Pasar Malam - Petaling Jaya

Sunday - Taman Megah and Paramount Garden

Monday - SS2

Tuesday - Section 17, near the International Islamic University

Wednesday - Petaling Garden and SS4C

Thursday - SS2 - Chao Yang

Friday - Seapark and Kg Baiduri

Saturday - unknown


See also Pasar Malam - Kuala Lumpur

Guys please let me know if this list is accurate and when it needs to be updated. Post your comments.

An Explanation of the RapidKL Integrated Network of Klang Valley

For further information visit Rapid KL's website

Malaysia Airlines

Malaysia Airlines - Official Website

Malaysia Airlines (Abbreviated: MAS,马航 ; Malay: Penerbangan Malaysia; Chinese: 马来西亚航空公司; Hanyu Pinyin: Málaixīya Hángkōng Gōngsī)(in Italian language is Aerolinee di Malesia)is the national airline of Malaysia, operating scheduled services to over 100 destinations worldwide. It also operates domestic network and charter services. Its main base is Kuala Lumpur International Airport, with hubs at Kota Kinabalu International Airport, Penang International Airport and Kuching International Airport.

The airline started operations on 1 May 1947 as Malayan Airways, changing to Malaysian Airways in November 1963 after the formation of Malaysia. With the separation of Singapore from the Federation of Malaysia on 9 August 1965, the Singapore and Malaysia governments took over majority control from BOAC and other shareholders and the airline was renamed Malaysia-Singapore Airlines. On 3 April 1971 the airline was split into Malaysian Airlines System and Singapore Airlines. The new airline began operations on 1 October 1972 as the national carrier of Malaysia. On 15 October 1987, the trading name was changed to Malaysia Airlines.

FireFly

Firefly is a low cost airline which is a wholly subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines but to be managed by Flyfirefly Sdn. Bhd. The airline flies two daily services out of Penang International Airport to Kota Bahru, Langkawi, Kuantan and Kuala Terengganu, plus daily services to Phuket and Koh Samui in southern Thailand.

MASWings

MASWings is a newly formed wholly owned subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines. The airline will take over the Rural Air Services in Sabah and Sarawak from FlyAsianXpress. The newly formed subsidiary, MASwings has plans to purchase 10 ATR 72-500 aircraft to replace its 9 Fokker 50. They will also replace the current fleet of DHC-6-300 Twin Otters to the newer "Series 400" model.

Destinations

Africa

* South Africa
o Cape Town (Cape Town International Airport)
o Johannesburg (OR Tambo International Airport)

East Asia

* China, People's Republic of
o Beijing (Beijing Capital International Airport)
o Guangzhou (Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport)
o Hong Kong (Hong Kong International Airport)
o Kunming (Kunming Wujiaba International Airport)
o Shanghai (Shanghai Pudong International Airport)
o Xiamen (Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport)

* China, Republic of (Taiwan)
o Kaohsiung (Kaohsiung International Airport)
o Taipei (Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport)

* Japan
o Nagoya (Chubu International Airport)
o Osaka (Kansai International Airport)
o Tokyo (Narita International Airport)

* South Korea
o Seoul (Incheon International Airport)

Southeast Asia

* Brunei Darussalam
o Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei International Airport)

* Cambodia
o Phnom Penh (Phnom Penh International Airport)
o Siem Reap (Angkor International Airport)

* Indonesia
o Denpasar (Ngurah Rai International Airport)
o Jakarta (Soekarno-Hatta International Airport)
o Medan (Polonia International Airport)
o Padang (Minangkabau International Airport)
o Surabaya (Juanda International Airport)
o Tarakan (Juwata Airport)

* Malaysia
o Alor Star (Sultan Abdul Halim Airport)
o Bintulu (Bintulu Airport)
o Johor Bahru (Senai International Airport)
o Kota Bharu (Sultan Ismail Petra Airport)
o Kota Kinabalu (Kinabalu Kinabalu International Airport)Secondary Hub
o Kuala Lumpur (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) Hub
o Kuala Terengganu (Sultan Mahmud Airport)
o Kuantan (Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Airport)
o Kuching (Kuching International Airport)Secondary Hub
o Labuan (Labuan Airport)
o Langkawi (Langkawi International Airport)
o Miri (Miri Airport)
o Penang (Penang International Airport)Secondary Hub
o Sandakan (Sandakan Airport)
o Sibu (Sibu Airport)
o Tawau (Tawau International Airport)

* Myanmar
o Yangon (Yangon International Airport)

* Philippines
o Cebu (Mactan-Cebu International Airport)
o Manila (Ninoy Aquino International Airport)

* Singapore
o Singapore(Singapore Changi Airport)

* Thailand
o Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi Airport)
o Phuket (Phuket International Airport)

* Viet Nam
o Hanoi (Noi Bai International Airport)
o Ho Chi Minh City (Tan Son Nhat International Airport)

South Asia

* Bangladesh
o Dhaka (Zia International Airport)

* India
o Bangalore (HAL Airport)
o Chennai (Chennai International Airport)
o Delhi (Indira Gandhi International Airport)
o Hyderabad (Begumpet Airport)
o Mumbai (Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport)

* Maldives
o Malé (Malé International Airport)

* Pakistan
o Karachi (Jinnah International Airport)

* Sri Lanka
o Colombo (Bandaranaike International Airport)

Southwest Asia

* Lebanon
o Beirut (Beirut International Airport)

* Saudi Arabia
o Jeddah (King Abdulaziz International Airport)

* United Arab Emirates
o Dubai (Dubai International Airport)

Europe

* France
o Paris (Charles de Gaulle International Airport)
* Germany
o Frankfurt (Frankfurt International Airport)

* Italy
o Rome (Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport)

* Netherlands
o Amsterdam (Amsterdam Schiphol Airport)

* Sweden
o Stockholm (Stockholm-Arlanda Airport)

* Switzerland
o Zürich (Zürich International Airport)

* Turkey
o Istanbul (Ataturk International Airport)

* United Kingdom
o London (London Heathrow Airport)

North America

* United States
o Los Angeles (Los Angeles International Airport)
o Newark (Newark Liberty International Airport)

Oceania

* Australia
o Adelaide (Adelaide International Airport)
o Brisbane (Brisbane Airport)
o Melbourne (Melbourne Airport)
o Perth (Perth Airport)
o Sydney (Kingsford Smith International Airport)

* New Zealand
o Auckland (Auckland International Airport)

South America

* Argentina
o Buenos Aires (Ministro Pistarini International Airport)

Terminated Destinations

The following destinations were served by scheduled Malaysia Airlines flights but have been suspended or terminated.

* Africa
o Egypt (Cairo- 2006)

* East Asia
o China (Chengdu- 2006, Guilin- 2005, Macau- Mid 90's, Xian- 2006, Wuhan)
o Japan (Fukuoka- 2006)
o Korea, South (Busan- Late 90's)

* Southeast Asia
o Indonesia (Balikpapan- 2005, Manado- 2005, Makassar- 2001, Padang- 2006, Pontianak- 2006, Tarakan- 2006)
o Laos (Vientiane- 1998)
o Malaysia (Ipoh- 2006)
o Philippines (Davao- Late 90's, Zamboanga- Late 90's)
o Thailand (Chiang Mai- Late 90's, Hat Yai- Early 2000's)

* South Asia
o India (Ahmedabad- 2006, Kolkata- 2006)

* Southwest Asia
o Bahrain (Bahrain seasonal - 2006)
o Kuwait (Kuwait City seasonal - 2006)
o Syria (Damascus- 2006)

* Europe
o Austria (Vienna- 2006)
o Belgium (Brussels- Late 90's)
o Croatia (Zagreb- Late 90's)
o Germany (Munich- 2001)
o Spain (Madrid- 2001)
o United Kingdom (Manchester- 2006)

* North America
o Canada (Vancouver- 2001)
o Mexico (Mexico City- Mid 90's)
o United States (Honolulu- Mid 90's)

* Oceania
o Australia (Cairns- Early 2000's, Darwin- Early 2000's)
o New Zealand (Christchurch)


Travel Classes

Malaysia Airlines offers three travel classes: First, Business (Golden Club) and Economy Class.

First Class

The newer version of First Class was introduced in 2005 is only available on Boeing 747-400 with 12 seats. It features a 180 degree flat bed seat with a pitch of 80" and a width of 20.5" which is electronically controlled that can choose from a variety of positions at the touch of a button. The seat also doubles a visitor’s seat. There is a 115 AC power outlet for the notebook or electronic devices, 15-inch LCD touch screen monitor for entertainment that can be stowed away when not in use and a personal controller unit.

Golden Club Class

Business Class or Golden Club Class is available on all of Malaysia Airlines fleet. The newer business class that was introduced in 2005 can only be found on Boeing 747-400 which has 41 seats and Boeing 777-200 which has 35 seats. It features 171 degree lie flat seat with a pitch of 62" and a width of 18.5" which is electronically controlled that can choose from a variety of positions at the touch of a button. There is a 10.4-inch LCD touch screen monitor, a personal controller unit and a 115 AC power outlet for other devices into. Other business class are available on Airbus A330 series and Boeing 737-400 which only feature recliners. Personal Television are available on those type of seats on Airbus A330-200.

Economy Class

Economy Class is available on all of Malaysia Airlines fleet. The seats feature a pitch of 34" and width of 17" with foot rests and lumbar support. On Boeing 747-400, Boeing 777-200 and Airbus A330-200, it offers a 6.5" Personal TV located behind each seat and footrest located below the seat infront.

In-flight entertainment

Select is the in-flight entertainment system of Malaysia Airlines. There are two types of Select, Select 3000i and Select Mainscreen. For aircrafts fitted with the Select 3000i, passengers can choose over 500 hours of audio and video programming. With 200 music CDs and 50 movies on-demand available, passengers can start, stop, forward and rewind their selected programme at will. A touch screen personal TV is available for First Class passengers and Golden Club Class (Business Class) on board Boeing 747-400 and Boeing 777-200 aircraft.

Loyalty programmes

Malaysia Airlines has 2 loyalty programmes, Grads for Students by Malaysia Airlines (Grads) and Enrich by Malaysia Airlines (Enrich). Grads is a loyalty programme with benefits designed for students. Enrich by Malaysia Airlines is a travel reward programme for frequent travellers that comprises a variety of airlines, banks, credit card issuers, hotels and lifestyle retailers around the world.

Enrich by Malaysia Airlines

In 30 September 1987, Malaysian Airline System introduced Esteemed Traveller loyalty programme. In the early 1990s, Malaysia Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, Thai Airways International and Singapore Airlines launched their joint Asian frequent flyer programme Passages. The joint programme was officially dissolved in 1999 and Enrich made its debut after the split from Passages.

Enhanced Enrich

On 12 July 2006, Malaysia Airlines introduced its enhanced Enrich frequent flyer programme. The programme is now known as Enrich by Malaysia Airlines (Enrich), modeled after its more successful loyalty programme Grads for Students by Malaysia Airlines. One of the enhancements in the programme was the introduction of the Enrich Silver membership, which focuses on economy class travelers, while retaining the other memberships – Enrich Blue, Enrich Gold and Enrich Platinum.

Member
Enrich current membership of one million is spread over 240 countries, with the strongest in Malaysia at about 60%, followed by Australia (14%), Singapore, Britain and the US. Enrich membership numbers have been growing at an average of 23 per cent per year, well above the industry’s average of 18 per cent. Enrich members clocked in a total of 2.5 billion miles in 2005.

Benefits
There are four levels of Enrich memberships, each offering various privileges including priority check-in, priority standby, extra baggage allowance, amongst others. Miles can be accrued on qualifying Malaysia Airlines services, as well through a host of partners, including airlines, hotels, car rental agencies and credit card companies. Miles accrued by members allow for redemption for free travel, free upgrades and a host of other complimentary services.

Partner airlines
Members of Enrich are able to accrue miles on qualifying flights on the following airlines:[11]

* Air France
* All Nippon Airways
* KLM
* Northwest Airlines
* Swiss International Air Lines
* Virgin Atlantic

For avid travelers, Malaysia Airlines also run its annual Malaysia Airlines Travel Fair where fantastic travel offers are made available.

Source: Wikipedia

The eBay way

There are only about 4,000 Malaysians who trade on eBay, but those who do get on, find online shopping suits them fine.

Zara Mohd Yusof, a former IT project manager and mother to four grown children, is not your typical retiree.

“My daughter Farah calls me an ‘eBay addict’. I don’t know what she means by that,” she says with a hint of laughter, “but I certainly do love eBay.”

“I first bought a handbag on eBay Singapore for S$15 (RM34). I have bought handbags, shoes, clothes, jewellery, shoes, a sofa bed, divans, a sewing machine, collector items like notes and coins, and even an evening gown for my daughter.

“Sometimes I buy things to give away to my sisters and nephew. With eBay, it costs so little to give so much pleasure. When I see a good bargain that matches what they like and need, I just buy it. I have given away a dining set, a microwave oven and jewellery,” says Zara, who gets online every day.




According to Zara, her best bargain to date is a marble dining table with six marble-top chairs (above), which she bought for only S$200 (RM456).

“While unloading the set, my neighbours asked if it cost S$2,000. That made my day!”

The enterprising lady is now starting to sell on eBay.

“Selling is even more exciting. I have sold a couple of handbags, my son’s Xbox and a couple of Oakley sunglasses.”

Having chalked up almost a hundred trades, Zara is pleasantly surprised to find that the majority of eBay members she has encountered have been honest.

“So far so good. I’ve not encountered any online fraud. The only unpleasant experience was a seller who refused to sell me an item after I won the bid. Probably I got it for too low: S$5 (RM11) for a two-month old microwave oven. But it’s not my fault that he set it so low and no one else bid for it!

Other less than pleasant incidences include a few occasions when things arrived looking worse than the pictures posted. Over the years, Zara has also seen some funny things.

“This guy offered a mirror for sale. And I saw his naked image in the mirror.”

Fortunately none of these incidents have put her off eBay.

“The only really bad thing I can think of is that I may one day end up buying things I don’t need. This is far outweighed by the real bargains I find. Who knows, I may even get rich selling on eBay. Already I have a partner who supplies me with Oakley sunglasses. We split the profits 50-50.”

At the end of the day, Zara thinks eBay is great for people with discipline, who know what they are looking for, and have set a maximum limit for the price they will offer for any item. She thinks shopaholics should stay away.

“Compulsive buyers shouldn’t go anywhere near eBay. I think my daughter Farah would be better off staying away, too!”

All names in this story have been changed at the request of the interviewee.

eBay quick facts

# eBay has a global presence in 33 markets
# eBay has 212 million registered users worldwide
# In Q3-06, the total value of all successfully closed items on eBay (GMV), was US$12.6bil
# eBay users worldwide trade more than $1,590 worth of goods on the site every second
# There were 584 million new listings added to eBay worldwide in Q3-06. At any given time, there are approximately 105 million listings worldwide, and approximately 6 million listings are added per day. eBay users trade in more than 50,000 categories of goods and services
# Based on Q3-06 GMV, the following categories delivered $1bil or more in worldwide annualised GMV: eBay Motors at $16.1bil; Clothing & Accessories at $3.7bil; Consumer Electronics at $3.9bil; Computers at $3.6bil; Books/Music/Movies at $2.8bil; Home & Garden at $3bil; Collectibles at $2.2bil; Sports at $2.5bil; Toys at $1.7bil, Business & Industrial at $1.8bil; Jewellery & Watches at $1.6bil; Cameras & Photo at $1.4bil and Antiques & Art at $1bil
# The most expensive item sold on eBay to date is a private business jet for $4.9mil

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Aqmal Hadi Shapee (pic) was probably one of the first active Malaysians on eBay.

“I started in late 2002, when Internet access was mainly through a 56k dial-up modem and you could go make a mug of coffee before pictures fully displayed,” the young IT engineer says with a laugh.

“Nowadays, I go online several times a month to buy camera parts. I bought almost RM10,000 worth of equipment last year.”

It all began in 2002 when Aqmal was searching for a rare camera part. Nobody in the regular shops in Kuala Lumpur or even abroad seemed to have it.

“The only lead I got after googling, was a seller on eBay. So I applied for a credit card, went online, and the rest is history.”

Today, Aqmal gets on eBay regularly, buying an average of five items a month. Some of them are for himself but over half are for “friends, and friends of friends”.

“When my friends found out that I buy and sell on eBay, some asked me to buy things for them too. Once I bought a dark room set for RM5,000 and another time, I bought spark plugs that cost RM75 each. Even my company asks me to buy things for them, like software.”

Usually, Aqmal charges a 30% finder’s fee to cover his time and miscellaneous charges. The search for a product and monitoring an auction can take eight to 10 hours.

“I need to monitor each auction as some people have a nasty habit of waiting till the very last minute and submitting a bid that is 50 cents higher than the last highest bid. In such cases, I have to counter-bid immediately!”

Ever helpful Aqmal explains that a lot of people in Malaysia find it a hassle transacting on eBay internationally.

“There are language difficulties, and sometimes prejudice on the side of the sellers. Some just tell you, ‘We don’t ship to Malaysia’, even though there’s no good reason why they shouldn’t.

“As an experienced seller, I can sometimes get around this situation by getting references from people I’ve bought similar products from. And if they still won’t ship to Malaysia, I have a mate in the US who will accept and forward the item to me.”

Another major problem that Malaysian sellers face is the payment system preferred by eBay: PayPal.

Malaysians who get paid through PayPal cannot withdraw their money via a Malaysian bank account. The nearest alternative is to open a Singaporean account and take out the money through there. Luckily for Aqmal, who is constantly buying and selling, there is no need to withdraw the money. He simply keeps any money he receives in his PayPal account for future purchases.

Despite these problems, and an incident where his account was hacked into, Aqmal is absolutely devoted to eBay.

“It’s not just being able to buy things that are hard to find, it’s also the joy of surfing around and seeing funny things like people who put up US$15mil nuclear warships for sale.”

If you would like Aqmal to help you buy something on eBay, drop him a line at morpheuse@yahoo.com. You can also look him up at http://myworld.ebay.com/aqmal.

The Star

Forrest Gump

My Rating: Good

Released Date: 1994

Lessons: You have have your best chance if you use your own talents and skills. Not everyone is as lucky as Forrest Gump.

The title character leads viewers through an accidental travelogue of American social history from the early 1960s through the present in this revisionist fable. Vietnam, desegregation, Watergate and more are presented from the perspective of Hanks' lovably slow-witted character as he finds himself embroiled in situations he can't quite comprehend. Academy Award Nominations: 13, including Best Picture, Best Actor--Tom Hanks, and Best Director. Academy Awards: 6, including Best Picture, Director, Actor and Adapted Screenplay.

Women prefer men desired by others

A woman's assessment of the attractiveness of a man is influenced by how other women view him, according to researchers.

PARIS: Just having a few women smile at a man in public is enough to make other women consider him much more desirable, according to researchers.

British psychologists, led by Benedict Jones of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, have discovered that, when sizing up a man, a woman takes her cues from other women around him. The more females she sees smiling at a man, the likelier she is to consider the guy a good catch.

The 'copycat reflex' is the result of Darwinian pressures, according to experts on evolution. If a female faces lots of potential mates but has difficulties in choosing the best one, or if to do so would cost too much time or energy, she can help herself by taking a steer from how rival females behave.

The research team, which reports their results tomorrow in the British journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, recruited 28 female volunteers averaging about 24 years old. The volunteers looked at photographs of four young men wearing neutral expressions and looking directly at the camera. The men were shown in pairs, and the women were asked to choose the more attractive man, and assign him a score on an eight-point scale.

The same faces were then shown individually to the volunteers, each male face flanked by a female face shown in profile. The female either looked neutrally at the man or smiled at him. The volunteers then took another look at the paired faces, and were asked to give another attractiveness rating.

Where the female faces wore neutral expressions, many of the volunteers revised sharply downward their initial grading of the man, by more than 10 per cent on average. But they sharply revised upwards their grading - finding the man more attractive by an average of at least 15 per cent - if the woman looking at him had a smile on her face.

The reverse was true for men: 28 young male volunteers took part in the same experiment, and their rating of the likeability of the male faces plummeted if the man in the picture was being smiled at by a woman. But if the woman had a neutral look, the likeability rating improved.

The findings tell us a lot about how sexual competition affects our views, the study said. 'Desired' men are more attractive to women but pose more of a threat to other males.

Among females in other species, "mate choice copying" has already been spotted among guppies, Japanese quail and zebra finches, but this is the first time the phenomenon has been confirmed among humans.

Cosmos Magazine

Networking a skill that pays

By CHARLES FERNANDEZ
charlesf@thestar.com.my

NETWORKING is a skill that will help you at any stage of your career development.

It can help when you are looking for a job or considering self-employment or just keeping your options open.

The key to success in networking is to stay active and no matter which outlets you choose to tap, the bottom line is to keep your networks working for you.

It may not sound an easy proposition though to build contacts through networking but it is worth a try as the Lions Bangsar networking team has pointed out.

They are a small group of enterprising individuals; each involved in their own individual business and willing to share their knowledge and expertise with those who care to network and exploit their full potential.

Lunch Actually executive director Leng Chan, who coordinates open-networking among her fellow Lions members feels this is an opportunity not only to interact socially but also to stay connected with members while understanding their scope of business.

“Here we have members who are successful in their own right and are willing to share their business acumen with those who want to venture into their own business,'' said Leng Chan.

During a Christmas open-networking event held at the Right 4 U Cafe in Damansara Jaya, both members and new recruits took the opportunity to interact with each other over dinner at the cafe which is also owned by a Lions Bangsar member.

“This is an open concept which Lions Bangsar does on a regular basis, most often over dinner. Those present are willing to pay more for their food and the money collected is then channelled to a needy organisation. This is part of the social responsibility of Lions Bangsar towards the less privileged,'' said Leng Chan.

And also as part of their social responsibility, Lions Bangsar has made visits to homes to lend support in areas where their expertise is needed.

“One of our projects was to take pets along with us when we visit homes as children tend to open up better with animals than people. During our previous visits to these homes, children were either too scared or shy to come out to meet strangers, but it is different when we bring our pets along,'' said Leng Chan.

The Open Networking works on a similar concept, where new members are willing to come forward provided there is something they can benefit from.

The Star