This is a very beautiful place of East Malaysia. You'll see a lot of beautiful islands and beaches. Date of visit done was in June 2008. It'll be cheaper if you were to buy the boat rides to and fro the islands yourself at the Jessleton Jetty in the morning rather than by arranged tour packages - spent about less than RM50/- for boat rides to and from Manukan and Sapi Islands. FYI, there's food to be bought over at the island, although limited variety.

Visited Australia, Gold Coast in June2008 (winter - a bit on the cold side but i love this type of weather though) via AirAsia X, flight and accomodation booked through Matta Fair in MAR2008 for 6 days 5 nights. Stayed at Paradise Resort which is quite comfortable and convenient although i must say there are hotels ie Holiday Inn, etc, which are nearer the shopping area, however it is merely about 10 to 15 minutes walk to the nearest shopping area, so it does not post any issue for us. The flight is on Sunday and reached Gold Coast in the night (all eateries were closed - abt 9 to 10pm after check in - have to walk out to the shopping area and managed to grap subway sandwiches). The paid trip covers Seaworld (Monday), Movie World (Tuesday) and Country Farm (Wednesday) which gave us 2 days on our own and just right to visit Harbour Town (factory shopping outlets) which stays open the latest on Thursday only ie up to 7.00pm and to visit Brisbane on Friday where the last train is on till midnight on Friday only. When you buy the train ticket to Brisbane, remember to buy to cover the whole day as this covers (to and fro train ride) and also certain Brisbane bus service and boat rides in Brisbane town. Remember to always consult your hotel/resort tourist consultation before embarking anywhere to obtain the latest info/changes on the mode of transport, routes and timing, and also timing of pickups for any already paid trips as they will still need to call the company concern to confirm timing for pickups. A must try is Australia's icecream, especially the freshly made icecream in Surfer Paradise near HardRock Cafe - Rosenberry Icecream and Fish & Chips plus calamarie (near seaworld there's a freshly made seafood restaurant called Fisher's Market or Place?) - Yummy!!

These pictures of Halong Bay and Hanoi, Vietnam were taken in OCT2007.

Penang, Malaysia is a very beautiful place where you have beaches, clear blue sky and sea breezes. 

These pictures were taken in DEC2007 at Gurney Drive, Penang, Malaysia.

Besides the scenery, Penang is also famous for their variety of food. Some nice selections are Cha Kuey Teow, Assam Laksa, Roasted Chicken Wings, etc.

 

This is just to share some of the moments on a visit to Niah Cave, Miri in East Malaysia on 22SEP2007.

The sky appears gloomy with impending rain at the begining, when we set out on our journey to the cave from Miri town,  but surprisingly and luckily the sky actually clears after a while.

It took us about 1.5 hours to reach the site. Once we reached the cave site, we have to register first and pay (not sure how much) for the entrance.

After that, we took a boat ride to cross a river to the other side where there is a museum and also where the trail to the cave begins.

The trail to the cave is very long and during that time, a large part of the trail is actually under construction. Even so, our team decided to forge on ahead and we actually made it to the cave, which was worth it as I really haven't seen such beautiful sceneries for a cave before.

These are some of the sceneries taken on the way to the cave and also when we were inside the cave.

 

Visited Chiang Mai, Thailand sometime in January 2008. Weather was fine and not that hot. In Chiang Mai you can obtain quite a good bargain along Worrorot Road. You can travel around anywhere in Chiang Mai using the red van (quite convenient) and cost only about maximum of 2 bath per person. If you are also going to visit Chiang Rai, pls try to persevere from buying any stones at Chiang Mai and wait till you reach Chiang Rai which are actually cheaper in my opinion.

Chiang Rai is much cooler than Chiang Mai. The weather is also fine then in Chiang Rai, sometime around January 2008. We visited the reservation site which housed occupants of Palong long neck, ahka and yao lahu tribes.

The tour also extend to the golden triangle where you can see the borders between the 3 countries i.e. Laos, Burma and Thailand. Here at the Thailand northern border you could see a lot of jade and crystals being sold by stalls as well as in the shops - you will need to do your bargaining during your purchases.

 

These pictures were taken in Kuantan, Malaysia in August 2007.

WELCOME!! NOW I WONDER WHAT TO PUT IN THIS BLOG, HAHAHA!!!

Now, i cant really hahaha that much. Found out recently that i've got hypertension and consulted 3 doctors (general practioners ie) and was advised that once you reach a certain uh ump age then the possibility you getting this hypertension is high and you've got to take your hypertension medication. And 2 docs actually prescribed to me the hypertension pills, one doc gave me inderal (to stop the palpitation which i had but promised to take it off me, once the palpitation disappear), the other prescribed to me coversil. I was so miserable and indecisive as i have serve the net and found that hypertension medication has so many side effects and actually cause those disease which you are trying to avoid such as heart problem, kidney failure, etc... I have then consulted friends and try other alternative natural remedies and i really did try and also exercise (cant really exercise hard - will feel miserable after that) so just mild or moderate exercise will be fine to my body.

The sypmtoms prior to palpitation are headaches, heavy burning eyes, breathing problem (thought it was my sinus though, hahaha), aching chest - felt really bad - but normally the tight chest issue and breathing problem will be ok after some deep breathing exercise and even helps the palpitation and my weight was 57/58kg with my height 153cm ie overweight! This happens since i came back from Australia (possibility of a combination of eating too salty stuff in Australia, Kuantan and Kuching plus work stress) in late June beginning of July08.

My BP is now going up and down and lately one of my GP says i am ok now 120/80 - i hope it stays! , weight has gone down to 52kg. The thing is since i found out in late June08, i actually cut down eating meat, and has the following regime - breakfast oats plus cucumber/cherry tomatoes/green apple), lunch - wholegrain bread (gardenia - taste great!) with margarine (although i think this is bad too) plus fruits guava (helps to cure palpitation), pineapple (helps hypertension, vit D, etc - but cant take this everyday because your mouth will suffer as i have found that out - sore mouthlah), watermelon (helps hypertension) and lastly dinner consist of rice plus steam fish and vegetables and fruits plus celery drink (at times). One very important factor, you really need to cut down salt intake - doc advise cut salt and exercise. Yep, i forgot, you also need to exercise which i did for 5 minutes every morning (although that is insufficiently actually) so i top it up, sometimes once or twice a week with 30 minutes treadmill. Now my family cooks using seasalt. I have actually bought and tried the hawthorn plus garlic supplement but it doesnt really suit me as i felt not too good and there's that palpitation thingy still. A fellow HBP friend advise that she takes Supa garlic and her BP is a OK 120/80 with no exercise (could u beat that?) and so i also take garlic supplements now - although everytime after taking it, i felt there's a lot of air and felt bloaty and needed to burp - ie not a very good feeling. I also read in the net that Vitamin C is good and so now i am also taking Blackmore timerelease vitamin c. My relative tells me that he is cured from hypertension 120/80 now using this regime, 1 week drink celery plus green apple plus green bell pepper (cayene/capsicum) and every morning before brushing your teeth drink 640ml of water (i can only managed probably 500ml each morning) and he also takes Omega 3 Fish Oil. I may switch to his regime fully (because i hate that garlic feeling), as now i am taking that celery recipe drink plus the morning water but not the omega 3 fish oil yet because previously i tried to lower my BP sometime in early July by taking Omega 3 fish oil (although no exercise) plus tried eating correctly, my condition has actually worsen, so i am not very sure of this Omega 3 Fish Oil thingy. Read in the net about peanuts being good for the heart, not very sure of that too but am taking it also recently albeit only a little.  

Well, this is only my experience and everyone's body is different although i am now really really watching my diet and health - cant even take my favourite food, not now anyway, maybe later... - durian, satay, fried chicken, roast chicken wings, nasi lemak, blueberry cheesecake with oreo chocolate base, roast pork, rendang chicken, fried pork, steam salt fish with pork, tomyam coconut prawn, marmite pork, marmite crab, fried butter prawn etc.....aiyoh!