Island of the Hill Myna

Bliss… a peaceful beach at the Berjaya Tioman Resort

I’m in a hurry. I’m going on leave!!!! Yippee! A trip, finally. …On a flight! After seeing the kids fly off and come back (by themselves) in the airport, we, adults finally get a chance to fly ourselves. No thanks to Trump and gang, who totally messed up the situation here. Yes, that stupid Iran war, that Trump and Netanyahu started, got out of hand and nobody knows now, how it’ll end. Damn!

Gotta find an easy post… with pictures, and less writing. Let’s see, since we’re going home to Malaysia, I’ll post something from Malaysia, which I’ve not posted before – Tioman! The island of the Hill Myna!


We’re here! The Berjaya Resort, in Tioman Island, Pahang, Malaysia

Thanks to sis, Hazel, who gave us 2 nights in this resort from her Berjaya Vacation Club quota






There’s nothing much to do, but chill out at the beach…


Or in the swimming pools


Or we could go snorkelling! At the sea in front of the Tioman Marine Park


Look at the fish around us!


The Tioman Marine Park building…


At the raised footpath that connects Kampung Tekek to Kampung ABC (which is the nickname for Air Batang, …don’t ask me what the ‘C’ stands for). This ABC Village brings back fond memories of the first and only time I visited Pulau Tioman before this, in umm… the early 90’s, 1990 probably, or was it 1991?

At that time, I was a student in a college, in Kuala Lumpur (KL). And I had 2 close friends from our secondary school who were then studying in two other different universities, in different parts of Malaysia. There was a national holiday, Hari Raya Haji, and we happened to meet up in KL, and there, on the spot, decided to make a trip to Pulau Tioman (yup, those were the times, when we could just get up and go! Fuck the planning, haha!) So, we went straight to Puduraya, the main bus station in KL then, and found out that half of the KL population was there, trying to get bus tickets to go back to wherever their hometowns and villages were, because of the Hari Raya Haji (Eid Al Adha) holidays. There were no more buses to Mersing, the departure port for ferries to Tioman. So, we bought tickets to Kuantan as advised by some helpful people in the bus station.

When we reached Kuantan, we went straight to the bus station, and found a bus going to Johor Bahru (JB) at night, with a stop in Mersing. Voila! We grabbed the tickets, but that still left us an entire half-day in Kuantan, with nothing much to do. And so, we headed to the beach in Kuantan (Teluk Cempedak, if I’m not mistaken), and swam and chilled till the time for the bus journey came. I don’t remember how we cleaned ourselves up after the swim in the sea, but we were somewhat sticky with the salt water on our bodies, and finally we made it to Mersing in the wee hours of the day, which was just right, as ferries then, left at daybreak, like at 6am, not like nowadays…

We stayed in Kampung ABC, if I remembered correctly, in a little wooden chalet overlooking the beautiful, blue sea, in a little village, with a path, wide enough only for bikes. On the third day of our visit, on the day which we were to leave, we were having breakfast at the chalet, and asked the landlady about when the ferry would leave Tioman for Mersing. She pointed to the boat chugging away from the nearest jetty, and said that we’d missed it! What a day that was. We waited in the jetty, under the hot, unrelenting, beach sun, until we got a boat in the afternoon. Managed to make it back to Mersing in the evening, but not early enough to catch any public buses going off from Mersing. Finally, we ‘bribed’ some members of a tourist bus from Singapore (yup, Singaporeans could be bribed, haha), to allow us to get on their bus, which was heading back to Singapore, to bring us till JB (a big city, which we would be able to get onward bus tickets to wherever we needed to get to). JB was jam-packed with Singapore-bound traffic. (The next day was back to work, and back to school, and that’s why we HAD to get back that day). To cut the story short, I managed to make it back to KL in umm… the wee hours of the next day, and my architect friend who was at that time working as an intern in Ipoh, had to take a day off!

Oops, looks like I’ve written a lot more than I planned to. Back to the post…




The seas around the Tioman Marine Park along the footpath. By the way, Tioman got its name from a bird, the Hill Myna, or in Malay, ‘Burung Tiong’. Of course, there’s a legend on that… and you can Google it for all you want… (I’m sure it’ll be in the internet, I’ve already written too much as it is…)


The Maori Dive Academy, where there’re toilets that we could use (for changing and other stuff), and food! (after snorkelling)


Time to leave, and get back to everyday life! At the Tekek Ferry Terminal, our arrival and departure point, Tioman Island, Pahang, Malaysia


We’re back on the mainland! Mersing – The Mersing Harbour Centre, Johor, Malaysia

That’s all. See you after our break!

A Show Like No Other

A scene from La Perle

Isn’t it irritating when you have something to post, but there just isn’t time, because the work keeps coming in? (No, I ain’t complaining. Work is the most important friggin thing keeping us alive… I have all the friggin respect for work. O, highly exalted work, keep me busy, as busy as you like, but shower me with lots of income… Isn’t it high time that I get a raise?!?)

Not to worry, I have something up my sleeves just for times like this… an express picture post! Talking about the opera, here’s a spectacular show like no other in Dubai! And I recommend that you go see it! It’s absolutely worth it!


The stage… Looks like any ordinary stage, doesn’t it?


Hi boys! Look how little they are. And, see those masks? Remember the COVID-19 times?


The show begins! The circular hole in the middle, is actually a pool… performers can appear mysteriously from the pool, and disappear when they jump in! Here’s a scene with acrobats and a tightrope walker (or in this case, a slackline walker… O yeah, there’s a difference!)


A clash of cultures? A Chinese Lion and whirling dervishes all in one scene?


The pool boileth over! Oh yeah, the entire stage can be under water!! And waterfalls can spew forth from the podiums!


Here’s a video… (By the way, this is the first ever video in this blog! Took me 20 years to put in a video?!?)


And, it’s dry again! Hey, someone from the audience just went up there and he’s now running and skipping on that rotating thingamajig contraption!


If you wanna know more, go watch it!


La Perle (by Franco Dragone, the renowned Italo-Belgian creative director, who developed many of the Circue du Soleil's prestigious shows worldwide), Dubai, UAE – Aug 2021

A Night at the Opera

I’ve decided to take a break from my Albania posts, to post this post, about the one and only time that we visited the Dubai Opera (so far). Actually, yesterday, Jayden had a chance to perform at the Dubai Opera!! Nice! But it’s nothing big. He was involved in his school’s play, Aladdin, and they did a rehash of one of the songs from that production, for his school’s senior graduation ceremony! (So, that’s why the school fees here cost a bomb!). Anyway, we didn’t go (it’s 100 dirhams per ticket …just to see him and team sing ONE song?!? And then be forced to sit thru the entire graduation ceremony of people we don’t know?!?? Besides, we’ve already watched the full-length Aladdin play at his school earlier, and we’ve been to the Dubai Opera before). We did however, send Justin. He’s never been to the Dubai Opera, nor seen the Aladdin production, and he knows some of the students there. So, it was a kids’ day out, and a night of blissful respite for the adults!

Here’s our one and only visit to the Dubai Opera …for a performance by the National Ballet of China! Compliments of my company, ahem. (No complains when it comes to freebies, hehe). Cheapskates, forever! (Wait till we strike it rich! Yeah, just you wait).


The Dubai Opera House




The stalls at the Dubai Opera




Introducing the National Ballet of China, Jan 2024. Bravo!


Anu at the Dubai Opera


A view of the Dubai Fountain from the Dubai Opera




The Burj Park, just outside the opera house, Feb 2024 (for a Chinese New Year function). You can get a nice view of the Burj Khalifa here, but it's too darn near to have a nice photo showing its full height!


Whoa, what's this? It's an entrance to a restaurant, or is it a bar? (We dunno coz we just went for the toilets, hehe). Lemme see... Google Maps... It's the Salvaje Dubai, a Japanese Restaurant sez Maps, which is strange coz Salvaje sounds nothing like Japanese!


Why does the Dubai Opera feature a shuttlecock? Isn't this more appropriate for a badminton stadium?




That’s all folks! There you go. One quick, express post done!

The Accursed Mountains

Church at Theth Village, on the foot of the Accursed Mountains, Albania

Let’s continue with Albania, since I’ve already started it. (Makes it easier, don’t need to think too much). Mountains, here we come! We’re mountain-lovers, what can I say? Of course, we’ll head to the mountains if there’s any, and Albania is full of mountains!

Here’s the Accursed Mountains. Yeah, no kidding, that's its real name. Don’t ask me how it got this cool menacing name. Maybe you can Google it. Is there a curse linked to this place? Let’s hope it’s just a name. Anyway, accursed or not, they’re too good to be missed.


Up, and up we go, on this narrow mountain route. It IS narrow. Can barely squeeze in 2 car widths, but luckily, the road surface is good! Why do trees grow crooked like these??!? Beats me


Whew, smooth sailing all the way to Theth, the main village here. That’s our hotel, the Logu i Harushave


Good morning! Let’s have a nice breakfast before we head out!


Exploring Theth Village – the village church… It’s a catholic church sez Google (Albania is supposed to be a Muslim country, and indeed it is. The population is more than 50% Muslim, but I think the Albanians are mostly irreligious, and we don’t see any mosques or signs of Islam in the Theth area…)


A bee farm in Theth Village – Those mountains are the Accursed Mountains (also known as the Albanian Alps) surrounding Theth Valley


Hiking to Grunas Waterfall, our first stop. Those dirt roads are bumpy, but are drivable from the looks of it (I would’ve driven, if I’d known earlier, ahem. Yup, lazy, non-environmentally-friendly bugger)


A nice halfway stop, …a rest area where you can buy drinks and snacks – on a small farm area up in the hills. Google calls it the ‘Kunora e Grunasit’ (or the Crown of Grunas if you translate it to Albanian). This is the limit where vehicles could come. After this, the path is only wide enough for foot traffic


The rustic grocery store/ farmhouse… at Kunora e Grunasit, Theth, Albania, Aug 2023


Yippee! We’ve reached the Grunas Waterfall! Supercold water! Brrrr….


“Jayden, don’t run!” And there goes Anu, running down the path, trying to catch up with Jayden, and taking a bad tumble! Through some sort of freak accident, a jagged piece of stone made a bad cut on her knee… Looks like it’ll need stitches. (…Hmmm…, maybe that’s why it’s called the Accursed Mountains??!??) Anu, limping down the path till the rest area. We asked a fellow tourist to help talk to some construction people further down the dirt road to drive up to the rest area, to take us back down to the village, and we’d pay them. Thank God, it wasn’t worse, and that someone came to help… Also, thank God that a doctor was present at the one and only ‘seasonal’ clinic in the village, who could stitch up the wound. The clinic was just beside our hotel. She had 4 stitches!


We were supposed to also visit the Blue Eye (a scenic turquoise, blue pond, with a waterfall flowing into it) which is a different 2km hike, but decided to give it a miss and rest instead (of course, with the stitches and all that, what d’ya think? We’re bonkers?!?). This view of the Theth River Gorge, is from the road leading to the Blue Eye Kappre trail


Hello Honey. How’s your knee? Looking good!!


Let’s get back down to the city. A crucifix beside the hill road on the way down to Shkodër, the biggest city in Northern Albania


Bye-bye Accursed Mountains… Till next time