The Last Time I went to Langkawi, I saw the following.....

         The last time I went to Langkawi, I saw the following.......

                                                            ......a yellow T-shirt

                                               

........a guy who looks like me

....a Penguin

....fishing boats

.....a seahorse

....a catfish

and a bird in the distance

                              
                            What about you ?  

Try this link for Langkawi ....http://wikitravel.org/en/Langkawi

Cruising Down the Melaka River

River cruises are popular tourist attractions. Perhaps every major river system in big cities and smaller cities alike have river cruises. The Melaka River Cruise is relatively new but it has become a major attraction for local and foreign tourists. Having experience the night cruise which was a delightful experience about 8 months ago, I decided to do it again in the day. The 45 minute ride passes through modern traditional villages, the city centre and the boat did an about turn close to the mouth of the river. A running commentary in English and Malay keep the passengers informed of all sights on both sides of the river. An interesting feature was added recently in the form of paintings depicting milestones in the history of Melaka since the 15th Century - and these can be seen on both sides of the river where artists drew on the sides of existing buildings transforming them into a mammoth art gallery.....all these for RM10 per adult !

Places & Scenes of Malaysia

DSC_0216, originally uploaded by repin.

Suddenly I realised that there are places that I have not been especially those secondary towns along the coastal areas of Peninsular Malaysia ie to drive along the west and east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Perhaps I should embark on more local trips and see my country more if time permits of course. My target for 2010 would be to cover the south -east coastal area first before planning the north-east portion of the country and to take loads of pictures........while everything is still intact !

Ramadan 2009 & Malaysia's 52nd Merdeka Celebration.

This time around our Independence Day Celebration, which happened to be our 52nd was celebrated on a slightly low key. On August 31st, we were more than a week into the holy month of Ramadan. There was a ceremony at the Parliament House where our leaders and leaders from the various strata of the society attended and apart from that, there was nothing much of entertainment programmes appeared on our TVs too. The H1N1 virus going around also does help the situation.Nonetheless the hypes and Merdeka Wishes were there in the media supplied by many of our corporate sponsors. Few flags were seen atop trucks, buses and cars compared to a few years ago. Without all those frills, I suppose the love and patriotic sense of Malaysians are still intact. The only wish of all Malaysians is for the country to move forward .....(sigh )....But turning on to the holy month of Ramadan, please go to http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/08/ramadan_2009.html

for images caught across the world captured in the 1st week of Ramadan 2009. Its amazing !

Ketupat

Ketupat, originally uploaded by repin.

You may travel the whole of Malaysia, but I dare say that you would not be able to see a sight as shown in the above photo. These are ketupat/s of the best kind ! . Of course, made by my mother. It is nothing more than rice wrapped in coconut leaves and allowed to boil till cooked. Of course, the final texture of the ketupat would be dependent upon on how much rice one put in the coconut leaf casing in the first place. One can consume the ketupat with rendang, sambal, serunding and curries of one's choice ! For me I would prefer ketupats that are soft ( not very soft ! ) and it would go along fine with beef rendang and sambal ikan bilis. Picture was taken by Poh Ling ( I do not have a camera then ! ) By the way, if you are curious, those ketupats were hung to let it cool.......before their next journey.