the quest to go up petronas tower

And so, we were in KL for a few days and me, for almost a week. KL sakan, I say. I stayed there until I didn't feel like I have to be peeled from the place.. I was ready to go back home by the 6th day, cause by then it's like 'been there, done that'

Went with Leen.. (and takde photo together eh??) for Teater Natrah on Monday - not bad - shown from the 3 perspectives - Natrah, the real mother and the foster mother. Acting is good. blunders handled well, and leen was excited over Remy Iskandar..who I learnt, is an actor from Nur Kasih.

Oh and did I tell you.. people in Malaysia and Singapore are all 'crazy' about NurKasih - including 2 girls from there who I wouldn't imagine, watching a malay drama. I didn't know it was so big..they should have a Nur-Fan and Nur-Mum and all that.. :p

A nice surprise for me, was to see Dr Siti Hasmah in person - she was in the audience. No, Tun Chedet was not there.. and I didn't get the opportunity to have a photo taken with her.. not with all the bodyguards around. :p

Oh, Leen convinced me to go to Masjid India and I survived and I actually bought some kain, which I don't know when I'll send to the tailor and which tailor. I hope it will not stay in the closet that long. However, when she said she wants to go again to Masjid India, I..... just couldn't. :p

I got to catch up with a few good sistas in KL.. and the family joined me on Wednesday. Then it was all rides and more rides.. Sunway Lagoon, Cosmos, movies, Subway etc. It was Hanaa's first time, to be able to ride on the roller coaster (she passed the height limit) - and she was all excited and I had to go on the roller coaster TWICE in a row.

Then on the last day, Saturday, the far-fetched plan was to wake up EARLY and go to KLCC to pick the tix to go up petronas tower, which after so many times we've been in KL, we have never succeeded to do. The official website says that they release the tix from 830am onwards and other sites say it's usually gone by 11am. So when we were all ready by 10am.. I thought.. MAYBE..there's hope.

Then, when we about to leave, hubby found out that he misplaced his Thule keys, and now we can't pack our bags into the car. He spent 3 hours settling the issue and I was in the room, thanking God that it wasn't me who lost the keys - because I think I handle other people's mistakes better (provided i'm not having pms). So, again we failed in our mission to go up the Petronas Towers.

But we had fun anyway, as always. :p

A business trip to Hong Kong

Frankly, I have not been keen on going to anywhere other than Malaysia for holidays. Even Indonesia. My main concern is if the toilet is clean, and is the area clean.. and if I can eat there.

So anyhow, when I was told to go to Hong Kong on a business trip, I was thinking.. 'wookay.. let's see how I'll survive.. let that itself, be the interesting part of the trip'. And so I went with an open mind.

FIRST DAY
I went there with my Chinese colleague, MQ. We took the 1330hrs flight from Singapore and reached there about 5pm. The airport was huge, and the standard comparable to Changi Airport.


this is a walkway, just outside the airport, towards the taxi stand. We were to take the Urban Taxi.

And this is a bridge across the islands - they are, masyaAllah, quite a sight.


We stayed at Harbour Plaza Metropolis, in Kowloon. As soon as we checked in and put our bags, we headed to the Ladies Market at Tung Choi Street, in Tsimtsatsui area. A.K.A. to me as the Petaling Street in Hongkong, with much lesser counterfeit products.

I ended up buying a lot of stuff there, compared to MQ, who suggested it in the first place.

We walked around town a bit, while looking for the entrance to the train station that would take us back to Hung Hom where our hotel was.



See this disabled man, making a living.. I'm impressed.


The first night, we had dinner at McDonalds.. and I just had the Fillet.

SECOND DAY - THE PEAK
Today is when we're suppose to report to our HK office. Our HK colleagues said we could walk to the office from our hotel, but when we asked the front desk, he thought it would be 'difficult' for us. So we took a cab.

But after work, they explained to us how to walk, and we tried, since we were not rushing, and it turned out to be, quite an easy route.

MQ wanted to bring me to The Peak. She said I would love it there if I like to take photos. Took a ferry from Kowloon pier to Central. From there, we took bus no. 15 to The Peak. The bus was going up so fast, we decided that we'd definitely take the tram down later. Up there, it was very cooling, not so very cold.. and the view was spectacular.



THIRD DAY - DISNEYLAND
Today, we walked to the office in the morning. I like walking among the locals.
And then after work, our destination was Disneyland. It was very easy to get to. Just take the MTR to Sunny Bay - and there will be a train that takes you to Disneyland.




Since it was already a night, we didn't get much chance to take rides. Not like I want to so much anyway. It was Halloween month, so.. In most recorded public and rides & shows announcements, they spoke in English and Cantonese. So, it's ok for non-cantonese-speaking people like me.

But during one boat ride.. they had a boat where they'll speak in chinese, then another boat where the tour guide will speak in English. Of course I took the English one. Ok, I will not exaggerate and say that I may as well have taken the Chinese one.. but..you really have to pay attention, if you want to understand what the local guide was saying in English.. Throughout the whole ride, it was spoken without an punctuation marks and with a cantonese-like-pronounciation. :p

Other than that, there was the Halloween parade.. the announcement for the parade was in English/Cantonese.. then during the parade, the ghosts were 'shouting' some ghostly stuff in Cantonese throughout the whole parade :D It was cute I guess.

11pm, when the place closed, we took the train back to the hotel. We had walked SO MUCH the last three days.. that we skipped dinner that night, because we can't bear the thought of having to walk some more, to go to any restaurant at Tsimtsatsui.

FOURTH DAY - LAST MINUTE SHOPPING
Having walked and worked the last few days, this time we took our time to wake up and go down for breakfast. By the time we did go down for breakfast, it was 9plus. Checked out after breakfast and took the hotel shuttle to Tsimtsatsui, to go to Sogo. I couldn't believe myself.. I spent $2000 buying 4 wallets/purses for myself and 1 for my daughter. I'm not usually like that. Oh.. that would be in HKD. Converted to SGD.. it's about just below $400.

Right after that, we decided that we should leave the shopping area asap and go back to the hotel to go to the airport. We wanted to go on the cable car near the airport, but didn't have time.



At the airport, Popeyes was Halal certified.. i had my lunch there.. we took our time to look at some more stuff at the airport, then checked in. 4pm SIA flight from HK to SIN is the Airbus A380.



I think the flight to and fro was also enjoyable for me, because I just wanted to watch movies. On the way to HK, I got to watch My Sister's Keeper.. and then on the way back, I watched 500 Days of Summer.. which was quite good.

I think I wouldn't mind planning a holiday with my family to Hong Kong next time. I've expanded my horizon. Alhamdulillah :p

Pulau Perhentian Besar

Hey. So I just came back from a wonderful, beautiful holiday in Pulau Perhentian Besar. I actually went to buy a waterproof camera, to bring along for this trip, so that I can take pictures of fishes and corals and us, under the sea.

We decided to drive up to KL and take a flight to Kota Bharu from there. If not for Hadi's tournament, we would have left early early Wednesday - but because of it, we had to leave like 4pm, and we reached KL only about 7pm.


And since we were going to reach 8pm and the flight is the next morning, we decided to stay at Tunes Hotel - it's a budget hotel (a 5-star bed for a 1-star price!) near LCCT. The room is OH!-SO small. When you open the door, it brushes against the corner of the bed. To room, fits only one bed, and room for only one person to move around the bed + 1 small & clean toilet.





So anyhow, the next day, it was Air Asia - so that everyone can fly. "Air Asia has been awarded World's Best Low Cost Airline in the year 2009, by Skytrax." The flight was about 55mins.

Once we reached Kota Bharu, we booked an airport taxi, to take us to Kuala Besut, where we'll take the ferry to Pulau Perhentian. That road journey took us about 45mins. But it was through kampungs so, it was ok for me.

When we reached there, we collected our boat tickets and resort voucher from the tour office we booked from (anjung holidays). It rained for a short while, and alhamdulillah, only that short while, so we had to wait for a few minutes until the rain stopped before taking our boat.

And after the three modes of transportation, we reached our destination:


We didn't waste any more time, changed and headed to the beach. But the waters at that resort, didn't have much corals and therefore not much fishes. I was determined on snorkelling amongst many fishes, so we decided to take the water taxi out to the other part of the island, Tuna Bay. We asked the boat to fetch us back at 630pm. And we were not disappointed.


We swam and we snorkelled, fed the fishes and played with them, until dusk. :D Then we went back to our resort. And continued the next morning - went on a snorkelling trip and saw more fishes and more corals!







Thereafter, we stopped for lunch somewhere on the island. It was at a place where their mosque is. And it happened to be a Friday. So we saw all these people coming in by boat loads, in their baju kurung and songkoks, to attend Friday prayers.. it was cute. I like.. forgot to take pictures of those. cet. :-\.



Anyway, after that, we went back to the resort. Some stayed behind, while we got a water taxi out again to another beach to... yes, continue snorkelling and swimming in the sea again.





Before we left, my mistake was, I didn't charge my camera battery a bit more.. so it died on me just 1 hr before the boat picked us up.. but that was the time, we went to a warong, by the beach.. and they had swings hanging from a tree, facing the sea and it was sooooo nice, and I couldn't get a photo of THAT.

We asked the girl at the warong, if they sell goreng pisang, and she said, "sini takde, tapi kat belakang situ aje ada". So I thought, belakang pokok, around the bend ke.. when she actually meant, belakang island tu..like you have to take a boat there. That's the thing, their main form of transport is the boat. There are no motor vehicles on that island. That's why the taxi driver at Kota Bharu said, that this is a virgin island. :)

Back at the resort that night, the weather was beautiful, the sky was full of stars - like it was the previous night.. but the previous night, we were busy chit chatting. This night, we decided to just lie down, be quiet and gaze at the stars.. it was a serene experience.. love it! I'm so glad we did it.





This picture cannot show u the exact beauty of that night.. something you cannot get in Singapore, because it's so poluted with lights everywhere.

Very soon, the next day, it was time to go already, to leave this beautiful island.
:(






haih... how I love this place. I want to go back there. :)



For much more pictures of fishes, corals and the trip, click here!


*unplugged*

excursion to tanjung piai

On this day, we went for an excursion to Tanjung Piai, Johor. Just a one day trip. The place is above Pekan Nenas. It's the most southern tip of Malaysia.

Nothing much there.. I enjoyed the journey and stopovers more than the actual place. I also enjoyed the coconut water mixed with gula melaka, that we had, on the way back.

Initial plan was to eat there and Tg Piai, but after seeing the run-down condition the water-restaurant, we decided to head back to Gelang Patah, Kampung Pendas for dinner at their water-restaurant instead - Saujana.

Pictures are here >>

A city woman's adventure to Bukit Tabur

ON OUR WAY TO KL FOR BUKIT TABUR
My dearest husband sent Aida and me to Harbour Front, to take the bus to KL last Sat at 215pm. Hadi, Hanaa and Nadhrah followed to send me off. Eema said goodbye from home. I kissed them all, and we went to our bus. The bus moved off at 230pm, right on schedule. It was an uneventful ride. We watched Incredible Hulk and 4/5 of the Kite Runner movie in the bus.

We reached KL about 720pm, and checked into Corus Hotel, which was right where the bus stopped. The room had 2 super single beds, and I love the corporate design of their bedroom slippers and their packagings. It was swirly black and white. Then we went to grab a bite at KLCC - which was a walking distance - and got some bread for next morning. That night, I confirmed with Anis again, about where we should meet. Because the day before, she said, meet at 'Deen's corner'. Yup, as if I go there every month and know Deen. I have never in my life been to Taman Melawati (I think). She said, we'll see it when we reach Taman Melawati.

ON THE WAY TO TAMAN MELAWATI, BUKIT TABUR
The next morning, right after Subuh we left the hotel. It was still dark. It's the first time ever for me to go out before 6am in KL. Errm..in fact I don't remember the last time I go out before 6am even in Singapore. Maybe I should do it. Because sunrise and sunsets are beautiful anywhere on earth.

Right, so we stopped a cab on the road in front of the hotel. We got a pakcik driver, who didn't sound so sure about where Taman Melawati is. He asked us for RM20. He said it's quite far. Our local friends told us it's near.. only 20mins. Maybe it's just the difference in their perception of near and far. Like how I read in 'Three Cups of Tea' - the person in Pakistan, near Askole was telling the writer how 'near' his place is. "It's only three or seven hours drive". Yeah..three OR SEVEN hours.

Alhamdulillah, about 25 mins later, we actually found Deen's Corner, which was actually called 'Deen's Nasi Kandar Restaurant'. It was at a corner. When we arrived, Anis was there standing near her car, talking to a man on a motorcycle, asking for directions to Empangan Ulu Klang. If Anis was not there.. how da dey?. The kind young man on the motorcycle, asked Anis to follow behind him. But we had to wait for Anis' guy friend (phew, at least a guy in our group). When he arrived quite shortly, we all got into Anis' friend's car and followed the young man on the bike. Halfway there, Anis claimed that the route is starting to look familiar. Good sign.

THE CLIMB UP BUKIT TABUR
Approx. 7 minutes later, we came a to dead end, where the gate to the empangan (which means 'dam' - I learnt a Malay word) was. On one side of the dead end narrow road, was somebody's house. the other side, dense bushes. But there were many cars parked there - so I thought, this has to be the place. I was looking out near the gate, to see where the start of the trail could be. Then Anis told us, yes, this is the place - the other time she went, she started over 'there' and pointed to the dense bushes.


So once the car was parked.. true enough, there was a sort of path just behind the stone among the bushes. And I'm kind of glad and excited that it's nothing like the ready hiking trail in Bt Timah Singapore. this is a more REAL hike. I mean like we were really CLIMBING.. not just walking. Cause the hill is to steep to actually 'walk'. To make it more exciting, it was still kind of dark when we started climbing at 650am. (our original plan was to start climbing at 620am) :p


About 20-25 mins later, we reached the lower peak. And the sight there, was already just so wonderful. My target was just the first peak.. so we stopped there. Anis was also seriously not eager on going any further. Up to that point, the hike is bearable.



We stayed at that first, lower peak for about 30-45 mins, just enjoying the breeze and the view, and having our bread and drink. We were careful not to litter that beautiful place, and kept our trash in our bag, to throw at the hotel. After taking a few hundred shots, we made our way down. The climb down was as demanding as the climb up - but I feel you need to be extra careful climbing down.

TAMAN REKREASI AT BUKIT TABUR
At the place we we started/end the hike, at Empangan Ulu Klang, is also the 'TAMAN REKREASI' - where you can surprisingly (for a Singaporean) find a nice clear water river. If not for all the uncleared rubbish near the rubbish bin, the place would have been much much prettier.

I think this is the serious issue with beautiful places in Malaysia.. they are easily tarnished by the litter that people so thoughtlessly throw about, inviting flies and other pests.. I wish most of them would take more pride in keeping their beautiful country clean.

THE TRUTH ABOUT BUKIT TABUR
We learnt from fellow hikers we met along the way, that there are actually 6 peaks in all, at Bukit Tabur. It is said to be considered the longest crystal quartz outcrop in the world. (source http://www.naturemalaysia.com/bukit-tabur.htm)

It's then no wonder that I've read varying accounts of the Bt Tabur hike on various blogs. Some said it's easy, a 6 yr old can do it. (although I'm not sure if a playful 6 yr old should do it - because you NEED to keep on track and not fool around. Just 1 meter away, it could be a steep ravine). Others say it's DIFFICULT. Then, there are others who say you can finish the hike in 1-2 hrs, others say up to 4 hours.

And then, there's also the news about 2 seasoned climbers who fell off the ravine at Bt Tabur and died, just few weeks ago. So all of these depends on how many peaks you want to attempt, and from which end you start, and if you go off the normal, but not so obvious trail. (Of course I don't even know how the trails look like, towards the other 5 peaks).

MORE PICTURES OF BUKIT TABUR
For all the effort and the sweat for climbing to that lower peak, you'll be rewarded with this beautiful views. Oh, and I really have to thank Anis for bringing us there. love her much.


ACTIVITY AFTER AND NEAR BUKIT TABUR
After we got down, we had our breakfast at Kak Jee's stall (I'm not sure exactly where), where we had nice cute nasi lemak,


and saw this handsome cat.


Then, I also have to thank MHB for graciously having us at her beautiful home, to taste her delicious lunch and chocolate desert. And Annie for her company :) Aida had two servings of MHB's chocolate cake because she couldn't help it, then felt so full that she swore she will not have another choc cake for the rest of her life or week.


Next day, she had another piece that MHB packed for us. :D

That night, we also rewarded ourselves with lean meat (daging salai) and more meat in the form of steak.

My.. what a FULLfilling trip.

Alhamdulillah. :)

p.s. more bukit tabur pics >> here. :)

the trip to damansara

I didn't take much photos. We didn't do much either, except attend the golf event, watch movie, eat and shop.

As usual, I enjoyed the journey.


kittens at kawasan rehat jejatas near melaka. (jenjatas ke.. jejatas?)







breakfast at this place is VERY nice.. i mean the ambience. food also. :) when we walked out to the outdoor area.. I went 'waaaah...'. And I heard another family did the same. :)


At this place.. too bad, I didn't have a good first impression.


this place is better.. an uptown mamak stall.


we went there, for an event actually, which involves this man who has obviously bought the wrong shoe size - he just don't want to admit it.



A bit of jam.. at the second link, but we got through in about 45 mins.


That's about it.. for this time's short trip, where i managed to spend most of my free time, spending.

*unplugged*