Algeria: Autumn - November 2025

I went to Tunisia back in 2015 and met a family of Algerians at the airport. They were so friendly. They invited us to visit their country saying how beautiful it is and how they welcome all visitors. At that point in time Algeria is not in Malaysians tour agencies list. The memory however stuck in my brain. 

After six years holiday hiatus, I found that the tourism landscape in Malaysia have changed significantly. Some tour companies sadly did not survive Covid. However, there are many new ones now. Most importantly there are many now that arrange tours to exotic countries. Countries that I never even dream of going before 😅 

I suppose when I put it out there that I want to reach 100 countries before I turn 60, the universe showed the way 😍

This trip was organised by IG Group Holidays Sdn Bhd. Thirteen days ten nights. Full board. RM12090 for solo traveller. RM10590 for twin sharing. All in price excluding travel insurance.

Our itinerary was as follows:

04 November 2025  Kuala Lumpur - Istanbul

05 November 2025  Istanbul - Algiers

06 November 2025  Algiers - Constantine

07 November 2025  Constantine

08 November 2025  Constantine - Biskra

09 November 2025  Biskra - Ghardaia

10 November 2025  Ghardaia

11 November 2025  Ghardaia - Timimoun

12 November 2025  Timimoun - Oran

13 November 2025  Oran - Tlemcen - Oran

14 November 2025  Oran - Chlef

15 November 2025  Chlef - Tipasa - Algiers - Istanbul

16 November 2025  Istanbul - Kuala Lumpur

My World Countdown:

I thought Algeria was my number #70. After making a new target of 100 countries by 60, I figured I better make sure my calculation is right. Don't want to celebrate reaching the target only to find out that I was short 😂

Coincidentally at the same time, a couple of my friends suggested that I used some travel apps to calculate the countries. So I tried two apps. Funnily different apps gave different numbers. Why am I not surprise that we, the earthlings can't even agree on the number of countries on earth? 😅

I always thought that it was 198. It turns out United Nation's official sovereign countries are only 195. The extra three are Taiwan, Kosovo and Western Sahara, according to ChatGPT "Some media outlets, travel websites, educational sources, and private organisations (like certain atlases or country lists) use 198 in informal global listings."

Needless to say, I will follow United Nation's official number. As such, Algeria will be my #67. I have to remove Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau from my calculation 😭 

I suppose this is a blessing in disguise. Now I know that Tibet, Greenland and Antarctica are not separate countries. Southern Cyprus is a country not their northern counterpart. Dublin is in country Ireland but Belfast, Northern Ireland is part of United Kingdom. I thought it was the other way round 😅 From now onwards I will check the UN list first before booking my flight tickets or tours 😋

POST MORTEM (Updated on 30 November 2025)

Tour Company:

My first time with IG Group Holidays. Very easy to deal with. Their support staff are fabulous. Very fast response to any queries. Well done!

Itinerary:

For Algeria, IGGH have two tours. Mono Algeria and Algeria + Tunisia. Since I've been to Tunisia before, I've decided to go in depth Algeria this time round. I found the itinerary quite relaxing despite long journey in between cities. We had enough time to rest.  We arrived at the hotels mostly before dark so plenty of time to take a bath and a short nap if you so desired before having leisurely dinners. 

Places of attractions we visited for me were ok but if you have issues with hiking and going up and down the stairs, then maybe some places visited were a bit challenging. You can just stay on the van surfing the internet. Thus it is recommended to get yourself eSim data plan. It helps while away the time spend on long journey 😅

Another thing, for visits to the mosques it is not enough to just cover your hair. You must make sure you wear loose pants and blouse. If you like to wear leggings like me better to bring your own loose long robe if you wish to visit the mosque. The mosques did provide you with the "jubah" and scarfs but I don't find it very hygienic and comfortable. Better to bring your own.

Outside the mosques compound, the locals don't really care what the tourists wear so long as it is not too revealing. So no off shoulder tops and short skirts. The sun is pretty hot, so why take the risk of sun burn? Better to cover the skin 😋

In Timimoun we were joined by a cameraman cum journalist from a local TV station. Tourists are a rare phenomena at these desert cities thus news worthy 😆 

Airlines:

We flew to Algiers via Turkish Airlines. It has been awhile since I had a stopover at Istanbul. The Ataturk International Airport is so huge now. Most importantly the security checks for the transit passengers are very smooth. Well done Istanbul! My only gripe is the price for everything there are so expensive. All priced in Euro 😅

04 November 2025  TK61      KUL-IST    23:45. 06.05(+1)

05 November 2025  TK651    IST-ALG    08:40. 10:35

12 November 2025  AH6379 TMX-ORN 14:00. 16:10

15 November 2025  TK654    ALG-IST    17:45. 23:25

16 November 2025  TK60      IST-KUL    02:00. 17:20

We had a domestic Air Algerie flight from Timimoun to Oran using a regional aircraft ATR-72. A propeller plane, felt like flying in a WW2 movies 😂 The journey was only two hours so we were pleasantly surprised to be served tasty snacks and drinks 👏🏻

Tour Leader Coordinator:

We had a very capable tour leader by the name Riz. If I were to rate him solely on competency, I would rate him a solid A. There were much to like about his style. 

The one I like most was the local currency cash advance of DZD2000 that he gave to each one of us at the start of the tour. Just in case we want to buy something prior to him getting us the local money. In my more than two decades of travel via tour agencies, this is the first. Well done! This should be made the industry practice😋 He then arranged to exchange our USD to Algerian Dinar using a more favourable rate of USD10=DZD2000 instead of the Google rate USD15.

I also like his time management. Very clear and enough time allocated to do sight seeing and take photos. Tidbits given on the van during the long journey and extra snacks to tide us before our next meal were very much appreciated. On the last day he provided us with a light lunch, which was not in the itinerary. 

Having said that, I simply cannot ignore his major fault of subjecting us, his paying customers, to his daily lectures as though we were probie travellers. Because of this, I will rate him B. He offended simply too many people in the group for me to rate him higher. Funnily over my two decades of travels, this level of arrogance, sarcasm and "loyar buruk"ness from a Tour Leader, excuse me, Tour Coordinator was also a first 😅

He did say "Bukan tugas saya untuk buat anda semua bahagia sebab itu akan buat hidup saya sengsara". I have to write this in Malay, it sounded more poetic 😂 Basically what he is trying to say is his job is to make sure we covered all itineraries in a timely and safe manner, not to help us carry our bags or help us negotiate the challenging terrain. According to him, if you cannot carry your own bags then you shouldn't be bringing that bag in the first place. Which I totally agree. So I get where he came from but when you are working in a service industry, if you have nothing good to say, maybe it is better not to say anything at all. 

Local Tour Guide:

Our local guy is Elyas. Very nice and helpful chap. I will rate him A 🤗 He will patiently explain the history and then he will quiz us. Felt sorry when we couldn't answer his questions half of the time. Too many wars too many empires too many centuries. Even the nerd in me cannot keep track of all the dates 😅 What I can say is the Algerians went through a lot of hardships over the centuries of their existence and I respect that instead of turning bitter, they are still one of the nicest people on earth. They are not weak or naive, just genuinely kind and friendly. To me that what matters most 😍 

Bus:

Since there were only eight of us plus another two from IGGH, we used a Merc mini van as our mode of transport. The size was just nice for our group. Most of the time it was ok. At one point in time I think the air con was not working, luckily the temperature outside was not too hot.

Bus Driver:

I cannot remember how many drivers we had. Minimum two. One was with us from Algiers to Timimoun. He didn't follow when we flew to Oran. From Oran to Algiers I'm not sure whether it was the same driver or not throughout the rest of the trip.  All were very good drivers. Smooth safe journey 🥰

Hotels: 

We stayed in seven hotels in ten nights.

New Day Hotel, Algiers

Novotel, Constantine

Viscera Hotel, Biskra

Villa Tezribt, Ghardaia

Gourara Hotel, Timimoun

Sofihotel, Oran

Hotel La Vallee, Chlef

What can I say? The hotels are tourist standard. The rooms at the big cities are slightly better than the ones in the outskirts. As our Tour Coordinator loved to say "adjust your expectations" 😆

Hotel Breakfasts:

Pretty good buffet breakfast at the city hotels, a bit basic at the outskirts. They have an Algerian version of roti canai. Great coffees. Tasty breads. Wonderful fresh dates. At one place they even gave us chocolates for breakfast 👏🏻

Lunches:

Mostly simple local dish. The food served varies. Most of the time it was good. Need to put on record, I love the baguettes! Their grilled meat needs improvements though. Too tough. We ended up fighting with our food 😂 Maybe they can learn from the Moroccans on how to grill a perfect meat. I like their homegrown brand Hamoud lemon flavoured carbonated soft drink 😍 The fruits juices served were good too.

Dinners:

We mostly had dinners at the hotel restaurants except one time when our TC tapau for us Mexican food. The buffet dinners were good, the sit-downs were ok. I noticed that we wasted a lot of food during sit-down meals. The locals must think Malaysians are picky eaters 🥴 Thank God we had couscous dish only once throughout the trip. That is one too many of you ask me 😅

Rapport With Fellow Travellers:

Fantastic group of people. All are seasoned travellers. Pretty awesome to hear about their travel experiences. One of them, a 75 year old lady have been to 95 countries, Algeria is her number 96. She inspires me to go to 100 countries by 60. One guy went on a 90++ day Peace Boat Cruise to the northern hemisphere. Another guy with an aid of a cane proved the adage "where there is a will, there is a way". Respect!

Timing:

Good timing to go. The temperature was pretty moderate. You can survive with thin clothing. Less weight to carry 😋

Overall:

An enjoyable trip. Gorgeous photos. No regrets. Syukur alhamdulillah 😍

Note: If you ever read my blog posts before you will notice that I never shared my own personal photos. After my long holiday hiatus, I've decided to make a change. The photos are simply too good for just my own personal viewing. They might inspire people to visit more exotic countries 😄

I've uploaded all the photo videos of the trip in my IG account mkhasha.n.travels and photo videos of the food at mkhasha.n.food 😀 Do check it out.

Hashtags specific for this trip:
#mks2025Algeria #mks20251104 #mks20251105 #mks20251106 #mks20251107 #mks20251108 #mks20251109 #mks20251110 #mks20251111 #mks20251112 #mks20251113 #mks20251114 #mks20251115 #mks20251116

Njoy!

China: Autumn - October 2025

The last time I went to Mainland China was back in 2003. We went to Beijing then. Since it has been awhile, we decided to go to Shanghai. My mom wanted to go to the Bund 😋

I don't mind going to China again. I wanted to see the difference in 20 years. We were not disappointed. The city was very modern and clean, the facilities were great. Our bus was new. Our hotels have bathrooms with heated toilet seats 😍

Having said that, my mom and I unanimously agreed that this trip is the worst trip ever in our decades of travels. We came back sick and tired despite only spending four nights there. Until now I am still puzzled why a short trip to a modern city ended up on a bad note.

Could it be because of the unseen pollution that we ended up sick?  Could it be because the itinerary was too packed? Could it be because the food were bland and monotonous? Could it be because of the time wasting compulsory shops that we must go? Could it be because of the traffic jam and short daylight hours? I don't know. Maybe the simple reason could be the city felt just like Kuala Lumpur. There were no "excitement" factors to balance the shortcomings.

Looking back at the photos taken, it should by right be an enjoyable short trip. The food were plentiful and the restaurants fancy. The places visited were interesting. Good rapport with other travellers in the group. And yet... 🤔

The trip was organised by Tripfez Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd. Five days four nights. Full board. All in price was RM3080/person. Twin sharing.

The itinerary was as follows:
21 October 2025  Kuala Lumpur - Shanghai - Suzhou
22 October 2025  Suzhou - Hangzhou
23 October 2025  Hangzhou - Shanghai
24 October 2025  Shanghai
25 October 2025  Shanghai - Kuala Lumpur

My World Countdown:

Since both me and my mom have been to China before, there is no increase in our world countdown. I am still at 66 and my mom 55.

Note: Recently we recalculated the number of countries we've been to based on United Nation's recognised 195 countries. Thus a slight discrepancies from blog posts before Covid 😅 We have to remove Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau from the calculation.

POST MORTEM (Updated 1 November 2025)

Tour Company:
Our first time with Tripfez Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd.  Easy to deal with. Pretty efficient. I noticed from their advertisements in IG,  their tour packages might get cheaper nearer the departure dates. So if you have no need to plan way in advance, it is worthwhile to do the booking last minute.

Itinerary:
Very packed and rushed. Daylight ended at 5++ pm. We did not have enough time to rest. On day one we arrived at our hotel close to 11 pm! Subsequent days were no better around 10+/+ pm. On day four we were suppose to reach the hotel before dark, we even decided not to have dinner at the restaurant so that we can go back early and rest. Unfortunately we still ended up arriving late due to the traffic jam.

Airlines:
We flew via Malaysia Airlines 😍

21 October 2025  MH388  KUL-PVG  0840  1415
25 October 2025  MH389  PVG-KUL  1525  2100

I just wished that the group meeting time was not so early. We were to gather at the airport at 4.40 am, 4 hours before departure. Prior to Covid it was only 3 hours. This could also be the reason why the trip was such a failure, lack of sleep and rest on the first and subsequent days thereafter.

Tour Leader:
A nice young man by the name of Syahmi. Unfortunately he didn't have any real "power" in this trip so I will rate him B-. He tried to convey our complaints to the Local Tour Guide but to no avail.

Local Tour Guide:
An experienced lady by the name of Tracy, de facto leader of this trip. I will rate her C-. Her behaviour was superficial, not helpful at all and her time management was terrible. Enough said.

Bus:
The bus was fantastic. New. You can practically smell the leather 😋

Bus Driver:
Our bus driver was nice. Can be a bit grumpy sometimes coz he didn't really get along well with our tour guide 😅 At one time he and the tour guide engaged in an open argument in front of us. They spoke in Mandarin without knowing that some of us can understand their conversations 😂

Hotels:
We stayed at three separate hotels. 

Holiday Inn Express, Suzhou

Meihao Lizhi Hotel, Hangzhou

Licheng Hotel Duhui Road, Shanghai

The rooms were ok. The showers were great. All bathrooms came with heated toilet seats 😋

Hotel Breakfasts:
Breakfasts in Suzhou and Hangzhou were good. Breakfasts in Shanghai were horrible. Limited halal food to eat. The coffee machine was broken. We tried to tell the hotel workers about it but they can't understand English at all. Seriously? How can you messed up something basic as serving coffee during breakfast? They didn't even have tea bags!! In China!!! On the second day I brought my own tea bag to breakfast just in case the coffee machine was still broken. True enough. At least I got my daily fix of hot drinks 😅

Lunches:
We had rice plus many kinds of side dishes at a proper halal restaurants. Unfortunately same type of food served in different restaurants at different cities. When we brought the issue up to the tour leader, the tour guide said that for Muslim tour that is the only kind of food served. Seriously? When we can see the same halal restaurants sold noodles and kebabs? Obviously there was no effort whatsoever to ensure we enjoyed diverse culinary experience during the trip.

Dinners:
We had the same kind of food as lunches. Sometimes even at the same restaurant! By day three, I think most tour members couldn't stomach it anymore so one dinner instead of eating at the restaurant we asked the tour guide to tapau the food for us and brought it to the hotel. Some of us took a little bit for dinner and the bulk of the meals were given to the hotel staff who thankfully enjoyed it 😅 

Tripfez should consider making this tour half board. No dinner, just late lunch. Repetitive food once a day is easier to stomach than twice a day. They should also arrange for us to have breakfasts at halal restaurants instead of at the hotels we stayed in where the halal selections are so limited. Why paid for food that we mostly cannot eat? Maybe they then can reduce the price of the tour, more money for shopping which is always a plus with Malaysians 😋 

Rapport With Fellow Travellers:
They were all nice and friendly people from diverse background. First time we joined a group with an infant. It was quite entertaining to see some of the antics of the toddler 😂

Timing:
If you asked ChatGPT, our timing was good but I beg to differ. I hate it when the sunset is at 5++pm. It was so depressing to get stuck in Shanghai traffic jam after sun down. There were hardly any autumn leaves either during this time. So maybe the best time to go is in April, spring season and sunset is later at 6++pm.

Overall:
Should be a short and sweet holiday in between longer overseas trips. Instead it was anything but. The meals were epic fail. There were so many people everywhere you go. The time allocated to take photos were limited. The time spent on time wasting compulsory shops were too much. We spent a lot of time stuck in Shanghai traffic jam. Not enough time to rest and savour the moment. Frankly, the best time of the trip was the time to go back home 😅 Syukur alhamdulillah 😍

I have uploaded the daily food videos at my IG account (mkhasha.n.food) and daily travel videos at mkhasha.n.travels.

Hashtags specific to the trip:
#mks2025China #mks20251021 #mks20251022 #mks20251023 #mks20251024 #mks20251025

Njoy!

Central Asia: Autumn - October 2025

I signed up for this trip to Kazakhstan & Kyrgyzstan with zero expectation, did not even do any research and was pleasantly surprised with how gorgeous both countries are.

Loved that both countries are kept clean by the people so that their natural beauty are not tarnished. The roads from one city to the next are still work in progress, there are some stretches of gravel roads but the surrounding views are so fantastic that you don't really care. I predict that if they stayed on course they are going to be tourism powerhouses in years to come. A must visit countries in every world travellers' lists 😍

This tour was from 2-12 October 2025. Eleven days and nine nights. Full board. It was organised by Jeju Muslim Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd. Solo tour price was RM9950. Twin sharing was RM8600/person. 

The reason why I decided to join this tour is because they don't stay in a yurt (with shared bathroom). Accomodations were all in rooms with attached bathrooms. 

Our itinerary was as follows:

02 October 2025 Kuala Lumpur - Almaty
03 October 2025 Almaty - Bishkek
04 October 2025 Bishkek - Ala Archa - Bishkek
05 October 2025 Bishkek - Chon Kemin Village
06 October 2025 Chon Kemin - Issyk Kul - Bokonbaevo - South Beach
07 October 2025 South Beach - Barskoon Gorge - Jetty Orguz - Karakol
08 October 2025 Karakol
09 October 2025 Karakol - Charyn Canyon
10 October 2025 Charyn Canyon - Almaty
11 October 2025 Almaty - Kuala Lumpur
12 October 2025 Kuala Lumpur

My World Countdown:

Recently tried using apps to count how many countries I've been to. Different apps gave different numbers 😅 So decided to do manual calculation based on United Nation recognised sovereign countries, 195 in total. 193 member states and 2 observer states.

Thus, inclusive of my home country Malaysia, prior to this trip I have reached 64 countries (not 67 😭). Therefore Kazakhstan is #65 and Kyrgyzstan #66. 

POST MORTEM (Updated 1 November 2025)

Tour Company: 
My first time with Jeju Muslim. Quite happy with their service. I think their trips are mostly value for money. Might join their Pakistan trip in the future if the price and timing is right.

Itinerary:
Pretty good. Loved that we checked in direct to the hotel in Almaty on the first day instead of immediately went on a city tour or something. Gave us a bit of time to recover from the long journey. The schedule was also not too rushed, we had enough time to take pictures and shopping 😍 I would recommend that if you wish to shop for dried fruits, fresh fruits, nuts and chocolates, do it on the last day of the trip at the Green Market, Almaty, Kazakhstan. The quality is better there than at the market in Kyrgyzstan AND most importantly you do not have to carry it across the border 😋 No need to change too much Kyrgyz Som. Better to have more Kazakh Tenge.

Airlines:
We flew direct from Kuala Lumpur to Almaty (vice versa) via Air Asia X.

02 October 2025  D7 600 KUL-ALA 12:30  17:40

11 October 2025  D7 601 ALA-KUL 19:00  06.10(+1)

No food provided but Jeju Muslim did ask if we wish to order food, need to pay them extra. I decided not to preorder coz now preorder did not include drinks. You can just order ala carte. It is easier to just purchase the combo meals + desserts on the airplane 🤩

Tour Leader:
Jeju's tour leader was a lady named Fiffy. She took so many videos and pictures of us. My phone was flooded with hundreds of pictures and videos during and after the trip 😅 She also brought us to some interesting places near the hotel after we checked in for the night. I will rate her service B+ 😄

Local Tour Guide:
Our local guide is a Kyrgyz national. His name is Akyl. I don't really understand his English some of the time 😅 but helpful and hardworking. Sometimes he made jokes that took sometime to understand 😋 I didn't join optional tour to Altyn Arashan, I liked that he was quite flexi. Gave me cash to pay for my own lunch in Karakol. I had a good Korean lunch in a nice restaurant (while I was exploring the city on my own) complete with desserts and coffee (need to top up my own cash a bit tho 😅). I will rate his service A- 😁

Bus:
The buses allocated to us was comfortable. We had maybe five separate buses, four in Kazakhstan and one in Kyrgyzstan. More buses in Kazakh because of the short transit from airport to hotel to border (vice versa). We had a dedicated bus in Kyrgyz. Very comfortable. The only gripe was the bus was not cleaned throughout our days in Kyrgyz, full of dust and sand 😆 The windows were dirty which was a pity coz the views were fantastic. 

Bus Drivers:
Pretty good driving. No issue. Funnily I cannot even remember our drivers in Kazakh. Too many and over short distance. Our driver in Kyrgyz cannot speak English I think so we just smiled and do sign language if needed to communicate 😅

Hotels:
Main reason why I chose Jeju instead of other tour agency was they provided comfortable rooms with attached bathroom throughout the trip. No sleeping in a yurt or guesthouse with shared bathrooms. We stayed at four hotels and two guesthouses. All accomodations are good. Well done Jeju!

Hotel Regardal, Almaty

My Hotel, Bishkek

AK Maral Hotel, Karakol

Jekson Guesthouse, Chin Kemin Village

Utes Hotel, Issyk Kul Lake

Eli Agayindy Guesthouse, Saty Village

Hotel Breakfasts:
Buffet selections were very good in city hotels. Sit in breakfasts at the guesthouses were not too bad. I find it interesting that they served sweets, marshmallows and chocolates (beside the usual eggs, bread etc) for breakfast 😂 A few tour members were seen to eat instant noodles brought from home during breakfast 😅

Lunches:
The food were generally good. Recommended to bring chilli sauce or sambal to enhance the taste, if you're fussy eaters. We had three times buffet style cafeteria. Twice for lunch and once for dinner. First time most tour members took too much, so much wastage. We were also not aware that there are microwaves to heat the food if it was not hot or warm enough. I hate cold dish so I did not enjoy the food at all the first time. Luckily after that I found out about the microwave so the food tasted a lot better 😍 The sit in lunch menu were simple but nice. No complaints.

Dinners:
I liked that they provided varieties. Sometimes you ate in a yurt, sometimes in hotels some other time in restaurants. Choices of food also varies. Some they pre ordered for you, other time they allowed you to order what you wanted to eat yourselves. Very good Jeju! Just to highlight, at the guesthouse near the lake, the apple cake dessert we had for dinner was to die for! So delish 😍🥰❤️

Rapport With Fellow Travellers:
Wonderful group of people. Very sporting and friendly. All are seasoned travellers so very mindful of time. Nobody got lost or not punctual. Some are excellent photographers, learnt quite a few tricks from them 😍 We had such a marvellous time together time simply flew by and it was time to go back home 😭. 

Timing:
October was a great month to visit this region. The weather was rather pleasant. Some places you can witness gorgeous autumn leaves. Recommended!

Overall:
The sceneries were fantastic, the food were good, the tour was enjoyable and smooth sailing, the tour members were marvellous and we all arrived safely at home. Syukur alhamdulillah 🥰 I will recommend this trip to all my friends. Worth every penny!

I have uploaded sceneries videos of the trip at my IG account mkhasha.n.travels and food videos at mkhasha.n.food. Do check it out.

Hashtags specific to the trip:
#mks2025CentralAsia #mks2025Kazakhstan #mks2025Kyrgyzstan #mks20251002 #mks20251003 #mks20251004 #mks20251005 #mks20251006 #mks20251007 #mks20251008 #mks20251009 #mks20251010 #mks20251011 #mks20251012 

Njoy!