Mid Morning Thunder Storm & Hi-Tea Escapades

Wow ! Check out the effect a 15 min rain, thunder and wind damage can do to your property.

These pictures were taken on my drive out to the Spa last Sunday.

Luckily no person seemed to be hurt in the thunder-storm melee between the old damaged tree trunks and the windyrain !

My heart goes out to the poor owners of the affected cars and property because these natural calamity damages are very rarely worth the hassle of claiming insurance as they will cost you your NCB, and even then the company will press you to prove you took precaution when you were perking there !

Who would have known when they parked there or even imagined10 minutes before the dark clouds formed, that it would end in such disastrous way?

God bless the poor souls who were affected.

'S-a- matter of fact, my family and I were not even aware it was raining at first as inside our house it seemed like a mild drizzle was going on outside with a sporadic burst of wind and a sudden splatter of rain in between.

The mid morning hours passed my wife and I by rather languidly; as we went about our routines and geared down for the day in anticipation of the kids visiting us with our grand child, as is the norm with this family.


But suddenly Michelle reminded me that Datin Sandra wanted us to join her & Joan Marbeck's family members up for Hi Tea at Casa Del Rio.

My wife had mentioned it in passing earlier yesterday and since we were supposed to go there anyways as the Sales Manager Agnes had been trying to get Michelle to visit their establishment for ages now, it seemed like a good idea to do it all in together !

Playing with our granddaughter  for the few hours that Utheya & his wife visits us on Sundays is one of the current pleasures in both our lives that is immensely gratifying.


Even though Nicole is one cranky kid!,I believe it's a phase she's going through and look forward to all her moods and shared experiences we will have together, as she grows older with much anticipation and grandfatherly hope !

I was telling Michelle the other day on our drive home from another Lunch appointment which we could not quite make due to the traffic jams that Malacca is turning into another Petaling Jaya suburb as evident by the almost indiscernible life style developments on offer to the upper middle class here.









It's indiscernible because to many the changes are happening almost naturally over a period of 8 -12 years.

Over time it seems like almost every one  is in awe and yet accepting of the new life style choices (from property to food) available to the middle class and above but few realise it normally takes much investment and commercial support  backed by huge population growths - which in Melaka is lacking.
Local purchasing power support,
 I mean.

So the obvious question is " Is this sustainable?"

But, also obviously, the discreet planned development in and around this Unesco recognised city, needs to be commercially viable before the bankers would borrow the developers cash so they must know something we don't!
But what is evident is that,we can see even more life style choices brought here to us .

So something must be cooking.


By that I mean that the local population explosion has yet to happen here to give support to these commercially driven projects as most business plans submitted look towards the burgeoning tourist population to support their ventures.

With a recorded 12.5 million visitors per annum we may seem to be ill prepared for the deluge of visitors in our Town Centers and main roads but these are the very life blood of moneyed tourists the developers and business men are looking for.

It is this precarious thin divide that allows us locals the opportunity to enjoy our lives in terms of the benefits of modern city living.

Whether it is sustainable in the long term only God knows but the political leaders seem confident they can sustain this momentum and grow, which is good news for the local citizenry as I truly believe that the world is waiting to come to Melaka- either through the life style choices or their food !

News garnered from the web on melaka:

Further Growth In Melaka:
Tourism is the major industry contributing to Melaka due to its historical heritage; it is classified as World Heritage Site by UNESCO. 
12.35 Million tourists arrived to Melaka in 2011 and we are targeting 13 Million in 2012 and expecting more in 2013. 


A coastal highway linking Port Dickson to here and upgrading the busy Ayer Keroh dual carriageway are among four infrastructure projects proposed by the state government in Budget 2012.

After the upgrade of Melaka International Airport, it has further put Melaka prominently on the global map and we see a steady growth of foreigners visiting Melaka for leisure, business and medical treatments.


New Township Plans are presently under way to turn Melaka into a major destination for the Malaysia My Second Home programme.
The project combining heritage, culture and nature is expected to be carried out in either Ayer Keroh or the Bemban area. This program will definitely attract more foreigners especially from Indonesia, Singapore, Australia and Europe to make Melaka as their second home under the Malaysia My Second Home initiative.
A new Premium Outlet which offers high-end branded labels at discounted rates will be opened in Melaka soon, this will attract more tourists to Melaka and boost tourist spending in Melaka.

Melaka has three medical specialist centers and with the up-coming RM 250M Resort-Style Melaka Medical Centre, more local and foreigners will come to Melaka for the first class medical facility. In additional, Melaka will also focus on the Education Tourism to attract international students to Melaka. 


Multimedia University, Technical University of Malaysia Malacca, Melaka Manipal Medical College and many other renowned colleges have established themselves in Melaka.


In addition, Masers Energy will invest US 20 Billion to setup low carbon project in Melaka as a pilot project and Infineon unveils RM 480 Million to expand its facility in Melaka.

All these upcoming developments will make Melaka a better place to stay for fun, leisure, business, health care and tertiary education.

HI-Tea Time with  Sandra, Paul Ponnudurai-the guitarist & his partner

With many of our friends now either working for the new Hotel developments in and around town or directly owning the properties as in Yeo Kian Huat in Rennaisance,Sazali in Seri Malaysia; Bharat in Trend Hotel & Straits Hotel; David from Beuford Hotel, Datuk Seet,  Datuk Alkaff in EQ, many opportunities present themselves to my wife and I to savor all the events and promotions they seasonally commercialize.

And so it was on Easter Sunday we went a visiting to Casa Del Rio for a sample of their Buffet, with Sandra and her friends in tow which included Paul Ponnudurai and his partner. I must say the layout and design of the hotel was very Portuguese with overlaying Spanish influences throughout and although their restaurant was very Grill like architecturally (with a laid back luxury kind of ambiance); the moment we step in we realized you could also dine by the river side al fresco while enjoying the local fare. Now that, was truly sensational!