Malaysia – A Ride through Penang’s 2nd Bridge (in B&W)

April 7, 2014 by Just A Simple Guy

Finally I get to post this. I had taken photos earlier which was taken at night but it turn out bad. Guess I was traveling in a bus and bus was jumping here and there. This time I got it right. LOL!!

This trip was from Penang Island to the mainland Peninsular Malaysia trip. It is actually my 2 trip on this new Penang 2nd Bridge (it’s official name – Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge) since it opened in 1 March 2014.

During my trip back to Kuala Lumpur, the bus I took has decided to take the new route instead of the ‘old’ Penang Bridge (haha… it is already close to 29 years since it first open to the traffic) .

To get to the bridge, the bus had to take to coastal road is passing the Free Industrial Zone where most of the multinational companies are set up.

A shot of the coast with the background view of the bridge at it’s mainspan.

Construction of an elevated highway is in progress in the middle of the 2 carriageway. So traffic was slow but moving. (luckily it was not a working day else it will be massive jam.)

Another shot of the mainspan. Actually the mainspan is very much closer to the island as that point is the deepest part along the whole stretch of the 16.9km of bridge length on the water.

Entering the bridge. The exit is from Batu Maung on Island and arrive at Batu Kawan on mainland

The total length of the bridge is 24km (overland and water). Dual carriage and a dedicated motorbikes lane on each side.

Mainspan. This part is most beautiful at night when they lighted it up.

Coming down the mainspan, and if you can see far at the background, you will see the round dual carriage way is like a ‘snake’ like.

See it? Have you ever wonder why?

Exiting the bridge. On the other side is the toll which all vehicles have to pay toll. The price? Mmm… the government has yet to determine. So for the time being, everyone is enjoying the toll-free bridge.

Another toll? Yup. This is to toll which connects to the North South Expressway. Big arch right?

Close up shot.

Anyway that’s it. Hope you enjoy my ride on the Penang’s 2nd Bridge. Stay tune for my other posting. =)

Malaysia – Walk up to the Batu Caves (3)

August 21, 2013 by Just A Simple Guy

My last post on the walk up to the Batu Caves.

The interior of the caves is beautiful. Guess the pictures says more than words. Enjoy…..

Sunlight shooting through a hole into the cave…..

One of the temple altars..

view from inside of the cave to the blue clear sky.

Heading back down the stairs… slowly. =)

Here’s the short of the monkey if you missed out on the earlier post. =P

Hope you enjoy following me on the walk up to the caves. Keep following me and find out what is coming next. =)

Malaysia – Walk up to the Batu Caves (1)

August 15, 2013 by Just A Simple Guy

Over one of my weekends, I took a trip to one of the Caves in Kuala Lumpur; Batu Caves to be exact.

What is Batu Caves?

Batu Caves cave is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India, dedicated to Lord Murugan and is the focal point of Hindu festival of Thaipusam in Malaysia, (the other place in Malaysia that celebrate Thaipusamin a massive scale is in Penang – Celebration of Thaipusam. Been here 20 years back on Thaipusam day and it was packed with people… back to back unlike what you will see in the coming photos.

Batu Caves is a limestone hill that has a series of caves and cave temples in the Gombak district, 13 km north of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It takes its name from the Sungai Batu or Batu River, which flows past the hill. It is also the name of the nearby village.

The Shrine at the entrance of the Batu Caves

Another temple which is the near to Batu Caves Komuter Station.

Lots of pigeons near the entrance. The girl is ‘enjoying’ herself been surrounded by them. Can you see her?

Stalls selling Indian garlands

Batu Caves temple complex consists of three main caves and a few smaller ones and almost 100m above the ground. The biggest, referred to as Cathedral Cave or Temple Cave, has a very high ceiling and features ornate Hindu shrines. You will need to climb a steep flight of 272 steps to reach it.

Interesting? Stay tune to fine out more in my next posting. =)

Malaysia – A View from the Airplane Window

August 12, 2013 by Just A Simple Guy

This is my one of trip back from Penang to Kuala Lumpur using flight. As flights were getting more affordable (provided you book early) it is more convenient to fly than to take a bus which may even cost more. Malaysia have a lot of choices of flights to choose from such as Firefly, Berjaya Airlines and Malindo which flies to Subang Skypark, and Airasia to LCCT. Flight time is usually around 45mins to 1 hr whereas a bus trip will take about 4 to 5 hours.

In the Firefly ATR 72-500 propeller plane taxing to take off.

passing by an Airasia 737-400 which just arrived.

A nice shot from the airplane window overlooking the 2nd Penang Bridge link; which is 24km long (land and sea) which is expected to be open in Nov 2014 linking the island to the mainland at Batu Kawan.

The Island of Pulau Jerejak which is a short 5min ferry ride from the island. This island was formerly the main leper asylum for The Straits Settlements (1868), then Quarantine Station(1875) and later penal colony (1969) for the ISA detainees. Now, it has been converted to a resort which is facing the island side. While the other side of the island of Jerejak is a shipyard.

Lastly…. a short out of the window of the clouds at 25,000 feet.

Catch me on my next posting. 😊

Turkey … a country with a long history and beautiful scenic views (1)

March 2, 2013 by Just A Simple Guy

The following posting will be on my trip to Turkey for a short holiday way back in Dec 2009; a 10 days 7 nights a trip that took me close to 3600km round trip.

Where I headed when I was in Turkey you may ask? Highlighted below in the boxes were the places I went; starting from Istanbul doing an anticlockwise direction and finally back to Istanbul.

Took off from KLIA and a journey that took 10 hours direct flight to Istanbul’s International Airport; Ataturk Airport

KLIA International Airport.

.. and inside the airport.

Arrived in Istanbul in the early morning just before sunrise. Driving along the coastline…

Sea of Marmara……

Hagia Sophia is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, then later a mosque and now a museum.

This is the Sultan Ahmed Mosque as also known a Blue Mosque for the blue tiles adorning the walls of its interior, is a historical mosque in Istanbul.

Following on the next post on journey in Turkey.

USA – A drive around Poughkeepsie, New York (1)

February 5, 2013 by Just A Simple Guy

This is one of my business trip and this time was to New York, USA back in Nov 2009. I had took the opportunity to all travel around the area where I went and take as many photos as I could. Over here are just some of it. This is my first part of USA which I will share; New York.

How’s the flight? It was one of my longest flight ever; KL – Singapore (transit) – Frankfurt (transit) – New York. It was close to 24hrs trip. This is the kind of trip I wish I was on business class but well… no luck then to be upgraded from economy class.

My first transit was in Changi Airport…

… then it was to Frankfurt, arriving at 5am…..

a beautiful sight of the clouds from the window……

Landed in JFK International Airport in the early morning and rented a car to drive to Poughkeepsie which was about an hour to an hour half from New York City. It was suppose to be beginning of winter and I was told that there would be snow but I was lucky and it was nice cool temp. No snow at all.

Below are some of the pictures I managed to capture driving around Poughkeepsie during my weekend there.

Beautiful countryside…..

Cute scarecrow along the roads.

Stay tune for my 2nd part of my drive around Poughkeepsie.

Penang – Celebration of Thaipusam (4) …. my 100th post!!!

January 29, 2013 by Just A Simple Guy

Wow… I cant believe I have hit my 100th post in 3 months and have over 500 followers. Thanks to all my readers and followers for keeping me going. If it is not for you all, I would not have come this far.

For this post, it will be my final part on the celebration of Thaipusam in Penang. A matter of fact, in Malaysia, Thaipusam is also celebrated in a big scale in Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur aside from Penang.

More pictures from the celebration….

Smashed coconuts on the road by the devotees..

You can also see that it is not only the Indians that come to pray to Lord Murugan but also the Chinese community too.

After smashing the coconuts, the town council people will be ready to quickly clean up the smashed coconuts aside so that the chariots can go through.

This is the silver chariot that is carrying Lord Murugan ….

So, the next time if you are down in Malaysia during these period, do come and join and watch this celebration. You will be marveled by it. =)

PutraJaya…. a trip to a planned city

December 8, 2012 by Just A Simple Guy

Putrajaya? Planned city? Yup it is. It is a city that is planned for the federal administrative center; shifting from Kuala Lumpur to Putrajaya. I was there a year ago and it is a place where all the new building and structure area as previously… all the administrative was all over Kuala Lumpur but now they centralize it to here.

There are a few man made lakes and bridges to link to a so call man made island. It is a place nice to drop by to have a visit.

Have a look and give your thoughts….

View of the Mosque from the bridge.