Wednesday 21 December 2016

Mencari Kundasang - 5 days whole trip journey


#mencarikundasang
view I captured while did the loOong walking :)

Aku tak pasti trip ni sebenarnya 4 hari ke 5 hari ke atau 6 hari, hahaha!

To summarize the trip; I go to work, after work straight to airport, 5 days later I took eaaarly  flight back to KL & straight to office. hehe~

Penangan annual leave dah negative, so hanya bergantung pada cuti public holiday. Mujur ada long weekend; 2 public holiday (Maulidul Rasul & Bday Sultan Selangor), so dapatlah hadiahkan birthday trip kepada diri sendiri :-)

Tahun lepas sebenarnya aku bercita-cita untuk ke Sapporo region pulak for my 2016's birthday, tapi memandangkan currency yang amat dasyat (last time I went was times 3, now it's times 4! So I decided to choose Kota Kinabalu, Sabah as an alternatives, tempat lain pun mahal dah akhir-akhir tahun ni so kite cuti-cuti mesia sahaje pun oke :)

I decided to grab MAS flight ticket instead of AA, sebab timing-timing macam ni harganya lebih kurang jer, at least MAS dapat in flight entertainment & makan free, horey~!

Day 1 (9/12/16) Friday
  • Finish work, walk to Paradigm to fetch 7.30 pm Aerobus to KLIA
  • Arrive KLIA 9.15 (uhh I'm late, bad traffic on Friday)
  • Flight depart to KK at 10.15 pm
  • Arrive KK around 1 am, my friend pick me at airport, yay~!
*masa kat airport KLIA ada kejadian kelakar, aku punyalah panic terlambat sampai airport sebab jalan jem & I'm not familiar with KLIA airport, so tengah blur-blur tu terserempak dengan my Paktam, lalu paktam pun bantulah aku yang panic ni & tetibe dapat duit pocket hahaha lucky me that day.


Day 2 (10/12/16) Saturday
  • Breakfast with Azri!
  • Took public van to Kundasang & it's me time! =D (+- 2 hours & half journey)
  • Reach Kundasang, check in to my Mt. Kinabalu Lodge
  • Power nap (tak cukup tido malam tadi bersembang, uhh~)
  • Evening walk try to check out Kinabalu Park (which was a stupid idea, on the way back it's already dark :O)
  • Eat my vege dinner & sleep early :)
*staff at lodge not really helpful, they are nice people, but maybe diorang ni shy kot, semua soalan tanya mesti dijawab dengan jawapan yang flat dan negatif, hahah I hate this. But I loove this lodge ambiance, very into nature. At nite it full with beautiful moths!

*I met a lovely chinese family from Miri, Sarawak, they drive all the way to Kundasang & heading to KK. Bila diorang dengar aku nak pi Desa Dairy Farm, they share with me all their picture & share me tips what time I should start my trip :)


brunch in KK :)

Ambik van ni, head to Ranau

Dari jalan besar kena hike ke lodge, hahah with my bagpack haha~

Bunga Kecubung I saw like in Medan, Indonesia!

lopak ni lah punca kasut semua pejalan kaki basah!

My favorite hideout place, Aku syak, kucing tu lah tuan lodge ni sebenarnya, haha
disambut dengan baik... hehe

My vegetarian dinner (tapi ada telur) teringat Nepal ;)


Day 3 (11/12/16) Sunday
  • From lodge walk to Kinabalu Park to check on public transportation (2km)
  • Decided to walk to Kundasang city 9 km haha
  • Decided to walk to Desa Dairy Farm, another 5 km
  • Balik (another 5 km walk, phew) & ate my KFC kemenangannn wuhoo~
  • Head back to lodge by bus (kena paw RM10, cry~)
  • Chill at my lodge balcony
  • Power nap, eat light dinner, pre packed & sleep around 1230 am
*I had 1 of the best walking experience trip today (24km!), Mount Kinabalu was so generous to me today, it shows up the whole day! how lucky am I today :D

*But I hate dogs along all the way, I mean I love dog, but all this 'jaga' dog so scary want to chase me away, I'm glad I carry my whistle all the time, just in case.

*I met a lovely malay family from KL! With 2 kids, they are very adventurous & happy go lucky family, the wife (Kak Ita? kot) is an interior designer, she shares about her work & travel experience, so best lah :D

*Oh I met Janny from Canada too, she's hiking Mount Kinabalu! I wish met her earlier, such fun girl to hang out with :)


view while walking

que untuk ice cream ni half an hour, really? I could walk another 2 km in half an hour

yeah, I walk, hahah
But amazing view all the way ;-)


Day 4 (12/12/16) Monday

  • After breakfast check out from Kinabalu Mt. Lodge
  • Share transport with my dorm mate Janny to Kinabalu Park (since I'm carrying my bagpack) 
  • Did my 5 hours @ 3 trail trekking: Kiau View Trail > Timpohon Gate > Silau-Silau Trail
  • hop on bus straight to KK (2 hours ride; RM20)
  • realise it's not exactly in city, it's in Inanam, took public bus to KK (RM4)
  • walk to my Referer Backpacker's place
  • sleep early
*Before start trekking, went to HQ to ask around & map. 3 kali aku tanya orang HQ selamat ke trekking sorang-sorang kat sini? diorang semua kata ok je, lepas tu hahaha 1st time aku trek/hike no human in this forest! But with map in my hand & just slowly enjoy the forets, I did it! Gila jugak lah rasa tapi the key is niat & bersangka baik, Insyallah ok :) There are 10 trails to explore, I manage to do 3 :D 

*btw exit each trail to jalan tar, a lot's of car will pass by heading to Timpohon lookout point. Ada 1 abang ni masa kat atas dia tegur aku, "dari bawah kau jalan ye, haha kuat", aku pun jawablah "jalan pelan-pelan ok boleh" :) kekeke

*today Mount Kinabalu decided to hide from me..huhuhu dia merajuk aku tak betul-betul panjat dia kot (cost awak tu mahal sangattt) but it's ok, nanti kita jumpa lagi :)

*to take bus to KK from Kinabalu Park, just wait across the Park, bus/van will pass by every hour after 12 noon. If you don't know how, just ask, orang teksi Sabah ni semua sangat generous in helping you with transport information :D

*when I was waiting for the bus, I met a Japanese guy who speaks Sabahan, haha aku confuse jap nak bersembang dengan dia dalam bahasa ape

*when I was in Inanam, I was very blur because bus drop me in the middle of no where. So I decided makan first. Punya blur sampai taktau nak order makan, pakcik tu gelak tanya,"kau ni nak makan apa...?" haha. That kedai pekerja dia macam orang alim-alim, tapi sangat ramah & baik & tunjuk jalan how to take public bus to KK :) 

*interesting my dorm mate all 3 girls from China, they greet me "welcome to China" haha! friendly & nice, but a bit difficult to chat in english.

*I caught in another uncomfortable incident today, my backpackers place is great! but they have dog as a pet T_T aku takut lah dia jilat aku ke apee, so I decided to bersedih di atas katil (cannot enjoy my hostel lodge area) & tido awal. But next morning, pekerja lodge sediakan breakfast free untuk aku, so rasa sejuk sikit hati ni, hehe.


Breakfast in Kinabalu Lodge & YES I bring my favorite cereal from home! haha
melecet? don't care, keep on going




Kinabalu menyorok, hoho


hujan time balik, thanks to my windbreaker & the forest shades :)
My 2nd hostel, on a bright side, breakfast was simple but enough to makes me happy :-)


Day 5 (13/12/16) Tuesday
  • Take my time & enjoy my free breakfast :-)
  • Around 10 am walk to jetty, tapao some food for lunch
  • Took boat +- 11 am ( 2 islands return tix ; RM 35)
  • To Manukan Island (I practically just chill & just berangan here, haha)
  • At 1 pm to Mamutik Island (I snorkle & then I sleep at the beach, lol)
  • 4pm boat back to city
  • Check in other hostel at Borneo Backpackers
  • Seafood dinner with Aphik sampai kembung haha
  • Did my last minute shopping 
  • Kopi with Azri till 1 am hahaha (wei esok flite pagi la gilee)
  • Back to my hostel, packing, I slept at hostel's hall hehe
*Island hopping was easy! I didn't plan to go for snorkling at all for this trip, I'm glad my friend suggested & guide me. BTW, I don't know how to swim, pat on my shoulder with help of the life jacket, I able to snorkle alone by myself (alah ada guard, so konfiden cikit,huhuhu) dalam jugak wo~

*Aphik was my long time friend since I was 15! I have not met him for the past 10 years, thanks to fb post update, few hours later we texted & he belanja me makan, kekeke

*I switch my hostel, this place's bed a bit old, but I lovee it~ so homely! & they have 1 friendly cat accompany me ;-) I wish I stayed here longer



Sleep on the sand? why not~




seafood timeee






kehidupan city kejap, hehe


My 3rd hostel! Jelmaan Lulu. Hall was so comfy for sleep!
Bawah hostel ada cafe/bar ni, tak sempat cuba, huhu


Day 6 (14/12/16) Wednesday
  • 5.15 Azri pick me up (bertabahlah kawannn) & send me to airport, yay~
  • arrive KLIA 9 am, light breakfast
  • took Aerobus to Paradigm at 10 am
  • 11 am reach Paradigm
  • 11.30 am straight back to work, yipey~!

SUMMARIZE ITINERARY OF MY TRIP
1st Day - Hibernate (hehe)
2nd Day - Power Walk to Kundasang
3rd Day - Kinabalu Park Trekking
4th Day - Island hopping

I cover from the mountain area, to the island & to the city! Not bad for a Birthday trip for this year! Ini lah kelebihan berjalan solo, kau no plan & just go with the flow. Kalau sakit, kau yang cari penyakit tu, so nak marah sape pun tak boleh, melainkan maki diri-sendiri, kekeke. 
From mountain to the Sea~ gambar bawah lepak bersama Bossned hahahah

Kawan-kawan & orang local yang ramah, banyak guide & tolong. So do other travellers that I met; that Germany lady who hold my hands while crossing the streets, Janny who offer me to share her ride, strangers who chase out the dogs for me, just to name a few.

Bertabahlah Azri jadi mangsa melayan aduan domba aku selama di KK, haha kelakar pulak dah 3 tahun berturut-turut minggu birthday je jumpa Azri. Bak kate Azri, separuh kehidupan friendship (15 tahun, fuh) padahal orang Penang keje KK, tak penah pulak aku visit dia kat Penang. Bulan May haritu short course dekat Adelaide, konon aku nak ambik kesempatan melawat, tapi memandangkan tiket amatlah mahal, aku pun melencong arah ke Perth haritu, hehehe. Elok lah tu aku melawat Azri tahun ni, dah nak +-6 tahun kot dia keje sini, aku dok postpone dari 5 tahun yang lepas, so rasa ok 1 checklist dah settle yass! Haih mana lagi kawan-kawan lain yang merantau ni, nak ambik kesempatan travel sendiri plz, hehehe.


Beli ni je kbye~
So 2016 agak cemerlang, start my new year with Miri, Sarawak & end my year trip with Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, yayyy~! Till Then!

Thursday 29 September 2016

Come On Cameron! ~daytrip cheapthrills~

Me & my colleagues (or half ex colleagues :P) had been loOonging to go for a trip, since trip paling jauh kami pernah pergi hanyalah pergi makan lunch, lol. The last time I went Cameron was last year, but only for Mount Irau hike, so tak sempat nak ber feeling-feeling di tea farm, hehe.

Initially it just me & Candase' random plan. Few days later I met Angelene, & I remember about our canceled Sekinchan trip, then I think, why not make this group trip 1 shot lah, because I hate it when people keep on saying want to do something again & again but never is really doing it. So this time, I said to everyone who available, Come ON! hehe

Due to berry berry busy work schedule, we never really discuss what we gonna do in Cameron, how or what, the rough plan is just looking for the best scone & drink tea, lol.

So on Saturday morning 6 am (29/1-/16), 4 of us hop on the car & to the Cameron we go~! It's quite a silly decision to go Cameron on Deepavali day itself (& no public holiday!) but wth, since most of us are free on this weekend, we don't care we just go :P

We started our journey around 7.00 am plus the ding dong here & there, beli breakfast lah, isi minyak lah, pam tayar lah (petrol station semua ramai orangg).

It's my first time driving to Cameron, but fortunately I just went to Frasers Hill 2 weeks ago, so at least tak lah terkejut sangat nak drive jalan berbukit & bengkang bengkok ni. Since we memang just google & go, so going up we use the old road; Tapah. It's a quite small road & have to be extra careful, but it's a nice to drive during the day since the scenery is more kampung & foresty :). We reach Cameron around 10-ish in the morning. Sejuk? tak sangat haha.

Cameron Valley Tea
Our first stop is Cameron Valley Tea plantation, the place is packed with people! So we actually just made a toilet stop & peep a bit at tea farm & say later lah kita jalan kat tea farm~

Ok, honestly I hate driving when in town, since Angelene had her comfy sleep along the journey before, so I ask her to switch with me, my driving task is done here, tehehe.

fresh view in the morning~

Lord's Cafe
2nd stop, oh I wanted to go to the scone's cafe that I saw on Zati's instagram few weeks ago, so to the scone breakfast (again) we go! It's call Lord's Cafe, everything is cheap here (food price around RM2-5), & loovee the ambiance, macam cafe dulu-dulu & yg best tak ramai orang, hehe :) & yes the scone is gooOood, we even tapau a few.


we're here for breakfast~




Cake Shop
3rd stop, Candase want to find this hiden bakery that she heard from friends. When we at the area, we all so happy because memang no people in here, escape from the traffic jam (yes in Cameron) phew~! But we feel a bit lost, is this a bakery? or a furniture shop? or a delivery place? & only 1 blueberry cheesecake display at the counter. There's no proper place for us to sit & eat, just this gigantic table set, so since we already there, we bought a slice cake for our cake tasting sesh. Cake price RM5, taste? It's alright, for me macam old bakery style.



Ok this is actually how the cake looks like :)


The Smokehouse
4th stop! I don't really focus during their discussion in car, haha, so blur blur dah so many people in Cameron macam kenduri, but dunno who suggest we were looking for the Smokehouse. We arrived & noooobody is hereee & this place is beautifullll~ macam dalam cerita mat salleh doulu-doulu, hehe. It's so funny I even shout "Shut up & take my money now!" They have beautiful Garden & you free to take photos as much as you want! Even the staff are friendly & willing to take our picture.








Since tempat tu cantik sangat, kami pun masuk lah dalam Smokehouse tu without even look at the menu price, konon nak lunch, tapi hahaha 1 meal cost RM80, tiba-tiba semua orang krik krik, patut la kat sini ada mat salleh & foreigner je, lol! Luckly they have heavy breakfast set (+-RM40/each), so we ordered 2 meal which were the salmon sandwich with fries & mash potato & sausages for sharing.  It was alright & quite filling & just enjoying the ambiance. But we were still questioning about the menu price of RM20 scone & the RM20 latte, how absurd,hahaha!

Lesson of the day, please see the menu 1st before you sit (we expect it's a TGIF restaurant price, didn't expect that expensive, lol) When we get back to the car, I said to the girls, "I take back my word for that Shut up & take my money, hahaha" But anyway, the garden is so beautiful, we glad that we make a stop here & we all just laugh about it :))


Strawberry Coffee
5th stop! We actually wanted to go to the BOH tea farm, we have not really walk & explore the tea farm yet!! But oh the traffic jam is killing us, waze shows it took an hour & more from Tanah Rata & it started to rain. Candase took over the wheel this time, but really lah bad jam, so 1/3 from the way, we decided to make a u-turn & there incident where we got block by 2 stupid busses & 1 of the bus driver was shouting at us because we can't move (d'uh), but it so funny, we all were like, aiyoo why so angry?? It's Deepavali lahhh! hahaha

*random stuff during traffic jam, lol

We change our plan to stop over at 1 this place we saw got Strawberry coffee; since we all start to feel mengantuk already & so so curious what Strawberry coffee is this?? lol.We park exactly infront of the sayur entrance (bus block few car park spot, again, pffttt) lol! The Strawberry coffee is ok for a cheapthrills, since it's cheap why not? we ordered with a set of roti bakar. The coffee honestly taste like 3 in 1 coffee with strawberry syrup, but since we are in Cameron, it taste extra fun over the chit-chat during the rainy days, hehe.

 

feeling-feeling kampung cafe
view from our "kampung" window

After the coffee, we decided to do our vegetable shopping! everything here are cheap & fresh :-) We even eat the boiled sweet potato, emm so yummy during rainy days~

*I think this place in in Kok Lim Farm, it's where there Time Tunnel museum is, but we didn't have enough time to visit, huhu.


Random stop *can't remember place name, lol*
6th stop, I always wanted to go to Cameron to buy roses for no reason, but funny how I can't found 1, so since it still raining, we make a quick stop at this 1 place, they all wait in car & I make a quick run to check on the roses. Then I found out they are not selling any roses & ask me to try at the night market. I say sorry to the rest for waiting, but they all so nice & say "like that let's go to the pasar malam lah", hihi yay~

Pasar Malam
7th stop; the pasar malam thrills! This is the most makcik moment we ever had, the plan suppose to be; I buy rose & then we chow! But end up me & Angelene bought 2 pasu pokok each & I bought 3 bouquet of flowers & we smell so many goood foood & deciced to tapau everything & have dinner in the car, hahaha!






Random stop *I slept in the car, lol*
8th stop: After we filled our tummy with all the oily goreng but oh so good food, we decided to fuel up petrol & leave Cameron. We passed by this another town & Candase say she bought tea somewhere here before, so we really determine to find parking despites the sesakness, har har!


The Initial plan is to leave Cameron by 5 pm (to avoid driving down at night), but cause of the bad traffic & sOo many distractions (girls, haha), we end up leaving Cameron at 9 pm, lol!

Candase drive back down. I insist them to use the other way, which is the Simpang Pulai exit, cause honestly this morning driving up using Tapah road is a bit tiring for me, so I don't want to risk the girls, infact it still drizling & yes Simpang Pulai's road is bigger & safer! It's very beautiful at night as you can see a lot's of farm's canopy light up with beautiful lights.

It was a long drive at night, but we keep ourself awake while we on the hills area, we were making jokes & start talking about silly stuff. We even make fun of these 3 motorcyclist infront of our car, we felt very lonely when they droves away & leaves us after an hour later, haha.

Going back home was smooth journey, a bit tiring, but I'm glad we go back on the same day, since I'm sure the next day Sunday traffic gonna be very baddd.

We reach PJ at 12.30 am, send back all the girls & I drove back home to Ampang. Phew it was tiring, but I feel so happyyyy we really enjoy the trip & forgot to really walk at the tea farm, hahah! I shall go again next time just to really walk at the tea farm & check out the blue valley, lavender farm & perhaps to Irau again. How can people say Cameron is boring?? I looove itt~ Perhaps should go on weekday to avoid the crowd & just chill & have a slow trip.

Anyway, these girls are fun to be with during trips, I told Angelene I laugh until I got a headache today layan all the bimboness, lol. Hope for more adventures with you guys! Till then, thankiuUuus ^_^

~Here's a senget picture of us. Till then~