to Genting

We checked out of Berjaya Times Square at 11AM. This is due to our pickup at that time.

But, we also got a note last night slipped underneath the door, no bells, no nothing, saying that we have to check out at 11AM today just because they’re so fully booked and they can’t afford us even if we want to pay for late check out. How impolite, two days before they told us that they had someone paid for a late check out and that (conveniently) happened to our room.

My parents bought some durians on the way up to Genting and we checked in to the Theme Park Hotel. Even though cosmetics are worse than the previous hotel, service was much better, so all is good.

Went to First World Plaza and walked around for some time. Got tired and went back to the hotel and work on yesterday’s and today’s photos. I’ve managed to work on all of them, what a relieve.

Moving hotels again tomorrow. See ya.

awful awful hotel

What an awful hotel this one is.

We had our breakfast this morning at the lobby and when we tried to go back to our floor we couldn’t. Tried putting in our card into the elevator and it told us that we tried to get on to a restricted floor.

We went back to the reception (which was a three minute walk from the elevator, yes it was quite a long walk) and asked for them to fix it. They did, I didn’t want to ask why or how that happened. I just didn’t care anymore.

So after that we went for the city tour. We were supposed to pay the fee to the driver who took us to the bigger bus and he charged us RM270 for three adults. I was shocked. The brochure precisely said RM45 each adult and that includes entry fee. So how come the price has doubled? I enquired about it and he said that might be an old price and it should be RM60 per head and he also said he’d call headquarters. It was RM45 per head after all. What a pain in the ass.

So we went to a few places. I really wanted to go into the National Mosque but entry wasn’t allowed for non-Muslim tourists. Argh… I thought I would’ve gotten some cool shots of that place. Tugu Negara (the National Monument) was alright.

After lunch, we went to Petronas Twin Tower. Couldn’t get tickets to the Sky Bridge anymore for the day as it’s sold out. So only took photos of it’s façade. It’s not bad.

Won’t be going out again tonight. I’m so very tired.

Decided to buy KFC for dinner. I’m so amazed. In Indonesia, we have steamed rice in the menu as rice is the thing. It’s like bread for westerners. In Malaysia, instead of steamed rice, they have Hainan Chicken rice!!! (minus the chicken of course). Awesome. The thing I won’t try is their Nasi Lemak wrap. I don’t think that’d go well with the chicken strip.

Again I’m complaining about this hotel. I called housekeeping and asked for some toilet paper rolls and a knife (to cut some fruits) and she transferred me to room service and I asked for the same thing. A few minutes later, somebody came up with two toilet paper rolls and that’s it. What the hell? Do I need to carry a knife everywhere I check in? My mom called again and somebody came up with a butter knife and pepper. I was confused, amused but most importantly furious.

And how hard is it to send us another blanket? We had an extra bed in the room, so doesn’t it just make sense to have another blanket for us? And I ordered this along when I asked to borrow a power adapter as well. Somebody came up only with a power adapter.

Toilet’s kinda leaking too. Arrgghh!!!

Again, what kind of a (five-star?) hotel is this?

We’re checking out tomorrow and leaving for Genting Highlands, hopefully the hotel would be better.

the flight to Malaysia

The flight itself was OK. Everything went fine. The flight even flew on time.

When we got to KL’s International Airport though, everything started to fell apart.

Nobody was there to pick us up. I didn’t see any of our names held on a board by everyone who was there to do their pick up. I knew trouble was brewing.

And it did. It actually led to a series of events that did nothing to me but tiring me emotionally not to mention the waste of time because of the delay in pickup and car scheduling.

Dad was dead furious. Mom was too. I just didn’t want to get involved in the heat (and could possibly end up in the line of fire) and just stood and/or sat there.

I am now at Berjaya Times Square Hotel and just sitting in the lounge just waiting for our room to be ready. What the hell! Checkout time is supposed to be 12PM and even the previous room renter paid for a late checkout, that didn’t justify hotel management from delaying our entry into our already paid room.

We were also told that we were only booked there for one night, which was preposterous since we paid for two nights of accommodation.

The hotel’s check in reception is on the 14^th floor, which is quite cool I guess with everything beneath it are shopping centres and food stalls. I hope they’re good.

All these delays already cost us two hours of travel and leisure and photo hunting time.

Damn!

And now that we got back from dinner downstairs, I can say that the food was OK at best but it was quite cheap.

Went for a walk in the shopping mall, got myself a DiGi prepaid mobile phone simcard.

Then went back up to our room at 8PM, just in time to see the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony.

Also had to complain (to myself) about the room. It’s designed pretty bad. There wasn’t a lot of room to move even from the beds. And you can’t watch the TV from the bed. You’d need to go to the couch, sit there and watch TV. This is by far the most inconvenient room (design-wise) that I’ve ever been in. The mattress was OK though.

We’re going with a city tour tomorrow for three hours. I’m not expecting a lot of good things though… A lot of bad things happening in a day is more than enough for me to be pessimistic about tomorrow in this country.

Jakarta Trip August 2008 - beaureaucracy

I’m pretty sure Indonesian Beaureaucracy people don’t appreciate time… our time.

I had to renew my passport today. It took me two and a half hours to queue up and had my photo taken in the interview room.

They told me that they have this new system in place that they couldn’t do it like they used to. Crap! Well maybe if they made sure the system would work first before implementing it, maybe it’d be so much better.

And after all that they didn’t even get my name right. I was only told that they’re putting my full name on the “see page” and it should be OK. I’m not keeping my hopes up. I already told them that I need my surname at the end of my given names. This is yet another problem with Indonesian Beaureaucracy. On my birth certificate, only my given names were jotted down. The rule is usually I’d take my father’s surname as my surname even though it’s not on my birth certificate.

Not sure if I could get the passport done tomorrow even if I asked for the ‘express’. If it’s not finished by tomorrow, I’m not going to Malaysia. Dammit!

We’ll see what happens tomorrow.

Jakarta Trip August 2008 - prologue

Flying alone sucks and this morning, that’s exactly what I was doing.

Even worse when one thing or two start going wrong along the way.

The taxi I ordered arrived on the front door but didn’t bother to knock on the door. He left. I had to call Silver Top Taxi’s operator and she explained. So another taxi was on the way. I was quite sleepy due to going to bed at midnight and waking up at 5.30 in the morning. Fell asleep a few times in the taxi until I almost reached the airport.

This was when I realized that there was a blockage caused (I think) by an accident. We had to take a detour (and apparently not just us, almost everyone took the same route and that caused me a twenty-minute delay) plus I had to walk another five minutes to reach the international departure terminal.

Check-in queue was quite long. Took me half an hour to check in. I usually do it online but since my passport expires in less than six months, the system didn’t let me check-in online. Crap.

Everything was OK afterwards, the flight wasn’t full and I was finally able to doze off during take off. Sleep is good.

I HATE FLYING!!!
I love to travel, don’t get me wrong. It’s the long flights I can’t stand. Like this one I’m on right now. It’s going to go for another six & half hours.

It’s even worse when you’re flying alone. Not that I can’t go through it. I’ve done it so many times, but it’s just unbearable. I just can’t imagine flying alone much further like, say, to the USA.

I just want to land in Singapore straight away, catch the next flight to Jakarta and that’s it.

But still here I am after an airplane meal, four movies, another refreshment and some power naps here and there. The airplane meals weren’t too bad this time around. Black pepper beef on rice with tuna pasta to open with. The refreshment was a nice chicken & mushroom pie. It was creamy but not too much, just the right amount. Hopefully all airplane food will always turn up like this.

Eight hours after take off… we’re close to landing. Finally.

I’m now in transit. I’ve finally arrived at Singapore’s Changi Airport waiting for yet another flight which should take me to Jakarta.

Now that I’m in transit, this is the other thing I hate about flying. The connecting flight. You never really know where you need to go next and I seem to always get transferred to the very end of the corridor which usually take around fifteen minutes on foot. This leaves me no leisure time during transit as I need to always be in a hurry.

I’m now in the waiting lounge for the flight to Jakarta, feeling quite worried about my checked-in baggage. I didn’t get that sticker receipt from Melbourne. I forgot to ask for it and I think the customer service who checked me in forgot to give it to me. The worst thing that could happen is if he actually forgot to check it in, but hopefully not since I made sure that I could pick it up in Jakarta and he said yes. But if it did happen (he forgot to check it in), some blood will be shed. I just know it.

But hopefully all ends well. I’d hate to get stuck in the airport, especially Jakarta’s.

I’ve now arrived in Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

I got my luggage! I’m so relieved.

I’m missing you already.

And now it’s time to deal with… mosquito bites!!!

the sydney trip - july 2008

With my brother going to the World Shakuhachi Convention in Sydney early this month (sorry, should've been blogged a few weeks back) I couldn't miss the opportunity to tag along and take some more photos.

It's been a while since I've been to Sydney and for me, not much have changed.

Spent most of the time within the CBD. Caught up with some friends and of course took photos.

Anyway here's some photos (and more too, live on my Flickr)

The new Apple Shop which opened in Sydney a few months back. Apparently it's the 2nd largest Apple Shop in the world. I strolled in there and could only drool on the Macs.


Queen Victoria Building (QVB). Located in the middle of Sydney CBD.


The Gurr (Clear View Pavillion) in the Chinese Garden of Friendship. It's in the Darling Harbour area. Tried to get some seats at Lindt Café, but was too crowded.


NSW State Library at dusk.


The interior of St Mary's Cathedral. I think this is where the pope went when he did his World Youth Day mass. I also tried taking photos of the Archibald fountain just opposite of the cathedral, but there was no water coming out of the fountain and very minimal light. Damn.


And last but not least, the Sydney Opera House. I went here a couple of times because the first night I came, all lights were off, both the opera house and the harbour bridge. Came back the next morning and it was fine. Then came back next dawn and it was beautiful. The bridge didn't light up at all which was a disappointment.



And that's it really. There's a few more pics but I didn't put them up, like the Town Hall, Strand Arcade etc etc.

My back to Jakarta trip is in a fortnight, better get my cameras ready.

I've got to practice some songs for next weeks mass too. I am very rusty with the guitar. I tried playing last night. Like a kid who just started picking up the electric guitar. Gotta practice more often. I can't even shred for thirty seconds now. I used to be able to wail and wail forever.

And I will go to Aural Window's gig this coming Wednesday. I miss seeing them live.

the hobart trip - april 2008

Went to Hobart for four days and went to a few places. I finally made it there.
Photos live at my Flickr.

10th April
Day 1, Melbourne to Hobart, Mt Wellington
After checking in the hotel, had a half hour rest, we (me and the girlfriend) went straight to Mt Wellington, which isn't that far from the CBD. It was only around a half hour drive and already we were at the pinacle (1240m above sea level... or was it 1270m). It was cold. I expected it to be cold but not that cold. The clouds were a bit below us and the only decent pic I could get was of the observation deck and not the city view. Bummer.



After descending Mt Wellington, went to Salamanca Place afterwards. It wasn't too crowded as it was Thursday. Walked around there for a while then went back to the hotel.


Later that evening, we searched for food along Elizabeth St, which wasn't too bad. I thought prices were quite overpriced compared to Melbourne and didn't taste as nice either. Maybe I just ended up at the wrong place to eat.

That wrapped up day one.

11th April
Day 2, Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, Elizabeth St Mall
It's day two and Nelson Falls was the destination. It was quite a long drive there, I think around 250km, which took us three and a half hour drive one way not to mention road hurdles (lots of dead animals on the roads and I'm assuming they were possums). But it was well worth it.




The falls was part of the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park which is just one huge national parks consisting of a few rivers, mountains and waterfalls.

Went past this incredible scenery on the way back to Hobart. It was in New Norfolk. I just had to get off and take a photo of it.


We got back at Hobart around 5PM and after a half hour rest (my legs were killing me after that long drive) we walked around the CBD to Elizabeth St Mall. By the time we got there, it was about closing time so most of the shops were closed.



Dinner at Hog's Breath cafe. Starting with the Boss Hog Mushies, then the Garlic Mushroom Prime Rib for me and Calamari Prime Rib for her.



Look how happy (and hungry) she (we) was. Yumm, should've ordered the regular cut instead.

Went back and had a well deserved rest for that day.

12th April
Day 3, Salamanca Market, Richmond, Port Arthur
It's Saturday which means the only time of the week when Salamanca Market is open. I'd say it was like an open air Victoria Market. A lot of food was sold, artworks too, clothing etc etc. Bought a bratwurst. It was the highlight food of this trip. It Tasted so wonderful even the bratwurst in Victoria Market doesn't come close (but again, I'm no expert on these things and I was actually quite hungry). We also put the Hot English Mustard on our bratwursts (how hot could it be huh?). That turned out to be a huge mistake. It was like wasabi... only yellow in colour. I was coughing uncontrollably and had tears coming out of my eyes. It was that hot.

Here's how crowded the market was. Check out the middle part of the photo.


Richmond was a city not far from Hobart. It was less than 30km from Hobart so it was a short drive. Didn't spend too much time here, but took some photos of the Richmond Bridge.


Port Arthur was next and it was unreal. I didn't expect it to be that big of a complex. Went on the cruise around the Isle of the dead.


Then spent the rest of that afternoon walking around the complex.




Visited the parking lot of the Wrest Point casino after dinner and decided to just go straight back as we were both so tired.

End of day three.

13th April
Day 4, Mt Wellington revisited, Tasmanian Royal Botanical Gardens
Revisited Mt Wellington in hopes of a better weather and view. That hope didn't come true. This time it's worse. It was colder and the cloud was so thick that you couldn't see a thing from the observatory deck. Didn't bother waiting any longer so we left.

The Tasmanian Royal Batonical Gardens, now that's another story. It was beautiful. Went straight to the Japanese garden and took some photos.



Here's some more photos from the Botanic Gardens.



After walking around, we finally returned our hired car (a silver Hyundai Getz, rego FN0878 - photo coming soon) and checked-in for our flight back to Melbourne.

I want to go back to Tassie again to explore more. I'm sure we've only scratched the surface as there must be a lot more places to go to. Anyway, it was good, but I was beat for those four days.

Ciao.

Hobart, here I come... again...

Flying to Hobart tomorrow. Fingers crossed, everything will proceed nicely unlike last time. This is the exact same flight.

What do I expect? First and foremost, the gunpowder test at Tullamarine airport. I'm the lucky one, I always get it.

I'm not hoping much as I just saw the weather forecast for the next four days are mostly raining.

Will try to enjoy myself.

And will also update this once I get back.

Ciao.

auckland, new zealand - march 2008

Again, a long and overdue post.
As usual, photos are more important and they are the first priority. They are now live at my Flickr.

Alright, here goes. My first trip to New Zealand or in the language of the Maori, Te Aotearoa, which means the land of the long white cloud.

22nd March
Melbourne to Auckland
Imagine arriving at Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport to find yourself surrounded by gazzillions of people, like in a crowded market. I'd never thought of that before. It was even confusing of where to queue.


Here (this photo above) we were standing at the apex of Qantas' queue for checking in. Apparently they had three flights that afternoon around the same time. Maybe it's time to expand the terminals? Anyway, after an hour (more or less) we finally got our boarding passes and away we flew.

Arrived at Auckland International Airport that afternoon (it's two hours earlier than Melbourne) so almost the whole day was basically wasted doing airport times. And this is the first time I took the camera out from my backpack that afternoon, at the welcome gate of Auckland's Airport.


Customs and security were a lot tougher than Australia. I thought Australia's customs and security were already quite tough, but this is even more. Even souvenir t-shirts with a slightly sensitive quote made it slower to go out of the customs (drug related quote and pics on t-shirt). Anyway, we got out. The airport looked like this.


My friend's cousind picked us up and we went to her place, unpacked a bit, went for dinner, got back, showered and took a finally deserved rest for the day.

23rd March
Day 2, Rotorua
Drove to Rotorua where the whole city smells of sulphur (stinks) and went straight to Te Puia, where we experienced the Maori cultural and geothermal experience. Entrance was NZ$50 per person which was quite steep. We got a corn cob complimentary (which wasn't much I think) and got to see the Maori welcome dance.


The entrance of Te Puia welcomes you (if you have NZ$50).


This is one of the signs we encounter during the walk and tell me that isn't the longest name you've ever encountered... Maybe not, but that's quite long for me.


Here is the cooking pool for the corn cobs and eggs. This area has a lot of sulphuric pools but this one particular pool's water was crystal clear. The air still smells bad though. We were quite hungry at this stage as we haven't had lunch yet, so my girlfriend cleaned up a few corn cobs.


Hehe, just kidding, we only had one each (still hungry). The other ones were just leftovers from other people (including us). So we went to see the Maori welcome dance afterwards.


And last but not least, to Pohutu Geyser.


Very very nice. I think it was around 5PM when we were done at Te Puia and we drove around in Rotorua (the city wasn't that big) after lunch/dinner. Took photos at the Museum of Art and History (which is this building). We stayed there until the sun almost went down.



Went to our accommodation afterwards, checked in, showered and basically spent the night watching TV and sleeping.

24th March
Day 3, Rotorua, Taupo
Got up pretty early in the morning (6AM) and tried to catch the sunset. Didn't succeed as it was cloudy that morning. Damn you clouds. Here's what I got instead.


I was quite happy with that. So we went back to the hotel and showered. We went to Tarawera Lake which (according to Wikipedia) was primarily filled by the Green (Rotokakahi) and Blue (Tikitapu) Lakes (which we went to as well).

Orakei Korako Geyserland was next. It was situated betweek Rotorua and Taupo. Entry was NZ$28 if I'm not mistaken. A ferry will take you across the river (and back).



The second photo is the emerald lake in Ruatapu Cave which is part of the Geyserland. Too bad the sun wasn't shining into the cave by the time we got there. It was quite a walk too, I think around an hour and a half if you wanted to see the whole complex. I was quite hopeful to see the hot mud pool but they didn't have anything like what the leaflet has. Bummer.

And after finishing a meat pie from the shop there, Huka Falls was next. The current there was pretty strong and is used for jetboating.


Not far from there is the Huka Prawn Park. I think we went to Pizza Hut to (again) have lunch/dinner. But we just had to try it. We're already here anyway. And that set us back NZ$90 for one kilo of prawns plus pita bread and rice. So we started eating.


Not five minutes after...


Tada!!! Finished!!! Imagine how hungry we were (even though we had pizza beforehand). Too bad the bucket and prawn skin weren't edible otherwise I'm not sure if there would be anything left. And so we drove back to Auckland.

25th March
Day 4, Auckland
Devonport Wharf (below) was the first meeting point. Met up with my friend's relatives there. Didn't spend a lot of time there. Went to lunch afterwards.


After lunch, we visited the Wintergarden Pavillion which, for me, is a huge indoor garden with a lot of pretty plants. Here's one of my favourite plants there.


Last visit of the day was the Michael Joseph Savage Memorial.


Dinner, then home.

26th March
Day 5, Thames & Hahei
Karaka Bird Hide was the first visit of the day. Literally hundreds of birds were there. Not in species (I'm guessing) but in quantity.


Then we had a long walk at Hahei's Cathedral Cove. It was a 45-minute walk and most is ascending. I even went to two out of the three detours available which wasn't too bad, but was so tiring. Here's a shot of it from afar.


And the actual views from the Cathedral Cove.



On the way here, I asked my girlfriend to go through a fenced area and sit at a bench so I could take her photo looking at the sea. What we didn't know was that the fence was electric. Ouch! And we didn't find out until we walked on the way back. Glad she didn't touch any of those wires. Will have to be more careful next time. Look for signs!


And some beef, I mean cow. Hmm... food glorious food.


And back at the carpark, I saw this caravan parked and I just had to take a photo of it.


Went to Hahei beach but I didn't take any photos there. My friend was going to try to dig the sand as if you dig deep enough, they had hot water springs underneath. Didn't do it in the end. And that ended day five.

27th March
Day 6, Waitomo
The glow worm cave. It was a shame that we weren't allowed photographs and videos inside. We were told that the worms are very sensitive to sound and light and they will turn their glow off if they feel unsafe.

Went a bit further afterwards and reached this beautiful waterfall after walking for about five minutes, the Marokopa Falls. There was literally nobody there. Sweet.


My friend went to the very bottom and almost fell in the process but he got a much better photo of the falls than I did. It was just a much better composition PLUS there was a rainbow if you shoot from the bottom. Damn, should've went the extra mile (figurative speech) there.

And so we drove back (yet again) to Auckland and we stopped at the side road next to a corn farm.


God bless the sun, gotta love those flares.

Day six, finished, but not before we went to Wendy's for dinner. YES, Wendy's, how I love the chilli there.

28th March
Day 7, Auckland
Spent the whole day at Sylvia Park shopping centre.



Didn't buy a thing.

I hate the guy who runs Nik's photo in here, I really do. It was hard even just to get service from the guy. Not sure if he was busy or what, but as a customer, I'd expect a descent service from a photo print shop.

29th March
Day 8, Auckland
Went to my friend's cousin's baby's Christening. Spent time in the city afterwards. Skytower was the highlight of the day. Even though I have vertigo, I still went up and walked around the observation deck.


Had lunch at The foodcourt. Japanese food in Auckland is great. I mean, where else can you find a California Roll as big as your fist?


We also discovered Burger Fuel. An instant favourite from it's menu is the Ford Freakout.

Auckland also has a NZ$3 Japanese shop which we all went mad at.

Later that day, we went to Piha's Lion Rock then to Mt Eden.



The wind at Mt Eden was so strong that all my photos there (even taken on a Manfrotto tripod) is still a bit blurry. Dammit.

Had some snack (bubble tea + satay) at Momotea House and apparently that's dinner. Went under the Harbour Bridge to take photos then went home.

30th March
Day 9, Auckland
We were trying to get souvenirs from the Victoria Park Market but prices were more expensive there compared to the city but it was the last day, and the flight was in the afternoon, so bought some stuff here.


Had lunch at QQ Rice. This one is a unique Taiwanese shop selling sort of like a Japanese onigiri but with the filling of your choice. See below for instructions.


Here's the packet and I asked, of course, my girlfriend again to pose for the camera before actually eating it.



Yummy!!! Half that and half Ford Freakout made my day.

Went back to the NZ$3 Japanese shop again before finally packing everything and went back to Melbourne that afternoon.

It was a fun trip, but I would still come back and sightsee the South Island. The whole trip cost me a bit less than AU$1500 (that's including the seven nights free accommodation). That's not too bad I guess. I only had AU$500 spending money there and on the last day I only had NZ$10 left. Right on target.

Again, photos are live at my Flickr (except for some).

My upcoming trip (which is this Thursday) is to Hobart, so Hobart, here I come.