Category: Travel

Hotel Puri Melaka

I stayed at Hotel Puri in Melaka twice. It is converted from an old shop house which was characteristically long and deep. Hotel Puri is one of several so-called heritage hotels in Melaka set in a restored Peranakan townhouse. It is a boutique hotel with beautiful antique fittings and modern conveniences in the room. There’s wi-fi and bedside power outlets to power or charge multiple devices. You’ll appreciate that when you need to charge two or three camera batteries sequentially, overnight. Many hotels, including new ones, still have the AC socket far from the bed.

Book Hotek Puri at a low price here.

What I really like is its location on ancient Heeren Street (renamed as Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock). Such a strategic take-off point for exploring the historical city by foot. Jonker Street is just behind. Other landmarks such as the as the nearly 400 year old Cheng Hoon Teng Temple and the 300 year old Kampung Kling Mosque (lower right pic) are nearby.

Across the street from Horel Puri is the vintage Chee Mansion, (upper right pic) a house belonging to tycoon and philanthropist Chee Swee Cheng, the first chairman of OCBC Bank, who built it in memory of his father.

Houses belonging to then wealthy Straits Chinese and Peranakan people incorporated Anglo-Indian, Straits eclectic and Malay architectural styles. This mansion featured a European-style watchtower above its roof.

During its time, properties were taxed according to width. As such, owners built deeper with some of the houses and townhouses stretched over 200 feet.

The lobby is photogenic too. Shown here photographed from the wooden corridor upstairs. (upper left pic)

Have buffet breakfast in the longish court yard and under the air well inside  Hotel Puri  (lower left pic)

Many people visit Malacca the UNESCO World Heritage City but don’t want to stay in a heritage hotel because they are also boutique hotels and are perceived as expensive. Many are but this one is relatively affordable when booked through MyCen Hotels

Book Hotek Puri at a low price here.

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Address: 118 Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock, (Heeren Street), Melaka City, 75200 Malacca

#melaka #malacca #heritagehotels #history #peraknakan #vintage

Go Off The Beaten Track

In the boat ride to Angkor Wat complex, I was expecting to see the riverine communities with shanty houses on stilts and people fishing outside their homes. All of a sudden, this beautiful white mosque came into view, not long after we left Phnom Penh.

I think it a was at a Khmer Muslim village by the Cham people.

Further up river, I got to see the beautiful biodiversity of rare birds, fishes, amphibious animals and plants. To boot, I was traveling to the world’s greatest temple complex and the largest religious monument in the world, the Angkor Wat.

You will miss all these when you fly direct to Siem Reap as many weekend visitors do. Plan well. The unhealthy obsession with bucket lists is resulting in many people missing many significant and esoteric things, off the beaten path.

Find one of many good hotels in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh at MyCen Hotels http://www.mycen.my/

#mosque #cham #village #khmer #muslim #river #phnomppenh #tonlelesp #siemraap #rtiver #nature #travel #adventure

Journey To The Centre Of Tonlé Sap

Slow boat on Tonle Sap was one very amazing journey, Never would I know that one day I’ll be sailing on the Tone Sap, a lake described as the largest lake in South East Asia in our schools’ geography books. I used to look at the giant lake in Collins, Oxford or was it Macmillan World Atlas with much fascination, Bucket lists weren’t invented then but I hoped one day I’ll get to see it from the shore, To be able to sail on it, was beyond my wildest dreams.

Also shocked to find out later that villagers along the riverbank used to take pot shots at the tourist boat going upriver. It is safe now as many Cambodians surrendered their rifles for money in a gun exchange campaign. Many gave up their hobby to become freelance snipers.

Glad I found out the horrible history later or it would have been a very nervous ride. I did asked the skipper about what looked like old bullet holes in the wooden cabin of his boat, Communication was tough.as there was a French female backpacker sunbathing topless on the front deck.

I cannot remember the name of the hotel I stayed in Siem Reap to go to Angkor Wat. In an amazing development, I spoke to a Malaysian friend and expatriate in Phnom Penh a few day ago.

He was the one who introduced me to his friend and mysterious travel agent in a dark backstreet where I purchased the boat ticket and hotel voucher. I told him the hotel had a helpful Malaysian Indian manager I called Macha.

My friend told me every Malaysian Indian, in Cambodia, especially club DJs is named Macha. I remember there are like million of them there as they were disc jockeys in every club, lounge or disco I visited there. Malaysia’s top export to Cambodia was machas.

Amazingly. my usually inebriated friend recalled meeting the Siem Reap manager at Raffles Hotel Le Royal in Phnm Penh city. What a small world and I doubt my friend can locate him again as hoteliers dont stay long, The hunt for macha goes on.

Find one of many good hotels in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh at MyCen Hotels http://www.mycen.my/

Journey To The Centre Of Tonlé Sap

Because it is so vast, at 250 km in length and 100 km in width, we obviously weren’t able to see any shore in any direction, for quite a while. Is was easy to forget we weren’t out at sea but on a shallow lake. That was what makes it so awesome.

Couldn’t really achieve or tell if it was dead centre as the lake changes shape and size, depending on the state of flow or reversal of the Tonlé Sap.River. We were still some 60 km (about 2 hours) from the touristy water areas of Siem Reap.

With the engines switched off, it was eerily silent, peaceful and the boat was rocking wildly. The odd bunch of water hyacinth plant drifted by like tumbleweed in a cowboy ghost town.

Olympus E-3, ISO 100, f10, 1/640 sec.

#travelphotography #travelogue #travel #landscape #asean #cambodia #tonlesap #adventure

The Manila Cathedral

I walked around the building for inspirations.

See here for over 1000 hotels in Manila.

Saw a big puddle of rainwater and waited for church goers to come by. I captured their reflections and that of the church in the water.

Included part of their feet to screw with the viewer’s mind. I then inverted (vertically flipped ) the picture. In theory, you can also hold the camera upside down.

Built in 1571, Cathedral Basílica Metropolitana de Manila suffered through earthquakes and bombings. The current version was re-built in 1958.

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Mirror, Mirror On The Wall

To have quick access to the Singapore Ramadan Bazaar, I stayed at a hotel on the doorsteps of the street bazaar known as Geylang Serai. I tried to recall the name of the hotel but there are like a dozen 81 chain hotels in the Geylang area!

The one I stayed was Hotel 81 Tristar and only thing I didn’t like was that the room had no windows except for a big wall mirror. Kind of like a love hotel except it can spook you at night when you are staying alone and you noticed something moving that was your own reflection. Credit to the receptionist for telling me in advance. Some hotels don’t tell you and it may be a good idea to ask when checking in.

For a budget hotel (in the Singapore context – over RM 200), it has an outdoor pool on one of the floors and a minibar in each room. There is a convenient 7 Eleven downstairs to fill up the minibar (mini fridge). To recall the hotel’s name, I was lucky to have taken some pictures at a mamak or Malay restaurant downstairs. The restaurant’s name Al Wadi was captured and it allowed me to do a Google Street View walk to find the name of the hotel next door.  Kind of nostalgic because I used to take long exploration walks as a 7 or 8 year old kid from Everitt Road nearby, where we once stayed.

Book Hotel 81 Tristar here (Booking dot com) or here (Agoda)

Address: 1 Onan Road.  Singapore 424780

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