Port Dickson - The Malaysian Gold Coast?

A couple of years ago, during a familiarisation trip to Korea, I was seated next to a very very senior official from the Malaysian Ministry of Tourism who was the guest of honour at that dinner function. He whispered to me.... "I know that your are strongly promoting foreign countries to Malaysian Muslims. Is there anyway you can use that effort to promote Malaysia to the foreigners?"

Well, since that day, I have been thinking of how and when I can do my bit to help promote Malaysia not only to the foreign but also to our own Malaysians.

Recently I went on a weekend drive to Port Dickson, the nearest holiday resort from KL to see what Malaysia has to offer. What I saw really disappointed me.

Here your are..... "A picture paints a thousand words"

Welcome to Port Dickson - National Beach Resort. I am not sure when and why Port Dickson was declared as a National Beach Resort. There are so many other beautiful beaches in Malaysia like:

Batu Ferringhi & Tanjung Bungah in Penang, Teluk Cempedak in Pahang, Cherating Beach in Pahang, Batu Buruk Beach in Trengganu and to name a few more, all the beaches in East Malaysia.

Hundreds of people swimming and enjoying their weekend in PD. Good to see that Malaysians enjoying their past time even with the threat of world economic turmoil.

However, the people are swimming in filth at our National Beach Resort

Rubbish everywhere. Who is to be blamed? The people or the authority?

The only washroom at this National Beach Resort but there is no water for the people to wash up before they go home.

Sign of Life Guard Tower. Good and commendable idea as this is for the safety of the holidaymakers. Just like if not much taller than the popular 'Baywatch' movie.

Oops..... Nice tower, no guards? On closer checking, I noticed that the tower is so rusty, no wonder there are no guards. Maybe they are worried if the tower topples, the holidaymakers have to save them.

Another commendable idea. Having a Police Beat Base here. Oops.. another shocker.... No policemen manning the base.

The Star - Wednesday July 16, 2008

Wednesday July 16, 2008
Don’t let people suffer any longer
I AM begging both the Government in power and the Opposition not to sacrifice our country for their personal gain.
We were having a very good life until recently. We are now suffering not only with rising petrol prices and the chain reaction but we are also worried about our safety with all the public demonstrations.
These are points to ponder for one and all, the people suffer when the Government raises fuel prices and the Opposition demonstrates against the rising prices, and police roadblocks are set up everywhere.
The people suffer when tourists are scared to come to our country, when businesses raise prices due to the increase in fuel prices and again they suffer when there is no proper public transport. These are but only a few of the reasons why the people are suffering. Do we pay our taxes to suffer? Do we work so hard from morning till late to suffer?
One very good example of how bad the situation is: my foster family from the UK used to come over to Malaysia every year since the last few years and they had agreed to attend my son's wedding at the end of this year. Now they are having doubts about coming due to the news they are reading on the Internet about Malaysia.
Good news? Well, your guess is as good as mine!

MALAYSIAN ARAB,

A week in the life of a tourist in Malaysia - Monday

This is what a typical tourist into Malaysia may encounter and I would like to share it with you. Some of it may be exaggerated but most of them are true. Otherwise, I will not be writing this. Being in the travel industry for quite a number of years, I have friends who are tourists too.

Monday: Arrive at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on a Malaysia Airlines flight from ........ One of the best inflight service. I came with much expectation as this country have been strongly recommended by many friends who were here more than 10 years ago. Wow, nice airport right in the middle of nowhere. No traffic jams, I hope. Immigration officer was very polite. There were no hiccups when I collected the baggage. Customs officers just let me walk through without checking any of my baggage..... Hmmmmm......Although I welcome this... for all you know, I might be a drug or diamond smuggler. Why have warnings about hanging drug smugglers if you cannot catch them? How to catch them if you dont check their baggage? Well, that is not my problem...... Need to get to the beautiful city of Kuala Lumpur, FAST..... Take the high speed train, I thought..... noooo.. one smiling shorty came up to me 'Sir, my aircond taxi faster then bullet train, for train you wait. For me we go now... no need wait. Fast, fast reach KayEl some more, you see many things along the way. Good idea I thought. Yes, the taxi was fast.. very fast until we got to a place called Sungai Besi. We were stuck there for more than 45 minutes and I also saw 2 of the highspeed trains whizzed past us. Before I could say anything, the cab driver commented 'Aiyoo..Sir, train no have jam but I also promised you no jam. Now you oledi outside KayEL, I no bluff you one... little bit la.. maybe take sometime to go in. From here you oledi can see KLCC Twin Tower. Good view, no need to go climb up oledi. If you take train, it go too fast, you cannot see all the high high tower KayEl so famous.
After more than 3 hours we reached my hotel Jalan Bukit Bintang but the taxi fare came to 180 in Malaysian Currency. Should be reasonable. Right? Nice and comfortable 3 star hotel. Somehow the rates must be alittle on the high side. I paid 400 ringgit per night for a standard room only to be told that I came here during the F1 week. Well since I am already in Malaysia... might as well make the most of it I thought... I'll calculate the 'damages' later. I have not planned anything yet tomorrow but now, I need a good night's rest to be ready for it. Goodnight........... Can't wait to see more of Malaysia.

New Tourism Minister - She is not new anymore

Below is the one of my letters that was published in the Star sometime in Mar of this year. I have noticed that since then, nothing much have changed on the topics that I have stated below.

Friday March 28, 2008

To-do list for the new Tourism Minister

I HOPE the new Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said will bring about big changes to the industry.
I hope she will not only brag about the number of visitors into Malaysia as her predecessors have done but also look into the facilities that we can provide for foreign as well as domestic tourists.
As a person in this industry, I would like her to make sure that all the so-called cultural villages in the various states are properly operated and maintained. The Sarawak Cultural Village in Kuching is one example. The beaches in places like Penang, Port Dickson, Teluk Cempedak should be maintained and the seas kept free from pollution.
The authorities must see to it that all water sports operators have insurance and their equipment are in good working condition.
Another major grouse is that of taxis which over charge passengers at tourist spots, airports etc.
There must also be proper parking spaces for buses at major tourist spots such as KLCC, Kek Lok Si Temple and Afamosa.
Malaysia Mega Sale Carnival organised by Tourism Malaysia should be a sale in the true sense of the word. Not traders making a fast buck by hiking the price and later bringing it down again and consider it as sales.
Your officers must be made to go to the ground checking on all these items to ensure that policies made are properly implemented.
Tourism is big business, and as in any business, it has to be run in a proper manner.

MALAYSIAN ARAB, Kuala Lumpur.

Now that the year end Mega Sales is back, are the prices really cheap? I know it's easier said than done but whatever it is, Malaysia must be in the forefront of grabbing those tourist that were planning to head for Thailand but due to the political turmoil in that country, are now looking for other places withing this region.
Singapore? Concrete jungle....
Philippines? quite volatile too......
Indonesia? People know more about Bali than Indonesia and since Garuda International cannot fly into Europe, they are quite handicapped.
Let's not talk about Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.......
Here is Malaysia, left like an unpolished diamond..... it is so unpolished that people may even miss it.

My first post

Although I have thought of having my own blog for quite sometime already, I have never really got to it. Fear? Maybe.... fear of being branded an anti government person. That is the reason I have been writing the the editor@thestar.com.my The Editor have been very generous in publishing most of my letters although he has not published some. (Maybe because they are abit sensitive and might get me into trouble. I normally write on tourism matters as I have a passion for it. I may be new in this industry as compare to those with 30 or 40 years experience. But then again, experience is only good if you know how to make use of it. I always tell my children sometimes a bus or taxi driver will brag that he has 20 - 30 years experience and that he knows KL roads very well but to me that is experience not properly utilised. I will salute a taxi or bus driver that has only 2 years experience but now has a few of his own.
Coming back to tourism.... I have been to many places ever since school days. I used to hitch-hike from Penang to Singapore every school holidays (back then the roads are not like today and the drivers are more friendly - I dont blame them now. What with all the robberies. I, myself will not pick up anyone hitch-hiking nowadays). Then after I left school, I joined the airlines a a cabin attendant and see the places that I have always wanted to see but after a couple of years, the job of 'Yes Sir, No Sir, Three bagsfull Sir was not a glamourous as I thought. Anyway, after visiting all these places, Malaysia is still the place to call home. After moving to other line of jobs that took me to various countries, and some 25 years later, I came back in the travel industry. That was back in the year 2000. New Millineum? Alot have changed since..... but the Malaysian mindset has not. We have a very beautiful country but we do not take care of it. We have no natural disasters but we created some.... like the Highland Towers and the recent Bukit Antarabangsa. I will get to all these later........

Tourism.. What is tourism?
A tourist is a person that goes somewhere to find things that he cannot find at the place he is at. That is why he is willing to spend money to go to that place. I think I should stop here for the time being and continue later...... You can choose to follow my blog or not..... dont get lost cos I too am not sure where I am going with this blog yet...... May be interesting.. may be not....