Mt. Bromo

It’s time to think and maybe plan for my trip again for this year.. due to the current economy crisis, so definitely can’t go somewhere far and expensive.. so the budget of the trip is about 1.5k to max 2k, it depends where I go and how is the shopping there..

So far, we have booked the tickets somewhere mid of June to Bangkok with friends.. Bangkok always be the first choice when I planned for a short and cheap trip.. this gonna be my 7 or 8 bkk trips already, haha!! What I love most is the foods there, which is much tasty, much cheaper than here.. the bazaar there is much more interesting than here too, the variety is like 100 times more than here, haha!! And the people there also very friendly.. opps.. I shouldn’t compared bkk and here too much.. but the most important is still airasia always offers cheap fare to bkk, haha!!
We all are expecting the bkk trip in June for foods, shopping, massages and etc… for my 2 girlfriends, sure they all getting very excited to buy some gym wears which have more designs and cheaper than here and also their inner wears which they have spent hours there to select their inner wears in ‘La Sensa’ in our previous trip, haha!!

My colleague has forwarded me an email about a place in east Java, Indonesia – ‘Mt.Bromo’ the active volcano which not really known by lot of locals, honestly I only known this place after the email from him.. he proposed a trip there somewhere in Nov, and the good news is airasia has flight direct to Surabaya which is the nearest city to the volcano.. beside the volcano, there is a Hindu temple at the bottom of the mt and also there is sand sea which cause by the eruption of the valcono.. from the photos he attached in the email looks damn beautiful and great thing is to hike up to the peak early morning, reached the peak in the morning to see the beautiful sunrise.. must bring a nice camera to snap some beautiful sunrise photos.. we are planned for the trip in Nov and just hope airasia can offers cheap fare to Surabaya and can help us to save some for the trip.. for more infor of mt. Bromo, go to http://wikitravel.org/en/Mount_Bromo

my 5 days in Siem Reap & Angkor..

Angkor Wat
South Gate - Angkor Thom

Bayon

Apsara

Ta Pohm

Bekhang

Old Market - Siem Reap

The Blue Pumpkin

Khmer Kitchen Restaurant


Finally I have visited the place that I have wanted to go for so long - Siem Reap and the beautiful Angkor..

Basically here are my 5 Days free and easy in Siem Reap :-

D1 - arrived in Siem Reap at 8am local time, check in to B&B, breakfast, hiding tuk-tuk (the driver name is Tip) to visit Tonle Sap lake, have dinner near Angkor Wat and expecting for sunset, started to rain and back to B&B without sunset, shower and rest..

D2 - woke up 430am and Tip waiting us at B&B at 5am and heading to Angkor Wat for sunrise.. finally I saw Angkor Wat in front of me (the sky is still very dark because only 530am).. everybody standing beside the lake and expecting the sunrise and reflection of Angkor Wat in the lake.. again.. again.. rain is coming.. I opened umbrella and others are with umbrella or rain coat.. rain getting heavier and no choice have to go inside the temple to get cover.. entering Angkor Thom by the impressive South gate.. the brilliant Bayon appreared in front of me and at that moment my tears almost wanna fall by the beautiful Bayon.. spend the rest of the day visiting other temples in Angkor Thom and back to B&B almost 7pm.. damn tired..

D3 - second day to Angkor Thom and we are visiting the big route today.. guess what.. it is raining since 6am and we are visiting the temples with umbrella.. haha!! the most impressive temple is Ta Pohm, because of the giant trees grown on top of the temples and the movie 'Tomb Raider' by Angelina was filmed here years ago.. the final stop is Bekhang, the temple on top of the hill which need 20 minutes track to go up to the hill.. we are expecting sunset again but due to cloudy sky and no sunset again.. no doubt the view from the top of the temple is great and we manage to see Angkor Wat from here.. back to B&B and again.. very tired..

D4 - we decided not going to Angkor Thom again although our pass due today.. free and easy day!! I have survey some nice foods to eat in Siem Reap and plan to go for that today.. we went to old market for souvenirs.. frens bought some key chairs, pillow covers, silks, wood curving and so on.. I bought myself an oil paint with the face of Bayon and a wood curving of 'Apsara' .. the prices are all in USD so we are getting very tired to bargain in order to pay for the price that we wanted and mostly we manage to bargain 40-50% lesser.. went for afternoon tea in one of the famous cafe 'The Blue Pumpkin' , I tried the carrot cake and banana yogurt shake, both are yummy especially the carrot cake is so juicy.. yum! yum! next we went for a massage which recommended in travel book, the place is 'Bodia Spa' .. the place is so relaxing and beautiful but the price is quite high also, we took the package of body massage for 90 minutes cost USD34, but we got 25% for the second person.. well, the massage is not really great if compared to Bangkok with the price we can get better service.. our last stop is to have dinner in the most recommended restaurant 'Khmer Kitchen Restaurant'.. we order the popular cheese bake pumpkin with mushroom and chicken, Khmer curry, Shrimp soup and garlic fried fish and of course the famous Angkor Beer.. we really enjoyed the food so much and I can say that this is the most delicious foods we had in Siem Reap.. walk back to B&B with happy stomach.. haha!! packing our bag and settle our bill because we are leaving at 835am tomorrow morning..

D5 - woke up at 6am, shower and breakfast.. car waiting us at 715am to send us to airport, the airport is very quiet and not so many passengers in the terminal.. keeps looking back photos taken in my camera and I know definitely I will miss Angkor and Siem Reap very much.. it's time to go home.. bye Siem Reap and Angkor..

Felda Residence Hot Spring..(Sungai Klah)

This is the huge hot spring pool, the water is 30C - 50C.. it is damn hot especially when u juz get into the water..

Boiling eggs.. not sure hows the eggs taste.. but I'm sure it will taste good..

The giant octopus is the highlight of the mountain water pool.. the water is cold and refreshing..

The map and directory which will save your time and energy to reach the place u wanna go..

One of my fren heard from his customer that there is a hot spring nearby Sungkai, Perak which is quite a nice and relax place.. my fren who like nature has suggested to make a trip there on the weekend.. before the hot spring tour, i have viewed the website of the hot spring, seriously.. from the website it looks not bad.. it seems quite a nice place for family outgoing activities..

About 2 hours journey from KL, finally we reached the Sungkai's toll and it takes another 15 mins to reach the hot spring, no worries u won't miss it bcuz there are lot of director sign boards point to the hot spring.. RM10 per adult for the entry which is quite reasonable.. basically it is a park which have a few hot spring pools and each one with different temperature (there is a sign of the temperature of the water in each pool).. and beside that there is a big mountain water pool with a big octopus statue, the water is really cold and refreshing, the water is swallow sure kids will like to play water here.. there are also others facilities like massage, spa, sauna and etc..

The park is quite huge and there are some map and directory everywhere to refer to.. as u know it is bloody damn hot to walk in the jungle, in fact it is a jungle.. lot of tress everywhere.. we found the huge hot spring pool and we decided to get boil here, haha!!.. my fren was the first one put his leg in, he said it is not so hot.. but when i put my leg in the water.. OMG!! it is damn hot to me.. anyway i still went into the water like the rest, the formula is try to stay at one spot and don't move around, then u won't feel that hot.. but we can't really spend too long inside the water bcuz i can feel my heart beating faster and faster.. so we out from the water after 15 mins rest for a while then go in again.. honestly the feeling is quite good when i stay quietly in the water and the tempurature of the water is 30C to 50C

Beside that, there is a therapy hot water walk path there.. as a normal therapy walk but wit hot water, i can feel it is much better walking in the hot water with all the small stores.. it really help helps blood circulation.. i am the one who seems enjoy the walk then others.. hehe.. we saw a place calls nature sauna from the directory and first thing in our mind is what is that?? so we follow the direction to check it out.. we saw a small river with lot of smokes, guess what.. we saw a sign there and the water is 99C to 110C.. there is a platform on top of the river and once u stand there, u really can feel the smoke, so that's the natural sauna.. haha!!

There is also a pool for boil eggs, saw few guys boiling their eggs there (opss.. not their eggs la!! what i meant here is they brought some eggs and put inside a basket and put into the water..) definitely they can't go into the boil eggs pool else their eggs really will get boil.. wakakaka..!!

Actually, it is quite a nice place for family activities.. but i don't understand why the local government didn't promote this place, don't talk about tourist don't know this place, even local like us also never heard and seen this place in news or newspaper except from those who been there before.. it is funny ha!! they spent money to build the facilities in the park but never though of promote it.. what really in their mind ha..?? there are some villas in the park for renting and it is quite a good idea to spend 2 days over the weekend there with your family.. for more information, check this out http://www.perak.info/Batang_Padang/sungai_klah_hot_springs.htm

can't find anyone to Borobudur.. (go alone..??)

As in my previous post, I am looking for a travel mate or a few travel mates to either Angkor Wat or Borobudur in next month or May.. but I really can't get anyone.. arghhhh...!! been asking frens on the weekend desperately, but none of them are interested.. except there is a fren who are interested to Angkor Wat but he could only can make it somewhere in September.. OMG!! 6 more months to go.. it is too far away for me.. but what can I ask more..?? at least finally I have a travel mate to Angkor Wat.. haha!! can't really wait for the day to come.. YEAH!!

The story is not yet finsh.. I still wanna go Borobudur either next month or in May.. but I know the chance of making it happen is really low bcuz I have asked those frens who I think we can travel together.. unless I go alone then it's different story.. should I..?? I am so desperate now to find a travel mate to Borobudur.. arghhh...!!!! I really wanna get out from here and go to get some fresh air in another piece of land..

couldn't find a travel mate.. sigh!

The temples of Bodobudur is a ninth century Mahayana Buddhist monument in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borobudur

The famous Angkor Wat, a World Heritage Site, is a temple at Angkor, Cambodia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor_Wat

Really in the mood to travel now.. it's been quite sometime I didn't travel due to tight financial issue, but it is better now.. so I can plan for my travel again.. YAHOO!! been asking frens what are they travel plans for this year.. most of the answer are >> 'Hong Kong', 'Taipei' and 'Bangkok'.. although I never been to those places beside Bangkok, but I am not really interested to go if I can choose.. it seems like shopping and eating trip ha.. a bit boring lor..

Actually I wanna go Istanbul so badly, but it is crazy expensive.. I have checked the cheapest return airfare that I could found is RM3300, juz the airfare.. OMG!!... if I go for a week then for my whole trip at least I have to spend RM6k.. it is over my budget, so by no choice for time being I have to put it aside till.... I also don't know.. sighhhhh......

Let's plan for something cheaper.. when talking about cheaper sure my mind will think of AirAsia.. my first choice is Angkor Wat (Siem Reap), another place that I wanna go desperately, been asking my frens but they are not interested bcuz they have planned to go HK or Taipei or BKK.. one of my fren is interested but he only can make it in September.. OMG!! 6 more months to go.. it is too far.. I can't wait.. I juz wish I can go next month or in May.. my second choice is Borobudur temples (Yogyakarta), another historical place that worth to visit.. again.. I got same feedback from frens, so sad... arghhhhhh....

Well, for sure everybody have their own places that they wanna visit.. some may like shopping and foods, some like beautiful scenery, some like historical places, some like big city and some like beaches.. I am not so sure whether I can get a travel mate to Angkor Wat or Borobudur in next month, but really hope that I can get out from here and go travel in near future.. can't hardly wait for that... haha!!

sharing some of my favorite photos taken in Nepal, Nov 2003

Here to share some of my favorite photos taken in Nepal, Nov 2003.. most of the photos here are with human faces and their beautiful smiles.. to me, it delivers me a message that even their life might be hard but they still face it and live it happily.. although it seems like something easy but it is a very big lesson for us to learn in our living environment..

Jeng! Jeng! This is my favorite photo... mummy carrying her baby boy at her back in Pokhara.. mummy look so happy with beautiful smile and baby open his big eyes big big while taking this photo..haha!! lovely!! ...BEAUTIFUL MOTHER's LOVE..


The lady selling peanuts in Pokhara, she looks familiar to me because her dressing just like an indian lady here.. but of coz she is from Nepal..

The lady with her 2 sons selling veggi and fruits in Pokhara.. the boys are getting very excited when taking this photo, cute...

This photo was taken from the bus in Kathmandu.. i like this photo very much, everything just look so nice in this photo..


The main street in Pokhara, the guy selling music instrument and he can plays it well too..

The busy Kathmandu street, it seems like their magazine variety are much better than us..

When we stop for toilet break on the way to Pokhara.. I saw this lady carrying a big basket supported by her head, and she is so kind to post for me.. haha!!

Durban Square, Kathmandu.. a group of old ladies are singing or chanting.. their voice sound so peaceful to me..

This colorful photo was taken in one of the temple in Kathmandu.. I think what he is doing is sewing the colorful praying flat..


I have spent lot of time and efforts to modify and create this photo!! all the faces are taken by me in my Nepal trip.. I used Microsoft Photo Editor to cut out every single photo and join them into one.. I am quite happy with the outcome (first attempt), and hope u guys like it too..

cable car in langkawi

I have heard about the cable car in langkawi from frens and most of them who been up there said the view from top is nice... even the cable ticket cost RM25 per adult.. so before my recent langkawi trip, i have told my travel mates that i must go for the cable car, it is 'A MUST' for this trip.. others like island hopping, eager view, telaga tujur and etc, i don't mind to skip coz been there on my previous langkawi trips...

finally we are in the cable car station, yeah!!!! the cable car station is located in a park name 'Langkawi Geopark', there is a man make lake in the middle of the geopark, and surrounding by some souvenir shops and restaurants.. there are still lot of construction works going on, and it seems like they are buil up a hotel there.. frankly, the noises from the costructions are a bit irritating.. we didn't spend much time in the park, just walk around the lake..

surprisingly the queue in the cable car station is not long, we are expected its gonna long coz of school holiday.. we got our tickets (at the price of RM23, the airasia travel agent gave us RM2 discount) and join the queue to wait for our turn to get in the cable car..

the view while going up to the mountain (Guning Machinchang) is nice, my fren who scared of height seems like enjoying himself too, he might forgotten the fear by the beautiful view.. haha!!

finally we reached the first stop (there are 2 stops), we got out from the cable car and feel excited because of the fresh air and beautiful view.. nothing much there, just a platform for viewing..

we get in the cable car and continue to the second stop.. nothing much there as well.. actually we plan to have hot coffee when we reach the top, we were thinking there should be a coffee shop up there for us to relax to enjoy the fresh air, the view and the coffee.. (we are thinking this way because there are coffee shops on top of Table mountain in Cape Town and we really enjoy the coffee when we were there last time..) guess what..?? there is no coffee shop at all and only one malay stall selling ice cream and soft drinks, and the sitting place also not proper built.. we all got so fed up.. my fren said 'this is malaysia-lah... wat u expect..??' haha.. he is right!! absolutely right..!! and we found a foot massage services there too, 2 chairs (not even a massage chair) and the chairs just in the public view point there, not even a proper setup... huh....

the sky is getting darker and it should be time for us to make a move down.. finally we reached the bottom safely... although we got disappointed of the coffee shop but overall the cable car trip is nice and RM25 is worth for that..

another thing is.. the view from the top is not only nice... it is damn nice..!!! haha...

attached some photos here, hope u guys like it....!!

flying with kids...

I am flying to Langkawi on monday.. I known it is school holiday now and expected will be pack because lot of parents will bring their kids for holiday.. when i am at LCCT, OMG!! i saw lot of kids running here and there, making noise.. the LCCT getting more happening than usual with all the kids in house, haha...

when i am inside the departure hall.. the queue in my gate is so damn long, and no choice i have to queue at the back.. guess what..?? 50% in the queue are kids... i was telling my friend we better find a seat which we can avoid the kids because i have few experiences before when sitting near to kids or baby, usually they will make noise or cry in the journey, sorry to say that it is really irritating especially in long hours flight...

coz we are at the back of the queue, so when we are inside the aircraft, almost all seats are occupied, so there is no way we can avoid the kids bcuz they are everywhere.. haha.. finally we found empty seats and our front, back and side are kids... haha.. my friens make a joke said "the more i wanna avoid them, the more i will close to them!!" haha... he is definitely right!!

during the journey, as what i have expected, kids making noise, running to toilet, jumping, asking this and that.... not even one second inside the aircraft is silent...

here are something that i heard inside the aircraft:- (juz to share)

daddy said "boy! come.. look down the window, u see the house, tis is the house we are staying..."

daddy said "boy! what u want to eat?? girl! are u hungry??"

mummy said "boy! come on.. sit down.. later the cer cer will come to scold u.. "

kid said " daddy! daddy! i want shh.. shh.."

kid said "daddy! daddy! i can see the ship" (the kid saw ships in the ocean from the aircraft)

anyway, although it is noisy for the whole journey but it is quite fun also flying with kids for once in a while (when i fly back to KL, the same thing happened again, but this time kids are lesser, so noise is lesser too.. haha...)

Krabi trip - CANCELLED

i been planning to go Krabi (east southern part of Thailand) with friend somewhere in November.. unfortunately it has to be cancelled because my freind couldn't make it...

why i wanna go Krabi...?? the main reason is i am planning to go for a short 5 days holiday to somewhere near and cheap, i always like beach and sea... so Krabi pop up in my mind because airasia go holiday offering quite a cheap fare for air ticket and accommodation.. in fact i been passed by Krabi about 7 years ago while i am going to Phi Phi island, where we took our ferry from the port in Krabi.. what i still remembered about Krabi is there are lot of limestone cliffs around and t is popular with cliff climbing (see the photo attached) and water activities... beside that, i have done some research about Krabi too.. and it seems like an ideal place for my year end trip..

too bad... we couldn't make it this time... definitely Krabi will be my next destination, or next, next, next destination...haha!! (because my next destination will be Istanbul - Turkey, working hard to save money now...) i really like to hear from those who have been there, share with me how is your stay in Krabi... appreciated..!!

*SICK* bkk trip

we are damn lucky and manage to get 2 ways free air tickets to bkk offered by airasia.. we've booked the tickets somewhere in begining of Feb and our travel time is somewhere mid of July, frankly.. the almost 6 months waiting period was damn 'suffered' coz everybody can't wait to go bkk for shop! eat! clubbing!.....

finally the day had come... 5d4n bkk - YAHOO!!!! we landed at bkk new airport around 5pm and it is heavy rain there, the traffic to silom (where we stay) was horrible.. it took us almost 2 hours to get there and we all are damn hungry while inside the cab... once we checked in the hotel and the very first thing is rush for some thai foods, we ate like hungry ghost and manage to finish all 'in the flash'...

the sky is still raining and next...we go to one of the famous disco in silom.. it is not so pack coz of monday but it getting more people after 11pm.. the music was cool, particularly i like Rihanna 'umbrella-ella-ella' and EBTG 'missing'.. I drink quite a lot and my head is getting heavier and I can feel my body is like burning.. I know I am not quite alright and asking my friend to send me back to hotel, coz it is rain so we can't get a cab and by no choice we have to walk in the rain go back to hotel, the journey only took us about 20 mins but with my weak body, it is definitely not easy to me..

once back into the room, I changed and head to bed.. I feel cold, damn cold... and zzzzz..

I woke up next morning and I am freezing... I know I am having fever.. since I am still very weak, my friend brough me to the nearest hospital.. once I was there, the nurse pull me a wheelchair and help me to fill up some forms and so on... they are friendly although we are having communication problem, but just like to see their smiling faces... doctor said I am having high fever (39C) and stomach upset, he also said that I must have enough rest and control my diet.. no oily, no spicy, no milk.... take bread and water.. OMG!! I am in bkk which is famous with all spicy stuffs.... arghhhhh..... another arghhhhh..... is when I paid my bill and it cost me RM150.... arghhhhhh.........

so I am a good boy for the next 3days... rest, taking bread and taking medicine in hotel... friends are enjoying themselve very much for shopping, eating and so on.... they even found out there is a nike warehouse sales in town and showed me all the nike stuffs they've bought.... arghhhhh.... it is bloody damn cheap... so I have to make sure I have good rest and go to the warehouse sales tomorrow before I leave bkk...

so the next day, I have recovered (not fully recovered yet coz still a bit of stomach upset).. after breakfast, we took the skytrain to the warehouse sales... we spent almost half of the day there and I am happy that I manage to grab something cheap on last mins... so 'kiasu'!!

anyway, it is a unforgetable bkk trip for me... so see you next year - bkk!!