Cruising to Thailand, Libra Cruise Trip (06 Oct - 09 Oct 2013 - Tour Details)

Places Visited:

Day 1 (06-Oct-2013, Sun) - Kuala Lumpur -> Penang:

- Departed from Kuala Lumpur at 06:40 am

- Total hours to Penang: Around 5.5 hours

Afternoon - 

• Reached Penang Swettenham Pier and on-boarded to Libra Cruise
• Lunch - snacks buffet at Four Seasons Western Cuisine restaurant 
• Joined First Time Cruisers Information and Ship Tour

Evening -

• Joined Ocktoberfest Sail Away Party
• Dinner at Ocean Palace Chinese Cuisine restaurant

Night -

• Oktoberfest BBQ dinner - Due to raining, the venue was changed from outdoor to indoor
• Watched Live Entertainment with the Clique Sound Show Band
• Watched Zee Deneck magic show
• Enjoyed jacuzzi at Deck 9

Day 2 (07-Oct-2013, Mon) - Krabi:

Morning - 

• Dim Sum breakfast at Ocean Palace Chinese Cuisine restaurant
• Leisure time at Deck 9 swimming pool area

Afternoon -

• Took Ao Nang ship to Krabi beach
• Strolled along Krabi beach shopping street - Tasted some delicious local food and snack
• Leisure time at Ao Nang, Krabi beach (Guests going ashore must be back no later than 4:30 pm Thailand time)

Evening -

• Gala Cocktail Party dinner - Special introduction of the Ship management plus enjoy ballroom dancing with cruise staff and live entertainment with the Clique Sound Show Band). Need to wear proper attire to attend this party!
• Watched Reflections of Russia show

Night -

• Watched Danceable Hits with the Clique Sound Show Band at Deck 9 pool area
• Supper at Mariners Buffet International Buffet restaurant
• Enjoyed Late Night Music with Pianist Ronald

Day 3 (08-Oct-2013, Tue) - Phuket:

Morning - 

• Buffet breakfast at Mariners Buffet International Buffet restaurant

Afternoon - 

• Disembarked at Phuket Deep Sea Port at Ao Makarm at 1:40 pm (On high season (November-April) you will be dropped off at Patong beach (main tourist area) and on Monsoon season (May-October) you will be dropped off at Phuket Deep Sea Port at Ao Makarm.)
• Visited Sri Burapa Orchid Phuket Cashew Nut Factory and bought some snacks as souvenirs
• Visited Big Bee Farm Phuket honey products shop

Evening -

• Visited Wang Talang Jewelry and Gift Shop
• Visited Rich Home and Decor Souvenirs Shop - Bought some nice souvenirs T-Shirt here
• Shopped at Big C supermarket - Initial plan is to visit Phuket beach, but due to monsoon season and heavy rain, we had to changed to indoor activities.

Night -

• Strolled along the night market street just at the Phuket Deep Sea Port (Cruise guests  must get back to the cruise before 11:00 pm Thailand time)
• Dinner at Four Seasons Western Cuisine restaurant 
• Watched Colours Crew Show Extravaganza show which is performed by the crew staffs
• Participated Viva De Libra Farewell Party

Day 4 (09-Oct-2013, Wed) - Penang -> Kuala Lumpur:

Morning - 

• Breakfast at Mariners Buffet International Buffet
• Leisure time at Deck 6 - Took some nice photos there

Afternoon - 

• Checked-out at Stardust Lounge at Deck 5 - To collect our passport
• Back to Penang Swettenham Pier at 11:30 am
• Took coach back to KL

Tour Expenses:

• Transportation:
• Genting Bus Fare (return trip KL - Penang) - RM 100  /pax
• Cruise Fare:
• (1) Deposit - RM 150 /pax
• (2) Cruise fees - RM 350 /pax
• (3) Passenger handling fees - RM 130 /pax
• (4) Fuel surcharge - RM 66 /pax
• Tuk tuk - THB 80 /pax
• Van - THB 125 /pax
• Taxi back home - RM 1 /pax
• Food and drinks -RM 6 + THB 30
• Shopping:
• (1) Souvenirs and others - THB 1,005 + RM 56
• (2) Snacks - THB 511
• (3) Skin care products - THB 826.50
• TOTAL = THB 2,557.50  (* rate: 0.105) + RM 859
• = RM 1,129.60

Stuff bought in Bali

Today's weather is very good and I just got a new haircut... :) Too long time didn't manage my hair due to the preparation for my business trip earlier.
Let me share here the things I bought during my Bali trip! As usual, I like to buy some postcards of the places I visited and also some local snacks.

I ♥ Bali bag - bought from Sukawati Art market (top), Qtela cassava chips - Like this snack a lot! Recommended by my friend. I bought it from Discovery Shopping Mall. (middle), vegetable chips - bought from Bali cake shop (bottom)

Blue Batik fan - bought from Krisna Oleh Oleh (back), Bling bling wooden cat statues - bought from Sukawati Art market (middle), Cat wooden calendar - bought from Sukawati Art market (middle), Blue 'Welcome' cat doorplate - bought from Krisna Oleh Oleh (middle), White with colourful patches wooden cat statues - bought from Sukawati Art market (middle), Red and yellow mini cat statues - bought from Discovery Shopping Mall (front), Kissing couple wooden statue - bought from Karya Mas Wood carving centre (front), Coconut shell button for Batik sarong - bought from Ngurah Rai airport souvenir shop (front)

Postcards bought from Ubud

FREE postcards from Discovery Shopping Mall

Guitar keychain - bought from Discovery Shopping Mall, Dolphin and Surfboard keychains - bought from Sukawati Art Market

Frangipani hair clips - bought from Sukawati Art Market

Bali black T-shirt - bought from Krisna Oleh Oleh (back), Blue Batik sarong - bought from Discovery Shopping Mall (back), Yellow mini Batik sarong - bought from Discovery Shopping Mall (back), Blue and Pink Batik sarong - bought from Krisna Oleh Oleh (front)

A better view of the I ♥ Bali bag from this picture :)

KOU handmade soaps - bought from KOU shop in Ubud

Exotic Bali - Dewi Sri Seafood Restaurant, Krisna Oleh Oleh Souvenirs Shop and Discovery Shopping Mall (Day 5, 30 Aug 2013)

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Today is a long rainy day, it is very good to just be lazy and relax at home :) Suddenly I feel not so used to a relaxing weekend, because last month when I was still in Belgium for a business trip, every weekend I was travelling around the countries nearby Belgium.

This will be the last post regarding the journey of my Bali trip. After we went to taste some layer cake at Bali Cake shop, then we headed to a Chinese seafood restaurant - Dewi Sri, which was recommended by our driver to have our lunch. We ordered fried rice, fried noodles and also avocado juice. We were lucky to try avocado juice again, because we tried to order in other restaurants, they didn't have the supply of avocado!

On the way to have lunch

Dewi Sri Chinese seafood restaurant

Dewi Sri Chinese seafood restaurant

Yummy avocado juice with chocolate

Fried seafood noodles

Fried rice with crab meat

After our stomachs were full, it was time for us to do some last-minute shopping for souvenirs at Krisna Oleh Oleh souvenirs shop. There are many varieties of things sold in Krisna Oleh-Oleh, such as clothes, local snacks, handicrafts and others. The price of the things here is considered quite cheap! I bought a few batiks and other souvenirs here. I will share the pictures in my post later :)

Krisna Oleh Oleh Khas Bali souvenirs shop

You can find many cheap Bali souvenirs in this shop

After we spent like 1 hour plus at Krisna Oleh Oleh Khas Bali souvenirs shop, we headed to the last stop of our Bali trip - Discovery Shopping Mall. This shopping mall is quite big in Bali, you can find many Bali souvenirs here too! I enjoyed shopping around this mall, although I didn't really buy a lot of things from here! There is a beautiful sea behind this shopping mall, so we took the chance to take some pictures of the beautiful sea. The environment here is very relaxing!

Took a picture with our friendly Bali driver - Mr Komang together with this beautiful sea

The beautiful sea just behind Discovery Shopping Mall

Many varieties of souvenirs selling in Discovery Shopping Mall

Many varieties of souvenirs selling in Discovery Shopping Mall

Another part of the souvenirs section in Discovery Shopping Mall

Batik shop in Discovery Shopping Mall

There are 4 levels of the floor in Discovery Shopping Mall

After done exploring Discovery Shopping Mall, we went outside to view the beautiful sea again!

Discovery Shopping Mall - It was very nice weather and a beautiful sky

Departure at Ngurah Rai Bali airport. It was time to go back to our home sweet home :) Remember to prepare IDR 150,000 for departure tax at the airport (as of Aug 2013)

Goodbye Bali! Waiting for the departure gate to be opened

Goodbye Bali! Waiting for the departure gate to be opened

Exotic Bali - Karya Mas Wood Carving Centre, Sari Merta Batik Collection and Bali Cake Shop (Day 5, 30 Aug 2013)

It's been a long long time since I'm not touching this blog! I just came back from my one-month business trip for my new job in Belgium. This year I visited many places, especially during my stay in Belgium. I went to Taiwan, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and France. So stay tuned to see my updates for these trips soon... I am lucky that my wishes came true (to visit Europe during springtime)! Too bad the 'play hard' period is over and now I need to really start to 'work hard'!

It was not really easy to plan the weekend trips during my stay in Belgium, especially since I was having jet lag. I wondered why this time I had serious jet lag compared to my previous business trip to Germany. I slept at night after dinner at 9 pm, and woke up at 11 pm then I planned my weekend trips and slept again at 2 am or 3 am, and woke up at 7 am to go to work. This happened more than 2 weeks! However, in total I still had about 6 hours of sleeping time in a day :) I'm glad that I finally made it for my solo weekend trip in Europe!

My story about my Bali trip is coming to an end, so let me show you some photos here during the last day of our stay in Bali. After our driver drove us to Goa Gajah, he recommended we see some wood carvings which are famous in Ubud. We went to Karya Mas Wood Carving Centre and we had the chance to see some talented wood carvings artists doing their work there. We met a few tourists from East Malaysia there too and we had a pleasant chat. I bought one small piece of wood cravings here too, I will show it in my future post :)

Karya Mas Wood Carving Centre

Some talented wood carvings artists were doing their work

Lovely wood carving status which I like

Many creative and beautiful wood carvings art pieces selling here

One of the colourful wood carvings

Another beautiful wood carvings that I like

'Famous' wood carvings in Bali

Very thin and long wood carvings

Another beautiful wood carvings that I like

Without spending a lot of time at Karya Mas Wood Carving Centre, we quickly headed to another destination - Sari Merta Batik Collection. This is the shopping place for Batik. Photography is prohibited in the shop, so I was only able to take a few photos from the outside. I bought 2 Batiks scarves at this place, I will share the photo in later posts... I feel the Batiks I bought from this shop were a bit pricey as I found out later that the same things selling at Discovery Mall were cheaper!

Some of the workers at Sari Merta Batik Collection were making beautiful Batiks. This is the process of waxing the Batiks

Closed up view to see clearly the process of waxing Batik

Traditional threading machine to produce Batik

Another Batik was going through the waxing process

I was standing here and listened to the explanation of the process of making Batik

It is prohibited to take photos in this Batik shop

We didn't really spend a lot of time at Sari Merta Batik Collection too. Maybe because the Batiks which selling here were quite expensive, which reduced our interest to purchase them... Then, we went back to our driver's van and went to lunch. On the way to lunch, our driver recommended we go to one of the local cake shops which are famous for layer cake! After we reached that shop, our driver was nonstop eating the free samples! Haha... We didn't purchase any layer cakes which are a bit pricey but we bought some other local snacks here...

On the way to the Bali Cake shop

Another photo was taken from the van while on the way to Bali Cake shop

Bali Cake shop

Bali Cake shop - Signature layer cake

Horse Year Chinese New Year at i-city - Red Carpet Wax Museum (08 Feb 2014)

I'm enjoying my long one month vacation (without salary) now... Hahaha... Quite enjoy going out to the mall without a big crowd of people and also without any traffic jam! On my last day of employment with the company, the HR manager suddenly said if I wear back my school uniform, I still look like a high school student! Her compliment was a bit ridiculous! I wonder if any student will have deep fine lines on the face like me?! I think she was shocked after I told her my age!! High school days were passed me by long ago since 14 years...

Anyhow, let me share some nice photos from i-city which I visited there last Saturday! I was glad that I had the chance to visit i-city for the second time! This time we visited Red Carpet Interactive Wax Museum and 3D Trick Art Museum. Due to the recent arson case that happened in this wax museum, the entrance ticket price has been reduced from RM 35 to RM 5. Since there was a big discount, therefore we took this opportunity to visit this place!

For i-city 3D Trick Art Museum photos, please stay tuned... I will update it in another post! (Too many photos to share in one post!)

#1 - Passed by City of Digital Lights

#2 - In front of Snowalk

#3 - Digital light of cows statues

#4 - Too dark and can't even see myself!

#5 - Can you see a dinosaur behind me?

#6 - Red Carpet banner. Many digital light trees on the roadside

#7 - Big digital light horses at the roadside for this CNY

#8 - Big digital light horses with the Giant Ferris Wheel

#9 - Closed up view of the beautiful digital light horse

#10 - Horses are running towards me!

#11 - Again it was too dark to see myself in this picture!

#12 - i-city map, we were checking which direction to reach Red Carpet Wax Museum!

#13 - Beautiful stars on the tree

#14 - Robot

#15 - Kung Fu Panda with me

#16 - Taking some pictures outside the Red Carpet wax museum

#17

#18

#19 - Red Carpet wax museum entrance

#20

#21 - Donnie Yen 甄子丹 (left) and Mr. Bean - Rowan Atkinson (right)

#22 - Pretty ladies in red (Sorry, I'm not sure who they are...)

#23 - Fan Bing Bing 范冰冰 (left) and the right one I got no idea who is that

#24 - Dato Lee Chong Wei (left) and Lionel Messi (right)

#25

#26 - Victoria Beckham (left) and David Beckham (right)

#27 - Tallest man in the world - Sultan Kösen (left) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (right)

#28 - Luciano Pavarotti

#29

#30 - Tiger Woods (left)

#31 - Elton John (left) and Johnny Depp (right)

#32 - Marilyn Monroe??

#33