Reflection...

It's always good to do some reflection from time to time... 

Taj Mahal

Finally i get to see one of the 7 wonders of the world during my India trip~ 

TAJ MAHAL 

Since young i wanted to see the Taj Mahal because the first time i saw Taj Mahal is the miniature model at my grandpa house. Now I finally got the chance to see and walk into the Taj Mahal... It was an amazing architecture with the rich stories behind the Taj Mahal... 

I have quite a few pictures taken in Taj Mahal that i planned to share in A picture A day starting Monday (Nov 3rd 2015) for showing Taj Mahal The Series... Stay tune and visit A picture A day eh~ 

Merdeka weekend with Sister and Nephew

Sister and Nephew are in town last weekend during the Merdeka weekend. Most of my friends have gone to the BERSIH 4.0 but i didn't take part of the event as my sister and nephew were in town. Hey, this didn't mean that i support the kok kok gai as he has said that whoever didn't appear in the Bersih 4.0 means support him. Come on, some of us just tight up with something else.

Anyway, let's just don't talk about the event. Later my blog got blocked. :')

I spent my Merdeka weekend with my sister and nephew in Port Dickson... My sister have rented two room in Thistle Resort which my parent were there too... It was so crowded with families...

I was enjoying the sea breeze with the "People Mountain People Sea" but still not that bad as i managed to build the sand castle with my nephew.

Was there only 2 day 1 night... Short but enjoyable. How's you celebrated the Merdeka weekend?

Namaste...

The next few posts, let me bring you to my #throwback of my India Trip back in March 2015. Hope i will not bore you to death~

I supposed to post this straight after I come back to Kuala Lumpur but... something comes up which have drawn my focus to... Now i could reclaim my time to blog about India trip. An interesting and fascinating trip to me~

2nd last day of 2014...

Finally, the missing AirAsia #QZ8501 found. And confirmed the flight has dropped into the sea.

On the other hand, I'm waiting to board a flight to down south, Singapore. Couple of my friends were asking me am i afraid to travel with AA, I told them if time comes it comes... why so worry. After a few events of disasters happen in year 2014. It triggered me to settle all my unsettle stuff as soon as possible so that it will not burden my family members if anything happen to me when i travel.

As a project manager, I always do a thorough contingency plan for my project but when come to my personal matter, I didn't have any plan... Hmmm... so my 2015 resolution is to do a contingency plan on what if I caught in the aviation disaster or anything happen to me...

What should I do and what my family need to do to claim whatever belongs to them which left behind by me.

Okay, i better stop here and enjoy myself the last 2 days of 2014. For the family of the victim #QZ8501, please stay strong eh~

Let's pray together for #QZ8501... 

Flower in the meal @ Eat Thai

There was a flora festival when i visited Bangkok early last month (November). My friend bought us to the high end food court at the lower ground of Embassy Central. This food court, EAT THAI has been advertised in many magazine and travel shows which famous for having all the Thai crusine from various part of Thailand. Basically, you can find every single Thai food in this food court from street food until traditional restaurant food...

It happened that when we were there, they have the Flora festival and we gotten the chance to taste the flower in the meal. Yes~ they placed some flower in the meal, one of the Thai delicacy since olden days.

Ingredient for rolls

We ordered spring rolls with flowers... Yup, It's various type of flowers... Taste? Taste like flower... Smell nice and sweet.

Flower Spring rolls

This is my first time tasting flower in the meal... but definitely not my last~

Penang Bridge International Marathon (PBIM) - 10km run

TZ and friend went for the 1st PBIM on 2nd bridge. It's everyone first time running on the 2nd bridge and it's the world largest bridge run with 60,000 participants.

As early as 5am, TZ and friend has started to get ready and hit the Ferry Bus Terminal to hop on to the APBIM free shuttle that ferry people over to the PBIM runner village.

It was 6:20am in the morning, only 16 people on board waiting for the bus to leave for the bridge. Few minutes later, the crowd came in and the bus drivers has to reject some of the participant due to the bus has already full.

The bus was slowing down after Intel heading to the 2nd bridge due to heavy traffic. It took us 1 hour to reach the runner village and it was approaching 7:20am. 10 mins to the 10km flag off. TZ and friend were running towards the starting point and tried to squeeze in after the flag off. It wasn't a good idea but there was no other choice.

After the first 100m, there was the ramp up to the bridge. Everyone has slowed and walking up the ramp. TZ's friend has quoted this run as "Walkathon" instead of "Marathon". A mutual friend even quoted this run as "Running into so many lamp posts" (lamp posts = participant that walk in the middle of the runway)

After ramp up

Approaching the four pillars

After the turning back

TZ selfie with the 4 pillars

TZ and friend finished the run at around 9:30am. Managed to get the finisher medal and happily walked over to the shuttle bus station. Guess what? It was a disaster in the shuttle bus station.... [to be continue]

On visiting Unesco Heritage Site around the world

Passion of trying to visit as many Unesco World Heritage as possible and takes plenty of shots on each of the heritage in detail has been in TZ since year 2008 when Penang/Malacca got their status. TZ has decided to use his A Picture A Day to share with his readers/visitors on those Unesco Heritage sites that TZ has visited.

Ancient City of Hoi An, Vietnam

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

You may see pictures of Unesco Heritage from the eye of TZ... Visit A Picture A Day every Monday for different Unesco Heritage Site eh~

Check out this week Unesco Heritage Site : Historical City of Malacca

Historical City of Malacca, Malaysia

A picture A day : http://tz-photo.blogspot.com

India - Here i come

My friend being selected to receive an offer on air fare via Silk Air to India. Both of us has decided to take this opportunity to visit India.

I have been working with the Indian from India via conference call and some of them face to face. My current boss is an Indian but she has become American and currently staying in India. I heard a lot of stories regarding India from Indian stayed in India and Malaysian visited India.

Anyway, I'm exciting to explore this country which a lot of people say it's very challenging to go around and exploring this country. How challenging, to me i could not imagine but I have been to Uganda Africa, not sure is it like what i have experience in Uganda? Hmmm... let see.

Anyway, we decided to go to Darjeeling, Northeast of India, near Himalaya mountain range... So it will be -17c during March. Very cold eh~

We have shortlisted 3 places to explore and 2 Unesco Heritage.

• Kolkata
• Bohd Gaya
• Darjeeling
• Mahabodhi Temple @ Bohd Gaya
• The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (a.k.a - Toy Train)

My friend starts the planning soon... I'm so looking forward to see and experience India. Not sure i will like it or not but i bet it will be a new experience for me. 

Anyone have been to Darjeeling/Bodhgaya/Kolkata area that can share with me some valuable information and experiences?

Coffee Place : Vinh Hung Heritage Hotel @ Hoi An, Vietnam

Vietnamese coffee has been known as one of the best coffee in the world. I happened to have a very traditional way of drinking Vietnamese Coffee in Vinh Hung Heritage Hotel, Hoi An, Vietnam when we were having breakfast.

Vietnamese Coffee

The coffee took 15 mins to drip from the upper deck to the cup. The fresh brew coffee smell so nice and guess what? I drank 2 cups...

Vinh Hung Heritage Hotel located in the central of Unesco Heritage Hoi An ancient city. The hotel serve delicious breakfast and strong fragrance Vietnamese fresh brewed Coffee... Yum Yum~

T-3 for counting down on Music Run @ Bangkok

I have registered and going to take part in the 5KM Music Fun run in Bangkok this Saturday evening. This is the first time i participate on the Music Run... If not mistaken this run is divided into 5 sections and playing different music. So when we run from one section to another the music change...

Anyway, thanks to my friend in Bangkok to help us to pick up the runner kits from Central World last weekend.

Music Run Runners' kit

If you happen to be in Bangkok, come and support us eh~
Khob khun kub, khun Kan for helping to collect the runner kit na kub.

BKK here i come again~

Malacca?

Short trip to Penang (2D1N)

A short trip to Penang...

• Mom need to visit the Chinese Alternate Sifu for her leg
• I'm doing site visit on the PBIM 2014

Left Kuala Lumpur at 6 something on Saturday morning and back to Kuala Lumpur on 6pm Sunday. Tiring trip and not really very fruitful. In addition, I'm rushing to finish my MBA assignment. Sigh~

Despite of rushing and tiring trip, I got to taste a few different food in Penang...

Hokkien Style Fried Noodles

Salted Vegetable pork soup with rice

A tired but satisfied trip. Gotta meet my cousins and aunties. Unfortunately, I was busy with my assignment. Not much catch up with cousins.

Huh? You haven't been to Hong Kong...

What so surprise I haven't been to Hong Kong...

During the brunch on last Sunday with four friends, we were talking about the up coming Hong Kong Trip in end of Oct. Four friends of mine have a very surprise facial expression when they heard me said "I haven't been to Hong Kong"

Picture adapted from http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/49450149.html

4 friends: Huh? You haven't been to Hong Kong
Me: Yup, I haven't been to Hong Kong, but I have been to Hong Kong International Airport for many times, transiting to US. How's Hong Kong?
friend: You will like it but bare in mind, you might feel catastrophic because of many peoples squeeze into a small cubic of land and full of tall buildings too.
Me: Is it like Tokyo? *I been to Tokyo and found it very systematic, not an issue for me*
friend: Not really, not so systematic too. With the PRC, Hong Kong might be even messy now. 
Me: Oops~
friend: You will see when you are there...
Me: Hope my exam schedule will not clash. 
friends: *everyone silent for a few seconds* Sigh~

I'm looking forward for the Hong Kong trip but unfortunately i was stuck with not able to buy ticket due to my exam schedule yet to be confirmed. So now just have to wait for the confirmation, so i could grab the air ticket and leave for Hong Kong....

Dear coordinate, please CONFIRM my exam schedule eh~. Thank you!!~

On staying over @ Hotel Majapahit Surabaya

My friend booked the hotel Majapahit for a night in Surabaya, on our way to Ijen Indonesia. This hotel was built in 1910 and was around for nearly 100 years. It was a luxury hotel and it's design was all victorian style.

By looking at the outside and inside, it's just a normal hotel with nice historical architecture. But it has the historical story behind this building...

The hotel was the site of the famous "Insiden Hotel Yamato" (in English "Hotel Yamato incident") on 19 September 1945 in which young Indonesian revolutionaries tore the blue part of the Dutch flag flown in the hotel to change it to the red and white Indonesian flag in the lead up to the Battle of Surabaya. Following this incident it became known as the Hotel Merdeka, or the Liberty Hotel. (Detail: Hotel Majapahit @ Wikipedia )

After visited this hotel, i have learn on how the Indonesia flag come about....
How Malaysia flag come about. Anyone?

On hunting the blue flame @ Ijen Crater, East Java, Indonesia

There are only two places that can see this blue color flame, one is in Iceland and the other one is in Ijen, Indonesia.

Ijen crater located in East Java, nearest city is BanyuWangi and Ijen village  This is another volcano area different from Bromo. This volcano needed a 3km hike up to the edge of the crater and 1km hike down to the volcano lake.

Ijen Crater @ Indonesia

In order to hunt the blue flame, we have to leave our hotel/resort at 1am in morning by 4x4 to the base of the volcano. The journey is 1.5 hours from the place we stayed, it was a rough journey with winding roads, and traveling in the jungle pitch dark.

We finally reached the base, tour guide calling for last call on civilized toilet before we hike up to the crater. 


The first 500m was a gradual slope up the hill... At the end of the 500m, the slope becoming steeper and steeper. We need to go through 1.5km of steepest slope i.e. around 45 degrees. It was a tough 2km climb. At last we reached the workers' canteen which serves coffee and hot instant noodles. The last 1km was not as tough as the 1.5km steep hike up.

The moment you reach the top of the crater, you can view the nice blue flame from far. just a few blue dots. Then there is another 1km to go down to the base of the crater. Going down to the base was another challenging path... Rocky and steep down 1km with total darkness. You couldn't figure out the edge of the path which might be 100m deep down. So scary (only realized after the sky is bright) The only lights for lighting up the path is our torch light. Quite challenge eh~

At the end of the 1km hike down to the crater, the nice blue flame was our reward...

the blue flame

At the bottom of the crater you could also see the sulphur miners working... they are mining the sulphur and it was interesting to be so up close with the sulphur mine. BTW, the stingy smell like rotten eat was so turned off... Luckily my friend has prepared the N95 mask which can eliminate the smell by 99%... So we could hardly smell anything when we were there. But guess what? the smell was penetrated into our clothing until today...

Sulphur mining

Fresh Sulphur brew from the volcano

We stayed at the bottom of the craters for around 2 hours just to capture all the pictures that we desired... And of course not forgetting to camwhoring :-)

TZ in N95 mask - Smart eh~

The whole journey ended at about 9am. The tour guide and driver sent us back to the hotel.

Guess what? we went up twice in two different days because of first day we didn't manage to see the nice blue flame. So we made another trip up the next day. Total hiking in Kilometers = 14km for both days :)

It was a tiring trip but it was a good experience with the astonishing view of the blue flame...

Unesco Heritage Site

How many Unesco Heritage Site have you visited?

Angkor Wat - February 2014

Recently, i have started to keep track of the Unesco Heritage Site that i visited. I'm in the middle of consolidate all the Unesco Heritage Site photo that i have taken to share with my reader.

Still not sure how i will going to share but maybe setup another blog
A JOURNEY to UNESCO HERITAGE SITE by TZ

Not sure yet as i might not have time to write long story... sigh~

Leaving city of potholes...

I'm a regular traveler recently... How you define regular traveler? Leaving city of Potholes every week? Twice a month? Monthly?...

My definition of regular traveler is weekly or occasionally at least twice a month... Guess what? I'm in my new 2nd home again... @KLIA2 now

KLIA2 linking bridge

The airport is damn huge with a world largest airport shopping mall integrated with the airport terminal. I walked from one end to another end... huge is word to describe the airport... I haven't see much of the airport as i was rushing to get myself online to continue my work before flying to my next destination.

I'm leaving city of potholes to Mt Bromo for sunrise. Will be away for 3D2N to capture the never before sunrise experience according to my travel buddies. Will let you know once i'm back from Bromo.

Till then... Ciao~

Are Shorts and T-shirt...Underwear?

I don't know why I'm so excited for my Myanmar trip... I was reading some review on the do's and don't when visiting Myanmar. I heard from few of my friends whom been to Myanmar before... they told me it's important to be sensitive on the dress-code.

To the people of Myanmar, shorts and T-shirt consider underwear... yes~ It's written in quite a number of articles. Hmmm... seems like it's the same as Iran. When i was in Iran, shorts and T-shirts are underwear too. We are not suppose to wear shorts out of the room. So we could only wear jeans or long pants outside our hotel room. This is for guys... Ladies has another set of dress-code.

Anyway, let's go back to Myanmar, the people of Myanmar is wearing their traditional clothing... Guys are wearing like the picture below...

Picture from nanhommaoaye.files.wordpress.com

Oops, don't think i will wear this... Not get use to this outfit. Anyway, i just make sure i'm not going to wear shorts for visiting in Myanmar.

Anyone been to Myanmar and can share with me what else i need to take care?

Singapore Safari Zoo Run 2014 : Unleash the BEASTS in you...

Have you heard about Singapore Safari Zoo Run?  I didn't take part in 2013... this year my friend in Singapore has signed me up for this run... I decided to run 6km and it's a fun run. No stressed but fun... :p

Waiting for my turn to run

This is my first time running in the zoo... A different experience especially have to bare with the stared from different animals during the run. And not many cheer from the organizers cause they have passed their cheering job to the host... :p

If given a choice to choose an animal to run with, who would you choose?

A marketeer?

A sleepy Lion?

An Elephant?

An ostrich?

A mighty white Tiger?

Have you made up your mind? Are you ready to run with your chosen animal? Hehehe... I won't tell me your choice but please do not ask me to choose Turtle eh~

Getting ready for the run

It's time to hit the starting line... On your mark get set GO GO GO~

Waiting for Flag off for 6km Fun Run

Due to great response, the organizer has broken us into few groups for flag-off. I was in Wave #3...  This is a fun run... I spent most of my time taking picture of the animal along the way... we passed by Night Safari and day zoo. I managed to see the Night Safari in daytime ;-)

Come come come~ Take picture...Common word that you will heard most of the time... Fun Eh~

I finished the whole 6km in 1.5 hours... longer than my 10km run. Oops~ But anywhere i gotten my finisher medal too... Yay~ Yay~

6km Fun Run finisher medal

Nice eh~