I was informed of this huge cycling event that will be happening in Ipoh next month and thought I would share it here. This event seems like it will affect quite a few people who live in or around Stadium, Simee, Ipoh General Hospital (Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun, Ipoh), Jubilee Park, Ipoh Parade (Greentown), Tambun Road (Jalan Raja Di Hilir), Tasek Road (Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah) or use the roads in these areas on the morning of 26th September, 2010 (Sunday).

the route
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This event is called “Kempen Berbasikal Bersama Rakyat 1313″, which is loosely translated into English as “Cycling With the People 1313 Campaign” and will start from 8am at Velodrome Rayat, Ipoh, Perak, and is expected to wrap up by 11am.

Although this is a “community” event, it’s not free. Participants who are adults above 18 years of age will have to pay an enrolment fee of MYR20. Teenagers from 13 to 18 years old will have to pay MYR10 while children below 12 will get to participate for free. The last day of registration is 18th September, 2010.

disclaimer
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Goodie bags will be given to all participants (yippee!) at 25th September at the Velodrome from 9am to 4pm but you will have to show your payment slip in order to collect your freebies. Bicycles are not provided. Yes, I asked.

This event, organised by the Perak Cycling Association (PCA) and is open to all Malaysians, has the strange number 1313 in the name of the Campaign, as if the name of the event isn’t long enough already. It actually represents the 1Malaysia concept, the three major races of Malaysia and the 13 states of Malaysia.

It’s quite disconcerting, though, that one has to submit a disclaimer prior to the event, but after cycling for 10km, one would surely still be alive, sure alive (1313)!!

Website of Kempen Berbasikal Bersama Rakyat 1313: http://malaysia1313.blogspot.com/

I made my way to the capital city, Kuala Lumpur, last week for two purposes; event blogging and networking. One of the events that I attended was MOFEW, Malaysia’s (1st) Online Charity Fashion Entrepreneurs Weekend, which was held at the Exhibition Centre at MidValley Megamall (MVEC) from 13th to 15th, August, 2010. Entrance was free.

MOFEW, to many, was a place to shop for mostly female apparel, shoes, bags, costume jewelry, fashion accessories and beauty products. Besides being an offline avenue for online entrepreneurs to sell, it was also an opportunity for companies that provide web services to solicit customers and expand their user base.

And then there was a specific company that promoted their Entrepreneur Boot Camp which they claim is free though participants have to pay MYR50 to secure a place at the day-long course and I was told that at the end of the course it will be refunded.

The founder of this company and two of his partners were wearing clown wigs and when I was approached by one of them to participate in this “free” course, I was very interested, not because it was “free” but because I thought that it was a course to learn to be a clown. No, I don’t want to be an entrepreneur. I just want to be a clown. Bwa bwa bwa!!!

I forgot to mention that the venue was swarmed with credit card sales people. I know how tough it is to sell credit cards but I wasn’t interested. The mostly male sales people were very friendly yet persistent. One guy kept pushing to me a sheet of promotional F&B vouchers that he said I would receive if I were to sign up with his bank. I said that since I am from Ipoh (Ipoh mali!)and most of the vouchers are only valid at outlets in the Klang Valley, they would be useless to me. Upon finding out that we are both from the same city, he insisted that I support a fellow Ipohan. I had to disappoint him and told him that if he was promoting something else instead of credit cards, I would surely support.

Even though MOFEW looked like a flea market, I managed to see what I wanted to see and I would say that even though I haven’t time to follow through on the information that I gathered that day despite being home a week already, it was still quite a fruitful trip.

And guess what? The freebies-loving me totally didn’t expect to receive a goodie bag. We had to register our particulars at the entrance in order to receive it, though. I did and was delighted to see that although most of the items were promotional freebies sponsored by some of the major participants at MOFEW like DiGi and KFC which looked like leftovers from other promotional events, I was still very happy to receive a free watch. Yes, I am a sucker for cheap promotional watches, even plastic ones!

KFC promoted their new Snax website at MOFEW. We had to register there and then and were given a goodie bag too. I have to say that despite being a large advertiser, KFC was pretty cheap. Inside the bag was “only” two sticker sheets, an advertisement promoting their Snax programme, a voucher worth MYR1, an Isotonic can drink (not in picture) and a Clash of the Titans movie premium water tumbler. Oh yes, I should also mention the paper bag that these came in.

I also received a few vouchers for free make-up and manicure sessions courtesy of Snips and 50% discount vouchers on waxing services @ Strip – Ministry of Waxing. Coming from Ipoh, I wonder if I will have the chance to take advantage of these vouchers. I may go to KL off and on but certainly do not have the luxury to beautify myself.

Having attended MOFEW on Day 1 only, I wonder how successful the event was for the organisers. Will we be seeing another gathering of online entrepreneurs next year?

Finally, I found time to blog on my experience riding on the spanking new electric train from Stesen Sentral @ KL Sentral to Ipoh and share photos of the new electric train. Please be forewarned that some of these photos did not turn out so well because of low lighting and there is no anti-shake feature in the iPhone. I was travelling light, you see, and left the digital camera at home.

So like I mentioned in my earlier post, I went to KL for one day and bought my two tickets (Ipoh – KL Sentral – Ipoh) a week in advance. I didn’t trust ETS (Perkhidmatan Tren Elektrik) to launch their service on 12th August like they said they would since the service was supposed to start in December 2009, and then it was postponed to April 2010, July 2010, the first week of August 2010 and then finally, it really did start on 12th August, 2010.

ETS office in Stesen Sentral @ KL Sentral

Even though I already bought my tickets, I tried to get a refund so that I could ride on the electric train just for the experience. Since the office at Ipoh Railway Station was still closed on the afternoon of 11th Aug, I thought, what the heck, I’ll just try my luck in Stesen Sentral @ KL Sentral itself.

dark and hot Platform 2

On the morning that I arrived in Stesen Sentral @ KL Sentral, I made my way to the ETS counter. Do note that ETS, a subsidiary of Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad, has its own office which is on the opposite wing of KTM counter in Stesen Sentral @ KL Sentral. Do you know the counters of Go Genting and Genting Highlands Taxi Services? ETS is directly opposite. Coming in from the entrance facing Hilton and Le Meridien hotels, turn right.

inside the electric train coach

The counter girl was very friendly and helpful. I managed to buy my ticket for the express service (I see no point taking the transit service) for MYR30 and made my way to the KTM counter to cancel my KL Sentral – Ipoh ticket, getting back 50% of what I paid. I had to submit a form to request a refund. I lost money because of this but it was not a big loss, luckily.

the entire train has this same flooring

The ETS girl told me to return to the office to wait for the train 30 minutes before departure time. When I arrived in the evening, I was quite surprised to see the crowd outside the office! There were seats inside for customers but those were for passengers waiting to buy their tickets. Those of us who already had tickets were basically milling around outside the office. Some, like me, just sat on the floor.

the food tray behind the seat in front

We waited until the time the train was supposed to arrive and then were ushered by an ETS “stewardess” to Platform 2, where the train was supposed to stop. The platform was dark and hot (it’s underground) and there was no where to sit at all. The floor was inviting but dirty. We waited this way, luckily no one fainted, until the train arrived after a 30-minute delay. What a relieve it was to hop on board the electric train!!! Since it was only the second day the train was in service, I had already expected to encounter teething problems. I just felt that it would be awful for anyone who was not fit enough to wait for the train like that. Anyway, we found our seats and the train went on its way.

the screen is smaller than the one in Singapore – Butterworth Express – only ETS advertisements were shown

In terms of speed, compared to the diesel engine train, the electric train wins hands down obviously, since the top speed that the train went was slightly above 160kmph. The diesel engine train takes 2 hr 55 mins to travel from Stesen Sentral @ KL Sentral to Ipoh but the electric train took just 2hrs 5mins. This was slightly more than the projected duration of 1hr 56mins as announced by the stewardess on board at the beginning of our journey. We only stopped at three stations along the way, instead of the scheduled five: Tanjung Malim, Kampar and Batu Gajah.

stainless steel toilet bowl

In terms of cleanliness, the electric train wins too since it is very new. Everything, like the doors and food tray, works fine. There was no rickety sound that one would hear taking the diesel engine trains. But in terms of a smooth ride, I wouldn’t say that the electric train is much improved from diesel trains. Of course there is a slight improvement but the train went so fast, I actually felt that we should be provided with seat belts. It felt totally funny without the seat belt at the speed it was going.

small wash basin in one corner in the toilet

I found out that most people opted for the train because of the availability of toilets. There are none in express buses, you see, and stopping at rest areas along highways is totally up to the driver, especially for short 2 – 3 hour trips. If he needs to go, the passengers get to go along too. Otherwise, too bad.

free flow toilet paper

On the electric train, there were two toilet cubicles; one for the disabled and one regular. The disabled one is larger and I had the luck to get into it when I purposely went to the toilet to capture some photos. The smaller one was already occupied so I didn’t wait. I have to say that I have never seen so many rolls of toilet paper in a public toilet. You know how we can never find any tissue inside public toilets in Malaysia? Well, don’t worry. Just take a look at this photo!

the water hose is a must-have in Malaysian toilets

One thing I MUST mention is that Malaysians have taken their wet toilet habit to a new level on board the electric train. On my ride home, not only was the toilet floor wet inside of the cubicle, the floor outside the door along the corridor was TOTALLY wet too. If you are someone who doesn’t balance well, I think you really should get someone to accompany you. It could be really dangerous with the speed the train travels, even though there are stainless steel rods fixed against the wall for balancing.

the train arrived at Ipoh Railway Station

Oh yes, before I forget, there is a food bar in the middle coach which was too far a walk for me to get photos of. I saw some people buying sandwiches and canned drinks though. Also, a lot of people asked me if there were wi-fi connectivity and power points. If there were, I didn’t see them. I scanned for wi-fi with my two phones and I also asked the guy who sat next to me who was using his laptop, the guy who stole my window seat, if he could get a connection. He said that he found the access point but it wouldn’t connect. He also confirmed there was no power point.

the old diesel engine train and the new electric train parked side by side in Ipoh

I read in the papers that there are wi-fi connectivity and power points, though, so this gives me the feeling that I took the bare-bone no-frills electric train, much like Air Asia. When these services are offered fully, it wouldn’t be MYR30 anymore, but closer to MYR50.

For routes and fares (6-month promotion) of the new Electric Train Services (ETS), read: Electric Train Services (ETS) Ipoh – KL Sentral – Seremban