Archive for October, 2006
Tomorrow is the first day of Hari Raya Aidilfitri, which marks the end of Ramadan or fasting month. Besides the festive atmosphere, a must-have sign welcoming the Hari Raya Aidilfitri in Malaysia, is to easily spot a number of stalls burning bamboo tubes by the road side. Well, I’m not being specific 
They are not burning bamboo tubes per see, but making a traditional Malay delicacy called lemang.
Lemang is a delicacy made from glutinous rice soaked with coconut milk, wrapped in bamboo tubes lined with banana leaf, and cooked over slow open fire. Due to the need for open fire at a place with good ventilation, the cooking of lemang is commonly seen by the road side. Well, not necessarily road side, but the sellers need to make sure that they have some marketing opportunities also right?
Right a week before today, I’ve spotted a simple tent at Limbongan, with a label written Lemang Tradisional (traditional lemang in Malay). It was at the preparation stage, where woods (some use dried old coconut) are collected for burning, bamboo trunks are cut, banana leafs are cleaned, and coconut milks are prepared.
Today, a few hours the breaking of fast, lemang stalls everywhere are all rushing to complete to orders. The process of cooking lemang is not easy. Under slow fire, it has to be cooked for average of 3 to 4 hours. Every now and then, the bamboo tubes must be alternatively turned to make sure that every part is evenly cooked.
In east coast of Peninsula Malaysia, lemang is usually served with ikan bakar (BBQ fish), but in west coast, it is commonly served with rendang (a kind of spiced curry) or serunding (spicy beef floss).
Within another half an hour, the Muslims will break the fast to enjoy their favorite drooling delicacies.
Wishing all Muslims Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
October 23rd, 2006
Almost a month ago, I’ve posted a few pictures taken on the night before opening of Dataran Pahlawan Megamall. In the previous post, I’ve also briefly introduced the ambitious plans laid out for Dataran Pahlawan project. Since the presence of this new attraction is Melaka in quite significant, and everyday this site has got a number of visitors coming in via various web search for Dataran Pahlawan, thus I’ve decided to post up more pictures to fulfill my readers’ visual satisfaction haha 
The current DeepaRaya festive season is a good time for photography, as it looks happening everywhere haha. All the following pictures are taken on 21st Oct, the Deepavali night.
Due to the almost-a-week of festive season, Bandar Hilir - the place where Mahkota Parade and Dataran Pahlawan are located, is full of crowd and traffic. It was pretty hard to get a parking slot along the main road, but luckily I did.
The main entrance of Dataran Pahlawan Megamall.
Again, a picture for the 24 hours drive-through McDonald’s fast food outlet in Dataran Pahlawan Megamall.
There are a number of unique Takraw-like corridor lamps at Dataran Pahlawan. But, they were not lightening up. Probably the wiring work is not yet completed.
At the main entrance of Dataran Pahlawan Megamall, I personally find this stairway design to be a little bit weird. It’s a good effort that Dataran Pahlawan management actually taken into consideration the accessible building design for the wheelchair and baby-chair users, by laying out a Z-style wheelchair stairway. BUT, the design is weird, as this Z-style sloping stairway is actually incorporated together with a normal staircase, spanning across the steps diagonally. If the walking visitors are not paying attention on the steps, he/she might be easily falling down, due to the unequal depth.
Besides, the floor finishing of the sloping stairway ought to be more slip-resistant to prevent unwanted accidents.
Inside Dataran Pahalwan Megamall, the outlets in ground floor are mostly occupied, with dominated with fashion and apparel sector.
A small stage at the concourse.
At present, there’s nothing much attractive for photograph shooting at Dataran Pahlawan yet. But, I’m glad that when I saw the re-furnished Malaysia’s Vision 2020 Time Capsule. The main hibiscus-like Time Capsule remains its physical appearance as it was before. However, there’s an addition of fountain and wall sculptures now.
Sculpture of multiracial Malaysia.
Sculpture of Zheng He / Cheng Ho, a famous Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral, who made the voyages collectively referred to as the travels of “Eunuch Sanbao to the Western Ocean”.
Due to Deepavali celebration, a rangoli painting made with motif of Dataran Pahlawan logo was laid on the floor.
The Digital Domain of Dataran Pahlawan, touted as Melaka’s answer to Low Yat Plaza, is opening soon.
Continuous Updates
The team at AmazingMelaka.com will continuously update relevant information and latest progress of Dataran Pahlanwan Megamall, be it positive or negative aspects. Well, this is inline with our objective of existence, to provide up-to-date tourism information that you can’t find elsewhere.
During the photography session on 21st Oct, we’ve also visited a number of other places previously discussed and written in AmazingMelaka.com, and publish some latest pictures to better complements our contents.
GPS Coordinate: N2.19028 E102.24993
October 22nd, 2006
Hooray! It’s festive season again in Malaysia.
Coincidentally, as the timing of Hindu festival Deepavali and Muslim festival Hari Raya Aidilfitri are falling within days of difference in a week, Malaysia is celebrating a uniquely combined festive season called DeepaRaya. Yes, only seen in multiracial countries like Malaysia.
To the foreign visitors, Deepavali is on tomorrow 21st Oct 2006, while Hari Raya Aidilfitri is falling on the coming Tuesday 24th Oct 2006. Be sure to capture this unique moment with your digital imaging devices.
To residents of Malaysia traveling back hometown during this festive season, please (yes, please please please) drive carefully, have a safe and enjoyable journey. Lots of rest areas are available along the expressways and highways, utilize them as you’ve already paid for the facilities 
Happy Deepavali and Salam Aidilfitri.
October 20th, 2006
The 3rd MATTA Fair (also literally known as travel fair) of Melaka begins today, and will be carried out for 3 days, as follows:
Date: 13 Oct – 15 Oct, 2006
Venue: 1st floor, Mahkota Parade
Though the scale of MATTA Fair in Melaka is definitely much smaller comparing to the one held in PWTC Kuala Lumpur, but it is convenient for the residents in Melaka. Moreover, the main participants are local travel agencies that Melaka people are familiar with.
Have you got ready to plan for a vacation?
Based on my personal experience, MATTA Fair doesn’t really offer significantly cheaper inbound packages, since it is already fundamentally cheap to travel within Malaysia. However, if you’re planning for an outbound vacation, MATTA Fair is a good place for some great deals, especially when you’re traveling in group.
Nowadays, with the convenience of Internet tools like online air ticket and hotel room reservation systems, travel agents are less significant in playing the role of middleman. Instead, they have to offer add-on values or attractive prices in arrangement of guided tour, especially for overseas packages. It’s becoming a norm for young travelers to make online reservations on hotel and flight, and they only require travel agent services for touring and guides.
When I traveled to Siem Reap of Cambodia last month, we did all the necessary reservations of hotel rooms and returning flights via online facilities as well, and acquired a Cambodian travel agent for guided tour and local transportation. The globalization force of Internet has made it so easy for you and me to plan for the whole trip by using online resources.
For example, as shown on the right side of this article, you can easily make room booking on Equatorial Hotel Melaka at AmazingMelaka.com. All you need is an Internet connection and a credit card. Besides, wide range of comprehensive tourism resources, contents and maps are readily available at finger tip via Internet. The connected travelers nowadays know exactly which destination and route they are interested in, before inquiring packages from travel agent.
All these evolutions resulted from globalization doesn’t mean that travel agents are ceasing from their role; but, they have to adapt with the changes to stay at the cutting edge. Since it is a known trend that travelers are spending more time and efforts to study relevant information and acquire services via online facilities, the travel agents should also stay intact by establishing their Web presence, in order to be easily reachable by foreign tourists. I remember once that I actually seen a Google AdWords advertisement unit, advertised by a tuk tuk (motorcycle taxi) driver in Cambodia. Simply impressive.
Just a case study on a tourism participant in Melaka - Purple Flowers Handicrafts, who is specializing in producing modern wooden clogs, turning the old-age footwear into a fashion. Purple Flowers Handicrafts has established a small website early this year to showcase their clogs. Though it is just a simple catalog without any shopping cart or e-commerce facilities, but still, this unique handicrafts shop has managed to received and processed some overseas orders via email messaging and SWIFT payment. The business possibilities with Internet is unconstrained. Imagine if Purple Flowers Handicrafts has an e-commerce facilities similar to Alice Florist, the possibilities of getting new orders in 24 hours a day is so feasibly bold.
Off all the hotels in Melaka, I find that Equatorial Hotel is particularly initiative in participation of online booking facilities. A lot of hotel reservation portals are featuring Equatorial Hotel Melaka. No wonder the occupancy rate in Equatorial Hotel is relatively high all time throughout the year.
October 13th, 2006
The frustrating haze problem which has been troubling a number of major cities in Malaysia for the past couple of days, has shown a healthy sign of giving back a clear blue sky and sunny day to residents in Melaka town.
Yesterday, 6th Oct 2006, the Department of Environment has recorded Air Pollutant Index (API) of 100 in Melaka town at 5.00pm evening. At night, the visibility was unsatisfying as well. Even objects in distance of 200 meters were appearing foggy.
Today, since this morning, I’m glad that the visibility in Melaka town has tremendously improved, and the sun is once again gracefully shining on the town.
This shot was taken at the pedestrian bridge crossing Jalan Tun Razak, connecting Melaka Sentral to Tesco. As shown, the Melaka’s state mosque, Masjid Al-Azim, which is at least a kilometer away, was visibly seen. Besides, the Straits Meridian Hotel located a few kilometers away was also present in sight.
Haze is a Recurring Issue in Malaysia
Due to the unresolved open burning and forest fires in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Riau province and other parts of Indonesia, haze has became a serious recurring environmental issue in Malaysia. When the forest fires in Indonesia got uncontrolled, high concentrations of pollutant particles such as dust and smoke will be blown to neighboring counties, forming blanket of haze. Counties like Malaysia and Singapore are usually the most significant victim. During severe haze episode, affected towns and cities in Malaysia will appear brownish, and in some extreme cases, smoky smell is surrounding the atmosphere.
Yesterday, unhealthy air quality was recorded in a number of towns, especially in Sri Aman of Sarawak. The haze issue is usually occurring to Malaysia in year end, and will stay for a week in average. In August of 2005, there was even a time when the need for wearing mask is strongly advised in cities like Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya. That was the first time I wear a mask in public places.
Undeniably, when tourists are traveling in Malaysia during the hazy episode, they will face an unpleasant experience. Though Malaysian government is trying very hard to control the air quality from worsening when the haze hit our atmosphere, but the root cause ought to be resolved in Indonesia as long term solution.
Let’s hope that today’s improved visibility in Melaka town will continue to get better on the following days.
October 7th, 2006
