Our Travel Blog

To My Beloved Paul Shanghai Bee

2006-09-21T22:46:00.000+08:00

To My Dearest Paul Shanghai Bee Bee,

You came into my life and made me such a happy person. I have never in my life known anyone like you. You gave me unconditional love and vise versa and now you left this world,me, Moggy and Mindy so suddenly. My heart is broken to million pieces and I do not know when will my heart will be able to heal as it may take forever. Who knows..only God knows...

I still remember clearly how we met in the jungle in Ulu Sedili and how you told me you that you caught my eyes as you have never met a woman 4x4 driver before. What we have was passion in all that we do especially traveling and off roading not forgetting our passionate love for each other. I guess that is what made our relationship very special. You are the love of my life and will forever be.

I hope that you will be happy in heaven and may your soul rest in peace. I still remember the time where you did one of the most noblest thing was that you save Mindy from the garage and have decided to adopt her as your daughter. She misses you very much and cries all the time when she sees your picture and then she would lick it and paw it. Now she is without a daddy.

Lastly all I want to say is that I will always love you forever and May God Bless Your Soul and Rest in Peace. The Lord will always be with you.

Love forever,
Jules Mozzie Bee, Moggy, Mindy and Lozenzo (My daddy’s SUV)

Words By D. Walley

“We have been together for sometime now and then you have to leave,
But every time I look at you then before you left for to the Lord, I see things that make me love you more than ever.
I see someone who can make me laugh at all the little funny things about life,
Someone with a smile so soft and warm that I will always want to smile along,
I see someone who just keeps growing more wonderful, someone I am proud and grateful to be sharing my life with even not in a very long time (1 ½ years).
So everyday when I open my eyes and see you then it’s love at first sight, I keep on falling in love with you again and again just like how you do too
A love that keeps on growing brighter through everyday and every night we share… I love you Bee…”

Goodbye Paul, may your soul rest in peace ...

2006-09-20T00:19:00.000+08:00

Paul "Shanghai" Kee (26 Oct 1966 - 16 Sep 2006)

We seem to give them back
to You, O God, Who gave
them to us.
Yet, as You did not lose
them in giving so we do
not lose them by their
return.
Life is eternal
and
love immortal
and death is only an
horizon, and an horizon is nothing
except the limit
of our sight.
Lift us up, strong
Son of God,
that we may see further;
cleanse our eyes that we
may see more clearly;
draw us closer to Yourself
that we may know ourselves
to be nearer to our
loved ones
who are with You.

Frangipani Langkawi Resort & Spa

2006-09-08T20:18:00.000+08:00

I started my new job with Asian Overland on Monday, 28 August as the Human Resource and Administration Manager handling their group of companies in Malaysia. On Tuesday, 29 August, they flew me into the island of Langkawi for work, yes work and not for a vacation. So presently, I am spending a lot of my time attached to their wholly owned resort, the Frangipani Langkawi Resort & Spa (former known as Langkawi Village Resort) here in the Island of Langkawi, off the coast of Kedah/Perlis. On the 1 September, Jules decided to take a road trip with Moggy, tagging along was Kristin and Auntie(Jules & Kristin's Mom) to come meet me at the resort and at the same time for some holiday in the sun and the beach. That friday morning, they set out at 9.30am travelling up towards north to Kuala Kedah for the express ferry ride into the Island of Langkawi. I picked them up from the Kuah Ferry Terminal at about 6.15pm to Frangipani Langkawi Resort & Spa. After freshening up, I took them to the town of Kuah for dinner at this seafood place called "Wonderful". Went for some duty free shopping incuding the one at the Underwater World Langkawi.
Following day as I had to work, they hung around the resort until I took them out for late lunch at almost 2pm. Chilled out at the beach during sunset with some beers. Did not have dinner until after 9.00pm at a nearby Thai Seafood Restaurant. Food was nice, especially the lala(Clams), the mantis prawns and the Grouper....with some other side vegetable dishes, the damage came up to about RM180, foot by Aunty.
Sunday, took them almost the whole of the island as they wanted to see the more exclusive Datai and the Andaman. Subsequently we went to the newly constructed Cable Car. This is a very unique experience as when you get to the top, there is a steel constructed curved suspension bridge. When it gets real cloudy, you cannot see the other end of the bridge. Total altitude was 605 meters above sea level. They returned to KL on the following Monday. I flew back to KL on Wednesday but will be returning to Langkawi this coming Tuesday, 12 Sept, this time will be there for at least two weeks.

Check out our Video Clip at our Vlog

Check out our photos HERE

Our Travel Vlog

2006-08-22T16:09:00.000+08:00

I have created another page to link our travels to some video clips taken. These videos are mostly(if not 100%, then 99.9%) shot, produced and edited by me.

By clicking on the hyperlinks that says "CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO" at the respective postings will take you to the VLOG(in short for Video Blogging).
If the link does not take you there, go to http://shamogvideo.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

Paul "Shanghai Phoenix" Kee

Video Editing, Video Streaming, Photo Slides Service

2006-08-17T17:08:00.000+08:00

Do you like what you see? I provide services for Video Editing, Photo Slides Creation, for Webpages, Blogs, E-Commerce Sites or just simply to burn into VCD, SVCD or DVD formats, for private or commercial viewing. Maybe you are thinking ofr keeping those memories in a more organized manner for easier on demand access(i.e. internet streaming)?

Contact me at phoenix998@gmail.com
We can discuss on your needs at competitive prices. Why wait?

Paul Kee

Kg Esok – Buaya 4x4 Offroad, 29 & 30 July 2006

2006-07-30T23:10:00.000+08:00

Just returned home from an overnight offroading and camping trip to Sungei Kg. Esok(Kesok) in the state of Negeri Sembilan.

On this trip, we were divided to two teams(A & B) from our fellow Buaya 4x4 offroaders. One was to set out in the morning and the other team in the afternoon, the former for early birds like us who were just too eager to get into the rainforest to be the first to set camp(for the best spot), the latter for either folks who are not so used to waking up early on a Saturday morning or that their flight have just landed. This time around promises to be filled with fun and “high spirits”, however, we decided to remind ourselves to stick to entertainment of a more sober kind. The two teams were

Team A
A1. Fireman
A2. FreeLander
A3. Heliman (Convoy Leader)
A4. Mazlan
A5. DZul
A6. HO
A7. Firdaus
A8. Blue Thunder
A9.. Mozzie & Shanghai.

Team B
B1. MC & Eagle & Red Indian Girl
B2. Flying Lizard & Silver Surfer
B3. Kokonut Soldier(Convoy Leader) & Bed Covers
B4. Capt Lui & Capt Wong
B5. Kikilala
B6. James Pang
B7. X-Trail

CLICK HERE TO SEE VIDEO CLIP

Rendezvous at 8.30am on 29 July(Sat) at Senawang Exit Toll. Before heading offroad, we had breakfast at 9.30am. We were scheduled to arrive at the intended campsite at 11.30am, however as the site was occupied by some campers from the biological unit dept of UM we had to move on. At some point we winded up at a trail end near a waterfall at Lata Kijang(The Orang Asli calls it Kijang Jatuh), located about 15 minutes walk to Gunung Hantu Besar according to Heliman. The waterfall was very scenic with a drop of at least some 200 meters from the peak with a cool cozy stream at the bottom, but the place was not suitable to be considered as an alternate campsite. After some minor offroading thrill, at 3.30pm, we converged to meet up with Team B to proceed to another alternative campsite. Fortunately, with our convoy leader, Heliman’s(Bernard Ng) earlier recce of the areas and with the aid of his GPS, we did not get lost. Further exploration offroading led us across two rivers, with one rig on ATs(All Terrain tires), and another on worn out MTs(Mud Terrain tires), almost did not make it through. By the time we decided on the campsite was about 5pm. We had to settle to camp on the trail itself. The site was superb as it was beautifully shaded amidst bamboo trees with a stream at the bottom of the hill.

Dinner was BBQ chicken wings and a Grouper Fish that we had marinated with ginger and rice wine earlier then, steamed on top of the pit wrapped in aluminum foil, while the rest of the gang could not wait to get happy hour started. By the time we were through with dinner, more than half of them were “spirited away” on Heliman’s mix of lethal cocktail concoction. We took off to dreamland at 10.30pm. We were told from eye witnesses that the party continued till 2.45am while we were asleep. The night was rather chilly but nice as we were well sheltered by our camping flysheets. Woke up at about 9am this morning, then cooked up a simple breakfast of sausages and sunny-side-ups.
Nothing beats an open air breakfast early in the morning to the sound of the rainforest and the rapids from the river down below, eat your heart out 3D surround sound, THX whatever! We broke camp at about 12.45pm with Blue Thunder and Freelander and headed for Ulu Langat for seafood lunch courtesy of the latter. By the time we arrived home, it was around 2.30pm. Overall, we enjoyed the trip as it was rather laid-back and chill-out kinda trip, the offroading sector could have been a little more challenging though. Mozzie, Shanghai, and Moggy….signing out!

Check this site for more photos : Trip Photo

Coming Home to Miri, Sarawak(Borneo)….20 – 24 July 2006

2006-07-24T21:09:00.000+08:00

(click photo to enlarge)

Finally made the trip back to my homeland Miri, Sarawak in the Island of Borneo, the place where I grew up, since it gained status as the first Resort City in this part of the world last May. Spent much of the early part of my life in Miri before I went to further my studies in the US.

Miri has evolved from a small sleepy oil town with virtually not much to do other than spending most of my time watching movies on my classic VCR and dreaming about being a tennis star on the tennis courts to a city with pubs, clubs, cafes and malls. Dual carriaged road and highways have also replaced roads that used to be single lanes, across newly builted residential areas coupled with a new highway that links Miri into Brunei that starts near my mom's house in Pujut, making traveling into Brunei an easy twenty minutes journey instead of the previous 3-5 hrs that included 2 ferry crossings. Now two bridges on across the Baram & Belait rivers have made traveling more convenient. At the Miri-Baram side the bridge is called "Asean Bridge". Miri is also major gateway to the hinderlands of Niah Caves National Park, the world renowned Mulu National Park, Loagan Bunut National Park and areas of the interior of Borneo such as Marudi, Long Lama, Long San, Bario Highlands, Ba Kelalan etc. For those into serious diving, Miri boasts one of the world’s finest marine parks and coral reefs, some situated only a mere 15-minute boat ride from the city. Divers from the Sarawak Shell Petroleum discovered these unique sites during their underwater explorations in the 80’s. This dive sites include Barracuda Point, Grouper Patch Reef, the Atago Maru Wreck, the Seafan Garden and the Luconia dive area. The Luconia is also a great place for sport fishing, apparently for giant garoupas. Unfortunately, we did not have the luxury of time to explore these possibilities and I have yet to get a PADI certification for diving. Something that would be great to have as Jules have been tempting me with her PADI id card which she carries around in her wallet everywhere she goes.
As usual we traveled by AirAsia on an Airbus A320 into Miri on Thursday, 20 July. This was through the two tickets inclusive of Bangkok that we managed to get courtesy of AirAsia on their 2 million free tickets promotion early this year. We only had to fork out RM80 per person for Airport Tax and Fuel Surcharge...tickets were FOC. The rest was history. On the day of arrival, the weather in Miri was excellent, not hot and very breezy as the airport is near the sea towards the south-east of Miri City. This was Jules very first time in Miri and she was thrilled as hell to meet my family and of course she had learnt before the trip that Miri is filled with dirt cheap beer, for RM10 you could buy three to four cans depending on the brand...so looking forward to that, haha. We only confirmed this on our 3rd day in Miri. But please not ask me where I get them, cause I do not want to get those folks in trouble and I still want my cheap beer next time I get back there(soon)! By the way, we are talking about Tiger Beer from Singapore(Home of Tiger Beer), so its as smooth as those in Malaysia and have a much better after taste. Cigarettes are also cheap, we could get them for RM2.50 per pack and we are not talking about duty free here people! Anyhow, again don’t ask why!

We were welcomed by my mom and Aunt Agatha aka Aunt “Akut”. We spend most part of the day, with mom at her house, a little driving around Lutong where I was born, Shell Territory, and then into Piasau Camp, where Shell houses its expatriate community, the golf course near the spit that separates the Piasau area and Miri City proper. I could recall my younger days where my late dad and mom would bring my brother and I with his pick-up truck. Cruised along the coast of Miri to my high school(St Joseph’s Secondary School) and then to my alma mater(Tun Dato Tuanku Haji Bujang College) where I did my STPM “A” levels study in Tanjung Lobang(Brighton Beach) back from 1984-85. Winded the afternoon with a bottle of Heineken Beer at a café near the Mega Hotel....feasting our eyes on cool rigs and four-wheel drive vehicles. Miri definitely has more of these vehicles than here in KL. You can find Land Cruiser 2, Ford Rangers and the Toyota Hilux Vigo almost everywhere. That was pretty cool!
I almost fainted when I saw there is a Marriot Hotel right smacked in front of my former school overlooking the beach.
Day two morning was a day spent mostly lazing around the house. We had the popular “kolok mee” dried noddles(see photo), which is a much sought after food especially for Sarawakians like myself staying in the peninsular or out of Sarawak. That

evening we had dinner with my mom, aunt Agatha, her daughter Jane and Uncle Paul at a shabu-shabu place. Shabu Shabu is a steamboat/suki well known in Japan. Later in the evening we proceed to my cousin’s place in Pujut, Miri, which is just about 2 km from downtown. John, my cousin(by the way he is the coolest dude in town and he drives a souped up Kelisa, a yellow two seater Honda CRX and a souped up Proton Perdana that has been converted to four wheel drive for racing purposes....reminds me of the movie "Fast & Furious, Tokyo Drift", took us to experience the nightlife that we have heard so much about around Miri. First we were at a pub called “Cherrie Berries”, the music was not our kind and we realized the place was full of expats and girls waiting to be picked up. After a while, we proceeded next door, upstairs to a club called, “The Balcony”, music was techno….if you like Paul Van Dyke, this is for you. To our horror, the clubbing crowd here were dressed in casuals and sandals, haha. Guess we are so used to the club scene here in KL where clubbers are dressed to kill. Anyway, we did enjoy the night with John’s company and some of his friend, so much we finished 1 bottle of Chivas and Jules proceeded to order a shot each of margaritas and flaming Lamborghinis, before we all got @!#$ed up, and that was around 2.15am, he took us to a place called "Up to You", which was supposedly their version of the “underground” club, that was pretty cool though, we danced and Jules almost stole the whole dance floor right there. Left this place at around three for supper. He took us to the wet market that has only 2 stalls often for food, and I discover that this place has one of the best “Char Kuih Teow” in town and we were told by John that the place operates from 2am to 9am daily. Finally, got home by 4am.

Next morning(Sat), we woke up at around 9.15am. Surprising after club crawling, we woke up with hardly any hangover. An hour after that, we took a ride from Aunt Agatha into Kuala Belait(KB) and Seria in Brunei. KB used to be my favorite place to be as my aunts and grandma used to stay there before Aunt Agatha returned to Malaysia back in the 80’s, Aunty Vicky to Singapore, Aunty Liza to Seattle, Aunty Oi Lin and Aunty Mui Lin and my grandma migrated to Vancouver, Canada, and my Uncle Chee Tong to Edmonton. What’s left of Kuala Belait and Seria, two coastal towns situated to the south-east of the capital city of Bandar Seri Begawan, is just a fragment in my memory as a young boy during those old fun days, so very nostalgic! What used to be my idea of a fun place, is now almost like a dead town. There are no major shopping malls, shops closes at sunset, the consumption of alcohol is illegal and pork is a rare commodity. However, what almost shocked us is that vehicles are dammmmm cheap there in Brunei, and we saw cars, four wheel drives, SUVs, MPV’s you name it, parked as if abandoned by the side of the road with the “for Sale” signs on them. And Jules almost fell out of the car when she saw Range Rover Discover(good condition) selling for B$10,000 only(RM23,000). It was a Saturday and most shops were still closed at 11.30am. Later, we were told that the Sultan of Brunei is coming into town later in the day. Could not understand why the town has to freeze for the sultan’s visit.
After lunch we headed back into Miri as we did not wanna be stucked there for fear that they would freeze all traffic for the sultan’s visit.

On the way into back to Miri, we stopped at a mobile roadside fruit stall as I had spotted some indigenious folks selling “Talap” earlier. For folks not from Sarawak and in need of some education on this strange sounding fruit....Talap is as far as I know, only eaten here in Borneo is a native fruit grown in the wild by natives of Sarawak, and tastes very unique….it very difficult to describe the taste, you gotta taste it to experience it. And mind you, I have been searching high and low for this fruit for the last 20 years but to no avail as it is seasonal too. I am posting a picture of the fruit here, let me know if you have eaten it in your life, if you are a Sarawakian, you don’t count okay!

The rest of the afternoon back in Miri, Jules and I recce around the malls. Couple of new malls have sprouted up since my last homecoming. That night we visited our Uncle Stephen and Aunty Theresa, my cousin Mei Ling and Uncle Paul and Aunty Agnes in Lutong. The rest of the night we basically chilled.
Sunday, being our final full day in Miri, we tried to do as many things as we possibly can. Being in a small city like Miri, what else can we do right? My mom took us for tim sum at a food court for breakfast. In the afternoon, I took Jules up to Canada Hill where the Petroleum Science Museum is located. The main attraction is the “Grand Old Lady”, the first oil well(Oil Well No.1) for the Shell Oil Company. This place as it is on top of Canada Hill also provides for an awesome lookout view of Miri town perched by the seafront.

In the evening we had a great dinner at the Yi-Hah-Hai Seafood Restaurant situated by the Miri River at the new Waterfront center at Kampung Dagang area.

Woke up to heavy rainfall this morning, even the rain in Miri smells fresh….man, I so miss that smell when it rains here in Miri, you can smell the sea spray, so much different from the acid rain here in KL. We wish we could sleep the whole day through, unfortunately but our flight departs 10.05am. Before heading for the airport, we took breakfast with my mom, aunty and my cousin. And guess what, they have “Kuih Chap” here! One of our favorite dish, can also be found widely in Thailand and Singapore, but not in Peninsular Malaysia. Final stop was at the "Tamu Muhibbah"(fresh produce market) to pick up some "Midin". Midin is a cousin to the "Paku Pakis" which is a type of crispy/crunchy fern, harvested from the rainforest jungle. It is mostly not available in other parts of Malaysia but can be abundantly found in Borneo. Typically we stir fry it in a wok together with either rice cooking wine or shrimp paste(belachan) and makes a very aromatic and palatable ethnic dish to complement with steamed rice.....the taste is simply astounding and irresistable!

(Midin - a Signature Borneo Dish)

So here we are now back to KL. We are very looking forward for a next trip there when we can as there are still lots of new places in Miri we have yet to discover, and will try to make it up to Brunei’s capital of Bandar Seri Begawan, drive into Limbang, and hopefully also get to the Niah National Park, maybe the Bario Highlands or even into the Mulu National Park.

I have uploaded a video commentary on my mom's house.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO CLIP

Pop by our virtual album at http://pauljules2006.shutterfly.com for more Miri trip pictures.

Next stop, this weekend(Sat & Sun) we are heading south into offroad-rainforest territory into Kg Esok(Kesok) with the Buaya 4x4 "kaki"....so watch out for Moggy in action; she can't wait to get out of hibernation.

Amazing Thailand Sale

2006-06-09T14:02:00.000+08:00

Back over the weekend from some shopping in Hatyai. Was there over the weekend with Jules and her parents. Left Friday night at about 12.45am and got across the border into Sadao early morning at about Hok Na Li Gar Saam Sip Na Thee(that's 6.30am in Thai :). We stayed at the President Hotel, as we know the staff working there we managed to secure 2 rooms at B500(RM50) each inspite of the peak weekend. Hatyai was like mini Malaysia over that weekend as it was also the Malaysian school holiday season and the King's Birthday.

This also coincides with the Thailand Amazing Sales which started from 1 June and will end 31 July. The sale was nothing to brag about except, as usual, grocery shopping as great at Tesco Lotus. Seafood was fantastic as usual at the hilltop restaurant in Hatyai. Basically, we always enjoy the food more than anything else in Thailand, of course besides the friendly Thais.

SaaWadDee Kap.

More photos click here

Bangkok & Ayuthaya - May 4-8, 2006

2006-05-09T18:33:00.000+08:00

We just returned from the City of Angels aka Krung Thep aka Bangkok. Do you know that Bangkok in the Thai language holds the world’s record as the city with the longest name? Krungthep Mahanakhon Amon Ratanakosin Mahintara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Popnopparat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amonpiman Avatansathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukamprasit which means “Great City of Angels, Repository of Divine Gems, Great Land Unconquerable, Grand and Prominent Realm, Royal and Delightful Capital City full of Nine Noble Gems, Highest Royal Dwelling and Grand Palace, Divine Shelter and Living Place of Reincarnated Spirits”.
Travelled on AirAsia flight AK880 from KLIA’s new Low Cost Carrier Terminal(LCCT). The flight embarked around 8.45am with a slight delay due to heavy runway traffic. If you talk about no-frills low cost, the LCCT looks low cost, reminds me of a warehouse, nothing fanciful, except that it is clean(as it is brand new), however food prices are exorbitant and not even close to reasonable. In fact food and drink prices here especially the local fast food restaurant is close to ridiculous. However, there is a McD there which also serves their breakfast menu which is slightly higher than in the city. Arrived at Don Muang International Airport after two hours and five minutes at around 9.40am local time. Its nice to know that you get a one hour time advantage due to time zone difference. This will also be the last time we shall be using Don Muang as she will make way for the new Suvarnabhumi Airport. We shall have fond memories of Don Muang International Airport.

We stayed at the First Hotel on Petchaburi Road in Pratunam, as it it would be more convenient for us to move around for shopping and is also near the new Siam Paragon Mall. Had earlier made reservations through internet. Paid B300 plus B20 as tips for the taxi ride from Don Muang to the Hotel. This was much cheaper and nearer than our trip last year when we stayed at the Elegance Suite in the Bangrak area as the Pratuman area is closer to the highway. Condition of the room was quite old but bearable. The rooms cost us B990 per night per room inclusive of breakfast for two. After our check-in, we walked along the main street in front of the hotel with Jules’ Parents but could not withstand the heat for too long as it was mid afternoon, so we decided to head back into the comfort of our air conditioned rooms. Felt very tired as we started the day very early. First night we had dinner at The Seafood Market and Restaurant . This place is in Sukhumvit on Soi 24, and was featured in the Travel and Adventure Discovery Channel’s The Cook’s Tour, hosted by Anthony Bourdain last year.

There was quite a wide selection of fresh seafood, and our menu for the evening was….Steam Garouper(Thai-Style), Oyster Omelette,

Basil chilli Clams and Mixed Vegetables.

Total bill including drinks and cooking amounted to B1580. If you are planning for a trip to Krung Thep, don't miss this place out, worth the trip. You will be amaze at how huge the place is.

The next day we bought a package tour to Ayuthaya. I was not feeling really well then, came down with a flu bug somehow and was having a pretty sore throat. Nevertheless, I had to psyche myself up ahead for the trip, so instead of feeling sickly on the express bus ride to Ayuthaya, I had to repeatedly tell myself that I was well and no flu virus is gonna spoil my day. We had earlier booked this tour through the hotel travel desk that makes the arrangement with some local travel agent known as Grand Pearl Cruise….they even charge us for making the calls for booking for B10 per call which I feel that they should not have done so. Price was B1,700 per person but I manage to negotiate down to B1,500 per person. This included the hotel pickup at 6.30am by a tour bus equiped with an English speaking Thai guide(James), the tour to Bang Pa-In which is a palace mainly built by Rama V(King Chulalongkorn) and then ultimately to see and feel the ruins of Ayuthaya.

Lunch was included on board the cruise yacht called the Grand Pearl I returning from Ayuthaya to Bangkok(River City Pier) via the Chao Phraya River. The duration of journey was about 3.5 hours along the scenic Chao Phraya.

Arrived back to Bangkok around 5pm. That evening we went to Chinatown(Yaowarat) for dinner at Lao Li Restarant, a well known Chinese restaurant for their shark-fin soup and bird’s nest soup. Total bill came up to about B1350, which included 2 bowls of shark-fin soup, one bowl of stewed goose’s web, one vegetable dish, and 3 bowls of bird’s nest soup. After dinner we headed to Patpong for shopping in Boots. Jules bought some Hed Kandi CDs here. After getting back to the hotel, as standard as SOP, we when down to a nearby massage parlor for foot massage. That was quite late then around 1am I think. Anyway, we paid for a one hour foot massage at B250 per person.

We woke up late on Saturday, were at the Platinum Fashion Mall at Pratunam was nothing much to shout about, except if you are into clothing(factory outlet style), something like a higher end Chatuchak market. There were plenty of local street food stalls outside of the mall. The food photo you see here that looks really colourful, its a kind of local dessert with yellow bean paste inside coated with jelly, it really really yummy. They mould it into different shapes. At the nearby IT Center, I bought myself an XD picture card for my Olympus camera. Price is much cheaper than here in KL. The 128mb card costs me B990(RM99) as compared to at least RM300 here in KL…..what a huge difference! That evening we had dinner at Suan Lum Night Bazaar near Lumpini Park. Guzzled down 2 liters of Weihenstephan Dark German Beer in a unique dispenser only to be found here in Suan Lum. We like the container and even ask for the price of the container, unfortunately it was too expensive as the manager wanted to sell it to us for B6000(RM600)…..Crazy!!!

After that we hopped onto a tuk-tuk for Patpong for sport herbal massage. We paid B650 per person for 90 minutes. Returned to the hotel around 2am.

Sunday morning after breakfast at the hotel, we headed to Siam Paragon Shopping Mall which is the biggest department store in South East Asia. There are more than 300 brand stores in the mall. Great place to shop if you have the extra dough to spend on. Lunch was at Tony Roma’s in Sukhumvit’s Nai Lert Building. Apparently we only realize that there is another Tony Roma’s in Siam Paragon when we sat down to eat. As usual, the baby back ribs are the best in the world and never fail us. Later in the afternoon, both of us too a tuk-tuk to the Amarin(formerly Sogo) near the Grand Hyatt Erawan for…….. (BC Rajprasong – take the BTS escalator which leads into Amarin Plaza, on the immediate left).

Evening was dinner with Jules’ Parents at Suan Lum. The rest of the night was basically looking around the stalls after we sent Jules’ Dad off back to the hotel by cab. A cab ride from Pratuman area to Suan Lum costs about B45 on a metered taxi. We ended the day with another round of 60 mins foot massage around our hotel.

Next morning after breakfast, we went to Pratunam Center at 10am but was told it would only be opened at 11am. There we met a guy who introduced himself as the Chief Security personnel working at the shopping mall. He suggested for us to take a round trip B30 tuk-tuk ride further down to a temple, where we could get to see the sitting Buddha which is only open to the public on certain specific days of the Thai Buddhist calendar. We thought, why not was Jules could also make some prayers at the temple. After that we came back to the mall at around 11am, nothing much inside, lots of pirate DVDs all of which are English titles….cost of one DVD? B100 each. We also came across a photo studio, so we took the opportunity to enquire on the price for photo shoots in Thai traditional wear.

We check out at 12pm to head back to KL. Our flight was scheduled at 3.15pm, however there was a delay of 45 minutes and the plane did not take off till around 4.30pm.

Note: Exchange Rate - RM1 = 10.100 Baht

CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO CLIP

More pictures of the trip, go to pauljules2006.shutterfly.com

Sitiawan - Lumut - Camerons

2006-05-03T15:50:00.000+08:00

We were invited to go on a last minute trip to Sitiawan in Perak with Linson and Emily. Moggy had to sit out on this one as LJ(Emily's Honda Jazz), was chosen for the assignment. Besides, he got all excited as this was supposedly, the first trip for him outside of the Klang Valley(with the exception of PD, according to Emily in which Jules went along for that trip too but that was ages ago. Being a city mini mpv, LJ was all geared up for the trip as we heard Em mentioning abt sending him for his check up and oil change a week before this trip.

Left KL late afternoon on Saturday around 5pm. Earlier around 2pm, we were still deciding with the both of them on where to go for the long weekend. Most hotels and resorts were fully taken up as the following Monday is Labour Day holiday.

Traffic was heavy, but with someone with F1 driving reflexes behind LJ's wheels, we reached Sitiawan by 8.30pm. We learnt that all the rooms were fully booked in Sitiawan, however as Linson got the kind help of his "kakis" to make reservation for us at a little known(at least to us) hotel in town called "Flamingo". Later in the night, we headed for dinner at a seafood restaurant which was about 10 minutes drive from our hotel. Linson's friend Rada came to pick us up from our hotel and we met another one of his "kaki", Cheng who drives a Hilux rig, with a tad bit of mods here and there plus the usual stickers on the rig's body. We adjourned into the restaurant in which the decor and ambience was nothing much to shout about. It's located in some palm oil plantation. Anyhow, the food was exceptionally good; so here's proof to say, "never judge the book by its cover". We had deep friend chilled fish fillets, chilli crabs, veges, "Lali" (which according to Rada, it's the cousin of the Lala clams) and as well as mantis prawns cooked in dried chili 'Kong Po' cantonese style and not forgetting a the tofu soup. Food was just alright as the price was dirt cheap, about RM 70 for the whole feast for 6 pax.

Right after the dinner we adjourned to Lumut town which is also a base for the Royal Malaysian Navy and as well as the Outward Bound School for those who are game for some rough outing which the organised such as flying fox, canoeing etc..basiscally if you want to get real tired and have a good workout, you should join this. Both the Naval base and the Outward Bound School is located at Teluk Batik, Lumut. We landed outselves at the Rockerfella Casa Del Mar Pub for some rounds of drink. The weather was extremely warm but thanks to the good guys at the pub, they put a huge fan next to our table which gave us a good breezy evening. We stayed till late till around 1.30am then returned to the hotel.

Next day, woke up around 9.30am though a little reluntant to do so, wish we could just stayed in bed the whole day. We were suppose to meet up with Cheng at the hotel lobby in the morning to go for breakfast but Linson somehow had misplaced his phone, but fortunately he discovered that he left it at Rada's car last night. Tried to go for breakfast at a little Malay restaurant perched by the river but by the time we reached there at around 11am, the place was closed, so had to settle for some noodles near a wet market in town. Food was not too nice but edible. Linson arranged for us to travel by motorbike from Sitiawan to Lumut pier to get over to Pangkor Island, but we decidedto pass on his offer as we did not have a pleasant experience on a bike earlier in the year in Pai, Thailand and could not afford a repeated episode on a bike. So both of them went ahead with their plan while we decided to get some ice cold beer to chill out in the hotel for the rest of the day. It dizzled at dinner time and both our friends had not returned from Pangkor, so we decided to try out a nearby Chinese Restaurant. We ordered half a red snapper, seafood soup and a chicken dish that did not exactly tasted and looked like chicken(strange). Food was one of the worst we had taken at a proper chinese retaurant. They had probably served us some leftovers from an earlier wedding dinner, as what we had wanted to eat was "sold out". Total damage was RM49. We settled to bed earlier than usual that night and did not meet up with Linson and Em.
The following day, we tried the popular makan place by the riverside, and lo and behold, it was opened. The darn place was packed with people, and we were wondering when the wooden stilts supporting the restaurant was gonna collapse. This place it seems is very popular with locals and even city slickers like us for their Roti Canai(Malaysian Pancake) and Nasi Lemak(coconut rice served normally with hot chilli paste, peanuts and anchovies). During breakfast we were debating on whether to do some fishing or head up to Cameron Highlands, after which we decided on the latter. Asked for late check out at 2pm as Linson wanted to catch up with and old off road buddy. Left Lumut after that. Along the way we grab a packet of the famous "Air Nira" for each of us by the highway. Air Nira is some sort of drink extracted from a local species of coconut. That was refreshing but, a little too sweet so you need to drink it ideally with a lot of ice or added water. It was raining all the way up to the highlands, so we arrived via Tapah(old route) to Ringlet and then Tanah Rata by 7pm. Did some vegetables shopping at Brinchang, had our dinner at a steamboat restaurant. Drop by the Old Smokehouse Hotel for some picture taking at about 8.45pm and descented back towards KL. Traffic condition was horribly slow in a halt and go most of the way, and rest areas could not be excessible due to too many people travelling. We finally reached KL a 1.05am.

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For more photos visit HERE

Cherating Beach, Pahang

2006-04-10T18:28:00.000+08:00

We just returned from a weekend stay at Cherating beach with Emily and Linson. They came up with the idea on Thursday, so we met up at Telawi that same night to discuss logistics for the trip, and the rest was history.
Without hesitation, we chose to leave on Saturday morning. After breakfast in Selayang, we left KL at 10am. We arrived in Cherating around 1pm. As we did not make prior reservation for accomodations, we scouted around for a suitable place to stay. We settled for a chalet resort in Kampung Cherating itself which was close to the beach.

Reasonable room rates, very affordable….RM45 for room with fan, and RM90 for room with aircon. At sunset, we strolled to the beach and later took Moggy for her first offroading experience on the sandy terrain. Handling a rig on sandy stretches was a different kind of challenge that on the usual muddy trail, as over-throttling will cause your wheels to dig deeper into the ground. Linson and Emily took to the water while Jules and I, chilled out on the beach with Moggy.
Later in the evening, we headed for Chukai town in the district of Kemaman for seafood dinner at a popular restaurant known as Tong Juan some 15 minutes’ drive from our resort into the state of Terengganu. This restaurant is famous for its stuffed crab. Stuffed crab is crab shell stuffed with crab meat and some other ingredients, baked and served with their homemade chilli sauce.
Next day, breakfast from also at another popular place in Chukai called Kedai Kopi Hai Peng. They are famous for the coffee and also the local Nasi Dagang(Rice) and Roti Bakar(Toast with coconut-egg spread). This is the first time for both Linson and Emily. Breakfast was excellent and heavy, so we decided to skip lunch and bought some Satar(local otak-otak), which is some kind of fish cake wrapped with leaves and barbequed over charcoal. We also bought the famous keropok lekor, also a kind of fried fish cake. CLICK HERE for some info on the above.
We requested for a very late check-out, so we only left the resort at 6.30pm and returned to KL by 9.30pm.

Escape to Hatyai

2006-04-03T17:46:00.000+08:00

Sawadee! Did a Houdini by going on a 4 days/3 nights trip to Hatyai. Moggy went for her Medical checkup at the service center at FORD PVK Ltd Co. Hatyai. Simple reason for doing so was that it’s so much cheaper to service in Thailand. Spent B1400(RM135) for a full service including, Engine Oil change(Synthetic), Oil Filter change, Fog Lamp Bulb replacement, fixed Moggy’s horn. In Malaysia, it would probably would have cost us at least RM300, and we did not have to wait long. We sent Moggy in at 8.45, they promised us that we could pick her up by 12.30pm, but she was ready and waiting for us by 11.00am.
We were also fortunate to see the all new Dura-Torq Ford Ranger 2006 which made its world debut at the Bangkok Motor Show just last month. Those in Malaysia who can't wait to have a glimpse of the truck may download the Thai e-brochure HERE! (right click on mouse....choose save target as). I have also taken a few shots from the showroom with my digital camera and posted it into our shutterfly album.
And with the savings, we would have paid for our accommodation or food in Thailand while having fun traveling. Also took Moggy for a wash, cost us B170(RM16.38)….washing includes external wash, truck bed wash, engine wash, leather seats polish; would cost us RM25 in Malaysia.

Stayed at the President Hotel on Petchkasem Road at the roundabout. Rate was a bargain at only B500(RM48) per night. The trip was generally for the great tasting food and cheap drinks. For the first time we decided to venture into the other side of the city which is across the other side of the railway tracks across the bridge, tried out a new Seafood joint which was highly recommended from the Hatyai City travel brochure. We took the opportunity to drive Moggy up to the hills over looking the city, the view was breath-taking. Also drove up to Samila Beach. To top these, we did some major groceries at Tesco Lotus on the way home. Returned to Malaysia via Padang Besar, a smaller Border town as compared to Sadao/Bukit Kayu Hitam. Click HERE for more photos. To find out more about Thailand...Click HERE!

Cameronian Camping

2006-03-27T15:53:00.000+08:00

Spent three days and two nights in Cameron Highlands recently. Unlike other visitors to this highland, we opted to camp out at the Fathers Guesthouse in Tanah Rata. Temperature was hovering at around 19 to 25 degrees C in the day and around 16 degrees C at night.

Day One, we arrived through the new Simpang Pulai exit off the North-bound highway. Earlier, we took a detour into the small town of Bidor, for its popular duck noodles for breakfast. However, Jules and I thought that the one in Bangsar’s Lucky Garden still serves the best duck noodles around.
The new highway from Simpang Pulai was a very scenic drive and much less windy than the old route through Tapah. As we ascended the slopes, we could actually feel the air outside getting cooler and fresher. Temperature was much colder than expected as it began to drizzle, you can literally smell the greens through the unpolluted air. The drive was so pleasant and relaxing that I was so tempted to stop Moggy, walk out and smell the air on a couple of occasions.
We arrived at the peak, and the second cameronian town of Brinchang after Kampung Raja at about 10.30am. Brinchang is another 6kms from our intended campsite at Tanah Rata.

Around 11am we stopped by for some freshly brewed strawberry flavored tea at the Bharat Tea Plantation at Cameron Valley. After that, we headed to the famous BOH Plantation between Tanah Rata and Ringlet town. There, we had the chance to step into the tea factory and learnt a little about the tea making process for free….and then some more hot tea for the both of us. After a some driving around Cameron, and a little wet marketing for some fresh produce we finally decided to settle down at Father’s Guesthouse and began to set camp.
Temperature was starting to get chilly by 7pm so we made some hot and spicy Tom Yam soup, with Shitake and Inoke Mushrooms, Cabbages, and “Suay Kow” for ingredients.

Day Two, we did nothing much except headed nearby for some breakfast and then towards the evening, we tried to do a bit of shopping at the night market at Brinchang, bought three bunch of roses(at RM10 only) until it started to rain. We had to rush back to the campsite to try to salvage our equipment and gear from getting soaked from the rain. By the time we arrived, everything was wet, including the bedding stuff inside our tent, our camp chairs and campbeds. However, thanks to Moggy, we could sleep pretty comfortably inside her for the rest of the night until dawn. It was quite a challenge for us as we have never gotten caught but a downpour like this(can you imagine, plus the cold temperature) camping out.

Day Three, woke up in Moggy to find that it was still drizzling. Nevertheless, we headed for some breakfast and hot ginger tea at an Indian coffee shop down the road. Eventually the drizzle and the rain began to stop after we returned to the campsite, the sun came out enough for us to bunk our rain soaked gear out to dry. At 1pm we broke camp, took a nice shower and headed for lunch then back to KL.

For those of you planning for a break from the city, and if Cameron Highlands in Pahang is your next destination, and if you are looking for a budget accomodation, we would recommend Fathers Guesthouse at Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands. Rates are very cheap, mainly catered to backpackers, so you will meet guests from Europe, Australia, USA, etc. This place reminded us of our trip to places like Chiangmai & Pai, Koh Lipe, and Khao San Road in Bangkok.

More photos, visit pauljules2006.shutterfly.com

Ulu Yam - 17, 18 & 19 March 2006

2006-03-20T13:10:00.000+08:00

Day One

1820hrs - Left Bangsar. According to our original plan, we were suppose to rendezvous at Esso station along the Kepong-LDP highway with Linson, Emily and Phil. After some battling with the after office traffic at the Damansara/Kepong Toll, apparently due to some miscommunication, Jules received a call from Emily asking our location and telling us that we were suppose to pick her up at her home in Damansara Jaya. At that time, we were already very close to the initial RV point and we had to make a U turn to DJ. Nevertheless, we pushed off from Emily’s, and to avoid the bad traffic, we took another alternative route to RV with Linson at the Shell Station along Sg Buloh/Kepong road, which would lead us into some backroads to get to the Batu Caves area, then into Ulu Yam. Linson bought Benny some gas at the Esso station pumps before we headed for dinner.

2038hrs - Had dinner at a mamak restaurant called “Money Corner”. We ordered tandoori chicken with naan, fried rice, fried bee hoon and 20 sticks of chicken satay. After dinner, there was some excess food, so instead of letting them go to waste, we packed them as I knew some of us might be hungry when a reach campsite later.

The tarmac road which led us to our destination was good, but dark and windy, and would have been a scenic one if it had been the morning. Overall, it took us about 45 minutes from our dinner place to the off-road sector.

2230hrs - By this time, the place was almost pitch dark. However we had Moggy and Benny to provide us with sufficient lighting. We set up our new 3x3 meters retractable canopy in a flash. All of us could not wait to get settled for some ice cool beer. Moggy’s battery(as usual) provided excellent lighting with two florescent lights around our camp area. While the rest had to settle into the tents and airbeds, Jules and I were more than happy to sleep on our camp beds sheltered under the canopy. We love this as we get to be closer to nature also get to enjoy the nice unpolluted fresh air without having to sweat in the tent. After a couple of ice cold beers aka Kingfisher Strong (7.2%) and a great company of friends, we retired to sleep at around 2.30am.

Day Two

0730hrs - By the time I woke up, Linson had already turned off the florescent light from Moggy. The rest of the people were still covered cozily in their sleeping beds. After a while, Linson too return inside his tent, for round two. As for me, I took my camera to the area around the waterfall and river to snap some shots and video clips. None of them woke up until about 10.00am.

1015hrs - Breakfast was fried sausages and french toast for everyone with instant Nescafe. We enjoyed the food and conversation with one another over breakfast, even though some of us were still on hyperspace mode due to some symphony orchestra playing in the background the whole night.

1200hrs - We decided to head to the waterfall area for a cold dip. This is something that we did not get to do last weekend as we had dipped downstream, because there were many people at the waterfall area at that time. The water was very clean with light brown sandy beach type sand. However, we could see rubbish, cans, plastic bottles, fruit skins that were littered at some area. This feeling gave us a feeling of disgust and disappointment towards the public's attitude towards the environment. We wish that the government would take some serious enforcement action on these culprits.
Nevertheless, we did not let it dampen our spirits, we proceeded to enjoy the beauty of the waterfall. As far as our eyes could see to where there’s accessibility, there is at least a 3 tiers of waterfall at this site. We bathe in the pool at the bottom tier and then subsequently trekked up to the 3rd pool at the top…..the sight was amazing. At about 1pm, we saw a few off-roading vehicles trying to make an attempt to cross to the stream below us. They could not proceed later as one of the Isuzu Trooper had a busted clutch and had to be snatched by a lighter modified Suzuki. They failed after a few attempts. To put the drama to an end, Linson went down and took his Benny into action. Using his winch, he succeeded to winch the Trooper out of the rut. Apparently his radiator almost got overheated as he has forgetten to turn the radiator fan on auto mode, as he had switched it into manual mode during the river crossing last night when we got in. The rest of the afternoon was spent chillin’ out with one another until dinner.

1715hrs - Started to gather some woods to set our campfire and set up our BBQ pit.

1900hrs - Had “Ikan Cincaru” and “Pari” Tom Yam style cooked on the BBQ pit. There was also Chicken Wings marinated in Honey Garlic BBQ sauce, enough for all the 5 of us.

2345hrs - There’s nothing better than ending the day after a cold dip in the waterfall over some good laughs and conversation.

Day Three

0900hrs - That’s when all of us have awaken from a good night sleep. After that Breakfast was made courtesy of Emily and Phil.

1030hrs - We all took the final dip to enjoy the waterfall before we broke camp at about 12 noon.

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Ulu Yam – 11&12 March 2006

2006-03-13T10:53:00.000+08:00

Got caught by the camping bug during the weekends, as has been sometime since we took Moggy off the tarmac. However, as offroaders, we knew that it would be too risky to go at it alone with a single rig. Anyhow, Jules contacted our dear chief, Nasa from Edarwest Outdoor, a veteran offroader, for some advice on short trips that's nearby with a light trail, nice campsite and safe for an overnight camping. He suggested a place in Batang Kali called Ulu Rening, Jules noted down some markings and positions that we could use to attempt our supposedly first solo offroad venture.

That same night, we met Nasa over some drinks at Telawi. Also took the opportunity to meet up with some friends including Linson, also a long time offroader who drives a modified Daihatsu Rocky. Next thing we knew over some drinks, he volunteered to come along with us to the campsite, so we thought that would be helpful incase we could find the way there.

The intended campsite was relatively near to KL, so we decided to rendezvous at Rawang Toll at 1pm on Saturday. Set off around 1.05pm, proceeded through Rawang, passed Serendah before we arrived at Batang Kali town. Tried to follow the instructions given by Nasa but both vehicles could not managed to find the campsite location despite being already in the Ulu Rening area. After about a 30 mins attempt, Linson proposed for us to go to Ulu Yam instead, which is quite close to where we were. So Ulu Yam it is. We have heard quiet a lot about Ulu Yam, with its waterfall, streams and all, but we also knew that the place is also accessible to public(trekkers, bathers, picnickers, people in Protons). Anyhow, we were thinking “what the heck” as we are already dying for some campsite action, even if it means lesser offroad sector fun and accessibility to the general public. Anyhow, we knew Linson and his buddy Michael will be leaving campsite later in the afternoon and shall not be joining us overnight, so that means the campsite would also be safer for us in case we get lost or caught inside for whatever reason.

We had the luxury of three choices for location to set our camp, finally we settled for one next to the waterfall at about 3pm. The first one a smaller one with a good clean stream, the second was already inhabited with truckloads of campers who have set camp there earlier. Most of these guys we noticed came on Jeep Cherokees.

Our spot was nice as its pretty clean, except some garbage strewn in some places by some imbeciles who should be barred from entering the jungle forever. The air was cool, except for some mosquitoes possibly due to the area being infested by littering imbeciles. Fortunately, they left us alone after I started the camp fire. Rest of the night was spend just the two of us. Dinner was(whatelse?) BBQ'ed lamb steak and cod fish. We retired onto our campbed early at about 10pm.

Woke up about 8.30am, made breakfast.......our favorite mushroom sausages and Jule’s best French toasts and needless to say, coffee with Low Fresh Milk. We brought a bottle of Gecko Creek, Australian Shiraz Carbenet 2004…….hmmmmm, young wine but fruity. Took the chilled bottle into the stream, after an hour of soaking in cool fresh and clear water, we decided to have more food……….Indo-Mie (Dry)……that’s the best!

Subsequently, we took a 2 hour nap, right until, the clouds decided bring some rain. Our Main Canopy broke when the aluminum frame structure could not withstand weight of the water trapped at the roof. The rain decided not to have mercy on us so we proceeded to pack off at about 3pm.

Overall, Good campsite. Try to avoid holiday season and weekends, as you see no kids.
We are definitely thinking a 3 Days 2 Night this coming weekend with more buddies and more food and drinks!

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Fraser's Hill - Smokehouse, 5-6 March 2006

2006-03-07T09:55:00.000+08:00

Just returned from a short trip to Fraser's Hill located in the state of Pahang. Slightly less than two hour’s drive from Kuala Lumpur, heading through the towns of Rawang, Serendah and Kuala Kubu Bharu, accessible from the North-South Plus Expressway. We left KL on 5th March which was a Sunday at 10am, took a quick stop for breakfast in Brickfields. By the time we hit the highway towards Rawang was about 11am.

Arrived in Rawang at 11.25am, and was caught in an unusual traffic jam inside the town center as it was a Sunday, and we had expected normal folks to be sleeping. But then again, welcome to the infamous Rawang traffic. By 12.10pm, we were traveling passed the Sungai Selangor Dam at Kuala Kubu Baru. The journey up to the hill resort of Fraser’s Hill would take us on a scenic
drive through the place call the “Gap”. At the Gap, the road to and from Fraser’s is a single lane which allows only one way traffic to flow through at any point of time. As such, there is a gantry point on both sides(beginning and ending, depending on which side you start your journey from, going up or going down) to regulate traffic. Traffic ascending the hill is scheduled every odd hour for forty minutes to travel to the top, and those descending downhill from Fraser’s Hill is scheduled every even hour similarly for forty minutes to get down to the bottom side of the gap. The distance is a short 8km, which would take between 10-15 minutes.

We reached Fraser's at 1.16pm, temperature was a cool 20-22 degrees Celsius. There was basically nothing much to do in Fraser’s unless you plan to do a bit of trekking at the waterfall or the Rompin Trail. But we had planned to chill out at the Ye Olde Smokehouse Hotel because of their Tudor architecture, perfect place for some peace and quiet, their excellent leg of lamb at the smokehouse restaurant…yummy!

All their rooms are given names, instead of the usual numbered rooms. They have names like Laura Suite, Marshall Suite, Alexander Suite, Charles Suite. We took the Alexander Suite. The rooms are decked with furnishings and decors reminisce of the British colonial days. The place was built in 1924 and was originally named, “the Red Cross” as it was funded by the British Red Cross Society.

Dinner was very much anticipated as I had came here with Jules sometime last year, and we knew they serve one of the best, if not the best “Leg of Lamb” in Malaysia. We also knew that dinner would not be complete with wine, so we had earlier procured a bottle of Shiraz Cabernet on their open patio. Ended our perfect dinner with Fresh Fruit Flambé at the AV lounge.

The rest of the evening was spent watching a re-run of Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore’s “Ghost” on HBO before heading back to the suite to enjoy the soft maroon furnishings.

Woke up at about 8.30am with spectacular mist lingering past our French windows, overlooking the hills. Breakfast was yet again at the same patio we had dinner. Checked out the hotel at around 11.45am, we drove Moggy around Fraser’s to kill time before the gate at the Gap opens at 12 noon for the descending traffic back to the foothills.

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Visit http://pauljules2006.shutterfly.com for more photos.

2006-02-24T18:34:00.000+08:00

Shanghai loves Mozzie loves Moggy!

Valentine's Weekend @ Damai Laut Spa & Resort

2006-02-14T09:51:00.000+08:00

Was at Lumut the weekend right before Valentine's Day. This is my first visit to Lumut. The day we left in the morning, the skies wasn't too friendly. As we started our journey about 7.15am, it was pouring pussies and bitches. Lumut is a small fishing town which is situated nearby to Sitiawan. Lumut basically acts as a departure point for travelers wanting to visit the Pangkor Island. Aside from this, Lumut is also very famous for the seafood as the seafood cuisines there are cheaper and above all, fresh.

Lumut in Malay Language (Bahasa Malaysia) means moss, lichen, or seaweed. Why this town is being called Lumut? This is because in the earlier days, the beach in this town is rich of moss, so the local people called it Lumut. Once a relatively unknown fishing town it has since acquired the proud distiction of being the home base of the Royal Malaysian Navy and the take-off point for the beautiful offshore islands in the bustle of development taking place around it, the town still retains its quiet charm.

The sleepy coastal town is situated about 84 km from Ipoh City, and approximately 130km northwest of Kuala Lumpur. Lumut is well known for its beautiful shell and coral handcrafts. The drive took us past historical town like Teluk Intan(formerly known as Teluk Anson). For those of you would are not aware, the town even has it's very own Leaning Tower. As you can see here below.....

When we arrived at the resort, we could not check in until 1pm, so we decided to hunt for some seafood at Pantai Remis. "Pantai" in malay means beach. It was the fourteenth day of the Chinese New Year and most of the seafood restaurant we close, in the end we had no other alternate but to settle for one that we found near an oil palm estate situated next to the road.

The trip was more of a chillin out weekend for us. Breakfast and dinner was provided for in the package. Check out http://pauljules2006.shutterfly.com for the album on the trip.

Trip to Haadyai - 29-31 Jan(CNY '06)

2006-02-01T13:43:00.000+08:00

5 days of holiday ahead with no plans for the Lunar New Year, what would you decide to do? Head up to Haadyai, that was what we did. We had thought of this plan some 2 weeks ago after our Chiangmai trip. We were anticipating an influx of Malaysian tourist into this southern city of Thailand, and indeed most of the hotels were fully booked for this period.
However, Jules with the help of our regular travel agent in Changloon, Kedah, managed to secure a reservation for two rooms at the BP Grand Tower hotel for a 2 nights stay from 29th to the 31st of the month.
We figured the best time for us to travel there would be to leave in the wee hours on Lunar New Year’s day(29th), and travel back to KL on the 3rd day of the new year to avoid the massive jam in view of the holiday. This way, on the night we we hit the road, most travellers would have already been back to their hometown spending time with their family.

The eve of the new year, we had a reunion dinner at Jules’ parents place at Mutiara Damansara. Attempted to sleep after dinner before we hit the road but could only managed to catch a few winks as my mind was set for the five hour road trip. Left the house at 1.45am. We travelled this time with Jules' folks, so we took Jules dad’s new KIA Sorento. Sorry Moggy, this time you have to stay home. To my surprise, the SUV (we decided to name him Lorenzo) is a pretty good looking car with very good road handling. Good power considering the fact that it is a diesel powered automatic with a 2.5 Liter turbo-diesel engine. Same capacity as our Ford Ranger Moggy, except I believe the chasis is lighter. In addition to this, there was very minimal engine noise in the interior as even when cruising at 3,000 rpm at a speed of 140-150 km/hr with virtually no vibration in the cabin. Diesel fuel consumption is superb. We left the house at full tank, by the time a arrived at Changloon(some 450km later), we had more than ¼ of a tank remaining. Refilled at Changloon, drove up into Haadyai for 3 days and back until we got to Bukit Behrang(near Rawang), only did we required to refill again. So we had easily covered some 650km on a full capacity tank.

Traffic towards north was very well behaved considering that it’s the super peak holiday season, except that we avoided certain major rest areas as it was packed with travellers on coffee break. We did not take any coffee stop right up until we reached the Sg Perak rest area. Arrived at the border at around 7.30am malaysian time(6.30am Thai time). By the time we check into the hotel it was 8.30am, had a quick breakfast, returned into the hotel room for a catnap to catch up on lost sleep.
Woke up at 12 noon, we did some shopping at Central Department store Novotel Hotel and Lee Gardens shopping centre. That evening, we had seafood for dinner at Beung Thong Seafood Garden and fishing park. After a good dinner we went to Carrefour Hypermarket to check out prices for some grocery items. Back at our hotel room, we ordered a 2hr Thai massage before we retired into bed. That was a well deserved rest as we hardly rested the night before.

The morning of day two, we were at the wet market. Later, we drove to Songkhla then took a ferry across to the other side of Songkhla to cross the bridge into Ko Yo(Yo Island) for a seafood lunch at Sak Seafood restaurant. The bridge is 2.6km long which is the longest in Thailand. Ko Yo is also known for their cotton weaving industry. At Sak's, our menu was deep fried Siakap with garlic(Pla Kapong Katiam), Tom Yam Talay(Seafood Tom Yam), mixed vegetables, mango salad(Yam Mamuang), and as usual Singha beer.
On the third and final day in Haadyai we shopped at the Odean Dept store around the Lee Garden hotel area. We left Haadyai in the afternoon after grocery shopping at Tesco Lotus. On our way back to KL, we stop at Bukit Tambun, for again for some cheap seafood. Traffic was quiet bad from Tanjung Malim up until Sg Buloh stretch of the highway and we managed to get back to Mutiara Damansara at about 10pm.

For more pictures, visit http://pauljules2006.shutterfly.com

Chiangmai & Pai, 12-16 January 2006

2006-01-16T20:31:00.000+08:00

Our first trip of 2006 and also into to the Northern Thailand region. Unlike many other trips that we had taken before, we did not make any accommodation arrangements, we wanted to just “go with the flow” and be a little adventurous on this one. We did not know what to anticipate, with the exception of some quickie yahoo and google research on the net days before the trip, reading from some travel books, magazines and Jules’ dear ole’ Lonely Planet book on Chiangmai. In addition to this our friend Lim aka "BisonBull" had given us some tips earlier as he had just done a 10-day trip into Chiangmai, Pai and the region right up into the golden triangle. Although I just managed to mentally make some notes on mainly three places, Thapae Gate, Doi Suthep and the Night Bazaar, the rest of the names I struggled to remember was as if Bison had given me a crash course in the Thai language.

Touchdown onto the tarmac at a little past 10am at Chiangmai International Airport (CNX). You see, when you just disembarked from an almost 3 hours flight, cramped inside a 737, you tend not to remember some minute details such as the minutes and seconds of arrival. Do not tell me that I could have checked my flight details, as flying on AirAsia does not necessarily mean that your actual arrival time would correspond to what’s printed on your flight ticket. Nevertheless, my personal experience with AirAsia have been quite pleasant if not spectacular, with nothing much to shout about. Anyway, no complaints either as its suppose to be “no frills”…..Now Everyone Can Fly! Right? All we thought about was getting to a decent guesthouse with clean shower. A plain clothes guy approached me as soon as we collected our baggage, asking if we wanted a Taxi ride downtown for something like B200. Excuse me? The chap was talking to me in Mandarin. I was about to ask him…”Errr, do I look like a some Chinese tourist?” Apparently he thought I was from Singapore. He showed me his tag and claimed that he is an authorized airport cab driver. But we would be insane to have taken up on his kind offer of B200 as we know that is a frigging high price to pay to start off our trip. B200 could get me a scooter for a day in Chiangmai. Told him that we would be taking public bus, so I did not attempt to bargain further. After about 10 minutes at the pick up zone, we managed to buy a ride on a "Song Taew" for B40. For those of you who have not been to Thailand, a Song Taew is a pickup truck converted into public transport by having a high hard top canopy, and side benches installed to sit about 8-10 passengers. What the heck, for a 10-15 minutes ride, we can bear with that. But 10-15 minutes, that’s all anyone might be able to withstand, unless you are some bloke who likes getting high on diesel fumes if you know what I mean. The ride took us towards the Thapae Gate area. Thapae Gate is in the heart of historical Chiangmai, where part of the city is surrounded by a square moat.

Stayed overnight in Chiangmai city at the Gap’s Guesthouse(B650 per night with breakfast for 2) instead of 2 nights as originally planned before we proceeded to Pai, northwest of Chiangmai on the way to Mae Hon Song.As for the rest of the day, we rented 2 automatic scooters(B250 per bike, gas excluded), rode around the city before we decided it was getting somewhat risky, riding with traffic building up later in the afternoon. I was certain this was my second time riding a motorbike in my lifetime. In the evening, we strolled along the night bazaar. If you have been to Bangkok's Suan Luam and Chatuchak market, you would be in for quite a disappointment. Chiangmai is somewhat dusty and a little polluted, probably due to the cold and dry season during this time of the year. We decided to retire to our guesthouse with a couple of chilled Jasmine flavored “Cheers” beer. Back at the guesthouse, we had 2 pussies who came a callin’ to our unit. Dear ole’ “Chinky eyes” invited herself into our unit and we spent a good hour or so feeling, rubbin’ and strokin’ her until her boyfriend came along. Jules said the female pregnant one has Chinky eyes!!! Both pussies(real cats, what were you thinkin’ man?) became our conversational piece for the night. Looks like they musta been hired to entertain guests on a full time employment contract for….what’s the cat food called? Whiskers? Friskies? or something?
Following day Friday, we took a minivan(B220 per pax) to Pai. Pai is a small town north-west of Chiangmai on the way to Mae Hon Song, approximately 130km from Chiangmai. We were told the journey would take us about 3.5 to 4 hours. It is located on higher altitude, sitting on a valley and is popular for its hot spring. Left at about 9.35am, the minivan made a round to pick up more "farangs"(Thai term for foreigners, especially Caucasians) before heading out of the city and towards the scenic mountains route. On the journey, we were entertained by various conversations from fellow passengers, including 1 German with a Korean wife, 2 Aussies, 2 Pommies and 1 American who happens to be a permanent Pai resident. This guy said that he was sick and tired of the rat-race, chasing after material living and has permanently given up the American dream for subsistence living in Pai. He now owns a paddy field in Pai and is a self-declared farmer. He claims to be from a middle-upper class family in the states and from the way he carried his conversation, he appears to be a well educated guy, highly likely a graduate, from Harvard maybe? Who knows. Anyway, half way to Pai, we took a brief pitstop at a food stall for the inevitable nature’s call, coffee and junkfood.
I asked driver if he could drop us off to Thapai Spa Camping Resort. I recall two words coming out from him, i.e. "no service". As I prodded on, he could not give an elaboration of what he meant. Anyhow, he said that he would take us there to enquire if there are any rooms available.
After another hour or so, we arrived at the resort at about 1.30pm. The driver disembarked, told us to wait in the minivan and walked, we assumed to the reception counter. Within 2 minutes he returned with a smile on his face and told us we could get down. To our delight, we were told at the counter that there were two rooms still available, one a riverview unit next to river Pai and one with a hot spring pool right at the door steps. We took the former, as the view was just too awesome to resist. About 5 meters from the unit, we could see the river, a paddy field with about 3 attap huts with the rolling hills behind….hmmm talk about Feng Shui here! Reminds me of a scene from the movie, the Killing Fields. The scenery is so beautiful. We were very sure we wanted stay in at this resort in Pai for 2 nights instead of the original plan of 1 night(B1000 a night with breakfast and free use of the Hot Spring 24hrs). During checking in and a quick shower, we booked for the spa package(B1490 per pax for 3 hrs) at 3pm which includes a salt body scrub, mineral bath, aromatherapy massage and body lotion rub. It was great as we also discovered that the shower and piped water in the rooms are all directly sourced from the mineral hot spring....hmmmm.
Lunch was "Bai Kraprow Mu”(basil leaves with minced pork) and Fried Rice with Northern Sausage complemented with a bottle of Singha Beer. Temperature was colder than we had expected and we were quite ill prepared as there was no heater in the room. In broad daylight, with sunny clear skies, the temperature was already a cool 20 degrees celsius and at night, it dropped to 9 degrees celsius. Humidty was probably around 30-40%. We were told the resort provides free shuttle to Pai town which is about 6km from here, so we took the opportunity to hit town for dinner hoping we could find some variety for our meal. The owner of the resort, Mr Worathep kindly offered to take us personally in his new Toyota Fortuner to town. That suited us very well as we had always wanted to ride on a the new Fortuner. After 10 minutes ride passing through scenic villages with rolling hills, we could not see much along the way as it was already dark by 7.15pm and the road was not very well litted. Mr Worathep dropped us in front of what it appears, the only bank in town and we were told to be at the exact same spot for a shuttle van pickup at 9.00pm, that’s when the last of the shuttle service will return to the resort for the night….so there goes partying until late night in town. So folks, this means if you have plans to go to Pai and have plans to party all night long, stay in Pai town itself, there’s plenty of guesthouses too. However, Thapai Spa Camping Resort, you must NOT miss….stay at least two nights here, you will not regret it! Great service and clean rooms, it's family managed, and the owner Mr Worathep is a fantastic guy! He goes all out to satisfy his guests! But don’t take advantage of him LAH!
At the bank where we alighted, we were greeted with reggae street baskers performing to the public. They performed for donation towards the rebuilding of the local school which was damaged during the flood last October. Memorabilia items and collectables of anything to do with reggae, Bob Marley, were up for sale. It was a surprise for us to find that Pai has a huge community of "farangs" living amongst the locals, who are mainly hilltribes comprising of Karens, Hmongs, and Shans. The other tribes are the Mein, who are former Kuomintang who have migrated from China(mostly Yunanese) in the earlier years. Most of these Farangs seemed to have assimilated themselves with the locals very well, speaking even the Thai language. It's indeed ironic, as we know that it used to be the case where most Asians would dream of immigrating to the Western world and spending a great deal on procuring western culture and arts. However, here in Pai, the opposite is happening. Well, I guess this is the case of the “grass is always greener on the other side”.

Following day, we went on my maiden elephant ride near the resort. We rode on a 43 year old female elephant named “Mai”. She was either stubborn, lazy or bored with her job, as we could not figure that out. Mai has a habit of stopping on her tracks, turn her entire body sideways to look at every single vehicle that passed. The most hilarious part of the journey came when she trumpeted and startled a “veggie” dog when the latter crossed her path as she was walking along the river bank. The mahout has to scold her all the way for not keeping the pace. The scheduled one hour ride was completed in one and the half hour. At the end of the ride, I almost could not lift my legs to dismount the elephant as my legs were stretched in the same position for the last one hour and the half. I felt and walked like John Wayne after dismounting from the elephant. Another contributing factor was the fact that we rode her bare back instead of having to opt for the ele chair, which I personally felt it's not a really kind thing to do on the elephant. Well, imagine getting on all fours, having a wooden chair mounted on your back and in addition to this, with two humans sitting on it. Apparently, the mahout told us that Mai does not like the chair during the ride.
On our return to the resort at about 11.30am, we took a quick dip in the hot mineral spring pool before we hired two motorbikes(B160 per bike per day) to take to town. Bike riding in Pai was much more relaxed than earlier in Chiangmai as there were lesser traffic to deal with. However, that was no consolation for me for the fact that this is a manual motorbike and I had to do an OJT to get to Pai, and worrying about not landing myself inside some pretty nasty ravine. On the way, we passed the 2nd World War Memorial Bridge that took us across Pai River into the town. We briefly lost our way heading to the other side of town and to add to the excitement, Jules fell off her bike and sustained some injuries on her elbow and leg. As they say, a bad carpenter always blame his tool, she blamed me for the accident. After getting first aid for her, our first stop was on a street that ends with a bamboo built pedestrian bridge where we parked our bikes. Rest of the day in Pai was lunch at a restaurant and bar and strolling along the streets of Pai. About 4.30pm, we headed back to the resort, as we knew that we did not want to ride back to the resort when the temperature drops. Before dinner, I decided to check out a small path that leads to the river bank by the resort. However, as we were riding towards our intended destination, we were stop dead on our tracks as we heard barking from a distance. First we heard a small bark, followed by a loud booming bark, which followed by even louder noise galloping towards us. Lo and behold there came a small dog and a really humongous Black Great Dane charging towards us. As we attempted to do a 180 degrees maneuver, Jules almost rode her bike into a ditch. Fortunately with my cool head, I managed to pacify the stupid looking dog. Jules said if she had her stun-gun, she would not hesitate to zap the bugger right onto its #$@&! And she hates dogs. After and eventful day, with Jules almost fuming with her luck, dinner at the resort was fried fresh Pla Nin(talapia) with garlic, Northern pork salad and soup.
Temperature was getting colder by the minute, fortunately we purchased a pair of woolly socks and a bottle of Seagram's 100 Piper Whiskey to keep us warm and sane. Has anyone tried, soaking their aching feet into a hot mineral spring water with a glass of whiskey in hand under cold weather? That’s was exactly what we did that night. The rest of the night was history, all we remembered was reading the Lonely Planet book to each other sipping more whiskey. Sleep was interrupted on several occasions by rude and loud neighbors, probably from Bangkok, chatting and puking till the break of dawn.
Sunday morning, we checked out at 12 noon. Mr Warothep drove us to Pai to catch the minivan at 12.30pm. The ride back to Chiangmai costed us B160 per pax. The return ride seems to be much shorter than when we came. The driver dropped us at the Bus Arcade Terminal, and we took a Tuk-Tuk(B80) to the Diamond Riverside Hotel(Phet Ngam) by Mae Nam Ping(Ping River). The quality of service and the room was worst than what we had expected. However, due to the close proximity to the Anusarn Food Market and the Night Bazaar, we decided to stay there rather than back in the moat. We paid B1070 with breakfast for two. So folks, listen up, DO NOT stay here, NOT recommended ok. After check-in, we took a stroll to Anusarn Food Market and found that it was not opened for dinner yet, so we did some shopping at Boots for some personal care items. The night was spent at the night bazaar and dinner. Bought some yummy northern thailand sausages, and a bag of crunchy crunchy oinky oinky snacks which was yummy, this is recommended if you take pork. At the stalls, I tried some samples of fried silk worms snacks....not too bad, but I decided not to buy them home...hahaha.
So there goes our last night in Chiangmai. Called a masseur to the room for a traditional thai massage, price? B200…..ok lah quite cheap by Malaysian standards. Next day, hired a minivan(B150) for the airport at 9.00am to catch our 11.05am flight back to KLIA.

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City in the Sky - New Year 2006

2006-01-03T02:17:00.000+08:00

We decided to head up towards Genting Highlands as a prelude to our trip to Chiangmai. For foreign visitors, Genting Highlands is a City of Entertainment located some 51km from the city of Kuala Lumpur at an altitude of 6,000ft above sea level. Somehow, we craved for cooler weather, was better than KL. Stayed at First World Hotel. While city folks stared at the fireworks when the clock hit 12, our eyes were focused on the slot machine…haha. Also how exciting can Genting be huh? Well, at least Moggy got to stretch her legs…..or her wheels rather.

Christmas in Singapore

2005-12-27T01:56:00.000+08:00

Would you believe that? We actually spent our Christmas Eve and Day in Singapore. Anyway, this was the first time Moggy made her maiden journey into Kiasu land. Headed south after spending the first half of the day at the office. Traffic condition at the south bound Sg Besi toll plaza was pretty clogged up as most folks headed out for the long weekend holiday. At the Seremban stretch, traffic came to a standstill for a while because of some highway works along the center. Fortunately the coast became clear all the way after that hold up.
Arrived in JB city before 5.00pm I think, checked ourselves into Selesa Hotel, which was formerly known as Continental Hotel. We decided to do that was we knew a similar type hotel south in Singapore would costs us at least double due to the conversion rate. Why pay more when you are just bunking for two nights right?
Shortly after sundown, we drove to cross into the causeway, anticipating a massive exodus both ways, but to our pleasant surprise, we were wrong. According to a customs officer, traffic had been really all day except when we were there as most revellers would be down in the city center for the celebrations by this hour. However, the sight was quite a different down at Orchard area as we had never seen as many people on a square foot of walkway down from Scotts Rd all the way to the Dhoby Ghaut MRT station before. We could not find a parking spot for Moggy after 30 minutes or so, and we eventually decided to drive down to the Raffles city area in search for any hotel to valet park her. After a short while, parked Moggy at Raffles Hotel. She certainly loved the attention she was getting in Singapore as most inhabitants of the island nation have probably never seen a pretty rig like her on stilleto heels.
We proceeded to walk across to Chijmes for dinner. Discovered they have Hog’s Breath Cafe here. Jules had mentioned about the Hog’s Breath in the Gold Coast several times before. I also realised that there is another chain of restaurant called Hog's Breath Saloon in Florida, but apparently under a different management. So we had our dinner there of course with a three pints of Tiger Beer draft. Guess what guys? The Tiger in Singapore taste absolutely yummy. The Tiger here in Malaysia, draft or canned or bottled tastes absolutely watered down….man! I feel short changed even ever I drink beer in Malaysia! And yes, we even bought the canned ones from 7-Eleven just to verify, indeed it tastes different! Can someone from AP Breweries in Malaysia please explain?
Headed back into JB that same night, and return to Singapore the next day. Nothing much to report here, except that we had dinner, at Tony Romas, Home of the Best Baby Back Ribs in the world. Geezz, I am drooling now on the keyboard as I am typing….excuse me!
Well, not much else about Singapore I guess….but nonetheless, Moggy has not been to Singapore for the record and this is the first time....and she made it just fine.

Ford Lanun Darat #27 - Sg Berakit, Pahang - Dec 2-4, '05

2005-12-05T22:31:00.000+08:00

(Destination Base Camp via Satellite)

The final offroad event of the year for the lanuns(Pirates)! Rendezvous at PJ Ford Concessionaires on the 2nd of December at 7.30am. Before heading off to meet the rest of the lanuns, we had to load our rig, Moggy with all the necessary creature comfort items that would be sufficient for us to last through 3 days and 2 nights in the jungle. Nevertheless, we had the luxury of breakfast and coffee compliments of the organizers, EdarWest and Ford. To our surprise, we were greeted with some of our fellow buayas, including White Tiger, Silversurfer, Uncle Strawberry and Flying Lizard.

Flag-off was at 9.30am with a convoy of about twenty rigs, which saw other models of Ford four wheel drive like the Hurricane, Extreme, Courier and the Everest. The initial leg of the journey was on an open convoy led by the MD of Ford, Mike Pease on a Petronas Himalayas Adventure Team Everest vehicle. The drive to Sri Jaya from PJ, took us along the scenic Karak – East West Highway, exiting from Maran. Second rendezvous was at Sri Jaya town at 12.30pm where we had our lunch of chicken rice. After a torturous wait for some late comers (as usual lah, “Malaysians”), we finally gathered for a closed convoy to head towards the offroad sector into Sg. Berakit at 2.30pm(one hour behind schedule).

The offroad journey took us through some oil palm and rubber estates, rivers, bridges and a tunnel under the east west highway which was quite scenic and interesting, but as expected, bumpy! However, no major complains from us as usual as have Moggy will travel. Total journey from the tarmac into the base camp was 25kms and took us 3.5 hours. This journey would have normally taken the more experienced offroaders like us about 1.5hrs. Arrived based camp at 6.00pm, we immediate set camp next to a river as dusk was setting in soon. Took us hardly 10 minutes to set up our tent and canopy and other equipment as thanks to our instant retractable canopy.

Dinner was quite an uneventful affair as we had instant Thai porridge. This is as what we had planned for as after a hard and long journey, we wanted to just chill out and relax with our ice cold beers. Unexpectedly it started to rain which was quite cooling, however our $#$@ing tent started to leak, wetting our airbed inside, and we had to sleep on the @#$&ing damp airbed all night long. As a result of this we had to cancel some romantic activities for the night…. J
Noises of “Lim Lim Lim, Lim Liaw Ko Chai Lim(to the tune of jingle bells)” came from the neighbouring “Buayas” camp echoing around the campsite in which we could not resist the temptation to check out what the heck was going on. Anyway, to make the story short, we shameless invited ourselves to the festivities. We were greeted with a bunch of less than sober people who shamelessly invited us to join in their ridiculously insane drinking spree. The rest of the night was spend in the good company of buayas.
Next day, we woke up at about 9.30am reluctantly as our neighbouring camps were up earlier at the break of dawn. We had breakfast of cheese sausages and French toast, coupled with coffee and juices…..hmmmm, yummmmm. After breakfast, we took to the river with our camp chairs and beers and wallowed in the river like a water buffalo like there is no tomorrow. Water temperature is freezing cold despite the hot sunshine that left us burnt until now. The rest of the day was just plain chilling and wallowing, so nothing eventful to write on.

We were invited to take part in the special stages competition, however we reluctantly rejected as Moggy and us were too chilled and lazy to move our butts to the river. p.s. Special stages are offroading skills competition to test the handling of the 4x4 vehicle on land and water around challenging obstacles, which may include tyres changing, log crossing, winching, strapping, etc, etc, etc. Dinner was BBQ lamb shoulder with chicken wings, marinated with hickory sauce and black pepper.

Next and final day, we were rudely awaken by at least 5 rounds of gunshots within the vicinity of our base camp. There were probably some hunters nearby hunting for wild boars or some cracko lanuns putting out illegal firecrackers. Again, we reluctantly crawled out from the comfort of our tent. After we had our last dip in the river, we broke camp at around midday, followed by presentation of certificates and group picture taking with our Chief Pirate, Nasaruddin.
Left base camp at 1.30pm on a different trail through more plantations and a logging camp. Arrived at Sri Jaya in time for a delicious lunch of fresh patin fish, vegetable and a bottle of ice cold Tiger…..cost us RM40 only. Man! Food and beer haven’t tasted so good for the last 3 days! Arrived back to KL at 6.30pm. Watch out for our next adventure in January when we will be making a trip to Chiangmai, Thailand.

Edited TV2 Coverage...

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Video & Edited by me...

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For more pictures of our recent trip, visit http://pauljules2005.shutterfly.com

By Shanghai, Mozzie & Moggy

Sun, Sand, Surf and Beers in Koh Lipe

2005-11-11T13:43:00.000+08:00

It was the weekend when most city folks heading out of Kuala Lumpur in all directions on the start of the long holidays the following week(Deepavali on Tues and Hari Raya on Thurs and Fri). We started our journey after dropping my mom off at KLIA for her flight back to Miri, Sarawak after having spend some 10 days here with us and her friends in KL. Left KLIA around 2pm headed northwards. Much to our delight, traffic was smooth flowing. We reached the northern border of Bukit Kayu Hitam by 6.30pm.
Arrived in Hatyai about 6.30pm local time(Malaysia 7.30pm), earlier than expected, we proceeded to Tesco Lotus for groceries to take to the island the following day. As we wanted the experience to be "back to the basics" as much as possible, we checked into Cathay Guest House which charged only 300 baht per night which is about rm28. From all our earlier trips that we made, we also learnt that we get more for the ringgit in exchange for baht at the thai border and hatyai then from those suckers in KL. At the border we changed rm1 for 10.80 baht vs rm1 for 9.50 baht in KL......suckers!
Anyway, the guest house was what we paid for, nothing fancy to expect, but hell for the hack of a one night stay that's alright.
Next day, departed Hatyai in the morning around 8am headed towards Pak Bara Pier where we are suppose to take a ferry to Koh Lipe through Tarutao Island. Those of you who remembered the first "Survivor" series would remember Tarutao. Along the way we bought a huge block of ice that sits neatly into the esky, laced it with a packet of salt....for those of you who remembered your elementary school science, you know what that does to the ice. I don't need to elaborate.

The ferry did not leave until around 1.30pm to our frustration, but we made full use of our time to chill out with Mr Beer. About 30 minutes into the ride was when the adventure started. Smooth sailing turned into a rollercoaster ride. Waves that when higher than what I can see through my window from where I was sitting. Waves coming in through the front at the bow of the ferry, poured into the passenger compartment.......urghhhh...puke puke(no need to say no more). Anyway, we finally arrived at the mountain resort, northeast of the island of Koh Lipe at around 6.30pm local time. Here the sun sets at about 6.30pm.
Bummed in couple of nice folks whom we were to spend sometime with over the next few days at the island. The least expected was a Buddhist monk from Chiangmai who goes by the name of Phra Mong Khon, who brought 3 other fellow monks for the latter's first visit to an island and was on the same ferry with us the day before from Pak Bara. We spend a full first half of our first morning on our verendah, discussing about thailand, chiangmai, culture to cellphones over coffee...what an interesting young chap! He speaks mandarin by the way, and of course fluent thai. Apparently he hails from China and have also spent some time in Kelantan, Malaysia.

At noon, Phra took us along the sunlight stretch of the beach in search of a place for rental of some power fins. Talked to a couple of Chao Lay people who are inhabitants of the island, most of the fishermen. These people have now settled down on the various islands in the satun province were the sea gysies, mainly known to most as sea pirates who in the early days, trawled the straits of Malacca and the Andaman sea. Further down our walk we were brought to a little diving outfit by the name of Chao Lay Dive. Here we met a few more interesting people, not the locals but "farangs"(foreigners). Well, we met Jim, an American gentlemen who is a dive master who runs the dive shop. Jim hails from Minnesota and have not been home for 10 years. Interestingly, he used to work for one of the Ford top sales division in the US selling F-series trucks. He was even given an F-150 to drive around. Sick of his job, he travelled around the world to some of the most beautiful diving locations, including Bahamas, and the other islands in Thailand. Then there was Richard, who is from Columbia, who I thought was American initially, also a dive master. Richard has recently graduated in International Business from one of the Universities in Northern Thailand and is trying to get a permanent job somewhere around the planet. Shannon from Tampa, Florida typical surfer dude type kinda guy hangs out and assists Jim at the dive shop. Later we met Paul from Sydney and his girlfriend from Israel, Yala. So anyone who is heading towards Koh Lipe for some serious diving(all kinds of diving including wreck diving), look for William J. Anderson(Jim) of Chao Lay Diving. Or you can call contact me a note below via the comments on the blog so we can hook you up for better rates.

Well, the rest of the time on the island was trekking, beer, sunbathing, beer, snorkelling beer, chilling out and more beer. The rest is up to you to imagine! One of the coolest experience was at this place called the Monkey Bar, on the beach at the Pataya side(South). The owner(a farang from downunder I presume) had 2 monkeys and a little kitten. The monkey treats the kitten like one of their own species, hugging and pulling him by the arms for a drink and up and down the make-shift wooden hut.....and the mother monkey actually drinks beer every night!

Some pictures taken:

(Chillin' at Porn Resort)

(at the Pancake Lady's...for whatelse? Pancakes(Murtabak) and beers!

(view from Mountain Resort, Koh Lipe)

UN chillin' time!
L-R: Paul & Jules(Malaysia), Yala(Israel), Paul(Australia), Shannon(US), Richard(Columbia), Jim(US)

(hmmm...surfer dude vs hot chick!)

(Tarzan & Jane?)

(Thirsty YET?)

Click here for Map of Koh Lipe

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2 Nights in Bangkok

2005-11-08T15:58:00.000+08:00

Left on a Friday morning via Air Asia to bangkok for some hardcore shopping spree. This was my first time in Bangkok, something like the 4rd time for Jules I think. Had lots of fun, good food and shopping with Kristin, Jules' sister and Jules' mom. Hightlight of the trip was a dinner cruise on a boat which is an actual working replica of an old chinese junk boat along te famed Chao Phraya river. At the dinner we were all treated like royals as the servers and crew members gave us what the Thais are known for, excellent customer service!

From top to bottom :

1. Usual traffic in MBK
2. Jules with mom and sis on pedestrian bridge heading towards MBK plaza
3. Taken inside our junior suite in Elegance Suite
4. On board a dinner cruise tour along Chao Phraya
5. Replica of putrajaya bridge? Wonder which one comes first..hmmmm

More photos, see album at http://pauljules2005.shutterfly.com

Malacca Trip - Oct 2005

2005-11-08T15:16:00.000+08:00

This is our second trip to Malacca after a short one the week before where we stayed at the Heren House near Jonker, didn't like it so we decided to stay at Tanjung Kling. We both have stayed at Riviera Bay Resort before, and noticed this little resort called Shah's Beach Resort right next to it and have never paid much attention to it until that day. We decided to save some good money and stayed at this "lower end" resort....., and it is absolutely beautiful with all the bungalows facing seafront. Our unit was right next to the beach...you can see for yourself. The second week we came back, we decided to be fully armed.....offroading camping style. Had a whale of a time chilling out, BBQing with lots of beers....yummm

Photos from Top to Bottom :

1. The sole catfish I caught that landed up in our Barbie Pit
2. Chilling out by our chalet...waiting for the BBQ
3. At the Geographer watering hole
4. Shah's Beach Resort - our unit is beautifully located facing the straits

More pictures from this album...logon to http://pauljules2005.shutterfly.com

Some Hatyai Photos

2005-11-08T14:50:00.000+08:00

Top to bottom :
1. Expert Tatooist and owner of Indy Tatoo in Hatyai working on my tat
2. Posing with the man himself
3. Jules with friend Surin and his daughter(from Hatyai)

For more photos from this trip, logon to http://pauljules2005.shutterfly.com

Hatyai - September 2005

2005-11-08T14:21:00.000+08:00

We travelled to Hatyai, a southern city in Thailand for some hardcore grocery shopping and also for our long awaited tatoo to be done. After few weeks of searching for a nice design that we can both agree and like very much, I had it done on my left leg and Jules had it done on her right leg. Cost to do a tatoo in Thailand is definitely cheaper than in Malaysia....and they are certified professionals in a very hygenic, clinical conditions.
More photos next or you can visit http://pauljules2005.shutterfly.com for complete photo album

Long Absence

2005-11-08T14:07:00.000+08:00

Whew, this is the first time in 2 months since I am going to post on our recent travels. Over the past we have been taking both short over the weekend trips and a 7 days trips into the land of smiles....Thailand. From our recollection, the whole of October, we only spend one weekend at home in KL, Malaysia. Jules agreed with me that we both have not done this kind of crazy traveling ever ever before. Thats when I realise that I lost close to 10kgs over a period of 4 months from the amount of activity that we do. So, there you go, a tip for those who wants to loose some kilos and get in shape....travel, travel, travel. What a jet-setting lifestyle we are living(or should I say, road & boat setting life?) haha

Thong Chai

2005-09-05T09:38:00.000+08:00

What's UP?.....Stupid HAZE!

2005-08-19T14:33:00.000+08:00

Been awefully quiet for the past week or so due to the recent weather condition that kept most KLites in a hazy spell. Last weekend, stayed home most of the time. We had to stop operations at our facility from Thu, 18 August evening to Saturday morning 20 August as my office is located at the Kuala Selangor district, one of the two areas that made international headlines when the our PM called for a haze emergency(Malaysia Boleh! or Blame it on Sumatra!). Stayed home listening to the radio whole darn day on that Friday as we had to be on standby mode awaiting for the emergency to be lifted to resume operation. Earlier had wanted to take some photos of the haze to post it here, but on second thoughts.....nahhh, I don't wanna pollute my beautiful blog.
BTW, heard on the news this morning that the meteorological dept is forecasting for more haze on Monday as they are expecting shifting of wind directions. Man! Looks like I am running out to buy more N95 face mask......I just realised that this is gonna be quite a lucrative business. Just last Sunday was at the night market in Telawi, this guy was selling it at RM5.50 per piece. My purchaser ordered them for RM3.50....so that's about 60% margin, not a bad business! With the seemingly improved conditions, he is probably praying for more haze. Next thing in the pipeline is that oxygen mask maybe a hot seller, anyone with contacts for good price?......on consignment lah! Take advantage of the haze rather than bitching about it right?

2005-08-12T21:40:00.000+08:00

...hey, where's the road?

2005-08-12T21:31:00.000+08:00

ride on boat was a hair-raising experience due to rough sea conditions

2005-08-12T21:18:00.000+08:00

driving is a breeze here....no speed limit guys!

2005-08-12T21:13:00.000+08:00

looking at resort pier on trail to other Ko Hai Fantasy

2005-08-12T21:11:00.001+08:00

our Sea View Villa unit

2005-08-12T21:11:00.000+08:00

Jules sharing aussie stories with Phil & Wendy

2005-08-12T21:10:00.000+08:00

Shanghai on standby on street in Trang

2005-08-12T21:09:00.000+08:00

With my Macho Rig, Shanghai at Pak Meng

2005-08-12T21:08:00.000+08:00

hmmmm Yummmy

2005-08-12T21:06:00.001+08:00

Ko Hai Fantasy Resort Beach

2005-08-12T21:06:00.000+08:00

Paul with Wendy and Phil...still sober! ;)

2005-08-12T21:04:00.001+08:00

Jules with Wendy & Phil from Perth

2005-08-12T21:04:00.000+08:00

we actually dined on the last table that night

2005-08-12T21:03:00.000+08:00

life is a beach ain't it?

2005-08-12T21:01:00.000+08:00

..."Jumbo" actually led us along a trail to get to the next resort, Ko Hai Fantasy Resort, such a smart doggy..actually belongs to the owner who owns both resorts

2005-08-12T20:51:00.000+08:00

limestone Islands

Koh Ngai - Trang, Thailand

2005-08-12T20:08:00.000+08:00

We are back from Koh Ngai Island, a beautiful Island on the Andaman Sea!!! Left Kuala Lumpur at 10pm on Thursday, 4 August. Drive was a breeze, not much traffic as it was a working day the following day. Managed a pit stop for a 2 hours nap at a rest area north of Butterworth but could not remember what that was called. Arrived at Changloon(before Bukit Kayu Hitam) at around 5.00am at the shop where we were to get our thai registration aka "rego"(pronounced as "regio" as the aussies or Julie calls it). As we arrived earlier, the shop was not open until around 6am later....so we took more catnaps. BTW, this is actually a coffeeshop(kopitiam) which also doubles as a place selling Thai vehicle permits/rego and insurance(the real thing ok), take hotel bookings for hatyai....you actually pay for your stay in advance here, and you may also exchange for thai baht from here. However, we actually found out later we can actually get better deals from the travel agents in Hatyai itself.............what a bummer! Bugger!
Cleared the Malaysia side border at around 6.45am local thai time, proceeded to conduct our ritual at the duty free outlet. Bought a case of Tiger beer, two cartons of ciggies and a Martini Asti(yummy). Drove from Hatyai to Trang Town, had "kuay chap" for breakfast at this place, I forgot the name but this place was actually featured in the Lonely Planet book. Thereafter, we proceeded to look for the elusive suckling Pork meat which according to Jules is really yummy.....drove though almost every streets and alleys but......darn, could not find it...was supposed to have "ta pau" to the island. As we did not have much time left, we continued to the Koh Ngai Resort transit office. Here we were greeted by their customer service staff who was unable to speak a single word of English or any language that appears comprehensible to us....darn! Fortunately, with Jules around and some ability to converse in thai(picked up from those Bird songs and MTV), we were told that we have to drive directly to the pier at Pak Meng pier as it provides a safer parking for Shanghai. Arrived at the pier at approximately 11.30am, took a boat to Koh Ngai. The 45 mins trip took slightly over 1 hour as the sea was rough due to the monsoon....ya and I had a tat bit of seasick, almost puked(normally I do not subject to this as this was really bad, up and down and side to side for like 45 minutes). Met another couple from Amsterdam onboard. As we arrived at Koh Ngai Resort, we were greeted with the usual Sawadee Ka and a glass of pineapple juice. Upon checking in, we we told that we were one of the only 4 guests at the resort as it was the low season. We thought...cool, talk about being in a private island......you know kinda reminded me of the movie "I know what you did last summer"? ......hahaha.
Following day, basked under the beautiful clear skies, on the sand and by the surf. Oh ya, and no haze here on the island, unlike down south in KL and certain parts of the peninsular Malaysia. Thank goodness, the haze, courtesy of our friendly sumatran neighbour did not moved as far north to the islands. Highlight of the trip was taking a boat at sunset from our resort to the nearby Ko Hai Fantasy Resort for a candlelight dinner right on the beachfront..btw, this was pre-arranged. Food was great and was complemented by a bottle or thai red wine followed by a bottle of Martini Asti Champagne. A surprise birthday cake awaited Jules in the room as we headed back, with garlands laid out in heart shapes on the bed....left Jules speechless :) We spent the rest of our last night in the island lazing out under the stars with our newly found friends from Perth, Australia, Phil and Wendy.....well the rest is history as I was almost knocked out stone cold from the alcohol....what was that we had Jules? Next day, no hangovers(luckily) as we had a return boat scheduled at 9.00am. Left the island(reluctantly) after breakfast, headed for Hatyai. Hatyai was no stranger to me, and especially for Jules. She can almost declare the place as her second home. Did quite a substantial amount of shopping, mainly for personal care items at Boots, and groceries at Tesco Lotus.....btw the thai pronounced it as Lotat. Man, you can really save if you get your groceries from here. Left Hatyai on Monday at around 4pm, arrived in hazy KL around 11pm.

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Next Trip - 4 August - Koh Ngai, Thailand

2005-08-05T06:43:00.000+08:00

Will be heading for island of Koh Ngai tonight by road. From KL to Hatyai would take around 5 hrs, then we will proceed to Trang Town should take approx. an additional 2 hrs or so. ETA to Trang will be around 7.30am local time on Fri, 5 August where we will start our day with some local thai food for breakfast. From there we will take the resort transport to Pak Meng Pier towards the west coast of Trang, then take a long-tail boat on the Andaman Sea towards Koh Ngai where we will be staying at Koh Ngai Resort. Will be in Hatyai on Sun, 7 August for an over night. Will do a trip report when return. Oh ya, this time my faithful rig "Shanghai" will get to take us there.

Some Recent Trips

2005-08-05T04:58:00.000+08:00

Over the past 2 months, we have gone on two trips with Moggy to Hatyai and Lake Kenyir.

On the night of 3rd of June, we went on a trip to Hatyai for 2d/2n, where we left KL at midnight on Friday arriving at the Bukit Kayu Hitam/Sadao border at dawn. Drive as not what we had expected as traffic was heavy due to the Agong's(Malaysian King) Birthday holiday the following day. However as we rolled across into Thai territory, the highway leading into Hatyai was an exceptionally delightful drive for us. Spending most of the time in there enjoying the delicious thai food.....yeah not to mention the amount of booze we bought from the duty free outlet at Bukit Kayu Hitam :) it was dirt cheap!
This was the first trip to Hatyai for me and I found it to be a fascinating experience....as for Jules, well, this was something like her 31st trip? Someday, y'all gotta check out her passport man!!!

Photos at http://pauljules2005.shutterfly.com

Kenyir Trip, 11- 13 June 2005

2005-06-13T05:59:00.000+08:00

We stayed at Kenyir Lake Resort. Beautiful and serene, the lake was as big as I had imagined it to be. Our unit perched on a slope, was within a stone's throw away from the lake shore. The room was exceptionally larger than those that could be found in any standard 4-5 star hotels in the city. All the units were fashioned in what looked like minangkabau-style architecture giving it the "home away from home" feel. Once in the room, to our amazement, the wooden balcony that greeted us ahead was stragetically positioned to give their guests(like us), an awesome view of the lake. We had almost the whole weekend to ourselves as(due to whatever reasons), occupacy rate was very low except for some city folks from our neighbouring south island who came in droves for some corporate event. Fortunately for us, the day we checked in, most of them were leaving, otherwise, the experience might have left us thinking that we were in some resort in Pasir Ris or some HDB park in Ang Mo Kio(no offence to our Pua Chu Kang cousins!).
The highlight of the stay was the boat ride to parts of the lake where we get to see "dead tree trunks"......yep, that's right. How the hell do you get that right in the middle of the lake right? Well, for the benefit of those who are not well read about this, Kenyir Lake is actually the result the development of a dam project years back when some of the primary rainforest was sacrificed to contain a reservior, hence water was actually released to flood over areas of the rainforest and viola.... a man-made lake. But ever wondered what happened to the flora and fauna of the area? Well, that I guess is, how do we call it....collateral damage to the environment for the sake of modernization? Anyway, other than that rather morbid experience, we truely enjoyed the sights and the sounds. We were then taken to a waterfall and then to a fish farm(Kelong). Well this was pretty useful for us as we knew we were not gonna reel in any on this trip despite the fact that we had actually brought in two fishing rod and some tackles. Anway, to cut the story short, we bought 3 patins, took it to the resort's chef and then had those suckers for lunch.....hmmmmm yummyy. And all that for a mere RM30. Oh ya, we spotted a family of otters too, hmmm never knew otters exist in Malaysia, the last time I saw one in the nature was some 17 years ago at Puget Sound in Washington State.

Shanghai & Moggy's Adventure

2005-06-01T03:25:00.000+08:00

The blog is dedicated to our 4x4 rigs, Shanghai & Moggy. Shanghai is the handsome and macho one(Silver)....ahem, and my girlfriend, Moggy(Black) is the tall one on stilletos 24hrs a day.

Here is what Shanghai has to say about their new blog......

Shanghai:
"OK....From time to time we will post pictures of ourselves and our owners, Paul and Julie on our travels with them and their travels and adventure.
They both share a fond passion for rigs, travels, food and wine. ppssstt...But you know what? Julie aka Mozzie have been recently seen posing with a Hummer H2......so....well, and ahh Moggy still does not know about it, you know. Well ah..for her sake I hope she won't find out......sheeshhh...I don't know...whatever happens, I'll stick by Moggy you know, she's a good girl"