As I have mentioned before, I’m currently in Kuala Lumpur for the Asean Media Bloggers Tourism Hunt 2015 and Citrawarna @ Kuala Lumpur. Yesterday the Brunei delegates attended the presentations from Tourism Malaysia and other stakeholders to showcase what Malaysia can offer to the foreigners.

Around 125 foreign travel agents and media under its Mega Fam programme attended the session. The Mega Fam participants are from Brunei, Cambodia, China, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Laos, Maruitius, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.

I have to salute Dato’ Haji Azizan Noordin, Deputy Director General of Malaysia Tourism because of his deep knowledge on the statistics and findings on the attraction on Malaysia. He is like the google of Tourism Malaysia and he gave a very comprehensive presentation on Malaysia’s growth. His vision is to make sure that by year 2020 that Malaysia will have 36 million tourist with RM 128 billion. Last year, Malaysia earned RM 72 Billion in revenue from tourists.

The lunch was hosted by Dato’ Mizra Mohammad Taiyab, Director General of Tourism Malaysia at Sheraton Imperial Hotel KL. He thank all the media involved for their support and assistance in promoting Malaysia during Visit Malaysia Year 2014 and the current Malaysia Year of Festivals.

Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, Minister of Tourism and Culture of Malaysia having a good time on stage while celebrity Amelia Henderson looks at the crowd

I have been to many FAM trips but this is the first that I attended a Citrawarna event. Now what would my experience be? Totally worth it. I couldnt’ believe it was a free event too. The crowd was aplenty but it could have been more since it was held at Dataran Merdeka.

There was so much hype for last night’s Citrawarna for one reason – the involvement of Puan Sri Tiara Jacquelina, an award-winning producer, actress, singer and art enthusiast. Her direction of Citrawarna brought a different kind of flavour to the public, mixing the old and the new and making it relatable to showcase what Malaysia has to offer.

MUD the musical was excellent and I really have to salute the cast and the crew involved in this huge project. There were hardly any breaks and the energy of each acts just continued with strong momentums.

Datuk Aznil Nawawi, Amelia Henderson and Altimet

Depicting the sports promotion in Malaysia

The acrobatic feat by the cheerleaders

Now after many years of being just the usual 3-hour parade, the producer of this year’s Citrawarna opted for a larger stage to showcase the mega event. As you know, the Ministry of Tourism and Culture is the main organizer and hence the involvement of foreign media from all over the world. This shows how much such event can be for tourists especially. I’m surprised that I didn’t come across any Bruneian apart from my counterpart media buddies.

For your information, Citrawarna 2015 was delivered in 3 acts promoting different segments of tourism products, following the theme of Culture, Nature and Future. I love all the segments but personally the final one stood out for me. It was nice to see involvements of some celebrities such as Datuk Aznil Nawawi, Amelia Henderson, Altimet and Kamrul Bahri Hussin.

The showcase itself was already dazzling enough as they masterfully teased the audience with their lighting and sound powered by massive LED screens. The performances were continuous from one act to another and it ended with a display of fireworks.

Such celebration is necessary not only to promote Malaysia as a tourism destination but also calm the negative vibe that has been spreading and in turn, lift the spirit of Malaysians.

The guest of honour was Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, Minister of Tourism and Culture of Malaysia. Thank you, Tourism Malaysia for hosting us for this colourful, vibrant event. You can browse your Instragram and check out the hashtag #citrawarna for more images and videos.

The first half of the show I was viewing from here

The guy who started the selfie on stage before others followed suit

The fireworks display to end the show

The lady behind this year’s Citrawarna showcase – Puan Sri Tiara Jacquelina, CEO of Enfiniti Vision Media and Enfiniti Academy. She’s quite well known for producing movies such as Puteri Gunung Ledang. Good job on a spectacular show last night.

 

Ak Aziz Idris of Borneo Bulletin, Ak Md Fairol of Media Permata, Pg Hj Noorezamy Pg Hj Othman, Marketing Officer of Tourism Malaysia Brunei Darussalam, Cik Zurina And Samad, Director of Tourism Malaysia Brunei Darussalam, Faiq Airudin of The Brunei Times and myself before heading off to Kuala Lumpur for the Asean Media Bloggers Tourism Hunt 2015 yesterday

Yay!!! I believe this is my first Malaysia FAM trip of the year. FAM means familiarization trip but the same time, I’m gonna do something quite different because it will involved treasure hunt.. or perhaps in my view, their version of Amazing Race since it involves driving to different states such as Malacca and Negri Sembilan. This trip is also to mark the launch the yearly event which is the Citrawarna in Kuala Lumpur.

I will be focused on the treasure hunt which is named the ASEAN Media Bloggers Tourism Hunt 2015 which is hosted by Tourism Malaysia. The flag off will be tomorrow Sunday, 18th October in Kuala Lumpur and it will be a 3-day tourism hunt. I heard the prizes are fantastic and there are many delegates including Brunei Darussalam in the participation list. The Tourism Hunt will require use to drive around and yes, they will be providing us cars to roam around and we will be driving a Proton sedan car.

Representing Brunei Darussalam will be Aziz Idris (Borneo Bulletin), Ak Fairol (Media Permata), Faiq Airudin (The Brunei Times) and myself. I’m not sure what the stakes are but I believe this will be a fun, challenging activity but also testing out physical and mental strength throughout the 3 day tourism hunt.

A big thank you to Tourism Malaysia (Brunei) for another opportunity to be part of this event. Let’s see how my team will fare. You can follow me on Snapchat and instagram @ranoadidas for updates on my journey.

The usual spot to buy or top up our 3G line – Digi. The Maxis and other telcos seemed quieter.

The Awangkus taking the opportunity to take with the logo of Avenue K, located next to Corus Hotel.

Sight seeing around KLCC yesterday and the haze level isn’t as bad as previous weeks

Mr. Fairol and Mr. Faiq having a moment during lunch at Dondang Sayang Coffeehouse at Corus Hotel. Great lunch buffet. Love it.

My room at Corus Hotel. I would recommend you to check this hotel out. Spacious and it’s also convenient to walk over to KLCC Suria. Only a minor setback is the slow wifi.

Faiq trying out the Virtual reality game in the Spectre promotion roadshow at KLCC

The welcoming dinner for the Asean delegates hosted by Yang Berbahagia Dato’ Haji Azizan Noordin, Deputy-Director of General Tourism Malaysia and he can sing too (Black Magic Women)

I was given the chance to showcase my skills on the stage last night

I don’t know how I fared but I managed to get the loudest cheers especially from the Philippines *lol*