Going Places September 2019

SEPTEMBER 2019 Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad: Resetting Malaysia

MY Guide To Taiping, Perak ■ Explore Sarawak’s Gunung Mulu

National Park ■ Chef Adu Amran Reaps Sweet Taste Of Success ■ Masala Wheels Empowers Youth At Risk

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World’s Largest free-flight walk-in aviary

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September 2019

Contents IN PROFILE Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad 30

SOOPHYE

goingplacesmagazine.com | 3 | September 2019

Malaysia’s beloved Prime Minister is a man in a hurry to heal the nation

Navigator GP ON THE WEB

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Our exclusive digital content

FROM THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF 8 EDITOR’S NOTE

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MAIL ROOM

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TRAVEL CONCIERGE SEE

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TRAVEL CONCIERGE DINE

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TRAVEL CONCIERGE STAY

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TRAVEL CONCIERGE ART

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Upcoming events for your calendar

MY GUIDE 28 Taiping, Malaysia

What’s new in the world of dining

Hospitality news and options

Follow us:

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facebook.com/goingplacesmagazine

@goingplacesmagazine

What to see in the art world

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CHRIS HOWES

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CONTENTS

EXPLORE | Gunung Mulu National Park 40

Malaysia’s Mulu cave system is the most extensive in the world

CHEF’S CUT 48

Adu Amran Hassan

Features MALAYSIA DAY SPECIAL

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Messages of unity and harmony from our local agencies and corporations

WARISAN | Pembawa Tuah

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FASHION + ACCESSORIES

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ENTERTAINMENT

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FASHION + ACCESSORIES 60 The globetrotter’s styling guide

Seni pembuatan tanglung tradisional di Ipoh The globetrotter’s styling guide

Your in-flight entertainment guide

Inside Malaysia Airlines NEWS

63

FLEET

68

ENRICH QUICK GUIDE

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SAFETY & SERVICE INFO

71

WHERE WE FLY

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EXPLORE | Masala Wheels 52

Food-focused social enterprise extends lifeline to youth at risk

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GP ON THE WEB

Go online for more stories

goingplacesmagazine.com | 6 | June 2018

ROBERT BRETT, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

goingplacesmagazine.com

Colourful Beaches We tend to envision a beautiful beach as having turquoise blue waters and soft white sand but there are plenty of colourful beaches where the sand is pink, red, orange and even black. Check out our list of five kaleidoscopic beaches around the world, proving that nature’s beauty comes in all shades and colours.

Read Me Online Surf our website for exciting travel and lifestyle ideas, reviews of the best hotels, dining establishments and much, much more.

Visit goingplacesmagazine.com and get inspired!

Like us on facebook.com/goingplacesmagazine and follow us on instagram.com/goingplacesmagazine For advertising enquiries, contact Spafax Networks Sdn Bhd at +603 7960 0711 or email mhmedia@spafax.com

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FLYDIME VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The in-flight magazine of Malaysia Airlines is available at your digital doorstep.

Unusual Festivals

Tips For A Frugal Vacation

Festivals typically evoke a sense of fun and celebration, with parades, feasting, dancing and music. Some communities, however, celebrate their festivals in what some might see as odd (but no less fun) and wonderful ways – from throwing a massive food fight in town to chasing after cheese wheels down a slope.

Travel doesn’t always have to be expensive – all you need is some planning and lots of determination.

From how to leverage on the right deals at the right time to getting meals from the convenience store and utilising local public transport and free WiFi, read our tips on planning a budget holiday and making the most of your money.

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FROM THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF

goingplacesmagazine.com | 8 | September 2019

Capt Izham Ismail

Group Chief Executive Officer Malaysia Airlines Berhad

Dear Guests, Welcome onboard.

This month is very special to us. Malaysia Day, which falls on 16 September, marks the establishment of the Malaysian Federation in 1963. Being Malaysian (I was born and raised in Kedah, a northwestern state in Peninsular Malaysia), I am proud that being a multiracial community, we have not only managed to retain each of our identities but also progressed together in harmony throughout the years. We have a uniquely diverse heritage, which is something that is both cherished and celebrated. Being the national airline of the country, Malaysia Airlines is very much part of that journey, serving as a critical enabler that connects Malaysia to the world, while simultaneously integrating the nation.

In conjunction with this special month, we would like to celebrate an outstanding Malaysian who has been making remarkable achievements. Our national diver, who is also Malaysia Airlines’ brand ambassador, Pandelela Rinong

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has secured a ticket to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and we couldn’t be prouder! She is a two-time Olympic medallist and I have no doubt that she will be paving the way for Malaysia in the Olympics once more.

Also happening in September, we will celebrate five years of operating as Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB). Our on-time performance has improved at an average of 83 percent and above, and we have made so many improvements to our products and services based on your feedback. We have moved our International Economy Class check-in counters and baggage drop-off at KL International Airport (KLIA) from Row B to Row H to ease the queue during peak travel periods. We now have dedicated check-in counters for the different cabin classes for international and domestic travels, so you can expect a shorter waiting time moving forward.

We have also recently launched our latest product, MHholidays which allows customers to tailor-make their holidays with the combination of flights and accommodation in a single platform.

The idea behind MHholidays is to bring all hospitality partners into a single ecosystem that truly reflects Malaysia and Malaysian Hospitality. If you are in or visiting Kuala Lumpur, you may enjoy this offerings at holidays.malaysiaairlines.com.

If you are planning to travel soon, we will be participating in the biannual MATTA Fair in Kuala Lumpur. We have maintained our role as the official airline for MATTA 2019, and on 6-8 September, we will be at Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), offering customers the best deals on airfares. I encourage you to drop by our booth and check out our offers. There are plenty of destinations to choose from. Plus, you stand a chance to win some amazing prizes.

In the lead-up to Visit Malaysia Year 2020 (VMY2020), Malaysia Airlines and our sister airlines, Firefly and MASwings, will display the VMY2020 logo on selected aircraft as part of our support in promoting the programme. We had the honour of being part of the unveiling of the VMY2020 logo at an event graced by our Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Mohammadin Ketapi. We look forward to welcoming more tourists from all over the world to experience the uniqueness and beauty of Malaysia.

If you are visiting Malaysia, thank you for choosing Malaysia Airlines, and do enjoy your stay. For now, please sit back, relax and enjoy your Malaysian ‘home away from home’. ■

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19/08/2019 1:40 PM

EDITOR’S NOTE

Tun M, as he is affectionately known, is now 94. He made a comeback in May last year by being elected prime minister for the second time around after retiring in 2003. He is, of course, the world’s oldest prime minister, but age is just a number for someone with a larger-than-life persona. He told me during our interview that the secret to keeping the mind sharp and the body healthy is to read and to avoid processed sugar. By reading, he recalls words and they become familiar, he says.

Tun is as I remember him. He still has his wit and charm in front of the camera. I’ll share a behind-the-scenes snippet: When Tun’s aide-de-camp stormed into the meeting room to end the interview – the prime minister was running late for his flight to London – Tun ignored him and continued to smile and pose for the camera. The scene was just adorable. goingplacesmagazine.com | 10 | September 2019

Julie Goh Editor

How do you write an article about a man who has been in the news for the last four decades? To storify the interview is to do injustice to what he has to say. It is best left as a transcript, which is what we have done. If you would like to know what he has for breakfast or how his marriage to his wife Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali should be everyone’s relationship goal, turn to pages 30-35.

I hope you enjoy this month’s issue. It is themed around Malaysia, for we celebrate the 56th year of the formation of the Malaysian federation on 16 September.

Happy Malaysia Day! ■

The call came in a few days before the interview. The date wasn’t a convenient one. The cable TV company was coming to my apartment and I had taken the day off. But on the other end of the line was one of the prime minister’s special assistants, and this was not a negotiable date. After all, an interview with the prime minister is not to be taken lightly.

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SEPTEMBER 2019 Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad: Resetting Malaysia

MY Guide To Taiping, Perak ■ Explore Sarawak’s Gunung Mulu

National Park ■ Chef Adu Amran Reaps Sweet Taste Of Success ■ Masala Wheels Empowers Youth At Risk

SOOPHYE

I first attended Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s events and press conferences more than 20 years ago. This was a man who could answer anything you threw at him, with wit too, where appropriate. I vividly remember asking him in the late 1990s, when he was a prime minister without a deputy, what would happen to the country if, God forbid, he died. I was uncomfortable asking him that. I’m superstitious that way, but I felt it was a necessary question. He was good-natured about it, smiled and said something to the effect that yes, that could happen, but the Cabinet would know what to do. He was 73 years old then.

On The Cover Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Interview on pages 30-35.

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THE MAIL ROOM

Letter of the Month It's the little things that make a memory.

A little packet of peanuts.

A little more ice cream if available.

A little longer to keep the headsets, so that I can finish the movie.

A little help to make space for my shopping bags.

As I resumed my Asian travels, I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of service, entertainment choices and meals with Malaysia Airlines during my trip to Hong Kong and return. The crew was extremely pleasant and helpful and ensured that I was comfortable during the journey. I especially liked catching up with Going Places. It covered the destination, Kochi, which I hope to visit someday soon. My favourite meal, nasi lemak was served, followed by ice cream. The take-off and landing were so smooth that I didn't even realise four hours had gone by. I look forward to flying with you again to my next destination. Malaysia Airlines is banyak bagus!

SHIVANI DESAI Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

goingplacesmagazine.com | 12 | September 2019

I had the pleasure of flying on Malaysia Airlines recently with my wife and four children from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok. It was a very enjoyable trip on your airline. Your in-flight crew were most helpful. Zita the purser was fantastic. We felt the benefit of a “real” airline, ahead of your competition with the onboard entertainment for the kids and traditional Malaysian cuisine. The traditional dish of nasi lemak was really good. We also found the check-in process was seamless at KLIA and initially were concerned that our checked bags might not make it with a very quick transfer needed in Bangkok, but MAS tagged our bags ‘Hot Transfer’, which ensured our bags got to our onward flight to London. I highly recommend your airline and look forward to flying with you again very soon.

COLIN BRAHAM Cork, Ireland

Well done on another quality delivery of Going Places. It has been some time since I last picked up a copy. The May edition was an eye-opener with the bright, simplified layout, and in particular, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality, especially the Photobook section on Perlis Indera Kayangan. Not only were the images beautifully captured, but a thousand words have indeed been spoken through the pictures, which were on par with those of National Geographic! The article on ulam was also a delight as I love the understated benefits of living amid wild ulams and the health benefits they present. Kudos and keep up the good work on marketing Malaysia to the world!

MOHD FAIZ MOHAMAD KAMARUDIN Shah Alam, Malaysia

going places SPAFAX MALAYSIA BUSINESS DIRECTOR SUE LOKE sue.loke@spafax.com EDITORIAL EDITOR JULIE GOH julie.goh@spafax.com SENIOR WRITER ERIS CHOO eris.choo@spafax.com

ART DIRECTOR EURIC LIEW euric.liew@spafax.com

WRITER NOEL FOO noel.foo@spafax.com

GRAPHIC DESIGNER NURFARAHIN KAMARUDIN nurfarahin.kamarudin@spafax.com

CONTRIBUTORS ADLINA AZHARUDDIN, RUBINI KAMAL, PY CHEONG, SHAMSUL KHAN @ K K LARKHAN MOHD, GEORGINA YATES, JOHN LIM, VENETIA DE SILVA

ADVERTISING & MEDIA SALES SENIOR SALES MANAGER SHIRLEY CHIN shirley.chin@spafax.com

SALES MANAGER EMMY AIZA emmy.aiza@spafax.com

SALES MANAGER VANNES CHING vannes.ching@spafax.com

SALES MANAGER KHAIRUL ADZMAN khairul.adzman@spafax.com

SPAFAX CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER NIALL MCBAIN CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER/ CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER SIMON OGDEN

SPAFAX MIDDLE EAST JELLE DE MEY Jelle.DeMey@spafax.com SPAFAX EUROPE TULLIA VITTURI tullia.vitturi@spafax.com

OOI YHEE POAH Singapore

SPAFAX USA MARY RAE ESPOSITO maryrae.esposito@spafax.com SPAFAX CANADA TRACY MILLER tracy.miller@bookmarkcontent.com

SPAFAX UK STEVE O’CONNOR Steve.OConnor@spafax.com SPAFAX ASIA-PACIFIC AGNES LAW agnes.law@spafax.com

I have been traveling quite extensively within Southeast Asia, and on flight MH623 from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore on 1 April 2019, the cabin crew delivered awesome hospitality service in-flight. What I saw was a future leader in the making. The senior cabin crew was very passionate in guiding a new member (Miss Yen Chee), which made the whole environment very warm and cheerful. I felt that the team was very professional and did its utmost while carrying out on-the-job training for the new cabin member. Keep this strong spirit up! I hope future Malaysia Airlines flights will be enriched in a similar way from the team.

Well done, Malaysia Airlines!

MANAGING DIRECTOR, ASIA PACIFIC JEAN-MARC THOMAS

SPAFAX SOUTH AMERICA FRANCISCO AZOCAR francisco.azocar@bookmarkcontent.com

PUBLISHER MALAYSIA AIRLINES BERHAD (1116944-X)

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Times Subang, Bangunan Times Publishing, Lot 46, Subang Hi-Tech Industrial Park, Batu Tiga, 40000 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia Tel +603 5628 6888 Fax +603 5628 6899 Each month, Going Places will select a Letter of the Month and the winner will receive a gift. For September, the winning letter will receive a 2D1N stay in a Club Deluxe City View Room at Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur, with full club access for two worth about RM1,745 (USD420).

Going Places welcomes your comment. Letters may be edited for clarity and brevity and are published in the language in which they are written. Please include your full name, contact number and location when writing to us at mhmedia@spafax.com.

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Going Places is published monthly by Spafax Networks Sdn Bhd for Malaysia Airlines Berhad (1116944-X).

No part of this magazine may be reproduced without the written permission of Malaysia Airlines.

All rights reserved. Copyright @ 2019 by Malaysia Airlines. Opinions expressed in Going Places are the writers’ and not necessarily endorsed by Malaysia Airlines and/or Spafax Networks.

They are not responsible or liable in any way for the contents in any of the advertisements, articles, photographs or illustrations contained in this publication. Editorial inquiries and inquiries concerning advertising and circulation should be addressed to Spafax Networks.

Malaysia Airlines and Spafax Networks accept no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photography, illustration and other editorial materials. The Editorial Team reserves the right to edit and/or re-write all materials according to the needs of the publication upon usage.

Unsolicited materials will not be returned unless they are accompanied by sufficient return postage.

19/08/2019 2:38 PM

Travel Concierge

ANT ROBLING

goingplacesmagazine.com | 13 | September 2019

The inside track on the best accommodations, dining options and calendar of events from Malaysia and around the world.

Of Love And War For a limited time only, theatre audiences in the Philippines will have the chance to enjoy two of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, in Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth. One of Shakespeare’s best-known comedies, A Midsummer Night’s Dream illustrates how complicated love can get when two pairs of lovers stumble across feuding fairies while lost in the woods. The stage takes a darker tone when it follows Macbeth’s downward spiral into madness and his bloody ambition to become the King of Scotland. This production by the award-winning Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre company from the U.K. features its talented cast in its international debut in Manila.

When: 17 – 22 September | Where: The Theatre at Solaire, Solaire Resort & Casino, Manila, Philippines shakespearerosetheatre.com/manila

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TRAVEL CONCIERGE | SEE

goingplacesmagazine.com | 14 | September 2019

Cultural Exchange Organised by the Cambodian Living Arts Heritage Hub, the second edition of REPfest will be held in Siem Reap this month. The event serves as a platform to bring together musicians from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Japan in a unique exchange that fosters the creation of new works based on traditional cultural heritage. After a series of closed exchange sessions, the public can catch performances, workshops and forums with each of the participating groups across four days. The first edition of REPfest was held in 2017, created with the objective of sharing and strengthening Cambodia’s living heritage.

Colourful Bazaar After a highly successful inaugural run last year, Artbox Malaysia returns to Sunway City Kuala Lumpur this month. Hailed as Asia’s first and largest container market, the second edition of the event is back with a wide array of street food and retail stores to explore.

There is so much to do at Artbox Malaysia, from learning new things at workshops to enjoying music and games. Check out the colourful street art and Photo Box zone with its endless Instagrammable backgrounds. Put yourself into special immersive experiences, compete with a friend in a giant projected game of Tetris or get the best view of the event grounds atop the rooftop bridge viewing deck.

When: 5 – 8 September Where: Several participating venues in Siem Reap, Cambodia

When: 6 – 8 and 13 – 15 September Where: Outdoor carpark (opposite Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa), Sunway City Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

cambodianlivingarts.org/repfest

sunway.city/artboxmalaysia2019

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Events+Happenings

goingplacesmagazine.com | 15 | September 2019

For more calendar listings, visit goingplacesmagazine.com

Soulful Tunes

Spirit Of The Arts

Enjoy soulful jazz music by talented local and international artists along the scenic Sarawak River as the Kuching Waterfront Jazz Festival returns for its third consecutive year. This year’s colourful line-up of performers includes Ning Baizura, Harvey Malaiholo, Saxx In The City, Xanaduduo, Z Yan, Q Sound, Dave Brewer & The DooDaddies, Ushera, Nisa Addina, Sitti Navarro, and Dawn Wong & The Shanghai Jazz Club. Along with good jazz music, this free event also features a bazaar area with food and beverage stalls as well as stalls selling arts and crafts. In line with the event’s secondary objective of helping local charities, visitors can contribute by purchasing limited-edition autographed performer posters at the festival.

HANDS Percussion will soon present Taksu, a gamelan theatre performance at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC).

Taksu is the ancient Balinese concept of the ‘spirit of the arts’ that naturally exists in a person and drives them to perform. In honour of Malaysian traditional music and art, this musical production puts together two sets of percussion instruments from different cultures, the Chinese shigu drums and the Malay and Balinese gamelan, into synergistic musical conversation. The performance is further enriched and complemented by traditional dance of Kelantanese influence, performed by Mat Din Hussin and Zamzuriah Zahari, together with the natural vocals of choral group La Voce.

When: 27 – 28 September Where: Grand Margherita Hotel, Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia

When: 4 – 6 October Where: Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC), Sentul Park, Jalan Strachan, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

kuchingwaterfrontjazz.com

klpac.org

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TRAVEL CONCIERGE | DINE

goingplacesmagazine.com | 17 | September 2019

Restaurant Openings, News+Reviews

THAILAND

Thai-ed Up Cuisine Make your holiday in Phuket even more memorable with a visit to The Plantation Club. Located within The Pavilions Phuket hilltop retreat, the restaurant has launched a new sustainable, locally and ethically sourced menu under the guidance of Executive Chef Rey Ardonia, whose resumé includes a stint at the award-winning Bracu in New Zealand. Here, you’ll find a selection of refined Thai dishes like Chiang Mai Khao Soi, where a sous-vide ballotine of Khlong Farm baby chicken is served with chicken croquette, yellow curry, noodles, pickled cabbage, peanuts and coconut foam; Geang Poo Bai Chaplu, where blue swimmer crab is char-grilled and marinated with yellow Phuket curry and served with rice noodles and crispy bitter leaves; and Kanom Bliak Bun, the restaurant’s modern take on a classic Thai dish that fuses coconut ash pudding with peanut brittle, young coconut, mulberries, coconut sauce and black sesame seed ice cream. You can choose to enjoy the dishes by ordering them off the à la carte menu, in the form of four- or six-course tasting menus, or the nine-course Plantation Journey meal. pavilionshotels.com/phuket

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TRAVEL CONCIERGE | DINE

goingplacesmagazine.com | 18 | September 2019

AUSTRALIA

More Mörk

MALAYSIA

Local Flavours

A chocoholic’s visit to Melbourne wouldn’t be complete without dropping by Mörk Chocolate Brew House on Errol Street, now even more so with its new seasonal menu. Created in collaboration with Shaun Quade, the founder of the much-celebrated Lûmé fine dining restaurant, the menu includes an updated version of Layered, Mörk’s signature combination of warm aerated custard and chilled chocolate that now features beetroot and raspberry custard and beetroot pulp crisp. Those looking to warm up after a cold day won’t go wrong with the Mulled Cacao Cider, a spin on the European traditional mulled apple cider using cacao husk and pepper from Madagascar, and the Cacao Flight, which comprises three tasting expressions of the cacao bean – raw, roasted and refined. On the dessert side of things, Quade has also been busy creating new items such as the standout vegan Strawberry & Eucalyptus Lamington. If this is your first visit, don’t miss the signature Campfire Hot Chocolate, a hot cocoa drink made with 70 percent cacao served alongside maple wood smoke, torched house-made marshmallow and charcoal salt – you won’t experience a better cup of hot chocolate.

Guests of Pavilion Hotel Kuala Lumpur now have more daytime dining options as all-day dining restaurant The Courtyard offers a lunch buffet as well as a Truly Malaysian Afternoon Tea set, introduced earlier this year. Located on the eighth floor, the restaurant enjoys warm natural sunlight pouring in through the large glass panels, but customers may choose to sit outdoors on a pleasant day. The buffet spread features a mix of dishes from local Malay, Chinese and Indian cuisines, along with a selection of Western items. Enjoy the highlight of the day at the carving station, which serves scrumptious meat dishes such as Whole Roasted Rosemary Chicken or Overnight Roasted Lamb Shoulder. At the live grill, customers can have their favourite meat or seafood grilled to order, including Malaysia’s favourite satay with spicy peanut sauce. Select local favourites at the dessert counter, from Malay kuih to ais kacang.

Served in quaint enamel tiffin carriers, traditional local bites in the Truly Malaysian Afternoon Tea set are best enjoyed with a hot cup of teh tarik for a truly authentic experience.

morkchocolate.com.au

banyantree.com/en/malaysia/pavilion-hotel

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Restaurant Openings, News+Reviews

goingplacesmagazine.com | 19 | September 2019

For more dining options, visit goingplacesmagazine.com

MALAYSIA

HONG KONG

Sweet Dough

Steak Out

Adding to the list of noteworthy brunch options in Kuala Lumpur is Dough & Dolce, a bakery-café that takes pride in freshly baked bread and pastries. Located on the quiet side of Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Dough & Dolce is where you’ll find carb-filled comfort meals anchored by sourdough bread. The breakfast menu serves up classic dishes like baked eggs with chicken sausage, crab meat with fluffy scrambled eggs, pesto and fresh burrata cheese, and even a hearty Australian rib eye with eggs – each dish served with a thick slice of sourdough toast. Lunchtime features another selection that includes soups, sandwiches and pastas, including buttercream chilli clams, toasted chicken pesto sandwiches, and smoked duck pasta.

Your best bet would be to have the cheese toastie sandwich with tomato soup: the rich melted cheese, tart soup and perfectly grilled sourdough bread can make the worst of days into a better one.

And when all’s done, don’t skip out on the sweet treats– the Nutellafilled doughnuts, Valrhona pain au chocolat and Chocolate Dacquoise Praline Tart are among the café’s favourites.

Steak aficionados will be glad to know that 37 Steakhouse & Bar is now open at The Peak Galleria in Hong Kong. Built on the same formula for success that made its outlets in Roponggi and Shanghai such a big hit, this latest outpost offers an elegant way to spend a night in Victoria Harbour. On the menu is a selection of Josper-grilled steaks featuring Prime Black Angus, Australian Rangers Valley Cross-bred Wagyu, Australian Black Angus, Korean Hanwoo 1++ and dry-aged Prime beef from Belgium.

The steakhouse is also one of the few places in Hong Kong with Kuroge Wagyu sourced from Hiyama, one of Japan’s oldest and finest meat suppliers. Non-steak lovers aren’t left wanting, with dishes like roasted French spring chicken, Australian lamb chops, oysters, scallop carpaccio, sea urchin and crab barley risotto, and whole lobster served with fennel and herb butter. End your meal in style with the deconstructed tiramisu or the signature Mountain on Fire, a decadent baked Alaska-style dish featuring vanilla, pistachio and chocolate ice-cream, Grand Marnier and candyfloss.

facebook.com/doughanddolce

37steakhouse.asia

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TRAVEL CONCIERGE | STAY

goingplacesmagazine.com | 21 | September 2019

Hospitality News+Reviews

AUSTRALIA

Countryside Luxury For a unique holiday experience, consider staying in a luxurious private homestead amid rolling green hills in rural Western Australia. Located in Toodyay, Deepdale Farm is a huge 1,500-hectare working farm that accommodates up to 12 guests in its beautifully renovated 1850s homestead. Guests can simply unwind and relax while the farm’s full-time managers take care of the property’s working operations. Enjoy facilities such as a heated saltwater swimming pool, gym, tennis court, barbecue area and a refurbished barn, perfect for hosting parties.

Deepdale Farm even has its own museum where guests can learn about the property’s history as one of the first farms established in the region. Take a five-minute drive to nearby Toodyay to explore its charming country pubs, artisan bakeries, gift shops and monthly farmers’ markets. The town is a 90-minute drive from the Perth CBD and has two helipads, making helicopter travel an option. privateproperties.com.au

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TRAVEL CONCIERGE | STAY

TOMOOKI KENGAKU

goingplacesmagazine.com | 22 | September 2019

MALAYSIA

Premier Stay

CHINA

Regal Architecture

Strategically located close to the Kuala Lumpur city centre, Sunway Putra Hotel is a 650-room five-star hotel that caters to both business and leisure travellers alike. Following a USD30 million (RM123 million) refurbishment programme in 2016, the hotel offers guests a refreshed experience, from a sprawling main lobby with a dramatic atrium dome to spacious and contemporary rooms. There are six room types to choose from, all of which come fitted with amenities such as complimentary Wi-Fi, LED Smart TV, electronic safe and mini fridge. Leisure facilities include a 24-hour fitness centre, an outdoor swimming pool with an attached children’s pool and a hot tub. Meanwhile, club floor guests can enjoy exceptional vistas of the city skyline at the Club Lounge on the 34th floor. When it comes to dining, enjoy local and international fare at the hotel’s all-day dining restaurant Coffee House, or tuck into scrumptious and authentic Japanese cuisine at Gen Japanese restaurant. For meetings, the hotel offers 15 spacious function rooms and a Grand Ballroom that accommodates up to 1,200 guests in a theatre-style setting.

With its design inspired by the royal Spanish court concept, Radisson Blu Forest Manor Shanghai Hongqiao is an upscale urban resort in the rapidly growing Hongqiao business district.

Guests staying in the 439 guest rooms and suites can enjoy picturesque views of the hotel’s large outdoor swimming pools and the sprawling Shanghai cityscape. Business travellers who opt to stay in the Executive rooms and suites can also enjoy additional facilities and services in the Executive Lounge. The hotel is set to establish itself as a premier venue for events in the city with a variety of impressive function spaces, including a 1,000-squaremetre Grand Ballroom and options for al fresco functions at the pool terrace or palm garden. The Recreation Centre features a spa for guests to unwind, a fully equipped fitness centre, a 25-metre indoor swimming pool as well as a kids’ club and children’s pool. Dine in at all-day dining restaurant The Open Kitchen or Liqing Chinese Restaurant, or relax with a cool drink at The Lobby Lounge.

sunwayhotels.com

radissonblu.com/en/hotel-forestmanor-shanghai

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Hospitality News+Reviews

goingplacesmagazine.com | 23 | September 2019

For more accommodation options, visit goingplacesmagazine.com

MALAYSIA MALAYSIA

Modern Comfort

Every guest is a rock star at Hard Rock Hotel Desaru Coast. The luxury hotel’s 365 music-inspired guest rooms and suites are more than just for sleeping – guests can have a premium Fender electric guitar with headphones and an amplifier delivered to their room for them to rock out to their heart’s content, or listen to curated music playlists and old-school vinyl records on turntables. Unwind at the 24-hour fitness centre, outdoor swimming pool or Rock Spa, a full-service spa with a musical twist on its treatment menu.

Even children can look forward to a good time at the Hard Rock Roxity Kids Club with its daily activities. The hotel overlooks the giant wave pool and man-made beach of Desaru Coast Adventure Waterpark, of which it enjoys direct access. Other nearby attractions include retail and lifestyle village Riverside, the Desaru Coast Conference Centre and 45-hole championship golf course The Els Club, which is just a short drive away.

Having just opened on the edge of Kuala Lumpur’s Golden Triangle earlier this year, citizenM Kuala Lumpur Bukit Bintang Hotel is all set to disrupt traditional hospitality in Malaysia. Chic, modern and welcoming, the Dutch select service hotel brand is perfectly suited for the modern business traveller and tourists seeking an affordable, comfortable stay within easy reach of the city’s best attractions.

The hotel’s 210 smart rooms are fitted with ultra-comfortable Vitra furniture, an XL king-sized bed and cutting-edge in-room technology.

Everything from the television controls to the air-conditioning and even the colour of the bathroom lights is controlled via the in-room MoodPad tablet. Checking in and out is fuss-free at the self-service terminals in the lobby, a welcoming space with large windows that allow passers-by to admire the stylish interior and colourful art pieces. Breakfast is served daily at canteenM, which functions as a grab-and-go canteen or a bar for the rest of the day. Business travellers can spend the whole day working on the property with the availability of meeting spaces and wireless Internet access.

hardrockhotels.com/desaru-coast

citizenm.com/destinations/kuala-lumpur

Star Treatment

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Special Feature

ARTBOX MALAYSIA AT SUNWAY CITY KUALA LUMPUR

A Unique

Experience Awaits The fun never stops at Sunway City Kuala Lumpur, as Artbox Malaysia – Asia’s first and largest container market – returns to the premier tourist destination for its second edition.

Happening over two consecutive weekends from Fridays to Sundays, 6 to 8 September and 13 to 15 September, the event will see over 300 creative vendors and partners showcasing the best of art, culture and food that Southeast Asia and the world has to offer.

Last year’s Artbox Malaysia was a resounding success, drawing over 350,000 visitors. This time, it’s going to be bigger and better than ever. Immerse yourself in an adventure, with

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countless experiential activities, games and art installations inspired by classic games such as Jenga and Tetris, transformed into works of art with a touch of classic Artbox flair.

Browse through hundreds of stalls, offering everything from out-of-this-world dishes to excite and tantalise the taste buds, to countless retail and food brands to satisfy your every want and craving. Explore endless aisles of fashion and lifestyle vendors carrying uniquely curated goods not commonly found elsewhere, before unwinding to the beat of local acts as they take to the stage and serenade you through the night with popular tunes.

First held in Thailand in 2014, the Artbox series’

key initiative is to support and empower a community of creative entrepreneurs, providing a platform for them to create, connect, showcase and grow through art. The use of shipping containers and the concept of a street food market creates a unique shopping and dining destination like no other, that has to be seen and experienced to be believed. Its innovative approach to dining, crafts and retail, working with aspiring and established talents, has made it an unforgettable cultural phenomenon.

In short? Artbox Malaysia is an event you won’t want to miss – and there’s no better place to experience it than at Sunway City Kuala Lumpur.

Sunway City Kuala Lumpur is the place to stay, play, shop and eat to your heart’s content. It is home to a world-class theme park, shopping mall and a five-star hotel and spa, with up to 42 million visits every year. There’s also plenty to see and experience within the city, where retail, leisure, hospitality and entertainment options can all be found under one roof. ■ www.sunway.city/artboxmalaysia2019

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INSTALLATION VIEW WALID RAAD – LET’S BE HONEST, THE WEATHER HELPED, STEDELIJK MUSEUM AMSTERDAM, 2019, PHOTO- GERT JAN VAN ROOIJ

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INSTALLATION VIEW WALID RAAD – LET’S BE HONEST, THE WEATHER HELPED, STEDELIJK MUSEUM AMSTERDAM, 2019, PHOTO- GERT JAN VAN ROOIJ

Exhibitions, News+Reviews

WALID RAAD, SWEET TALK COMMISSIONS (BEIRUT 1994), 2018, VIDEO STILL. COURTESY THE ARTIST & SFEIRSEMLER GALLERY HAMBURG : BEIRUT

DOROTHEA TANNING- SELF-PORTRAIT

TRAVEL CONCIERGE | ART

War and Piece This month, Lebanese-American artist Walid Raad will present his first solo exhibition ever held in the Netherlands at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. In Let’s Be Honest, The Weather Helped, Raad uses a variety of mediums to explore the political, economic, social and cultural effects of the Lebanese civil wars. “For the most part, my work is about the effects of violence on bodies and minds, on culture and tradition,” explains Raad. Work spanning Raad’s oeuvre will be on display, such as his ongoing project, Sweet Talk, which consists of a photographic series that started in Beirut in 1987. At once highly political and highly poetic, Raad’s show is not to be missed.

When: Until 13 October | Where: The Stedelijk Museum, Museumplein 10, 1071 DJ Amsterdam, Netherlands stedelijk.nl

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INSTALLATION VIEW, ART BERLIN FAIR 2018 - TEMPELHOFER FLUGHAFEN, BERLIN | PHOTO: CLEMENS PORIKYS

PHOTOS SUPPLIED BY AFFORDABLE ART FAIR

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INSTALLATION VIEW, GALERIE HANS MAYER AT ART BERLIN FAIR 2018 - TEMPELHOFER FLUGHAFEN, BERLIN | PHOTO: CLEMENS PORIKYS

ART BERLIN FAIR 2018 - BERLIN TEMPELHOFER FLUGHAFEN

TRAVEL CONCIERGE | ART

Down Under Debut The Affordable Art Fair, a creative enterprise with a mission to demystify the arts scene and bring the joy of handmade crafts to the masses, has set up annual residencies in several cities around the globe. This month, it is set to enjoy its debut in Melbourne. “It was a natural decision for us to launch the Affordable Art Fair in Melbourne,” explains the fair’s founder, Will Ramsay. “(Melbourne) is a city renowned for its art and culture!” At the inaugural show, visitors can expect over 1,000 fabulous works from galleries from across Australia and beyond. Get the inside scoop on the icons of tomorrow with the Young Talent Victoria initiative, which gives budding artists the chance to be discovered. At the Creative Hub, there’s plenty for younger audiences, as well as educational activities and talks for those who want to learn more.

Berlin is one of the most popular destinations for art lovers. It is home to over 400 galleries; its pathways are decorated by street artists and it’s known to be a haven for budding and internationally acclaimed artists. This month, the city will become even trendier with the third instalment of the annual contemporary art fair, Art Berlin 2019. The fair promises a comprehensive overview of the contemporary art scene with over 100 participating galleries offering work by creatives from all over the world. In keeping with the contemporary theme, ArtBerlin returns to its uber-cool urban venue inside two hangars of the historical 1923 Tempelhof Airport.

When: 5-8 September Where: Royal Exhibition Building, 9 Nicholson St, Carlton VIC 3053, Australia

When: 12-15 September Where: Flughafen Tempelhof, Hangar 5 and 6, Tempelhofer Damm 45, 12101 Berlin, Germany

affordableartfair.com

artberlinfair.com

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Art Capital

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HAFEZ GALLERY, ALI CHAABAN, 12:00 PM CLASS, 2018, PERSIAN CARPET ON ACRYLIC PLATES

FÉLIX VALLOTTON, SELF-PORTRAIT AT THE AGE OF TWENTY (AUTOPORTRAIT À L’ÂGE DE VINGT ANS), 1885. OIL ON CANVAS, 70 X 55.2 CM. MUSÉE CANTONAL DES BEAUX-ARTS DE LAUSANNE. ACQUISITION, 1896. INV. 620. PHOTO © NORA RUPP, MUSÉE CANTONAL DES BEAUX-ARTS DE LAUSANNE

SALVATORE BATTAGLIA, LUNA CHINA, 2018, MIXED MEDIA

FÉLIX VALLOTTON, THE VISIT (LA VISITE), 1899. GOUACHE ON CARDBOARD, 55.5 X 87 CM. KUNSTHAUS ZÜRICH. ACQUIRED 1909. © KUNSTHAUS ZÜRICH

Exhibitions, News+Reviews

Print Perfect

The Saatchi Gallery, situated in a picturesque square in Chelsea, London, is known for presenting works from the most cutting-edge movers and shakers of the arts scene, often giving emerging artists their first major platform in the UK. The month of September sees the gallery welcome the sixth edition of the START Art Fair. This year, the fair grows ever stronger and is set to present over 50 artists from more than 25 countries. To be presented in such a prestigious, globally recognised venue is a huge honour for emerging artists and newly established galleries. Visitors will also be treated to a teaser exhibition of Korean Eye 2020 ahead of its official launch at the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg in the spring of 2020.

The name Felix Vallotton may not be widely known in the UK, but the late 20th-century painter and printmaker was renowned across the rest of Europe and especially in his homeland of Switzerland. The Royal Academy of Arts in London presents the UK’s first major retrospective of his work, entitled Felix Vallotton: Painter of Disquiet. Born in Lausanne in 1865, as a young man, Vallotton travelled to Paris, where his artistic style caught the attention of Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard. Together with other dynamic members, they formed a new artistic movement known as Les Nabis, which was inspired by Japanese wood-block printing and post-impressionism. The show at the Royal Academy gathers 80 of the artist’s pieces, from gloomy interior scenes to portraits and monochrome prints. The collection also shows how Vallotton’s unique style came to influence the works of visionaries, including Alfred Hitchcock and Edward Hopper.

When: 26-29 September Where: Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York's HQ, King's Rd, Chelsea, London SW3 4RY, UK

When: Until 29 September Where: Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, Mayfair, London W1J 0BD, UK

startartfair.com

royalacademy.org.uk

A Good Start

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MY GUIDE | Taiping, Perak

Tranquil Taiping

This laidback northern Malaysian town of many firsts is charming with its heritage buildings and rich history set against rolling green hills and still lakes.

Words Loh Li Lian | Illustration Maggie Li | Art Direction Euric Liew

Heritage Town

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Much of Taiping’s heritage sites are tied to the town’s status as one of the early administrative capitals for Malaysia’s northern state of Perak, before it was replaced by Ipoh in 1937. Take the Heritage Trail, a self-guided tour comprising about 40 buildings and landmarks to see these sites. While some buildings have seen better days – some are being restored – their Victorian, colonial or pre-war Malayan architecture offers a glimpse into history.

While it might not be possible to cover everything, here are some notable sites: The Taiping Clock Tower at Jalan Kota (pick up the heritage trail map at the tourist information centre inside), the old railway station next to the new one built in 2014 (the first railway line ran from Taiping to Port Weld), Perak Museum (the oldest in Malaysia) and the first detention complex, Taiping Prison (still in use, it can only be viewed from outside, but you can pop into the gift shop and gallery across the road).

Visit the Telegraph Museum, housed in Malaysia’s first Post and Telegraph office, then grab a bite at the kopitiam (coffee shop) at Peace Hotel while appreciating the elaborate pre-war shophouse and its ornate Peranakan tiles inside.

The buildings accommodating the Larut, Matang & Selama District Office and the two schools, St George’s Institution and King Edward VII School, are well-maintained.

Empty Tin Mines Make Lakes Taiping’s Lake Gardens is one of the oldest public gardens in Malaysia, with lakes and ponds converted from abandoned tin

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mining ground. The 67-hectare park is particularly picturesque where century-old rain trees arch towards the lake and their branches appear to dip into the water, forming a natural shady canopy over the road.

Located within the park, the Taiping Zoo and Night Safari can be enjoyed during the day; alternatively, return in the evening for a nocturnal visit. Make a brief stop at the War Cemetery, where Commonwealth/Allied soldiers killed during World War II in Malaya were laid to rest.

After a hot day, cool off at the Coronation Swimming Pool. The man-made pool at the foothill of Bukit Larut is fed with natural unchlorinated water from a stream. Or head to Burmese Pool, a swimming hole that is part of a fast-flowing stream in nearby Taman Sentosa.

Get Swamped Just outside Taiping lies Kuala Sepetang. Previously called Port Weld, it was the first port to be established but is now a fishing village where mangrove swamps, a charcoal factory and boat rides

are attractions on their own. At the Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve, a network of boardwalks allows you to walk through portions of the 40,000 hectares, but access may be limited due to ongoing repair works on the wooden walkways. The forest is managed to also allow the sustainable harvesting of mangrove wood for charcoal production the traditional way.

Visit the Charcoal Factory Kuala Sepetang for a tour that takes in how the logs are brought in by boats and the firing process in the beehive-shaped kilns.

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Jeepers! What A Ride!

For nature lovers, head up Bukit Larut (formerly named Maxwell Hill), the country’s first and smallest hill station, situated along the Bintang Highlands, where the British went to escape the sweltering heat. At 1,250 metres above sea level, the only transport allowed is by government-owned 4WD jeeps, or Land Rovers to be exact.

Tickets can only be bought from the base station – go early as they are limited to 200 per day.

You can also hike up the hill via a jungle trail or walk along the 13-kilometre road but watch out for the Land Rovers as they whizz around the 72 hairpin bends.

Bungalows and chalets on the hill resort are available for overnight stays.

Nibbles & Bites At the Larut Matang Hawker Centre on Jalan Panggung

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Wayang, order Taiping’s unique Fish Ball Kway Teow; the flat rice noodles are fried with fish balls, fishcake slices and char siew.

There is a vast variety of stalls, including one selling a plethora of nyonya kuih. Be sure to try a unique mixture of Milo and coffee called hor ka sai.

Also popular is Hua Soon’s Fireworks Char Kway Teow in Simpang. Open only in the evening, the cook’s fanning of the flames from the charcoal stove sets off spectacular sparks around the wok, hence the “fireworks”.

Chill out with cendol at either

Ansari or Bismillah, where the green jelly shaved ice dessert can be ordered with options to add red beans and/or pulut (glutinous rice). The competing outlets (established in 1940, Ansari is the older of the two) are also known for their pasembor (Indian-style rojak). Drop by the 100-year-old Ipoh Bakery for old-style buns, buttery cakes and pre-ordered 3D fondant iced cakes (their Barbie doll cakes are works of art). If you fancy coffee with history, head to Antong (Aun Tong) Coffee Mill for a tour on how Malaysianstyle coffee is brewed, from the roasting of the beans over a wood fire to grinding and finally,

sampling. The company’s office was reportedly the residence of Chen Cuifen, a companion of China’s first president, Dr Sun Yat-Sen, and where he stayed when in Taiping.

Where To Stay Accommodation abounds, from hotels such as Novotel to the quirky Happy 8 Retreat @ Kuala Sepetang. In town, Peking Hotel, recently refurbished, is listed on the Heritage Trail.

Built in 1929, it once housed the Rubber Association and was also used by the Japanese military police during their Occupation of Malaya. ■

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Get a boat ride on the Sepetang River to view fish and cockle farms, for eagle and dolphin watching and after dusk, fireflies.

Kuala Sepetang has several seafood restaurants, but on the way in, stop for seafood porridge served in claypots at Light House Seafood Restaurant in Matang or the popular Mee Udang Mak Jah stall offering prawn noodles.

Interesting Facts:

TIN MINE WARS Originally named Klian Pauh, the town has a violent past, with Chinese triad gangs fighting for control of its rich tin deposits, compounded by clashes between rival factions within the Malay state royalty. The British intervened and forged a treaty in 1874 that divided up the tin mines and led to British administration of the state. The town was renamed Taiping, which means “everlasting peace” in Mandarin.

RAIN, RAIN, COME TODAY Schedule your outdoor activities for the morning as it rains almost every afternoon, giving Taiping the title of the wettest town in the peninsular. A unique and popular activity in the past was rain betting. Held at the 135-year old Taiping Central Market, the bets take all forms, from when the rain starts or stops to the number of times in a day it would rain, and even the volume of precipitation!

WATER SOURCE The foothills of the Bintang Highlands are a rich underground water source for natural mineral water company Spritzer.

The Spritzer EcoPark, an outdoor family entertainment park, is situated near the factory.

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IN PROFILE

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Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad

Prime Minister

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Rock Star

Driven by his conscience to return the country to its people, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, undeniably Malaysia’s most charismatic and loved statesman, is leading the nation for the second time around.

Previously serving as prime minister from 1981 to 2003, his task now is mission critical. As Malaysia celebrates 56 years as a sovereign nation, Tun M, as he is affectionately known, sits with Going Places for a wideranging discussion from what he eats for breakfast to being the world’s oldest prime minister at 94.

Interview Julie Goh | Photography SooPhye

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IN PROFILE

What is a typical day like for you?

I get up for prayers in the morning at about 6:30 am or so, then I have my bath, and after that, I have my breakfast. I eat one slice of bread. Sometimes with cheese, sometimes I dip it into curry.

What is your first drink in the morning?

I have coffee. I drink coffee before 1:00 pm because any coffee after that, I cannot sleep.

So in the morning, I want to be awake.

Is that black coffee?

No, this is the 2-in-1. No sugar.

and you can recall. But if you don’t, then of course you cannot recall, for instance, words.

And in the digital world we now live in, we are constantly on our devices.

We don’t really read books anymore.

What is your view on this?

I still read books. I read story books. I read something every day. Of course, I read my papers too. When you read, the words that are there get recalled all the time and that’s how you remember. It’s like seeing somebody frequently and seeing that person once every three or four years. Sometimes, you cannot remember his name or recognise him.

Is that the secret to your youthfulness?

Sugar is bad for everybody. Whether you are young or old, you should consume less sugar and less carbohydrates too.

What is the secret to keeping your mind sharp and your stamina up?

Use it. But sometimes people tend to want to lie down and sleep because they are old and tired.

That’s when they don’t use their brain because they don’t think, they don’t read, they don’t write, they don’t argue, and they don’t talk. Like all things, even your muscles, if you don’t use, it becomes flabby. If you always read, converse with others, then the mind is active. When it is active, it will be able to store all the information

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Tun, we will celebrate the 56th year of the establishment of the federation of Malaysia on 16 September. You were 38 years old in 1963. What were your thoughts then of the Malaysia you would like to see, and the Malaysia it has become?

When we were striving for independence, we didn’t think much of developing the country. All we wanted was to be able to rule the country ourselves and to determine our future through our own governance. That was all.

have much, but they did not complain much either then. It was only after Independence that they began to think that the government should do more for them. One of the things the government realised very early on was that the people were landless. There were no factories to employ people in those days. The only way to earn a living was to have land to grow paddy and rubber and so on. So people went into the jungle to chop down trees to plant rubber, but many of them died from malaria.

The government then decided to step in. They announced they would implement the FELDA scheme. They would clear the forests, plant rubber and then invite the pioneers to come in.

From then on, the people began to think that the government can do something for them, and since we were a democratic country and we wanted to be popular, we started giving things to the people. Then the electorate realised that their votes were very important and they could use their voting strength to force the government to give them things. So over time, they began to demand for more. They wanted mosques to be built, they wanted roads, they wanted electricity and water supply.

Was there a strategy on how to build a young Malaysia?

So we are where we are today. Does it sadden you to have to come out of retirement?

Under the British rule, the people did not

When I retired in 2003, I thought I would never

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Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad

come back again. I wanted to rest, maybe write books. But one week after I stepped down, the new government reneged on what they promised to do. They had promised during our Cabinet meetings that they will continue with the railway project, the bridge to Singapore and other things. Because of this, many people were unhappy. So they came to see me. They said, please do something – those were their famous words. I asked them, what can I do? I’m not the prime minister anymore. But they insisted that I do something. I did try to contact the government to advise them, but to no effect.

of the people and the (then) opposition party.

They chose me to lead them. Before, they used to criticise me – called me a dictator – but it was they who proposed that I should lead the (Pakatan Harapan coalition).

What keeps you awake at night?

There are matters that I worry about. Sometimes it takes some time to fall asleep because I’m thinking about how I can resolve them. Or if I have to make a speech the next day, I have to think of what I want to say.

Do you relish being the world’s oldest prime minister?

With the issues youth today face, what do you hope they will inherit in their adulthood?

I would like to be a young prime minister, but the fact is, I am old. Fortunately for me, I can still function, and people trust me and want me to lead. So I am responding to the demands

Today’s youth are under less pressure than the youth of my time. Youth of my time were all very poor. All we wanted to do was to study, and if possible, to go to the university

I would like to be a young prime minister, but the fact is, I am old. Fortunately for me, I can still function, and people trust me and want me to lead. So I am responding to the demands of the people and the (then) opposition party.

They chose me to lead them.

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to improve our earning capacity. When I was in the medical college, there were only seven Malays in the group of more than 70 students.

But nowadays, thousands of people get into universities with scholarships. So they take for granted that they can get what they want easily.

Life is easy now because people have more money. Some of the youth, when their parents give them money, they buy motorcycles. Then instead of putting the motorcycles to good use, they perform stunts on their motorcycles and become mat rempits.

Malaysia’s economy appears to be in need of a huge boost. FDIs are low. The stock market has been underperforming for quite a number of years. Will we continue to rely on oil production, palm oil and consumer spending to sustain growth?

You know, with palm oil and rubber, we didn’t do the right thing. We find that people with two to three acres of land trying to make a living out of planting rubber and oil palm cannot make a living out of it. The British opened up 10,000-20,000 acres for the big players and they are the ones making the money. The small players are not making much money. So now we are relooking our strategy on agriculture.

In the case of industries, we decided to do this through FDIs to create jobs for the people. But the industries that can provide better incomes

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e

IN PROFILE | Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad

We have to teach the people not to be too dependent on the government. Yes, we will do what we have to do for the people, but they must also learn to be less dependent on us. If they are not earning enough, they have to increase their skills or increase their productivity.

goingplacesmagazine.com | 34 | September 2019

are the IT and new tech sectors. So our people had to adapt and to reskill in order to serve in these new sectors. Our local companies now have the capability to produce microchips where before they were mostly produced by foreign companies. We want to go into AI (artificial intelligence), but it will take some time to materialise. There are many investment proposals, but we have to provide the necessary workforce too. We want our people to be conversant with new technologies so that they can serve in these new industries. There have been very big investments in Malaysia, about RM30 billion (USD7.3 billion) a year, but somehow, they don’t seem to get reported (in the media).

Talent has been an issue in Malaysia. Is this also a concern for your government?

We have talent, but we have to create jobs for people who are talented. If you don’t have jobs that fit their qualifications, they will run away.

We find, for example, the people we send to Korea or Japan (who) have come back after acquiring a lot of skills can’t find jobs. Because we don’t have the right jobs for them, they have gone back (overseas). Some have married and started families there. So we have to encourage investments in high-tech industries so that these highly qualified people can return to work and stay here.

How do you view tourism in Malaysia?

Our travel and tourism do not appear to be as dynamic as some of our neighbouring countries; what are your plans to step that up?

We have too many bureaucratic procedures, which we have to reduce. And in some cases, we don’t appear to be very hospitable too. We find that in some countries, people are always smiling, they are very welcoming to tourists, but sometimes, Malaysians don’t behave like that. The government has built a lot of places of interest to attract tourists. Take the case of Langkawi. Previously it had 10,000 visitors a year, but now, it has 3.2 million because we have created a “product” and we are adding to that product. The government does not have enough money to do everything, for example, building theme parks. We hope the private sector will do that.

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Airlines like British Airways and Lufthansa have long ago separated from their governments. Is there still value in having a national carrier other than for patriotism or pride?

We can still have a national airline, but it does not necessarily have to be owned by the government.

The days when there is a national airline for every country is over. Now you can have a number of airlines. One of those can be called a national airline because it carries the symbol (of the nation) but it can be operated by the private sector.

What is your fondest memory of flying with Malaysia Airlines?

Those days, I always flew with Malaysia Airlines.

The food was good, and of course, being the prime minister, I get to fly in First Class.

What is your wawasan (vision) for Malaysia by the time you hand over the reins to the next prime minister?

I hope I have resolved most of our debts. We took over more than RM1 trillion (USD243 billion) of debts (from the previous government).

We have to reduce that. Percentage-wise, we have reduced it partly through growth. The other thing is I hope we have cleaned up the government. Lastly, we have to teach the people not to be too dependent on the government. Yes, we will do what we have to do for the people, but they must also learn to be less dependent on us. If they are not earning enough, they have to increase their skills or increase their productivity. That is the way for the country to become wealthy. If you expect the government to subsidise you all the way, that won’t create wealth. It is a loss to the government.

Lastly, Tun, your marriage to Tun Siti is everyone’s relationship goal. What is your secret to building an enduring love?

Be tolerant. The wife is not perfect. You are not perfect. So both the wife and the husband must tolerate the idiosyncrasies of one another. For example, I like to be on time. I always want to be punctual, but my wife is always late. At first, we quarrel, but after some time, I said she’s always going to be like that. So I have to put up with it, and she has to put up with me harassing her to “come, come, come, we’ve run out of time already.” ■

Tun M takes our quickfire round questions.

WHAT IS YOUR MOST OVERUSED WORD? Work!

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ACTIVITY TO DESTRESS? Read.

BEST PLACE YOU HAVE BEEN FOR A VACATION. Fukuoka, Japan.

WHAT IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE THING YOU HAVE BOUGHT FOR YOURSELF? When I was a medical practitioner, I bought a Pontiac, a huge American car. In those days, it only cost RM12,000 (USD2,900). It was a sixseater and the front seat was a bench that can seat three people.

WHAT IS YOUR MOST TREASURED THING? My grandchildren.

WHO ARE YOUR FAVOURITE AUTHORS? I read Wilbur Smith, Jeffrey Archer. These are the popular ones.

ARE YOU THE SORT WHO READS MORE THAN ONE BOOK AT A TIME? Yes, sometimes I read two books at the same time.

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU HAVE ALWAYS LIVED BY? Working. I love to work.

WHAT IS THE QUALITY YOU MOST LIKE IN A PERSON? Honesty.

WHAT IS THE TRAIT YOU MOST DEPLORE IN OTHERS? I dislike people who do not work hard.

THREE THINGS YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT. Food. I can’t live without food. And I cannot be idle. I need to do something, keep myself occupied.

WHAT ABOUT YOUR MOBILE PHONE? I don’t use my mobile phone very often. In fact, nobody knows my mobile number.

DO YOU KNOW YOUR MOBILE NUMBER? I don’t.

SOMETHING ABOUT YOU THAT PEOPLE DON’T KNOW? I like to be alone, but my profession forces me to be with people. It (being the prime minister) is not something I like to do but I need to do.

IF A MOVIE IS MADE ABOUT YOU, HOW WOULD YOU HAVE IT TOLD? Tell the truth. Don’t embellish it or say, oh, he’s a great man. Tell the truth.

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SPECIAL MALAYSIA DAY MESSAGES

As fellow Malaysians, we should embrace our diversity and accept our differences. Let’s retain our muhibbah spirit to become stronger and better together.

Selamat Hari Malaysia.

Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad

Here’s to celebrating the multicultural heritage that forms the very fabric of our nation. Its many expressions have enriched our lives and made us grateful and proud to be Malaysians.

Dear Tun, you are and will always be the aspiration of our people and our nation. Your achievements at the global stage is the epitome of ‘Going Places’, which will always be our beacon of continuous pursuit of excellence.

YONG YOON LI Executive Director, Royal Selangor International

IDHAM NAWAWI Chief Executive Officer, Celcom

Visionary, compassionate and sharp-witted – these qualities embody Tun Dr Mahathir’s leadership. He has guided Malaysia to its current success, and his unwavering support for IJN has made us the premier healthcare centre we are today. Tun’s past – and ongoing – contributions to the nation will continue to bring a positive impact on all Malaysians.

DATUK DR. AIZAI AZAN ABDUL RAHIM Chief Operating Officer, Institut Jantung Negara Sdn Bhd goingplacesmagazine.com | 36 | September 2019

It was 56 years ago that marked the formation of Malaysia as an independent, democratic, peaceful and prosperous nation. At ERAMAN, we are very fortunate to be able to witness the colourful story of Malaysia’s successful transformation. We would like to take this opportunity to wish Happy Malaysia Day to all Malaysians.

ZULHIKAM AHMAD General Manager, ERAMAN

Best wishes to YAB Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, whose guidance and vision helped the KLIA Ekspres service and many other nationbuilding projects come to fruition. From all of us, thank you.

The Express Rail Link team

Your return reinstates the impact of what Malaysia truly stands for – resilience. Your vision for prosperity and peace for a multicultural Malaysia allows us to turn dreams into reality.

Thank you, Tun M for the Malaysia of today and of tomorrow!

RAJA SINGHAM Managing Director, BAC Education

Malaysia is young, and we are still building our nation. Our strength comes from our people and our love for our country. It brought us here and it will take us into the future. Selamat Hari Malaysia from everyone at Malaysian Industrial Development Finance.

DATO’ CHARON WARDINI MOKHZANI Group Managing Director, Malaysian Industrial Development Finance

We are truly grateful for the prosperity that we have enjoyed over these years. It has been an honour for us at TM to play the role of enabler for Malaysia’s Digital Nation aspirations - building a digital community, digital economy and digital government. Selamat Hari Malaysia!

MOHD ROSLAN MOHD RASHIDI Chief Operating Officer, TM ONE | VP of Sales

_Sep 2019_Special Malaysia Day Messages02.indd 36

As Malaysia celebrates its 56th year as a nation, may we continue to prosper and live in peace and harmony.

From all of us at Invest Selangor, Selamat Hari Malaysia!

DATO’ HASAN AZHARI HJ IDRIS Chief Executive Officer, Invest Selangor Berhad

Prayers and many good wishes for Tun M. As Malaysia celebrates its 56th year as a nation, may we continue to prosper and live in peace and harmony, no matter our differences.

Best wishes from KL Bird Park.

NANCIE TAN General Manager, KL Bird Park

Thank you for all the wonderful things you have done for our country. You are an inspiration to our nation.

STANNY CHAN Executive Director, Leather Avenue

20/08/2019 12:04 PM

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5:52 PM

EXPLORE | Gunung Mulu National Park

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Naturally

Mulu

Tropical sun getting to you? Explore the secret world beneath our feet in Gunung Mulu National Park.

Words Elaine Oliver | Photography Chris Howes

goingplacesmagazine.com | 40 | September 2019

The sun is barely up and I’m sitting in the café at Gunung Mulu National Park, a pristine equatorial rainforest in Sarawak, staring down a plate of spicy noodles and planning for the day ahead. I am here as part of a British group of caving specialists and scientific experts to explore and map the area’s caves. But they are not just any caves; they are the world’s largest.

The floor of Sarawak Chamber, the largest known underground chamber in the world, could fit an incredible 400 of the ATR 72 aircraft operated by MASwings, the regional carrier of Malaysia Airlines that serves the park, with plenty of room to spare.

This is an expedition I’ve dreamed about for a long time – the caves of Mulu are renowned as much for their exquisite calcite formations and breathtaking streamways as their superlative dimensions. In a single trip, we might expect to stumble across anything from armoured crickets to beautiful blue-and-grey racer snakes, athletic centipedes, pure white blind cave crabs, and of course, the ubiquitous bats and swiftlets.

The best time to visit the park is in April and September, as not only are tourist numbers a little lower, the rainy season has not quite begun, so there is a much higher chance of safely reaching the caves in colourful longboats piloted by local Penan tribesmen. Seasonal temperatures in the jungle might not fluctuate all that much, but the caves are an even more stable environment. No matter how hot or cold it gets on the surface, it is a constant 25°C with 99 percent humidity underground.

The objective today is to climb the inside of Easter Cave with expedition members Cookie and Tack. To get there, we need to head cross-

1. Expedition members Andy Eavis and Judith Calford in the Cave of the Winds 2. The expedition team is in Mulu to explore and further map the area's cave system 3. Professor Hazel Barton examining unusual stalactites in the entrance to Racer Cave

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Mulu may be the most studied tropical karst area in the world, but the caves are certainly not giving up all their secrets. Despite over 40 years of exploration since the first Royal Geographical Society expedition in 1978 that revealed the world’s largest cave system by volume, we believe we have seen and mapped only about half of the subterranean passageways beneath the mountains of Mulu.

Malaysia Airlines operates 24 times weekly flights from Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Miri, Sarawak (MYY).

From Miri, MASwings operates twice daily flights to Mulu, Sarawak (MZV).

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EXPLORE | Gunung Mulu National Park

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DID YOU KNOW? Five fascinating facts about this jungle paradise:

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n Home to over 30,000 different

species of plants, animals, birds, insects and fungi, the Gunung Mulu National Park is one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems on the planet. n The stunning stalactites in Cave

of the Winds and Lagang form at a rate of less than one millimetre per year – some of the structures within the caves are hundreds of thousands of years old. n Gua is the Malay word for cave,

while gunung means mountain.

Greet your Penan boatman in the morning with jian nivun and thank him by saying jian kenin. The Penans have no word for “please” because in their culture, everything belongs to everyone equally. n Edward Shackleton – son of

Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton – clearly inherited the exploration gene: he was the first man to summit Mount Mulu in 1932. n The rope bridge at the entrance

to the park might look high, but after a thunderstorm, the river can rise by over four metres! This is a rainforest, after all.

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8 9

4. Mulu Pinnacles at the north of Mount Api 5. A long boat going up the Melinau river to the caves 6. A cave cricket in Stonehorse Cave 7. Abseiling into Eureka Chamber in Cave of the Winds 8. Writer Elaine Oliver standing next to Clearwater Cave's river passage 9. Professor Hazel Barton collecting water samples from the "elephant trunk" formation in Racer Cave

country. Without the help of our local guides Veno, Jimmy and Wilson, we would be utterly lost. The jungle is a dangerous place for the uninitiated, but the skills of our guides, passed down from generation to generation from living within and around the park, will get us where we want to go. As we snake our way across the hillside, our guides explain the ways of the forest. A broken twig here, a carefully placed leaf there can speak volumes to those who know what they are looking for. Tiny pygmy squirrels dash up and down tree trunks, and discarded banana skins by our feet are all that remain of a monkey’s breakfast, while overhead, a flash of cream fur belies a snoozing giant cream squirrel.

Despite the heat, we are all wearing long sleeves and gloves – a brush with the wrong sort of caterpillar could be quite painful! But we manage to avoid the creepy crawlies, and soon we arrive at the entrance of the cave. Swiftlets swoop and

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dive around us as Cookie, Tack and I turn on our lights and slip into the blackness for the twohour commute to our current limit of exploration, edging around deep pits and shimmying down sandy climbs as bats wheel overhead.

goingplacesmagazine.com | 43 | September 2019

Gunung Mulu National Park | EXPLORE

Tack will be bolting this climb while I belay him.

He kits up and plans his route as I place the first bolt to get things underway. It is a long commute and the time we have underground is limited, so we need to be as efficient as possible. We drop into a routine: stretch, drill, hammer, clip, then up to the next one. Soon he is at the top and rigging another rope so Cookie and I can join him up there with the kit needed to map the cave.

Part of our task as we explore these caves is to create accurate maps, both to show us how the system is developing and to allow others to return. Technology has come a long way from the 1970s and 1980s when teams were mapping the likes of Deer Cave, Lang’s Cave and Clearwater Cave that visitors to the park can now enjoy. Instead of tape measures and notepads, we now use laser pointers, and we sketch our rough maps on personal mini-computers as we go, ready for the full survey to be drawn up neatly on a desktop computer afterwards.

Back at the top of our climb, it is time to start surveying. Before setting out from camp this morning, we thought we would intercept

19/08/2019 2:48 PM

EXPLORE | Gunung Mulu National Park

another cave called Sago, after the palm by its entrance – but the pristine floor tells us that no human has ever set foot here before. We pick our way up a muddy slope, past vivid crimson crystals and calcite formations, unlike any I’ve ever seen underground. One of the rewards of cave surveying is that you get to name a new passageway – we’ve called this corner of the world ‘Pass Go’.

goingplacesmagazine.com | 44 | September 2019

All too soon, our agreed return time looms, and we reluctantly pack away our kit for the journey back to the park headquarters. After so long in shades of near-monochrome, the colours of the forest are startling as we emerge. The leaves are greener than ever seemed possible, and the dusk chorus is so full of life that I can’t help but join in with a joyful whoop, elated at our day’s discoveries. We make our way back to the research centre to clean off, then it’s over to the park’s café for a hearty plate of nasi goreng and to raise a glass of tuak to the day’s surveying, and to the caverns measureless awaiting us tomorrow. ■

The expedition team travelled to Mulu from London as guests of Malaysia Airlines and MASwings.

10. The entrance of Deer Cave; millions of bats exiting the cave at dusk in search of food 11. The Racer Cave is named after the nonpoisonous racer snake 12. Two recently hatched cave swift chicks in Sarawak Chamber, the largest underground chamber in the world

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3timemore ways to spend in the park .

LIFE IN THE FAST LANE Guided tours to Lagang Cave are suitable for all ages and experience levels – but if you fancy something a little more adventurous, take a longboat upriver for the Clearwater Connection trip.

LIVE THE HIGH LIFE Mulu offers some of Borneo’s best and most accessible jungle trekking. Check out the spectacular Pinnacles or get a bird’s-eye view with a canopy walk tour (dawn is the best time to go) – look out for rhinoceros hornbills, pygmy squirrels and gibbons!

AFTER DARK Don’t miss the nightly bat exodus at Deer Cave – each evening just before sundown, over three million bats stream out of the cave in tight formation and set off to hunt for their dinner.

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Special Feature

Passion For Precision

Commitment to the art of precision in timekeeping – that is the value embodied by the name “OMEGA”, one of the best-known watch names in the horology world.

Revolutionary Movement Established in 1848 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, founder Louis Brandt had a passion for precision in timepieces and spread his reputation for creating accurate, high-quality watches throughout Europe. Brandt’s two sons Louis-Paul and César took over the family business after their father’s death in 1879, and their shared passion for watchmaking and precision would set the gears in motion to change the watchmaking industry forever.

In 1894, the Brandt brothers created the revolutionary new 19-ligne calibre movement, which was not only extremely accurate but also allowed every component to be replaced without modification and perfected the winding and timesetting function via the stem and crown, which continues to be widely used today. This ground-breaking new movement, the crowning achievement of the Brandt brothers was named “OMEGA”. As the last letter of the Greek alphabet, OMEGA was a symbol of their ultimate accomplishment in watchmaking.

Seeing the success of the 19-ligne OMEGA calibre, the company formally adopted it as its name in 1903, becoming the OMEGA Watch Co. Once the largest manufacturer of finished watches in Switzerland, this year marks the 125th anniversary of the OMEGA name and movement. OMEGA is more than a reminder of the revolutionary movement created in 1894; it is the company’s ethos, leading it to strive for quality, superiority and ever-greater achievements.

Ubiquitous Recognition Over the past century, the involvement of OMEGA timepieces in major historical events have led to the brand establishing itself as one of the most widely-known watch

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brands today. OMEGA timepieces have been essential tools for soldiers, aviators, timekeepers at sporting events and even astronauts at different points in time.

Great Britain was the first to turn to OMEGA wristwatches at the outbreak of World War I in 1914, for their precision and the company’s ability to quickly mass produce these quality timepieces. From soldiers in the trenches to the aviators and navigators of World War II, Great Britain and its allies depended on OMEGA’s precision timekeeping.

Having the most reliable timekeeping instruments at the time, OMEGA has been the Official Timekeeper of the Olympic Games since 1932. Its ongoing centurylong commitment to the Games is a stalwart symbol of the brand’s passion for precision and innovation and has led to OMEGA timepieces being used in other competitions in golf, swimming, athletics, bobsleigh and sailing.

Space exploration became a significant theme associated with the brand when the OMEGA Speedmaster Professional Chronograph worn by astronaut Buzz Aldrin became the first watch on the moon during the moon landing of the Apollo 11 in 1969. An indispensable timepiece for use in high performance machinery, the Speedmaster was used by many American astronauts in the Gemini and Apollo spaceflight programmes.

OMEGA celebrates the grand 50th anniversary of the moon landing this year with the release of rare and exclusive timepieces such as the Speedmaster Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Limited Edition and Moonshine Gold version of the same model, as well as the Speedmaster Moonwatch 321 Platinum. www.omegawatches.com

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19/08/2019 1:46 PM

Sweet Taste of Success Award-winning chef Adu Amran Hassan wants Malaysians to taste the sweet things in life at his latest restaurant, ADU Sugar.

Words Susan Tam | Photography SooPhye

goingplacesmagazine.com | 48 | September 2019

Chef Adu Amran Hassan's entry into the culinary world was accidental. As a young lad, Adu had always dreamt of being in the limelight and entertaining audiences. He began dancing as a teenager and joined several troupes when he finished school. But the challenges of the industry got to him.

Depression hit him and he couldn't face returning to work.

He made the difficult decision of leaving the industry despite his love of dancing. That posed challenges. Adu had to make ends meet. He did not want to disappoint his parents, whom he describes as humble factory workers. Adu still danced part-time but slept on the floor of his friend's flat as money was tight.

He cooked for his housemates as a way of thanking them. Turning to his mother for recipes, Adu's flair as a host and cook was revealed when he welcomed more friends to these meals. He likened these dinner parties to a performance. “You have a different set of audiences, different music, and you're conveying yourself without having to talk (directly) to them.”

The parties would be dramatic, full of theatrics and music – all designed to match his style of food and the experience he wanted to share.

This impressed his friends so much that they encouraged him to get involved in the food business. The words of one of his closest friends, award-winning dancer and cultural icon Ramli Ibrahim, stuck with him. “I asked him, do you think I can sell this food? He said, you can sell beyond this because you are selling yourself, your charisma.” Adu took up the challenge and enrolled in Stamford College in Petaling Jaya to receive formal training.

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Adu Amran Hassan | CHEF’S CUT

grandfather. Adu's favourite piece is a tripodcum-lamp he picked up in London.

1 Island Restaurant Fast forward to 1994, Adu opened his first restaurant on Langkawi island. Knowing the importance of paying attention to customers’ feedback and to help him grow as a chef, he kept a friend's favourite dish of roti canai (flatbread) with melted cheese on the menu even though it wasn’t considered a “sophisticated” dish.

Three years after Langkawi, Adu and a business partner opened Champor-Champor in London.

They took over a failed Indian restaurant, ripping out the floral carpets and clearing rotting meat from the freezer. “We opened it with GBP40,000, which is something you never hear of.” Adu took care of the interior himself to save money. The chef, who is also a painter, designed artwork that was colourful and bold, with jewel boxlike features.

“Not in a million years would I dream that this estate boy, who had no money, would live abroad for 18 years.” Adu only spoke English after he turned 20, having struggled as a waiter in the early days, not knowing what the English words were for orange juice. Carrying a dictionary in his pocket – today it's on his smartphone – Adu forced himself to master English.

He loved a good challenge, such as by putting king prawns in tempoyak (fermented durian) and catfish on the menu to test the taste buds of the Brits. “My business partner, who travels extensively in Asia, says it (tempoyak) is very smelly.” Both dishes turned out to be bestsellers.

Adu laughs as he says trial and error are all part of the restaurant business. “We have to try; if people don't like it, you take it off the menu, as simple as that.”

(things), you would be 60 and still doing the same thing. That's why we sold the place. I had no plans, no TV contract, no book contract. I thought to myself, continue your writing.”

By some stroke of luck, Adu had the opportunity to be on MasterChef Malaysia. The call was for a bilingual chef to be one of the jurors on the show.

“After I left dancing, I never really thought of working on TV again. Back in London, when I worked on food exhibitions, my friend had said, you are too old (for TV).” He grins widely now because he's had the last laugh. With the TV gig at 41, he came full circle.

Adu has since published two Malay-language books. The second was a labour of love and a product of Adu's enthusiasm for “making things more difficult than they are.” He has been called stubborn, a trait he says he is proud of. The book took three years to complete and features stories behind his family recipes, favourite ingredients and family memories.

Sweet Ending

Everything is made from scratch, from the kerisik (grated coconut) to using a pestle and mortar to pound sambal (chilli paste) The kitchen spends four to five hours cooking recipes like Sup Tulang Soto. The ADU Sugar experience is completed with music from Adu's own collection, such as Chinese opera, Tamil songs or Fado music from Portugal.

Family is important to Adu. His mom is the best cook, while his dad is the best critic. The 49-year-old chef named the restaurant after his father’s nickname of gula (sugar). He earned the moniker after tripping over hot sugar syrup as a young boy and scalding his chest.

Adu bears a cheeky smile when asked about his next adventure. “I'm a lot older now. I've got to take things more seriously.” He wants to write, paint and revive his fashion line, Aduh! But more importantly, he wants young chefs to follow in his footsteps by being curious about life. “Try anything and everything. If you have boundaries, try within your boundaries. Never think one type of food is the best; none of us is the best. And travel!” ■ Turn to the next page for how to cook like a chef.

Adu's projects reflect his curiosity for life's weird and wonderful things. His newest restaurant, ADU Sugar in the affluent neighbourhood of Bangsar in Kuala Lumpur, shows it off through vintage furniture and offbeat antique pieces from all over the world. With Adu's paintings on the walls, the restaurant highlights all sorts of sculptures, such as head busts from his late

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In a way, the restaurant is a museum showcasing the Johor state-born Adu's life and travel experiences, but the food is not quite as quirky. A stickler for family recipes, he has kept to his mother and late grandmother's instructions for the classic Laksa Johor and mee bandung. There are nevertheless contemporary touches to the Asam Pedas NZ Leg of Lamb, adorned with okra tempura, and a play on ingredients as he pairs pisang salai (smoked banana) with a brownie.

1. Vintage furniture and antique decorative pieces adorn Adu's latest restaurant in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur 2. – 3. Duck breast in dried longan red curry (recipe on the next page)

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Turning Point After 10 years of running Champor-Champor, Adu was itching for his next adventure. Writing came to mind, but things did not go his way. After a few hurdles and a failed book project left him heartbroken, Adu decided to let the restaurant go after some tough thinking. “If we don't do drastic

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CHEF’S CUT | Adu Amran Hassan

Cook Like A Chef

Chef Adu shares his recipe for Duck Breast in Dried Longan Red Curry with Apple Somtam and Ulam Pesto Rice.

DUCK BREAST (TWO PORTIONS) Ingredients:

n 2 lemon grass (bruised)

Method:

n 1 inch galangal (sliced)

n 2 duck breast – skin scored

n 5 fresh red chillies

1. Toss all the ingredients together just before serving.

n Marinade:

1 tablespoon chilli paste 1 tablespoon honey 1 lime (juiced) 1 tablespoon nam pla or fish sauce 1 teaspoon smoked paprika Method:

n 6 dried kashmiri chillies (or the

milder equivalent) n 2 kaffir lime leaves n 1 tablespoon nam pla or fish sauce n 3 cups of coconut milk

Method:

ingredients and marinate the duck breasts. Keep overnight.

1. Boil all ingredients except the dried longans. Simmer until the broth thickens slightly. Blend and put through a fine sieve.

2. Heat a non-stick frying

2. Pour the sauce back

1. Mix all the marinade

pan. Fry the duck breasts skin down to allow the fat to melt.

3. Flip over and fry both

sides until brown.

4. Place the duck breasts on a baking tray

and bake each side for 3-4 minutes in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius. Rest for 5 minutes before slicing to serve.

into a saucepan and place on medium heat. Add longans into the sauce and simmer until soft but not mushy.

APPLE SOMTAM Ingredients: n 2 green apples – grated with the skin n 1 tablespoon coconut oil n 2 cloves garlic (finely chopped) n 3 bird-eye chillies (finely chopped) n 1 lime (juiced) n 1 tablespoon crushed peanuts

DRIED LONGAN RED CURRY SAUCE Ingredients:

n 1 tablespoon grated gula melaka or

n 1 tablespoon dried longan

n A few dried prawns

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palm sugar

ULAM PESTO RICE Ingredients: n 2 rice bowls of cooked rice n 1 tablespoon butter n Salt and pepper to taste

For Pesto Ingredients: n 2 cloves garlic n 1 handful sweet basil leaves n 1 handful ulam raja or cosmos leaves n 1 handful pegaga or pennywort n 1 handful blanched spinach leaves n 1 cup olive oil n 1 tablespoon toasted walnuts

Method: 1. Blend all the pesto ingredients in a blender until smooth or similar to a pesto consistency.

2. Heat the frying pan and fry

the rice. Mix in the butter. Stir until well mixed.

3. At the last minute, mix in the pesto and season.

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EXPLORE | Masala Wheels

Hearty Food Masala Wheels serves up biryani with a dash of hope for troubled youths.

Words Carolyn Hong | Photography courtesy of Masala Wheels

It all started with a wish to help his brother’s close friend. goingplacesmagazine.com | 52 | September 2019

Four years ago, in 2015, Kuhan Pathy’s brother asked him to find a way to help this friend who was from a vulnerable background and had a few brushes with violent gangs. At that time, the food truck craze was at its peak. It struck the entrepreneurial Kuhan that this could be a good way for this friend to make a fresh start – by operating a food truck offering Indian cuisine.

He and three other friends pooled together RM15,000 to buy a used truck on an online platform. It was a distinctively uncool truck used by night market hawkers, a far cry from the

fashionable food trucks with their bright colours and twinkling lights. “But we didn’t have much money, so we had to start with what we had,” said Kuhan, 30.

The truck’s first foray was into Kuala Lumpur’s Brickfields neighbourhood, laden with 100 packets of biryani rice and curry dishes, each selling for RM5. In theory, it was the ideal location with high foot traffic and the right demographic. But they sold just five packets of rice that first day.

They quickly learnt it was not enough to merely turn up with food for sale. They needed to earn the trust of the customer. They needed a brand.

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goingplacesmagazine.com | 53 | September 2019

Ramadan

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1. From food truck to a permanent café 2. Dishes are prepared by a professional cook and assisted by trainees 3. Entrepreneur Kuhan Pathy is one of the founders of Masala Wheels

Digital media provided the avenue to get their message out. It took a while but gradually, Masala Wheels became known as the orange truck that provided good food with a good heart.

By day, it sold tasty Indian food. By night, with its profits, it provided free meals for the urban poor.

Soon, youths began turning up looking for a job.

Initially, they were friends of the young man who was running the food truck to get away from gangs. Some were also brought by their parents.

These were youths with limited education and troubled backgrounds, at risk of being lured into a life of crime or drugs.

Masala Wheels took them on board. It put them through a short training course to give them a taste of the food business and to learn

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discipline and life skills. Some didn’t enjoy this and dropped out. But some became permanent employees. Today, almost all the 15 staff of Masala Wheels are formerly youths at risk.

As sales picked up, the orange truck moved to a more profitable location in the heart of the city. A year later, they had earned enough to overhaul it into a full-fledged food truck. “It took us this long because we didn’t want to take loans,” said Kuhan.

Then, the food truck craze began to die down.

It prompted them to look into setting up a permanent café, and by chance, they came across a long-untenanted shop in a quiet neighbourhood with such low foot traffic that even the owner had doubts that a café could thrive there.

The four friends pinned their hopes on Masala Wheels’ strong reputation. In 2017, the café opened its doors. The bright orange food truck was parked outside as a prominent signboard.

And customers turned up, in droves.

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EXPLORE | Masala Wheels

By day, it sold tasty Indian food. By night, with its profits, it provided free meals for the urban poor. Soon, youths began turning up looking for a job.

They came for the biryani, made with Masala Wheels’ own blend of spices perfected in the spice mill owned by the father of one of the founders. They also came for the banana leaf rice and the mouth-watering array of curry dishes.

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The dishes are prepared by a professional cook, assisted by the young trainees. As a social enterprise wholly reliant on food, Kuhan said it is crucial to maintain the taste and quality of their offerings. That has been a key priority from the start. The other priority is, of course, their social mission. This is so important that they have even been willing to sacrifice profits to keep true to their mission.

Kuhan recalled how they once took a hefty loss on a large corporate order after the customer complained about a chicken head included in a rice packet. To their youths, no food is ever wasted, not even a chicken head.

But to the customer, it appeared to be poorquality food. Masala Wheels offered a large discount to the customer and retrained the staff, at a heavy cost.

To date, more than 50 youths have undergone training. Some are still with them. Their very first beneficiary – the friend of Kuhan’s brother – is

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now the chief executive officer. S. Ravin oversees Masala Wheels’ four revenue streams – the café, the food truck that is used for corporate events, food delivery and catering. A troubled young woman who joined them at 18, speaking barely a word of English, is now the operations manager.

She has come so far that she’s even able to make funding pitches – in English.

Masala Wheels is now looking to expand with the help of digital technology, after a 20 percent stake was acquired by technology firm KCOM Group, whose chief executive has a personal interest in social enterprises and community work. Kuhan is delighted with the acquisition as it proves that social enterprises can be commercially viable and scalable. It is possible to put people first and still be a profitable business.

With this partner that comes with technological expertise, Masala Wheels is exploring new avenues for growth that will enable it to make a greater impact among youths at risk and to extend its reach to other marginalised groups.

It is looking to automate part of its kitchen, allowing it to expand even with trainee staff who often take fairly long to get up to mark. A more efficient central kitchen will also help it to expand its food delivery.

4 4. More than 50 youths have undergone training with Masala Wheels 5. Some trainees don't make it but the small wins are no less satisfying

It won’t be easy; it is never easy working with people from vulnerable backgrounds. To keep going, Kuhan reminds himself of their many success stories, such as the personal growth of their CEO and Operations Manager.

Sometimes, the wins are smaller but no less satisfying. He still laughs at the memory of an irate customer who complained about a server’s remark that the customer was getting fat as he ate too much. The server had to be retrained, and today, he handles marketing for Masala Wheels.

Some trainees have managed to find other jobs, and a few have gained the discipline needed to enter vocational training. But some have dropped out and vanished from sight. Kuhan still remembers an incident where the cook discovered a stainless steel pot with a deep hole in it. A CCTV check found that one of the boys had stabbed the pot with a knife. The boy later told them that the knife was meant for “the founder’s head” as he was angry at being reprimanded.

Their successes are often tempered with setbacks. But the successes keep them going.

“The beauty is in the impact Masala Wheels has on people,” said Kuhan. “Profit is just a way for us to remain sustainable and to continue making a difference.” ■

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Simbol

Pembawa Tuah

Selami warisan budaya masyarakat Cina Peranakan menerusi seni pembuatan tanglung tradisional di Ipoh.

Teks Rachael Lum | Terjemahan Yeo Li Shian | Foto LokaLocal

Ancestral Lights. Ipoh’s traditional lantern maker sheds light on a Chinese cultural heritage.

Tanglung pernah menjadi satu-satunya sumber cahaya utama yang mampu dihasilkan oleh setiap keluarga sebelum terciptanya bekalan elektrik. Penggunaan tanglung bagaimanapun bukan lagi satu keperluan dan kian berkurangan selepas bekalan elektrik diperkenalkan. Kini, kebanyakan tanglung hanya dapat dilihat ketika sambutan perayaanperayaan besar atau di sesetengah kediaman di sekitar Melaka dan Pulau Pinang.

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Bagi Chuen Mun Wai atau lebih dikenali sebagai Tjoan, penglibatannya dalam bidang pembuatan tanglung adalah di luar jangkaannya. Apatah lagi, beliau merupakan antara pembuat tanglung tradisional terakhir di Malaysia pada hari ini.

Anak jati Ipoh itu sering berkunjung ke Pulau Pinang ketika zaman remajanya. Di situlah, eksplorasinya di sekitar jalan-jalan lama

Before the age of electricity, candle-lit lanterns were the primary source of light, and many families knew how to make them. The need for lanterns dwindled significantly after electricity was introduced. Nowadays, they only make an appearance during festivals or within traditional households in Penang and Melaka.

Chuen Mun Wai, also known as Tjoan, had not planned to become a lantern maker, let alone one of the very few who still make them the traditional way. As a teenager, the Ipoh boy often went up to Penang and wandered down the old streets. Like in a page from a storybook, he got lost one day and chanced upon a lantern shop where Master Lee was at work.

“At that time, I only observed how the sifu (master) made the lanterns. Each time I went to Penang, I would go to his shop and ask him questions. But he didn’t show me how to do it.

He would be busy working on different parts. It was like a puzzle.”

For the next 20 years, Tjoan visited Master Lee and learnt a little more about the craft each time. He also served as a middleman for those who wanted to purchase lanterns from Master Lee. It was only after the lantern artisan passed away that Tjoan finally put the pieces together and started making lanterns.

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Tanglung | WARISAN

“Waktu itu, saya kerap meluangkan masa di kedainya setiap kali saya berada di Pulau Pinang. Banyak memerhati cara dia bekerja dan bertanyakan soalan. Beliau tidak pernah mengajar saya sebab sentiasa sibuk menyiapkan pelbagai bahagian tanglung. Rumit macam susun suai gambar,” kongsinya.

Selama dua dekad, Tjoan akhirnya berjaya mendalami selok-belok seni pembuatan tanglung dalam setiap kunjungannya ke kedai Sifu Lee. Malah, beliau turut menjadi penghubung bagi memperkenalkan hasil karya Sifu Lee kepada para pelanggan. Titik tolak kerjaya Tjoan dalam bidang ini bagaimanapun hanya bermula selepas kematian sifunya – satu-satunya pembuat tanglung artisan pada ketika itu. Dari situlah, beliau nekad untuk mendalami seni ini dan seterusnya menghasilkan tanglungnya sendiri.

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Setiap tanglung merupakan buatan tangan sepenuhnya. Rangka tanglung yang diperbuat daripada buluh perlu diketatkan dengan ikatan benang. Seterusnya, rangka tersebut perlu dibaluti sehelai kain putih berkualiti tinggi (100 peratus benang kapas). Permukaan kain perlu disapu dengan tujuh hingga lapan lapisan cat akrilik atau cat semula jadi. Cat semula jadi yang terhasil daripada adunan bahan-bahan asli ini mengambil masa untuk dihasilkan tetapi berupaya menyerikan lagi warna tanglung. Bagi

To make them from scratch, Tjoan shapes the frame of the lantern using bamboo and fastens them with threads. He wraps it with white cloth made from 100 percent cotton.

Each lantern is given seven to eight coats of either acrylic or natural paint, the latter of which takes a longer time to make from natural ingredients but adds a sharper colour. The fabric is also coated with agar-agar (jelly) paste, which prevents the paint from seeping through.

Crafting lanterns using traditional methods is no easy task. Laborious and time-consuming, making a pair of lanterns can take a month or more to complete.

The art of traditional lantern-making was brought to our country during the Tang Dynasty. While it is no longer practised by the general public, the ancient lantern styles are still cherished by the Peranakans of Malaysia, who are known for their deep appreciation of their heritage. It is no wonder that the majority of Tjoan’s orders come from the Peranakan Chinese community, followed by temples, as well as customers from Thailand, Taiwan and Singapore.

To the Peranakans, lanterns do more than just carry light. Symbolising good fortune and well wishes, they are heirlooms passed down from one generation to the next. Families may also order another pair of lanterns to mark important occasions like weddings or birthdays.

Unlike festival lanterns, which only make an appearance during Mid-Autumn Festival, these traditional lanterns can be hung at the doorway any time during the year.

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bermula. Namun, bagaikan adegan sebuah cerita, Tjoan tersesat dalam eksplorasinya pada suatu hari dan tersinggah di kedai Sifu Lee yang ketika itu sedang sibuk menyiapkan tempahan tanglung yang diterima.

1 – 3. Tanglung yang dijaga dengan baik boleh bertahan selama 10-20 tahun sementara tanglung buatan artisan boleh bertahan sehingga 100 tahun dan masih boleh dilihat diruang tokong A well-kept lantern can typically last for 10-20 years, while those made by old artisans can last for 100 years as can be seen in temples 4. Chuen Mun Wai atau Tjoan mempelajari seni pembuatan tanglung dengan memperhatikan seorang artisan selama dua dekad Chuen Mun Wai or Tjoan learnt the art of lantern making by observing an artisan for more than 20 years

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WARISAN | Tanglung

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mencegah lapisan cat daripada menembusi fabrik, pes agar-agar juga akan disapu pada permukaan kain.

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5 – 6. Sepasang tanglung biasanya mengambil masa sebulan untuk disiapkan Given the laborious process, a pair of lanterns can take a month or more to complete

Penghasilan tanglung menerusi kaedah tradisional tidak semudah yang disangkakan.

Rumit, memenatkan dan memakan masa lama.

Sepasang tanglung biasanya mengambil masa sebulan untuk disiapkan.

Seni pembuatan tanglung tradisional mula diperkenalkan di Malaysia sewaktu Dinasti Tang. Biarpun penggunaan tanglung tidak lagi dipraktikkan secara meluas di Malaysia, masyarakat Cina Peranakan yang amat menyayangi seni warisan mereka ini masih lagi menghargai dan menghayati nilai sebuah tanglung tradisional. Selain tempahan daripada tokong dan pelanggan luar negara seperti Thailand, Taiwan dan Singapura, masyarakat Cina Peranakan merupakan pelanggan utama Tjoan.

Bagi masyarakat Cina Peranakan, tanglung bukan sekadar lampu. Sebagai barang pusaka yang diwarisi secara turun-temurun, tanglung adalah simbol pembawa tuah dan rahmat.

Tanglung khas juga boleh ditempah bagi menyerikan majlis atau upacara-upacara istimewa seperti perkahwinan dan hari kelahiran. Berbeza dengan tanglung khas Perayaan Kuih Bulan, tanglung tradisional ini biasanya menghiasi laluan muka pintu pada bila-bila masa.

Biasanya, tanglung yang dijaga dengan baik boleh bertahan selama 10 hingga 20 tahun.

Tanglung tradisional buatan golongan ahli seni artisan pula boleh bertahan sehingga 100 tahun dan masih dilihat menghiasi ruang tokong.

Menurut Tjoan, kaedah pembuatan tradisional dan penggunaan bahan-bahan semula jadi mampu mengekalkan ketahanan kualiti sesebuah tanglung. Berbeza dengan bahan logam, bahan sintetik seperti plastik lebih mudah rapuh jika terdedah terlalu lama kepada sinaran cahaya matahari.

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Daya ketahanan cantuman pada khazanah masyarakat Cina Peranakan tersebut banyak bergantung kepada jenis glu yang digunakan.

Berbanding glu komersial, penggunaan glu daripada adunan tepung ubi dan air suam juga berupaya mengekalkan kualiti tanglung dalam jangka masa panjang – menyerap lembapan pada musim hujan dan mengeras ketika cuaca panas.

Lazimnya, hasil karya Tjoan adalah terdiri daripada tanglung Hock Chew. Berbentuk unik dan dihiasi tulisan Cina, tanglung ini juga dikenali sebagai tanglung payung dan tanglung nama keluarga. Tanglung lain yang berbentuk seakanakan bakul pula digelar tanglung Teochew.

Darah Cina Peranakan yang mengalir dalam diri Tjoan menjadi pendorong utama bagi beliau meneruskan kesinambungan seni kraftangan ini. Demi mempertahankan sebuah warisan, seni ini harus dipelihara secepat mungkin. Beliau juga berharap agar teknikteknik pembuatan tanglung tradisional ini didokumentasikan bagi keperluan golongan penggiat seni artisan generasi muda.

“Bila saya dah tiada nanti, sekurang-kurangnya masih ada bahan rujukan bagi mereka yang berminat untuk mempelajarinya,” ujarnya menoktahkan perbualan. ■

Ingin mengetahui cara membuat tanglung?

Hubungi LokaLocal hari ini untuk menempah sesi membuat tanglung bersama Tjoan. loka.fun/lantern-making

A well-kept lantern can typically last for 10 to 20 years, while those made by old artisans can last for 100 years and still be seen in temples.

According to Tjoan, the traditional methods and natural ingredients allow the lanterns to last longer than lanterns made with synthetic materials. Unlike metal, plastic can become brittle if you leave it in the sun for too long.

The traditional glue he uses is also instrumental in holding this piece of heritage together.

Handmade with tapioca flour in warm water, the glue absorbs moisture during rainy days and hardens during hot weather, allowing it to last longer than commercial glue.

Tjoan often makes Hock Chew lanterns, also known as “umbrella lanterns” for their distinctive shape or “surname lanterns” due to the Chinese characters painted on them. There are also Teochew lanterns, which have a basketlike shape.

His motivation for holding on to this handicraft is simple: heritage. Given his Peranakan roots, he feels the urge to preserve this heritage and the theory of lantern-making for future generations of artisans.

“When I am not around, if there are people who have an interest in making lanterns, at least they have a theory to refer to.” ■

Want to try your hand at lantern-making?

Book a session with Tjoan on LokaLocal. loka.fun/lantern-making

19/08/2019 3:33 PM

Special Feature

Travel In Style Gone are the days of pure ‘luggage’ bags. These days, they’re a fashion statement, and a lifestyle accessory.

Enter Lushberry, the quintessential English luxury brand offering premium luggage bags that are as much about form as they are about function. Known for its exquisite attention to detail, the ideology of Lushberry’s products takes into account both functionality and individuality, minimising hassle and maximising style.

As the perfect travel companion for the modern 21st century traveller, each piece of Lushberry luggage is founded on the fundamental premise of beautiful, elegant and refined designs of superior quality, that are made to be enjoyed for a lifetime.

Striving to achieve the highest standards of quality and care, each piece of Lushberry luggage is crafted from premium and durable materials; the best that can be found in the industry.

Expect tonnes of space for your personal belongings, as well as an outer shell that is tough enough to absorb impact, and flexible enough under stress.

Featuring a wide range of collections, from classic to modern, there’s bound to be one to suit different lifestyle needs and preferences. The collections are created by a group of international, talented designers, and have been through a development period of no less than two years before the final product envisages the light of day.

With its modern, distinctive designs, paired with high quality, innovative and durable material, let Lushberry elevate your travel experience to new heights. ■

Lushberry is present in Japan, USA, UK, France, Dubai, Taiwan and Malaysia.

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FASHION+ACCESSORIES

Step Out In Style New from Cole Haan is a collection of minimal yet modern gender-neutral sneakers. The Generation Zerogrand designs are said to push materials beyond the limits, making them the perfect fit for the young professional who knows how to balance work and play. colehaan.com

Double The Fun Go two-tone this season with a standout timepiece on your wrist.

Ice-Watch has embellished its best-selling model with multitone iridescent dials and colourful straps. The Ice Duo Chic collection exudes energetic charm, with a subtle hint of gleaming glamour. ice-watch.com

Feed Your Whimsy

Spirited Sparkle

Tod’s recently released a limited-edition design of its D-Styling bag. It features different shades of blue, with finely hand-painted white edges and signature stitching. Each bag comes decorated with a cute unicorn, a charm intended to bring good luck to every owner.

Wanderlust + Co celebrates bold femininity with Electric Dream, a dazzling gem-focused jewellery collection.

Exploring a unique take on high shine, the designs are abundantly yet subtly studded with cubic zirconia stones of various shapes, shades and sizes.

tods.com

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The Globetrotter’s Styling Guide

rogervivier.com

Flight Of Innovation The Harrier 368 from Techne Instruments is crafted from carbon fibre fragments held together by a polymer. Named after the first fighter jet with vertical take-off and landing, the watch is a contemporary adaptation of French cockpit clocks from the 1950s. techne.watch

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Less Than Ordinary Designed for the free-spirited woman, the Beau Vivier is a new icon for Roger Vivier. The bag pays homage to the late founder and his inventive interpretation during the 1960s, with the buckle placed on an inverse direction, creating a distinctly different silhouette.

Written In The Stars The new Montblanc StarWalker line expresses the wonder of being part of one of humankind’s most powerful adventures: space exploration. Black precious resin recalls the dark, vast expanse of space, while a translucent dome beneath the pen’s emblem evokes the earth rising above the lunar horizon. montblanc.com

Groovy Baby!

Stella McCartney’s psychedelic All Together Now readyto-wear collection is heavily influenced by her personal childhood, family prints – and her father's iconic band. The designs incorporate playful graphics, motifs and slogans inspired by classic Beatles songs. stellamccartney.com

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Inside Malaysia Airlines

63 News & Updates 68 Our Fleet Of Aircraft

72 Our Network & Those Of Our oneworld Partners

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70 Enrich Quick Facts & Guide

71 Safety & Service Information

Promoting Malaysia Hours after it was unveiled, Malaysia Airlines was the first to take the Visit Malaysia 2020 logo to the skies via flight MH386 from Kuala Lumpur to Shanghai, operated by its A330-200 aircraft. Earlier in the day, Malaysia Airlines and its sister airline, Firefly, participated in the launch event, which was graced by Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Both airlines exchanged a memorandum of joint promotion with Tourism Malaysia in support of Visit Malaysia 2020. In conjunction with the momentous occasion, Malaysia Airlines also launched its Travelicious deals, offering attractive fares to popular destinations such as Langkawi, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu from Kuala Lumpur, as part of the airline’s commitment to promote the country’s wonders and beauty.

Travel Made Easy Travellers can now tailor-make their travel plans with MHholidays, the latest travel marketplace by Malaysia Airlines.

Launched in collaboration with TUI, the largest leisure, travel and tourism company in Europe, the platform offers more than 5,000 hotels and over 50 destinations worldwide to choose from, with exclusive and affordable deals that allow travellers to save up to 80 percent on accommodation charges. Travellers can easily search, filter and compare flights and hotels to find the perfect holiday package to suit their needs, and on top of that, earn Enrich miles on every flight portion and save points for future holidays. In the future, MHholidays will also be expanding beyond flights and hotels to include ground transfer, tours and more.

For more information, visit holidays.malaysiaairlines.com

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INSIDE MALAYSIA AIRLINES

Counter Relocation In line with its continuous effort to provide a seamless and convenient travel experience for its passengers, Malaysia Airlines will be relocating its International Economy Class check-in and baggage drop-off counters to Row H on Level 5 (Departures) of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Domestic Economy Class check-in and baggage drop-off will remain at Row B, while Business Suite and Business Class passengers for all International and Domestic flights, Enrich Platinum and Gold members, as well as oneworld Emerald and Sapphire members will continue to enjoy the dedicated check-in and baggage dropoff counters at Row D. The relocation is also part of the airline’s initiative to help ease the congestion at KLIA’s Departure curbside, especially during peak travel periods.

Safe Journey

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Amal, the Hajj and Umrah pilgrimage arm of Malaysia Airlines, recently commenced its first Hajj flight from Kuala Lumpur to Madinah, Saudi Arabia, carrying 483 pilgrims. Serviced by the A380-800 aircraft, MH8100 departed from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport and arrived at the Prince Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz International Airport three and a half hours later. Representatives from Malaysia Airlines as well as Tabung Haji, the country’s pilgrimage fund, were at the airport to send off the pilgrims.

Upgraded Comfort In-flight offerings for Business Class and Business Suite passengers have been refreshed with new amenity kits, Wi-Fi and upgraded soft furnishings. The renewed soft furnishings, designed to provide better comfort to passengers, are inspired by the Malaysian traditional songket motifs. The amenity kits, from luxury brand Aspinal of London, are available on selected A330 and A350 flights, featuring travel essentials such as Payot’s Lip Balm and its luxe Hand and Body Lotion. The kits come in a bag offering plentiful storage and a chic leather look that doubles as an everyday clutch. Wi-Fi, which was initially launched and made available on the A350-900, has now been extended to the A330 series aircraft. The carrier aims to have Wi-Fi onboard all its wide-body aircraft by mid-2020.

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INSIDE MALAYSIA AIRLINES

Recognition Of Excellence Congratulations to the winners of the Going Places Readers’ Choice Awards 2018, the fourth of our annual awards to honour the best brands for providing the highest level of service to their customers.

The winners from 19 categories were chosen based on the largest number of votes received. More than 16,000 votes were cast during an online voting campaign from September to December 2018.

THE WINNERS: Best 5-Star Hotel

Hilton Kuala Lumpur Best 4-Star Hotel

Impiana KLCC Hotel Best City Hotel

One World Hotel

Best Online Booking Site or App

Grab Best Theme Park

Sunway Lagoon

Best Spa & Wellness Centre

Best Beach Resort

The Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat

Best Boutique Hotel

Best Serviced Residence/Suites

The St. Regis Langkawi Dash Box Cyberjaya

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Best Shopping Mall

Pavilion Kuala Lumpur Best Fine Dining Restaurant

PNB Perdana Hotel & Suites On The Park Best Street Food

Troika Sky Dining

Village Park Restaurant – Nasi Lemak

Best Golf Course

Best Malaysian Attraction

Saujana Golf and Country Club

Petronas Twin Towers

Best Malaysian Restaurant Serving Local Food

Royal Selangor

Best Malaysian Brand

Pasar Baru, New World Petaling Jaya

Best Travel Agent

Best Outlet Shopping

Most Loved State For Tourism

Genting Highlands Premium Outlets

Best Golf Course – Saujana Golf and Country Club

Best Fine Dining Restaurant – Troika Sky Dining

Reliance

Penang

Best Malaysian Restaurant Serving Local Food – Pasar Baru, New World Petaling Jaya Best City Hotel – One World Hotel

Best 4-Star Hotel – Impiana KLCC Hotel

Best Shopping Mall – Pavilion Kuala Lumpur

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Best Malaysian Attraction – Petronas Twin Towers

Best Online Booking Site or App – Grab

Best 5-Star Hotel – Hilton Kuala Lumpur Best Street Food – Village Park Restaurant (Nasi Lemak)

Best Outlet Shopping – Genting Highlands Premium Outlets

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Best Malaysian Brand – Royal Selangor

Best Serviced Residence/Suites – PNB Perdana Hotel & Suites On The Park Best Theme Park – Sunway Lagoon

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Best Beach Resort – The St. Regis Langkawi

19/08/2019 3:29 PM

Maswings

FLEET

ATR 7

B777-200

ATR 72-500

A380-800

Firefly

Maswings A350-900

A380-800 No. of aircraft 6 | Passenger Seating 494 Length 72.72 m | Wingspan 79.75 m | Height 24.09 m B777-200 Max. Cruising Speed 1,102 km/h

No. of aircraft 6 | Passenger Seating 286 Length 66.80 m | Wingspan 64.75 m | HeightATR 17.0572-500 m Max. Cruising Speed 944 km/h

A330-200

Vikin

A330-300 No. of aircraft 15 | Passenger Seating 283 A380-800 B777-200 Length 63.66 m | Wingspan 60.30 m | Height 16.79 m Max. Cruising Speed 980 km/h

A330-200

A330-300

ATR 72-500

No. of aircraft 6ATR | Passenger 72-500 Seating 287 Length 58.82 m | Wingspan 60.30 m | Height 17.39 m Max. Cruising Speed 880 km/h

MasK

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Viking DHC-6 Maswings ______________

______________

______________ ______________

______________

______________

______________

B737-800

A330-300

______________

A350-900_RR_MALAYSIA_AIRLINES

Scale 1/200 Date : 23/08/17

No. of aircraft 48 | Passenger Seating 160-166 Length 39.5 m | Wingspan 38.50 m | Height 12.50 m Max. Cruising Speed 857 km/h

MasKargo

Firefly

A330

Viking DHC-6

ATR 72-500

B777-200

B737-800

A330-300

ATR 72-500

MasKargo

A380-800

ATR 72-500

A330-200F

Firefly No. of aircraft 12 | Passenger Seating 72 Firefly Length 27.05 m | Wingspan 27.17 m | Height 7.65 m Max. Cruising Speed 510 km/h

No. of aircraft 3 | Maximum Cargo Capacity 65 (70) tonnes Length 45 m | Wingspan 60.30 m | Height 16.88 m Length 27.05 m | Wingspan 27.17 m | Height 7.65 m Max. Cruising Speed 1,021 km/h

A330 200f

B747

Maswings

B737-800 ATR 72-500

A330 200f

ATR 72-500

Maswings 72-500 A330-300ATR

Viking DHC-6 Twin Otter Series 400

No. of aircraft 10 | Passenger Seating 68 Length 27.05 m | Wingspan 27.17 m | Height 7.65 m Max. Cruising Speed 510 km/h

No. of aircraft 6 | Passenger Seating 19 Length 15.77 m | Wingspan 19.80 m | Height 5.94MasKargo m Max. Cruising Speed 337 km/h

ATR 72-500

B747 400f ATR 72-500

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B747 400f

ATR 72-500

B777-200 Maswings

B737-800

Viking DHC-6

Viking DHC-6 *Wi-Fi service is available on-board with MHConnect.

A330 200f

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SAFETY + SERVICE INFO

CABIN LUGGAGE HANDLING Passenger and crew safety onboard our flights is our highest priority. In compliance with the airline’s policy and in observing Occupational, Safety and Health Regulations requirements, cabin crew are no longer required to stow passengers’ hand luggages into the overhead stowage compartment. This is to minimise occupational hazard and ergonomic risks faced by cabin crew in the aircraft. Cabin crew on duty will, however, assist passengers travelling with infants, young passengers travelling alone, the elderly, and passengers with reduced mobility. Passengers who are fit and in good health must carry, stow and secure their own hand luggages on board. Hand luggage exceeding the 7kg weight limit is required to be checked in before boarding.

PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICES (PED) For safety reasons and in line with the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia guidelines, mobile phones and all PEDs must be switched off once the aircraft has moved out of bay/gate for departure. Whilst cruising, devices placed in flight mode may be used. The devices must again be switched off during the approach for landing until the aircraft is parked at the terminal building. Devices transmitting strong signals must remain switched off throughout the flight, until disembarkation.

The Captain may prohibit the use of devices that can interfere with the aircraft’s system.

LITHIUM BATTERIES Lithium metal or lithium ion cells or batteries for portable electronic devices (PEDs), including medical devices must not exceed 2g for lithium metal batteries and 100Wh for lithium ion batteries. All spare batteries, including lithium metal or lithium ion cells or batteries, for PEDs must be carried in passengers’ carry-on baggage only. These batteries must be individually protected to prevent short circuits. For PEDs containing non-spillable batteries, they must be 12V or less or 100Wh or less. A maximum of two spare batteries may be carried. These batteries must be individually protected to prevent short circuits.

NO-SMOKING POLICY Smoking, including the use of electronic cigarettes, is prohibited on all flights.

ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES Electronic cigarettes must be carried on one’s person or in carry-on baggage only. Recharging of the device in-flight is not permitted.

COMFORT & CARE Personal care, baby paraphernalia and first aid treatment are available upon request.

ZERO TOLERANCE OF ABUSE We value courteousness. Any form of threat, verbal abuse or violence towards our staff will be taken seriously. We are committed to supporting anyone who has been the victim of an assault.

_Sep 2019_MH Safety Guide.indd 71

BAGGAGE FOR TRANSIT PASSENGERS We recommend that transit passengers in KLIA reconfirm their final baggage destination at the Transfer Desk to ensure they are identified and loaded accordingly. Just show your baggage identification tag to the Transfer Desk officer.

IN ADDITION TO AIRPORT CHECK-IN, HERE ARE OTHER OPTIONS:

ENTERTAINMENT Movies, TV and Music On-Demand are available on selected flights.

ONBOARD CONNECTION Laptop power points are fitted on Business Suite and Business Class seats.

WEB: Check in online at malaysiaairlines.com. Print out the boarding pass yourself.

USB CHARGING Available on selected aircraft type (A350-900 and A330-200).

FOOD & BEVERAGE All food served is halal. Special meals can be prepared with 24-hour notice. First and Business Class guests may use Chef-on-Call services to book meals 24 hours prior to departure on selected flights. Alcoholic drinks are available on flights over three hours to passengers above the age of 21.

Our cabin crew reserve the right to decline serving and selling alcohol to any passenger who appears intoxicated. Consumption of personal alcoholic drinks is prohibited.

FRESH & FROZEN SEAFOOD Fresh and frozen seafood are strictly not permitted in check-in baggage. They may be accepted in cabin baggage, subject to the destination’s quarantine regulations. They must be properly packed and meet the cabin baggage weight and size requirements.

A maximum of 2.5 kg of dry ice per passenger is permissible if dry ice is used to carry these items. We reserve the right to refuse carriage if the items are not properly packed.

WEB-TO-MOBILE: Check in online. Your boarding pass will be sent to your mobile phone.

Mobile boarding pass can be scanned at airport security and at the boarding gate.

MHMOBILE: Download and log onto flymas.mobi on your mobile phone and you will be sent a mobile boarding pass via SMS or email.

FASTCHECK SELFSERVICE KIOSK: Check in and print your boarding pass at these kiosks at the airport.

goingplacesmagazine.com | 71 | September 2019

ON-TIME PERFORMANCE Our check-in counters close 60 minutes before departure. Please allow at least 45 minutes for immigration and security clearance. Boarding gate will close 20 minutes prior to departure and late passengers will not be accepted.

PEANUT & NUT ALLERGIES Meals containing peanuts or tree nuts may be served throughout the aircraft. We cannot accommodate requests for peanut/nut-free zones in the aircraft. In addition, we cannot prevent other passengers from bringing peanuts or other tree nuts on board. We strongly encourage those with allergies to take the necessary medical precautions before flying, including travelling with medications such as EpiPens in their hand luggage.

WHEELCHAIR ASSISTANCE Wheelchair requests must be made through the Global Customer Contact Centre and/or Ticket Office and/or Malaysia Airlines appointed travel agents at least 48 hours prior to departure. Contact the call centre at 1-300-88-3000 for more information.

UNACCOMPANIED MINOR (UMNR) POLICY We provide assistance for children aged five to 15 years old travelling alone, with 24-hour advance request.

CITY CENTRE COUNTER CHECK-IN: Available at KL Sentral in Kuala Lumpur and in Hong Kong.

EXCLUSIVE CHECK-IN: Enrich Platinum/Gold members and Business Suite/Business Class passengers can check in at the premium front-end check-in lounge, or via telephone, arriving 30 minutes before take-off if you do not have check-in baggage.

*Terms & conditions apply to the above, which is correct at the time of printing. Visit malaysiaairlines.com for more information.

19/08/2019 2:15 PM

OUR NETWORK / MALAYSIA

D

Kudat

Kudat

Langkawi Langkawi

Kota Bharu Kota Bharu

Alor SetarAlor Setar

Penang

Kota Kinabalu Kota Kinabalu Labuan

Penang Kuala Terenggganu Kuala Terenggganu Ipoh

Limbang

Sandakan Sandakan

Labuan

Lawas Limbang

Lawas

Lahad Datu Lahad Datu

Ipoh Miri

Miri Marudi

Mulu Marudi

Mulu Ba’kelalan Ba’kelalan

Long SeridanLongBario Seridan Kuantan Kuantan

Bintulu

Subang Subang

(Kuala Lumpur)(Kuala Lumpur)

KLIA

Mukah

Bintulu

Semporna Semporna Tawau

Tawau

Bario

Long Akah Long AkahLong Lellang Long Lellang Long Banga Long Banga

Mukah

KLIA

(Kuala Lumpur)(Kuala Lumpur)

Sibu Tanjung Manis Tanjung Manis

Sibu

Kuching Kuching Johor Bahru Johor Bahru

LEGEND

MASwings flights operated by Royal Brunei

Greenwich Meridian

Greenwich Meridian

oneworld destinations

CORRECT AT THE TIME OF PRINT / DESTINATIONS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. LOG ON TO MALAYSIAAIRLINES.COM OR ONEWORLD.COM FOR THE RESPECTIVE ROUTE/DESTINATION MAPS

_Sep 2019_MH Routemap.indd 72

19/08/2019 1:48 PM

ASIA + OCEANIA

Nizhnevartovsk Nizhnevartovsk Magadan Magadan Novosibirsk Novosibirsk

Omsk Omsk

Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk

Bratsk Bratsk

Abakan Abakan PavlodarPavlodar

Irkutsk Irkutsk

Gorno-Altaysk Gorno-Altaysk

Semey Semey

Sea Sea of of Okhotsk Okhotsk

Okha Okha

Chita Chita

Ulan-Ude Ulan-Ude

Petropavlovsk Petropavlovsk

Blagoveschensk Blagoveschensk Khabarovsk Khabarovsk

Ust-Kamenogorsk Ust-Kamenogorsk

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Taraz

Urumqi Urumqi

Taraz Almaty Almaty Bishkek Bishkek

Osh Dushanbe Dushanbe

BeijingBeijing

Osh

Dalian Dalian Yamagata Yamagata Seoul Seoul Komatsu Komatsu Izumo Izumo Busan Busan Qingdao Qingdao TokyoTokyo Zhengzhou Zhengzhou Hiroshima Hiroshima OsakaOsaka Xi’an Xi’an FukuokaFukuoka Tokushima Tokushima Jeju Jeju Nanjing Nanjing NagasakiNagasaki Kochi Kochi Shanghai Shanghai ChengduChengdu MiyazakiMiyazaki Wuhan Wuhan Hangzhou Hangzhou Kagoshima Kagoshima Ningbo Ningbo Chongqing Chongqing Changsha Changsha Wenzhou Wenzhou

Kulob Kulob Islamabad Islamabad PeshawarPeshawar Faisalabad Faisalabad AmritsarAmritsar Multan Multan New Delhi New DelhiKathmandu Kathmandu Karachi Karachi Ahmedabad Ahmedabad

KunmingKunming

Kolkata Kolkata

Hyderabad Hyderabad

BayBay of of Bengal Bengal

NORTH NORTH PACIFIC PACIFIC OCEAN OCEAN

HaikouHaikou Sanya Sanya Da NangDa Nang

AngelesAngeles South South China China Philippine Philippine SeaSeaManilaManila SeaSea

Siem Reap Siem Reap Bangkok Bangkok PhnomPhnom Penh Penh

Andaman Andaman SeaSea

Kozhikode Kozhikode Tiruchchirappalli Tiruchchirappalli Kochi Kochi Trincomalee Trincomalee Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram

Ho ChiHo Minh ChiCity Minh City

Guam Guam

Cebu Cebu

PhuketPhuket Krabi Krabi

Colombo Colombo Hambantota HambantotaBandaBanda Aceh Aceh

MedanMedan Male

Guilin Guilin

Chiang Mai Chiang Mai Yangon Yangon

Goa Bengaluru Bengaluru Chennai Chennai

East East China China SeaSea Fuzhou Fuzhou OkinawaOkinawa TaipeiTaipei

Xiamen Xiamen Guangzhou Guangzhou Kaohsiung Kaohsiung Hong Kong Hong Kong Hanoi Hanoi

DhakaDhaka

Nagpur Nagpur

Goa

AomoriAomoriMisawaMisawa SeaSea of of Akita AkitaHanamaki Hanamaki Japan Japan Niigata Niigata

Tianjin Tianjin

Mumbai Mumbai

Asahikawa Asahikawa Memanbetsu Memanbetsu ObihiroObihiro KushiroKushiro

Vladivostok Vladivostok

TashkentTashkent

Male

Koror Koror

Kota Kinabalu Kota Kinabalu Bandar Bandar Seri Begawan Seri Begawan Tarakan Tarakan Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur Singapore Singapore

EQUATOR

Surabaya Surabaya Jakarta Jakarta

Arafura Arafura SeaSea

Bali Bali

INDIAN INDIAN OCEAN OCEAN

Horn Island Horn Island

Timor Timor SeaSea BroomeBroome Port Hedland Port Hedland KarrathaKarratha ExmouthExmouth Paraburdoo Paraburdoo Newman Newman

Geraldton Geraldton Perth Perth

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie

Darwin Darwin

Port Moresby Port Moresby

Weipa Weipa

Cairns Cairns

Coral Coral Sea Sea

Townsville Townsville Mount Mount Isa IsaCloncurry Cloncurry Hamilton Hamilton Island Island MackayMackay Moranbah Moranbah Alice Springs Alice Springs Longreach Rockhampton Rockhampton Longreach Gladstone Gladstone BlackallBlackallEmeraldEmerald Ayers Rock Ayers Rock HerveyHervey Bay Bay Charleville Charleville Roma Roma Brisbane Moree Moree Brisbane

New Caledonia New Caledonia

Armidale Armidale Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour Tamworth Tamworth Lord Howe LordIsland Howe Island Port Macquarie Port Macquarie Dubbo Dubbo Newcastle Newcastle WhyallaWhyalla MilduraMildura Wagga Wagga Wagga Sydney Sydney Port Lincoln Port Lincoln Adelaide AdelaideAlbury Albury Canberra Canberra Melbourne Melbourne Devonport DevonportLaunceston Launceston

Tasman Tasman Sea Sea

Auckland Auckland

Wellington Wellington

HobartHobart Queenstown Queenstown

GMT +5

GMT +6

GMT +7

GMT +8

GMT +9

GMT +10

GMT +11

GMT +12

A member of

_Sep 2019_MH Routemap.indd 73

19/08/2019 1:48 PM

AMERICAS + CANADA

Vancouver Seattle Portland

Gulf of Alaska

Milwaukee

St Louis

Phoenix

Dallas San Angelo San Antonio Brownsville Mazatlán

San José del Cabo Mexico City

Gulf of Alaska

Ixtapa

Tallahassee

Corpus Christi

Tampa Sarasota

Gulf of Mexico

Puebla

Belize City

Philadelphia Salisbury-Ocean City

Hudson Bay

Ponta Delg

NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN

Bermuda

Charleston Jacksonville

Sargasso Sea

West Palm Beach

Montego Bay

Port-au- Santo Prince Domingo

Kingston

San Pedro Sula

Guatemala City San Salvador

Liberia

San Juan

Caribbean Sea

San Jose

Tobago

Santa Marta

San Andrés Island

Caracas Port of Spain

Panama City

PACIFIC OCEAN Honolulu

Martha's Vineyard Nantucket

Nassau Key West Miami George Town Havana Varadero Providenciales Cancún Cap-Haïtien Santiago Grand Cayman Merida

Managua

Lihue

Halifax

Portland

Watertown Boston New York

Raleigh-Durham Charlotte New Bern Myrtle Beach Atlanta Savannah

New Orleans Houston

Montreal

Buffalo

Pittsburgh Washington Winston-Salem

Nashville

San Diego

Toronto Grand Rapids

Chicago

Las Vegas

Monterey Ontario Santa Barbara Palm Springs Los Angeles

Ottawa

Traverse City

Hayden Denver Aspen Colorado Springs Montrose Vail

Reno

Sacramento San Francisco

Québec

Marquette

Yopal Cali

Bogotá Boa Vista

Baltra Island

Kahului

San Cristóbal Island

Kailua Kona

Guayaquil Talara

Tumbes

Chiclayo

Sargasso Sea

Macapá

Gulf of Mexico

EQUATOR

São Luís

Fortaleza Natal João Pessoa

Teresina

Cajamarca

Trujillo Puerto Maldonado

Maceió Aracaju

Caribbean Sea

Salvador Porto Seguro

Santa Cruz

Tacna

Calama

S AT O

Rio de Janeiro

Asuncion

Antofagasta

São Paulo

Copiapó Easter Island

SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN

Chilean Sea

Comodoro Rivadavia

La Serena Santiago

San Juan Mendoza

Porto Alegre Rio Grande

Rosario Buenos Aires

Concepción Valdivia Puerto Montt

Punta Del Este

Neuquén Bahía Blanca

Osorno

San Carlos Bariloche

Castro

LEGEND

Scotia Sea

Balmaceda El Calafate

oneworld destinations

Río Gallegos

MH flights operated by Emirates

GMT -8

GMT -7

Punta Arenas

GMT -6

SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN

Chilean Sea Ushuaia

GMT -5

CORRECT AT THE TIME OF PRINT / DESTINATIONS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. LOG ON TO MALAYSIAAIRLINES.COM OR ONEWORLD.COM FOR THE RESPECTIVE ROUTE/DESTINATION MAPS

_Sep 2019_MH Routemap.indd 74

Mount Pleasant

GMT -4

GMT -3

GMT -2

Scotia Sea 19/08/2019 1:48 PM

North Sea Inverness Aberdeen

Glasgow

Newcastle

Belfast Shannon

Leeds

Mariehamn

Oslo

Aalborg Billund

Westerland Amsterdam

Turku

Visby

Gothenburg

Helsinki

St Petersburg

Tallinn Tartu Riga

Aarhus Gdansk Hamburg

Kazan

EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST + AFRICA Pavlodar

Moscow

Vilnius

Kaliningrad

Novosibirsk

Omsk

Nizhny Novgorod

Samara

Kras

Abakan Gorno-Altaysk

Warsaw Berlin Semey Rotterdam Leipzig Kiev London Brussels Dusseldorf Ust-Kamenogorsk Prague Guernsey Frankfurt Jersey Ivalo Luxembourg Vienna Quimper Paris Basel Budapest Zurich Ljubljana Chisinau Kittila Astrakhan Geneva Simferopol Zagreb Bordeaux Milan Urumqi Venice Pula Chambery Kemi Kuusamo Belgrade Bucharest Almaty Taraz Genoa Varna Toulouse Bishkek Sochi Dubrovnik Rimini Marseille Leon Sofia Pisa Burgas Calvi Batumi Kajaani Tivat Tashkent Reykjavik Valladolid Tbilisi Barcelona Porto Bari Tirana Kavala Rome Olbia Osh Jyvaskyla Yerevan Ankara Brindisi Baku Madrid Volos Mytilini Cagliari Dushanbe Palma De Lisbon Preveza Helsinki Mallorca Palermo Athens Oslo Mariehamn Catania Erbil St Petersburg Turku Almeria Antalya Thira Kalamata Kulob Stockholm Tallinn Oran Algiers Tunis Malta Tangier Yekaterinburg Larnaca Karpathos Chania Sulaymaniyah Tehran Gothenburg Visby Tartu Inverness Melilla Paphos Beirut Aalborg Baghdad Islamabad Casablanca Aberdeen Riga Nizhny Novgorod Peshawar Aarhus Glasgow Billund Tel Aviv Amman Kazan Marrakech Al Najaf Gdansk Alexandria Newcastle Faisalabad Amritsar Moscow Vilnius Belfast Copenhagen Agadir Westerland Kaliningrad Leeds Shiraz Samara HamburgCairo Amsterdam Multan Shannon Shárm el-Sheikh New Delhi Warsaw Kathmandu Berlin Birmingham Gassim Hurghada Rotterdam Leipzig Dammam Cork Kiev London Brussels Dusseldorf Luxor Karachi Madinah Prague Guernsey Luxembourg Riyadh Dhaka Frankfurt Marsa Alam Jersey Ahmedabad Abu Dhabi Vienna Munich Quimper Kolkata Paris Basel Nagpur Budapest Jeddah Chisinau Zurich Ljubljana Taif Astrakhan Geneva Simferopol Zagreb Bordeaux Lyon Milan Abha Bucharest Mumbai Venice Pula Belgrade Chambery Hyderabad Varna Sochi Genoa Toulouse Dubrovnik Rimini Black Sea Caspian Sofia Leon Salalah Batumi Pisa Asmara Marseille Nice Burgas Urgench Tivat Khartoum Valladolid Goa Calvi Tbilisi Sea Porto Barcelona Kavala Tirana Rome Bari Bengaluru Yerevan Ankara Olbia Chennai Brindisi Baku Madrid Volos Mytilini Ashgabat Palma De Lisbon Preveza Djibouti Cagliari Kozhikode Mallorca Palermo Athens Tiruchchirappalli Almeria Erbil Catania Kochi Antalya Thira Ponta Delgada (Azores) Kalamata Oran Tunis Malta Algiers Larnaca Trincomalee Tangier Thiruvananthapuram Abuja Karpathos Chania Mashhad Sulaymaniyah Tehran Addis Ababa Melilla Colombo Beirut Mediterranean Sea Paphos Hambantota Casablanca Baghdad Banda A Lagos Accra Tel Aviv Amman Malabo Marrakech Al Najaf Alexandria Agadir Shiraz Kuwait Male Cairo Entebbe Shárm el-Sheikh Gassim Dammam Hurghada Nairobi Luxor Dubai Madinah Bahrain Kigali Riyadh Kilimanjaro Marsa Alam Muscat Abu Dhabi Zanzibar Jeddah Taif Dar Es Salaam

Celtic Sea

Cork

Birmingham

Norwegian Sea

Caspian Sea

Black Sea

North Sea

Ponta Delgada (Azores)

Mediterranean Sea

NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN Dakar

Celtic Sea

Bay of Bengal

Anda Se

Gulf of Guinea

Luanda

Abha Asmara

Khartoum

Dakar

Salalah

Djibouti

Livingstone Abuja

SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN

Lagos Accra Windhoek

Harare

Victoria Falls

Arabian Sea

Addis Ababa

INDIA OCEA

Malabo

Maputo

Entebbe

Johannesburg

EQUATOR

Gulf of Guinea Cape Town

Nairobi Kigali

Durban

Kilimanjaro Dar Es Salaam

Port Elizabeth Luanda

Zanzibar

INDIAN OCEAN

Lusaka

GMT -2

GMT -1

Victoria Falls

Harare Mauritius

Windhoek Maputo

GREENWICH MERIDIAN

Greenwich Meridian

SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN

Livingstone

Johannesburg Durban Cape Town

GMT 0

GMT +1

Port Elizabeth

GMT +2

GMT +3

GMT +4

_Sep 2019_MH Routemap.indd 75

wich Meridian

A member of

19/08/2019 1:48 PM

HANDSET INSTRUCTIONS

GETTING STARTED For passengers with a seatback personal screen, please refer to the following instructions for use of the remote control. 擁有個人屏幕的乘客請參照以下圖像和說明來使用您的遙控器。 個人スクリーンをお持ちのお客様はお手元のハンドセットを下の画像と合わせてから続けてお読みください。

Business Suite & Business Class A380

Economy Class A380

Business Suite A350-900 1

11 1 13 2

4

1

13 1

1

5 12

9

5 17

4

14

16

1

5 6 7

15

4

11

17

goingplacesmagazine.com | 78 | September 2019

17 7

6

6

14

17 6 4

9

All passengers A333 & B737-800

13

5 17

Business Class A332

13

2

9 6

6

13

14

Business Class & Extra Legroom Seats A350-900

4

13

1 9

11

4 17 7

14

*For Economy Class passengers, access to in-flight entertainment and service functions is via the seatback touch screen monitor.

1

Control Paddle*

1

控制板*

1

上下左右ボタン*

2

Window Display

2

顯示視窗

2

ウィンドウ表示

Mode

3

模式

3

モード

閱讀燈 ON/OFF

4

読書用ライトON/OFF

頻道 UP/DOWN

5

チャンネルUP/DOWN

6

音声ボリュームUP/DOWN

7

明るさUP/DOWN

8

乗務員呼び出し/取消

9

選択/スタート*

10

入力*

11

12

3

Reading Light ON/OFF

4

5

Channel UP/DOWN

5

6

Volume UP/DOWN

6

7

Brightness UP/DOWN

7

8

Button Disabled

9

Select/Start*

10

Enter*

11

Audio/Video Controls To Rewind, Play/Pause, Forward and Stop for Audio/Video

4

12

Back Button To go to previous screen

13

Screen ON/OFF Button To switch the Interactive screen ON/OFF

14

Home Button Shortcut to go to Main Menu

15

QWERTY Keyboard - B738/A333

16

Magnetic Card Reader

17

Cabin Crew Assistance

音量 UP/DOWN 亮度 UP/DOWN

8

呼叫乘務員/取消

9

選擇/開始*

10

確認*

11

12

13

13

14

14

15

15

16

16

17

フライトアテンダントアシスタンス

17

机舱服务员协助

*Not on the Inseat System

_Sep 2019_GPE 02.indd 78

19/08/2019 1:45 PM

GUANG, MM2 ENTERTAINMENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Entertainment

80 FILM REVIEWS 81 NEW THIS MONTH 82 MOVIES

84 TV SHOWS 86 AUDIO/ RADIO 87 ARTIST OF THE MONTH 87 FROM THE DIRECTOR’S CHAIR

_Sep 2019_GPE 02.indd 79

20/08/2019 3:51 PM

FILM REVIEWS

WANT HELP WITH WHAT TO WATCH THIS MONTH? FILMMAKER AND DIRECTOR KAM RASLAN MAKES THE CASE FOR THESE MOVIES. character was killed because I was certain that the character goes on to play a role in other X-Men movies, but I think that the movies have gone back and forth in time and therefore, created alternative timelines, which is perhaps even more confusing. Logan remains the best X-Men movie (the best-ever comic book movie?) but Dark Phoenix retains the reach and ambition. And it has to be watched because it marks the end of an era.

goingplacesmagazine.com | 80 | September 2019

POKEMON: DETECTIVE PIKACHU Do you play Pokemon GO? If you do, then you are definitely not alone. The augmented reality game hit our smartphones in July 2016 when it instantly hooked 27 million users in America alone, and the numbers are estimated to rise to 67 million by 2020. The game is even more popular in Asia Pacific, with 84 million players, set to rise to 311 million by 2020. Although the Pokemon GO app is free-to-play, an impressive revenue of USD2.27 billion has been generated by in-app purchases for upgrades and other tools. I recently purchased 20 Lucky Eggs and I have absolutely no idea how I am going to explain it to my wife.

With such a large pre-existing audience, a Pokemon GO movie was inevitable, but the surprising thing is that it’s a very good movie, set in a world where humans and Pokemons live side-by-side (do I need to explain what a Pokemon is? The game was invented in Japan, so they’re cute; that’s all you need to know), where a young man reluctantly endeavours to discover who killed his police detective father. The young man meets a Pikachu who can actually talk (brilliantly voiced by actor Ryan Reynolds) and the adventure begins.

What is surprising about a movie based on a game is that it is not about young kids or about rediscovering our inner child. Instead, it is about growing up, discovering adulthood and about a father reconnecting with his son. Do you need to play Pokemon GO to enjoy Pokemon: Detective Pikachu? Although I enjoyed seeing a Treecko stuck to a window, I don’t think so. It’s a rare example of a successful and highly enjoyable movie based on a game.

_Sep 2019_GPE 02.indd 80

X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX The word is that the X-Men series is about to get a complete reboot, so X-Men: Dark Phoenix is the last chance to see the X-Men in this form. After 12 movies and USD6 billion (RM24.7 billion) at the worldwide box office, Professor Xavier, Magneto and the other mutants will soon be reunited with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) gang of Captain Marvel, Hulk and more. Despite both groups being Marvel Comics characters, the two camps have been kept apart because creator Stan Lee sold the rights separately to 20th Century Fox and Disney. Soon, they will be reunited under Disney and it will be fascinating to see how the merger is achieved.

The X-Men series began (with X-Men) in 2000, while MCU began in 2008 with Iron Man. So the X-Men set the tone that MCU and DC Comics had to follow, and a key feature was the casting of excellent, top-of-the-line Shakespearean actors. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen helped lend weight to characters that are, let’s face it, from comics. Dark Phoenix is set in an earlier time, so their roles are played by the younger James McAvoy and the awesome Michael Fassbender, who help to continue the ambition.

In Dark Phoenix, we discover how Jean Grey/ Phoenix (played by Sophie Turner from Game of Thrones) became the most powerful and potentially deadly mutant of them all and how an alien breed seeks to harness her power. Can the X-Men save us all, or will they kill each other first?

Dark Phoenix has its flaws. I must admit that I did become confused when a major

GUANG We’re witnessing a renaissance in Malaysian movies. Filmmaking technique has improved beyond recognition, as well as storytelling, acting, budgets and even box office returns. Guang is a significant and excellent achievement from this new breed of Malaysian filmmakers. Directed by Quek Shio Chuan, it tells the story of a young autistic man’s quest to find a job and the perfect glasses. That might not sound like much, but greatness often lies in simplicity. It is visually awash with the cityscapes and intimate details that will be instantly recognisable to all Malaysians, whether or not you can speak Mandarin. We are taken inside often grungy backdrops, and despite truly difficult relationships, we find beauty, thanks to our hero’s hidden talent.

You might have missed the award-winning Guang when it came out in Malaysian cinemas. Now is your chance to catch up.

Read our interview with Guang director Quek Shio Chuan on page 88.

Pokemon: Detective Pikachu, X-Men: Dark Phoenix and Guang are playing onboard. Check your in-flight entertainment system for channel information.

19/08/2019 1:45 PM

NEW THIS MONTH

POKÉMON DETECTIVE PIKACHU

X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX

ALADDIN

RYAN REYNOLDS, JUSTICE SMITH, KATHRYN NEWTON, KEN WATANABE, BILL NIGHY PG / 104 mins / Comedy, Adventure, Action / E, J, K, E+

JAMES MCAVOY, MICHAEL FASSBENDER, JENNIFER LAWRENCE, SOPHIE TURNER PG-13 / / 114 mins / Sci-Fi, Action / E, E+

WILL SMITH, MENA MASSOUD, NAOMI SCOTT, MARWAN KENZARI PG / 128 mins / Family / E, E+

When ace detective Harry Goodman goes mysteriously missing, his 21-year-old son Tim tries to investigate while aided by Harry’s former Pokémon partner, Detective Pikachu. Finding that they are uniquely equipped to work together, as Tim is the only human who can communicate with Pikachu, they join forces on a thrilling adventure to unravel the tangled mystery and stop an unseen threat to their world.

During a life-threatening rescue mission in space, Jean Grey is hit by a cosmic force that transforms her into one of the most powerful mutants ever seen. Struggling with this increasingly unstable power and her own personal demons, Jean spirals out of control, tearing the X-Men family apart and threatening to destroy the very fabric of our planet.

Aladdin is a lovable street urchin who is enamoured upon meeting Princess Jasmine, the beautiful daughter of the Sultan of Agrabah. After getting captured by the grand vizier Jafar and being forced to enter the Cave of Wonders, Aladdin stumbles upon a magic lamp that unleashes a powerful, wisecracking, larger-than-life genie. With the genie’s help, Aladdin must stop the scheming Jafar from taking over the kingdom.

CHINESE

BEST OF MALAYSIA

HINDI

MALAYALAM

光 / GUANG

SERGEANT HASSAN

KYO CHEN, ERNEST CHONG, EMILY CHAN PG-13 / / 88 mins / Drama, Family / M, E+

P. RAMLEE, SAADIAH, JINS SHAMSUDDIN PG-13 / / 112 mins / Action, Drama, Romance / ML, E+

ग ो ल ्ड / GOLD

AKSHAY KUMAR, MOUNI ROY, KUNAL KAPOOR PG-13 / / 143 mins / Drama, History, Sport / E+

വരുത്താൻ / VARATHAN

Wen Guang is a 27-year-old man with autism who struggles to socialise with other people and lives alone with his younger brother, who works and looks after him. This touching tale follows Wen Guang and his struggle to find a job, his strained relationship with his younger brother, and the challenges he faces while pursuing his passion for collecting glasses.

With the Second World War approaching, Hassan is forbidden by his adoptive father from joining the Royal Malay Regiment as a soldier, together with his adoptive brother Ajiz, and is ordered to look after his orchard. Upset over being called a coward by the other villagers, Hassan runs away from home to join the Regiment and prove his worth as a soldier.

The Indian men’s national hockey team beats Germany on its own home ground to win the gold medal at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. But as the team receives its medals, the British national anthem is played during the raising of the flag of British India. This film follows one man’s resolve to build up the national hockey team and unite a newly independent India under the dream to win an Olympic gold medal.

After losing his job in Dubai, Aby and his wife Priya move back to Priya’s childhood home in the countryside of Kerala. However, their new life is far from peaceful as Priya starts feeling unsettled over villagers and neighbours constantly ogling her and spying on her at home. As things continue to escalate, Aby and Priya find themselves forced to fight for their own survival in this thrilling drama.

Our interview with the director of Guang is on page 88.

RATINGS:

G / U General audience. Suitable for all ages.

R Restricted. Not suitable for audiences under 17 years of age.

NR Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America.

PG P arental guidance recommended. Some content may not

Contains scenes or language that may be disturbing or be suitable for children. offensive. Viewer discretion is advised.

G-13 Parental guidance strongly recommended. Some content P

Programmes with Malaysian content. may be inappropriate for children under 13 years of age.

15 Suitable for audiences aged 15 years and above.

_Sep 2019_GPE 02.indd 81

Award-winning movies/programmes.

goingplacesmagazine.com | 81 | September 2019

HOLLYWOOD

வ

FAHADH FAASIL, AISHWARYA LEKSHMI, SHARAFUDHEEN PG-13 / / 130 mins / Action, Drama, Thriller / E+

LANGUAGES: A Arabic / C Cantonese / D Danish / E English / ES Spanish / F French / G German / H Hindi / I Italian / IN Indonesian / J Japanese / K Korean / M Mandarin / ML Malay / T Tamil / TA Tagalog

SUBTITLES: A+ Arabic / C+ Chinese / E+ English / J+ Japanese / M+ Malay

19/08/2019 1:46 PM

Aft a P co th a o co

P fig

MOVIES

FAVOURITES

LATEST

READY PLAYER ONE PG-13 / / 140 mins / Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi / E, J, K, E+ RAMPAGE PG-13 / / 101 mins / Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi / E, J, K, C+

New POKEMON: DETECTIVE PIKACHU RYAN REYNOLDS, JUSTICE SMITH, KATHYRN NEWTON PG / 104 mins / Comedy, Adventure / E, J, K, E+

SHAZAM! ZACHARY LEVI, MARK STRONG, ASHER ANGEL, JACK DYLAN GRAZER, DJIMON HOUNSOU PG-13 / / 132 mins / Action, Adventure / E, J, K, E+

DUMBO COLIN FARRELL, MICHAEL KEATON, DANNY DEVITO, NICO PARKER, FINLEY HOBBINS, EVA GREEN, ALAN ARKIN, ROSHAN SETH PG / 112 mins / Fantasy, Adventure / E, E+

THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING LOUIS ASHBOURNE SERKIS, DENISE GOUGH, DEAN CHAUMOO PG / 120 mins / Action, Adventure, Family / E, E+

CREED II MICHAEL B. JORDAN, SYLVESTER STALLONE, TESSA THOMPSON PG-13 / / 130 mins / Drama, Sports / E, J, K, E+

PANDAS KRISTEN BELL, WEN LEI BI G / 43 mins / Documentary / E

goingplacesmagazine.com | 82 | September 2019

New THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR YARA SHAHIDI, CHARLES MELTON, JOHN LEGUIZAMO PG-13 / / 100 mins / Romantic, Drama / E

BREAKTHROUGH TOPHER GRACE, JOSH LUCAS, CHRISSY METZ PG / 116 mins / Drama, Biography / E, E+

ISN'T IT ROMANTIC REBEL WILSON, LIAM HEMSWORTH, ADAM DEVINE, PRIYANKA CHOPRA PG-13 / / 88 mins / Romantic, Comedy / E, J, K, E+

THE HATE YOU GIVE AMANDLA STENBERG, REGINA HALL, RUSSELL HORNSBY PG-13 / / 133 mins / Drama, Thriller / E, E+

TOMB RAIDER PG-13 / / 98 mins / Action, Adventure, Drama / E, J, , E+ RED SPARROW R / / 140 mins / Mystery, Thriller / E, J, E+ ISLE OF DOGS PG-13 / / 101 mins / Animation, Adventure, Comedy / E, J, K, E+ THE 15:17 TO PARIS PG-13 / / 93 mins / Drama, History, Thriller / E, J, K, E+ GAME NIGHT R / / 93 mins / Comedy, Crime, Mystery / E, K, E+ For the complete list of Favourites, please refer to your in-flight entertainment system.

AWARD-WINNING MOVIES

New X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX JAMES MCAVOY, MICHAEL FASSBENDER, JENNIFER LAWRENCE PG-13 / / 114 mins / Sci-fi, Action / E, E+

TOLKIEN NICHOLAS HOULT, LILY COLLINS, COLM MEANEY PG-13 / / 111 mins / Drama / E, E+

NANCY DREW AND THE HIDDEN STAIRCASE SOPHIA LILLIS, SAM TRAMMELL, LINDA LAVIN PG / 89 mins / Drama, Mystery / E

New ALADDIN WILL SMITH, MENA MASSOUD, NAOMI SCOTT, MARWAN KENZARI PG / 128 mins / Family / E, E+

THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA LINDA CARDELLINI, RAYMOND CRUZ, ROMAN CHRISTOU, PATRICIA VELASQUEZ, MARISOL RAMIREZ, JAYNEE-LYNNE KINCHEN R / / 93 mins / Horror / E, J, K, E+

THE AFTERMATH KEIRA KNIGHTLEY, ALEXANDER SKARSGÃ…RD, JASON CLARKE R / / 108 mins / Drama, Romance / E

ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL (2019) ROSA SALAZAR, CHRISTOPH WALTZ, KEEAN JOHNSON, JENNIFER CONNELLY. MAHERSHALA ALI, ED SKREIN, IDARA VICTOR PG-13 / / 122 mins / Action, Adventure, Romance / E

AVENGERS: ENDGAME ROBERT DOWNEY JR., CHRIS EVANS, MARK RUFFALO, CHRIS HEMSWORTH PG / 143 mins / Fantasy, Sci-fi / E, E+

_Sep 2019_GPE 02.indd 82

THE LEGO 2: THE SECOND PART CHRIS PRATT, ELIZABETH BANKS, TIFFANY HADDISH, WILL ARNETT, STEPHANIE BEATRIZ, CHARLIE DAY, NICK OFFERMAN PG / 107 mins / Family / E, J, K

HEAD FULL OF HONEY NICK NOLTE, MATT DILLON, EMILY MORTIMER PG-13 / / PG-13 / 128 mins / Drama / E, E+

AQUAMAN JASON MOMOA, AMBER HEARD PG-13 / / 143 mins / Action, Adventure, Fantasy / E, J, K, E+

THE MULE BRADLEY COOPER, CLINT EASTWOOD, MANNY MONTANA R / / 116 mins / Crime, Drama, Thriller / E, J, K, E+

DUNKIRK FIONN WHITEHEAD, BARRY KEOGHAN, MARK RYLANCE PG-13 / / 106 mins / Action, Drama, History / E, J, K, E+

FROZEN KRISTEN BELL, IDINA MENZEL, JONATHAN GROFF PG / / 102 mins / Animation, Adventure, Comedy / E, C+

THE REVENANT LEONARDO DICAPRIO, TOM HARDY R / / 156 mins / Thriller, Adventure, Drama / E, J, K, C+

BLADE RUNNER 2049 NOAH SCHNAPP, BILL MELENDEZ, HADLEY BELLE MILLER R / / 124 mins / Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi / E, J, K

THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965) JULIE ANDREWS, CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER, ELEANOR PARKER G / / 174 mins / Biography, Drama, Family / E

SPEED KEANU REEVES, SANDRA BULLOCK R / / 116 mins / Action, Adventure, Crime / E, E+

THE LION KING MATTHEW BRODERICK, JEREMY IRONS, JAMES EARL JONES G / / 78 mins / Animation, Adventure, Drama / E, C+

HE NAMED ME MALALA MALALA YOUSAFZAI, ZIAUDDIN YOUSAFZAI, TOOR PEKAI YOUSAFZAI PG-13 / / 87 mins / Documentary / E, E+

For the complete list of award-winning movies, please refer to your in-flight entertainment system.

19/08/2019 1:46 PM

MOVIES

HINDI

TAMIL

九月の恋と出会うまで

गोल ड ् / GOLD AKSHAY KUMAR, MOUNI ROY, KUNAL KAPOOR PG-13 / / 143 mins / Drama, History, Sport / E+

/ CHEKKA CHIVANTHA VAANAM ARVIND SWAMY, T.R. SILAMBARASAN, ARUN VIJAY PG-13 / / 137 mins / Action, Crime, Drama / E+

ब ा ज ़ा र / BAAZAAR RADHIKA APTE, SAIF ALI KHAN, CHITRANGDA SINGH PG-13 / / 137 mins / Crime, Drama, Thriller / E+

100 ATHARVAA MURALI, RADHA RAVI, YOGI BABU PG-13 / / 120 mins / Action, Crime, Drama / E+

CHINESE

SERGEANT HASSAN P. RAMLEE, SAADIAH, JINS SHAMSUDDIN PG-13 / / 112 mins / Action, Drama, Romance / E+

光 / GUANG EMILY CHAN, KYO CHEN, ERNEST CHONG PG-13 / / 88 mins / Drama, Family / M, E+

GOSTAN HADI PUTERA, ZALIF SIDEK PG-13 / / 120 mins / Comedy / E+

大象席地而坐 / AN ELEPHANT SITTING STILL ZHANG YU, PENG YU CHANG, WANG YUWEN, LI CONGXI, DONG XIANGRONG PG-13 / / 230 mins / Drama / M, E+

雪の華 / SNOW FLOWER

朝花夕拾•芳華絕代

翔んで埼玉 / FLY ME TO

BUKIT KEPONG SUHAINA YAHYA, HUSSEIN ABU HASSAN PG-13 / / 110 mins / Drama, History / E+

KL SPECIAL FORCE FATTAH AMIN, ROSYAM NOR PG-13 / / 106 mins / Action / E+

ONE TWO JAGA ZAHIRIL ADZIM, ARIO BAYU PG-13 / / 85 mins / Crime, Drama / E+

/ UNTIL I MEET SEPTEMBER'S LOVE MICKEY CURTIS, YÛTARÔ FURUTACHI, KENTA HAMANO PG-13 / / 105 mins / Drama, Romance / E+

HIROOMI TOSAKA, AYAMI NAKAJÔ, KENTA HAMANO, SAKI TAKAOKA PG-13 / / 112 mins / Drama, Romance / E+

玉建煌崇大件事 / MAKE

IT BIG BIG MARK LEE, DENNIS CHEW, MARCUS CHIN, CHEN BIYU, KAYLY LOH, ZEMILY LEAW PG-13 / / 133 mins / Drama / C, E+

WORLD MAYU HARADA, HIROKI HASEGAWA, KEISUKE HORIBE, GORO INAGAKI PG-13 / / 120 mins / Drama / E+

マスカレード・ホテル /

MASQUERADE HOTEL TAKUYA KIMURA, MASAMI NAGASAWA PG-13 / / 132 mins / Drama, Mystery / E+

ねことじいちゃん

淪落人 / STILL HUMAN

ANTHONY WONG, CRISEL CONSUNJI, SAM LEE, CECILIA YIP PG-13 / / 111 mins / Drama / C, E+

INDONESIAN

/ THE ISLAND OF CATS GUIN POON CHAW, TASUKU EMOTO, SHÔNO HAYAMA, YUKI KATAYAMA, KAORU KOBAYASHI PG-13 / / 103 mins / Drama / E+

TAGALOG

항거:유관순 이야기 / A RESISTANCE KO ASUNG, KIM SAE-BYUK PG-13 / / 105 mins / Drama / E+

वह ् ा ई च ी ट इ ं ड ि य ा / WHY

CHEAT INDIA EMRAAN HASHMI, SHREYA DHANWANTHARY PG-13 / / 121 mins / Crime, Drama / E+

अ ं ध ा ध ुन / ANDHADHUN

AYUSHMANN KHURRANA, TABU, RADHIKA APTE PG-13 / / 139 mins / Comedy, Thriller / E+ ल ैल ा म ज न ू / LAILA MAJNU AVINASH TIWARY, TRIPTI DIMRI, SUMIT KAUL PG-13 / / 140 mins / Drama, Romance / E+

स ुई धागा: म े ड इन इ ंड ि या

/ SUI DHAAGA: MADE IN INDIA SANYA MALHOTRA, RADHIKA MADAN, SUNIL GROVER PG-13 / / 122 mins / Comedy, Drama, Action / E+ स त ्य म े व ज य त े / SATYAMEVA JAYATE JOHN ABRAHAM, MANOJ BAJPAYEE, AISHA SHARMA PG-13 / / 140 mins / Action, Crime, Thriller / E+

도어락 / DOOR LOCK HYO-JIN KONG, YE-WON KIM PG-13 / / 102 mins / Horror, Thriller / E+

_Sep 2019_GPE 03.indd 83

GOODBYE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN DOMHNALL GLEESON, MARGOT ROBBIE PG / 106 mins / Biography, Family, History / E, J, K, E+

/ KOLAMAVU KOKILA NAYANTHARA, SARANYA PONVANNAN, SARAVANAN, YOGI BABU PG-13/ / 140 mins / Comedy, Crime, Drama / E+

THE SAITAMA KUMIKO ASÔ, GACKT, YÛSUKE ISEYA PG-13 / / 107 mins / Drama, Comedy / E+

半世界 / ANOTHER

影 / SHADOW CHAO DENG, LI SUN, RYAN ZHENG, KAI ZHENG, QIANYUAN, WANG PG-13 / / 116 mins / Drama, Martial Art / M, E+

증인 / INNOCENT WITNESS JINYOUNG JUNG, KWANG-GYU KIM, JOON-HYUK LEE PG-13 / / 129 mins / Drama, Thriller, Crime / E+

THE LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE JACKIE CHAN, DAVE FRANCO, FRED ARMISEN PG / 101 mins / Animation, Action, Adventure / E, J, K, C+

க�ோலமாவு க�ோக ிலா

/ DEAREST ANITA MYOLIE WU, SONIJA KWOK, YUKI FONG, ELVINA KONG, RICHARD NG, ALICE LAU, PARIS WONG PG-13 / / 86 mins / Biography, Drama / C, E+

KOREAN

걸캅스 / MISS & MRS COPS RA MI-RAN, LEE SUNG-KYOUNG PG-13 / / 107 mins / Comedy, Crime / E+

KIDS

TERLALU TAMPAN ARI IRHAM, NIKITA WILLY, RACHEL AMANDA, CALVIN JEREMY, DHIMAS DANANG PG-13 / / 106 mins / Comedy / E+

THE GIRL WHO IS ALLERGIC TO WIFI SUE RAMIREZ, JAMESON BLAKE, MARKUS PATERSON PG-13 / / 110 mins / Comedy, Romance / E+

व ी र े द ी व े ड ि ं ग / VEERE

DI WEDDING KAREENA KAPOOR, SONAM KAPOOR, SUMEET VYAS PG-13 / / 135 mins / Comedy / E+

96 VIJAY SETHUPATHI, TRISHA KRISHNAN, VARSHA BOLLAMMA PG-13 / / 158 mins / Drama, Romance / E+

பரியேறும் பெருமாள் / PARIYERUM PERUMAL KATHIR, ANANDHI, LIJEESH, YOGI BABU, VANNARPETTAI THANGARAJ, G. MARIMUTHU PG-13 / / 154 mins / Drama, Romance / E+

MOANA AULI'I CRAVALHO, DWAYNE JOHNSON, RACHEL HOUSE PG / 107 mins / Animation, Adventure, Comedy / E, E+

goingplacesmagazine.com | 83 | September 2019

JAPANESE

MALAYSIAN

MALAYALAM വരുത്താൻ / VARATHAN FAHADH FAASIL, AISHWARYA LEKSHMI, SHARAFUDHEEN, DILEESH POTHAN, ARJUN ASHOKAN PG-13 / / 130 mins / Action, Drama, Thriller / E+ தீவனடிതീവണ്ടി / THEEVANDI TOVINO THOMAS, SUDHEESH, SAMYUKTHA MENON, SURABHI LAKSHMI PG-13 / / 143 mins / Comedy, Drama / E+

TELUGU

రంగస్థ లం / RANGASTHALAM RAM CHARAN, SAMANTHA RUTH PRABHU, AADHI, AGAPATI BABU PG-13 / / 170 mins / Action, Drama / E+

BIG HERO 6 RYAN POTTER, SCOTT ADSIT, JAMIE CHUNG PG / 102 mins / Animation, Adventure, Comedy / E, E+

TOY STORY (1, 2 & 3 BOXSET) TOM HANKS, TIM ALLEN G / 81, 92 & 103 mins / Animation, Adventure, Comedy / E, E+

THE LEGEND OF TARZAN ALEXANDER SKARSGÅRD, RORY J. SAPER PG-13 / / 110 mins / Action, Adventure, Drama / E, J, K, E+ For the complete list of movies for kids, please refer to your in-flight entertainment system.

22/08/2019 12:51 PM

TV PROGRAMMES

COMEDY

DRAMA

THE LAST SHIP S5 ERIC DANE, ADAM BALDWIN, CHARLES PARNELL 5 Episodes / 60 mins each / E

FRESH OFF THE BOAT S5 RANDALL PARK, CONSTANCE WU, HUDSON YANG 7 Episodes / / 30 mins each / E

THE BRAVE S1

FULLER HOUSE S3

ANNE HECHE, MIKE VOGEL, TATE ELLINGTON 4 Episodes / 60 mins each / E

CANDACE CAMERON BURE, JODIE SWEETIN, ANDREA BARBER, MICHAEL CAMPION, ELIAS HARGER 18 Episodes / / 30 mins each / E

goingplacesmagazine.com | 84 | September 2019

The Tanner family’s adventures continue as DJ Tanner shares a home with her sister Stephanie and friend Kimmy who help raise her three boys. Season 3 kicks off with Steve and CJ announcing plans for a destination wedding, while DJ sends Jackson to summer school.

YOUNG SHELDON S2 IAIN ARMITAGE, ZOE PERRY, LANCE BARBER 6 Episodes / 30 mins each / E

This series looks at the complex world of military men and women who make personal sacrifices executing the most challenging and dangerous missions behind enemy lines. In the season opener, Captain Adam Dalton and his Special Ops crew take action to rescue an American doctor who has been kidnapped by a terrorist group.

CASTLE ROCK S1 ANDRÉ HOLLAND, MELANIE LYNSKEY, BILL SKARSGÅRD, JANE LEVY, SISSY SPACEK 7 Episodes / 60 mins each / E

THE CROWNED CLOWN S1 JIN-GU YEO, SE-YEONG LEE, SANG-KYUNG KIM 2 Episodes / 60 mins each / K

SPLITTING UP TOGETHER S2 JENNA FISCHER, OLIVER HUDSON, OLIVIA KEVILLE 11 Episodes / 30 mins each / E

LIFE IN PIECES S3/S4 COLIN HANKS, BETSY BRANDT, THOMAS SADOSKI 2 Episodes / 10 Episodes / / 30 mins each / E

IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA S13 CHARLIE DAY, GLENN HOWERTON, ROB MCELHENNEY 7 Episodes / / 30 mins each / E

ARROW S6/S7 STEPHEN AMELL, KATIE CASSIDY, DAVID RAMSEY 6 Episodes / 8 Episodes / / 60 mins each / E

THE RESIDENT S1 MATT CZUCHRY, EMILY VANCAMP, MANISH DAYAL 8 Episodes / / 60 mins each / E

VAMPIRE DIARIES S8 PAUL WESLEY, KAT GRAHAM, CANDICE KING, ZACH ROERIG, IAN SOMERHALDER, MATT DAVIS, MICHAEL MALARKEY 7 Episodes / 60 mins each / E

SUPERNATURAL S12 JARED PADALECKI, JENSEN ACKLES, MARK A. SHEPPARD, MARK PELLEGRINO, MISHA COLLINS 5 Episodes / 60 mins each / E

LETHAL WEAPON S3 DAMON WAYANS, SEANN WILLIAM SCOTT, KEESHA SHARP 6 Episodes / 60 mins each / E

MOM S6 ANNA FARIS, ALLISON JANNEY, MIMI KENNEDY 10 Episodes / / 30 mins each / E

THE BIG BANG THEORY S12 JOHNNY GALECKI, JIM PARSONS, KALEY CUOCO 6 Episodes / / 30 mins each / E

MURPHY BROWN S11 CANDICE BERGEN, GRANT SHAUD, ROBERT PASTORELLI 6 Episodes / 30 mins each / E

_Sep 2019_GPE 02.indd 84

SPEECHLESS S3 MINNIE DRIVER, JOHN ROSS BOWIE, CEDRIC YARBROUGH, MASON COOK 7 Episodes / / 30 mins each / E

SUPERGIRL S4 MELISSA BENOIST, MEHCAD BROOKS, CHYLER LEIGH 7 Episodes / 60 mins each / E

BLINDSPOT S3 SULLIVAN STAPLETON, JAIMIE ALEXANDER, ROB BROWN, AUDREY ESPARZA 4 Episodes / / 60 mins each / E

DC’S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW S4 BRANDON ROUTH, CAITY LOTZ, MAISIE RICHARDSONSELLERS, TALA ASHE 6 Episodes / / 60 mins each / E

COOPER BARRETT'S GUIDE TO SURVIVING LIFE S1 JACK CUTMORE-SCOTT, MEAGHAN RATH, JAMES EARL 4 Episodes / / 30 mins each / E

9-1-1 S1 ANGELA BASSETT, PETER KRAUSE, OLIVER STARK 3 Episodes / / 60 mins each / E

THE FLASH S4 GRANT GUSTIN, CANDICE PATTON, CARLOS VALDES 5 Episodes / 60 mins each / E

LAST MAN STANDNG S7 TIM ALLEN, NANCY TRAVIS, HECTOR ELIZONDO 3 Episodes / / 30 mins each / E

THE A WORD (UK) S2 MAX VENTO, LEE INGLEBY, MORVEN CHRISTIE 4 Episodes / 60 mins each / E

ENCOUNTER S1 BO-GUM PARK, HYE-KYO SONG, JI-WON BAEK 6 Episodes / 60 mins each / K, E

AMERICAN WOMAN S1 ALICIA SILVERSTONE, MENA SUVARI, JENNIFER BARTELS 6 Episodes / 30 mins each / E

BETTER THINGS S2/S3 PAMELA ADLON, MIKEY MADISON, HANNAH ALLIGOOD 6 Episodes / 8 Episodes / / 30 mins each / E

GOTHAM S5 BEN MCKENZIE, DONAL LOGUE, DAVID MAZOUZ, MORENA BACCARIN 8 Episodes / / 60 mins each / E

QUEEN SUGAR S3 RUTINA WESLEY, DAWN-LYEN GARDNER, KOFI SIRIBOE, TINA LIFFORD, OMAR DORSEY 6 Episodes / 60 mins each / E

BLACK LIGHTNING S2 CRESS WILLIAMS, CHINA ANNE MCCLAIN, NAFESSA WILLIAMS 5 Episodes / 60 mins each / E

LEGACIES S1 DANIELLE ROSE RUSSELL, ARIA SHAHGHASEMI, KAYLEE BRYANT 6 Episodes / 60 mins each / E

ALL AMERICAN S1 DANIEL EZRA, BRE-Z, GRETA ONIEOGOU, SAMANTHA LOGAN 5 Episodes / 60 mins each / E

19/08/2019 1:46 PM

TV PROGRAMMES

WACKY RACES S2 3 Episodes / PG / 30 mins each / E

BEST OF MALAYSIA

MARVEL'S SPIDER-MAN 2 Episodes / PG / 30 mins each / E

RASA PROJEK GERENTI JADI PG / 30 mins

CHAT TIME WITH…TUN DR. MAHATHIR G / 60 mins

CHINESE

HINDI

JASON'S MARKET TRAILS PG / 30 mins / E+

BOLLYWOOD TIMES WITH DEVANSH PATEL PG / 60 mins / E+

JASON CAN'T COOK PG / 30 mins / E+

JAPANESE

DC SUPER HERO GIRLS YR 1 3 Episodes / PG / 30 mins each / E

BIG HERO 6 2 Episodes / PG / 30 mins each / E

MISS LAWAK PG / 30 mins

BIG CITY GREENS 2 Episodes / PG / 30 mins each / E

THE HOUSE S5 PG / 30 mins

MUPPET BABIES 2 Episodes / PG / 30 mins each / E

MALAYSIA: MALAYSIA DAY PG / 60 mins

FANCY NANCY 2 Episodes / PG / 30 mins each / E MARVEL'S GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 4 Episodes / PG / 30 mins each / E

SPORT

JALAN JALAN MAKAN ANGIN PG / 30 mins

THE KAPIL SHARMA SHOW S2 PG / 60 mins / E+

BHARTI KA SHOW: SUDESH LEHRI PG / 60 mins / E+

TAMIL

TUNKU’S HOMELAND PG / 60 mins

IT’S ALIF! PG / 60 mins

HISTORY

FISHERMAN’S PRIDE IN HOKKAIDO PG / 30 mins / E+ A DOOR TO HOKKAIDO STILL UNSEEN PG / 30 mins / E+

TEEN TITANS GO! 4 Episodes / PG / 30 mins each / E

KALAKKA POVADHU YAARU: STANDING OVATION FOR AZHAR-TSK PG / 60 mins / E+

KOREAN SHOWBIZ

TRAVEL

NAMMA OORU CONNEXION: NAMMA OORU COIMBATORE PG / 30 mins / E+

THE STORY OF RUGBY PG / 60 mins / E

THE FA CLASSIC COLLECTION PG / 30 mins / E LASTING LEGACY: FABER CASTELL PG / 30 mins / E

CNBC TRANSCRIPT: REN ZHENGFEI, FOUNDER & CEO, HUAWEI PG / 30 mins / E

SOUNDSTAGE ELTON JOHN: MUSIC MAN PG / 60 mins / E

ARABIC THE DAYS OF HAJJ PG / 60 mins

GLOBE TREKKER: JAPAN – TOKYO TO TAIWAN PG / 30 mins / E

BUSINESS

ENEKKE VAA 2018 S2: PRANK SHOW PG / 30 mins / E+

GREAT HISTORIC SITES: THE MODERN WORLD PG / 60 mins / E

ARCHEOLOGEEKS IN BAGAN PG / 60 mins / E

RELIGIOUS

MY TIME FOR HONG KONG PG / 60 mins / E

goingplacesmagazine.com | 85 | September 2019

KIDS

INKIGAYO: BLACKPINK PG / 70 mins / E+

LIFESTYLE

LAW OF THE JUNGLE G / 80 mins / E+

NATURAL WORLD

SCIENCE & TECH

CRAFT BEER IN JAPAN PG / 30 mins / E

REVOLUTIONS: THE IDEAS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD: THE TELESCOPE PG / 60 mins / E

THE BRAVE ONES: JACK MA PG / 30 mins / E

EINSTEIN & HAWKING: MASTERS OF OUR UNIVERSE PG / 60 mins / E

CNBC CONVERSATION: SIR MARTIN SORRELL, CAPITAL S4 PG / 30 mins / E

LIVING SMALL PG / 60 mins / E

HALAQAH PG / 60 mins / E

DOOR TO DOOR EBIT LIEW S2 PG / 30 mins / E,

DEADLY DINOSAURS: DEADLY DEFENDERS PG / 30 mins / E

GREATEST CELEBRITY WIND-UPS EVER PG / 30 mins / E

For the complete list of TV programmes, please refer to your in-flight entertainment system.

_Sep 2019_GPE 02.indd 85

19/08/2019 1:46 PM

AUDIO ON-DEMAND + RADIO CHANNELS

THE HITS

MANDARIN

RELAX

RHYTHM & BLUES (Not available in A350)

Radio Channels

RS

CHART TOPPERS

n tle s, j,

including... Foster The People, Chris Brown feat.

Justin Bieber & Ink, Grace Vander Waal, Hayden James, Julia Duclos, Lost Kings feat. Anna Clendening, Flume x London Grammar, Pentatonix, Mark Ronson feat. Camila Cabello

The ami r s, a, ng, ris, ra s

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Ai un, ki , n, on

S

i, m,

gh, eya mit ka / y, eta

m, hra, y,

goingplacesmagazine.com | 86 | September 2019

Jaz, ir, cy, ani wi ia, ra fiz e ne e, a

including... Calboy (above), Miley Cyrus, Future, Zhavia Ward, The Chainsmokers, Bruce Springsteen, Goldlink, Mark Ronson, Izzy Bizu, Dennis Lloyd, Vampire Weekend, PRETTYMUCH

including... CoCo Lee (above), Hacken Lee, A-Lin, Vanness Wu, Jolin Tsai, Eric Chou, Maggie Chiang, A-Do, Valen Hsu, Karen Mok, Rainie Yang, Jeff Chang, Xue Zhi Qian

including... Hauschka (above), Sleepy John, Jean-Michel Jarre, Emerson Phillips, Jens Buchert, Michelle Qureshi, Fiona Joy, Sherry Finzer, Yiruma, Yanni

JAZZ

KOREAN

MEMORIES

including... The Shanghai Sisters (above), Dato Mokhzani, Branford Marsalis Quartet, Julian Lage, Cyrille Aimee, Cecile McLorin Salvant, Thomas Quasthoff, Van Morrison & Joey DeFrancesco

including... Ateez (above), BOYCOLD, A.C.E, EXID, SEONGRI, Jung Dongha & Oh Jun Sung

including... The Clash (above), Toni Braxton, Westlife, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Earth, Wind & Fire, Oasis, Cyndi Lauper, Celine Dion, Scott McKenzie

CLASSICAL

including... Sir Richard Branson, The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra & Benhamin Northey, Khatia Buniatishvili, Christian Thielemann & Wiener Philharmoniker, Leonard Bernstein, Stuart Skelton

KIDS including... Fairy Tales for Kids, Kids & Fairy Tales, Captain Allen Swift, The Wiggles, ABC Kids, Little Feet Music, My Little Pony, Bananas In Pyjamas

NASYID

including... Mesut Kurtis, Raef, Mohamed Tarek, Hafiz Hamidun, Opick, Maher Zain, Ustaz Abdullah Fahmi, Inteam, Haddad Alwi, Lah Ahmad, Nowseeheart

Macy Gray, Leon Bridges, Charlie Wilson, Alicia Keys, Stan Walker

CLUB

(Not available in A350)

including... Alle Farben (above), Gareth Emery & Ashley Wallbridge, Flume, Crooked Colours, Gesaffelstein, Big Wild, Martin Garrix, Paces, Danny Byrd, Friction

JAPANESE including... Aimer, Luna Haruna, BLUE ENCOUNT, Sawano Hiroyuki [nZk], SEKAI NO OWARI, OH MY GIRL, GOT7, Misia, Mika Nakashima, Nogizaka46

MALAY including... Faizal Tahir, Alif, SonaOne, Dayang Nurfaizah, Ziana Zain, Misha Omar, Exists, Yuna dan Orkestra Simfoni Kebangsaan, Datuk Ahmad Jais

COUNTRY

INDONESIAN

including... The Overtunes, Ardhito Pramono, Ari Lasso, Bunga Citra Lestari, Judika, Sheila On 7

HINDI including... Bharat, De De Pyaar De, Luka Chuppi, Simmba, Zero, Namaste England, Mitron, Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, Yours Truly Arijit, T-Series Mixtape

TAMIL including... Kuttram Seiyel, Playlist and Chill, The Ultimate Feel Good Mixtape, All About Love: Yuvanshankar Raja

PLAYLIST

including... Willie Nelson, Maren Morris, Kane Brown, Loretta Lynn, Connie Smith, Jason Aldean, Scotty McCreery, Kelsea Ballerini

COMEDY

(Only available in A350)

(Not available in A350)

including... For The Throne (Music Inspired by HBO's Game of Thrones), 2010s Hits, Rock Classico, Throwback Thursday R&B Jams, No.1 The Champions, 1990s XL, 10 Years of Mom+Pop

including... Flight of the Conchords, Jerry Stiller & Anne Meara, Joan Rivers, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Bocey

ROCK

(Only available in A350)

including... Bruce Springsteen, The Clash, Vampire Weekend, Yeasayer, Cage The Elephant, Nick Waterhouse, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Sundara Karma, White Lies, Evanescence

TALK RADIO

(Only available in A350)

including... Bocey, Flight of the Conchords, Jerry Stiller & Anne Meara, Joan Rivers

LIGHT & EASY (Not available in A350)

including... Susan Boyle, Cate Le Bon, Yann Tiersen, Dami Im, Barbra Streisand, The Piano Guys, EB Duet, Human Nature, Michael Bolton

including... Alif, SonaOne, As’ad Motawh, Pusakata, Insomniacks, Fariz Jabba, Jaz, Afgan, Isyana Sarasvati, Rendy Pandugo, Aiman TIno, Hani and Zue, Aubrey Suwito & Friends with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Amy Mastura

POP ASIA including... the peggies, G.E.M., Kim Juna, Aimer, Angela Hui, ATEEZ, A-Lin, Kana-Boon, CIKI, Tsang Lok Tung, Survive Said The Prophet, Man With A Mission, Penguin Research, Lil' Ashes

HINDI RHYTHMS Including... Shaan/Shraddha Sharma, Qaran Feat. Jonita Gandhi, Abhay Jodhpurkar, Jatin Pandit/Vibhor Parashar, Brijesh Shandilya/ Shilpa Surroch, Tony Kakkar, Neha Kakkar, Young Desi

GOLDEN ERA including... Whitney Houston, The Pointer Sisters, Michael Bolton, Toto, Mariah Carey, Scorpions, Bonnie Tyler, Wild Cherry, KC & The Sunshine Band, The Hues Corporation, Air Supply

ROCK ARENA SOUNDTRACK (Not available in A350)

including... Tolkien (OMPS), The World of Hans Zimmer - A Symphonic Celebration (Live), Creed II (OMPS), James Horner - The Classics, The Rick & Morty Soundtrack, Moonlight Cinema, Blade Runner 2049 (OMPS)

Audio On-Demand segments depend on your aircraft type. Please refer to your in-flight entertainment system to see which segments are available to you.

_Sep 2019_GPE 02.indd 86

MALAY FAVOURITES

(Not available in A350)

CANTONESE

including... Leo Ku, Pakho Chau, Jason Chan, Phil Lam, Candy Lo, Hacken Lee, Sandy Lam, Leon Lai, Cass Phang

WORLD including... BEN&BEN, Swarasia, Il Volo, Ricky Martin, Santana, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra

including... Jordan Rakei (above), Joanne Shaw Taylor,

including... Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, David Bowie, Horror My Friend, Silversun Pickups, Incubus, Kyle Craft, Dylan LeBlanc, Pearl Jam, Julia Shapiro, Bruce Springsteen, Blue Oyster Cult, The Raconteurs Passengers with AVOD can enjoy a host of radio shows across a range of genres. Channel numbers depend on the aircraft. Check your aircraft type and then on your in-flight entertainment system to find out.

19/08/2019 1:46 PM

ARTIST OF THE MONTH Faizal Tahir's album ROJAK is playing onboard. Check the audio section in your in-flight entertainment system for channel information.

What made you participate in One In A Million?

Were you always aiming for a career in music?

I really didn’t have much of a choice because a good friend of mine literally dragged me to the auditions. To be honest, it was one of the hardest but also one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I was timid by nature, so it wasn’t something I was comfortable with, but my passion for music was strong, and I saw this as an opportunity to share good music with other people.

As a singer-songwriter, what are some things that you look to for inspiration in your music?

If you ask me what inspires me, it’s enjoying life.

It’s the people you meet, the places you go to, the hardships you encounter, the sweet taste of success, the frustration and pain of relationships, the joy of giving back. There’s always something to learn from on a daily basis. Travelling is actually one thing that inspires me. The more you absorb, the more you’re inspired.

You helped to cultivate a number of young, talented artists under your own record label, Faithful Music. Could you tell us how that started?

I had the opportunity to do this with what God has provided me with. So why waste it?

When you have something good, you share it. I think that’s an important part of life, and it’s a two-way process. I learn more from them than they think they learn from me. It’s also how I get to understand the younger generation. That being said, I owe a great amount of credit to the amazing people around me, who have been through thick and thin with me, just to make sure I can achieve all that I’ve achieved now.

What do you look for in a potential young artist and what advice do you give them?

Purpose and value. Whatever they’re offering has to add value to what is already out there.

It can’t just be singing, it has to be more, and it needs to make sense. You want to create an impact. These days, it’s more about signing people who have more influence, like an influencer. In my opinion, you have to be convinced with yourself before you can convince other people.

What were some of the most memorable moments in your music career?

There are many, to be honest. Winning awards is always nice, but I think the ones where my music managed to leave a certain impact are by far the most memorable ones. I’ve met parents of special needs children who tell me that their child responds to my music as therapy. One event I will never forget is when I was on a humanitarian mission to a Syrian refugees’ school in Jordan. I sang the song Assalamu’alaikum, which is almost completely in the Malay language. There was one Syrian kid who cried listening to the song even though he only understood the word Assalamu’alaikum in the song. That really was a life-changing experience. That is only one of many wonderful and memorable moments I have experienced through music. Music has taken me to so many amazing places.

You started a charity movement, #iAMFAITHMEN, to transform lives through education, inspiration and providing opportunities. What was the reasoning behind it?

Life is not about ourselves. I believe that what I have in this life is not even mine to keep, which is a philosophy I always hold on to. It’s a feeling you can never truly experience unless you give back to others.

so that’s cool. To be honest, I really appreciate and value the spare time I get, so I’m always looking forward to going on trips with the family.

I love travelling, as I think it’s always enriching and inspiring. These are two things, among others, that I look for in life.

We will be celebrating Malaysia Day on 16 September. What does this day mean to you?

It means more than you can ever imagine.

Diverse yet united: that is Malaysia. There is no other place like Malaysia, and this is exactly what inspired me to come up with the title ROJAK for my latest album. We are all rojak, a rich mixture of cultures and tastes. We are unique in our own way.

I personally think there should be more emphasis given to celebrating this day. There is so much we can do as a multicultural and diverse nation to celebrate togetherness as a whole. We can be an exceptional example to all.

What is your earliest memory of flying with Malaysia Airlines?

I can’t really remember much, because I was very young when I first flew with Malaysia Airlines. It was still called MAS at the time. I do recall that it was a flight to Heathrow, London back in the early 1980s, as my father was doing his PhD in the U.K. ■

What is your secret to balancing time between work, leisure and family?

It’s pretty simple. I don’t give excuses. If you decide to take something on, you have to fully commit to it. If you start doing something and it takes away your time with your family and doesn’t add any value to your work and life, then it’s not worth taking on. It becomes excess baggage, and you don’t want that. You want the people who enrich you and push you in the right direction to stay close to you. Nothing else is worth more than that.

What hobbies do you enjoy in your spare time?

I love football. I just wish I had more time and the energy of a 25-year-old to play it. I do spend a decent amount of time on the PlayStation 4 playing FIFA, though. And I do it with my boys,

Malaysian singer-songwriter Faizal Tahir rose to stardom after coming in second in the reality television singing competition One In A Million in 2006. Having won several awards over the years, his career has shown no signs of slowing, with constant new music to the delight of his enormous fanbase.

Going Places catches up with him for insights into his life and career.

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19/08/2019 1:46 PM

FROM THE DIRECTOR’S CHAIR Guang is showing onboard. Check your in-flight entertainment system for channel information.

due to insufficient funding and time, but we have always been open to casting a professional actor to play the role. After several casting attempts, Ernest (Chong) came across as the most suitable actor who has not only impressed me on his first casting but also how his personality matches the character. Coupled with the fact that the two of them have worked together numerous times in television, the decision was made to prioritise performance above all else, including star power.

Filmmaker Quek Shio Chuan is the director of Guang, an awardwinning movie about a young man struggling with autism. He sits with Going Places to talk about his directorial debut for a feature-length film, the inspiration behind it, and what he hopes viewers will take away from his work.

Autism isn’t a subject that is regularly talked about, especially in Malaysia. What is a key message you hope for audiences to take away from the film?

An autistic person may be deemed as a person with impairments in social interactions, which in turn, requires more patience and care. Therefore, I hope viewers would be left with the reminder to not shun a person on first contact, just because someone acts a little differently from what is considered to be the norm.

goingplacesmagazine.com | 88 | September 2019

Guang has received critical acclaim, winning four awards at the 30th Malaysian Film Festival, as well as various nominations and awards in foreign film festivals. How do you feel about this?

I believe such accolades are only possible as a result of the teamwork put in by the entire cast and crew of Reservoir Production. I am forever thankful to them as well as my family members for always believing in Guang.

Tell us more about yourself. How did you get into filmmaking?

I wanted to be a disc jockey at first when I decided to take on a broadcasting course. But as soon as I got into my first video assignment and picked up the camera for the first time, I was immediately drawn into the magic of filmmaking and have not stopped since.

Could you share with us the inspiration behind Guang?

Guang is inspired by my elder brother who is autistic but at the same time, has the “perfect pitch” ability. I walked into his room one day and saw him playing on a set of keyboards that did not produce any musical sound at all but which he claimed he could hear the notes clearly.

Watching him play joyfully while not being able to enjoy his music was the spark of inspiration to the idea.

Guang is your debut feature-length film.

What were some of the most challenging aspects of putting it together, compared to the shorts and commercials you have worked on previously?

The most apparent challenge would be to engage the audience with a compelling story for the whole length as I am used to shorter content. As it was my first film, I spent a much longer time than projected to complete the edit as I was still familiarising myself with the editing aspect of a feature film. In fact, most of the four

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years it took to complete the film were spent in the editing suite.

What is the biggest lesson or value that you’ve taken away from your journey in filmmaking?

You can never make a film alone. Making a film is a complex and time-consuming task that can only be achieved with a group of like-minded people who are as determined and driven to realise a common idea. In many ways, a production team is like a family that teaches me much more than filmmaking but about life itself.

How much of it was based on real-life events?

I would say most of the events in the film are based on real-life incidents when we were children. Until today, he still has the hobby of collecting items to complete DIY projects to satisfy his curiosity and fulfil certain needs. He is currently insulating his room and modifying his air conditioner to 10 degrees, which he deems to be his desired temperature. I do not fully understand why.

What’s next for you?

Netflix - The Ghost Bride - a young adult fantasy romance series set in 1900s Melaka, where the adventurous main character Li Lan faces the dilemma of marrying a deceased person in exchange for wealth and the wellbeing of her family members. Projected to be released next year, the series takes the audiences on a journey through time, different realms and on a quest to solve a murder mystery.

Music plays an important role in the film.

What is your relationship with music?

My siblings and I were sent for piano lessons at a young age, and thus, all of us are musically educated. In fact, the theme song for the film was composed and sung by my younger sister, as were several of the soundtracks featured in the film. My brother played the chaconne in the film, most apparently in the glass breaking sequence.

Malaysia Day falls on 16 September.

What does this day mean to you?

To me, Malaysia Day serves as a reminder of the importance of unity, as that is the main catalyst of how we, as Malaysians, can move forward together. Celebrating the birthday of our beloved nation also allows us to look back at how far we have come and look forward to even greater possibilities.

Tell us more about the casting process.

You picked two relatively unknown actors as the leads rather than big-name artists.

Why did you do that?

Kyo (Chen) was the actor who played Guang in the short film we produced back in 2011 and it was only natural for us to stick to him as the main cast of the film, as he embodies the soul of the character. I played the younger brother back then

Do you recall your first-ever flight with Malaysia Airlines?

Yes! This dates all the way back to when I was 10 years old, when my family and I travelled to Taiwan, where my parents undertook their tertiary education, for a 10-day trip around the island. I remember how amazed I was during my first-ever lift-off, staring out the window to the vast landscape in awe.

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