Sepang, the home of Malaysia's motorsports

(Sorry for the delay.. My camera's with Joel. Didn't had a chance to upload the pictures until today.)

On 21 May 2005 (Saturday) morning, Me, Joel, Joel's brother Gavin and Joel's sis-in-law Jennat left home for Malaysia at 6.45-7am .. Since it's a long weekend, we expected a queue at the Tuas 2nd link Causeway.. And we weren't disappointed! But lucky for us, the jam wasn't that bad.. By the time we cleared Singapore and Malaysia's customs heading towards Petronas petrol kiosk, it was approximately 8.30am. We were supposed to meet the convoy at 7.30am..

-.- bo wa nang er dai ji.. Slow traffic.

On our way, we stopped at 209km resting point (the bridge where you will see KFC and A&W) for a toilet and A&W break.. We had lots of rootbeer and *burrpppppp* Oppssss... too much rootbeer! :p

Weather has been weird in Singapore.. Malaysia is not spare.. It was SUNNY when we were at Petronas, its was CLOUDY after 1 hour on the road, it RAINED after 15mins, the rain STOP after 5 mins on the road, it was CLOUDY when we were at 209km resting point. And? it was freaking HUMID at Sepang! *melting*sticky* Need a cold shower badly..!


See the change of weather?


On our way up, Joel behaved normally until........


*arghhhhh* What happen to his face?! He's teasing me because i couldn't see his face while adjusting the angle of the camera.. :)

We reached Sepang at 1pm. We were late... SG Trackies booked the whole Circuit from 12.30-4.30pm. As usual, Gavin will be running around looking for Kin (Organiser-cum-friend) for the driver tag.. Securing the tag, Gavin started to dump all unnecessary things aside to make their 350Z lighter.. And off he goes for his warm up lap..

It was a "crowded" Track Day.. There were estimated about 100-120 cars.. WRX(s), EVO(s), Honda Accord, Toyota Vios, Civic(s), 350Z(s), Integra(s), S15(s) and M3... It was so crowded that the usual 3 Lap Race? The authorities have to reject some cars due to space constraint on the Circuit... I think there were only space available for about 25-30 cars.

See the queue for the 3 Lap Race... Its so crowded that some of the cars were rejected for the Race.

The actions were good... This orange and gold EVOs were freaking fast!! Especially the orange one... Melanie helped me with the upload of the video clip i took at the Race. Many cheers to Melanie again!!

4.30pm.. We made our way to Kuala Lumpur.. After a sweaty day, we need to wash up badly.. But we were strike by some sort of bad luck.. The so-called-arranged hotel was not booked!!

But no matter how, we were greatly blessed.. Thanks to Pin and Diana, we managed to grab 3 rooms at Crowne Plaza Mutiara.. It's 5-10 mins from Atmosphere and another 5-10 mins from Bukit Bintang. But the best of all is not the location... It's their rooms!!!

Chilling in the room...Messy ar? We just check in when i took this picture..


Oppsss.... Jennat making use of the toilet when Joel took this pciture.. Nice ar?


Joel's love for this hotel is because of this shower head!! Rainfall shower....... Delightful showering time.

After a wash up, we head towards to Jalan Imbi's Overseas Restaurant for dinner. We had 7 dishes and there were 10 of us.. We had fish (that cost a bomb!), chicken, duck, pork, tofu, deer meat (big bone) and something else which i can't recall.. Ian went after the deer's bone marrow as known as "Chinese Tulang"!! *heehee*

See what i mean... A specific amount of Singaporean likes tulang (Goat's bone marrow) and that will include this deer bone!


Look..He finished the "tulang" and not the deer meat which are right in front of him..

After dinner, Ian dumped the bone on his plate and he went for a smoke.. When we came back, we were told that the waitress asked Jennat what's the bone doing on his plate..!

Having dinner at Overseas Restaurant has become a routine for us whenever we're in Kuala Lumpur. Having Mango-Loh is another regular routine of ours.. They serve nice sago dessert at a reasonable price.. It's opposite Overseas Restuarant at the end of the corner shop where its brightly lit. Highly recommended. :)

The next morning, we met up with Pin and Diana for brunch at the Noodle House at Sungei Wang.. Another not to be missed eatery.. We ate like crazy.. Each one of us has a plate of noodles along with many side dishes and drinks.. Bill? RM$160 for 6! Cheap right?

After lunch, we went shopping! Me and Jennat has been looking forward to shopping since we left Singapore.. Our hunt? Vincci and FOS at KL Plaza!

Jennat bought a basketful of clothes and so does her husband, Gavin... I think total they spend RM$700 at FOS! *gulp* We stopped for a drink after an hour of monsterous shopping.. That was about 3pm.

At about 4pm, we went to RipCurl boutique at Piccolo Galleria, a small mall beside Lot 10. We spent say what? 1 1/2 to 2 hours in the shop! What do we do? Try this boardshort and that.. It's not the trying that's taking our time but the constant discount the Retail Manager gives! Initially, he agreed to give us 10%, then 15% and finally 25% due its Joel's birthday!! So crazy as we can be, we further prolong our shopping time.

By the time we leave Kuala Lumpur, it was 7.30-8pm... And by the time we reached Causeway after dinner and toilet break, it was 12.30am.. And by the time we cleared Singapore's customs it was 1.30am...

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..... No Zouk.. Just plain sleep...

A small virtually unknown island, REDANG..

Welcome to Redang Island...

Took this sun rise on the day we leave Redang for Singapore..Beautiful!

Redang.. An ideal place full of snorkelling and scuba diving activities for friends and families, but slightly boring and not romantic enough for couples. Our 2 nights stay at Laguna Redang basically is snorkelling, snorkelling and snorkelling! They have better snorkelling than Phi Phi Island but still, Phi Phi Island has better beaches and waters. Not a place for hard core shoppers though, unless souvenirs are part of your shopping list.

Day 1 - 01 May 2005
We began our 10 hours journey to Terranganu at 10pm. 10 freaking hours! OMG!! Anyway, we went on the coach, prepared with cushions, bottle of water, discman and a ting of tiredness.. After 10 hour, we reached Merang Jetty at 7am. First to arrive! And the best part?? We gotta wait till 10am for the ferry due low tide. *gulp* By the time we're about to board the ferry, there were nearly 200 guests waiting to transfer to Laguna Redang! *arghhh*

The ferry journey took 1 hour. Upon arrival, we had the most pleasure surprise since our journey to Redang.

Laguna Redang beach! Fine white sand, crashing waves and...


More More Tea Inn, Laguna made an effort to build a replicate due Redang is famous because of this landmark.

Our sufferings didn't end even though we've arrived.. We were made to wait for our keys due all rooms were still in the midst of cleaning! *haiz* By the time we washed up, we made it just in time for our 1st snorkelling trip, Rotan Bay.

Briefing at the Dive Centre. There were about 100 snorkellers.. 6 boats, each carrying about 20 paxs.


Joel, the first to jumped in to snorkel at Rotan Bay. Can you see the sea floor?

Our day ended with a fabulous BBQ dinner. We ate like mad dogs! *heehee*


That's dinner for 3 mad dogs! And it's so much better than our Lunch! We enjoyed it!

Day 2 - 03 May 2005
This day, we were scheduled for a 9.30am Marine Park snorkelling.

A shipwreck in front of the island. Can you see?

Upon arrival, we were told not to snorkel near the shipwreck due to strong currents. We were made to swim the other side. Here, you will see many different kind of fish and the best? Moral Eel!!! Me and Joel swam hard when the Moral Eel swam towards our direction, even though we had snorkelling experiences in Krabi. It was our very first encounter with a fish that is bigger than your palm! *scary*



This is the Marine Park, fantastic snorkelling. Lots of underwater activities!

Snorkelling at the pier was painful.. Due to strong current, you will encounter alot of unknown people kicking you in your face or body, worst of all, some of them who wore lifejacket will pull or thug you! It's not funny when me and Joel weren't wearing lifejacket at all!

On our way back to Laguna, we saw SEA TURTLES!!! 2 of them were spotted swimming nearby underwater. So we waited... And they surfaced! Cheers can be heard, but suddenly cheers became laughter. Huh? Why? What happened?


We not only see them in their habitat, we also witness them... MATING!!!!!

After a great time in Marine Park, we decided we should see more. We befriend a couple during our trip, Isasiah and Valencia. Therefore, Isasiah mentioned that he remember he swam with the BABY SHARK and SQUIDS before, somewhere near our hotel. Very interesting..

We wasted no time and found out that its just by the other end of our beach! Me, Joel, Isasiah and Valencia went for a swim and for the 1st time, me and Joel saw the BABY SHARKs andSQUIDs!! We were excited about this not so crowded snokelling site (beach in front of Redang Lagoon). It was very rewarding for this time round, i bought 2 underwater cameras to capture our 'rewards'!

Day 2 was a very rewarding day. For the 1st time, we saw Sea Turtles, Moral Eel, Baby Sharks and Squids!

Day 4 - 04 May 2005
Today, we will leave for Singapore. Ferry schedule for departure at 8am.. Breakfast start at 7am. Since we need to be up early, we woke at 5.40am to catch the sun rise and we weren't disappointed.



Sun rise at Laguna's beach..

Once again, the coach journey was a torture. We left Merang jetty at 10am and reached Golden Mile at 9.30pm!! Yup, almost 12 hours but we made several stops so it wasn't that bad.

Overall, Redang is a fine place for snorkelling, scuba diving and maybe fishing. Don't expect Redang to be like Phuket or Krabi. you can only travel from one place to another by water taxi. So it's still quite an isolated island other than the resorts on the beach. 2 nights stay is more than enough due meals and scheduled activties are included. 1 more night stay will be purely to slack on the beach and get tanned like charcoal. If you can, avoid 3rd night, not necessary.

We see ourselves going back Redang in the future but this time round, we'll be on a flight in to Redang instead...

Bangkok, the Land of...

Sawadeekup.. Just came back yesterday from Bangkok, the land of Smiles and 'Pad Khao Prao Moo' (Mince Pork with hot basil leaves)! :p

It wasn't a very 'smooth' trip.. We were a bit disoriented before we even board our flight to Bangkok! But i'm glad we did go ahead with this trip.. We were motivated by our source of 'strength'! :p

To see picture, click HERE

Day 1 22 Jan 2005 (Sat)
Me and Joel were hesitating about this trip due we were troubled by some issues going on. There was a point where we have even thought of forgoing our Bangkok trip to get things straighten out.. Fortunately, we managed to get things sort out and we left for the Airport after dinner. We were schedule for departure on SQ to Bangkok at 8.30pm. We were lucky!! (",) We were on SQ's Jubilee (Boeing 777) and we were spoilt wth so many choices of entertainment! There were about 20 movie channels, Nintendo games and MINISTRY OF SOUND radio!! Thumbs up for SQ KrisWorld! :) Upon arrival, we made our way to the taxi queue and were despatched a cab. On our way to our hotel, Baiyoke Sky, the taxi driver 'started the ball rolling' for our trip of bargainning....
Cab-Driver: "To hotel? 300baht?"
Me: "No. Meter."
Short and sweet huh? Anyway, most Bangkok taxi drivers will try their best to 'slaughter' you whenever given an opportunity! So be very careful... (but even if they really 'slaughter' you, you can't do much also... But you can still try your best to bargain! That's what Thailand is all about..) Upon checked in at Baiyoke Sky (Thailand and World's tallest hotel), we were upgraded to their Superior Suite Room. Now, let me tell you what i think of this hotel... When you see their exterior, its like "Waaaaaaa...... Tall." but the moment you stepped in the Suite Room, it's "Waaaaa.... huh......??". The Suite IS big but.. Like i expected, the furniture is old and rundown.. Well, i'm on budget so i have to bear with it.

Look what they have done to our bed... So sweet...

Day 2 23 Jan 2005 (Sun)
The thing special about this hotel is that their breakfast is served on its 77th floor with a spectacular view of Bangkok (It was nice in the beginning but after 3days of having the same breakfast variety, we were sick of it)! After breakfast, we wasted no time and made our way to the famous weekend market, Chatuchak! There were a few shops that caught our attention for being outstanding and one of them were where we chilled for a drink! Cool..

We stopped for a cold drink at this happening shop in Chatuchak.

We didn't spend our whole afternoon at Chatuchak. After 3-4hours there, we left for our hotel. We were just too tired to continue with the shopping in the horrendous weather..! We napped the whole afternoon away, only waking up for dinner. Yes, Pad Khao Prao Moo for dinner! :)

Day 3 24 Jan 2005 (Mon)
We woke up very early this morning.. To catch our early 'worm' tour to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. It's 1 1/2 hour away from Bangkok (depending on traffic). Basically, we joined this tour to see the 'genuine' 140 years old floating market. We took a ride on the longtail boat to the market and transfer to the sampan (100baht each for the ride) for a more detailed tour of the market. You will see alot of touting here.. Shopvenders will pull your sampan to their shop and throughout the boat ride, we encountered more than 5 'pullings' and we DO NOT enjoy touting at all, it's irritating!

That's how crowded the canal is..


Here's a rare sight of the market. A POLICE Longtail boat!

All tours that includes Floating Market will start out very early. How early? Pick up time 6.30am! That's how early it is.. We booked a half day tour and we were glad we made the right choice.. By the time the half day tour ended, both of us were tired (again) and dehydrated. But we are motivated..! Motivated to locate our source of 'strength' in Bangkok! Instead of going back to Baiyoke, we asked the van to drop us at World Trade (now known as Central World Plaza). You see, Joel and me were on a mission here... To find our source of 'strength'.. :) We did hunt down our 'strength' and we did 'receive' it! It's not cheap but it's all worth it! Check this out!

Left: Joel's cap is a vintage collection series!
Right: Me's cap is just a normal series but one of the best looking ones in the shop!
*grinning away*

Now that i'm back in Bangkok after several years later, i went hunting for my favourite Thai local brand, GreyHound and PlayHound. How can i miss their shop when i'm in Thailand?!! GREYHOUND and PLAYHOUND.. It's a local Thai brand, quite well-known, not cheap, not very expensive, very funky, it's like our Song+Kelly. It's a brand Jane will like.. Jane, do you hear me?! After much trying, i didn't manage to see anything i liked. But Joel did... The sales showed him a top and it looked very nice and sleek on Joel. We bought it for CNY which is coming soon in 2 weeks time! Nothing for me from this shop.... *haizzzz*

Day 4 25 Jan 2005 (Tue)
We woke up this morning, not knowing where to go. After much discussion, we decided to go Silom, Patpong and Suan-Lim Night Bazaar. We left Baiyoke for Chit-Lom LRT station by foot and it took us about 10mins. When we reached Silom, we were again, clueless, where we should go. We walked around aimlessly and we finally settled down for a 'Fruity' drink at Smoothiemania.

Chilling at Smoothiemania in Silom.

From Silom after Smoothiemania, we left for Suan-Lum Night Bazaar which was said to be open from 3 pm till midnight. We walked for about 15mins and when we reached the bazaar, barely 20 shops were opened! Disappointed and sweaty, we took a cab back to our hotel for a rest. Yes, napped again. Due to some festival going on at our hotel area (Pratunam), the traffic around the hotel was terrible. We had to walk all the way to World Trade to flag a tutuk to Patpong. And in Patpong, we walked around looking for an affordable japanese restaurant and to our dismay, most of the restaurants weren't cheap! To us (from what we see there), Patpong seems to attract and cater more for Japanese. Yes, we saw alot of 'horny' Japanese men walking around and hunting for clubs to have fun in.. Amazed? Not really... Japanese men are notorius for being a 'horny' b a s t a r d! :p Not knowing where we could have dinner, we left for Suan-Lum Night Bazaar hoping to find a ray of light there. Well, it wasn't what we expected at Suan-Lum. It's dead there.. We could hardly see crowds dashing here and there.. We left there shortly after. What a disappointed day we had!

Day 5 26 Jan 2005 (Wed)
It's our last day in Bangkok. Didn't do much. We stayed in our room watching 'Gigli' and checked ourselves out for Airport. On our way to Airport, our taxi driver tried to 'slaughter' us. Being in Thailand for 5 days and after so many rounds of bargainning, we let the taxi driver 'slaughter' us. It wasn't much also.. 40baht? How much is that? Approx. S$1.60...? I'm too tired to argue or bargain so we just let him be but at the same time, ensuring that we are not over'slaughter'!While checking in our luggage (we went and came back in 2 bags only. Are you impressed?), i saw this notice and can't help but showed you what SQ is up to. SQ's way of encouraging punctuality.

SQ new slogan...

With 1hour to spare before borading, both of us went menu-hunting for Pad Khao Prao Moo and we were determined to eat it for the last time (but seriously, Krabi served better pad Khao Prao Moo). And to our delight, we had our craving fulfilled.
Onboard the plane for our flight back to Singapore, we noticed this particular stewardess, CC (we know her full name but we don't want to embarass her). She's weird! She's not graceful, she walked like a tomboy and she's so damn skinny that the SQ baju kurung doesn't look nice on her! Worst of all, she doesn't carry her poise well at all.. But she turned out to be a very nice lady (except for all these flaws), for she accompanied her colleague till her collegaue's boyfriend came. So sweet... But too tomboyish to be SQ stewardess!

Overall, me and Joel prefer KRABI. We might go back Bangkok again for Chatuchak and our 'strengths', but we will not stay more than 3 nights for our next trip.. :)