Golf Hoildays with Golf Kings

I've written and been to a number of destinations and places to see. among them Phuket, Theme Parks, India and so on.

Among a number of new tourism concepts have appeared, being driven by demand, among others medical tourism and golf tourism.

Golf actually originated from the Scotts, and was a game played by the many, not just and elitist sport (ref Wikipedia). Golf has now spread across the globe, and among the interesting things in golf is obviously the course. This leaves a lot to the imagination, coupled with the terrain, weather and obstacles, therefore different golfing courses, across countries, regions and continents potentially offer a wide variety of experiences and challenges.

One such company that offers golf holidays is Golf Kings. GolfKings specialises in golf holidays in the Algarve, Spain and Mauritus. Golf holidays can include airline flights, or you can opt to book your own air travel.

Algarve in Portugal boasts natural beauties and plenty of beaches coupled with a Mediterranean climate. Golfkings' options in Algarve include the Dona Filipa & San Lorenzo Golf Resort and Penina. The golf hotel / resorts offered, Dona Filipa & San Lorenzo Golf Resort is rated above average and offers highly appreciated golf course and dining.

As for Penina it is rather highly rated, with comments from visitors having enjoyed the golfing experience and the food.

GolfKings golf holidays includes the above hotels and a few others, available at GolfKings Algarve

Among other options for golf holiday goers is Spain, at Costa del Sol, a region in south of Spain, with many resorts located along the coastline. If you are opting for Spain for golf, GolfKings offers such arrangements including tee of times, car hire and transfers, GolfKings Costa Del Sol. For more information on Costa Del Sol check out its tourism board site at http://www.visitcostadelsol.com/

Another goal tourism site to consider is Turkey. Belek is located in the Turkish Mediterranean Coast. The Sirene Belek Golf Hotel among others is an option to consider. It is rated rather highly, with a significant good for value golfing experience. For arrangements you can consider GolfKings'@Turkey.

If you have your options open, or are considering different locations and golf courses, you can key it in into GolfKing's search box in their main website, which I found to be quite comprehensive of their offerings.

Enjoy and happy golfing.

Note - This is a supported review.

Money Changer Forex in Penang

Where do I find a Money Changer / Foreign Exchange booth in Penang?

I have written quite a number of blog entries related to travel, among others Visiting India , precious traveling tips in India, Penang to Phuket and even a marketing analysis on Firefly vs its LCC competitors

So one of the obvious things we need to do is get some foreign currency prior to traveling overseas. It is always a good idea to
1. Carry currency of the country of your destination.
2. Keep some spare local (your home / return country) e.g. for return taxi fair and so on.
3. Keep some commonly accepted foreign currency usually the USD, Pound or Euro. Travellers cheque is also useful and provides some security against lost as it requires you to sign off on the travellers cheque when using it.
4. Internationally accepted credit card, e.g. Visa / Mastercard.

Sometimes we think its ok not to have local currency of the country of destination, however beware as sometime even the airport taxi requires cash and does not accept credit card, e.g. I think the Airport Taxi in Penang is a clear example.

So as you are travelling overseas, the question arises, where do I exchange currency?
Note most banks DO NOT offer foreign exchange except mostly at airports. And even those at airport charge a ransom, i.e are unreasonably cut-throat so that should be a last option.

In Penang, there are a number of outlets which has money changer. Most shopping complexes have a money changer, including

• Queensbay
• Sunshine Square Byn Baru - on ground floor near the Maybank ATM. Go through the entrance next to CIMB Bank.
• Jusco Aeon City Sbrg Prai - on ground floor as well.
• Little India - I would think the best rate are at little India, my logical reasoning is there are a huge number of money changing booths / outlets from various licensed operators. In little India, you can try the many FOREX shops e.g on Chulia Street, Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling and inside the cove.

One more thing I noticed is you get the best value for your Ringgit Malaysia (RM) in our home country, i.e. Malaysia. So to put simple exchange to foreign currency at a local FOREX booth, rather then when you are overseas.

For a list of Money Changes, check out the federal bank's (Bank Negara) link here website
Ok. Happy traveling.

ps- sometimes when I exchange money, I tend to jot down the serial number of the bank notes for trace-ability.

Travelling in India

Traveling In India - Modes of transportation intercity / interstate

As I've covered in my previous blog, getting to India is mostly through air travel, and those staying in Malaysia can opt for the significantly cheap budget airlines Air Asia. The other option is JetAirways besides Malaysia Airlines.

So now once you are in India, how do you get from city to city and between states. India is a large country. Travel options vary from flying, driving, buses and trains.


Flying :
For my flights, I first used sykscanner.net, where you key in your from and to (destination) and, dates, one way or return and number of passengers. Skyscanner scans the available airlines and gives you a summary of options, including travel time, and transit if required and cost of tickets. This is really good as you get a good comparison of all airlines available, their timings and cost. A plus point is that it also 'smartly' figures out to link flights if there's no direct flight option.

I used skyscanner to identify my preferred airlines and then books through the airline website, though you should be able to book through skyscanner.

For my trips I found Indigo to offer the best rates, followed by Air India. Indigo, and Jet Airways are budget airlines, where as Kingfisher offer some other value proposition, i.e the Only 5 Star Domestic Airlines. But at times Air India is cheaper, and it does give you free meals on board!

Here's some experience sharing :
Indigo - Indigo is an interesting airline. Reason for choosing, they were the cheapest. First thing you notice on indigo airlines is that all the stewardess (yes I have not noticed a steward yet) is that they all have the same .......


Yes the same hairstyle!

Source : http://www.gadling.com/2010/09/24/galley-gossip-indigo-flight-attendants-are-forced-to-cut-their/

Indigo being a budget airline do not serve free meals on board but do have them on sale. Our take-off was delayed, and we had to sit in the plane for a while, and requested for a blanket as it was cold, the stewardess politely informed us "Sorry as we are a budget airlines, we do not carry / provide blankets". If it was Air Asia, they'd be more 'business'sy and probably offer you a blanket for sale. :) Anyway the plus point of Indigo was, the stewardess offered to increase the temperature / reduce the air conditioning, and even came back after a few minutes to check if it's ok. This really shows personal friendly touch.

Another positive experience was I called the call centre due to some requests, and they picked up after a few rings, I would say unlike AirAsia that is notoriously known to be slow in picking up calls and even wants to charge if you want to call the 'premium fast response' line. Anyway, the call person on Indigo resolved my issue immediately and I was really happy with the response. Not really putting AirAsia down, undeniably, AirAsia is the BEST budget airline with great rates and better coverage, but they do loose out on the service and people factor.


Train
The train service in India has a vast coverage, is huge and equipped with fast trains (fast not bullet trains yet). You get check the schedule at their website http://www.irctc.co.in/ and I think it includes all the trains. The good thing is that you can pre-purchase your tickets for the Air Conditioned (AC) coaches, which have reserved sits. You will need to register at irctc first before you can view their schedules.

Things to note.

i. If there is no direct train from your place to your destination you will need to figure out how to make the connection between trains, the website only provides you timings, routes and stops plus online purchases. I did not try to purchase through their website, however heard that international credit cards are not accepted, so please double confirm. There are some other sites that offer the same online purchase facility so you might want to try them. One site to check out is makemytrip.

ii. I realised that you cannot make booking on Sunday after 2pm. So if you are planning a trip on Monday morning, better pre-buy and not wait last minute, otherwise you will have to purchase the normal (no reserved) sits and probably stand. Sometimes you can buy seats from the conductor before the train departs subject to availability but you will need to go through a crowd that wants to do the same thing.

Buses

With the new highways coming up, travel by bus is also becoming an option, however most bus, even the sleepers are natural air. I just booked tickets at the counter, however redbus.in seems to be helpful having timings searchable from and to destionation and purchases.

All right then, all the best getting around in India.

Visiting India

India - Useful information before planning / going to India.

Traveling overseas sometimes seems cheaper then inter-city travel at times thanks to low cost carriers. Though I am not a BIG fan of AirAsia, a big kudos to then for really living their moto, Now Everyone Can Fly.

Our one way ticket to Chennai from Penang with added baggage cost around RM400. Really good deal, and it wasn't purchased during any of those super cheap promos I believe.
We pre-paid additional $$ in foresight of access baggage as the itinerary included visiting relatives. Interestingly the flight was 65% empty.

Getting to India.
First of all, here's a simple checklist:

For Malaysian citizens you will NEED a VISA (correct as of time of blog entry).
Many people are obviously aware that visa application can be done in the Indian Embassy in KL. Now here's the GOOD news.
For those in the northern region, there is an Indian Visa Agent in Penang.
Yes, thanks to my dad for the info. Their office is in same row as my dads. It is located on Chulia Street, a few shops down Kapitan Restaurant and Sykt Hussain Surani.

The Indian Visa Centre in Penang details:

GrandLotus India Visa Centre Penang

No. 105, Chulia Street, 10200 Penang

Tel : 04-2505000, 250 5001

Fax : 04-2505002

Visa application for tourism in my case took around 1 week, and the Visa is valid for around 6 months with double entry and a required gap of x (two months if I recall) before the 2nd entry.
It costs below RM200 for the total application. In the visa form it says apply for visa BEFORE purchasing ticket.

Well some of you start to think, hey, isn't India a Commenwealth Country, do I still need a visa, answer is yes.

Language
India is a large country, with the size of its states really large relative to States in Peninsula Malaysia. Most of the states have their own languages, however as a rule of thumb, most souther states like Tamil Nadu (Chennai), Tamil is most widely spoken, where as in states like Maharashtra - Mumbai (though Marati is it's state language) and states further north, Hindi is most commonly spoken. You should be able to survive with English, however for bargaining or getting around easier, some understanding of the local language will definitely help. Hindi Classes are available in Penang both island and Mainland, check out Learn Hindi in Penang

Currency
I recall last time there used to be a ruling on the maximum amount of Indian Rupees (INR or Rs) you can bring into India, however am not sure if that ruling is still valid. Anyway, for whatever amount allowed, I would suggest to convert your Ringgit Malaysia to some Rupees from here. In Penang itself there are many money changers, in the same area as the India Visa Agent, i.e Little India area in Georgetown. If you are in Bayan Baru, there is an Money Changer in Sunshie Square as well. For that case, I think even Queensbay Mall has one now. Surprisingly (or at least to my surprise) most banks do not provide forex change services except their Foreign Exchange Forex branches at the Airport, anyhow usually the rates are better at the Money Changer.
Be careful to look at the changed notes, I sometimes even jot down the serial number of each currency in worry of getting fake notes.

Withdrawing Money in India
Before going, I called a couple of banks I have account in, here's the summary

1. Maybank - You'll notice your ATM card has got the Visa Plus / Intralink Icon, so per Maybank call centre, any banks in India (or elsewhere) that show this symbols will enable cash withdrawal. I think the charges is RM12 per withdrawal.
NOTE - you will have to inform Maybank of your travel plans to enable international withdrawal - either permanent or provide time frame.
2. Bank Islam - Currently only tie up with Banks in Indonesia.
3. HSBC - I have a credit card with them not savings, Visa.

My experience
1. Maybank - I couldn't get my card to work at the few different bank branches I tried. Possibilities :
i. Just doesn't work.
ii. It could be the ATM machines in India still use the magnetic strip, and maybe my Maybank Kawanku card's strip is damaged. Remember in Malaysia we are 'advanced' (to avoid forgery) so we have implemented the Chip in the Cards.

2. Then it occurred to me, I already requested an ATM pin for my HSBC C/C Visa so let's try that. Any yes it WORKS!. I'm not sure how much the charges and the interest rates are going to be, lets see.

Credit Cards
Remember to inform your c/c company about your planned travel overseas, to avoid your card being blocked in fear of theft and mis-use.
Ok, again, Malaysia being advanced, you will notice your Credit Cards come with a Chip / IC on the front (the one that's gold plated, looks like your mobile phone SIM card).
During my few years travel to US as well, they had yet to implement the Chip Cards.
So in India, when I tried using my card it got rejected. Luckily I managed to read the text display on the Card Reader, " Use Chip Instead".
As it seems in India the magnetic strip (i.e where they 'swipe' you card across the reader) is still in use, you will have to explain to them to 'slot' in the card in the below slot in the same machine.
Alhamdulillah for that, that the Credit Card Reader Machine has BOTH the magnetic and CHIP reader.

Calling / Telephone / Mobile Hand Phone Sim Cards
Usually when traveling overseas for more then a few days, I get a local sim as receiving calls will be cheaper, and making callls cheaper. However arriving in Chennai, we came to realize that getting a new prepaid starter kit is now rather difficult due to security concerns.

Best option is to go to one of the branches itself as for my experience the re-seller was not very 'informative'. From my understanding, if your are born / working in Tamil Nadu (Chennai's State) you will need to provide proof of this and then get a SIM. If not rather difficult. For tourists / foreigners, besides providing a couple of Passport sized photograph, and your passport as proof you will need to provide a local contact (referee) person's full name and contact mobile number. So if going on a business trip, make sure to get details of your host. Otherwise check if the hotel manager is willing to be the local contact person.

Cost Of Things
Currently for RM1 you will get around Rs 14. However for RM1 in India you will get close to 1 -2 samosas not 14!. If fyou are using a smart phone you should be able to find a Forex Apps, I'm using FX Currency on my Milestone Android phone.
So actually cost of things are nearly the same after you convert, probably lunch at an Air Conditioned restaurance would cost your RM30, then here it would be around Rs 450.

Transportation
By the way, get familiarized with the term, A/C. A/C seldom refers to the Current vs Direct Current but is short for Air Conditioning. Most taxis and obviously all Auto Rickshaws (3 wheeler motorized vehicles) are Natural Air (non-AC).

Transport by Auto Rickshaws is relatively cheap except if you get fleeced. A 5 KM ride would cost your around Rs60 which comes to RM4.50 or something. So far in Chennai, the rides have all been fixed rates, no usage of meters. Reminds me of Malaysia...

The taxis are also actually not super expensive, especially since many ply the roads with Compressed Natural Gas. Now explain this to me, Malaysia produced CNG right? Why are we so slow to adopt it then at least in our public transport. My friend was saying CNG is actually expensive and possibly subsidized in India. ??

City taxis mostly use Meter. However so far in Chennai most transport is by Auto Rickshaws or 'pre-paid cars with drivers'. I.e if I need to go to the Airport with luggage, I don't stop a taxi but get the hotel to inform the transport provider to come over and wait. Do this earlier. One more thing that might come in useful :

Do Auto Rickshaws / 3 wheelers go to the Airport in Chennai - The answer is yes and no. They will take you to the airport, however they are not all allowed to drive to the main drop-off / pick-up zone, so what they would do is drop you at the shuttle drop-off zone, and from there you will have to take a shuttle to the main arrival / departure entrance. The shuttle ride is around 3 minutes only but I am not aware of the frequency of it. So personally if you are traveling light and have time to spare, then take the auto. If not, i.e if you have a lot of luggage, traveling in a group, or short of time, maybe consider the A/C or non A/C pre-paid / pre called meter taxis.
However probably the auto rickshaws would be faster in weaving through traffic. Your decision.

Take a close look at the above picture, notice something interesting? A number of the cars have side-mirrors but are folded in. Yes, traffic is that TIGHT people are probably worried that their side mirrors will get knocked off. To be fair, my MyVi has also lost its side mirror before hahah.
Distance between spots in Chennai appear further then they seem due to the heavy traffic and road conditions.

I remember Chennai being hot and humid. But this time round (Oct 2010) wheather seems pretty nice and relatively dry. Possibly the monsoon is delayed.

One tip on taking auto rickshaws or Taxis, ask them if they know the place, because sometimes they agree to take you to a destination but get lost (intentionally or not, not sure) and might ask more. Usually you can argue your way out but better to confirm, if not ask them to ask. Most drivers proactively ask people for directions if they are not familar with that area.

Chennai Aiport
Chennai airport is currently going thru upgrading. Below is the queue for the immigration clearance in Chennai Airport. By the way Chennai was formerly known as Madras, so the Airport code is still MAA.

Once you arrive, look for the pre-paid taxi counters, there are a few. The one we used was Fastrack Car Rental. Yes I got confused, initially I thought Fast Track Car Rental would be for Renting Self Drive Cars. Not necessary, they've got a fleet of drivers that take you to your destination. Somehow when I landed on through the Domestic Gates, the pre-paid booths were visible before exiting the arrival hall, however for International Flights I did not see the booths. Anyhow if you walk slightly ahead after exiting the arrival hall you should see a 2nd set of pre-paid taxi booths, as below.

I would strongly suggest take the pre-paid taxis, are you will have luggage and the rates are fixed. Indicate to the counter if you have extra luggage, then they'll try to arrange a larger vehicle possibly.

And as the world has it (same thing is Malaysia) getting from Airport to my hotel was cheaper then from hotel to Airport. Go figure.

Our ride on the Fast Track Taxi was pleasent, the drivers name Arul if I recall. Friendly, and recommended some good places for Khana / Sapde / Makan / Eating.

Shopping in Chennai.
So far did some shopping in Pondy Bazar in T.Nagar. There's a lot of shops on that row and also road side stalls selling their wares.
Nilu managed to negotiate from Rs150 to Rs 100 and better so that would probably be the negotiation range.
Look out for defects though.
Pondy Bazar mostly has cloths, ladies shoes, shorts. The shops include stainless steel and utensil stores, also selling Soda Maker.

Local tops, shirts, jeans etc are rather cheap, this could be attributed to possibly India producing its own cotton.

Books - it seems books are relatively a lot cheaper. Interestingly, there is even a 'road side' version (not sure legal or pirated, according to the seller it is legal, cheaper version) where you can get decent books from RM20 and below. Even at the bookstores, the books are cheaper mostly then in Malaysia. You can read more buying books and the experience plus a feel of how much books cost at Books at Chennai

On a Lighter Note

Every country has got its own set of culture, or way of doing things. Here's a few pointers I've noticed so far

1. Movie cinemas are more commonly known as Theatres (similar to some other Asian countries)

2. Junctions or cross roads - locals might use the term cut. i.e take right on 2nd cut would probably mean take right at the 2nd junction. Even in US some of us will find it peculiar, where people say "hang a right" and not take a right.

3. When agreeing or saying yes, locals mostly shake their head in a particular pattern, instead of nodding which might be more common for us. So be sure you understand clearly are they saying yes or no! :)
4. Restaurant vs Hotel. When you google hotels in India or see a sign board like Ananda Hotel, remember it is not neccessary an accomodation. In India, hotel also refers to restaurants. So double confirm, and probably look out for other words used together like accomodation / lodge etc.

Accommodation in Chennai

Cost of accommodation in Chennai is average. A decent hotel would cost you around RM100, and you should get better value nowadays (as of Feb 2011) with the strengthening Ringgit. We stayed in two different hotels:

1. Malles Manotaa in Periyar Road, T.Nagar. We also walked around after checking in, and definitely Malles Manotaa to us would be the best value for money. They have breakfast, rooms are fresh, and dine-in menu items are a good variety and reasonable.

Malles Manotaa Rates & Info

2. A good option to find hotels in Chennai is to read the reviews. However there are probably some good ones that are not online as they might be new and only accept local credit cards. You can start your search here : Find Hotels, Rates and Reviews in Chennai

Eating in Chennai
InsyaAllah this will be another entry. :) Await the likes of Murugan Idli, Dhanda Jigar and differentiating a meals restaurant and non-meals.

Bukit Merah, Lost World of Tambun or Sunway Lagoon

There are a number of Water Theme Parks in Malaysia, among others,

• -->Sunway Lagoon at Subang, Selangor
• -->A Famosa Resort Melaka
• -->Lost world of Tambun, Perak
• -->Bukit Merah Lake Town Resort Perak - somehow going to their website gave me a trojan warning so won't put the link here.

So which is the best water park to go to? I guess this blog can be quite controversial, as people have their own preference, and theme parks change their attractions from time to time.

My review is based on below parks and time, taking into consideration their water parks ONLY:

• # Sunway Lagoon visited many years ago and last on 2009.
• # A'Famosa Melaka - visited around 2002
• # Lost world of Tambun, Perak - visiting mid 2010
• # Bukit Merah Lake Town Resort Perak - visited 2009

Let's start with the simple Lost World of Tambun - one word - CRAP. Though they seem to boast a huge park, and a lot of marketing promotions, the rides are actually rather few. My feeling - "that's it"?

They offer both dry and wet park, however both rather dissapoint. Suggest to go hear ONLY if you haven't been to the others, otherwise you'd probably be dissappointed.

A Famosa Resort Melaka has the 'scariest, most challenging ride'. I went the with my colleague mate. And I still remember it clearly. We climb and climb and finally reached the top of the ride, and my was it a very high ride. Quoting the website it's a SEVEN story high ride. When we got there, we were in awe, and well, were going "you GOTTA be kidding!". Yes, it is REALLY high, and the way it is designed leaves much to the imagination. Finally when we RODE the water slide, it was a super fast descend, and it was literally 'burning' the trail.

So for an awesome water ride with a big plus on FEAR factor - A Famosa Resort is the choice.

Yes definitely they have other rides as well, but for this ride to still be fresh in my mind after many years, it must have left an impact to my memory.

Accommodation wise, you could probably stay at A'Famosa or Malacca.

Next Sunway Lagoon, I'm not sure is it just age or it really changed. I remember going to Sunway Lagoon water park when I was a teenager, and the water rides were fun and aplenty.

However during our visit last year, it was like, again IS THAT IT? I actually asked one of the lifeguards and he said YUP. I think they tried to diversify by making more themed parks, however having to sacrifice some water rides. Anyone any comments? Anyway as mentioned, this is the best 'wholesome' park in my point of view.

For those from outstation, you can opt to stay in Selangor or KL, however Sunway Lagoon is located in Petaling Jaya (PJ) specifically, so it would be best to get a room in PJ. Go for Sunway Lagoon Resort if its in your budget, or check out and compare hotels near Sunway Lagoon.

Definitely different people prefer different rides, I'm done with roller coasters and prefer water rides and 3D / 4D rides. Can't wait to visit universal studios in Singapore. The one in Orlando which had 3D Spiderman was AWESOME. No it isn't one of those low cost ones where u just sit in a cinema, but this one really takes you on a ride!

And finally Bukit Merah Lake Town Resort. I actually found this water theme park fun. Eventhough we went during the school holidays it wasn't over crowded. They've got the normal water slides as below.

Here's a side view of the slides, and the sky-chair that takes you across from different parks. A good experience especially if you decide to skip the water theme park.

There are 2 awesome water rides there the Giant Bubble a first in South East Asia, as you can see below.

The wet-bubble is basically a semi-sphere (a half dome bubble), which is kept wet and you climb up, push people down and just have loads of fun. It is hard to describe, but the fun is mostly in the challenge of climbing up, yanking the rope so people trying to climb up fall and jumping on the bubble and pushing other people down. Not sure but the life-guard didn't like it when we jumped too much on the top of the bubble.

The bubble is limited to 6 pax per turn. So there's naturally a slight queue.

And then the Boomerang Slide. This is also fun and gives you a 'roller coster' feel without the dizziness.

Per entry just for the water park is RM25 per adult. Rather reasonable. My only complain would be the wave pool didn't have any WAVES! The life-guard said it's broken. To bad.

Getting there - That the PLUS North South Highway and exit Bukit Merah. The Resort is just five minutes from the drive and sign-boards are a plenty.

For accomodations in Bukit Merah, you can either call Bukit Merah Laketown Resort or book online and check prices for Bukit Merah Laketown Resort

Besides staying overnight, a day trip is also sufficient. However if you are coming from far, another option I would recommend to stay at Taiping as there are a number of things to do there and Bukit Merah would be not to far a drive. Things to check out at Taiping are the Zoo / Night Safari, Lake Gardens (Taman Tasik Taiping) and definitely Maxwell Hill. Click here for hotel in Taiping.

Enjoy!