#ExpoNegaraku Part 2

Part 1 of the entry can be read here.

Dome 2 housed the urban transport infrastructure the Government had planned for the coming decade. All the new LRT connections in the works - with no mention of the exorbitant cost of course or the fact that it would be built using China money. Quite a fun read although the audiovisual presentation that had was more on the lame side. Something I would expect my children could come up with for their school project. But it conveyed the message to the viewing public. And that was what mattered.

The rest of the domes dealt more with the environment and communications services. All in a very comfortable surroundings with good crowd flow control. The presentations were Malay-centric, and it was clear.that the target audience were Malaysians visiting KL during the school holidays.

This was not for sleeping but to watch an immersive presentation. No snoring allowed ...Part of the immersive presentation, onto a dome on top of us ...Back out of the domes ...After I was done with the exhibition domes, I went straight for a bit of a drinks. There was a stage at one end of the Dataran but it was 2 pm, clearly too hot for any sort of shows.

I would definitely recommend visitors to see the expo. A couple of hours well spent, and if this was the kind of expositions we were to expect in the future the quality was definitely there. Shame that despite being media savvy, I only learned about the exhibition when I physically stumbled across it. The expo would run until the 15th December.

#ExpoNegaraku Part 1

After catching an early lunch during my weekend break, I decided to walk around town a bit. There was no real plan. And I didn't even know about the ExpoNegaraku until I stumbled across it at Dataran Merdeka.

After turning around the corner I realised that there were plenty of people walking along. The road towards Jalan Raja was cordoned off. I then saw a row of food trucks. Something must be happening. When I turned towards Dataran Merdeka I soon learned that there were a few domes which housed the expo.

Time to go in.

It was hosted by Kementerian Penerangan and it showcased the urban developments going on around KL. The exhibits as I mentioned were houses in domes erected for the occasion right in the middle of the Dataran. There were 5 domes all together, each with a theme. The first Dome had a long queue heading, so I naturally gave that a miss.

Continued in part 2 ...

HomeDec 2014

Almost every weekend, there would be an exhibition or two in town. Last weekend, it was the second weekend of the Home Decoration Expo at KL Convention Centre. Yes, it was a second weekend, with different exhibits and theme over the couple of weekend.

The evening we went was more on home appliances and decorations - renovations being the theme in the previous weekend. Anita had a clear idea what we wanted to look for.

She wanted mattress for the main bedroom, a small bed for Irfan, preferably one convertible to a sofa. She also was looking for a dryer - the one now recently broke down - and an outdoor weatherproof sofa for the balcony.

The Serta mattress must come with the sheep, otherwise I would not be buying!Far too many sofa on showNot really sure how useful this would be ...Juicery ....The expo was huge. We only managed to cover less than half of the vendors. And we got to have a look at what we planned and much more.

We ended up with a couple of purchases and plenty of contacts. Anita bought a wall porcelain painting and an automatic self-opening garbage bin for the kitchen. Fun stuff.

The painting would be sent to the apartment next week, and I ended up hauling the bin home.

This one was quite interesting ...And the bin was ours ...Macam Baagus!Not really a fan of the fans ...This one was rather nice ...I also had a look at a portable HEPA filter for under RM 2K. Very reasonable I thought, especially with a prolonged warranty and cheap consumables. Might have a closer look at the vendor's showroom in the future. Could do with those for the lounge and Idlan's bedroom.

It was a fruitful outing on the whole and certainly one of the better expo I had been to. Best to come prepared for a long walk. We came well in the late afternoon and before long Anita was already starving. I had also had a long day at the office prior.

Private Schools Fair

Anita had circled this date in her calendar since a couple of months back. Even though Sri Utama was not that bad, we felt that the place was slowly losing its charm, especially since Idlan's close friend moved out of Setapak at the beginning of the year and switched school.

I also personally felt that there were not enough emphasis put on co-curricular activities and the amount of homework were at times ridiculous. There were also too many assessments for my liking when children at my boys age should be enjoying education. They just didn't get the chance to explore their interest.

Since the beginning of the year, there were a few clubs opened. Idlan seemed to enjoy his drama class and badminton lessons. But still, the homework were becoming a drag ....

It didn't hurt to explore other options and that was what we did today.

The fair entered its third year this time around, but compared to last year, it was palpably smaller in both scale and prestige. A few of the elite school did not even show up. Most that were there were on the fringes, and possibly in the same league as Sri Utama in terms of aspirations and vision.

We left the place almost empty handed, with the only institution which left us with an impression was Epsom College. A couple of issues, it was in Sepang and the tuition plus boarding fees were damn expensive. We could afford Yayasan Saad with the same amount.

We might be exploring the place more for secondary school in a couple of years time. In the meantime, it looked like my boys would be staying at Sri Utama, unless we come across other alternative. I was still asking Anita to consider having a look at Park City International School right next door to the Medical Centre. The place looked rather nice ....

KLIMS 2013

I cancelled the morning clinic and was able to start the day later than usual. Finished my morning round by about 11, and then drove into town, heading to PWTC. Destination: KLIMS 2013. That was short for Kuala Lumpur International Motor Show.

I had high hopes for the show. It was not exactly a yearly event - the last being in 2010. I saw that as a decent outing, something that the organiser could build on. So, three years later, have they progressed?

In 2010, I was struck by the effort put in by Proton. They pulled all the stops, even got a concept or two in the mix. They have some really good sales people there who were able to tell the visitors what was in store in the coming year as far as products were concerned. They really impressed me and a few other people.

Welcome!Certainly was a lot of walking

At that time, hybrid was just being introduced, with Toyota and Honda at the forefront. All the four halls were filled and at the end I was exhausted. There was so many things to see.

This year, Proton did not even bother turning up. Rumour has it that they were late in the game and was not able to secure a prime spot as their show space. I begged to differ. There was plenty of space, in fact one of the hall was filled with antique cars which occupied more space that they ought to. Those cars should be placed along the corridors as fillers, not occupying a prime real estate. Somebody at Proton Marketing Department deserved the sack here!

The main player today was Volkswagen. They got all their main models in, and I spent a fair amount of time looking at their new Beetle. They of course had gimmicks and some really pretty models to stand next to their cars.

Toyota and Honda was also there but personally, more just to make up the numbers. Peugeot and Citroen had a few cars, and one whole hall was occupied by Sime Darby Motors, with their Ford and Hyundai range.

The other Prestige European brands? Not a chance! BMW? Mercedes? Volvo? Don’t even dream about Porsche or the other Italian Marque. There were no stars here.

This whole hall was filled by antique cars, and it was half a hall too many!Time for some conceptPut a new spin on the term camper vanAnd the sad truth was there were more models than cars ….. and the majority of the exhibits there were accessories. Which put a new spin to the term motor show. They should just renamed in KL International Models and Accessories Show. And scrap the term International when you were at it!

It had certainly deteriorated, and when asked if I would recommend going there, I told whoever asking to forget about it. This was a half-arses effort at best just to fill the calendar. It did not deserve my RM15 entrance fee. Don’t get me wrong, I support local exhibitions even though people say that I was crazy to because I feel that for us as a nation to flourish we should have an informed society. But this was just schoolchildren effort at best.

Time to leave ....And don’t get me started about the whole exhibition hall filled with American Antiques. Have we gone Counting Cars all of a sudden?

Please don’t hold another KLIMS next year. Because I might just have to turn up and rant again like I was doing now ……. Good Night!