Couple snags free trip

ENGINEER Cheah Chin Hong stuck his neck out of a moving train to snap photographs and the daring move has now won him the most votes in the Malaysia Airlines’ ‘Let’s Go Now!’ contest.

The 34-year-old photography enthusiast won an all expenses paid four-days-and-three-nights Malaysia Airlines holiday package for two to Bangkok, courtesy of MAS Holidays.

Cheah’s photograph of a train ride along the famous River Kwai in Thailand was among the five shortlisted from over 700 entries submitted for the first round of the contest themed ‘Quick Asean Getaways’.

The photos were selected based on creativity, originality and relevance to the theme.

“This win is a joint effort. I stuck my head out the train and risked hitting against the tree branches but it was my wife Shirley, who saw the advertisement for the contest in The Star newspaper and urged me to enter.

“She also helped with the photo caption,” he quipped.

The happy couple said they often travelled twice a year and had lots of pictures to choose from.

“I thought we had a chance but didn’t expect to win.

“Maybe people liked our picture because the place had a very special and nostalgic feel,” he said, adding that the win was timely as they would be celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary this year.

The holiday package was presented by Malaysia Airlines area manager (northern region) Mohd Saleem Mohd Shariff at the carrier’s office on Wednesday.

Mohd Saleem said the carrier was “very happy” to share its success with travellers.

“Malaysians have been supportive of us and this is our way of rewarding them.

“We are very happy to present Cheah and his wife a ‘second honeymoon’ to mark their anniversary,” he said.

The theme for the next contest is ‘Great Australian Journeys’. For contest details, log on to www.thestar.com.my/letsgonowmh.