2025 - Lookback

This is my customary lookback post which I update in this blog during the last week of each year.

May - Travelled to Andalucía Spain and Lisbon

I made this trip simply because Saudia was selling a return ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Madrid at RM2,250.00 only. 

I seized the opportunity to visit Andalusia Spain to see the three great monuments of the region, i.e. the Alhambra in Granada, the Seville Cathedral in Seville and the Mezquita in Cordoba.

After ticking off all the monuments, I took the bus from Seville to Lisbon and spent 3 nights there before flying back to Madrid to catch my flight back to Kuala Lumpur.

I fell in love with Plaza de Espana in Seville the moment I saw it for the first time.

June - Travelled to Kluang and Johor Bahru for Jubilee Year of Hope pilgrimage

In June we took the opportunity to visit the remaining two Jubilee parishes in the Malacca-Johor Diocese, i.e. the Church of St Louis in Kluang, and the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Johor Bahru.

From Kuala Lumpur, we took the bus to Kluang to attend Friday evening Mass at the Church of St Louis. The next day we continued our journey to Johor Bahru to attend Sunset Mass at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart.

One of the most pleasant discoveries of this pilgrimage was not religious related but food related - I discovered the most delicious cendol ever - Kluang Cendol. 

The coconut milk was thick. The gula melaka (palm sugar) was sweet enough. And when both ingredients combined with the shaved ice and condiments, just hits the right spot.

The best part is that a bowl of cendol costs only ... hold your breath ... RM2.50. 

Based on my taste buds, the Kluang Cendol is better than the Lebuh Keng Kwee one in Penang.

July - Encore Malacca

Went with the family to watch Encore Melaka - acclaimed to be the most advanced immersive experience in Southeast Asia. 

My verdict: The visuals were colourful and vibrant. The choreography was not too bad. And the best part is that the stage is revolving. As the stage turns, the ceiling looks like the bottom of the Millennium Falcon.  

However, the story line had no flow. Certain scenes didn't blend into the storyline and didn't make sense at all.

One of the scenes from Encore Melaka.

August - Short get-away to Kota Kinabalu

My work was getting overwhelmed and stressful, so I took a 3-night break to Kota Kinabalu and stayed at the Nexus Karambunai Resort.

The resort had so much potential - large grounds that made it perfect for families with children to run around. I think this is the biggest resort (in terms of physical space) I ever stayed in.

However, the resort lacked maintenance and poorly trained staff. When it's busy during breakfast, it takes a long time for staff to replenish the food, most probably due to lack of manpower. The food is also not delicious and if you order ala carte, it's super expensive. Imagine paying so much for lousy food. 

Even though the resort was run down and lack proper maintenance, it had a lovely beach and a glorious sunset.

September - Travelled to Okinawa

When we arrived at Okinawa, we stayed at Naha for a couple of days. We walked Kokusai Dori shopping street and visited Shuri Castle.

In Naha, we took a ferry from Tomami Ferry Terminal to Zamami Island for a day-trip and snorkeled at Furuzamami Beach. 

After Naha, we travelled to Chatan to see the American Village, something which is not common in Japan.

Whilst in Chatan, we took the Chatan Adventure Highway Bus for a day-trip to Churaumi Aquarium. The sea life and conservation work at the aquarium is amazing.

Apart from travelling, we also pigged out on Okinawan F&B like shuri soba, spam musubi, goya champuru, Blue Seal ice-cream, and the many flavours of Orion beer. I loved goya champuru so much that I learnt how to prepare it when I returned to KL. 

Goya champuru is an Okinawan stir-fried dish.

This is a clip of the ferry ride to Zamami Island. The aquamarine colours of the sea is mesmerizing:

September - Celebrated 10th Anniversary in my current employment

When I first joined the company I did not expect or plan to stay that long. However, when work became busy and the pandemic came a calling, suddenly ten years have passed.

I don't know whether staying in a company for that long is a sign of loyalty, complacency, or a lack of ambition; which is something to reflect on.

October - Travelled to Penang for Jubilee Year of Hope pilgrimage

I made this trip to cover the pilgrim centres of Church of the Assumption and Church of St Mary.

I took an early morning flight to Penang and made my way to Church of the Assumption in Georgetown to attend the Friday afternoon Mass. 

After Mass, I took the ferry from Pengkalan Weld to Butterworth and checked into a hotel near Penang Sentral. 

That evening, I took a GRAB to the Church of St Mary in Permatang Tinggi to attend the Friday evening Mass.

The next morning I took the bus back to Kuala Lumpur. 

I was in and out of Penang in two shakes of a lamb's tail. 

Church of the Assumption in Georgetown, Penang.

November - Travelled to Oman and United Arab Emirates

When I was planning my trip to Oman, a friend who used to work there advised that the best parts of Oman are outside its capital, Muscat. 

So I took his advice and visited Wadi Bani Khalid and Wahiba Desert. The desert experience was amazing!

I also managed to watch a performance at the Royal Opera House in Muscat.

I visited UAE to add another country to the list. Furthermore, it's location beside Oman makes it perfect stopover. 

In Dubai I spent most of my time at Dubai Mall watching the fountain show. The sound and light together with the projections on Burj Khalifa was incredible. I enjoyed it very much.

Wahiba Sands.

December - Travelled to Kuantan for Jubilee Year of Hope pilgrimage

Did a 1-night trip to Church of St Thomas in Kuantan and with that I can humble brag that I've visited all the designated pilgrim centres in Peninsular Malaysia except for the one in Ipoh because it's located in an area inaccessible by public transport.

Summary

2025 being the Jubilee Year of Hope in the Roman Catholic Church, I spent more resources travelling to the pilgrim centres to gain indulgences. In fact, when the year was launched in December 2024 and the  eleven designated pilgrim centres in the three dioceses of Peninsular Malaysia were announced, I made it a goal to visit every one of them except for Chapel of Annai Velangani in Ipoh because it's located in an area inaccessible by public transport. I wanted to stamp my pilgrim passport and a conventional passport (expired) with the special stamps available at the pilgrim centres.

In 2025 I only travelled to 3 new countries as compared to 2024 when I covered 8 new countries.

What will 2026 bring? Well, I already have a big trip planned in May/June. Apart from that I don't have any other trips planned yet.

But I'm certain that more travels will manifest when the time comes. It all depends on my work schedule, availability of cheap flight tickets, etc. 

How many countries are there?

When I was researching the number of countries, I discovered that it ranges between 193 to 237, depending on your source. 

According to The World Factbook by the United States CIA, there're 254 countries in total.

On the other hand, the United Nations has 193 members states + 2 non-member states (Vatican City and Palestine) making it a total of 195 countries.

The difference in numbers is largely due to disputed zones, special administrative regions, and nations that hold either full or partial sovereignty. Some of these areas include Crimea, Falkland Islands, Hong Kong, Kosovo and Taiwan.

It's in my bucket list to visit 50 countries by the time I reach half a century old. At the point of writing, I'm at country 47.

So which figure should I use to chart my travel plans? 

I've decided to use the United Nations figure of 195 countries.

2024 - 'Revenge Travel' Continues

2024 was a continuation of 'revenge travel' from the year before. I needed to restore hope after the pandemic destroyed my travel hopes and dreams for about 3 years from 2020 till 2023.

Here's a lookback at my travels in 2024.

February - Travelled to Taipei

The main purpose of my trip to Taipei was to visit a fellow traveler whom I had met when I was travelling in Tunis in December 2023. He had relocated temporarily to Taipei and I took the opportunity to visit Taipei too.

The highlight of that trip was hiking at Yangmingshan National Park.

Interestingly, I visited Taipei again in May when I was on a long transit back from Kagoshima.

I love this colourful piece of art becomes life at the Taoyuan International Airport.

April - Travelled to Central Asia

I made this trip simply because AirAsia had launched a new route between Kuala Lumpur and Almaty, and there were promotional tickets. 

Since I was going to be in that part of the world, I took the opportunity to visit 3 more countries in Central Asia, i.e. Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. 

All in all, I covered 5 cities in 4 different countries. The cities were Almaty, Dushanbe, Tashkent, Samarkand, and Bishkek.

If you have the opportunity to visit Samarkand, don't miss the Registan Square. Begin your visit around 7:00pm and end with the light and sound show which begins at 8:00pm daily.

May - Travelled to Kagoshima

This was an unplanned trip. 

Earlier in February, I had reconnected with a former college mate after more than 20 years! And whilst talking, he invited me to join him to visit Kagoshima. 

Highlights of the trip was taking the ferry to Sakurajima, watched a dolphin show at Kagoshima City Aquarium, and made a road trip to Kirishima Geopark where we hiked to Mt Karakuni. 

I was pleasantly surprise to discover that Kagoshima was St Francis Xavier's landing spot when he brought Christianity to Japan. 

The Japanese Yen had depreciated against the Malaysian Ringgit, so I took the opportunity to purchase apparels from Muji and Uniqlo because it's cheaper in the home land. As a foreign tourist, I get to shop tax free with min purchase of JPY5,000. Just flash your passport and you'll get the discount on the spot! No need to hassle and redeem the discounts at the airport.

We hiked to the summit of Mt Karakuni (1,700 metres) and saw craters which used to be active volcanoes. Some of the craters were active and I could hear rumblings from the belly of the earth.

June - Travelled to Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB)

I purposely made this trip to BSB so that I can add another country to my List of Countries that I've Visited.

Two highlights of the trip were attending Mass at the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and visiting Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque. 

There's nothing much to see and do in BSB (which explains why I've never had a desire to visit Brunei) so we went to a mall to watch Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga which I found difficult to like especially after the genius of Mad Max: Fury Road.

Inside the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque.

September - Travelled to Colombo

In about two days we covered the main sights in Colombo such as St Anthony's Shrine, Jami Ul-Alfar Mosque, and Gangaramaya Temple. 

On the third day, we hired a car and a driver to visit Sigiriya Fortress and Dambulla Cave Temple. Initially we wanted to join a local tour to those places, but Sri Lanka does not have group tours like other countries. So we had no choice but to pay for a car and a driver which were relatively expensive.

I was eager to visit Kandy but we only had a limited number of days for this trip. But now I have an excuse to revisit Sri Lanka.

It was a public holiday in Sri Lanka when we visited Sigiriya Fortress and the locals were out and about. The crowd was so big that we ditched the idea of climbing to the top of the fortress.

October - Travelled to Penang for a pilgrimage

This is the second consecutive year that Samaritan Hope Home organised a pilgrimage for its volunteers and benefactors. 

On this pilgrimage we visited the Penang Diocesan Museum in Georgetown, College General in Tanjung Bungah and the Minor Basilica of St Anne in Bukit Mertajam. 

The Minor Basilica of St Anne in Bukit Mertajam was one of the places we visited.

November - Travelled to Maldives

The highlight of my trip to Maldives was a day trip where we visited a sand bank in the middle of the sea, stopped for lunch at Himmafushi, and went snorkeling to look for stingray. 

Along the way, we spotted a pod of dolphins which got everyone on the boat excited. Who doesn't love dolphins. 

Artificial Beach in Male. When I posted this pic in Instagram, someone asked why do they need to create an artificial beach when Maldives already have natural beaches.

December - Travelled to Langkawi for a wedding

This is the first destination wedding that I've attended. 

It was held at The Danna Langkawi which was a great experience albeit the rates. After discount, a basic room was RM1,300.00 per night for 2 pax with breakfast. 

Looking ahead

In conclusion, I visited 8 new countries in 2024, and made a second visit to Japan (last visit was in June 2017).

How many new countries will I visit in 2025? I better start planning now.