So slightly more than a year later on 6th October, this trip initiated back. Yay!

This is my cute travel partner.. kurubee

.. which also happens to be the love of my life too, lol! And we flew in together from Penang to LCCT and boarded the afternoon flight to Phuket.

It was a cloudy day when we arrived in Phuket International Airport (HKT). Couldn’t contain our excitement as it was the first time we flew out of country together. <3 As we were the first few passengers that gotten out of the flight first, we breezed through immigration counter swiftly and gotten ourselves FREE local sim cards at the counter at the side while waiting for our luggage.

From the arrival hall, we walked into another hall where there are like many tour agency counters situated on both sides. One man asked us if we need any ride to our hotel and quickly mentioned about free ride to hotel. Upon hearing the word FREE, our eyes immediately lighted up and we were led to this counter called, Phuket Friendship Tour.

The lady behind the counter is so polite and soft-spoken. She asked us how long was our trip before suggesting the possible activities we could do. Of course we’ve already have few activities in mind, but we just like to hear what’s her plan. So she showed us few packages and we signed up with her after both sides agreed to a certain price, which now I can’t remember, lol. We do have our receipts but it’s all with kurubee, hmm.

After paying the price and gotten our vouchers (and of course her handphone number in case anything goes wrong), we were ushered to the taxi waiting area.

Few minutes later, we found ourselves sitting in a Honda taxi ferrying us to our hotel, Ricos Hotel on Bangla Road. Our taxi damn cool ler, got monitor behind the headrest, promoting Thai tourism.

We even stopped by 7-eleven to buy ‘refill’ (reload credits) for our sim cards. Both of us gotten ourselves 90 baht refills each. Then the journey continued but our taxi driver decided to do another stop somewhere near Patong. We got a shock as he suddenly turned left into a row of shophouses and we were thinking shit, what are we gotten ourselves into?

Then the driver turned to us and told that he had to stop here and he walked into a tour agency. Few minutes later, another guy came out with broad smile and greeted us. Apparently he explained on the reason why the taxi driver made this stop and further asked if we have taken any tour package. If we haven’t, he said we could book one with him.

Unfortunately we have already sealed deal with Phuket Friendship and even showed him our tour package vouchers. Politely he thanked us for listening to him and walked into the agency. Our taxi driver returned and this time he drove us directly to our hotel.

When we reached our hotel, kurubee showed the receptionist the printed hotel voucher from AirAsiaGo website. The checking-in process was fast and smooth. After few minutes we were given keys to our room which is on the 2nd floor.

For the price we paid for the hotel room, we are actually satisfied with the condition and cleanliness of the room. The view from our room’s window isn’t really a nice sight, but it’s alright since we’ll be spending much of our time out of the room. The yellow lights made the room a little dimmer, but it brings out romantic feel in the room. Moreover yellow light saves energy right?

]]> http://phingelicious.com/2010/12/a-little-getaway/feed/ 6 http://phingelicious.com/2010/11/xviii-back-to-malaysia/ http://phingelicious.com/2010/11/xviii-back-to-malaysia/#comments Tue, 16 Nov 2010 15:30:55 +0000 angeline http://phingelicious.com/?p=2793 Came 13th July, the day we go back to the reality.

That morning we woke up early, as we need to catch the 7 o’clock bus to Clark. However one room didn’t get the revised departure time; they went down half an hour earlier and Sat and I felt so guilty upon hearing that. That moment, I made up my mind to personally tell everyone on important stuff like ‘gather time’ rather than relying on the others to pass the message.

We did quick check-out and then left GoHotels.Ph via taxi for Philtranco bus terminal at SM Megamall. Unfortunately the taxi could only fit 7 people, so Sat, Aaron and Steven volunteered to brace through the human-packed MRT. The taxi driver dropped us down at the entrance of SM Megamall, vaguely telling us to get to the back of the building. We have no idea where, so we stopped and asked one of the policemen on duty. He asked us to walk further down, take the pedestrian bridge and then turn left.

We did all but taking the pedestrian bridge. All of us were too lazy to do so, haha!

I sincerely thought that the bus terminal is a building – little did I know that it’s actually a bus stop. It’s the same place where we got down when we arrived in Manila 5 days ago. Seeing few people waiting there with luggage further confirmed our doubt on the right place to wait. I was afraid that Sat, Aaron and Steven didn’t know the way so I asked Emily to message the guys on our whereabouts.  As we were looking for the accurate landmarks to tell them, they were seen walking towards the bus stop.

We waited for a while before the bus finally came. I noticed some were lining up but some were sitting there. Those lined up were carrying a white paper, which we didn’t have. I panicked a little, then I remembered about the online reservation. I thought to myself, maybe these people got their tickets online or earlier. I told Sat that, and Sat began to count the number of people queuing.

I went to the front to look at the placard displayed at the bus’s front window. It shows 6.45am. I was glad and worried at the same time. I KNOW if we couldn’t get this bus, we could get a 7am bus, but we need to be at airport 2 hours earlier, so we might not be able to make it in time.  So I told Sat, no matter what we have to get it.

Then he told me a good news.

“I counted d. Still have places for us!” and he smiled.

After those with tickets got in, it was our turn. We threw our backpacks at the bus luggage compartment and went up. The lady bus conductor came to us to collect money for our ride. It costs 300 Pesos.

The bus started moving and our 2 hours of sleep started. I totally konked and only woke up when we’ve reached Clark airport.

The security of Clark airport is super tight. We have to do through manual body scan by the officers and they would ask you on the stuffs in the backpack when they spotted anything unusual in the thermal scanner. After going through the very tight security, we noticed that there’s no restaurant/stall around there area except for the Departure Hall. There weren’t much people there and the counter wasn’t even opened thought it was time for checking in! So basically we were stuck!

Feeling hungry, tired and sleepy, we waited patiently (not that we have much choice) and observed how the officers work. And based on my observation, I’ve noticed something different. I noticed that the lady officer ran through her hands sideways when she was checking the aunties but for the ladies, she stretched her hand to the front and slid her hand straight down!

Ah, I felt so violated! T_T

About nearly 20 minutes, the AirAsia ground crew finally appeared and we quickly lined up for checking in. Then we have to write something (I think it’s the declaration paper, can’t really remember what was it already) and finally entered the Departure Hall.

HOWEVER, before entering, there’s another scan and this time we were required to remove our shoes too!

Ahhh!

I couldn’t understand why is this airport extremely tight in security. Sat told me maybe they beef up because of the terrorists thingy, but I was thinking otherwise. I went vacationing with my family members to Europe not long after the 911 incident, true enough the airport security was tight, but it wasn’t as ‘extreme’ as this!

Whatever it is, I glad that I went through this without a glitch. We were starving and the aromatic smell coming from the food stalls were unbearable.

Just when Sat and I entered the Departure Hall, few of the guys who had went in, told us which one is more expensive and which is not. Haha! They’re our price scouter! So we just followed their recommendation and I got myself a hotdog while Sat who was still in the Filipino mode, ordered their local delicacy.

Then I went around with the thought of window shopping, but ended up getting few last minute gifts. I thought I could bring home different amount of bank notes currency as collection, BUT because of my itchy hand, collection no more! Lol!

As we waited for our flight back to Malaysia, Sat armed with his iPhone started interviewing us around on our overall feeling for this trip. It’s a good way to kill time, since our flight got delayed. -.-” So everyone was having laughing at other people’s video.

Yeah, I laughed so hard that when it was my turn to talk, I tongue-tied and mind went blank. Hate watching my own video. Potongstim to the max!

Finally it was the time to board. I can still remember that it was a very sunny day. And the queue was so long because people would take their own sweet time putting their luggage on the compartment above. -.-”

The moment I got in, I quickly looked for my seat and hoped that nobody was sitting there as some people wouldn’t just sit on the allocated seats stated on the tickets. I was seated between Ailing and Aaron. Sat supposed to sit beside me, but seeing that Ailing were to sit beside a large size man, he quickly occupied her seat. Lucky Emily and May got whole row to themselves!

Then it was time for the take-off. The plane went from the tarmac to the runway, the speed went faster and faster then next thing we know, we were up in the air! Lol!

Though I just had my breakfast few hours ago, but when the cabin crew started pushing cart along the aisle, my stomach began to feel hungry and I quickly looked at the menu, and decided to go for Spaghetti Bolognaise.

After a filing meal, I continued watching Nine, the movie that I watched halfway at the Laoag Airport. By the time I finished the movie, the announcement of landing was made and I was thinking, Wow, such a good timing! Haha!

Believe it or not, for this trip I spent under RM1000! *beam with pride*

Yeah, I kid you NOT! Sat and I calculated our expenses over and over again, and because I jotted down every single expense I made throughout the trip, I calculated it to about RM600-RM630 only (I don’t have the figure now as I blog). Our international and 2 domestic flight tickets costs us to nearly RM300, and the only hotel we’ve paid prior to the trip was the GoHotels.Ph which is like RM50 only.

So you say ler, cheap or not? Heee!

Anyway, if you missed out any of the posts, please do click at the links below.

Multiple posts : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18

Next time I know he called me, telling me about this. I agreed and in within one day, 8 more booked their tickets for this trip. All this happened way before the Indonesia trip.

Guess how much the ticket costs – RM58! Blardy RM58 for return trip! Who would let this opportunity slide away?!

The codename Dinnyland came not long after booking the flight. It’s a manja word for Disneyland and it suits this purpose of this getaway – happy, fun and relaxing.

Both Sat and I didn’t plan much on the itinerary. We did plan, however attentions were focused more on Indonesia trip since the group is bigger. It was only after the Indonesia trip and 3 months before departure we started searching for information and emailing the hotels, transportation companies and tour agencies with lots recommendation from Hannah. She’s such an angel; she helped us in our enquiries no matter how busy she was. We couldn’t thank her more for that.

Believe it or not, only one month into flying; Hannah, Satkuru and I finalized the whole itinerary and bookings. We were that laid back and have totally no worry of the plan being backfired as we drafted out few itineraries. I guess this trip is the easiest to plan out with and with the least headaches too!

Probably it was due to the travel kakis that we’re going with. All were the flexible/go-with-the flow types and it made things even easier. Love all my travel kakis to bits as they made the trip way more fun with their crazy, wacky and laughable yet loveable personality.

Like all previous trips, we had few hiccups with the airlines – like our flights being postponed and changed/cancelled. But Sat managed to settle them quickly, so it wasn’t a big problem at all. Hehe.

7^th July 2010 came and 4 girls from Penang boarded the plane to KL with totally broad smiles that even the flight delayed couldn’t stop them from flashing their teeth. Yup, we were that happy chatting despite being so tired for working earlier that day, but still we were quite alert and excited. I guess the adrenaline pumped in too much. Lol!

We reached LCCT like at 8pm. Aaron and Sat were already there to pick us up at the airport and all of us went to Tune Hotel to dump our bags there. Then we went all the way to Alamanda with the initial plan of watching Twilight (which we didn’t at the end thankfully. Lol) and then headed to Equine Park to change money. Surprisingly the rate offered by the owner there is super favourable than all outlets in Penang.

Then we vroomed all the way to Putrajaya Sentral where we were joined by Jess and Steven. All of us took the LRT to Salak Selatan and from there we boarded a bus directly to LCCT for RM5.50 only.

Since Jess and Steven haven’t gotten their dinner, we dropped by Old Told Kopitiam before going back to Tune Hotel for the night. We arranged to meet up at 5.00am.

Since it was world cup season that time and there was a match playing at 2.30am; Sat went back to LCCt to watch it and did kiosk checkin on our behalf. He told me about it after I msged him telling him that I
got nightmare. Lol

Poor AL, May and Emily got up and ready by 5am and were surprised to know we were still sleeping. I felt so bad for them. Nevertheless they still went to airport earlier as Emily hasn’t check in yet.

We left Tune Hotel at 6am and checked in our baggage at the airport. David and Daniel joined us and all of us went to the Immigration counter before entering the departure hall. Didn’t know why time passed by so quickly that morning and we heard that they’re already calling our flight number for the final time! We thought we still have time to linger around! +_+

We walked as fast as our legs could carry.

5 minutes later, I was seated on the plane between Ailing and Aaron; my seat belt were already fastened and busy flipping throw the in-flight magazines as Emily said to look for our next destination! Lol.

I think we didn’t buy our seat when doing booking as we were seated far from each other. Only Sat, Aaron and I were seated together, but Sat changed place with Ailing after knowing that a big sized guy seated next to her. Scared Ailing kena kemeked. Lol.

As we didn’t have our breakfast yet and we were super hungry that time, we ordered food from the air stewardess. RM14 for a box of rice and a bottle of iced tea.

Aaron ordered something which looked nicer – which I regretted for no ordering.

As our journey took nearly 4 hours and with nothing else to read and do, I took out my iTouch and played “My Name is Khan.” I couldn’t stop laughing in the beginning and had to hold my tear at the end. In between the laughing and holding tears, the plane was shaking by a little and the seat belt light signal was on most of the time.

By the time the movie ended, the captain made announcement of landing. He even mentioned that we’re reaching 15 minutes earlier. Woohoo! Good timing I guess. Keke.

We landed at the humble airport of Diosdado Macapagal Internation Airport (DMIA) in Clark.

We purposely took our own sweet time walking towards the airport, so that we could take lots picture at the tarmac.

We cleared arrival Immigration smoothly, claimed our backpacks from the luggage beat conveyer and walked out of the airport.

From this paragraph onwards, I’ll be writing the amount of money used in Peso with the rate I got : RM1 = PHP13.69 or PHP1000 = RM73

Just before the exit, there were plenty of bus counters with ladies and men calling the destination names on the right. We walked directly towards the counter since Sat spotted the familiar name ‘Philtranco’. We asked for 10 tickets and paid 3.000 pesos (RM219). We were told that the bus was already there and we could easily see the bus once getting out of the airport.

To make sure that we understand what she meant, she even walked us out and pointed the bus to us. So cute.

But the thing is our eyes were glued to the sim card machine outside the airport. All of us walked there and asked the price for a Smart sim card. The lady explained something about getting the sim card with a top up card for 250 pesos (RM18.25), I think. I don’t remember the price as I supposed to get one but I ended up sharing with Sat. Lol.

Then we boarded the bus. We were the last group to board before the bus moved.

I sat with May while Sat sat behind us. While those with the sim card were busy activating their numbers on their phone, I was busy snapping photos of the surrounding and also watching their local game-show playing on the small TV set in front.

It was Thursday and they have game-show going on! And the game-show is so funny and interesting. I began to like this country already.

The journey from Clark to Manila took 2 hours. Along the way, we passed by smaller cities with big names like San Fernando, Mexico. Lol!

Hate the bus’s dirty window plane. Made the pictures taken from the bus all blurry. Grrr!

Totally love their big billboards. They’re totally mind-blowing! Couldn’t stop going ahhh…! Wahhh! with May.

Our bus finally entered Manila town and then stopped at bus stop at SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City, Ortigas.

We got down, and walked into the mall. But we were stopped and scanned by the security guards before entering. Satisfied with the checking, they let us in. We were like – “Do we have this terrorist look on our face?” Kidding, we understand that they’re just doing their jobs. Lololololol!

I met Hannah for the first time at SM Megamall. I was told by those who’ve met her that she’s petite, but I never thought she really is. Maybe the “When In Manila” shirt she wore to promote her other website made her frame looked smaller. She is so lively and bubbly and immediately asked us if we want to have lunch now or made our move to GoHotel. Immediately all of us vouched for lunch and she brought us to the nearest food court where there are plenty of nice, delicious food can be found.

And that’s when I tried Jollibee.

I read about this fast food outlet that rivals to MCD and KFC and can be found in Philippines only. When I saw it, I was pretty happy! However, I made a walk around the food court to check out on the other local delicacies.

Actually, I rounded the whole food court because I was attracted to this stall with the name Balut Balut. We thought it’s the real balut, but they just served economic rice with normal chicken egg. Lol!

Eventually, I went back to Jollibee and ordered one set. It costs about 127 pesos (RM9.28) including VAT.

Hannah did a live photo update to FB on us having lunch and few minutes later, the photo generated like many comments. I was like fuih! Gengness!

One of the funny moments we shared while having Jollibee was David did not aware that there’s a rice packet that came along with the meal. He thought that it’s a small burger so he finished up the chicken first. Only after unwrapping the ‘burger’ did he realise that the content was actually rice! All of us laughed super hard that time. I almost chocked. Lol!

Multiple posts : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |

I stumbled upon priceless rubbishes!

Months after coming back from Indonesia, I finally cleared these papers off my bag to give way for the incoming papers from my incoming trip! I took a picture, placed them into a big envelope and put them in my memento box. I got a box full of stuffs – all collected from places I’ve been to

Ah, I couldn’t be more excited on my coming trip. 4 weeks to go! Can’t wait! <3

To read about the Indonesia trip, please click the links below.

Multiple post : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22

While going in and out of the room to the toilet, I bumped into an Indonesian guy who stayed in the room opposite ours. From exchanging smiles to small talk, all I know about this guy is he’s from another part of Indonesia (can’t remember where now – I think it’s Medan) and he’s in Jakarta for work. He then asked where am I coming from. When I told him that I’m from Malaysia, he revealed that he used to work in Malaysia in the city of Kuala Lumpur long, long time ago. After that I went back to my room and he went to the toilet.

Had Yakult as breakfast! Hoho!

Then it was time to go. I took my backpacks and went down with the rest. We waited for our pre-booked Alphard Taxi at the verandah. After getting call from the company saying that the taxi is somewhere near the area, we walked out to the main road, Jl. Jaksa since the company claimed that the taxi is too big for the small lane.

Again, I bumped into the same Indonesian guy and he bid goodbye to me. I said goodbye to him back. Sat was puzzled on why a stranger saying bye to me and I responded. Haha! I then explained to him the whole thing and he finally understood.

Spotted an Astro mini satellite while walking out. Hoho! The peach colour building behind is La Margot Hotel.

Sat pre-booked two taxis but only one came. The other one claimed that he got caught in the jam. So we sent one taxi off first – the one carrying Aaron, Elise, Lasker, Daniel and David. The rest of us waited at the junction anxiously for our cab as we need to check in by 10.  After all, we were told that the morning traffic in Jakarta is always heavy, so we’re hoping not to be caught in one.

An interesting looking tourist information corner with a helmet as representative. Haha.

About half an hour later, our taxi came. He apologized for his lateness and then we boarded the taxi. I was a little bit disappointed as I was hoping for outgoing, outspoken driver like Dade (the driver we got the night before).

In the entire journey, he just kept quiet and listened to local news and prayers on the radio, while the rest of us looked out to faces of Jakarta in the day.

And I concluded that Jakarta looks better at night. Lol! In the day, it looks like Beijing. @_@ Don’t ask me why.

We reached the Soekarno-Hatta Airport Terminal 2 for domestic flight to Denpasar at about 9 something. The journey is shorter I guess, as I paid only 34.000 Rupiah (RM12.60) for the taxi ride including toll I think. Forget to jot down if that’s the taxi payment alone or with the toll. Paid the driver, took picture with the car and then went in the airport for check-in.

The security was quite tight there. The lady security officer would only allow people in the hall if we showed her the boarding pass. But how can we get a boarding pass when we bought the ticket online? Luckily, Sat printed out the flight itineraries (as he said he foresees this would happen) and we went in smoothly.

Like usual, we turkeyfied our check-in backpacks for 30.000 Rupiah (RM11), followed by checking-in our turkeys, getting our boarding passes and paying the departure tax of 40.000 Rupiah (RM15) which is not included in when purchasing our flight ticket.

My turkey weighted 10kg upon checking-in. I don’t understand why there’s 900 gram difference as I didn’t add anything in. In fact I threw 2 things out – my out-of-shape-blue-top and a pair of long-pants-with-holes. Was it because of the air that got trapped in the backpack? Or the way I squeezed my stuffs into the backpack.

Feeling hungry, we went food-hunting to fill our stomachs. Spotted NZN outlet at the airport, so I pulled Sat over to have a look at the ice-cream choices – to see they’re selling the same favours or they have those we couldn’t find back home. Upon scanning, I found out we never had ‘Spotty Dogs’ flavour before, or maybe I didn’t remember seeing it previously. Then Sat bought 2 scoops, one scoop of Spotty Dogs and another scoop of his favourite flavour for me to try. Slurps. Can’t recall how much it costs, but I think it’s almost the amount we used to pay in Malaysia after conversion.

Yup, all the way in Jakarta to have New Zealand Natural ice cream. True, loyal fans right? They should award us by giving us free ice-cream for loyalty. Lol!

While Sat and me hovered over the NZN counter, the rest went and bought gigantic curry puffs at the other side of the booths. After seeing them munching the curry puffs (where they purposely showed me the filling of eggs, and chicken chunks), I asked Sat to get one to try.

Can’t remember how much the curry puff is priced at because I forgot to jot them down. But I think it’s about 5.000 Rupiah (Rm1.85) per piece? Or maybe 10.000 Rupiah (RM3.70) one as the size is big.

We sat at the tables belongs to the curry puff’s outlet before going into the Departure Hall. Quickly finished our food and then calculated last night’s dinner. Though we kept the receipt but it was rather complicated to calculate as it didn’t tally in the first place! Somehow we managed to settle it after few rounds of calculation and David was again loaded with Rupiahs! Haha!

Feeling like going to the loo, I asked Sat to accompany me to the loo, but he didn’t follow – which I didn’t know why. Probably because he saw me walked behind Ailing and Emily, thinking that they went too. I don’t remember if they went too, but I REMEMBER as I was in the toilet’s cubicle weewee-ing, I heard a guy whistling in the LADIES TOILET, and then a loud bang on my cubicle’s door!

I was super duper kan cheong (panicked) at that time as I was weewee-ing halfway through only when the thing happened. Still, I prepared myself to launch an attack should the guy try to break open my door or do some silly stuff.

Luckily, nothing happened after that. I quickly flushed, opened the toilet door, scanned left and right, quickly washed my hands and ran out of the toilet to where the rest were.

And obviously I complained to Sat for not accompanying me. HMPH!

Then it was time to board the plane. Woohoo! Finally the hard-core backpacking days were over and hello to the tour-style! Haha!

Our flight took off slightly later at around 11 am. The whole journey took 1 hours and 45 minutes. Initially Sat and I thought that it would take us 2 hours and 45 minutes to reach Bali but we were wrong as we forgot to minus an hour off to the calculation as Bali is one hour ahead of Jakarta and Yogyakarta.

We napped not long after flying. But soon, I got hungry and woke Sat up. Haha. Damn evil la me. Then I ordered Air Asia’s nasi kuning for him, nasi goring sate ayam for me and a bottle of water. Damn potong stim upon seeing the size of the bottle. Moreover, I need to drink lots water especially flying on plane and the bottle definitely wouldn’t be enough for both of us.

Still, we can’t afford to order another bottle as we were running out of Rupiahs! Thus, both of us tried drinking as little as possible to last us the entire flight. But eventually, my throat was so dry that I had to finish up the bottle and asked the stewardess for another bottle of water.

She came to me and told me that they have already closed the counter and gave me a cup of warm water instead! Without charging me anything!

Ahhh! I felt so thankful for what she did. She saved me from possible sore throat (which I didn’t want to have during travelling) and the fact that the water was warm is even better! My throat felt better instantly and I gave half to Sat to quench his throat. He was also surprised to see the lady passing me the water without charging me.

Probably they didn’t know how to charge me gua. Moreover it’s just water, not some fruit juice or wine or beer.

**If you are offered wine by the air stewardess, please opt for fruit juice or water, because wine and beer will make your throat feel even worst after that. Believe me, as I tried that before. Out of glamour (because first time being offered as usually the First Class and Business Class only got it), I took a glass of wine from her hand, slowly drank it and found myself requesting for 2-3 cups of water an hour later. LOL**

Soon, I could see land and sea from the plane window. I assumed that land is Surabaya as we’ve flown more than an hour. Lovely view, took few shots and continued whispering and giggling with Sat.

Then announcement of landing was made, where we were asked to fasten the seat belt, push up our seats, etc etc. I looked out of the window, and I saw this beautiful bay, lovely moon crested sand island just few metres away from the shore (which looked like highway built on top of the sand island. Haha!) and boats going in and out from the bay. I asked Sat to have a look at the place, and he asked me back, “where is that place? Kuta?”

I have no idea on where is that place. So I told him, “ya gua.” Haha.

Our plane began descending lower and lower and lower till the sea felt near. Okay, this plane is not a water plane (it’s not Maldives anyway), so it wouldn’t land on the sea. But because part of the runway is surrounded by the sea, that’s why the sea looked and felt near to me.

Didn’t know why those senget/blunder photos look nicer than the straight ones? Hmm.

I never been to Hawaii, but the moment I stepped onto the land of Bali, I felt like I was in HAWAII! Haha. My mind must have been jumbled up, or maybe I yearn for Hawaii too much that I see Bali as Hawaii – as they say Bali is the Hawaii of the East.

At that moment, I wished I bought the oversize lady straw hat in Prambanan for 20.000 Rupiah to cover my head and face. I didn’t take that as the lady refused to go a little bit lower at 15.000 Rupiah, and my mind forgot to convert the 20.000 Rupiah into RM7.50 at that moment. So yup, I should have close the deal!

As we were walking, the breeze coming from the sea felt like tho welcoming us to the land of Bali. Despite the sun shining directly on our skin, I didn’t feel any pain or hotness. Probably the wind made the rays gentler.

We walked into the Arriving Hall of Ngurah Rai International Airport, took our backpacks and then spotted our fellow friends, Jess, Steven and KeatMeng standing with the locals. Jess was holding signboards bearing “Adokys Travel – Mr. Satkuru”

Together with them were our guide, Mr. Yoga and a personnel from the agency – which I can’t remember his name. Ops. The travel personnel  introduced our guide to the rest of us and then accompanied us to our vehicle.

I was super excited upon seeing all five of them as it further confirmed that the Bali trip would be well-taken care of by the agency Sat engaged with. Finally we can totally relax and enjoy the whole trip. Before that we felt like we were living on a ticking bomb. T_T

When our van came (a-13-seats-van), we quickly loaded our backpacks and sat in the van. Then the travel agent bid us goodbye and our van left the airport with high spirits.

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Though it was RM2 more than the wrapping service I did in LCCT, they sealed my backpack very tightly that I don’t think people would want to waste time opening up my backpack after looking at it. Lol.

We then checked in and paid our departure tax of 25.000 Rupiah (RM9.30) at one of the tax counter, before entering the Departure Hall. My turkey before leaving Yogyakarta weighted 9.1kg.

We sat at the Departure Hall, Facebooking, tweeting, napping, talking, phototaking until we were bored. Our flight supposedly at 4.30 got delayed more than half an hour without any announcement. Luckily the Departure Hall is small, therefore easy to keep an eye on the boarding.

We made our way to the door once we saw 2 Air Asia’s stewardess opened the door and started accepting flight tickets.

We took AirAsia flight from Yogyakarta to Jakarta and the journey took about 1 hour. The flight was rather shaky as we had to go through the clouds. I’ve faced worst air turbulence before, so that shakiness was considered okay though some passengers on board were quite terrified. Lol.

We touched down the Soekarno-Hatta Airport at around 7 something Jakarta time. Jakarta’s time is same as ours, so we readjusted our wristwatch to an hour later.

It was raining quite heavily when we reached. I dreaded thinking about walking on the ground holding the red umbrella! Thankfully, there were red buses, ferrying us from the airplane to the airport. *Phew!

The airport is big, and modern. The amounts of luggage conveyer belts are plenty, and there weren’t any sign showed to which belts our backpacks will come out. Fortunately, our plane was the only one there in the airport; and it didn’t take long till then one of the conveyer belts started moving.

Quickly, we took out our backpacks and thankfully we wrapped them as the bags were wet when we got them.

A bit further up, we came to an almost round desk with 2 polite speaking Indonesian behind. They called us, asking if we need transportation to anywhere.

So we went to them, asking on the price, the transportation to Jl. Jaksa. They were trying to sell us their package, I can’t remember what package; but we ended up agreeing on taking 2 Toyota Alphards running on meter.

Okay, to be frank, I didn’t remember how Alphard looks at the moment we agreed on taking that though I keep seeing them on roads back in Penang. I weren’t as excited as the rest until I saw the vehicle and sat inside it.

It was quite dark and I didn’t have much time to retake the car since we were in a hurry so let it be blur! Muahaha!

And OMG! It’s seriously one LUXURY CAR! Who on earth goes vacationing and takes Alphard as taxi to a shabby place in Jl. Jaksa? And our driver is one heck of a cool guy too! He’s very friendly, he spoke to us about the city, the culture, the malls, BAK PAO, and many more.

This pic also blurry but I don’t care! Muahaha!

We were required to pay for the toll on the expressway we took. 10.000 Rupiah (RM3.70). The other car panicked, and called us on the payment. Sat told them that we have to pay for that as said over the desk.

After that, we continued talking. He explained on the black market taxis, and how it’s better to get reliable ones like the Blue Bird Taxi. I can’t remember the whole conversation, but something about not being conned by the illegal ones. The funny thing about the bak pao conversation was he suddenly said those words loudly when we asked him what the guy is selling at the middle of the highway. We were shocked upon hearing that because back in Malaysia, bak is considered non-halal; to the point that they want to rename the famous bak kut teh dish to chi kut teh. –“ He said the bak pao isn’t only made of pork meat, but of chicken meat, kaya, vegetable, beef too – just that they are all called bak pao in general. Afterall, it’s just a word. Imagine selling bak pao to our brothers and sisters in Malaysia, they would have freaked out upon hearing those words though the filling is chicken or vege or kaya or beef.

The driver made me feel more multicultural in Jakarta, than in Malaysia. How sad. As we were moving towards the city, more and more malls are seen. I kept going ahhhh and wow at the malls as they are all big and beautifully decorated! Then our driver told us that in Jakarta itself, there are like more than hundreds mall and soon are still building. Really jaw-dropped after hearing that. We then passed by a big roundabout. It looked so beautiful at night and I wished that we could stop for a while that time. But knowing that the meter was moving, it’s better to reach our destination as soon as possible.

Soon, our taxi went into a lane, with a signboard bearing Jl. Jaksa at the entrance. As our taxi driver didn’t know where the Hotel Le Margot is (as he normally drives to the bigger and well-known hotels), he asked for our help in looking for the place. The hotel is situated in the middle of the street. As we didn’t make any reservation beforehand, Sat went down to check on the room availability. Before that, he requested for the driver to stop the meter. The rest of us stayed in the car, talking.

I remembered making a joke on asking Ailing to go for this massage that can make people taller that I saw in Yogyakarta the day before. Our driver overheard that and he interrupted us by telling that massage really exists and it works; making all of us turned to him and listened attentively. But he told us that those who want to do that needs to being massaged for 4-5 times only it works. On the amount of increment of height, he said about 13 cm. 13 cm!!! That’s like a lot! I too got interested in that and threw even more questions to him, where we ended up laughing even harder.

He’s one very good driver, and his name is Dade/Dedi – can’t remember the exact spelling but it’s pronounced as ‘daddy’. Lol.

Then Sat came back. He told us the Hotel Le Margot was full house that night but he managed to get us rooms at Bloem Steen Hostel. I read about the place before, though the place is not as well as Hotel Le Margot, the cheaper price compensating it all.

The meter showed 197.000+++ Rupiah. He rounded it up and asked for 200.000 Rupiah (RM75) when we asked for payment. We gladly gave him as his service was excellent and joyful! That’s 40.000 Rupiah (RM15) per person.

We said goodbye to our nice ‘Dade’, and walked along the dark alley towards Bloem Steen Hostel. There was a guy sitting at the wooden chair in front of the door, welcoming us by saying, “Welcome to my world.” As Sat already checked-in our names, we got the keys to our rooms, threw bags into our rooms, refreshed and sorted out the payments for the hotel rooms, the taxi and the toll. The triple room I stayed with Ailing and Emily costs 85.000 Rupiah (RM31).

Then all of us went out to hunt for food along Jl. Jaksa.

Multiple post : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

I’ve been Indonificated in just 6 days!

Since I’m still feeling Indonised, I shall quickly summarize the whole trip before I went into details. Ah~ I can still ‘hear’ the Javanese music playing in my head.

In just 6 days, I’ve…

1. took 6 flights. Fly cheap and further with AirAsia!

2. been to 3 cities. Yogyakarta, Jakarta and Bali! ♥

3. spent 5 nights at 5 different places

4. attained ‘Nirvana’ at Borobudur temple

5. paid 17.5% of service charge for food!

6. conquered Mount Batur

7. drank the most expensive coke 1.5km above sea

8. bathed black, salty water

9. had Alphard as taxi!

10. got denied access to 2 holy temples because of menstrual.

11. addicted to teh botol

12. spoke and bargained in Bahasa Indon

13. fascinated by chickens! They look so prosperous!

14. ate the overrated babi guling

15. awed at the great statue of Wisnu!!!

16. sipped one of the most expensive coffee in the world – coffee luwak

17. turned backpack bag into turkey

18. went gaga over ronde

19. sarong-ed ourselves before entering temple

20. fall in love with the blue sea, again

21. Bought camera battery for IDR275.000 because forgotten to bring. Dang!

22.  Left my mark at Kuta beach

23. …and used more than 1.5 million rupiah! And yet I didn’t buy enough souvenirs!!!!

And thank god I decided to go broke and get the wide angle lens. I brought my kit lens there and I didn’t use it at all! All pictures in Indon were taken with wide angle! Damn umph!!!

Now, I’ve to go back to mundane life and slowly get rid of the post-vacation-syndrome.

♥ Can’t wait for July!!! ♥

However, I’ve decided to blog real short. I’ll just say that 5 of us, Leemay, me, Kurubee, Ailing and Emily boarded the earliest flight to LCC Terminal to meet up with the rest (Aaron and William) before boarding the afternoon flight to Phnom Penh, Cambodia and we had fun in Cambodia.
The end.
Haha!

Nah, you wish it’s short. This will be a super long one.
MUAHAHAHA!

The journey to Phnom Penh took about 2 hours. The plane was full of our local people, their local people and some of the non-local people. Confusing? Nevermind if you don’t understand. Haha. I remembered that during the flight there was a strong ‘ikan masin’ stench that bothered us till Emily suddenly complained bout it quite loud in Hokkien.

Luckily their local people doesn’t understand Hokkien. Haha!

And no, the stench didn’t go away. -.-”

Because all of us didn’t have a good sleep the night before, so we were trying to catch some winks. But just as we were about to fall alseep, annoucement was made, asking us to show our air ticket to claim our on-board meal.

Guess what we had?

The DIY 1901 hotdog that came with a sesame bun, a sausage, a packet of vege pickles, black pepper, and 3 packets of sauces -  mayonise, mustard and ketchup.

Our plane landed soon and we found ourselves on 2 tuk tuks costed USD7 each, leaving the airport to our guesthouse, Capitol Guesthouse.

It was one hell of roller coaster ride for us! I felt so insecured sitting on the tuk tuk as there’s no safety belt to buckle and it’s so open! I fear that I’ll just simply fall off the tuk tuk when the driver took a quick left/right turn. Moreover the road was bumpy and uneven (especially when moving on the red gravel road). It’s so bumpy that my butt practically lifted off the seat few times and my heart stopped for that second in fear of falling off the tuk tuk.
Scary sial!

The traffic in Phnom Penh – ohmy, it was horrible, terrible, worst traffic order that I’ve ever seen! Vehicles are seen crossing the intersection even with the traffic lights flashing red on their lanes! Yet amidst all the traffic madness, we couldn’t find a single dent nor scar mark (resulted from accident) on their vehicles. Remarkeable right? Hmm…

Other than that, taking a tuk tuk is a fast and good way to look at the surrounding and beat the traffic as it zooms around fast, and manage to squeez its way around the busy roads in Phnom Penh.

I saw many unique buildings along the way but I knew that I couldn’t have the time to visit them. So, the only thing I could do is by taking pictures of them. On tuk tuk. While clutching the pole with my arm. Lol!

I spotted an obvious ‘trend’ in Cambodia. First it was a row of shops selling fruits, then came another row of shops selling flowers. As we moved on, we saw a row of shops selling antique watches, followed by another row of shops offering typing/writing service.
Get the trend?

In Cambodia, it seems like all shops selling/offering the same thing are ‘put’ on a same row. It really made me wonder how they keep their business going since the rest of the row doing the same business too? Probably the road there are named after the type of business there; like Flower Road, Fruits Road, etc.
*I’m just kidding, I don’t know what’s the name of that road.*

As our tuk tuk moved passed the Orussey market, the strong fragrance coming from fried/grilled food hit our nose and sent a weird signal to our tummy making them to growl. It was 5 something in Phnom Penh that time, and I was feeling a little bit hungry.

We reached our destination after passing the oh-so-jam-road. Kurubee quickly proceed with the check-in process and then we were led to our room.

The picture above is the boy’s room. I unfortunately forgotten to take picture of our room. *smack head*

But I did take pictures from the balcony of our room. The door was actually locked, but somehow we managed to open up the door and 4 of us – Leemay, Ailing, Emily and me snapped like nobody’s business. Hahaha!

We refreshed ourselves and half an hour later, we passed the keys to our room to the registration lady and walked down to the kopitiam below (owned by the guesthouse too) where B settled the next day’s sightseeing with the lady boss. By 7pm, we found ourselves bargaining with the 7-8 tuk tuk drivers for a trip to the famous Sisowath Quay.

I realised the post is a bit long for my liking, and the coming one will be long too so I guess I’ll stop here today. Stay tune for this…

Toodles~

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