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“Malaysia Truely Asia” – 2 day teambuilding event

It’s been a while since we last updated our homepage. Last weekends we have been pretty busy preparing our job applications, and decided to take a short break from traveling

There is however one event that is definitely worth a short notice – a 2 day trip with my team to Malaysia. I was honored to join my dear colleagues by their yearly team building. It was a very very interesting experience – a perfect chance to integrate with them, get to know them better and learn more about their team spirit, personal views, hobbies and families. Apart from that, of course, it was another escapade to Malaysia, which Patric and me already visited a couple times.

We went by bus, and our final destination was Avillion Port Dickson – a delightful hotel on the Malaysian West Coast. (http://www.avillion.com.my/). In the pictures enclosed you can take a look – Romantic chalets located beyond the sea surface, beautiful swimming pools, delicious cuisine and other facilities.

There were obviously certain activities planned during the event. On the first day, right after crossing the Malaysian border we went go carting (http://morris-racing.com/kartingmalaysia/johor_kart.php). That was so much fun! For most of us a first time go cart experience, but since we are all natural sports talents , after half an hour warm-up we were racing like crazy, reaching very high speeds

Next day, on our way back we spent 2 hours on the Eagle Eanch in Port Dickson where out challenges were: Archery and horse riding. It soon turned out I will never be an archery master but nevertheselss I gave my best and made some progress during the 1 hour intensive shooting horse riding was more like a cozy horse walk…the guides did not look too motivated and were so slow that even the poor horses almost fell asleep…:) (http://www.marimari.com/hotel/malaysia/eagle_ranchpd/).

The atmosphere was great during the whole trip – we definitely enjoyed ourselves throughout the whole 2 days. Such an event is a beautiful tradition developing the team spirit and company loyalty, to be recommended to every corporation.

“School Trip” – Malaysia Pulau Besar – D’Coconut Island Resort

During this year’s Easter we visited Malaysia again. This time we did not go that far as a couple weeks earlier when we went on Pehentian Island…Our destination: Pulau Besar, is an island on the south east malaysian coast, close to the Tioman Island, and it takes about 3 hours car and 1/2 hour boat drive. Our escapade was actually much like a “school trip”…with 16 interns from the Plaza travelling in a minibus I’m afraid we reallly looked like kids on a school excursion . The ”KIDS’ were interns from Volkswagen, BMW, Lufhansa, DaimlerChrysler and others.

Our weekend started early Friday morning, since this was a holiday here in Singapore (differently than in Europe where there is Easter Monday free..whereas Good Friday is still a working day). The mini-van that was supposed to pick us up was half an hour late, so we left the Plaza at quarter to 7. Crossing the border was very tiresome as always. There was a lot of traffic due to the holiday and it took us quite a while to cross it. The ride to Mersing Jetty was nothing special, all of us in this tiny mini-van packed like sardines in a can and Simon trying to talk to the Malaysian driver in mandarin … guess how funny that was? very good entertainment indeed !!!

The speed boat ride from Mersing Jetty to Pulau Besar was included in our package bought at the D’Coconut Island Resort and took about 30 minutes. The rooms at Coconut Island resort are all with AirCon, really nice and clean. The hotel has a nice pool with a waterfall and a lot of nice flowers smiling at you. Staff is friendly and most of them understand at least some English. The food which was also included in the package was OK, just OK…actually a slight dissapointment as we felt. There was a buffet 3 times a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner. The bar could not make up for the rather poor cuisine. It almost offered nothing except from some can beer, gin and rum. Looks like they haven’t had a lot of German&Polish guest previously – worldwide known demanding and experienced alcohol enthusiasts ….
The island doesn’t offer a lot of recreational options. There is a beach-volleyball field that we obviously intensivle used …. considering lack of alternatives Apart from that not much to write about. The 2 days we spent there were therefore extremely relaxing. No diving unfortunately, although the website tempts with diving trips descriptions. As it turned out, last diving school on the island closed over a year ago. And next closest diving spot is Tioman. As we found out, the corrals in this region are distroyed in big part, so if any diver has a chance to go further north the Malesyian coast, it is defenitely a good choice.

Besar is undoubtedly a beautiful, virgin, clean island, optimal for 2-3 days beach relaxing. But defenitely not a good choice for a longer holiday, especially for sports enthusiasts. Since the spot is relatively close to the mainland, the water is neither as clean, nor as transparent & wavy as on Perhentian Island.
However we made 2 interesting discoveries:

There are beautiful shells on the beach brought everyday with the tide. This makes every walk really exciting, you never know what you can find ! And the sand is sooo soft and white…your feet will be delighted
The reality show : ”Expedition Robinson” was shot on the island. So TV teams from different countries came for a couple weeks each, inclusive the Polish one my astonishment was enormous as one of the hotel guys spoke to me in my mother tounge…whereas most people there do not even know where Poland is a really sweet surprise I must say !

Here are some photos from the school trip to Pulau Besar [see all photos]

Trip: Malaysia Kuala Lumpur (KL) / Sepang Formula 1 Race 2006

Saturday: Bus drive to Kuala Lumpur / KL City sightseeing

We started our trip on Saturday at 7.30 in the morning. This time the bus was quite ok. We arrived at Kuala Lumpur at around 1pm. The first step out of the bus was a real shock! The air was so hot and dry, you could hardly breathe. They dropped us somewhere at a street where it actually didn’t look like a bus station.
The very first thing we were told to do, was to buy bus tickets back to S’pore on Sunday night. Since it was the “Formula One” weekend, most of the evening buses were sold out, and we managed to get only these at 11.30 pm. So at least we knew there was enough time to get back from the track at Sepang, which is near the KLIA (International Airport), and about 1-2 hours outside of KL (depending on the traffic).

After buying the tickets we took a taxi and headed straight to the hotel. Taxi driving in KL is always fun since 90 % of the taxi drivers refuse to use the meter. You need to bargain about the price every time and most of the times they fool you. There was no difference this time … we paid 10 Ringgit for a 3 minute drive which would have been 2 Ringgit on the meter if we had succeeded in convincing him.

We arrived at the hostel and the first impression was OK. You need to know that the hostel was only 50 Ringgit which is about 11 Euro. We left our lugguage there and left again to see the city!

See all photos here!

Our first destination was China Town with the huge so called “night market”. You can buy there almost everything that is worth faking. From a faked Rolex to Louis Vuitton or Gucci purses. The fun part begins if you actually find something. They will tell you a price that is far too much. Lets say you want to buy a Gucci purse, they will start at 260 ringgit, after 30 minutes and 3 attempts to walk away the price is at 60 Ringgit. You would think that this was professional bargaining and you made a snip, but when you walk away the guy will smile at you with the money in his hand and you will notice that the purse is no more than 30 Ringgit worth … anyways it’s FUN !!!

The second sightseeing stop was at the Petronas Twin Towers. The night was already approaching and the lighted up towers looked amazing. I didn’t know that there is a huge shopping mall at the bottom between the towers.

It was already after 9pm but we decided to go up the Menara Kuala Lumpur TVtower. It’s a pity that you can’t go to the top of the Petronas Towers. From the Menara Kuala Lumpur TVtower you have a really nice view all over the city. There is a “11 stops” window tour with a headphone and a mini LCD-screen player. The tour is defenitely worth the 20 Ringgit, don’t miss it.

The last stop that day was a relaxing bar near our hostel. Everybody was really tired after that long day.

See all photos here!

Sunday: Formula One race at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia

Sunday morning Formula One day !!! We headed to the track very early at around 10.30 in a corporate bus. Once arrived there after a one hour drive we proceeded to the ticket counter and bought the cheapest tickets you could get. Tremendous 50 Ringgit for the Hillstand C3 area with no roof, no giant and nothing else but plain grass.

We were so lucky that we took an umbrella with us because this thing, supposed to keep the rain away, saved us from the worst sunburn you could imagine. The show before the race wasn’t that good, but when we first heard the cars and then saw them everything was excused. The cars are soooo loud you can’t image if you have never been to a F1 race before. And here comes the second advise, don’t forget your earplugs

The first few laps you can keep track of the standings and who is leading, but after the first round of pitstops you are totally lost without a Giantscreen to look at.

Anyhow, this was an amazing experience and we could recommend that to everybody who has the luck to be there at that time. Even all the girls that came with us enjoyed the indescribable atmosphere.

See all photos here!
Continue reading Trip: Malaysia Kuala Lumpur (KL) / Sepang Formula 1 Race 2006…

Trip: Malaysia Perhentian Island – Kecil Long Beach

Thursday: Journey starts with the bus trip!

We started our trip right after work on Thursday. We left work a little bit earlier to have enough time to catch the bus in time. We picked up our luggage at home at the Plaza, changed some SingDollar into malaysian ringgit (the exchange rate was 1 S$ – 2.23 RM which was not to bad … at the Perhentian Island they changed it 1S$ – 1.95 RM) then we got a taxi and drove to the Lavender street bus station (next to lavender MRT-station) for the Transnational bus to Kota Bahru, Malaysia.

The bus was Mercedes-Benz busniess class and looked really comfortable … wide seats with footrests and a lot of space around you, just 3 seats per row, 2 on the left and 1 on the right. At that point I thought this would be a chilled 12 hour busride, but the freezing aircon in the bus prooved this to be wrong! Have you ever tried to sleep in a moving fridge ???? Seriously, you need a thick winterjacket to be able to get some sleep in such conditions…especially that this moving fridge offered another attraction: COCKROACHES. Not many but one was enough to cool down the excitement and optimism Shall I mention the Malaysian toilets that we were forced to use on our way to Perhentian? No…let us skip this. Just please take a note that they do not belong to the most pleasant aspects of the Malaysian landscape

Friday: Minivan and Speedboat – ride

Early Friday morning the drivers woke us up (at least those who were sleeping) and dropped us in the middle of nowhere as it seemed … it defenitely wasn’t a bus stop! All the more amazing it was that the minivan that should pick us up was already waiting there to take us to the fairy terminal. btw: Thanks to Nicole for the very good organisation!!! At the ferry terminal we took the speedboat to Perhentian Island. We already had tickets which were also already booked by Nicole! Both-ways was about 60 RM. The speedboat cruise was really fun! Since the monsun season was over, the sea was peaceful enough to enjoy the trip without getting seasick. Before reaching our destination, we drove first to some other beaches at the other of the 2 Perhentian Islands – Besar Island, to drop some other people that were on the boat with us. The last stop was “our beach”: THE LONG BEACH on Kecil Island.

Friday: Perhentian Island and accommodation

The Island was a dream. There is really no other term for it! Anyways, the photos should speak for themselves.
We arrived at about 9am. The beach was pretty big, and seemed really peacefull. But it wasn’t that everybody was still asleep. Since the weekend did not start yet, we could enjoy this paradise on Perhentian Island without crowds and noise typical for most of the beatiful holiday destinations. Pehentian Island seemed from the beginning more like a place that you know about from some friend’s travel hints rather than from tourist guides. There are only a couple small “chalet” type hotels on the Long beach, not too sophisticated and really cheap. The one we stayed at (Panorma Chalet) was ONLY 30 RM per night for a double beedroom with fan. It is only 3.5 EUR per person per night!!! Considering the price, we obviously did not expect any luxury. But we weren’t dissappointed either.

The room was very simple but clean and cosy. Over the bed, there was this white mosquito net which was very practical but also gave the room a more friendly look . Most chalets on the island are low budget, simple standard hotels, so people you meet there are mostly young, back-packer tourists, like us

We would not recommend a family with small children to choose exactly Perhentian: it would be far from Singapore and too much inconveniece for them despite the gorgeous surrounding, unless you stay in the only stone made luxury hotel called “Bubu hotel on long beach”. You can find a price list here.

We spend there 3 wonderful, relaxed days: enjoying the sun (the weather was fantastic !), clear, blue and warm see water and delicious food . Numerous restaurants there offer a vast choice of sea food that you simply have to try in order to make the whole experience of the place complete.

One hint for divers and snorklers: the place is absolutely perfect for diving! coral reefs and amazing diversity of sea life all around the island. There are plenty of diving schools there, offering open water courses, and different dive trip options. The prices are again really low, with about 70 RM (17 EUR) for single dive from a boat!

Sunday: Leaving paradise at 3.30 pm

We left the Island at about 3.30 pm on sunday. The speedboat took us back to the ferry terminal, a minibus picked us up and drove us to Kuala Terengganu (2 hours drive). From there we took the bus to Singapore back … again freezing cold … lots of stops during the night … traffic at the border …. We arrived at 8 am monday morning, took a shower and went back to the “normal working live”.

To sum up everything:
The experience was unforgettable and defenitely worth the long bus trip effort! We could strongly recommend you to go to Perhentian Island

See all the photos here