My Dubai Trip-Day 1

Finally, I managed to select a few pictures taken in Dubai to be featured here (trust me it was NOT easy!!). Yup, I was lucky enough to make a trip to Dubai on the 23rd February, Saturday....Well it was a business and also partly leisure as well. There were organizing a food Exhibition, called "Gulf Food" where all the food manufacturers and hoteliers will be exhibiting there.
We wanted to check out how we will fare if we were to participate at their event on 2010 as packaging designer. We wanted to explore a wider market with our service. Plus, I always wanted to see this 7 star hotel, "Burj Al Arab" after watching on some documentary channel, the way they construct the hotel from scratch. Oh and not forgetting the man-made island that shaped like a palm tree located at Jumeirah. It was truly magnificent! Well, I'll just summarize what I did and you guys will get a clearer picture. Read on....


11.30am: Boarded the plane at KLIA. It was the first time I took the Gulf Air. Hey, it was the cheapest package. I really wanted to try the Emirates but the price was a "killer". I got the package with returns+hotel+half day trip+night cruise at RM3600 in comparison with Emirates that charges RM 4800. So, you do the math! I was nervous of course, thinking it'll be full of middle east people with cloak over their head and we'll be the only Chinese. Luckily, there were some "Kwai Lo"(means Englishmen in Chinese in a polite way. Impolite or rather direct translation would be "ghost man"). The good news was their service was good cos they kept serving us snacks before and after our main meal. We were even given a decent menu, laminated card to choose what type of food we want. You can choose either their local style of "Briyani" with chicken or Pasta with chicken. I chose the latter one.






7 hours later: We reached Bahrain as our pit stop. On the screen where they show you where you are now, and we just passed by Dubai to stop at Bahrain! So, now we had to wait for another 2 hours at the Bahrain airport just to transit back to Dubai. What choice do we have cos Gulf Air is own by Bahrain and no matter what, you have to transit there.

2 hours later: We finally touched down at Dubai but there were 4 hours time difference between Malaysia and Dubai. It was only 5pm in Dubai but 9Pm in Malaysia! My stomach was growling like nobody business and I can't wait to get to our hotel in which the tour agent told us was a 4 star. Along the way I was imagining a hot long shower then jumping into a nice comfy bed. To our shocked, we were driven to some street that looks like our "Chow Kit" or "Bukit Bintang" back area where they are filled with 2 stars hotels for prostitution activities! When we got out, I asked Laura, "Are you sure this is our hotel". I was standing at the front door in disbelief....

At the hotel: When we stepped in, the concierge was rude and threw us some weird look. I looked around and saw 2 Asian girls sitting at the sofa and 1 "Kwai Lo" sitting by himself. To my left was a tiny shabby-looking cafeteria. To my right was some run-down pub with some kind of cheap music/band playing at the background. After handing over our passports, he gave us the key and asked the bell boy to carry our luggages up. I was standing there tapping my shoes waiting to collect back our passports and guess what happen next? He told us to go up to our room and he'll send it back tomorrow morning. I said, "What??, No, we want our passport back!" Luckily, Laura's uncle is currently working in Dubai at some construction company called "Zealan" . We called to check. And he told us that there is no such practice in Dubai. So, we sat stand at the counter, refused to budge and he had no choice but to give in. When i asked for our complimentary breakfast voucher, he told us he will send it to our room tomorrow. Pointing towards the "cheapo" cafeteria, i asked, "Is that where we are going to have our breakfast??" He just answer like he doesn't bother, " Yeah".

In the room: Upon unlocking the room, it was a tiny room with 2 single beds, a T.V that doesn't work and shower head that fell apart. The best part was that there were NO WATER at all. I thought every hotel should have at least 2 complimentary bottle of water! Ok, so i thought to myself that maybe water is expensive in Dubai cos we are in a dessert after all. Well, at least give us a pot or something to boil our water right? Well, there was none to be found. And the refrigerator is the best joke of the day cos there was NO snacks in it!! So i just looked at Laura and said, "Confirm.This is a hotel is for prostitute and 1 night stand people, so who needs water right?". Laura looked at me in distressed and felt like breaking down any moment. And,right at that moment, the phone rang and it was her uncle. He was so worried about us and offered to pick us up and stay in his company's condominium.

11pm(Dubai time) @ Laura's uncle Condominium: It was definitely a luxury for us. What a big difference! I felt like heaven here compare to the stupid hotel (Btw, the hotel name is "Fortune Hotel" located at Rigga Road) that looks like hell. The whole place was so spacious with huge kitchen and dining area. There were 3 rooms with 1 maid's room.

Vampy's Trip To Perhentian 2007!!

Oh gosh, I finally manage to get myself together and sit down to post my recent trip to Perhentian . You have no idea how hard it was to sit down in front of the computer again to do my blogging. After the trip, I was so tied with work, gym and social life and got so lazy to do any updates on my blogs! I gotta tell you that it is the hardest thing to do once you stop your engine running for while. Also, my friends who had their digital camera with them on the trip also delayed in giving me the pictures. So, again it gave me more excuses to delay doing any posting, hahah…

Anyway, let’s start of by saying that the island is extremely breathe-taking with their “yet” of unspoilt water and beaches. The sand was as smooth as a baby powder when you walk on it. Water was crystal clear. I have to admit I am an extremely fussy person when it comes to sea water. I refuse to dive in to murky water like the one found in Port Dickson or the Penang beaches and Singapore beaches (yes they do have beaches found in East Coast)! Unfortunately, the day we had to go for our snorkeling trips, I was a little disappointed as most of the corals were dead and not a variety of fishes were found. And there were even one incidence when the boatman took us to this place where you could “supposedly” see some turtles….when everyone was jumping into the sea water like dolphin to search for it….”Nadah, Zip,Nothing” . Well some of my mates reported that they saw the sightings of it but when I jump into the bandwagon with them, I could see nothing, not even a single jelly fish!

Well apart from this disappointment, there were some memorable moments of course…When nightfalls, all 15 of us (Yes, it was a BIG group…thanks to my friend Jaden who unknowingly invited all his “monkeys”…just joking bro), were drunk with Chivas and Heineken! Again, this was the work of the “monkeys” who stacked their luggage with liquor instead of clothing! So, I would presume they were wearing the same clothes for 3 days!! Oh, did I mention there were loads of hunky six-packs “Mat salleh” flooding the beach? Me and my best friend, Chai were just gorging at them, drooling and longing….hahahaha…Err my boyfriend is gonna kill me seeing me writing this entry but I’m sure he is a forgiving person (hope he reads this line….). Overall, I would rate Perhentian as a more vacation getaway with peace and quiet cos there were not much activities (i.e. disco, sports activities…..etc) compare to Redang Island which is now very commericialized. If you just want to get away from the city life and snuck into your favorite book while sun-tanning, with 90% of the island surrounded by Mat-salleh in hoping your “Mcdreamy”, Perhentian is the island to choose!

The "Gods" of gambler....They are the one that gamble day and night since our arrival to Perhentian....


We found this little "treasure" during our trip. How lucky of this little cutie to be able to follow their mom and dad to Malaysia.....










Eddie, my friend can't get enough of him...Are you hinting something to your gf already? Wink..wink....








The early birds having their morning breakfast by the sea. Ain't it breathe-taking....Wish i could wake up every morning to this. Life would be so much nicer.....










Oh....isn't it nice...such "muhibahness" between 2 cultures...HAhahaha...No offense guys but they have become such good buddies during the trip! Again due to lots and lots of alcohol......







This 3 sexy girls shown up during our last days at Perhentian...It made our guys "wimper" and drooled over them... Ohhh too bad guys!
















See the "Indian" guy doing the thumbs up? He is our "Roti Canai Tosser"...with his most expensive Roti Canai and "Teh-Tarik" which cost RM 3.00/pc. Our friend, Jaden thought it was free and ordered 2 pcs that cost him RM6.00 in total...Hmmm what an expensive meal which you can get it for less than RM 1.00 in K.l!!





AND FINALLY OUR GROUP PHOTOS...Goodbye to Perhentian...(Oh and please see the guy that our Jaden friend is hugging, 5th from left to right....We asked him to sing a birthday song a kissed him. They became good friends after that. Hmmm..makes you wonder about their relation...Sparks maybe??)


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Vampy's Trip To Tioman...

Yeah...have you ever had that "excitement" feeling that you are about to go on holiday and fast-forwarded yourself to that place...dreaming what you are going to do and how you are going to enjoy it? Yep, that's what I'm feeling, right at this moment. It's only like 2 days more to go before I'm off to Perhentian Island (woo hooo!) with my friends! Can't wait to go for this trip with my friends again. The last trip at the beach was 2 years ago at "Tioman Island". We had so much fun and laughter eventhough the beach sucks....It was not exactly my kind of "dreamy" beach( Caribbean Island wins hand down, no question about it). It was polluted and the water was not as crystal clear as some of our other beautiful beaches like "Redang, Rawa and Perhentian and etc.... Nevertheless, we had a blast because it was also a celebration for my good friend's birthday. So, you guess it right, she was so touched and she said it was one of her best birthday to date!(Aaaaawh so sweet of her...) HAhahahah....She never thought we would surprise her with this treat! Below are some pictures taken during our trip.....

My crazy friends trying to bury another “alive”

”Burying competition just got heated up!!! Alright man....

The girls showing off their "killer" legs while relaxing at our resort. Down boys!!

Me and my friend was having our own slumber party, jumping up and down like some pyschotic patient just got loose from "Tanjung Rambutan". I guess we had too much....It's the "overdose" of Whisky and Vodka...Tsk Tsk...

This was the "aftermath" picture after the high adrenaline rush!As for the guys who are having some dirty thoughts...this was no "lesbo" act ok. Look closely, it's just 2 girls who got too exhausted and "passed" out on the bed!

And the ENDING was..........

One happy gal cutting her cake...All eyes on her birthday treat!! Look at her smile and "peace" finger..Hahaha.... Wait.......not all eyes on our birthday gal..The guy behind was too drunk to notice anything! Shame on you.....

FRIM Green Day Festival-17th June 2007

It has been a week since they last published on the Star newspaper about the “Green Day Festival” at FRIM celebrating the world environment day on June 17, 2007. “Tsk Tsk” to those who are not aware of this and “Kudos” to those who care and loves our environment. It has been awhile since I rough it out in the jungle or even going up the mountain that I love. So, when I read about the Green Day Festival in which they promised loads of activities, fun games and tons of food, I got so excited and dragged my friends along.

Sounds cool right? It was cool if we didn’t party the day before..... till 2am that is! We had to dragged ourself from the comfy bed and get our butt to FRIM by 8am! Can you believe it? They published events like the “5km Forest Run” and “Canopy Walk” (in which each individual need to pay like RM5.00 per event). The person, who did the registration for me, told me I need to be there by 8AM cos the race will start at 8.30am! So obviously, we had to wake up at 7am to be ready. Boy, i had such difficulty of opening my eyes.....even though the alarm was ringing non-stop. There was even a slight moment that I thought of forgetting the whole thing and continue my sleep. Let's not forget the night before was also raining... so can you imagine how hard it was? Now I understand why bears choose to hibernate during the winter .....cos i would too!

Anyway, I arrived around 8.20am and there was a slight jam. I had to parked all the way to the outside and walked in for another 15 minutes. For a minute there I thought I made a mistake on the date cos there was no proper signage or a hint of any festival going on. It was just like any other normal days that you see people walking up and down. Anyway, when I finally saw a “mini” signboard pointing us towards the event, I breathe a sigh of relief! So, I fastened my pace and went to the area where it said “Registration”. I went over there and asked those volunteers to participate in both the run and canopy walk. And to my surprise, they told me registration is close cos I was late. The time marked 9am (Our normal Malaysian time) in which we were suppose to be there by 8am. They said the run was going to start soon and was only limited to 100 participants for both the run and canopy walk. I looked over to where the run was suppose to start and counted around 40++ participants only. Then I told them I called and registered earlier and fight my way through! It was either my strong debating skill or they were just plain “tidak apa” attitude that got us our ticket for both events. They gave us a yellow band to wear that looks like this. (Yeah I know it look a bit ‘cheapo’).

Anyway, I proudly slid through my wrist and was ready to join the run. Then I heard a loud horn. And Voila! the race was on and everyone started to run like a bunch of mad cows. And when I did joined them eventually (Had no energy to run, so I just did my power walk), all the participants who was running for their life just now…..was now seen walking and chit-chatting among their “cliques”. I guess it was too stupid to run cos it was going up the slope and into a muddy jungle full of rocks and tree branches. It would be stupid enough to run in such condition. So, then it makes you wonder why they even bother calling the event as a “Forest Run” in which it should be a “Forest walk”? Don’t they know that with this kind condition, it is difficult to run? Who is going to pay for our medical bills if we trip or just roll over each other? Does the RM5 cover it? Hmmmm…

Another funny thing that I noticed was that there were other people who walked along trail with us without the yellow band! There were also people coming on the opposite of the jungle as well, and without the band! So, it made me wonder why I paid the RM5 and even begged the volunteers to let me participate in the event, when clearly you can still join in without paying! But then I thought to myself that my RM10(for both events) is going to a good use....contributing to whatever environment it is meant for(Hopefully)

Then after the run, I finally went for the canopy walk. Yes, I have never been to a canopy walk in my life and this was one thing that I most look forward to! Did I tell you that I’m afraid of height but it was sort of a personal challenge to me if I get through it (plus getting to see the nature from above). However, getting up the canopy walk was no easy ride either cos you gotta’ trek all the way up like going up the Batu Caves stairways! It was a solid 20 minutes trek up and boy, was it a good workout.So I would recommend to anyone who wants to build their stamina to run up and down every weekend on this trail. HAhaha…

Anyway, when I finally got to the planks hanging above the grounds, the scenery was breathe taking. The air was fresh, birds were chirping and the monkeys were "mating" (i heard extremely loud mating sound so they must be "ahemmmm"). You could just stop the time and not think of your life back in K.L. It was kinda therapeutic and relaxing in which I would say better than yoga. However, my excitement turned to disappointment as the walk was really short. Also, I found out that there was another group of family who were able to walk on these planks for FREE.......Again without paying the RM5.00! They managed to talked their way through acting innocent and pleading. Hmmmm…I should have used this excuse earlier and I would have save my RM10.00. NO, I have to be noble and save the environment, so it was for a good cause!