Crazy Trip!

7th of June, 2014, a day to remember, never quite thought of me doing such thing in my life. Woke up 6.15am, hopped in my vehicle by 7am, went to KL Sentral, picked up Ms Tai Wai Yee, who woke up by 4am, took 5am train from Kampar to KL, met up with me, took the breakfast, then started our today's journey, Jayden Loh Meng Hao baby visiting day!

Wait, who's Jayden Loh Meng Hao? Answer, the first born of Tommy Loh Chee Han!

Well, it is not a big deal of visiting a friend of mine once in a while some might say. The reason why I called this a crazy trip, because it was a day trip! We went all the way to Kluang, Johor from KL, Kampar for WaiYee, to pay this little cute baby a short visit, about 3 hours, then we hopped back in my car, started driving back to KL, and Ms Tai required to take another 2 hours train home. Wait, how long was the journey from KL to Kluang? Well, we got stuck in the traffic, spent about 4 hours each way, so, do the math! So, Yes, it was crazy!

Anyway, it definitely worth the drive to meet up some old university friends, especially the baby Jayden Loh. I never quite see a baby with that much of facial expressions! And for the first time of my life, I got despised by a baby!!! 

He was smiling to WaiYee, but cried on me! Duh! What a bummer! Which lead me to believe, that's the Tommy's boy, like father like son, always the pretty girls! Hahahaha...

that's his look with me!

he smiles!

Well, it is fun to meet some old friends, chit chat about our life after long part, going down the memory land, and nevertheless, this little cute baby Jayden, who refused to give me a smile after all, these made the trip count! 

This is my first met with Waiyee since last year July, and Tommy since his wedding on Dec, 2011. So much had changed since then, Tommy is a father now, and yet I still looking for the path of my life. It is good to see friends go on with the next stage of life, and relieve to see some stick to me, stuck at the current stage of life, hahahaha.

We will come and knock the next person's door in real soon. Because it is just awesome to meet some old friends!

Second attempt

A lot of people asked the same question when they knew about my trip to KK mountain this year, May, 23rd. Why did you want to try again? 

Yupe, that's the question that i also had no much clue about why i wanted to go for second time. It's not like i never tried the hike before, but why spent all the money, time and energy to go for second time? It was so much expensive compared to the first time. Hmmm, well, i guess part of me wanted to go with my colleagues, then part of me, think of, why not second time? Hiking is fun, and might have different experience, fun with different group of people.

So, 23rd May 2013, i set my foot at Mesilau entrance again, began my second journey to Laban Rata, and submit peak! 

It had been three years, and this time, i didnt practice much like the first time. So i was a bit worry before i started. But guess what, it proved that i am still as strong as years ago, haha. As a matter of fact, this year, i achieved a better result. Reached Laban Rata by 3pm, well, could've been even earlier, but one of my friend, suffered from altitude sickness, especially when it came to the last 1 km to Laban Rata. 

However, unlike the first time, i wasnt able to sleep at night, kept my eyes opened until 1am, that's a great torture! 

Three years ago, i was a lone ranger, i walked by my own, and able to reach the peak just passed 5am, sat there, and witnessed the rose of the sun! And it was freaking cold up there, and i was waiting for the others too. 

This year, i dont have to be alone, because two friends able to catch up my steps, hahahaha. To be exact, there was one even fitter than me, and is a she!  However, we missed the chance to witness the sunrise at the peak, we were 30 minutes late, reached peak by 5.40am. 

Then me and my colleague, went crazy wild when we were on our way from Laban Rata to Timbohon. We practically run down! Took 2 hours and 30 minutes reached Timbohon gate! We stopped for like 10-15 minutes to grab a bite at the last 1 km. Then spent the rest of the time waiting for the others to reach, ate, and went back to hotel. Luckily we got 12 people, which separated into two vans, so we only needed to wait for another 3-4 people then we could just left to the hotel.

Just when i thought i was no longer as fit as three years ago, i managed to impress myself on this trip. My backpack, was 11 kg, while three years ago, it was only 9 kg. I put on weight not to mention, which increased the burden to my knees yet i was still manage to reach to Laban Rata almost 1 and half hour earlier than my first time, and not to mention the 2 hours and half crazy run to Timbohon.

I only knew 4 of them people before this

Ranking of stepping on Laban Rata, ya, the first one was a girl!

Mighty THREE

Do i want to give a third try? Hmmm, well, maybe, and actually, very likely i would give it a third try, if given chance. Haha

Sungai Lembing 林明, Pahang

Last weekends, my colleagues and i, total of 6 went to Sungai Lembing, Pahang. I dont know where is this place, what so special about the place when we first started discussing for the next trip after the Muar and Melacca trip. From what my colleagues discussion, i had a small idea of what to do in Sungai Lembing, it is about some outdoor activities like hiking, because it is famous with the sun rise side viewing, sea of clouds (云海）, and roasted pork! Haha, after all, it always some thing to do with food in our trips.

Sungai Lembing is actually a very small and quiet town to me. And we actually were having a small problem to settle our lunch as we could only see one hawker center, which didnt have much stalls kept open as it was after 2pm. At the end, we just ordered some noodles, and taufu for our lunch. Lembing noodle is one of the famous products from Lembing, we ordered 福建面，招牌面，茄汁面, steam taufu, and fried taufu. The fried taufu was the nicest among the other food! Besides, we bought some 包 from a shop near to the hawker center too, 鸳鸯包，花生包，鸡蛋叉烧包. 鸡蛋叉烧包 is definitely new to us, so it is a must try out in Lembing. It is special.

After having our lunch, we checked in to our resort, Pollockview Resort. We booked a room with 4 people, and a room with 2 people, total RM240. 

Room for two

Room for four

Most of the resorts in Lembing offer a place for BBQ. However some resorts are charging for using the equipment, but some are not, Pollockview resort allows us to use it without any extra charge! Of course, we brought our own food and charcoal. 

After checking in the resorts, we decided to pay this town a little visit, by bicycles. Yes, we rode bikes! It had been quite a while since i last biked! We rented the bikes, RM5/hour.

The town is real small, it did not take us much time to visit some of the places that we decided to go, such as the Hanging Bridge, and a biscuit factory (蛋散）. We passed by the Museum, haha, seems like we were not interested to know the town history, hahaha.

After the ride, we went to the famous roasted pork shop, well, it is not a shop exactly, it is a residential area, it is kind of hard to locate, need to pay attention to the signboards along the way. By the time we got there, they just started the roasting process, and we were just planning to know where is the place so that we wont get lost later, haha. Then, we were taking pictures at a small wooden bridge on our way back to our resort.

We took a rest before we starting our BBQ! As usual, we always have some leftover during every BBQ!!

Got to say, the chicken wings were so well BBQ-ed! haha. 

Another thing to add on to the resorts, most of the resorts provide a karaoke room! No kidding, and if you thought it must be so outdated, then you are so so so wrong, as that was what we thought when i first told my colleagues that there is a karaoke set. Guess what, my colleagues even able to sing Katy Perry - Wide Awake up high that night!! 

We went to bed around 1am, and we needed to wake up by 4.30am to get ready so that we could depart to the Panorama Hill for hiking. But guess what, it was heavy rain after 3am!! I knew because i was awake by the noises of the rain!! And it was still raining when i got up by 4.30am. Initially i thought of giving up, and just got back to bed as i thought even the rain stops now, we could never see the sunrise because of the midst. But that was my thought, we ended still go for the hiking by 5.30am, since already here, why dont just give it a try. It was still dark, and we only had one torchlight, a big one though. And we were not the only people, there were a lot of people also on their way up to the hill to witness the sunrise.

Panorama Hill is not a tough one, it is only 45 min walks, and maybe only 30 min if you move fast. So dont be afraid of trying it out, haha. Because it was so worthy!!! And remember to be patient up there, haha, because when we reached the hill, there was only clouds, nothing more. But we stayed there taking pictures, and all the sudden, a golden yolk slowly rising from the clouds!

After getting down from the hill, we went for breakfast, we tried out the 山水豆腐, it is quite nice!

Then we headed back to our resorts, showered, and checked out from the resorts. We headed to the Crystal House, which very fortunate to us as we drove there not rode the bikes there. It was a bit away from the town, and at the up hill. We didnt know we have to pay RM2 per head if we wanted to visit the Crystal House. For me, it was quite ordinary, nothing too special to me, but there are two caves which dig by the uncle himself just to show the visitors how the crystal mines looked like back in the days. 

Seriously? Hands dug? 

Then we headed to Kuantan to Teluk Cempetak, and for lunch, and our trip to Pahang was finally came to the end.

Well, there are still several places that we didnt visit to yet, such as the Rainbow Waterfall, the Museum, and most importantly, since we had witness the sunrise, then we should give the sunset a try! So next time, it would be an evening hike instead of morning hike!! Haha. See you again, Lembing!

Satay Celup

炎热的夜晚，在古城的某条街道旁，有着成群结队的年轻人，一家大小的家庭，按着街道，排着队，等待着，盼望着前面长长的队伍可以以快一些的速度缩短。

这里，有着非常出名的satay celup，那一条长达几间店面的队伍似乎也响应着它的知名度。当我们开始我们的漫长的等待时，已是夜晚9点30分了。

夜晚并没有给古城带来一丝清凉，也许路上不断经过的车辆让空气干燥不已，灰尘漫天飞。温室效应，夜晚，失去了清凉的本质了。

随着时间的流逝，我们的队伍也慢慢的往前移，也看见不少的人因为受不了长时间的等待，决定让他们其中一员留守位子，其他人就自行找自己的消遣。也有人选择坐在一旁店面的走廊上，干净与否，不再是考量。电子科技的发达也帮上不少人打发时间，看戏的，玩游戏的，八仙过海，各显神通，大家都有自己的消遣时间的办法。

漫长的等待，炎热的天气，不止消磨了人的体力，也消磨了人的耐心。人，就可能变得比较暴躁，有时候，冲突就发生了。

当我们踏进那家店时，已是夜晚11点了，漫长的等待，也消磨了大家的食欲，大家都有种赶快吃完，赶快离开的感觉。

将近两个小时的等待，值得吗？这satay celup最著名的我想就是他们把沙爹的酱汁稍微改良了，浓浓的酱配搭些许的辣味，而且，他们把酱当成汤料，其实就是类似刷刷锅的吃法，只是汤料改成了沙爹酱。一串串的食料，以沙爹的形态，任君选择，一串九十仙，其实也不便宜。

我们8个人，也只吃了百多串，大家都没有太好的胃口了，其中一个朋友，已经昏昏欲睡了。不知觉的，我们其实也吃了一个小时左右，也不怪外面的队伍如此的长。

当我们出来是，看见队伍依然和我们刚排队时一样的长，不禁感叹，人，真的是疯狂的动物啊。

是否值得？如果不需要等太长的时间，试试无妨，但是，如果需要排上个一个小时左右，免了吧，没有什么太特别，非试不可的道理。

巴厘岛之旅

上个星期日，收拾了简单的行囊，然后在地铁站和慧婷碰面。我和慧婷是中二中三同班同学，但是之后，我们就没有真正的聊过天，一直到这次的旅行，我们才再一次在事隔多年后真正的交谈。多年不见，虽然也是有些隔膜，但是一路从地铁站到机场，我们还是谈的很尽兴。

当我们到达机场时，佩诗和Marcus也同时间的一起到达了，对，这次就是我们巴厘岛四人行之旅。去年当佩诗询问我时，我其实有一刹那的犹豫，因为我觉得如果大家不太熟略，玩的就会不尽兴，但是，巴厘岛的确又是一个非常吸引人的旅游景点，所以牙一咬，就决定了这次的旅行了。

我其实不知道从KL到Bali需要三个小时的飞程，真的有点折磨啊。只是简单的从Kuching到KL，将近两个小时的飞程我都有点坐不住了，更何况三个小时呢？而且我们的飞机还延迟了一些，在机上，冷气停止了将近十分钟，郁闷啊。

因为展延哦关系，我们比预定的时间迟了。我们原是5.55pm的飞机，8.55pm到达，但是因为展延，又加上要填过境时的交的表格，再加上剩下的手续，当我们出机场的时候，还真的有点迟了。

出机场的那一瞬间，我即刻感觉的闷热！虽然都已经听说了巴厘岛的天气非常的炎热，但是我没有想到就连夜晚也是如此闷热，将近十点了，一点风的感觉的都没有，我的天啊。

当我们走向我们的德士时，我还真的有点吓到，不是Toyota,就是Chevrelot，天啊，我们国家的德士还真的，非常的廉价啊！就这样，我坐上了我人生第一次的Chevrelot，哈哈。

虽然时间是有点晚了，但是我们还是出门找吃！怎么可能错过吃得机会呢？一路上虽然很多餐馆，但是很多已经走向国际化，我们不想来到这里，结果吃个意大利餐什么的，我们要当地的一些食物。也许是夜了，我们决定的餐馆也就只有我们四个人而已，是生意不好？还是真的是夜了，还真的不知道呢。但是我们都觉得那里的食物很不错，尤其是炒饭，超有所谓的‘锅气’，很香，就连摆进嘴里还是能感受到那浓浓的锅气，赞！也因为这间店的炒饭，决定了我们接下来的每一餐都会叫一盘炒饭！

吃完晚餐，回到酒店，也差不多将近十二点了，但是我们隔天的第一站就是要去看海豚，因为距离遥远，所以我们得凌晨三点出发，也就是说两点多就得起身准备了，我看了看时间，觉得，还不如不睡呢，结果我就试着不睡！但是，我还是老了，一点半的时候，我感觉到我的世界在不停的旋转，转啊，转啊，我知道我不能了，我一定要让自己躺一躺，汗颜。

凌晨三点坐车时能做些什么呢？什么都不能做，也什么都没有的看，所以我们就决定大家自己睡自己的。我还真的不知道我是否真的有睡着没有，因为我不停的的换位置，因为我一个人坐最后一排，所以我可以躺下，也可坐着睡，但是就是找不到最舒服的位置，唉。

到达目的地时，其实那也不是我们要的目的地，只是那司机擅自停在一个他熟悉的地方。我们原本订了一位司机（朋友介绍），但是因为那司机可能太忙了，就拨了另一个司机给我们，而这位司机就有点不大诚实了。佩诗其实一早就订好了我们要出海看海豚的船，但是上船的地点和我们停下来的地点，其实还是有点距离，而且，那司机说他可以帮我们要一艘船，印尼币100k。拜托，佩诗说，她订的那一艘其实也只是60k，怎么可能差这么的多？后来不得已，那司机就以60k成交。但是我们的那艘船，慢，非常的慢，在马路上可能就只是时速10-20km/h而已，不禁的想，是不是因为我们只给60k，所以特地找艘超级可悲的船给我们呢？

不过我们见识了非常壮观的日出，之所以用壮观，是因为那太阳，真的超大颗，刺的我几乎睁不开眼！！但是真的是叹为观止啦。在海上漂荡了不知道多久，终于我们也看到了海豚，有几次我们真的是在近距离看到海豚，但是再近其实也是有个距离啦，哈哈。当我们要回岸边的时候，我们就真的感受到无尽的折磨了，因为那船实在是太太太慢了！明明我们先返航，但是我们确实最后上岸，天啊！！！

海豚后，我们就说要吃早餐，那司机就带我们到一间小餐馆，但是我的神啊，不好吃，真的是不好吃啊。我们就开始觉得，不行啊，这个司机带我们取得地方，都不行啊，分分钟被他砍了也不知道。我们其实也是明白他们司机也是有在商家那里获取一些盈利，只要他们带游客到他们的店，只是普通的一只水，他们都能有一些盈利。我们不是不赞同，但是起码也带我们去一些较好口碑的吧，那间餐馆，真的是，无言啊！

我们这次的旅行其实是较着重于景点观光，所以和我印象中的巴厘岛，其实有一些差距。景点观光，如果有兴趣的人，就真的很享受，但是我就还好而已，我也没有拍照的习惯，所以就只是走走看看。整个旅行，最最享受的时候，就是坐下来，吃东西的时候！哈哈。

我做了我人生第一次的脚底按摩，有痛，但是不是不可忍受的，只是因为我有脚毛，所以当他们在推我的小腿时，不免的，会不停的扯到我的脚毛，结果，脚板不痛，小腿碰到水的时候就有些刺痛！！

住宿都还不错，第一晚我们在Tune Hotel待了才不过四个小时，就check out了，哈哈。第二晚我们住的地方叫Nick's Homestay，就好象民宿，一个庭院，不同的房间，算是干净的，但是一个人的话，我觉得有点恐怖，哈哈。第三晚，我们找了一间5星级的酒店，BluePoint Hotel,期望太高了，结果就非常的失望！不值得，不值得，但是因为是promotion price，所以还好不会太贵！海景很不错，但是房间就不行了。因为酒店里的食物太贵了，酒店的地点又非常的偏僻，虽然隔壁是有其他酒店，但是还是隔了一段距离，所以我们就租了两辆摩托车，一路驾着出去，看看有什么餐馆可以试试。

结果，还真的找到了一件非常好的餐馆，食物好吃，价钱也便宜，格调也不错的餐馆，Yeye's Restaurant。非常明显那里是做西方游客的生意，就只有我们这一桌是亚洲人。但是那里食物真的很不错，尤其是鱼类，鱼肉非常的甜美，微醺的感觉在嘴里融化，天啊，真的很不错呢！结果，我们叫了8样食物！晕！但是价钱确实和我们前两晚吃的没有太大的差别，也许那里不是旅游胜地，所以就较便宜些。

最后一天的正午，我们就在市区走走，再去做做spa，就前往机场了。

飞回到来KL时，才知道原来我们登机的时候，印尼苏岛发生了8.6级的地震，就连马泰新印度都感觉微震，就是我们不知道。我妈说她担心的很，又打不通我的电话，关机了呗，而我们还懵懵懂懂的，哈哈。

四天三夜之旅就这样的结束了，期待着下一次的旅行吧！

Langkawi Trip

This was the third time i had planned to go to Langkawi, and finally made it!!! Seriously!!! 

The first plan was decided on 2008, with a bunch of secondary school classmates, but plan cancelled because "someone" flew all the way to Thailand with her bf at the very last minutes. Well, she finally told us this year that the Thailand trip was actually a must-go trip, things happened between her and bf and they needed the trip to smooth the tensions.

Then last year, us, the Uni friends, decided to go for a trip, because we never really have the opportunity to go on a trip together, everyone just couldnt wait to head home every holidays. So we decided to go to Langkawi as some of us never been to that island before, plus all the seductive duty free chocolates and liquors, tickets to Penang was cheap as well. That trip somehow blew away due to unforeseen circumstances, at the end, we spent a night a Penang, like we planned, then headed home separately the next day. Thanks to that trip, my laptop's adapter was broken, and i experienced the worst and scared to the hell flying experience when i was on the plane back to Kuching from Penang, with PeiFung. Man, that was scary, it was a super cloudy day, and it seems to rain heavily in any second, and the flight captain, he somehow made up his mind, instead of flying slow, he speed up the plane. Huh, imagine that the whole plane was colliding with the air, swaying non-stop ever since it took off. Luckily it only took not more than 10 minutes to get through the heavy cloud. Huh, seriously, i wasnt afraid that the plane would crush, touchwood, but it was like sitting in a roller coaster, you know that you wont be thrown out yet you would scream like no yesterday still, that was exactly how i felt right at that moment, but i hold the scream back inside my heart, i would probably kill myself if i allowed myself to scream!!!

Then at last, this year, by the end of 2011, the same bunch of classmates asked when were we going to have our next trip after the Medan trip. Then i suggested to go to Langkawi again, seriously, I wanted to go Langkawi so badly, i wasnt not going to lie, it was all about the chocolates and the liquors, haha. And this time, everything went smoothly, we departed from Sitiawan on last monday, 12th of Dec, spent two nights there.

Initially, we planned it was 4 person trip, me, Melisa, PuiSee and ZhiFang, the same geng went to Medan few months ago, but Melisa brought a friend who is from Taiwan, introduced herself to us as XiaoBa, we were fine with it. It is good to know a new friend, especially from Taiwan, haha. Got to mention, the boat that we were taking to the Langkawi from the dock, so damn cold!!! I tot i would freeze to death for a second!!! It was Langkawi that we headed to, so it never cross my mind that i would need a sweater!!!

When we reached Langkawi, having our lunch at Kenny's Rogers, then got the car, headed to the Zackry hotel, checked in, then started our journey in Langkawi. Our first stop was to the handicraft center of Langkawi, because there was an exhibition of handicrafts, and it was the last day of that exhibition. Well, initially we tot we would see something different, yet, those were ordinary pieces. Then we headed to the well-known Black Sand Beach. I tot we would see a beach with a wide cover of black sand, but disappointed. 

The underneath of the sand is black in color instead of the black sand on top of the beach. And the black sand, lack of attraction as well, i tot it would be glamorous, shining with the sunlight, perhaps too much pollution and some human selfish behaviors, businessmen altitudes, this place is dying.

It was getting late, and we needed to head to the dock again, because Melisa's family was coming as well. Her mom, and her three sisters. Our trip, started with 4 people, ended up with 9 people, and me, PuiSee and ZhiFang somehow, like the strangers, accidentally joined their family trip, sweat. After taking Melisa's family to their hotel, we went for a little walk around the area. There are so many shops selling the beach wears, restaurants, and hotels, We were all hungry, so decided to look for a place for dinner. When we passed a Zon Free emporium, Melisa's mom and sisters decided to go for shopping instead of dinner, woman nature, haha. So the five of us, went for dinner ourselves, we stopped at a thai seafood restaurant, but we ordered for ordinary Chinese style food because XiaoBa is from Taiwan, Chinese style food is actually a better option. The food, just ok, but not worth for the price, but we knew that Langkawi isnt a cheap place to visit to. 

After the dinner, we went for a little shopping, haha, PuiSee wasnt plan to buy much chocolates before we came to Langkawi, but when we started to shop, she was so tortured, buy, or not buying? She did shop a bit, ZhiFang, a teacher, buying for her students, how nice. And me, sure couldnt stop myself, how much i bought? Ha, that's a secret, haha.

When we got back to hotel, took the shower, then we started to play card game again, but without punishment this time, how come we didnt buy any beer like we did last time in Medan, and the beer is so cheap in Langkawi. I guess we just forget about it somehow. 

The next day was the island hopping, we went to three viewing points, stayed an hour each at the two islands we stopped, and few minutes at the points to see the real eagles. 

on our way to the first island

a few minutes walk to the lake we headed to

the lake!

We saw lot of monkeys on the first island, and those monkeys are fierce, PuiSee was holding a plastic bag with the snacks, one monkey jumped to her directly, and rubbed the bag, wah, u should see that scene, the monkey wasnt going to stop until it got what it wanted. PuiSee was scared, and screamed, and throw the plastic bag away, and the monkey went straight to the bag, and run once it got the bag. Gosh, never show your plastic bag in front of the monkeys!!!

the eagles

When we reached the viewpoint to see eagles, we saw some of the visitors were feeding the eagles, we dont know we were going to see eagles, so we didnt bring any food, so just pure taking photos.

last destination

last destination

This time, we applied lot lot lot of sunblock lotion, we were all scared with all the burnt we experienced in Medan, haha. Luckily we only stopped for an hour. We headed back to hotel after the island hopping because some of us were so wet, but the three of us took a short shower as well. Then we went for lunch, another Chinese food restaurant, the food was much nicer and price cheaper than the restaurant we went for dinner. 

After the lunch, our next destination was the cable car. God, so many people were in the line to get into the cable car!!! We waited for almost an hour for our turns.

             

Unlike the cable car to Genting, this cable car trip, it was scary!!! I think i has slightly phobia of the height, huh!!If you asked me if i wanna to experience it again, my answer is definitely, hell no! Even though the views up there are nice, and the weather is windy and slightly low temperature, but that's it, no second time. 

you can feel the bridge is swaying when the wind blow...

After we finally stepped on the land again, it's dinner time. We went to a japanese restaurant, Ukaizan Japanese Restaurant. At first i tot it would be only the five of us, so we suggested to go to that restaurant, but Melisa family came along, and the prices, expensive!!! But the sushi are nice, and sushimi are definitely fresh,  you can feel the sushimi melt right in your mouth. One minus point of that place is too much mosquito, you might want to do reservation, reserve a table indoor. 

Ok, night time again, it's card time, and this time, we bought some beers, 3 bottles of Hoegarrden, and 1 bottle of Vodka cocktail. ZhiFang was sick, Melisa was sick, XiaoBa needed to take care of Melisa, so only me and PuiSee were cool enough to drink the beers. We spent the night playing cards, drinking, chatting, and we were me, PuiSee and ZhiFang, Melisa and XiaoBa were both sleeping in their room. We had our moments though. 

It finally came to the end, the next morning, we spent our breakfast in a normal noddles stalls, then waited for Melisa family members to finish their breakfast and getting ready to go to the dock, and stopped for shopping. That was our last stop to continue our shopping, we learnt quite a bit in choosing wines, there are three types of wine, according to the salegirl. Merlot, tends to a bit sweetness. Carbernet Sauvignon, tends to a bit bitterness. I wasnt sure about the name of the last one that the girl showed us, it was a bit spicy, the reason of why i could still able to recall those two  types is because PuiSee bought Merlot and I bought Sauvignon, haha.

A small incident happened almost caused the three of us couldnt pass the boarding room. The guards asked for the prove that we had spent at least 2 nights in Langkawi as we bought liquors. Any receipts like the car rental, accommodation receipts that could prove we spent two nights in Langkawi will do. Come on, we didnt know that, plus all the receipts were with Melisa,and she wasnt with us, luckily i realized that we bought chocolates during the first night in Langkawi, and PuiSee used her credit card and therefore she kept her receipts, huh, that was a prove, luckily.

It might be a bit rush, and we didnt visit a lot of places there, but yet, we had our fun. Poor ZhiFang, this was the second time she went a trip with us, but both trips caused her fall sick, haha. Looking forward for the next trip!!! But before this, saving is important!!! Haiz...I wasnt even dare to make a list of how much i spent in Langkawi...speechless...    

   

Lake Toba, Medan, 30/5-2/6 2011

During the Chinese New Year break, I had a little gathering with some of my best friends during secondary school. We were classmates since Form 3, year 2001.Well, PuiSee and I were good friends back then, I barely talked to Melisa nor ZhiFang, not until Form 4. Funny thing was, we were classmates ever since, from Form 3 - 5, then another two years spent on Form 6.

And if u know math, this year is the our first 10 years anniversary. So we thought of planning and going some where, to have little trip, among ourselves. Sadly to tell, we never been to a single trip before, even we know each other for 10 years now. Initially, PuiSee suggested to go Beijing, China, she said we got to visit to the China Great Wall, one of the seven wonders in the world once in our lifetime. ZhiFang and I both are easy going people, as long as it is a school holidays, (ZhiFang is a primary teacher) and as for me, a bit shame to say that, I am still a student, so I have the time. That's made it down to Melisa, the busiest person among us. And she was fine with it, so we set our trip on June school break.

We made the decision instantly, and we decided to go by very coming June, so guess what, we couldnt get a cheap flight to Beijing. So the plan changed, from Beijing, to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, and u know what, we missed the promotion flight to Ho Chi Minh!!! Few days later, there was another promotion, and PuiSee and I decided to go to Medan, Indonesia. Seriously, I dont know there is a place called Medan until that day, haha. The other two were fine with the decision, as long as we able to get on the plane, and get ourselves out from Malaysia, haha.

I did some researches before going to Medan, well, I was forced to, because they let me in charge of the trip, planner! God I hate that so much. Need to come out with a budget control some more, that was a very hard time for me. And guess what was troubled me the most? I bought the wrong ticket from Kuching to KL, we were supposed to fly to Medan on morning of 30st May, but I bought the same day ticket, evening time, to fly from Kuching to KL. I am an idiot! That wasnt the worst, after knowing I purchased the wrong ticket, I checked with AirAsian again, luckily I was able to get RM25.00 ticket, excluded the taxes to KL on 25th of May, I thought I could go back home first then headed to KL later. And damn it, I forget I had a training to attend, from 22nd to 28th of May. Jezz, I felt like killing myself already, but what to do, I repurchased another ticket on 28th, night flight. Luckily I was still able to get a flight with RM 25.00, else...sigh

Medan isnt a very interesting location to me, but I found out there is one spot in Medan worth to travel to, the Lake Toba. I searched for the information, and Melisa also helped to send me some links. It isnt the place interested me, but the views, from the photos, wah, incredible nice!

I spent two nights at KL, then finally the four of us got on to the plane, started our first trip ever, woohoo....

Medan is actually only 1 hour distance from KL. Well, Medan airport, very much smaller compare to all the airports I had been to, but only restricted to local airport. haha. The first thing when we got out from the airport, wasnt taking pictures, but checking with the taxi service, we checked before, from Medan to Lake Toba, it takes 5 hours. So we dont want to waste the time, got ourselves a taxi, Toyota Avanza, costed us Rp 600k.

The traffic, a complete nightmare, trust me!

We stopped some where for our lunch. They served the lunch like a buffet style, but smaller and less variety. They served, and charged only those we ate. It was around Rp 50k. Well, if u like hot and spicy, then u gonna love the food in Medan.

We stopped and took few pictures before we reached the Parapat town to get a boat to the Samosir island which is surrounded by the Lake Toba. The weather was nice, bright sun but cold, because it is a highland i think. Once we approached the boat, always someone approached us to recommend himself as our tour guide, and we decided to go by our own, budget constraint. The boat fee is Rp 7k.

After around 1 hour spent on the boat, we finally reached the Samosir Island. There are a lot of cottages, and we booked a room with Samosir Cottage. We took the family room, 2 rooms, 2 king size begs, tv, fringe, bath room, no hot water because it was broken! Rp 350k per night. We chose Samosir Cottage because from the posts I read, people chose Samosir Island, but only for Malaysian. The rooms are big, but too bad the hot water supplier broken. It was so so so cold to take shower in cold water under such a weather.

After setting down all the luggage, we went for a walk, to see how's the people living there. But we were actually still in the tourist zone, so we saw lot of souvenir shops, restaurants, and cottages, but not many local people. By the way, the people living at Samosir Island is known as Batak, just like Iban and Bidayuh in Sarawak. So, the food in Lake Toba, non-halal. We were hungry, so we simply went into one small restaurant., Orari Restaurant. The food price around Rp 12k to Rp 20k per dish. 

Well, I forget what was the name of the food, but kind of obvious those were fried beehoon, fried noodles, then pork with homemade sauce, and the middle one, something like the pohpiah we used to eat in Malaysia.

Here stated the amount we spent for the first day, roughly, I lost the bill i kept, sweat

Taxi - 600k

Lunch - 52k

Boat - 28k (7k pp)

Cottage - 700k (2 nights)

Dinner - 70-80k

The next day, taking shower without hot water in the morning was miserable. We all knew that today we were going to ride on motor, and went around the island, so sun block was a must. I applied the sun block on my legs and arms, and thought applied on my face later after the breakfast. The cottage provided two set breakfast, either fried noodles or fried rice, but there were four of us, so we made extra order, egg waffle and bacon toast. I liked the egg waffle lots! haha.

We got real excited when we saw the motorbikes, couldnt wait to start the journey. Too excited, caused me left something I wished to do before, yupe, the sunblock!!!

On the very beginning of the journey, we were seriously excited, few minutes on the ride, then stopped for few minutes to take pictures, haha. 

When the sun was approaching the center of the sky, we started to worry, because, we even finished 1/3 of the journey!!! We stopped and asked the people around, when they showed us where we were on the map, seriously, we started to worry if we able to get back to the cottage before dark. Either turned back or went on. We decided to went on, and we started to speed! I doubted the motors were modified, because no matter how fast I went, it showed on 60km/h, which based on my experience, it should be 80km/h at least!

Even we wanna to speed up our journey, the road condition started to change, from a smooth blacktop to stone crushed road. God, we couldnt even speed to 40km/h. At that moment, I knew we were all not in a very good mood! And we actually passing by the villages on the island. I believe that is what we used to rural area. People here lives a simple life, though the kids kept saying "money, money, money", I believe they are all friendly and kind hearted.

After almost 2 hours speeding, we finally reached the town with the hot spring, which is located on the middle of the map. We were a bit relieved as we knew we might be able to get back to the cottage by time. Speaking of the hot spring, disappointed. The hot spring was created because of the volcano. And I rather call it a hot stream, but it is a stream. The people takes that as a business opportunity, they stored the hot spring in a little pool, and the visitors have to pay for the entry. There are three-five this kind of hot spring provided shops. We just rode through, and stopped to take the pictures, then be gone!

In the rest of the journey, we were still speeding up, because when we got into the town, it is blacktop road again, hoorey. We didnt stop for taking pictures anymore, but the one sitting behind, for instance, ZhiFang and PuiSee tried to capture the nice scene while we were speeding, haha. Stil lot of quality pictures taken.

It had been a long long day!!! We were so tired and body sore!! Too bad there was no massage service, haha. We went for dinner, and they said wanna tried the BBQ fish, so we ordered one. Honestly, it was just ok. The fish was however fresh, as we saw the owner caught one in front of us, haha. 

And yupe, we didnt take our lunch, I dont have the urge, because of the long riding, haha. We skipped our lunch, even though we could have our lunch when we were in the hot spring town. And of course, we didnt apply lot of sunblock, we were all burnt!!!

We had our own little activity during the nights. We watched the local drama, , got to say, not bad actually, but I found myself so hard to understand Bahasa Indonesia, and of course, no subtitle! And I brought manjong cards,  and we had small punishment for those who lost the game, beer!!! 2 nights, total, 3 bottle, and 4 cans. Crazy us.

Dinner - around 50-60k

Motor - unable to recall... But it was cheaper than the people offered me before I got on the boat. And we rented the motorbikes from the Samosir Cottage as well, they actually rented from the villagers, so the motorbike condition is quite not bad.

The third day, again started with the cold water, and we need to prepare ourselves to check out and got back to Medan town. While we were having our breakfast, another couple from Malaysia sat next to us, and seeing  4 of us seriously burnt asking if we were on ride yesterday, and the guy talked to us, he himself also burnt. We talked for awhile, then we got to say, the world is small, coz the guy also from Sitiawan, in fact, senior from our secondary school, the very senior of course, haha. He was on vocation with his couple, and they were the crazy one as they were going for another island riding, for proper visiting, salute! One thing he mentioned about us, he said when he saw the way we started the engine of the motor day before, then he knew this group of four surely anak kampung!!! Because we were very get used with the motor, haha. We almost missed the time of the boat, and when we were in hungry, we forgot to pay for the breakfast bill!!! I paid only when I returned the room key, the worker showed me the bill, that was embarrassing.  

We actually booked a van back to Medan through Samosir Cottage, and booked the hotel rooms at Medan as well. The hotel at Medan town is ok, but the driver, errmmm, no, unacceptable to me. He was splitting all way back from Parapat to Medan. And because he needed to split, so he let the windows open, and didnt turn on the air condition. At Parapat, it was ok because the weather was nice, and cold. But not all the way to Medan! Not to mention when the traffic got crowded, and lot of dust! However, one benefit of having the van service through Samosir Cottage is that the driver will bring you around to visit to another visiting venues. And of course, some of the venues required entrance fees, which they will charge us more because they need to pay the driver the fees of bringing people to visit these venues. And the driver we got, kind of asshole, he charged us quite a lot, but what to do? He told us if we wanna to go to visit the waterfall, which was supposed to be included in the service, according to the manager of the Samosir Cottage, we needs to pay another 100k\150k because it was a bit far from where we were at that moment. We managed to cut it to 80k, and just 1 or 2 minutes we made the deal, we were at the waterfall park. What the H***??!!

Backed to Medan town, we went to the shopping mall twice, the first night we stayed at Medan, and the second day, before we heading to the airport. The mall isnt any special, just that we prefer to find a place with air cond to have our dinner and lunch. I was very surprise when I saw the people smoking indoor! Due to that, the air cond, wasnt much help!!!

The first two food shown in the picture above were Baso, the local cuisine. It was just ok to us but PuiSee liked it alot, haha. 

Van - 600k

Rooms at Medan - 350k each (x2, the disadvantage of having the cottage to book the rooms for us because they actually forbid us to share the room, and they will fine us because they knew exact how many people we have! But save the troubles.)

Dinner - Roughly 100k (downtown, shopping mall some more)

At the airport, we bought, layer cake!!! But got to say, the cake really nice, should give it a try, wasnt too expensive, I forgot the price though, we paid in RM if i not mistaken. Our flight backed to Malaysia was delayed for almost an hour. That's so bored at the airport, especially when the airport was so so so small.

Thanks to the delay, me and ZhiFang unable to get the bus back to Sitiawan from the airport. Luckily PuiSee and her boyfriend dropped us at Puduraya bus station, and it was 10pm already, and we havent eat our dinner yet!!! We bought 10.30pm bus backed to Sitiawan, so unable to have dinner with PuiSee and her boyfriend. We said our goodbye with Melisa at the airport, to PuiSee at the bus station, and I said goodbye to ZhiFang when we reached Sitiawan by 2.30am!

How much did we spend? PuiSee only changed RM400, Melisa and ZhiFang RM500, and me RM600. Each of us able to remain some balances after all, if dont feel like buying souvenirs, then RM400 should be enough.Like what we did, we did not save much for the budget for accommodations, not a high class hotel of course, but at least everyone of us had our own single bed to sleep every night. If you able to find a way to sneak in the hotel, and shared a double room with four person, then definitely saved a certain amount.

Finally finishing this blog, wanna write it immediately after the trip, but I was unable to get the pictures, not even single one! Because I didnt use my camera, and my memory card is still with Melisa, because hers was full when we were riding around the island. This raya holiday break, PuiSee, ZhiFang and I gathered for lunch two days ago, and finally we have the complete set of the pictures as ZhiFang took the pictures from Melisa while Melisa backed to Sitiawan. 

That was a great trip, looking forward for the next trip, guess should be Beijing or Taiwan!!hahaha...

More pictures, my facebook account, only for friends though, haha.