Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Part 8 Phuket Summary

The best part of the travel

1. Food - There is something about Thai food, the way they blend the tastes – sweet, spicy, sour all in one. Superb.


2. People – The Thais are polite and gentle. They are hospitable. They are relaxed about morals – for them it is a free land, do as you please. They don’t stare at you to remind you that you are foreigner in their land. They simply accept and accommodate.


Chai, our tour guide, with the boys; his fiancee at the back
Thanks for everything Chai!

Talking about people, let me digress just a little. I must mention a few words about our tour guide. His name is Chai and he runs a travel agency called Sea Expert. When we first met him at his office, his welcome remark was very strange. He said, "Don't worry, I will give my life to you. You can trust me, just look into my eyes." We thought it funnny and weird that he said such things. I think it just shows his humility. Chai was good company as he spoke English. He even took us for lunch to a place where they served his hometown food - salted fish curry. If anyone needs his contact, let me know. We learnt many aspect of Thai life and mindset through him.


What fascinated me?


3. Religion – Entering a wat is so peaceful. The smell of incense and jasmine soothes the senses. Though many Thais are Buddhists they are quick to embrace the differences in other religions. They welcome people of other religions into their wats and shrines. The code is to remain respectful – remove shoes, observe silence and dress polite.


4. Cleanliness – The beaches in Phuket are much cleaner than say Port Dickson or Penang in Malaysia.


5. Appearance – Most Thai women appear slim and slender. They make efforts to take care of their looks, you can see it in their hair, skin and dressing. And there is also an effort to highlight all their assets. The men too are generally slim. I think you can count the number of obese Thais in any city.


6. Morals – The Thais are very relaxed about sex. They see it more as a need than virtue. Our guide talked about it so casually as if he was talking about the weather. Most Asian men will avoid the topic if there are ladies present. In fact, one of his questions to N went like this – so, did you bong bong last night?

7. Alive - the main cities seem to stay alive 24 hours. The nights are more vibrant than the days.

8. Fruits - There seems to be a thriving fruit culture here. You can easily get fresh fruits almost anywhere. This includes fruity juices. A meal is never complete without fruits, a healthy practice.

9. Regalias - I noticed many billboards of politicians in full ministerial uniform complete with all kinds of regalias. There seems to be a need for recognition and attention by means of medals maybe, or to gain respect and to maintain a certain status

10. Famous couple - If you have been to Thailand, you would know whom I am referring too. Their posters, pictures and boards are everywhere. The Thais adore them, at least it looks that way. 




What didn't fascinate me?


7. Language - It is so difficult to communicate in English. Even those in the tourism line know only a few words. Our guide spoke well but the pronunciation left us blur at times. For eg, the word ‘kind’ is pronounced as ‘kai’. When I asked him, why don’t they feel the need to learn English, he said it was too much of a hassle to learn as they have to mind their ‘s’ ses. For eg, one chair is a chair but two becomes 2 chairs, why? Instead, they prefer if you learn Thai words.


8. Taxi kings – Outside Phuket town, taxis rule. They never quote anything below 500baht even for a short journey. There is no metred system, the vehicle are their own MPVs. The Phuket state government should seriously look into this. They are also quite territorial – they wait outside certain hotels and deem all hotel guests as their customers.


9. Pricing – There seems to be no standard pricing for things. All depends on location.


10. Tuk tuk kings – If you don’t look Thai or talk Thai, they will start you with a minimum 100baht for the shortest of journey. No metres to gauge mileage. The customer is at the mercy of the tuk-tuk driver and everything boils down to negotiation skills. The best way to handle them is to be respectful when you negotatiate.


11. Monks – Being a Buddhist land, I expected to see a lot more monks in saffron robes, but where are they? They are not even visible in the wats and shrines.

I can be reached at sivakay2009@gmail.com.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Pretty Fraser's Hill


Pretty Fraser’s Hill

27 -28 October 2012 (One night stay)

If you ask me to describe Fraser’s Hill, what comes to mind is pretty. It really is. You want to know why? Where do I even start – the green hills, the flowers, the colonial bungalows, the landscaped gardens, the mist, the birds, I can go on.

At the public park surrounded by morning mist
All highlands are beautiful. But when I compare Genting Highlands, Cameron Highlands and Maxwell Hill, Fraser’s tops them all. There is something about Frasers that draws you back there – it’s like you are already planning on the next trip while driving back home. It’s like you have discovered this secret place to escape from the hectic city life.
At the famous landmark of Frasers - the ClockTower

I did some research before hitting Fraser’s. It is named after a white entrepeneur who set up a tin ore business at the base of the hill. Louis James Fraser, a Scotsman, ventured to the border of Selangor-Pahang to hit gold in tin mining. He hired Chinese tin miners and used mules to transport tin ore through paths cut through the jungle by his local coolies. Strangely Fraser got lost in the jungle and never was found. After 25 years, his buddy from Singapore, decided to check out the matter and instead found the hills to be the ideal place for British officers to relax, unwind and recuperate. So began the building of the retreat bungalows and hence the creation of Little England @ Fraser’s Hill.
The road ascending to Fraser's Hill


One of the many colonial bungalows
Actually this trip wasn’t planned. We just wanted to go off someplace away from KL. Since it is just a 2 hours’ drive from KL, we went ahead. So I googled for accommodation and checked rates. There are only 4 budget hotels here-actually not budget if it’s a weekend. The hotels are Fraser’s Park (apartments), Puncak Inn (RM199 weekend rate), Jelai Resort (can’t be reached) and Shahzan Inn ( RM189 weekend rate), so we picked Shahzan.

Our room at Shahzan Inn

The garden view from the balcony of our room- tall pine trees

We left KL at 9.30am and reached Kuala Kubu Bharu (KKB) at 10.50am, the nearest town to Frasers. KKB like any other small town was laidback. But the roads were wide and clean and the town was well spread out. Lots of green.



A set of Poori with Tea - breakfast at KKB

We stopped at Umahna’s Restaurant for breakfast. Had poori and tea, Seems there are only 2 Indian (Hindu) restaurants in KKB, the other being Ferozpur Curry House. There are some Indian Muslim (Mamak) restaurants and a number of Chinese eateries. We shopped for sundries and snacks and packed lunch. Prices were more or less as in KL.
SPLASH signage made of rocks at Sg Selangor Dam


The gazebo at Sg Selangor Dam

On our way, we stopped at Sungai Selangor Dam. We checked out their info booth and watched a video on how the dam was built.


Panoramic view of the Sg Selangor Dam

These are model houses that were built to relocate the Orang Asli away from the dam

Info Booth open for visitors includes the history of KKB

Seems the natives (Orang Asli) who had occupied the land at the dam were re-located to Kampung Pertak and Kampung Gerachi. These are the Temuans. Some are employed as guards and cleaners at the Info Centre. I found out that most visitors to this place were expats on their way to Frasers.

The greeting at the foothill
 By 11.30am, we were back in our car and continued our journey. We soon reached the Gap. The road splits into two here. One to ascend the other to descend. So we started the climb. The road was narrow just enough for one car at a time. But the ride was fun – as we were surrounded by the jungle and sounds of crickets, birds and animals.

The Scott Tavern is a restaurant now

We didn’t quite feel the chill yet although the weather was cooler here than in KKB. We moved aside a few times to allow other drivers to overtake us. Some bends are sharp and you have to be careful maneuvering your vehicle.

The garden outside our hotel - see the golf course behind and a heli pad

There were obvious signs of landslide here and there but most have been cleared. I wouldn’t recommend driving up or down on a rainy day.
The entrance to the Food Court


The scene at the Food Court - lots of souvenirs sold here
By 1.00 pm we reached Fraser’s Hill. The first thing you will see is a Hindu Temple of Muniswarar  – a guardian deity of the Hindus. Then you will see the colonial-styled Police Station and the Post Office. As you drive in, you will notice the Clock Tower. This is the centre of town. The park and a golf course are visible from here. So is the Scott Restaurant, which used to be a tavern for British officers during colonial days.

The hotel that we stayed

The many pictures of the bird species found in Fraser's Hill

At Shahzan Inn, we checked in and got the room with a  garden view. A beautiful garden overlooked our balcony. All was okay with the room except for the heater. Only the first person to bathe gets a really hot shower. The others didn’t get the shower hot enough or had to make do with lukewarm water. We tried waiting out a bit in between baths for the water to heat up but it didn’t work. This was disappointing as a hot shower on a chilly day would have been great.

The places we visited were :-
1. Allan’s Water for boating in the lake
You need to pay RM6 per boat for a 15 minutes ride.

At the entrance of Allan's Water
The entry point to the boat - life jackets provided

Afternoon boat ride


2. The Paddock – horse ride and archery. 
The rate for horseride is RM8 for adults and RM4 for children.
The rate for archery is RM8 for adulta (10 arrows) and RM5 for blowpipe for children.

The cowboy at Fraser's Hill - these are retired race horses

Rishi trying his hand at the Blowpipe
Harish too
Not as easy as it looks


3. Jelai Resort – bird watching.

We saw many bird watchers in Frasers. It seems Frasers' is home to 250 species of wild birds. In fact the International Bird Watching Event is held here. You don't have to go to Jelai Resort to watch birds, we just happened to be there when we watched the bird watchers' in action with their high tech cameras. You can go into the many jungle trails to see the birds.

There were many bird watchers at this spot with their fancy cameras
Not bad Rishi managed to catch this bird in action
4. The Children's Park

Mini Golf for children

The rates for Mini Golf
5. The Flower Gardens


The night stroll in the flower garden - near the Clock Tower

Morning mist
6. The Smokehouse
I like the way the creepers envelops the whole place

Guillotine Board right outside the smokehouse - not sure if it was actually put to use

The interior which I found a little gaudy - that's the fireplace

Once the above have been covered, there really isn’t really anything else to do. We missed the Jeriau waterfall as the road leading to the fall was under construction. We skipped the jungle trekking as we didn’t come quire equipped for hiking.
If ever you want to film a scene for a horror house - this should be it

This is how the Gap Resthouse looks like from the outside

It says REST HOUSE GAP - deserted

No entry please - outside the The Gap Resthouse
  
Anyway, on our way down, we stopped at the Gap bungalow. Seem such a waste to see a pretty bungalow left abandoned.

The Ferozpur Curry House in KKB
Back down at KKB, we again had lunch at Ferozpur, and headed back home.

Overall Frasers is worth a day trip or an overnight stay. Unless you are into bird-watching, golfing, jungle trekking or a couple on honeymoon, if you have kids in tow, you will soon run out of things to do if you choose to stay for more than one night..

I can be reached at sivakay2009@gmail.com.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Pulau Ketam (Crab Island) - Visit if You Have Absolutely Nothing Else To Do

Pulau Ketam - Day Trip on 9 June 2012 (Sat)

This was a spontaneous decision as the kids had spent almost two weeks of their school leave at home. We drove to Port Klang Jetty and parked our car.
The KTM Station is next to the Jetty
The jetty is next to the Port Klang KTM station.


Boat services to Crab Island is available hourly.Tickets for adults are RM7 and children RM4 for a one way journey. It is free seating in the boat.


Before entering the boat
Inside the boat
The boat
We reached the island in about 30 mins. Weather was scorching hot.

Approaching the Crab Island jetty

Pulau Ketam jetty
What we did there? The boys rented bicycles and went around the island while I took a leisurely stroll. Then we had seafood for lunch. Period. End of trip.

Bicycles for rent at RM5
N and Harish cycling
Rishi
Seriously! there is nothing in the island. In fact, I felt like I have invaded people's privacy by walking pass their houses and looking at how they live. They are just a bunch of hardworking fisherfolk living their normal lives in that island. The only reason we were there, it seems, is because it is an island.


People's homes ...colourfully painted
Their main shrine
Harish at the top
This mineral bottles were hanging outside the temple
Dried squid
Fisherman's boat

The seafood lunch we had ...well I have had had better ones on the mainland. And I think we were ripped - the lunch cost us a whopping RM100!

Our menu - 2 adults & 2 kids :-
Crab = RM54
Vegetable = RM12
Fried Squid = Rm22
Rice = RM6 (5 bowls)
Drinks = RM6


Our disappointing chilly crab
Squid
Salted Kailan

Though we ordered a kg of crabs (at RM35 per kg) we were later told that it weighed more than 1 1/2 kg. Who knows..it sure didn't look a lot to me.


One for the memory...
Yes, we have cycled the island..
Fishermen's jetty
The last boat leaves the island at 5.30pm - so we took this boat and found that all seats were taken. We sat on wooden seats till we reached Port Klang.


One lonely fellow...
Another lonely fellow..

Would I recommend a visit to Crab Island? No.


All photos and text are copyrighted. Please contact me at sivakay2009@gmail.com if you need any other info.