CN is back ... almost

Harroo! I'm back from the trip to Singapore!

Plenty of stuff to write about, but we are pooped :P Give me some time, ya ... would likely have something up by the end of this week; which is like, 24 hours away ...

CN's trip, south of the border ...

We are going to Singapore!

Choice of transport? Luxury coach from Ipoh: A 20-seating, LCD-screening, DVD-playing fully-reclining chair, First-Class-lounge-on-wheels transport :D Not much of a choice anyway, given the spat between the Perak state government and AirAsia on the suspension of the budget airline's Ipoh-Senai route ...

But, hey: we are going on a roadtrip!

I'll be documenting the ride, and all else products and services (mostly food!) that one should come in contact with as a consumer traveling two-thirds the length of Peninsular Malaysia. I'll also be reviewing the products and services while in Singapore, thus making the following articles a first for CN as product/service reviews exiting Malaysian borders.

So wish me luck in getting some decent Internet connections on the way there, including Singapore - see you there!

Consumer Nation officially on WordPress.com - welcome!

That's right, folks - CN is now fully powered by WordPress.com, the greatest blogging system in the universe. Well, ok ... not the universe, but it's darn good and as idiot-proof as a blogging interface can get. Sign up for one yourself!

Please read on for important information for existing CN Premier and Standard members!

Pretty good!

It looks like we are almost on "all-systems-go" for Wordpress.com to host and manage Consumer Nation (or CN for short since our inception.)

A test site for Consumer Nation

Hi everyone that has happened to stumble upon this site!

I'm just testing out the WordPress.com functionality to see if we can work here the way a lazy fella like me would love to. That means NO more script security fixes, updates, upgrades, and stuff like that ... I'm currently hosting my stable of blogsites using WordPress, see.

Everything seems to be dumbed-down nicely from a long-time WP user's point of view ... but I dunno. There's still a whole bunch of "functionality" I believe I seriously do not need, nor do I wanna see as I'm of the type that loves to click at whatever crap I see ("Ooo ... what's this do ..?") and end up screwing myself :-(

Let's give this a couple of weeks and see what happens. Meanwhile, you can check with our sponsors Ipoh Blog & Podcast and KL Blog & Podcast.

Thanks for visiting!

Schlotzsky's, Ipoh Parade

Alrighty - this is not gonna be a nice, long review. In fact, it's gonna be short and rather bitter :mad: cos I really did not expect what I had coming when I plonked down in this Schlotzsky's outlet which I had held in high regard - in the US, that is. Here? Sorry lah. Here's what happened ...

I was like, thirsty and slightly nibblish after window-shopping around Ipoh Parade with friends lah, right ... So we decided to sit down at this "Funny Name, Serious Sandwich" shop smack midways up/down the ground floor of the mall lah, right ... Order lah: 3 drinks, 2 plates of nibbles (something hot dog one, I forgot lah). Service cantik. Waiting time wasn't so cantik ... makan ok ... until I saw the bill.

KFC inconsistencies

I've always had a nagging feeling that quality control - especially for an international food franchise - in Malaysian KFC outlets is, well ... non-existent. But I was never able to prove it in material - until now.

Recently I decided to try their new item: Cheesy BBQ Meltz. I was in Parit Buntar (Perak) one day, so here's what I ordered up at this town's only KFC outlet:

Stadium foodcourt

There is a name for these row of stalls wrapped around the exterior (well, it's on the east side) of Perak Stadium ... but I honestly never noticed. I just call it the stadium foodcourt. Maybe I'll notice it the next time I get around there; and update the title of this topic.

I like this place. Besides ample parking in front of the stalls on the service road, this place has quite a bit of variety for the breakfast and lunch going crowd. Most of the stalls are non-halal, but there's a strip closer to the swimming pools that caters specificly to Muslim patrons with Malay-owned stalls. Don't assume that all the other stalls in the foodcourt are non-halal though ...

Kedai Makanan & Minuman Taman Timur, Ipoh Garden East

Wow: I just realized this neighborhood kopitiam which I've been patronizing for yonks is named after a non-existent residential park ...



Anyways, Kedai Minuman & Makanan Taman Timur is the de facto kopitiam for me - if you wanna meet up with me, be there every morning, 8am to 9am :lol: I present to you here, the stuff that I think are passable for daily consumption (meaning you won't puke after having it for 3 days in a row) ...

Do you do roadside burgers?

Just curious: Do you eat burgers cooked at roadside stalls? If you do, where are you located in Malaysia?