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  • Hotels In Cameron Highlands

    Land Of The Giants.

    Land Of The Giants.
    Land Of The Giants.

    My petite Panasonic GM-1 is dwarfed by a giant leaf in an isolated and remote rain forest trail. I was on my way to the unknown Sungai Sendat Waterfalls located in the Batang Kali Forest Reserve. In the land of giant leaves and trees, the Lilliputian GM-1 camera belies its sophistication.

    It is a very capable m43 mirrorless system camera. Serving as my backup and secondary camera.

    My love and fascination for giant jungle leaves started when I was a kid spending my school holidays up in Cameron Highlands. My uncle worked at the power station there and he would stop his car for me to marvel at giant fallen leaves strewn by the roadside. For a young boy, everything was gigantic in Cameron Highlands, from giant trees, giant leaves, massive waterfalls, very wide Rajah Brooke birdwing butterflies to enormous rhinoceros beetles.

    Penang Peranakan Mansion museum director and author, Lillian Tong, is seen here using a giant leaf as umbrella or shade. Picture copyright Lilian Tong and used with her permission. I will feature some of her dressed up pics in future.

    The gorgeous Peranakan (nyonya) culture expert from Penang is normally prim and proper in stunning kebayas. You can read more of her expertise at her Naughty Nyonya blog http://naughtynyonya.blogspot.my/ She was in a jungle trek in Teluk Bahang near Batu Ferringhi and Monkey Beach of the Penang National Park. She went for “jungle bathing” – a new hipster fad or trend, I think.

    The giant leaves are disappearing like old culture and is getting harder to see with the depletion of primary jungles.

    Love for the environment and nature ought to be inculcated from young.

    Happy Earth Day.

    See over 132 hotels in Cameron Highlands here. In Ringlet, Brinchang and Tanah Rata. Availability may depend on your booking dates.

    #earthday #jungle #rainforest #nyonya #penang #selangor #pahang #cameronhighlands

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  • Nasi Padang in Jakarta

    Nasi Padang in Jakarta
    Nasi Padang in Jakarta

    Nasi Padang in Jakarta was scary. Wanted to buy my local driver dinner since it was my last day. It was just me and him (seen here in blue) and the restaurant brought out enough dishes to feed a village. Was relieved they only charge for plates that were partially consumed or touched. Nasi Padang gets its name from the West Sumatran town of Padang, famous for the culinary rice dish or buffet. Turned out to be an awesome experience.

    Book a hotel out of 715 hotels in Jakarta here.

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  • Hyatt Regency Hotel Tashkent Uzbekistan

    Uzbekistan
    Uzbekistan

    The Central Asia countries are relatively unknown to many of us from Malaysia. The region stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to China in the east and from Afghanistan in the south to Russia in the north. I have met in Kuala Lumpur many students from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.  At one time, many of the students moonlight as workers in IT shops and as waiters or waitresses in pubs and bars.

    The countries all have the Persian suffix “-stan”, meaning “land of”. The closest I’ve been was going to Kazakhstan embassy in Jalan U Thant to apply for a visa to Kazakhstan. The Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome was to be the launch site of the rocket carrying the Malaysian astronaut to the space station. I asked the late Science Minister in a briefing as to why the selected hotels were so expensive and he said it was best for the the media and accompanying entourage to stay in top hotels for maximum security.

    The great thing I remember about the Kazakhstan embassy officer was he asked me what telco I was using then (Maxis) and he told me there is service since there is a roaming agreement. I mean how many embassy officers even know or care about those things.

    Fast forward to ten years later and I have a Instagram friend  (@gsmile_elf) or Gulnoza Nazarova from the Uzbekistan capital Tashkent. It is just south of Kazakhstan. The elfish, impish and beautiful Gulnoza is now studying Chinese at Lanzhou University in north west China. Coincidentally, Lanzhou is the origin of beef lamian or pulled noodles or mee tarik, I wrote about recently.

    I asked Gulnoza to suggest a Uzbekistan hotel and she spoke glowingly of the Hyatt Regency Tashkent. It is a luxury hotel in the capital city and it is  not cheap either.

    Book the  Hyatt Regency Tashkent

    She sent me a bunch of pics of the hotel which I cannot use since I don’t know the source. It is shown here in a pic by Booking dot com and a pic of Gulnoza celebrating her birthday in March.  I have added links to over 70 hotels in Tashkent below.

    Book the  Hyatt Regency Tashkent

    Link to over 70 hotels in Tashkent

    Map Of Central Asia: