Cowboy in Kuantan

Cowboy is the name of a store in Kuantan which provides almost anything you can think of. We love going to Cowboy for buying food and snacks in bulk at better value.

Cowboy is located on Jalan Wong Ah Jang, a short distance from Kuantan town, the bus terminal and Stadium Makmur. These are photos from our last visit to Cowboy:

As you can see, the shelves are stocked full of goodies

Snacks heaven at Cowboy, Kuantan!

Sometimes it's hard to know where to look at Cowboy!

Going upstairs to the next floor at Cowboy, Kuantan

Cushions in abundance at Cowboy Kuantan

Umbrellas are a must in Malaysia - for both sun and rain!

On the way home after a great time shopping at Cowboy Kuantan

And here is our bounty! Thanks Cowboy!

Berjaya Megamall Kuantan

Berjaya Megamall is located at Jalan Tun Ismail, 25000 Kuantan. It is the 2nd most popular shopping mall in Kuantan after East Coast Mall. Berjaya Megamall is made up of 5 floors: Ground Floor, Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and a basement floor. Supermarkets, restaurants, electronics, books, stationery, home deco, jewellery, clothing and many others are all available at Berjaya Megamall. 

The third floor also is home to Golden Screen Cinemas, a bowling alley, karaoke and pub, snooker centre and gamezone.

Here are some images of Berjaya Megamall, Kuantan:

Looking across Jalan Tun Ismail to Berjaya Megamall, Kuantan

View of Berjaya Megamall from the west-facing side

M. S. Garden Hotel sits opposite the back entrance of Berjaya Megamall Kuantan

The main entrance view at Berjaya Megamall in Kuantan. The open space in the centre is often filled with various stalls or exhibitions.

Deli Country is my favourite luxury at Berjaya Megamall Kuantan

Pub/Lounge at Berjaya Megamall Kuantan

Roof decoration at Berjaya Megamall Kuantan

Thunderstorm caught on video in Kuantan, Malaysia

Good day my friends. It's great to have friends on the internet and to be able to interact with you on blogger and facebook. It's a great miracle and I'm thankful for the marvel of the internet.

It means that today I'm able to show you my amateur video footage of a thunderstorm we encountered Sunday night between 8.30-9.30pm. This was quite a thrilling storm packed full of lashing rain, sensational lightning strikes, and cannon blast thunder claps.

While the video may not be entirely and perfectly clear, and you may not be able to see the actual fork lightning, you will see the brightness of the strikes and hopefully you'll hear the noise and feel the atmosphere this storm generated.

Recovering from A-Z April

A-Z April was a very busy month, and not just for the blogging challenge. Lots of things were happening in our lives as well, and perhaps it's all taken its toll on us.

Well at least on me. I've been struggling to have too many positive thoughts when logging in to blogger and having the opportunity of writing a post. Taking a rest from the blog for a while has been necessary. The A-Z blogging challenge was particularly challenging, more so than last year. Whether or not I'll be joining up next year is by no means decided.

So I've been sifting through my photos for something simple and light-hearted today, and came across the perfect image I snapped a few months ago at HTAA (Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan), the government hospital in Kuantan. I was teaching English there and made a quick trip to the bathroom where I saw this poster on the toilet door:

I find this incredibly . . . . . hilarious! I guess there are still some people here who don't know how to use a toilet properly!

A-Z challenge Reflections 2012

Are you like me? Did you prepare well, miss a few posts and then quickly catch up, struggle to visit other blogs? Reflecting on 2012's A-Z April Blogging Challenge, these factors weigh heavy on my mind.

REFLECTIONS

Despite the fact I had chosen an ambitious topic AND prepared all the posts well in advance, I still found the challenge an uphill struggle after the first week. After visiting around 200 blogs immediately below mine on the linky list, which I had placed on my blog, I became rather tired, and the double figures of comments soon dried up. I also removed the linky list from my blog as just the sight of those 1,600 blogs was driving me crazy!

It quickly became apparent to me that a lot of fellow A-Zers were not visiting blogs on the linky list, probably struggling to find the time or motivation, like me.

It was fortunate I had prepared all the material for my posts in mid-March, because just typing each post up, adding a photo and a video, already felt like work enough! Never mind visiting tons of other blogs in this challenge. I did visit my friends' blogs on my blogroll, and came across some A-Zs I took a keen interest in.

I extend my congratulations and thanks to them, as well as the following friends who commented consistently during the month of April:

• Diane Croad
• Odie Langley
• My dear mum Joanna Horne
• My little mynx of a wife, Fidelia!
• J. C. Martin
• Anthony Stemke
• Leovi
• Ordinary malaysian

I know the effort it takes to visit and comment on other blogs regularly, and I appreciate my friends who have done just that on my blog :)

Many others paid me a visit or two, including many new readers from the challenge, and it's been great to hear from them and check out their blogs in return.

IMPROVEMENT REFLECTION

The one improvement I would suggest is associated with the linky list. Just the sight of over 1,600 blogs was intimidating at best. 

Now, I love blogging and I've gained numerous benefits from it from time to time, but I've concluded that any normal person has a life to live away from the computer, and sometimes during April, my life came above the A-Z challenge.

To make things a lot easier, I would suggest that participating blogs have a specific A-Z group or category they can join, instead of everybody coming under one lengthy linky list. A-Z groups/categories could include: writers, poets, language, photoblogs, travel, entertainment, lifestyle etc.

That way participants can decide what sort of A-Z blogs they would like to visit, making a more enjoyable experience for everyone, connecting with more people of common interest, and helping the challenge become a lot less daunting.

BLOG STATS FOR APRIL

Pageviews         =    8,544

Visits                 =    3,040

New Followers  =    32

Comments         =    375