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Tourism Malaysia

Malaysia Night Market or Pasar Malam

Malaysia Night Market

Malaysia Night Market or Pasar Malam Around 6.00pm

Night markets or night bazaars are street markets which operate at night. Most of the people like to go night markets because of convenience, cheaper price of items, shop for leisure, temptation of local food where you might not get it from restaurants, and strolling.

Malaysia Night Market or Pasar Malam

Pasar malam is a Malay and Indonesian word, meaning of “night market”, “pasar” being related to “bazaar” in Persian. It is very common to find a pasar malam, a street market in Malaysia that usually opens from evening till night. Pasar malam is usually located in residential areas.

Slippers On Sale at Malaysia Night Market

Night market is a one stop place whereby many stalls sell goods such as local food, fruits, vegetables, toys, clothes, shoes, and many more at cheaper prices, where at least the items are cheaper. Some of the night markets are selling pirated DVDs, CDs and computer software too.

Fireworks and Firecrakers Are being Sold Too Minus The Mess

You are able to find a pasar malam only one to a few days of the week at one residential area. The traders will also be selling their things around different neighborhoods on different days.

The good thing of pasar malam at Malaysia is, you can see the night market’s stalls are selling different things by our main three ethnicities, which are Malay, Chinese and Indian. This is one of the reasons why more and more tourists start to hit the night market at Malaysia, as they are able to see the culture of Malaysia, goes with the traditional food from different races.

There are few well known pasar malam at Malaysia, which are night markets at Taman Connaught, Cheras (the longest pasar malam at Klang valley) and Melawati, Kuala Lumpur (the best and most varieties of Malay food can be found at here).

A Malay pasar malam will often contain stalls selling Islamic prayers’ books, kopiah hats, sarongs and other Malay costumes and clothes.

Roti Jala Can Be Found at Malaysia Night Market

Varieties Of Drinks For Sale

As we are pacing up the trend of advanced technology of lifestyle, same goes as the demand of food. A combination of traditional Malay food in the modern life, we have even more tasty delicious food yet maintaining the traditional taste of recipes when we pay a visit to the Malay night markets.

Daging Bakar - Barbequed Meat

Meat Kebab

Chicken Rice

During the olden days at the malay food stalls, most of them are just selling the traditional food such as satay, nasi lemak, kuih, spicy rendang chicken, lemang goes with the delicious rending beef. Normally the traders will cook at home or restaurants first, and then only they do food packing and sell to the customers.

This Stall Is Selling Asam Pedas Melaka

Murtabak Melawati

As time pass, we are getting better and better. We understand more people aiming for new trendy yet delicious food with different recipes. Hence, nowadays, we not only able to see the same old traditional food, but also more new kind of recipes were created.

Chicken Rendang

Even the traders have change a bit of their marketing at the market. Some of them bring the whole big pot of food which have been cooked and displayed to public, this has increase the sales, as to show to people, it has sufficient mass amount of food.

Hot and Spicy !!

Using Portable Stove to Attract Customers

All About Varieties

Some of them even bring along their portable stove, and pots, and cook on the spot, to show to public that they do really cook and the food are to be served while it is hot and fresh.

Some malay traders do also sell some Chinese or Indian concept of food. For example, you can see some Malays are selling ‘yong tau fu’ or muruku. As we said, Satu Malaysia as Malaysia has all different kind of food and culture, yet you can find it simple and easily at one place regardless of any races.

By : Jessica Ong

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Fish Head Curry at Bangsar Lucky Garden

One of the best fish head curry in KL.

Quite expensive though.

Do try their fried squid and fried chicken.

Must try!!

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Roadhop – Bus & Train Travel in Malaysia

Bus  Train Travel in Malaysia

Bus Train Travel in Malaysia

We love to travel. Last year, we picked our next exotic travel experience – a grand tour to Terengganu. The first thing we had to do was to find out how to get there. That should be simple enough. Our parents would have picked up the phone book, and called many different tour agencies. But we are young and savvy, so we know that everything can be found on the internet.

We did a google search and found that we can leave from a few different places, with exciting names like “Bukit Jalil” and “Hentian Putra”. Now, we are Malaysians and it pains us to admit this, but we actually had no idea where these places were. So we had to check them out too. Of course, things don’t end here. We have to find out things like departure timings, fares. We heard horror stories about people being dropped off in the middle of the highway, so the companies have to be reliable. Being kiasu, we wanted to know all our alternatives, so we compared a few online travel agents, travel forums, and some individual company websites.

This was unfortunately starting to feel rather like homework.

Travelling Is Not Easy

This was made worse by our grand idea that it might be fun to go by train. So we decided to make a list of the train timings too. Then we found that there is no train stations on the East Coast, and abandoned the idea. Finally, an hour later, we were satisfied that we found the best option and called to book the ticket. We felt very pleased with ourselves until we went down to the bus station. There, we found that we didn’t actually get the best price after all. Being old, established companies, many coach operators still operate off the counters of the bus stations, with additional bus routes that the net savvy us overlooked. There are also many touts within each terminal giving us a lot of interesting advice.

It may have occurred to you by now that Kuala Lumpur to Terengganu is just an example. We are enthusiastic backpackers, and I have just described a problem that we have faced over and over again and many countries that we have been to. Alternatives are present for air travel. Yet what is overlooked is the large number of people who travel by land and sea transport.

Roadhop Is The Solution

Hence, our team realized that it doesn’t have to be so complicated, so we came up with roadhop.com. Roadhop provides comparisons of bus, train departure schedules and fares for long-distance travel in Singapore and Malaysia. We aim to help travelers find the best prices for the best rides. We believe our services will be greatly useful for any travelers to Malaysia. Do email us at contact@roadhop.com to tell us what you think!

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Independent Vacationing for the Novice

Arranging your own vacation can be a little daunting if you’ve always placed your annual trip in the hands of a competent travel agent. Before, all you had to do was to select the country and resort, get yourself to the airport on the right date and at the right time, and the rest was taken care of for you. You were probably met at your destination airport by the tour operator’s representative who then escorted you to your resort, and, at the end of your vacation, you just needed to be ready and waiting for the return coach journey to the airport. The sense of reassurance this can give has always gone some way to help vacationers enjoy their trip: there’s never been any worry about how to get from the airport to the hotel, how to cope with a broken toilet once there, or how to buy tickets for a boat excursion.

However, over the years, it seems that technology has helped the average vacationer to develop a somewhat more adventurous spirit. They’ve found that not only are they capable of arranging their own travel — and making substantial savings in the process — but that the flexibility and choice independent travel offers provide a greater chance of experiencing much more than they would otherwise do with a vacation package.

While all of this is true for the majority of travelers, there are however a few who will tell you that they wish they’d carried out a little more research before heading off with only a guidebook and their return flight ticket. While independent travel offers an abundance of opportunities, it needs a little preparation and organization. This way you can enjoy your vacation, as well as get back home at your scheduled return time!

Transfers

One of the biggest issues the independent traveler has to contend with is how to get from the airport to the hotel (or apartment, or hostel). While many will just jump in the first taxi that comes along, others prefer to do it a little differently. There are those travelers who want to keep costs down and therefore look for a cheaper alternative; others who believe that local transport is perfectly adequate for their needs; and those who want to experience the local transport system as part of the whole “vacation experience.” If you prefer to take public transport, then you’ll need to research not only the schedules, but whether it will actually be operating when you arrive. Many an independent traveler, arriving at his or her destination when the locals have been enjoying a day off, has been forced to take a taxi instead of public transport as originally intended. While this shouldn’t cause too many problems — apart from depriving those who want the experience of traveling on local transport — if you’re on a tight budget, it could very well mean the difference between dinner and just a beer!

On a similar note, always pay particular attention to the arrival time of your flight at your destination airport. Remember that you won’t be whisked away in a tour operator’s nice big comfortable air-conditioned coach. Ensure that you can get to your hotel and that you won’t be left hanging around for hours. This also applies to your return journey, especially if it’s imperative that you don’t miss your return flight home. It’s always prudent to avoid scheduling important commitments the day immediately following your return from vacation, especially if you’re traveling independently for the first time!

Accommodation

In order to get the best possible deal on your accommodation, ask if there are any membership discounts available when booking (e.g. AAA, seniors, family, or hotel membership). Most hotels have some or other promotion running so it’s worth trying to negotiate a cheaper rate than that advertised. Most accommodation bookings can be made online; however, if you want to negotiate on price, it’s probably easier done over the telephone. If you can be flexible with your dates, you stand more chance of negotiating a discount on the cost (this also applies to buying your airline tickets).

When choosing your hotel, don’t be content only with the information provided on the hotel’s website. This will show the hotel in the best possible light and some of the details (e.g. its location in relation to the local attractions) may be a little vague: “a short walk to the beach” is always worth further investigation! Check the hotel’s location in respect of amenities and attractions depending on what’s important to you: Is it close to the beach? Is it close to the bus station so you can take trips out of the city/resort? Is it close to the local sights?

If you’re on a tight budget, transfer fees from the airport to your hotel may dictate where you eventually decide to stay. While public transport costs will undoubtedly be cheaper than taxi fares, you could still end up paying more than you bargained for. Again, try to find out how much you’ll need to pay in public transport costs.

If you’ve been advised that the hotel or apartment is particularly difficult to find — this sort of information can be obtained from reading previous guests’ reviews online — then make sure you have a good map of the local area. While most local taxi drivers should be able to find your hotel, there’s no guarantee that they will. Always carry a contact number for your hotel just in case you run into any problems en route. Most times, if you get into difficulty, there will be someone you can call who can help you with directions.

Necessities

It always pays to learn a few words of the local lingo, regardless of whether or not you travel independently. However, without access to a tour guide, and the comfort of an “all-inclusive” resort, you may find that a few words of the local language come in very handy. Attempting to communicate with the locals can sometimes be the difference between receiving acceptable and very good service in a restaurant or café. Invest in a small phrase book. If you’re going to be eating out often then make sure it includes translations for food and beverages, especially if you have special dietary requirements (e.g. vegetarian, food allergy).

Find out whether you’ll be able to access your money while on vacation or whether you need to take cash or travelers’ checks with you.

As you won’t have a travel agent to remind you about necessities such as vaccines, and visas, research what’s needed in this respect for the country you’ll be visiting.

The same applies to travel insurance. Carry out the necessary research to see which package best suits your travel needs.

Research the resort or city where you’ll be staying to know which spots you should visit — and which you should avoid. Again, there may not be anyone on hand to advise you about this aspect of your vacation so find out what you can before leaving home.

And finally, regardless of how independently you travel, remember that we all need to consider our impact on the places we’re visiting and how we can be responsible travelers: take only photographs and leave nothing but footprints.

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Wesak Day Festival in Malaysia

Wesak Day Festival in Malaysia

Buddhist devotees offers incense sticks to Buddha during Wesak Day celebration at the Temple Mara Vihara, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. Wesak Day commemorates the birth of Buddha, his attaining of Enlightenment and his passing away into Nirvana. Kamal Sellehuddin/The Star

Wesak Day falls in the month of May and is considered to be the most important festival for Buddhists in Malaysia. This day is celebrated in order to observe the birth, enlightenment and death of Lord Buddha which according to the Buddhists all three of the events took place on the same lunar date. Different countries celebrate Wesak Day on different days due to the difference in the local lunar observance.

When translated Buddha literally means ‘one who is awake and has become enlightened’. This particular term is used to describe a person that has obtained supreme wisdom as well as the compassion of Enlightenment. The concept of Enlightenment for Buddhists can be described as a blessed stated in which the individual attains Nirvana (transcendence of desire and suffering).

On this particular day the Malaysian Buddhist devotees will begin the celebrations usually even before dawn where they will gather at the temples. The Buddhists will then hoist the Buddhist flag and sing hymns in praise of the holy triple gem namely; The Buddha, The Dharma (his teachings) and The Sangha (his disciples). Simple offerings are also brought to the temple such as flowers while prayers using candles and joss-sticks are used.

Besides using them for prayers, these items are also significant in the Buddhist teaching as it teaches the devotees about the non-permanence of life. Like a flower that will wither in due time or candles that will eventually burn out so is that of life which is subjected to destruction and decay. Before the actual day of the celebration the devout Buddhists will eat a vegetarian diet so that they will be cleansed and purified.

Wesak Day is also where you will see many of the Malaysian Buddhist devotees releasing animals such as doves and tortoises. This act is seen as a symbolic gesture of one releasing the soul and giving up for the sins that they have made in the past. Besides that, this particular act is also seen as a way of giving freedom for those that are held against their will or being tortured.

Other significance of celebrating Wesak Day is to make special efforts to bring happiness to those that are less fortunate such as the elderly and the sick. In an effort to bring joy and happiness the Malaysian Buddhists will conduct various charitable activities such as donating money and take the time out to visit orphanages and old folks home and helping out wherever they can.

The statue of the baby Buddha is displayed by some temples and it is usually located in front of the altar. The statue is then placed in a basin filled with water and decorated with flowers where the devotees are allowed to pour water over the statue. The act of pouring water over the statue is seen as a symbolic act of the practitioners of cleansing their bad karma. The other significance of pouring water over the statue is to re-enact the event following Buddha’s birth, when the devas and spirits made heavenly offerings to him.

Image Credit – KamalSell

Travel Guide to Malaysia and Singapore

Traversing the South China Sea, guiding travellers from the giddy heights of Kuala Lumpur to the national parks, perfect white sand beaches and coral reefs, Footprint’s Malaysia guide is back for its 7th edition. With extensive coverage of the best dive sights, where to spot rare wildlife and how to explore the heart of Borneo, this fully revised and updated edition provides all the comprehensive information need to introduce you to this rich and diverse land.

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