Stories by the Sea with German journalists

 

Fancy that!

 

In October 2021, I had the privilege to share insights on Johor heritage with His Excellency the German Ambassador to Malaysia on his visit to Johor and then in October 2023, I was invited to meet with a group of German journalists to share with them about Johor history.

 

German-speaking guests received the trilogy of
My Johor Stories at The Observatory, at
Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas

These German-speaking journalists were guests of Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas who were here to explore and experience the charms of the beach resort and learn more about Johor with me through My Johor Stories.

 

Anantara Desaru Coast understands that people liked to stay in a place with a story and have been presenting My Johor Stories books to VVIP guests and visitors so that guests may continue enjoying their experience by getting to know more about Johor even after their stay at the charming resort.

 

Organised by Stromberger PR, represented by Dorina Schreiber, this trip to Johor with a group of German-speaking journalists comprised five media representatives from leading newspapers and magazines based in Austria, Switzerland and Germany.

 

My Johor Stories at 
The Observatory

While I was thrilled by the privilege to share about Johor history through My Johor Stories, I knew that it was impossible to cover this subject in just 30 minutes.

 

To do this, I had to curate my sharing into that proverbial nutshell with a comfortable flow to let my audience stay engaged and follow easily.

 

Then I learnt that the event will be hosted at The Observatory, the bar which overlooks the beach and swimming pools, in a casual setting for “an intimate book reading” session … without the use of any visuals.

 

I know the photographs that support the collection of Johor stories in my books will let our foreign guests have a clearer view of what I will share with them so I requested the resort to present the guests with my books at the start of the event.

 

“A picture is worth a thousand words,” so I will tell them to turn to the various pages in my books to refer to the photos there for them to better understand what I was talking about.

 

Everyone received the trilogy of My Johor Stories

[This was particularly true when I talked about our Pepper and Gambier heritage and someone promptly asked, “What is gambier?”

 

Then it was convenient for me to say, “Please look at Book One, turn to Page 109 under By the Way, Our Pepper & Gambier Heritage,” for them to see a photo of a gambier plant as I explained how these plants earned a place of honour in Johor.]

 

I also prepared a few relevant photographs – not published in my books – to display on my tablet to show, for instance, an archive shot of Sultan Abu Bakar who chose to wear a crown unlike the sultans in other states.

 

Guests turning the pages with me
as I shared from My Johor Stories

It was indeed a good exercise to prepare such a presentation with the help of a few photos and those visuals published in my books to share with foreign guests over cocktails at The Observatory.

 

On arrival, I met the guests:

 

Isabel Hemmel, Editor of SonntagsZeitung, one of the most read newspapers in Switzerland;

 

Gerald Sturz, freelance journalist for Trend, a business newspaper for entrepreneurs and managers in Austria;

 

Kirsten Baron, a travel journalist better known as Kiki, with Connoisseur Circle, a leading high-end travel magazine in Germany;

 

Guests opened the books to see
the visuals to help them connect 
better with My Johor Stories

Lars Jacobsen, Editor-in-Chief for Waves and Woods, a high-quality and hip magazine with a focus on outdoor and water sports in Germany.

 

Eva Winroither, Editor of Die Presse, one of the most popular Austrian daily newspapers.

 

Also present, were Anantara Desaru Coast Resort Manager, Peter Wagner, and Anantara Desaru Coast General Manager, Christian Gerart.

 

By way of introduction, I told the guests that I was once the Johor-based writer for Travel Times, a pull-out section dedicated to travel that came with The New Straits Times, a leading English newspaper with nationwide distribution.

 

I had a few photos displayed on my tablet
to show the guests

I also contributed to the Southern section of the newspapers called JBuzz, later rebranded Johor Streets, and garnered a following of readers for my popular “grandfather stories,” a collection of which was compiled in My Johor Stories.

 

The guests then received the trilogy of My Johor Stories tied up in pretty ribbons with my 2017 MPH Non-Fiction Bestseller, My Johor Stories: True Tales, Real People, Rich Heritage, along with My Johor Stories 2: Interesting Places and Inspirational People, and the final instalment, My Johor Stories 3: Proudly Johor, Then and Now.

 

I encouraged the guests to untie the ribbons and to turn with me to the Contents of each book to see the various sections with the collection of stories that they may flip over to see the visuals when I made reference to them.

 

I also had the pleasure to autograph
my books for the guests

Due to time constraints, I decided that the guests should enjoy their own reading later while I only showed them the visuals from the books as I shared with them briefly about how Johor was developed from the time when the forests were felled to produce timber for export, the first industry in Johor, the rich heritage in road names, as well as our pepper and gambier heritage and that the motif of these plants are recognised as a Johor icon, among other interesting snippets about the Johor rulers in Johor’s rich history.

 

The resort had prepared a menu of canapes and desserts to savour with cocktails and a main course item of Laksa Johor, served warm from a live-cooking station.

 

It was good to see the guests jotting down notes while I was speaking and when I volunteered some legendary info on the royal origin of Laksa Johor, Isabel did not hesitate to ask for the spelling for, Laksa.

 

View of the swimming pools and the 
South China Sea beyond from The Observatory

I was pleased that our guests will have the opportunity to read more about Kacang Pool and Laksa Johor, documented in Glimpses of Old Johor, under Memories in Book Three of My Johor Stories.

 

From our chit-chats, I learned that this was the first time the guests visited Johor from October 12 to 16 and that Dorina of Stromberger PR will select photos from their Johor trip to post on Instagram to share with the German-speaking audience.

 

It was indeed encouraging to know that their experiences in Johor will be shared on line and in print media to German-speaking nations, and personally, I was simply delighted that these guests will take home a bit of Johor in My Johor Stories books.

 

Once again, thank you Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas for letting me share about Johor with your guests and for your continued support to My Johor Stories.

 

Danke!