My Travel Map!

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Its winter in Hong Kong -Dec2008-

*HK city view from the peak

yeah, ive said it, im likin this place man!its like a shoppin heaven for ppl like me; shopaholic-on-budget. i dont realle go for brands, coz its pricey, but Hong Kong serves the bestest brands at slightly lower price (if u gotta compare it wif Msia of coz).

n if u feel like traveling to Hong Kong (HK), plan early or get a 'lonely planet' guide at least.Jam did all the planning last time, n he had made us felt like we r not strangers in HK.respek!

n if u wanna feel like u r in a runway, visit HK in December (its winter, n everyone's wearing trenchcoat!!). Winter in HK its not similar to winter in London;wer u have snow, n its supercold. "macam dalam TV tula".Its 9- 20DegreeC last time when we visited HK. Its sunny, and there is no rain . Dat way, u can be wearing hot fake gucci shades wif trenchcoat n matchin boots...at all time...its funky man!!we went up the hill wif our sweaters, n boots, with no single sweat!"rasenye la, x tau la yang lain cane"

Accommodation.................................we've been always so fussy on selection of accommodation, but not willin to pay more than RM100 per nite (hahaha), n always ended up stayin in a budget-hostel instead...Jam recommended "Guangdong Guest House", [ full address - B2, 5/F Block B, Chungking Mansion, 36-44 Nathan Road] .GGH has received some kind of top hostel award in HK, and Simon (the owner) is kinda friendly and very very helpful! 4 beds with private bedroom only costs us RM70+ per night. Its bloody cheap!The hostel sounded kodi, but we just went for it, never thought that it is located in the middle of the city, n everything is just around the corner (Nathan Road is a very long road, n there r many boutiques and shops along the road), n its near to the harbour too (Must go: HarbourFront city; 700 branded shops under one roof)

*Nathan Road at nite

Guangdong Guest House can be reached by;

a) bus (50minutes, $HK33)- get off at the 14th bus stop at the Middle Road/Nathan Road, GHH is a 30 second walk. You can find Chungking Mansion at the right hand side
b) airport taxi (45minutes, $HK300) - red colored taxi only coz others dont go to Kowloon area . If u plan on to take taxi, it can be a good precaution to have the name and address of your hotel written down in Chinese before you arrive.
c) airport express, AEL (25 minutes, $HK90) - Get off at Kowloon Station, then take the
shuttle bus #K5, get off at Holiday Inn Golden Mile (Hotel)(1 min walk to Chungking Mansion)

We took a double-decker bus, and the view was superb. I highly recommend the bus ride, n yeah, its kinda cheaper if u r traveling in grup, n more fun!"Nampak sume hong kong city "

There are many places to visit in HK; but yeah, more days spent means more money needed. Again, its the city for shoppers. Since that we stay in Kowloon area, we need to take a ferry at the harbour to get to HK city (MRT is also an option, but we just want to enjoy the ferry ride). MUST VISIT.......Few recommended places that we went to;
Fa Yuen Street for the night markets;a walking distance from our guesthouse. There are many night markets around Nathan Road, i couldnt realle recall all their names. (Nathan Road its kinda center of the city babe).

Mid Levels Escalator @ Connaught Road, the longest escalators (800metres) in the world. It is also connected to SOHO, where u can finds lots of bars,clubs and dining places here. "best gile kat sini, gempak"
Route 973,bus route that is worth seeing, travels from Tsim Sha Tsui, around Kowloon, crosses the harbour and winds around the coast of Hong Kong.
Ocean Park (RM130) or DisneyLand; but we went to the Ocean Park instead of Disneyland, dont know wats the reason behind it. Its realle realle crowded, coz its new year...n u have to wait almost half an hour for a ride.
The Victoria's Peak (Madame Tussaud Wax Museum also located here, its smaller that the one at London though), by taking the 45Degree Peak Tram . Entrance fee to Museum ~ RM60. They have a place called "Asylum - Scream" inside this museum (its similar to haunted house), where they have pretend-pscyhos to scare the hell out of u, n its realle realle scary."well, utk aku scary la,tp lina n kaf selambe masuk 2 kali"

Stanley Market sells miscellaneous items, similar to the one in Fa Yuen street, but I guess stuffs here are cheaper. Take the double-decker bus, and experience a near-death experience riding up a hill in a double doucker bus (the bus drivers are crazyyyy)..:P...n the view is just breathtaking..Awww, n how I missed havin lunch in Stanley (Pizza seems a lot tastier there, somehow)

*Stanley Market
Ngong Pin 360, cool cable car rides to Ngong Pin

*Buddha Statue
*Cable Car ride, Ngong Pin 360
HarbourFront City, a must go!!!n dont go on ur first day of visit, u'll lose all ur money here. (if u r a shopaholic, of coz) . 700 brands under one roof, n the shops design are way cooler..

Bank of China tower, tallest building in HK,n the view is superb! "tp sbb dah naik KLCC ari2, tade la rs superb sgt.:P"

Times Square, where u can find all the malls (cool branded boutiques) , "nila tempat aku beli COACH aku yg murah tu"

I think we went to other places as well coz I remember riding on a cable car twice, takin pictures of gorgeous building structures in the city (yes, u'll like it), went up the hill to take pictures with Budhhas, went to the malls to shop like hell (yes, they have H&M there, n lots of branded item shops) , bought my first COACH, and I also remember riding on a ferry (at the harbour front city)

Yeah, I still think HK its worth visiting. And im thinking of going there again (still finding the time, n money). I bet it shud be called 'city for shoppers'.

Food.............................. Its not easy to get halal food though. There are few places recommended, but I think its too far out from our guesthouse. Most of the time, we went for vegetable pizzas (Pizza Hut is more exclusive here, and the price is more expensive compared to other brand), fishburgers @ Mcd, and eating our own food. We brought a lot canned foods and serunding (nasi only costs RM8 per plate). I highly suggest u to bring ur own food for back-up. Its cold, n u'll feel like eating at all times!

Average Meal Prices;
Low: HK$10-50
Mid: HK$50-120
High: HK$120-250
Deluxe: HK$250+
*$HK 10 = RM4

And the new year celebration was awesome!!We just chilled around the harbour area for the "city light n sound" show (they usually have it everi nite at 8pm, but for new year celebration, they have a special one, and it is supercool).. We went there early (as early as 8), and stayed there until 1pm...its super cold, coz its 10DegreeC and windy. We felt like goin to toilet all the time, but unfortunately, the toilet was too far out, n Kaf, his neverending jokes made us felt like wanna kick his big ass out into the sea...hahaha..
I think there's a lot more to tell, but enuff for this one...I'll update once I have something in mind..
-estro-


Sunday, March 30, 2008

Phuket , where the fun begins - Mac2008-

It was my first year of working, and Syah (my BFF) n Aik Jun decided dat we should just take a 5-days off and enjoy Phuket. The beaches. We didnt properly plan and we weren't taking any tour/travel guide, we just.. went for it..



The first thing that I've learnt from this trip is "not to visit Phuket in March", because everything's so expensive at that time (peak season I guess). But its kinda cool though, as we felt like visiting Californian beach. "Mat Saleh" were almost everywhere.n N THE WOMEN WERE TOPLESS!!! I think we're the only Asians (Msian) visiting at that time and most people thought that we were locals.

Accommodation ...............The best thing about Phuket is their beaches.MUST VISIT: Phang Nga Bay and Phi Phi Island!!! Its so nice n relaxing..We stayed at "Butterfly Guest House"-10minutes walking distance to Patong Beach. Approx ~ RM60 per nite (Fan room), if I can remember it correctly la. The room is quite big, clean and comfortable. Check this website; http://phuketdir.com/butterflyhouse . If you couldnt stand the walking, hitchhiking a motorbike can be a good option. Well, its not just an ordinary motorbike. I think the biker wears some colored vest that clearly indicates "hey, I am ready to send you anywhere around Patong, you just have to pay me". It costs us 20bath for a 10-minutes ride.
We went to almost all islands around Phuket (Monkey island, Phi Phi, Phanga Bay, James Bond Island), not forgetting the elephant ride, the waterfall,the water rafting, the Thailander (balinese huh?) massage, the parasailing and thats almost summed up to everything. You dont have to plan for Phuket, everything has already been planned for u, just bring enough money, and yeah, that's it!
There are many tourist booths in Patong Beach (I think they have it every 5km, approx.), just pick the package that excite u, and enjoy. And because it was during peak season, its difficult to find a cheap package..huhuhu..but the cheapest one-day package available is around RM100
Thailandander massage is bloody CHEAP!We went to this one particular spa & massage boutique;C&N Massage (very close to the Patong Boxing Stadium)and paid only RM40 for 1-hour & massage...Cheap2!!!!!n the place is quite nice though for the price. I'm not sure whether the price has increased nowadays, but you can always try your luck!




The Food..................."Macam tak penah makan makanan thailand la pulak kan?...:p"Dont worry, there's a couple of Arabian Restaurant at Patong town area, or worst case, u can always go for Mc'D Fishburgers..grin...The arabian restaurants in Phuket area serve tomyam!haha, n yeah, I remember this specific meal that we thought was supposed to be exotic; "Glory Morning with Shrimp Paste" which turned out to be "Kangkung Belacan"...."agak klakar ar"...The price of the food?well, its supposed to be cheaper, but yeah, again this peak season thingy...One plate of noodles costs u RM20, and yeay, that's expensive...huhu. But as long as there's halal foods, its good enough for us..

The activities....There's a lot of things to do in Phuket, and 5 days werent enough for us. Well, below is the list of the MUST-do activities, that I can personally recommend;
1) 4-island hopping tour - which of course includes visit to the famous Phi Phi Island beach
2) Outdoor tour - which also includes elephant trekking, trip to monkey cave, water rafting, short visit to waterfall, etc
3) Spa & massage - of your choice
4) Bungee jumping - I have yet to try one though.
5) Night shopping trip at Patong town area- nicer view at nite I guess
6) Boxing stadium at phuket town
7) Simon Cabaret show - one must see this!Its unbelievably awesome!
8) Hard Rock Cafe
9) Patong beach activities - paragliding, banana boat, etc
and a lot more!there's a lot of tour packages available, and all you can do is just pick and enjoy!!Thats all I could remember for now, maybe next time I fill in more...gtg..


Wednesday, January 16, 2008

my first entry to dis one..

Hi..Its been a long time since I last do this thing. Bloggin'. I hate to write really coz I'm not realle gud at words..fancy words especially. I fancy shoppin', travellin', dancin', havin' gud time wif frens n almost e'thin' in this small world except writin'...im livin life to the fullest..But I really really want to share how fun my life is; from my perspective...How I view life, how I live life...n since I love so many things, I really wanna keep it somewer permanent...(I'm not gud at safekeepin', most of the time I lost my thumbydrivy)...So I said, "hei, why don't u blog?n try ur very best to remember the password n the title"...n yeah, here I am, bloggin'...

i like mandy, in short for amanda (blueekk), n yeah, reality check,i wasnt born 'amanda'. i was born 'estro'...n yeah, im likin the name since forever...live wif wateve u have dear...

i wanna write bout anythin..but specifically to places dat ive been, n i wanna go, coz if I were to write bout anything, in general, dats not blogging, dats diary man..hahaha...i take control of my own life, n im lovin every sec of it....im livin life to the fullest!!!!!


So Why Travel?

I fancy travelling since I was small (well of coz I love shopping more). The farthest that Ive been to is Indonesia (Batam is my grandparents's hometown) , and Singapore (well, I live in JB and that's within reach) only. And travelling wif parents is a no for me coz my dad is pretty strict bout everythin.:(..I've been given the opportunity to go out of Msia to further study and work (US, and Argentina), and somehow, I didnt choose that road.

So now that I'm workin in Msia n have money of my own, y not travellin?n thanks AirAsia for making my dreams came true; the ticket is affordable for ppl like me (low-cost-traveller..hehe), n lots cheaper if u buy it earlier,plus now that I'm married to an engineer for who works for AirAsia, things r lotsss easier for me.(i.e. free tix, staff price, etc)..hehehe...N thank GOD, he loves travelling tooo!!In fact, he's gone to most places in US, and I envy him for that (when he was in OSU), n spent most of his scholarship money for travelling, n yeay, he's realle serious bout travelling..
Plus, I have a circle of frens who love travelling..They r my colleagues at work. They r shopaholics and camwhores too. We are alike in sooo many ways. So why not travel?I have the perfect reasons for that. First.. I have money of my own(not much, but enuff to become a budget traveller), Second.. I love shopping, Third.. I love sightseeing n camwhoring, Fourth.. I'm married to AirAsia staff, Fifth..My husband loves to travel, Sixth..I have frens who love travelling!!!Yadidaididai!!End of story