After Crazying: Malaysia

Showing posts with label Malaysia. Show all posts

I still remember when I’m still a kids, my mum told me that the rice we eat everyday are mainly from Thailand.

As I grow, I realised that there are paddy fields in Malaysia, which supply part of the rice we eat everyday. The paddy field are located mainly in Kedah.

In recent year, due to the filming of few scenes at the paddy field in Sekinchan, it’s goes viral and become one of the most popular attraction in Malaysia.

Sekinchan, a small town which is located about 100km from Kuala Lumpur. The town have the wide area of paddy field , which supply the rice, and in the same time, it is also a fishing village, which supply the fresh seafood.

Before I visited Sekinchan, I was once amazed how fast Sekinchan gain it’s popularity and become the top tourist attraction in Malaysia. Before that, It’s just a quiet fishing village.

I believe the power of social media help in spreading the beauty of Sekinchan.

The most viral photo you can see in Facebook and Instagram about Sekinchan will be the greeny paddy field.

“ The beauty of nature can’t replace with any other attractions”

It’s explained well why Sekinchan become famous. When your life is full of works and study in the busy bustle city, you will look forward a place that you can slow down your pace and relax your mind.

Sekinchan is the place for those “big-city, busy” people looking for an escape.

Here’s I would like to share with you some guide about Sekinchan.

1. How long I should spend in Sekinchan? I would recommended to stay at least 1 night in Sekinchan. There are quite a few accommodation nearby Sekinchan for your choice. ( Check out here for more Sekinchan Hotel )

2. Avoid arranging your visit to Sekinchan during public holiday or long weekend. Sekinchan is much nicer to experience with less crowd. When there is crowd, heavy traffic can be expected.

3. Transport- It is more convenient to visit Sekinchan using car. Highly recommended to take a car pool. Alternatively, you can get public bus to Sekinchan at Pudu Sentral. ( Counter KT40). You may check the bus schedule at this website : http://www.sekinchan.org/how-to-go-sekinchan.html . You may rent the bicycle to get around Sekinchan.

4. It’s a must to visit paddy field in Sekinchan. Best time to visit the paddy field in the month of May and November, when the paddy is mature, and you will see a brillant of golden yellow field. If you want to know more about paddy field in Sekinchan, you may visit paddy processing factory and museum .

5. Another must do thing in Sekinchan will be having a seafood feast. The seafood is extreme fresh as they just caught from the sea. You may busy some snack (keropok) back home from fishing village.

Source: sekinchan.org

6. You can enjoy the breeze and sea at beach ( Pantai Redang ). It’s great place for picnic.

7. Remember to make a wish and throw a red ribbon onto the tree, which is also nearby Pantai Redang.

8. What to buy in Sekinchan?? You may buy the brown rice which is produced Sekinchan. Besides that, you can look for mango, which you can find nearby Paddy Processing factory. The mango is sweet and big.

9. Sunrise/ sunset in Sekinchan. It’s worth to have a view of sunrise and sunset in paddy field and the beach.

Source: sekinchan.org

Sekinchan is a great place friend and family to have bonding time, put away all your worry, reflect and peace your mind. It’s not costly to travel to Sekinchan. Personally I don’t spend much when I visited Sekinchan with my friends. Overall, What I remember the most about my Sekinchan trip will be full of laughter and great memories.

“Travel is to discover the hidden beauty”

For more information about the booking of Sekinchan Hotel , you may visit HERE .

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Asia is the largest and most populous continent in the world. There are 48 countries in Asia today, according to the United Nations.
There are many interesting countries in Asia that you must visit at least once in your lifetime.
Here I listed out some nice cities that you may start your discovery of Asia if you are planning to come for the first time.

1. Malacca, Malaysia
To suggest a place to travel in my country, I would always tell my friends start with Malacca, which located in the middle of the Peninsular Malaysia.
This historical city centre has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the best starting point for you to know more about Malaysia.

Malacca, Malaysia

2. Singapore
Next to Malaysia, Singapore is one of the most popular travel destinations in the world.
It's a small country, with full of excitement and things to discover.

Singapore

3. Bangkok, Thailand
Thailand is well known for its rich cultural heritage. Another popular thing to do in Thailand is to experience the floating market.
More : http://mush4crazy.blogspot.com/2015/11/diy-guide-to-damnoen-saduak-floating.html

Bangkok, Thailand

4. Taiwan
This is the most friendly country that I ever visited. You should visit this country to experience warmest Taiwanese and the beautiful scenery from the nouth to the south of the country.
This is also one of the country that I would like to revisit.
More : http://mush4crazy.blogspot.my/2014/11/collection-of-food-in-taiwan.html

JiuFen, Taiwan

Here's another 5 selected cities in Asia that I plan to visit in future:
Siam Reap, Cambodia
Beijing, China
Kyoto, Japan
Seoul, South Korea
New Delhi, India

Don't know how to plan your trip to Asia? Scare to travel to a new country? You may find some useful guides on travel in Asia from the links below:
www.asiaodyssey.com

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In tradition, museum is one of the place to discover the history of a city.
Nowadays, museum is not only for history, but more to a theme-based concept.
In Penang, I can see the growing number of museums with very creative concept.
Camera museum is one of it, which will be definetly become a favourite spot for all the camera and photography enthusiast .
1st in South East Asia, the camera museum is located in the heart of its heritage area in a refurbished 2 storey shop house on Lebuh Muntri.

The whole museum is well designed and display not only the camera, but also some remarkable photo over the world.

Where did camera came from? Who invented the camera? How did the world's first camera look like? You can find all the answers in this museum.

Be Inspired by the captivating stories of how cameras have transcended our human history since the 1500's.
Pinhole room, darkroom and obscura room have shown you some ideas of the camera.

Besides the stories about the initial idea and development of camera, the museum also display a lot of vintage camera, with different period and brands of camera. I was surprise with some of the look of camera and amazed with the development and invention of camera.

I learned a lot from the guided museum tour. The guide had explained well about each period of the development of camera. Strongly recommend to visit this museum with a guide.
Here is the wide collection of the camera.

Besides the musuem, there is a souvenir shop and cafe at the ground floor. Enjoy your time in museum and end the tour with a cup of coffee by professional barista before you leave.
Here is my Affogato.

Personally I found this quote in the museum and I like it the most. Well said!!!
"If the Human eye was a digital camera, it would have 576 megapixels. "

That means ......

See and experience the Camera Museum in Georgetown by yourself instead of just see the photo that I took.

Your eyes are the best camera in the world.

Location : 49 Lebuh Muntri, 10200 Penang George Town
Phone : 042613649
Email : cameramuseumpenang@gmail.com
Open daily , 9:30am-6:30pm

You can take Penang Hop-on Hop-off and stop at either Stop10 or Stop 16. Personally I stopped at Stop 10 and walk through the Loving Lane, in less than 5 minutes, you will come to a junction which the road is Lebuh Muntri. Turn left and walk until you see the camera museum. Along the way, you may see some Camera museum stickers.

Camera Museum Website: http://www.thecameramuseumpenang.com/
Camera Museum FB page: https://www.facebook.com/PenangCameraMuseum

Penang Hop-on Hop-off Website : http://myhoponhopoff.com/pg/index.php?pageid=1

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My Amazing Malaysia 玩疯马来西亚 FB page : https://www.facebook.com/myamazingmalaysia

Hop-On Hop-Off is a very popular travel idea for travelers nowadays to discover the city in the limited time. The Hop-On, Hop-off bus routes normally cover the most touristic and amazing part of the city, with a tour guide in the bus.

This free and easy concept is very common and you will find it in most of the big city in overseas.

As a Malaysian, we can see the effort of Penang in promoting tourism recent years with the growing numbers of touristic attractions in Penang Island.
Exploring Penang can be exciting by taking the trending double decker open top bus.
The unique part of this bus is
You can feel the wind breezing , the sun shinning and the vibrant of the city.

The Penang Hop-on Hop-off covers 2 routes - city route and beach route, with 33 designated stops including over 60 attractions and hotels for travelers. All the stops have a very clear ,blue logo and some information about the bus.

The free-copy guidebook in the bus provides the map and attractions of city with its designated hop-on hop-off stops. To be honest, I found this guidebook quite useful throughout my whole Penang trip and the map inside the guidebook is quite easy to understand.

With the "Hop-on Hop-off" concept, the ticket holder can board on and get off the bus at their preferred stop.
The crew in the bus will introduce briefly about the attractions in Penang before every stop.
You may ask the crew for the help. The crew are friendly and suggested me on the nearest stop to some of the attractions that I would like to go.

I explored the city with 1 ticket and a guidebook.
Hop-on Hop off-Tour will start daily from 9 am to 8 pm, with around 20 to 30 minutes intervals
There are 2 types of tickets validity 24 hours and 48 hours with unlimited rides and competitive ticket price. ( Prices are vary for Malaysian and foreigner.)
Therefore, a good understanding about all the stops and some planning may need to make the 24 hours or 48 hours ticket worthwhile.
No time to make planning before the trip?? No worry!!! I would recommend you to take a round trip of the route to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Penang.

I took a round trip for both routes and I really enjoyed the nice views and the wind ( haha!!) .
Don't forget you are in open-top buses, you can capture a good scenery photo even in the bus.
Thinking about surfing the internet in the bus? There is Wifi in the bus. You can upload your most epic photo, update your status to the social media in the bus.

Personally I like the sea view in Penang the most... Here is my photo taken from the bus.

There are 2 interchange stops- Gurney Drive(1) and Chowrasta(9) which you can switch between beach route and city route. There is mobile counter with English-literate crews in this 2 interchange stop. You can buy the Hop-on Hop-off tickets either at mobile counter or inside the bus.

Here is the map of Hop-on Hop-off

Long time not updating my blog....
I had been working hard in past few months....
Therefore, I decided to take a short break

My destination this time is not overseas anymore... but in Penang for 5 Days 4 Nights.
Thanks you My Amazing Malaysia 玩疯马来西亚 for organizing the ‪#‎MyFascinatingPenang‬ Blogger Competition. I'm one of the blogger involved in the competition.

I tried Easybook to book my bus ticket to Penang.
It's convenient, like its name " easy"to"book"
Established since the year 2005, easybook.com have been providing online bus booking services of luxurious coaches and express buses tickets from Singapore to and fro Malaysia, within peninsular Malaysia, East Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

Not only bus ticket, now you can even find train ticket, ferry ticket, tour deals in Easybook.

All details of the trip is transparent, such as time of departure, types of coaches, prices and seat numbers.

Basically once you know the destination you would like to go, you can go to Easybook website.

Easy steps : SEARCH --> CONFIRM --> PAY

Here is how I book my ticket:
Select your Origin, Destination, Departure Date, Departure Time

Choose your preferable type of coach and departure time, then choose the seat

Lastly, fill in your detail

Select your desire payment option. You can pay by either credit card or internet banking

.
After payment done, Order Summary will be sent to your email within 24 hours. Here is my printed ticket which I have to show to the bus driver while boarding .

* More information about booking the ticket from Easybook:
http://www.easybook.com/pages/how-to-book.aspx

Some tips to those who like to purchase ticket from Easybook

- Not all the journey is direct and non-stop, especially the long hours journey. Some coach companies will display the places they stop on Easybook website. Therefore you can estimate and expect a longer journey as the bus will have few stops before arrive your destination.

- The ticket price shown in the Easybook website is almost the same as the price bought from counter. Sometime with discount code, the price you get will be even lower than the counter price.

- One more benefits on booking the ticket from Easybook will be their transparent, fair ticket price. You can compare the price between the coach company . You can see the seat availability. Therefore, once you confirm and pay, you will get your seat, and no worry on not manage to buy the ticket in the last minute or during the peak season.

- You can book the ticket by using Easybook mobile app. With your smartphone, you can make the deal.... More info about mobile apps : http://www.easybook.com/apps

So, try to book your travel ticket from Easybook, and you will know that to plan a trip is not as difficult as you thought, even during the peak season.

http://www.easybook.com/

Easybook FB page : https://www.facebook.com/easybook

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I'm always thinking that I'm the lucky one,
to have the chance to further study in Europe with full scholarship.
There are a lot of my friends and readers wondering and curious about the scholarship
My mind come with "It's time to give back!!"
I would say Erasmus Mundus (EM) Scholarship is a wonderful scholarship which fulfill my Europe study dream.
I'm very glad that I'm being selected as a scholar.
Therefore, I always willing to share my experience about this scholarship and the EM program if anyone asking me about it.
I would love to see more Malaysian students having the chance to pursue their study in Europe.

I never ever thought that I will come back to my University as an organizer of this scholarship talk.
With very limited time of publicity, there were still 80-90 attendees coming for the talk.
I'm quite surprise and happy, in fact before the talk I'm so scare that nobody will come for the talk, then it will be embarrassing.

One of the Malaysian EM alumni,Hazariah Mohd Noh

Malaysian EM alumni, Shamsul Ridzuan bin Idris

Photo with Malaysian EM alumni.

Thanks you to IPS, UM for supporting and helping for the event.
Thanks you to all attendees who come to the talk, hopefully they learn something after the talk.

Thanks you for my friend and family who support me always.

Even I don't get any benefits on organizing this talk, I'm happy that the event went on successfully.

Because it's time to give back...

I'm happy to have the chance to give back.

If you want to read detailed report about this scholarship talk, you may go to this link
http://www.em-a.eu/en/home/newsdetail-ema-members-report/erasmus-mundus-ambassador-program-scholarship-talk-3rd-december-2014-malaysia-1694.html

p/s: You are welcome to email me with your inquiry/doubt about the EM Scholarship and EM Master & Doctorate program.
Email : jiaying-smc@hotmail.com / malaysia@em-a.eu

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Hmm, Yes, I wrote 2 blog posts before about Malaysia foods.
I had introduced 18 Malaysia foods that I miss the most.
Recently, my Italian language teacher gave us a task, to cook your country food, and wrote the recipe in Italian ....
It's a difficult task for me, as I'm not a good cooker ( but I'm a good eater !! haha ~~)
To all Malaysian, which Malaysia food first come into your mind?
Which Malaysia food you will introduce to foreigners?

In my opinion, I think about Nasi Lemak ( Coconut milk rice ).
Seriously, I miss Nasi Lemak a lot...
It's the typical breakfast for Malaysian, ( It can be served as lunch or dinner too)
I remember once I told foreigners that Nasi Lemak is for breakfast, they are surprise!!
WHAT!? such a heavy, big breakfast ?! ( of course for breakfast, the portion will be smaller if compare to Nasi Lemak served as lunch or dinner)

Nasi Lemak in Seapark, KL,Malaysia.

I read an article, about how much would you pay for a taste of home,
They compared the price of Nasi Lemak all around the world.
In Malaysia, you can get Nasi Lemak as low as RM1.20, up to RM5.00 ( depend on the side dish you choose)
However, outside of Malaysia, the price of a plate of Nasi Lemak is few times multiple than the price in Malaysia.
In fact, I believe in Europe, beside UK, it's hardly to find restaurant serve good Nasi Lemak in other cities.
I ate Nasi Lemak in Scotland before, the price is really around 7- 8 Pounds .
It's expensive, but in the same time, I agree that taste of home is priceless.

Source credit : https://ringgitplus.com/en/blog/Funny-Money/Nasi-Lemak-how-much-would-you-pay-for-a-taste-of-home.html

Anyway, I gonna learn how to cook Nasi Lemak, as I plan to introduce this dish to foreigner.
( but I can't find anchovies, pandan leaf in Italy, plus I don't know how to make a good sambal sauce.... Hmm.... I guess the Nasi Lemak I cook will be a brand new version..)

* If you don't know what is Nasi Lemak , refer my previous post about introduction of Nasi Lemak : http://mush4crazy.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-malaysia-food-that-i-miss-most.html

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Another blog : http://mush4room.blogspot.com/

I wrote a blogpost about Malaysia food on last February. Here the link.
http://mush4crazy.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-malaysia-food-that-i-miss-most.html
I received some feedbacks, which motivate me to write more.
So, here come to PART 2 about Malaysia food that I love.
To list another 9 foods, it's easy and took me just few minutes~~
oh, I guess I really miss the food of my country.
I'm always proud to tell my foreigner friends, that -
MALAYSIA IS FOOD HEAVEN~~~ Welcome~~~ :p

================================================================

10. Durian
King of the fruits, with strong odour, thorn-covered green husk, and yellow flesh.
It's a seasonal fruit, which can only grow in tropical weather.
Their unique odour which create 2 reactions of people, either love it or hate it.
For me, I love it so much~~~
everything involve durian will be my favourite, such as durian crepe, durian ice cream, durian pancake, durian dodol...etc
I found the selling of fresh durian in Paris, which the price is surprisingly high ( around 40euro per kg = RM177.00 )

Durian

11.Chee Chiong Fan ( Rice noodle roll )
I'm so get used to call this dish in chinese dialect, so I just know it's english name after google...
I'm surprise to know that it's Cantonese dish. It is thin roll made from a wide strip of rice noodle, with some sauce and ingredient.
I love to eat this with sweet sauce and sesame, sometime with yam.
It's my favourite breakfast. I remember sometime my mum will buy this from morning market on weekend, which is a motivation for me to wake up early on weekend when I still a child.

Chee Chiong Fan with sweet sauce and sesame

12. Satay
a dish of seasoned, skewered and grilled meat, served with a sauce.These are grilled or barbecued over a wood or charcoal fire, then served with various spicy seasonings.
It's origin from Indonesia ( surprise to know!! ), however, almost all celebration events in Malaysia, satay will be served. It is popular in Malaysia.
Usually, satay will eat with Onion, cucumber and sweet spicy peanut sauce.

Satay

13. Roti Canai
I remember during my university time, when I don't know what to eat for breakfast or dinner, and with limit budget, i will choose roti canai.
Somebody think that it's oily and not healthy to have more. For me, I like it so much, but I will not eat too much, 2 pieces will make me full for a meal.
The dish is composed of dough containing copious amounts of fat, flour and water. Commonly found in Mamak stall in Malaysia.
and I always choose the roti canai stall that the chef can twirl it until the dough becomes a very thin sheet and then folded into a circular shape. That a technique which is not so easy to learn.
Anyway, roti canai is an Indian fusion dish, with many flavor varieties. Personally, I love Roti Pisang and Roti Telur!!( which the banana and egg will cover inside the dough)
Roti canai should eat with good curry sauce, which is a key point to decide whether it taste good or not. ( Some people who don't like spicy, usually will eat with sugar, which I not so prefer)

14. Chao Kuey Tiaw
It my favourite noodle, I don't know why I miss out this dish in Part 1.
In fact, it is quite hard to find this noodle in Europe; so even you know how to cook, it's sad that you will not find a good ingredient.
It is made from flat rice noodles of approximately 1 cm,stir-fried with light and dark soy sauce, chilli, belachan, whole prawns,bean sprouts and chopped Chinese chives,vegetable and egg.
Most well known, best Chao Kuey Tiaw in Malaysia is at Penang ( north of Malaysia), which is a must-eat dish if you have a chance to come to Penang.

Chao Quey Tiaw from a Malaysian Chinese restaurant in Glasgow,UK.

15. Keropok Lekor
A traditional fish snack for the Malay people in Malaysia.
It is usually made bygrinding fish into a paste, mixing with sago and then deep-frying it.
They are some variety, most common is lekor which is long and chewy, and keping which is thin and crispy. It is frequently served with chilli dipping sauces.
It's my favourite dessert or snack for teatime. I ate it when I'm in my primary school, secondary school, matriculation until University; I still love to eat keropok lekor.
" Nak RM1 keropok lekor, bungkus, bagi chili~~ Terima kasih" ( English translation : Give me RM1 keropok lekor, take away and with chili, thank you)
Oh I miss it so much ~~~

16. Kaya ( Coconut Jam)
Again, I don't know it's english translation is coconut jam, which is damn weird.
In Europe, most people use Nutella as bread spread; In Malaysia, most people use Kaya.
Beside used as bread spread, it is also an important ingrediant in many traditional dessert among Malay community.
Composition of Kaya consist of coconut, eggs, sugar and pandan leaf.
Anyway, my mum and aunt know how to make this jam, which in my heart, it is the best taste ever than those commercial package of Kaya. Homemade is the best!!!

17.Rojak
Traditional fruit and vegetable salad dish.
"Rojak" is a Malay word, which mean "mixing"
Usually it's consist fried dough fritters, bean curds, boiled potatoes, prawn fritters, hard boiled eggs, bean sprouts, cuttlefish and cucumber mixed with a sweet thick, spicy peanut sauce.
The ingredients are always cut into bite-sized portions.
Not all rojak I will like it, some rojak putting too much of sauce, which make the whole dish like a soup.
In my hometown ( Johor Bahru), there is a stall with good rojak.

18. Fried carrot cake
Their smell is always attract you so much, to stopby and buy it, commonly found it in some restaurant or night market in Malaysia.
It is stir-fried cubes of radish cake (steamed rice flour, water, and shredded white radish) , with egg and some seasoning .
It can be a proper meal, can be a dessert.

-- Home is where the heart is --
It's another 9 Malaysia typical dishes and foods that I miss~~
Which one you like??

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Another blog : http://mush4room.blogspot.com/

After Crazying

Things to do in Sekinchan

4 Must-Visit Cities in Asia

Visit to Camera Museum in Penang

Travel fun with Penang Hop-On Hop-Off

How to use Easybook to purchase your tickets of travel?

Erasmus Mundus Scholarship talk in Malaysia --- About Giving Back

Malaysia food that you will introduce to foreigners...

The Malaysia Food that I miss the most- PART 2

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