KFC & McD Going Green... with different strategies

I'm not sure if this is happening in other states as well, but I found out recently that McD and KFC have been participating in the "No Plastic Bags" campaign. It has started for quite some time, but since I haven't visited these two restaurants for the past few months, I was not aware of this.

Apparently, McD and KFC are not giving out plastic bags for Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. While I'm neutral towards these kind of campaigns, it is the differences on how these two restaurants tackle this matter that fascinates me.

For KFC, it's simple... they automatically charge you an extra RM0.20 every time you make an order on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. They did not even bother to ask if one would want the plastic bag. They just add in 20 cents when they punch in the order.

For McDonald's instead of charging their customers, they replaced their plastic bags with paper bags. And if you order two or more drinks, they'll give you a cardboard coaster.

It is in my opinion that McDonald's strategy is of a better one. It reduces the use of plastics while not inconveniencing customers. While it is true that we can use shopping bags while shopping in supermarkets, I don't think that it is a viable option when shopping for food. 

KFC's strategy is does not really help much in conserving plastics as they assume that each customer need plastic bags by automatically charging them.

So, conclusion? Support McDonald's! :P

Movie Review 40: Jeon Woo Chi: The Taoist Wizard

Title: Jeon Woochi: The Taoist Wizard (known as "The Tao Fighter: Woochi" in Malaysia) (Korean)

Director: Choi Dong-Hun

Running time: 1 hour 53 minutes

Genre: Fantasy, Action

Woochi (Kang Dong-won) is a Tao wizard from the Chosun dynasty. However, he likes to play tricks on people who he thinks is corrupt and is in need of a good punishment. He accidentally came across a sacred relic that is searched by the demons of the underworld. Through deceit, the demons managed to get Woochi trapped into a scroll but not before Woochi snatched the sacred relic from the demon. Five centuries later, the world is embroiled with demons again and the only hope that the world has is Woochi.

It is my belief that Koreans make really good fantasy movies. Sure they make good love stories too, but whenever one director decided to make a movie that does not have love as the main theme, it amazes the world (yes, yes, I'm exaggerating!)

Anyhow, this movie is great. The fighting scenes, special effects are all top notch and is used in such a way that one doesn't feel over the top. Their wire works are excellent too, their "flying skills" are actually more graceful and natural than the Chinese ones.

The lead actor, Kang Dong-won is able to carry off his mischievous character convincingly. His antics are hilarious and I've seldom seen a male actor fighting in such a graceful way. The flapping of his robes, turning of the hand, stepping on the ground are all perfectly done that it really resemble the ways of the Koreans in the olden days.

The storyline is great, with a great twist in the middle (not a twist anymore if you've read my summary :P) and there're no boring, squishy love scenes! One little negative experience that I have is I have trouble in keeping up with the subtitles. The actors and actresses speak in great speed and the subtitles kept on changing every few seconds. I would have been better if the subtitles are actually in two lines instead of one. As such, I have to choose to either appreciate the movie without understanding what they are talking about or reading the subtitles but missing out the acting.

Anyhow, for those who do not mind reading subtitles and enjoy Korean styled action movies, this is the one you should go to! Unfortunately, it doesn't receive the acceptance it's supposed to have. There were only three other people in the cinema while I watched this!

Observation: I don't understand how Woochi claimed he cannot perform magic when he does not have his magical symbols but doesn't need use them when he perform his magic when he has them in his pouch.

Bottomline: Knowing Korean language would boost the experience with this great movie!

Bamboo Ranking: 4.0 / 5.0

Night at Malacca

So, after attending my friend's wedding luncheon in Malacca, and dumping my super drunk friend in the toilet of our hotel room, my other university friends met up at night to relive the memories of our stay in Malacca 5 years ago.

First stop, is of course, the super famous... Sate Celup!

The price of these "Sate" has markedly increased... no thanks to the super rich university students spending like crazy!

Super thick and delicious gravy that we cooked our "Sate"in....

Next stop, is a shop that we haven't heard of during our uni life... however it is quite famous these few years... what is it famous for? Mille Crepe!

Strawberry Mille Crepe...

Cheese Mille Crepe... well, it's safe to say that this is not like any cake that you ever had before... the "thousand" layered cake feels really different when you put it in your mouth... a must try if you're in Malacca... near Mahkota Parade...

Then, we went and visit something new... the Menara Taming Sari... basically, it's just a circular tram that moves slowly up, enabling you to enjoy the night scenery of Malacca... RM12 per ride, I think... really not worth it :P

The other people who rode with me...

A photo of night scenery... yeah, it's not very clear... I'm taking picture in a moving vehicle at night... okay... maybe even SLR is not able to take good pictures in this situation... and I realized with horror that the street below us is super jammed! Apparently it happens every weekend from morning till night!

Our next trip is to eat dim sum which opens at night... however, after got caught in heavy traffic and frantic search, we found that it was closed... so, we just sit down in a nearby food stall and had a burger... the burger   ayam special... nice!

After that, we stop by at another stall that opens late into the night... it's already midnight! This time, it's a stall famous for duck meat noodles... though the one in the picture is not a duck meat noodles... no idea what it is :P

Mango sago...

Chicken feet noodles...

It was about this time that my drunk friend woke up and calling me to asked what happened! We had a really fun time spinning tall tales about his drunken behaviour...

Unfortunately, I had to wash the hotel bathroom floor before I sleep and it was around 2am before I can finally rest!

The next morning, I realized something really nice in the bathroom...

The various flavours of body showers and even moisturizer! And they smelled really nice!

Well, staying in Malacca brought back some really fond memories... a life without worries and a life that the day began at night and ends when the sun comes up! 

Kiat Soon's Wedding

Ah, Malacca, how I missed you... the opportunity (or rather excuse) to visit Malacca came when one of my ex-coursemate held his wedding in Malacca. The wedding meal was a luncheon and it was held in Rennaissance Hotel.

I was figuring out on whether to take a bus or plane there when my friend offered to drive me there! Hurrah! We arrived at Malacca around before 12 and checked into the hotel room that was booked by the groom for us... which is a really fortunate matter (more on that later).

Anyhow, following are the pictures taken over there...

Ice goose... or is it a swan?

Top tier of the wedding cake...

Stage decoration...

Main table decoration

Another angle of the main table...

The one in the red box is fruit cake and the one in the yellow box is a customized chocolate... the pictures and words are white chocolate! Didn't managed to try them as it melted when I reached home :(

First dish... Rennaissance Five Treasure Hot & Cold Hors D'oeuvre Combination... surprisingly nice... I've never put much faith in hotel food, but this one is a real nice opener...

Braised Shark's Fin Soup with Crab Meat & Dried Scallops... fist time I see that the shark's fin come separately and was poured into the soup when served... but still, I think the starch / shark's fin ratio is too high :P

The band for the day... Rhumba Fusion Band... apparently quite famous in KL... visited their webpage and they performed for really a lot of events... got four of five of them with 3 of them singing alternately... and I think they are worth the fame... wonder how much they are charging :P 

Roasted Crispy Chicken with Prawns Cracker... the chicken is too tender... prefer the prawn cracker :P

Steam Pomfret-Hong Kong Style... nothing special about it...

Champagne pouring ceremony...

Fried Prawns in Two Varieties... love especially the salad prawns...

Braised Sliced Pearl Abalone with Pacific Clams... 

Steamed Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaf...

Deep Fried Sesame Ball with Lotus Seed... nice!

Sweetened Red Bean Cream with Rice Dumpling... not your normal dessert...the Red Bean Cream is not really that nice, but at least it's special!

These two bottles were empty by the end of the lunch!

A group of drunkards drinking :P... notice the dark brown liquid... they are all alcohol... not even one single drop of tea... the bride's uncle who is drinking with us, checked every glass before drinking his own.

The guys... two of them are super drunk...:P

My day did not end there... my friend who brought me to Malacca was madly drunk. My other friends have to take him by each arm to take him back to his room up in the hotel (thankfully we decided to stay there)... and when he reached the bathroom he started vomiting... first in the toilet bowl, then the wash basin and finally on the floor! And he vomited from 3pm to 8pm! I didn't dare to take a nap and cannot go into the bathroom! And he was giving me this cold stare whenever I tried to guide him to his bed. So, I just check up on him now and then and just let him vomit all over the bathroom floor.

It was the first time I have to take care of a drunk all by myself and it was a really eye opening experience. My strategy is to leave him alone and just check up on him now and then to ensure he's still breathing :P. Anyhow, despite the rather unpleasant experience with my friend, I think it is still worth the trip to drive so far to Malacca (no I drive mah :P)

Movie Review 39: 14 Blades

Title: 14 Blades

Director: Daniel Lee

Running time: 1 hour 54 minutes

Genre: Action

Even though this movie came out during CNY, it can't really be considered as a CNY movie since it has nothing to do with CNY and it is a pretty dark movie which is a total opposite to the spirit of CNY. Anyhow, after reading numerous movie reviews on the four main movies that came during CNY, I decided 14 Blades as it is the only one that has the least number of unfavourable review.

The movie was set in the Ming Dynasty and the story revolves around the Royal Guards of the emperor, which sort of act like the secret police/assassins. The leader of the Royal Guards, named Green Dragon (Donnie Yen) was ordered to kill an official and retrieve an important box. During the assassination attempt, Green Dragon found out what was in the box and with that knowledge, he had to rethink his loyalties and was soon the target for the rest of the Royal Guards and a super powerful woman assassin, Tuo Tuo (Kate Tsui).

I did not regret my decision in watching 14 Blades as my first CNY movie. While it is quite disconcerting to see the lip movements not matching the voice (some actors spoke Mandarin only and had their voice dubbed), it turned out to be quite a good movie.

Of course, with Donnie Yen, there'll be lots of action sequences. Though Tuo Tuo's martial arts are really, really very fake (the person who make the CG should go for more training :P), I enjoyed Kate Tsui and Donnie Yen's showoff. Also, Wu Jun, acting as the Judge of Sands is quite convincing as a robber with principles. This is the second time I watched him on the silver screen and I think it is much better than the "Butterfly Lovers" movie, though I think he tried too hard on being a badass and it made him to be a little stiff in some scenes.

However, this movie could have been much, much better. First off, the dialogues did not flow smoothly. Sometimes the characters would say something unrelated all of a sudden and it is really noticeable. And then there's this leading actress, Zhao Wei as Qiao Hua. I can see no reason at all why she would fall head over heels in love with Green Dragon... it just doesn't make any sense at all... it's like she love Green Dragon only because he can fight very well... and that is really shallow.

Anyhow, though this is not a movie suitable for children, I believe it to be entertaining enough to be watched in cinema.

Observation: This movie shows how stupid people are in the olden days as it portrays the power of the imperial seal which would enable anyone, including one with an army obviously trying to conquer the country to pass through as long as the enemy have the imperial seal :P

Bottomline: Acceptable quality for a movie that came out during CNY.

Bamboo Ranking: 3.7 / 4.0

The Good Side of the Bank?

I never thought I would say this, but I was pleasantly surprise in an encounter with my credit card bank... Direct Access. I received a phone call that day and I was thinking that it was another telemarketer from some insurance company saying that I'm the lucky few to be picked to get this really good policy.

 I was tempted to say I was busy and never to call me ever again :P. But the good side of me managed to get a rein of my temper. This girl was actually from the Direct Access credit card center (not the "I got your info from the bank but actually work for insurance company") and she said that she noticed I have several credit cards with them and she was asking if I would like to cancel some of my credit cards!!!

I was stunned for a moment. I mean, these people are usually asking why I want to cancel the credit card... instead, she asked if I would like to cancel my credit card! Of course, it might be some hoax/fraud run by some really terrible people who want to siphon info of my credit card from me. But the questions she asked me while are confidential, should not be enough to do any permanent damage since they did not ask for password or access number... so I gave her the info she needed to "verify my status".

And the next day, my credit card was gone from the online bank account! This incident really showed me that there is goodness even in the devil's heart :P

Super Terrible Services at Kam Ling

On the fourth day of CNY, I decided to give Kam Ling restaurant another try despite my really terrible experience a week ago. I wasn't really expecting top notch service and food since it's CNY and everyone is fine with eating terrible food, with cut throat price and dismal services.

One thing to take note of is that Kam Ling is willing to serve normal dishes during the CNY, unlike Jia Restaurant who demanded all its customers to select only the set lunch/dinner. However, the first hiccup of the day was the one writing down our orders said that we would have to wait for an hour for the dish to be served!

Resisting my urge to just walk away there and then, we continued our orders. The next thing was when our jug of tea was empty, we hailed down one of the Indian servers to refill our jug... and that was the last we heard of our jug. Throughout the whole meal, we were unable to locate our jug of tea and no one gave us any new jug of tea despite my numerous complaints.

And looking at the end of the restaurant, a group of servers would huddle together doing God knows what despite some tables do not have tea or utensils (chopsticks/bowls/plate) prepared.

Celery with camel meat...

Mini version of "bak choy"

Pork ribs...

I just had to take the photo of this bowl of rice. Notice anything wrong with it? I was annoyed by the grotesque looking shape of the rice. It was evident that the rice was slapped into the bowl with no regards to it's presentations... yes, I know, I know, I'm a perfectionist :P

Well, despite my complaints about the terrible service, the food this time was acceptable and the price was actually quite low (during CNY season)... the celery with camel meat was RM16, pork ribs was RM15 and "bak choy" was just RM6! However, the "yee sang" was sold at RM35 for half size! That is daylight robbery... Jia Restaurant was selling at RM25 and even the cafe we had our reunion lunch is selling "yee sang" at only RM28 for half size!

However, I still think that Kam Ling had better train their servers so as not to embarrass Kampar to outsiders. The level of service there was really unimaginably terrible.

The Jia Restaurant, despite it's highly priced dishes during the CNY season, is able to give top notch level of service and their serving speed has markedly improved since last year. I hope that Kam Ling will receive lots of complaints this year as Jia restaurant did last year so that Kam Ling can improve itself in the future. If they continue to provide this level of service, people would go to their restaurant only because there are no place at other restaurants and not because the customers want to!