I have a chances to travel using plus highway many times… some people just want to reach the destination quickly and some will go at full speed of their vehicle… i guess that is one of the reason there are lots of accident…

Well, if you want to travel at plus highway, next time maybe you can check out some of the view during the journey… sometimes you will able to see a very nice view… In my opinion, since you need to spent many hour in your car anyway… why don’t make it a good one…

Here I have some photo… next time I travel, i will try to take more photo and share it here.

I guess some may not know that in Malaysia there are a large Buddha statues which located in Wat Machimaram, Kelantan.

This statues is the largest in Malaysia… and I heard some rumours that largest in south east asia (I am not very sure about that… just a hearsay)

If you visit kelantan, and interested in local cultures and buildings, you may visit this place. The temple is actually a Buddhis temple in the local siamese community in Kelantan state. However, the statues and the building is more towards chinese art. I think it is because the chinese community contribute a lots in term of monetaries donation when the statues is build so the design is more chinese then siamese design.

The name of the statues is “Budha Barameedharm chamruslok”. The name is actually given by the king of Thailand. Based on the data stated in front of the statues, it is on 3 of may 1991.

I have a few photo of the place, hope you enjoy it.

Actually today is the last day of the Putrajaya Hot Air Baloon event. It is so unfortunate that I am working in the weekend and therefore unable to visit it to take some photo to share here

Having said that, I do able to see it during the time I drive to KL. I believed it is a nice event… actually this is the first time Putrajaya hold this event. Hopefully this can become yearly event of Putrajaya, so I will have a chance to take photo next year.

Since I didn’t join this year event, unable to tell you much about it… but here is a good news artle about the event:

Inaugural hot air balloon fiesta

By CHARLES FERNANDEZ

IF motorists travelling to Putrajaya early last month were caught by surprise at the sight of two colourful hot air balloons slowly floating over several ministries in Precinct 2, then watch out next week when 15 more will fill the sky for four days from March 19 to March 22.

Their appearance will be in conjunction with the inaugural Putrajaya International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta 2009.

A publicity stunt was held at the Palace of Golden Horses Hotel in Seri Kembangan where reporters were invited to take a static ride in two balloons.

A total of 10 countries are taking part in the international show with two participants from Malaysia — AKA Balloon and Cat Balloon and with Belgium entering six.

Other participants are Mug Balloon (New Zealand); Hs-Fly Balloon, Peacock and Paddy 2 (Netherlands); Solidaires Par Nature and Independence (France), Voyager (US); Reg.No. RPS 1201 (Philippines); Heart Balloon (Switzerland) and Yui (Japan).

The participants from Belgium are Reg.No.00-Bex, Orange, Nelly-B, Reg.No.00-BZA and Clown.

Crowed puller: Two hot-air balloons that will be on show at the Inaugural Putrajaya International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta this month at Precinct 2 being introduced to the media at the Palace of the Golden Horses Hotel in Seri Kembangan.

The four-day event will be co-organised by the Malaysian Sport Aviation Federation (MSAF) and AKA Balloon Sdn Bhd which was formed in 1993.

MSAF and AKA Balloon signed a MoU with their sponsors and partners — MASkargo, Petronas Dagangan Berhad, Palace of the Golden Horses, Kelantan Delights, Media Prima Berhad, Putrajaya Corporation, Putrajaya Tourism Action Council and Tourism Malaysia.

According to MSAF vice-president Khairuddin Abdul Rani, the MoU signifies the support for the inaugural event which is due to be an annual event in the tourism calendar.

Apart from the daily sorties of hot air balloons, the public will also be treated to other flying events featuring para-motor, remote-controlled planes, helicopters, aero models and professional kite-flying.

“Rides in the hot air balloons will not be offered to the public. Instead visitors can enjoy viewing thrilling take-offs and landings.

“It would be simply impossible to entertain requests from the public especially when we are anticipating more than 100,000 people to turn up for the four-day event,’’ said Khairuddin.

According to him, international hot air balloon events in the Philippines, which is in its seventh year, easily attract more than 400,000 spectators, while those in Pattaya, Thailand, attracts between 250,000 and 300,000 spectators.

Khairuddin said there was a potential in this sport as there were many hot air balloon enthusiasts taking part in other international events.

Asked what prompted him to organise a hot air balloon fiesta in Putrajaya, Khairuddin said: “I was at one of the international events when I noticed Malaysians taking part. One of them approached me to have a similar event in Malaysia.’’

Khairuiddin, who has been interested in hot air balloons since he was in college, has flown in South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Britain and the Philippines.

He along with Mohd Sobri (Cat Balloon), a qualified hot air balloon pilot since 1995, are the two Malaysian participants whose long-term objective is to put Malaysia on par with other established events like Saga in Japan or Albuquerque in the United States.

Mohd Sobri, who is the CEO of a local IT company, has flown the hot air balloon all over the world, from the Austrian Alps to the island of Cheju in South Korea.

His ambition is to make Alor Setar, his hometown, a name in the ballooning circle like Saga or Albuquerque.

Khairuddin added that the highlight of the fiesta would be an enchanting Night Glow scheduled to take place on the night of March 21, from 8.30pm to 9pm.

“The hot air balloons will be set up as if they are going to take off and under coded instructions via radio communications, the pilots will create a variety of dazzling effects set to a special music mix,’’ he said.

Cruise Tasik Putrajaya and Perahu Dondang Sayang will be offering special rates during the fiesta for their sightseeing cruise to give spectators the chance to experience Putrajaya like never before.

The fiesta will be held at the car park of the Millennium Monument in Precinct 2 from 7am to 7pm. Entrance is free.

For more information, visit www.myballoonfiesta.com or call: 03-74940298

The article above is from the star newspaper

I haven’t been to Sabah before, but it is a very nice place… and I intent to go there one day. In the mean time, here is some news about Sabah that you may interest to read… especially the bird watcher.

RM500-a-day bird-watch guides in Sabah

By : Jaswinder Kaur

KOTA KINABALU: The income they earn is definitely not for the birds. The specialist guides who help bird-watchers spot the diverse species in Sabah can earn up to an incredible RM500 a day.

Borneo Bird Club pro tem chairman Cede Prudente said at present there were five people in the state who could provide this specialised service.

“More bird-watchers are coming here but we just don’t have enough experts to help them find and identify the birds.

“In the next 10 years, we may need 500 specialist guides. We hope to develop the field with the locals.

“There are more than two million bird-watching enthusiasts in Britain alone.

“Although we have many species of birds here, we are way behind in exploiting what could be a goldmine.”

Prudente was speaking at the Borneo Bird Festival exhibition at 1Borneo Hypermall here yesterday. The two-day exhibition includes talks by experts on the types of birds in Sabah and the 622 resident and migratory species found on Borneo Island.

Prudente said the club, launched a week ago, was keen to work with the Sabah Wildlife Department and the Sabah Forestry Department to train locals to become bird guides.

“One of the reasons we are holding this exhibition here is because we want to promote bird-watching among residents.

“We also want to promote places like the Rainforest Discovery Centre in Sandakan which are good for bird-watching.”

Sabah Society Sandakan branch chairman Arthur Chung said there was a lot of potential in bird-watching as a tourism product.

“The Sepilok forest (in Sandakan) has close to 290 bird species.”

Last time I have write and share some photo during my visit to Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary in Pahang Malaysia.

Today, when surfing I found this news… I think it is very informative, therefore would like to share with all of you here. Hope you enjoy it.

Elephant centre in Kuala Gandah attracts more visitors

By SIMON KHOO

LANCHANG: The National Elephant Conservation Centre in Kuala Gandah here saw an increase of 34% in visitors last year.

This one-of-its-kind facility in Malaysia recorded 81,017 visitors last year comprising 59,468 locals and 21,549 foreigners.

The number of visitors had previously increased from 38,863 in 2005 to 60,436 in 2006.

The centre’s elephant unit chief Nasharuddin Othman said that most of the foreign tourists were from Australia, Britain, New Zealand, Japan and Germany.

Noble effort: Natioanal Elephant Conservation Centre staff member Azman Izan tending to an elephant in Kuala Gandah recently.

“We attracted many visitors because it is the only place in Malaysia where visitors can observe and understand the handling and management of translocated Asian elephants.

“It offers an enriching experience by allowing visitors to participate in elephant rides, feeding and water activities such as swimming and bathing the elephants,” he said.

Under the East Coast Economic Region (ECER) masterplan, the centre was earmarked as a wildlife reserve.

Eco-tourism was one of the initiatives under the ECER, which includes transforming the centre into a world-class conservation site.

“There are plans under ECER to include our centre as an eco-tourism destination,” said Nasharuddin, adding that the Government had approved an allocation of RM2.9mil to upgrade the premises.

The centre was established in 1985 by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks and funded by an annual grant of RM700,000, apart from public donations.

It is manned by personnel of the elephant relocation team which began the elephant translocation programme in 1974.

The centre has 31 full-time staff working in shifts to care for the 12 elephants, and six part-time workers to clean the premises.

It is open from 12pm to 4.45pm from Mondays to Thursdays and from 2.45pm to 4.45pm on Friday.

During weekends and public holidays, members of the public can visit the elephants from 10am to 4.45pm.

For more information, call the centre at 09-279 0391.

Last night on 15 of november 2008, I went to chetawan temple to see the Loy kratong ceremony that is held yearly. In Selangor, there are two place which they held loy kratong ceremony. This year, one is held in Wat chetawan Temple and one more in Tasik Metropolitan Kepong by PESILA (PERSATUAN SIAM KELANTAN).

Compared to last year ceremony, I think there are more people that join it this year… I manage to snap some photo to share.. This year, I mange to take more photo because my batteries is full…

Btw,  there are some Klong Yao (long drum) team that head the march. they will play the klong Yao and sing. Some people will join them and dance… seem like they all have a good time enjoying themself.

The loy kratong ceremony is very grand in Thailand. However, from what I have heard, this year the celebration is not as grand as years ago as this year the sister of the King passed away and people is mouring over the loss.

Hopefully next time I will be able to visit the celebration in Thailand and share the photo with all of you here.

Extremely cheap airplane tickets! that is what I can say when I saw the malaysia airlines promotion today.

The promotion which make the ticket price even lower than the low cost carrier Airasia. If anyone want to travel, I would strongly recommend him/her to take advantage of this extremely cheap airplane tickets promotion by MAS.

With the slogan “What you see is what you pay”, the price of the ticket will start at only RM63 (one way) to some of the destination in Malaysia and about RM100+ for some destination in ASEAN countries.

Today, Chetawan Temple in Petaling Jaya held a katina ceremony. I manage to attend the ceremony and find that lots of Buddhis devotee join the ceremony.

I manage to take some photo, but not all of the functions today.

However, before I go further, some of you may not aware of what is katina ceremony is, I get this information from the net and it describe what is katina:

Katina Ceremony
By Ven Panditha M. Dhammagavesi

First of all I would like to draw your attention to the history of observing VAS (rainy) retreat. Secondly, about the Kathina ceremony and finally, the benefits of performing it.

For the first twenty years of establishment of The Order of the Sangha (Sangha community) the Buddha did not have to lay down any kind of disciplinary rules for monks, because the Sangha community was not so large, they were not too old in the Order and also their main intention was to eradicate defilements to lead a pure life. With the increasing of the Sangha community some of them entered The Order with the intention of obtaining material gains. Some of them did not know what they should or should not to do for their spiritual upliftment. Therefore, there was a need to implement some rules to correct them and show them the right way to practice for their welfare and also for the welfare of those who would enter in to the order.

Most of the monks did not stay in one place for a long time. They would travel from place to place, from village to village, from suburb to suburb practicing meditation, preaching and teaching, encouraging and stimulating people to engage in Dhamma. They did not stop travelling even during the rainy period of the year. During that time there were some other religious groups as well. One of them was Nighanta natha puthta and his disciples. They went to the extreme of practicing Ahimsa.i.e. they considered even grass as a living being and therefore did not walk about on grass for fear of killing them. They stayed indoors during the rainy season without walking anywhere so that they would not cause death or harm to any living thing. Under these circumstances Buddha and his disciples were accused of travelling during the period of rainy months. Taking into consideration this accusation and recollecting the actions of previous Buddhas, he advised monks to go into retreat during the rainy season starting from the day after the July Full moon.. Those who could not commence the retreat on this particular day due to unavoidable circumstances were advised to commence it following the August full moon. Each and every higher ordained monk is supposed to observe rainy retreat whether they were invited to do so or not by lay people and no matter where they live. The rainy period usually lasted for three months.

Monks are not allowed to use more than three robes during the Katina retreat.(The three robes are the inner robe, the outer robe and the double robe) When they get more robes they should be kept in the store.

On one occasion Vishakha Maha Upasika (The chief lay lady disciple) expressed her desire to offer a special piece of cloth to each monk and invite monks for Vas observation. Buddha accepted her invitation. Since then we have been following that custom. That is why people these days too invite monks to go into retreat and this is called Vas Aradana. This is done by offering a special piece of cloth at the beginning of the rainy period. From the beginning up to the end of this period monks are provided with food, domestic facilities, medicine and so on. These three months are very important for both monks and lay people because they could do more and more meritorious activities such as participate in dhamma sermons, dhamma discussions, meditation programs and Pirith chantings.

During Lord Buddha’s time a group of thirty monks went away from the place of retreat where The Buddha was to spend three months. At the conclusion of the retreat they returned to visit the Buddha. On the way they had to face heavy rains. They were in trouble. One of them got extremely wet. It was a very hard time for him. Some how they visited the Buddha. Seeing the monk whose robes were very wet the Buddha advised them to accept an extra robe as a KATHINA. The extra robe was always given to the one who needed it. (There are some rules to be observed by monks when using the kathina robe) If devotees offer a piece of cloth to monks in the name of kathina, the monks have to make a robe with that cloth on the same day. Lay people could do it as well. Offering of Kathina robe is considered as one of the greatest meritorious activities. Also whatever is offered on Kathina day, the same merit could be obtained by donors. That is why people make various types of
offerings on the day of the Kathina.

One of the stanzas chanted during Kathina glorifies the greatness of merit which one gets from performing Kathina. Even this solid Earth, or a solid rock or a piece of diamond could tremble, shake and break at times. However. the merit obtained by offering of kathina robe could not be nullified by any thing until one achieve the ultimate goal Nibbana. That is why

it is called KATINA. One of the disciples called NAGITHA expressed the glory of doing it. As a result of offering kathina robe to the MAHASANGA he was never been born in lower places (like the spirit world and the animal realm) and for the last thirty eons or KALPA he had been born in higher and blissful realms like the divine or human. The merit thus obtained was very helpful for him to realize the ultimate truth.

It is clearly mentioned in Buddhism that if one commits a GARUKA KAMMA which means serious unwholesome deeds such as:

1) Matricide
2) Patrricide
3) the Murder of an Arahant
4) the Wounding of Buddha
5) the Creation of Schism in the Sangha,

one has to undergo the unpleasant results during this life or in the next life immediately after death.

Even the merit of offering of Kthina robe cannot help such a person to avoid the suffering or bad karma. However the merit, the positive power of offering Kathina could reduce the negative effects of other minor bad deeds. Furthermore, one could be blessed with happiness, long life, good health, a good complexion, physical strength, and wisdom in this life and in the continuing lives in the cycle of rebirth until we achieve Nibbana.

Here is some photo that is taken during the ceremony:

Some of the ropes that the devotee donate to the temple

The chief monk starting the ceremony

Katina Tree. It made from banana tree and the devotee donate money and stick the donation money to the ‘tree’

Another view of the Katina tree

The devotee praying

Le tour de Langkawi is one of the ‘use to be famous’ event… it is pity to see this news coming up..

Le Tour de Langkawi loses funding

WITH a budget that’s halfway to what is required, the 14th edition of Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) set for Feb 9-15 next year has already been overtaken by its older but usually poorer sibling the Jelajah Malaysia.
The Jelajah Malaysia, slated for Jan 11-18, continues to grow with an increase to eight stages from seven this year, while the LTdL, for 13 years the country’s most prestigious cycling event, has been shortened to seven stages from nine this year and 10 last year.

The reasons? Jelajah Malaysia organiser 10-Speed Sdn Bhd wants to capitalise on the possibility of selling the 2.2 grade, privately funded race to more destinations, while the top notch 2.HC (hors category) LTdL suffers the consequence of previously heavy dependence on now well-shrunk Government cash injections.

Having recovered from the controversies surrounding the race organised by the now defunct First Cartel Sdn Bhd in 2005 and 2006, LTdL was organised by the Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) last year, while this year’s race was organised by the Sports Ministry with several MNCF officials in charge of relevant departments.

Next year’s event has been handed back to the MNCF, which is now in the midst of a mad scramble to raise sponsorship.
A relatively modest budget of RM7.5 million against an ideal RM15 million has been secured, still putting a strain on the struggle to maintain the race’s status as the biggest event on the UCI Asia Tour calendar.

MNCF president Abu Samah Wahab as the organising chairman, his deputy Datuk Naim Mohamad the chief operating officer and vice president Maniam Manikkam as technical director are the main characters in the struggle.

“In order to ensure the race is sustainable and within our control, we cannot have it expensive. We cannot have lengthy routes,” said Naim.

By contrast, the lower ranked Jelajah Malaysia has been held the past two years on an annual budget of no more than RM3 million, but the LTdL, which is contested by Pro Tour and professional continental teams, requires that amount just to secure contracts with top teams and provide for their travel.

Naim said three different budgets had been planned in taking into account several scenarios.

The first one, costing RM15 million, would cover everything from the cost of holding the race, with vital international television coverage and exceeding requirements to meet with the race’s status as a 2.HC event.

The second at RM10 million would see a race without television coverage and budget cuts in other areas.

“Plan C will see us have just the race, with nothing else, which we are ready to hold as it stands. Right now, we are still in the midst of negotiations with corporate companies, so all I can say is that even in the worst case scenario, the race will happen,” said Naim.

But fears are that Plan C could see the hors category status of the race come under threat as other requirements pertaining to hotels, the entourage, logistics and media coverage would not be met.

“This is our fear, definitely. But we’re also doing it differently this time. The race is no longer an exercise that spends taxpayers’ money, but instead we’re selling advertising space and mileage of the international event to corporate sponsors like it is supposed to be,” said Naim.

I found this news from the news straits time - nst.com.my

I totally agree with the tourism ministry on this matter. I believed that internet can play a very good role in promoting and helping the homestay operator as it can make their place ‘more accessable’ by the prospect.

Homestay Operators Encouraged To Use Website For Promotion

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 24 (Bernama) — The Tourism Ministry is encouraging homestay holiday operators to use the website to offer their services to domestic and foreign tourists, said its minister, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.

“Anyone (homestay holiday operators) wishing to offer their services need only to press the keys to the homestay directory to look at the terms and this will facilitate them in offering their homestay services to the tourists,” she told reporters after launching the website ‘Program Zoom! Homestay 2008′, here Wednesday night.

Azalina said there were more than 1,000 homestay units throughout the country and this tourism product had yielded an income of almost RM4.9 million last year.

She said the process of confirming an application to become a homestay operator took between three and six months involving health checks, security, hygiene and the whole surrounding of the homestay unit.

“The qualification for registering is very important. Once you register, you have a certificate, it’s a done deal,” she said.

– BERNAMA