Pak Engku or his real name YM Raja Rosly Bin Raja Mazlan is the founder of Kuzie Catering, an established caterer from Shah Alam that has catered for celebrities and VVIPS functions and weddings. He’s famous for being the caterer for Siti Nurhaliza, Ning Baizura (the famous kampong style wedding) and many more. Kuzie Catering will also be the official caterer for PM’s open house for this coming hari raya. Pak Engku is so famous that he can be acknowledged as a local celebrity chef with his own brand and all featuring in many TV programmes and having his own recipe book series.

The Ramadhan buffet is a great chance to taste Pak Engku’s magical touch in preparing 101 kampong-style dishes.

At RM55/-nett for adults, it is quite pricy but personally I think it’s worth it.

Kampong-style ambience.

Baju Kedah and Kain Batik for all staff.

Old-fashioned!

The food is of course, delicious!

Variety of lauk pauk.

My favourite, Tempoyak!

For those who are not into rice (you’re missing a lot!), there’s always noodles, roti john, lempeng and other good stuff.

These dishes are what I had for buka puasa that day.

And dessert

While the food is good, it’s also nice to be entertained by the daily ghazal show and also guest artist. On that day it was Fazli Zainal.

Surprisingly not only Pak Engku is a good entrepreneur, he is also has the singing talent. Must be part of the package being a celebrity chef!

One for the album!

This 101 dishes buffet is only in the month of Ramadhan so be quick, head over to Shah Alam and give it a try if you love traditional Malay food

Boeing 737 series has always been regarded as the workhorse of the aviation industry. The 737 is the best selling commercial jet of all time, made popular because of its efficiency, reliability and cost effectiveness. The good track record of Boeing 737 can be seen in Malaysia Airlines with the 36 Boeing 737-400 still going strong after being in service for more than 10 years.

On 16th July 2008, Malaysia Airlines announced the airline has ordered 35 Next-Generation 737-800 airplanes as part of the airlines fleet modernization practice. According to news reports, the new aircraft deliveries are scheduled from end of this year up to 2016. With the arrival of these new jetliners, I can’t help to wonder where the existing Boeing 737-400 will be heading to next.

Will it be returned to the asset owner (e.g. PMB)? Will it be leased to other airlines? Will MAS continue to be operating both B737-400 and B737-800 as per current scenario? Only time will tell.

Whatever the decision would be, I personally believe that the Boeing 737-400 is still a great asset for any airlines. It is true that newer planes will translate into significant reduction of CASK but let’s not forget that these planes have been the backbone of MAS domestic and ASEAN regional networks and can easily serve for another 5-10 years thanks to excellent engineering and maintenance culture.

I am neither an aviation analyst nor an industry expert but given the chance I would love to see these 737-400 planes remain in action for at least another decade. Stretching my imagination, I just would like to share some of my daydreams of what I would do with these Boeing 737-400 once if it is being phased out to another airline (for the sake of discussion, let’s call it Azuan Air)

a) Repaint the aircrafts

A new ‘dress’ on an old plane always works well. Malaysians are known to be creative people and surely internal graphic designers can come up with attractive economical livery on these planes.

b) Interior retrofitting

Consistent with the new exterior look, the new owner should consider retrofitting the seats. It can be costly but the financial implications can be limited by just replacing the Business Class seats with normal Economy seats. Through this option, the Boeing 737-400 will have slightly more capacity at the same time retaining the luxurious seat-pitch it currently have.

c) Face-off with the Red camp

With better seats and better airports (assuming KLIA main terminal as base), this new fantasy airline can have the extra edge against the current market leader of low-cost travel. They can even price their tickets slightly higher due to this competitive edge!

d) Flexibility and World Class Customer Service

Flexibility and excellent customer service are something that is currently lacking in many low-cost carriers. From my point of view, great customer service from start-to-end of the customer experience would translate into loyalty and to some extend blur the fact that flights are operated by ‘second-hand aircrafts’.

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With the above four strategies along with fast turnaround time, efficient internal business processes and destinations that are proven to be high demand, the Boeing 737-400 can be the winning ingredient to a successful and profitable low-cost airline operation.

But then again, these are all fantasies of an aviation blogger driving home from work. I can be very wrong, can I?

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This blog post is published by and reflects the personal views of founder/blogger Azuan Zahdi (that’s me!). I write with the best intentions in mind from my unique perspective.

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I know it’s not that appropriate to blog about FOOD when I am fasting but I just have to share these photos. All these photos were taken from the food adventure around Klang Valley that my wife and I went on to satisfy our taste bud during the last weekend before Ramadhan begins.

I can’t afford the new Sony NEX-5 and I’m giving my DSLr a break, so it’s back to basics. It’s kind of nice to go around utilizing my old Sony Compact Cam with additional cello-tape to hold its shutter in-place!

First stop, brunch @ Restoran Kudu Bin Abdul.

What’s so special about this Kudu Bin Abdul?

Their delicious Penang style Nasi Kandar!

It is kind of famous that you have to queue up during lunch time. We were lucky that there were only 4 other customers in the line.

My Nasi Kandar! Ayam goreng, daging hitam, telur ikan, bendi, kuah campur.

My wife’s Nasi Kandar. Ayam pedas, Sotong sambal, bayam and kuah campur

Located on Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman opposite Tune Hotel, this Nasi Kandar is the next best thing to those you can find in Penang. It’s no where near the taste of Line Clear Nasi Kandar but it’s better that those sold in Pelita or Kayu.

So good that I tapau-ed for dinner as well!

After a long walk at Jalan TAR burning all the fat, we were in the mood for Lobsters (Nafsu, nafsu!). We can’t afford those expensive lobsters sold in hotels so the next best thing is Victoria Station! Home of Fine Steaks

At 3pm, we were the only customer at this PJ outlet.

Our favourite Surf & Turf! One each.

The 1 piece of steak + 1 small piece of lobster were so good that I didn’t even bother taking proper photos

After heavy breakfast and lunch, the quest for food continues (nafsu! nafsu!) with a famous tea time snack, Goreng Pisang (Fried Banana).

The famous Seksyen 19 Goreng Pisang in Shah Alam.

Nice!

Zoom in a bit!

Even better with home made Sambal Kicap!

All the oily food made me thirsty and no other thirst quencher is better than good old Chendol!

The famous Cendol Pak Akop in front of Masjid Seksyen 16 Shah Alam.

From Nasi Kandar to Lobster, it was nice to go around for one day with only one thing in mind. FOOD! GOOD FOOD!

Selamat Berpuasa everyone

Being a frequent air traveler and an aviation enthusiast, I had the opportunity to observe many kinds of bad habits as far as Malaysian air travelers are concerned. From little annoying habits that make you laugh to those habits that can really spoil your day, below is my own compilation of “10 Annoying Habits of Malaysia Air Travelers”.

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Habit #10 : “Oversize Cabin Bag” Habit
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This is not new but it seems that many Malaysians have the ‘dont care’ attitude when it comes to carry on or cabin luggage. The cabin bags just kept getting bigger each day!

It’s NOT COOL to place your ‘cabin size’ bag along with your jacket, your laptop and duty free shopping bags all in the overhead compartment. Think about the others and do consider checking in your bags and keeping the smaller bags underneath the seat in front of you. Also take note that different aircraft have different sizes of overhead compartment so do a bit of fact finding before you fly

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Habit #09: “The Newspaper BookWorm” Habit
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It is nice that some airlines still offer newspapers for free to all passengers but it’s NOT COOL to be selfish and take all types of newspapers leaving the later passengers with no newspapers at all. I find it annoyingly amazing that some people can read 5 different newspapers in a short 45 minutes flight!

Oh by the way, you are supposed to return back those newspapers for passengers on the later flights and not simply stuffed it in the seat pocket or take it home with you!

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Habit #08: “Everything Can Tapau” Habit
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Speaking of taking things home, this habit is quite a scary one. I would understand passengers taking home in-flight magazines and in-flight meals but it’s NOT COOL to take home items like pillows, blankets, life jackets and safety cards. The worst I’ve seen so far is a passenger actually browsed through the cabin on a long-haul hunting for more than one pillows to take home!

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Habit #07: “Rush In Rush Out” Habit
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I always wonder what is the point in rushing to go in and out of the plane? Gone were the days of free seating yet people are still queuing up way before the gate opens. It’s also NOT COOL to stand up and ready to leave the plane even before the plane reaches the arrival gate after landing. Please consider giving space for the elderly and young kids!

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Habit #06: “First Class Stare” Habit
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Bad air travel habit reaches all level of Malaysians including the rich and famous. It might just be me but I find this next habit quite annoying. Imagine walking through the first class section to reach the economy class. It is NOT COOL to have those first class passengers to stare at the donkey class passengers like myself.

It is true that they pay more and deserve to be treated like a king but a friendly smile would be highly appreciated rather than a “blank” stare to those who can’t afford the first class travel.

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Habit #05: “The LOUD Speakers” Habit
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This is the type of passengers that just can’t keep it low. It’s normal to chit chat on a flight but if your partner/friend/boss is seated few rows away, please do everyone a favor and shut up. It’s also NOT COOL for those passengers that watch in-flight movies and laugh it out loudly as if they are in a cinema hall where everyone watches the same movie.

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Habit #04: “The Free Seater” Habit
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This is the annoying habit of changing seats without waiting for all passengers to board the plane. It’s NOT COOL to create confusion and make life miserable for everyone just because you want to be seated next to your partner/friend/boss. At least have the courtesy to wait for all passengers to board before politely asking for change of seats.

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Habit #03: “The Armrest” Habit
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Common sense. 2 seats and one middle armrest. It’s an unwritten rule for it to be shared and it’s annoying and NOT COOL to dominate the armrest all by yourself simply because you are bigger or first to be seated in the row.

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Habit #02: “HELLO” Habit
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“Hello Sayang, I have just landed in KLIA and will see you in a few minutes”. It’s a normal phone conversation but it’s definitely NOT COOL to have this conversation over a phone call on a plane that just touches the ground. Why can’t people understand that using a mobile phone on-board is a threat to the safety of the flight? Just because the cabin crew are not looking at you doesn’t mean that you are free to do whatever you want.

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Habit #01: “Can I Have Your Number?” Habit
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This next habit happened in front of me so many times and it annoyed me the most. I just hate it when a guy or a group of guys make a move on a pretty Malaysian stewardess during a flight in front of other passengers. There are way too many ‘friendly’ Malaysians that believe it is perfectly ok for them to hit on the cabin crew with lame lines like “Boleh berkenalan?” and “Can I have your number?” Not to forget the “this is my card, please call me” trick.

It is true that Malaysian stewardesses are generally pretty, attractive and friendly but it is NOT COOL to subject them with all these verbal harassments. Be a true gentleman and try your luck after the flight instead

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Do you have any similar experience? If you travel frequent enough, you would definitely witness 1-2 of the above during your flight Feel free to share your experience through the comments function below.

Blue Skies ahead.

Ramadhan is here once again. I would like to take this opportunity to wish my friends and blog visitors, Muslims and non-Muslims, to have a happy, fulfilling Ramadan and may Allah bless everyone!

Renung-renungkan dan Selamat Beramal….

I’m also looking for one charity activity to conduct during this month as my personal “Giving Back” program. Similar to past activities, i would be more than happy to have ideas from you guys. Please feel free to share and elt’s make it happen!

I fell in love with Krispy Kreme when I first had it in Springfield, MO USA back in 2004. I still remember my first bite on an original glazed doughnuts and I never thought that doughnuts can be that soft and taste that good. Fast forward a couple of years, I got to know that Krispy Kreme is available in Jakarta and that was my first meal in Jakarta when I when there in 2008!

When my sister was studying in Sydney, it was a normal routine for her to take dozens of Krispy Kreme doughnuts back to Malaysia every time she was back for holidays.

Finally in 2009, Krispy Kreme came to Malaysia and today (August 6th 2010) the 4th store is officially open for business in Shah Alam. To be exact in Plaza Masalam / Shah Alam Mall / Orchard Square (classic!)

As a pure Shah Alam-ian and a huge fan of Krispy Kreme, I decided to queue up and be amongst the earliest customers at 10am this morning.

Surprisingly it was not that long of a line!

I was number #29

The outlet is smaller than other Krispy Kreme outlets but with personal touch and uniqueness, just like many good things in Shah Alam.

Festival mood throughout the morning with reporters, balloons….

….. and good old doughnuts!

Cameras were everywhere.

The delicious doughnuts.

My personal favorite.

The first three customers! The Gold Ticket winner gets a year supply of doughnuts. He was actually at the outlet a day before the store opens, equipped with a tent I heard! Hardcore!

I am happy with my #29 reward, free 1 dozen!

All the best to Krispy Kreme Shah Alam. I’m all set to become your regular customer and all the best to me in maintaining my weight

Love the Firefly/Slash top Hat!

It may seem like another ordinary talent search or local gig session but the beauty of Bintang Rock Hot FM is that the winning band will get a chance to perform in front of the fans of legendary rock stars SLASH and AMY SEARCH. That’s a huge stage that will definitely put a spotlight on the winning band and could very much be a stepping stone for their music path!

The event was held in the Subang SkyPark! A good additional flavor to an already lively lifestyle city airport.

More than 26 bands participated in the search. All kinds of songs and styles can be heard and seen to attract the attention of the judges.

Judges: Hilary Ang and Edrie Hashim

DJ Leya of Hot FM entertained the crowd in between bands with her usual jovial style.

Rock is 50% skills + 50% style.

110% style?

Shoe-problem? No-problem? Rock on….

Rock on brother!

Brutal-look rocker!

Not-so-brutal la after all…

The crowd. It was interesting to see even passengers traveling on that day enjoyed the event.

Roses among the thorns.

The “Rock-Stars”. Seriously talented and stylo! I can imagine that they either jam very often or play a lot of Guitar Hero!

My personal favourite would be this band:

The Firefly gang busy at their booth during the event.

One last photo before i left. Credits to James for the photo.

Which band will win? I have no idea. Surely it would be a close decision! Can’t wait to watch the band live in action on the 5th August!

Haven’t got your Slash Live in KL tickets? Get your tickets online at www.fatdeal.com.my ! Also head on to www.facebook.com/firefly for more great deals on the ticket and merchandise as well as find out how you can blog away to free concert tickets!

However, Mother Nature had the final say. It was raining non-stop from 6 a.m. in the morning all the way till late night.

Most tourists would just stay in the comfort of their hotel room.

But not us! As we only had 24 hours left, we decided to give it a go. Sightseeing in heavy rain!

We managed to get ourselves a pair of cheap umbrellas at the Shijiezhichuang Metro Station.

Shenzhen is famed as the “capital of theme parks.” Window of the World, Splendid China, China Folk Culture Villages, Happy Valley and CITIC Minsk World theme parks are the epitome of a mixture of Chinese culture and world culture.

Our first stop was The Window of the World! This is a cool theme park where you can actually explore the whole world within few hours.

China is well known for ‘original copy’ and reproduction. The end products are often as good as the original items. From branded handbags to shoes to sportswear and DVDs, I thought I have seen it all but the moment I stepped into the Window of The World, I was amazed!

48 hectares of space with 130 reproductions of some of the most famous tourist attractions from all parts of the world.

They can actually reproduce world’s famous landmarks to look and feel exactly the same as the original landmarks!

As we got into the park, the rain got heavier and we opted for a monorail ride around the park. Here are some shots of some famous landmarks from the monorail ride.

Followed by a tram ride to get a closer look at the attractions.

The most amazing attraction must be this 108m tall replica of Eiffel Tower. Visitors are even allowed to go all the way up and enjoy the view of Shenzhen.

It looks real, It feels real. That’s what “Made in China” products all about!

From the Wonders of the World, we went on to our next destination which was Splendid China Folk Culture Village!

Unfortunately we went out at the wrong Metro station and a 3km walk in heavy rain was not a pretty experience. With wet shoes and tired body, we called it a day and decided to take the monorail around the park just for the sake of seeing it first hand.

All wet!

Although I was very disappointed for not be able to visit an old Chinese village and some other theme parks, I look it from the positive side. A reason to come back to Shenzhen in the future

A trip to a foreign land is not complete without tasting its local dishes. We ended up the day with a nice Chinese Muslim meal next to our hotel.

Ok, it might not be authentic Chinese food, but we were starving after a long rainy day! French FIRES and Toothpick Lambs sound interesting isn’t it?!

I had Mushroom Chicken with Rice.

Delicious! The other stuffs we had!

It beats having my usual travel meal of Tuna Ayam Brand from home!

It was a memorable 48 hours in Shenzhen. What started as an unplanned trip turned out to be a fun one. It is true that I missed out most of the attractions this time but the fun in shopping, massage and being lost in translation made up for it! I considered myself lucky for having a travel kaki that is brave enough to go to this kind of adventure. Will I return to Shenzhen? Of course!

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Squash Stars is a news, blog and entertainment site about women squash players founded by Nicol Ann David, the current women’s world champion. With a tagline of “More than just a pretty racquet”, Squash Stars aims to spread the joys of squash while creating an avenue for fans to get to know the women behind the racquets.

I was delighted to be included in the guest list for this event and immediately confirmed my attendance upon receiving the invite.

As per SquashStar’s tradition, cool goodie bags were given away during registration.

Astro Arena crew preparing the coverage for the event.

Key people behind SquashStars.com

Emcee for the day, all excited to introduce the stars.

The Stars!

Derlia Arnold.

Low Wee Wern

Sharon Wee

Aisling Blake

Line Hansen

and of course…Datuk Nicol David.

With Oakley and Prince as principal sponsors, fantastic prizes were up for grabs during the event through a trivia challenge.

It was definitely a fun time for the fans with many went home with great prizes.

The event ended with an autograph session.

It was so nice to be able to interact and take photos with the stars at our own sweet time as there was no big crowd compared to the usual fan sessions. It was quite funny that Nicol greeted me with a “Hey, long time no see!” remarks.

But her quote of the day must be

“the first thing I’ll do every time I’m back in Malaysia is to hit the hawker food in Penang!”

Truly Malaysian!

One for the album.

Thank you to the SquashStars Team for the invite! (not to forget the delicious uncle Bob Chicken!)

Next up is the Malaysian Open 2010 happening this weekend! Come join SquashStars and the rest of sports fans to rock Bukit Jalil and The Curve!

In Malaysia for many years, Japan Club of Kuala Lumpur and the Embassy of Japan have organized the festival in Shah Alam and participated with thousands of Malaysians and the Japanese community in the country.

I got to know about the event on the 11th hour and was not prepared with my camera gear. With only limited battery on my camera and flash, my other half and I went for our 1st Bon Odori experience!

A great festival ambience.

Thousands of visitors flooded the sports complex.

Families and friends come together.

Malaysians just love Japanese! From Malay to Chinese to Indian, a lot of Malaysians also came well dressed for the festival.

People gather at the field of the Panasonic Sports Complex and dance with traditional Japanese music. It can be seen that a lot of these people are familiar with the moves and not first timers!

A cool Japanese guy who led a group of followers with the steps!

Plenty of cool photo opportunities. If only I got my zoom lens with me which I left at home!

Japanese food is also part of the event!

I love the event. The only mistake I made was not taking the public transport. It took us a while to find a parking space. Thanks to my ‘Shah Alam bertahun-tahun’ status I managed to find a strategic parking spot in Selangor KPJ Hospital. 2 KM walk but better than being stuck in traffic!

I will definitely come again next year. It was fun to dance with strangers and watch people dressed up for the event. Culture, fun and amazing sights. All the ingredients for a great Saturday night!