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Updates on My Mother’s Kitchen
Currently working on 6 spreads, that means 12 pages of the picture book. Done 4 spreads. Hope to finish by this weekend so that I can do the layout next week. Thinking of submitting this for the Kotabuku/DBP Picture Book Contest. So I have 6 days to prepare. Going to submit it by hand. Wish me luck!
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Win a return trip to Europe for 2 #SeduniaWin
Have you ever wanted to go on a fully sponsored holiday trip to Europe? Spain, France and Italy in particular? If you do, I have an exciting travel contest to share with you. I know some of you love to travel so please do take this opportunity to win a very big prize for yourself and your friend or spouse.
The Prize
Win a 13 day trip to Europe for 2 including flights. One lucky winner and a friend will travel to Spain, France & Italy on a 13 day adventure with return flights from Emirates. Experience the laid back Mediterranean summer with Cosmos on their brand new Mediterranean Flavors tour.
In addition, 10 lucky winners will win a travel voucher for RM1,000 which can be used for any Globus, Cosmos or Avalon Waterways trip. Another 100 people will win a RM600 travel voucher, making the prizes worth a total of over RM100,000.
How to enter
Visit http://www.seduniatravel.com/win to enter the competition. Just answer 2 simple questions and enter a slogan. No minimum length, just tell us why you would like to go on a Cosmos tour.
Competition closes on 28th Feb. For full terms and conditions and details see the competition page.
The Itinerary
On the Mediterranean Flavors tour everything will be taken care of – so you can enjoy the best the region has to offer at its best, in summer!
Day 1-5: Spain | Arrive on an Emirates flight from Kuala Lumpur to Madrid. Spend 5 days in Spain visiting Madrid, Cuenca, Valencia, Peniscola and Barcelona.
Day 6-7: France | On your way to Italy, travel through the South of France. Spend 2 days in France exploring Collioure, Marseille, Cassis, Grasse and Nice.
Day 8-13: Italy | End your holiday Italy, by spending 6 days in this beautiful country. Visit Cinque Terre, La Spezia, Verona, Venice, Assisi and finally Rome. On the last day, fly Emirates from Rome to Kuala Lumpur.
About Cosmos
For more than 50 years, Cosmos has offered savvy, value-minded travellers the most affordable travel packages to the world’s most fascinating places. Pioneers in budget travel, this world-class brand can offer trips to Europe from just RM230 a day. On every tour, everything is taken care of. From their experienced tour directors to expertly guided sightseeing you know you are really getting the chance to explore a place.
Cosmos has over 100 itineraries to Europe and America so there will always be something for everyone.
Enter the competition at http://www.seduniatravel.com/win.
Good luck!!
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Travel editorial illustration
I know that one of my resolutions this year is not to take commission job but this one job I could not resist. Few years back I got similar opportunity but my style did not resonate with the editorial team, so I gave up. This time I am happy to say that I got illustration job with another local magazine that do not require me to do much amendments.
Here’s one with Putra Bridge, Perdana Putra building, KL Tower and Twin Towers created (based on photos) in Adobe Illustrator vector format. It’s not that detailed but I just draw and bring out the basic and prominent shapes that make each landmark.
Will blog about the magazine soon as I get my first copy of first issue for 2013. The magazine has been around for 8 years.
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Theme River Cruises with Avalon Waterways
Well-heeled and seasoned Free Independent Travellers (FITs) expect first-class touring, outstanding customised itineraries, excellent accommodation, cultural experiences through cuisine or the arts and “unexpected discoveries” – all without any hassle.
Now Malaysians can truly expect all that through themed river cruises deep into the heart of the European continent transporting them along with their accommodation as they wake up each morning to a new destination. This is now possible through Avalon Waterways, the global leader in river cruising. It is part of the Globus family of brands which has just appointed Sedunia Travel as its General Sales Agent in Malaysia.
Madam Teoh Leng Lan, Executive Director of Sedunia Travel, is confident that Malaysians will take to river cruising like “a duck to water”.
At a media briefing to announce their new and exciting products for Malaysia, Madam Teoh said that Malaysians’ favourite long-haul destination is Europe, hands down. This sentiment mirrors that of Globus’ Sales across Asia last year when almost 90% of sales were for packages in Europe.
Europe’s appeal is that it’s an ever-green destination. One can visit in each season: spring, summer, autumn or winter, thus a different experience each time.
“River cruises offer a different perspective from conventional travel. Just imagine cruising along The Rhine, The Danube or rivers in France, you can expand your wine appreciation skills, enjoy jazz festivals, extend your culinary skills appreciation or waltz to a symphony of destinations,” Teoh added.
Ray Smith, the GSA Business Development manager of Globus Family of Brands listed the benefits of river cruising versus ocean cruising: view from the window constantly changes, spend time in port every day, rooms offer more comfort than ocean cruising as every cabin has a view amongst others.
“With smaller groups on Avalon Waterways, you’ll get more attention from staff, and there’s no queue at dinner times. You arrive straight in town – no long transfers from the port to the sights. It’s a relaxed pace,” said Smith.
“And, best of all,” he added with a twinkle, “No seasickness!”
Avalon Waterways is running a limited availability promotion on the Tulips of Northern Holland, Tulip Time Cruise, Balkan Discovery and Capitals of Central Europe. If you book the current promotional cruises, you can fly for free to your destination. The offer ends once all the cabins have been sold. If you want to safely venture on a cruise, it might be wise to know details like the MSC cruise ship was turned away at two separate ports.
Sedunia Travel is launching a consumer competition on January 8th with up to RM100,000.00 worth of prizes to be won, including a Cosmos trip for two with return Emirates flights.
Sedunia Travel, one of Malaysia’s Top Five Corporate Travel Agencies has a strong base to market the Globus Family of Brands products and a user-friendly website. Log on to www.seduniatravel.com for further information.
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Bukit Merah Laketown Resort, Perak
My husband doesn’t like to stay long in one place, so right after spending a day and a night in Georgetown, we later drove to Bukit Merah Laketown Resort. He was partly too lazy/sleepy to drive and at the same time need to complete a job and upload it online. We put up a night at Suria Service Apartment Hotel. The apartment is quite spacious, we got a view of the highway on 7th floor.
Yassin was quite excited to explore the theme parks but as it was raining, we kept the plan till the next morning. Furthermore, it was already around 7pm when we reached the laketown. It was also raining so we took a rain-check.
After breakfast the next morning, we let Yassin take a dip in the pool for an hour before checking out and head to the theme parks.
Boy, he is big now!Bukit Merah Laketown Resort is divided into 3 parks; Water Park, Eco Park and Orang Utan Island. We bought a combo ticket for Orang Utan Island, Eco Park and Sky Chair (RM39 for adult, RM33 for children below 12). We skipped the Water Park as Yassin already had his dip. The first park we explored is Orang Utan Island. We took a 10-minute’s ride on a boat.
Orang Utan Island Jetty.The 35-acre Orang Utan Island is a research institution dedicated to the preservation and research of the orang-utan. Founded by MK Land developer’s Executive Chairman Tan Sri Haji Datuk Mustapha Kamal, it was developed to resemble the orang-utan’s natural habitat as closely as possible, its vegetation similar to the rainforests in Sumatra and Borneo. The island has dedicated 5 acres of land as a research and rehabilitation centre while the remaining acres are for Orang Utans to roam freely. Unlike zoos, the humans are the ones inside caged enclosure here.
Observing Orang Utans from inside a cage.
Sonia, Adam and Carlos swinging around. They were quite excited to see humans in a cage. Haha.
27-year old BJ is like any other normal orang utans—when he is having a bad day, he will have his amok and break tree branches around him and roars like a lion.
This is sleepyhead 7-year old Harry.
Oh, this is my very own ‘orang utan’. ;PAt the research and rehabilitation centre, care is given to the infants as well as to the healthcare of a total of 18 orang utans in the island. The facility’s ICU (Infant Care Unit) is equipped with heart monitors, IV drips, incubators, as well as a trained veterinary surgeon to cater to the orang-utan infants that may require medical assistance after birth. Infants who are admitted to the ICU will go through a specially designed rehabilitation programme consisting of 6 stages to ensure the development of their natural instincts such as foraging, nest building, searching for water source, swinging and climbing. The rehabilitation programme aims to ensure the infant adapts well to their natural environment before their eventual release into the wild.
One very shy infant.After visiting the rehab, we went to watch a documentary—Nurturing Nature—at the video room. It tells about the declining numbers of orang utans due to the clearing of their natural habitats from human development, mining, and illegal poaching as well as the efforts taken by the foundation to save the endangered creatures. This is my favourite part; a frame from the video:
It was very educational trip for my family and I. Although we missed our boat to get extra information about the island (as well as buy some souvenirs), we were happy that we left the island on the next boat with extra information about the life of orang utans.
Next, we went to the Eco Park. The 3-acre park features three large enclosures – Nature Trail, Reptile Park and Tropical Trek, with a variety of reptile, primate, mammal, bird and fish species in an environment as close to their natural habitat. In addition, there is a Pets Park and daily animal shows.
The Eco Park.
Beautiful Sri Lankan peafowls.
Bearcats (binturong). The left one is doing major cleaning, haha.
Guinea pigs.
Cute cuddly hamsters.
Sleeping hedgehog.
Yassin feeding a rabbit. Pack of mixed food (vegetables, seeds, fish food) for animals can be bought at the park’s entrance. The staff will let you know what food to be fed to which animals.
We got to see the animal show. Seen here a parrot carrying a ball through cones.
Clever parrot solving mathematics.
One for the album. Red parrot and me. Forgot the name of the parrot but it is named after a football player.
A thundercat and a couple of parrots.
This is what Hanging Parrots do—hanging around. Also known as Serindit in Malay Language.
Friendly ducks seem to be smiling for my album. Awww….
This squirrel monkey climbed on my bag and took away my lens cover! It later gave it back to us. 🙂We had a blast spending time with the animals and on the way back to the main area, we took the skychair. The ride was great and we got to see view of the Water Park.
Yassin on a skychair.Yassin had a blast and made us promised to come back here again for the Water Park. We will definitely return here as this resort is great for family holiday.
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Art & Places: Pinang Fountain, Georgetown
At the King Edward’s Place roundabout, there is a sculpture of areca-nut palm (or commonly known as betelnut) standing proudly to greet visitors with it’s unique modern look contrary with the historical Jubilee Clock Tower.
Pencil on Moleskine. Coloring was done digitally.Standing at 4.8 meters in height, the metal sculpture serves as a fountain where a spray of water comes up from inside the sculpture. Named as Pinang Fountain, the sculpture was erected to commemorate Pulau Pinang which translates ‘the Island of Areca-nut Palm’. History has it that when Portuguese traders discovered Pulau Pinang (which was a small uninhabited island back in the 16th century) they named it “Pulo Pinaom” as there were abundance of Arecanut Palm trees found around the island.
Reference:
http://www.penang-traveltips.com/pinang-fountain.htm
http://www.visitpenang.gov.my/portal3/about-penang/history.html -
Editorial illustrations
Came up with a quick editorial illustration samples for a travel magazine. The deal is I draw and later get an exposure for my blog. 🙂
