Happiness

Things I love or were intrigued by during the trips up north to Krabi, up the highlands to Cameron and down south to Pontianak (no kidding. it's a big town in Kalimantan, Indonesia :P)

KRABI!

1. Friendly foreigners
Was interesting talking to a Canadian who hopped on board the tut tut that took us kayaking. He shared with us his experience staying in a desert in Arab. wow. Met an australian couple over breakfast. cute! managed to snap a picture with them at the airport. they were heading for KL! :D

2. Thai food 
Lava!! The first dish I tasted, green curry brought tears to my eyes.

So good and supermegaspicy even pei sun and shalisha threw in their towels.
Pineapple fried rice (CUTEST dish decor everrrr)

Tomyam (also lava worthy)

3. This trip forced the adventurous out of the indoor me
- 2 hour kayaking. partnered with Shali. we got caught and entangled?? in mangrove tree branches n tot we were going to die a dishonourable death. or rather from embarrassment. Arm muscle pain score 10/10 that night. STOP ARA - bilateral biceps, triceps. After dinner til the next morning. Gradual onset. severe persistent biting pain, aggravated by movement, not relieved by anything, even LOADS of steroid cream. associated with regret.
*no pictures cz too gung ho kayaking (and actually really just trying to keep up with the really fit ang mohs in the tour group)

- Mountain stair climbing - 1237 steps! we met a few solo travellers along the way up (at our self created resting pit stops) and formed a support group. xD all symptoms of a heart attack sort of came up by the time we were at 500. shortness of breath, chest pain, nausea. the view up there was great, though i did have higher expectations considering the lactic acid build up i endured to get there. by the time we got back down the mountain, our legs were trembling like jelly. Ice cold drinks (regardless the flavour) never felt SO GOOD. legs hurt when ascending n descending the stairs for the next 3 days. ><

the support group xD

1237 steps. thank goodness for this sign age to commemorate our perjuangan

- those 2 were the most hardcore ones we went through. did snorkelling as well, was nice, but thought Redang's corals were nicer. :)

4. funny friendly tour guide
Michelle was our snorkelling tour guide. felt that she did a great job. realised that it isn't easy for these tour guides to keep doing the same thing everyday yet still inject humour and fun into the trip for us. :)

Note: ALWAYS buy a waterproof protector for ur phones (like the one Michelle has around her neck). Poor sun's phone died instantly after a splash of seawater.

5. cheap cocktails
Only rm4 per 500ml bottle. wow. super a lot of flavours to choose from. and cocktails at the cafes are about rm9. :D hehe.

6. Cutest dogs ever
our resort owner had 3 dogs, n interestingly each of them had very distinct personalities. Apologies for not having any idea of their breed. The white one's super friendly. His black friend (as in the other black coloured fur dog) is a scaredy cat while the brown one's ferocious.

his name's Handsome. awwww

CAMERON HIGHLANDS

1. Countless rounds of murderer and fun boardgames

2. Giant sweet strawberries

celebrated Lee Fang's bday. 

3. Super strawberry items!

4. Sweet corn

5. Scones and strawberry cheesecake from The Lord's Cafe (uh oh I forgot if it's at Brinchang or Tanah Rata)

what's left of the strawberry cheesecake b4 the photo was taken teehee

6. Drinking hot tea surrounded by a lush lanscape of rolling green (tea bushes). ideally without motion sickness after the arduous journey round n round the mountains. :P (note to self: ALWAYS take motion sickness pills)

7. The Mossy forest
the ground was soft, no creepy crawlies (cz they dont reach that altitude), cool weather. best jungle trekking ever. and, only 30 minutes (15 mins in and 15 mins out). felt like I was in a scene in LOTR.

8. Large colourful blooming flowers
*wistful sigh..

PONTIANAK

1. Learning Indonesian language. bits n pieces :P mostly food related. hehe.

2. Of all the food i tried there, Chai Kueh is the absolute winner.
Cute small round ones with really thin translucent skin, comes with 4 types of filling (red bean, yam, mengkuang, chives) with deep fried garlic sprinkled all over. yummms.. (no picture. everyone was busy tucking in)

Others, also great are soto, Es Krim in a coconut with cincau and red bean, bakmie kepeting (crabmeat), nasi padang, banana fritters with chocolate n cheese (sinful to the max) and blended fruit juices. thr's avocado, ciku, and this desert called Es Teler that's a concoction of tropical fruits including ciku with i think coconut/condensed millk? hehe my apologies for possible inaccurate description. a tad too sweet but tasted good. :) fruity goodness.

Es Teler

Bakmie Kepeting

Ciku juice

3. Seeing children getting so excited over a simple game of rubberband and straw.

4. Seeing huge churches there.

5. The similarity in the traditional costumes of the Dayaks in Pontianak with the Dayaks back in Sarawak kindles a sort of feeling of closeness to the place. despite me being Chinese and not a Dayak. :)

The above are just brief summaries of the few trips I made during these holidays. Of course above all the food tasted and fun activities, enjoyed the company the most. Trips have a way of creating lots of memories for you to rmb your family and friends by. That said, a short trip to KL last weekend (for my gov interview) was really refreshing. was really x100 happy to meet everyone there again. amidst all that, many thoughts were generated throughout the holidays, inspired by these trips. maybe in another post. :)

It's worth considering these places for ur next trip ! :P
word of caution: In pontianak u need a car to get around and u need a fearless driver. hehe. you can get there via bus (8 hours) /plane (30mins) from Kuching.