Place Names in Asia named after famous people

Korean flag.

What connection do you and I have with Asia? Many of my clothes are made in China. Today I have eaten sushi from Japan and soy sauce from China. My Samsung phone is named after a Korean as I search for facts for my blog. Advertisements in the UK and USA newspapers are for martial arts from Asia.

Singapore Placenames

 I lived in Singapore for many years and in Singapore many landmarks, streets and squares and hotels are named after Raffles. Raffles Hotel. Also several areas and railway stations and streets are named after British people from earlier eras.  Raffles was buried in a church in Hendon, London.

You can buy a book on the origin of Singapore street names.

When Visiting Malaysia, from adjoining Singapore, I was told about the origins of names.

In the Philippines I was told that the country was named after Philip.

Indian Placenames

In India I noticed the Sassoon Docks in Bombay, which was renamed Mumbai. The docks were named after Sassoon who funded them. The Docks were his idea. The Sassoons were a famous family, who founded the Hong Kong an Shanghai Bank, HSBC. I remember reading Sassoon's poems about WWI and visiting the house and zoo associated with Sassoon in southern England.

That was just a tiny corner of India. Associated with the UK and worldwide through the Sassoon name.

Today, September 8th 2026, I used Ask Gemini for some more memorable place names in Asia. I find it is easier to remember names of cities or train stations if you associate them with the people they are named after. 

Many major cities, regions, and geographic landmarks across Asia are named after historical figures, monarchs, military leaders, explorers, and national heroes:

Up popped useful results from the Philippines, Vietnam, Pakistan, India, Malaysia and UAE.

Major Cities & Capitals

• Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam): Formerly named Saigon, the country's largest city was renamed in 1976 in honor of Hồ Chí Minh, the revolutionary leader and prime minister/president of North Vietnam.

• Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia): Renamed in 1924, the name translates to "Red Hero," chosen in honor of Damdin Sükhbaatar, the founding leader of the Mongolian Revolution and national hero.

• Faisalabad (Pakistan): Formerly Lyallpur (named after Sir James Lyall), the city was renamed in 1979 in honor of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, who had close ties to Pakistan.

• Islamabad (Pakistan): While meaning "City of Islam," several districts within the capital are named after famous historical leaders, such as the Faisal Mosque.

• Davao City (Philippines) / General Santos City (Philippines): General Santos City was named after General Paulino Santos, a former Commanding General of the Philippine Army who spearheaded settlement in the region.

• George Town (Penang, Malaysia): Capital of the state of Penang, named after King George III of Great Britain.

• Port Blair (Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India): Named in honor of Captain Archibald Blair of the British East India Company, who established a colony there in 1789.

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Provinces, States & Regions

• Rizal Province (Philippines): Named directly after José Rizal, the national hero, writer, and polymath of the Philippines.

• Quezon / Quezon City (Philippines): Named after Manuel L. Quezon, the second President of the Philippines, who established the city to replace Manila as the capital.

• Jharkand / Telangana (India): While many Indian states take indigenous or linguistic names, Victoria Terminus / Victoria in Mumbai and various historic districts honor historic figures like Chhatrapati Shivaji (e.g., Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, formerly Aurangabad, named after Aurangzeb and later Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj).

• Cox's Bazar (Bangladesh): A famous coastal town and long beach named after Captain Hiram Cox, an officer of the British East India Company who served as a diplomatic superintendent.

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Geographic Features & Islands

• Mount Everest (Nepal/China border): Named after Sir George Everest, a Welsh surveyor and Surveyor General of India who oversaw the initial mapping of the Indian subcontinent.

• K2 / Mount Godwin-Austen (Pakistan/China border): Also known historically as Mount Godwin-Austen, named in honor of Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen, an early surveyor and explorer of the region.

• Sir Bani Yas (United Arab Emirates): An island named after Sheikh Yas, the founder and progenitor of the Bani Yas tribal confederation.

• Barents Sea / Bering Strait (North Asia/Russia): Sea and strait bordering northern and eastern Asia, named after explorers Willem Barentsz and Vitus Bering.

St Patrick's Day green dress

 

Photo by Angela Lansbury.

I decided to wear green and orange for online meetings all through the month of March to celebrate St Patrick's day.  

The Flag of Eire

St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. His day fell on a Sunday this year, which is a great day since you can celebrate all day at the weekend.  But in the USA they start serving green drinks at pubs near universities before St Patrick's Day. 

I posed questions about St Patrick's Day at Toastmasters clubs in the UK and online to Asia. Many people in India have not heard of it, so I had a chance to enlighten them.

Green Colour

Why green? Ireland is known as the emerald Isle. The countryside is green. The same as other parts of the UK, notably Scotland, the lake district of England, where the water falling from the Westerlies, westerly winds, creates lakes.

St Patrick

St Patrick supposedly travelled from the mainland UK to Ireland to convert the Irish to Christianity. Now in Eire the majority are Roman Catholic, with the pope in the Vatican as the head of their church.

Snakes In Ireland

So the, story goes, had miraculous powers. He exterminated all the snakes in Ireland. Whilst it is true that there are no snakes in Ireland, and have been none since his time, researchers found that there were no snakes in Ireland earlier either. As they say, why let the truth get in the way of a good story. 

The Blarney Stone

Perhaps we should credit the famed Blarney stone. Legend says if you kiss it, it gives you the gift of the gab.

New York

The Irish Heritage Museum in New York has an exhibit about Irish dance dresses, which frequently have green, at least as a border.

The places to see Irish costumes next year include, pubs in the UK, pubs in Singapore and Malaysia, Japan and Korea,, The USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, especially Montreal, Moscow, 

If you want to stock up for next year, or buy second hand, look at Shein, Amazon, Temu and other places for green hats, ties, bow ties. You can also buy spectacle frames, scarves, stocks, bunting, and sleeves which look like tattoos.

Favourite motifs include shamrocks and leprechauns.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Day

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Travel safety and avoiding confrontation with animals and the armed police

I remember the first time I went to the USA from the UK and saw police with guns. I did not know whether they were real guns or fancy dress. The guns were real! I was very wary of police, very polite, very careful not to do anything which might attract their attention.

 I just read in July 2023 a sad story about an event in France where a young man drove away from a police stop and was shot dead. As the British royals famously said, accounts vary.

Naturally, if somebody points a gun at you, or threatens you, your instinct is to run away. Is this the safest action? If the person with a gun is a policeman?

Only if you can be sure of getting away.

I used to be puzzled when reading of similar incidents again and again. People were chased by the police and killed. 

They were chased by animals and killed. In the USA. In the UK. All around the world. 

People run from the police and get overtaken and shot. People run from bears and get killed. People run from dogs and get attacked.

Then I read a story about bears and another about dogs which cast a new light on danger and safety.

Some dogs are attack dogs and are trained to run after somebody fleeing. Some dogs, terriers I believe, instinctively do this. Stay still and they do not attack. But turn and run and they jump. 

The same might apply to cats and mice.

I have also read about a lion on a leash, jumping at a woman who was going to pose for a photo, but she slipped on wet leaves and fell in front of the lion. The sudden movement made the animal leap at her. (This happened in Malaysia. I never pose for photos with a wild animal.)

Think about such situations. Imagine you are the person holding a weapon. Somebody who you suspect, or don't suspect, suddenly jumps, either towards you or away from you. Your instinct is to run after them and throw something at them to stop them.

Why not let them get away? You might give up, from inertia, or hope that trouble has been alerted.

On the other hand, with adrenalin and instinct, you might still be in fight mode.

Using rationality, you might say, danger averted, stop chasing and fighting. 

On the other hand, using rationality, or instinct, you might think this is just a ruse, a lull, and that it is an omen of worse to come or an ongoing fight. What if a person on foot who has burgled your house leaves the front and comes round to the back or side of the house? What if they are now in fight mode and come back tomorrow, or tonight after dark, intending to take you by surprise, to continue whatever trouble they were up to (if no trouble they would have stopped and smiled and spoken softly or politely). What if they come back, angry, bent on revenge? Or just to prove that they are better, having been the victim or lose once, they now want to be the aggressor or winner?

If it's a traffic stop and they race away, maybe they are a criminal or terrorist. Maybe they have guns or weapons in the car. Maybe they have  a bomb. A dead body. A kidnap victim. Burglary tools. False documents, lack of insurance, a stolen vehicle. Under age. Drunk driver. Subnormal. A nutter. 

An experienced person, or a trained person, knows that to calm a situation you should remain calm, listen to the other person, be polite, agreeable, helpful, co-operative.

Unfortunately, the opposite view also prevails. 

One thing echoes in my mind. Fight or flight? If you cannot fight, keep still and quiet and do not antagonize the animal or human being. Do not make sudden movements which will make them instinctively jump at you.

 At least, with extra knowledge, you have more options.

New Bike? Saddle up! Tips on buying Parts, Clothing, Helmets, Locks, Magazines, Bars, Events

Mountain Bicycle saddle. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

After you have spent money on your bike, mountain bike, motorbike, or scooter, your next purchases are upgrades, accessories and clothes. Trevor is a keen biker, motorbikes and mountain bikes. He has done training courses on circuits with champions. He avidly watched YouTube videos on riding. Taking corners. How to balance on a motorbike differs from balance on a mountain bike. How to repair or adjust or upgrade the parts of your bike.

Bike Lock

Before you even go out on your bike, shopping in an urban area, you need a security lock. The locks are attached to a thick black part which you attach to something strong and immovable such as a railing.

The bigger, stronger ones, which resist a little bolt cutter, are more expensive, thicker, and heavier to carry. 

Some areas or a town or city are more prone to theft than others.

After buying your lock, or upgrading it, next you need your clothes to go out.

He says,

Cycling Clothes - Shorts

'Bikers like to wear close, thigh-gripping shorts when cycling. If you wear loose shorts, they tend to get caught on the front of the saddle when you get on and off.'

Motorbike Clothes

Motorbike clothes have more protection Padded knees and elbows. Hot to wear.

Expensive. Look at them in a shop. Are the seams sewn securely. Sealed. Is there lining? Padding? 

Ask the assistant for advice. Then buy more in the sales. 

Eventually the stitching of gloves and suits will go. Or you fall off and a layer of the leather or fabric has scraped off. That's good. That would have been your skin if you had not worn the protection. It has done its job. It is worth the money. But time to buy another one, or bring out the spare.

Rain

Thunder and lightning sign in China. Photo from wikipedia, signs in China.

You might want to carry a rainproof poncho. A rainproof poncho is hot and sticky. So you have to look for a safe place to pull in when it rains to don the outfit. Wait in the shelter. 

Motorways in Singapore have shelters for bikers under some bridges. Look for the umbrella sign. The same applies in Malaysia.

Sign for shelter without distance marked in Malaysia.

Malaysian shelter for motobikes sign, with distance of 200 metres. From Wikipedia, road signs in Malaysia.

You can also buy a tiny umbrella to cover your mobile phone. 

Bike Helmet - photo by Angela Lansbury.

Helmets

You might want a spare helmet for a passenger. If two members of your family share a motorbike, and occasionally you go out together.

'If you already have a bike, then you buy a motorbike, you need another helmet. The same applies the other way. For a helmet, you obviously need adequate protection. But cycling helmets are not the same as motorbike helmets. Motorbike helmets have to be much stronger. You are likely to fall off a bicycle, but you could be catapulted through the air from a motorbike. Motorbike helmets have a visor protecting your face. They are heavier to wear. 

'A cycling helmet for a bicycle, or mountain bike, just covers your head. Then you wear a face mask when you walk into a shopping mall.'

Branded Scooter/Motorbike parts - real or fake?

'I have been buying parts to upgrade an old motorbike and an old bike. You go on the internet and you can see the prices for branded goods are high from the manufacturers. What are the branded goods made of? 

'If you saw gold at a very cheap price, you would suspect it was gold-plated or an alloy.  The same applies to the metals in component parts.

'Is it really titanium or stainless steel or aluminium? Is it strong enough? Flexible enough? Rustproof? 

Brand Names

'I sometimes draw up alongside a scooter at the lights. I can see that parts on a cheap Scooter have famous brand names. I see parts which cost as much or more than a second hand scooter. That's absurd.

'I don't know whether the owner knows the parts are fake and just wants to look good.  Or whether the owner has been misled by the fake goods. 

Buyer Beware

'When I buy, I look down to the specifications. If you saw something advertised as a diamond in the headline, but under product description, you read cubic zircona, you would know it's not a real diamond. If it says diamond in the headline and doesn't specify what it is in the product description, again, that's a warning sign. When buying parts, I compare the manufacturer's specifications, then I compare Lazada and Amazon.  

I have had more success with Amazon. But no website can be 100% guaranteed. It's not their fault. They have hundreds of items from third parties. They can't check every one. You can return goods. Keep the packaging. Look at it before you open it. Keep the labels and packing slips.

I often lose track of where I ordered an item from. It arrives from some address overseas. 

(Angela's note: I have the same problem with clothes. Did I order from Amazon, Lacada, Ebay, Etsy, Shein? The solution is to to keep a copy of purchases in your diary, or a dedicated notebook, or a folder, or in notes on your mobile phone. I write down what the item looked like on arrival, and a month after use. I give feedback and note it. Also, I add anything I didn't say in the feedback, such as I didn't like the look of it when it arrived, or it looked great. I might change my mind later. This is not only useful when you want to return the item. It is handy if you want to re-order for a friend, as a gift, or for yourself as a replacement or spare or another colour a year later.)

Finally, photograph everything. Yourself on the bike when it is new to prove it is yours. (A thief could claim you have stolen the bike from him when you try to retrieve it!)

You might want a picture to show at a mall or airport or police station when reporting the bike or helmet or key is missing. Or even a missing person. Insurance might want a picture of it. You might want to show that the bike was new and got damaged in the car park or on the plane or bike repair shop.  They can't say that parts of the item, or paintwork, was damaged already when you left it if you have a photo showing it in pristine condition hours before.

In Singapore you can hire bikes, Segway (Single large wheel vehicle).

Cycling alone is lonely. But in November 2021 the rules have changed to allow up to 5 persons from different households to meet up. Please check the latest regulations.

Useful Websites

CLOTHES

https://www.infinitymotorcycles.com/store

EVENTS

SINGAPORE Travel By Bike & Meetup Information

Four hours, 99 Singapore dollars:

https://www.letsgotoursingapore.com/trails-of-tan-ah-huat-3/

https://www.facebook.com/SoekSeng1954BicycleCafe/

https://www.facebook.com/HandlebarSGGillmanBarracks/

https://www.meetup.com/My-Bike-Group/

https://www.moh.gov.sg/covid-19-phase-advisory

UK

https://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/brilliant-bike-rides-from-london

Meetup in NE London (other groups around the UK)

https://www.meetup.com/Hubbub/events/282122726

USA

https://usacycling.org/encyclingpedia/events

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_Cycling

Europe

Flat country The Netherlands is a popular place for cycling

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_in_the_Netherlands

MAGAZINES

https://cyclistmag.co.uk/christmas2021

https://www.motorcyclenews.com/

If money is no object, sign up to this course on ficing your bike, currently 57 Dollars.

https://www.masterofbikes.com/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=BB-ACQ-Bikes-Broad-WW&utm_content=BB-BroadTargeting-WW&utm_term=Bike_Break%2BTestimonialV1-Text_2&fbclid=IwAR3fUV2mmOujx6BlKk1CPPeOjPGLmjnRHmsncINUuO9ZkK7OzZttOPzypgk

About the Author of this blog, Author Angela Lansbury

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books, including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

I  also have a blog on comic poems.

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

What is special about Singapore? Learn and Prepare For National Day August 9th

 

First the Singapore flag you will see everywhere in the days leading up to Singapore's national day, which is August 9th.

Red and white. You might think, that's confusing. It looks like the flags for Indonesia and Poland. On the other hand, you might think, that's great. I can remember three flags, and each one will remind me of the others. What is the difference? 

Red

First, in Singapore the red comes first. The red is above the white. 

White Moon

Second, you will notice that the Singapore flag has a white moon as well as five five pointed stars. The moon is featured, like many Moslem majority countries whose religions follows the lunar calendar. Singapore was originally part of Malaya, which became independent from Britain.

 The National Day which Singapore celebrates on August 9th commemorates does not recall that occasion. Nothing to do with Britain.

Freedom day (Merdeka, means freedom. Merdeka, in Bahasa Malay, language of Malay - the adjective coming second) features in street and square names in Malaysia and Indonesia. Those two countries, like the USA and UK, share a mostly same  or similar language. 

Singapore's celebration commemorates when Singapore split from Malaya. Malaya was then renamed Malaysia. Singapore was born, or reborn, using the old name Singapura.

Saving Flags

The Singapore flags are saved from year to year Each flag is carefully folded, and stored, following the official guidelines, to respect and protect the flag.

As a visitor, you are likely to fly into Changi airport. For many years it has been voted the world's best airport by various surveys. To  maintain or regain this status as other regional and rival airports are expended or redeveloped, Changi has had additions. Because of 

  Covid-19 the planned extra terminus building delayed, unusual for Singapore which normally fills building schedules ahead of the specified time.

 Useful Websites

Singapore flag with border from wikimedia

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is a Singapore Resident.

What You must and must not do in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, across the border from Singapore

This flag, the flag of Malaysia, might remind you of the flag of the USA, because of the stripes. 

A resident of JB (Johor Bahru) who I have seen at meetings for many years, appeared on our screens in Singapore. He said, I haven't been able to attend physical meetings in Singapore for a year.

'I have to walk my two dogs before 10 pm because of the curfew. And I can't walk more than a small distance from my house. No going out to restaurants. The police and army have set up road blocks."

I puzzled over this. How can they put a block around every house. Then I recalled the layout or JB. What they have done is put road blocks at specified distances along the main road.

If you want to join a Toastmasters International meeting which trains speakers and gives confidence, now is a good time. Apart from a few hybrid meetings. you can attend meetings all over the world. I have attended three meetings a day, on different continents. canada on Monday (their Sunday), India, UK and so on.

About the Author

Angela Lansbury teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters  speaker training clubs and speaking contest judge.

Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. 

She  has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

First steps in Tamil - easy words which sound the same

Official language in	Sri Lanka  Singapore  India: Tamil Nadu[3] Puducherry[4]  ASEAN[5]
Recognised minority language in	Malaysia[6]  Mauritius[7]  South Africa[

You already know and use a few Tamil words, catamaran, cheroot, curry, mango. I didn't realise these words were Tamil. I first knowingly came across Tamil in Singapore.

Where can you hear of speak Tamil?  You see Tamil on the MRT underground railway stations in Singapore and the train map. You also hear Tamil spoken in the station announcements. The English ends with the words thank you. The Tamil ends with nan(d)ri.

I came across a handy guide to Tamil which I had forgotten I had on my bookshelves. I was looking for words in Vietnamese and picked up the Foreign Workers and Domestic Helpers Language guide. I bought it in Mustaph's department store in Little India in Singapore.

The book contains the languages English, Chinese (Mandarin), Tamil and Bahasa Indonesia. (Indonesian is almost the same as Malay.) These are the four official languages in Singapore. The book also contains the languages of Myanmar and Bengali.

The Tamil language looks very pretty, with lovely curves. However, even the shortest word in English has many Tamil letters to recognize.

Nevertheless, this time I persisted. I glanced down the lists of words looking for whatever was easy.

1 I wanted those Tamil words which were only one syllable.
2 I was pleased with words which started with the same letter as the English word.
3 Best of all, words which looked and sounded almost the same.

I was rewarded. Here are my findings which I shall share with you.

The English letter b is often pronounced as p

The English g becomes k

Short one-syllable words in English often end in u making two syllables in Tamil
You might notice that Tamil speakers sometimes add the sound oo onto the end of English words.

Tamil - English sound
one - onru (like one-u)
eight - ettu (like eight-u)

one million - oru milliyan
one billion - oru billiyan

Like other languages
morning - kailai (like the Greek kali spera, good morning)

Words starting with the same letter or sounding similar
noon - nan-pakal

The months sound almost the same
b becomes (unvoiced) p in February
g becomes k (in August); c bcomes k in October

January - janavari
February - pipravari
march - maarch
April - eapral
May - mea
June - joon
July - joolai
August - aakast
September - chepdampar
October - aktopar
November - navampar
December - disampar

Words Which Are The Same
meter - meter

I looked up Tamil Language in Wikipedia. I learned:
Words of Tamil origin occur in other languages. A notable example of a word in worldwide use with Dravidian (not specifically Tamil) etymology is orange, via Sanskrit nāraṅga from a Dravidian predecessor of Tamil nartaṅkāy "fragrant fruit". One suggestion as to the origin of the word anaconda is the Tamil anaikkonda, "having killed an elephant". Examples in English include cheroot (churuṭṭu meaning "rolled up"), mango (from māngāi), mulligatawny (from miḷaku taṇṇīr, "pepper water"), pariah (from paraiyan), curry (from kari), catamaran (from kaṭṭu maram, "bundled logs"), and congee (from kanji – rice porridge or gruel).

Now I have started Tamil ready for my next visit to a Tamil toastmasters club in Singapore, to chat to Indians about language, or to visit India and read signs and calendars.


Flag of India

Useful Websites
translate google
www.mightyminds.sg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_loanwords_in_other_languages
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/06/first-steps-in-tamil-easy-words-which.html
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/06/tamil-sentence-structure.html
Tamil Bilingual speakers' club in Singapore
https://www.facebook.com/tlcsbilingualsingapore/

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
I and my family have lived in the UK, Spain, the USA and Singapore. I am a trave writer and phtographer and teacher of English A level and English as a foreign language.

Please come to a Toastmasters International Club where the English clubs have a langauge evaluator or grammarian.  We also have French, German, Mandarin Chinese, Tamil and other language clubs based in Singapore and many more online around the world which because of Covid-19 are now meeting online.

I am President (2019-2020) of Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters International speakers' club, meeting every Wednesday, on zoom the first Wednesday of the month but the other Wednesdays are workshops on app learncool.sg
Or quicker to type and easier to remember:  tinyurl.com/BHACOOL
Please join us.

I have many other blog posts on languages. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Hard Rock Hotels in Malaysia and In A Complex of Attractions on Sentosa island, Singapore

Hard Rock Hotel, Desaru, Malaysia. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

After visiting Hard Rock cafe in Melaka, and another in Desaru, Malaysia, we decided to look at Hard Rock in Singapore. Where is it? On the island of Sentosa.




Sentosa is where American President Trump met North Korean leader, hidden away at the Capella resort.


The complex on Sentosa

I saw that the Hard Rock Hotel on Sentosa, off Singapore, was the venue for a three day event on book writing and author publishing in January 2020.



Hard Rock Hotel exterior

Hard Rock Hotel is part of a large complex of attractions and four hotels and a conference centre.

Hard Rock Hotel interior


In the same complex is the Michael Hotel. It is not named after Michael Jackson but after the architect Michael Graves.

Michael Graves designed several modern buildings including the Portland building in Portland , Oregon.

Portland Building, Portland, Oregon, designed by Michael Graves.

Michael Hotel, Sentosa, Singapore



Wikipedia explains:
Resorts World Sentosa (Abbreviation: RWS) is an integrated resort on the island of Sentosa, off the southern coast of Singapore. The key attractions include one of Singapore's two casinos, a Universal Studios theme park, Adventure Cove Water Park, and S.E.A. Aquarium, which includes the world's second largest oceanarium (after Chimelong Ocean Kingdom).

So far, so good.

 How do you get to the island of Sentosa?

If you are a tourist or newcomer to Singapore it may be worthwhile spending, allocating, some of your holiday money on the overhead cable car.

However, if you want to visit by public transport, you want a cheaper form of travel, and a cheaper entry fee.

Now that the book writing event has passed, what is worth seeing on Sentosa?

1 Hard Rock Hotel
2 The Trick Eye Museum - on of a kind, top of my list

Choices
Take the MRT to Harbourfront. Walk to the Vivo City modern multi-storey shopping mall.
Catch the shuttle across from Vivo City upper floor to Sentosa, for a small charge.

Entry to Sentosa varies from free for walkers and tiny tots to about two dollars for locals and local senior citizens, up to four or six dollars for a taxi or car.

If you are a regular visitor, and want to see a lot of the attractions, it's worth investing 25 Sing dollars on the pass which gives you a twenty dollar voucher on your birthday and other  discounts and offers throughout the year.

Singapore flag

Singapore flag

Useful Websites
Singapore Airlines
singaporeair.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resorts_World_Sentosa

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Singapore

Directions
https://www.google.com/maps/
Hotel Offers
https://www.hardrockhotels.com/specials?&campaign=
Reviews
https://www.oyster.com/singapore/hotels/hotel-michael/

About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Hard Rock Cafes and Hotels in Asia, in Malaysia, and Bikers' Day Out

Hard Rock Hotel, Desaru, Malaysia. Photo courtesy of Trevor Sharot.

Bikers and Their Bikes

The bike far left is a Ducatti monster.  Next is a

Suzuki GSXR -R750 (the range is called Gixxer by the bikers; the engine size is the second half of the name.)

The Moto Guzzi is, 'the oldest European manufacturer in continuous production,' their website says. Off the picture is a large bike, which was too big for one of the others to ride. 

After you've done your duty as a traveller and seen all the local stuff, it's sometimes good to relax somewhere familiar and internationally known.

Hard Rock Cafe in Melaka
In Malaysia we visited hired a car in Singapore and took two foreign visitors to Melaka, the tourist hotspot on the west coast. The Hard Rock cafe has pride of place on the central bridge to the main square.

After dinner a couple of us went to the Hard Rock Cafe for a drink. (The other couple shook their heads and raised their eyebrows.)

Desaru
A month later our biker and three friends went for a day's ride up the East Coast. They stopped for a photo at the new Hard Rock hotel at Desaru resort area, all hotels. The Hard Rock Hotel has a swimming pool and breakfast included in the room price.

Other attractions are the sandy beach, a waterpark, golf courses, and trips to the Kota Tinggi waterfall.

Alcohol
Of course, if you are driving a car or riding a bike, you won't want to drink a cocktail. But you might appreciate the food and non-alcoholic drinks and toilets.

Can you drink in Malaysia, although it is a Muslim country? If you are a Westerner, yes. the Chinese restaurants serve beer. Hotels serve alcohol to foreign visitors.

Useful Websites

Flag of Malaysia.

Hard Rock Worldwide
Singapore has a hard Rock hotel on the island of Sentosa.
Since 1979 they have expanded all over the world and plan yet more sites. Currently in 2020 they have 29 hotels, 12 casinos, 184 cafes and 241 rock shops.

Hard Rock Online
If you want to buy online there are tee-shirts in assorted colours with the name of your favourite location such as Amsterdam, Detroit, London. They also sell magnets, mugs, pins, socks, guitars, backpacks, bottle openers, clothes, hats, and jewellery such as ear rings with handing guitar picks.

Other destinations include in the USA, Daytona Beach, Las Vegas, Orlando, Miami and San Diego.
If you want to travel further, there's a choice including Europe, Asia and The Maldives.

Useful Websites
https://www.agoda.com/en-gb/resorts-world-sentosa-hard-rock-hotel/hotel/singapore-sg
https://shop.hardrock.com/en-us/0885575699428/womens-pigment-dye-logo-scoop-tee
https://www.malaysia.travel/en/sg
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Desaru
Singapore Airlines
singaporeair.com

About The Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Melaka Free Bee Gallery & Shop With Free Honey Tasting

Melaka Bee Farm

See models of bees and hives. No real bees - some visitors complained but I think this is good if you have a phobia of live bees and wasps.

Free tasting of all their honey. As my main purpose is to locate different honey or cheaper thick honey, just what I want. How will it compare with manuka honey from New Zealand?

Melaka Bee Farm
Jalan Ayer Keroh
Taman Botanical
Melaka
75450
Malaysia
tel+60 13-611 1610

Useful Websites
https://winniesbeefarm.com/

About the Author
Angela Lansbury (no relation to the actress nor several other poeple with the same name on LinkedIn) is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Also a teacher of English and other languages.

Best Breakfast In Melaka, Malaysia

Flag of Malaysia

Maybe the best breakfast was at the restaurant which was full with a queue. We had a list of two or three from our hotel.

We were short of time because we wanted to get to the Peranakan Museum in time for the free guided tour.

So we went to the Backlane Coffee Bar which is not immediately obviouls from the main road, Joners Street or Jonkers Walks.

When we arrived the place was empty and they took only cash, so we wondered whether we would like the food and drink. However, we were pleasantly surprised.

Breakfast at
The Backlane Coffee
This restaurant took only cash not credit cards. The breakfast juices were tasty, tangy and refreshing.
The tea cup had a cover to keep the drink hot.

Freshly Squeezed juices at Backlane, Melaka, Malaysia.

Pancakes
My main dish was pancakes. They were not large thin pancakes like French crepes, not the smaller thicker English pancakes, not small, thick soldid pancakes like American pancakes, but the shape and size of American pancakes, like slices of circular muffins, but softe and aerated inside, like a sponge cake.

Service And Pace
Service was not fast. Let us call it relaxed. If you are not in a hurry and don't want to be hassled, a good place to be.

Photography
We thought nothing would happen. but a photographer turned up with a bride and groom to be to take their pre-wedding engagement photos.

They had with then the makeup artist and hairdresser. We watched, fascinated.

About the Author
Angela Lansury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

What To Watch For Walking Around UNESCO World Heritage City, Melaka, in Malaysia

This is the flag of Malaysia, with stripes like the US flag but also the crescent moon of the Muslim religion. You see the flag everywhere in Melaka so you will soon learn to recognize it.



If you are new to Asia and Malaysia, like two members of my family who were our guests, you need to get clear the races religions and geography, later the history of Malaysia and Indonesia.

Singapore is mainly Chinese and did not choose to leave Malaya but was forced out when Singapore was a small place, not the skyscraper city into which it has transformed. After the separation, Malaya  was called Malylsian. Singapore is an island off the southern end of Malaysia linked by a causeay to Johor Bahru (meaning new Johor) in the Malaysian state of Johor, and a bridge.

Malaysia is mailand, Indonesia is islands. M M and I I. Not quite, Because Malysia also has small islands, and half one of the larger islands, but that will get you started visually if you are a stranger to the region.

You can take a 'free' guided walk of Melaka, paying whatever you think the guide was worth as a tip at the end. Same as in many cities. (The one in Sofia, capital of Bulgaria, was wonderful.)

However, map in hand, you can proceed at your own pace on a self-guided tour.

Rain and Umbrellas
What if it's raining? Remember your umbrella. Our hotel had large free umbrellas to loan out. That protected our luggage from the car parked in the street outside the front door into the hotel. you can see the rain on the umbrella in the picture.

I took a photo of the umbrella. That gave me hotel's address and phone number. Handy if I got lost.

Our hotel was by the welcome arch at the start of Jonkers Walk.

Jonkers Walk or Jonkers Street
Jonkers Walk is not a riverside walk but a street of shops and restaurants running from a welcome archway, beside the Heritage hotel, down to the main square on the river.

The next day, we had breakfast opposite the hotel, then walked along the street. Remember to bargain. What have you got to lose. We saw a baseball hat with the word Jaguar and the Jaguar logo on it. The asking price was 12 Malay ringgit. Five to the UK pound.We offered ten and the seller immediately accepted and started wrapping it up and held out his hand for the money.

(Not to be confused with Indonesian rupiah which are thousands to the pound. Maybe about 16,000 to the pound.)

Night Market
The night market in Jonkers Walk (street) takes place from 6 pm to midnight on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings, which is why hotels cost more on those days. Kiosks fill the street which is  pedestrian only with one-way systems slowing traffic. You can see the night market and have dinner and still be back in Singapore by midnight or one a.m. if you are lucky.

We stayed and saw the start of the night market. We went to a restaurant, bulldog, which opened at 6.30 and we left about 9.30 ./m. or ten, reaching the crossing back to Singapore about midnight. We had cleared both sides of the crossing (leaving Malaysia and entering Singapore). But we had a puncture which delayed us.


Statue In Courtyard
This muscly man attacted our attention.  His statue drew us in and we also admired the statues of bullocks. The statue shows a man who is also a politician. He was born in the 1930s and now in 2020 is in his mid eighties. He was champion many times including Mr Asia and Mr Universe. His statue is said to be in several other places and I read that his family have control over Jonkers Street. His name is Gan Boon Leong.

Hard Rock Cafe

We took our son and daughter in law for a trip from Singapore to Melaka and showed them all the sights. We passed Hard Rock cafe. I wondered who would go there, with so many local places to try. That night out son and daughter-in-law went out for an evening together. When they got back, I asked, 'Where did you go?'
The answer was, 'Hard Rock cafe.'

After all the foreign sites, relax in the comfort of something familiar.

Christ Church, Melaka


The red Christ Church, in Melaka is the central landmark.Take an umbrella which protects you from either rain or sunshine.

Chocolate Shop
Walk to the right and you come to the chocolate shop. You will not find your usual chocolates but all sorts of unusual flavours and packages. Ginger chocolates,

We took a river boat tour which was fabulous. In addition to a welcome breeze, and a chance to sit yet see a lot of buildings, we spotted unusual places. An ice cream parlour facing the water, enticed our attention. We walked back to it later. It was diagonally across from Hard Rock Cafe.

When we arrived there was a queue of people. just four seats squashed around a couple of tiny tables. My order, durian ice cream, could not be fulfilled. However, I tried three or four different flavours and they were all tangy. we waited forever, because the girl had to keep changing eveyrthing for the different flavours, but it was worth the wait. Strawberry, blueberry and blackberry, maybe lemon or kalamansi which is half way between a lemon and a lime.

Ice Cream

Painted Houses

Decaffeinated Tea

You might get nearly run over by a trishaw. However, mostly they are playing loud music and flashing lights.

Tired of walking? You could catch a trishaw.

Useful Websites
https://www.malaysia.travel/en/us/places/states-of-malaysia/melaka/baba-nyonya-heritage-museum
https://findery.com/ChangesInLongitude/notes/meeting-mr-universe-in-malaysia

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Please share links to your favourite posts.

Melaka Museums - Submarine Museum

In the centre of Melaka my top rated museum to visit is the peranakan Museum. However, Melaka has many more.

We drove out towards the sea and found a submarine museum.


Submarine Museum, Melaka, Malaysia. Submarine and fighter jets. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

The submarine was bought from the French and used as a training ship before being turned into a museum for the education of all.

Photographer Chongkian has a picture of the submarine's interior, on the Wikipedia Commons page.


Hanging on the gate by the ticket kiosk was a list of other museums. Mntreost of them are back in town. A large theme park is under construction next door and there is lots of new development being built. We headed back to the town cantre and riverside for afternoon tea at Casa del Rio.

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Useful Malay Words
Malay - English
galeri - galleries
keluar - exit
muzium - museum(s)
perbadanan - corporation
sejarah - history
Warna - colour
warna warna - colours

English - Malay
colour - warna
colours - warna warna
corporation - perbadanan
galleries - galeri
history - sejarah
museum(s) - muzium

Useful Websites
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Malacca
singaporeair.com

Language
duolingo.com

memrise.com

If you are reading abou this in the UK or planning to go to the UK, London has a warship museum, HMS Belfast, in the water on the river Thames. My family member fondly recalled, "I saw lots of pictures of it because Amateur Photographer magazine used to have an office overlooking the ship and they would test out cameras by photographing it. As it was black and white it was an ideal subject in those days."
Out of London, there's also a submarine museum.

https://www.nmrn.org.uk/submarine-museum/plan-your-visit-royal-navy-submarine-museum

About the author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.