Get away from it all on Tioman Island

For about half a century of my life, the only island in Malaysia that i have visited was Langkawi and Penang. I did have a yearning to go to Pangkor Island (which we did last year) and some of the other islands, but somehow, never made it.

This year, my cousin sister, Madeline, wanted to go to Redang Island during the school holidays but we could not secure any reservations. So we ended up making reservations at Minang Cove Resort on Tioman Island. That was one of the best decisions made.

The resort is located at the southern most part of Tioman and due to it's remote location, there was no TV reception, so no TV in the rooms. No mobile phone and no internet. There was a little corner on the jetty where some mobile phone signal can be received and we noticed the resort staff tend to spend some time there when they are free.

The sea around the resort is clear and abundant with marine life. You can see at least 10m into the sea and look at live coral and colorful fishes swimming amongst them. Too bad my camera cannot go underwater, or I would have taken a lot of photos of the fishes from inside the sea.

There are other resorts dotting the western part of the island. In many of them, TV, mobile phones or internet is not an issue. The most popular place to go for internet connections is Tekek or Salang. We also noticed that many scuba divers tends to congregate in Salang - making it sort of the scuba diving capital for Tioman.

The Marine Park is another nice site to go to to swim with the fishes and fee them. Unfortunately, there seems to be too many people such that the waters within 20m of the beach is dirty and even at the feeding platforms, the water is not as clear as what we saw at Minang Cove. I had not swam for long durations for quite a long time. The next 2 days, I woke up with sore muscles on my abdominal sides!

Tekek has a duty free outlet which sells liquor at prices similar to Singapore instead of KLIA, making it much cheaper.When they say the shops in KLIA are duty free, they conveniently don't mention that they are not profit free (probably very fat margins if I were to compare their prices with Singapore Changi).

If anyone is looking for a holiday and do not want to be contacted, go to Minang Cove Resort. You won't regret it.

Chinese New Year 2010

Every year, it is the same. I will visit you and you will visit me.

So this year, we did something a little different. We still visited - but we went a lot further than normal. We went to visit the Soup family at Sungei Siput - Woh Foong in Cantonese (or Snails River if you translate that literally). And I call them the Soup family because the name Thong in Cantonese means soup!.

Woke up no earlier than usual and set off North towards Ipoh. Took us 2 1/2 hours to get to Woh Foong. Oi Chan was in. Oi Yin, the younger soup sister was in Cameron Highlands doing a bit of bird watching in the jungles. She called back and said she could make it back for lunch. So we waited.

Lunch was another 45 minutes drive to a place called Sauk (turn off from the highway to Kuala Kangsar, in the direction of Lenggong). The place is supposedly famous for seafood (mainly freshwater fish and prawns). As you turn off into Sauk new village, you will see a restaurant located at the corner named the NEW Lau Kai. That is NOT the original. Turn left and go another 20m and you will come to the original - Lau Kai Restaurant.

We started off with a fish paste prepared in 2 styles. Then the soup sisters ordered a prawn in claypot that came with a spicy tasty soup. The soup is NOT made of coconut extract (santan). Instead, fresh milk was used, which made it light and tasty. We also had fish belly in spicy sauce. We noticed the other tables had steamed fish (the whole fish), but there was only 5 of us and Oi Chan reckons we cannot finish a whole fish and eat other dishes at the same time.

She then ordered a claypot farm chicken - actually that's what the Cantonese name translates as (teen kai). It is really FROG (not toad).Must be because it taste like chicken.

And there was also free range fried chicken, a green veg dish to make sure we get enough fibre and a cuttle fish dish in satay sauce. That was the only dish I did not photographed.

And after all that, what else can we say except BUUUUURRRRRRPPPPPP!!!

Next year, maybe we will plan for a trip to the South - Malacca?? Batu Pahat?? Muar?? Kluang?? Any offers?

London and Paris - a new perspective

Had a wonderful 11 days in London and Paris and immensely enjoyed it. More so since Elaine C also joined my family and I in our holidays. Having her along meant a slight change in the normal things we did. In all our travels, all our schedule was set by me with little or no input from the wife. My son would only have a few places to go to, like London Dungeon. With Elaine, we also put in a few days of shopping in London and Paris as there was the Christmas sales, the Boxing Day sales and end of year sales. We literally walked till we almost dropped.

My sister has a 2 room house in Walthamstow and all four of us (wife, son, Elaine and I) took up one room in front. this room has the best view as it overlooks the forest reserve and in the wee hours of the morning, you can see the foxes wandering around. Some of the convenience that we are used to had to have some adjustments. For example, there is only one bathroom and one toilet. So bath time was one long waiting session.

For friends and friend of friends, you would probably have seen my photo narrative on facebook, so I am not going to duplicate that here.

It has been a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thanks for the company Elaine. I hope you enjoyed the holiday as much as we did.

London in December 2009

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May all of you have a Blessed Christmas and may the new year be one that is filled with Health, Wealth, Happiness and Peace (not necessarily in that order!!)

For the first time (in a very long time that I can remember), we are spending Christmas away from home. My wife, son and God daughter Elaine C joined me in London for the Xmas week. We are crashing out in my sister's house in Walthamstow. I have also planned 2 days in Paris and am keeping my fingers crossed that Eurostar is back to normal before we depart to Paris on the 28th!.

We flew L class on MAS, which I dub the Low class, since there are so many restrictions on the ticket. To make up for that, I had 4 vouchers to access the business lounge. 2 were courtesy of CIMB and 2 were redeemed from MAS Enrich points. So we all had breakfast in the lounge before the flight.

For Elaine, this is here first trip to London or that part of the world and she was certainly bored during the 13 hours it took to get to London. Now she knows she will need something to occupy her for the trip home.

So far (I am into day 5 today on Christmas Day) it has been drizzling or snowing except for one day. I was almost hopeful for a White Christmas!! But that was not to be. It's a nice chilly morning today and much of the snow has melted or washed away by the rain. Darn. Still, it was great to have been able to capture the landscape blanketed with snow. Alex even managed to make his first snowman (looking more like a snow alien).

Ah well, I think that is enough to hang you up high and dry wondering what else we did.

Updates later - Xmas lunch is almost ready.

Zheng He Tea House and another day in Malacca

A couple of months ago, Leong T. asked if I could host some visitors from the UK office. They were coming to Malaysia for a holiday. I figured, sure. No problem. So I started communicating with one of them, Tracey B via email to make the arrangements. They took me up on an offer to do a 1 day tour of Malacca.

When 26th Sept came around, I was to pick up the party of 4 (Tracey B. Paul C, Mark and Helen) from Traders Hotel. Couldn't believe that I was so careless. I had NO idea what they looked like. I called Traders to check if Tracey had checked in and was told " she had reserved a room in June, but.... had cancelled". Cor Blimey!!

Luckily Tracey did ask Leong for a photo of me, so she could recognize me. Phew!! Turns out they had booked in under Paul's name. not Tracey's. In addition to the party of 4 from UK, I had also invited Alexandra W to tag along if she wanted to get material for a Malaccan writeup. She accepted and so, including my son, we had 7 for Malacca that Saturday.

I had written about Malacca in general just a couple of weeks ago and so this time, I would like to highlight Zheng He Tea House (pronounced as Jerng Her). The tea house is part of a complex of the Zheng He Cultural museum, the Tea House and a Mazu Temple adjoining the museum.

2 weeks ago, we kind of stumbled upon the tea house when we were walking along Jonker street. We came across this strange entrance that was less than 1m wide, with the grilled locked up. Strange entrance, we thought. There was even a thought that this was an entrance to a brothel or something similar. The narrow walkway stretched about 50m in, with high walls lined with creepers. By the evening at 6pm, the grills are unlocked and a tiny Indian lady invites anyone passing by to step in. And that's how I made a new friend in Malacca - Bianca.

As you walk in, you will pass a room made up like the ship hold, with urns on one side for storage of food and a very tall giraffe on the other (or as one of my friends wrote - "come face to face with the BUTT of a giraffe"). This was to represent the ship that Admiral Zheng He used in his voyages to discover the world in 1421. There is a guided tour of the museum (fee not free) that is arranged by the museum people.

Bianca Pak, her husband, Mr. Laiand 3 kids run the Tea House on behalf of the museum and also takes care of the Mazu temple too (again on behalf of the museum). Unlike that very narrow entrance at the back, the front is a very normal entrance with 2 stone lions guarding it. The entrance to the Mazu temple is locked from the street and entrance is only via the Tea House as the Mazu statue is an antique.

Within the ground floor, you can find a 600 year old well, a huge bronze bell in the courtyard, a puppet theatre which shows the voyages of Admiral Zheng He and another area upstairs that exhibits photos and pictures (free not fee).

For a small fee (RM20 or RM30), you can get a pot of tea, with Bianca and family showing you how to prepare and indulge in Chinese Tea drinking. If you have been like many tourists, walking all over the Stadhuys and Jonker Street for a better part of the day, the Tea House offers a short respite to rest your weary legs while enjoying quality Chinese Tea.

I have just learnt on this visit that there is a 2nd floor (3 floors in total) and neighbors of the museum had only just recently fedback that they have been hearing children playing in the museum past midnite. There had also been instances when the drums were beaten around 3am. BUT...... nobody stays in the museum or tea house when it close for the night!!! The Chinese 7th month (also known as the Month of the Hungry Ghosts) just went by. You go figure.

And for this visit, Alex also made a new 'friend'.

Malacca for a weekend

We had planned to go to Malacca on the Merdeka weekend, but since that was an extended weekend holiday, there were no rooms available. So we opted for the following weekend, which was also an extended weekend holiday but only for selected states.

We?? Who's we?? Essentially it was Elaine C and her family together with my family. After having made the arrangements, my wife tells me that she can't go as she had another dinner that she had committed to that same Saturday. Oh well, as room arrangements were hard to manage, we went ahead. there was Shirley, her 2 daughters and their respective boyfriends in tow. And there was Alex and I.

Elaine told me they will start their journey from PJ at 7am, so I got Alex up by 6.30 so that we could meet up either half way or in Malacca around the same time. Turns out I was a little earlier than them. So we drove around a bit to get our bearings and stopped by at the Santiago gate. This part of Malacca is famous as the area where the Father of Malaysia made the historic announcement on the British granting independence to Malaya. The car which was used to transport Tunku when he made the announcement is on display here.

When the Cheongs arrived, they parked at the Stadhuys, so I re-parked there and from then onwards, we walked all over between Stadhuys and Jonker Walk. Within a short while, we were hungry. First stop was at the Hoe Kee Chicken Rice shop. They serve the famous A'Famosa balled rice chicken. Chee Meng who is a pseudo Malaccan on account that he had spent significant time in Malacca before, says that this stall was good. Hmmmm. I swear the Hainanese chicken rice in Kl and PJ tasted better. In any case, all the Chicken rice stalls in Jonker Walk had long queues after 12 noon on account of the huge influx of tourists!!.

Then it was Chendol time - again on Chee Meng's recommendation. Man!! The Gula Malacca used was so thick and syrupy!. But as we were walking into the chendol shop, some of us could smell something deliciously odorful from the next stall - assam laksa. So after chendol, it was assam laksa. I was having a bacterial infection in my stomach and had to forgo this, but it sure looked delicious.

And we then went off to Batu Berendam to eat coconut jelly. This was a pandanus type of coconut which was processed in such a way that the coconut juice became jelly. Very interesting and the jelly tasted pretty good too.

After more walking and shopping, it was time to check in to the hotel, take a short rest and recharge for the night.

Dinner was at the Portuguese Settlement in Ujong Pasir. We did talk abut going to the Malay stalls much further out, but since this was the fasting month, we could run the risk of not getting any food at all. The food wasn't too bad. I liked the Portuguese BBQed fish best of the lot. Just right. And this was even as I am recovering from a really bad stomach upset. The crab?? I think I do a better black pepper crab. This one was too salty for my taste.

Then we go back to Jonker Walk again for the night market. After driving around for a bit, we managed to park the car. As luck would have it, it was near the place that Elaine C was looking for - the pineapple tarts place. This shop has freshly baked pineapple tarts - hourly!! They had also won an award in 2004 from the Malaysian Book of Records.

Of all the wares hawked all over the night market that night, Shirley wanted the CD repair kit the most. Even scratched CDs?DVDs could be repaired by this magical kit. I think what the vendor did not say clearly was that the repair MAY be temporary only and a backup should be made.

It was a long day!!

Day 2 started with a quick stop at McD to get Alex his fix before all of us proceeded to a Dim Sum place recommended by Chee Meng, our honorary, pseudo Malaccan. Sad to say, he lost points big time on this one. Never mind, CM. there will be other times to make up for this!!

The Cheongs went back to Jonker street to walk about while I went back to the hotel to do the checkout. Then I rejoined them a little later.

Spent some time in the Cheng Ho Tea House (which I will write about separately later) and finally ended up in Nyonya Suan for lunch before heading home. Had my camera all ready, but when the food arrived, forgot to snap any pictures. WTF!!

Tiring but enjoyable weekend!!

I will be back end of the month as I host 4 visitors from Agilent UK.

3 days, 2 nites of Pangkor Island - a real holiday

It has been a long time since I had a real holiday where I just let loose and cutoff the office. It's the second week of school holidays and my son wanted time off anywhere but home. My wife suggested Pangkor since the last time she visited was during her primary school days. Believe it or not, I had NEVER visited Pangkor. So this was a good opportunity.

Tan Yee Khan, a former great badminton player who represented Malaysia internationally in badminton events winning the All England and Thomas cup in doubles with Ng Boon Bee owns a resort (together with his siblings as I understand it) in Pangkor that was frequented by some families I know. Ting's Dad used to be the secretary of the Badminton Association of Malaysia and she helped me to get a room for my family at Seaview Hotel and Holiday Resort Pangkor. I am sure Ting must have put in a good word for me as the room normally costs RM220 per night and I was only billed RM176 with 3 breakfasts thrown in every morning. It was one of those sea facing chalets.

We drove along the NS Expressway and got off at Bidor before heading in the direction of Lumut. When we arrived at Lumut, we spotted the multi storey car park and proceeded to park our car there for the next few days. Parking charges are Rm7 per day (24 hours). Lugging our few bags to the jetty next door, we purchased ferry tickets for Pangkor island. It costs RM25 per adult - return fare and RM 15 for children.

Reaching the island, you just take one of the island's very distinct looking taxis to your destination. It cost RM10 in most cases (which I think is a ripoff for a short 2 to 5 km ride). I guess the islanders have to earn a living.

First day, we just walked around to get our bearings. Had lunch in the hotel and then walked all over within a 1km radius. One thing we found was that the locals are very friendly. We walked into this shop selling the local stuff - dried fish, anchovies, satay fish, etc, and the shop keeper will tell you anything you want to know. Best seafood around - go to Restoran Pasir Bogak (in Chinese, it is called Ko Lo Hoi Sin - or tall guy's seafood). Frankly I found the place so so only, but it sure was packed. They open around 6pm and when we arrived at 7pm, there were only a couple of tables left. Tourists are hungry people!

Next morning, after breakfast, we waited for the boatman. We had reserved 3 seats for ourselves and were promised an island hopping tour. There were many families waiting too. The island hopping tour lasts about 2 1/2 hours and cost us RM 25 for adults and RM15 for the kids.

First stop was the Pangkor Laut Resort. The island is privately owned by the YTL group and only paying guests are allowed to set foot on the island. The boatman tells us that the rooms cost RM1900 per night!! Even the more economical ones cost around RM900 per night, So we cruised around as the boatman showed us rock formations for which the locals have imaginatively named. I guess, they needed to create some kind of lore to make the trip enjoyable for all the tourist. My favorite is the lovers tree, with the spotlight (Din Dang Darm) beside it.

Another enjoyable part of the island hopping was a stop behind the duty free island, where our boatman stopped the boat, dived in and haul up corals, sea cucumbers and sea urchins for us to gawk at!! Later, we were suppose to go to Coral island for a spot of snorkeling and feeding the fishes. But there were too many people there. So the boatman took us to Monkey Bay to swim. The passengers were told to disembark from the back of the boat. My family and a Singaporean family decided to just dive off the ship from the front. All 7 of us enjoyed the swim and walk around Monkey Bay.

When the crowd at Coral Island seemed to thin down, we made our way there and just jumped in with bread to attract the fishes. Very enjoyable. I now feel and look like a lobster that was dumped into hot water. What can you expect after almost 3 hours under the hot and glaring sun?

We were not finished. When we got back to the Seaview beachfront, all 7 of us (including the Singaporean family) wanted to go on the banana boat. The boat dragging us did a series of left and right turns and finally ditched us into the sea on the last lap. Wunderbar!!

After cleaning up, bathing and getting comfortably dressed, we had lunch at the hotel as the sun was getting unbearably hot. Everyone, we came across rented cars. We decided to rent a motorcycle - a Honda 70cc cub. With 3 of us on board, I rode to town, did a bit of shopping and then had to send my wife back first because we bought too much. Within 15 minutes, I got back to pick up Alex and the 2 of us went around Pangkor Island by bike. Dutch Fort was a must - just to get photos of the place to show that we were in Pangkor.Warning - motorcycling around Pangkor can be hazardous - not because of the traffic, but because there are slopes of 15% and 20% on 2 stretches of the roads around the island. It was a struggle for the little bike to haul both of us up the 20% slopes and then down again on 2 hilly stretches. Luckily it was not 3 of us as I believe the bike would not be able to make it up.

We also managed to schedule a visit to a couple of the many "factories" producing dried fish and snacks. Interesting cottage industry. I think almost everyone is involved in the industry from the fishermen all the way up to the shopkeepers. So almost everyone on the island is employed.

Some interesting things we found in Pangkor

First of all, if you take a walk on the beach, you can find a lot of rubbish. What is interesting is that stuck to the rubbish are some kind of shelled creatures. And they are all over the place. If you try to pry them off whatever they were stuck on, it was quite difficult as they creatures had emitted some kind of adhesive to glue themselves good and tight. We found them stuck on discarded soles of slippers, disposable lighters and even a marker pen!

Then there are the hornbills. I always thought hornbills were found only in Sarawak. Seems that there are hornbills on Pangkor Island. They are not as colorful as the ones found in Sarawak, but they were something different from other tourist spots in peninsula Malaysia. The hornbills visit the eating place of Seaview Hotel twice a day. Once around 7am for breakfast and then again at 7pm for dinner. The hotel staff prepares bread and fruits (mainly papaya) to feed these regular visitors. On one occasion, when the food was slow to be laid out, a pair of hornbills decided to fly towards the kitchen because they could see a bag of bread there. The hornbills has even featured in the local newspapers before.

Third thing about Pangkor is that almost all the workers and employees that we saw were locals. No Indons, Filipinos, Bangladeshis and so on. Totally self reliant on local resources. I think that's what the rest of Malaysia should emulate. I personally think we have too many foreign workers here now.They have brought social and health problems to the country.

Last but not least, the locals are very friendly. We just had to ask the workers in the Seaview restaurant and they arranged for the bike hire - at a lower cost that what was advertised outside of the hotel. The boat ride for island hopping was also arranged by the hotel workers - again at significant savings compared to the quote we got from some of the other vendors we approached.

Alex loves this place and wants to come back again soon. I agree.