A Stress Releasing Vacation ~ Part I

Hello people! how do you do? Yeap, holiday will be ending real soon; perhaps in just few hours time!! What had you been doing throughout the 2 weeks school holidays? I had my first week filled with school activities ~ yeap...teacher is never an easy occupation! school holidays also we have to back to school for activities!! On the second week, My friend and I had a short vacation to Taman Negara which is the oldest tropical rainforest in the world ~ 130 million years

Let us bring you together ~

Day 1 ~

That very early morning of Monday, like around 4.30am, I fetched a friend from half way and we both head towards Yong's place. Yeah, talking and getting-to-know-you session was held in the car ~ The cab was waiting right outside Yong's house and yeah ~ guess what? MW (Yong's friend) brought a luggage bag and a handbag with her...:D Ok, there we started our journey to KL NKS office located at Mandarin Pacific Hotel. It only took 1 and a half hour to reach there. Breakfast time!!! Had some fried beehoon-mee and there we go ~ to register ourselves at the counter. tuuuuu.....tu.......tuuuu..........'Ok, guys, get across the road and that is your bus! Have fun to Taman Negara!!=).

 Before departure *innocent look*

It took another 3 hours *roughly* to reach Jerantut NKS office and also the cafe for lunch & voucher collecting. All were sweating like hell just because the air-cond of the bus is no more functioning!!! *goodness >_<* The officer from Jerantut office hopped in the bus and with his 'sexy voice' shouted:" I know the bus air-cond have some problem, and you guys are feeling so hot! Let's get down of the bus~~~"Hahaha...just can't imitate that well ~~

 This was the bus we took to Jerantut...

Hm.....during the lunch session, there are just some people who don't know what is the word queuing up ~~ lalalalalal.......ok, let it be and it won't be spoiling our mood then!

 Three of us after had our non-spicy lunch...*curious: where are all the chilis, sambals...??*

After lunch, we saw some 3 little cute fellows ~ German guys! Let's see what we did!!!

 Haha.....yeap, we just did that! Opps....caught!

Since my sport shoes quenching for some elephant glue, I get it from an Indian shop just next to the cafe..and I topup my credit on my hp too but some 3 days later...No worries, again we hopped on a bus and here the 3 cute fellows actually took the same bus to the Kuala Tembeling Jetty ~ *Happyyyyyyyyyyyyy...hurray!!* Half an hour to arrive at the Kuala Tembeling Jetty and we were given notice that the boat ride from this jetty to our destination taking about 3 hours...

Can you see the small roof on the left bottom? yeap ~ that is the jetty!! 

Come, let's camwhore before entering Taman Negara!!

Kuala Tembeling Jetty

First round and we were the second...you are just like sitting on a piece of wood right above the water..:D

Alright, of course we have no problem! At last is our turn! *engine sound.......tuuuuuuuuuuuu.......* Half way, this pakcik called ~ sir, sir.....open the thing and take this ~ pointing towards a container to take out the water......* yea, that so called SIR is just 2 sits behind yong and me...dahlah we both don't know anything about swimming...we started to hold the boat tightly as if we are sinking *choi3* slowly.....slowly........ok, senduk once.................senduk twice.........OK, Stop! Boat bocor *when he just said this, we are like ~ gone!!!* He continued ~:" saya kene baiki itu wayar, wayar rosak..." and we stopped on an "island" ~ Opps, did I mentioned where does the 3 cute guys sitting? they just sit right in front of me! so now got one mr. G he being asked by MW to help to throw out the water....so he have to climbed over seats....and his big butts faced us and hahahhaha.......we saw checkerbox! and starting from that incident, Yong and I were calling his mr.checkerbox...:D a few minutes later, he was asking MW if she 'wants' any water on her.....Because she irritates him i guess...:D He was so kind hearted.

 Our cool Mr. G

Did I mention in anywhere that the water is actually tasteless? Is not as 'dirty' or 'contaminated' as you see its colour ~ So, let's learn a lesson here today ~~~~ Not to judge the river by its colour..:D

And of course throughout the whole 3 hours journey, we have to entertain ourselves....by ~~ that ball was belonged to the guy in front of me! Yeah, one of them!

For sure we took more than 3 hours to reach the LBK Floating Restaurant due to this happening event that we will never forget..:D Upon reaching, all were being shown ways to get back to their hostel or rooms except the 3 of us have to wait for another boat to fetch us across to Mutiara Resort.

Yea, you are right, we have to travel to and fro on the boat everyday, everytime......makan, travel; activities, travel.....And after you reach Mutiara Jetty, you have to climb for about 80 stairs only you will be able to stand on a level ground..:D hahaha....and that is why I am able to lose some some some weight.

The Reception

 Where??? Where are you going?? ~ Okie, let's back to hostel

Okie, is time for dinner and the night activity, let's cross and pay RM1 each *later can claim back*.....LOL, we head towards the counter instead of our dinner table ~ just to complain....And Lee was the one serving us. Whoa, his service good ler!! so kind.....ok, he promised us to check if there are any available rooms over this side of the river so that we wun be climbing and crossing the river like some crocodiles...:D *makan....makan......*

After finish eating, we were shown a short video ~ yeah, you can see Malayan Tiger in the video!! hahhaha.......Then, here comes the night jungle walking time ~ *wondering where is our guide* ~ tiba2 Lee came over and told us he will be our guide ~ chatting like normal and no one actually realise that he was trying to grab on some stuffs.....booooooooombbb~ suddenly a rubber snake was on our small dinner table accommodated for 3. Of course you can only heard screaming and followed by scolding...hahahha...girls ma....normal right?:P and for sure, we actually gained attention!!

Crossing the river again to carry on our night jungle walking. Firstly, he gave us briefing before entering using the pathway...he told us not to touch the leaves unless you've torch around that particular area to avoid any dangerous species or stuffs....kan at night......:D here we go....altogether as we sing our song...........alalala...lalala.....lalalalla.......we saw Small Frog *as being told by our beloved ah lee lee*, huge spider(s), huge centipede, huge millipede (thousand legs), scorpions, stick insects, deer, 2 tapir.......

 Huge Centipede....there are also blue coloured centipede but we just saw the red one.

Can you spot me??? ~ I am a huge spider :"i know some people more like spider...you can take picture!"

Stick insects ~ The big one is the female and the small one of course the male...and guess what are they doing? MATING! That was the exact word came out from our guide's mouth and yong & I were so amazed! After mating, the females will eat up the males...oh....that's life...

Another huge insect ~ Cricket...See how strong its' legs

Let me tell you about some facts...."Scorpion lives on the hole and I know some people more like scorpion, don't go near, it scare of people and light ~~~~ shhhhh......opps, it's gone oredi!" this were all told by our cute and macho guide! we saw deer and tapir when we step up to a menara *sorry guys, can't remember what's the name*

One more thing, when we were talking to each other, *we were following him tightly* I just mentioned ~:" if you know it earlier, you will prefer to wear shorts right? and Yong answered :" dun want ler..." after everyone back in the village, he pointed towards me:" if you want to wear shorts tomorrow, you can wear..." I was like stunt! Gosh, crap....OMG.....he knows mandarin eh....... we ended our first day activity with such surprises.....*_^

Sabahhhhhh

Date ~ 1st Dec till 8th Dec 2009
Venue ~ KK, Kundasang, Tuaran, Kudat

Reach KK around 11pm and welcomed by the whole family *_^

1st day

For Breakfast, we went to one coffee shop to taste their prawn mee....their famous one is tom yam prawn mee..since i was having some gastric problem then....I took the normal one..but it still tastes nice!!! Followed by SaBAH Muzium, UMS aquaria....It is not a big aquaria though...but the fishes and the sea creatures there amazed me with their different colours and shapes..=) ...Other than the aquaria, UMS itself amazed me again!!!We went over to 1 Borneo for some shopping and eating session since we were late for @tmosphere..Went back home for dinner ~ yummy uncle and aunty, nice dinner!! Since we are getting our rental car, so, Lily's bro fetched us to Tanjung Aru beach for a walk and of course cannot miss is the coconut water ~ CAI SHEN YE!!!! *we sang cai shen dao that song and wrote the word 'CAI SHEN ~ DEWA KAYA' on the coconut itself...and when the small kid came over and wanted to take the coconut for his father to cut into half, he shook his head ~ superb!*

2nd & 3rd day

Those 2 days were the best day ever!!cause we actually were so near to the mount kk....Stopped by Huang Guo for Dim Sum as breakfast..and it was expensive treat from someone....then we continued our 2hours journey to kundasang ~ kinabalu park...we took lotsa pictures and joyce j, cla and me bought one shirt each...:D *Shining one o* and right after that we headed towards Mesilau resort which is located at 3000metres high and only 16 degrees....super cold!!!but then again, the weather is superb!!!the flowers also grow better ~~~~ We had our tea break there...hahaha...the most lucky person in the world is the person who able to drink a hot cup of tea or coffee under that super cold weather!*_^ War Memorial was our next destination ~ British, Australian etc....and the scenery from the top of the war memorial is kinda breathe taking!!!!! After that, we went to Hotel Perkasa which is the highest hotel in their location wise...they have this hanging bridge ~~@_@~~~ shaking it is always the thing people do when they are on it!!:D Everyone was hungry after that, so we went to Ranau for lunch and straight to Celyn Resort for hotel check in...nice and cool place! and the main thing is we are facing the LOW's PEAK!!!!the location we were was 2000 metres high....At night, we had a little chit-chatting session and some of them drank....and someone actually drunk...:D

The next morning, we woke up early (but still cant catch the earliest mo), around 5.45am and the scenery, the view is truly breathe taking! I promised! and if u haven been there, u HAVE TO! After satisfied with what we have in our camera, we went for breakfast and headed towards Poring Hot Spring....We took the private bath tub and enjoy the session there with the gals...=) Down we go ~ another 3 hours ride......*reached Damai* ~ we ate Roti Kahwin!!! Now only I knew that roti with butter and kaya is call roti kahwin over there...:D

4th day

We had Kuey teow sup as breakfast...If I had mentioned about the food portion in Sarawak is big, then the portion in Sabah is HUGE!!!but it tasted great!!!! We planned to go islands this day but in the end we cancelled it due to the weather....but we still manage to step into the sea ~ Borneo Paradise ~ we wanted to walk across to the other island but just half way and the water was slowly filling up the path we used to walk over....we had to run back so that we won't be stuck in the middle of the sea....We saw a starfish ~ real one!! and we actually took it up and took photo with it.....nice!! After this sun bathing session, we went over to the jetty to collect back our deposit for the island.and thank God, we manage to get it back!*Phew*...back in town, we ate Tuaran Mee ~ NICE, I LIKEYyyyyyyyyyy, drank at yoyo cafe, and then we went to @tmosphere which located in Yayasan Sabah building....it is a rotating dine in place....the time of rotating is lunch time (12pm till 2pm) and dinner time (7pm)...But we were there at odd hours but the manager (I guess so) heard that we are having holiday there, he rotate for us!!! *Hugssssssssss Mr. so and so...* After puas rotating, we went back home to fetch lily's mum out for dinner and she treated us seafood meal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!again, is costly!!!!>_< *Thanks alot aunty!!* Went to Sutera Harbour Resort for a sight seeing, nice resort though ~~~~~~ Haha...since this resort is near to Tanjung Aru, we went there again for Cai Shen Ye ~ and of course again the song ~ cai shen dao!!:D

5th day

Lily and me send Cla and Joyce off to KKT1 and after that we went to town for aunty need to settle some payments.. Then is the touring time again ~ The Clock Tower, Observation Tower where actually Luo Kah Leong and his team did the shooting for (fu gui men) at that particular place..:D Both Towers located at Bukit Bendera. Followed by Pu Tuo Shi @ Kolombong.

6th day

Went to Gaya Street at KK Town... Wow!!1The things there damn cheap compare to other places we saw before this...Had KK Laksa @ kedai kopi yee fung for lunch then we went over to de jiao hui which located at Likas....After that we went to Monsopiad Cultural Village...Hehe...I wore Kaum Rungus costume!!!!:D Happy child again..:D

7th day

It was the last day I stayed in Sabah.....Went to the tip of Borneo and I fell on my knee and kissed the land below wind the day before i left...:D

For the overall pictures....:P

the Land of Hornbill

Date ~ 24th till 30th November 2009
Venue ~ Bintulu & Kuching

I can't remember the sequence of the places i had visited and food that I had eaten....so, just a brief one ya..=)

Fly to BTU from LCCT took us 1 and a half hour and there ~ cla and her mum was waiting us at the airport...haha....when touch the ground of btu, manage to cuci my mata awhile ~~~ lalalalal *happy child* Since we are staying over in btu for just a 2D1N.........so, after we put in all our luggage, we headed towards Tumbina (Taman Tumbuh-tumbuhan dan Binatang) ~ it was a humid day and all of us sweat like hell...went to the beach as well ~~~ super nice....I love beaches....=)

After Tumbina, we went to a coffee shop to try out the ais kacang...what's the difference???the ang dao (red bean la weh) is just the normal small ones, not the big ones..*_^ went back home and we get to play with mo mo and jiang jiang....as well as ohm ohm..>_<>_< we ate Bidin goreng belacan, soft shell crab cooked with floss & honey stout chicken...

Sarawak is famous with kampua mee ~ of course we can't miss that...:D Kolo mee as well..:P We ate lots and lots of nice food ~ fei mao laksa, xiang man lou's zi zi mian etc which i can't list all down here..:D

Besides all these eating activities, we went to Sematan Beach Resort as well as Lundu Beach ~ WOW, Superb!!!!Cla's relatives brought us there and we get to eat fresh seafood, ai qing guo...:D and The last day, we went to Padungan where the Kucing is...:D ~ of course another photo taking session..:D

(all photos will be upload soon)

Bandung Part 5

As usual 7.30am supposed to gather at lobby but still 'as usual' there are late comers..*_^ (*Malaysian time bah...cant change it even though we were off from MY)

8am we left for SPLB Tuna Grahita ~ School for the intellectually handicapped


We entered a conference room with a U-shape table. After a brief introduction and Q&A session, we were divided into 2 groups so to visit the school.

Souvenirs

The students there were cute. They even come and stand by the side to greet us!!!(*Even some 'normal' kids don't do that, don't you agree with this statement?)


The students were in the range of 5years till 40 over years old. There are TK, SD, SMP, SMA and a programme / course which called Kursus Perkembangan for those who are older than 20 years


When we visited one of the classrooms, the teacher was teaching them to do ducklings using wool. The students were just rolling the wool on a piece of semi-circle cardboard while the cutting part will be done by the teacher herself.


We left the school at around 10am and headed towards Pasar Bahru where the things there were cheap!(As we were told by our lecturers) We were given 3 hours to shop+eat+sembahyang for the guys since is a friday...

Hm....3 hours was not enough for many of us...I manage to buy 1 kebaya, 1 batik blouse, handbags for my aunties...Erm, I think that's all~~~

2.45pm back to hotel!!

realized that time really flies, we seems like just reached Bandung not long ago but yet going back the next day!!

Bandung Part 4

As usual, we gathered at the lobby at 7.30am and headed towards SPLB Mutiara Bunda (School of Inclusive).

Around 30 minutes later, we arrived at SD Mutiara Bunda. We entered a hall for a short briefing by Ibu Tina ~ head of the school.

Later then, we were divided into groups of 3. We all went over to Unit Stimulasi Anak (USA) where the kids with special needs were placed there for any assessments, therapies etc.


Kak Ina, Lim and me were in the same group. We were given 1 Tenis. Because of us, they didn't manage to go over to art room but waited for the art teacher to enter their class. Before the art teacher arrived, we actually had a short introduction session. The students there were 'sporting' enough to ask us lots and lots of questions...*_^


There were 3 to 4 teachers and assistants placed in each classrooms. 1 teacher, 1 assistant, 1 ortopedagog and also 1 'guru pendamping' if needed. There are a total of 25 students in the class but 2 were absent including 2 kids with special needs. Dr.Norani and Dr.Hanafi came into 1 Tenis. Hehe....they were having hard time to recognize the kids with special needs since everyone looks 'normal'....*_^

Riko is one of the student with special needs. He is having mobility problem. But due to our lecturer's explanation, the main problem of Riko is that he has eye problem. His eyes muscle made him can't actually concentrate well and that he can't balance himself...


10am, we gathered again and went over to SMP & SMA Mutiara Bunda which is not far away from SD Mutiara Bunda. Since Mutiara Bunda was a private school, therefore the students were wearing their own home clothes...=) The students as well as their coach did a choir performance so to welcome us!!Great one!*_^


12.15pm we went for lunch after a photo session at SMP & SMA Mutiara Bunda. We ate Masakan Padang!!!Nice, I love the beef...=P


at 1.30pm, we were told that there will be a programme regarding Masters Study prepared for us by UPI lecturers...Yea, for sure we attended it. After that, all of us were half dead and decided not to go for Wisata Budaya ~ Jalan-jalan..........=P

But we felt fresh after a short rest. 5.30pm, ChekNing and me went for a walk around the hotel. We were actually curious on how the residents go into the housing areas...and so, we entered one of the small lane and realized that there are computer shops, dobi, sundry shops etc....those essential shops are there!!!


We went over to UPI to tae pictures and walked upwards.. Hehe...I bought 1 bar of dark chocolate and tried some Batagor (Baso Tahu Goreng)....Erm, it tasted nice at first but feel 'jelak' after eating too much of it....*_^

Bandung Part 3

Third day!!

Woke up at 5.44am which equals to 6.44am Malaysia time...Since we turned off the hitter last night and it needs time to heat up the water. Therefore, I have to bathe cold water!!The cold water ..Hm....I should say is ICE WATER!!! freaking cold ler! Get ready, make up etc...all the stuffs a girl should do, we are actually running out of time!*_^ Ohya, breakfast, we ordered 1 fried rice and 2 bowls of porridge..But 5 of us cant manage to finish the food!!Haha...I guess I shall feel hungry soooooooonnnnn....=P


7.40am we left hotel and we reached SPLB Tunanetra after 20 minutes. We were welcomed by the teachers there and Pak Edwin was the representative. He is a visually impaired person...According to pak Edwin, there are 114 students and 60 teachers in the school. Later on, we were divided into 3 groups where our group visited the kindergarden (TK) and the Sekolah Dasar (Primary School). The youngest in TK class was just 5 years old. Her name is Anis. She was enrolled one month ago..


I felt amazed with the programmes formed in the school..There were actually 4 stages in a single compound ~ TK (Tadika), Sek Dasar (Primary Sch), SMP (Junior High Sch) and SMA (Senior High Sch) and were under the collaboration with the NGO ~Yayasan Penyatun Wyata Guna, as well as Social Welfare Department. UPI also had their own lecturer attached to the school. This system enables the seniors to help the juniors and vice versa. Besides that, the NGO and the Social Welfare Dep can also assist in any programmes held!!I felt great...

at 10.30am, we went over to SPLB Tunarungu (Hearing Impairment). A short welcomed speech was given by the head of school himself. After that, one of the teacher invited us to go over to the hall so to listen and watch the performance by the students there ~ ANGKLUNG!!!!Yea, you are right, they are playing music!!Ohya, forget to say that the students in SPLB Tunanetra also played good music!!!!!!


Later on, we visitied the school compound and lastly we entered the baking room...:P There were 2 students inside and we bought some Roti Bakar from them with Rp 1500 per piece....Support them for sure!!


We left the school at around 1.45pm and reached hotel at 2.15pm for the group members to pray.We gathered again at 2.30pm so to go over to Tangkubang Parahu.


As usual, when we reached there, people selling things 'attacked' us and they followed us throughout the journey...Haha...sometime feels irritating but....nothing much can be done! We jalan jalan on our own (*of cause go by groups) and gather again at 5pm.
The things sold were so much cheaper ler... Tell you here...When we first got up to the kawah there, the pen of 10 per pack was sold at Rp100,000....Then half way through, they cut down the selling price to Rp50,000 per packet...And the moment we got up the tram, the price straight away turun till Rp10,000 per pack!!!!Hahaha...all of us got the lesson not to buy things so early..:P

I bought 2 boxes of strawberries and raspberries...haha...is sooooooooooo sweet!!First time in my life to eat such sweet strawberries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! According to my friends, the strawberries have to finish up before we got down the hill cause it will turned sour!!And is true, when my friend bought it down the hill, the strawberries are sour!!!Hahaha...luckily i ate the sweet ones..*_^

On the way back, we stopped at the place selling Labu, SAtay, Advocado, Jagung bakar etc...This is the first time for me to see Buah Advocado! Since is new to us, so we dicided to get 1kg (Rp7000=Rm2 something) The guys went to one of the stall to eat satay kelinchi ler!!What is SATAY KELINChI????is RABBIT meat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!@_@

When we were on the way up to Tangkuban Parahu earlier on, we actually saw cages of rabbits along the road....They are so adorable but yet they are waiting to be slaughter!!!!!!!!

Went back to hotel at around 6.30pm and reached at 7.10pm... It was a tired but yet fun day for me! Waiting for tomorrow>_< hehehe....