14 October 2017

I’m sure by now you’ve read the review about my last trip to Sabah. It was a memorable trip, the furthest I’ve been away from home. We stayed at an apartment called Cyber City near the KK International Airport. I booked the place on Airbnb and stayed there on the first and last day of our visit. In the middle we stayed overnight in Kundasang. The apartment measured just a little bit smaller than our very own Casa Riana with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. 2 of the bedrooms were fitted with air conditioners while another air cond is fixed in the living room. The place comes with a swimming pool, gym facilities and a sport hall as well. I thought the kids would certainly enjoy themselves in the pool but unfortunately due to our busy schedule, we didn’t get the chance to use them until the last day. Even then it rained in the morning and the pool didn’t even open until 10:00 AM which is too late for us anyway.

On the morning of the second day, we packed all our stuff to leave for Kundasang. We thought of leaving some at the apartment to lighten the load plus the fact that we are going to come there again the day after the next. But our host told us we can’t because somebody else will be staying there immediately after us and so that’s fine with us. On the day when we checked in the second time, we can smell the distinct stink in the air. My guess is they didn’t take out the garbage from during our stay until a few hours before we came. Furthermore we were pretty certain that they didn’t change the sheets because I can see the same stains that we made from our last stay on them.

I have a good mind to leave a permanent negative review on their Airbnb listing but I thought I’d message the host first airing my grievances. She apologized for everything and promised to look into it so I decided not to proceed with the negative review. Perhaps it was all her staff/cleaner’s fault for slacking on their job. Or maybe they have been sloppy that way all along. Guess I’ll never know because I have no plans on staying there ever again. Sure they give one of the lowest price near KK and there’s no charge for extra guests but that’s no excuse for sloppiness. I’m not telling you not to stay at Norita’s Airbnb listing near KK but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Travelling in a big group with my extended family members can prove to be quite a challenge but doable. You have to take into account the size of the group’s number when booking for accommodation and transport, cooking in or eating out etcetera. Basically we have 4 sets of working adults in the group. Well one set is retired so that leaves us with 3. When it comes to expenditure, we divided everything into 3 groups with my family and the other one covering 3/4 of the budget. Okay, to cut the story short, when you are already a working adult with a fixed income and no significant commitment, you are expected to pull your weight and contribute to the party. I know you’re saving for your wedding next year but still no excuse to be a passenger on the trip. Even the retired people gave a sizable contribution without even asking.

In any case, I am reluctant to organize such a big and faraway trip again in the future. Especially if we can’t reach a consensus on the budget and expenditure. Next time it will probably be me and Linda and the kids. It’s much better and simpler that way.

10 October 2017

I’ve heard unfavarouble stories from my friends at work about how they car would be stuck for weeks at the workshop after an accident. I was beginning to fear the same one week after the accident when my car was still not finished with the repairs. Fortunately my fears were allayed when the insurance claim agent called telling us the car is ready on the 10th day. We went to pick up the car at the workshop in Serdang. You know that rows of workshop near the night market? That’s exactly it.

Our car looked absolutely fine. I mean without the smell of the freshly sprayed paint, you couldn’t tell it was a new paint job or realize that it has been in a terrible accident just a week before. What’s more we didn’t have to pay a cent because it will be all claimed against the Honda City’s owner insurance. Actually we did pay 300 ringgit because we asked the workshop to fix the back of the car which was involved in two minor accidents some time ago. That said we were pretty happy with their work. Our car looked almost brand new without any of those unsightly scratches and dents. Let’s we can maintain it that way for a long time in the future (I’m looking at you Linda).

Anyway if you’re ever involved in an accident in Selangor or KL, you could try to deal with this one insurance agent Ah Ben at 012 6568838. He’ll take care of everything for you and all you’ll have to do is pickup the car when it’s done. He’ll give you regular update on the repair works and the speed and the job that his preferred workshop is pretty good too.

3 October 2017

My wife was in her regular drop-off routine that fateful Tuesday morning. She had just dropped off Hana at her kindergarten and on the way to work when suddenly a car came out of nowhere and t-boned our car. I don’t know what’s got into the her, the lady driver but somehow she didn’t slow down or stop at the stop sign and rammed straight into our car. My wife was quite shocked, naturally and she got out of the car to scold her. Moments later I got a distress phone call from Linda relating to me about the accident.

Without a second to waste, I quickly texted my boss and rushed to the scene. At first glance our car was not too badly damaged at the passenger side. But it is going to cost a few thousand ringgit of repairs nevertheless. The other woman’s car, was worse off. The front bumper and engine compartment was almost totally crushed and even the airbags are deployed. Although the damage was severe, I still asked Alice (that’s her name) whether she wanted to settle there. Obviously it’s too big of a damaged to pay so she said we’ll have to lodge a police report at the station. I took her number and drove the Alza very slowly to the Serdang district police station in Kinrara. Thankfully I could still drive the car although the left suspension is wonky as well as the steering wheel. Believe it or not, a tow-truck guy appeared out of thin air seconds after the collision. They’re like vultures I tell you.

The traffic police officers were really helpful at the station. The took down our details, the details of the accident and within half an hour our report were finished. They even took the trouble to find us a workshop to send our car. Of course they would made a cut from that but it’s a nice gesture nonetheless. The sergeant in charge said we would know the result of the investigation in two week’s time but it looks very likely not out fault and we will claim for Alice’s insurance policy for the repairs. Ben the guy from the workshop that they recommended showed up at our place an hour later and now our car is at a workshop somewhere in Serdang. It was all pretty fast and efficient. Whether they will do a good paint and repair job, that remains to be seen. At least we were spared the headache of bureaucracy. Ben handled everything for us, the insurance claim and also dealing with the authorities.

So now for the first time ever we were without our one and only car. These past two days Linda has been hitching a ride with her Uber-driving brother. Tomorrow I will have to send her to work on the bike and the kids will take the bus every day now. Hopefully Adam doesn’t call us to visit him this weekend cause that’s not going to happen. Also I really hope the car will be ready by next week, before our long-awaited Sabah trip.