My good friends, while well-wishing me for holiday, told me to bring back "experiences" when spending time outside this "bumi bertuah". One asked me to look for RPK when in London! Ha! Ha! I have shared some "education system" and "language" experiences in my previous posts.
And these below, are some of things that caught my attention during the month-long holiday in U.K.
1) White Bread
1) White Bread
"Two slices of bread is already over eating", remember reading something like that when I was helping myself spreading strawberry jam on my breakfast bread in Malaysia. Two slices of Gardenia, when folded , the slices become slightly bigger and thicker than a piece of Jacob Cream Cracker biscuit. "Must be a remark from a skinny and starving female model who eats a few green peas for lunch" I said to myself, because eating the two slices of bread feel quite nothing in the stomach.
In UK the price range of a pack of white bread is something like from 40p (saw at Tesco) to GBP1.50 (the premium one), all packed in a quite same sized jumbo pack (I would say super jumbo pack). Now I can appreciate the remark probably made by the skinny female model. I felt really full with just two slices of white bread. The pack I bought was 79p, larger/longer in size compare to a-more-than-RM3 Jumbo size Gardenia's pack (ehem..jumbo pack not super jumbo). And each slices is double if not triple in thickness. Here in Malaysia, I bought almost everyday, a jumbo Gardenia's pack (consumed by 4 persons). In UK, we finished that 79p bread pack only after 2 or 3 days. That 79p bread is about RM(80 x 5), if you like to convert it.
So which "Roti" has value for money and more satisfying? Looks like Malaysians have more power to buy "rotis" than the Brits!
2) The "Everything is below 1 Pound" shops (i.e. 99p or less) - Poundland and other stores Yes. Everything! Just like the RM5 Daiso stores at The Curve & 1-Utama Shopping Centers. Daiso probably brings the "Yen100" from Japan. The "everything Yen100" store I found in Damansara Utama has a price tag of RM5.60 on every item in the store.
No. The goods at Poundland and other below-1-pound stores are nothing like the China's goods you find at Nilai 's stores or at similar shops who sell goods that probably broke down soon after you bought it, or those manufactured with standards that could be harmful to human beings. They are not the products that have been dumped by "anti-dumping" law of USA either, I believe.
And no. Poundland stores quite many through out UK, not only one store in the "Rich & Famous" area/shopping center of PJ.
Hmm.. one sells 3 cans of cokes at 99p and another store sells 4 cans!! My daughter had a field day buying colors pencil, pens, crayons etc all of jumbo sizes pack, below 1 pound each pack. Not that I really need them, but I got myself a set of drill bits and a pack of "gam gajah/super glue".
When my Black & Decker drill bit became blunt (out of service), I went and bought one piece of masonry drill bit at RM7 in a hardware shop here in Malaysia. Not a Black & Decker quality and the so called "local" quality (the wrapping said it is made in China) drill bit went blunt and useless after 3 times drilling. Out of "geram" I bought Poundland drill bits set consisting 5 different sizes masonry drill bits and 5 different sizes drill bits for carpentry. 10 drill bit pieces all together, all at 99p!
How much is that small bottle of "gam gajah/super glue" here? RM3 something, right? How much did I buy out-of-geram "gam gajah/super glue" at Poundland? You guessed it right! 99p for a pack of 10 !
When my Black & Decker drill bit became blunt (out of service), I went and bought one piece of masonry drill bit at RM7 in a hardware shop here in Malaysia. Not a Black & Decker quality and the so called "local" quality (the wrapping said it is made in China) drill bit went blunt and useless after 3 times drilling. Out of "geram" I bought Poundland drill bits set consisting 5 different sizes masonry drill bits and 5 different sizes drill bits for carpentry. 10 drill bit pieces all together, all at 99p!
How much is that small bottle of "gam gajah/super glue" here? RM3 something, right? How much did I buy out-of-geram "gam gajah/super glue" at Poundland? You guessed it right! 99p for a pack of 10 !
The drill bits and "gam gajah" essentially cost less than 50 sen each if you were to convert it to RM. There are many more items at Poundland store. Those items that "rakyat marhain" buy every now and then each day, essential daily items. Can someone tell me what "marhain" really means?
And at a Clark shoes store, I bought 2 new pairs of Clark shoes! One pair at GBP10 and the other GBP15. How about a "nice and comfortable to wear" decent quality underwear (undies) 4 pieces at GBP2?
Less than RM50 for a pair of Clark shoes? Can you get similar branded shoes here at that price? There are many more, but I am not going to blabber all those here, but on average, suffice to say that we Malaysians have more money than Brits! errr... not having more money, but pay more money for a lesser product compare to the Brits. (and probably of lesser quality too!! - I mean do you like to buy a grade 1 Quality Check (QC) than a 3rd grade or fake QC product? Do you like to own a finnish Nokia exported to UK market or a chinese Nokia exported to third-world countries market? Are you sure the Nokia that came from china is really a Nokia? Under licensed by Nokia or "under-table fake" Nokia?)
Waaa! Only "Roti" and "Poundland" this post has become this long? I still have car fuel, low cost carriers, boot sale, watches, getting around, driving in UK, Malaysia - a solution to the chinese to circum-navigate anti-dumping law, and quite a few more "experiences" to talk about. But I better save them for latter. That is, if I remember to write all about them in future posts.
No wonder "datin-datin" like to shop in London, is it London or the greater UK? he..he..he..Maybe the government can subsidize us, rakyat marhain, return air ticket to UK so that we can replenish our weekly or monthly household needs at Poundland. Maybe RPK can slow talk to the guys or guy he knows to provide us a decent place to sleep while we are there? No need to be in central London. Maybe that guy who is going to buy GBP8.5 million home in London can spare a maid-room for us to stay for a while. Maybe the "48-peti-besi-dalam rumah" guy can lend his "peti besi" so that we can ship out items we bought at Poundland to share with our other rakyat marhain at home, whom may be don't like to travel that far. Maybe Taek Jho Low can provide us English Tea Party every night we are there, air-freight nasi lemak straight from Sungai Besi TUDM airbase as well! Dah lepas makan malam tu!. No need champagne la!
What is "marhain" again, anybody?
