Comment?? We're not commenting? We're asking questions!!

Sometimes, traveling to a country that speaks a totally different language can be quite difficult especially if they don't understand English. We're going to Hanoi in 2 weeks time and FL emailed one of the hotel to ask for the rooms availability and hotel transfer. He got their reply the next day and this is what they replied..

"Your comment are very useful for us. We hope to serve you better next time!!"

What the hell? We're not giving comments, we're asking a question here.. speechless...

When will you finished posting about your HK trip?

I was chatting with my friend through msn and she's asking about my HK trip. Here's our conversation..

F: hey, how's ur trip?
J: great!! was really a fun trip!!
F: you said you gonna post it on your blog.. where is it?
J: got lar, i posted in my NEW blog lar..
F: har, you come back so long liao, only wrote 2 posts ar..
J: hehe.. ya lar.. busy mar.. slowly lar..
F: (after reading a while...) wah seh, you only post until you reach the macau ferry terminal ar.. like that when you can finish posting about your HK trip?
J: aiyar, i wanna write in details mar.. very helpful to those who is going to HK leh.. sabar sabar...
F: faster post lar.. hehe...

My friend complaint to me that I took too long to post about my trip. She also said i wrote too details already.. ~sigh..details not good meh? for those who is going to HK, can refer mar..right or not? Some more not easy leh, first got to arrange the photos, then have to recall back, then have to remember the price and etc..

hmm.. I think it's worth to take time to post it in details..

Back to the real world!

Before travel is fun , you do research, you pack your luggage, it is exciting. When you are traveling, it's fun too. You go to a country that you never been to, you don't need to work, you get to spend money. wuahahahhaa..

But after you travel, it's not fun anymore. You will need to start work, you got lot's of debts to pay back...

~sigh.. I'm back to the real world now.. tomorrow start working lor...

Woo-Hoo!! I am BACK!!

Hey hey hey!! I am BACK!!!!!!!! Back from Hong Kong!!!! Trip was great, check out my post, I’m Back from HONG KONG!! Miss me?? for more details. Although trip was great, but there's nothing better than home... my own bed.. my own pillow, my own blanket. hehe..

Just reached home at about 12am and I only managed to unpack half of my things.. will update you guys about my trip later.. especially the FOOD, it's sooooo tasty!!

Gotta take some rest now.. nite nite!!

Is Air Asia still charging for the checked baggage handling fees?

I remembered Ais Asia introduced checked baggage handling fees few months ago. I even blog about it. I was trying to pre booked so that I can save RM 2 but I go through the whole air asia website, I can't seems to find where to book! I even go through the FAQ section but it seems like there's nothing about checked baggage handling fees!

What happened? Did they cancel the checked baggage handling fees? Or did they cancel the pre book for checked baggage? Anybody know where to book?

Genting one day trip

We brought our relatives to Genting today, for a one day trip. Genting is quite a nice place (to spend money, hehe..) for kids, they will be spending their money at theme park and for adults, you know where lar.. hehe...

We reached there about 12pm. It's really nice to be up there, the weather is really nice, it's like heaven. True mar, the weather so hot nowadays..

on our way up to Genting...
nice view!!

My last visit to Genting was last year October. There's really not much change here (except genting hotel's lobby, i think they got do some renovation). As for our relatives, they really enjoy themselves as they haven't been to Genting for at least 5 years!! To them Genting had changed a lot!!

Genting Hotel's lobby.
nice!! i don't remember seeing this
last year, so i guess they just did their
renovation recently!

As soon as we were there, we split into 2 groups, mum and kids, theme park, others, casino. hehe..

theme park
took this pic when we were
on our way to First world Hotel

u guys tried this b4?
scary lar..

We were in the casino quite long, went to both the new (First World) and old casino. So did I win? Well, I shall say, erm, I didn't manage to get anything from uncle lim's son and he's not able to get anything from me too. hehe.. Spend a few hours in the casino and end up like that, consider good also lar right?

First World Hotel
nice decoration on these ATM machines.
it's like ATM machines in the forest!!

First World Hotel

We headed home at about 8pm+. Consider quite an enjoyable one day trip. Kids enjoy themselves, adults enjoy themselves too! What a day!!

Air Asia giving out 50,000 Free Seats!! Again??

I received a newsletter from Air Asia that says they are going to give out 50,000 free seats!! Again??!! Last time they only give out free seats once a year, but now?? How do you feel if you had purchased with them earlier during their promotion period and now they are giving out FREE seats? Must be ^&*$^*#^$&#$)*%$*(&%(*#$$&#(&$ right??

So ar, if you are planning for a trip end of this year, no need to book so early lar..~sigh. book early you might get cheap air tickets but book later you might get FREE air tickets!!

Matta Fair 2008 @ PWTC

After almost whole day struggling to go or not to go to the Matta Fair, finally we decided to go, at what time? at 5pm. wuahahahahhha.. The rain was quite heavy at first, luckily it became smaller when we almost reached there.

we were stuck in this road for 15-20 minutes.
not able to move at all!
till now we don't know what caused the jam!!

The Matta Fair @ PWTC

entrance ticket, RM 3 per person
not a long queue at 5+pm

You need these to enter the hall.

We were very clear about our mission, so we skipped hall 1 and headed to hall 2. Look see look see, found the booth we are looking for! Cool!! However, we did not manage to book any hotels or didn't manage to get any cheap entrance ticket. But I did take a photo with Aaron Kwok, aaron who? Aaron Kwok lar, nor the one that sing the song 'dui ni ai ai ai bu wan!!'

of cos not the real person lar, you really think
i will bump into him at matta fair meh? hehe..

In less than 1 hour, we finished hall 2 and 3. We did not book or buy anything, except for the matta fair entrance ticket. So the RM 6 is to just take photo with Aaron Kwok? Of cos not lar.. see what i get...

see, i got lot's of brochures and map
for my coming trip on July.
oh ya, the two black bag is free one..
So did you go?

MATTA FAIR MARCH 2008

You love travel? You planning for a trip? You wanted to go somewhere and need some more information? Then you must go Matta Fair this weekend lar...

Date : 14 March 2008 - 16 March 2008
Venue : PWTC, Kuala Lumpur

I've been to Matta Fair a few times, but seriously, I never joined a tour and never booked a ticket there. Then what for I go Matta Fair? Erm, there's one time I went there to buy entrance ticket, oh ya, the entrance tickets that I bought at Matta Fair (for Langkawi trip) were really cheaper lar.. Then another time I went there to book hotel..

This time I think i most probably will go also, to see whether i can get cheap entrance tickets for my next trip and also see whether I'm able to book hotels with cheaper rates or not. You going?

Our last day in Bangkok - when Air Asia decided to cancel our flight!!!

Time flies especially when you are having a great time. Where are we going for our last day? We have about 4 hours before we have to go to the airport. Finally we decided to go to Pratunam, well, I know there's a famous night market there, day time got what? not sure.. well, just go there walk walk la...

Before we stepped out our hotel room, i received an sms, an sms that really caught my attention.

Urgent!! Flight FD 3573 from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur on 07 Jan 08 CANCELLED. For more info pls contact 662-515-9999 (Thai) 603-8660-4343 (Malaysia). Thank You

Huh? What is going on here? Flight cancelled? Is this some kind of joke? Immediately i took out my air asia flight itinerary to check on the flight no. OMG! Flight no matched leh... Does this means we have to extend our stay here? (actually i don't mind extending also lar. wuahahaha.. but only left a few hundred bath..stay another day also no use leh...)

We called the air asia to find out what's going on. Tried a few times calling both Malaysia and Thailand but failed to get through. Finally we decided to go find a public phone to call them. Luckily Bangkok's public phone are nothing like Malaysia. Their public phones all can use one. hehe.. we called the Thailand Air asia and asked what happened. The customer service told us a few flights cancelled due to some technical issues and we have the option to choose the flight on the same day or the next day. ~phew...we decided to take the 6pm flight (our original flight is at 5pm).

After we settled our flight, we headed to Pratunam. On our way to Pratunam, we stopped at the famous Thao Maha Brahma (4 faces Buddha). FL wanted to go 'bai bai' haha..

Thao Maha Brahma

heard it's real gold!! wow!!
a lot of ppl pray here to ask for 4 digits. haha...

FL bought these to 'bai bai'..
candles, flowers and joss stick, 20 Bath (RM 2)
while he's busy praying, i busy taking pictures.
:p

a lot of ppl, tourists, locals...
see the flowers around the buddha?

some throw coins in the water,
some ppl use this water to wash their face,
hands, feet, some drink this water some more!!
got money inside one wor.. can drink ar?

you can also pay these dancers to dance
for the Buddha. Not too expensive also,
depends on how many person you choose,
from 2 persons to 6 persons,
price between 100 - 300 bath.

After the prays, we crossed the road to get to Pratunam. Walk walk walk, saw a few shopping centres, nothing much. Probably next time should come at night lar.. On our way back, we bought some fish hot dog and pork hot dog. Delicious.. We went back to our hotel, packed our stuff, checked out, took a cab (300 Bath++ including tolls) to the airport.

It's time to go home...

Bye bye Bangkok.
I WILL BE BACK!! HAHAHA!!!

Prev: The MBK Shopping Mall

The MBK Shopping Mall

The MBK Shopping Mall at Bangkok is a very famous shopping center among tourists. You can really get a lot of cheap stuff here, food, clothes and etc. To me, it is quite similar to the Sungai Wang, so if you like sungai wang, you will like MBK.

I think there are two things that are very cheap in MBK (you probably can't get it else where). One is their POLO t-shirts. There are a lot a lot of POLO t-shirts in MBK and you can't seems to get it elsewhere. Didn't see it in Chatuchak, or Suan Lum. Hmm, I wonder why. And the other thing is? Jerseys!! Of cos.. all pirated one lar.. pirated with the Grade A quality. Hahahahahahahaha....

We left the hotel to go to the MBK immediately after we put the things we bought at the Chatuchak Weekend Market in our room. Don't want to waste time mar. hehe.. With our one day pass ticket, we took the BTS from Asok to Siam (about 4 stations). When you reached Siam, you need to change to another train (just walk to the opposite) to get to the National Stadium (MBK).

Not sure why need to change train.
Why can't they have a direct train to National Stadium?

The MBK Shopping Mall,
picture taken when we were waiting for the
train to National Stadium.

It was 5pm++ when we reached MBK. We did not eat anything besides our buffet breakfast at the hotel (at 9am+) and the mango salad (at Chatuchak). Therefore we decided to go find the food court and have our dinner. We went to the 6th floor food court (cheaper food court) and FL ordered a lot of dishes (Tom yam kung, kang kung, egg and meat with sotong and prawns). Ya, he was very hungry that is why he ordered that much. Besides all the food, we also had the famous mango sticky rice there. YUMMY!! Everyone was looking at our table, 2 ppl with THAT MUCH food!! hahahahahaa, very very full!

So after our full full dinner, we began our shopping journey.. hehe.. shop shop and shop and shop and shop... 4 hours later, we headed back to our hotel.

here's what we bought? so little only?
little? 10++ shirts inside these plastic bags ler..
wuahahahahaha...

and this!! did i mention luggage
are really cheap in Bangkok?
Bought this Samsonite luggage for 1900 Bath (RM 190)!!

Wahseh, really tired. Felt like my legs were no longer mine. 10 hours of shopping, not include walking to the train stations some more!! What a day!! :)

Next: Our last day in Bangkok - when Air Asia decided to cancel our flight!!!
Prev: Chatuchak Weekend Market

Chatuchak Weekend Market

We didn't wake up very early on the 2nd day of our Bangkok trip. This is the reason why i like to travel by our own instead of joining a tour. We woke up at about 9am, went downstairs to have our buffet breakfast at the hotel and at about 10:30am, we headed out to the famous Chatuchak weekend market. This is a must visit place when you come to Bangkok!

We only spent about an hour at the Chatuchak weekend market during our last visit, why? We went there on the 2nd last day of our trip and we don't have much money left. After spending an hour there, we used up almost all our money, so no point continue shopping lor right? This time, i must try to shop longer, hopefully can visit all stalls (ya i know it's impossible, that place is just too big!!).

We bought the BTS sky train one day pass, so that we have unlimited access for the whole day. We planned to go to Chatuchak and also the MBK shopping mall, both places can be reached by the sky train. That is why getting the whole day pass is more worth while.

120 Bath (RM 12) per ticket

was surprised to see our proton's
advertisements at each and every station.
they must have spent a lot in these
advertisements.. but i don't think I saw any of
the proton cars on the road.. hehe..

There are about 11 stations from Asok (the station near to our hotel) to Mo Chit (Chatuchak weekend market). There are full of people, mostly travelers like us, all heading to the famous Chatuchak weekend market. At about 11am+, we reached the Mo Chit station.

The weather was quite nice that day, it was hot (a lot of ppl) but not stuffy. I really had a great time shopping there. Unlike Suan Lum shop owners, most of the shop owners at Chatuchak did not asked for a high price, therefore you won't be able to negotiate much. The price they asked are quite reasonable, if you buy more you can negotiate to get a better offer. Normally they prefer foreigners from western countries, so if you happened to be in the same shop with those foreigners, you won't be able to negotiate much. (foreigners from western countries are more generous, we, asian are more calculative, hehe, that is why these owners preferred them lor..)

After two hours shopping, i finally saw the lady that sells the mango salad that i missed so much since i ate it during my last trip. Yes i can still remember after so long because it really taste soooooooooo good! Yummy! After eating the mango salad, we continued to shop for another 3 hours! hahahahaha.. yes, totally 5 hours, we can't really feel our legs already... and i think we still missed out a lot of shops!

We decided to go back to our hotel first, as the things we bought are quite heavy. What did we buy? Wow, a lot a lot, lot's of t-shirts, shoes, sandals, table cloth, tidbits, dried mata kucing and etc!!

Tah-dah.. dun play play ..
really bought a lot of things.. hehe..
We need to save some money for some other place,
else i think we can still shop some more. hehe..

Next: The MBK Shopping Mall
Prev: The Suan Lum Night Bazaar

The Suan Lum Night Bazaar

After we checked in and had our dinner (the Pork/Beef/Fish Balls Soup) at a stall near to our hotel, we headed to the Suan Lum night bazaar. We took the MRTA (Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand) from Sukhumvit to Lumphini.

not many ppl at about 8pm on a
Saturday night. Looks nicer than our
LRT station right?

two tokens, 20 Bath each (RM 2)
from Sukhumvit to Lumphini (3 stations)

here we are, the Lumphini Station

It took us about 10-15 minutes to arrive Lumphini, only 3 stations away from Sukhumvit. The minute you stepped out of the MRTA station, you'll see this:

the entrance of the Suan-Lum night bazaar

There's a small food court beside the MRTA station, that's the place where we had our supper, the super nice tom yam kung and the super delicious chili rice. A lot of people prefer this Suan Lum night bazaar than the Chatuchak Weekend market because this night bazaar looks cleaner, not that many ppl, not so stuffy and etc. But for me, i preferred Chatuchak, hehe, I felt things that we bought here are not so worth while and normally with a higher price, even after negotiating with the shop owners.

a small roundabout with a small fountain
in the middle of the night market.

you will see this gate opposite the roundabout.
there's some seats inside for you to rest and also
a machine which sells some kind of coin souvenirs.

All the shop owners here tend to raised their price 50% higher. You negotiate with them, they reduce the price, you were happy with the price, the next day you will see the same thing selling at a much cheaper price at the Chatuchak weekend market. Therefore, I told myself the next time if i were to visit Bangkok again, i will skipped this Suan Lum night bazaar. Don't want to come here anymore.. hehe...

After 3 hours of shopping at the night bazaar, these are the things we bought..

all white white one? hehe..
white nice ma...very comfortable cotton clothes..

Why I said i don't want to visit this night market again? well, saw that two little clothes? I bought for my 2 nieces. The shop owner asked for 450 bath each. Then after negotiate and negotiate, we finally bought 2 for the price of 400 Bath. Yes, it is a must to negotiate with them as they asked for a really high price. We thought we bought something cheap, until we saw these little clothes everywhere at the Chatuchak weekend market, how much? 199 Bath each. yes, some more can negotiate!!! geram betul!!!

If you never been to the Suan Lum night bazaar, then you probably should come, but don't visit the night market on the first day, visit on the last day. at least when you've bought everything!!

Next: Chatuchak Weekend Market
Prev: The Manhattan Hotel, Bangkok

The Manhattan Hotel, Bangkok

We only remembered to book our hotel rooms a month before we travel. Ya, i know, a bit rush. We don't have much time to do research, therefore we decided to book the hotel that we stayed during our last trip to Bangkok.

There are a few reasons why we chose The Manhattan Hotel at Sukhumvit during our last trip. First, it's within our budget, it's about RM 110 per night per room. Secondly, very convenient in getting public transportations, cab, sky train and etc. Third, very near to the Tops super market and also can easily get food - walking distance.

Since we don't have much time to do research, we decided to stay at the same hotel again, at least we know the area well. We booked at the asiarooms.com (ya, i know it has quite a bad reputation but it's the only site that offers the lowest rate!!) and was quite surprised that the hotel rooms had increased the price, from RM110 to RM 150!! Wow.. no choice la.. (if we booked at the hotel website, RM200+ per room!!!) So we booked and called the hotel one week before our travel date to double confirmed.

here we are, The Manhattan Hotel
few minutes walk to the BTS (Asok Station)

Our room is at the 10th floor, the staff told us to take the lift to go to the 9th floor and then take the stairs. Aiseh, why no lift till 10th floor? When we reached 9th floor, we saw this..

are you kidding? penthouse?

Well, apparently their penthouse is not what i had in mind. hehe.. there are only 6 rooms on 10th floor and it's quite dark there. The lights are all very dim.

the king sized bed.
now i know why all their lights are very dim,
so that we can't see the dirty stain mar. hehe...

the other side of the room

luckily the bath room is considered
quite clean...

The RM 150 per night includes breakfast. Breakfast quite ok, not too bad. You really can't find RM 100++ per night at Sukhumvit. All other hotels need at least RM 200+ per night. This is the cheapest. The location of this hotel is very good, but I felt that the hotel is not as clean as before (my previous stay quite ok). hmm, if i were to visit Bangkok again, I probably won't choose to stay here anymore.

Next: The Suan Lum Night Bazaar
Prev: The Arrival @ the Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport

The Arrival @ the Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport

We arrived the Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport at 5:10pm (Bangkok time, Malaysia time 6:10pm), 20 minutes earlier before the actual arrival time. This is my first time landing at this airport, the last visit to Bangkok was still at their old airport. I still remember we flew back to KL from Bangkok on the last day before they close the old airport. hehe.. how lucky.. :p

took this picture while waiting for FL
to check out. it's nice without checked in
luggage, no need to wait!!

It only took us about 20 minutes to check out (they opened a lot of counters) and we did not have any checked in luggage, so we walked straight out to get ourselves a cab. I don't remember which gate we exit, the minute we stepped out, we saw a lot of woman holding a piece of paper walking towards us asking us where are we going and do we need a cab. FL asked them the price to go to our hotel and guess what, they asked for 900 Bath (RM 90)!!! WOW, immediately we walked away. They kept shouting behind us asking us how much we can pay but we just ignored them. We were looking for the public taxi counter.

look for entrance 9, the public taxi counter
is just in front of this entrance 9.

After we walked out, we saw a long queue, and yes that's the queue to get a public cab. I'm pretty sure it will be much more cheaper! Although the queue was long, we didn't need to wait long. They have a very tidy and impressive way in handling taxis.

First, taxi drivers parked their car nicely at the parking space in front of the airport, then they queue up. Yes taxi drivers needs to queue up too. For us, the passenger, we will need to queue up as well, then the person in charge at the counter will asked us where we want to go and write it down on a piece of paper. With that paper we go forward and handed to another person which will then lead us to a taxi driver. Really impressive!!

It only took us 450 Bath (RM 45) to get to our hotel, luckily we did not become water fish! hehe... Lot's of car but not very jam on a Saturday evening. On our way to the hotel, the taxi driver stopped at a petrol station. We normally parked our car beside the kiosk right? to fill up petrol? But in Bangkok, they actually reverse their car. Really strange, how they pump petrol??

see how they pump petrol?
from the back!!! wah seh, first time
i see this leh!! hehe...
no wonder they need to reverse their car lar!

About 45 minutes later, we reached our hotel, The Manhattan Hotel.

Next: The Manhattan Hotel, Bangkok
Prev: Bangkok! I am COMING!!!

Bangkok! I am COMING!!!

Our flight to bangkok was on Saturday, 5-1-2008. It was a rainy day but it does not affect our mood at all! haha! After a bit of calculation, we decided to drive to LCCT instead of taking a cab. Our last trip to LCCT by cab took us about RM150 (to and fro). FL's colleague told him the parking rate at LCCT for a full day is only RM 35, therefore if we parked there for 3 days, it will still be cheaper than taking a cab. So with our small hand carry bag, hehe, we drive there lor...

on our way to LCCT, about 1pm++

We need to pay RM 8.40 for the toll and it took us about 45 minutes to reach LCCT. The sky was full of dark clouds but we were still very excited about the trip.

When we reached there,
I saw these self checked in machine.
I've read about this from the Air Asia website
and wanted to try it out but too bad,
can only use this for domestic flight.

since we can't used the self checked in kiosk,
we got to queue up lor.. see, super long queue!!

finally after 20 minutes queuing up,
they opened another counter.

It only took us 2 minutes to check in. We didn't have any luggage to be checked in, so we handed him our passports and he printed us the boarding pass and we're done! Oh ya, remember i got a few bottles of liquid stuff? When checked in we asked for the plastic bag, the officer in charge packed all the liquid stuff for us. She checked the bottle one by one to make sure each bottle does not exceed 100ml. The whole plastic bag shall not exceed 1000ml.

The plane arrived punctually and we started to fly before our actual flight time (16:25), perfect!

This picture was taken when
I was in the plane. It's raining lor..

I'm not sure whether it's the rainy day or the rushing here and there causing me super hungry. We will be having our dinner late (have to check in to the hotel and things like that) so we had a nasi lemak and a cup of nescafe on the plane. We arrived Bangkok 20 minutes earlier than the expected arrival time. The pilot speeding gua. hehe.. and we began our Bangkok shopping trip!!

Next: The Arrival @ the Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport
Prev: I Am BACK!!!

I Am BACK!!!

Hi guys! I am BACK! haha, did you guys miss me? I nearly NOT able to come back leh.. What happened? Well, thanks to Air Asia lor.. sigh.. Will tell you guys more details later.. I'm still in the middle of unpacking my stuff, so give me some time, after i arrange the photos, i will post it here and share it with you guys.

By the way if you still have no idea where I went, hehe, I went to Bangkok lar.. hehe.. This is my second trip to Bangkok. So, how's my trip? Hmmm, I can only used these words to express my trip.. amazing, great, tiring and PK!! haha... Don't believe i'm PK? well, remember my small little hand carry bag? We went to Bangkok with this small bag and came back with....

3 bags!! haha!!
dun play play oh.. so now you believe
I'm pk? :p

What did I buy? wow, a lot a lot.. I will post it up later.. all the details! I go continue unpacking first lar.. :)

Next: Bangkok! I am COMING!!!
Prev: Bye bye! See you guys 3 days later!

Bye bye! See you guys 3 days later!

I'm going to fly later this afternoon, fly-ing without wings! hehe... I'll be away for 3 days, errr, no lar, if today not included, i'll only be away for 2 days..going where? Hmm, if you guys did read my blog, you guys should know lar. hehe.. I did mentioned where am i going in my previous posts. Anyway, if you guys don't know where i'm heading to, no worries, i promised i will keep you guys updated when i'm back. Let's just keep it as a secret first. :)

we both will only bring this small little hand carry bag with us. bring so little clothes only? ya ya, if not enough, buy there lar!! wuahahahahahahaha...

hmm, now with the rule cannot bring liquid stuff (for hand carry), i also dono these stuff can bring or not. I think can right, just need to ask for the plastic bag from air asia, each container cannot exceed 100ml and one bag cannot exceed 1 litre.. I wonder why toothpaste also consider liquid stuff.. :p

So... see you guys later!! TaTa!!

Next: I Am BACK!!!