Yes, for once, the rumors are true, Maxis is bringing in iPhone 3G. We might be little later than some of our neighbours perhaps, but it’s finally arriving on our shore in a legit manner and fully supported by the most popular telco in the country.
http://www.maxis.com.my/iphone is up and running, this is the real deal.
I actually know quite a few people who uses the original iPhone (on EDGE network) as well as at least one who holds an iPhone 3G. One of my friends loved it so much that when he had to send his iPhone back to US for warranty (he somehow damaged the SIM card slot), he bought another one just to use it while waiting for the original to travel around the globe.
Which brings us to the whole problem of using a non supported phone (be it iPhone or otherwise) and the hassles they bring when something is not working right. I too have learned my lesson and stopped buying any “AP” sets or imported phones without original warranties.
The good news is, on March 20, we will be able to get our the original iPhone 3G fully supported by Maxis right here in Malaysia!
The most important question on everyone’s mind would be: “Well how much does it cost?”
Frankly speaking, it isn’t any different with most other countries, and certainly a lot more attractive than getting one of those “imported sets” from your friendly hand phone sellers. For once, you will be able to send it back within for warranty period if anything goes wrong, and you can also upgrade the phone whenever new patches or software releases are available instead of resorting to dodgy ways of making the phone work.
There are plans for 12/24/6 months to choose from, and I think the iValue2 RM 155 for 24 months plan probably suits me the most. Pay less than RM 1.3k for the 8GB model, more than 11 hours of talk time included, and the 1GB/month data usage should be well sufficient for me (I’ve used less than 200 MB on my Nokia 5800 thus far), even though the superior web browser on iPhone might make me a heavier data user, 1GB/month would still be enough. Go to rateplan site for more choices.
Personally I love the glorious screen of iPhone (480-by-320-pixel) and it’s excellent browser with multi-touch support. The zooming function is especially handy when it comes to viewing websites, something that I am still waiting for other mobile phone manufacturers to catch up. There’s also support for corporate emails and MS Exchange sync functions that I rely on managing my calendar, and of course, a tonne of other applications from iTune store.
Then I asked my buddy shiang who is in love with his iPhone 2G on what are some of the best games on the platform. I think the response speaks for itself.
Fieldrunners is a game good enough to get into top 10 of Time.com‘s best game list. Described as a fast and furious tower defense game, this application actually looks pretty awesome.
Another recommendation is the very familiar childhood game of everyone: Monopoly! This should be pretty awesome with it’s multiplayer capability that so many handheld gaming device tried to push but just never got there. Shiang’s description of “roll dice.. you shake the phone.. how much u shake the phone affects the roll one” cetainly sounds interesting.
Of course, other than games there’s also GPS, video capabitities, camera, and many other goodies you find in a high end phone. The only probable downside (you decide!) is the capacitive touch screen which does not work well with long finger nails, so your girl friend might not be able to check your SMS.
The official launch is 20th March 2009. It is going to be interesting!
One of the reasons I chose to go to Bangkok for holiday despite being there just a year ago was the chance to stay at Reflections Rooms that I had first read from Su Ann. The other, more important reason would be the fact that Mell wanted to shop at Chatuchak.
Furthermore, due to the weird and wonderful cosmic arrangement, Reflections is located at mere 5 minutes away from Chatuchak via the hotel’s free tuk-tuk service, which makes the decision an absolute no brainer.
Lobby at Reflections, quirky and unique
The quaint little boutique hotel only has 36 rooms housed in 3 separate blocks of buildings right next to each other. Each and every room is uniquely designed with it’s own theme: color of the wall, the design of the toilet, arrangement of furniture, types of couch, floor finishing, tables, and even the shape of the room space are different. The only common thingy they shared is probably the 21″ TV and big comfortable king size bed.
There are no rooms with separate single beds, so this might not be an ideal place for 2 straight guys to share a room.
Room 202 – Hong Kong Pat
Our first room was the very quirky Room 202, Hong Kong Pat. Hong means room in Thai, and Kong “Pat” is the artist who created the room. He is also known as the “Bangkok’s Mr. Idea Man, Mr. Can-Do, Mr. How-To.”
a little balcony for outdoor chilling, mirror for the lady
The room took up the entire floor space of a previous shop lot (as many rooms were) and turned it into more of a studio apartment than a normal run-off-the-mill hotel room. It was at least 12 to 14 feet wide and probably 50 feet deep. The walls were painted dark cyan on two sides, with the remaining a contrasting white. Big canvases hung on them with original paintings barely visible underneath all the scribbles and artistic outputs from previous tenants.
3 stooges lamps, disco lights, and the awesome soft toy couch
On the bare concrete floor right after we stepped in a room there is a sofa and the very awesome little couch that is covered entirely with soft toys. There are also lamps on 3 dolls affixed in the style of coal miners and even a disco light at the far corner that we left on while going to sleep, serving as a funky alternative to the boring night light.
we leave our marks on the walls of Room 202
The toilet at the end of the room (which was quite a walk for midnight relieves) has only a shower curtain and no door. But as a bonus, it comes with 2 shower heads *wink*. Even though the room was located on the ground floor, it comes with a small balcony with a couple chairs, very handy especially for those nicotine recharge periods.
Paints were readily available in the room, before we reluctantly checked out from Room 202, we left our scribbles on the wall, just like the dozens of past temporary tenants.
Room 303 – Medicine Machine
Because we stayed there for 5 nights, we are allowed to change room once (unfortunately there isn’t an option to stay in a different room every night, and it’ll be too much of a hassle anyway). Our second selection was Room 303 – Medicine Machine, located on the first floor, opposite block from the previous room. The hotel staff was kind enough to transfer all our luggage to the new room while we were out.
striking orange fake leather couch makes up the small living room
Room 303 is a converted converted from an office space, slightly smaller than 202 but still at least twice the size of an ordinary hotel room. The set up is like a vintage 70s office with its orange fake leather couch and wooden tea table facing a cork board wall that serves as a place to hang cloths.
the white and almost hospital like theme with a quaintly designed headboard
The multicolored curtains filters the evening sun to light up the otherwise plain cream color walls with rays in different spectrum. The room also comes with carpeted floor, the standard TV/DVD player, and a mini fridge. The toilet is converted from a stair well, with the shower affixed where you typically have a 90 degree turn as you go up the stairs.
This room was simpler, less busy, slightly more conventional, but yet unique in its own way. It would have been a big eye opener though, if we did not choose 202 as our first choice.
a smooch on the cheek
The rooms at Reflections are priced at 2250 to 2750 Baht per night, and you can typically ask for a discount (we got 20% off) during off peak season and if you stay over a certain number of nights. There are also a DVD library you can pick movies from (we spent so much time trying to decide what movie to watch), and plenty of street foods just right outside the hotel itself which I will write about very soon.
The hotel is located at Pradiphat street, just some 3km from Chatuchak. It runs a free tuk-tuk service to the nearest BTS station (Saphan Khwai, 7 stops from Siam Central) and Chatuchak weekend market. The hotel staffs were all very friendly and attentive; with it’s unique design as well as convenient location, the entire experience was better than anything I had expected.
We definitely plan to return to Reflections and try the other rooms in the future.
Being a pair of very somewhat clueless travelers, we had forgotten about the existence of Siam Ocean World until a discount coupon was given to us upon purchasing the tickets for “The Confessions of a Shopaholic”, the movie Mell suggested we watch (which actually turned out to be good)
Well, I was the president of Aquarium Society back in high school, held an annual membership at the Newport Aquarium in Greater Cincinnati, visited the Shedd Aquarium at Chicago, as well as our very own Aquaria at KLCC. So it was natural that I shall not miss out this place, touted as the best indoor aquarium in South East Asia.
Mell walking with the sharks
While the KLCC Aquaria’s entrance fee is RM 38 (foreigner) and RM 28 (myKard holder), the tickets for this place is a lot steeper. 850 baht for adult, and 650 baht for children, which is about 3 times more expensive than Aquaria, but similarly the place is about 3 times bigger, so it was all good. Our discount was something like 30% for one of the tickets if I remember correctly.
this is like a whack-a-mole eel, you go closer, they go into hiding
Other than the usual touring the exhibits like we do, there are several other activities offered at this place, and the most interesting one would be Dive with the Sharks, as in, you get to dive for 30 minutes inside the tank with an instructor and be among the sharks (the docile yet fierce looking Sand Tiger Sharks). I think this is something I should perhaps plan to do in the next visit. If I remember correctly, that costs about 4-5000 baht.
the prawn, the salamander, and the very cute mantis prawn with x_x eyes
The other interesting activity at Siam Ocean World is the Ocean Walker. Basically you suit up and put a glass helmet over your head and walks for 15 minutes on the sandy bottom in one of the giant tanks (which doesn’t house the sharks I believe. It could be a very interesting experience especially for non-swimmers.
And for the less adventurous, there’s also the Glass Bottom Boat for a different perspective in looking at the fishes. We did not take up any of those extra activities though.
otter and some giant rodents too
The aquarium is separated into quite a few sections over 2 basement levels in Siam Paragon Mall. Right after the entrance was the “Weird and Wonderful” section with many interesting creatures such as the “whack-a-mole” eels. Next is the “Living Ocean”, and then “Rain Forest”, “Rocky Shore”, “Sea Jellies”, and “Open Ocean”, you can find out what is exhibiting at which zone on their website.
mell with arapaima gigas, the biggest fresh water fish
The variety of creatures are quite big. Fresh water giants like Arapaima Gigas to the normal aquarium fishes you find at homes. There are also jelly fish, sea horses, mantis shrimps, sharks, sting rays, red snappers, grouper fish, eels, and more.
There are also star fish, horseshoe crabs, salamanders, giant rodents, otters, turtles, and even penguins. I think the only major type of sea creature I did not see in there was living octopus, squid, and cuttle fish. But they made it up with samples of preserved deep ocean creatures though.
in another day, we would have eaten the sting ray
It was a pretty interesting experience despite the price being a little steep. I think the next aquarium I’ll be going could very well be the Melbourne Aquarium 
A couple of weeks ago a couple friends and I were in Mid Valley Gardens looking for a quick dinner. We stopped by Canton-i, Sushi Zanmai, and Fong Lye Taiwanese restaurant, they were all absolutely full inside, and with people waiting outside as well.
Time was of essence, so we stepped into this GoGung Korean Restaurant at third floor.
GoGung Korean Restaurant
Normally I love to have my grilled meat at Korean places, but since time is of the essence (Mell was waiting and it was the day before she’s was to fly off to Melbourne), we decided to forgo that luxury and go for something faster.
Unlike most other places, they serve no dinner sets, we ordered two Kimchi Jigge (kimchi soup) and a Kimchi Bo Kum Bab (kimchi fried rice) for RM 25 each, and 3 hot green tea. The food didn’t take too long to arrive, and to be frank, they taste ok. Not great, but not particularly bad either.
After hastily finished off our food, we asked for the bill. It came to RM 108.90. It kinda got me curious, I thought RM 75 plus whatever taxes and maybe a minimal amount for the tea bagged green tea we ordered shouldn’t amount to more than RM 100.
3 green tea for RM 24, what do you think?
Then, on closer inspection, I saw what they charged us for the drinks. RM 8 per tea bag of green tea (well you do get unlimited hot water refill!). Frankly speaking I find that very excessive for something most Japanese and some Korean restaurants serve for free.
I will never go back to this GoGung Korean restaurant again. If you plan to head there, I suggest you might want to check if plain water is free.
P/S: I’ve been questioned on why almost all food places written on this blog are good, the reason is that for those I usually don’t write about food I deem not worthy of recommendation (even if it was an invited review). But here is one of the few bad reviews, cheers!
Time to take a little break from writing about Bangkok and lets talk about something closer to home for a bit. After all, this site has the reputation of being a food blog of sort, no?
Well, this dining expedition happened late last year when Kerol decided to lead myself and Horng to this little hideout that is F4 Fish Head at the relatively unfashionable part of USJ, within the light industrial area at the back of Summit mall, otherwise known as the traffic death zone during rush hour.
F4 Fish head, next to USJ badminton hall
The restaurant occupies a small industrial lot, which is rather big by kopitiam standard. By the time we got there at around 6:30, it was already 80% full despite located in a rather hidden area.
We sat down and ordered a steamed fish head with ginger and onion, a plate of potato leaves with balacan, and a clay pot port belly with salted fish.
fish head with ginger & garlic, potato leaves, pork belly with salted fish
Food did take a while to arrive but it wasn’t unacceptably long.
The steamed fish head with ginger and garlic(not exactly sure the type of fish used) was very delightful. Now fish heads are usually prepared with curry, but if you have good quality and fresh fish heads, steaming would be a preferred method. The fish was soft, and as it was almost 1/3 of the fish instead of just the head, there were plenty to chew from.
The clay pot pork belly with salted fish too was a very commendable dish. Saturated with the goodness of 3-layered pork that is skin/fat/meat and salted fish in dark soya sauce and dried chili. It was a good contrast to the fairer taste of the steamed fish head.
KY, Kerol, and Horng
As for the potato leaves with balacan, well, it was decent but nothing particularly outstanding. A good accompanying dish to counter the meat and fish. But I do feel that perhaps a steamed soup might serve us better.
F4 Fish Head is hidden within Subang Jaya Industries Park
Total meal came to something like RM 60, very economical for what we ordered. I need to go back there again to try out other types of fish head dishes they have. They’re open for lunch as well as dinner.
Address:
F4 Fish Head
Lot 776, Sub lot 3,
Jalan Subang 4,
Subang Jaya Industries Park,
47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.04651, 101.59724
Tel: 012-325 9111
Other reviews:
Yiling
