HCMC, VIETNAM

11- 14 December, 2009

The trip was more for Nina. It was her first time in Vietnam and my 11th. HCMC remains as one of my favourite places in South East Asia.

On the way to Ben Thanh Market for some crazy shopping.

Ice Cream Break by the Sidewalk

Cu Chi TunnelInside Cu Chi Tunnel

Tapioca Break with Nguyen, our guide. I believe half of the people in the country are called Nguyen.
Tunnel Entrance. This was the same post found on Cu Chi tour brochures. Somehow, the tunnel was enlarged to accommodate the bigger size tourists especially from the western world. But crawling inside still took some efforts.

Night Time in HCMC. Our hotel, Bong Sen is at the far end. HCMC was heavily decorated for the coming Christmas. The picture was taken in front of the mosque and a new halal restaurant called halal@saigon. I strongly recommend the restaurant. It has many Vietnamese dishes, unlike other halal places with mostly Indian or Malaysian foods.

Notre Dame. One of the popular tourist spots in HCMC.

Inside Notre Dame. My first time inside a church. It was during a mass on Sunday. Amen.

Post Office. Another popular attraction. This colonial building houses the real post office. The interior was worth a visit.

Inside Post Office

Reunification Palace

War Remnants Museum

Reluctant Tourist. Anas complained of coming to HCMC too many times. It was his 3rd. trip. HCMC is still Daddy's favourite place.

It had been a long day for this tired soul!

Mt. Bromo, Surabaya, INDONESIA

November 21 - 23, 2009

The trip was planned much earlier. We were sending our maid back for holidays and after that climbed Mount Bromo. Unfortunately, Ton's mom passed away 2 days before our trip. After the funeral, we left for KL to catch our flight to Surabaya.

After reaching Surabaya airport and saying good bye to Sutin, our maid, we made our ways to Mount Bromo. First, we stopped at House of Sampoerna, a museum depicting the life of its founder from rags to riches.

House of Sampoerna

Then we stopped at a salt factory in a fishing village called Pasuaran. It wasn't much of a factory and more of a repacking place for salts coming from outside.

The fishing village of Pasuaran

After Pasuaran, it was a long drive on winding road to Tosari, the place we stopped before going up the mountain. It was cold and wet. We came during the rainy season. We woke up at 3am to begin the climb at 4am. It was by the jeep all the way to Mt. Tengger to observe the sunrise.

Familiar Faces in the crowd

With my favourite son.

Coming Down from the observation point

Ton shopping on horseback.

Bromo National Park is listed as one of the most beautiful places on earth. I agree.

As far as she goes

So I made it to the top.....

After the climb we went back to the hotel. We had breakfast and left Tosari for Surabaya. It was mango season. We stopped along the way for some of the biggest and sweetest harumanis we had ever tried.

The Royal Golf & Country Club, Bangkok, THAILAND

October 3, 2009

This was the venue for our Merdeka Golf Tournament. I had played at this beautiful course during earlier trip. It has a lot of water hazards and pretty flat terrains. I was paired with Haji Amir and 2 locals. Unfortunately, my golfing was haphazard on the very day that I should perform.

Below are some photos taken by Yusoff. My camera was out of commission.

It was a formal gathering with batik shirts. I was more of a royalist with yellow shirt

Hari Raya Get Together at the Malaysian Embassy

Breakfast at the Deputy Ambassador' residence before the tournament

View of Bangkok from the Deputy Ambassador's apartment

My old friend Khiew, blue shirt (a Malaysian residing in Bangkok) with his flight

The caddies were more helpful compared to the Indonesians

Thai Country Club, Bangkok, THAILAND

October 2, 2009

We went to Bangkok at the invitation of the Malaysian Embassy for Merdeka Golf Tournament. There were more than 20 guests from Kuala Lumpur.

Our big group of 23 golfers.

We had our practice round at Thai Country Club on the 2nd day after arriving the night before. Thai Country Club is the home of the Volvo Masters and as such is more on the upmarket.

The scene before the start of our game. The caddies had a field day

My foursome with (L to R) John, Haji Amir and Yusoff

With Yusoff, Haji Amir and John at Par-4 Hole 10. The plaque says Tiger Woods reached the greens in one on this 365 yards hole. I managed a boogie.

Somehow, my trusted old camera decided to ''kong"'out. I was left without it for the rest of the trip.

Era Golf Club, Bahau, Negeri Sembilan

August 19, 2009

It took more than 2 hours to get to the golf course. We drove past Kuala Pilah and from there to Bahau. There were plenty of signages to guide to the course. Zack, Shuib (my neighbour) and I made up the three-some.

The tee box damaged by wild boars

We were the only 2 flights playing that morning.

Shuib teeing off

The clubhouse looked sparsely occupied reflecting low traffic. Surprisingly the golf course was maintained in tip-top condition, except for some tee boxes damaged by wild boars.

The fairways were well laid out for golfers os all levelsZack was limping all the way. Another die hard golfer.

Coming back to KL took us almost 5 hours due to rain and heavy traffic after Kuala Pilah. Somehow, I believe, it was worth the trip.

SINGAPORE

July 1, 2009

The Club House

We had a meeting in Singapore. We arrived a day earlier to check out the local courses. Laguna was the top choice. it was the home of Singapore Open.

A nice course, well maintained but a bit pricey for a Malaysian golfer.

Meeting in Kuching, SARAWAK

June 17 - 19, 2009

We had a managers' meeting in Kuching, our annual event. It was held at our branch office. We stayed in Grand Margherita Hotel (formerly Holiday Inn).

Day session at the branch

Seafood Dinner

Late Night session at the hotel.

Directors and managers had an early round at Kelab Golf Sarawak. Later we had an official tournament with customers at Damai.

I won 100 bucks at the morning game. This was at the restaurant where we had our lunch before proceeding to Damai for the real tournament. 36 holes in a day were enough to tire an old man like me!

The real Champion.