Expensive Parking

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Originally uploaded by wanhashim

If you one of those who have to drive to work in Kuala Lumpur, most of the time you will have no choice but to park your car at one of the empty lot converted as parking areas. The charge is based on per entry basis and the rate is very demand oriented.

In the above picture, the charge is RM8 per entry. If you parked your car for a day let say 8 hours then the rate is about RM1 an hour given that you did not have any urgent business that force you to drive your vehicle. If you do, then your RM8 is only for a few hours and if you are unlucky you have to re-enter the parking lot and pay another parking ticket.

The charge can be very expensive if you only wanted to park for a short while. For example if you only wanted to do some transaction in a bank, you will have no choice but to pay the expensive parking rate for nothing. I think the operator of the parking lot knew that most of users are so desperate to find a parking place that most of the short term users will have to use their service.

The operator will change the rate based on demand. If the demand is so high, the rate can go up to RM10 per entry (I think they can even go up to RM20 per entry). If the demand is low, the rate can is reduced to RM5 only.

Well, if you have a piece of land in the heart of a city, don't develop the piece of land. But, charge people for using the land. In this case, you can work out the mathematic on the average daily income that they reaped from the users.

Therefore, unless there are efficient and comfortable public transport especially during peak hours, users can park their cars at home and ride the public transport which is much cheaper.

Tambang Fares

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Originally uploaded by wanhashim

Just captured this picture yesterday and oh boy the rate is so cheap. "Tambang" is a small boat service to cross the Sarawak River. It is a convenient way of commuting to and fro for both sides of the river. Each side of the river has its own attraction. One side is water front and the other sides are mostly residential area, new Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) building, Palace, etc.

In case that you have the opportunity to travel to Kuching, make sure that you try the "Tambang" boat. Most of hotels are located near the water front and the Tambang is a convenient way to walk around the city and visit the new DUN building.

Free Flights for Mum and Baby

According to this News Report, a mum and her newborn baby will get free flights for life. Can we say that it is a lucky day for the mum and newborn baby delivered during flight for winning a free for life tickets using the airline? Usually, airlines discourage pregnant women especially if they are very near their due date to travel by air because they can deliver their babies anytime within the period.

Even though the women did not have the intention to deliver her baby in flight, the experience can be scary since there are no proper medical facilities available during flight. Furthermore, there is a slim chance that there is a medical doctor travel along during the flight. For the mom, luckily there is a medical doctor travelling on the same flight helping her throughout her ordeal.

While the mum and her newborn baby got their precious presents of their lifetime, what about the experiences of other passengers on the same flight? They have to experience additional flight delays since the flight was diverted to other nearby destination due to the emergencies.

Not all airlines reward their passengers for delivering their babies on board. May be due to their corporate responsibilities, majority of airlines give some form of rewards to the mum and newborn babies. So, any women out there can take the opportunities in case that they are lucky enough to earn some kind of reward but the risk is very-very high.

What about the place of birth for the new born baby; Will it be KLIA airport, or Airasia seat No. 23A, or midair over the State of Selangor. If you have any ideas or any good suggestions, please put down your opinion in the comments below.

Gunung Gading

Gunung Gading
Originally uploaded by wanhashim

Gunung Gading national Park is located in the Lundu District, southwest of Sarawak. The Park is located near the beaches at Pandan and Siar.

There are waterfalls in the upper reaches of Sungai Lundu which is a popular recreational destination for both local and foreign visitors. The highest peak of Gunung Gading is 900 meters high and the more adventurous visitors can take a hike right up to the peak.

The world's largest flower, the Rafflesia tuan-mudae (bunga pakma) can be found at Gunung Gading. At full bloom this giant flower stretches nearly one meter in width.

Mount Gading is under the care and jurisdiction of the National Park & Wildlife Division (Forest Department Sarawak). They have built accommodations and trekking facilities within the park. The Park is just 5 minutes drive from Lundu town or about 2 hour's drive from Kuching. Visitors can choose either day-trips or overnight stays when visiting the Park.

For more information regarding the Gunung Gading National Park, visit HERE.

Internet Connection

It seems that the internet connection has some effect on Foreign Investment as pointed out by this news report. I had experienced how the bad internet connection can affect your online life. Without having access to the line based broadband internet connection, I had to resort to the wireless internet connection and you always experienced some nightmares whenever you wanted to download or upload some large files.

However, it is not that bad because I can still rely on the nearby Cyber Cafes which have the faster internet connections. Most of the Cyber Cafes are using very fast satellite internet connection to support their businesses. Even though their locations are far away from major development, they are still having the luxury of high internet connection.

If I understand it better, for other business owners such as Gas Stations, they also are using some kind of satellite connections for higher internet speed. Therefore, I don't see any problem for any big companies who wanted to do business in this country to get very high speed internet connections.

As individual users like me, I had some problems with the mobile wireless connections. But, after getting my line based broadband connection, so far I have not experienced any slow connection. Now, I can update anything online without wasting my time going to the Cyber Cafes or without wasting my time waiting for the slow downloading time.