Oh BAGAN !

Posted on February 28, 2014 by jipp

Bagan that I found out was not really ready for the influx of tourists which have increased so significantly in number over the years. Budget hotels are still very much limited (and Bagan is not really into hostels unfortunately) so coming to Bagan without a pre-booked accommodation can be either fun or disastrous – depending on how you’d take it.

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If there was something that I’d learned from my visit to Bagan, it’d be to compromise on my needs and demands. I mean, a very lousy room might still make your some USD30 poorer overnight. Continue reading →

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Hello YANGON !

Posted on February 22, 2014 by jipp

So, another country has been ticked off the bucket list and that country is called Myanmar (previously called Burma). I was there not only as part of my mission to visit all the countries in South East Asia but there was something about the country that I found very alluring especially now that they have just opened their doors to the outside world.

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Opening their doors – yes – but they still seem to struggle in giving their trust to outsiders. Visas are still required to enter the country which is now fast becoming a tourist magnate in the region. I must be very stupid when I drove right over to their embassy in KL to apply for the visa only to be choked with hordes of people who were there to renew their working permits.

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Somebody in the crowd who was chewing betel (an early sign!) gave me a pamphlet showing the location of the tour company to which the application of all visas to Myanmar in Malaysia has been outsourced. With all the fusses of looking for a parking space around the embassy, I almost shouted in frustration when I found out that company was only a few LRT stations away from my office. Grrrr! Continue reading →

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That Little Patch of Forest called the SAGA Hill

Posted on January 17, 2014 by jipp

One of the things that I love most about KL or rather Klang Valley is that there’s always a new place that I’d find out about. I’ve been based in KL for about 3 years now and I still can’t claim that I know every place of interest here. Another place that I was made to know about and later taken to recently was a small patch of forest in Cheras called Saga Hill.

When my friend Mr. KJH asked if I wanted to do a little bit of hiking up the Saga Hill on the Maulidul Rasul Public holiday, I was fast to give my OK. I mean, I’m kinda obsessed with hiking now. I was still kinda fresh from a hike up the majestic Mount Kinabalu to begin this year with and I could not wait to do another one. Heh.

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So, Saga Hill was much nearer than I had expected. I mean, I was told that it was located in Cheras but I really thought it was like in the far corner of Cheras since Cheras itself is a very big district, probably the biggest in Klang Valley at least by area. And it is full of housing areas too so I didn’t expect I’d find a patch of forest reserve right smack in the middle of it. Continue reading →

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