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Today planned to travel north a bit to see those few remaining sights on the list.

Started the journey to the Royal Temple MengWi after stopping by in Krishnan to get some batik.

In term of entertainment value, I think this place is not really worthy to be on the list because it is closed and you can only walk around it using the path built.

However, if you went there for the sake of photographing the Bali postcards, you can still make this trip there.

And after that we drove all the way up north (around 1hour journey or something like that) to see that temple in the middle of the lake, which is surprisingly situated on a mountain!

On the way, stopped by for an expensive/not reasonably priced buffet on the mountain

Temple - lake - on a mountain?? At the Bedugul.

Dinner was that duck dish that everybody talked about.

Not a bad dish to try out.

Basically all we did whole day was sightseeing. Not too productive by my standard but this can certainly cancel a lot of destinations off the list if I am to visit Bali again. So hopefully next time I’ll be here for the crazy stuffs!

Woke up, and decided for breakfast. Aim is to have some simple breakfast around the resort. Shops outside basically offer continental breakfast (toast and butter), american breakfast (toast with butter and sausage, bacon and etc), and indonesian breakfast (of soto, fried rice or fried noodle).

And we called the bell boy yesterday but he didn’t answer the phone (sleeping) and so we told the resort to arrange our day tour that day for a price of 450,000 whole day in a toyota avanza. That is how we get to know Made, our driver, polite, down to earth and humble (mum found out that he is newly wed and had a baby girl but still need to earn by driving us around on the only off day that he got for the whole week for extra wages).

Actually by deducting the rent for the car (let’s say around 150,000 rupiah), the petrol for the whole day (around 100,000 rupiah), he merely earns a 200,000 rupiah per day. With a monthly wages of 1,400,000 rupiah, it is definitely hard to survive in Bali and the only way to survive is us - to earn from the tourist.

Before that, a view of the resort.

Our first destination is, the well known Tanah Lot.

Actually in term of historic value and etc, the place is small. Personally I think the only reason why so many people is there is because of the view. In fact, a lot of temples are identical but the locations that they are in make them great attractions.

At this open air restaurant. This must be some very romantic place during sunset or at night. But we already have plans for dinner :)

And next stop is the GWK.

Me with Garuda’s head.

Here you get a chance to read about the story of Garuda, and the Balinese ambition to build a really big statue which when completed will look like this:

Imagine the head in the previous picture is exactly the head of this Garuda in the second pic. Now, if they really can make this project happen, it is seriously gonna be a big kick ass statue and I think I’ll go back Bali just to witness that. The people working there said that it is going to be as big as the statue of liberty, and it can be seen from the airplane passing over Bali sky. I believe it because it is seriously going to be THAT big. And I hope that they will succeed.

Paparazzi shot again :)

On the way to our next destination.

Before that, stop from some local nice food of babi guling (I like the sound of it because I can finally say babi openly, while saying that in Malaysia is damn rude but in Bali babi is like so babi. LOL)

Next stop is Nusa Dua and Dreamland beach. Nothing special here but the waves are really big, no wonder so many people come here for surfing.

Next stop is the famous Uluwatu temple with lotsa naughty monkeys. Actually it is really advisable to buy those bananas from the old grandmas at roadside before entering and keep them safely in your bag first. It can be used as exchange if those monkeys steal your specs or slippers! That is exactly what happened to my spec. The monkey got hold of it and bite at it, now having a permanent chip on my spec as the only souvenir from Bali -__-”

It is a majestic place.

The last place on the list is to have dinner at the Jimbaran beach, which also cost a bomb. The famous sunset dinner.

From day till night. And it costed the whole month wages of my driver. Tailored only for tourists I guess.

That’s all about it. A post filled with lotsa pictures. Will blog bout the next day next time.

Spent my 2nd day of CNY traveling from Johor to Singapore - for a flight to Bali!

Happy Chinese New Year.

It was the first time I drove to Singapore. Quite convenient as the road directed straight to Changi airport (of course, with some help from the GPS).

Small family taking pic while waiting for flight. I think I like to paparazzi people around me lah. Didn’t manage to round Singapore on MRT as we reached late. Flight was at 6pm.

Here we go! Took jetstar. Not sure how much my dad spent on this but nothing is better than a sponsored flight. Wakaka.

The most expensive dinner ever. Some fried mee and sandwiches for 5 for almost hundred over ringgit. Well, the difference is we had the meal on air. Actually I think the Air Asia’s meals are more affordable. And actually those hot meals are not warm. And sandwiches are just north pole cold.

Reached Bali and checked in to Jayakarta residence in Denpasar. The arrival airport was small and short as compared to the Changi which we need to take skytrains between terminals. Without knowing the price of local taxi and fail to plan for any kind of research, we got chopped for a trip from the airport to our resort for 150,000 rupiah. Well, it is more or less reasonable I think? Of course it can be cheaper but we are a family of 5. The return trip at the end of this trip from hotel to airport was around 70,000 only. The price of lack of research. But they offer a price of 250,000 at first encounter, and 150,000 is a much bargained price.

Advice would be, to tell your hotel to arrange the transport from airport to the hotel for you. It would most probably be cheaper. But if you are traveling alone, just grab a bike around that area and you are good to go. Hehe.

It was late so only simple supper for us from the 24 hours shop opposite of our resort.

Indonesian instant noodle :) It was too dark for any photography and we were a bit tired of all the traveling. So no more pictures for today. The apartment has plenty of place for 5. The bell boy offered himself to arrange for our transport for tomorrow but we politely told that we were tired and will only plan the next morning. He left his number. We felt at home as we can speak in Malay language and they would understand us. Indonesian language isn’t too hard to catch either. And most people there speak english.

Next up, the real Bali.

Haha. Actually it wasn’t my plan to spend anytime up in Genting but since a promise had already been made then it need to be fulfilled.

However, I wouldn’t turn down any chance to try out my wide angle as well.

High up view of Genting indoor theme park.

Didn’t get to try the outdoor theme park for too long as it was raining in the evening. WIll make it a to-do to try out that superman 360 degree spin near that London bus. Wasn’t a big fan of all these but surprisingly I found myself a bit more brave this time. LOL.

I will say that I like to paparazzi people so getting a zoom L lens would be my ultimate dream in my hobby. Nothing beats real emotion. And definitely it will help a lot with the shaky images when the subject is too far away.

A short trip actually. Found some faulty part with the new lens actually. It always show that the contact between the lens and the camera is not good. Think will get it back to the shop for repair or check up later but it will take a month to fix it according to the salesman. So I think I’ll just send back the lens after CNY. It is going to be a lot of photographing in Bali anyway :)

Retrospective entry on my Muar trip on last day of 2010.

It was spontaneous. Called up my friend for breakfast and end up jumping on the plan of driving to Muar for breakfast and jalan-jalan.

It is not the first time I went to Muar but before this I was merely a passer-by. This time, to try the food and talk to the people.

Searched on Google on the way there for things to do. Most of them pointed to this dimsum place. ‘Man Xiang Lou’.

Not a bad choice after all.

The food was good. But slightly pricey thou. The dimsums were quite big in size. Rich with prawns. So not much to complain about. The only downfall would be the dishes came out one by one, instead of together 1 shot. I would prefer the latter style so that I can photograph all of them together.

And later followed by a walk around Muar town, and took some pictures on the journey to this cafe called 434. Also recommended on website.

And the 434 cafe on the street along the Muar river.

The verdict - i think the coffee that I tried in Kemaman coffee shop in Kuantan was better. This one in Muar is more milky. But the bitter taste of coffee is still something inviting.

The trip ended with us visiting Tan brother’s aquarium. A lot of fish to see there but can’t manage to find the baby sharks. Thought of keeping one myself in the hostel here. LOL. Will I go back to Muar again? Hmm.. maybe for leisure and if the company is good.

Eric suggested for this, to look for his old friend Dennis.

I stayed in their house during my UK trip few years back so this is not the first time I meet Dennis. And this is not the first time I go to Batu Pahat as well.

First thing on the itinerary when we reach there is the Segenting temple - to touch fish, which rumored to have help a lot of Singaporean kena TOTO.

And it is situated so near the sea that I have to take some poser pics.

That’s Eric.

And that’s Dennis.

And some of the scenary.

The fish that we touched in order to win TOTO. But I guess not for me. Haha.

And later on went for this small kuey teow place for good food.

Later on top up with cendol and some special cakes before we head home.

Generally I still feel like buying TOTO and magnum. LOL.

Spent the night at Satay Zul. If you are using the google map beware that there are some mistaken location of Satay Zul.

Well, this place is well recommended by a lot of blogs. My verdict? Hmm. Acceptable. The peanut chilli is not spicy at all, maybe they are trying to cater to Chinese customers as majority of the people having dinner when I was there are Chinese. So weird.

Had too much Satays. Mum said Kajang satay is still the best.

The next day decided to go to yet another recommended place for breakfast. This time, it is the curry noodle.

First impression - soooo many people. We waited for some 10 minutes before we get a place at the BACK of the restaurant. Hmm..

The curry mee was so-so. Not spicy at all. And one thing is there are all kinds of people there, truely 1 Malaysia restaurant but I can’t see any halal sign hanging around. However, if you are there in Teluk Cempedak, I would recommend the tarts and that cookies from this shop just few shops down from Hoi Yin restaurant.

That concludes my Kuantan trip. Hope that I have more chance and time to visit other places instead :) Adios.

Went to Kemaman Kopitiam to try out their coffee after the tiring hill climb. I thought that Kemaman Kopitiam will be like Kluang station kopitiam, having a lot of branches scattered all over Kuantan but my GPS found only one shop. The corner shop not far away from Beserah Road.

The menu is good.

We quickly placed our order.

Nasi Lemak.

Nasi Goreng.

The garlic bread and tidbits left over which you can’t see.

The food is good. But expensive! Our breakfast for 4 turned out to be around RM50 (I think so far all our meals cost around the same amount). The nasi lemak was okay but I would prefer the T&L restaurant one, with better sambal. Otherwise the food is nice, just a bit expensive on the scale. Well, tourist spot I guess. The coffee is still worth while to try but nothing much to wow about.

If somebody is in Kuantan and got no idea what to eat, I’ll still recommend this place, that is if they don’t mind the garlic bread costing more than RM5.

Need a small walk on the beach to help digest the food!

A better introduction on Sungai Lembing town. Well, not those information that you can get from wiki, just my own 2 cents, or 20 cents.

Had a better look at the town when it was brighter. Even thou the weather wasn’t really all that great but it was bright enough to look at where I really parked my car (I thought was beside some haunted house). The town is seriously small. The kindergarten and the primary school is at the foot of Bukit Panorama. I joked with my bro that the people here can grow old going to the same school from kid until they are f.5, all around the radius of 500m. That’s sad. But we didn’t see any secondary school thou. Maybe (hopefully) it is situated some distance away from where we went. The library is just opposite the primary school. How convenient.

The big big tree, protecting the small town.

The town’s petrol station!! Well if a car is there filling up, it practically blocks the whole road! Not a good idea.

And noted that there are lotsa Hakka people around. Even some of the malay aunties know how to speak Hakka! I heard one of them saying ‘it is raining’ in Hakka when I passed by. Damn funny.

The town really gives u the peaceful feeling. It was around 8am when I came down from the hill. Didn’t manage to stay around long because my bro and I was pretty hungry that time and the pasar is PACKED with people (most probably tourists) having their breakfast after the climb.

I didn’t visit the museum and the hanging bridge (a thing that I totally forgot). Damn. Will be back some day later I guess since I didn’t really get the picture of sunrise and there are 2 things tat I didn’t do. Sg. Lembing will still be a point of my destination if I ever go Pahang/Kuantan again.

Woke up at 4.30am. Opened my eyes, and thinking whether driving 1 hour to Sg Lembing and hike up a hill there is an ideal idea of holiday.

Parents are soundly asleep. They are not going to take part in this crazy plan.

Woke my bro up. Luckily he is sporting even with his eyes closed. Packed my gear, and there we go, fueled by impulse, spirit and GPS (and another GPS on my iPhone just in case it is going to be hard). It was drizzling.

It wasn’t the first time I had read about Bukit Panorama in Kuantan. Situated near/at Sg Lembing, I can’t even find it on google map lah. Saw a lot of pictures featuring round orange colour (egg yolk size) sun and lots and lots of clouds (sea of clouds they called it).

I did a lot of mistakes on the way there at 4.30am in the morning. First of all it is a new place, secondly the GPS is greatly incompetent, thirdly it was so damn dark I can’t see any sign properly and it was eerie at some places. What I did was, I drove in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION of the highway on the OPPOSITE SITE of the road. It was so quiet that I only noticed that when I drove around 2km. Took a sharp turn on the road itself to be on the correct direction again.

And I reversed like a couple of km when I missed the turning on the highway. No cars around. I on my hazard lights and ‘gostan’ in the middle of the road. Quite fun I admit.

Reached Sg. Lembing in around 50 mins of drive.

I tell you, the town is cute.

You will be wrong if you think that we are the only souls there at 5.30am in the morning. All these people were already there eating breakfast waiting to climb up!

It was so dark I can’t even see my own shoes. So both of us tumpang other people’s light all the way up.

When it got a bit brighter.

Like sea?

Quite a tiring climb. I think my stamina sucks. My bro was like jumping up in no time. But I see a lot of youngster panting on the way. Maybe I wasn’t too bad!

Damn a lot of people up there I tell you.

On the way down. Still can admire some scenery.

BUT I failed to see the sunrise. Rain season punya pasal lah. Damn.

More to come later. Napped first, then blog :P