Chilling Waterfall – I guess they got the name because of the water here is really chilly enough to chill a bottle of water.  Getting here is not an issue, approximate 1 hour drive from KL and once you reach Kuala Kubu Baru, and there are signage boards to guide you to the spot. Before you reach, you will never fail to spot the beautiful picturesque of the Selangor Dam – it’s a damn beautiful view!

Selangor Dam

You need to register yourself at the ranger’s hut prior and after your hike, just in case if you disappeared without any reason in the jungle. For only a small fee – RM1, you get to enjoy the nice trek and get attached with the nature.  Camping, fishing and cooking are prohibited in the jungle.

The Entrance

One stream, six crossings!

In the beginning, there is a bridge...

Then it's time to get wet!

We made it after an hour trek

The waterfall

Clear and strong

The brave will survive

Uninvited Visitor 1

Uninvited Visitor 2

Just a reminder, this place is not suitable for camping with small kids or elderly. No water closet at the waterfall site, and there is some climbing involved along the trek. Last but not least, nature is the best stress buster. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Chill ‘lah’ bro!

Hanoi Railway Station

"Al-fresco" dining outside the station

Balcony view from our hotel in Sapa

Sapa Wet Market

Chicken, Beef or Pork?

Dog Meat

In Sapa, every where you go, you will be see a group of the minorities waiting for you before you get down from the van. It seems like each of them have a target. Don’t be surprised they speaks good English, “Hi, where you from?” , “You want to be my friend?” , “How old are you?” these are just the icebreaking! Once you started to have a good conversation with them they will ask you “Later you buy something from me, okay?” They can walk next to you for 1km, but of course just being friendly. On the other hand, if you agree to buy something from one of them, be prepared to be bog with 10 or more.

Uber friendly!

Local H'mong

Local H'mong boys

H'mong girl usually get married at the age of 16, this girl just gave birth to a baby (hidden on her back)

Oink Oink

Quack!

One of the main attraction here is the visit to the terrace paddy field, the greenery is such a beautiful view from a far. I was told by my guide that these paddy field are meant for their own consumption, they must be eating a lot of rice! On the other hand, the weather here is cooling and you don’t find a hotel room with an AC.  In my own personal view, Sapa is a great place to get away from the over crowded tourist attraction in Vietnam. The locals are friendly and this is a great place to get an authentic local life experience.

Terrace Paddy Field

The local working at paddy field

It's our turn!

Tay (Day) Tribe

A Red Dao walking along the paddy field

Red Dao Home

Sapa Catholic Church

I met a Red Dao outside the church, she speaks very good English.

Red Dao trading outside the club

Lao Cai Train Station

I met Ning from CouchSurfing (CS), she came from Amsterdam for her research and I responded her posting on CS. We subsequently met up for coffee sometime late January, and since then we have been hanging out a lot.  We spent hours share stories about current affairs, the locals and travels over a cuppa of coffee or “pull tea” until late at night.

Besides that, our outings were not only bounded in the great Klang Valley only.  Our day jaunt to Malacca was so random, and it was great time spent at Jonker Walk later at night. Koh Lipe, another unforgettable trip with Ning and the rest of our friends. We both were down with sick at Lipe and came back sun roasted.

Of course there are a lot of great time spent with Ning, like the stage plays at Actor Studio, trips to Cyberjaya and many others. All these flashbacked on my mind, as I was still on my bed while trying to reply her text message. It would be a lie if I am not sad to bid farewell to someone like Ning, but on the bright side…I’d made a new friendship.  Beethoven the great composer once quoted that Friends are not only together when they are side by side, but even one who is far away is still in our thoughts.

And so Ning the great traveler is flying to London for her transit back to Amsterdam before she settles down in Germany for the next few months. Dancing galaxy,undeniably.

Entrance

Welcome to Disneyland

At the moment, Hong Kong Disneyland is still not fully developed yet. There will be a new phase coming up before Shanghai Disneyland. There are 4 main theme parks here, Main Street, Fantasyland, Adventureland and Tomorrowland. Each have its own Restaurants and also souvenir shops. You can also take the Disneyland Railroad for a grand tour of Hong Kong Disneyland, an excursion style train.

Main Street Train Station

Well Said!

Main Street

Disney Rail Road

Tomorrowland

Buzz Lightyear

Seasonal Parade

Up Close and Personal

Fantasyland

Fantasy Garden

3D movie

Adventureland Jungle

It's a small world after all

As it getting dark

Plaza Inn Restaurant

Interior of Plaza Inn

Snow White Castle

On the bad side, food is rather expensive in Disneyland. A decent 8 course meal for a family of 4 cost you about 130USD, so be prepared for some spare cash for food. Otherwise, this is a wonderful place to be young again! 

Ban Hua Hin Pier aka Lanta Ferry Pier at mainland Krabi

Car ferry to Ban Klong Mark, Ko Lanta Noi

On the way to Ko Lanta Noi

Koh Lanta Yai

The island is approximately 27km by length on the west coast, where most of the fine white sand beaches located.  There are a few resorts available here but many are mostly chalets, bungalows and huts.  I stayed at the Andaman Lanta Resort, a 3 star resort which I think is reasonable with a great sunset view and lovely breakfast at the beach.

Koh Lanta Yai

Koh Lanta

Amazing breakfast by the beach

Lanta View, this is the peak of Ko Lanta Yai with a nice overview of the Andaman Coast.

Sampan at Phra-Ae Beach

Sea Gypsy Village

Childrens at Sea Gypsy Village

The main town (Ban Saladan), there are only 2 rows of shop houses which mostly sells souvenirs and clothes.  There are plenty of food outlet, pad thais or westerns, you will never get bored with the selection of food. The seafood is cheap, fresh and delicious.  Since this is a small island, you can rent a scooter and get around the island easily. Bear in mind, only the west coast of the island have proper tarred road.

Ban Saladan Town

Fresh seafood

Dine by the beach

Activities, either you are a beach bum or adventure freak, you will never left out.  There are plenty of tour agents that offer you island hopping tour.  Usually it take about 8 hours, you will be amazed with the beautiful islands in Andaman Sea.  If you don’t like to be under the heat for long hours, then you can just have massage at the beach.

Massage

Monkey Beach

Pristine clear water

Phi Phi Island - spoilt by the mass tourism

If you have not visited this beautiful island, I advise you to visit Koh Lanta before it becomes another subject of mass tourism. It’s time to say good bye to overcrowded Phi Phi or Phuket. I have met a few tourists who have been staying in Koh Lanta for years and they said this place is going to be crowded one day.  Koh Lanta, a gem of Andaman Sea.

Sunset at Klong Dao Beach

The most beautiful sunset view

Of course, in reality this is impossible or perhaps there are special people out there; who has an ability to see the world we are living in a different perspective.  But I must admit that if we have ability like Henry then life wouldn’t be a smooth journey.  Sometimes I do wish if I could time travel because I knew our lives in earth is just momentary, no one knows how long we live in this beautiful planet.

If you look around, people are chasing for the best electronic gadgets, the big house, the fastest car or the status recognition.  There’s nothing wrong with that, but the satisfaction will never end. At the end, when you died you will be buried next to the street sweeper.  Life is too short, materialistic will never satisfied our hunger.

Today, I finally realized why people some people willingly give up everything just to do a RTW (Round the World) expedition. Why people travel so much, to capture the highest mountain, to conquer the deepest ocean and to learn different culture – because nobody knows what will happen next.

Another friend of mine, passed away yesterday. She’s an avid traveler and I really admired her world map, each dot represents the cities she’d been to.  Every photos she posted online and blog entry made me want to travel more. She died at the young age of 30, not suffering from any terminal illness.  She shared a number of memorable travel moments, from Fourth of July fireworks in Boston, Sirocco Dome Sky Bar in Bangkok, just father and daughter moment, having drinks and taking in the view and she even had a numbers of trips coming along the way. My fondest memory of Michelle is the happy face each time we talk about food.

Now I realized, life is not about chasing your destiny.

Life’s a book. There are many blank sheets, and it’s up to you how you want to fill up the sheets and write the story.

This is Your story. Your book. Your life.

Just yesterday, I received an email announcement on the passing of one of our dear colleague. I read and reread the email couple of times, just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming that time. To be honest, I am not that close with him. I remembered one night, we took the same train back after work and we shared some light conversations. Although we never get to have lunch together, but each time when we met each other I never failed to crack joke with him. At times, he asked me for some little help but I obliged each requests. But what truly amazes me is the cause of his death, heart attack. To see such a young man to leave behind a successful career, a newly built family is difficult to accept it. I got to know that he is very active in sports as well, especially in basketball.

As I sat trying to review back from the time I met him until the last time, my heart just felt so heavy. It’s not about losing a friend, but it is about us just lost another nice guy in the office. I am sure many of us had the same feeling. What more when it is just 11 days after the New Year and less than a month to Chinese New Year. I hope his family will be able to go through this tough patch, my condolence to them and may his soul rest in peace.

Before I end, I would like to quote a sentence from the book “Morrie in his own Words by Morrie Schwartz. In his book, he wrote that the best preparation for living fully and well is to be prepared to die at any time, because impeding death inspires clarity of purpose, a homing in on what really matters to you. When you feel that the end is near, you are more likely to pay close attention to whatever you treasure, especially relationships with loved ones

Life is a wonderful journey, it teaches me a lot of things and I learnt and seen a lot from traveling. It doesn’t matter if it is a trip to the village nearby or the highlands far away from home. On the other hand, I met many beautiful people along the way. Some eventually become good friends, and we continue to keep in touch.

Moving forward, I am sure the year 2011 will be another wonderful and prosperous year for each and everyone. It seems like a tradition where people have a new resolution as we usher to a brand new year. What do I wish for the New Year? Here is a few which I wanted to share with you;

• To see more nature and world’s heritage site

• Earn more money to travel

• Stay healthy and less party

• Last but not least, learn to cook.

Of course there are few more but I would keep it as private. Last but not least, I pray for the good health of my mum. Before I end my first post of 2011, I would like to end it with a quote. I met this trader in Hong Kong and he shared with me this quote. Till then…

A thousand mile journey begins with the first step – Laozi , ancient Chinese philosopher

Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its geological and geomorphologic value,  mainly for its cluster limestone  monolithic islands. In the James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies, part of it was shot here in Halong Bay.

By the time we reach the pier, it was just nice where all 10 of us already there waiting for the small wooden long boat to take us to our junk “Red Dragon Junk”.  We were served with a welcome drink, a watermelon juice upon arrival. Then we gathered on top of the junk where there is an open deck for us to have al fresco dining. Our tour guide gave us a welcome note with some explanation on what we are expecting the next 24 hours in the junk.

Red Dragon Junk

Welcome Drink

Lower Deck

Front view

Table Setting

Our Guide

Lunch

Cheng Yee enjoying her lunch

Lunch served after each of us settled down in our cabin, we gathered at the top deck and the lunch served was good. The wind blew hit on our face while the junk is cruising towards the bay, on a Monday afternoon.  Our itinerary continues with a pit stop at the cave, we were brought into a small cave, explored and had a nice view of the bay from the top of the cave.  Then the best part came, we had an hour for kayak. It was first time kayak for both of us, so we ended up making many round of turns, wasted about 15 minutes before we got accustomed to it. By that time, the rest of them were out of our sight already, they could be far from us.  Well, when we got back to the starting point, we all had a good laugh. They thought we were too drunk from the beer we had earlier!  The rest of the afternoon we had our free time on the junk.

A view from Thay Cave

Red Dragon Junk

In the cave

Our guide explaining about the cave

Steps going up

Going down...

Man's Best Friend

Kayak

We were trying to control

Goodby Thay Cave

Dinner served at 7pm, another round of great food! We were impressed with the chef and his culinary skills.  One thing about the steam rice in Vietnam, it taste and smells better than the normal Thai rice.  After the dinner, we decided to have hands on fishing with a bamboo pole! We caught some squids but after a while it everyone got too tired and they went back to cabin and called it a night.  Myself, Am and Jon decided to have our beer (we sneaked in, no outside drinks allowed in the junk), watching the stars as we reminiscing the memories of our good old days back in our campus. We met in campus during our 2^nd year of our engineering course.

Sunset

Beautiful Sunset

Reflection

Waiting for dinner

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Crabs

Prawns with Red Dragon Junk

Night activity

Squids

Team Work

The bed in the cabin is very much comfortable, soft pillows,  with self controlled A/C in each cabins. There is a toilet as well, very much an old junk with modern cruise facilities should I describe it.

Beds

The View

The bathroom

I had a good sleep and I woke up at 6am the next morning because I wanted to catch the sunrise. Unfortunately; it was cloudy that morning, so I went up to the deck and had some good morning chat with the rest.

Good Morning Halong!

Breakfast

After our breakfast, we were taken to the floating village by the local’s “sampan” (boat). The village looks like the Tonle Sap Floating Village in Cambodia, except that it is much cleaner, less water pollution and the air is really fresh. The boat ride took about 30 minutes, wished it could be longer! There is a floating school and a pearl breeding farm next to it.

Floating Village

Sampan

Row Row

Part of the cave

Cutie

Common floating house

Floating School

Poor doggie

Samurai Malaysia

Smile!

I am sailing the junk!

Group Photo

We had another round of food feast while we were cruising back to the mainland. We really had a great time on the junk and we wished we have another day there itself.