Seremban One Day Trip 28th of June (Public Transport in Seremban and Big Bad Wolf Bookfair)

Hello everybody! I am back here again...

Well, my first year sem 2 semester break was officially started by 20th of June 2019 till end of August (you may click on this link to read my blog post regarding of the end of Semester 2). For me, it's too bored for me just to keep staying at the same location for the whole semester break even though I, myself have found a few part time jobs as well as doing workout and gardening at home. Therefore, I had made use of my time to have a short trip to the nearest town or city in Kuala Lumpur, which is Seremban.

Seremban downtown, Jalan Dato' Kelana

The reasons for me opting to travel to Seremban was because of recent Big Bad Wolf Bookfair at Mydin Seremban 2. I had never been going for any of Big Bad Wolf Bookfair before (but, I go for Popular Bookfest Malaysia every year), that's why I was taking this opportunity to make a visit there. Besides, personally I myself never really been to Seremban city before, almost all the time I am just passing by Seremban when I am going to any of the southern places in Peninsula Malaysia as well as Singapore. In fact, from my personal view, I think that Seremban city is just like a passing-by city when someone is going to further south (Melaka or Johor) or Singapore. So, this blog post is going to talk about brief facts, public transportation and Big Bad Wolf Bookfair in Seremban.

Seremban is the capital city of Negeri Sembilan state. It is once known as "Sungai Ujong" (End of the river) and had been flourished and thrived after discovery of tin ore (bijih timah) nearby there in the 19th century. Basically, all the development of modern history of that place, Seremban is almost similar to what was happening in other Federated Malay States of Britain in the late 19th century. The only difference compared to the other Malay States is the establishment of the state.

Historical map of Negeri Sembilan state

The establishment of Negeri Sembilan state in Malaysia has a distinct story to be told. It was once made up by 9 of the smaller districts which majorly of whom were Minangkabau descendants. However, Negeri Sembilan states in present has only 7 districts as some of them were been transferred and annexed into the neighbouring Malay states under British Colonisation. Minangkabau is an unique sub-ethnic of Malay which is from the West Sumatera. Unlike the other Malay ethnic, Minangkabau practices Adat Perpatih (Maternal Customary) in their life compared to the Malay in the other states where they adhered to Adat Temenggung (Paternal Customary) in their life. Moreover, their state leader (Yamtuan Besar) was chosen by each smaller districts democratically. Besides, Minangkabau architecture is somewhat distinct from the other Malay architectures. Their houses built with croissant alike rooftop which are also known as Rumah Gadang. Rumah Gadang can be seen everywhere in Negeri Sembilan. Here are the pictures of Minangkabau architecture in Seremban... So, this is why Negeri Sembilan state is somewhat unique in Peninsula Malaysia.
Minangkabau style....

Alright, I will talk about my trip in Seremban. My trip began by commuting LRT from Kinrara BK5 station to LRT Bandar Tasik Selatan, then change to commute KTM train to Seremban. It took more than an hour to reach the destination. Upon reaching there, I walked to Terminal 1 Seremban. Terminal 1 Seremban is the integrated bus station in Seremban which is enable travellers or city dwellers travel from one place to another place. It has express bus services which take us to the almost all the states in Peninsula Malaysia as well as Singapore. Then, it has the local public bus service, which is known as MyBus. MyBus takes us to travel within the city of Seremban and to the other townships in Negeri Sembilan such as Port Dickson, Nilai and Jelebu. In fact, Terminal 1 Seremban is within walking distance from KTM Seremban train station. Once I arrived there, I immediately find for a bus to commute to Seremban 2. After searching for few minutes, finally I've found a bus to Mydin Mall in Seremban 2.

KTM station Bandar Tasik Selatan.

Terminal 1 Seremban bus station

KTM station of Seremban

Speaking of Big Bad Wolf Bookfair, I thought it will be so grand just like what had in Popular Bookfest Malaysia at KLCC. However, after arriving there, the exhibition was not that big and it was held at the shopping mall carpark lots. I went there just to read a few books and then go back to Seremban city again. The difference of Big Bad Wolf books exhibition compared to Popular Bookfest Malaysia are that Bookfest Malaysia charges entrance fee and it is annually done under air-conditioned big hall. Oh ya, Big Bad Wolf Bookfair does have their largest bookfair annually at The Mines but the crowd is still lesser than in Bookfest Malaysia one.

I took grab car service from Seremban 2 to Seremban downtown. Seremban city downtown is quite big and has some tourist destinations such as Seremban Lake Garden, Centipede Chinese Temple and Pasar Besar Seremban. Unfortunately, I only managed to visit Pasar Besar Seremban which was the nearest place I can go by walking in Seremban downtown due to time was constraining.
Here are some photos of Seremban town centre...

The famous Pasar Besar Seremban

Alright, that's all of my one day trip in Seremban. Seremban's public transportion efficiency is still not yet on par with in Klang Valley one... I hope one day, Seremban's public transportation will be improve in terms of efficiency and facilities so that it will be an ease for the tourist to travel in Seremban as well as in Negeri Sembilan. That's all about my blog post. Hope you enjoy reading my blog post. Thank you, see you guys in the next time...

Throwback of my last year longest part time job...

Hello everybody...

This blog post is going to a brief summary of my last year longest part time job... (Dec 2017 till Mid of March 2018)

I was so fortunate to have a chance to get to experience office job by December 2017. That was during the period when I had just finished my STPM examination and waiting for results to be announce on early March 2018. After a week of getting my STPM result, then I quitted the job.

Basically that job is known as personal assistant aka general clerk for two of the Unit Sales of Manager of Insurance Company in Maluri, Kuala Lumpur. I was kinda shocked when I was told to work for two bosses (my initial thought was just serving for a boss). My job scopes there, for me, were moderately challenging back then. They assigned me to do quotation on the customer demand basis, key in data of policy summaries as well as calling to medical centre to urge for medical report of customers. Some of the Ad-hoc tasks, they did also ask me to do. For example, one of them threw to me an abundance unsorted documents for me to sort out...

Initially, I got my momentum to work until a certain time, perhaps it was a month later, I almost lost all my momentum to work. When at that time I had lost of my momentum to work, I began to simply doing work. This made them so frustrated, I even got warning and salary deduction twice (ouch*). The second time of salary deduction really got me triggered and I immediately quitted doing that job. After more than a year, I am looking back of it, then I felt like I was wrong, I shall keep myself motivated when working so I can get work done easily.

In conclusion, we should always keep ourselves in positive so that we will be able to get through life easily. Positivity is just like a magnet, when we have it, then it will attracts more positivity into our life. Gradually, this will greatly reduce ours tendency towards negative thinking, complaining and whining all the time. Complaining and whining won't help in solving the problems. The best way to be positive in life is to approach more positive thinking person, exercising regularly and read some positive vibes articles. 

Febuary's trip: Northern Expedition of Peninsula Malaysia and Thailand (13/2/19 - 15/2/19) finale

Resuming from the previous part, part 2

On the last day of our trip (15/2/19), that guest house host brought to tour around the prestigious Melati Lake (Tasik Melati) in Perlis. It is just few kilometers away from the town centre as well as Beseri town of Perlis. Indeed, Tasik Melati has an appealing scenery which is able to lure morning joggers to jog around the lake while enjoy looking the scenery. For me, I felt that lake is like the miniture version of Taiping Lake in Perak which has a calm and tranquil scenery along with beautifully designated pavilions on the lake for the joggers and visitors to take a break...

Here are few photos of Tasik Melati, Perlis.

Harumanis Country House host and me

After visiting Tasik Melati, it was the time for me to say goodbye to Perlis State. I was about to depart to Kuala Lumpur (going back to face the reality). That host sent me to the nearest KTM station in order to go back to Kuala Lumpur. Upon arriving to there, I realized that the ticket from Perlis to KL Sentral was sold out already. Therefore, I ended up to have a backup plan to commute Komuter from Arau, Perlis to Butterworth, Penang first since I have relative staying there as well as I could make use that chance to travel in Georgetown, Penang.

Magnificent view of the scenery in Arau, Perlis

I need not to explain much of Penang, since Penang (island part) is usually regarded as the popular tourist destinations and heritage site among the foreigners. 

Here are a few photos of mine when I had my 'touch n go' visit in Penang island. 

Ferry service from Penang Sentral (Butterworth) to Penang Island

After finishing my 'touch n go' daytrip, I took ferry back to mainland again to meet my aunt. She treated me with the local delicacies there such as Laksa and Cendol. Then, she brought to visit the nearest temples in Butterworth such as Tow Boo Kong (9th Emperor Temple)...

Then, I booked express bus to depart from Butterworth to Kuala Lumpur in the evening. That was the end of my Northern Expedition of Peninsula Malaysia. We may have explore so many mainstream tourist places in Malaysia, however, we can't not try to visit some rural and not mainstream places in Malaysia. Although these places may seem to be so rural and outback compared to the renowned tourist destinations, but these places indeed are hidden with the tourism potential to be discovered.

Alright, that's all for this series of travelogue sharing. I hope you guys enjoy reading it. Be sure to subscribe to my google+ and my blogger account. Tqvm. See you in the next time, bye.

Febuary's trip: Northern Expedition of Peninsula Malaysia and Thailand (13/2/19 - 15/2/19) part 2

Resuming from the part 1

After that, then I proceed my journey with travelling to the neighbouring country - Thailand...

It was my first time to cross internation border to neighbouring country. Under the hot scorching sun, I had safely arrived to the border town of Padangbezar of Songkhla Province, Thailand. Unlike its partner of Padang Besar town in Malaysia, Padangbezar town is comparatively larger in size than in Malaysia. There are a variety of eateries stalls and shop lots for us to sit down and patronize. Among the thai delicacies, what I liked the most is Som Tam, it is made from crushed papayas, vegatables, peanuts as well as chilis, mixed with some zesty taste paste. Therefore, upon consuming this meal, you can get to feel the sour taste in the hot and spicy taste.

Besides of tasting delicacies there, here are few photos related to my travel...
Wat Padangbesa, the Siamese temple in Padangbezar town

Apart from that, I did also realize that the 7-eleven there were also differ than what were perceived in Malaysia. 7-eleven there were larger in size compared to those operated in Malaysia. Since they are bigger in size, so 7-eleven convenient shops there did offer a myriad choices of daily commodities as well as foods.

After travelling finished in Padangbezar, I left Thailand and going back to Perlis again. On that night, the guest house host has treated my an ordinary Chinese cuisine dinner in Kangar, Perlis. After having dinner, I went to the Chinese New Year celebration organized by the local town council. Fortunately, I got my luck to meet that state's Menteri Besar, YB Dato' Azlan Man. Perlis state is indeed too small until you could have stand a chance to meet the Menteri Besar which is deemed to be hardly to be meet by ordinary people in the other states.

 The last part, part 3 (the last day of my trip) will be updated soon, maybe I will be updating it in these few days. Stay tuned.

Febuary's trip: Northern Expedition of Peninsula Malaysia and Thailand (13/2/19 - 15/2/19) part 1

Hello everybody! It's been a long time for me not updating my blog, therefore I am fortune to have this leisure time to update to you guys my trips in the month of February 2019.

This year's Chinese New Year celebration is on right in the schedule of my university's semester break which is started from 18th of January till 18th of Febuary. Henceforth, I did able to make use few days of free time to travel to the Northernmost state in Malaysia, Perlis prior of going back to UKM on 17th of February.

As we all know that Perlis is the smallest state which is located in North-West of Peninsula Malaysia. It is flaked by Thailand at Northern and Western side, while Kedah state of Malaysia at Southern and Eastern side. Due to its geographical location is extremely far north than the great city of Kuala Lumpur and Penang, so there are seldom people really hang out and travelling there unless they stop there for a while before going to Hatyai, Thailand.

For me, Perlis is a state whom I hadn't yet visited before. So, I made a choice to travel to this far north state in West Malaysia. 

On 13th of Febuary early morning, I took express bus to travel to capital city of Perlis state, Kangar. Little do I know that bus was actually going to multiple destinations in the North such as Penang Sentral in Penang, Alor Setar and Changlun in Kedah. However, it didn't matter to me as I can get to see many beautiful scenery in the North especially the lush green and golden paddy field.

Finally, I've arrived to Kangar, Perlis by 4pm. Fortunately, I was greeted warmly by a hospitable and yet friendly Guest House host there. He is the host of Harum Manis Country House which is located at 10km away from Kangar, Perlis. The address of this guest house is below of this paragraph.

My first destination to travel is Kuala Perlis, the jetty of getting to Langkawi Island. Basically, Kuala Perlis town do not have much of the places to go, there is solely a unique kind of mosque which is built on the sea roughly 50 meters away from the shore. After visiting Kuala Perlis, I went to Kampung Wai, an ordinary rice field village that went viral after Local CNY film, namely Great Day (天天好天) shot there back in 2011. There is a colorful house situated in the middle of the breathtaking paddy field there. These were the 2 destinations I went to in the first day.

On the next day (14/2/19), the host had decided to bring me to have a tour at the northernmost part of Perlis and Thailand border. Whilst on our way to Kaki Bukit, Perlis, I saw the largest dam and lake in Perlis namely Timah Tasoh Lake there and I took a few of photos there. Then, we had arrived to Kaki Bukit, Perlis. Kaki Bukit is used to be solely tin mining spot in Perlis state, however, the tin mining activities there has stopped operating since the end of 70's due to global economy recession and tin price dropped drastically at that time. Gua Kelam (Kelam Cave) in Kaki Bukit has became a remnant of that tin mining activities and has been also growing into an eco-tourism destination. With 370m length of that limestone cave, it is known as the longest cave in the West Malaysia. Upon reaching to the end of the path of the tunnel, you will get to the hidden trail, which is a part of Perlis State Park. The entrance fee is RM0.50 for children and RM2.00 for adult.

Famous Chinese Restaurant in Kaki Bukit, Perlis

Big pao and Char Siew pao (Lard pao)

Since my story is too long to type, there will be part 2 of this blog post. Stay tuned.

Part time promoter job at petrol station (25/1/19 - 26/1/19)

Hello everybody! It's been a long time since I had updated my blog previously. Yup, I've managed to spare out my leisure to update my first blog account again.

My uni's semester break prior of the beginning of next semester is roughly a month long... Among that 4 weeks, 2 weeks were allocated for the upcoming Chinese New Year celebration, while the other weeks were totally nothing to do. So, that 2 weeks before Chinese New Year, I spare out my time to do some leisure activities such as morning walk, workout and swimming. However, I was thinking about what I can do to earn some money and voilà here it came...

I was counted as lucky to get the part time promoter job at Shell Petrol Station which is nearby to my home. Besides, there are also reasons of why I said I was so lucky to get offered for that part time job. This is because of that job only spanned for 2 days only (1 weekday and 1 weekend) as well as it gave me 3 hours break during work from 12pm till 3pm. Absolutely shiok for me ah...

That job's scope was also considered as easy as ABC since it just required us to give free samples of Deli2go pastries and promoting pastries to the customers and recording daily sales record from the report of respective petrol station. While working there, I have seen different types of customers' reaction towards free sample of pastries given. Most of the customers I met either they rejected to taste the free sample or tasting the free samples without buying any of the pastry. Anyway, that's doesn't matter to me lah, since there are still a significant number of customers straight away bought pastries from the petrol station store. Little did I know, there was a few regular customers whom they need not to taste free samples given by promoter and just straight away buying the products from the store. If there are lots of this type of customer in my future part time promoter job, then I can easily achieve my KPI with less effort, shiok ah... (P/S: That won't be happening lah...). Therefore, there are various types of customers I encountered in doing part time promoter job, some may be boon to your KPIs, while some may be bane to your KPIs.

Apart from I had perceived from the customer behaviour towards free sample and promotion, I had also be able to hone my communication skill indirectly. Promoting and selling a product may seemingly being so easy, however, in the reality it requires us to be well-prepared before we proceed to do so. This communication skill we can easily obtained through our own experience in working as well as through someone who is deemed to be well-experienced and successful in business and sales fields. I was so fortunate to meet the owner of that Petrol Station who already ran petrol business for more than 23 years in Bandar Kinrara, Puchong, Selangor. For me, he is a motivated, optimistic and approachable boss since I preceived he frequently buiding up close relationship with his employees and trying hard to motivate and teach them to achieve his goal. For an instance, even though I was just a temporary promoter there, he gave me some insights to promote the product and I ended up being able to help to grow the sales gradually. On top of that, he was also trying to persuade me to sell his daughter self-made anti-acne soaps to my university, UKM as a side income of mine. Nevertheless, currently I'm still considering whether I want to take this opportunity or not to do so.

After that, there was a salesperson person I met there. He is the salesperson who are selling car mirror washing liquid outside at the petrol station. What amazed me was he said to me that "Promoter job is so easy only, it is all depends on communication skill and attitude". Memang senang saja... Then, he told me that communication in sales and promoting a product must have these things, L.I.C.K which are (Loud, Intonation, Clear, Keep it short and simple). Many times we had failed to promote a product because we had spent so long time to explain the pros of the product. Instead, we should straight to the point of fulfilling what customer demanded for. Even for me, I wouldn't like to listen so long explain of the pros in the product, kinda boring... These few things are the things I learned from him lah, anyway...

Last but not least, I also met friendly and helpful petrol station staffs there too. There help me to bake and slice the sample of pastries so that I could focus on giving out samples to the customer. They were also there to spare some time to chit chat with me in order to reduce boredom in workplace. I'm glad that I found a good part time promoter job where I can improve my communication skill and get to recognize some well-experience of business and salesperson.

Alright, that's all for today's blog post. I hope you enjoy reading my blog post. Please do subscribe to my blogger account and google+ account as well. See you guys in the next time, bye...