Author Archives: Lesley Tan

Sensational Sunsets Malaysian Style

16th March, 2015 | Article By Lesley Tan

AttractionsFood and DrinkTravelViews

Sunsets are beautiful wherever in the world you are, but I happen to think that Malaysia has more than its fair share. If you decide to visit Malaysia, it is an absolute MUST that you find a lovely spot with a sea view, just before sunset, arm yourself with a drink, some lovely snacks (don’t forget your camera) and enjoy.

It is important to understand that the sunsets only last for a short while so make sure you are not too late, or you will miss a wonderful spectacle!

Nice drinks include Icy Cold Tiger Beer, fresh coconut juice straight from the coconut, fresh lime, or freshly squeezed fruit juice, or how about something very different and easily available here in Malaysia, Three Sour. Three Sour is made up of lemon, lime and a preserved plum, made into an icy cold drink.

Great food or snacks to consider include delicious satay, chicken wings, fried noodles, peanuts and anchovies or for an icy dessert try Ice Kacang!

These photos are from my home here in Malaysia, MIRI – notice the variety of colours!

The beautiful  Malaysian sunsets are waiting for you. Plan a visit to Malaysia soon, you will certainly want to return.

Photos by Lesley Tan and Chang Yi.

Tynemouth Priory Pier and Haven

4th March, 2015 | Article By Lesley Tan

AttractionsHistoric BldgsPubs & BarsSightseeingViews

Tynemouth is a small, very old village in Tyne and Wear, sitting at the mouth of the River Tyne, hence the name! It used to be part of Northumberland but now the borders have changed. I was born and brought up there and love it. It is easily accessible on the Tyne and Wear Metro system, Newcastle-upon-Tyne (more commonly known as Newcastle) is a 20 minute train ride away.

The village consists of one main street, Front Street (with smaller, mainly residential roads leading off it) which leads up to a majestic castle on a headland overlooking the North Sea – this is the Tynemouth Priory – it is very old, well over 1,000 years! It is a very popular tourist destination but also very dear to the hearts of the locals, including me!

Front Street is filled with unusual and quaint buildings from different eras and is  the focal point of many locals and neighbouring towns folk alike, especially on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. There are many pubs and restaurants to enjoy and the village is usually packed to bursting on these evenings, winter and summer –  A very electric atmosphere!

Some of the pubs are very old, like The Turk’s Head.  Here you will find a glass cabinet displaying a stuffed dog with a very interesting and touching story attached.  The dog was found lying beside his deceased master and refused to leave, poor thing.  Showing the pub’s age, there is also evidence that the ‘Ladies’ had to be added at a much later date, as women did not frequent these establishments in the ‘old’ days.

Running down the side of the ancient moat of the Priory is a steep bank leading to a cove called the Haven.  Most of my childhood holidays were spent down there, where my dad used to have a small boat and did his fishing off the North Pier, which edges the left side of this cove.  It is a lovely sheltered spot (although we still used ‘wind-breaks’ to sunbathe when I was a child) and the surrounding views are spectacular.  A walk along the pier is an experience which should not be missed, as you can look back from the end and admire the fabulous views of Tynemouth and The Priory.

There is much more to see and do in Tynemouth, this is just a taster. If you love history and the sea, you should visit soon.

Chinese New Year

28th February, 2015 | Article By Lesley Tan

CultureFestivalsOccasions

Chinese New Year takes place in many places around the world to some degree, in fact wherever the Chinese people have had any influence, but here in Malaysia it is a BIG and very important festival!

It is actually a 15 day long, very colourful, noisy and happy festival, although it is usual in Malaysia to just have a week off work.

People start cleaning out their homes, baking delicious cakes and cookies and buying new clothes a few weeks before this auspicious event! Homes are decorated with bright, usually Red and Gold decorations and lanterns are hung everywhere they can be hung!

For those who are considering a visit to Malaysia, the Chinese New Year period is well worth considering. This year, Chinese New Year of The Goat 2015, is no exception!

On New Year’s Eve families get together, travelling from all over the globe to get home, and have sumptuous and happy reunion dinners. This is followed by lots of happy recollections and at midnight the new year is welcomed in with wonderful but noisy firecrackers and beautiful firework displays!

On waking up on the first day of Chinese New Year, everyone dresses in their new clothes and children and unmarried adults greet their parents with, ‘Gong Xi Fa Cai’ and are given ‘Ang Pow’ which are red packets which contain money!

The first day is usually a family day. The following days are spent visiting friends and relatives. This is known as ‘Open House’ where people just turn up and are greeted with food and drink and children are given more Ang Pow!

Lion Dances are abundant and their drums are very noisy. (The poor dogs unfortunately do not enjoy this at all!). Lions do very clever acrobatic stunts to retrieve Ang Pows hung up high and ‘eating’ the symbolic oranges which are everywhere!

The shopping centres usually stay open these days but in the old days everyone stopped work to enjoy this fantastic festival.

Well worth timing your visit to Malaysia to coincide with Chinese New Year, but you will need to check your dates as it follows the Chinese Lunar calendar so the date differs year by year!

Long Haired Lover of Liverpool

26th January, 2015 | Article By Lesley Tan

AttractionsEntertainmentGood ValueHotelsSightseeing

Ever since I first visited Liverpool a few years ago, I have been back every year.  I LOVE it!  I love the fresh clean appearance of this modernised city, love all of the tourist attractions, love The Beatles, love The Mersey, love the ferry crossing The Mersey, and the Albert Dock. The list is endless but I will attempt to guide you around just a few of these fabulous places.

Of the many times I have visited Liverpool I will always go back to The Cavern Club.  The original Cavern Club was filled in during construction work of the Mersey Rail underground rail loop and re-opened on the 26th April 1984.  It was rebuilt using many of the original bricks, to the original plans and at the same address, 10 Mathew Street.  The BEATLES played in the club in their early years and the place is FULL of BEATLES memorabilia.  The atmosphere is electric and you can sit there all day if you like, soak up the atmosphere with a few drinks, listening to tribute bands and BEATLES music.  Out of this world for 60’s fans, and on weekdays it’s free entry!

There are loads of BEATLES attractions all over Liverpool and one of my other favourites is the The Beatles Fab Four Taxi.  You choose your time, 2 hours, 3 hours etc, the longer you choose, the more you get to see.  The drivers are really brilliant and their knowledge of The Beatles is amazing.  They drove us around all four Beatles’ old homes, the places where they first met each other, Eleanor Rigby’s grave, the Barber Shop in Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields etc.  The drivers do not seem to mind going over their time and are willing to drop you off at most places if they can.

The River Mersey is also another must see for me when I visit Liverpool.  Of course, the song “Ferry Cross The Mersey” sung by Gerry and The Pacemakers, always starts ringing in my head when I see it and indeed it is ringing in my head right now!  The areas around The Mersey are beautiful and clean, there is a dock for Cruise Ships (mostly I think from Ireland), museums, the Liver Building, The Beatles Experience, and the Albert Dock.  They are ALL worth visiting.

The Albert Dock is a mix of old and new, built out on The Mersey.  I went to use the loo and peeped out of the window, the River Mersey was right below me (worth experiencing). Amongst the many attractions at the Albert Dock are the Merseyside Maritime Museum, The Beatles Experience, The Wheel Of Liverpool and the Tate Liverpool. There are loads of boats to see and lots of souvenir shops and eateries.

Liverpool is one of my favourite places to visit.  We stayed in The Days Inn, right in the centre near all of the main attractions, reasonably priced, clean, friendly, decent food AND right over a train station on The Wirral Line, so easy to get to.

I really feel I have only scratched the surface of Liverpool’s many attractions, it is such a fabulous city and too much to take in properly in one trip.  I am still discovering new places of interest every time I visit!

Paris in the Almost Springtime

1st January, 2015 | Article By Lesley Tan

AttractionsHotelsOccasionsPubs & BarsSightseeing

It was our 35th Wedding Anniversary on May 12th, so my husband tried to organise a surprise trip to Paris (my first trip there) I say tried, as I am the one who usually books the hotel online so I HAD to know!

We flew from Kuala Lumpur on 11th May and landed in Charles de Gaulle Airport, which had a strange fish in water flooring which made it scary to walk on.  It was early morning on the 12th, got a taxi to the hotel, Les Jardins de Montmartre, and the receptionist there very kindly let us check in early.  The rooms were bright and clean.

We then literally walked round the corner and started the steep climb (sometimes with steps) to Montmartre. It was fabulous, the views were stunning even though it rained most of this first day, I didn’t mind, found it quite funny really.  We stopped at an Irish Pub in the Montmartre area and met some really nice friendly tourists and we had a great time eating, drinking and getting to know each other there.

The next day we took a nearby metro train to The Sacre Coeur and spent a good deal of time there before walking along the River Seine.  Have to say, we also added a romantic lock to the famous bridge, which is in danger of collapsing because of the weight of all of the locks!  We later noticed other fences in Paris where people were starting off the same theme (a trend that can also be seen in areas of Liverpool in England).  We saw a reasonably priced hop on, hop off River Cruiser (highly recommended) so we spent a good few hours visiting the many other attractions along The Seine.

On the third day we took the metro down to The Seine again, this time we targeted The Eiffel Tower – brilliant, magnificent and well worth the trip.  Yes it was raining again.  Yes, it was still funny!  We walked all the way up, had a beer and a rest and took loads of photos and then walked back down.  That was tiring but we HAD to do it.  After visiting a few other places, we walked up the Champs-Elysees, the sun finally came out and it was so hot that we actually got sun burnt in MAY!  We ended up at the Arc de Triomphe and there was actually a memorial service going on so we found our way underground to reach it and had grand stand views of all the old soldiers and the band playing.

We LOVED Paris and will definitely go there again!

Dare To Try Something Different!

15th December, 2014 | Article By Lesley Tan

ActivitiesAdrenalineAttractionsResortsWeather

Sky Dive Adventure – Resorts World Genting, West Malaysia.

Indoor Skydiving Simulator Machine.

In December 2012 my 10 year old nephew came home from a trip to Genting Highland Resort Park with a DVD and he asked me to copy it onto my laptop.  As I was copying it I was amazed to see he had done something very different, he had ‘flown’ in a “Genting Sky Venture” WIND TUNNEL!

Now, I have always dreamt of jumping out of an aeroplane but knew it probably would never happen, but after watching the DVD with great interest I closely questioned my nephew.  He said it was ‘OKAY’ but a bit scary.  THAT did not put me off at all.  My husband and I were going to the same place a few weeks later and I made my husband promise to make sure I tried out the “Sky Venture” and not to let me ‘chicken out’.

We arrived there by cable car and it was, as is very usual for Resort World Genting, very foggy, rainy and cold.  This may not sound too surprising but Genting Highlands is in West Malaysia, and the weather here is usually hot, rainy and humid, but Genting Highlands is also at the top of some high land and it is usually shrouded in cloud!

We were told by my nephew and in-laws that it was best to book your place as early as possible in the morning as places were limited and only around 4 to 6 persons allowed per hourly training and Sky Dive.  So, shaking with fear, I woke up early and refused to eat any food or drink anything until it was booked and over with.  We left our lovely, if somewhat compact hotel room and went to book it.  We were met with, “Sorry, there has been too much rain and as the wind tunnel is open to the elements at various places it is too wet and slippery at the bottom of the tunnel, so we have closed it!”  And when might it be open?  They said it could be days, so we walked away and I had a kind of quiet relief deep inside.

Well, we had also been told that only the instructors would be training till the weather conditions improved so after a few hours we decided to go back and just watch them training…..

…..”Ah!” said the lady at reception, “What good luck you came back.  The Sky Venture has just been reopened!”  Whoah, my stomach started to heave.  “Come back in an hour and you can fly!” she said.

That was the scariest hour I will ever live through for something I REALLY wanted to do!

Anyway, we went back after an hour, signed papers, paid the money and I left my handbag and phone with my husband (NO, he did NOT want to join me!) and taken into the back area with a young boy and a family of three (father, son and daughter).

We were prepped as to how we must be dressed, and why – all jewellery off and no flapping clothes – ear plugs in and goggles covering your eyes, all topped off with a jump suit and boots.

Our trainer told us what we must do, taught us hand signals as you would not be able to talk or be heard, and that he would be with us all of the time in case we got into trouble.  One by one we got into the tunnel, he had to pull me in as I couldn’t lie on the wind, and then he trained us one by one.  I also had to be ‘pushed’ out the exit door.  You are allowed in for around 5 minutes at a time.

Then came the ‘real’ thing.  The young boy could not get the hang of it and refused to join in at this stage.  Once again I was pulled in and started flying in the tunnel by myself, with the instructor as always near enough to help.  I had a great time, bumping against the window where my husband was standing watching and waving and smiling and then flying way up high in the tunnel then getting myself back down to the metal grid flooring.  As a grand finale, the instructor grabbed each of us by one leg and one arm and we did fast spins around and around and way up the tunnel out of view of everyone and way back down again, twice.  Then, of course, I was pushed out again at the end!

My verdict – One of the most brilliant and exciting things I have ever done in my life and I am usually not very adventurous.  I recommend it to anyone who is looking to do something DIFFERENT and it is not expensive. I have a treasured DVD of the whole hour to look back on and if I have the chance to FLY again, I most definitely will!

Miri in Sarawak

12th November, 2014 | Article By Lesley Tan

AttractionsFood and DrinkGolfMuseumsNational Parks

Miri is now a CITY in Sarawak, Malaysia but used to be a small oil boom town.  Miri in Sarawak is situated on the island of Borneo, very close to Brunei.  Literally translated from Mandarin, Miri means beautiful!   Visitors transit here heading onwards to Mulu National Park renowned for its massive caves and breath-taking pinnacles, or the famous Niah Caves which house some of the oldest Stone Age cave paintings ever discovered.

Miri’s population consists of Chinese, Malay, Iban, Bidayuh, Melanau, Kelabit, Lun Bawang, Indian and many other ethnic groups. There is also a large ex-pat community and most people can speak some English.  Food here is delicious and cheap; generally it is cheaper to eat out than in!  Seafood is abundant and tasty.  The sunsets are absolutely stunning, so imagine sitting sipping an ice cold Tiger beer with a delicious plate of satay and watching the sun go down, out of this world!  There are numerous shopping malls and plenty of local shops too, so it is easy to buy most of what you need. Malaysia’s first oil well was drilled here, and the oil companies Sarawak Shell and Petronas Cargali still play a big part in the working lives of the expats and local community today.

There are many places to visit if you are on holiday or even if you live here.  One of the main tourist attractions in Miri is situated on top of Canada Hill, Miri’s No. 1 Oil Well, the Grand Old Lady.  Discovered by Shell in 1910, it has now been declared a national monument.  Next to this is the Petroleum Museum, which displays the history of the petroleum industry in Sarawak and throughout Malaysia.  San Ching Tian Temple is the LARGEST Taoist temple in South East Asia.  I would also recommend a wonderful place to go to enjoy the wonders of nature, take a hike in the park, chill out and take in the scenery at the popular waterfall, Lambir National Park.  Many people travel to Miri just to play golf at the Eastwood Valley Golf & Country Club, which is one of Malaysia’s top ten golf courses.

I have lived in Miri for 34 years and love it very much, as do most people who were either born here or who like me, have moved here.  A beautiful city, well worth visiting!

Photos from members of Miri in Sarawak.

Picnic with Paul Weller

15th September, 2014 | Article By Lesley Tan

EntertainmentFestivalsHistoric BldgsMusic

The Mouth of the Tyne Festival – tickets had been sold out on the first day on sale – so we were lucky.  We had folded chairs, wine and a picnic and we were waiting in a long line which reached right down the hill to the Haven, our local beach.  The air was happy, the weather was dry and everyone was excited.

This festival is held in the grounds of a thousand year old castle, The Priory, a beautiful location at the end of our small village on Front Street and on a headland overlooking The North Sea.  Those who had not been able to purchase tickets were thronging the streets and pubs from which they could hear the music very well.  We found a really great spot and had our wine and picnic as we watched the first band.  Then Paul Weller came on!  Everyone stood, and so did we!  Fantastic, we sang and danced and had a great time.  He was brilliant.

We return every year, and here is the best bit, we both live around twenty minutes walk from the Tynemouth Priory, and others come from all over the country to attend!