Some strangers

In the recent trip to HK (via Sabah & Macau), my last stop was in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. I kept hearing how crystal clear the sea water is, how magnificent the views on the islands are and so on and so forth. I couldn't believe it until i see it for myself. The sayings are all so true. Too good to be true i should say.

So, to be in KK, Sabah, something is really wrong with you if you miss out on the islands. Check out the islands for yourself when you get the chance and by the end of the day, you'll be amazed with what you can do when you're 360 degree surrounded by light and deep blue sea water.

There are basically 5 tiny islands (as they are plotted on the maps) that you can reach via speedboats off the coast of KK. Me and my husband explored Sapi and Manukan Island in a day. Sapi Island is smaller compared to Manukan Island and thus, you can't do much except swimming, playing with the white sands, some snorkelling and some astronaut-like sea-walking as you are required to wear their "helmet" to be able to breathe normally under the sea.


See? It has the astronaut-like helmet that would cover yr entire head and you get to sit on the seat attached to the whole under-the-water "walking" machine. That's what they call sea-walking. You're left with no choice but to get wet if you're going to try that out


Sun-baked sea-walking machines awaiting tourists

Both of us stayed on Sapi Island for 3 hours. Guess what activities we've tried on the island? PARASAILING! We were given the choices of getting wet or not getting wet and we chose the latter. It wasn't as scary and terrible as what i thought (maybe it's becuz we didn't land on the water perhaps) it was. Well, at least i dont leave my life regretting for not trying it out. he he.

We then left for Manukan Island and that was only 5 mins speedboat travel. We took our lunch(we paid for it and a whole bunch of staffs prepare them (straight from their open-air kitchen at a corner of the island). We visited the kitchen staffs and some "locals" on the island warmly greeted us.


Meet the locals!

From our guide, these guys (and girls) have been dwelling on the island for a long time (duh! they're wild) and they are attracted to the food aroma from the kitchen. They feed on those chicken wings, fishes, prawns and they get their food before tourists do. Why? So that they behave well and stay only in that kitchen corner with their tummies filled before they turn aggressive and feed on tourists instead. They do turn wild and become aggressive so do not provoke them. Those reptiles are what Malaysian known as "biawak" in Malay. They're Monitor Lizard and they can grow up to 3 metres. Anything larger than that would eventually stand on their hind legs and become dinosaur (i guess?). Some facts about monitor lizard if you want to get familiar with them before you actually see them yourself. I think their ancestors looked something like this.


Close up


Escape


Close encounter!


On another note, i took this photo of a sarawakian biawak on one of Kuching's roadside.

A bit malnutritioned biawak


Til next time! Adios KK~

Macau Hong Kong 順便 Macau anyone?

I have discussed with hubby earlier on for a trip to Krabi, looking at magnificent beachy photos of Krabi, around January 2008 just before Chinese celebrate the Chinese New Year. But then i gave it a second thought and after much more thoughtful consideration (no shopping centre and very outback and laid back it is), i think i want to go Macau more (順便 pass by Hong Kong.. ha ha..is it so 順便? I dont know). There has been quite a bit development going on in Macau + Air Asia's ticket is all the time affordable + i won't be working anymore early next year + hubby is free to go = we shall go to Macau. Hopefully we can get some friends to trip together with us. I'm sure we will have so much fun. Macau & HK will still be enjoying their winter in January. Can't wait.


Very dusty and hazy. No wonder HKies need to wear mouth and nose protectors most of the time.

I can never go HK alone else i would end up there lost. The scene will be like chicken and duck talking at the same time. Language barrier that is. I do understand Cantonese but when it comes to talking....nah....not me please. I've tried it before. I had a HK friend for a sem in uni and i tried to communicate in Cantonese with him but i gave up in the end. I can only understand tad bit of Korean and Japanese. It is more fretful for me to be in HK than in Japan and Korea.

Is HK going to have any sales by the time i'm there? HA HA HA. I've always heard of how Hongkies are very rude and how impolite they can be on the streets and the way they treat their customers. *cross fingers and toes* Hopefully, i won't be encountering those situations. I guess it's just their culture and their background how they are brought up in Hong Kong to shout (maybe their streets are really long in distance?) so that they can hear each other well. Oh well, I'm going there definitely!

Does weather has something to do with travelling spirit?

I guess it's due to the monsoon season at this time that it rains so much recently. Sky starts to get gloomy and grey clouds all move in and we know it's going to rain anytime soon.



I dont know. I've already thought of the yearly travel plan. Ha ha. To kick of the great 2008, i want to have a great beachy holiday in Krabi. As what hubby said, it's something like Phuket but it's way more breathe-taking and much less commercialised as compared to Phuket. I need something like that. Plus i can do heaps and heaps of shopping. The exchange rate is crazy i tell you. How does Krabi look like? I must implant the idea in my head that Krabi is not a type of crab as to Nicole's post. I can't help it. It sounds like it.

Via Air Asia, it's now offering the price of 88 cents (tax exc.) [YES! NOTHING'S WRONG WITH YR EYES] one way ticket to Krabi. The offer opens from 11-16 Sept 07. You book a place then you get to travel on especially low cost ticket (which makes u really thrilled deep within) between 8th Jan 2008-30th June 2008. How nice is that. Now, EVERYONE can afford to fly. A bowl of kolo mee will cost you more. Dont eat that. Save it to fund your ticket to Krabi next year!! Bring along friends. It will be fun.

Singapore trip 6-8 Aug 07

I couldn't believe my hidden shopaholic ability! Never knew i could spend so much in just 3 days.

As i've promised myself and my hubby, Singapore trip was a great stress relief for both of us. We went on the second honeymoon after half year getting married. wait. Did i just say HALF YEAR? already? Hubby was so romantic.
6th Aug was our half year wedding anniversary. He was full of cheeky ideas. We stayed in the 5-star hotel of Meritus Madarin Hotel located right at the centre of the Orchard Road in Singapore. The hotel was supposed to surprise me with bouquet of flowers on the bed and so on on the arrival of our hotel check in but it didnt appear that way and it was all due to hotel management's fault. Anyway, it's the heart and thoughts that matter. I love you lao gong.

See? =P

We planned to visit Sentosa but then it is under heavy renovation to create a resort soon. In 2-3 years time maybe. In addition to the super hot and humid weather, we gave up the plan and roamed in Vivo City for the whole day.

On the second day, we spent another whole day shopping along the all-time-famous Orchard Road. The great Singapore sale just ended around the end of July and we were a step late to join them. Anyway, doesn't really matter as i didn't plan to buy a lot. The whole trip was mainly to release stress and take a break. In Singapore, there's nothing much you can do. If you're not there for business purpose, then as a visitor, you can only enjoy the shopping spree that you should have expected even before you step on the land. Orchard road is already too much for visitors to buy all they need and all they don't need as well. Too much distractions and attractions.

On the third and last day on the land, added to my collections is this LV bag. Frankly, I never used to like branded stuffs but i didn't realised that i've bought these few bags so far. This is a very expensive hobby i would say. Luckily, i live in Kuching. Not KL nor Singapore nor Europe where these places would surely turn me into a legal, aggressive shoppaholic.

pre-vacation chores

At last, another break for me and hubby. We will go somewhere near as calendar is not giving us a long school break or anything close to that. Plus, the tuition centre is still open for tuition on the Sat, which it's supposed to be a holiday, dont know for what reason, on the day. So, i need to off myself and hubby needs to off himself as well from any work commitments for the next three days. Totally OFF.



But again, my mind still could not put the works down even til the last minute before we board the flight tonite and ended up I'm preparing the teaching plan for this coming Sat. I'll be back on Wed nite and i have another 2 full days but i just feel that i need to at least start off and if possible, finish off the teaching plan first. at least. I still have a lot of markings to do and it's endless i tell you. Thinking about it would make me headache already.

I promise my hubby and myself that this time, i must have a good short yet meaningful vacation and that means VACATION and BREAK. Not like the last two months when i still need to pack all the report cards of students to go together with me back home to Perth. Two weeks were not enough then.

Okay. Getting myself back to work now. Or else, i'll just dream for a good vacation in Singapore tonight in hotel with all my works scattering on the bed with me.

Happy 3-days holiday~Safe and sound all of you out there ^_^

Over last weekend (Part B)

Hi hi. I am back with part 2 of new year's eve trip to Sematan, which had ended and this trip is to Bau. I will let my comics do the talkings. Enjoy~





















: )

Over last weekend (Part A)

This is a late post i know. It's from 31 Dec 2006 to 1 Jan 2007. Nevertheless, join me on the trip to Sematan Palm Beach Resort, which is located approximately 110km from Kuching and also Wind Cave in Bau.For your information, this road trip to Sematan will take about 1.5 hours. Buckle your seatbelt and here we set off.


Loyal supporter of Crocs™

Allow me to be a thumbs-up tour guide by explaining to you where Sematan and Bau are located geographically.


Sematan, facing South China Sea & Bau is more towards inland area

Please bear in mind that countries on Equator are having their monsoon season in the last quarter of the year so tides and weather are affected tremendously around this time of the year.


Empty beach on a cloudy-soon-to-be-raining evening

Palm Beach Resort is located right alongside the shoreline in Sematan facing the South China Sea. That means by looking out to the sea direction, you know there are sharks out there and in there somewhere. So no play play. Dont risk your life for the sake of swimming fun. At least I know i would not do that because i have phobia getting in sea water. Water splashing near the coastline is fine.


For two seconds me being the almighty paparazzi

Talking about the resort itself, it's a small and well-maintained/managed getaway for short breaks. It has heaps of rooms to accomodate visitors ranging from 4 to 6 persons per villa. Something good doesn't come cheap. We paid approximately RM500 for a 6 people villa for one night with buffet dinner & brekkie inclusive.


Romantic 5 person candlelit dinner


Refreshing buffet brekkie with coffee/tea/milk up to individual's choice

It was supposed to be interesting 'cuz there were some special events organized for the last day of the year; lucky draws, rock wall climbing, dancing and count down for 2007. However, the weather did not allow any of those activities to be carried out smoothly as the venue is in open air. We only managed to join the crowd cheering while participants used up their stamina at wall climbing on a rainy night. Right after the game, we had to hid ourselves under roof for lucky draws. Sadly enough, we were not a bit near the luck to win home any prizes. Rather, we (me,hubby,our cousin & 2 of our friends) enjoyed ourselves more in our room.



What are u thinking?

Newbie of Uno, me, kept winning for the rest of the night. Thus, i ended up taking photos of nothing and everything. Ha ha!


Camera testing with room lamp after winning Uno gameS all the way =P

There really wasn't much to do when it was pouring like crazy outside and we being trapped in a small hut-like villa. We ended up greeting among ourselves happy new year and off we went to bed having that last tiny bit of hope to dream of winning lucky draw this time. One thing we sure know is 2007 is gonna be a great year ahead with lots of love and full of hope. We are looking forward to live it to the fullest.

Shopping?

For the past three weeks, there was this never ending shopping spree that i was engaged in but thank God it had come to an end. I am not saying shopping isn't fun but it can be a dread if you're to walk and continue walking from 10am until 8pm at night roughly. Almost everyday. Nevertheless, let me do a summary of the shopping sprees that i had right here right now.

The busiest airport i've been to, frankly, is Singapore's Changi Airport so far and it's truly an enjoyable shopping experience. I think its airport is more than enough to make Singapore a well established tourism country. We reached Singapore for transit to Perth on the same day. So we spent the whole afternoon roaming in its 2 terminals, which we bought 4 bottles of wine ALREADY. I am from Perth and i would have to admit that Australia's shopping is not comparable to Singapore's. It's just too dull. We stayed in Perth for 3 weeks and there we went back to Singapore again, stopped by to do more shoppings that we missed.


City Beach in Perth, Western Australia


A romantically atmosphered restaurant located right on the beach


On a gloomy yet beautiful day of November 2006

Thank God we stayed in Orchard Hotel located just right along the Orchard Road itself. We couldn't help but to spent our first evening strolling and sight-seeing Christmas decors along the long-winded Orchard street while hunting for big "Sales/Discount/Bargain" signs. Our cab driver told us it was because of Bush's visit to Singapore recently that all Singaporeans tried to show how well lit Singapore is during Christmas season that they put up the decors much earlier this year. Okie. Thanks to Bush then.

Next day, we spent our times in Suntec City which consists of four towers. Suntec is nothing much but just being big. Talking about big, the BIG happening in Singapore is really the recent opening of its Vivo City near Singapore's habour front. Man! Geez! Damn heaps of people. Seemingly like each every residents, human beings in Singapore all moved to live in the shopping mall like that!! People mountain people sea (this is a direct translate and only Chinese who actually speak chinese can understand this). Check this mall out. The new shopping mall is connected to the old Harbour Front shopping centre. And be prepared to be lost in it. Bring your compass if you want.

Regrets in Singapore:
1. Did not spot any Skin Food established in Singapore yet. So sad.
2. Spotted a Missha store in Vivo City but the choices are very limited. Lack of products.