Posted by azuan in :: All Posts ::, Featured Articles on 09 6th, 2010 | 3 responses

Since I caught the blogging bug in 2004, AzuanZahdi.com has been the home to many of my travel tales capturing the special moments that tell stories of me exploring cities all over the globe.

Like they said “there is no place like home” and believing in this I’ve dedicated the year 2010 for me to travel across my home country Malaysia. The plan has brought me to Langkawi, Kelantan, Kedah, Johore and more. Little that I realized that I’ve missed a state, my own home state, Selangor!

The more I travel, the more I appreciate being at home. All my travelling to other states in Malaysia assured me of one fact; I actually love my own home state SELANGOR the most!

How can I NOT love Selangor? This is the place that I was born, raised up, had my primary and secondary school education and even where I got my first degree and MBA from. On top of all this, I now work within the boundaries of this state!

Selangor provides abundant opportunities for family activities, business, medical, shopping and feel-good fun and play. Without realizing, for the last 29 years I’ve actually ‘traveled and toured’ Selangor like no others!

I want to fall in love with Selangor once again. With Tourism Selangor organizing the MY SELANGOR STORY contest to promote Selangor, I feel obliged to participate. This is the opportunity that I’ve been waiting. That ONE REASON for me to take leave (boss has approved! ) and explore my own backyard.

Why Me? What makes AzuanZahdi.com qualify as the final 30 bloggers selected? Without “masuk bakul, angkat sendiri”, allow me to answer why.

a) My passion for TRAVEL, PHOTOGRAPHY and BLOGGING – I always write detailed reviews with lots of photos. I am excited with the prospect to put my three favorite things at one place for MySelangorStory!

b) I go beyond the normal sightseeing path! I believe that to best appreciate Selangor, one has to go off the beaten path and experience both the modern and rural side of this culturally diversified state.

c) I participate when I travel – From playing football with locals to eating local food, I utilize all my senses when I travel and blog to fully appreciate an experience. No such things as “No, thanks” when it comes to trying something new.

d) A Selangor-ian visiting Selangor!!
Why not? The way I see it, it adds a pinch of flavor to the other 29 bloggers in making MySelangorStory an interesting campaign with stories from the perspective of someone who sees the state becoming what it is today

If I’m selected as the final 30, I promise to put my ‘Kimora personality’ hat on and have fun-filled blog posts, photos, videos and tweets that by the end of the contest, people actually will see the magic of Selangor beyond the ordinary sights.

Thank you for your votes.

If you remember the 70′s, you’ll remember Lobo. Real name Roland Kent Lavoie; this American singer-songwriter has win fans all over the world with his folksy country tune. This have earned him several U.S. Top 10 Hits with songs such as “Me and You and a Dog Named Boo”, “I’d Love You To Want Me” , “The end of the world” and “Don’t Expect Me To Be Your Friend” among others.
Roland Kent Lavoie, stage name Lobo. He has born in Tallahassee, Florida on July 31, 1943. Lobo is an American singer-songwriter who was successful in the early 1970s. He began his musical career in 1961 as a member of a local band, The Rumours. By 1971, Lavoie had started calling himself Lobo, means wolf in Spanish. Kent released his first major record under the name Lobo. “Me And You And A Dog Named Boo” was release in April on the Big Tree label. This became Big Tree’s first major hit. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc in September 1971.
Lobo was previously in the Arena of Stars, Genting Highland back in 2006 and the response from fans was more than overwhelming. And now, he is readying his guitar as he is back once again at the Arena of Stars on the 15th of October, 2010. Lobo Live in Malaysia 2010 is one of the many tour dates of his “Lobo Asia Tour”.

Friday, 20/08/10 – 10:41AM Filed in Blog by yangching | Views: 1110 | Comments: 0

Many of us love to holiday abroad, but have we really given due consideration to exploring our own backyard? Here’s your chance, in an all-expenses paid trip via the My Selangor Story competition where 30 bloggers from Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia explore Selangor for 4 days, thanks to Tourism Selangor and Horizon Communications.

To launch and officiate the My Selangor Story bloggers competiton, the Selangor Chairperson of Standing Committee of Tourism, Consumer Affairs, and Environment, YB Elizabeth Wong, said proudly, “The first half of this year has seen more than three million visitors which is very encouraging.” So hopefully, this competition will help promote Selangor as a destination for tourists.

These 30 shortlisted bloggers will compete with each other to churn out the best documentation of their trip – their own Selangor story. They will be judged according to creativity in presenting their adventures in Selangor; the popularity of their blogs in terms of traffic flow and comments; entertaining and quality audiovisual uploads of their exciting activities; and most importantly, the relevancy of their commentary on Selangor as based on their experiences.

As their trip progresses, the bloggers will be required to create a daily three-minute video diary that documents their activities for that day, which will be uploaded on YouTube, and its link posted on the official My Selangor Story website. Readers will be able to vote for their favourite blog on the same website too, and the judges will then decide which blogger deserves to win the Grand Prize of RM2,500 and a return trip for two, to visit Selangor once again, and a Pentax camera worth RM1,099, among others. Prizes will also be awarded to the First Runner Up, Second Runner Up, and those with the Most Creative Blog, Best Write-Up, Best Video, Most Interactive Blog, and Best Photos, exclusively.

All 30 bloggers will be travelling in style, too. BMW has sponsored 30 cars for these bloggers to drive to their destinations (Kuala Selangor Nature Park, Genting Highlands, Sunway Lagoon, and Ampang Lookout Point, to name a few), Pentax will be providing high-quality cameras to record and photograph their experiences, and for bloggers in Singapore and Indonesia, they will be flown in courtesy of Firefly.

Interested? Then all you need to have is an active personal blog, be a resident of Malaysia, Singapore or Indonesia, and of course, have an interest in travelling and a taste for adventure! Get your game face on, and upload a 60-second video of yourself on YouTube that will convince the judging committee to pick you. Alternatively, you could send in a 300-word (no more) essay. Register by filling in the entry form on the My Selangor Story website, attach the link to the form, and wait for the call. The closing date for entries is 5 September 2010, and the 30 selected bloggers will be announced on 13 September 2010 with the travelling period to Selangor scheduled to take place from 24 – 27 September 2010.

Further, these 30 bloggers will be provided with items in the form of merchandise or vouchers from the official sponsors, which they will auction off on their blogs. All proceeds from the respective online auctions will go to charity organisations of Tourism Selangor’s choice.

Visit their official website at www.myselangorstory.com, or visit their Facebook fanpage by searching for “My Selangor Story”, and follow them on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MYselangorstory.