Sunday 25 January 2015

小乳牛出场啦~

有个淘宝agent朋友,实在是一件令人“悲喜交集”的事情。喜的是买东西没烦恼,悲的是真的太没烦恼了,时常一不小心就买了一箩。

周末没事儿,自然是要把那些掏了仍在一边的小玩意儿拿出来晾晾,这就完成了“炎暑树下纳凉小乳牛”的微景观啦~ 我的小小空凤们最近常常上镜哦!

这一对小乳牛还可以和我之前做好的小绵羊们在这早餐桌上遥遥相对。



(备注:除了白色小白石是今天妈妈光顾plant nursery给我找来的,其他的一律是淘宝上掏来的宝贝)

My Aunt's 'Pseudo' Online Shopping Experience

I'll say I am a good customer. I compare quality and price, always go for the best value, and always give feedback. So if you are those companies that wish to receive honest feedbacks and have continuous improvement, I AM a good customer :)

Besides, if I have good experience, I tend to return, and I love to introduce to others. That's how my aunt ended up buying CNY clothing with me and my mum at Gurney Plaza Zalora.

Wei and I went to shop for her "Ji-Mui dress" at Gurney Plaza a few weeks ago. We shopped everey fashion stores we know and still empty handed. The colour code given was not in trend. Before we call it a day, we decidede to give Zalora a try (why would a online shopping brand want to open a store here in Gurney? We asked ourselves then)

Men fashion at the first floor and women fashion at ground floor. Seem small from the outside, but we were surprised by the collections. Apparently, this shop is a huge "trying area". All the clothes / shoes / handbags / accessories in the shop are not for sale. They are here so that you can try them on before you do your online purchase.

I LOVE this idea. I never purchase any clothing online (except t-shirts with known quality). I cannot accept the fact that I have to pay money to someone else beforer I know the quality of the material, cutting, and the workmanship. For example, buying a cotton bed sheet online, would you buy a 150 thread count at the price of RM30 or a 450 thread count at the price of RM50? I can't decide. I need to feel it. The weave and fiber still important to me. The thcikness, smoothness and softness still important to me, The actual colour (photos lie! By now everyone must accept this fact!) still important to me. So now you get my points, buying clothes definitely got more things to consider :)

So we had fun trying piles of clothes in the fitting room and Wei finally bought a few dresses, and I got a top for CNY.

Our purchase delivered to our house within 3 working days, come with Pos Laju form just in case you need to return (30 days return policy). Oh, and a 15% discount code for your next purchase too.


I brought my aunt to this shop on her birthday, and she had fun tried on piles of clothes too. Her order also delivered within 3 working days and here I am, telling you my wonderful new online shopping experience :)





Sunday 18 January 2015

昙花一现

我这个人,没什么耐性。2014年自PP送我几棵铁兰花开始,我就一直企盼它们开花结果。
后来,我终于肯面对现实,知道自己决没有green fingers,索性只买即将开花的airplant自我安慰。

然而,或许她们都以昙花为目标,开花至凋谢只是几天的事儿。只需二十四小时,我就见证了她从花蕾到盛放。


下次你若有含苞待放的空风,别忘了用镜头对着她,拍一拍time lapse 照片 :)







Saturday 17 January 2015

北行MOHAT车载手机支架

最近网购上瘾了,友人们每次看我兴奋地口沫横飞,总会禁不住说“下次你再买些什么东西的时候一定要告诉我”,所以我写评语也上瘾了。

话说友人在我车上看见这玩意儿,觉得有趣,大家都说下次必须帮他们多买一份。

这玩意儿究竟是什么呢?这是北行MOHAT车载手机支架。我贪它简便易用,手机可以横置、直置,再加上我不喜欢其他的吸盘设计、或挡住空调出口的设计,这设计简单精美,而且只不过RMB36,买的时候倒没有丝毫犹豫。




至今用了近一个月了,不曾遇上什么问题(大山脚到居林的道路这么颠簸都不曾掉呢!)。

我喜欢它设计小巧,不占位置。而且旋转臂设计确保家里人各款手机都用得上。座架底的PU粘性很好,挪动重粘却又不留下痕迹。

中国本土设计确实不错。

挪动几寸以迁就我弟弟手机,不留痕迹哦!

Friday 16 January 2015

LIEQI telephoto lens

I ordered 2 sets of LIEQI telephoto lens from Lazada Malaysia on 13th January around 8:30pm, and I received them on 15th January afternoon. I'll say their service is pretty impressive for Malaysia standard.

The packing design is simple and nice for a RM49 zoom lens :)



This is how the lens look like after mounted on the clip:


The clip-on telephoto lens look so cute when paired with my iPhone 3GS:


The left photos show the picture I took with my phone. The right photos show the picture I took with the 8X optical zoom lens, standing / sitting on the same spot.





Is it fun to play with? Of course!! However, the photo quality may not be as good as I wish because my hands tend to shake a lot when holding my phone with the relatively heavy 8x lens. Besides, to clip this lens on the phone, the alignment is slightly difficult to get correctly as compare to my previous 3-in-1 clip-on-lens.

Still, I will not complain about these images quality of a RM49 (with 5% discount some more!) 8x optical lens. I'll say it's a great toy, especially now I have a telephoto, a macro, a wide angle and a fish eye. Better range of lens than my DSLR now. Haha!

Thursday 15 January 2015

Experiment: Cultivate Moss

You know I'm crazy and you know I'm crazy enough to buy moss from China. Suddenly, I decided to cultivate moss. At least, no harm trying :)

XT is kind enough to get me some moss today. Clean. Not those beside longkang but those at her roof :) It took me less than 15 minutes to get the following experiment set up after I reached home from work.

the condition of moss I received

Very unhealthy

Since moss reproduce with spore, I decided that I can easily cultivate them. I added some water and shake them well, hoping that the spores spread out to the whole body of water. (Internet guides say mix them with grinder but I'm not asking for trouble. Must keep my mum's apparatus out of this experiment!)

put the moss in a container

add in water

The spores spread well in this container (at least this is what I hope)
Mixture 1


I prepare another container for soil


Pour in the Mixture 1. Unfortunately I wrongly estimate the ratio. This is too watery.
Pour in Mixture 1

So I decided to get another bigger container with more soil, and pour the mixture 1 into this bigger container to become mixture 2.

Mixture 2 still a bit watery but I hope Malaysia sun can help me solving this problem tomorrow.
Mixture 2

Now I just have to wait and hope for the best. Will update once I success :)

My Favorite Pulut Udang

I love pulut udang! Pulut udang is one of my top 5 favorite Malaysian kuih for afternoon tea. No, not Chinese- / Nyonya-style sweet pulut, but Malay-style spicy pulut panggang rempah udang!! It is good eaten hot, fresh from the charcoal fire.

My favorite pulut udang stall is the one along Jalan Baru Butterworth. Driving from Butterworth to Bukit Tengah, this stall is on your left, after Shell Petrol Station, before Masjid Jalan Baharu. (Google Street View for the location.)

I love their well flavoured spicy coconut shrimp filling, and their steamed glutinous rice is with the right amount of santan. After barbequed, the slight crust on the rice with the banana leaves aroma is exactly the way I love it.

panggang-ing :)

The pulut udang is RM0.60 each. Cheap and satisfying :) All our family members agreed that their pulut udang is the best!



They sell nasi lemak too @ RM1.20


Wednesday 14 January 2015

Disney Baby

My nephew loves Disney!! Not that we intentionally brainwash him with Disney characters / songs, but he just loves his Mickey. He chats with Mickey every night!

One day, when browse through youtube for children songs, I accidentally found out that he gets super excited to most of the Disney songs. "Just Whistle While You Work" particularly can calm him when he is grumpy, can entertain him when he is bored.

So when I got to babysit him, I just have to make sure that I have my phone or tablet with me so that I can use this magic anytime necessary. Hum a merry tune really works :)



Just whistle while you work
And cheerfully together we can tidy up the place
So hum a merry tune
It won't take long when there's a song to help you set the pace
And as you sweep the room
Imagine that the broom is someone that you love
And soon you'll find you're dancing to the tune
When hearts are high the time will fly so whistle while you work

Tuesday 13 January 2015

创意微景观

话说我妹夫迷上terrarium并传染给我,我因而“不小心”在淘宝买了“几样”饰物。由于中国货运agent出错,我痴痴地等了好久才终于在上个星期收到我们购买的微景观饰品。

可恨的是我的沙石终究还是没运到。我空有饰品却没法子给我的空风们一个新家。我筹措了几天,终于决定改定方向,今天弄个小小的混合微景观。


我在玻璃瓶里放了泥土(原本想放沙石的,比较干净),在院子里拔了几棵带花的小草种在一角,希望它们可以茁壮成长天天开花。

在瓶子的另一边铺上小石子,插上一棵樱花树,再把两只小绵羊安在树下,我的小小空风就有个新家啦~


很有生气的感觉

Saturday 10 January 2015

What Assurance Does a Consumer Have?

I've blogged about the good experience I have with Lazada Malaysia, Taobao and Threadless. Of course, I do have bad online shopping experience too.

On 18th Nov 2014, I helped my friend to buy a Xiaomi Mi4 16GB smartphone for his son's Christmas present from Groupon Malaysia. Groupon promised that they will deliver the product within 20 days from date of purchase. 
On 5th Dec 2014, Groupon sent an email saying that “due to unforeseen packaging and delivery issues , Groupon is currently in the midst of proceeding with deliveries, and you will be receiving your purchased item(s) latest by 18-Dec,2014”. 
Until 17th Dec 2014, there's still no sign of the Mi4 so we sent email and called to check the delivery status. The girl on the phone seemed clueless.  
On 21st Dec 2014, finally received the official reply from Groupon saying that “I just wanted to get in touch to let you know that we’re in the process of following up your query. We haven’t found a solution to your case yet, but we hope to have something for you very soon. As soon as we have some news, I or one of my senior colleagues will get back to you.”
On 23rd Dec 2014, I received another email from Groupon saying “Because the product you ordered will be distributed by one of these third-party companies, it could take a few days for all of the orders to be fulfilled. Extremely popular products may also take a bit longer to ship than others. Please be informed that we have escalated this matter to the relevant department to investigate from their end. As soon as we get a resolution we will update you accordingly.” 
On Christmas eve, at 5:43pm!!! Groupon announced that “Unfortunately, we weren't able to get enough inventory to deliver your Groupon Goods order as promised. Also we aren't able to offer exchanges or replacements at this time due to limited inventory. I have now cancelled your Groupon and our partner has already been informed that this Groupon is no longer valid. I have also sent request to our payment service provider to refund the amount of RM1,199 back to your method of payment. Please allow up to 14 working days (excluding Sat, Sun and PH) for the amount to reflect in your account statement.”

Customers have to pay on the spot when they make any orders on Groupon Malaysia. When Groupon Malaysia failed to deliver as per promised, customers have to wait for 14 working days (More than 3 weeks!!) for the refund. What is the logic? Why do customers have to suffer because of the blunder Groupon Malaysia made? Who is accountable in this case?

I would expect a company as big as Groupon Malaysia would control the 'deal' subscriptions, where it should be capped in advance to a reasonable number that they can handle. I still cannot believe that they have to wait until Christmas eve 5:43pm to announce that they are not able to get enough inventory to deliver!

Worse still, when I check for “Xiaomi Mi4 16GB Smartphone” on Google on 30th Dec 2014, I can still see this good available on their website (see print screen below)!

Why Groupon Malaysia still selling goods that they do not have enough inventory to deliver to their customers?
Why do they collect money from consumers for products that they knew they cannot deliver within 20 days from date of purchase as per promised to consumers?

I have a very bad feeling about this. What assurance does a consumer have if this company shutdown?