Siem Reap, Cambodia

8th-12th Jan 2014

Arrived early in Siem Reap. After a quick breakfast, we checked into Parklane Hotel. Booked out tuk-tuk and were on our way. First off - visited the Angkor Silk Farm. Really interesting to see how silk is made. Enable us to truly value silk products.

After a decent meal at Joe-to-go, we headed for the Kompong Phluk, Floating Village. It was a pretty long walk to the boat. The boat ride (for USD15 per person) was almost an hour to view the sunset at Tonle Sap Lake. We passed the floating village before we reached a swamp area where we were told to take a small canoe to view the swamp. There was a miscommunication whereby we thought the sunset is only possible with this ride. It cost us additionally USD4 per person which they were trying to charge us USD5. Nice but not fantastic. But I would have appreciated if they would have told us about it before hand. Understand the people are poor and this amount would make a difference. Should have read about it on Tripadvisor. The sunset was nice but I thought the view was also possible at most island or beach in Malaysia. The shaky boat meant I can't do a time lapse either.

Also realized that it can get really chilly on the tuk-tuk at night and morning. Our tuk-tuk driver told us the temperature will actually drop to 16 degree during year end.

On the next day, we woke up early to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat. We weren't the only one. The place was crowded by 5.30am. Everyone seemed to think they work for national geography or something. Seriously, nothing beats our own eyes. The description made by most people is a little overrated. It was nice but personally feel it wasn't as spectacular as I have imagine.

Visited few other ruins like Bayon Temple and finally the much talked about Ta Prohm (Tomb Raider's shoot location). Interesting to see how the trees have grown over the whole place. Many seems to be leafless though.

The following day, we took a pretty long ride to see the carvings on the river bank at Kbal Spean. 50km on a tuk tuk can be a real challenge. The 1500meter hike/walk isn't too difficult. In fact it is easier than Gasing Hill. The pathway is pretty clear so there is no fear of getting lost if you don't' wander off. Food there is pricier than town.

Visited Banteay Srey on the way back. The place was a miniature compared to the others. So watch your head! Was said to be the one to have the best carvings of all the temples.

After that, we dropped by The Cambodia Landmine Museum. This was my highlight for the trip. Bill walked a group of us through the different rooms explaining about the history, war and what they are working on. It really moved my heart and I'm so inspired by Bill and Aki Ra's team. So many incidents and stories are not made known to the world. They have truly persevere and are making a great difference in the lives of the Cambodian despite all the challenges they have faced.

The long ride on the tuk tuk really took a toll on me. So when my friends decided they wanted to check out a Boeng Melea that is 75km away, I opt out. Just wanted to chill in pub street without rushing and torturing my body further.

It isn't the cheapest trip for me. Especially when they trade in USD and the value of MYR is really pathetic at the moment. But what I appreciate about the people especially drivers, are their patience. Worlds apart from Malaysian drivers. If Malaysian were to drive there, we would have killed many.

Dive Sipadan with SWV II

18th-22nd Oct 2013
Second dive trip with SWV. To date, my 7th Dive Trip.

This time, just 3 of us. Learning from last year's experience, we basically went a day earlier, left LCCT slightly later in the day and stayed in Tawau for 1 night. Was great as we get to eat so much, seafood (I think we freaked out the waiters). It was a lot less tiring since we get to rest early.

Because we were already in Tawau, we arranged to leave for Semporna earlier. Coincidentally out hotel - Heritage Hotel is just opposite SWV office. That also meant that we can get on the island earlier for our check out dive.

My only disappointment was on my flight to Tawau, I realized that my gopro casing had cracks on it. Didn't managed to get a replacement in time as it was the weekend and I'm not in KL where FedEx could delivery within the next day.

At our check out dive at Paradise 2, we saw 4 humongous green turtles! They are residents but somehow we didn't see them the year before.

The following days, we saw with School of Razor Fish, Mantis Shrimp, Purple Coby, Large Tuna, Giant Trevally, Leopard Snake, White Leaf Fish, Pygmy Seahorse, Jaw Fish, Harlequin Shrimp, Transparent Shrimp, Mandarin Fish and a Pair of Frog Fish on water surface. Some which we didn't see the year before.


Our dive masters have been great company. Thoroughly enjoyed diving with them - Felix, Andyrian, Ramil and Fauzy.

So my dive computer backlight didn't work, camera case broke before I even arrive, torch battery died just when I needed to use and plane back delayed for more than 2.5 hours. Sound as if many things didn't work for me...

But actually, everything else were just perfect. Met old and new friends. Saw almost everything we wanted to and had a great time chilling. Truly thankful for this trip. Definitely one of the most memorable trip ever.

Can't wait for my next dive trip.

Dew Crew Retreat 2013

15th-17th Sep 2013
El-Sanctuary, Malacca

We haven't done a Malacca trip for the longest time. This year, we stayed in El-Scantuary located a little bit further from town. Ok, barely 10mins from Aeon Big actually. The place run by Vincent and Ann in a homestay concept. Truly a nature experience.

We had all our meals here and food here is excellent!

Other than a very short walk around the area, we pretty much spent all our time indoors playing "cups" and kinect. So, some of us do have pretty good dancing skills!

Escape Theme Park

13th-14th Sep 2013
Team Building Session with KA Team

Had a short meeting cum team building event on this trip. Stayed at the Flamingo Hotel. For team building, we went to Penang Escape Theme Park. We were divided into a few groups and each has a number of task to complete (in different order) within the time frame.

The task that we must complete were - Atan's Leap, Monkey Business, Gecko Tower, Tubby Racer, A-Maze and Flying Lemur. After completing the team building tasks, we had the opportunity to try out the other activities. Pretty cool place. Everyone who has a fear of height should really do this!

Langkawi with Mum

24th-26th Aug 2013

The last time we took a trip to Langkawi was more than 10 years ago. Then, the cable car was not even in operation yet. Cenang Beach was quiet with very few restaurant operators. We rented a car and stayed at Tropical Resort Langkawi. A budget place and near the beach. It wasn't beach front but will do.

It was nice to just visit a few place and hang out, go for massage, have some seafood, wine and chill. I'm all for relaxing trips.

Hillsong Conference 2013

29th June-8th July 2013
Hillsong Conference 2013

I have wanted to attend Hillsong Conference for the longest time. And finally, my very first trip to Australia!

So glad we had rented cars. We stayed at the Oaks Goldsborough Apartments which is really near the Darling Harbour. Managed to check out the Opera House and Harbour Bridge from a ferry ride. Haha. Such a tourist!

The conference started the next day and it was solid days at the Allphones Arena of the Sydney Olympic Park. I really love the main sessions with the guest speakers as well as Pr Brian and Bobbie's team. The workshops are pretty general and understandably because of the wide range of delegates attending it. Without this Conference, I doubt I would have the opportunity to hear so many speakers from Texas - and those who live next to it. Conference joke.

Guest speakers include Bishop T.D Jakes of The Potter's House, Joel & Victoria Osteen of Lakewood Church, Craig Groeschel of Lifechurch.tv, and Judah Smith of The City Church. Also guest worship leaders Kari Jobe, Leeland and Israel Houghton.

What I love most is to see the volunteers at work. It is so encouraging to see them serve with all their hearts. The volunteers are combination from all the different campuses. Truly amazed at the number of people involved in the conference every year. Think they mentioned that it takes about 2000 people to make it happen. Their technical team is huge too. Just watching how quickly they transition props and equipments on stage! So many more were working backstage. Salute to the team! Thanks for the inspiration.

Catching up in Kuching

26th-29th Jan 2013

It has been some time since we last hung out and at random meeting with Andrea late 2012, we decided to plan a visit to her hometown - Kuching. We stayed at 360 Hotel - Urban Resort. It was a budget place and we went for one of the cheapest room. No windows. But was pleasantly surprise. The beds are comfortable and the room was clean. It was a little tight but we weren't spending most of our time in there.

With Andrea as out host, Yoke Mun and myself ate and ate like crazy. We had Sarawak Laksa - 2 days in a row! And being a host, Andrea managed to check out tourisy stuff with us. Many first for her too. It was a nice catch up trip.

Can't wait to hang out with you girls again soon.

EM Trip with Mum

24th-26th Nov 2012
Mum's 1st trip to East Malaysia

My mum has never been to East Malaysia. I go almost every other year for some reason! Decided to take her to Sabah. We rented a car at the airport and after a quick lunch, we drove to the mountains - Kinabalu National Park. The journey was truly a spectacular view. There were challenging parts of the journey trying to get past slow trucks but we made it! Had an early dinner and stayed in Celyn Resort Kinabalu. The road leading into the resort can be pretty terrible. Not the resort's fault. It is a public road and therefore the responsibility of the local government. The resort has a great view of Mt Kinabalu (we stayed in the Kinabalu Wing). It was a cloudy day so by night, it was just pitch black.



The next day, we drove to the starting point of Timpohon trail. We were back in KK town by afternoon to have a nice seafood lunch. We checked in to Klagan hotel. It was decent but please don't book through a 3rd party website even if the guarantee you it is the lowest. Apparently it was slightly cheaper to book directly. Liked the free wifi and free parking for guest. Plus the elevator stops on the parking floor too. Very convenient.

We had a great seafood dinner at Dowish Seafood Restaurant. Love the shrimp cooked with coconut water and fresh scallops. 3G in KK can really improve because trying to get online proved to be challenging. Maybe just gotta print out addresses next time. We explored a number of must eats but some are a let down. Other than the seafood, Hilltop's Coconut pudding is just amazing. Glad we found it before our flight back.

We will be back for more food the next time.

Dive Perhentian!

21st-23rd Sep 2012
My 6th Dive Trip

Was a last minute decision to join Sam on this trip. I have been wanting to check out Perhentian Island. So I was right, the journey there was a long one but since we slept through the night, it was bearable. The trip cost us RM500 without boat transfer and food. Together with the chartered bus, it cost us more than expected. Accommodation at Bubu Long Beach was quite decent with twin sharing, air-cond and water heater. Strangely, the organisers never shared the bills/receipt of the trip.

Diving was ok. Visiblity was average and the sites we went weren't too spectacular. The journey back was quite torturing. Felt that my whole Sunday was totally wasted. We started our journey after breakfast. I envy 2 of our divers who were from Singapore cause they took a flight back. They got home by 12pm. We got home at 12am!

After the trip, I realized there was an interesting Vietnamese wreck nearby (darn!). Moral of the story, always do your own research of a trip.

Dew Crew Retreat 2012

16th-18th Sep 2012
Dew Crew took a simple retreat this year… what else better than an eating trip. Once again, we went to Ipoh and stayed at the same place and of course ate a lot. We need to do something to justify this eating next year. Lol.

Other than eating, we did took lots of photos at Gunung Lang and Kellie's Castle.

Legoland Malaysia

6th-8th Sep 2012
There has been lots of hype about the opening of Asia's first Legoland here in Malaysia. When the opportunity came for a free entry, who would have refused? Somehow, it gave many people the idea that it was very much like a theme park. But like the name, it is Legoland.

The place was not entirely open to the public yet. There was still a few days to go and therefore some of the rides were not available during my visit. There wasn't as many rides as I expected. The whole place had Legos everywhere though. Pretty cool for Lego fans.

From that visit, I conclude (at the moment) the place is targeting at younger children (some of the boat and car rides are more for the age of 8 and below or people who admire the work of lego and just want to take lots of photos. My friends and I completed almost every activity available in less than half a day.

The water park will be ready in a few years. Looking forward to that.

Dive Sipadan with SWV!

19th-23rd July 2012
Dive Mabul, Kapalai, Sipadan! My 5th Dive Trip
It is a 15 months of planning (and savings) for this trip to be possible.

Had been looking forward for this for so long. The ultimate dive site of Malaysia. We stayed on Sipadan Water Village on Mabul Island for this 5D4N trip.
It all started in the wee hour of the morning for the 7am flight. Here's how the journey to SWV is like for us.
50min taxi ride from PJ to LCCT
2 hours and 50mins flight from LCCT to Tawau
2 hours van ride from Tawau airport to Semporna Jetty.
1 hour boat ride from Semporna Jetty to SWV.

*whew* Glad SWV arranged decent transport for us. It was a real long journey. After our briefing and lunch, we checked into our rooms and got ready for our check out dive. Honestly, the traveling very much exhausted most of us but seriously, the sight of the place makes it so worth it. The water was so inviting!

It was a great dive experience with Dive Masters - Fauzy, Ramily and Niger. Saw so many firsts - Giant Mantis Prawn, Lion Fish, Sweet Lips, Ghost Pipe Fish, Cuttle Fish, Giant Frog Fish, Clown Trigger Fish (Robocop), School of Barracuda, Grey Shark, White Tip Shark, Black Tip Shark, Nurse Shark, School of Jack Fish, Red Fire Goby, Gigantic Grouper, Large Parrot Bumphead, Giant Moray Eel, Baby Spotted Sweet Lips and Mandarin Fish.

Probably the only thing that was disappointing was that we had to abandon Barracuda Point for our dawn dive.
The old film underwater cam (SeaLife Reefmaster RC SL515) wasn't great but at least I had some photos underwater.

One thing for sure, I'll be back!

Take a break - Langkawi

25th - 28th February 2012

Probably the most impromptu flight tickets I bought. Just 2 weeks before the trip. Needed to take a break before moving to a new department. Managed to drag Tee Hui with me.

It was fun just driving around Langkawi in our little rented Viva. Practically went around the island and tired ourselves! We visited the 7 Wells (Telaga Tujuh), cable car to Mount Mat Cincang, The Datai, Black Sand Beach and feasted in Kuah Town. It was a really hot during the day and rainy at night. We had nice walk on Cenang Beach and chilled at the Oasis Bar and Restaurant - where they served pretty decent juices. Enjoyed chilling at The Loaf in Perdana Quay too. We actually hung out there twice!

The last time I was in Langkawi was with my mum in 2000. Won a free ticket with accommodation then. This time, since we were paying, we went for a budget place - Casa Fina. Couldn't find my ideal beachfront. This accommodation is still rather new. Hope they continue to maintain the place well as I could see light stains here and there. It is very strategically located, just walking distance to Cenang beach and right across from the Underwater World with many shops and restaurants around.

It was a good 3.5 days. Wish it was longer.

Padang Dive & Surf Trip

15th - 18th December 2011

Never planned for 3 dive trips a year. But this was a great deal. Buy 3 FOC 1. And this is in a foreign country (ok, it's just an hour flight, something like flying to Penang). Sounded cool so we signed up. Never expected to dive international water so soon!

It was a pretty early flight for all of us - Tee Hui, Sam, Scott, Soo and myself. Arrived in Padang and it was raining! Was a little concern of the visibility. We met Bob, our friendly guide for our trip. He owns and runs Star Ocean Scuba & Surf with his "boss" wife Dewi.

We checked in to Nature's Inn early and unpacked! Ready to dive! We were welcome by Brown and Goldie! Brown was afraid of us till the day we left. But Goldie was just big and playful. The bunk beds were probably the most comfortable I ever had on a dive trip so far (I'm the budget kind).

First thing first… FOOD! OMG, so much to try and everything just looked delicious.

 It was about an hour boat ride to the nearest dive site. This place is rather new for divers. As far as I could see, we were the only divers around. So Bob had the liberty to name the site himself. The water was pretty choppy… OK, worse than I thought. A little puking made me feel better. But once in the water, I feel better than ever. Visibility was great and every site was beautiful, untouched - quite different from Malaysia. The only thing that looked the same was the moray eel. Most of the sites we went were wall dives. My highlight for the trip was probably the coral fans and sighting the nurse shark… 2 meter long and 2 of them together. Think they were residents there. Pretty much ignored us until the cameras came. Yea, and I didn't have a camera.Got the photo below from Soo. Our packed lunch was delicious too, but my seasick was just untimely.

The food was just excellent. Bob took us to different places and have to say, the winning dish MUST be Satay Babi. Best pork satay I every had. And the cucumber pickel was perfect. The Ikan Bakar was excellent too. For drinks, the must try are Alpokat (Avacado juice with chocolate) and Terung Pirus (some kind of pink fruit) Can you see how thick the juice was? No water added!

We extended our stay to go on a day trip to the catch a view of the active volcanic mountain. Unfortunately for us, it was cloudy. But we did visited some tourist area in Bukit Tinggi like Japanese Tunnel and the Zoo (?).

Our last activity day was our discover surfing session. With only 1 layer of sun block, we braved the waves and sun for more than 3 hours. Didn't feel a thing. We surf and surf and try to stand on the surf board as long as we can. We didn't want to stop! But stomach was getting a little hungry. When we returned to rest, I was shocked when I looked into the mirror. I have never seen myself so burned in my entire life. It was BAD. And the silly thing was we forgot to put sun block behind our legs. All of us were burned terribly and sitting down was a challenge (for a good few weeks as our skin started to peel). Another silly thing was we booked massage that night. It was supposed to be relaxing but with all the burns, it was a painful one. Great memorable trip.

Must go Padang again! Thanks Bob and Dewi for your hospitality.

All the dated photographs were shot by Soo and Scott and occasionally Bob.

Getaway to Awanmulan

24th - 26th November 2011

A group of colleagues wanted to take little retreat. So off we went to this place called Awanmulan (Mulan's Clouds) within the Pantai Hills Orchard Resort in Jelebu. Followed someone's GPS and we lost our way. Google map worked a little better. By the time we arrived, it was getting dark (and we were the 1st group!). After a call clarifying if we were still on the correct road, we reached. There weren't any signboard because, well, it is an orchard and the houses were all private property and they just came up with the name not too long ago.

The Teng family built their own home and another part as a guesthouse house for family friends. We booked most of the rooms that 2 night, so we very much had the whole place to ourselves. We entered Teratak Bonda and was just in awed. The beautiful structure was made of wood and had a very tree house (a big one) feel to it. The kitchen faces the lush greenery and as the clouds surrounds the place, it felt really serene. The huge deck with hammocks was just prefect. We had a welcome party - Daniel and friends. They were really friendly, and they knew their boundaries.

We had a quick tour before deciding on room assignments. The girls got the larger, newer units below the deck. :) Every unit was spacious and beautifully designed and some were equipped with kitchenette. Some of the bathroom walls were adorned with colored glass bottle and some, you get a very outdoor feel.

Oh, and check out the swimming pool! Awesome! Don't worry about 3G, the family has got wifi for us. Nice for those who can't stand not being connected on fb and twitter. Some of the girls and I took up the Sunrise room. And I had my bed pushed right up to the edge to get a real feel of sleeping "next" to nature. And the name didn't fail. Check out the sunrise photo below. That was the sight that greeted me in the morning.

Had a little chat with Uncle Teng. Told us a little about his background and about building Awanmulan. Most of the window panes and doors were bought over from old traditional homes that was going to be demolished. And part of the pool deck was made of old telephone post. He decided to leave the wood as it is instead of filling up the holes and chopping them to the exact length. As original as it can be!

Zee helped planned a trekking for our group - which some within the group just couldn't cope with. We turned back instead of finishing the trail. Guide said we were just too slow. Most of our food were catered and Zee helped us with BBQ. Of course we did a little cooking - instant noodles! Haha. We ate so much, we finished most of the snacks we bought - which was A LOT.

It was a refreshing trip. Will be back again. Simply a great place to chill. Just pray I don't bump into a group like mine, we were pretty loud till wee hours in the morning. :-p

Short Cameron Trip

5th - 6th November 2011

Seriously, it was great to go away with a few cool colleagues. A rather short trip but a little fresh air in the mountain is great. We stayed at the Crown Imperial Court right near the night market. It was a 3 bedroom apartment that can accomodate 9. A little to big but nice to have lots of space! Haha.

We splurge a little with tea at the Smokehouse. Oh my, don't think I'll go there again. But the place was really nice and cozy.