Since the first article on this site was simply a brief one about the town, I should write a little bit more about it. I visit Taiping quite frequently, so let me try to put together some information which is hopefully helpful to interested travellers.

No visitor leaves without visiting the Lake Gardens. Being the primary attraction of Taiping, the Lake Gardens is a perfect place to take a walk and for photography.

Bukit tinggi (Berjaya Hills, what it’s now called) is a themed hill resort just less than an hour drive out of the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. It’s an easy and cheerful getaway for the city dwellers because it’s cool (more than 2500 feet above the sea level) and surrounded by lush tropical rain forest.

One very recent Saturday, I decided to give it a try taking a day trip to Bukit Tinggi. After entering the resort area, I first drove straight to the Japanese village and then to Colmar Tropicale. Oh! I forgot to mention that there’s a 16 ringgit entrance fee to the resort area (for admissions to Japanese Village, Colmar Tropicale and Rabbit Farm).

I have been to Brussels a few times before but never really did visit the city. Neither did I spend more than a couple of hours in the city previously, as it was always a place for transit. This trip, though meant to come here to catch the plane to London, we deliberately made it here a day earlier wanting to see the city a little bit more.

After securing a room with a budget hotel,

Interlaken means “in between lakes”; the town is located between Lake Brienz and Lake Thun. Interlaken is famous amongst tourists from all around. The town itself has simple appearance but to be compromised by the snow-capped mountains around it.

Travelling up to Jungfraujoch was my main purpose of coming to Interlaken. Arriving by train from Basel via Lucerne, my first impression on Interlaken - “this place is really touristy

Paris to Annecy in less than four hours, TGV is impressive. That made it possible to visit a friend of mine in Annecy for the weekend. After meeting up with my friend at the train station, we grabbed some croissants from a shop for breakfast and dicussed where to visit for the two days. The plan was: Day 1 - visit Chamonix and Day 2 - visit Annecy old town in the morning and a nearby village Le Grand Bernand in the afternoon.

Chamonix was the host for the first Winter Olympic Games in 1924. This French Alpine town is one of the most popular winter destinations in the country.

During the weekend trip to Annecy, I had a chance to visit this charming ski resort for a day trip. It is located very near to the point where the French, Swiss and Italian borders meet. Italy is just at the other side of Mont Blanc, linked by a tunnel.

Basel is Switzerland’s second largest city, situated on the bank of the River Rhine with its city boundary interestingly stretching to the French and German frontiers. We spent two nights there, making Basel as the base to visit Freiburg (40 minutes by train) in Germany and Montreux.

Having actually spent only half a day walking around the city, I must say we saw only a little of it. Indeed, to me, Basel is that sort of place that has more to offer to business visitors rather than tourists.

After seeing two enchanting historic villages, Caerleon and Solva, we continued our journey to yet another delightful one, St. David’s (Tŷddewi in Welsh). The city (Queen Elizabeth II conferred city status in 1995 because of the presence of the cathedral) was founded by St. David himself, the patron saint of Wales in the year 550. It is the smallest city in the United Kingdom

We rented a car for the weekend to drive along the southern coast of Wales visiting Caerleon, Solva and St David’s. The reason to stop by Caerleon was to check out the Roman Amphitheatre.

This quiet little toen beside the River Usk was the site of a Roman Legionary Fortress and also believed to be the location of the legendary King Arthur’s Camelot. We first arrived in the village at the Roman Bath Museum. Unfortunately, we were unable to visit the museum as it opened late on Sunday so did the tourist information office.

Using Basel as the base, we traveled to Montreux by catching one of the early morning trains. The train ride between the banks of the River Rhine and Lake Geneva in the Swiss Riviera offered magnificent view. What was just not complimenting the scenic ride was the rain, that was greeting us “Welcome to Switzerland” since we arrived 2 days ago.

Montreux is set along the shores of a large bay and lined with many of the Edwardian-style splendid residence