hi twirl, thanks for your advice but I do not have much choice because I don't want to hack the existing ceramic flooring as it will cost too much. laminate is the best option for me I guess as i only have to hack away the tile skirting and do a pebble wash at the foyer area.
in the end i was offered a swiss brand AC4 type which costs about $3.43 psf after GST. it was a bit more expensive than the malaysian ones but they had a wider range of colours to choose from. keeping my fingers crossed that it will turn out ok.