Great Tips For Visiting Universal Studio Singapore (USS) & LUGE SKYLINE Sentosa Island on Christmas Eve

This post is not going to have any pictures of the rotating globe which is significant to Universal Studios around the world. You ain't going to see any selfie pictures with any mascot and pretty much there ain't going to be no pictures in this post! However, I'm going to share with you some really GREAT TIPS to make the most out of your USS Singapore trip. I'm going to list them out so that it's easier to read and stuff. Here goes:

1. Try to visit USS Singapore on Christmas Eve because the theme park is open from 10 am until 10pm. In short, you get to play all rides and possibly with no waiting time longer than 5-10 minutes for 12 freaking hours! There's no need for that Express Pass because there's literally like NO queue!

2. There was a Maybankcard discount if you buy online (for year end promotion starting in Nov - Dec) but I found a couple of awesome agents who offered great deals at a super cheap price - even after currency exchange. So that's a bargain.

3. Most people are not aware of this : You can ENTER and RE-ENTER USS multiple times throughout the day. Upon exiting, just inform the USS guys that you would like to re-enter later on and they'll stamp you an invisible stamp on your hand. The next time you want to re-enter, simply show your ticket and they'll scan with a blue light for your stamp on the hand. You get what I mean. The whole purpose of going out of USS is to get cheaper meals outside (within the Sentosa Island vicinity) and also possibly explore around the island too!

4. For food on the budget, don't bother eating inside of USS. Instead,  simply get out of USS and just on the right of the USS entrance, you'll see the Malaysian Food Street. The price is cheaper and you can have good meals. For Halal customers, there is one halal stall selling nasi lemak with chicken and roti canai. Since we had a $10 meal voucher and we already splurged a little at the Oasis Spice Cafe (Halal) which is located at USS Ancient Egypt, so we had snacks instead at Malaysian street : cendol and a kopi o beng (iced coffee) for like $5 total!

An average meal inside USS cafes or restaurant is like SGD10 minimum. The delicious North Indian meal I had at Oasis Spice Cafe with a mineral water and dessert cost me around $16. Meals at Malaysian Street Food for the halal Nasi Lemak with chicken is around $6. Other options around Sentosa Island which is within walking distance from USS entrance, you can go to McD or KFC (both are Halal) for prices ranging from $3-$10.

5. Initially, I was pretty disappointed that Battlestar Galactica roller coaster ride was not in service (this trip was made on 24 Dec 2013) because it's like the main highlight of Universal Studio Singapore but then again, I was thankful the ride was out. Right after Ancient Egypt ride, I got really dizzy and couldn't walk straight for a little while. Plus the weather was unusually hot and I started getting a headache from right after lunch until the evening. If I would have gone up Battlestar Galactice, I will absolutely puke along the way and it'll be a bad day.

6. I wasn't in the mood for taking photos with any mascots because it's like so kiddy stuffs, haha, and I'm just not interested in such things, so we decided to have 3 rounds of SKYLINE LUGE Sentosa for $20 . A single trip of the luge is only $12. To get to Skyline Luge, we took the Sentosa Express train and exit at Beach Station. All transportation in Sentosa Island is free so do make the most out of it.

7. We were tempted with iFly Singapore - an indoor skydiving at Beach Station but you have to spend a little more time there for training and then the skydive. Probably, we can give it a shot for next time. It's like once in a lifetime kind of thing, so yeah, this is a KIV for future trips.

8. By the time we were done with the Luge, it was almost 6 pm and we rushed back to re-enter USS for the Christmas street celebration. There were fake snow coming down from the sky and it was actually some soap bubbles and some of them got into my mouth and that was gross! Haha. It was really nothing like Christmas because we were really sticky and hot and there were too many people on the street taking selfies and we joined the selfie bandwagon too just for the heck of it. :)

9. For the rest of the evening, we continued on with other rides and shows that we missed. We finally finished up the USS tour around 9pm with our last ride on a junior roller coaster of Far Far Away. I must say, it was pretty scary to ride a roller coaster in the dark with your bag wedged in between your legs and you had to sit on the most front. It was a nice jolt of adrenaline to end the night in USS.

10. We ended the night with a quick dinner at McD (check map for location) because we were getting cranky, hungry and the halal nasi lemak just only finished. The McD dinner pretty much broke my NO McD pledge for almost a year. I was McD free for about a year until the one I had at Sentosa. For some reason, the burger actually tasted better than the McD I used to have in Malaysia. For that reason alone, I guess it wasn't a bad choice to have that burger anyway. That will be the last McD for me too, insya Allah.

In order to enjoy rides without spending queuing time for more than 10- 20 minutes, you should be able to do this :

Arrive early at the entrance just after 9 am. In between that you can take photos of that globe and look around for maps. By 9.30 am, you can start queuing at the Universal Studio Singapore entrance. At 10 am, the park is open and we rushed (like a typical Singaporean..hehe) to be the first to ride TRANSFORMERS: The Ride. We waited for like 10 minutes or so, it wasn't that long and Transformers was so much fun! If not for my headache, I would have done it again during that night because there was no queue at all.

Right after finishing Transformers, we didn't linger around that long at the gift shop and continued on our next ride: REVENGE OF THE MUMMY at the Ancient Egypt. We spotted the same guys who were queuing with us at the entrance and the Transformers and they were rushing the rides like us too. Some people are just crazy...we were too! Haha. Thanks to them they directed us towards available empty lockers for our bags and after another 10 minutes queue we got onto the ride. Upon exiting, we saw our faces on the screen, it was HILARIOUS. All of us got our eyes closed and mouth opened. Needless to say, nobody wanted to buy 'ugly' shots like that. Haha.

By the time we were done with these 2 rides, it was 11 am. Since we had a 6.30 am breakfast, so we had an early lunch which was a perfect timing because the restaurants are just opened and pretty much empty. How great is that! Still no queue.

After lunch we went for the our 3rd ride : Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure along with our bags. For some unknown reason, we didn't have to queue long again. For the bag situation, you can bring them along but they will advise that you will get wet. However the trick to not get soaking wet is to bring from home a raincoat/poncho or since the queue is not long at all, we could have just used the free 30 minutes locker at Ancient Egypt, but we didn't. The locker at Jurassic Park is not free and a poncho cost like $4 which can buy you an ala carte McD Double Cheese Burger inclusive of tax. Haha. So my awesome partner already eyed which side of the boat ride is going to make a person soaking wet, so we sat on the opposite side hoping that we didn't get drenched since she didn't have any poncho on. True enough, we only had our lower part of the trousers slightly wet and maybe one foot got a little wet too. That's all. It's not that much fun if you don't want to get wet but you still want to ride this rapid adventure because you are suppose to get wet. That's where the fun is. Haha. But we still had fun anyway by trying to duck our way, putting our feet up from the water. That for us is pretty much the 'adventure' element in this ride. Hehe.

The weather was really hot and don't bother to get on that dry pod thing because like everything else in USS, it will cost you money. You'll be walking in the hot sun like all the time and without you even know it, you will be dry. My jeans got dried pretty quickly.

Next was the Waterworld Show. This is a must watch show. Again, if you don't want to get wet, please proceed to the most top seating, thank you very much. :)

We completed other rides like Accelerator - Teacups, Madagascar : Crate Adventure Ride, Shrek 4D Adventure, Light! Camera! Action! and Enchanted Airways during the night with not much queue again. There are a couple more rides that we missed which was mainly the 'kiddy' rides ones and I think we didn't missed much at all.

For your bags:

You can bring them around to most rides even for Transformers. The only time you need to put them in the locker is for the Revenge Of the Mummy Ride. The locker here is FREE for the first 30 minutes and you can put them in again if you want to play the Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure ride. All in all, there is no pay to put your stuffs in the locker and one locker can fit around 2 average size bag pack if you squeeze them. ;)

For musolla :

There is one behind the lockers of Revenge of The Mummy. It's right next to the closed Battlestar ride. The musolla is clean with attached wudhu area and also with solat timetable. It's pretty proper. To enjoy your solat without the crowd is of course to solat on time. Be there for Zuhr right around 1 ish pm and the musolla will not be full of people, insya Allah. I suppose there is another musolla next to the Guest Serive for Annual Pass ticketing. I didn't get to check that one out.

For cheap USS ticket from an authorized dealer (online payment and ticket will be emailed to you):

Email to sis : lan_ieza@yahoo.com
The offer for Christmas eve last year was only RM 145 for adult. The online ticket from Resort World after the Maybank discount was about RM 160+ (exchange rate in Dec 2013 1SGD = MYR 2.60)

Travel Photo : What A Landscape! - Mount Bromo, Indonesia

I'm sharing a super old travel photo taken from a trip to Bromo, Indonesia.

What A Landscape - the area comprises of volcanic ashes, dusty and we left Mount Bromo with grey, powdery shoes and socks. The view is totally out of this world.

 A busy day at Mount Bromo with tourists and the local trying to make some ends meet

Photo Of The Day : Flat White Coffee

The best thing to wake up to in the morning - a nice hot cup of Flat White!

The typical selection of coffee you'll get to choose in the cafes around NZ and I believe also in Australia.

Maybe that's not a best looking picture to represent a Flat White but the taste is simply amazing and gives you a quick run to the toilet right after :). A Flat White if you must know is a combination of espresso and milk - usually it's called a latte.

This is a super quick post and have a great day ahead peeps!

Photo Travel : Lake Tekapo, South Island, New Zealand

Lake Tekapo, South Island , New Zealand - Simply Amazing! Need I say more?

Lake Tekapo, South Island - New Zealand

Driving all the way from Christchurch, you will pass across Lake Tekapo if you are heading towards Mount Cook. In my lifetime, I have never seen anything this amazingly beautiful and it was one of those many 'Nat Geo' moments that one can expect to encounter if you are going on a road trip around New Zealand.

Photo Travel : Feijoa Fruit From New Zealand

Feijoa Fruit

I had my first ever taste of this fruit - the Feijoa during my previous trip to New Zealand. It was also the first time I have ever heard of such a fruit. Apparently, if I can remember this correctly, Feijoa tree is a pretty common garden plant for people living in the North Island of New Zealand ( I think :)).

We received a bag full of feijoas from some friends right out from their backyard and of course they do sell them at the supermarket as well. As for the taste of it, I think it is a bit like the kiwi fruit but with a different texture and a slightly more tangy, sour taste. Some feijoas can be really sweet too and I think I would prefer the sweeter feijoas version a lot more.

In New Zealand, when you buy kiwi fruits, it will come in a pack with a special spoon which makes it easy for you to cut the fruit in half and scoop the juicy kiwis with the tiny spoon. Similarly, that is the way you cut and eat your feijoas too.

 Kiwi and the spoon

For more about Feijoa, read more here from Wiki.

*Note : In Malaysia, I've seen Feijoa fruit being sold at Cold Storage for a crazy price tag. If you are curious to what Feijoa tastes like, probably you should try to get it. Even if you are a Kiwi living in KL and is missing home badly, probably you should buy it too. :)

The Hike to Ijen Crater, East Java – Indonesia (Part II)

After a long day on the road and finally settled for the night at Catimor Homestay, on the next day, we finally began with the hike at 6.04 am which was as bright as 7ish am in Malaysia time. The track was in fact way better than the bumpy, crazy road we took last night. Haha. Signs of volcanic soil was pretty evident around the area as the soil was black and I assumed it got to be very fertile indeed.

Black volcanic soil and the beginning of the steep hike

After a short while of walking on a fairly flat land, the 45 degree angle trekking began for the next 2 km onwards. As long as you keep on a slow but steady pace, you will get there in no time at all.

The baskets of sulphurs carried by the miners

The steep trekking would not be as difficult as you might think as you will be entertained or rather distracted with some baskets of sulphurs the miners had left along the path and also the WC (water closet) signboards can be found pretty easily too. When there is an urge for nature calls, be happy enough to make use of the 100% environmental friendly toilet (WC) which in another word – peepee by the bushes :)

WC - the bush toilet

After some photo snaps, persistent walking and breaks along the way, we made it to the Pos Penimbangan ( the sulphur weighing area) in about 53 minutes. We had a short break for more tummy fillers on chocolates, apples and water and of course an opportunity to snap more photos.

Post Timbang Candi Ngrimbi - sulphur weighing post/ canteen for mining workers

Sulphur carvings souvenirs selling at the weighing post

A short while later, off we went for another 1km trekking towards the Ijen crater. The track was rather flat at most times and it was easier to walk rather than the previous 2 km track. As for photo shooting, this is the time to start utilising your cameras as there are certainly a lot of beautiful shots you can come out with around this area.

The landscape changes at this point

We certainly took our time on the photo session and a group of us got to the crater last. There was simply no rush really as I felt that you need to take the time to be in the moment and appreciate everything while you were there.

Ijen Crater - the Lake view on the right side

Finally, we arrived at the top of Ijen crater. There weren't really a lot of people around and the sulphuric lake was not totally visible due to the clouds which was alright for us because we were hanging around there for quite sometime waiting for the clouds to make way for more views of the amazingly beautiful lake.It was in fact probably one of the best days to be up up there since the wind was blowing further away from us. Hence we were free from having strong smelling sulphur odour sticking to our clothes and the only time I had actually sensed a bit of sulphur lingering in the air was only for a short few seconds when the wind blow during our short hike up. In short, we were a lucky bunch and thank God for that.

Truthfully, I thought I could just hang around up there a whole lot more and that was why the three of us got left behind snapping more photos of Ijen crater and its surrounding. I would say I could never get enough of the whole view and the fact that it was the second volcanic mountain we had climbed in two days time, the feeling was just incredible. It is hard for me to put down words on how things are like and this is exactly the kind of thing you need to experience for yourself to truly appreciate the nature of the environment.

Sulphur with the constant smoke gushing out of it

If you look closely, you will see outline of the lake at the far left of the picture. On better days, the lake will be in high visibility at this point

After what I felt like a short while up there at the peak of Mount Ijen, we finally made our way down. The last 2 km descend could be hard for you knees and the trick is the hike down on a zig-zag, make small quick steps and take a lot of rests so that you don't strain your knees too much which I needed to be careful about.

Thankfully, we all made it down safe after 3 hours 46 minutes at 9.51 am totally in good shape but obviously famished yet again. Next, right after a quick toilet run and warming down ( I had my warmed up in the hotel room actually hehe), we were served with the Indonesian speciality menu which was yet another Indo Mee and more tea for our second breakfast of the day.

All in all, I would say the track up Ijen crater was reasonably easy as long as you are slighty fit and it was safe but still do be aware of any volcanic eruption news or warnings just to be on the safe side. For our trip, we had a guide with us who was actually the same girl we had guiding us throughout the trip and us being Malaysians and she an Indonesian, I think all of us enjoyed each others company. Hence on that note, it was a good trip after all.

We bumped with another group of Chinese Malaysians from KL too during the hike down and yeah, it was good to see some familiar faces there. :) The next burning question is would we travel all the way the crazy road to make it down to Ijen Crater again next time? As for this moment now, I will have to pass on that idea but then again, who knows I may make a comeback if the timing is right and the company is good. :)

Trip to Ijen Crater, East Java – Indonesia (Part 1)

The road trip to Catimor Homestay, Jember

Travel time on the road from Madakaripura Waterfall to Catimor Homestay which is located at the coffee plantation took about 9 hours ( I think so ).

We were back on the road again after the waterfall at about 1ish pm and we headed straight towards Ijen.

We had lunch at a restaurant along the way at about 3-4pm and by then we were famished. Some of us had Nasi Ayam Penyet, one person had Cat Fish Rice while myself and another friend got ourselves Nasi Bebek – which was a 'not so smart' choice. Hehe. But then again, we were super hungry and you just have to chow it down man!

Nasi bebek, Indonesia

Maybe somewhere around 6pm in pitch black we began to travel through the rough, gravel road which seemed to be out of nowhere. We were heading straight to the coffee estate and surprisingly in the dark, there were big lorries passing through the road, one stray dog and even people with overloaded motorcycles commuting on that very same road. Did I mention it was pitch black and it felt almost like we were in a jungle somewhere?

Arrived at the Rest House somewhere around 9ish pm, we got our keys to our rooms, shortly after we feasted on a lot of things on the dinner table.

After dinner, I showered while my roommate collapsed on the bed out of exhaustion. She had a hard time with all the crazy, rocky motions in the car (motion sickness) and she hardly had anything for dinner. While being me, I just can't really sleep and started repacking my bag, drying up the wet clothes from the waterfall and doing other nonsense instead. I slept for maybe 2 hours or so and woke up just before the alarm rang at 4am. Great!

Breakfast was a choice of black coffee ( not Luwak Coffee though) or tea, one hard boiled egg and a bread sandwich of butter and chocolate rice – which was not technically everyone's favourite but we (some of us) chowed it down anyway. My roomate got with her a Maggie Cup – Chicken flavour and I ate a bit of that too. :)

Next, we checked out of the hotel, loaded bags into the car and after a short drive through the coffee plantation and one guard post later (which the driver 'gave' some money and one hard boiled egg. There were probably about 5 to 6 guard posts that we passed through since last night and imagine the amount of 'token' the driver had paid which was of course billed on us. Simply unbelieveable!

Arrived at the entrance of the park – Taman Wisata Alam Kawah Ijen. The registration counter was closed and the crater is supposed to be closed anyway – at least it was closed for the suplhur miners. As long as we, visitors do not get down to the crater, we 'should' be fine and safe.

Next, the beginning of the hike up towards Ijen Crater which will continue in the next post.

Photo Travel : Madakaripura Waterfall, Probolinggo, Jawa Timur, Indonesia

Madakaripura Waterfall in Probolinggo, Jawa Timur ( East Java) has to be one of the most beautiful waterfall I have ever seen up until now. For those who make a visit up to Mount Bromo, I would really recommend for you to add a visit down to Madakaripura Waterfall in your next itinerary.

[caption id="attachment_2896" align="aligncenter" width="540" caption="Madakaripura Waterfall - view from afar"][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_2899" align="aligncenter" width="540" caption="Madakaripura water pouring heavily"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2901" align="aligncenter" width="540" caption="Super murky water and the camera lens got a bit of water on it. Murky water = leave ASAP because water level is rising and that's dangerous!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2902" align="aligncenter" width="540" caption="It's getting cloudy, murky water, heavy water flows - few more last snaps to go and leave quickly people!"][/caption]



Madakaripura Waterfall - it is simply beautiful. I know the camera work here isn't really fabulous but we are really thankful for the waterproof digital camera that Miss M brought along with her other camera. All in all, it was a great short trip to the waterfall. Maybe in total we spent about 15 minutes max around the waterfall and since the weather wasn't looking good, the water getting totally murky and the amount of water falling from above was immense, it was a good call that we didn't spend a lot of time around the waterfall and thankfully we all got back to the car safe and well.

*** Note:

- If the water level would have been on a safe level, the water at surrounding the waterfall will be in a hue of green-ish blue in colour. Even though we brought along a so called guide, he didn't mention a single word about getting out of there quickly what more briefing on the track. Hence, do come with some basic river or water level knowledge along with you.

- The walk towards the waterfall is fairly easy. It takes probably about 30 minutes or so ( wasn't really timing the walk) to get to the waterfall. However, do be aware of local men who would be asking to guide you (with a fee of course) or some men who seemed to be really nice to help you along the way (wading through the streams) because in return they will be asking for some money. In our case, our tour operator had already assigned a person to guide us which in my opinion was totally unnecessary.

- Do come prepared to be extremely drenched  and there will be locals trying to rent to you umbrellas. So yeah, you can come equipped with a raincoat, proper sandals, umbrella and a waterproof casing for your camera or a waterproof camera. Water is also essential and make sure you pack that in your bag.

- Safety first and it was certainly one of those ' heaven on Earth' moment as you reach the waterfall.

 

 

10 Things You Need to Know about Mount Bromo, East Java, Indonesia | Mt.Bromo, Jawa Timur

10 Things You Need to Know about Mount Bromo, East Java, Indonesia are :

[caption id="attachment_2859" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Mountain on the left with a bit of smoke at the top is Mt. Bromo. Picture is captured from Mount. Penanjakan."][/caption]

1. To tell you the truth, none of us knew about Mount Bromo until we were told about it while going for our maiden hiking expedition at Mount Kinabalu, Sabah. A fellow hiker, Akmar introduced to us to this absolutely beautiful and picturesque view of a volcanic mountain called Bromo or Mount Bromo straight out from her iPhone. We wow-ed over Mt.Bromo right at that instance and we told ourselves, we really need to go there and we finally made it there after 2 years which was on April 30th, 2012.

2. To get to Mount Bromo, you need to fly into Surabaya, East Java (Jawa Timur), Indonesia and take a couple of hours of car ride to Probolinggo province ( I think) and then exchange into a jeep to get you higher up the rough road condition up the mountain. When I say "rough road condition", brace yourself for a super bumpy, almost roller coaster-like jeep ride. It was awful and if you needed to pee, forget about it. You will almost certainly pee in your pants with all those crazy bumps and bounces.

3. Akmar did mentioned that you can hike Mount Bromo by going on a horse ride and that's exactly what we did. It cost us about IDR 90,000 (approx. MYR30 or USD10) for both ways going up and down the volcanic mountain. I can't remember the exact duration we were on the back of the horse but it felt really long maybe about 15 minutes one way. Since it was our first time riding a horse, it was the most awesome thing anyone could have ever done in their life. At that moment, it wasn't really about the fact that we were literally hiking an active volcanic mountain, but we were more excited with the whole idea of going horse back riding.

[caption id="attachment_2861" align="aligncenter" width="1600" caption="Mt Bromo horses with their guides and the jeeps"][/caption]

The horse riding episode is certainly something one should look forward to doing at Mt. Bromo and no worries for first timers, the horse is guided with his owner and just make sure you sit up straight, go along with the rhythm of the horse, hold on the rope tight and simply enjoy the ride and view!

4. Make sure before you get on the horse ride or if you can't care for horse adventure and splurging money are not in your agenda, just be sure to clear your bladder before you begin your hike. There is a toilet right at the parking area with a typical standard fee of Indonesian toilet run - IDR2000. Bring your own TP or wet wipes if washing with water isn't your thing and the toilet is in okay standard.

5. The weather at Mount Bromo is just nice but it can be very dusty to go all the way up the mountain. It only get worse when you will be hiking right next to people on horses because there is only one track to go up and down. Your best choice of clothing is to wear a long sleeve shirt and pants, sunglasses ( to keep the dust out of your eyes) and a bandana ( to function as a mask) or get yourself a proper mask to cover your nose. Do not be surprised when you blow your nose right after this hike, you'll be seeing black dusty ashes coming out from your nose. So do make sure, you remember to clean up the nose right after. Haha.

[caption id="attachment_2863" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Mount Bromo and it's very much alive smokey crater."][/caption]

6. The horse ride will only take you to about 3/4 of the way up. The rest of the way, you will need to take the dusty ashen stairs which was fairly okay, not difficult to climb. You will have the view of the Bromo Crater right at the top and be careful right up there. There is no divider to protect you from falling down into the crater so don't get all too excited with the camera works and do watch your steps.

7. I would say, all around 360 degrees view from the top of Mount Bromo was absolutely amazing. The place is totally barren and almost desert-looking with grey ashes covering pretty much everything.

[caption id="attachment_2862" align="aligncenter" width="540" caption="Mt. Bromo view from the top facing away from the crater. If you look closely on the front of the picture, you'll see the trail of people climbing the stairs."][/caption]

*picture by Miss M

8. You can avoid the stairs when you are descending down from the mountain by going all adventurous, trailing down the mountain and kick more dusts all over you just like this guy in the picture below :

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Mt Bromo"][/caption]

* It's no doubt risky and whatever you do, safety first!

9. You will be bombarded with the many local folks who will come up to your face with bunch of Bromo tshirts for sale. You can however, choose to say no and walk away as quickly as possible or ended up buying a bunch of tees which will be way too small for your size. The last I checked, L size is equivalent to the standard S size. So make sure you check the size out first before buying.

10. Despite the cost for the horse ride was just IDR 90K, I'm pretty sure you will want to give the guides an extra tip for all their hard work or probably just something extra for the horses too. Their job is really tough and going through that kind of working condition everyday, climbing up and down the mountain multiple times a day while breathing black volcanic ashes day in and out is really one heck of a job to do.

[caption id="attachment_2860" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Mt Bromo"][/caption]

All in all, if you are looking for a chance of a lifetime to experience stepping foot on one of the most beautiful and scenic volcanic mountain ( in my rating that is), Mount Bromo located just a couple of hours away from Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia is the place you certainly need to go.

*Note: Surabaya is just a couple of hours away from Bali. I personally think adding Bali as your next travel destination after visiting Surabaya by travelling via land using train, ferry and van is totally going to be one heck of a road trip and you should seriously consider doing just that.

Stuffs You Need To Know at Indonesia Immigration

Just earlier this month, I had my very first visit to Indonesia and of course, being totally foreign to it ( not really actually because being Malaysian, we are some what used to Indonesian), I was really looking forward to begin my short adventure in Indonesia.

Our very first encounter with anything Indonesian began right at the door of our airplane. Since it was a flight going into Indonesia, for all the obvious reasons, all the flight attendants were clearly Indonesians. There was a bit of a loud conversations going on in Indonesian right at the entrance of the airplane where there was a bit of a mixed up about where to store the baby's stroller in the aircraft. At that point, I realized that Indonesian speaks super fast and I wonder if the stewardess was being loud or angry or everyone in Indonesia just talks that way, which I doubt it is. That short drama done with, we found our seats and the plane took off.

Since we were travelling on a budget, most of us didn't check in our bags and that saved me about RM40 for the total ticket price. But actually, that is not even an issue that I'm trying to bring up here. The next thing we knew, we were queuing on the Foreigner lane at the immigration. I read some travel tips on some websites which mentioned that for smooth process at the immigration, try to look for immigration officers that doesn't look like he's going to eat you (which can be tough to come by if you are going into Germany), he or she looks nice and friendly or if you can catch him/her flashing a smile to that person at the counter, then probably that is the lane you should be queuing up to.

I randomly picked a woman officer behind the counter probably because it was the only two lanes available anyway and you have to pick one. While at the queue, I saw some people putting their four fingers on the fingerprints detector while others didn't do that which was something odd and new to me. Probably I haven't travelled that much to places in South East Asia that the idea of having your all five fingers on both hands saved in another country's immigration database is something that I got me saying in my mind, " Man, these people are serious dude!".

Then it comes to my turn. Apparently, for anyone who is a first time visitor into Indonesia, it is mandatory to do all the five fingers on both hands fingerprints detection inclusive of a face image too. There is an instruction card placed just above the fingerprints detector machine but the immigration lady was obviously hustling everybody and there's no way for you to read the instructions properly at the counter.

First, you will be asked to put your 4 fingers of your right hand minus the thumb at the detector which I dutifully did. Of course my hands decided to slip out of the detector and the next second, the lady was repeating in an irritate voice for me to put my hands back again. Next was the 4 fingers of your left hand minus the thumb and then, both thumbs together ( I think or was it separately, I can't remember) and finally look at the tiny camera at the counter. And then I thought I was done but no.

Our first destination was addressed at this place called Malang which you had to fill up on the form. Confidently, seeing that I'm a Malaysian, the immigration lady spoke Indonesian to me. Thankfully, I understood her questions and told her that we are staying overnight at Malang because we will be at Bromo tomorrow morning. She also asked if the next person behind me is my friend and of course it wasn't. My friends were lining up just behind that woman and of course I was too eager to get through the immigration that I had walked away and only realized that probably I should mentioned that the other two behind the line, we are travelling together. Anyway, all of us got through fine at the immigration, grab our bags and off we go looking for the rest of the gang who had flown in on an earlier flight.

This post could go on again about the how you will be literally shoved a bunch of telephone sim cards at your face right at the entrance of the airport. Just a reminder for you, these people are pretty persistent about selling their stuffs and yes, they will want to hang around you even you have clearly said, you didn't want a sim card. So the best options is to simply ignore them until they flee for their next victims (oops, customers).

So there you go, if this is your first time visiting Indonesia, do expect those fingerprints and face detection right at the immigration counter. Just in case you do not speak Malay or Indonesian and didn't have the time to read the instructions for the fingerprints detection, I hope this post will help.

How to Look Good In A Passport Photo

How to look good in a passport photo eh?

The answer to that is a 50-50 chance that you'll turn out good or bad. If you are having a bad hair day and you still decided to snap the photo anyway, the chance is of course you'll have the worse photo ever and maybe you need to have a retake. Ouch, what a waste.

I've found a couple of tips over the internet certainly useful in order for you to get the best photo for your passport.
Here are the few things that I could remember and I think will work:

1. If you haven't had a haircut for months, go do that and make sure your hair stylist do a really good job and march to the photo studio right after your done with the hair.

2. Make sure you communicate with your photographer. Some of them are more keen to snap a picture of you, crop, print, ask for your money right away. Good photo studios will snap a couple of pictures with the camera, show you the pictures and you can decide to choose (or they will suggest) on the best pictures. After that, they will take the time to crop and probably do a little editing (just for brightness and probably contrast of the picture) and then they will print. If ended up with a lousy photographer, I doubt you can hope much on getting a well decent looking picture.

3. If you think you don't need a haircut because you still look okay and you have no bad hair day whatsoever, then do make time to spruce yourself a little bit just before you head to the photo studio. Going straight to the photo studio right after you were running out errands under the hot sun, looking all oily and sweaty, is not really a good idea.

4. Last but not least, this is something I'd like to add up myself. Go to the photo studio with a good spirit. Haha. With a good, happy and positive mindset, you'll have a good time and hopefully the photographer will capture the best photos for you and everyone shall be happy.

If all things fail and you think you have a lousy photo for the passport, don't hesitate to retake those photos again. You don't want to get stuck with the same not so nice photo on your passport for years to come. Happy taking photos and hope it'll turn out great or at least looking decently nice for you.

Climb Mount Kinabalu And Raise Funds For SHELTER - Home For Children

This is a very special post and I am hoping we can all get the words out and reach out to as many people as possible. Recently, Gary the PR guy of SHELTER - Home For Children(Malaysia) , contacted me if I would like to help them out again to promote on their Climb of Hope Charity drive. Apparently I had somewhat mentioned about the SHELTER's charity climb two years ago in this blog which I've totally forgotten about and of course I am more than willing to give them a bit of a promotion once again.

 

For this year 2012, the SHELTER is targeting to raise about MYR 100,000 to improve the standard of education amongst the children in the shelter home. Anyone from the public is welcomed to participate for this Mount Kinabalu climb by filling up the registration form here.

 



Basically, you will be joining the Mt. Kinabalu climbing package organized by SHELTER and the fees (inclusive of  climbing fees, accommodation, flight tickets, land transfers, meals for all days) are MYR 2010 (for Malaysians) and MYR2300 (for Non-Malaysians). It is a 4 days 3 nights trip on 25 - 28 April 2012 ( Via Timpohon trail).

In addition, participants need to help seek donation from either companies, organizations or various individuals for a minimal amount of MYR  2000 each or more in hope to raise up to RM100, 000  fund for this campaign.

If you have been looking or thinking of doing something really amazing this year, this could probably be your chance to make "that something amazing" happening for yourself and for others too which in this case it is for the kids.

The climb is open for a maximum of 30 participants and closing date for registration will be by the 29th of March 2012. For further info, you can contact :

Edwin Jalleh : +60 0122574305
Brian Cheong : +60 0123510575

[caption id="attachment_2745" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Sunrise at Low's Peak, Mt. Kinabalu - a dome looking clouds *picture by Azleena"][/caption]

I had climbed Mount Kinabalu back in 2010 which you can read more about my experience at Low's Peak, Mount Kinabalu here. The experience was simply amazing and one of the best things I had ever done in my life. I would say Mount Kinabalu is a mountain for everyone. The track is relatively easy to climb. All you really need is a bit of stamina to get you going and of course the strong drive in your mind to keep pushing it further. It is all about the motivation and a good mindset. Also, as we all know, Mount Kinabalu is located in Kota Kinabalu , Sabah and if you are a Malaysians, I would strongly recommend you to visit Sabah. Believe me, you will fall for the nature beauty of Sabah and also for the beautiful people as well. Then again, if you are up for an experience of a life time and making a change is something you are looking to do this year, do sign up and participate for this campaign for the children.

 

Foodie Road Trip : Pak Man Mee Kuah Ketam To'kun, Bukit Mertajam| Penang

My friends from Penang highly recommended this place : Pak Man Mee Kuah Ketam To'kun located at Bukit Mertajam, Penang. The best time to eat Mee Ketam To'kun is by noon, especially after you had a bucket full of sweats hiking up the very steep hill of Bukit Tokun, BM.

This is going to be a picture treat for everyone and so let's the pictures do the talking!

[caption id="attachment_2716" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Pak Man Mee Kuah Ketam To'kun, Bukit Mertajam. Mee Ketam sales begin at noon."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2717" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Mee Kuah Ketam Pak Man - the whole menu and respective pictures"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2718" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The prep station"][/caption]

We got all the time in the world to snap everything around the shop because the Mee Ketam has not arrived yet and so we waited patiently for about 30 minutes for the dish to come. Apparently, the whole cooking process was done elsewhere and the next thing we knew, we saw a couple of Pak Man's workers pushing a tricycle cart right from the street.

[caption id="attachment_2719" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The kuah mee ketam and everything for the whole dish coming in a tricycle cart! This is really old school!"][/caption]

These are some of the things that came out from the cart :

[caption id="attachment_2720" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="The secret and most important ingredient - Kuah Mee Ketam in a big pot!"][/caption]

The whole kuah pot is transferred here to keep hot



And the Mee Kuah Ketam will not be a Mee Kuah Ketam without the Ketam (Crabs)

[caption id="attachment_2722" align="aligncenter" width="168" caption="Crabs for the Mee Ketam Tokun"][/caption]

Alright, when is the Mee Kuah Ketam Pak Man picture coming??? Okay, here goes :

[caption id="attachment_2723" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Finally, Mee Kuah Ketam Special Pak Man! Yum!"][/caption]

If you look closely at this picture, this is a complete meal and only order Mee Kuah Ketam Special, priced at RM 7 if you are dead hungry. The pasembor, potato , half an egg, noodle, crab, prawns and the kuah (gravy) are going to make your stomach full. Despite burning hundreds or perhaps thousands of calories hiking up Bukit Tokun earlier that morning, I was struggling to finish this mee ketam up. Probably it was the pasembor combo of this meal that makes it hard to finish since I'm not a big fan of pasembor. Hehe.

Other dishes that the gang ordered were these :

Mee Goreng Ketam

[caption id="attachment_2724" align="aligncenter" width="168" caption="Mee Goreng Ketam - the gravy comes separately in a bowl"][/caption]

and Mee Goreng

[caption id="attachment_2726" align="aligncenter" width="168" caption="Mee goreng. Obviously, the one who ordered mee goreng was our Penang friend who probably had eaten a bit too many of Mee Kuah Ketam at Pak Man. Hihi."][/caption]

Last but not least, the end result of our little Mee Kuah Ketam Pak Man session :

[caption id="attachment_2727" align="aligncenter" width="168" caption="Messy plates with crab shells, prawn shells and the hard to finish carb - potato from the Pasembor."][/caption]

If I have to rate Mee Kuah Ketam Pak Man , I'm going to give it : 4/5

With RM 7 (Mee Kuah Ketam Special) - a plate with a medium sized crab, 2 prawns, pasembor and the generous amount of gravy, I think it is really worth the money. If you are a big time fan of mee kuah, this is something you have to try at Cherok To'kun, Bukit Mertajam, Penang. I have to say the gravy has an acquired taste that was completely new to my palate because I'm the tomyam/ laksa/ bihun sup daging fan.

Directions to Mee Kuah Ketam Pak Tam : I have no idea of its direction so you going to have to do a bit of homework for that. Although I can bet that if you ask around from locals, they can give you the direction because this place is THE place locals will go for a mee ketam fix.

Pak Man Mee Kuah Ketam is something to look forward to when you are down in Penang. Make sure you give this place a little hunt and try out the dish. It will be worth all the effort.

Sg. Chiling, Kuala Kubu Baru | 20 Quick Tips on Camping and Hiking at Sg. Chiling

I have recently visited Sg. Chiling at Kuala Kubu Baru (KKB) with a bunch of friends for an overnight camping, BBQ dinner and hiking towards the waterfall. We didn't know what to expect from the whole trip and the only guidelines we had were purely from various blogs. Hence, I figured the 20 Quick Tips I'm going to list down below will help out for all of you first timers who are thinking of arranging a trip at Sg.Chiling, Kuala Kubu Baru.

The 20 Quick Tips that you need to know if you are planning for a camping and hiking trip at Sg. Chiling are:

1. The place is open for visitors only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 8 am until 6 pm.

[caption id="attachment_2703" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Sungai Chiling Fish Sanctuary Regulations KKB"][/caption]

2.  It's a great place for day trips, BBQ and picnics by the river.
3. Cooking is not allowed at the waterfall although there are still people who will sneak a portable gas stove in their bags.

[caption id="attachment_2706" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="A healthy breakfast we whipped up at the camp site using our portable stove"][/caption]

4.  After 3 pm you are not allowed to go hiking up until the waterfall due to safety reasons since it will take 1 hour to the waterfall and another hour back down. Nevertheless, you can still take a dip or picnic around the river near the entrance or the river by the roadside.
5. Entrance fee is RM 1 for each person which you will pay at the registration counter.
6. If you would like to camp, usually you don't need to book ahead of time. You can just walk in to the registration booth and pay up RM 10 deposit per person. I think the place is huge enough to accommodate a lot of campers. So no worries. There were only 5 groups of campers with minimum of 5 people per group the day we were there. Most day trip visitors will leave the place the latest at 7 pm. The RM10 is a deposit for you to maintain the cleanliness of the camping site. If you are coming with a large group, you can give a call to this number : Yusri 013-3089463 and arrange for camping site bookings.  The number was given to me from the lady at the registration counter.
7. Fishing is not allowed at this fish sanctuary. It is a sanctuary for ikan kelah and these fish are obviously protected here.
8. There is a toilet, surau, a couple of wakaf and a designated camping site at this place. Camping is at your own risk. I don't see any guards around but it is generally safe to camp here since most campers are friendly and nice.
9. It takes about 5 minutes of walking from the entrance (roadside) to the registration counter. No cars/motorbikes are allowed to enter beyond the gate at the entrance. If you are camping and barbecueing this calls for heavy duty load carrying on your two shoulders. Multiple trips are required if they aren't many people to help you to carry your countless number of stuffs.

[caption id="attachment_2707" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="5min walk through this path. It's fairly flat."][/caption]

10. The best shoes to go around this place is a zap on sandals or slippers. You can wear shoes but then again it will be soaked wet. Also be prepared to get wet right after the suspension bridge from the registration counter. For short people like me, the water level reached up until half of my body during the 6 river crossings. If you have a waterproof bag, it is highly recommended to swim across rather than wade through the current. It's faster and safer to swim across actually but you will be drenched which shouldn't be a problem.
11. You have to keep the place clean and bring back whatever trash you have made from your picnics. The huge dumpster is located near the parking lot just before the entrance. In short, you have to carry your rubbish back out yourself.
12. Don't expect to have a sparkling clean toilet or shower room. This is afterall the jungle and why bother showering when you have the nice, cold river to dip in! None of us showered because it was freaking cold. Oh, a couple of guys actually jumped into the river at night for a quick dip and just under 5 minutes, they were already back at their camps.The water was COLD!
13. Do mind the wild dogs if you are camping. Make sure you clean up your camping site after the massive BBQ cook out you had during dinner. You don't want to have the dogs sniffing down your rubbish and trashing the whole place out. They dogs didn't roam around the camping site but I did hear a couple of them barking from afar about 4ish – 5ish in the morning.
14. Be nice to your next door campers. We were literally gawking over the bunch of guys who bbq-ed with a couple of bamboo sticks and the next thing we knew, a guy came up out of the dark and offered us food! Hehe.

[caption id="attachment_2705" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="This is rice cooked in bamboo over the charcoal fire. The guys offered us this bamboo rice and some grilled chicken. Yum!"][/caption]

15. Return the gesture of your kind next door campers by offering them your portable cooking stove when you see them cooking burger patties with their bare hands over the small fire they made for breakfast. Hehe.

[caption id="attachment_2704" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Trusty portable stove"][/caption]

16. It's best to pack up the camp and put everything back in the car if you are planning to go hiking to the waterfalls in the morning. You will be wet, tired, hot and it will be noon by the time you come back down from the waterfall. The last thing you want to do is to pack up your tent and stuffs. At this time, you will look like crap, sunburned, wet and you'll be dead hungry!
17.This place is safe for all ladies campers and hikers although being typical Malaysian people will still question why they aren't guys who are accompanying you girls. Unless you are camping with guys who are a true campers, they are worth to drag along with. If the guys had never made BBQ fire in their entire life, don't bother asking them to tag along for company. Haha.
18. There are no monkeys at this place. Thank God! I just don't fancy this creature that much although some find them utterly cute. Hmm...
19. If you are lucky you will get leeches but we didn't. Instead we saw a huge spider. It looks poisonous but maybe it's not. I really don't know.

[caption id="attachment_2708" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Spider during trekking towards Chiling Waterfall"][/caption]

*photo by Marl
20. The ikan kelah is a load of fun to play with. They are bunch of smart fish and you will be lucky if you can catch them with your bare hands. Don't bother trying to scoop them out with a pathetic plastic bag. We tried that, the bag broke instead. Hehe.

There you go 20 Quick Tips that you will hopefully need to know about camping and hiking at Sg.Chiling, Kuala Kubu Baru.

For more information on driving directions to Sg. Chiling - read here by DeXXy.Net

Note : To get to the waterfall, cross the suspension bridge, make a left turning and go through the rocky and wet path. You can take the right path but I think it will take you on a much farther route.