Life is Prettyful

From Koh Samui to Koh Phangan

2015-02-06T20:37:00.001+08:00

Salam readers,

This is the continuation of my previous travel journey. Click here to read about it.

During our journey from Hatyai to Surat Thani, my husband notice something. Apparently, I have wrongly book the hotel at Koh Samui by one day later. Suppose to be 17-20 January 2015 but I booked it 18-20 January 2015. Ah sudah! So macam mana? Nak tidur mana malan ni? Since tiket bot ke Koh Samui dah beli, kita continue je lah sampai sana.

Ya. Itulah dia muka tak mandi. #bukanberpeluhpon

Once there, we have few options.

1) Just go to the same hotel and ask for available room

2) Visit another Island near Koh Samui (i.e Koh Phangan or Koh Tao) and spend a night there.

So which one do we choose? The later one.

We decided to go to Koh Phangan rather than Koh Tao because the boat fare is cheaper. Plus, it only take 20 minutes journey. (Journey to Koh Tao took approximately 2 hours).

After purchasing the boat fare to Koh Phangan (Returned Cost, Samui-Phangan-Samui THB 500/person by Lomprayah), we find a cafe for light breakfast with free WIFI and search for available hotel. I usually use Trip Advisor because they will compare prices between Agoda, Booking.com, Asia Rooms and others. Lucky for us, we manage to get a hotel with only RM 46/night from Agoda while other company charge RM 100+ for the same hotel.

The hotel we choose is Haad Tian Beach Resort. West side of Koh Phangan. The view for sunset is superb. The hotel is private and secluded as it is the only hotel on that side of the beach. Taxi fare from pier to hotel is THB 200/person.

As for Halal food, it is quite difficult to get in Koh Phangan since it is a party island for Full Moon Party. What we do is, we buy instant food from 7Eleven that is halal (brand Roza) and ate it with instant Jasmine Rice (also from 7E). Husband love the Jasmine Rice so much. It is an instant rice that you only have to microwave it before eating (7E staff can do that for you).

Once we reach the hotel (around 2.00 pm), we have lunch that we got from 7E, take a very loooong good shower and we....... sleep. Haha. Penat wooo. Finally dapat jumpa proper katil, nikmatnya Ya Allah. Tuhan je tahu. Haha. Since the hotel is quite far from central attraction, we just stay at the hotel to relax and didn't tour around the island. Nothing interest me much in Koh Phangan except for the sunset. Lagipun bila kitorang bangun tidur memang dekat nak maghrib dah. Nak jalan mana lagi la malam-malam. But to experience this kind of travel journey, I would love to do it again.

Till next post, I will write about activity that we do in Koh Samui.

Panoramic view from the hotel

KL to Koh Samui via Train

2015-01-26T22:45:00.000+08:00

Salam dear readers,

Recently, me and my husband decided to go to Koh Samui using slow commute. The highlight of our trip to is mainly the means of getting there. This trip is also special since we use all kind of transport. You name it. Train, boat, bus & flight.

To reach Koh Samui we ride :-

1) Train from KL Sentral to Hatyai

2) Mini van from Hatyai to Surat Thani

3) Night boat from Surat Thani to Koh Samui

The only thing that we book from Malaysia is train tickets, flight back to Malaysia & hotel at Koh Samui.

Train from KL Sentral to Hatyai

(Cost RM 48/person - Superior class seats)

The train fare from KL Sentral to Hatyai is RM 40. Then please add on the supplementary charge as per table below (base on the seat type you choose)

To purchase the train ticket, you can either buy it at the counter (located at KL Sentral, 2nd floor) or online from KTMB's website. Click here. (But you have to register and create login ID)

Train seats only open 1 month before travel date. I choose to bought the ticket online because the seats are selling like hot cakes! They sold out so fast! That's why we only end up with Superior seats and not the Berth.

However, seats is also fine with us so long it can recline. We choose front seats to get more leg room. (Bear in mind some people may not like it because it is quite noisy and close to the toilet)

The journey from KL Sentral to Padang Besar took about 11 hours. Padang Besar to Hatyai another 1 hour. At Butterworth, train will stop for 30 minutes and at Padang Besar train will stop for 1 or 2 hours (depending on when Thailand's train reach Padang Besar). Malaysian & Thailand Customs will be at Padang Besar, so here is where you fill in the Arrival Card and get your passport stamp.

At Padang Besar, the train deck will only left with 2 (from original 5). And ticket to Hatyai from Padang Besar is free seats (no seat number on it).

Since the train will stop for quite sometime, it is advisable to have breakfast in Padang Besar. But please have it after you get your passport stamp. Custom personnel will leave once there is no people. There is only 1 restaurant situated in Padang Besar station.

We took off from KL Sentral at 10.00 pm 15 January 2015 and we reach Hatyai at 12.00 pm 16 January 2015.

Mini Van & Night Boat to Koh Samui

(Cost THB 750/person ~ RM 75.00)

[For easy reference, I will just do conversion of THB 100 = RM 10. Although when I convert my RM, it has drop to THB 100 = RM 10.30]

In order to reach Koh Samui, we need to go to Surat Thani first. The journey to Surat Thani from Hatyai is about 5 hours (By car or bus).

To reach Surat Thani, you can either go by bus or train or you can hire an agent. Bus from Hatyai to Surat Thani only run twice/day (9.30 am &7.30 pm). As for Thai train schedule, I am not so sure myself. Perhaps you can refer to Seat61.com

Since we only reach Surat Thani at 12 pm, we miss the bus (base on our initial plan). However, lucky enough, there are many travel agents near Hatyai Train Station. In fact, these agents already start promoting from inside the train. (The train haven't stop they already jump in and start selling).

Take your time to decide which agent to use. Ask each agent how much they charge to reach Koh Samui and haggle a bit. The initial charge that we got is THB 2,000 for 2 person. The cost inclusive of transport from Hatyai to Surat Thani (Mini Van) then to Koh Samui (Night Boat).

The agent can speak very little English. The process of purchasing tickets is quite hard. This is the conversation between us and the agent.

Us : 2 tickets to Donsak. Here to Donsak to Samui. We want night boat. Reach Samui in the morning.

Agent : Yes night boat.

Then show us this picture.

Image from Google for sample

Us : No. Slow boat. Reach Samui tomorrow.

Agent : Yes. Slow boat. Reach Samui morning.

Then point us the same picture again. -_-"

At that point, we already gave up and just bought the tickets. We just want to get everything done and reach Samui.

There are speed boat to reach Koh Samui. The company are Lomprayah, Raja Ferry & Seatran. Based on many blogs that I've read, most of them choose Seatran. The last speed boat to depart from Donsak Pier to Samui is 7.00 pm (Thai's time).

If you fly from KL to Surat Thani, Lomprayah (THB 700/person) and Seatran (THB 400/person) booth available at the airport. The charge is inclusive of Boat & Airport transfer. I am not sure for the Raja Ferry price though. Hotel transfer/pick up is also available with additional charge.

Once we reach Surat Thani, we saw the boat, we were quite relief that it is exactly the boat that we want! Fuhh! Lap peluh kat dahi. This is the boat.

Bot tongkang

While waiting for the boat to depart, we had our dinner at the night market. It is situated just beside the jetty. Some food is halal and some is not. So it is better to look carefully prior buying. Bad news for us, the shop that sells fried food (that is halal) is close on the night we were there. So we just order light food like kebab, pancake & bread serve with kaya. As for drink, the shop that sell bread give us chinese tea (for free).

Night market

Bread with kaya

Banana pancake

We purposely request for Night Boat (Slow Boat). Just for the experience and based on recommendations that we got. It is nice. We spend a night on the boat. (Jimat hotel 1 malam and tidur secara berjemaah). Hehe. The boat depart at 11.00 pm 16 January 2015 (Thai's time) and reach Samui 6.30 am 17 January 2015.

Inside bot tongkang

When we reach Samui, we notice something. Something bad! Apparently, we wrongly book the hotel by

one day later. So HOW? What do we do?? Continue in next post.

Donsak pier at dawn

Lombok - Honeymoon Trip - Cidomo

2014-11-24T10:18:00.003+08:00

Salam readers,

On day 3 of our stay, as I listed here, we went to Puri Mas Spa Resort for some pampering session. This spa resort is a sister resort to the one we stay. Read about it here.

This Spa resort is very interesting.There were many exotic animals that the owner kept. One that I really like were the antelope. They were really friendly and I got the experience to pet them.

At first, we just see them from afar. Lucky for us, the worker is about to feed the animals. So he offer us to come in & play with them.

Other than antelopes, there are many other animals here. Some of which I don't even know what it's called.

Done with the spa & the animals, we leave the resort via taxi. On our way back, we decided to make a stop at Senggigi town to get some souvenirs. Unfortunately, we didn't take any photos of Senggigi town. We were too busy choosing souvenirs for everyone.

From Senggigi town to our resort, we decided to went back local style. Since the day we arrive Lombok, we notice the local always use this ride. We ask our driver what is that and he explains that it is called Cidomo. A ride that is use by the local to commute between one village to another.

Cidomo is actually a horse-drawn carriage. However, they only use kuda padi (a smaller type of horse. Like a pony). I am not sure whether pony & kuda padi is the same thing or not. Since Cidomo is very popular among Lombokian, we make a point that we must ride it at least once.

Alhamdulillah we got the chance to experience it & we were quite surprise by how fast the thing can go. Like seriously! It is one of the experience you need to try once you in Lombok. With that, I end this entry with a video of us riding a Cidomo.

Note : This will be my last Lombok entry.

Lombok - Honeymoon Trip - The Food

2014-11-14T20:28:00.001+08:00

Hello and salam dearies,

I got a question from a reader to write about the foods there. So I will try to write about it. However, I don't really remember what we ate while we were there. Besides, when the food reach us, we were too hungry to even snap pictures.

This is the first meal that we had. If you ask me what is that, I am sorry because I can't remember it anymore. Haha -_-" But the pineapple juice is complementary as a welcome drink. We were too hungry at that time. That explains the 3 dishes for only the 2 of us.

On our final night, we decided to have romantic dinner serve by the hotel. They called it Rijsttafel which means traditional Indonesian dish back when the dutch were living in Indonesia.

We have the whole gazebo, which place by the beach only for us. With candle, flower petals, and sound of waves. The setup is very romantic. Then,....it started to pouring rain heavily. Haha. But both husband and I agree that the rain makes the scene even more romantic.

Here is the menu for our dinner :

Entree : Lebui Soup (Lombok black bean soup with sliced celery)
Main (serve with white rice) :-

Empal daging (flavoured fried beef with fresh coriandler)
Sate pusut (Soft mint snapper mixed with grated coconut moulded onto bamboo skewers and grilled)
Pelecing kangkung - (Steamed water spinach and bean sprouts in a spicy Lombok sauce)
Cumi bumbu Bali (Whole small baby squid with Balinese spices)
Ayam Bakar Madu (Grilled chicken breast with Javanes spices and honey flavours)

Dessert : Lombok tropical fruits
Condiments : Kerupuk, acar & sambal

I think this dinner itself already cover most of their local dish. Pelecing kangkung is one of Lombok popular local dish. Their sambal is really spicy and my stomach can't take it.

As I mention in my earlier entry, Lombok is a Muslim land. You won't see any babi golek anywhere you go. So you will have the confidence that the food is Halal.

Baju Cantik

2014-11-05T22:55:00.000+08:00

Salam dearies,

When it comes to traveling, the thing I hate the most is packing. (What else right?). If only all of my clothes can be miraculously pack & ready. I have to choose the outfit wisely. Being a lady (ehem!), we still need to look good while travel.

The main outfit criteria for travel is Baju Cantik. Once baju dah cantik, barulah boleh tangkap gambar cantik-cantik. Then you can shoot #OOTD at variety of places.

For me, my first choice of outfit that falls under Baju Cantik category is Long Maxi Dress.

I super love maxi dresses. Even my colleagues know my passion towards maxi dresses. I have quite a collection of it. My wedding outfit was inspired by variety of maxi dress as well. Why I love it so much? Simple. Because IT FITS ANY OCCASIONS. Weddings, Travel, Office Wear, Casual Wear, Dinner Parties. You. Just. Name. It.

Even some people wear maxi dress during Hari Raya these days. (Guilty as charge). The best thing about maxi dress, I just need to find a matching scarf then I good to go. Plus point for maxi dress, it fit pregnant ladies as well. Heck, if I happen to get pregnant later, I don't have to search for new outfit. Kan dah jimat!

Even The Duchess of Cambridge wears it!

I can drag on and on about maxi dresses. But sometimes I do get bored of maxi dresses. There are days that I feel like I want to mix and match. When I feel like it, I will choose Loose Fitting Blouse. Another category that falls under my Baju Cantik. It is decent enough and it versatile enough. I can wear it to work, events or just on casual day but still be in style. The pure joy of mix & match because these blouses comes in many designs! From floral printed to abstract designs and even simple plain. I can match it based on my moods and I can match it with jeans, trousers or long skirt. The selection varies. Yet, you still look feminine & poised in it.

Sometimes, I want to be more adventurous. Try out the new style. I want to look sexy and be flirtatious (only towards my husband) but still looks good. So I will pick bodycon dress. An outfit that still falls under my Baju Cantik category. This dress will boost your sexiness level to the top. Some people might be intimidated to wear this dress due to its tightness. This body hugging bodycon dress can be worn to special dates, romantic dinner or even at the office by matching it nicely with the right choice of shoes and accessories. If it were me, I will pair it with a cardigan for office or casual wear.

So which type of Baju Cantik do you prefer? Long Maxi Dress, Loose Fitting Blouse or Bodycon Dress? Tell me your answer and quickly grab them at ZALORA.COM.MY.

Excuse me, why are you still here? Head down to Zalora now and get rambang mata for your choices of Baju Cantik.

Lombok - Honeymoon Trip - Activities (City Tour)

2014-11-02T13:16:00.000+08:00

Salam all,

I've been procrastinating to blog for quite some time. My husband has advice me to write as if people is looking for info. So I should keep it simple and precise.

We stay in Lombok for 5 days 4 nights. Arrive on Wednesday & return to Malaysia on Sunday. Air Asia direct flight to Lombok only available on these days - Sunday, Wednesday & Friday. The flight already took us around 3 hours & the hotel took around 1.5 hours from airport. So we only left 3 days to explore Lombok. Here in summary :-

Day 1 - Arrival - Arrive at Hotel around 2.00 pm (Lombok time is same with Malaysia)
Day 2 - City Tour
Day 3 - Massage at Puri Mas Spa Resort
Day 4 - Mataram Mall
Day 5 - Return back to KL - Return flight is on 12.15 pm

In this post, I will focus on the City Tour. This tour is arrange by the hotel & it cost us RP 435,000 (around RM 120). Among the places that we went in this City Tour are :-

i) Chinese Cemetery & Temple (This one you can skip as it is the same like in Malaysia)
ii) Fishing Village
iii) Craft Village
iv) Sasak Village
v) Kuta Beach

Fishing Village

Fishing Village - Not much activity done during our visit

Craft Village

Craft Village - How they craft their furniture & household items

Craft Village - The end product

Craft Village - Embroidery

Craft Village - The locals believe if the ladies don't know how to do this, they can't be wed

There are actually a video of me donning the sulam (embroidery) captured by my husband. However, the video is in my husband's playbook & now the playbook can't be switch on. Hopefully we can discover how to retrieve some pictures & videos from there.

Sasak Village - Outside

Sasak Village - Inside

I think my most favorite is visiting Sasak Village and understanding their culture. Sasak people speak Bahasa Sasak, and only some of them can speak Bahasa Indonesia. Their house is made out of clay (tanah liat). In this house, girls will be sleeping inside while guys will be sleeping outside. (There are days that the husband & wife can sleep together)

To wed a girl, the guy need to take away the girl for a few days. When they return back, the guy will meet the girl's family. Then there will be ceremony to celebrate the wedding. This is the main reason why Lombok men take away so many Malay ladies to elope in the previous years. It is in their culture to do so. It just that they don't return back to discuss with the girl's family.

The main economy of Sasak people is mainly agriculture. You can see a lot of paddy field in Lombok. So there are still a lot of green scenery to view there.

Paddy field

Sasak Village - Kitchen

Sasak Village - Shared shower. All the villagers take shower here

Sasak Village - This is where they put all the paddy

Sasak People - This auntie want to take picture with us before we leave

Last but not least, a visit to Kuta Beach Lombok. (Yes Lombok also have Kuta Beach. Not only in Bali). During our visit, they were preparing for Bau Nyale Festival. Read about it here and here. But we don't manage to join the festival as we already return back to Malaysia.

There are many other activities that you can do in Lombok such as mountain climbing at Mount Rinjani & snorkeling at 3 Gilis (Gili Air, Gili Meno & Gili Trawangan). However, we skip that and explore the city. If you want to go to Bali, there's also a boat transfer from Bali to Lombok.

If we have the opportunity to go there again, we would love to go for snorkeling at the famous 3 Gili Islands. Hope you can benefit from this entry. :)

Lombok - Honeymoon Trip - Where to stay?

2014-10-29T20:09:00.000+08:00

Salam All,

In my previous entry, I explain why we choose Lombok for our honeymoon. Click here to read.

Today, I will tell you guys where we stay in Lombok.

We choose Puri Mas Boutique Resort & Spa.

The resort is divided by 2 and located separately (1 is Beach Resort & another is Spa Resort)

If you want to stay near the beach, please take the Beach Resort. Where we stay.

You still can visit the Spa Resort (located near Senggigi town area) and have a massage there.

The Spa Resort also have a Mini Zoo where you can see some exotic animals.

We choose Puri Mas as it has good review and perfect for our budget.

Apart from that, the resort was design with Indonesion culture.

This resort also is a child free resort. So you won't see any children running around here and there.
The rules is for the safety of the children. You don't want any children to get drown in a swimming pool or sea right?

Apart from that, TV is upon request. There is no TV in your room.

But you are in your vacation right? Why you need TV anyway?

We choose Quirky Budget Room. The bed is a four poster queen bed.
With an additional single bed. Water filter & drinks is inside the room. So you won't get thirsty.

Some of the bathroom is an open air bathroom. You can see the sky while you were showering. It's a nice concept. However, I am not comfortable with this kind of bathroom, so I emailed them & ask for an indoor bathroom.

The hotel also provide packages like tour packages, snorkeling packages, diving packages, waterfall tour and more. I request from the hotel what are the packages they offer and they provide me a booklet of it with summary of activities will be done. So from the packages we choose City Tour and I will write about it later.

The downside of this hotel, it took roughly 1.5 hours from the airport. 30 minutes north to three famous Gili (Gili is a popular place for snorkeling & diving). And it is 10 minutes away from Senggigi town area. You need to ride a cab to get there and the cab can only be get via hotel reception. At Senggigi, there are many other snorkeling packages offered. But we only discover it late, so we decided not to take it. Souvenirs can also be found here.

Hence, if you want a private & secluded place, this hotel is a perfect place for you. The view is spectacular.
But if you want to taste local food, it is better that you stay near Senggigi. Most of the times, we just order hotel food as the price is still reasonable.
If you want to snorkel or diving, it is better to stay at a hotel near the 3 Gili areas.
But if you stay in Puri Mas, you still can go to Senggigi town and see what are the packages they offer.
Decide which one you want & the choice is yours.
Love from us.

Lombok : Honeymoon Trip - Why?

2014-07-08T08:00:00.000+08:00

Salam dearies,

For my first travel trip entry, I decided to write about Lombok.

Lombok holds a special place in my heart as it is our honeymoon trip.

It is the first trip that we go together as a couple.

When we decided Lombok as our honeymoon trip, we received so many comments.

Mainly negative. Things such as

"Korang berani eh pergi Lombok? (You guys are so dare to go to Lombok).

or said to my husband

"Kau berani eh bawa isteri kau pergi Lombok. Tak takut ke?

(You really dare to bring your wife to Lombok. Aren't you guys afraid?)

Even when people ask us where to go for honeymoon, we will just say Bali instead rather than Lombok. Yes, Lombok is popular among Malaysian (Malay especially). Why?

Because Lombok's men use to take away Malay ladies and bring them to Lombok to elope and never return back. So, it is already planted in their minds that Lombok is a dangerous place (especially for Malay ladies).

Question is, why we still choose Lombok?

Yes, we do survey other places that popular for honeymoon, like Bali, Phuket, Krabi etc.

However, I feel that these places just overrated. It is just too crowded with people.

For honeymoon, I want it to be intimate, secluded, private and romantic as well.

After all, it is the best time you really get to know your spouse. Isn't it?

So my sister suggested Lombok to us.

During that time, Air Asia just open up their direct flights to Lombok.

It just perfect for us as it is still new and unexplored (by Malaysian).

As for the budget, I budgeted RM 3,000 for 2 (RM 1,500 each) for flight & accommodation.

But both only cost us RM 2,400 (for 5 days 4 nights including daily breakfast + airport transfer).

I have RM 600 extra from the budget that I can use for others while we were there.

Bear in mind, I book the ticket as early as September 2012 & my wedding is only at the end of February 2013 (5 months early booking).

We never regret our decision to choose Lombok.

It is a beautiful place and we still talk about it.

Seeing the pictures that we took (to choose to blog) just make me miss Lombok more.

All the negativity is just perception and it will just washed away once you were there.

Try to understand their culture &a you will understand why they did that.

As this entry already long enough, I should summarize, why we choose Lombok :

Religion : Lombok is a Muslim land. Food is halal & Mosque is everywhere. (1 village must have at least a mosque)
Communication : Bahasa Indonesia which is not much differs than Malay. Plus some of them (the driver especially, is good in English). Hence, not much communication barriers.
Budget friendly : As I stated above.

Will we go there again? The answer is YES. How can you not love this view?

There are still some places that we haven't explore and we will go there again in the future.

Thank You and Salam.

Introduction

2014-07-06T09:33:00.001+08:00

Salam,

My name is Qiha. It has been a while since my last post and now I don't know where to start.

My hands are itching to write again, hence the rebirth of this blog.

Apart from that, I feel that I have to start writing again to improve my language skills.

I am married and I love to travel. Same goes to my husband.

I received a lot of questions from my friend regarding our trip.

So to answer their questions, I decided to share it through blog so that I can explain more.

I hope the information will benefit others as well.

Till then,

Assalamualaikum