LCCT Arrivals

Just arrived in LCCT, Malaysia. And was hit by this sudden wave of heat. It’s insane. Am so not used to it at this moment. But it’s all fine…. I’m home. It’s so typical me that my connecting flight to Indonesia was to be canceled. Now I am stuck here in Starbucks (by the way thanks Starbucks LCCT for providing me with Internet access), enjoying a frappe while waiting for my brother to turn up. As to why I am not using my phone, answer, I don’t have my Malaysian SIM card with me, and my Australian SIM card ran out of credit. That’s why I’m stuck here using MSN to communicate with my father in his office who is calling my brother. Ingenious eh? I thought about it on the flight over. *proud proud*

On the plane, I was sandwiched between two men. Yeah just my holiday luck. One of them was a huge Caucasian man and the other was a slight framed Chinese. They very generously helped me get my luggage up onto the rack as I settled into my seat. It was only then I realized that the Caucasian was overflowing onto the hand rest. As I took Air Asia (a very affordable, albeit uncomfortable experience), the seats were small to begin with. So I barely had anywhere to put my limbs. Gosh, it was a very unpleasant flight. Seriously. I couldn’t move an inch.

However, I had a very interesting talk with the Chinese man. His name I later found out was Mr. Wong. He lives in Batu Sembilan, Kuala Lumpur and was just in Brissy to see his daughter graduate. He works for the tax office and has done so for the past 30 years. He spoke really fluent English, unlike a normal Malaysian. He had two daughters, the elder one was working in Malaysia in the IT field while the other was trying to find a job as an accountant. He was very surprised when I said I was working in Brisbane and have done so for the past 2 years. I guess my stature and the way I dress give others the false impression about my age. It sometimes bothers me. But other times, I enjoy watching their eyebrows rise and fall as they are struck with surprise and try to hide it in an attempt to not embarrass me.

We had a nice chat about life, about choices and decisions. His daughter who just graduated was at a crossroad too. Decisions decisions decisions… How will I know whether I made the right one?

LCCT Puduraya yang baru, tanpa kehadiran bas , namun diganti dengan kapal-kapal besi yang mampu terbang serta kedai-kedai perfume dan coklat dengan harga bebas cukai (…katenye…). 2 minggu lepas, aku terpaksa menggunakan perkhidmatan Air Asia sebagai medium pengangkutan setelah permintaan menggunakan Fireflyz ditolak dengan alasan tiket mahal. Ada benarnya. Mungkin untuk menampung kembali kos muffin dan setitik air zappel yang diberikan secara percuma semasa penerbangan.

Sedang beratur untuk proses check in, terdengar teriak daripada seorang petugas Air Asia di kaunter. Di hadapan petugas lelaki berbadan gempal, bermuka bulat dan agak legam itu seorang lelaki dalam lingkungan 50-an tunduk sambil menyatakan sesuatu dalam bahasa yang aku sendiri tak pasti. Perlakuan petugas gelap itu bak meroyan kehilangan anak sangat menjengkelkan. Aku tak pasti apa masalahnya, namun selaku penyambut tetamu kepada negara ni, attitude sebegitu sangatlah hodoh (..mungkin untuk menyesuaikan appearance dia? ..perhaps? )

Kasihan lelaki tersebut. Sudahlah tidak tahu berbahasa Inggeris, masalah dia aku pasti tidak akan selesai. Mungkin ada kaitan dengan beg sebab beberapa kali petugas biadap serta kurang ajar tu menjerit-jerit “go find your friend and take the sticker!!”. Aku tahu, tahap kesabaran dia telah dijolok, namun itu sebahagian daripada tugas kau. Kalau kau tak mampu nak handle situasi macam tu, go get your supervisor (or maybe he doesn’t want to look stupid to his boss..). Bangang sangat. Hati geram tak semena-mena.

Air Asia mempunya petugas yang cantik dan menawan di angkasa raya namun jelik untuk ground staff nya. Benci giler sebab kau tu frontliner…got get other job la weiiiiiiiii!!!!

p/s: I may not know most of the rules and regulations for travelling abroad by air. Enlighten me with some info regarding to the baggage check in upon departure.

Hi everyone! I’m finally blogging back from my home in Sydney, Australia. I arrived in Sydney at 7:30 am and boy was the weather hot. I thought I was going to be ok with the warm weather in Australia since I had a couple of days to acclimatise to the tropical weather of Singapore and Malaysia but there I overlooked one fact – how DRY it is here in summer. Sydney’s got nothing compared to the wet and sticky humidity of Kuala Lumpur.

Anyway, I’m holding off doing a whole series of HK posts for now until Quentin comes back (30th) because I’d rather we compilate all our photos first and then present a more structured series of posts. And besides I doubt anyone’s going to have the time to read them at the moment with the festive season looming!

So instead, I will be posting about FOOD because everyone loves food! (especially when it’s half the price of the crap we get in Australia!) It’s true when they say you’ll never get hungry in HK because there is just so much on offer!

But before I begin with the food I have to share with you this very very special photo.

我爱粉嶺!

Ok, so the deal is my aunt lives in a place called 粉嶺 (Fanling) and to get to her apartment you have to catch one of HK’s coolest mode of public transport – the minibus! The first night I arrived I spotted this special bus (the one above) which says “I LOVE FANLING” and I thought “I HAVE GOT TO HAVE A PHOTO WITH IT”. So for the next 6 days, everyday when I went out, I had my eyes peeled for THE bus. HOWEVER, I had no luck in spotting it until the my last day when I finally spotted the elusive bus. There were no passengers on board and no driver. Perfect photo op! I squealed inside like a little girl and literally pushed my aunt across the road to get her to take a photo with it .

Qantas Menu Cover

I always keep my inflight menus as souvenirs so  I thought I might as well scan them for you guys so you can have a read throguh what I ate. Unfortunately my camera batteries died on the flight there so I have no actual pictures of the food but you can, however, salivate over the fancy descriptions of rice + meat.

SYD-HKG menu.

It seemed like everyone took up the “offer of instant noodles” because mid-way through the flight there were at least 5 old grannies and gramps slurping their noodles in the galley and by the time I request one they ran out .

NRT-SYD menu. I found this Tokyo menu in the seat pocket in front of me and kept it anyway - hehe.

I think I’ve already posted some of the following pictures up already but no matter, you can view them again

Thousand year egg congee, "kern tay" congee (how do I describe that in english?) + sugary roll

Gargh! Describing chinese dishes in english is harder than I thought! L: 油炸鬼 in 腸粉 (fried bread dough sticks in a rice noodle skin) R: Thousand egg year congee (preserved duck egg + lean pork congee)

I have no idea how to describe this in English except that it lives in muddy waters and has a lot of roe.

ROSE APPLES! I LOVE THESE THINGS!

They’re native to SE Asia and have an amazing texture and flavour. The refreshing crunch combined with the delicate juices make for an amazing taste sensation! A must-try when you visit SE Asia or HK  or anywhere that sells it I’ve never seen it sold in Aust

Literally translated: Chicken egg kid.

In reality, it’s like a Chinese waffle in the mould of rip-apart egg-size pieces. It comes in a variety of flavours ranging from Strawberry, Sesame, Chocolate, Banana to the “normal” flavour which tastes like a rich yet light pancake batter.

An uninspired French toast + red bean ice at 大快活 (Fairwood)

It cost $18 HKD. At that price I could have a much more fulfilling meal at a hawker stall. RIP OFF

YumCha with my aunt and cousin at Fanling

Apparently, it’s not conventional to have trolleys in HK yum cha restaurants. To order you’re given a sheeet with a list of all the dishes available and you tick the ones you want and then a lady will deliver them to your table.

Combination Dim sum!

I’d never seen that before!

This was my typical daily breakfast. L to R: Egg tarts, yakult, milk, chocolate milk, mini fish balls, mini siu mai and mini rice rolls

My aunt tells me egg tarts and rice rolls are Fanling’s specialities. Truth be told, I couldn’t distinguish anything THAT amazing but it was delicious nonetheless.

Another typical HK breakfast. It's a western breakfast with an asian take - macaroni with ham + toast and scrambled eggs + hk milk tea.

My aunt had black pepper steak, egg, toast + hk milk tea.

The two meals above cost around $40 HKD = <$6 AUD. The meals above are typical of the “set meals” one can find in your average HK fast food chain.

Lunch at 大家樂. This was my aunt's - steamed pork mince with rice and salted duck egg. The drink is a Chinese herbal concotion which they translate as "Hot nourishing drink"

I opted for a more western Seafood Bake.

There wasn’t much seafood beside a piece of squid and a bit of seafood stick but hey it’s fast food! you can’t expect too much and it was tasty anyway .

Creamed corn and fried fish fillets with rice + lemon tea

I ate this at the Casa Restaurant in Yau Ma Tei, next to the Casa Hotel. I’ve already said it but I’ll say it again – translating Chinese dish names to English is harder than I thought – lol. Anyway, the above set cost $28 HKD = $4 AUD. Try finding a dish that size for $4 here in Sydney!

Corned beef bun + HK milk tea

This wasn’t as worth it – $20 but my aunt says it still tasted awesome Oh and the reason why I keep saying HK milk tea is because it’s different from the normal english black tea with sugar and milk/cream.

Sushi train in HK!

HAHA!I thought that white handle thing was a lever to ring for the waitress. Instead it turned out to be a tap with boiling water. Boy am I glad I didn’t push it . We got served by a waitress called Monkey. I kid you not, her name tag said “Monkey”. Throughout the evening I had the sudden urge to make a monkey face in front of her but  Irefrained because  Iwas with my relatives.

The stuff there wasn't all that fresh. The fish tasted rubbery and hard.

It was expensive in HK terms but cheap by Aust. terms. $270 HKD for three people, 15 dishes.

Pasta @ Spaghetti House

Pasta @ Spaghetti House

GARGH!! POSSIBLY THE WORST MEAL WE HAD IN HONG KONG. I HATE SPAGHETTI HOUSE AND I HATE THE STUPID SOMEBODY WHO SUGGESTED IT. I don’t have the heart to explain the full story right now but I’ll definitely talk about it in the other hk blogs coming.

Vegetarian lunch @ Po Lin Monastery

After climbing up and down 268 steps to see the Tian Tian Buddha it was time to have a vegetarian lunch at the nearby Po Lin Monastery. The normal lunch (above) costs $60HKD (<$9AUD) per person and was well worth it in my opinion. There was also soup and rice which I couldn’t fit in the photo.

Remind me to write about the nice old lady who randomly started talking to us during our meal.

No we didn't eat here. Thank god!

Almond biscuits! Or as I like to call them "Pedestrian biscuits" because it sounds like that in Canto

There are only ever three reasons HK people go to Macau 1) Gamble 2) Eat 3) Buy Almond biscuits. I’m serious, people buy these in droves and it’s very big business. On the main street they have THREE of the same store within 100m of each other.  It’s absolutely ridiculous but it works.  My aunt instructed me yo buy 8 boxes so I did but then I thought I couldn’t just go back to HK buying all these biscuits for one aunt and not the other so  I bought another 5 for the other aunt and ended up carrying 13 boxes of almond biscuits back to HK.

Singapore Airlines menu cover

Pretty aye? Albeit a bit strange.

Drinks list

HKG-SIN Dinner Menu

Mum and I both wanted the fish but it ran out by the time the trolley came to us

OJ with nuts - yay!

Braised chicken with woodear fungus and gluten in Oriental sauce, leafy greens and steamed rice

The main course was delish but the appetiser “Chinese barbecue pork with pickled vegetables salad” was foul. The pickeled vegs were too sour and it ruined the whole thing. Don’t you just love how airline meals are so…compact?

The foulest Nasi Lemak I have ever tasted

This was literally a plate of shit. The beef was hard and tough, the sambal sauce was oily and greasy, the egg was cold and the rice was hard. Shittest Nasi Lemak ever. Do not eat. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Shit shit shit – heck it even looks like shit.

Pork cutlet with random crap, soup of the day, desert and "yinyeung" tea

This was taken in Penang inside some shopping centre in Komtar. The restaurant was called “MongKok Authentic Eatery” and this was supposed to be one of the “HK Delights”. Again, it was part of a set menu ($30 MYR). It sounded really nice the way they described it on the menu but when it came to our table I was raising my eyebrows thinking “Is that it?” Not a keeper. Pass.

Freshly squeezed STARFRUIT juice - takeway!

Oh man mum and I were braving the dark streets of Penang at 7pm when we stumbled upon this whole row of dai pai dongs. It was AMAZINGGG to see 6 or 7 tiny carts lined up by the road with old grannies and gramps frantically serving up bowls of noodles at lightning pace. Some people are probalby thinking “Wtf daipaidongs EEW HYGIENE GROSS GERMS!” but they don’t know what they’re missing out because the food was fantastic.

Anyway one of the stalls was serving freshly squeezed juice for 1MYR so immediately I wanted to try one out. I scanned through the list of available fruits and spotted “Starfruit” so I ordered in Canto and specified takeaway, expecting a typical plastic cup with a straw and lid. You can imagine my shock when the lady started pouring the drink into a small plastic bag and tying a string to one end. How bizarre!

But man that juice was good!

Wonton noodles with char-siew

$3MYR = $1AUD!!!! AWESOME – enough said. But it wasn’t only the price which was awesome but also the food. It was so good! I love eating out in Asia *drools*

"Rat noodles"

Fukkein noodles

The previous two pics were taken at a hawker stall in KL Chinatown. There were many restaurants in Chinatown but most were filled with fat whtie hairy tourists drinking 5 bottles of beer each. So instead we followed the locals and found this delightful hawker stall. The ambience was not what I’d consider conventional by Western terms (we sat on the porch of the HSBC bank in plastic red chairs under glaring fluroscent light tubes)  but I’ve come to learn not to expect much, in the way of ambience, when you want to eat like a  local in Asia.

The food was great! We ordered the Fukkein Noodles because everyone else around us was ordering it and we ordered the “Rat Noodles” (literal translation from canto) because it sounded interesting. The Fukkein Noodles came first and we gobbled that up in no time but when the “Rat Noodles” came I thought “Hang on… doesn’t this look exactly like the dish we just had” I suspect it was the same sauce and topping for the two dishes – just two different names and differnet noodles. I think they’re called “Rat Noodles” because the little pasta type strands look like little rats? Meh.

Ice Kachang at the Central Markets in Kuala Lumpur

This would have to be one of the strangest desserts/drinks I’ve ever had. Before I ordered I had a fuzzy idea about what it actually  was (shaved ice with lots of toppings) but it was only when it came to my table that I realised how bizarre it really was! The yellow stuff is corn, the green stuff is some sort of jelly which looks like frog spawn, the pink stuff is some sort topping in ice and the brown thing is ice cream. Inside the bowl there was alsored bean, some other sort of bean and  jelly (the kind you find in the Viet ‘three coloured ice’ drinks). In fact, the whole thing reminded me of a “three coloured ice” but on steroids pumped with artificial flavouring and colour x99. Whack.

WHORE LAM GAY FARN/HAINANESE CHICKEN RICE/海南雞飯!!

Possibly one of the best 海南雞飯s I’ve ever had!! We found this quaint little restaurant behind all the hustle and bustle of the Chinatown junk stores and immediately plonked ourselves down in what seemed like an authentic eatery. The interior was rather dated and drab but it only added to the experience. My mum later commented that “this is how hong kong restaurants used to look like”

For those who have no idea what the dish is click here Can you believe the above dish cost only $5 MYR (Malaysian Ringgit – divide by 3 for AUD so <$2AUD). The meat was tender, the rice fragant and the soup was surprisingly clear and light. Apparently the reason why it was so tasty, was because it was freerange chicken…says the owner….

Chicken with Rice on an AirAsia flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore

We prebooked this meal for an extra 15MYR (5AUD) at the time of booking our flights. It wasn’t worth the money but it still tasted good nonetheless and besides I was hungry at 6am in the morning.

Dory fish fillet

Chicken with Black Pepper Sauce

I *heart* Haagen-Dazs!!

The previous three pictures were taken at the Hard Rock Cafe in Singapore Changi Airport – Terminal 3. It was $10 for a set menu which included Soup of the Day (minestrone), Main Course (fish or chicken), Ice Cream and a drink. Mum said the fish tasted fresh and was cooked nicely and I had no real complaints about the chicken. You can’t go wrong with chicken . On a side note, we spent our whole day inside the airport because I just could not be bovvered to go out into the city. I’ve seen it all before and I was dead tired after Malaysia but I’ll write more about that later.

SIN - SYD Dinner Menu

SIN - SYD Breakfast Menu

The perch fillet in ginger soya sauce served with stewed vegetables and steamed rice

My mum and I both took the fish. It was pretty good – not great not bad. I was going to say “How can you go wrong with fish?” but then I remembered a horrible meal I once had on Royal Brunei Airlines.

Continental Breakfast

Oh how I despise that term – “Continental Breakfast”. It basically means  “we can’t afford to give you a proper breakfast so we’ll offer you bread”. Bitcheees!

WHOA! 2570 words already! I better end this blog quick before you all die of borbordom. Geddit? HAHA – I’m so funny .

Laterzz.

Low-cost expert Tony Fernandes (the man behind Air Asia) is launching his Tune discount hotel marque in Australia.

This is no-frills, low-cost at a pretty spectacular level. All you get is a clean room with a comfy bed (according to the firm) and shower. Every single extra (i.e. breakfast, a towel, hairdryer, toiletries, air-con, wi-fi) have a price, none of which seem exorbitant.

The company saves big expenses by not wasting space on gyms, lounges, restaurants, pool, or varied fitouts (i.e. suites etc), and on excessive and unwarranted laundry and other services, and the consumers shares in some of those cost savings.

As the article argues, other firms (such as Accor) are in this domain (e.g. Formule 1) but it strikes me that this slight tweaking of the model might work better. If the price point is a little lower (say $40-50 a night) and the locations satisfactory (i.e. very central), this offering may well bridge the gap between:

(i) the hostel market (which is highly idiosyncratic and uncertain for the customer),

(ii) the motel market (ditto, plus with very car-dependent locations), and

(ii) the low-end hotel chains (which often seem poor quality for the price)

You’d also think that South East Asian brand awareness might also assist in attracting customers in Australia (both from Malaysian, Indonesia and around plus other international travellers continuing on in their journeys).

In a business strategy sense, you could argue that the challenge for Tune is to capture as much of the tightar$e traveller niche (i.e. Focused Low Cost dominance), or alternatively shift the Willingness to Pay algorithm for a big chunk of the broad market (i.e. a Broad Low Cost play).

Blue Ocean proponents will no doubt view this as a creating new market space, on the ground of the bridging above, although the existence of the three current competitor groups should call that into doubt.

As an aside, I’m curious as to whether Aussie councils will allow such a garish paint job… and what Coke thinks of the logo…

K.L. Airport

The morning of the 23rd I got up at 07:00 and headed out for coffee. I returned about 08:30 and the girls came knocking about 09:00. We went out for breakfast. We had noodle soup at a little place we had tried before and liked. It was very inexpensive. After breakfast we split up and planned to meet up at a certain cafe at 14:00 to go to the airport.

I walked down to the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park. It’s the largest covered bird park in the world. I toured it and watched a little trained bird show. The bird park was a little disappointing. They birds were hard to see. They were not in cages as birds should be for easy viewing.

Then I headed out to the cafe. I wanted to get there a little early and have lunch. I talked to an Australian couple who were headed for Bangkok, but would be gone before we will arrive. They gave me some names of places to visit in Pattaya.

Before I finished my snack the girls showed up. The only things they had bought were matching necklaces at 25 ringgit each (about $8.00 USD). I have to admit I am surprised how conservative Vivian is. She is equally as conservative as her mother. I thought she was the opposite.

Air Asia Food Kosk Homef the world’s worst hot dog.

We got to the airport in plenty of time. Against all better judgment and 60 years of experience I bought a hot dog from the Air Asia food kiosk. It turned out that experience and judgment were correct. It was the worst hot dog I have ever tasted.

We arrived in Penang after a short, uneventful flight. We took a taxi to Tune Hotel, part of a chain of hotels owned by Air Asia. The hotel was brand new and painted red and white, same as the Air Asia planes. It is a discount hotel chain. They advertise 5 star quality beds, large heavy flow showers, and any extras you might want to pay for. Their ad is true.

Their way of doing business is to charge the lowest possible price for a room, then add on for any “extras” a guest may want. When you check in you are given a card key that is coded for any extra you have paid for. This includes air conditioning, towels and personal items, safe, internet access, TV, hair dryer, safe, etc. The card key is inserted in an outlet in the room and activates anything you paid for (except towels which are provided at Reception).

We decided on no extras, though I thought air conditioning and towels would be a nice touch. I figured I could get WiFi at the coffee place next door. es were small. The shower and the bed, which were part of the basic, no frills, package, were great.

Tune Hotel is next to New World Park which is a recently opened attraction of food stalls, entertainment venues, and stores. I had a seafood and noodle soup for dinner for 4.50 ringgit (about $1.45 USD). Sea and Vivian had similar things from different food sellers.

After dinner we watched a break dancing performance. It was fun for me to hear Asian kids trying to talk like

Arrived in Penang

Then we went to a karaoke place where old women were on stage singing while old couples danced in front of the stage. All of the songs were in Chinese. I did not recognize any. Vivian said the newest song she heard was from the 1980s, making me feel very old. Some of my favorite music is from the 1980s. The pics came out dark.

Then we came to an area where a large group was dancing to music. This was similar to the dance/aerobics in my park in Shenzhen. Sea joined in. About 23:30 we called it a night.

Tune Hotel

Tune Hotel

Penang

Penang

Penang

New World Park

New World Park

New World Park

Asian Break Dancers

Dancers

Old People Karaoke

Saya dan keluarga bepergian ke Jogjakarta pada tanggal 4 – 7 Desember 2009. Ini kali pertama saya terbang memilih maskapai Air asia, karena banyak yang recommend selain murah ,kini tidak perlu buru-buru memilih seat. Ternyata pengalaman pertama saya tidak menyenangkan.

Masalah terjadi ketika kami hendak check in, saya yang masih mempunyai bayi mengajak serta baby sitter yang masih berusia 16 tahun dan baru bekerja beberapa bulan. Dikarenakan belum genap 17 tahun, maka BS (baby sitter) saya belum memiliki KTP, tidak juga memiliki Kartu pelajar karena memang tidak sekolah,dan karena baru bekerja maka belum masuk dalam KK kami.

Pihak Air Asia ngotot tidak memperbolehkan BS saya ikut terbang. Lelah ngotot dengan bagian check in, maka suami berbicara langsung dengan petugas yang Air Asia yang berwenang. Tetapi tetap tdk diperbolehkan terbang. Setelah ngotot, akhirnya kami bilang kalau tidak jadi terbang dan minta dikembalikan uangnya. Tapi petugas tersebut dengan enteng menjawab “tidak bisa pak,itu kesalahan bapak”.

Petugas tersebut namanya IWAN SETIANA. Akhirnya kami memutuskan untuk ke kantor polisi terdekat minta dibuatkan surat keterangan bahwa BS saya masih dibawah umur. Petugas Polisi pun sempat menyayangkan tindakan Maskapai Air asia yang tdk memperbolehkan BS kami terbang, dan beliau mengatakan surat keterangan bukanlah wewenang polisi untuk membuatnya.

Ketika kami hendak pulang dari Jogjakarta ke Jakarta, ketika check in di Bandara Adisucipto, pegawai counter check in tidak mempermasalahkan sama sekali bs saya yang masih dibawah umur tersebut.

Yang saya sesalkan ialah :

1. Tidak ada klausul dalam syarat dan ketentuan di itinerary bahwa penumpang yang belum cukup umur diharuskan membawa “bukti” bahwa ia tdk memiliki identitas.

2. Ketika saya booking online,tidak ada permintaan dari website untuk memasukkan ID card.

Dengan pertimbangan – pertimbangan tersebut,maka saya pikir tidak akan ada masalah. Terus terang saya amat sangat kecewa dengan Maskapai Air Asia. Saya harap Air Asia bisa menindak lanjuti hal ini.

sarlita mega

jl. madrasah no 33

jakarta

Dikutip dari: http://www.kompas.com/suratpembaca/read/11561

Saya dan keluarga bepergian ke Jogjakarta pada tanggal 4 – 7 Desember 2009. Ini kali pertama saya terbang memilih maskapai Air asia, karena banyak yang recommend selain murah ,kini tidak perlu buru-buru memilih seat. Ternyata pengalaman pertama saya tidak menyenangkan.

Masalah terjadi ketika kami hendak check in, saya yang masih mempunyai bayi mengajak serta baby sitter yang masih berusia 16 tahun dan baru bekerja beberapa bulan. Dikarenakan belum genap 17 tahun, maka BS (baby sitter) saya belum memiliki KTP, tidak juga memiliki Kartu pelajar karena memang tidak sekolah,dan karena baru bekerja maka belum masuk dalam KK kami.

Pihak Air Asia ngotot tidak memperbolehkan BS saya ikut terbang. Lelah ngotot dengan bagian check in, maka suami berbicara langsung dengan petugas yang Air Asia yang berwenang. Tetapi tetap tdk diperbolehkan terbang. Setelah ngotot, akhirnya kami bilang kalau tidak jadi terbang dan minta dikembalikan uangnya. Tapi petugas tersebut dengan enteng menjawab “tidak bisa pak,itu kesalahan bapak”.

Petugas tersebut namanya IWAN SETIANA. Akhirnya kami memutuskan untuk ke kantor polisi terdekat minta dibuatkan surat keterangan bahwa BS saya masih dibawah umur. Petugas Polisi pun sempat menyayangkan tindakan Maskapai Air asia yang tdk memperbolehkan BS kami terbang, dan beliau mengatakan surat keterangan bukanlah wewenang polisi untuk membuatnya.

Ketika kami hendak pulang dari Jogjakarta ke Jakarta, ketika check in di Bandara Adisucipto, pegawai counter check in tidak mempermasalahkan sama sekali bs saya yang masih dibawah umur tersebut.

Yang saya sesalkan ialah :

1. Tidak ada klausul dalam syarat dan ketentuan di itinerary bahwa penumpang yang belum cukup umur diharuskan membawa “bukti” bahwa ia tdk memiliki identitas.

2. Ketika saya booking online,tidak ada permintaan dari website untuk memasukkan ID card.

Dengan pertimbangan – pertimbangan tersebut,maka saya pikir tidak akan ada masalah. Terus terang saya amat sangat kecewa dengan Maskapai Air Asia. Saya harap Air Asia bisa menindak lanjuti hal ini.

sarlita mega
jl. madrasah no 33
jakarta

Dikutip dari: http://www.kompas.com/suratpembaca/read/11561

Thai Air Asia from 15DEC09 launches 1 daily each on the Phuket – Jakarta and Phuket – Medan route. Schedule as follows:

FD3940 HKT0755 – 1045CGK 320 D
FD3941 CGK1120 – 1410HKT 320 D

FD3990 HKT1630 – 1720MES 320 D
FD3991 MES1745 – 1850HKT 320 D

Sorry for not updating these few days, I’ve been in Bali, Indonesia since Wednesday afternoon. I came back yesterday, only to have my love leave me this morning for a work trip in Miri, Sarawak. It was a good trip, very worthy and fulfilling except for the food which, I am not a big fan of. I am going to be posting by Days so if you just want to read up on what happened with the Royal Resort Scam thing, skip to Day 5 or else this post is going to be a really long read for you.

Day 1:
As usual, Air Asia was delayed (someone should teach them how to manage airway systems well!) and well, that made our arrival to Bali late as well. It was almost 7pm when we arrived at Bali, to be picked up by El Rey’s parents and their very nice tourism driver, Priyono [Pri]. Pri dropped us back to El Rey’s parent’s place which was a cozy, single story house a few minutes walk to Kuta Square.

The only thing about the place was that, well, we had to share the entire place with his parents which meant no privacy. And the plants around the place attracted more than a couple of butterflies, wasps, bees, flies and mosquitoes. I had my fair share of mosquito bites and if it wasn’t for my lovely Tiger Balm, that I had spread all over myself because I was down with the flu, I would have been bitten more.

We were pretty tired that night, and El Rey’s mom provided us with ample Indonesian food to eat. I had the fried noodles and El Rey had his bowl of rice complete with Ayam Panggang (Roasted Chicken, Spicy) with Kangkung (spinach). It was enough for that night. Pri joined us for the small meal and before he left, we made plans to tour Bali on Friday and Saturday.

We took a cab to Discovery (shopping mall) in Bali to get refill canister for mom-in-law (MiL)’s aroma spray [didn't fit in the end because she had the wrong model pointed out, lol], walked around the empty, electricity cut mall for a little bit, then around Discovery, along Kuta Beach, then went back with a cab to their house.

Due to my unstable pregnancy, I was thankful that they only smoked outside at the porch.  And El Rey was really nice to be sitting or standing far away from me when he was smoking. Either way, we didn’t do too much that night and went to bed early. The bed was nice and comfortable with two pillows each.

Day 2:
We woke up about 7-ish in the morning wanting to start our day early. MiL made us a simple breakfast with bread and coffee/tea and we sat outside on the porch enjoying the meal. The butterflies really scared the crap out of me most of the time and the sun rose really quickly, drenching the porch with its rays. Thankfully, MiL hung out a long piece of thick black blanket to block out the rays so we could escape the sun for a while.

We sat and while waiting for the maid to finish cleaning the place, we discussed on what we wanted to do and see in Bali, which El Rey decided because it was his first time around. That morning, we walked over to the tailor Yogi (FiL’s friend) shop to get El Rey a nice suit with two shirts and it was for a really good price too! Only RM 500++ for two tailored shirts, a suit jacket, suit pants and suit vest in good quality! I was not satisfied as I could not haggle with the price although I knew it was already dirt cheap. To get a tailor made suit here in Malaysia for the same quality would have costed me twice as much.

I bought my mother a long, batik printed square pyjamas for Rp40,000. Opening price Rp175,000.

We took a cab then to Kuta Beach which I immediately regretted as the beach was only probably 3 – 5 minutes walk from where we were. And I knew we were only taking a cab because I was pregnant and feeling dizzy (blood sugar low) so I felt kind of bad. But anything was better than walking at that moment. Over at Kuta Beach, we had, surprise, more Indonesian food  by the food stalls on the beach.

FiL joined us soon enough on his rented scooter and ordered us some Es Kelapa Muda (Iced young coconut water with coconut meat and a spoonful of concentrated rose water), lontong, sate and pisang goreng (fried bananas). The sate wasn’t bad with really sweet, thick peanut sauce, shallots, lontong and chilli padi. I ate most of the lontong with the sauce, didn’t finish my soup and one huge piece of pisang goreng. Needless to say, we were all refreshed after this. I must note though that the sate sauce that my MiL makes and the pork sate my FiL makes is excellent and the best I have tasted!

I had a nice chance to ride at the back of the scooter with FiL although the traffic is really, really and I mean, really noisy in Bali. Every chance anyone gets, they will use their “horn”. EVERY CHANCE! Look brother, have some patience..! Where are you freaking rushing off to? It’s a bloody island! You’re just going around in circles anyways no matter where you go!

That afternoon, we went to one of FiL’s friend’s (Rezeki) Rattan factory where El Rey and I bought some furniture for Casa. We (or rather, I, alone) haggled the price tremendously. For two rattan chairs, a table, a 180 x 50 x 50 cm box, and a 2.5m mirror frame (mirror included!), we only had to pay RM900, which was a total steal! However, the price of the cargo shipping costed us more than that which ended us up with paying RM2240 for the whole thing. Still, it would have been cheaper than buying it in Malaysia.

We spent all afternoon and evening choosing the furniture and cheating poor Rezeki out of his earnings, FiL decided to stop by a restaurant owned by a Chinese person he met, playing with a laser-like toy on the beach at night. The restaurant was near Supernova and well, we’re never going back there again. The food was HORRIBLE and DISGUSTING. Our plates of rice is ice cold, El Rey could not even cut into the beef of the rendang with his fork, my fried calamari had sweet ketchup on it and the chicken with brown sauce that they ordered was plain, soggy flour.

The restaurant owner was specifically dodgy and don’t even get me started on that one! Either way, I have condemned this place silently. FiL was not too happy as well. We walked back to the house after and spent the night there with El Rey having to do a little bit of work and talking to NvD (oldest sister) on Skype.

Day3:
We had to wake up bright an early today to leave at 9 am for a long day of travelling/shopping trip. We stopped by a small market which sold paintings but didn’t buy anything from there. We did however, made a mental note that we needed brightly coloured paintings because our furniture is mostly brown.

Then went over to a bigger one and cheated people of their earnings again by buying an abstract painting, two bird ones (El Rey’s facination with bird paintings amuses me) and 3 small ones with animal pictures for the baby’s future room. All for less than 80 ringgit. Some thoughtless souvenirs for friends. We ate a little bit at another Indonesian stall, where I had extremely salty fried noodles and El Rey said his fried rice was good. I did not feel too good after and puked even while haggling the price for my white abstract painting.

The sun was extremely bright, and hot and burning. Thankfully El Rey had helped me with the sun block earlier or I would have been badly burnt (a.k.a.Langkawi tip all over again). We were glad to be in the van again and off we went to search for good Babi Guiling in Ubud. We found Ibu Oka’s famous babi guling shop and stopped by for food. Out of all the dishes I had so far in Indonesia, this was the best. The skin was a little tough but crispy nonetheless, the rice nice and warm, the meat nice and tender, the sambal spicy and looked exactly the same like the long beans (so be careful!) and although I did not try the blood sausage, El Rey said it was delicious.

More travelling! And this time to Tanah Lot, where the famous, on-the-sea-bed temple was! We did not do much shopping here except buying my mom another long square pyjamas for Rp43,000. We took some pictures, crossed the slippery moss-covered stony sea bed, got our blessings (drinking from the spring water, the priest with a rice stalk drenching your head with blessed holy water and a few grains of rice stuck to your forehead. We even had a free flower to walk around with! I was extremely disappointed when the huge pythons were not there (last time they were!) and I had to take a picture with a miserable, small, black, water snake which I cannot even hold.

Either way, we took pictures, had fun and went back to the van. We stopped by Bali Galleria where we shopped for my undergarments and MiL bought the baby its first towel! We got cheated by the cab driver taking the extremely long way back to Kubu Anyar. Anyways, we had dinner at a nice Chinese restaurant nearby the house on Jalan Kubu Anyar which had no electricity, but the food there was at least better. Everyone in the restaurant had a cigarette in their hand, and the lack of electricity ensured that we inhaled most of the oily smoke from the frying pan as well. The food was commendable, I must say at least.

El Rey and I could not wait to take a shower when we reached back to the house…Overall, it was a great day with lots to see, buy and do!

Day4:
Another long day! El Rey was adamant on seeing the rice fields in the middle of Bali so we travelled about 2 hours by the van to the rice fields, stopping by at a mini grocery mall for food. El Rey had his Petai fried rice while I had a nice peanut butter and chocolate crepe (x2). The rice fields journey was long, bumpy and windy which made me nauseous and puked immediately after getting out of the van to take pictures. Don’t get me wrong, I had fun watching the scenery as well. It was beautiful. The paddy field was tiered like staircases and running down from the mountains. It looked well planned and simply breathtaking. And the air was fresh, and slightly cooler as we were up in the mountains.

Children were running rampantly naked, taking a shower in clean, clear water streams which was used as rain water reservoir for the paddy fields. I did not join them due to my condition to watch the naked children play happily so I stayed with Pri who had offered me some white wood ointment to ease the nausea. We went around, taking pictures, with me avoiding to get out of the van due to the dragonflies and damselflies flying around on the wet-ish paddy beds. FiL bought some candy on the way back for the naked children and they loved it. I was surprised that they even lined up to get it! Such nice mannered children!

Another 2 + hours drive and we arrived at Nusa Dua where MiL said to stop for lunch. I was shocked at the area, as it was mounted with an immense amount of rubbish. The three stalls were literally ON TOP of the mounds of rubbish! I refused to eat anything much there, only ordering bottled drinks and boiled Indomie. I could literally see the rubbish as I eat through the windows and the cracks on the bamboo-ed flooring.

El Rey said his Rawon (soup) was good and FiL also enjoyed his lunch. A group of Russians came forth to eat as well, so it must not be all that bad.  At least I didn’t get any food poisoning from there.

Finally! The reach at the “”clean” Pantai Geger! The smell of the dried out or drying out sea weed (grass of the sea) was extremely strong and I could not take it, puking again as soon as I came out of the van. El Rey helped me out as we rushed to the sandy beach to escape the smell. I think my parents in law hate me by now. Thinking how troublesome I am and for getting “special” and “preferential” treatment different from their normal guests. The beach was quite clean, but nothing compared to Tioman/Redang which I had promised them I would take them if they would like to go in April. We swam in the beach for a while, while FiL and Pri collected the seaweeds for Pri’s neighbour and went home.

After a clean shower, Yogi came by for the fitting of El Rey’s suit. It looked perfect! And the material was not shy of the quality. Well worth the money if you asked me. I was extremely hungry by dinner time and puking from my empty stomach when we went to this stall which sold “Tam Mee Goreng” which was a version of the Cantonese Style “Kung Fu Chow” except with a lot of celery. I don’t eat celery and I never will.

After dinner, we have decided to go with MiL for a shopping trip along KUTA roads. We cheated people off their earnings again when we bought curtain stuff, a few night dresses (for me) and especially great was when we negotiated with the door gifts for the wedding in August! It’s a secret I will reveal it after.

I HAD THE MOST AMAZING AFTER PUKING FOOD which happens to be waffles with fruits and ice cream! I shared this with MiL as I could only eat so much. Well, the food was not cheap at all, even resulted to the same price as waffles and pancakes in Malaysia. I still love the Dutch pancakes much better though. I am still waiting for El Rey to make me some! -hint hint-

And MiL said, “Now you’re really, really, really happy!” and I was!

We went back after and I had another good night’s sleep.

Day 5:
We woke up early again (seems to be a trend) as we needed to fly back to Malaysia today. But I had a craving for Es Kelapa Muda again and so El Rey and I (finally alone) walked over to the beach, while stopping to buy more curtain decorations. We had our fill, took away two for the in laws and decided to hop over to the nice fancy restaurant for luncheon when we got approached by this “tourism promoter” who speaks fluent English. He told us that he was promoting tourism in Bali and a specific hotel called Royal Resort Bali and its associates in Thailand and India.

That if we would tell people about their resort when we go back to Malaysia it will be a long term investment for them. Sure, we’ll tell people all right. Just not the way you want us to tell.

El Rey won two T-shirts with the lottery cardboard and I happen to be the “Star Prize Winner” who could stand a chance to win either a Panasonic Video Camera, a 7-nights free stay at their hotel or US$500 in cash. There is a picture below which I had picked from this site (which basically tells the same story).

SCAM TICKETS

Even though this smells like a scam, El Rey and I decided to check it out “just in case”. They drove us in a free van to a marketing office in Jimbaran where there were a lot of other “star Prize winners” listening to time sharing pitches from sales people on their desks.

Unfortunately for them, all their representatives were busy at the moment and could not entertain us.  So we left with our coupon for the 7-nights “free” stay in their hotel and our two T-shirts. I asked the cab driver on the way back if he ever saw anyone with a video camera and or cash and he said never.

Overall, it was a waste of 45 minutes to travel to Jimbaran and back to Kuta and 10 minutes to fill fake information on the registration form.

So here’s to all who gets approached, don’t believe in free stuff. It is never ever really free.

We left for the airport soon after and slept throughout on the way back to Malaysia.

What was disappointing was that El Rey never got to try the bbq seafood by the beach at jimbaran. But otherwise, I would say it was a pretty rewarding trip. I have enjoyed myself tremendously except with the food choices but did not complain one bit! I think I did a pretty good job for myself! -pat on the back-

United Airlines more confident about returning travellers

United Airlines saw November traffic rise 1.8 pct

Airline prices to “increase worldwide”

Emirates airline could be put up as debt collateral

AirAsia gets discount at airport for brining in tourists

Talks continue at Aer Lingus

EasyJet Passengers Carried Up 12.2% In November

EasyJet boosts yields on ancillaries.

Ryanair reports strong passenger traffic

Wizz enters Latvia

Air Asia from 21JAN10 launches 3rd Daily Kuala Lumpur – Hong Kong service. Schedule of the 3rd Daily flight as follows:

AK658 KUL1310 – 1705HKG 320 D
AK659 HKG1735 – 2130KUL 320 D

Image courtesy of Singapore Airlines

So here’s the wrap of 2009 (travel wise).

A little premature seeing that there is a little over 2 weeks of 2009 to go, but I don’t have any foreseeable flights in these weeks – so here goes.

Actual distance flown

2008: 57,948 miles (93,249km, 2.33 times around the earth along the equator)

2009: 84,976 miles (136,755km, 3.41 times around the earth along the equator)

Variance: +46.64%

Time spent on-board flights

2008: 127hrs, 19 mins

2009: 201hrs, 50mins

Variance: +59%

Number of flights

2008: 47

2009: 64

Variance: +36.17%

Countries visited

2008: 12

2009: 16

Variance: +33.33%

Airlines flown

2008: 6

LOT Polish Airlines (LO), Lufthansa (LH), Malaysia Airlines (MH), SAS Scandinavian Airlines (SK), SilkAir (MI), Singapore Airlines (SQ)

2009: 13

Air Asia (AK), Berjaya Air (J8), British Midlands (BD),  Croatia Airlines (OU), Firefly (FY), Indonesia Air Asia (QZ), Lufthansa (LH), Malaysia Airlines (MH), SAS Scandinavian Airlines (SK), Silk Air (MI), Singapore Airlines (SQ), Swiss International Airlines (LX), Thai Airways (TG), Turkish Airlines (TK)

Variance: +116.67%

Longest Flight (distance)

2008: 6,394 miles, 11hrs 56mins, Singapore (SIN) – Frankfurt (FRA)

2009: 6,539 miles, 13hrs 45mins, Singapore (SIN) – Amsterdam (AMS)

Variance: +2.27%

Longest Flight (duration)

2008: 11hrs 56mins, 6,394 miles, Singapore (SIN) – Frankfurt (FRA)

2009: 13hrs 45mins, 6,539 miles, Singapore (SIN) – Amsterdam (AMS)

Variance: +13.83%

Shortest Flight (distance)

2008: 139 miles, 45mins, Kota Kinabalu (BKI) – Sandakan (SDK)

2009: 142 miles, 45mins, Copenhagen (CPH) – Gothenburg (GOT)

Variance: +2.16%

Shortest Flight (duration)

2008: 45mins, 139 miles, Kota Kinabalu (BKI) – Sandakan (SDK)

2009: 45mins, 142 miles, Copenhagen (CPH) – Gothenburg (GOT)

Variance: 0%

Fastest Flight

2008: 536 mph, 6,394 miles, 11hrs 56mins, Singapore (SIN) – Frankfurt (FRA)

2009: 551 mph, 5,597 miles, 10hrs 10mins, Frankfurt (FRA) – Bangkok (BKK)

Variance: +2.80%

Slowest Flight

2008: 185 mph, 139 miles, 45mins, Kota Kinabalu (BKI) – Sandakan (SDK)

2009: 162 mph, 162 miles, 1hr, Munich (MUC) – Zurich (ZRH)

Variance: -12.43%

Average Flight (distance & duration)

2008: 1,233 miles, 2hrs 43mins

2009: 1,328 miles, 3hrs 9mins

Airlines frequent flier membership

2008: MH Enrich Blue, KL Flying Blue, SQ Krisflyer Elite Silver (Star Alliance Gold)

2009: MH Enrich Blue, KL Flying Blue, OZ Asiana Diamond (Star Alliance Gold), SQ Krisflyer Elite Gold (Star Alliance Gold)

You may notice in this post that I haven’t purchased a round-the-world flight ticket which Quantas and STA Travel offer, well I’m off to USA, back to the UK and on to Asia and finishing in Australia. This is all in aid of seeing the Australia vs England Ashes 2010-2011 cricket series hosted in Australia between November and January.

This way each flight must be purchased individually but it does provide much greater flexibility in our trip as we have only purchased the major routes so far and plan to purchase smaller flights as and when needed.

I’m a keen cost cutter when it comes to purchasing items that cost over double figures. Don’t ask why, but I’ve always done it. You can appreciate then that I will search until I have stubs for fingers to save a few extra quid on a £300 flight.

Typically I use the below comparison engines to get an idea on how much flights will cost:

Skyscanner – www.skyscanner.com

Kayak – www.kayak.com

Cheapflights – www.cheapflights.co.uk

The above sites give a good general outline of cost for a typical flight, sometimes they can’t be beaten but below are some tips to see if you can drive the cost down further::

Multiple destinations/countries on your trip? Check and the website allows it see if you can do Multi-city, type in the airport you want to go to and dates and see if it works out cheaper. Works for when you have over 3 stops on a trip.

Under 25 or a student? Check STA Travel www.statravel.co.uk If you are looking for flights outside the UK visit the departing country’s STA Travel site; e.g outbound Australia flights www.statravel.com.au

Flying with a large airline? Check Expedia www.expedia.co.uk They often affiliate with known airlines to promote exclusive air fares when going through Expedia. Worth checking as the last thing before purchase.

What route are you flying? Some airlines can take you to a destination if you are willing to go via their airport base. For example a direct flight from Thiruvananthapuram, India to Beijing, China is £300 but if you are willing to book separately and go via Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and then on to Beijing the cost of the flight is just £110 with meals, baggage and pre-booked seats. This was with Air Asia (the Asian equivalent of Ryanair!)

Around the globe in one direction? Try a round-the-world ticket, you can do this via STA Travel or Qantas www.qantas.com and the type of ticket or travel is know as AlliedAlliance which a group or large airlines who service the popular globe trotting routes. It’s good and saves money but it costs to be flexible and change flight times.

Air Asia announced from 15JAN10 it’ll launch Kota Kinabalu – Taipei service.  This will be Air Asia Group’s 3rd route to Taipei in less than 9 months.

AK6318 BKI0600 – 0920TPE 320 D
AK6319 TPE0950 – 1310BKI 320 D

Lorsque j’ai réalise mes vols entre Singapour et Bali, j’ai emprunté la compagnie low cost asiatique Air Asia.

Tout d’abord, sur le site lors de la réservation de nombreuses options sont offertes comme le choix de ses repas a bord.

En rentrant dans l’avion, ma surprise fut totale. Un avion quasi neuf, ultra propre, voire haut de gamme du fait du design intérieur.
En effet, j’ai apprécie le contraste du rouge avec le gris du “cuir” des sièges et le blanc du reste de la cabine.
Seul désagrément la musique pourrie tout au long des 2h30 de vol.

Dans le dossier de mon fauteuil, le consumer magazine de la compagnie me présente pas mal d’operation comme le partenariat avec l’équipe de football américain les Raiders.
Mais ce qui retient pleinement mon attention, c’est tout l’article sur l’approche “social média marketing” de la compagnie.

Facebook, twitter, blogs, …. Tout est présent pour rester en contact avec les clients, créer du lien et surtout laisser la possibilité d’informer.

Nous pouvons retrouver tous les liens directement sur une page de leur site.

Quand on y regarde de plus près, cela est assez bien foutu.

Et possède pas mal de gens dans les différents groupes de la marque : 10 472 fans sur la page, 24 160 vues des vidéos sur Youtube, et surtout près de 15 000 followers sur Twitter.

Chez Air France, le groupe Facebook ne compte que 2 329 membres.

Mais au vu de l’opération réalisée pour le vol inaugural de l’A-380, nous allons certainement voir le social media prendre de plus en plus d’ampleur au sein de la compagnie nationale!

N’ayant pas encore beaucoup de temps pour vous faire partager mon voyage, ce que j’ai pu voir et surtout découvrir, surtout vous parlez de la campagne Absolut Vodka Rock’N'Roll ou encore le programme social media d’Air Asia, mais également ses campagnes de media tactiques avec Visa… voici le visuel le plus kitsch que j’ai pu voir!

Aperçu dans les rues du quartier Indien de Singapour, cette publicité pour un Whisky est totalement kitsch.

Vive le Bollywood Style!

EasyJet apologises for Holocaust fashion shoot

BA-Iberia merger – bigger, but is it better?

Aer Lingus looks to move for the long-haul

Ryanair passengers miss flight in airport mix-up

Ryanair leaves passengers stranded

JAL Seeks 40 Pct Pension Cut For Survival

The beleaguered Aer Lingus may relocate from Ireland to UK

AirAsia: Ancillaries and brutal cost control deliver 17.6% after tax margin for Malaysian operations

Emirates to fly to Tokyo

Branson Says Competing Airlines Should Start From Scratch

1.How old are you, where are you from, where are you living now and what took you there?

Age 35, from the UK, currently living in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I decided to move to Malaysia in 2003 as I’d lived in Hong Kong for a year in 1996/97 and travelled around SE Asia and loved it! I fell in love with the heat, the energy, the food and the great lifestyle that is possible out here (not many places in the world where you can afford to eat out every night of the week).

2.How long have you lived there and how long will you stay? What keeps you there?

Moved to Kuala Lumpur in 2003, but spent some time away between then and now (8 months travelling in Latin America, 1 year working in Argentina, and 1 year working in London). Marrying a Malaysian next year, so we’re settling down here … so hopefully we’ll be in KL for a long time. (Not ready to move back to London after living through a British winter last year).

3.What do you do to make a living?

Market Research… Been in the same industry for the last 12 years… I’m lucky that it’s a job that is easy to travel with, and I’ve had a great experience working in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

4.Describe your average weekday and weekend day.

Average week day is probably about 12 hours in the office! Weekends involve catching up with friends, lying by our pool, or travelling. There are so many beautiful places close to KL to visit and the highways in Malaysia make everything very accessible. With the advent of cheap travel (Air Asia and other low cost airlines) we’re also lucky enough to be able to do short trips around Asia.

5.What skills have you learned while living abroad?

Languages (French, Spanish, and a smattering of Cantonese… I’ve been promising to start learning Malay soon)

6.What are you missing (professionally) by not being in your home country?

A better wage!

7.If you could live anywhere, where would that be and why?

Anywhere in the heat.

8.What is your favorite gadget that makes your work life abroad better?

I miss the Blackberry I had in London… No such gadgets for me here!

9.Do you have a favorite book that inspired you to travel or consider a different way of living?

Oh there are so many… I’ve always loved reading novels or biographies set in the country or region that I’m visiting, living in, or considering visiting… We were in Cambodia last week and reading some memoirs of people who grew up during the Civil War really gave me a greater understanding of the suffering the country and its’ people went through. In the same vein, I remember reading a photocopied version of the Quiet American in Vietnam in 1997. I also remember reading A Town Like Alice when I was a teenager, and then re-reading it when I was back in Malaysia… Again, enabling me to understand more about the history of the country I am living in. Isabel Allende is another of my favorite authors… Her autobiography (My Invented Country) really bought the Latin American lifestyle to life. Riding the Iron Rooster (Paul Theroux) was inspiring, but the descriptions of the freezing cold conditions he endured on his travels through China put me off travelling in North China in the winter!

hi peepx, I’m so sorry I’ve been busy like always that I have no time to blog aout my expedition to the land of tranny. yea this sounds right XD

since there’re alot of you who throwing me questions, I’ll answer them here. where I went and where you should go(for those who going soon)

first of all, I want to vomit my appreciation to the leading low cost airline, Air Asia. thanks for the promo so I could fly with your cheap rates (not so lucky last few weeks couldn’t get a ticket from your promo).

air asia with the gloomy wheather

it takes around 2 hours to reach bangkok. due different time zone, malaysia is 1 hour ahead so it only takes one hour to bangkok(relative to bangkok’s time)

it was the first time I been to LCCT,  that airport sucks big time, as compared to everywhere. why malaysia just so useless?

with kang wai and benny

that’s the arrival on bangkok airport. it’s easy to get access to your hotel anywhere. there’ll have a taxi counter outside the main entrance where you just tell the person where you wanna go. no worries of getting conned, their taxi price is very reasonable.

After get set to our hotel, Ecotel bangkok, we headed to Sukumvit Rd. here you can find 2 red light districts. Soi Cowboy and Nana. can be accessed by sky train. consult the ky train workers they will tell you which station to go.

with kenny and benny

There’s one pork mee stall outside of soi cowboy that I think you must try. that was our first meal in bangkok.

delicious food

one thing rare there is malaysians. we never met any in the 6 days we were there. you’ll somehow feel like you’re in europe more than in asia. if you have no idea what red light district is, this is it.

soi cowboy (soi means lorong)

basically it looks like this la the whole street, and the girls will stand along side and do the seducing stuffs all. so don’t get freaked out.

a very scary snacks that you might wanna try, deep fried insects and frogs watever. you can get one big bag for Rm 1 / 10 baht.

the frog is crazy

it tastes like no taste, crispy, a thin layer of local spices will get you high. but I still can’t eat it, the frog head is not removed, so it’s the problem of mentality.

I dono what happened, my travel mates love them so much. me not so.

kenny benny kangwai with their fav

after taking alcohol, we went back and had supper. something you’ll never imagine. PINK mee soup.

pink soup with fishball

this is indeed a very special food. tastes too much of sour to me. the 7-11 there sell cheap drinking water. that’s a very good thing for travelers. on the other place, you might need to spend big on water.

Tempat: Kaunter Air Asia Bandara Soekarno Hatta, Bandung.

Jalan raya: Sesak dan tidak bergerak.

Cuaca: Hujan lebat.

Seorang manusia berjalan dengan cepat di dalam kelebatan hujan menuju tempat kejadian.

Kaki seluarnya basah lencun.

Setibanya di lokasi kejadian,

“Lega… Dah sampai pun”, bisik manusia itu di dalam hati.

Lantas dia terus melangkah masuk.

Mata sempat mengerling ke jam di sebelah kaunter.

Jam 5.04 petang.

“Mbak, bisa saya bantu?”, wanita di kaunter mula bertanya.

“Ya, saya mau check tiket buat Senin depan”, pantas manusia itu menjawab.

“Cuma check aja kan? Gak beli?”

“Emang gak bisa beli di sini?”

“Ga, soalnya udah tutup sekarang”

Manusia itu mengerling lagi ke jam tadi.

“Aku hanya telat 4 menit kok“, bantah hatinya.

“Ya, gak apa-apa lah. Check aja tiketnya”

Dalam hatinya, “Buset! Tu pun malas. Macam la system dah shut down“

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Aduh, manusia. Kalau aku lambat macam tu, terus tak boleh beli. Bayangkan kalau doktor macam tu, apa agaknya orang akan cakap?

Berkira.
Malas.

It’s been very busy… and I still haven’t finished writing about Vietnam which we left over a week ago. Promise promise promise to write every day this week!! And more photos to follow v soon…

Sandwiched In A Really Teeny Weeny Tuk-Tuk

We have met up with Ian, chilled for a few days in Bangkok, eaten most of the ten huge Green & Blacks bars he brought out with him (our first proper choc since too long)*, been repeatedly massaged into glorious oblivion, and then moved on to Pattaya.

We stayed for 3-4 nights at the lovely Suk 11 in Bangkok, which had been recommended by the lovely Violet Dear whom we met in Indonesia. She was spot on. Suk 11 is a beautifully dark and cosy Arabian nights style hostel with pokey corners and delicious free breakfast. Plus there was a hospital right next door where I could get my stitches out, so the whole thing was completely painless (almost).

Stitches Out!!

Loved our cocktail night at The Banyan Tree’s stunningly beautiful rooftop bar Vertigo (check out the picture on the link – oooooh pwetty). We sort of surpassed our daily budget by cocktail round no.3 but, hey who’s counting?? Oh, Will actually. Doh.

Quick Catch Up – Final days in and musings on Vietnam -

1. We had an absolutely yummylicious meal at Quan An Ngon, which I highly recommend. Wonderful Vietnamese food in beautiful surroundings at easy prices.

2. One thing I noted whilst travelling around Vietnam was the use of glass panels in toilets to make every toilet cubicle effectively see-through! I have never seen this anywhere else, but here every other public toilet seemed to be a peep show.

3. The Vietnamese hotel hospitality was wonderful. Even the cheapest rooms always give you a fresh towel, new soap and a new toothbrush and toothpaste. We were so spoiled with our bathroom condiments.

4. Em, Clary – Thought of you when we saw “Very Good” Popcorn at a service station somewhere in the middle of nowhere very much. Velly velly good.

Tanktastic

5. The War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh was a very good exhibition showing the shocking human and political atrocities of the Vietnam War. Most interesting were photo accounts of the war, particularly those of English photo journalist Larry Burrows who revealed to the American public the true depictions of the war whilst it was happening.  Other displays included horrific images of the effects of Agent Orange and other chemicals on both people at the time and now, with the sadly continuing legacy of birth defects. Some of the images were exceptionally harrowing. We were very grateful to spend 10 minutes at the end looking around a final display of cartoons and drawings of peace which had been created by young Vietnamese school children.

Apparently when the Vietnamese went to set up the museum many countries donated many exhibits, propoganda posters, photos etc. and it was only the US who charged them monies!! The museum itself is currently under refurbishment so several display areas were not accessible. Hopefully they will also sort out the air con / fan issues in there as it was swelteringly hot when we were looking around. I was very grateful for my Burmese paper fan!!

6. I am now a complete Wire convert and addict. We were v lucky to pick up some bargain DVD collections in Ho Chi Minh, including the complete series of The Wire and the complete works of Woody Allen. I am sooooo happy and Will and I hardly speak anymore.

7. I was lucky to pick up a krama scarf in Ho Chi Minh, and I am trying to pull off European chic with my various neck ties.

8. Oh, we love you Air Asia, we really do. But why oh why did you have to be so silly about weighing everything at Ho Chi Minh?? Our bags weighed the same as they had on every other lovely Air Asia flight (plus maybe a wafer thin DVD or two, and a scarf here, a scarf there…) Let’s still be friends. And then we’ll also forgive you the terrifying flight into Bangkok…

9. We had a terrifying flight into Bangkok. All fine and dandy until we suddenly started losing altitude very quickly. And then all of a sudden out of the blue bit of turbulence / dodgy mid-air manoeuvre which jolted the whole plan sideways quite substantially, throwing a poor air hostess into an empty seat. It was actually quite scary. Happy to finally land. And then noted the 77-year old looking pilot. Even happier to have finally landed.

Back to Thailand -So now here we are again in Thailand. And as I was saying, we spent a few days in Bangkok then we headed on to Pattaya. There we spent 4 days or so dealing with the practical issues we needed to get through with Ian (who was, and is, amazing), and met a lot of Neil’s friends, both Western expats and Thais who were all so welcoming and lovely. Also tried to have some fun, mainly goggling intriguingly at the ubiquitous and blatant sex tourists, and drinking endless ma pao (coconuts). Highlight of Pattaya was definitely the amazing Tiffany’s ladyboy cabaret show which Ian was especially keen we took in (“you can see the emptiness, the sadness behind their eyes” – he really sold it). We all particularly loved ladyboy Tina Turner. Fascinating to watch. Very hard to tell what is what. Definitely subverts gender expectations and messes with your mind!!

Had dinner a couple of times at gorgeous Mantra. THE best pumpkin soup any of us had ever had. And then some. In fact, worth booking a flight out to Thailand just to go here and taste this. So many depths of flavour, so silky, so divinely mmmmm. Caused Will to ask at one point, “What came first, the pretension or the soup?” Plus, they had toothpicks with mint herbs stuck on the end. How genius is that??? Answer: very.

In Pattaya everything is a go go. They even have a JoJo bar a go go. And now we have a gone gone back to Bangkok. Here we are chilling for 5 days whilst Ian does his massage course at Wat Po, I do some writing and Will just generally arses about. Hee hee. Oh, and we need to wait for our Cambodia visas.

Staying at Shanti Lodge, 15 mins or so from the uber-hyped Khao San Road. Receives mixed reviews online but we like it. Ian loves the vegetarian restaurant, and we love the free wifi. Rooms are fairly small (especially as the three of us were in a tiny double room with extra bed pushed in last night. But we move today to larger room with balcony and big fish in a tank) and a tad overpriced, but the communal areas are lovely lovely chilled and happy. The passion punch smoothie is amazing. Oh, and Bangkok National Library is at the end of the road which is just the place I’m planning to be most of this week. SO fortuitous that it is literally 1 minute walk away. You couldn’t have planned that. The travelling fairy is shining down upon us. Now, I just need to find where she put the ma paos around here…?? xx

Will Feigns Disinterest As Ian Updates Jo On X-Factor 2009

* Many of you will also be pleased, and not surprised, to hear that Ian brought out a tupperware container of his delicious homemade houmous, as well as a salad his dad had made, and an English apple segmented perfectly within its foil casing, for us all to enjoy. Lovely. Ian is a big lovely pile of houmous.

Ladyboy Barbie Princess With Tears

Net ingecheckt en ik zit in een internet cafe op Bangkok Int. Airport.
Zometeen vlieg ik naar Cambodja, waar ik naar de hoofdstad Phnom Penh ga. En morgen of overmorgen ga ik naar Siem Reap, daar zijn de tempels van Angkor Wat. Die wil ik erg graag zien. Ben heel benieuwd hoe Cambodja is, schijnt heel anders te zijn.

Bangkok was te gek! Erg druk, en vermoeiend maar onvergetelijk!
Echt heel veel gedaan en gezien, de nieuwe foto’s staan online. Ook doet mijn MacBook het weer, deze is gemaakt voor nog geen 20 euro! Super service!
Maar het was echt super hier, wil niet te veel uitwijden over bijv. de Pingpong show, want dat zou de magie verpesten.. Ik kende alleen dat woord Pingpong show. Wat er verder gebeurd is echt een Eye popper. Moet wel zeggen dat je schrikt als zo’n balletje op je af komt, maar dat je reflex wel is dat je hem vangt.. Tja, there a reason they invented handgel zullen we maar zeggen dan.

Moet nu toch echt naar mijn gate gaan en aangezien Air Asia een budget maatschappij is, word het een lange wandeling of misschien weer een stuk joggen!