Category Archives: Shopping

Chulet’s Migraine history..

24 Friday Apr 2009

Posted by in Medical related, Medication

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Last few days has been insufferably hot… Even when Chulet is sitting in the office with full air-conditions blasting about, chulet was still sweating !! And considering how chulet like to eat, she is even scare of going out from the office for lunch !!   The problem with heat for chulet is that she always get a migraine when it gets too hot. Unfortunately, the migraine come on on thursday during noon time. It was so bad I decided to call it a day and go home to get some medication. Since I was 12, I had migraine. I have tried many medication. Taking 4 panadols at one time will do nothing for me. Eventually, the doctors start me with panadeine. It is never good to take too much painkillers. The more you take, the more you are immune to them.. I guess it is a little like sleeping pills. When I was studying in Melbourne, the doctors there gave me Imigran. Unlike panadeine, the pain doesn’t miraculously dissapear immediate. However, I notice that the length of each episode is greatly reduce. When I was on Panadeine, the pain went away after a 2 hours of sleep.. but it will eventually come and go for the next 3-5 days. With Imigran, it was down to 2-3 days. So, it was definitely a relief for me… Fortunately, I am not a very frequent migraine suffer as my migraine only comes about 2 times a month then. Whenever I start feeling like I am having a stiff neck and my head feels heavy, I know the trobbing will come next. In another 30 minutes of so, I will be almost crippled by the pain. Any sounds, light,  smell or small movement I make, makes the pain worst. Whenever I have migraine, everything stops. All my activities, my studies, my life, all takes a pause. I cannot function at all except to lie in the bed with all the curtain drawn. Air-condition to the max. No one in the house is allow to watch TV or make any noise !! Finally, dad got a little worried and brought me to a singapore hospital for a full brain scan. Thankfully, they found nothing. The doctor then swtich my medication to zomig. Zomig was a little hard to take as I find the taste ‘awful’. Whenever I think or type zomig, I can taste the awful taste in my mouth.. yuck.. But, the amazing thing is zomig helps to ease the pain alot quicker than Imigran and also cut the length to almost 1-2 days. It is also because the singapore doctor tell me that imigran got side effect. after taking it for too long, might give heart problem.. O__O So, what next? My dad was introduce to American Ginseng or ‘pau-sam’ in Cantonese (the really very good quality type -so he claims).. He got a little obsessed with this little root-thing. All the sudden, anyone who has any sickness, my dad introduce them to eat the ginseng ! ;oP As for me, I was also one of his pet-project. He started making me take ‘pau-sam’. At first, I was reluctant as I don’t really like the bitterish taste of the soup made from the ginseng. Some people boil it with chicken to make it taste better. For me, I prefer it to be less oily. So, I usually just boil it with water and a pinch of salt. Eventually, the taste kinda grew on me. I start taking it even the weather gets too hot or whenever I had too much heaty food. Nobody can really ran away from heaty food in Malaysia. Even out King of Fruit (durian-san) is a super heaty fruit. There is some change. I notice that my migraine frequency dropped !! After taking the ‘pau-sam’ for like 6 months, my migraine only comes about 3-4 months once !! For all those who suffer migraine, I am sure this is a GREAT relief. For those lucky ones who don’t, you don’t know what a relief it is to be able to do anything and eat anything without the worry of getting the kinda of pain that only migraine suffer will understand… So, for those of you (non-chinese) who might be desperate enough, why not try it? It is tradisional medicine anyway. If it can’t cure it totally, it is still suppose to have help make one’s body healthier.  😉

Metzingen – Shopping Town

21 Tuesday Apr 2009

Posted by in Germany, Shopping, Travel

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At long-last, the Day 2 which I was suppose to post (after my Frankfurt – Heidelberb post , which was about one months back ;oP )

Day 2:

Metzingen – A little city with a population of 22,000 located south-west of Germany.
Started of as a wine cultivating town to a textile oriented town, today, Metzingen is famous for its factory outlet a.k.a. Bargain Hunter’s Paradise!!

FACTORY outlet !! Muahaha… ;o)

Metzingen

 

Apart from that, Metzingen is also the home of HUGO BOSS.

They were the first to start the their factory outlet in Metzingen and soon followed by tons of other brands such as Joop, Burberry, Swatch, Polo Ralph, Escada, Adidas, Bally, Diesel and many many more.

  

For the list of all the factory outlets available, check out

http://www.metzingen.de/ceasy/modules/cms/main.php5?cPageId=521HuGo BoSs

I was only there for a short while  less than 2 hours 

(esh..  I feel like I have to justify myself cause I can so picture my boy lifting one of his eyebrow and ask “‘short while? really? meh…. :oP ).

Hence, I have only manage to visit some of the shops. Of course one of them is Hugo Boss!

How can you be in Hugo Boss’s headquarter and not visit Hugo Boss.

That wouldn’t be very nice now, would it? ;o)  And of course I have a get a little something too. (hehehee…)

 

There are some discount and great buy on certain items in certain store.

Overall, I would say, non-discount items on these stores are actually priced 20-30% cheaper than the outside shops.

Kwanpen / HTC and other OEMs

07 Tuesday Apr 2009

Posted by in Bags, Shopping

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My bf used to be in the PR industry and he told me about Kwanpen and how I should look it up.
So, the curious Chulet went to check out this shop in Starhill.

The bag’s skin and details are amazing. They have so many different designs and exotic skins.. And the color are so delightful and unique !!

While browsing, I noticed some of the bags are exact copies of Hermes’ Birkin and Kelly.

So, I started talking to the lady there.

“Erm… isn’t this like copy of Birkin” – Chulet picking up this gorgeous pinkish purple-ish ostrich skin birkin. (Pardon me if I got the color wrong – BTW, my camera gives a yellow tinge ;oP so, the color from the snapshot isn’t exactly the real color )

Quick snapshot

She smile and answer me.

“YES – it is”

Chulet paused O___O ( ok….why is this in Starhill – since when they allow copy-cats in Starhill (Starhill being this rather posh and upscale shopping area)

Checking out the bag, I note that the skin is really really REALLY really soft and the feel of running your fingers across is just yummMMmy ;oP

I checked the inside of the bag and it is with soft calf leather and side zipper on both side. Nice !! (So many bags nowadays are with cloth lining instead). The steel buckles are made in Italy !!  (Not CHINA! *surprised*)

Other things aside (being a copy and all), taking into consideration that it is really a very good quality bag and … surprise surprise !! The price was quite reasonable too, in my opinion.

This cute little bag only cost about RM 2,400 (USD 650 or EUR 500).

Would you have considered? ( I know many hardcore fans will faint to even let such thoughts linger in their minds… ) ;o)

While checking out this bag, the lady continued to launch into some really interesting information.

She mentioned that Kwanpen which is a Singapore based OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) that produces exotic skinned bag for many big brands out there. All the manufacturing of the bag is done in Singapore and they provide lifetime warranty to their customer !!  (wait – isn’t there such thing as business ethics? or code or non-disclosure, non-copy agreement? … and.. wait .. lifetime warranty ?  WOW  !!)

Sensing my pause, she continued with her story about the owner of this brand, Mr. Kwanpen. ( OO.. so, the owner’s name is Kwanpen)

According to her (pls note that this is not my words – I am only retelling the story) Mr. Kwanpen was actually there together with the Hermes team to slave over the design the first design of the Birkin bag for Jane Birkin.

As explained by her, Kwanpen started out as OEM of exotic skin bags for Hermes.

Upon Hermes management change, their business strategy changed as well. One explanation to that, I believe, is to have a total control on the quality of the bag and also to be able to control the number of bags produced at any one time. This means that buyers will have to wait for their turn to get the bag they want. This will sort of increase the craze and demand for the bag. That way, it will seem like the bag is truly rare.. Personally, Chulet thinks that is brilliant business plan indeed!!

But then, I have never been a very patient person.. I don’t know how I would feel after waiting for like 3 years for the bag. When I get it, will it still feel the same? OR would there be another bag I am crazy over by then? ( I mean, before Birkin, most people were crazy for Kelly bags, rite? ) And I suspect the same bag with Hermes logo on it would probably caused between USD 10k – 20k. Interesting what money we are willing to pay for brand and recognition from our peers.. ;oP

Anyway, back to Kwanpen…

So, is this a case of the spurned manufacturer getting tired of their customer taking away part of their contribution (which makes the something successful) or just a man hoping to make his mark in the world? (If the story is correct – he might feel that he plays a part in the creation of the bag) And will Kwanpen be able to pull it off ??

Apart from Kwanpen, another classic story of OEM turned internationally known brand name is HTC.

HTC was originally the OEM for Dopod and O2, before, they decided to launch into the mobile phone market themselves.

In fact, more and more OEMs are now trying to carry their own products in their own name.

Personally, I think this is actually quite a good thing for us consumers. Some goods produced (really good quality goods) are priced way beyond their cost price (just because of the brand attached to it) If the price is 50% more, I might not have mind so much. But, certain brands actually sell between 10 – 100 times more !!! YES – sad but true.

BTW, I also learned during my little trip that there’s a big difference between a copy and an imitation. ;oP

Since Kwanpen kept their own name on the bag – it can only be call a copy and not an imitation … hahaaa.. nice one.

All in all, it was definitely an interesting trip.