Feb 27, 2016

4D3N Krabi Budget Trip (Day 4) - Kayaking

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

Hope you guys won't get bored with my Krabi posts. I better post everything while I still remember before it turns to chunks and fragments, which are hardly to be combined. Who knows, this post might be useful for those who need it, ye dak? 

It was our fourth and last day in Krabi. Luckily I had packed most of the things the night before as we had to check out early in the morning. We checked out around 8.30am and asked for a permission from the owner of Luna House to leave our bags first because I bet they won't provide any lockers later. The owner agreed to let us leave our bags behind the counter in the lobby area.

Tuk tuk taxi fetched us at 9.30am and it took 1 hour to arrive at the kayaking place. The tour guide gave us waterproof bag to put our gadgets and valuable stuff. We left our empty bags in a room where they kept the life jackets and other properties. The place is quite convenient as they provide ladies and gents, some benches, a restaurant and a small shop where you can buy snacks and drinks. Sobri bought a packet of Oreo and a bottle of mineral water for us 4 as we hadn't had our breakfast that morning.

We were given a demonstration and explanation about the kayak, the route, the safety, etc. You can choose whether you wanna use the life jacket or not. To be safe, we decided to wear the life jacket and each one of us took it together with the paddle before heading to our kayaks. The last time I went for kayaking was when I was in primary school, during standard 4 if I'm not mistaken.

We paddled approximate 7km from the start to the end point. It was a long long long way to go. We started from the sea, then we went into the mangrove swamp, where the monkeys and crickets and insects live.

In the sea.



Sorry for the slanted horizontal line.


Just entered the mangrove swamp.




There were real monkeys in the mangrove swamp. They seemed really naughty and looked like they might hop into our kayaks at any time! While I was freaking out, the others especially the orang putihs appeared to adore them haha. We also passed through The Canyon, Crocodile Cave, etc. Though its name is Crocodile Cave, there's no crocodile there according to the sea kayak guide as he himself has never seen one. It's just a story passed from one generation to another generation. 

 Gigih betul my best friends mendayung.


While waiting for Audi and Marni.


The four of us!



Into the mangrove swamp. Literally.


The life jacket was too big for me. Or maybe because my legs are longer than my torso. Tenggelamlah daku di dalam jaket~~~


This is where they call 'The Canyon'.



Ardilla and her pink paddle.



Audi also tenggelam in her life jacket haha ada geng.


Excuse my gedebak-sunburnt-and-oily face.


Almost reached to the end!


7km of paddling and my hands were sore. Acehh, gaya cakap macam dayung banyak haha. At the end of the long-journey paddling, we ate some fruits while sitting on the bench provided, waiting for our tuk tuk to fetch and send us back to Luna House. The ride was somewhat bumpy, but I managed to fall asleep. We had our lunch at the Kedai Makan rakan, as usual, and at 3.30pm we went to the airport by van (500baht) that we had booked on the day before. The airport is 40minutes away from the Luna House.


Naik flight yada yada and...


arrived in Malaysia at 8.30pm.

P/s: Gonna post our trip video later, so stay tuneeedddd!




More photos;


28 comments:

Feb 24, 2016

My Teachers Don't Do Cincai Work

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. 

I just watched a YouTube video of a 15-year-old kid, telling people her opinions on international school vs government school. She made a few good points, some obvious points that don't need to be addressed as most people already know and some irrelevant points. I second the point when she said that in Malaysia, intelligence is all about grades because I believe everyone has their own speciality, but I feel offended by the way she looks at government schools and on behalf of those who make a living by becoming teachers in government school. I can't deny that international schools have clean toilets and cafeterias that serve scrumptious lunch because your parents have paid for that. And yes, you put high expectation because of the same reason. I can't expect to have a school like yours when I have to pay only one-hundredth of your semester fee. It's the truth.

But. I totally disagree when she said that it's a fact the teachers in gov school don't think out of the box and do cincai work. She judged this based on her unfortunate experience, but I don't think she's eligible enough to say it's a fact and judge gov teachers' qualification of teaching as the gov school she went might be just one out of the 5 schools she had gone to, and for a short period of time.

I bet my primary school was way more kampung than her former school. It's Sekolah Kebangsaan Bukit Beruang (that bukit doesn't have any beruang by the way haha). Yes, sekolah kampung, which we had to tick the 'luar bandar' when applying for the boarding schools. But, my teachers don't do cincai works. 6 years I'd been there, and I know they don't do cincai works. For another 5 years, I spent it in a boarding school in Cyberjaya. Yes, it is a government school as well. We got delicious food there and clean toilets as well, though still can't beat international school (I reckon so), but my teachers don't do cincai works.

You can't say they make their job simpler if you don't become one of them. The ones who're not in others' shoes would never understand how it feels. For you it might be a cincai by just giving works, students submit, they mark and then teach a new topic. But for them, it is a sacrifice they make to teach, to stay up at late night to mark our exam papers and to have a good thought on what to teach on the next day. You get the chance to learn everything in a variety of ways because obviously you pay for that. My primary school uses chalk to write on the blackboard and a duster to rub it off, before tapping the duster on a small box to remove the dust, but Alhamdulillah I learnt a lot of things even in an unsatisfactory (to a certain person) environment. 

Sometimes it's not about how the surrounding, but it's about who we are. Pay more, get more. That's for sure. Anyway, have you heard about less is more? Those who have less treasure more. We learn simple little things that ones might think it's not a part of their learning matters. Your little things are about studying in mixed cultures and nationalities to learn new cultures and accents, but ours are about using fork and spoon in the dining hall, selling sausages in classes and dorms just to raise fund for our clubs and societies, studying in a bit dark room because it was light off time and we only had to depend on the fluorescent lamps from outside of the dorm, etc.

Opinions are not the same from one person to another, but some opinions are meant to be kept, or at least should be explained in a proper manner. Not everyone is born with a silver spoon in the mouth and there are some people out there who can't even pay for food to fill their stomach. Going to what kind of school is not a choice for some of us. We can't afford to pay that amount of money just to enter an international school as we have a lot of other things to consider, concern and take into account.

To broaden your mind is about how we look at certain things in different perspectives.
To broaden your mind is to put yourself in others' shoes.
To broaden your mind is to appreciate the blessings that we get.
To broaden your mind is to realise that one man's trash is another man's treasure.
To broaden your mind is to choose your words carefully and wisely.
To broaden your mind is to respect everyone.

This post is not written to heat things up, but just a humble opinion from me to remind how much our teachers have done for us. We can't judge the whole community because of a person's wrong and everything has its own pros and cons. Peace!

29 comments:

Feb 23, 2016

Must Read! Be Careful With This!

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. 

Recently, I activated back my Carousell to sell brand new things and also preloved stuff. There was this one guy who declared himself as an American, and was really interested in buying a preloved sweater of mine for his daughter who's staying in Thailand. At first, I wonder, did this guy being a cheapskate, buying a preloved one for his daughter. Well, you can't never imagine what an extreme cheapskate could do. Or maybe, he was finding the same sweater because I got the sweater from the United States. Here's how he started the conversation with me. 


He was a customer and as a seller, of course I would email him straight away. So I told him that the item is still available for sale. So the conversation went on. 



Then I gave him my account number for him to transfer and requested a receipt as a proof of payment has been made. And the next day I got a reply from him.


I told him that I need to see the receipt from him, then he answered "I'm sure you have gotten the payment confirmation from Citibank earlier." So I checked If I've gotten any email from Citibank and found this.




The email was quite convincing at first because I know there are some companies like Shopee, which ensure seller to send the item first before receiving the money. But then when I thought back carefully, I got some reasons why I felt it was a scam.

First, even with Shopee, I'm the one who's supposed to deal with Shopee and everything, not the customer. The only things a customer has to deal with are pick & pay. That's all.

Second, the email doesn't look 'formal' with misspelled and different coloured words and what's up with the highlights? Plus, the random capitalisation bothers me a lot, well, unless you're Margo Roth Spiegelman, then I'd be okay with those words.

Third, the thing that I doubt the most is the email address. The email they use is customerconsultantdept@usa.com. Citibank email addresses usually will end with citi.com. So just to confirm I typed this email on the Google search box.



There you go. It's a scam! The person had tricked and cheated many sellers with the similar tactics, telling him from America, and has to buy the item for his daughter blabla. Carousell had suspended the account before I managed to report. And guess what? Even though he already suspended from Carousell, he still made a contact with me through email. No wonder he asked for the conversation to be in email as he knows this is going to happen.

So for sellers out there, though customers are always right, make sure you know the limit. Don't ever fall in a trap like this. Before sending any item, make sure you get the proof from the buyer himself, not from a bank you've never dealt with before. Stay safe!

Have you ever encountered the same thing before? Share it with me!

33 comments:

Feb 21, 2016

4D3N Krabi Budget Trip (Day 3 Part 2) - Foodylla @ Ao Nang

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

After an adventurous Phi Phi Islands tour, we went back to Luna House and changed our clothes. Sobri and I started feeling hungry, so without any further delay, together with Marni and Audi, we went out to find foooooood! Yeahhh, one of the best parts of any travel trip is of course the food. As there were many Muslims who owned restaurants and stalls, finding food was not a problem. I noticed there was a stall selling sticky rice and mango by the roadside in front of the Ao Nang Mosque. We straight away went there. 

1. BOLA BOLA ALA BADAK BERENDAM VERSI THAI (20BAHT)
We found a kuih stall while we were walking. The stall sold different types of kuih and bubur. I was intrigued by the bola bola putih biru in white soup(?), so I bought a plastic of it. Mmmm so delicious. It tastes like badak berendam! But the differences are, the bulat bulat are much smaller and has egg white. It sounded a lil bit weird to have pieces of egg white, but the combo is quite nice though. Nyumnyum!


2. PINEAPPLE JUICE (25BAHT)
Usually if I went to any restaurant, I would order apple juice. I'd never had pineapple juice before I came here, although I really like pineapple. Sobri was the one who introduced me how the pineapple juice tastes like. It is delicious and usually it will only cost you 25baht for each large plastic cup like this! I bet they must have a lot of pineapple plants there as you can literally get pineapple juice anywhere. 


3. MINI KAPIT PELBAGAI RASA
This stall was the first stall in front of the Ao Nang Mosque that I tried. I called them 'Mini Kapit' as you can see in the photo below, they really look like the kuih kapit we have here in Malaysia, but in a smaller size with different toppings. I can't really remember how much did they cost, but if I'm not wrong, we paid 10baht for 5 pieces. 


Just look at how beautiful and colourful they are. They look really tempting!


I'm just gonna put this cute mini kapit in my mouth.


4. HOI KROK (CARA TAKOYAKI BERLAUK SEAFOOD) (30 BAHT)
These are my favourite! Well, other than 7 others in this list haha. I bought 2 sets of these, but to be honest, still not enough for me. Hmm, maybe I shouldn't share with anyone (read: Sobri) haha kidding. Anyway, every 30baht, we got 6 hoi kroks. For me, they look and taste like kuih cara but the texture is much softer (a lil bit like takoyaki), and the fillings are seafood instead of chicken or meat. 


The hoi krok that I bought were served together with some bean sprouts and Thai chilli sauce. I shall ask for more sauce though haha.


5. POPIAH PANAS (10BAHT)
These cylinder-cut food in the photo below are popiah! They're extremely delicious because usually they are served hot from the frying pan, eaten together with the delicious homemade Thai sauce. I should have followed my instinct and bought them more hmmpphh! 


6. STICKY RICE AND MANGO (40BAHT)
My favouriteeeeee! This pulut mangga was the main reason why I really wanted to go here. It was the first thing I saw when my best friends and Sobri were buying deep fried calamari. The thing in plastic that looks like some kind of grain produces the crunchy-and-nutty taste when chewing, making this popular dessert neither plain nor boring. This photo below is taken before Sobri tuang santan sesuka hati -.- 


7. BANANA & CHOCOLATE PANCAKE (40BAHT)
This photo makes me hungry haha. Like I already said in my 'Night Market' post, this banana & chocolate pancake is like roti canai pisang but with an additional chocolate syrup spread on the top. Yummeyhhh!


8. KEDAI MAKAN RAKAN
Last but not least, my most favourite tom yam noodle I've ever had in my entire life. Kedai Makan Rakan is a small restaurant, that looks a bit plain and unattractive, which one can barely notice its existence. But, the food is absolutely the bomb! This is why you can't judge a book by its cover! 


I ordered a bowl of Tom Yam Kung Noodles (60baht) and asked for more 'pedas'. Kung means seafood in Thai. What's special about this noodles? Everything about it is up to perfection, according to my taste bud haha. Each bowl of tom yam noodles is served hot separately. Although if we ordered 4 bowls of the same thing at the same time, they would make it one by one, in order to preserve the taste and they even put the prawns and eggs and other ingredients carefully, trying to make one bowl look the same as the other! So, jangan pula gaduh siapa dapat dulu and siapa dapat kendian haha. 

Look at the brown-triangle-shaped thing in the bowl. I don't know what it is. At first I thought it was the tauhu that we usually see in curry noodles, but actually it's not! Once I bit, I just wish I got more of it. It was really, really tasty. I wish I knew where they got them from. Sob sob. 

By the way, if you ordered for more spicy, you'll get a bowl of double extra spicy tom yam noodles. That's what makes me really love it! Tapi confirm esok pagi sakit perut haha.


They use the 'healthier' noodles. The translucent one.


This is Tom Yam Kung that Sobri bought. Banyak isi! Sobri got this for 80baht instead of the usual price 120baht. They gave us a discount because we were regular customers (who ordered the same thing over and over again) haha. A place of rice costs 20baht.


Coconut drink perfects every meal. 40baht for each coconut.


I feel hungry right now. Should grab some chocolate in the fridge. See ya later!




More photos;


27 comments:

Feb 16, 2016

4D3N Krabi Budget Trip (Day 3 Part 1) - Phi Phi Islands Tour

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

I had a terrible stomach ache in the morning. The cramping pain made me felt like having diarrhoea with no loose stool. I reckon it was because of last night's dinner. I ate a bowl of spicy tom yam noodle with extra spicy, making it a bowl of double extra spicy tom yam noodle. Looks like my stomach couldn't stand the spiciness as much as my tongue could. Tak cukup Melaka lagi perut ni haha.

At 9.00am, we were really anxious as the van that was supposed to fetch us hadn’t arrived yet. After 15 minutes of waiting and urging the owner of Luna House to call the tour package company, a small pink tuktuk attached to a lorry arrived. They were in a rush and I reckon they accidentally left us for real. They brought us to the gathering point near the Ao Nang Beach, where the long-tailed and speedboats were arranged by the sea shore.


We were among the first to arrive on the speedboat and immediately sat on the rearmost seat of the boat. Feeling proud at first, but regretted it later because little did we know that it was the most perfect spot to get drenched from the water splash as the speedboat made its way across the sea.

Let's start the journey, shall we? 


This photo below is taken before the journey became.. a bit scary, and while we had the chance to hold our camera still. The sea became very rough in the evening with big waves everywhere and bumping of the speedboat here and there.



Excuse my sunburnt face haha


BAMBOO ISLAND

Bamboo Island is categorised under Thailand National Park so we had to pay 400baht to step on this island for the national park entrance fee. Luckily, the 400baht was paid for both Bamboo Island and Maya Bay. If it was for Bamboo Island only, for us, it's totally not worth it. The so-called tour guide collected 400/200baht (adult/children) in the speedboat before we set our foot on the beach. 



Sakit lah juga pijak batu batu kat sini. The sand isn't so smooth here.


The water is crystal clear, but sadly there was no fish. Well, I saw one. The moment I blinked my eyes, it ran away. Sob sob.


Gambar bertiga dulu.


Sorok pipi ke tu dik? Ops.


Some of the stones here are a bit slippery so be careful when you walk on them. 


Audi sempat terlelap dan Marni pening memikirkan nasib sebagai seorang duyung haha


We spent for about 40 minutes here and continued our speedy-bumpy journey to the next stop. Sobri and I were the last person to arrive at the boat. As usual. 

Our tour guide told us that we couldn't snorkel at the usual spot so the helmsman tried to find another spot for us, which near the Monkey Island. 


See, I told ya this was the perfect spot to capture the beautiful scenery clearly, either with your eyes or with gadgets you have and also to get really, really wet. Yes, they come in combo haha. The 'advantage' of sitting at the rearmost; getting a warm up soaked and being fully wet from head to toe before you even start snorkeling. Your sunglasses can be quite useful to cover your eyes from the splashing of seawater haha.



MONKEY ISLAND

We had been told that the Monkey Island has a lot of monkeys. It was clearly seen that some of them, especially the 'orang putihs' like monkeys. Me? I'm scared of monkeys, to be honest. Not geli kind of scare, but takut-monyet-tarik-tudung-and-gigit kind of scare haha. 

The beach was quite far from where we stopped as we went here for snorkeling, instead of strolling by the beach. It was my very first time snorkeling. Another thing to be ticked off from my bucket list, weehoo! 

The fish and coral we saw here were not really varied. I bet the previous spot must be a better one! Anyway, 'twas a good experience. We swam too far from the speedboat and when we had to get back to the boat, jauh gila dah kenapa boat tu dah gerak ke. Luckily Sobri was with me. At least I had someone else to be late together haha as usual. Creds to Marni and Audi for this precious photo below. 


We were really hungry. Lets go makannnnn!


KO PHI PHI DON

It was 12.20 when we arrived Phi Phi Don. Ko Phi Phi Don is the largest of the Phi Phi Islands and it is made mostly of limestone. The best time to go here is of course during the high season (between November and March) when the sea is calm. To be the only inhabited island among all Phi Phi Islands, with colourful houses by the beautiful shade of turquoise seawater, the view was a mesmerising one I must say. 


We were among the first group to arrive here.


Eh eh stop posing jap.


We had a buffet lunch. The choices were not too many, but the food was nice. I had a full plate of spaghetti with only-got-onion-tomato sauce and 2 pieces of fish nugget. 

*For Muslims, before booking any tour package, ensure that the food provided is halal. 

Audi, Marni and Sobri ate rice with chicken and tom yam. Baru sedar kitorang makan banyak gila. Nasib sampai awal, so boleh lah ambil bebanyak lelama sikit. "Ni makan malam terus ni," said Sobri, who was the first person to get hungry back haha. 


There are a few shops where you can buy souvenirs. We bought some postcards (15baht each).


A handsome monkey on a shoulder of a handsome orang putih haha jk.


Look at the fine white sand! If it wasn't crowded, I would have guling guling from one end to the other.


We headed back to our speedboat and this time, Sobri and I were not the last person to arrive. Yeah! It was an achievement! Haha. Now move on to our next stop, Maya Bay! 

As we approached the so-called 'hidden treasure' in the middle of the deep blue sea, which surrounded by steep limestone cliffs.



MAYA BAY

Maya Bay becomes a more popular tourist attraction since The Beach, starred by Leonardo, was filmed here. Don't expect it to be an untouched paradise like in The Beach as it will only stay in a range from a bit crowded to extremely crowded. 


The waves were gently drenching the sand, crawling on the shore and the fine white powdery sand was really soft as my foot made its first step on the beach. It was the most soft beach I've ever laid my foot on. 


We found a perfect spot with no crowd to take an ootd-like photo. Ootd lah sangat haha.


Berkerutnya muka. Tengah fikir apa tu >.<



Menghadap lah matahari yang terang benderang untuk dapat lighting yang bagus sambil tutup sunburn yang agak kritikal perubahannya haha.


It was hard to find a no-one-else backdrop, but this one was kinda okay. It wasn't too crowded like in some of the blogs I read before I came here. Those were too crowded, where you can barely walk fast and straight along the water's edge without bumping into other tourists. 



Marni and Audi, from afar.


The four of us, with the incredible rock formation, breath-taking-and-calm turquoise shade of seawater and a long-tailed boat as an additional subject for a perfect group photo. Not to forget, the couple of love birds tengah main baling baling air haha.



The shallow bay is safe for kids to play, with the monitor of the guardians of course.



Just like the one in the postcard. Well, I just realised all long-tailed boats are almost the same haha.


Kalau lalat masuk nanti padan muka.


This photo below is taken when our speedboat was about to leave the Maya Bay.


It might be over-rated, but Maya Bay is a place worth to visit. Just make sure you don't really put high expectation to it as sometimes it can be a bit annoying with crowds and all kinds of boats coming in and out of the beach. Nonetheless, it is still one of the most picturesque beaches I've been to. Try to visit early in the morning or after 5pm to avoid the crowd. Unless if you took a package tour like us, then you have to go through and be among the crowd. 

Going back to where we started was a bit creepy to me. With big waves here and there, the ride was a really bumpy one, feeling like the speedboat was going to topple at any time if we moved a muscle. We cannot reach Loh Samah Bay and the Viking Cave because of the rough sea. I heard it's a nice place to go for snorkeling. Anyway, I was too tired to care about the splashing of seawater over my face and finally fell asleep. Bak kata Sobri, "Layan je bot ni" haha. 

*For those who easily get sea sickness, I suggest you to consume the pill before this trip.

A tuktuk sent us back to our hotel and tiba-tiba rasa lapar.

To be continued.. 



More photos;


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