Mulu Caves, Sarawak

Mulu Caves is located in Sarawak. We took air asia flight to Miri and then only fly to Mulu. We stayed at Royal Mulu Resort, that is the only chalet available. The resort was ok. Refer to the picture.

Introduction of Mulu :-

Gunung Mulu National Park is one of Nature's most spectacular achievements and the 'jewel in the crown' of Sarawak's expanding network of national parks. It is also the largest national park, covering 52,865 hectares of primary rainforest, which is criss-crossed by fast flowing rivers and clear jungle streams.

A plankwalk leads through the forest to Deer and Lang's Cave whilst Clearwater Cave and Wind Cave are reached by taking a longboat up the Melinau River, or by following a 4 km nature trail.

Deer Cave

Our Itinery :-

Once we reach mulu, we visited the deer and lang caves and then stay for bats' watching. You can see millions of bats will fly out of the caverns, a very spectacular sight. A MUST SEE when you go mulu. Look at the picture below, the bats is like a bee line.

We had our dinner at Royal Mulu Restaurant and the meal cost us RM30 per person. If you want cheaper meal you can walk across the bridge which you can get a decent fried noodle or fried rice at RM4. The price difference is the water that they used. You dunno whether they are cooking using the river water. Therefore most of my meals I ate in the Royal Mulu Restaurant as I got sensitive stomach and there is cultural performance at the restaurant.

We play games since there is nothing much to do. Each one will take a playing card and put the card on their forehead, whoever get the lowest points got to finish all the food e.g. peanuts and chips...ha!ha!

We woke up at 6am the next morning as we need to take boat to Clearwater and Wind Cave. On our way, we stopped at the souvenir shops. You really need to climb alot of staircase and alot of walking to do. Believe me, is worth the effort.

The Canopy Skywalk, the world's longest tree-based structure, in Mulu National Park allow visitors a glimpse of life in the treetops of the rainforest. 480 meters of walkway hang 20 meters above the forest floor, forming a circular route suspended between 15 trees with a separate exit tower. To keep human incursions at a sustainable level, visitor numbers to the Canopy Skywalk are carefully monitored. Therefore not everyone of us able to go. I'm lucky that we able to go for it. I always scared of height but I manage to complete the entire canopy walk. It was my greatest achievement..ha!ha!

 Our tour ended after 3 days. Guess what happen, our flight from MIRI to KL has been delay. We suppose to leave in the afternoon and delay for few hours. Therefore all of us slept in the airport cos we are exhausted. When we enter the boarding room, Air Asia staff distributing a snack box to us and we thot is KFC or Sandwiches....unfortunately is mineral water, chocolates and sweets...ha!ha!

My new hobby

I love to collect the miniature food item e.g. pastry, sushi, vegetables and etc when i first saw it in HK few years ago. Only recently has the time to collect. This miniature set I got it from Hong Kong recently. All of this is made in Japan. Everything look so real. I must said the art work is fabulous.

My miniature in my cabinet. This cabinet is full of my cow collection....

My cabinet is so fulled with cow items...who wants to volunteer to help me rearrange my cabinet...ha..ha..

MERRY XMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Wishing all of you a MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
LETS WELCOME 2009....YEAR OF THE OX...
MORE HAPPINESS, MORE MONEY AND MORE LUCKY STAR SURROUNDING US....

KUCHING, SARAWAK

We bought air asia tickets to Kuching during air asia 0 fares. Took 3 days 2 nites, stay at Hilton Hotel. The hotel is quite run down even though is 5 star hotel. We were dissapointed. Even the breakfast that they serve was cold. How can a five star hotel serve cold dish, where is their quality control? Cold porridge, cold noodles and etc. We could not eat and therefore we told our tour guide Felicia to bring us for local noodle e.g. kon loh mee.

We were so happy that our guide cum driver is as crazy as us...so all of us get along very well. She took us to Semelok to see Orang Hutan and Sarawak Cultural Village. We spent one day at Sarawak Cultural Village and we really took alot of pictures. Bunch of crazy people just came out from the jungle...ha!ha!

We had seafood dinner at CAR PARK, the hawker stores is located at the car park area. The food is ok and quite pricey. We did not order any crabs....ha!ha!

We shop at the street opposite the esplanade where you can get souvenirs.
Felicia took us to a place where you can buy BIRD NEST....only one of my friend bought....cos others scared of bird flu...hee..hee....

We also stop by at a bakery shop which is recommended by Felicia. We bought alot of moon cakes and biscuits home. Their mooncake is different from KL.

Since is our birthday therefore we requested FELICIA to bring us to a chinese restaurant where they serve good food and we also invited her to join us. The food was great, we really order alot. Even thou we did not drink any wines or beer but everyone was so high....and starting to talk nonsense. Luckily the captain of the restaurant gave us a room cos we were so noisy. Guess everyone was so stress at work. I must said everyone enjoy this trip. Sorry I can't remember the restaurant name.

Well, if you want to go to Kuching, let me know and i will give you Felicia contact. She is the best tour guide we ever had.

BEIJING

We joined 8 days tour to Beijing via Apple Vacation Tour, 2006. I must said I'm really dissapointed with this tour. The food and places that they took us was horrible. Not worth the money. To tell you the truth I would never visit Beijing again unless I got a local friend who can take me around.

Visited Great Wall of China located at Ba Da Ling. My friends did not want to walk all the way up to the Great Wall therefore i ended up walking alone. At the end, join the tourmates for group pictures and slowly get to know the tour mates. It was fun afterall eventhou i'm exhausted and damn thirsty. At least i walk on the Great Wall.ha!ha!

Summer Palace was ok but when we went that time alot of renovation going on to rush for the Beijing Olympics. The place is so huge and you will be wondering why the Empress Dowager want a huge summer palace for herself. You will be wondering how those worker transport the teak wood and furniture up to this hill. I salute and respect the worker.

Forbidden City is another place that you MUST GO. Imagine we spent few hours just visiting a small portion of the imperial palace. The work crafting is so fine and beautiful. The largest ancient palatial structure in the world. No words can describe it. You must see with your own eyes.

As for food, it was sucks...the food was so oily. The fish got too many bones that you would not want to eat. The beef or pork is either fried with onion and you can see the entire beef/pork is soak in the oil. The vegetable is even good, fried corn with cucumber. Fried cucumber with tomatoes. What kind of dish is this? Gosh!! Wait till they serve us soup. Or so called the soup is so clear that you may think is for you to wash your hand...ha!ha! Inside the soup you can see few peices of seaweeds and two slices of tomatoe. Oh another so called famous dish is deep fried egg with flour top with icing sugar. So oily...gosh!!! Well, the only best thing is that they serve you few bottles of coke in every meal. Guess after this trip we either get high cholesterol or diabetis.
The only food that we enjoy is Peking Duck.

We visited Tian Jin and they brought us to eat the so called famous Gou Bu Li steamed stuffed bun@pao which is a traditional and delicious Chinese food in Tian Jin. Gosh, I think a first timer making pao is alot better than this store. The pao is tough and is horrible, none of us able to finish the pao and the food at the stall. What an experience?

Well, everyone start buying the so called famous snacks - Guifaxiang fried dough top with sesame. We tried to eat but I don't really like it. The dough is so hard. Anyway me and my friends decided not to buy any food. One of the auntie bought 6 boxes of the guifaxiang and saw the cashier put all the 6 boxes in the bag before she leaves. When she went up to the bus, she only found 4 boxes. They actually swap your bags at the counter.

The guide took us to Wang Fu Jing, the famous food and shopping street in Beijing. We did not dare to try the local food as we scared we will be cheated therefore majority of us ended up in MCDONALD. This is the safest choice.

As for shopping, we visited the SILK STREET MALL. You need to learn the art of haggling when you shop. Well, we bought thumb drive 8 GB for only RM60 and we thot we are smart cos we ask the promoter to test every of the thumb drive by copying files from the notebook and also check the file size in the properties. Guess what, we are wrong. We are not as smart as the CHINA men. The thumb drives that we bought can only last for 1 week and after that the entire drive become 0KB file size. We bought 9 thumb drive and none can be use. I swear no more shopping in CHINA no matter how cheap is it.

Oh, the toilet experience. Either the toilet got door or no water and damn smelly. We are talking in the mall toilet and outskirt. Even in Tianamen Square, when you queuing up, is your turn to enter to the cubicle, guess what happen, an old lady barge in and u just stunned. What a culture? Even there is door, ladies don't even bother closing their door. Can you imagine it. Gosh!!! One of our tourmate rather don't drink water and she will only use the washroom at the hotel. I respect her for that....how could she stand 8 hours without going to washroom.....We were joking with other tourmates that we need to wear pampers when we come to CHINA...ha!ha!

Well, this is my worst experience in Beijing and I don't think I will want to join tour to visit China unless someone brings you to local places.

My friend said maybe is the tour agency problem. Well whatever is it, I dont plan to go to Beijing anymore.

JAPAN

Went to Japan for 8 days and follow Apple Vacation Tour. I must said Apple Vacation tour to JAPAN is the best. Food and accomodation was great. But do not join their tour to Beijing.

Took a night flight and arrived Japan in the morning and straightaway we went to Tokyo Disneyland. We spend whole day and we only able to visit It's a SMALL WORLD and Sleeping Beauty attraction. Other times we spent chasing cartoon characters e.g. mickey mouse, minnie, chip and dale and etc. Of cos we shop for disney souvenirs.

Stay over nite at one of the hotel at Mt Fuji , so sad we did not able to see Mt Fuji due to the weather. Our guide is so funny and he show us the Mt Fuji picture and ask us to stand at the peak there and see the picture, this is how Mt Fuji looks like....aiyoh....so pathetic. We enjoy shopping at the shops located at the peak. We bought grill squid to eat...it was delicious.

Visited Ginza, Shinjoku and we even try the best Ramen shop in town. Every thing in Japan is about Vending Machine. Even to order a bowl of ramen, you got to order via the vending machine. So prepare for small notes. Ginza sells all the high-street brand.

Went to Universal Studio and we able to went for all the rides. E.g Spiderman, Back to Future, Jurassic Park and etc. You must try their turkey drumstick. Bought a dinossour and ET tumbler, so cute. Even thou is expensive but worth it. You can also collect those popcorn case....different stores sell different character. Yeap we also shop till we drop at the souvenir shop. Remind us when we are kids.

Took a bullet train to one station to have the feel of sitting in the bullet train. One station cost us RM50.

We visited few temples and outside of temples definitely got stores for you to shop. As usual we shop alot until our tourmates ask us to recommend what to buy.

Even they drop us at one of the shopping centre and we bought quite a number of BANDAI toys, Thomase the train....it was so cheap.

The best thing is that we got to get empty boxes and put our stuff in cos our luggage is fulled. People said JAPAN things are so expensive and you would not buy. I think they are wrong....Even i bought Hisamitsu Salopas and the quality is really different from KL. Now whenever my friend goes TOKYO, i will always ask them to buy Hisamitsu for me. Ha!Ha!

Food was great and even i took rice for breakfast. I really miss it. I did not have any stomach problem when i was in JAPAN. Guess JAPAN really suits me and i don't mind going again.

KOREA

Follow tour to Korea for 8 days. Friends always recommend to go to Che Ju Island, so called Asian Hawaii. Therefore the tour that i joined must go Che Ju Island.

When we arrive to SEOUL, we went to Che Ju Island. I was really dissapointed, where is the place that everyone said must go, ASIAN Hawaii, all koreans will go to Che Ju Island for their honeymood....this place must be paradise. Unfortunately not....the place is quite dirty and you see rocks most of the time. They took us to a park which you see mostly rocks and trees....well for while you will like it but 2 hours there is really waste of time. There is a road which known as ghost road. We did a test and the bus driver off the engine and eventually the bus will go up the hill. Basically is about gravity.

We left Che Ju and went to SEOUL. Places visit are Lotte World and we able to watch the in door parade. The costume, the floral float was amazing. No way we can do this in KL. The next destination was Everland Theme Park. We did not have sufficient time to finish all the rides and attraction even thou we spend one day in the park.

As for shopping sites are Dongtaemon and Itaewon. None of us able to buy anything at the area. They took us to one of the shop where they sell imitation bags e.g. prada , LV and etc. Once you enter to the shop you are not allow to exit until everyone finished. Is a hidden shop that you need to enter via few hidden doors.

As for breakfast, every day we had abalone and anchovies porridge. Lunch and dinner, most of the time we had bbq pork, lamb or ginseng chicken and of cos kim chi.

Overall Korea is ok.

MACAU

I been to MACAU twice and most of the time i go there for day tour.
Last 2 years, I join the day tour from Kowloon Hotel, Tsim Tsa Tsui. I paid RM300 which includes :-
a. transportation to the pier
b. ferry ride
c. one lunch
d. tickets to MACAU TOWER
e. city tour
f. shopping for biscuits
g. AH MA Temple
h. half an hour in SANDS casino, maybe now they will bring you to Venetian
i. TAI SA PA

We love to shop for food in MACAU. We bought alot of almond biscuits, peanuts biscuits and etc.

You can buy the almond biscuits, there is a type of biscuits which wrap with chicken floss, that is nice. One box is RM25. You should try. You can get all this at Choi Heong Yuen Shop opposite TAI SA PA. You would not miss it.

As for Peanuts biscuits, you can get it at this shop near the AH MA Temple. At the side road of the temple you able to find the shop. Other shop such as Koi Kee is located at the town area.

My friend recommend us to stay at Casa Real and Casa Rio.

I want to try their Portugese food the next round.

New Zealand

Went to New Zealand, Oct 2003. The flight was horrible, 11 hours journey and we took the worst airline which is Air New Zealand. The service was horrible and the seats was our nightmare. You can even adjust the seat, therefore towards 11 hours we got to seat straight.

We arrived NZ early in the morning and straightaway we went to collect our car - Toyota Estima that fits 6 of us. We head towards Auckland and first think is to look for our hotel - Copthorne. We went around the city for more than an hour looking for the hotel and everyone was so tired. The map doesnt work at all. We stopped to ask for direction and guess who we ask, the police. The police dont even know where is the hotel. Cos the hotel just change to this new name. Finally we found our hotel and quickly chuck our bag and went around the city. One of our family friend came and took us around. We visited Sky Tower and it was amazing. Then inside the sky tower there is a casino...so we hang around there and had our lunch.

We slept early cos next day we got to leave the city and got to drive ourself to Rotorua. We had the best dinner and dance performance by the Maoi. Visited the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves and it was amazing. It looks something like our fireflies. The worms glow in the dark.

We visited Agrodome where u can see different type of sheep's performance. The famous breed is known as MERINO...:)

Next stop is our Farm Stay, it was fantastic. The land was huge and the host was so nice. They prepared dinner for us. Only one thing is that the weather suddenly change and it was freezing. I could not sleep cos the electric blanket only works one side. Therefore I was freezing in the middle of the nite and I sneak to my sister room and sneak on her bed..ha!ha! The next morning my friend only realise that i was missing. She slept well, didnt she..ha!ha! The best thing is that we got to shower and it was freezing, you can see everyone spent less than 5 min in the washroom. You can see your legs and hands shaking. Damn cold and i told my friends that i want to go back to Malaysia...just second day of my trip and i miss home...terrible of me.

We happily feed the animals and there is one annoying and so called adorable parrot name BOW in the living room. This parrot will start to chase the cat in the living room and sometime even chase me. I hate pets. Time flies and we got to said goodbye to our host and head to Christchurch.

We flew from Auckland to Christchurch. Each time when we reach the city, we definitely get lost to look for our hotel. Took an hour just to look for our hotel. We went around the city and wanted to visit the casino unfortunately we are not dress properly...no jeans and shorts allowed.
We had a great dinner at one of the restaurant and the food portion was huge.
We left Christchurch and drive to Dunedin. We stop at cheese factory, the factory is so run down and only one man working. I able to buy my cow watch there...ha!ha! so happy...of cos we did eat the cheese samplings....and we also bought some cheese for souvenirs.
We visited the tourist information centre and they recommend us to see penguins and seals. So we drove along the coast and reach the light tower. We are freezing cos the wind is so strong. We took the Natural Wonders buggy and it was fun....we only manage to see 5 penguins and got to use a binoculars to see...so pathetic.
We woke up at 4am the next morning and i could hardly get any sleep due to my heartburn. We need to arrive to Doubtful Sound, Te Anau by 9am as the boat will leave by then. Everyone was so sleepy except the driver need to concentrate on the road. We saw a trailer and thought we could follow cos was total darkness, unfortunately the trailer speed so fast...unbelievable. Do you know there is no emergency lane in NZ.
We reach Doubtful Sound, took a boat and only 11 of us. The guide cum driver name George, he is one man show, he do everything. The lake was so calm that we stop our boat for coffee and biscuits. We saw dophins chasing behind our boat, seals and penguins. This is really paradise. Worth waking up early.
We finishes our tour at 5pm then we drove to Te Anau to check in to our hotel. We ate in one of the restaurant where the cast of Lord of the Rings was there before, the food was ok and pricey. The portion was small.
We went to Milford Sound the next day, we board on a Ferry and is two different experience for milford sound and doubtful lake. Milford sound u can see alot of waterfalls.

We left Te Anau and went to Queenstown. Visited Gold Field Mine and we try our luck to see whether we find any gold nuggets....nope...so sad...We went for 360 degrees Jet Shotover and it was fun....all of us nearly get wet and our guide is so cute, his name is DANIEL.....you must try JET SHOTOVER, is really an experience. We arrive to Queenstown, we visited Arrowtown and was really disappointed. Cos is just few shops only and nothing much to do. We went to Puzzle House which is nearly 2 hours drive from Queenstown. This is a like a mini science centre and all of us really have fun. We also try to complete the gigantic MAZE.

We visited the casino and never try our luck on anything...ha!ha! We bought chocolates, face cream, black mud spa product and etc. Our next destination is Mount Cook. Unfortunately it was raining and we got to rush to Christchurch before its too late. Therefore we skip Mount Cook and on our way we stop at Salmon Farm and we never ate any salmon so fresh before. We bought one salmon and will eat it at our hotel at Christchurch....so we stop at the mini market to get lemons...ha!ha!

We got to fly from Christchurch to Auckland. It was raining and the airport shuttle is every 20 mins. We need to catch our flight back to KL. At the end every body try to squeeze in to the shuttle bus and ran into the international airport to check in and pay for airport tax. We are the last group to go on board. The Air NZ staff is so rude and we swear we never want to follow this airlines anymore. Each time we request for hot chocolate or biscuits they never come, at the end we got to go to the pantry to request. What kind of services is this?

That's the end of our trip and all of us really enjoy ourself despite of me having heartburn for the few days. I only start to enjoy at the end of the trip...so sad!! NZ is really a nice place to visit.

Tanjung Sepat

Tanjung Sepat located in Selangor. Now this place is famous for red dragon fruit, oyster mushroom farm and bun @ pao. Is only one hour plus to go Tanjung Sepat from Petaling Jaya. The easiest way to Tanjung Sepat is to take the KLIA way. Head towards Sepang, follow the sign to Sepang F1 Circuit.

Direction :-
a. head to sepang via KLIA road
b. then go towards Sepang F1 Circuit
c. u will see the F1 circuit on your right hand side, at traffic light, turn right
d. then follow all the way straight
e. u will pass by Sepang Goldcoast
f. after that u will see a traffic light, turn right. Cos turn left will lead u to Port Dickson
g. then go straight, less than 5 mins, you will see a dragon fruit farm on your right hand side. U should visit this dragon fruit farm. The place is known as Multi Rich Pitaya. Per kg is RM8 to RM10 depends on the size of the fruit.

After visiting the dragon fruit farm, you can head to the mushroom farm known as Vita Agrotech. Follow the signboard to Tanjung Sepat, once you reach the town centre, you can see a temple on your right hand side, turn in and go all the way straight to go to Vita Agrotech Mushroom Farm. Follow the sign to Baywatch or lover's bridge, the mushroom farm is just next to it.

You can buy oyster mushroom for 3 packets @ 500gm at RM10. Really cheap. You can also try their white fungus drink and per bottle is RM2. You can walk around the farm and at the end there is a bridge....this is not lover's bridge. Lover's bridge is just opposite. You can take very nice picture from here.

After mushroom farm, you can go for coffee at the famous PAO coffee shop in Tanjung Sepat known as Hai Zew Hin. Is really unbeliavable those people queuing up to buy the pao. Their famous pao is mui choy pao @ dried vegetable, peanut bun, bun with meat and egg, red bean paste bun. We love the peanut bun. Those people comes in bus load and their orders per person is like 20-80 pao to take away. Even the Hong Kong Food Connoisseur- TOH TOH also goes there twice.

How to find the Pao place?
You just need to look for Lorong 4, turn in when you see an electrical shop at the corner or Kian Heng Restaurant (refer to the picture). The coffee shop is a corner shop name as Hai Zew Hin.

You can also buy the local coffee at Joo Fa Trading, No.356 Lorong 5, Jalan Besar. Which is one row behind the pao store. If you get lost, you can contact the shop at 03-19974862.

You can also stay for dinner if you want at Tanjung Sepat for seafood. We did not take our dinner at Tanjung Sepat and instead we drove all the way to Seremban and ate at Seremban Empayar which sells the famous siu pao@ chicken or pork bun. This place is located at Seremban 2. You should try their steam prawns and is only RM15. The food there is quite reasonable.

Siam Reap, Cambodia

Visited Siam Reap on March 2008. I booked my air tickets via Air Asia and then book my ground tour via Sunway Travel. This is the best tour i ever join with no complaints from anyone in the group. We had 10 of us and I requested a 25 seater bus. The food that the travel agent provided was great. We able to try all the local food, chinese food, fine indo-china cuisine and international buffet at Angkor Mondial. Angkor Mondial serves international buffet and you able to watch their cultural dance performance.

My friend recommend me to try Herbs Pizza near Pumpkin street. So while having our lunch next door, i ordered Herbs Pizza, the pizza was ok and we wonder why this pizza is so special. Well, I would not tell you why until you experience yourself. ha!ha!

We visitied Angkor Wat and others temples within the city, the architecture was so amazing. Certain area is like a war zone where pieces of rocks is on the floor and the architect is trying to built it back to its original. Is a huge puzzle to play around with and furthermore the rocks is so heavy. The architect got to make sure every pieces of the rock matches otherwise it will fall. I must said I must salute this people and their job is really not easy.

Royal Bath

Angkor Wat

We stay at Casa Angkor Hotel, 3 star hotel at the town area. Prince hotel is just behind and there is a casino inside the hotel. You can eat and drink beer or coke for FREE as long you gamble. We only play the slot machines but only won USD2..ha!ha!

 Casa Angkor Hotel

 Town

Market

Massage is totally different from Thai Massage. Continuously two days we went for massage, we were tired walking to all the temples. Trust me, first day you will enjoy seeing angkor wat and other temples. Later you will said ...urrrrr seeing ROCK again......aiyoh......

We visited Kbal Splean which is quite far from angkor wat. The road was dusty and the guide told us that we going to have our lunch at the hut. All of us said the road is so dusty and muddy, you sure we going to eat there. Especially me i'm very particular on the cleanliness. I told my friends is ok, you guys can have lunch there, cos i got my TUNA SPREAD...ha!ha! To our surprise the hut was very clean and in fact this is the best place for local food. We able to try Amok which is some sort of fish with santan. Of cos i did not able to eat my Tuna Spread. So don't judge a book by its cover.

Back to Kbal Splean, we need to walk at least 45 minutes up hill to see the thousand lingas. Linga means male pennis. Those lingas are crafted on the stone at the river. Unfortunately is a dry season so we can't see the water flowing on the river but we able to see the crafted lingas and statues very clear. Cos most of the tour will visit Tonle Sap Lake but according to friends nothing to see there beside a huge lake and a seafood restaurant.

 Thousan Linga's at Kbal Splean. Linga's mean penis. Look at the picture clearly

Kbal Splean

As for souvenirs, we did not buy anything cos everything mostly are from Thailand. Everything is in USD. If you wish to buy anything always remember to negotiate more than 30-50%.

Bali

I got my free tickets from Air Asia to Bali and eventhou is free still need to pay RM175 for surcharge. Anyway is really cheap. Therefore i can afford to stay at 5 star resort. We stay at Bali Mandara Spa and Resort which is located at Legian. Is not really far from Kuta. The room is big and overall is very clean. I'm very particular on cleanliness.

This is my second time to Bali. If you really want to shop for handicrafts, pantings, clothes and etc, you should visit Sukawati. This place is the cheapest and if you are joining tour, i dont think is included in your itinery.

For food, you can try to eat at Ibu Okra where they serve babi guling @ roast pork. The cost for one person is RM8 excluding drink. They serves the roast pork with rice and vegetables. Another place is bebek benggil @ roast duck near ubud. I saw this place in the magazine but did not get a chance to try it. If you want to have nice seafood and great environment meaning facing the sea, you can go to Jimbaran. We had our dinner at Bumbu Bali Restaurant. At the sea front, there is a store selling corn, you should give it a try.

For water sports, we visited Tanjung Benua and we only pay RM40 per person to visit the turtle santuary and to view corals on the boat fibre glass. My sisters went for para-sailing and is so cheap, only RM20 per person. I'm too scared to try.

It is best that you hired a driver and van to move around.

I definitely will visit Bali again.

Hong Kong- Best place to eat and shop

I have been to Hong Kong 4 times since 1999. It looks like every two years once. My friend always said that is my second home or time to balik kampung. Ha!Ha! Hong Kong is a very nice place to visit especially when comes to food and shopping. Each time we will explore new places and new warehouse outlet.

Places to shop
a. fa yuen kai @ flower street at Mongkok, this place is the cheapest and you can find anything there. Even the coffee shop here the prices is cheaper. You can try also Sai Yeong Choi Street, Sei Yee Kee Street which is just nearby.

b. take the MRT to Tung Chung, the stop where you go to Ngong Ping 360 degree ride. Once you come out from the MRT you can see the shopping centre. Inside the mall, you able to find warehouse outlet for Nike, Levis, Addidas, Esprit, Puma and etc.

c. if you would like to shop for cartoon characters figurines and all those Japan stuff, you can go to Mongkok. You can find it in those buildings, i can't remember the name but most of the shops are in Mongkok. Bought Final Fantasy figurine there and is only RM75. Quite cheap compare to KL is around RM150.

d. People said Shum Shui Po is very cheap. You can find clothes, handphones, crystal very cheap. Bear in mind those clothes you can't try. I went there once and i dont really like it. Always go there in the morning.

e. I always like to go to the City Super supermarket at Times Square, Causeway Bay to shop for kitchen accessories and food. I can spend 2 hours there and some of the kitchen utensils and accessories hardly can find in KL. You can also shop at Sogo.

f. stanley market - you can get good quality, value for price for children clothes and winter clothing. You can also find variety of souvenirs here.

g. Esprit Outlet located behind Kowloon Hotel, Tsim Tsa Tsui. You can also visit Parklane.

Places to eat
a.you must try the steamboat at this place known as Tanyoto at Grand Tower, opposite Langham Place. Take Mongkok Exit C. For the soup, you can have a choice of ma lat @ shezhuan spicy soup and tomato soup. The tomato soup is fantastic. Dunno how to explain to you but definitely must try even if it is long queue.

b. stanley market - a chinese restaurant at the corner inside stanley market, some where near the alley. I always like to go there for lunch. The food is very good and the price is very reasonable. Also quite big portion. Their deep fried black pepper squid, sweet and sour pork, bitter gourd fried with eggs and etc was yummy.

c. Sai Kung - you must go Sai Kung for seafood. The way they cook is really different from Malaysia. I loves the steam prawns, fried yee mee with lobster and etc.

d. Honey moon dessert at Sai Kung. After you had your seafood dinner, do stop by their famouse dessert store known as honey moon if i'm not mistaken. Their dessert was great. You can try their durrian pancake and mango pudding. Got variety of dessert which you want to eat everything.

e. Wan Tan Mee. You must go to Wellington Street at Central. Look for Jin Jai Kee Restaurant or Mark Noodle House, 77 Wellington Street. Both shop is same row and is at Wellington street. Do ask around. They serve the best wan tan mee in town.

f. Roast Goose and chinese cuisine at Yung Kee Restaurant located at Wellington Street. Must try even though quite pricey. Do not miss it.

g. Dim Sum - people said you should try Maxim near the HK Courthouse. I never had a chance to try. But i did try the dim sum at one of the Chinese Restaurant at Diamond Hill Shopping Centre. After dim sum, you can do some shopping there or you can walk opposite to visit the Chi Lin Nunnery which they got fantastic landscape. You can take pictures there.

h. Breakfast set those well known A set, B set, C set which are macoroni with soup, ham, egg and tea. We try different sets everyday since none of us know how to read chinese. Per meal is only RM9 per person and we ate Fa Yuen Kai near Royal Plaza Hotel, Grand Century Plaza. You can find alot of coffee shop there. You can also do some shopping at Grand Century Plaza for Esprit, G2000 and etc.

Places to visit
a. Ngong Ping 360 degree cable car ride to see the Giant Buddha at Lantau Island.

b. Tai O - even thou ngong ping and Tai O is very near each other but you can't save money and try to cover both places in one day. Therefore is better to arrange one day tour for each place.

c. Cheong Chau - is just a sea side, nothing much to see and you need to take a ferry to go there

d. Lam Tsuen Wishing Tree - to go to this place is very far, you need to go to Tai Po. The journey almost 2 hours to go there by taking bus.

e. Disney Land - is quite small but should go and watch all the shows e.g. lion king and mickey mouse. We were dissapointed at the parade as it was drizzling and all the mascot could not walk. Therefore all of them are place in the mini train and entire parade lasted only 5 minutes.

f. Aberdeen - this is the place where the well known seafood restaurant JUMBO is located. You can take the boat to see how people live in the fishing boat. Per person is RM25 for boat ride.

g. Victoria Peak - to see entire HK view. Try to go there in the morning and another round in the night. You experience different view. Especially if you go during end of the year where all the buildings are all light up, it is so beautiful. You can also visit Madamme Tussaud at The Peak.

h. Areana of Stars, Tsim Tsa Tsui, if you are going end of the year do check out their schedule for symphony of lights which starts at 8pm. Is a laser show from all the buildings. Do not miss this show.

i. Santa Town at Central - you only able to see this end Nov till Dec for christmas deco. Must see.

I stay at Royal Plaza hotel at Mongkok, this is a 5 star hotel and the room is very big. Next to the hotel is Grand Century Plaza Shopping Centre and MRT and KCR station is just beside it. Very convienient place to stay and just take the elevator down is the fa yuen kai where you could eat and shop.

Eaton Hotel at Nathan Road is also quite convenient but the room is very small. MRT station is just 5-10mins walk.

If you wish to visit MACAU, you can also join a day tour from Kowloon Hotel, Tsim Tsa Tsui. Their service desk will help you to arrange and I only pay RM300 which includes transportation to the pier , tickets to Macau, one lunch, tickets to MACAU TOWER , city tour and half and hour stop by at SANDS Casino.

NEVER NEVER buy chinese herbs, abalone, scallops or anything from NATHAN ROAD. I had a bad experience where one of the shop i went, they recommend us to buy some sort of abalone to boil soup. 4 of my friends heard that it only cost us RM208 and we agreed to purchase. I gave them my credit card to swipe and this guy just pass me the transaction slip and use his thumb to cover the amount. Is my habbit to check how much I sign. Therefore I asked him to remove his thumb so that I can see the amount. The amount came up to HKD4,000 which is RM2,000. I argued with him and he said is RM208 for 100gm. I said you never tell us it was based on gm. I told him i'm not buying and request for him to cancel the transaction. Guess what happen, he said let's make a deal, you pay me HKD2,000 and let's settle it. I'm not going to pay for this and I insist he cancel my transaction. After half an hour of arguement and they got customer coming in to the stall, he finally cancel my transaction. Straight away I called my bank to cancel my credit card. I lodge my report to HK Consumer Tribunal when I'm back home. This is my worst experience. If you need to buy any scallops, ask your HK friend to bring you. And also when they ask you when are you leaving, never tell them the truth.

The Shop name is Chung Kiu(Group) Pharmarcy Co G/F 336, Nathan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

I always love to visit HK and this bad experience does not deter me from visiting. When will be my next trip? I love to visit during year end where you could see all the christmas deco and the weather is great.

Places to visit - Chiang Mai, Thailand

chianChiang Mai situated in Thailand is a very nice and cool place to visit. If you are looking for household decorated items, this is the place that you should come to shop. Make sure you bring a huge bag with you.

Stay at Central Duangtawan Hotel, 4 stars hotel and is very convenient. Just less than 5 mins walk from the hotel is the night market where you can find clothes, food, art pieces, jewellery, handicraft and etc. Mcdonald and Starbuck is also around the corner.

Places we visited are Doi Suthep, 45 mins from the city. We took tut-tut and is so dusty all the way. Doi Suthep is a beautiful temple. Once you reach there you got to walk up the staircase, is really a lot of steps, more than Batu Caves.

We had our dinner at Riverside, mostly serve thai and western food. The environment was ok.
The next day we booked our van cum driver to take us around. We went to see the long neck tribe and is really far from the city. Entrance fees is RM35 per person and you able to see few of the ladies with long neck and they sell scarfs and handicrafts. The hand made scarfs are quite cheap range from RM10 till RM35 depends on the quality. This time our tour guide took us for an authentic thai cuisine and their furniture settings uses teak wood. The place is known as Tham Nam Restaurant and is also next to the river. The food was great and the price was really cheap. Highly recommended place.

Restaurant :-
Aunthentic Thai food
Tha nam restaurant
THANAM (THE RIVERFRONT) GUESTHOUSE & RESTAURANT
ADDRESS: 4313 MO0.2, CHANGKLAN RD., T.PADAD, A.MUANG,CHIANGMAI
50100 THAILAND
TELEPHONE: (66 53) 282 988, 275 125. 276 179,FAX: (66 53) 275 125

Palaad Tawanrom Restaurant - Must book in advanced, for great night view.
Palaad Tawanron" offers a waterfall, a lake plus incredible views so special from every angle.
http://www.palaadtawanron.com/
http://www.chiangmai-chiangrai.com/palaad-tawanron-restaurant.html

Enough of sight seeing, we want shopping. We went to Bandawai which is 45mins from the city near the airport road. Do not go this place on a sunday cos most of the shop closed. You can get really good quality of handicraft and art pieces. I bought a wooden horse and only RM15 where you can't find it in Malaysia. We also bought a wooden horse crafting and is only RM100. We bought this at the factories towards bandawai market. The market is huge. Therefore prepare to walk and if you are thirsty you can drink coconut water. We spent whole day in Bandawai.

Our tour guide took us to few factories and guess what i bought home. Wooden salad bowl which is so big and heavy. It only cost me RM25. I just bought it first and don't bother about how to carry it home. When we reach hotel, we need to start packing our stuff and too many things that we bought and lucky we got boxes from the factory and also bubbles wrap that we brought along. So remember to bring bubbles wrap, musking tape and scissors if you are planning to buy handicrafts.

We got to said goodbye to Chiang Mai and definitely we will come again. Maybe next round we should go Chiang Rai or Mae Hong Sun.

Places to visit - Krabi

Took airasia flight to Krabi, Thailand and is only 2 hours flight. Very short trip it was only 3 days 2 nigths. I went in May 2008 and it was raining season, therefore dont go during this period cos cant go for any island hopping trip.

The hotel that we stay was great and very convenient. I highly recommend you to stay at Vogue Spa & Resort at Ao Nang Beach. Is a 4-star hotel. The room is quite big and clean. We even went for their spa. Unfortunately their jacuzzi is spoil, therefore please check before you book their spa. The staff are very friendly and helpful. Just accross the street you can find alot of food stores , massage outlet and etc. Mcdonald and Burger King opens 24 hours.

You can also try their foot reflexology or body massage and is really cheap. 1 hour only RM25 depends which outlet you go. Just opposite our hotel, there is this shop call Let's Relax, you can try their reflexology. Very nice environment and most important is clean.

You can shop around Ao Nang Beach and you can also able to find seafood restaurant at the end of the road. Can't remember the name but it sounds like Wang Chai Seafood Restaurant. You can ask around for the direction. The food is ok and the environment was great cause it faces the sea. So you can enjoy the sea breeze.

Since we can't go for island hopping, we join the local tour to Hot Springs, Crystal Clear Water, Temple and shopping at Tesco Lotus and Branded Outlets. Per person only RM90 for 1 day tour.
The hot springs quite dissapointing cos very small. As for crystal clear water, you need to walk up the hill before you reach the crystal clear water lake.

We had our lunch at Tesco Lotus foodstall. The price for a bowl of noodle is only RM2.50 but very small portion. Therefore you can try other varieties. The shopping at tesco was great as all of us shop for thai instant noodles. We kept buying and totally forgot whether our bag got enough space or not. Buy first and think later...this was our policy...ha!ha!

My friends enjoy the banana and mango pancake at Ao Nang, it is so cheap only RM2 per piece and is fill with mango.

Mango and Banana Pancake store at Ao Nang Beach.

This trip was really short and we wish to go back there again but this time I would like to visit Koh Lanta which is an island opposite Krabi.