Family home of Ananda Krishnan

We were on a walking tour of Brickfields in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia recently. The guide took us past a house which he said was the family home of Ananda Krishnan.

Who Is Ananda Krishnan?

Ananda Krishnan

Ananda is said to be the second wealthiest in Southeast Asia, number 89 in the world with a fortune valued at US$9.6 billion, He was born in Brickfields and had an MBA from Harvard University, USA. His main business interests are in telecommunications/media (Astro, Maxis), oil/gas and property.

Maxis towers, dragon side of Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur

Note the “Feng Shui” configuration. The main property is the Petronas Twin Towers (a Malaysian icon) with two buildings on either side. On the dragon side (left), the taller Maxis tower and on the tiger side (right), Mandarin Oriental Hotel. There is a lake in front of these buildings which shows the facing direction.

Comment of the house.

Google Earth Image of Ananda Krishnan Family House

The house is receiving energy from 2 different sources.
1. From the junction on the dragon side (left) of the house.
2. From the River Klang which is passing the house on the tiger side (Right).

The quality of energy from both sources is good. I have not seen a property, which was not designed with feng shui from inception, receiving so much good energy from so many different sources.

It is all about Location, Location and Location.

Comment:
1. I would like to make a point on two statements which keep cropping up in Feng Shui books.
Avoid property in a cul-de-sac
Avoid property near a “T” junction.
This house is in a cul-de-sac and near a “T” junction. This is a house with seriously good feng shui.

My reply to people’s queries are usually “It depends”. I need more information. There are no absolutes, it just depends.

2. Many people try to improve their home with cures or home improvements. My point is that, you can always find another property that will be receiving good energy after trying home improvements. Move to that new property is a more dependable solution. It depends on you. This is the best way to get a home with good feng shui.

Dr Michael Oon

Modern Food Court in Malaysia

Food Courts are the modern concept in the presentation of Street Food. It is clean, hygienic and offers personal safety for the clients

When I was a young boy in Singapore, I could remember going out for a meal cooked by the road side. These road side stalls would appear at the appropriate meal times on the street and service their customers in the allotted coffee shops. This was the “done” thing in all parts of Singapore then. My parents refused to allow me to consume food from the hawkers or mobile food vendors because of hygiene. As they had limited quantity of water, there was a risk of not cleaning the food utensils thoroughly I would be at risk of getting food poisoning or anything else that my mother could think of.

As I grew older, I realised that the best food in both Singapore and mainland Malaysia was street food. We could travel to the other end of Singapore because, say the fried noodles there was really good. With my cousins, we would do a food crawl. This is analogous to a pub crawl. We would start at one stall, go to another and finish the “meal” at the other end of the city. This was the passion for good food in this part of the world. These street food vendors were specialist in their product. They might only cook say only fried noodles or noodle soup or whatever. As they were specialists. They developed their skills in that food speciality. They had to do a good job to survive. There was always competition around the corner.

From the point of view of the street vendor, if he prepared a particular dish well, he could get a very good reputation and people all over town would come eat at his stall. It is common for people to drive 2 hours to eat at a particular stall. With such a reputation, he might be invited by a coffee shop to be his anchor tenant as he will “bring in the crowds”. Conversely, if a coffee shop is very busy, the street food vendors would bid for spaces around these coffee shops.
Turning to the present, there is considerable interest in street food and there are specialist media on this topic. Makan Sutra in Singapore and the like specialist food bloggers

I have just encountered a twist to the concept of food vendors. In the Bukit Bintang area of Kuala Lumpur, there are 2 food courts with really different propositions. .

Lot 10 shopping mall has a food court called Lot 10 Hutong. This is a compact area but the food vendors have been selected by the CEO of the Shopping mall; Tan Sri Francis Yeoh. (Tan Sri is a conferred title very similar to “Sir” or “Lord” in the UK). He has taken his time to invite vendors to come to his property. In other words, there is the best of the best being sold in one location.

One of the really charming features is the coffee. It is served in thick old fashioned China Cup with really strong coffee. We sat by a real marble table. Just like the times of old.

coffee served as they used to

On the other side of the street in the Pavilion shopping mall. The complete basement is devoted to street food called Food Republic. There is a tremendous variety and selection of foods. Some stalls are really good but there are other stalls that have a different interpretation to my point of view.

Food Republic at the Pavilion, KL

When I was first visited both these food courts, I was totally bewildered with the size, complexity and variety in the food courts. However, with repeated visits and guidance from the locals, I think I finally got the hang of it.

If I wanted simplicity and quality, I would go to the Lot 10 Hutong. If I wanted to taste something different and have the time to go look the various food vendors I would go to the Food Republic at the Pavilion.

In most instances, I am pushed for time and prefer to have the best of the best.
But in the end, you pays your monies and make your choice.

From a food obsessive Michael Oon

(c) Copyright – Dr Michael Oon. All Rights Reserved Worldwide 2011.

Looking down the side road to Low Yat Plaza. The energy comes from the North west direction.

Low Yat Plaza is totally different. When you locate a shopping mall, you want it to be on the main road, prominent and sell a wide range of products. This Plaza is hidden from the main road and there is only a small road leading to the entrance. But yet, it is busy and specialises in a niche.

Low Yat Plaza Banner showing the Tag Line

Feng Shui Analysis
The top image shows the side road leading to Low Yat Plaza, it is goes downhill directly to the entrance marked A on the Google Earth image. The energy is from the North west direction. This energy has the properties of the metal element which relates it to computers hardware, power and money. This Plaza specialises in IT hardware products and good business is being done there.

Google Earth Image of Low Yat Plaza

The purpose of this posting is to show that the conventional idea of shopping malls has to be in a prominent location for it to do good business and sell a wide range of products. It is not applicable in all cases. In a forth coming posting, I will show a very prominent shopping mall but it gets no business or hardly any footfall. It is all about getting the right amount of energy for the purpose.

In the case of Low Yat Plaza, it is getting a very specific energy. This energy is specific for IT products. The business there is good and the vendors are doing good business,.

Looking down the side road to Low Yat Plaza. The energy comes from the North west direction.

(c) Copyright – Dr Michael Oon. All Rights Reserved Worldwide 2011.

Sungei Wang Plaza entrance - feng shui analysis

A Feng Shui analysis can provide the answer.

Sungei Wang Plaza has been busy since the day it opened. Its main entrance (A) is open and uncluttered facing in the North east (NE) direction. There is a side door in the front of the building. Although this door (B) faces the same direction as the main door of (NE), it is located in the East Sector of the building. There is another minor door (C) in the South east direction and sector.

Google Earth image of Sungei Wang and BB Plazas

Analysis:
1. Sungei Wang Plaza gets its energy from the downhill slope. It is this energy that the 2 doors in the front receive. The prevalent energy for this current Period (2004-2024) is from the North East. Therefore, there is good energy going into these 2 doors.

2. It is a Hetu combination between the 2 doors in the front. The main door is in the North East Sector (8) and the minor door is in the East Sector (3). 8 and 3 are the Hetu combination

3. Secondly, the Zhen (1st son) sector is East in the Later Heaven Sequence but Zhen is in the North East in the Early Heaven sequence. This is an Early heaven and Later heaven combination.

These are 2 auspicious combinations for the 2 doors at the front of the building.
This building will retain its prosperity for a long period of time as long as these combinations of doors are not disturbed.

It is so different with BB Plaza. The main entrances are in the North West direction but they are blocked by stalls along the road. How can the energy reach the main doors? BB Plaza has been sold to the owners of Sungei Wang Plaza and they are connected internally,

BB Plaza - a feng shui analysis

However, there is a tremendous difference in the footfall between Sungei Wang and BB Plazas. It is always busy in Sungei Wang and very quiet in BB Plaza.

Interiors of Sungei Wang (top) and BB Plazas - Feng Shui analysis

(c) Copyright – Dr Michael Oon. All Rights Reserved Worldwide 2011.

F1 as I see it and a Comment on McLaren F1

Sebastian Vettel in a Red Bull car has taken the 2011 F1 World Championship by storm. This makes it his second Championship, making it two in a row. This confirms his dominance in the F1 Motor Sport.

What has happened to the McLaren F1 Team?

In 2011, they struggled in testing and in the start of the season. In 2010, they also had serious delays at the start season. In both years, there were big changes in the regulations in the car design.

In the 2011 season, the McLaren cars lacked pace compared to the Red Bulls BUT, as the season got on, they were of a more equal match.

In the first 10 races, Vettel (Red Bull) had won 6, Hamilton (McLaren) 2, Button (McLaren) 1 and Alonso (Ferrari) 1.
This shows the dominance of Vettel driving a Red Bull and the lack of competition from both McLaren and Ferrari.

As I had stated in a previous blog, the McLaren F1 building has a circular design. Based on Feng Shui interpretations, there will be inherent delays in the products coming from this building. This has been shown in the results of the 2010 and 2011 seasons.

McLaren has a reputation for their technical and organisational ability and they catch up as the season goes on. However, in the 2011 season, Vettel had already sewn up the championship before McLaren had got up to speed. In other words, the champion was already in Vettel’s bag when McLaren “woke up.”

The 2012 season will have the minimal of changes in the Regulations.

McLaren want quick start to 2012, says Martin Whitmarsh

McLaren will therefore, have lesser delays than the previous seasons. I look forward to a more competitive season where both McLaren and Ferrari will be challenging the pace of the Red Bulls of Vettel and Weber from the start of the season.

Secondly, the early lack of pace in the McLaren Cars have been one of the causes of the frustration in Hamilton. Hamilton does not react well to the lack of pace of the cars.

McLaren F1 - orange lights signifying VICTORY

I look forward to a more productive start for the 2012 season for McLaren F1 team which are based in my home town of Woking in Surrey.

Good Luck McLaren.

Staines Town Hall panoramic image

Hard-Fi lead singer Richard Archer is quoted to have said:
“A lot of the bars are closing, Habitat went into administration, Jane Norman, Thorntons. It’s all starting to fall to bits.”
“Staines is in a dark place at the moment, like a ghost town.”

Of course, there was an official rebuttal from the Staines Council.

My observations with due regards to Richard’s comments:

The concentration of stable energy is centred on the main shopping areas near the Elmsleigh Shopping Centre (http://michaeloon.com/blog/a-look-at-staines-town-centre ). The other areas (marked A) do not have the energy and the business will not be good. This can be easily seen with the boarded up shops or “for sale sign” by the shops.

Should you drive through the town, you will not see any of the prosperous areas, it is like an hidden enclave. The roads pass the “deprived” areas. An example is shown in the image above.

The above image is of “The Town Hall” with the surrounding buildings. There are no less than 5 “for sale” or “to let “ signs on this panoramic image. This is precisely the impression you get when driving pass. No doubt, this is how Hper-Fi’s Richard Archer got the impression that Staines is like a Ghost town,

The good news from Richard’s comment is the Staines Thorton’s Chocolate shop is still traiding.

Thortons chocolate shop in Staines

Update 24th Oct 2011:

The feel of Staines as a “Ghost Town” in my opinion, is due to the River Thames pulling away the energy from the Town, The energy loss can be minimised by a careful design of buildings at specific locations to hold the energy – very much like how Elmsleigh Shopping Centre holds the energy. This will behave very much like a dam holding and preventing the outflow of the energy. I will not go into detail as it can get very technical. Once this is done, the town centre will have a very different feel and appearance. Staines will have a feel of a real town and not a “Ghost Town”.

Secondly, the areas peripheral to the town centre, where the offices and business parks are. These areas are prosperous because they are outside the energy pull of the river. The pulling away of the energy from the Staines Town centre.

Related Blogs on Staines

A Look at Staines Town Centre

Elmsleigh Shopping Centre in Staines

Hard-Fi lead singer Richard Archer comments on Staines – Some Observations

(c) Copyright – Dr Michael Oon. All Rights Reserved Worldwide 2011.

Entrance of Elmsleigh shopping centre in Staines

The main purpose of a shopping centre is to provide a building where all the shops are under one roof. The shopper can do the shopping without regard to the weather and in relative comfort and convenience.

Points of view:
Shopper: To get the required goods with convenience
Shopkeeper: To have a busy shop with the right goods sold at the right price.
Shopping Centre: All shops do well so as to maximise the rent, enhance the reputation of the centre and therefore, the valuation of the property.
In the end, it is the magic formula of having the right mix of product available at the right price, sold to the shopper.

However, not all the shopkeepers might want to be there because of the wrong customer profile or, there will not be enough business in that location.

The holy grail for the Shopping centre is that the shops do really good business. There will be a demand for sites within the shopping centre, especially from the major luxury brands – Dior, Chanel, Armani etc. The shopping centre managers will be in control of the type of shops (and product) because they are sure that there will be buyers for the products.

This happens in a number of shopping centres that I have visited- Bluewater (Kent, UK), Brent Cross (London, UK), Mid Valley Megamall (KL, Malaysia), KLCC (KL, Malaysia). Department Stores are old-fashioned equivalent – Harrods (London, UK) and Selfridges (London, UK)

There are methodologies to get a shopping centre to be really busy with buying customers. I will discuss some of the methods in the blog.

In this series of blogs, I will make comment on the various shopping centres that I visit.

Elmslight Shopping Centre

The performance of this shopping centre is patchy. There are some areas where the shops do well and there are other places where the shops are there to fill in the space (low performance)

Description of Image:
The energy flow (big red arrow) from the North on the side street (Norris Road) flows directly to the entrance of the Elmsleigh Shopping Centre (B). Therefore, the shops near this entrance will do well as can be.

The area marked C has very little energy. The shop (Marks and Spencer) would be rather quiet at this location.

The areas marked D in the shopping centre have very little energy. Hence the shops here will be quiet and not do well.

Elmleigh Shopping Centre in Staines

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Should you want to have a shop in the Elmsleigh shopping centre, the best location is having a shop in the area marked B. You will do good business there.

Related Blogs on Staines

A Look at Staines Town Centre

Elmsleigh Shopping Centre in Staines

Hard-Fi lead singer Richard Archer comments on Staines – Some Observations

(c) Copyright – Dr Michael Oon. All Rights Reserved Worldwide 2011.

Looking to the outside from the Elmsleigh Shopping Centre in Staines

In the past few years, the town “Staines” has been the mentioned in the media. Hard-Fi, an indie band had stated that Staines as a Ghost Town. Ali G, a satirical fictional character kept referring to Staines as his home town. With this bout of negative publicity, Staines council members have been considering re-branding their town as “Staines-upon-Thames”.

I thought that, as I live nearby, have a look at this town. Even though I have lived in this area for the past 30 years, I have never set foot in the town. All the roads seem to pass it.

Staines has been around since the Roman times some 2,000 years ago. Not as a town but as a river crossing. It continued to be a major crossing on the River Thames because of its proximity to Windsor. In the late 20th Century, particularly with the proximity to London’s Heathrow Airport, Staines has become an attractive location to site offices. The town centre grew in the 1980s after the development of the Elmsleigh Shopping Centre in 1979.

Staines is not a natural town or a settlement for the simple reason that the energy is not held in that location. The energy is being pulled away by the river (see image below).

Energy flow on Staines Town (without any buildings)

The small blue arrows show the flow of the river. The big red arrow shows the energy coming from the river. The big blue arrow shows the energy being pulled away from the town centre by the river. The energy is not allowed to settle in the town centre. This is the natural flow of energy when there are no buildings.

It was the development of the Elmsleigh Shopping Centre that stopped this leakage of the energy. With this came the growth of the town as a shopping area and a busy one it is.

Energy flows through Staines Town. Areas marked "A" have less energy

The small blue arrows show the flow of the river. The red arrows show the movement of energy from the river to the town centre. The buildings in the town centre hold this energy – hence the prosperity. As soon as you go outside the town centre (areas marked A ) – you will notice that there is no energy and the shops do not do well. This is unlike the town centre and parts of the Elmsleigh Shopping Centre.

Staines is a town of shops coffee shops and fast food. It does not have the night life – clubs or fine dining. The energy is too unsettled for such establishments. These establishments are only present where the energy is settled and usually in real towns or settlements like Guildford.

Related Blogs on Staines

A Look at Staines Town Centre

Elmsleigh Shopping Centre in Staines

Hard-Fi lead singer Richard Archer comments on Staines – Some Observations

(c) Copyright – Dr Michael Oon. All Rights Reserved Worldwide 2011.

So after the Gulf debacle, the new BP CEO Bob Dudley announced a BP-Rosneft deal. Rosneft being a major Russian Oil company. The deal was for the joint exploration of the Arctic and Black Sea waters. This deal fell through because of objects from the existing Russian partners with BP. Rosneft has now signed a deal with ExxonMobil for the project.

In other words, BP has seen a deal just slip through its hand. Deep Sea Oil exploration is one of the major Strengths of BP.

To add insult to injury, the offices of BP Russia have been raided twice by Court appointed officials (September 2011)

For the past year, BP has grabbed the headline for the wrong reasons- problems, disasters and missed opportunities.

Exxon Mobil head office - Google Earth View

Let us have a look at the ExxonMobil head office.

The building faces NE – the direction of auspicious energy for the current time Period 2004-2024. The building does not have a regular shape but the 2 ponds make up for the missing areas. A general comment is that the building is good for the business.

As far as I can recall, the last major oil crisis to strike the company was with the Exxon Valdez in 1989 in Alaska. Exxon have tighter there procedures considerably and have a remarkably good run in the business.

ExxonMobil is the largest company listed by stock market valuation. This is being challenged by Apple Inc.

Conclusion: It shows how, having a good head office can alter the fortunes of the company.

(c) Copyright – Dr Michael Oon. All Rights Reserved Worldwide 2011.

1. Leadership. Steve Jobs has led the company and it is leading the consumer technology field – currently it leading products are iPads and iPhones.

2. Strong Supply Chain. The products are available on demand and at the specified price. Apple maintains “mouth watering” yields for its products,
especially the iPhone.

3. Good Marketing. There is always a demand for Apple products. People love them.

4. Good Organisation within the company. New products are coming quickly and regularly.

Apple Campus - Google Earth view

Looking at the image, there are energy gaps in the North East, South West and South East. Energy gaps are places where the energy can get through to the internal courtyard and circulate within the building complex.

The energy from the NE is the current auspicious energy. Hence, the current success of Apple.

Also, there are energy gaps in both the SW and SE corners. Both SW and SE energy leads it to having good marketing and an efficient supply chain.

For a successful company, more often than not, the head office has good feng shui.

(c) Copyright – Dr Michael Oon. All Rights Reserved Worldwide 2011.