Laguna Redang

Last weekend (10-12 May) we went to Redang for my Departmental trip. It was the standard Redang package, room, full board food, and 3 snorkeling trip..
so few days before the trip I got me a brand new Snorkels from Jusco.. RM69.90.. glass Mask TUSA brand. I dont really know much about snorkels and masks; but since its a Glass mask with decent price, I just took it. Here what it looks like


Apart from the snorkels, I also wanted a zoom lens. Btw I recently have became a proud owner of a DSLR.. not that I am such a good photographer but since I had to buy new one, might as well upgrade meself... ANyway, so I bought a D60, which came with the standard kit lense 18-55mm. It wasnt such as good range, considering I had 10x zoom on my prosumer. Definitely missing the capability to zoom. So.. Tada... the new addition to the family..


Done with the pre-shopping... lets start the journey..

We started our trip at around 3:00AM, and arrived around 8:15AM at Merang Jetty.
For those who wants to go to Redang here is the simple trip guide:
Your place --> Gombak /Karak Entry point (toll RM6.50)
Karak --> ECE East Coast Expressway E8 (another toll at Bentong cant remember how much)
ECE --> ends at Jabor (RM21)
Jabor --> Cherating --> kemaman --> KT
KT --> Merang
Anyway we wanted to take a different route after ECE ends, which is inland route (route 14) but somehow we missed the turn and ended up on the coastal road anyway.
Anyhoot, it was a really really fast drive so we still made it in good time.

Arrived Laguna safely on their painstakingly slow boat. The brochures said that it takes 45mins, but really, its actually about 1.5 hours trip.

anyway we had a nice break, weather was fair, sometimes a bit gloomy, so not too good for photos, but still it was very pleasant trip altogether.




On the way back, we stopped by the Taman Tamadun Islam where the Crystal Mosque is.


We then decided to also look for the inland route, to avoid the construction work going on around Kerteh and also to avoid the day traffic. We managed to find it, quite easily, it was actually towards the direction of the taman Tamadun Islam if coming from the bridge. The landmark is Mydin, turn right and then look for signs to Kuala Berang. It was quite busy, until Ajil, but after that, it was quite OK. There are number of lorries, but overall it was ok. Took about 3 hrs to reach Jabur the beginning of ECE.

At the ECE, Me drove pulak... quite mengantuk as it was quite hot, plus the road was just straight with boring surroundings... Past by a group of Bikers... and finally at around 4.30pm we reached the beginning of Karak..
Initially we planned to stop by at Genting Sempah for lunch/tea but just before reaching BuKit Tinggi, somebody decided to go up there instead..
nothing much there, we just had some pasta at the restaurants, took some photos, go see entrance of Japanese park (since its already closed). Quite rugi cnsidering we paid RM16 each for entrance fees.

Neway.. around 6-ish we headed back to KL and reached home around after maghrib.

Chicken Pox User Guide

Number 1 rule - of Course is do not eat chicken and its telur, because all the dead chicken are already taking revenge on you by giving you those blisters. That s why its called chicken pox. haha. btw i made it up. i udnno why its called chicken pox. but do avoid food yg gatal2. Paling senang go on a veggie & fruit diet.

no 2...
Take Air kelapa. Lots and lots and lots of it. Air kelapa will force it to come out of your system. Continually take sampai baik

no 3..
Avoid water.. Hujan.. mandi.. - i believe this one is because water cause the blisters to break, and those scabs to heal slower sebab basah

No 4..
Keep body temperature cool. Minum barley ... duduk diam2 kat umah dengan aircond.... jgn gi dekat2 tempat panas such as near kitchen stove.

No 5...
The blisters will be itchy.. so minimise it by putting calamine lotion.

No 6..
Bila gelembong ada air tu dah pecah.. Org2 tua punya petua lak, which I also applied, is to put a mix of daun mambu + bedak sejuk. I was not told why, but my own observation (yes.. i do make a lot of observation, since i dont hv anything to do for 2 weeks!), the paste will make the scab dry faster.. and apparently to make the scar hilang.. Anyway, it does make it drier, and cepatla baik blister tu nanti. Daun mambu in english is Neem. Usually can find near Indian areas sebab dorang use this pokok for a lot of things. Ada gak petua kata use Daun Asam..which I find a better option than Daun mambu cos its texture is softer, thus making it blend well. SEE STEPS TO MAKE BELOW...
Be warned bedak sejuk ni nanti peel off.. so nanti lantai2, cushion2 semua will be a bit dusty.

kalau nak omputih punya style plak.. pegila beli chicken pox scar lotion kat pharmacy.

no 7..
Be on quarantine la of course, especially so if ada pregnant people. If pregnant people kena chicken pox nanti effect baby.

No 8..
kalau tak nak susah2 ni semua.. mintakla ubat kat Doctor .. kat pharmacy pun ada - acicloir (Zovirax). Tapi better see Doctor la. and ubat ni kena makan 24hrs when the rash first came out. Pastu dah tak leh dah rasanya.
btw never take aspirin. It contain something that is dangerous for chickenpox. Panadol takpe. Lupa nak mention, first week tu memang nanti demam.


Cara2 membuat: campur bedak sejuk + daun mambu or the daun asam + air (very little, nak kasi basah sikit je), and then giling. I blended it. I think macam segenggam daun tu, need about half a bottle besar of bedak sejuk. pepandaila mix and match.. hehe.. asalkan dia nanti jadi macam paste hijau. Dah buat tu... tepek2 la kat badan.

THE DAUN ASAM

TAKE ONLY THE DAUN.. AND WASH

THE MIX OF DAUN ASAM + BEDAK SEJUK

TADA... THIS IS HOW IT LOOKS AFTER BLENDED. PASTE-LIKE & SLIGHTLY GREENISH

Phuket

DAY ONE at the airport...Arrived at Phuket Island around noontime. From the Phuket airport it took approximately an hour to get to Patong Beach, and guess what was our ride to Patong Beach ? the one and only Waja taxi there (or so he claims).
Anyway, once at Patong we checked in to our Hotel - hotel Leelawadee.

It is a very nice hotel, perching on the hill. However, not recommended for old folks or people who sakit kaki, or people simply don't like stairs.
The hotel is about 3-4 km from the beach, not too near, but still within walking distance. We walked to the beach, the only thing I didnt like was there were stray dogs, since I am so takut of them, I had to de-tour here and there to avoid them.

Patong Beach
Patong town is not so big, but it is very long... the whole stretch I think is about 8km? i dunno.. while we were there we started scouting for excursions for the following days. There were really a lot to choose from, though the packages are pretty much the same, the rates vary from one to another.. so must compare and bargain for the best rates. Roughly these excursions costs around 800 - 1200 Baht.
After that, we walked along the shops and started looking for makan place. I had researched for a halal makan place there, but we could not find it, so we just ate at one of the many seafood restaurants.
After makan.. already tired to walk so we took the tuktuk..

DAY TWO
Day Two we went to Phi Phi Island, which is approximately 50 mins away by Speedboat. The first stop is Maya Bay - This is where they shot the movie THE BEACH


Then went to see monkey island.... this is the first time i see monkeys in the water



aftter lunch we went to a small island, snorkel for a bit, but the best part is feeding the fish at the beach. Never knew that fish suka makan watermelon

DAY THREE

on the third day we head towards the mainland, to catch the boat to Phang Nga Bay.
more popularly known as JAMES BOND ISLAND .
After James Bond Island, we went Kayaking. This is highly recommended. They took us through really small cave opening, everyone has to lie flat in order to pass through

Lunch at the Panyee Muslim Village. Its a very nice place, it is like a floating restaurant

Afteer lunch, we went for Elephant ride




That night, we went to FantaSea to see the show..



DAY FOUR
Final day at Phuket.. our last stop was the race track.. Akmal's first Go-Kart session!



USEFUL RESOURCES


Phuket MapPatong Map

Aguilera

My Aguilera!

rainy evening

Your sweetheart

a bit dark.. so I used the light from Princess. takpela... kasi u tgk comel ni sikit

Dotti's improved pod

Dotti nearly died today. The pump is not working.. and water was very dirty. Nasib baik I tgk Dot.. dia breath using its mouth. Sekarang dah beli new air pump and cleaned the water...

My new workplace

View of the garden

The official Opening of Fluffy Bom Bom

Since you asked yesterday - I took a shot of montel...