Asian Tiger

Since the formation of Malaysia, we have said that Malaysia is one of the safest place in the world where there are no natural disasters like earthquake or hurricane or typhoon. We do however suffer from floods, droughts and landslides. Today, at 2:40pm, the earth shook in Sabah; experts say its a tremor measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale. To me, that’s a freaking earthquake.

News on The Star online said:

KOTA KINABALU: Scores of people in hotels and other multi-storey buildings rushed out to the streets after a strong tremor struck the southeastern Sabah town of Tawau at about 2.40pm on Sunday.

The tremor shook the buildings, causing window panes to rattle as the occupants ran out.

A Sabah Meteorological Services Department official said the tremor measured 4.3 on the Richter scale with its epicentre about 71km northwest of Tawau town, in the Kalabakan area.

That epicenter is right smack on our land. This is not like an earthquake happening in the Philippines and it’s tremors felt in Malaysia. This is earth shaking below our very legs.

Ladies and gentlemen, Malaysia got earthquake.

Beginning today, Malaysia Airlines is giving away zero fares for its domestic fares.  There are terms and conditions attached to it; something on the line of no change, no show, no refund, no flight change, no passenger change, etc etc.  Best to read their fine prints on their website.

I’m a little surprised that Malaysia Airlines is going this route (i.e. free fares) similar to that of AirAsia’s. I’ve flown both airlines before and frankly, 90% of my flying is done with Malaysia Airlines simply because of less flight delays, no hassle during check in, no need to line up to board the plane, no need to elbow the person next to me who is trying to get the best seating, no need to argue with fellow passengers who booked an entire row for his/her friends, no need to pay for checked in luggage, no need to pay for water or maggi mee.
Now that these 2 airline giants are competing against each other aggressively, I as the consumer wins.  Now with this latest offerings by Malaysia Airlines, I get cheap flights with great service.  About 15 minutes ago, I’ve just booked 6 seats to Kuching on this offer which cost me RM1,440. I did a quick comparison (kiasu-ness kicks in) with AirAsia’s economy promo price and that ended up with RM1,560.

With Malaysia Airlines, I’m getting best of both worlds. 🙂

I have been searching a long time for a house that I can call a home. I’ve been to owners direct and through property agents but none of the houses seem to interest me at all. Basically, the houses that I’ve seen are all previously rented out and the conditions leaves much to be desired because tenants seldom care for rented properties.

I’ve seen a lot of houses; you name it, I’ve probably seen it. Semi-detached, terrace, corner, end lot, two and one half storey, double storey, single storey — I’ve seen them all. Maybe I’m picky but hey, I’m not going to part with my money easily.

Last week, I viewed this corner, single storey house. It had a large garden and a big kitchen (both wet and dry). There were 2 automatic front gates — one for each car and the 3 bedrooms are quite large. It should be perfect for me to call home, minus a few repairs here and there.

The price offered was also quite reasonable and as with most Asians, we negotiated. To my surprise, the ‘owner’ agreed to lower the price and that raised my suspicion. I proceeded to check the property records and found out that the real owner was a ‘deceased’ man. I inquired with the neighbours and indeed the poor old man passed on in that very house.

I’ve passed the offer to purchase that house and it’s back to square one for me. Time to go searching again.