Gunung Baling Hiking - How To Go

It is crazy that I need to wake up at 4:30am.

We depart from Bukit Mertajam at 5am, and reach Gunung Baling at 6am. So estimate at least 1 hour from mainland to Baling and at least 1.5 hour from Penang Island.

The entire journey took us around 2 hours to peak.
First 30 minutes is a very muddy steep slope, go slow, follow your own pace, not your friends'. Beginner K.O. at this stage.
The next 30 minutes is less muddy but still steep with more tree roots and steps.

The last hours are all rocky and you need to use a lot of hand. There are quite a lot of hikers, so there is plenty of rest time at some of the difficult part while waiting others to pass thru.

For those who follow my blog before, you will know my stamina is really bad. :p
So you will know when I tell you it is OK, that is definitely an OK.

For stamina wise, it is totally OK (Just need to go slow on the first 30 minutes).
But the rocky place is dangerous and slippery which I do not recommend for kids less than 12 year-old.

We reach the peak at 8am, missed the sunrise. However, the view is still, SPECTACULAR. it is definitely worth waking up at 4:30am. I feel it even nicer than Lembing Hill.

If you are from Penang Island, go towards Alor Setar direction after edit from bridge. Go straight until you see the BKE Expressway exit (To Grik/Kulim Hi-Tech Park).
Follow the highway to Grik, drive straight and you will need to pay two RM1.60 toll. Please make sure you have a touch n' go card in hand. After you pass through 2 tolls, go straight until u see exit to Baling on your left.  Follow the sign to Baling. After you slightly pass through Baling Town, you will see a Chinese cave temple on your left, and after awhile you will see a small road on your left with signboard Pendakian Gunung Baling.

Location: 5°41'13.3" N 100°54'53.6" E


Things you might need:
Headlight (if hike early)
Long pants (avoid cratching on rocks)
Kampung Adidas is the best

Popular Book Fair 2016 - BookFest Malaysia, KLCC

Annual BookFest is coming to town again ~

When?
BookFest @ Malaysia 2014 will officially launch on 26 July 2014. The exhibition will open from 10 am to 10 pm daily starting from 2 July till 10 July 2016.

How much is the entrance fee?
Admission is RM 2.50 per ticket. FREE admission is given to students 18 years & below and senior citizens 60 years & above.

Where is the venue?
Hall 1 - 5 (Ground Floor) and Grand Ballroom & Banquet Hall, Level 3.
Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, KLCC, Malaysia.

Below are the direction suggested by BookFest.
BY TRAIN (LRT)
Take the Light Rail Transit (LRT), Putra Line to KLCC station. Turn left after exiting the turnstiles and walk through the Suria KLCC shopping centre Concourse Level to the Centre Court. Turn left and make your way past Cold Storage to the Guardian Pharmacy where there is a walkway through to the Convention Centre. Take the elevator to the Ground Floor where you will be directed to the Registration area.

BY ROAD
If you are in a taxi or a chauffeured car, approach the Centre along Jalan Pinang and turn left into the main entrance (second turn after the Mandarin Oriental Hotel) for dropping off.

Parking Options: 
1. Take the first left after the Mandarin Oriental Hotel from Jalan Pinang up the ramp to the access to the car parking below the Centre.
2. Park in KLCC Suria Car Park and exit to the Concourse level Centre Court. Make your way past Cold Storage to the Guardian Pharmacy where there is a walkway through to the Convention Centre. Take the elevator to the Ground Floor where you will be directed to the Registration area.

*Personal Opinion: if you visit during weekend, nearby buildings around KLCC offer much cheaper rate but you have to take a walk and avoid night time. Not recommended for family with kids. 

BY FOOT
From Suria KLCC shopping center Ground Floor center court the the park exit into the KLCC park and turn right. Follow the Esplanade along towards the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and then follow the path around the edge of the park towards the center of the building and enter via the Park Entrance

Source from: http://www.bookfestmalaysia.com/

From KLIA2 to KLIA by KLIA Ekspress or KLIA Transit

It is very frequent that we travel on short-haul flight via AirAsia, Firefly, Malindo and other low-cost carrier that have an established network around this region.

In Malaysia, low-cost airlines mostly landed at KLIA2 while full-service airlines landed at KLIA.

The travelling time became a concern when we need to transit between the two airports, which is so near yet so far.

I was travelling from Penang to KLIA2 and departed to Japan from KLIA.
Let's see my actual travelling time in this transit.

14:55 Landed and walked into KLIA2 terminal.
15:05 Arrive at KLIA Ekspres and KLIA Transit platform. (Same place for both)
15:15 Next train
15:27 Reach KLIA Departure Hall

Total 32 minutes without collecting check-in baggage from KLIA2. Please spare some time if you have luggage to collect and 5 more minutes to travel within KLIA as KLIA have two terminals depends which Gate you are assigned to.

Fee: RM2 (Touch n' Go available for use but I don't recommend it because system was down when I arrived at KLIA, end up taking more time to reissue ticket, or probably I was unlucky. )

KLIA2: Walk towards Arrival Hall. Look out for the signboard and follow it.

KLIA2: You can take either KLIA Ekspres or KLIA transit as next stop is KLIA for both 

Check-out the departure time of the train. The train that arrived first might not be first who depart

Big Bad Wolf Book Fair in Penang 2016

The Wolf is coming back to the town in this March! Book lover, don't forget to mark your calendar, the book fair will be started from this coming Thursday! 

Date: 30 March 2016 to 10 April 2016

Time: 10 AM to 10 PM

Venue: Penang Times Square

Adam's Kitchen at Perda, Bukit Mertajam

Get to know Adam's Kitchen when browse through offpeak.my, the new discount website which offer pretty good deals.

On this hot Saturday, I said why not give it a try. Although it is at Bandar Perda, a place where you hardly see Chinese nowadays since Aeon Jusco moved out, no offence, but I really don't understand why most Chinese only hang out at Chinese dominant place. Probably most Chinese lived in the city their whole life. Most, but not all. I just so miss my kampung. :D

Adam's Kitchen located at the same row with Kapitan Bandar Perda, facing the inner road.

The ambient is comfortable in the afternoon. With air-conditioning and light music. The staff is friendly and always with smilly face, make us feel really welcome.

Here comes the food...

Grilled Chicken Chop RM16.90

The chicken is served with generous mashed potatoes and the meat is tender. The vegetable is washed clean.

Grilled Lamb Chop RM22.90

I must say... the Lamb Chop is awesome! The lamb is cooked to its perfect tenderness and without the lambshy smell that some people might afraid of. Probably the best cooked in Bukit Mertajam I ever tasted. The taste is a bit salty to my liking, but it is still perfect. Salad was served with mint sauce instead of the typical mayonnaise nor thousand island sauce. Totally feel the sincerity in their cooking. I cannot believe there's such a good cafe hidden in Perda!

Mojito RM8.90

The Mojito is equally good and refreshing!

I believe I will definitely come back again very soon!

Penang Travel Privilege Card - Discount Card

The Ministry of Tourism & Culture and Tourism Malaysia Penang has partnered with Penang Tourist Centre to launched the ‘Travel Privilege Card – Penang’ (formerly known as Museum Adventure Pass), which offer a great discount for Penang attractions and participating cafe and restaurant.

Card holder can also get additional 5% discount when booking hotels or homestay at staynest.com.

This Travel Privilege Card providing up to 20% discount at over 100 outlets. It can be purchase at RM20 and is transferable with validity for one year.

Price: RM20
Validity: 1 Year

Where to buy the Travel Privilege Card?
http://www.penangtouristcentre.com/distribution/ 

Sources:
http://www.what2seeonline.com/2016/03/travel-privilege-card-for-penang-attractions-cafes/
http://www.penangtouristcentre.com/

Maxwell Hill Accomodation - The Nest (Bukit Larut)

I have been to almost all highland in Malaysia except Maxwell Hill.
After much pushing by Viv, finally we are here during this Hari Raya Haji holiday!

Maxwell Hill only accessible by Jeep from the Maxwell Front Office, heard from the people from the same jeep, the ticket for the day was sold out at 8:30am. So to avoid disappointment, come before 8am during holiday season.

We choose to stay a night on the hill at one of the bungalow - The Nest.
The Nest booked the jeep for us and we just need to go to the office to pay RM7 per person and get the ticket before the agreed time.

The jeep journey took about 30 minutes to reach the drop off point on the hill. They ask us to stay in the Jeep and they will send us to The Nest.

After another 3 minutes drive, the driver drop us at middle of no where, with a staircase in front of us. We hike up, and up... I almost thought this is not the right path. After 10 minutes, a very homey bungalow house appeared behind the trees, on top of this small hill.

Uncle Lim and his wife welcome us with a great smile. :D

They are preparing the lunch while we taking pictures and walk around the house.
The house is very big with 4 bedrooms and big hall. It is well maintained consider only the old uncle and aunty have to take care the whole house. Do not expect luxury stay but it is clean and do not have the moldy smell.

We are the only guest on that day so we get to choose our room, we took the room with more sunshine, and aunty sent the clean bedsheet after a short while and we make our own bed.

They have room with mixture of double bed and bunk bed too (which we took) but I forgot to take picture before we mess it up.

We watch the birds chirping and time passes by. At around 1pm++, the lunch is ready. The lunch is home cook and they are extremely delicious! I love it!

After lunch, we walk 15-20 minutes down to the Maxwell main area. It rain heavily when we walk and the small umbrella we brought save us from total wet (although half wet)!

Maxwell Hill is lack of maintenance by the authority. Lots of bungalow stay abandoned, and the cafe is closed. What a waste...

It has big area of land, the weather, the great view... some improvement should be done and it will make the place so good.

We then back to The Nest. It is so good to just relax, read, retreat and do nothing in a cold weather with lots of greenery. The night is very very cold and we just hid in the bed. :D Surprisingly I felt a one night stay could be better than a day trip for Maxwell Hill.

Maxwell Hill is just merely an hour plus drive from Penang, it is really good to come by here to enjoy the cool air. :)

How to go to Maxwell Hill
From South - Take North-South Highway and exit at Taiping/Cangkat Jering Exit 146 Toll.
From North - Take North-South Highway and exit at Taiping/Kamunting (U) Exit 148 Toll
GPS: N 4 51.643 E 100 45.566

Jeep Up to Maxwell Hill
Ticket: RM7 for return trip


The Nest 
Contact: 019-5279788
Price: RM70 per pax for one night (inclusive of lunch, dinner and breakfast in the next morning)
Bring your own towel, toilet rolls and toiletries.
(I am not sure The Nest can cook for day trip visitor also, but feel free to call Uncle Lim for inquiry)

Popular Book Fair 2015 - BookFest Malaysia, KLCC

When?
BookFest @ Malaysia 2014 will officially launch on 11 July 2015. The exhibition will open from 10 am to 10 pm daily starting from 11 July till 19 July 2015.

How much is the entrance fee?
Despite the imposed of GST, the admission fee sticks to RM 2.50 per ticket. FREE admission is given to students 18 years & below and senior citizens 60 years & above.

Where is the venue?
Extended an additional hall than last year. It will occupied Hall 1 - 6 (Ground Floor) throughout the 9 days and Grand Ballroom & Banquet Hall, Level 3 from 14th to 19th July, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, KLCC, Malaysia.

Below are the direction suggested by BookFest.
BY TRAIN (LRT)
Take the Light Rail Transit (LRT), Putra Line to KLCC station. Turn left after exiting the turnstiles and walk through the Suria KLCC shopping centre Concourse Level to the Centre Court. Turn left and make your way past Cold Storage to the Guardian Pharmacy where there is a walkway through to the Convention Centre. Take the elevator to the Ground Floor where you will be directed to the Registration area.

FROM Kuala Lumpur International Airport
Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) is only 28 minutes from the Kuala Lumpur city. It is located 75 kilometres (35miles) south of Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC); an hour drive by direct motorway link or 28 minutes on the KLIA Express Rail Link (ERL).

KLIA Ekspres

KLIA Ekspres is an express service that exclusively serves travellers between Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and the city. The journey takes 28 minutes one way and terminates at KL Sentral, the nation's main rail transportation hub.

BY ROAD
If you are in a taxi or a chauffeured car, approach the Centre along Jalan Pinang and turn left into the main entrance (second turn after the Mandarin Oriental Hotel) for dropping off. 

If you are driving, here are your parking options: 

1. Take the first left after the Mandarin Oriental Hotel from Jalan Pinang up the ramp to the access to the car parking below the Centre. 

2. Park in KLCC Suria Car Park and exit to the Concourse level Centre Court. Make your way past Cold Storage to the Guardian Pharmacy where there is a walkway through to the Convention Centre. Take the elevator to the Ground Floor where you will be directed to the Registration area.

*Personal Opinion: if you visit during weekend, nearby buildings around KLCC offer much cheaper rate but you have to take a walk and avoid night time. Not recommended for family with kids. 

BY FOOT
From the Suria KLCC shopping centre Ground Floor centre court take the park exit into the KLCC Park and turn right. Follow the Esplanade along towards the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and then follow the path around the edge of the park towards the centre of the building and enter via the Park Entrance.

Source from: http://www.bookfestmalaysia.com/

Bicycle Route From Queensbay to The Light, Penang

The route started off at the overhead bridge opposite E-Gate. The entrance is at a branch off from the motorcycle lane.

The path is beautiful, quiet but still feel safe from The Light to the Golden Triangle/Putra Place. But I do not see any lamp post on the track so do not come late or during dark time.

The path is smooth for riding and running.

A branch out can be found at The Light car entrance and ones have to cross the road to branch in again to the bicycle path

You can ride straight until it branch to the left to the Marine Police Quarters and there is another small left turn to continue the path. From here to the Queensbay Malay stall, the path is uneven and difficult to ride. I usually choose to ride straight on the vehicle path.

Take the left turn to the Marine Police Quarters. Notice there is another left turn after this.

Vehicle path if you did not branch out left after Marine Police quarter

After the Jetty to Jerejak, right beside Putra Marine Resort there is a left turn to continue to Queensbay Mall. The path continue behind Baystar Condominium. From this part, there are lesser people and recommend better to come with group of people.

And then we reach Queensbay mall. The path end at the last roundabout at the end of the branch out to Coastal Road/FIZ. Total about 8km and took around 1 hour or less one way.

Overall is a pleasant experience and thanks to Penang government provide such a good place for exercise. Hopefully the route can be extended to Georgetown and Bayan Lepas soon and equip with solar lights. Go Penang!

My Experience of Penang to Melaka with Malindo

It was a sunny day when Malindo Air took off from Penang International Airport. This is my first time sitting on a propeller plane. Dad has been telling me how noisy a propeller plane will be and it just make me can't wait to find out myself!

The sound was indeed super annoying when we board the plane. However, once get into the cabin, the sound reduce at least 80%-90%, which make the in-flight experience pleasant. The sound proof is much better than Firefly which I get to find out as I sat on a Firefly propeller plane a week after Malindo's.

The chair is more comfortable than AirAsia, more ergonomic for Asian (as I felt). Air-conditional functioning well too.

The propeller is right at Row 5, if it is a concern for you.

The snacks are mineral water and biscuits. Looks a bit 'kolian' (pathetic) but I do love the biscuit! Nothing to complaint about the snack as I really feel they have done their very best as a low budget airline. I just always feel blessed when they delivery me and my family to our destination safely.

One thing worth mentioning is the baggage collection at Melaka International Airport. The sign is not very obvious. You have to take note at the alley on your left before the Exit.

Thanks Malindo Air for bringing the flight to Melaka - Penang route. Home is never too far now. 

Penang Book Fair 2015 - The Big Bad Wolf

The Big Bad Wolf is coming to town!
From 13th March to 23rd March 2015 at Times Square Penang~ Don't missed it!

Location :
Penang Times Square,
Jalan Dato Keramat, 10150 Georgetown, Pulau Pinang

Time:
10.00a.m to 10.00p.m

5% additional discounts for Hong Leong Credit card holders!

Source:
http://www.bigsale.com.my/promotions/35379/the-big-bad-wolf-books-sale-penang--penang-times-square.aspx

Best Mobile Prepaid Internet for Tourist to Malaysia 2015

Having trouble identify which mobile operator to use when you travel to Malaysia?

Here are the 4 recommended companies - Hotlink, Digi, XPAX & TuneTalk.
If you saw my post regarding the best prepaid internet in Malaysia (for locals), you will noticed what I recommended here has a big difference. Reason are the operators listed here are the most common one that you can find it anywhere - airport, bus station, major train station,  mini market, 7-eleven, shopping mall, hypermarket and etc. , giving a peace of mind to tourist. Just look out for the colour and sign for the operators.

For those who stay in Malaysia for less than 10 days, Hotlink and Digi will be better choices. Hotlink network is excellent in almost anywhere while Digi might not perform so well in rural area.

And for those stay more than 10 days, TuneTalk is more worthwhile as it has a cheaper rate and longer validity date.

You must take note on the data usage after finishing the quota. At the point of my writing, Hotlink and Digi provide unlimited data usage after your daily or weekly quota finished. Unlimited here means you will NOT get extra charges after your quota finished. Hotlink cut down the browsing speed which you barely can surf anything while Digi allowed you to surf at 3G speed using Opera Mini after data exhausted. However,  XPAX and TuneTalk will charge with Pay-As-You-Surf rate, which is very very high.

Remember the daily or weekly pass will always terminate/renew at 12am (on last day for weekly pass). So be cautious if you use it after 12am if it is not renewed.

I never find those Traveller Sim Package worth the price unless you just want to have peace of mind, put in the SIM card then start surfing, without worrying price or anything.

Just 3 Simple Steps to use a normal SIM card:
1. Buy a SIM card starter pack
2. Buy the reload voucher from the same shop and reload with the amount you going to use. (If you worry about extra charges by mistake, reload with small amount first (Reload voucher comes in RM3~RM30)
3. Subscribe to the internet pass by key in the code.

Some sample below:

Subscribe Hotlink Internet Pass:

then follow the on screen instruction... 

Subscribe Digi Internet Pass :

Click HERE for more internet passes codes for Digi


Recognized their Logos~

Best Mobile Prepaid Internet 2015, Malaysia

I have been looking for a prepaid internet solution for myself. I have to say there is no best plan for everyone, it all depends on your need.

Here, the summary I compiled based on few criteria:

1. Validity of the line should be maintained with less than RM1 per day.
2. Internet availability for a month with less than RM28
3. Reasonable amount of data quota for light messaging with WhatsApp/ WeChat/ Line, basic surfing on browser and Facebook. Video Streaming (eg. YouTube) and Pinterest (or other application with high usage of data) is NOT allowed. So the data quota I estimated here is not less than 400MB per month.
4. Call & SMS rate is not a concern, because I have another line for calling. But how many people still call and SMS somebody nowadays?

You must be wondering, who the hell are these operators? They are Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), meaning they do not have their own physical communication tower but they are renting and riding on our main operator's network like Celcom, Maxis and Digi.

TuneTalk and FRiENDi came out as top of my choice. I am more to FRiENDi except I have lower confidence on U Mobile network. Both of them have the cheapest plan but I need to pay TuneTalk RM100 for a validity that is less than RM1 per day and at the same time their internet plan only costs me RM8 per month, so how do I spend the extra balance?

FRiENDi on the other hand, provide 30 days validity with minimum reload of RM3 and I can spend them fully on the data subscription.

Another operator worth mentioning is RedOne. It shouldn't be in this topic because it is actually a postpaid plan. However, it is so cheap that it could par with the prepaid plan, especially attractive on the free calls within RedOne.

There are limited telecommunication shop that sells the starter pack of the MVNOs here except for TuneTalk and UMobile which has became quite common nowadays. Dealers can be found from their respective websites. However, reload is conveniently provided at merchants below.

Remember these Logos people~ Welcome the NEW MVNOs to the market!!!