Hit Me

I used this pic to accompany the Air Asia flying to Guangzhou story on Instagram. Felt that I should share it here too as it is a rare experience and view.

Sometimes, on an inaugural landing, the airport fire fighting truck is hired to spray a jet of water on the fuselage as a salute and welcome gesture. The AirAsia aircraft I sat in was painted in ASEAN Day livery. Good thing I clicked before the water cannon jet hit the window as it blurred out everything. It was surreal. unusual and an unexpected photography opportunity.

Find a room at special rate at http://www.mycen.my/guangzhou-hotel-deals-finder/

#airasia #guangzhou #melaka #malacca #canton #guangdong #flight #china #watersalute #aviation #airport

History Of Travel Pics

History Of Travel Pics.

A new tray of slides are loaded to MyCen Hotels. Since the last update, I have added cities with hotels at discounts such as Hat Yai, Macau, Manila and Yangon to Deals Finder.at http://www.mycen.my/hotel-deals-finder/

A Little History:

Slide film were cut up and mounted in plastic or cardboard mounts. They were then loaded intro a carousel tray to project onto a screen at home. Before the advent of video, it was a popular way of screening a corporate AV show with soundtrack and synchronized slide changing with multiple projectors. One slide gets jammed and the entire show goes haywire.

Screening of slides was popular with travelers in the West. The travelers will arrange all the slides and invite friends and neighbors to view a show in the form of a travelogue. Poor selection and repetitive subjects left audience bored and in tears. A such people used to fear neighbours going for a holiday. Today, social media takes over the role of the loathed slide projector.

To be honest, I hate it when SOME people go on a vacation too. Why would I want to look at your passport cover or a boarding pass? Or a parked airplane on the tarmac? Assholes, get a freaking life or partner to talk to and wait for the plane to land at your destination. It gets worse. The first thing such people do is not to look for a cab. They look for a place to rent a portable wi-fi modem to torture their Fb or IG followers.

The same idiots will bombard you with a selfie or wefie every 3 second, probably without taking in the sights. Ask yourself this? Why would I like to look at the toilet bowl in your hoteI or endless lattes at cafes? I want to gain insights and knowledge about a landmark or new city. Sadly, a few decades later, travel pics are more boring than the dreaded slide shows.

Transparency film can be the types that used E6 processing or Kodachrome which included processing in Australia. They were not very popular locally as they were more expensive. And what humans will wait 2 weeks to see the results?

Veteran photographers friends such as Cy Leow, Rian Maelzer and Lee Hong Leng will remember the good old days. Lee will. He operated a E6 processing lab in Jalan Alor.

#slide #e6 #film #mycenhotels

Choo Choo To Hat Yai

Choo Choo To Hat Yai.

My lovely, beautiful and adventurous friend Marina Zakaria (@marinazakaria on IG) took a train (ETS) from KL Sentral to the northern border town of Padang Besar. It took about 5 hours, Marina (in own pic shown here) recommends the Platinum class which is RM 106 one way and faster with fewer stops. From Padang Besar, it is another one hour by taxi van ride to Hat Yai town. The electric trains no longer makes the choo choo sounds of olden days steam locomotives.

Sadly, Lonely Planet introduced the town as “Hat Yai has long been a favourite stop for Malaysian men on their weekend hooker tour”

Besides red lights, I know there is also great food and cheap shopping. I last visited the town a long time ago by flight.

Inspired by Marina, I hope to visit Hat Yai again by rail to meet my Hat Yai based friend Egg or Woranon Thitinunthakorn (@iameggg on IG). He is the active founder of the startup TuberThailand, the co working space and startup community promoter in Hat Yai. I should have introduced him to my friend, the similarly inclined Kashminder Singh when Egg visited me in KL the last time.

In researching hotels in Hat Yai, I found many good deals. I created a hotel deals page for the city at:

http://www.mycen.my/hat-yai-hotel-deals-finder/

#hatyai #thailand #mycenhotels #ets #ktm #train #padangbesar #klsentral

The Man On The Hill

Another hotel-related story, this time about a man who has a town named after him – Gohtong Jaya.

I had many friends working on the hill resort at one time or another. One of the most fascinating anecdotes I heard, was that they feared getting sacked by the late billionaire owner, if they mistreated guests. The owner hated it when a staff member looked down on a illiterate country bumpkin or village people. They may not know how to press the confusing lift buttons to get to rooms in the world’s largest hotel, at one time.

Owner and founder Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong himself didn’t finish his education being a school dropout. He arrived in Malaysia from Fujian, penniless, and set out to build to build an empire to become the country’s wealthiest man at one time. It was touching to hear about a tycoon remembering his roots and to impart a culture of treating poorer people respectfully Staff remember him fondly as he taught them about humility and to treat everyone with respect and empathy.

Employees were also fearful as there were like a million Lims and anyone one of them could be a relative and bring their grievances to the owner. My mom is a Lim too, so you can say I am biased.

An international show agent told me this story. Uncle Lim, asked (I think was) Copperfield who was performing at the resort to reveal the secret to one of his acts.

David was hesitant but finally relented and showed him backstage. After seeing it, the old man declared: “SUMUA BOHONG!” (all bluff). Haha.

My favourite anecdote is the following but can be an urban legend. He hosted a dinner for the King and PM at his mansion. When the dinner was over, the tycoon in black tie, sent his VVIP guests to their cars and motorcade. As he shook their hands, he blurted out “Ada Senang Mari Ah” Literal translation from Hokkien meaning “Please come when you are free” Being a billionaire and top tax payer has its privileges, I guess.

While writing this story, I checked to see if there are deals for hotels in Genting. Saw many good deals and discounts offered:

http://www.mycen.my/genting-highlands-hotel-deals-finder/

#gentinghighlands #resortsworld #hillresort #hotel #genting

Lovely Tariker.

Lovely Tariker.

Back at F&N Teh Tarik Mega 2017, members of the public and shoppers at Mydin USJ Mall were invited to play an obstacle challenge course, that included balancing some things on the head and to make tea the tarik way, while running. Photograph by Maria Bernadette.

#fn #fntehtarik #tehtarik #tea #milktea #fntehtarik #fnmilk #game #hangtarik