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February 27th, 2010 | Author: gabriel

It was Cameron Highlands Day! With the super warm and humid whether in the low-lands of Ipoh (actually, it’s the whole of Peninsular Malaysia), my family decided to head to Cameron’s for a dose of fresh air, tea/coffee in a cold environment! We were lucky, as it wasn’t very sunny at Cameron’s. Felt like it was going to rain, the weather was cool and nice..

We went up in 2 cars where the 2nd car consists of me and my bro. My brother drove up the hill while I slept. And I drove the rest of the Cameron’s trip. Our first stop was to buy ‘real pearl corns’. The corns there are really sweet and the corns itself has a mixture of white and yellow corn bits. We also went to Rose Gardens to look at beautiful roses and other flowers.

pink rose

Some flowers are very nice.. May varieties of rose in different colours. There’s the pink rose at the top, there’s yellow rose, red rose..

yellow rose  red rose

There’s even the black rose!

black-rose-sign

The black rose is actually from a red rose where it turns black when it grows older.

red-black-rose

Like from the picture above, the back of the red rose begins to turn black.. Or at least, that’s what my father told me..

There are also many nice flowers, like the giant hibiscus..

giant hibiscus The white rose (aka milk girl)

IMG_1220

Even the bees are enjoying themselves collecting nectar from the flowers. The flowers are really sweet smelling, by the way..

 bee flower Okay.. Enough with the flowers… We took some pictures around – my dad wanted to take a picture with this mermaid statue. The story is that the mermaid is a being longing for her lost love, awaiting for his return..

mermaid

We went to the “ye olde smokehouse” for some scones, tea and coffee.. My brother took me posing at the grand piano.. haha

gab-piano

The ‘adults’ are drinking tea while the kids were also having their own fun time..

children-tea We then ate lunch at Cafe Downtown at Tanah Rata. It was a 4pm lunch… Imagine.. haha.. The food there is very nice. Their chicken chop and char koay teow is very nice!

cafe downtown Right after that, we headed to the tea plantation for a cup of tea and cheese cake!

 

alice 

We came here before 2 years ago… And look how the kids have grown!

nieces Did I mention that my nieces are posers??

Marielle actually posed for the pictures! And she’s only like 2 yrs old.

marielle-1 marielle-2 Oh well.. maybe it runs in the family. My brother and my dad also same case…

 

brother  dad

Me? I only take with my niece…

gab-marielle

After that, we went to the Laban Rata Waterfall! It’s on the way down from Cameron’s towards Tapah.

waterfall The waterfall there is quite nice. Very refreshing… Had quite a long pit stop here for the kids to play… Too bad I didn’t bring any change of clothes… Otherwise, I’ll just dip right into the pool. What I did was just take a good walk around the waterfall.. hahah

 gab-with-nieces

For the Cameron Trip, had to thank my sis’s bf.. She wanted to bring him around and end up going to a lot of places. He paid for all our meals at Cameron’s.. How nice of him… =)

alice-gu

When we reached Ipoh, it’s already almost 9pm. We went straight for dinner at old town.

Then at 10pm, I met up with Jason Ling, Yee Weng and Kean Fatt at the Ramly Burger Stall. They had seats there and it’s not crowded at all over there. I was supposed to meet euwen also but in the end, he was out with his sam tet friends… Anyway, the 4 of us just sat there, and just chatted… Good to meet up with old school mates… =)

December 13th, 2009 | Author: gabriel

Think the last time I’ve been to the SIngapore Zoo was 2 years ago with my family. This time round is my 3rd time to the zoo. Didn’t mind going there again as the zoo’s really interesting. At least, compared to the Taiping Zoo near my hometown. I managed to get 4 complimentary passes thanks to my company’s Corporate Pass. Managed to ballot the pass after trying twice! Yin Sin hasn’t been there before and so decided to bring her there. I invited Yi Wang and Yen Ping also as not to ‘waste’ the 2 more free entries.

yw-yp-zoo

I reached there at 845am. It’s about an hour’s away journey from my place at Hougang. At that time of day, there’s very little crowd and the animal’s have just awaken.

First, it’s the proboscis monkey, found in the land of Sabah. It has a very long nose, like an ‘ang moh’ monkey

proboscis-monkey

There’s the white tiger taking it’s morning walk…

white-tiger

Ducks going for their morning swim

ducks

And the elephants are having breakfast…

elephants

The birds only flew and joined in at 930am

parrots

white-parrot

The otters woke up late cause when I went to their habitat at 8 something, there’s nothing to be seen. Only at around 930 that they come running out playing around.

otters

Even the birds are looking for food..

bird-on-rhino

Next to their rhino counterparts, that is…

rhino

The flamingos with their long slender necks dipping into the water… looking for food at the very bottom on the ground

flamingo

While some animals have to reach high up for food…

giraffe

Some have their food properly laid out for them…

zebras

Some like to be fed.

elephant-feeding

While the cheetahs are lying around on the grass, lazing under the shed..

cheetah

Can you tell the difference between these cats? The below is a jaguar

IMG_9863

There’s also the ostrich, having their morning bowel movements. It’s quite gross actually…

ostrich-1

There’s this tongue-like thing jutting out from it’s anus.

ostrich-2

Then it sucks back in after it’s done

ostrich-3

Then it’s the animals at play! There’s this sea lion that’s very active; jumping around, splashing water…

sea-lion-jump

IMG_9908-1

Critters playing in the sand

critters

Monkeys showing off to get some attention..

monkey-hanging

monkey-drink-coconut

Performing stunts to get food

somersault

IMG_0008

Some just make cute faces

IMG_9959-1

want-attention

giraffe-face

Or showing off their ass

IMG_9991

Some animals are quite loving… We have baboons hugging their young ones

baboons

Monkeys sharing food

monkey-tail

And some close up pictures..

IMG_0068

IMG_0037 IMG_9912

We left at approximately 300pm… After about 6 hours of non-stop walking. And the afternoon sun’s blazing hot. But at least, we covered most of all the activities. Went to all of the shows, and most of the feeding sessions. Was a fun but tiring outing… Think I’m getting old….

September 27th, 2009 | Author: gabriel

Singapore is busy with its F1 night race event; I have my own busy events over the weekend.

It all being on Friday after work where I have my department gathering over at West Coast Park. It started right after work and ended at about 10+pm. That’s just the warm-up. The outing with the ipoh friends officially begins after that where we met up at Timbre @ Boat Quay. It’s an open area with a live band where people hang out and have drinks. It was quite a big group with chee lim, bi shan, wai tien, yvonne, meiyin,  jitvern, ian, etc.

timbre_girls

By the time I reached there, it was almost midnight and I didn’t really soak into the atmosphere there. Jit Vern they all were already there since 8pm. lol

timbre_guys

On Saturday, we woke up very late as we only reached home at about 3am.. Initially, we wanted to eat-in for lunch then to Holland Village for dinner… We ended up staying in the house for the whole day. Yvonne and Mei Yin came over at about lunch time, and wai tien later in the evening. Chee Lim prepared lunch for us where she cooked lamb chop with brocolli/asparagus soup.

lamb_chop

Because we woke up very late, the meal was only ready around 5pm! Imagine that.. It was supposed to be for lunch and it became kinda like lunch/tea/dinner. We just hang out in the house where the main ‘gathering’ area was yee weng’s room. Chatted, sing karaoke, watched movies/youtube there. We had fried rice as dinner/supper. However, things began pretty fun after midnight where we watched a horror movie, followed by a drinking game and some disco/karaoke/dance session… It was pretty crazy. Was very tired at that time, but it was fun.. =)

On Sunday, we went to Geylang for Bak Kut Teh..

bak_kut_tehThen, headed towards Yvonne’s condo where we watched the movie, ‘Hangover’. Was a pretty good movie. There, Chin Zwen and her boyfriend, James, came over. We ordered some pizza for tea and went down to the pool area for some photo-taking sessions…

cheelim_chinzwenplayground

everyone

Headed over to Jumbo @ ECP for dinner where we had chilli crab.. We were quite full at that time and didn’t order much. And that’s all for the weekend. A fun but tiring one… Now, have to dread with resume work tomorrow….

July 03rd, 2009 | Author: gabriel

It’s a good thing I went to Langkawi a few days before going to Phuket. It kinda ’seasoned’ my body to be more resistant to the sun. The sun was scorching hot when I was at the different islands as part of an island hopping tour.

I reached Phuket on Saturday afternoon, on the sixth day of June. Got delayed at the Immigration for about an hour cause there were a lot of people and the immigration people were very slow. And once I came out from the immigration, there was another delay at the 150 baht minivan to Patong Beach as they wanted to fill up the seats. It took me more than 2 hours to rendezvous with my parents and my sis at Patong Swiss Hotel.

Patong Beach

Patong Beach

I spent the remaining of the day with a delicious Thai cuisine. Food was quite good. My first taste of real ‘authentic’ Thai food in Thailand itself.

Green Curry

Green Curry

Tomyam

Tomyam

Pad Thai

Pad Thai

After dinner, we walked around Jung Ceylong Shopping Mall.. Saw some cultural performances but we just took a quick glance.

cult-perf

Slept relatively early cause well, we can’t find anything to do. haha

The next morning, woke up at 730am for breakfast before our main events.

My parents and I went Island Hopping! Sat on a large and comfortable speed boat heading towards the different islands near Phuket. The first island we went to is Phi Phi Island.

It has beautiful sand; very soft and powder-like sand.. Has a very nice scenic too!
Phi-phi-island

The beach itself is very small and imagine such small beach with so many people there. It was very crowded.
phi-phi-beach

After that, the boat took us to Bilik Lagun (Lagoon Room). It’s just a lagoon where they let us take a dip in the ocean for ‘warming up’ before we start snorkeling. It was a refreshing swim for me and my mum. Then, it’s snorkeling time!

snorkeling

There weren’t many fishes there though and the water’s a bit murky. But many just attempt to look at fishes. There are some.. just not that many.

Our following stop is “monkey island”. It’s just an island filled with monkeys. They can just put it in the programme and it would seem like a ‘big thing’. The only thing people do there is throw bananas to monkey and watch them eat. And of course, the usual making monkey faces to the monkeys..

monkey-island

We then went to Similan Island for lunch. It was an island hit by the tsunami last time. You can see many trees that has lost its bark but the root is still there.
similan

Our last stop is Khai Island. My parents just chilled by the beach. Taking naps in the sea breeze.
relax-on-beach

I roamed around the island.. At the back of the island, there’s this very beautiful rock formations.
rock-formations

rocks-ocean

When we went back, we were pretty tired. Not to mention sun burn for me. My second round of sunburn after the first one from Langkawi. We ate Thai food again for dinner. The quality is pretty standard there. Good food.

For the final day next morning, I went out with my mum and sis to buy souvenirs and scarfs. We even went for Thai massage! They stretched us real good.. My first authentic Thai massage. haha.. Anyway, trip was good. Had a 3 hour transit to Singapore at LCCT when I reached KL. Needed to shift to my new house the following day

June 05th, 2009 | Author: gabriel

I spent two nights in Langkawi as a holiday trip together with my girlfriend. I’ve never actually been there before and I heard a lot of stories about super cheap booze and nice corals. As I don’t really have lots of time to blog about it, let me categorize the things I do instead of doing it chronologically.

Accommodation
We stayed at this place called Zackry Guesthouse. It’s a very friendly and decent place where it’s mainly for backpackers. Lots of Caucasians hanging around there and it’s at Pantai Tengah. The people there are very friendly.

zackry_guesthouse

Activities As we only have like two days there, the things that we can do are quite limited.

  • Island Hopping
    We purchased the island hopping package at Kuala Kedah itself through an agent there. They charged us like RM45/pax for it only to find out I can easily get it for RM35/pax from the guest house itself.
    The island hopping includes a boat ride to three different islands.
    First is Pulau Beras Basah

    beras_basah

    We are given 1 hour to do our own things there.
    People there just hang around on the beach
    hang_around

    Sun Bathe
    suntan

    Ride on the Banana Boat
    banana_boat

    Or if you’re really that bored, you can find a group of people and carry rocks
    carry_rocks

    Then, the next place they bring us is Pulau Singa to see Eagles feed on fishes
    pulau_singa

    eagle

    Lastly, to Pulau Dayang Bunting where the shape of the island resembles a pregnant maiden
    pulau_dayang_bunting

    They took us to the lake within the island. The scenery at the jetty was beautiful.
    dyng_bunting

    Then at the lake itself, people just chill there. You can even swim in the lake. And to my surprise, the water is not sea water. It’s not salty at all. When it enters my eyes, I don’t feel a thing. Oh, and legend says that if a girl who finds difficulty in getting pregnant drinks water from the lake, they can get pregnant easier. Or something like that. haha
    lake

    Then, there’s a small location where you can dip your feet into the ‘mini pond’ and feed the catfish! haha.. It feasts on your deadskin but to me, it feels like they’re having fun tickling our feet with its whiskers.
    catfish_therapy

  • Pulau Payar
    Paid RM140/pax for a return trip to Pulau Payar, lunch, Snorkeling and shark feeding. It was not as great as what people hyped about it. Compared to the islands that I’ve been in Sabah, the water is a bit green and ‘commercialized’. In Sabah, the water is crystal clear and the marine life are actually in the ‘wild’. The fishes in Pulau Payar to me are like reared. But because the fishes are ‘bred’, there are more concentrated.

    pulau_payar

    The density of fishes is very high. Especially when you feed it bread, you can see the fishes swarming towards it. So there are a few times where the workers managed to ‘bully’ yin sin. She was snorkeling near the jetty when the workers threw bread near her. Then, the fishes all swim towards her scaring her away. And as she fled, more bread landed around her and wherever she goes there are always fishes swarming towards her and biting her. haha..

    Then, the corals are quite nice as well. But can only be found deeper in the ocean. There’s also the shark feeding session. The workers lure the baby sharks near the shore with dead fishes and feed it to them.

    shark_feeding
    baby_shark

  • Tanjung Rhu
    This is the place where you can walk from one island to another island in the ocean. Too bad, by the time we went there, it was high tide and wasn’t safe to walk in the sea. But at least, we get to see the sunset there.

    sunset_tjg_rhu

Transportation and Island Exploration
We rented a scooter from the guesthouse at RM30 for 24 hours (A car costs RM70 per day). Started the rental from 2000hrs. We went to Kuah town for dinner and some alcohol + chocolate shopping. The beers are dirt cheap. Can get a 6 pack carlsberg for only RM9.90. A bottle of Chivas is RM68.

alcohol bottles

Renting the scooter is a very good idea. Rental is cheap and petrol is cheap. We rode from one end to another, taking a few wrong turns. One good thing about Langkawi is that you won’t get lost cause no matter where you go, it’s just round the island.

Eateries
We ate fried rice at Kuah town and Ramly burger at a roadside on the way back from Tanjung Rhu. And of course, the usual tuna bread, cup noodles and junk food. =)

The trip is quite enjoyable especially if with the right company. Only bad thing is, i got sun burnt real bad… =(

note: For a great selection of places to stay with discount prices visit Langkawi Hotels for more information

Category: holidays, photography, travel  | Tags: , , ,  | 2 Comments