Four out of our seven nights in Siem Reap is spent staying at The Purple Mangosteen, a tiny boutique hotel in The Alley West off the very active Pub Street. Owners Polly and Simon are really friendly and informative with the what and hows of sight-seeing. Polly worked on the impressive renovation of the hotel which is originally shaped at a funny slant, but she’s managed to make it work wonderfully.
* written by SweetEe *
Bernard Chandran recently launched an exhibition showcasing his most outstanding pieces in Museum Sultan Abu Bakar, Pekan – a small town in Pahang, roughly 4 hours from KL.
The collections featured in this exhibition will be some of the proudest pieces Bernard Chandran has ever designed. What’s more exciting about this exhibition is that most of these Malay wedding gowns are specially made for Brunei’s royalty and some of our local celebrities.
Each of these gowns takes weeks to months of being carefully designed and hand made by the Bernard Chandran team.
Museum Sultan Abu Bakar has just undergone a 4-year long renovation from being a Sultan’s palace into this contemporary museum we now see in front of our eyes.
During the interview, some attendees questioned what motivated Dato Chandran to partake in this project, what more held in a small town and not the capital of Kuala Lumpur, which would attract a bigger crowd.
According to Bernard; during his studies in Paris, one of his inspirations came from the museums there. As we all know, Parisian museums are well-known globally for its meticulous detail and amazing collection of art pieces. However, after his return to Malaysia, he was quite disappointed that his homeland doesn’t have museums of equal quality to aspire young artists just like himself.
Despite being approached by many a museum curator and owner, none of them could appease his desire to provide a different environment and atmosphere. Until, of course, he met the man in charge of Museum Sultan Abu Bakar, who spent many years convincing Bernard to join in for the project.
When asked why Pekan and not KL, Bernard said that although it is quite a distance from all major cities in Malaysia, if the public could take the effort to visit this museum, then not only it will it influence the whole town’s economy, but also inspire other museums in Malaysia to make a change.
Am currently spending a week in Siem Reap! I’ve always wanted to come here especially as Cambodia is the last country i had yet to visit in South East Asia! Am thinking we should explore more secluded parts of Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam after this. So many places so little time…
We took a 7am AirAsia flight and were so afraid of the Raya crowd that we left for the airport at 3am. Luckily we played it safe… the airport was freaking crowded and queues were insanely long. Walked by the airport bar around 5am and joked that Rahul was probably in there. We weren’t too far off from the truth… he told us he was in the KLIA one :p
Passed out on the 2-hour flight and arrived to a beautiful first view of Siem Reap…
It’s rainy season right now which is great by me cos it’s less dusty, less hot (than what i’ve heard other tourists say it to be) and less crowded than peak seasons. Rest of the pictures are in chronological order. (Clem says hi.)
After sleeping for a few hours upon arriving (7am flights spur on unworthy jet lag!) we walked out of Friendly Villa to find some food. I insisted we stopped at the first place i felt i could eat in. Hungry fairies are scary fairies.
Had my first sampling of Khmer food! Pork in a light spicy sauce, and fish in a coconut cream sauce with veggies. Both were really good tho i think the pork dish won. The pork came with rice and veggies, and cost USD3. Everything is paid for in USD here… you can use the Cambodian riel too but everything is quoted in USD so we’ve barely used riel except to balance out some small change.
During the month of June, Malaysians were encouraged to
play basketball,
dance,
skip,
cycle,
run,
stair-climb,
play volleyball,
anything!
As long as they MOVED.
Even shopping was considered moving!
All this moving wasn’t in vain, no siree.
Every effort and bead of sweat was accumulated to measure in KM from one end of Malaysia to the other,
with the promise that when this was achieved,
all the KM would be converted into donations for underprivileged children.
So all this moving wasn’t just inspiring Malaysians to be healthier,
but to chip in, in their own way, for the less fortunate children in the country.
After less than a month of double the reason to move,
overwhelming response allowed Rexona Move to accomplish a total of 10,695km
in a much shorter timeframe than expected!
Thanks to EVERYONE’S contribution,
Rexona has activated its support for 13 children homes
in 13 Malaysian states – starting with Perlis, Kedah, Penang and Perak.
In Perlis, Rexona donated some of my favourite educational toys like Lego, Monopoly and Scrabble to Pusat Jagaan Hembusan Kasih.
In Kedah’s Rumah Budi, Rexona Move noticed the interest of children on swimming and offered 24 children 10-week long swimming lessons.
In Penang, Rexona Move partnered with Children Protection’s Society to organise a fun dance session to inject excitement and colours into the lives of 30 children residing there.
Educational books were donated to Perak’s Pusat Jagaan Anak-anak Yatim & Miskin Nurul Aman to encourage reading and learning amongst the 22 children under their care.
Schools in Terengganu, Kelantan and Pahang will be next on Rexona Move’s stops…
… with activities like mending broken fences,
equipping the center with computers,
and offering drawing lessons
being carried out upon consulting the caregivers of each home.
Rexona Move is even supported by Sazzy Falak and Nazril Idrus (who are parents themselves),
who expressed how imperative it is for Malaysians to pay attention to underprivileged children,
many of whom are not receiving sufficient basic necessities and education.
For more information, please log on to www.rexonamove.com.my
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