Kandy – The Gateway to the Highlands of Sri Lanka

Posted on August 12, 2014 by jipp

SRI LANKA had always been in my bucket list for such a long time. The fact that it was probably one of the most under-rated countries at least among most travelers made my curiosity grow stronger – so much so that when my friend Audrey contacted to ask if I was interested in joining her to this ‘little’ island off the south coast of India, I had to say yes.

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With so many things to catch up with in the office, I decided it was best for me to go there during the long break of Eid Mubarak when all my other colleagues would leave the office deserted to go back to their respective kampongs. It was one of those rare times when a green light for a week-long break would be guaranteed from my boss. Heh.  Continue reading →

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Pokhara : The City at the Foot of Himalayas

Posted on June 28, 2014 by jipp

Pokhara is like the stepping point to go to some of the most popular hiking destinations in Nepal such as Annapurna Base Camp and Poon Hill. Of course we were heading there when we had our very first glimpse of the Himalayas on our flight from Kathmandu. It is a quite a sight to be seen from a flight with mountains and terraces dominate much of the landscape.

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We didn’t get to explore Pokhara when we arrived there because of the need to rush right to Nayapul from where we then set out to the 8-days journey through some of the most amazing views that I’d ever come upon in my entire life. Continue reading →

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Throwback : Yangon, Myanmar

Posted on June 18, 2014 by jipp

Yangon is without doubt one of the most exotic places that I’ve even been to in all my travel trips so far. It is one of those places where there’s always something that surprises you somewhere in the corner. Here are some of the things that I did and found out about when I was in Yangon.

Sakura Tower

I splashed a little bit of money over a fine lunch at the 20th floor of Sakura Tower – which is probably the best place to see the spread of Yangon city from a high standing point. I was quite OK with the price until I found out through an article on Myanmar Times how it’d take an average people of Yangon about 10 days to earn such amount of money through long hours of hard labor at factories etc. It made me feel so bad the food suddenly felt bland and I had to leave almost immediately. Uhuks!

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The Markets

I couldn’t write about my trip to Yangon without describing its wet markets. I mean, Yangon has some of the most amazing markets that I’ve been to in all my travel trips so far. I have never seen so many things that were so unfamiliar to even a kampong guy like me. The variety of things was just mind-boggling. I saw in abundance fishes that have long disappeared from our wet markets back in Malaysia. Continue reading →

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Kissing Marijuana in Nepal

Posted on June 12, 2014 by jipp

One of the things that made me go WOW in Nepal was the sight of cannabis. I mean, having been declared Malaysia’s number 1 enemy for so many years now (together with other drugs), it’s almost impossible to see it “live” in this country which makes it almost a privilege to see it up-close in Nepal.

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I touched it; I smelled it and I even hugged it because, well, it is stated in the Bible that you should love your enemy. Heh. Continue reading →

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An Island Escapade to Perhentian

Posted on June 9, 2014 by jipp

So, I’ve just returned from Perhentian Island. I’ve been wanting go there for so long so the opportunity of going there with my colleagues just came at the very right time. Missing a flight was not really a good beginning for such an anticipated holiday but I actually miscalculated the time taken to travel from my house to the nearest LRT Station and later to the KL Sentral before getting on the KLIA Express to the brand new KLIA2. When you are in a rush, every minute does count. I felt like forever to walk from the train to the boarding gate. Like seriously, I don’t know why they can’t design the airport like the Changi Airport in Singapore where you don’t need to break your legs to walk from the entrance to any of the boarding gates. Grrrr!

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In the end I didn’t have anyone else to blame but myself. I procrastinated too much and I had to pay for it. Luckily I was only required to add seventy bucks to book a seat on the very next flight to Kota Bharu. I was two hours late but I made it to Kuala Besut jetty (gate-way to Perhentian Island) just in time before the departure gate was closed. I had to apologize to everybody including the gate keeper who jokingly said “We don’t get paid for over-time you know”. Opppsy. 😀 Continue reading →

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