Perhentian Islands Trip

I've tender my resignation to my current company last month. September will be my last month working here. I got few annual leave left that  I can clear up,with no more project on hand, so I declare that September is my holiday month.

First leg was Perhentian Islands with 5 other colleagues on 6-8 September 2014. We planned this 3 month before and thank God it turned out quite well.

So lets recap.

Day 1 - 6th Sept 2014(Sat)
7.30am - Arrived at Kota Bharu Airport. 

We took a cab to Kuala Besut Jetty and bought together tickets for return boat from Besut Jetty - Perhentian Kecil for RM87 per person at the airport counter.

Arrived at Kuala Besut jetty about an hour later.
And the boat from Kuala Besut jetty arrived at Perhentian Kecil in about 45minutes.
The water was so so but clear enough to see all the fishes down the jetty.

Us overlooking Shari-La Resort at the back.

At the time it was like 11am but unfortunately the check-in time for our rooms are at 3pm. We booked 2 rooms but we only managed to check-in one room first, so we decided to put all of our bags there and kill the time to Perhentian Island Resort (PIR) at Perhentian Besar.
Boat fee was RM180 for 6 people.

There I got a little disappointed because of the huge tide. Supposedly we could snorkel at Turtle point and Coral point, but due to the heavy tides, snorkeling was pointless. I got frustrated but at the end just went along with the rest playing with the heavy tides and lay on the beach. Water is so so. Nothing much we could do other than that.

Around 4pm we head back to Perhentian Kecil, had our late brunch by the beach, settled down in our rooms, take a bath and I went straight face stuffed to the mattress and slept until 7pm.T_T
The boat from Besut Jetty to Kecil is a bit nauseating and all the frustration is PIR might've wear me out a little so they wake me up and we went for dinner at Long Beach.

Long Beach is around 15minutes hike across the Island from Ombak Resort where we stayed.

 It's supposed to be happening according to all the internet reviews but all we can see is fire show by amateur performer and nothing more, so we stayed there for couple of minutes and then we went back to our room playing cards till 2am.:D

Day 2-7th Sept 2014(Sun)
The next day was way better.

We took Rawa Island Trip package for 300RM (6people), where we went to Serengeh Island, Tokong Burung Island, Rawa Island, Fishermen Village for lunch and then to the Lighthouse as Turtle Point was a dead end due to high tide.

Yesterday I was not impressed with Perhentian Kecil and Besar beach and water. It was not as pristine as I expected but when the boat guy bring us to the Serengeh Island, I was impressed by the underwater life.

And then we went to Tokong Burung, which tops up whatever impression I had for Serengeh because of the turquoise water, white beach, and unique rock island. Here the water was very shallow so the guys cut themselves a lot with the corals. 

4 of us went to explore the little island, but Yana and Wong decided to stay and feed the fish.

I personally think that Tokong Burung is the highlight of our Perhentian Trip. The clams are everywhere. I even manage to see one baby shark there. Aishah saw two. But didn't manage to snap any picture of it though.

One of the clams

This coral looks eerily similar to human fingers @_@ 

Wong underwater

At the light house, the tide was heavy again, which make it quite scary to jump cos we worried the tide might smash us to the lighthouse foundation. But me and Kabir managed to jump off the 2nd ledge (cos I was too chickened out to climb to the top and jump.heh) 

The rest stayed on the boat and took our pictures.:)

After the Lighthouse, we went back to shore and hire a kayak on Long Beach for RM25 per boat.(2 units of 3 seater boats). No kayak pictures. We wrap up our day activities after that.

At Ewan's Cafe for dinner afterwards. The food on the island were generally quite nice despite the prices which are double up from the normal price.

Day 3 - 8th Sept 2014(Mon)

We went back to Long Beach again for Banana Boat ride. We only have time for one more activities because check-out time is 12pm.

The price for Banana Boat is RM120 (6 person) for 20-25 minutes. We fall 3 times.

I used to ride this back in 2008 in Port Dickson. I forget how scary it was to be drag so fast with no idea which turn will make you fall. :D:D

No Banana Boat pictures, not a good one at least.:D

You can see a lot of similar booth like this along the Long Beach offering water sports and Island hopping packages.

And then we got to see these little turtle which they kept in a polystyrene box. Since we didn't manage to see the one on the sea yesterday, this counts as something.

Yana with her turtle

 

It was worth getting this sunburn. (^_^)

4pm - We took a apeed boat just for the 6 of us back to Kuala Besut Jetty.

All and all it was a fun weekend. It was our first trip as colleagues, first time snorkeling for some of them and it gives me perspective on Peninsular and Borneo Malaysia Islands.

Cant wait for my next Island trip.(^_^)

Sunway Lagoon Weekend Trip

I think the reason why my blog activity is getting slow is not entirely because I'm working. I think the main reason is this thing called 'Instagram' (heh) where nowadays people just post pictures there instead of blogging about it. I've upload some videos there but just for the sake of not letting this blog die, I'll write a thing or two here.

I haven't been in Sunway lagoon for ages. The last time I went there is when I was little. If memory serves me right. So lastweek I stumble upon Groupon deal. RM100 per entry + Nights of Fright 2 tickets. Quite worth it i think, so i asked if any of my colleagues are interested, so we bought the  tickets and 5 of us went there on Saturday.

We didn't bring our phones during first half of the day. So all the pictures are credit from sunwaylagoon.com

So, here are the things we did, I describe them with their own level of excitement.

Amusement Park

1. Colorado Splash
It was quite exciting considering it's the first thing we tried.

 

Excitometer: ★ ★ ★

(out of 10 stars)

2. Grand Canyon River Rapid
This time you'll ride up to 6 person on this round boat/tube and cruise along the 'rough rivers' and         'waterfalls'. It's bumpy all the way and you'll definitely get wet this time.

Excitometer: ★ ★ ★ 

3. Butch Cassidy Trail
Well this is a child's play. We just wanna try everything at first.

Excitometer: ★

4. Pirate's Revenge.
Then we went down, I want to try the Wagon Wheel, but the gang are not a fan. 
Roller coaster is closed, so we went ahead for Pirate's Revenge. 
I'd say it's pretty much the same as the one at Times Square. Since I've tried this before I'm not as scared so I manage to enjoy the ride better. Hehe.

Excitometer: ★ ★ ★ ★

5. Apache Pots.
After that we decided to tone things down a bit sitting in this spinning pots. Child's play. But I see some guys beside us who spin the pot too much they ended up rushing to the opposite toilet to throw up. Haha.
I have to say the management has consider their due diligence on the toilet placement. :)

Excitometer: ★

Water Park

6. African Phyton

Then we went down the escalator to the water park. We queue up for the African Phyton first. They have 3 types. Fully covered slide, half covered slide and fully open. I managed to try the first 2 and for me the half-covered is more exciting.

 Excitometer: ★ ★ ★ 

7. Congo Challenge

Also nice. This one you go down the slide head first using the blue thingy. Quite exciting.

Excitometer: ★ ★ ★ 

8. Vuvuzela

And then we tried the infamous Vuvuzela. The climb to the station was a tad bit tiring but the ride was damn worth it. We played this 4 times that day. Not back to back of course.:P

Excitometer: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 

9. 5D Waterplexx

Then it's time for a 'movie' experience.
Movie length was about 10 minutes and the feel is surreal. Up to the (spoiler alert) octopus sprays water at you, anaconda chase, skeleton fights, mermaids throwing you shells, complete with the wind and everything. Everybody screams even though you basically just sit there on your seat. Pretty amazing though.:P We went in 2 times.

Excitometer: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 

Extreme Park
10. G-Force X

After we tried everything on the water park, we went to get our phones and went back up the escalator for the suspended bridge to go to the extreme park. My intention is solely to do the bungy jump but since the cost of bungy+Gforce combo is just 95RM, we decided to go for both. This time only two of us went. The other 3 just hang around water pool beside the extreme park.

That's me and Yana inside the cage.

Excitometer: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 

11. Bungy Jump

    

The Highlights of the day.

First they wrap your legs with towel. Tie a rope, connect your leg tie with the harness on your waist and push you down the lake. Heh. But really, really exciting. The staff will take your video all the way down until the boat below catches you.

But as a reminder before you climb all the way to the suspended bridge to the bungy spot, you have to register first at the booth below. If not you have to climb down and up again and the stairs is quite a climb.

See, they even give you the certificate of insanity. 

I wonder whether it can be used on my resume.

Well, courage counts for something right? Hehe

Excitometer: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 

I'm a bit lost of word on this post actually.

Usually I can be pretty descriptive. Maybe I will come back later an try to describe everything again. Hehe

If you are a tourist and you have 1 day to spend, Sunway Lagoon is the place. I see a lot of tourists here, they're quite the same number of them as locals. And God, middle eastern babies are so darn adorable. I don't really fancy babies but seeing those middle eastern toddlers with their super curly eyelashes, brown eyes, chubby cheeks and red pouty lips. I feel like kidnapping one of them and put them in my room just look at them doing their own business. I'll return them back to their parents once they cried or poop.

Anywho, everybody should go to Sunway Lagoon.
Families with little kids can have a lot of fun at the Amusement and Water parks.
Us adults can have fun at the Extreme park. Water park too of course.
And where the hell can you find bungy jump nearby your house? There's only one in our country.
Granted it's only 22 meters but you never know if you didn't try.

So now I can cross off Bungy Jump on my long overdue to-do list.
Finally.
Until next post. (^_^)

AMTOI Jakarta 2013 - Day 4

 Hari keempat. Balik time. Nothing much. But need its own post nevertheless. =P=P

Melipat banner.

This banner was so big, AIS tak bagi pasang dekat stadium.

Kesian Alex bawak dari KL. Haha

Bag semua orang.

Si paha besar

Okeyla okeyla, kasi can mbak ni enterframe jugak.=P

One last photo before checking out.

Soekarno-Hatta Departure Hall

Sengih kerang busuk.=P

Bye Jakarta!

Ganesh at the back.=P

In cloud 9.

Breathtaking~~

Almost landing di Malaysia sudaaa..

I love this photo Alex edited.

Gen Y and their gadgets. Haha

But all and all Jakarta was fun.

New experience, new friends. 

Finally got to be inches away from the players, and got to touch them!! Hahaha.

Thanks Alex and Arsenal Malaysia.

Lepas ni ada tour ajak lagi eh!

Hehe, okey thats it for my tour in Jakarta.

Till next time. (^_^)

P/S: All the pictures are from my phone, Qurratu's camera, Alex's camera and some from Abg Shahril's Facebook. Haha follow him on Facebook guys! Search for Arilarkin Wenger. (^_^)