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7 Reasons and Memories of Labor Day

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Appreciates the International Worker Day 





There was an article in Wechat few years back depicting China's labor Day. There was not many impressive words in it, but, there was a strong picture in it about an old lady wearing a farmer hat in a tea plantation showing scarred both hands.


So I thought to myself What if I could have my version of appreciating labor day in Malaysia. That will be so cool right ? Their work make our life better and has been underrated and under appreciative from the public.



To the young readers, you might not understand about the importance of labor day before you enter the workforce in Malaysia. However, it is equally important to know beforehand all the rules.








Road Maintenance officer



1. EIGHT HOURS A DAY



To be honest, workers in Malaysia generally follows the Asian way. we do not clock in on 08.00 in the morning and clock out on 17.00 pm. Most of us work more than 8 hours and compensated with overtime pay !


It always compensation come first. As if we had a choice ? It is significant to know an employee should work 8 hours a day and no longer. In the event work more than 8 hours, the employee should be compensated. 


The image depicts road maintenance is undergoing it is important the worker has to work odd hours completing the road before dawn.



garbage disposal operator in Malaysia
Garbage Disposal Contractor




2. Public Holiday on May 1


This is just another normal working day for some people. The best part is those who work on labor day get compensated as much as triple the pay. For those white collar, they get a mandatory day off.


There was a story about there was one boy asked by class teacher what he wants to become, his answer is a garbage man because they work just one day in a week. We always thought job pick us for our skills and our academic performance. Some jobs out there are just pure dedication and spirit of volunteer.






3. The Extra Miles



The rainy day is causing havoc on Pavilion roof top dining area. Worker are tirelessly cleaning up the mess before anyone slip down. Lots of workers dispatched to the scene some of them were not scheduled to clean the area.








4. Enforce Public Order


Without them, the supposed public parking lot is home parking with no charge. 3 Officers in suit are recklessly sending out penalty bills to those luxury sedan owners without parking ticket on the windscreen. 


Do not forget we have problem finding parking lots right ? Start appreciate their excellent deeds






5. Crisis


Malaysia is not safe from water and drought crisis. Who are going to water all the plants in the city ? Without a proper measures, all the beautiful flowers withered quickly before the next rainfall. What is more scary is that, we may need to regrow the plant in the city with more taxpayer money than hiring someone water the flowers








6. Huge Impact on Environmental change


No one understands about environmental impact than the generation millennial. We are expose to so many wicked consequences of human throwing plastics the wrong way. We may have plastic ease our life, but, it certainly destroying those who think plastic is a food and clogging our drain system causing lost of millions in taxpayer money



Due to the sheer hard work of this uncle, though this uncle does not collect plastic, he is more fond on collecting carton boxes and styrofoam. But still, it helps the environment in a very meaningful way







7. September is labor day 


In fact, Asian people are surprised some countries celebrates labor day in the month of September.
Most of the restaurants in Malaysia is open for business to serve the demand of good food particularly the McDonald's.


During labor day, the service associates in any restaurantin Malaysia will receive a heavy workload due to the surge of customers. In the end of the day, they are compensated with special day rate in their salary at the end of the month




Perhaps, One day you will learn to show gratitude towards them in many ways for their sacrifices. If you did not share it out today,  today is not the day you started appreciating them. (Not seriously) Happy Labor Day to everyone !











First Time User Airbnb in Malaysia

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Airbnb is more like a choice. 



The consumer choose in the free market. Recently, there was an article bashing Airbnb stealing business of budget hotels in Malaysia. Yes, the few business operators are very angry because there were fewer guests in their hotel. The summary of the article is the expenses of tax, employee salary and utilities bill are higher compared to setting up a room with Airbnb. 



It was absurd to say Grab and Uber took all the taxi business in this beloved country. The same goes to Airbnb and the hotel industry. I prefer the newspaper or the complainant to use more formal word from "stealing" to "slowing down". I believe there are lots of Malaysian and tourists love to stay at budget hotel due to strategic location ?  



It is not a rocket science the accommodation demand is pretty much upward unless there would be an outbreak anytime soon even that is not stopping the ever-growing demand.. Airbnb might have solved the ordinary people's unused inventory. Perhaps, Airbnb is just taking it deserved market share.  










Airbnb is such a decent app to try out ! There are lots of possibility in it. I guess the right thing to do with it is exploring new territory and keep it under budget. I never visited Ipoh before, so I thought to myself it open up a chance to use Airbnb.



I could just find any budget hotels located at Ipoh but, the walk-in rate is vary and it could be fully booked. Budget hotels were sometimes not listed in major travel website due to it ratings. Hotel always synonymous with luxury room for family and group.



The truth is for tourism industry in the world particularly Malaysia, the agency namely booking.com or expedia get special room rates for group tour. Anyone book with them always come in a package like "more than one person". The main point are what if I am travelling solo and what if I like walk-in ?


 The industry has been favoring group tour since the beginning. It is like you are buying bulk, I will see you cheaper. If you just buy one of those, you are gonna get rip-off price. Those are the standard operation procedure for 4 stars and 5 stars rating hotel.



Then somehow a solution to those "YOLO" (you only live once) travelers that would be homestay or budget hotel. To be honest, most of them do not really offer breakfast and not listed widely on Internet.


Beside luxury resort, high rating hotels and budget hotels, we could choose a much more simple, transparent and fun way engage our accommodation needs in the year 2017. Airbnb does not charge us more than it should and the rate determined by the host. Furthermore, we get the chance to engage a conversation with the host rather than in a position of being a guest getting a conversation with an associate with company code.



Most of us could utilize Airbnb app as if our core purpose is to spend quality time connecting with the local and learning their culture rather than accepting all the unnecessary service provided by the hotel such as breakfast and room service. We get the chance to get our breakfast at nearest restaurant and wash our own cloth with local detergent rather than expensive laundry service from the hotels.


If you are planning on using Airbnb, a quick reminder we might need to bring our toothbrush and toothpaste.


You might ask question like "How to pay to the host through Airbnb" ? A suggestion to all Malaysian who wanted to try Airbnb is using the available payment method which is Paypal.


I am planning to use Airbnb as much as I can in the future of my endeavor on next unexplored territory in Malaysia. For instance, Melaka and Sarawak.


You could try sign up and earn travel credit too ! Here is the link >> Airbnb Sign Up Now








Visit Ipoh & Join Starwalk 2017

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Visiting Ipoh, Perak for the first time in conjunction participating Ipoh Starwalk 2017.





I cant stop thinking of participating in a marathon. It was my 2017 resolution to join Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2017. However, the marathon pass sold out in just 4 days. To be honest, I even miss the early bird pass. I have tried calling all the charity groups soliciting for marathon pass but there was no return call.



No SCKLM 2017, no problem. Putting all focus on Ipoh, Perak instead. Hope get to mingle some good Ipoh folks there. One of the reason why I really into Starwalk because the event is organized by Thestar, one of my favorite English newspaper of all time. Second is New Straits Times.




Starwalk 2017


It is relatively a short distance. Anyone could finish the race It is shockingly only cost RM13.00 per person.


I never been to Perak's Ipoh before. As a Malaysian, I am really curious what is happening on other state. I believe we should carry a self-imposed duty to be more understanding the people living in Malaysia.


Starwalk definitely not just an ordinary marathon due to the size of sponsors and support from the state authority.


In this trip, accommodation and transportation is done by Airbnb and Grab.


There will be another review of the marathon event. Stay tuned !





10 Important Fruits in Malaysia

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Abundant Fruits available throughout nationwide



The last time Malaysian run out of fruit supply is almost impossible. The lifestyle disease pretty much outweigh Malaysia fruit consumption rate. It is believe that Malaysia has continuously import good fruits into the country in order to tackle problematic disease such as obesity, heart illnesses.



Although Malaysian healthcare system is fairly affordable. There is a saying goes like "prevention is better than cure". Unless it was a fruit named Durian, most of the fruits are supplement for our body !




Apple and grape




1. APPLE


Most of the apple put on sale at Malaysian local store are product of import from USA. we never realize how lucky we are able to taste apple ! It receives underwhelmed response perhaps due to lack of health awareness ?


I firmly believe that the fruits are heavily subsidized by the authorities. we may not the know the actual price of one apple. In 2017, the price of an apple should be RM1 as well as the price of an orange which also a product of import either from Australia or Egypt !


There is not much price inflation in fruit market in Malaysia due to abundant supply and least demand !


2. GRAPE


I did not recalls any memories of my parent ever advice me eating more grapes. They never tell us eating it could prevent cancer and heart disease !





Banana



3. BANANA


It is not a secret that our country could product some banana in a fertile land. Banana is no stranger to us. Often, we cook it in a boiling oil with flour covering the banana. Fried banana is totally mind-blowing snack !


We may have unconsciously eating banana the wrong way after the introduction of fried banana into our diet !




Corn



4. CORN



Corn is so delicious indispensable in many local cuisine. Indeed, whoever eat corn will live to tell the story to other how delicious it is !




Lemon



5. LEMON


F&N beverage has been brewing Lemon Tea products for century reaping profits from Malaysian thirsty for more lemon ! Don't get me wrong we love the song "Lemon tree" from Fool garden as much as much we love consuming the lemon !



Lime citrus



6. LIME


Teh O Ice Limau is perhaps the most consumed drink in mamak restaurant ! High demand and easily made good beverage for throughout the day.  To your surprise, there is a long list of health benefit eating lime.





papaya



7. PAPAYA


There is a discussion about papaya is enlarging women breast by eating it at a minimal amount. Myth or fact does not matter as long as there is a research that consuming Papaya seed would make sure you are parasite free !


There is one point in your life that you would fear body get infested with million of parasite ? That is how I got my first papaya for being too much pessimism.





watermelon



8. WATERMELON


If you ask me 3 fruits that I can think of right now, I would say watermelon after banana. This giant red fruit is everyone favorite.



tomato



9. TOMATO


Full of tomato in a pizza ? or, sweet and sour fish ? a necessary ingredient for many local cuisine. I like chili more than tomato anyone with me ?



coconut water



10. COCONUT


The last one should be least expected, coconut has been a very undervalued fruit. Most of the westerner does not really welcome coconut due to its research outcome not very pleasing. Well, in other part of the world, coconut milk or coconut oil are very much acceptable !


Imagine one day the fruit price skyrocketed or there has been a restriction imposed on these fruits. We should protect fruit from any discrimination in order for many generation yet to come for them to have a taste of it.

Easiest Way Top Up Dota 2 for Malaysian

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Reliable and safe for people staying at Malaysia reloading Valve Steam Dota 2



It is not a secret that there is a large Dota 2 fan base in Malaysia. Many would ask how to reload / top up their Steam account without compromise !



There are so many retailer out there claimed offering Steam card the most recognized one for those using pop up directing to your own bank's online banking service. This method is in favor for 2 steps verification which require you to insert pin numbers sent to your mobile phone.



If you like opting for this method please share it to your friend who like to play Dota 2 and other game offered by Valve steam !



Before that, This is a method exclusively for those who do not own credit card ( it is forbidden to buy game with your parent credit card without their consent) ! Besides, for debit card users, you could opt to call your bank service center in order to lift restriction on your debit card for online shopping. Anyways, if your debit card restricted to perform any Internet transaction, this is your solely method buying a steam gift card as below.



List of things to do for the fastest and safest way getting a steam wallet code !


1. Get an account on MOL
2. Your debit card with online banking feature such as Maybank or RHB
3. Top up your MOL balance
3. Allow pop up as need for redirecting to your secure bank website
4. Buy Steam wallet code using MOL balance
5. Done !




Mol and steam points


Mol is huge and if you are local resident in Malaysia you would be able to utilize the pop-up code required verification payment !


Let's say you are using Maybank or RHB. you will be redirected to Maybank or RHB payment channel website for further instruction. This method combined with HTTPS, username and password, unique website verification after inserting ID, pin number sent to your mobile phone are latest security features.



Above image is very good example as to oppose direct debit feature using your 16 digits credit card or debit card.



Walk -in to any Maybank outlets nationwide and request for debit card and ask them to help you open up online banking facilities which include your ID, password, unique identification on the website and register your mobile phone !






After transaction is completed, you will be redirected to MOL receipt web page.  It is a receipt for your safekeeping ! Please do no attempt to insert the PIN into redeem steam wallet code because it has been used !


As you can see there will be 6% GST charge for RM 20 Steam wallet code !







Successful process and go buy yourself a winter 2017 Dota 2 battle pass now !.. Add me up if you want !! my ID is on above image !


Pokemon Go : Gen 2 is live in Malaysia

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Gen 2 sparks interest to enlarge "Pokemon Storage Upgrade"


A series of articles reports Pokemon Go Gen 2 releasing next week. However, the company behind Pokemon Go, Niantic decided to release it the next day prior to the rumored "next week" date.


The 60mb latest update were not mentioning anything about adding new Pokemon. New Pokemon images were all over Facebook and Twitter.


The exact date for the release of Pokemon Gen 2 should be after the day Valentine event closed.


As soon as the gen 2 update downloaded, go to Eevee and try to evolve it by changing name into "TAMAO" or "SAKURA", there you go your first two new generation 2 pokemon !








The new badge for all the trainer.






The day Pokemon Gen 2 released there are so many Generation 2 Pokemon lurking around.








New Interface and added variety of berry are fun for both new and veteran Pokemon Trainers.


10 Healthy Vegetables For Your Body

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Your natural life support system likes these alkaline foods


Top 10 healthy vegetables consume by Asian people. Some of the vegetables were not originate from Asia countries yet it highly available in many Asian country due to appropriate environment for planting.



According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s MyPlate, vegetables took large portion of the plate indicating a healthy diet should include more vegetable than fruits and protein in a meal plate.


Vegetable is simply too abstract. Who knows which vegetable contains lots of nutrient than the other ? As an Asian, you must know these 10 vegetables reigned our market today !


-A vegetable a day, keeps the disease away-





1. Loose Leaf Lettuce / Rosso






Best way to digest this vegetable nutrients is by eating it raw. Clean thoroughly all the dirt and submerge it with cold water as it adds crunchy for your appetite. It usually used in salad or decoration.



2. Iceberg Lettuce






One of the indispensable vegetable for your daily salad diet. Clean all the dirt and submerge into cold water for more than 5 minutes than rinse it and it readily to be consumed.



3. Spring Onion







Spring Onion is always acted as a decoration. You may see Spring Onion on many occasion, top of soup, on top of fried rice and stir-fried foods. You are not an Asian if you have not seen one spring onion in your life.



4. Edamame






The super food contains all nine essential amino acid. Usually found at any Japanese restaurant as an appetizer. It actually a pre-matured soy beans. Soy bean was not meant to be eaten raw, you are highly encouraged eat it after submerges it inside a boiling pot for at least 2 minutes.

There's more, Asian loves soy bean so much there are many products out there associated with soy bean. Hence, soy bean dark sauce, soy bean milk and tofu as well as bean sprout.



5. Water Spinach








A highly regarded vegetable at South East Asia countries, Indonesia and Malaysia. Locally known as Kankung. It is recommended to eat it after cooking due to water spinach living condition most likely in a swamp place. Adding shrimp paste and some chili paste for good taste.



6. Chinese Cabbage / Bok Choy / Pak Choi






Bok Choy are staple vegetable in Hong Kong's chicken rice. Preparation of Bok Choy is boil it in a boiling pot or steam it. Every Bok Choy dishes you may order at any Chinese restaurant would be served with dark soy sauce. Soy bean sauce and Pak choi are the best synergy of vegetable.



7. Napa Cabbage / Long Cabbage








Ferment it 24 hours with salt to kill all the harmful germs and than filter it with water to remove the salty, there you go the main ingredient for Korean Kimchi.  Napa Cabbage are used in stir-fried noodles too !



8. Round Cabbage 







Eat this to prevent type 2 diabetes. In Japanese cuisine, round cabbage is prepared to be eaten raw by wash it thoroughly more than 5 minutes than submerge it into cold water for at least 20 minutes. 



9. Yard Long Bean







One of the ancient cultivated vegetable for cuisine. Nutritional values are fair skin due to abundant vitamin C and good amounts of thiamine for vision preventing eye diseases such as glaucoma,




10. Choy Sum






Belong to the mustard family and highly renowned in modern Chinese community. Choy Sum literally translated from Cantonese to English as "the heart of vegetable". 








PTPTN Latest Feature Checking Overdue Payment

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All the horror news about PTPTN personally sending enforcement officers knocking your door soliciting payment is an old story.


There are enough headline about PTPTN on major newspapers notably Thestar and New Straits Times. Magnifying the issue of borrowers never pay a single cent back after graduation. Here is one of the example of PTPTN borrowers gradually paying it student loan back so that in the future some may still get loan for higher education in Malaysia.


Personal perception on PTPTN fund would be "student loan for the bad grade student". The fund actually help bad grade student get back on feet again explore the tough job environment out there.


Not just the bad grade student unable to score prestigious scholarship landing a class at one of the state-of-the-art university, the poor are one of the criteria who will utilizing the PTPTN fund to further their studies.


The whole point is a direction showing that only the capable of scoring prestigious scholarship the good grade student get education for free.


The real question is can we the borrowers get more time to pay rather than the limited time frame ?




PTPTN Latest Feature, checking your overdue amounts



Usually the formal replies from the PTPTN would be remember the first time you signed a contract with PTPTN you must pay back all the amounts before the due date.


In 2016, there was a PTPTN office nearby lots of people queuing at there. I was trying to get a glimpse on the inside and try to found out whether the blacklist is on my tail. A friendly personnel shown my overdue a totaled more or less RM 5000. I did tell you earlier that I am a casually paying back my education loan right ? Before I left the National Higher Education Fund office, I quickly looked around there were few people trying to pay their debt on the counter.


Certainly a great feature, in 2017, PTPTN website get an upgrade which there will be a showing on how much overdue one has to pay now. Besides, borrowers could utilize hassle-free service such as "Jompay" to avoid any charge.


Previously, the hassle-free service provided by FPX could help borrowers pay their loan back at ease in their home with Internet access. However, there will be a small charge. Click here for more info






I do not know about the business behind of JomPAY for being free to use. There are many local banks supporting jomPAY one of them is Maybank2u.


Before proceeding to make a payment, please check on PTPTN official website on your personalized designed JomPAY biller code, ref 1 and ref 2.  All you need is your 12-digits national identification card numbers.






For your information, you can get a similar guide at PTPTN website how to pay education loan back using Maybank2u and JomPAY.


You might notice the Ref 2 is your official mobile numbers and there will be a requesting for TAC confirmation code at later stage.


Your transaction is successful ! Thank You for the payment. Although, author was not from a rich family and not having a position that pay a decent salary, still, obliged to pay back my share for what I have promised in the contract.






Paid back my share of loan on the eve of Lunar New Year 2017. I plight PTPTN could loose it terms and conditions so that unfortunate peoples who gains nothing but useful knowledge using the funds could get an extend period of time paying back education loan. Sharing my point of view from the borrowers myself.