Batu Caves: A Psychedelic Makeover

The cave cavity on the main temple of Murugan

The Batu Caves is one of the most popular attractions to visit when in Kuala Lumpur. It is only 11km away from the city center and easily accessible by commuter train from KL Sentral. It requires only half a day to get a good exploration of this popular Hindu temple out of India. And if you have been here before like I do, it would be interesting to see the recent psychedelic makeover done on this heritage site just a few months ago.

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Sunway City: Thrilling Sunway Lagoon Park and Lifestyle Hotels

View from our room at Sunway Pyramid Lagoon

Sunway City can be an overwhelming complex to visit. It has grown vastly from my first visit in 2009. A sprawling 800-acre township developed as an integrated lifestyle and entertainment destination roughly half an hour away from the KLIA airports or from the city in Selangor, Malaysia. It has three hotels, a huge theme park in Sunway Lagoon, a mall and a number of businesses and facilities for education and medical. It’s an ideal place to stay for families and friends looking for a convenient getaway that combines comfort and adventure in one place.

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A Year in Travels May 2013 | Kota Kinabalu and Camiguin Revisited

It seems I have revisited many places this year which I really don’t mind since it’s been years since I last visited them. I’m always interested to see what has developed and retracing back my routes sure brings back fond memories in different places. When I had the chance to go back to Kota Kinabalu, I knew I didn’t want to miss that opportunity as it was my first destination out of the country.

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Niah National Park | Venture to Nature’s Wonder in Miri

This plankwalk spanning 3.5km seems to have become part of the primary forest eco-system already having been built more than a decade ago. I can’t help but stop ever so often as we were headed to Niah Cave located inside the Niah National Park in Miri, to look closely at the many critters, like the millipedes, the bugs and slugs that have seem to have found this wooden walkway as their home. On what should have been less-than-an-hour hike, took longer as we marvel at the unsullied forest. What more of the cave that lay ahead?

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AirAsia Zest Links Manila to Miri Malaysia

“It’s all about connecting people.There’s a large concentration of Filipino workers in Miri and we want people to easily connect with their families.” Says Ms Joy Caneba, Executive Vice President and COO of AirAsia Zest during the inaugural ceremony in Miri Airport of AirAsia Zest’s flight from Manila to Miri. A first in the country, the Miri route is also a good alternative entry point to nearby Brunei which is only 30 minutes away from the city. Personally, I am interested to the Miri destination as it is the jump-off to one of UNESCO’s Natural World Heritage Site, the Gunung Mulu National Park.

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A Tribal Night at Mari Mari Cultural Village

“From southern Palawan, it only takes about two hours by speedboat to Northern tip of Sabah” I remember one of our host tell us delightedly. The Philippines is so close to Sabah that there is so much similarity in terms of culture and tradition. A large part of the inhabitants were trickled down from the southern archipelago of Mindanao when land bridges still exist explaining the prevalent resemblance from the traditions, clothing and even the language. In fact, the word “Sabah” for Malaysians, also refers to the same type of banana we call in the Philippines. In our visit to the Mari Mari Cultural Village, a village in Kota Kinabalu showcasing 5 of the 32 ethnic groups populating Sabah we get a good portrait of each tribes, showing the distinctness of their character.

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Borneo Reef World, Soak in the Fun at the Largest Reef Pontoon in Asia

“There is sea walking? I haven’t tried that yet!” I excitedly told my companions when I saw it in our itinerary. We were off to the Borneo Reef World, a pontoon just off the Pulau Sapi and Pulau Gaya, within the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park area. What’s a pontoon? It’s a floating barge, used as docking support for boats and even sea planes. The Borneo Reef World Pontoon however is a new reef activity pontoon (months only since opening 3rd quarter of 2012) that aims to offer visitors a slew of water activities that showcases the richness of Kota Kinabalu’s marine life.

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