More Sun, Sea and Fishes

With the long Raya plus Merdeka break, we made our way to the beach (again). We did the usual which is eat, sleep, laze and snorkle.

Building our very own sea fort.

Conventional sand castles are just as fun too.

The scenery, just as beautiful.

The sea so serene and inviting.

The waters so clear and blue (or is that turquoise?).

And of course we couldn't get more of it.
Flim location for Summer Holidays with Richie Ren, Sammi Cheng

ps. Flying Berjaya Air defintely cuts the travel time by half so do consider this travel option if you plan to visit Beautiful Redang.

Beautiful Redang

I’m back… must confess that I didn't expect to take such a long break until I had trouble even recalling the password O.0. Was inspired to get off the lazy blog break, by Gina who posted her recent trip . Coincidentally we were there at the same time AND literally just a stone throw away. Sadly we didn’t bump into each other otherwise would have self invited myself to a glass of ‘bubbly’, helped her with her snacks and perhaps join in a game of cards though I not familiar poker. :p

Thank you to those who left messages – have been busy, very busy with work and then well exhasted with no inspiration to write anything. Will respond to your messages soon when I get time to read and check them properly.

Back to the current post…..

We enjoyed ourselves a lot especially Master Prince. It must speak a lot on our past budget travels and accommodation as we were very satisfied with Laguna Redang. Everything went on smoothly, staff was courteous and friendly, briefing was informative, the buffet food and spread was not bad, no complaints on the amenities and room. There was a sizeable pool too so when Master Prince was tired of the sea, he jumped into the pool and vice versa. So all in all, we had a very pampered holiday, filled with lots of sun, sand, fishes and sea.

Few people were rather surprised when I told them that I had just come back from the beach as I was still as fair as ever!!! Tip is to wear long sleeve, wide rim hat, lots of SPF 50 and well, a brolley (aka umbrella) helps too :) Even though I enjoyed myself I realize that I've turned into (much to my horror) a beach grump – its way too hot, sunny, humid and well the salty sea doesn’t do much for my hair either. A far cry from my very much younger days when my dad used to take the family to PD aka Port Dickson every other weekend. Back then the beach was my favourite destination and would also be bugging my dad for the next trip back. It was my mission then to be really tan and getting sun burn was all rather ‘cool’ as I'd be running off to the beach round the clock, the sunnier the better. Don’t ask me what happen from then to now!! Ha ha.

Our journey started at Merang jetting. While waiting for our jet boat ride, we had a quick local breakfast and then browsed the many stalls. Convenient place to grab a hat, sun dress, pair of slippers, beach wrap or stock up on other souvenirs.

Aren't these colourful souvenir divers adorable?

As we are on a beach trip, we were down to t-shirt, skimpy shorts and slippers so I was rather unprepared when I stepped into the freezing cold jet boat with the air-conditioner at full blast. So note, do bring shawl or be prepared to freeze to death or at least for 45 min!!!

It was just so B-L-U-E...in a good relaxing way.

Below was pretty much scenery for the entire trip - just absolutely beautiful.

Master Prince had a lot of fun snorkeling with the fishes. Since it was his first time, I was wondering what noises he was making as I was swimming close to him - he was screaming with his snorkel in his mouth as there were so many fishes around him - can be rather scary too. In his first open water snorkel he was bobbing around in foetal position as he was afraid the fishes would bite him. Hahaah...needless to say, that position kept me smirking for the entire snorkel trip - would have laugh out loud but then that would mean risking swallowing a lot of sea water!!

The boys also went kayaking - well more DH since MP wasn't all that good the paddle. I had a go too and even though I only paddled for less than 10min, I was nursing some aches and sores the next day - yep, need more exercise.

Lots of colourful skimpy *eye candy* too.

What's this you say??

Here's my BEST TIP to feed fishes. Break bits of bread and fill an empty water bottle. When in water, open the cap and allow water to go in, squeeze the bottle and naturally some bits of bread with be pushed out. Wait for friendly fishes to come very near you. I got a few fingers nibbled by very enthusiastic fishes while holding the bread and feeding them so I find this method of feeding the fishes more convenient. Also when bigger fishes come for a 'bite' it is less intimidating too! Of course, when empty don't forget to do the right thing and dispose the bottle responsibly into a proper dustbin/recycle bin (as oppose to the 'ocean bin').

Got up early to take some sunrise pictures. After hanging out in the back for about 1 hour, I started picking up some shells. It was all very innocent - just a few to take some pictures.

But after a handful, just one more and another and another.....it stuck as an obsession. No longer was I taking in the breathtaking view, instead I was hunched over scouring for the nicest or most unique looking sea shells.

After a while it all became too much for my handful and had to drop everything as I reorganize my new collection and camera.

Ta-da....the new collection. In case you are wondering why so many pictures, that's because if caught with any coral or sea shell, we've been warned that we face fine of RM20,000 per piece and hence the many photos!

As there is plenty of time to laze with plenty of time to relax....to pass time....this was what I ended up doing while enjoying the view at the balcony.

The task suddenly became a fixation - arranging shells accordingly to type and shape!!! Do I still sound stressed? Think I need another fresh coconut drink or maybe something stronger?!

Btw, if you are wondering what I did with the sea shells - I left them at the balcony for the next guest to appreciate.

Master Prince is looking forward to coming back again soon.
Btw, the buildings in the background on RHS near the rocks is Redang Reef - where Gina stayed.

Downside to the entire trip was trying to get back home. It took us F-O-R-E-V-E-R in total 10 hours from the time we check out of the room at 11am. After that it was waiting for the boat at 12pm, and then waiting for our lunch, and then waiting for our flight which was delayed by 2+hours - we were extremely exhausted by the time we got back - yep, we need another holiday already!! Next time I'll defintely consider flying with Berjaya to the island itself - hopefully that will cut down on the waiting time.

Tokyo - the plan

Yes I'm back. Had lots of fun shopping, walking and basically F&E hanging around Tokyo city. Weather was very good, it didn't rain and it wasn't that cold. Hm, it looks like it'll take me a while to sort out the pictures and blog about them.

Since I did the 'homework', might as well write out what I had planned to do on the trip. As you know, its good to have a plan to act as a guide; but best to stay open and flexible so that you enjoy the most of the trip. Must confess that I didn't manage to be the superwoman I thought I could be and so didn't manage to do or cover everything on the list. Guess there'll always be a 'next time'! :)

Getting around is easy, for the best savings get the JR pass (7, 14 or 21 days) or the Tokyo Metro pass (1 or 2 days). Note have updated more information below on getting around Tokyo.

Here's my list.

Harajuku
- Takeshita dori (shop)
- Daiso (sop)
- Kiddy Land (shop)
- Oriental Bazaar (shop)
- Omotesando Hills (shop)
- Kyushu Jangara (ramen)
- Koots Green Tea (desserts)

Shibuya
- Hachiko statute
- Loft (shop)
- Tokyu Hands (shop)
- Tower Records (shop)

Shinjuku
- Takashimaya (shop)
- Tokyu Hands (shop)
- Isetan (shop)
- Yasube (ramen)
- Kinokuniya (shop)
- Observation tower at the Tokyo Metropolitant Govt Office

Roppoingi
- Tokyo Midtown (shop + Toraya, Sadaharu Aoki + Toshi Yoroizuka)
- Roppongi Hills
- Tokyo Tower
- Robatayaki (inazayaki)
- Ippudo (ramen)

Ginza
- Hidemi Sugino (patisseri)
- Toraya (wagashi)
- Nobori Tei (unagi kabayaki)
- Genkatsu (pork cutlet)
- ito-ya top drawer (stationary)
- Gucci, Tiffany, Chanel, etc.

Tsukiji
- Tuna auction
- Sushi Dai
- Chuka Soba Inoe (ramen)
- Sushi Zanmai

Asakusa
- Kappabashi
- Sometaru (okonomiyaki)
- Kaminari-mon (Thunder Gate)
- Nakamise-dori (stalls)

Ueno
- Ueno Park
- Ameyoko market

Mitika Station
- Ghibli Museum

Takaido Station
- Shiro-hige (totoro puffs)
- Onsen

Yokohama
- Ramen Museum


Updated to include some information on transportation and getting around Tokyo using the train/subway - hope it is useful to those planning a trip to Japan.

*TIP #1: Getting around Japan is easy but the cost of transportation seems to be one of the biggest portion on the travel budget, so plan wisely :)*

JR Pass - Valid only on JR trains. It cannot be used on subways or any other non-JR train.
Find out more information & prices on JR pass here. Ask for a map when purchasing this pass so that you can plan your trip accordingly.

*If you intend to travel outstation to other parts of Japan like Osaka or Kyoto, do consider the JR pass.

Tokyo Metro Open Pass - Unlimited use of the nine Tokyo Metro subway lines, but not the four Toei subway lines.
Price of Tokyo Metro pass - 1 day is Yen710; 2 days is Yen980. You can purchase this ticket at Narita Airport or your hotel. If you get the 1-day pass from Narita Airport, it'll be cheaper, cost Yen600.
Find out more information on Tokyo Metro here. Ask for a subway map when purchasing this pass so that you can plan your trip accordingly.

*If you are only traveling around Tokyo city, this would be a better option. Then 'top-up' accordingly for train lines not covered by this pass.

From Narita Airpot to Tokyo:
(1) Fastest way of travel between Narita Airport and Tokyo Station is the JR Narita Express (NEX). The one way journey takes roughly one hour, costs around 3000 yen and is fully covered by the Japan Rail Pass and JR East Pass, departs every 30 to 60 minutes.

(2) Slower but cheaper JR alternative to the Narita Express is to take the JR Sobu Line (Rapid Service). The one way trip takes roughly 90 minutes, costs 1280 yen and is fully covered by the Japan Rail Pass and JR East Pass, departs every hour.

(3) Easiest (but takes longer but highly recommended for newbies visiting Japan) is to take the Limousine buses to your hotel or Tokyo Station which depart Narita Airport every 15 to 20 minutes. The one way journey takes about 80 to 100 minutes and costs 3000 yen.

From Haneda Airport to Tokyo:
Take the Tokyo Monorail from Haneda Airport to Hamamatsucho station (last station). From there switch/transfer to the nearest JR station on the Yamanote Line or Toei Line (Asakusa Line or Odeo Line) and find nearest interchange station and switch to Tokyo Metro Line.

You can also take Limousine buses from Haneda Airport.

TIP #2: If you are travelling by train, travelling light would be wiser. If you have big bags, consider the baggage service delivery available from the airport/hotel, its more convenient with less hassle.

Land of Smiles

Sawadee ka

Made a short trip up to Bangkok with Master Prince since he fell ill and couldn’t join us on the earlier trip to Macau/HK.

So this trip was specially catered more for him - so that means less interesting sights, less walking, less shopping, more western food, more air-conditioned places, more play at the hotel!!! 0_0

Before making this trip, I asked a lot of people whether it’d would be a good idea to go to Bangkok. Surprisingly I’ve never been there even though it is so near. The only part of Thailand place I’ve been to before a couple of times is the border town of Hat Yai. Anyway, was told by many that it is actually a good place for family and kids. (Btw was informed by friend that we made a good decision not to go visit Singapore during this time as it was really jam pack with people.)

Having visited BKK, I agree. Note that I was 'held back' and thus less adventurous since this trip was all for Master Prince. Otherwise I would have ventured to the night markets like Suan Luam or maybe catch a ‘show’ or two - think the tiger show sounds more interesting that the cabaret ones (hehe). Missed Chatuchack market too which is only opened on the weekend – next time when I got a baby-sitter, otherwise best just with GFs!!!

Here are some kid/family friendly activites.

Day 1 – Siam Underwater Ocean World.

We had a lot of fun on the glass floating boat ride, happy feet fishes (I'm ticklish so I was just screaming with the fishes smoothing my dead skin, MP kept cool with this smiles under control, almost!), looking at the sharks and string rays and shows. Unfortunately the touch and feel area and the 4D thrill ride was under maintenance that day otherwise think we would also have enjoyed that.

Interesting sights all around.
We enjoyed learning and looking at various sea creatures and fishes.

Master Prince wants to come back when he is 10 years old because he gets to dive with the fishes!!

silly boy wants to swim with the sharks but is afraid of snakes!!!

Day 2 – Safari Park.

Another fun place for kids with so many shows and attractions eg. orang utan show, seal show, dolphin show, stun man show etc. Basically spent the entire morning, walking from one show to another.

The zoo is actually not that big but they had a big safari backyard.

Lots of room for animals to roam around freely.

Enjoyed myself too, feeding the long-tongue giraffe. They were really tame and you could pet them too - cos all they want is food!!

....and hungry big tiger cubs.

For a price you could also take pictures with the seal, orang utan and snakes.

They had a special area for the meat eating animals - tigers and lions. For safety reasons, there were rangers stationed nearby the tigers/lions.

This zebra reminds me of Marty from Madagascar.

Day 3 – Floating market @ Damnoen Saduak.

Surprisingly, Master Prince picked this over the ‘boring’ temples even though it was about 2 hour road trip to get there.

He enjoyed the boat ride most. But eww…imagine the murky green dirty river water splashing in!!!

Plenty of small long boats around the river filled with food, fruits and novelty items would be peddled to you as you slowly float by.

Lots of shop set up specially at the side of the river banks - imagine, shopping from your boat - so not me thus just enjoyed taking pictures, lots of them.

Was so tempted to try some but didn't want to risk any tummy issues - think it'd probably looks better than it taste???

This was such super tourist-sy place. But couldn’t help looking around, it was really interesting and IMHO worth the long journey to get there.

Tour/tourist trap. We were brought to 5 other additional places other than the floating market that we paid for – coconut candy farm, elephant sanctuary, snake show, jewellery shop and wood carving place. Lucky you say? Not really as all they want is $$$ from you. Actually if I had the choice, we would have just skipped it all. Next time, should get a consensus vote with the other tour passengers whether they are interested or not and voice out whether or not to allow such things. The other thing I do not like is being pestered for TIPS. Hell-o if you did your job well, you will be rewarded. Otherwise if you did your ‘normal’ thing as you are expected to do, I am not sure that really qualifies as being entitled to extra TIPS.

Cooked coconut candy (on the left) using the sweet honey sap of the coconut flower (on the right).


Love the many creative uses of the used coconut shells for decorative purposes - a large variety of choice making it hard to decide.

Snake show. Master Prince was conflicted. He wanted to watch and yet he was scared so basically he stayed at the far side of the benches.


Elephant ride anyone??

Other miscellaneous pictures:

Kick boxing - drew a large crowd and no wonder since the ladies were in the ring!!

Noticed a lot of street vendors, peddling their sale.

Attractive mung bean shaped/filled fruits. Didn't get any - the artificial colouring just put me off.

Seems to be a popular local quick snack.

cute colourful shoes filled with buttons.

oooo, this was really good - Hokkaido ice cream, yum!

plump BBQ squid.

crispy sweet snack - not sure what they are called but similar to our local apam balik.

This Vietnamese roll looked better than it tasted.

Spicy Tom Yum Noodles - think mama tom yum instant noodles fared better. But can't expect too much since I got this at Siam Paragon.

Travel notes:
Can booked tours outside airport after getting out of customs. Have to bargain as I noted that there were some disparity in prices after comparing with other tour passengers. Eg. Safari world – paid Bhat1200/pax while another family paid Bhat 1300/pax. For floating market paid Bhat800/pax but another couple paid Bhat750/pax – so lesson is not to be afraid to voice out and ask for a discount, it helps :) Tell them, give you cheaper so that you can pay the tour guide and the van driver tips!!!

Quick & easy transportation. From the Suvarnabhumi Airport, take the airport trainto Makkasan or Phaya thai which takes only 30 min. Ticket cost Bhat15 and then change to MRT train or BTS to your hotel/destination. In total it cost me Bhat30 to get to my hotel compared to other passengers who said that they spent about Bhat500 from airport to hotel. Of course if you are carrying back the whole of Thailand, a taxi would be a wiser choice.

For network train map in Bangkok, click here.

Giveway Winner Announced

Dear Ladies:
-Ang3
-Annie
-Cynthia
-Elaine
-Emily
-Jacss
-Morgana ^-^

Firstly thank you for being so sporting. :) There's one more fun giveaway planned to end the year and hope you'll join that too.

I will be honest to say that I thought I may have failed miserably in giving the clues/hints properly and was all ready for a back-up random pick if no answer matched mine.

I was ready to shoulder the responsibility.

but HAH....I may have been too hasty.

There is a winner.

Congratulations to jacss!!

Must mention that Elaine came a close second (in time...only an hour difference!!! If only you had logged on earlier). lolz

So jacss, will be contacting you soon with your prize - not sure what it is right now but promise it WILL NOT be earrings, key chains, thermal underwear, FR, China iphone or China irobot. *since you already have these, grins*

O wh't the heck + a GIVEAWAY

Shall or shan't, shall or shan't...that's what I've been tussling all weekend.

Should I or shouldn't i?

Gee-beez, its actually not difficult + I'm game for a little blogging fun (r u?) especially since its nearly year end and everything.

So I'll just lame away, a giveaway prize will be given to the first person who is able to correctly match the places (state name of country) per hint I'm travelling to next week.

Hint #1: Pumping full on yummy egg tarts.

Hint #2: Swallowing hot tasty bowls of springy egg noodles (not allowed to chew, that's the pace here!); which leaves more time to shop and S-H-O-P.

Hint #3: Back for more historical sights and who knows, maybe a visit to the lucky lady will cover the holiday expenses???

too E-A-S-Y right?

Only rule is one entry per comment, so NO anonymous (even if you get the answer right!!).

Entry guesses closes midnight (MST) this Thursday (11 Nov 2o1o).

Winner will be announced on Friday (12 Nov 2010).

Back to the prize, juz don't shoot me if it turns out to be souvenir magnets!! *will do my utmost best to make it interesting though* haha...

Good luck.

*updated: Thank you all who have submitted. For a little suspense, will release first batch of all comments received on Thursday afternoon + balance rest after midnight so everyone can keep guessing till then - sounds reasonable right? or am i over analysing*

Random shots - Part II

Master Prince read these within 1 hour. Seems to be interested in adventure books ~ all started because of Beast Quest (tks again K! I mean it.)

Was flipping through this while waiting for MP to finish his books.


Master Prince's FAVOURITE SHOP (and I'd imagine every other kid too)
- the Apple Store! Spent a lot of time here on oh-so-many separate visits that we might as well call it home!
One thing why ipad works well in Australia is because free-wifi is practically available everywhere you go!!


sushi looked so good that I couldn't help but take pictures & sample some too.



Didn't get to try this but read about it.



Celebrated D & K's birthday with a simple chocolate mud cake.



Girls coffee night out over a huge slice of creamy lemon tart - which was very good @ Carlucci.
So good that I'm looking for a good lemon tart recipe, anyone wanna share?

Cute mock chocolate truffle ice creams.

shop selling all sort of English teas. What I found more interesting is colourful tea ware.