Time to go home today. But we have till 4pm. Morning was spent like last few days. Waking up late, chill for breakfast, nap for a bit then one last kayak today. Then we went snorkelling for a bit and saw a big fish. Not too huge though. But hubby turned around when we saw the fish and he said it was a trigger fish. Thank god Bryan was with me. Or I might have gone nearer.
Craig and Marie will be coming to K.L with us on the same bus.
Had about 3 hours to kill at the bus station.
Went to the Malay stalls opposite for dinner and killed time. Was fun introducing the local food to Marie and Craig. Sat for almost 3 hours then we proceed to the bus station to get ready for the 9-hour bus ride.
The first 3 hours of the bus ride was good. Slept well. But after the stop, the ride was bad. Couldn't get much sleep because the bus driver was driving like a F1 driver himself. Got back to the city at about 5am. Settled some things with Marie and Craig then off we go back home.
Was a good trip. The place is ok. But it's the people that made it a good and fun!
Monday, July 31, 2006
Perhentian - Day 3
HY's on afternoon shift today. Woke up almost 10am again and went to look for sister for breakfast. Did not apply any sunblock before I left the room. Had 3-hour breakfast under the palm tree and later was burnt.
Went to Remy's "bangalow" A very basic bangalow with a room and "living room". No air-conditioning nor fan. Electricity is only available from 7pm to 12-am daily.
HY went back to work at 3pm and we decided to go for a little kayaking. I've always like kayak. I'm bolder this time as I brought along my life jacket but did not put them on. Kayak around the corner and we stopped by the Romantic Beach. It's just a very narrow beach, quite secluded. But there were a few people there when we arrived. I tried to do a little snorkelling without the life jacket just as I've always wanted to. No problem at all.
I enjoyed snorkelling without the life jacket. I even saw a stingray (I think it is one). But I dare not go nearer and fleed instead because I was all alone without Bryan.
Had dinner together with Marie and Craig at Long Beach again. Bbq salmon. Not too bad. Went to Bubu to catch the fire works show. But was over when we arrived. About 30 mins at Bubu then we jungle trekked home again.
Went to Remy's "bangalow" A very basic bangalow with a room and "living room". No air-conditioning nor fan. Electricity is only available from 7pm to 12-am daily.
HY went back to work at 3pm and we decided to go for a little kayaking. I've always like kayak. I'm bolder this time as I brought along my life jacket but did not put them on. Kayak around the corner and we stopped by the Romantic Beach. It's just a very narrow beach, quite secluded. But there were a few people there when we arrived. I tried to do a little snorkelling without the life jacket just as I've always wanted to. No problem at all.
I enjoyed snorkelling without the life jacket. I even saw a stingray (I think it is one). But I dare not go nearer and fleed instead because I was all alone without Bryan.
Had dinner together with Marie and Craig at Long Beach again. Bbq salmon. Not too bad. Went to Bubu to catch the fire works show. But was over when we arrived. About 30 mins at Bubu then we jungle trekked home again.
Perhentian - Day 2
Got up at about 10am. It's nice that we do not have to wake up to follow the schedule. It's all free and easy. Found out that I have red spots on the hands and legs. Must be those damned jelly fish. Went to look for sister while Bryan's still in bed. Had a coffee, read, and sandwich while waiting for Bryan to wake up. By the time Bryan was up and had breakfast, it was almost 12pm. So we decided to just chill for a bit by the beach until 2pm for the snorkelling trip. I was under the palm tree reading and not after long, dozed off until Bryan came to me and it was almost 2 already.
We quicky went for lunch because the snorkeling trip is about 4 hours and we can't afford to be hungry half way through. A Scottish couple was joining us for the trip. They are Craig and Marie.
The first location being the Shark Point and we didn't see any sharks and the fishes or corals were not fantastic. I was a little disapointed and was hoping that the next location better be good.
After some time at the Shark Point, we went to the Turtle Bay. As we were arriving, a couple was in the water swimming as though there were chasing something. So, we thought it could be turtle. Indeed. They were so excited when they came to the surface and shouted "turtle!". Then we were all excited. But not even half excited as Marie and Craig. Then the boat man told us to quickly get into the water for the turtle. Bryan got into the water and waited for me while I was getting my mask on. But I told him to go ahead without me as I know I'll slow him down and he might miss the turtle totally. So, I was taking my own sweet time in the water looking/or not for the turtle, just around the boat. Then the pakcik told me to hold on to the boat while he'll go chasing for the turtle by boat. I was a little scared and did so and it was ok. Then at one stop, he told me to turn around and I saw a turtle. Not a big one, but surely is my first. (Orh yea, on our first day of snorkelling on our own, we saw this huge fish. Really big but we did not pursue or go nearer. Just the two of us, so better not get into any trouble. Then later I found out that those are like the "flower horn" fish but much much much bigger).
So, I saw my first live turtle that day. After a while, hubby came to join me near the boat and wanted to get on the boat because he was tired chasing the turtle. The pakcik refused to let us go up without telling us to go chase for the turtle somemore. Haha. What a cute pakcik.
The next stop was some coral place with a lot of fishes. We brought some bread along to feed the fish. The moment you throw the bread into the water, you can see a pool of fishes rushing for it. It was quite a nice experience. Then we all 4 went into the water again and the pakcik kept throwing bread to us so the fishes come to us. Some of the fish bite but not enough to injure someone but still can feel the pain. By now, we were quite tired and pakcik brought us to the island jetty for some tea. We went up for a drink, had some keropok lekor, pisang and keledek goreng.
Before we went back, the pakcik stopped us at the light house for some more snorkelling. It's known for the coral but I just thought it's alright. Nothing fantastic. Current was rather strong I have trouble just swimming back to the boat.
Craig and Marie was rather unsatisfied because the haven't seen the shark yet. So, we told the pak cik to stop us at where Bryan saw the shark. But he brought us to elsewhere which is known for shark sightings too. I've decided not to go into the water as the there's no nice coral or fishes. I'll definitely be too slow to chase the shark if there's any . However, I swam for abit around the boat. Then I felt the stinging feeling again and quickly went back onto the boat. By this time, Bryan was on the boat with me while Marie, Craig and pakcik were still in the water. After awhile, Marie and Craig went onto the boat but pakcik was no where to be seen. We waited for awhile and saw him on the water surface approaching the boat.
He got some clam like thingy with him. A huge one. That's why he went missing. Digging for the clam. He got onto the boat with the clam and starting to poke the clam with a knife. He was trying to kill the giant clam. Which is shocking to all of us. It's quite a rare thing, and huge, and he was killing it. The clam is likely to be over 10 years. I find it difficult to believe that he's actually killing the clam. After the pakcik killed the clam, he threw the shell right back into the sea and the flesh is to be used as fish bait.
That wraps up our snorkelling trip for the day. Walked to Long Beach again to try the famous pizza. Was sweating from the walk, and the weather. Was so surprised that the restaurant is away from the beach and it was so damn warm. When we were seated, ready to order, we were told that the pizza is all sold out. No good pizza, no breeze but sweat! We decided to have dinner by the beach which is much much more comfortable than the restaurant.
Dinner at Alan's stall. Went party at Palm Tree. Watch a little fire work. Met a few locals who are friends of Alan and Hy then went back to sleep after midnight. Gotta jungle track to get back...
We quicky went for lunch because the snorkeling trip is about 4 hours and we can't afford to be hungry half way through. A Scottish couple was joining us for the trip. They are Craig and Marie.
The first location being the Shark Point and we didn't see any sharks and the fishes or corals were not fantastic. I was a little disapointed and was hoping that the next location better be good.
After some time at the Shark Point, we went to the Turtle Bay. As we were arriving, a couple was in the water swimming as though there were chasing something. So, we thought it could be turtle. Indeed. They were so excited when they came to the surface and shouted "turtle!". Then we were all excited. But not even half excited as Marie and Craig. Then the boat man told us to quickly get into the water for the turtle. Bryan got into the water and waited for me while I was getting my mask on. But I told him to go ahead without me as I know I'll slow him down and he might miss the turtle totally. So, I was taking my own sweet time in the water looking/or not for the turtle, just around the boat. Then the pakcik told me to hold on to the boat while he'll go chasing for the turtle by boat. I was a little scared and did so and it was ok. Then at one stop, he told me to turn around and I saw a turtle. Not a big one, but surely is my first. (Orh yea, on our first day of snorkelling on our own, we saw this huge fish. Really big but we did not pursue or go nearer. Just the two of us, so better not get into any trouble. Then later I found out that those are like the "flower horn" fish but much much much bigger).
So, I saw my first live turtle that day. After a while, hubby came to join me near the boat and wanted to get on the boat because he was tired chasing the turtle. The pakcik refused to let us go up without telling us to go chase for the turtle somemore. Haha. What a cute pakcik.
The next stop was some coral place with a lot of fishes. We brought some bread along to feed the fish. The moment you throw the bread into the water, you can see a pool of fishes rushing for it. It was quite a nice experience. Then we all 4 went into the water again and the pakcik kept throwing bread to us so the fishes come to us. Some of the fish bite but not enough to injure someone but still can feel the pain. By now, we were quite tired and pakcik brought us to the island jetty for some tea. We went up for a drink, had some keropok lekor, pisang and keledek goreng.
Before we went back, the pakcik stopped us at the light house for some more snorkelling. It's known for the coral but I just thought it's alright. Nothing fantastic. Current was rather strong I have trouble just swimming back to the boat.
Craig and Marie was rather unsatisfied because the haven't seen the shark yet. So, we told the pak cik to stop us at where Bryan saw the shark. But he brought us to elsewhere which is known for shark sightings too. I've decided not to go into the water as the there's no nice coral or fishes. I'll definitely be too slow to chase the shark if there's any . However, I swam for abit around the boat. Then I felt the stinging feeling again and quickly went back onto the boat. By this time, Bryan was on the boat with me while Marie, Craig and pakcik were still in the water. After awhile, Marie and Craig went onto the boat but pakcik was no where to be seen. We waited for awhile and saw him on the water surface approaching the boat.
He got some clam like thingy with him. A huge one. That's why he went missing. Digging for the clam. He got onto the boat with the clam and starting to poke the clam with a knife. He was trying to kill the giant clam. Which is shocking to all of us. It's quite a rare thing, and huge, and he was killing it. The clam is likely to be over 10 years. I find it difficult to believe that he's actually killing the clam. After the pakcik killed the clam, he threw the shell right back into the sea and the flesh is to be used as fish bait.
That wraps up our snorkelling trip for the day. Walked to Long Beach again to try the famous pizza. Was sweating from the walk, and the weather. Was so surprised that the restaurant is away from the beach and it was so damn warm. When we were seated, ready to order, we were told that the pizza is all sold out. No good pizza, no breeze but sweat! We decided to have dinner by the beach which is much much more comfortable than the restaurant.
Dinner at Alan's stall. Went party at Palm Tree. Watch a little fire work. Met a few locals who are friends of Alan and Hy then went back to sleep after midnight. Gotta jungle track to get back...
Perhentian - Day 1
Arrived early morning at the jetty. Had to wait for about 2-3 hours for the earliest boat to the island. So, we had something to eat while waiting. Ordered a rice noodle soup for myself. The soup was sweet. Yes, sweet! But other than that it's ok. Told Bryan I have a feeling that his stir fried noodles will turn up sweet too. And HAHA, indeed! Sweet stir fried noodle. I guess it's just the taste of the people at the east coast.
The earliest boat to the island was 7am. So we took the earliest boat rather than waiting for the 8am boat that my sister recommended. Once arrived, we chilled a bit with Harn Yoke, talk for a little because she's on duty and the boss was around.
The we decided that maybe we should take a nap before we start the day. After about 2 hours nap, we woke and had lunch with sister. The banana shake was good. There's a snorkelling trip at 2pm but we decided to just chill for the day and do the snorkelling trip the next day. After lunch, we chilled by the beach and went out snorkelling on our own. Nothing much to see except for dead corals and few unattractive fishes. Half way, got this stinging feeling on the hands and body. And Bryan started to swim for the shore because he thinks those are jellyfish. I wasn't too looking forward to swim back to the shore but the stinging got worse and I felt some on the face. So, I started swimming faster in case those stings disfigure me.
By the time we swim back to the shore and chill for a little, Harn Yoke was off duty. Now, I don't remember what we did. Orh yea. We walked over to Long Beach because we told HY that the beach over here is not that impressive. So, she brought us to Long Beach because they have cleaner and bigger beach over there. Better for swim because the shore on our side actually got quite a bit of dead corals and therefore not too nice to walk on.
The walk to Long Beach almost killed me. Wasn't too long a walk. Just 10 minutes or so, but it was going up hill for almost half the journey. Thank god the later half was going down hill. Beach was big and clean. Met Lydia and a French couple there. Went into the water for a bit but too bad it was quite choppy and therefore the clearity was not good. Was almost dark when we went to visit Alan (HY's ex-colleague) who just opened a roti canai stall at Long Beach.
It was very cold because we did not bring along a towel to dry ourselves and it was very windy and looks like a thunder storm was approaching. But we still chilled at the stall for a bit. Alan is a nice, friendly Malay man. With 2 sons previously working with him on the island. Alan is good with guitar and even did some modifications on his guitar.
It was dark when we walked back. Luckily we had Uncle Rem with us because we did not have any torch light. Would be impossible to walk back without a torch. We were going to have dinner with a few of sister's foreign friends. One of them's cooking roast chicken. They have these cooking session once a week which I think it's rather nice as you get tired of outside food.
So, we went back to the room for a shower and joined them at the dinner which was conveniently just right next door. At the dinner, we have Tip & Shirley (the owner of the place we have dinner at which is also a dive shop and sells beer; then we have Melanie (which we met in the morning with Dave & Vicky) and hubby Will; Dave, Remy (HY's boy-friend) and Louise (I think) who is Shirley's visiting sister. Orh, Lydia was there too.
The food was ok.
Sat for a while watching the English vs. dunno which country game and call it a nite at around midnight.
The earliest boat to the island was 7am. So we took the earliest boat rather than waiting for the 8am boat that my sister recommended. Once arrived, we chilled a bit with Harn Yoke, talk for a little because she's on duty and the boss was around.
The we decided that maybe we should take a nap before we start the day. After about 2 hours nap, we woke and had lunch with sister. The banana shake was good. There's a snorkelling trip at 2pm but we decided to just chill for the day and do the snorkelling trip the next day. After lunch, we chilled by the beach and went out snorkelling on our own. Nothing much to see except for dead corals and few unattractive fishes. Half way, got this stinging feeling on the hands and body. And Bryan started to swim for the shore because he thinks those are jellyfish. I wasn't too looking forward to swim back to the shore but the stinging got worse and I felt some on the face. So, I started swimming faster in case those stings disfigure me.
By the time we swim back to the shore and chill for a little, Harn Yoke was off duty. Now, I don't remember what we did. Orh yea. We walked over to Long Beach because we told HY that the beach over here is not that impressive. So, she brought us to Long Beach because they have cleaner and bigger beach over there. Better for swim because the shore on our side actually got quite a bit of dead corals and therefore not too nice to walk on.
The walk to Long Beach almost killed me. Wasn't too long a walk. Just 10 minutes or so, but it was going up hill for almost half the journey. Thank god the later half was going down hill. Beach was big and clean. Met Lydia and a French couple there. Went into the water for a bit but too bad it was quite choppy and therefore the clearity was not good. Was almost dark when we went to visit Alan (HY's ex-colleague) who just opened a roti canai stall at Long Beach.
It was very cold because we did not bring along a towel to dry ourselves and it was very windy and looks like a thunder storm was approaching. But we still chilled at the stall for a bit. Alan is a nice, friendly Malay man. With 2 sons previously working with him on the island. Alan is good with guitar and even did some modifications on his guitar.
It was dark when we walked back. Luckily we had Uncle Rem with us because we did not have any torch light. Would be impossible to walk back without a torch. We were going to have dinner with a few of sister's foreign friends. One of them's cooking roast chicken. They have these cooking session once a week which I think it's rather nice as you get tired of outside food.
So, we went back to the room for a shower and joined them at the dinner which was conveniently just right next door. At the dinner, we have Tip & Shirley (the owner of the place we have dinner at which is also a dive shop and sells beer; then we have Melanie (which we met in the morning with Dave & Vicky) and hubby Will; Dave, Remy (HY's boy-friend) and Louise (I think) who is Shirley's visiting sister. Orh, Lydia was there too.
The food was ok.
Sat for a while watching the English vs. dunno which country game and call it a nite at around midnight.
Perhentian Island (Small)
Just came back from an island where my sister is working at. Great holiday and great people.
Was very surprised to see that the majority of the people/tourist on the island are westerners. Over the 3 nights of stay, I've met less than 10 Chinese/Malay/Indian. Wow! That's the closest you can get without having to travel to their countries. But of course they are not all from the same countries. But in general, they are warm people.
You do see some though whom were only warm to the people of their own. Will pretend that you are invisible when they have people of the same colour around them. But a total change of attitude when they need favours from you. I guess this does not apply only to the "angmohs". I'm sure they are people like that everywhere regardless of race or religion.
To go to the island, we had to travel by bus for about 7-8 hours, then another 30 mins by boat. There's another faster alternative which is by plane. An hour or so of flight, another an hour or two of road trip then same amount of time for the boat ride. Of course, travelling by air is much more expensive too.
The bus ticket cost 30.80 and the boat ride is 30 bucks (one way). All in, 60.80 to reach the island. Air ticket alone is about 100 bucks, plus the taxi fare of about maybe 50 bucks and 30 bucks for boat ride. Total of 180 bucks for travelling by air compared to 60.80 by bus. That's more than 50% savings. Furthermore, there's no need to travel by road taking the bus because the bus stop right at the jetty.
The bus ride there was better that I had expected. However, Bryan was complaining about the discomfort. He couldn't get much sleep but I was sleeping almost all the time.
Was very surprised to see that the majority of the people/tourist on the island are westerners. Over the 3 nights of stay, I've met less than 10 Chinese/Malay/Indian. Wow! That's the closest you can get without having to travel to their countries. But of course they are not all from the same countries. But in general, they are warm people.
You do see some though whom were only warm to the people of their own. Will pretend that you are invisible when they have people of the same colour around them. But a total change of attitude when they need favours from you. I guess this does not apply only to the "angmohs". I'm sure they are people like that everywhere regardless of race or religion.
To go to the island, we had to travel by bus for about 7-8 hours, then another 30 mins by boat. There's another faster alternative which is by plane. An hour or so of flight, another an hour or two of road trip then same amount of time for the boat ride. Of course, travelling by air is much more expensive too.
The bus ticket cost 30.80 and the boat ride is 30 bucks (one way). All in, 60.80 to reach the island. Air ticket alone is about 100 bucks, plus the taxi fare of about maybe 50 bucks and 30 bucks for boat ride. Total of 180 bucks for travelling by air compared to 60.80 by bus. That's more than 50% savings. Furthermore, there's no need to travel by road taking the bus because the bus stop right at the jetty.
The bus ride there was better that I had expected. However, Bryan was complaining about the discomfort. He couldn't get much sleep but I was sleeping almost all the time.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
whiskers, whiskers on ... Rusty!
Rusty started to have white whiskers some time ago. However, there were not many. The first white whiskers was plucked off by me using a pair of tweezers. He he, I know. It hurts. But how much on him, I'm not sure.
But after a few months, I saw another couple of white whiskers and this time one side each. I comtemplated for awhile. Should I just pluck it off again like the last time or should I just snip it off. After weeks, I snipped it off!
And guess what? They have grown longer. It's almost 2cm now.
I've never like to see white whiskers on Rusty's cute black mask. But the solution seem to be plucking it off. Do I really have to do that? Again?
But after a few months, I saw another couple of white whiskers and this time one side each. I comtemplated for awhile. Should I just pluck it off again like the last time or should I just snip it off. After weeks, I snipped it off!
And guess what? They have grown longer. It's almost 2cm now.
I've never like to see white whiskers on Rusty's cute black mask. But the solution seem to be plucking it off. Do I really have to do that? Again?
Thursday, July 06, 2006
my murderous dog...
A few months ago, a mommy birdie found the comfort on one of the plants in our balcony to nest. If not mistaken, there was only one little birdie then. I had Bryan to rescue the little birdie once when he fell while trying to fly. Bryan put him back into the nest.
A couple of weeks ago, we saw another nest on the same plant. The mommy looks like the same as the previous. This time, there were 2 little birdies. Out of nowhere, I told the residents of my home not to let my dog see the 2 little birdies or their lives would be at stake.
Two days ago, I was told that one of the birdie died because his leg was stuck to the nest (we think he got stuck and aren't able to escape because he died hanging upside down). I couldn't look at it at all and had Bryan to "take care" of it.
The other birdie was on the floor when I got home and when he tried to fly, he actually flew backwards and horizontally. How funny! Then again, in my mind, I said Rusty definitely cannot know about the existence of the birdie on the balcony floor.
At work, my sister test-messaged me about the death of the little birdie caused by my little dog. How disgusting but yet very funny.
Rusty is always very fond of moving creatures. His collection includes beetles, cockcroaches, moth and to date, it's a little birdie. He'll chase these things, step on them lightly (he thinks), make them move and chase them again. The cycle repeats until his "light-steps" is too much for those little things. At times, he'll eat them up...
A couple of weeks ago, we saw another nest on the same plant. The mommy looks like the same as the previous. This time, there were 2 little birdies. Out of nowhere, I told the residents of my home not to let my dog see the 2 little birdies or their lives would be at stake.
Two days ago, I was told that one of the birdie died because his leg was stuck to the nest (we think he got stuck and aren't able to escape because he died hanging upside down). I couldn't look at it at all and had Bryan to "take care" of it.
The other birdie was on the floor when I got home and when he tried to fly, he actually flew backwards and horizontally. How funny! Then again, in my mind, I said Rusty definitely cannot know about the existence of the birdie on the balcony floor.
At work, my sister test-messaged me about the death of the little birdie caused by my little dog. How disgusting but yet very funny.
Rusty is always very fond of moving creatures. His collection includes beetles, cockcroaches, moth and to date, it's a little birdie. He'll chase these things, step on them lightly (he thinks), make them move and chase them again. The cycle repeats until his "light-steps" is too much for those little things. At times, he'll eat them up...
impressed!
Applied for the EPF i-akaun recently. Got the pin number from the office but had problem with the password when I tried to activate the account.
So I called the hot-line and a male-customer service came to the line. He was helpful and I was impressed with the friendlyness and helpfulness then waited for what the information he said going to send to me in 30 minutes.
It's almost 24 hours now and I haven't seen the information in my Inbox. So I called again and this time was a lady who came to the phone. She was good as the gentleman who attended to me and even called me back within minutes as their system hung when I called.
So, she informed me that they will send the information to me again within 30 minutes. 30 minutes or not, I am impressed already. So even if I don't receive anything by end of the day, I'm sure I won't be pissed if I have to call them again...
So I called the hot-line and a male-customer service came to the line. He was helpful and I was impressed with the friendlyness and helpfulness then waited for what the information he said going to send to me in 30 minutes.
It's almost 24 hours now and I haven't seen the information in my Inbox. So I called again and this time was a lady who came to the phone. She was good as the gentleman who attended to me and even called me back within minutes as their system hung when I called.
So, she informed me that they will send the information to me again within 30 minutes. 30 minutes or not, I am impressed already. So even if I don't receive anything by end of the day, I'm sure I won't be pissed if I have to call them again...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)