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Category: Travel

I Love Hong Kong

I love Hong Kong, City Where Asian Dreams Are Made Of. =D

Oh hello people, I am now in Hong Kong. Yeah, that’s right, the New York of Asia, just so much smaller than New York City but impressive and awesome skyscrapers. No I am not having a school holiday right now, just I am “forced” to come to holiday because university told us that I have a longer break but they changed the break schedule and so I couldn’t cancel my flight and hotel reservation, so again, I am here!

King’s Road, 英皇道。

To include my first visit when I was super young, this is my 3rd visit. Although I have already visited most of the attractions, still the feeling of visiting here again and again feels good, and friendly. I just love the atmosphere, the people, the skyscrapers, the MRT, the food and everything. It isn’t expensive afterall, somemore cheap than Singapore!

A little bit quiet here.

Arrived here at about 6.30pm and reached hotel at about 9pm because we took the public bus to save cost. So didn’t check out much, just walked around North Point. Weather was pretty cold on arrival, but the body slowly got suitable with the temperature around. It’s around 13-17 degree celcius here. =)

Gonna wake up early tomorrow early to do some little Hong Kong island tour on the tram while waiting for my brother to arrive here at noon. So good night! Happy last day of Chinese New Year too!

February 17, 2011
Duty Free Shopping Complex at Betong – Pengkalan Hulu Border

Hello people I am back. Sorry for on and off in blogging lately, it’s pretty difficult to manage my time right now due to heavy assignment load and holiday activities. Haha. As you know I just finished off my Chinese New Year break lately and same as previous year, I and my family will go to Pengkalan Hulu for a Chinese New Year gathering with relatives.

I have to say that it’s still as boring as before, somehow fun a little bit because get to meet all my relatives and cousin that’s long-time-no-see.

Because of boring-ness, and nothing-to-do, we went to the Duty Free Shopping Complex by the border of Betong, Thailand and Pengkalan Hulu, Malaysia. Pengkalan Hulu is a suburb super little small town in Perak, near to Thailand and it’s super duper peace. It’s my grandma’s hometown. =)

So back to the Duty Free Shopping Complex. Didn’t expect much, it’s just taking a little time off from sitting in the house doing nothing. The shopping house was not big but surprisingly people come and go. Both Malaysian and Thailand.

Since it’s a quiet town and there’s nothing much to see at there. Many chocolate, got clothing also, and also alcohol and food. But not really cheap, except for liquor. Though we, Malaysian cannot buy liquor without tax. Too bad.

Lalalalala. A supermarket in the middle of forest.

He is my brother. =)

Yeah, Apple. This is a little random post. =) Spent like half an hour there and we went back. One thing, we didn’t bring passport but still get to go through the custom because we told the custom just to visit the Duty Free thing. Somehow, we still can’t go through the Thailand custom. Yo.

February 13, 2011
Bandung Travel: Random Walkaround At Jl. Riau Area

Let’s talk back about my Bandung travel trip which I had last year. One of the places I went was Jalan Riau or simply known as Riau Road. This place is famous for many boutique outlet stores, but then the best was not there. The best outlet store, Rumah Mode is at other road.

On my first dat at Bandung, I arrived in the afternoon, after checked in and settled down our luggage at the hotel, we went to take a cab to Jl. Riau for a walk as this place is recommended by the Internet.

Well, in a simple town, not very small town, the traffic at there is pretty bad which is quite surprising. I though stuff like traffic jam only occur at big city or capital city of a country but this town on the Jawa island has a very bad traffic. Cab driver told us that many people from Jakarta would drive to Bandung during the weekends and that’s explain the traffic congestion.

It took us like 45 minutes to reach Jl. Riau and I stucked my face on the cab windows all the time. =D Another nice thing was that the cab ran on meter, which is not like the irresponsible cab in Malaysia, sucks.

The weather at there was a little bit dark, drizzled a little bit but we still manage to walk on the street. The cab drop us at somewhere I am not sure. I saw many many boutique outlet stores at there. Some say the brand at the outlet is authentic, some say is fake, and I feel it’s fake, and it’s top-grade immitation. Somehow, they are cheap!

Not many people walk on the street, but I see many cars. Tourist were like a little but locals were many!

It’s pretty interesting to check out those fashion boutique outlet. Branding from Versace, Lacoste, Polo and more. The outlets are really big and all have pretty nice interior design and store architecture.

Night falls, had dinner somewhere around there then we took a cab and went back to hotel. To Chi-Walk, we went and that’s the place where Sensa Hotel is located at.

Chi-Walk or Chihampelas Walk is another shopping destination on Jalan Chihampelas, but this is like a mini shopping mall for the locals and it’s quite cool. I just know that their stores are more high end and nicer than my hometown, Penang. Wow.

Well, the temperature at night is pretty cool, like 21-24 degree celcius. Like in a aircon room. Nice.

Bandung, yeah!

January 17, 2011
Bandung Travel: Fly From KLIA To Bandung Then Check-In At Sensa Hotel

Hello people, I think it’s time to share some traveling post with you guys. As you know, I went to Bandung, the cheap outlet shopping heaven of East Indonesia. It’s also my first visit and first step into the simple red and white flag, Indonesia, the neighbour country to Malaysia. I never thought of going to Indonesia all the time until I met a few Indonesian friend in university, they share about their culture and life at home then I found it’s kinda interesting.

When talking about Indonesia, most people know about Jakarta and Bali, I am not sure about Bandung. I think it only started to be famous just recently with the bloom of fashion outlet business. Bandung is well-known for selling branded clothing at outlet store, don’t know authentic or fake.

Anyway, I went to Bandung. =D Instead of flying from Penang, we flew from KLIA, Kuala Lumpur International Airport. It’s my second time being at this airport, the first time was very very super duper young like 10 years ago? I don’t really remember the outlook and the inner look of my home country’s biggest airport.

I have been to quite a few big airport in the world like the Changi Airport in Singapore, Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou, Hong Kong Airport and so on. KLIA is huge but it made me disappointed because it’s not cool like airport at other country. The crowds were not there, it’s pretty quiet and I didn’t see much international flight. In term of airport shopping experience, there’s not many cool shop when compare to the Changi Airport in Singapore or even the Bangkok’s. Hope that they could improve their service and bring in more tourists and airport user.

So we took Malaysian Airlines to go to Bandung. As far as I know, Air Asia does fly to Bandung too and I don’t know already. Since Malaysian Airlines have almost the same rate as Air Asia that time, we picked Malaysian Airline because they have better hospitality on board with air-meals.

Forgot to mention the time that I went to Bandung, it was mid-August. =)

It was a afternoon flight and we were already there since 9am. Actually dad, mom and brother came from Penang to KL and I was in KL meet up with them. After checking in our luggage and ticket, we proceeded into the departure terminal. Due to nothing to shop or see in there, we spent our morning at Old Town White Coffee.

It’s a nice place to sit down and wait for flight as it’s just by the window, over looking the airfield and airplanes. Just sad that there’s not much airplanes going up and coming down and one funny thing is that it’s all Malaysian Airlines, I didn’t see other airlines, maybe that side was cater to Malaysian Airlines only.

From Kuala Lumpur to Bandung took about 2 hours. We got on the planes, sit for a while and the air-meal was served already. Not bad, kinda nice then I stuck my head on the windows all the time and didn’t want to take a nap, hoping that I could see superman flying in the sky. Haha, just kidding.

Sooner, I see lands and hills, a big piece of lands, different from hometown Penang where you will see seas, then I know I am there already. It’s hilly and the terrain are not flat. Bad urban planning and it’s buildings are not built “organizedly”.

The plane landed and I see a mini airport, looks a bit like the old airport of Penang, or the one at Phuket, Thailand.

There’s only a helicopter and our plane at there, no more and the cute thing is that there’s only one landing and take off lane.

Then we walked… No connecting bridge to the plane.

And get our passport stamped at the immigration. For your information, the departure and arrival share the same hall and counters. Go in and then out. It’s really a super duper duper small airport, but it’s international! I think Johor’s Senai Airport is bigger than this place man.

We then look for a cab to take us to our hotel, Sensa Hotel. Looking around the place, with old old buildings and people who don’t look Chinese, it feels like Thailand to me. But the local people are kinda tiny to be honest. So there are many different races in Asia.

Traveling from Bandung airport to hotel is like 15-20 minutes depend on traffic. It’s also the same left hand drive at Indonesia and the traffic at there not very nice. Weather felt a little bit windy, not very warm, I assumed it’s around 26 degree celsius, kinda nice.

The first impression of Bandung to me was like a little bit like Thailand, then it feels like Penang to me because of the houses and lots of trees. The bungalow and houses at there have the architecture of Dutch element because it was once Dutch’s settlement, long ago.

Sensa Hotel is quite a new hotel and it was ready 3 months ago before we arrived. We booked it online and it’s US$80 per night. Consider cheap, provided they have very good service, free WiFi, lots of cable channel, nice view, clean, and nice breakfast. =D

Hopefully the price would not hike and stay or even lessen. Another thing is that it’s located on Chihampelas Walk, which is a nice shopping district in Bandung. Though, traffic on that road is very bad, all the time, always jam!

Coming up, I will talk about shopping in Bandung, sightseeing and more! =)

January 5, 2011
Chicken Rice Served On Aeroline Bus

I took the Aeroline bus from Penang down to Kuala Lumpur, the bus is not like typical intercity express bus, but it’s something more luxurious with food and drinks served just like in an airplane, except there’s 4 wheels. LOL.

They have different menu for different time, I heard there’s nasi lemak, fried bee hoon, chicken rice and also Subway sandwich. As for my time, I took the morning bus at 1030am, they served me Chicken Rice. It’s warm and surprisingly the chicken was not bad, except for the rice, doesn’t taste like chicken rice to me. The gravy was nice when eating with the rice and chicken.

Food on-the-bus was not bad. Haha

May 17, 2010
Went to KL to Check Out MIFF with Dad

Last weekend, there’s a exhibition/expo happened in the capital, Kuala Lumpur. It’s the Malaysia International Furniture Fair. Dad is in part of the furnishing business so he brought us along to Kuala Lumpur. Usually, going there would be more likely a shopping trip for me and mommy but somehow, I didn’t really buy anything. It’s more like a business-acompany trip, nothing to buy actually and there’s no sale in Malaysia.

To be honest, I am not really into the furniture and related expo, I only interested in something like Electronic Gaming Expo or the Consumer Electronics Show, Tokyo Game Show or perhaps the Taiwan Computex. They’re cool and bombastic gadgets show, which I like! Somehow, I need to be interested in furniture because I will be doing interior design course in college. Yeah.

Quite a lovely rainy day in Kuala Lumpur, it rained so big, the cats and dogs type of rain, it’s nice because it had been very hot weather since Chinese New Year. Temperature here in Malaysia is sky rocket high.

It’s interesting that the MIFF was not located on one venue only, it’s spread out to 3 convention hall, the KLCC, PWTC and MECC. I didn’t really have the feel to tour KL so was just following daddy here and there to do his business.

After finish touring the exhibition hall, we went to check-in at the hotel. We stayed at Concorde. It’s a walk-in as I tried to book hotel but many hotels were fully booked and it’s quite last minute too. Thankfully, there’s still room in Concorde.

Penang also got Jalan P. Ramlee.

We then walked to Avenue K which just right opposite KLCC. From the hotel to Avenue K is like 15 minutes away only, very close, and passed by the night life district.

Have been to KL for so many times, been shopping in Suria KLCC for so many times and it’s my first time getting so close to KLCC, right below it. I now only believe that it’s so magnificent even though it’s not the tallest now. Still, it’s the tallest STAINLESS STEEL TWIN tower in the world. ^^

Malaysia BOLEH.

It’s really a beautiful building and it’s a must visit and photograph if you come to Malaysia.

Avenue K is actually a shopping mall, but then no idea why, there’s no shop inside. There’s only a few restaurant and we went there for dinner. I actually visited the supercondo above Avenue K before, it was like last year. =)

Nice uncle living in KL brought us to this Ah Yat Abalone chinese restaurant. Nice food, nice place!

After dinner, I went to Suria KLCC to window shop a while because it’s still early and I didn’t want to go back to the hotel so soon, as there’s no Internet access also. So might as well stay outside a little while longer. Only then we walked back to the hotel. Then sleep. ^^

Views from hotel room. Saw Hard Rock Cafe yeah. Penang got Hard Rock Hotel.

The next day, went to visit Taylor’s College Lakeside Campus, very beautiful and only then a real window shopping at Suria KLCC again where dad went to visit to MIFF, KLCC hall. Then came back to Penang in evening. Yeah!

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March 13, 2010
Second Day of Tiger Chinese New Year at Pengkalan Hulu

If you are a long follower of my blog, you must have already know that every second day for Chinese New Year, daddy will drive us down to Pengkalan Hulu, Perak, somewhere far inside, near to the Thailand border where my uncle’s house is located. It’s the same every year ever since I was small. Why there? It’s my grandma’s hometown.

My uncle’s house very boring one, there’s no Astro, no broadband, no shopping mall, no aircon, very hot at there. There’s only a TV with local TV station and my entertainment at there was watching local TV show and drove there around to see what’s around.

It’s very hot day, don’t know why so hot and there’s no air con. Dad drove us around the town and went as far as to the Thailand border. Too bad we didn’t bring passport, or else we would already get over it to check Thailand out.

Went to Klian Intan again, 10 minutes drive from Pengkalan Hulu town, it’s a kampung where my grandma’s real hometown. No idea why we went there, probably because we had no place to go already.

Very small little place, with population less than 400 I guess.

Back to the house again and watch TV. Still remember there’s Stephen Chow’s movie showing on that afternoon, it got rid a little bit of our boredom.

At 5pm, we had our meal ready, it’s a very early dinner for us. Usually I have dinner at later than 7pm, but at there, they eat at 5pm. Wow.

A very unfortunate thing occurred that night and that’s my mom’s handphone had accidentally dropped into the toilet bowl, luckily there’s no shit or pee. But still it feels yucky and dirty. Phone is dead and I dare not try to turn it on because it had been into the bowl before. A chance for mom to get herself a new phone. Hohoho. She always doesn’t want to change her phone to a better one and now there’s a chance for her already.

We went back to Penang at night and it’s late. Brother and I were hungry again and I brought him to Abu to eat Fried Maggi Mee. We were too hungry and we had double, in the end, full until cannot sleep that night. Shit.

March 3, 2010
Hat Yai’s Street Food for Supper

I went to Hat Yai, Thailand recently. It’s very near to Malaysia and it can be said as my first trip to Hat Yai because I don’t really have any memory of my previous trip when I was very very very young. Thai food are very nice, I like but then some are not very hygiene, anyway, don’t care about the cleanliness, let’s talked about food I had.

After a nice tradition Thai foot massage, it’s 12am Malaysian time and it’s only 11pm Thailand’s time, we were walking along the street, on the way back to hotel. Then we saw a street food stall by the road side and dad decided to eat something.

he stall sells Koay Teow Thng ala Thai’s Chinese style and Chinese desserts (Tong Sui). Mom went to buy Thai’s 油条 (mandarin:you2 tiao2), a.k.a. yao zhar kway or Chinese doughnut. The shape was so different from what we have and it’s not hot.

The way of eating it is not eating with porridge as we Chinese do, or with Bak Kut Teh, or with soya milk like that Taiwanese does. They eat it with kaya sauce. Pretty special and the kaya sauce was sweet. First time eating you tiao in this way. One thing, if the you tiao was crispy and warm then it’s great.

We also ordered the Thai’s koay teow thng. From the look, it’s looks the same, but then when putting it into the mouth, it’s so different. There’s fish ball, meat balls, and some pork. The soup was very clear, different taste, like lack of lard and garlic. The koay teow, or aka flat noodle, was a bit fatter. Afterall, I still prefer Penang’s koay teow thng. ^^

I also ordered a bowl of their Chinese dessert aka tong shui. Tell you what, it’s super duper sweet, not good for health man. They really put a lot of sugar into it. Oh my god.

February 17, 2010
Hat Yai Travel: Hat Yai At Night, Before My Camera Went Dead

Yes, you read me. My camera, Canon 400D went dead on the first night in Hat Yai and which made me feel sad and I couldn’t shoot for the second day.

Oh my god. Luckily, I at least got photos on the first day so I could write it up here. To me, traveling without a camera is not call traveling already, I can’t live without a camera when traveling, I want to capture every moment of it because I don’t know whether I will be going there again or not.

Cut the crap and here comes the photos!

During the evening, I went to meet up a relatives who live in Hat Yai. We call him Wen Shok, I don’t know how to relate him to me, I only know he is close to my grandma. He brought us to see his new home in Hat Yai. It’s a 3 storey shop house.

And at there, I also met his very cute grandson, who can listens to Mandarin more than Thai. Cool right? I didn’t get his name though. Not really interested in new home and my phone GPS had some problem locating my location and I was bored at time. No choice, have to follow my parents.

Then we were brought to a very cool Thai restaurant near the university area. They have a very nice garden and the interior has a cottage-liked look. Like.

Gas station. Woo!

After dinner, we went back to our hotel area. Stalls were all set up by the road side and it’s a shopping street again and, Thai-style night street shopping, it’s just the same at every where in Thailand, Phuket, Bangkok. So, it’s nothing special to me already.

Quite many people went shopping too. I heard from the talking, most speaks Mandarin and Hokkien, so I assumed they were tourists who were from somewhere near my place. =D Another interesting thing is that the Thai at there speaks Mandarin too! We don’t need to speak English or point this and that anymore. Though, I don’t really like this because I like pointing this and that, it’s more challenging. Hehe.

Most stuff by the street were clothes and shoes. Nothing much already.

Boy sleeping while mom’s working.

Mango?

Then food is at another corner.

Famous fish tank/aquarium in Hat Yai. O.O

There’s 3 of us, me, dad and mom and the only person who was really shopping was mom only. Me and dad, two were just like bodyguard, following here and there.

The not-boring part was the foot and neck massage. Really relaxing and it’s one hour at there. The person do my foot, then a little bit of my hand and my neck too! Now I know why dad so like Thai massage.

After a massage would be some supper. It’s 11pm and 12am Malaysian time already, no wonder I felt sleepy a little bit at that moment.

Was planning to go to a live band bistro after supper but sadly, the bistro was full and we were not allow to go in, so in the end went back to hotel and at the same time, my camera went dead. Shit man!

January 28, 2010
Hat Yai Travel: Afternoon Walkaround in Hat Yai City

After checking into the hotel, Novotel Central in Hat Yai, mom went to do her shopping on her own, dad went to look for massage and I was alone walking around on the street. It’s the downtown or city center of Hat Yai and it’s both tourist and locals populated area, everyone is here, very easy to roam around and I didn’t even have a map on my hand.

Right below my hotel is a shopping centre, Central. I didn’t went in to see, it’s a department store. Instead, I started off my walk from the shopping centre which is right across the street, Lee Garden. I was attracted by the large Lacoste logo and Apple logo. Cool, imagine such a small city has Lacoste and Apple. I only can find Lacoste in Kuala Lumpur here in my own country.

Enjoying the view and wind. =D

It’s nice to see people walking on the street. I always love happenings street and we usually can’t find it in Penang. Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur is happenings though. It’s not very hot in the afternoon, sun shines were blocked by the building so it’s shady.

Lee Garden is a very small shopping mall. I notice that most Hat Yai’s teenager and youngster come here to hang out just like I always go to Gurney Plaza with friends here in Penang.

Although it’s small, there’s many thing to see. The Lacoste shop is in there and Apple too! There’s little area in the mall called Idea Market, it’s like flea market and can see a lot of handmade stuff, and the best part is that it’s air-conned and pop music blasting around. Pretty cool.

Big prawn! Dare to eat?

I like coconut juice. Do you?

I didn’t really buy things because nothing interest me there. It’s just the same as in Phuket, Bangkok which I had visited several times before.

I only bought a mobile sim pack which was used to contact my parents and post photo to my Away From Computer.

Keep walking along the street and found another departmental store, Odean Shopping Mall. Although I am not a fan of departmental store, I did go in to take a look to see how different is their departmental store with us. Surprisingly, interior was not pretty but there’s many people inside and many brands too.

What to buy in Thailand? Thai made funny shirt, I have a few already so I was not interested. Fake AA imitation product? Even if I do buy, I don’t dare to take out also. Genuine FTW!

Food stalls are everywhere. Every few walks, you will see food stalls, cooked and not cooked. Thai’s street food seems delicious but I scared it’s not clean. I only drink coconut juice by the road side before only.

A motel’s lobby. A bit scary.

Walked a few street and things were the same. It’s just like an exercising walk for me on that afternoon, hanging a camera around my neck. For sure, I am a tourist there!

Cute kitty. Do you want to zh’ng (pimp) your car like that?

Walked until very far, didn’t know where was I but I still know the way back the hotel. I believe I walked to Kim Yong Market. There’s many things to see and I was just getting into it, and my mom called me for afternoon tea. Oh shit, didn’t get to roam the whole area.

Another thing I wanted to say is there’s many 7 Eleven convenience store in just a small area. Every few turn into different street, I saw 7 Eleven, I think I saw 3-4 7 Eleven outlets there.

Many fruits! Apple, you like?

I asked her to wait for a while before I was quite far away from her. Another 10 minutes walk only can reach her, she was at a coffee shop near Odean. =D

January 24, 2010

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