At the drop of a hat!
Just Urbane is one of my favourite magazines to work with. My experience with E&O Penang is just what they’re looking in a luxury experience with a good measure of heritage thrown in as well. I hope you enjoy reading my story about E&O Penang.
Enjoy reading my story that is about a hotel making its mark by supporting the community it lives in.
This story also discovers quiet temples and peaceful green spaces in a busy city that never seems to sleep.
Enjoy reading the link below to my experience in Selangor, one of Malaysia’s most intriguing regions.
Airline Ratings has always been a great source of aviation news and trends. Now it’s even better because they’ve published me!
Enjoy the story below about my Air Asia experience in the air and in the ground.
https://www.airlineratings.com/articles/the-airasia-3-in-1-
Travel talk with Burgo was a lot of fun describing adventures to be found in Sarawak and in Sabah as well. Enjoy listening to the audio file below. In between the laughter there’s hopefully some good descriptions of the land beneath the wind.
Sarawak is an extraordinary experience whether you’re in the city of Kuching, travelling the waterways, trekking jungle paths or hiding from headhunters.
On ABC Victoria Statewide the timing was perfect for Prue to want to know more about Kuala Lumpur. I’d returned from Kuala Lumpur only a few hours before our discussion.
We wandered through Kampung Baru and found a streetside stall selling Nasi Lemak. I explored the streets around my hotel, Hotel Stripes, and found a refreshing bowl of Cendol. At Chow Kit Hotel I enjoyed sambal prawns and satays with sophisticated cocktails in lamp lit dining rooms oozing speakezy vibes.
Prue and I talked about the melting pot culture of Malaysia and what this means beyond food. You can discover beautiful temples and mosques dating back to the late 1800’s. There is architecture from the 1940’s being reincarnated from laundries and residences into galleries, cafes and bars.
We discovered the green lungs of KL, those green spaces like Kabun Kabun Bangsar – a community garden with vege patches and squabbling turkeys and geese. There’s remnant jungle surrounded by urban jungle and parks with walking trails through shady trees that cast dappled light as you meander through opportunities to get away from the hustle and bustle of this amazing city.
It’s an exciting time to get to KL. Air Asia is flying new direct routes from Darwin and Adelaide and there’s always great deals on the established routes from the other state capitals. I also found that Air Asia has its own ride share service and partners with luxury and boutique hotel brands. I flew Air Asia, caught Air Asia ride share and for two nights enjoyed the remarkable Chow Kit Hotel. It’s a great way to travel, being able to bundle everything under one umbrella of service.
For my second show with Burgo we decided that the new Air Asia flights from Darwin to KL were a great opportunity to talk about why KL makes a wonderful holiday destination.
Enjoy the audio below and maybe just a few of my favourite KL pics.
It was a battle that was broadcast across the ABC airwaves of the Northern Territory with Andrew Murdoch and he graciously gave me the win. He wasn’t convinced that the new Air Asia flights from Darwin to Kuala Lumpur would fill many seats but after my descriptions of a city full of vibrant culture – from architecture to food – and monorails, shopping malls, secret bars, street food and so much more, I won the debate!
Enjoy just a few pics below of KL days and nights:
It’s not the Petronas Towers, Bukit Bintang or Petalang Street, it’s just a little cafe in 2D and it defines the quirkiness you’ll find in a city that enjoys having fun around every corner.
Nasi Lemak is a meal you can enjoy for breakfast, lunch and dinner. My favourite Nasi Lemaks in KL are in the old streets of Kampung Baru.
There’s nothing wrong with too much food in KL. Jalan Alor is just behind the bright lights of Bukit Bintang’s high end shopping malls. You’ll find fresh fruit, grilled satays and all sorts of curries and barbecue meats and vegetables that all go very well with a freshly made coconut juice or chilled Tiger beer.
Visiting hospitals in Kuala Lumpur, Malacca and Penang was a remarkable opportunity to learn more about the reasons why people travel for medical treatment.
When I did a story about this experience on ABC Saturday Breakfast there was some kickback from listeners who thought that I shouldn’t be recommending travel to another country to get treatment but if our waiting lists are too long or the expense doesn’t allow you to join our waiting lists, or you just make the choice that’s it’s right for you then do it.
I didn’t write this story to make a point or make a judgement. It’s an experience I found profoundly interesting and continues to resonate with me. Enjoy reading my published story below and forming an opinion that doesn’t have to agree with me but I hope you just find it interesting:
Rudyard Kipling stayed here. I stayed here. You can stay here too. Many others have stayed here from Noel Coward to Charlie Chaplin and King Charles to Joseph Conrad.
This is the hotel built by the Sarkie brothers who went on to build the Raffles in Singapore.
E&O Residences in KL is where you should start your journey, it’s close to Bukit Bintang and the monorail and have expansive rooms and living areas and a view of the Petronas Towers. It’s modern and very different to E&O Penang.
Come on, it’s time to read all about a hotel that is described as the Grand Dame of Penang and she truly is grand and she truly is beautiful.
Chris Parry Writes For Us 