Tag: beach

Heartless Bastards Some Malaysians Are

Another Vietnamese story or travel tale to tell. I was traveling between Danang and An Hoi, Vietnam when our crazy (reckless) and impulsive van driver stopped suddenly at a very remote and isolated beach.

I went down the beach and there were a row of empty beach chairs. I sat down on one and a man soon appeared out of nowhere to claim rental. Paid him and continued to relax with the sounds of waves and the South China Sea breeze massaging my face.

Not long later, I spotted a hunchback old lady inching her way towards me from far. It can’t be good, my instincts told me.

The old lady reached me, exhausted and almost breathless. She had a bag and she sells souvenirs. She pulled out a RM 20 note to show me. My van driver translated for her. A Malaysian customer previously bought stuff from her and gave her the RM 20 note. Being an uneducated villager, she didn’t know that Malaysian currency was not accepted at money changers at that time.

Poor lady took a long bus journey to Saigon to be told she can’t exchange that. She didn’t know any black market dealer, of course. In my mind, I was thinking what a heartless bastard who gave her the note knowing full well that it will be impossible to change in a small town. Every tourist changed to USD before arriving.

I asked the driver how she got to know I am a Malaysian? Word got around in the village grapevine, it seemed. Is like one in a million chance a Malaysian will land here since it is off the beaten track and unknown, Fate had demanded that I redeem the name of the country.

Gave her USD 50 and she told me it was too much. I said it was for her trouble and bus fare to Saigon. I stayed at a hotel similar to Emily Hotel near the beach in Danang,

You can find this and many Danang beach hotels, Vietnam at http://www.mycen.my/

Pic of My Khe beach from Emily Hotel at Agoda. I was a fan of Dana Delaney and China Beach series but never knew I will one day be at My Khe Beach where the Vietnam War TV series was based on and (partly) filmed.

#danang #vietnam

Sky Mirror The Social Media Magnet

I wanted to promote the new VI Boutique Hotel in Pasir Penmbang in Kuala Selangor. They opened on March 25th and unfortunately their applications to Agoda and Booking.com are not approved as yet. I will link them when they are ready. Credit to recently featured Muo Boutique Hotel in Muar for sorting out their online booking affiliations upon opening their doors. I saw the pre-opened VI Boutique Hotel when I was heading to Sekinchan in late January 2017.

From their Facebook page, I learned that the hotel organises a boat tour to a beach with an awful name called Sky Mirror or Sasaran Beach. It is a sea shore that looks like a Bolivian salt flat during low tide. Many people dressed colorfully to take group photos, selfies and wefies with reflections on the mirror like surface. Social media drives the hunger.

You will find the most ridiculous and puke inducing poses carried out there. The boatmen even provide props like colourful umbrellas and hats. Cliche mofos.

The jetty is 3 minutes from the hotel and from there another 40 minutes by boat ride out to sea. You can inquire at the hotel.

Through the hotel’s helpful social media administrator, I asked Low Siew Chong (group pic) and my friend Emily Lowe (threesome pic) for permission to use their pics.

See my FB for links: https://www.facebook.com/mytvsmith

#sasarn #skymirror #sasaran #selangor #kualaselangor

Let’s Pop!

Let’s Pop! A stay at legendary Bali is now more affordable than many may think. Like to introduce you to an affordable and stylish place with colours that pop. Haha. I got to know ethnic Indonesian Hokkien Treshia Lim (Lim E Cha) when she was working at the Swiss-Belhotel International in Bali. She went back to her hometown in Medan to work for Radisson Medan. Before I can visit her at the Kota Kuliner (culinary capital) in which the North Sumatra city is known for, she is back in Bali. Such a nomadic life for a hotelier. She is also a Catholic and a foodie.

She is now with the corporate office of the chain that runs the Pop! Group of hotels and they have a nice and affordable hotel in Bali. With information from her, I created a custom page for Pop! Hotel Kuta Beach Bali. It is also the first time I am implementing Agoda’s dynamic banners in which other hotel options in the same destination are displayed with scrolling views. Seeing the Google map may be dizzying as there are over 3000 hotels listed by Agoda on the island! Pop! Hotel Kuta Beach seems a logical choice because the rates are truly affordable and it is very near the beach and popular eating places. The hotel has all the modern amenities such as free wi-fi and pool. It is also a fairly new hotel, being only 3 years old.

For more info or to book, go to: http://www.mycen.my/pop-hotel-kuta-beach-bali/

#bali #kuta #beachhotel #indonesia #pophotel #island #beach #hotel #denpasar

Seaside Cats

Morib Beach is sort of bizarre. I saw wild monkeys and stray cats on the same day. The sunset was dull and cool at the esplanade on that day but I saw something heart warming. Hard to see in this pic but some of the of the human visitors were sharing their snacks with a couple of appreciative homeless cats.

The A7R camera’s resolution is so massive I can crop in (on another shot), recover from the shadows and show the close up as an inset.

Sometimes, seeing a sunset can cheer you up, sometimes seeing a simple act of kindness can too.

Sony Alpha A7R, ISO 2000, f10, 1/60 sec.

#morib #cats #strays #beach ##sea #homeless #sunset #silhouette

Twilight Ambush

Found one of my images of Bagan Lallang beach frrom 2013. Maybe it was my overactive imagination and I spooked myself. Standing there at twilight, it looked like the lalang (weed grass) were creeping up silently and surrounding the unsuspecting family, before strangling them on the white sands.

#baganlallang #beach #goldcoast #selangor #seaside #sand #beachcombers #nature #travel #twilight