Discover Timothy

Discover Timothy (29 August 2005)

Hello! Welcome! Greetings!

I am guessing here that you are reading this page because you click on the "About Me" on one of my pages. So, I thank you for showing an interest, or perhaps having the curiosity, to find out who is the guy who wrote all the place information out there.

Long ago, I used to wonder, do people actually read what I write? Over time, I begin to realise that many actually do! So, it is with great and humble gratitude that I thank you, that even as I discover the places around me, you would take a moment of your time to discover me.

The Who

My name is Timothy Tye. My hobby and passion is to describe places. As I update this page on 5 February 2023, I can say that I have been doing this for the past twenty years. My web content, be it the webpages or the videos, is created from my study room, which most of you may see, if you follow me on YouTube. Occupation-wise, I consider myself a person of leisure, having retired from full time employment, but earning various streams of income.

All my webpages, all my videos, and almost all my photographs, are written, shot and photographed by me. My entire web presence is a representation of myself. It is created for my own pleasure and is not a business endeavour. I have no plan or desire to ever get someone else to create the content on my behalf. (To do that would suck away the pleasure of discovering and assembling the information myself.)

The What

Most people know me because of my website Penang Travel Tips, which is where my place information description resides. In addition, I also maintain on YouTube the Discover with Timothy Channel, the Discover with Timothy Food Channel and the Learn Penang Hokkien Channel. I also have a substantial following on my Facebook timeline, and I maintain a number of Facebook groups including SojiMart, Learn Penang Hokkien and AnakPinang, to name some.

In addition to describing places, I am also working earnestly to preserve, develop and modernise Penang Hokkien, the Chinese language spoken in Penang and elsewhere in northern Malaysia. I established a new writing system for the language in 2013, and I have my own online Penang Hokkien Dictionary with over 5,000 words including audio pronunciation.

Having myself attained financial freedom, I establish SojiMart, a market place for people to start a business on Facebook without having to pay any fees or commission. I started this platform at the height of the Covid lockdown, to give people a chance at earning a new livelihood for themselves.

The Where

I live in Penang, Malaysia. Not surprisingly, most people know me because of my Penang place information (and for the fact that my website is called Penang Travel Tips). However, I also have a large body of information on places outside Penang, particularly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. Outside Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, I have also written substantially on Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Angkor, Bagan, Luang Prabang, Vientienne, Macau, Jiuzhaigou, Tokyo, London and New York City.

As for the subject matter, anything that qualifies as a place qualifies to be included on my website. It may be a city or town or village or road or highway or lane or building - shopping mall or church or museum, even public toilet.

The How

Every page that I write is built like a layer cake. Each page starts with some basic information. Perhaps I have walked past it, and taken a photo or photos of it, so that is included on the page. As a rule, all my photographs are captioned with the date they are shot. That helps me locate them (they are sorted and stored by date) and also provides me a view of the place at that time.

Every time I gather new details about the place, I will update it on its page, so over time, the information on that page grows. If I revisit the place, I may take new photos and add them to the page.

As far as possible there will be a main photo at the top of the page. I may update that photo if I shot a better one at a later time. If no photograph is available at the time I create the page, I may forego including a photo, or I may rely on any available photo licensed through Wikimedia.

To obtain the photographs for my website and videos for my YouTube channel, I walk the streets. To obtain the information for my pages/videos, I may read books, go through newspaper articles, google the web and ask people.

How accurate is the information on my website and in my videos? I try to be as accurate as possible, and often cite references at the bottom of the pages. In addition, some pages include a list of updates. Should the place in question appear in the news, I will cite the news article.

The When

In the beginning, my website was called AsiaExplorers. I started it on 5 January 2003. On 26 July 2008, I started registered the Penang Travel Tips domain.

At that time, I thought I would fragment my place information into different websites, and in addition to Penang Travel Tips, I also created Kuala Lumpur Travel Tips, Malacca Travel Tips, Singapore Travel Tips, London Travel Tips, and so on, but it quickly became apparent to me that I could not manage that many website without neglecting the majority.

So, I eventually relocate the content of all these websites to Penang Travel Tips, which happens to be the most successful of the sites. Today my Penang Travel Tips website contains not only information of places in Penang, but also includes information of everywhere else.

The Why

I have this desire to satisfy my curiosity about places. I love finding out "what is what where," and having found out, I would assemble the information and put it on the web for the benefit of others.

The Conclusion

I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking time to get to know me. I hope the information that I have assembled on my website has been of benefit to you. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

About this website

Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.