Extension of my Journey

I couldn't resist not telling you guys. AirAsia is giving away 1 million free tickets from now till 31 August and NO! Airasia is not paying me to promote for them, I just did it because I managed to book my FREE TICKET and I am so happie... 

YES. I have booked a return ticket to Hangzhou from Kuala Lumpur. I will be departing on 19th June 2009 and coming back on the 29th. The 5 hour journey inclusive of all the taxes, surcharges, meals, drinks, insurance, and baggage allowance cost me RM633.00 

I will be there for approximately 11 days. I guess by that time, I should be back at work, that's why I can't book for a longer time. :( I will be travelling to Shanghai from there as well. So if any of you are interested to join me, do make the same booking as well and I wish you good luck.(you need loads of them) Hurry up seats are limited... 

Now I need to go get my Lonely Planet China. HAHA.. 

Terengganu Darul Iman

Hah. after bringing you all forward for the last 2 post, let's backtrack a little to the point where I was in Kuala Terengganu after my more more teeing adventure in Redang.


27-28 July - Kuala Terengganu, the capital city of Terengganu. If you follow closely with my blog, you would have noticed that I came back and forth to KT a few times in between my trips to Tanjong Jara, Pulau Redang and now I am back to do some real sightseeing in the richest state of Malaysia.

Being declared as a city in January 2008, KT to me was one of the "nicest" cities I have ever set foot on in Malaysia. Nice not in terms of people or culture but infrastructure. As Terengganu is the only state in Peninsular Malaysia that has oil reserves, they have all the money in the world to spend. And they have really spend a lot in making "Nice" stuff. The domestic airport which only has flight to and fro Kuala Lumpur is one such example of elaborate spending.

As I was saying, I met Han He in Pulau Redang who coincidentally will be spending a few nights in a friend's house in KT and he has invited me to go sightseeing with him in Terengganu town and the best of all, he has a car to do all that. How cool is dat? So upon checking in to my dorm, he came to pick me up at the guesthouse. Our first stop, Taman Tamadun Islam (Islamic Civilization Park) and the Crystal Mosque. The 300 million ringgit project which comprises of an Islamic civilization theme park and a real mosque is situated on a man-maid island called Pulau Wan Man (Wan Man Island) in the huge Terengganu River.

All over KT town you will see advertisement of this so called man-made wonder initiated by our current Prime Minister as it's the latest addition to Visit Terengganu Year 2008. Upon reaching, we visited the crystal mosque, but to my disappointment, the mosque was just a small mosque that is made by glass panel despite having the name of a Crystal Mosque. Not many muslims uses this mosque for prayers though but you will see truckloads of school children visiting this place.

Next, we paid RM10 to enter the 3/4 done Islamic Civilization Edutainment Theme Park. As the name suggest, this theme park is actually made up of 21 small sized replicas of famous and influential mosque around the world. 4 out of the 21 has a small theater which explains its importance to the Islamic civilization through video but it's only available in Malay. We rented a bicycle to cycle around the park because it's just too hot to walk around as the park has no covered walkways and trees. Overall the place is not a bad place to visit if you are in town but the 300 million ringgit price tag it has is definitely too much.

Then we drove to Pulau Duyong, about 10 minutes away from Pulau Wan Man. This island is home to the HeritageBay marina and resort which currently only holds the Monsoon Cup, a 5 day international sailing competition that takes place in November every year. For that, Malaysian government has again spent over 300 million ringgit since 2005. Since it's not the monsoon season yet, the resort and marina was almost completely deserted when we arrive. It's sad to see how much taxpayers money has been dumped onto elaborate projects such as these by our dearest government that do not benefit the public at all.

Our last stop of the day was the museum, unfortunately we arrived too late and it was already closed by the time we reach. Han He fetched me back to my guesthouse and after bidding farewell to him, I ventured alone to the waterfront city and Chinatown of KT about 15 minutes walk from where I stayed. The waterfront is nice to explore in the evenings as you can see amazing sunset. It's also interesting to notice that even though the modern bridges have been built across the Terengganu river, many locals still choose to travel by river taxis at the waterfront.

I would like to thank Han He for everything. If not for him, I would not have see Terengganu as much as I would like to. It's meeting people like him that makes my whole journey worthwhile.

I AM FINE !

Hello all. Thanks for all your concern through my blog and email. I am truly blessed to have such good family members and friends and I realized even more of it after I started my journey.

I am now in Koh Tao, about 40 kilometers off the coast of Chumpon and I am doing my advanced scuba diving course here. At first I was not very sure of doing it because I have already lost so much money but after thinking about it, I said to myself "What he heck? I am already in the number 1 scuba diving training island of South East Asia, if I don't do it when will I be able to come back here again." So I proceeded with my 8000 Baht course.

After my first dive today, I realized that I have made an absolutely correct choice for diving here. The corals and fishes here are so amazing and it made me realize how big the world is and how wonderful it is to be living each day to see all these stuff.. It totally made me forget about all my worries. To be able to live one more day and see all these great things is already a gift for me. Imagine how many people are suffering and dying while I am living my dream here in Thailand. What more can I ask for?

Throughout my journey, I have also met many many interesting and great friends along the way. And their concern for me as a total stranger after knowing my plight is beyond words could express. I would have never been able to meet them if not for this trip and if God wanted me to trade all this with a camera, handphone and cash? I have absolutely no problem with that.

Since I made my choice of becoming a backpacker, I have already anticipated something like this to happen therefore I am prepared for it. I just hope that I would never ever make the same mistake again and it truly is a lesson learnt in life. It's all part of the journey...

Latest Update

Dear all, this is the latest update from me in Thailand. I am now in the island of Koh Phangan appoximately 50km from the coast of SuratThani. When I arrived the on the island I went on a party with a Mexican guy I met and am currently sharing a room with. I drank too much at the party and lost my bag which contains my camera, wallet, handphone and passport. It was not stolen or snatched by me. I just simply left it on the table and left the party without the bag. When I woke up the next day, I went straight back to the place and it was too late. Immediately I cancelled all my cards and went straight to the police station and guess what? I found my bag along with my passport and wallet (with all my ATM and credit cards). All the cash I have inside the bag together with my camera and handphone were gone. All in all I think I lost around RM4000.

I am currently still in Koh Phangan and will be leaving the island tomorrow. I still have some cash with me and a credit card that still works. So don't worry about me. I will be however getting my replacement cards when I reach Bangkok in a few days time. In the meantime if you wish to contact me, I will still be reachable through email.

I am fine now and I vowed never to get drunk ever again for the rest of my trip. I will continue with my journey once I get back on track and will keep updating about my adventure.

More More Teeing in Redang

28 to 30 July – After experiencing the lifestyle of the rich and famous I was transformed back into my identity of a backpacker when I bid farewell to my cousin at the Kuala Terengganu (KT) bus terminal. I stayed overnight in KT that day and signed up for a RM299 package tour for 3 days 2 nights to Pulau Redang that includes food, lodging and 2 way ferry transfer and 3 snorkeling trips. I did this because according to my guidebook, the best way to get into Redang is through this as the resorts don't usually entertain walk-in customers.

On 7am the next morning, I took the travel agency's bus which I paid RM40, to Merang (approx 30km from KT) where I transferred to a ferry. The Merang jetty was an eye opener for me. Never did I expect a jetty to such a popular tourist destination in Malaysia can be so run-down and dirty. The jetty felt like it's been built in 1 day and the amount of rubbish around the jetty is a terrible sight. I though the driver was kidding me when he asked us to alight for the ferry to Redang. The only good thing abt this jetty is the cheap Redang souvenir that you can purchase instead of paying thru your nose on Redang for the same thing.

Upon reaching Redang Bay resort, I was overwhelmed by the long stretch of white powdery sand and crystal clear blue water of Redang. The glorious sun was not to my liking though. :) After the briefing by the resort operator, I checked in to my dorm and found out tht I am the only person in the air con dorm for the next 2 nights which was a disappointment to me as I was expecting to meet other travelers.

After that I went lepaking (gallivanting) to look for for cheap dive shops and see the other resorts on the island. Of course I also visited the most famous landmark of the island the More More Tea Inn where Sammi Cheng and Ritchie Ren shot the movie Summer Holiday {{http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0259741/}} in 1999.

Lunch was good. Food is not very nice but the portion is very generous and quite a lot of variety. I also met 2 other guys who travelled alone. After lunch we went for the first snorkeling trip. The snorkel wasn't as nice as the one I had in Pulau Tenggol but it there were no jelly fishes so I enjoyed it more. When we came back from the trip I snorkelled on the designated area along our beach and I saw even more coral fishes. I even saw 4 black tip reef sharks swimming past me. It was a fantastic experience.

At night me and my newly met friends chilled out at the local pub at the resort we were staying. One thing I liked about Redang over Perhentian is there is such a thing called night life. In Pulau Perhentian (20 km from Redang) the only night activity you can do is watching turtles laying eggs. HAHA. Redang has live bands, disco, and nice pubs and even karaoke and snooker/pool centre.

On the next day I skipped my 2 other snorkeling trips for 3 scuba dives which I paid an extra of RM260. The dive went really really well but spending another RM260 was not good at all for my budget. Hai.. What to do? I cannot control myself not to dive after seeing the crystal clear water. My divemaster even helped me to take underwater photos with sea horses and the extremely rare frog fish.

After dinner that night I went straight to sleep after drinking at the pub again with Mike and Han He, the 2 guys I met yesterday. On the next day I left Redang for KT together with Han He and Mike stayed on for 1 more night where he will be diving as well after telling him my dive adventures.

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

25 to 27 July - I reached Kuala Terengganu (KT) 10 hours after my horrendous journey across the East West highway. The bus which I took, took in passengers illegally despite ferrying the maximum number of passengers as allowed by the law and these “extra” passengers have to squeeze in the back of my seat which caused me to hv my seat upright at 90 degrees throughout the journey. As if that's not enough, the bus decided to breakdown halfway for 2 hours and we were forced to be stranded on a bus stop while waiting for a replacement bus.

I finally reached KT at 8.30am and I took a taxi tht cost me RM30 straight to the airport to meet my cousin. The domestic airport which only serves a few flights daily to and from Kuala Lumpur only was in my opinion too overdone but as Terengganu is the only oil producing state of Peninsular Malaysia, they have all the money to spend.

Upon meeting my cousin (possibly the richest one), we were greeted by our driver and we took a limousine to Tanjong Jara Resort, a privately owned 5 star resort by YTL about 60km south of Kuala Terengganu. Upon reaching we were greeted VIP liked by a loud gong along with hot towels and fresh fruit juice. I felt like a celebrity at that moment. It is the precise reason why we spent about RM5000 for a 2 nights stay there. They are really good in pampering you. This was the exact opposite from what I was experiencing the night before. :)

Staying in Tanjong Jara was indeed luxurious. I treated myself to a warm water flower (with dead sea salt) bath upon checking in and we spent the rest of the afternoon tucking into sumptuous lunch, swimming in the infinity pool and sunbathing at the beach. At night we ate our hearts out again. The 2 of us gobbled altogether RM480 of food for dinner. HAHA. We didn't eat like hungry ghost but the price of food there was exorbitantly high.The next day we went for a snorkeling trip to Pulau Tenggol about 50km from Tanjong Jara. I heard many people went to Pulau Tenggol especially for the scuba diving but as my cousin doesn't have a diving license, I accompanied him for the snorkeling instead. We saw clown fishes, corals, and 2 gigantic turtles however we didn't snorkel for very long because there were many jelly fishes in the area.

When we came back to Tanjong Jara it started to rain and we were forced to stay in our chalet until dinner. For dinner, we had steamboat. Food was just so-so but the portion was a lot and because it was still raining we were forced to have our steamboat at the same restaurant last night. For dessert, I tried the soufflé for the first time as it was highly recommended by my cousin. Again for this the bill came up to RM300

We left Tanjong Jara after the buffet breakfast the next morning and it was one of the best buffet breakfast I had with loads of selection and yummy pastries. This is the best meal I had in Tanjong Jara throughout my stay. I need to thank my cousin for the wonderful and luxurious time there in Tanjong Jara. If not for him, I would not have step foot on this most expensive leg of my journey as a backpacker.

KayElle Pit Stop

18 to 24 July – After traveling for about 2 weeks, I've decided to stopover in Kuala Lumpur for a few days. Initially my plan was to stay 3 days in KL to recharge myself and to meet up with family and friends, however my stayed was prolonged to 1 week as the unexpected visit of my dad and brother took me sightseeing in a lot of places which I am supposed to spend a few days therefore I have more time to spare in KL.

I stayed with my brother in KL which means I get to save more money too. ;) As I have already spent 4 years while studying in university, KL is no stranger to me, that is why I spent most of my time lepaking and meeting up old friends.

On the 22nd of July, I went along with my cousin who's getting married at the end of this year on her wedding photo shoot. The shoot was divided into 2 parts, studio and outdoor. For the outdoor shoot, my cousin chose to do it in Sepang Gold Coast, a man-made sand beach near KLIA, Putrajaya and the Malaysian F1 circuit. This project is another one of those ambitious project undertaken by our dear government to transform and create the small village of Sepang into Palm Islands or Palm Jumeirah of Dubai. The journey took us about 1 hour from KL and it turned out really well. My cousin always loved the beach and being able to take wedding photos there was like a dream come true for her. I am very happy for her as well. For more photos that I have helped took do check out her blog.

My brother and sis in law surprised me with a birthday cake when I got home on that day. As my birthday was on the next day, they decided to celebrate for me a day earlier as they guessed I might be going out with my friends which they were right. It's very thoughtful of them. I celebrated my birthday with a group of my friends from university and as it was a weekday I wasn't expecting many of them turning up but to my surprise I saw many familiar faces. Many many thanks to those who travelled far and wide to come celebrate for me. I would also like to thank those whom has sent me birthday wishes through SMS. Sorry I couldn't reply as my phone is low on credit. HEHE

On the next day, I took an 8 hour night bus to Kuala Terengganu where I will continue with my journey.

One Month On

Phew. It has been 1 month since I started my journey on 4th of July. I survived it. YAY! I know there's a slight jump here from my previous post because as usual I was missing in action again. Please bear with me as I feel today is a day worth mentioning that's why I have written this post.

Even though I might not have updated my blog as frequent as I hoped, I do update the things on the right hand side -> If you look closely I am in fact updating "MY ROUTE" ,"PLACES I'VE BEEN" and "PLACES I'LL VISIT" each time I get internet access. Photos on my Flickr is also more updated.

Right now my current location is Sungai Petani in Kedah. I just reached here this evening and am now staying with my dad's best friend who works here. I will be leaving Peninsular Malaysia for Thailand (YES FINALLY) in a few days time.

1 month on and What the hell am I still doing in Malaysia? This is the question that many of you have asked me. Well I must say Malaysia is truely a fascinating country and I feel to fully appreciate wht Malaysia has to offer, it would take more than 1 month. However as time and $$ is of great importance to me, I shall be leaving this beloved country of mine and venture into the land of a thousand smiles, Thailand.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all those whom has left comments here, sent me SMS, MSN, Friendster, Facebook, email and even phone calls to wish me luck on this journey. I am really touched by each and every message that I received.

Since my first blog entry, I have received over 800 hits and this is really encouraging as well. However looking at this also makes me feel guilty as well because it means many people are checking in to see the same post day after day. I assure you that I will update my blog more often once I start my Thailand journey.

In the meantime keep a lookout for my subsequent stories after my Taman Negara trip in the next few days. Take care and see ya.