TH: Krabi Trip Day 3

Morning!! Again, need to find a place for breakfast :-) actually last night, we have decided to do cycling around the town. Since our target place for breakfast is Starbucks, we planned to rent the mountain bikes and cycle to Starbucks. Then from there, do another 1 - 2 hours biking.

We forgot that time in Thailand is one hour later from Malaysia. So, 8am there is 9am in Malaysia. Guess what, the sun already shined above us and felt like our skin is burning! Not to mention the path we took, which tested our endurance....

After 1.5 hours, we were done and back to the hotel for a rest. After few hours, we went out venturing the same Ao Nang place again. Wonder when I am going to get tired of the same place..... we walked towards the Ao Nang beach, the area where the hotels facing the beach are. We found couple of massage places and this one attracted us... BF Massage. On daily basis, they have 50% discount on massage between 10am - 2pm. Good bargain. The massage shelter is by the beach and the wind blew from the sea makes it a relaxing moment. The only complain is the masseurs! Can't they stop talking to each other ... it really disturbs us...

After massage, we went for a lunch at the hawker stall near our hotel, and in the evening, spent time at the hotel spa. It was a good bargain, but unfortunately for me, in the room, the air-cond is blowing at its fullest couple with hot steam room and the cold rose body scrub made me feel uncomfortable.

It was 2.5 hour spa and when we finished, it was nearly 9.30pm... gosh.. need to fill up our stomach.. too a tuk-tuk towards McDonald's area and found out quite a lot of stalls were closing. We just wanted a street food and tried fried noodles and fried rice. Again, unfortunately for my fried rice, it was a bit spicy and was not cooked properly - I ended up with diarrhea the whole night! What a way to spend the final night at Krabi.

There is no photo since my friend forgot to bring the charger for his camera... the battery ran out and sorry, no photo to share...

~ MT @ Thailand
~~ Mercure Deevana, Krabi

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

TH: Krabi Trip Day 2

Day 2 starts pretty early. We were told to be at the lobby for transfer to the jetty by 9am. Since we did not have breakfast as part of our hotel stay, we need to find breakfast somewhere else. The problem is, no restaurant open this early here, except hotels. We walked few hundred meters towards Ao Nang beach and lastly, saw Burger King 24hrs service. Yeah! Walked in, glance through the menu and ... aargh... something there that prevented us from ordering here. Walked out and few steps ahead, 7-Eleven... yeay.. breakfast time :-) Spent equivalent to RM5 for a pineapple pie, coffee and yogurt drink. Had a breakfast on the bench at Ao Nang beach.. nice ...

While enjoying our breakfast, we didn't realize it was nearly 9am. Sh**.. walked as fast as we could back to the hotel, change and zoomed to the lobby. Alas, the pick up only arrived at 9.10am. With us, there are another 6 guests going for the same trip. 4 from the UK and 2 Singaporeans.

The tour agent used is Ko Phi Phi Tours. We noticed other hotels such as Sheraton and Ao Nang Villa also use them. So, i guess it must be trustworthy.

At the jetty, we have to wait for another 30 minutes for other people to arrive and the speed boat to get ready. Our boat can accommodate 30++ pax and it is full.

Our first stop is Ao Maya then snorkeling and proceed to Phi Phi for lunch. Lunch is just so-so, and PhiPhi island is just another local island like those in Malaysia. It is good for the local to make some money from the tourists.

After PhiPhi, another snorkeling and back to the mainland. By 4pm, we are back on the shore and our transport to bring us back to hotel are ready.

Tips: Make sure you go to toilet whenever you have chance and before you board the boat. If they stop for snorkeling in the middle of the sea, you will find yourself uncomfortable holding onto your bladder :-)

The jetty

Walking to the speed boat 

Inside the speed boat - best seat, towards the corner. Do not recommend sitting near the engine

At Ao Maya Beach

Welcome!

Lunch at Phi Phi - full board

Take a short rest at the hotel, and we went out discovery Ao Nang for the second time. For dinner, we stopped at Bamboo Special Seafood. The ambience is nice and the arrays of seafood in front entice us to have dinner here. Unfortunately, the service is very slow and the food is not so great. Couple of tourist next to our table ordered clams and once delivered, apparently nearly half of clams are not cooked. At least the restaurant took it back and deduct from the cost of meal. That is what I called customer service.

Bamboo Special - where we have dinner

Prior to our dinner, we had a reflexology at the Seaview Massage. it is situated at the corner of the Ao Nang road towards the beach. Although the price is competitive, I got the old masseur... and the results - do not feel anything! She even admitted that she is old and cannot press hard enough... what a waste!


~ MT @ Thailand,
~~ Mercure Deevana, Krabi

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

TH: Krabi Trip Day 1

It has been a while since my last vacation. In 2011, my original plan was to travel on a monthly basis, unfortunately time and money seldom be on my side. I did travel end of 2011 to Bandung, visiting my brother and his family. For 2012, January went by and in February, I managed to get myself the sun (in which I can get plenty on it here :-)) and sea.

Actually, this trip was planned in August 2011 (that when I bought the tickets). Couple of days prior to the trip, I scanned through the itinerary and notice there was a service fee paid for "SKYB" costing RM28.80. Can't remember what I have booked, I attempted to contact AirAsia. However, the number listed on their website is the premium number which they will charge RM1.95 per minute. There is no 1-300 number or even local number. ....

A friend and I took a bus from KL Sentral to LCCT at 10.30am. Reached LCCT an hour later and proceed to departure hall. The departure hall for Krabi is at Y gate which is next to domestic departure, unlike other departures utilizing Gate T. This used to be part of the domestic and there are only two gates, Y1 and Y2. The area is partitioned from domestic side with 2m wall. Very cramped when you are in there and there is no toilet inside. No wonder they won't allow passengers to get into the hall until at least 1hr from departure time.

Departure Hall for Gate Y1 & Y2

Boarding started at 12.50pm. Full load. Our heavy today is 9M-AHP. Few families and those travel in groups were split (in terms of their seating arrangement), unless you have paid extra to secure your group seats. .The flight was uneventful and we were flying at 36000 ft above sea level over Penang, Langkawi and direct into Krabi. Landed at 149pm local time on runaway 14.

A short 1hr flight and we were in a place hotter than Kuala Lumpur.

Landed Krabi

Immigration was smooth although the officer seemed to take a bit more time to admit a Japanese family of four in front of me. My turn, it was fast and within minutes we were at the bus counter. There are choices to get from the airport to the Ao Nang beach, where we will be staying. The cheapest mode is bus transfer. It costs 150 Baht per person one way. A taxi with maximum of three pax cost 600 Baht per taxi. Since we were not in hurry, we opted for the bus.

Krabi Airport

The bus transfer is operated by Pichet Transport Co. Ltd. It is a white bus outside the arrival hall. Since the only arrival at that time was AK flight, all 12 passengers were from the same flight. One Caucasian couple, another one none Malaysian couple and the rest were Malaysians. On the way, the driver dropped the Caucasian couple first and then turn back to stop at this one travel agent. Hmm... pretty fishy...




Then, the travel agency manager came on board and told us to get down since they will arrange another transportation for us - except for this one non-Malaysian couple (the bus driver will drop them at their hotel)... now it smells fishy...

We were asked to wait, and then the travel agency staff trying to sell us the packages.. damn! luckily we did not take any since it was very expensive compare to the hotel excursion packages and those travel agents down at Ao Nang. When I asked why we have to change transport, I was told the bus could not get to the hotel due to its narrow street at Ao Nang.. LIAR..LIAR...LIAR --> the next day, I saw the same driver drove the airport transfer bus right to the street where our hotel is!

After 15mins, we were transported in the Thai-style pick up truck. Reached the hotel at 3.30pm. Check in was a bit slow. Read more about my review on Mercure Deevana Krabi here.

After one hour relaxing, we walked towards the main street of Ao Nang. Just at the junction of the main road, there were hawkers in tri-cycles selling varieties of seafood which are halal! Great! Spent 100 Baht eating the seafood skewers. Not bad. Apparently, a lot of tourists sampling this great cheap Thai fare :-) We walked for couple of hours and had our dinner at Chaba Thai Seafood restaurant. Apparently, it is easy to get halal food here. There are quite a number of Muslims in Krabi and there are few mosques as well. Quite a big mosques like those you see in Malaysia. So, the food is not a thing to worry.

Walked back to the hotel and called off an early night. Tomorrow is Phi Phi Islands day :-)

~ MT @ Mercure Deevana
~~ Krabi, Thailand
~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Trip Back

Reached CGK around 5pm. KLM departed from Terminal 2E at CGK. There were four counters for Economy class check in and all four have at least 4 passengers queuing at each counter.

There were six of us and it took the check in agent nearly 10 minutes to check all of us in. I wonder why it took so long. As far as I know, you just check the identity, print boarding pass and baggage tag, and walla, you are done!

CGK airport is a bit dim. Dull and IMHO, not enough lighting. I guess it is time to refurbish the airport. Once all of us were checked in, we proceeded to the airside. Since we were in 2E, we decided to go through the immigration over there. There are other immigration counters at 2D. At 2E, all the counters were empty and immigration was a breeze for all of us.


It was nearly 6pm and our bird was already there. I went to look for a surau for maghrib and according to staff there, the only surau at terminal 2 is all the way at 2D adjacent to the airline lounge. It was a good 10 minutes walk to the surau from the gate. They should build another one over at 2E.

Boarding started around 6:30pm and it was smooth. The flight was full and majority of passengers terminated at KUL. Only a handful of them continue the journey to AMS. As per my trip to CGK from KUL, the service on this sector was not worth talking about. Instead of bihun goreng, now we got mee goreng :-) One thing I noticed though was most of the Malaysians on board the aircraft did go to Bandung :-) You can see them either carrying Rumah Mode paper bag or Kartika Sari brownies. And couple of them has boxes of J. Co donuts with them :-))


Touched down at KUL at 9:40pm local time. Five minutes ahead of schedule. Baggage, as usual, has to wait for quite sometime. No issue with Custom since we don't have anything to declare.

Once outside, bid farewell to my younger brother since he as heading to CJ and BH to Dsara. My other family members took KLIA limo back home and we were in the comfort of our home around 11:30pm.

It was a good trip and my mum is now planning for the next trip.. arrghh.. this is contagious. Once you travel, you will always looking forward for another one.... :-))


~ MT @ Malaysia
~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

ID: That Bandung Trip

Am too lazy to do daily entry for Bandung trip since everyday (except Saturday) was the same thing.. jalan-jalan pergi shopping... :-))

On Thursday, instead of hiring a transport, we opted for taxis. Two taxis to fit six of us. It was a wrong choice. It was raining and not easy to hail the taxi on the street, especially if you want to hop on/off from one shop to another. To make the matter worse, it was raining on the way to Rumah Mode, our first destination to shop.

After that, we walked to a nearby Mode Plus and then the next outlet adjacent to Mode Plus (can't remember the name). Visit to these three outlets have taken nearly 3/4 of our day :-)) By noon, I got headache - something you want to avoid when travelling. Probably due to dehydration and the intermittent rain. We decided to go back to the hotel. Called for Blue Bird taxi and within 30 minutes, we were at the hotel.

Had a good nap and after maghrib, we were in the cab again - direction to Heritage outlet and the nearby outlets. Nothing interesting for me at these outlets.

On the second day, my elder brother arranged for a transport. So, this time, it saved a lot of time and very convenience to go from one place to another. It is a bit pricey, around Rph400.000 per car. We took Innova and it fit 6 of us nicely. Our first stop was to Golde Money Changer to change some Ringgit into Rupiah. I would recommed this money changer - it has the favourable rate, better than in Kuala Lumpur. There are only two branches of Golden Money Changer, one along Jalan H. Juanda (next to Kartika Sari) and the other is near Pasar Baru. The one along Jalan H. Juanda has parking lots. Therefore more convenience.

Then, spent most of our afternoons at the outlets. Late afternoon, we went to Pasar Baru. The shops here closed at 5pm, so, it is advisable to go to Pasar Baru in the morning or afternoon. And be careful with pick-pockets. I was told that the pick pocket situation here is not bad as in Tanah Abang in Jakarta. My mum loves this place. She said this is what shopping is all about - not the outlets :-)) Sorry mum, majority rules :-))

Some of the outlets visited....

On Saturday, we went to Mt Tangkuban Perahu. A must visit when you were in Bandung. The day started with a fine weather. Once we reached Kawah Ratu, it started pouring. Stayed there until lunch time before we proceeded to Sari Ater for a hot spring. Paid a ticket to get into the hot spring area - thinking that we can dip ourselves in the hot sulphur pool. We were wrong. We needed to pay to get to the pool.

Tangkuban Perahu & Sari Ater

On way back we stopped by few more outlets (shopping lagi :-)). And the dinner was Nasi Timbel at Ampera. I love the chicken and sambal.

Sunday was a packing day - with a short trip to the one outlet for final shopping. Then, had Nasi Padang for lunch at Restoran Sederhana before we bid goodbye to my brother and went directly to Bandara Soekarno Hatta for a flight back home.


~ MT @ Indonesia
~~ CGK, Jakarta

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

ID: Family Trip

Time for a family vacation. This is the first time for me to have a family vacation overseas. The planned trip is to Bandung, Ind0nesia. I have booked tickets with KLM, the Dutch airlines and my brother settled for the accommodation and ground transport from CGK to BDO.

We left for KUL at 1:15pm and reached the airport within one hour. My younger brother was already there waiting for us. Since I already checked in via the internet the night before, I just need to drop the luggage at the counter. Unfortunately, this was not what happens. I have to “recheck-in” for boarding passes and was also issued an e-ticket. According to the lady behind the counter, a print out from the computer might pose some problems over in CGK when checking in for return flight.



The gate for today’s flight is C15 and the flight was full. The “City of Dubai” departed on time and as expected, the service on-board was way below what you experience with Asian airlines. The flight time was 1hr 30 minutes and was expected to land as scheduled.

The flight was uneventful and nothing great to share on my first time with KLM. Overall, I would rate the whole experience with KLM only 2 out of 5. Most of the negative points are from the service on board. But the food was not bad though.



Landed on 25R and within 10 minutes we were at bay E71. Not many arrivals at Terminal E at that time, so immigration was a breeze. So did our luggage. Within 5 minutes after immigration formality, our luggage arrived at the carousel. Not bad...

We went outside of the arrival hall and walked to adjacent Terminal D. My elder brother arrived via MH 30 minutes after our landing.

My brother has arranged for two transports, one for us to go to Bandung and another for him and his work colleague to down town Jakarta. However, before we parted, we went to old town for a dinner at this restaurant called “Pondok Laguna”. The dinner was good and I don’t know how much was the damage. :-)

After dinner, we made a small tour around Jakarta – MONAS, mosque and passed by some busy streets of Jakarta. We said goodbye to my brother at MONAS and soon we were on the highway to Bandung. Driving here is crazy! The emergency lane is used as a fast lane… crazy….

We reached the hotel in Bandung just before midnight and once unpacked, I doze off for the shopping day tomorrow...


~ MT @ Indonesia
~~ Aston, Bandung


~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Working Vacation Ahead

Got my ticket today. Well, my electronic ticket. Some how, I just don't like electronic ticket. It doesn't give you "that" feeling... you know, it just doesn't feel like a ticket!

So, my plan would be going to Bandvng on the first week of my vacation for a few days. On the second week, it will be working/vacation. May need to go down to SIN to meet my boss (he has been asking for it couple of months back and today, his secretary email me as well...) Hmm.. shall I cut my hair before meeting him?

~ MT @ Qatar

~~ Sadd, D0ha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself~

QA: Another one..

Talked to my Project Manager this morning and insyaAllah I will be going for another vacation end of this month. The plan is from 22 June until 7 July....

Hope to be able to reserve a seat... unfortunately, this is the season where most people in this region going for a family vacation (summer school vacation is starting end of month). And their destinations are mostly Asian countries with KUL, SIN and BKK on the top spots.

So, as usual, anybody back home needs anything from D0ha? :-))

~ MT @ Qatar
~~ Sadd, D0ha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Bertemu & berduga plus riang ria

In the morning, I drove to TeknoPark near Bukit J4lil for an interview withone of the companies there. I don't have my proper office attire since all my shirts are in D0ha - so, I settled with a blue Banan4 Rep check-shirt and a red tie. :-)

The interview went smoothly with the MD. I would say my chanve is 70%. Let see the outcome next week. And the MD did make comment of my shirt...hahahahhaa.... no problem... I can wear different "hats" when the situation warrants it.. Actually I am not sure whether I want this job or not.

In the evening, did my "metrosexual" thingy... didn't see much differences, but need to continue doing so. Have signed up for a package as well... :-)) This "metrosexual" thingy caused me to be late for the next "riang ria" gathering with my ex-colleagues (LY, II and AZ) at the Red House (next to Exx0n building). Have not seen them for nearly a year, although all of them work at Kay-Ell-See-See and I frequent the place everytime I come back home.

LY and II

AZ

~ MT @ Malays1a

~~ Ampang, Selang0r

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Pre Hols

I am leaving tomorrow for two weeks holiday back home. So, to all my blog readers, if you need anything from Qatar or nak kirim barang kat sedara2 di Malaysia, do leave a comment.

~ MT @ Qat4r
~~ Sadd, D0ha

~To Travel Is To Discover Oneself~

ID: Goodbye Island....

WARNING: The photo may not suitable for some readers. I will not beheld responsible should anything happen to the readers after reading this entry


Last day of our vacation. The flight to K U L was at 13:55. It was a full flight and we bumped into BH's friend who happen to be on teh same flight back to K U L. She and her family stayed at Alam Kvl Kvl. According to her, this resort is owned by a Malaysian.

After breakfast, spent my time enjoying the pool. Checked out at 11.45 and bid farewell to Ibu Lia, the marketing person in charge of Uma Sapna. Thanks Ibu Lia...

Goodbye B4li.......

VERDICT:
1) Overall, it was a wonderful trip. Uma Sapna is great. B4li itself is full of adventure from beach, city life, jungle and mountains.


p/s: scroll down for your present........


~ M T @ Ind0nesia
~~ Seminy4k, B4li

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

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ID: Jalan-jalan Island (3)

Our day started at 8.30am for a pick up to watch Bar0ng dance. From my observation, more audience for Bar0ng as compared to Kec4k. I guess one of the reasons is the timing. Bar0ng is only performed in the morning while Kec4k in the evening, close to dinner time for some.










After Bar0ng, we proceed to the one of the Balinese family house for a cremation. There were two cremation ceremonies that day. Since we were a bit early (before noon), the ceremony not yet started. It was an experience to be part of it. The family members were nice and trying their best to explain the cremation process and their beliefs.











Cremations ended before 2pm in which we moved to Tegallalang. En route, we stopped by few local shops for handicrafts. I would recommend to see the rice field terrace. It is wonderful. In fact there are cafe overlooking the terrace. Good place to wind down. And lucky for us, the rain just stopped and the weather was nice. And for the handicrafts, since the owners are selling them from their own home, you can bargain directly.

We stopped and bargained at few shops before realising that it was into late afternoon already. Tegalallang to Tanah Lot is not near and with narrow roads across the island, we needed to rush. But our driver is good. All the short cuts (to avoid traffic jam) and within an hour, we reached Tanah Lot. And guess what??? It was raining at Tanah Lot!!! aaarrrgghhhhhh.........

We had no choice to rent two umbrellas (which cost us Rph10,000) -> which not doing any good since it was a heavy rain! Braced ourselves in the rain and decided to stop by at one restaurant a hot drink - hoping that the rain would stop.

The rain did stop after 30mins and we missed our sunset -> the cloud blanketed the sky and we just too tired to wait until sunset.... but we did watch the sunset on the way back to the villa, in the van :-))

VERDICT:
1) Personally, Bar0ng is more entertaining. If you have plenty of time to spend, go for both Kec4k and Bar0ng. If you have to choose, I would recommend Bar0ng.
2) Try to slot a time to go to Tegallang - and dont forget to stop by the shops/local homes along the route. As usual, bargain like crazy. :-) There is also another place to see the rice terrace. Quite nice too. I can't remember the name.
3) Good to experience the cremation ceremony if you have a chance to watch it. Do check with the driver the actual time the procession to take place. Normally, it is done after 12 noon (before or at noon, it is not favourable according to B4linese belief). If you reached there too early before noon, you will die of waiting! The tour operator regards the cremation ceremony as an event to get more money. I think they are charging around USD19 per head -> for us, we made a deal earlier to include the cremation into our itinerary for the day.
4) Do pay a visit to Tanah Lot whether it is for sunset or not. It is nice.

~ M T @ Ind0nesia
~~ Seminy4k, B4li

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

ID: Jalan-jalan Island (2)

Merry Christmas for those celebrating Christmas. It's a warm Christmas in B4li. :-)

Today, decided to walk around the area i.e., Seminy4k, Legi4n and Kvta. After breakfast, walked to "Bar/Pub Street" in Seminy4k (Dhyana Pura street I think). It was so hot and humid. Walked from our villa via the short cut route to Dhyana Pura - along the rice field and few construction areas.

Since it was a day time, the area was quiet and not as happening as night time. Moved towards the beach and walked to Ober0i area. Wow, Ober0i is so nice. Those who can afford should try this nice resort. Saw few locals playing football in their underwears on the beach...hahahaha.......

In the afternoon, went to Legi4n and Kvta area. Got my lovely Starbvcks city mugs (yes, I am a collector ot Starbvcks city mugs) adn did a little shopping. This is where I found the handicrafts price are the same or cheaper than Sukaw4ti.

Later, we had a spa at this spa.

Quite far away, however, they provide pick up from your hotel. Only they don't provide transport back. You need to call a cab (they will call for you). I had a massage and green tea body scrub. Unfortunately, I was not aware that I am allergic to some ingredients they used during scrubbing (I think). I got rashes all over my legs. I took the photos of the rashes, but I guess it is just too s3xy to put it on the blog... ahaks.. [perasan kejap...]

After the massage, we went to Jimbar4n for seafood dinner. The food was bad... the cumi-cumi was like plastic and I don't feel it is worth to try seafood in B4li -> this is purely my own conclusion after two visits to Jimbar4n for seafood at two different warongs. Before, I was in B4li in 2001.

Generally, this day is just a rest day. For tomorrow, we had made a deal with our driver for another tour. We used the same driver and for Rph350,000 (if I am not mistaken or was it Rph300,000??) we get unlimited hours starting at 8.30am. Our plan was Bar0ng dance, Cremation ceremony, Ubvd, Tegallalang for rice fields terrace and Tanah Lot for the sunset.

VERDICT:
1) Put spa in your itinerary. It is worth to try. Cheap compare to KayEll. On our way the airport, we saw this one spa center at the shop house perpendicular (across from traffic light round-a-bout) from Planet Hollywo0d. What more, the halal restaurant is just next to the spa center.
2) No regret if you dont have time to experience seafood at Jimbar4n.

~ M T @ Ind0nesia
~~ Seminy4k, B4li

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~