Category: Travel

Bintulu Day 2

I wish I could come out with something funny on this post. But I guess I’m just too exhausted to think of anything funny. So here are the happenings of the day.

This trip is an eating trip. Alex’s parents has been feeding us good food non stop.

The day started off with breakfast @ Bintulu town. We had the famous konlou noodles. Each of us were assigned to finish 2 plates of noodles before we could leave the place.

Bintulu-rians doesn’t speak Cantonese (my chinese dialect). I wanted chrysentimum tea (dont have my spell checker with me now so pardon the spelling mistake), hence I told the lady, “kok fa”.

Lady: har? apa? (what?)
Me: kok fa kok fa kok fa!!

The lady then asked his boss to speak to me.

Me: kok fa.
Boss: ???
William (my friend): (mumbled something in Mandarin)
Boss: ooohhh… (then started mocking me by repeating the words “kok fa” and shaked his ass)

What a fucker man.

We then adjourned to the market place. The prices are really cheap. We could get prawns (no idea what is it called but it has blue testacles, prolly its lobster?) at RM25 per kilo. In KL, we have to pay about RM65 per kilo.

We spent the entire day at Alex’s kick ass 3 acre orchard. It was the time of our life. We were fed with barbequed chicken, pork and prawns, together with fruits plucked fresh from the trees. If it was not for the mosquitoes, the place would be Eden-like.

The orchard has about 6 ponds. Alex and his workers fished out the entire pond with a huge net. The smaller fishes were then barbequed while the huge ones were given away.

If Eden exists in Malaysia, it would be Alex’s orchard. Imagine lying down on a bench, with no worries in the world, with a coconut on your hand, aah..that’s life…

Once the dark sets in, we were brought to a NLG plant (natural gas plant). There we witness a real plant at work, the burning of unwanted gasses lighted up the entire place. It was a really spectacular view.

We ended the night with dinner at a restaurant. Bear in mind the last time we ate was just an hour ago… oh my god..im turning into a BFF (big fat fuck)..

Bintulu Day 1

Bintulu
Wow, I’m in Bintulu already. I’m using Alex’s tortoise speed computer and his tortoise speed internet connection. This is so frustrating.

However, Alex’s house kick ass. It’s built next to a kick ass river, with a kick ass fountain and also a huge kick ass boat!! They also have a hut built next to their house for their driver and his family to stay. wow.

So anyway, the trip was tiresome.

I barely slept last night. I think I had about 2 hours sleep.

Thank you Lynnzter for fetching me to the train station at unearthly hours. Oh well, I treated her dimsum this morning in return for her good deed.

The flight to Bintulu took about 2 hours. Bintulu Airport was…WOW…the design is just like KLIA. It’s like a mini-KLIA.

Suprisingly, Bintulu wasnt what i expected. Before reaching here, all I could think of is old pre-war shophouses with old cars and natives running around with their sumpit (blowpipes). However, I was wrong. Bintulu is well developed with constructions mushrooming everywhere. At one point, I felt like I was in Subang (another developed suburb in Malaysia). The only thing that reminded me that I’m in Bintulu are the wooden houses on the river bank .

Oh yeah most importantly, the food was great. Finally got to try authentic Sarawak Curry Laksa. Will post photos of it once I get back.

The only thing that sucked in Bintulu is the road. My god, it’s so bloody bumped. It’s 10 times worst than Old Klang Road.

Night time
We had exotic Chinese food for dinner. Bats didnt taste good. They’re too boney and dont have much meat. Wild boar and deer meat were fine. Turtles tasted good though but they’re just too cute to be eaten.

We had our dinner on the little hut built on the river bank of Alex’s house. Once we’re done with our meal, we threw the left overs into the river for the fishes and Alex’s pet crocodile.

We spent our evening @ a lousy animal park. The tiger’s den was located top of a hill hence we had to hike up. fuck the fucking tigers, they were sleeping in their cages after we used our almighty strenght to hike up to see them.

We then wandered around the park until we decided to head down to the beach to check out the sunset. It was really nice. The beach was really clean as well. According to Alex, during his school days, the place is a lovers’ hangout. So if you really want to let people know that you’re going out with someone, just bring them to that beach and next day, the entire town will know that you guys are attached.

Miss ya guys at KL. See you guys soon!

Off to Sarawak!

I’m off to Sarawak (a state in Borneo) for my long deserved break tomorrow. I’ll be there for 10 days.

OMG 10 Days! 10 days = 10 pairs of under wear OMG! Where to find??

Bintulu will be my first stop. My classmate, Alex lives there hence I’ll be staying with him with my other classmates.

My second stop would be Miri and Gua Mulu. Gua Mulu has the largest cave chamber in the world, which could fit 40 jumbo jets! We will be caving there.

After my Gua Mulu trip, I would be returning to Bintulu. I don’t know what to expect in Bintulu other than getting pissed with tuak (rice wine) or eating insects at the native long houses.

In any event I were to be killed in a freak airplane crash or head hunter by some natives, I leave all my properties to my parents at half share. Further, please retrieve my journal from my computer in order to be distributed among my friends, of course, with modification.

I’m off to Sarawak with my trusty Canon SLR EOS300, cant wait to start snapping pictures!

Frank will be in charge of this website while I’m gone. Hope he blogs!

And one last final shoutout to my other guestbloggers. While I’m away, please “BLOG BLOG BLOG!!”

Click on the link below to see some really nice pictures of Sarawak
http://www.tropicalisland.de/travel_borneo.html

Peak District Adventure – Part II

Continuation from Peak District Adventure – Part I

Problem
Once we finish touring Chatsworth House, we had another problem. We don’t have transport to get out. Dad and I had to walk out from Chatsworth (it has a long drive way). It was so tiring that Dad stood on the side of the road, raised his thumb, to hitch hike. Unfortunately, no one was kind enough. We ended up on the main road and found a bus station. Unfortunately again, the bus to our destination, Castleton, doesn’t arrive in an hour. Castleton’s main attraction is an underground cave. It looks good from the picture. Dad and I had to sit on the roadside and wait.

We were subjected to cold chilly wind and hot sun. That explains why I’m down with fever now. There was once Dad ran towards a Peak District Ranger truck seeking help. However, the bloke had a little drink and he couldn’t even see the bus timetable properly.

Minutes later, a bus arrived. We asked the bus driver to take us to the nearest train station that could go to Sheffield. Unfortunately again, there aren’t any. We had to take the bus from the other side of the road to head down to Sheffield but the next bus would be in an hour’s time. He gave us an alternative route. He suggested that we walk to another town nearby to take a bus to Sheffield. However, it’s about 3 miles and Dad is too tired. Dad suggested that we hop into the bus and take a look around Peak District. We did. It was fun. We could see places that no tourist bus would bring us.

The whole area was hilly hence we climbed hills and enjoyed the aerial view of the entire Peak District plus the lovely country houses.

We managed to get back to Sheffield. All credits go to our lovely bus driver.

Peak District Adventure – Part I

Peak District is another national park not far away from Sheffield. Its watery and mountainous terrain attracts millions of tourist a year. Dad wanted to see Chatsworth, an English mansion owned by the Duke Of Devonshire. Surrounding it is, a beautiful garden and park that stretches 105 acres.

As we arrive as Grindleford (the nearest train station from Chatsworth), we were greeted with green mountainous scenery. However, there was no ticket station or what so ever building around the train station. All we could see is a coffee shop

Me: Hi, Is there a bus station nearby?
Lady: I?m afraid not. You might need to walk down to the village.
(Lady walks off)

Oh no, I’m stranded in Grindleford. Chatsworth house is apparently not within walking distance and the nearest village is pretty far. I immediately bought a tourist guidebook from the shop.

Eum, I’m heading down to Chatsworth. How do I get there?

(Lady asks his friend but the friend doesn?t know how to get there via public transport)

She then asked a couple who got into the counter to order food.
Lady: These two gentlemen seem lost. They’re heading to Chatsworth. Do you know how to get there?
One of the couple: No, but we can give a lift.

Our face lit up in delight. The lady kept on repeating, “You’re lucky!” to us. No doubt we were lucky.

However, the couple just arrived and had to eat breakfast first. Together with them, 2 children and 2 dogs. Apparently, they were walking the dogs in the woods. While waiting for them, Dad and I enjoyed a cup a coffee.


Once they were done, we headed straight into the woods. The couple parked their car on the main road and we had to go through a forest (with pathway of course) to their car. After 10 minutes, we got into the car and reached Chatsworth in no time. We thanked the couple profusely.

Chatsworth
Dad and I entered the garden first. Surprisingly, there were loads of chickens around. The chickens outside the garden were scavenging for food from visitors. However, inside the garden, there were chickens three times the size of a normal chicken.

The rest of the garden was decorated with bushes, flowers, rocks, mazes and a cascading waterfall. There was a huge man made lake with a fountain called Emperor’s lake. Apparently, a huge lake far away from the man made lake provides the lake’s water. The rest of the garden was very nice. It has few greenhouses to plant fruits such as grape and flowers.

However, we didn’t go far. Dad was tired from walking.

Dad was more interested in the house, as grand royal things interests him. The house has tons of Chinese porcelains, biblical painting, Roman statutes and even books.

Porcelain fanatic.
After pointing some China to Dad, a lady approached us and offered us a book. It’s a list of description of the China we saw. Dad rejected it by saying, he’s just telling his son about the history of China (porcelains). Then both of them started discussing about the history and process of China. Dad used to collect antique China when he in Sabah (a state in Malaysia). He got it from the natives who lived deep in the jungle. Apparently they got the China from Chinese merchants long, long time ago. The natives didn’t have plates and utensils that time and the Chinese merchants wanted exotic materials such as birds’ nest fro the natives. Hence, they traded.
Lady: You are brilliant (Lady points finger at dad)
Dad: huh? Me? No? (Lady interrupts)
Lady: I mean the Chinese were brilliant. You invented porcelain hundred and hundreds of year ago before the Europeans. (She refers Chinese as you). I mean hundreds and hundreds of years ago!

She seems damn fascinated with the Chinese culture.

Dad was very happy with the tour.

To be continued..