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.
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.
From KL to Penang is easy to do. A quick flight and you’re there. But only a little bit longer and a lot more fun is the journey by train.
Enjoy reading my published story below. And remember that if you can’t get a newspaper in your hands, my published stories with Have a Go News are just a click away on their website.
Having just returned from Singapore and Sarawak I was given a great opportunity to talk fast and furiously with DJ Wan on Radio Melayu about my experiences.
We also had the Consul General of Malaysia, Mr Ahmad Fikri, come on the show and talk about his experiences of Sarawak and what we had spoken about together at a recent Tourism Malaysia event.
From some destinations in Singapore you might not be aware of to Sarawak, a land of constant activity by day and night, it was a wonderful opportunity to describe my adventures and encourage listeners to book their flights!
A few weeks ago, I spoke on the ABC about Sarawak, on the island of Borneo, and some of the tragic and heroic wartime history that connects Australia to Sarawak. Now, we’re going back to Sarawak to explore the streets of Kuching and discover the jungles, islands, wildlife and hopefully some food as well.
Enjoy listening to the audio file below, and maybe reading the words as well:
This is a part of the world that is adventurous and has that sought for wow factor of being remote and rugged but is also really easy to get to and get around once you’re there.
The story of Sarawak, just like the story of Australia, is about Indigenous tribes and culture going back thousands of years and learning to survive in their environment.
But we’re going to start in Singapore! It’s the 1840’s and let’s find out the connection to Sarawak, a land of blowpiping headhunters and pirates, to high collared and well-heeled English adventurers in the Raffles Hotel in Singapore.
Imagine the Raffles Hotel at this time. With stiff upper lips and trousers pulled too high, Englishmen drank too much and rallied each other with outrageous stories while surrounded by an odour of self-entitlement.
James Brooke was tiring of this game when he had a grand idea and bold plan all at once. He would sail his ship, the Royalist, up the Sarawak River at Kuching and fight the pirates that had taken control of the South China Sea and threatening the Straits of Singapore and Malacca.
He fought the pirates, was asked by local tribes to become their leader and so he became the White Raj, Rajah Brooke, and his family took the mantle when he died and until World War II the Brookes ran Sarawak as their own kingdom. Sarawak prospered under the Brookes but the relationship was also fractured due to the colonial style rule that we are familiar with.
The best things to discover:
Sarawak is a hidden treasure because it’s far enough off the beaten track that you’ll get the thrill of lots of people saying, ‘Where’s that?’
You’ll enjoy exploring rugged and remote wilderness without getting malaria and exploring old laneways for murals, music, laksas and secret bars while surrounded by a community that is interested in who you are and just like you, enjoys staying up late.
Digital Marketing in Hospitality and Tourism: Global Strategic Management Forum 2020, Universiti Teknologi Mara Malaysia
Presenting for the Universiti Teknologi Mara was a great opportunity to speak about the history of content marketing, the importance of collaboration, future technology and how to demonstrate your degree of uniqueness and of course, discuss the impact of Covid-19 now and in the future.
The forum placed a great emphasis on learning how to collaborate by consulting, involving and informing a broader network and how digital marketers in the future will require good engagement skills to build authentic and genuine relationships.
A lot has changed in the past twenty years and even more has changed in the past year. The more we work together the better our marketing will be and the better our hospitality experiences will be for our clients.
https://www.facebook.com/radiomelayuperth/
Radio Melayu is such a wonderful community radio station and I love any chance to contribute to their programming.
If the link above works it may not take you straight to my discussion but if you scroll down through the posts then my latest chat was on October 18.
DJ Wan and I talked about KL nightlife and views, the pink mosque at Putrajaya and then we talked about my time off the coast of Semporna on Mabul Island and a bunch of other islands with high peaks, white beaches, sea gypsies and Nemo.
I was travelling on the Tourism Malaysia Mega Fam with a bunch of travel writers, journalists and bloggers from India, Hong Kong, Malaysia and New Zealand. We shared adventures and quickly felt like we were doing more than capturing moments we could write about or describe on radio. We became friends and fellow travellers, soaking up experiences that were genuinely breathtaking.
The land below the wind always takes your breath away, whether from the exertion of a trek or just sitting on a beach watching a Sabah sunset. The resorts are safe and friendly and the adventures feel undiscovered and exotic.
Make the most of your time in Malaysia. Whether its shopping, street food or hidden bars in KL or the tropical paradise of life on the islands off the coast of Sabah, there’s something for all travellers, all the time.
Mabul Island: All your days I will sing in praise of your forests, waters, your shining sands.
Chris Parry Writes For Us 