World Tallest Twin Tower, Petronas Twin Tower Malaysia
Many travelers have asked me; what is so special about Malaysia? The answer is simple, Malaysia Truly Asia.

Penang’s Komtar Tower
Independent for more than 50 years, Malaysia is a country with deep culture and history. In the past as Malaya (former name of Malaysia) is an important place for trading in the past, Malaya was the central hub in trading between the West and East. At that time, state Melaka or Malacca was one of the most powerful countries in South East Asia. For such we have the name of “Straits of Malacca” named after it. With Dutch, Portuguese and English colonization, Malaysia embraced multi cultural and multi ethnic influences from them. Until today, there are still Dutch, Portuguese and English descendants who are still staying in Malaysia. Today, Malaysia comprises of Malay, Chinese, Indian and other ethnic groups who has been staying together in harmony and peace for centuries.

Malaysia’s Oldest Mosque, Kampung Kling Melaka

Buddha Statue with the Golden Lips, read http://www.placesandfoods.com/2011/01/phra-buddha-bharameedharm-chamruslok-temple-kelantan-the-buddha-statue-with-golden-lips.html (Largest sitting Buddha in South East Asia)

The one and only Chinese Mosque in Malaysia, read http://www.placesandfoods.com/2010/10/beijingmosque.html

Malaysia’s world famous Batu Caves

Malaysia is also popular for its world class cuisine. Malaysia plays host for the Malaysia International Gourmet Festival, it is a hit among the locals and the foreigners as we Malaysians showcase the best food in Malaysia to the world. The month long celebration is an annual affair and tourists are able to taste Malaysia’s best in participating restaurants and hotels. Malaysia is also home for popular multi racial food such as Malay, Chinese and Indian food. Most of the Malaysian food is only available in Malaysia except a few landed in Singapore.

Malaysia’s popular Nasi Kandar in Penang.

(Video- Malaysia Top Chef, Chef Wan making popular Malay Dish – Kerabu) Read http://www.placesandfoods.com/2010/09/chefwankerabu.html

Malaysia Street Food, BBQ Chicken Wings

Malaysia is a host for for ecology and nature paradise with an estimation of 20% of the world’s animal species, 620 species of bird, 150 species of snakes, 15,000 species of vascular plants and forest believed to be more than 130 million years old. From the popular Mount Kinabalu, the highest mountain in Southeast Asia to the Mulu Caves, the largest cave in the world, Malaysia offers nature, ecology and outdoor tourism like no other countries. Malaysia has one of the best diving spot in the world, Pulau Sipadan off Sabah is voted as the top 10 diving spots in the world.

Penang’s famous Chinese Temple, Kek Lok Si, read http://www.placesandfoods.com/2009/08/the-famous-kek-lok-si-temple-penang.html

Bird watcher will be given a real treat as there are more than 620 species of bird recorded in Malaysia. Not forgetting the proboscis monkey and orang utan in Borneo. For nature lovers, the National Park in Pahang will send tourist back to time with forest believed to be more than 130 million years old. For flower lovers, please do not forget the biggest flower in world, the Rafflesia. For beach lovers, please do check out the beautiful islands of Pulau Langkawi, Pulau Tioman, Pulau Redang, Pulau Perhentian, Pulau Pangkor and Pulau Penang.

Live horseshoe crab in Langkawi. Read my “5 Things To Do in Langkawi’s Mangrove Eco Tour” http://www.placesandfoods.com/2010/12/5-things-to-do-in-langkawi%E2%80%99s-mangrove-eco-tour.html

Beautiful Pulau Dayang near Langkawi.

Read more about Pulau Dayang http://www.placesandfoods.com/2010/05/pulau-dayang-bunting-marble-geopark-langkawi-malaysia.html

For history lovers, turn back time to visit the UNESCO Heritage Site in Melaka and Pulau Pinang.

Malaysia’s Oldest Temple, Kampung Kling in Melaka

(video – Eagle Feeding in Langkawi)

Read more about wild eagle feeding in Langkawi, http://www.placesandfoods.com/2008/12/eagle-feeding-langkawi.html

(video – Underwater near Pulau Redang)

Read more about the Redang’s Underwater Adventure >> http://www.placesandfoods.com/2010/01/underwater-pictures-and-videos-of-redang-marine-parkex.html

(Video – Turtle Mating near Pulau Redang)

Read more about Turtle Mating in Redang >> http://www.placesandfoods.com/2010/06/travel-moments-turtles-mating-spotted-at-turtle-bay-redang-island-malaysia.html

For those who love shopping, Malaysia has one of the best shopping centers in the region. Visit Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia to shop for the best price. Look out for the Malaysia Sale Season for the best sale of the year. Malaysia is also home for unique handicrafts as well as the world class pewter, Royal Selangor.

(video- Kuala Lumpur Aerial View)

In Malaysia, we celebrate many events. Event such as Formula 1, MotoGP, Le Tour de Langkawi, Monsoon Cup, Rainforest Challenge, Malaysia Badminton Series, Malaysia Golf Open, Malaysia Tennis Open, World class concerts, Malaysia International Fashion Week, Malaysia International Gourmet Festival and multi racial festivals will entertain tourists all year round.

Malaysia Formula One GP in Sepang

(video- Malaysia Fireworks Competition)

Read more about Malaysia Internation Fireworks competition >> http://www.placesandfoods.com/2007/09/fireworks-at-putrajaya.html

(Video – Malaysia Fashion Week)

My MIFW Experience here> http://www.placesandfoods.com/2010/11/mifw-malaysia-international-fashion-week-2010-captured-with-nokia-n8.html

(Video – Hennessy Event, Party in Kuala Lumpur)

Malaysia’s top badminton player, Datuk Lee Chong Wei at Thomas Cup 2010, read >> http://www.placesandfoods.com/2010/05/thomas-cup-2010-malaysia-vs-japan-live-experience.html

The Annual Comic Fiesta for Comic and Cosplay fans, read http://www.placesandfoods.com/2009/12/comic-fiesta-2009-at-sunway-convention-center-malaysia-preview.html

For all the above, there is no country is more diversify and multi-racial than Malaysia.  I am proud to be born as Malaysian and proud to present Malaysia as a top class tourist destination. Malaysia is purely and truly Asia!

Few days ago, I was invited with fellow bloggers, Hanie Hidayah and Smashpop for a Missione Champione for Oris Col Moschin. Together with 20++ other media representatives, the whole mission was a top secret and only revealed at the destination place, the beautiful Tioman Island.

Firstly, I must thank Oris Malaysia, for inviting me for joining this Oris Col Moschin Missione Champione. After reaching in Tioman Island, all the “privates” were gathered at Berjaya Tioman Resort.

There, we got the instructions from Lt. Adeline Ng and Lt. Jenna.

Everyone was randomly pre-selected with different colour coded platoons.

There are 6 platoons; the Orange, Green, Blue, Cyan, Yellow and Red Platoon. I was selected in the Blue Platoon.

Hanie Hidayah is selected in the Red Platoon and Smashpop is selected in the Yellow Platoon.

Right we before started our mission, we were given a buffet lunch. I guess this is to make sure we have enough energy for the mission.

During lunch, we were given a simple task, to create our own flag.

I was chosen as the leader of the Blue team. Together with me are Ridzwan, Vincent, Yuan, Tiaw and Elina.

Luckily, Ridzwan is a very good artist and from there, we created our Blue Commando.

After getting all the teams and flags ready, we went to the beach for our mission briefing.

Hanie Hidayah is the leader of the RED team. I am the leader of the BLUE team. I was probably the weakest leader of all team.

However there’s no stopping us! Wonder why? Check out the video below for what’s coming next!

Action PACKED Travel Mission Oris Col Moschin Part 3 will be coming soon!

Few days ago, I was invited with fellow bloggers, Hanie Hidayah and Smashpop for a Missione Champione for ORIS Col Moschin. Together with 20++ other media representatives, the whole mission was a top secret and only revealed at the destination place, the beautiful Tioman Island.

I am getting ready for Missione Champione!
Firstly, I must thank ORIS Malaysia, for inviting me for joining this Oris Col Moschin Missione Champione. Together with other “privates”, we started off at Subang SkyPark Terminal.

Then we flew with the chartered Berjaya Air for the mission.

The plane is only for the ORIS Col Moschin Missione Champione privates. That was cool!

The beautiful Tioman Island of Pahang, Malaysia

After almost an hour of flying, we reached our destination, the Tioman Island. The view from the top reveals the beautiful scenery of the island. This is my first time going to Tioman Island.

We reached our destination point, Tioman Island safely. But what are we going to do after this could be more terrifying than we thought or it could be just a beach, sun, sand experience? How tough is this ORIS Col Moschin Missione Champione? Stay tune and wait for Part 2. It will be coming soon!

It came no surprise when the boycott news spread like wildfire lately due to an incident between the famous Lorong Selamat’s Char Koay Teow Kafe Heng Huat and a customer. This was not their first case as I was told.

I came to know about this popular char koay teow stall a few years due to recommendations by friends and clients. I was there a few times for my crave’s for Penang’s char koay teow.
The stall is located at Kafe Heng Huat, at Lorong Selamat. A small coffee shop and a char koay teow stall in front. Beside the coffee shop, there is a small open air car park. It’s hard to miss it.

The sisters’ trademark is the goggles. Cooking using traditional method of charcoal, the food tends to be tastier as many believed. The price of a plate of char koay teow starts from RM6 to RM 8.50. The price is comparable to certain food courts of Kuala Lumpur, it is definitely costlier than most places in Malaysia.

If the price is not an issue, then the waiting time could be another issue. Usually the waiting time is around half an hour to an hour. It depends on your luck. Weekdays are less congested while weekends will be packed by tourists.

After a half an hour wait, I got my char koay teow. Served with huge prawns, the char koay teow did live up with their reputations. While many Penangites claimed others are better, I was satisfied with this.

I’ve heard about their attitude problems but so far I have no problems with them. For the price with the huge prawns, it is okay with me. If you ask me, will I back to eat there again? I will if the waiting time is less than 30 minutes. Anything more than that, I will just walk away.
Shall we boycott them? Well, this is all up to you.
Thank you for reading.

It is one of the best resorts in Redang, no doubt about it. I’m talking about the Berjaya Redang Resort. Redang Island is one of my favourite destinations in the region apart from Bali and Phuket. I had been going there almost in yearly basis.

We reached Berjaya Redang via coach from the Redang Island airport.
My recent visit to Berjaya Redang Resort was in April for a friend’s wedding there. Together with our friends, we flew to Redang via Berjaya Air for the first time.
Upon reaching the Redang Airport, a coach was already there waiting to pick us up. Then we drove past the Redang village and reach the resort.

Then we queued up for our room check in. The lobby looks good on my first impression.

The ambience was good through it was slightly dark even though with the soft lighted chandeliers. Even from the lobby, we can see the beautiful private beach.

Then, we spotted the garden suites beside the main hall. Well, we would love to stay there but we got a cheaper room at the Redang Hillview.

The garden suites, just few steps away from the beach

Unlike the suites near the beach, the Redang Hillview is nearer to main entrance of the resort. To walk to there, it will take around 10 min. However, the resort offers small buggies round the clock to ferry their guests.

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This one of the moments that when it happened without me. Rachel went to Redang Island a few years back with her buddies in an all girls trip and had a great time snorkeling around Turtle Bay. Luckily, Rachel is a good swimmer and she enjoys snorkeling without a life jacket, something which I couldn’t do.

There’s always a reason a place is called Turtle Bay, obviously there’s a lot of turtles. Well, it’s not by pure luck, so far I bumped to the wild turtles on each of my trips to Turtle Bay. In fact there are also sightings of baby sharks near the beach off Redang Island Beach resort.
As amazing Redang could be, Rachel experienced a much more amazing sight. Three turtles were spotted together at once.

Two turtles were mating and the last one was chasing them. The whole “drama” lasted at least 15 to 20 minutes.

Mating session, please do not interrupt!

Can you spot the ****?

The two turtles were cuddling and kissing while the envy third tried to interrupt them. With the help of the “beach boys”, Rachel managed to capture the mating sequences on picture and video. Well, swimming and taking underwater pictures and video is not an easy task.

Check out the video captured by Rachel!

Well, that’s my wife, Rachel.

It was one of the best travel moments for Rachel. And this is one of the more reasons why Redang Island remains my favourite island getaway!

Thanks for reading!

A few tourists asked me about Langkawi during our (Rachel and I) way back from Cambodia. It seems to be Langkawi is very popular with the European and the North American tourists. They seems to have a lot of interest and knowledge in Langkawi and Penang, maybe Tourism Malaysia did they part well there. Langkawi now, is very much different than it used to be. My first trip to Langkawi dated bac k to 1990s, where the tourist attractions were only the Mahsuri tomb and a few beaches. Now, it is a different place altogether.

One of the must join tour in Langkawi is the island hopping tour. The highlights of the tour will be the Pulau Beras Basah (island) and the Pulau Bunting Marble Geopark (island). I did write a short post about Pulau Beras Basah a few weeks ago, you can check it out here.

The Pulau Bunting Marble Geopark has been around since the 1990s. The uniqueness of this island lies at the center of the island, a lake. A fresh water lake within an island is something that you don’t see often.

To access to the lake, it will take a while to climb up and down the stairs from the jetty. Surrounded by nature, the island is still well maintained after so many years.

While walking the pathway, do beware of the wild monkeys of the island. As nice as they looks like, please bear in mind wild monkeys carry certain diseases such as herpes.

After a short walk, we reached the lake. Surrounded by nature, the lake was clean and the view was amazing.

There were “couple boats” for rent and we wouldn’t mind spending a few ringgits for a ride. We enjoy our little moments on the lake, enjoying the sights and sounds surrounding the lake.

AS we thought that was it, we spotted a few tourists enjoying the “fish spa”. There were lots of catfish in the lake.

Many people would dip their legs as the catfish will swim around the legs. Well, it was fun! Ticklish but enjoyable!

Langkawi is no longer just a tax free island with cheap booze. There are more to see in Langkawi then before. Do check out their mangrove tour and also the island hopping tour. It is worthwhile to join such tours. It was better than expected!

How to get to Pulau Dayang Bunting Marble Geopark, Langkawi

There are local tours in most hotels in Langkawi offering island hopping tours. Pulau Dayang Bunting Marble Geopark is usually included in the tour.

It could be an amazing experience of Berjaya Redang Resort after a two nights stay there. However, the excitement turned ugly when we got told that our flight delayed to 4.30pm through our friends. Then it got delayed again until 7 pm. Well let me explain how it happened.

The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Redang was smooth. Kudos to them. However the return flight today was disappointing.

Our initial flight to fly from Redang to Kuala Lumpur with Berjaya Air was 12.30 pm. We were supposed to check out our Berjaya Redang Resort room by 11.3o am. At 11.30 am, we received call by our friends telling us our flight got delayed. The announcement here was conveyed by our friends instead of the airline representatives or the hotel representatives. We were told by our friends, the flight got delayed to 4.30pm and our rooms were extended to late check out until 2pm and we supposed to leave Berjaya Redang Resort by 3.30pm.

Okay, until 12.30pm, we received no phone calls from them telling us the flight delay. Imagine if our friends didn’t call us, we would miss the plane. Since the flight delayed till 4.30pm, we went for lunch at a  restaurant nearby. At 2pm, we received another call that we could board the 3 pm flight. Again, why is the 12.30pm flight delayed till 4.30pm while the 3pm flight remained? Nobody knows.

So then, we went back to the lobby and asked about the availability seats for 3 pm flight, she told us it was full. Then, to make matter worst, she told us the flight got delayed furthermore till 6 pm. Then, she told us there was lunch available for free until 2.30 pm after we had our lunch. We got really upset.

1. NO ONE from Berjaya Redang Resort or Berjaya Air bother to inform us about the initial 4.30 pm flight delayed.

2. NO ONE from Berjaya Redang Resort or Berjaya Air can explain why that we could not take the 3pm flight.

3. NO ONE from Berjaya Redang Resort or Berjaya Air bother to tell us that we got FREE LUNCH in the hotel.

4. NO ONE from Berjaya Redang Resort or Berjaya Air bother to inform us the flight got DELAYED AGAIN till 6pm.

The person in charge kept arguing that she has informed us, called our hotel room and such. What a big liar and bullshit I’ve heard. They got my mobile number records, she could have call us if she wanted to and we were in the hotel room until 12.30pm and there were no calls.

So then, we requested for an extra room and free meal which they agreed. However, while taking order for our free meal at 4pm, they created a mess again stating we can only have cakes and tea while the other group can order what they want. Everyone got really upset and only then, they agreed to what we were promised.

After wasting our valuable half day in the resort, we went to the airport for another 1 hour wait. We reached Subang at 8 pm. We couldn’t arrange transportation because they kept changing the timing.

I wouldn’t mind 6 hours delay if they could inform us properly. No phone calls or notices in the lobby showed how irresponsible they were. It was really a sour note to a great holiday.

My previous trip to Langkawi really changed my perception towards the island. It really changed so much over the past decade. From a duty free island to now a more adventurous and fun island. The island hopping tour we paid, brought to this beautiful Beras Basah Island.

A direct translation of Beras Basah means wet rice. It’s one of the popular destination in Langkawi island. And example of Beras Basah Island or Pulau Beras Basah by Tourism Malaysia.

When we docked at the jetty we were quite surprised by the white sands beach. Check out the color of the sands, the picture is not edited.

Under the shady coconut trees, we sat down and enjoy the beautiful beach. But do watch out for the falling coconuts, I’m just joking.

One of the best thing about the island, its not that busy and packed. So claiming a spot for sun bathing or chill out was easy. Ordering some cold drinks from the shop nearby was the next best thing to do.

On top of sun bathing and probably having a dip near the beach, Beras Basah Island also offers outdoor activities such as banana boat ride and para sailing.

A group of tourists having a fun time riding the banana boat ride.

Well this was us and you can see the para sailing at the background.

For more information on the outdoor activities, please check on the operator vendor on the island.

How to get to Beras Basah Island:

Do check the local tour operators in various locations in Langkawi such as hotels and airport for the island hopping tour that is inclusive of the Beras Basah Island stop-over.

Chartered your own boat at jetty or also consult the local tour operators.

Charges and fees differs depending on the boat type and boat sizes.

Our 2008 trip to Redang was a good one. It was actually Wilson’s first time to Redang Island. We didn’t stay at one of the top resorts, we opted for an average resort which was averagely good. Our package includes snorkeling trips to Redang Marine Park with the additional fee of RM 5 (US$ 1.8) only.

The island is well maintained, crowded by tourist but it was very clean. We were advised to snorkel around the island and it was indeed one of the best snorkeling site we’ve been.

It was Wilson in front and Angela (my sister) at the back.

Check out the Tiger Fish.

Up close and personal.

Feeding time, we brought some bread to feed the fish, they loved it!

There were also other different types of fish there. Can’t really name what fishes they were, but they were very colorful.

That’s us! Wilson and I!

Amazing, well preserved and beautiful corals.

Can you spot “Nemo” (clown fish) down there?

I bet you can spot the baby shark! Don’t worry, they won’t bite and attack humans. What a sight!

Check out the video of the school fish, awesome!

The colorful fish at Redang Marine Park. The moment underwater was so nice, cooling and stress free. Wish I could go there more often, hearts Redang Marine Park. Awesome!!