Anyway, thank you to all those who left comments on my last post last month before I went traipsing all over the capital of Thailand.

Wah, Foongpc, so nice of you eh, to reply to some of the comments for me! Now people are really going to be confused and think if you are me or I am you. Well, to those who are confused, I am NOT foongpc and he is not me. I am a woman and he is obviously not a woman so we are two completely different people. And no, we are not related.

And no, I didn’t get killed in any of the so-called ‘riots’ in Bangkok. You’ve not seen organised protests until you’ve seen the ones in Bangkok! Would you believe it that we actually passed the spot they protestors were gathering early in the morning and there was not much noise. Okay, so it didn’t start yet at that time but still, nobody jumped into the middle of the road to stop cars or anything. All of them were gathered in the big huge field.

Why did I say organised? Well, they went ahead with their protests and other than causing a massive jam later in the evening (believe me, you’ve not experienced a traffic jam until you’ve been in one in Bangkok!) there was no signs or any fights or of the protestors taking to the streets or anything. Nope. Life goes on as normal at the rest of the city.

Anyway, I came back a few days ago but had to take at least a year or two to recuperate.I’m still trying to recuperate here, okay? So, if you want pictures…wait lar. I’ve to convert those blardy files to smaller sizes and paste the darn © foongsite.com labels in first. I am just SO tired after the holiday.

NOTE TO SELF: Do NOT travel with whiny toddler to anywhere HOT.

Bangkok at the height of summer is unbelievably HOT. It is at least 38°C during the cooler time in the mornings. So imagine melting away in the heat while whiny toddler refused to walk because of the heat and clings on like some super strong velcro.

Luckily, I brought my versatile, strong and very reliable baby carrier. It is top of the range and SO convenient. Can also double as shopping carrier, ATM machine and food bringer.You should get one the next time you travel. It is called:

A HUSBAND.

Heheheheh…sorry, guys. It is only available for women only. And comes pretty cheap. All you need to do is to feed it with good food, provide the necessary entertainment at night and you are all set. But of course, it comes with some very complex operations instructions you may need years to decipher…

So, what did we do in Bangkok? Hmmm…

1. Sweat like pigs

2. Walk till we are sore

3. Got stuck in 3-hour traffic jams with bored toddler jumping around in the van (who eventually bit me out of boredom and gave me a big huge purple bruise)

4. Ate loads of roadside hawker food and some food court stuffs and even some creepy crawlies (okay, so, only toddler and I are the braver ones to ingest the toxic, deepfried, salt-laden critters but heck, one must be adventurous mah… don’t believe me? I will put up the pictures as proof!)

5. Shopped till we ran out of Baht and had to convert some RMs at very low exchange rate…Cis..Why can’t they start accepting credit cards at markets, eh?

6. Changed hotels because the one we booked online cheated us! The stupid hotel/apartment is called JS Tower and is tucked away in some seedy backlane in some dark, scary neighbourhood. Furthermore, the 3-room apartment we booked is actually three tiny shoebox size rooms tucked into a room barely 400sq ft big with ONE bathroom. That’s not the worse of it, it is dusty and looks like the setting for a movie titled ‘The Rundown Haunted Service Apartment’. Not that we saw any ghosts. We saw loads of cobwebs and spiders. And dust three inches thick, it practically provides a cushion to the tiled floor! We checked in, took a look and ran. So, remember this name: JS Towers. DO NOT STAY THERE when in Bangkok!The only reason we booked there online because they have such nice pictures of the rooms and not only that, they even have a FAKE map showing the location of the hotel in the middle of a happening place near Sukhumvit. HAH. We took the airport limousine service to get there and the driver got lost because we showed him the map and the hotel is not located where it’s shown on the map. He called them and got directions and the hotel is actually about an hour’s drive away in some seedy part of the town tucked into some dark, narrow backlanes. Not a place to stay. Not unless you prefer to be robbed blind while leaving the hotel.

We ended up staying at Sukhumvit Crown Hotel. It’s a budget hotel with reasonably clean rooms and damn cheap prices. Best part is that it is located within quite a happening place so the moment we step out of it, we see loads of shops, stalls, people and traffic.

Let me recount the rest of my travels in Bangkok on another post, complete with pictures…. Till then, I need SLEEP. And a real RELAXING holiday…sigh…Can I take two years MC please?

And it’s only Bangkok, Thailand.

So, no need for the ‘ooh’ and ‘aahh’. Not like I am going for a two-month European trip or anything. Now, if I am going to Europe for a two month holiday, then you are allowed to ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ and turn green with envy.

Like I said, it’s only Bangkok. And we planned this like almost a year ago. Yep. Can you believe it? We booked the flight middle of last year during some zero air fare promotion thingy but ended up paying loads for the stupid surcharge or some other crap.

Ceh.

Of course, I would have preferred going to Melbourne. Or Brisbane. Or London. But we all know, without $$, those places can be relegated to couch-touring through the Travel channel.

Bangkok is not cheap either, mind you. But we will be very, very careful not to overspend. Maybe do loads of window shopping but no actual shopping. And no, it’s not a second honeymoon or anything. The MIL is going and a bunch of our friends are also going.

I am not exactly looking forward to it. I will probably be busy running after my toddler, feeding him, taking him to the toilet a million times a day and trying to get him to sleep and not jump on the nice hotel bed. So, don’t ask me what we saw or visited during the trip. I already know. It will be a blur and only things I could remember will be:

My son demanding to go ‘wee wee’ for the millionth time while traveling from Location A to Location B in a cramped van so we had to stop somewhere for him to ‘wee wee’.

My son asking a trillion questions from ‘what’s that’ to ‘why’ to ‘who’ about everything and anything he fancies.

My son demanding to be carried because ‘my legs are painful’ after walking only 1m.

And many, many more ‘events’ focused on my son.

So, if you asked how’s Bangkok, I will probably say:

‘Tiring. I need a real holiday.’

But don’t worry. If I spot any deep-fried creepy crawlies. I will give them a try and bring back proof!

You’ve not heard of it??? Where have you been? Mars?

Well, this is as much a gimmick as a job for only one person. Yep, the best job in the world is only for one lucky candidate. This whole tourism gimmick is sorta like a reality game show where everyone in this world are invited to apply for the job.

Why is it called the best job in the world? Well, it is only for six months. AND it pays AUD$150,000! And all you need to do in the job is to visit the islands in the Great Barrier Reef, create weekly video diaries and update your blog about the islands and stuff each week. That’s all. Accommodation is provided. And did I mention the AUD$150,000 salary for six months of touring the Great Barrier Reef? You can find out the details here.

So, after thinking about it, I think I may just submit an application for the heck of it. It IS AUD$150,000 you know! And there is no age limit except that applicants must be above 18. It is also my dream to tour the Great Barrier Reef and in this job you will be paid to do it? Damn cool. And yes, it is definitely a dream job.

The best job in the world? You bet! Now, excuse me while I go take a video of myself….If you are interested to apply, do it quick! Only seven days left before closing.

Now, where was I? Oh yeah, about the places to visit before I meet my Maker / go to hell / shrivel up and die/ become extinct / expire, I have always wanted to go to…

The Forbidden City aka Gu Gong

I’ve seen it so many times in the movies, I simply must see the real thing. I want to see those glorious carvings and feel the ‘trapped time’ atmosphere places like this surely has and imagine myself back to the 1400s where China’s emperors ruled from there.

The Pyramids of Giza

We are talking about pyramids and the Great Sphinx. Need I say more?

The Great Barrier Reef

Okay, so I am not really a diver (and obviously not certified but I hope to be a certified diver one day!) but I am still very much a sea-person. I love the sea and the beach and the sea and the beach. Did I mention the sea? (oh, and only the non-polluted ones thank you very much) Just look at the picture, it is enough to make me take long leave and hop on the next flight there except that I can’t afford to do that now…sigh…

Galápagos Islands

This group of islands in the Pacific Ocean (yes, yes, the sea and the beach again) is in Unesco’s World Heritage in Danger list. It has plenty of marine species and other shudder-inducing species like iguanas and giant tortoises on it. It is in the danger list due to increased in tourism, population, pollution, fishing and poaching which are slowly but surely killing the native species on it. Best to visit this place before it is totally destroyed!

The Palace of Versailles

This palace was the residence of the French kings from the time of Louis XIV to Louis XVI. For the same reason as wanting to visit Gu Gong, I just want to see the architecture, the sculptures and of course, the magnificent French gardens!

The Parthenon in Athens, amongst many other historic locations in Greece

There are just so many historical places in Greece, I think I will need at least a month or two to explore it all! Of course, the number one priority will be the Parthenon!

Other than these six locations, of course I have a whole long list of various other countries worldwide and this will become a neverending post if I were to post it all up! This list of places to visit goes to show that not all tourists look for ultra-modern buildings and six-star hotels when they travel.

I am sure tourists who come to George Town because of its joint Unesco heritage listing are not here for shopping, modern shopping complexes, high rise hotels and all that crap. If they want to see modern, high rise buildings, there are plenty in developed countries. No need for them to come all the way here to see that. Tourists who visit places because of its heritage (cultural or natural) values want to see and feel the heritage, the culture, the natural environment. Not some ugly behemoth of a modern building taking up the skyline, towering over the heritage buildings and generally becoming real eyesores.

If I were to go to Athens and find huge towering modern buildings blocking and towering over the heritage buildings like The Parthenon, I would come back very disappointed and TELL EVERYONE NOT TO GO.  There is a reason why Unesco is planning to give George Town a stern warning on the up coming high rise developments.

But I digress. Where was I? Oh, yeah, the places to visit before I die. Oh well, since I didn’t strike the lottery. We are barely struggling by our meagre income. I guess, I may have to wait for the day when I will really be able to afford visiting those places. At least I’ve visited Taj Mahal so that’s one down from my list. About a hundred more to go….

Anyway, I had a great time and wished the really, really short holiday could stretch on forever! Okay, some of you took a guess at where I was headed….now, let’s see..

From Choonie:

1. Sabah

Good idea…I’ve never been to East Malaysia, perhaps we should venture there for a holiday someday. Nope. Wrong.

2. Phuket

We went there for our honeymoon years ago, way before the tsunami incident and we hope to go back one day, only thing is that it is kinda expensive nowadays…nope. wrong again.

3. Bali

We absolutely love Bali! We went there a few years back and yes, we will go back there again one of these days! So, nope…wrong again.

Sorry, Choonie. Looks like your guesses are wrong…

From Caravanserai:

Phuket – because of the clusters of islands….

Heheheh…actually the clusters of islands are kinda deceiving and as people like to say, it may look like one place but it is not. So, nope, it’s not Phuket!

Eh, Engineer, can you imagine if my swimsuit were to go transparent? People will probably run screaming from the island!!! Lol. I think even if I were to go to the store to demand for a refund, I don’t need to scream ‘pinch my nipples’ at all. I just need to wear the transparent swimsuit and flash the store owner and he / she would probably dump all the money in the cash register at me and tell me to go away before they lose their eyesight and ALL of their customers! LOL.

Momo, if I were to post pictures of me in my swimsuit (not even the bikini!) I think I’d scare away ANYONE who happen to pass by this blog. Now, you don’t want to have nightmares, do you? But, I hope the following pictures should be good enough…

Here are some pictures of where I went  **insert drumroll please**:

Samui First House is pretty clean and quite reasonably priced. It is located at almost the end of Chaweng but you could still walk to the busy streets full of shops and restaurants which is nearby. Otherwise, it is also quite easy to travel via toot-toot (the trucks that goes around transporting people). The costs are around 30baht per person (in the day) and 50baht per person at night, to anywhere.

And no, they aren’t nasty tasting or anything. Just crunchy and salty. I especially like the worms, it has a creamy centre, sorta nutty flavour and damn good. No, it does not taste like chicken at all. It tastes much much better than chicken. Only thing is that it is way too salty. They should let up on the salt! It’s 10baht per scoop and I ordered one scoop each of crickets and two types of worms. I finished the whole thing, every single bit, even the cricket legs. Yummmyyyy…

The Ang Thong National Park consist of a cluster of 46 islands set in a sparkling turquiose sea.

The elephant ride is back in Koh Samui, not in the national park. The tour package to the national park includes snacks and lunch on board the boat, kayaking, snorkelling and sightseeing around the park. The package is RM150 per person. The boat ride to the park from Nathon harbour is about one hour 40 minutes. Luckily, the seas are calm, so no danger of seasickness. We sat outside up front and even manage to catch sight of some dolphins swimming past and flying fishes.

These pretty and dainty flowers are handcarved from palmolive soaps. I bought a couple of smaller ones as souvenirs. The smallest one is 50 baht each, the medium ones is 80 baht each and the larger ones are between 150baht to 300 baht.

There are loads of shops, restaurants, cafes and stalls along the busiest area in Koh Samui, the Chaweng stretch. However, everything is VERY expensive and highly inflated. Do not shop here! Even after bargaining, the prices are way too expensive. If you absolutely must buy something, go to Lamai where it is not as busy, thus it is easier to bargain and get better prices.

What I am especially impressed by Koh Samui is the airport:

But I have to say that they are smart to build it to look more like a resort with loads of Thai culture influences in the architecture.

It may not be air-conditioned but it has a resort feel to it and makes one feel so darn comfortable. The high ceiling and wonderful architecture ensured great air flow, so it wasn’t all that warm without air cond in the waiting area at all.

It’s the airport toilet! It is so clean and with a small landscaped garden inside and….

The toilet is impressively clean, the floors are dry and yes, no smell of any kind at all! I can say the toilet is even cleaner than some of the toilets in the hotels in Penang! And it is not only the airport toilet, almost every restaurant we go to have extremely clean toilets with DRY, CLEAN floors.

Even the tourist places in Koh Samui are clean. We don’t see rubbish and litter everywhere. No wonder their tourism sector is growing and no wonder so many tourists preferred Koh Samui and Phuket than Penang. Heck, I’d prefer Koh Samui and Phuket compared to Penang for a holiday anytime even if it is more expensive simply because it is much, much cleaner and their sea is not filled with unknown floating objects.

What about this

Ready to be packed

That bikini of mine is about four years old already when I bought it from a trip to LA. I got it from one of those big flea markets in LA. The other two swimming trunks belong to the two men in my life lor.

Though I can still fit into it, I have too much jiggly bits (not to mention the millions of stretch marks everywhere) to wear that and strut around in it. Sigh….gone are the days when I can wear bikinis without worrying about some unsightly bit hanging out or mountains of jiggling flesh or the network of silver and reddish stretch marks all over.

Haih…..

Always remember to pack the swimwear first

A few times already, we had forgotten to pack along our swimwear and ended up not being able to go for wonderful swims in azure seas or buying some overpriced swimwear there. So, just to be sure, the swimwear goes in first.

No, I am not going to wear the bikini. Just bringing it along as a ‘spare’ suit. Probably going to hide it under a tent of a shirt, heheh. My old one-piece swimsuit already rosak so I went and bought a brand new one. The new suit is hanging out back drying before I pack it into the luggage, that’s why it’s not in the picture.

By now, you must have guessed that we are going on a holiday to a place with beaches and the sea. I don’t know why, must be the deep-seated islander within me, but I always loved going for holidays near the sea, islands or the coast. As long as its near the sea, I will want to go.

So, where are we going?

Here are some clues….

Blue skies and turquoise sea

They have interesting food

Just look at the beautiful view

By the time you read this, I will probably be on my way there with husband and son in tow. Yeah, another time-stamped post…

So, keep on guessing.

Whoever with the first correct guess will win a mysterious prize, a souvenir, from wherever I am going.

So, I am left with handling the hyperactive li’l monster toddler in the backseat. Yeah, my hubby is really like a driver with us sitting behind and him in front. All he needs is a driver’s uniform…lol…

Anyway, it is not easy to travel with a hyperactive toddler who gets bored easily while being strapped into his baby car seat at the back. For long or short journeys, my son is always strapped into the baby car seat for safety.

How do you keep a toddler occupied in a car journey which may take from two hours to five hours or even longer? Well, here are some of my own tips which I find quite useful…

Tips for traveling with a toddler in a car:

How to keep the hyperactive child occupied

1. Bring some of his favourite toys that demands creative play such as a drawing board, play dough, wooden blocks. These may keep him occupied for at least an hour. Just remember to play along with him otherwise he gets bored easily.

2. If you’d forgotten to pack some toys, use other items you can easily find along the way such as pieces of paper and brochures. Use the paper to fold it into various shapes (knowledge in origami will be an added plus!) and teach your toddler to fold the shapes that you’ve folded (extreme patience also an added plus!). As for the brochures, use it like a book. Point out interesting shapes, colours and pictures and tell your toddler your own ‘story’ about it (creativity needed here!).

3. If you have an ultra clean car with not even a tiny scrap of paper, take out your discount cards. Show you toddler how to play snap with it by getting him to hold one in his palm and you holding one in your palm and then tell him to ‘high five’ your palm with his. Whichever card falls face up wins! Of course, you must add some excitement to this game with loads of compliments in the way he is able to control his palm while holding the card.

4. No discount cards? Never mind. Use your hands! I remember how I used to play ‘thumb wrestling’ for hours as a kid and my toddler loves this game too. Although he could not quite control his thumb all that well, he still find loads of enjoyment in it.

5. Sing-along and rhymes. Yes, I know. As mind-numbingly horrifying it sounds, you will need to sing nursery rhymes for hours to keep the child occupied. Even if you have a tape, you will still need to sing along with the tape being played over and over and over for at least an hour or *gasp* longer!

6. Scenery watch – after the first two hours of toys and games and singing, he’d be bored again so the next thing to do is to point out the window and loudly exclaim ‘Oh wow! Look at that car / tractor / lorry / truck / bus’. Then describe to him the colour, the make, how many wheels it has, the purpose of the vehicle and how many people are in it. My son is very inquisitive and usually wants to know the full details! Also, if you are passing country / kampung roads, do point out any animals you see along the way such as cows, dogs, cats, birds, goats, sheep, monkeys, etc.

7.Stand up comedy – yes, you will have to put on a show for your child in the goofiest, funniest way possible for your child. If your child love funny faces, be prepared to put on dozens of funny faces.

8. Tickle time and blowing raspberries – my son simply love it when I start the ‘tickle game’ which ultimately end with me blowing raspberries on his stomach, neck, hands, legs, etc.

9. The rubber band trick – they find it fascinating that we could manipulate a simple rubber band and form patterns with it. You can even let your child try it out but be careful that he does not snap the rubber and hurt himself.

And finally, the one last trick that every parent will love!

10. Nap time! Most young children finds it easier to doze off when traveling in a car, possibly due to the motion. So, after keeping your child occupied and busy for the first half of the journey, remember to keep him well-fed, well-hydrated and then give him some quiet time and he will definitely doze off, hopefully for the rest of the journey!

So, there you are. My very own ten tips on traveling with a hyperactive toddler in the car and how to keep him occupied. Happy traveling.

What else I don’t like about the not so grand Grand View Hotel? Let me list it all out…

1. Hot cond instead of air cond- the clunky air cond operates worse than a fan as in it does not emit any cool air and seemed to be producing more hot air than anything else. The worse part is that the stupid blardy hotel does not have a remote control for the air cond because…’We ran out of remote controls, you will have to call us and we will send someone up to ‘control’ the temperature for you’. Blardy hell. I gave the receptionist an earful and they immediately send up a spare remote control which had miraculously appeared.

2. Lumpy bed, worse than lumpy pillows and threadbare sheets. Also not forgetting scratchy blankets which we didn’t use thanks to the hot cond.

3. Presentable reception does not mean clean and presentable rooms – it is like going from heaven to hell.

4. Ants! – We woke up to find some of my son’s snacks infested with ants!!!!

5. Water the colour of tea – maybe we are used to clean, crystal clear water in Penang but please, water the colour of tea? Ugghhh…we used mineral water to boil water to prepare milk for my son and no, that day, we’d rather risk his teeth rotting than let him brush his teeth over the sink. Uggghhhh…. Too bad we were left with no choice when it came to taking a shower.

6. Dark, dinghy, leaky basement carpark that smells like a dog kennel – seriously, it stinks and some of the pipes leaked so there are pools of water and yes, it is dark and dinghy even for such a tiny little carpark which is only for about 8 cars.

So, will we ever go back to staying in Grand View Hotel the next time we go to Ipoh for a night? No thanks. Not even if it is free. I think I’d rather splurge on Syuen Hotel the next time.  The only reason we stayed on in Ipoh for a night is because we wanted to stay on for the fabulous dim sum at Foh San on Sunday morning.

If you’ve never been to the Lost World of Tambun, well, good for you. You didn’t miss a thing. In fact, you saved your money and yes, your time! We took a trip there for a short weekend getaway and did we regret it…Lost World of Tambun is indeed lost. A LOST case!

Let me show you some pictures…

Lost World of Tambun

The water theme park entrance looks interesting enough but it belies what lies inside…

The almost empty parking lot

We should have realised that something must be wrong when the enormous carpark lot only have about 30 cars ON A WEEKEND…

Inside, it is beautifully landscaped with nice ornaments

I suppose the landscaping and decorations and ornaments they put in the Lost World of Tambun is quite impressive but that’s about it. Entrance is RM25 per adult and RM18 per child. My son entered free because he’s below 90cm.

The 'beach' and tidal wave pool

Again, looks nice and impressive for a water theme park. But heck, we didn’t pay RM50 for beautiful scenery! We need beautiful scenery we’d go for FREE walks in the national park or something.

The children's wading pool

Which is absolutely pathetic. My son got tired of it after a full 10 minutes.  Wanna see a REAL children’s wading pool in a water theme park? Feast your eyes on this!

Children's wading pool at White Water World, Brisbane

See the difference? Let’s look at what else is at the Lost World of Tambun…

Spend RM10 to keep your things in this tiny locker or risk losing it

Yep. On top of the RM50 entrance fee, we have to fork out RM10 to rent the locker and if we want to use the big giant tube (float thingy), the rent is RM8 with RM2 deposit = RM10. We didn’t rent the stupid tube thingy.

Guess what this murky, slimy, oily pool of water is?

It is supposed to be a…

Can you guess by now?

Yep, it’s supposed to be a pond for people to paddle around in those giant Swan water-cycle thingies but ewwww….

Surprisingly, the fishes inside aren't dead yet and pretty darn hungry too

Look at them grabbing at some fish food we fed them (which we bought for RM1 at the ticketing counter outside). Some even wriggled to the ground to swallow the pellets before wriggling back into the murky slimy water.

The 'needle' of Tambun or so it's called 'politely' by the brochure

That’s what nature lovers get to view up close if they take the ‘nature walk’ path which leads right to the virile male symbol of all time….So, men, if you have an inferiority complex, please avert your eyes. But hey, maybe if you go there and hike there and touch it, it may help you to grow bigger and longer too? lol… just saying…

The only thing I like about this theme park is the Tiger Valley

We happened to talk to the tiger trainer, Nathan, and the park has 11 Siberian tigers. They only put four in display and they have tiger feeding time and show at 3pm and 4pm.

Nathan, the tiger trainer

Nathan is actually an MBA holder who used to be an ISO consultant before making a career change to train tigers. His rationale for the total about change?

“It is easier to handle tigers than to deal with people,”

How true. At least tigers don’t stab people on their backs. They don’t gossip. They don’t plan and plot your downfall. They don’t go into politics nor play politics. They only attack because of two reasons, either because they are hungry or because they feel you are threatening them. They generally do not eat humans and our Malayan tigers are on the brink of extinction, not that our Forestry Department care since they always LOVE to go on a shooting spree to kill tigers because of ONE rogue tiger when it is HUMANS WHO ARE ENCROACHING INTO TIGER TERRITORY and not the other way around. Don’t even get me started on that…

Let's not forget the Hot Spring Pool too

This is another redeeming quality of the park. They have a hot spring pool which is darn relaxing but be careful, it is so hot it may just melt your synthetic swimwear!

The things I don’t like about this place are:

No outside food allowed

Ridiculously, they charge you RM1 to store your food outside (if you happen to bring any) and you can collect it when you go back. And yes, you can’t smuggle it in because they check your bags at the entrance! We brought some dry biscuits in a tupperware for my son and they said we are not allowed to bring in the tupperwear but it is okay to bring in the dry biscuits. So, we took out the dry biscuits, put it in a plastic bag and left the tupperware in the locker outside. Yep, no tupperware allowed BUT plastic bags are okay. Why? They are worried that we’d smuggle some of their murky pond water in our tupperware? Or is it the sand? Perhaps we could fit the tiger into our tupperware?

The food sold inside SUCKS big time and DARN expensive too. And yes, did I mention not much choice except for some limited choice fast food, chicken rice, waffles, garlic bread and mee mamak?

Three lousy pools littered with dirt, leaves and floating objects – one hot spring, one tidal wave pool and one children’s pool but LOADS of leaves, clumps of hair and yes, dirt and grime.

They have that ‘river’ thingy but with no fake current and since it is more fun to go around with the tube, we didn’t even bother to try it. Besides, it is only a short distance and does not go around the three other pools or anything.

Oh yeah, they have the giant slides too but I didn’t even bother. It looks boring as ever and yes, it doesn’t look very safe. Hell, if they can’t maintain the cleanliness of the pools and the pond, what makes you think they maintained those slides?

It is NO fun at all. Water theme parks are supposed to be FUN. Not boring.

So, Lost World of Tambun is indeed a lost case. They lost the plot on how to be a fun water theme park somewhere. Other than fabulous landscaping and scenery and the tigers, they don’t have anything else. Blardy waste of time. Better to go to Sunway Lagoon. Strangely, these two water theme parks belonged in the same company but I don’t know why it is so lousy in Perak. I don’t mind paying the entrance fees though, since I know it’d go towards feeding those tigers…

Wanna get lost? Just don’t do it at the Lost World of Tambun or you might regret it.

Much as I like a free holiday with free dog food, lodging and probably a free diet programme too (since I don’t think anyone would’ve put on weight while there), I’d prefer to go somewhere else for a weekend getaway at my own free will. I’d rather pay for my holidays, thank you very much.

We are going away for a couple of days only lar since we do not want to drag it over till Raya to avoid the huge crush at the highways. As you’ve gathered by now, we are going somewhere local. Actually, somewhere quite near. Only a few hours’ drive away.

Can you guess which state?

I so really wanted to join the other Penang floggers (food bloggers) at Edelweiss Cafe for a gathering today but unfortunately I had to cancel my attendance because I am not in Penang right this moment….and yes, this post is written earlier and time-stamped.Ah..I simply love this time-stamping thingy at WordPress and also at blogger.com. Damn useful things, I tell you.

I usually have time to blog and rant and be sarcastic at night when I sleep early. Err…early hours of the morning to be exact..heheh…so publishing it at 2am, 3am..is a bit pointless and I’d usually time-stamp it to 9am or 10am. Depending…of course, there are times when I sleep late so I won’t have time to blog and will do it when I can grab some free time during the day.

Sleep late = before midnight so it’s late night lor…

Sleep early = after midnight so it’s early morning lor…

Craps…I’m rambling on uncharacteristically over nothing in this post today…must be the effects from hearing too many promises from people we are supposed to trust, seeing too many injustices by people we are supposed to expect justice from, reading too many ugliness thanks to people who tends to talk, act and probably smell like shit most of the time.

Whatever it is, will post some of the pictures of my trip when we get back and let you guess for yourself where I disappeared to for the weekend! Till then, Selamat Hari Raya to my Muslim readers and happy holidays to the rest of you.