Monthly Archives: December 2011

3 Phase vs. 1 Phase Electric Power (Home Reno)

07 Wednesday Dec 2011

Posted by in Renovation

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What a hassle! For some reason which I am very sure I know why… my developer only supplies us with a one phase electric power into the house. Shocking eh? 

For this day this age, most of the houses in Malaysia are built with three phase!!! sigh…but, my developer went with one phase. It only makes sense since most equipment are getting more and more electric dependant. Even we humans are getting more electric dependant. Yes – we knew from the start that it is one phase before we buy. But, we love the location (well – more me than hub actually) and also it fulfilled most of our many requirement for a home. So, we went ahead with the purchase.

Anyway, back to topic…   

I don’t have the right qualification to tell you the technical difference between one phase and three phase but if you Google it, there’s plentiful answers online. So, this post will not be dwelling on the technicality but more on my personal opinion.

For me, one major problem I worry I might face with one phase is the constant tripping of electric. As far as I know / experienced and told by friend, if you have the tenancy to switch on more than 3 air-condition at the same time with one refrigerator and the usage of washing machine / dryer, it might prompt the electric to trip. I am very sure one phase is pretty sufficient for a daily routine at home.

But, my biggest concern is when you are throwing a house party (which I foresee us doing quite a fair bit in the future).  I have actually witness the circuit breaker explode and flamed up during one of my friend’s house party. Not a good thing to happen. It’s pretty dangerous too. So, hubby and I were pretty firm about changing to 3 phase.

 

And so, I would like to share with you my experience with the procedure to apply change from 1 phase to 3 phase inMalaysia. (Thankfully we learned it is at least equipped with 3 phase wiring from the sub station to our house. It is only from the meter to the DB inside which is one phase. IF your house doesn’t have that, the cost is even higher as the TNB people will need to patch one cable from the sub station to your house!!!)

Find a certified electric contractor. You can just ask your contractor and they will know who to find. (When we call the Tenaga / TNB, the electric utility company inMalaysia, we told that they only deal with a certified electric contract for this kind of changes)

The contractor will submit your IC and a form to TNB to start the process. You will need to increase your deposit to TNB

Once approved, TNB will send people over to change the meter outside your house to a 3 phase meter.

Contractor will replace the cable running from the meter outside to the DB inside with a 3 phase cable and also make the require changes in the DB to be able to handle 3 phase.

We are now waiting for the application to be approved. I wonder how long it will take…

Food Crawl : Stop 7 – Kedai Kopi Sun Yuan Foong (Ipoh)

06 Tuesday Dec 2011

Posted by in Gastronomy, Local (Malaysia), Local Restaurants, Travel

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After a satisfying meal, what do we need now? Coffee, of course !!!

Since we are in Ipoh, it is only right we look for the best Ipoh white coffee. One of the members in this trip told us that this is the restaurant to go for white coffee. After hunting for it a bit, we finally located the Kedai Kopi Sun Yuan Foong along Jalan Bijih Timah. Supposely, this is the origin of White Coffee.

The smell of coffee being roast is so welcoming. We quickly found a seat and order our coffee. The coffee is served in a tall glass packed with ice. The first sip was kind of shocking for me as the coffee was super thick and sweet. But, after mixing the ice well, it was really nice. A tad too sweet for my liking. But, overall very good white coffee indeed.

And how can you have white coffee without the customary butter kaya toast and half boil eggs? Look at the thick sliced of bread. Yay!!! They use the Hainan bread which is so hard to find nowadays in KL. The egg was not bad but I think I would have preferred if they let it cook for another minute or two. This was a little too raw for my liking.

and hence, this concludes our Penang Ipoh 3 days food crawl mission. I think everyone of us parted really happy and satisfied. Not only was the food good. The company was great too.

It was fun and tiring at the same time!!!

Food Crawl – Stop 6 : Restaurant Lou Wong Tauge Ayam Kuetiau, Ipoh

06 Tuesday Dec 2011

Posted by in Gastronomy, Local (Malaysia), Local Restaurants, Travel

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After breakfast, we begin to make our journey out from Penang. Made several stops to load on stocks of Tau Sa Peah and also sesame oil at Ghee Hiang. Made a stop for final cendol at Jalan Penang again (one of our friend tapau assam laksa).

We reached Ipoh (Perak) around 2pm and made a stop for the famous Ipoh bean sprouts chicken at the Restaurant Lou Wong along Jalan Yau Tet Shin.  Hoping that since it is not peak hour it will be easier to find a place to seat. No such luck. It is ALWAYS crowded in this restaurant. I’ve been here many times and is almost always at different time, but, it is still pack with people. There’s a few similar restaurant nearby but they never manage to steal the crowd away.

We ordered Ipoh Tauge (Bean Sprouts). For some reason, the Ipoh’s tauge is always shorter, plumber and crunchier compare to the normal bean sprouts. Because of the freshness, the tauge is just lightly blanched served with soya sauce, sesame oil and pepper.

Even after the heavy breakfast, all of us dive in for the tauge and started mixing it the lou sang way. (Lou Sang – typical Malaysian Chinese custom during Chinese New Year for mixing a special dish).

The smooth juicy chicken is very similar to the Hainanese chicken style. It is boiled and then soaked in ice water to stop the cooking and jellified the fats in between the skin and meat. When you take a bite of the chicken, the meat is so slippery that it slide in with a slurped. Love it…

 

All of us happily pile back to the car to head for our next food stop. Where should we go next? hmm….