Life Rocks by Lutfi Surol

Me, Myself & I

2009-03-12T21:01:00.004+08:00

I read Zaidi recent blog entry and tried the personality test myself...... The result kinda creepy coz I can say, it has 95% truth in it esp No. 2, 4 & 9 hehehe... btw, i'm surprise Zaidi is a romantic type of person coz after being labelled cold-hearted by 'someone' heheheh.. and YT, I read your result as well... very mature katanya hehe

MY RESULT

1. Your view on yourself:

You are down-to-earth and people like you because you are so straightforward. You are an efficient problem solver because you will listen to both sides of an argument before making a decision that usually appeals to both parties.

2. The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:

You are a true romantic. When you are in love, you will do anything and everything to keep your love true.

3. Your readiness to commit to a relationship:

You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the right person. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you might that person.

4. The seriousness of your love:

You like to flirt and behave seductively. The opposite sex finds this very attractive, and that's why you'll always have admirers hanging off your arms. But how serious are you about choosing someone to be in a relationship with?

5. Your views on education

Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can.

6. The right job for you:

You have plenty of dream jobs but have little chance of doing any of them if you don't focus on something in particular. You need to choose something and go for it to be happy and achieve success.

7. How do you view success:

You are confident that you will be successful in your chosen career and nothing will stop you from trying.

8. What are you most afraid of:

You are afraid of having no one to rely on in times of trouble. You don't ever want to be unable to take care of yourself. Independence is important to you.

9. Who is your true self:

You are full of energy and confidence. You are unpredictable, with moods changing as quickly as an ocean. You might occasionally be calm and still, but never for long.

Another Day, Another Long Journey

2009-02-10T22:20:00.008+08:00

Day 2 (25 Oct 2008) - Airport, Transit, Layover & Boat Ride

Today we had to wake up at 6am for our flight to Berau at 7.15am. Fortunately all our luggage and boarding pass had been taken care of by the driver. So, we don't need to be at the airport so early then. We arrived at Tarakan Airport almost 7am and that not consider late here (nothing really moving fast here). We knew & prepared that we'll be having another long day to get to our final destination i.e Maratua Island Resort.

The ATR 42/300 by Trigana Air

Kalimarau Aiport, Berau

We flew by Trigana Air with their very old, small & uncomfortable ATR 42/300 plane. It was the only airline that operates that route. So, from Tarakan we have to make a 5 minutes stopover at Tanjung Selor Airport before heading to Berau (Kalimarau Airport). The flight took about 30 minutes and arrived Berau almost 8am. The resort arranged a pick up for us to the jetty BUT we have to wait until 1pm (coz waiting for another 2 guests that flew from Balikpapan) for the boat to Maratua Island. So, we kinda had a loyover at Berau town which surprisingly is quite clean compared to our very own Semporna town. As expected, there's noting much we can do there except hang out at the hotel's cafe. We almost finished reading our book while waiting for the boat and I only brought 1 book to read.

Berau town and Jetty to the Island

The layover made us quite restless and can't wait to get to the islands. Finally after lunch we were heading to Maratua Island Resort. It was a 3-hour boat ride to get there and I already felt exhausted waiting and waiting and waiting... I need the beach now!!!! The boat ride was quite interesting in some parts. The scenery was ok and we had the chance to see dolphin swimming beside and in front of the boat... The close encounter of seeing the dolphin jumping and swimming in our very own eyes is priceless....

Dolphins swimming along the boat

We arrived at the Resort almost 5pm and by then we already exhausted with the journey. We booked the water chalet and it was really tranquilizing but the furnishing was somewhat flimsy and quite a turn off. We had a rest for the day and excited to start diving tomorrow...

Finally, The Maratua Paradise Island Resort

Blogging Continue....

2009-02-10T22:08:00.002+08:00

Hi everyone, it has been months since I last post any entry here... It had been a hectic few months for me from moving to KL, renovation of my house, moving to the new house and waiting for Streamyx line to get connected etc etc etc.. and the laziness to blog as well (maybe I can called it writer's block heheh).

So, I have to start back from somewhere, no?? First, I'll finish up my entry about Sangalaki trip and share with you guys the interesting things that I've experience there.... Til then

On Our Way There

2008-11-17T22:44:00.003+08:00

Day 1 (24 Oct 2008) - Tarakan Surprise

Today we (me & Alie) started our journey to Sangalaki for our long awaited diving trip. The journey will be very taxing coz it requires a stopover and a few means of transportation along the way. We already expect the worst.

We started our journey by taking a ferry from Tawau to Tarakan. Tawau port was somewhat horrible and smelly coz it's very near to the wet market. We felt like we were in Indonesia already hehe. The ferry supposed to leave at 11am but as usual, it delayed until 12pm. The journey to Tarakan took three and a half hours and it felt like forever hehe. One thing about travelling by ferry to Tarakan is that the Indonesian immigration officer will hold our passport. Even we felt suspicious still we had to surrender our passport to him. Thank god, we got it back at the immigration office there.

Surprisingly, Tarakan port was comparatively much more organize than Tawau port and we were quite impress. Since we had to overnight in Tarakan, we took a cab to the most luxurious hotel in Tarakan i.e Belmont Swiss Hotel. The hotel was good for the rate that we paid and we need luxury after the long ferry ride. After that, we took the opportunity to 'jalan-jalan' around Tarakan town and headed for our late lunch. I had my 'a must' dish when I go to Indonesia i.e Ayam Penyet. In my opinion, Tarakan town was better looking than Tawau town and it's surprisingly clean.

After lunch, we did some window shopping at Tarakan Mall and again surprisingly I bought some t-shirts and shorts in Tarakan. Never in my life I imagined that I'll shop in a small town as Tarakan. Surprisingly, the t-shirts and shorts selection & quality there was quite good. Since I didn't change much Rupiah, I have to limit my spending, I might buy more if I had more Rupiah with me at that time hehe.

We slept early today coz we need to catch an early flight at 7am to Berau tomorrow. I'll continue on our second day journey later on.....

D Day

2008-11-03T06:37:00.002+08:00

Today is going to be a busy day for me coz the mover will come and pack all my stuffs back to KL. Time to say good bye to Sabah... so sad............... then i have to sort out all the outstanding work in the office (coz i was on vacation for the past 10 days). After that, a trip to Telekom to close my account here. Another mission of mine today is going to MDTCA to report on the ferry incident (this will take some time, i guess). I'll tell u guys about it in my later entry. Then maybe a visit to Police triffic to pay my saman hehehe.

Since it's time to 'Bye, Bye' Sabah, i feel akwardly sad coz there are so much memory/friendship/companion/activities that i'll miss and i'll cherish every bit of it.... thanxs to everyone for the memory...

By the way, my Sangalaki diving trip was sooo amazingly spontaneous and adventurous and i'll post the entire entry about it when i can somewhat settle down in kl next week. I think i'll be in a semi nomadic mode for the whole of November coz my house is just now ready to move in yet. So, i'll be staying at Allie's and Irwan's house temporarily.

Need to get ready for the mover now.. I'll miss Sabah!!!!!!!!!

Moving & Holiday

2008-10-23T19:01:00.002+08:00

This week I was so busy regrouping all my stuffs for the mover to pack it come Nov 3rd. It was kinda hectic with the office work and planing for my holiday in Sangalaki tomorrow. Thank God everything almost settled and running quite smoothly so far.

Come to think of it, I can't wait for all this things to end coz then it'll settle me down. Now, it's too much to think and do at one time. Moving location was never fun and I really wish there are any easier way to do it.

Whatever it is, I'm going for my diving trip in Sangalaki starting from 24 Oct until 1 Nov. I really need time to unwind and explore the underwater and this is the best time to do it coz too much going onfor me right now (both professionally & personally). Since I'll be at a very remote islands, I'll definitely won't get any disturbance coz there'll be no signal of whatsoever communication on the islands. So, it's time for beach, sun and sea again......... RELAX MODE!!!!

Note : See you guys when I come back from Sangalaki.....

Mataking.. the diving

2008-10-18T13:41:00.007+08:00

Diving in Mataking is always amazing coz I love all the macro life. The feeling of seeing and spotting macro life in the wild (under the sea) is always indescribable. I really enjoyed the last dive that I did there. Plus, this time around it's only two of us (Neo & me) dive in the deep until 43 meters to find what we wanna see. It was so amazing.

Crab Eye Goby

Seeing any goby fish would make anyone jump overjoy (at least for me). The last dive there, I got to spot red fire goby, crab eye goby arrow goby etc etc etc.. which I'm not sure what type of goby they belong to.

Red Fire Goby

Another amazing macro life at Mataking is pygmy seahorse. I really love seeing it hanging on at sea gorgonians. I spotted the pinkish and yellowish one. It was really amazing. Unfortunately, I missed to spot another rare find i.e Pontoh pygmy seahorse which is very rare and hard to find. Neo found it the day before I dive with him at Mataking. I wish I can see it.. hopefully next time.

Pygmy Seahorse

Pontoh Pygmy Seahorse

Now, I have new favourite fish i.e filefish. I found it very interesting coz of it's unconventional beauty. So, frog fish will come second now heheh. I really wish someday I can afford to have the advance underwater camera to capture all those moment and creature underwater. It'll cost me at least RM10k, so it'll have to wait for now...

Scribbled Filefish

Anyway, diving with Neo is always enjoyable with the underwater acrobatic, fighting and running hehehe.. It was very interesting to have fun while diving as well....

Mataking... the last time

2008-10-18T10:09:00.005+08:00

Mataking!!!! what can I say. It's like my diving playground. I really love going there coz it's kinda isolated islands bordering the Philippines. You can literally throw a stone to the Philippines coz it's really at the sea border.

I think that will be the last time i dived in Mataking before I transfer to KL for good by next month. I hope I can come back for their Xmas and New Year party. I always feel at home in Mataking coz almost all the staffs know me by name maybe coz I went there so often and I befriended some of the dive crews esp Neo. Also at that time there were not many guest on the islands and I felt like I had the islands all to myself hehe

Neo & Me

This trip was somewhat special for me coz I did the things that I never did or taking it for granted before. Apart from diving, me & Neo walked and explored the Mataking Kecil Islands (the twin islands to Mataking Besar). The Mataking Kecil was deserted and I really enjoy the walked, moment and environment there. On the second day, we kayak to Mataking Kecil coz it's high tide and the I really enjoyed the kayaking experience albeit it's kinda far and rough. I wish I can build a house there hehe. After kayaking, i swam naked in the sea for 30 minutes coz there's nobody there at all and even if there are people watching, they'll be too far to see us hehe. I just feel like wanna blend in with the nature and that was the best time, the right moment and environment to do it.

The last day was kinda sad coz I'm leaving the Islands and don't know when I can come back there again. I really enjoyed all the memories from Mataking and all the staffs said good bye to me and wished me good luck. They really hope to see me during the Xmas and New Year party.
I'll always miss the experiences and thanxs to Neo coz he's the one who made all the experiences most memorable and special.....

Note : The rest of the photos can be viewed in my facebook.

Sangalaki Confirmed

2008-10-09T20:43:00.002+08:00

Finally Allie confirmed with me for the Sangalaki Diving Trip. So, we are set to go and see mantas by the end of this month i.e from 24 Oct until 31 Oct.

It'll be a very hectic time and month for me coz I need to arrange the ferry to Tarakan, return flight Tarakan-Berau, hotel in Tarakan and be there on time for the boat transfer to Maratua Islands. In the mean time, I'll be busy with my transfer as well. I need to sort all this things out as soon as possible with little time that I have.

I feel that I have so little time left to arrange everything including the ever increasing workloads in the office at the moment due to instability/volatility of market scenario. Then, for the whole of next week, I'll be in KL doing the familiarization for the new job. I just don't wanna think anything right now and just do what I could.

The schedule as follows;
10-12 Oct - diving at Mataking
13-19 Oct - work, work, work in KL
20-21 Oct - work, work work in KK
22- 23 Oct - back in Tawau to sort everything out
24-31 Oct - diving at Sangalaki.

Despite all these things, I still enjoying life to the fullest....

Aidilfitri @ Seremban

2008-10-07T17:44:00.004+08:00

It's Raya time again and as usual I celebrated Aidilfitri at my parents in Seremban. There's nothing much going on and Raya is not really a big thing for us, I guess. One of my sister and brother don't even have baju raya. Whatever it is, we're happy to see each other during this festive holiday. All of us are back this time around except my oldest brother who can't get a leave (he's working in Abu Dhabi tho')... Here are some of my family Raya pictures...

Sit at sofa from left : Adah, Mak, Ayah & Angah
Sit on the floor from left : Imi, Yan and Adi

And there's me in this picture..

Eidul Fitri

2008-09-30T16:44:00.003+08:00

To all Muslim and my blog readers, I'm wishing you a very Happy Eidul Fitri and have a safe journey back to your hometown and back. For those who are not celebrating, just enjoy the long festive holiday.

Transfer

2008-09-25T22:39:00.003+08:00

I just got the letter for my transfer to KL and I really hate that it finally come. To make matter worst, the effective date is 1 October 2008... Who the hell are working on 1 October 2008????????? coz it's Eidul Fitri... I don't care coz I know that I'm not going to report duty on that day...

I'm kinda sad leaving Sabah coz I felt that it's my hometown, boleh?? heheh.. The feeling here is totally different from the Peninsula and I'll miss my regular diving at nice dive sites here esp in Mataking. I'll definitely will miss a lot of things here but life goes on. I believe there's always something good ahead that I don't see now.

Whatever it is, I'm prepared to transfer even though the job that I'll do won't be so interesting (in my opinion and observation from outside). Who knows that I might enjoy the new job with the new environment... we'll see......

Another thing, I'll be going back for my Eidul Fitri holiday tomorrow for a week. I hope can meet up some of you guys for breaking fast and/or during Raya... see ya!!!

Sangalaki Update

2008-09-24T20:26:00.003+08:00

I really hope I can go for the trip but now it looks like I might have to postpone it. It's all because Allie really wanna join me to Sangalaki but she can't confirm it until 6 October 2008. We planned to go from 24-31 Oct 2008. I hope she can make it this October if not we might have to postpone it until 14 November 2008 or even worst until July or August next year.

This time I have to accommodate her coz she did that for me during our Similan Islands/Andaman Sea liveaboard couple of years back. It's my turn to return her favour hehehehe. By the way, it's way much better to have a partner for diving trip than going alone, no? and she is always been a good company to have while travelling.

I hope the Resort can hold our reservation until 6 October, if not we'll lose our deposit of RM800 each. I already communicated with them and I hope everything will go smoothly. Now, I just have to wait and pray that Allie can make it for the Sangalaki trip this October.

New Look

2008-09-19T16:44:00.006+08:00

It's time to change for a new look again coz my hair getting longer and flatter. I don't really like my hair now. Since I was in KK last Tuesday, I went to my stylist and ask her opinion about what will be my new look. Long and flat hair doesn't suit me (coz it's time consuming to manage it) so I need to get back my curl....

Snip... snip...snip there goes my hair and came out the curl.... it took 4 tiring hours at the saloon to get everything done....

THE RESULT : My new look was slightly shorter to my liking... I can't wait for it to grow... but the curl was very nicely done hehehe

BEFORE

AFTER

Sangalaki Trip

2008-09-15T19:11:00.002+08:00

I really hope that I can go for the trip even though there are few obstacles ahead. It's kinda road block but hopefully I'll get through it. First, booking an air ticket from the remote Indonesian airline is never easy. As I found out, there are two airlines service the Tarakan-Berau route i.e Kalstar and Trigana Air. Booking the ticket is one hell of problem for me. Kalstar still under maintenance and won't open their booking until further notice and Trigana Air still haven't reply my email (after 3 weeks) for the ticket. When I called them, they said they will only open booking for October 08 ONLY in October 08... How can I can plan??? As expected almost everything in Indonesia hardly ever efficient. I hope I can get confirm ticket by early next month.

Second, I think this the last chance for me to dive in Sangakali coz I'll be transferred to KL by year end. Then, it'll be so hassle for me to travel to East Kalimantan from KL. I really hope everything work out as what I planned coz time is running out and options are limited.

Third, Allie (my dive buddy) finally confirmed going with me last month but suddenly she can't commit again today. Whether she can make it or not, I'll still be going but I really wish you can make it Allie coz it has been a long time since we dive together, no?? and there is always happening things when we were on the road together, no?? I hope it won't be like Malapasqua altogether again when you bailed out at the eleventh hour hehehe.

Hopefully I can confirm and sort everything out by early October coz there will be so many things I need to sort out for my transfer as well. It's going to be one hell of busy October for me...... juz crossing my finger hoping things will go as plan...

The Zahir & Empty

2008-09-10T19:51:00.003+08:00

I just finished reading The Zahir by Paulo Coelho. The book was somewhat like reading his self-written biography. I'm not so sure how far it is real but the story was quite interesting albeit a bit long winded.

I got another 3 books by Paulo Coelho but for now I'll start reading The Tenderness of Wolf by Stef Penney. It won 2006 Costa Book Of The Year. So far, the story is quite engaging and I like the details of the story. It gave life to the fiction. I don't know when I can finish the book but hopefully not too long hehehe.

Lately I felt somewhat empty and I don't really know why and what cause it. Perhaps too much things going in my life right now and too much transition lies ahead. I don't know whether I'm sad, happy, angry, frustrated etc... coz it's just EMPTY. I hope things will turn out ok when everything settle down. I need to get back ME.... I need to find ME again......coz emotionally I'm soo not myself right now.

Kusut

2008-09-05T19:39:00.002+08:00

That how I felt lately... My mind is soooo kusut coz too many things happening to me within these past few weeks until now. I just don't know what to do and some of the things I just have to accept it as it comes. I hope I'll get through everything no matter how hard it might/can be.

I just try to look at the positive side and I'm sure all the things happen for a reason. For whatever reason it is, I'm kinda suffering (mentally) right now. It's so hard to focus what's more important in this situation but I need to keep my focus for the best solution.

At some point in our life, there'll be a juncture. Whether I should cross or burn the bridge. In this case, I think I should just cross the bridge and by doing so I need to sort a lots of things. It'll be very taxing for me for a few months or maybe a year but I'm sure I'll get through it. By burning the brige, it'll gain nothing apart from short term personal satisfaction. Kusut!!!!!!!!!!! Kusut!!!!!!!! Kusut!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eid Mubarak

2008-09-03T20:19:00.004+08:00

To all Muslim, Eid Mubarak!!!!!

I hope we can achieve what we want during this fasting month. I will try to fast in every senses to respect the Holy month.

Diving At Last.......

2008-08-19T22:56:00.004+08:00

Last weekend I got a chance to dive in Sipadan even though it's a peak season for divers. Thank God, I knew people here who can arrange for me to dive in Sipadan even it's kinda last minute coz most tourist have to wait for days to get a permit. Thank you guys!!!

I went and stay at Billabong Homestay in Mabul. It was not a fancy resort and provided only basic accommodation and food. Maybe I'm so used to travel in luxury and kinda not comfortable in that type of place BUT the divers/snorkelers that I met there was friendly and we became instant friends. Since I went there alone, so I just hang out with them through out the day.

Unfortunately I was sick with high fever and throat infection since last Thursday. I took an injection on Friday to ease the fever. Came Saturday I was still groggy but still decided to get in to the island but I didn't dive on Saturday just chill out on the beach with my new found friends there. Sunday, I still not very well but I don't care coz this was the last time I can go diving before the fasting month. So, I went for a 3 dives on Sunday (2 in Sipadan and 1 in Oil Rig).

Me and My Frog Fish

During my first dive, I have a slight problem to equalize but as experience diver, I just hang on and go on with it. After seeing how amazing the Barracuda Point, all the grogginess was gone. It was really amazing that day with school of barracuda dancing. I LOVE IT!!!!!! I saw white tip sharks sleeping under the big hard coral and that was amazing as well even though the sharks in Sipadan were much smaller than in Palau. The last dive, I saw one of my favourite fish i.e Frog Fish. I don't why but I really like to see frog fish maybe coz it has a limb (kind of). Overall, it was a good weekend dive trip even though I'm still kinda sick (not fully recover) until now heheheh.

Me and Scorpion Fish (i guess). It's a scorpion family type of fish

Thank you guys who made my weekend. I hope to see you guys again!!! esp to Maja & Anne Sofie (the danish girls), Jimmie the Swedish guy, Daniel the Swiss guy and Goh from Kuching. And to those helping me out to get the Sipadan diving permit, thank you sooo much. I hope to dive in Sipadan again after Aidilifitri... Oh ya, forgot to mention that I tried out my new Suunto D4 dive computer during my last dive and I'm happy with its performance.

Good As GOLD

2008-08-18T22:50:00.003+08:00

Rafa officially become world No.1 today and perfectly fitting with his GOLD medal achievement in Olympic Beijing. It was long overdue and I'm so happy it finally been realized. He got a great year with Roland Garros, Wimbledon, Olympics and I hope he'll continue to win the US Open next week and the Aussie Open in January 09 to complete the Golden Grand Slam. CONGRATS RAFA!!!!!In the women draw, finally Elena Dementieva nailed the BIG one. She came sooo close three times (twice in Grand Slam and one at Sydney Olympic). I'm glad she finally win the GOLD medal and she'll always be my sentimental favourite.

And at last Malaysia won its first medal after 12 years albeit silver but it was a good achievement considering badminton might not be in 2016 Olympic. I hope we'll get our first gold in London 2012.

The host nation China now leading by a massive gold medal margin and incredibly they won the gold medal in variety of events including fencing and rowing (which is European dominant games). They definitely looks good for overall champion.
Anyway, the week belongs to RAFA the GOLD MEDAL CHAMPION and crowned No.1 in the world. VAMOS!!!!

Olympic Dream

2008-08-12T23:03:00.005+08:00

It's Olympic fever until 24 August 08. I really hope Team China can finally win the overall champion after came so close in Athens four years ago. I love the Olympic and always wanna be part of the atmosphere. I was in Athens during the last Olympic and the atmosphere was phenomenal. We just like hanging out in the street watching the Olympic in the big screen and everyone was so overjoy with the atmosphere. Athens came alive until late in the morning. It was like 24 hours party in the city. I really missed Athens and the Olympics environment. Unfortunately, I won't be able to go to Beijing for this Olympic edition. Looks like I have to wait for London 2012 then.
Speaking of Olympics, I really enjoy watching Kayak/Canoe Slalom and Gymnastics coz it requires endurance, skill and grace to perform to the very best level. These are the few of my 'must watch' Olympics program apart from Tennis (just because Rafa is playing hehehe). I was so happy that Team China finally regain the Men Team Gymnastic title but sadly Japan was relegated to second after their superb performance. To watch them perform was really extraordinary and you can tell they really work hard for every skill they performed. In Slalom, Togo finally won a medal. It was an amazing achievement being an African nation to win a medal (even if it's bronze) in Kayak Slalom coz this event was being dominated by the European.
But the event that truly captured the Olympic spirit is Modern Pentathlon coz you have to be good in Shooting, Fencing, Running, Show Jumping and Swimming to win it. It was the ultimate test of Olympic spirit. Some people say that they're jack of all traits but master of none but that was very pessimistic thinking coz they have to master each event and it requires a very high level of discipline.

For Team Malaysia, too bad that our archers were bundle out by their nerves. We should be good for silver but it just not meant to be. They still have individual event tomorrow. Our track cyclists look very promising for a medal esp in Keirin. I hope they can bring cheers to Malaysian. Our badminton players are always the hope to bring back medal but they failed to deliver time and time again for the last two editions. I hope they get it right this time around and no more excuses for them. The rest of the Malaysian athletes were only just making up the numbers. Even the ever so strong Daniel Bego (in South East Asia) was not even the slightest match in the world stage. They all faded like in the brightly lit atmosphere.

In my opinion, some events should be drop from the Olympic like Softball and Baseball coz it doesn't really captured the Olympic spirit. Even Tennis and Basketball should be reconsider coz they already have their multi million dollar professional league and events. At least Softball will definitely be out comes London 2012. Now, how I wish I'm an Olympian hehehehe.

East Kalimantan Island Archipelagos

2008-08-05T19:13:00.007+08:00

Now, I really can't wait for my diving trip this coming October. I hope there'll be no unforeseen circumstances along the way like 'supposed to be' my Malapascua trip last year. FYI, I already booked the Maratua Paradise Resort for 6 nights and my accommodation in Tarakan (juz in case I need it). The problem now is the flight from Tarakan to Berau coz the only airline operated that route (that I knew of) is Kalstar and currently they suspended all their flights schedule until 31 August 08. So, I can't do any booking until September 08. I hope they'll resume their operation sooner. In the meantime, I'll tell you more about the dive sites.

Maratua : They called it the 'big fish' country coz we can see a lot of large pelagic around the area. I hope to see eagle rays, schools of tuna, barracuda and hammerhead sharks (probably at 40-50 metres).

Kakaban : Expect to do wall diving with big pelagic as well like schools of travelly, jack, tuna, barracuda, white tip sharks, leopard sharks etc... The unique thing about Kakaban is that in the middle of this island lies a non-stinging jellyfish lake in a brackish water. The water have lower salinity (almost fresh water like). It's similar like the non-stinging jellyfish lake that I went in Palau, Micronesia.

School Of White Tip That I Took In Palau

Sangalaki : The ultimate diving experience coz here I would expect to see abundance of Manta Ray (Mantas). I love seeing mantas in the open sea coz they 'dance' beautifully. My first Mantas experience was in German Channel, Palau and it was sooo overwhelming. I hope to see it again in Sangalaki.

Mantas Photo That I Took In Palau

Derawan (if time permitted) : The unique thing about Derawan is the unusual small creatures native to the coral environment. It's like you can't see it at any other place (that what they said). I hope I have time for Derawan.

Here are some of my best underwater photos for Mantas and underwater cave that I took in Palau, Micronesia

Planning My Next Trip

2008-08-02T22:49:00.007+08:00

It's time to plan for another trip. This time I planned for a diving trip in island archipelago of Sangalaki, Maratua and Kakaban in Makassar Strait, Kalimantan and I'll include Derawan if time permitted. I suppose to go for this trip with Alie (my dive buddy) but unfortunately she can't commit to our scheduled trip from 24 Oct - 01 Nov 2008. Look like I have to go alone this time around. Going alone means I have to fork out more money due to single supplement charges and all but I can't think of any other suitable time that I can go there.Planning a trip is never easy especially if I'm going to these kind of remote places. The logistic part of planning itself enough to give me a headache coz there will be so many ways of transportation involved this time around and limited choices. It's time to get creative playing around with the limited options in order to save some time and money. We'll see... or else I can just hire an agent to do it but of coz with a lot more extra cost. We'll see......
I choose to base my diving in Maratua Island coz it's cheaper and comfortable. The most important thing that I have to consider in my planning is the 3-4 hours boat transfer schedule from Berau-Maratua. I have to catch one of the boat going in and out to/from Maratua or else I have to pay much much more to get there. There will be ONLY one boat transfer to Maratua on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday and ONLY one boat going out on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. So, I have to base all my other logistic planning from these boats schedule.
OPTION 1
I'll take a ferry from Tawau to Tarakan on Friday then overnight in Tarakan. On Saturday I'll take a flight Tarakan to Berau before catching the boat transfer to Berau. Going back, I'll have to take the next Friday boat out to Berau before boarding a flight Berau-Tarakan then overnight in Tarakan before going back to Tawau on the next day. For this option, I have to stay 2 overnights in Tarakan which can offer nothing much coz of the limited ferry schedule to Tawau.

OPTION 2
I'll take a ferry to Nunukan on Saturday and on the same day boarding a flight Nunukan-Berau before catching a boat transfer to Maratua. Going back on the next Friday, I can choose either flying back to Nunukan or Tarakan coz either way I have to stay overnight at either place coz of limited ferry schedule back to Tawau. For this option, I can save 1 overnight stop which can save me some time and money coz hotel in Tarakan doesn't come cheap either but it can be a hassle and risky to catch all the connecting transportation in a day. It can work perfectly if there is no delay in any mode of the transportation.

Diving trip is never cheap and I hope I can still find another diver who wants to join me for the trip so that I can avoid paying the single supplement charges. If anyone interested, just call me for the cost and arrangement. In the mean time, I'll start planning.. I'll update my progress from time to time.... I'll tell you guys later in my post what's so special about these dive sites.

Happening Week, Great Weekend

2008-07-30T22:38:00.007+08:00

I'm quite busy lately and not in the right mood to blog heheh but I had a surprisingly good week and weekend with my friends last week. We had so much fun and I got to see the kelip-kelip in Kuala Selangor.

The course that I had in KL was damn boring but I had a very interesting night outing with a few of my friends. We ended up doing a mini concert in Redbox until 3am hehehe. I think if the Subang Jaya Municipal Council saw the preview of our mini concert they will NEVER approve the license for it hehehe.. very concert terhangat muda mudi hehehe. Who cares... we had so much fun that night. Thanxs guys, you made my day yg sooo boring with the (seems never ending) course. Too bad coz our pictures was not approved by the censored board heheheh

Comes weekend, I spent almost a day with my BFF and dive buddy Alie. I stayed over at her place and we watched a very good movie in the morning before headed for our early lunch. After I sent her to Spa, I went looking for my dive computer. At last, I bought Suunto D4 that cost me RM1380 rather than the more expensive (RM2200) Suunto D6. It was a cheaper dive computer tho' coz I need to save up for my upcoming travel plan. I hope I can use it next month when I dive either in Mataking or Sipadan. After that it was me and Alie lepaking at her place doing nothing while the movie watched us heheehe penat giler from the course (not enough sleep).

From left : Resh, Zaidi, Me and Baby From left : Zach, Me, Baby and Resh

In the evening I already had plan with Zach, Resh, Baby and Zaidi to watch Kelip-Kelip in KualaSelangor. I wanna go there coz quite malu la even after travelling the world, I never see our very own unique heritage.. heritage ke??? or shud I say tourist attraction. Too bad Irwan, Omar, Aida, Siddiq, YT, Dani, Fad and Raz can't join us that night. It was a fantastic experience coz I really enjoy watching the Kelip-Kelip while cruising the river (ntah apa nama sungai tu ntah, I don't remember..) on the small low-lying sampan. very the macam cerita-cerita zaman dulu kalahehehe. The kelip-kelip really had a fun that night (I guess) coz they were shining a bright light. It was as if like they welcoming us in the river (wah!!! tetiba feeling2 jiwang pulak la kan). Actually, the male kelip-kelip shine brighter than the female and I guess that night was a Gentleman's Night kot heheh. Anyway, it was a good trip and thanxs to Zach for organizing it. I don't mind going there again.After that (setelah jam 10pm) we went for dinner.. dinner??? I never had dinner this late but makan jer la... The seafood was ok but not great, boleh?? since I'm from Tawau, the seafood in Tawau are much "FRESH"er, tastier and cheaper. That was the best part living in Tawau apart from the diving. Then we headed back to Resh's place where I spent the night there coz too sleepy to drive back home to Seremban (it was already 12.30am).On Sunday, I spent the day with my family and had a nice mom's cooking lunch. Thanxs mom!! That was the end of my good week and weekend in KL. I flew back to Tawau later that evening and back to work.......

Diving Trip.... Call Off

2008-07-22T19:52:00.002+08:00

I was so disappointed that my Sipadan diving trip this week (Thursday - Sunday) has to be call off due to last minute work commitment. I really hate these last minute things as if we have no life other than work... work... work....

It has been 6 months since my last dive and I was so excited for this trip (coz my friends from Miri are coming to dive here) until last Friday when I got to know that I have to go back to KL from 22-26 July for a course cum meeting. Like adding salt to a wound that it was not easy for me to book for this trip coz it's a high season for diving in Sipadan and I had to use my contacts to get the booking. And now I have to cancel it after I push them to get me a room there.... bosan gilerrrrrrrrr

So, now I have to postponed my diving trip until August. I really hope I can clock a dozen dives before this coming fasting month. We'll see...... and I might buy a dive computer when I'm back in KL this week. Should I buy Suunto D4 or D6??? pening kepala to choose coz both also look stylo but D4 without digital compass la... do I need the digital compass??? I'll let you know if I decide to buy it this weekend OR should I buy a new handphone?? coz mine was kinda old already (more than a year) OR maybe I end up buying nothing hehehehee. We'll see....

Annual Shopping Sale Trip

2008-07-19T10:30:00.003+08:00

To bad coz this year I can't go for my annual Hong Kong Shopping Sale Trip coz I'm financially thin after my Bhutan trip. Normally for the past two years, every July I'll go to Hong Kong for two nights just for shopping and back. Anyway, Hong Kong doesn't have much to offer to me EXCEPT the ever excellant shopping.

I'm not much of a shopper but once I shop, I'll shop a lot. So this year there will be no more new collection of my ever growing Ferragamo and Boss shoes, wallet, belt and no more new Miu Miu and Boss shirts. What I like about Hong Kong Shopping scene was the variety of it and I can buy branded stuffs quite cheap there. Ferragamo shoes cost only RM1,000 and there no way you can find below RM2,000 Ferragamo shoes in Malaysia except maybe its sneakers. In Hong Kong, I can also find cheaper brand with nice design. I particular like 5cm pants coz it fits me well. The casual t-shirts and shorts are really cool as well. Normaly after two days of shopping, I need a good massage coz it was really tiring hopping from one place to another non stop and that's why I always go Hong Kong Sale shopping alone. I really miss shopping in Hong Kong!!!!

I hope I can go there in July 09. In the meantime, I'll wait for Singapore Xmas Shopping Sale coz there I can find good variety and cheaper branded stuffs. Shopping in Malaysia??? I don't think so... coz the choices are quite suck and there ae not much variety here. Maybe I'll just buy one or two shirts when I'm back in KL next weekend coz it has been a year since I did my last shopping.

Finale

2008-07-08T18:08:00.007+08:00

30 May 2008 (Day 15) - Delhi Again!!!!!!!
We have to wake up very early in the morning (6.00am) coz we need to be at Paro airport two hours before our flight i.e 8.55am. We felt very sad leaving such a magnificent and peaceful country and by midnight our journey will end. The airport yet small but was very nice looking with compulsory traditional decorative (see below). The only airline operating in Paro is Drukair. They don't allow any other airlines to come in. That's why they can control the price (no doubt it's expansive) but not many people go to Bhutan anyway and sometime they flew back empty.We flew from Paro-Kathmandu-Delhi and it took about three hours. I'm soooo don't wanna be in Delhi again after my previous experience and if I have extra money I'll definitely choose flying to Bangkok and back to KL by Airasia. It turn out that Paro-Kathmandu route was the most scenic flying time I ever had. We can see all the snow capped mountain from Kanchenjunga to Everest (see below). It was really an amazing 55 minutes journey and all the tourists (including us) took photos and videos non stop (until it landed in Kathmandu). For me, it was the greatest flying experience and you have to be there to feel it. Surprisingly, Druk Air in-flight services were excellent and it was even better than 'kononnye 5-star' MAS.Then we proceed to Delhi (the worst place you can be in this planet so far). As we landed in Delhi (around 12pm) I saw MAS plane that still didn't take off so I rush to the counter after I saw the board mentioned it was delay until further notice. I'm sooo wanna be in that plane back coz I don't wanna spend another 11 hours in Delhi waiting for our original flight which is at 11.30pm. As I expected Indian will always be Indian. I don't wanna say much here coz I don't wanna sound racist again hehehe. In the end, we have no choice but to kill 11 hours in Delhi. Worst still there was so many Indians sleeping outside the airport and I just don't understand why they did that and the smell was soooooooooo horrible. We can't check in our luggage yet coz we can only get inside the airport three hours before departure, SUCKSSS!!!!! In the end, we have to store our luggage at the ONLY and very unreliable looking luggage storage at the airport. No choice, no?

Again as expected the sneaky airport taxi bastard wanna play drama with us. I just soo fed up with India and felt that I will never wanna return again (only if i have to). I asked him to bring us to Connaught Place for shopping but in the middle of nowhere he stopped the taxi and waiting for his friend to bring us around. We waited for about half an hour in the the searing heat (45 C). If not because we don't have much rupees left (300 rupees jer yg tinggal), we'll definitely go down and try to find another taxi or tricycle.

His friend drove us round and round from one stupid shop to another until we kinda ran away from him and hailed a tricycle. Thank God that it'll only cost us another 100 rupees to get to Connaught Place where I can withdraw the cash from ATM. At one of the shop that he brought us, the owner scolded us coz we don't wanna buy anything. He said 'if you don't wanna buy anything, don't waste your here'. I'm really pissed off coz I don't even wanna go to his stupid shop in the first place. Indians are really a stupid creature that God has ever created, period!!!

I really have no mood to do anything and just wish that we can fly back there and then. I hate this place sooo much. Because of the drama, we end up having our lunch around 3pm. After lunch we went to the biggest underground bazaar i.e Palika Bazaar. As expected Indians are very pushy to sell their things. It was a struggle for us to be in the bazaar but we did buy a few things after much of hard bargaining. After that we went to a bookstore coz I wanna Paulo Coelho books. During the journey I finished reading 'The Alchemist' and I really like his writing and decided to buy more of his work. Surprisingly, book in India is very much cheaper than in Malaysia. It costs only RM23.00, so I bought 'The Witch Of Portobello', 'The Pilgrmage' and 'Brida'. The Alchemist was really intriguing and his style of writing is very captivating. Latest that I heard Lawrence Fishburne had finally bought the right to produce the adaptation film based on 'The Alchemist'.

Then we went back to the airport and check in as early as we can get inside. Unfortunately, our 5 star MAS delayed again (for the second time today) and finally we boarded at 1.30am which already 2 hours late from the original time (very 5-star la kan..). Indian drama doesn't end in India, they wanna do Bollywood movie inside the plane pulak, mati la... The flight full of Indians and it create havoc inside with the noises and the kids exactly seated in front of me puke on the aisle. They even throw the food everywhere in the plane (very la kampungan). It was so horrific and I pity the crew hehehe. I felt relieved when we landed at KLIA coz it was like waking up from a very horrific Indian nightmare and back to civilization.

The Moral Of My Journey : DON"T GO TO INDIA!!!!! (except Darjeeling and Sikkim) unless if you have to. Their tourism tag line is 'Incredible India'. What??? I think they should put it as 'Incredibly Horrific India'. It was a shame coz India have plenty to offer for tourism and I would like to venture into Ladakh someday BUT because of the attitude of the Indians make me wanna forget India totally.

And The Winner Is.........

2008-07-07T20:36:00.006+08:00

It was an exciting and heart-stopping Wimbledon tennis men's final last night (or should I say early morning). I almost had a cardiac arrest hehehe coz the match was full of drama (with two rain delays) at the highest quality of play. I never seen a match such at that high quality for quite some time.

The actors : Five time defending champion (Roger Federer) vs three time consecutive finalist (Rafael Nadal).In the end Rafa managed to wrestle the title from Roger after a thrilling 5 sets match lasted four and half hours that ended around 4.30am. Congrats!!!! Rafa. I'm really happy for Rafa coz at last he won the most coveted Wimbledon title and it was an amazing achievement coz he won Roland Garros (which is on the slowest surface) and Wimbledon (which is the on fastest surface) in the same year (within a month period). Not since Bjorn Borg did in in 1980s even the Great Roger never done it yet. I did cry when I saw Rafa cried once Roger send the ball to the net handed him the title. It was really an emotional and touching moment. Even the whole match was emotional (at least for me).
Rafa was a very deserving winner this year and he should win it in 3 sets or even in the 4th set where he had 2 match points but Roger did an amazing job to came back from two sets down to force the deciding fifth set. There were many break points chances for both players but Rafa did just enough to seize the opportunity to win it at the end. Rafa now in the amazing 24-match winning streak and I hope he can continue winning until the Olympics and the US Open in August.

Buddism Extended

2008-07-05T21:05:00.006+08:00

29 May 2008 (Day 14) - Conquering Tiger's Nest
Today we were going to climb Tiger's Nest and three days ago there was an accident where one Indian tourist felt down from the mountain but fortunately he was in stable condition. That incident doesn't scare me coz I believe if we just follow the right path, we'll be safe plus accident can happen anywhere at any time.We started climbing Tiger's Nest (3,200m) around 9am and the guide (Raj) told us that it'll take us 2 hours to reach the top of the cliff. To his surprise, we reached the top of the cliff within 1 hour and left him behind quite a distance. We were the first one to reach the top for the day (even though we were the last one going up) and it gave us ample time to wonder around the temple before it get crowded. Tiger's Nest was a very beautiful site just on the edge of the cliff. I wonder how they build the temple during those day (around 13th century, if I'm not mistaken la). I'll tell you about Tiger's Nest history later on.Luckily I didn't wear the Gho today coz the weather was hot and the climbing was not easy either. We were quite tired towards the end coz the air was very thin at 3,000 m. After some photos we were climbing down and head for lunch. I requested to have yak meat for lunch unfortunately yak meat was not in the season and it was very difficult to get it. So, Raj brought us to Yak Herder's Camp for lunch ironically without yak meat for today's dishes. I'm quite disappointed at first coz this is the last time that we can eat yak meat coz there's no way we can find yak meat in Malaysia but the dishes that they served was really good and made me forgot about the yak meat hehehe. At least, they served us an authentic and delicious Bhutanese food.After lunch we went to visit Drukgyel Dzong which already became a ruin. We can see a snow capped mountain from the dzong (which located at the end of the road). Interestingly, Raj told us that people can walk in the deep mountainous forest trek after the dzong to reach Tibet. But only sick Buddhist who need hot spring treatment can use that pass. It was forbidden even for local Bhutanese to use the checkpoint to enter Tibet. Then we went to Paro museum. The museum (see above) was interesting coz we have to walk circling the exhibits. It was quite interesting coz we kinda walk in an ancient tomb or something. Then we visited Paro Dzong which was not as interesting as Punakha Dzong.

After that, we went to see Bhutanese favourite past time i.e archery. Archery is a national sport in Bhutan and almost everyone play it like we play football/futsal in Malaysia. It was interesting to see coz they play a different kind of archery coz the target was very small compared to a modern archery. There I asked Raj whether he ever guide a Malaysian before. He said that in his 15 years of guiding, he never guide a single Malaysian in Bhutan. What a shame coz Malaysian never really exposed to these type of places. Since the archery site was near to the town, we decided to walk around in Paro town for the last time coz we'll be going back tomorrow. Then we proceed to the hotel for dinner. Before that we did took a family photo with Ramu (our driver), Raj, his wife and daughter (see below).After dinner, Raj wanted to bring us to experience night life in Bhutan (since it'll be our last night in Bhutan). We eagerly wanted to see how Bhutanese spend their night out hehehe. It turn out quite interesting coz Bhutanese love public karaoke singing at a bar. There was live musicians to play the song and anyone can go up to the stage and sing any songs provided the musicians know how to play it. It was really interesting to listen to Bhutanese songs coz some of the songs they sing for their king. It was kinda funny as well coz I never see that type of karaoke singing before. They really 'selamba' sometime with emotion while performing even though they didn't hit the right keys but who cares coz it was really entertaining. They also can perform traditional dance if requested (of coz we have to pay for it). We did request one traditional dance and it was really interesting yet with simplistic movement. The karaoke bar was really for all types of peoples. We observed that the crowd range from teenagers to old couple in traditional dress. Raj told us that everyone like to come here for entertainment no matter how old they might be coz there's not much entertainment in Paro perhaps. We called it day around 11.30pm and felt quite sad coz early tomorrow morning we'll be flying out from Bhutan and back to Malaysia.Tiger's Nest History : Why they called it Tiger's Nest?? It was because in the 8th century Guru Padma Sambawa a.k.a Guru Rinpoche flew on back of the tiger to the cliff and meditate in the cave which is now known as Tiger's Nest Temple. The flying tiger was his Tibetan wife that turn into flying tiger to bring him there. That's why Tiger's Nest is the holiest temple in Bhutan. I'll tell you the history of Padma Sambawa later on. While he meditate in the temple, he kept his tiger or wife on the other side of the mountain (it's the small white building in the picture above) and Raj told us that we can go there if we want but we have to use different and steeper route to climb up coz there was no route from the temple even it was just behind it. It'll be like climbing up and down twice within half a day to go to the almost same place. So, we decided to skip it but we saw the tiger's place on the way down the mountain. Tiger's Nest had nearly burned to ashes in 1990s coz of butter lamp that they use for praying caught fire and burned almost everything except the original cave where Padma Sambawa meditated. If I remember it correctly, one monk died in the fire. Now the Tiger's Nest that we seen was reconstructed by Bhutanese government similar to the one that was burned. It was really amazing that they can do the reconstruction on the edge of the cliff again. I'm proud to say that we conquered the mesmerizing beauty of Tiger's Nest.

Guru Rinpoche a.k.a Padma Sambawa : Guru Rinpoche means 'the learned one' and he was kind of the reincarnation of Buddha. He was believed to be born from the lotus that why he got his name Padma means 'lotus' and Sambawa means 'born'. He was born in Zahor where now modern time Afghanistan-Pakistan border. At that time King of Zahor found him on the lotus took him as an adopted son coz he has no children. Fast forward>>> Padma Sambawa was really a 'gifted' and wise man. He spread Buddha teaching albeit tantric through the Himalayan Region from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, India and a few others. According to legend, he was a miracle man coz he was burned a few times by the king of every country that he visited but he turn the fire into lotus and meditate on top of the lotus fire and made the king and the country follow his teaching. That's why Padma Sambawa was a very important figure in Mahayana Buddhism coz he was the second Buddha.

Note: All the facts and stories were gathered from talking to our guide (Raj) and locals including our driver Palden when we were in Sikkim. That's why I don't really remember the exact date and event.

History Of Bhutan Extended

2008-07-04T18:42:00.012+08:00

28 May 2008 (Day 13) - Dzong... Dzong... Dzong
Today we went to Punakha Dzong which is one of the oldest and the most beautiful dzong in Bhutan. Dzong is a fortress cum monastery and Bhutan has 18 dzongs representing each district. There are 20 districts in Bhutan but the 4 southernmost districts i.e Samste, Chhukha, Sarpang and Samdrupjongkhar has no dzong BUT Paro and Thimphu have 2 dzongs each. I'll explain the reason behind the building of so many dzongs in Bhutan.
Dzong History : During the 17th century, Shabdrung the Tibetan Monk ruler fled Tibet. Peoples/Learned Lamas 'thought' he was supposed to be the REAL reincarnation of previous Lama and should rule Tibet at that time BUT there was a conflict going on and the other monk from the rich family was being recognize instead. Therefore, Shabdrung fled to Bhutan and he stole all the artifacts and holy books etc from his 'suppose' to be monastery in Tibet and brought all those things to Bhutan. So, he asked his followers to build dzong all over the district as a protection from Tibetan army. Shabdrung then settled in Punakha Dzong where he meditate/preach etc and then married with local and have a blood lineage until now. His blood lineage now are believed to be the 4 Queens (they're all sisters) of the present King (4th King). The present King married all four sisters at the same time in order to cast away bad spell in the monarchy coz all the 3 previous king died quite at an early age (around 40s). I'll tell you later on about the present monarchy. That's why Punakha Dzong was the 'must see' dzong when you're in Bhutan coz of its history, architecture, artifacts and also coz it was home for the founder of modern Bhutan state i.e Shabdrung.
Punakha Dzong is indeed beautiful and it's located in between of two rivers i.e Pho Chu (Male River) and Mo Chu (Female River) where we can do white water rafting there. The bridge to the entrance was newly constructed (just three weeks old) and some part of Punakha Dzong was badly damaged during the big flood in 2003 (if i remember it correctly) due to global warming (melting of the glacier). But now, it was fully reconstructed and it looks even more beautiful.
After that, we went to the suspension bridge that other tourists told us last night. They said it's scary so I wanna try it but for me it's just nothing and it was just like any other suspension bridge that i had been. Then we proceed to Paro (our last destination), another 3-4 hours drive. Along the way, we stopped for lunch at the restaurant near Dochula Pass. The food was ok but we tried butter tea for the first time and we didn't like the salty taste. As we arrived in Paro (2,200m), we checked in at Gangtey Palace Hotel. It was a real palace for the 1st Governor of Bhutan in 1800s. It was really beautiful and felt like we were in a modern day palace (see below). They really treat us like a king through out our journey in Bhutan so far. It worthies every single USD that we paid.As usual, we checked put Paro town (see below) and it was livelier than Punakha and slightly bigger. After some shopping and photos, we went back to hotel for another photo session and dinner. Before and after dinner we hang out with other tourists at the hotel and chatted until 11pm before we called it a day. We can't wait for the highlight of our journey tomorrow where we will be climbing the holiest monastery in Bhutan i.e Taksang Monastery or better known as Tiger's Nest Temple.
Bhutan Monarchy History : Bhutan first ruler was Shabdrung as I mentioned above. He introduced a lot of systems from spiritual to education in Bhutan. Since his ruling system based on reincarnation and after he died there was a few more of his reincarnation ruled Bhutan until 1907 where the Wangchuk dynasty seized power. The Wangchuk dynasty came from eastern part of Bhutan and the first king i.e Ugyen Wangchuk was the Governor of Bumthang and he and his father who was Governor of Trongsa (the biggest dzong) seized power from the Shabdrung reincarnated at that time. That's how Bhutan monarchy system was born and the history was long and complicated to tell in this post. The bottom line is Bhutan monarchy was really important to Bhutanese and they really love their kings esp the 3rd and 4th (present) king. The system brought joy, happiness and peacefulness to the country.

Dochula Pass

2008-06-29T13:49:00.009+08:00

27 May 2008 (Day 12) - Takin, One Weird Animal
Today we went to Bhutan School of Arts & Craft and Folk Heritage Museum in Thimphu. It was nice to see that Bhutanese try to preserve their traditional art and craft works through their younger generation. At the museum, we saw the traditional Bhutanese house and we learnt their culture from their point of view. Surprisingly, all Bhutanese houses/buildings (even now) have penis sculpture/painting (see below) outside the house/building esp above the window. They believe it'll ward off evil/bad things.Then we proceed to the zoo (not again!!!). We were not really interested to go to the zoo but since Raj told us that we can only see the 'special' animal ONLY in Bhutan, so we decided to go and see what's so special about the animal. It turn out that the animal is really special. It called Takin and ONLY can be seen in the Himalayan region esp in Bhutan. It's also Bhutan National animal and if anyone get caught killed this animal, they'll get life sentenced in prison. Takin looks like a mixture of sheep (head), yak (horn & fur) and cow (see below). We never seen it before and it's quite interesting to see it live in front of us. According to the legend, during the 15th century, Lama Drukpa Kuenlay or the infamous "Divine Madman" asked to perform a miracle. He demanded a whole cow and a goat for him to eat. After he finished everything, he stuck the goat's head on the bones of the cow and Viola!! Takin starts running around and grazing the grass. This same Madman had a power to ward off the devils with his strong and extra long penis. That's the reason why most Bhutanese houses have penis sculpture.

After that we proceed to Thimphu town for lunch even the Gas Station look unique (see above). The lunch was not good this time and I complained to Raj about it. After that, we stopped at Thimphu market coz I wanted to buy a Gho. Gho is a Bhutanese traditional men costume. Bhutanese are compulsory to wear it everyday either to school, university, work (private & government) etc except during their leisure time (even then they'll still wear it). In the spirit of being in Bhutan, I wanna wear it while I'm in Bhutan (see below). After that, we proceed to Punakha (1,300m) the former capital city of Bhutan. Along the way, we stopped at Dochula Pass (3,200m) where the impressive 108 stupas were built overlooking the northern mountain chains. In Buddhism, stupa is the place for them to keep the ashes (kinda like a graveyard for us). The reason they built 108 stupas were for the remembrance of the war between Assamese (Indian state) and Bhutanese militant. It was not their intention to kill the Assamese militant who were their allies and protected in Bhutan but due to pressure from Indian government. I don't really remember the exact year it happened but it was not too long time ago around 2003 kot. That's why Bhutanese government built the 108 stupas for the Assamese soldiers soul to rest in peace. The history of Assamese militant in Bhutan was another long story to tell so I decided not to dwell on it so much here.
We arrived in Punakha around 5 pm and check in at Meri Puensum Hotel. It was a nice resort on top of the hill overlooking Punakha town (see above). We hit Punakha town afterwards but it's just a very small town with nothing to see or buy. After a while we went back to hotel for dinner. After dinner, we chatted with other tourists there while having a drink at hotel bar. It was really nice to share our experience and heard theirs. We chatted until around 12am before we called it a day. Overall, we really enjoy our Bhutan trip so far.

History Of Bhutan Part 1

2008-06-28T14:37:00.007+08:00

26 May 2008 (Day 11) - Another Long Journey In Between The Mountain
We woke up quite late (8 am) today and after breakfast our guide (Raj) and driver (Ramu) already waiting for us at the lobby. I mentioned in my much earlier post that Bhutan is one of a few countries that we can't visit independently. The country policy requires that all foreigners (except Indian Nationals) must hire a guide & driver from Bhutan local travel agent. After much research from the web, I choose 'Keys To Bhutan Tours & Adventure'. The reason I choose this agent coz their website looks professionally organize and the testimonials sound promising. So, here we are in Bhutan with them as our guide. I communicated with them by email my preferred itinerary and they'll try to accommodate my request and a few of their suggestion for the final itinerary.Today we're going to Thimphu (2,300 m) i.e the capital city of Bhutan. Before we started our journey to Thimphu, we stopped at a crocodile farm in Phuentsholing. The best part was that they allowed us to go inside the crocodile cage and see the crocs close up. They were well fed so we don't need to worry too much. The crocs look funny coz I never see a fat crocs before. After that, we proceed for our 8 hours journey to Thimphu. The journey was very tiring coz half of the road condition was bad due to construction but it was a very scenic drive up the mountain (see below). Along the way, we stopped for lunch and here we tasted Bhutanese cuisine for the first time. It's a bit cheesy and spicy but I like it. We arrived in Thimphu around 6.30pm and after check in at River View Hotel we hit the Thimphu town coz this is the only day we'll be in Thimphu coz tomorrow we'll go to Punakha. The hotel was quite nice and comfortable. The best thing was we can see the Thimphu town and the river from the balcony (see below). Thimphu town is beautiful and looks traditional yet modern. There is a stadium construction for the 5th King coronation (maybe by end of this year). We bought a few things there and head back to hotel for dinner. We asked the hotel staffs whether there's any bar or club open in town coz we would like to check out the clubbing scene in Bhutan. Unfortunately, we arrived on Monday and all the clubs were closed. They only open during weekends and some days on weekdays. So, we went back to our room and rest coz we were quite tired from the journey.
Bhutan Modern History : Bhutan first open to foreigners in 1974 and then there were ONLY two tourist visited the country. They were from National Geography coz they were filming the 4th King coronation. After that, there was no more tourist coming to Bhutan until a few foreigners in 1982 coz it's very hard to get in/out to/off Bhutan and there are so many requirements imposed by the government for foreigners. The ONLY airlines that can fly in/out of Bhutan is their national carrier i.e Druk Air which start operating commercially in 1985. All foreigners (except Indian Nationals) are compulsory to fly Druk Air either during entering or exiting the country. I found out that most Bhutanese were well educated coz they studied outside the country but surprisingly technology came very late in Bhutan. They had their first television ONLY in 2000 and computer & Internet in 2003. It's a landlocked country on top of Himalaya with 75% forest greenery and they intend to keep it that way. Bhutan got their name from Indian Sanskrit i.e Boo-Tan that means flat land on top of Himalaya. The other name for Bhutan is Druk which mean dragon given by Tibetan monk who visited Bhutan long long time ago and apparently saw a dragon came out from his teapot. So, they name it Druk land. Until now Bhutanese called themselves Drukpas (Druk people) among them and their country as Kingdom Of The Dragon (even the flag has a big dragon on it). They only called themselves Bhutanese with foreigners. Bhutan is a new democratic country (earlier this year) coz their 4th King requested it after 100 years of monarchy (1907 - 2007). Surprisingly, Drukpas refused to accept it coz they really love the King and want the country to be ruled by the monarchy system. After much deliberation, they reluctantly accept it and as expected not many Drukpas turn out during their 1st general election. Bhutan has around 700,000 population and the ratio of the male and female is 1:4. So, you'll see more girls in Bhutan than any other country and at the eastern part of Bhutan the male:female ratio really alarming with 1:10. I'll tell you the history of ancient Bhutan in my next post.

Goodbye India.. Welcome To Bhutan

2008-06-23T20:45:00.008+08:00

25 May 2008 (Day 10) - Himalayan Water Rafting Drama
I was really excited when I woke up coz today we're going to do water rafting at Teesta River and then we're going to enter the Kingdom of Bhutan 'the landlocked country'. After breakfast we proceed to Rangpo (East Sikkim) check post to stamped out our passport. No doubt we're going to miss our stay in Netuk House esp for their extremely delicious Sikkimese food. It took about one and half hours to get to the check post. We have to start the rafting after the check post even though Teesta River flows from Sikkim but we can't start the rafting from Sikkim maybe because we need to check in & out to/from Sikkim. So, we have to start from West Benggal state i.e just about 300m after we check out from Sikkim.
As expected, there's no other people start rafting from there and the crew have to bring the raft all the way to the check post. The water is very very cold coz it came from the glacier but luckily it's hot and sunny at that time. The rafting was really enjoyable coz we went through some really rough rapid. We almost been thrown out from the raft at one time coz the rough rapid. The best part was that we did the rafting our self (as per my request) on most of the smaller rapid. It's not that easy though but it was real fun. There was some freak incident happened during our rafting adventure. Suddenly, we saw a bridge construction going on along the river and we don't even see there was a wire hanging midair until we're like 20m from the wire. Since the rapid was very fast, we don't have enough time to avoid the wire and the wire almost cut us through (in the head maybe..). Thank God all of us managed to get down inside the raft avoiding the hanging wire BUT the wire stuck at our raft and it's like a battle of who's stronger i.e Rapid vs Wire. The rapid push us through but the wire pull us back strongly and the raft almost capsized. With the quick thinking of one of the crew, he managed to unstuck the wire from the raft using his shirt to loosen it coz we can't use our bare hand due to enormous pressure.We get out of the incident unscathed. We didn't realize that it took us 3 hours to finish the rafting adventure. Towards the end of the rafting, the crew let us swim in the river. The water was really really cold and even though the rapid looked mild from the raft but it push us rapidly down the river. I had to swim very hard to get back to the boat. It was really tiring swimming against the rapid but it was fun. We arrived at the end of the rafting point at 1pm and after we get ready our self then we proceed to Bhutan. We're really hungry and asked Palden to stop anywhere that's clean for our lunch.
After lunch, we slept in the car coz we were really tired and let Palden drove us until the India-Bhutan border. As we arrived Jaigon (India border town) around 5pm, we have to stamped out our passport at their immigration office. We were so shocked to see that Jaigon was extremely dirty with rubbish everywhere on the road. I think it was even dirtier than Agra. The funny part was, there were a lots of signboard say 'Green Jaigon, Clean Jaigon' BUT there were tons of rubbish under the signboard (typical Indian town).

We proceed to Phuentsholing (Bhutan border town) and check in at Lhaki Hotel. At last, we were in Bhutan. Phuentsholing was a much cleaner town compared to Jaigon even though it's just side by side with only a Bhutan's police post to separate it. Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Palden coz our Bhutanese guide and driver (their country policy) will bring us around for the whole Bhutan trip. We were quite sad coz we kinda developed a great friendship with Palden and he did his best to accommodate all of our requests no matter how difficult some of it might be. His not only our driver but we learnt a lot of Sikkimese and Buddhism culture through his eyes/view. We'll definitely miss him.

We met our Bhutanese guide, Raj and he arranged the Bhutanese visa for us today. After we gave him all the documents, we took the opportunity to explore Phuentsholing town. It's quite a nice town with some good architectural building. If we walked further (there was no gate to separate it), we'll be in Jaigon (India) already and we can't turn back (if Bhutan police stop us) to Bhutan coz we don't have our passport and visa with us hehehe (even the visa is valid ONLY for single entry). Apparently, it is Bhutan second biggest town BUT it look small to me. Since we don't intend to buy anything we just head back to the hotel for dinner and rest. We can't wait to start our Bhutan journey tomorrow.

Buddhism 101

2008-06-21T19:22:00.011+08:00

24 May 2008 (Day 9) - Rumtek Monastery
We woke up around 7.30am today and went for breakfast. The breakfast was as good as the dinner last night. After breakfast we set to go exploring Gangtok with Palden. Actually I'm thinking of going to Tsomgo Lake (another one of the holiest & highest lake in Sikkim) but since we require special permit and we have to go through an agent to get it so we decided to skip it. By the way, it's just a lake and foreigners can't even go beyond the lake area (only Indian nationals are allowed) due to close proximity with Tibet. In Sikkim esp in the north of Sikkim foreigners require special permit to visit each place due to sensitivity with Tibetan border. So we decided to go to Rumtek Monastery, another monastery???? Actually we visited one monastery too many already but Palden said this one is different and he'll go along with us inside to tell the history. I'm not really convinced coz I thought all monasteries are the same but we just go ahead to Rumtek.Surprisingly, Rumtek Monastery was one of the most beautiful monastery that we had been through out our journey so far. It was rich with history and I had a crash Buddhism course with Palden during our almost 2 hours there. I found out Buddhism is a very interesting religion or should I say philosophy?? I learnt in depth about Buddhism as much as I can absorb during the visit. It was really an enjoyable and enriching experience to learn about other culture/religion through their own eyes/view. The more I learnt about Buddhism, the more I convinced that Islam is the right religion for me.Rumtek History : Rumtek Monastery was the exact carbon copy from one of the monastery in Tibet built by the 16th Karmapa who fled from Tibet to Sikkim to seek refuge due to pressure from China government (their political and freedom of religion issue). The thing about Tibet and China can always get complicated coz China wants the reincarnation of the 15th Karmapa to be from a Chinese race (Han) coz it's easier for them to control Tibet BUT the reincarnated Karmapa was chosen from the Tibetan race. When we talked about Buddhism reincarnation, things will get more complicated even Palden kinda doubt about it a bit. The reincarnated Lama must be certified by a few existing Learned Lamas (either Dalai Lama or others). The 16thKarmapa was certified by the previous Dalai Lama (13th kot, tak ingat la) when he was 6 years old. According to history, once he was certified by Dalai Lama, he fled from Tibet. I'm just curious, how a 6 year-old boys managed to fled from Tibet through the mountainous region of Himalaya with a lots of check point to pass??? even Palden was curious too. In Gangtok, the 16thKarmapa instructed the followers to build Rumtek as a carbon copy from his previous monastery in Tibet (coz they fled with all the valuable prayer items etc). No bad for a 6 year-old huh??? Since the 16th Karmapa died, there is issue regarding the reincarnation of the 17th Karmapa coz there are 3 boys claimed to be the reincarnation of the 16th Karmapa. One is Tibetan, the other is Sikkimese and the last one is Bhutanese. All three are certified by different Learned Lamas. So, it's difficult to know who's the REAL reincarnation of the 16th Karmapa who can rule Rumtek Monastery. Since it's a sensitive issue, all three reincarnated Karmapa can't pray/visit at Rumtek Monastery in order to avoid misunderstanding among the believers. It's like even you're reincarnated but you're not even welcome to your own house. It's kinda funny coz they put the 17th Karmapa (the Tibetan one) photo in the monastery. The reason why there are 3 reincarnation of the 16th Karmapa was according to Dalai Lama, each Lama can be reincarnated by their mind, body and soul (tetiba jer keluar fatwa baru pulak kan). So the Tibetan Karmapa is the strongest coz he was reincarnated from the SOUL (katanya...). I'll tell you more about Buddhism (from their own eyes/view) later on in my next post.

In Rumtek, they kept the flying black hat for the crowning of the Karmapa. It's believed that the hat was being woven from the hair of angels. It has to be kept locked in a box. Even when during the crowning ceremony, the Karmapa have to hold on to the hat or else it'll fly back to heaven. Nobody has seen the flying black hat since 1993 when the 16th Karmapa died. Maybe it flew off to heaven already la.
Our next stop was Institute of Tibetology where we learnt more about Buddhism history. Then we took a cable car in the town. The cable car ride was not as spectacular as I thought. We have to cramp with other tourists in just ONE cable car. It's hard to appreciate the view when so many people inside the cable car. After lunch we went to a local handicraft institute where we can see how all the handicrafts were made. it's nice to see their government preserve their local culture through younger generation. We bought a few things there as our souvenirs.
Since there was a flower show going on so we decided to check out the flower coz Neo wanted to take some pictures of the rare Rhododendrons. After that we went back to our hotel and can't wait for dinner time hehehe. The dinner was again superbly delicious and I'll definitely miss this lodge coz of the excellent food. After dinner, we hit the town again for the last time before leaving to Bhutan tomorrow. I accidentally bought a Tibetan motif carpet for my mom (even we had a very limited space left in our backpack) coz it's really nice and cheap (I can't help it, hehe). We went back to our lodge and can't wait for our white water rafting adventure tomorrow and then we'll proceed to Kingdom of Bhutan. Bye Bye India......

East-South-West

2008-06-19T18:00:00.007+08:00

23 May 2008 (Day 8) - Mystical Journey Over Himalayan Mountain
As I predicted, we can't see the sunrise over Mt Kanchenjunga this morning coz it get really cloudy due to the rain last night. So, we slept again until 8am. After breakfast, we checked out from the hotel leaving for Gangtok. I'm quite sad leaving Pelling coz we had such a great experience here with a great hotel service. The drive to Gangtok (West Sikkim) took another 5-6 hours coz we had to go down south then went up to the west of Sikkim. The journey was mystically beautiful coz we drove through the cloud in between the Himalayan mountain. That was really an enjoyable journey for the eyes and soul.

Along the way, I asked Palden if he knew anyone that can arrange white water rafting for us in Teesta River coz from what I read, it mentioned Apr-May is the best time to do rafting in this region with Grade 3-4 rapid. That's sound really interesting coz I really wanna do rafting in Himalaya. Fortunately he had a friend that can arrange that sort of thing. Since there are a few types of rafting so I decided to do the longest (25km) and the most challenging one (Grade 4 rapid) only for the two of us in the raft. I don't want to join the commercialize rafting that they organize coz it'll be so boring for me. I need to get my adrenaline going for the rafting adventure in Himalaya. No doubt we have to pay much more for that but I don't mind paying for the experience. According to Palden, they didn't normally arrange the challenging rafting that we choose esp for two persons coz not many people wanna do/try it (only the crazy one like us heheh) but thanks to Palden coz he managed to arrange it with another 4 local crews that will join us. We need at least 6 persons in the raft to stabilize it due to higher volume of water in Teesta River. I was so excited and can't wait until Day 10 for the rafting adventure in Himalaya. For now, we continue our journey to Gangtok. Here I attached picture of Gangtok town from far. We arrived in Gangtok around 2pm and after check in at Netuk House (see picture below). I purposely choose to stay in the traditional house rather than predictable hotel. I think it ONLY has 10 rooms and they don't normally accept Indian national guest. It was a really nice traditional lodge. The design (exterior and interior) was exquisite and really beautiful. The owner was really friendly and even though there's no TV in the room, we really like the place. Then we went out to the town for lunch and surprisingly Gangtok (1,600 m) is beautiful and quite a modern town on top of Himalaya. The weather was warmer than Pelling and Darjeeling but it's still much colder than Malaysia. Since we like to try something new everywhere we go, so we decided to try a Tibetan Restaurant. They served all Tibetan cuisine and it's hard to choose coz we don't really know what to try. We asked the owner to recommend us dishes that we can eat with rice coz some of the dishes are standalone (without rice). The food was really nice (no wonder the place was full house) and it's quite spicy. After lunch, we ventured out Gangtok town. It's just like going from one shop after another until we found out that there is some sort of Market Fair going on. So, we went and check out the fair but there's nothing really caught our eyes to buy the stuff there. Maybe we already did some shopping in Darjeeling and our backpack almost full. We need to save some space for our shopping in Bhutan later on our journey. Since we're quite tired after the long journey, we went back to our lodge and chill out at the balcony doing some reading with an evening tea overlooking the Himalayan mountains (see picture below, isn't it beautiful??). We can even see Mt Kanchenjunga from here but it's from different angle. It felt really peaceful and relaxing. We went for dinner at the lodge and surprisingly they served us an authentic Sikkimese dinner set and it taste really really good coz it's home cooked. This is one of the best food that we had during this journey and I wish we can have it everyday heheh. We finished almost everything on the table and really had a full belly back to the room. We did some planing where we wanna go tomorrow before we went to sleep.

Sikkimese Delight

2008-06-18T21:12:00.015+08:00

22 May 2008 (Day 7) - One Day In Yuksom
We woke up around 7am and no sunrise viewing today coz we're too lazy to wake at 4am. Too bad it's cloudy this morning coz it was raining last night and we can't even see Mt. Kanchenjunga from our room. Today, we're going to Yuksom where was once the 1st Capital of Sikkim. After breakfast we started our journey first to Kechipalri Lake or famously called 'Wishing Lake'. Along the way, we stopped at the waterfall just to feel the fresh & cold water of the Himalaya. People come to Kechipalri Lake to do their prayer. I don't know either it's for Hindu or Buddhist coz I saw Hindu went to the lake and pray as well. According to our driver (Palden), if we see the lake from the top of any mountain, it'll look like a one giant foot print. Of course from the legend, someone holy step into it and became a lake (something like that) and it's one of the holiest lake in Sikkim now. That's why people go there to do their prayer esp during their religious festival. The weird thing was that there's not a single leaf in the lake even though it was surrounded by the forest. According to Palden, wild ducks are kind of the caretaker of the lake and they'll take away all the leaves that fell in the lake. Surprising huh??? or maybe they just vegetarian heheeh. I forgot to mention that when we hike up towards the lake we stop at the mini temple and I spin around the big bell just for the fun of it. After visited the lake we proceed up north to Yuksom. I'm kinda excited to be in Yuksom coz now we can do some hiking up the mountain and the second one was Palden promised us that he'll try to get us a traditional Sikkimese lunch complete with a Yak meat coz I kept on requesting to taste the Yak meat. Once in Yuksom, we started our hiking to the 1st Ancient Capital of Sikkim. We can see Nepal on the other side of the mountain. The hiking was moderate with some steep hill but we kinda penat jugak la. We took some pictures with the locals and surprisingly, the locals in Yuksom speak comprehensible English even for the small kids coz in Sikkim, English is their medium language in school. I'll post a few pictures of the local kids here. After that, we decided to climb all the way up to the oldest monastery in Sikkim i.e Dubdi Monastery. It's not that we really want to visit the monastery but the climbing part made us eager to go there. We thought it was just a simple climb, in the end we end up climbing a very steep mountain for an hour in order to reach the monastery. It was really unexpected and tiring experience. I wonder who'll go there just to pray. As expected, there's no monk in the monastery coz it's really far up the mountain and it's just a small monastery meant to be a history of Sikkim. Buddhist will go there only for special religious occasions. At the monastery we met with the Swedish family with two kids. We chatted with them for about an hour up there and we went down together. We didn't realize it was almost 4pm and we didn't even have our much anticipated lunch yet. We're so hungry and rush back to Palden where the lunch was ready at his friend restaurant. Palden thought that we're lost in the mountain coz it took us quite a long time (5 hours) to get back and almost want to ask people looking for us.
The lunch came and as expected they prepared us a very traditional Sikkimese food with Yak meat. The Yak meat was really good and I really like the taste of it. It's hard to describe it coz the texture of the meat is different but taste really delicious. They even gave us a lentil soup that normally prepared only during wedding or special occasion. It was something like a green herb that grow in the mountain and it taste superbly delicious. The last dish was like a scramble egg with cheese made from Yak milk. The taste a bit different but really something that I never taste before. We love all the lunch dishes and really thanked Palden that help us to be able to experience the real Sikkimese food and the Yak meat.After lunch we just chill out for a while in Yuksom before heading back to our hotel in Pelling. We reached Pelling around 6.30pm and Palden invited us to try a Sikkimese way of life. Since we got nothing much to do, we just join him at a local bar and there he ordered us a Millet Beer. It's a traditional alcoholic drink for Sikkimese and they'll drink it everyday esp during winter and festival coz it can get really cold during the winter. They made the beer from fermented millet (a kind of cereal plant) and surprisingly it taste really nice and sweet. It's like 'air tapai' that they fermented from rice for Dusun ethnic in Malaysia. The beer can really made you feel warmer (since it's raining and very cold at that time). They served the Millet Beer in a very big bamboo glass. It's one really really big bamboo glass. I can hardly finished one glass of it but Neo was already at number 3. We chatted until 8.30pm before we went back to our hotel for dinner. At that time, I asked Palden if he ever met any Malaysian that travel in this part of the world. His answer : We're the first Malaysian that he ever met on his 8 years experience in tourism there. I'm sure they were Malaysian travelled to this region before but the number might be less than 1,000 people. What a shame coz it's one of a very beautifully unexplored place that you can ever be.

During dinner, we chatted with the staffs of the hotel coz they're really friendly and they said they'll pray tonight for us to be able to see sunrise over Mt Kanchenjunga tomorrow morning. I doubt it'll happen coz it's raining again tonight but their thought that count. We really enjoyed our day and it's one of the best experience in our journey so far.

Entering Once 'Kingdom Of Sikkim'

2008-06-17T20:18:00.011+08:00

21 May 2008 (Day 6) - Half Day Around The Mountain
Today we woke up a bit late and after breakfast, we start our 4WD journey entering Sikkim. Our destination is Pelling which situated in the west of Sikkim.
Some History : Sikkim was an independent country/kingdom until 1975 when they joined India as one of their state. They had a Maharaja but was brought down by the people. The Maharaja Of Sikkim lineage still around but they're no longer remembered. People of Sikkim are from three major races i.e Nepali descendant, Bhutia which came from Tibet (but some of them are originally from Sikkim) and the authentic Sikkimese i.e Lepcha. Most Lepchas live in the north of Sikkim. All the three races called themselves Sikkimese (not Indian) and proud of that. Anyway, they don't look like Indian at all. Interestingly in Sikkim ONLY Sikkimese can own (buy/sell) the land there. In some part of northern Sikkim, ONLY Lepchas can own (buy/sell) the land. It's kind of like an autonomy state in India but still under Indian government administration. The funny part is all Sikkimese surname will be reflected by their races. If they're Lepcha, (like our driver) his name will be Palden Lepcha. Bhutia will have Bhutia as their surname and Nepali will have Rai as their surname. Enough of the history....

Along the way to Sikkim, we first stopped at one of the finest Darjeeling tea production factory. The Darjeeling tea can fetch up to Rs10,000 (RM780) per kilogram depending on the quality. Normally the first flush i.e before monsoon (Apr-May) is the best quality. Coincidentally, we had the opportunity to buy the first flush (it cost me Rs500 for 100 grams) and the taste is really really good. No wonder people all around the world sought after the Darjeeling Tea. Then, we stop at the tea plantation and took some pictures the women plucking the tea. It's a hard job to do. The road that we passed along the way was very scenic and the pictures that we took can't really justify the magnificence view. You really have to be there to experience the God nature creation at His best. Here I attached a few pictures of faces of Darjeeling/Sikkim. Enjoy it!!!
We stopped for lunch at the border town of Jorethang. There we tasted our first Sikkimese food i.e Momo. It's like a dimsum with their chilly paste. The food was quite nice but the place was a bit dirty. Then we entered Sikkim from Ramam Check Post (West Sikkim). We have to stamped our passport to enter Sikkim and showed them our Sikkim Travel Permit (we arranged the permit in Darjeeling). It's like entering into another country and we can only stay in Sikkim for 15 days (permission for extension of stay can easily be done in Sikkim). After the check post, we proceed to Pelling and we slept along the way coz we had a full belly until our driver ask us if we wanna visit the Ancient Capital Of Sikkim. Since we're kinda tired being in the car, so we went to explore it. The place called Rabdentse which was once the 2nd Capital Of Sikkim. It was all the way back to 17th century. Since it's located like a stone throw way from Nepal (where they're at war at that time), they moved the Capital City to Gangtok (East Sikkim) and it remain as the capital state until now. There nothing much left there and we won't miss anything if didn't go there either.
After some pictures, we proceed to Pelling. Along the way, again we stop at one of the oldest monastery in Sikkim. What can I say, monasteries are all the same but we did chit chat with a few student monks there and they're human after all. Before this I thought monks are really holy and have a very strict discipline but when we chatted with them, they're just like us. They socialize just like us (they even have girlfriend and going out with them openly). Most of them have hand phone and I observed some of them busy 'smsing'. The different is that they have to wear their monk's costume everywhere they go and they study Buddhist at the monastery. I found out also that they learn other things as well at the monastery like Mathematics, English, Science and all the basic secular subjects. Here I attached faces of the monks.
After that we proceed to Pelling (2,100 m) and arrived around 4pm. It was an 8 hours journey down and up the mountain again (with few stops). We checked in at De Regency Hotel which was a new hotel and the design was quite nice. According to the website, we can view Mt Kanchenjunga from the hotel. We'll see if that will happen. The weather in Pelling was as cold as in Darjeeling. It'll go down to 8 C at nights. After check in we roamed around Pelling town which is a very small town. There's nothing in the town but at least it's as clean as in Darjeeling unlike the stereotypically dirty Indian towns. Even though, it's a quite small town but we love the place coz it's really 'nature-lovingly' relaxing and the service in the hotel was excellent (highly recommended). We called the night early coz we hope to wake up early tomorrow to view sunrise over Mt Kanchenjunga from the hotel balcony. I'll tell you what happen in my next post...

Borneo Games 2008

2008-06-16T16:43:00.005+08:00

The Games ended today and sad to say that we failed to reach our target of at least bronze medal. Sabah team finished forth placing but at least it was an improvement from last year edition where we finished last. Personally, I'm not satisfied with my performance for this year Games coz I lost 2 out of 3 matches. I played too safe and didn't take much risk in the games. I lost the 2 matches because I'm too afraid to lose the point and I didn't hit my normal strokes instead opt for a safer but attackable strokes. Maybe the nerves getting out of me. Mentally, I need more competitive matches to get my game going as what I did in practice. At least the score was quite close and it give me hope for next year edition. Overall, I'm happy with Sabah Tennis team performance coz we're very supportive of each other and eager to do better for next year edition. The team are young and improving. I'm sure we'll be able to get at least a silver medal next year. Since we have to play 3 matches (best of 3 sets) within 24 hours, my body really aching right now and I need a very good relaxation massage for the muscle. I'll continue my travelogue in my next post coz now I really need a good rest.

Holiday, Course & Games

2008-06-13T19:25:00.004+08:00

It has been quite some time I didn't blog any post. It just that I had a quite hectic schedule lately. After my holiday ended, I have to go for a course in KL early this week and this weekend Borneo Games started (14-16 Jun) and I'm representing Sabah team for tennis. So, I'll continue my travelogue when the Games ended. Since it's a 16 days journey, so it'll a while for me to finish it heheehe.

Tomorrow morning (8am) I'll have my first match. I hope I can contribute a point for Sabah team. Our target this year is to get at least a bronze medal coz we don't want to end up in the bottom two again. As usual I'll play the single slot and year after year I always contribute a point from my match for Sabah team. I hope the trend will continue again this year. Yesterday we had a good practice session together. I think this year team is much stronger than the previous year. I saw the commitment to be the best that they could for the Games. I'll keep you posted on the Games progress and result. Wish me and Sabah team a success for this edition of Borneo Games!

World Heritage & World First

2008-06-06T10:10:00.008+08:00

20 May 2008 (Day 5) - Unseen View & Tuuuttt Tuuuttt (sound of the train)

We woke up very early today at 3.30am coz yesterday we asked our driver to pick us up at 4.00am. The only reason for us to wake up this early coz we wanna go to Tiger Hill (30 minutes away) to see the sunrise view of Mt Kanchenjunga which is the third highest peak in the world standing at 8,598m. We didn't even had a shower coz it gets extremely cold during that hour even when we use the hot water. Unfortunately due to the cyclone and overcast weather yesterday, it's really get cloudy this morning and we can see nothing. Finally after waiting for an hour, we saw the sun already rose in the thick of the cloud and we can't even see the beautiful full view of Mt Kanchenjunga from the Tiger Hill as well. We kinda disappointed not to be able to view one of the magnificent place to view the sunrise. As it getting very cold up there, we decided to go back to hotel for breakfast. Along the way, we stopped at two monasteries in Darjeeling town. Since most people here are Buddhists, monastery play an integral part of their daily life. The thing about these monastery in the Himalayan Region is once you enter into one, it feels like you already enter all of it coz the interior and exterior design were almost the same for all (no doubt it's very artistically beautiful). From the statue to the painting, it's all almost the same except a few small things which I'll explain later on in my next post. So, the excitement level of visiting one monastery after another will definitely be in declining mode.
Also along the way our driver spotted a kinda fine view of Mt Kanchenjunga. So, we stopped for a pictures and at least we got to see the view first hand (i attached the picture here). You can see the snow cap mountain on the background and that's Mt. Kanchenjunga. After breakfast, we took a shower then we proceed to Tibetan Refugee camp. The fled from Tibet during the Chinese invasion of Tibet around 1950 and settled at the Refugee Camp in Darjeeling. These people are Tibetan and they just hold a refugee card coz they have NO nationality. Since Tibet is not a country, they hold no passport. They're neither Indian national nor Chinese national. We chatted with a few of them and they're holding a prayer for the monk that died during the riot in Tibet at the time we were there. They're really nice people that fight for their freedom of religion coz China doesn't allow that to happen.
Next stop, we going to ride the famous toy train. They called it toy train not because it's a toy BUT the train is much smaller compared to conventional train. There was drama during the train ride. Since we're going up the hill suddenly the train stop and slide down the hill due to insufficient steam (the train powered by steam). It's not scary coz the train doesn't move that fast but we felt kinda funny for the whole episode. After 30 minutes, the train start moving up again to our destination. We stopped for pictures at Batasia Loop (the most photograph site along the railway) and then proceed to the second highest railway station in the world (stated there) i.e Ghoom Station located at 2700m. Actually I knew it's the third highest after Tanggula Pass (5,072m) in Lhasa-Golmud, Tibet and La Raya Pass (4,313m) along the Lake Titicaca route in Machu Picchu, Peru. The train journey was amazing and we got to know the history of the railway from the museum at Ghoom Station. I'll be too long if I wanna tell you about the history, no?

After that we went to Himalayan Mountaineering Institute coz I'm interested to know the history of mountain climbing in Himalaya. The first man succesfully climb the Mt. Everest was an Indian national i.e Tenzing Norgay. Actually he's a Sherpa from Nepal but Indian government gave him the citizenship. He's the pioneer in mountain climbing in Himalaya and became president of one most influencial climbing institute in Himalaya (I forgot what's the name of the institute coz too much info to remember during the whole journey). Too bad this time around we won't be able to do some serious hiking due to time constraint. So we learnt all the history of climbing and they even found an eagle died at 27,000 feet and brought back at the museum. It's amazing huh? I think the eagle must somehow get lost in wind storm coz i think it's impossible for the eagle to fly that high. Since the Zoological Park is in the same area as the Institute, we took the opportunity see the red panda and snow leopard which are a rare species. We browsed around the zoo for 10 minutes hehehe coz all the zoo are the same anyway, no?

Later that day we hit the town again. This time we went for a horseback ride along the mountain. It was so amazing to be able to do horseback riding on the Himalayan mountain. I really enjoyed the experience. After that, we went shopping again hehehe coz Darjeeling town is really nice place to walk and window shopping. Maybe the cool weather play the part as well. We found out Darjeeling has a Shopping Mall and it's quite nice given the town situated on the hill. Since this is the last night we'll be in Darjeeling therefore we explored most part of the town and eventually we went to the square where there's live performance going on for some sort of concert. We call it a day around 9pm and went back to our hotel. Tomorrow we'll have another long journey to Sikkim.

One Journey After Another

2008-06-05T20:55:00.004+08:00

18 May 08 (Day3 ) - Goodbye Sheraton MughalToday we're going back to Delhi coz we had a flight to catch to Bagdogra. That will be our real journey begin. Delhi and Agra were just a stopover kinda like entree. Today we had breakfast exclusive for the suite room stay. The breakfast was really nice. After breakfast we continue sleeping until 1pm. We check out at 2pm before taking a long bus journey back to Delhi. We arrived Delhi 7.30pm and there's no point staying at a 5 star hotel just for a few hours sleep. So we decided to stay at the Incredible Home Stay in Karol Bagh area. The room was clean and comfortable for its range. After dinner we went back to sleep coz we need to wake up at 6am tomorrow to go the airport.

19 May 08 (Day 4) - Cyclone In Darjeeling
We arrived at Delhi domestic airport around 7.30am and it was so full of people. The airport kinda like 'reban ayam' with no designated gate for boarding. Even the announcement was not that clear. We flew by Air Deccan kinda like Airasia copycat in India. The flight was delay for about an hour coz of heavy traffic and than another hour in the air coz we can't land in Bagdogra due to heavy rain. In the end the two hours flight became three and a half hours. The funny part is, this is the only airline we seen people don't really follow the rule. They simply walk around even when we're about to land.When we landed our driver (Palden) was waiting for us outside the airport. I already prearrange a car and a driver for our 7 days journey in Darjeeling and Sikkim coz I know India public transport is not so reliable. We're so happy coz our driver was very friendly and knowledgeable about the area (i attach our picture together Me, Palden & Neo). The rain just stop and our driver told us that cyclone just landed in Bagdogra and Darjeeling coz along the way we can see a lot of trees fell down on the street. Darjeeling is about 3-4 hours away from Bagdogra (500m) and it's situated at 2100m above sea level. So, there was a very winding and narrow road up the hill. Actually, there are three roads leading to Darjeeling but two of the road was closed due to the cyclone. The driving was really nice coz we drove along the mountain and it's very scenic. Along the way, we stop for some pictures and lunch at Kurseong (KOR-SIANG). The food was not bad maybe coz we're so hungry already. The temperature here was great coz it's cool and windy. I don't remember what time we arrived in Darjeeling but we check in at Viceroy Hotel (one of the good hotel in Darjeeling.... katanya...). the hotel was good BUT the service kinda way below average (not recommended) and we'll be staying here for two nights. After check in, we hit straight to the town on our own coz it's very near to the hotel (we let our driver rest and meet us again tomorrow).
Surprisingly people in Darjelling don't look like Indian at all and they're polite and friendly even though we're still in India territorially. It's really chilly up here as well. After some pictures we went back to the hotel for dinner and then again we hit the town. This time we went shopping coz a lot of nice things they sell here. I felt like wanna buy a lot of things but I don't think we have enough rooms in our bags. People here are not pushy at all (unlike in Delhi & Agra) and it's really convenient for us to browse through before deciding what to buy. We really like this place and can't wait to explore on this mountainous Himalayan region. For now, it's time to sleep.Some History - Darjeeling is made to be a hill station during British time. It was part of Sikkim before British kinda loaned it and eventually it became part of West Benggal state. The people here mostly from Nepali descendant (they called themself Gorkha) and some are Tibetan. Here where the famous 'Darjeeling Tea' grows and the tea is really nice. I can drink the tea all day long. Obviously the main industry here is tea plantation and the 1st flush of a good quality Darjeeling tea doesn't come cheap either. Population in Darjeeling growing at a faster rate and the man made lake that the British built for water supply (good for 10,000 people) is no longer sufficient to cater their population. So, most of people living in town have to buy water supply from a tanker that looks like an oil tanker. During their last election (7 months ago), the separatist party had won and they demanded to be separated from West Benggal and form a Gorkaland state coz West Benggal is too big to care for them in term of road condition, other infrastructures and all. I hope and I think they'll get an independent state soon coz they're not even Benggali. Darjeeling also have the famous 'Toy Train' which is one of World Heritage Structure. I'll tell you more about the toy train on my next post coz we're going to have a ride on it tomorrow.
Note: All the fact I got it from the locals and our driver. I guess it should be more accurate rather than sometime misleading book.

Disclaimer: Since I got a few feedback from you guys about my previous post that smell racism. So, I just wanna stress out here that there's nothing to do with racism. It's just what I experienced and encountered first hand. That was just truly how I felt for the whole thing.

Much Ado About Taj Mahal

2008-06-04T20:41:00.007+08:00

17 May 08 (Day 2) - Long Day In Arid Land
We woke up as early as 6.00am to get ready for exploring Agra. After we had breakfast at Taj Bano (one of Hotel's restaurant) it's already 7.20am. Our car and driver have been waiting for us at the hotel lobby. The car was ok and quite comfortable and the driver was friendly.

First stop, I asked the driver to send us to Taj Mahal. Along the way, we can see how dirty the city was. We can even see pigs running around the town (no kidding). Since we have to walk like 200m before reaching the gate, all these Indians trying to sell from chilly to souvenirs. Even worst, they pull our hand in order for us to buy from them. It's a very long 200m walk for us coz they're very pushy. This experience was even worst then I faced in Istanbul and Beirut. Coincidently, at the gate we met with Malaysian family holidaying there and we chat a bit with them and they share the same feeling about India even they went there with a tour package.
Personally, I don't understand what's the hype about Taj Mahal. It's just a building built coz of love. Yeah, it's intricately beautiful and Yeah, it's full of history (isn't all building full of history???) BUT to go to Delhi and Agra just to see the Taj Mahal, I just don't think it's worth it UNLESS you wanna go through what we went through yesterday. I can't really appreciate it that much. It's just another intricately beautiful building just happen to be one of Seven Wonders of the world (isn't it 8 wonders now).
Second stop is the Agra Fort, it's the same scenario all over again. Those Indians trying to sell thing to us and a lot of guides roaming around there persuade us to take them to guide us. They said the place is very complicated to venture and we'll miss out on the history. Come on, I'm not that stupid to hire a guide to know the history coz I can read all that in the book and the place itself was very easy to navigate. Since it's getting very hot in Agra, so we decided to get back to our car as soon as we finished navigate the Agra Fort.

After that, we proceed to lunch but since this morning our driver suggest a few places that we can buy souvenir so we decided to visit a few of his suggestion. We didn't really like what we saw but Neo end up buying t-shirt for his dad. I'm quite worried where we'll have our lunch but thankfully our driver brought us to a very clean and nice place. We had a very good lunch there.
Next stop is Fatehpur Sikri which is 1 hour away from Agra. Since it's so hot (45 C) and we had a full belly so we end up sleeping in the back seat until we arrived at the destination. Once we got out from the car, we can hardly open our eyes coz the temperature and wind were so hot and the land was very arid and dusty. Since we're quite tired and the driver also suggest us to get a guide for this site (actually we don't want any guide at all at first) so we just went along with his suggestion coz it doesn't cost that much for the guide. All my prejudice was right, the guide end up pushing us to buy a few thing at the site. I really regreted having decided to have a guide now. Once Indian always Indian. They're really not worthy of living coz they always wanna cheat and lie to other people. No wonder their country really SUCK.

Since it's very hot, we decided to call it a day and head back to our car. Unfortunately, the car broke down and we have to wait about 30 minutes for a replacement car. We head straight back to the hotel coz I'm tired of this city and never wanna go anywhere else except our hotel. It was a relieve finally we're in our suite room. The exceptional service in the hotel doesn't end yesterday. We have a butler to prepare our bed for a night time and provide us nutrition for our good night sleep. They prepare us a few local herb for digestion and almond in the water for the skin and hair etc... They even have aromatherapy for us to sleep better. The butler can even prepare a bath for us. I really like their service and never wanna go out from here.

Dinner time, we went to try another restaurant in the hotel i.e Bagh e Bahar which served quite a nice food with kinda live band performing. After dinner we try to book a train back to Delhi for the next day. Unfortunately, all luxury train seat to Delhi was taken. I don't want to share a seat with a pig on the normal train. So, we got no choice other than taking the long bus journey back to Delhi. After that, we went back to our room and sleep coz it was a very hot day we had. I'll continue with our journey on my next post. ciao....

India Oh India

2008-06-03T18:11:00.006+08:00

16 May 08 (Day 1) - Dark Day In Dark Cities
We started our journey from KLIA when my brother sent us to the airport with another car (remember the car that got stalled the other night) from Seremban around 6am. Me and Neo kinda excited to start our long journey ahead. At the airport, suddenly I got called from my brother that the car got stalled AGAIN!!! Thank God it was after he sent us to the airport but still I kesian him have to wait for my dad in the highway.

We touched down Delhi around 11am (Delhi time) and I felt that I wanna go back to KL straight away. I hate India so much, from the people (very rude and full of scam), the city, the weather and the environment. It's really a DARK country. At that time, I kinda regret my decision to fly to Delhi just for the Taj Mahal. First, for a big capital city like Delhi, the airport really SUCK!!! and SMELLY as well. Even though now the airport under construction for being upgraded, I don't think it'll be even close as good as KLIA. Since we went there during summer, so there's nothing much we can do with a very hot (40 C) and arid weather. Indian people are VERY EXTREMELY RUDE and even at the immigration, they just THROW back our passport to us. If I wanna tell the bad attitude of the Indian, I think I can write a dedicated post just for that. So, I'll just summarize my first hand encounter here.

RUDE encounter (after immigration) - Since we decided to go to Agra straight away from Delhi, we try to buy a taxi at the airport to Sarai Kale Bus Terminal coz there's no more train leaving to Agra until the next morning. The Indian at the taxi counter scolded me for giving him the wrong Rupee note and shooed me away. It was a total shock coz I don't even understand what he wants in the first place. DAMN Indian!!!!

SCAM encounter - After we got the taxi, I asked them to go to Sarai Kale Bus Terminal coz I knew there's a lot of bus leaving to Agra there BUT the taxi driver have ANOTHER idea. He told us that we can't buy bus ticket at the Bus Terminal (contrary from what I read) and FORCED us to go to the 'Travel Agency' to get the bus ticket. Since we kinda trapped in the taxi, so we just go along with his suggestion. At the Travel Agency, they try to sell us their package to Agra that'll cost us Rs14,000 (RM1,100). I said NO WAY. Then he tried to persuade me to believe that all the bus ticket was sold out. He even ask me to talk on the phone from 'konon-konon nye' the person from the bus counter that told me all bus ticket to Agra was sold out for the next FOUR days. I just couldn't believe it and you STUPID INDIANS can't fool me that easily. In the end we refused to take whatever they offered us even my heart kinda racing a bit coz we're being outnumbered by the STUPID INDIANS. I just remain cool and ASK our taxi driver to send us to the Bus Terminal no matter what. On the way to the bus terminal, our taxi driver suddenly stop and REFUSED to send us there and he asked a tricycle to send us instead (which we have to pay again). Since it's doesn't cost that much and we just wanna get out from the taxi, so we decided to take the tricycle and get to the Bus Terminal as soon as possible. STUPID INDIANS!! I HATE THEM!! No wonder they're sooo dirty and smelly.

At last, we arrived at Sarai Kale Bus Terminal after more than two hours drama on the road (which actually just 20 minutes from the airport). At the bus terminal we observed that Indian are extremely poor. The condition of bus terminal is REALLY bad. It's like we're in a pig farm or something. It was dusty, unimaginably dirty and smelly coz Indian will urinate everywhere there. We're quite surprise even as dirty place like that we saw a women wash her kids cloth on the dirty tarmac of the bus terminal. How can it be hygienic coz it's like you do your washing in a pond of urine BUT that's INDIA. My decision was right coz there were a lot of bus leaving to Agra and we can just easily buy the ticket in the bus itself. So, we decided to wait for an air-conditioned bus coz the one without look so bad. Once the AC bus arrived, it look just about the same as the one without except with semi functional AC. It's still quite hot inside during the 5 hours journey to Agra. It was so uncomfortable but at least we're on the way to our destination. We arrived Agra around 7pm and we have to take a tricycle to our much anticipated hotel coz I already booked a room at Sheraton 'The Mughal' Agra. It's one of the luxirious hotel 5 star hotel in Agra. I just can't wait to get there and rest coz it has been a long and torturous journey so far. Still, the tricycle driver had ANOTHER idea. I asked him to send me directly to the hotel BUT he went and picked up his friend in turn tried to sell another tour package to us. I refused everything and he went and picked up another friend of his to sell another tour package again but this time I told them that I'm not interested and I just wanna stay at the hotel the whole day on the next day.

At last we arrived at arrived at the luxurious Sheraton Mugal and we felt relieved after all the unexpected incident along the journey. From today experience, my expectation was very low regarding the hotel service (even it's 5 star) BUT we been treated like a KING. Since I'm a Platinum card member of Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG), they automatically upgrade us to a suite room. It was expected coz I always been upgraded to a suite room for all SPG group of hotel BUT they sent us to have a check in at the room itself. They don't even ask for my credit card for deposit. The room was really nice and they even have a full body massage chair. The decor and furnishing was very amazing and it's even better that suite room that we stayed in Le Meridien in Bangkok, KL or KK. They even have a complimentary wine and snack bar for us. All of sudden, we felt relieved and don't even want to get out from the hotel. It's like an oasis in the middle of the dessert. I'll tell you more about the hotel in my next post coz we stayed two nights there. You can check out the website at http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=422
to have an idea how we felt during our stay there.

Indeed we didn't go out that night coz I can never imagine eating at a very dirty place outside the hotel. So we had dinner at one of their restaurant i.e Peshawri. The ambiance of the restaurant was amazing and the Indian food served was very nice and clean. I don't mind that it costs more rather than I'll have a diarrhea for the whole week by eating outside.

Since the next day we planned to go to Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Fatehpur Sikri etc so we decided to hire a car and a driver for one whole day from the hotel to bring us around. I had enough of Indian public transport and scam that'll pop up along the way. I rather pay one time more rather than being conned from one after another. After I did all the car booking with the hotel, we just spend the night on the massage chair in the room and sleep like a baby coz it has been a really long journey and we're extremely tired by now. By the way, we need to wake up early tomorrow coz we hired the car from 7am to bring us around. I'll tell you what happen on Day 2 of our journey in my next post. ciao....

Welcome Home!!!

2008-06-02T22:53:00.003+08:00

Hi everyone. It has been weeks since my last blog and what was an amazing journey that had been for me. Since there has been a few request for me to blog my last travel experience, so I'll blog it in a few episodes coz it's too much to tell in just one take. I'll start the first episode in my next blog hehehe.

Here I'll tell you what happen after I came back in Malaysia on 31 May 08. So, I can do the prequel later on hehehe. Since I arrived Kuala Lumpur from Delhi at 7.40am (which is almost 1 hour delay with the perasan 'five star' Malaysia airline tu), I went straight back home to sleep and rest. Later that day, I went to KL to buy some stuffs and met a few of my friends. I end up having dinner with Alie, Malis, Adrie and their kids at Paddington Pancake, The Curve.

After that, I went to Fadli new house at Laman 38 (which cost RM70K to renovate). They (Fadli and Raz) still do the paint job inside so I willingly watch them paint the house without helping for couple of hours hehehehe. Then I went back home to Seremban which I arrived around 1.30am. I need to get a good rest coz I really lack of sleep and rest these couple of days. Then the next day I went back to Tawau to start working again..... to be continued (in prequel) heheheh

Packing...Packing...Drama??!!

2008-05-16T00:47:00.002+08:00

The thing I hate the most before travelling is PACKING!! I really like to wait until the last minute coz I know I'll travel as light as possible. So, I don't think I need more time to do it. Anyway, thanxs to Neo for helping me packing it hehehehe.

Now, I'm in KL coz I need to catch early morning flight to Delhi to start my journey. There's a drama happened when my brother pick me up from LCCT just now. On the way back home, the car suddenly stop moving and can't restart. Since we use 'jalan dalam' going back home, so we stuck in kinda of middle of nowhere and it's really dark and scary hehehe coz it's already 11PM. We have to call mechanic at to repair it and thank god there's one. The problem was the timing belt kinda weary. Fortunately, we're able to reach home by 12.30AM.

I wanna sleep now coz I need to wake up at 5AM tomorrow for the flight. I hope I don't any car problem again. Ill definitely ask my brother to use another car to send me tomorrow. This is my last entry for this month coz I'll be travelling until 31 May 08. See you guys with my travelogue next month. Ciao....

Farewell Guga, Farewell.. A Tribute

2008-05-12T21:07:00.010+08:00

Hi again. Since I got nothing to write these past few days. So I decided to bid farewell to my all time favourite tennis player i.e Gustave Kuerten a.k.a Guga. I really adore his style of play and I took up tennis coz of him. That was after he won his first Roland Garros title i.e way back in 1997.

Unfortunately he'll be retiring this year and Roland Garros starting 26 May - 8 June 08 will be his last tournament. I wish him the best even though it's quite unlikely he'll get past the first round. Unfortunately I might not get to see his last match coz I'll still be travelling during that time unless he goes far into the tournament. Since Roland Garros is his first tournament & Grand Slam title, it's fitting that he'll end it there. By the way, he won the tournament THREE times already.

Of all his matches, i think the best he played was during 2000 Master Cup in Lisbao (Lisbon). Then he beat Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras on an indoor court (which is not his favourite surface) to claim the title and finished the year as the No.1 player in the world in 2000. Anyway, I wish him all the best and tennis world will lost such a great personality on court. Farewell......

One Night In KK... and

2008-05-08T20:07:00.009+08:00

Hi everyone, I'm in KK since yesterday until tomorrow. I just wanna share with you guys that last night I had quite a good dinner with Kak Linda and Kak Piah at a very unexpected place. The place is hot and crampy. I need a bucket coz I sweat so much heehe. One thing for sure it's NOT the place for some of my friends esp Fadli the ultimate DIVO (jangan marah....) hehehe. It's a 'warong' at Pasar Filipin. I decided to join them coz it's just in front of Le Meridien Hotel where I stay in KK and Neo also recommend the place to me before. It just that I don't have geng to go makan there until last night. The food is surprisingly quite good given the condition of the place. I even tried the algea and it's really good. Thank you Kak Linda for the dinner and the experience heheeh.

After dinner, I went back to the hotel and watched Tennis Rome Masters Series on Star Sports. To my surprise and every tennis fans in the world that one of my all time favourite player i.e Rafael Nadal (Rafa) lost for the SECOND time in 105 matches on his favourite CLAY surface. I'm kinda shocked that Juan Carlos Ferrero(JCF) finally beat him on clay. I'm not that sad coz I like both players though. It's good to see JCF (former Roland Garros champion) get back to form after just a moderate performance these past four years. Maybe playing 3 weeks in a row is too much too handle for Rafa (after crowned champion at Monte Carlo Masters and Barcelona Open) in weeks before. I guess it's a blessing in disguise for Rafa to get some rest before defending his Roland Garros title for the forth year in a row. Too bad I'll miss the first week of Roland Garros action coz I'll still be travelling. Anyway, I hope Rafa will win his first Hamburg Masters starting next week.

Behind The Scene

2008-05-07T22:18:00.004+08:00

First, I wanna let you guys know that at last I finished reading 'Life Of Pi' by Yann Martel. It was really good towards the end of the story and really made me believe that the whole thing really happen and real. No wonder it won 2002 Man Booker Prize.

Now, I just wanna share 'behind the scene' of my India & Bhutan trip. It fun to travel but I nearly crack up my head to find the best route with the cheapest possible way to do it esp when I wanna travel to remote/exotic/unexplore places like I mentioned in my previous post. First, I have to know what I wanna see and do before I can map out my journey. Trust me, the excitement end there. The reason I choose Delhi was it connects well with KL and Paro (Bhutan). Also, I got to see one of Seven Wonder i.e Taj Mahal. That was easy but to get the cheapest ticket out of Delhi to Bagdogra (the nearest airport to Darjeeling) was quite a challange coz Air Deccan offers the cheapest domestic ticket in India but NONE of Malaysian travel agents can book me on Air Deccan. Even worst, their website limits the usage of outside India credit card tansaction. So, I can't buy the ticket online from their website. After much web searching, I found out that travelocity india website offers Air Deccan ticket. SUCCESSFUL TRANSACTION!!!. I'm so happy about it coz other airlines offer double that what Air Deccan offers for that one way ticket to Bagdogra. Then planning for Derjeeling-Pelling-Gangtok was quite smooth.

On Bhutan side, there are a few Bhutan government regulation that foreigners have to follow. Travel in Bhutan is not cheap. That's why I decided to spent ONLY 5 nights there. First, you must be guided to enter Bhutan. Foreigners can't roam the country unattended. After much web searching, I found this one Bhutanese agent that can accomodate me with my itinerary. Second, all foreigners HAVE to fly (at least one way) by the Royal Druk Air (the ONLY carrier fly in and out of Bhutan). The ticket is not cheap either and that's why I choose to enter by land (Phuentsholing) then fly out from Paro to Delhi by Druk Air. Third, credit card transaction is almost non-existent in Bhutan except at luxury hotels (they only have 2-3 such hotels). So, I have to wire down the money for Druk Air flight ticket and all the travelling charges to them. But I can't wire directly to Bhutan National Bank. I have to use third party banks (ONLY 3 banks listed). The problem was, Malaysian banks are sooooo incompetent and they can't/reluctant to do it that way. The most stupid comment they gave me was 'Are you sure it is a country coz they never heard of it and Bhutan sounds FUNNY'. It shows that how ignorant some Malaysians are even how educated they can be. Then, I have to make a call all the way to Bhutan to clarify the matter and they decided I can pay them there either by CASH or US Travellers cheque but they prefer CASH. What?!! I can't be carrying lots of USD while travelling esp in India. There are a few more Bhutan government regulations BUT it'll take million pages to write everything down heheheh.

There are a few more obstacle and uncertainty for me in planning this trip esp on Bhutan side. I almost cancel the trip coz it takes a lot out of me. Even until now, there are a few uncertainties. It'll be much easier if I just appoint an agent to do everything for me OR I just join in pre-arranged tours BUT I'll not have the satisfaction of travelling and it might cost more and definitely LESS fun. For me, the satisfaction of travelling is the crank 'your head' up while I'm planning and searching for everything needed and a successful execution of the plan. I hope everything work as what I plan or at least almost as what I plan. Now, I can't wait for the journey to begin.

Visa

2008-05-05T21:22:00.007+08:00

At last, today I got my Indian visa. Now, I can't wait for the journey to begin. Actually, India was never on my travel list this year but China lost is India gain la... My original plan was to travel Tibet-Beijing by train (the highest railway track in the world) but unfortunately riot mushroom in Tibet and most part of Tibet is closed and restricted for tourists. There's no point to spend so much money for nothing to see. So I decided to switch my travel plan to Bhutan.

After a thorough research, I found out that Bhutan can ONLY be reach from 6 cities (Bangkok, Delhi, Kolkatta, Dhaka, Khatmandu and Bodhgaya) by air and ONLY one land entry i.e through Phuentsholing. Among the six cities, I'm only interested in Bangkok or Delhi but since I just got back from Bangkok in March 08 so I decided to start a journey from Delhi-Agra-Bagdogra-Darjeeling-Sikkim (Gangtok & Pelling)-Bhutan (through Phuentsholing-Thimpu-Punakha-Paro)-Delhi on 16-31 May 08. I hope can cover all the places within the 16 days period. It looks and sound too much to cover but I might just drop a few destinations if time doesn't permit.

The only thing that I didn't get yet is a Travel Permit to enter Sikkim. Sikkim is the smallest state in India and foreigners need a travel permit to enter the state. I think I'll have to get it in Darjeeling when I arrive there coz the India High Commission in Malaysia didn't issue the Sikkim Travel Permit. Since it's a last minute switch of plan, it's quite a hassle to find out the info about each destination, their requirement and try to get everything booked in time. As what i found out, Bhutan is very strict country to visit and they only allow around 7,000 - 10,000 tourist a year entering their country and they just open their country for foreigners since 1974. They have a few standard and procedure that we have to follow but I think it'll be worth the hassle. From their point of view, it's good way to protect/preserve their country unique culture and tradition i.e Land Of the Dragon 'The Last Himalayan Buddhist Kingdom'. I'll be lucky if can meet one of the 'Trulku' while climbing Tiger's Nest Temple (one of the scared temple in Bhutan) hehehe. I'll let you know the hassle that I've gone through in my next post.

Virgin

2008-05-01T11:29:00.003+08:00

Hi everyone,
Today is a Labor Day and for the first time ever in my life I'm writing a journal/diary/blog/travelogue etc...
It's kind of I've broken the virginity of it and as provocative as it sound comes my first post hehehe..

I'll try to write every journey in my life that I think will be interesting to share either it's happy, sad and anger etc.... It's kind of weird for me to begin coz I really don't have many things to say hehehe... and now after started writing still I don't many things to say... I hope I'll get better in my next post.

I'm not going to do much today coz it's a holiday and most probably I'll play tennis (if it's not raining) from 3-5 pm. It's part of my training and preparation for Borneo Games in June. I'll play the single for Sabah team. This will be my third time representing Sabah Tennis team for Borneo Games. So far, my record is 2-1 in a single match and I hope to contribute the point for the team again this year.

I think I'll try to finish up the book that I'm reading now titled Life of Pi by Yann Martel. It has been two months since I read it heheheh but still haven't finish reading it. The story is interesting but not really engaging unlike the previous book that I read i.e The Shadow Of The Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. That book really suck you into the storyline but unfortunately the ending was kind of predictable... But still it's a good read.

I'm going for lunch now. Til then........