Saturday, May 28, 2011

Labuan~纳闽-Kota Kinabalu~亚庇-走透透 13-17 May 2011






A trip full of sun, beach, seafood, alcohol, chocolate, and also friendship among colleagues as well as enemy-ship against sandfly!!!! =_=
难忘的东马之旅。
吃~到撑的海鲜美食,喝~到爽的酒精饮料,玩~到疯的户外活动,乐~到极的促膝长谈。。。。
虽然一到步时有些雨水为我们洗尘,可是接下来几天那热哄哄的阳光和热辣辣的情谊不止烙在了皮肤上,也嵌到了心坎里了!
收到记忆库里的,当然也包括了乘巴士去亚庇时,长巴‘爆胎’以至于要在艳阳下用美色招揽好心人载送我们的那一段小插曲啦! 哈哈!

The experience to travel from Labuan to Kota Kinabalu was unforgettable especially the part that the bus from Menambok to KK (took boat from Labuan to Menambol) was broken down due to tyre puncture, about 30km away from town. Ended up we had to hitch hike at the roadside under the hot sun. Luckily we managed to get a local guy's ride us to another bus station, and finally reached KK by hoping on to a mini bus (Bas berhenti-henti)!!! Although the time spent in KK was kinda short, but it was quite satisfactory as we managed to witness the picturesque sunrise at the jetty and tasted few more nice food. More importantly, we had a nice catch up with pretty pharmacist friends and also meet another nice new friend.

总结, 这次的东马之旅,因为阳光, 更因为朋友, 所以发光发热, 留下了灿烂无比的色彩和美忆。

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Budu Gang in Labour's Day Weekend~ Sekeping Serendah






The place is called "Sekeping Serendah Retreat", located in Serendah near Rawang. Check out http://www.serendah.com/

-A great place to getaway from city life and spend leisure time with a bunch of friends or family.
-Glad to have had a wonderful weekend with old old friends over here.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Bathing Buddha Ceremony 080511~慈济日+佛诞日+母亲节






This is an annual event organized by Tzu-Chi Association on second Sunday of May worldwide to celebrate Tzu-Chi Day + Wesak Day + Mother's Day. This year there were more than 5000 people joined this auspicious event which was held in PJ. Together we prayed for world peace, vowed to appreciate our mother earth by all means and care for the livings to safeguard a better life for all.
今年浴佛大典的主题是“广行环保福满乾坤、净化人心风调雨顺”。
这么庄严的盛会,在全世界各地同步进行, 集合了成千上万善信们的善念和念力,期盼透过浴佛洗净内心的烦恼欲望并同声祈福,祈求人心净化、社会祥和及天下无灾难。
从召集、策划、场地布置、协调、彩排到典礼的进行,见证到大家的劳心, 感受到大家的用心。。。那种感动, 久久都还触动心旋;那种法喜, 迟迟都还持续萦绕。

*人人皆有佛性, 所以慈济的佛像设计成‘大众’脸, 希望人人皆能本着善心,爱护地球,珍惜生命。
The Buddha's statue is designed to be as 'normal people' as Master Zheng Yan believes that everyone is born to be kind and able to practice buddhism (care for the living, help those in needs and love our mother earth) in daily life.

Some personal recommendations for New Zealand trip


There has been a lot of queries from friends who are going to NZ for either a short trip or on Working Holiday for few months as I did. While enjoying the sharing, also recalling the runaway time which always spices up my memories of life.

Well, let me put some of the personal recommendations into notes as a reference for whoever is going to visit the beautiful southern island soon, at the same time also serves as the precious record for myself.

These are just some of the things that I can recall and based on my personal point of views. Welcome any other comments/ suggestions :-)


1. For adventurous traveller
-bungy jump in Nevis if u hv enough guts and $$$, otherwise to go for cheaper option, try Taupo (dip into water more fun!). However many people actually go for the one in Kawarau Bridge as it is the FIRST place for bungy jump in the world, thanks to A.J Hacker!
-skydive in Wanaka- more customized video, but scenery in Queestown more spectacular if u prefer snow-capped mountain lying below your feet! (perhaps this is only prominent during winter? :p)
-try 'Learn to fly' in Wanaka....fun to be a pilot!
-for winter sport such as Ski and Snowboarding, after surveyed it is found that 'The Remarkable' offers quite a worthy package with coach session for beginner. Recommend to take up the coach + transport + equipment rental package (the have office in Queenstown). But for jacket and track bottom, can rent from other shops in Queenstown instead for cheaper rental fee and more colour choices (if u don't want end up with everybody looked the same in the photos with ur same jacket and sunglasses). Oh ya if you don't want to rent the goggle then please remember to bring along your sunglasses to avoid snow blind.


2. Nature's lover
- NZ has numerous tracks for trekkers so prepare your backpack and walk to the bush is a must!
-Glacier visit, either by walk (must go for FULL DAY WALK, preferably do it in Fox Glacier) or by helicopter (preferably in Franz Josef). For helihike, it is expensive and also very much depends on weather.

3. Wild life
-Seals in Kaikoura: visit OHAU point in Kaikoura (winter and early spring) to see big group of baby seal playing in waterfall
-Penguins in Oamaru: can just park the car nearby the Penguin Centre and stay in the car, wait for penguins to walk up from the sea and crossing road on the way back home during dusk (save money and more fun)

4. Eat-about
-eat domino's pizza on Tuesday, nice and cheap ($5.90nzd for a large pizza) (My favourite flavour: Double-cheese bacon burger, can request to change the beef to chicken)
- must try the pure fruit ice-cream in Cromwell, on the way to Queenstown. Watch out for the ice cream sign at the road side
-eat fish and chips in Kaikoura, look for one shop where they provide FREE source


5. Accommodation
-Generally I stayed in BBH (can visit the NZ BBH website for details) therefore it is worth buy a piece of the BBH card
-However when you go to Lake Tekapo, the recommended place to stay is The Scenic Resort. Reserve the backpacker's room as it provides quite a comfortable place to stay at good price.I stayed there for 4 times!!!
-'The Jail House' in Christchurch offers an unique staying experience


6. Part-time job seeker
-try woofing if u don't mind farm job/ slavery job~ my experience was great...know the cultural, learn the cultural, adopt the fun (the host brought me to SKII and provided personal coach up to 3 times within 2 weeks! wahahah!)
-visit www.backpackersboard.co.nz for the job listing and reserve earlier for seasonal job
-working in vineyard is indeed a tough work (especially during winter) but worth a try! Yes I tried :-)

7. Leisure
-Watch movie in the authentic style cinema in Wanaka and try the chocolate cookies sold at the cinema cafeteria during break time of the movie. The feeling was just awesome!
-Visit Glenorchy/ Kinloch, not a very popular spot among tourist but the scenery is superb and many of the scenes of LOTR was actually taken around there.

8. General
-email/call for discount if travel in larger group (Helihike, ferry etc)
-bring along insect repellent when you go to the jungle or the beach, the itchiness is kinda unbearable when you got bitten by sandfly
- remember to bring universal adapter + multiplug
-we can drive in NZ by holding Malaysia's driving license
-buy stamps in i-site (Visitor information centre) instead of post office to get more variety of different image symbolizes the country