Mantajo

Bangkok Travel with kids ( Day 4)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 08 Jun 2024 15:07:00 +0000

Day 4 City tour with public transport. We start with ride on BTS to Saphan Taksin. Sathorn pier is 5 min walk from the station. There are 2 boat options either take the hop on hop off tourist boat that cost approx 150 baht unlimited stop or just take the 8 baht trip to Iconsiam mall. This is a great way to experience the boat at Bangkok Chao Phraya River.

The rest of the days is shopping at Siam district and having local Thai food.

The next day would be the farewell Bangkok as we will be enjoying the morning at the hotel before flying back home.

Bangkok Travel with kids ( Day 3)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 08 Jun 2024 14:57:00 +0000

Day 3 which is the Theme park day with cafes hopping. So we start of our trip at 9am heading to Nakhon Pathom area where all the Instagramable cafe is located.

We start with Memory House cafe where the decorations like English home with colourful grass design next to the river view. Very beautiful cafe.

Then hop to the next cafe Bubbles in the forest where the cafe have a man-made lake with nice huts all over the cafe. We came here for the brunch but quality seems average but everyone came for the photoshoot and it is a tourist target attraction.

Then after the meal we head on to Dream World and journey take an hour. This theme park is less busy n mostly locals visitors. Queue is short and minimum waiting time or no wait with multiple rides.

This park is really suitable for kids between height of 90 to 120 cm. There are rides like antique car, bump boat, helicopter ride and etc etc. There are some thrilling rides for teenagers and a special attraction on Snowtown

Day 4

Bangkok Travel with kids ( Day 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 08 Jun 2024 14:40:00 +0000

It is Safari day at Bangkok. We hire a car with driver from Bangkok Vanlental for 2 days. It is a good option to go private for the Safari tour.

So we start our journey at 9am and about an hour to reach Safari world. There are 2 park Safari park which is the outdoor where we drive our car into the wilderness. We start with this park against the crowd where they are chasing orang utan show. We have some private at the safari park. The highlight of coz is the lion.

Then we straight to the marine park where all the show and feeding is located. Seriously the show schedule is s one after another and it is quite rushing. Just go with your pace and choose the show wisely. We have some feeding for the kid and he is enjoying. I believe the feeding giraffe is the must do in the list for some photoshoot.

After the park, we went to Chocolate Ville for late lunch. This place is a restaurant like Disneyland. Very colourful place where it also capture crowd attention.

Finally we rush to chatuchak weekend market as it was Sunday. This area is really jam. The souvenirs from Thailand should buy from here as it is the cheapest. There are varieties of shop that we should target as kindly plan accordingly with the map online.

Day 3

Bangkok Travel with kids

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 08 Jun 2024 14:08:00 +0000

Finally we are flying again after 4 years of covid era. Visiting Bangkok with kids and our target is theme park and Instagramable cafe.

We chosen Centre Point Chitlom hotel as it is near shopping district especially Platinum Fashion mall area easily accessible by tuk tuk. Nearest BTS station is Chitlom where hotel provide free Tuk tuk.

Family room with 1 double bed and 2 single bed is a great option for family. Hotel facilities is a reasonable as well.

Day 2

Day 4: Resort check out and transfer back to KL with local delight stopover

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 06:22:00 +0000

We have a stroll along the beach in the morning before having our breakfast. Then we pack our luggage and check out and took the 10am speed boat. Everything was smooth and resort assist to pick up luggage from room or reception to the jetty.

The MPV driver and a buddy arrive sharp at the jetty with his Starex MPV at 12:30pm. Then we depart around 1pm and drop by a nearby fish keropok factory "Keropok cap ikan mas wan hassan" and you may search exactly the words in Google map.

Then we proceed our journey back using the KT and highway to KL as per map reference.

We managed to reach Bukit Tinggi town at 7:20pm for our reunion dinner on mid autumn festival before reaching back KL for another an hour.

Day 3: Perhentian Diving and Snorkeling

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 06:08:00 +0000

Heading to the dive center for the morning dive departure at 8:30am right after the resort breakfast. There are some open water and instructor course on going and I was just tag along for the leisure dive at Batu Nisan dive site at Perhentian Kecil between long beach and d'lagoon. Many clown fish and saw a school of fusiliers which is beautiful. Check out the dive!!

After the dive, we can have some beach activities like sand castle built up and beach swimming. There are a swimming pool at the resort for those that wanna have a normal swim.

After lunch and a light rest, then we head to our snorkeling trips to 3 locations. I would highly recommend shark point and turtle point as well. The rest is reef fish snorkeling.

Day 2 Island transfer and Resort check in with some water sports activities

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 04:45:00 +0000

We depart from Temu Primula Hotel around 10:15am and reach jetty before 10:30. It is a short travel distance to jetty which is very convenient. We booked Perhentian Island Resort located at Pulau Perhentian Besar. There are an office next to the ticket counter on the right towards the jetty.

There are 2 fees charge for every tourist. There are RM5 for government service tax and then another RM5 for the island conversation as per photo reference.

The speed boat depart around 11am++ and it just took around 30 minutes to reach the destination. The resort has a nice private beach and beautiful chalet room especially the premier beach front. The check in process was quick but we can only get the room at 3pm. Guest can have lunch and proceed with any water sport activities while waiting for the room. It is advisable to get the full board package as the meals at the resort is highly recommended.

I went for my refresher diving. There are not much to focus as it was refresher and they are some hiccups like mask and fun adjustment. Overall it is a good dive with Perhentian Island Divers which lead by Mr. Andy.

Introducing Beautiful Island of Malaysia, Perhentian Island. Day 1 Transfer to Kuala Besut

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 04:20:00 +0000

There are 2 way to Perhentian Island either flight from KL to Kota Bahru or land transfer which may take anytime from 6 to 8 hours one way depending on traffic and route.

There are 2 island at Perhentian consists of Perhentian Kecil and Besar. Both have different resort depending on the preferences and objectives. Perhentian Kecil have party beach like long beach and Perhentian Besar may have some quiet beach holiday.

We took land transfer on first day from KL to Kuala Besut for nearly 8+ hours using a longer route passing by Raub, Kuala Lipis and Gua Musang with lunch and multiple toilet stops and even dinner take away stop. We had our lunch at Kuala Lipis seafood local restaurant which is quite nice. Below is the route reference from KL to Kuala Besut which is the gateway to Perhentian Island.

We stay a night at Temu Primula Hotel, Kuala Besut. It is easier for transfer to jetty the next morning. The hotel is quite ok. Rather old boutique hotel but it has all the basic and room is consider better at the quiet town to cater for family.

A cool bar at Adena beach Resort

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 14:55:00 +0000

Adena beach resort located 30 minutes from Kuantan.

It also host a cool bar, Puteh beach bar for a chill

Day 11: Farewell Cairo & Egypt. Heading to Dubai for the transit.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 06:56:00 +0000

We depart from Cairo early morning at 1am and reach Sharjat at around 7am. We have approximately more than 12 hours transit and we decided to visit Dubai since, we already at Sharjat. Malaysia have free visa to UAE and can leave the airport easily.

From Sharjat airport, we can purchase a a express bus from the airport to Al Ghuraia Center –for AED20 then where we can take metro train station Union to Burj Khalifa station.

We visited the tallest building Burj Khalifa and also the Dubai mall for our lunch and also Starbuck coffee.

We are so tired and we have to go back to the Sharjat airport for a rest. We rented a room at the Sharjat airport hotel for around AED200 for 3 to 4 hours and is a good deal indeed. Atleast we got a rest and also clean up before our transit back Malaysia.

It is indeed a great Egyptian tour with majority highlights of the main UNESCO world heritage sites of Egypt.

Day 10: Relaxing day at Cairo with the Egyptian Musuem

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 06:55:00 +0000

Today is our check out and only a night stay at Cairo city center. The best of Cleopatra hotel is the hotel just opposite the Egyptian Musuem which is the main attraction of the whole trip after visiting all the pyramids, temples and tombs of the king.

The museum hosting all the artifacts from the pyramids, temples and tombs. There are a special mummies hall with separate ticket price hosting some of the famous king mummies like King Ramses IV etc. It is a must for the Egyptian museum when visiting Egypt.

This is the entrance ticket counter and its ticket price information.

After spending 3 to 4 hours at the museum then we go back to hotel to have a dinner before getting a cab to go to the airport for our departure back Malaysia.

-Next Day-

Day 9: Journey back to Cairo for the Old Cairo UNESCO world heritage site

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 06:54:00 +0000

Our flight is at 9:30am we estimated an hour or less to reach back Cairo. We engaged a driver to pick us and also a day tour around Cairo city center before our check in at Cleopatra hotel.

We went to the Moez street for our first stop for lunch and this whole area of Cairo is also UNESCO world heritage sites.

Then after the lunch, we heading to Citatel area to visit the Mosque of Muhammad Ali which is part of the UNESCO core zone of Cairo.

Then finally end the day tour with visiting Coptic area where the historical Christian culture exist at Cairo.

All the churches have the Islamic culture where the architecture of church is similar to a mosques as well in our opinion. Some mix and cross culture in Egypt.

Then we check in to Cleopatra hotel after completing our day tour. The Egyptian museum is just opposite the hotel.

This is the Egyptian Museum.

-Next Day-

Day 8: Visiting Luxor UNESCO World Heritage Site Valley of the Kings and Temple of Hatshepsut

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 03 Dec 2019 06:54:00 +0000

Today is the check out for the Nile cruise and we heading to the valley of the king passing through the colossi of memnon which is just an entrance to the valley. The attraction is left a piece of statue as we enter the valley. Seriously this is nothing much

Valley of the King where most of the king and queen tomb located and excavated.

The single entrance ticket entitled us to visit any 3 tombs except King Tut tombs which is a separate ticket price to limit the number of visitor.

Valley of the king is the beautiful heritage sites to observe all the wall painting from the Egyptian dynasty. Most of the wall art still intact and protected.

Then we continue our tour journey to the temple of Hasheput where the temple built near the valley of the king at the rock cliff.

After the tour completed, the tour guide sending us to Iberotel hotel for a night before we depart back to Cairo.

-Next Day-

Day 7: Sail to Edfu for Edfu Temple. Visit Karnak and Luxor Temple in the Evening.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 06:51:00 +0000

We start our tour very early in the morning before sunrise to Edfu temple. We starting off with a horse cart ride to the temple.

This temples is not in the world heritage site listing but tentative list. Afterall it is still a great experience.

After visiting the temple, then we continue sailing towards Luxor where we passing by the Esna lock which is a good experience where it is like a elevator for the cruise.

The Esna lock is locking the river to control the water level. So we experience the Esna lock for the cruise lift.

We enjoyed the cruise sailing until we reach Luxor before sunset. We quickly rush to the Karnak and Luxor temples.

Karnak is a great temple where there are very high tower and very grand hall at the temple. It is one of the great famous world heritage sites at Luxor.

The guide bring us to a a secret place where we can take a bird eye view of Karnak temple.

Then ending the day at another world heritage site, Luxor temple.

We reach and visit Luxor temple at night witha total different feeling at night with all the lighting.

-Next Day-

Day 6: Visit to Philae Temple and also Kom Ombo Temple

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 01 Dec 2019 06:50:00 +0000

Staying a night at the cruise for our little first experience and today we visit Philae temple in the morning before the cruise start sailing at noon.

We begin with visiting the Aswan high dam...

there are a friendship tower near the Aswan dam for a little visit as well.

Then follow by the Philae temple which is a temple in the middle of the island at the Nile river which required a short boat ride to the temple.

This is the dock for the Philae temple..

Philae temple was also lifted and move like Abu Simbel to a higher ground even thou it is not as great as Abu Simbel but it is still a great historical world heritage sites at Aswan.

This is the overview of Philae Temple.

and then follow by the Unfinished Obelisk which is part of the attractions in Aswan.

After completing the tour then we return back to the cruise for our lunch and start our sailing.

The cruise slowly start sailing towards Kom Ombo temple. We reach the temple around 5pm just before the sunset.

We may have visit many temples with similarity but it definitely have different historical significance.

Then the cruise continue to sail to Edfu.

-Next Day-

Day 5: Majestic Abu Simple UNESCO World Heritage Site

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 30 Nov 2019 06:48:00 +0000

Today would be another excited day as we going to visit the majestic Abu Simbel. The guide come and meet us at 7:30am, check out from Philae hotel and continue our Abu Simbel day tour.

We reached Abu Simbel around 10am and visited both temple built by King Ramses and also Queen Neferteri temple.

The existing temple is a lifted and move from the original location that is in risk damage by the higher water level of the river.

The whole lifting process is a huge project by UNESCO and well documented.

We completed the temples by noon and then departed from Abu Simbel and have local Egyptian lunch in between the tour.

Reach back Aswan around evening just before sunset for the Nile cruise check in to MS Radamis 2.

We manage to slot in a Felucca ride for Nile river sunset.

Then we had our first dinner at the Nile river cruise. There are some confusion at the cruise as the administration mix up us with the other boat with full of Malaysian. We managed to resolve and settle the confusion especially when we engage our own tour guide especially for this Nile river cruise.

-Next Day-

Day 4: Journey to Aswan

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 29 Nov 2019 06:48:00 +0000

Today is our journey to another city in Egypt where some of the famous world heritage sites located together with our Nile cruise experience.

We engage the same driver to take us to the airport for our internal flights to Aswan. We reach Aswan around 1pm then check in to Philae Hotel near the city center.

The hotel room is facing the Nile River.

After check in and we stroll along the river towards the Feryal Garden where we found a good restaurants namely Makani restaurants with western chicken roasted meal for lunch.

Then we still have time to visit the feryal garden to take some nice photos of the Nile at sunset.

We brought some local burger for dinner as we had a late lunch. Aswan is a city nearer to the other African countries and there are local Nubian which really look like African.

This is the coptic church at Aswan.

-Next Day-

Day 3: Dahshur, Saqqara and Memphis Egyptian Adventure

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 28 Nov 2019 06:45:00 +0000

After consulted some Tripadviser experience and we decided to stick to Dahshur, Saqqara and Memphis and we can focus the majority of the pyramids heritage and it may be the wise decision as well to have a more relax day tour.

We start off the journey with Saqqara where the journey is just about 30 minutes from Giza hotels. We visited the Steps pyramids of Djoser. The entrance tickets for Saqqara and Dahshur is included the climb to the tomb.

It is a great experience to climb to the tomb where we miss the Giza plateau pyramids.

This is Steps Pyramids.

Then we continue our journey to the next pyramids at Dahshur where the famous Red & Bent Pyramid located.

This is the Red Pyramids.

This Bent pyramids is longer and deeper than the Red pyramids like 4 times.

It took a while to climb down the tomb and then there are a high staircase to climb up to the top to experience the whole pyramids.

It is a great experience to have climb both Red and Bent pyramids even thou it is empty inside but it is consider an Egyptian adventure.

We end our tour at Memphis for a little museum before going...

for a Egyptian local cuisine and then returning back to the Giza hotel.

-Next Day-

Day 2: Ancient wonder of the world Giza Pyramids

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 06:39:00 +0000

We started our day early with breakfast at 8am then we continue our self-exploring to the Giza plateau with some difficulty at the beginning even thou the entrance is just next to the hotel

but there are so many locals queuing up and then locals trying to help tourist get in easily and demanded a high tips which we need to be more alerts and careful.

Once we get in then we stroll slowly towards the sphinx and took many photos with the famous Egyptian sphinx which show the face of Egypt pharaoh and to us it is like the majestic lion guarding the pyramids.

After the sphinx (number 5) then we walk slowly up to the pyramids of Khafre (number 1). From Khafre then we walk across the little road and about 200meters to the Great Pyramids of Cheops, Khufu (number 6).

We didn’t brought the tickets to go into the tombs as we missed this at the tickets counter and there are no selling counter around the pyramids.

BTW we chat with some of the tourist on the tickets and they advise that we may skip it as there are nothing inside the pyramids as the whole tomb is already excavated and now at the Egyptian museum.

Anyway to avoid further disappointment we engage a horse cart to go around the pyramids and..

also took an amazing awesome pyramids panoramic view from a best location far at the desert which can reach by camel or horse cart.

We spend almosta full day at the Giza plateau by walking down slowly towards the entrance and also took some sunset photos of sphinx before ending our tour self-exploration at a local KFC.

-Next Day-

An Adventure to Egypt : Day 1 arrival to Cairo

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 06:38:00 +0000

Our trip started with Air Arabia early in the morning on Monday from KLIA and reached Sharjat around 7am and then transit at 1pm afternoon and reached Cairo airport around 3pm.

Once we reached Cairo and we arranged a free pick up from Pyramids Valley Boutique Hotels located at Giza just next to the Giza Pyramids. We reached the hotel almost 5:30pm and we missed the sunset after the check in process. But it is a really great experience staying next to the pyramids even thou the area isn’t pleasant as there are many locals not sincere and trying to scam tourist.

The room is average as it is a reasonable hotel next to the pyramids and the people were not so friendly but that didn’t spoilt our trip.

We have our first meal dinner at the hotel café which we can see the view of the pyramids at night which is so awesome. This is our first great trip in an African countries.

-Next Day-

Day 11: Farewell Kunming & Tibet

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 15 Sep 2018 03:33:00 +0000

Final day supposed to have a great plan to Dragon gate but it was raining like cat and dog in the morning and I decided to stay back and just visit a nice temple near the guesthouse called Yuantong Zen Buddhist Temple passing through Green Lake Garden.

Then went back guesthouse to dress up and go straight to the airport after lunch near the station. It is a nice feeling to go back Malaysia with AirAsia and it feel so warmth.

Day 10: Kunming day tour to Shilin Karst Stone Forest

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 14 Sep 2018 03:33:00 +0000

After a good rest and I continue with my planning to Shilin for another Unesco world heritage site of Karst stone at Kunming. We starting with a little walk to the train station and taking to the last station where the Eastern Station located where we can take a direct bus to Shilin and it is a tourist bus. Everyone on the bus is having the same objectives. The bus go direct to the Shilin Karst Stone entrance. I am so lucky that the rain come chasing me and I am stuck at the bus station and force to buy an umbrella to continue my visit at the attraction.

There are few section of the karst stone, where I walk straight to the stone forest where there are a peak viewpoint to view the whole area of the karst stone then before walk to the next section of the karst stone. There are also buggy to fetch us around to have a glimpse of the whole karst stone at other site. It is a huge big site to enjoy the karst stone with various shape and story but since it is raining and tiring so I decide to have a short visit and then straight to the bus station to have a crispy duck rice before departing back to Kunming.

Once reach back Kunming then I took the train and stop at Donfeng Square Line 2 to visit Flower & Birds Market at Jingxing Road and Jinbi Square (The Golden Horse and Jade Rooster Archway). I call it a day after some Kunming walking as I am really tire after the whole Tibet trip.

-Next Day-

Day 9: Journey to Kunming

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 03:32:00 +0000

Today is the final day at Lhasa as am departing at Lhasa airport later evening and just having a relax morning around Lhasa and walking around Johkang Temple for a coffee and some souvenir before departing to Kunming for my next destination.

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The airport transfer was organise at 2pm as we can have a nice lunch next to the hotel while waiting for the transfer. Once reach the airport and this round the China Eastern flight to Kunming going smoothly without any changes but my newly travel mates from Germany got flight delay and seem change to next morning and I feel he will have some problem since there are flight transfer the next day.

Reaching Kunming at night isn’t a good idea anyway as I am trying to take public transport to the guesthouse for a more budget option. But reaching the last bus station at a rainy days at night is really bad as I am disoriented and I do not have a map and taxi is not picking up and I have to based on my google map memory to walk to the guesthouse. Lucky I still speak some mandarin and manage to reach at 11pm. Kunming weather during September is really different from Tibet as it is raining most of the time comparing to Tibet beautiful weather.

-Next Day-

Day 8: Potala Palace & Johkang Temple

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 12 Sep 2018 03:32:00 +0000

The final day at Lhasa is the main highlight of the 2 main heritage site of Tibet where it supposed to visit on the second day but we change schedule because to suit another group for the Everest trip. So we meet up at 9am and took a tricycle to the Potala Palace entrance where we start to witness the huge china crowd at Potala Palace as there are many local tourist group queue up at the entrance to wait to enter. This is the real queue in China where we did not experience at Everest and also other monastery outside of Lhasa. 1

Potala Palace is a real grand monastery of Tibet and it is an icon of Lhasa and Tibet. We slowly enter the palace from the ground and slowly climb up the palace through the stairs and slope. The maintenance of the palace is maintain using natural resources e.g. the entrance blanket are made of Yak hair and the paint is using other agriculture products, such as milk, sugar, rock sugar, honey, brown sugar and so on. In the deployment of coatings, the staff add mineral raw materials in proportion of red and yellow. At the same time, adding saffron can remove the smell, which is recorded in the Buddhist scriptures.Adding sugar is to make the coating more sticky, easier to attach, but not easy to fall off. This is what make Potala Palace a beautiful world heritage site that you must visit and witness yourself.

After Potala Palace we went back to the hotel for a rest and lunch before meeting up at 3pm to proceed visit of Johkang Temple. This is another interesting heritage site where there are active buddhsim pilgrimage at this temple. Locals walking round the temple where the statue of Jowo Sakyamuni, Tibet's most holy relic, resides. This is a pilgrimage every Tibetan Buddhist aspires to make. Interesting site to walk around round clockwise with the locals with surrounding of locals souvenir and café places near Johkang Temple.

-Next Day-

Day 7: Journey back Lhasa

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 11 Sep 2018 03:31:00 +0000

It is the same routine today back Lhasa where after the breakfast at the hotel then we proceed to the same route back to Lhasa as the new highway was close because of landslide. The same route passing by Yamdrok Lake and Karola Glacier again. We just stop at the man made lake before the glazier. Then we proceed straight to Lhasa without stopping all the attraction as we are quite tire and feel satisfy with Everest.

We reach Lhasa around 5pm and went to the same Yak hotel at Lhasa. I stay in a 4 person room with all by myself as I suppose to stay in a dormitory but there are only me in the room.

-Next Day-