Dive Trip: Dayang, Malaysia 30 June - 01 July 2010

Basic Open Water course...

Havent got the time to update my blog since July 2010! Gosh.. I have missed out alot and will have alot to update as well.

Sharing with you some photos from my very first open water dives in July.  It was nerve wrecking.. at the some time really fun!
Theres the group of Open Water and Leisure Divers!!

Are you able to recognise which is me?

Jakarta, Indonesia : 25-27 June 2010

24 June 2010, the day I am officially a year older.
Thank you RJ for birthday dinner and KTV. It was nice.

The next day, Im off to Jakarta....
I vaguely remember the last time I travelled to Jakarta at the age of 5? Wow, that is really LONG time ago. This place seems so unfamiliar...

Gran Melia Hotel

Fantastic King Size Bed... unfortunately, the pillow flattens the moment I lie on it.. giving me neckache for 2 nights!

My all time favourite.. bath tub! Of course, being bath tub fanatic, I have to make full use of this. Bath Bomb + Milk Bath... woooo.....heaven.....



Grand Indonesia Mall

Indoor man-made ''water feature'' in the mall... Japanese style. Is it?

My lunch after dropping my bags at the hotel room. Errmm... cant remember the name of the restuarant (located @ Grand Indonesia Mall). The food was alright... ordered ''black soup"......taste rather weird though, but no harm trying. (I cant remember what is it called.... argh!)


Dapur Baba Restuarant

 

From the exterior, looks like just another restuarant along a dark street. But since its recommended, it shouldnt be that bad.

The moment I stepped in.... WOW.... not bad.
Very uniquely decorated restuarant, but its rather ''rojak'' in terms of where the ornaments come from, seems like its picked from all over the world. Chinese, Indonesian, almost everywhere....

Im seated in front of 2 portrait hanging on the wall... (no idea where they come from!) felt so uncomfortable cause ''they'' seemed to be staring at me!

Dinner was simple yet unique. A combination of simple food make the whole course unique, thats what I mean.

2nd day @ Jakarta











Huge pool, I would be too silly not to swim.
80laps x 50m... can you imagine that. It was tiring but rather ''shiok''!  A good exercise.

What should you do after such exercise? A soak in the tub....... feels like heaven!

Lunch at Pondok Laguna before heading to the airport back to Singapore.
I must say, this is the best meal of the whole trip. A table of local food... my favourite was the Crispy fried Gurame Fish.

For Jakarta, 3D2N is more than enough... nothing much to for me to do except shopping, eating, shopping, eating.... Maybe the next time I should travel out to other states like Bandung, factory outlet!!! Yay!!! Shopping!!! Again!!!
(ladies will not get tired of shopping....)

But before that... I would like to plan a trip to Bali... a place that I've been wanting to go for a long time... no chance yet :(
Got a feeling that I can go soon..... I hope!

I enjoyed myself... relaxation, soak in the tub, massage, food, shopping.... its great! Thank you!!

China, Shanghai World Expo 2010, 8-16 May 2010

Its has been 2 months since I came back from Shanghai. Extended my trip for another 4 days...

900+ shots taken, give me some time....

3 Days, 4 States, 1000KM : 27 - 29 March 2010

Having to wake move off from Sengkang at 6am in the morning, we didnt have enough time for breakfast at all. Fortunately we managed to clear both Woodlands and Malaysia Customs in about 1.5hours time. Not too bad for a Friday morning. 

First stop: Breakfast @ JB, Kedai Koptiam.

We (Jason & I) were all so excited about the PAU Stanley and Angela have been talking about since they got into the car. ''MUST TRY!''

I must say that this is one of the best breakfast I had in Yr2010, recommendations by this couple will never go wrong. They are known for eating as they go... oops! sorry, they are not glutton but they just LOVE foooood!

Johor Bahru - Muar - Kuala Lumpur - Malacca
3D2N Drive-up trip to Malaysia with Jason, Stanley & Family.

Genting Highlands, Outdoor Themepark

Kedai Kopi Tang Chuan @ JB

Yummy BIG pau! Ah Ta patiently waiting to be fed.

Just cant wait to get a bite of that pau!

Marketing, snacks for our hotel stay.

Arrived @ Muar

 

Confirmed: Shanghai World Expo 2010, 8-12 May 2010

This time, I am going solo......

Been hearing a lot about the Shanghai World Expo opening on 01 May 2010 from colleagues...
They are so tied up with the preparation of the pavilion, shuttling in between Shanghai and Singapore at least once a week every week! Its crazy.

Having learnt about the background and purpose of this expo, I am seriously interested to visit (I guess my lovely colleague will be able to get ONE ticket for me?) *fingers crossed*
I would love to bring my D80, tripod, filters, lens.... for this trip (OK now, that's my 2nd purpose of this trip!) Photography... it's time that I continue to capture all the moments. I NEED TO GET A FLASH GUN!

Currently, I am at the planning stage and of course saving money for the flight which will cost me SGD1023 return. Any sponsor out there? Please....... I promise I'll try to bring some wonderful photos!
As for accommodation, I'll try to bunk in with one of my LOVELY colleague if possible?! I'm not a spender when it comes to accommodation as long as the bed and bath is clean and proper.

What I need to do now? Spend less, save MORE. Loads and loads of photography practice sessions.

I am so looking forward to this and hope everything will go as planned.


One thing at a time, Genting Highland, I'm on my way!

Updates: Booked my SQ flight for S$670 (AMEX promo). Thank you Uncle Ronald for your AMEX card!  
My trip to Shanghai will proceed as planned!

Let's eat some dirt! : 15 - 16 February 2010 - Tristan Park, Malaysia

The day has come. The day to eat some dirt and when I say eat, I mean it.

About 8.15am, we arrived at Changi Point Ferry Terminal for the bumboat to Pengerang. Go down the stairs, and hand your passports over to the elders at the counter (I guess they are the bumboat owners?)
Registration for the boat ride is rather slow but I cant blame or complain as they are so used to their way of doing things, as long as I get on the boat, I am ok with it.

 

 

A slow 45 minutes later, we arrived at Tg Pengelih Ferry Terminal, called Tristan's staff for a pick up to Tristan Park. 

This is the beginning of the ''fun''............... And what do I mean by ''fun''?

A quick 5 minutes from the terminal, we arrived at Tristan Park, the sight of all the scrams simply excites me. Initially we opted for the WRs but was told that Kawasaki KLX was assigned to us intead? I am ok with the KLX as I've never ride for a period of time. But for him, its definitely a no no as KLX simply do not have enough power. Good thing that we brought the email with the confirmation on the booking of WR. So, it is definitely good to have a form of black & white. :)

 

After putting on all the protective gears (elbow, knee guards, helmet, gloves), I hop on the KLX for a short quick warm up up and down the roads around the area. I must say, a skill will never be lost even though I haven been riding a manual bike for the longest period of time. 5 years? Yes, 5 years.

I was quite put off by the condition of the gloves as most of them were torn with holes here and there. How can one be protected by these gloves? 

Oh yes, please remember to bring your sunglasses as they do not provide riding goggles. One thing that I totally regret not bringing, the ride was disrupted by the sands getting into my eyes. 

 

 Off we go........ we headed off to the plantation with other 6 guys from Singapore (their first time as well).
Everything was going on well initially, but our ride was disrupted from the bikes breakdown and each time it can take up to 30minutes. During this 30minutes, we can only sit around and eat more dirt each time a car/motorbike pass by.

Our 1st round took us more than 4 hours........

Some photos taken while we were waiting.................... this is the ''fun'' of it................

 

 

 I am not a poser! I did ride the WR up and down the sandy road!

 

A stranded biker fallen and injured, thinking of hitching a ride from anyone that passes by......

 

What a view.... another break from another break down.... 

 

 

 

Did he had an accident from the ride? Nah.... just some dirt from the long wait from yet another break down.

 

Zebra sun burn pattern.... something I thought I will never see again after graduating from SSDC riding school....

 

 

This is where all the FUN begin....... with 2 guides to us riding up the hills for a 2nd time. 

Up and down slopes filled with gravels and dust, we reach the top for a short break after 30-45minutes of thrill. 

Some photos before we headed down and back to our ''camp''.

This is the only part of the day (1hr or so) that we truly enjoyed and had fun without all the breakdowns and hiccups... just some true hardcore dirt biking!

 

 

 

Sunset at Tanjung Kapal Beach Resort

 

Our standard chalet. Definitely not worth the money paid for. 

 

 

Not forgetting the ''photographer's'' habit, this time without my DSLR. :P

 

11.30am the next morning, we called Tristan for our transport back to ferry terminal and was shocked by the number of people at the registration counter back to Singapore. Apparently, all the bumboats are fully booked till 7pm. Even at 7pm, they cant confirm 2 seats for us as we're placed on waiting list.

We decided to call for a taxi to bring us back to JB checkpoint instead. Without even asking how much is cost us to get back via taxi, we approached Tristan for help but was brushed aside, then we approached the security guard over at terminal and fortunately one of them has the contact.

20 minutes later........................

Taxi arrived and wants to charge us RM180 for the trip, having provided the information from Jason that we are only 30-40km away from JB, I thought that RM180 was simply too expensive and bargained to RM150. Driver accepted it hesitantly...

Off we go in the taxi...... To my surprise, we were actually more than 160km away and that explains the RM180 that the driver wanted to charge. Therefore, we decided to pay the driver more than we initially agreed on : RM100 + SGD30 (insufficient RM in our pockets).

With all the walking, bus rides, waiting time for taxi after Singapore checkpoint, we finally arrived home at 7pm. Imagine we were to board the bumboat at 7pm (if we were lucky enough to get a seat), we would only arrive home at about 8pm or even later.

This was a trip filled with highs and lows, frustrations and excitements.
It is the experience that makes it priceless.

Total Spending: SGD360 (approx.)
Tristan ride: SGD180 (2 bikes)
Bumboat to Pengerang: SGD20
Chalet: RM160 per night
Transfer: RM30
Transport back to SG: RM160

NEXT STOP: GENTING HIGHLANDS, KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA