Aiyo, semua expensive now...

Just heard that 10 Nestle products will see a rise of 5.5% to 14% beginning Nov 1.

Items include popular beverages like Milo and Nescafe, growing up milk Nespray and Neslac, full cream milk Everyday and cereals are going to cost more.

This means most households would have to pay extra to get their daily dose of their usual breakfast. A few months ago, Nestle also increased the price of its Maggi instant noddles.

(The timing of Nestle’s announcement that the hike will only take effect after Hari Raya, but before Deepavali, only shows the company’s policy of disregarding the Indian community)

This bad news from Nestle follows an AFP story today that "the cost of basic items such as chicken, eggs, flour and condensed milk have all risen by up to 50 percent thanks to a price creep which began last year and has spiked in recent weeks".

The wire agency quoted a local woman as saying that her grocery bill now stood at RM500 a month. It was just RM300 for the same goods before.

Government authorities are blaming a drop in supply and bad weather for the high prices.

And to make matters even worse, a Bloomberg report today said we "risk running short of grain because the nation's millers can't afford record wheat prices".

Malaysian millers are now asking the government to rise the price of wheat-based products as "they are losing money on every bag of flour sold because of state-imposed price controls".

The effect of this is that ordinary things such as roti canai, noodles and bread will see a price hike soon.

Civil servant were crowing over their salary increment a few months ago. Since then prices of everything have been on the rise gradually.

We have also heard that taxi and bus operators too want to increase their fares. Come January, the North-South Highway will be asking for a toll revision as allowed under its concessionary agreement.

Electricity tariff has gone up. Water too has followed the same pattern. Fuel and cooking oil, need not say.

Everything is more expensive today. Our buying power has simply deteriorated tremendously.

But the government says everything is good and dandy. We (read: the government) can afford to spend billions to send a tourist to space. We can afford to pump in money to develop economic regions. We can afford to continue with the bail-outs and soft loans.

What we have failed to do is to make sure that the rakyat can openly say they are leading a good, quality life.

AFP report: Food price hikes weigh on Malaysian Muslims this Ramadan
Bloomberg article: Malaysia Risks Flour Deficit After Record Wheat Price

A place called Janda Baik

Took the girls for a day out to Janda Baik today.

Have been planning a trip to this spot for a long time but only today had enough resolve to just take a drive. And boy, we didn’t regret it.

Janda Baik is a beautiful village with a clean river running through it. It is quiet, clean and amazing.

Now there are plans afoot for us to spend some nights there in the near future. We also halted for makan at Hutan Lipur Konifer (first photo).

Anyways, on the way back, we had a small 'adventure'.

Just as we were close to the end of the winding road from Janda Baik to the exit into the highway near the Genting R&R, we found that our road was blocked by a fallen tree.

As a result, we had to drive up all the way along the Bentong road and exit through the Bukit Tinggi new village.

It was a bit circuitous but we were not complaining.

In all it was a fun day.

The king is back

Nope, I am not talking about Elvis Presley being sighted in an R&R somewhere along the North-South Highway. Neither am I talking about our royal head.

I am actually talking about the king of our fruits - the durian. Some like ‘em, some just hate even the sight of them.

Me, well, I fall in the first category, and for the current durian season, I managed to taste this heavenly fruit just before they flooded the market (which is happening right now).

Some weeks ago, the company I was travelling with spotted a durian seller along the Kuantan - Kuala Terengganu route. The seller had some freshly picked durians and they simply tasted superb.

I have since then tasted more durians but none as tasty as those found in this stall. Just looks at the fruits he had on display and you can see that they were different (photo)!

Going cold on vitamin C

What a con job. We have all been fleeced all these years.

If you, like me, were raised on the belief that you should take vitamin C (oranges in any form) to protect yourself from common colds, then I am talking about you.

A recent study shows that vitamin C does not stop common colds for most of us. I feel cheated!

The most ‘hurting’ part of this new discovery is that apparently "the benefits of taking vitamin C daily were so slight that they were not worth the effort or expense".

Tell this to the fellows who sell you really expensive vitamin C supplements.

Read the truth about this quack treatment here.

One more exotic meat for the pan

Scientists have discovered a new species of big cat in the jungles of Borneo. Genetic tests revealed the clouded leopard of Borneo to be new species of big cat family.

This rainforest animal was originally thought to be the same species as the one found in mainland South-East Asia.

Conservationists are saying these secretive clouded leopards are the biggest predators on Borneo but sadly they too have joined the growing list of endangered species in Southeast Asia.

CNN reports that a total of 5,000 to 11,000 Bornean clouded leopards are estimated to live in the jungles of Borneo.

The total number in Sumatra could be in the range of 3,000 to 7,000 individuals. The cats' biggest threat is destruction of their habitat.

However there is also another threat - exotic meat lovers.

It won’t be long before enterprising restaurant owners in Malaysia, Indonesia and even Thailand start serving the fresh taste of the secretive clouded leopard.

What constitutes a sandwich?

According to an American judge it is anything that is filled between two slices of bread.

“A sandwich is not commonly understood to include burritos, tacos and quesadillas, which are typically made with a single tortilla and stuffed with a choice filling of meat, rice, and beans," ruled the judge.

The necessity for this definition arose following a legal suit if burrito (a Mexican dish involving bread and filling) is a sandwich.

According to one American bakery chain, arguing for a broad definition of a sandwich, a flour tortilla is bread and that a food product with bread and a filling is a sandwich.

The judge however stuck to his two slices of bread definition.

To read more about the legal suit - which actually involves business monopoly - read here.