Date: 12-16 January
See Theng~~~ I'm coming for you!
(Sign of friendship since primary school ^_^)
Yeah, my dearest friend since primary school is studying in Medan right now, we'll graduate in the same year later in 2011 :)
She was a great tour guide of ours (Ling Fang - in light brown top, and Yi Han - in green top with a cross in the middle) in Medan! She offered her house mate's room to Ling Fang and Yi Han while she shared her single bed with me. While our co-tour guide is Amy (in black top), Amy is one of See Theng's house mates, a gorgeous girl who eats very little (the opposite of me) haha...
Ling Fang, Yi Han and I took Air Asia from Jakarta to Medan, the flee was about two hours. See Theng waited us at the airport before we landed. Then we're brought to her rented house. Medan is crowded with Hokkien spoken Chinese. Which I felt totally new because back to Bandung, most of the Chinese don't speak neither Mandarin nor Hokkien. We visited a few places in Medan town, including a very cool Buddhist temple at Cemara Asri and Universitas Sumatera Utara (where See Theng's studying). Next we stopped by Siantar, a town about 4-5hours drive from Medan before heading to Lake Toba. This is Hou Yi aka Hendra Wijaya (my Indo close friend)'s hometown! Sadly, he wasn't back to Siantar when I was there :( The journey continued, until we reached Lake Toba (our main destination).
Medan vs. Bandung:
I prefer staying in Bandung =) I like Bandung people, taxi drivers are much polite! The weather in Bandung just suits me.
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SINGAPORE
Date: 19-20 January
(Beloved)
Singapore, a neighbor country of Malaysia. Although it is near, but it was the second time I went after the last visit which was about 18 years ago. The first time was in year 1990 if I'm not mistaken. The only thing I could recall from that trip is "Lion City Hotel"!!! It was a very important name for 4-year-old Peierr to remember along the stay in Singapore 'cause papa said if I was lost (not with papa or mommy) then tell people that I need to go back to "Lion City Hotel". =) cute~~~~
18 years later, an all grown up Peierr visited Singapore again with the beloved boy friend. We were sorta like bag-packer there, found a hotel with the help of Singapore Tourism Board, had a night stay at Treasure Island Hotel, Sentosa. I didn't pay a visit to "Lion CIty Hotel" this time :P hmmmm.... I guess I next time I should do so =)
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YOGYAKARTA, JAWA, INDONESIA
Date: 15-16 March
(Borubudur)
Chen flew to Bandung to see me during his semester break in March when I had no holiday at all for even-number semester. He spent about seven days of his holiday with me in Indonesia. I decided to go to a mysterious place in the Central Jawa - Yogyakarta which scattered with so many centuries aged monuments! It was a rush trip, the flow of our trip is stated as below:
15 March,
8.30pm: Train from Bandung to Yogyakarta
16 March,
4.30am: Arrvied Yogyakarta (7 hours in the train)
6.30am: Ketep Pass
- strategic place to view Merapi Volcano
- breath taking scenary (how nice if I could practice yoga there :P)
8.00am: Borubudur
- as a Buddhist, I felt warmth spread within me when I was there
- the art of Buddhist temple is so unbelievable
10.00am: Prambanan
- an incredible Hindu temple built in 850 CE
12.30pm: Nasi Gudeg - special food in Yogyakarta
2.30pm: Parangtitis Beach
- Black-sand beach, the most popular beach in Yogyakarta
4.00pm: Taman Sari (Water Castle)
5.00pm: Kraton (Sultan Palace)
6.00pm: Malioboro Street
7.00pm: Ambarukmo Plaza
9.30pm: Train from Yogyakarta to Bandung
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REDANG ISLAND, TERENGGANU, MALAYSIA
Date: 4 - 6 June
Yeah~~~ my hometown, Terengganu, where I'm born, I grow up, and I live! My beloved hometown where peace can be treasured easily. I decided to go to Redang Island again after the last visit which was dated about three years back in 2005. But this time, I'll be going with another group of people who are closely related to me :) my dearest boy friend, my charming little sister, my gorgeous + adorable little brothers, my the-next-Einstein cousin brother, my ex-housemate Keng Soon and my sister's friend Anson. Redang Island is about 45 minutes boat ride from Merang jetty where it is about 1.5 hours drive from my house. I drove my papa's Nissan Serena to Merang and parked the MPV there for 2 nights when we're off to the island. Redang Island is still as beautiful as it is, but sadly, if it is to compare to about 12 years before, there're many obvious destroys of the sea coral. The first time I stepped on the island was about 12-13 years back when Redang Island had only 1-2 resorts to accomodate its visitors. The corals found in the sea by the chalet were so lively moved with the tune of the wave in the water. I hope Redang Island will be still famous of its beauty in the next few couples of years.
***********WELCOME TO REDANG ISLAND!**************
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HONG KONG
Date: 30 Sept - 03 Oct
(Hong Kong Disneyland)
I went to Hong Kong during Hari Raya Puasa. It was the very first time I traveled to oversea (using passport to be exact :P) with my family (consisting papa, mommy, pe pe, nui nui, and xiu xiu)!!! It was the most memorable moment to me till the age of 22. I organized the whole trip; from the very basic buying flight ticket online to every single detail. When I was collecting information about Hong Kong, I heard many complaints from people around me and came across some bloggers giving bad comments in their blogs about the Hong Kong people. I tried to ignore all that because I will only believe something when I experience it by myself! Unfortunately, is the word I gotta use, it is almost relevant to what I have heard and read! I couldn't stand the way most of the Hong Kong people speak (very rough, using very rough words) and the way they treat foreigners. Sigh... I was complaining to my papa, but papa told me maybe this is the way they are, they wouldn't feel anything wrong because it is their culture! But to be honest, there're also nice Hong Kong people.
Incidents that brought me to the conclusion above:
- While queuing at the custom.
Airport assistant: Lei sek um sek tak pai dui gar? (very very very impolite tone)
(Do your know how to queue?)
- Getting traveling info at airport information counter.
The attendant: (Flipped a book, wrote down something on a piece of paper, handed over me and said,) Nah! (WITHOUT ANY EXPRESSION ON HER FACE! NOT A SINGLE WORD FROM HER!)
- Ladies' Market
Sale assistant: Lei li gor sei pok gai ham gar chan, mai ye dou yiu man gam dor!
(You, "pok gai"= bad word, hard to be translated, ham gar chan = whole family die, questions so much while buying!)
(Scolding right in front of her customer, but obviously that customer didn't understand a single word of what she was scolding)
- An incredibly nice Toyota Alphard driver
Overall, Hong Kong is a nice place, at least it is far more cleaner (in the sense of environment) than Malaysia! I passed by one of the wet markets without realizing that it was actually a wet market until the third time I passing the same place! This shows that how hygiene that place is (without having the smell a wet market should have), a bow and a respectful salutation to the Hong Kong people =)
(p/s: Hong Kong people out there, please don't be offended, it's just something that I'd like to comment)
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