The newly launched Melaka travel guide

Ruby is our writer for the Melaka guide. Born and bred in Melaka, no one else would know better about the historical city other than Ruby herself. Her love for her homeland is even more evident through her website, City Turtle, where she writes more about the lovely little state in Malaysia. Check out her profile, check out her website, and then check out our Melaka Travel Guide!

Inside, are maps to some ‘treasures’, the main heritage attractions in Melaka! Each attraction is superb, it’s going to be like finding a ‘treasure chest’ in each of them! It’s no wonder that our Melakan writer, Ruby, says that the hotels in Melaka city are fully occupied during the weekends and holiday seasons.

Melaka Heritage Trail

Dutch Heritage Trail

Kindly wait with bated breath for the launch of the Melaka travel guide!

Penang Travel Guide
Kota Kinabalu Travel Guide

There couldn’t be any better persons to write on Penang and Kota Kinabalu other than Pearly and Olombon, who have been born, bred and lived in the cities their whole lives!

Check out these pictures of Penang; they are a sneak preview of better things to come, inside the Penang Travel Guide!

Nyonya Mansion

Puppet Show

The Thaipusam festival

The guide also introduces us to the Javan Ebony Langur monkey, also known as the Javan Lutong. Our ‘close cousin’, the langur is a very sociable animal just like the other monkey species but unfortunately, it is threatened by loss of habitat and poaching.

The cute Javan Ebony Langur monkey

We thank Bagus for the guidebook contents and CNKuan who compiled them. Bagus is the man behind Jakarta Travel Info. We invited him to join us and we are so glad he did for now we have a very ‘bagus’ (‘good’ in the Malay language) Jakarta guidebook to show!

Penang Travel Guide Preview

有三处修改如下：

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准备工作：
什么时候不适宜旅行？
2008年8月北京将举办奥运会，奥运会期间北京的酒店价格普遍上涨大概10倍，花费较高。建议大家在奥运会过后再到北京旅行。

—
删除此部分。

游在北京：
国家体育场（“鸟巢”）(H1)

http://www.beijing2008.cn/

国家体育场是2008年第29届奥林匹克运动会开闭幕式的所在地，建筑面积258,000平方米。从外观看“鸟巢”，灰色的钢结构形成网络状的构架，相互支撑，就像树枝编织的鸟巢一般。“鸟巢” 部没有一根立柱，看台是一个完整的没有任何遮挡的碗状造型，这种均匀而连续的环，使观众获得最佳视野
门票价格：8050元
交通路线：
公交路线：运通113、386、407、656、737、740、753、804、827、939、944、983等到北辰桥西或者510、839到国家体育馆
地铁路线：离该赛场最近的是奥体中心站，推荐三种乘车路线：
直达方案－乘坐奥运专线可以直达。
换乘方案一－乘坐地铁10号线，在熊猫环岛站换乘奥运专线可以到达。
换乘方案二－乘坐地铁5号线，在北土城东路站换乘10号线，在熊猫环岛站换乘奥运专线可以到达。

国家游泳中心（“水立方”）(G1)

http://www.beijing2008.cn/

它与“鸟巢”隔路对望，外表晶莹剔透，酷似水泡包围，内部是一个多层楼建筑，对称排列的大看台视野开阔，馆内乳白色的建筑与碧蓝的水池相映成趣。当夜晚来临时，“水立方”通身亮起灯光，呈现出来的幽深蓝色成为奥林匹克公园中最引人注目的风景。这座建筑以巧夺天工的设计、纷繁自由的结构、简洁纯净的造型、环保先进的科技，成为百年奥运建筑史上的经典。

—

门票价格：不祥30元
交通路线：与国家体育场的交通路线相同。
地址：北四环北辰西桥东，“鸟巢”对面

Siem Reap Travel Guide (Launched)
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Singapore Travel Guide (Launched)
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Vientiane Travel Guide
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Ho Chi Minh City Travel Guide
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Travel Guide Selling at USD0.99:

Bagan Travel Guide
http://www.a4trip.com/en/myanmar/bagan

Pattaya Travel Guide
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Phuket Travel Guide (Launched)
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Bandung Travel Guide (Launched)
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Chiang Mai Travel Guide
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Bangkok Travel Guide
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Kuching Travel Guide
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Langkawi Travel Guide
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Malacca Travel Guide
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Kuala Lumpur Travel Guide
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Sandakan Travel Guide
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Medan Travel Guide
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Yangon Travel Guide
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Agra Travel Guide
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Bahrain Travel Guide
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Busan Travel Guide
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Hong Kong Travel Guide
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Jeju Travel Guide
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Kathmandu Travel Guide
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Mumbai Travel Guide
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New Delhi Travel Guide
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Osaka Travel Guide
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Xi’an Travel Guide
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Daegu Travel Guide
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Doha Travel Guide
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Guangzhou Travel Guide
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Hiroshima Travel Guide
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Istanbul Travel Guide
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Macau Travel Guide
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“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” – Lao Tzu

“There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it.” – Charles Dudley Warner

“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” – Lao Tzu

“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.” – James Michener

“The journey not the arrival matters.” – T. S. Eliot

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” – Tim Cahill

“Not all those who wander are lost.” – J. R. R. Tolkien

“Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.” – Benjamin Disraeli

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine

I was at Dataran Merdeka last week, the place where Malaysia was born. Hardly see a local here and I start to worry if our writer might miss this out? kidding!

National flower of Malaysia

Dataran Merdeka

2. How to plan, and what is the best plan? How many time you will change your keywords search in Google from Penang Youth Hostel to Penang Dorm, or Penang guesthouse, or Penang guest house, etc. How about for those speaking different languages? How about for those who call a guesthouse a homestay, like in Bali, Indonesia? What if your plan changed last minutes and you lost the leisure of booking online, but to try your luck by calling each guesthouse over the phone, in a full-booked season?

3. When you think you have every single piece of important information, but you accidentally left it at home and find no way to access it during your trip? Someone’s research in the past might help you start faster. But, how are you going to share across travelers when everyone is keeping it as notepad file or in a Microsoft Excel format?

I jolted down quick notes on a piece of paper, how about you?

I was talking to Casey Ng, Take The Path Less Ordinary. Casey is right. Many of them create a guidebook for the sake of having one, not to help. Earlier, we have collected a lot of guidebooks both printed and online version, many of them are flashy guides which provide little information but only putting up more weight to your backpack. I even came across one from Tourism Board of Malaysia with 200 over pages, glossy and full of advertisement and expecting travelers to bring it on their trip… OMG!

Casey’s Blog has a collection of what they see and experience during their community work. Check it out.

The hidden Hotel Puri found at last!

The story begins on our brainstorming today. Lately, we tried to figure out how we can help writers to perform more accurate research. Each writers have their own way to do their travel research. Yet, a slight change in terms of keywords such as homestay and guesthouse can yield completely different result.

Lately, we are using Malacca as for one of our example to explore how we can turn the research better. Surprisingly, we stumbled into this nice little hotel in a baba nyonya style, only today! The name is Hotel Puri. We completely missed it because of only playing around with keyword ‘guesthouse’. Looks like it is another good option for Mid Range, recommended by many travelers.

Instead of just the listing, why not we shortlist the best. I know some of you will ask, everyone has different preference when come to where to stay. Just like how you trust Google, travelers trust us to make the best decision for them, one of the reason they spend the 3 dollars to buy a guidebook from us. Good thing is, when we limit the amount of information to be included in our guidebook, we will make it even more concise.

Need a chance!

Answer by a4trip Kota Kinabalu Travel Guide writer:

Thank you for your email. There are a lot of accommodations in Kundasang, i.e. Zen Garden, Kinabalu Pine, Kinabalu Rose Cabin and even Perkasa Hotel. You can get their information from around the net as they are all quite established. For Mesilau, you only have Mesialu Nature Resort which is run by Sutera Sanctuary Lodges, and it is further away from Kundasang and the altitude is also higher.

I would suggest that you stay in Kundasang as it is nearby Kinabalu Park HQ, if you plan to spend a day trip there, walking the jungle trail. There are a lot of things to see.

Check out the trail map here

Q: Thank you all for all your advice & tips. We have decided to stay at D’villa Dina Lodge for one night. We are for tour groups that can transfer us (6pax) from Marina Court Apartments to D’villa Dina Lodge and have a day tour around Kundasang town, Kinabalu Park, Poring Hot Springs, Rose Garden, Sabah Tea Plantations. I’m not sure whether this plan is possible to complete in one day.

Answer by a4trip Kota Kinabalu Travel Guide writer:

All those places in one day? It is possible if you spend about 15 minutes on each place, as traveling from one place to the other will take some time. It will also be tiring for you to rush to get to all the places in one day. With feedbacks from around travel forum, Poring Hot Spring can be a disappointment. Kinabalu Park HQ is the best place for nature lovers, Kundasang War memorial is best for history lovers and Sabah Tea Garden & Rose garden if you love the flora.

Have a nice journey.

The price of our guesthouses:
Room rate of Mandalay Inn in Siem Reap:
$20 USD per night for family room (3 persons),
$18 USD per night (2 persons)

Room rate of Golden Mekong hotel in Phnom Penh:
$15 per room per night for all room types

Day 1 – Siem Reap:
Transportation from airport to hotel:
- It’s Free! Mandalay Inn provided us free pick-up from airport to its guesthouse.
Walk from hotel to Old Market, Central Market, Royal Garden and National Museum
- It’s Free! But it took us more than 40 minutes.
Entrance Fee to Angkor Museum
- USD 12, trust me it is worthy! A place you must visit before trekking the Angkor Archeological Park.
Tuk-tuk fee back to hotel
- Usually USD 1 per destination, however we had paid usd 3 on that day.

Total: Around USD 40 spent on day 1 including guesthouse, meals and mineral water purchase.

Day 2 – Siem Reap:
Transportation for Angkor Archeological Park day tour:
- We hired 5 tuk tuk to Angkor Wat from the manager at Mandalay Inn during our trip. Usually each Tuk Tuk will cost $14 USD per day (normal hours starts from 9am), but since we departed on 5am for sunrise, they charged us $17 USD per tuk tuk. Note that 1 tuk tuk can fit 4 persons. Tuk Tuk for 3 persons will cost $14 USD per day.
Entrance Fee to Angkor Archeological Park day tour:
- USD 20

Total: Around USD 60 spent on day2 including guesthouse, meals and mineral water purchase.

Day 3 – Siem Reap:
Tour to Floating Village
- USD8 per person, not really recommended taking this tour.
Visit to Artisan d’angkor
- Free and introduced by a friendly tour guide.
Shopping and meals
USD 30

Total: Around USD 50 spent on day3 including guesthouse, meals and mineral water purchase.

Day 4 – Phnom Penh:
Bus Fare from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh
We ordered from the manager at Mandalay Inn.
Mekong Express Limousine from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh will cost $11.75 USD per person. This includes shuttle service from Mandalay Inn to bus station. However, this only applies to big group for our case.
If you buy directly from the Mekong Express Limousine Sales Office at the Central Market in Siem Reap, it is $8 per person for the locals (or if you ask a local to buy it for you) but usually they will charge tourist $10 per person. However, shuttle service from guesthouse to bus station is not included.

Price of tuk-tuk to Killing Field and S21:
We managed to bargain from $25 USD to $15 USD per tuk-tuk. One tuk tuk is good for 4 persons.

Entrance fee to Killing Field
Normal price USD 3, there was a discount as we went there late evening.
Entrance fee to S21:
Normal price USD 2, there was a discount as we went there late evening.

Total: Around USD 60 spent on day4 including guesthouse, meals and mineral water purchase.

Day 5 – Phnom Penh:
Walking tour around Phnom Penh includes, Wat Phnom, Central Market, Sorya Shopping Center, Royal Garden.
- Wat Phnom will charge USD 1 for foreign visit.
Motodup to night market
- USD 1 per person
Tuk tuk from night market back to hotel
- USD 2 per 4 person, after several attempts of haggling.
Entrance fee to National Museum
- USD 3
Shopping:
- USD 1 for sewing Cambodia name to shirt
- USD 3 for face sketching in night market

Total: Around USD 50 spent on day 5 including guesthouse, meals and mineral water purchase.

Day 6 – Phnom Penh:
Entrance fee to Royal Palace:and Silver Pagoda
USD 6.50 per person
From Hotel to Russian market, Cambodia Daily Office and Airport:
We manage to get a help from Mr. Neou Ty from Cambodia Daily to hire a van at USD 50, which is good for 10 persons each.
Shoping in Russian Market:
USD 20 for picture, karma and miscellaneous
Airport Tax:
USD 25
Total: Around USD 70 spent on day 6 including meals.

There was our best seller I have ever met in Cambodia. At her age of 8 to 10 year olds, her ability and sincerity to sell out her souvenirs had impressed me.
“Buy something, Mr. Blue? “ She smiled to Wei Kiat in blue t-shirt, holding some postcards in her hands.
“No, thanks” Wei Kiat grinned.
“Mr. White?” She looked at me.
I didn’t say anything. Wearing a sun glasses, I acted a serious face and rejected.
“Where are you from?”
“Malaysia” I replied.
“Ok lah, Buy Something lah….”
We busted into laughter instantly after hearing our own English slang spoken by the little Cambodian girl.

“How about you, Mr Blue” She was looking at Nicholas who was in blue too.
“How much?”
“1 postcard, 1 usd”
“….”
“Ok, 1 usd, 2 postcard.”
The conversation goes on and it was a successful deal as I saw Nicholas has paid the little girl a few bucks for the postcards.

Meanwhile, Lily at the other corner was telling us that the quality of the t-shirt was actually good. She managed to bargain until one t-shirt at 1USD. However she insisted to pretend that she had not interest on the t-shirts to any sale-girls.

It’s almost time to leave. After getting into the tuk-tuk, we noticed that Lily and her hubby were not following and were inside one of the stalls. We waited patiently for few minutes and she came back cheerfully. She winked and pointed seven fingers out and continued with six fingers, gesturing that she managed to buy seven t-shirts with six USD only.

10 Oct 2008 Evening Old Market – Siem Reap
Shopping Rule of Thumb from Elaine: Bulk Purchase
Elaine planned to buy Karma – Cambodian Silk Scarf, as souvenirs for her family and friends. After asking all of us on the number to be bought, she planned to use bulk purchase for bargaining tartic.

Pointing to pieces of colorful Karma, she asked the lady owner of a stall in Old Market, “How much are these?”

The lady owner was a bit panic when seeing more than fifteen of us gathered in her stall. Since she heard we are speaking Chinese, she asked her favorable daughter, Ah Hua, to entertain us. Ah Hua has a fair complexion and is unique comparing to most of the Cambodian we had met. With her sharp-pointed nose and oval shaped face, she managed to speak a fluent Mandarin as a Chinese. Hence, our bargain sessions were in Mandarin.

“USD 3 per piece” Ah Hua replied.
“If we buy likes 20 pieces, any discount?”Elaine continued.
“Aiyooo… USD 2.50 per piece, I didn’t earn anything, didn’t cheat you.” Ah Hua insisted.
“We buy so many, give more discount, USD 2?”, Elaine gestured her disagreement on the price.
“These are USD2, those are USD 2.50”, Ah Hua directed us on two different quality of Karma. “USD 0.5 to you is like so cheap back in Malaysia, please have sympathy for us.”
“USD 2 per piece” Elaine insisted and intended to leave if her piece is not met.
“Deal, deal…” Ah Hua replied, “USD 2 then.”

Ah Hua started to grin and busy putting the all the selected Karmas to plastic bag for us.
“You speak Mandarin so well, where do you learn it from?” I asked.
“It’s from local language center”
“Do you have magnets?”
“Yes, certainly, come over here…”
After paying all the souvenirs, I joked with Ah Hua “You have an awesome earnings today!”
“Aiyooo.. I didn’t earn anything, didn’t cheat you” Ah Hua grinned while patting on my right arm.
We left Ah Hua stall after Daniel taking photo for Ah Hua and me.

10 Sep 2008 Night Market – Siem Reap
Shopping Rule of Thumb: Check out the better bargain in night market
It was our last night in Siem Reap before traveling to Phnom Penh next morning. After surveying around, it was found that the night market offers a better bargain than the Old Market. The better quality of Karma is selling USD2 in night market. Some of the adult and baby t-shirt are selling cheaper.

12 Oct 2008 Sorya Shopping Center – Phnom Penh
Shopping Rule of Thumb: Buy groceries in shopping center as locals do
Strolling along the grocery market of Sorya Shopping Center, I was looking for mineral water for drinking and Coke cans for collection. Since the market is visited by locals mostly and the price is fixed, I managed to purchase some groceries with a fair price as a local did. Normally, Cambodians intended to sell some products to tourists starting from 1 USD. The locals used to get a lower price.

13 Oct 2008 Evening Russian Market – Phnom Penh
Shopping Rule of Thumb from Siew Ling: Ask for the half of price given
It was our last market visit in Cambodia. Daniel and Siew Ling had planned to grab the last chance to purchase some pictures in Russian Market for their house decorations.

“This Angkor Wat picture is USD 20” the stall owner informed on the price.
“USD 10, USD 10” Siew Ling replied boldly.
“No, no, USD 18.”
“Ten, Ten” Pointing out all of her fingers, Siew Ling repeated.
“No, no…” the stalls owner declined the price, and lowered the price.

The final deal of the purchase didn’t go to USD 10 though, however, the price has been marked down much lower than the original price.

As you travelling around Cambodia with a motordup or a tuk tuk or walking, especially to the floating village in Siem Reap, and the Killing Field in Phnom Penh, the journey will be very dusty. You are advised to wear a medical mask during the journey. Most of the locals are doing so.

Food you shouldn’t miss – (Kuyteav) Chicken rice noodle soup (5000 Riels, 1.25 USD)

You should try this yummy rice noodle early in the morning at the Soup Dragon, inside Old Market Area of Siem Reap. Take a slurp on the hot rice noodles in the morning with a sip of local brewed coffee.

Budgetary place to eat- Chao Praya Cafe/Restaurant

Situated opposite of the Angkor National Musuem in Siem Reap, the Chao Praya Cafe is the best place for you to chill out after a lengthy walk in the museum. Enjoy the air-conditioned and Wifi (USD3 per hour) access cafe, with comfortable sofa. You must try the cold Frappe (Ice Blended Mocha and Chocolate) and the stir fried basil with chicken (USD 2.50) in this restaurant.

Riverfront of Phnom Penh

There is an on-going project for flood protection and drainage improvement at the Riverfront of Phnom Penh. This project is planned to be completed at year 2010. Riverside walking pathway are expected to be constructed by then too!

Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda opens at 8am to 11am and 2pm to 5pm everyday.

There is a Night Market inside the Old Market Area of Phnom Penh at night during Saturday and Sunday. It is visited mostly by locals. Experience the lifestyle of Cambodians while shopping in the night market.

If you would like to experience the city view of Phnom Penh, you are suggested to go to the top floor of Sorya Shopping Center. Grab a Grilled Chicken Burger at the Mc Grill and enjoy the city view of Phnom Penh. It is a great hang out place for teenagers who like roller skating.

If you like the calligraphy of Cambodian, you are suggested to walk along the Street 53 south of Sorya Shopping Center. Along this street, you will see a lot of locals sewing Cambodian names with a sewing machine. Students in Cambodia are required to wear uniform with their name sewed at the top of the right pocket of their shirt. Hence, if you would like to get your name sewed, you can ask the local to get your name translated and sewed on your shirt at USD 1. Their dexterity in handicraft can get your name done in minutes.

Recently, a4trip’s crews were in Siem Reap. We planned our itineraries by referring to our own guide. We stay, we eat, we drink, we walk around…to collect new information to be updated in our guide.

It so happended that we drop by at Angkor What? in Siem Reap bar street. There was a white board behind the bartender saying “This is not a tourist information centre. So shut up and drink”. We all agreed with that statement. Perhaps, you should refer to a4trip Siem Reap guidebook if you need Siem Reap travel information