Mabul Island

Island life, crystal clear water, cheap seafood, zillion star fish, memorable sunset and definitely gorgeous coral. That is what i can summarize about Mabul Island. The journey was unfortunately long, we took an hour car ride to LCCT airport, 3 hours flight to Tawau airport, another hour by car to Semporna and finally one hour boat ride to Mabul Island. Every minute was worth it after we arrived in Mabul Island and everybody was so excited to jump from chalet deck into the sea. 

We stay at http://scubajeffsipadan.com/ which is located in between so many other budget chalet in Mabul Island. What is good about this chalet is not only you can jump into the sea from it deck but you can also watch beautiful sunset from this side of the island. If you are a morning person, wake up between 6am to 7am and you will get a chance to see turtle which just under your deck every morning. We didn't see any because we woke up at 10. aahahahahha

(isnt that gorgeous?)

 (snorkeling right in front chalet)

 (they spend all afternoon in the water)

(waiting for our snorkeling trip)

Mabul and Sipadan Island famous for diving but if you are not a diver alternatively you can do snorkeling as we did. This is also the place where we all get excited for starfish, there are zillion of them, varies size and color all over the place.

We went snorkeling to 2 area, which is one near to Sipadan water bungalow and another one was called lobster wall. Since our waterproof camera have problem we didn't get a chance to take any underwater picture. Coral here was definitely gorgeous, lot of fish, you also can see eel and turtle if you lucky. 

Bajau laut kids like to come to this chalet, you can ask them to take you in their small boat around for as cheap as RM10. You have to negotiate with them for the price. These kids also like to ask you for money. If you see everyday life, RM1 to each kid already make them extremely happy. 

If you not here for diving, nothing much you can do except swimming and snorkeling. Alternatively, you also can pay a visit to Sea Gypsy Village which is accommodate bajau laut people. There's a lot of kids here and its fun to see how they go on their everyday life. Me and my girlfriend was so addicted to goreng pisang aka banana fritters here, first of all it was cheap, RM1 for 10 pieces and it was so good to eat after all those swim we did. Sadly, when you visit the village you can see rubbish everywhere. There's few villagers who try to have clean and nice environment but most of them simply didn't care. Plastic bag was everywhere and at some small beach there's even broken glass and bottles. 

 (they have fun jumping and i have fun taking picture, priceless)

(they don't have tablet to play games so they invent their own game)

 (kids clothes, seriously a lot of kids here :D )

(gov. should help and educate this people)

Sipadan water bungalow was at the other side of the island. We stay at scuba jeff so its mean we have to crossed the village to get there. It wasn't far, maybe 10 mins walk. If you not a guest at this resort, its not a problem, you still can come and visit for free. This resort built and surrounded by beautiful corals. Its nice that you can simply go down and already can find nice and unique sea creatures there. 

 (Observation deck view)

 (during low tide)

(Sipadan water village)

(small blue color fish)

Our vacation been blessed with a fresh seafood, right after bajau laut people back from fishing. They usually come to our chalet around 10am taking live crab, lobster and udang selipar(really dun know what this called in english) with them. We really regret for not taking blue lobster for RM180, when we went to Kota Kinabalu normal lobster already cost us RM200. Udang selipar however taste a bit like lobster and they sell it for RM10 each, RM20 in KK. We love crab so much and for 2 days during lunch we had crab. They sell crab RM20 for 6 nos. We then asked chalet cooker to cook for us and we simply love "ketam masak pedas" or crab in spicy sauce. 

(Bought it right from the boat)

 (otw to kitchen) 

(thats was udang selipar)

(masak pedas...nyummmmyyyy)

We are lucky to be able to see such gorgeous sunset on our second day in Mabul Island. Every body just sit by the deck, with drinks in hand and friends to hangout with and looking at the sun finish its duty for that day.  Mabul island is a place to relax, to forget everything and a place to have a humble life even for a short weekend. 

Alhamdulillah, Nico already convert

18th March 2013, accompanying by me and my parents infront of Ustaz at JAWI KL office, Nico finally becomea  muslim. Aariz Nicolas Bin Abdullah David is his new name as a muslim.

There's no reason why we choose that date, it simply because my friend Hakim who supposed to be one of the witnessed only free on that monday afternoon. The plan was to be there at 3pm and since we came early Nico said why dun we go 1st in case we have to fill in form and stuff. So, we go to level 6 at JAWI building and i just tell them that we were there for converting purpose. 

Everything goes well from start to finish, fill in a form, ustaz explain the procedure, explain the responsibility of witnesses, checking meanings of Nico muslim name in case it might be a bad meaning and helping on constructing his new name. 

When we first checked on their website, its shown that we have to bring 2 male, local and muslim as a witness. But then ustaz explain that the procedure are easier for foreigner than malaysian who want to convert. Since Hakim was finally stuck in a meeting, my dad become first witnessed and i am second.

After finished explaining and asking Nico what he got to do as a muslim and what he cannot do, we finally proceed  to syahadah. The night before Nico already practice with me on how to say it, and its really warm my heart when ustaz ask if he can say it without he guiding him. He make everybody proud by memorizing it and being able to say it even though there's a small mistake. Nico seems to be very nervous, he cant stop shaking his legs which he did a lot when he nervous. Ustaz said ok and asked Nico to follow what he said. With index finger up, word by word and witnessed by his soon to be family, Nico became a muslim. 

We might spend only 2 hours there. After syahadah, immediately they will register all the information and Nico get his ID. As a new brother in Islam, Nico is eligible for "asnaf" money which is coming from "zakat" and given to new brothers and sisters in order to help them. And again Nico make me proud by saying that he didnt need it and rejecting their offer, he said there's more people out there who need the money more than him. I choose well am i? :)

Before we leave, people from JAWI office give him one bag which content sarung, white shirt, prayer mat, learn sholat book and sampin (see my post on Nico wearing baju melayu if you didnt know what is sampin).

Alhamdulillah that everything goes well for us. God definitely will help if you ask for His help and He definitely will make it easy for you if things that we did is in His name. 

The magnificent Halong Bay

When i suggested to Nico to go to Hanoi & Halong Bay for New Year 2013, he's a bit skeptical. Its not because he didn't want to go but because he have been to Vietnam. My bf is i-already-been-to-that-country
type of person while me is im-goin-to-see-that-100-must-see-places-before-you-die type of person. I had a challenging time trying to convinced him but thank god that i found super cheap ticket at Airasia and cheap voucher for our stay in Halong Bay from Groupon. So, Nico said yes and we off to Hanoi.

Besides Vietnam war and everything i saw on tv,  i pretty much didn't know anything about the country. Didn't know that it can be that cold in winter and didn't know that Vietnam already developed so much, pardon my arrogance. This is in fact my first visit to Vietnam and it always my dream to see Halong Bay. I come across to know Halong Bay when i try to find out if Vietnam up to my standard expectation for vacation since i have to be near water in order for it to be perfect. I spent lot of time checking you tube, website after website and tell myself that no matter what, i will see Halong Bay one day and my dream came true.

When we arrived at Halong Bay jetty, the place was crowded with tourist and there was boats everywhere. The painful 4 hours trip end in excitement to board the Chinese junk. This is my first time staying overnight on a junk boat and i was really looking forward for it. From the jetty itself you already can see the famous Halong Bay limestone as far as your eyes can see. Imagine those limestone you saw from your trip to Phuket, Halong Bay have so much more than that, so much more. We board a small boat which took us to the Chinese junk which parked in the deeper water. I was disappointed to see all the chinese junk painted in white and not as per advertised on their website but then we find out that it is  government requirement and nothing much they can do about it.

We've been seated in the restaurant with welcome drink in hand while our guide give us a key to our room for us to settle down and rest. I wish he can do it a bit fast since i really cant wait to check the room and sundeck. Once we get our key, we immediately go in and i was impressed. Its a small room but big enough for 2 person with attached bathroom. Its very clean, nicely decorated, stunning view from the window and very much make you feel like you are on your honeymoon trip. 

Once we settle down and our 2 days 1 night cruise officially started, our boat took us to the centre of Halong Bay. I grab my scarf and run to upper deck to see the view while our boat sail among st the natural rock formation of UNESCO world heritage seascape of Halong Bay and it was stunning. It was slightly fogging but enough to give magical touch to everything. I've been surrounded by dozen and dozen of limestone's and don't even realize that im freezing until my love one come up and hug me.  

We are first head out to Sung Sot Cave as our first activity in Halong. We are not really sure what we will see here and our tourist guide keep on saying that this cave also called surprising cave. Believe it or not. the stairs going up to this cave was flooded with tourist. Everybody patiently taking their steps and try to walk in a group so we wont lose each other. When we reach the entrance, we understood that everybody taking a picture which actually slowing down the process. Once inside, we indeed surprised. The cave was huge. This cave is one of the largest and most beautiful cave in Halong Bay with 3 main chamber covering an area over 10,000 sq.m. 

(view from sung sot cave)

Next is to do kayaking and swimming which is impossible since its winter. But since we already there we decided to at least do kayaking. It was freezing cold but we had fun kayaking to the floating village and see the house boat. It is also a nice experience to kayak in between rock formation but a bit scary when all big and small boats passing you. If you know how Vietnam traffic work, they also do the same at Halong. All the boats just honking to each other.

After getting back to our chinese junk, wet and cold, we having a tea break on the sun deck for sunset. Tea and coffee taste so good at this time since its so cold. Our boat moved slightly outside from center of Halong and finally anchored for the night. We had our dinner, they prepare karaoke for our entertainment and we also can do squid fishing. I tried squid fishing but unfortunately didn't catch any and also almost freeze from cold while the rest just stay inside and having their warm drink and singing. 

  

(all boat anchored here)

The next day we woke up early for breakfast and heading to Ba Hang cave. Again, no swimming..so all we can do is checking the area and monkey feeding. the place is really beautiful especially when you go thru the cave to get to the other side. 

Ba Hang cave is the last activity in our itinerary. We go back to our boat and feel sad that we finally have to leave Halong Bay. We captured a lot of picture from that trip but you have to see it with your own eyes to believe it. We definitely will come back to Halong Bay again but next time will go during summer and will take Nico and my parents to join us. 

 (isn't that beautiful?)

Hanoi i'm in love.

I didn't expect so much when we make a plan to go to Hanoi for new year holiday, all i know i want to see Halong Bay so bad. Since they suffered from a war, i thought Hanoi more or less will be similar to Siem Reap or Phnom Penh. Poor and still struggling to build up the country. To my surprised, it wasn't that bad at all. The city is big, clean, famous for their crazy traffic and of course a very good food.

It was winter when we arrived in Hanoi, another thing that i only know few days before we fly. I packed 2 sweaters and few long pants as a precaution, I've been telling myself, how cold it can be isnt it? To my surprise, the weather was between 15-10 degree Celsius  which is freezing cold for a light sweater. I indulge myself with a super quick shopping for one thick coat and a scarf to add on to my layer of clothes.

We took hotel package with An Hung hotel which include trip to Halong bay and Hoa lu for 5D4N. Our hotel located at old quarter which is so close to hanoi night market and shopping area. Night market in hanoi open every friday to sunday from 8pm to midnight. Most people sell clothes here but you also can find pirated DVD, shoes, soft toys, costume jewelery, phone casing and souvenir. Hanoi provide extensive shopping choice in every corner and every street BUT i found it a bit pricey and a bit difficult to bargain since they didn't speak english so well.

 (Look like china women, but it warm me..)

(Nice, cozy and clean)

I really love food in Hanoi, especially their spring rolls. During new year eve dinner, new friends that we met on-board of halong bay cruise suggest we meet up and have dinner together at Hanoi garden restaurant and this is the night where i ate the best fried seafood spring rolls in my life. The taste was so well balanced and juicy without me reaching for chili sauce or mayonnaise. In my opinion, as a muslim i didn't worry about food at all since there's a lot of seafood in Hanoi.

(Spring Rolls)

 (Squid in spicy sauce)

(Lemongrass Prawn)

Our trip to Hanoi already shorten by 2 days tour to halong bay and 1 day to Hoa Lu. We only have one day to see the city since we leave Hanoi at 9am on our last day. After take a short rest upon arriving in the hotel, we decided to see the city on foot. We went to Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, One Pillar Pagoda, Temple of Literature and Museum of Ethnology. 

 (One pillar pagoda)

Nothing much here except this remaining structure which survived vietnam war. 

 (Entrance to Temple of Literature) 

 (Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum) 

Heard this place is actually tomb and only open from 7.30am to 10.30am

The place where you can learn about vietnamese people. There's 50 different tribe in Vietnam. Its really interesting here since you also can see more than 10 replica of different type of tribe house. 

Walking around hanoi city is really interesting. You can see there's a lot of street vendor selling various food. From seafood, grill chicken leg, noodles soup, sandwich, baguette etc. Typical hanoi house consist of narrow but 3 to 4 storey house. We've been told that its because land in hanoi is very expensive. Traffic in Hanoi is chaos, people honking all the time.

 (Typical house and shop)

(Traffic)

TIPS

~ We've been told that there's a lot of snatch thief. Avoid to use your cell phone on the street. Use sling bag instead of handbag and have it in front of you all the time. 

~ Average traffic speed in hanoi is 14km/h which give them ample time to break. Traffic will come from all around you. All you can do is stop panicking, stay calm n cross the road when you think possible and stop(even in the middle of the road) when you cannot. People will honk all the time so be aware since this signal for you to move from their way. Never run on the busy road since you might not know what coming from right, left, in front and behind of you. 

~ Don't forget your travel adaptor. Hanoi use european adaptor since its colonize by the french. 

~ You can use US dollar here but its easier if you have Vietnamese Dong since its most preferred.