5 Things You Should Know Before Visiting Tokyo Disneyland / DisneySea

I had my first Disney experience while in Tokyo. Since Disney has two theme parks, my initial plan was a 2D1N plan to get an evening pass for Disneyland and then next day a full day pass for DisneySea. However, in the end I chose to do a 3D2N journey to Disney while purchasing a 2-days pass so I don't have to rush around.

Sights of Shibuya & Harajuku

There is just so much to see in Tokyo! Starting off my Japan blog post with the places I have visited in Shibuya & Harajuku. Rows of multi-story shops that goes up and underground, there is just not enough time to explore everything. Every corner I turn there is something interesting at sight. 

During my trip to Tokyo, I decided to record the moments and some of the areas I went to. Excuse the not-so-professional recording and video editing...still getting used to this :) I haven't touched any video editing software ever since I graduated..haha.

Road Trip with Honda Malaysia

When driving long distance, there are many features to consider in a car such as safety and comfort. I got to experience the 10th Generation Honda Civic earlier this month where 15 bloggers test drove the Civic all the way to Penang! :)

The All-New Civic is one of the most comprehensive and ambitious new-model developments ever undertaken by Honda. Their engineers set out to benchmark the Civic not only against the C-segment vehicles but also European premium compact vehicles. With this, Honda is able to offer a Civic that is a game-changer in terms of design, dynamic performance, fuel-efficiency, spaciousness, interior quality and safety features - all in a very attractive price package.

5 days in Krabi

Day 1

We arrived at Krabi airport around 8am and our pre-arranged airport transfer to the villa was already waiting for us at the arrivals. Our villa offered us 1,000 THB round trip for airport transfer (huge van) which was a good deal since most taxis charge a minimum of 600 THB per trip. Before heading out the airport, we stopped by the counter to purchase the local sim card. There were 2 options: 200 THB for unlimited data or 300TH for data + calls. There are also many tour offices at the airport but, it is best to get it at Ao Nang area.

Climbing Mount Irau & Mossy Forest @ Cameron Highlands

With my parents being active hikers since last year, I have also took upon hiking during the weekends whenever I am available. I would consider myself as a beginner hiker with an alright stamina. During my trip to Sri Lanka, I did a lot of hiking and the most was a 6 hour hike in total (to & fro) which was already my maximum capacity.

Weekend Getaway @ Kuala Kubu Bharu

*photo by Sharmayne*

Long time no see! Seems like ages that I was missing from the blogging world. I have been out and about.. often posting on Instagram instead of blogging *guilty*

Last weekend, I went over to KKB for my friends birthday getaway. Having only about 3 hours of sleep, I managed to follow Waze instructions to Sungai Chiling, the meetup point. However, we got lost for a moment as my friend mentioned to drive further down Sungai Chiling entrance until we see her standing at the roadside. The thing is we did not see her and we drove uphill for about 5km and then decide to go back down at Sungai Chiling entrance and contacted her as there is limit phone line. 

In the end, she wasn't even at the location yet. LOL. We waited for her dad to guide us as he was in KKB town buying some supplies. 

*photo by Sharmayne*

Located in a private property, we parked at the roadside and loaded our stuff into the truck. First time in my life crossing a river at the back of the truck, which is a very bump but exciting ride.

Welcome to The Sticks! It is an eco resort that is still under renovation. Personally I love these kind of places as it is disconnected from the city life and also mobile networks. Two days of peace and also being away from the haze. Surprisingly Digi & Celcom has connectivity here compared to other telcos. Sharmayne and myself were the earliest bunch to reach. So, we explored around the resort.

A small trail leading to some of the Tendok (tent + pondok).

Tendoks (tent + pondok) in the jungle are near the river where you can hear the sound of the river flowing. So peaceful especially during the night. There are 2 layers to the tent where one is the mosquito net and another one is the entire cover of the tent.

Some of the rooms do not have bathroom attached. Outdoor toilet is the way to go!

Our home for the weekend!

Placed all our stuff into the room while waiting for Amelia to arrive as well.


Luckily our room had private bathroom attached with a lovely open air rooftop view.

Random flowers growing on the grounds

The distance from our room to the common area was a walk away and the view is great!

DIY table and chairs. Those wooden chairs are heavy I kid you not!

*photo by Sharmayne & Amelia*

Selfie while waiting for Rachelle and her friends to arrive. One of her friend baked her a really pretty cake decorated with edible flowers. 

We had our own hamburger station. Everyone helped out in preparation and cooking of the lunch.


*photo by Amelia*
Amelia, Rachelle, Me & Sharmayne
Group photo after the cake has been cut. Look at the rainbow layers!

After lunch, Rachelle organized a treasure hunt activity but I couldn't participate last minute due to work emergency which I had to settle. Went to the river to chill after that. It was drizzling on and off all day. Some of Rachelle's friend went over to Sungai Chiling to hike up to the waterfall area instead.

The river was really chilly and clear! Stayed there for about an hour or two, and then went back to the room for a nap as the fatigue was already hitting me due to the lack of sleep. Woke up in the evening for BBQ dinner. We all had dinner in the dark as there is no electric supply at The Sticks at the moment. Everyone used flashlights or mobile phones to navigate around the area.

It was raining heavily after dinner so we stayed at the common area chatting and playing games.  

The next morning, we had Antipodean rip off style breakfast.

Group photo before heading out to the river again!

Chilled at the river until noon before packing up and leaving the place. We stopped by at KKB town for lunch before heading back to KL. It was an amazing two days getaway being able to properly rest and chill over the weekend. I will definitely love to come back to this place again.

Penang 2012

So after my handing up my final assignment on a Friday last month, me and my two friends headed over to Penang the very next day! I think we only got less than four hours of sleep and then started our journey at 6AM. We stopped by Ipoh for dim sum and then headed off to Penang. I don't know how they drove, but stopping in Ipoh and heading to Penang with a total of four hours...must be pretty fast. LOL.

The very first thing when we checked into our room was to sleep! Yes...SLEEP! We were still very exhausted from all the late nights and stress from our final assignments. So we spent a few hours getting some well needed rest. We stayed at Bayan Baru which is quite a distance from the city so the accomodation was pretty cheap. It's not a hotel, more like a homestay/backpack kind of thing. For 4 days 3 nights, we paid RM60 per person! Woke up in the afternoon and headed off for cendol and asam laksa ^^

Dinner was lok lok at Pulau Tikus! Love their special sauces, especially the Tom Yam :D
Went to check out some of the cafes in Penang after our dinner. Will blog about those in another post ^^
Spent our night planning the itinerary for the next few days! But in the end we skipped a few places such as Gurney because we overslept :P

On the second day, we headed over to Kek Lok Si after breakfast! I haven't been to Penang for more than 10 years. Lots of things have changed, or mostly because I don't remember...

*picture credits to Amelia*

Me and Stephy holding onto our wishes! For family, health, luck, results and what not xD

Very important for us because it was right after our finals ^^

Went up to the new Kuan Yin, Goddess of Mercy Pavilion right above Kek Lok Si. The statue of Kuan Yin was about 30.2m tall :O We should have drove up. The waiting time was pretty long at the escalator.



Me, Amelia and Stephy

There is also this lovely structure that is facing the mountains at the garden.


View from the top!


After our visit, we headed off to Khoon Hiang Cafe at Dato Keramat for lunch


Char Kuey Tiao


Their Lo Bak was nice :D

*picture credits to Amelia*

Met up with Jun Fook!


After lunch we headed to Armeninan Street to take a look at their wall painting. Only managed to see a few as it was drizzling. And many people were queing up for photos, so we just took a pic of the wall painting. haha


Old houses


Wanted to check out this temple but it was raining. So, we ended up at Amelie Cafe.


Headed over to Chew Jetty to explore the place!




This is the one of the places where they shot 'Ice Kacang Puppy Love' movie




Hanged around the jetty to enjoy the breeze and we headed off to dinner!


Roti Samurai at Abu Mamak! Weird! But have a try xD


For our 3rd day, we stopped by Continental Bakery for some breads. It's a pretty popular place and the breads are cheap too! My grandma loved the breads I brought back ^^


Trying some of their famous cream puff. It was alright for me.


*picture credits to Amelia*

Most of the cafes we wanted to check out we closed. So we ended up getting frustrated walking and driving to closed places. MoonTree47 was opened too, but unfortunately, they didn't serve food that day D: The place was lovely nonetheless, would come back next time. The owner was kind to give us some suggestions for meals but unfortunately they were closed too :/ So we headed back to Kwong Sang House for lunch.


Headed to Jalan Burma to visit the Sleeping Buddha Temple.

Its was pretty hot that afternoon, so we quenched our thirst with fresh coconut water which is sold just outside the temple :) The coconut ice cream was nice too!

*picture credits to Amelia*

Headed to the Batu Ferringhi beach to chill in the evening with a bottle of wine :P
Later that night, we went to the cinema to watch Cold War and Behind 50 after that for late night snacks.

*picture credits to Amelia*

On our last day, we slept in and checked out from our accomodation at 12pm. Had sandwiches for brunch, bought some cookies, tau sar pneah etc and then dropped by Yeng Keng Cafe & Bar as one of Amelia's friend was having lunch there. We drove past this place on the previous day and thought that it looked nice. Yeng Keng Cafe & Bar serves a mixture of Hainanese and Western cuisine. Their hotel decoration is traditional with a mixture of modern designs. Quite pricey too!

The waiting time at Him Heang for their tau sar pneah was quite long so I didn't manage to get it. I used to love it whenever my dad brings it back from Penang when I was young. I bought the ones from Ghee Hiang instead.

That's about it on my Penang adventures! Will definitely be back next time for more sight seeing! Didn't get much of a relaxing holiday as we wanted because we were busy doing touristy stuff :P Had a great time nonetheless ;) A few other blog post will be up soon on some of the cafes that I've visited :D