After a short stay in KL, Laura left for the UK. It was a pity we did not have a chance to see more of Malaysia. But it was good to have the privilege of spending time with her.

After Cameron Highlands Laura and I bussed down to Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur means Muddy Estuary which came aout because it started off as a tin mining town. There we visited the Central Market, Historical Museum, etc.

We travelled around KL mainly via Light Rail Transit (LRT) or by car.

Cameron Highlands is located in Pahang. Laura and I went to Cameron highlands for few days and enjoyed the coolness of the mountain resort. We visited the former Che Foo School where Laura's cousin studied as a child.

April 21, 2005: I met up with Laura and that evening we took a trip northwest to the island of Penang, where I currently reside.

One of my favorite restaurants in Penang is Kapitan's Restaurant, located in Chulia Street (also known as "Little India") in Georgetown. So I took Laura there for a taste of good North Indian food. Tandoori Chicken is absolutely divine.

Upnorth of Penang Island is a stretch called Batu Feringghi. It's where all the tourists love to go for shopping at the night markets, or swim, parasail, jetski etc. There arelots of hotels and guest houses, restaurants, cafes etc.

We visited the Penang Butterfly Farm which is the largest butterfly farm in the world. They had a mini insect exhibition and put some of their creepy crawlies on us.

6 years ago I was totally new to the wired world and it was my first few days of being online. Someone had just taught me how to use yahoo messenger at the internet cafe as back then I didn't even have a PC. And I think it was day 3 or something like that, and Laura picked me at random and chatted me up. I greatly enjoyed our chats and over the months we shared poetry and told each other what needed improvement etc. I taught her how to get her works copyrighted since I had all my work done previously.

So after all this time of chatting she decided some time visiting friends in Singapore and then come visit me in Malaysia too. What joy to be able to meet her in person. Read on as I tell you more about our little adventure...

Hmmm... It seems to me I'm having writers' block... No articles, quips, stories, etc in absolutely ages. This is totally unlike me. But I guess it happens to the best of us. I've been working 12-18 hours a day, for the last 3 years. February 2005 marked the 3rd anniversary of EJRS Networking. It's amazing how fast time has gone by.

I have devised a 5 & 10 year plan for growth of my business, and this being smack in the middle of the 5 year plan, it was time for evaluation. It was great to take time out and the timing was unbelievably perfect. My friend Laura from UK emailed saying she was going to visit friends in Singapore and wanted to meet up with me too. Laura and I have been internet friends for 6 years and we finally had the chance to spend 10 glorious days together, travelling around Johore, Penang, Cameron Highlands and Kuala Lumpur.

Recently I decided to make some websites about Malaysia:

http://my-malaysia.info
http://west-malaysia.com
http://east-malaysia.com

Reason being, many friends wanted views about Malaysia so I just sent em links to other sites. I figured it was time to make some cool informational sites that would benefit my friends as well as others as well. I began to write to owners of websites and organizations, and fortunately Tourism Malaysia and other organizations chipped in, Photographers and individuals helped out too and it proved to be a great idea.

I've decided to launch a monthly contest. People who are in the know about Malaysia, especially those who have lived in Malaysia, or now reside in Malaysia can participate.

The monthly prize was $25 but I decided it was nearly impossible to send such a small amount to a winner via bank cheque/check so I have increased it to $50. If the project works out and I get more entries than planned, I will increase it to a bi-monthly or even weekly - my ultimate desire.So if you wanna participate, go to http://my-malaysia.info/forum and join the fun. Please read the instructions first before participating.

Best wishes.