Article in LAMAN Magazine (Nov/Dec 2013 issue)


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DESERT ROSE ON SALE NOW!!!! WHILE STOCKS LAST!

Dear readers, we are currently clearing all our "desert rose" plants. Some as tall at 1 and half feet height and fully grafted. This is our best offer! Please contact Mdm Thai at +6 010-790 8839 should you come to Batu Pahat, Johor to purchase from our nursery.

Note that we do not send via courier or pos laju. Clients need to swing by to Batu Pahat to choose the plant and purchase them on the spot. Thank you!

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NEW 2013 ADENIUM HYBRIDS

Dear friends, we have been extremely busy with personal work as well as setting up our adenium nursery in Batu Pahat, which is along Jalan Kluang near Sharp Roxy. With our tight schedule and lack of manpower, we managed to cross breed, grafted and produced the 2013 hybrids which will be available from January 2013 onwards. Please scroll down the web blog and view our 2013 hybrids on the left panel. For those who are keen, please drop us an email at desertroseking@gmail.com. Only email from Peninsular Malaysia/Singapore will be entertained. For those from Sabah/Sarawak, please check with local post office how many plants that you can bring in via Pos Malaysia parcel/courier service and will there be any import permit required before contacting us. For these case, we usually remove the soil and pot and sent out the plant free of soil. As for those who are keen to visit our nursery please make prior appointment before visiting. We DO NOT WELCOME OTHER NURSERY owners. Sorry we could not cater for overseas client as we do not do overseas shipping. Currently our 353TE fertilizers are selling well. Those who are keen you may swing by our office in Bandar Sunway (Selangor) to collect them. Outstation shipping is available.

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We Cater to End Client Only

Desertroseking.com is a website to share and cater to adenium plant fans worldwide but we do not sell these plants to "middle people" (nurseries) as they always teach the wrong way of planting these wonderful plants. We only sell adenium plants to "end" collectors. Therefore, please do not call us if you think of "reselling" these plants to your clients. We get these a lot last year. In fact, one of these nurseries owners (from Johor Bahru/Skudai) would pose as "end client" and visited our nursery in Batu Pahat asking us how to mix the soil etc.

Competition is good but we are not keen to compete. We set up this adenium nursery for the love of this wonderful plant, and not to compete on pricing or competing on what type of hybrid that we have or what we do not have. Therefore, for our business model, we are only interested to serve the "end client", not "middle people". Thank you for your understanding.

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Updates

Dear friends, it has been awhile since I updated my web blog. Our Year 2012 adenium hybrids are not ready for sale yet but will keep all of you in mind when its ready for sale. All our plants is available only in Batu Pahat, Johor and we do not keep any stock here in Sunway (Petaling Jaya).

Also we no longer selling our 353TE in 500gsm packing as most of our clients opt for 3kgs packing as it is more economical. For those who are keen to purchase, please contact me at 017-366 2899. Thank you and happy planting adenium!

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Price List for Adenium Seedlings

Dear adenium fans, we have been getting a number of calls and emails in relation to the purchase of adenium seedlings. Many of you (from as far as Kuala Lumpur and Singapore) have in fact made a trip to Batu Pahat to purchase or visit our nursery.

As early as December we will have a complete price list of our seedlings as well as having the plant posted to your via registered package and will be able to send all over Malaysia but we have yet to confirm for any posting to Sabah or Sarawak. Till then, take care!

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Red Color Adenium Flower

RED is an auspicious color for the chinese. In fact, Feng Shui master today are recommending "desert rose" or "fu kui hua" as one of the most auspicious plant to be placed at homes.

There are also Malaysian Indians who plants "desert rose" at home for "feng shui" purpose as well.

RED signify prosperity and when used properly, it will bring the desired "feng shui" energy into your home. RED is the chinese color of luck and happiness and it is also the marriage color in India. It also symbolises the color of love and romance, courage and passion in western countries.

The above adenium hybrids can be viewed at our nursery but will only be made available next year!

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Adenium Blooming Period


Adenium blooms all year round. I have adenium fans who emailed me on how to make adenium bloom as they kept theirs for many years (some as long as 10 years) and the condition of their plant is bad. Why bad? Look at the list below:-
(a) the caudex is not expanding;
(b) the plant is not growing;
(c) the branch of the plant is growing extremely long;
(d) the plant is not blooming;
(e) unhealthy leaves and constantly attacked by red spider mites and caterpillars!

Many years ago when I approached the local nursery (especially those in Kelana Jaya, Shah Alam and Sungai Buloh), none of the "uncles" are able to tell me the right way of planting. In fact, the way they teaches us made the plant rot instead! See these 4 images in these healthy adenium plant in this posting. Adenium blooms all year round when the temperature or the weather is warm (between 25 - 32 degrees Celsius. Malaysia and Singapore has temperate weather and humid. It is the best weather to grow adenium plant.

All these can be solved by the following steps:-
1. Changing the soil. Making sure the soil has enough nutrient for adenium. I have been supporting and advocate on the importance of soil being used for adenium plant.
2. Using proper pot. Change the soil and pot every 3 - 5 months as the plant grows. Remember, if you don't change the soil, the chances of rotting is higher.
3. Trimming the plant is an important procedure to make sure the plant grows well. Do this during hot season, not during wet season.
4. Using the proper fertilizer. Many of us got carried away whenever a nursery staff recommending an organic or in-organic fertilizer for adenium. Those who visits www.desertroseking.com are knowledgeable people. Many of those who have contacted me are from higher level position white collar workers. One on thing for sure, it is important to  learn the difference between N,P,K, the ingredients used for fertilizers. Our Quickgrow 353TE are specially formulated to have a low amount of Nitrogen content. High nitrogen makes the plant grow tall but since adenium has "caudex", which is different from normal plants, it can't grow big, therefore its branches grow long and wide (you can see Balinese loves long arm branches for these type of plants). For us, Malaysians & Singaporeans, this makes the plant really "ugly" and sometimes your wife or husband will ask you to throw this plant away!!! My folks used to say that to me years ago when I plant adenium as a hobby.

Once you get the above right (Item 1 to 3), your plant will be at a very healthy state and adding Item 4 is a boost to your adenium plant.

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Latest Adenium Hybrid

Dear adenium lovers, we have successful produced new hybrids for Year 2012 edition. See below:-


We have also relocated our nursery to another location in Batu Pahat, Johor. Kindly call Mdm. Thai at +6 012 308 1899 for those who wished to pay us a visit to Adenium nursery. Currently is peak season for adenium to flower and for those who wants to view how full the adenium plant flowers, please do so soon before the rainy season starts.

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Hot Weather, Desert Rose Favourite Season

Yesterday I trimmed all my large adenium plant at my home in Shah Alam. This is the best season for us to make sure that our adenium plant grow healty. If you wished to make your adenium to grow stout with large caudex and nice short branches, trim it and it about 2 weeks time you will see new leaves to sprout and giving it another week or so, more new flowers will start to bloom. Try it.

Oh yes, do not use dirty knives to trim your plant. Use clean ones, preferably those that has been disinfected with alcohol and once you trimmed it, wipe it with lime juice. Happy planting!

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Pathum Ma is a triple layered pink adenium flower which was a cross breed and hardly available in any part of Malaysia nursery. This is my personal favourite and as long as you use the correct mixture of soil, the correct fertilizer, and of course, the right weather, the plant would bloom to its fullest potential. Pathum Ma is now available and for those who are keen, please do contact me (local Peninsular Malaysia only).

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It is blooming season for our adenium plants in our nursery. Seeds that we planted 6 months ago start to flower. All grafted seedlings, almost 90% of the plants has started flowering as well. See below images. With our 353TE fertilizer and our specially formulated mixed soil for adenium plant has shown successes. Even our grafted seedlings has also grown in sizes. These images was taken yesterday - 6 March 2011.

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The recent flood in Johor has not affected our adenium plant so much as we used the proper soil mixture. Three (3) days in a row it rained heavily non-stop. Flash flood in several places such as Pagoh, Segamat and Kota Tinggi. Many of us would expect the rain would caused the plant to rot but surprisingly our plants survived through this ordeal. Through this lesson, we know that for adenium plant to grow (caudex) and the lifespan of the plant would depends largely on the soil. The above image was taken end of January 2011.

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The Year 2011 has just begun and we have plans for our nursery this year. We will be increasing our adenium hybrids from the current 25 types to 100 types within the next 9 to 12 months. Recently we have been very busy with our nursery and planning to extend our land size to 3 times the current size. The rest of the Year 2011, the current hybrids that we now in our nursery will be posted in this web blog within the next few weeks time and all readers will be able to view what type that we have. You will also see some of the Year 2012 hybrids (images on the left) that we will launch end of this year.

Also I would like to inform all of you that we DO NOT SELL adenium seeds at the moment. Only 6 to 8 inch height seedlings is available. Thank you.

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Our 2011 Adenium Hybrids is available for sale. Anyone who is keen is free to contact me at +6 017 366 2899. Currently we do not export any of these adeniums overseas (including Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak). For Singaporeans who are keen to purchase they are free to drive up to Batu Pahat (Johor) to view the nursery. Currently we do not supply the adeniums to any nurseries as we only sell our adenium plants to end users and collectors alike.

We have 8" - 10" tall seedlings, 12 inch pot (width) as well as 16 inch pot (width) of grafted adeniums obesum and adenium arabicum available for sale.

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One of the rare conditions that adenium plant could have is having "golden" root or caudex, just like what you see on this image. This picture was taken a few days ago at my nursery in Johor and I did not notice it until recently. In fact, this condition has been with these plants for many years until it caught my eye. The plant No. 2 has Golden Caudex, a rare occurrence for a plant with golden color on its body and you will notice that this particular "gold-colored" body has a shape of an elephant. Notice the tusk (a small root) that grows out from the elephant's mouth. Accordingly to my Adenium expert friend - Anucha, the Indonesian collectors in particular love this particular type of plant and this can cost as much as 10 times the original price of the large adenium. For the Hindu, the image of elephant is sacred. Its even priceless when the image of the elephant is iold in color~! Both plant is not for sale. Sorry folks!

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Repotting your adenium plant is important for caudex growth.

I have seen many who did not change its pot and the plant become unwanted plant that sits alone on the owner's garden wanting to get out for fresh air! In fact, many has abandoned this beautiful plant and left it at one corner of the garden. The branch of these plant has not been trimmed, probably left there idle for many years. Taking care of this plant is very simple.

Below is an example of how to clean the plant. First remove the pot and use a hose and wash all the soil off the root. Make sure you wash it clean. Once its clean, repot it onto a pot that is slightly bigger than its caudex size. The above is a 6 years old adenium arabicum. Its stem/branch grow upwards, strong and sturdy. Once you have repotted withproper soil, give your plant a trim and it will bloom again for you.

If your caudex size is 4 inch, use 6 inch pot. If the caudex is 12 inch, go for 16 inch pot. Do not use a 16 inch pot if your caudex is only 5 inch in width as you will need to change the used soil. The larger size the pot is, you would need to use more soil! So, please change according to its growth.

So how often do you need to change the soil? Every 3 to 4 months change once but do not throw away your old soil. You can still reuse it by mixing it with new ones.

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It has been awhile since I got posted my last write-up on Quickgrow 353TE specially formulated fertilizer for Adenium plants. One of the main reasons for my clients to purchase this amazing fertilizer is to help the plant increase its caudex size. As you can see above two images, these caudex almost reaches the side of the pot, which is 24 inch in diameter. And that is very huge. We will be offering large adenium caudex size to our clients by year end so stay tune for our official launching of Desert Rose King!

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Both images that you see here were taken yesterday at my client's house. His adenium plant has not been flowering for at least a year and the first time he used our Quick Grow 353TE two weeks ago. He was not expecting much from the usage of this organic fertilizer meant only for Adenium. Look what he see! His 6 year old adenium plant started to bloom! There is so many flower on a single branch! It's seems like the flowers are sprouting, wanting to show to the world how pretty they are! It takes only 2 weeks to see the results!

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Large Adeniums are generally everyone's favourite. I have met businessmen, retired parents and people who loves flowers are bound to love large adeniums. There will be those who prefers large adenium BUT it takes years to grow the plant to its large magnificient size that if wished to display in your garden at home. 

There will be some who continuously add fertilizers to enhance it size but the plant may end up with rotten root or withered leaves. Fertilizers with high Nitrogen will cause the plant branch to outgrow its caudex and may not be able to flower for a very long time. Therefore, it is important to understand what type of fertilizers to use for your adeniums.

Seedlings are generally small in sizes and still in immature stage whereby constant care are needed. Different types of adenium could produce different adult plants. Adenium Arabicum, my favourite among all adeniums could grow as tall as 10 feet, almost twice my height and it may takes you 35 years to achieve that height. No one knows for sure how long an adenium will live but my friend's arabicum is already 36 years old. It's priceless and if anyone is keen, he may let it go for USD 50,000. This plant was given to him by his dad.

The image on right are different types of adenium species. My favourite is Queen Arabicum. It is called the "Queen" to signify that the plant is the Queen among the Arabicum families. It grows large and sturdy with bushy top. The image you see above are at least 1.5 meter in height. That is about 5 feet and the age is about 6 years old.

Black Knight Arabicum is another name given by adenium experts due to its skin color. It is generally black and dark. It generally grows up to 8 feet with super large caudex. What you see on this picture is small but the width of its caudex is about 3.5 feet. It is one of the favourites among growers like us.

Giant Socotranum is another hot adenium which only serious collectors will appreciate. In Malaysia & Singapore, many of us love large sizes but for socotranum, you do not get so tall plant as this is considered a dwarf adenium with many branches above its body. Thai collectors would appreciate this plant as compared to others as it is costly. To get its seeds is not easy as well. This is like trying to get a Golden Arowana fish to lay eggs and make it fertilized as compared to the common Arowana fish. The above image with the Giant Socotranum is about  2.5 feet in height aged 8 years old.

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Our organic adenium fertilizer, high in Phosphorus and Trace Elements is now available!. All e-mail orders are welcome. We have 500grams and 3kg packing priced at RM 10 for the 500grams and RM 58 for 3kg. For outstation client, please add RM 7 for each kilo of weight for courier service and we can deliver nationwide (within West Malaysia only).

This fertilizer has been formulated specifically for adenium plants and has shown amazing results in promoting healthy vigorous growth of its caudex (swelling of its stumps) and making the plant to flower as quickly as in two weeks. Why wait? Get yours now or you may swing by our office in Bandar Sunway to pick up a packet for your adenium to try it out!

Soon our fertilizer is available in my office in Bandar Sunway and at our nursery in Batu Pahat (Johor). Till then, happy growing Adeniums!

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The Desert Rose (Adenium plant) is a perennial succulent that's native to Arabia’s semi-arid regions and eastern as well as western tropical Africa. Weird isn't it? How did it end up in Malaysia and Singapore? This is a big question that I would like to ask as my grandmother has quite a few adenium plants which she planted many many years ago.

These are shrubby-tree type plants that have fleshy, bottle-shaped trunks. The bulbous trunks can be half or completely buried in the soil. They are unusual plant specimens that have beautiful flowers, making them quite the collector's item for enthusiasts.

While desert roses are easy to grow, they don't do well outdoors if the temperatures fall below 59 degrees Fahrenheit (about 15 degrees Celcius). Because they make excellent container plants, they do quite well outside your home and greenhouses. For this reason, they are popular to use as bonsai plants but do remember though, leaving in the house without sunlight will not make the plant healthy as their leaves needs to go through photosynthesis. That is why Desert Rose is meant to be kept outdoor with plenty of sunlight.

Oh yes, speaking about adenium nicknamed "desert rose", this plant is never afraid of too much rain or too much sunlight. Remember, aeration is important for adenium and you do not need to worry that that adenium needs to be watered every day. Remember, use the correct soil mixture and your favourite plant will never be afraid of the rain. That's for sure!

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The proper way of repotting the adenium was hardly taught by any nurseries that you visited. I was back to my nursery in Johor two weeks ago I took couple of shots of our adenium seedlings to show to all of you the proper way of planting adenium. If you use the "right" mixture of soil, the adenium will grow healthily and sturdy. Of course, this may not be the proper formula because there are many ways of planting the adenium. In Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan, each country's nursery owner has their own way or formula of planting the adenium but what I am showing you here are some simple steps.

Do click on the  left image for a larger view. All these 5 ingredients have the same ratio but it depends on how loose the soil that you want it to be. On the bottom right is the preparation for repotting. First put in at least 70% of coconut chips/chunks to the bottom of the pot. Then add some soil mixtures which was shown and only then place the plant above the soil and start to add in the rest of the soil mixtures to make it stand.

On the right image you will see the followings:
Step 1: add coconut chunks/chips into the pot and fill up to 70% of its base
Step 2: fill in at least 5% or 10% of the mixed soil which you prepared above on top of the coconut chunks/chips
Step 3: place the seedling into the pot and start to fill up its base with the mixed soil
Step 4: make sure the rest of the 15% or 20% of the space is filled with the mixed soil
Step 5: the seedling should stand by its own. You can press the soil down to hold the seedling together if the mixed soil is too loose.

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Hello, my name is William. I loved "adenium" when I was young but I got serious in cultivating them about 8 years ago. It was a terrible experience when many gardn nurseries, especially those from Sungai Buloh, Kelana Jaya or those from Batu Pahat, Johor or even Kuantan in Pahang, taught me the wrong way of using different types of media (soil) to grow this plant. In fact, a "garden nursery" people does not even know how to grow "adenium" in the first place! This is shocking as we always thought that they ARE the EXPERT, the "specialist" whom we can depend on to give us pointers to help us taking care of the plant better!

The biggest problem of the plant is that it rot easily and it seems like the size got stranded and it never grow big (caudex) anymore. What you get was the branch that outgrown the body! The worst part was that the adenium plant did not flower for years!!! From here I took this opportunity to learn everything about this plant and this hobby of mine has made me a big fan of adenium, just like how many of you out there who loves "bonsai" plant.

What is the difference between "bonsai" and "adenium"? Both are the same but both you must take care of its growth so that it grow according to what you want them to be. There is "bonsai adenium" which I will not cultivate yet but I will help you to learn the proper way of taking care of "adenium" and making this plant your favourite plant at home. In fact, planting flower is not a "chores". It is just like taking care of a house (washing clothes, sweeping the floor etc.), but it is also a commitment and enjoyment to watch this beautiful plant grow and flower for you.

I sincerely hope all of you to come back and visit my web blog from time to time and we will have more Adenium multi-lapping petals and many other adeniums plant up for sale by early January 2011.Till then, take care!

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Summary of the Common Types of Adenium Species

Besides adenium obesum, two other adenium species which is A. Arabicum, A. Somalense & A. Socotranum seedlings will be available in the Malaysian market by April 2011:-
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Adenium Arabicum (A. Arabicum)
Distinguished most by its outstanding caudex formation and relatively thick fleshy leaves, this is the most succulent and "desert-look alike" plant. The seeds are particularly large and gives seedlings which rapidly form a nice hard caudex. Caudex for such plants for adenium refers to its large body size trunk.
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Adenium Somalense (A. Somalense)
This is an interesting adenium species with moderate caudex but can grow every tall. This makes them a robust, fast growing and very suitable for landscapes and it is typically easy for grafting with different hybrid.
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Adenium Socotranum (A. Socotranum)
This adenium is somewhat slightly different from the rest as you can distinguished from its branch that is bushy and grows like a crown. Many adenium enthusiasts who likes "bonsai" look would love having this and this species is considered "high class" compared to other adeniums as you can play with its branches; whether to grow sideways or straight-up and it has very nice distinctively look on its root base and caudex. Usually socotranum is small in size and cannot grow as tall as arabicum.

Adenium Fans!

Types of Adenium Species

Below is the link which I specially done for readers who wished to know more detail about where and what type of adenium species which are available in the world. This article was prepared by Mr. P.M. Mathai, the Indian Society of Cacti & Succulents from India, who is also an avid (old timer) into desert rose plant, my friend as well as my client.

Click this LINK to view the PDF document.

What is Desert Rose?

Desert Rose, also called as Adenium obesum in scientific name is a plant which is very popular in Malaysia and Singapore. The chinese name for this is "fu kui hua", which written as 富贵花 in Chinese or Desert Rose as 沙漠玫瑰 in Chinese. For the Chinese, especially those from Malaysia & Singapore, Desert Rose is also called as Prosperity Flower - which also represent wealth and prosperity during Chinese New Year.
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Most of us do not know how to take care of this plant and do not know how to make it flowering. This what turns a lot of people off not be able to taking care of this plant as it refuse to flower or grow to the size that you wanted, even after 10 years!
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In Malaysia, single layer adenium is common but it is available only in pink colors. In the world, there is more than 300 over types of adenium hybrid flowers but in Desert Rose King, we promote only the multi-overlapping petals that we call it "rosy" adenium.
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For those who are keen to keep in touch with me and keen to purchase any of our beautiful grafted desert rose plant seedlings, do contact me. We in the midst of moving our nursery to another location in Batu Pahat. Expected moving period is from 11 July 2011 to 15 August 2011.
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Currently we specialize in 2-layer and 3-layer grafted rosy adeniums which you can view from this web blog. More updates will be made available to you soon.
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Any sales of these beautiful flowers are first-come-first serve basis and we do not supply to nurseries as we would like to educate the user, hobbyist, collections alike the proper way of cultivating this wonderful plant.
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Thank you and happy planting adenium!
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William G.
Desert Rose King - Adenium Horticulturist & Speaker
+6 017 366 2899
desertroseking@gmail.com
Office: 56-1 Jalan PJS 11/28A, Bandar Sunway Metro, 46150 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Nursery: Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia (for visitors, please contact Mdm Thai at +6 012 308 1899 (call for appointment first)

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