Hanoi - Halong Bay

Hanoi

22-25 October 2017

A very last minute trip to Hanoi for 24 pax and I had only 4 days to settle everything and it was insane but the trip went smoothly although there were some hiccups here and there. Oleh sebab flight to Hanoi cuma ada dari KL, kami naik bas ke KL malam dan sampi di airport lebih kurang jam 4.30 pagi. Check in went smoothly, kalau group check in ada different check in counter, so kena check betul2.

We arrived Hanoi around 8.40 am, dan terus ke immigration dan ambil bag tapi malang tak berbau, salah seorang peserta bag pecah terus tak dapat diselamatkan, so buat report terus ke kaunter, kalau di Noi Bai Airport, kaunter terletak di sebelah kanan hujung (kalau turun dari escalator lepas immigration). Make sure, bawa passport, sticker luggage (masa check in) dan boarding pass, dan bawa bag yang pecah tu sekali untuk buat report claim insurance. Untuk trip ni kami beli insurance AXA. Lepas dapat report boleh terus keluar.

Oleh kerana group yang ramai, kami ambik agent untuk uruskan trip di Hanoi dan Halong Bay, so sebaik keluar dari airport dah ada guide yang tunggu kami di depan pintu. Boleh juga beli simcard di kaunter airport, atau guna je wifi di hotel.

So, first stop ialah ke Ho Chi Minch Mausoleum, tempat ni memang tourist spot tapi mausoleum ditutup bermula October hingga December, so tak boleh masuk cuma boleh bergambar di luar saja. Selepas tu terus lunch di Cosiana Hotel, hotel ni ada restaurant halal dan sepatutnya kami stay di hotel ni tapi sebab last minute booking, hotel ni fully booked.

Selepas makan, terus ke Dong Xuan Market, tapi seriously not recommended at all, this is actually a wholesale market dan peniaga-peniaga di situ memang tak akan layan pelancong, ada 2-3 kedai yang layan tapi majoriti memang tak akan layan, so kalau sesiapa yang bercadang nak datang sini, baik tak payah...lebih baik shopping di Old Quarter, near Hoan Kiem Lake, macam-macam ada, dan peniaga-peniaga friendly and some shops terima RM. 

Kami stay di Flower Hotel hari pertama, kalau yang suka urut kaki, cuma walking distance dengan hotel, dan hari Jumaat, Sabtu dan Ahad ada night market depan Dong Xuan Market, boleh jalan kaki dari hotel. 

Halong Bay

Highlight of the trip of course Halong Bay. Hari Kedua awal pagi kami check out hotel dan terus ke Halong Bay, oleh sebab hotel kami akan bertukar, kami pack luggage yang besar dan tinggal di hotel, pihak hotel akan hantar ke hotel yang lagi satu (same owner, upgraded to 4 star hotel) sebab hotel yang first tu fully booked.

Perjalanan dari Hanoi ke Halong Bay lebih kurang 3.5 jam, so on the way singgah tempat Pearl (biasala kalau datang trip macam ni, memang akan ada tempat singgah-menyinggah macam ni). Kami sampai di port lebih kurang 12.15 tengahari, naik tender boat ke Cruise (Halong Phoenix), atas cruise ni tak ada makanan halal, dia orang akan serve seafood sahaja, tapi kalau share dengan non-muslim, breakfast akan ada juga meat, so janganlah ambil ya, just makan roti dan butter saja.

Setiap hari lebih kurang 10,000 pelancong keluar masuk ke Halong Bay, so boleh imagine berapa banyak cruise yang belayar di sini. 

Planning my first ever Trans Java Trip! (How to Purchase Train Tickets Online) - Part I

Okay, this is actually crazy. We are actually planning a Trans Java Trip ever, first ever! An 8 days trip to Indonesia, wow!

Planning sebenarnya nak ke Bromo sahaja, tapi tiba-tiba bertambah ke Bandung & Yogjakarta. So, here I am pening kepala trying to accomodate 2 other trip members. First thing first ialah plan tarikh, okay set, selepas bertukar 2-3 kali, we finally bought our tickets. Next is book hotel through booking.com. Booking hotel ni kalau my style ialah search few hotels yang ada free cancellations so kalau nak ubah fikiran boleh ja cancel hassle free. Since belum confirm train time, guna dulu yang free cancellations, once dah confirm everything then akan check balik yang non-refundable sebab lebih murah.

Initially we wanted to fly from Penang-KL-Bandung, tapi sebab ticket mahal sangat, we decided to fly Penang-Jakarta, stay one night and the next day baru naik train ke Bandung. Yeay! My first train ride in Indonesia. 

Okay, next..macamana nak beli train tickets online. One of the agents we contacted advised us to install KAI access apps. Boleh check train schedule dan purchase tiket online. Tried few times tak boleh, so I googled how to purchase Indonesia train tickets online, one of the blogs suggested using Traveloka, caranya ialah kena tukar country ke Indonesia, boleh bayar guna credit card, senang sangat. Once dah confirm payment, akan dapat e-ticket through

 e-mail. 

Mulu

Mulu (2-5 August 2017)

Before I forget all the details about my Mulu trip, here goes. Bought the tickets to Miri about a year ago (yes a year!), got it for about RM20+ (return ticket KL-Miri-KL), dan harga tiket untuk Miri-Mulu-Miri (MASwings) RM261.32/pax. We stayed at Mulu Village (booked through www.booking.com) because the dorms at the Park HQ were fully booked and the rooms were quite expensive, so we decided to stay at Mulu Village for RM240 (4 nights). It wasn't until May 2017, I started to search for packages, I sent an e-mail to the Park HQ and they actually responded quite fast with all the details with prices. Memandangkan ini pertama kali trip ke Mulu, dan tak berapa pasti package apa yang sesuai, so I sent an e-mail to Mulu Village kalau2 dia orang ada pakej yang sesuai, lebih mudah ambik pakej sekali dengan tempat penginapan. FYI, di Mulu Village cuma provide breakfast, lunch and dinner kena pandai2 cari sendiri.

On hiatus

I've been neglecting this blog again. I was not well ever since I came back from Istanbul. I guess it was the weather and the long hour flight. Will be back with pictures from Yogjakarta and Istanbul trip!

Yogjakarta - Part I

Yogjakarta |  Pre-departure

Source : Google

So, I finally bought  flight tickets to Yogjakarta. A bit expensive but I have no choice since it's school holidays and that's the only time we (as in me and my son can travel). The first leg is Penang to Kuala Lumpur, last flight out from Penang. I guess we'll be staying at the airport since our flight to Yogja is at 6.30 am. 

Been blog hopping about yogja, since I've never been there and I do not want to make mistakes and waste money and time for not doing a proper research. I actually take some info from each and every blogs that I visited and make decisions on what I want to experience while I'm there.

So, I actually booked three different hotels (yes, three!), The first hotel is at Pawon Cokelat the second is at Benetta House and the third one is at Ibis Adisucipto.  All booked through Booking.com. I wanted to experience three different type of accomodation.  Initially booked a room at Kaliurang which is near Merapi, but was advised by our supir it is too dangerous because it is near to Merapi, well, that's the reason why I booked there, I wanted to stay near Merapi. But I shall not take any risk, do not want to be in the headlines should anything happen. 

As for insurance, as usual , AXA Insurance, Smart VIP at RM26.25/person (online)

Our hotel in Krabi

Krabi  |  22 December 2016

It was a very last minute plan to Phuket-Krabi-Haadyai This is a special entry about this particular hotel we stayed in Aonang. So, it was our first time to Phuket and Krabi, and since I was incharged of planning the whole trip (e.g hotel and transport bookings), I had to do some research on finding good hotels and reliable transports. Sangat stress especially when deciding where to stay, only had few days to search, do research and book the hotel rooms for us eleven people. As usual, I would use Booking.com and landed on Marina Express Fisherman Aonang,  fall in love the moment I saw the pictures and I tell you the hotel was exactly the same in the picture. The interior was simply gorgeous, too bad we only stayed for one night, it's just next to the mosque and walking distance to pasar malam, restaurants and shops. I dare not say the location is superb but we loved it nevertheless.

                                                                       Marina Express Fisherman Aonang

Boleh nampak masjid from the balcony, kat sebelah tu je, walking distance

Perth - Part III

Caversham Wildlife Park

One of the places I love to go whenever I go to Australia is the Zoo. I've been to Taronga Zoo in Sydney, missed the one in Melbourne when I was there in 2015 because we did not have enough time and this time is the Caversham Wildlife Park in Perth.

The only pictures I can post here. Sebab kebanyakan gambar ada gambar group members, so kena respect their privacy, decided not to put up the pictures here.