The Loss of QZ8501

2014 was a tragic year for aviation industry.

MH370 case came as a surprise and hit the news headline for quite a while. Then, the MH17, shoot down. Which I would say, just pure bad luck due to the theory of "mistaken identity". (which we still couldn't confirm to date).

Then on a lovely Sunday morning in December while I was having lunch with my family, I received a newsfeed from a foreign media on Facebook indicating that an Air Asia flight has lost contact during its flight from Indonesia to Singapore.

Compared to the two previous incidents, this time I would say I am one of the "first few" people who received the news. To be honest, I still think it could be a Hoax or mistake.

But when The Star news published the incidents (about an hour later), I knew the unbelievable has happened.

I believed many people would have the same reaction as me. Total disbelief. Then when the feeling started to sink in, then come the feeling of sorrow and anger surfaced. Then again, come the questions of what went wrong, conspiracy theories,  and many more.

I used to travel quite a bit by air and honestly, although the fear of flying does exist naturally (for me especially), I have never doubt that air travel is still one of the fastest and safest travelling mode in the world today

(Picture taken from one of my flight back to Malaysia from Shanghai, China)

 

 

As expected, the news channel on the television for the next few days were flooded with the news of the disappearance of the airliner.

 

Theories after theories was unleashed, the so-called "experienced airline pilot" interviewed on their opinions, updates on the current SAR (Search and Rescue) operations were like the "7-11", non-stop over the next 24 hours.

 

Then came the phenomenon which I have expected. That happened almost every single time we have lost an aircraft. The "cameo" appearance on the different type of "Social Media persona" especially on the Facebook page.

 

 

The first group, the "Normal" people.

 

 

This group of people offered prayers and word of support to the family and friends of the victims on the missing airliner. Like most of us who can't do anything apart from offering our moral supports and prayers to pray for the safe return of their loved one.

 

The second group. I called this group the "I-see-what-I-post-what" kind of people.

 

The main criteria of these lots are those who just "like" and "share" whatever that crossed their path without thinking twice.

 

 

Like the one who posted the abovementioned pictures from a different incident, to co-relate to the QZ8501 accidents.

 

This would be the same group of people that if (I say IF) you tell them that the QZ8501 was down due to the pilot "went out from the aircraft to take a smoke in mid-air", they will immediately buy your stories, and then share in on their Facebook, write on their Twitter and wrote a 10 pages of blog post on their website.

 

Then, the next group, the "Expert" one.

 

This group of people could came from the different kind of background, from aviation experts, pilots, science professors, stock broker, secondary school students to the butchers.

 

Personally I am not too worried about this group.

 

 

Everyone of us (you) are entitled to your own opinion. It is fine for me as long as you don't claim that you are an expert and says something without any base evidences.

 

The last group, the one is classified as the "classic" one, surprisingly this does not appear this time.

 

Or should I called it as the "VIP Clown Club". That managed to hit the box office from the media from all around the world.

 

 

 

From what I have gathered from a reliable source of news. Apparently in the case of QZ8501, some of the "Bomoh" or medium has declared that they will offer the help of the government asked for it.

 

And based on their humble opinion, the plane has ended up in the seabed. (At the time of writing, part of the wreckage have been found on sea, and the sonar technology has detected that most likely the wreckage could be found on the seabed".

 

As for this guy? This is as much as he can do or say from his "Magic Carpet" stunt show.

 

 

 

1. "I will slap him like a crocodile" on Khairy tweet calling him an "embarrassment".
 

2. "The plane is either in the air, or in the sea" - WTF...better don't say anything..

3. "The plane was held by some "spirits", and I am trying to free them" - .....(Speechless)

In the end, the plane was still missing. The only thing is the new found status and popularity for him on YouTube, Android apps and etc.

But joke aside, hopefully 2015 will be a great year for everyone. Especially for the aviation industry.



 



Every now and then, when I saw a plane flew over my head, it is like a second nature to me now that, I, will always mumble to myself.

 

"Have a safe flight guys. See you on the ground".

 

 

 

 

I am a proud tax payer

I am a proud tax-payer.

Every Malaysian should be one of those proud taxpayer.

Some people questioned the reason why should we give away our hard earned money to the government?

You have good highway.

Only then, occasionally comes with potholes and traffic jam especially during festive season.

 

Also since we pay taxes, we get to enjoy one of the "smartest" tunnel in the world that helped ease traffic and for flood mitigation purposes.

 



 

But occasionally this is what I would normally noticed in KL especially during rainy season.

Well, up to this point, I still try to keep my cool and saying "Yes, they screwed up, but I have done my part by paying taxes isn't it?"

Not until recently. Being such a loyal tax payer, a day prior to my departure to Hong Kong,
I received this wonderful letter from Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri (LHDN) or the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) asking for "additional payment".

Funny thing was, from the first to the last page of the letter, there's not a single word telling "THANK YOU MR. WONG FOR BEING SUCH A LOYAL TAXPAYER, HOWEVER, DUE TO SOME SPECIAL REASON..."

To be honest, I will feel much better that way.

Now I think LHDN (or the government) are just plain unprofessional.

It also means from 2010 - 2013 you guys never did a detailed job looking through our documents or tax submission?

Of course la, during working hours, you go mamak for afternoon tea break.

Ask you one or two questions, you said...

 

 

Now that when these somebody run out of cash for this.

 

 

 

 

We became the "Cash Cow"

 

What do you think? Put it this way.

 

Crude oil price dropped around the world, and we are still talking about reducing the subsidies in Malaysia.

 

"Surprise additional Tax Payment" like in my case.

 

Implementation of GST in 2015.

 

I only can think of one thing.

 

If we still don't change the leadership of this country, there will be a serious problem.
 

 

 

MAS Business Class for Less than MYR 200

Travelling can be a fun experience at time.

Even better if you were given a chance to ride on the business class section.

I was on a Malaysia Airline flight back from Shanghai to Kuala Lumpur after a 10 days working trip between Hong Kong and China.

I considered myself a "moderate and kiasu" frequent flyer. Ask me why? Because for almost every airline company I have used, I would apply for their frequent flyer card with the view of collecting points and rewards.

All I need to do is just to call the airline call centre and make the reservation with the points I had in my Enrich Frequent Flyer Card.

As my points was going to expired this coming December, I decided to redeem the "Enrich award flight", which means zero fare in a business class cabin en route to Kuala Lumpur just for the sake of the experience.

All I needed to forked out was the tax and surcharge less than MYR 200.

(Being a budget traveller, I never see the need to pay ridiculous amount for the treatment, which in this case, can be as high as MYR 5,000 as opposed to the MYR 1,200.00 per way in the economy class).

The business class section treatment starts even before I boarded the plane.

I was entitled to enter the club lounge while waiting for the gate to open. Here you can basically have a good rest and meals (and of course, beers) in which, is all complimentary.

But I must say there is nothing to shout about the business lounge section in the Shanghai Pudong Airport. I think even the McDonald's have the better set up and environment.

(It could be different in other airport, but definitely nothing to shout about in this airport).

A random selfie with my travel partner this time before taking off. Look at our happy face.

In Economy section, you will be addressed as "Sir/Madam".

But I guess since we "pay more theoretically", we were addresses by our Surname.

Call me first timer, I wouldn't care less. Because at this moment, I felt...

Even the cabin crew took some times to talk and mingle with us, like asking how was my stay in China, the reason of travelling, name of my dogs and etc.

Funnily enough he never asked "Do you enjoy paying the expensive amount of ticket for a business class ride with the record of two fatalities in one year?"

But honestly, I never doubt their safety record. One was missing without a clue, and another one was just pure bad luck.

 

 

In the business class section, the menu would be slightly different compared to the economy class. It was a 3 or 4 course meals and free flow of drinks including wine and beers. (Not sure about the news but heard that alcohol would be banned soon in all Malaysian Airline flight).

 

as for the taste of the foods, I have no comments. It was taste just about the same with a 4 course meals on the ground.

 

 

 

 

As usual, the whole journey from Shanghai to Kuala Lumpur would take about 5 hours in total.

 

While lying in the comfy and spacious seats, I Immediately dozed off after half an hour into my movie.

 

Well for most of the travellers, business class is something that you may afford, but wouldn't think it would be a good value for money to pay more just to sit in a different section of the plane.

 

It was the same case as mine. If it is free, why not?

 

But one thing is for sure, sometimes you can get just as lucky with Air Asia X. I remembered in my previous blogpost that I have managed to grabbed the "cheaper than economy section" business class seats when I was back from Beijing.

 

Honestly, it is just as good as the MAS.

 

The only difference is you get the "Pak Nasser Nasi Lemak" as the complimentary meal and a bottle of mineral water.

 

But who cares really?

 

Try your luck, if you experienced the same thing like me, do share me your experience too!

 

 



 

Tamarind Springs

My wife used to describe me as a "boring" type of guy. Example?

 

One of my everyday favourite lunch agenda, almost without failed would be the traditional Chinese "zap fan" (mixed rice).

 

So one day out of the blue when I told her I wanted to bring her to "somewhere special" for dinner, the look on her face was just priceless.

 

It was as if I was telling her that we are going to fly to Dubai for dinner and come back on the same day.

So, it was actually a recommendation from a Dutch friend, an expat who live in Malaysia. Being Dutch, sometimes I just wonder when he meant "the food there is super lovely", also means that "it is not spicy like sambal belacan".

Well I thought just give it a shot.

So I went to this place, called Tamarind Springs. The details of the restaurant is in their website.

http://www.tamarindrestaurants.com/

I failed to take loads of photos from this place, which is a disappointment of having my waze turned on and drained my battery while looking for this place.

As a matter of fact, it is not far from the Ampang International School. Yes, in Ampang.

When you arrive, there will be a free parking spot which is taken care by a security guard who will walk you to and from your car as the measure of your personal safety. (Or make you feel like a VIP).

 

 

 

 

I have been warned that the price of the foods are "not the cheapest in town". So we started off with 3 dishes + 1 soup and 450ml of wine and see how it goes.

 

And my goodness. It was the best fish I ever had in my entire life.

 

 

 

My wife, enjoying her glass of wine.

 

My wife, if I could compare her to someone, it would be like the Simon Cowell from the American Idol.

 

Always critics about the food, always critics about the price, almost about everything.

 

So I was taken by surprise, when I took my credit card out and paid RM354.00 in total for this dinner all she said was "It was cheap!"

 

So it is my turn.

 

 



 

As for the environment, it is definitely a place for you to bring your first date to impress her. The place was absolutely romantic and quiet, and you can chat away peacefully without any noises and interruption.

 

Out in the terrace area, it was surrounded by trees and little view of the KL city landscape. You will feel like as if you are having dinner in the middle of the jungle.

 

Only difference is, you don't have to worry about tiger popping up from somewhere.



 

 

It was such a nice and romantic dining experience, when I immediately noticed that a couple about a table away from us was actually kissing each other. (My phone no battery, so don't ask about the picture please).

 

So guys, go to their website and check out their offers.

 

There is one in the KL city centre too, which is called Tamarind Hill. So do not get confused by that.

 

Heard that it is the same concept, but I have never gone there before so I reserve my comment on that one first.

 

Just make sure you bring your credit card along.

 

And do not do this stupid face when you got your bill.

 

 

 

 

 



Jakarta hotel, traffic and a retarded immigration officer.

I gave my vote of confidence to Malaysia Airline last week when I decided to travel to Jakarta.



 

 

To be frank, it has been a while since I enjoyed a turbulence-free ride from the start of the journey through to the end of it.

 

A lot has been said regarding the traffic like Jakarta. If you think traffic in KL is slow moving, traffic in Jakarta - Madness.

 

Hence I was told to arrive earlier in an afternoon flight rather than an evening flight.

 

I was lucky enough not to have worried about being cheated by cab drivers over here. A cab was booked for me under the Golden Bird company, which is one of the most popular cab service provider here in Jakarta. And their price are reasonable too.

 

 Bet you never seen this in Malaysia.

 

 

It is funny to see the names in the display. How I wish my parent named me as "Kamolchai" or "Sturock" last time.

 

I don't know. The name just sounds sexy.

 

I was booked to the "Kristall Hotel" which is at the south side of Jakarta. The distance between the airport shown on the map was 34.3km.

 

But guess what. It took me almost 2 hours to reach the hotel.

 

Make no mistake, it is not exactly the Holiday Inn group kind of hotel. But I am fine with that.

The surroundings are actually more like a Balinese set up on the outside.

The interior of the room.

They even have a small kitchen where you can actually do some simple cooking and come with a water dispenser and free bottle of beer and a can of coke. (Complimentary stuff doesn't come in too often).

My room was overlooking the swimming pool which was great. Unfortunately, no bikini babies around at that time.'

Our evening was filled with beer as usual in the "Satu Lagi" Bar (Which means "one more" in Malay language)

I did not managed to check out the city for the next two days as I was having meetings planned and I was supposed to fly back to Sarawak on the next day.

Talking about first impression, something happened when I was supposed to leave the country.

Remember those arrival cards that the air stewardess passed to you on the plane to fill it up and you are supposed to keep hold on it until you leave their country?

I went to the immigration counter. This was the conversation between me and the officer:

Immigration Officer (O), Me (Me)

O: Go where? (Broken English).

Me: Flying to Brunei. Here is the arrival card for return.

O: (Point to the card) The plane number is wrong. It is not the same flight number as your tickets.

(The thing is, it is not supposed to be the same! As I travelled into Jakarta on a different flight)

Me: Of course it is not the same. It was the plane I boarded when I came in to Jakarta!

O: You don't know how to read? This says "Departure Card".

Me: (Getting angry) Of course I know. I am supposed to return to you guys as I am LEAVING. (WTF is happening here?)

O: (Gave a long sigh, didn't say anything)

Me: So what now, should I change this flight number on the card? (It was stamped, it was not supposed to change!)

O: (Sigh again, still didn't say anything or instruct whatsover)

(For a few minutes he kept on asking me, you don't know how to read?? I told him I can read in three different languages, so of course I can read!)

So I went to the other counter, got it stamped and I was cleared right away. With no problem at all!

Double standard? No I don't think so. Now it reminds me that maybe that guy was trying to get some money off me.

What a jerk.

If he was asking nicely then maybe it is a yes. I wouldn't pay a single dime to this guy, if I did, I will make sure he took it from my leg.

But I was so tired as it was an early morning flight. So I have no more energy to argue and how I wished I could make a uturn back and slap his face with my passport.

What a retard.

He should be brought to the runway and get run over by the plane. Worthless pr*ck.

Hopefully in the future I can write more about Jakarta rather than its traffic congestion issue and their retarded immigration officer.

Would love to meet him up again on my next trip so I can give him a proper slap in the face.

I love Jakarta.

Executive Suite @ Holiday Inn Beijing

I was back in Beijing last week for a short business trip.

As one of the IHG group members, I decided to book myself in to Holiday Inn @ Beijing Focus Square this time.

 

 

It is located 20 minutes away only from the airport, which means I can enjoy some extra luxury and time for sleeps rather than rushing to the airport during my return leg. 

The hotel consist of total 41 floors all the way up. This is where the fun begins.
During check in:

Me: I think I have booked the club room for 4 nights in total.

Staff: Yes, sir. But we have upgraded your room to the Executive Suite on 41st Floor.

Me: (Dumbfounded). Do I need to pay extra? (Mum always say nothing comes free you idiot)

Staff: Don't worry sir, since you are part of the IHG club members, it is free after all. It is Inclusive the complimentary happy hour at the executive lounge. (But sometimes mum is wrong)

Ok. I have been to some really nice executive suite of my client in Shanghai, to be honest, nothing to shout about, apart from the fact that the room has an extra sofa seats and additional TV mounted on the wall. (They called it as the "extra living room").

But as I walked into the room, I almost tripped myself.

The first thing that came to my mind was, if they have made a mistake for upgrading me to this suite, I am going to pay for it?

Hell I hope not.

Inside the room was a huge walkway (with living room attached).

In addition, there were two toilets (One for the resident, and another one for the visitors) provided in the room. How thoughtful it was.

 

Located at 41st floor, the room oversees the most unimaginable sight over the Beijing city.

If you asked me the only downside of this hotel? Holiday Inn Beijing (Area: Temple of Heaven) provides condoms in the room!! (refer to my last post). 

I went through the whole room but all I found is the paper and laundry bags.

My god. They even have a bar table (or is it a dinner table) in the room? What am I supposed to do with that? Having a buffet in my room?

Looking at my watch, it was already 8pm at night. I missed the first round of happy hour session which normally starts at 6pm to 8pm.

During the happy hour session, guests from the executive floor can drop by the lounge and have unlimited supply of beers and wine (plus food) for 2 hours - all for free.

Even the breakfast and afternoon tea break was provided, all without charges.

The buffet during happy hours.

 

The attention to details does not limit itself to the set up of the room. Even the staff also.

 

The moment I walked into the lounge, the staff came towards me.

 

Staff: Sir, same like yesterday?

 

Me: (What I had yesterday? Curry puffs?)

 

Staff: You have two wines and an orange juice yesterday. Same for today?

 

My goodness. Even my wife can't remember what I have took for today's dinner.

 

But their staff can remember what I had (Note: Two (2) Glass of wine and One (1) orange juice!) yesterday!

 

Suddenly I felt like I am so going to marry her.



 

At the end of my stay, I don't have to check out from the counter at the ground floor. All I need to do is just taking my breakfast, snapped my finger, and mentioned "I want to check out", and the staff will immediately sort out the bills.

Checked out and walked out as a happy man.

One thing to note, you wouldn't want to burn a hole in your pocket to enjoy all these luxury. The IHG membership actually covered Holiday Inn Express (A more budget type of the hotel) and also other hoteliers such as Intercontinental hotel too.

For more info, visit www.ihg.com.

And no, I am not their ambassador.

Do not ask me for free rooms!






 

My Ritual

Trust me when I say this.

One of the most exciting thing about travelling, be it for leisure or business, start right away before the journey itself.

For me, it has always been one of my ritual that before every journey, I will start looking into the following website. Sometimes as early as a month before.

1. Agoda.com
2. Trip Advisor
3. Malaysian Airline and Air Asia etc. (Depending on which country I am heading to).
4. Google maps.

This are the four MAIN website that served me so well over the past 7 or 8 years.

Agoda? For the cheap rate offered. As for Trip advisor, believe it or not, I only use it to look at the "Traveller's photo" especially on the hotel room condition.

Believe me, sometimes what you see may not be what you get. Hoteliers around the world spends hundred of thousands to employ the professional photographer to make their hotel look good, hard to refuse type.

What you get in the website may look like this.

And you ended up getting this. (If you are lucky).

Or if you are not.

If that is the case I would rather do the "homeless" way.

Call me a spoilt child, but I always believe that during travelling, at the end of the day what you need would be a good rest, rather than chasing around for cockroaches in your hotel room.

Apart from the accommodation, one of the fun part would be choosing the airline to fly with.

All this while, this is my priority list.

1. Malaysia Airlines.
2. Emirates.
3. Cathay Pacific.
4. Air Asia.

But ever since the completion of KLIA2, it has become:

1. Air Asia
2. Air Asia
3. Air Asia
4. Air Asia

(Yes, THE AIRPORT is IMPORTANT for me)

If only Tony Fernandes read this, I am sure he will be so proud that give me and my dog the premium flatbed seat for free.

That's his face saying "Yeah right, **** off.."

The third thing, the google maps, is important for me too.

I always plan ahead. (If i want to).

Let say I need to meet 5 clients in that week, I will try to choose the most centralized area for my hotel location. (And trust me, you don't want to make the wrong choice in a big city like Beijing).

Basically that is the main 3 things for me before travelling, my ritual before every travel.

Oh yes, time to restart my ritual again. For this month!

Adios!