I AM THE BORNEO EXPLORER 婆罗洲探险者

I visited the most beautiful temple at Penang, is on top of a hill, and it's called the Kek Lok Si temple (极乐寺). In the Buddhist teaching, there is a place called the "Pure Land of the West" in Chinese is 极乐世界. The temple name was adapt from there. I'm impress with the building structure, they have really details painting, and magnificent engraving, very huge Buddha statue, beautiful panoramic view on the hill top, and more. I like where they have a lot of souvenir stalls on the way to the temple, and also a lot of food stalls. I tried some of the food there and it was really nice :) That day when I visited the place, it was a cloudy day, I like it cause is not that hot. Took a lots of photos this time, the photos that I took 2 years back are all corrupted. I will make sure that I capture every details this time, and keep my photos in a safe place. I've made a shot clip on my kek lok si temple trip together with my parents, check it out my friend. ...

This is the first time I visited the Penang Hill, as I remember when I was a kid, I did read this in the text book about the introduction of the Penang Hill. At first I know we need to use a train to go uphill, I tough it was a cable car, but I was a bit disappointed when I'm there, and notice it uses a cable train instead of a cable car. oh well, at least I don't have to climb all the way up. So I uses the Penang Hill funicular train service to go up, and paid RM8 (round trip) for adults. The railway starts to construct at 1906, and had also undergo for upgrading after that. From the trip up, it took around 5 minutes. The cable pulls the train all the way uphill, and the train did stop at the platform when going up. Is 833 above sea level on the very top. Also there is a 5.1KM tarred road, is open for vehicles of hill residents, and for off-road motorcycle to travel up the steep terrain. When on top of the hill, I can view almost the entire Penang Town...

My last day at Penang, and the only pace that I went is the Heong Shan Shi Buddhist temple. I was with my parent to attend a Buddhist chanting ceremony, as this is the month of July in the Chinese Lunar, so usually as a Buddhist it would be good if we go to the Buddhist center and pray. There is a big puja ceremony at this Buddhist temple, and it starts at 9AM and ends at 8PM. Well of course in the middle there are break time. This is the first time mom and dad come to Penang, and throughout this few days I bring them around Penang, and am really glad that they are having a good time here. All of my brothers also concern about mom, cause she sometime worry to much about us. Guess all the mom in this world will do the same for their kids. Thank you for following my travel post for this few days, and remember to bookmark my page, as I’ll continue to share some of the interesting about my daily life. Cheers, Wilson Holiday ends today :) Penang Trip Re...

This morning my friend brings us to 2 gardens at Penang, which is the Botanical Garden, and the Penang  Municipal Park Botanical Garden, Penang Municipal Park Both of these park has a lot of people, this is nowhere to be found back in Kuching. I found out why when I start to walk in the municipal park. Inside the park, there are free entrance, the government build a lot of outdoor gym equipment for the public, not just that, there are also 3 – 4 small swimming pools for the kids, several tracks which has their own unique themes, they also has a court specially for skateboard, and BMX bicycle. A lot of senior people group together for morning exercise, and practice tai chi. One thing that I regret is during my walk at the garden, I forgot to bring my camera… Sorry guys, no photo to be shown here. Goddness of Mercy Temple This is also known as the Guan Yin temple, is a popular temple at Penang which specially dedicated to the goddness of mercy. It...

Today I’ll drive my parent to visit a small town called Balik Pulau, and then will eat durian as lunch. Tropical Spice Garden I drive pass this garden, and went in to have a look what’s inside. The entrance fees is RM14 for adults, which I think is not worth it. The stuff that available in the spice garden are the stuff that I can easily found at India street back in Kuching, and even my mom plant most of the spices herself. For the spice garden, sorry guys, no photos… Forest Recreation Park and Museum For this park, there is a signboard hanging on the entrance saying that they suspect there are “mice pee virus” (something like that) in the park, so they now temporary close the park, and after they make sure that the virus is gone, only then they will reopen the park for visitors. For the Forest Recreation Park, sorry guys, no photos again… Balik Pulau Town After that we drive along the mount road, the roads are like snake, some have danger 100 degree curv...

On day 6 of my trip, I went to visit a place that I always wanted to go. The hospice center, the name of this hospice center called “Pure Lotus Hospice of Compassion” 净莲慈悲院 . Pure Lotus Hospice of Compassion This is a center which establish by Buddhist monk, and is a non-profit hospice caring center for the cancer patients. The patient that stays here are all free of charges, the main objective is to let the cancer patients to be able to ease their pain, and to leave this world with less suffering from their illness. Although this center is run by Buddhist monk, inside the center have all kind of races, Chinese, Malay and India. I’m glad that I’m able to bring my parent to come and visit the cancer patient, as I know my mom sometime complain about life a lot, and so I took this opportunity to let mom knows how suffer it is to fall sick, and how lucky we are to be able to stay healthy. And we should start appreciate what we have now, and focus on the positive ...

Today will be visiting the Penang Bird Park. And the place is at Butterworth, so have to cross the mighty Penang Bridge. Dad and mom are so excited, as this is their first time to visit the bridge. The Penang Bridge We start our journey at around 8.30AM, the road condition today are smooth. I’m not so familiar with the road, and all I had was this map that I get when reached the Penang Airport. I just follow the signboard and drive where ever it pointed. One good thing is it has an icon of the bridge on the road sigh, so is easy to recognize. Reaches the bridge like around 9.15AM, and I drive around 70 Km/h. Enjoying the view along the way, while point mom and dad where the second Penang Bridge will be build. We don’t have to pay toll when drive to Butterworth, we only need to pay when we’re on our way back to Penang Island. Ok so now we’re at Butterworth, and our next stop will be the Penang Bird Park… Several Gas Station… On Butterworth here, there a...

Today I’m gonna visit the Penang Hill a.k.a Bukit Bendera a.k.a 升旗山 ; I’m a bit lost when on our way to the Penang Hill. I’ve got a bit confuse when I refer to my map… hey tourism of Penang if you see this blog post of mine, I want to let you know that there is a mistake that you made in your map. In the map, the place near the Penang Hill it wrote Air Intam, but when I’m on the road, the sign board keep on showing Air Hitam. I tough these are 2 different places, so I always avoid that place, and try to search for Sign board showing Kek Lok Shi. When I notice that I’m going in circle, I then give up. I stop my car at one of the petro station, and asked for direction. Then the guy told me that I just need to follow Air Hitan, god damn it… I knew the map is wrong, or the signboard…. The Penang Hill, a.k.a Bukit Bendera After several minutes, when reaching the Air Hitam area. I can see the Kek Lok Shi Buddhist temple from far distant, and I told my dad that we’re on th...

Today I told my mom and dad that I’m gonna bring them to the west side of Penang Island. And our first destination is to the famous Butterfly Farm. The Penang Butterfly Farm To find the butterfly farm is not that difficult, we stay at Batu Feringgi, and on the western side of Penang, the road is not that complicated like in George Town, I just need to drive strait, and able to reach my destination. We are the first visitor to the farm; I went to buy the entrance fees. Hm… per entrance for adults is RM28. I asked my dad how old is he, he told me that he’s 58 this year, OMG~ my dear dad had fulfill the senior entrance fees. Poor dad, he had been working for all of these years to raise the 4 of us, give us education, and didn’t ask for any return. Love my dad… So the farm was cool, but not what I imagine. Butterfly farm should have a lot of pretty flowers for the butterfly to collect honey. Here, not much flowers inside, and the butterflies most of them are small siz...

This morning when I started the car engine, I saw rain drops in front of the car windshield. Great, I told my mom the weather forecast was right after all, it starts to rain now. So my mom asked me to take an umbrella along. I plan to bring my parent to George Town for a city tour today, I hoping to walk them to most of the historical temple, and buildings. But the rain had ruin all my plan. Fort Conwallis I start to drive slowly to the Jetty, and before I reach the Jetty I saw is the fort Conwallis. Today is Sunday, and they have an event going at the esplanade. I parked my car near the ferry ticket counter. And punch in 60 cents to the parking machine for 45 minutes. Just when I notice, the rain had stop. My parent and I walk to the main entrance of the fort, and we paid RM6 for 3 adults. There is a dungeon looking building, I asked my mom and dad to go inside.  When we’re inside, mom told me that the prisoners are so pity to be kept in this room, the air ve...

Thai Buddhist Temple, Burma Buddhist Temple, and Kek Lok Shi Buddhist Temple “Ok, we should turn here…” “where are we now…” “drive carefully son…” “why are they so close to us…” These are the few word that my parent keeps repeating today, I’m driving my parent at Penang here to visit some of the tourist attraction spots. And I don’t have a GPS…yet… so the only thing I can rely on is the map that I've got when landed at Penang Airport. But my dad is not good at reading map, and mom don’t know how to drive. Is all depends on my six sense now. I’ve been here 2 years ago, so roughly know the roads around. We stayed at Batu Ferringi area, so our first stop is to the famous Thai Buddhist Temple, and the Burma Buddhist Temple. I drive down the Batu Feringgi road, pass Tesco supermarket, pass Gurney Plazza, and if not mistaken the temple should be here somewhere. I asked my dad to keep at eye for a building which looks odd. So while I’m concentrating on my way, t...