Weekly fuel price revision starts in Malaysia

After much debating and deliberation, the government has finally kicked off the weekly fuel price revision in Malaysia. How does this mechanism work exactly? Well, to you and me, the fuel prices will be announced every Wednesday, and take effect from midnight (that's 12.00AM, Thursday morning).

Of course, the calculation behind the fuel prices are still a mystery, so we can only guess based on the price of oil as a global commodity, whether or not to fill up by Wednesday or wait until the next day. Play this guessing game each week, and after awhile, everyone will just resign themselves to accepting this new system.

There's some talks that soon, petrol station operations will be able to apply to to offer discounts, but so far nothing official yet from the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism. This floating pricing is a far cry from the system we had before 2015, where prices were fixed by the authorities, but was subsidized by the taxpayers. Still not quite like what I've seen in several countries like Australia, China and Germany, where fuel prices are completely unregulated and set by the individual petrol station operations.

For me, my car was coincidentally running on fumes (zero bars left) by the time I refueled, but the good thing was a slight positive upside as the new price of RON95 this week was RM2.13 per liter (down from RM2.30 per liter). RON 97 was also down from RM2.60 to RM2.41 per liter, while Diesel is now RM2.11 per liter (from RM2.20 per liter). This is reflective of the current market conditions, or is to give a "good feeling" for the initial stages, we'll probably never know...

A step in the right direction, or are we better off adopting a different approach over here in Malaysia? If you have any views to share, do drop a comment below.

Blog Makeover (New Contempo Theme, Dark Variant)


With the clean up and restart of "MCWK on Blogspot.com" as of beginning 2017, it's only fair to include a makeover for a fresh new look. Browsing through the 4 new themes available (the other 3 being Soho, Emporio and Notable), I settled for this one (Contempo). Considerably darker than the previous one, hope the new look doesn't conflict with the light-hearted nature of this blog. My next task will be to find a new cover photo to replace the default "forest at midnight" one, as well as update my profile photo (with a decent self portrait, which I hope does not look too much like a selfie).

As for the name, I'm sticking with the "Blogspot.com" which is the old name before the gracious free host changed to "Blogger" as we know it today. I find that "Blogger" is too generic, as it's also a term used to describe "one that blogs". At least it's still around, not like Multiply.com (ah, that brings back memories) and Myspace (which I've no experience myself).

Do you have any feedback on the new look or ideas / suggestions for continuous improvement? If so, do post a comment below.

Ongoing roadworks @ MITC intersection, Melaka

A post shared by Marvin Chong (@marvin.chong) on


Driving around Melaka town in the sweltering heat on this fine Saturday afternoon, noticed this pile of blocks in middle of the road construction site at the MITC intersection. Don't recall ever seeing this used before when flyovers were under construction (including the one near my office, close to the Melaka General Hospital). Had to look it up on the Internet when I got home (was driving, after all, so it wouldn't be right to check on my phone). Found a good source of info at : http://www.foundtest.com.my/services/mlt.html

So it seems this was to assess the strength and soundness of the foundation - learned something new today. :)

Great to know that there are preventive work packages planned in as part of the construction process to ensure quality is in place - hats off to the project manager!

Well, there are several such road upgrades ongoing, towards and in the heart of Melaka town. Hope the authorities can complete the projects soon, as any improvements to the traffic congestion (which can be quite bad during weekends and festive seasons) is sincerely welcome. As you can see, it was basically a standstill while waiting for the traffic lights to go green. So, I had ample amount of time to take my phone out of my pocket, unlock and turn on the camera app, compose, focus and take the short. Yes, and also check the short in the Gallery, lock my phone and put it back in my pocket, and continue waiting, before the traffic finally started moving.

Sending my Honda Civic FD2 in for 105,000 km PM service


It's been awhile since the last one. 1 year, to be exact. Didn't really do a lot of driving throughout the past year, thus the long interval, even observing the recommended 5,000km between servicing (which was the normal recommended distance for cars from those days). My "usual" choice for servicing my Civic is still the GS Tay Honda Muar branch.

It's been a busy day from the start, so I only managed to arrive around 3.15pm. A little late to start, but I reckon it'll be manageable, as at 105,000km it's just a minor service.

My civic has been quite well behaved since the last service, with only a minor issue with the brake switch stopper. Well, I guess it's partly to do with the driver (yours truly) also being "well behaved" and the fact that it's a Honda, after all. It's no Toyota, but reliability is just fine.

Now, the brake switch stopper (or so I'm told, that's what it's called) is a plastic / rubber stopper that connects the brake pedal to the brake light. It's a normally-off switch, which means, when the brake pedal is not pressed, the stopper presses against the switch, which opens and keeps the brake lights OFF. When you step on the brake pedal, the switch closes and the brake lights come on.
 
It was one night purely by chance, that I was looking out my window and saw that my Civic's brake lights were on. I was unable to get them to switch off whatever I tried (was considering to disconnect the battery as a last resort). Finally, after a short call to my family mechanic, he enlightened me to the existence of this switch, and provided some hints to "MacGyver" a solution. The switch itself is intact and working, but I guess that the stopper simply disintegrated with age, as I found several remnant fragments on the floor mat. With some crude parts I found lying around my house (screw, double sided tape) and luck, I managed to install a quick temporary fix (which lasted quite some months, till today).

The service team also highlighted and replaced (with my consent) the aging radiator cap and the plastic holder that held the hood support rod (another one of those parts which could do with a shorter name)....

There were surprisingly quite a number of cars there for services as well. Strange, as afternoons were usually less packed than mornings. In the end, my car was ready just before 6pm. Roughly 2.5 hours spent there, which was still acceptable, given that I did not make an appointment. 
 
While driving off, I did notice that my boot was not properly closed, so I carefully stopped at a petrol station to shut it before resuming my journey home. Guess they forgot about it, though I'm not exactly sure what they were checking back there.
 
With my current driving habits, it's likely to be another year till my next service. Glad that my Civic's holding up fine - in spite of being nearly a decade old. Thanks to the crew at GS Tay Honda Muar for keeping my car running in tip top condition!


Disclaimer : I've said it before, I say it again. I'm not paid or affiliated to this Honda branch. Just sharing my experiences.

Club81 Day Trip to Sunway Lagoon (Mar 2017)

Cap picked up from the souvenir shop at Sunway Lagoon
It's the start of the week-long school break. An excellent time for the friendly Infineon Melaka executive recreation club (Club81) to organize a family day trip to the Sunway Lagoon Theme Park.

Now, the Sunway Lagoon Theme Park's operating hours were from 10.00am to 6.00pm. Thus, in order to get to our destination early enough to allow us to make the most of the opening hours, the plan was to assemble at the Infineon main guard house at 7.00am to board the buses. Yes, I'm sure we could have planned to assemble earlier at 6.00am to avoid the shift change crowd, but such a plan would likely be challenging, especially since there were many families with kids (including us).

As per the plan, the buses would thus depart at 7.30am. Unfortunately, this time slot coincided with the change of shift - hence we had to wait for the factory buses to leave before our buses could enter the bus park. That didn't set us back too far, so with a mild recovery plan and smooth traffic, we managed to reach our destination as planned!😁

While in the bus, we were informed that absolutely NO food and drinks were allowed to be taken in from the outside. Officially, this was to avoid litigation against the park management in case of food-related ailments. Of course, we pretty much figured out the most likely TRUE reason behind this... (especially since food prices inside were hiked - a 500ml bottle of water is sold for RM4.50). However, at the entrance, we were told that bringing in water (which is apparently not classified as a "drink") was OK. Can anyone out there clarify this point? But alas, we left all our water in the bus, so through the entire day, we ended up spending RM18 on water.😞

As we were in a group, the buses dropped us off at the Surf Beach Entrance, which was next to the Sunway Lagoon Hotel. There was ample space there for the organizing committee to set up a counter for ticket collection and even a group photo.

Our package granted us access to all rides in the park save for a few (which we needed to pay per ride if we were interested). Namely, the Bungy Jump, Go-kart and something called G-force - all of which were in the Extreme park section. From the nature of such rides, I would personally get on them even if I were PAID to ride! 😁

Well, once into the park, we decided to indulge in the wet activities first, as there's a chance the rides would be closed in case of heavy rain. The entire park was built around a large body of water, half of which was shallow for good old family fun, while the other half was for boating. First order of the day, get a locker as it was not allowed / possible to bring bags on board many of the rides. A single locker was RM22 and the larger luggage locker was RM43. The good thing was that they were for multiple entry, so once you've got yourself a locker, its yours to use for the whole day. This meant that the lockers were rather limited, though, so in our case we had to walk to the other side of the park to get an available luggage locker. The lockers were keyless. After registering a locker, it's tied to the barcoded wrist tag. There's a scanner for each bank of lockers, which intelligently pops open the right locker upon scanning. The wrist tag was waterproof and quite durable to withstand the rigours of the theme park, without fading. Though, it did take me several attempt to align my wrist to the scanner.

The wrist band also served as an electronic wallet, so one could practically load up some currency into the wrist band, and leave all the stuff in the locker. A good system, as you can imagine, someone would have to sit out on the fun to keep a hold of all the stuff if there wasn't such a system in place. The refunding can be done at the entrance / exit - the shop is INSIDE the park, so be sure not to go out first before getting your refund. Of course, cash is always acceptable. This made it possible for us to wander the park in our swimming attire (yes, at least here everyone was doing it, so it didn't feel out of place).

At this time, the latest park map is as below. You can get the latest map at their website : https://sunwaylagoon.com/park-map/

Many of the rides were height limited, so for those with kids, need to pay particular attention to the minimum requirement. Once your kids are above 1.2m, then every thing's open game...!😃

Most of the wet rides required us to carry tubes up to the starting position of the ride. The tubes were in shape of a figure "8" and thus required us to go in twos. We settled for kid in front, adult at the back. There was only one ride, the Jungle Fury, which needed a group a exactly 4 - no more, no less. This one had everybody sitting in a large round raft (which sort of resembles an inflatable baby pool). Due to the lack of experience, for this ride I sat at the "front" and was facing backwards all the way down. Not sure if it's less scary or more scary this way...?

As we were going to be very much "interactive", I did not bring any camera with me, so our memories are found only in our minds and not in a memory card.... Besides, I did not have any suitable gear that could withstand bring exposed to the elements on a typical day at a water theme park.

Well, towards noon, we had our lunch at the in-house Burger King shop, which was quite small with just a few tables for patrons. After that's it's back to more fun. There was an attraction called the 5D Waterplex, which was basically a first-person view 3D movie with movable seat platform and fan / water spray / lighting effects in sync with the movie. 3D glasses were provided which just managed to fit over my glasses, so it was watchable. The movement was mild - no need for any seatbelts or safety restraints. My opinion, though, was that the screen was too small and too far away, so it was not a very immersive experience, compared to, say, the Singapore Omnimax Theater.

At roughly 4pm, it started to drizzle, then increased to a full blown downpour. We were lucky to have covered all the main activities by then, so we spent the time getting showered and changed back to regular clothes, and stopping by the Souvenir Shop to make the best of the complementary coupons given as part of our package. As the park closed at 6.00pm, we made it to the exit earlier to avoid the potential crowd at the refund counter. By that time, the rain had receded back to a light drizzle.

We had roughly 2 hours to go till the arrival of our buses, so we walked over to the Sunway Pyramid shopping mall and walked about, taking our dinner there before returning to the Surf Beach Entrance pick up point by 7.30pm. I'd not been to Sunway Pyramid since my college days (which was many, many, many years ago). Glad to see that the ice skating rink is still there, and perhaps someday we could give it a try. Initial reaction from my family is that no one was willing to do so, though, so perhaps this plan would take some time to implement.

We boarded our bus and started the journey home as soon as the last passenger in our bus finally returned (late, but before 8pm). There was a concern that traffic would be heavy. However, the traffic was relatively smooth, even with an unfortunate accident on the North-South highway, so we arrived back at Infineon before 10pm. That was good, as we did not get caught up in the change of shift at 11pm.

Well, in the end, we were tired but happy the way this trip turned out. In spite of the poor weather in the later half of the day, we had managed to make the best of today and really enjoyed ourselves. It was a good event made possible by the organizing committee of Club81 - and to them I offer my sincere gratitude! 🙌

Haha, I just realized that while we brought sunblock, didn't actually remember to put it on. Hence, in the next few days, don't be surprised if you see me with a nasty (and painful) case of sunburn. Keeping fingers crossed and hope for the best!

Sai Kee 434 Muar Coffee comes to Melaka


With the striking yellow exterior, it's no surprise that the Sai Kee 434 Cafe caught my eye earlier on, even before it's official opening. Being a frequent visitor to the rustic city of Muar, some 50-odd kilometers to the South of Melaka, this famous coffee establishment is indeed well known to me. Though it has been quite a while since I was last there : http://marvinchong.blogspot.com/2011/01/food-in-muar-sai-kee-cafe-and-marina.html

Situated opposite the Bukit Serindit Recreational Park, it's in a most strategic place to woo joggers and other park visitors just after their morning activity.

For some weeks, my family and I been driving past this place, only to find to our dismay, the shutters closed. Not having any visible sign to indicate their working hours, we were left wondering if they had already started operations, or were preparing for the opening ceremony. By pure chance, last Sunday, we found the shutters were open. Finally!


GPS Co-ordinates : 2.206171, 102.269129

We took to ourselves to drop by for some light drinks and food (given that we had just finished our lunch, and were heading home). Walking in, we found the place was packed with patrons. We were in luck, as after just a short wait, we managed to get a table to ourselves.

I found out from the staff working there that they were open every day, EXCEPT Saturday, from 8am to 6pm (last order at 5.30pm). This meant that dropping by after an evening jog at the park, or for dinner, was not possible. A little disappointed, but then at least now, I'm clear on their operating hours. Perhaps when business picks up, they'd consider extending their hours until 10pm (so people can drop by after office hours). [Update - 15 Jul 2017] Surprisingly, after today's Saturday morning run, found that Sai Kee 434 Coffee was open! A welcome adaptation by their management indeed.... :)

The Sai Kee 434 Coffee establishment was famous for it's Luwak / Civet Coffee, which you'd better read about online (http://www.most-expensive.coffee) to understand more. Or perhaps, you should not read about it until AFTER you've had a taste.... :)

That's the premium stuff, which goes for ~RM25 per cup. Didn't get myself one, as I was quite full from lunch, so in the end settled for one of the more ordinary variants. Well, it was a short stop there, did not manage to do a proper write-up or take some interior photos. Perhaps some time soon...!


My personal review - Honda Civic FC 1.5 Turbo

Snapshot from Honda's website. Hope they don't mind me using for this post....
I have had a very good experience with the Semabok branch (as the SA who sold to our family our first Honda (even before my first Civic) is still there, though he's already moved up the ladder. I'm sure if I ever get another Honda (if there will ever be another one with as great price/performance ratio as my FD2), it will be from them.

Well, today, I managed to test drive the "new" Honda Civic FC (top-of-the-line 1.5 Turbo model). Before this, I've read quite number of reviews, watched an equally large number of video reviews on Youtube and even tuned in to opinions from my friends and Civic enthusiast group. A mixed review, if you asked me, so in the end, I wanted to have a short first hand experience for this car which has not managed to replace long and trusted ride.

Getting into the FC is a completely different feel from my old FD2. The interior seems somewhat less spacious in the two places where it mattered to me - that being the place between the driver and passenger seat (which is now raised and no longer able to accommodate climbing to the other side) and also the rear hump at the middle rear passenger legroom is back (which is the plus point of my FD2 vs most other cars). Still, minor issues. Hand brake is gone, now replaced with a lever (much like the one you pull to release the trunk) on the central dash to the right of the gear shifter.

The sales advisor gave me a brief overview of what's new, then respectfully settled back to let me experience the drive. This is highly appreciated, as I was then able to focus on the driving experience. In fact after a while I was the one who felt obliged to initiate some talk, to break the otherwise awkward silence. Now, on to the driving experience....

Pulling out of the parking lot and on to the main road, I was at first cautious when merging with traffic. I know on paper that the FC has a higher power/weight ratio, but having no prior experience, I don't want to test the airbags / other safety features.... :)

I felt an ever-so-slight lag in the throttle response when accelerating at low engine speed. Likely due to the small engine, don't expect the turbo to magically fix this part of the curve (below 2kRPM). The CVT was smooth, never could tell when then gears were shifting up. The response seems to be muted, as if giving you a moment to decide if you really want to go fast, before spooling up the power. Thus, you can stomp your foot on the accelerator and absolutely nothing will happen. To be fair, this is also a "feature" found even in the FD generation of civic, as a result of the drive-by-wire throttle. Still, I feel in the FC, this is very much pronounced, perhaps to tune the car to a more mature / comfort based target audience.

The car was quiet, but then, with these test drive models, you could never tell if this was an after-market enhancement or came stock. And I did not manage to test the ability to change directions and speed really quickly, as I did not want to flip out the SA who was in the passenger seat. Moving on to a long straight stretch of road, I put the FC in S mode and tested the paddle shifters. With more travel and matte finish, they felt better than the staccato shiny ones in my FD2. I shifted up to 7 virtual gears, 2 more than the real ones in my FD2. Red-line was at an unimpressive 6.5kRPM, but this car was not about top end. In the 3-4kRPM range, the FC was responsive - no turbo lag to bog you down and I'm sure it would sing happily to the (short) red-line. I did try to floor it in one of the higher gears, and detect no attempt from the engine or system to push the car forward at a greater urgency. This means you really need to be in right gear to increase the pace, otherwise, the ride would be pretty much sedated.
Power delivery was linear. No surge or Blow-Off-Valve hissing between gear changes to hint of the forced induction motor beneath the hood. Here was a car that would go fast without feeling or sounding fast.

I made it a point to take the FC through the housing estate with many speed bumps, high humps, potholes. This was the major pain-point of my FD2 which no amount of after-market engineering could fix. The showroom unit was with a Modulo body kit, so it would be a fair representation of body-to-ground. Making it through the housing estate, going over obstacles with sensible yet urgent speed (just like you would drive your own car, if you were in a hurry), I did not register hitting anything with the bottom of the car. Clearly, the stock FC (with Modulo body kit) would make it through the typical Malaysia neighbourhood without having resort to strange diagonal angle-of-attack movements that you always see those modified Wiras do.

As I pulled back into the Honda Semabok parking area and switched off the engine (push button, again, something with is standard for even the Honda City these days), I thanked the SA and took a moment to summarize me experience with the new Civic FC. I would guess that the designers were taking aim at the market segment dominated by Toyota (Altis) and at the same time, not sacrificing on quality in order to stand on its own against the other rivals in this car class. The FC is clearly not means to be the sports sedan that is the expectation of many drivers from MY generation. Rather, it's more of a sport-y mid-size family sedan to offer a solid option for those shopping in this price range. And truly a model worthy to carry on the "Civic" legacy.

The 1.5 turbo engine coupled with the CVT, apart from the low RPM range, seems to be well match at delivering results as intended. Ride, insulation and comfort are much improved versus the stock FD (sorry for my outdated comparison, as I've never driven the FB Civic which bridges the FD and FC). I'm sure that this car can be fast when pushed, but more like a passenger jet on full throttle during take off, rather than like a go kart (forgive the poor analogy). If you are looking for something more lively/involving, I guess you'd have to look elsewhere (or wait for the Type R)....
Disclaimer : I don't work for Honda, nor am I paid by them to write about them. I just happen to drive one myself. Writing car reviews is clearly not my forte, otherwise I'd have a career working for Paul Tan.... :)

Event : Blood Donation - 9 April 2017

(Stock image from Pixabay)


[Update, 9 Apr 2017 : Event carried out successfully. Thanks to all donors and volunteers, the staff of Melaka General Hospital, and everyone else who made today's event a success!]

The Puma 4x4 (Malaysia) Club is not just about offroad adventures and camping. Next month, on 9 April 2017, the club is organizing a blood donation campaign in collaboration with the Melaka General Hospital. The even will be held at the multi-purpose hall of the Melaka Presbyterian Church at Taman Malim Jaya. This is not a church event, so all aspiring blood donors from all faiths are welcome to join. They will give away a small souvenir donated by the event sponsors to all successful donors.

Well, if you are a regular donor, or interested to sign up for the first time, do mark your calendar and make it a point to attend. Do your part to fill the National Blood Bank and save lives!

For more information, do check out the event at the Puma 4x4 Club Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/events/284028805360198/

My post on such an event some years ago : http://marvinchong.blogspot.com/2012/05/blood-donation-campaign-with-puma-4x4.html

Event : Hardcore off-road adventure to Selancar, Johor (18-20 Mar 2017)

(Stock Image from Pixabay)

The Puma 4x4 (Malaysia) Club will be having it's first event of 2017 with a hardcore off-road adventure to Selancar, Johor. The event is scheduled for later this month, from 18 Mar 2017 to 20 Mar 2017. What's "hardcore", you might ask?

Well, traditionally, the Puma 4x4 Club has members that cater to both ends of the scale. On one end is the typical family camper, who love the experience of camping in the fine outdoors, in the middle of nature, by the stream / waterfall. Such events are more akin to family holidays, where the destination is more appreciated than the journey. Of course, to get to such untainted spots (which are getting rarer as time goes by due to increasing development activities) you would need to get a decent 4x4 vehicle. Granted, even a Perodua Kembara would be able to get you to most of the places where the typical sedan might bottom out, important is the body to ground clearance.

On the other hand, there are those who really find and take the most difficult route between 2 points, which requires the base model 4x4 to be augmented with snorkels, winches, raised suspension and mud-terrain / centipede tires to take on road-less terrain (they basically make their own). The drivers themselves are armed with ropes, hoes, machetes and chain saws (one in awhile, there's a need to DIY a log bridge from a few fallen trees). It's possible for both groups to start and end up at the same campsite, but the hardcore team would arrive much later, taking the hardest path between two points....
Of course, only a Sith deals in absolutes (to borrow a phrase from a galaxy far, far away), so common folk like you and I will fall somewhere in between. While we do have a few rough riders in the Puma 4x4 Club, the general motto is to get everyone in, have fun, and get everyone out, safe and sound.

For details on the trip, for those of you looking for the latter kind of adventure, do check out the event on Facebook at : https://www.facebook.com/events/1457178594316458/

As for this trip, I'm obviously not THAT kind of adventurer, so I'll sit this one out and wait for them to share some photos when they get back...! :)


[UPDATE: 23 Mar 2017] Event completed successfully, for those interested to see how it turned out, you can find the photos at the Club's Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10155208319559295.1073741827.297484144294&type=1&l=3632d4c62e

150,000km Preventive Maintenance Service @ GS Tay Honda Muar

It's been awhile since my last such posting. Just because I don't write about it doesn't mean I don't do my preventive maint...

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