You know many of us - when talked about vacation, we wanna go US, Europe, Japan, Korea or ....even Singapore!
How many of us will actually consider East Malaysia - Sabah or Sarawak as one of their destinations?
Lets look at one of the seven wonders of the world - Grand Canyon
Beautiful isnt it? with the sun set n everything....
Look again, isnt that wonderful? except the picture ur looking below is Kota Kinabalu
The only difference I can think of - ermm off the top of my head, is Grand Canyon will cost you 5k? but KK 1K and you will have some extra pocket money for shopping...
Of coz another practical one is - u actually have to hike up to KK with all the mountain climbing or hiking equipments. Thats gonna cost you another big buck :)
Seriously! look again.....
This is Grand Canyon
And this is KK
I personally think they are equally beautiful....so why dont we support our local tourism?
Cuti-cuti Malaysia! I know blabbing about this in my blog arent gonna help contribute in the Malaysia's tourism coz i only have like average 5 readers a day.
Originally, our honeymoon destination is Pulau Sipadan in Sabah and i heard is not cheap but is gooooooooorgeous! but now since honeymoon is gonna be a gift to us. We gonna make full use of it....Tahiti maybe? or Fiji......wahh!!! hahaha see lah..
anyway back to my main point, so yea....support Malaysia tourism ok? next time you westies think of a holiday, think east malaysia, i will think the Iban and Kadazan culture will be quite different...according to my mom, she seen and learned alot during her visit in Sarawak.
If I havent got tight down by my job and family, i really wish I could take two months off each year to travel around, see the world, learn new culture, and meet new peoples. Just think of all the different weather, different currency, different language, different road sign.......
Just all the different things that you are about to explore? how much would you actually learned? I ve gotten comment like :"nicole, you obviously havent travel enough" when I freaked out about my travelling partner bringing a man to our room and threw the condom around.
Being well traveled doesnt mean you are well slept around. agree? But to some degree, I havent seen the world enough, the place I really want to go is Egypt, Rome and Greece. To learn their history. Sigh.......one day, one day.......
Went to a Jungle tour, when i said jungle tour, is not what you think hiking in the jungle, but we drove a speed boat through a jungle river to a snorkeling spot - there were 10 speed boats in a line, didnt see much during the snorkeling trip but the journey there n back was pretty exciting! (pictures coming soon)
It was hard driving the speedboat while taking the pictures - quite a bumpy ride - at first i tot my boat was gonna flip - the tour guide had to kick me to go faster!
passed by this little village.
Under water - snorkeling trip wasnt very impressive though (compared to Redang or Thailand), not much to see.
Tired and beated - enjoy my little boat ride with sun set
what a view eh?
This is a boat where they were a wedding banquet inside, everybody was drunk cheering the bride and groom.
I spent a night at How's in Vancouver because my flight is 7am , got to the airport around 5am , had 3 hours sleep- dead tired but excited as hell!! For some reason, I thought this is going to be a wonderful trip esp with Melissa - coz she's a really fun person, mana tau..........
Day 1
I felt asleep in the aircraft even b4 it took off, i think i slept for good three hours until this screaming baby woke me up, he cried n cried for at least an hour!!! gosh!!! in cancun airport, amazingly the first thing to greet us at the baggages track mills is a DIRTY G-STRING! with white spots, ewwwwwww!!! Oh my god oh my god so excited!!!! we specially requested for ocean view, and we are generally happy with the view except theres wasnt a balcony.
After dumping everything, we had lunch at the sushi bar by the beach - how cool is that!!! we had two beers, 4 margaritas and were sibeh drunk already! Dinner that night was at Coba Restaurant - International buffet, food was amazing!!! miss darling so much!! It was a good night sleep.....with all that margaritas!!
When I told my classmates that the margaritas in Mexico isnt that strong, and they called me an Alcoholic?!?!?!
Day 2
Spent a chillaxing day at the beach for 5 hours the next day! was so roasted.
Day 3
hotel team bergotong-royong moving the tree out early in the morning
Breakfast at Coba Restaurant - first day was yum, 2nd, 3rd day? yuck! sorry i shouldnt complain
Hanging out at downtown on Sunday - everything was closed.
Man brought in his little radio n sang in the bus to make a buck or two - wonderful vocal though!
Went clubbing that night and u know what happened. Put it this way, is spring break and Cancun is filled with horny teenagers! even the old ones!
Day 4
Wonder around downtown aimlessly and tired-bad day!
Day 5 - Food poisoning, boo!
went downtown to get medicine and stopped by this beautiful outdoor mall - La Isla
I will so buy the simpson shirt for darling but i completely ran out of cash!!! is only 5$! soooo regret!
Day 6
Day trip to Chichen Itza
"The massive Kukulcán pyramid called "El Castillo" (the castle) is roughly at the center of the site. Climbing it is quite a challenge and those who make it are rewarded with a spectacular view of the city and surrounding country side. A trip inside the pyramid is quite the opposite. The dark, unbearably humid corridors and chambers are too much for some people.
If you stand facing the foot of the temple and shout the echo comes back as a piercing shriek. Also, a person standing on the top step can speak in a normal voice and be heard by those at ground level for some distance. This quality is also shared by another Mayan pyramid at Tikal." (check out the video at the end for a short demo)
Back in ancient time, only high class ppls get to be cremated after death and their bones were throw into this well, they found lotsa n lotsa of skeletons underneath that well, i felt the "yum hei" as i was approaching it
Saw 4 newly born puppies by one of the blood sucker gift shop (US$2 for a Popsicle) - visiting Chichen Itza made me realized how fortunate I am and should cherish it, saw small kids and really old woman trying their best to sell handkerchiefs under the cruel sun.
I bought most of my souvenirs from Chichen Itza, coz it was cheap and I got two stone carving from this guy who attracted my attention by yelling "1 dollar, 1 dollar" i was like , NO WAY, for a beautiful stone carving worth 1 dollar? so he got me ....
" 1 mayan dollar maam" " Mayan dollar? what is that?" " thats equal to 100 pesos which is 10 USD" *Pengsang*
after his persistence I bought two from him for $ 6! hehe good bargain eh?
It was super super hot! a lady got sunstroke and fainted.
Men carving under the shade - its a tough life
We went to this lagoon hole to cool off, this hole is beautiful, is 60 meter deep, so basically bottomless, we dove and dove , the water is sooo purified and coooooling! kinda scary coz you dunno whats underneath the water(especially after the well visit), as soon as i dove, i swam up right away, YES! i was the only one with life jacket.
Day 7 -
Went to a Jungle tour, when i said jungle tour, is not what you think hiking in the jungle, but we drove a speed boat through a jungle river to a snorkeling spot - there were 10 speed boats in a line, didnt see much during the snorkeling trip but the journey there n back was pretty exciting! (pictures coming soon)
Went to Dos Lunas, a fine fine Italian gourmet in the hotel - the food was amazing!!!! I only had 3 course meals coz there wasnt any room for desert anymore. There were freshly baked bread served with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, tiger prawns with garlic and butter as antipasti, first course - sparagus prawns (YES i love prawns!), and second course - triple A sirloin with red wine sauce, it was the most tender sirloin i ever tasted!!! then me happy and drunk =) , coz the steak will be tasteless without red wine.
Saying good bye to the hotel Lobby bar, pools, buddha bar, beach....(please click to enlarge)
Night show by the pool
One thing that I found really strange is - in Mexico you are not suppose to throw toilet paper into the toilet bowl, theres always a basket besides for u to erm dispose after you erm wiped. ewww!! otherwise it will plug the toilet. Cancun was beautiful, overall i will rate the trip as fair, coz of few incidents that upset me, anyway im back home safely =)
I ve been so fortunate to meet Marisol, Cindy, Raul, and Gary - crew from the hotel.
Marisol n Cindy worked at the concierge service, and after a huge fight with erm, her - i packed some of my stuff n went down to the lobby, Marisol has been helping me with the investigation of those stolen items from my room, i went up to her and tears started rolling down, i had nowhere to go, so brought me to the back n gave me a big hug, then bring me some drinks n tissues n told me to calm down- then Cindy (Marisol`s manager) came along and she said she heard what happened, I requested if I could get a room just for tomorrow night and i could sleep in the lobby tonight (coz it was really late anyway) - Cindy walked off n said she will try to help and started talking to Raul ( the front desk supervisor) , from the distance , it didnt look good. i literally saw Cindy putting her palms together and was begging Raul. Im so impressed with their service and generally nice human beings. Can you imagine going across the country and find out that strangers u met along the ways will try their best to help you wayyyy more so than the person you came with.
is a cruel truth..
So anyway back to my story - i was chit chatting with Marisol while waiting, so she found out that this vacation was originally belong to me and my husband.
She said "ur friend should be the one stay outside and u will get the room, if you want , u have the authority to do that and we can get the security guards to escort ur fren out, n put u in the room! " Of coz i said no, is my choice not to stay in the room, coz i really couldnt! i will blow and kill somebody i swear - yea not very good temper. Marisol advised that i shouldnt let Cindy know bout this, coz according to her, Cindy is a very straight forward and had very strong principles, "she will put you in ur room and have your friend to leave." well of coz no, where s she gonna go with her stuff? when Cindy came back n said they can only let me stay for the night and i will have to leave 8 in the morning. Marisol told me to tell Cindy about it. yeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaa, no ill take the room just for the night.
I dunno where m i going to sleep tonight, im really worried about the stuff in my room, will they be destroyed? I dunno.... I dont trust nobody no more...
and oh Gary, he´s the night shift manager and him n few guards came rescue me when the wind blow my door shutted and the door got stuck, hahahah seriously, this cracks me up, coz whats next??¿¿¿ M i cursed or what? and Gary let me use his office computer instead of paying 3$US for 15 mins to use the hotel internet (coz he knows that im so broke), guess is their way of compensating my lost? We chatted and I found out so much more about Mexico.
hahso yea, i came back and she was crying on the bed apologising, and i felt bad for leaving her behind. so we were good again.
next day, i got bad bad food poisoning from, im guessing the sushi bar. i didnt feel like going out. and she wanted to go to the beach. and i cant go, but then i went downtown to buy medicines and use the internet service to check on job status, or chill and chat with darling etc...(with a toilet roll in my bag =P)
Felt better after the medication and i did some shopping too! got a necklace carved in my name and met this very nice mexican who sent me allll the songs i want through bluetooth to my phone while waiting for my necklace to be carved.
came back and realised that my money 150$US (which i kept at the back of my jeans pocket) and ipod were gone. yea..this vacation is getting better isnt it? reported to the hotel and there were two security guards searched through all the room and didnt find anything...
and today went to chichen itza, we fought and apparently , here goes..
"I felt sorry that you had to step onto a used condom but we didnt do that on purpose so I dont think is my fault. And if you dont like us doing it in the room it is ur responsibility to use ur voice"
can you believe that!?
yup, im sleeping in another room, and vacation just getting better.
I was dragged to a club after gotten so drunk at the lobby - after paying 20usd to get it, it was packed with spring breakers from all over the place...gosh!
Melissa brought a guy home and i remembered jokingly said that she could kick me out of the room if she needed it and which i kept my ¨promise ¨
i brought my blanket and slept at the lobby, after half an hour of deeply asleep, i was waken up by these two french men who just came back from party asking y m i sleeping in the lobby - after explaining to them they tried n tried to get me to go to their room!! like wtf? so i started telling them love story about me and Darling - and they are still trying! then finally gave up and asked how my fren looked like, is she wild, is she open??? gosh am i suppose to pimp like fucking 5 ´clock in the morning?!?! Then these two french women showed up and they started talking in the language that i dont understand on the place i was sleeping!! FUCK man!!
anyway i got so tired and after breakfast, i called the room, twice, and rang the door bell but nobody answered, so i had to get the bell boy to open up for me, and i went to bed - hadnt completely fall asleep but heard them doing it again right beside me!!! how gross is that!?!?! that was not cool at all man! and i woke up at 10 am stepped onto a used condom beside my bed! this had completely ruined my vacation...i mean dont do it on the bed im sleeping !!! i dun even wanna fucking stay in that room anymore , im sitting in the an internet cafe downtown, grumpy, tired, sleepy, burnt and this is turning into my worst vacation ever!
Im in this internet cafe in one of the mall call Las Americanos, but what am i doing staying inside instead of on the beach?
I spent 6 hours outside yesterday and im soooooooo damn burnt right now, i did splashed lotsa suntan oil on me, but there werent any spf...im so roasted and crispy right now, ouch!
I guess in a way is good coz i cant try on any clothes when i go shopping, means i wont be spending money!!
gosh i ve signed up for tours, many tours,,,, more updates later...
Just came back from the project Lab and handed everything over to the rest of the team, and i think we are pretty good to go! Sorry Dave that you have to do the re-wiring by yourself, but im sure is an easy task for you...
Assignments, checked;
psyc research studies ,checked;
project, party checked;
interview, checked!
waiting to hear back from them on Monday. On and all, the interview went well and I really hope they ll pick me! *finger crossed* coz they just posted the job and im sure they will be receiving more applications and more candidates coming in. Pray pray pray!!
K ill be offline for 10 days, off to packing now!! hooooorraaaaaay Cancun here I come!!
Darling found out that his passport is expired thus he cant go to Mexico, so Melissa is going with me, maybe Candyce, maybe Kelly will meet me there!
So instead of a romantic trip with darling, is an All girls trip! anyway, is all good, felt bad for darling though but that oughta teach him a lesson. At least he got two cute puppies to accompany him... ( I better stock up the freezer with pasta and curry)
Remember sometime ago I mentioned about Naoki and Yoko's incident in Mexico? some hotel overbooked them and they had to wait in the lobby for 4 hours and finally find other hotel.
It was a bad experience for them but they compensate them with a free week stay , thats right, ONE WHOLE WEEK! plus ALL MEALS INCLUSIVE!! Open bar!
Thus, they worked very hard to get that voucher transfer to Darling's name, after all the complains and whining , and they did it!!!!!
When we decided the date to travel - the hotel didnt have any availability , and they are giving us a even better hotel!!!
Traveling two weeks from now -
ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ~ Mexico, Beach, Sun, Margaritas, Burritos .....
here we come!!!!!!
you know whats better than margarita? UNLIMITED MARGARITAS!!
tennis, water sport, gyms, shows and events, ALL INCLUDED! Introducing the Grand Oasis Playa 5 star hotel
We gonna snorkel, sun bath...and and and....oh gosh do so many things in 1 week!!
Now, I gotto get that piece of circuit board done before Im allowed to take off !!
Stress, Stress But very motivated at the same time....
The only difference I can think of - ermm off the top of my head, is Grand Canyon will cost you 5k? but KK 1K and you will have some extra pocket money for shopping...
