Last night Derrick brought me for dinner at Taka at Sushi Saito, the new restaurant in the newly opened St Regis Hotel in KL that is getting all the rage now.

It’s the first restaurant that the 3 Michelin star chef has opened outside of Tokyo. Now I’ve been to some expensive restaurants in KL but when I sat down and looked at the menu I instantly knew that this one was in a different league.

The menu basically had 3 sets, all of which cost over RM1,000 per head and that’s not even including any drinks. Throughout a set you typically have say over 10 pieces of Sushi and some fish or in my case some Wagyu beef. Forget Nobu or any of the other expensive restaurants in KL, this one almost certainly takes the cake.

The question of course is… is it worth it?

Dinner was around a sushi bar that my friend told me was imported directly from Japan. It apparently cost over a million bucks just to bring it in. The atmosphere is different. You kinda dine with a bunch of other people around a sushi bar so it felt somewhat communal but because it’s a small place, it feels somewhat private as well.

Then comes the food. I’m not so much into raw food so I’m not sure if I knew how to fully appreciate something like this but when it came to this experience I just closed my eyes and ate everything that was put on my plate. Heck I never even used to eat sea urchin.

Everything tasted really fresh and if there’s one other thing to really enjoy about the experience is watching how the sushi chef (if you can call them that) very skilfully cut and put together the sushi. Kinda really reminds me of the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi.

Another story I heard from my friend there was that the sushi chef here wanted to bring in their rice directly from Japan but faced some trouble at customs. So they had to resort to local rice but not all local rice could make the cut, only a specific type of grain. So what they all had to do was go through bags of local rice and pick out one by one of the grain that would qualify then use that.

I left the night feeling that what we’re essentially paying for isn’t just the quality ingredients they use, or the wonderful atmosphere of the restaurant or the great service from the staff there.  It’s the years and years of training and experience that each of these sushi chef have had in Japan, demonstrated to you in dishes that come in the smallest of sizes.

I don’t see going to Taka by Sushi Saito just as a meal. I see it as an experience and when you look at it that way, yes it’s expensive… but maybe it’s worth it.

Tomorrow I turn 32. I still remember when I was a college student and I hear of people who are in their 30s I would be like “Wow that is so old and in such a long distant future to me”.

Today I am in my 30s… and getting older. After my little pre-birthday party tonight (you can read about it on my Dayre tomorrow), I started reflecting about what’s different and boy is my 30s a lot different than my 20s:

1. I earn more but spend less on myself. Because I’ve had a little more time to build my career, in my 30s I find I’m not too strapped for cash. So I earn more than I did in my 20s but I feel I actually spend less on myself. I increasingly save more and more for my kids education and future and the dreams of owning a sports car become more and more distant each day.
2. I exercise more and watch what I eat. I never used to care about what I ate. I ate and drank whatever I felt like but things are different now. I have friends around my age who have had health issues, cancer and all sorts of different illnesses. When I go to see doctors, I no longer get a “All’s good… you’re all healthy”. Instead I get a “Your sugar is way too high. Your cholesterol needs some work too”. There’s also the realization that I have to live longer not just for myself but for my kids. So I make it a point to do more things to live a healthier life.
3. I’ve become more cynical about the world. As a young adult or a teenager I always believed that I could change the world. When people saw things in a negative light I always saw it in a more positive light and believed that I could change it. Perhaps it’s over years of experience or getting burned I’m more cynical now. I’m less eager to change people’s minds if they don’t agree with me and tend to just accept their opinions and move on. It’s a more peaceful route but I do miss that fiery passionate self always eager to convince someone else otherwise.
4. My parents are getting older. The more time passes the more I can see my parents age and it’s become more and more real to me now that they’re going to sooner or later need a lot of our help. We’re gonna need to take care of them and more importantly spend as much time as we can with them now because they truly are getting older.
5. Time becomes a lot more expensive. I feel like I have a lot less time for myself. My time is divided between what I want to do for myself, my family and my work. It’s a tough balance to strike. In the past I could just spend days doing nothing….. these days that’s become much less of an option.
6. I’m more set in my ways. I hate to admit this but it’s true. I am more set in my ways now than when I was in my 20s and I can now relate to why my parents are more set in their ways too. There are some things I want done in a specific way… like how I want my bags to be packed when I travel, or that I want to drink juice every morning or something’s wrong.

In spite of all this… do I enjoy my 30s? I’ve been thinking about it and the answer really is yes. My 20s was one of the best parts of my life (I oddly didn’t really enjoy my teens or younger). But my 30s was the first time I met my kids and while I used to think that having kids would tie me down, I don’t actually feel that way. Yes they take up a lot of my time and attention, but what they give back is well worth it.

I also enjoy that I have fewer friends but I spend a lot more time getting closer to a few very close friends. It’s different.

Ah the 30s is a nice spot to be in. I wonder what my 40s will be like but the good news is hey… I’ve got another 8 years of 30s to go.

Now it’s time for me to go to bed so I can take my kids to a childrens’ birthday party tomorrow. Good night everyone!

Wow a week has almost passed since I last updated my blog. Sorry guys. I’ve had some inspiration to write an article recently but I just haven’t found the time to sit down and properly do it yet.

Work has been pretty busy for me this past week and I’ve been working hard on closing some deals. In my free time I’m hanging out with the kids and well… recently I’ve been watching some Chinese short films.

It first started with this one that Michael Chen introduced to me. It’s about an 8 year old boy who hired a prostitute to be his stand-in mom.

I never saw myself as a short film kinda guy. Most artsy short films I’ve seen in the past tend to be really slow and draggy and it never hung on to my attention for long. But this one held me… and I was so impressed with how well it was shot. I was particularly impressed with the boy’s acting.

So I googled “China short films” and this one called Bus 44 came out right on top.

I thought it was another good one and this one had won some awards in the past.

Anyway check these two out. They’re fully ready with English subtitles.

Just the other day I was following my wife shopping with Fighter in tow. Fighter was happily seated on the shopping cart as we pushed him aisle to aisle. I thought it was a really cute moment. Armed with my camera I decided to take some pictures of him.

I was having a good time taking photos of him as we pushed him around until suddenly a staff at Giant told me wife to ask me to stop taking pictures. He said we weren’t allowed to take pictures in Giant. I abided by that request but I was baffled on why.

Why would they stop someone taking pictures in their supermarket? First of all I was taking pictures of my son. Not their products… and even if I were a competitor (say Tesco) trying to take photos of their trade marketing initiatives or whatever, I would whip out my mobile phone, snap a photo and there’s nothing anyone could have done about it. Short of them having a big bouncer at every aisle.

We live in a world now where restaurants are trying to get you to take photos and post on social media. Going as far as to incentivize you with a free dessert or a discount. Yet I was surprised to see that we have supermarkets like Giant that are still stuck with this arcane thinking.

Can someone explain to me why Giant doesn’t allow you to take pictures inside their supermarket? Maybe there’s a really good reason that I’m totally missing here.

Hi Everyone

This week is a totally busy week for me. I’m in Australia the whole week for an investor roadshow. First Melbourne and then ending with our AGM in Sydney on Friday.

Most of my updates are on my Dayre but checking back on my phone I did notice a couple of pictures I too that I forgot to post on Dayre.

A couple of weeks ago Shorty was telling me about this initiative started by a couple of people called Orange Sky Laundry. It’s basically a mobile laundry service (a couple of washing machines at the back of a van) that goes from area to area and lets homeless people wash their clothes.

Having a laundry service might be a small thing but homeless people need clean clothes so they can go for job interviews and maybe sometimes just to feel fresh again.  Shorty thought it was a good idea and said she’s love to do that some day.

Then just yesterday right outside my hotel I saw an Orange Sky van.

Behind the tree were some homeless people sitting in a circle waiting for their clothes to be washed. Talking and joking among themselves.

What an interesting sight.

The other interesting thing I saw this week was a protest.

I think the protestors were telling the government to not cut education spending…. well at least that’s what I could gather from the chants.

I love it when I get to witness an open society like this where people can openly protest in groups like that. There were cops around them too but they were really there to keep the peace and ensure the safety of the protesters.

I have 3 more nights in Australia before I get to fly home. I’m chatting with Shorty now as I type this. I really miss home and I miss my family.

I miss this little boy here.

This was the picture I took of him before I left. I tried to video call him earlier but he refuses to talk to me. I think he’s angry at me for leaving.

I also miss this girl here.

This one on the other hand smiled at me when she saw me on the video call. Then proceeded to kiss me many many times.

I miss my family and I can’t wait to go home.

The Maxis social media crisis is all over the news now. I won’t go over the details about what happened but if you missed out on the whole thing you can catch up on it here.

Amid all the noise on this issue, the angry mobs and the feeling of being shortchanged, it’s important to remember exactly what it is that Maxis did wrong. And what it didn’t.

Let me first start with what Maxis didn’t do wrong.

1. Maxis didn’t cheat or mislead us

I’ve been on Maxis for so many years I don’t even remember how long exactly but I think it’s in the range of 10-15 years. In this 10-15 years I have changed my plan with them TWICE.

Why? Every day we are bombarded with advertising on new offers that all telcos including Maxis are giving out. Sometimes those offers are even more competitive than the plan I’m on, so in two of those occasions, I did the math and just changed my plan.

The most recent time this happened was 6 months ago. I realized I was paying a lot more for data and voice calls then I should have been. That Maxis was very significantly more expensive than its competitors. With that in mind I wasn’t ready to drop Maxis completely because I did value their good network coverage, their good roaming coverage and their good customer service (I’ve only had good experiences so far).

So I structured my mobile phone plans to fit my needs.

a) I cut down my Maxis data plan from a 5GB plan to a 3GB a month one.

b) I removed all my bundled minutes from my Maxis plan.

c) I signed up with U-Mobile’s P70 for my second phone which gave me 7GB a month of data and unlimited calls. They have since bumped it up to a total of 15GB of data.  I now use my U Mobile line for all my intense data stuff and all my phone calls.

My total monthly bill with these two plans? The same as what I was paying for my Maxis plan before but I now get more data and unlimited calls. So I’m happy.

The point is we enter into each mobile phone plan willingly and as educated as we can be. Before we sign a plan we do our own due diligence and we compare it with competing plans from other telcos and also from within Maxis. If things change in future (for example you use more data than voice or if there are cheaper plans outside) then we owe it to ourselves to make the switch.

Maxis or any other telco doesn’t owe us that responsibility to make sure we get the best bang for buck from them. We owe it to ourselves.

2. Maxis offering a promotion to new customers is something that many other companies let alone telcos do.

Much of the anger was directed at the fact that Maxis had a special plan for East Malaysia that gave much more for much less than what the rest of us get in the rest of the country. Companies do this all time to recruit new customers when they do promotions.

Being pissed off at Maxis for doing that is like being pissed off at Uber for giving its NEW customers RM50 in free rides whereas the ones that joined for free like me got nothing.

3. “Maxis treats you better only when you want to leave.”

Forget the fact that this is human nature. That we as humans tend to appreciate something more only when we are about to lose it.

Lets look at this in a business point of view.  Counter-offering customers who are about to drop out as part of a customer retention strategy isn’t something new. Heck it happens all the time in business. A law firm I’m using just counter-offered me a lower quote when I threatened to use another firm. If I didn’t threaten, I wouldn’t have gotten this offer. It’s not just my law firm. Just about every telco in Malaysia and most globally does the same thing.

When I was studying in the UK I wanted to terminate my Vodafone contract for an O2 one, I got a call from Vodafone offering me a better plan. I didn’t take offense that they didn’t offer it to me earlier on. I just reminded myself that I owe it to myself to make sure I get the most competitive deal.

Now here’s what I think Maxis DID do wrong…

1. Their initial response to the complaints that was posted on their Facebook page

What’s wrong with it? Well I think this article sums it up really well.

Since then the Maxis CEO has came out on their Facebook page to address this issue offering better value plans. There’s still a bit of confusion to the whole thing but essentially what they’re saying is give them time, they’ll work it out.

In conclusion here’s where I stand. Minus the PR response, I don’t think Maxis did anything the other telcos around the world don’t do. The main difference is that their plans are expensive. I personally have a threshold of how much of a premium that I’m willing to pay for its services and I think I’m in a comfortable zone right now with half my mobile usage on U Mobile and half on Maxis.

If you don’t think they’re worth your money then by all means switch and if the new telco doesn’t give you a good enough plan any time in the future then switch back. We will always have that choice.

Try not to take it out on their front end staff who manage their call centers or social media handles. No customer service ever wants to cheat its customers or intentionally treat them bad.

I was reading a lot about this movie called The Mermaid that broke box office records in China and pulled in $543 million in the box office. That is crazy.

I watched some of the trailers and I wasn’t overly drawn in on it because the excessive CGI looked really fake. However after I watched this trailer… I thought it was hilarious so I decided to watch it.

And the verdict was… Shorty thinks it’s 90 minutes of her life she’ll never get back but I enjoyed it. Haha it was fun. Sure some of the jokes were lame but I liked some of the other jokes.

The CGI was excessive and not great. There were some scenes I felt they didn’t even need to do in front of a green screen (like outside the Mermaid’s house) and just find somewhere with scenery but it’s almost like they wanted to do it so they could film from the comfort of the studio.

I did however think about how this would change the China movie industry. Already there is so much money being poured into movies in China given the size of the box office. Today in terms of special effects they’re really far behind Hollywood but with the amount of investment going in, I think it’s going to be a really short time before they catch up with hollywood.

I think it will be a short time, maybe 3 years.. and we’ll start seeing local Chinese movies with kickass special effects like we saw in Avatar, or San Andreas or The Revenant where a CGI bear looked just like a real bear.

On The Mermaid… watch it if you like slapstick kind of comedy. I’m not particularly into slapstick so much but I still found their humor funny. Like the scene in the trailer above with the policeman sketch artist. I found that hilarious… although I gotta admit it was funnier in the trailer than it was in the actual movie.