Trip to Hatyai

Here are some nice pictures from my holiday trip to Hatyai last year.

This is Dr Nara's Clinic. This is the famous clinic for those who wants to change their gender in Hatyai. If you know what I mean.

There are a lot of food stalls outside Lee Garden Plaza during night time. You can eat tom yam noodles, koay teow th'ng, leng chee kang, etc.

This is the Fish n Chips I ate at Sizzler inside Lee Garden Plaza.

Regency Hotel is located just nearby Lee Garden Hotel. I stayed for two nights and if I remember, it's about 1200 Baht per night. Not bad but it's an old hotel.

This is the ice skating rink at Central Festival Hatyai. This is a nice and big shopping mall at Hatyai. It's the latest shopping mall in Hatyai.

A Thai Buddhist temple somewhere at the outskirt of Hatyai at the hilltop.

This is a Chinese temple near the Thai Buddhist temple.

You can see the entire Hatyai from the temple at the hilltop.

How to drive to Cameron Highlands?

How to drive to Cameron Highlands using the Simpang Pulai way?

I hope this post would be a helpful guide to those intend to drive up to Cameron Highlands using the Simpang Pulai new road.

Assuming you are driving from the north along the PLUS highway, you have to turn in to the Simpang Pulai interchange (Exit 137) just after Ipoh. In fact, the signboard is clear enough.

After turning in, you will drive through a toll booth. Immediately after the toll booth, you will come to a T-junction with traffic lights as shown above. Turn right at this T-junction. There is a sign board just at the background.

After the turning right, just drive straight for about a minute and you will reach a cross junction with traffic lights. Turn right at this cross junction.

After turning right and as you drive along, you will come across a signboard indicating Cameron Highlands is up ahead. This is to assure you that you are on the right route. Just keep driving straight all the way....

On the way up, you will drive along some beautiful scenery. Some parts of the road are wide enough (with two lanes) for you to overtake some lorries, buses, and annoying road hogs.

You will also pass through the Perak-Pahang border with a huge sign on the slope (as shown above) welcoming you to Cameron Highlands.

After driving about one hour, you will reach a T-junction. Turn right to go to Cameron Highlands. Driving straight would lead you to the Blue Valley Tea Plantation and if you keep on driving, it would lead you to Gua Musang in Kelantan. So, remember to turn right at this junction.

After turning right, just drive straight and you will reach a small town, Kampung Raja for another 3 more kilometres. In fact, by now you have already reached Cameron Highlands.

Soon, you will reach Kampung Raja. You will hit another T-junction up ahead just below the yellow building (with a coffee shop at the ground floor) as shown above. Turn left at this T-junction to continue your journey up to the peak of Cameron Highlands. There is a signboard after the junction and look up for the towns Brinchang and Tanah Rata instead of Cameron Highlands (because you are already at Cameron Highlands). Just keep on driving and you will pass through another two more small towns (Kuala Terla and Tringkap) before reaching the peak of Cameron Highlands.

Keep on driving and you will see a significant landmark at the peak of Cameron Highlands. That landmark is Equatorial Hotel. By now, you will know that you are at the peak of Cameron Highlands.

The entire journey should take you about one hour and a half from Simpang Pulai to the peak of Cameron Highlands.

Learning OER

I just attended a workshop on OER (Open Educational Resource).

What is OER? OER is some sort of free online education made available to any Tom, Dick, and Harry around the world. Wikipedia does a good job in explaining what is OER. Click here.

You may want to watch a video on OER below.



Below is the presentation slides of the presenter, Zaid Alsagoff.

The OER 101 Workshop

View more presentations from Zaid Alsagoff

Research paper accepted for conference

I received an email this morning stating that my paper has been accepted for presentation at the International Conference of Education and Information Management (ICEIM) which is to be held in Istanbul, Turkey.

I co-wrote the research paper with my supervisor and we sent the paper to be peer-reviewed to the organiser just a few days ago. The paper was acccepted with minor revision required.

Who wants to fund me to Turkey?

Places to eat in Ipoh

Here are some of the so-called famous food outlets to visit when you are in Ipoh.

Kong Heng Coffee Shop in Jalan Bandar Timah in the 'old town' of Ipoh. I tried the meatball noodle soup and it was the best meatball noodle soup I have ever tasted. There are also other food in there like the pork satay, wan tan mee, popiah and many many other food.

Woolley Food City is a foodcourt located in Lengkok Canning. This foodcourt is open during lunchtime and also dinnertime.

Kam Wan Food Court is located just next to Woolley Food City. Between the two, Kam Wan has more variety. There are more stalls in here. Kam Wan opens only at night. I tried the popiah in Kam Wan and it is one of the best popiah I have ever tasted. It is quite different from the popiah we have in Penang.

Golden Point Food Court is located in Persiaran Bercham Selatan 20. It is located on the other side of the PLUS highway. This is the foodcourt with the Langkap Pau. If you have not tried the Langkap Pau, you should try it. The char siew pau is quite different from the one we have in Penang. They also have all sorts of flavours. Chocolate Pau, Strawberry Pau....you name it.

This is the over-rated taugeh chicken rice restaurant. Lou Wong is located in Jalan Yau Tet Shin in the 'new town' of Ipoh. It is always extremely crowded to the extent of seeing customers sitting on tables along the road. Come early if you want to have seats. Anyway, nothing is impressive about the chicken rice. I felt the chickren rice just taste normal. Even the taugeh chicken rice in my neighbourhood in Penang taste better.

World TB Day 24 March

Today is World TB Day.

Our Health Minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai just announced today that the total number of TB (Tuberculosis) cases in Malaysia in 2011 is 20,666 cases, which was a 7% increase from the previous year.

This is not a good news.

In conjunction with World TB Day, we as individuals can help to stop the spread of TB by raising the awareness of TB.

Stay away from people who don't cover their mouth when they cough/sneeze. And if you cough/sneeze, please practise cough/sneeze etiquette. Also, seek immediate treatment if your cough persists over more than 2 weeks. That's the most important rule - two weeks!

The only cure for TB is by taking antibiotics. It won't go away by itself. Chinese herbs won't cure it either. Be a responsible citizen by going to a medical doctor and not chinese sinseh.

Lost World of Tambun - Water Theme Park

The facade of the Lost World of Tambun is similar to those typical ancient building you will see in 'Indiana Jones' movies. In fact, the Lost World of Tambun is akin to a fort complete with a moat surrounding the entire theme park. The fort looks centuries-old. Yea, even the water in the moat looks nasty and dirty.

But thankfully, the water theme park is clean and pristine, unlike the moat.

Welcome to Lost World of Tambun.

Adult = RM45 per entrance

Children = RM35 per entrance (if I'm not mistaken)

Fortunately, I bought the ticket from Groupon at only RM34 for the adult ticket.

The ticket entitles you to gain entry to every single area in the Lost World of Tambun. There are no other tickets for you to buy.

Dirty moat

The building looks ancient

Entrance to the wave pool

Gathering area

This is the slow river. Look at the pristine water.

This is the Lost World Hot Springs and Spa. The temperature at this pool is about 40 degrees Celcius. I dipped my leg into this pool and I can tell you it is really hot.

The Lost World Hot Springs and Spa is also opened at night everyday. The only difference is that there are fancy lights at the surrounding pools.