Tamara Lim Yee Ching, shortly out of Oxford, invited to present lecture

Tamara Lim Yee Ching, a Malaysian, graduated from Oxford University, specializing in materials and corrosion science. After graduating from Oxford University, she went on to graduate with a Master's degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States. She is now working as a Shell Holland materials engineering consultant. After just 15 months out of college, she had been invited to present a lecture on materials and corrosion science in her alma mater, Oxford University, England.

Now Oxford University is no ordinary university. Oxford University is the oldest university in the English-speaking world and very highly regarded. In fact, many consider it as one of the leading academic institutions in the world, consistently ranked among the top ten universities of the world. The fact that after just 15 months after finishing her studies, she had been invited back to present a lecture means Oxford University must have very high regards for her.

Tamara Lim Yee Ching studied at the Alice Smith International School when she was in Malaysia. She is just 24 years young and haven't even started on doctoral studies (Ph.D), and already received this great honor. Malaysia must be very proud of her. In fact, many must be wishing that she is working in Malaysia rather than overseas.

Tamara's father, Dr Lim Chin Joo, is a medical doctor who ventured into businessman and mother. Her mother, Irene Lim, is a chartered accountant.

Well, the Lim's are part of the Chinese Diaspora, and it might be interesting for you to take a peep at More high IQ kids in China than in whole of North America

Petaling Jaya SS3, aerobic exercise led by K. Pathmanathan

Above is a photo of K. Pathmanathan, 68 year old and really fit. Mr. Pathmanathan was a former Sports Ministry personnel and now volunteers to lead aerobic exercise sessions in various places and one of them is at the covered basketball court, next to the community hall of Section SS3. The exercise sessions are livened by music using his own audio system comprising a P.A. (public address) system, microphone and portable player, costing RM7,000 which he bear himself.

Mr. Pathmanathan designed the series of aerobic exercises himself and according to theStar Sunday Metro, 15 July 2007, was reported to have said that people who had frozen shoulders, joint and lower back problems have found relief through his series of aerobic exercises.

Mr. K. Pathmanathan also conducts fitball exercises in Sri Setia, Sungai Way every Wednesday. I have seen a small group of people exercising early morning while still dark, with a large, bouncy ball which I guess must be that fitball exercises, at the same basketball court before the star of the aerobic exercises. According to Mr. K. Pathmanathan, these fitball exercises strengthen the muscles and improve the blood circulation in the lower back by 30%.

Below is a photo of one of the aerobic exercise session:



And below is a photo of the basketball court where the aerobic exercise sessions are conducted every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning:



If you are interested in joining the aerobic exercise sessions, below is a guide to the SS3 Petaling Jaya community hall. The covered basketball court is right beside the community hall:

More about Mr. K. Pathmanathan

Mr. Pathmanathan has written more than 50 health care articles in a Malay newspaper, has also been featured in health lectures on radio, has been televised with 10 others doing aerobic exercises every Sunday morning on a national television channel. He has also swam from Butterworth to the Penang Island twice, both under 4 hours.

Mr. K. Pathmanathan also keep himself healthy with good nutrition, following a very strict diet of 55% complex carbohydrates such as rice, cereals and bread and the rest are mainly vegetables. He seldom eats meat as he is of the opinion that the body only absorbs some of the nutrients from meat and meat overworks the kidney.

Taiping: A place for retiree (pensioner): Cheap food

Taiping is a beautiful, peaceful town with an exquisite Lake Garden blessed with of flora and century-old rain trees, helped by plentiful rainfall. According to Wikipedia, Taiping with an average annual rainfall is about 4,000mm is also the wettest town in Peninsular Malaysia.

But there is more to Taiping than just its beautiful Lake Garden and copious rainfall. The food also cheaper,very delicious and the cost living low. It is not for nothing that Taiping has been nicknamed "The Pensioners' Paradise" or "Retirees' town". Now maybe it should also be nicknamed "Single Mom's Paradise" as it seems lots of women who lost their husband and found life hard to cope elsewhere have moved to Taiping.

Cheap and Delicious Food in Taiping

You can now add one more thing for which Taiping can be famous for, a stall in Jalan Kamunity Stesyen manned by Abu Bakar Md. Ali, a retired soldier. Abu Bakar sells his laksa, kuey teow soup, bee hun soup and mee kuah at only RM1. In the Klang Valley, you will have to pay anything from RM3 to RM4.50 or more, depending on where you choose to dine. Order satay and you will only be charged 15 sen per stick, a price you can never get anywhere else in Peninsular Malaysia.

Abu Bakar even have a dinner package comprising a medium-size fried bawal (pomfret), a plate of rice, a bowl of curry gravy with bits of lady fingers, a plate of ulam (salad), and sauces to go with the pomfret, at only RM4. In the Klang Valley, the fried bawal (pomfret) alone will probably cost you almost as much. Chicken rice is served at an amazingly low price of RM1.50 a plate!!!! Try to order a plate of chicken rice in the Klang Valley and see how much you get charged for it.

Want drinks to wash down the food? No problem. Order a glass of teh tarik or kopi tarik (boiling hot tea or coffee cooled by successively pouring from a container held high to another container held much lower) and it will set you back only 60 sen.

Interested in low budget meals and drinks? Hop over to Jalan Kamunity Stesyen, Taiping, and look for the sole Petronas petrol station and you will see Abu Bakar's low budget stall right next to it. It is opened everyday starting at 5pm and closes at 11.30pm.

Malaysia and Mexico

Malaysian and Mexican Cuisine

The cuisine of Malaysia and Mexico are not that similar, but both use chili extensively, and while Malaysia has capati, Mexico has taco, a traditional Mexican food which has some slight similarity to capati. Taco is a rolled and folded maize tortilla filled with an edible substance. Capatti (some spell it as chapatti) is made from a dough of atta flour (from whole grain durum wheat, a premium and the hardest of all wheat), water and salt.

Malaysia and Mexico climate

Malaysia has a tropical climate throughout the country, Mexico has temperate and tropical climatic zones, divided by the Tropic of Cancer

Malaysian and Mexican bioverdiversity

Malaysia, with its large tracts of tropical rainforest, houses fauna and flora of great diversity, although if deforestation continue at its present rate, that will be threatened. Mexico is also has great biodiversity, with more than 200,000 different species of living things, with Mexico estimated to contain of 10–12% of the world's biodiversity.

Mexican restaurant in Malaysia

I can only find two Mexican restaurants in Malaysia, the Las Carretas Mexican Restaurant at 14, Jalan USJ10/1E, Subang UEP, Selangor and the El Taco's Mexican Cafe in Puchong. Other than that, if you want to sample Mexican food, the best will be to travel to Mexico for a first hand authentic experience.

Cost of living and vacation expenses in Mexico

Cost of living and vacation expenses in Mexico can vary considerably in Mexico. It depend on whether you want to go to a bustling, highly populated and therefore expensive locations in Mexico, or you go to a less congested, more isolated location in Mexico. Cabo San Lucas is a small city in the Baja California peninsula at its southern tip. However, Cabo San Lucas is getting to be a high-end holiday destination. If you plan to visit Mexico, you may want to consider Cabo San Lucas vacation rental which offers various types of Cabo San lucas accommodations including the attractive Cabo San Lucas villas for a more comfortable and spacious stay.

Photo of Lands End, End Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, is property of Shawn Ford

How to get to KLIA: Cars and KLIA Parking

Getting to KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) by car

You can drive to KLIA via the Kuala Lumpur Seremban Highway, exiting at Nilai Banting Highway before you reach Nilai if you are coming from Kuala Lumpur, and after Nilai if you are coming from Seremban. At some point, you will have to turn left to KLIA. There should be road signs to guide you, signs with image of an airplane.

You can also get to KLIA by car via the North-South Central Link/KLIA Expressway (ELITE). This is a bit more complicated as entry into this Expressway will depend on which part of Kuala Lumpur or Petaling Jaya you are coming from. You can enter the North-South Central Link/KLIA Expressway from the North Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE), the Federal Highway at Batu Tiga (near Shah Alam), or from Subang Jaya-USJ (United Subang Jaya) "backbone" road, but this is a bit difficult to describe. Anyway, if you enter Subang Jaya from the Federal Highway and proceed straight without turning left or right, eventually you will come to a T-junction, and at this T-junction, you will have to turn right, than a very short distance further, turn left to enter the North-South Central Link/KLIA Expressway.

Travel time from Kuala Lumpur will be approximately 1 hour. A map showing all the roads leading to KLIA will be drafted and added later to help guide you.

Car Parks at KLIA

Now if go to KLIA by car or cars, you will need to park your car or cars. There is more than one car park at KLIA, some reserved for staff and out of bound for the public. The 2 public car parks at KLIA together have a total of 11,442 parking lots.

KLIA Short Term Car Park

The KLIA Short Term Car Park which is a covered car park, is located next to the KLIA terminal and consists of 4 seven-storey blocks (Block A, B, C and D), with 5,933 parking lots for cars, 12 bays for buses and 1,202 parking lots for motorcycles. Parking lots for the public are located at Block B and Block C, except for ground and 1st floor. Motorcycles at ground level block A. Eighteen paring lots are reserved for the disabled with 11 parking lots at Level 2, Block B and 7 at Level 2 of Block C. These are conveniently located near the link-bridges connecting the Short Term Car Park to the KLIA main terminal.

You can get to the KLIA main terminal from the KLIA Short Term Car Park via two link-bridges at Level 2 of Blocks B and C. The link-bridges will lead to the Mezzanine Level (Level 2) of KLIA Main Terminal.

Facilities at the KLIA Short Term Car Park

1. There are trolley nests at all levels, all blocks for you to roll your luggages to the KLIA main terminal


2. If you are picking up passengers, there are passenger pick-up points located near the link-bridges on Level 2 of Block B and C. Arriving passengers can thus wait at these pick-up points and do not have to suffer the hardship of having to cart their luggage all the way to the vehicle which could be parked on other levels


3. 16 public lifts and 4 emergency lifts allow easy access to and from all levels of the KLIA Short Term Car Park


4. The KLIA Short Term Car Park is equipped with eight escalators, four escalators at Block C Ground Floor to Level 2 of Block C, two at Level 5 of Block C to Roof Top of Block C, and 2 at Roof Top of Block B to Roof Top of Block B.
   
5. To keep you update you on domestic and international arrivals and departures, 44 Flight Information Display System (FIDS) have been placed at various locations in the KLIA Short Term Car Park, eight at the Ground Floor of Block B, twelve at Level 2 of Block B, twelve at Ground Floor of Block C and twelve at Level 2 of Block C. The FIDS will update you on domestic and international arrivals and departures.

Car Rentals at KLIA

For arriving passengers who want to drive, there are fourteen car rental companies operating at the Ground Floor of Block D with 22 car rental booths

Parking Rates at KLIA

Motorcycles Parking rates

At time of publishing, parking rate for all motorcycles is a flat rate of RM1.00 per entry.

Parking Rates for Cars

Parking rates for cars are complicated. The table below lists the rates as at time of publishing:

RM9.00RM15.00RM19.00RM25.00

Hour
Hourly Rate	Cumulative Rate
1st hour of part thereof	RM3.50	RM3.50
2nd hour of part thereof	RM3.00	RM6.50
3rd hour of part thereof	RM2.50
4th hour of part thereof	RM2.00	RM11.00
5th hour of part thereof	RM2.00	RM13.00
6th hour of part thereof	RM2.00
7th hour of part thereof	RM2.00	RM17.00
8th hour of part thereof	RM2.00
9th hour of part thereof	RM2.00	RM21.00
10th hour of part thereof	RM2.00	RM23.00
11th hour of part thereof	RM2.00
12th hour of part thereof	RM2.00	RM27.00
13th hour of part thereof	RM2.00	RM29.00
14th hour of part thereof	RM2.00	RM 31.00
15th hour of part thereof	RM 2.00	RM33.00
16th hour of part thereof	RM 2.00	RM35.00
17th hour of part thereof	RM2.00	RM37.00
18th hour of part thereof	RM 2.00	RM39.00
19th hour of part thereof	RM2.00	RM41.00
20th-24th hour of part thereof	RM43.00	RM43.00

If you park beyond the 24 hour period, the normal rate will be re-applied again. The parking rates include the 5% service tax. Be careful not to lose or damage your coin chip as a hefty penalty of RM50.00 penalty charges, and on top of that, you will be charged the normal parking charges.

Also, take car to only park at marked parking lots as parking outside of these marked parking lots makes your can liable to clamping an a clamping penalty of RM100.00 will have to be paid to get the car clamp removed.

How to pay parking charges

2 ways are provided for you to pay the parking charges. You can either pay manually our use the Auto Pay Stations before collecting their vehicles. There are 2 24-hour Manual Pay Stations located at Level 2 of Block B and Level 2 of Block C. You can use any of the fifteen Auto Pay Stations, 7 of them are located at Level 2 of Block B and another 8 are located at Level 2 of Block C. You can only pay with the Malaysian currency - Ringgit. Foreign currencies are not acceptable.

Corporate Parking

Corporate Parking is at Ground Floor of Block B with a total of 144 Corporate Parking lots. Rates are RM300.00 per month. You will be required to place a deposit of RM50.00, refundable upon return of the season parking card. If you lose or damage the season parking card, the deposit will be forfeited.

KLIA Staff Parking

Staff working at KLIA is eligible to park at the KLIA Staff Parking which is located at Block D, except ground floor. Government servants pay RM35.00 per month while non-government servants pay RM45.00 or RM90.00, based on their monthly salary. Similar conditions for the season parking card applies.

Malaysian escaping from Malaysia soon

Pretty soon, some Malaysians will be deserting Malaysia for other countries with various motives. The reason is Chinese New Year is just around the corner, in fact, the first day of Chines New Year starts on 7th Febuary 2008. All will have different motives among which are:

Relax, just go for vacation

Many, including non-Chinese (Malaysia is a multi-racial country) just want to get away and relax, enjoy a vacation away from Malaysia. For some, it is one of the few chances to have a vacation oversea as public holidays for Chinese New Year is not only for 2 days (more if they fall on a weekend), plus many companies choose to close for more than 2 days, a week is not unusual. Others, of course, have their own business or professional practices and have a complete choice of how long they want to stay away.

Escape giving ang pows (red packages)

The Chinese tradition is that married Chinese have to give ang pows (red packages), small envelopes containing money, to their unmarried, especially children, counterparts during Chinese New Year. Plus some utilities workers like the dump truck workers, take this opportunity to go house to house to collect ang pows for services rendered throughout the year, and many are intimidated to give for fear that their rubbish will be left behind as retribution for being stingy. So some Chinese take this opportunity to escape their obligations by taking vacation oversea, a perfect excuse for not giving out ang pows.

Booking your vacations and travel tickets

In this modern days of Internet and 24 hours broadband access, bricks and mortar travel agencies, places we normally go to to book our vacation and purchase our travel tickets pre-Internet, is a bit obsolete now. I for one, and I believe many others too, for both convenience as well as environmental considerations, prefer Travel technology, especially those with booking engine. I also have come across a new phrase travel distribution, but I regret not being able to understand exactly what his means. Perhaps I will update this post when I find out.