Celebrating CNY 2014 with Doraemon

As the year of snake slithered away, the year of horse is slowly galloping his way in. On the eve of CNY, we had a sweet encounter with our childhood favourite cartoon character at KL Viva Mall. Yes! Doraemon exhibition is in Malaysia!

Doraemon is a robotic cat born in year 2112. He was yellow color originally. One day he accidentally lost his ear to a gluttonous mouse. He was very sad, down and blue. So he became blue in color. 

He carries lots of interesting gadgets in his 4D pocket. The exhibition showcase 100 pieces of his powerful gadgets. My favorite ones are Take-copter & dokodemo door. The first section exhibits life size Doraemon figurine carrying his gadget with short explanation. The second section is a Chapel holding matrimonial of Nobita & Shizuka. Although the duo never get to grow up in the comic series (to date they are still primary school kids since the comic first launched in the 60's), it was inferred numerous times that they married. The 3rd section is their neighborhood and snapshots of events happened around the other characters. There are also some 3D gadgets to take pictures with such as air cannon, take-copter, diminishing torch, cordless phone etc.

Time machine - The first gadget appeared in the comic

air cannon

Take copter - for tall people

Take copter - for short people

cordless phone

RM25 entrance fee is considered reasonable. But the merchandise is costly. 1 memory bread pillow cost RM50. T-shirt is at least RM45. All the stationery is overpriced. We can only afford to take pictures.

Places i will revisit

Brunei when the temburong bridge is finish 2018?
Labuan from kk 

 mulu may be combined with brunei
Penang - Taiping  - Pulau Aman
Langkawi

Bimp eaga dono when can be a success.  Bring in more people eat and go away. Hehe

Which country singapore is benchmarking itself against

New zealand

Finland 

Denmark

Ireland

Norway

Hong kong

New Year Trip to Langkawi & Penang 2014 Jan

This is the second New Year cuti-cuti Malaysia short getaway. Last one was exactly a year ago when a group of us went to Kuching for the first time. As usual air tickets were booked way in advance. This time we flew SIN-LKG-PEN-SIN by AirAsia.

Langkawi (D1)
The car rental booths are inside the arrival hall. Rented a Nissan Latio for RM70/day from an unknown car rental company, Darulaman. Initially we intend to book from Kasina but we just missed the booth right next to us. The car rental in Langkawi is very cheap because it is tax free here.

Unfortunately Resort World Langkawi at Cenang Beach was a bad choice. Like shit. The furniture are old, the resort condition is run down, no free wifi an the breakfast is lousy. I will not return. 

Actually Langkawi is quite relaxing with minimal traffic and natural beaches. It is less touristy compared to Bali. 80% of the passengers in the flight are either PRC, Westerner or Singaporeans. Langkawi in a way is better than Bali depending on your preference.

Along the beach, hawkers are selling coconuts and cooked food. With simple table set up and free sea view can start business already. The further from town, the cheaper the coconut is.

So good that we have to eat there twice...

Highlights of the trip: Westin lunch, tanjung rhu beach, duty free shopping and langkawi cable car ride. First time 1Malaysia gave me a discount that could actually benefit me.
The view from cable was magnificent, similar to Taiwan Sun Moon Lake. This place is cooling and relaxing.

The sky bridge is still closed for maintenance

Moving on to the next destination, Telaga Tujuh (Seven Well) Waterfalls. It was a long and steep uphill walk before reaching the waterfall. Although the place is nice but cannot attract many people. only a few small groups of visitors (both locals and foreigners) were there having picnic. That's the strength and weakness about Malaysia tourism. Not so crowded. But cannot make money.

Finally got some time to Whatapps my mum

Kilim Geopark is for tourist. The fee is exorbitant. No choice but have to detour to Tanjung Rhu beach. The beach is so clean. Boat fee to the Kilim Geopark from here is cheaper than Kilim River Jetty.

The biggest fraud in Langkawi is the pepero biscuit we bought.

Penang (D2&3)
We flew to Penang initially to try out the second bridge and go to Pulau Aman from Batu Musang jetty. Unfortunately the bridge is still not operational. Normally project in Malaysia seldom complete on time. Delay of 1 year from whichever Minister announcement completion date is the norm. So I guess people no need to really listen to what our politicians say since they are most likely than not wrong.

So this time we went to Penang, we drove to Gurney Paragon, Straits Quay, E&O Hotel and Penang National Park at Teluk Bahang. We also went to see the famous mural and ate some street food at Gurney Drive. To summarise Penang, the place is a bit old, traffic is not very smooth due to narrow roads and the food less tasty nowadays but more expensive. But hey who cares as long as it is listed as UNESCO Heritage. It would be better if a tunnel system is constructed to bypass Georgetown since one have no choice of avoiding the town to get to places like Tanjung Bungah.

The Ship Restaurant. Literally

Straits Quay

E&O Hotel

RM10 Char Kuay Teow

Penang prawn noodle!!??

Gurney Paragon

We are gradually changing our travelling habit by moving to self-drive mode. This saved us more time and allowed flexibility in our fast-changing itinerary. How else can we enjoy the opportunity to test drive different cars without actually buying one?

Hyundai Matrix at Miri/ Brunei (#1)

Hyundai Verna at Kuching (#2)

Nissan Latio at Langkawi (#3)

Proton Saga at Penang (#4)

Ford Fiesta at Penang (#5)