Sapa to Luang Prabang

Sebelumnya..

Tarikh: 6 Oktober 2014 

Hari ni kami akan ke Dien Bien Phu. Tiket van dah beli semalam kat owner guesthouse. Pagi sebelum bertolak, kami breakfast dulu dan prepare nasi & tuna magic. Then check out. Before check out tu sempat la bergambar jap, dan sempat cari kopi secawan.

depan Guesthouse

Guesthouse selang 2-3 kedai sebelah guesthouse kami.
Ada cafe jugak so kami beli kopi kat sini.
Sini pun ada buat servis ke Luang Prabang direct, takyah tukar di Dien Bien Phu.

Sementara tunggu kopi siap, tiba-tiba van datang. Kelam kabut gak kitorang. Masa naik van tu driver dah bising2 lambat. Haha lantak la.

Perjalanan kami bermula jam 7.30 am, dan akan tiba jam 5.30 pm. Aku dah ready mental dah bab jalan teruk, sebab dapat tau dari BudakLetrik. Sebolehnya try taknak naik bas waktu malam macam dia buat, kot-kot tersangkut tengah jalan time tengah2 malam ke kan. kan ke seram. So dalam van yang kami naik tu, muat-muat je orangnya. ada dalam 7-8 orang dalam van kot, so agak selesa.

Mula-mula perjalanan agak santai. Layan view beb..


Dalam sejam berjalan, ingatkan perjalanan smooth la kan. Lepas tu tetibe van stop kat 1 tempat ni. Workshop! pfftt.. tah hape yang di repair nya. Lama jugak menunggu, dekat sejam lebih. Then sambung jalan balik. Dan bermulalah perjalanan bergoncang kami.

jalan teruk hampir sepanjang jalan. nangis weh

kalau tidur, memang tak perasan jalan apa yg lalu.
sebenarnya kami lalu kat lereng bukit. scary~~

Dah pukul 2-3 pm macam tu, van behenti kat satu tempat ni. Rupanya R&R dorang. Mula kitorang taknak la turun, makan bekal nasi yg kitorang makan dalam van je. Tak lama lepastu ada sorang makcik yg sama-sama naik van dgn kami datang. Dia tanya, kitorang taknak pegi tandas ke. Sebab perjalanan lama lagi, katanya. Terus terharu dan kami pun turun la dari van. Tapi masuk toilet dia memang kau mengucap panjang lerr... Makcik tu senang je nak membuang. Turun je van, makcik ni dgn laki dia terus bekejar ke semak. Hmmm..

R&R

Finally kami sampai gak kat Dien Bien Phu. Turun je dari van, banyak ulat-ulat nak bawak naik teksi la mana la. Kami blur jugak mula-mula apa nak buat, tapi then terus ke kaunter bas. Tanya pasal tiket bas ke Luang Prabang, kot ada terus. Hampa bila orang kaunter cakap takde bas ke Luang Prabang dah petang-petang ni. Yang ada cuma besok pagi. So kena tunggu besok pagi baru boleh beli tiket. Ok then.

So next, mana nak cari tempat tidur?
Mula-mula aku ajak Ipah keluar dulu dari stesen bas. Keluar je dari stesen bas tu, kami ke kiri. Tapi ada pula sorang local ni tegur kami. Mula aku buat bodoh je sebab taknak kena scam. Tapi dia tunjuk-tunjuk depan. Bila aku pandang depan (opposite bus station), baru la ternampak satu guesthouse. Aku pun cakap thanks kat dia, then kitorang terus ke guesthouse yang ditunjukkan.

Sampai je kat kaunter, aku terus tanya harga 1 malam berapa. Ada beberapa harga, then aku mintak dia tunjukkan bilik dulu. Bilik kat level bawah mahal sikit tapi still bawah 10 dollar, tapi aku tanya ada tak yang lagi murah. Dia pun bawak naik level 4, harga VND150k untuk 1 bilik (dalam 7 dolar kot). Ok la kan? bilik not bad. Ada rambu-rambu macam bilik pengantin hahah. Ada wifi, A/C & tv. Lengkap!

Bilik pengantin

Malamnya kami cuba pusing-pusing pekan. Aku ada terbaca, boleh try tukar duit Lao kat kedai emas kat sini berbanding di border. So kami pun pusing-pusing la cari kedai emas. Heh. Bukan takat kedai emas, kedai lain pun semuanya dah tutup! Conclusion: Dien Bien Phu ni pekan mati. 


Tarikh: 7 Oktober 2014

Macam biasa, awal pagi lagi kami dah bangun utk check out. Sebenarnya pegi travel ni lagi penat daripada hari keje biasa. sebabnya bangun awal pagi, seharian berjalan, then tido lewat malam. penat kan? hehehehe. Pagi tu kami buat simple breakfast. Sebenarnya kami memang suka bawak stok-stok makan ni, tak begaduh lapar kot buatnya tak jumpa makanan yg boleh dimakan kan.

So dah check out, kami ke stesen bas. beli tiket bas dan bayar dalam USD. mahal sikit kalau nak convert ke duit dong, tapi malas nak gaduh so beli je. 

Bas tak terus jalan, masih menunggu orang lagi. so kami pun bergambar dulu kat stesen bas. Rupanya kat sini ada dorm jugak! tapi ngeri ya ampun.. 1 katil dalam 10 dollar kot. murah lagi bilik kitorang stay malam tadi. 

bergambar depan van.
belah kanan sekali driver.
no. 2 dari kiri, perempuan, dia ni berapa kali muntah dalam perjalanan.
beg kitorang disimpan atas van.

Akhirnya van mula bergerak. sebelum tu, pakcik driver tu bagi kitorang 1 paket berisi air susu kotak & coklat apa tah. Seronok kitorang dapat benda free, hahah. Dalam van cuma ada kitorang bertiga je, (tolak driver) termasuk perempuan baju coklat kat gambar atas. Van lalu kat kawasan sawah padi. Sebab masa tu masih dikira awal pagi la jugak, kitorang gerak meredah kabus. Tak hujan, cuma kabus terlalu tebal. Majestic sangat aku rasa masa tu.

Dalam sejam lebih lepas tu, driver stop kat satu tempat ni. Check point Vietnam. Kat sini boleh tukar duit ke duit Lao.

sebenarnya aku tengah nak berlakon,
tapi mamat depan tu pandang aku so nampak macam
kitorang tengah bersembang.

depan check point Vietnam

Jalan lagi sikit, then turun lagi. Kali ni check point Laos. Masa ni kena isi borang departure, kena bayar 10 ribu kipp sebagai immigration fee. Mula-mula ada officer ni mintak gambar aku. Dia kata kalau takde, boleh amek gambar kat dalam. Aku dah blur apahal kena amek gambar. Then aku cakap kitorang Malaysian, takyah visa. Baru la dia tersengih-sengih. Nampak sangat scam. Huh!

Lepas setel part immigration, ada sorang mamat ni datang kat kitorang dengan thermometer. Dia tembak kat dahi, tengok kitorang tak demam, then bayar dia 3000 kipp. senang je kan buat duit!! huh.

bayar 3000 kipp as swine flu examination

check point Laos

Ok, pasal jalan dia. peh.. ingatkan Sapa - Dien Bien Phu dah azab. rupanya nak ke Luang Prabang ni lagi azab wei. huhu. bukan takat bergoncang dah, tahap melompat-lompat macam naik roller coaster. hmm sabar jelaa.. sebabnya kitorang lalu kat lereng bukit. pulak tu jalan berbatu bata. setau aku, memang jalan ni je yg ada sebab dorang memang takde hiway.

Then kitorang stop kat first stop. Sempat beli snack & ke jamban. Masa ni ada penumpang lain dah naik.

bergambar dgn makcik ni sebab dia kurus. body cantikk ah makcik!


Then sambung jalan lagi, Memang pasrah je nak tidur dengan van melambung-lambung. View memang cantik, tak dinafikan. Sampai kat satu tempat ni, aku nampak kawasan kampung. Dhaif sangat nampak. Sampaikan Ipah boleh buat ayat, "ni kampung ke muzium?" memang ayat WIN ah, berapa kali dah aku quote ayat dia ni.



Ada dua tiga kali van behenti rehat, tapi semuanya behenti kejap2. Then satu masa, jalan kena blok. Sebab ada tanah runtuh & ada kerja-kerja pengalihan tanah. Sejam lebih jugak menunggu setel, masa ni dah jam 5 petang. Aku memang dah tahap sangap gila masa ni, taktau nak buat apa. Nasib baik bawak stok roti dalam beg, habis la makanan aku lahap.

Dah malam baru kami sampai di Luang Prabang. Aku dapat info dari member BBM, Baizurah, stay dekat-dekat night market sebab ada restoren halal nama Zaini. So bila bas behenti kat stesen bas, aku tanya direction nak ke night market dengan driver. Dia kata kena naik tuktuk. Kitorang pun gerak nak cari tuktuk. Rezeki kami, terus ada tuktuk masa tu. Then ada beberapa farangs/foreigners naik tuktuk sama dengan kami. Dorang ada sembang pasal mana nak stay tapi aku malas nak amek port & malas nak beramah mesra (so me), so bila turun je dari tuktuk sekali lagi aku dgn Ipah blur nak ke mana. hahah. masing-masing main jalan je tak bercakap sebab dah penat, plus berat angkat beg. tah mana-mana kitorang jalan, then Ipah dah boring. Terus dia stop sorang minah yg nampak cam ok utk tanya mana-mana guesthouse yg murah,

Alhamdulillah dapat jumpa minah ni, Baik ya amat. Dia cakap dia pun nak balik hostel & dia pun biasa sesat sebab jalan-jalan kecik gelap. On the way nak ke guesthouse dia, kami terjumpa satu guesthouse. Riki-riki harga & bilik, terus aku dgn Ipah cakap ok. Dah tak larat dan lapar sebenarnya.


Nama dia aku dah lupa - dari Poland.

bilik kami. cool kan? takde TV tp ada wifi, cun sangat dah tu.

So that's it, two days journey from Sapa to Luang Prabang. Penat jgn cakap la. Tapi enjoy! Cuma nak buat lagi tu, tak pasti. Dan takkan buat tu pun, takleh janji jugak. Haha.

Sambung....

Indochina Overland

The routes:-

Kuala Lumpur - Hanoi - Sa Pa - Dien Bien Phu - Luang Prabang - Pak Beng - Huay Xai - Chiang Khong - Chiang Mai - Bangkok - Siem Reap - Bangkok - Kuala Lumpur
  1. Preparation & What to Pack
  2. Itineraries & Budget
  3. KL to Hanoi
  4. Halong Bay on Land & Hanoi to Lao Cai
  5. Lao Cai to Sapa
  6. Sapa to Luang Prabang
  7. Luang Prabang & Giving Alm Procession
  8. Luang Prabang to Pak Beng
  9. Pak Beng to Huay Xai/ Chiang Khong
  10. Chiang Mai
  11. Chiang Mai - Bangkok
  12. Bangok - Aranyaprathet - Poipet - Siem Reap
  13. Angkor Wat Archeological Park
  14. Siem Reap - Bangkok

Tokyo


Bangkok


  1. Intro 1
  2. Intro 2
  3. Kanchanaburi
  4. Chao Phraya River Cruise & MBK

Krabi & Hatyai


  1. The Itineraries
  2. From KL to Hatyai
  3. Hatyai& Klong Hae Floating Market
  4. Hatyai to Krabi
  5. Krabi to Hatyai & Back to KL

Bali & Transjava (Banyuwangi - Ijen - Bromo - Surabaya - Jakarta)

The routes:-

Kuala Lumpur - Bali - Ubung - Situbondo - Bandowoso - Paltuding - Ijen - Cemoro Lawang/ Bromo - Probolinggo - Surabaya - Jakarta
  • 4 Feb 2015 - touchdown Bali
  • 5 Feb 2015 - Tanah Lot, Pendawa Beach, Uluwatu
  • 6 Feb 2015 - from Ubung to Situbondo
  • 7 Feb 2015 - Situbondo to Paltuding
  • 8 Feb 2015 - Ijen Crater, then to Cemoro Lawang
  • 9 Feb 2015 - Bromo, then to Surabaya
  • 10 Feb 2015 - Masjid Cheng Ho Surabaya, Suromadu Bridge, then to Jakarta
  • 11 Feb 2015 - Jakarta - Matraman/ Jati Negara, Pasar Senen
  • 12 Feb 2015 - Tana Abang
  • 13 Feb 2015 - touchdown Kuala Lumpur


Ketik sini untuk maklumat lanjut:-


Bali - Ijen - Bromo

I'm gonna share how I managed to go Ijen & Bromo from Bali. Initially I didn't even plan to go to Ijen & Bromo, so I didn't prepare myself for the 'coldness' of both of them & didn't research thoroughly how to get there. But during my stay at Bali, I tried to google some infos but they were all confusing. Some were helpful but only to a certain part.

So this is how I managed to reach Ijen & Bromo from Bali.

(Day 1) From Bali, I took a bus to Situbondo. 
Initially I wanted to take a bus to Port Ketapang but was advised by my 'ojeker' (the motor taxi driver) to take the bus all the way to Banyuwangi. When we were negotiating for the ticket price, the bus driver advised us (me) to stop at Situbondo where he assured me that there will be Bemo/ minivan to take me directly to Sempol (Sempol is the last village where a Bemo stops). I've read on the internet that somebody actually did it this way, so I was convinced that I could take a Bemo at Situbondo. So I bought a bus ticket from Bali to Situbondo for Rp 150,000 (actually Rp 130,000 but they wanted an extra Rp 20,000 for something and I didn't really wanna argue with them).

I thought I could get to Ijen by this evening but bus being bus, it took almost two hours before the bus could depart since they were waiting for the bus to be full. Eventually I reached Situbondo by 7 pm.

At Situbondo bus terminal, I tried my luck to find a transport to Sempol, at least. But some becak told me that Bemo last service was at 4/5 pm. Then I went to the police post to ask for some infos on how to proceed to Ijen. Turned out there were no transports going directly to Sempol, not even Bemo. I should either take a taxi to Sempol, or ojek or..... anyway since it was late already, I couldn't take any risk, being a single lady on the road. 

So I went to Hotel Ramayana for a sleep.
The hotel situated just behind the bus station. When I reached there, I was starving and exhausted. When the hotel staff showed me the price of the room, I was exhilarated coz it was super cheap. Rp 50,000 was the cheapest but it was the driver's room. So I took the economy room for Rp 65,000. Then I regretted my decision.


The next morning, I checked out early in order to reach Ijen early. My aim today was either a stop at Sempol or Paltuding (the post where all hikers have to register). Estimating the journey that would take hours like yesterday, I figured that I could reach Ijen perhaps by evening. So from the hotel I went to the bus station. Again I was informed that no bemo would go to Sempol. My choice of the day was to take a bus/ minibus to Bandowoso.

(Day 2) I took a bus to Bandowoso for Rp7,000.
It took almost half an hour to reach Bandowoso from Situbondo. I thought the bus would drop me at Bandowoso bus terminal - but then again, I was wrong. The bus left me in the middle of the road, and suddenly a man appeared in front of me and persuaded  me to take ojek with him. The journey from Bandowoso to Sempol is 60 km. I didn't want to hurt my back by riding a bike all the way. But the ojeker told me, there was only 1 bemo - the bemo itself won't be going to Sempol as it was on a different route. I could be here all day waiting for a bemo to take me to Sempol. Sold!


I took ojek to Paltuding for Rp 250,000.
The view was beautiful. I had never ride a bike for hours before so I was really enjoying the journey. It was getting cold as we were getting higher. We reached Pos Perbatasan Sempol to register my name (some people get through registering by giving the officers Rp10,000. I told them I didn't have small change so they didn't push me to pay), and reached Sempol by 10.30 am. It was still too early to do anything, so I decided to have a brunch and then went straight to Paltuding.

I reached Paltuding by 11.30 am.
The place was poorly maintained. When we reached there, I was shocked to even think where I'll be sleeping for tonight. My ojeker asked the ranger for a room, which I paid for Rp 150,000 for a night. Now, lessons learnt. Never ever ever take a room below Rp200,000 in Indonesia (unlike some other 3rd countries, 10 dollar could get you a decent room). I was then left to a half day, at a place with almost no civilization (no phone signal at all), and thought to myself, "What am I gonna do here?"


After some me time and bored with nothing to do, I went to a small shop. Turned out there were three other shops here and they open all day (though some hours at night, the cook would sleep). So I stayed there, ate my lunch, then had some snacks, then had my dinner, while reading Gone Girl (glad I brought it). Had some good chats with the locals, then I called it a day and retreated to my room. It was freezing cold as the rain won't stop pouring since 2 pm.




(Day 3) Paltuding to Ijen.
I understand my body well, so I took a guide (Rp 150,000) to reach Ijen Crater - so that someone would always wait for me when I stop. Coz I know well, I'd stop several times and eventually I did. The entrance fee was Rp150,000 (only on Sundays).


Ijen to Bromo by Mobil for Rp500,000
I asked my guide to send me to Banyuwangi so that I could catch another bus to Probolinggo. But then he managed to ask one of the driver whether I could join in the group. The group & the driver said yes, so I hopped in and managed to reach Bromo by the evening.


(Day 4) Sunrise at Bromo, then Bromo to Surabaya


So there! From Bromo to Probolinggo to Surabaya it won't be much of a problem since the routes are well known and there are a lot of public transports available.

Some Suggestions:-
1) From Bali, you might want to take a bus directly to Bandowoso. Stay overnight there, tomorrow morning stay at Sempol for a nice view. 
2) If you plan to stay in Paltuding, rent a tent with the ranger. Or you could simply rent an already set up tent with the small shop opposite the ranger's office. Bring some warm clothes, windbreaker & sleeping bag if you intend to sleep in a tent. Night tends to get colder than normal. Freezing cold.
3) If you're in Arabika Guesthouse, Ijen, don't forget to buy their Macadamia nuts!

** Update:
Someone has informed me that you could take a bus from Bali to Banyuwangi, then take another bus from Banyuwangi to Ijen.

Till then!

Tokyo Trip - Teaser

Assalamualaikum.

Januari lepas aku, kakak & mak pegi ke Tokyo selepas sekian lama memendam rindu di bumi jepang. cewah. Anyway, aku tak dapat nak share itineraries & budgets dengan details sebab ianya memerlukan masa nak ngedit bagai so later la yeh..

so here goes the teaser..

Day 1

Three of us, keluar hotel nak ke Kuramae Oedo Line Station.

 1st stop: Yoyogi Park & Meiji Shrine

2nd stop: Harajuku 
(dalam gambar: tengah makan crepe. super delicious)

3rd stop: Shibuya Crossing

4th stop: Masjid Camii, Yoyogi Uehara



Day 2

Disney Sea



Day 3

 1st stop: Tsukiji Fish Market
(dalam gambar: makan Donburi. 
Mak & kaklang sakit perut lepas makan)

(beli salmon nak masak kat hotel. murah & fresh!!)

2nd stop: Shinjuku JR Station - beli JR Pass
3rd stop: Merah Putih Cafe at Shin Okubo
4th stop: Tokyo Metropolitan Gov Building

5th stop: Odaiba
(dalam gambar: lampu2 hiasan di Odaiba, Odaiba Rainbow Bridge 
& Sky Tower yg sayup2 di hujung sana)


Day 4

1st stop: Mount Fuji


Lake Kawaguchiko


2nd stop: Tokyo Station


3rd stop: Akihabara


Day 5

1st stop: Karuizawa



2nd stop: Solat di Masjid As-Salaam, Okachimachi
3rd stop: Asakusa Kaminarimon, Nakamise & Sensoji Temple
4th stop: Saray Kebab for dinner



Day 6

pagi: pusing2 Asakusa & Ginza
malam: Sky Tree



Day 7
Lepak airport

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