We Are The World : Before And Now

Before


Now

Six Year Is A Long Year For Visit

Yes. That is how long since I last visited my other side of the relative at Kelantan. I remembered that the last time I was back is when my grandfather passed away. So total up it is already six years long. Honest to say, I almost forgot how my aunties, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews look like. I had to call my parents to remind me back.

I arrived late at night and since there was no public transportation to Kuala Krai at late hours, I asked my fellow friend to stayed at his room in the hotel. He is there for a night (the flight that I flew in). Even if I can find people to 'tumpang', I still need to stay a night at the hotel and at least I was saved by him. (So need to pay for room).

Late in the afternoon only I checked out and head myself to the main bus station. The taxi fare is only RM2. I myself can't believe it. It is that cheap. So to travel in the city area, it is better to just take the taxi. Cheap and convenient as you can easily get it anywhere.

The bus cost me RM7.50 and the journey is an hour 45 minutes. It is a very long journey. So that is way I took the intercity bus instead of taxi. The taxi will cost you RM15/person but it need four people to go or you have to pay for the price of four. In my case, I just take the bus since I am not in rush.

Everything is the same I thing. Nothing much changed as the last time I remembered I was there. The only thing is my cousins, nieces and nephews are all grown up and almost as tall as I am. It took me two days to remember back all their names (I am such a bad uncle).

It was nice to live in the rural area. Seriously no air conditioner, no internet (nearest is at the town) and even the water also sometimes not available. I am a city boy but I don't really mind living in that environment. My auntie and uncle had been very great to me. They tried to accommodate with what ever they have. I was not used with the idea of sitting around and let people do things for me. So I would normally said to them that I will do it myself.

I usually stroll along the road to the paddy field in the evening and sometimes I just stopped at the river to see if there are fishes in them. It was relaxing. My cousin would bring me for prawn fishing. I had no idea how it was done but it does look fun. So at night we were out to get some bait which is a small prawn. We got ourself a live bait which we catch at the lake.

I tried playing the Wau. I almost hurt my finger since they use a nylon string as the rope. They had to or otherwise it might just snap. It goes way up high in the sky at almost 200m for my calculation (which it turn almost look like a dot from the view below). Truly 'Kampung' style.

Flying back to home with the morning flight. I don't want to take any risk with the evening flight since it is Sunday and surely there would be a lot of overbooking. Phew. Done.

Memory Lane Balik Pulau

I was back to my parent hometowns last week. Unfortunately, only now I have the time to post it on the blog.

Well, there is nothing much I can say about my trip actually. I just wanted to go away for a week and the only place I could go is to visit my hometown. Both my grandparents past away long time ago already and only my aunties and uncles left at Balik Pulau.

Do you know I was from the boarding school in Balik Pulau? So one of the day I went back to the school for a visit. It has been quite a while since my last visit to the school. Most of the teachers have either transferred to other school or no longer working. I miss my school so much. So many memories there I guess.

I stayed at the school for almost the whole day. Basically, walking around the place, meeting teachers and looking at my old classroom. They have an event going on that day and I was invited to attend as well. Since I have nothing to do so I just accepted it.

Most of the time in Balik Pulau I would just hang around with my cousins. So basically like I said, doing nothing. I was enjoying it.

Flew to Kota Bharu on the third day. I took the night flight from Penang and had a 40 minutes transit at KLIA. The flight was delayed actually and luckily there were no further delay or I might lose the connection to Kota Bharu.

Next post: Kota Bharu/Kuala Krai trip.

Review: Indonesia AirAsia (QZ)

Date: 09 December 2008
Sector: Jakarta (CGK) - Bangkok (BKK)

Indonesia AirAsia is part of the AirAsia Group company. It is a low cost airline. So don't expect everything to be at it best. Easy to say, what you pay is what you get. However, it is still cheap in price. So worth the money.

Check-in

Check-in was easy. The thing about low cost airline is everything is chargeable. So be sure to book everything online or you might need to pay extra more if you pay at the airport. Carry on bag is always free for one bag but it must not exceed the weight limitation. Otherwise, you need to check it in and pay extra for it no choice. The staff are friendly and helpful. It is good to know as the journey start from the check in.

Departure Hall

International airport is big and a lot of duty free shop available while waiting for boarding. However, the flight was delayed for about an hour due to late arrival from it previous sector. I hope they don't make it as a habit as it is very inconvenience for the passengers.

Aircraft

Unlike their sister company, they are using an old Boeing 737-300 aircraft. So it is very moody and dull when you came onboard of the aircraft. I do believe they maintained their aircraft well. The seat however is very spacious and made out of leather. It is quite comfortable.

Cabin Crew

They did their job nicely. Listen to the passengers need and attend to them when needed. I did ask them for something and they did their best to help. It is good and polite. Great cabin crew to fly with.

In-flight Entertainment

Since this is a short range of two hours and low cost aircraft, there is no in-flight entertainment provided. So it is best to do is to bring along your iPod or anything that could keep you entertain whilst on the duration of the flight.

Meal

Everything need to be bought separately. So it cost more. You are not allowed to bring your own food onboard the aircraft at all. If you with to eat or drink, you need to buy it from the sales cart. The price is reasonable for me and sine I wanted to finished of my Indonesian currency, I grabbed a fruit juice and Chicken Rice. I gave all my money to the cabin crew and she smiled happily for the tips.

Overall Rating

Check-in 4/5
Departure Hall 3/5

Aircraft 3/5
Cabin Crew 4/5
In-flight Entertainment 2/5
Meal 3/5

Valentine's Day

Such a sweet thing. Unfortunately for me, only now I managed to watch this movie. I am not talking about celebrating Valentine's day. Too far behind already. I am talking about a movie actually.

Here's the thing. The story is too complicated. So you need to stay put and watch the whole thing to actually understand it. It is a very messy movie with complicated storyline. It is very similar to the movie Love Actually. I do prefer to watch the latter more.

There are a lot of spoof you can find in this movie like red wine (magically) turns into white wine or how in the world the boy know where to find the teacher. He has psychic perhaps?

I do love watching romantic movie with all the love and kisses and stuff but for this one I think it just ok. It does not par to my expectation or maybe I had seen better. Do watch it when you have free time but I do not recommend it (unless you like to look at hot guys body).

My rating 4.5/10.

Review: Firefly

Date Travel: 22 February 2010
Sector : Subang (SZB) - Penang (PEN)

Firefly (FY) is the community airlines where you can hop on from the city airport of Skypark located at Subang airport. They use twin propeller aircraft and this is my first time on the ATR 72-500. Its fun all the way and cheery.

Check-in

The check in counter open two hours before the departure time. So if you come in early, you might need to wait until the counter to open up. I did found that it is possible to check in through other available counter. However, they would not be held responsible if you miss the flight. I know this since the airport is at the city, people just came in early and go home for awhile before coming back to the airport. Only small carry on bag is allowed. All other bags need to be checked in as the overhead compartment is not big enough to fit the bag. Don't worry, the friendly staff will definitely help you.

Departure Hall

The new Skypark (formerly known as Terminal 3) is simple to navigate. It is an open gate area so the departure hall is just like a big waiting area. There are only limited shops once you in the departure hall area. So be sure to complete (with a lot of shops) your shopping first at the terminal before heading inside the hall.

Aircraft

New aircraft. What more can I say? It is very exciting to try out something new and to me even though it is a propeller aircraft, it is not noisy at all. The aircraft is small but it can fit 72 passengers. Not really comfortable if you big in size. You might need to purchase additional seat to be more comfortable.

Cabin Crew

The crew are always cheery. I guess it just the way they are. It was fun flight for me even though it only an hour flight time. They definitely did a great job in their work and love doing it. Yes. They never cease to smile.

In-flight Entertainment

No in-flight entertainment for this type of aircraft. They did played some local music just like the one you normally hear on the radio. It keep you entertain if they played the song you like I guess.

Meal

For a short flight, they still served a light meal. It's very hard to find an airline serving light snack for short sector nowadays and to be called community airlines for their low fare make it seem unbelievable. It a choice of peanut or muffin with juice.

Overall Rating

Check-in 5/5
Departure Hall 3/5
Aircraft 4/5
Cabin Crew 5/5
In-flight Entertainment 2/5
Meal 4/5

Balik Kampung

So to say, I am now at my parents hometown visiting my uncles and aunties. So the first 4 days I will be at Penang and the remaining 4 days I will flying off to Kota Bharu.

I will let you know on more details about my trip to Penang (Balik Pulau Town) and Kota Bharu (Kuala Krai Town) when I am back at home. I last visited Kuala Krai when I was 16 years old I guess. I think a lot have been change by now.

So see you next week.