Travel – Page 12 – TV Smith's Blog

Hometown Colours

Hometown Colours.

Rain falls on the parched road of tiny Sungai Mati town. The town of Dead River used to be a bustling river port. It was so named because it became an oxbow lake or billabong after breaking from the Muar River. Located on the outskirts of Muar town.

It is not my hometown and I stopped here while I was going to Muar for a holiday. Stopped because the colours were so striking. It was also on this trip, I discovered there is a bridge which Muarians call the Penang Bridge. Confusingly, the official name is also very original as in Jambatan Kedua. WTFish? Haha.

Incidentally, I received a second booking for the new Muo Boutique Hotel by an unknown person for the Hari Raya period again. If you are planning to book a hotel for the “balik kampung” trip ahead, please do so early. It is getting to be a common practice and people do it for various reasons. Many small town hotels are understandably small and have limited rooms.

MyCen Hotels should have a hotel listed or searchable for every town. Let me know, if you have difficulty finding one for your destination. Contact me and I will try to help you find one.

Below are some of the sample presets or links to towns or cities with ready links of hotels at the lower part of the booking page at http://www.mycen.my/hotel/

#smalltown #hometown #balikkampung #muar #sungaimati

The Teapot Kingdom

When I first saw this giant teapot adorning a roundabout near Kuala Belait in Brunei, I was thinking, at the time, it must be a British hangover. After all, Brunei was a former British colony and tea drinking must be a culture it inherited from the British. The structure’s construction was sponsored by Brunei Shell Petroleum.

It is known as the Teapot Roundabout and the four cups represent the four districts of Brunei-Muara, Tutong, Belait and Temburong. The central teapot represents the central government and the benevolent Sultan. Nice symbolism but how many Malaysians can forget one man after seeing this?

Seeing it, reminded me of the famous local cult leader Ayah Pin who built a giant teapot in his Sky Kingdom in Terengganu. In 2005, the commune was ruthlessly smashed by unknown masked men.

The authorities persecuted him and and his followers, accusing them of subscribing to deviant teachings. Ayah Pin became a fugitive and died of old age on 22 April 2016, according to Wikipedia.

#brunei #teapot #kualabelait #terengganu

Lim Teh In The Sultanate

Lim Teh In The Sultanate.

Since we are looking at Brunei, let’s visit a Chinese kopitiam in Pekan Seria, Brunei. The shop was even more authentic than the many found in Malaysian towns. .

It featured old school coffee shop chairs and real marble table-tops from the 1950s or 1960s. There was also the quintessential bored cashier or proprietor sitting behind the counter. There were no big candy jars on the counter however,

At the time I was at Universal Cafe, the country had a reversed and practical system of halal certification. Since non-halal food outlets are few, non-halal shops are required to display a sticker or sign declaring Muslims are not allowed.

The are many Indian and Mamak eateries in the nanny state too, if you know where to look. Seria the coastal district and Chinese town was fascinating. It had a frozen in 50s or 60s look. Many of our kopitiams were once pristine like this. If authentic, the original shop ought to have the disgusting spittoon containers since the early patrons were refined tin mine workers. If you are unrefined, you just spit on the floor. Haha.

The majority of the Chinese speak Hokkien (Fujian dialect) here and were happy to converse in the mother tongue if you engage them. .

I still think Pekan Tutung, also on the coast, is the real Chinese town where Chinese schools and Chinese temples are found.

Chinese Bruneians are said to form 15 % of the Sultanate’s population and have considerable presence and clout in commerce and the economy. A characteristic of the worldwide and far flung Chinese diaspora.

There are many oil refinery ‘flare stacks’ visible from Seria and you can photograph the dramatic flames shooting up. A nice reminder that Brunei is an oil rich state.

Only one good hotel in Seria and it is the modern Roomz Hotel.
See http://www.mycen.my/lim-teh-in-the-sultanate/

#documentaryphotography #streetphotography #travelogue #chinese #tutung #chinesekopitiam #kopitiam #coffeeshop #chinese #brunei #seria

Gong Yoo’s Hotel Room in Taiwan Costs 20 Million Won?

Mandarin Oriental Taipei Taiwan.

“Gong Yoo’s Hotel Room in Taiwan Costs 20 Million Won?” as reported by Castko via Mycen Hotel’s Hotels In The News

The South Korean mega-heart-throb and megastar of zombie blockbuster Train To Busan reportedly paid 20 million South Korean won a night for a hotel room in Taipei? That is something like RM 74000 or USD 17600 approximate a night. He is big in Taiwan, with thousands of female fans screaming outside the hotel. But still?

There is possibly something wrong with the math or it is a non standard room since his entourage consists of 15 bodyguards, his parents, people to take care of his parents, make up artists and hair stylists.

Since he is so sweet and filial to bring his aging parents along and he supports a campaign to ban animal testing in the beauty industry, I will gladly help him get a normal room for just RM 1745 at the same hotel a night via MyCen Hotels. Price was last I checked.

Link to room at http://www.mycen.my/hotels-in-the-news-part-4/

Gong Yoo’s pic credited to Castko from their report at http://my.castko.com/archives/9152

Knowledge Is Wealth

Hotels In The News is a living, diverse collection and growing archive of hotels that appeared in news articles from around the world. So far, it has touched on hotels as wide ranging as one can find in every corner of the world. Even in its infancy, it is shaping up to be a useful resource. Every hotel featured includes a booking link so you can see the rooms, restaurants, lobby and external view. if available. You can also check rates, availability and book.

The far flung hotels are collectively a goldmine as each news article was also a review of the location. They act as as fantastic read if you like travel, geography and have hunger for knowledge. So much to learn from each location. Surfing the curated news can be enlightening or similar to a vitual “round the world” experience for an armchair traveler, so to speak. Many of the articles were written by experienced and savvy travelers You will benefit from their travel tips and special insights.

I am optimistic and confident many of you, someday, will be able to afford to go to one of those places and you will book the room/s from MyCen Hotels.

Places covered so far, included:

Blackpool, UK, New Plymouth New Zealand. Saint Luicia, Soho London, Los Angeles. New York, Desaru Johor, Old Trafford, Malaga Spain, Washington DC, Birmingham UK, Shangha Chinai, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Monte Carlo, Monaco, Belgium, Spain, Ecuador, Sunway Malaysia, Taipeh Taiwan, Philadelphia, Samui Thailand. Bangkok, Hoi An Vietnam, Saigon, Siem Reap Cambodia, Luknow India, Sydney Australia, Hat Yai Thailand, Tuscany Italy, Long Beach California, Cayman Islands, Yorkshire UK, Kota Kinabalu Malaysia, Beijing China, Krabi Thailand, Tokyo Bay, Mumbai, Manila, Wyoming and Idaho USA, MalToronto Canaa, USA, Tahiti, Switzerland, Cape Town South Africa, Addis Ababa Ethiopia, Baku Azerbaijan, Jaipur India, Toronto Canada, Glasgow, Antigua & Barbuda, Marrakech Morocco, Long Tengah Malaysia, Paris France, Vienna Austria. Big thank you to all the awesome publications and authors.

To start traveling begin from here http://www.mycen.my/hotels-in-the-news/

Or follow the MyCen Hotels Facebook Page for updates. https://www.facebook.com/mycenhotels/