Some stories about us

TravePhoto @ Malaysia Bird Parks

2012-01-25T20:10:00.062+08:00

KL Bird Park is one of the must visit places in Kuala Lumpur. The open aviary concept of the bird park ensures close encounter between human being and the flipping cuties.

We have visited the bird park few times last year, and, for sure, we will visit the park again in future. With our Nikon P100 super zoom, the beauty of the birds escapes no more. We would like to bring to you some of our photos taken in the park. Hope you enjoy them!

These photos can be viewed at highest resolution on Ling Shing's flickr.

Special Notes:
-While keep the slideshow playing, keep your mouse out of the slideshow "screen" to see the "full-screen" photos.

Go back to Our TravePhoto page. Or read more about our experience in KL Bird Park at:

[KL Bird Park] [All Our Destination]

A Day Tour around Sibu

2011-12-26T17:29:00.001+08:00

Thanks to my brother's wedding, we received a band of Perakians in Sibu. They are young, energetic, full of curiosity, adventurous and, that's their first time in Sibu. The town by the River of Goose has much to offer, and as their tour guide, I had to ensure that they found the hidden gems of Sibu.

Sunday, mid of December, 9 am, clear blue sky with merciless blazing sun. We stepped out from Kingwood Hotel to scout for renown dian-bian-hu (鼎边糊) at Sibu Butterfly Garden. Along the way, the story of why the Rejang River is crowned with another name- the River of Goose, was told. We stopped at Sibu Express Boat Terminal for a while to experience how important the river is to the people in Sarawak.

My original plan was to visit Yong-An Ting and the pagoda first before breakfast. But they were really starving. So, plan-B, the food first.

How good was the dian bian hu? You can tell from their expression. I had to order the food for three rounds, in order to fill their appetite. By the way, they were sitting in Ah Hee Kopi Tian, while ordering dian bian hu from the food stall beside the coffee shop. They took Char Mee (fried noodle) and Char Meehun (fried beehun) as well at the coffee shop.

This is a bowl of the traditional Foochow delight with cuttlefish, home made fish ball, black fungus, blended with Sarawak black pepper. Beware, it is highly addictive!

After the breakfast, they stormed the souvenir shop beside the coffee shop.

Out of a sudden, three samurai appeared in front of Alih Craft (the souvenir shop) ...

Knowing the place of worship is always nearer to heaven, some of them had actually tried to fly right into the heaven...

They did it... for a short while.

Then, I brought them to Sibu Heritage Centre at Central Road. This building used to be the head office of Sibu Municipal Council. We spent nearly one hour in the centre.

Security.... someone is taking photo inside the exhibition hall!!

12:30 pm, we left the heritage centre to find something to eat.

So I brought them to this very old gom bian shop, Seng Kee at Market Road.

And all of them really "give-face" by eating the gom bian right in front of the shop. Btw, I think the shop owner should give some advertising fee to these ladies to stand longer in front of the shop.

Next stop, Sibu Central Market. I planned to show them the hand made soo-mee (a special type of mee suah), dried kampua mee (noodle), and some indigenous fruits and vegetables.

This is how the dried kampua mee looks like.

They were lucky. They were able to identify one of the seasonal fruits- Dabai in the market. Besides, they found buah Sibau, ikan masin terumbok (Sarawak famous salted fish), and paku (a kind of edible fern). Driven by the tiredness, I couldn't show them many other things, such as tebaloi, the mountain durian, buah terap, sago, mulung, and fresh midin.

Sibu Central Market guarantees no empty hands!

Our tour officially ended at 2 pm, after I successfully brought them back to the hotel. I didn't bring them to Wisma Sanyan, Sibu Town Square and Masland Church at Island Road as all my tour members had visited the places a day before.

A solid five hours tour ended with one conclusion- Sibu is not small, as many had in their impression. Summary of the places that we had covered- Rejang Esplanade, Sibu Express Boat Terminal, dian bian hu for breakfast, Yong An Ting and the pagoda, Sibu Heritage Centre, traditional gom bian for refreshment, and Sibu Central Market.

Finally, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to all my tour members- Trass, Vernie, Yi Mei, Yong, Jessie, Tong Yuen, Jiunn Wai, Ken, Kun, Lih Yik, Pook, Kit Ling, and Xing Jiun, for the opportunity and the experience as a tour guide, especially for the tour on my beloved hometown.

Regards, Ling Shing.

More about our sharing on Sarawak are available at:

[Sibu: Attractions] [Sibu: Accommodation and Food] [Kuching]
[Matu-Daro to Dalat] [Mukah] [Tanjung Manis] [All Our Destinations]

Penang Batu Feringghi Beach

2011-12-14T23:20:00.001+08:00

If you think to put your feet down the beach with blue clear sea water, a touch of gentle wind with the hued evening sky is an experience of a lifetime, then, you might agree with us that Feringghi Beach is a place for you.

We heard many unpleasant news about the beach before- dirty, full with trash, accidents that brought injuries to visitors, and the list went on. However, the local authorities have their job well done, which recently had transformed the beach into a vacation paradise.

This is the prove- no sign of trash on this beach. We could see couples were enjoying their romantic moment while the thrill seekers were busy with their parasailing and jet skis (far left).

Parasailing is popular at this beach. The rate was RM45 per person per trip.

The rates of the water sports.

The lifeguards are on duty during the daytime.

We took our opportunity to take a walk from Bayview Beach Hotel to Parkroyal Hotel through the beach. Slowly, we made it in 30 minutes. Halfway down the beach, we enjoyed this beautiful sunset, around 6:30 pm.

We moved inwards, from the beach to the street after the sky turned dark. The Batu Feringghi Road turns into a night market belt after the night falls. The night market stretched more than 1 km from Shangri-La Rasa Sayang Resort to Bayview Beach Resort. The items offered by the night market were not that attractive to us, as they were basically a repetition of souvenirs, fake branded products, such as watches, clothes, and belts, as well as pirated DVDs. The only thing that attracted us was the food.

As we can see from the photos, there were not many people on the street and, it was not the off season. We learned from a taxi driver that the night market was targeting the tourists, with the items sold with the price slightly higher than other places in Penang. That's why the night market attracts less visitors. Trishaw is available at Feringghi only during the night time (lower right).

We can get various food at Feringghi- Indian food, Chinese food, Middle East food, fast food, Western steak house, you name it, you got it. We tried asam laksa (some refer it as assam laksa) and fried oyster at Long Beach Cafe (it's a food court). The taste, so-so. The food at George Town and Gurney Drive taste better. We passed by some of the food shops such as The Ship and Golden Thai, and we personally felt that the food over there were over-priced.

This is how Batu Feringghi Road looks like during the day time.

Batu Feringghi and Penang Airport are located at the both ends of Penang Island, northern and southern ends respectively, around 30 km apart from each other. By taxi, we took around 40 minutes to travel from the airport to our hotel, and the fare, RM75. We stayed in Bayview Beach Hotel at Batu Feringghi for one night. The hotel is just by the sea, with astonishing sea side view. We chose the hotel as it is cheaper (bigger room and lower rate), compared to the other major hotels nearby, such as Hard Rock Hotel, Parkroyal Hotel, Shangri-La Rasa Sayang, and Holiday Inn. Location wise, a little bit to the western end of the whole tourism belt, but its still acceptably good. If we use the street, by foot, the hotel is 10 minutes away from Parkroyal Hotel and 25 minutes away from Shangri-La Rasa Sayang Resort (we did a brief calculation when we were moving around the night market). Long Beach Cafe is around 20 minutes away from our hotel.

Bayview Beach Hotel from the street (upper left), with a nice pool facing the beach (upper right). We didn't expect to get such a good view from our hill view deluxe room (lower left), and the room is really big, with many space to move around.

This photo was taken with handphone camera. The wrong white balance setting gives a totally different feeling to the photo. Well, this photo was taken at the beach side of our hotel.

We were lucky to get complimentary breakfast at Parkroyal Hotel, thanks to the conference that one of us had attended at the hotel.

This is what we could see from our table during our breakfast.

We took the opportunity to walk around and enjoy the nice landscape of Parkroyal Hotel, and this was one of the picturesque scene we saw. In comparison, Parkroyal has better service and nicer landscape, a smaller room, and about RM200 more expensive than Bayview Beach Hotel.

After we enjoyed our breakfast, we started our journey to Penang Butterfly Farm and Penang War Museum. Follow us now!

All our sharing on Penang are available at:

[Penang Batu Feringghi Beach] [Penang Butterfly Farm and War Museum]
[Penang World Heritage Site Part 1] [Penang World Heritage Site Part 2]

[Penang Accomodation and Food] [All Our Destinations]

Penang Butterfly Farm and War Museum

2011-12-14T23:04:00.000+08:00

Hiding far at the north west corner of Penang Island, Penang Butterfly Farm is truly a hidden gem. Located at Teluk Bahang, approximately 20 km from George Town, but it is just 5 km away from our hotel at Batu Feringghi. As natural lovers, we didn't hesitate to visit the farm, for the second time (first time was in 2005). We took a taxi from Bayview Beach Hotel, with the fare of RM 20. Expensive for just 5 km, but had saved much of our time.

The farm opens 9 am - 6 pm daily. The admission fees are RM27 for adult and RM15 for child, with 33% discount for MyKad holders. So, we got our admission fee at RM18 per person. The farm improved. That's the first impression when we stepped into the garden area. Many butterflies whirling in the garden with their unscratched wings, with very few of them stopping on the net and tried to find a hole to escape (which showed the farm had provided friendly environment to the butterflies).

We saw many butterflies around the garden area, Autumn Leaf butterfly (upper left), Paper Kite (upper right), and New Lacewing (lower right) are some of the species available. The one on the lower left, is it a Peacock Pansy (Precis almana)?

Guided by resourceful and dedicated farm natural informationist, we learned some precious knowledge about the life cycle of a butterfly. Now, we know how to identify the butterfly's egg.

The egg will soon turns into a caterpillar (larva), pupa (chrysalis), and imago. We saw a Paper Kite imago emerged from pupa in the garden. The imago needs a few hours to dry up its wing before it can fly.

The garden area is well landscaped with waterfall (upper left) and few other water bodies. The directions are clearly stated (upper right). Many indigenous species of plants area available, including the nepenthes which prey on ants (lower right) and the water lily.

We had the chance to touch many of the insects inside the farm, shy leaf insect (upper left) which likes to hide on pomelo tree and gentle giant millipede (upper right) were some of them. The exhibition hall is quite informative (lower right), while the amphibian house provides a chance to take a very close look on different species of frogs.

We spent about an hour and a half at the farm. A canteen is attached to the farm, but it cannot be accessed from the garden area. So, sufficient drink is required to keep us hydrated. Butterflies will be attracted by human sweat, so we should not be surprised that we will become the attraction to the insects once we get wet due to sweating. Getting a taxi at a remote corner of Penang is not an easy task. So, we would advise that making the taxi wait for you is a good idea (or we can make an appointment with the taxi driver who drives us there). The bus service is scheduled at 40 minutes per bus. The information about the farm is available at its official website.

We would like to send our highest appreciation to our natural informationist for his guide.

After visited the butterfly farm, we were lucky enough to get a taxi without long waiting, which brought us from Batu Feringghi to our Chulia Heritage Hotel at George Town, and then to our next destination- Penang War Museum. It was a long journey, as the war museum is located at Batu Maung, just a few kilometers away from Penang Airport (gosh, we should have visited the museum first upon arrival, or before our departure). The taxi fare was RM45 per trip from George Town.

Penang War Museum is in fact a relics of a old British fortification, with massive tunnels and underground facilities. The fort was built by a combined work force of British engineers and local workers. The entrance fee of the museum is RM 20 per adult, and we need to pay RM 2 per camera. The opening hours are 9 am - 6 pm daily.

Our taxi driver helped us with this photo at the entrance of Penang War Museum.

We came across this replica of 6 inch breech loading gun just after the entrance. The gun which was originally installed here had an effective range of 15 km... wow!

The old abandoned fort has an extensive underground tunnels and fortification system, which was much more sophisticated and systematic compared to Fort Siloso at Sentosa Island. The old weapons and ammunition room (upper left) is located several meters under the hill. The explosive wastes were stored in a four storeys deep chamber (upper right). The entrance to the tunnels and underground chambers (lower left) were built around the fort, served as the escaping route for the soldiers. The rooms for the British Intel and the highest rank officers are located under the hill, which was impossible to be penetrated by the bombers. We found that all the underground complex here have excellent air ventilating system.

We met another site which was originally the firing bay of the big cannon. There is another firing bay like this in the museum, which the cannon was destroyed by the British during the Japanese invasion.

Anti aircraft artillery, 22 of them altogether were installed around the fort. It was one of the best anti aircraft system in whole South East Asia during World War 2. However, the British army was ordered to destroy most of their weapons before the Japanese attacked on 17 Dec 1941. If they had maintained this fort in full operational state, British might be able to hold longer against the Japanese attack.

The whole fort was built on 20 acres of land, with most of the buildings are well camouflaged. Many of the empty rooms, which once were the hostels for the soldiers are now serves as the places to display the photos, which were taken during War World 2.

Penang War Museum is located at the middle of the jungle. The fort was totally went out of notice after been abandoned after World War 2, for more than 30 years, and still remains as an isolated fort. So, getting our taxi to wait for us while we roam around the museum might be a wise idea.

According to the locals, the place is haunted, believe it or not, this fort was really infested by blood sucking "vampires". We were attacked by these "vampires" until we had to hasten our foot steps towards the exit. So, please bring along the mosquito repellent if you wish to get rid of these annoying pest. Comfortable walking shoes and sufficient drinking water is necessary, if you wish to stay for an hour or two.

The whole journey through Penang Butterfly Farm to Penang War Museum was exhausting. However, we still took the opportunity to stop at Penang Snake Temple on our way back to George Town. The temple has loss most of the snakes to the vast development in vicinity of the temple. At night, we visited Komtar and the shopping malls nearby.

Our visited the UNESCO Heritage Site at George Town on our third day in Penang Island. Follow us now.

All our sharing on Penang are available at:

[Penang Batu Feringghi Beach] [Penang Butterfly Farm and War Museum]
[Penang World Heritage Site Part 1] [Penang World Heritage Site Part 2]

[Penang Accomodation and Food] [All Our Destinations]

Penang World Heritage Site Part 1

2011-12-13T23:51:00.000+08:00

Chulia Street is located in the heart of George Town, right in the middle of the UNESCO Heritage Site. Staying at Chulia Heritage Hotel was really a good choice, location wise.

Staring from our hotel, we toured around the UNESCO World Heritage Site at 9 am, heading westwards until we reached Penang Road. After taking our breakfast at one of the coffee shops there, we turned into Lebuh Leith (Leith Street) to visit Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion. We turned back to Muntri Road, then reached Lebuh Light (Light Street) through Lorong Love (Love Lane). From Light Street, we travelled into Lebuh Pantai (Beach Street), had our lunch at a kopitiam and, visited Peranakan Mansion before we make our stop at Khoo Kongsi along the street. We stepped our foot back into our hotel at around 4 pm, covering a distance of 4.5 km, by foot.

Along our way, we saw different types of old shops, which their age can be determined by their architecture styles. The Southern Chinese style (upper left) was the oldest shops that we could identify, which were built between 1840-1890. Early Strait style shops (upper right) can be found at Love Lane. They were built between 1890-1910. We came across some shops built in Late Strait style (lower left) at Muntri Road, while Early Modern style shops are everywhere across George Town area. We learned the knowledge about architecture styles of the shops from this penang shophouses blog.

We reached this blue building at the end of Leith Road around 10 am. It was a mansion, which now serves as a boutique hotel. This edifice has won several international awards, which include the highly recognized "Most Excellent Heritage Conservation Award", which was given by UNESCO. It is a popular movie filming site as well. More information about Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion can be found at its official website. We didn't go into the mansion, as the first tour started only at 11 am. We need to pay RM12 per person for the tour. Many had mentioned that the tour is somehow overrated. Our advice, why not take a look on their comments, and then, make your own decision.

We came across this Hainan Temple, which was built in 1895 at Muntri Road. This temple serves the goddess of Mazu. What you can't miss about this temple is the fine sculptures on it's walls and the pillars (as some of them can be seen at the pillars of the arch).

The Goldsmith's Guild (upper left) at Muntri Road and Carpenter's Guild (upper right) at Love Lane are two of the oldest trade associations in Penang. We entered the Carpenter's Guild and saw a very fine sculpture was hanged in the middle of the guild (lower right). Love Lane is an old street, which the name might has the connection to the illicit liaison of mistress, which was once quite popular at the street.

We met this historical Church of Assumption at the junction between Love Lane and Light Road, which was built more than 160 years ago in 1860. This church can accommodate more than 1000 congregation in a single mass.

The pictures designed with stained glass in the church are the lighting windows, decorative pictures, and the story tellers.

St. John Church is located just beside Penang Church of Assumption. This should be a very popular place wedding photo taking. How did we know about that? Take a look on the notice below...

Commercial photography and pre-wedding photography is NOT ALLOWED.

We were not posing commercial nor pre-wedding purposes. So, taking photo there was allowed. :p A helpful tour guide, Gary, volunteered to take this photo for us. He is specialized in Penang tour. Take a look on his blog here. Or contact him at garyleop@yahoo.com.

We took a short rest in front of Penang Town Hall, as the pedestrian path over there was well shaded. There are three main heritage sites beside Light Street- Penang Town Hall, Penang and Fort Cornwallis. Penang Town Hall was built in 1880. It was once been called the "Ang Mo Gong Kuang", or The Meeting Place of the Foreigners by the locals.

The Building of Penang Municipal Council was built in 1903, and still functional until today.

We reached the entrance of Fort Cornwallis, with the sun blazing 90 degree above us. This is the fort which was built by Francis Light in 1786. Lucky, and we were saved from the stinging heat by the trees planted inside the fort.

The building of Fort Cornwallis marked the starting of British colonization in Penang. From what we can see, many of the cannons are facing the sea, make the fort a powerful British stand against the Malay army from the peninsular mainland. The design of the fort showed that Francis Light had the intention to take over Penang by force, from the very beginning of his plan. A small chapel was built in the fort (lower left), while some parts of the wall were reconstructed (lower right).

Along Light Road, we turned right when we met this sixty feet tower. The tower was built in commemorating the Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1902 (the construction started in 1897, but the Queen died before the completion of the tower). The building was sponsored by Cheah Cheng Eok, one of the richest men in Penang at that time.

We took a lunch break at an air conditioned Kopitiam, next to Standard Chartered. We continued our journey along Beach Street after the lunch. Follow us now!

All our sharing on Penang are available at:

[Penang Batu Feringghi Beach] [Penang Butterfly Farm and War Museum]
[Penang World Heritage Site Part 1] [Penang World Heritage Site Part 2]

[Penang Accomodation and Food] [All Our Destinations]

Penang World Heritage Site Part 2

2011-12-13T23:45:00.000+08:00

Penang World Heritage Site is located in George Town. We started our exploration from Chulia Street to Light Street before we took our lunch. Then, we continued our journey into Lebuh Pantai (Beach Street). It is one of the oldest street in George Town. Along the street, we saw banks, food shops, eateries, boutiques, and many more. We visited Peranakan Mansion, Little India, and Khoo Kongsi which are located in vicinity to the street.

We passed by Standard Chartered Bank after Penang Clock Tower. We took our lunch at the Kopitiam beside Standard Chartered Bank.

Penang Peranakan Mansion is a building in light green. It is located at Lebuh Gereja (Church Street), 100 meters away from Beach Street. We can access the building only through its side door.

This mansion is decorated exquisitely by carved doors, windows, balustrades and antique furniture.

The fine embroidery portrait of the owners of this mansion- Kapitan Chung Keng Kwee (郑景贵) and his wife. In year 1841.

Chung came to Malaysia from China and worked as a tin mining coolie in Perak. His effort in learning English was well paid, when he was promoted as a leader in Chinese dominated mining field. He was promoted as the Chinese Kapitan, one of the top ranked Chinese leader in Peninsular, when his leadership was noticed by the British Govenor. His life is a role model to all of us- the success will only be achieved by those who are willing to work hard. More information about this Chinese leader is available at Wikipedia. This Penang Peranakan Mansion is definitely a must visit place in Penang. The admission fee for adult is RM10 per person, while it's free for children. The opening hours are 9:30 am - 5 pm, including public holidays. You can visit the Official Website of Penang Peranakan Mansion for more information. By the way, the only officially recorded Chinese Kapitan in Malaysian history is Yap Ah Loy, the Kapitan of Klang Valley.

Antique furniture is everywhere (upper left). Backyard of the mansion was built for the servants (upper right). In olden days, servants were prohibited to use the main staircase of the mansion. The nyonya workers in the kitchen serve the visitors with the nyonya kuih (delicacies), as shown in lower right. According to our tour guide, once got promoted, Chung hired the best craftsmen from China to build a temple for his ancestors. The temple is now located just beside the mansion. The photo on lower left shows the fine sculptures on the wall of the temple.

Our resourceful guide told us the stories about the sons of the Kapitan in the temple. All of them (in the photos beside our tour guide) have moved to other countries.

We spent around one hour at Penang Peranakan Mansion. Then, we walk across Little India to Khoo Kongsi, which is located 800 meters from the mansion. Unlike the mansion, Khoo Kongsi didn't prepare a tour guide for us. So, we had to walk around the site on our own. We found that the information stated in the exhibition hall of the kongsi was very substantial, but it's too much for weary visitors, like us. We couldn't stand there for hours just to read all the descriptions about the history of the buildings. We entered the kongsi with a fee of RM10 per adult, opens daily from 9 am - 5 pm daily, including public holidays. Must visit? Sure, for this is the biggest clan kongsi in Penang. More information is available at the Official Website of Khoo Kongsi.

Khoo Kongsi is not only a temple, but a complex of more than 60 buildings. The kongsi, or company, was set up long ago to help Khoo clan immigrants to settle down in Penang. At the middle of the kongsi stands the temple of Khoo Kongsi- Leong San Tong.

The whole temple of Khoo Kongsi is indeed a masterpiece of art, which exhibits fine and exquisite Chinese carpentry and craftsmanship.

The roof (upper row) and the wall (lower right) of the temple were decorated with many fine sculptures. Some of the sculptures have their own stories behind, such as the one at the lower right show the 24 ways of how Chinese pay their respect to their parents. There are two Singh sculptures guarding the entrance of the temple, alluding the occupation of Singh people in early days of Penang.

The whole complex of Khoo Kongsi. The number one marks the location of Leong San Tong.

We took some time to linger around Little India in George Town, which mainly refers to the area around Queen Street, King Street, and Market Street. Little India that consists of both elements of "historical" and "Indian" is the uniqueness of this area. Laundry, food, gold and jewellery, CD and VCD, money changers, etc. You name it, you got it. This is the best Little India that we have ever visited in Malaysia.

We visited Pengkalan Weld (Weld Port Road) on our last day at Penang. By the sea, the heritage sites around the road blended the sea into their elements of attraction. The ferry service that has served Penang faithfully since 1920's (upper left), sea port that serves as the boarding point to the cruises (upper right), and Chew Jetty (lower row) are our points of interest. Chew Jetty, as one of the World Heritage sites, has battled its way through the vast development of sea view condos and shopping centers. We could feel the simplicity of the Penangites in olden days at the jetty. For us, it is a must visit site in George Town.

Penang Bridge can clearly be seen from Chew Jetty.

Sun Yat Seng, one of the great revolutionist of China, was once resided in Penang, while operating several companies to fuel the rally to overthrow the Manchurian Government. We have the opportunity to take a glance on his residence at Armenian Street, George Town. We didn't go into the house as the house is now owned by someone, who has no connection to Sun. More information about Sun's activity in Penang is available at Lestari Heritage Network.

The Kapitan Keling Mosque is a prominent edifice that we can't overlook if we travel around Chulia Street or Cannon Street. It is one of the oldest mosque in Malaysia, which was built in 1801, serves as the place of worship for Indian Muslim for over 200 years, until today. The mosque has very unique domes in black.

We strolled around the heritage area for two days. If you want our overall comment on the heritage site, short and clear- it is rich and full of surprises! Well, that was not our first time in George Town, yet it has so many new things to offer, which we have overlooked in our previous visits. Now, we can proclaim that we know George Town better, but more yet to be learnt. That's a place that we will revisit again.

What to expect in George Town Heritage Area:

Friendly and helpful folks, especially when we need assistance to get the right direction.
Trishaw service is available, in case you don't want to labour your feet.
Motorbike, bicycle, and car rental services are everywhere.
Various Chinese food. Halal food and Nasi Kandar is available in mamak eateries.
Street is basically safe, even at night (doesn't mean that we can totally ignore our own safety).
Most of the banks and money changers are clustered at Beach Street, Chulia Street, and Little India.
Very hot during day time, if it's not raining. A hat or unbrella, enough drinking water, and a comfortable foot wear are crucial to ensure a pleasant trip. We can get an effective map at the airport, and it's free of charge.

Find out more about Penang World Heritage Site at TourismPenang.net, VisitPenang Official Website (very useful. Event calender, food trail, and tour guide are free to download). A brief but very interactive tourism map by PenangTourism.net can be accessed here. A detailed Penang Tourism Map (which we have used all the time during our trip) can be downloaded here. How about the accommodation and food at Penang?

All our sharing on Penang are available at:

[Penang Batu Feringghi Beach] [Penang Butterfly Farm and War Museum]
[Penang World Heritage Site Part 1] [Penang World Heritage Site Part 2]

[Penang Accomodation and Food] [All Our Destinations]

Penang Accomodation and Food

2011-12-13T23:37:00.005+08:00

Penang is a beautiful island. For those who wish to enjoy the beautiful beach in Penang, we would recommend you all to stay at the hotels at Feringghi Beach. Feringghi Beach is approximately 14 km from George Town. If we take a taxi from the town, it will take around 15 - 20 minutes to reach the beach, and it takes longer by bus.

There are several hotels along Feringghi Beach- Shangri-La Rasa Sayang Resort, Holiday Inn, Parkroyal Hotel, Hard Rock Hotel, and Bayview Beach Hotel. We have stayed in Bayview Beach Hotel. As compared to other major hotels, Bayview has the economic advantage, flat screen, bath tub, room with a lot of space to move around (we stayed in Hillview Deluxe), balcony, etc. Location wise, it is a little bit at the western corner of the tourism belt (which Shangri-La Rasa Sayang located at the eastern corner). Bayview is definitely in our recommendation list for those who wish to enjoy a stay by the beach. You can read more about our experience in Batu Feringghi here.

This is how Bayview Beach Hotel looks like from Feringghi Beach.

We had the opportunity to take a look on the room at Parkroyal. 42' flatscreen, mini bar, well decorated with romantic atmosphere, but it is approximately twice the price of Bayview Beach. Parkroyal is located closer to the tourism hot spot of Feringghi Beach, compared to Bayview Beach. Both hotels are 10 minutes apart, by foot.

Both Parkroyal and Bayview Beach have nice pools. Upper left shows the pool at Parkroyal. There are plenty of space to enjoy sun bath (upper right). Room (lower right) and balcony at Parkroyal look nice.

The website of the hotels at Feringghi Beach are available at:

Shangri-La Rasa Sayang Beach Resort, starting from RM800++
Holiday Inn Penang, starting from RM290++ (strange, we couldn't find the official website of this hotel, pls. call to confirm the rate, if you wish at +604-8811601)
Bayview Beach Hotel, starting from RM190++
Parkroyal Penang, starting from RM400++
Hard Rock Hotel, starting from RM370+

We stayed at Batu Feringghi for one night, and moved to Chulia Heritage Hotel at George Town. The hotel is small (formerly a mansion). We stayed in a deluxe queen with attached bathroom. The room at the hotel is uncomfortably small, with very limited space to move around. However, it's clean, tidy, with just enough amenity to get a night sleep. Location wise, unbeatable, right in the middle of the heritage site. We came over with some other hotels, which, who knows, might be a good choice as well:

Chulia Heritage Hotel, starting from RM120++ , rooms without attached bathroom are cheaper.
Oriental Hotel Penang, starting from RM120++, located at a far end of Chulia Street. It is an old hotel.
Yeng Keng Hotel, starting from RM300++ (very near to Chulia Heritage)
Banana Guest House, starting from RM20++ (very near to Chulia Heritage)
Take a look how Chulia Street looks like on this blog. You can see many guest houses available at Chulia Street, starting from RM20++
Bayview Hotel George Town, starting from RM190++, located at Farquhar Street.
There are many budget hotels available in George Town, starting as low as RM20++. Take a look on the list now!

Penang is famous with it's Char Kuey Tiow, fried oyster, rojak, Nasi Kandar (Kandar Rice), and many more, which made our program at night basically, eating all the way down the street.

Penang Char Kuey Teow (upper row) is one of the most favourite food, for both visitors and the locals. It is offered in many food courts. We favoured the char kuey teow at the outdoor food court at Gurney Drive the most. The food court offers nice Penang Rojak (lower right), tau fu fah, fried oyster, and Penang Assam Laksa. For Nasi Kandar (lower left), or the steamed rice with curry and other side dishes, Restoran Kassim Mustafa at Chulia Street is a good one.

An experienced veteran is one of the guarantees of good taste. The cook told us that they always run out of oyster after 9 pm. So, if you wish to try the fried oyster at Gurney Drive, you better be early.

Crowdy, crowdy, crowdy, are the three words that we would use to describe the food court at Gurney Street. Do you believe that this photo was taken in a midst of downpour?

Wanton (or wonton) noodle (upper left), wanton noodle with soup and beef (upper right), chendol (lower right), and popiah were some other delicacies that we tried in Penang.

We bought food from the hawkers beside the road once in a while. We ordered Penang Char Kuey Teow from this stall at Chulia Street, when we were on our way back to our hotel.

Fresh fruit juice for sale at Chulia Street! We really like the ambra juice from this stall.

Penang is really an excellent island for a break. Beautiful beach, well preserved heritage, friendly locals, and delighting food. We heard a lot about food around Penang, but well, our stomach do have a limit. We would like to save the rest for our next trip. If you wish to share something about food and accomodation in Penang, you are most welcomed to share them in your comments.

All our sharing on Penang are available at:

[Penang Batu Feringghi Beach] [Penang Butterfly Farm and War Museum]
[Penang World Heritage Site Part 1] [Penang World Heritage Site Part 2]

[Penang Accomodation and Food] [All Our Destinations]

Ipoh Old Town

2011-11-22T22:44:00.003+08:00

We took a two days trip to Ipoh at the end of October 2011, and we found three interesting things to describe Ipoh- old town, food and limestone caves.

Before we talk about the old town, let's start with our itinerary. Friday evening, we reached Ipoh KTM station (train station) at 9:30 pm, took our supper at "Tong Sui Kai" (dessert street), and checked into Excelsior Hotel. We went to take "dim sum" early the next morning, followed by taking "yong-liu" (or considered as yong to fu in other places) with Ipoh hor fun (flat rice noodle). We strolled around the old town area for nearly two hours before we took a sumptuous lunch at a local Chinese restaurant on our way to Kek Lok Tong, one of the famous limestone caves in Ipoh. We stopped at Sin Yoon Loong, one of the oldest coffee shop in Ipoh for a sip of original old town coffee in the late afternoon, before we spent our night on a friend's wedding dinner.

Sunday, we tried Ipoh well-known "Nga choi gai" (chicken with bean sprout) and bought some white coffee before we departed home at 2:30 pm.

Ipoh old town is full with hundred years old buildings. Many of them are remained functional until today. Ipoh old town is mainly referred to the town area in between S.P. Seenivasagam Road and Leong Boon Swee Road, on the west bank of Kinta River. Ipoh starts thriving in early 1900, when mining companies were set up at the old town, covering an area around 1000 m x 250 m. Instead of monumental buildings such as the town hall, railway station, the war memorial, St. Micheal Institution, and Birch Memorial which all of them located at the northern part of the old town, the rest of the town is just old two storeys and three storeys shop lots. Starting from the tourist's information center at Tun Sambanthan, we took around 2 hours walking around the area.

Standing at the crossroad between Panglima Bukit Gantang Wahab Road and Dato Maharajalela Road, the town hall of Ipoh is the most prominent edifice that can be seen. Built on 1916, the building was designed based on neo-classical style, similiar to the railway station and the high court of Ipoh. The first political party in Malaya, Malay Nationalist Party held its first congress in this building in late 1945.

This war memorial is located opposite of the town hall, just in front of the railway station (as we can see from this photo). This war memorial was unveiled in 1927, in commemorating the gallant members in World War One. The original plaque was vandalized soon after the installation, and unidentified drug addicts were accused to be the culprits. The replacing plaques that we can see today stated that the memorial is in memory of those who sacrificed during World War I, World War II, during Malayan Emergency (1948-1960), Indonesian Confrontation (1962-1965), Re-Insurgency Period (1972-1990), and those who sacrificed during the construction of Thailand-Burma Death Railway. Only those died in First World War have their names listed on one of the plaques.

Ipoh Railway Station was built in 1917, designed by the same architect who had masterminded the design of Ipoh Town Hall- A. B. Hubback (additional information, he was the one who designed KL Railway Station as well). This building has often been referred as "Taj Mahal of Ipoh".

Along Panglima Bukit Gantang Wahab Road, we saw Ipoh High Court (upper left), built in 1928 and serves as the building of justice until today. Beside the high court stands Royal Ipoh Club (upper left). Established in 1895, the club was the oldest club in Ipoh. St. John Church of Ipoh located at the end of the heritage trail. The church was once the largest church in Malaya. We could only see the backside of the church from the main road (lower left). We have to move ahead and turned into Perak Drive (Persiaran Perak) in order to get into the church's compound.

St. Micheal Secondary School, or formerly known as St. Micheal Institution was founded by Father J. B. Coppin. The school is located at S. P. Seenivasagam Road (formerly Clayton Road). The Gothic style building was built in 1922.

Recently, this historical building was repainted, and its former glory, restored. This school is one of the top rating schools in Perak, in both architectural and performance. The slogan of the school- Quis Ut Deus (Who can compare to God?) and Signum Fidei (A Sign of Faith).

The fine sculptures on the wall of the building can be seen from the main road.

Town Padang Mosque is next to St. Micheal Secondary School. This mosque portrayed special Indian Mogul style, which it's construction was funded by Shaik Adam, a wealthy Tamil Muslim in 1908, with a cost of $500,000. Sheikh Adam Road beside Birch Memorial was named after the Mogul.

Town Padang Mosque is more like a piece of art than a mosque.

We made a right turn after Town Padang Mosque and went down Sultan Yussuf Road (formerly Belfield Street), and we met with this old building of F.M.S. Bar and Restaurant. Some has claimed that it was the oldest restaurant in Malaysia. We were not sure whether the building has been abandoned or, under reconstruction.

Birch Memorial was built in 1909 in memory of J.W.W. Birch. Birch was the first British Resident of Perak, assassinated in Pasir Salak in 1875 by Dato Maharajalela. His death was a lesson to other disrespectful and arrogant British officials. Dato Maharajalela was hanged afterward, but he is sung as a national hero, until today. After the independent, a few roads named after Birch were renamed as Dato Maharajalela Road. The road that next to the Birch Memorial at Ipoh, as you can guess, is Dato Maharajalela Road (ironic, is it?).

HSBC Bank at Sultan Yussuf Road was built in 1931 with neo-renaissance style (upper left). Tenaga National (upper right) and former S.P.H. De Silva building (lower right) were located at the both ends of Maharajalela Road, respectively. Old shoplots like Chung Thye Phin Building are everywhere in Ipoh old town.

Eu Yan Sang is located at Bandar Timah Road (formerly Leech Street, upper left). The shop was found in 1879 by Eu Kong, a tin miner who was selling herbs to cure opium addicts. Then, his son, Eu Tong Sen took over the business and expanded the business into million dollar Chinese pharmaceutical giant, as we can see today. Gabled shophouses (upper right) can be seen at the end of Leech Street. Hawkers are selling their food in front of Sin Yoon Loong (lower right), on the same street with Eu Yan Sang. Famous Ipoh old town white coffee is available at Sin Yoon Loong. Chinese wholesale district is a part of Ipoh old town (lower left).

Most of the shops which are now located in the old town are operated by new owners. Without additional information, there will be no way for us to find out the history of the shops. So, we would like to recommend to get information from Tourist Information Center first before your tour. We found that the leaflets themed "Ipoh Heritage Trail Map 1" and "Ipoh Heritage Trail Map 2" were really helpful for us, in both planning our way through the site, as well as revealing the story behind the buildings.

Our recommended route- Starting from Panglima Bukit Gantang Wahab Road, head north until you reach St. John Church. Then, go back to S.P. Seenevasagam Road. At the end of the road, turn right and walk along Sultan Yussuf Road and its vicinity, until Silang Road. The must visit sites are Ipoh Town Hall, Ipoh Railway Station, St. Micheal Institution, Birch Memorial, the finance street along Sultan Yussuf Road, and the old coffee shops along Bandar Timah Road (at the southern part of Sultan Yussuf Road). The whole journey should take one to two hours (without snack stop).

More information about Ipoh old town is available at:
Perak Heritage Society
Ipoh Heritage Trail Map 1 at Ipohworlds.org
Ipoh Heritage Walk at Malaysia-traveller.com
Kinta Heritage Group Sdn. Bhd. @ Facebook

Instead of the old town area, Ipoh is well known for its food. We tried many of them, and most of them are nice. Follow us to know more about Ipoh's food now.

All our sharing about Ipoh are available at:

[Ipoh Food] [Ipoh Limestone Caves] [All Our Destinations]

Ipoh Food

2011-11-22T22:18:00.000+08:00

Ipoh is a city which is famous with its old town, food, and limestone caves. About nice food, plenty of them. We stayed at Ipoh for two days, and it's better for us to share about Ipoh's food chronologically. We started with the supper at "Tong Sui Kai", or the dessert street. Located at Sultan Ekram Road, opposite of Sam Tet Chinese School. The street is around 1.5 km away from Ipoh Railway Station, but it is just 200 m away from the hotel we stayed, Excelsior Hotel.

We tried several types of desserts, such as the shaved ice with fruits, wheat and barley porridge, wantan noodle, Ipoh char kuey teaw, and noodle soup with pork and offal.

A scene at the dessert street. This photo was taken at 10:15 pm, with a large crowd of Ipoh's food lovers gathering at the street. According to Livien (our volunteer tour guide :p), the street is one of the favorable supper site at Ipoh. Most of the stalls there are owned by Chinese. The stalls operate until midnight.

Kelly (LS's sister) with a bowl of shaved ice with mix fruits (upper left) on our way back to our hotel. The shaved ice can be served with many combination of fruits. Ice kacang (upper right) and wheat and barley porridge (lower left) are nice as well, but we like the shaved ice with mix fruits the most.

Chee cheong fun (rice noodle roll), some pronounce as Chu cheong fun at Ipoh has different appearance and taste from other places in Malaysia (upper left). Bee hoon with pork and offal (upper right), char kuey teow (lower left), and wantan noodle were the food that we took at the dessert street.

One of the grandmaster chef of "hum dan" (fried flattened noodle with egg and cockle).

Saturday morning, we woke up early to go for Ipoh dim sum. The shop, Ming Court Hong Kong Dim Sum, located at Leong Sin Nam Road, is just 30 m away from our hotel. 7:30 am, there were not many customers in the shop yet, so there was no problem for us to secure a table. Anyway, more and more customers were coming as the time passed. By the time we left at 8:30 am, it was a full house, with no empty table. Many customers had to wait to be seated. Our advice, if you wish to have a relax environment while you are enjoying your nice dim sum, please be early.

Many types of dim sum are available. For this dim sum shop, we just need to settle down and we will be served. On the other hand, Foh San dim sum shop requires self service.

We reached early around 7:30 am. There were many empty table for us.

This photo was taken at 8:30 am, when we were about to leave Ming Court. The shop was full with customers, with many of them standing, awaiting for empty seats.

Wishing for a enjoyable breakfast and a sense of leisure morning? Then you need to be early. You won't feel good if there is someone standing beside you, awaiting to take your seat, while you are flipping for the headlines after your meal, will you?

On our way to old town area, Livien and Bryant suggested that we make a snack stop at yong tau foo (or yong to fu) shop. The shop, Jia Bing is located at Kampung Paluh area (1.5 km away from the old town area). Although our stomach were really full, still we accepted the suggestion.

Picking the food with a full stomach required more effort than doing the same thing with an empty stomach.

Various Ipoh yong tau foo.

Ipoh yong tau foo can be served in soup (left) or to be fried (right). The price, in average, was RM 0.70 per item.

Original Ipoh old town white coffee comes from Sin Yoon Loong at Bandar Timah Road (formerly Leech Street). The shop was established in 1937. For the past 70 years, it served Ipoh with its famous white coffee. Today, it remains as an old coffee house, serving nostalgic white coffee, brewed from freshly roasted coffee bean.

Can you imagine how good is the coffee here? The customers keep on coming, even though it was almost 5 pm.

After being standing and waiting for 10 minutes, we found a place to sit. The taste of the original Ipoh white coffee didn't let us down. Not sort of legendary taste, but, with RM1.30 per cup, it definitely beats Starbucks coffee in many ways.

Ipoh bean sprout chicken. Somebody told us that, if we ever missed Ipoh bean sprout chicken in our trip, then we couldn't be considered had ever visited Ipoh. That was serious. So, to conclude our Ipoh trip, we visited Onn Kee Restaurant, one of the best bean sprout chicken shop in the town. Onn Kee Restaurant is located at Yao Tet Sin Road (in Google Map is Yao Tet Shin). Another famous Ipoh bean sprout chicken shop, Lou Wong is just beside Onn Kee. Again, we would like to mention that it is just a few hundred meters away from our hotel.

Onn Kee Restaurant is located side by side with Lou Wong. Both restaurants. No matter they are friends or enemies, both of them serve delicious bean sprout chicken (we tried Lou Wong before, on our previous trip to Ipoh).

Mouth watering kampung chicken (upper left) served with Ipoh home grown bean sprouts (upper right). According to the locals, the bean sprouts are grown using natural mineral water from the limestone hills in the vicinity of Ipoh. So, the taste is better than the ordinary tap water grown bean sprouts. The portion served was more substantial compared to Hainan chicken rice at Melaka. One whole kampung chicken was enough for 7 persons. The price, together with all other dishes (lower right) was about RM10 per person. Instead of chicken rice, we can choose to have Ipoh hor fun together with the bean sprout chicken.

Lunch with Bryant, Livien, Livien's parents, and Kelly (cameraman).

Lastly, tau foo fah at Ipoh. Tau foo fah (or to fu fah, or to fu fa) is a traditional Chinese food made by soy bean serves in sweetened syrup. We tried Ipoh tau foo fah at two different shops, one is Funny Mountain at Theatre Road, which is a block away from Lou Wong and Onn Kee, another is Woong Kee at Dato Onn Jaafar Road.

The nice food in Ipoh are quite scattered. However, we are lucky as we stayed in Excelsior Hotel. Tong Sui Kai, bean sprout chicken, Ipoh dim sum, and some tau foo fah shops are within walking distance from our hotel. So, if you wish to try some nice Ipoh's food, you can consider to stay in Excelsior Hotel, or somewhere nearby.

To all our readers, if you have some recommendation about nice food in Ipoh, please share it in your comment. A big thank you to all of you.

Now, let us go to visit some Limestone Caves in Ipoh.

All our sharing about Ipoh are available at:

[Ipoh Old Town] [Ipoh Limestone Caves] [All Our Destinations]

Ipoh Limestone Caves

2011-11-22T21:37:00.003+08:00

Limestone caves, together with the food and the old town, are the icons of Ipoh. People might say, if you missed certain types of food, then you might not consider yourself have ever being to Ipoh. We would like to add the limestone caves into the list.

Ipoh is a city built at the valley of limestone hills. Many of these hills are blended into the city's landscape.

The limestone hill beside the road. We have to turn left after the KFC signage if we want to visit Kek Lok Tong, or go straight if we want to visit Sam Poh Tong.

There are several famous limestone caves at Ipoh, which include Sam Poh Tong ("Tong" means cave in Mandarin), Kek Lok Tong, Tambun Cave, Perak Tong, Tempurung Cave, and many other small caves. Many of these caves have become the setting ground for temples and places of worship for Buddhists and Taoists. We visited one of the most beautiful limestone caves- Kek Lok Tong. "Kek Lok" means the "Greatest Hapiness" or "Bliss". The temple in the cave was built in 1970's, but the cave itself had been used as a place of worship as early as 1920's. What makes this cave special is the collection of bronze statues of Buddha. The well landscaped gardens outside the cave are attractive as well. The opening hours are from 7 am - 6 pm, including public holidays. Admission is free. The official address is Kek Look Tong, Gunung Rapat, Ipoh, Perak

Our photo at the entrance of Kek Lok Tong. The cave is quite seclusive, hidden behind Mount Rapat. In order to visit the cave, we need to drive through the residential area beside Raja Musa Mahadi Road (Taman Endah Jaya). Lack of signage at the last few junctions, first timer might need to stop and ask the locals for direction.

The entrance of the cave. The stairs lead to the first level of Kek Lok Tong.

Some of the bronze Buddha statues on the first stage of the cave. We can feel the cold blowing wind from this stage onwards.

The naturally carved stalactites offer wonderful view in the cave.

The nicely landscaped garden on the other side of the cave, surrounded by the hills with a pond in the middle. The picturesque scenery is an element of surprise to the visitors.

We tried to visit Sam Po Cave as well, but had mistakenly took Ling Sen Tong and Tian Lan Tong as Sam Po Cave. From a tourist's perspective, Kek Lok Tong is far more attractive than Ling Sen Tong and Nan Tian Tong.

Ling Sen Tong is located 3.5 km away from Kek Lok Tong, and it is located just few hundred meters away from Sam Po Tong.

The temple of Ling Sen Tong.

A view from a tower at Ling Sen Tong towards Nan Tian Tong.

Nan Tian Tong is located side by side with Ling Sen Tong.

A view inside Nan Tian Tong.

Overall, we had a wonderful experience in visiting the limestone caves around Ipoh. We will definitely visit other major limestone caves around the city in future.

More information about Kek Lok Tong (or Kek Look Tong) is available at its official website. Just a reminder, as Kek Lok Tong, Ling Sen Tong, and Nan Tian Tong are places of worship, so please act accordingly and keep these places clean.

More about our sharing on Ipoh are available at:

[Ipoh Old Town] [Ipoh Food] [All Our Destinations]

TravePhoto @ Malacca

2011-11-04T10:52:00.002+08:00

Melaka has always been considered the starting point of the Malaysian Sultanate Dynasties, which many of the Sultans of the states today share the same family tree with Parameswara, the founder of Melaka. Melaka has influenced Malaysia in many ways. The Official Religion of Malaysia- Islam, is one of the legacies from the sultanate of Melaka.

We has been to Melaka for several times, and wish to share some of our photos on Melaka with all of you. Hope you enjoy them!

Special Notes:
-Please click on "Show Info" at top right corner of the slideshow to see the caption of the photos. If you can't find the menu, press "control" key and scroll "up" your mouse to enlarge the font size.
-While keep the slideshow playing, keep your mouse out of the slideshow "screen" to see the "full-screen" photos.

These photos can be viewed at highest resolution on Ling Shing's flickr.

Go back to Our TravePhoto page. Or get more sharing about our experience in Melaka at:

[Malacca Trip Day 1] [Malacca Trip Day 2] [Malacca Trip Day 3]
[Accomodation and Food in Melaka] [All our Destinations]

Accomodation and Food in Malacca

2011-10-24T19:43:00.006+08:00

Melaka heritage site covers a small area. The whole site, our best estimation, is about 1 km x 2 km. There is no place within the site that we can't reach by foot. So, getting a place which is close to the heritage site to stay is important.

We have been to Melaka several times. We used to stay in Tang Kim Hock Hotel, which was cheap, with acceptable service. It has a good rating at Tripadvisor. However, we found that the hotel is too far away from the heritage site, which means, it is far from the tourism spots.

Grand Continental Melaka shared the same fate with Tang Kim Hock Hotel. Service, ok, room rate, ok. But when we talk about the distance from tourist spots, that's where the big "NO" comes in. Imagine that you need to take taxi everyday to visit the heritage site. Or, you need to drive on your own, caught by the jam, pay parking fee (RM 5 per day)...if you are lucky enough to find a parking space.

We stayed in Mahkota Hotel before. The room rate is a little bit high for us. To be fair, the hotel has a nicely landscaped pool, beachside view, family activity room, etc. However, enjoying nice sunshine at the poolside or playing ping pong in the aircond room were not our purpose in Melaka. However, if you are the type who doesn't mind to pay, say RM 250++ per night, the hotel is a good choice for its excellent location.

Getting somewhere nearby, somewhere that we can reach the site by foot, really means something to the visitors like us, in Melaka. The very first hotel to recommend, Fenix Inn. The room rate was around RM 160++ during our visit 2 months ago, with good location at Merdeka Road, just opposite of Pahlawan Square. It is just a few steps away from that largest shopping complex in the heritage site. By foot, it is 5 minutes away from A' Famosa fort, 10 to Stadthuys, and 15 to Jonker Street. We were satisfied with the service and the condition of the room (shower heater, coffee making, drinking water, aircond, nice bed, flat screen were available, with free jockey parking). However, there were no breakfast and wifi provided. One thing that we want to highlight here, the room rate has really risen exponentially in Melaka, after the city secured a name in UNESCO list.

The outlook of Fenix Inn, Melaka.

The reception counter (upper left), lobby (upper right), and the room at Fenix Inn.

Next in our list, Sayang-Sayang Guest House. The guest house provides a Facebook account as its online website. The guest house is simple- a small aircond room with bed and sofa. TV and bathrooms, shared among all other tenants. The rate is starting from RM 40, depending on the season and the day of the week. Located at the bank of Melaka River at Kampung Hulu Road, we can enjoy nice riverview by walking through its back door. The guest house is at the border of the heritage site. By foot, 3 minutes to Jonker Street, 10 minutes to Stadthuys, and 15 minutes to A' Famosa fort and Pahlawan Square. Btw, no towel, soap, tooth paste, shampoo provided. We can get the shampoo and soap with RM 1.50 from the receptionist, or buy them from the grocery shop nearby. Free wifi and internet services are provided. You can get more info about the guest house here.

The "twin-layered" room- the upper layer is furnished with a mattress for two. The lower layer, a sofa and a side table (left). The corridor (upper right) and the washing area and bathrooms.

The night scenery at the backside of Sayang-Sayang Guest House. A water taxi was cruising in Melaka river.

Guest houses and average hotels are available all around Melaka heritage site. We listed some of them here as your reference (based on Chari-Chari Malaysia Magazine). We didn't stay in these hotels and guest houses before, so please go to Tripadvisor for the most up-to-date customer reviews on the hotel. In any case of discrepancies, the information on the hotel official website should serve as final.

Baba House at the end of Tun Tan Cheng Lock Rd (Hereen Street). Tel: +606- 281 1217. Room rate: from RM104
Puri Hotel at the end of Hereen Street. Tel:+606-2825588. Room rate: Single RM140++, Double RM160++
Courtyard at Heeren at the middle of Hereen Street. Tel: +606-2824888. Room rate: RM200++
Heeren Inn at Hereen Street (very good location). Tel: +606-288 3600. Room Rate: from RM100 (Pls. call to confirm).
Heeren House at Heeren Street (very good location). Tel: +606-2814241. Room rate: from RM120.
Hang Out at Jonker at Hang Jebat Rd (Jonker Street) (very good location). Tel: +60 6282 8318. Room rate: from RM150
Jonker Boutique at the end of Tokong Rd (share a junction at the end of Jonker Street). Tel:+606- 2825151. Room rate: from RM200
Chong Hoe Guest House at Tukang Emas Rd. (street next to Jonker). Tel: +606- 2817261 Room rate: RM27 (Pls. call to confirm).
Da Som Inn at Tukang Emas Rd. Tel: +606-2866577. Room rate: Double RM108++, Family RM198++
Harmony Lodge at Tukang Emas Rd. Tel: +606-2835218. Room rate: from RM88 for two. Unconfirmed info- same management with Puri Hotel.
Cheng Ho Hotel at Tukang Emas Rd. Tel: +606-2826102. Room rate: RM50 (call to confirm).
Jalan-Jalan Guest House at Tukang Emas Rd. Good review on Tripadvisor. But cannot access to the information about the telephone no and room rate...
Voyage Guest House or Sama-sama Guesthouse at Hang Jebat Lane (very good location). Tel: +606-2815216. Room rate: from RM25.
Aldy Hotel at Kota Road (very good location). Tel: +606-2833232. Room Rate: from RM130.
Seri Costa Hotel at Plaza Mahkota (opposite of Taming Sari Tower). Tel:+606-2816666. Room rate: RM155++
Sri Pelangi Hotel at Plaza Mahkota (opposite of Taming Sari Tower). Tel:+606-2868112. Room rate: RM100++
Tower Hotel at Plaza Mahkota (opposite of Taming Sari Tower). Tel: +606-2812200. Room rate: from RM58.
Yellow Mansion Hotel. It is a simple hotel with very basic service. RM 88++ for standard double with clean room, wifi, satellite tv, shower heater, and aircond. The location, Bukit Cina Lane, 5 minutes to A' Famosa, Stadthuys and Pahlawan Square. 10 minutes to Jonker Street.

Hang Out At Jonker and Heeren House are located on the same street (upper row). Cheng Ho Guest House and Harmony Lodge are two of the budget guest houses available around Jonker Street area (oldtown area).

Melaka is famous for its Hainan Chicken Rice, durian chendol (in Malay is cendol), and some Baba and Nyonya food. There are three major Hainan Chicken Rice shops- Chung Hua, Hoe Kee, and Famosa. All of them are located at Jonker Street. For us, the first choice goes to Chung Hua, and then Hoe Kee. A' Famosa, uh, personally, we don't like the taste of the food there (pls. don't argue, that's our personal opinion, different people might have different taste). We always judge the taste of the food served by an eatery observing the queue (although it's not 100% accurate).

Chung Hua Coffee Shop (upper left), Famosa Chicken Rice (upper right) and Hoe Kee (lower right) are the main shops serving traditional Hainan Chicken Rice. Photo on lower left shows the chicken rice served in Chung Hua. The price for the chicken rice is around RM10 per person.

Durian cendol is the ice dessert served with durian, red beans, sweet corn kernels, jelly, and coconut milk. We had tried durian cendol at several locations at Jonker Street and Pahlawan Square. All of them taste good. Anyway, you need to like the taste of durian in order to like the taste of durian cendol.

Durian cendol (upper left), bubur chacha (a porridge with mixture of fruits and vegetable) (upper right), pineapple tarts (lower right) and locally manufactured carbonated drinks are available at Jonker Street.

Nyonya curry and Nyonya laksa are the dishes that we would like to recommend. The additional sourness of Nyonya dishes makes them unique food in Melaka (hope we described is correctly :p). Besides the traditional food, we tried dim-sum at Jonker Street, Korean Steamboat at Merdeka Road, Japanese Food at Pahlawan Square, and of course, Oldtown Kopitiam, layered cakes and many more. Overall, all the food were quite nice. So, food should not be a problem in Melaka.

Traditional Nyonya food.

Korean steamboat restaurant at Merdeka Road, Melaka, just opposite of Fenix Inn.

Pahlawan Square houses many food outlets. We tried many of them, including Tang Shifu with traditional Chinese herbal food (upper left), Nadeje with layered cakes (lower left), Pinkberrys with very nice durian cendol (lower right), and the Japanese food. We would recommend Tang Shifu and Pinkberrys to all of you.

There is a small area in Pahlawan Square named Heritage Gallery (check the directory at the entrance), designated to hawkers selling local products. There are a huge variety of local products can be found there, the best thing, it is fully air conditioned (no heat, not sun, no sweat). We always get our favourite "lempok durian" (durian cake) there. Btw, the items there are sold with fair price.

For certain, we cannot cover every single food around Melaka, as we write based on our experience. We will be glad if our readers can leave comments about the food in Melaka, according to yours experience.

More sharing on our experience in Melaka are available at:

[Malacca Trip Day 1] [Malacca Trip Day 2] [Malacca Trip Day 3]
[Top 10 Must Do in Melaka] [All our Destinations]

Malacca Trip Day 1

2011-10-08T23:05:00.009+08:00

We revisited Melaka (Malacca in Malay Language) in August 2011. We had visited this city of heritage many times. But, that was our second visit after the city has been listed as a UNESCO Heritage Site in 2008, 608 years after Parameswara found the old Malay entrepot. We started our journey from Kajang, Selangor at 9 am and took one hour and thirty minutes to reach Air Keroh Toll.

Our complete itinerary, the first day starting at 10:30 am- Melaka Zoo, hotel check in and then, lunch at Pahlawan Square followed by Melaka Philately Museum. At night, shopping and dinner at Jonker Street night market. The second day- Sultanate Palace Museum, Hainan Chicken Rice for lunch, searching for snacks and chendol at Jonker Street, followed by Melaka River Cruise at 2 pm. Then, Melaka History and Ethnography Museum in Stadthuys and A' Famosa. Later, we dined and went for a movie at Pahlawan Square. The third day- Taming Sari Tower ride and shopping at Pahlawan Square before departed home around 2:30 pm.

Photo taken in front of the Stadthuys (right). Surrounded by the Christ Church Melaka and the clock tower, the square in front of the Stadthuys is one of the most visited area in Bandar Hilir (Heritage Area).

We decided to visit Melaka Zoo first, which is located less than 2 km from the toll. We had visited the zoo before (at least four times). We didn't expect any element of surprise. We just wish to see our "old friends" over there. Some of them- capybara which LS once mistakenly thought that they were wombats, Bengal tigers in big and nicely landscaped exhibits, the strong looking seladangs, and the shady aviaries. The zoo was well-maintained, like old time, with a plus of new species.The zoo is the second largest zoo in Malaysia, after the National Zoological Park with around 1500 animals from 200 species.

The same old familiar entrance of Melaka Zoo (upper left). Our photo at the reception area of the zoo (upper right). The tram service (lower left) and most of the food outlets were close during our visit because of Ramadhan.

Some of the animals available in Melaka Zoo. Name them if you can :)

Tigers exhibits are really nicely landscaped, like a 5 stars hotel.

As we were visiting during Ramadhan, most of the food stalls were closed, the tram service was temporally off, and moreover, it was showering. However, we still had an enjoyable time there. We spent almost 3 hours in the zoo. Before we left, the workers there friendly reminded us that for the first time the zoo would launch the night safari on the next day and invited us to come again. Our really hoped that we were there, but exhaustion on the following day drew us away.

The zoo opens 9 am - 6 pm daily, with the entrance fees of RM 7 for adult and RM 4 for child. The night safari opens only on Friday, Saturday, and the eve of Public Holidays. The entrance fees are RM 10 per adult and RM 5 per child. The opening hour of night safari is 8- 11 pm. The zoo is located around 13 km from the city centre. Our advice is, visit the zoo first once you enter the toll, or keep it to the last on your way back. By doing that, you can save a total of 26 km of journey with heavy traffic.

The zoo is clean, but mosquito is still the uninvited pest. To avoid the unpleasant bites, long sleeves or mosquito repellent is necessary. Shoes offer better comfort for the long walk, and for the sandy paths and slippery slopes. There is a six-storey observatory tower beside the safari, looks battered and old, but it is still safe and guarantees a nice scenery to those who are willing to labour their muscles. Umbrella is needed for the rain, not for the sun, as the zoo is well shaded by shrubs and trees.

Panoramic view six storeys above the ground. We can see the giraffes in the safari (lower middle). Green view is good for mind and body. You can see the dark clouds of the rainy morning. However, we got our umbrella with us :-)

The observatory tower.

We learned about the traffic in Melaka in the hard way before. So, we decided to stay in the hotel nearby the heritage area (Bandar Hilir), where we could park our car there, while roam around by foot. Fenix was our choice. Located just opposite of Pahlawan Square, it is really a strategic place to stay. 5 minutes walk to A' Famosa, 10 minutes to Stadthuys (town hall in old Dutch), and 15 minutes from Jonker Street. The hotel was newly renovated, the staff, friendly and helpful. Plus, private parking with free jockey service, and RM 160 per night. However, there were no breakfast and wifi.

Pahlawan Square was our first stop, a brief stop to settle our empty stomach. Can you imagine that we took A and W for our lunch? What a waste, but that's the fastest way to gain our strength. Then, we visited Melaka Philately Museum (or Melaka Stamps Museum) around 3:30 pm. The museum is located beside A' Famosa, about 3 minutes walk from Pahlawan Square. With the entrance fee of RM 2, the museum offered us more than what we had expected. We learned many history about Malaysian philately history there, and got excited to found out that we actually had owned most of the stamps issued by our own country. We spent around one and a half hour there till 5 pm. The museum opens 9 am - 5:30 pm daily.

Pahlawan Square (or Dataran Pahlawan) is a mega shopping complex in the middle of the city of Melaka. The shopping complex can be divided into three different parts- a two storey complex which the upper floor is a nicely landscaped square with lawn (in front of the grey building), and two multi-storey shopping complexes (one of them was under construction during our visit). The shopping complex is just several steps away from A' Famosa Fort, as you can see at the middle.

Melaka Philately Museum is not big, nor grande, but promises the visitors a gain in knowledge. The museum is a must visit site for stamps collectors.

The modest outlook of Melaka Philately Museum (upper left), and the exhibition about the history of the philately.

Jonker Street is well-known as one of the oldest street in Melaka. It is located at Hang Jebat Road (Jonker Street is the unofficial, but well-known name of this road). The whole street is about 500 m long, surrounded by old two-storey colonial style shop houses. However, deliberate renovations make many of these structures lost their originality. Located just 10 minutes by foot from Pahlawan Square, it used to be the place where the town folks carried out their daily routines- grocery shops, bicycles shops, laundry shops, cake houses, coffee shops (kopitiam), book stores, blacksmithes, etc. But now, souvenir shops are the majority, while many others serve tourism purposes as well, such as pubs, guesthouses, boutiques, and hotels, and eateries. As a tourist's spot, it is a good place for an evening walk, especially when the night market is on (Friday, Saturday, Sunday and public holidays). The night scene is nice, and the hawkers are dominated by Chinese. For its fame, the night market is a must visit site in Melaka, at least twice- once on daytime, and another, night. We spent about 2 hours at Jonker Street night market.

Jonker Street at night (left) and day. The hawkers are setting up their stalls right on the street.

The night market at Jonker Street. The night market is a place for both locals and foreigners, spans from the riverside till the end of Hang Jebat Road. Most of the food stalls are gathered at the far end of the river. As the crowd is massive, finding a car park is not easy. Another thing which is hard to be done- bargaining. You might never get sort of 50% or 70% of discount there, which is quite easily been offered in Bangkok or Siem Reap markets. The street is safe during the night in Melaka. However, we still need to keep alert and take good care of our belongings.

A singing competition held during our visit drew many local supporters at a side of Jonker Street. The food stalls are located just behind the stage. From what we could see, the middle-aged and old Melaka folks are still enjoying their slow moving pace with leisure life. However, the hustle-bustle tourism industry are eroding their peaceful life (as the crowd can be seen at far right at Jonker Street).

We can find some delicious food around Jonker Street. We tried Nyonya laksa, Nyonya curry fish, durian chendol, and "suan panzi", a traditional Chinese food. All the food were quite delicious. We didn't bought anything there, as for us, the items were not unique to us.

Our trip continued with Melaka Sultanate Palace Museum, Hainan Chicken Rice, Melaka River Cruise, Stadthuys, A' Famosa Fort, and many more. Click here to follow us.

Take a look on all our sharing about Melaka:

[Malacca Trip Day 2] [Malacca Trip Day 3] [Accomodation and Food in Melaka]
[Top 10 Must-Do in Melaka] [All our Destinations]

Malacca Trip Day 2

2011-10-08T23:04:00.009+08:00

Second day itinerary- Melaka Sultanate Palace Museum, Hainan Chicken Rice for lunch, shopping at Jonker Street, followed by Melaka River Cruise, Melaka History and Ethnography Museum in the Stadthuys, and A' Famosa Fort. We left our hotel at 9 am, and went straight to Melaka Sultanate Palace Museum. The museum is located just beside A' Famosa fort (right side if you face the front side of the fort) at Kota Road. The museum portrays some history of Melaka, especially on the history of Hang Tuah. Besides, the models of traders, and the artifacts of tools and weapons used in the past were exhibited as well. However, the most fascinating part of this museum is the architecture of the building itself. The museum was a replica to the Sultan Mansur Shah's palace, which no single nail was used to build the building! Must visit? Sure!

For Melaka Sultanate Palace Museum, the entrance fees for adult and child are RM 2 and RM 1 respectively. Operation hour is 9 am - 6 pm. One thing to remind, no shoe is allowed in the palace museum, so we need to leave ours outside. Although special "royal racks" are prepared for the shoes, there was no "royal guard" assigned to look after them. So, the safety of our shoes is under our own responsibility.

Entering the replica of the old sultanate palace, with not a single nail applied is awesome! This is a must visit site in Melaka.

Kamar diraja, or royal bedroom for Sultan (upper left), the model shows the attires of the traders and the goods (upper right), and a scene of balai menghadap, the place where the sultan meet the delegates from other countries (lower right). Other artifacts showing tools, eqiupments, weapons, clothes, etc. are exhibited as well.

The forbidden garden of the Sultan is located in front of the Sultanate Palace. It is a beautiful garden, but we simply had no time for it.

Then, we went to take Hainan Chicken Rice for lunch. Previous experience brought us to Kedai Kopi Chung Wah, the one that is situated on the other side of Melaka River, opposite of the Stadthuys (at the crossroad between Hang Jebat Rd. and Tun Tan Cheng Lock Rd.). The chicken rice there was still the best we could get in Melaka, queue was forming under the hot sun as early as 11:15 am. In contrast, other Hainan Chicken Rice shops were not so crowded.

Kedai Kopi Chung Hua (Chung Hua Coffee Shop) is still a choice by many. To taste the nice traditional Melaka Hainan Chicken Rice, you need to be early to avoid long queue. Chop Chung Hua from the outside (upper left), inside (upper right) and the chicken rice ball served (lower left). Hoe Kee is another Hainan chicken rice shop, which offers up-to-the-standard chicken rice. Hoe Kee is well decorated, with more tables for larger crowd.

The hot sunny day was good for a walk around Jonker Street (Hang Jebat Road). The street has two different appearances, day and night. Under the hot sun, the street is full with vehicles. The crowd mostly gathered at souvenirs shops, eateries, bakeries, and fashion boutiques. Again, we found the things sold there were not attractive to us (as Malaysian). However, a walk there was not totally in vain. We got some really nice durian chendol there. In addition, we took our opportunities to visit several temples, mausoleums, and Kampung Kling Mosque.

A scene at Jonker Street. It is not shaded and the pedestrian walkway is exposed right under the blazing sun (left). An umbrella or SPF 50++ sunblock might be a good idea to avoid sun burn.

Temples (upper left), renovated shops and eateries (upper right), the office for Hainan Association (lower left) and other shops, such as the souvenirs shops are the key components of Jonker Street. Majority (if not all of them) of the shops are ran by Chinese (or Baba and Nyonya). From there, we could deeply feel the influence of China on Melaka many years down the passage of history.

Kampung Kling Mosque is one of the oldest mosque in Malaysia. Built in 1728, the minaret of the building resembles a pagoda. Sumatran, British, Portuguese and Hindu influenced architechtures can be found too.

Afternoon, we took Melaka River Cruise at Quayside. That was a surprise for us, as the experience for the ride was fantabulous. The 40 minutes ride through the historical and modern part of Melaka was unforgetable. The effort to beautify once heavily polluted Melaka river astonished us. Melaka River Cruise is the attraction which you should never miss, with little price to pay- RM 10 for adult and RM 5 for child. The operation hour is 9:30 am - 12 am, with a break on 5-6 pm. The frequency, 30 minutes per cruise. Although we took the ride around 2 pm in the afternoon, the hot sun didn't affect us much, as the motorboat was well-covered with canvas.

Different views on Melaka River Cruise, from the heritage site to the modern city.

The cruise is well-shaded with canvas.

Quayside and the ticket counter of Melaka River Cruise from the motorboat.

The 40 minutes relaxing on the cruise was followed by 3 solid hours of "marathon" through the Stadthuys, which houses Melaka History and Ethnography Museum, and A' Famosa Fort. That was our first time at Melaka History and Ethnography Museum. We spent more than 2 hours there. The history of Melaka is really stated in detail there, and if we could find chairs for our laden feet, we might had stayed longer in the museum. The entrance fees are RM 5 for adult and RM 2 for child. The original structure of Stadthuys is well preserved. Therefore, it is quite worthy to pay the fee and get into the building to take a look.

Stadthuys (right), the clock tower, and the Church of Melaka (behind the clock tower) in red lure the visitors from all around the world. Built more than 350 years ago, the structures exhibits the architecture of Dutch.

Road signs in front of the Stadthuys with two statues of kancil (mouse deers). The kancil is believed had influenced the founder of Melaka to settle down at this area.

The square in front of the Stadthuys. A line of well decorated trishaws can be rented at RM 40 per hour, negotiable (lower left). Crowd can be seen in front of Victoria Fountain.

Inner part of the Stadthuys. We need to pay the ticket for Melaka History and Ethnography Museum to access to these area.

The stucture inside the Stadthuys. The well used by the Dutch can still be seen (upper right).

The exhibition in the first room, just after the ticket counter.

The Tourist Information Center is located just opposite of the Stadthuys, on the other side of the road. Instead of providing information to the tourists, there is a nice clean toilet available in the center. Btw, we can't find any other public toilet around the heritage site instead of the one available in the center. Of course, we could always use the toilets available in the shopping malls and the eateries (some of the eateries put a fee on the non-customer for using their toilet).

A' Famosa Fort is the center of the heritage site of Melaka. Once the most symbolic icon of the grip of Portuguese is now barely a surviving gate, in the middle of a modern city. Built by Alfonso de Albuquerque in 1511, the fort was destroyed by British on 1806. The wall of the fort is not high, nor thick. But with guns and canons on the Portuguese side, that's more than enough to hold the ground against spears, keris, elephants and horses.

The surviving gate of A' Famosa fort. Built by the Portuguese, the fort changed hand many times before it finally lays in peace to serve the tourists. The chapel can be seen far right on the top of the St. Paul Hill :)

Once been called Nosa Senhora Chapel by Portuguese, then St. Paul's Church by the Dutch, and ended the service on the hand of British, who make the church a store for gunpowder, the old structure on the top of St. Paul Hill witnessed the rise and fall of many rulers of Melaka.

The tombstone left by the Dutch and Portuguese nationals.

Panoramic scenery on the top of St. Paul Hill. Taming Sari Tower and Holiday Inn can be seen afar.

We spent the night at Pahlawan Square, and took a ride on Taming Sari Tower beside the shopping centre. The tower is really close to the square, around 3 minutes walk from the McD side of the square. From 80 meters above the ground, we saw more than what we had expected. Click here for our day-3 trip now.

Take a look on all our sharing about Melaka:

[Malacca Trip Day 1] [Malacca Trip Day 3] [Accomodation and Food in Melaka]

[Top 10 Must-Do in Melaka] [All our Destinations]

Malacca Trip Day 3

2011-10-08T23:03:00.008+08:00

Day 3, we woke up late, drove by the exhaution. We went for a late breakfast, and started to take our way to the last destination in our list. That was a new attraction to us- Taming Sari Tower. The tower was named after the keris (Malay dagger) of Hang Tuah, the legendary warrior of Melaka. The revolving tower brought us around 80 m above the ground, with a wonderful 360 panoramic view over the whole city of Melaka in 7 minutes ride. We were lucky for the nice weather with just a little bit of haze. It was really an unforgetable experience, and it is surely a must visit place in Melaka.

The Taming Sari Tower is located at Merdeka Road (beside the swimming pool). By foot, it is 5 minutes away from Pahlawan Square (McDonald side), or around 10 minutes away from Jonker Street. It is really easy to locate for the high rised tower. Entrance fees: Adult and Child are RM20 and RM10 respectively, with 50% discount for MyKad holders, and operates 10 am - 10 pm daily. The tower accomodates around 60 people with a new round of ride in every 15 to 20 minutes. So, a long waiting time is not expected.

Standing tall above the ground, Taming Sari Tower is the most prominent landmark of Melaka.

A view on the tower, with the Maritime Museum and Quayside in the middle. The newly built Casa De Rio Hotel can be seen on the other side of Melaka River.

The ticketing complex of Taming Sari Tower (upper left), not far away from Pahlawan Square. The ticket counter (upper right). Bicycle for rent is available at the ticketing complex, with the rate of RM 3 per hour (lower left). We grab the opportunity to take our own photo when we were on the ride.

Instead of the major attractions that has been mentioned, there are some other attractions in Bandar Hilir heritage site that simply worth a touch and go.

The Proclamation of Independent Memorial is an important monument. It was the place where Malaysian first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman firstly declared the date for the independant of Malaysia in 1956, a year before 31 August 1957. He then took a short walk to the residence of Tun Tan Cheng Lock for tea before he departed to Kuala Lumpur. The place where the monument stood is so meaningful, yet, it's like an abandoned child at a corner of Pahlawan Square. The exact location of the monument- opposite of the Malay and Islamic World Museum. We felt bad about how the authority of Melaka mistreated the monument.

Melaka never lack of museums. Melaka Islamic Museum (upper row), UMNO Museum (lower left), Museum of Enduring Beauty, and The Malay and Islamic World Museum (lower right) are lined up side by side, together with Melaka Philately Museum at Kota Road, just beside A' Famosa. Most of these museums are located between Pahlawan Square and Jonker Street.

Quayside is a nice place for a walk, while enjoying the scenery of Melaka River (upper row). We are able to see the unrealisticly big irrigation wheel and the old but newly discovered Melaka fort from the Quayside.

The Maritime Museum is located at one of the end of Quayside, while the giant wheel sit on the other.

Old, useless, but not willing to be recycled. Many of these antiques are kept in Melaka, scattered around the little patches of gardens across Bandar Hilir heritage site.

Melaka is really a place that worth a visit. It can be considered as the starting place of the Sultanate of West Malaysia. A three days two nights tour is simply not enough for anyone to go through every corner in Melaka. However, for us, it is definately a place where we will come back again.

What to expect in Melaka:

Historical sites and tourism spots are close to each other. The whole Bandar Hilir heritage site can be accessed by foot.
A blend of races. Intead of typical Malay, Chinese, and Indian, Baba and Nyonya, Chitty, Indonesian, Portuguese, Dutch, British are available too. Their influences in social-cultural, literature and architecture can be traced in Melaka.
Food from different races. Queue in unevitable for favourite eateries and food outlets.
Massive crowd of tourists.
Need to pay for public car park, even on Sunday. Payment coupons are available at convenient shops, groceries and some hotels.
The street is safe, day and night.
Banks are extremely rare in Bandar Hilir heritage site. However, ATM machines are available in major shopping complexes.
The hotels nearby Bandar Hilir are not cheap, cheap hotels are mostly far away.
Nice and helpful people.

For more information about Melaka, you can visit:

Click here for Accomodation and Food in Melaka or Click here for all our destinations now.

Take a look on all our sharing about Melaka:

[Malacca Trip Day 1] [Malacca Trip Day 2] [Accomodation and Food in Melaka]
[Top 10 Must-Do in Melaka] [All our Destinations]

Mukah

2011-09-02T00:20:00.004+08:00

Mukah was the last stop for our roadtrip starting from Sibu. We were off from Dalat around 5:45 pm, and took 35 minutes to cover 35 km of journey.

Mukah is a town where the town's border is drawn along the seashore and Mukah river. Mukah has a humble start as a small fishing village, which then served as an outpost for the sultanate of Brunei. It is not a big town yet, but the development is vast. The reason- it is a part of SCORE (Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy).

The attraction of Mukah is at it's old town area, where the nice seafood restaurants, kopitiam, fish market, local market, and many of the hotels are gathered within walking distance (20 minutes the most from each others). With two markets located side by side, harbour for fisherman and the stalls for the local delicacies and eateries all clustered together, the old town area is somewhere that you should not miss. Fish sold at Mukah Fish Market are fresh, and what we should not miss- the fish for umai. Umai is a traditional Melanau dish where fresh fish is sliced and mixed with lime, onion, and a little bit of chili (chili is optional).

After a night stay at Kingwood Hotel, we took our breakfast at the eateries beside the fish market. Then, we moved around the markets for about an hour, and carried away some fresh fish, sliced fish for umai, some tebaloi (traditional sago biscuit), and a terap (local fruit).

The last wooden shops in old town area. The rest, ash to ash, dust to dust, due to the fire outbreaks.

The old town area.

Unlike the mysterious Labuan Chimney, this Mukah's chimney served as a part of sago production factory, which once generated handsome revenue for the local Melanau chieftains. However, as the price of the sago powder dropped sharply, the factory was abandoned, so did the chimney. The chimney can be seen at the old town, beside Mukah River.

The fish at the market is supplied by the small fishing boat, which will return a few times a day to unload the catch (9 am, 12 pm, and 4 pm, if not mistaken). The harbour is just right outside of the market. So, if you want to get a fresher fish, you need to go and catch it by youself :)

Two fishing boats are approaching the harbour, with some of the fish vendors awaiting at the harbour for possible deals.

We can see the village opposite of Mukah River. Small motorboats are the main commuters for the villagers.

Mukah fish market might be smaller than many other fish markets. But, when we talk about fish business, the freshness, which Mukah fish market outmatched the rest, counts.

These are the creatures that swam in the sea few hours ago...

Mukah's local market is the place that we can find many local products, with local price. The market is located adjacent to the fish market.

Giant banana that can fill up a meal (upper left) and exotic sago worms sold with RM 5 per small basket (upper right). Buah terap is authentic Borneon fruit. We never thought we could find one in Mukah as the fruit is rarely found nowadays.

Small stalls selling local sago products, cakes, snacks, and other dried seafood products are available beside the local market. Tebaloi, the well-known Mukah's keropok ikan and keropok udang are something that you should try.

Black Liberica coffee, tea, panggang (coal roasted glutinous rice), you-tiao, and fresh buns made a perfect breakfast at Mukah. The eateries are located just beside the fish market.

A scene at the eateries for breakfast. We can see the fish market on the left, outside of the eateries.

The new township of Mukah with many modern concrete buildings. The district office of Mukah can be seen at far left. Many fast food chains and supermarkets are available in the new town area (which were not our interest).

Another scene at the new town area. The old town buildings can be seen on the far left.

The mosque with the domes with the motif of Melanau's hat is a symbolic of the dominancy of the Melanau ethnic resides in this area. Other ethnics are Chinese, Iban and Malay.

Trees are well blended into the landscape of the new town area.

Kingwood Hotel is the place that we stayed. The three star hotel is clean, well maintained, and has a good location at the middle of the town. The restaurant was empty due to the Ramadhan month (lower left). We were charged RM 88 per night for the twin bed room with aircond and flat screen (lower right).

On our way back to Sibu, we stop by Kingwood Resort Mukah for a while. The resort located 15 minutes away from the town area, which for us, is the down side. However, the hotel might be a good place for a retreat as it is just by the sea with very nice and quiet surrounding.

Almost forgotten to mention the seafood at Mukah. The price for the seafood is really cheap. We got the deal of RM 18 for 1 kg of crab and RM 10 for a whole full plate of umai for our dinner on our first night at Mukah. The restaurant, Medan Seafood, is just around 200 meters away from our hotel (same row with Kingwood Hotel). Our way back to Sibu took us almost 2 hours with 180 km. The route- the one that had been indicated in Google Map.

These are some of the Hotels in Mukah town area:
-Kingwood Hotel, Mukah (middle of the town, opposite of the mosque)

Tel: +6084-87 4996; Rate: Can be as low as RM 88 at non-peak season.
-King Ing Hotel (Old town area, quite isolated at the side of the river)

Tel: +6084-871403; Rate: Starting from RM65.
-Golden Inn (Same row with Kingwood Hotel)

-Hotel Seri Umpang (Old town area, opposite of the markets)

Tel: +6084-87 1888; Rate: Call to confirm.
-Mandarin Hotel (Old town area, opposite of the markets)

Tel: +6084-872688; Rate: Starting from RM 45

-Kingwood Resort, Mukah is a little bit isolated. But it won't be a problem if you have your own transport.

Tel: +6084-87 4996; Rate: Can be as low as RM 129 at non-peak season.

Mukah is now inter-connected with the major cities of Sarawak with public transportations, such as commuter buses and airplane.

What to expect in Mukah?

Mukah fish market and local market at old town area.
Fresh fish, fruits, sago worm, terap, and other local products.
Nice and cheap seafood at seafood restaurant.

For more information about Mukah, you can visit:

Take a look on our sharing about other places in Sarawak:

[Kuching] [Sibu-Attractions] [Sibu-Accommodation and Food] [Tanjung Manis]

[Matu-Daro to Dalat] [All Our Destinations]

Matu-Daro to Dalat

2011-09-01T23:47:00.004+08:00

Second stop, Daro, 60 km from Tanjung Manis, and we took 2 hours 15 minutes. The duration of the trip was much longer than what we had expected, for we had to take 2 ferries. First ferry was nice with 15 minutes crossing. The second at Muara Lassa (Delta of Lassa) almost got us killed by waiting. Strong current and wide river were the culprits. It took us 1 hour 20 minutes to complete our crossing.

A ferry is approaching the ferry point (upper left). Sign board at the ferry point, stating the operation and the fees of using the ferry service (upper right). All the vehicles are required to line up at the ferry point (lower left), where one or two small stalls were set up by the locals for business. The stall owners are mostly Melanau.

Our advice is, while we were waiting for the ferries, why don't we take a close examination on the river bank and we would see these small creatures. Mudskipper- the fish that can live on the ground for hours (left) and small crabs.

A scene on the ferry.

Cars are disembarking from the ferry.

Daro is a small town by the river of Daro, with a population of 20-30 k. The name Daro is quite similiar to a UNESCO heritage site- Mohenjo Daro in Pakistan :p Unlike the mightly Igan or Rejang River, Daro River is small. Daro Town consists of two rows of very old wooden shops by the side of the river, and a few rows of concrete shops behind the wooden shops. Across the small river (probably 30 feet wide) is the residential kampung (village), which most of the houses are made by wood.

Two rows of old wooden shops by Daro River (upper row). Community fire brigade is located just beside Daro River (lower left). A closer look on the old shops reveals that the whole structure is in fact made by wood, except the roof.

Although road is built connecting the town folks to the outer world (upper left), boats are remain as one of the major transports for them. Water garage for the private speed boats can be seen along the river (upper right), while Hospital Daro has their speed boat unit ready to serve (lower right). A small bridge linking the people on the opposite side of the river was built at the end of the small town.

Upper row shows the newer Daro township with concrete buildings, located just behind the old wooden shops (if we come by road, we will see the concrete shops first). The petrol station is really simple (lower left). The fish and the tiled walkway are parts of a small garden by the river.

Pasar Ramadhan was held in Daro, during our visit. A youngster was showing off his skill while waiting for the break of fasting.

Roasted chicken for break-fast? That's the least that we can get from Daro Town. We bought some kuih-muih, rendang chicken, and umai before leaving the town for our next stop- Matu.

Our third stop, Matu, approximately 30 km away from Daro. We took 20 minutes to reach Matu from Daro. Matu is a really small town (a village should be more appropriate), with the center of 2 rows of wooden shops.

The modern-look concrete buildings for the police station (left) and the district council (right) gave us a feeling of "out-of-syn" in the small town of Matu.

Matu Town is really small, with two rows of wooden shops (upper row). The clinic of Matu is situated in a kampung house building (lower left). We met several kings of the road when we were leaving Matu Town. What else can we do other than to give way to the moo-moo?

To reach our fourth stop at Kampung Igan (Igan Village), we had to cross Igan River for the second time, using ferry (the first crossing was through the Igan Bridge at the very beginning of our trip). That was the third and the last ferry that we had to take. The ferry didn't keep us waiting. We took 20 minutes for the crossing. LS's father used to teach at SK Kampung Igan, about 30 years ago. During the time, the village was accessible only by the river.

We were greeted by a group of monkeys at Matu's ferry point. One of them showed its dissapointment upon the no-animal-onboard policy (left). However, one swallow had been given the VIP pass to sit on the ferry for the crossing, without labouring its wing :p

The old wooden building of SK Kampung Igan was abandoned, and replaced by several concrete buildings at about 300 meters away. To our surprise, some of the workers and parents at the school were able to recognize LS's father, with little hints given. They were the students of the school 30 years ago, grown up, trained, and then went back to Daro to work. They told us that some of the students at his time are now very successful in their life. That's a great news for a teacher.

Houses at Kampung Igan (upper row). The old school building has been abandoned (lower left), replaced by new concrete buildings (lower right).

Photo taken in front of SK Kampung Igan.

We took 30 minutes to cover another 25 km from Kampung Igan to Oya. The small town (or should be considered as a village) has a total 3 rows of wooden shops along the road. The population, the most, few hundreds. We make a quick stop at Oya, just to answer to the call of nature.

The shops at Oya Town (upper row), which the wooden shops on the upper right is authentically unstable, which is not caused by the wide angle distortion. Oya Town is located beside Oya River (lower left), with a small school SJK Yak Tee sits right in the middle of the town. Construction to build a new township is now in progress about one km away from the old town.

Our photo beside the main road of Oya Town.

Our sixth stop was Dalat. LS and his parents own some memories of Dalat. Dalat turned up to be the resting point for LS's parents to travel from Narub to Sibu, many many years back, when his parents were teaching in San San Primary School in Narub.

Dalat has developed much, and it's totally different from it's old days. The old wooden shops were replaced by concrete buildings, and the whole town were beautified and well landscaped. It is hard to imagine that right in the middle of the Borneo jungle, a small town like Dalat can emerge, survive the emigration, and grow through the time. From the talk with old friends (didn't meet for more than 25 years, but still able to recognize each others. Strange, isn't it?), more development are coming, and the business is getting better.

The Chinese temple (upper left), the village on the opposite of Oya River (yes, Dalat and Oya Town shared the same river, upper right), and the green petrol station (lower left) are still remained on their old locations. However, new shops are emerging in the surrounding area, thanks to the effort of the local government.

This nicely landscaped garden was where the old wooden shoplots previously stand (photo is not well-joint using panorama setting). The old shoplots were turned into ashes, caught by fire many years ago. However, the curse of fire had turned into the reborn of the town, like the arising of the phoenix through the inferno flame.

Photo session at the garden.

The reunion of the really old friends (no joke) after more than 25 years aparted. We have a promise to keep- to meet them again in future. This was the coffee house that LS and his parents used to visit 25 years ago, same owner, but difference location.

We stayed at Dalat for more than an hour, tried to pick up old memories catching the latest development. After a drink with the old friends, we set off to Mukah. Mukah was the final destination of the day, roughly 35 km from Dalat, and we took around 30 minutes to reach Mukah.

What to expect in Matu-Daro, Kampung Igan, and Oya-Dalat?

Small towns. Populated by different races- Melanau, Chinese, Iban, Malay, and other natives.
Some nice food- rendang chicken and umai from Daro. Nice tea and coffee at Dalat.
Daro and Dalat are the bigger town with more shops, and probably a better place to rest. Matu, Kampung Igan and Oya are small, with only 2 - 3 row of shops.
The ferry service at Matu stops after 6 pm and will resume early the next day morning.

For more information about these places, please visit:

We headed to Mukah, our last stop for the day.

Take a look on our sharing about other places in Sarawak:

[Kuching] [Sibu-Attractions] [Sibu-Accommodation and Food] [Tanjung Manis]

[Mukah] [All Our Destinations]

Tanjung Manis

2011-09-01T22:45:00.005+08:00

We have just completed our roadtrip, from Sibu to Mukah using Sarawak Coastal Road, and had passed through the several small towns like Tanjung Manis, Daro, Matu, Kampung Igan, Oya, and Dalat. This roadtrip was made possible, upon the completion of Sarawak Coastal Road, around two years ago. With the wide distribution of rivers branching through the land, we went through many bridges and 3 ferries that connect the places, which some of them, never before been connected to civilization through land. Tanjung Manis is the first stop of our roadtrip with our family members.

Some of these places are so seclusive that they are not even shown in Google Maps. The green lines indicate the route for our roadtrip (of course, the road won't be so straight), which are not yet been indicated in Google Map. To go to Tanjung Manis from Sibu, we need to cross Igan Bridge. Then, follow the signs and we won't get lost. From Mukah back to Sibu, we followed the road indicated in Google Maps (orange curves).

Most of the area are not populated, as what we could see out of the window. Houses and people are rare here, and most of the time, we travelled with zero connection for our handphones.

From Sibu, our first stop was Tanjung Manis. In one hour time, we travelled 80 km by crossing 7 major bridges- Igan Bridge, Lebaan Bridge, Lengan Bridge, Setubah Bridge, Serdeng Bridge, Loba Pulau Bridge, and Belawai Bridge. These bridges were built with great engineering skills, cutting through the swarmpy area at the delta of two great rivers- Rejang River and Igan River. The second bridge, Lebaan Bridge with a total length of 1.24 km, is the longest river-crossing bridge in Malaysia.

Lebaan Bridge from a distance away.

Upper row shows the condition of the bridges. A scene at the highest point of Lebaan Bridge (lower left), high above Lebaan River. Nipah trees are common at the banks of the rivers.

Tanjung Manis is emerging as an important place in Sarawak, which might turn out to become next modern industrial hub in Sarawak. Now, the construction across the area is in full swing. Airport had been built (One trip per day on Mas Wing), seaport building is in progress, and power supply will be backed by Bakun Dam. Everything is done based on Sarawak Government Master plan, to turn the area from a small settlement into mega halal food industrial hub, which is a part of Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE).

Kompleks Lembaga Kemajuan Ikan Malaysia (LKIM) is the landmark for Tanjung Manis. Maybe, not for long.

Nice quarters for the workers at Tanjung Manis.

Harbour of Tanjung Manis, serves as the transportation terminal for the locals (upper row). The express boats are the major river transports for the locals (lower left). We can see many of these express boats at Sibu harbour too. The terminal is ready with open space waiting rooms equipped with ample chairs (lower right).

A souvenir shop and a cafe is available in the terminal (upper row). Hard wood furniture and some of the local handicrafts available for sale (lower row). Anyway, due to the low supply and low demand, the price of the items on sell is higher than other places. For food, there are several cafes and coffee shops just a few hundred steps away from the terminal, serving more variety of food and drinks.

Some of the locals are fishing at the harbour. They are friendly and talkative.

Panorama view of the shops from the terminal of Tanjung Manis.

The shops at Tanjung Manis. Many of the shops have been converted into swallow houses.

Airport of Tanjung Manis at Belawai, is around 15 minutes away from the harbour.

The development plan for Tanjung Manis is displayed at the airport. Better plan are available at hdcglobal.com.

What to expect in Tanjung Manis?

A simple small town with very few people.
Several shoplots have been converted into shallow houses, with loud shallow luring sound.
Lorries and trucks for constructions.
The most attractive buildings are the small harbour, the airport, and the complex of Malaysian Fishery Board (LKIM).

For more information about Tanjung Manis, please visit:

Our trip continued with our next stop at Daro.

Take a look on our sharing about other places in Sarawak:

[Kuching] [A Day Tour Around Sibu] [Sibu-Attractions] [Sibu-Accommodation and Food]
[Matu-Daro to Dalat] [Mukah] [All Our Destinations]

Attractions in Sibu

2011-08-24T23:04:00.010+08:00

Mid August 2011, we went back to Sibu for a five days' vacation. With around 200 thousands of population, it is a small town in the middle of Borneo Island. Motivated by the feedback from our reader, we have collected more information this time.

Like in our previous post about Sibu, Wong Nai Siong Garden is still on the top of our list. As a historical site, the Foochow immigrants from Fujian Province once made their very first step on the land of Hornbill, right on the bank of Sungai Merah, or the red river. 72 pioneers on February 20, year 1901. Then, the rest followed and made a total of 1118.

"The country is blessed by Sibu" are the words from one of the Ministers of Sarawak, D.S. Wong Soon Koh, carved in Wong Nai Siong Garden, as a token of gratitude to the contribution of Wong Nai Siong. The wall behind the statue of Wong Nai Siong listed the names of the fathers of Sibu. LS's great grandfather is one of them.

Statue of Wong Nai Siong (left) stood still in the garden, facing the busy Tun Abang Haji Openg Road, which was just a small bicycle track during his time. The garden attracts many visitors, both from local and international.

Sungai Merah Town is clearly reflected on Sungai Merah. "Sungai" means river, while "merah" means red. This was the location where the immigrants debarked from their long voyage. The place is well-known, for the small step they made long ago had brought a big leap on today's Sarawak. The garden is place for us to feel: the flow of the red river, the heat of the sun, the touches of wind, and the heartbeats of the people who were there a century ago. The garden is located in the middle of Sungai Merah Town (Sungai Merah means Red River), around 5 km away from the Sibu Town center, which can be accessed by bus or taxi. If you drive by your own, the parking at Sungai Merah is free.

Wong Nai Siong Garden is surrounded by Sungai Merah Town. We can get a nice meal at the market's food stalls, or the coffee shops which spread across the little town. Our recommendation, the fried noodle and "koew tiao" at the market (they are open until noon). If you wish to try the authentic Sibu food- kampua, then you will need to observe- find a coffee shop with many customers, that should be the one for you.

Sungai Merah Town is a part of Sibu Town. The bridge provides the crossing of the river. Wong Nai Siong Garden is just in front of the blue-roofed building.

The shops on the another side of the river. Sungai Merah Market is the building with the red roof. Today, Sibu Town has developed and expanded far beyond the border of Sungai Merah. Children of Sibu spreads even further, across the world.

Hoover Memorial Garden, around 1 km away from Sungai Merah Town is a little bit tricky to be reached. You need to head north (opposite direction to Sibu Town center) from Sungai Merah using Tun Abang Hj. Openg Rd., turn left on the first traffic light, and the garden is on the left side at the end of the road. The garden is built by the Methodist churches of Sibu, in commemorating the contribution of James M. Hoover, a US missionary who had spent his life selflessly at Sibu.

Panorama of Hoover Memorial Garden. As a candle, he burned himself to brighten up the others. His dedication and sacrifices will be remembered for many years ahead, at least in the heart of the people of Sibu.

"A drop of water that influenced the valley of Rejang River. With a drop of blood, he served the people of Sibu. He is James M. Hoover, a missionary". That is how he is remembered, as been written in the garden.

Some of the history and biography of Hoover, printed on bronze plates (upper row). 1118 stars represents the total of the Foochow immigrants (lower left). Nine pillars represents the fruits of the Holy Spirits. He came not only brought the faith and Christianity, but the technologies as well, such as the first telegraph, the first round saw for timber industry, first ice making machine, first bicycle, first generator for electricity, first rice mill, first agriculture school, first convent school, and above all, the rubber trees that boost the Sibu's revenue.

To reach the memorial garden, you can drive, or go by taxi, or you can even walk there (if you have an umbrella, and not worry of getting sweaty). However, bear in mind that the garden is quite isolated with few visitors. Getting a taxi from the garden might be impossible, without a prayer.

Both Wong Nai Siong and Hoover Memorial gardens should be the only two attractions that transportation is required. Heading back to Sibu Town center, there are several spots that we should not omit.

Firstly, Sibu Town Square. The town square is the biggest in Malaysia, spanning from Wisma Sanyan to the two rivers. From the town square, we can in fact enjoy the view of the splitting point of two mighty rivers- Rejang River and Igan River. Rejang River is the longest river in Malaysia. What other things that we can do? We can take a short visit on Lau King Howe Hospital Memorial Museum, Rejang Port Authority Building (take a look from the outside), take a look at the statue of swans and horses, and perhaps, join the local activities and carnival, which will be held from time to time at the square (there was Ramadhan market held for the whole month of August 2011).

Panorama view of Sibu Town Square, from Wisma Sanyan.

Wisma Sanyan (middle) and RH Hotel are prominent from the town square.

The gate marks the starting point of the Corridor of Creativity (upper left). Lau King Howe Hospital Memorial Museum is located at the bank of the Rejang River (lower right). Rejang Port Authority carries a unique ship-shaped structure (upper right). The statues of horses and swans are located at the opposite sides of the town square.

As the town square is lack of trees and shading, an umbrella might be good to resist the blazing sun. Corridor of Creativity beside the town square, parallel with Island Road is a place prepared for Sibu people to show their creativity. However, the corridor is not well utilized.

Secondly, Masland Methodist Church, Hoover House, and Methodist Primary School. Masland Methodist Church, with the white outlook and the cross high above the ground, is one of the most beautiful churches in Sibu, which shows a strong Christianity influence in Sibu. Beside the church is the Hoover House, stands for the activities for the churches, and as a memorial of James Hoover. The Methodist Primary School is just located behind Hoover House. It was the very first primary school setup by Rev. and Mrs. Hoover. The old school building had long devoured by time. However, the location, remained. The church, the school, and Hoover House can be reached from town square by foot, say 10 minutes, maximum.

A new modern building was built on the site of its predecessor, carrying the same name- Hoover House (upper left). On one of the walls in Hoover House carved the phrase "The World is My Parish". That was the spirit that had lured the missionary to the Island of Borneo. Masland Methodist Church is located side by side to Hoover House (upper right). Photo at lower right shows a scene from Hoover Square.

A scene at Jalan Pulau, or Island Road, Sibu.

At the end of Island Road (starting from Sibu Town Square), we can see Sibu Central Market on our left and the Pagoda on our right. The pagoda is within the compound of Temple of Forever Peace- "Yong An Ting". We need some luck for us to access to the upper levels of the pagoda, as it is locked from public for most of the time.

Yong An Ting and the pagoda. Some refer Yong An Ting as "tua-pek-gong" temple.

Sibu Central Market is the biggest central market in Malaysia. Located at Channel Road, the market offers some surprises, range from the variety of the items for sell to the price. The market is extremely busy early in the morning, and getting lesser after the mid-day. The market is a must visit place in Sibu. Make sure that you don't miss the rattan-made products (getting lesser, and the price soars), sago products, raw paku and midin, durian and dabai (seasonal), and the most- Sibu world famous pottery and black pepper. The upper level of the central market is opened for mini retails and food stalls, which is less attractive than the market at the ground floor.

The outlook of Sibu Central Market, by Channel Road.

The ground floor of the market houses hundreds of the hawkers, with wide variety of items sold on their stalls.

One of the entrance of the market. From the point that we took this photo, turn left and you will be able to see the bus terminal and the express boat terminal.

What is Mulung?? (upper left). Mulung is unprocessed sago. Rice from Bario (upper middle), and paku fern. The rattan products and the pottery can be bought from the market, while the creativity can be seen from the way the chicken for sell are wrapped (middle row). Local mandarin and different types of durians are some of the must-try fruit in Sibu (durian is seasonal). Please try your best not to come out from the market with empty hand :-)

Sibu Express Terminal, is 5 minutes walk away (maximum 200m) from the another side of the market (if you enter the market on the pagoda side). Express terminal here is for the express boat, not buses as we commonly refer to. The express terminal is a place that you should stop and take a look for a while. Experience the hustle-bustle, and take a look on the faces of those who are waiting. Then, you will appreciate how lucky we are to be connected by roads. Many of the places in vicinity of Sibu can only be reached through the rivers. Sibu Express Terminal is located at Khoo Peng Loong Road, beside the taxi terminal and the local bus terminal.

The modern terminal for one of the most ancient mean of transportation- boat (upper left). The ticket counters with the departure times and destinations (upper right). The express boats by the terminal (lower left) and the waiting crowd at the terminal departure hall.

Another harbour in between the pagoda and the Sibu Express Terminal, for the slower vessels that commute with nearer destinations.

Two latest generation (3.0) express boats with an old predecessor (1.0) in the middle (upper left). Three hundred horse power, four stokes engine, one minute from 0 - 100 km/h... new specs make the motorboat a quick way of connecting people along the rivers (upper right). Motor launches, carriers, etc. (lower left). Orient Pandaw is the new tourist attraction that cruise along Rejang River.

Sibu District Taxi Station and bus station is located beside the express terminal. This place is in fact the regional transportation hub. Another taxi station is located at Wong Nai Siong Road.

The Rejang Esplanade is just next to the express terminal. Nicely landscaped but small. The beauty of the esplanade is in Hii Garden. "Hii", not the miss-spelled of "hi" or another form of "hello". Hii is a Chinese surname. Embedded in the esplanade, the garden is a part of several surname-themed gardens in Sibu. As Sibu strategically inferior to many other towns in Sarawak, so as the allocation for development. That's why the Chinese associations stood up to beautify their beloved town by building the gardens.

The square of Rejang Esplanade (upper left), a part of Hii Garden (upper right), the restaurant by the river (lower left) and the children playground.

We would recommend to see the Swan Statue as well. The swan was believed had saved Sibu from famine and starvation, by showing the people that sago is edible. Kingwood Hotel and Li Hua Hotel are just few steps away from the statue, on the another side of the esplanade.

The Swan Statue.

There is one place that you should not miss before you head back to your hotel- Sibu Heritage Centre. The heritage centre is a fusion show of history, cultural, and social-economy. The exhibition is arranged into a flow of stories. From the history of Sibu, ethnics, culture, economy, education and some of the religion and believes. We spent around one hour in the centre. The admission is free, photograph taking is prohibited. The centre is strategically located between Central Rd. and Wong Nai Siong Rd., around 300 meters away from Wisma Sanyan.

Eye catching sign of Sibu Heritage Centre surprised us by its exhibition, with numerous artifacts and exhibits, mostly donated by the locals. The heritage centre is wheel chair friendly.

Central Road, where Sibu Heritage Centre located. These two photos were taken in front of the centre, one to the left (with Premier Hotel at far back), and another to the right Masland Methodist at far back).

Night market is one of the attraction of Sibu. The night market is held every night. Be early, as the market will start closing around 9:30 pm. The location, the area surrounded by four roads- Channel, Bengkel, Central, and Lintang.

The location of the night market is a carpark area during day time.

Several parks which are popular to locals are Bukit Aup Park, Lakeside Park, and Forest Park. If you are about to stay several days in Sibu, then you might plan to visit some of those parks. We only had the time for Bukit Aup and Lakeside.

Bukit Aup (Aup Hill) Park is a few kilometers away from Sungai Merah. It used to be the biggest park in Sibu, where many people went there for leisure. However, without proper maintenance, the park now is deteriorated, consumed by time. The only plus for the park- scenery on the top of Aup Hill. As the park is very far from the town centre, a taxi should be the only mean of transport to bring you there, if you opt not to drive by your own. Taking bus is not advisable.

Bukit Aup Park with two different lakes (the lower is shown in upper row, while the upper lake is shown in lower left). The staircase leads to the top of a hill is not very well maintained. From what we can see from upper right, the water in the lake was dirty.

Lakeside Park is located nearby Sibu General Hospital. The center of the garden is a big lake, with several water activities provided. The good part of the park, the food. The food court at beside the lake provides up-to-standard food, and good view over the lake. During our last visit, it was cold rainy evening with the strong blowing wind. The feeling, good! Anyway, as far as we know, we need to go there by our own transport. Taxi might be a good idea, but you might need the same taxi to bring you back.

A nice open space with roof taking the motif of Melanau's hat beside the lake (upper left). A scene of the lake of Sibu Lakeside Park (upper right). The park is readied with water activities (lower left). The food at the food court by the lake is nice. However, it is quite far away from the town center.

In fact, all the attractions in Sibu Town center can be reached by foot, with each of them 5 - 10 minutes away from each other. The map of Sibu Town is available at Sibu Airport, or at any major hotels. Now, let us go to the accommodation and food in Sibu.

Take a look on our sharing about other places in Sarawak:

[Kuching] [A Day Tour Around Sibu] [Sibu-Accommodation and Food]
[Tanjung Manis] [Matu-Daro to Dalat] [Mukah][All Our Destinations]

Accommodation & food in Sibu

2011-08-24T22:33:00.011+08:00

Sibu International Airport is quite a distance away from the town, 30 km, the taxi will charge you RM 35, with the taxi coupon sold at the counter. The airport was under renovation. So, the scenes showed might look different upon your visit. If you opt to rent a car, well, two companies for you to choose- Kong Teck Car Rental and Team Leisure Travel Agency. The rate? Please visit the respective website of the respective company. As Sibu is not a big town, nor a tourists' magnet, do expect that the rate for the car rental might be a little bit higher than other places (low demand, no competition). Anyway, good negotiation skill might be a little bit helpful.

Kiosk for Kong Teck Car Rental is in the arrival hall (left). Team Leisure is just outside of the hall (middle). The construction is going on as we can see behind Team Leisure's booth. The booth for the taxi coupon is located far opposite of the arrival hall. As Sibu Airport is undergoing major renovation, the location of the booths might be scrambled in future.

The inter-city bus terminal is located at Pahlawan Road, around 3 km from the town center. However, there are many shops and eateries nearby. Some of them, in our opinion, are quite well. The best way to get to the town center from the terminal or via versa is by taking taxi or bus.

Hotel and accommodation are available mostly in the town center area. The world class, Kingwood and RH Hotel. Kingwood Hotel was the place where we hosted our wedding dinner. Other hotels of good choice are Tanahmas, Premier, Orchid and Garden with private carpark, while Sarawak Hotel, Phoenix Hotel, Kawan Hotel, Li Hua Hotel, and Zuhra are those without private carpark. Those without private carpark might require you to park your vehicles on the street, and of course, need to pay for the parking. The good directory for the hotels are available at Sarawak Tourism Board (go to "directory", "accommodation", and then from "sort town", choose Sibu). All the hotels listed here are within walking distance (10-20 minutes) from most of the attractions in Sibu town center. However, Premier Hotel, Tanahmas Hotel, RH Hotel, Kingwood Hotel, Li Hua Hotel, Garden Hotel, and Sarawak Hotel are closer to some of the hot spots in Sibu. Hotel Bahagia and Zuhra Hotel are some of the budget hotels with very good location.

RH Hotel has unbeatable location with few steps away from Sibu Square and connected to Sanyan shopping center through a sky-bridge (left). Anyway, the price might be a little bit higher than the others. Paramount Hotel is connected to Sibu Square through a small bridge. The view is ok, but the location is a little bit isolated (5 minutes walk to Sanyan).

Kingwood on the other hand, has a nice view over the longest river in Malaysia- the Rejang River (right). Make sure you make a request for river view room upon check in. Li Hua is located just beside Kingwood Hotel.

Premier, Tanahmas, and Garden Hotel are located within 50 meters to each other. Garden Hotel is located opposite of Premier Hotel.

Premier Hotel.

Kawan Hotel is located 15 minutes away from town center by foot. The location is quite isolated beside Lanang Road.

The following are the ranges of room rates for some of the hotels (note: in case of discrepancies of room rates, please take the information of the hotel's website as final):

Kingwood Hotel:
Tel: +6084-335888
- RH Hotel:
RM 260 (superior) - RM 4000++ (presidential). Tel: +6084-365888
- Premier Hotel:
RM 180 (single deluxe) - RM 900 (king suite). Tel: +6084-323222
- Tanahmas Hotel:
RM 245 (single superior) - RM 850 (pemainsuri suite). Tel: +6084- 333188
- Paramount Hotel:
RM 165 (standard room) - RM 550 (Paramount suite). Tel: +6084-331122
-Li Hua Hotel:
RM 88 - RM 300. Tel: +6084-324000
Garden Hotel:
RM 98 (single standard) - RM 160 (superior deluxe). Tel: +6084-317888
-Kawan Hotel:
Starting from RM 80++ (call to confirm). Tel: +6084-315888
-Orchid Hotel:
Starting from RM 60 ++ (call to confirm). Tel: +6084-331999
-Zuhra Hotel:
Starting from RM 58++. Tel: +084-310711
-Hotel Bahagia:
RM 55 (twin sharing) - RM 155 (family deluxe). Tel: +6084-331131
-Sarawak Hotel:
Tel: +084333455

The food is good, and and cheap in Sibu. Several local food and delicacies that we should not miss- "kampua", "char-kueh tiaw", "char-mee", laksa, "har-mee", "dian-bian-hu", "gom-bian", and "pom-bian" are some of them. Do you know what are these things have in common? All of them are made by flour.

Kampua is the water-boiled noodle, mixed with oil and fried onion (and some other seasoning). It is a simple but popular food in Sibu... not without a reason. Why don't you find out by trying? Kampua comes with different "flavors", such as the white kampua (left) and black kampua (darkened by soya sauces).

Kampua with wantan (left). Wantan is a kind of Chinese dumpling. Wantan in kampua seasoning is another unique dish in Sibu.

Porridge with side dishes (left). The price, RM3.50 (no joking). "Dian-bian-hu" is another unique dish in Sibu (please don't mistaken it as Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam). It is basically a dish made by mixed flour boiled at the edge of the wok. Nice dian-bian-hu is very hard to get nowadays in Sibu.

Laksa is available almost everywhere in Malaysia, but Sibu laksa has its own taste that we can't resist (left). Sibu har mee (or prawn noodle) is good, because the prawns used for the dish is freshwater prawns of the nearby rivers.

Gom-bian, char-dried bun made by flour and sesame is an authentic Foochow delicacy. The best way to eat the bun is to eat it fresh, when it is still hot, with some smell of charcoal.

Midin and paku are some authentic Borneo edible ferns, which is available throughout the restaurants.

Seafood- prawn, fish, crab, cuttlefish, shrimp, to jellyfish, mussel, shark fin, etc. are served in great taste, and most importantly, fairly low price.

As we write about food, the struggle whether to list the name and location of the shop is always there. And again, we made a negative decision. Anyway, if you know or had tried some nice food in Sibu, please share with us and other readers (about the name and location of the shop), you are most welcomed to leave a message as a comment.

For more information about Sibu (or whole Sarawak), you can always visit:
- Sibu Official Website
- Sarawak Tourism Board
- Tripadvisor
- Hotels in Sibu (with photos, but without rates)

- Back to Attractions in Sibu

Take a look on our sharing about the other places in Sarawak:

[Kuching] [A Day Trip around Sibu] [Sibu- Attractions] [Tanjung Manis]
[Matu-Daro to Dalat] [Mukah] [All Our Destinations]

Perdana Park Putrajaya

2011-08-12T05:13:00.003+08:00

Not more than a big nice garden, that was all we can say about the park. It is good for a afternoon jog or a family outing. But, if you are a foreign visitor, the park should not be your first priority, unless you are staying in Shangri-La Hotel Putrajaya. Without nice view on the top of the hill, or the reflection from the nicely landscaped Putrajaya lake, Perdana Park is inferior to many other parks and gardens in Putrajaya, such as Wawasan Park, Botanical Park, and Agriculture Heritage Park.

The broad walkway that spans to the heart of the park, where the New Millennium Point stands, is the center of the park.

New Millennium Point is located at the middle of the park.

However, there are something that the garden can offer. Firstly, with a blast of trees and shrubs, flowers and vines, the garden didn't lack of any of the sense of greenery. Secondly, the jogging track, well shaded and enough to soak our sportswear. Thirdly, the megalith garden, not impressive but offer a little bit of surprise, and last but not least, several playgrounds for kids.

One of the playgrounds for children (upper left). Well shaded jogging track by trees (upper right). Chairs are available, good for a sweet chat, or just stay quiet to listen to the chirping birds and blowing wind (lower left). Car park is ample, not only for the park's visitors, but for many conference participants at Shangri-La Hotel Putrajaya.

Pond and vines along the walkway.

Megalith garden filled with many megaliths. Ranged from ankle height to several feet tall, the stone garden offers some element of surprise to the first timer.

The focus of the children- the playground. They are several of them all together.

A view from the top of the hill, 50 m away from the New Millennium point.

The residential area can be seen from the hill. However, the overgrown trees blocked the nice continuous view from there.

The park is located at Presinct 2 of Putrajaya. A car is the most ideal way to reach there, while Nadi Putrajaya bus service is available from Putrajaya Central. The park is located beside Shangri-La Hotel Putrajaya. So, if you have the chance to visit or stay in the hotel, you may take a walk in the park, if you have nothing better to do. There is no vendor available. Therefore food and drink have to be prepared beforehand, to quench thirst and hunger.

Three good things about the park, on top of everything mentioned, good security (at least some patrols were sighted), and very clean toilets, and good maintenance.

More places in Putrajaya on our list:

[Botanical Garden] [Agricultural Herritage Park] [Wawasan Park] [Ministry Precinct]
[Floria 2010] [All Our Destinations]

Wawasan Park Putrajaya

2011-07-15T15:22:00.007+08:00

A Hidden Gem! That's what we felt on our first visit on Taman Wawasan Putrajaya. "Wawasan Park" is our direct translation, Wawasan means Vision. The garden was named align to the Malaysian "Vision 2020", a vision for Malaysian to push our country to become a developed country, on or before 2020.

Come back to the park. It is really a huge park, touches the Boulevard on one end, while the lakeside of the Ministry of Foregn Affair, flanking Lebuh Ehsan (Ehsan Evenue) on another. Still have no idea how big it is? Well, if we jog slowly, we might have to take 1 hour to make a full round of the garden. Got it? Nevermind, visit on your own and you will know it for sure :)

Pond with water lily is an antidote for pressured mind (upper left). Peaceful and greenery surrounded walkway is the main theme of the park, with some nature blending landscapes.

The landscape beside the Ministry of Finance at Putrajaya, with a tidy row of yellow flowered tree (upper and lower left). Staircase lead to the Hibiscus Courtyard (upper right). The water fountain which is not operational during our visit.

The garden is a gem. Of course, the flora, the design, the maintenance, and the landscape count. But the best part, the tranquillity- very very few visitors. As far as we could go, we encounter many fauna, but zero human being. Quiet and peace, interrupted only by chirping birds, buzzing bees, whirling lepidoptera and darting odonata.That was 5 pm, on a nice Sunday afternoon.

A nice theater without audience. An ideal place for you to practice for the next Malaysia Idol :p

Jogging track checked, resting gazebos checked, flowers checked, shaddy walkway, fresh air, fountains, lily ponds and beautiful lakeside, all checked. So, why don't we endulge our weekends with a quiet full-of-nature experience at Putrajaya? Bring along your sport shoes, small towel, drinking water, and maybe your DSLR. Most importantly, find one or two companions, to cleave the feeling of alone-in-the-garden.

Nice landscape with resting area around the park.

Flowers available around the park.

Hibiscus is abundant at the Hibiscus Courtyard.

Fountains at the Hibiscus Courtyard. The building on the right is a part of the Ministry of Finance, while the staircase on far left leads to the rest of the Taman Wawasan.

How to access to Taman Wawasan? Several ways. First, from Masjid Putra at Precinct 1, walk down the Boulevard towards the building for Ministry of Finance. The Hibiscus Courtyard, which is a part of Taman Wawasan is on the left, just after the bridge. Secondly, drive to Ministry of Foreign Affair through Lebuh Ehsan. The parking area is located right on the opposite of the main ministry building.

Do not want to drive? Hop onto a Nadi Putrajaya shuttle Bus from Putrajaya Central ERL station and get to Putra Mosque of The Ministry of Foreign Affair. You can access to the park from that two locations.

A scene from Pebbled Beach in Taman Wawasan, with Perdana Putra- the office of Prime Minister well reflected on the calm lake.

A nice view downcast from the top of the hill in Taman Wawasan. The Boulevard starts with the bridge span across the lake.

If you are a visitor from another country, for frank, please forget about this park. You should fill your itinarary with more fascinating places such as Petronas Twin Towers, Aquaria KLCC, KL Bird Park, KL National Museum, etc. However, it is a good place for our locals to spend a whole afternoon, instead of lying lazily at home.

Some advices, no hawker nor vendor, no food nor drink is available in the park. So, please bring along your own supplies. Mosquito repellent is essential to keep the mosquitoes away. You might regret without it, if you are the kind of mosquitoes attractor. The park is quite hidden from public, so try your best not to be alone in the park (although security guards are available at some points). The toilets, clean and well distributed. So, no issue on that.

More places in Putrajaya on our list:

[Botanical Garden] [Agricultural Herritage Park] [Ministry Precinct] [Perdana Park]
[Floria 2010] [All Our Destinations]

Aquaria KLCC

2011-06-08T21:08:00.009+08:00

Second week of May 2011, Aquaria KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre), two of us, second time. The main purpose was not the aquaria, but to shoot some night scenery at KLCC. However, with 2 hours left before night fall, we decided to get something "fishy" at KLCC. The aquaria has retained its standard, well-maintained, friendly staff, and gave us same feeling in our heart- it is a must visit place in KL, just second to KL Bird Park. We spent about 2 hours in the aquaria.

Walkway at the concourse level of KLCC that leads to Aquaria KLCC (left). Illuminated directory at the entrance is vivid around the dark background.

Weekends, Aquaria KLCC is still as hot as its old time. Students with uniform, families with young and old, couples, and some lone riders. All of us were greeted by Piranha just after the entrance. Then, the DNA Zone where we can touch some of the water creatures, and the electric eel. The first zone ended with the exhibition of water rats and the otters.

The DNA Zone (on the bottom left of the photo) is the touch pool offers "first hand contact" with live starfish, bamboo shark, and other cute sea creatures. Far left is the entrance of the aquaria.

Piranha is the first species that we met in the aquaria. An ornamental skeleton might be a good way to illustrate the nature of that species (upper row). The giant eel that can release 700 volts of electricity and stuns a bull in no time (lower left). Betty with big fat water rats, which their size will definitely dwarf many cats. (lower right).

We entered the Jewels of the Jungle section with mostly insects specimens, lizards, arachnids, and several amphibians. This is the out-of-the-theme section that, in our opinion, not so interesting. At least, some of the creatures exhibited in that section were the last that we would expect to see in an aquaria. Along the jungle themed area, there were exhibits showing coatimundi and frog life cycle as well.

Don't get deceived by its look. That's the most dangerous turtle in the world- alligator snapping turtle (upper left). The smallest species of caiman- smooth-fronted caiman (upper right). Butterfly specimens are available in the jungle area.

Help, a coatimundi in an aquaria!!! Is it a refugee escaped from National Zoological Park or simply a part timer?

The visitors-packed-walkway across the Jewels of Jungle. If you turn back, you will find the coatimundi exhibit on your right.

Then, we moved one floor down by following a walkway that leads to a staircase beside a ground-to-ceiling aquarium. That's an amazing view, with fish swimming around a tree in the middle of the aquarium- with some illusion that the fish were flying. Another big aquarium exhibiting some giant sized freshwater fish from Amazon is located just after at the end of the staircase on the lower level.

Aquarium with the theme "Amazon Flooded Forest" exhibiting big fish like arapaima and red tail catfish from Amazon.

Our photo in front of several aquaria showcasing Malaysian Flooded Forest.

Malaysian Flooded Forest flanks the staircase connecting two levels of Aquaria KLCC.

The big aquarium with freshwater fish, which houses a legendary Tapah, the very indigenous species from Sarawak, marks the end of the freshwater section, and the starting point for the saltwater section. First, the fish available near the seaside is available in the aquarium themed "The Coast". Then, the highlight of the aquaria- 90 meters tunnel that runs right below 2 millions an oceanarium. Ten feet long sand tiger sharks, 100 kg fantail ray (and still growing fatter), giant garoupas, several active sea turtles, with hundreds of other fish swimming freely around the tunnel is an amazing experience. We were so excited that we travelled the tunnel twice, again.

The scene in the middle of the oceonarium.

A garoupa for dinner? Nope, all the sand tiger sharks are well fed that show no aggression to other creatures (upper left), a shipwreak (lower left) and other scenes in the oceanarium.

This is really a scene where the little Mermaid will pop up behind the the rocks and say, "Gotcha!" Anyway, you can always replace "little Mermaid" with "Mr. Jaw".

Other sea creatures available including the seahorses, octopuses, jelly fish, etc. The last point of the aquaria- giant jaw, which is just a replica for our photo taking session.

"Nemo" the clown fish, sea horses, jelly fish and so on are available and scattered all around the aquaria.

Replica of the giant jaw is the last place for you to take photo.

Aquaria KLCC opens daily from 11am - 8pm (last admission at 7 pm), while 10:30am - 8pm on public holiday. The fee, RM35 and RM25 for adult and child with MyKad respectively. RM45 and RM35 are required for adult and child without MyKad respectively. There is a zone named Aquazone, designed for fish therapy. With the charge of RM38 for adult and RM22 for child, we feel that Aquazone offers a highly over-charged service.

To reach Aquaria KLCC is easy, for its location at the concourse level of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC). A 10 minutes walk from Putra LRT KLCC Station, or Monorail Raja Chulan Station is really convenient (can be accessed through Suria KLCC). KL Hop On-Hop Off stop for Aquaria KLCC is at KLCC Garden Park stop. Driving there? The underground multi-storey carpark at Suria KLCC will take away all the pain in finding a carpark.

Before you depart, make sure that you are not too late for the feeding frenzy. The feeding time for the sharks (Monday, Wednesday and Saturday) and aquatheatre is at 3pm. The stream (freshwater area) is at 11:30am and 5pm, piranha tank is at 4pm, the deep forest, the coast, and the living reef at 5:30pm. Our advice, start your journey around 2pm will be just nice for you to catch most of the feeding frenzy around. Don't forget that the feeding frenzy for the sharks is only available on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. By the way, don't forget to bring some water as there is no vendor machine or stall selling food or water.

A food court is located at the entrance of Aquaria KLCC. With not much variety, we can always opt for more at Suria KLCC, with just five minutes walk from the aquaria. In case of visiting the aquaria early, you can spend the rest of your day in shopping Suria KLCC, or visit the tallest twin towers in the world- Petronas Twin Towers.

Aquaria KLCC is just one floor below the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (upper left), on our back is the Suria KLCC and Petronas Twin Tower. We took 10 minutes walk from the carpark of Suria KLCC to the aquaria. The food court at the concourse of KLCC was not impressive. We tried the bread with curry, the taste, far from being good. There is a Starbuck right at the entrance of the aquaria. Anyway, you can always opt for another one with better view and location.

Aquaria KLCC is really an excellent place to visit. Several nearby attractions that worth a visit is Petronas Twin Tower and KL Tower at Bukit Nanas. Petronas Twin Tower is just a hundred meters away from the aquaria (where you can access through the underground walkway), while you might need to take a taxi or other public transport to KL Tower.

For more information about Aquaria KLCC, please visit the Official Site of Aquaria KLCC, contact number 60323331888, email marketing@aquawalk.com.

Want to know more about other attractions in KL? Please visit:

[Aquaria KLCC] [KL Bird Park] [KL National Planetarium] [KL National Museum]
[Find out all Our Destinations here]

Kuala Lumpur National Planetarium

2011-05-04T21:54:00.008+08:00

Kuala Lumpur National Planetarium was built in 1994, and after the recent renovation, it is now much better than the previous 2000 version. The planetarium cannot be considered as very attractive, but might serve as a touch and go point, in order to know more about the involvement of Malaysia in space programmes. A full trip without watching any planetarium show to the planetarium might take around one hour.

Stairs.... that's the price to pay before you can visit KL National Planetarium (left). The planetarium is complemented with an observatory tower, which can be reached through the lift inside the main building.

As we visited the planetarium in the middle of the day, we skipped all the outdoor Ancient Observatory Park. The exhibition gallery is a great mix of everything. Anyway, we try to categorise them into the Solar System right after the entrance, the history of space exploration, the history of Malaysia space project, and the observatory tower.

This is the statue that welcomed us at the entrance of the planetarium. Who is he? Al-Khwarizimi, perhaps.

Your weight at different planets in the Solar System (upper left). The robots that mimic the vehicles for Mars exploratory (upper right). One of the robot is capable to take your picture. The composition of the stars (lower left) and photo gallery of the space from earth.

Viking engine used in Ariane 4 launcher (left), and our photo with replica of Soyuz Capsule for Soyuz spacecraft by Russian.

The exhibition shows the space science experiments done by the first Malaysian Angkasawan (astronout), Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar.

The lift to the observatory tower is not easy to notice from the main building. The way that leads to the lift is just between Red Planet (with robots) and Made of Stars. High above the rest, the tower promises great view over the Lake Garden and KL area. The binocular is provided free of charge during our visit (middle).

Our photo at the observatory tower, backgrounded with KL city center.

The planetarium opens daily from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm (except on Monday, Hari Raya Puasa and Hari Raya Haji). The admission for the gallery is RM1 per adult, while free for child under 12. If you wish to watch the planetarium shows (which is off on every Friday), the maximum fee is RM3 for adult and RM2 for child under 12.

We went there with our own car, ample of free parking space available. Anyway, the planetarium is about 25 - 35 minutes from KL Central Station by foot. You can take taxi from KL Central as well. If you take KL Hop-On Hop-Off, the station is 14 (share with KL Bird Park). For more information about KL National Planetarium, you can visit the Official website of the planetarium.

Our suggestion, please do not visit the planetarium alone in a single trip. The attractions nearby include National Museum (just 200 m away), KL Bird Park (approx. 400 m away), while the National Mosque, Merdeka Square, Sultan Abdul Samad Building, and Malayan Railway Station just 20 minutes away by foot.

For our sharing on the attractions nearby, please visit:

[KL Bird Park] [KL National Museum] [Aquaria KLCC]
[All Our Destinations]

Kuala Lumpur National Museum

2011-05-04T21:45:00.007+08:00

National Museum is getting better, in both layout and the artifacts exhibited, a big thumb up for it! The museum is not splendid with 6000 artifacts displayed (pls. correct us if wrong), but we were quite impressed by the way that the museum delineates the history of Malaysia in a continuous storyline that spans over four galleries. On our last visit, we spent around one hour in the museum with Betty's younger sisters- Nancy and Katty.

Our photo at the side of the museum, together with one of the first steam locomotive in Malaysia.

The front side of KL National Museum. The museum was built on the former site of Selangor Museum. The project of change was initiated on 1958. The building was designed by Ho Kok Hoe, and was built by Yew Lee Company. The two large mural on the front side of the museum was made by Italian mosaic with RM 1.5 million, contributed by Dato' Lee Keng Chian, with the illustration by Cheong Lai Tong (right). The photo on the left shows the entrance of the museum.

Betty and her sisters in front of the mural of the museum.

The entrance leads to the lobby of National Museum with catchy red benches. Ceramics from the Diana shipwreck, displayed at the lobby.

Four galleries represent four different time, namely early history gallery with artifacts 10k - 1.1k years ago, the Malay Kingdoms before 1511, the colonial era of 1511 - 1945, and Malaysia today. We are sure that, everyone who visits the museum will know Malaysia better.

Some of the artifacts in Gallery A: Early History. The artifacts from neolithic age (upper left) and the 1000 years old log coffin from Sabah (upper right) are some of the objects displayed.

Gallery B: The Malay Kingdom, with the artifacts collected during the era. The statue of Avalokitesvara on lower right is dated sometime between 7th - 12th centuries AD.

The siege of Portugal upon Malacca (left), and some of the equipments used by Japanese soldiers during the World War II can be seen in Gallery C: the Colonial era.

The Sultans during the independent of Malaysia (Gallery D: Malaysia today).

Some interesting themed exhibitions that are conducted from time to time in the exhibition hall behind the main museum building can be access from the exit of the museum. During our visit in April 2011, the theme of the exhibition was "Orang Asli: Beliefs and Traditions". The exhibition was focused on the indigenous ethnics in Peninsular Malaysia.

Some of the objects displayed in the special themed exhibition.

Several antique vehicles were displayed beside the exhibition hall.

KL National Museum opens daily from 9 am - 6 pm, except the first day of Aidil Fitri and Aidil Adha. The admission fees for Malaysian adult is RM2, Malaysian elderly or disable is RM1, foreigner adult is RM5, foreigner child 6-12 years is RM2, while FOC for the rest.

KL National Museum is easy to access. It is located 500 m from KL Central Station. You can take KL Rapid Shuttle Bus no. 12 to the museum (the fare should be RM2 per trip), or you can simply go by foot from KL Central. The museum can be reached by KL Hop-On Hop-Off at Station 12. Drive a car? The parking fee is RM2 per entry. For more information about the museum, please visit the Official site of KL National Museum.

The museum is connected to National Planetarium through a walkway behind the museum (beside the toilet). You may visit planetarium together with the museum. From the planetarium, you can visit KL Bird Park (10 minutes from planetarium by foot), KL National Mosque, Merdeka Square, Sultan Abdul Samad Building and Malayan Railway Station as well.

The walkway connecting National Museum to National Planetarium, crossing Damansara Road.

Other attractions in KL? Please visit:

[KL National Planetarium] [KL Bird Park] [Aquaria KLCC]
[All Our Destinations]

Kuala Lumpur Bird Park

2011-05-03T10:18:00.011+08:00

KL Bird Park is big, covering an area of 21 acres, 3000 birds from 200 species, and what we like the most- it's free flight concept. Two third of the bird park is literally covered under a big aviary. Some rare species or aggressive birds are kept in smaller aviaries, sub-set to the big aviary. With this free flight concept, we have the chance to get really close to the birds, especially the storks, egrets, pelicans, peafowls, parrots, and pigeons. For us, it is a must visit site in KL, especially for the nature lovers.

Ficus trees outside of KL Bird Park (upper left), just opposite to the ticket counter (upper right). Station 14 of KL Hop-On Hop-Off (lower left), while taking a taxi is not a problem here.

Upon entering KL Bird Park, we were greeted by Love Birds in Love Aviary. Friendly green cheeked conure and Indian ring-necked parakeet warmly welcome all the visitors with their chirps.

Sun conure (upper left), green cheeked conure (lower left), and Indian ring-necked parakeet are some of the parrots in Love Aviary.

Our photo in Love Aviary.

The pond after the Love Aviary leads to the T-junction. Left, zone 3 and 4. Right, zone 2 of the park. So, left or right? Our advice, right first, where you will meet with pigeons and doves, and peafowls such as peacocks. Along the way, you will be greeted by song birds now and then. At Brahminy Land, eagles and owls awaits. After Brahminy Land, the main alley leads a round trip through zone 2, with a stream dotted with water birds- pelicans, storks, ibises, herons, etc. flows beside the alley,

The pond after Love Aviary. The T-junction is just at the bridge far left of this photo.

Black-naped oricle is one of the song birds available in the aviary (upper left), Victoria crowned pigeon (upper right), peacock the peafowl (lower left), and great argus pheasant are some of the free moving birds in zone 1 and zone 2. Btw, the Victorian crowned pigeons are a little too fat and lazy to fly :-p

One of the peacock is following Betty, wish to get some food (left). The park is wheelchair friendly.

The stream for the water birds.

Yellow billed stork (upper left), egret (upper right), scarlet ibis (lower left), and you might come across a cute tame pelican rests on the bridge and stays for photography sessions.

The highlight of zone 1- Flamingo Pond and Bul Bul Land, both opposite to each other. Flamingo Pond, filled by water birds, backgrounded by a waterfall. Bul Bul Land is a well-landscaped small aviary with cute birds. We like the Mandarin Ducks the best.

Mandarin duck really knows the best place to stay during hot afternoon (upper left). Superb starling (upper right), red-crested pochard (lower left), and golden pheasants are some other birds available in Bul Bul Land.

Well landscaped Bul Bul Land (left). A carolina duck is resting beside the waterfall in Bul-Bul Land.

A side view of Flamingo Pond from Flamingo Kiosk.

Zone 3 can be reached from zone 1. What we were able to see in zone 3- two oriental pied hornbills and a rhino hornbill flying freely in the aviary, while the rest of the hornbills were caged. The best part of this zone is the Hornbill Restaurant and Cafe. The restaurant has an open space corridor where we can dine with the hornbills. We took a stop for lunch at the restaurant. The taste of the food, exceeded our expectation. The price... exceeded as well (around RM25 - 30 per person).

Doorway to zone 3- Hornbill Park (left). The oriental pied hornbill is one of the three hornbills that we noticed to fly freely in the aviary.

Hornbill Gift Shop, with the Hornbill Restaurant and Cafe on the third floor of the wooden building (left). A view from the open air dining area of the restaurant.

Lastly, zone 4, the largest zone for the bird park. Most of the area in zone 4 occupied by flightless birds, eg. ostrich, emu, cassowary are not covered with net. However, still the aviaries are the highlights here. First, the World of parrots- an aviary where we met with many human friendly parrots. Beware, as they will treat all the food that we brought as a free treat from us.

The rainbow parakeets and red lory are well domesticated without fear or shy to the "food bringers".

The World of Parrots is one of the gathering place for visitors.

The Waterfall Aviary exhibits a really nice landscape with waterfall and lakes around the aviary. However, about the birds, nothing more special than storks, peafowls, and some flamingos.

Our photo behind the waterfall.

The bird show at amphitheater, although it is not the 5 stars stuff of performance, but at least guaranteed some entertainment.

Some other cages of birds in zone 4 (upper left). Most of the alley is covered by sunshade. Bird gallery and the education station is not very attractive (upper right). More materials should be added in future. We can take photo with various birds in the photo booth in zone 4 (lower left). The food kiosk, resting area and toilets are handicap-friendly.

The strategic location of KL Bird Park at Taman Tasik Perdana (Lake Garden) make it a most accessible bird park in Malaysia, with just 30 minutes by foot from KL Commuter Station, or from KL Central Station. Taxi from KL city center costs RM15, which will take around 10 minutes, without traffic jam. KL Hop-On Hop-Off? The bird park is on station 14. The entrance fee, for Malaysian adult and child are RM20 and RM10 respectively (don't forget to bring your MyKad), for foreigners, RM45 and RM35 respectively.

The opening hour of the park is 9 am - 6 pm daily. The bird park is big and for us, we spent more than 3 hours in it. Please take note of the feeding hour for eagle at Brahminy Land at 2:30 pm (most interesting for us), and the bird shows on 12:30 pm and 3:30 pm. While the ostrich feeding and lory feeding (both in zone 4) are open whole day long. Ostrich feeding is free, while the lory, RM2 per package of food.

Food and beverages are available in the park, but expensive. Bring along some snacks and drinks are highly recommended. Besides, a hat to block the blazing sun and the direct hit of the bombs" from the birds atop, and sport shoes to cruise over the slippery floor are necessary.

For more information of KL Bird Park, please visit the official webpage of KL Bird Park. Or call the park hotline +603-22721010.

Other attractions nearby the bird park are the Butterfly Park, National Planetarium, National Museum, National Mosque, Merdeka Square, and the historical building of Sultan Abdul Samad and Keretapi Tanah Melayu (Malayan Railway). All the attractions mentioned are within 30 - 40 minutes of walking distance.

For our sharing on the attractions nearby, please visit:

[KL National Planetarium] [KL National Museum] [Aquaria KLCC]
[All Our Destinations]

Travel Photos of Angkor Thom

2011-04-08T17:15:00.006+08:00

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Click here for the sharing on our Siem Reap-Angkor trip.

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Bodhisattva Lokeshvara or Jayavarman VII? The debate over the answer is diluted by the majestic structure bearing the controversy.

The smile that stands on the labour by many and the pride of the king. Was there any other king that carved more than 200 faces of his own in one single temple?

Well designed passage to the centre prasat, where the heart of the temple located.

The long passage way lead to the great temple of Pimenakas alludes the saviour of the god towards those who are willing to walk on it.

Balustrade over the moat of Angkor Thom at 9:30 am, with devas holding a long naga.

Once the entrance of the greatest city in the world that had eclipsed the rest. The rediscovery of the lost city again eclipses many other wonders.

With the combination of 15 meters wide wall surrounded by 100 meters wide moat, Angkor Thom was impossible to be breached. If that was true, how did the empire fall?

Prasat Suor Prat from the Terrace of the Elephants. That's the view of the king on his morning walk from his palace to Pimenakas through the terrace.

More Travel Photos of Siem Reap-Angkor

[Siem Reap] [Siem Reap Streets] [Angkor Wat][Temples of Angkor] [Angkor Thom]

[Back to Travel Photo Gallery] [All Our Destinations]

The sharing of our trip to Siem Reap-Angkor is available

[Siem Reap- Tonle Sap, Silk Farm and Apsara Dance] [Angkor Wat]

[Bayon and Surrounding Area] [Phnom Bakheng and Baphuon]

[Preah Khan and Ta Prohm] [Shopping and Food in Siem Reap]

Travel Photos for the Temples of Angkor

2011-04-08T17:14:00.003+08:00

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Top of the Phnom Bakheng, the level that once only the highest hierarchies could access, now been opened to everyone.

Elephant lane... Or we should warn the elephants about the presence of human being?

Sitting in peace for few hundred of years, waiting for the return of the missing part of the body. The waiting might end soon as UNESCO is undergoing extensive restoration upon Preah Khan.

A wrestling between the bricks and the trees. The fair fight is over as the unfair referee interferes.

Tree that grows on the building, or the building that been built under the tree?

Snakes, monkeys, elephants, and cows are the highlights of the souvenirs. Does anyone cares about the children?

Ancient doorways that lead to the center of Ta Prohm, a center of religion with great engineering of precision and craftmanship.

More Travel Photos of Siem Reap-Angkor

[Siem Reap] [Siem Reap Streets] [Angkor Wat][Temples of Angkor] [Angkor Thom]

[Back to travel Photo Gallery] [All Our Destinations]

The sharing of our Siem Reap-Angkor trip is available

[Siem Reap- Tonle Sap, Silk Farm and Apsara Dance] [Angkor Wat]

[Bayon and Surrounding Area] [Phnom Bakheng and Baphuon]

[Preah Khan and Ta Prohm] [Shopping and Food in Siem Reap]

Travel Photos of Angkor Wat

2011-04-08T16:38:00.007+08:00

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Click here for the sharing on our Siem Reap-Angkor trip.

Stand out of the mud without getting stained- the lotus best ellude the Sacred Angkor Wat, stands firm against the wave of time.

Engineered for greatness, the prasat of Angkor Wat stands high as a witness of the rose and the fall of Khmer Empire.

"I will be back..." Was that the last emperor of Khmer Empire thought when he was walking through this magnificient corridor, exiled by Siam army. Personally, LS felt that the corridor reminded him a lot about the "Mine of Moria" in LOTR.

Believers never forget to leave their prayers here, as the temple is the sanctuary for both Hindu and Buddhist.

UNESCO restorers are trying their very best to send all the broken pieces back to their origin. However, some puzzles seems to get them really tested, for now.

Heavenly dancers, the evidence of the fine Angkorian craftmanship. The sculptures reaches a incredible number of 1500, and all of them have unique poses.

"Charge and leave no prisoner!" Bas-reliefs depict a historical warfare on a gallery at Angkor Wat.

"Shot right between the eyes!" The general in the battle of Kurukshetra is a sharp shooter.

More Travel Photos of Siem Reap-Angkor

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The sharing of our Siem Reap-Angkor trip is available

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Travel Photos of Siem Reap Street

2011-04-08T16:36:00.006+08:00

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Pictures of faces. Are they belong to the foreigners, the locals, the total strangers met on the daytime, or faint familiar faces in the dreams of the painter? Who cares, as long as they make money.

Full, half-full and empty bottles best illustrate the business of the night.

BBQ with the coal-burning flame produces the best food with ancient Angkorian taste, available at Pubstreet.

Most popular means for the Siem Reap folks to move from point A to point B.

A cross on an "I". Any idea what is the sign means?

One of the most conveniently available transport in Siem Reap.

More Travel Photos of Siem Reap-Angkor

[Siem Reap] [Siem Reap Streets] [Angkor Wat][Temples of Angkor] [Angkor Thom]

[Back to Travel Photo Gallery] [All Our Destinations]

The sharing of our trip to Siem Reap-Angkor is available

[Siem Reap- Tonle Sap, Silk Farm and Apsara Dance] [Angkor Wat]

[Bayon and Surrounding Area] [Phnom Bakheng and Baphuon]

[Preah Khan and Ta Prohm] [Shopping and Food in Siem Reap]