where these pictures were taken is the hideout for students from a nearby school playing truants.

Which school I shall not name but will leave it to your imagination. Suffice to say that each day their rich parents in big cars drop them by with hopes as high as the fees they pay that their children will study hard and end up successful one day. It will be a heartbreak if these parents find out what their children do after they make the turn to drive home each morning.

Well, some of these hardcore Mat Pontengs look for their gang and head for the sanctuary of this 'longkang'. These mid-teens happily puff away, with nary a care in the world, and well protected from prying eyes behind the thick foliage. Some, after having their puffs, hail taxis and go elsewhere, to return to school just before the day's bell rings and before their parents pick them up. How's school you ask? Heck, great as ever!

If you are one of those parents who think you are doing your kids a favour sending them to special schools because you think the regular school life stinks and well-loaded against them, well, do yourself another favour - one of these mornings, return for a surprise check along this stretch of drain by Royal Selangor Pewter. If you see your kid in the 'longkang', give him or her a piece of yur mind (even if he/she is not your kid) so that he/she won't end up in the real 'longkang' of life a decade from now.


Best time to check this longkang is in the mornings.

Ask the security guards at Royal Selangor what the students have been doing in the 'longkang' daily and once you have gotten your answers, ask the school authorities what they are doing about the facts you have in your hands.

No point sending your kids to good schools only to find out too late they all they ever studied was with their peers in the longkang!