My Christmas Dinner

Steak, Potatoes, Brocolli and Wine

For Christmas, Louis has very nicely decided to cook dinner for just the 2 of us.

Unfortunately, the Christmas songs that I spent a whole day downloading causing my netbook to go cuckoo was with my cousin (he din manage to give them back to me when he rescued my netbook) so the music playing on the background was a bit high strung, I mean what do you expect? it was the Celine Dion Christmas CD......

Cherating – Part 6

Cost of the trip

Disclaimer:
This is just a rough calculation based on my ageing memory…

Accommodation : RM60 for 2 nights
Toll : RM50 round trip
Petrol : RM75 Kancil full tank
Food : RM160 (inclusive of beer and Kenny Rogers Roasters meal at Mall
in Kuantan which cost RM47)
Total : RM345 for 2 person


P/S: Cost of Beer is RM 10 per can at Payung Café and the cost of cocktails are between RM18 to RM14. Food price is similar to KL prices.

Cherating – Part 5

What did we do there?

o Sports Illustrated photography

One of the pics

We dedicated one morning which was basically 2 hours at the beach to shoot some “Sports Illustrated” pics of my sis. I thought I was gonna get denggi from the amount of mosquito bites that I got that morning from staying stationery once in a while to just shoot the photos… it turned out that the mozzies were actually sand flies and now the back of my thighs look like a cheetah with pink spots….The consolation was that some of the pics turned out quite nice.

o Waves jumping
After breakfast, we went for a dip in the sea. Water is NOT crystal clear… reminds me of Tanjung Aru beach in KK. The beach was sandy and the waves were quite strong, currents were strong too. Lucky for us the tide was coming in. We had a marvelous time jumping the waves like we used to at Tanjung Aru.


The beach in the morning

o Exfoliating
As efficient as ever, my sis made sure that the sand was put to good use by rubbing it on our backs and feet. It was rough but the after effects were smooth skin that lasted for errr… 1 day?


Beach separated by a sand bank

o Sun tanning
The morning sun was strong for the 2 days we were there but by lunch time, it became cloudy and short showers were expected… we were tanning and by the beach and eating cheese flavored roller coasters at the same time… really fun activity. We probably were at it for about an hour the most before we decided to go get some lunch.


Pretty sandy pattern

o Jogging at the beach
Our room was a great place to nap after lunch and since it was raining, the nap was even sweeter. When the rain stopped we went to the beach for a 20 minutes jog. According to my sis, 20 minutes of increased heart rate per day is all we need and I would listen to her as she is a fitness freak since secondary school. We went jogging at the beach the next morning too for what else? 20 minutes of course. Will I incorporate this healthy activity into my existing lifestyle in KL? Let me be an irritating kiasu bitch and a half and ponder over the logistics of this incorporation like so many other activities that I do on a daily basis eg. do I shower before dinner or after dinner and what are the pros and cons of each argument…..

o Chilling
Now this part is the best… the loitering around on the balcony and lying about on the bed just chatting or having a beer or a cigarette (only my sis, I am still officially cigarette free since 27th Sep 2008 and will still be counting like the maniac that I am) Just catching up with each other and just enjoying each other’s company like we used to when we shared a room together growing up.

All in all, this 1st trip was awesome enough for us to decide to continue this new tradition – now we just need to think of the logistics of where, what, when and How for the next trip! Which is something that we will just leave until the last minute or until we absolutely have to… Of course us being who we are had to stop in Kuantan and traipse around the Mall there before coming back to KL.

Cherating – Part 4

The International Surfing Competition

Most of the local food/accommodation operators thought that we were joining in the surfing competition – must be the board shorts that we were in… but I thought judging by our complexions especially mine, they must have been thinking of snow surfing or something…

It was a bit strange though that this event din get the whole place packed with people as most of the guest houses have loads of rooms available, most restaurants and souvenir shops were not really open… it still had that chill factor like it is off season or something…


The competition environment and spectators

The exact amount of time that my sis and I spent at the competition was 1 hour the most. The waves were not as huge as the ones you see on TV where people surf in Hawaii or Australia or even animations like Surf’s Up. I guess unless you are really like into surfing you would probably think it is not such a big deal after all… the surfing looked pretty good and I got quite a few shots of the contestants surfing (don’t ask me which category)






The hubba factor was not sky rocketing…mostly pilak looking surfers (Van, so no winking from me) or little kids for that matter. Mat Sallehs looked like they have gone through A LOT of summers so it was not surprising that we din go for the party at 9 p.m. and preferred to chill in our balconies.

However, that was just my unprofessional opinion, for more reliable info on the competition; you can refer to these websites:

http://forum.surfermag.com/forum/showflat.php?Number=1504185

http://all-about-malaysia-info.blogspot.com/2008/01/catching-surf-at-cherating.html

Cherating – Part 3

Accomodation

We stayed in Cherating Cottage because:

It was within our budget – RM30 for a double room with fan fitted into our budget perfectly for an impromptu weekend getaway … in fact we brought along a 2 men tent just in case we din get a place to stay. That was the main reason initially until we found out about the additional plus points below:

Additional plus points:
o The service was above my expectation as they are closed by 11 p.m. but they were willing to arrange for the room keys to be held by a guest and for us to call the guest (Kak Ani) to give us our keys… really nice people

o We found out that the beach was just opposite the road and the hostel is situated 200 m away from the road leading to the beach – woohooo!

o The room was pretty clean and the bathroom, toilet and sink facilities were done logically that my sis and I need not fight over the bathroom, toilet or sink as it is separated and managed to get ready on time – yes my sis even managed to put on makeup :)(see 1st pic at the top)

o They have a rattan towel rack built on top of a rattan shelf which was very convenient to dry our towels

o They gave us 4 chairs at the balcony so we could sit anyhow we liked :)(see 3rd pic at the top)

o There was also a clothes line at the balcony… only thing is we din bring any clothes peg….

o There is a convenient shop just next door, very handy for buying mineral water – RM2 per 1.5 litres, quite standard price

o The restaurant serving all day continental breakfast (great for people who loves breakfast like us) is also the hotel reception

Not so good points:
o The toilet sounded like a few gremlins lived in it after flushing… the noise can carry on up to 10 minutes … my sis was pretty worried that the boys staying next door will think that some one in our room has developed a horrible diarrhea by the sounds coming out of the pipes and/cistern

o The faucet at the sink would suddenly come alive and sprout water even though it is tightly screwed shut … no not ghost just minor plumbing issues
The bathroom and toilet lights are a bit too romantic aka not bright enough. But it is good for the body conscious as you won’t be able to agonize over your flaws imaginary or otherwise

o There are also no hooks to hang your clothes or towel in the bathroom, so be sure to go stay with someone you trust not to peep at your naked form or someone you don’t mind having access to seeing you in your birthday suit

o The walls are quiet thin, we heard all the conversation going on the next room so if you wanna get jiggy with it, as this may not be the most suitable place unless you don’t mind heheh.

o The blanket/duvet given did not smell very nice … anyway my sis brought her blanket and I used my pareo to double up as a blanket so it is not too bad. Even though it is a room with fan only, it can still be quite cold especially at night and dawn.

o The staircase going up to the 1st floor where our room was situated can be very steep… my sis measured the height of the one of the more horrendously steep steps, the height is slightly more than her size 6 foot… If you are young and nubile and are looking forward to toning your butt and thighs it would be a great plus point… if you are having knee problems, our advise would be for you to get an air conditioned room which are conveniently situated on ground level.

o There is a pub about 500m further down the road that plays music quiet loudly into the wee hours of the night, if you are an insomniac, this may not be a good place for you. My sis and I slept soundly both nights… of course we had a can of beer each on night no 2 ….

Overall, that Cherating Cottage was fun to stay in. Check out this website for more budget places to stay in at Cherating http://www.backpackingmalaysia.com/hostels/cherating

Cherating – Part 2

Sometimes I wonder if I am growing too tense and need to relearn the habit of relaxing and chilling….

My objectives for this trip are as follows:

1)To shoot some pictures of my sis for her Sports Illustrated calendar – hopefully my half baked skills as a photographer would be enough for that
2)To check out the surfing scene and oogle at some hubbas
3)To chill and relax with my sis to see if we will be compatible as travel buddies

We had a rough start … at least in my kiasu mind as we din leave at 6 p.m. on the dot as I have planned (yes… I am a maniac nowadays when it comes to these things… even I hate myself for it… but what to do, am getting old so time is running out, therefore, must be more efficient)

We left KL at about 8.30 p.m. and reached around 1 a.m. which was pretty good timing considering we don’t know the way that well and it was in the middle of the night. Missed the turning to Pantai Cherating coz the signboard was facing the other side of the road and was too dark for us to see. Luckily, we were logical enough to stop at some Tom Yam restaurant that was lined up on that part of the road to ask for directions, made a U turn, travelled about 1 km and found the turning. We got to Cherating Cottage safely after squinting at all the road signs along Pantai Cherating, when we could have just drove straight along the road happily as the signboard for Cherating Cottage was pretty big.


My sis posing at the big signboard by the road side

You could say the moral of the story is we should have taken more time to research on how to get to Cherating a lil bit more … but as you can see even by just following the simple directions given by Farah from Cherating Cottage over the phone which goes like: “From the highway, follow the road sign to Kemaman, then Cherating, then Pantai Cherating and watch out for our signboard” we got there in one piece after a couple of heart attacks. For all you kiasus and OCDs out there,here is a link to a site that has a satellite map of Cherating..hehe. http://www.backpackingmalaysia.com/hostel/cherating-cottage/cherating

Cherating - Part 1

Sister Sister

Yay!! I am going to Cherating with my sister this evening to the International Surfing Competition. Not too sure whether the surf competition is confirmed happening tomorrow and the day after... but it will definitely be a trip to look forward to even without the hubbas (as my sis calls the surfers).

This is the first trip that I am having with my sis after being siblings for ... yikes! 27 years! I have packed my swimsuit etc and also my camera (am doing a calendar photo shoot of my sis) and a tent just in case we can't secure a place to stay for the night... Which reminds me I have got to call the Cherating Cottage to confirm again coz it didn't seem like they quite got me the last time.....

I can't wait for the day to end so that we can get started on the road trip :)