Travel often, getting lost will help you find yourself =)

They said 'Travel often, getting lost will help you find yourself.'I believe that many people will agree with this statement.
But, have you taken your first step to realize this little dream of yours?
People often reply 'I don't have enough money.'
Money shouldn't be an issue.
I read this story from a 20 y.o girl who traveled Europe in 6 months with 300 Euros. She only brought that much of money to Europe and she thought she will only be there for 1 week. And yet, she made it!
Sometimes, it is not the end of the road yet.
We are the obstacle of our own issue.
We just need to figure out a way to sustain ourselves.
What are you waiting for? Start it small, be comfortable with the idea and start extend your boundaries.
The world is our playground.
Trust me, the knowledge and experience you gained through travelling is very valueable.
A soul searching journey it is ! =)

Good luck everyone!

Traveling in South East Asia

Sorry for the lack in updates. We were busy with our final year projects. =(

Traveling in South East Asia is never easy. You will get the picture when you start doing your research. When I was reading the forums, I felt depress because what people shared was the scam they encountered. And people try hard to get as much as money they can from the tourist. It doesn't matter where you are from, as long as you are not a local, you are rich to them.
Here are some guides to travel SEA countries.

1. Read more about transportations.
In Thailand, you have railways, motor taxi, bus, taxi and tuk-tuk. It's very difficult to know what's the reasonable price for a tuk-tuk ride. It seems cheap to us as our currency is higher. But, the best thing is to take a bus/taxi especially when you are travel in a huge group. Bus fare is very cheap in Bangkok. You can use the river transportation too. After a few trip to Bangkok, I think bus is the cheapest option around. The buses are very frequent and it is way better than skytrain. However, the red non-air-con bus cost 6 Bath while the air-conditioned bus cost 13-20 Bath. If you are on budget, take the red 54 bus rather than the white 54 bus!

In Vietnam, you have motortaxi, bus and taxi.
One trip by motortaxi might cost USD 1. It sound cheap isn't it? But, if you have a partner with you, it might be cheaper to take a taxi (Proven in Saigon). But, I can't deny that motor taxi is faster than other mode of transport when there's a massive jam. As for their public bus transport system, you need to recognize the place/a local to guide you. Everything is in Vietnamese language and they don't announce the stops. So it is near impossible for a foreigners to use the bus service unless you can speak their language or you met someone who can speak English. Some buses will stop as early as 8pm. So, better check your timetable! When you are at the bus station, people will approach you and tell you that the bus service has ended. Double check it yourself as most of them are motortaxi driver and they just want money from you.

In Cambodia, you have only long distance bus and tuktuk. There's not much choice isn't it? There's nothing much to do with long distance buses as the price are quite standardized. I used the local bus company from Phnom Penh to Siam Reap and it was quite an experience. The ticket cost me USD 5 instead of USD 11 (for Mekong buses) but you can only see local on the bus. The pictures shown look very nice but trust me, I was like 'what the hell? This is not the bus I saw from the picture!'. Yeahh. you get the picture. When you are getting into a tuk-tuk, make sure that you haggle the price first and be firm. For example, a trip from Old market to your hostel/guesthouse should cost only USD 1 per trip. Ignore them when they said 'USD 1 per person'. You can find better one. Just keep looking.

***Tuk-tuk driver or motor taxi tend to charge foreigners at a higher price compared to the locals.

In Indonesia, I can't give you much advise on this as I only took angkot and the local train. When someone offered to help you with your luggage at the train station, tell them nicely that you can do it yourself. They are willingly to carry your luggage for you and charge you later.

If you are travelling around Medan or from Medan to Berastagi/Lake Toba, the mini van fare will cost 10,000-20,000 Rp. We wrote a separate post on Medan-Berastagi-Toba-Medan. Go read naoo! But, it is a non-air-conditioned and people are allowed to smoke in the mini van. Air-conditioned car will cost more but it's smoke free. Always ask for price before paying and remember to ask around! Never ever pass your luggage to anyone unless you agreed that you want to use their transport.

p/s: The driving in Indonesia is not meant for faint-hearted. You will get what I mean. =)

2. Always bargain. At least 70% of the price offered.
I will pay for what it's worth for because they are trying to make a living too.
Don't believe when people say 'We are chinese, so I will give you a good price'. The price they offered is always higher than others. Do some research on where the locals do their shopping. Then, you will know where to get the cheapest souvenirs. For example, Pasar Beringharjo in Jogjakarta is a very good place but you need to walk to the other side to search for very cheap and nice souvenirs. When they tell you that it is very cheap, don't believe that. For example, if they offer you USD 1 for a magnet, bargain for 3 for USD 1 and etc. Do ask a few shops before you buy. And always pretend that you are not interested in their goods and walk away. If you show your interest in their goods, they will mark up the price as high as 300% but you will still feel that the price is reasonable. =)

3. Accommodation
It depends on your travelling style. If you like posh hotels or at least 3-star accommodation, you can always book with the hotel website or try Agoda. But if you are backpacking, always check for guesthouse reviews and compare a few Guesthouse before making decision. Some Guesthouse do have promotion for off-peak season where they only charge price for 2 nights for 3 nights and etc. When I was doing my research for Phnom Penh, it was very difficult as most of the bad GH have very bad reviews. Go for your safety instead of the price. We paid around USD 17 for a room but it was worth it because of the security. A lot of travelers complaint that they were robbed in the middle of the night when they were sleeping. Avoid paying the room rental in advance as the room might not turned out as you want it to be or you can't really predict your schedule if you travelling by land.

If you like to make new friends, do try couch surfing. I tried it and I loved it very much. It is the best way to experience the culture of the local and know their lifestyle. In my opinion, that's the most important part when comes to travelling. I made new friends and learnt a lot about them.

I will stop here today and will continue another day.
If you have any enquiries about travelling in SEA, do leave us a comment and we will get back to you asap. Perhaps cover it in our next travel guide! have a good week ahead!

Iuhnix

Book your holiday!

Hi readers!

Sorry for the late in updates.

How are you???

All the writers are busy with their final year project and we are definitely longing for a long holiday. =(

Do you know that AirAsia will have their zero fare promo this wednesday?

The Miqtravellers are discussing where to go for our graduation trip.

We are definitely having a huge problem in selecting the perfect destination. *scratch head*

Are you guys going to book a ticket for a holiday too?

I secretly hope that everyone won't go online so that I can book my perfect holiday. Nahh.Just joking :)

Updates coming right away !

Sydney

Photos from Sydney. The view is taken from Taronga Zoo and it's pretty scenic. Hope you will like it too.

Orange Coloured Sky

Back from Japan. Here a little preview of the Japan trip. This is taken on the first day of arrival in Rinku Town, a small town adjacent to Kansai International Airport.

Will update as soon as I have gotten everything sorted.

Next destination is Java Island. Stay tune=D

The magnificient Angkor Temples!

Hola ! 
I'm going to bring you to one of the main UNESCO heritage site in South East Asia.
It was discovered by the French.
Can you guess where is it?







It's Angkor Wat ! Angkor refers to temple in Hinduism and Wat refers to temple too but in Buddhism. Hinduism and Buddhism was adapted by the kings in different era. The king will decide the religion when he rule the country. The temples there were either inspired by Hinduism or Buddhism. For example, if the first king believe in Hinduism and the second king believes in Buddhism, they might just alter the sculpture of the temples or build a completely new temple. Some temples have a mixture of Hindu and Buddhist influence.
We shared a tour guide with 3 other travelers from the guesthouse. We met two of them in Saigon when we were doing our Melkong Delta trip. The charges for tour guide is USD 20 per day. Our tour guide is Mr.Vanna and he's very good. We booked a tuktuk for USD 15.

My experience in Siam Reap is the highlight of my 9 days trip. It started up with throwing up three times in the morning. fml

We bought the one day ticket at USD 20 each. The pass has our picture on it so the guards can check. 
My friend and I went to Angkor Wat at 430am to watch the sunrise! We asked the others to come with us but they would rather watch the sunset. lol.

It was raining season in June so the sun didn't show up at all. :(

We took a stroll inside the Angkor Wat temple. The weather was pretty good and we took a few pictures. We were glad that we went to see the sunrise. You will know why later :)

This was my favourite shot of the day. I adjusted the setting of the camera and the outcome was great without editing. It was taken at one of the temple inside Angkor Wat. There's a total of five temples.

After that, we went back to the guesthouse to have our breakfast and meet the rest. My body doesn't allow me to consume any food for breakfast either. :(

We started our tour with Sras Srang. Vanna told us that the king use it for swimming or bathing with his wives. There's suppose to be a temple in the middle but it drowned if I remember it correctly. It's good to hire a tour guide because they will tell you every single details so that you can have very good understanding of the temples. Or get a guidebook for USD 5. You can't just go in there to take pictures because you will get bored very soon everything look the same. =)

I was feeling really bad for the rest of the day so I didn't take any pictures. The weather was cooling and the sky was pretty dark for photography too. 

My friend told me that its better to capture the moment by our own eyes because pictures couldn't tell how magnificent the place is. Angkor temples are amazing. 

After that, we went to Angkor Thom,Ta Phrom, Ta Keo and Terrace of Elephants. 

The only picture I took in Ta Phrom before I felt worst. =(

 In case you don't know, Ta Phrom is the temple where they filmed Tomb Raider. And Angelina Jolie took the same picture from where I stood according to my tour guide. Vanna was very encouraging. He took us to all the best spot to take pictures but unfortunately all of us felt hot, thirsty and tired to take pictures. I wish I didn't fall sick on that day. 

Vanna told us to look from the hole and  tell him what we saw. Don't you think that it looks like a human trying to climb the temple?

Later on, we proceed to Bayon Temple. According to Vanna, the king is a happy king so you can notice the smile on the face of the sculpture.

Vanna, our tour guide explaining the wall sculptures. The artist record the daily activities of the local by carving them on the wall. You can see those sculptures are actually chinese.

We went for lunch at 12 noon and the rain start pouring. I drank coconut water for lunch instead of eating solid food.  The rain continues after lunch. However, we still make our way to the main temple-Angkor Wat. I didn't take any pictures after that because I was busy avoiding myself from getting wet. The rain didn't stop at all.

I'm very impressed with the stories told by Mr.Vanna. He's very dedicated to his job. Well, he make sure that all of us understand the story and history. He repeated the Ramayana story for 938492834092 times. I heard of it before when I was in Bangkok. So, it wasn't a new story to me. 

Here's some guides if you are going to the  Angkor Temples. 

1. Never buy stuff from the kids. They will keep bugging you until you buy more stuff from them. 

2. Never ask for the price unless you are interested in it.

3. You can bring your own food/snacks if you are on a tight budget. The food sold in those restaurants are very expensive. You can also request your driver to bring you out of the park to have lunch. 

4. If you want to visit the outlying temples and big circuit, you will need a multiple day pass. The one day pass is only enough for the small circuit temples as stated in this post. 

5. Wear comfortable shoes  because the steps are very slippery. 

6. Avoid wearing shorts and sleeveless shirt because they might stop you from entering some temples especially the main one in Angkor Wat. Bring a scarf to cover up.

I will stop here today.

p/s: I'm not posting according to my trip. I shall post up my itinerary soon ! 

From the editor who suffered a lot after eating amok fish. =)

Putrajaya 02

Cruise Tasik, Putrajaya

Taken at Cruise Tasik, Putrajaya with D90.

Off to Japan soon

Hey ya! My Japan trip is in 3 days and I have yet to finish planning yet cause I wanna make the most out of my trip, trying to fit in as many places as possible. I ll be going for eight days, though its seems long but I still feel that I can't covered the places I wanna go.

So here's a brief itinerary:

Day 1:
Arrival at Kansai International Airport
I'll be heading to Sakai for the famous tomb stone and also Sumiyoshi to visit the Sumiyoshi Tashi Temple via the Nankai Line, then back to Rinku Town for the night.

Day 2:
Leaving Rinku Town and heading to Osaka via the Nankai Line to Namba Station. From there, I'll be changing to the Midosuji Line to Shinsaibashi Station. Our hotel for 7 nights will be at Hearton Hotel Shinsaibashi Osaka. It's pretty reasonable for only RM 1400 for that 7 night, and it's close to the Station making sight seeing very easier.

After Check-in, I'll be using the Osaka Unlimited Pass as it provide free admission to most of the popular tourist attraction in Osaka and unlimited ride on public transport for the day.

Day 3:
Will be spending the whole day in Universal Studio Osaka. Universal Studio is only accessible via the JR line. I'll be taking the JR line from Osaka Station to Universal Studio Station

Day 4:
Will be visiting Kobe half the day,hopefully there's ample time to visit the Himeji-jo in Himeji.

Day 5:
Heading over to Kyoto. Most probably will be covering the UNESCO Herritage Sites in Northern Kyoto as well as going up the Kyoto tower and catching a glimpse of geisha in Gion District

Day 6:
Will be taking a relaxing day in Osaka visiting the Osaka Castle which was closed on Monday in the morning and then heading to Namba district and Dotombori to dine and shop.

Day 7:
Back for another day in Kyoto, covering the eastern side of Kyoto or heading to Nara. Pretty unsure yet. We will see how it goes.

Day 8:
The Gion Matsuri Festival will be held in Kyoto on this day (17July) and I guess this will be the highlight of the trip. Hopefully slight sight seeing in between.

Day 9:
Catching the early train back to KIX to fly back to Malaysia.

Ciao! Off to finish my planning. Hope all goes well!

Putrajaya 01

Hi readers,
This is a sneak preview from our photography trip at Putrajaya lately. The picture above was taken in Taman Botani.

Stay tune for more postcard like picture.

Love,
Iuhnix (Miqtravellers)

Thailand Travel Guide 02

Hi! Sorry for being MIA for so long. We were too busy with trip plannings and stuff. Two of us are heading to HK and Japan this week! Ain't that awesome?
I think choosing the right accommodation is a real pain when it comes to trip planning. As for me, we opt for cheap and good hostel because we only need a place to sleep at night.
I stayed in Lamphu House when I was in Bangkok.  Well, it wasn't a hostel. The place look more like a hotel to me. We stayed there for 3 nights and we tried 3 different rooms. Long story.

I wanted to book the Quad room at the first place but it wasn't in the list when I fill in the reservation form. Perhaps you can email them instead to book the room as it's very ideal when you are travel in four.
In the end, I book the fan room(400B) with shared bathroom for the trip because we thought that it will be like the one in our uni hostels.
The room was nice but it was so stuffy at night because May was the hottest month of the year. FOL. I couldn't sleep at all on the first night. They have a small fan attached to the ceiling and obviously it didn't work well. When I said shared bathroom, it means shared between man and female. Too bad I didn't take any pictures from the bathroom. You might see strangers who only have their towel on them when you are brushing your teeth. Remember to stay calm. LoL

On the next day, we went to the reception counter and ask for A/C room instead. They gave us the quad room with private bathroom at 980B. The room was great because it was huge and we have a balcony to hang our clothes. The other bed is opposite the one you saw in the picture below.

On the third morning, we have to move to a new room because someone book the quad room before us. We moved to the standard room(With A/C at 630B) with private bathroom instead. There's a double bed with tables and place to hang your clothes inside. 

As for the fourth night, we stayed in Silver Gold Garden Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel. We paid around RM50 for a room via Agoda.com which includes free airport transfer.

It's a good place to stay because they have night market in front of the hotel and Tesco is located right next to the hotel! It is definitely a good place for last minute shopping. XD

My friend told me that there's a lot of cheap hostel around KS road area but we need to explore as they don't have a website.

Perhaps you can keep that in mind when you go Bangkok ! :)

That's all for the accomodation part.

Hello Cambodia!

Hey readers!
Guess where am I now?
I'm currently at my third pit stop after Saigon and Phnom Penh! We saw Cambodia through the bus ride. On our first day in Cambodia, we saw poor citizen who was trying to sell us goods but we didn't get down the bus. Then, we saw the local village which is quite similar to Malaysia's rumah panjang/rumah papan. After that, we saw the much developed Phnom Penh and now, we are at Siam Reap with less developed road. I will write as soon as I get back to Malaysia.

Stay Tune for our travel guides! You gotta love it !

Bangkok Day 2

Saawaadeekaa~ We are back with our itinerary for Day Two =)
Have you read about our itinerary,our post on day one and our travel guide ?

We started day two by having breakfast at one of the street near Khao San Road. Then, we walked to the pier(N11) where we took the transport to the Grand Palace. (N9) Fee:14 Bath nett.
We can actually walk to GP from KS road(20 minutes) but we can't get the directions from the local as they don't understand us. I heard that Old Bangkok is along the way if you walk.

The pier near KS road is Phra Arthit. There's a map which show which boat you can take to reach N9.

The people are ready to get off.

From here.

There's a tourist information booth after you walk out of N9. According to them, its better to visit GP first then turn left and the exit and walk to Wat Pho instead of turning right to Wat Pho.
The entrance fee to GP is 350 Bath(They will stop selling ticket at 3pm but the palace open till 5pm/530pm) The ticket consist of entrance to Grand Palace, Dusit Palace(far from GP) and the museum inside GP but you have to use it within 7 days. The dresscode is very strict. Well, they provide proper attire for you but you have to pay the deposit. You can get back the money after you return the attire.

Tips: Get the free guide from GP at 10am, 1030am, 130pm and 2pm.  The guide will explain all the basic things that you need to know about the place. Or you can just stand next to some tour guide and pretend that you don't understand their language. lol

We went in quite early to avoid the tourist tour but they came in quite early as well. We just have to be quick and taking pictures.

 The protector of the Palace.

 At one of the temple.

 The postcard-like picture. I adore wide angle lens so much.

There's a lot of picture from GP which I can't show all of them in this post. Basically, GP consist of the royal temples and the palace. We were not allow to go into the palace. We end our free tour at around 12pm. In GP, you can send your postcard at the fee of 15 bath per piece. I save the hassle of looking for a post office.

The weather was very hot on that day and we choose not to proceed to Wat Pho and Wat Arun(N8). Wat Pho is where the reclining buddha is and the entrance fee is 20 bath. We had seen the reclining buddha at Malaysia. So, we choose to skip it. You have to take the boat to Wat Arun. If you are at Wat Arun, you must climb the temple but you need to pay a fee for that. The steps were steep. However, we choose to skip it as we couldn't stand the weather at all. I will go back when I visit Bangkok next time.

From Grand Palace, we took a taxi to Chinatown(Yaowurat) which cost us 80 bath. You can choose to take bus No.53 or the boat and get off at N5.
We had our lunch at Chinatown. My friend, J told us that we can eat bird nest soup and shark fin soup at a very cheap price but we didn't see anyone selling any of those. There's a lot of wholesale shop around that area though.

We left Chinatown after our lunch and took another taxi to Pratunam. It was peak hour and the taxi drivers were reluctant to fetch us there. Luckily we met a policeman who flagged down the taxi for us and even ask the taxi driver to use the meter. =) The fare was 79 Bath.

 Pratunam market is the wholesale area. But if you get 3 piece and above, you are entitled for their wholesale price. Platinum mall which is opposite the market provide a lot of options too. I heard that the food at Platinum mall's food court(6th floor) is very good. Both the market and the mall close at 6pm. So, don't try to be smart and visit them at night.

You can walk to Pratunam market/Platinum mall if you are at the Siam BTS Station/Siam Paragon/MBK/Siam Discovery Center. It is within walking distance and I saw a lot of food vendors along the way.

Okay. That's all for Day Two.Pop us email if you have further inquiries about the place ya?

Thailand Travel Guide 01

I think the first problem everyone will encounter in Thailand is the language barrier. I remember my friend told me that in a foreign country, people who speak english well will be the one who rip you off. I didn't notice that when I was in China because I can speak their language. In Thailand, whenever I see menu written in English/waiter who can speak well in english, they tend to charge a lot more compared to the local vendors.

I can teach you basic Thai which I used to survive 5 days in Bangkok.
Numbers in Thai language:
1-Neng
2-Song
3-Sam
4-Si
5-Ha
6-Hok
7-Jed
8-Pet
9-Kao
10-Sip
100- roi
1000- pan
What- A lai
How much?-Tao lai
This - Ni
Pork -Mo
Ice Tea- Chae In
Noodle-Nom kin
No/Dont want- Mai
Hello- Saawaadeeka(Girls); Saawaadeekap(Guys)
Thank You- Kapkhunkaa(Girls); Kapkhunkap(Guys)
*Girls end the sentence with kaa and guys end it with kap. Dont be confuse! haha

It's very simple right? For food, its good if you know a few famous thai dish like Som Tam, Pad Thai, Tom Yam and etc.

When you approach a food vendor and you have no idea what is he/she selling, you just need to point at the food and ask 'Ni A lai?' Then they will tell. Perhaps you won't understand what is that either.
When you want to order food, you can say 'Ni, neng'(Two orders for this please).
When you want to ask for the price of an item, you can say 'Ni, Tao lai?'

If you can speak mandarin, you can try your luck by speaking with the local. You will be surpirsed that they understand mandarin very well and some can speak too.

It's better for you to ask the price in Thai language especially in those local market. The people there don't speak english well/ can't speak english at all. You can find good english speaking people at most of the tourist place/shopping malls. They can bargain with you in english too. =D

Pointing is very helpful in Thailand. You can point at the food to ask the price for the food/what's is that. Or point and the map to ask how to get to the place. Or point at the vegetable to ask them not to put it in your food.

Thai people are very polite. They will greet you when you enter the shop/leave the shop. Be good to them too by greeting them back.
Okay, after reading this post, you are ready to go to Thailand ! hahaha. Oh well, you need a lot of hand gesture as well.

Bangkok Day 1

Have you read our iteinary for Bangkok ?
Our flight arrived at Bangkok at about 2pm. Mind that Bangkok is in the GMT+7 timezone.
It was my first time at the LCCT international departure hall.

We found ourselves at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport two hours after departure! The custom were pretty fast in doing things. We had read a lot about the scams in Bangkok and we tried our best to avoid them. From the airport, we took the taxi down to Khao San area. It is best to have your hostel address written in Thai language because most of the taxi driver don't understand english and it seems like they have different thai and english name for the streets. Taxi fare from airport to Khao San area should be around 300-400 Bath inclusive of toll fare and the journey took around 1 hour.

We head to Siam Center area after a short rest. The taxi from Khao San road to Siam Center cost around 75 Bath. It was late afternoon when we reach there and our stomach was growling. We hurried to search for food but we found the free ice tea for tourist instead. Yeap, just head to MBK's food court and present your passport at the bar. The ice tea tasted like Malaysian Teh Ice but very very sweet. I was afraid to taste the thai desserts and drinks because I can't really take sweet food.

It's easy to ask for direction at Thailand. You just need a map with the address or picture. All you need to do is point, point and point until the local direct you to the right place. We went to Jim Thompson House first because the closing hour is 5pm and we didn't want to miss this place. You know that you are at the right place when you see the sign board in front of the alley.

You just need to keep walking until you see the house on your left hand side.

The entrance fee is 100 Bath. However, you can get 50% discount if you are able to show them your student ID/passport to show that you are below 25 years old. J.T House is a traditional Thai house with lots of antiques inside. It's good to have a glimpse on how people live in the olden days. The best part is you will get a free guide who will explain all the features of the house. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the house.

The rain started pouring before we left JT House. We hurried to our next destination which is the Bangkok Art and Cultural Center. It is located next to MBK.

 There was a architecture exhibition by the University student when we were there. Students from second year onwards get to display their models and also provide explaination to the public. I personally think that it is a very good platform for the student to express themselves. And everything is in English too.

 Besides that, they have a few conceptual and attractive shops and cafes.

I found this interesting handmade necklace from one of the booth. If you are single, you will have one of those on your necklace. If you are in a relationship, you will have two. If you have two many, you will wear the bitch necklace like the one on your right hand side. Interesting huh?

We didn't take any picture outside the building because it was still raining. :( We ran towards the overhead bridge and went inside Siam Paragon to search for the Naraya flagship store.

One warning before you step into Naraya, be prepare to spend lots of time there. We met a lot of people from China, Taiwan, HK and Malaysia there. The price of those bags are not expensive at all. You can find the Naraya branch mostly located at Siam Center area.

After an hour, we manage to pull ourselves out from Naraya and went hunting for dinner. We walked around the Siam Paragon and realize that most shops were closed at 7pm and we can't find any food. We grabbed something along the way and took a tuktuk back to KhaoSan Road. We negotiated with the driver with the price of 80 Bath. The traffic was very heavy at that hour so we have no choice.

We had our dinner at KS road opposite the pub. I manage to eat my favourite Mango Sticky Rice at 35 Bath. Very cheap compared to Malaysia and I ate that every single day for the rest of my trip. *happiness*

Okay, that's all for day one.

Day two is coming soon ! :)

Bangkok-From a girl's perspective.

Saawaadeeka~
I'm back from a 5 days 4 night trip at Bangkok.
Woah. 5 days wasn't sufficient at all as there's so much to see there.
My first impression of Bangkok is that it is very similar to KL. The streets, buildings, road are identical to the one we have in KL. Thai people are very nice except for the one we met at the floating market. And they are very chinese. We met a few who can speak a little mandarin and made our day! You have no idea how hard is it to converse with the locals in thai language. But, with my very limited thai language, I'm able to order foods and ask for direction. Not that bad huh?

I will show you my iteinary first. Then, I will write with full details.
If you ask what's the budget for a trip to Bangkok, I will say that you can have a budget for Bangkok because no one can resist the shopping temptation there. Yes, even for guys. I met a CSer there and he told me he spent every single penny he had if he went to Chatukchak. However, I had calculated the basic damage which includes accomodation,transportation,entrance fee and flight and the total was RM420 inclusive of my RM190 flight ticket.

Day1:
Jim Thompson House, Bangkok Art and Cultural Center, Siam Center(MBK and Siam Paragon)

Day 2:
National Palace, Pratunam, Platinum Mall

Day 3:
Ow Tor Kor, Chatukchak Weekend Market

Day 4:
Bang Khun Tien

Day 5:
Home.

Let the fun begin !

Guess where are we going to head next ?

Currency checked. 

Passport checked.

Flight ticket checked. 

It's just 20 hours away. 

p/s: We are going to travel a lot around South East Asia this year! We only left Laos and The Philipines from the map. There's still a lot to do with the Europe trip. Sorry for the delays! We were busy with our studies :(

We will try to keep it up! But, we will bring you to some place next week for sure. Stay Tune!

Trip planning

Hi everyone!
I'm back. Sorry for the lack in updates. We were occupied with works and we were very behind in blogging. I have pictures from my 2 months trip at China and my upcoming trips. I wish I have more hands like an octopus so that I can multitask  

I'm currently doing planning for my Bangkok trip. I realized that 5 days is not enough at all when I discovered new places to visit. I can easily plan for a 5 days shopping trip but I would prefer to experience the life of a local. Plus, the internet is not really helpful. On the other hand, I was doing research for Indonesia as well. Don't ask me how I started it but it was addictive. As the result, I have a how-to-cover-4-cities-in-10-days for Java island plan. The awesome part is that it includes Yogyakarta and Bali with a minimum fare.

After one whole week of intensive research, I want to backpack whole Thailand and Vietnam badly. I shall do more research when I'm free so that I can just book all the tickets that I want next time. I promise that I will share the itineraries once I finish my research.

Btw, any ideas on where to visit at Bangkok? Despite the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun, Chatukchak and Patrunam area. Tell me places that I don't know :)

Contest 01

Hey everyone, sorry for the huge delay. Remember that we mentioned about the contest earlier?
Here's what you need to do.
1. Become our follower for this blog.
2. Leave us a comment and mention the country and name of the place shown in the picture above before 24th of April.
3. Wait for our email to see if you had won a gift from us !

Easy right?
Start submitting your answer right now ! :) Remember, only follower can participate. Have fun guessing!
Remember to use your valid email so that we know how to contact you. Your name stated in the post should be same as your follower name so that we know who you are.

Miq's first event!

Hi <3 !
Sorry for the lack in updates as we were all occupied with internship and work. :(
To compensate this, we will be giving out gifts to our readers!
What you need to do is to be our followers because we will be having some Q&A soon but we won't tell when so you need to keep up closely.
Also, if you would like personal update or know interesting experiences while we are traveling, do take part in this contest! We will be sending out postcards when we travel! This is going to happen soon! So act quick and don't miss out.
Don't you just love snail mail?I know i do like getting mails in the post which are not bills.

So, have you followed our blog? Click 'Follow' naooo

Wait for our announcement on what to do next! :)

Lots of love,
Miqtravellers.

Survival Skill at China 02

Hola, Ni hao =)

Like I said earlier, I will tell you how to stay in style today!
The first which came to my mind about accomodation is backpacker inn or motel.
For places like Hangzhou and Suzhou, we stayed at backpacker inn.We stayed at 4 Eyes Backpacker Inn at Hangzhou which is located at 'Hu Pao Lu' and just opposide of Hangzhou's Children Park. It is at the top of the slope. Right above the bus station. Nice rightt ?Not good if you have a huge luggage with you. I would recommend you to stay at backpacker inn/youth hostel as each of them have unique decoration and setting which is worth the visit. The price is cheaper compared to normal chain hotel at China. I will share a few pictures from the inn.

We took the twin room which cost RMB150 per night with bathroom attached on the first night but we had another room which cost RMB120 on the second night. I think dorms are even cheaper.



At the lounge




I love the decos!




The open area where we watched football match from the big screen.




The pouch.




The art room.




The camping area where they put all the tents for people to rent.




An affair at the backpacker inn. woot

 We stayed at Joya Youth Hostel at Suzhou.

We had a hard time searching for the place. But we manage to find it with the help from the local. :) We stayed there for 3 nights as we fell in love with the place. We booked for the female dorm for two and they allowed us to pay with the student price. We paid RMB40 per night per person and we got the whole room to ourselves on the first two nights. We moved to the mixed dorm on the third night where we only have to pay RMB30 ? I don't really remember. It is quite a nice place to stay because it is in the neighbourhood and all the tourist attraction is within walking distance. Just make sure that you are willing to walk. And later we found out that the shopping district is just across the main street. That was awesomeeeee ! The building itself is at least 300 years old. I think all the house nearby is that old. I can show you in the next post !:)

Scene you can see in the neighbourhood. So ancient right? We wanted to wear our cheongsam and have our own photoshoot but it was raining throughout our stay. :(



The reason we love the place is because we get to interact a lot with the locals. We had breakfast at the same place everyday till they recognize us. They have the best taufufah and youcharkueh. love it! :D

 To book hostel at China, it is best to get their contact number online and call them by using the public phoen or book through their website. If we use hostelworld.com, we need to pay downpayment of 10%. One thing I learnt from travelling is that we cannot really go according to the plan because things can just happen like that.

I choose to stay at chain hotel at ShenZhen because there's not much backpacker inn and the price is expensive. I paid RMB180 per night for a very spacious room with attached bathroom at Motel186. You can google about it as they have franchise throughout China. There's a few other options too.

As for Beijing, I stayed at City Central Youth Hostel which is located just in front of the subway and the main train station which is ideal for backpacker.

Okay, I have to go right now.
That's what I wanted to share on accommodation.

Next will be what the girls love to do ! Shopping tips ! =D

Happy Chinese New Year and have a great one with your family!

p/s: If you have any enquiry, do email us =)