4 days 3 nights in Phuket

Day 1
We reached here and checking into our hotel. It was already about 3pm local time by then. Rest for a while and we went to the local weekend market known as Phuket Weekend Market. By the time we back to hotel, we were tired and that's gone for our first day.

Day 2
After breakfast we were required to attend the 90 minutes preview by Anantara Vacation Club. After the preview, we just enjoying the facilities of the club. Abbey has the longest swim so far, and it was under hot sun. After that, we went to the beach to play the sand castle with Abbey. At night, we went for Phuket Fantasea Show.

Day 3
We had late breakfast. After that, we take a cab to go to Patong Beach. We spent the whole afternoon shopping there and strolling along the beach area. Came back to the club house, and by night we were slightly tired. Hence we decided to go across the road, known as Turtle Village to have our dinner. We wanted to try out a restaurant for local Thai food, but the restaurant has called it the day. Hence we have no choice but just simply try another restaurant which still operating.

Day 4
Had our breakfast, and we went to Anantara Villas for some photo shooting before heading back. Again we went back to the beach, to the infinity pool and restaurant of Anantara Villas. When we back to the club, bring Abbey for swimming again before we heading back to airport to take our flight.

Overall, we wanted this trip to be free and easy and not so rushing. We have Abbey with us and 2 elderly ladies. Hence need to be slow pace activities.

3 days trip in Barcelona

This is my first trip to Barcelona, extending the business trip from Andorra. Here I am in Barcelona with another colleague, sight seeing the famous town with limited time. We supposely spent 4 days over here, but due to last minute changes in our business schedule, we have shorten the trip by 1 day.

Day 1:
Restoran Euskal --> Las Ramblas --> Barcelona Cathedral
First day, when we reached Barcelona from Andorra, it was almost 2pm. Once we able to find the hotel we booked, we came to Euskal Restaurant to have lunch. I didn't eat a lot for my breakfast, hence it was hungry at that time. After that, we continue to visit Las Ramblas and to the gothic area. Since it getting dark early, we decided to visit cathedral.

It is recommended to stay somewhere near to Las Ramblas. For me, I think this is the tourist spot, and one easily can find the food around here as well as the public transportation. The hotel we stayed also near to the bus station where we will heading to airport later on. More importantly, if stay here for long period, it is advisable to purchase Barcelona Tourist Card to enjoy the public transportation ride as well as discount on some of the entrance to tourist spot.

Day 2:
Casa Batlló --> Casa Milà --> La Sagrada Família --> Camp Nou Stadium --> Magic Fountain of Montjuïc --> El Choquito
We started early on our second day here. Using the Barcelona Card we purchased, we travelled using the metro. We headed to Casa Batlló and enjoy discount from the card. Using metro is very convenient, just get a map from the station and you shall know where to head to. A visit to Barcelona is incomplete without going to La Sagrada Familia. At night, we enjoyed the magic fountain. Remember to check the schedule from the internet.

Day 3:
Park Güell --> Airport
We went to the park early in the day. Weather was not that promising, cloudy. Though we have checked from internet that it is far from the metro, we decided to use metro anyway. When we reached the park, we found out that it was not that far anyway. Maybe we used to the distance already. Once came out from the metro, just ask the friendly people around and they will definitely guide you to the park.

We did cut out some of the places we wanted to go due to the change of plan. Hopefully I'm able to cover the other places when I come here again. Also, it would be good to purchase earlier some ticket like Sagrada Familia.

It seems that my visit to Barcelona was incomplete. Why??!!! Because I'm not able to watch football match here. Barcelona FC was having away match during the weekeend. Aiksss...... Maybe this is another reason that I should be coming back here again to visit this beautiful city.

7 days trip for our vacation in Perth

Actually, we were in Perth for 9 days in total. However due to the arriving time (11.55pm) and departure time (6.00am), we were not able to do any activities on these both days. Basically, this was our itinerary throughout the vacation (25th Aug - 2nd Sept):

Day 1:
Arrived in Perth airport (11.55pm) and collecting the car and heading towards hotel. By the time we reach hotel, it was 3 in the morning.

Day 2:
Perth City --> Mandurah City --> Back Beach --> Busselton Jetty --> Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse.
In fact, we skip the Ferguson Valley in between as we were tired due to the late arrival the previous day. Also, we didn't visit Dolphin Discovery Centre in Bunburry as well. Overnight at Dunsborough.

Day 3:
Sugarloaf Rock --> Canal Rocks --> The Natural Olive Oil Soap Factory --> Bootleg Brewery --> Laurance Cellar --> Margaret River Chocolate Company --> Providore Margaret River --> Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse --> Cape Leeuwin Waterwheel
We overnight in Pemberton. Nothing much here, but wonderful view of forrest and of course the fresh air. It's always good back to nature once in a while.

Day 4:
Beedelup Falls --> Coalmine Beach --> Tree Top Walk at Valley of Giant --> Peaceful Bay --> Greens Pool & Elephant Rocks
Along the way, there are many nice beaches around. Need to do more research to enjoy the beach view over here. One of it is Mandalay Beach, but we skip it due to the limited time we have. It was fun to drive long the road here, as one will see wonderful beaches. Overnight in Albany.

Day 5:
Middleton Beach --> Albany Wind Farm --> The Gap & Natural Bridge --> Whale World
Today we just moving around Albany area. In fact, we also skip few places such as ANZAC Memorial. But again, we visited the wind farm which actually not in our plan, but well worth to visit it, no regret for us. Not much places we visit today, as we drove long way heading towards Hyden and stay there.

Day 6:
Wave Rock --> Hippos Yawn --> The Humps & Mulka's Cave --> Perth City
Main itineray for today was Wave Rock. Driving all the way from Albany (few hours) just to see the rock. Again, it's amazing to see the rock here and understanding the process. Once done, we were heading back to Perth City. Another long journey to go, and staying in Perth City.

Day 7:
Swan Valley area (famous for winery) --> Sandalford Wines --> Caversham Wildlife Park --> Pinnacles Desert --> Sand Dunes --> Lancelin Jetty
Today's journey depends on one's own preference. We went to Swan Valley area quite early, and most of the vineyard yet to start operate. So we just take photograph on some of it. Wildlife park is worth to visit, where could see white kangaroo there. We heading north of Perth town to experience the 'desert environment'. Overnight at Lancelin. Good place to stay, not noisy at night and out of city life. Most important, by the beach side.

Day 8:
Scarborough Beach --> Kings Park --> Souvenir Shopping --> Fremantle Town --> Perth City
Visited Kings Park, as coincide with their wild flower festival. If one has more time, maybe can plan to visit Rottnest Island. Recommend Fremantle Town to appreciate the history of the town. For me, the town is worth to visit. Overnight in Perth City and packing our luggages.

Day 9:
Heading towards airport catching the 6.00am flight.

Recommended to book the car online before arriving in Perth. Also check on the operating hour of the car rental agency, as when reaching late at night, the service might not be available until the next morning. There was a tourist trying to book the car on the spot, but no car left as it was peak time, due to one of the university having convocation during that time. Always book in advance. Also, we bring along our own GPS device. It is also advisable to book the accommodation in advance. Inform them if arriving late for check-in.

It's a pleasant to drive by ourselves to visit the areas we've been. There is only 1 thing to remember, always follows the speed limit while driving. When travel by car, we could travel to places where would like, whenever we like. No pressure on it.

It was end of winter when we were there. Many nice scenary to be seen. From all the places we've been, it give us different view depending on which area we were during that time. When we travel south, it's cold and the view was more towards coastal road, beaches etc. But when we heading towards north, temperature rises and it's more towards desert environment like Pinnacle and Sand Dune. Also, different season might provide you with different experience in Perth.

We could see wild animals such as kangaroo, parrots etc roaming freely with the large natural national park gazetted by the government. A colorful life indeed.

Perth is a good place for vacation. Before we came here, we never thought so much places for us to visit. Once we were here, we found that we need more time than we think to travel to cover the whole Western Australia. Besides travel by car here, one could also opt for caravan. There are many caravan park available. Another experience that could be explored over here.

Trip to Japan 2009

Destination: Japan
Period: 9 - 19 December 2009

The whole trip was planned lot earlier on. We manage to redeem our ticket from MAS for the trip, thus we able to save the money for the flight. We were going there in 2 groups. The first group was both of us, departing from KLIA. Another group is my sis-in-law & her family departing from Singapore, a day later compared with us.

9 Dec 2009
We arrived Narita airport late evening, hence by the time we reached Tokyo actually it is quite late. Furthermore, when we took the train, we missed a stop and making us to travel further and taking time. Luckily, with the guidance of my bro-in-law, we manage to reach our destination. He was 'forced' to wait us at one of the train station to pick us up. The first day was the beginning of our journey to the Land of Rising Sun. For the dinner, he took us to a nice ramen restaurant at one of the shopping mall near his place.

10 Dec 2009
Since we need to wait for my sister-in-law to reach Japan today, basically we have the whole day to visit tourist spot around Tokyo. We went to the Tsukiji Fish Market, dubbed the largest fish market in the world. An eye opener for us. To reach here, we took a train with the guidance of my bro-in-law since his working place also around the corner. After that, we went to Tsukiji Honganji where it is just a walking distance from the fish market. What more, a trip to Japan is considered incomplete if without doing some shopping. Here we were, walking to Ginza (famous for shopping). On the way, we passed by the famous Opera House. According to my bro-in-law, it will undergoing renovation very soon. At Ginza, we found out a shop called Uniqlo selling winter clothing. Definitely it is much more cheaper compare with Malaysia, plus the choices is more to chose from. What else, we did buy some of ourself. Late afternoon, the second group reached Japan (my sis-in-law & her family). We went to eat a super nice Japanese food (those yummy sushi etc) called Sushi Choushi-maru.

11 Dec 2009
Today, we need to wake up early in the morning. It really early in the morning, I think it was about 4am if not wrong, to prepare to catch our experience with "bullet train". Our destination today was going to Osaka. Journey took us about 2 and a half hours. Once we reached there, the first thing we did was check-in to our hotel. It was pre-book by my bro-in-law together with the train ticket. Reason being is everything will be under control and we just need to follow the timing of the train and the rest of the day will be ours to determine. Once we checked in, we wasted no time to go Universal Studio. Too bad, it was raining and dizzling today. We got to make use of those indoor entertainment a lot. That's how we spent our whole day over here. Hopping from one entertainment to another. We had our lunch at Universal Studio. For dinner, we had it at Okonomiyaki Fugetsu, which famous for their "japanese-style pizza". It is very popular in Osaka.

12 Dec 2009
Today we also need to wake up early. Sounds like military training camp huh... everyday need to wake up early to go to the famous places. However, my bro-in-law wake up even earlier because he needs to get the charted van. The van meant to bring us to those famous castle and temple around Osaka and Kyoto area. We bought a lot of Japanese version of "dumpling", but this is available from those convenience store. It taste good, and definitely save us a lot of time as while we travelling, we can eat it in the van. With the help of GPS, we reached Osaka Castle. A quick walkaround over here and we proceed to the next stop, Nijo Castle. For today's route, my bro-in-law has printed out the history of the places that we were going to visit. After the 2 castles visit, we stopped by at another Japanese restaurant to have our lunch. We ordered ala-carte style, and I'm sharing my foods with my wife, of course. After lunch, we went to our first temple called Kinkakuji Temple (Temple of Golden Pavilion) in Kyoto (famous of those temples listed in UNESCO's World Heritage). Then we visited Ginkaku Temple (Temple of Silver Pavilion). The last place that we visited is Kiyomizu Temple, but by the time we reached here, it starting getting dark. So there is limited time to take beautiful picture here. The temple was built without a single nail. At night, we returned the van here and have a simple dinner. We need to catch our bullet train back to Tokyo.

13 Dec 2009
Today our destination is Fujiyama. We chartered another van in Tokyo, and we start our journey early. Along the way to Fujiyama, we saw a group of motocyclist equivalent to our "mat rempit" in Malaysia. Those modified motorbike really can produced deafening sound. Once we reached Mt Fuji, we took some pictures of it. However, it was cloudy day and we were not able to see the Mt Fuji from close up. Legends has it saying that pretty lady would not able to view the mountain. So maybe there were lot of pretty lady in our group.... Then we proceed to have our lunch at Koshu Hoto Kosaku, with their special delicacy called Hoto. It is famous for the dishes served with pumpkin. From here, we continue to go to Yeti Ski Resort. Most of us having first time to play with snow. We rented a snowboard and have fun at the ski resort. At night, while we were back to Tokyo, we visited Tokyo Tower. Though it is taller than Eiffel Tower by 13 metres, but it is not as famous as Eiffel Tower. We spent some time here and went up to the first level to have a nice night view of Tokyo. We had a simple dinner before call it off for the day.

14 Dec 2009
Another early morning call today. We were going to Tokyo DisneySea, and my nephew and me went to DisneySea to queue up at the main entrance. I'm wondering why need to go so early, and by the time when we reached DisneySea, there were many people already there. My bro-in-law went back to his house to fetch the rest over here. It was getting crowded and long queue just before the main gate open for visitors to go in. We might be getting here early, but it does save a lot of time later when going in and enjoying the ride. If late, maybe it would take about an hour just to get pass the main entrance. My kind bro-in-law does not following us for most of the games / rides, but most of the time he helped us to get the Fast Pass for us. This pass mainly means that we are legitimate to cut the long queue for certain games / rides. With this pass, I can say we able to enjoy 90% of all the rides here. We spent the whole day here walking non-stop. We bought 2 days ticket for DisneySea and Disneyland, and of course it would be cheaper.

15 Dec 2009
Another day that we need to wake up early, and the same routine. My nephew and me need to go to Disneyland and queue there. It was freezing cold that morning. My bro-in-law need to make 2 trip to fetch us there first, and follow by the rest later. Luckily his house just nearby Disneyland and DisneySea. We did spent the whole day here as well. What is good between these 2 theme parks is you will never tired of the games. It was well designed that can cater for all ages of visitors.

16 Dec 2009
Today we chartered another van to go to Yokohama. Best thing in Japan here is all the chartered vehicle has the option whether to get the GPS or not. This definitely useful for tourist like us if we would like to travel around. Our destination is Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise. Lot of sea creatures that hardly seen in Malaysia such as white whale and polar bear. Also the spectucular show which I would say a must watch. Another attraction for me is forming a Christmas Tree from fishes. See to believe it yourself. While on the way back, we stopped by at Toyota Showroom, one of the biggest. There are 2 sections, modern car or classic car. We chosen the modern car, and able to see lot of impressive car. Also, we able to view the F1 simulation in the mega theater like those motion master. At night, we had our dinner at Tonkatsu Wako, another favourite dishes that we all like. Yummy....

17 Dec 2009
Today, it is not as tiring before, we does not required to wake up early in the morning. Thus having luxury to sleep a little bit late. We went to Sensoji Temple, the oldest temple in Tokyo. Over here, we could buy some souvenir to bring home. A bit disappointed because the temple was under renovation, but we still could visit other places around here. This followed by Imperial Palace, where we need to take another train to reach there. Though we were not able to enter it (hehehe), we still able taking some pictures at the Nijubashi Bridge. We had our lunch somewhere around the Ginza area. This time, we had tempura. Since here, we proceed again to do some shopping. My sis-in-law also getting some winter clothing from Uniqlo. At night, we went to hot water spring. Mid of winter, we soak ourselves in hot water in open air.

18 Dec 2009
There is no places to visit today, so we decided to visit shopping mall. Definitely it is not as grand as what we had back in our home country, but going to some middle class shopping mall. We bought a pair of boots, which I can say is quite cheap. I like it very much. We did hopping from one shopping mall to another today. Very much rest and relax mood.

19 Dec 2009

Packing all our belongings before returning home. At last, we were able to view Mt Fuji from my bro-in-law apartment here. Not bad huh, still can see the famous Mt Fuji even though it is faraway. Hopefully we can come back in future to visit other places. A very nice place to visit here, besides there might be some communication breakdown in between.