Malaysia – Page 4 – w w w . x e .s . c x

Tioman Island: Tioman Island: Part I

Tioman Island is well known for its beauty. Many divers flock to Tioman Island to dive. In 1970s, it was selected by TIME’s magazines as one of the most beautiful islands.

Over the years, tourists flocked to Tioman Island which eventually brought development to the island. It now has a five star hotel, a duty free town and also an airport. The Berjaya Group operates an airline namely Berjaya Air to connect Subang Airport in Kuala Lumpur with Tioman Island.
We stayed at Berjaya Tioman Resort, which is a fairly decent and nice resort. The chalets are double storeys and its interior and facilities are nice. We paid around RM190++ per room per night. It didn’t come with breakfast though.

Snorkeling and diving are the main attractions of Tioman Island. Since our hotel stay doesn’t provide meals, we ventured out from the hotel for food. There are two restaurants outside the hotel namely Restoran Citra Anugerah and Delima Tomyam and Diana Seafood. Delima Tomyam and Diana Seafood is not bad. I quite like their roti kosong.

Restoran Citra Anugerah on the other hand sucked big time. Although the atmosphere was pretty nice (we dined at the beach), the food sucked big time. The cheese baked crab that we ordered tasty funny. It was bland and the had been fried and thus soft! It was quite expensive too!

On our first day, we went on a snorkeling excursion around Pulau Tioman. Before we left our hotel, we bought few bags of fish food which are mostly leftover toasts and buns.

There was even a blueberry tart insidel!

Our boat this time round has cushioned seats and sufficient lifejackets. It was a luxury!

Looks like turttlleeeee!

Although the water was fairly clean and clear, most of the corals were dead and the fishes were nothing interesting. But we managed to swim a little and fed loads of fishes. The fishes were crazy over the toasts and buns.

WK, Umeng, sLoonG and KF merged to form…

into a boat for AaHim. Unfortunately, the boat wasn’t tough enough..

Our snorkeling trip only lasted half a day. We were supposed to snorkel at 3 locations but it was cut short to two locations. The guide told us that there isn’t much stuff to see at the Marine Park and asked us whether we want to cut it short so that we can spend more time at the two locations. I wonder if this was one of their tricks to limit their working time.

The snorkeling trip left me a very poor impression on the marine environment of Pulau Tioman. So much for one of the most beautiful islands.

To be continued..

Tioman Island: Mersing to Tioman Island – Part II

One of the villagers offered to bring us to the correct jetty at RM50 per person. It was too expensive.

We called our hotel, Berjaya Tioman Island Resort, to enquire whether they could come and get us. Unfortunately, they don’t have a boat to get us.

Fortunately, Him managed to convince a local fisherman to bring to to the correct jetty at RM200. Within no time, we threw our bags on to the fisherman’s boat and headed straight to Berjaya Tioman Island Resorts’s jetty.

When we reached Berjaya Tioman Island Resorts’s jetty, it was around 12am. We took 8 hours from Mersing to get to Tioman Island! I could have reached Melbourne, Australia with 8 hours.

At the jetty..

The receptionists at Berjaya Resorts were very surprised to hear our story. We looked exhausted and dirty.

sLoonG looked as if someone rolled him down the hill.

Syen’s pants was awfully dirty

KF had eye bags of a panda

We checked into our hotel rooms, took a shower and rushed to the mamak outside the hotel. Food never tasted that good.

We were very fortunate to be well and alive. We would have turned into fish food and nobody knew about it. I wouldn’t do it again even someone pays me to do so. I highly admire the Vietnamese boat people who once went through this kind of ordeal for few weeks in a row. 5 hours was like hell to me.

I wouldn’t do it again!

If you guys have the time, please call Shukor at 013 788 0075 middle of the night and tell him we’re still at the jetty waiting for him or drifting in the sea waiting for help. wahahahhaha.

Tioman Island: Mersing to Tioman Island – Part I

We left Melaka in the morning and reached Mersing around 3PM. Mersing is the gateway to Pulau Tioman. One has to take a ferry from Mersing Jetty in order to reach Pulau Tioman. Tickets can be purchased at the jetty at around RM35. The journey from Mersing Jetty to Pulau Tioman takes around 1 hour and 30 minutes by jetty.

Unfortunately, by the time we reached Mersing Jetty, the ferry services to Tioman had ended! The next ferry to Pulau Tioman is 11am the next day!

Since we have already paid for our accommodation in Pulau Tioman, we were quite desperate to head to Pulau Tioman. Further, we didn’t want to waste our time in Mersing and spend a night in Mersing.
While at the jetty, someone offered to bring us over to Pulau Tioman for RM800. There were 14 of us and hence that comes less than RM60 per person. None of us have been to Pulau Tioman and none of us knew of other alternatives to get there. We snapped up the offer and within minutes, we were driven to a smaller jetty.

Then our boat came. It was a small wooden boat. /(*O*)\

We unloaded our luggage into the boat and took our seats. There were no chairs or anything nice to sit on. It was all wooden planks.

It was indeed a Malaysia Boleh moment..no ferry? no problem, just take a fisherman’s boat.

We were initially told that the journey would take around 3 1/2 hours. It didn’t take 3 1/2 hours to reach Tioman. It took 5 hours O_O

We were sailing against the wind and waves. The boat went up and down like a roller coaster ride. And there was only three lifejackets on board.

The 3 lifejackets

Not to long ago, one of the ferries to Tioman caught fire and a few people drowned. One blogger spoke about the tragedy on his blog and how poorly the search and rescue was conducted. If the boat sank, I guess the same thing would happen to us.

The first few hours were pretty bearable and frankly we were pretty excited too. However, the last few hours were hell. I sat on the front portion of the boat with Umeng, WK, Hyong and Kiang. I begin to feel seasick and tried to sleep. Whenever I close my eyes, I had sea water splashing on my face. I manage to fall asleep for few minutes only to be awaken by the rocking boat. My head was spinning and it was almost unbearable. It felt better when I vomited.

Kiang on the other hand was so sea sick until he did not move a single inch for five hours. I thought he fainted.

The boat was manned by two Malay brothers, one of them by the name Shukor. Shukor was telling me that to overcome seasickness, one should drink a mouthful of sea water. Hence, when I had sea water splashing on me, I licked myself like a cat cleaning itself.

Our sea sickness reached climax when the boat had to stop to pick up something from the sea. You see, one of the boat’s doors broke and fell on to the sea. The boat had to turn back and it started to rock left, right, centre and back. Arrggghhhhh

The passage way that connects the front and back of the boat is a small path that is around one feet. Any mistaken steps would lead one flying off the boat.

But the path is also one of the most important places in the boat. Since there is no toilet, we had to stand on the path, with one hand holding to the boat and the other hand holding our ‘brother’, to wee.

After feeling extremely sick while sitting down, I decided to stand up and endure the bumpy ride. Within no time, I felt a little bit better. I decided to stand until the end of the trip. I stood for 2 hours O_O

We sailed until night time. If its not for the moon light, everything would be pitch dark.

By 9pm, we landed at Pulau Tioman. We were so relieved when we reached there.

Haaalleeluuyaaaah! Ahamdulilahhh!! Amitabaa!!

Just as we thought our night mare was over, KF found out that we were on the wrong jetty! The boatman dropped us at the wrong jetty! But by the time KF found out about it, the boat was already sailing off. When we asked the boatman to come back to bring us to the right jetty, the boatman refused and told us to stay over there and take the boat to the correct jetty the next morning!

We then asked around whether there are any boats that goes to the correct jetty. Unfortunately, it was too late and there are no boats around. It would be great if we could just take a taxi to our hotel but Tioman doesn’t have taxi services. The only way is to walk and it takes around four hours to walk from the current jetty to the correct jetty.

We were shocked. We were conned big time! Argghh Fuk you Shukor!!

To be continued..

Tioman Island: Melaka: Abandoned Baba Nyonya House

We spent the entire day walking around shopping and eating around Jonker Street.

While walking back to our hotel, we found an abandoned house with its door wide open. The house is one of the old Baba Nyonya Houses, which is probably around 100 years old.

The Baba Nyonya House was dilapidated – with its roof missing. Almost all its fixtures were missing and the paint on the walls was peeling. The well was cover with a plant.

Other than the roof, the second floor is gone except for the front portion of the house where a room is still intact. The room is locked with a padlock. I wonder what’s inside!

See the padlock?

One of the things that interests me was the stairs. Here we found a dilapidated concrete stair which ends abruptly.

I walked up the stairs..

Looked up..

Viola! Lovely picture by WK!

I walked toward to the end of the house which was probably 100 meters deep. The end of the house was a small garden with overgrown weed. I could see its neighbour’s house from there.

Suddenly, I heard someone slamming the door at the neighbour’s house. I quickly made my move to avoid being caught by the neighbour for being a nosy bastard.

After taking some pictures, we left the place. I told Umeng about the neighbour slamming the door. Umeng and I then peeped at the neighbour’s house and find that…the neighbour’s house is empty and vacant.

\(*O*)/ chong kuai ar!!

Tioman Island: Melaka: Hotel Puri

Due to the return of Aussie boys Umeng and sLoonG, my high school friends and I made a road trip down to Pulau Tioman. It was supposed to be a farewell trip for Jin Han but he was tied up with something else. Jin Han and his family will be migrating to Australia.

We stopped by Melaka for a night before heading to Pulau Tioman. We stayed at Hotel Puri at Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock (behind Jonker’s Street).

Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock was formerly known as Heeren Street which was also known as the Millionaire’s Row. Many many years ago, Peranakan millionaires used to live along this street. Many of the millionaires’ houses are still around, some turned into shops and some vacant and abandoned. Our hotel is one of the many houses that have converted into a commercial lot. But just right opposite Hotel Puri lays the Chee Family Ancestral Home which I believe is still privately owned. It is so grand that it stands out from the others.

Chee Ancestral Home

Hotel Puri used to a mansion of a local Chinese tycoon. It was built in 1822 and it was said to house a zoo with a tiger and few deer!

Another interesting bit of this house is a hall which houses a number of swiftlet bird nests. I wonder if the bird nests are edible.

Bird Nests and CCTV

Just next to the ‘bird nest’ room lays a small museum with some history of house and even about Malaysia.

Our room was reasonably tidy and spacious. sLoonG, WK and I had to share the bed. Poor WK was assaulted by sLoonG and I whole night long.
Parking is provided by Hotel Puri. It’s located few blocks away from the hotel.

The drawback about this hotel is their breakfast. It comes in buffet style with a mixture of local and western cuisine. Their hash browns and sausages were almost tasteless. But with Jonker Street just behind, food shouldn’t be a problem.

Tambun & Ipoh – Climbing and Makan Trip – Part II

After taking a rest, just like last year, we went back to the Tong-Sui street (opposite Sam Tet Primary School) for dinner.

Quite Sedap!

ABC + Fruits

The gang

We ate until we almost exploded.

On the next day, we had breakfast at Kafe Ipoh Central since all the dim sum places were full. The chicken noodles, nyonya kuih and popiah were extremely good!

Edmund: Before going to eat..

Egg Tarts damn gooodd!

Ipoh White Coffee

Tambum & Ipoh – Climbing & Makan Trip – Part I

It was almost a rewind of our last Tambun Trip. On last year’s Hari Raya, we made a trip down to Tambun and Ipoh to climb and eat. This year’s Hari Raya holiday, we made another trip to Tambun and Ipoh but with more fellow posers.
Yes, we ate more than we climbed!
Everyone started their journey at 5am from Kuala Lumpur. However, Ping , A and I were still in bed at 5am and started our journey at 10am after breakfast at Yut Kee.

The journey to Ipoh was a breeze like last year. I guess most people were home by the first day of Raya. On our way, we spotted some devices to scare people from speeding. There was one cardboard with a picture of a police man holding a speed camera below a bridge. It looked like a policeman sitting underneath a bridge from afar. Another one was a mannequin in a police uniform up on a police tower. Those devices worked really well.

We stayed at the dodgy Tambun Inn again. Last year, I heard my neighbour moaning out loud in the middle of the night. This year is a little different. I had disco songs thumping all night long.
Immediately, after check-in, we went to meet the troops at the Lost World of Tambun. Anyone with a Camp 5 entry pass is entitled to a discount to entry fees. I Its around RM21 after discount. No discount is RM30. Before entering, a release form to exclude liability must be signed.

Probably the most photographed area in the park

Last year, we found out that we could access the climbing zone through a housing area. We could just park at the housing area and cross a small stream to enter the climbing zone. However, we found that the path has been barricaded.

Barricaded

Ping – like wearing underwear liddat.

Bahger Ping looking somewhere else while belaying!

Peeping Tom

Spot the climber!

Things you can do with a Milo tshirt.

Abner – what did you do last night..

Anna-Rina’s topless short.

My shoes – damn bad shape.

After a few routes, we called the climbing session off.

Senior Blogger sued for Defamation

Recently, a multinational food company filed a suit against Edward Skading, a senior citizen who blogged about his dissatisfaction over a condensed sweeten milk on his blog, http://consumersrighteousness.blogspot.com/. He alleged that the product that he bought is contaminated and wrote to the multinational company over the alleged contaminated product. After receiving unsatisfactory answers, we decided to post his grievances on his blog.
The multinational company has also filed an application for interlocutory injunction against Uncle Edward. The hearing of the said application is now fixed on 16 October 2008.
It seems that Uncle Edward is going to Court without a lawyer. I’m not sure whether Uncle Edward has filed his Statement of Defence and Affidavit in Reply. However, he has filed his Memorandum of Appearance. There are many rules that a Defendant must follow when going to Court hence to ensure a fair hearing (for both parties), I would highly recommend that Uncle Edward appoint a lawyer.
I have brought this case to the attention of a few lawyers friends. Further, I know that many Malaysian lawyers read this website. I hope that one of our Malaysian lawyers would take up Uncle Edward’s case on a pro bono basis. I can’t help much due to certain reasons.
Those who are interested in defamation actions in the online world, the KL Bar IT Committee is organising a Forum on Blogging and Defamation and is in the midst of sorting out the details. Members will be notified once the details are finalised. Please check their blog at http://klbar.blogspot.com for updates.
P/S Just in case Uncle Edward needs direction to Shah Alam High Court, here’s the map to Shah Alam Court. Stoopid cloud is covering the place.

The Court is located up a hill hence it would be better if you park in the Court’s compound. Parking space in the Court’s compound is limited and it gets full by 830am (or earlier). Nevertheless, you can park outside the Court’s compound and walk to the Court.
All the best Uncle Edward!

Gangstarz @ TV3

This is a season to eat durian falalalalalalaa..
Everybody smells like durian fallallalala
And it’s true that many people smells like durian during this season. I was at the live performance of the local reality show Gangstarz – standing next to celebrity judges Ajai, Sheikh Haikel and Jaclyn Victor.

All of a sudden, the smell of durian slowly trickled into my nose. I had to quickly take a step backwards to escape the smell. Euw.

When I first heard about Gangstarz, I thought it’s some reality show that appeals to the Malays. In fact, when I was at the hall, 99% of the audience was Malay. I thought I would bore myself to death.
But after catching it live, I was wrong. It’s one of the best local reality shows around. The contestants consist of groups from Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. To my surprise, this show is broadcasted in Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia but only those based in Malaysia can vote.
The singers sang extremely well and many of these foreign singers sang in Malay. They had to practice over and over again to get their pronunciation right. But for the grand prize of US$100, 000, all these hard work are well worth it.

3.5

Hosts

Paragon Child

All the contestants
My favourite singers are 3.5 and Paragon Child. I hope one of them wins!

Pusmore Fitness Centre

Climbing buddy, Tetek Soon and his friend, Jonathan started a gym by the name Pushmore early this year. It’s no ordinary gym – here you won’t find the ordinary gym machines.

Tetek Soon
On Saturday, Yaacob, Cris and I took up the challenge. We started off with some mild warming up e.g. squats and rope skips. We had also the opportunity to play with kettlebells, some sort of weight that is shaped like a cannon with a handle. Holding and using a kettlebell requires certain guidance. And it’s bloody heavy.

Medicine balls.
After our warming up session, we tried their workout of the day (WOD). Everyday Soon and Jonathan will come up with a new workout to kill us. On Saturday, we had to pair up and go through 10 minutes of tyre flipping and PushBreast (pushing 2 kettlebells up in the air).

PushBreast

Soon – check out the muscles.
After 10 minutes, I almost died. And for 2 days, I felt like I got run over by a truck. Another friend said he couldn’t eat for 2 days.
AWESOME!!! I can’t wait to get there again!
Pushmore is having a promotion for first timers – first timers get to try out for free. Just bring a pair of sneakers. Their workout of the day is posted on their website and blog. The workout usually last less than 1 hour.

If you’re a fat ass and needs to lose loads of pounds, Pushmore is the right place for you.
Related Links:
Pushmore blog – Check out their Workout of the Day
Pushmore.com.my
http://www.flickr.com/photos/anna-rina/2330983148/
http://anna-rina.com/blog/?p=327
http://matcat.blogspot.com/2008/06/kettlebell-workout-in-park.html