A Trip to East Coast

Finally I have visited all thirteen states in Malaysia!

It started at Sunday night. Took a 9.30pm bus from Melaka to Kuala Terengganu. It was in the early 5am when I arrived.

So I pulled out my phone, turn on the map, looking for places I could go for the day. Then light bulb moment!I should totally head to the beach for sunrise. After an hour walk, reached Batu Buruk Beach. Even as early as 6am there are some youngsters gathering and chitchatting at the square. Not sure if they didn't sleep or woke up that early...

Feeding the ant with leftover apple bits.

Having the whole beach for oneself can be eerie but once there's sunrise it's all bright.
However, one fatal thing was the public toilet would not opened until 8am so I had to walk all the way back to town to use the toilet.

With the problem solved, I walked around the town with no aim and suddenly stumbled upon this market. Seen it from TV program so when you see it for yourself it's ethereal. Pasar Besar Kedai Payang.

 

I believe once it was much more glamorous. Now the abandoned mannequin just waiting there to be consumed by the passing of time. 

Had simple mee sup and coffee in the market.

Afterward walked out and discovered Chinatown. 

It's a small and quiet place. A main street with a few lanes in between.

 

And upon Juin's recommendation, went for this "Pink Lady", ice blended coconut + dragon fruit. Not bad. Still can't beat pure coconut shake.

And before that, I was amazed how quickly the beautiful fence turn into utter crap, just after a few years. It's not only here, many Malaysian's public or tourist infrastructures suffer similar ill fate...and this one definitely can be blamed on poor construction. The metal bar is too close to the surface and lead to corrosion and rusting...and balls fell off as well...

And later I was walking all the way to look for keropok lekor.

When you see "Keropok Lekor" on the road sign it means it's definitely something big.
Imagine seeing Sate Celup or Chicken Rice or Coconut Shake or Cendol in Melaka's road sign.
After more than 45 mins walk I've come to this small little village in Losong with a few stalls selling keropok lekor. Being a novice did't really bother what kind of keropok I'm buying, I bought the steamed version. And it wasn't easy to chew down without putting much sauce to go with it...regret. Should've chosen the typical fried keropok lekor....

And then another 45 mins walk back to city centre. No chance catching this bus which was only scheduled for 5 trips throughout the day...never seen it in action, other than idling at bus station...


I was considering staying a night in Kuala Terengganu but by 1 PM I have explored most part of the town. Decided to head to Kota Bharu instead. But just to make sure I didn't miss anything I went to the tourist centre and got a map. Truth is, there's nothing much left in Kuala Terengganu.

Went up to Bukit Puteri to have a one last view of the city before taking 4 PM bus to Kota Bharu.

Here's the estimation of routes I have taken. Much more in the town not plotted in this map. Definitely walked more than 25KM from 5AM to 4PM.


With that. Departing to Kota Bharu with SP Bumi bus.
With no accommodation booked and no visual image of Kota Bharu, it must be exciting to land in a totally strange land!

And the traffic is quite heavy due to school holiday and Hari Raya Haji. It usually takes about 3 hours to arrive but this trip took more than 4 hours! I was lucky to meet Mr Lee, a salesperson, in the bus and he was going to stay in a hostel in Kota Bharu. It's an "unofficial" backpacker style guest house catered for their acquaintances, nothing fishy. Accommodation was settled. RM30 per night. Right in the middle of town!

What's for dinner? Thai + Chinese fusion dishes at Golden Flower Restaurant with Mr Lee and his friends. Then went to KB Mall.

The next day, woke up before the town has awaken. Had an apple, then off to explore the streets.

One destination in mind was Pasar Siti Khadijah. It was just a 10 minutes walk away.

I was going to walk in expecting to see this colorful market...

























But instead, this appeared...under renovation





















Then walked to Jalan Kebun Sultan for breakfast. Walked up and down hoping to find something unique but all I could see was same offerings like those in other places, wantan mee, porridge, chicken rice...So just settled with claypot yee mee.

One little surprise when the noodle was served. It has brinjal yong tau fu in it! It made my day :)

Then visited a few museums pretending to be interested in Kelantan royal families and heritage.
And met a retired teacher teaching arts in Handicraft Village and Craft Museum.

For a while, suddenly feel I am such a 文艺青年, very got 内涵.

Then went to Nasi Ulam Cikgu for a scrumptious meal.

Yummy!

Walked back under hot sun to hostel, had a nice shower, checked out. Then went through nothing-to-see-the-river-is-murky riverside walk and back to town for second helping of lunch, Nasi Kukus Zaeman. The rice was okay, but maybe it was over-hyped? Its chicken was just so-so.

Took a public bus to Wakaf Bharu to catch a 4 pm train. The train never come, the bus came...

So my first supposedly train ride in US was a bus (a.k.a. coach), now my first KTM train was also a bus...

Went through a 5 hours long bus journey to Gua Musang to take the connecting train to Gemas. The amazing thing was nobody in the bus, 40 of the passengers, including children, asked the bus driver to stop for toilet break. 5 hours, nobody wanted to stop for toilet. Amazing,

Boarded the train after having nasi kerabu for dinner.

I thought Amtrak train ride was not comfortable but KTM was even worse. Booked superior seating all I got was normal seating. Amtrak dimmed the light for night travel but KTM just kept the light on as bright as possible throughout the midnight journey...From 10.00 pm to 6.00 am all light on...I couldn't sleep well...

In Gemas, warmly greeted by Pn Tan and she brought me to her favorite noodle place again for breakfast.

9 am, took Southern Bus to Tampin, then Panorama Melaka back to Melaka town. Final stretch of journey was riding my motorcycle under haze...At this point, I could feel my body is already aching and giving me warning after a few days of crazy adventure. First thing to do back home was to have a shower then off to a good nap...zzz.

This was my little dream accomplished! Nothing was planned except to book the departing bus and returning train, and to meet with Pn Tan. A great journey.

Ride a bus

Tired of driving, decided to take a bus ride up to KL.
Been missing those days without car and had to take a bus to KL and many other places.

Taking bus seems like a luxury now. An affordable luxury.

It was fulfilling.

Grateful for friend who drive me around, and glad to meet friends in a short Sunday getaway.

Holiday!

Nope, can't have holiday now...just trying to make the day holy. How? If you think the day is holy then it's holy. Imagination.

This morning, while driving, resenting I can't have the off days that I desire before starting new role in education, then I suddenly realized I had visited many places actually.

During school holiday last year before hectic TFM training and beginning of 2013 school year, went to Miri.
The caves are amazing breathtaking. Breathtaken for a while la, else die lo.

Then from Miri drove to Brunei day trip just for the sushi.

Then fully busy in school and every TFM event.

Until June holiday. Went to Phuket with family.

Then come school semester break. Went to Kuching.

Then until year end. Went to Bali.

Then while having convo in UUM, walked into Dannok, Thailand, mainly for the food and snacks. No surprise bombing.

Actually not bad at all.

Next one on list is to Universal Studios Singapore.
Why? Primarily to shout while riding roller coasters. I want roller coasting so much life could be much better.
Then it would be good to visit all neighboring countries using current passport. A great feat to be achieved.

[Update!]
How can I forgot I went to Taiwan in June holiday also...
STML short term memory loss...

For some people, journey is more important than destination. For some people, destination is more important.
For me, both are important, but money is more important! Also, a ritual I do while traveling is to try all kind of weird special bottled drinks not found in Malaysia. That's simply enjoyable.

Don't throw rubbish from your car

One thing I cannot tahan the most is people throwing rubbish from the car.

Hello, please, so if I see you throw rubbish I will post your car here.

 MCC 6256 

 JGN 749

 Too fast, couldn't get clear picture

 JLV 4981

JKU 6421

And there are many more of these rubbish people that I missed capturing, because:

1. It is dangerous to take photo at high speed.

2. The phone is in my pocket, unreachable while driving

3. My sister missed one

So next time you see these cars around, just find any rubbish at roadside (You will definitely find rubbish because Malaysians like to throw rubbish everywhere one) and then throw inside these cars. Thank you very much.

Trip to Ames Iowa

This winter break has 3 weeks long.
No idea where else to visit so visited Ames, Iowa.
Ames is a small city that has some people and a university by the name Iowa State University.

Part 1: Greyhound patah kaki
patah kaki means leg broken. explanation follows.
Greyhound is a bus company serving USA Canada Mexico and some say Alaska but actually no Alaska service.

So on Dec 23. At Ann Arbor eagerly waiting for bus; it finally arrived after 2 hours late.
The road was so icy many cars skidded off the highway. So the bus driver drove slowly and I thought we can arrive Chicago safely. But suddenly at somewhere the bus tire hit something and blurrrrp blurrrp blurrrp...tire puncture.
Oh very good, after 128th time I as a bus passenger finally I encountered this situation.
So we waited 1+ hour for next bus.

Then Finally arrived at Chicago at 1:30 am for transfer. As expected, I missed my scheduled bus so was told to wait for next available bus at 6:30am. Couldn't sleep and all TVs were showing boring Weather Channel.

Then 6:30am in line almost got into bus then told that not allowed to take the bus!? tried to talk to different customer service people also to no avail and the one told me to board the 6:30am bus already off duty...ok lo, now had to wait for the 11:45am bus. Wait again.

At 11:45am, bus still not arrived. Then at 12:01pm bus arrived but the driver just took his time and finally bus left at 12:45pm. After so many times riding Greyhound, I can say their service is totally unsatisfied.

and I saw something: a christmas tree grows on building and beautiful farmland covered by snow.

And then arrived at Des Moines, Iowa for another transfer and finally arrived at Ames at 1:30am November 25, Christmas day.

Scheduled time was leaving at 3:45pm Dec 23 arrive at 6:10am Dec 24.

Part 2: Visiting Frozen River
At Ames was staying at King Hong's place. 1st day met with Sheng kai and visited a park and stepped on a frozen river. And we were not alone in the park! don't know what other 4 people do in the park on Christmas day?! Then had dinner together and enjoyed movie in cinema setting.
Then visited Sheng Kai's Kumdo's friends and I won a Monopoly game.

Then 2nd day took a short walk in ISU and went to Walmart to buy stuffs to cookfor dinner and then and then...the curry chicken is done.

Oh saw some horses on the first day.

3rd day went to a Grand mall and also did some shopping and then and then...porridge was done.

And 3rd day was the last day to stay and finally bid goodbye at 6:00pm

Part 3: To Ann Arbor
At least the journey back was hassle-free and lucky enough to come home ealier than expected :)
As usual a litle bit late here and there, but once I arrived at Chicago at 7:30am, there was a bus to Ann Arbor which was late for its schedule. I just pop into the bus and once I sit down, the bus left in no time. Surprising. And I gained 3 hours advance.

And the great journey ended with a BK Joe Hot coffee...hmm

so how's Ames? It's basically a smaller Ann Arbor, with horse minus Diag.

New York

so, after Boston we went to New York. It isn't as new as New Zealand but it's not as old as Old Trafford.

As usual, we eat and sleep in New York, other than doing other stuffs. We stayed in Brooklyn's Red Carpet Inn motel where there's free breakfast every morning and and there's a television so that we watched Ben 10 and Johnny Test every morning on cartoon Network...

First day we did nothing but went to Empire State Building and did 2 things: the look-very-exciting-but-really-lame-Skyride and the observatory.

Second day we were still in New York and we went to see Statue of Liberty!

and then we took the Hop-on-Hop-off bus tour but we never hop off but we just sit properly in the bus like schoolchildren because we saw NYPD infront of United Nations HQ...duduk diam diam or else police tangkap!

In the evening we took free Sunset Cruise and wah! very nice! It made round the Manhattan Island and Statue of liberty and the wind is so New Yorkish smell...

and we see the so say biggest clock in the world - the Colgate Clock which located in Jersey City. New Jersey is actually very near New York, just swim a bit will reach.

Then at night went for another night bus tour, since included in package...

Oh suddenly 3rd day came and we went to walk walk at Wall Street to a construction site. The construction site was World Trade Center site. And we walked to Century 21 to buy nothing. And then the biggest thing. Broadway show! It was Grease! A fantastic show.

Then on 4th day we went to Madame Tussaud to see many fake people like Micahel Jackson but I think they should make Michael Phelps very soon before Michael Jackson publish another album.

After that we went to China Town and Little Italy etc etc and then walk from the very beginning of 5th Avenue until we see a fella who loves rock so therefore there's a building called Rockefeller. And not to forget Times Square and Grand Central station.


And then the 5th day...
went to a St Patrick's Cathedral and Natural History Musuem and then to Brooklyn park to watch movie!

And the last day we went to Central Park with all our bags and luggages...

Then took a subway to Newark, NJ, walked around, ate at McD and then finally took the Greyhound back to Ann Arbor...The end

Trip to Boston

Again, I went for a trip. Basically I go for trip every holiday.

+Chicago in Winter mid-semester break

+DC & Penn in Spring break

+Cedar Point in before Summer semester

 and now  Boston+ NY + NJ in Summer break

Wah am I'm so rich to travel? 

Oh I saved a lot and did a lot paid experiments/surveys so I'm rich but after I bought a lot (including laptop and camera) and ate a lot I'm poor.

We 5 ppl which names to be kept secret traveled in a group and then there were other people in other group but only met for broadway show (in NY) which was really nice which made me want to watch more.

First we went to Boston by the Greyhound bus which failed to impress us with their service. We traveled almost 24 hours by bus because we want to save money and reduce pollution by not hijacking the plane.

We did something in Boston which was travelling.

We stayed in Holiday Inn.

We ate foods including the most expensive food I ever eaten which was the $30 lobster because I ws cheated by somebody in the group into the restaurant.

We walked here and there and saw somebody and something. We went to Fanneuil Marketplace, and etc. 

Most importantly, Harvard's president awarded me a brochure for being a smart guy and I told her Harvard is Michigan in the East.  

and this is Boston viewed across the river from MIT

Overall Boston was nice but it made me love Michigan more.

The most dissapointed event was unable to go to Prudential's Skywalk because some guy having "private function" up there...

Then the end of Boston trip. 

Let's take a commercial break and the New York and New Jersey part will be right back!

A crazy trip to Sandusky!

June 19 7:30pm, the crazy journey began...

Our destination: Sandusky...huh? what a dusty sandy small town...
5 persons: DK KS SW YL + me
Transportation: my beloved Amtrak + our legs + cabs

First, we took Amtrak thruway bus from Ann Arbor to Toledo. And the bus has many nice LCD screen playing the 1930's black and white movie...can you guess the movie? It's called "Nothing"...

From Toledo we took the Shore Line Limited toward Sandusky! Yay! And we arrived at around 5am!

With no maps in hand, we start our walking in the quiet little town...and suddenly we saw a 7-11 and then just went in to sight-seeing :) then we kept on moving...and we saw lots of churches...and then Merry Go Round Museum! weird museum...

and we keep on moving and finally we reached the lake side! The great Erie Lake and we found a weird creature...After we (forget to mention we're Fantastic 4 and an Incredible big Hulk) defeated the weird creature , we saw the beautiful sunrise...

And we walked again...until the Incredible Hulk feel so hungry he was busy looking for food...and he finally smelled a McDonald's 100 miles away and yay! We had our breakfast!After having breakfast, everyone just pengsan... except me...

Then after I rescued them we continued our journey...now already 9am...we walked from 5am to 9am!!! without any map.

Then we called a cab to cross the causeway to reach a place where the diet Cheddar cheese is made...and do you know diet cheddar has a shortened name? It's called Cedar! Imagine diet Coca-Cola being called Oca-Ola... [rubbish]

Actually we were heading to Cedar Point! the best amusement park in the planet!

Oh please don't think the Snoopy themed amusement park is just childish...the rides in the park are the best in the world!

So, among the 5 persons, we are divided into 3 categories: DK & I am the true fanatics, SW & KS are "this one ok, this one cannot" category, and YL is our professional back pack guard who safeguarding our back packs because he just had 1 or 2 rides throughout the day...

Oh I never imagined there are so many thrill rides in Cedar Point and I just can't describe how satisfied, how exciting, how crazy the rides were...just simply the best experience in my life!

We (which mean DK & I) started with Demon Drop where we dropped from 131 feet in 6 secs .. and then the thrill never end until the last minute! Ok let me describe some of the best:

Wicked Twister:
the tallest and fastest double-twisting impulse roller coaster in the world

3..2...1...and sprinted toward the sky! WAH!









Sky Hawk:
You kick the sky at 125 feet high in the sky!
And just superb when you being brought down from the highest point!










Maverick:
a new ride built in 2007 that has double launch!
With a drop at 95 degree angle it was just WAH!











Millennium Force:
"Standing a breathtaking 310 feet into the air, this "giga-coaster" will take thrill-seekers on an incredible 92-mph journey along 6,595 feet of track that winds its way through the center of the park, crosses a lagoon and dives onto an island."

We rode this during the night and it was really exciting to drop from that height!!!

And many more thrilling rides such as MaxAir, Magnum. Raptor etc etc...I finally had my dream come true! there was nothing else I want to do in US except trying all these crazy rides!

And we kept the best part to our final minutes in the park! It's the Top Thrill Dragster!!!

The tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world!!

"Riders begin their epic journey aboard this whopping 42-story screamer by securing themselves into ultra-cool trains that resemble top fuel dragsters. The train then moves into a "starting line" position, where it is launched forward, reaching 120 mph in approximately four seconds. The train then zooms straight up the 420-foot-tall hill on track that rotates 90 degrees, crests the coaster's apex and then free falls back to Earth. But hold on, this isn't your father's roller coaster. As the train races 400 feet to the ground, the track twists an unbelievable 270 degrees – what a rush! Riders then return to the station to begin regaling their friends with stories of the greatest ride of their lives"

Imagine 120mph (200km/h) in 4 seconds! and we did it twice consecutively! and WAHHH!

Now get the feeling!

That ended our day in Cedar Point and it was already 10:45pm

But the journey has not ended! We called a cab back to Amtrak train station...and called sandusky Police to open the Amtrak waiting room for us. Yes, it's the police who has the key for the station...Before the police came, there were 4 kids who strayed in the midnight coming to us say we are from Tokyo, Japan... and I told them my name is Michael...

Then the kids went away to search for some other new friend to chat...and the police came and we got into the waiting room to wait for our Amtrak train which was scheduled at 4:55am...

While asleep, 2 African American females came in and chatted loudly and loudly and just disturbing my sleep...they were not waiting for trains and I have no idea who they are...and they left not long after...weird

And at 4:55am we were wide awake waiting the train to arrive but yet again...delay! OH I have experienced so many times in my previous trip [link]...it's a norm...so ok...and finally it came after 1 hour and 40 minutes behind schedule...

And finally we arrived Ann Arbor at 10am.

Wah...what a trip!