Cyberjaya Putrajaya Perdana Twincity Marathon 2014

I've been really busy and lots are happening past few months. I need to continue running as part of my life goal to build a healthy balance lifestyle. Registered myself for the Cyberjaya Putrajaya Perdana Twincity Marathon 2014 for 21km run on 21st December 2014. First step to reboot my life, push towards full marathon event in Y2015!



For those interested, this event is still open for registration, do sign up for run. Not many full marathon event in calendar, so let's go.

Staggering Numbers of Social, Digital & Mobile User in Malaysia

Saw something interesting online, thought of sharing it for my readers.
Internet penetration in Malaysia is astounding, think the only people not on internet is probably orang asli living on the mountain. That's not long until Maxis/Digi/Celcom/TM go get them to subscribe to the internet LOL.

Garmin Fenix2

It has been a busy year, and me being me, I'm playing with more and more toys as when my pocket allows =)

This round I got myself something that I wanted for long long time, a Multisport Training GPS Watch. There are lots of model out there, crowned by the famous Garmin Forerunner 910XT that's launched way back in 2010, that's 4 years ago! Being in digital world, 4 years is a long long time ago. The design is a bit dated and I never like to buy old gadget. I waited and waited, finally Garmin decided to launch a new product! Excited.

That's the Garmin Fenix2! For the first time, Garmin is listening to customers, that we wanted something not hideous, stylish that still pack the punch of all functionality for a truly Triathlon capable watch.


This is the Garmin Fenix2, I bought the bundle pack that comes complete with the Garmin HRM-Run Premium Monitor. Don't mistaken this HRM monitor from the older one which is non-premium type. Somehow I heard the strap and quality is much better. I got this unit directly from My GPS Talk, the official appointed distributor for Garmin in Malaysia. I missed the first batch order, ended up in 2nd batch and waited for few weeks to collect mine! For those asking me what I bought, tada!


Unboxing is always exciting, This is a performance bundle package that includes the HRM unit and I paid the full retail price for it at RM1,550! I'm not surprise that the price might be cheaper now, so scout around for the best deal. Now you know why I dream of this gadget for so long, hold up by the price tag. Probably one of the most expensive sports gear that I've ever bought! But I think it's worth it considering what it can do. Let's find out.

Ben's @ Bangsar Shopping Centre, KL

My parents came to KL again, and we always cracking head trying to introduce some interesting foods for them as they are food lovers also like me =P This time round, my sister recommended Ben's located in Bangsar Shopping Centre (BSC). Do not confuse BSC with the Bangsar Village though, BSC is the smaller mall located right at the top of the hill along Jalan Maarof. Let's see what they've got.


This is the Ben's entrance, pardon the blue hue on the wall, that's the glass colour fronting the restaurant, and it's located at the corner on level 3.


A quick shot of the restaurant from the outside, very nice and cozy setup, love it.

Breakfast @ Delicious, Midvalley

Lazy morning, decided to catch a brunch in Midvalley and drop by Delicious for a relax one. I think lots of people don't know that Delicious do serve breakfast set, as most normally come to Delicious only during Lunch / Dinner. Yes they serve breakfast, but any good? Let's see.



Good thing I love about breakfast in Delicious is that, plenty of seats and no need to queue unlike some famous breakfast outlet. Want to eat breakfast also stress...


Got myself a cold drinks to kick the mind up, and waited for my food.

Bubur Goreng Restaurant @ Klang

This round my family visited the special Bubur Goreng Restaurant in Taman Berkeley at Klang, attracted by the special dish as the restaurant name imply, Fried Porridge, that's very special. Off we go and Klang is quite far from KL basically, is it worth the travel? Let's find out.


Bubur Goreng Restaurant, hidden within dark streets of the Taman Berkeley in Klang. It's located just nearby the Federal Highway before turning into Hokkien Association. Nothing around, so parking is aplenty.


The usual Klang restaurant with nostalgic flooring and simply table chair setup. Non air-condition so it's slighly warm on hot day.

Penang White Curry Noodle by My Kuali

Been very busy recently, so just posting a random thought. I've heard lots of noise on the new instant noodle in the market, as you can guess, the Penang White Curry Noddle by My Kuali. So I've been hunting to try it out, but major supermarket always run out of stocks. I found it in one of the chinese medicine store in OUG.



I bought a pack of 4 for RM7.60, and it's basically one of the most expensive instant noodle in the market, not comparing with other imported variance though. How it taste like? It's pretty good, the noodles are ok, not soggy, the soup is creamy due to coconut milk, but it taste good. I don't like it though, with my comments following:

1. The noodles are normal, nothing special.
2. The soup base is too thick, and you really got to add more water but then it got wash out the taste. This is due to the creaminess from the coconut milk. I've not tried to exclude that, maybe someone should try and comment.
3. It's way to spicy. I'm tomyam lover but this is different. I nearly fall sick eating a pack in the first time. Subsequently I drink lots of water to clear up the heat.
4. The flavour is too strong, too much ajinomoto is the word?

It's good not doubt, but I think twice before trying on 2nd pack, in fact almost few months since I tried it, and I still don't dare to buy another pack. The reason why we eat instant noodle is to get fast meal and something to go around quick lifestyle. If I want something too strong flavour, I would've eaten outside.

This is purely personal taste bud preference, and my favorites remain with the below.

1. Thai Tom Yam Instant Noodle by PAMA
One of the best noodle and tomyam noodles in the market and remain my favourite. The springy noodle that don't get soggy, spicy and sour soup base is awesome. Only the portion is a little small, but good for a quick hit of tomyam crush.



2. Vegetarian Flavour Instant Noodle by Wei Wei A-Series
One of my favourite, very nice noodles but can get soggy if cook too long, and awesome soup base. The portion is big and it got my vote of the best normal soup base instant noodle. A little pricy is the trade off.


3. Mi Goreng Perisa Asli by Indomie
If fancy something dry, nothing beat the Indomie, they are the king of mi goreng instant noodle and it remain the best, enough said.



What you guys think? Do share your thoughts =)

Asics Gel-Nimbus 15

As promised, I've been looking for a new pair of running shoe since I decided to join another full marathon this year. My 3 year old Asics has been serving me very well, and only recently it started to show sign of old age, the shoe sole started to come off, so my wife helped to send it for stitching. It's still wearable but it feels loose and weird wrap because of the stitching.

I search for new model in Asics that suit my feet type, and I quickly catch the opportunity to get a pair when I'm visiting Singapore last month. Singapore always sell Asics cheaper than Malaysia, else you wait for special discount on older model and it might make sense.

Preparation for Second 42km in Penang Bridge International Marathon 2014

It's been 3 years since my first 42km full marathon run at Penang Bridge, and I've decided to do another 42km full marathon this year. As usual, aim is to get fitter, have more energy and lead a healthier lifestyle. The upcoming Penang Bridge International Marathon 2014 will be held on 16th November 2014. That gives me a total of 7 months / 30 weeks to train.

My last experience taught me to prepare myself better this time. I studied and created a training chart for myself, stretching over 30 weeks duration to prepare myself for this run. Eventually the plan will push me into maximum of 64km in the peak week before tapering down in 3 weeks in approaching the big event.

To further prepare myself, I've registered myself also for a 21km in BSN Putrajaya Night Marathon 2014 which is to be held in 11th October 2014. Funny that SC Kuala Lumpur International Marathon 2014 is held the next day on 12th October 2014. That's totally no fun, and they will be fighting for participants, as I doubt many will actually run both events considering it's only few hours away. Here is the registration link for BSN Putrajaya Night Marathon 2014 - http://www.bsnpnm.com/



While I also already registered for the Penang Bridge International Marathon 2014, and interesting to note that this year will be the 1st year we will run on the newly open 2nd Penang Bridge! I'm not sure what to expect but it's exciting to be part of the history =) Here is the link to PBIM 2014 - http://www.penangmarathon.gov.my/portal/



Good things are I've already got most of the gears needed for a full marathon, so nothing much I will need to prepare / buy. I will definitely need a new pair of running shoes as the old Asics should be retire after 3 years. I'm also looking for a gadget to help track my heart rate and record my training. Been searching around and should update you all once I decided on what to get =)

Home Town Steamboat @ Sri Petaling

I'm staying nearby Sri Petaling and foodies would know that steamboat is famous in the area. Recently there is this steamboat restaurant that has been opening up aggressively around Klang Valley, so we decided to check it out.


Home Town Steamboat Restaurant, as of I'm writing now, they already have 8 outlets around the Klang Valley. That's very fast, considering they only open up their first Setapak branch in Year 2006. It looks a little empty because we went very early on weekdays, but assure you that it's packed on weekends, so you are reminded to make online booking to avoid waiting time.


Part of the interior, very clean and colourful decoration although most of the label does not mean anything.


As we leave, the shop is pretty empty, but they do have lots of tables and chairs, ensure that you will seated no matter the crowds.

Loam Mit Thai Seafood Restaurant @ Bandar Baharu

With my mum's village located nearby Penang, we always make our trips back there and at the same time find seafood while on the way. For those food lovers, they would know that there are lots of awesome seafood restaurant along the route from Ipoh to Penang as it's close to lots of fishing village, and today I will introduce you one of the shop that I think it is awesome.

I bring you to the ulu kampung place named Loam Mit Thai Seafood Restaurant.


The Loam Mit Thai Seafood Restaurant located in no where =P

Hey, this is not exactly what you expect? This is exactly what you should look for if you want to find some real fresh seafood in fishing village, that's how most of them looks like. If it's pretty, then it's probably commercialized to rip tourist off. These are what we can neighborhood restaurant, where if they charge expensive, they probably will close shop as they rely on locals to support them as well.

Khong Kee Yong Tau Fu @ Paramount Gardens

We are always on the lookout for healthy food and one of the favourite among KL people is Yong Tau Foo. The famous Ampang Yong Tau Foo is always too far for most of us, so here I introduce a closer place to satisfy your need.


Khong Kee Yong Tau Foo located at Taman Paramount, and by just looking at the signboard also you know that they have been here for very very long time! Long surviving old shop is always promising, because even with such décor also can survive, sure the food is good la!


Here is a shot of the shop, and surprisingly clean. Usual Malaysia Chinese style of table and red plastic chair. The place is well ventilated, but can be slightly hot during lunch time though. Because they actually cook in open area the back of the shop.

Departure Lounge @ Damansara Uptown

New Year 2014, and that come with new resolution to do better than 2013. Bringing you the first food blog of 2014, a breakfast place located in the Damansara Uptown. This area is mushrooming with lots of hip places recently, and more and more people frequented it during weekends, which normally it's a bit dead comparing to weekdays. That's definitely welcome, let's see what we got here.


Departure Lounge, such catchy name for a breakfast place, you might mistaken this place as not for food if you don't take a closer look. As you can see, they have espresso bar, breakfast, sandwiches and travel library. Travel library? Let's find out.


This is the open bar concept with cashier right behind the bar. Clean and sleek design, all well for a relaxing café.


Here is how it looks like on the inside of the café, they do have a few tables outside that's not air-conditioned to cater for smokers (not much of those love fresh air as it will be polluted with 2nd hand smokes. Clean wooden table, simple lightings, transparent comfortable plastic chair, just how you should start a day with healthy breakfast.

National Automotive Policy 2014 - My Opinions

Malaysia's National Automotive Policy (NAP) 2014 is finally announced after much delay, so call to in-depth study the framework, and it ended up craps. This is my blog, so I will just point out my view over the new NAP 2014.

1. CBU Hybrid and EV incentives is terminated.
Means all CBU hybrid that's enjoying all the cheapo price is going to say good bye. This is a very bad news for Hybrid car owner, as they all think the party will go on forever, but it just given me another reason to advice people against buying a hybrid in Malaysia. Why? With a drop of hybrid cars on the road, the after sales is going down with it. No car sales, no profits, no investment for after sales service, problematic maintenance. The investment by car dealer is always with the money flow. So good luck with that, you only hope more will invest for CKD hybrid, but why would they do hybrid when they can have EEV model?

2. CKD EEV fully open market.
This is good news, for good technology car, example like Mazda Skyactiv technology. Unknown yet if Volkswagen / BMW / Honda / Toyota qualified, time will tell. Big impact would be the smallest CC car that meet the EEV will also be available, so that's good to encourage investor to put money in for EEV assembly plant in Malaysia, but how much impact will yet to be see.

3. No news on Open AP.
After much delay, nothing at all for open AP issue. All car manufacturers already stressing that they are putting millions into the country to invest for manufacturing plant, but they are killed off by the grey import, which only let the cronies earn money. This actually put off lots of investor, scaring them off from investing. Pretty stupid. And another committee suppose to do another "in-depth" study, your guess is as good as mine -_-

4. No news on Euro 4.
Enough said, we are still stucked with lowest grade of fuel, and limited us to the diesel model available. I think biggest problem is we have too many commercial "black smoking" truck / bus on road, which this will basically kill them off. One of the pain to take on if want to move the country forward, again the cronies controlling those company pressure the government I suppose.

5. No news on Car Price Reduction.
MITI said they have a framework ready for 5 years reduction plan, but nothing announced. Might as well say you don't have the framework?? And being in Malaysia, they can get away with it, nice! The presentation even explained that car price reduced last few years, sounded very much like what we saw on "newspaper" earlier, what's the point?

6. No news on Reduction of Excise Duty & Tax.
And what pissed me off is, government is in 4% deficit and need the tax now. So if government continues to be in red, we will never see sunlight?? That's really pretty stupid. They screw it up, and we citizens have to pay for it. Our Prime Minister promised to reduce car price by 30% is still hanging until now.

Others that's not mentioned which I think should be included.

7. Adjust the road tax in accordance to car price / power / emission. People are buying expensive cars but paying little road tax, why don't have a more fair system to tax the higher earner more?

8. Impose additional safety equipment as basic to car offer, like traction control and etc. I'm sure most people don't mind to pay same price for additional safety features. Why is Toyota still allow to get away with little safety features on the mainstream model that top the sales chart? Protect the citizens!

9. No news on older cars, good news for me, so I can continue to enjoy my Fiat Coupe =)

Habits of the Rich People

New year, new resolution. As usual habits, I started to read more to find out how to live my life better and found an interesting article about differences between habits of the rich and the poor.

1. Rich people eat less junk food
2. Rich people focus on single goal
3. Rich people exercise more often
4. Rich people listen to audio books when commuting
5. Rich people maintain a to-do list
6. Rich people make their children read fiction books monthly
7. Rich people make their children volunteer
8. Rich people make birthday calls
9. Rich people write down their goals
10. Rich people read 30 minutes or more each day for education
11. Rich people don't say what's on their mind
12. Rich people network more often
13. Rich people watch less TV
14. Rich people don't watch reality TV show
15. Rich people wake up 3 hours before work
16. Rich people teach good daily success habit to their children
17. Rich people believe good habits create opportunity luck
18. Rich people believe bad habits create detrimental luck
19. Rich people believe in lifelong educational self improvements
20. Rich people love to read

Myself has been practicing some of the habits above, but one thing that caught my attention is the no. 11, where Rich People Don't Say What's On Their Mind. I'm guilty on this that I've been quite honest and open with what ever in my mind. Then after reading this I realize that it's actually not very good for myself. As I pay more attention to the people surrounding, I also notice that nearly no one share what their thoughts and they wanted to always know what you are thinking or doing.

Selfishness? I don't know, but I think I also have to be more careful with my thoughts, anyway it's a recognize habit for being rich, so I better starting acting like it also. I love sharing, so don't worry, contents will remain for 1simpleplan, but would hold up on my personal life matters.

Let's see, I still have 9 more habits to go, hope I can eliminate all my bad habits before end of 2014 =)