a day of mihas

went to MIHAS - malaysia international halal showcase. when we arrived there, no free parking space were left. the parking lot cramped with vehicles; from the grand mercedes to the very humble kancil. and the people, they became more creative than ever, using every single inch of free space. some parked their car on the sidewalk. some volunteered their cars to be the road divider.

but somehow, we managed to park the car somewhere. amid the cramped parking lot, there, miraculously, under the gracious shade of a tree - a parking space that nobody notice it; as the sea of cars and the reflection of sun from the cars can easily fool the eye.

then, we walked for some distance to the showcase.

we came in a party of four: my mom, her friend, my baby brother and me. as we walked at the entrance, the people from MIHAS told us : "we are so sorry, but today, children (under 18's, as the information board stated) are not allowed to enter. from today until friday we are open just for businessmen or anyone who looking up to do business...not for public. but for saturday and sunday, we are opened for everyone."

( i'm not so sure about this dialogue, and it is been made up by me simply based on what I understand from the MIHAS people or what i've heard, and i don't always believe my ears as they are, sometimes, telinga kuali. for more information, you should go to the MIHAS website.)

so, then, by a few seconds, we were speechless. we never knew the showcase will be restricted to kids for today, or any other day.

but in the end, a MIHAS miss went to ask permission from her boss and at last we had the green light to bring along my pestering baby brother.then, we fill in our visitor's form like everyone else and happily registering ourselves at the visitor's registering counter.

we got a cool "TRADE BUYER" name tag :)


next, we took a 2 hours + + walk, visited about half of the showcase, with average 7 minutes duration for each booth. half of it, and it had been a tiring day.

products summary at MIHAS from my visit:

1. traditional medicine for 'family' happiness product. (i'm very sure i won't be needing those products, yet.)
2.foods, many of them, can't seem to remember them. frozen packed products, e.g: frankfurter and many more. there were also snacks, chocolate, sweets and fruits.
3.health care product. there is one booth that sell vinegars as health care product. very interesting.
4.drinks. the most appealing drink to me is the roselle juice. taste like ribena, and what's better, it is 'made in malaysia'.
5.cosmetic products.

there were so many eager businessmen and women at MIHAS, looking up for business partner, distributor and people who want to run their franchise. they would leap and grab at any business opportunity they can found, or the opportunity that found them. oh, and there were also many great free food for tasting. come with an empty stomach, and you would probably be half full when you reach the exit.

every visitor will get a free paper bag with some "janjan" in it.

-there are no photograph taken from the showcase, as the only camera in the house is already taken by my little sister who went to ASWARA and Aquaria-