Seremban2 to honour chess masters

In mid-January this year while on a trip to Seremban and Malacca, I had stopped by the Seremban2 city park to take in the view. In recent years, this park with its main feature being a magnificent lake has become a premier oasis for the people of Seremban, supplanting the popularity of the Seremban lake gardens which for many decades had been a principal feature of the town.

Anyway, the city park in Seremban covers a sprawling area of about 15 acres. My wife and I took a slow walk around the perimeter of the lake and observed the many activities going on there: individuals walking, jogging or participating in vigorous mass zumba exercises; families strolling and relaxing with their young children in tow. Feeding the fishes in the lake also seemed to be one of the favourite past-times of the people and mind you, there are probably thousands of fish, especially catfish.

I had noticed a particular junction along the perimeter where three pathways joined up. A small, relatively flat space that overlooked the lake. I was told that there were plans by the developer of the sprawling Seremban2 township, IJMLand, to make something out of this land very shortly, possibly to complete before the Chinese New Year. It would be one of their CSR projects.

In the weeks that followed my visit to Seremban2, many curious people would have wondered why this 15-foot statue of a chess knight was being erected in that vacant space. But following its completion with no inkling of news on why the statue was there at all, curiosity has made way for quiet acceptance of its presence.

But of course, there is a purpose to this project. Very soon, I am told, possibly come the middle of May, there will be an official ceremony to dedicate this statue and the area around it to chess.

Chess may not be one of the more visible games in this country but I can assure you that the game has a sizable following. If we consider that:

1. Chess is not exactly a spectator sport for the masses, 
2. There are chess tournaments all year round ranging from higher-end internationally-rated tournaments for the more serious-minded players to the frequent much more popular lower-end rapid-chess tournaments that attracts 100 players on an average per tournament, 
3. On the assumption that the chess population in the country consists of 10 percent hardcore chess players who have been playing the game all their lives, 25 percent of chess players who have been at the game for more than 10 years, 35 percent of chess players who have been playing the game for more than five years and the remaining being chess players who have competed in local chess tournaments (including at school level), and 
4. There are unknown players who only play socially among themselves without ever participating in tournaments, plus an unknown number of people who read chess news off the Internet, 
5. A growing chess coaching industry throughout the country ensures that more children, getting younger all the time, and their parents and guardians are getting exposed to the game,

Taking all the points above, I would venture to guess that the chess enthusiasts in the country would conservatively number around 100,000. A sizable following for a game that is not often in the public eye, and indeed, does not attract as much support from the Olympics Council of Malaysia as I feel it should.

But for all its grassroots popularity, chess does not have a local hero that the chess players can look up to. Considering that the Philippines have their Eugene Torre, India have their Viswanathan Anand and China have their Hou Yifan - and I'm quoting only three countries - Malaysia have none save for our five international masters. We have not grown beyond five because our culture does not permit state support or even provide ample recognition for our chess talents. Is it any wonder then, that our IMs do sometimes question whether it was really worth their while to have spent so much time in chasing their chess dreams and in return, benefit little or at the very least, see scant recognition for their efforts?

For the unheralded chess players in this country, there is now an attempt to give credit to these five international masters. If we need to grow our chess level, these five IMs should be the core of our development efforts. The country shall need to engage them in order for the game to progress further. By right, this should be the responsibility of the Malaysian Chess Federation but even after more than 40 years there is a perception that something is holding the federation back. By this perceived reluctance to fulfil their role and engage our titled players, private individuals and interested companies must instead step into the void created by the Federation.

Thus, I am glad that IJMLand is now prepared to step into this void. As starters, the public-listed company has erected this statue on their property, the Seremban2 city park. Come this May at the dedication ceremony, the company will unveil five park benches around the statue which shall honour our five international masters. Each of these benches will bear a caricature of a player and beside a chess board etched into the bench, will feature the player's most important game. To make this move meaningful, our five players have already agreed to lend their support to this project.

But while these will be the initial set of five park benches, it should not stop here. I am confident that IJMLand will be prepared to commit more of their benches around the statue to honour new international masters should more of our local players attain this title.

But what will happen if someone should go further and obtain the grandmaster title? I don't see this happening soon enough but when it happens, I would dare say that IJMLand may have other plans in mind to honour them. Who knows, perhaps naming their pavillions at their hill park that overlook Seremban2 after Malaysia's future chess grandmasters? When the time comes, that will be a fine gesture indeed.

My (close) brush with Lee Kuan Yew

This is my copy of The Singapore Story, the memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew who died yesterday.

I had bought it a long time ago, and possibly more than a decade has passed by already. This particular book of mine has a very remarkable story of its own. And I'm only willing to tell it only because this is a tribute to Singapore's founding father.

It started in June 2009, you see, about a year after the General Elections of 2008 which saw Penang and Perak falling into the hands of the Pakatan Rakyat. Lee Kuan Yew or LKY, the Minister Mentor of Singapore and who was already 85 years old, decided to embark on a tour of Perak, Penang, Kelantan and Pahang.

I was intrigued when I heard the news. Here was a great man whom I'd like to meet, if I can. But I couldn't. It wasn't in LKY's itinerary to meet people publicly. He only wanted to meet the people in government and talk with them. (Personally, I had thought that he wanted to come to Penang to gauge and assess the new state government for himself, and see whether Singapore could work with Penang on mutual projects. To me, it was a fact-finding mission. And I believe that I wasn't too far off the mark in my assessment.)

Undeterred, I asked a friend in the state government whether it could be possible for LKY to autograph my copy of his memoirs. I knew it was going to be a long shot because I had heard that very seldom he would sign his books and if he did, a sizable donation would have to be made to some charity of his choice. Anyhow, my friend said that he would try but gave no promises.

As it turned out, LKY could not autograph the book then and there as he would be leaving soon for Kelantan. But never mind, someone in his entourage told my friend to just leave the book with them and if they can catch LKY in a freer mood, maybe, just maybe....

So apparently, my book left Penang and went to Kota Bharu and from there, it travelled with the Singapore entourage to Kuantan before they arrived back in Singapore. A week passed. What had happened to my book? I didn't want to ask my friend about it because frankly, he wouldn't know either.

More weeks went by without a word. I waited and waited, until one fine day he asked me to collect the book from him. The book had come back from Singapore after all. It had travelled in a big triangle from Penang to the east coast of the peninsula and then down south to Singapore before returning to Penang. It had finished a remarkable trip.

I flipped open the book and there it was, Lee Kuan Yew's signature. Definitely, this will be a book for me to cherish. A precious book for me, and a book for my family. It wasn't easy to get his signature, and it is impossible now to get it again. Rest in peace, Lee Kuan Yew, you did well for Singapore.

Solar eclipse 2015

There was a total eclipse of the sun on Saturday afternoon - starting from 3.41p.m. and lasting for about four hours - but it was not visible in my part of the world, South-East Asia. It was, however, seen from across the northern part of Europe especially above the Arctic Circle. Not having seen solar eclipses before, I had to scour the international news sites to experience this occasion. I wasn't disappointed because someone had decided to film the eclipse from an aeroplane. Wow, awesome!

50 shades of pink

Today's post is all about the Tecoma flowers which have been blooming all over the place in my neighbourhood and in particular, along the road where I live. For about a week, I've seen the buds open into a glorious bloom of pink and I've seen the flowers wither and fall to carpet both the roadside, kerb and inside my porch.

I've been noticing that many people had chosen to walk along the road just to admire the trees in various shades of red, pink and white.

But while the flowers are beautiful indeed, sweeping away the fallen flowers have been a most tiring effort. The paper thin petals stick to the ground and while singularly the flowers are very light, they are quite heavy when swept together.

And I've been doing this both inside and outside the porch. I've bags full of wet and dry flowers to show as evidence, all waiting for the Municipal Council's garbage collectors to come and dispose off.

Earlier last week, I made a complaint through the Better Penang website that the Council sweepers have not been seen in my neighbourhood for a very long time.

More than a year ago, the Province Wellesley Municipal Council (MPSP) had terminated the services of their contractor. The MPSP had recognised that their appointed contractor hadn't been doing a good job and taken back the service of sweeping the roads and clearing the drains.

I hailed that decision because I had believed that the MPSP was serious enough about keeping their standards high to meet ratepayers' expectations.

Initially, I noticed sweepers coming round to my road on Wednesday mornings. But for several months already, the sweepers have been absent. I haven't been seeing them doing to rounds. Luckily, ours is a relatively responsible neighbourhood and our roads remain clear of falling leaves and other debris.

However with the Tecoma season upon us, I was concerned that clearing off the fallen flowers would become tedious. So I wrote to the Better Penang website.

Two days later, my wife noticed a group of men coming round to collect the heap of fallen flowers on the roadside. So she asked the supervisor why they hadn't been doing their jobs for so long and the answer she got was that there was shortage of manpower at the Council.

Shocking indeed! It's gross inefficiency for us ratepayers to suffer the manpower shortage at the MPSP with the Council taking little visible effort to address the issue. At least, that's my perception of the problem.

Thankfully today, eight days after the first flowers had bloomed, almost all of them have fallen off the branches, leaving behind a tree bereft of flowers and leaves. It is as if autumn had arrived in my neighbourhood except that the Chinese New Year weather remains hot, humid and stuffy.

2015 durian season starting

I caught up with my good friend, Durian Seng, earlier this week and I asked him about this year's durian season. Will the harvest be bountiful? He broke into a big smile which said everything!

He's obviously happy. According to him, the hot fine weather has given rise to his trees flowering profusely. Right now, the fruits are starting to form. Some are already about two to four centimetres long, he told me, and the ripe fruits should be ready to be enjoyed by mid-May at the earliest. Different species of durian flower at slightly different times and with the rainy season starting soon, if any tree had not flowered before then, it would be barren come the durian season.

Anyway, with the present trees flowering, he knows that his season is set from end of May till the end of July. I promised him that I would release the dates for the availability of the various types of durian from his estate in Sungai Pinang, so here it is. Just keep a thought that the dates are all very tentative. But he is so experienced with the King of Fruit, which has been cultivated since the days of his father, that his dates can't be far wrong.

D604 (早花黄肉) 25 May - 5 July 2015. Yellow, creamy and dry, sticky.
Lipan (蜈蚣) 25 May - 5 July 2015. Beige, aromatic and creamy, sticky.
Kunpoh Angbak (坤宝红肉) 25 May - 15 July 2015. Old tree, reddish hue, sticky.
Little Red (小红) 25 May - 15 July 2015. Reddish; sweet and smooth.
D600 1 June - 5 July 2015. Golden yellow, bitter.
Horlor (葫芦) 1 June - 20 July 2015. Golden yellow, aromatic, sticky.
D11 (十一号) 5 June - 5 July 2015. Beige, sweet, sticky.
Kunyit (黄姜) 5 June - 15 July 2015. Yellow, bitter sweet, sticky.
Kapri (甲必利) 10 June - 15 July 2015. Old tree, aromatic and bitter.
Green Skin (青皮) 10 June - 20 July 2015. Old tree, beige, sticky.
Lin Fong Jiao (林凤嬌) 10 June - 20 July 2015. Old tree, yellow, bitter sweet, sticky.
Bak Eu (白肉油) 10 June - 26 July 2015. White, bitter weet, aromatic, sticky.
Red Prawn (红虾)10 June- 31 July 2015. Pinkish, bitter sweet, aromatic, sticky.
D15 10 June - 31 July 2015. Golden yellow, bitter sweet, aromatic, sticky.
D99 15 June - 31 July 2015. Golden yellow, bitter sweet, aromatic, sticky, thick flesh.
Ganja (长帝) 18 June - 31 July 2015. Yellow, bitter sweet, sticky. 

Photo-bombing

I had tried to be as unobtrusive as possible. After all, it was the gathering of the Penang Free School batch of 1971/73 and I had only gone to their dinner function to meet some of my old friends there. I left after saying hello to them and to some of the former teachers present. But somehow, I still managed to be captured in one or two of their photographs. This one, for example, I wasn't even posing for the group shot. I wasn't even aware that the picture was being taken. I was, in fact, talking to someone off the camera. Yet, I found myself unintentionally photo-bombing. BTW, that's Michael Devaraj in the picture.

Oh yes, also this one. A little bit of me in the background. Like everyone else, I was startled to see a very frail Leong Yee Fong being helped to the teachers' table. According to one of my friends, one of the best history teachers ever!

Relatives...

Oh yeah....the relatives had come a-visiting on the second day of Chinese New Year....

Old teachers

I gate-crashed a reunion last night. I got to hear about the gathering of the Penang Free School batch of 1971/73 and decided to go see some of my old friends. Was pleasantly surprised to see that they had filled 11 or 12 tables, which meant that there were at least 100 of their year at the function!

Technically, I'm one of them but because I got into an express class in Standard Two whilst at the Westlands Primary School, I jumped to Standard Four in the following year and thus ended up as their senior in the PFS.

Nevertheless, I know several people whom I've known for quite a long while: people like Ooi Eng Hong, Lim Eng Chong, Lim Eng Swee, Tan Leong Wah, Ong Charn Hong, Khoo Boo Teik, Cheah Cheng Hye, Neoh Chin Boon, et cetera....

But what I didn't expect was to meet so many of our old teachers too. I half-expected to see Tan Boon Lin but he couldn't turn up. Instead, there was my other headmaster, Poon Poh Kong, as well as Ooi Keat Leong, Phang Pheng Yoke, Tan Sean Huat, Khor Gark Khim and Poh Guat Cheng who had all taught me. Present also were Padmanathan, Hwang Hong Shi, Ang Chin Bean, Leong Yee Fong and Yeoh Oon Huat who didn't get to teach me.

After saying hello to the people I knew, I left soon after this picture was taken. It's their party, after all; no point intruding too much, no point wearing out my welcome.

Chinese New Year with friends

Small gathering yesterday at the Northam Beach Cafe in Northam Road, George Town, which was the second day of Chinese New Year. Glad to have seen them. Kim Bok was not in the pictures as he arrived after this "professional" photo-shoot was over.

There's this reddish tinge in the picture because a string of red lights was overhead. Anyhow, from left to right were Teik Wah, Oon Hup, Phang Peng Yoke, Huan Chiang, Chye Chye, Soon Chye, Andrew and myself. Phang was our Geography teacher. Last met him about five years ago, or maybe even longer!

The night wore on and this picture was snapped at about 11.15p.m. Even then, we had Kim Bok arriving much later just about when I was about to leave this gang of old school friends. From left to right: Soon Chye, Jessie, Hock Leong, Michael, myself, Kah Kheng, Chye Chye, Huan Chiang, Andrew, Teik Wah, Seng Oo and Oon Hup.

Joey Yap says: Power up for 2015

Here are the auspicious directions for Wealth, Helpful People, Nobility and Good Fortune, Career and Business Success on Feb 19th, the first day of the Lunar New Year. 

For those of you who want to receive the Wealth Star (culturally known as Receiving the God of Wealth), receive the Qi from the East.

For those seeking mentors and helpful people, use the West.

If you prefer to give value and contribute, serve others more this year - use the North. This is the direction of Nobility and Good Fortune.

If you seek career advancement and progress this year, tap to the NorthWest.

For Business Opportunities and business growth, access the NorthEast.

The auspicious time is 12.30am. Allow the Qi to flow into your home from the direction you desire. Make sure the Qi from this direction can enter your home.

Traditionally, people also do a full prayer facing that direction. Or if you are like me, who prefer to keep things simple (but equally effective ), make a wish facing that direction.

Can we use more than one direction?

Why not? :-)

The Qi (energy) is free for all. Tap in and access it as much as you'd like.

More importantly , share the wealth and good fortune with others. The more we can help others succeed and be happier in life, the more we will receive in return. Please share this post with all your friends.

Wishing you good fortune and happiness in The Year of The Wood Goat.

(The above story was reproduced from Joey Yap's facebook entry.)\

Indian Summers in Penang

The Bellevue Hotel at Penang Hill is a photographer's private delight. From its vantage point behind the restaurant, one looks down at the promontory which is George Town. When my wife and I were there at the turn of the new year, we truly enjoyed our stay there despite the somewhat quaint service from the kitchen. To the left of the vantage point, one can see a huge structure in the distance, somehow positioned at a slightly lower elevation than the Bellevue itself.

A long time ago, this was the well-known Crag Hotel, established in 1895 by the same Sarkies Brothers from Armenia who had also developed the Eastern & Oriental (E&O) Hotel in downtown George Town and the Raffles Hotel in Singapore.

In the late 19th century, a certain Captain J Kerr had leased a plot of land at Penang Hill and erected his bungalow which he called The Crag. Later, the Sarkies brothers acquired the bungalow from Kerr and turned it into the Crag Hotel. The hotel operated until the Second World War and after that, it fell into disuse. From 1955 to 1977, the International School of Penang (or Uplands School) used the building as its primary boarding school.

When I was at the Bellevue on 31 Dec 2014, I had trained my camera at the former Crag Hotel and captured this picture. The place actually looked spruced up and not as dilapidated as originally thought. Even from this distance, I had noticed that the lawn and garden was very neat. Evidently, someone was taking care of the place. It had been so cleaned up.

Then in the past fortnight or so, I've been reading that a new 10-episode television series was about to be screened in the United Kingdom. The Channel 4 TV series, called Indian Summers, would take viewers back to the summer of 1932. It would be the last days of British rule in colonial India: there's the decline of the British Raj and the birth of modern India.

The series is set in Simla - the capital of the Himachel Pradesh state in the north of India. It was here during the hottest months of the year that a burgeoning community of Brits would descend and govern from the foothills of the Himalayas, where it was cooler. However, modern-day Simla posed too many practical obstacles: too many modern high-rise buildings that couldn't be avoided in any location shooting.

Then the producers happened to visit Penang and they were swept away by our colonial past. The buildings here have far too many similarities with Simla in the past. Penang was an ideal substitute. And the former Crag Hotel became the Royal Simla Club, the focal point of the whole series. But there was still a problem.

Simla was located at the foothills of the snow-capped Himalayas. Where on earth could we find snow-capped mountains in Malaysia? Luckily, this problem was easily solved. No big deal. Like many film shows nowadays, computer-generated backdrops have come to the rescue. And so, here we are, Penang Hill has been relocated to the foothills of the Himalayas.

Year-end send-off prayers to the ancestors

The last week or so had been very busy for my wife and I during this run-up to the Chinese New Year. We have been spring-cleaning the house almost daily and we couldn't believe the amount of dust that had accumulated since about two years ago. My hospitalisation in January of 2014 meant that we hardly had time to spring-clean the house last year; this year, it was back to the mops and brooms with a vengeance!

Anyhow, we did manage to slot in some time to visit Ipoh last weekend and gone out to the island for our weekend yoga classes. Yesterday, we awoke very early at six o'clock to prepare for the annual end-of-year prayers to my departed ancestors.

That would mean my grandparents on both my paternal and maternal side, my parents and my aunt. I had written in the past how challenging it once was to throw the old pair of coins that would signify whether they had, erm, arrived at our house for our little prayer session. These old coins were meant for divination purposes: a heads-and-tail combination would mean that yes, your inquiries have been answered while a tail-tail or a head-head combination would mean a no, and you will have to try again.

My past run-in with the door guardians or door spirits was that I had failed to request them to allow my ancestors unhindered passage into the house. They would be stopped at the door  and not allowed in until I had prayed to the door guardians and told them my purpose.

This time, I pre-empted the potential sticky situation by purposefully praying to the door guardians first. After that, my first try with the divination coins was a successful head-tail combination. Yes, my ancestors had arrived for the feat of fruits and Chinese New Year tidbits. After an hour, I tried again to inquire whether my ancestors had finished. And yes, they had. They were indeed satisfied.

And with that, ended our simple prayers this year-end....

Balancing an egg on Li Chun (立春) day

I did it on this very day last year and I managed to do it again on Li Chun (立春), the fourth of February. It's a special day in the Chinese calendar as today signifies the beginning of Spring. And what did I do again? I balanced an egg upright on the kitchen top. That's all, that's all I did.

In the meantime at noon today, I placed this new packet of rice in my rice bucket to signify abundance. Purists may be horrified that I did not actually empty the packet of rice into the bucket but to me, it is still the same. I'm filling it up. Happy Li Chun (立春), folks!

Full moon, plus planet Jupiter

Another attempt at photographing our nearest celestial neighbour tonight: it's the full moon. The last full moon before Chinese New Year. I'm quite happy with the moon...it's full, it's round and it's bright.

But more than the full moon itself, there was also a bonus: I see the very bright planet Jupiter to the south of the moon. Jupiter has been very prominent in our night sky for months now, and I had first noticed it in April last year.

Small reunion of old schoolmates

The occasion was the wedding dinner of Swee Poh's daughter at the Eastern & Oriental Hotel in George Town, Penang, in early December last year. Swee Poh is my old classmate from our Penang Free School days. Several of my old school friends also took the opportunity to attend the function and it became sort of a mini-reunion for us. An added bonus was the presence of our old geography teacher, Ms Tan Joo Sin, who is well into her 90s.

(Left to right) Abu Huraira, Abdullah Sani, Quah Chei Jin, Yeap Leong Teik, Andrew Choong, Loh Choi Choon, Choi Choon's daughter, Mrs Cheah Swee Poh, Cheah Swee Poh, the happy couple, myself, Ms Tan Joo Sin (in wheelchair), Ooi Kah Theang, Mrs Ooi Kah Theang, Boon Choong Meng, Chang Yew Keow

Almost a full moon

I was stepping outside the house just a while ago and I caught a glimpse of the moon. It is still not fully round yet as the full moon is still two days away. Nevertheless, with the long shadows cast at the lower outer ridges of the moon, where the pock marks are, the sight is rather interesting. I just can't wait for the evening of the third of February....

Sunrise right on cue

My wife and I woke up at five o'clock this morning. We had a morning appointment with a friend to climb up the Bukit Mertajam hill at Cherok Tokun. Reason was to catch the first rays of sunrise.

So we arrived at the foothills at 6.05a.m. and immediately, we set off for that little observation post about three quarters of the way up the hill which overlooks the Mengkuang Dam. Tiring walk in the dark; took us slightly over an hour to reach there. But what a reward once we got there. Magnificent view. To our right, we could already see streaks of orange to deep red light through the breaks in the cloud cover.

At first we thought our climb up the hill would be disappointing because of the thick cover of clouds but suddenly, a golden pinpoint of light broke through the clouds. A wonderful sight. Mesmerised, the three of us started clicking furiously with our cameras to capture the rare moment of the sun bursting through. But all too soon, it hid behind more cloud cover. The magical moment had come and gone. But we caught it, all right.

Andy Murray's gonna freeball

Generally, I don't read the newspapers anymore but yesterday, while waiting for my wife at her former office, the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers, I had nothing to do except to pick up the copy of The Star which was lying around the lobby.

Turning from one page to another, my eyes rested on a small story about tennis professional Andy Murray's forthcoming marriage later in the year. Actually, I don't know what caught my eye first: was it the grey background colour of the story or was it the heading?

Here's what it reads:

"When Andy Murray marries his long-time girlfriend Kim Sears later this year he is likely to wear a kilt." Okay, fair enough, Murray is a Scot where the kilt is Scotland's national attire.

"Kilts are generally worn with nothing underneath and the proud Scot will follow protocol." That, by the way, has always been a curious matter. Do they, or don't they?

"I think I'm going to have both options and see what I feel like in the morning," he said when coaxed into talking about whether he will wear a suit or kilt by an on-court interviewer. Personally, I would want him to wear a kilt. That's their heritage, it should be followed!

"When the interviewer probed further, he said: "Obviously proper kilt, yeah, freeballing," before quickly saying: "I've got a match to play in a couple of days, can I go now."

Freeballing. Oh yeah, Any Murray will be freeballing at his wedding. And what's freeballing? It's going about without wearing underwear. Letting all hang loose, balls and penis. And I tell you, it's the freest form of motion expression open to men.

Ao Nang sunset

When I bought the holiday package in Ao Nang way back in November, I had deliberately timed it such that my wife and I could take our holiday right after she had resigned from the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM).

This was an organisation that she had worked in for almost 21 years, rising to the position of the branch manager. She decided to leave because she wanted to take things easy, especially since our children were all grown up, independent and working.

We had promised each other that for once, our holiday would not be such a rush. No, we would not be pressured into squeezing every bit of activity into the confines of a 24-hour day. No, unlike our previous overseas holidays, we shall make time to relax. And that is why I had refused to do much homework to decide the where, what, how and when to do anything.

The day of our arrival in Ao Nang, right after lunch, we spent the afternoon resting in the hotel room. It was not until late afternoon that we ventured out into the streets, walking to the beach front, because we wanted to watch the sunset. So there we were, taking a relaxing walk and then sitting down by the beach side, enjoying the sea breeze, people watching, and casting our eyes out towards the horizon. The changing colours of thelate afternoon, changing into a glowing golden hue before dimming into a dusky grey. The setting sun turning red and slowly creeping behind the far, distant islands....

This was our schedule repeated for the next two nights. For three consecutive nights, we made our way to the beach front just to watch the sun setting before turning our thoughts to dinner. We only missed the spectacular sunset once and that would be on our final night in Ao Nang because we decided to go off to Krabi town and enjoy their weekend night market.

Holiday package in Ao Nang

I've just realised that contrary to what I wrote a few days' ago, our recent holiday in Ao Nang wasn't planned just some five months ago. It was actually mooted some five years ago, at a time when my son was still planning to enter college after his Form Five. We had bought some hotel coupons for a Krabi stay through Groupon but at the last minute, we decided to give it to his friends. So yes, my wife and I had been thinking about Krabi for quite a while.

And this didn't materialise until September last year when Firefly introduced a new Penang-Krabi route to their itinerary. I picked up some cheap fares fairly quickly.

Then came the search for hotel rooms two months later. I looked through Groupon but there weren't any deals available. This forced me to look at other sources.

There was an attractive offer of a 4D3N stay at the Aonang Cliff Beach Resort which I booked subsequently after reading the favourable reviews on the hotel. However, it left me still having to find another night's accommodation as our inward and outward Krabi flights were five days apart.

At first, I toyed with the idea about staying in Krabi town itself but somehow, after reading through the comments on TripAdvisor, I decided that perhaps staying all five days in Ao Nang would be less of a problem of moving our luggage around. I was glad to have made that decision. For that additional night's stay, I plumbed for the newly opened Ibis Styles Hotel.

But it was the Aonang Cliff Beach Resort that provided us with such good services. We were picked up from the Krabi international airport and driven directly to Ibis Styles. The next day, their transportation came to transfer us from the Ibis Styles to the Aonang Cliff Beach Hotel. And when we checked out five days later, the hotel brought us back to the airport. What a wonderful arrangement!

I should also mention here that when we checked into the Aonang Cliff Beach Resort, the hotel decided to upgrade us from their standard room to the deluxe room. As part of the package, the hotel provided us with a complimentary full-day four-island hopping tour. On top of that, we were also given the option of either a free dinner or a one-hour session at their Infinity Spa. Tell me, what more could we have asked for? Fabulous!