Krabi: Another Island Getaway

28th Oct- 1st Nov 2015

It's been ages since I went to any island, be it locally or otherwise. When I was prompted the idea of going to Krabi with Zera,Fiza , Ziela and her colleagues, I was like 'sure, y not?'.

Once in a while it was fun and better still,more relaxing for just being the 'passenger ' of this whole trip, after being in series of trips with me as the mastermind.

We reached the land of  Krabi in the dawn, and were brought to the hotel. The tours and activities for the whole trip was only confirmed when we we brought to the tourist agent on the way to the hotel in Ao Nang.

The first place we went on the first day was to the elephant santuary a few miles from Ao Nang. This is the second elephant santuary that I went apart from one in Kuala Gandah, Rompin. But I'm telling you the elephants here were really huuuuge. And we grabbed the opportunity to hop on the mammal for a peaceful ride around the greenery surrounding.

                                          

                                  

                                       

There was also performance show by baby elephant after the trekking, and it was fun to watch the witty baby elephant ,Didi obediently followed its master's instructions.

                               

          

The next place we went  was to the Emerald Pool.

                                            

We walked further into the bush to find the blue pool. And yes, the pool is very very blue I never set my eyes on this beautiful pool until we reached here! Stunning.

                                       

We have had our  buffet lunch before we set off to the next place, Tiger Cave Temple.

We did try to climb the steps to the top of temple, but we were even not reaching half before we surrendered.ahahh. Makcik pancits!

So, we went around the temple to snap photos while waiting some of us who were fit enough to reach the top of the hill.

 On the next day, the activities were more to island hopping. We were brought to a few island i.e bamboo island for sight seeing, as well as phi phi island. Apart from that, snorkling in open sea was also included in the itenerary, even though the under water view was quite dissapointing. No coral reef, and very little fish were seen. Perhaps acquiring diving license will be worthwhile for the purpose, yes.?

                           

Nightlife in Ao Nang was quite awesome. The girls and boys decided to hv night ride whereby the bike rentals were easy to get with attractive rental rate.

It was the final day, we decided to go for canoeing. The activity took over 2 hours for us exploring the sceneries and it was awesome experience indeed. 

On the final night in Krabi, we were brought to Krabi town night market. It is just a small night market, but it is highly suggested for souvenir shopping to be done here due to its cheaper price.

Speaking of food, It was very easy to locate halal food, not to mention its fresh seafood for all various selection of dishes.

Apart from heavy meal, one that shouldnt be missed is its pancake. It is very well known amongst tourists in Krabi, it's cheap snack but yummyy!

J. Hotel, Krabi, Thailand

If you are planning on having vacation in Krabi, and still looking for a  nice lodging to stay, my suggestion is J. Hotel, people!

My friends and I were have stayed in this hotel during our trip and it was worth it! The price per pax is affordable for economy traveller, and strategically located at the heart of Ao Nang.

If you want to see both sunset and sunrise, it is just a few walks away from the beach. And it is not soo hard to get Halal foods in this area.

There are also numerous spas with all kinds of self pampering treatments available around this area as well as souvenir shops. But you might want to skip  the shopping here, if the price concerns you =)..

Pantai Sepat, Kuantan

31st July 2015


It has been quite a few times that Mak told her wish to have family picnic by the beach. And only recently I found out about Pantai Sepat as one of famous picnic spot in Kuantan.

We chose to go on Friday to avoid the crowded weekend in  Kuantan.

Situated about 15 minutes from Kuantan city, the beach is a bit isolated from hectic traffic, and I love the sight of trees spanning along the beach.

The beach is suitable for my nephew to have their first experiences stepping their foot in the water, unlike many other beaches that I went before.

And little brother was one of the most excited uncle playing around.

After completed with picnicing and beaching, we went to Kuantan city for having steamboat for dinner. Yummeh!

14-day NZ trip : South Island

25th Apr- 1st May

It's time for South Island. This is New Zealand map so that you get the overview of how a NZ should be explored.

                                                                     source:Google


We went to South Island via Jetstar starting from Christchurch. There is another option to South Island via road and surely it will be more adventurous. But we only learnt the option when we arrived in Auckland. Nevertheless, time is not really on our side, thus, having flight to Christchurch saved a lot more time and energy before we started our real adventure. Yes, real one.hihi.

So we reached Christchurch Airport before we were picked up to Kea campervan agency which is located just a few minutes away from the airport. The briefing session took like, hours that I cant wait to toss our bag and suitcases to get some rest. Oh yes,did I tell you that  we have almost missed our flight back in Auckland. It was very nerve wrecking chasing and decision making moment. Imagine, we have like less than 1 hour to return our car to Jucy rental agent, when we were yet to check in. Thankfully Jetstar ground staff was so helpful and considerate to let us in at the very last minute. Huhu. Seriously tiring, mentally and physically.

Finding halal food in Christchurch is not as easy as in Auckland. We were starving thus decided to go  for vegetarian dinner in a nice Indian restaurant.

So we started our trip in Campervan heading to Lake Tekapo. Of course we couldnt resist to stop by every now and then to snap some pics before resuming our journey.

it was a very peaceful and stress-free drive, that we could enjoy the beautiful view while glancing to the GPS every now and then to ensure that we were on the right track.

We arrived at Lake Tekapo at noon, and it was rainy. So we decided to have our lunch while waiting for the rain to stop. And yes, it was time to cook in the campervan. Yay!

We were lucky that the was brighter when we finished everything and ready to enjoy this picturesque place.

Next place to rush to is Mt Cook. We need to get there before it was getting dark. The road was lonely and any unfortunate incident was the lassssst thing we wish to encounter.

The weather was pretty yucky when arrived at the location. We went longgg way to get here. Thus, be it sunny or rainy, we have no option but to make full use of the the day, no?

Our journey continued to Queenstown.

I lost count of hours spent on the road. It was not one or two hours surely. But the view along the way was enough to make us enjoy the drive to the destination.

Queenstown is well known for various extreme activities. We opted for less extreme but still enjoying the nice weather in Queenstown.

Apparently Queenstown is not as big as I thought. There are souvenir shops, halal kebab cafe and restaurant at Queenstownmall.

We spent the evening strolling at the nearby lake before having our dinner. Ah yes, it was Zera's birthday too!

We drove to Te Anau as our transit to our next attraction, Millford Sound. We started our journey from Te Anau in the morning and drove over two hours to Millford Sound.

We were lucky having rented the car from Jucy earlier, thus made us entitled to enjoy best price of all available cruises at the jetty.

The cruise took over 1 hour, and I have to say, this-is-a-must -do when you are in South Island. The experience on cruise, the breathtaking view of fjord around us are so priceless.

 

And so we took our own sweet time, cooked our lunch in the campervan, made ourselves comfortable by fulfilling all obligations, before we left to next place.

Our next destination was Fox Glacier.  We arrived in the place just in time when the day was getting dark. The place is famous with helicopter scenic tour. Yes, we couldn't afford it. Gah!

So the following morning we resumed our journey to our initial point, that was Christchurch. The drive took almost whole day. We stopped by for fuel, picture taking every now and then. 

Along the road, there are places where the topography was challenging to drive. Being an amateur campervan driver, we took precaution to drive very slow. And there was also days when we were not so lucky in one incident when we were forced to pull over by an angry local road user,just to lend our ears to hear his curses to our face for our slow speed on the 100km/h highway. Of course we were scared that the comboy-like man would take out his gun and shoot us to death. Huhu.

Nevertheless, we refused to allow the incident to take our good mood away. Thankfully the view of the place is pretty that we can stopped by to release the stress.

All in all, despite the bitter sweet moments throughout the 5-day journey exploring SouthIsland, we managed to keep ourselves safe to end of the trip. Alhamdulillah, this trip is indeed another eye-opener for His Almighty.