Rainy Hazard

Peak hour traffic in the heavy rain was never fun. There might be water logged road, slow traffic and slick driving surface. There is another hazard in Lembah Kelang however especially on the highways.

Motorcyclists!

They smart danger in clearest of weather but during rain, they tended to stop as a group under shades of bridges. This morning, they occupied the two left lanes along Federal Highway under a few of the bridges as I was making my way to work.

It happened on both sides of the road ...This created extra jam as the lanes were practically closed. Imagine if you were driving fast having to apply your brakes on such atrocious conditions.

Federal Highway has their own motorcycle lanes but they were not well maintained and tended to be closed at areas where constructions were going on - which in KL meant everywhere! Ten year back, motorcycles were banned on rolled inner city highways. But the ban had been lifted since. They use the highway for free and weaving in-between the fast lanes will create problem.

A few months back there we're mbps ends where a car ploughed into this crowd of cyclists causing a few deaths. I guessed the lessons were never learned ... I am not campaigning that they were banned again but a solution must be found and the way I see it, they need a dedicated lane for themselves as well as proper shade stops during rain. Good luck to that ...

Japan Expo Malaysia 2018

I stumbled across the event during he last installation in 2017. I happened to have a free after noon with Anita and the boys away to Port Dickson. I went for a spot of lunch at Pavilion and saw all the commotion. Apparently Pikataro was there and I managed to get a video of his performance from the top floor of the mall.

This time around, with the new Facebook Local app, finding out about the happenings in town turned out to be a lot simpler. Irfan had been keen on Japan lately so, after work, I brought him to have a look.

Can somebody explain about the guy in the blue bear costume?She doesn't look impressed ...Welcome ...Exploring the upper floors ...The whole thing appeared overwhelming to him and after a short walk, he decided that he has had enough. We had just missed the Cosplay parade at the time and there were a few singers performing at the time. The crowd was not as big as the one last year but maybe it was because the venue was more dispersed rather than concentrated at just one area.

Exploring some digital artsDrawing on the wall ...Stories to listen toStill halfway ...

We explored the six floor area near Tokyo Street where pop-up stalls were located. Plenty of offers for holidays in various parts of Japan on show, even some stalls from Japanese universities in case we were interested. Plenty of food stalls of course but Irfan was not very keen as he was not sure if they were Halal or not.

Air Asia was also in the act with some flight offers to JapanThe stalls by the fountainGirl by the fountain ...Not sure who she is but she was giving away autographs ...There were also some stalls by the fountain at the entrance. Mainly food as well as some Cosplayer hanging around. Quite fun but the crowd were less than they were last year. Maybe there were plenty of events going on at the same time this weekend. There was Riuh at APW Bangsar as well as a Kakiseni event at Public. Will be checking those out tomorrow rather ...

High Speed Rail

There are many development plans from the last administration which would help elevate Malaysia to the next level. A national railway network would have been one of the steps to the right direction.

Imagine getting to Penang in 2 hours. 3 hours to either Kota Bharu or Singapore from KL? That would be awesome.

The plan was there but the implementation had created a lot of ill feelings. There were too many middle men making a quick buck escalating the cost. If we were to continue with the current plan, the cost per kilometer of a train service to Singapore would be among the highest in the world.

I for one agree that the rail network should go ahead but after some renegotiation. The current cost is just too high.

I was in Singapore last weekend. Both the journeys out and back were delayed. I spent more time at the airport than the actual travel. A clear waste of time. It would be more efficient to take the train instead. And with a high speed network, the journey would have been faster taking into account the travel time to the centre of KL from the airport.

Hopefully in the years to come, this would be built. We shall just need to wait and watch ...

Academia at SGH

I remembered giving a seminar for Medical Officers back in 2010 with my team from UMMC back then. It was a Saturday whole day event teaching the basics of Haematology for those in Medical Training. It was very well recieved and the delegates came not only just from Kelang Valley but down to Seremban, Ipoh and Kuantan.

It was organised by the Me\alaysia Medical Association - MMA - and the venue was the MMA Headquaters at Jalan Tun Razak, opposite HKL.

The main entrance foyerThere were a few meeting going on at the same time ..The building had since been demolished to make way for the MRT Project. The Headquarters had been moved out of town to Bukit Jalil, and the events such as these were now held at hotels and other venues.

In Singapore, they were moving forward differently and investing in the future. Continuous Medical Educations or CME forms an integral part of lifelong learning in Medicine. It would expose the trainees to the rapid new development in Medicine as well as keeping the seniors in touch with the current thinking. The value of these CME should never been underestimated. And along those thinking, the MMA had now made CME points compulsory in attaining our yearly Medical practice licenses.

It would have been noce to have a central hub for these meetings such as in Singapore. There, each institution have their own centre for CME with modern facilities and centralised organisation of these events.

Our meeting that dayIt wasn't just facilities for medical talks, but a training hub for nurses and surgeons as wellThe plaque by the office. The facilities is less than a couple of years oldLast weekend, I was involved in a regional Haematology event and it was held at one of these facilities. Academia as it was called belonged to SingHealth who is the body who has Singapore General Hospital under its organisation. The location was smack in the middle of the NUS-Duke campus and it had everything you would need to run such events.

Imagine the cost savings in terms or venue rental, program development as well as the actual organisation. I was also sure that its running would be efficient as this would be their bread and butter. We don’t have to rent a 5-star venue anymore to run such events. Another advantage here was the MRT station was right nearby - another advantage Singapore has compared to us.

The event I attended was hosted by a Pharmaceutical company with inputs from the University. There did not have any hesitation to use the venue despite us staying is a 5-star hotel. They could have easily use one of the conference room at the hotel instead.

The NUS-Dule building just across the roadThere were a few artworks at the walls. This was one of them ...Heading to another room for the afternoon sessionWe had a few venues and services such as these when I was in UMMC but the facilities there could do with a bit of investment. The MMA Headquarters seemed out of town and organising events there would be a logistical drawback. I had delivered lectures at facilities in Sungai Buloh ran by UITM. Not bad at all, but again the venue was a bit of a challenge. I am sure HUKM also have their own venue, but having a venue was one thing, having a dedicated team to run and coordinate such facilities was another.

All in all, if there is a facility with a central location which can ran these events - which takes place at least on a weekly basis - such facilities would have plenty of mileage and with the right investment, it could throve and be a model for more venues such as these in each general Hospital. Imagine if HKL were to kick things off, with a state-of-the-art venue? I don’t think it is not doable ...

If we are serious about developing a national CME program, a robust venue is a must .... this will create an identity and will make things easier to move forward.

First Look

The Four Seasons Hotel right next KLCC was recently opened and by the lobby, it housed a multi story mall by Robinsons which caught my eye my recent walks.

Finally this afternoon after work, all four of went there to have a look around and we were pleasantly surprised. At least to the lower ground area which housed a gourmet food outlet called Atlas.

We had some sandwiches there and the salami there was the best I had in town. Idlan went crazy with doughnuts and macaroons while Irfan had some gelato.

If I was hungry I might have tried one of their bar cum café which sells high grade wagyu beef by the weight. You just then pay extra RM for them to cook for you plus the trimmings if you wanted to have it at the restaurant.

That may be my destination in the coming week.

Before we left, we also went up the four floors of retail outlets but we didn't pick anything up. The object of the exercise was to have a look. And that was what we did.

With the café being this good, I wonder what the room service would be like at the hotel ...