8 to 13 October marked our grand tour to Cambodia. In these 6 days, we encountered joys and laughter, shocks and burns (sunburns). Besides the famous Angkor Archeology Park, Pub Street, Traditional Markets, Museums and Temple’s visits, we have headed off the beaten tracks to a rural area, 1 hour bumpy drive from the Phnom Penh city, for visiting an under-construction school, namely Kumomo School.

The Kumomo School construction is sponsored by NGOs and partially by the Kumomo project from 1.com.my. At the same time, the Kumomo project has managed to sponsor 19 members to visit the fascinating SiemReap and adventurous Phnom Penh in Cambodia.

The lucky 19 members include

The tallest YowChuan, supposes to be our leader, but always missing in action. YowChuan’s gf, Ammie, hates sunlight, and spends most of the time indoor while Ammie’s sister, SokTeng, who was usually guarded by Ammie was successfully escaped at the last day during the Royal Palace visit.

Yong is the first one who dares to crunch on the deep fried insects. Yong’s sister, Elaine loves to try out all the Cambodia foods except the insects. Yong’s gf, HueyChin, only talks to Yong and Elaine most of the time.

Weikiat, our talented web programmer, was always serving his lovely gf, Foong. Foong was always happy except when Weikiat was slightly lost attention on her in the crowded Phnom Penh bus station.

Lily, always look likes 18 year old, although she is married and with two kids, and her caring husband is always carrying her orange bag whenever they visited in Cambodia. Next are our little couple, Cybie and Jason, who enjoys taking photos of all the things in front of their sights from insects to light bulbs. Last and not least are Daniel and his talkative gf, SiewLing, who both need to eat more in order to sustain a healthy weight.

And finally are guy who seldom has the chance to taste others’ foods beside those has been ordered. Watching couples exchanging their food each others in the half way of dining, I always think of they are so lucky to try two tastes in one meal. :)

Here we go… Nicholas, who always maintains his best photogenic post in front of camera, is our photographer, KeeKong, Pin’s buddy, has the best stamina in the group. XiaoMing, Eric’s buddy, had suffered from sore throat since the first day. Marcus, our replacement tour guide, has taken the lead for guideing the big group and lastly, I , ChinSeng, didn’t bring camera to Cambodia, except pen, paper, water and foods.

Stay tuned for the anecdotes on our grand tour to Cambodia!

• A day in a4trip
• New born member
• Elephant Sanctuary and Deerland
• Wannie’s Tour on Duty
• Big Day

Last month, Yichin and the little-monster-packaging team were busy sending out the soft toy to the people who has helped in the a4trip project. Rumors came to us that some took a snap during their trip and cause some delay, while few naughty one was hidden at the Post Office and refused to surrender themselves to their new owner. Luckyly, no report of missing soft toy so far :)

“”Carropi” has arrived in Oregon in fine shape and there were four BEAUTIFUL postage stamps of Malaysia’s birds and plants on the outside of his box. THANK YOU so much! We are adding the stamps to our collection. That was a very thoughtful and fun gift. Carropi is hanging near my computer, so he can remind me that I should quit playing stupid computer games (I am addicted to “Zuma” and “Mah Jong Solitaire”) and do something better,” said Barbara

“The package wouldn’t fit into my mailbox, so the postman knocked on my door. My dear mum who’s wary of strangers didn’t want to answer the door, so it got sent back to the Kelana Jaya post office. I booked a cab and went to pick it up the next day. I went to at least three different counters, before I was sent into the bowels of the post office, where thousands of letters seemed to await their fate. There, a postal officer rummaged through some steel drawers before he found my package, which was quite ’safely’ hidden. Glad to report the toy’s now safe in its new home. My son Amir named his new friend Kashi,” said Adline

• A day in a4trip
• Saving the Kopi
• Passion of Adrian, our proofreader
• Giggling at the Live Googling of Google?
• They Come, They Play, They Go

Penang oh Penang… The so-called heaven of Chinese delicacies… Of course what I mean here is the delicious Penang street food. “When one talks about Penang, we think of FOOD FOOD FOOD nothing but the food. Yes, that’s one of the main reason why people come to Penang. We have undeniably the best food around in my opinion, every corner, every hawker’s char koay teow I eat, I taste no difference because to me, they all taste the same, which is delicious! But Penang is more than what meets the eye. Since I’ve started reading up about history, culture and more things about Penang, I feel even prouder to be a Penangnite. It has everything you can ever dream of (I don’t mean to brag). Good cheap food, nice people, beaches, hills, rich heritage and culture. Anything you wish to have under the sun!” Said our Penang writer, Sharon Ong talking about her hometown.

We’re glad that a passionate writer, Sharon Ong from Penang is now joining a4trip to introduce her lovely hometown to us. “When I was first invited to become a member for a4trip, I was very very thrilled indeed! I was super excited that I was jumping around telling my family and couldn’t stop being all happy and excited. You guys do the thing I’ve always dream of and love doing. Two words. Travel and Write.”

A fun loving girl who love travel, love eating, love trying something new, love socializing, love writing and many many more. With her outgoing personality and her love to her hometown, I’m sure she is the best candidate for our Penang travel guide.

“I guess what I like best about my hometown is not only the availability of food in every corner at any time but also the kind of life I can choose to lead here. I could have chosen to work in other cities but I chose to come back to penang, because one, my family is in Penang and two, despite being the industrial base and gearing for more development on the island, Penang still gives one a choice to lead a rather laid back life, unlike other cities where everyday is rush hour day. I love the fact that everything is so close to each other, my working place is 8 mins drive from my house, biggest shopping mall is 15 mins from where I live… every place is within reach! And there’s no toll involved! How superb is that :D I love Penang, I definitely *HEART* it. Best state in Malaysia with everything under the sun, hands down!”

When she was asked about what she like about her hometown, excitedly she said she loves all the food around Penang and every places she wish to go is within reach. Every Penangnite is proud of their varieties food. For all the food lovers out there who crave for varieties of good food, Penang is the best place!

• 16 to 76
• Saving the Kopi 2-Happy ending?
• Passion of Adrian, our proofreader
• Feel the heat from Langkawi Island
• Saving the Kopi

If interns are like a box of chocolates, you will never know what you will get! When they first came to work, we don’t really know what will happen in the next three months. Let’s see what they have done…

They eat a lot

again…

and again…

They get nervous during presentation.

But, this will not stop them from sending messages at work…

We work hard and they play harder

Not enough with that…

and again…

If you know anything good about them, post it here. I may be wrong. They will be back to school after tomorrow, so don’t wait, say it now. Agnes, Eunice and Yichin - if you have anything to defend to say about yourself, we would love to hear from you too.

• Missing Whiteboard
• A day in a4trip
• Saving the Kopi
• Wannie’s Tour on Duty
• Introducing our gorgeous Penang writer and her hometown

If you are asked for your postal address from Yichin earlier, the little small monster are probably on their way to your house now, struggling their way by air, sea or land - here is a little hint of what would be knocking your doors soon. Thanks again to the gift-sending team for this little surprise.

We hope all of you will like it :)

• You Got Rabbit!
• Mappers’ talk
• They Come, They Play, They Go
• Riding West Coast Malaysia
• A story from Aida, writer of Manila Travel Guide

If your friends are going to Macau, I bet you would love to see them coming back with two hands of the craving portuguese egg tarts. I got this news from Agnes that her sister went to Macau. After much lobbying by me and her sister, Wannie was forced agreed to buy us some gifts.

After a week long waiting, I was surprised to see a plastic bag full of travel guides and maps of Macau on my desk yesterday. Thanks Wannie, it is yummier than egg tarts, we love it! Thanks.

• The Globe Corner Bookstores
• Mapper’s Framework
• Amy, the writer of Sydney Travel Guide is here!
• New born member
• Giggling at the Live Googling of Google?

The “untouched” Domino. What are you guys waiting for?

What is the first thing that our birthday girl, Yi Chin do? Obviously, she seemed to be interested in the BBQ saused chicken wings very much!! Look at her smile. ^^

WOW… what a big pizza feast for Yi Chin’s birthday!! Looks yummy… we really can’t wait to start eatting actually… Without a cake, substitute with the pizza, we sang two languages of birthday songs to wish her a happy birthday.

Left or right? Which is your favourite? The left one is spicy sauce while the right one is BBQ sauce. Tell you all a secret… Yi Chin’s favourite is BBQ sauce one.^^

Again… What are you guys favourite? Left one is BBQ flavour and right one is Aloha Chicken. Both looks delicious!

Looks like the one who took the pictures like pizza very much…Ikan bilis sambal or Seafood flovour?

Above are all the interns that having internship at 1.com.my and dm1.com.my.

We took a group picture before tucking in… Underneath the smile, we all are craving for the pizza!!! Especially Jing Kai!! haha…

oooohhh…… finally can start eatting. Everyone were busying about eatting the pizza but still… “sensitive” to the camera when shooting. Yi Chin, what are you looking at?:)

All the guys are also “sensitive” to the camera too. But wait…where was Marcus?! Don’t worry, he was doing the camera man’s job. Thank you, Marcus!!^^ Where’s Pin? He couldn’t attend Yi Chin’s birthday because he had have lunch with his parents. Where’s Wan Ching? Same with Pin.^^ Where’s Yow Chuan? He’s been missing for a few months… haha, just kidding:P… He is busy with his work.

Last, we all wish Yi Chin’s birthday wishes come true!!^^

• Feel the heat from Langkawi Island
• A day of “Hanoi” family and friends reunion
• Concrete Entrepreneur
• BBQ
• Elephant Sanctuary and Deerland

We arrived at the hidden place at 11am. It is easier if you’re taking the Jalan Bangsar road, heading towards KL city. You’ll pass National Museum and KTM headquarters on your left, and you can find the lost, but remarkable place to visit - Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia.

The Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia is one of the world’s youngest museums. This 10-years old, South East Asia’s largest museum of Islamic art houses almost eight thousand artifacts. These range from the tiniest pieces of jewelery to one of the world’s largest scale models of the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca.

Unlike most other museums, IAMM hosts not just collections from Persia and the Middle East, but also artifacts from Asia, particularly China, India and Southeast Asia. Forgive me, I’m not going to describe each item here. Adline guided us on an hour tour with detail briefing on every gallery. I’m not going to repeat that again (even if I do, I can’t be as good as Adline), buy yourself a ticket (RM12 per person), drop a visit to the museum any time from 10am to 6pm. Shown in the picture is one of the oldest mosque in Kampung Laut, Kelantan.

I particularly like the Qur’an & Manuscript Gallery on the first floor. The collections include treatise on the Prophet Muhammad Ottoman Turkey, marriage certificate of Iran, and many others. Adline showed us the amazing gold-printed cover page of each Qur’an and told us some of the oldest collection there are acquired from Malay Sultans.

Ikat - literally meaning ‘tie’ or ‘bind’. Don’t miss the textile gallery. Lot of interesting Ikat are on displayed, including Limar, Patola, Munisak, etc.

Just like IKEA, the museum restaurant serves middle eastern cuisine when your leg complaints. Opposite the restaurant, where you can find the museum shop with wide variety of crafts. Well, I must admit, it is one of the most interesting museum shop. The logo of the museum is a Kufi square, and this is embedded in most of their souvenir beautifully - don’t miss it!

Check this out! The handy guidebook IKAT is written by Adline. There is also a guidebook of the museum - RM9.90 each.

Enough for the museum, I can’t wait to introduce the best tour guide of the day, our friend Adline - Working mum & freelance writer. Next to her is Marcus!

This is Pin, with Adline. Too bad, Adline had to say good bye to us in rush for her next meeting. There are about 12 galleries here including Achitecture, India, China, Malay, Jewellery, Arms & Armour, Woodwork, Coin & Seal, Metalwork and Ceramins Gallery.

• Choi from Korea
• Saving the Kopi
• Miss World Pageant
• An ideal workplace designed by designers for a designer!
• Pin’s Bad Reading Habit