Pangkor Laut Resort

Busan

Spent ~RM6000 for 2, 5 days 4 nights. Rating 7.5 out of 10.
06th Oct 2013 ( Day 1 ) - 10th Oct 2013 ( Day 5 )

Itinerary:
Since New Zealand trip, has not prepare itinerary on free and easy travel. Hope everything goes well this time, :D

06th Oct 2013 ( Day 1 )
1. Depart from LCCT @ 8.15am and arriving Gimhae International Airport @ 4pm.
2. Shinsegae Centrum City ( Largest departmental store )
3. Gwangalli Beach ( bridge night view )

07th Oct 2013 ( Day 2 )
1. Heosimcheong Spa - ( opening hour 05:30 - 22:00, adult - 8000 won )
2. Beomeosa Temple ( opening hour 08:30 - 17:30 )
3. Seomyeon underground shopping area
4. Haeundae Beach
5. KSU ( Kyungsung/ PukYeong University area )

08th Oct 2013 ( Day 3 )
1. Haedong Yonggungsa temple - ( opening hour 04:00 - 19:00 )
2. Seomyeon - outdoor shopping area
3. BIFF Square

Chill at Nampo-Dong area

09th Oct 2013 ( Day 4 )
1. Jagalchi Fish Market ( opening hour 08:00 - 22:00 )
2. Gumcheon Culture Village
3. Bupyeong & Gukje market
4. Dadaepo Beach - main attraction, Dadaepo Sunset fountain of dream ( fixed fountain: 18:00, music fountain: 19:00, Monday closed )

10th Oct 2013 ( Day 5 )
1. Busan Tower ( opening hour 09:00 - 22:00, adult - 4000 won )
2. Last minute shopping @ Bukyeong & Gukje market, BIFF square.

Hotel:
- You could just walk-in to any hotels, they are clean and cheaper by 50% compare to booking through Agoda website. E.g. Hotel Yaja booked was ~RM225, walk-in is about 30000 won ~RM100.
Hotel The sun ( 6th Oct - 8th Oct )
Hotel Yaja Nampo Lotte Department ( 8th Oct - 10th Oct )

Transportation:
- Busan Gimhae Light Rail Transit - Train used from airport to Sasang station ( Line 1 - 4 ) and vice versa.
   - Purchase ticket on trip basis, not sharing with line 1 - 4.
- Metro line 1 - 4 - Connected throughout Busan city, useful and cheap transportation to move around.
   - Daily ticket purchase, 4000 won.
- Bus - refer to "Bus si" to Korean. Able to return change.
   - Bus - 1200 won per trip
   - Mini Bus - 900 won per trip

Misc:


View Busan, Korea in a larger map

Langkawi

Spent ~RM1200 for whole trip. Rating: 6 out of 10.
2nd November 2012 ( Day 1 )  - 5th November 2012 ( Day 4 )

Itenery:
It has past 4 months since the trip, hope my memory serves it right ;)

Travelling to Langkawi on AirAsia. Joined the trip last minute by purchasing air ticket myself. Hence, air ticket was not printed, and AirAsia the vampire charged rm10 for ticket printing and not allowed to on-board if no ticket. ~_~"

Arriving Langkawi approximate 4-5pm. However, we were waiting for a friend that was late arriving and reach Langkawi on next flight. Rented a Van, checked-in and waited for him at airport till 8pm then. Once he arrived, whole group of hungry wolves rush for dinner.

Here comes the 1st night of druken trip.


 

Places visited including cable car to overlook Langkawi from top, also to walk on hanging bridge. Unfortunately, hanging bridge was closed due to strong wind. Advise to either plan this visit earlier, a day ahead so could re-visit in case of hanging bridge closed for the day. ( this is really nice ~, visited 2 years back )
 
Picture below is Langkawi best known manmade attraction - eagle square, another must visit place. Looking at the picture below the eagle, where Kit jumping covering the pants. His pants broken on over big jumping style. :D Some side story ..

 

 Visited black sand beach which has nothing special. Yong Kiet bought 2 coconuts, so nice of him. And while he still holding the coconuts, we start sucking from the straw. Looking at the picture below, it is so funny.

 

Overall, it's a nice place for relaxing and drinking with whole group of friends. Wouldn't recommend couples or backpacker going alone.

Cambodia



Spent ~RM1800 for whole trip. Rating: 9 out of 10. 

Itenery:
5th April 2011 ( Day 1 )
1. Transfer to Mum's Guesthouse. ( guest house arranged FOC transfer )
2. Breakfast - simply goes to one recommended by driver
3. Angkor National Museum - 12USD per person, you could skip this as you will go to all museums stupa display in the next 2 days till vomit.
4. Get your Angkor Wat pass here as all temples need this pass. ( ask your driver )You could ask for the pretty assisting lady for photo if you like. ( FOC, they will just ask to view the photo )
- 40USD for 3 days visit, 20USD for a day visit, 60USD for a week.
5. Went to "Jong Near" ( sounds like this ) for Tonle Sap ( fresh water lake ) tour. ( Refer Misc 1 ) 15USD
6. Artisan D'Angkor - crafting, painting etc.
7. Old market, place for doing souvenir.
8. Dinner at Temple restaurant at Pub Street. ( got Khmer dance )
9. Angkor night market, similar to old market. ( foot massage )

6th April 2011 ( Day 2 )
1. Sunrise at Angkor Wat ( sometimes might be cloudy, arrange it to the earliest day you could, so if miss, could still go next day morning )
2. Angkor Thom ( Bayon - "cracking face", Baphuan temple ) - very big, tired walking, be prepare but worth it.
3. Lunch @ Blue Pumpkin, Pub street
4. Angkor Wat visit ( morning for sunrise photo, now to walk in the temple )
5. Sunset at Phnom Bakheng ( crazy load of people with all types of cameras to HP )
6. Short nap ( too tired, nice plan from Mr. Choo, this rest helps a lot )
7. Dinner @ FCC Angkor restaurant ( nice food, cheap wine but a bit pricey if compare to others )

    

7th April 2011 ( Day 3 )
1. Ta prohm - tree root grow into temple forcing the stone to move ( stone was stacked without screw long time ago )
2. Prasat Banteay Srei - breakfast here ( linga temple, for fertility - guy will know )
3. Prasat Ta Som - go all the way in and look back, you will see the entrance with tree root that always find on travel book front cover
4. Preah Khan - huge big temple
- Feel tired and lose interest seeing temple here.
5. Cafe puka-puka, known as good recharge place for fruit juice online ( i feel okay but good place to rest ) and Madam Sachiko angkor cookies ( expensive but taste good, by Japanese ) next to it.
6. Dinner behind Pub Street, large area like "pasar malam" ( food market, night market behind this ) Tried khmer BBQ, very full .. taste good but not noodle soup.
7. Have a drink in red piano
8. Went to Zone one disco to have a look. - loud music and can't talk at all, after a while, left.

8th April 2011 ( Day 4 )
1. Get your breakfast from guest house, french toast ( hard one with jam )
2. Head to Phnom Penh ( 5 hour )
3. Check in Blue Lime.
4. Lunch at Boddhi Tree Umma, same street as Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
5. Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum - A school turned to torturing camp 1975 - 1979. 2USD per person.
6. Independent Monument - take a photo is enough, nothing there, a monument in the middle of round about
7. Central Market - time for some local stuff and souvenir
8. Dinner at titanic - had mekong lobster here, not as expected lobster but great taste and great view at mekong river.

9th April 2011 ( Day 5 )
1. Breakfast in Blue Lime
2. Killing field - 15km south of Phnom Penh, after tortured in Tuol Sleng, transport here to kill.
3. Russion market - last place for shopping, has lunch in "Melting Pot", recommend lunch place.
4. Wat Phrom, a garden in Phnom Penh city, can't see city view, street view yes. Just to visit and spend sometime here. 1USD for foreigner.
5. Bodia Spa - relaxation package 3 hour
6. Dinner @Sarawan, "Mekong river street" ( that street )
7. Sneak out with Mr. Dixon to have a drink in one of the pub near Blue Lime ( 1.62 USD, RM5, haha, draft 1 jug !! ) Notice how waterfish were we for last 5 days in tourist area

10th April 2011
1. Breakfast in Blue Lime
2. Royal Palace & Silver Pagoda ( Refer Misc 2 ) 6.25USD
3. National Musem, just to spend time here 3USD
4. Oh! my buddha, the laughing FAT man. Simply walk-in for lunch.
5. Collect luggage at Blue Lime and depart to airport.

Transport:
- FOC airport transfer to Mum's guest house.
- Arrange transport to Phnom Penh could be done over Mum's guest house front desk 11USD for bus/ van. Recommend bus as we tried van, quite bumpy and narrow seating.
- Tuk tuk driver ( Siem Reap ) fees per day 20USD. I think could negotiate lower. Try 15USD or lower. 2USD tip end of day will get them extremely happy as we fully utilized him till 11pm from 6am. My family did this for 11/12 USD.
- Tuk tuk driver ( Phnom Penh ) 3USD to transfer to Blue Lime from bus drop off. ( could go with 1/2 USD. Rest of place of day 4 13USD. Day 5 15USD for killing field visit and 8USD for the rest. You could get lower price for both places, recommend 20USD or lesser.
- Transfer to Phnom Penh airport 7USD by Tuk tuk or 10USD for taxi.

Accommodation:
Mum's guest house ( Siem Reap )
- Approx. 10USD per person. Clean environment and friendly owner. Nice swimming pool, if you are eager for it, bring your swimming suit rather than our friend, Mr. Choo hunting for one but couldn't get what is wished. Do not get the beer at the pool side as it tasted a bit "expired". They switch off the cooler at night, you can imagine the taste. Upon reservation, mention to him that recommended by me so you could get 10% discount and void deposit pay ahead. Oh, airport transfer is arranged FOC. Breakfast is prepared but french toast .. ( hard to bite )

Blue Lime ( Phnom Penh )
- Approx. 20USD per person. Clean and nice environment, well english spoken and very friendly staffs. They will talk to you whenever they free while you sitting at the lobby doing nothing. Looking at the website and you will find out the guest house is quite romantic and 4 types of tasty breakfast to choose from. Please, dont choose french toast one, i think Malaysian will not like it. Come with a swimming pool, no hotel transfer is arranged, and no discount could get.

Misc:
1. Tonle Sap ( fresh water lake ) A lake long 150km and 60km wide, floating village with more than 80 families, with restaurant, school, boat repair shop and etc. It could go as deep as 6-7 meters and as shallow as 1-2 meter. When we were there, kids were swimming and stand in the middle of the lake where boat travel pass them. ( For the fact of tonle sap, was typing with memories, sorry if a bit out ) And, all these are just part of the lake villages, they are more somewhere in the lake. Kids jump on boat or drive near your boat to sell drink, show you snake for photo. But, nothing comes free, at least 1USD for a drink or a photo.

2. Royal palace & Silver pagoda, name explain all. Occasionally, it will close for some events. Opening time 7.30 - 11am, 2 - 5pm. PLEASE walk to the door to check out if it open/ close. As the tuk-tuk driver will stop you on the way and CON you it is closed and re-open at 2pm later, let's go killing field. DO NOT trust them, arrange this item at the earliest too so if really closed, you could still re-adjust your itenery, a must visit place in phnom penh.

3. Massage, found cheapest 4USD per hour foot massage in night market. This is good because you will do lot of walking in Siem Reap for temple visit. Recommend Bodia spa for last day in Phnom Penh, because after the spa, you will feel lazy to walk, too comfortable. Package we took was relaxation ( 62 USD ). You can view other packages on their website.

4. Tipping, always prepare small change ( 1USD is the best ) for tipping. 1/2 USD is always good enough. Before going there, try your best to exchange small change from money changer if possible. Don't simply talk to small kids in tourist area as they might ask for tipping, especially in temple. Once they start explaining, hah .. And, when people asked you to present flower or "cholok", it is not compulsary, you can skip if you would like to.

5. Bargain, try your best. If couldn't get your favourable price, turn around and walk away, they will call you or just visit next store with more reasonable price. haha .. Of course, accommodation, restaurant food ( tourist area ) and agreed price after bargain, please don't bargain.

6. Food, around 3-4 USD for food, 1-2 USD for drink normally ( Tourist area ). It might get expensive if you visit better restaurant.

Krabi

Spent ~RM2800 for whole trip for 2. Rating: 7 out of 10.

Is a real relaxing trip, island hoping, body massage, beer .. Beware if you are looking for shopping or city explore. This is not the place.

Tour taken:

Phi Phi - 1000 baht 1 pax ( Maya bay, Bamboo island, Viking cave, Phi Phi Don, Lohsamah bay, Monkey bay, Hin Klarng ) speed boat
4 island - 300 baht 1 pax ( Phra Nang Beach, Tub Island, Chicken Island, Poda Island ) yellow tail boat
Jungle + elephant - 1200 baht 1 pax ( Hot Spring waterfall, Emerald pool, Tiger Cave temple and elephant ) van

5000 baht for 2 persons. You could negotiate along the street. Lot of travel agencies that will arrange for these tours. If you have 5 or more, advisable to rent a boat yourself, then you could asked them to go for the famous island and make it 1 day trip rather than 2 days island hopping, haha. These tours should be booked and arranged on arrival day, of course think of what tour wanted 1st.



Could observed from photos above, stay in Ananta Burin hotel which is a bit luxury, half the budget gone here, booked in agoda.com ~RM1k. If you are not a swimming fancy or user, then there is actually more options rather than this luxury hotel. The only drawback was they were fixing "something" and cut off the electricity without earlier notice. Left us wandering in summer with no fan nor air-con after returning from walking along the street.





Advise to walk down the street and can take tuk-tuk back when tired. More worthy than taking tuk-tuk to the end and start walking back. ( more energy when started to walk, haha .. ) You could settle your dinner along the street as well, lot of good food, personally recommend BBQ stick ( 20 baht ), pancake ( 25 baht ), fruit shake ( banana, look for yellow banana and not half-mature green one, yucks - 20 baht ), tom yam ( 60 baht ), pad thai ( 40 baht ), fruit (50 baht ) and beer (120 baht ) also good to be packed back to hotel to enjoy. :)

There goes day 1, transfer from airport ( 300 baht ), check-in, walk along Ao-nang street, take photos, look for tour. Oh, purchasing "dry bag" is important to "safe-guard" your valuble from getting wet. mine was ~400 baht, medium size.

Day 1 total: 6615 baht



Day 2, 3 and 4 nothing much, just traveling on tours as scheduled. Dinner around Ao-nang town and massage then beer and back to hotel except day 4 night in Krabi town for night market, souvenir and dinner. Nice scenary though, must at least take 1 tour on island. ( you choose it )

Day 2 total: 6615 baht
Day 3 total: 1253 baht
Day 4 total: 2229 baht
Day 5 total: 472 baht



Nice food in Krabi town tour, nothing much but advisable to go for night market, else nothing to visit. Spent 600 baht, 2 pax ( too luxury ) Vios fetching 2 couples there only. You could check with front desk for bus to Krabi town but will have to walk a bit. Pork rice is good, 50 baht, must try.

Don't spend your money in "look-good" restaurant, personal feel that road side food much better than what you could get. They tuned the flavour to accommodate most of the travelers. Imagine eating tom yam in US or Australia. ( sweet and sour ) not good ... Thong is cheap there, 2 for 120 baht, much cheaper than Malaysia.

Perth Trip

Group members: Tan family (5 pax), Hui Ting and father, Hwei Hwei, Si yi + 3 sister.
Budget: RM3k ...

Itenery:
2/9/2009 (Day 1)
1. Arrive in Perth international Airport at 5.40 a.m. (Perth City)
2. Visit Fremantle Fisher's wharf, Fremantle Market, Fremantle prison, Fremantle Oval (Fremantle)
3. Continue to Bunbury (Bunbury)
4. One night stay at Discovery Holiday park, Bunbury.
- Bussell Hwy & Washington Ave, Withers, W.A
- Contact No: 08-97957100, free-call: 1800000718

3/9/2009 (Day 2)
1. Breakfast at Bunbury (Bunbury)
2. Visit Busselton longest bridge (Busselton)
3. Coffee break at bunker bay at Dunsborough and visit Cape Naturaliste Light House (Dunsborough)
4. Continue journey to Margaret River (Margaret River)
5. Visit chocolate Factory and Vineryards.
6. Stop over at Margaret River and stay at Surfpoint resort
- 12, Riedle Drive, Gnarabup, Margaret River, W.A, 6285
- Contact no: +61(8) 97571777

4/9/2009 (Day 3)
1.Breakfast at Margaret River (La-mont's or Gunyulgup galleries) (Margaret River)
2. Visit one of the cave.
3. Lunch at Cape Clairault (Cape Leeuwin)
4. Visit the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse
5. Stay overnight at Pemberton (Pemberton) not book yet

5/9/2009 (Day 4)
1. Visit the diamond Pemberton tree lookout, one tree bridge (may be 4 aces in Manjimup) (Pemberton)
2. The scenic Pemberton tramway (only at 10.45 a.m. and 2 p.m)
3. One night stay at Albany (Middleton Holiday Park) (Albany)
- 28, Flinders Parade, Albany WA 6330
- Contact no: 08-98413593

6/9/2009 (Day 5)
1. Visit the blow holes, the gap and natural bridge. (Albany)
2. Visit Sandalwood Factory.
3. Visit Whale world
4. Princess Royal Fortress
5. 1 night stay at Albany

7/9/2009 (Day 6)
1. Journey all the way back to Perth and check into the YHA (Perth City)
- 300 Wellington Street. Perth 6000
- Contact no: 92873333
2. Have lunch at Good Fortune Chinese Restaurant (Ah sai Lou's restaurant, so call ...)
3. City tour around Perth start from Art Gallery of Western Australia and end up in the King's Park.
4. Dinner at Northbridge and enjoy the nightlife there
5. Supper at the Chili Muscle at King George Street.

8/9/2009 (Day 7)
1. Go to Pinnacles dessert (Perth City)
2. Back to Perth for lunch, ideally vietnam food.
3. Go to Carvesham Wildlife Park or free day
4. Dinner at the King's park and enjoy the night scene.

9/9/2009 (Day 8)
Leave Perth at 7 a.m. back to Malaysia. (Perth City)
======================== After trip ===========================
Budget spent: 3.3k

Mount San Jacinto ...

Star Rating: 7 out of 10 Expenses: ~USD30 (22.25 + lunch)

This is where i get lost last trip. Feel like coming here again to check out how i got out of the forest. Refer to previous post. (click here)

Did not manage to get to the peak due to snow covered the pathway and some colleagues can't walk fast :p So, we just reached round valley. It is a good workout though, and definitely worth to get up the peak. May be next time without snow.

For more photos: click here