Take The Path Less Ordinary

Overview
All Malaysians who didn’t sleep through history classes with tell you that the region of Larut-Matang-Kuala Kangsar is where the song of history hit high notes again in 19th century and it is THE place where Malaysia’s foundation of wealth originated.
After demise of Malacca Sultanate in 15th century, Malaysian history laid low for the next [...]

Penang is listed in Patricia Schultz’s “1,000 Places To See Before You Die”, a New York Times bestseller. It’s easy to grasp why. With its melange of ethnicity, multiculturism and fabulous spread of food, this island city is a striking example of Malaysia’s unusual social fabric.
How the myriad of races identify themselves
As early as 500 [...]

LAST UPDATED / EDITED – 30th Oct 2009
The Malaysian currency encapsulates the sediments of bygone era.
The Spanish dollar was historically used widely in the East Indies, which covers Indonesian spice islands and the Malay archipelago. As soon as the English established the Straits Settlement in Penang, colonial government half heartedly introduced the Indian rupee in [...]

In history, there are always two sides, maybe more, of the story. Everyone knows history written earlier is often bias, half guesswork and peppered with inconsistencies, like spelling mistakes in a document few zillion letters long. Corrections are inevitable. History taught in school nowadays is rather watered down and outdated. At the dawn of 21st [...]

Standing face to face with the Taming Sari overwhelms one with a divine-like aura.
One can almost feel the electrifying air cracking around the showcase. Like modern “fire-and-forget” heat seeking missiles, legend has it that the mystical Taming Sari could fly and seek out enemy. It could even rattle in its sheath to warn the owner [...]

If the staggering variety of races found in Malaysia makes your head spins, then their languages would certainly leave you speechless.
But if you insist on learning a language to take home, Bahasa Malaysia should be it. From glitzy cities to remote jungles, Malaysians of all colours and creed speak Bahasa Malaysia.
If trees could talk, it’d [...]

Modernity is a sword that slices both ways – its wielder sometime gets cut too.
On 2000’s New Year’s Day, streets like Penang’s Lebuh Chulia saw rental shot from RM300 to RM4000 overnight, pulling the rugs under tenants’ feet causing them to flee by the thousands, leaving old buildings and shop houses unattended till today. What [...]