About ME
How I ended up building this website ....
.... and owning a profitable online business.
About ME
Hi, my name is Choon Aun or CA. It is a Chinese name meaning peaceful spring. I am a Malaysian of Chinese origin. My grandparents first came to Malaysia in the in the late 1800s. It was then Colonial British Malaya.
They came from the southern Chinese province of Fujian, and were Hokkien. The Hokkien are one of the many Chinese dialect groups that came to Malaya and settled down here.
Both my paternal and maternal grandparents came as coolies or laborers. They worked hard and became successful traders and owned large tracks of land in the northern part of the Peninsula Malaya. Unfortunately, my family is a good example of the Chinese sayings that the cycle of wealth last no more than four generations. In our case it did not last even that long.
Both my dad and my mom are from the beautiful island of Penang. During the Second World War, my dad was with the Royal Air Force and was one of the Prisoners Of War that survived the infamous Japanese torture. He told us many things that were done to the POWs and I can still remember some of them. We will leave this story for another day.
After the war he joined the Malaysian Royal Customs or Kastam DiRaja Malaysia. During his service with the Royal Customs, he served in Seremban, Johor Baru or JB, Kuala Trengganu or KT, Alor Star, and finally back to Penang. I was born in 1961, during his stint in JB. Two of my other brothers were also born in JB. I am the last in the family of nine siblings.
Already traveling at 7 days old
I lived there for only seven days. We then traveled in an overnight train to KT. I still remember being told about flying 'green bombs' that flew out of the train window that night. I can imagine the difficulty my parents and siblings underwent during the journey as there was no direct trains from JB to KT, what more, with a 7-day old baby. We had to change trains at Gemas to go to Kota Baru and then travel by road to KT. You can imagine the journey of a young family with nine children.
Monsoons spared us
We lived in KT for about 3 years. I really don't remember a thing about my early childhood there. But my mum often told that we were really lucky when we were there. You see, in those days, the east coast of the Malay Peninsula was known for its annual floods due to the monsoons. KT is coastal town right in the path of the Northeast Monsoon which happens from November to February every year. And every year, during the monsoons, many lives and properties were due lost to the floods.
Miraculously, there was no flooding all the 3 years we were there. There was a very severe flood the year after we left Kuala Trengganu. By the way, that's where my wife is from. However, we certainly did not meet then ;).
Paddy fields and the giant tortoise
My dad's next posting was to Alor Star, Kedah. It is also known as the Rice Bowl of Malaysia. That's because it has the largest paddy fields in Malaysia. We lived in the area known as Kampong Kastam or Custom Village which had a large paddy field. I remember flying kites and catching tadpoles there.
We also had a giant tortoise living with us for a couple of years. It was certainly bigger than a 4 year old boy, and I was able to ride on it. I also remember whenever it rained heavily; the paddy fields would be flooded. We were be able to catch live fishes from the drain in front of our house for dinner. It was a happy childhood. We lived in Alor Star for 3 years.
Growing up in Penang
We then moved to Penang where I did all my schooling. It was before the Penang Bridge, the 4th longest cable-stayed bridge in the world, was built. I started schooling in Glugor Primary School or Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan Glugor. It was a small co-ed school.
I learnt to ride bicycle then. But I had to walk to school as we were not able to afford bicycles then. And it was a pleasant 30 minutes walk. It goes down the valley and across to the other side of the hill where the school was located. I walked past many cows in the valley everyday. There were so many cows there that a road there was named Jalan Tahi Lembu or Cow Dung Road. This place is now made infamous with the Kg. Pala political saga or the Penang High Chaperel.
I remember every weekend my mum would prepare nasi lemak or steamed rice with coconut milk, and other yummy stuff for our picnic. We would drive about an hour to reach our favorite beach in Tanjung Bunga called the Shamrock Beach. It was a quiet stretch of beach with lots of rocks. We would spend the whole day there before going home.
Moving to Tanjung Bunga or Cape of Flowers
Many years later, we bought a house in Tanjung Bunga. And guess what? We stopped going to the beach. Life is sometimes funny. We cherish things that are far away and difficult to obtain. And when we have them, we don't cherish them so much anymore.
It was during my secondary school in the 70s that had the era of the hippies and the Hari Rama Hari Krishna's. It was probably the height of tourism for Penang too, though not of the right kind. Being boys and very curious about life, I remember cycling with a bunch of school friends towards the Batu Ferringhi Beach. There we would sneak up toward the cliff or rocks.
We would hide behind bushes or trees and spy on these hippies who were either making out or were sunbathing in the nude. I can remember the thrill and excitement we had during those days. There were no internet or computer games then. Luckily we were never caught, or maybe the hippies didn't mind us learning about the facts of life.
Another fun activity was to go camping at Pantai Kerachut. This is an isolated beach facing the Andaman Sea. We had to hike about an hour through dense tropical rainforest to reach it from Teluk Bahang. It is now officially marked as part of Penang's Permanent Forest Reserve and Nature Park.
I spent almost every weekend there during my sixth form, or grade 12, days with some school friends who were just as crazy about camping. And we never bring along with us any tents for our camping trips. We just slept on the beach, directly under the stars and moon at night. If it rains we would seek shelter under the cover of trees and rocks.
We only brought rice, eggs, sardin cans and baked beans. There was a fresh water stream where we obtained our drinking water from. We would also fish from the sea. Groupa was my favorite. It came straight from the sea and into the pan. How much fresher can it get?
I must say growing up in the 70s was really fun and life was idyllic during those days. There was not much cars on the roads. Traffic jams were unheard of. However with the completion of the Penang Bridge in 1985, everything changed. The population and traffic increased tremendously.
Working in Kuala Lumpur
By then I was already working in Kuala Lumpur as a medical representative or medical detailer. Some call us licensed drug pushers. The job allowed me to travel the whole of Malaysia, including to Sabah and Sarawak and even Brunei. I even got to visit all the small towns and villages there.
I loved the traveling and income was good. However, I was bored of always having to wait for hours to see the doctors to sell them drugs. There were some very nice doctors who treated us reps well. And there were some who were outright crooks who only wanted our samples which they converted to stocks to sell to their patients. Malaysia does not have dispensing rights for the pharmacist or chemist. Doctors have the right to diagnose and dispense medicine here. Well I guess you crooks in all professions.
I have also been in the insurance industry, worked as a marine surveyor, sold cars and real estate. I was involved in direct selling and multilevel marketing too. I was also employed as a network administrator for a multinational company for many years. I must admit that it was difficult for me to hold down a job for long. I get bored easily.
With a group of British senior citizens from Saga Holidays at a rubber plantation.
Finding the right occupation...
I told myself that I must find something I can do that I'd be happy doing for the rest of my life. Tourism in Malaysia was then booming and had become a very important industry. I have always loved traveling. Remember, I started traveling when only 7 days old?
In 1992 I took the tourist guides' course to become a Malaysian tour guide. The tour guiding profession is highly regulated, which is a good thing for the country and the industry. I have been guiding since then and would continue to do so as long as I am capable and have the time. Tour guiding is also sometimes called the 'happy profession'. That's because we are happiest when our guest are happy. Fortunately Malaysia has what it takes to make enough tourists happy and want to come back.
It is a great job and allows me to meet people from all over the world without having to go there myself. I must say I've learned just as much about the different cultures of people from different countries as they have from me. Sharing and comparing are great ways for learning.
With a group of family friends from America on the island of Redang.
I have wanted to set up a website to share useful information about Malaysia. A site where visitors can find useful and interesting information about Malaysia. However, I didn't know how to go about it.
Last year while searching for some information about Penang, I stumbled upon Site Build It or SBI for short. It helps people like me who wants to turn a hobby, passion or skill into a viable online business. I didn't know that one can make money with almost any topic with a website. All I wanted to do then was to share useful information about Malaysia.
The Malaysian Explorer was born, built with SBI.
SBI took me by the hand and taught me step by step everything I needed to know about building a profitable online business, not just build a website. It helped me to refine my topics, built it, get traffic to it, and then to even teach me how to make money with it. Initially I was skeptical if one can actually earn money from the internet. I have heard about it before but did not really believe it myself.
I started this Malaysian Explorer website in September 2008. By early 2009 it was already making money. Now I make more money with it than my regular tour guiding job. I just write about something I know of and love. And it is genuinely helping people get to know Malaysia better. What more can I hope for?
It is interesting to note that my traveling, research and cost of operating this website is actually tax deductible.
It was quite tough in the first two months. There was so much to learn and do. But it did not feel like work as I was doing something I truly love. And I did it all during my spare time and at home where I could be close to my family.
Just like me, thousands of other successful website owners have turned their hobby, passion, knowledge or skill into profitable online businesses.
You too can turn them into a profitable online business. The main thing is it is totally risk free. SBI has a full money back guarantee. They are happy for you to try it out and see if you like it.
You can check this Video Tour to get an idea of how it works. If you're on a slower or dial-up internet connection, perhaps the Quick Tour would be better.
Also have a look at this: hundreds of successful SBI websites, built by normal people like you and me. All of these sites rank in the top 1% of the most successful websites on the internet.
You'll see that there are so many different topics that people have turned into profitable websites with the help of SBI.
How do I make my money online?
At present most of my income comes from advertisers. I also have some income from affiliate programs. You probably have noticed those links on my site that says "Ads by Google". Every time someone clicks on it, I am paid a percentage of the Google's advertising revenue.
There are so many ways to make money with a website.
- You can create you own e-goods to sell.
- You can sell other people's products and earn a commission.
- You can get paid leads and referrals.
- You can get sponsors (donor) who like what you are doing.
There are simply so many other ways to make money with a website. SBI will show you all that and more.
Here are some examples of what some SBI ers are doing. Have a look at these case studies.
Many people have emailed me to say how inspired they are by my story. They tell me how they have always wished they could do something similar:
- To escape from the 9 to 5 drudgery;
- To travel and see the world;
- To be able to earn a living while still being close to their family.
Now they know they can. And so can you. What are you waiting for?
You have just one life. Make the most of it!
Try SBI. If I can do this, so can you!
I hope this about me page will encourage you to take a look at SBI for yourself and decide if this is the kind of work, business or hobby you would like to have or develop.
If you have any questions or concerns about building a profitable online business, please feel free to contact-me.
Go to the top of this About ME page.
Check this out today!
