Hong Kong Trip

I was lucky enough to attend yet another incentive trip within the year. Despite the fact that the trip was arranged in the last minute, the itinerary was awesome! Great credit goes to my colleagues Sri and Jynna for making it happened!

This was really a luxurious trip. A vacation that I could never forget. We put up in the 5-star Shangri-la Hotel at Kowloon and had a sumptious poolside buffet dinner at Hong Kong Football club on the first night. The below is the slide shows for pics taken on day-one. For info, juz hold on to the pic to read the captions.

Chilled Out On The Highlands

In November 2007, our family escaped to Cameron Highlands for a chill-out vacation. We departed about 6am in the morning. Reached Ipoh around 8am to have the famous dim sum at Foh Sun Restaurant and arrived at Cameron Highland around noon.

Whoever is planning for a holiday in CH, I will always recommend the following 3 activities. I don't know about you, but our family always enjoys these activities:

1) Visitation to Tea Plantations
This is one of my most favourite outings. I get addicted to the smell of raw tea leaves. We visited Boh Tea Centre at Sungai Palas on our first day of visit. The next day morning we went to Lipton and the last day before departure, we dropped by the Cameron Valley.
At the tea centre, you will be invited for a free tour to watch how the workers pick and segregate the tea according to the respective grades and quality. You also get to watch how the raw leaves are processed into tasty tea. The last thing that shouldn't be missed is to sip a cup of tea and help yourself with light snacks such as sandwiches and scones. The Sg Palas tea house has gone through a facelift. That reminds that I haven't set my feet on this highlands for almost a decade. The tea house was built with modern architecture, supported with glass and steel structures and is set on a balcony-like platform on the hilltop. If you choose to sit at the far end, you will command a 270 degree view of the tea plantation. You really get to relax and unwind at the tea garden. Psychologically, the cool air couple with the fragrance of the tea leaves make the brains more alert. That was real cool...

2) Visitation to flowers and fruits farms
Basically, you get to feast your eyes with many colourful nameless flowers. You get to drink freshly pressed strawberry juice and pick up one or two bottles of honey.

3) Visitation to the vegetable markets
You get to see different types of uncommon vegetables. The vegetables are not really cheap but the freshness is what you intend to get for a steamboat dinner. I love the sweet potatoes and sweetcorn. Best eaten when steaming hot...in cool weather.

At Cameron Highland, I won't recommend you to go to any of the open-door restaurant, stalls or coffee shops. The flies just pissed me off. However, T-Cafe is an exception. This small eatery is located at Tanah Rata, a few doors away from HSBC. It is above a fast food restaurant (can't remember the name). This is a family run business and they have a variety of local and western cuisine. Their scones are superb and apple pies are very famous. The ambiance is not posh but it makes you feel like home!

Elgin's First Island Trip - Pulau Pangkor

Kun Ming, China - The Spring City

I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to join the National Sales Convention on 26 Feb 2008. Kunming is the capital of the Province of Yunnan. It is reputed as the "Spring City of China" due to the fact that it is endowed with a pleasant climate, spring all the year round and is adorned with more than 400 kinds of flowers.

Fortunately or unfortunately, our first night in the City of Spring, the temperature fell drastically that there was unexpected snowfall at night. We were told that this rare snowfall was the first time since the last 5 years.

On the second day, the team left for Stone Forest to participate in a HSBC Editon"Amazing Race". The Stone Forest is the most scenic attraction in Yunnan Province and there is an old local saying that says, 'if you have visited Kunming without seeing the Stone Forest, you have wasted your time.' It is true: the Stone Forest is definitely one of a kind!

Shuttle ride to stone forest. All of us are divided into team according to the local tribes' name such as "Naxi, Miao, Bai" and so on.. Sounded like some kind of vulgar lingo to me. Anyway, i was from the " Miao". The one in the pic who looks like auntie is me. It was really cold, okay!? Clad in warm clothes made the already plump figure looked even more puffed up!(Sigh..)

" Now you see me...."

"Now you don't!" A picturesque backdrop with mirror-like lake near the entrance to the Stone Forest.

Another fairyland on earth

This is like a scene in most of the Chinese Kungfu movies. You can imagine this thing like flying dragon and crouching tiger.

Macau - Where East Meets West

I must say that Air Asia has made us flown more miles than any other carriers with their regular annual cheap fare bonanza. In Sept 2007, my usual tour buddies and I managed to secure free fares again and obtained a good bargain for ground arrangement of a 3-day-2-nite trip to Macau and Zhuhai .

It was already around 6pm when we landed at Macau Int'l Airport. I managed to capture this valuable sunset scene from the bus on the way to our hotel. The result produced was as though someone has shot it with the aid of a tripod. The secret? Thanks to Canon Digital Camera :-)

Sunset in Macau

Say Cheese..!

Musical Fountain feature outside The Wynn, Macau Hotel

The hotel we stayed (Beverly Hotel) is located in the city centre. After dinner, we took a walk down the street and was so fortunate to see the "live performance" by the musical fountain at the Wynn Hotel(Across the road from Lisboa). The musical fountain performs on every interval of 15 minutes and each session last for about 10-15 minutes. It was really an awesome experience and the best part was the spectators need not fork out a single penny to watch it! We truly immersed ourselves in a sea of wonder and emotion owing to their exquisite selection of musical which ranges from classical pieces to popular music. The result is a rich and dynamic collection of performance in water, light and colour, each unique and expressive of its own musical character.

This musical fountain is the landmark of The Wynn Hotel as it is right in front of hotel's lobby greeting all passer-by with melodious tune every night..

There are many casinos in Macau for anyone to try their hand with Lady Luck. The famous few are the New and "Old" Lisboa, the Sands Macau and the Wynn Macau. Anyway, we are a bunch of really kiasu people. So afraid to lose that we hesitated to invest into such business during our stay. After few moments of soul searching and mind strugglings sessions, we finally decided to pool in a small sum of money (HKD 50 each) as our initial capital and sent our rep Joyce to see if she can make a fortune out of it. She was under unsurpassed pressure not to lose our capital. At last, we only managed to win HKD50. Too insignificant a sum to divide amongst ourselves and we finally decided to spend it on giving everyone a dessert treat. Nevertheless, all of us were glad that we didn't lose our capital. Just for fun la..

Enchanting Bali - I

On 7/5/2006, I flew by Air Asia to Bali with my usual tour buddies. Thanks to Air Asia's zero fare that everyone can fly. This trip also marked my maiden voyage in a national budget carrier(sounds better than a low cost carrier/low class carrier right?)

Our first stop was at Ubud and we put up in this luxurious boutique hotel-Barong Ubud Spa Resort. The hotel has 17 units (if I am not mistaken) of villa-style chalets feature the privacy of the traditional balinese family compound. The rooms are tastefully decorated. Each chalet has a unit of four-poster king size bed with veil-like "mosquito netting" meant for the couples to play hide-&-seek, bathroom with sunken bath, CD players and of course, dimly lit ambiance. It looks like a perfect place for the newly-wed to spend their romantic first night. Unfortunately, the set-up was a complete wastage for us because we were not quite used to the dimness in the room and the dark surroundings at night. Our room package came with complimentary fruit basket, American breakfast and a set of afternoon tea with local dessert. All in cost about RM400 per room/night. Albeit the price was a bit of the high side, I must frankly say that we truly enjoyed our stay in this hotel for the warmth hospitality and excellent service. The staff were quite generous with their serving of freshly pressed fruit juices every morning. It was purely natural and served without addition of any sugar syrup.

Our "secret garden", a secluded compound outside each hotel room.

The hotel location is strategic, at the centre of Ubud-Bali's cultural heartland. Art market is only a few minutes easy walk from the hotel. You will definitely fall in love with dozens of fascinating art galleries, delightful restaurants and a myriad of small shops selling interesting and unusual gifts and handcrafted souvenirs. Cheap and nice, provided you are a good bargainer.

Jiu Zhai Gou, Szechuan, China - A Paradise On Earth

My trip to Jiu Zhai Gou & Chendu was during Sept 2005. It is said that if there should be wonderlands on the earth, Jiu Zhai Gou must be one of them. There is no equal elsewhere that has sceneries and fables of dreamlike eloquence, or natural purities like a fairyland as Jiu Zhai Gou. Jiu zhai gou is located in Nanping County, 450 kilometers (about 280 miles) to the north of Chengdu City. The recent 7.8-magnitude earthquake on 12 May 2008, which jolted Szechuan and the world alike happened in Wenchuan, a remote county about 100km northwest of the provincial capital, Chengdu. I heard from my friends that some places which we have visited including the winding road linking the Jiu Zhai Gou with a small town named Mao Xian were also affected by the quake. How devastating really.. Let's pray for everyone effected!



Scenic mountain view was taken before landing.

At the Jiu Zhai Gou airport waiting for coach pick-up.

Jiu Zhai Gou Paradise Hotel, this is a corner of our room view. Scenic ride to the "hai" (which means lake)

A picturesque backdrop

Huang Long(The Yellow Dragon") together with Jiu Zhai Gou are both known as the "2 places on earth with heavenly scenery". Both places are the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This photo was taken at the Du Jiang Yan Dam, which apparently was also hit by the devastating quake on 12 May 2008.

Du Jiang Yan Dam is a water irrigation system built by the chinese in 25B.C. Another world heritage site. It was to divert water from the river to the farming community lower down the river and to prevent flood. The ingenuity of Chinese engineering was demonstrated during the ancient days. The tour guide relayed to us that devastating annual floods plagued the people living by the the Min River. During the Qin Dynasty, Li Bing, who was sent to Chendu as an official, decided to do something about it. He investigated the river with some locals. He familiarized himself with the land forms and water flows, and found the source of the water. The waters melted from Mount Min at the beginnings of every summer, went into the Min River and flooded the farms. Li Bing decided to divide the river into two streams, allowing one stream to continue on its normal course, while the other stream would flow into the farmer's fields. But there was one big problem. The Yulei Mountains blocked the way to the Chendu Plain.He had to break a path through a mountain. The rock was too hard to break. So he had men throw wood and grass on the rocks and set it on fire, then poured cold water over it. This made the hard rock crack so the men could remove it. This labor took 7 years and they finally made an opening through the mountains to the plains that is 20 meters (65 feet) wide. The peasants called it Bǎo Píng Kǒu (Bottleneck). Today, Du Jiang Yan has become a major tourist attraction. It is also the admiration of scientists around the world, because it has one ingenious feature. Unlike contemporary dams where the water is blocked with a huge wall, Du Jiang Yan still lets water go thorugh naturally. Modern dam do not let fish go through very well, since it is a wall and and the water levels are different. In 2000, Du Jiang Yan became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Elabana Falls is in Lamington National Park, part of the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves World Heritage site in Queensland, Australia. ...

Mauritius- Between The Sea & Sky

Our trip to Mauritius was in May 2005.

Arrival at the airport, say cheese!
The airport is very small, nothing much to see (and buy). So all of us just busy taking pictures.

We had a splendid dining experience at the hilltop restaurant at Domaine du Chasseur.
Upon reaching the top of the hill where the cabana and jungle themed restaurant was erected, the local natives presented their warmest welcome by playing drums round the campfire and danced like the lambada style.

Dine with the wilds...
Some of us were intoxicated with Jack Daniel coke!

Giant Water Lilies Pond at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Gardens, Pamplemousses

This garden is known to naturalists throughout the world for their large collection of indigenous and exotic plants. The 60-acre garden has 500 different species of plants, of which 80 are palms. Of particular interest are the giant water lilies, a spice garden and the Talipot Palms, said to flower every 60 years after which they die.

"The Bond" posing outside a Dodo Bird T-shirt shop in Port Lois. Dodo bird is the national mascot of Mauritius

This is the semi-submersible boat "Le-Nessee". It gives us an unique viewing experience of the under-sea world.

The Charamel Falls at Grand Basssin
































Breath-taking view at the Gris Gris Beach











Hey.. we are on the top of the world! A splendid retreat indeed!

A breezy day at Gris Gris beach..real cool..











Snapped at the Mauritian cliff











This is our giant-catamaran outings to Coconut Island, and dolphin-discovery excursions to mythical...(Trust me, seeing the wild dolphins are definitely different than seeing ones in Ocean Park.Too bad, the videos of the dolphins are with my friend's camera) During the catamaran ride, you can swim, do snorkeling and relax before a barbecue lunch is prepared and served on board by the experienced crews. You can drink to your heart's content free flow of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages such as beer, red wine, vodka and not forgetting Coke mixed with the local produce-The Mauritian Rum(Jack Daniel Coke). This all-inclusive day tour only cost about RM200.



A bit tipsy..better sit properly

After few shots of red wine and cocktail.. danced to the Macarena

Visit to reptile farm to take a sneak peek at giant tortoise love-making in action.

Female: "Oh boy... take it slowly, it hurts!!"
Male: "I would be gentle, darling.."