Hello Asia! Goodbye Europe for my holidays.

Like many the yearly visit to mainland Europe for the seasonal beach holiday was normal, however this year with the British Pound so weak again the Euro we looked further away from home.

With the past years credit crunch everyone is looking to cut costs and get more for your money. Air Asia's timing of the the direct service from London Stansted to Kuala Lumpur KLCC couldn't be better. After working out how much a family holiday would cost in Europe compared to the cost of a flight to Malaysia there was no competition.

The flight was excellent on a new plane with great staff and great service for a budget price.

We decided not to stay in KL but head straight for an island on the east coast Malaysia. We found a little known island called Pulau Sibu (Sibu island) from a blog and after checking the place out with reviews from tripadvisor and rough guide we booked a 10 day stay at Sibu Island Cabanas.

The scuba diving on offer at Sibu Island is excellent. The dives are from small speed boats to sites no body seems to dive at all; as the reefs are in perfect condition with little to no bleaching. Both myself and my son were able to pass our PADI open water certifications at the hotel / dive centre. While my wife enjoyed some quiet time with a good book on the beach.

It's easy to forget what you really want in a holiday! Forget about the minibar, TVs and mobile phones. All you really want is somewhere to relax as well as to have fun with family and friends.

So if you want to really get away from it all if you live in London or Singapore; KL or Perth remember what it is you really want from a beach holiday and look abit further away from the usual and you'll find exactly what your looking for.

We have just returned from Langkawi late October 2008. We were on a very tight budget but still had loads of fun. (read more...)

Hello again!
Even though I love teaching a lot however I still needed a break to re-charge myself. Therefore, I took a week off .
And guess where I've been to - One of the best dive sites in the world - Sipadan!

It was actually my 2nd trip to Sipadan. The first time was about 5 years ago when AirAsia offered free tickets to Tawau. Unfortunately at that time I only snorkelled around the island. This time round, its different because I went as a diver and stayed at the Seaventures Dive Resort, an oil rig turned into a dive resort.

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It was non stop go go go!

We arrived in Kota Kinabalu on a Friday evening ready to go to the beach early on Saturday to set up for the beach volleyball tournament we had organized for the Kota Kinabalu staff. It was a beautiful day on Tanjung Aru Beach and we were excited about the day ahead.

With the 2 volleyball courts set up we headed back to Tune Hotel where we had a press conference. The reason? AirAsia sent 17 runners to take part in the Borneo International Marathon – the first marathon to be held in Sabah for nearly 25 years!
Some had never run in a race before, some were seasoned runners who had taken part in a number of races (I think I would put myself somewhere in the middle of that!)

Staff from AirAsia came from Kuala Lumpur, AirAsia X (CEO Azran Bin Osman Rani), from Kota Kinabalu and distances ranged from 10km, to 21km, to one of our Captains braving the full marathon of 42km!

Right…back to the beach!

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Smack right in the center of Surfers Paradise, sun blistering hot, eyes reduced to a slit, the wind sounded like drones of airplane..... I can't believe the weather. How could it be this hot?

This was my first few hours in Gold Coast, wandering aimlessly while waiting for my entry time into the apartment. Had a fantastically huge mutton kebab that cost me RM35, a big bottle of mineral water that cost me RM10 and my friend told me to stop counting in Malaysian Ringgit.

What is it about Gold Coast ?
The BEACH !!!!!
Hit the beach on the first early morning.
Every 5 o'clock in the morning.
One long stretch of beach till you can't see the end of it.
Never seen such a big ball of sun before, rising and burning like that.

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