To Ulanbaator, Mongolia

I am awesomely excited that I would be travelling again tomorrow.

Destination: the awesome Ulanbaator of Mongolia with a possible visit to Erdenet and Darkhan.

I didn't really mentioned that I am travelling again, saved for the little awesome box here in Awesome Adventurer saying that my next destination is Ulanbaator, but I am seriously excited. Excited to travel to an awesome new country. Excited to meet awesome new friends. Excited to do something awesomely different while travelling.

How awesomely different would it be?

Well, we are going to do some awesome charity-based work there. Travelling with me are a few awesome doctors, awesome nurses, awesome pharmacist and awesome therapist (hope I got it right) plus some awesome helpers (myself included) and we would be doing some medical screening for the poor. I would be one of the helper, helping out any way I can while taking awesome photos of the awesome trip.

I would be away until 10th August so don't miss me. Will try to login if possible.

Ending this awesomely short post with a photo of a young Mongol boy I found from http://oursurprisingworld.com

Awesomely cute, right?

Kellie's Castle

The awesome Kellie's Castle as we known it today, is located near the awesome town of Batu Gajah, about 20 to 30 minutes drive from the awesome Ipoh, Perak. Kellie's Castle is one of the oldest and most awesome mansion to be built in Malaysia.

The awesome William Kellie Smith from the Kellas village in Scotland came to the undeveloped Malaya back in the year 1890. Here, he met with an estate owner called Alma Baker whom he venture in some business dealings and profit from it. Soon, he start planting rubber and dabbled in the tin mining industry. Soon, he become the owner of Kinta Kellas Estate and Kinta Kellas Tin Dredging Company.

He returned home to marry his awesome sweetheart, Agnes and brought her to Malaya in 1903. William and Agnes has two children, Helen and Anthony and Anthony become sort of William's lucky charm when his business grew to new heights. To celebrate Anthony's birth, William started planning for an awesome huge moorish styled castle which he planned to call Kellas House, after his hometown in Scotland.

However, half way through the construction, tragedies struck. He dies of pneumonia while on a trip back to England. His wife sold her interest in Kellas Estate to a British company called Harrisons and Crosfield. The distraught family never returned to Malaya.

Nowadays, the mansion is being known as the awesome Kellie's Castle and is a popular tourist attraction. Basic restoration has been done to the structure but most of the structure has remained the same.

It has also being said that Kellie's Castle is being haunted by the awesome ghost of William Kellie Smith whereby there have been reported that some locals has seen his ghost walking down the awesome hallways of the uncompleted castle during the night. Other reports mentioned that some people got lost in the castle to be awaken in another place a few kilometers away from the castle several hours later. It is up to you to believe or not.

Entrance fee is RM5 for adults and RM2 for children

GPS coordinate: 4.474431, 101.087767

Airport to Colombo City

There is only one international airport in Sri Lanka, the awesome Bandaranaike International Airport, which is located in Katunayake, north of Colombo city.

While airlines would mention that the flight destination on your flight ticket as Colombo, you are not really that near to Colombo when your plan landed on Bandaranaike International Airport. It is actually nearer to the town of Negombo. So, if your destination is not Colombo, one can opt to stay overnight (if your flight reach the airport late at night) in one of the many hotels/hostels in Negombo.

If you must go to the awesome city of Colombo, there are several choices for you to choose from.

The easiest way to get to Colombo would be the taxi. But bear in mind that this would be a very expensive choice. Remember to negotiate the price in advance to avoid any problem later. (was told that the price is about

The next choice would be the local taxi / mini van. Do keep in mind that these local taxi / mini van does not have air-con but the good part is, it is cheaper than the price that you would pay for the taxi. Still, remember to negotiate the price first before boarding the vehicle.

The cheapest way to get to the city is, of course, taking the bus. The price that you would be paying would only be a fraction of what you pay for the tax, about Rs 50 per way per person. But, the tradeoff for this option is definitely the extra work that you need to do. First, you have to take the airport bus to the airport bus depot, located outside the airport. This is actually easy as there is a free shuttle bus service running all the time between the airport and the bus depot. Once you are at the bus depot, look for the public bus with the number 187. This would be the bus to take you all the way to Colombo Fort, which is something like a centre in Colombo.

The journey would take at least one to three hours, whichever mode of transport you may take as it depends on the traffic along the way to Colombo city.

A word of cautious, the traffic in Colombo and the surrounding may seem like a chaos to outsider. One better be prepare before going to Sri Lanka.