A Discovery & A Concealed Relationship

After clearing some work at the office last Saturday, my wife, C1 and I popped by to the newly opened mall, The Pavillion. While it's large - I figured larger than the equally upmarket Starhill Gallery located just a stone's throw away, it's definitely smaller than the 1U behemoth and the madness that's MidValley City. It was only to kill some time before picking up my brother at the bus terminal that I agreed to go there, not being a fan of the Bukit Bintang area on Saturdays or any other days. One has to be careful of the parking rates at these spots so I made a few calls to find out and as it turned out some colleagues who were there before informed us that for the 2 hours they were there, they were charged RM7. I figured since it will only be about 1.5 hours, the fee would be something we can tolerate, if barely.



So off we went. Parking spots were quite easily found. Plenty of traffic attendants, although seemingly clueless one, at every corner in the basement car park. The car park was well lit and didn't have the cramped feeling. Through sheer luck, we found a spot just next to the entrance. The lower ground floor was really happening. This floor is where the crowd is. Not surprising, since the eateries are all there. Most are on the expensive side and I was on the verge of giving up finding a reasonable place to eat until I found Pastamania! If you've followed my Singapore adventures the last few years, you'd know that this Pizza and Pasta chain is my favourite - food is OK, not spectacular but the price is very reasonable. I found their business concept very appealing and wondered at that time if it was possible to bring the franchise to Malaysia. Now they're here but nope, I'm not holding the local franchise, which was too bad. I'd have like to operate a running shop and a pasta shop - wouldn't that be great for a distance runner?



As I've mentioned Pastamania offers value for money meals with a personal thin-crust pizza from RM9.90 and a pasta (you can choose from 4 different types of pasta) from RM6.90. If you want drinks, soup and garlic bread, select from a set. The drinks come in slightly larger paper cups than the usual, so it's quite enough to share unless you're a soft drink guzzler. If you're there, remember to pick up the pocket menu, which will help you decide earlier on your next visit less you hold up the queue while thinking what to order from its extensive menu.



After that we popped by Tang's (although I wouldn't buy anything - correction "can't afford to buy anything there") and then Parkson where I bought 2 boxes of briefs. Now these are no ordinary Byfords. These are microfiber, butt-cheek holding Renomas. In my humble opinion, Renoma makes one of the best briefs and with these 2 boxes (2 in a box), the number of Renomas in my wardrobe is now 8. They're certainly better than the typical cotton ones or even the East India ones that I have. The reason for my enthusiasm for something that you won't see me with is because of the microfiber that they're made of. Coupled with runner-friendly designs, they're really comfortable. Runners typically have fantastic heinies (I kid you not. By the way, run more and see those toned and well-formed butts) that need form fitting underwear to support. We also need materials that won't chafe and will be breathable over the distances we covered. The last thing we need are soggy cotton ones. Check out the image below - I scanned the box here to show you the design. See the front and back? That isn't my butt and crotch of course, but that's not the point, but the grey areas on the brief are actually made of mesh. Not those big open-mesh that you find on your running shoes but the pin-holed type. So you don't have to worry about allowing too much draft in. In the front-center area where your, well, jewels are, is another thin piece of cloth underneath the mesh. I wore it for a test run yesterday and I didn't notice it at all, which is a good thing. If you start noticing your underwear, they're either too tight and are limiting the chances of (ouch!) or too loose. Or worse, they could be chafing you up.



Remember, in this part of the world, we don't find briefs and underwear made specially for running such as the ones by NB, UnderArmor or even asics, so finding something like Renoma is something like a heaven-sent. If you're interested, a box of 2 sells for RM27.90 but Parkson is offering a 10% discount right
now.