MY: Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha

Wishing all readers....

"S E L A M A T  H A R I  R A Y A  A I D I L  A D H A "

Semoga pengorbanan kita akan meningkatkan lagi ketaqwaan terhadap Allah s.w.t.

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: MH in Kazakhstan?

When I was in Almaty, my hotel has four channels of PayTV. Two are normal channels (all in Russians) and another two are not for underage (I think you know what I meant here). This is one of the movies available.

Do you notice that the actress is wearing MH ground staff uniform? Glamer jugak MH ni ye... sampai Kazakhstan... cuma I tak sempat jumpa Borat (?)

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Almaty Trip Summary

Landed at KUL couple of minutes before 11pm local time. Taxied to contact pier at KLIA. By 11:40pm, I was on the train to XKL where BH was waiting for me.

Now, let me give my view and conclusion on my trip to Almaty.

Overall, Kazakhstan is bored if you are stuck in the cities like Almaty or Astana. In fact, I was told living in Astana increases your boredom meter. However, translating this into “money management”, then it is good since you don’t have many things to spend your money on.

Here are my observations for the last four days during beginning of winter in Almaty, Kazakhstan

Working: Not favour of this. You feel alienated since all businesses are conducted in Russian. So do the workers. Only handful of them speaks English. All signboards are in Russian. No English words at all. I know the same in Middle East where majority speak Arabic. However, the feeling is different. 

Moving around: Pretty hard since Almaty is not a “city center”. Meaning, there is no down town. You must know where to go. There is no such thing as I want to go to Mall A then walk around the area. There may only be Mall A there and nothing else. Not many taxi around, however there are “private cars” where you have to negotiate the fare and must know the exact place to go. Bear in mind these “private cars” can slaughter you as foreigners easily. Literally, if you are behind the wheel, you are licensed to pick and drop passengers wherever and whenever you want. Driving your own car may not be a good idea unless you have been in the country for quite sometimes.

People: Kazakhstan has more than 100 nationalities/ethnics. There are local Kazakh (looks like Mongolian), ethnic Russia, Tartar, Korean, etc. Therefore, the tolerance level towards foreigners are high. You may experience positive encounter with the locals and may also have negative view on it. 

Food: The country may have majority of Muslim people. However, be careful when eating at the restaurant because some Muslims here do eat pork and drink alcohol. Ramadan is not respected (I dare to say this since I was told by people who have been here long enough) and you will not see any or very minimal Islam being practised as a way of life. The best thing is to go to the restaurants that serve no pork at all. All restaurants that I have been do serve alcohol. There is no international fast food chain like KFC, McD or any of those international brand coffee shops (Starbucks, Coffee Bean etc..).

Surrounding Area/Travel: This country is rich in natural beauties. Apart from Almaty, Astana and petroleum cities around Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan has lots to offer for nature’s lovers. However, the tourism industry is not being aggressively marketed. Only those people who are in the country would know the untouched area in the country. Everybody needs a visa in advance before entering the country. This is a negative point for tourism. There is a railway system connecting Almaty and Uzbekistan (not sure about other countries). One of the company staff does a once in fortnight trip from Almaty to Tashkent (overnight train from Almaty to Uzbek town for 3000 tenge and another 3000 tenge for a taxi from the Uzbek town to Tashkent). For info, USD1 = 120.5 tenge = RM3.45.

Standard of Living: This is very high. Basic meal for small soda and a plate of kebab costs around 700 tenge. Kebab seems to be cheaper than burger. Rental is quoted in USD and a semi-dee house within a gated community can fetch USD4million. The average two rooms apartment in Almaty costs circa USD3500 – USD4000. You can get a cheaper rate for old Soviet-era apartment building.

~ MT @ Malaysia
~~ Sunway Damansara, Petaling Jaya

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

TH: ALA-BKK-KUL

Woke up at 6am to freshen up and had breakfast. By 7am, I was already at the lobby and the driver was already there. I was with another candidate who is traveling back to Jakarta. However, she was to stop overnight in Bangkok to visit some friends.

We reached the airport around 7.35am and immediately approached by the “baggage handler”. This is the same concept as you experience when you arrived in Jakarta airport (at least, based on my experience). I could not have a chance to say no and our luggages were already on the trolley. These people are quick. At first there were two of them and inside the terminal, another guy joined. They asked for 5000 tenge. I said no tenge. Then, they asked for USD5. We disagreed. Later, my colleague just paid USD2, one dollar each.

Almaty airport is small with 20 counters for check in. Six counters are dedicated for Air Astana, and the remaining for other airlines plying Almaty routes. This morning, there were flights to AMS with KL, FRA with LH and a chartered to Sharm-El-Sheikh, Egypt. Although there are no passengers at all at the Air Astana counter, they cannot checked us in. The reason – you have to wait at least two hours before boarding time. It took me around ten minutes to get the answer because they were busy talking to each other. We managed to checked in at 8am with no problem at all. Luckily the check in agent that I dealt with was polite and friendly.

We went through the immigration and soon, find ourselves in the duty free area. This duty free area also play a role as a holding lounge. You cannot go to the gate until your flight is being called. There was one drink outlet, an open bar concept with a very long queue. I wonder why and I walked towards the counter. Apparently, there were two bar tenders, and one of them was sleeping at the counter. Yes sleeping… The same goes to the duty free shops. When changing the shift, the outgoing staff will close the outlet and the new shift staff will open it later.

On the last day in Kazakhstan, I successfully connected to internet. At the airport. Chatted with my friend, AAH in Doha for a short while.

At 9.30am, the boarding started. Three security counters were opened. Do not worry if you bring any liquid or two big hand luggages. They didn’t care. If no issue to you, bring it on board. This time the flight was pretty full. The aircraft used is Boeing 767-300 registered as P4-KCB. I believed this is ex-KLM flight based on the interior. We pushed back on time and in seconds, we were air borne. The bar service started about an hour after take off. Lunch was served and I opted fish with potatoes instead of beef. The food was just so-so. Moreover, I was so hungry. There is no PTV and I was not seated at a good seat to watch the front screen. They showed Just for Laugh, I Didn’t Know That – both are 30mins show, then two movies, No Reservations and Transformer.

This time, the path taken from ALA to BKK brings us via Tashkent, Lahore, Delhi, Varanasi, and Yangon. 

I managed to get a short sleep in between movies. One and half hour before landing, a sandwich was served. We landed at BKK at 6pm, 20 minutes ahead of schedule. I was so happy because this will give me ample time to shop for duty free. Some top brand outlets are having sales.

Checked in for MH flight soon after I disembarked. Said goodbye to my Indonesian friend and I off for prayer and shopping. Boarding for MH flight to KUL started at 7:30pm. This was a light load, 50% of economy class only. Flight is boarding now….

~ MT @ Thailand
~~ Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

KZ: Last Day before leaving

According to agenda, I am supposed to be in the company office at 11am. However, the head of the unit would like to see me before he leaves for Astana, thus I have to be in earlier. Met him for 15 minutes and he briefly mentioned his plan for me and the package I might be offered. I would say it is not that attractive.

In the afternoon, I went to another building to have lunch with the country head. A New Zealander who has been in the country for the last couple of years. Pretty interesting story from him on the country development.

After lunch, Lyazatte came to fetch me and another candidate for a city tour. We decided to enjoy both the city and the mountains. Original plan is to go to Chimbulak, a ski resort. However, we cut short our trip and stopped only half way there. Around 1500ft above sea level. It was a breathtaking view. Then we went down town and the first stop was Post Office. I needed to post a postcard to myself. I always do this whenever I went out of the country. Buy a postcard and post it to yourself.

Then, to the Green Market where a lot of cheap stuff including souvenirs are sold. Actually, other things are cheap, but not the souvenirs. It is known as Green Market because the area is full with vegetables and fruits stalls. Then we moved to the Central Mosque. The first ever mosque I found in Almaty. People are not really religious. Met few Muslims Kazakh. Unfortunately they do not speak English, so unable to converse well with them.

Since it was already dark and our tour guide needed to go back to the office, we decided to call off the day. The traffic was so bad. Reminds me of Kuala Lumpur during peak hours.

Had dinner with David and Gary at the Namaste Indian Restaurant nearby our hotel. Although this is Indian restaurant, they also serve Thai and Chinese. As per other restaurants in Almaty, pork is also served.

After dinner, I went back to pack and dozed off after packing, Tomorrow pick-up will be at 7am form the hotel. Need to wake up early in this cold weather.

At last, I am going back home.

~ MT@Kazakhstan
~~ Astana International Hotel, Almaty

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

KZ: The Day

I woke up early in the morning for breakfast and get ready for my official interview. Originally, I promised David to meet him at 8am and go to the office together. Unlike me, David already joined the company and his first day is today. Apparently, he has to go to Office 1 and mine is Office 2. Slava, the company’s driver, picked me at 9am and from the hotel, it took me around 30 minutes to get to the Office 2. The traffic was bad. I thought the driving skills in Qatar was worse, but this is terrible. The way they structured the traffic light junction coupled with the bad driving skills make the driving condition in Almaty bad. I would not dare to drive at this point of time. Based on the experience by people I met here, driving can be harmful to you.

When you park your car, make sure there is ample space between the cars. Else, you will find our car dented. Also, the driver here do not use back mirror. Same as drivers in Qatar who seldom use the signals. Over here, when they want to reverse their vehicles, they just reverse them. Should you happen to be behind them, too bad. Expect collision.

In the morning, I met three top management from the company. One partner and two directors. So far so good. I have met one of the directors on Saturday at the party. Had lunch at Guinness Bar – a buffet spread of the local dishes. By the way, if you see names that are the same with international brand like in this case, Guinness, it does not mean the establishment is the international chain brand. It is merely a name. I was a bit concern of what to eat there since the food labels are in Russian/Kazakh and I didn’t know what pork means in the language. Bear in mind over here, very very few practice the religion. Muslims seldom pray or never pray. According to my friends in the company, majority Muslims that they know do not fast in Ramadan and they do drink alcohol and eat pork. Hari Raya is not known here. So forget about getting public holiday on that day.

In the afternoon, I am supposed to meet with two senior managers, and both of them are local Kazakh. However, one of them could not make it due to client commitment. Met with HR Manager who explained that once the company offers you a job, you have to wait for three to five months to get your work permit ready. This means that you can only be officially hired into the company once your work permit ready. Business visa will no longer work for this case. The HR passed me the check list of the work permit processing.From the look of it, it is not much difference from Qatar except there are no medical check-up and letter of the good conduct from the police. Additional documents needed include reference letter from previous employers proving your work experience at least for the last five years.

The country is making difficult for expatriate to come. It is a good move to ensure qualified locals are given proper chance.

Attempted to connect to internet from the company, but failed although there is a successful connection made. Diagnostic shows there was connection, but I wonder why I could not get into internet.

At night, had a team dinner at the Uzbekistan restaurant. First time ever in my life I tried horse meat. Yup.. you read it right… horse meat. I tried the cold horse meat, thus a bit tasteless.

This Uzbekistan restaurant, I think it is known as “Alasa” has a very distinctive Uzbek deco. There were also few birds chirping once in a while. The food was good and the best part was the entertainment. Ranging from traditional Uzbek folk fore and finish it up with belly dancing. Before the end of the show, these belly dancers will move from one table to another. As a patron at the restaurant, you are expected to slip some monies to their waist. Luckily they don’t strip like that club :-p

That’s wrap up my day….

~ MT @ Kazakhstan
~~ Astana International Hotel, Almaty

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

KZ: Sunday in Almaty

I went to bed quite late last night. Around 3 o’clock in the morning. We stayed at that club until late. Woke up just in time for breakfast and continue sleeping until noon. In the afternoon, I had lunch at Promenad (again) and later went to Ramstore. This time, I was with David, an Australian who just joined the company. I was told this particular Ramstore is where majority of people go. Apparently, Ramstore is just like Carrefour / Tesco and Ramstore is a Turkish chain. Bought few fridge magnets for myself and some friends. Haven’t found the key chain for Zal yet.

The weather today was cold and the best thing to do in this weather is cuddling with the loved one sipping hot chocolate or coffee. Hehehe… However, I am alone here and there is no coffee place like Starbucks or Coffee Bean. So, forget about it. I was told the first Starbucks in the region (Russia and CIS) was opened in Moscow couple of months back and it was a great success. I think it is time for Kazakhstan to have one.

After Ramstore, I joined other two colleagues for drinks at Soho Almaty Club. This club is not the same as the club I went last night. It is a dining palce with live band. Although it is not the same, it is similar. A place where you can pick up “overnight partner” for around USD200 per night per partner. The band was pretty good I would say. We stayed there until 1am, which is the club closing time on Sunday.

Went back to the hotel and started packing. I need to pack just in case I have to move to another hotel since I was told the current hotel is fully booked. I hope that the company can extend my stay for another two nights. Too lazy to move out – although the hotel is not a great hotel. The breakfast is lousy and the internet connection is expensive.

Tomorrow is the official day. I will be seeing few top management and I am not pretty sure whether I should do my best…. :-p

~ MT @ Kazakhstan
~~ Astana International Hotel, Almaty

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

KZ: Jalan-Jalan in Blizzard

Once I reached the hotel, changed and went straight to bed. I woke up at 8am after a short but good sleep. I was thirsty and needed to get some food. I thought KC to serve light refreshment before landing, however, I was wrong.

Went down to Sulu Restaurant for a buffet breakfast. Basic breakfast i.e. omelet, yogurt, choices of fruit juices, coffee, tea and bread. Nothing interesting. Enough to fill me up until lunch. After breakfast, I planned to continue my sleep, however, I guess I can cover my sleep later. So, I took this opportunity to walk around the hotel. One thing bad about this country in relation to tourism industry is the lack of map and information. Although there is a copy of Kazakhstan yellow pages in the room, the map is in Russian. If you asked the front desk staff (I am talking about this particular hotel I am staying), they were not any good. One question will be responded with one useless answer. No voluntary information. My observation is that the Soviet era mentality still persists. I think it takes time for people to appreciate freedom.

Without any guide, I stepped outside the hotel under the blizzards. It was cold and the roads were covered with thin layer of snow. Thanks to a friend for lending me his winter jacket. My indicator for my walk was the crowd. Watched which direction they were walking from and which direction they were going. Snapped few photos along the way and after 15 minutes walking, I found a small mall, Promenad. This is a pretty small mall and fair to equate the Promenad with the Center in Doha. There is a supermarket, Gros and also a King Burger food court. Bought few drinks to bring back to the hotel and had my lunch at the food court. Lunch costs me 725 tenge (RM20) for a plate of grilled meat, oily rice and a coffee.

Later in the evening, Andrew called me saying that he will be picking me up at 5pm to go to one of the company’s top management house. There was a surprise party for his boss’ wife. This was a top management social gathering (which I heard that they normally organize this among themselves) and frankly, I was not that ready to blend into it. This was also a surprise to me since it was not part of the itinerary. The crowd was a mixed blend of world nationalities. Malaysians, British, New Zealanders, Colombian, Indonesians, Filipinos and Australian. All of them are directors and partners. And they are pretty young.After the party, we went to Lime Brew for dinner. The restaurant reminds me of Blaubart in Frankfurt/Main since it shares the same concept. A bar/restaurant in a medieval set up. Good food. Over there, I met another two people who I will be working with should they offer me the job. These two are based in Astana, so will I if I being offered and accepted the job. Astana is 1:30 flight north from Almaty and a capital city of Kazakhstan.

After the dinner, majority decided to enjoy themselves at this “Sweet and Spice” club. Since I am new, I just followed them. This is one of the many exclusive men’s clubs in this city. A country where I was told majority is Muslim having many such clubs are quite surprising. I let you figure out what it is :-)

~ MT @ Kazakhstan
~~ Astana International Hotel, Almaty

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

KZ: Heading North

At noon I took LRT from Setiawangsa to KL Sentral for check in. After checked in, I rushed to Burger King Masjid Jamek where I promised BH to meet him for lunch. Then, I took a train back to KL Sentral for connection to KLIA. Reached KLIA around 2:15pm and directly went for a prayer. There was a long queue at gate C14 where 9M-MKR is bound to depart for BKK. Among the crowd were the Indonesian cycling and gymnastic teams flying to Thailand for Korat SEA games. It looked like the flight is 95% full in economy. Don’t know the Golden Club class load factor though. The push back commenced at 15:16 and soon we were on our way to BKK departing from 32R. 

After 30 minutes air borne, “Meal box” was served and I think this is a pretty good idea for a shot haul flight less than 3 hours. The box consists of sandwiches, an apple, mineral water and a Cadbury candy. This is the same concept by KLM on flight from KUL to CGK. The plane landed at BKK Suvarnabhumi at 17:15 local time on runaway 01R. Immediately, it taxied to gate D7 and soon I am at the international transfer desk for KC – Air Astana.



While waiting for the transfer counter to open, I bumped into another Malaysian who was heading to Almaty as well. He used to work in Azerbaijan before in oil and gas industry and just like me, this is his first time to Almaty. Great to see a “familiar” face.

Since I have 3 hours of transit and my first at Suvarnabhumi, I took a chance to walk around this gigantic airport. Structured wise, it looks “heavy” and the fact that it was not painted or tiled makes the airport looks dull. Very grayish. 

Duty free shops are scattered across three floors – level 2, 3 and 4. Level 3 houses the airline lounges with few shops.

What I liked most about this airport is Level 4, the departure level. This level has most of the shops and along the way, there are islands of restaurants for the passengers to wind down after shopping.

Boarding for KC starts at 18:40 for flight to depart at 19:20. At the holding lounge, met two 

girls going to Almaty to see their family who are working with Malaysian Embassy there.

The aircraft, Boeing 757-200 christened P4-GAS will fly me to Almaty tonight. The flight hours from BKK to ALA, according to the captain are 7hrs 30mins. Pushback on time and soon we were air borne from 01L. The flight path is a bit weird. It took us from BKK towards Dacca, then Delhi all the way to Kabul and turned back east towards Tashkent and soon Almaty. Wonder why we are not flying across the Tibetan Plateau, which should give us shorter route and shorter flight hours.

In-flight service on KC was not a good one compare to all other airlines I had flown before. The crew were “cold”. Seldom smiles. I think there were six cabin crew on board, 4 stewardesses and 2 stewards. What amazed me is that all the liquid leftover, i.e. drinks, were poured into the toilet sink. And just before landing, one of the lavatories was used as a dumped for garbage bag.

Landed at Almaty Airport at 02:00am with temperature 3 degrees celcius. It was a cold night and I really needed a sleep. Immigration was not difficult since the only flight arrived during that time was ours. All visitors have to get their face taken by the camera. Right after the immigration, there is a custom lane where you have to scan your hand luggage. You need to do this before you went to pick up your checked in luggage. I guess if you carry prohibited items in your checked in luggage, they will never catch you. But then, what are the prohibited items? 

Before leaving the arrival hall, make sure you have the luggage tags for each of the checked in luggage ready. These tags will be checked against your luggage before you are allowed to leave the airport. For me, everything went smoothly. Outside the hall, met with the pick up person from the company and within minutes I was on way to the hotel.

The journey from the airport to the hotel took around 30 minutes. When I was first time in the US, I feel “just like what I see in the movie”. The same thing here. You feel that the view and environment are just like those you have seen in James Bond movies or any movies involving villains from Russia. 

Let see what’s in store for me in the morning in this cold city. 

~ MT @ Kazakhstan
~~ Astana International Hotel, Almaty

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: First Day

Another first day... hehehe... this time, is my first day of work since I resigned from my Singapore company.

Originally, I agreed to join on 13 Dec, giving ample time to relax (nak relax lagi ke? tak cukup2 dua bulan eh? :-)) after I come back from my trip. However, the ED of my new company insisted me to join earlier for transition. The existing PM is going for a family vacation. Little that I know he misunderstood the dates for my trip which coincide with the current PM vacation. So right now, he ended up with no PM for the first week of December. 

I don't know how to classify my first day. During the interview, I have informed them I am not interested in SI work any more, but now, I ended up managing one. And worse (I considered it worse), it is the same thing that I did before I left for Qatar. Urrgggghhhhhh........

Since I have accepted the work, I hope to do the best for it. Morever, the ED put high hope on me to lead this project. 

I pray to be able to execute this successfully.....

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ Kg Attap, Kuala Lumpur

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Next Trip

I just received my ticket today for my trip up to Northern Hemisphere.... :-) the only problem now is I don't have any winter clothing. Anybody wants to lend theirs? Am leaving this Friday afternoon.

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: House Warming

My friend, SY invited me to his house warming party this afternoon. Since BH went back to Perak for his cousin wedding, I went to SY condominium with Famil. This was the second time I went to SY's place. 

I found out later that he only invited those people that know he moved to a new place. He planned for around 25 people and ordered the food to cater triple of it. That's SY.... :-)

As a result, lots of left over. I hope he didn't throw the food away without attempting to give them to others. Famil and myself didn't take any since we were going somewhere else after that. 

Thanks SY for inviting. It was a pleasure to see you again.... You look slim a bit although I expect slimmer (ye lah kan... dah jadi unofficial ambassador for one of fitness centers kat KL ni...)

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ Wangsa Maju, Kuala Lumpur

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Day Lapan (-1)

My last day of detox. As expected, nothing changes or improved. So, I think I have to agree with majority that I talked to about detox. If you are a Muslim and fast during Ramadan, I don't think any detox programme will work. Fasting itself is a form of detax. Dapat pahala lagi :-)

It is good if you continue with six days fasting in Syawal and even better if we can dedicated ourselves to fast on Mondays and Thursdays. Isn't Islam great?

When that thought came to mind, I checked the website on juvanex detox again. An I reckoned all those success stories are from non-Muslim. And I am not surprised if they are not true. Not to downgrade the product, but for marketing gimmick, anything is possible.

Anyway, bottom line - for a Muslim, forget spending money on this. for non-Muslim, do practice fasting. For all, eat right and know your limit. Stop when you nearly full and eat on scheduled. Actually, these are all the teaching of our beloved Prophet (S.A.W)... 

Islam.. what a great way of life.. 

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Day Tujuh (-1)

Suppose to be the last day of detox. However, I skipped one day, so today is Day Six. Still the same, nothing happen.

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Day Enam (-1)

As per previous days, nothing on detox. Tomorrow supposed to be the last day. But since I didn't take juvanex when I was in Singapore, today is considered day five. 

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

SG: A Day trip

I left Kuala Lumpur last night at midnight. Took Transnasional from Puduraya. The coach was not in a good condition, but reasonable for Transnasional standard. Moreover, this is the only bus company I found that meet my criteria:

1) To arrive early morning in Singapore, just nice for me to be in the office before 9am

2) To use a trusted transportation company. 

Other companies/mode:

Aeroline - do not meet #1

Flights - do not meet #1

Other transportations - do not meet #1

Other bus companies - do not meet #2

So, at the end, I settled with Transnasional for RM30.10 one way.

BH dropped me at Puduraya around 11:15pm. The place still busy with people.  The coach was ready thirty minutes before scheduled departure time and we left Puduraya on the dot. It was a bit difficult for me to sleep since the seat was not that comfortable. By 2:30am, we exited North South Highway at Machap for a 25 minutes stop.

Few minutes before 4am, we were already at the immigration check point at SecondLink. The immigration was fast since we were the only visitors to Singapore at that time.

Transnasional terminal in Singapore is Lavender Terminal, nearby the MRT of the same name. I know there is an MRT station there but do not know which way from the Lavender Terminal. Luckily there was an Indonesian guy who was on the same coach from KUL that knows how to get to MRT station.

I was at Suntec City by 6:30am. The Christmas lights in front of Suntec is beautiful at dawn. Singapore is getting alive very early in the morning.

I thought that the few coffee shops at Suntec to open by 7 am or 8 am, however, I was wrong. None of them was open, so I decided to go up to the office at Tower 3 and settle few things. By 9am, I handed over my EP, passport and disembarkation card for dispatch to MoM to cancel my EP. By 11:30am, everything was settled. I returned all items loaned to me and thanked the staff (in fact, out of all staff in the office, I only know two of them :-)) before make a move back to Johor Bharu.

Had a lunch at Raffles City Plaza and took an MRT to Kranji station for transfer to Johor Bharu via the causeway. I reached Johor Bharu at 3pm and due to my own fault, I ended up at Larkin instead of Kotaraya Plaza... This is what happened when you are not familiar with the city and asked a wrong person for direction. :-)

Walked around City Square (in fact I still could not figure out the Kotaraya Plaza despite the signboards everywhere) and nearly fell asleep at Starbucks. 

By 6pm, my friend picked me up and we went for a drink. Later at night, had dinner at Senibong and then some drinks at Danga Bay.

My flight to KUL was next day at 9am. Thanks very much NH and his housemate, ZT. It was a pleasure meeting you again.

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ Johor Bharu, Johor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

SG: Day Lima

No detox today since I am in Singapore. I didn't bring juvanex with me...

~ MT @ Singapore

~~ Suntec City, Singapore

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Day Empat

Still nothing changes... however since I already bought that stuff, better finish them up... if, not rugi lak...

Leaving for Singapore tonight....

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Day Tiga

Today is the third day into my detox programme. So far, no obvious improvement. My sleep last night was just same as previous nights.

According to the booklet in the juvanex packaging, taking words by words, user may feel a bit weak at the start of a detox. In the first three days,user may experience unpleasant short-term reactions such as:
- Mild diarrhoea
- Excretion of pungent dark faeces or yellow faeces which floats on water
- Frequent urination
- Extreme fatigue, sleepiness, irritability
- Coated tongue, metallic taste in mouth, mouth ulcer
- Headache, nausea, vomitting

Based on the above, although I do have couple of the predicted symptoms, I don't attribute them to the programme. Frequent urination for example, I always have this everytime I drink water. Apparently my bladder cannot keep lots of water :-) I did experience a metallic taste in mouth, but for a very short time.

So, third day, still don't feel that I am under detox...

~ MT @ Malaysia
~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Day Dua

Second day of juvanex detox. Still the same. Nothing extra ordinary. So, I am still pessimistic on the effectiveness of the detox. According to Zal, this is either I am clean or too much toxin even juvanex can't help it.

I am still to continue with the detox until completion. According to the label on the packaging, the first two days of juvanex detox are the most crucial. These two days will see you experience all the symptoms of the detox.

~ MT @ Malaysia
~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Day Satu

While enjoying the cartoon strips in The Star today, I came across this Starscope for Capricorn "Despite it being a Friday, todayis a good day to start something new".

Today, I start my very first detox programme. Juvanex detox programme. In the morning, with breakfast I took two scoop of juvanex and until evening, I didnt feel anything. In the evening, during dinner, I took another two scoop. At this I can feel one of the symptons as prescribed, metallic taste in the mouth. But it was brief.

After dinner, I went to see Zal at his apartment before he left for Doha. Bid farewell to him and went back to Ampang around 2am. In the morning, I was already up around 7:15am, without any alarm. I guess that is the only improvement I experience during my Day 1 of juvanex detox programme.

Now, I am a bit skeptical about this programme. Let see what happen in Day 2.....

p/s: Guna Mac ni, takleh nak upload gambar lak...

~ MT @ Malaysia
~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: It has been a while...

yeap... it has been a while since I last update my blog. Busy?.. nah... not really.. those people in Doha do not really need my help. And since I have tendered my resignation, my office does really care what I am doing now. I have to go down to SIN next week to return my laptop and cancel my employment pass. Hope everything can be settled within a day since I am not looking forward to spend a night over there. Moreover, everything is on my own...

I am thinking to take an overnight coach or train and reach SIN early morning. Striaght to office and do the necessary. After that, come back to KUL. I spoke with officer from IRAS and Ministry of Manpower and it seemed that everything can be settled within one day.. I hope my office will be efficient enough to complete all procedures on time.

My new employer asking me whether I can star earlier i.e. end of the month. At the beginning, I am planning to start only in December, so give me enough time to rest (I will be on probation for 6 months!), but when I think about it again, I got nothing much to do. So, might as well start early and get paid.

Deep insight me, I hope that I make a right decision. This is a very hard decision to make since I am accepting only one third of what I used to earn in Doha. Pretty tough life I would say to maintain the lifestyle that I have used to. I keep telling myself this is an "investment"... yup.. an investment that I hope to reap the benefits within three years time maximum. I have stayed in Doha for three years and time flies... so I gues another three years will not make any harm to me... finger cross....

My family supports my decision and in fact they are happy with it.. Blessing from both my mum and dad is crucial for me.. may Allah guide me and enlighten my life with His nur.......

MT will not travel (extensively) again, at least for the next three years... I will try to travel domestically whenever I got chance...

Wih me luck, all my friends out there... insyaAllah we will meet again.....

~ MT @ Malaysia
~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Yesterday

My day yesterday.....

- it took me 30 minutes driving from Ampang Park to KLCC along Jalan Ampang... the traffic was at its worst yesterday evening!!

- reached KLCC, went straight for maghrib at the surau. Joined the congregation that already started praying. After praying and offering the doa, I extended my hand to next persons for salam. None of them actually looked at you with a smile. Are they not sincere? I have been noticing this lots of time in the mosques in this country.

- had dinner at Signature Level 2 food court. Bought myself "Pad Thai" from Rama 9. I miss "pad thai" from Thai Snack in Doha :-). Next customer came and ordered the same. She gave RM50 note and the cashier responded "Tak de duit kecik ke?"... errr... if I were the customer, I would just cancel the order. That kind of question should never been asked to the customer. The onus is on the cashier to go and find the change. It happened to me couple of days ago at La Bahome Jusco Mid Valley.

- and I tendered my resignation yesterday! :-)

~ MT @ Malaysia
~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Get Well Soon!

Zal was admitted to Selayang Hospital two days ago for Retinal Detachment. The operation procedure took around an hour yesterday afternoon.

Get well soon Zal... people in Doha are missing you.

I went to visit him with NN and later, Rafi and Boboi joined us. While waiting for Rafi and Boboi to arrive, I had a "rojak" at the public cafeteria. This area really attracts me.. do we really need this?


Later that night, without Zal, all of us have some coffee at Starbucks The Curve.

~ MT @ Malaysia
~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: New Toy

Haven't written anything in my blog for quite sometime... anyway, I just bought myself a new toy.... hehehehehe

I never bought a laptop fro myself before. This is the first one. I am proud with it even it is a bit expensive compare to others. I hope this is a right investment for me.

So, anyone out there are Mac users? Maybe can connect and teach me to familiarize myself with my new toy :-))

~ MT @ Malaysia
~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Puncak Serambi

Last night, I went for dinner with BH at one of the restaurants located along Ampang-Ulu Langat bypass. M-P-A-J has a tourist spot called Puncak Serambi with few restaurants. The area provides a bird's eye view of the city. It is beautiful. No need to go Genting to experience the view KL.



The food was just so-so. Not that great and not bad too... Recommend to go there to enjoy the view.











p/s: Apologize for the blurry photos... :-)

~ MT @ Malaysia
~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Open House Abe Zu

Just got back from Abe Zu's open house. Met Zal/Razi and Nizam/Sha over there. I was late since BH was invited as well and he was working.

The food - mee goreng was good.. hot from Abe Zu's kitchen.... There were also satay, bubur kacang hijau, kuih koci, pasta, bihun goreng, and tomyam.

~ MT @ Malaysia
~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: From Singapore...

Today, when I arrived from my more than one day journey from KBR to KUL :-)), my neighbour gave me a package. Apparently, it was delivered during my away and my neighbour has received it on my behalf.

It was from the wonderful couple, Pato & Pearl. Thank you very much...

My collection of fridge magnets..

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~