Sungai Lembing

Sungai Lembing

Had a vacation at SG Lembing for the last 3 days, and I had to say it had been nothing but awesome. 😀 I’m seriously loving the place so much I wished I can be there longer.

And before everything slips away from my mind, let me note down everything I can remember!

If you google SG Lembing, it will tell you that it’s a small tin mining town. I’m not too sure about mining, but it’s definitely a small town! And what it didn’t tell you is that, the people are friendly, the food is delicious, the town is safe to walk at night even when there isn’t much street lights. It’s definitely very worth going down to pay them a visit.

Transport

I’m from Singapore, and I don’t own a car, so I probably took the longest journey to get there.

Reached Kuantan Terminal from Singapore at 4am in the morning.

First, we took the overnight bus (Transnasional) from Singapore to Kuantan (a bigger town nearby) that takes around 6 hours. After reaching the Kuantan bus terminal, we went to the basement to take bus no. 303 (right side of the station) to the last stop, which we ended up at Kuantan town, then bus no. 500 to SG Lembing (also the last station). 303 was pretty fast, but 500 take up to an hour to get there. Fares are cheap, like RM 2-4 per person. The first bus starts pretty early, like 6am.

Buses at Kuantan

Buses information

Bus Information in Malaysia from another blog

FYI: Bus no. 200 goes to a mall nearby (Berjaya Megamall) and the beach. The mall is one stop away, and the beach is the last stop, which we heard it takes around 20 mins. Gonna check out the beach next time, heard there’s Chit Chat and Starbucks there too.

Starbucks at Berjaya Mega Mall

Note to self: There’s only 1 timing (10pm) available to Kuantan daily, so I’m gonna check out the buses and timing available from Larkin (JB bus terminal).

Accommodation

The Capsules

We stayed at Time Capsule Retreat. If you google, there will be tons of pictures and it’s recommended by many short travel articles of Singapore blogs and articles. And they ain’t exaggerating, it’s really a fantastic experience. The catch I believe is you would have to love nature. 3 of us stayed in Aurora (which is a container with a loo and 2 double bed).

And this is the view from outside our bedroom.

The View

From the Inside

For dining

The view is fantastic, you can see nature’s work while staying in a clean and safe zone. But not entirely clean though, you will bound to get sand and mud in the room from coming in, and mosquitoes are also everywhere. Would have to keep the door shut as much as possible to prevent them from coming in. But again, this is nature, not the city. How can we be in the nature and keep everything squeaky clean and in control? You get the drill.

The bosses are really helpful and sincere. There’s a bit of a distance between where the bus stopped and Time Capsule, and we were walking for quite a bit before we actually got on the right track. Fortunately, we bumped into their car along the way and they offered not just only a ride, but a tour in the town. They showed us where are the good food, where to get liquor etc. The service they provide is exquisite. So if you are gonna stay in Time Capsule and you are gonna take the long route like me, give them a call they might just be able to show you some directions or even to pick you up.

Booking of Time Capsule: It’s best that you can call or text them. Mrs. Young respond to texts very promptly.

Food

It’s like I’m dead and come to heaven. 😀 Everything is so good. I don’t even know where to begin.

Shao La

Shao La Stall

The char siew is nothing like I had before. Yes maybe similar to a good one I had in JB before, but seriously man. Have everything- char siew, shao rou, roasted chicken. Really, really good.

The Platter

Noodles

Noodles Supplier

I am fortune enough to be introduced to the noodles supplier of this town. They make everything the traditional way. Which bring me to my next food recommendation.

Yong Tao Foo

From the Market

This is food market at the centre of the town. The tour guide of rainbow waterfall will bring you here for food (will come to the rainbow waterfall later) but of course you can visit them at your own leisure. Both of them uses the same noodles supplier as per above which taste so super good. There are 2 yong tao foo stall- one in front one at the back of the market. My companions prefer the one at the back but I feel both are just as good. And be sure to order the dry mee version.

Malay Food

Waiting for our take aways

We ordered maggie goreng, nasi goreng and some chicken. They are so cheap and so good. But business is good, so it might take a while to get them.

Biscuits Shop

To get to the biscuit shop, cross one of the two bridges.

Coconut biscuits in the making

Just beside the noodles supplier is a shop that handmade every of the snacks/biscuits/tao hua. Everything is so delicious and smell so nice. Be sure to talk to the lady boss, she will be able to recommend you. Oh yes, and try the tao hua.

All delicious food mentioned above are recommended by the lady boss of Time Capsule. If you are staying there, I believe she will be very willing to point out the places to you.

Transportation in town

The man isn’t too happy it’s in pink

As Singaporeans without a car, we rented bike and bicycles and it’s enough to get almost everywhere. Bikes are at RM 60 and bicycles are at RM 20 for 24 hours. They do charge hourly if you want to, but we just took them for a whole day since they are not that expensive. If you have a car, just drive them everywhere too! People there are nice enough to give way, so be sure to be nice to them and give way when needed to!

Activities

Yes! Finally the exciting part. 😀

Rainbow Waterfall

Rainbow Waterfall

Car can’t get you there, only a powerful 4 wheel drive. You can probably book at any of the reception of your accommodation for a tour guide, which cost RM 40 per trip. Pick up is usually between 5.30-6am. They will bring you to the market for breakfast (the Yong tao foo mentioned above) which you would have to pay for yourself. Don’t worry, it doesn’t cost much. At 6.45am, you would have to get back up the pickup and that’s the adventure starts! Hold on tight because there isn’t any safety belt of any sorts, and the ride can get really fast and bumpy.

After riding into the forest, it will bring you to the peak for a great view. Stop a while, and off you go again.

For the longest time I thought the pickup is gonna bring me straight to the waterfall, the ignorant me didn’t know there’s gonna be a walk. Or maybe a more appropriate word is a climb.

First, we have to cross a river with water streaming fairly quickly.

Then there’s around a 30mins walk/climb up the hill. Beware there isn’t much safe precautions, except there will be ropes tied between trees for you to hold on to and tour guide to look after you. Personally I feel this is not for the city girl/boy and those who are particular about safety. You just have to watch out for yourself and be careful.

But when you reach, the obstacles getting up will be all forgotten, because you come face to face with a view like this.

Spectacular, trust me. Photos can’t even justify it’s beauty, and the rainbow haven’t even appear yet. It’s probably around 15 storey high, and the water is chilling cold.

Words can’t even express when the rainbow appear, let alone double rainbow and the circle rainbow.

Milo and cup noodles will be served. A very pleasant touch after we were wet and tired from getting into the middle of the waterfall, where the rainbows were.

Scenery while on the way up

Notes:

1. The climb up is not that easy. Be mentally prepared.
2. Bring a waterproof bag, waterproof mobile phone… It’s gonna get wet.
3. Wear your swimwear underneath. You might get excited and jump in. (You probably will)
4. Wear their shoes provided. It may look flimsy but it’s actually pretty good. Or wear your hiking shoes.
5. Rainbow in November is the best. December is not.

The Bridges

There are 2 bridges in town. Not only you can cross them on foot, but with bicycles and bikes too! 😀 They have a good view of the town and river. Cross them!

At the end of one of the bridges, here lies noodles supplier and delicious biscuits and tao hua.

The famous bridge

Lembing Hill (Sea Cloud)

Not my fav, personally. But it will be a good workout, though. Recommended to start climbing at 5-530am, when you get up there you will see the sunrise and the sea cloud. We started at like 7-8am. Didn’t get to see the sunrise, but the sea cloud is pretty awesome. Any later though you won’t get to see much.

The stairs can get pretty steep, and some are actually ruined. Wear your workout shoes. I wore my slippers and I kept slipping. 😦 Not a pleasant experience.

Sea Cloud view from the top

It’s such a relaxing and happy experience that we made a pact to go back every November. For the best rainbow waterfall too. 🙂

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I called in sick, lefties, baoding balls

I called in sick today. My nose was running and I’ve been sneezing since yesterday. I woke up with a swell in my throat and at the back of my nose. Oh well, maybe it’s time to have some rest and recup.

Anyway, I wanna write about these balls.

Bao Ding Balls

I know I know, they are like an old man’s toy, but let me explain how I decided to get them.

So, just the other day I was wasting my time on the internet, so I thought to look into lefties and righties characteristics and traits. Because, you know, this leftie has always feel thy mind works differently from the righties (yes, I’m a leftie, now you know)

Lefties is right brain dominated, and vice versa. Right brain’s for creativity, left for logic. And tbh I always feel there’s this glue in my head, and simple facts and logic gets sticky and hard to process sometimes. And in turn, simple things that needs to be done always bothers me, and, mostly are still left undone. (I hope this make sense to you ’cause you know, I’m a leftie with a gooey mind)

And I think my sentiments are right, as said so by these 2 articles here and here.

Just like in the articles, I realised I do feel more anger, fear, and get embarrassed easily. And I have a harder time shaking them off. Yes, I do admit I feel more creative juices flowing as a leftie (and I love it a lot) but then again, I really wanna get rid of the negative emotions that comes along with it. It’s annoying to feel unhappy and insecurities so frequently, and being inefficient at so many things.

And I thought maybe I actually can do something about it after reading this part of the article.

 … According to the researchers, if you’re waving an American flag while listening to a presidential candidate, the speech will sound slightly different to you depending on whether you’re holding the flag in your left or right hand…

So i thought, there has got to be a way to train up my right brain right?

And then I googled train up my right brain, and I got this.

Immediately I thought a squeeze ball will work (!), then I thought why not go a little more past century and get baoding balls instead?

So here I am, with 1 week’s worth of daily practices, and I am pleased to say I feel more efficient in my daily work, but I panicked less now since there’s less glue in my head (again, leftie talk).

And if you read till this last line, I thank you for sticking around for this long. 😀 I’ll post updates on my take on baoding balls again in a month’s time or so.

Recent Obsession: The Big Bang Theory

Recently I’ve been so disconnected with my daily life because of this-

The Big Bang Theory

I know this is really strange, this show is 2007 and I only start watching them from Season 1 only now? To be fair, I did try watching them few years ago when I caught them brother watching it. I guessed I the part that I saw they were talking about some complicated scientific facts and I just decide I wasn’t smart enough to understand the show.

But anyway, I eventually ran out of comedy series to watch and this came up when I googled popular comedy tv series (before they were overtaken by scream queens).

And guess who finished 8 seasons of these goodness within 2 months. O.O

I actually did almost next to nothing after work everyday (other than my routine Kayla BBG) and watched episode after episode after episode. I cannot really recall what it was like with Two and a half men, but I kinda have the impression that this is better!

Anyhow, I started first season into Mom (also Chuck Lorre production), but I’m really not into shows with characters having messed up lives and made it worse by thinking they don’t have much control or even a say in it.

So since now I don’t have any new comedy shows that I’m currently obsessed with (having mixed feelings), I shall blog more! 🙂

Random thoughts for the day

I’m a HSP, and I’m easily affected by another person’s emotions and energy. When I listened to another intensively, I am usually able to feel what the other person is feeling.

But when it’s about myself, I can sense what the others person wants me to do as well.

You shouldn’t cry.
You shouldn’t give up.
You are too weak. Be stronger.
Don’t be dumb, don’t do that.

I used to listen to advises, like what my mom wants me to do, like what my friends wants me to do. I was frustrated, unhappy, but I thought that was what I was supposed to be, to blend in, to be happy.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, my inner self isn’t like conscious me- It doesn’t give in to unhappiness easily, or like the people who are suggesting that I should be.

Whenever my happiness level drops even by a little, my body, mentally and physically, shows.

I couldn’t eat well.
I couldn’t sleep much.
I couldn’t even bring myself to smile.

Robert Anthony (who wrote Beyond Positive Thinking) mentioned that there are 2 facts that you can never change about life- 1. One day, we all must die. 2. We will live until we die.

If we keep this in mind, we will make decisions very differently, and listen to other people’s judgement and the things they want us to do, differently.

Thank You :)

I am grateful.

Growing up as an Asian, or rather, a kiasu Singaporean, I was constantly being compared and compete with my fellow mates of the same age whilst growing up. Parents constantly reminded us not to talk to strangers for fearing we might get kidnapped. When things are too good, they are too good to be true. When people ask for your help, beware, because they are taking advantage of you.

Thus in my life, I’m always wary. Wary of the bad people, wary people might overtake my place, wary for offering too much help for fearing I might be short-changed, so I built my walls high. To me, there are more bad in the world than the good. So, beware.

So when I needed support for viewership when I wanna start writing again, I couldn’t think of much people, because the truth is, I didn’t lend much helping hand when others needed. I had no chips, how can I expect others to offer support for me?

But, and gladly, not all people has the same selfish mentality as me. I asked, and I received support and appreciation. 🙂

You know who you are, and from the bottom of my heart, thank you for showing me what unconditional love means, and how I will continue to live my life.

Thank you sincerelyjaswithlove

As much as I wanna say welcome.. I sincerely, thank you. ☺️

plusgratitude

Thank you sincerelyjaswithlove
for reminding me about your sweet writings,
for starting to write sweet notes again,
for inspiring a spring of writings,
for igniting the fire of writing again.

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A Personal Satori 悟り or kenshō 見性 in modern times

“To wind is to unwind.”

Thank you, Mr. Lee

While we cry and weep for his death, cherishing and reminiscing the time when he was alive and honouring his deeds, I believe what Mr. Lee would really want us to do is to carry on his legacy, carry on to make Singapore a better and better place to live in.

From his life, I learnt so many things. His courage, determination, self-discipline, and even his wittiness. He lived until 91, but in his life, what he had contributed to the world in a couple of years could easily exceeded what I had given out of my whole life.

He did not take a normal nor easy path. He did not tell himself to “stay out of trouble and danger” for his family and his own’s sake, and not go into politics but just stayed in his law firm. While making the decision whether to separate from our neighbouring country and become an independent one, he may doubt the future, but he did not choose to stay together and compromise ourselves because “what if the independence fail?” And indeed, during that time, many people said that “Singapore won’t make it”. But honestly, if you had lived during those days, and looked around at the circumstances, weighing your pros and cons, you would have believed the same.

But he did not, because it takes a lot of bravery to look around and see the world not as it is, but as it should be. Let’s not just weep because he is not around anymore, let’s celebrate his legacy and count every of our blessings because he lived.

Today, Lee Kuan Yew has passed away.

Today, Lee Kuan Yew has passed away. He had been struggling for survival for the last few days, or would I say, months. When I knew about, I wasn’t all that surprised. He was at a ripe old age of 91, and has already passed the age of a normal life span. I would even go as far to say that, he was blessed to have lived until now. But my heart still went out a little for them when I saw Mr. Lee Hsien Loong posting a their family portrait that was taken in the year of snake. The portrait was from 2 years ago, and they didnt get to take one this year- because Mr. Lee was hospitalised. Weeks ago, I started seeing facebook posts that said, the world should let Mr. Lee go. He had done enough and it’s time for him to rest in peace. But really, who are we to comment about another person’s life, let alone a great man like him who had done so much for us? Some are even worse- they speculated that he had already died and it was kept under wrap. This morning, while I was preparing for work, my father walked out of his room and said to me, “Lee Kuan Yew is gone, isn’t it?” My mind went, is it? First thing I did was grabbed my phone and clicked on Facebook. If he had passed away, there would be posts of it. And indeed, it was it. I prepared for work after that, just like any other normal day. Then I got into my father’s car, that’s when my heart really started to sink, because hearing it on an official radio makes everything real. Everyone was paying tributes to him, reading messages after messages how we honour him and how we appreciate everything he had done for us. One message read, “Our family heard the news when we were in the car. We griefed silently for a while, then my teenage girl said to us, even though I dont know him that well, but I am grateful for how much he did for Singapore, and in turn, how we have a better life because of this.” “Grateful.” My heart twisted a little as my mind few back to many years back, my friend and I were grumbling negatively about him, wagging out fingers and tongues disapprovingly of some decisions he made. We went as far as saying he should have retired and stop interferring with the current Singapore affairs. I regretted what I said, mostly what I thought about him. I was ungrateful, and even thought he might have made some not-so-good decisions, it’s just like what one of my friends said, he may have made some decisions that affected us, but we will not know until we started a family of our own and have to make decisions for not just for ourselves, then what it’s like that you can never have your cake and eat it. I held back my tears as my memory flew back to what Singapore was like when I was a child, then I opened my eyes to what it is now. I’m not that old, still in my late 20s. But the difference this small island had become then and now is spectacular. Yes, another brillant man may be able to do it, but not everyone will be willing to sacrifice this much for it. As I stepped out of the car, my tears wanted to flow, but I held them back. I silently criticized myself for being too emotional. I hadn’t live through the days witnessing Mr. Lee fought courageously for Singapore, so I dissed my tears away ’cause I shouldn’t be this emotional. When I stepped into the office, I wasn’t expecting my friend to step into the office with tears strimming down her face. And she was 4 years more junior than me. My face started crinkling up, and I told her to say no more. We walked back to our desk in tears, I hated myself for showing my ugly, crying face in office. Today was hard to get by. I distracted myself along the way while I worked, but whenever I saw news about Mr. Lee’s passing, my face crinkled up and i cried a little. I kept looking at the lower right corner of my desktop that kept showing 22/3/2015. Every time I saw it, my mind echo, from this day onwards, Lee Kuan Yew wasn’t breathing anymore. When I was on my way to the doctor’s office after work, my mind echoed, Singapore changed so much because of him, but the founder father of the land I was stepping on will not walk on this land anymore. But why did I waited for him to pass on then I start to appreciate and honour his work and value? Posts after facebook posts of him kept appearing in my timeline. It was bitter sweet. While we are honouring him, he is not around anymore. I read a post that links to one of his past interview. He was 87 then, he talked about Mrs. Lee Kuan Yee, how he took care of her while she was bedridden. My heart went out for him, because seeing your kin suffer yet there is nothing you can do about it is the most absolute worst feeling in the world. Yet he kept saying, there is nothing you can do about the situation, and there is only so much you can do for her. Life still goes on, you know? With our dear founder gone, while we are playing tribute to him and honouring him, life still goes on. And let’s keep his legacy alive, let’s continue to strive hard and make Singapore one of the best countries in the world.

Life’s Interesting

Life’s interesting, for everybody in different ways.

Some people have it easy, life is smooth and they what they were looking for in a steady manner. If what they want is career, they got their first job, that leads to the right people, that leads to the right experience and before they they turn 30, they got into management.

And for those people who just wants a steady relationship and family, they got married in their early 20s and by now, they should be jam-packed with kid’s schedules and homeworks already.

Whereas for some people it’s the total opposite- these people are in their 30s and they look around… nothing even happened. Let alone prince charming, even Mr. Wrong was nowhere to be found.

As for me, I’m probably in the most interesting, yet frustrating category. Why do I kept using 30s as the benchmark? Because I’m almost 30, but I’m in the #imsocloseyetsofar distanced zone. I always have a way to start whatever I wanted to start, like writing, music, even my proper day job. So far only my relationship have some sort of fruitful conclusion, but all of them went through a rough, annoyingly long patch of circling around the same roundabout before I can have any fruitful, or even just any empty closure.

Why am I saying all these? #Idk. But I am tired and sick that I tell myself I have to be positively inspired before I pen them down into words just so I dont spread any negativities. But you know what? #screwthat. From now on I am just going to write whatever I feel like and whenever I want. Because even if inspiration doesn’t come now, it will come later and I shall pen that down again whenever that comes.

But before that happens, I still have to get on with my roundabout patches before God decides that it’s enough, or maybe I learned my lesson and that he finally awards me what I’m have working so hard for.

Till then.