I've always enjoyed road trips because of the feeling it gives. Having embarked on a journey of a thousand miles before, I look forward to the next drive be it on a familiar or unfamiliar route.
The most important thing is preparation. Yes, you need to ensure that you're in good physical and mental condition for driving long hours. You need to ensure your car or vehicle can survive the entire journey to and fro. You need to get proper supplies based on duration and environmental considerations.
In the past three years I've done quite a fair bit of day trips to places within an hour or two's drive of Kuala Lumpur. Tanjung Sepat, Bentong, Hulu Yam, Kuala Selangor, Sekinchan, Bagan Lalang to name but a few. It's possible to do Malacca and Ipoh but for these and further destinations I prefer at least a night's stay, and for places like Penang I prefer two nights' stay.
Driving along the Kahang - Felda Nitar - Mersing route at night gives many opportunities for seeing stars. Without any street lights or populated areas, the whole road goes pitch black when car headlights go out. Some might feel nervous but I felt entirely comfortable doing it a few months ago. It's just me.
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Passed the PADI Open Water Diver course
Yes! We made it! KF & I passed the PADI Open Water Diver course at B&J Dive Centre, ABC Beach Pulau Tioman over the Hari Raya weekend. We're happy with the achievement after all the hard work and effort put in. Moreover, the revision session with Mr Jerung at TUDM Pool helped a lot to get us familiarized with the needed steps.
Feeling glad to have achieved the mission objectives despite being forced to schedule matters at the worst of times. Even though there were some hiccups here and there, but nothing unsolvable with some little adjustments.
Also grateful and appreciative that important things went on smoothly and the worst case scenarios didn't happen. Not forgetting to be thankful for good guidance and feedback on areas to improve.
I'm also glad to know the answers to some outstanding questions despite some of it being unpleasant to the ear. At least I got some potentially useful suggestions and tips to improve on. For that, I appreciate. Thank you. You know who you are.
Feeling glad to have achieved the mission objectives despite being forced to schedule matters at the worst of times. Even though there were some hiccups here and there, but nothing unsolvable with some little adjustments.
Also grateful and appreciative that important things went on smoothly and the worst case scenarios didn't happen. Not forgetting to be thankful for good guidance and feedback on areas to improve.
I'm also glad to know the answers to some outstanding questions despite some of it being unpleasant to the ear. At least I got some potentially useful suggestions and tips to improve on. For that, I appreciate. Thank you. You know who you are.
Friday, June 17, 2011
More Road Trips Taken
Back in December 2009 I wrote down a list of road trips taken. That post is available at:
http://ujoelee.blogspot.com/2009/12/road-trips-to-date.html
Since then, I've achieved the following visits from that list:
01. Port Dickson (twice)
02. Kuantan (Secret Beach & several other beaches)
03. Hulu Yam Lama (Fishcake)
04. Malacca (thrice, all including Historic City, visited Portuguese Settlement but not yet Umbai)
05. Sungai Lembing (Lembing Mee, Tin Mining Museum, but not yet sunrise)
06. Seremban (to attend the funeral wake of a friend's father)
Also revisited Bentong twice and Tanjung Sepat thrice. Went to Penang once, and stopped by Ipoh on the way back. Went to Singapore thrice.
Taiping (Wild Boar Temple) and Kampar (Food, Waterfall) have not been achieved yet.
Kota Kinabalu can be considered a local overseas trip, as the only way to get there other than by ship is by aeroplane, a 2½ hour flight. The distance is roughly equivalent to that of Philadelphia to Miami, i.e. a journey of a thousand miles (1600 km).
I would like to revisit Sekinchan, and also explore other places within an hour or two's drive of Kuala Lumpur. I have several other potential holiday spots lined up in mind, but as per my modus operandi I'll only talk about them after I have personally recceed and evaluated the places first.
http://ujoelee.blogspot.com/2009/12/road-trips-to-date.html
Since then, I've achieved the following visits from that list:
01. Port Dickson (twice)
02. Kuantan (Secret Beach & several other beaches)
03. Hulu Yam Lama (Fishcake)
04. Malacca (thrice, all including Historic City, visited Portuguese Settlement but not yet Umbai)
05. Sungai Lembing (Lembing Mee, Tin Mining Museum, but not yet sunrise)
06. Seremban (to attend the funeral wake of a friend's father)
Also revisited Bentong twice and Tanjung Sepat thrice. Went to Penang once, and stopped by Ipoh on the way back. Went to Singapore thrice.
Taiping (Wild Boar Temple) and Kampar (Food, Waterfall) have not been achieved yet.
Kota Kinabalu can be considered a local overseas trip, as the only way to get there other than by ship is by aeroplane, a 2½ hour flight. The distance is roughly equivalent to that of Philadelphia to Miami, i.e. a journey of a thousand miles (1600 km).
I would like to revisit Sekinchan, and also explore other places within an hour or two's drive of Kuala Lumpur. I have several other potential holiday spots lined up in mind, but as per my modus operandi I'll only talk about them after I have personally recceed and evaluated the places first.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Road Trips To Date
Done:
01. Kluang, Mersing, Tioman
02. Penang Island, Nibong Tebal
03. Ipoh
04. Cameron Highlands
05. Tanjung Sepat
06. Sekinchan, Kuala Selangor
07. Old Gombak Road
08. Bentong
Coming Soon:
01. Port Dickson
Potential:
01. Taiping (Wild Boar Temple)
02. Kuantan (Secret Beach)
03. Hulu Yam Lama (Fishcake)
04. Malacca (Historic City, Umbai Seafood)
05. Sungai Lembing (Sunrise)
06. Kampar (Food, Waterfall)
07. Seremban (Siew Pau)
01. Kluang, Mersing, Tioman
02. Penang Island, Nibong Tebal
03. Ipoh
04. Cameron Highlands
05. Tanjung Sepat
06. Sekinchan, Kuala Selangor
07. Old Gombak Road
08. Bentong
Coming Soon:
01. Port Dickson
Potential:
01. Taiping (Wild Boar Temple)
02. Kuantan (Secret Beach)
03. Hulu Yam Lama (Fishcake)
04. Malacca (Historic City, Umbai Seafood)
05. Sungai Lembing (Sunrise)
06. Kampar (Food, Waterfall)
07. Seremban (Siew Pau)
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Tioman After 15 Years
So I went to Tioman for the second time in my life after 15 long years. 4D3N. Many thanks to Kannan for organising everything. It's never easy to organise group trips, but he did it well, he got everything coordinated and ensured everyone had a whole lot of fun :)
Our stay at Sun Beach Resort never felt lonely, at least for the first two days. We had two corporate groups for company. One from Prabhu Bank, the other from Premium Group. The orange T-shirt guys from Prabhu Bank had their do on Friday night while the white-capped Premium groupies had a major blast on Saturday night.
Since the 100+ Premium groupies were mostly Indians, they had games where they made their managers dance in pairs to Tamil songs from the 1960s and 1970s on stage! I felt lucky to see something like a Tamil cultural festival with plenty of song and dance.
Nevertheless, our group of 19 souls (18 from Sunday onwards) still managed to party every night with a healthy mix of dance music and drinks thrown in. Bartenders Kannan and Michael Yap kept us happy with exotic concoctions of alcoholic beverages, duty-free to boot. DJ Xavier kept the music going, spinning salsa, bachata, club music and great stuff to keep us dancing on the sand. Literally.
No idea if other people have salsa-ed on Tioman before, if not, then we're the first. Our salsa and bachata sure caught some attention from some of the other guests - a few Malay guys on a fishing expedition, some Indian guys from the corporate group, and a Mat Salleh couple who looked somewhat Spanish to me.
We had outings for snorkeling and beaching at one island I forgot the name off the northwest point of Tioman, duty-free shopping at Kampung Tekek, and waterfall splashing at Asah on the remote southern point of Tioman. Snorkeling was nothing to shout about, beaching was great fun, and the waterfall was well worth the effort taken to get there.
Elaborating on the waterfall, please note that there are ZERO facilities there. No electricity and no piped water to the public toilets along the trail (quite an irony since there's so much water in the nearby river). Bring your own candles, torchlights (flashlights in American English), toilet roll or tissue paper, and be prepared to carry water from the nearby river. There should be an empty pail or two inside the toilet building.
The plunge pool is six feet deep, but the boulders have ledges where you can stand. There's a "children's section" with two to three feet deep water next to some long boulders. If you're adventurous, you can climb up the hillside trail to access more shallow pools uphill. At your own risk. No safety features whatsoever.
Getting to the sand beach on the island I forgot the name requires a boat ride. There are also no facilities there. Perhaps you could camp overnight if you have your own transport and enough water, I didn't see any obvious freshwater source on the island. If you wanna shit or pee there's the bushes. Sunbathe naked if you dare, which isn't a good idea since chances are you're not the only one around. But the sand and water there are so clear, it reminds me of one island off Phi Phi I visited in 2006.
Tekek has changed so much since 1994. I couldn't recognise the place. There's a giant waterfront construction thing like a promenade leading towards the Marine Park, which has an enclosed area with fish that come to you if you give them their daily bread. The fish will even eat your puke if you throw up due to seasickness.
An airstrip behind the main village has flights by Berjaya Air turboprops, and the one main street still has houses, shops, a clinic, two schools and whatnot. The moment you cross the bridge from the jetty to the main street you'll see plenty of black fruits hanging from trees. Wait a moment. They ain't fruits, they're fruit bats. Vauvaal in Tamil, pin fuk in Cantonese.
One thing Tioman has in common with Langkawi is duty-free shopping. In simple English that means alcoholic drinks come cheap. Three dollars (ringgits in local English parlance) for a can of beer. Tax-free mar, that's why lor. The duty-free shop in Tekek accepts credit cards for purchases above RM50/=. The Chinese uncle's shop in Kampung Genting also sells duty-free liquor but Tekek offers more variety.
I don't remember seeing any cars on Tioman way back then but there are a few MPV vans and a Kembara or two now. The old Mercedes minibus belonging to Berjaya Tioman Beach Resort still runs strong, covering the two-kilometre journey from the resort to the jetty as it did years ago.
There weren't any Chinese restaurants on Tioman during my first trip, but now there's a Chinese restaurant behind three Malay eateries near the Tekek jetty. It so happened that the lady from the Chinese restaurant was feeding the fish at the Marine Park enclosure, she saw me doing the same and chatted me up in Mandarin and English. That's how I found out about the place's existence.
I must say that the composition of our group made a lot of difference in the trip. Our diversity's our strength. Great companionship and great rapport made for a whole lot of enjoyment. I look forward to the next vacation trip, sometime, somewhere.
Word of warning: The ferry journey from Mersing and the intra-island boat trips can make you seasick. For the first time in my life I got seasick and felt like throwing up with numbness in my hands mixed with nausea. Didn't vomit 'cos I didn't eat, but it ain't pretty. Must take seasickness pills, and many thanks to Michael Soon for helping us out on this aspect.
Traveller's notes: Bring your own personal use items and electrical extension plug as the chalets may not have an extra electrical outlet available. Get an air-conditioned room if possible. You'll be thankful for the comfort it gives after a long tiring day. Bring enough cash as I didn't see any ATMs around.
Our stay at Sun Beach Resort never felt lonely, at least for the first two days. We had two corporate groups for company. One from Prabhu Bank, the other from Premium Group. The orange T-shirt guys from Prabhu Bank had their do on Friday night while the white-capped Premium groupies had a major blast on Saturday night.
Since the 100+ Premium groupies were mostly Indians, they had games where they made their managers dance in pairs to Tamil songs from the 1960s and 1970s on stage! I felt lucky to see something like a Tamil cultural festival with plenty of song and dance.
Nevertheless, our group of 19 souls (18 from Sunday onwards) still managed to party every night with a healthy mix of dance music and drinks thrown in. Bartenders Kannan and Michael Yap kept us happy with exotic concoctions of alcoholic beverages, duty-free to boot. DJ Xavier kept the music going, spinning salsa, bachata, club music and great stuff to keep us dancing on the sand. Literally.
No idea if other people have salsa-ed on Tioman before, if not, then we're the first. Our salsa and bachata sure caught some attention from some of the other guests - a few Malay guys on a fishing expedition, some Indian guys from the corporate group, and a Mat Salleh couple who looked somewhat Spanish to me.
We had outings for snorkeling and beaching at one island I forgot the name off the northwest point of Tioman, duty-free shopping at Kampung Tekek, and waterfall splashing at Asah on the remote southern point of Tioman. Snorkeling was nothing to shout about, beaching was great fun, and the waterfall was well worth the effort taken to get there.
Elaborating on the waterfall, please note that there are ZERO facilities there. No electricity and no piped water to the public toilets along the trail (quite an irony since there's so much water in the nearby river). Bring your own candles, torchlights (flashlights in American English), toilet roll or tissue paper, and be prepared to carry water from the nearby river. There should be an empty pail or two inside the toilet building.
The plunge pool is six feet deep, but the boulders have ledges where you can stand. There's a "children's section" with two to three feet deep water next to some long boulders. If you're adventurous, you can climb up the hillside trail to access more shallow pools uphill. At your own risk. No safety features whatsoever.
Getting to the sand beach on the island I forgot the name requires a boat ride. There are also no facilities there. Perhaps you could camp overnight if you have your own transport and enough water, I didn't see any obvious freshwater source on the island. If you wanna shit or pee there's the bushes. Sunbathe naked if you dare, which isn't a good idea since chances are you're not the only one around. But the sand and water there are so clear, it reminds me of one island off Phi Phi I visited in 2006.
Tekek has changed so much since 1994. I couldn't recognise the place. There's a giant waterfront construction thing like a promenade leading towards the Marine Park, which has an enclosed area with fish that come to you if you give them their daily bread. The fish will even eat your puke if you throw up due to seasickness.
An airstrip behind the main village has flights by Berjaya Air turboprops, and the one main street still has houses, shops, a clinic, two schools and whatnot. The moment you cross the bridge from the jetty to the main street you'll see plenty of black fruits hanging from trees. Wait a moment. They ain't fruits, they're fruit bats. Vauvaal in Tamil, pin fuk in Cantonese.
One thing Tioman has in common with Langkawi is duty-free shopping. In simple English that means alcoholic drinks come cheap. Three dollars (ringgits in local English parlance) for a can of beer. Tax-free mar, that's why lor. The duty-free shop in Tekek accepts credit cards for purchases above RM50/=. The Chinese uncle's shop in Kampung Genting also sells duty-free liquor but Tekek offers more variety.
I don't remember seeing any cars on Tioman way back then but there are a few MPV vans and a Kembara or two now. The old Mercedes minibus belonging to Berjaya Tioman Beach Resort still runs strong, covering the two-kilometre journey from the resort to the jetty as it did years ago.
There weren't any Chinese restaurants on Tioman during my first trip, but now there's a Chinese restaurant behind three Malay eateries near the Tekek jetty. It so happened that the lady from the Chinese restaurant was feeding the fish at the Marine Park enclosure, she saw me doing the same and chatted me up in Mandarin and English. That's how I found out about the place's existence.
I must say that the composition of our group made a lot of difference in the trip. Our diversity's our strength. Great companionship and great rapport made for a whole lot of enjoyment. I look forward to the next vacation trip, sometime, somewhere.
Word of warning: The ferry journey from Mersing and the intra-island boat trips can make you seasick. For the first time in my life I got seasick and felt like throwing up with numbness in my hands mixed with nausea. Didn't vomit 'cos I didn't eat, but it ain't pretty. Must take seasickness pills, and many thanks to Michael Soon for helping us out on this aspect.
Traveller's notes: Bring your own personal use items and electrical extension plug as the chalets may not have an extra electrical outlet available. Get an air-conditioned room if possible. You'll be thankful for the comfort it gives after a long tiring day. Bring enough cash as I didn't see any ATMs around.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Rendu Naal Iippoouuru
I'm glad to have visited iippoouuru last weekend. Managed to take photos of places which I didn't photograph on my previous visit in September 2008. Stayed overnight at Fair Park Hotel near the Ipoh Stadium, cost RM88/= for the whole night after tax and service charge. Also photographed various parts of town and ate breakfast at Kong Heng, Leech Street.
If you plan to buy something from Ipoh, get some boxes of salt baked chicken at Aun Kheng Lim, No 24 Theatre Street. It's at the intersection of Theatre Street and Anderson Road. There's lots of good food to eat in Ipoh, places you should check out are Kam Wan, Woolley Food City, Leech Street, Little India, and Greentown Business Centre just to name a few.
If you plan to buy something from Ipoh, get some boxes of salt baked chicken at Aun Kheng Lim, No 24 Theatre Street. It's at the intersection of Theatre Street and Anderson Road. There's lots of good food to eat in Ipoh, places you should check out are Kam Wan, Woolley Food City, Leech Street, Little India, and Greentown Business Centre just to name a few.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)