Girls Trip to Lang Tengah Island

My annual girls trip recently is to Lang Tengah in Terengganu. It's one of the less popular islands in east coast Malaysia. In fact, I'm surprised that not a lot of people know of this island, not even Malaysian. I encountered a few fellow Malaysians who asked me where is this Lang Tengah and they only know of the infamous Redang and Perhentian island.

Well there's 5 of us in this trip, supposed to have 6 but one of the girl couldn't make it last minute, what a pity. Nevertheless, 5 of us is more than enough to have good jolly fun in a secluded island hehe. Early Friday morning, we make our way to Subang Airport for our flight to Kuala Terengganu. Ever since KLIA was built, I have never step foot into Subang Airport anymore and I am surprised that they are renovating it and it's so brand new and stylish. Only one disappointment, the entrance to this building is still under renovation and is so small that we nearly missed it. Anyway, the flight was early so we reach there way ahead of our actual arrival time. This is the first time I set foot in Kuala Terengganu's airport and it surely does look good. Better than the one in Kuching. The last time I was there, the airport look very old to me. Anyway, 5 of us shared 2 cabs to Merang Jetty. It was only a half hour drive from the airport. I can see a lot of development undergoing near the airport as we cruise along the way. Before I knew it, I'm already at Merang Jetty. It's a very small jetty with a few wooden stalls selling souvenirs and food. In fact there were only 2 food stalls. As our boat to Lang Tengah is not due untill 11am, we have plenty of time to ourselves and we decided to have our breakfast while waiting for the time to pass in one of the stall. We tried their ready packed nasi lemak which doesn't taste that nice to me and another ready packed of nasi minyak. The nasi minyak taste better with it's curry and some pickle vegetables. The stall owner was very nice to us, attending to a bunch of very demanding ladies and of course we did sweet talked him a lot. Calling him 'handsome' and 'sayang'. hehehehe .

After breakfast, we feel even more sleepy as some of us did not sleep last nite. We couldn't wait to be in the hotel room so that we can take a nap. The boat ride from Merang Jetty to Lang Tengah is another 45 mins or so. By the time we reach the resort, we are all so tired and so wanna sleep (afterall we did not have a good sleep the night before). So we checked ourselves into the resort and went for our lunch (which is provided. All the meals are provided). Surprisingly after lunch, no one wants to go back to the room for a nap. Instead everyone was excited about the beach and water. We had a slow lunch while waiting for the time to pass by as our snorkelling session is at 4pm. Everyone changed into their bikinis and head off to the sun bed out at the beach. Trying to get a nice bikini tan.

Snorkelling wasn't that bad but I don't see as much fishes as compared to when I went Perhentian Island. Praises must be given to CY, cos she finally managed to overcome her fear for water and follow us snorkelling. Although she's very scare but still she give it a try. The instructor were there to help her. Pulling her hand and bringing her around. Kudos to CY! The rest of us just swim around once we jumped into the water. Second day snorkelling was slightly better cos I managed to see some sharks. I did saw a school of them. Not a huge school but a few of them swimming in pack. Silly me wanted to chase after them but of course I can't swim as fast as them. Oh, I did my discovery dive in this trip. My first time ever in diving. It's been my wish to take up diving course but until today I have yet to make it realise. So, this time I took up the discovery dive just to see if I like diving as a hobby or not. Well, turns out I do like diving but I do have some problem with pressure too.

The 3 of us took up the discovery dive and boy, were we a bunch of panic queens. The instructor was kinda surprised as he did not expect those who can swim turns out to be panic queens. Yes, including me! In fact, the only friend of mine who does not know how to swim seem to be quite calm about diving first time in confined water. I went panic when I first dive into the water and my friend who swim very well too. She complained about her mask which water keeps flooding in and I complained that my mouth piece is too loose till I drank a lot of chlorine water. Eventually we did managed to settle down and do our balancing and dive in properly in the pool. But once we are under the water, we are like kids swimming in our different directions and not listening to what our instructor had to said. Poor instructor had to shout out to us like little kids. (I did not aware of this until we were told about it by CY who did not participate. She said it's a very funny scenario.) After lunch, it's time for us to go try out our little diving skills in the open sea. With all the gears attached to us (the tank is very heavy for me!) we walked out to the open sea from shore following our instructor. Once in the sea, we float ourselves before wearing our fins and swim out further. Everyone puts on their masks, checked their mouth piece, make sure the mask is not blurred and in we go into the water. As I sink further into the water, I feel kinda excited that finally I get to do a real dive. haha. As we are just beginners, the instructor keep us closed to him so we wont get lost. He held on to our hand and together we swim under the water towards the big open sea. Well, after awhile I was a bit sad cos there is not much to see. Mostly are dead corals and a few fishes. Yes, the distance between me and the fishes has become closer but I still cant touch the fish haha. After about half hour or so we turn back and swim toward the shore. While the instructor were holding my 2 friends, I swim alone following closely or so behind them with him always turning back to check on me. I do enjoy the moment when I am swimming alone following behind them.

That night, everyone was very tired except for my 2 friends as they got to try night snorkelling with the instructor. He had promised to bring them out in his canoe for a night snorkelling. The rest of us just hang out at the big huge rock while waiting for them to come back. All we do is just lye down and look up to the stars and moon while enjoying the night breeze and the sound of waves. Such a soothing moment. The next day we had to get up early to catch the early boat ride out of the island. Back in KT town, we called up the cab and asked them to bring us to the famous keropok lekor in KT town. Turns out we need to join the already long Q in order to buy these famous keropok lekor. Everyone bought enough for family and friends as souvenirs before heading toward the airport.

We had a great time at the beach and everyone has got a new sexy tan look. As for me, I have extra. I have a 'deaf' ear. My right ear feels like as if it's still under the water. Doctor said might be due to the pressure and there's also a slight perforation in my ear. My hearing is still not fully recovered yet and meanwhile I'm on medication to heal my 'deaf' ear. So, no more diving for me I guess. Sad.

5th Trip to Bangkok

Well, the title speak for itself. Recently I just came back from Bangkok aka my annual shopping trip despite the recent riot and protest happening in Bangkok. Before my flight, my friends, my cousins, and my parents were nagging me about me going to Bangkok as the news had just shown a few death in the recent protest. So I check up with a friend of mine who know someone in the Thai Tourism Board about the condition in Bangkok. Apparently shopping areas are hardly affected by the riot. Only the government house areas are affected. So we decided to brave out this journey despite the numerous warning from friends and relatives ;P A day before my flight is due, we got an sms from Air Asia saying that the flight is gonna be delayed but my friend somehow mis-heard the information and told me that it was cancelled. For awhile there's a tiny bit of disappointment in me cos I so wanted to go Bangkok and so I called up another gf of mine to get the whole picture of the story. Apparently it was a false alarm, the flight was in fact delayed not cancelled. Phew.... We took the last flight to Bangkok and since it was delayed, our touch down time was delayed too. I reach Bangkok about 1 am M'sia time and 12 am Bangkok time. It was a tiring trip for me maybe cos my biological clock was telling me it's my bedtime as it is 1 am M'sia time. By the time we reach the hotel, it's already about 3 am in the morning and we are all drop dead tired and totally knock out. I don't even bother to have a close look at my hotel room. The hotel we stayed in is a themed hotel, every room has got different theme. Mine was one of the Japanese wave themed. Overall the hotel room is not bad as it cost us only RM 130, it's only meant for us to sleep in and bath in cos most of the time we will be out shopping or sightseeing.

Day One : We woke up early so we can have plenty of time to shop as we are going to Cha Tu Chak the weekend market. The hotel provided us with breakfast thus everyone stuff themselves full with a heavy breakfast so we have enough energy to walk in the weekend market. It is a hot and sunny day and by the time we meet up for lunch or tea we are all burn and sweaty and of course happy with our shopping. That is only the 1st half of our shopping itinery! 2nd half is to the famous MBK shopping complex to continue our shopping! Reason we choose MBK is because we wanna be in a shopping complex with air cond as all of us are all sweaty and smelly haha. Once we are in MBK, the first place we head to is Swensen :) Surprisingly Swensen in Thai is darn cheap. Me and Steve had a chocolate fondue with ice cream for RM 14.90 only. After Swensen, everyone is recharged and continue our mission to shop :) Last stop before heading back to hotel to refresh is Burger King for a pork burger. In Thai, it's all about pork burgers haha For dinner, our friend aka the half Thai boy hehe brought us to Chinatown for a very cheap and delicious seafood dinner. We had raw oysters, fish, prawn, vege, crab, mussels, fried rice and tom yum seafood soup and drinks for only about RM 282 plus. Darn cheap. Average per person is about RM 47. Cheap right??? Sorry ah no photo for this dinner as everyone is too hungry to remember about photo. Once the food arrived we just dig in and within 5 minutes the food is gone so I have only the mess we left behind after our delicious meal hehe :p

Day Two : Second day for shopping would be the whole sale area aka Pratunam. By this day, my little thigh are swollen and my feet is very painful. Still, we continue our mission :) The guys, well only Steve and Scott, went to the food court to have their beer session while waiting for us to shop. I guess they are tired of waiting for us ladies the shopaholics hehe. We were in Platinum Mall and I find things here are consider expensive compared last year when I went there. I could not get much in Platinum thus I bring Junie to another area, which I always go during my past years of shopping in Bangkok. I guess prices drop once u go out from the shopping complex. I can get 3 short pants for RM 10 outside of the shopping mall and mind you, it's quite nice design. Junie is satisfied with the shorts. We even bought some dresses for RM 10 per piece. Although the material is not really that good but I think for RM 10 it's worth it. By the time we went back to the food court to meet up the boys they are already going on their 7th bottles of beer. Beer in Bangkok are cheap doesn't matter it's imported or not. Later that night we went to Suan Lum Bazaar for dinner and shopping again. We had a 3 litre beer tower of Paulaner for only RM 90 which I consider darn cheap compared in KL. Well, can't compare actually cos there's not much Paulaner in KL.

Day Three : By this day, everyone is almost broke from shopping. Yes, that's how surprising it is. Lucky this day it's a sightseeing day so I guess not much money will be spent except for entrance fees, food and transportations. We had a laid back morning before going to the Grand Palace. Sadly we can't go in when we reach there as they have some festival/praying session going on inside thus the staff advised us to go other places before coming back by lunch time. 6 of us grab 2 tuk tuk and off we go to another temple which apparently only open once a year and we were lucky cos that day it is open door day. For some of them, taking the tuk tuk is a once in a lifetime experience. Why? Cos the tuk tuk that we took are kinda racing on the heavy traffic roads. Yes, the driver to my tuk tuk is like driving the F1 only it's on the main roads of Bangkok. All of us are saying NO to tuk tuk now hehe. To go into Grand Palace, one have to dress decently ie the skirt or pants must be longer then knee length and the top have to have sleeve or cover your shoulder or else you will be force to rent their pareo before they allowed you to enter the Grand Palace. As this is my 2nd time to the Grand Palace, we are all well aware of this and everyone dress up accordingly before going to Grand Palace. After the Grand Palace we went back to the hotel to bath and change our clothes before going to another place. In the evening we went to Erawan Shrine for praying purposes. Later on our friend brought us to a nice place for dinner again. It's by the Chao Praya River side. This time we managed to snap photos of our food before it is gobbled up by us hehe. After dinner we went for a drinking session in Khao San Road. This is an interesting place full of mat sallehs and the things that they sell here are mostly hand made and only in limited quantity. Too bad I was very tired out that night plus it is raining thus I don't have much mood to continue shopping. I head back to the hotel once I finished my drink to pack my luggage.

Day Four : Last day in Bangkok, it's a free and easy day. The 2 shopping king and queen continued their mission and the rest of us went sightseeing. This time we went to Wat Pho which is one of the largest temple in Thai and also with a huge reclining Buddha statue in it. It is a very large compound inside this temple. After Wat Pho we went to a temple nearby our hotel before going off for our last lunch in Bangkok as we are going back to KL in the evening flight. Me and Steve managed to find a little restaurant/pub/bistro nearby our hotel for our lunch. It is actually in Patpong area. It serve good Thai food at affordable prices. Yes, it's authentic Thai food. We stuffed ourselves full before heading back to hotel to freshen up before going to the airport. Guess what, this trip I am not the shopping queen. All my friends thought it is gonna be ME but surprise surprise, it is NOT me. Overall it is a fun filled trip for everyone. We had a great time in Bangkok shopping and I'm sure everyone would love to go there once more hehehe :) Next year perhaps ?

Experience climbing Mount Kinabalu (re-post)

I've booked the air tickets a year ago to go KK for mount climbing. As the day draw nearer, the feeling of going up the mount makes me scare cos i did not fully train myself. Only manage to jog and walk hill for a week and that's all. The day i fly to KK. Surprisingly i cant sleep the night before, dunno if it's cos im too excited or cos im too scared that i might not bring enough for this trip. My backpack is already super heavy and full and yet i did not bring 7 days clothes. Wonder what is taking all the space??? Finally slept at 2am and when my sleep is at the deepest my alarm went off and ive gotta get up n get ready to go. 10mins after i woke up i receive my friend's call saying they will be picking me up in 15mins. Panic cos i still blur blur and not yet fully packed!!
A quick 15mins later, im in the car and on my way to airport. But before that we drop by at Sepang F1 Circuit early Fri morning. We reach airport with enough time for us to grab a Mc D breakfast and after that off we go on board. While waiting for the flight to take off, come the captain of the airplane announcing a slight problem with the brake system of the plan and need a 20 mins time to check and rectify it. So yeah, we got delayed abt half hr before taking off. Half way in the middle of the sky suddenly i thought of my lil keys for my lock which I've used to lock my backpack. I cant recall where i keep those tiny lil keys!!!!! gosh, was I anxious through out the journey but i manage to keep it out of my mind by reading. When i reach KK airport i ransack my sling bag over and over again to find the lil keys but they are no where to be found. Panic attack round 2! How am i suppose to get all my stuffs out fr my backpack!!?!!?!?!? I even asked my friend to double check my only sling bag which i took on board but yet the keys cant be found. No choice, gotta find locksmith or a big plyer to cut the lock.
All the way to KK park, my mind is thinking on how to get the lock open and where did my lil keys goes. gosh, im so blur. Luckily someone in my group has got a handy plyer and he eventually become my saviour. He helped me cut the mini lock so i can access my clothes or else Im gonna be very pityful hehehe. And I became the ms. forgetful in the group :P Everyone rest early that night ( I did, at least) but cant sleep too well. Dont know if it's because of the chalet which give me a spooky feeling or it's all in my head but somehow i manage to doze off only to be awake later in the wee hour for toilet going. Due to the spooky feeling in me, I tried very hard to withstand the urge but somehow I just need to release myself and I make a quick dash into the toilet, all the time I say my prayers in my mind. I guess it help calm me down and help me doze off too. Got a few more hrs sleep before everyone is awake for our hike up mount kinabalu.

Majority of us chosen to use the Mesilau trail during our voting session and in the end everyone goes for Mesilau trail as there's more flora to be seen. True enough. After a group picture, everyone is set to start our hike. We started at 9.30am. As we go along, some stop for a break some continue walking. The group starts to break into smaller groups. I eventually walk with 2 of my friends. My 'partner' has left me and walk with other friends hehe. When we saw the 1KM sign, we were so happy and excited and took pictures. Then continue hiking, 2KM sign came in. Took pictures again. All along the way, there's a lot of nice huge rainforest trees. It's an offence to pick or even pluck from the tree. If caught, will be penalise RM 50k. Come 3KM sign, yaay! we managed 3KM so far. Every stop we took we ate up all of lunch boxes and whatever energy bars that we brought along as it's heavy on our shoulder. Indeed this is a more to greeneries trail where we saw 2 waterfalls and alot of nice bonzai as we go further up the mountain.

I don't know when I started to walk alone (probably 5KM as shown in pic) It's always either I walk ahead of my friends or behind them but eventually I managed to catch up. This time I was walking behind them and I totally lost them. My friends were carrying my bag which contain all the food and drinking water etc. It didnt bother me the fact that I'm walking alone cos I have my MP3 player stuck to my ears and I just take my own pace to walk the trail myself. When I reach 1 of the stops, one of the potter whom we saw earlier pass me a bottle of water, telling me that my friends left it for me. Lucky me cos before I lost them I manage to chuck 2 energy bars into my pocket so I can fend hunger attack. The more I walk the harder it is. The trail has become rockier and harder to walk. It's no more walking trail. It's all rock where sometime u might need to climb a little. Finally I saw where the 2 trails meet, I know it wont be long before I reach Laban Rata. So I'm more determine to continue my hike even though Im super tired and my legs arent mine anymore. When I saw the 6KM sign, Im excited cos it's means Im only 2KM or so away only. But my legs doesnt felt that way. My legs is not obeying my command and worse still the skies is getting dark and it is also raining at the moment. Imagine me in my long sleeve top with my wool sweater and a rain coat cum wind breaker walking alone, my hands are numb and freezing. I got no choice but to continue my hike. The thing that worry me a lot is the darkness as I dont have my lights with me. It's in the bag. So, I hurried up and try to catch up a few Singaporean guys who's slightly ahead of me. Even though I'm breathless and tired, I just mustered enough voice to call out for them to wait for me. Luckily they heard my call and willing to wait for me, thus we walk together. One of the guys actually had cramps thus he's also having difficulty walking. Together we move in a group of 4. They are really a nice bunch cos they keep on giving me encouragement and letting me take my time to rest even though it's getting darker and darker.

Boy, was I sad when I saw the sign 4.5KM cos I remember I already walk pass the 6KM sign. Eventually the 4.5KM sign is for people who uses the other trail. At 5.5KM, one of my guide who also serve as my potter (a person who help us to take our bags up to Laban Rata for a fee; my bag is 8kg) saw me and am surprised to find me there. He is also another nice guy cos he held my arm and keeps on pulling me and helping me all the way up. As my hand is freezing and turn numb, one of the Singaporean guys gave me his hand gloves to keep my hands warm. I really am very thankful for his kindness. Thank you, Lee Tong.

When I finally saw the light of a hut like place I'm so happy and try all my best to reach there only to be disappointed cos that is merely a guard house or some sort. The restaurant/cafe where I am suppose to go is another 200-300m up. The feeling at that time is like, I wanna kill people cos I am so freaking tired. No choice but to hike up to where all my friends are with the help of my guide. I reached there at 8pm and everyone is clapping their hands to give me encouragement for reaching there safely. I almost colapsed not cos of hunger but cos of tiredness especially my legs. No strenght and it's soooooo cold outside. All my friends who saw me quickly help me sit down and bring me hot water to warm my hands which has turn white and is totally numb. I cant even feel what I touch. I am not the last to reach, there's another 6 person who have not arrived. While I have my dinner, everyone went back to the dorm to sleep cos we need to be up by 2am for our climb to the peak. I was alone again having my dinner and when I saw the Singapore guys I join them again for dinner. At 9pm, 1 of the guide told me to go back and rest and not wait for the rest as my dorm is another 200m up from the cafe. I almost wanna faint when I heard the news. Another 200m up??? Sigh. No choice but to pack my stuffs and hike up and this time I saw my friends who are late. 4 of them finally reached at 9pm. Together we went up to our dorm. The dorm look very run down to me. As I have not been a backpacker thus Ive no idea how bad a dorm can be. This is one dorm which I would not wanna stay in again. The saddest thing is, by 9pm the water heater is turn off. I had to take my shower in cold icy water. Did not really shower, just wipe with wet cloth. Washing my face with icy water is really an experience. It's so darn cold that it kinda have a needle poking feeling when the water hit your face. Quickly I wash up and brush up my teeth and head to my bed. I wore a long john, a long sleeve top with long sleeve bottom, a sweater, a hand gloves, a knit wear head hat and socks and slide myself into the sleeping bag before covering myself with another 2 blankets. That's how cold it is.

I did not get to the peak. Sad. Did not sleep well that night and had backache, neck ache and headache. Had to put on counter pain before continuing to sleep. Woke up the next morning feeling somewhat fresh and a little regret for not going up the peak. After all the hardship I've been through to reach Laban Rata. Sigh.

Everyone took some pictures of the peak (since we did not manage to reach there my as well capture some picture for memories sake) before going for our breakfast. Everyone is still talking about how each of us manage to hike up previous night and catching up on the last 6 person who came in late. After breakfast, everyone continue our journey down the mountain. This time we are using another trail to go down. The Timpohon Trail. It's has got a lot of steps and it is like walking down the stairs. Look easier than done. Walking down the steps is not as easy as like walking down the staircase as some of the steps are wide apart and slippery and our legs is not helping either as some of us are having joint pain. Still we brave the steps down eager to reach the bottom to go to our hotel for a nice rest. Stepping down is so much faster and easier. Some of them actually run all the way which hopping down the steps. And he is one of them who went up the peak. Yes, they manage to catch up with us who start our descending journey first. Half way through, my knee joint starts to feel pain. Like they said, don't think it's pain and continue walking. That is exactly what I did. I'm the 6th person to reach the Gate. Boy, am I so relieved that I don't have to endure what I have been through the other night. Took me about 4hrs to reach the Gate. Had a group picture with all our tired faces but everyone show the thumb sign indicating that it is indeed a good climb!

When the last person finally arrived, we took our stuffs and went into the van which will bring us into town. That's when I realised I lost my handphone! My 2 month old handphone. Sigh. Darn unlucky me. Went back to the place to search but no luck and I think someone took it already. So again, I'm the ms unlucky after the first bad luck. Sigh. Luckily nothing else went missing or any misfortune happened on me throughout the week I was there. Managed to have fun water rafting and island hoping in KK. And oh yeah!, loads of beer session for us, every night non fail. Overall, it is not too bad a trip. Came back KL in one piece and skinnier (that's what everyone said abt me) and tanned.