A Great Experience with MASWING

We were so close to it, but yet missed our first chance to fly with MASWING last December. Out of a blue change in our itinerary. However, we grabbed our first experience flying in this twin engines 68 seaters in January 2012, from Sibu to Kota Kinabalu. 90 minutes in the air, we crossed the territory of Bintulu, Miri, Brunei, and Labuan, before we landed at Kota Kinabalu. It was an unexpectedly enjoyable trip.

Far back in 1990s, our experience with twin propellers Forker Friendship was terrible. Rocky, hot and sweaty, narrow and suffocating cabin, and the list went on. Time passed and things changed. Now, the ATR 72-500 aircraft offers a far much better experience. Although it is propeller-powered, the aircraft is nevertheless less noisy, relatively stable (thanks to the good weather), wider cabin, nice and sweet stewardess (as consistence as other Malaysia Airlines services), and above all, very comfy seats, which fit well to our average Asian sitting posture. The air conditioning system worked well and it was cooling in the craft (although it was quite warm in the first five minutes after boarding).

17 thousands above the sea level, we were served with delighting refreshment, followed by a cup of tea. While munching our sandwich, we enjoyed a 30 minutes videos presentation, mostly focused on the tourism and information about Sarawak and Sabah.

Video presentation is the last thing to expect in this twin propellers powered flight.

Our refreshment on the aircraft (upper row). Cannot be considered spacious, but there is definitely enough room to stretch.

Beautiful? Sweet? The definition might be varied. However, the stewardess defined herself with good service.

The scene 17 thousands above the sea level.

Kota Kinabalu can be clearly seen in this steady aerial view.

We were unexpectedly greeted by two cuties a few minutes before the captain announced the descending.

Although it is a domestic airline, providing flights connecting cities and towns within Sabah and Sarawak, with a very humble-looking fleet, MASWING is indeed a world class airline. No doubt, we will fly with the airline again, and again.

For more information about our trip in Sabah and Sarawak, please go to All Our Destinations. More stories about Kota Kinabalu and Sibu are available at:

[A Day Tour Around Sibu] [Sibu Attractions] [Sibu Accomodation and Food]

[Kota Kinabalu] [Labuan] [All Our Destinations] [Our Travephoto]

TravePhoto @ Malaysia Bird Parks

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

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 had plenty to offer. As their tour guide, I had to reveal the hidden gems of Sibu to them.

Sunday, mid of December, 9 am, clear blue sky with merciless blazing sun. We started our journey 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 Swan was told. We stopped at Sibu Express Boat Terminal for a while to visualize the importance of the river to the people in Sarawak.

My original plan- visit Yong-An Ting and the pagoda first before breakfast. But they were really starved. 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 to feed 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 tried char mian (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 (what, eat? Again?).

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 a bit longer in front of the shop.

Next stop, Sibu Central Market. I showed them the hand made soo-mee (a special type of local handmade noodle), dried kampua mee (another type of noodle), and some indigenous fruits and vegetables.

This is how the dried kampua mee looks like.

They were lucky. One of the seasonal fruits- Dabai was found 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 as small as we thought. Summary of the places that we visited- Rejang Esplanade, Sibu Express Boat Terminal, dian bian hu for breakfast, souvenir shop, 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] [Sibu Airport is Now Upgraded]
[Kuching][Matu-Daro to Dalat] [Mukah] [Tanjung Manis]
[All Our Destinations]