2023 Big Bad Wolf Books sale

I almost forgot that it was that time of year: the major Big Bad Wolf Books sale. 

I was a tad more excited that this year's sale was gonna be in Tropicana Gardens Mall. Finally, I don't have to take time off (even though I should), I can go on weeknights, and not have to go on weekends or whatever. Of course there's always gonna be complainers about the change in venue, and of course there's already people kpkb-ing about this place. 

First time round was during the KLBAC's annual preview, the night before it started. I only joined in this year cos I don't have to wake up early, and it's not too far (at long last, yay). The only thing is that people are still unloading and packing books, so I figured I would have to come back again at some point. 

Layout: It occupied the former Donki space. The sale is spread throughout the three floors - downstairs was kids and fiction, next floor up was non-fiction and Malay books and the top most floor was where the graphic novels/comics are (also right outside the BookXcess store too). 

Browsing on both occasions wasn't so bad in that I went on weeknights, so it was more tolerable than having to worry about bumping into smol kids running around and whatever. 

Haul: Didn't get much, only these... had to walk away from a couple other options upstairs. 

2021 Big Bad Wolf Books sale

Due to the pandemic, last year's large-scale, round the clock sale at Mines was (kinda) cancelled, but they still did small-scale sales around the country whenever they could. 

The one this year was held in the convention centre space upstairs in Tropicana Gardens Mall, which is not too far (I could get there by back road if I wanted) and more importantly, did not involve paying toll. 

Wasn't crazy enough to go so early, so I only ended up there around 11 something in the morning, by then which there was no queue to speak of and I can just casually waddle in. It wasn't as large as the MIECC, which I'm okay with. It wasn't too crowded, but it was just mildly stuffy until the AC kicked in. 

All in all, I was probably there an hour at most. Even had time left over to sit through the longest wait for lunch ever and a quick stroll around Village Grocer and the Bookxcess store before calling it a day. 

Not much of a haul, so... 

2019 Big Bad Wolf Books Sale (Preview)

Another year, another BBW sale.

Parking: Left a little later than I would've liked, and only got there a little before 11.30 a.m.. By then, they had closed off the MIECC basement parking and had to park at the mall next door, which I guess was a small blessing in disguise because on weekdays it's RM1 for the first three hours, RM1 subsequent hour. Which is great for people like me who weren't planning on spending the entire day there. They also finally moved with the times and parking in both places are now cashless - meaning you could pay for your parking either with Visa, Master or TouchNGo cards. At least there's no surcharge at Mines? MIECC parking rate still the same as last year, so that's good. 

Layout: When they released the (not to scale) layout of the sale online, some people lamented the overwhelming space dedicated to kid books and young adult titles.... which is okay if you're a parent or a YA reader of any age, but the way I see it: it's just more for me to skip. Since I don't buy that much fiction these days, I only took a pass at the section in order to get to the non fiction area. 

Crowd wise, it was still bearable at that hour. F&B options were not too bad this year - I had a lasagne (mostly because I felt that the other options were really overpriced). Had a coffee outside the hall before going back to the mall. 

Payment: The only problem with going on preview day is that the POS-es become a POS at some point, either due to human error or machine error, or both. It took me longer than I would've liked to check out my minimal haul. When asked if I was a member, I said yes (cos I thought I was) and after using both phone and IC number, still nothing? Aish. 

My haul was less than RM60. 

I was in there probably under a couple of hours, so I had time and took advantage of a happy hour foot massage promo (RM28 for an hour) at a recently opened place in the mall, which was probably one of the better foot massages I've had in in a while that I was in less pain than before I started. Made it back in PJ before 4 p.m. 

2018 Big Bad Wolf Books Sale (Preview)

Another year, another BBW book sale. Luckily got a preview pass from my usual source (thanks - you know who you are!), and didn't end up in Balakong on my way there. 

Got there before 11 a.m. 

Just as well I came on a work day -
I would rather take leave than come on
a weekend or public holiday. 

Parking: After years of dealing with the congestion of the manned parking payment booths, they went the autopay machine route. WTF, was there only ONE autopay machine in the whole place? At least put a couple of payment machines in the basement parking lah, WTFBBQ. Also, don't get me started on the manned exit booths like they do in the Garden's Zone G parking, which will definitely slow things down on egress. 

Fiction area was crowded AF, so eyeballed as much as I could and made my way over to the non-fiction section. 

There's also F&B options inside, but I didn't try it out. In retrospect, they looked and sounded better than what I ended up having in the adjoining mall. 

Enough cock, I know some of you want to know what I got. Here it is...

All from the non-fiction section. Didn't bother with anything from the fiction section because it would require walking back to the other end of the hall again and the non fiction section was closer to the cashiers. And I was pretty much running on fumes because I didn't get enough sleep, so I was starting to feel tired and grumpy. 

So I dropped my haul in the car, went over to the adjoining mall for lunch and left around 2 something. The parking machine in the lobby was hidden next to one of the booths which I didn't realise I walked past until I asked one of the kids where it was. 

However, I did miss the turn that would let me back on the Bukit Jalil highway and LDP and ended up on the Federal Highway home. More importantly, I was home before rush hour. Pooped, but made it home before the rain and rush hour. 

2017 Big Bad Wolf Books Sale (Preview)

Thankfully got a preview pass without too much fuss (thanks - you know who you are!). Didn't fuck up the lane choice (don't get me started on the road system in the area - wrong lane choice means you end up someplace else altogether), which is always a good thing.

It was congested AF inside (especially at the fiction area cos it's the first place you see when you walk in) and it was just preview day. I don't know how much worse it'll be once it opens to the public tomorrow on. I also thought it was damn hot and stuffy inside and glad to hear that it wasn't just me feeling it. Don't know if the air conditioning was wonky or if it was from having so many people in there at once. Thankfully it wasn't so congested in the non-fiction area. 

And this was (as usual) after skipping the kids' books, Malay and Chinese books areas. I was only there a couple hours tops before I checked out. Thankfully the line to pay was fast moving cos there were a lot of cashier counters like they always do. 

Yup supermarket trolleys this year.

Hard to attempt this alone unless you either have a big appetite, a big eater or worked up an appetite after walking around. They're meant for sharing.

Took long enough for them to put out browsing copies so that people don't mess up all the saleable copies

Fiction area a bit congested cos it's the first area you see when you walk in

My haul. Thankfully not a lot.

Found a signed first edition for RM10 (it was RM20 in second home, so just grab je)

• Parking at MIECC this year: RM3 for weekdays, RM5 for weekends and public holidays. If you have leave to use up, use it. 
• Saw the Thai dessert pop up, but the menu items are limited to the day and also not something to be attempted unless you're starving, a big eater, or have people to share with. 
• BYO bags or luggage cos they're also charging 20 cents for plastic bags. 

Only left the area around 3 something after the annual visit to the mall next door for lunch, etc. Feet were sore and wanted to leave before rush hour. Traffic in the Sri Kembangan area already sucks and it wasn't even rush hour, so I thought it would be better to GTFO while I could. 

2016 Big Bad Wolf Book sale - Preview

This year I was offered a pass for the preview sale (thank you, you know who you are), which admits two adults. Didn't take too long to get a plus-one willing to take leave on a Thursday. We left PJ around 10 something and probably took about 40 something minutes to get there. Parking this year was RM3 on weekdays; had neglected to notice what the weekend rates are, but I won't be surprised if it was RM4. 

So they tore off the little stub on top as we went in. There's the usual basket trolleys, and then there's the adorable supermarket trolleys (not the massive ones you'd find in hypermarkets, but also not the tiny kid ones you see in some supermarkets) this year. They didn't have any supermarket trolleys inside, which was a pity, and had to settle for the usual basket trolley. And yet people still brought their own luggage bags.

Having skipped (at least) the kids section, Malay and Chinese books, it still took me a couple of hours to walk around and speed eyeball the tables. This year's Hong Leong Bank freebie was a bottle of water and a cupcake (which I couldn't take out of the F&B area, so I stuffed them inside my bag to get around that). Also applied for a Hong Leong Bank credit card for the heck of it and got a knockoff Anello bag for my trouble. Now the trouble is getting rid of it. 

Didn't buy much. Put back a couple of books. Because they started using a new Point of Sale (PoS) system this year, I couldn't pay by card and had to pay by cash. I don't know if it was them or Maybank. 

One of the things I notice about this was me not having to go around too many strollers and prams. Or it might have to do with me not hanging around the kids section also...?

Only left around 1 something after lunch next door and Starbucks. 

Aidiladha 2016

Today being a public holiday, I kinda planned to go check out Popular's RM5 Fiesta in Viva Home. The sibling only came along because there wasn't gonna be any lunch at home, but also to up his Pokemon GO game, which was fine by me. 

Didn't buy any books this year (didn't see any graphic novels this time) because I wasn't really in the mood, but I did get myself a new roll of plastic book wrap. Also had lunch at the Thai restaurant there before leaving.

Also swung by Amcorp Mall on the way home because I hadn't been back to BookXcess for the longest time. The park across the street was buzzing with people and Pokemon lures as people are trying to catch Pikachu (makes sense, since there's a TNB office nearby and it's an electrical creature) and what not. 

Finally called it a day and went home. Feeling a little tired because I'm feeling a little under the weather (funny feeling in the throat, etc)... 

KL International Book Fair 2016

Killed a couple of the afternoon hours by driving out to MAEPS for the KL International Book Fair, with pretty low expectations - I hadn't attended for a number of years now, mostly because it was in PWTC (and the travel wasn't worth it), and also knowing that I would come up empty handed because about 80% of the booths carry Malay or religious titles and I'm aware I'm not the target demographic. It was either this, or pay too much for parking at a mall with everyone else who hasn't left town, so whatever. 

When I finally got there, there was a RM3 fee (entrance or parking, I'm not sure) which I was peeved about until I saw the MAEPS trams out and about - it's been ages since I had last ridden one of these (okay, not since Big Bad Wolf Books had their sale there one year), so as long as I didn't have to walk from where I parked (I probably could've walked if I had to, but really...), I just hopped on a passing tram and enjoyed the ride. Well, I enjoyed it more than this pakcik, who was a bit anxious about where the tram was going until we got right to the door. His kid was more calm about it than he was. 

Because it was spread out over 3 different halls, it took me some time to cover it all (even though I could've done without going to Hall D), but by the time I got out of Halls A and B, it was raining heavily. I was there probably an hour, 90 minutes tops? The only thing I got was a free poster of who the current ministers and their deputies are, and a booklet about GST from the Kementerian Penerangan booth. Yeah it's not just book publishers, there's also a BSN presence, your local universities, different ministries... Can't help but notice that I was probably one of the few non-Malay visitors there... 

Because of the weather, the trams just drove into the canopy so alighting passengers aren't sopping wet. I also didn't know them trams had window panes. I hopped on the next tram back to where I parked and left. 

I was feeling peckish by the time I got back to PJ, I stopped by the only Starbucks on the way home with free indoor parking and had both the S'mores frapp and a S'mores tart. 

All I can say about that was I'm never having the S'mores frapp ever again. 

2015 Big Bad Wolf Books sale

Took me what felt like (and probably was) an hour to get to the sale because I kept taking the wrong lanes (it's not a place I go that often, maybe twice a year tops) and once you take the wrong lane, it's a long time before you can get back to where you wanted to be. And yes, I actually shut up and paid the RM2.10 toll at Sunway (or RM4.20 both ways), but not the toll after the racetrack, so SUCK ON THAT... haha.

By the time I paid the entrance parking fee of RM4, it was about 2 something in the p.m. As usual, getting in and parking was the easy part (never spent more than 10 minutes; making up for lost time on the road, I guess). Also, you know the credit card promoters must have a serious KPI if one guy promised (and did) give me twice the signup gifts (RM10 voucher and the flat water bottle everyone else now is ciplak-ing from the memobottle Kickstarter project) just to get me to sign up for a credit card.

The graphic novel section was a bit disappointing as the tables mostly made up of comic strip compilations. 

Pretty much eyeballed most of the areas I wanted to see, stored my unpurchased stuff downstairs before going up to check out the F&B options (sadly, no massage booth this time) for a bit, eyeballed some more, paid and left. Prices have gone up RM2 on average - books that were RM8 are now RM10, etc.

Paying was fast and painless - no line. The cashiers there (I asked, they told me) had been there since 7 A.M. Holy shit man!

Here's the haul pic, if anyone else cares... 

Makin lama, makin kurang beli... 

Leaving was a pain in the backside because there was only one egress, which was one of the things that infuriate me about Mines. (THANKS, CAPITALAND) Left about 5 something, but with the congestion on the way out, I only got home around 6 something. Good thing I didn't need to use the bathroom until I got home.

PS. Didn't spend that much time in the mall next door either - I was mostly in Spotlight figuring out what to spend the RM30 voucher on and ended up with cotton, non-quilted pillow protectors which only cost RM9 (or RM4.50 each cos it was a two-pack) after the voucher. And the voucher I printed out crapped out at the cashier, which they had to override in the end when I show them the email on my phone. 

Stray observations:

• If you have a Hong Leong card (of any kind, principal or supplementary, which was what I was told), you could redeem either a can of Nescafe or a bottle of Milo from the counter outside the hall without having to play the game on their console which craps out every n-th player. 
• You know what would be fun? If they sold alcohol and people sipping on wine or something as they browsed for books, haha. If you spill, you pay. 

Popular Warehouse Sale, Viva Home

Since I had the day off and was done sending the car to the service centre (was advised to come early as it's a major service so I could leave by lunch, so I woke up earlier than I would and hauled ass), so I dropped by the members' preview of Popular's warehouse sale happening in Viva Expo Mall (a mall primarily known for home furnishings, but a lot of companies have been having their warehouse sales there in the last few years). 

Of course because most kids have started their school holidays, there's a lot of those (and their parents) there when I got there around 2 something. Didn't take me long to get through the English section of the sale and since I skipped about half the place, I spent more time in the stationery section. 

And then I decided to finally check out and THIS HAPPENED.... two different ladies with not one, not two, BUT SEVERAL baskets full of stuff taking up two of the three cashiers in. I don't know if they were buying Christmas presents or what, but... oh my crap, it's times like this I wish there were express lanes or something. One of the ladies even brought LUGGAGE to haul it all in. Waited what felt like FOREVER because of these ladies. It also took the supervisors way too long to figure that out and to redirect the long queue behind me. To say I was so close, and yet so far doesn't quite cut it :P

And no, I didn't care as to how they loaded everything into their cars, either. 

Popular RM5 Fiesta

Spent the Malaysia Day holiday (the afternoon, anyway) at Popular Bookstore's RM5 Fiesta happening at the event hall in Viva Home. Parking is pretty cheap (RM1 for the first 3 hours).

Only spent an hour or two tops because I wasn't really looking to get anything, but there's a lot of books and most (if not, all of them) going for RM5 EACH. There's also stationery, toys, and other stuff too, but those aren't all RM5 (thankfully). 

Long story short, here's haul pic. Didn't want to read anything with too many words, so I checked out the one, sad Graphic Novels table and got these. 

2014 Big Bad Wolf Book Sale

Decided to go to the Tiny Tapir warehouse sale in Cheras first before heading over to Mines for the annual pilgrimage. Traffic going in was tolerable compared to last year, but the congestion going into the convention centre was because (in their "infinite wisdom") had closed off access to 3 out of the 4 payment booths. Kanasai. Parking still RM4 per entry. Also didn't take me too long to find parking, so yay. 

I had read Small Kucing's (or rather, Mamarazzi's) take from the preview sale about the exit/cashier counters being on the other side of the hall. I only say that because I had wanted to check out the non-fiction stuff first before the fiction section, but the non-fiction was nearest the cashier, so I walked up towards the exit, worked my way down to the fiction side, then walked up again to pay. By the time I worked my way towards the cashier, I was tired and sore and made use of the storage service and took a break upstairs on the mezzanine floor. 

I did like that it's not all just tables of books - they also have other things on display on the floor to break things up a little. Or for me at least, a way to keep track of where I already looked. Gone through the numerous tables holding the food and cook books, but still no sign of the third Good Eats book. Maybe Alton Brown and Martha Stewart have the same deal where their books don't hit the remainder book circuit...?

Whoever thought of a massage service upstairs was a bloody genius. Blind masseuse, some more. In case anyone's wondering, they offer foot (in case your feet are sore from all the walking around) and shoulder (if you're a bit lenguh from carrying stuff around, like I was) massages. Starts from RM15 for 15 minutes, RM30 for half hour and RM50 for the full hour. Opted for the 15 minute shoulder massage. The guy I got wasn't too bad, a bit chatty if you're into that kind of thing. Like the Wolf minions downstairs, they also work on 12-hour shifts. 

Yup, Astro Awani was on scene. Hope my mug (or butt) is not on there when it airs..

Not quite the Game of Thrones throne, but hey.. it's for sale. No joke.

My own minimal haul 

I also liked that they have cordoned off sorting section for people to decide what books to buy or to put back instead of clogging up the area before the cashiers. 

All in all, took me a couple of hours and this was after I had skipped a quite a bit of the place (the kids section, the Malay and Chinese books, the coffee table books, the tables marked "Romance"...). Humour section for me this year was a little slim pickings. 

I've gotten really picky with what books to buy because I want to buy what I want to keep, and not what I would have to "get rid of" later... like the Philippa Gregory books I found (which I only buy at these sales, never full price - my "guilty pleasure" author). Also got sucked in and bought the FoxTrot box set because I hadn't followed the strip consistently, and I am a sucker for Jason's pet lizard. 

PS. I wonder if the headache I got later was a result from the massage, or just plain dehydration and weather-related? That was the only reason why this is out so late. 

Big Bad Wolf Fireball Book Sale

I wasn't crazy enough to go to the Big Bad Wolf Fireball Book Sale at 9 a.m., but I did eventually got myself there closer to noon. Traffic was pretty smooth sailing driving there, but was annoyed that MIECC parking was now RM4 on weekends (but still flat rate). 

This sale was about 1/3 the size of last year's sale, which was great for the tootsies. I definitely killed a couple hours there (even though I already skipped several sections there) because I was scouring for better copies of the books I found. By the time I left (killed some time in the mall next door too), traffic definitely got worse all around. Took me way too long to figure out how to get out of paying one trip of toll getting to that neck of the woods. 

To anyone who cares, here's the haul pic: RM5 each. Was glad to have found the 4 Hour Body book, and gladder that it's only RM5. Cannot complain. Now to clean them and remove the price stickers... 

Haul from Big Bad Wolf Books Sale 2013

Wasted an hour or two at home when I thought there wasn't an available car for me around. Decided to drive to another warehouse sale before going over to Mines. It probably took me about 30 minutes (more or less) to approach the Mines Convention Centre because there were many cars heading there and traffic there in general is already a bitch the rest of the year anyway. 

Fortunately it took me less than a minute to score a pretty sweet parking space downstairs (which is RM3 flat rate compared to the mall next door, which is RM3 for the first few hours). So it was alright. 

Several hours later (including a late lunch break upstairs - they really do have a variety of eating choices, from rice and lauk to Western fast food).

I have this hypothesis that the more books they have to sell (3 million this year), the less I come away with. I present to you my haul... 

Three books: RM25 total

Radiohead poster: RM29.90 (there's a bunch of pop culture posters available after you paid for the books in a different section). I only hope that I don't already have it somewhere in the poster tubes at home...

Microfiber cloth: RM5

See?

Don't think I got the strength to go again lah.

Since I already paid parking, I decided to walk over to the mall next door. Spent most of the time looking for Daiso to get the USB cigarette light charger thing, only to find that they're sold out. Cis.

Also managed to check out the recently opened UNIQLO outlet and bought a top that was Limited Offer. I know, I very cheap liddat :P (Also, this is me shopping for CNY already)

Times Bookstore Warehouse Sale and Haul

Late Saturday morning spent at Times warehouse sale happening at Subang Jaya Light Industrial Estate, a part of Subang I personally am not that familiar with (okaylah, I admit I'm not familiar with MOST of Subang). Stupid GPS and Google Maps directions made it harder than it actually was 

(from PJ: next left turn after Summit, right at the immediate traffic junction after when you see Giant on your left, second or third left after; lucky the street signs were still legible and unsullied by ah longs). 

It was so quiet outside I thought I had the date or place wrong or something. Which I thought was a little odd. Maybe people got burned (out?) by previous clearance sales and didn't want to bother with this one? It was a warehouse sale in every sense of the word: it really was in their warehouse towards the back which I almost missed...

Yes it was hot and yes, I got sweaty even with the fans. Didn't keep track of how much time I spent there (under an hour, I think?), but between the speed scanning, skipping what I would normally skip and how it wasn't THAT crowded, I thought I got out with time to spare for the movie plan I made. 

Only the bottom one was 70% off, one was RM3, and the rest were 90% off. 

19 April - 4 May

10 a.m. - 7 p.m.

PANSING MARKETING (M) SDN BHD
Lot 557 A & B, Jalan Subang 3,
Subang Jaya Light Industrial Estate,
47610, Subang Jaya, Selangor.

2012 Big Bad Wolf Books haul

Back from this year's Big Bad Wolf Books sale at Mines convention centre. By the time I started at the actual book fair, it was about noon-ish, so that's when I started the clock for myself.

Hilariously enough, they were selling wheelie luggage bags outside the fair in case you needed one - LOL.

Almost two hours of speed eye balling later (after skipping a third of the fair - the kids, chicklit, Malay, Christmas books, coffee table books and YA sections), I only got 5 books for under RM50. Sigh - the more books they have for sale, the less I come out with. It's not hard once you stick to your wishlist and decide not to get copies of the Jamie/Nigella/Gordon cookbooks that they have EVERYWHERE. That, and I was getting tired from lugging my own haul around, so yeah.

The browsing experience wasn't TOO bad - there's so much space in between the tables for strollers, trolleys and luggage bags. There's air conditioning... The convention centre parking downstairs feels a bit dodgy especially if you're there alone in the evening (they're not closing at all until tomorrow at 9.30 p.m.), but during the day... no biggie lah.

Luckily I didn't have to wait too long to pay, but I have to admit, the cashiers must be a little glad not to have so many books to key in :P

In case anyone cares, here's a picture of the haul...

The only wishlist item I found was The Daily Show book, Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race (RM12 - whee!). 

I don't think I can do it again - once was enough :P

Big Bad Wolf is back...!

It's that time of year again.... 

THE BIG BAD WOLF BOOKS SALE!!

Klang Valley-ites (and beyond) wait all year for this sale for the (relatively) cheap, pretty good condition, remaindered books.

This year they're bringing things up a few notches with this... 

They are going to STAY OPEN for the first weekend of the sale, starting from 6.30 a.m. on Friday all the way to 9.30 p.m. on Sunday. That's what I call an ambitious undertaking. 

I will say now that I value what little sleep I get to be there so early on a Friday morning. I'll be there when I can, the 3 million books can wait.

I'm thinking either Friday night or Saturday morning personally, but I don't know yet... How about anyone else?

MPH Distributors warehouse sale

Wasn't one of the crazy people who woke up bright and early to check out the MPH Distributors warehouse sale at 3 Two Square, which is not far from their usual location in the industrial area. But I was there around 11 something in the morning. There were a lot of people there, but it wasn't so bad that you can't browse.

One thing I'm already hating is having to pay RM3 per entry weekend parking because of parking along the busy roads outside is not really an option. 

While the location is better lit and has better ventilation, but I was still a little sweaty. I can't be the only one.

It's a little boring for me as 40% of the sale space was dedicated to the under-20 set: loads of kids and YA titles, and the rest was neither terribly exciting or terribly cheap. Still went all the way to the back for the bargain stuff.

My haul - RM63

The box was RM10, Eugenides was RM15, the Monty Python was RM18, and Reduced Shakespeare was RM20. And no, I did not find a Michael Ruhlman book this time :(

What was in the box - coin can and 64-page comic book

I've definitely been spoiled by Big Bad Wolf Books sales - I thought this was just so-so.

Great for people shopping for kids, but for the rest of us... meh.

Big Bad Wolf Books Aftermath Sale

Dropped by the Big Bad Wolf Books Aftermath Sale at South City Plaza Saturday afternoon. Traffic outside South City Plaza was terrible (was everyone getting to the sale?). By the time I got there, I was in no mood to dig around so I decided to eyeball it to see what I could find. Didn't find much, which might have more to do with it being the middle of Day 3 and it looked like a tornado tore through the place. Prices start from RM5 or less.

That aside, I made off with...

1. Craig Ferguson's memoir, American on Purpose (hardcover, small tear in jacket) - I technically already heard the book on audio, but still... it's only RM5 (sorry, Craig).
2. Julie Powell's Cleaving (hardcover sans jacket)
3. Gloria Vanderbilt's Obssession: An Erotic Tale (CD)

All RM5. Cannot complain.

You have until Monday. Go.

Big Bad Wolf Book Sale 2011

This year, friend Elia was nice enough to drive (I paid the toll) us to the Big Bad Wolf Books sale in MAEPS (Malaysian Agro Exposition Park Serdang) in Serdang, as neither of us would've liked to go there alone. I wouldn't mind going on Saturday, but she already took leave, so might as well. We left PJ pretty early (before 9 a.m.), but took a wrong turn after the Cyberjaya toll plaza (my fault) and took a scenic route to UPM. At least we made it there in the end. By the time we got to MAEPS, it was almost 10 a.m. anyway, so we didn't spend too much time waiting to go in or what. 

As it is quite a distance if one were to walk to Hall A from the parking lots, there are plenty of colourful, themed shuttle buses making the rounds at your disposal, so I suggest hopping on and don't wear yourself out walking there before walking around. By the time we got to the hall by shuttle, the doors were open and we just sauntered in without having to line up.

Book holding counters (one each side) - drop off, get a number and keep browsing!
No need to lug your haul around the hall!

Area before the cashier counters - people sorting their loot

Cashiers - plenty to go around, but need express ones lah

Spent a couple of hours there tops, but I didn't buy or spend too much. This year's damage? RM59. Sure, there were a lot of books, but not necessarily books that I wanted. So it was easy sticking to my RM100 budget.

Here's pictures of the haul, in case anyone's interested...

Book damage: RM53. Guess which was the priciest.

Push up measuring cup - RM6.
Like the one Alton Brown uses on Good Eats

Random thoughts and observations:

• I recommend taking the shuttle buses.
• On the subject of vehicles - I've been reading that there's no easy access by public transport and taxi is a bit too expensive. Drive if you can, or hit up someone with a car and hitch a ride with them. Seriously.
• I did not appreciate the OCBC people trying to disturb my book browsing by trying to pitch their bank's credit card (which they're incentivizing by throwing in RM20 Big Bad Wolf Books gift  vouchers) LESS THAN TWO MINUTES INTO THE BOOK BROWSING. WTF. I know they were the official credit card and all, but really... I don't care.
• There's a table in the Cookery section where they're selling silicone baking trays, etc.
• There was plenty of space for everyone and also their trolleys and wheelie bags. But I can't say the same for Saturday and Sunday... 
• They should set up several express lane counters (like in the supermarket) for people who bought 10 items or less, just so jokers like me won't get stuck behind people who bought 5 - 6 huge boxes of books -_-

On the return shuttle back to the parking lot at around noon, there was a significant line at the entrance. Just thought you should know. Go early.

Had to mention we took a wrong turn or two on the way home as well, but was fine once we got on the LDP. Yay.

I also just found the BFM interview with the founders of Big Bad Wolf Books and BookXcess... take a listen, why don't you?