Rocking The Beach: Perhentian Island 2013

Hello friends and strangers! How are you doing? I hope you guys are doing well with life. So this is my first post for this year! Finally!

So, last weekend I was at Perhentian Island with a group of friends.Well, this is my second time to Perhentian, the first time was four years ago. We went there by driving – God, such a long journey. Took us 8 hours because we were kind of lost on our way to find Kuala Besut's jetty.

From Kuala Besut's jetty to Perhentian Besar, it took us around half an hour with speedboat. Funnily, we end up at the same chalet as we did four years back - New Cocohut. As we met up with some familiar faces, I felt comfortable right away. Other than a few new block of chalet, nothing much have change.

Perfect turquoise sea! 

When we reach the chalet, I felt really tired and after a long journey, all I really wanted to do was to take a nap. But as soon as I saw the beach, I got really excited and just couldn't wait to jump into the water. So the first thing we did was tossing our bag into the room and went snorkeling. Yes, right away!

Our package includes two snorkeling time. For the first one, we went to four check points- including the turtle point and shark point. Last time, I only manage to get a glimpse of turtle swimming away from our boat. And since it was my first time going snorkeling, I was already laying down on the boat having seasickness by the time we reached the shark point. But this time I was so lucky! Not only I watched a giant turtle feeding on sea grass, I manage to touch the turtle too! Another memorable moment in my life! And I get to see a few black tip reef sharks swimming around. Coolio! And a way to tackle down seasickness is by avoiding staying on the boat when it stop. Just be the first one to dive in and last one to get back onto the boat!

  

We thought of going to the Long Beach on Perhentian Kecil to see the sunset, but the Water Taxi is too expensive (err, I was pretty much cash-less). So we decided to stay at chalet and play card game. Lame, I know but at least I save a few bucks. Cheapskate, whatever. Anyway, my sister said Long Beach is most happening beach at night (if you know what I mean) and you can sit and relaxed while enjoy fire show. FIRE SHOW! It sound so cool – I wanna see fire show. Now regret not going T_T

Zurazura's very own rendition of turtle

Water taxi service: One-way price per person.

The next day, we went to snorkeling at Pulau Rawa. The scene here was spectacular because fishes here are bigger and more colorful – different kind from the places we went the day before. Spot a turtle gracefully flying through the open area – it was a magical sight! This would be my favorite snorkeling spot so far. Oh, not to forget, the current here makes it hard to swim. By the time I realized it, I was getting further away from our boat. No matter how hard I flapped my legs, I get nowhere. The beach brother has to pull me to get to the boat – I guess I must have look very pathetic there, heh.

Table corals

Blue spotted stingray

Gigantic turtle! 

Clown fish aka nemo and their anemone

Beautiful green coral

Giant clam or T. gigas is one of the most endangered clam species

Food was amazing here! I'm a hantu for seafood (except fish, I don't eat fish - they smell funny) especially squid. We had mostly seafood on the menu (of course) but they have chicken and beef too. We had Kerapu steam on our first night which, according to my friends, taste amazing! I guess our chalet restaurant must be popular among the guests, so it was always full house during lunch and dinner time. They serve Asian and western meal. Our package includes meals, so all we have to do is sit at the table and the meal will be served. Like a boss!

Man, I love going on beach vacation. It’s a view I can’t get to see in my everyday life - vibrant underwater life, fine white sand beaches, calming sounds of waves, crystal clear sea waters – heaven on earth. I wish I could stay here forever but my wallet doesn't let me. I have to move on. Cash flows like water here, heh.

For those who never went snorkeling, you guys should go and enjoy the breathtaking view of the underwater world. Don’t fret about not knowing how to swim, leave it all to the life jacket! To those who interested to go to Perhentian Island, I highly recommended New Cocohut chalet. Their service is awesome! You can check out the details information on their website here.

Till the next post, annyeong people!

p/s: Thanks Mila and Mia for awesome underwater pics!

Two Can Keep A Secret If One Of Them Is Dead

This was meant to be posted before my PD post but the sea excites me. So I've been wanting to shout it out to the world that I had already passed my viva on 29^th November. It went okay-lah. I didn’t expect to spend more than one hour for Q&A session! There were lots of questions, some I can answer and some I couldn’t. Not always on the technical part but more on general knowledge, which I have to know more than what is in my field. It was scary! Anyway, I'm so glad that it’s over and  now I can blog all I can! (look at me, how optimistic!)

So I’ve been spending some time watching this mesmerizing series, Pretty Little Liars. Watching it straight for a week from the very first episode of season one till this Halloween episode; which the production of PLL screw my happiness by leaving me hanging on the most awesome episode ever! And I could only watch the next episode on January 8th, 2013. And that’s about three weeks from now. Anyone feels my frustration here?

For those who had no idea what PLL is about, let me summarized it for you a little. Well, the story is about four girls (Aria Montgomery, Hanna Marin, Spencer Hastings and Emily); whose becomes friend because of Alison. Alison turns them from average to popular students; share a huge secret with each one of them to make them feels special. They follow her lead even though they knew she wasn’t necessarily the kind of girl everyone like. But then one night, Alison goes missing. No one knows what really happen to her. One year later, the girls begin receiving text messages from a mysterious person using the name "A" who threatens to expose their secrets. At first they think its Alison herself, but after the police found her body, the girls realize that someone else knows their secrets—including long-hidden ones they thought only Alison knew. Yes, it’s like I know what you did last summer meets the gossip girls – isn’t that thrilling? :DDD

I really love how that each characters have their own flaw. It’s like I couldn’t pick my favorite character at all. To be honest, I don’t think I could get along with Spencer in real life but her character is so quick and strong and honest, I just can’t hate her! She’s my favorite queen control! Hanna is actually a sweet girl to begin with. She’s actually the only one who was disturbed by all the bullies Alison done. And she’s a great friend (even though it could be her being stupid) for what she’s done for Lucas and Mona. Emily Field is the most beautiful girl. She reminds me a lot of Maya Karin. And I like Aria when she’s not spending time with Ezra. She can be funny sometimes. I just think that Aria’s storyline is getting boring - she keep going back and forth with her relationship with Ezra. I hope there’ll be something in store for us when PLL makes a comeback. (Warning: Spoiler ahead)

One of the Spencer's awesome moment :DD

But the most fun part is there's a bunch of hot guys always the speculations/theories about who is A (or in A’s team) after each episode. You’ll get suspicious on everyone, including the four girls because everyone is hiding something from someone. It shocked me to learn that Mona was behind this and now that it was revealed that a bunch of people might be working for A (A could be one person or a team) and Toby is part of Team A. But I refused to believe Toby is totally evil. I keep my eyes on Jason, Wren and even Ezra, heh. Those are on my A-list. The ending might not make any sense but so far, I love the plot.

Well, to those who have never watch PLL yet, you better watch now. You have a month to catch up with the series. Happy watching!

p/s: gif files are not mine. got it from tumblr.

Sea, Sand & Sun

Another family gathering was being held at Teluk Kemang, Port Dickson on 8^th November 2012. We stay at a bungalow near Bougainvillea Resort and the beach was just a walking distance away. Traffic was quite bad so we reached there quite late and only went to the beach the next morning.

I do not have any intention to get wet at first. I just wanted to sit peacefully by the beach and took some photos. But my cousins and nephews wanted to try a banana boat ride. I was reluctant at first because I’ve been on the ride too many times before. And I think I’m too old for this kind of thing. But of course me against six of them, who am I kidding?

Self-expression session :P

 

As soon as I got onto the banana, I get excited, haha. I purposely avoid taking the front sitting because being in the most front; you have a high chance to get high blood pressure - with all the water spalsh that gets into your mouth :DD 

The speed boat driver told us to let go of the grip and the rest of us was like, ‘Tak mau! Tak mau!’ And no matter how strong you tried to hold on to the boat, you’ll end up getting thrown in the water.  And then we had to get back on the boat and it was the hardest thing to do. Not because I do not have enough strength to pull myself up on the boat, and I refuse to believe that it was because of my weight but because I was laughing too much! We were thrown again near the shore and had to swim back to the beach.

Had too much fun - a good swim and playing water polo in the swimming pool, awesome barbeque, exciting banana boat ride. And most importantly, me spending times with beloved cousins and nephew!  

  

p/s: We just couldn't resist to do the Gagnam style pose (no matter how much I hate that song) :DDD

Shake Your Bom-Bom

Hey everyone! Meet my new little kitten, Bommie! What? I like that name! It sounds cute! Try to pronounce it out loud. Come on try it! Cute, isn’t it?

My mum bought her for my birthday present. I guess because I kept on telling her how my life would be complete if I get a mono color grey cat almost every day. She’s a cross-breed of British Short Hair and local cat. I almost named her Tiffany because my mum and dad opposed so much on my idea to name her Bommie. Well, they still call her with different name but she respond extra well with Bommie. She’s so clever!

My other cat, Keket and April were so furious when we first brought Bommie home. Maybe they feel  insecure that my attention will be on Bommie (if only I could make them understand that my love for them will never change). Well, April still hates her, but I see Keket becoming friendlier nowadays. She stopped hissing whenever Bommie comes anywhere near her and she wouldn’t mind sharing my bed with Bommie now. Sometimes they even play the Flying Mouse together. I just hope one day I’ll get to see Keket licking Bommie like her own daughter because that’s how affectionate Keket was, well once upon a time. I’ll give her more time and share the great news with you guys if that day ever come :P

She’s been with me for two weeks now. She spends more time exploring our house more than she sleep.   Apart from her being affectionate with her own tail and human feet, Bommie haven’t given me any hard time yet. She plays iPad so well and if she was born as human, she’ll be a threat to van Persie because she plays ball so well. Now, I trained her to type on laptop so that she can update this blog for me when I’m too lazy busy :DD

Till the next update, take care~

October's Love!

Seems like I haven’t update this blog for ages! Well, not that it was anything new :P

October has always been my favorite month of the year. It has been incredibly hectic month for me and many fabulous things happen in between. I have lots to share today with y’all today. So, this gonna be yet another choppy entry of the things that I’ve done in these last few weeks. 

Let's kick this post off with another fun field trip I had at the beginning of the month!

It was the last field trip for this year and we spend exactly a week in Sipitang, Sabah. And because this will be the last time here (since there were almost no malaria case found during our ACD previously) we went to the farthest camps we could. Most of the journey took us around one and half or two hours but Camp Basio took us more than 3 hours to reach there! Thanks God the camps are well build and very clean, so no problem with the toilet at all haha!  

Oh, just let me share a few photos from the trip!

Cooking curry Maggi. We couldn't resist having a slurp even just after having Nasi Goreng Kampung :DDD

Surrounding by the thick fog up the hill.
Hot curry Maggi + full stomach + cool breeze = happiness.

And of course, it was my birthday month! Yes, totally the main reason why I love October XD.

It might not be the best one, nevertheless still a great one for me. This year, I didn’t expect to get a surprise birthday cake from my officemates. Either I’m a total idiot or my officemates learn how to moves like ninja because I was completely clueless they were planning something on! It was just a small celebration with just a few peoples in our department (half of department were going to Port Dickson for a seminar on that day) but it still makes me VERY happy. I'm not the expressive type so they probably wouldn't know how happy I was at that time. Honestly, I almost cry because I was so touched. But it would be so embarrassing if I really cry, so I had to force myself to keep calm, hehe. In my mind, I was already jumping up and down when I see the cake and do the Gangnam style dance when they sing me Happy Birthday, haha. Oh, how I love thee!

And it has become a tradition to have family dinner to celebrate birthday - no matter how late, heh. So this year, me having my birthday dinner at MeatWorks, Solaris. Incredibly happy!

And last but not least, we were celebrating Aidiladha in Kelantan this year. One of my uncle live in Kota Bharu, so we’ve decided to spend a few days there.

And that's all for now. I hope you all had a great October too! Till then, bye~

Soy un Dorito!

Lol, just a random post. Got this free apps called 'Mustache' where you can yourself looks cooler have a mustache makeover. So me and Mira turns into some Spanish! Soy un dorito! Ola!

Eid Mubarak!

Assalamualaikum,

I hope it is not too late to wish you all Happy Eid Mubarak! I apologize for all my wrong doings and hope that everyone had a joyful Hari Raya this year.

Jakarta-Bandung: The Road Trip

I thought I could post this out before my field trip (yes, just had another one in Sipitang, Sabah for two weeks) but I failed at managing time. Too many things caught up in between, but I finally got the time to post it. So here is my Jakarta-Bandung trip post!

Let’s make it a short one, yeah?

It was an economy trip for 5 days 4 nights to Jakarta-Bandung.  Like everyone else, I went there with one goal: shopping.  I don’t have much budget though but I planned to at least get something for the upcoming raya. And like what my mum has predicted, I’ve exceeded my budget limit. Bought two lovely kaftans for raya, telekong, a few branded casual wear, kain pasang, blablabla. I just cannot help it. If  I wasn't so broke of rupiah, if only I could withdraw a few hundreds more from the atm machine, I wouldn’t have to dream about that Chloe leather bags for a week! Hummph….

As our schedule was packed with shopping, shopping and shopping, it means we have less and less time for places with beautiful scenery or historical value. I love shopping but I love visiting places too but we have such a limited times and shopping is too time consuming and it makes me broke but the goods here are really cheap....

However we managed to go to Tangkuban Parahu - a stratovolcano where we can see the hot springs and boiling mud up close. We met with a kind local people there, who told me briefly about the legend of Sangkurian – a man that fall in love with his mother. I’m a sucker for legend story, so I decided to share it here. There were a few slightly different version of story, but this one is most well-translated. This is how the story goes:

And of course, let me share some pics from the trip.

Mum, dad and me at Tangkuban Parahu

Listening to the history of the stratovolcanoes~

This is my first time watching the hot steam vaporizing from the volcano up close. Quite epic I must say!

The background is the mural of Sangkuriang legend

Too caught up reading the menu

Pangsit Kuah: one of the dishes that you should try.

A visit to Kartika Sari is a must. Bought lots of brownies!

A tut-tut! Me and my room mate went to have a quick tour
near our hotel, 10 minutes before we check out! 

I can say that I pretty much enjoy this trip. Though we spent more time on the road caught in the traffic. It took us almost 5 hours to reach Bandung from Jakarta (our Pak Supir said normally it only took about 3 hours). The traffic was so bad either way but it was better on our way back to Jakarta. And most of all, I will never forget the experience of running away from the sellers! There were just too many of them and they were everywhere and have this kind of fighting-spirit that they won’t stop following you around until you buy something from them. Can't help but feeling pity for them.

And that’s all I have to share. Till the next update, be good!

p/s: I said to make this short but ended up to write quite a long entry.