PANAMPANG "NGIU CHAP"

Kedai Kopi, Loi Hin, in Donggonnon, Penampang is my favourite "Ngiu Chap" shop. “Ngiu Chap” in Chinese literally means “mixed cow”. This popular local delicacy consists of almost all parts of the cow parts' like tongue, tendon, tripe, lung and even ligament. They go very well with noodles in soup. 

I love the thumb-sized tender chunks of "ngiu" tongue, tendon and meat balls with "bee hoon" in  clear flavorful broth.

 This bowl was served with egg noodles.

The boss himself preparing the serving.

The broth was not overly greasy yet powerfully beefy.  It tasted as if the beef had been simmered for hours with onions, bones and other aromatic herbs. 

They open for breakfast and lunch 7 days a week. It is usually crowded on Sunday and Public holidays.  

MALAYSIA AIRLINES TODAY - RM2.52 BILLION LOSS

Malaysia Airlines incurred a record nett loss of RM2.52 billion for their 2011 financial year, the largest in it's history. The company is now in "crisis" declared Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, the CEO of Malaysia airlines.

I expected that Malaysia Airlines to be in the "red" for 2011 F/Y but not at such a huge figure. The last quarter performance was the worst registered a massive loss of RM1.28 billion which was about as much as the first 3 quarters combined. It was unbelievable that they fared so badly in the last quarter despite the peak season of School holidays, X'mas and year end!   

Ahmad Jauhari blamed the increase in fuel prices as the major cause of the huge losses.   

Do you believe that they lost RM2.52 billion when the airline carried a total of 13.3million passengers achieving a healthy load factor of 75% in 2011 F/Y? Something is very wrong somewhere!

Take a look at Singapore Airlines 2010/2011 F/Y result. They carried 16.6 million passengers registering a load factor of 78.5% and they achieved a nett profit of SGD1.012 billion!

How could Malaysia Airlines lose so much money? Perhaps, the owners should do an audit to find out the actual cause for such a big plunder. Was it because of the controversial share-swap deal between key shareholders of Malaysia Airlines  and AirAsia?      

One of the reasons could be, spending without a budget, like paying RM18 million for for this QPR Jersey belonging to the shareholders of AirAsia. 

Paying too much for catering uplift?

Overcharged by suppliers? It was revealed in Parliament not so long ago that "Nasi lemak" was supplied to Malaysia Airlines at RM150 per set. 

When asked on the recovery plan, Ahmad Jauhari said that immediate action plans include strengthening the airline’s balance sheet, winning back customers by introducing branded customer experiences and more aggressive marketing, relentless cost focus and launching its new regional airline by the middle of the year.

I am not sure if the recovery plan will work if they continue to spend unnecessarily. One of them is employing highly paid so called foreign experts who do not even know about the Malaysian culture.

Malaysia Airlines has been in the market for so many donkey years. Any new marketing strategy may not help as Malaysia Airlines has already a very good reputation in the local and world market. Ahmad Jauhari should emphasis more on "cost cutting" exercise. Look into the staff cost, fuel cost and most important of all, the suppliers cost. He should not waste more money to set-up or launch a new regional airline but go for the huge lucrative low cost market by bringing back Firefly to serve East and West Malaysia including some regional routes.

May God help Malaysia Airlines.    

PICTURES FROM JAPAN

Some of the beautiful pictures sent to me from Japan.  Miura san has indeed improved his photographing skill with his new camera!

 Mt. Fuji - sunset.

They called it Tokyo Sky Tree - the world tallest tower standing magnificently at 634 meters on this clear day.

The Tokyo Tower - 333 meters tall.

 This cat posed for the camera while enjoying the snow.

 Three cute kittens.

Egret in action.

 These are some the well taken pictures - Miura san " Ganbatte! がんばって"

 

ORCHIDS AT KG. KELAWAT.

Yesterday, we took a drive along the road towards Mt.Kinabalu Park and revisited this Orchid farm. For those who love hybrid orchids, this place is strongly recommended.  

It is located at the roadside near Kampung Kelawat at mile 58 on the Kota kinabalu Ranau road,  about an hour drive from the city and the entrance is free.

I have no passion for orchids but I did enjoy the many colourful species. I was busy taking pictures while my wife was spending her time "shopping".  

 

 Majority of the orchids were in full bloom. It was overwhelming!  

  The splendour of the orchids.  

Perhaps, the orchids fare well in this place because of the cool mountain weather. This area is always covered with a cloud of mist.

On the way back home, we stopped over at Tampuruli for lunch - the ever popular Tampuruli fried noodles. 

 Crossing the Tampuruli river and heading for home. It was a good outing !

  

BAK KUT TEH 肉骨茶

We have not been to the "Bak Kut Teh" shop in Gaya Street for at least a year or so. Last Sunday, my wife suggested that we should go for a "Bak Kut Teh" dinner.

Oh my gosh....there was such a huge crowd waiting as we arrived at this Bak Kut Teh shop.

We took a chance and managed to get a table after waiting for about 10 minutes.The place was so busy with people eating even at the the five foot walk way in the street.

Normally, the order would be served in within 10 minutes. But this time we had to wait for more than 20 minutes before the waiter came around with the Bak Kut Teh dishes. 

I realized that the taste of the Bak Kut Teh was not as good as before. Perhaps, they could not cope with the increase in the demand..... I have no complaint as I paid only RM29.00 for this dinner.