Keeping A Journal

#kodakMOMENT

Well, hello there.

It's been  a while since I last write here. Been quite busy with work, life and yes! TRAVEL. I have just returned from Cambodia. It's a work + bp trip. Went for 2 days meeting and further extended my stay to explore the city of Phnom Penh. 

And no, I didn't get to go to Siem Riep and explore Angkor Wat. As much as I'd love to, it just didn't fit in with my schedule cos it's either Phnom Penh or Siem Riep. And I chose Phnom Penh. I had a jolly good time there. 

Ok, I'm digressing. Lari dari tajuk posting. hahaha.

Anyway, coming back to the topic. For avid traveller, season backpacker, constant flashpacker or whatever it is you wanna call yourself, I have this to say to you: KEEP A TRAVEL LOG. 

This. My mini travel journal. Small and easy to carry around.

Well, a travel log can be in any form that suits you. Never ever imitate or try to follow what others are doing. Just because what they did was awesome, it may not necessarily be good or fit in with your style. In the end, you'll end up NOT DOING IT. 

The best possible way is to just write it within your schedule. If you ask me, when travel I will always write a snippets and point form just to recall it during the writing process. 

If I'm on the and it's difficult to event write, then I'll resort to voice note in the phone. Later when I'm free or during coffee or in proper sitting position then only the writing process begins. Even so, I like to write in numerical order. Not some lengthy paragraph that will definitely bore me to death. 

To give you idea, just go to Tun Mahathir's blog (http://chedet.cc/). It's clear, cohesive, concise, straight to the point and very crisp. 

Senang je kan. 

One more thing that I love to do is that I doodle in my travel journal. That keep it interesting and excite me to write more. Well, if not more the doodle help me to reminiscent the event that happened. For my euro trip, I didn't write a lot, but I doodle in it and the doodle reminded me of the interesting stories behind.  

Below. My travel - doodle from recent trip to CAMBODIA:

I hope the above gives you an insight how to start writing. Remember, so much our memories kick-ass, one day it'll fail us that we will find it hard to remember the time you had when travelling. This will be your personal treasure. And you may share with your kids or grandkids. Better, publish it and share to the world! 

Ok, that's all for the time being. I'm yet to blog on Phnom Penh. Gimme time.  

See you later, alligator. Hehek.

Things to do in Pangkor

the beach at Teluk Nipah

 

1. At Teluk Nipah (where I stayed), you gotta try the banana pancake (lempeng pisang ye kawan2). Well, may not be as grand as Krabi Pancake, but at least we've got one also. And the taste is not bad. Eat it while it hot . It'll cost you RM1.50 per piece and open daily around 4 pm onwards. During weekend, you'll see a long queue and that's when you know you are at the right stall. 

Travel essentials

 

2. Compared to 5-10 years ago, night life in Pangkor and Teluk Nipah in particular could be dead boring. But all is not lost. Albeit the lines of street vendors and dim light, there is this Raggae Bar for shisha and coffee enthusiast (no liquor though). You will not miss it cos it's just by the road side facing the beach, right in front fo Lorong 2. Open daily until wee hours.... So, burung2 pungguk sekalian, korang boleh la lepak situ. Brader yang meniaga pun very friendly and quite a chatter box.  And, there's music too. If you are lucky, buskers will play there. Otherwise, layan je lagu from its jukebox.
3. HORNBILLS SPOTTING. Yup. Don't forget to look up when in Pangkor. You could spot hornbills flying and lepaking around almost an instant. In fact, there's this one chalet famous for its activities of feeding these wild Hornbills. If you wanna catch it, be sure to be in front of that chalet about 4-5 pm daily. Oh yeah, I forgot the name of that chalet. But it's located at Teluk Nipah. Be friendly and ask around. The people there knows. :) 

4. Pangkor also famous for its seafood by-product. Err... that's processed food, yes? I visited and shopped handsomely at Chop Ha LI at Pangkor town. It's located slightly inward from the jetty. Cheap and you can bargain if you buy more. Well, most shops sell at affordable price.  

the road to Chop Ha Li

The variance is around 10-50 cents I think. But it makes all the differences if you buy a lot kan. 5 posen diskaun boleh jadik 10 inggit kalo beli banyak... Well, not that I'm a cheapskate. You do the maths hehehe.

5. ACCOMMODATION. There are plenty of budget chalet hostel around. Pangkor is a good destination for backpacker, students or those who travel on a budget. Teluk Nipah have a number of alleys (lorong) that offer chalet and hostel at affordable rate. The rate starts at RM20 per nite. Most accommodation that I've seen are cosy and comfortable enough for your stay. After all, when you are on vaccay, you will not or should not stay in your room. Go explore. The room is for your good nite sleep only. Kan? Or am I wrong? Heh.

6. RENT A BIKE - MOTORCYCLE OR BICYCLE. Mark my word. Do not rent a car. It's a waste and Pangkor is not huge to begin with. It's merely half of Langkawi and its accessibility would only require two-wheelers. It is in fact, the best way to explore the island because again, Pangkor is relatively small. The good thing is, most resort / chalet / hostel offer bike rental. And yes, you gotta go and scout first. Boleh dapat harga murah. Normally, the rental cost is RM30 per day for motorcycle. 

7.INSIDER'S SECRET: At beach, apart from water sports (canoe, banana boat ride, speed boat, island hoppings, etc.) and swimming, you should have a stroll along the beach line. There, if you are lucky, you will spot local villagers donning an activity called "yatyat harvesting". Yatyat is a snail-like creatures and there are abundant of 'em hiding in between the wet sands. The locals like to deep fried the yatyat and serve with rice. Below are the yatyat:

8. GOOD FOR MONEY: Be on the ook out for budget beach resort because the motorcycle rent there gonna cos you RM30 per day. Others, between RM40 and RM50. Oh yea, this is the rate during peak seasons, weekends and holidays. 

9. When you have a bike, go to the Dutch Fort located about 1.5km from the jetty. Not many tourists know or even bother about this historical site especially backpackers. Well, not to blame them, the promotional part of it also lukewarm and it is not even highlighted anywhere. People will know bout it when you go on a guided tour.

  10. Wait, the excitement doesn't stop there. About 50m or so from the Dutch Fort, there's this Batu Bersurat (inscription on the stone). The Batu Bersurat marked the presence of Dutch merchants in Tanah Melayu back in the Kesultanan Melayu Melaka heydays. These inscriptions dated as early as 1743.

11. The inscription depicted:
a. Story of a Dutch baby  snatched by Malayan tiger at nite.
b. Letter VOC - a registered trademark of Dutch ship.

12. The best part is that there was no whatsoever descriptions or story behind these huge Batu Bersurat. The museum authority built a roof to cover it from ruin. That's just about it. 

Indrawati and her husband; an Indonesian. Prolly that's how she's got the name from.

My doodle on Indrawati. heh.

13. I was lucky to have met Indrawati Gunawan, a Dutch traveler who happened to be on the site. She was very friendly and warm and she was the one that shared the story behind this Batu Bersurat and the meanings of the carving on the stone. **a bit embarassed I must admit. Heh. 

14. At nite, Teluk nipah offers an array of seafood. There are plenty of 'em specializing in all-you-can-eat seafood from grill, tomyam, deep fried, tiga rasa and list go on and on. The trick however, is to find the good one and cheap. So far, I've been unlucky. The stalls I went to it's either delicious but expensive, cheap but tasteless or worse, expensive and tak sedap. Puih. Better luck next time!

15. To go from ferry to Teluk Nipah or elsewhere, use the public transport - the PINK VAN. Easily available and they roam all throughout the island. It'll cost you RM15 per trip to Teluk Nipah. That RM15 is per van, not per person. If you are alone or forever alone (haha) try to find someone and tumpang la. The van can accommodate about 6-7 people. 

Resit kena simpan!

16. The ferry ride from mainland to island cost RM10 for return trip. KEEP THE STUB cos you need it on the way back (they check!!)

17. I guess that's just bout it for Pangkor Island. 

Thanks for reading. MMuuahhhh.

apekTRAVELS

THE FIRST [whatever that is] IS ALWAYS THE DEEPEST

Today's theme: 

THE FIRST TIME

Sounds so wrong but feels so right isn't it? heh.

Whoa.

Hold your horses and calm down. im not going there. not even remotely close. Not even a tiny bit of and attempt to entice you there.

Instead, I'm gonna share the first time for everything, going places and such.

Let me start with my first ever experience travelling abroad.I still remembered it like it was yesterday. And come to think of it, the next 3 years would mark the 20 years since I first traveled abroad. it was in the late 90s and I was still this young chap eager to see the world. PLEASE NOW, STOP CALCULATING AND GUESSING MY AGE! Continue reading puhlisss.

Going gaga over Luton for whatever reason

When the university offered a study tour (nowadays the call it student mobility) to UK, I jumped with excitement and enrolled in it. Of course, to raise fund we organized all sort of activities and the highlight was fashion at Crown Princess Hotel (no longer in KL. it was located at the Tun Razak junctions near KLCC - the place to be and where the famous nightclub/disco was located.. forgot the name though. I'll let you know later).

Ok I'm digressing. huh.

Anyway, with sponsorships pouring in and stuffs we were able to fly to the UK. Mind you, there was no Airasia and being a normal human like me, I would not even dream of flying. I remembered the return ticket to the UK was about RM 9k close to 10k yeah. and there were 36 of us. it was 13 hours direct flight and God were we bored to our bones. I put on my modjo and flirt with the flight attendant just for the kick. haha.

In the UK, we stayed at Malaysia Hall before going to our host university, Luton University. If im not mistaken, it's 2-3 hours ride from Bryanston Square. While in the heart of Great Britain, we managed to cover the famous Shakespeare Village at Stratford-Upon-Avon and spend good one day there. Crossing the Hyde Park oh so many times that it became our rituals just because it was really nice walking. You dont get it here in KL because its hot and humid and before you know it, you'll drenched with sweats and stinks. Yuck. Whilst in London, the cold weather suit me just fine.

The team. We are TESL-ing!

Ok, Imma stop now. Perhaps in another entry I'll write more. Ciao bella!

[apekTRAVELS]

What to bring? What to Pack? What? What? What?

Urghh. 

"Nak travel lagi sebulan. Satu apa pun tak pack lagi...matila"  

- Anonymous #1

"Ek eleh. Chill la. Nak g lama lagi. Bukan lama pun. Kau tayah nak beriya sangat boleh tak?"  

- Anonymous #2 

Yup.

Ada yang gusar as early as this hehe.

Ramai camni. Ada juga yang sempoi, one day before travel baru terkial-kial nak pack. Well, it is a big OK if you are going to familiar place but for those venturing into new territory, you might want to think again. Prepping for traveling can sometimes create havoc and unnecessary stress.

Anyway, entri kali ni aim at helping you guys cemana nak pack dan apa yang perlu pack. And I credited the images to Encik Google. 

Well, visual communication is far more better than lengthy explanation kan. Cepat dan you guys will absorb the information a lot faster. Heh.

{p/s: click on image to enlarge and view it better}

Follow the color coding 

kepada korang yg suka nau pakai backpack.

[IMPORTANT: Kena ingat, you need to always evenly distribute the weight of your backpack with your body weight.]

 Kena seimbang ye! Ingat tu. 

For guys, above picture should be self explanatory kan kan kan

Dan yang ini the simplest and easiest thing to remember. Checklist is crucial when you are traveling for more than 5 days. For me, journal is equally important for write in anecdotes, snippets or ideas that pop out during your trip. 5-10 year along the road, bila buka and baca balik, it will make you smile of the little thing that you write, doodle or sketch init. 

Trust me :).

To Travel OR Not To Travel

Some people hate traveling. As much as i like to disagree to this, i must first admit that everyone entitle to their opinion. I respect that. There must be a very good reason for not wanting to travel. And by travel, notwithstanding overseas. Local is as good as going abroad.

Caen, France. We took tram from Syed's apartment to the city. The arrow pointed our location.

Ive asked a few close friends why wouldn't they travel and these are the top reasons for not doing so:

1. Financial 

2. Hate packing and unpacking

3. Bad experiences

Hmm, sounds valid ain't it. To divulge further into this, let us read with open mind. Yes, financial is the one and utmost challenges when it comes to traveling. It'll become even more challenging when you have family. Every nickel and dime are accounted for. Not only for the traveling but mostly for living expenses, daily. As for singleton, finance would not be as burden as the married lot, but it also poses the same dilemma. 

Heathrow Airport, Terminal 4. We waited for nearly 7 hours for Julie to arrive from Dublin. Managed to walk around and discover interesting places nearby. 7 jam, lama tu. eheh.

My best take is that if you want to travel, then start on with your little piggy saving dedicated for your travel. Separate it with your other savings. Well it worked for me. Also, if you have travel buddies, start a travel fund together. Decide a fix amount each member must contribute and be very disciplined. Once you reach the desired amount, GO TRAVEL! 

Mary had a little lamb. This was taken along the scenic view of Ireland's countryside. On the way to the Cliffs of Moher. About 4 hours drive from the Dublin.

For point number 2, try not to pack the whole house when traveling (exception for those with small kids). You buy as you travel (without im telling you so, this is in fact, TRUE!). So, be a light traveler and pack the most important stuffs only. Example, if im traveling for one week, i will only pack 1 pair of trousers, 2 shirts, and few briefs (not including the ones im wearing). That is all you need. When you reach your destination, you will definitely buy tshirts and trousers again. And if you stays longer, laundry is everywhere. So, go figure! 

The famous World's End pub, Edinburgh, Scorland. I've posted it's story/history in the previous posting. Checkidout!

I cannot deny the fact that we all have bad experiences when traveling. Clashes with the authorities, lodging issues, lost in the middle of nowhere, ripped off and cheated by the locals, etc etc. You name it, i've experienced it. But that does not stop me from traveling. In fact, it excites me further. We all learn everything new every single day. And trust me, along the road, faw years after that bad incidents, you will laugh at it and smile upon it and glad that it happened. It becomes part pf you and make you a better person. 

That's me! Cliffs of Moher, IRELAND. Honestly, I don't mind coming here again, and again!