1,600,000+ pageviews!

The Kuantan Blog currently has over 1,600,000 pageviews in its history!

I could never have imagined so many people would come to this blog and interact the way they have.

Just over 11 years ago we were Celebrating 300k pageviews with this post, which seems awfully small compared to our current stats.

The Kuantan Blog has been dormant, concerning new content, for quite some time, but, it seems, is still attracting visits from all around the globe. I'm hoping to steadily add more new updates and content to the blog to keep it current and accurate.

In the meantime, there is a wealth of information about Kuantan here. Browse the pages at the top of the blog, just under the header photo, to discover more about the growth and development of Kuantan from a small town to a thriving city and a tourist destination!

Kuantan City Mall, November 2014 (part 1)

The notice of construction is up for a brand new shopping mall opposite East Coast Mall in Kuantan, which will be named Kuantan City Mall.

This is an area which has experienced unbelievable growth since I moved here. The whole area used to be an empty patch of land which I once walked across to get to Berjaya Megamall.

Now it has The Zenith Hotel, SAS Convention Centre, Menara Zenith, East Coast Mall, Putra Square and rows of shoplots. 

Kuantan City Mall will be the next addition in this area.

Here is the plot of land where Kuantan City Mall will be built opposite East Coast Mall in Kuantan

To the right of the picture is a brand new mosque (white with black dome) which I'm guessing will replace the old mosque in the centre (green and red roof) to make way for Kuantan City Mall

Close-up of the early construction progress of Kuantan City Mall. Machinery is in place as work begins on the foundations. Took this photo from the roof of East Coast Mall

There will be a sub-basement and 6 floors to Kuantan City Mall, so it is looking to be a lot larger than the current East Coast Mall!

A view through the fence to the plot of land where construction has begun for Kuantan City Mall

Check back to The Kuantan Blog often - I'll be keeping up-to-date with the construction progress as often as possible!

The Kuantan Blog has 300,000 page views!

The Kuantan Blog just surpassed 300,000 page views over night.

It's quite an achievement when I consider its humble beginnings as a blog that wasn't sure of the direction it would take.

More than 5 years of hard work have been put in to make this blog one of the leading sites on Kuantan, Malaysia, focusing on hotels and attractions in this lovely town on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

Here is a picture board of some of my favourite moments of 2014 so far:

Strutting her stuff - KL Gallery #6 (1,000th post)

A peacock struts her way around the KL Bird Park, seemingly oblivious to all human activity.

This is also my 1,000th post on *The Kuantan Blog*

It started in mid-2009 and has developed to a site that I take great pride in, and one which many people have found to be particularly useful. Thanks for visiting and following along!

Top 20 Photos of 2013 starts tomorrow

Starting tomorrow I'll be posting my best 20 photos from 2013, one per day. I have spent some considerable time deciding which photos to include, which were the most meaningful, and which had stories behind them. I'm also looking forward to visiting others who have signed up for this blog-hop to see the images and stories they have captured.

Here is a photo that didn't make the top 20:

Posting this photo today is making me think twice. I really love this picture! It's our human tendency to rank things. We like to put things in lists. Perhaps there is no such thing as a Top 20 of photos taken in a year. Maybe we just have a whole collection of equally satisfying photos.

Here's another of my favourite photos of 2013:

Took this early one morning. I usually switch off the flash for sunrise/sunset pictures. Forgot to change the settings and captured this palm tree leaf lit up in clear detail with the soft blurry colours of the sunrise behind it. Came out just perfect! It ranked just outside my top 20 as I have another favourite sunset picture which you'll see in the coming days.

One more photo I'd like to share today:

I love watching the birds on a day to day basis here. I actually have a number of photos of them lining up on electricity lines outside our house. A nice picture, but I have no personal story to tell about it, or any standout reason why I love it.

So tomorrow we'll begin with #20 on our lists. Perhaps ranking our photos sorts out what is really and truly meaningful to us, something that goes beyond the image we see with our eyes, which carries a deeper sense of purpose. Hopefully, I have a few of those sort of photos in my Top 20.

Check it out from 1-20 January, 2014 at *The Kuantan Blog*.

Select and share your best photos of 2013

It's the time of year where we look back and remember the great places we've been, things we've accomplished and plan ahead for the future.

It's also time when I select my favourite photos of the year. They come in all types: portraits, scenery, food, nature, abstract. I usually determine my very best photos by the degree of difficulty to shoot them and the personal significance of them.

I thought it would be great to share my favourite photos with all of my blog readers, as I have done in previous years (see right side-bar for my Top Tens). But I'd also love to see YOUR best photos of the year too.

Running from Jan 1st to Jan 20th right here on *The Kuantan Blog*, I'll be hosting a blog hop entitled "Top 20 Photos of 2013" and it's open for everyone to join!

If you have a blog/website and would like to share your best photos with more people, simply take a minute to join this blog hop by visiting the page at the top of the blog. Here's the link: 

Top 20 Photos of 2013 blog hop

This is my first time hosting an event and I'd love to get more bloggers involved!