Cheritera Hikayati

KUALA LUMPUR - Bermula 1 Ogos ini, peminat saluran sukan di stesen televisyen satelit berbayar, Astro akan terpaksa membayar lebih.

Kenaikan bayaran sebanyak RM12 itu ekoran peningkatan kos bagi hak penyiaran Liga Perdana England (EPL) baru-baru ini, kata Ketua Saluran Sukan Astro, Lee Choong Khay.

Bagaimanapun, menurutnya, peningkatan tersebut masih rendah berbanding stesen televisyen berbayar di negara lain seperti di United Kingdom yang meningkat sehingga 532 peratus, Hong Kong (501 peratus), Thailand (297 peratus), Singapura (282 peratus) dan Australia (172 peratus). Kenaikan di Malaysia cuma 100 peratus.

Di Asia Barat pula berlaku peningkatan sebanyak 250 peratus menyebabkan penyiar di negara itu terpaksa membayar sebanyak RM1.170 bilion dan Hong Kong pula meningkat daripada RM354 juta kepada RM709 juta dalam tempoh tiga tahun.

Choong Khay berkata, kenaikan tersebut antara lain berpunca daripada peningkatan kos operasi kelab-kelab bola sepak yang bermain dalam liga tersebut.

"Kelab-kelab dalam EPL terpaksa membayar gaji pemain dan menguruskan kelab mereka, malah kenaikan dalam bidaan hak penyiaran meningkat sebanyak 67 peratus menyebabkan syarikat yang memegang hak penyiaran di England, Stanta, terpaksa menghentikan operasi kerana kenaikan kos ini pada Jun 2009," katanya ketika dihubungi di sini semalam.
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Need to change my subscription package la mcm ni..

Last weekend both us went to Cameron Highlands, sort of a family outing and my brother b-day celebration.

IKEA breakfast and familiar Starbuck sighting

On Sat morning we departed from KL in my bro's car. We (my bro, his wife, my nephew, my wife and me) decided to carpool since it is going to be a tiring journey climbing up to Cam. Highlands (TRUE enough). We stopped at IKEA to get some breakfast before going into the NS highway (well, not the best breakfast decision i would say).

The journey took us around 3 1/2 hours. Simpang Pulai-Brinchang route seems to be the safest way to go up. Along the way, we saw trees... trees.. and more trees. We passed by couple of Strawberry farms and few small towns with endless sighting of landrovers. For a firstimer visitor, i thought we are in a Landrover land.. haha.. We saw a fimiliar sighting in Tanah Rata that gave us the relief, it was Starbucks Coffee. At that moment, i felt like at home.

Strawberry & Vegetables Farm

As soon as we arrived at Cameron Highlands, we head to the Maybank Villa Resthouse which is located in Tanah Rata. I found the weather was extraordinary cold and to make it worst i only have shorts and slippers with me (lucky i had a pair of jeans that i wore the first day). My assumption of the weather were flat wrong (thought same like genting weather). After about half an hour of resting, we went to the Strawberry farm to see the real plant in action. Unfortunately, the strawberries were not as big as they supposed to be because of the frequent rain that week. Aishah and I tried Strawberry Smoothies and Ice Cream Strawberry Waffel. Not bad at all..

The Maybank Villa Resthouse

The house was big with six rooms. 'Villa' seems to be the right term to call it. Instead of an air-condition unit, we had an old skool heater to keep us warm throughout the cold night. That night, we had chicken, lamb and meat barbeque and not to forget birthday cakes to celebrate the two birthday boy and girl. Thanks to the meat and fat that help me survive the freezing night (warm...).

Bharat & Boh Tea Shop and Plantations

The next day, five of us went to look for tea shops and plantations. We stop at Bharat Tea Shop to take pictures and decided to try out the tea there. It tasted different (better) probably because of the quality of the tea leaves. Next destination was Boh Plantation and Tea Shop. We had to exit the trunk road and drive on a small one lane road. The journey was very nerve wrecking since we had to take sharp turns, drive next to cliffs and even make way for incoming cars. The scenery was worth the horrifiying trip. There was a whole valley of tea trees around us and an old tea factory that we can enter. The strong smell inside the tea factory was very pleasing (for me at least). Super strong winds kept us sweatless throughout the photo taking and hill climbings.

The family

The never ending turns. Lata Iskandar.

We head back to KL at around 5pm. Before leaving, we make a final stop at Brinchang to buy fruits to take home. Most of the things that they sell there were strawberry pillow, vegetables, strawberries, corns, honey, flowers, oranges and grape fruits. After some market shopping, we continue our journey back. We made a wrong decision by taking the Ringlet-Tapah road to get to the NS Highway. The sharp turning were endless. Imagine going down hills for an hour with not less than 50 turning. Lucky us, no one threw up. Not even the baby nephew.

We arrived in KL at around 9pm. A very tiring 2D1N journey but full of unforgettable memories. I definitely will consider going there again. But this time, only to relax. The End.

On the way back from my Melaka trip last 2 weekends, we dropped by at my aunt's house to pass her things.

Then, I took the opportunity to take pictures of my cousins....

Here they are!!!

And they were playing...TRANSFORMERS!!!

Enjoysssss!!!!