Post Hiatus: Travelling, Packing And Laundry

Wow, it's been quite a while since I've posted a blog post and it's not due to a depression-induced hiatus or lack of topic. It's just that I haven't had the chance to sit down and write (or type, if you'd rather). First, I went back to Keningau last Friday to take advantage of the long weekend and came back on that Sunday.

On Monday I participated in a work-related course for 3 days and 2 nights (will blog about that soon!) at Imperial Hotel, Kota Kinabalu. Then yesterday morning I was told that I was selected to go to an Islamic-related course at PLI Kundasang..

Wow, I really feel like I am living in a luggage. The amount of laundry I've accumulated has grown into astronomic proportions. I've had to pack different clothes for the different reasons I'm traveling. For going back home obviously it's casual all round.

For my first course it's formal and 'stylish' semi formal (call me kampung but I still have this mind-set that I have to dress nicely when I go to KK. No track pants and t-shirts for me!) and for this trip to Kundasang formal and conservative casual.

I've already told my boss that I would prefer NOT to have to go to this Kundasang thingy simply because I'm not joking about my huge laundry. I don't have any clothes to wear! If it was spaced out to next week I would have accepted it immediately, if only just to get away from the office doldrums.. The place seemed nice thought..

PLI Kundasang.. Courtesy of Google..

Today will be the moment of truth, whether my boss will say I have to go or allow me to be excused from it. Keeping my fingers crossed.. Huhu..

Phy Is Back.. And More First Experiences...

My, my, my... It's been such a long time since I've blogged. For some reason, everything just ceased to have meaning in my life for the past few weeks. Facebook felt boring, Twitter was 'aiso mo mo' (as my late great grandfather used to say when he insulted my then-10 year old mother's cooking), and I didn't have the energy to blog.

So what has been going on with my life? Here are some updates:

I've been under what can only be called a mild depression these past few months because I wasn't happy with where my life was headed. I've been toying with the idea of resigning but was afraid of making any rash decisions.

Lo and behold, a blessing came in a form of a local celebrity. I had the opportunity to chat with him over Teh C Special and he mentioned that he was once offered a music-related position in my sector. He did thought about it, took into account of all the benefits that he would get and everything as it was a lucrative offer but in the end he turned it down.

Now he and his business partner operates a business doing music classes for keyboard, guitar, drums, etc and he couldn't be happier. How's that for inspiration? It certainly gave me the courage to take other options into consideration.

So my second update is kind of in sync with my first one and that is I've applied for a position that is suitable for my qualifications at a major, MAJOR organization in Malaysia. Wish me luck! I'm keeping everything crossed at the moment and not only my fingers. Lol.. 

My third update is that two Sundays ago me and boo went to Tg Simpang Mengayau for the first time. We had wanted to go there for a long time but never had the time and on that particular Sunday it became an impromptu trip armed with nothing but my phone for a map.

When faced with conflicting signs like this, always go with the newer looking one..

It rained all the way and when we stopped over at Kota Marudu for lunch we contemplated on continuing with the journey but decided to push on anyway. It only rained harder and didn't stop even when we arrived at TSM. We took pictures in the rain, enjoyed the scenery, ate prawns fried in batter and mayo and drove back. to Tuaran. Crazy right?

Floating coconuts...

The relentless rain made the water rise in certain places, so much so that it was impossible to see the road. Coconuts floated along the road, even crossing it in places where the flood was particularly bad. Lesson learnt? 

Ask those who have been to the intended destination for info such as gas stations, and stop-over places along the way.

Bring adequate food/snacks and drinks especially water.

Check the weather forecast.

Service the car if bringing own transport.

The view was still gorgeous in all it's stormy glory.. 

Hehehe... Going old school with the poses.. 

A second visit is a definite must...

Fourth update! I've tried wearing leggings for the first time. Bahahahaha... I know, I know.. Just goes to show how 'fashion forward' I am. The trend has been around for years but I just never got around to buying them. To be honest, I didn't gave them the time of day because I don't like them at all.

My first encounter with these stretchy thingies was borne out of desperation. I was going for a movie after work and I knew I wasn't going to make it to KK if I went back to my house an d change so I brought a change of clothes with me, only to realize half-way to KK on the bus that I had forgotten to bring a pair of jeans with me *hand on face*.

Thank goodness my top was a long one so I bought a pair of leggings from Soxworld as it was a much cheaper alternative to buying a pair of jeans. Needless to say I like it. I don't LOVE it but I like it.. It's lighter than jeans. I might wear them again with my dresses. We'll see.. 

So this is all for now. I might update this post with some pictures from our trip to Kudat. Cheers!

Day 5 Guilin Trip: Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow....

On day 5 we had the option of either staying back in Guilin City with free time to rest and shop or we could go to the scenic Longsheng Dragon Back rice terrace. Only 9 people stayed back while the rest of us chose the later and sat through a 4 hour bus journey to Longsheng.


Since the trip to Longsheng was not listed in our itinerary, we had to pay an extra USD30 which is about RMB200 or RM98.

It was only 3 days after travelling in our new bus then I noticed that there was no emergency door. Instead there was this... 

Guess what? It snowed half-way to Longsheng. I've never seen nor experienced snow in my whole entire life and I was really jakun about the whole experience. Lol.. Actually all of us were...

Snow...

We stopped here to take another bus to our actual destination..

Snow flakes on my sleeve. It looks so tiny right? Like the ice shavings for our local desert, Ais Batu Campur (ABC)

Snow covered trees

Playing with the snow: Me Haslina and Din..

Can you see the mist down below at the parking area?

Wanted to take a picture of scattering ice ala Winter Wonderland... Take 1: Fail. Ais lekat d tangan..

Take 2: Fail. Ais dah jatuh baru kena snap.. 

Take 3: Fail. Muka tak nampak tapi bagi pass jak lah, tangan dah freezing bagai nak tercabut. Capturing a Winter Wonderland moment is not as easy as it looks.

The tiny snowflakes doesn't seem like much but eventually it covered every outdoor surface, including this car.. 

Stalls selling souvenirs and small winter essentials like hats, gloves and socks..

Weeeee.... 

We had to go up a lot of steps to get to the rice terrace. 

No, this is not the famed Dragon Back Rice Terrace...

Neither is this...

... or this...

Isn't she just the cutest thing? That's money she's clutching in her gloved fist that some of our tour group members gave her... Macam mau bawa pulang dan guna sebagai bantal cubit okay... 

Snowman China-style?

Unfortunately we had to turn back halfway to our destination because the road was freezing up and if we delayed going back to Guilin CIty by pushing through to the rice terrace, we might get stranded there because the road would be too slippery (it's the ice you see) to use. So we did not get our money's worth but our guide made up for it by providing us with dinner (we were supposed to buy our own dinner for the final night).

That night we went to a cafe near our hotel which is Milo Coffee. The ambiance was laid back yet classy at the same time. My friends ordered two sets of coffee (there were 8 of us and one set only serves 4) whereas I decided to opt for milky tea.

Each big pot costed around RMB46 if I'm not mistaken.

Lampu pun sangat romantic...

The guys had been there the night before so they chose the coffee..

My milky tea. The glass is just so cute...

Told you the place was classy... It has a piano at the center. We opted for a private room without a Karaoke set.

Wondering why all of us girls were holding flowers?

There was a boy on the roadside selling flowers and he were pretty persistent. In the end all they guys bought flowers from the boy and gave it to us girls. Thing is, when that happened, another girl selling flowers came running to us and wanted to sell us flowers too. I guess she saw the guys bought flowers from the boy and was hoping that they would buy from her too.. 

I really felt sad when I saw those children in the cold trying to earn some money at such a young age. It makes me wonder where their parents are and what were they doing...

Since that was our final night and shopping opportunity there, the guys went nuts and bought almost everything at random stalls. Memang untung la stall yang menarik perhatian diorang ni.  Sah tutup awal malam tu.. Hehe... Don't believe me? Here's proof...

In the end he had to buy another small luggage bag to put all his purchases in..

Us girls didn't went all crazy because girls always buy a lot as we go along anyway so there was no frenzy.. Hehe...


That concludes day 5 and the final day will be coming up soon..

Guilin Trip Day 3: VIP...

Day 3 was not as jammed-packed as Day 2 as we spent most of our time in the bus for our journey to the Li River Jetty for our 3 hour cruise on the Li River and the journey back to Guilin City. Again, this post will consist mostly of pictures... Enjoy!

 It was only on the next day that we discovered that our accommodation at the Sovereign Hotel had been at the VIP building... Aisehmen... Lol...

On the way to the Li River Jetty... 

The locals of Yangshuo are mostly farmers...

Finally arrived at the jetty.. 

 The view...

 There were so many people on the deck to take pictures, so I had to be content with the duck tail and some dude's nose that inter-framed here.. Lol... 

Simply breath-taking...

You can rent the hat and a pair of ducks for 2RMB (RM1) and take a photo to look like a local. Each laminated photo costs RMB10 (RM5)..

 Stone cliffs...

Trying to disguise the fact that I was freeeeeeezziiiinnngggg.... 

Peace... 

Hihihi... 

Smile....

 The water was an emerald green color..

A man and a woman doing their washing in the ice-cold water with their bare hands.. 

A covered bamboo rafter... It left me wondering if it was enough to protect them from the wind..

Mode of transportation.. 

Lone house on the river bank.. 

Going back to Guilin City... A field of sugar canes... 

Some of the villages we passed along the way.. 

Notice that we're driving on the RIGHT side of the road instead of the left side? That's because the driver's seated on the left side of the bus. Yup, it's reverse to how it is in Malaysia..

We arrived in Gulin city at about noon and after lunch we were brought to have a free foot massage at a place near the Dr. Tea tea house...  

See the wooden pails covered with plastic? They're half-filled with hot water with a packet of powdered herbs and we were to soak our feet in them before being massaged.

After the foot soak, around 20 young masseuse came into the room and gave us our foot massages. I was fortunate enough to get a guy who did a thorough job of massaging both my feet without making me feel any discomfort.

Some of my friends had he misfortune of getting a masseuse who puts out the barest minimal effort and a hand full even asked for tips!

The packet of Tibetian herbs in my wooden pail. 

 Okay, so I'd like to share with you guys the pros and cons of going on a guided tour especially in China. The good thing is, you don't have to worry about how to go from one place to another or whether you will be able to see all the places of interest in a particular place or city.

The downside is, and I'm talking from personal experience and the experience of my tour group members who have gone to Beijing on a guided tour as well aside from this one, is that the guide will bring you to places  where you will be given demonstrations of products. Later then the promoters will try hard to convince you to buy.

Don't get what I mean? Okay, for example the day at the tea house. After the tea trying/testing/tasting/whatever session, we were told of the 'offers' on the products if any of us are interested in buying. Woe betide you if you ask further about the product just out of curiosity and with no intention to buy. The promoters can be very forceful which annoys me a lot.

Same goes for the foot massage thingy. Before the session started a speaker told us about the properties of Tibetian herbs and what each of their products are good for. They even went to the extent of bringing in two Chinese medicine practicing doctors (otherwise known as sinsang) to check our health through looking at our palm.

Some of the things that they said was true and some were further than Jupiter from the Earth. A Muslim Kelantanese friend of mine was told that he had mental illness from consuming too much pork! We thought that it was the most hilarious thing ever.

After that session ended we were ushered to another room where we were to listen to a presentation about a kitchen knife. I really disliked this practice of theirs because I felt cornered and pressured to buy the products.

The biggest downside to all this aside from annoyance and wasting time is that it seemed that the products bought from these vendors don't seem to work as well as it did during the demonstration. According to my friends who went to Beijing, the places that they were brought to there sold the same thing as the ones promoted to us in Guilin.

They had bought the products there because it had worked so well on them during the demo but when they tried the ones they purchased, it didn't have any effect at all. Meaning the products sold are of different quality than the one used during the demo.

So there you have it, the day 3 of my vacay. Hope you all enjoyed it and that this came in helpful to you guys. Until the next post, cheers!