Lion Girl Blog

Belum-Temengor Rainforest: Banding Forest Trail's Night Trek

2012-02-13T23:07:00.003+08:00

We were still lazing in our rooms, after we had driven to the jetty and back, when the phone rang. The receptionist had called to remind us of our 8.30pm activity. Wow! They were really efficient!

The guide was already waiting for us when we got to the front desk.

"Ready? Let's go!"

Off we went following our guide to the further end of the resort ground.

There, another guide joined us.

Oh, one guide in front and one behind!

Great arrangement indeed!

The place was fenced up with locked gate and only the guide will have the keys.

Just after we walked through the gate, we saw this!

So, we were on the Banding Forest Trail lah!

Okay! Pitch dark with a headlight each, provided by the guides, we were suppose to do what lah??

Just follow the guides lor....

By the time I reached the guide in front, his fingers were already stained.

"What happened?"

"Iodine! This tree produces iodine!"

See the tree trunk, there was where the "iodine" came from and that was how the tree looked like!

Hahaha! As if I will recognise it in the day!

Steep slopes to climb up and down; that was why we were given headlights,

so that we could use our hands to grip the ropes!

No rain for the past one week, hence the ground was really dry and dusty; slippery too for the matter!

Hold tight, gal!

Wah! Ling zhi! Cool!

Snap! Snap!

Eh, got mushrooms on the piece of wood!

I bet they'll look very different in the daylight!

Sure looked kind of mysterious in the beam of the headlight there!

Ahhh... this looked familiar!

But this was a shedded body left of the insect lah!

Look at the next picture and you will be able to see how the live one looked like!

This picture was captured at Ketumbar Hills where I would trek whenever I can.

Awesome, right??

This fellow was caught having its dinner!

"Munch munch munch... why is there lights on me! Shoo!

Let me eat in peace!"

OMG! I could not believe my eyes!

This must be an alien insect!

Hybrid of a milipede and a prawn!

Awesome!

Look at how its body bent, the legs and the body segments!

Phewitt! An unbelievable discovery of the night!

Will there be more of such?!

Oh, will there??

Oh yes we did!

Look at the colours!

This must be the most colourful spider I'd ever seen so far!

Beautiful! Simply beautiful!

I noticed some tiny glitters on the ground and when we shone the lights on it, we found a spider!

From then on, every time we saw glitters we knew they would be the spider eyes!

Big glitters big spiders, small glitters small spiders!

Hahaha! So interesting wor...

Spiders of all sorts, everywhere!

Hey, did we walk on a spider land lah??

A ground cockroach on a tree trunk!

This one I did not step it dead lah!

Any insects from the wild are no pests to me!

Hehe...

This one was chased out between the tree trunks by the guides so that dear cousin can take its picture!

Yah! A live scorpion!

I did not see it until I saw the picture!

Hahaha! Too scared to go near it!

It sure did not look friendly!

While the guides were busy getting the scorpion out for dear cousin, I was looking around as usual lah!

This signboard looked it deserved some recognition!

"LOVE OUR FOREST"

and

"RESPECT THE PLANTS"!

Erm, how about the insects and animals lah??

This bug must be metalic. Its body reflected the lights on it!

Everything looked black only in the dark!

Haizzz....

Another spider sighted because of its glittering eyes!

Another one! Look carefully, they were all different species!

Amazing! How many species were there in this trail lah?!

Hey, what are we suppose to see lah in this picture??

Dear cousin said, "The vines lah!"

Hahaha! Okay, okay, sure one good looking twisted vine we had in the picture!

This was the biggest spider spotted!

You know? I was thankful none of the spiders jumped on dear cousin's DSLR when she was spending minutes taking the perfect shot!

This guy's leg too long to be a spider!

This jumper did not stand still for its picture taken but dear cousin caught it anyway!

Bravo!

Another jumper of a different specie!

Errr, the guide said one!

Saving the best for last??

I spotted this wasp when we were getting out of the woods!

Hmmm, this guy could be the one escaped from the white hairy body from the picture above..

What do you think? Possible??

Food for thoughts.....

BELUM RAINFOREST RESORT, PULAU BANDING

Activity: Banding Night Trek

Booking Cut Off Time: 4pm

Minimum: 2 person @ RM30 nett per person

Departure time: 8.30pm

Duration: 1.5 to 2 hours

Tip(s):

We managed to get a discounted package price, at the front desk, coz we looped it with other activities.

Look out for the next adventure!

No more headlights and plenty of sunlights!

Coming soon...

Belum-Temengor Rainforest: The journey begins...

2012-02-12T18:27:00.011+08:00

Dear cousin and I had been trying to make a date with Belum Rainforest for a few months already. Finally, after talking about it with a bunch of people, a handful of them showed interest and we started the searching and booking processes. Somehow, nobody did much research about the place but just went along anyway! Hahaha! Last minute 3 pulled out of the 8 confirmed going!

The original plan of 2 cars of 4 pax each ended up with 2 cars taking 3 pax each because elder cousin needed a ride back to Ipoh and I had volunteered to drive my car. Twist and turn of decisions on the morning we travelled, my car was left home, alone and I had been made the navigator of the automated car(s) coz I did not qualify as a co driver! Don't know how to drive an auto mah!! Haizzz.....

The most important assets of the journey.

2 cars departed from KL to Ipoh, 1 parked in Ipoh and 5 of us hopped into 1 all the way to the resort.

Use the PLUS Highway towards Penang but exit at the Kuala Kangsar toll.

When you reach the split, just follow the Gerik direction!

Beautiful landscape all the way; passing villages and small towns!

You will know which political party has heavier influence where as you pass them by!

Crossing Raja Muda Nazrin Bridge just before reaching Tasik Raban town

Just after you cross the bridge, look out on your right and you will find Restoran Ikan Bakar Tasik Raban.

We stopped by there on our way back to Ipoh, after learning about it from the resort's receptionists.

There were varieties of pre-cooked dishes and grilled fish(es).

I had difficulty deciding what to have because everything looked so delicious!

And they were simply yummy!

Thanks to the resort's receptionists that we knew about this place!

We saw kapok trees as we travelled on.

These trees produce cotton that the locals would make their pillows and bolsters with.

Hmmm...am definitely learning something new everyday....

It was a wonderful day to travel.

Loved the clouds!

And the pine trees too!

We reached another village which another political party has more influence.

Interesting sightings indeed!

We finally reached Gerik town!

We were told to drive straight on until we reach the traffic light where we can see the Restoran Kepala Ikan Salim.

This restaurant is popular for their curry fish head, if we would like to stop for lunch.

If not, turn right to drive straight on to the resort.

After we turned right, we were on a winding road towards the east coast.

The moment this resort's signboard was sighted, we knew we were almost there!

"Hey, we must be reaching liao!"

"Look! There's an EMKAY's sign!"

This was a long bridge, over a massive lake!

The moment you reach the end of the bridge, you have to look out for that signage on the left and turn right!

This was it!!

Yay! Sampai! Sampai!

After over 2 hours drive from the Kuala Kangsar toll, we finally arrived!

We parked our car in front of the resort's office cum reception cum lounge cum cafe building.

The highway was just in front of the parked cars!

Check in!

We found out about their activities at the same time and negotiated for a package deal!

Ohh... can't wait for the first activity tonight!

To the left will be our rooms and to the right the cafe where we had our buffet breakfasts, inclusive in the package!

Ixora's room 105 and 107, side by side!

One room with a Queen size bed and a day bed while the other room had 2 single beds and a day bed!

Wah! The rooms can actually take 6 people lah!

Happy!

The moment we claimed our space, the chef in red begun her job with dear cousin storing what was needed in the fridge.

The other two hit the bed and rested while I was busy taking pictures!

Hehehe...

Believe your eyes!

Yes! We had induction cooker and pot to cook instant noodles!

Wahahaha!!!

It was a DIY lunch in the resort rooms!

One of the rooms was turned into the kitchen, dining and recreation room after we rearranged the furniture!

Shhhhh......

Eh, we still slept in that room lah!

We did not move the bed mah!

After lunch (about 3pm), we wanted to take a drive to the nearest town, Jeli, without realising that it was about 80km away!

Err, see dear cousin, relax saja with her DSLR on her tummy!

Honestly, must salute our two drivers who took turns driving to and fro the resort.

Thank you, thank you!

After driving about 10 minutes to nowhere, we decided to turn back.

We visited the jetty instead.

Yes, turn left when you see this signboard.

This place was flooded! Ooophs! Almost flooded lah!

How can a lake flood the land ah?

Got tide and current one meh??

Huh?

This big signboard was very educational!

Except, it did not have multi languages printed on it!

From this map, we realised that we were not in the green area.

We were on the island located in the white area (in the middle of the blue patch) nearest to the green!

To the north would be the Royal Belum and to the south would be the Temengor Forest Reserve!

We had travelled from the left (Gerik) to the right, crossed the bridge and reached the island, Pulau Banding!

Okay! We were definitely not in the Royal Belum Forest!

We had only checked into the Belum Rainforest Resort, Pulau Banding,

which is inside the Belum-Temengor, the largest continuous forest complex in Peninsular Malaysia!

The Lake Temenggor Info Centre was just a few feet away from the signboard.

Hey, they got boat for hire!

Too bad the counter was closed when we were there.. did not manage to check out their prices!

Haizzz..

My favourite signboard of the visit!

In fact, I believe this signboard should be in multi language and be fixed at all corners of the forest!

After the jetty, we went back to the resort to rest before the Banding Night Trek at 8.30pm.

Instead of going back to our rooms, upon arrival, we went to the Herbal Garden for some education.

Our former Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his wife had planted a tree here!

Must take picture! Must take picture!

After a short walk, we had seen it all!

Without discussing what to do next, 3 of them slept on the nearest bench and naturally rested!

This really meet the resort's tag of 'gateway to nature'?

ZZZzzzzzz........

Hahaha!

Watch out for the next post; Banding Night Trek!

Coming soon...

Thailand's Songkhla and Ko Yo Island

2012-02-02T01:19:00.014+08:00

Aiyoyo... I almost missed this sharing, I almost missed this!!! Hahaha! Why lah?? The last round I almost missed sharing Danok, this time Songkhla and Ko Yo Island pulak....

Honestly speaking, I was there in August when I celebrated my birthday and I went again in December 2011 when we went for our Sangkar, Tg Dawai, trip! Like that also can; within time span of less than 4 months! Hehe...

This trip, dear nephew drove his MPV into Thailand and learnt its custom and immigration procedures. It was one good experience indeed and it was smooth sailing all the way with a little drizzle but that did not dampened our excitement to reach Songkhla for the night.

A two hours drive, passing by Hat Yai on the way and finally we reached there in time for supper! The children fell asleep and Mrs Nephew had to stay in the hotel with them, leaving dear nephew, brother TT and dear wife, dear cousin and I walking around the much deserted town that night.

That night was so different from the other night we were there in August. That night, we did not step into any karaoke and the road side stall that served instant noodles and coffee was not opened. That night, the night market's stalls were already closing one by one. That night we walked a little further and found a few shops which regulars would go for their supper!

Our gang, except me of course, had a round of the local beer, Singha. "Wah, so fresh and tasty! And so cheap too!" They paid only about RM7 per big bottle. After supper, we walked into the 7-11 and dear cousin thought she struck gold when she saw Singha being sold less than RM6 there! "Let's buy three bottles back to the hotel and continue to yum seng there!" Big smiles.... but was told by them the next day that the beer from 7-11 was not as fresh as the beer served in the shop! Sorry lah, me no drink so no gain and no loss lor...

I must tell you about Songkhla's wiring system!

Do you know that you can stand below the posts or walking along them and "hear" the electricity moving?

Zzzt...zzt...zzzzttt...

Look at all the pictures below and you can find layers of wirings on the posts!

Some could be so heavy that they were almost touching the ground!

Something that you do not find in Malaysia nowadays!

Proud!

The next day we had maximised our stay at Songkhla by eating and shopping at the local market! Got the best deals for T-shirts and local goodies there before we travelled further for sight seeing!

We found some friendly Chinese locals when we went hunting for our breakfast!

Some can speak Hokkien, some can speak Hakka and some can speak Cantonese.

Yup! You guessed it, their ancestors came from China, just like ours!

We had their local tea which was served with a cup of Chinese tea.

The Chinese tea to wash down the sweet tea wor...

While everyone ordered their own set of tea, dear nephew ordered one set for him and his wife.

Really Tea for 2: "Milk tea for me and Chinese tea for you"...

Hahaha!

So stingy one!

After we checked out of the hotel, we started playing tourists.

First stop was the mermaid statue at Leam Samila!

Dear nephew and wife did not wait to take pictures with the statue so they took one where they stood!

The wind and waves were particularly strong that day!

Hold your hat, Mrs Nephew and,

Smile!!!

As usual, see food only will drool one....

This coconut ice cream was simply delicious!

Four of us shared also happy coz we knew very well this will not be the only thing we snack!

The moment we saw this stall, we ordered one serving of "Somtam" (Thai papaya salad).

The lady did not offer us any smiles so I purposely asked her to smile for my camera!

She did move her lips a little but as usual lah, my finger was too slow to click the shutter!

Haizz...

Oh, I found my favourite food in Songkhla!

The egg custard in the egg!

Yes, don't be fooled by what you see!

The trick to make this, from what I learnt, was to break a small hole at the tip of the egg;

pour out the content and mix it with salt and pepper before pouring it back into the egg shell.

But, how did they leave the egg yolk blocking the hole lah???

Puzzle, puzzle...

After the Mermaid, we visited the Great Serpent!

Took a few pictures and we were out of there!

In fact, we past by the famous Khao Tang Kuan temple on the hill, which you have to ride on a tram to reach it, but decided to skip that!

Next time lah...

Not enough time this round coz we wanted to go Ko Yo Island!

We were told by the hotel receptionist that they have a golden sleeping Buddha there!

Everyone was more eager to see the sleeping Buddha than the Buddha on the hill.

Hmmm, I wonder why...

There were two ways to go to Ko Yo Island; by road or by ferry.

Let's do the ferry ride since we were at the Samila Beach.

While queueing, we noticed the above signboard:

"Motorcycle left the road and Car right the road"

Anything wrong with the sentences ah??

After seeing the strong wind and waves at the Samila Beach, we were not sure if we wanted to take the ferry.

Later, we realised that the island was connected to the land and not exposed to the open sea!

Phew! Safe lah, everything was calm saja..

Before and after!

Our MPV queueing to get onto the small ferry.

See, the water was full but calm over the other side!

It was a very, very short ride coz we could see exactly where we were going!

Now, now, where is the sleeping Buddha lah?

This island was so small, before we knew it, we were already hitting to the bridge towards Hat Yai!

Apalah??

Hey, we are on the wrong side of the traffic lah!

Look! That's the back of the Buddha!

Quick! Do a U-Turn!

Welcome to Ko Yo Island!

This place looked familiar!

I think I have been here before but then, I visited a temple on top of the hill

(you can see from this picture) and did not visit this Buddha.

If you have the time, if you are on the Ko Yo Island, it would be good to visit that temple on the hill too.

That temple was unique because it has a burn fire crackers service!

Interesting, right?

Wat Phranorn Laemphon, where the golden sleeping Buddha was!

We reached the place just when the sun was setting!

Right timing coz the sun was shining directly on the Buddha!

Awesome!

After admiring the Buddha, blessed by the monk and given charity to the temple, we looked for the U-Turn to the opposite direction so that we can get back to the bridge to exit the island.

I tell you ah, this U-Turn got us onto a low ground of the island and if the waves were any stronger, I was sure the MPV will get hit by them!

Scarry, really scarry to look at the sea from here!

We saw this restaurant the first time we drove past it.

The first restaurant after the U-Turn.

(If I can find their name card, I'll update their information here ah....)

Dear cousin is always looking for the best spot in any restaurants one.

She led us to this spot and said it was the best spot!

The wind was strong but we were busy looking at the menu.

We did not see what was coming but the waitress who took our orders did!

Thank goodness!

She had politely asked us to look at the coming storm (the dark curtain of rain moving towards our direction) and advised us to sit inside the restaurant instead of the open air!

See how obedient we were!

Quickly we took our belongings and moved our butts out of the place!

Hahaha!

Okay, this was a good and safe spot!

The waiter was busy rolling the plastic sheet down so that the rain will not get to us!

Nice service!

Everyone was happy!

We ordered the normal Thai cuisine of tom yam, fish and vegetables except this dish!

Seaweed salad in leaf wrap!

Err, don't know what leaf that was; someone said it was betel leaf wor..

Sure ke??

This place must be very popular!

Look at the crowd!

Packed to the max!

Their food was yummy yummy!

See, we "sapu habis" (finished all)!

We had saved the best for last!

This was the last meal of our Thailand trip!

Woohoo!

Everyone of us love Thailand and had not enough of the place and its food!

We shall be back, Thailand!

We shall be back!!

Tug O'War vs. Hug O'War

2012-01-22T00:39:00.011+08:00

.
Thanks to Karen (blogger of Life with Karen), I'd learnt that 21st January was a National Hugging Day! Cool! What better way to learn about sharing than learning about hugging for this coming Chinese New Year!

Here's wishing everyone reading this a very happy
Gong Xi Fai Cai!
May you be well and happy in the year of the Dragon!

Hug O'War

I will not play at tug o'war.

I'd rather play at hug o'war,

Where everyone hugs

Instead of tugs,

Where everyone giggles

And rolls on the rug,

Where everyone kisses,

And everyone grins,

And everyone cuddles,

And everyone wins.

~ by Shel Silverstein

from

Where the Sidewalk Ends

Lets hug!

If you've got a link to this page someone wants to give you a hug!

Don't hold the hug for yourself

- send a hug

- link to this page

- to your peers and make the world happier!

Do you know?

We all hug in different ways and the way we hug means a lot. Batchelors Hug in a Mug has identified five different hugs we all use in everyday life - use this simple guide to see how that special person feels about you!

The Back to Front Hug is the perfect way to give support and affection to someone, even if they are busy carrying out a task like the washing up! Receiving a Back to Front Hug shows that you have someone who is always there for you and is a way of expressing love and affection for that person irrespective of what is received in return.

The Bear Hug is one of the hugs that we all consider to be the strongest. By squeezing your hugging partner gently, you can instantly give them reassurance and affection. But people tend to use Bear Hugs when they are excited or when they want to display strong affection. However remember, the best Bear Hugs require moderate squeezing not suffocating!

The Cheek Hug on the other hand is the complete opposite. We use the Cheek Hug when we need to comfort someone or show affection but this type of hug also allows us to keep our distance at the same time. The Cheek Hug may be used by anyone - elderly people who may not be able to hug tightly, people who are seated, colleagues, acquaintances and even friends and family.

The Side to Side Hug is a common sight we all see almost everyday. Most of us have all strolled down the road locked in a Side to Side Hug with someone. This casual hug allows us to demonstrate our affection for one another without being too intimate. It is also a way of conveniently hugging whilst carrying out other tasks such as walking, sitting down next to each other and standing in a queue for example.

The Heart Centred Hug is one we all enjoy. A slow, intimate and well-needed Heart Hug can lift anyone's spirits and is the perfect way to show close family, friends and partners how much you care!

Which hug do you wish to receive more this Chinese New Year???

Back in Time: 2011 (April - December)

2012-01-08T23:37:00.010+08:00

From March 2011, we moved into the month of April!

This month was another memorable month! This month dear buddy purposely brought her mother to our place and we played “masak-masak” (cooking)! Hahaha!

You see, her mother is suffering from Alzheimer and she decided that before it gets worse, it was good to learn her mother’s cooking skill! She claims that her mother is the best cook! Ahahaha! Everyone claims that lah!

Hence, we learnt how to cook “Nap Pan” n Abacus, the dementia way! Woo hoo! It was fun!

Then the much talked about GFrenz Get Together happened this month too. This time codenamed BM2! Hahaha! Do we sound like some underground secret groups ah? All for food and fun and best of all for friendship! The group’s theme song is “The more we get together!”! And that we did again in April lor!

Dear cousin and I are always on a look out for charity and we found one worthy one in Ipoh and thought I share it with you, dear readers! So, did you visit them too ah??

May 2011 was a slow down month because I had to catch up with deadlines before the major travel in June! But we did squeeze in another “masak-masak” fun with Mama Dementia! Yeay! DIY Rice Dumplings! Don’t play play!

June 2011 was the most eventful month! Yes, this month dear cousin and I did the Mount Kinabalu climb! Yee har! It was a climb of a lifetime! Immediately after the climb we travelled to Labuan, Brunei, Miri before we landed in Mulu Caves! Wakakaka! And we did all that in 11 days! Woo hoo! Encore! Encore! I want to do it again! Err, if the world still spinning in 2013! Hehehe...

July 2011 was dear cousin’s birthday month, almost the same time "Bersih" took place in KL! Happy Birthday, girl! How else to celebrate the day with her other than make another trip to somewhere! Yippy! We travelled to the north! All the way from Ipoh to Kuala Sepetang to Alor Star and Danok, Thailand! Waaaahhhh!!! What a way to celebrate a birthday, right??

August 2011 was my birthday month pulak! Hahaha! Aisay, I must have fun too lei! Also to the north but this time we were in Ipoh, Penang, Alor Star and Songkhla, Thailand! Kekekeke.... life was great! Yabadabadoo!!!

As if the North trip was not enough, we had another round of getting lost adventure when we did a day trip from Klang to Sitiawan! OMG! That was really an unforgettable trip of all! Of course I got scolded left, right and centre for initiating the day trip! Hehehe... Now I can laugh about it but then, it was really scary one! Trust me!

Travelling did not stop! In September dear cousin and I together with dear nephew and family had another eventful trip to Port Dickson! Last minute plan that turned up to be a 2D1N trip ended in 3D2N! We have turned into professional travellers by now, I guess! Ahahaha!!

I bet you cannot beat us in this! We had another trip in September and this time we landed in Langkawi! Okay, okay, don’t get jealous! You also can make it happen one! Just do it! Yes, that’s the way to do it; Just Do It!!

Let’s move on to October 2011! Gotta take it slower this month coz it was Lion Girl Blog’s birthday! Yeah! LGB was two years old!! Sure felt as if I had blogged for years! Only 2 years old?! Sure ke???

Oophs! Did I just say we slowed down?? Aiyorr, we did not lah! We did a last minute Broga Hill climb and had so much fun! Then hor, dear cousin’s friend from Australia came back for a visit and we ended up having 11 meals in 14 hours! Eating all the way none stop from Klang to Malacca! Burp! Burp! Burp!

Now, now, we had to slow down in November! Okay lor, we just go to Singapore lah! And that we did! Drove into our neighbour country and had a hell of a good time there! I found myself falling in love with Singapore and want to retire there! Kakaka! Think I will have my dreams come true ah??

After all the travelling, my body was getting tired. Tired of travelling? What am I talking about? Of course not! How can anyone be? So, let’s do one more before the year end, let’s do the “sangkar” trip! An “out of the normal life” experience! Hahaha! Peace with nature and back to basics! I simply loved it!!

The above are only some of the highlights of 2011. You gotta read it all here for all that had happened!

What do I have to say about 2011? I must say I have discovered and done so many things that I had never done for all the years that I’d lived before this year! Let me list them out:

1) I have found new friendships this year, more than I have ever had!

2) I have learnt to appreciate life, live the day and be happy everyday!

3) I have discovered the joy of making others happy and being happy doing just that!

4) I have decided to continue living how I was living in 2011 and continue learning every day of my life, as how I have and still am........

HAPPY NEW YEAR, 2012, everyone!

I had a very fulfilling 2011 which I had tried to share with all of you!

Hope you had as much fun as I had in sharing them with you and hope you will love life as much as I do!

Nothing is more enjoyable than being alive and living everyday!

May you be well and happy everyday!

May your 2012 be wonderful and memorable as my 2011!

Big cheers to you!

Love you always!!

Back in Time: 2011 (January - March)

2012-01-07T14:33:00.012+08:00

Yah, yah, I have been missing in action from here for a while but that does not mean I give up blogging lah! Am just bogged down with lots of work and personal matters to attend to before the end of the year and before my next travel date! Hahaha!

The once a month travel is still a ritual this year....till Dec 2012! But if the world does not end then, the ritual will still continue for the rest of my life, I guess!

Hmmm, many bloggers shared their achievements in 2011 and I guess I do not want to be the odd one out! Hahaha! So, let me share with you too lah, what 2011 had given to me!

Here goes!

Where did I go? If you are a follower of my blog, you will find that end of December 2010, I was in Cameron Highlands. As usual I had shared my experiences there and guess what? One reader thought that I can connect her with another reader via the comments and ta-da! They were connected via the Lion Girl Blog! Yippy! Really felt good about that! Hmmm.....

Okay, really, here goes for year 2011!

In January 2011, dear cousin and I joined dear nephew and family including his mother in law to Pantai Remis, Perak. The purpose of the trip was to buy some fishes for the Chinese New Year but we ended up empty handed! Oh, never mind, we had fun company to make up for that! Sad to say, that trip was the last trip we had with dear nephew’s mother in law. She was diagnosed brain tumour and within three months we lost her, peacefully.... May her soul rest in peace....

January 2011 too was the first outing we had joined GFrenz after being accepted as members there! Dear brother TT organised the Teluk Bayu floating chalet 3D2N stay which was codenamed FL1! We had so, so, so much fun!! Really an unforgettable GFrenz Get Together! It got dear cousin and I looking forward to the next get together in April 2011! Big smiles!!

In the same month, dear cousin and I learnt the difference between liquor, wine and beer from dear buddy’s hubby! Sure was timely for dear cousin to pick up the drinking tips, I’d say! Ya lor, she declared herself a social drinker just after the lesson! Hahaha! Yum Seng! Higs!!

February 2011 was a fun month because so much happened; dear cousin and I playing baby sisters to dear nephew’s girls! Hahaha! And then, dear nephew got his nickname as “Siew Yoke Loh” when he showed off his skill in roasting pork the DIY way! Yeay! Simply delicious! In fact, it was better than some roast pork on sale! Bravo! Let’s do it again this CNY 2012?? Huh??

The same month was the month which my dear mah-jong buddy’s twins was announced as top scorers for their STPM results! Their faces were plastered all over the television news and nationwide newspapers! Suddenly, dear buddy became a “sing ma” (star mother)! Wow! It was wonderful to share their family joy! If I have a child, I would need star mother’s secret recipe of her twins’ success! Hahaha!

In Mar 2011, I resumed trekking at the Ketumbar Hills. Yup! Gotta train for the Mount Kinabalu climb in June 2011! Monyet King lor, he invited and I had to say “Yes”! Haizzz....

And I never regretted the revisit to Ketumbar Hills! Dear cousin and I discovered so much beauty within which ended up with dear cousin buying a DSLR camera and I, a “mini” DSLR! Hahaha! We fell in love with photographing the nature! Simply awesome!

After all the fun, Mar 2011 was also a sad month. It was the same month Japan was hit by earthquake and tsunami! What a shock to the world! What a shock indeed! That disaster got me believing the world will definitely end in Dec 2012! :(

That disaster got dear cousin and I more adventurous because we made an unplanned drive from Bukit Tinggi to Bentong! Only two of us, mind you, and that was really the most daring thing two of us did alone! But it was fun! And thrilling too! Glad we had done it!

Want to know more?

Watch out for my April to December 2011 happenings!

I had never imagined doing what I had done and I had done it all in 2011!

Hahaha! Suspense kan?? Watch out for them!

Coming soon!!

Tg Dawai - 2D1N "Sangkar" Experience (Part 2 of 2)

2011-12-28T13:28:00.003+08:00

Hmmm, where was I?

Ah, I fell asleep after half a can of cold Tiger! Ahahaha! Then I was awaken by fierce mosquito bites! Wah! What an attack!! In fact, we got attacked twice; once at about 7pm and again at about 9pm! Tony kor kor pre-warned us of it, got the Sheltox and mosquito coils all ready but still, we got attacked by the swarm! Aiyor!

All of us brought our own sleeping bag and my first experience sleeping in a tent was given to this "sangkar"! Hahaha! I must say it was a good experience indeed!

Haiyah, could not even sleep late!

Dear nephew and wife were whispering outside our tent!

Why lah wake up so early??

When I got out of the tent, I quickly took my camera and snapped this shot!

Hahaha!

Dear nephew was taking pictures in his pyjamas!

Where got people go camping and wear pyjamas one???!

Aiyoh!

Next thing I saw, from a distance, dear TT and wife already fishing at the side of the sangkar!

Wah! These people no need to sleep one ah?

It was only about 7am wor...

See, everything else was so tranquil and quiet.

No sunrise that morning and I was told it drizzled before dawn.

Ya kah? I didn't even know! Must have slept like a log!

Hehehe.

Ahhhh, the dogs!

Let me introduce them to you;

the blackies were the owners of the place and

the brownies were the visitors which came over for some fun the night before!

Yup! Some of us witnessed some indecent acts by them! Hahaha!

Look at dear nephew, the moment his girls woke up he got them to work!

Child abuse to the highest degree lei!

Hehehe...

One of the girls spotted a jelly fish and called out to me!

Aisay, this was a big jelly fish man!

Good thing none of us took a dive into the water!

Phew!

While we were pretending to be busy at the platform,

this guy in his fishing boat went around the sangkar to collect his fish traps!

Err, were they fish traps ke??

He was not keen to reply my question wor. Haizz....

Hey, who took this picture?

Naughty, naughty!

I got darling girl to "cheong sui" (look out) for me while I bath behind the cover sheet!

Eh, don't play play lei, I was totally naked in there one!

Must thank darling girl for not opening the cover for the photographer!

Hahaha!!

OMG!

The workers took down the cover sheet!

That was the place I had my bath earlier!

Look, brother TT taking his bath there!

Ahahaha!

I was told that the regulars there do not bath with the covers up

and that the covers were purposely put up for us city folks!

Aisayman! Am really grateful that they did!

If not, I would be sticky with yesterday's dirt!

Yucks!

Dear TT was proud to show off his natural hair dryer, the wind!

Really "gaya betul" (got style)!

Wahaha!

Time to take down all the tents so that we can have our breakfast!

Taking down was a piece of cake compared to setting up lah!

Breakfast from last night's leftovers!

Eh, tastier lei!

Yum yum!

I tell you ah, this BBQ pit was not only a jigsaw when set up, it was also a jigsaw to pack it!

We could not put it back into a perfect square as how it was before we set it up!

Took us an hour or so to finally tied it up!

TFL, please draw diagrams of before and after (just like Ikea) so that we could just follow in future ah??

Heehee..

This was a family affair!

Eh, one missing lei.

Hiding somewhere ke??

So fast dear nephew caught a fish!

Bravo!

Guess that fish gotta join these guys for salted fish!

The sunbathing fishes from last evening's catch!

Not bad, huh?

Wah! Finally someone caught a BIG fish!

The biggest catch of the trip!

Yeay!!

See! Great catch, right?

As usual lah, everyone will hold it and take picture with it as if one had caught it!

Me too lah! Hehehe...

I was beginning to feel bored since I was the only one whose bait was not taken by any fishes!

Why lah??

Suddenly, Tony kor kor announced that all ladies get the chance to fish some 2 kgs big fishes!

Huh? Where and how lah?

He asked me to join him to the middle of the sangkar, tied a fish (without any hook) on the fishing rod and asked me to tangle it on the surface of the water for a while before lowering it into the water!

I did exactly what was told and when a fish took the bait, the line was pulled down with great strength!

Wahahaha! That was fun! Roll the reel a little and the line got pulled even further!

Wow! Really an effort "fighting" with it before the line got snapped!

Wee-ee-phee! Happy at last!

Dear cousin, Mrs Nephew and I took turns "feeding" the "loong don"!

Errr, don't ask me what is the name of the fish in English ah...

Note:

See the picture again and you will notice someone sitting alone at the far end of the sangkar!

That was dear nephew!

He was sitting there until I had to call out to him, "Time to leave!"

Ahahaha!

He got the worst tan of all because of the "unwilling to leave the place" syndrome!

Hehehe...

Since the kids could not have that "catch big fish" experience, they lazed on the hammock and were happy doing that until we had to leave the place!

This was where we had our BBQ and slept the night before!

All clean and tidy before we left the place!

Bye, platform!

This was the complete sangkar built up!

Bye, sangkar!

Eh, not yet!

We were heading back to the orange hut!

Why ah?

Oh, Mrs TT went to collect the bunch of bananas from the altar!

She gave us one each to eat for "peng ann" (safety)!

Orh! Obediently everyone took one to eat!

One for the album!

Yay! All happy tan faces in one picture!

I was so touched to see the dogs chasing the boat, running on the planks, to bid us goodbye!

Goodbye, blackies!

You have been good guard dogs of the place!

Note:

Dogs are kept at the sangkar to guard the fishes in the sangkar because some of the fishes reared can be in thousands of RM value. No joke!

These floating whatever were in front of the sangkar and we were told that they were RM600k flopped project of the Government floating there for many years!

The Rakyat's money that had gone uncounted for!

How many more of such projects our Government have wasted on lah?

I say, People, please vote wisely for the next election!

Another interesting sighting spotted just before we reached the jetty!

Boats with PKR's flags parked together at one spot and boats with BN's flags parked together at another spot!

Divided they grouped and I wonder if the fishes will identify the flags before getting caught!

Ahahaha!!

Final words about this sangkar experience:

I must say we (dear nephew and family, dear cousin and I) are very thankful to brother TT and dear wife for all the arrangements to make this trip a pleasant and successful one! Thank you to the owner of the sangkar as well as the workers there too!

I had an experience of a lifetime! Many of my first time were given to this sangkar place; sleeping on a sleeping bag in a tent, balancing on planks getting from one place to another, lazing around with a fishing rod, bathing behind some cover sheets, eating fresh BBQed mussels, using a toilet with no roof and a hole direct into the sea, sleeping on a hammock and feeling a 2kg catch on a line! Pow wow!

All these experiences, to me, are experiences that money cannot buy! And they were specially arranged for our comfort! Thank you very, very much dear TT kor kor n dear wife!

jl9 asked me, via his comment in (Part 1 of 2) post, if I will return to the sangkar for fun one more time. My answer to him, which he had guessed, would be "Yes"!

And my wish list for the next time would be:

1) to see sunset and sunrise!

2) to lie on the platform, without attacks from mosquitoes (by using a giant mosquito net as tent instead), to see stars from the sky above!

3) to feel the sea breeze in the night

4) to have clearer water so that the fishes in the nets are visible

5) any other thing that comes to my mind later lah!

Big smiles!

^@^

End of one adventure is the beginning of the next....

Tg Dawai - 2D1N "Sangkar" Experience (Part 1 of 2)

2011-12-25T14:24:00.020+08:00

"You will love the experience! I bet you that!"

That was TT kor kor ensuring me that dear nephew and family, dear cousin and I would love the "sangkar"! With that statement, he had invited us for this adventure of a lifetime! Woohoo!

For your information, he was talking about the "sangkar ikan" which literally means "fish cage", this is in fact a floating wooden platform built by a local fisherman to breed fish in the sea. Various species of fish, including a colourful array of exotic coral fish and other fish, are bred here commercially for the local markets and restaurants.

As usual, we travelled back to Ipoh for a night before starting our journey early, to the north, the next morning! Refreshed and save time mah!
.

From Ipoh towards the north, using the PLUS Highway, exit at Exit 170 to go to Tg Dawai!

The gals did not know where their parents were taking them!

In fact, I also did not know what "sangkar" was all about!

Never mind lor, let's have lunch first!

After lunch, we went shopping for water lah, toilet paper lah, tidbits lah and whatever necessary lor!

On our way to Tg Dawai, we were still buying......

Mrs TT was busy fishing out live prawns to be used as baits for the fishes!

Eh, must pay one you know! Not free one!

Yeay!

We reached Tg Dawai!

Okay! Time to buy ice!

Needed ice to cool the beer, food stuff and caught fishes!

Ahem! Provided they get caught by us lah?!

We even went to the wholesale market to source for seafood!

For the night's BBQ lor coz we never expected to catch anything for our dinner mah!

None of the traders were interested to sell to individuals but dear cousin managed to sweet talk one to sell 2kgs of fresh big prawn to her!

Bravo!

While everyone was busy sorting and grading the seafood, dear TT kor kor was busy picking "unwanted" squids on the floor to be used as fishing baits!

Upon seeing poor TT picking from the floor, some traders offered to give him some chosen squids for his baits.

Even the cat got a treat lei!

Meow.... Purrr....

We finally reached the jetty to get onto the sampan!

TT kor kor introduced us to the owner of the "sangkar"; a young, capable and friendly chap!

The two little girls already seated on the sampan when the adults were socialising!

So obedient and cute, right?

Do you know the girls have personal life jackets ah?

Dear nephew really thought of everything one!

Am so proud of you, dear nephew!

There! The "sangkar" was waiting for us!

One over-exposed photo by dear cousin over the other end of the boat!

Ya lor, I was busy taking pictures of the kids and dear nephew was busy taking pictures of the ride!

As usual lah, 3 cameras in action!

This was it! This was the main floating hut!

See dear nephew!

So "yau ying", like a movie star, all ready for some big fish actions!

Hahaha! We shall see, we shall see...

Everyone so busy wor..

Bags, food stuff, fishing rods and all for 2 days fun!

Look at the little girl's frown!

Hahaha! She wanted to go to the toilet and her mummy brought her here!

No choice, dear, this was what you need to get use to for the next 2 days!

Hey, this toilet was brand new, okay?!

Brother TT got his friend, the owner of this place, to do up the toilet so that we (city folks) will be comfortable when we were there!

So thoughtful of kor kor and thanks to his friend too!

Thank you ah...

We did not waste much time!

Quickly we got ourselves to the next platform to set up our tents.

The staff there helped us to set up shades so that the rain, if any, will not get to us!

We really appreciate their thoughtfulness in making us feel at home!

Thank you once again...

Two tents; the purple blue for dear nephew and family and the yellow one for dear cousin and I!

I tell you ah, we really cracked our head to assemble the tents so that they will not fall on us when we are inside! Hahaha!

We spent almost an hour setting them up! Phew!

First time mah...

Ta da! Done! All ready and safe to use!

Look at the logistic of this place.

The main platform, the orange hut, was at the furthest end.

The toilet was between that hut and our tents.

In other words, we had to balance on one broad plank or two narrow planks to get from one place to another!

This was attached to join up the whole place, the "sangkar"!

In every square, there was a net containing fishes reared for sale by the owner.

Err, that means we were not allowed to throw our fishing rods in them lah!

Hahaha!

Next thing we had to set up was the BBQ pit!

This pit was specially made for Mr and Mrs TT by our chairman, TFL!

Beautiful workmanship that turned out to be a jigsaw puzzle for us!

Hahaha!

See, four people had to work on it!

Now, we must fix the A to the A and the B to the B!

There was also C to C and D to D!

Err, what about this small piece ah??

Oh, it was really fun lei!

The engineer and the accountant also had to put on some thinking caps!

Wahahaha!

Yeay! Finally! "Kaw tim" (Complete)!

TFL, thank you for this wonderful pit!

It was the saviour of our dinner!

The staff at the "sangkar" collected these mussels for us!

Live ones from the under where we stayed!

Freshly picked for our dinner!

Here's Mrs TT cleaning up the shells of the mussels before they can be barbequed!

Dear cousin was keeping her company for a while and I tried to help clean but chickened out when I found tiny crawlies from their homes I was destroying!

Yikes!

Since I could not be of any help, I joined the rest in what was fun at the "sangkar"!

Yup! Fishing!

See, I was really holding a fishing rod one!

We settled to fish and the sun went down on us!

Haizz.. guess we used too much time setting up the tents and the BBQ pit!

Oh, I must tell you about these two dogs!

You see, they were also visitors here!

The workers tried to chase them off but they'd only needed to jump into the water and swim to the other side of the "sangkar" to get up and enjoy the place again!

Smart dogs, I'd say!

Dear nephew's first catch!

Eh, I thought you were suppose to fish fishes lah!

Why catch a starfish instead??

Since you caught it, might as well take pictures of it before throwing it back into the sea!

Look at the tiny legs struggling helplessly when we had fun taking its pictures

Were we sadists ah??

TT kor kor said that these starfishes stay at the sea bed and easily get themselves hooked to the baits.

They are actually nuisance to the fishing fans because they keep interrupting their catch!

Turn the starfish the other way and it looked like this; a starfish water sponge!

The longer we had it off water, the drier it got!

Quick! Throw it back into the water before it dry lah!

Brother TT said that it will not die even if it got drier because once it touches water, it will absorb the water and become alive again!

He said even if we break one of its legs, the broken leg could grow into 5 starfishes!

Err, true ke? Or were you pulling our legs lah??

We set fire on the virgin BBQ pit so that we could cook our dinner!

Still shining new but soon it would be tarnished!

Wahahaha! (Evil laugh!)

Cooking, cooking, cooked!

Yummy chicken wings, fresh big prawns and mussels, fishes and "lam chut", fishballs and much more!

We were thankful to Mrs TT for the wonderful food spread!

Look at brother TT, sitting dutifully waiting for food to be served by his lovely wife!

Hey, little girl, what were you doing there lah?

And where were the rest of the people??

I did not know where everyone was because I was asleep after half a can of cold Tiger!

Drank it because I was too heated by the fire!

Dear darling girl was sleeping because of the long day!

Hehehe, this was my favourite picture of the day coz dear darling girl and I slept in the same sleeping position!

Hahaha!

Thanks, dear nephew, for taking this shot!

To part 2 of 2

(the finale)!

Singapore Chinatown Food Hunt n Discoveries!

2011-12-23T00:35:00.005+08:00

We went to Chinatown twice during this trip, on the first and last day! Yup, dear cousin and I were there for food and the rest were there shopping! Aiyah, what was there so much to buy lah?? Eating would be better mah...

This was a good landmark into Chinatown!

Our first food stop when we got into Singapore!

They occupied three shops in a row!

No joke!

Yes, we went into Mei Heong Yuen Dessert!

One popular shop to visit for food, for sure!

Desserts also we, 6 adults and 2 kids, spent almost S$40 lei!

Very hungry mah and the food was very good!

After food, we went for a walk and along the way, we had some interesting discoveries!

A television fixed along the walkway between shops.

Hmmm, who would be standing to watch lah??

Beautiful buildings!

Simply loved them!

Plenty of eateries at all junctions!

My favourite picture of this place!

Beautiful Indian temple in the background and the bird caught in action!

Great shot, dear cousin!

Hooray!

We found Chinatown Heritage Centre!

However, we were disappointed!

Nobody was around to extend a helping hand to a tourist like me...

Sigh!

We found a MRT station in the middle of Chinatown!

How convenient indeed!

When I first saw this shop, I thought it was a gold shop.

But when I looked again, I found that it was actually a pawnshop!

What a modern pawnshop indeed!

We were so excited to find this Holland Village XO Fish Head Bee Hun Restaurant opposite of the pawnshop! We heard that they serve yummy noodles!

See, they have many branches one! So impressive wor...

Now, let's order the XO Fishhead Bee Hun Soup!

After all the excitement, we were pissed off with the staff's attitude!

"If you order for one person, you will only get one set of utensils.

This is our shop policy!

Even two of you eating also, we can only give you one set of utensils!"

I do not know if it was the attitude that affected my judgement but I found that their noodles were not as tasty as I'd expected.

Dear cousin said she could not even taste the XO they claimed used in the noodles!

We left the shop without finishing the bowl of noodles!

We noticed that there were no crowd in the shop at all even though it was lunch hours.

They must have offended many customers before, just like how they offended dear cousin and I!

My words of wisdom to them:

Stay humble and your business will grow!

If you turn too snobbish, you will offend your customers.

They will stop patronising your shops and when that happens,

your pride will be the reason of your fall in your business!

I have seen many businesses failed due to their arrogance!

So, beware!

We reached the end of the Food Street and found this signboard standing there!

Turn right from that standing signboard and we found this Lee Tong Kee Restaurant.

Hmmm, famous for their Ipoh chicken noodles ah....

We shall try and see if it is authentic!

Haizzz.... disappointed! Nothing like the ones we have in Ipoh lah!

Please make a trip to Ipoh for the real thing, okay?!

Personal View about Singapore and Food in Singapore:

There are many foreigners setting up restaurants in Singapore. However, you can still find many of their popular local eateries. I would say the better ones are still the ones in food courts. Of course there are popular ones in shop houses just like the ones I'd visited above!

With regards to value for money, I would say Singapore food courts' food are cheap! One giant glass of soya bean only costs S$0.80 and a big plate or bowl of noodles only S$3.50; portion that two people can share!

In other words, if I earn S$2,000 in Singapore compared to RM2,000 in Malaysia, I would say I can save more in Singapore in terms of food and clothes spending. Purchasing power in Singapore is better than in Malaysia!

Other than better purchasing power, Singapore is also a safe country to stay in! Even their public transport system is impressive! You need not have a car when you stay there! Hey, I am not bad mouthing Malaysia but just telling facts!

Having say what I'd said, the only set back about staying in Singapore would be accommodation! Expensive to rent and more expensive to own, if you are not a Singaporean! But if you do have one property, you could earn your living from it!

A friend told me, "My auntie rents out all her rooms and sleeps in the living room! Her rental income takes care of her lifestyle!"

I believed her, alright!

^@^

Singapore's Marina Bay Sands - Light n Water Show

2011-12-09T21:43:00.169+08:00

Dear nephew borrowed a Garmin GPS to drive into Singapore and he said the owner told him that the GPS was updated to the latest whatever! Aiyoh, really ah? Then how come we went in circles lah when we keyed in Marina Bay Sands (MBS)! Hahaha!

After following "Turn right", "Turn right and "Turn right", we were at the same spot where we first turned right! OMG!

When we decided to turn left instead, it got irritated and repeatedly voiced out "Recalculating", "Recalculating"! Grrrrr! QUIET!!!

We passed this when we were searching for MBS!

Got time to go for a ride ke? No? OK lor... next time ah...

'Dapat tengok pun' (Got to see it also) happy! :D

We saw this after going the opposite direction instructed by the GPS!

Haizzz.... Cannot completely rely on the GPS one! Must use our intelligence too lah!

We were not sure if it was the tall building or the opposite's low one, so we stopped beside a cab and asked.

He also not sure where the Light and Water Show was!

Sad.. but wait, his passenger knew and he conveyed that it was at this building!

Yeay!

Hey, I like Singapore's parking system! Really systematic and organised!

First, if the car park is full, the bar will not raise for another car to enter.

Next, once your car drives in, you can locate a parking space by looking out for the green light on the ceiling!

Of course, you should also look out for people who look like they are leaving the place to "book" their place!

Hehe..

We were in!

Finally, we got ourselves into the Event Plaza!

Phew!

We had to be at the promenade where the "stage" was to watch the show!

Err, this was not it! Gotta walk a little further!

Wow! Such spectacular night scenery!

Simply mesmerising!

Loved it!

Yup! This was it!

A little wet because it rained earlier!

We still sat on the steps to watch the show wor...

While waiting for the show to start, dear cousin and I noticed a moving cloud!

So excited! Like never seen one before! Hahaha!

See, dear cousin quickly zoomed her camera lens that direction and I zoomed mine to take this shot!

Cantik kan? (Nice shot, right?)

Show start! Show start!

Got all the cameras ready??

Now, you snap this, you snap that and I take video! Got that?!

Wah! Macam army saja! Hahaha!

Did I tell you that the show was Free?!

Yeah, we were watching free show! Hehe..

Hey, like real water dripping leh!

Images on mists!

Fascinating!!

Gee, nice...

Awesome!

Unbelievable!!

My oh my.....

You better watch the video to get an idea what the show was all about!

After the show, we saw the crowd rushing over to watch another attraction. Quick! We must also go there and "kay poh" (busy body) lah!

Eee, where did this water come from?

Tons and tons of them kept flowing down the hole in the middle!

After having our eyes circling with the water flow, almost crossed eyes for doing that, we walked into the plaza to find another interesting attraction!

The outlet of the water above!

Hah! That also we stood and watched for another few minutes!

Erm, I should say we stood there taking pictures lah!

Hahaha!

Eh, the water was flowing down somewhere from here lah!

Now, where did the water go lah?

Should we investigate further? No?

Okay lah! We shall leave it as it was and go home!

Dah tired after having fun all day ...

Yawn, yawn...

Personal note:

This is one "free" show that is worth going for!

The sounds, the lights and the effects were amazing!

You have to be there in person to 'sense' the wonderful show!

That video taken is only a glimpse of the whole show, cannot represent what thrill the whole show can bring to you and your family!

Trust me....

Still wanna know where I went or done in Singapore?

Watch out for my next post!

Coming soon....

UnderWater World Singapore & Dolphin Lagoon

2011-12-08T13:43:00.004+08:00

We were having so much fun at the Universal Studio (USS) that we were relunctant to leave it for the Underwater World (UWW)! But 'sudah beli ticket' (bought our tickets already), must go!

We had to take the tram, which was included in our ticket, to get into Sentosa Island!

Since dear nephew, dear cousin and I each had a camera, we were crazy taking pictures of each other, everyone and everything!

In the tram also wanna take pictures ah? You snap me, I snap you lor! Hehehe...

The tram stopped at Beach station before we got down and went hunting for the Blue Line bus because we wanted to go to the UWW.

The bus conductor told us that we must get down at Siloso Point!

Okay lor! Can round the island and still go there if we want coz free rides mah! :D

Once there, you can buy your tickets at the counter!

Hmmm, how much one adult ah? Hey, who took this picture one? Why cannot see price one? Haizzz...

The moment you step into the UWW, this is what you'll see!

How to move while inside there?

Aiyah, follow the signboard lor or just flow with the crowd!

Note:

There are three sections of fun here!

1) Get on the moving belt and enjoy the underwater world feeling where the fishes, big and giant, swim around you! Go as many rounds as you want coz the feeling is different one; the crowd, the ordour and the fishes you can sight!

Ya lah! This picture for their advertisement board, for free! Ahahaha!

Can any time step out of the belt and stay stationary at a spot like the few aunties there! Heehee..

Oui, feeding time lah!

Wow!

Gotta squeezed in to take this shot before I got pushed out, almost immediately, from watching the "show"!

Aiyok!

Don't use your camera flash! It will only be patches of lights coz reflections from the thick glass lah!

Common sense, right??

2) Leisurely walk around the place to see aquarium after aquarium of live sea creatures you don't get the chance to see other than watching National Geography!

These tiny garden eels looked so cute in the sand!

Peeping out, standing out or hiding in!

We stood in front of the jelly fish spot for a long time, watching them change colours!

From red to pink to green to blue; only to realise later that their colour changed because of the light at the bottom of the tank!

Never mind lor, they still look beautiful mah!

Then, we found these "mushroom" jelly fish!

Aiyor, so loveable!

They looked like small button mushrooms moving in the water!!

These sea horses were so unique!

Err, or sea dragons ah?

Sorry lah, the place was too cramp to read signboards!

It was 'see n go'! Also "syiok"!

Still got plenty one but if I put all the pictures here, you will say "saw them no need to go"!

But being there and seeing pictures not the same mah!

Also, I bet different species will be on displayed one, if you go later!

Before I tell you the third section of the place,

let's go for Dolphin Lagoon Showtime first!

We only needed to walk out of the UWW building and we can already see the 'lagoon'!

Before you go into any tourists places, you must check if they have any showtimes so that you can maximise your time at the place!

After all, they came with the price you had paid for your ticket!

Why waste it?!

If you go there a little earlier, you will get better view seats!

The host of the show normally will ask for volunteers

(to add in more thrill/ fun to the spectators)!

By sitting at a strategic position, you can get noticed easier

(provided you are one for fun and dare to put up your hands)!

Volunteers will usually get some gifts or free photo pose with the animals!

Yeay!

Erm, provided the host is not bias to choose only non Asians or foreign looking ones to participate lah!

The whole show's lime light was on the fur seals!

Clapping, catching, play dead, standing, walking, swimming and what not!

Bravo! So cute! So adorable! So clever! Wow!!

I did enjoy their performances but I was looking forward to the dolphins' performance lah!

But....

These were all we saw!

After that, they were just swimming around.

Later, when we asked the trainers why the dolphins did not perform much, she said because there was thunder in the vicinity. It was difficult to get them to do what was trained when they were not at ease.

Hmmm, maybe next time lor... disappointed....

After the show, those who wanted to take pictures with the dolphin can pay to do so.

Do you know why there are pink dolphins?

We learnt that dolphins are grey skinned but as they age, the grey skin will shed and the pink skin will be exposed.

A pink dolphin is an old dolphin wor!

Oooohhhhh.....

After the showtime, we went back to the UWW to proceed to part 3 of fun there!

3) Touch the fishes!

There were a starfish, a stingray, a puffer fish, two varieties of shark in the small tank for us to touch.

This guy, a staff there, was giving some explanations to dear Mrs Nephew!

Eh, what he taught you lah? You better teach us later ah...

Personal experience of the touch!

The starfish has the roughest skin of all - like rock surface!

The stingray - smooth with little pricky "hair" feeling!

The puff fish - the slimiest of all!

The sharks - different species have different roughness of the skin!

Hey! I touched the shark!

Small one dare to touch lah! Big one no way man!

This guy felt a little like sand paper!

Sayang, sayang ah...

We stood in front of the big tank for a while!

The tank was filled with big stingrays!

Better not touch coz we did not want to be stung by their tails!

Then, one staff came over to tell us we can touch them all coz they had taken out their "sting"!

Voila! What are we waiting?! Touch lah!!

It was amazing to find one smaller guy always swimming up to be touched!

Smooth, soft and touchable!

Really loved it!

While we were playing with this guy all the time, suddenly the big guys starting swimming up to the glass panel!

Splash!

Ahahaha! What a pleasant surprise!

They also wanted to be touched wor!

I say, that was really a wonderful experience!

While the adults were busy playing with the stingrays, my favourite gal found something else to play with!

Hey, I used to rear these fishes lah!

The "feng shui" fishes!

Until now I still wonder how come the water inside remained in the aquarium lah with that hole there at the side!

Must go back to school to study Physics!!

Just beside this, you will find the hand wash area!

That got me thinking; should we wash our hands before we touch the fishes or should we wash them after!

I did it after! Hehe..

Thank goodness, the fishes did not die after my touch!

Just when we were walking towards the bus stand, we noticed some birds on the roof top!

They were queuig to fly from there over to the tree across it!

The top two pictures taken by dear cousin while the bottom two taken by dear nephew!

Fantastic shots indeed!

Me? Too slow lah! By the time I clicked, the bird already reached its destination!

Wakakaka!!

Yup! This was the bus we boarded to leave UWW!

The crowd had left for dinner already and we were on our way for ours about 7pm!

Bye, UWW!

If you have been here once, "cukup dah' (enough)!

Good thing we had four hours to kill here only, if not, we may be picking stones to play hopscotch!

But if you are here to visit the other parts of Sentosa Island, this will be a good place to visit too lah!

Check out where else and what else I went and done in Singapore!

Coming soon.....

Universal Studios Singapore (USS)

2011-11-24T22:00:00.013+08:00

Two of my schoolmates, one from Johor Baru and one from Singapore, were so kind as to accompany us for our visit to the Universal Studios Singapore (USS)! Can you beat it! The one from Singapore has never been there and the one from JB played tour guide for the day! Ahahaha!

We got the same advice from a few friends who knew that we will be there: "Set your GPS to Sentosa Gateway, once you are there, follow Resort World and turn into their basement parking. Drive towards the Casino/ USS and park there because that would be the nearest stop to USS! Resort World charges the cheapest parking per day there!"
.

We did exactly what was told and discovered that we had to walk a distance to reach USS. When my dear friend SMSed me to find the "Globe", I could not find that word on the signboard! I texted her again and she asked me to follow "Universal Studio" signages!

Aiyah, she wanted me to go to that globe with the word Universal Studio rotating on it!

Ahahaha!

The moment our dear tour guide friend saw us, she ushered us to the Casino to get some free gifts!

"Okay, go ask for their membership form, fill it up and get a free gift! No need to pay anything one!"

True enough, we each got a foldable travel bag and a pen as free gifts!

Note:

If you already have the Genting's WorldCard, you do not need to pose for a photo because they would used the same picture that you have taken at Genting Highlands, KL.

Next, she asked if we had our passport with us and I gave her a guilty look! I had asked everyone to leave "home" without it! Ahahaha! And the results of not carrying one; cannot go into the casino for free coffee lor! Haizzz, dear friend had to go into the casino to take a few bottles of water (free) for us! Thanks ah...

She took us for a short tour in the vicinity of the casino after we had bagged the goodies!

"Everything built around here has feng shui purpose one! No one can win their money because of them! Ahahaha!

Before we leave here, we must visit Adam and Eve first! You really cannot miss it one! And kids, close your eyes arh..."

Since we were no gamblers and did not have our passports with us, we did not enter into the casino hence proceeded straight into the USS!

Note:

1) We had our Singaporean friend purchased our tickets for us earlier so we did not have to queue for tickets on the day!

2) Senior citizens, aged 65 and above, are subject to discounted price tickets. Just produce your identity card over the counter

(Our friend told us she cannot buy that ticket earlier)!

3) Singaporeans and tourists pay the same price for the tickets.

4) Weekdays tickets are cheaper than weekends! Obviously lah!

5) If you need to leave USS to return later, make sure you get the staff to affix an invisible ink stamp on your hand!

This is the first thing you'll see when you step into USS!

Love the palm trees!

Not too far from the entrance, we could hear singing and when we reached the spot, we saw the last glimpse of the act! Better than nothing mah!

As we walked on, our dear tour guide friend said,

"You must wear those funny hats and take pictures!"

Ahahaha! It was fun except some of those hats were stingy! Yikes!

"Lights, Camera, Action! Hosted by Steven Spielberg" is a MUST watch! You'll be introduced to the man himself! No joke!

Hint:

Take note of the above warning!

Also, try not to be at the front row and have your back lean against the wall!

Not allowed to take pictures also took!

Ahahaha!

But I am not telling! You just gotta watch and feel it for yourself!

Hehehe...

When we reached the "Battlestar Galactica", we (dear cousin, dear Mrs Nephew, dear Singapore friend and yours truly) had to decide between the "Cylon" (blue track) or the "Human" (red track)!

Let me tell you the difference; you will be seated with your legs dangling if you ride the "Cylon" while the "Human" will lock you on a chair!

We chose the "dangling" ride! Wheee!

If you are watching them from the ground, you can see them both moving at the same time, one on top the other at the bottom!

My Ride Experience:

While queuing up for the ride, I was not sure what I was getting myself into!

I was hestitant if I should continue or turn back!

But after seeing everyone so gung ho, I cannot chicken out, right?!

So I "teng ang siong" (follow the crowd)!

The moment the seat holder was pushed close to my body, I felt safe and calmed a little!

Once the track started moving, there was no turning back anymore!

The track dragged us upwards, I could feel my body falling back!

I forseen a fall forward soon, but I could only hoped it will be over sooner!

The moment the track reached the peak, it hestitated a moment before free fall!

Waaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

I felt my heart falling out of my mouth!

Just when I thought my heart will drop out, the track took a turn and then a twist and then upside down and upright back!

Though I had my eyes opened, my mouth too for your information because I never stopped yelling, I could not see exactly whether I was up, down or on the sides!

It was definitely an awesome experience of a lifetime!

When we finally stood on solid ground, the four of us could not stopped talking about our experiences!

Suddenly, dear cousin asked enthusiastically,

"Want to ride the "Human"?!"

Erm, everyone ignored her coz nobody had the guts to do it again, so soon!

Next time lah, okay? Be a good girl ah....

Dear tour guide friend insisted we take the "Revenge of the Mummy" ride.

"It is very different from the Cylon one! This one, the ride is in the dark ! It is very mild, trust me!"

Okay lor!

True enough, this ride was peanuts! The only "excitement" was riding in the dark!

Kids (brave ones) can do it too!

We were told to pack extra clothes including underwears as we anticipated doing the "Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure"! However, when we were there, we were being told it was closed for the day!

Aiyah! When we came all prepared?!!

Boo hoo!

Since we could not have fun at the Jurassic Park, we walked a little further and stepped into the kingdom of "Far Far Away"! Here, we queued for "Shrek 4-D Adventure"!

I tell you ah, you must not miss this too!

Note:

Wear your 4-D specs only when you are inside the theatre!

Sit back and be prepared for some surprises coming from the back, front and bottom! Of course you'll get shaken a little too!

Remember:

4-D means seeing 3-D and feeling the motions!

Beware! Hehehe..

We found Shrek and Princess Fiona walking in the streets when we came out of the theatre!

Wow! So cartoonly real!

We did not like the "bodyguard" lady who prevented us from getting near to them!

Really "bar bei" (nasty)! Humph!

Her unfriendly gesture did not stopped us from having fun lah!

The moment I saw this, I was happy already!

Since those girls were busy smiling for their camera, I took their picture also as I could not wait for them to move off to take the picture of the Madagascar characters!

So cute! Especially Alex the Lion, right??

We had our lunch at the Marty's Casa Del Wild, before the next adventure, because their Kid's Meal came with a Gift!

Our dear thoughtful tour guide friend took good care of us adults and made sure the kids had fun and free gifts too!

Dear friend, you are truly a wonderful guide!

When three ladies sitting together sure plenty to talk one!

Dear cousin as usual went snap, snap, snap instead of joining the conversations lah!

Now, where were we.......yack-yack-yack.....

After lunch, we had Madagascar's "A Crate Adventure"!

Carry your umbrella with you, if you are going for this ride and be seated on the first row!

Ahahahaha!!!

I spotted "Kung Fu Panda" and alerted dear nephew!

Immediately dear nephew and family queued to take pictures with it!

So adorable!

Addtional Note:

We only spent half the day here from about 11am to 3pm.

If we can choose again, we would love to spend the whole day here!

Maybe to spend a night here even, so that we could enjoy everything there's there!

After all, their tickets the most expensive of all fun tickets we purchased for this trip!

Really, really should maximise the worth of the ticket!

Next time, we shall be wiser next time!

Note of Appreciation:

Dear girlfriends from JB and Singapore, thank you for spending your time with us!

Special thanks for dear JB friend who played tour guide and making sure we had free gifts, discounted purchase and maximum fun for the limited time we spent in USS! Not forgetting free parking too!! Thanks!

Yes, next time when you tell me to wait at the "globe" I know you are talking about this (in picture above)!

Watch out for another fun place we visited!

Coming soon........

Driving into Singapore (or Thailand) from Malaysia

2011-11-22T01:08:00.013+08:00

Dear nephew drove all of us to Singapore recently. 'All of us' means? Let me count: His family of four (including him), his mother, his sister, dear cousin and I lor! Six adults 2 children in a MPV load of luggages, bags and more bags! Ahahaha!!

Just before leaving JB town to Singapore causeway, he stopped to fill up the petrol tank! There I was at the seat beside the driver, I saw the lady driver in front of our MPV doing something I have never seen any drivers in Malaysia do!

She was shaking her vehicle! Ahahaha! Why lah??

Aiyah, I should video tape her in action!!

Aisay, wasted!!

Dear nephew told me what he knew:

"This one, "sap sap sui" (small matter)!

Shaking the car so that can pump in more petrol wor!

I saw it on YouTube how some Singaporeans would jack up their cars so that their petrol tank could fill in more petrol! Some petrol stations even have some wood blocks ready at the station to make it easier for them! All they need to do is reverse their cars up on the blocks before filling up their tanks!"

Ya ke? How come I cannot find them in YouTube lah??

Tips:

Singapore cars are required by law to have their fuel filled to at least 3/4 of the tank before leaving Singapore and the Singaporeans will shake their cars to the last drop their tank can swallow before they leave Malaysia!

In other words, Malaysians MUST remember to FILL your tank to MAX before driving into Singapore!!!

Kiasu sikit jugak lah!

Hehe..

This trip to Singapore, I had included a brunch reunion with my schoolmates in Johor Baru. After catching up with time, they begun to check list me with the following:

Question 1:

"You got your passport with you? Expiry date must be 6 months and above, you know?"

Yup! We knew! Thanks! :)

Question 2:

“Do you have the Disembarkation/Embarkation Cards? You better have them completed with your passports before entering Singapore.”

Ooophs! We don't have lah? You got and you are going to give us? Gee, thanks!! :)

Note:

Malaysians are allowed to stay up to 30 days in Singapore when they enter using this card.

Question 3:

“Is it your first time driving into Singapore? You have to apply an Autopass Card to drive into the country. Just ask the officer at the immigration where to get it when you pass your passports to him or her.”

Oh, okay, thanks for reminding! You gals are wonderful! :)

Note:

The officers will go to your car to record all information they need from your road tax.
(The owner of the car must be travelling together!)

For first timers you only need to pay S$10 for the Autopass Card

which has S$6 value for you to use for your parking

and

for the ERP

(tolls in town, @ S$5 per day).

The Card has 10 days free a year for VEP

(toll for driving into Singapore,

which is free for Saturdays and Sundays)

then after there is a fixed fee payable every time you drive into the country.

Go to 7 Eleven to top up at least S$10 into the Card once you are in Singapore.

Before you leave the country, it is better to go to 7 Eleven again to check your balance. Make sure you have some balances in it.

Suggestion:

Take note of all the parking fees and estimate your available balance.

Top it up when your estimation tells you to.

Safer mah..
(Maybe you can use their VEP Calculator for your coming trip!)

For more information about how the Autopass works, you better visit their website for more information!

We thought driving into Singapore is the same as driving into Thailand, but it is not!

What's the difference?

1) Stay in the car or Queue?

When driving through the Singapore check point, we can stay in the car. All we need to do is wind down the car windows and show our faces for the officer to identify us from our passport photo. Once the officer is satisfied, he or she will affix the country's date stamp on our passport and the white card, leaving the small portion of it in the passport!

This recent drive in, the officer took the trouble to walk out from his booth to the MPV to identify us all! And that was one handsome looking officer! He should be a movie star lah! Even dear nephew admired his good looks! Hey, your wife sitting behind lei! Hehe..

Over at Thailand's check point, everyone in the car has to get out and line up at the counters to get the passport stamped! Afer that the driver has to park the car and queue again to get the car registration and insurance stamped! The car is also subject to inspection before the driver can drive it off to pick up the passengers and continue the journey!

Reminder:

When you get your passport back, please check and make sure the dated immigration chop is stamped on the passport and the immigration card.

2) Carry Car Registration card or not?

When one drives into Thailand, one has to carry along a copy of the car's registration card. Before the check points, one must buy insurance for driving the car in Thailand which, together with the registration card and the vehicle entry form must be stamped at the check point!

As for Singapore, please refer to Question 3's answer above.

3) Is the border open 24/7?

Singapore check point is opened 24 hours while Thailand's Sadao Checkpoint (south of Thailand) opens from 5am to 11pm (Thai time).

4) Any fees to cross over?

There is no fee payable at Singapore check point but to cross Thailand, one has to pay a small overtime expenses fee with the passport over the counter.

Enough of technical stuff!

Look out for more interesting adventures we had in Singapore!!

Coming soon!!