Day trip to Tanjung Sepat, 9th Aug 2020

Tanjung Sepat is a small town located in Kuala Langat district in Selangor. The town is on Straits of Malacca and started out as a fishing village, but the fishing activities has dwindled over the years due to pollution. It is roughly 1.5 hours' drive from KL. The town is located between Avani Sepang Goldcoast Resort and Morib resort. The small town gets its steady stream of visitors during weekend for its seafood products, seafood restaurants, steamed buns and etc.

Our day trip itinerary as follows:

• Ah Hock Seafood bak kut teh 亚福海鲜肉骨茶
• Joo Fa Coffee Trading 欲发传统咖啡粉厂
• Wait for a while kopitiam 等一下咖啡室
• Hai Yew Heng Steamed Pau 海友兴包店
• Kuan Wellness Ecopark 官燕苑
• Gano Mushroom Farm
• Lover's bridge 情人桥
• Ocean Seafood Restaurant 海洋海鲜餐厅

Once we reached Tanjung Sepat, we head to Ah Hock Seafood Bak Kut Teh for brunch. The BKT is different from Klang's version as it has seafood (prawns and fish meat) in it. I was doubtful at first as I read some feedback that the seafood version tasted bland having less herbal taste than a normal BKT should be. But to my delight, this BKT was really good! The herbal taste is just right with hint of sweetness from the seafood. This is one BKT that I will come back for.

From left: Seafood BKT, stir fry fish (shark), dry BKT. These seem to be the famous dishes that were on every table around us.

  

Generous amount of prawns.

The service was fast, although the place was packed but we didn't have to wait long for a table. Business was great and customers kept coming - Not surprising as this place is recommended in most of the blogs that I've read. Do take note that they only operate until 1230pm.

Ah Hock Seafood Bak Kut Teh 亚福海鲜肉骨茶

Opens daily 6:30am - 12:30pm

Recommended: Seafood bak kut teh

Next we went to Joo Fa Coffee Trading for their locally roasted coffee powder. The shop in Lorong 5 has a machine and they roast and grind the coffee beans in the shop from Monday to Saturday. They sell the powder by sachets, convenient to make instant hot coffee for busy mornings. Too bad we couldn't witness the process as it was Sunday. The shop doesn't serve coffee for visitors to sample. To try the coffee, visitors can go to nearby kopitiams (old school coffee shops) as they are using the coffee powder supplied by Joo Fa Trading. For that we went to wait for a while kopitiam.

Machine used to process the coffee beans manually

Joo Fa Coffee Trading 欲发传统咖啡粉厂

Opens daily 8:00am - 6:00pm

Recommended: Coffee powder. Visit on Monday to Saturday you'll have the chance to take a tour around the place and the owner will be there roasting and grinding the coffee beans.

While we were queuing for wait for a while kopitiam (yes there was a short queue due to RMCO SOP they can only set limited tables within the shop), my friends went to queue for Hai Yew Heng Pau, famous for its steamed buns which have loyal customers driving all the way from neighbouring states to buy them. Don't be surprised if you see a queue in front of Hai Yew Heng Pau. 

Fragrant roasted coffee smell with deep flavor. Mmm...

Hai Yew Heng is famous for their 梅菜包 mui choy pau. 梅菜，生肉，叉烧 are priced at rm 3, the rest are rm 2. Forgot to take a picture of the paus before we chowed them down. The bun dough wasn't too thick, filling was generous. Formula for a delicious bun!

Hai Yew Heng 海友兴包店

Weekdays: 1pm - 6pm; Weekends: 10am - 6pm.

Recomended: Mui Choy Pau

After food and drinks, it's time to explore the town. We went to Kuan Wellness Ecopark. The place consists of an air-conditioned main building open for public to explain the process of bird's nest production. No entrance fee required. It was interesting to see samples of different types (and grades) of bird's nests on display, a theater room with video explaining how human found the benefit of consuming swiftlet's nest, how it became a blooming business and the evolution of bird's nest harvesting process. There's an area selling bird's nests and other healthy food, there is also a cafeteria which sells bird's nest desserts.

Other attractions in the area: Some antique cars on display outside of the building compound. Small pet conservation park with entrance fee of rm5 which we didn't enter. Beside that was a small area with decorative windmill, cardboard cow and some *zombie looking* scarecrows.

It's a decent place for an hour or two's visit for some exercise with our full bellies. There is an architectural model in the main building which showcases plans for future development on this piece of land. It includes camping site and homestay for visitors to experience the nature habitat of swiftlets. The model also includes attractions like rock climbing and slides to attract visitors. Not sure when these plans are actually going to materialize but it will definitely be an exciting ecotourism spot for Tanjung Sepat if they do.

Kuan Wellness Ecopark 官燕苑

Weekdays: Closed; Weekends: 9am - 5pm

Highlight: Swiftlet nest production process

After that, we went to another attraction in Tanjung Sepat according to blogs - Gano Mushroom Farm & Homestay. From the web, Gano Mushroom Farm is a private "mushroom research company that cultivates, develops, manufactures and markets edible and medicinal mushrooms in addition to a wide range of mushroom-based products." The place has an air-conditioned shop selling health foods, many types of mushrooms and Ling Zhi 灵芝. The shop is a really nice place to cool down from the scorching hot sun outside. They have a variety of cooling drinks like black fungus, aloe vera etc... To be honest there is nothing much to see, except that the cooling bottled drinks sold in the shop is delicious and well suited for the hot weather.

When it's near sunset, we head to Lover's bridge. I found out from the web that the old faulty bridge was destroyed. It was rebuilt and the new bridge was opened for public in 2018. The bridge was our favorite place as it offers beautiful sea view and sunset.

Tip: Do check google on the sunset time, as the bridge has no shade from the direct sunlight. Unless you don't mind to take pictures under the hot sun like us.

The end of the bridge is a structure used to hoist things from boats, maybe fishermen's catch of the day. There were several people fishing there, I wonder what kind of fish they manage to catch.

So sunny, glad to I have my cap \ ('*￣∀￣) /

We were lucky to have a clear, beautiful sunset.

Lover's bridge 情人桥

Highlight: Sunset

Before we depart for KL, we head to Ocean Seafood Restaurant for dinner, it was less than 8 mins away from the bridge. We ordered claypot tofu 豆腐羹, fried sotong and oyster omelette. 

Claypot tofu is really special and delicious. Fried sotong (forgot to take picture) was recommended by the owner, it was fresh and tasty.

Fried oyster omelette. First time seeing oyster omelette with oysters more than the egg. Well, not complaining! :))

Ocean Seafood Restaurant 海洋海鲜餐馆

Opens daily: 11am - 9:30pm (closes on Wednesday)

Recommended: Claypot tofu

After dinner we departed back to KL. This sums up our day trip to Tanjung Sepat. Tanjung Sepat is a place with delicious food, great place to wind down from the busy city life. Glad to discover this gem of a town, I'll be happy to go back for a visit.

Since it's hard to travel overseas due to Covid 19 pandemic now, why not consider to make a road trip to Tanjung Sepat with your family and friends? :) In the meantime, take care!

Mossy Forest of Gunung Irau

I've seen many times pictures of mossy forest on instagram, the forest in the pictures are all covered in a blanket of green mosses and fog. I was greatly attracted to how the forest looked so beautiful and mysterious! Never did I thought of having the chance to scale this beautiful forest so soon, thanks to my BF who arranged this hike and fellow friends who had made this happen :)

There are about 14 trails in Brinchang (Refer the details here http://www.cameronhighlandsinfo.com/jungle_trekking/). The mossy forest, which the local hikers fondly refer to it as the forest of the Lord of the Rings is Trail 1. It is the toughest trail among the other hiking trails in Brinchang, and also offer the most beautiful forest scenery.

We hired a guide (compulsary) to Gunung Irau. The guide fee was RM 350 for a group of 10 pax or under. Fixed price RM45 per head for group of more than 10 pax. So we gathered 10 of our friends and departed to Cameron highlands after work on a Friday. We stayed at a homestay at Cameron Highlands Golden Hills garden for two nights as we have friends from as far as Johor, so we made it a short trip to visit Cameron Highlands. For those who just want to experience the hike or from somewhere nearby, it is still recommended to stay at Cameron highlands at least the night before, as you will need to start the hike early the next day.

According to our guide, Gunung Irau is like the shape of a "W". First you have to descent to the lowest point, which is called Checkpoint Pisang. After CP Pisang, the 2nd highest point is Mini Irau (middle of W). Depending on what time you reach Mini Irau, you can decide to continue the hike or turn back. You should reach Mini Irau about 1pm +. Too late, the guide will advice you to turn back as you will not be able to make it out of the forest before it turns dark. After descent from Mini Irau, go up, you can see around you the most beautiful layers of the mossy forest before the peak of Gunung Irau. The last point of W is of course Gunung Irau peak.

The next day, after buying our breakfast and lunch pack, we car pooled to the meetup point in front of Nova hotel at Cameron Square. The guide took us in his 4WD up to the starting point of the trail, which passes beautiful tea farms through a narrow and winding road. The transportation was RM 25 per pax round trip.

We began our hike around 930am. The hike started with a flight of descending stairs before you reach the muddy trail. We were greeted by beautiful sight of the lighter mossy forest and foggy trail. The trail was really muddy, we had to step on tree roots and be very careful where we set our foot to avoid sinking into loose mud. Along the way I could hear the guys swearing behind every time they accidentally stepped into pools of mud hahaha. They made the whole hike interesting. This only happened in the beginning of our hike, it got better later after all of us "got used" to the mud! I was light footed and zig zag crossing the trail to avoid mud pools during the initial climb, but for the return trip everybody was too exhausted to be bothered by the mud and just walked straight across.

 A random hole can be so beautiful!

Mossy forest before Gunung Irau peak.

We conquered Gunung Irau! Yay!

We bought nasi lemak froma mamak in Brinchang town asour lunch pack, it tasted so gooood. Not sure is it because we were too hungry.

 Finally out of the forest at 530pm. The idea of sumptous steamboat dinner kept us going throughout the return journey, a good motivation lol. The overall hike took us 8 hours. I was really glad that we made it before night falls!

 

Did we all wore black shoes for the hike? NOPE. We had "fun" washing our blackened socks and shoes the next day.

The mess. Really glad that I wore long pants for the trekking. I had a few blue black spots, and plenty of mud from mossy forest as souvenir. Since our lower body were practically covered in mud, we requested the guide to send us back to Golden Hill garden so that we don't dirty our cars. After much persuasion the guide finally agreed. We showered and cleaned ourselves at the homestay and the drivers then drove back to Cameron Square to get their cars.

I didn't managed to take as many pictures as I wanted to. We constantly had to rush our pace to get to Gunung Irau peak and back so that we can make it back before night falls. There was little to no time for photography. Furthermore, my hands were too muddy to take out my phone for a picture. So I gave up and just enjoy the moss covered forest with my own eyes. I really wonder how other people can capture such beautiful pictures of mossy forest in the google image results lol.

This mossy forest experience was special as it was chilly and I didn't sweat as much as my previous hiking trips. I enjoyed the breathtakingly beautiful scenery and the weather a lot. Mossy forest to me consider physically challenging due to its uneven and fairly steep terrain. It requires a lot of your upper body strength to lift yourself up. The W shape is only considering the highest and lowest point of the trail, do expect a lot of ups and downs, don't get fooled by the W shape as described by the guide lol. Comparing it to Gunung Ledang, which consumes about the same amount of time for the whole hike, I find mossy forest is easier than Gunung Ledang.

To enjoy the most out of mossy forest trekking, remember to always bring sufficient water supply and food for hiking. Never hike alone, and for trails similar like this, do hire a guide as you can easily lost your way in the forest. Go with your friends and make sure you stick together! Never leave any of your friends behind, bear in mind that you're out in the wild and respect the forest. :)

I would love to try other available trails in Brinchang in future. Looking forward to my next hiking adventure!

Mossy Forest hike contact:-
Andy 017-999 7790

Hike expenditure:-
RM35/pax guide fee
RM 25/pax transportation to starting point

Cameron Homestay:-
Cameron Comfort Home@Golden Hill 5
Able to accomodate 12 pax, really spacious and cosy.
RM 49 /night /pax
For more info -> https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/10257959?eluid=1&euid=f79262d3-42f1-a4a3-9a0c-fb0d6a1284ae


To bring/wear:-
1. Adequate water
1.5 litre each pax is more than enough for us. The weather is very chilly, you don't sweat so much compare to other hiking trip and hence you need less water.
2. Lunch pack and snack
Lunch pack is recommended since its a whole day hike. Do bring snacks like chocolate bars to replenish your energy. Remember to ALWAYS have breakfast before any hike!
3. Gloves (Any kind)
Gloves are highly recommended, remember, you're trekking in a forest which require you to use a lot of upper body strength to hold on to mossy and moist tree trunks/roots, it can get REALLY muddy and dirty, you will appreciate wearing gloves. I got mine from Daiso, RM 5.30, works totally fine. My advice is don't use expensive gym gloves cos you may tear it during the trekking, its not worth it.
4. Long pants and/or long sleeve top
Long pants is recommended as some of the tree roots are protuded and you may knock/cut your legs while climbing them. Also it can protect you from the mud.
5. Windbreaker
The weather is really chilly especially in the evening. Windbreaker is really useful. Bring black or dark colored light wind breaker, sweater is not suitable.
6. Headlamp
Since you're inside a forest in foggy Cameron mountains, it can get dark fairly quickly: about 530 or 6pm. Bring a headlamp each for safety. My colleague got a cheap headlamp from Mr. DIY. Also please do remember to test the headlamp before buying and charge it before the hike lol.
7. Poncho (disposable rain coat)
Cameron mountains can be very foggy and misty and it could drizzle a little, poncho comes in handy in case the rain gets too heavy. Available in any 7eleven stores.
8. Backpack
Same with any hiking/trekking, sling bags are not recommended. Bring a dark colored backpack cos you may dirty it during the hike.
9. Hiking shoes & socks
Wear suitable hiking shoes, the trail can be very slippery. Wear dark colored shoes if possible, if you don't want to suffer so much washing them later.

Late night thoughts

Hi, Salam Hari Raya and happy holidays!

I'm blogging from my bed currently, listening to pity yelpings of puppies outside of my house. The noise is coming through the other side of the fence on the opposite I believe. And the yelping sounds like new born pups. Besides the yelping, there's also a hopeless bark of an adult dog. Pity the new borns have to be born into this world in such a cold night. May all of you stay strong, it'll be warm again once the sun rises! Just like the awaiting long cold night before sunrise, this world is cruel, and only the strongest can survive. Adding to the misery, it begins to drizzle. May prayers will be with you.

Do you know what my favourite weather is? It is right after a downpour, when the air is fresh and moist, the sky clearing, the sun beaming down again, the soil damped, every plant boasting with water droplets, the birds and bugs sing happily again. Everything is lively, so joyful, as compared to the dark sky and horrible storms just moments before.

I love the sky. Staring at the light blue expanse of sky I often wondered in awe how far it goes where the sky starts to darken to mysterious dark blue, then finally to the unknown pitch black,  the colour of outer space. Then I will feel how small, how insignificant my existence is! Our universe is enormous, is there a limit to it? What is there beyond the limit? Why am I here and why not elsewhere? A person's existence is so insignificant and as tiny as an ant to the universe, where u accidentally stepped on and killed the ant, but u won't give the slightest thought about it. No one cares. So why are you still dwelling on small matters? Challenges either bring you down, or build you up. They may seem the world to you today, but it may be just a laughing matter when you look back in the future. Take a deep breath, look at the sky, dust yourself off, and move on. Life goes on, clock ticks away, every beings continue their course of living.

Alright! Time to sleep. Few days for me to spend at home before moving in to new house in Bangsar and begin the new chapter of my life. Gotta enjoy my holiday while I still can!

Sleep tight. x

My fav TV series

Hi again.

Recently, I am addicted to a tv series which feeds on my thirst for knowledge on dogs. It is the Dog Whisperer! The host of the series, dubbed as the Dog Whisperer, is non other than the amazing Cesar Millan. He's a gifted Mexican, who underwent English classes and now speaks very fluent English. Besides getting to know how to handle problematic dogs, the approach he uses is amusing. He understands what dogs need, physically and psychologically, and rehabilitate both the dogs and also the owners, so that they can share moments of their lives together happily.

In dealing with dogs which have issues related to aggressiveness, terrified or frustration, he approach them with calm and assertive ways, and address their problems. He states that dogs are natural follower, and they are able to pick the energy of the human immediately. So its important to choose a dog with energy lower or equal than yours. If the dog is of high energy and you don't fully utilise his energy, they will turn to other means to release the energy, which resulted in dogs behaving in aggressive ways, or obsessed over certain stuff. They will live their lives miserably, and this is not healthy for the human too.

I am impressed with the way he approaches and addresses the issue of a particular dog. I hope I can apply the knowledge learnt in my daily life too! For instance, if two dogs engaged in a fight, both of them have fault. If one dog is nervous and uncertain, the other dog can easily pick up this energy and initiate a fight with it. Same goes to us human. Both parties have fault in an event of argument or fight. If one is not calm and assertive enough, people will tend to provoke him and manage to result in a fight. If you are calm and stand firm on your ground, you will not be provoked so easily! The second you give in to the "invitation" of an unpleasant event, you lose. Therefore, the moral of this case is to be calm and be firm on your stand when you deal with people, so that you are able to avoid conflicts.

I know that patience is never my virtue. I get impatient and mad easily when things don't end up how I expect them to be, or a person does not act what I expect them to. This is one of the issue I had identified and need to work on. I used to love treating people how they treated me. The reacting type of person. I am not the person who initiates, treat people how you want to be treated, you see. If people treat me really good, I'll make sure I treat them extra good. Vice versa, if I get ill treated by people, I will treat them worse then what they had done to me.

Well, to be honest. this is not a good way particularly when I deal with hot tempered people. I used to think, yes, she knows she's a bad tempered girl, but she wouldn't change, yet she uses it as an excuse during one of our heated argument "You know very clear that my temper is not good, I'm working on it, but can't you understand me and tolerate just a little bit?". I thought she was being unfair and unreasonable having made this statement. Does she mean that she is born with that terrible temper of hers, and this earns her the right to be harsh on me and I should understand, not start a fight and be patient with her? I hated people to be harsh on me, having born with a such mellow nature, I can't understand why would somebody wanna do that to me! I mean no harm to anybody at all. Let alone my dearest one! Foul words slashed on me mercilessly, cold stare like I'm too blunt not to get an obvious fact, twisted words with evil hidden meaning.. I am affected by surrounding easily, and these are all the negative signals that I pick up. I really did't think I deserve all these. What have I done for you to speak unkind words to provoke me!

And finally, I realized the reason behind. I must have not stood firm on my ground, I am not calm nor assertive enough on my principles, I appear to be astray in other's eyes and these attracted people to provoke me. And true enough, I usually give in, defend my bruised precious ego, and this is just the start of argument or fight waiting to happen. I am not aware that my uncertain behavior is welcoming malicious acts from people. Its time to gather myself, focus on bigger goals in life, stop dwelling on little matters that seems imperfect. Yes this is saddening, but this can be done. Cesar never gives up on any dogs, even if they have serious problems, because in his eyes, no one is born like this. Every being is born pure, and throughout their growth, they pick up energy from everybody, they learn to deal with things in life and it is the surrounding that makes a dog behave like this, same goes to human beings I believe. There is something to be done, and I should never give up, nor give in.

God sent every single being into this world for a purpose. Be it a huge destiny, that you're the future president of a country, or invent a cure to a deadly disease, or the person to discover unknown lives in outer space; or small purposes such as being a normal human and live through the years. Everything is a course, planned and destined. It is up to you to make people acknowledge your existence, make changes that could impact people's lives. Maybe my destiny is to change people, and this is just an obstacle in my life journey. God has sent her to challenge me, and I should accept this challenge in order to be a better person!

From just a TV show, to these whole lot of thoughts. This is why I am so addicted to the show. Cesar Millan is an inspiring person. I appreciate to have this opportunity to see life in different perspective. And on behalf of millions of dogs that you had rehabilitate, saved and changed, thank you Cesar. I hope to be like you someday, to help the animals. Keep it up.

Updates of my life!

Hey there.

Here's a quick update of my life. it's been almost 2 months since iv finished my studies at MMU. Yeah I had finally graduated! Officially a proud Mechanical engineer. It feels like just yesterday I was still blindly following the path iv chosen: going for classes, complaining the lack of friends and how I sat solo in most classes, studying for exams, desperately doing my fyp which hardware turned out not working etc. Never a thought in mind that I am inching closer to the day I achieve my dreams - to become a Mechanical Engineer.

I used think engineer is a sacred job and engineers will have this professional aura around them. And I used to wonder how it's like when I become an engineer, how I need to hold huge responsibility on my shoulder cuz if the building I build collapsed, I could jeopardise human lives!

Now that iv became a Mechanical engineer, and you ask me how I feel bout it, my answer will be "meh." haha. Nothing sacred, not gonna participate in massive projects like I always watch on National Geographic. Building the next iconic skyscraper or huge underground tunnel like the Smart Tunnel of Malaysia. None! I'm just the old me, with an extra certificate on my hand. Well of course, I can always join the work force and do my best excel in it, so that I can eventually realise my final dream, which is to involve in massive projects that could benefit mankind.

So, after two months of dark, agonizing days of job hunting, God has finally shed some light on my path! It was a Tuesday evening when I went to my Gmail just to deposit another resume to apply a job which is recommended by my sis through fb msg. I have habit of checking my mails every morning, but won't bother it for the rest of the day. Then there it was, the news that iv been praying for for the past few nights. It came earlier that I had expected. "Congratulations, you have succeeded in the interview and we are offering you..." My heart raced when I clicked open the mail and quickly summoned my sister to share the joy. She was even more excited than me! When our eyes descends yo the figure beside the word basic allowance, our eyes widen with disbelieve. Holy crap, it's much more than what iv expected! Then our cheers were so loud that mom had to ask what's wrong from her tuition area. My parents are equally joyous to the news, mainly because their daughter will not work at Singapore anymore.

Well I love Singapore. The quality of living there is obviously higher than in Malaysia. One of the very obvious thing is you can see youngsters jogging alone around the parks and roads even if the sky is turning dark. In Malaysia, you can't see any people walking alone in deserted streets as the security here is not good. If you're alone walking and got lost, it's best not to wander around on your own. Stay at a safe place and call someone to fetch you would be great. But in Singapore, fret not. You can walk around til you find a bus station or mrt station (easily) and get to your place. Secondly, the food in sg is cheaper than Malaysia, and the wages are almost the same! That's why most Malaysians prefer to go there work. And I'm speaking for a jobless graduate.

But oh well, I am really lucky to get into such a reputable company as Cameron, and I won't give anything else in exchange with the opportunity. Hope everything will be fine for the first day of my work! May the next chapter of my life unfolds.

Resolutions and thoughts

And so we survived the 2012 and 2013 is here! Yay!

So... what is your new year resolution? Or should I put it in another way, is your new year resolution any different from last year's? Haha.

Well, mine does not go too far from last year's, but one of it brought me here.

One of my 2013 new year resolutions is to blog more, at least fork out some time to dedicate for the blog once a week. This is a promise to myself to nurture the interest in me.

I had always loved reading. And my favourite time of the day used to be after a hot shower, all cozy in my pjs and half lying on the long couch, with a hot cup of drink within reach, and a juicy novel in my hands. That was before dad discovered the comfort of the long couch and took over for his regular night dramas. From then on I have to retreat to the single couches around with my novel.

Since young, dad instilled the love of story books in us. I still can remember vividly that once dad introduced us to those really old, yellowish pocket sized books, I clung onto them, eyes moving line by line, brain picturing the dangerous adventure. Since then, I had been exposed to numerous story books. My favourite was the Harry Potter series. Well, which 11 years old kid doesn't buy the infamous Harry Potter and his magical adventures? For my case, I totally hooked up with it and I remembered searching through the mailbox on my 11th birthday, secretly hoping for any letters that declared my true identity as a witch, or any giant Hagrid coming to claim me from the muggles world, to the magical world where I truly belong. Having found none suspicious letters that bore the emblem of Hogwarts badge, not giving up, I then went around to search for a perfect length of stick, and murmured ''Lumos'' silently, hoping the end of the stick will glow as a prove of me being a witch. Alas, that was just an 11 years old little girl's dream, who read too much of story books and live in her own little fantasy. I see everything very clear now, don't worry. Haha. It is a bit funny and sheepish to admit to these ridiculous stuff that I did. But yeah, here you go, that prove that how deep I was into the books!

However, the older I grow, I never grow out of the story books. My favourite genre of story book is still  preferably fantasies, with magical powers and happy endings. There's a part in me that is refused to grow up to face the cruel world. Since there is no happy endings in real life, the only way to picture them is through the story books! Real life is so messed up and I don't want to read novels with messed up endings too!

Recently I'm not able to find any books that fulfill my criteria, and so, I had moved my interest to newspapers. Not the sad accidents and the fact-twisting politics, but the columns where journalists pour their hearts out regarding almost everything ('cept politics, but they do use political news for examples sometimes.), from travelling, hobby, to any thoughts on recent popular incidents that occurred in both nationwide and international. The interesting play of words by different journalists attracted me, and how they made the story sound so full of life and colour and well reasoned. That is when a realization came to me, that I want to be like them. I want to be like them when I can have plenty of suitable vocabs to choose from and describe something around me in words, and face no problem in expressing my thoughts. Words are like double end swords. When used wisely you could go very far with it, but when utilised wrongly it could possibly hurt you.

Therefore, a blog once a week! Let's hope it will not be my resolution again for the coming year! :)

The Sail @ 220912

Man I miss the beach already.

Hello!

I just had the awesome-est weekend last week! Me and sis have a friend in MMU who is from Port Dickson and is a sailor since young. He invited us over to his guest house and offered some private free sailing lessons. My gosh such a rare deal! We've always wanted to try this kind of water sport :D And so we nodded fervently to this plan and invited 2 of our friends to come along. 

 Our friend, Alvin's "5 stars" guest house - The Beach House!

 HAHAHA one of the few banners displaying Alvin's portrait when he's young welcomed us when we stepped into the house. There're a few banners of him in the house during his "zaman kegemilangan" hehe. He'd won the Asia championship in sailing for under 15 category when he was 12. So cute :P

Cozy living room and great sound system that plays a lot of Oldies. Niceeee!

 The backyard full of sail boats.

Back door that leads to the beach! Love the sea so much!!!

Warm sun, blue sky, calm sea and numerous white sail boats. That's Port Dickson!

The not-to-miss shoes shot!

Purposely not wearing my cons so that I could play in the water. ^__^

 Found a rock with the shape of a love and......Teehee!

Coach Alvin gave us some short briefing before the sail. Some sailing techniques and what to beware of during the sail. The name of the boat is Laser! :D

After the briefing, we went for lunch at Port Dickson's McD. We chose to go to McD for lunch as the particular McD outlet is located just beside the beach! After our lunch, the sail begins! Woohoo damn excited! Many young sailors were having training that day in the middle of the sea, with a few coaches in a big motor boat supervising them. First, Alvin took steph with him with the boat and dropped her at the motor boat. Then he went back to pick the remaining of us.The remaining of us: Me, Yikxin and Bobo get to sit in a boat together with Alvin, and I got the boat tip seat which was super awesome! The bellowing wind, splashing sea water as the sail boat cruised over the rough waves, what a thrilling experience indeed! At first we didn't dare to touch the sea water at all in case there're some huge fishes or horrible unknown sea monsters watching us underneath the sea water. Then when we had gotten used to it, we kept trying to place our feet into the water or splash the sea with our hands haha. Never know sailing could be sooooo much fun! 

He dropped us onto the motor boat and picked steph for some individual sailing lessons. Some 15 or 20 of young sailors under 15 yrs old were having sailing training in the middle of the sea, and 2 coaches were on the motor boat supervising them. It was an amazing scene. It kind of shocked us to see how young most of the sailors are and how good they control their sail boats! Cruising left, right, controlling the rudder and aiming the red striking colour buoy.

Me and yikxin were kinda tempted by the sea water as we saw some kids dipping themselves in the water while hanging on to the motor boat. After encouraged by the coach, me and yikxin had a swim in the warm sea hehe. (Bobo doesn't know how to swim) But the wave was quite strong and we half kicking ourselves to stay afloat and half hanging onto a rough rope from the motor boat for our dear lives. Although we all wore our life jackets, but the waves were still a bit too much for us to handle lol. We got very tired in a short time, and had hard time struggling to climb onto the motor boat again hehe. The.sea.was.awesome!!

After we had our individual sailing lessons from coach Alvin, which involved me getting my head hit by the swinging boom twice, we headed back to the beach. We sat in the water for a really long time, enjoying the warm low tide sea water, treasure hunt-ed by the beach searching for pretty shells, mini crabs, and killed a small lala (we didn't know by force opening a lala could kill it! Just curious to see what's inside ._.), and tried to build a sand castle but failed miserably. Oh how I love the sea!!

My activity after bath and before our dinner: Stalking people sailing through the binoculars. No hot guys for me to stalk one. hahaha.

Had a stroll on a rocky beach after bath.

 Our dinner! We searched online for any recommended stalls to dine in and it lead us to this place near Lukut. Not nice one -___-" The ikan bakar was so so only, lost to the ikan bakar at Melaka. :9

 Oyster omelette!! This dish looked so yummy at first glance with the big fat juicy oysters, but when we dug in, it is full of flour and the oysters were not fresh enough. The other dishes like salted egg fried sotongs and marmite prawns were also not very tasty. But its still okay as the price were quite cheap!

After our dinner, Alvin brought us to visit his house and drank some Chinese tea.
And psst! His bro was kinda handsome! /blush hehe.

 Later that night, Alvin brought us to his family club, The Yacht Club. His family loves to hang out in this club and it is for members only! We were feeling so exclusive able to visit this old school bar haha.

My little moustachie. Not feeling alcoholic that night, so orange juice it is! The songs were all oldies and the elders love it here, dancing on the dance floor swaying to the music. Very romantic much! This is a totally different life here and I'm really glad I can experience the other side of the culture. This is way more romantic than watching movies and having fine dining in an expensive restaurant. <3 p="p">

They have a pool beside too! ^___^

We had sailing on the next day too. It was a lot more windy on Sunday, and the wave got really aggressive. I thought it wouldn't be a good idea to steer the boat myself, might as well let Alvin control the boat. The boat was quite fast from the harsh waves and once our boat nearly capsized! Luckily we managed to balance it and sailed back to the beach safely haha. SO FREAKING AWESOME! Sometimes I secretly imagine what will happen if the boat overturned :P it was a really common thing for sailing according to Alvin.


 Good bye our little hard rock hotel (Drew by a foreigner haha)

(That girl above is steph) Thats all for our PD trip! Really appreciate our friend Alvin for teaching us how to sail. It was a really rare experience and I would definitely like to try it again!


Thats all for the pd post. Time for some jogging now. Argh I'm so tanned! Ciaoz!