5 days 4 nights solo trip to Dubai & Abu Dhabi, UAE.

It is Dubai!; the destination of my trip that I only thought of it two weeks ago. The idea of going on an impromptu vacation kicked in just a week before the trip itself and I immediately thought of Dubai. I always wanted to visit Dubai to see all the architectural landmarks and engineering marvels this city has built but have never done so till now. I have stopped at this city twice before on transit in the Dubai airport before continuing to fly to Europe in the past. I was not able to get out of the airport and explore the city back then which is kind off sad.

It’s off-peak season for travel to Dubai now as the unbearable summer season for the city is kicking in from next month onward (from June till September). It’s still very hot over there now (above 35 degree celsius most of the time) hence lesser tourists/crowds. The airfares and fees for accommodations and some attractions are lower during this period of time. Hence, I’m going for it with tight budget in mind and while the temperature is still manageable for me who have been living in hot tropical climate my entire life.

This was actually my first ever solo trip to oversea purely for travel/vacation. I did traveled oversea by solo previously but that was for my higher education/other purposes. Hence I do felt nervous and excited at the same time. It all went smooth and according to plan. I had a fulfilling 5 days 4 nights in Dubai (including a one day guided tour to the neighbouring state of Abu Dhabi) at United Arab Emirates. I did it in only a little over SGD 2000 including the return flight (via Singapore Airlines…first time taking this airlines too) which already costs around SGD 1200 alone. I ate mostly at food courts/fast food restaurants and I stayed in a dorm at a backpackers accommodation (quite comfortable, not many people, and the place is centrally located at the Dubai Marina area).

The only unfortunate incident was that my luggage was quite severely damaged after my flight from Singapore to Dubai. Due to me rushing to the accommodation to check in on that evening of my arrival, I didn’t report the damage to the airport’s staff. Poor handling of luggage from the Dubai airport side. I ended up spending more to purchase a new luggage in Dubai…and that makes less spending for souvenirs.

Yup…so here’s below are the highlights/itinerary of my trip:

Day 1 – 11 May 2023 (Thursday)

• Head to Changi International Airport for afternoon flight from Singapore to Dubai (7 hours flight). Reached Dubai in the evening. Singapore time is 4 hours ahead of United Arab Emirates.
• After checking in to the hostel (Lunar Hostel Plus), had a brief evening stroll along JBR Beach and Smoky Beach (both beaches are side by side and JBR stands for Jumeirah Beach Residence). View the world’s tallest/largest observation wheel, Ain Dubai (250m tall) from the beach.

• Walk along the waterfront of the Dubai Marina, a large artificial canal city along a shoreline. My hostel is located in this area.

Day 2 – 12 May 2023 (Friday)

• Visit to Zabeel Park to view the Dubai Frame. It is the largest frame in the world with a height of 150m and width of 95m. It serves as a monument, observatory, museum and literally a frame for the views of old Dubai in the north and modern Dubai in the south. I didn’t enter inside the Dubai Frame.

• Visit to Museum of the Future. It is a very futuristic-looking building that houses exhibition space for innovative and futuristic ideologies, services, and products. Some has even described the building as the most beautiful building on Earth. I didn’t enter into the exhibition space though; I just wandered in the main lobby area and around the external of the building including the adjacent Emirates Towers‘ area.

• Visit to Downtown Dubai where the Burj Khalifa is. It is the current world’s tallest building/man-made structure at 828m high. Went up to the ‘At The Top’ observatory at level 124 and 125 (at around 450m above ground) of the skyscraper for spectacular views over the city. First time in my life entering into a floor level higher than 100.

• Also in the area is the Dubai Mall which is one of the largest shopping mall in the world by total land area. Checked out attractions in the huge mall such as the aquarium, a real dinosaur fossil display, ice skating rink, a large indoor waterfall art installation and an area dedicated as Chinatown. Plenty of things to see in the mall besides than the shops. Lunch and dinner in the mall.

• View the Dubai Fountain show which is one of the world’s largest and tallest fountain shows. A 5-minute show (different music & choreography for each show) in every 30 minutes in the evening daily. Burj Khalifa is also lit up with gorgeous LED projections in the evening daily.

Day 3 – 13 May 2023 (Saturday)

• Took a one full day guided tour (by ABC Tours, a local tour agency in Dubai) to Abu Dhabi, the capital of UAE.
• Outside views of the Ferrari World (first Ferrari-branded amusement park in the world), Etihad Towers, Capital Gate Tower (famously known as the leaning tower of Abu Dhabi) and Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental Hotel (a super luxurious hotel complex).

• Quick photostop at Louvre Abu Dhabi, the largest art museum in Arabian world. Designed by Jean Nouvel, the building appears like a floating dome structure with a large interesting web-patterned dome.

• Visit to Heritage Village, a small museum complex featuring a traditional village oasis that offers glimpses of life in the UAE before its oil boom.

• Visit to Abu Dhabi Marina Mall for lunch.

• Visit to Qasr Al Watan, presidential palace of UAE. The palace is built in 2017 not for the residences of the royals or leaders but as a place for hosting foreign leaders, for main government’s meetings/summits and for public visit. It is an intricately designed and ornately decorated palace with massive volume and spaces.

• Visit to Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the largest mosque in the country. It is also the largest and grandest mosque that I have ever visited. The mostly white-coloured mosque is built mostly of natural materials such as marble stone, gold, semi-precious stones, crystals and ceramics. The mosque is large enough to accommodate over 40 000 worshippers at a time. The mosque has the world’s largest carpet in the grand hall, features a courtyard of floral floor design and is considered to be the largest example of marble mosaic in the world and has seven huge chandeliers that incorporate millions of Swarovski crystals.

• Back to Dubai before sunset and took time to walk along Dubai Marina again (this time walk from the other side of marina). View the Cayan Tower (a twisting skyscraper) along the marina. Visit to Dubai Marina Mall for dinner.

Day 4 – 14 May 2023 (Sunday)

• Visit to The Pointe, a waterfront retail destination at Palm Jumeirah Island to view the luxurious Atlantis The Palm Hotel and Atlantis The Royal Hotel.

• Take monorail from The Pointe to Nakheel Mall. Go up to the Palm Tower at level 52 to visit ‘The View at the Palm’ observatory for magnificent views over the entire Palm Jumeirah Island, Dubai Marina, Downtown Dubai, Burj Al Arab, Ain Dubai, etc.

• Visit to Souk Madinat Jumeirah, an Arabian bazaar complex with beautiful close view of the Burj Al Arab, world’s only 7-star hotel. Lunch in the complex.

• Visit to Jumeirah Mosque for outside view only. Opened in 1979, the mosque is said to be the most photographed mosque in all of Dubai.

• Visit to Old Dubai area. Visited the Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood (one of Dubai’s oldest heritage sites with much of original infrastructure and narrow alleys preserved and intact). Also visited the adjacent Al Seef Heritage Street where traditional Arab souks lined this beautiful heritage district.

• Took abra (traditional water taxi) to cross Dubai Creek over to Deira side of the city.

• Visit to various souks in Deira region, particularly the famous Dubai Gold Souk, a traditional market of over 380 retailers, most of whom are jewelry traders. The Dubai Gold Souk is also host to the largest ring in the world weighing 64kg.

• Back to Downtown Dubai again in the evening for shopping for souvenirs at the Dubai Mall (and dinner) and one last look of one of my favourite skyscrapers, Burj Khalifa. View the Dubai Fountain from the other side of the artificial Burj Khalifa Lake. Also visit to the Time Out Market (Souk Al Bahar), a retail mall famous for culinary hotspots which is also adjacent to the lake.

Day 5 – 15 May 2023 (Monday)

• Visit to Dubai Miracle Garden. It is the world’s largest natural flower garden and only opens generally from October to April every year. For this year, it opens until early June. There are plenty of beautiful floral sights in the garden including a life-size version of the Emirates A380 which also broke the record as the world’s largest floral installation. The garden also features hearts tunnel, floral castle, Smurfs village, lake park, etc.

• Visit to Mall of the Emirates, another large mall with beautiful architecture (particularly the huge domes and arched glass roof). The mall is also host to Ski Dubai (the Middle East’s first indoor ski resort and snow park). Shopping and lunch in the mall.

• Return to hostel to check out and head to Dubai International Airport in the afternoon for flight back to Singapore. Arrived in the early morning next day (16 May 2023).

It was an awesome and fulfilling trip. You may check out more pictures posted in my social media (Facebook and Instagram) posts too. I managed to see and admire all the sights that I wanted to including the Burj Khalifa, Palm Jumeirah, Burj Al Arab and Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. I have to admit that it was a bit rushed though to fit all into just 5 days. Anyway, did you notice that most of the attractions in Dubai are some sort of record holders (world tallest, world largest, etc)? If it isn’t big or grand, Dubai is not going to build it! Haha.

It’s a miracle that I was able to fit so many places into just 5 days 4 nights (technically only just 3 full days in Dubai and 1 day in Abu Dhabi in total). The consequence is that my legs are feeling the pain now from all the excessive walking I had in Dubai for the past few days. Literally around 30 000 steps each day (tracked from iPhone health data).

This trip was also there to clear off my leave (had quite a lot of accumulated annual leave from my company) and also to clear off my mind for a while after undergoing down moments since end of March. At least the planning and the trip itself gave me a much needed distraction and excitement.

I enjoyed the trip overall. If I can have one more day, I would go on one of the popular things to do in Dubai; desert safari. I missed that one because I have done similar activity in Egypt few years ago and that I didn’t plan that one extra day earlier. Hmm…hopefully my next travel would be in this coming July to Hong Kong only if I am able to get the tickets to watch Sammi Cheng’s concert which will be on public sale this Wednesday. Once a trip was over, it’s time to think of the next one. Hehe…we have a world to see!

Summary of my working holiday in New Zealand from June to December 2022.

I have returned to Malaysia yesterday after having spent over 7 months for working holiday in New Zealand and subsequent trips in Australia. Time flies. I have been away from home and career for a long time and soon it’s time for me to resume my normal daily life of working in Singapore (or in short; time to get back to reality!). I still have one pending trip to go which is a guided trip of a week to Hokkaido, Japan during the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday with my parents. Then when February arrives, it’s time to head back to Singapore to resume the working life I have paused since May 2022.

Here’s the summary of my working holiday in New Zealand (traditionally referred as Aotearoa) from June to December 2022. I had the trip with a close friend which is certainly a good decision to help for cost sharing, switching driving task, taking portrait pictures, and assistance on some areas when needed.

Warning: Long post ahead! Haha…

— Work at The Remarkables —

We first stayed in Queenstown from June to October (4 months) and worked at The Remarkables ski mountain as food and beverage service attendant. Although with low hourly pay, but we got to enjoy benefits such as free lift pass to ski/snowboard, free group lessons, discount on items, free staff transport, etc. However, the number of hours you will be able to work per week aren’t much compared to other professions except for peak period such as during school holidays or special events. Sometimes, adverse weather do prevent the ski mountain from operating and hence we will have no work (with only 2 hours salary) for the day. The staff transport isn’t good too as I recalled for having to wait very long for buses to pick us up to and from the mountain. I do not mind the occasional busy periods during the season but I do admit that I’m quite disturbed by some of my colleagues who weren’t cooperative or working as hard as I do.

The greatest thing of working there for me would be the environment; very lovely indoor setting with beautiful view of snowy landscape and people playing ski or snowboard right outside the windows. I also manage to learn to ski during my off days (went to ski about two to three times a month) although in the end, I’m still pretty much just at the beginner’s level. But that’s fine. So, that’s pretty much sum up the good and ‘not so good’ things about working at the ski mountain from my experience.

— Stay in Queenstown during work —

During early October, we did fly over to Christchurch for a short trip and visited several places mostly in the city. While we were in Queenstown in those 4 months, we did bought a used car for less than NZD4000 (just a small Ford Fiesta car sufficient for the two of us, our luggage and stuff), visited multiple places (Arrowtown, Wanaka, Milford Sound, Glenorchy, St Bathans, Cromwell, Alexandra) and done some popular walking tracks as well.

I almost forgot to mention that we were really very lucky to have found an accommodation in Queenstown even before we arrived in the town as Queenstown is very famous for serious lack of long term accommodations. Queenstown itself is extremely beautiful though and is often regarded as the adventure capital of New Zealand.

— Road trip after work! —

Once the winter concluded and it’s spring by mid of October, the ski mountain closed and we then got on a full-time road trip mode. Our 65 days long road trip started on 18th October 2022 with our first stop being at Invercargill. Here below are the main stops of our road trip in order:

Before road trip (based in Queenstown for 4 months for work):

Queenstown — Christchurch — Queenstown

During road trip (65 days):

South Island

Queenstown — Invercargill — Dunedin — Oamaru — Timaru — Lake Tekapo — Mount Cook — Twizel — Wanaka — Haast — Franz Josef — Hokitika — Greymouth — Westport — Nelson — Kaiteriteri — Takaka — Picton —

North Island

Wellington — New Plymouth — National Park — Taupo — Rotorua — Tauranga — Hamilton — Hahei — Coromandel — Auckland — Paihia — Whangarei — Gisborne — Napier — Masterton — Wellington —

South Island

Kaikoura — Christchurch

As seen above, we first travelled across South Island before heading to North Island by ferry crossing over the Cook Strait. We then travelled across the North Island before coming back to the South Island to explore the remainder of the latter and flying off from Christchurch. In total, we have driven over 11 000 kilometres. We allocated additional few more leisure days in Christchurch for us to sort out our stuff before leaving the country such as selling our car, final packing of our baggage, etc. We roughly spent about half of the 65 days at South Island and half at North Island. Pretty balanced. We did had a one-week getaway to Melbourne, Australia during our road trip hence our road trip only concludes on 28th December 2022. We then flown over to Sydney on 29th December 2023 and later to Perth on early January 2023 for our travel in Australia.

— Itinerary —

If you are keen to do a long road trip across New Zealand and are interested to view our detailed itinerary for your reference, please feel free to download from below link. We planned our itinerary around two months in advance, then made booking for accommodation through Agoda (chosen all the places that offer time-limited free cancellation), and purchased several admission tickets to several popular attractions in advance (such as The Hobbiton Movie Set Tour, Waitomo Glowworm Cave, etc).

new-zealand-road-trip-itineraryreferenceDownload

Our itinerary may help on your research on where to travel, how much it roughly costs, and how far we have driven. We tried to limit on the places that require high admission fees and we mostly filled our activities that come with no charges such as doing walking tracks (walking tracks are the ones that are going to reward you with breathtaking scenic views and good exercise…haha…and we had done over 50 walking tracks in total).

We didn’t do any attractions that emphasize on traditional Maori people or culture, didn’t visit any wineries (which New Zealand has a lot) because we are not into wines or alcohols, didn’t do much adventurous or thrilling activities mostly due to cost as highlighted earlier. I would recommend to allow for a break day occasionally for you to rest (it’s actually quite tiring to keep on travelling too!). This also helps on a little flexibility on rearranging some attractions/places to visit due to weather condition or road closure.

— Budget —

By the way, we always kept our limited budget in mind when planning these previously. We stayed in mostly backpacker accommodations or cabin at holiday parks (had private bedroom but with shared bathroom; with this we can put our stuff securely in our room and not needing to sleep with strangers in a same tiny room). We set our budget so that our single-day accommodation for one person does not exceed NZD50 and single-day meals for one person does not exceed NZD40. We also have to set aside an amount for emergency use, car servicing or maintenance, car petrol, mobile bills, occasional grocery shopping and other expenses such as parking fees. These were all estimated and tabulated in our detailed itinerary.

— The usually poor weather! —

We had our road trip from spring to early summer. There were a lot of rainy days during our road trip as I recalled (almost 6 out of 10 days are rainy days!) unfortunately. On some occasions where we couldn’t rearrange our itinerary that much (due to time constraint, accommodation’s booking already beyond free-cancellation period, continuous days of bad weather or other reasons) we continued on but had to cancel or cut short on some places. A waterproof jacket or raincoat is a must. The rainy days do quite affect our trip! They affect the quality of the views and pictures we took at several places too under poor weather condition.

— The 4 seasons in New Zealand —

I was quite shocked of hoe the 4 seasons turn out in New Zealand. During winter, sun rises at about 8am and sunset is about 5pm. During summer, sun rises as early as 5am and sunset is over 9pm with the sky still quite bright even at 10pm. What an experience going through this! And I thought summer in any country would be hot. It’s not the case in New Zealand. The highest temperature I have experienced during summer was only about 24 degree celsius (that’s still consider cold to me especially with wind). Hence, I wear jacket most of the time including during the summer season. There is also this daylight saving time system adopted in New Zealand (heard about it previously and this was first time experience…oh no; my one hour was robbed! Haha).

— The food and the people —

I don’t really fancy Western food and hence when I’m in New Zealand, it was quite tough for me. There aren’t many Asian population in the country and it’s quite hard to find Asian food especially when we were in small towns. There isn’t many choices for Western food either. In summary, not much dining options across the country unless you are in big cities like Auckland and Wellington. Nothing to shout out for for their food in general too. That’s my personal opinion…sorry to the Kiwis if they are seeing this. The locals (called the Kiwis) are very friendly and welcoming though. Didn’t have any major issue communicating with them and no racism felt at all.

Having meals outside are also super expensive in New Zealand. Hence, during our stay in Queenstown, we mostly cooked at home for cost saving.

— The things out of our control and things we missed out —

No things are perfect including our trip. At first, we were only granted a 6-months long working holiday visa. After our work during the winter season, we only had less than 2 months for our road trip. That would be insufficient to cover all the places we would like to visit in New Zealand. Hence, we purposely flown over to Australia (went to Melbourne) for a one-week vacation on early December 2022 (when our working holiday visa expire) and come back to New Zealand under tourist visa. After we had bought our flight tickets, New Zealand government announced extension of another 6 months to our visa. Hmm…if that was announced earlier, we could have do the road trip all at once and avoid the trouble of flying out and in back.

We also had occasional issues with our car especially one major one right before our road trip commenced that made us panicked as it may affect our plan and above all, our safety. Fortunately, we were able to resolve that but with huge sum of money in the end. It’s also very hard to find mechanics that will attend to you directly and you have to make booking many days in advance even if it is not during peak period.

What we missed out during our trip in New Zealand is the chance to view the magnificent Southern Lights (Aurora Australis). It’s one of our wishes to see this while we were in New Zealand. There was a day when there was high activity recorded (we downloaded an app that track the aurora). We went out and up to the mountain to try to see it but as it was very cloudy, we didn’t get to see anything in the end.

We can said that we have travelled across about 85% of the whole country of New Zealand. There are still some places that we didn’t get to visit such as the Stewart Island, the entire area north of Gisborne at North Island, and several small towns. Anyway, at least we got to see most of New Zealand including the very rare kiwi bird in one of the wildlife parks.

— My Most Favourites? —

North or South Island?

My preference is North Island because of the more variety of different type of landscapes you can see at the North Island (I’m particularly fascinated by the unique geothermal places and surreal volcanic landscapes at the North Island while South Island doesn’t have these). South Island is filled with plenty of beautiful mountains, lakes and rivers though but they all looked pretty much similar after you have seen the first few of them. It’s also more convenient to find food, accommodation or other stuff at North Island as this island is way more populous than South Island. There are at least several major cities at North Island and there is only one major city (Christchurch) in South Island.

National Park?

Definitely Tongariro National Park (surreal volcanic landscape as mentioned earlier over here and the 8-hours hike over the Tongariro Alpine Crossing was very memorable with unbelievable views!). Mount Cook National Park comes in close second for its beautiful snow-capped mountains, glaciers and valleys. Egmont National Park is my pick for third place due to its spectacular Mount Taranaki. Mount Aspiring National Park and Arthur’s Pass National Park are worthy of a mention here too.

Waterfall?

There are a lot of waterfalls in New Zealand but I find that none of them that I have seen truly amazes me. They are not particularly large too. My top 5 picks in no particular order are The Devil’s Punchbowl Falls, Waipunga Falls, Rainbow Falls, Taranaki Falls, and Thunder Creek Falls.

Museum?

1 – Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington. 2 – Auckland War Memorial Museum, Auckland. 3 – Air Force Museum, Christchurch.

Art Gallery?

1 – Steampunk HQ, Oamaru. 2 – Auckland Art Gallery and Christchurch Art Gallery (tie). 3 – Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth.

Gardens?

1 – Hamilton Gardens. 2 – Christchurch Botanical Gardens. 3 – Whangarei Quarry Gardens.

Rock formation?

1 – Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowholes. 2 – Archway Islands and Cathedral Cove (tie). 3 – Putangirua Pinnacles Scenic Reserve and Split Apple Rock (tie).

Lake?

1 – Lake Tekapo. 2 – Lake Wanaka (and don’t forget the famous Wanaka tree). 3 – Lake Wakatipu and Lake Pukaki (tie).

Waterfront?

1 – Auckland Waterfront. 2 – Wellington Waterfront. 3 – New Plymouth Coastal Walkway.

Wildlife attraction?

1 – Whale Watch Kaikoura cruise. 2 – Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, Christchurch. 3 – Hole in the Rock dolphin cruise, Bay of Islands.

City?

1 – Auckland. 2 – Christchurch. 3 – Wellington.

Geothermal attraction?

1 – Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. 2 – Craters of the Moon. 3 – Kuirau Park.

Thrilling paid activity?

1 – Kayaking at Whenuakura Island. 2 – Skiing at The Remarkables. 3 – Sandboarding at Te Paki Giant Sand Dunes.

Beach?

1 – Cathedral Cove Beach. 2 – Kaiteriteri Beach. 3 – Wharariki Beach and Hot Water Beach. (tie)

Cave?

1 – Ruakuri Cave. 2 – Waitomo Glowworm Cave. 3 – Ngarua Cave.

River, Spring or Gorge?

1 – Hokitika Gorge. 2 – Te Waikoropupu Springs. 3 – Waikato River (mostly due to the Huka Falls) and Waihou River (Blue Spring Putaruru). (tie)

Lighthouse?

1 – Cape Reinga Lighthouse. 2 – Castlepoint Lighthouse. 3 – Cape Palliser Lighthouse.

Cruise?

1 – Milford Sound cruise. 2 – Whale watching cruise at Kaikoura. 3 – Hole in the Rock dolphin cruise at Bay of Islands.

Historical street/city architecture?

1 – Dunedin. 2 – Nelson. 3 – Napier.

Overall View?

1 – Tongariro National Park (particularly from the Tongariro Alpine Crossing).

2 – Mount Taranaki from the Reflective Tarn.

3 – Milford Sound (from cruise and from the road journey getting into Milford Sound from Te Anau).

4 – Mount Cook from Hooker Valley track.

5 – Wanaka from Roy’s Peak.

6 – Bay of Islands from Urupukapuka Island (reached from a cruise).

7 – Queenstown from Queenstown Hill.

8 – Great Coast Road on the West Coast in South Island.

9 – Cape Palliser scenery including along the Cape Palliser road.

10 – Auckland city skyline from Cyril Bassett VC Lookout.

That’s all for the summary of my working holiday in New Zealand on second half of last year. I certainly had an unforgettable and wonderful experience during my stay and road trip over on that beautiful country. You can literally find beautiful scenic views from anywhere in the country easily. The natural landscapes at New Zealand are hard to beat when compared to other countries I have visited in the past.

I joined a Facebook group called ‘New Zealand Travel Tips (NZTT)’ and it is quite a useful page to ask questions, search for information or latest travel updates and even get discounts on certain attractions. If you are planning to visit New Zealand and have some questions, feel free to drop me a message too. And last but not least, thank you if you have read all the way to this point.

CNY 2022 family trip to Langkawi.

I have just returned late last night from a short 2 days 2 nights family vacation to Langkawi Island. It was a very rare opportunity as all of my close family members (9 in total) were able to join the trip including my eldest sister’s family. It was a large group and I had an awesome vacation with them at Langkawi.

This was my second visit to the island after my maiden visit around 2 decades ago when I was just a little kid. I already can’t remember most of that visit. We stayed at the Resorts World Langkawi for the 2 nights stay in the island and we chose the rooms that are facing the sea for the view. The hotel is located in quite a secluded area away from town and offers a very peaceful environment (also the hotel has not much business even on the weekend). The furniture in the room are very outdated, some lights are broken and the air-conditioning in my room isn’t cold. The hotel definitely needs renovation. Plus point for the hotel is that it has a games room where my family had a great time playing pool and table tennis there.

We reached Langkawi in the afternoon on last Friday. After checking in, we went to Dataran Lang, a large public square on the edge of a waterfront. The most famous part of the square is a large statue of an eagle (it is the most iconic place for Langkawi). Perfect spot for a family photo here. After dinner, we visited two duty free shops nearby in the town of Kuah before heading back to hotel for rest.

On Saturday, we first head to join the boat tour at Kilim Geoforest Park. The boat tour which lasted for 2 hours consists of visit to the mangrove forest, crocodile cave, bat cave, eagle feeding and fish farm. Quite a beautiful place to enjoy the scenery. The eagle feeding by the boat driver (who is also the tour guide) is interesting to watch. Surprised by the huge number of eagles coming to the spot for food.

In the afternoon, we proceeded to the Oriental Village where the entrance to the famous Langkawi cable car ride is (called Langkawi SkyCab). The entrance ticket for the cable car also includes a show at the SkyDome and a visit to the 3D Art Museum all of which are within the Oriental Village. The SkyCab holds the record of the world’s longest free span mono-cable car. The journey in the cable car to the top station is quite a frightening one because of the very steep gradient and the long span. Once at the top station, we went to the Sky Bridge which is the world’s longest free span and curved bridge (in a separate admission ticket that can be purchased at the top station). To reach to the bridge, we had to climb more than 300 steps (same for the return trip) because the other facility (cabin-type transport) to go to the bridge is closed due to maintenance. It was a very tiring journey.

The 3D Art Museum is worth a visit too. It is the largest 3D art museum in Malaysia. My two nephews had an awesome time in there being playful in their poses for pictures. The 10-min show in the SkyDome was a disaster. The show is boring, non-interactive and meaningless. I had a laugh after the show…what have I watched? We went back to the hotel quite early today to rest. We drank and played in the hotel’s games room, and also gambled with poker cards back in hotel room before going to bed. I won close to RM400! Very lucky on that evening.

On Sunday, after checking out (it’s our last day there), we head to the Crocodile Adventureland. I chose to visit this place after browsing through Google and found a lot of good reviews of this place. However, the place was very deserted (not many people), quite small and the admission price is very expensive. Most of the crocodiles in there are not moving and are very lazy (most probably due to them already being fed on time daily, hence they do not need to move to hunt). The only interesting part is the crocodile fishing where we can play fishing with the juvenile crocodiles in one of the ponds.

In the afternoon, we head to Underwater World. I think this is the oldest aquaria in Malaysia (it has been here since 1995). Not only we can see aquatic lives in there, but there are also some riverside animals or birds in the aquaria. The tunnel walk is a bit underwhelming as it is only for the viewing of the penguins swimming (better to have tunnel under a huge tank containing large marine lives instead). The sharks there are also very small. The aquaria is nothing spectacular but still worth a visit especially during the hot afternoon. After the aquaria, we went to the duty free shop just besides it and also had a brief walk along the street filled with shops and stalls (called Cenang Walk). We then had an early dinner before heading to the airport for flight back to KL in the evening.

That’s all for the highlight of the trip. It was a wonderful trip together with my whole family. Though a bit short (only 3 days 2 nights to accommodate everyone’s schedule), but I do enjoy the vacation right before everyone resumes their work or study this week. I’m hoping for more of such family trips in the future to be able to spend some quality time together while exploring new places and experiences.

Expo 2020 Dubai opens after being postponed for a year.

After being postponed for a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Dubai 2020 World Expo finally opens on 1st October and will run until 31 March 2022 for a period of 6 months. This is the third world expo I have covered in my blog after Shanghai 2010 and Milan 2015. If you do not know, world expo is a large-scale international exhibition designed to showcase participating nations and organizations and is held once in every five years at different host cities.

It is a global event similar to those huge international sporting events like the Olympics but received way much smaller attention. World Expo certainly deserves more publicity as it involves large-scale participations and efforts especially by the host city to prepare and build a dedicated area for the various pavilions. There are also some very cool architectural highlights in each and every world expo not to be missed.

The main site of Dubai 2020 World Expo is a 438-hectare area located between the cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It has a masterplan that is organized around a central plaza and enclosed by three large thematic districts. Each one is dedicated to one of the sub-themes of this expo – Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability. 192 countries participated in this expo alongside with over 20 other participating partners and organizations making it the second largest world expo ever (behind Shanghai 2010).

Here are some of the cool architecture or attractions from the expo:

Al Wasl Plaza – the central plaza of the expo that features the world’s largest projection dome. The dome is made up of trellis of steel frameworks weaved into the ringed logo of Dubai 2020 World Expo.

Expo Entry Portals – They are the gateways to the expo site woven from carbon fibre to create 21-metre-high mashrabiya-style lattices. Mashrabiya is a traditional architectural element in Islamic design, encompassing latticed screens often showcasing intricate and complex geometric patterns that shade exterior windows and balconies.

Expo 2020 Water Feature – Giant sheets of water tumble down 13-metre-high vertical walls like a waterfall. By night, the water will defy gravity and flow upwards. Visitors can walk to the base of the falls to see how the water disappears through the stone. At the feature’s centre is a “mysterious circle of fire” that produces enormous bursts of flames in hues of red, green and yellow.

Terra Pavilion

Alif – The Mobility Pavilion

United Arab Emirates Pavilion

United Kingdom Pavilion

Russia Pavilion

Japan Pavilion

Singapore Pavilion

Australia Pavilion

Austria Pavilion

Korea Pavilion

Poland Pavilion

Saudi Arabia Pavilion

Pakistan Pavilion

France Pavilion

Malaysia Pavilion – leaving the last for my country. Won’t miss it.

There are quite a lot more interesting pavilions in this Dubai 2020 World Expo but I just couldn’t feature all of them here. The next world expo will be at Osaka, Japan in 2025.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Had a blast during my second visit to Universal Studios Singapore today!

Hi all! I have just returned home after a long and tiring (but very pleasant and enjoyable) day at Universal Studios Singapore (USS) today with my friend. This was my second visit to the theme park after the first trip back in more than 3 years ago.

Although I have visited USS before, but I do still feel very much excited for this second trip. I got the chance to play those rides that I did not manage to play last time and this second trip will provide me some sort of much needed escape or a quick getaway from the usual typical weekends I had.

The weather today also has been very good to us (no rain…and is not too hot and humid today). There are a total of 12 rides available now and we managed to play all of them except one (we didn’t go for the Merry-Go-Round which we were uninterested in as it is a bit over silly and childish for us). We even got to enjoy some of the rides twice due to all the available time we had. Here below are the pros and cons of visiting USS now during the pandemic that I have observed after my visit today:

(Image from Universal Studios Singapore website)

Pros:

• Ticket comes bundled with many vouchers (gift, retail and F&B) for more benefits to visitors.
• Overall lower ticket price compared to the price before pandemic…and free entry to Sentosa Island (through express train or boardwalk from VivoCity shopping mall) where the theme park is located.
• Less or even no waiting time for all the rides. No crowds. Peace of mind when walking around the park, when playing the rides or when taking photographs. You don’t need to waste your money to buy ‘express pass’ to skip queues this time around.
• More meet and greet sessions with famous Universal characters. This is perhaps due to the current Halloween theme (Halloween Trick or Thrills) for the park.

Cons:

• Reduced operating hour of the theme park. Now USS only opens from 12pm to 7pm.
• All shows are suspended during this pandemic period. Much lesser attractions in the theme park for you to enjoy.
• The most exciting roller coaster rides (Battlestar Galactica) are closed for maintenance (God knows how long it has already been closed for maintenance!). Even the iconic Globe outside the entrance of USS is cordoned off (and fully covered) for maintenance. No opportunity for your iconic pose in front of the famous Globe for now.
• Food and beverages, souvenirs, and any items sold inside the theme park still remain super expensive!

It’s a bit sad that some of the rides and all the live shows are not available now due to the pandemic although we felt that some of them can actually still carry on despite restrictions from the pandemic. USS is already so small (compared to other Universal Studios across the world) and now they have reduced much further on the amount of attractions. It has to do something (expand, reduce ticket price, offer more special events, etc) to stay relevant for years to come.

Previously, I did saw news of expansion plan of the theme park that will take place very soon (new Super Nintendo World and Minion themed zones!). However, I think the expansion plan must have been very much affected because of this pandemic. Here are some of the shots I took during my visit today:

In general, I still had a great time at USS today! But I think I won’t be going to visit it again anytime soon in near future because it has nothing else to offer or to attract the local residents here anymore. My legs are feeling a bit sore now after a long day today. It’s a sign I’m getting old. Yup…had to remind myself that in 2 more months, I would be reaching 30 already.

Nearly a full day trip to Singapore Zoo…and River Safari.

There are a lot of promotions going on (mostly discounted ticket prices) to visit attractions here especially for this month. Hence, you would probably see me posting a lot of trip pictures recently. We all can’t go out of Singapore (due to the current pandemic), and hence why not explore what’s inside this tiny island especially with these offers going on.

I have heard a lot of good words on Singapore Zoo but have never personally visited the place. It is also frequently rated everywhere as one of the best zoos in the world. Then, I saw a recent promotion whereby I can visit both the zoo and the River Safari (which is just besides the zoo) by only adding a few dollars extra to the single ticket entry to the zoo. This is very enticing and although I have visited the river safari before but I don’t mind going again because it is worth a second visit too in my opinion.

Yesterday was the day of my visit to the zoo along with my friend. I reached there at about 11.30am and spent nearly 4 hours in the zoo. The weather was kind to us and it only started raining when we have nearly finished covering the entire zoo in the afternoon. The only unfortunate thing is that we missed all the three live shows available due to the non-matching schedule and the limited capacity of each shows due to the Covid-19 restrictions. Anyway, here are some of the photos I took during the visit to this famous zoo:

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Here are shots took in the River Safari:

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I do enjoy the experience in both the zoo and the river safari. Although it is raining cats and dogs during my visit to the river safari, but it didn’t bother us much because most of the sights in the river safari are indoor. We did get wet though because we went on the outdoor boat ride for the Amazon River Quest and it’s still drizzling that time.

We spent around 2 hours and 30 minutes in the river safari and left the place at 6pm. Both of us had sore legs after the trip. Haha…the trip involves a lot of walking. Yes, I felt very exhausted after the visit but I do thoroughly enjoyed my time there. I saw a lot of animals in their properly maintained areas that do not feel like an enclosure at all. It is like they are roaming freely in their habitat. That is good. Now I knew why it is rated one of the best zoos in the world.

I have now visited three out of the four parks available under the Wildlife Reserves Singapore. I visited the Night Safari just two months ago as well. Hence, the only one left for me to visit is the Jurong Bird Park. To be honest, it is my least favourite pick out of the four and hence it is the last in my list. Maybe I’m going to visit it somewhere next year to complete all the 4-parks mission.

Second time to the domes and first time to the Christmas Wonderland at Gardens by the Bay

The weather hasn’t been nice these few days. There is no sight of the Sun for these few days continuously (this is uncommon in tropical countries) and the sky just stays gloomy with frequent downpour. This doesn’t hamper my temptation to visit the Christmas Wonderland event at Gardens by the Bay yesterday.

I have not visited the Christmas Wonderland event but my friend had. On the other hand, I have visited the two domes at the Gardens by the Bay (Flower Dome and Cloud Forest) but my friend hasn’t. So, we purchased bundle tickets (slightly cheaper) to visit them all at once. The last time I went into the domes was four years ago and I still had amazing time visiting them yesterday. It’s great even when it’s the second time around.

The best thing for these two domes is the very comfy ambience inside as the domes are air-conditioned. They are indoor and so we do not need to worry of the downpour outside. The suspended platforms, waterfall, plants and sculptures still look as impressive as they are four years ago. There is also additional Christmas decorations in Flower Dome that are worth your extra time in it for multiple pictures.

 

After having an early dinner at the nearby Satay By The Bay food court (the satay here doesn’t taste good), we proceed to visit the Christmas Wonderland event around the Supertree Grove area. This area is accessible to the public during normal days but cordoned off now and can only be accessed by visitors with ticket for this evening event.

The main attraction of ‘Christmas Wonderland’ is the huge light installations at the Supertree Grove area as well as falling of ‘snow’ (soap bubble actually…no snow here in Singapore) for five minutes five times a day. The effect is quite dazzling and legit but the constant rain do affects the mood some of the time.

 

There are various other Christmas decorations scattered around the area alongside with carnival games and rides, and stalls selling food, drinks and alcohol. Santa’s Workshop and various performances in a theatre. Combined with the two domes, we spent around 7 hours there. It was a tiring yet very wonderful experience there. There’s still plenty of ‘wow’ factor to this tourist attraction (still very crowded) even after many years. Singapore did very well in its tourism.

An exciting theme park experience in my first ever visit to Universal Studios Singapore today.

I have been to the entrance of the Universal Studios Singapore at Sentosa Island for couple of times in the past but never had the opportunity to enter into the theme park. I remember I could only stand outside of the gate and had a peek to the theme park. Today is the day when I finally got to enjoy the rides inside and I’m super excited. I couldn’t remember how many years have gone by since I last visited a theme park. The normal admission price for an adult is SGD76 while a child ticket would costs SGD56. I’m visiting the park with four of my newly met friends in Singapore.

The entrance fee is certainly expensive and so I would want to cover all the rides that I wanted to in the park. We reached HarbourFront MRT station in the VivoCity Mall at around 8.40am and we walked to the island through the beautiful promenade. We immediately went into the park once it opens at 10am and the first ride we went to was the Battlestar Galactica. It is the world’s tallest dueling roller coaster and we went for both ‘Cylon’ and ‘Human’ coasters. It was super exhilarating and I’m really nervous as I have not been on a scary roller coaster ride for a long time. Our first two rides in the park were certainly giving us high adrenaline.

Before we came to the park, I have researched and discovered that queue for each ride would usually takes up to over an hour and this worries me because we didn’t purchase the super costly express pass. Fortunately, the queue today for most of the rides are not that long and we were able to cover all the rides that we have planned earlier. We went for the famous Transformers ride, Revenge of the Mummy ride (failed first attempt as the roller coaster experienced technical problem and had to close for some time when we were already very near in the queue…fortunately, it is opened back later in the late afternoon and I even went for the ride twice), Puss in Boots ride, Jurassic Park boat ride, Enchanted ride, Sesame Street ride, Shrek show, Madagascar ride, etc. Also not to be missed is the engaging Waterworld live action show and the hilarious-looking Jurassic World show.

There were some cool spots throughout the park for photographs such as at the lake giving a glimpse of a large chunk of the park, the Far Far Away Castle, the Battlestar Galactica roller coasters and the Hollywood street that greets visitors once they enter into the park. The park is quite small but is enough for a full day trip. We left the park at about 7pm and we were very satisfied. We had dinner at the Malaysian Food Street just outside the theme park before leaving the island and get back to our home respectively. The time at there will not be complete without a photograph of the famous ‘Universal Studios’ globe at the entrance of the park.

It was a tiring day but certainly a fun and a memorable one. Had a wonderful experience there and it’s worth 76 dollar from my point of view since I have covered most of the rides and shows (skipped some due to timing as well as certain rides are more kids-oriented). Really enjoyed the trip to Universal Studios Singapore today. I also realized that most attractions here will get you wet, but that for me is a good thing since the weather today was so hot.

9 days 7 nights Chinese New Year 2018 trip to Zhangjiajie, China

I’m back to Malaysia after a lengthy holiday trip to Zhangjiajie, China with my parents during this year’s Chinese New Year festival. Today is already the 7th day of lunar new year and the CNY mood is no longer here. We went to the airport on 14th February for the trip and have returned this morning on 22nd February. So, that’s equivalent to 9 days and 7 nights. I have a wonderful time during the trip (visiting all the beautiful attractions in Zhangjiajie but disappointed by heavy mist that makes it impossible for us to view them clearly and take pictures, not falling ill at all in the whole trip and that’s quite a miracle, meeting awesome people in the tour group).

My advice to the people who are interested to visit Zhangjiajie in the future; avoid visiting the place in winter (like what we did). The mountains are all covered with thick mist and you hardly see anything. Frequent rain also hinder an anticipating wonderful experience visiting these attractions. Also avoid travelling during the busy Chinese New Year period (like what we did) as the crowd is super huge and unbearable at these tourist destinations. We wasted a lot of time just by queuing (or more accurately; squeezing) and in long bus journeys. Nevertheless, we still managed to see some beautiful places and had great time over there. The attractions are all marvelous and interesting. This trip is mostly viewing the natural landmarks, and I have to admit that I’m a bit bored after seeing similar stuff (rocks, mountains, rivers and cliffs again and again) in the later days of the trip.

This is my 4th time visiting China (had been to Hong Kong & Shenzhen in 2006, Beijing & Tianjin in 2009, and Yunnan in 2014). The public toilets are still poorly maintained (very smelly and dirty) while the mainland Chinese are mostly still having some discipline issues (cutting queue, behaving inappropriately, spitting everywhere, etc). These are what you will still experience when visiting China despite the huge growth the country has been seeing in recent decades. And one more thing; when you are going to China in a tour group, it is compulsory to visit some shopping stops (we covered tea, silk, foot massage and body health, and latex mattress).

Here are some of the pictures I have taken during the trip. Besides visiting Zhangjiajie, we also visited Changsha and Fenghuang (all in Hunan province):

Changsha Poetry Wall

Phoenix Ancient Town – highlight: stilted wooden buildings along a river, some famous buildings around here include Xiong Xiling (first Prime Minister of China) and Shen Congwen (famous Chinese writer) Former Residences.

Tianmen Mountain National Park – highlight: world’s longest cableway to reach the mountains, has glass walkway hanging over by the cliff, Tianmen Cave with 999 steps (closed during winter due to slippery steps).

Yuanjiajie Scenic Area – highlight: ‘Avatar’-like mountains, ‘First Bridge in the World’ (natural formation) – cannot see it at all due to misty weather, Bailong elevator – world’s highest outdoor elevator.

Zhangjiajie National Park – highlight: Ten-Mile Natural Gallery (seeing rock formations again).

Baofeng Lake

Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon – highlight: Glass bridge (once the world’s longest glass-floor bridge).

Xibu Street

Charm Xiang Xi Cultural Show

Hunan Embroidery Hall

Tujia Sand Painting Gallery

Jiandu Museum, Changsha – highlight: collection of historical bamboo slips and wooden tablets dating back more than a thousand years ago.

Huangxing Street, Changsha – highlight: main shopping and entertainment district in Changsha, the 452 metres tall Changsha IFS Tower (tallest in the city, construction almost completed and had topped out, same height with KL’s Petronas Twin Towers) is near here.

That’s it for the highlight of my trip. Time for a rest at home after this exhausting yet wonderful trip (totally had a different experience here – visiting the attractions in Zhangjiajie on busy season is like being in a state of a running refugee).

(Copyrights reserved to all images in this post)

5 days 4 nights trip to Bangkok & Hua Hin, Thailand for the Raya 2017 holiday

I’m back. I have just returned to Malaysia last night from Thailand with my parents. Good time passed very quickly. My 5 days 4 nights vacation to Bangkok and Hua Hin in Thailand ended, and the Raya holiday as well (except for school children that gets to enjoy one-week long break and adults who took annual leave). It was a great experience and fun in this trip, especially in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. It was also very tiring at the same time as we need to walk a lot and the extremely scorching sun made it worst. We followed guided tour (in a tour group) and the tight schedule (like approximately only an hour for every destinations, up to 6 or 7 destinations a day) really made us (especially the elders) very exhausting.

24th June 2017 (Saturday)

We took a 2-hours morning flight to Don Mueung Airport, the old airport in Bangkok. Once there, we wasted a lot of time in the airport to complete the immigration and waiting for the others in our group to get ready. Also wasted a lot of time on the road to the hotel for checking in due to the unusual traffic congestion (well, Bangkok is famous for traffic jams). Hence, we don’t have much time to walk around on our own in the afternoon. We just walked to the streets near the hotel (Eastin Makkasan Hotel, 4-stars). We had a nice dinner in Chocolate Ville (don’t be confused by the name, there isn’t any chocolate here), a huge themed restaurant built to imitate the romantic Western streets and environment with Western-styled traditional buildings, bridges, lake, gazebo, lighthouse, etc. The atmosphere is beautiful with the lighting at night.

At night, we went to the Erawan Shrine, a Hindu shrine of Lord Brahma. The place becomes famous after the bombing incident in 2015 near the shrine that killed 20 people.

25th June 2017 (Sunday)

We went to Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) in the morning. It is a Budhhist temple with its spires as distinctive feature (and colorful porcelain of its main spire/tower). It is one of the most famous landmarks in Bangkok and it is situated on the side of Chao Phraya River. The on-going renovation works to the main tower prevented us to take nice clean pictures of the temple.

Next, we went to Maeklong Railways Market. Not long ago, I have seen a video getting viral on social sites showing a market with stalls lining up along a railway and has to retract their stalls when the train passes. That is the place. Now, I’m there to witness it in my own eyes and it was unique and amazing. A lot of tourists crowded the place not to shop at the market but to check out this quick event.

Then, we leave Bangkok and go to Hua Hin. Our first destination there is Santorini Park, a themed attraction with an open mall concept that resembles the famous Santorini Island in Greece with its white buildings and brightly one-coloured windows (mostly blue). There are retail shops, and some activities or rides inside such as Haunted House, Ferris Wheel, Water Slide, Merry-Go-Round, etc.

After that, we went to Swiss Sheep Farm. I noticed that Hua Hin likes to create tourist destinations with foreign places as their themes. The town lacks its own identity in terms of its tourist destinations. This Swiss Sheep Farm is a farm (of course) for us to have the opportunity to feed the sheep (I skipped that) and to take pictures of the many decorations in that place such as a huge old windmill, some 3D painting, several miniatures of popular characters such as Transformers and the Avengers, etc.

In the evening, we head to the Hua Hin Night Market. Stalls selling local delicacies, souvenirs, bags, accessories, clothing, food, and offering Thai massage lined up the street. Then, we depart to Novotel for a two-nights stay in Hua Hin. It is a seaside resort with of course the amazing sea view.

26th June 2017 (Monday)

Hua Hin Royal Palace is the first destination of the day. It is a royal residence that serves as a seaside retreat for the past kings of Thailand. It is quite a modest complex with elevated timber structures. The lushness of its surrounding almost overwhelms the palace. Major parts of the complex is also currently under renovation and we are barred from entering those parts. Hence, we only stayed a short while here.

Then, we went to Hua Hin Railway Station, not to take any train but to view the beautiful train station (iconic for the structures with red and cream colours’ assembly) and an old steam locomotive for a short while.

Our next destination of the day is Pleanwarn Eco Vintage Village. It is Thailand’s first eco vintage village and is built to recapture the old classic charm of Hua Hin. It is an open lawn area with two-storeys buildings of retails and restaurants around. They are constructed of recycled or used items including its wonderful entrance of a void surrounded with huge cladding of reused wood and profiled metal sheets.

We then went to Wat Huay Mongkol. It is a Buddhist temple unique for a large statue of a legendary Thai monk on top of a huge podium.

Then, we went to theHua Hin Safari and Adventure Park. This is a place not recommended for anyone. The staff there are annoying and keep pushing us to purchase their packages (tiger show, cobra show, elephant ride, photos, etc). The prices are extremely high and it is just a small ordinary safari. We went there just to see their elephant show. The show is not bad (elephants performing like painting, playing some sports, etc) but I sympathized the suffering that those elephants have to endure to entertain us.

The last destination of the day before taking a dinner on a seaside restaurant is FN Outlet. It is a modern elevated mall with a forest containing pond, bridges and Dinosaurs sculptures on the ground level.

 

27th June 2017 (Tuesday)

Today, we went back to Bangkok (the original name for the city and still called by the Thais is Krung Thep). We visited the famous Damnersaduak Floating Market. The name is self-explanatory. There is a small river crowded with boats carrying tourists and boats with people selling stuff. We took a boat ride and view the lifestyle of the traditional floating houses on our way to the Floating Market. Once there, we just walked on the side of the market where there is also a huge place crowded with stalls selling the same things again. To buy from there or from any markets in Bangkok, you have to bargain up to 70% of the original price the sellers show to you.

Then, we were back to the city region and proceed to the Art in Paradise (3D Art Museum) in Esplanade Mall. There are a lot of cool arts inside that allow visitors to interact and take pictures with to get the realistic 3D feel. Even the elders in our tour group joined in the fun including my father. That was very unusual.

Next, we went to the Honey World, a place that promotes and sells honey products to the tourists. When you are going for a trip in a guided travel group, visiting these places is a norm. We are fortunate that we only get to visit one in this trip. The honey products on sale are being promoted with all the healthy benefits they offered, but in the end, my family end up buying nothing. We usually don’t get interested.

Our last destination of the day is Asiatique Riverfront. It is a new complex by the side of the Chao Phraya River. It’s a huge open-air mall with retails, restaurants, waterfront walk and rides. It is a very happening and vibrant area. Amazing atmosphere with clean environment. Thailand is exceptional in creating this kind of tourist attractions. It’s a huge success.

28th June 2017 (Wednesday)

There is no programme offered by our tour agency today and so we have free time in the morning before our flight back to Kuala Lumpur in late afternoon. We then go to the Grand Palace. It is considered to be the No.1 attraction in Bangkok and I couldn’t believe our tour agency didn’t cover it in their itinerary. Hence, we have to visit it on our own in the remaining time before flying back. It is a huge complex of palace that serves as the main official residence of the King of Thailand.

 

The former King. King Bhumibol who reigned for about 69 years and is very beloved by all Thais had passed away last year’s October. The country then observes one year of mourning for the late king and he will be cremated in this coming October. Many roads around the palace is blocked and heavy security is observed. Until now, there are still a lot of Thais dressed in full black visiting the palace to mourn for him. Their loyalty and love to the late king is unquestionable. Some areas in the palace are also blocked off from visitors due to the same reason but that doesn’t lower my excitement of seeing the palace. It was breathtaking with its towering structures and intricate details on the columns, walls, railings, ceilings and roofs. This place is certainly a must-see in Bangkok eventhough the entrance ticket is quite costly (500 Baht for a person). You also have to dress very decently to visit the palace (also applies to all temples and other palaces in Thailand).

Then, we walked to the nearby Wat Pho. It is a Budhhist temple known for a huge reclining Buddha’s sculpture and houses the largest collection of Buddha images in Thailand. The temple is quite huge with many areas within. If not for the hot weather, I would have spend a much longer time in both the Grand Palace and in Wat Pho.

And then, our trip ends. We went back to Don Mueung Airport to catch our flight back to Kuala Lumpur. It’s almost midnight by the time we arrived home. I bought a pair of shoes, some shirts and a short and a fridge magnet. We must buy a fridge magnet every time we visit a new place. It has becomes our family tradition. We had tom yam in almost every meals during the tour. I find that the food are very heavy in taste in Thailand (either too sweet, too spicy, or too sour). Generally, the trip is awesome and I had great time during the vacation. I particularly enjoy the days in Bangkok. Hua Hin is rather boring to me eventhough that place is more relaxing and has lesser tourists. On the other hand, I felt that the newer tourist attractions in Bangkok and Hua Hin (maybe applies to whole Thailand too) are too ‘artificial’. Most of them are constructed just to imitate foreign elements. I would rather visit the real places rather than see the imitations.

Bangkok’s city skyline pictures below. The tallest on the first picture below is Baiyoke Tower which is formerly the tallest building in Bangkok. The title is now taken by the new Mahanakhon Tower shown in the second picture.

(Copyrights reserved to all images in this post. Kindly request permission if you desire to use one or more images in this post.)