The latest list for 2010 travel trends put out by the Lonely Planet people says something we've been saying for ages: Malaysia is hot.

With budget long-haul carrier Air Asia X turning Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur into a hub that's easy and cheap to get to from pretty much everywhere, we knew it wouldn't be long before people woke up to all the great experiences they can find in Malaysia itself. ]]> amandak 2009-11-11T15:09:25-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/23/135725/17

In our next life, we'd like to return as a baby born aboard an Air Asia flight. Talk about lucky—a pregnant woman on a flight between Penang and Kuching on Borneo went into surprise labor while in the air, prompting the plane to try for an emergency landing in Kuala Lumpur, but the baby popped out before they could get on the ground.

After the successful delivery, the mother and child were transported to a KL hospital, where they were visited by the higher-ups at Air Asia, who presented them with the rights to free flights for life. Assuming that Air Asia will be around until the kid hits retirement in something like sixty years, he could really make a name for himself traveling around Asia—or beyond, since Air Asia now also flies to both London and is busily signing paperwork to come to both Paris and Los Angeles. Boy oh boy are we jealous of this little boy. The question now is...did he kinda join the mile high club just being born up there?

Related Stories:
· Lifetime free flights for baby born on plane [AFP]
· Talking With Air Asia's CEO Tony Fernandes About US Plans [Jaunted]
· Air Asia coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: jetalone]]]> JetSetCD 2009-10-23T14:09:20-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/19/44450/470

One of our favorite low cost carriers, Air Asia, is not just cool because it keeps adding more routes—like Kuala Lumpur to Paris on the cheap and the Indian destinations like Thiruvananthapuram just to name a couple of last week's highlights—but it's also giving us ideas for our 2010 travel plans by holding a big airfare sale at the moment.

For bookings made between now and Sunday, you can get bargain tickets for travel between January 11 and April 30, 2010 for a bunch of Asian routes. The cheapest flights get as low as 19 Ringgit ($5.50) but they're mostly internal Malaysian flights; to get from Kuala Lumpur to further afield, there are deals like KL to pretty much anywhere in Indonesia or Thailand for 59 Ringgit ($17) and KL to Australian destinations for 199 Ringgit ($58). Get booking fast or we might snap up all the seats first.

Related Stories:
· Air Asia [Official Site]
· Let's Go Thiruvananthapuram! [Jaunted]
· Sarkozy Approves Air Asia X's Low-Cost Flights to Paris [Jaunted]

[Photo: Auswandern Malaysia] ]]> amandak 2009-10-19T09:13:40-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/12/12619/436

Travelers to Southeast Asia beware: there's a new strain of malaria in town. Researchers have recently figured out that the Plasmodium knowlesi strain of malaria, which used to be confined to Malaysian macaque monkeys, can kill humans too.

The especially nasty part about this new human strain of malaria is that doctors have a hard time recognizing it. Symptoms and disease progression look scarily similar to other less serious forms of malaria, so you might end up dead before the doctors realize they should've done something differently. ]]> amandak 2009-10-15T08:48:38-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/12/12924/122

Go get 'em low-cost carrier Air Asia X is taking another step towards world domination—well, their words were "global expansion"—with the big announcement that they have now received approval to start up cheap long-haul flights from Kuala Lumpur to Paris.

None other than French president Nicolas Sarkozy himself informed Malaysian Prime Minister Razak this week that Air Asia X would be allowed to land at the Orly Airport in Paris. Air Asia X hasn't yet made more details public; we're in the dark on how soon this service will start, and what it will cost, but they launched their Kuala Lumpur to London service earlier this year, and you can grab those flights for around $250 one way.

We figure it's only reasonable to guess that the Paris version won't be too different. These low-cost long-hauls are certainly giving us ideas for some amazing budget around-the-world trips—we might go start loading up our backpacks while Air Asia decides on Paris airfares.

Related Stories:
· Air Asia To Start Paris Flights [AFP]
· Air Asia X Wants to Long-Haul You From New York and California [Jaunted]
· Air Asia X Launches Low-Cost, Long-Haul Service [Jaunted]

[Photo: Deanster1983] ]]> amandak 2009-10-12T09:18:36-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/5/25124/0102

If you've ever smelled the supremely unpleasant odor of a durian fruit, you'll understand why we've never been brave enough to try one. This spiky, malodorous fruit comes from Malaysia and Indonesia, and while many people have assured us the flesh tastes heavenly, we've just never got past the smell.

But durians are ready for the eating in Malaysia right now, and there's even a new durian trend this season: the red flesh durian. Found growing wild in the jungles in the state of Sabah, they say that the flesh is drier than a regular durian, and the taste is a little sourer, but it's gaining popularity with tourists because of its bright red flesh.

The bonus is that at the moment, the red durian is still a lot cheaper than a regular durian. Only problem for us is that it wasn't the price or the color that was putting us off before. The bad smell, apparently, remains.

Related Stories:
· Unique Red Durian Making Heads Turn [The Star]
· Eight Minutes of Durian [Jaunted]
· Durian Cupcakes Are The New Pot Brownies [Jaunted]

[Photo: The Star] ]]> amandak 2009-10-06T12:03:55-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/3/27/154515/614

Update: Just heard from our tipster, the plan is to have the flights be direct to KL from Cali and JFK.

We love airline rumors! It's been a long time since we had something juicy to talk about. So let's get gossiping.

A tipster says that Air Asia X is looking to possibly expand its routes to Kuala Lumpur and they have their eyes set on the United States.

Azran Osman Rani (CEO of AirAsia X) has been talking to JFK and 2 California airports regarding launching long haul service from KL. There's nothing definitive lined up, but the time-frame would be in about a year.

Now, we're working on tracking down when this would be an alliance between Air Asia and another airline, or if Air Asia would man the flight(s) the whole way. But if you've got any more inside scoop, we'd love to hear it. Similarly, would you fly Air Asia X from the states to KL on their no-frills planes? Let us know.

Related Stories:
· Inside The No-Frills, Long-Haul Flight on Air Asia X [Jaunted]]]> juliana 2009-03-27T15:51:56-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/