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A short getaway to Laos

Published by in backpack on November 7th, 2011

Every trip we ever had were all planned at least 8 to 12 months ahead. But buying the flight tickets has been rather spontaneous. Of course we would see if it’s feasible in the first place, especially now that we are planning for our big day. We never had Laos in our main traveling list. We couldn’t get the Vietnam tickets at the ever so cheap Airasia promos and so we opted for Laos. I have to admit that the last few trips never got my fullest attention because of work. Ever since I shifted back to Penang, the focus has been my work. I am just not in my usual environment where I can be fiddling with machines and equipments that are rarely seen out of a lab. Laos is similar to Cambodia and Thailand but more laid back. Emails took forever to be replied and in the end I took the chance of walking in rather than booking prior to the trip. I could only do that because I knew the people traveling with me well. Well enough that, we took a almost broken van from Medan to Lake Toba in one of the most torturous rides in

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Is this a Fake or Real Apple Store in China

There are so many news on fake Apple store mushrooming all around China and why should anyone be surprised with these news? If they can create fake tau fu, why not an Apple Store? So I was on a backpacking trip in China in April and I was telling Angeline we should visit the Apple Store in Beijing if time permited. It didn’t happen. We went to Datong then to Pingyao and then to Xi’an. If you didn’t know, Xi’an is famous for it’s Terracotta Warriors. Upon arriving to Xi’an, guess what greeted me instead? An Apple Store. I was thinking Wow Apple must be banging on all cylinders to expand in China. I immediately went into the store with my friends and everything looks exactly like the actual Apple Store set up except for one thing. The price. It was more expensive by a few hundreds of ringgit. I took this opportunity to snap photos. Later I sent it to my bosses of Switch(Apple Premium Reseller). I got a reply a few hours later from John. It then hit me. I actually walked into a fake Apple Store in Xi’an, China. All in all, an average person would not

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Philippines Day 2: Church of Paoay

Before leaving for Laoag City, we took group photos with the hotel staffs. With me above is Miss Kaye and the receptionist. Miss Kaye was in constant communication with me even when we missed out flight from Manila. Even throughout the bus journey from Manila to Vigan, i received calls to make sure where we were and that their staffs were on standby once  we arrive in their town. Without a doubt i would recommend Hotel Salcedo de Vigan to anyone who would want to visit this beautiful town! We then continued our journey heading north to Laoag City. On the way, we stopped by one of the landmarks which is listed as a Unesco Site, Church of Paoay. Founded in 1593. We barely had 1 hour as we needed to reach Laoag City before dark. Hannah,”Guys, you have only 30minutes!”. Everyone scrams! LOL We left Church of Paoay in a rush and headed towards Laoag City where it poured heavily upon arrival and we also got to eat …. …. wait for it …. Pookie Pookie….!

China is Awesome!

Published by in backpack on April 9th, 2011

We have super limited Internet connection but so far Datong and PingYao were awesome! The temperature was colder than expected! We are now moving to Xian!

Philippines Day 1: Missed the flight

The idea of going to Philippines came just before we left for Indonesia. With Airasia having yet another promotion, i couldn’t help resist looking through. Initial plans were to go to Taiwan but of course when i realized the dates weren’t to my liking, i immediately shifted to Philippines. We managed to get return tickets for less than RM 60 and that was a bargain i tell you. A bus ride to Singapore alone would have cost more. By the time i have booked for Angeline and i, my mailbox was filled with messages asking where is my next destination. This was even before i announced on facebook or twitter. The day finally came and we were all excited to see how Philippines is. As for me and Angeline, we were just waiting to unfold all our plans that has been tailored for the whole lot. Besides visiting places in Philippines, we were also there to meet up with our blogger friend, Hannah! A day before the trip, the Penangites arrived first as the flight to Clark, Manila is early in the morning. So we all checked into Tunehotels @ LCCT before heading off for dinner via KLIA Transit (RM

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Bali Day 4: Surfing at Kuta Beach & Bintang Beer Shirt

The next morning we had nothing planned. In fact we all woke up later than usual. Slowly had breakfast and walked the roads of Kuta town. Compared to Kuta’s bustling night life, their morning is totally different. Shops were slowly being opened, owners offering their prayers for the day in the form of banana leaves folded into a container shape with bananas and flowers in it. Everywhere we went, we saw this offering in front of their shop regardless how big or small their premises were. The main area looks rather dull in the morning. The only thing left for us to do is to explore Kuta beach and that’s what all of us did. Initial plan was to wear Bali shirt with sarung. But i guess the sarung part was a bit too drastic lol Our first impression of the beach was, WTH happened to it? There were just piles of rubbish all over the place. Locals were all clearing up by hands. Probably the sea brought it to their shores unexpectedly. We were then suddenly greeted by a jogger. Well he didn’t exactly greet us but probably asked us to move away, lol. We continued strolling down the

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Bali Day 2: Trying the most expensive coffee in the world

After bidding Mount Batur and Hotel Surya goodbye, we then headed to Ubud. Another amazing town that anyone who drops by in Bali should visit. Spending a night here is definitely recommended. Everything is away from the hustling and bustling of town life like Kuta beach. On the way to Ubud we did make some detours and the first stop was lunch. Gahhhhh just realized the photo colours are off. So much for batch editing -_-! The best part of our lunch was that it was buffet style. So we kept eating until the locals gave a weird look LOL. They had this crazy spicy sate that i kept taking but once the fella preparing gave me a stare, i stopped. Hahaha. We were just spoilt we the amount of food. The building that we were at is built right at the edge. Check out the unfinished metal pieces sticking out. After lunch we drove to a nearby coffee farm where we were introduced to the animal that is incharge of making the most expensive coffee in the world.

Bali Day 2: Hiking up a semi active volcano, Mount Batur

Upon reaching Hotel Surya we divided ourselves to the rooms that were allocated to us. Because Wai Seng fell sick and had to forgo the trip, we had an extra room. We all decided to give the room to our driver and our guide, Yoga I can still remember clearly that Yoga kept asking me if i was sure of giving him the room. The driver himself was baffled, LOL. Since both of them will be with us for the next few days, why not give them some proper place to rest since we have one room extra. We were later awaken at 3 in the morning and it was freaking cold ! It wasn’t as windy as Genting Highlands but the temperature was cold. Most of us were still in daze and once we got into the van, we dozed off. After a short drive we arrived at the starting point of the hiking trail. If you are wondering why are we even hiking in Bali, well that’s because most of us here love hiking and when i was told that it’s possible to hike up Mount Batur, i thought no further and requested it. A normal hike is

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Bali Day 1: Monkeying around in Uluwatu and Jimbaran

After GWK (Garuda Wishnu Kencana), we were ferried to South Western part of Bali. Uluwatu was the next stop and i have always seen pictures of the temple (Pura Uluwatu) at the edge of the cliff. This place is 70meters above the crashing waves of the Indian Ocean. If you have read my previous entry, you would have noticed in one of the videos where Yoga (our guide) had told us that the temples here are strict when it comes to ladies who have their monthly thingy. The other missing part that he also mentioned was about our attire. To enter the temples, one would need to put on sarung ( a cloth which is like 1.5meters in length. The main idea of such a rule is to cover your legs. Those with long pants would bypass this.   Just when we were getting all excited with the Sarungs, it started drizzling. Huge droplets of water came down from heavy looking clouds above us. Yoga quickly gathered us and brisk-walked to the edge of the cliff before the rain got any heavier. Already walking under the rain with my DSLR was hard enough, we had to pass through a few

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Jakarta: Taxi = Alphard

It was like 2 months before our Yogyakarta + Bali trip and i received a message from AirAsia notifying that our connecting flight in Jakarta got canceled and it was scheduled for the next day. After going through all possible options, the best outcome was to spend a night in Jakarta itself. Since Jakarta was never in our initial plan, we had to find the cheapest place to stay so that it doesn’t blow our travel budget. Before the trip, Angeline and i googled for transportation, food as well as places to stay. Estimated cost was to be less than RM150. It was raining when we arrived. As i looked out of the window i realized AirAsia Indonesia had a bus to ferry us from the plane to the terminal. WHAT a relief! Imagine getting soaked in the rain >.<! The clip is kinda fuzzy. Took it with my trusty e71 The terminal that we were in was some sort of like low cost terminal but definitely better than LCCT. As i said earlier, Angeline and I have done our homework on the price of the taxis. That enabled us to be sure of what to take. I was told

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