How Fuel Increase is effecting the Travel Industry

The Fuel Increase is not just a Malaysia problem, its effecting so many countries regionally and globally. What's sad is that its also affecting my industry .. the Travel & Tourism industry.

And now that the Oil is at a Record US$140 per barrel, I wonder just how things will continue in the upcoming months?

Here are a few exerpts taken from various newspoints.

One big problem for Corporate or Business Hotels is that you see big cuts in corporate travel, where for the Airlines, Business Travelers now move to take on the Economy Class, and for the Hotels, Corporate Travelers are now told "Travel Only When Necessary!", this will add on to the slow occupancy% levels in hotels in the city! SIGH!

Malaysia is showing a strong decline in travel volumes, why? Because our Travel Packages are not attractive anymore. And that was a comment by a major Travel Agency of Malaysia. He goes on to say that we are a more expensive destination compared to HK & Bangkok! Some Travel Agents are also losing $$$ because of Ground Transport fees increase. More Sigh!

Airline tickets are also going up, MAS fuel surcharge is going up from USD340 to USD456!! And if it continues, you'll see MAS cutting down more travel routes, cos it will be toooooo expensive to maintain their flights. And now if we wanna travel from KL to India, the ticket surcharge will increase from RM288 to RM406! Wah Liau... who would wanna travel in the upcoming months? Unless you're really VERY Rich or its an Urgent need to be in that country. MAS has already declared that it will be a VERY TOUGH ride ahead.

So for those of you in the Travel & Tourism industry ... just brace yourself for the upcoming Tough Ride. Hang On and belt yourself tight! Get ready for a Super Wild Roller Coaster Ride!

[tags : delephant petrol hike fuel increase ]

Church on the Internet

I am so blest that via the Internet I don't get to miss Church.

I tried contacting some peeps to find a good charismatic church to attend on Sunday. However I didnt get any response from any of them.

But thankfully with the internet I can still worship along and listen to the Word online.

I visited City Harvest's website and found a recent sermon by Dr Peter Wagner on "Church in the Work Place".

City Harvest worship was great and even their announcement was fantastic on the recent Emerge Youth Conference! SO exciting. And Dr Wagner's lesson on Church in The Work Place was really really good. Left me wanting to heard the next session's as well, but unfortunately that was not uploaded online.

Some salient points I caught

• We are the Church. The Ekklesia = which means People of God
• The Church takes on Two Forms, The Nuclear (People of God in the Church) and The Extended (People of God in their Workplace)
• All of us have a role to play as the Church in the Workplace
• We need to Rise Up and Activate our Roles in our Workplace
• In the end we should see the People of God doing a Social Transformation!

There are loads of great points, U will need to watch the Sermon online and catch what Dr Wagner was sharing.

The Video that you stream from CHC's website is the entire Church Service ... of all the Worship Session, Offering, Announcement, Word and even Altar Call. So it makes you feel part of the entire church service! Cooool! :)

[tags : delephant manila travel]

Who Touched My Bum?

In my visit to Manila, I see a central theme by all Security Guards at the Mall. The theme centres around them using their right hand to touch your upper part of your backside each time you walk through the doors of the shopping mall!! HUH!?!?!?!

This is a TRUE STORY, they do use their hands to touch every guy who walks thru the door. I didn't really observe what the female security guard was touching. BUT for a fact, each Shopping Centre would have a LARGE Expense budget for Security, cos they are so many of them around. Its just like Mickey Mouse in Disneyland. (U do know that there are a couple of Mickey Mouses in Disneyland at one given time rite??)

Security Guards in Manila

You see the Security Guards everywhere. They are dressed smartly

in a white pressed uniform and with a Hat.

They stand guard at all Mall Entrances and ensures

that no "bomb" or "weapon" is smuggled into the Malls.

Thus enabling the Malls to be safe for visits by the locals and tourists.

One of the things that they do is they would touch your upper backside.

Check out the right arm of the Male Security Guard!

U see him again now touching a man in a Green Tee!

AND Again for each person that comes in!!

** At this point don't you realize that if any terrorist would to come in into

a shopping mall in Manila, would hide their weapon somewhere else???!!! **

Hmmmmmmmmmm .....

Well until something else changes.....

the question will always remain

.... Who Touched My Bum?

[tags : delephant manila travel]

I Love Shopping in SM Mall of Asia

I Love SHOPPING

What was my point again? Oh yes... there were LOTS of SALES!!!!

They should start one shoppingNsales concept in Manila too! :)

Thot it was quite unique that HUMANs were for Sale in Manila

And that after flying so many thousands of miles, Marks & Spencer uses the same

"SALE" concept as Malaysia. Mannequins wearing "Sale" Tee Shirts.

Did I already mentioned that Manila is on SALE?

Hahaha .... lots of great stuff found in Manila.

To be honest all the stuff bought was for dear Nathanael and Zoe Joy.

Missed them so much ... the baju lah was cheap... cos was hunting for those 50% off,

70% Disounts .... and there were quite a couple!! :)

Hmmm... something tha Malaysia don't have anymore.

Pringles Barbeque Flavour.

Really wan!! If u go to a mall in Malaysia, you will only

find a BBQ Mesquite which taste horrible!!

Manila's infamouse Preserved Mangoes was a STEAL at SM Department Store.

They have one section called SNACK Exchange which allows u to get all their

goodies and yummy snacks. :)

Bought a Bag Tag each for Nathanael and Zoe Joy. I just loved the

concept that you can put any design and name to it.

Makes it all personalized! And all kids nowadays have their own bags!

This is really such a great idea.

Watch the VIDEO of Nathanael's Tag Bag

[tags : delephant manila travel]

Asia's Biggest Mall - SM Mall of Asia

Today we had a great time shopping and walking thru the "self proclaimed" largest mall in Asia, known as SM Mall of Asia. SM seems to be big in Manila. I see SM everywhere, its like your upscale Metrojaya, cos they have a Departmental Store, a Electronic Store, a SM Hypermarket and some other strange spin off!!!

SM Mall of Asia

The road leading to SM Mall of Asia. Outside its decorated

with a Metal Globe of the World

A close up of the Metal Globe

The Ocean View

YES!!! A unique selling point of SM Mall of Asia is the

Ocean Boulevard.

There are restaurants that faces the sea, and there's also a walkway

that leads you up to the beach front of the sea.

The Mall as u can see its long, and only 2 storeys in height.

The Beach area is currently being developed. We see lots and lots of

Trees planted to create the tropical beach effect and there are lots

of new stores being built along the beach front!! Great making money idea! :)

And yes, which mall nowadays don't have a Skating Rink.

The SM Mall of Asia comes with the usual, Cineplexes, Bowling Lanes

and of course IMAX Theatre!!!

The Shopping Mall is HUGE! And there were just so so so so many

people walking the mall. Reminded me of Mega Mall's lower floor where

it was just a SEA of people all around.

It was a brilliant idea to have inflatibles for kids! Lots of parents sent their

kids to play at the inflatables areas. :)

Lots of Food Outlets and of course a Food Court with yummy food.

One other COOOOL things about SM Mall of Asia was that they featured a BAND to play to the shoppers in the evening. Check out this short Video of the Marching Band.

[tags : delephant manila travel]

Ronald Mc Donald's in Manila

I am pleased to Report that Ronald Mc Donald in Manila

is behaving pretty normal!!

If u click on my McDonald's tag you will see

some interestingly representation of Ronald to the Country's own Culture.

SO I am happy to say its all NORMAL here in Manila, Philippines! :)

[tags : delephant manila travel]

Some Interesting VENTURES for Malaysia

Here are some interesting shops that I saw at the Shopping Malls in Manila which I've not noticed in Malaysia yet. Perhaps some entrepreneur would like to bring this back to Malaysia.
It may just work!!

Good IDEAS for Malaysia

Now this is rather interesting. Its a Fast Food Joint

with a Chicken dressed as a Cowboy.

Most interestingly its called CHURCH Chicken. Mebbe because

Philippines is a Christian nation, mebbe that's why CHURCH Chicken works! :)

Mebbe Malaysia should be Surau Chicken or Masjid Chicken! :)

Daniel if you're reading this blog. .. mebbe u should do this!! :)

A Picture Retail Outlet to take pics of Kids and Family! So CooooL! :)

Blogged about this on the first day. A Hair Salon for Kids! I think it will

really work in Malaysia! And it should be set up in a MALL, and not a stand alone Salone

by the road or in the SS2 square area! Shopping Mall would reap better benefits !!

OOOOOOOhhhhhh I think I Should Start This!!

Its called BAG TAGs and all they do is just produced Tags for your Bags

using Disney Characters. They are quite updated, cos there was a logo of Ratatouille too.

And it was pretty decent to create one, and whilst we were there, the queue of people

creating tags never did stop! :)

In Malaysia's Malls .... we have lots of Waffle this, Waffle that.

But we don't have real Crepes (pronounced "Crap").

Check out the yummylicious Crepes with Ice Cream and sumptious toppings.

Ha ha Ha!! For those with a good & lame humour

This retail outlet may just work. Its just plain tee shirts

with SPOOF names. Like instead of FEDEX, its FEDUP

and of course some vulgarities were thrown into the Tees..

which i have so cleverly censored from this blog! :)

And MY MOST MOST Fav Idea ......

which i doubt will ever work in Malaysia.

MAJESTIC HAM!!

Doesn't it already sound yummy?

Lots of HAM variations! :) oooooh!! :) YEAH!

Psst so if u do start a business because u caught some great ideas from this Blog. Let me know ya! :) Not that i wanna take any credit... but its interesting to share what other countries have and what Malaysia does not have yet, and to see it come to fruition! :)

[tags : delephant manila travel]

How Bad is 4 - 4 - 4 - 4 - 4 in One Day

As u know the number Four (4) in Cantonese is pronounced "Sei", which is also the same meaning as "Death" in Canto. So the Chinese don't really like the number 4 very much!

Well we had an interesting number of FOURs yesterday at the Glorietta Mall.

We watched the Die Hard 4.0

at Glorietta 4

and on the 4th Floor,

in Cinema 4

on the 4th of August!!

Ha ha ha!!

Check out the Ticket Stub above with all the "4s"

Its was a Brilliant non-stop, hard impacting show ... that Bruce Willis

couldn't DIE despite all the bombs, missles and guns used against him!! ??!!!

We managed to find a Food Court in Glorietta 4.

Which help save some money for makan makan.

And quite a lot of choices too..

Missing Chinese Food already on my second day in Manila.

So had to eat something chinisey.

Lots of offers, and the price was pretty decent at Magic Wok

Wanted to try their Ku Loh Yok (Sweet & Sour Pork)

But they only had Sweet and Sour Chicken.

Let me just say that the little bowl of soup tasted much

better than my main meal!! Sigh!!

[tags : delephant manila travel]