Hemmant Trail is a short (1 km) trail located inside Fraser’s Hill (just a short walk from the clock tower, the trail is next to the golf course).
The entry to the trail is difficult to see if you come from the north, though it doesn’t look like it would be from the photo. If you walk to the start from the clock tower it is much easier to see the trailhead which is will be on your right before your reach the Mosque.
The trail is quite nice and fairly easy.
Ajisai Japanese Restaurant is near Plaza Pelangi (in the same strip of shops as Furusato Japanese Restaurant, Rosmarino and Clinic Australia).
My favorite sushi special
I really like the sushi special in the photo, it includes everything you see except the fried lotus root for I think 18 MYR (super deal ~ US$6). This special might only be available at lunch. I usually get one small item with it and they have some great choices (fried quail eggs, pumpkin tempura?, sushi items etc. – the fried lotus root was actually my least favorite so far).
It is my favorite Japanese restaurant with great sushi and good prices and good service. There are really several quite good sushi restaurants, in my opinion, this is my favorite but the others are very close to the same quality and service.
Malacca (Melaka) has a beautiful historic district; it is even designated a world heritage city (by the United Nations – UNESCO). The atmosphere encourages artistic thought and expression. And that is shown in art as you walk around the city.
Text: everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression…
Some of the art is maybe not what we normally think of as art. But the painting of walls and shutters gives very artistic views as do arched walkways and other elements of the urban architecture.
Shahrzad Restaurant is located between KSL Mall and the New York Hotel in downtown Johor Bahru.
Excellent humus and pita
As you would expect the humus was excellent. The restaurant offers very good Middle Eastern food. I recommend it.
Shahrzad Restaurant with New York Hotel in the background. All photos by John.
There is a nice patio with tables and trees and tables inside also.
Masjid Jamek is a Mosque one block from Merdeka Square in downtown Kuala Lumpur that was built in 1907.
The Sultan Abdul Samad Building, was designed by the same architect and shares a similar style. That building sits between the mosque and Merdeka Square.
The webcast includes audio of the Adhan (“call to prayers”).
The mosque sits at the confluence of Gombak and Klang rivers.
My power has now been out for 48 hours. Early on I anticipated a breakdown long enough to ruin the food in my “ice box”/refrigerator (the damage was caused by a ruptured pipe and water pouring into the electrical system) shutting off power to all but the ground floor. I walked next door to a small shop and bought a couple bags of ice. I went to dinner near a 7-11 and picked up some more ice (they have great ice for this purpose – very cold and a big huge sold block).
A shop similar to this one (but the photo shows a bigger shop a bit further away)
So far it has kept things colder much better than I would have guessed. Going back to when an ice box was a box with ice works decently using a modern refrigerator. I guess it shouldn’t be that surprising as the insulation on modern refrigerators is better than the old ones. Still getting and restocking ice is a bother.
It would be a good opportunity for a business to make it easy. I suggested to the condo office that they help make this process easier for tenants as a smart move to mitigate the damage to tenants but they have not done so (no surprise). Either give ice away – the management companies losing a big of cash but not much really, ice is cheap. Or the management company makes it a condo expense which means the owners just pay for it. Or at least have some company agree to schedule a truck to come at x hour and sell ice to those who want to buy it.
Update: a few hours after I posted this they actually did have ice delivered for people to use. I am not sure if they took awhile to take my suggestion to heart or if someone else came up with the idea. Either way, it was a good sign.
A bit of customer focus can help mitigate the damage customer face when things go wrong.
The people in the management office are kind. But the management company has not built a management system with a focus on encouraging employees to continually seek ways to improve and provide great service.
Related: The Customer is the Purpose of Our Work – Poor Usability for Online Plane Reservations – Great Cheap Cell Phone Plan
Update: I think we ended up being without power for just over 4 days. I found being without power really wasn’t that bad except for problems getting wifi. Luckily my building has wifi available for daily purchase and their signal was good (the power they use is separate line that is used by the elevators and stayed up the whole time). I was able to recharge my laptop in the building office (only floors 2-20 were without power). If I had been without wifi I think I would have had to move into a hotel, but as it was it was tolerable and less annoying than I would have guessed (though I still don’t want to have to deal with it again – especially since the “backup” wifi seems to have deteriorated – I have to use it occasionally when I have connectivity issues way too often – my internet connection is right on the edge of being tolerable…).
Sadly they don’t understand the web and the video is gone. When will site with huge budgets learn the basics of web site management such as web pages must live forever.
The webcast by Channel News Asia is a 22 minute look at Iskandar in Johor, Malaysia. The current population of Iskandar is 1.5 million people which is projected to grow to 3 million by 2025. Iskandar is 3 times the size of Singapore, which is the next door neighbor to Iskandar.
Two of the big focuses for Iskandar are education (for which Educity has been established in Iskandar and has brought in several British Universities to setup campuses) and medical care.
Related: Iskandar Overview Video – Iskandar Housing Real Estate Investment Considerations – The Potential of Iskandar is Very High but Investing in Iskandar has Risks
The 10th Annual JB Arts Festival kicks off September 6th and has events through October 5th.
Performances this year include:
Angels on the Hill – Angel Art and Dance Studio is an integrated art school equipped with innovative ethnic dancing skills, combining creativity with spirit and dancing principles. Established in April 2001, the school specialises and promotes traditional and cultural dance in Johor Bahru. They will be presenting 12 different dances, featuring 120 students ranging from the age of 3 to 21.
ASWARA – traditional and contemporary dances Malaysian dance company
The Cheng Hoon Teng temple (Temple of Green Cloud) is a Chinese temple practicing the three doctrinal systems of Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. It is the oldest functioning temple in Malaysia; built in 1673.
Ceramic art on the temple roof
The ceramic tile roofs are great.
Tera Thai restaurant is in an old house.
Tera Thai restaurant is near downtown Johor Bahru. Still some taxi drivers have a problem finding it – even with an address. It really shouldn’t be hard it is about 2 km away from the Thistle hotel but it in a quiet area with not much else around (it is near Sri Mulia Condominium and to get to Pangsapuri Adamai Condo, you have to pass the restaurant).
This was a great beef dish at Tera Thai, but I can’t remember what it is called.
It is a very nice restaurant with a great atmosphere and good service. The food is very good.