seventh job as tourist guide - 1 day JB tour

Today is my seventh job as tourist guide – 1 day JB tour. The tourists for this trip are a group of China tourists and some Taiwan tourists. They are coming Malaysia Johor JB to attend award recognition conference. The conference venue is Loon Sing Restaurant which is located at Bukit Indah. During the period in JB, their accommodation is located at Johor duty free zone named Berjaya Waterfront hotel, Johor Bahru.

Around 8.45am morning, all tourist guide are gathered at Berjaya Waterfront hotel Johor Bahru. Looking into hotel lobby, there are already many China tourists and Taiwan tourists waiting there. This 1 day JB tour take up to 6 buses to ferry the tourists. Due to no earlier arrangement for which bus to sit for Chinese tourists and Taiwan tourists, all the tourists onboard to bus as they like. All tourist guide onboard to individual assigned bus and take the headcount, then report back to person in charge. We depart at 9.20am from Berjaya Waterfront hotel Johor Bahru, but my bus stop just minutes after depart. One of the tourists stops us and alights to fetch another 4 China tourists who are just coming down from their hotel room. Our bus driver is originate from Klang and don’t know the road route in Johor Bahru and supposes to follow the bus. Now such delay has causing all the bus left and he need to drive to Bukit Indah himself. In the end, he calls the other bus driver to ask for the road route to go there. We reach Loon Sing Restaurant at Bukit Indah around 10am. The award recognition conference event started at 10am and expected to finish at afternoon 3pm. We have 5 hours of free & easy during this period. All the tourist guide and bus drivers go to nearby Aeon Jusco shopping mall for lunch and rest.

Loon Sing Restaurant JB

We return to Loon Sing Restaurant Bukit Indah around 2.45pm afternoon after receiving call. After all China tourists and Taiwan tourists gathered and onboard to bus with headcount done, it is about 3.30pm. Our next destination is Tanjung Piai national park. Tanjung Piai national park is located 90 kilometer away from Johor Bahru city centre. We reach Tanjung Piai national park at 5pm. Due to too many tourists and to facilitate the entrance speed, the entrance tickets is based on headcount of every tourists entering into the Tanjung Piai national park entrance door, and the person in charge pay the total amount after all tourists already going in and headcount done by the ticketing staff. Due to time constraints, tourists only allowed 30 minutes to visit the mangrove forest and photo taking. The wooden bridge pathway leading to the globe is broken near the globe placement, causing tourists unable to take photo with the globe.

When all China tourists and Taiwan tourists return back to bus, onboard and departed to Kulai 88 Guo Tai Restaurant, it is already 6pm. The journey to Kulai 88 Guo Tai Restaurant takes about one and half hour. All tourists are already hungry when reaching there at 7.30pm. We have a scrumptious dinner at Kulai 88 Guo Tai Restaurant for one and half hour until 9pm. After dinner, we depart back to Berjaya Waterfront hotel Johor Bahru. There is a minor accident when our bus reaching near the Berjaya Waterfront hotel, whereby a car has crashed to the lamp post beside the main road and causing the lamp post fall horizontally on the road, blocking the road access both ways. After 15 minutes of waiting on the road, at the end we are directed by police to make a U turn to take another route. A journey of 2 minutes has become 25 minutes journey to reach Berjaya Waterfront hotel due to this unexpected incident. All the tourists look so tired when we reach hotel at 10pm.

Tanjung Piai national park

Tanjung Piai is located southernmost point of Peninsular Malaysia and thus the most southern point of mainland Eurasia. The skyline of Singapore is visible across the Johor Strait from the point.

Tanjung Piai coastal mangrove is an internationally important Ramsar site. Under the Ramsar Convention, the government and relevant stakeholders have an obligation to ensure the mangrove ecosystem and its values are maintained. Erosion at the site needs to be minimized to safeguard the ecological integrity of the mangrove ecosystem. The root causes of the erosion need to be eliminated or reduced.

Tanjung Piai is a nationally important icon, being one of only five Ramsar sites in Malaysia. Tanjung Piai is also an important nature site in Johor, being the 3rd designated park of Johor National Park Corporation. Tanjung Piai has high socio-economic value for fisheries. The site also has high ecotourism potential. The site is located on the southernmost tip of mainland Asia and is listed as a priority site for national ecotourism.

Tanjung Piai national park

Tanjung Piai has a good representation of mangroves (22 mangrove tree species). It is also an important habitat for migratory and resident birds. These include the IUCN-listed vulnerable species, such as the Lesser Adjutant Stork. It is part of the Important Bird Area (IBA) of southwest Johor, which extends from Parit Jawa to Tanjung Piai. The southwest Johor mangroves are ecologically important as a natural barrier to protect the inland villages and agricultural lands from storm events, including tsunamis.

Sixth job as tourist guide - Singapore-Malaysia Genting Highland transfer

Today is my sixth job as tourist guide - Singapore-Malaysia Genting Highland transfer job. Due to today is Thursday not a weekend, both the Singapore and Malaysia Customs checkpoint is not congested. Singapore tourists reach Sultan Abu Bakar Complex – Malaysia Second Link Customs at 7.05am. After check-in to customs and clearance procedure for all Singapore tourists and headcount done, we depart to Malaysia Genting Highland. The bus we take for this trip is a first class luxury coach, the highest standard of bus categories. This type of bus is only available in Singapore.

First Class Luxury Coach

Firstly, our bus move towards GP Sentral Bus Terminal which is located at Nusantara, Gelang Patah for petrol fill up.GP Sentral Bus Terminal is launch and entering into operation early this year February. At the time we reach there, I only see 2 buses stop there and can’t see any passenger waiting there. Behind GP Sentral bus terminal is a development of a block of condominium called GP Prima Condominium. According to bus driver, the GP Prima condo project look like stagnant, the height of the construction remain the same for quick long period of time.

GP Sentral Bus Terminal

After petrol fil up, we continue our journey to Genting Highland. We take a resting and toilet break for 25 minutes at Pagoh R&R (Rest & Repair) around 9.20am. Within this part of journey, the weather is cloudy with small rain at certain section of road. Our next stop for toilet break is Gombak Toll Plaza at the time of 12pm.

We reach our destination-Genting Highland at 1pm. Some Singapore tourists alight at First World hotel, while majority of them alight at Genting Resort hotel. We stop at B5 bus terminal at Genting Resort hotel for about 45 minutes before receiving the return Singapore tourists into the bus. After all return Singapore tourists headcount done, we depart to return back to Singapore. On the journey back to Singapore, we has 1 stopover at Malaysia native products shop near Batu Caves for Singapore tourists to purchase Malaysia famous local native products. Bus attendance collect the packaged dinner meal set here which will be provided to Singapore tourists later on the journey back. After the Batu Caves native products shop stopover and return back to coach, I start to take order for muachi and famous Muar otak-otak (also known as Muar otah for Singaporean) from Xiao Mei otak-otak shop which is located at Yong Peng. With the order received, I send sms to Xiao Mei otah shop for the information of quantity to purchase, type of otah flavor, and the time for collection.

We reach Yong Peng around 6.20pm. We go to Ming An first for Ma Ti Su collection. There is a Singapore tourist said the Ma Ti Su, or Beh The Soh / Beh The Saw, literally translated as “horse hoof biscuits”, or some people called it Heong Paeng by Cantonese language is freshly baked, fragrance, crunchy and very nice. She requested me to order for her. After taken Ma Ti Su, we drive to Xiao Mei otah shop for otak-otak collection which is located within few meter distance. After otak-otak collection, bus driver told me that the bus real tyre is puncit and need to get tyre replacement by tyre shop technician. We search around the Yong Peng street for look for heavy  vehicle tyre shop but couldn’t see such shop. At the end, bus driver depend on his past memory drive towards a smaller road to find the heavy vehicle tyre shop, however we still can’t found it although it suppose to be located there. Bus driver ask the youngster playing football there and the youngster point to front cornet shop said that the heavy vehicle tyre shop is just in front and the shop is just close. Coincidence the tyre shop owner is driving car towards our bus direction and the youngster immediately tells bus driver that the person inside the coming car is the tyre shop boss. Bus driver waved his hand immediately to stop the car and tell the tyre shop owner the bus tyre need to be replaced. The boss return back to his shop and call back his worker technician who is about to leave. It is really fortunately part out of all the misfortune. If I am not going to Ming An to collect Ma Ti Su, bus driver wouldn’t step out from bus to top up cash card and realized the real tyre puncit, and if we are reaching the tyre shop a little bit later, the tyre shop would be close and the owner left. Due to current school holiday peak season period, travel agency bus is fully deployed with no spare bus available, and if the bus continues to drive at normal speed in the highway, the tyre will be exploded. We finish replaced the spare tyre at 6.50pm and reaching Sultan Abu Bakar Complex – Malaysia Second Link Customs at 8.10pm.  

Ming An Ma Ti Su

Ma Ti Su or Beh The Soh, Beh The Saw, Beh The Sor literally translated as “horse hoof biscuits”. It is also called Haeng Paeng, literally translated by Cantonese dialects as “fragrance biscuits”. Ma Ti Su is a traditional Chinese pastry. Ma Ti Su at Ming An is freshly baked. You can feel the fresh and crunchy flaked biscuits with maltose filling. You still can feel the warm if you eat on the spot. The location of Ming An is Lot 1523, Batu 1/2, Jalan Muar, 83700 Yong Peng, Johor.

 Ming An Ma Ti Su

First Class Luxury Coach

First class luxury coach is an 18 seated double decker bus. The bus upper decker has 14 seats plus 1 last row of middle seat dedicated for tourist guide, and the lower decker has 4 seats with a mini kitchen familiar to airplane mini kitchen at the behind of seats. First class luxury coach seat can be adjusted to be like bed for passenger tourists to sleep comfortably and it has the massage chair functionality. Besides that, every first class luxury coach seats installed with a small LCD panel with pre-installed entertainment with the categories of movies, music, kids movies and games. The coach also provides on-demand video. Not forget to mention, like flight attendance, first class luxury coach has bus attendance to serve food and drinks for tourists.

Coach Mini Kitchen

5th job as tourist guide - 2 days 1 night SG - Klang transfer

Today is my fifth job as tourist guide. It is a Singapore-Malaysia Klang transfer job. It is a 2 days 1 night transfer job for Singapore tourists who attend to Bai Shui Sheng Di’s 20^th anniversary of Commemorate Thanks-giving Congregation of Enlightenment at IDCC Shah Alam. The Singapore tourists pick up point at Singapore at 10.30am and arrive Sultan Abu Bakar Complex – Malaysia Second Link Customs at 11.30am. I reach Sultan Abu Bakar Complex – Malaysia Second Link Customs at 10.45am. I heard from my tourist guide friend there that their Singapore tourists group which departed from Singapore at 8.30am is just arriving here. She has been waiting there for almost 3 hours. I predict my Singapore tourists group to reach here at least after 12pm. Fortunately, their journey to Sultan Abu Bakar Complex – Malaysia Second Link Customs quite smooth that around 11.30am, they are already reach and cleared the customs procedures. They give me a call after they cleared their customs procedures. They are enter through behind customs entry which normally only operate when there are too congested for the main customs entry during holiday or peak hours. I reach up to them and direct them to main entry waiting area to wait for our bus to come. We have change the bus instead of pre-arranged tour bus because of unexpected accident to the bus early morning while on the journey to Sultan Abu Bakar Complex – Malaysia Second Link Customs. The 30 seated bus change to 40 seated bus. Fortunately my tourists group are understandable.

The bus reached Sultan Abu Bakar Complex – Malaysia Second Link Customs at 11.45am, and without delay I let my Singapore tourists onboard to the bus and start our journey to Klang. Our first stop is stop at Yong Peng vegetarian restaurant for our lunch. When reaching Kulai, we see a very long jammed on the road. We took old lane to bypass the road congestion because there is bus accident on the highland near Sedenak since early morning. The old road from Kulai to Simpang Renggam exit take 1 hour of journey. We reach Yong Peng vegetarian restaurant at 2pm. I have my lunch together with the Singapore tourists. The vegetarian food is quick nice especially its fried hokkien mee.

We continue our journey to Klang after our lunch at 3pm. The whole journey is quick smooth without any rain on the way. We only see the wet road condition for few highway section when we crossing it. We reach Klang about 6.30pm. We direct go to Restaurant Miao San Yuan for our dinner. Restaurant Miao San Yuan is a vegetarian restaurant which is quick popular there and it is near to our hotel. This time I eat with bus driver at Mamak shop. After our dinner, we go to hotel for check in and rest at 8pm. The hotel check-in procedure takes around 30 minutes to complete full check-in for all the tourists. This is due to individuals booking. If the hotel booking is done through license travel agency, the hotel check-in is just required the tourists passport details listing which will definitely shorten the hotel check in time a lot. For this trip, no hotel is booked for tourist guide, only accommodation allowance is given. I decided to take same hotel with tourists for easier transfer tomorrow. Fortunately there is 1 hotel room with 2 single beds left just nice for us. The bus driver shares the room with me. My first day job ended here smoothly. Not forget to mention that the Singapore tourist’s organizer has arranged with counter staff to perform morning call at 8am the next day morning.

The second day started with my breakfast which I bring together while I am on job assignment – white bread and Melilea organic powder. After 2 slices of bread and Melilea organic powder, the required nutrient and calorie needed for the day is fully contained. Melilea organic powder and white bread is a must bring food in any of my trips and jobs. I spend my morning watching TV programme until 10.00am and take my bag down to hotel lobby. When I reach lobby, most of the Singapore tourists already there and perform hotel check-out. All of them have change their cloth to white shirt prepared to attend the Bai Shui Sheng Di’s 20^th anniversary of Commemorate Thanks-giving Congregation of Enlightenment. After all tourist’s hotel check-out done, we onboard to bus and go to Restaurant Miao San Yuan for our early lunch. Restaurant Miao San Yuan is a vegetarian restaurant. I must say that their vegetarian food is delicious. It is worth for recommendation. The location is 41&43-00-01,Lorong Batu Nilam 1E, Bandar Bukit Tinggi, 41200 Klang, Selangor. We join another two groups of Singapore tourists who are also come to attend the Bai Shui Sheng Di’s 20^th anniversary of Commemorate Thanks-giving Congregation of Enlightenment for our lunch. They take 3 days 2 nights tour packages including KL city tour and Malacca tour. Again, I meet with 2 senior tourist guides who guide me and help me a lot during previous 3 days 2 nights Genting Highlands tour. We sit together and enjoy the delicious vegetarian food provided by the restaurant. The service staffs there are friendly. The 3 bus drivers also eat together with us.

Vegetarian Restaurant Miao San Yuan

After lunch, we continue to our most important destination in this 2 days 1 night trip – IDCC shah Alam where the Bai Shui Sheng Di’s 20^th anniversary of Commemorate Thanks-giving Congregation of Enlightenment is hosted. When we reach IDCC Shah Alam, there are already few buses parking there and the entry door are filled with many white shirt’s Tao members attending to Bai Shui Sheng Di’s 20^th anniversary of Commemorate Thanks-giving Congregation of Enlightenment. This event attended by 5000 Tao’s member from different country to commemorate 20^th anniversary of Bai Shui Sheng Di’s enlightenment. The event last for 4 hours, ended at 5pm. Due to I am not attending to this event, I look for a comfortable sofa to rest and stroll around the furniture, home and décor floors.

Bai Shui Sheng Di’s 20^th anniversary of Commemorate Thanks-giving Congregation of Enlightenment

Heavy rain started pouring down when the Bai Shui Sheng Di’s 20^th anniversary of Commemorate Thanks-giving Congregation of Enlightenment event come to the end. To avoid crowded and congestion, we do not get the bus drive in to the door entry side for onboard. We also do not have our packaged dinner first which is provided after the event. We directly onboard to the bus and drive out of the area and stop at Dengkil R&R for our packaged food dinner. Everybody is so hungry because of early lunch and now the time clock to 5.30pm already. We stop at Dengkil R&R at 6pm for the packaged dinner. On the journey back to Singapore, we stop at Yong Peng bus station for toilet break. When we reach Sultan Abu Bakar Complex – Malaysia Second Link Customs, the time is already 11.15pm. During this timing, inside the customs are already no people, so it is very fast to clear the customs procedure. I farewell to my Singapore tourists after headcount and proceed to go back.

About Bai Shui Sheng Di

Baishui Sheng Di is the heavenly title of Elder Han. Elder Han was one of the senior disciples of Holy Teachers, and he was the leader of one of the eighteen Tao group of I-Kuan Tao — the Fa Yi Group. Elder Han was born in 1901, and he returned to Heaven in 1995.  After receiving Tao and experiencing miracles that saved his life, he dedicated himself to the cultivation and propagation of Tao.  Elder Han’s journey of Tao, though specific to his life and circumstances, can serve as a model for Tao practitioners.

About I-Kuan Tao

I-Kuan Tao (pronounced "yee guan dao") is one of the most significant spiritual movements in Taiwan. Its name can be literally translated as "The Tao that unifies all with the one."

The basis of I-Kuan Tao is rooted in Chinese traditions, with teachings emphasizing traditional values such as family, honor, respect and moderation. It is no exaggeration to call I-Kuan Tao the definitive and authentic Chinese form of spirituality.

The appeal of I-Kuan Tao is not limited to the Chinese. The movement is open to everyone regardless of ethnicity. Many people in the West have already experienced the warmth and acceptance of Tao practitioners. They have also discovered, within I-Kuan Tao, progressive teachings that resonate with the Western mind.

I-Kuan Tao

About IDCC Shah Alam

Structurally designed and built to house a home decoration centre spread over a podium of 300 meters in length for a three story wholesale and retail concept stores (opened 1 Nov 2015, for the time being only 2 floor are occupied and operated), a systematic yet convenient 5 story car park, a block of 15 story Office Tower and a block of 15 story business class hotel strategically located in the capital of Selangor scheduled completion by 4th quarter 2014. IDCC Shah Alam covers a land span of 19140 square meters and stands out majestically and easily accessible along the Shah Alam Expressway. Built and designed uniquely as a one stop centre for trendy household furnishing yet affordable with whole sale pricing and in trend requirements to appease the current generation lifestyle and household needs and a melting pot to meet.

IDCC Shah Alam

IDEAL Convention Centre is the largest convention centre in Shah Alam Selangor, which occupies the top floor of IDCC Shah Alam. Spread across 8,674.41meter square of space and comprising 11 halls in 4 different sizes, this iconic facility boasts a total of 8,000 pax. IDEAL Convention Centre Shah Alam is a spacious convention halls suitable for conferences, exhibition, corporate events & wedding functions.

1 day ecotourism workshop

Today is a 1 day ecotourism workshop held at Kampung Sungai Melayu focusing on topic of bird watching. This ecotourism workshop is organized by Iskandar Region Development Authority IRDA and Malaysia Nature Society Johor branch chairman and its members are invited to host the workshop. It is intended to educate, facilitate and promote the ecotourism to Malaysia Nature Guide and improve Johor tourism in ecotourism sector.

1 day ecotourism workshop

Early 8.30am, I reach the IRDA office at Jalan Skudai Kiri to gather there. Most of the participants already inside the IRDA office. We depart at 9.10am to the workshop venue, Kampung Sungai Melayu, Nusajaya. Kg Sungai Melayu is a fisherman village. Most of the villager make a living through the wealth resources of Sungai Melayu river. There are kelong scatter along the Sungai Melayu river. We reach there and welcome by villagers there. We have our breakfast there before start our ecotourism workshop for birds watching.

bird watching

Our ecotourism workshop is focus on bird watching, speech given by Vincent Chow. Vincent is an expert in birds area for over few 10 years and did published his own book about birds. We are taught about how to differentiate birds. For bird identification, the first thing we need to learn is to know the name of birds body part. With this knowledge, then we able to read the books related to birds so that we recognized birds name and its features and characteristics.

Kampung Sungai Melayu river cruise

The combination of size and shape is one of the most powerful tools to bird identification. Though we may be drawn to watching birds because of birds wonderful color or fascinating behavior, when it comes to bird identification, size and shape are the first places of information we should examine.  The first steps are to learn typical bird silhouettes, find reliable ways to gauge the size of a bird, and notice differences in the telltale parts of a bird such as the bill, wings, and tail.

Fisherman catching fish

We have our lunch around 1pm. Mussel, prawn, curry flavor fish, fried egg and vegetable dish are served. All the seafood ingredients are fresh because all of them are either caught or breed by the villager. After enjoying our lunch, we ride on the boat for Sungai Melayu river cruises. Each motor equipped boat carried 2 visitors. Each visitor wear life jacket before ride onto the boat. Due to under hot sun and not covered, the seat is really very hot.

Kelong

We enjoy 1 hour river cruises along the Sungai Melayu river. At one side we do able to see Horizon Hills 3 storey house residential estate and at the other side of the river cruise we reach to places whereby we able to see the Country Garden Danga Bay project and land reclamation from far. Along the river cruise, we observe the birds flying on the sky, resting on the mangrove mudflats, and we see kelong scatter along the Sungai Melayu river. Some kelong are are left empty, some kelong have fisherman inside, some kelong become fisherman stopover and some kelong used to breed mussel. I do see a kelong with scarecrow.

Kelong with scarecrow

According to Vincent, mussel is sensitive and attracted to blue color. That’s why the rope used to breed mussel is blue color. Blue color is like a magnet to attract mussel stick to the blue rope. Due to no binocular given to me, I only manage to see the birds along the Sungai Melayu with bare eye.

Mussel breeding

We return back to Kampung Sungai Melayu workshop and have tea break refreshment. After that, we continue with 45 minutes of Questions and Answers session. Some senior nature guide did ask some insightful question related to bird watching and Kampung Sungai Melayu as ecotourism destination. We also suggested for further learning workshop to be organized by IRDA. We ended our 1 day ecotourism workshop at 5.30pm. After group photo, we proceed to bus and go back to IRDA office.

Fisherman living at kelong

WHAT IS ECOTOURISM?

The Nature Conservancy adopts the definition articulated by the World Conservation Union (IUCN):

"Environmentally responsible travel to natural areas, in order to enjoy and appreciate nature (and accompanying cultural features, both past and present) that promote conservation, have a low visitor impact and provide for beneficially active socio-economic involvement of local peoples."

Most tourism in natural areas today is not ecotourism and is not, therefore, sustainable tourism. Ecotourism is distinguished by its emphasis on conservation, education, traveler responsibility and active community participation. Specifically, ecotourism possesses the following characteristics:

• Conscientious, low-impact visitor behavior
• Sensitivity towards, and appreciation of, local cultures and biodiversity
• Support for local conservation efforts
• Sustainable benefits to local communities
• Local participation in decision-making
• Educational components for both the traveler and local communities

Increased tourism to sensitive natural areas without appropriate planning and management can threaten the integrity of ecosystems and local cultures. The increase of visitors to ecologically sensitive areas can lead to significant environmental degradation. Likewise, local communities and indigenous cultures can be harmed in numerous ways by an influx of foreign visitors and wealth. Additionally, fluctuations in climate, currency exchange rates, and political and social conditions can make over-dependence upon tourism a risky business.

However, this same growth creates significant opportunities for both conservation and local communities. Ecotourism can provide much-needed revenues for the protection of national parks and other natural areas -- revenues that might not be available from other sources.

Additionally, ecotourism can provide a viable economic development alternative for local communities with few other income-generating options. Moreover, ecotourism can increase the level of education and activism among travelers, making them more enthusiastic and effective agents of conservation.

4th job as tourist guide - 3 days 2 nights Genting Night

Today is the fourth job as tourist guide, and it is my first tourist guide job that need to overnight at the places of visit. Such overnight tourist guide job is the tour I yearning for, although it is not an actual commentary tour. This 3 days 2 nights Genting job is a big group comprising of 30 buses and over 900 Singapore tourists. All the tourists guide gather at the Sultan Abu Bakar Complex – Malaysia Second Link Customs early for briefing. Due to overnight, I brought Melilea organic powder and bread to standby, and medicine like panadol and stomach ache medicine.

All the tourists guide arrange the buses at the Gelang Patah R&R to wait for order before drive to Sultan Abu Bakar Complex – Malaysia Second Link Customs to avoid congestion of the customs. Singapore tourists start to reach at 7.30am. Due to the bus plate number identical for the four digits, it causes some mess and tourists board to wrong bus. We departed to Genting Highlands around 8.30am. There are tour leader in the group. We reach Yong Peng Fuhua Restaurant for our breakfast at 10am. After breakfast, we go to nearby native food shop Yoyo and honey shop to let Singapore tourists to visit and purchase the local products. After that, we continue our journey. The journey to the Genting Highlands is followed by the heavy rain along the road. Top of our bus window cover is dripping water. Fortunately there are 2 empty seats available for them to swap their seats to avoid the dripping water from heavy rain.

We reach Seremban R&R (Rest & Repair) around 1.30pm. We have our stopover there for 30 minutes for break and lunch. Due to most of the Singapore tourists are elderly, the food sold there are not suitable for them. They buy the snacks over there to fill up the stomach temporarily. About 2.10pm, I took a big umbrella from bus to fetch them back to the bus and then continue our journey. In the bus, I start to promote the optional tour – half day Genting tour, Bingo card and the otak-otak.

We reach our destination at Genting Highlands First World hotel at 4pm. First World hotel has 3 towers with total of 7351 rooms. It is the largest hotel in the world took over the honor from The Venetian hotel from Las Vegas. I proceed to the counter to collect 15 room keys and 30 pieces of You Ya concert tickets. After room allocation, I pass the room keys and concert tickets to all the Singapore tourists. I return to my room which is allocated for tourists guide after 6pm. During these 2 nights, I will share room with another one tourist guide. We are informed to go down to 2^nd floor food court for dinner on travel agency boss expense. After dinner at 8.45pm, I go back to my room to rest. A busy day ended here. The second day will be a free and easy day.

The next day 8.30am, I go to Genting Highlands First World hotel lobby to meet with all the Singapore tourists that registered for half day Genting tour optional tour. This optional tour touring the places of interest including Chin Swee Cave temple, chocolate shop, far sightseeing strawberry farm (who want to enter the strawberry farm must purchase the strawberry) and enjoy lunch on own expense at the Genting half mountain. After all my tourists gathered and aboard the bus, I proceed to have my breakfast with tourist guide who share the room with me and another one senior tourist guide. We ate our breakfast at Genting Highlands staff’s canteen food court. By showing tourist guide license badge, we enjoy 25% of discount on all food there. My soup noodle which sells at RM8.50 sold to me at Rm6.50. At the end, we have our breakfast, lunch and dinner for the day at Genting Highlands food court there. The rest of the time, we explore Genting Highland under the guidance of senior tourist guide. We visited Arena of Stars, the most important place due to the You Ya concert which falls on the night and we need to bring our tourists there, casino, theme park hotel (formerly Highlands hotel), cable car station, visitor gallery and others.

7.30pm, all the tourists guide gather at Genting Highlands First World hotel lobby to arrange all their tourists to gather and follow the group to go to Arena of Stars lead by our tourist guide. There are 2 routes to go Arena of Stars: one is nearer but the pathway uncovered, another path fully covered for its entire walkway but more far. Due to heavy rain during the time, all the tourists have to follow the long route to get there. However, tourists can go there by taxi which cost RM10.

After all tourists reach and enter into Arena of Stars, all the tourists guide left. At first I intend to take the opportunity of gathering to inform my tourists the changes of return time, too bad only few tourists who follow the group to go Arena of Stars, most of the tourists go there by themselves. I borrowed a spare You Ya concert ticket and entering the Arena of Stars trying to locate my tourists, too bad the You Ya concert start when I go into there. I returned back and joined the rest of tourists guide to have our dinner together at Genting Highlands staff canteen food court. Over there, few tourists guide with over 10 years of experiences share their experiences. I learn a lot from them.

About 10.30pm, I saw many people started to return back to First World hotel from the Arena of Stars. The return path they took is a nearer path because there are clear sky and no rain. At the time, I was sitting outside the lobby coffee shop. I observe for a while and then I go to my Singapore tourists’ room to knock the door to inform them the timing change. I only manage to inform half of my tourists, the rest are still not return back to First World hotel room yet. Under a senior tourist guide suggestion, I write the notice at A4 paper, get the hotel counter service staff to photostat it and insert the paper into the room door. I also requested for morning call for all my tourists at 7.30am. When I return back to my room to rest, it is already 1am.

On the 3^rd day early morning, I wake up at 6am. I go to knock the door at 7am to those tourists that I fail to meet them before the day. At the end, only left 1 tourist that I failed to contact and inform about the changes of time. Around 7.30am, I joined the two tourist guide to have breakfast at Genting Highlands staff canteen. I myself already ate the Melilea organic powder and bread early morning, so I just accompany them. Around 8.45am, almost all tourists already gather at Genting Highland First World hotel lobby except 2 families. Finally and fortunately, all my Singapore tourists gathered at 9.10am. I proceed to call bus driver to come up to pickup us. Due to earlier notification to bus driver about the return timing, driver already standby there and it just take 2 minutes to reach the First World hotel pick up point.

When the entire luggages are put inside the bus luggage compartment and headcount done, we proceed our journey back to Singapore. There are 2 stopovers at native food shop at halfway mountain of Genting Highlands, Tangkak brown rice shop for tourists to visit and make purchase, and a drive through to Yong Peng Xiao Mei otak-otak store to collect the otak-otak that we are order earlier. We have our lunch at Seremban Yong Xiang Restaurant and our gala dinner at Maedo ballroom.

About 4.30pm, we reach Maedo which located at Skudai, Johor. 4.30pm is the timing arranged to start the gala dinner. However, there are still buses yet to reach Maedo. Due to not enough time, these buses not visit to Tangkak brown rice shop and even have bus not going to Yong Peng Xiao Mei otak-otak store, but request help from other tourist guide to collect it on behalf. After reach there, we guide our tourists to the table assigned to them. When the gala dinner started, most of the tourists guide including me proceed to old Maedo restaurant which located opposite the road to have our dinner. After dinner, I go back to our bus to pack the otak-otak for our tourists.

Gala dinner ended at 7.30pm. All the tourists guide standby at the Maedo ballroom exit to fetch them and guide them to the bus, then proceed to Sultan Abu Bakar Complex – Malaysia Second Link Customs. In the bus, I pass the three free 2 nights First World hotel voucher to 3 lucky tourists and tell them the voucher validity and how to book and present the free hotel voucher during check in. Around 8.45pm, we reach Sultan Abu Bakar Complex – Malaysia Second Link Customs. I inform all the tourists to just bring passport and important belonging to go down bus for Malaysia immigration and customs side, but need to bring everything belong to them including luggage and all the products they bought down together when at the Singapore Second Link Customs – Tuas Checkpoint. After all tourists return back to the bus and headcount done, I thank my tourists for the trip and say goodbye to them. After that, I cross over to another side of customs to take my bus to go back home.

About Genting Highlands

Genting Highlands, also known as Resorts World Genting, is a hill resort in Malaysia developed by Genting Group.

The hill resort is at an average elevation of 1,740 metres (5,710 ft) within the Titiwangsa Mountains on the border between the states of Pahang and Selangor of Malaysia. It is accessible by car from Kuala Lumpur in one hour, or also accessible by a cable car called Genting Skyway (3.38 kilometres)which at its opening was the world's fastest and South East Asia's longest gondola lift.

The idea of a hill resort located near Kuala Lumpur occurred to the late Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong during a business trip to the Cameron Highlands in 1964. He mooted this idea while enjoying the fresh and crisp air from the balcony of his hotel room. In 1971, the first hotel at Genting Highlands was successfully completed and was named Highlands Hotel (now renamed Theme Park Hotel). The Genting Highlands Resort continued to expand since the opening of the first hotel in 1971. Development of the area continued with care taken to ensure the maintenance of the natural beauty of the rainforest of the region. In 1997, Genting Highlands Resort added the Genting Skyway cable car system that provides a 3.38 kilometres transport to the hilltop. Genting Skyway is also recognised as the "World's Fastest Mono Cable Car System" with a maximum speed of 21.6 kilometres per hour (13.4 mph) and the "Longest Cable Car in Malaysia and Southeast Asia".

3rd job as tourist guide - Singapore - Malaysia Genting Highland transfer job

Today is my third job as tourist guide. It is a Singapore-Malaysia Genting Highland transfer job. This journey cause me feel gloomy of the day.

Our bus reached and departed from Sultan Abu Bakar Complex – Malaysia Second Link Customs at 8.30am. It took almost 2 hours from pick up point in Singapore at 6.30am to here, mostly due to Deepavali on Tuesday, which is a public holiday in Singapore and Malaysia. It is believed that many Singaporeans apply 1 day leave on Monday to enjoy 4 days long weekend holiday and travel out to Malaysia.

After 1 hour of journey, we saw the opposite direction highway was jammed. Take a look closer and found out that there is a small lorry carrying wooden planks blocked the road horizontally occupied 2 lane, the wooden planks were scattered on the road and the tyre was puncture. Lorry driver was sitting beside the road and look depressed.

Around 1.30pm, we are reaching to Ampang main road. When reaching there, the road condition started to congested. I asked the bus driver where is the location of Ampang Yong Tau Foo which is famous among Malaysian, Singaporean and tourists. Bus driver told me that later we will drive pass through the shop which is located besides the main road. Now we caught in jam mainly due to Ampang Yong Tau Foo. After pass through the Ampang Yong Tau Foo shop, the road condition will become smooth. After awhile, I heard a collision sound behind the bus and the bus driver immediately brake and stopped. Then there is a car beside our bus stop at right most highway lane and driver come out toward bus direction. Checking with bus driver what happened, he told me that the car was just try to change highway lane and knocked down 1 motorbike who takes the middle white line (middle of 2 highway lane) to surpass the bus and behind the motorbike is another motorbike who collide to the front motorbike. It is fortunate that bus driver stopped his bus immediately; otherwise the first motorbike driver who was knocked and fell down to the bus behind tyre side will be crushed over by bus tyre. He is really just escape from death and just light injury. Leaving it to settle themselves, we continue our journey to Genting Highland. The cloud started covering sky and rain pouring down.

When we reached Genting Highland First World hotel and Resort hotel at 3pm, there are in heavy rain. I took my umbrella and shelter them down from the bus to covered hotel area. After go to counter to collect my paycheck, we direct get on to bus and return back to Singapore. This time no return Singapore tourists in the bus, it is a empty run return. Due to no tourists in the bus, we do not stop at the Batu Caves local product shop, so we don’t have free meal.

The rain started to stop at the Genting Highland foothills after 1 hour of journey. Driving ahead for a while, we saw long jam again at the opposite direction highway. I expected it must be accident ahead. When get closer, I saw a ambulance stop over there, and a guy laid down on the road side. A plain white cloth was covering his body. It is really sad moment to see on the road. Except sighing the dangerous of the road, I can deeply felt that human life is really unpredictable and fragile.

We continue our journey back to Singapore. Most of the time on the road, the heavy rain is accompanying us. In Peninsular Malaysia East Coast, now is the raining monsoon starting November. When we reached Sultan Abu Bakar Complex – Malaysia Second Link Customs, the time is about 9pm. After quick clean up on every seats in the bus, I good bye with bus driver and move to another Singapore to Malaysia customs pickup point side to wait for bus to return home.

Festival Info

Deepavali, also called "festival of lights" is an ancient Hindu festival celebrated across the world every year. Deepavali is one of the largest and brightest festivals in India. The festival spiritually signifies the victory of good over evil and light over darkness. The symbolism of Deepavali is aptly summed up in the simple act of lighting an oil lamp. Hindu families will turn their homes into enclaves of warm golden light and they offer prayers, exchange gifts and share sweetmeats with each other. Deepavali is a national event in Malaysia and public holiday for both country, Singapore and Malaysia.

2nd job as tourist guide - Sultan of Selangor Cup bus transfer job

Today mark the second time I worked as tourist guide. Again, it is a transfer job offered by my tourist guide association. It is a two days transfer job because it spans across the next day, expected to arrive back to Malaysia Second Link Custom – Sultan Abu Bakar Complex at 6am. Total of 28 tourist guide for 28 travel bus are involved in these transfer, ferrying Singapore football fans to Selangor Shah Alam stadium for Sultan of Selangor Cup football match.

Sultan of Selangor Cup football match was initiated in 2001 to foster better relations between Selangor and Singapore. It was known as the Regent of Selangor Cup. With the coronation of the Selangor Sultan in 2003, the competition was renamed the Sultan of Selangor Cup. Sultan of Selangor Cup is organized annually.

Shah Alam stadium

I reached the Malaysia Second Link Custom – Sultan Abu Bakar Complex at 7.30am as scheduled. When the entire tourist guide gathered at 8.15am, we listen to briefing of the itinerary and things needed to take note for about 30 minutes and collected bus number tagging respectively.

Anjung Nusajaya

The Singapore fans group gradually reached Malaysia Second Link Custom – Sultan Abu Bakar Complex started 9.30am. My group reached there at 10.15am and it takes roughly 30 minutes for all members to clear the customs procedure. The bus is a single storey bus with 44 seats. This time there are tour leader within the group. After headcount which is done by tour leader, we set off to Anjung, the food court at Nusajaya for breakfast. It takes 15 minutes at 11am to reach Anjung Nusajaya. The stopover here is 1 hour. This time round, I am able to make announcement in the bus smoothly without any nervous.  

Anjung Nusajaya

We set off to Selangor at 12pm. We have 1 stopover at Ayer Keroh RnR (Rest and Repair) for prayer (sembahyang) at 3pm. We reached KL at 5pm. Based on our itinerary; all buses will meet at Sunway Lagoon Resort before set off to Shah Alam stadium and escort by escort police to escort us to Shah Alam stadium. Due to unfamiliar road directory to the Sunway Lagoon Resort, we speed extra 1 hour on the road. When we reached opposite of the busses troop at Sunway Lagoon Resort, there is congestion in front to make a U turn. Bus driver intends to avoid the congestion by drive another uncongested road to make the U turn. Unfortunately another U turn road is limited to 3 meter height and bus height is 3.8 meter. We drive further and make U turn after the toll plaza. After the U turn, we drove back toward the direction and again took the wrong path. Finally we are on track and reached Sunway Lagoon Resort at 6.30pm, all the 27 buses already escorted by escort police left to and reach Shah Alam stadium.  We reached there at 7pm.

On the way to Shah Alam stadium, we are informed that Sultan of Selangor Cup was cancelled due to the haze hazard and concern of Sultan Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah for the health of the players and public.

Abdul Karim, organising chairman of Sultan of Selangor Cup said the organising committee was working with the Selangor Health Department in monitoring the air quality and the decision to call off the match was made after the Air Pollutant Index API recorded an unhealthy level of 138 at 5pm with showed no sign of improvement.

Shah Alam stadium

Malaysia has been affected by severe smoke haze due to forest fires in Indonesia yearly, especially on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan. This is due to the common practice of open burning to clear land for agricultural uses. It can be made worse by dry seasons, changes in wind direction and poor precipitation. Prevailing winds sometimes carry smoke haze produced by the forest fires over Malaysia’s skies. This is especially so during the Southwest Monsoon Season.

This year 2015, the haze hazard affecting several countries in Southeast Asia, including Brunei, Indonesia (especially its islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan), Malaysia, Singapore, Southern Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines.

The fires are caused by firms and farmers who engage in illegal slash-and-burn practices as a relatively inexpensive means of clearing land. Sumatra and Kalimantan possess large areas of peat land, which is highly combustible during dry season. Peat, which is made up of layers of dead vegetation and other organic matter, contributed heavily to carbon emissions because of the substance's density. The haze has been particularly severe in 2015 due to the El Niño phenomenon which has caused drier conditions, allowing the fires to spread more.

The Indonesian government has estimated that the haze crisis will cost it between 300 to 475 trillion rupiah (up to RM140 billion) to mitigate. School closures due to the haze have been implemented in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore; this affected nearly four million students in Malaysia alone.

The Global Fire Emissions Database reported that the 2015 Indonesian fires had generated around 600 million tonnes of greenhouse gases, also described as 'roughly equivalent to Germany's entire annual output'. NASA said that the 2015 haze crisis could become the worst recorded in the region, possibly outstripping the 1997 crisis which cost an estimated 9 billion US dollars.

Many Indonesians reported they suffered from dizziness, respiratory illnesses and sore-eyes in the haze-affected areas. Most of the victims killed by the haze were students and newborn babies.

The health impact of haze is dependent on one's health status such as pre-existing chronic heart or lung disease, the API (Air Pollutant Index) level, and the duration and intensity of outdoor activity. Reducing outdoor activities and physical exertion can help limit the ill effects from haze exposure. Persons who are not feeling well, especially the elderly and children, and those with chronic heart or lung conditions, should seek medical attention.

We have our free dinner at Shah Alam stadium hall for one and half hour. We return back to Singapore departed at 8.30pm. In the journey, we make a stopover at Pagoh RnR (Rest and Repair) for 1 hour 45 minutes for bus driver to rest.

We set off from Pagoh RnR at 12.15am and reached Malaysia Second Link Custom – Sultan Abu Bakar Complex at 2.30am. On the journey the bus driver drove at the speed of around 60kmh to 80kmh and most of the time cracked and ate the melon seeds. It even horned twice by container truck on the way and speeded up to 110kmh followed by the horn.

I farewell to all the Singapore fans and proceed to return home.

Food of thought:

1.       More haste, less speed. Driven by the hope to U turn faster to reach Sunway Lagoon Resort, bus driver takes another road which he also doesn’t know the road situation, which is unknown ahead. It is normally happen in our daily life on the journey to achieve the goal.

2.       It is common for unfamiliar at first but you get used to it the next time/over the time. Although the first time my announcement are a bit unorganized, the next time it is so smooth and without nervous. So, everything must try instead of back off due to nervous. Look back the past after many years, we will smile of ourselves for the nervous and glad that we have try at least.

3.       Haze is detrimental to our health and brings huge loss to country economy. We should sabotage these companies who involves in illegal slash-and-burn practices as a relatively inexpensive means of clearing land. We must gather public force to monitor and force them to give in. Clear messages must convey to them to let them know that no companies can go against public will.

4.       28 buses ferrying fee are sponsored by Sultan Selangor. Sultan of Selangor Cup is a very good way to foster both country relationship and cooperation. It is good to have more such events to be held and foreigners, media and blogger invited to attend such events with fee sponsored. It will creates free publicize to the places and promote tourism of that place. Word of mouth from invitee and bloggers are better than advertisement.

Transfer Job - First job as Tourist Guide

Today mark the first day of my new career as Malaysia Tourist Guide. For the very first time I got my first job after attained tourist guide license. It is exciting and highly anticipated period. It is a transfer job from Singapore to Genting Highland. Thanks for recommendation from my tourist guide course classmate Winnie and chance and guidance given by Mr Ho, Wendy, Ms Neo and bus driver Mr Jo.

Long queue at CIQ Sultan Abu Bakar Complex - Malaysia Second Link Customs

Customs and Immigrations checkpoint at CIQ Sultan Abu Bakar Complex already packed with Singapore tourists and excursion bus when I reached there at 6.30am. About 7 plus, the queue for the clearance of customs already lined up to the corridor. It proves that Malaysia still attracts many Singapore tourists despite the haze hazard. Among the places of visit, Genting Highland tops the list in the tourist arrivals. According to government statistics, tourism is the 6^th major income contributor to our GDP. During last year of 2014, it contributes 14.9% or 161 billion of GDP, with 27.44 million of tourist arrival and generated 72 billion of revenue.

Excursion bus at CIQ Sultan Abu Bakar Complex - Malaysia Second Link Customs

Due to congestion at Singapore Tuas Checkpoint and Malaysia Customs and Immigrations Checkpoint at Sultan Abu Bakar Complex, the bus depart at 6.30am from Singapore arrive and depart from CIQ Sultan Abu Bakar Complex at 8am. After bus arrive at CIQ, I approached the bus, introduce myself to the bus driver, take the bus plate number card and stand outside the exit of CIQ to direct the tourists the direction of the bus where it stop. After headcount, we depart to Genting Highland. Again, for the first time I use microphone to introduce myself as tourist guide and short announcement to Singapore tourists. Due to nervous, it is little bit unorganized. The announcement includes the excursion bus plate no, bus driver name, myself as tourist guide, a warm welcome to Malaysia, 2 stopovers along the journey, 6 hours of journey distance to reach Genting Highland, and also to keep the bus clean, fasten the seat belt are recommended for safety concern, and adjust the seat the its original state whenever bus stop for break. This is a double-decker bus with 40 seats.

We have stopped at Yong Peng for 25 minutes for lunch break and 10 minutes toilet break at Sungai Besi Petrol Station, KL. Every stopover followed by short announcement and headcount. When reached First World hotel and Resort hotel, the time is about 2pm. I felt so surprise to receive a small tip from a Singapore tourist. It is really out of my expectation especially it is my first time, my announcement is not so smooth and it is just a transfer job, not a guided tour. It is a big encouragement for me. Due to return pick up point is only at Resort hotel B5, I repeated the announcement about 30 minutes earlier check-in at Resort hotel B5 counter.  A simple clean up has been done during the transit between First World hotel to Resort hotel after first batch tourists drop off at First World hotel.

After tourists alight at Resort hotel B5, the return tourists already waited there for our bus. We have our quick toilet break and paycheck collection at the bus counter office, and then proceed back to our bus to do headcount in the bus and proceed to heading back to Singapore from Genting Highland. According to bus driver, this kind of situation frequently happen during the peak season like school holiday and long weekend holiday. Again, I introduce myself to these return tourists, short announcement about bus plate no, bus driver name, about 7 hours of journey back to Singapore, 2 stopovers at Batu Caves Malaysia local product shop and Yong Peng station for dinner break, keep the bus clean, fasten the seat belt are recommended for safety concern, and adjust the seat back to original state at every stop/break. For the second time, I make this announcement more smoothly.

About 1 hour later, we reached the Batu Caves local product shop. There are excursion buses already there to let their tourists buy the native local products. Local product shop here does provide free meal for tourist guide and bus driver. Due to not eaten anything yet since early morning except Melilea Organic powder during the time bus moving down from Genting Highland Resort hotel to Batu Caves, I move directly to the meal room for my lunch. May be because the free meal this time is curry chicken, the rice there are nothing left and another rice cooker is just about start to cook the rice, visible easily the water and the uncooked rice. I simply stroll inside the shop and taste the sample food provided free by the promoter inside. 

20 minutes is lapse just like a glimpse of eye, I opened the bus entrance door and let tourists return back to their seats. After headcount, I proceed to the local product shop office to collect the commission. It is 20% of the total sales of the local products price. It shared among the bus drivers and tourist guide. Although very little the commission for this time, I feel happy to have such extra income. For freelance tourist guide without EPF, no guarantee of job assignments and competitiveness, commission is really the lifeline and the driver to attract individuals to become a tourist guide. It is a win-win situation between the shop, tourist guide and tourists. Shop owner can operate their shop at remote location for cheaper cost and without advertisement, tourist guide acts as sales person to bring in customers for them, and the tourists get to buy the local products without needed to search for the native local products shop which they may be unable to do it during their tour due to time constraint or the location/places of visit. It is indirectly promote our native local products to tourists and increase income for the shop operators and at the same time added the products variety for our tourism products. Most of the time, tourists buy the local products from the country of visit as souvenir to give to their friends and family, relatives and company colleague as souvenirs of the trip.If our native local products are good, it will indirectly bring in recurring tourists and their surrounding people, creating a ripple effect to our tourism boom.

After bus took off from Batu Caves local product shop, I took a paper and start to take order for famous Muar otak-otak and Muar mochi. The Muar otak-otak comes with 6 flavors: fish, prawn, sotong, fish head, crab, la la. Muar mocha comes with 3 flavors: red bean, durian and chocolate. Muar otak-otak is very famous across Malaysia and Singapore. It is a must try if you are visiting Muar or Yong Peng. Surprisingly, I get zero order. Haha, a fail salesperson for Muar otak-otak and Muar mochi.

After another 3 hours, we reached Yong Peng station and have our dinner there. Finally I have a proper meal to eat. Few bus drivers are eating inside and I am the only tourist guide. Thanks to tourist guide title, first time in my life to eat free meal in such area.

We approaching JB CIQ Sultan Abu Bakar Complex at 8pm. I make a short announcement and informed the tourists to no need to bring together the luggage for customs clearance at Malaysia customs side, but they need to carry out all their belongings and luggage for the customs clearance at Singapore Customs and Immigration side Tuas Checkpoint.

After all tourists alight to customs for clearance, I move around the bus to adjust the seat leg rest to its original state and the seats to its original state if I know the seat are unseated. Then, I proceed to customs clearance exit waiting area to direct the tourists to the bus. Once the headcount done, I informed the bus driver and farewell to him to mark the end of my full day duty of transfer job.

I changed my cloth to normal T-shirt, cross over to another customs point and wait for my bus to heading back to my home.

Food of Thought:

1.       First time in a new environment, new career or new job can always making people nervous. Most importantly we improve over the time, learn from mistake and keeping upgrade our skills and knowledge.

2.       Social skills are very important especially in service line like tourist guide. It let us to communicate effectively to related party so that it creates a pleasant and comfortable atmosphere, message are delivered clearly, questions and requests are respond accurately and on time.