Pulau Sibu, Malaysia, 9th-11th July 2011

Went to Pulau SIbu recently. The last time I was there was like 20 odd years ago.

We drove to Tanjung Lehman jetty in the morning, reached there at around 9:30am.

Waited a short while for other passengers but they didn't show up so the boatman signal us to go.

The boat ride normally will take 30mins by slow boat but as we were on a high speed boat we took 15mins on a bumpy ride.

The old wooden jetty has made way for a new concrete one but the remaining chalets look the same as before.  

It was a full board trip so all meals were provided. The cost for 3 days 2 nights were around S$160.

The water was not particularly clear this time of the year due to the proximity to the mainland and moreover the side I was staying was not facing South China Sea which had less pollution.

Anyway, less talk and more pictures, enjoy.

GuangZhou, China 5-15th June 2011

Wow, it's been 5 long months since my last update. It really has been hectic the last five months. I have been travelling more often this year compared to last year. In the last five months I have been to China, Italy, Malaysia, USA and back to China again. This Sunday I was supposed to go China again but my company decided last minute to cancel the trip. It was a relief actually, as when you travel for work often, you will realise that the whole momentum of your work, private life and bio-clock is thrown into chaos. Luckily, I've trained myself over the years to be less worrying or maybe it's just getting old. Otherwise, I'll be very frustrated.

Just got back from Guangzhou last week and the toll of travelling has caught up with me. I was on medical leave from Thursday to Saturday. The weather did not help either. China was really blazing hot, I really had a hard time going around places with my T-shirt totally drenched in my own sweat!This was my toughest China trip to date as previously it was all done in much friendly climatic seasons. My next China trip is in August, so I hope it's cooler at least in the evenings by then.

I hope to have time to do more updates, I need to learn to work more efficiently.

Bali Trip 6th-10th Feb 2011

I was in Bali for this years company trip. We left for Denpasar on the 6th Feb, which was the fourth day of the Chinese New Year. The flight was shorter than I expected, it took about 2hours and 10mins.

I had never been to Bali before but I've heard so much about it. I was actually planning a trip there years ago before the Bali Bombings happened but it didn't work out. 

I've seen so many beautiful pictures of Bali before. Heard so much of its beautiful beaches and surfs, the Hindu culture and its people. As you know, Bali is 80% Hindu, so you get lots of pork dishes but surprisingly you get lots of Beef dishes too! Weird!

Anyway, upon touch down, we were guided by our tour guide to the bus. Everything was smooth so far and weather was hot as usual being a tropical country. No sight of the nice beaches so far.
As the bus moved off from the airport, we went through the streets of Bali, at this point, the guide started the usual introduction to Bali, he told a few cold jokes which were pretty bad in my opinion. That did not distract me from the sights I was looking at through the windows. To be honest, it was not a nice sight, the first thought that ran through my mind was, is this Jakarta or Bali? The streets looked exactly like Jakarta, apparently there was a storm the previous day and the roads were flooded. So what they did was opened up the drain covers and dug all the silt and mud out onto the roads and pavement. And left it there. Nasty.
So far Bali as a paradise island has been totally wiped out of my memory.

As it turned out, I learnt over the days spent in Bali that all the beautiful beaches that I saw in Tour brochures and online were extremely far away from where we stayed and Bali was like 4-5 times bigger than Singapore. The cost of staying at those private beach front resorts were like $700-$1500 per night!! Ouch!!

We stayed in Dama Beach Resort, it was a nice little resort, fully landscaped in the authentic Bali styled natural decor. It really made my stay there felt like a holiday with all that greenery and rustic kampung feel. The rooms were big and well decorated unfortunately the air-condition was quite weak and in Bali, you really need cool air as the whole stay there was extremely humid.

We had a fully laid out itinerary for the 5 days there.
We did 4x4 land rover rides for the whole of the second day and had a great time. The rovers went through Padi plantations on the hills and we had lunch at a beach side hut, the sand on the beach was really black and was shimmering under the afternoon sun. We did however had a little incident on our rover as we got lost from the main group. We ended the day riding the rovers on the beach! It was a quite exciting as I thought these kind of things only happened on TV!

Third day was hiking, which surprisingly, was quite uneventful. Still it was a great workout for me. Rest of the day was spent shopping and foot massaging.

Fourth day was Rafting in the rapids!! And I have one word to sum it up! Shiok!! I had never did river rapid rafting and I must say it could have been more faster to increase the excitement but of course safety concern is the main issue here as we wouldn't want to be pulling dead bodies up from the river! After the rafting, we had to climb this ridiculous high staircase up the cliffs to our lunch and tour bus. On the bus ride back, everyone was knocked out due to fatigue.

Fifth and last day was a 1 hour foot massage followed by a drive to the airport.

Overall, a few things to note. Bali is a huge island, getting from place to place takes time and the traffic jams don't help one bit. You can only do one activity per day as travelling takes up 3 hours to and from. Road conditions are like Jakarta or similar. Narrow one way and two way roads. Individual shops decor is quite interesting to me, some are quite creative and up to date surprisingly. Nothing much for guys though other than the usual knock-off surf shorts and Bintang singlets. Clubbing is a must for those that like it, lots of cool clubs. Lots of chill out places too.
One thing that you will notice is that the local folks are really nice and friendly. Well I guess they have to be, as the whole island is dependent on tourism as the main industry.
Food? for me, surprise, surprise, not fantastic. I suspect a lack of research before the trip was the main cause. It was not a case of "any" stall would taste good. There was one or two outstanding ones. Still, do your research before you go.

Would I revisit? Very unlikely, as I've done most of the main activities available.
I would return to Pulau Tioman in Malaysia anyday if given a choice between the two.
I getting old I guess. Quiet, uncrowded places are my choices of relaxing resorts nowadays.
And of course, the sand there is white and the water is blue, plus it's 2 hours away by bus from Singapore and cheaper!

Last trip of 2010, Dec 18-21

My first blog of the year is a late report of my last road trip in 2010 December.
The trip started from Singapore to Cameron Highlands to Penang to Kuala Lumpur and back to Singapore.

It took us about 7hours drive from the causeway to reach Brinchang town on Cameron Highlands. The last time I was here was early last year. I never get tired of Cameron Highlands, its cooling, food is good, air is extremely fresh, the air even smells good!! something you don't notice when you are breathing in Singapore because our air is polluted!

We only stayed a night due to the tight schedule. We bought some of the fantastic fresh corn which is to be eaten raw, some plants, fruits, jam and wild honey and made our way down to Penang. It was the weekend and school holidays so we were stuck in a jam all the way down.
When we reach Penang, there was no hotel rooms available so we panicked a little. After half an hour and many phone calls away, we managed to find a suite in Bayview hotel and squeezed all 6 of us into it.
The next day, we headed for the FOOD!! Chendol, Fried Kway Tiao, Lor Bah, Ice Kachang and all the sinful stuff!! Woohoo!!



We left Penang for KL after having our stomachs filled with all the junk food and the feeling of bliss from savouring all the famous dishes.

I visited Hobby HQ while I was in KL, they had moved a few times since I last visited them few years back. The showroom had many impressive models on display but the range of kits was a let down. The shop looked like it was barely hanging on, the remote location of the shop did not help much to improve it. However I enjoyed looking at all the finished work and I'm sure others will as well.

By the last day, I had already caught the flu bug from one of my friends travelling together and I just could'nt wait to go home. I fell sick for the next two weeks and was really suffering as the flu developed into Sinusitis and I couldn't eat without getting a sharp pain from my jaw.

Nevertheless, another Malaysia road trip in the bag and hope that theres many more to come!!