Tawau-Kunak-Semporna (Part I)

My housemate decided to invite me to Sabah for some meeting on her work. Knowing i need to have some weekend getaway far from the peninsular Malaysia, why not?

Booked the cheapest return air ticket, not really, cost me almost like RM400++ on last minute basis, oh my, i had to splurge a bit for this one. Only regret it later cause I can skip this one and plan later.

Never mind, the cost over the unexpected returns and intangible pleasure would might do some justice. We gonna have a blast exploring the most outer town from KL City Centre, with the expectation of boring, no night life whatsoever, but surprising, it was another shocking discovery. Tawau is as vibrant as any town in Peninsular Malaysia, even more livelier to some of them.

Took a cab from the airport, since I had arrive earlier, 9.00 a.m. Checked into hotel, RM98 for a night, had a shower and unpacking, the usual stuff I did, and some nap. Driving all the way from Penang to LCCT the night before, oh my, it was a bliss finding myself in some secluded territory and the new journey would be another story.

The first meal when we had this chicken rice stuff for dinner. Surprisingly, the meal and the drinks were cheap, as what you can imagine available in other city. The time was a setback, all shop mostly close around 8.30 p.m, so better to venture out as early as 7.00 p.m, or else the fast food outlets might help a bit...

The first thing to do was to rent a car for sight seeing (a saga cost about RM100/day). After Azah finished her meeting, turned out that she and another colleague of mine was in the town. The first destination was Kunak, some 99 kilometres from Tawau. Since housemate needed to see what Kunak like after her sister left it for good, 10 years back, some pictures for her behalf might help to refresh some memories kan?

Along the road, the land mostly are filled with massive oil palm plantations, privately owned by the local and you can see the lorries transporting the harvest to the nearest factory. The road however does not really look in good condition, with pot holes and bump, which favourable to pick up trucks and 4wds. Of course, to make it interesting, some potong-memotong (we are so efficient!) would help us to reach Kunak just in time (approximately one hour).

Around 3 pm, the first stop was Kunak Fishing Jetty, situated just next to the town centre. Clear sea water down the jetty, school of fish swimming lazily and the sea smell is what you can expect from a typical small fishing village.

After some late lunch and sight seeing, we decided to leave the small town back to Tawau, another 99 kilometres of journey. Time to get some rest for tomorrow outing - Semporna.

(to be continued).

Hatyai- Songkhla Trip 2010

The initial plan of this trip was to visit Hat Yai for two days before the wedding took place in Kedah. We left Kuala Lumpur at 8.00 p.m to Bukit Kayu Hitam before the border being closed by immigration people at 12.00 a.m. Luckily we managed to do that in time.

After immigration procedures being handled without hassle, we drove 60km towards Hat Yai for check in. The hotel staff were all being friendly, even one of them could speak Malay and that made our task a lot easier. Room rate was Thai Baht 500 bath per night. I could hardly remember which hotel was that as there are many accommodation in Hat Yai scattered around the town area.

First Day - Songkhla

We woke up early for some breakfast in a muslim restaurant. Had some roti canai and teh tarik. It was quite an expensive meal for a piece of roti cost about Thai Baht 8 and a glass of teh tarik was Thai Baht 20. After breakfast, we drove straight to Songkhla, approximately 30 km from Hat Yai for sight seeing...

A dragon like statue... there was some written history of how Songkla was formed.

The weather was hot and humid when we arrived Songkhla at about 10 a.m. After taking some pictures, it was decided to find a place for having some lunch. Being famished due to a lot of walking around made us to wander aimlessly for shop. Fortunately finding muslim food here is easy. Just look at any sign board of some restaurant with " Muslim Food" and you will be able to have anything on the menu. Luckily we managed to have a perfect view to admire the structure of this temple while having the lunch.What makes the lunch memorable was the owner of the shop couldn't speak Malay at all, so many hand sign being used for communication. The only thing I could understand was the word "Malei" being used by the local to describe people from Malaysia. Easy huh? Despite the language barrier, the food was fantastic and really delicious. The way of food being cooked here is similar to what I have in Kelantan. Very nice right? perhaps our taste buds have been well accustomed to Thai food for many years...

The local girl selling Glutinuos Rice With Manggo, one generous portion that cost about Thai Baht 40.

After the sight seeing in Songkhla, we returned back to hotel to refresh ourselves. Then we went back to the city for some shopping.

After some shopping, it was time to go back to hotel and get some rest.

For the second day, we went to some market finding more t-shirts for our friends in Malaysia.

Had some coffee and corn pie in McDonalds. The Corn Pie is the local selection for Thailand McDonalds. No where else to find it and it taste so yummy!

The Hat yai Railway Station...

After we have done with shopping, it was time to go back to Malaysia .Did the check out from the hotel and reached border again at 3 p.m...It seemed so many people in Malaysia flocked the town.

Overall, it was quite pleasant to be out of the country for a while.

Universal Studios Singapore & Mr.J's Wedding

Mr. J decided to tie the knot in July 2011, so without hesitation I booked the flight tickets to Singapore for the trip and the next day to his wedding in Johor Bharu.. takkan semata-mata wedding dia i nak turun jer kan?

Since I was curious about Changi (many people said you should have seen it, at least once in the life time), some check in Air Asia website was indeed a fruitful attempt. The tickets was RM14 one way excluding the fuel surcharge and the airport tax.Total cost overall has reached to RM120 (including meals + drinks) which was quite a deal for two people.

For Universal Studios, we bought the tickets via the website.

Knowing the Singapore Dollar Exchange Rate wouldn't be so friendly to us, some cheapest accommodation is highly appreciated, so I made a reservation at Booking.com. We managed to get SGD60 per night for a room of two in Geylang area, namely Fragrance Hotel, which earlier being recommended by a friend. Not bad huh ?

On the actual day, we took the flight with Air Asia and unfortunately, as usual, it was delayed to almost one hour due to some security breach. I prayed that the hotel people wouldn't cancel my room reservation or else, we might end up sleepless till the next morning.

The free Internet and Wifi service

It was a pleasant surprise to see Changi, compared to KLIA, being livelier with countless duty free shops, facilities and the good thing about this airport (except for the unfriendly immigration officers being smileless) was the customer service reps willing to help you to fill in the Incoming Passengers Cards.

Wow, one of the places here was named similar to Mr.J's. Guess which one, huh?

After everything has been cleared, we took MRT to Payar Lebar (SGD2.80) and some cab ride (due to the fact Payar Lebar station was way too far from the hotel) that cost around SGD4.00. Fortunately the friendly staff in Fragrance Hotel managed to verify the room booking and we were so happy!

Little did I know that I was not alone that night outside the hotel after we checked in. Happened that there were two friendly ladies from New Zealand , Kylie and Rita. A new friendship was formed immediately!

On the way to World Resort......

The next morning we took a cab, driven by this friendly Malay chap, cost us SGD8.00, all the way from Geylang to Sentosa World Resort. Opening hours are from 10.00 a.m to 9.30 pm.

Finally we are here!

While waiting ......

As usual, the crowd for the day itself was so massive since it was weekend. So you can guess how long it was to wait right?

The attractions:

Her favourite spot, Madagascar!

One of the street performances

Battlestar Gallactica Roller Coaster Ride, Awesome!

The Waterworld Show

Many pictures with the characters.....Most favourite shot!

It was till the night time....Feels like in Hollywood already......

The Firework Finale.......

The Street...n the Frankenstein....

It is the Closing Time, huhu, i wanna go here again sooner!

For those who cant wait, please save more money for Express Lane Tickets since it is worth your precious time.Please buy water refill if you can...the hot weather can be nasty to you and your wallet too. I spend SGD50 for buying water, just water!

To make this trip memorable, we bought some t-shirts for ourselves (from SGD26.00 to SGD32.00, please do not convert the currency, some mugs, pens, note books for daughter) and it was nice having many souvenir shops around to cater for the crowd.... Overall it was a nice and pleasant outing. No complaint! The taxi ride from World Resort to Hotel was SGD14.00...??

Looking forward to visit more attraction in the future..or else it would be Legoland in Johor orFerrari World, Abu Dhabi. :)

Perth VII : The City

We checked into Perth Ambassador which is next to the car rental outlet, Thrifty in Adelaide Terrace. Quite a bargain for AUD190 per night since the room was spacious for three of us , plus the bathroom was lovely.....

Some buildings in Perth CDB. Not many tall ones but they look harmonious enough to me ehehheheheeheheh

The Swan Bell Tower

Since we could not manage to go to the Caversham Wildlife Park due to time constraint, layan Zoo Perth pun jadikla. Location of the zoo is in South Perth, maka pagi-pagi kami sudah bersedia beratur membeli tiket. Kebetulan pula, segerombolan staf UTM turut datang memeriahkan suasana....

Outside the zoo...the leaves of maple trees sangat lovely kan? Nampak sangat autumn...........

I have maple trees around me, tak sabar pula the sakura trees after this :)

The entrance fees for adult is AUD11, the kids perhaps half of it, errr, tak hingat.....

Salah satu species kanggaroo yang ada ........

The Zoo is divided into many mini lands like The Rainforest, Savannah, Australia Outback, and some other natural habitat... Yang ni adalah di Australia Outback, where all the animals there roam freely in the area.....

Cute Koala Bear sleeping on the tree.....

So after the Zoo, we went to Coles for grocery item shoppings in South Perth, had a Kebab for lunch (had great chat with the owners about Malaysian food), and lepak to see the view of CDB from this point....

Love the structure.....siang restaurant, malam happening pub in South Perth....

One of the Cathedrals.....

We also went to Hay Street and Harbour Town Mall for another shopping trip... Yup, I am loving every of it cause the Adidas Factory Outlet was the most favourite... sapa tak mo borong t-shirt, yoga pants within AUD5 to AUD30 kan? I wish I can here again to borong sakan :)

Bear in mind that the shops here close around 5.30 pm, so please plan your time wisely...Seb baik ada gaks kedai souvenir tutup kat pukul 7 p.m so last minute shopping tu boleh la ditunaikan, but not many choices of course....I bought pens, fridge magnets, small soft toys for my staff and some golf balls in kanggaroo leather pouch for AUD65 for the boss, huhu, the most expensive after some Aussie flag printed boxer pants for Atan Klang ( said to him only girlfriends buy them, not friends, but nevermind!) ....overall abes gak hampir AUD350 only for souvenirs......the second biggest goes to my Adidas items, overall AUD330, huhu....tapi until now puas hati ngan all my outfit...they have size 18 ok.....

The only regret that we had was time constraint to visit other places in the city like Kings Park... never mind, I will be come down again for relaxation, so tak perlu nak regret sangatkan...save the best for last hik hik......

So the very next day it was our day to go back to Malaysia....we left the rented car in airport.

Overall it was such a wonderful time spending my week here, Perth is definitely a place for me....many more to come in the future!