Stuck in Kertih, Terengganu for 6 hours! BORED?! NO WAY!

Hi guys! This blog is written just for your own entertainment. I know i haven’t been writing much and updating the blog. But im about to blast the blog with tons of new stuff that will hopefully entertain you.

I recently got the the privilege of getting stuck in a little town called Kertih, on my way back to Penang. This small little town is basically only known to people working in the oil field. There isn’t much to do here and there shouldn’t be a reason for you to be stuck here as i am. But in case you are wondering where this little town is, it is on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia in the state of Terengganu.

Surprisingly, i did see some foreigners walking no the streets in town. There were 2 to be exact. I was really tempted to stop and ask them, what they were doing here, but then realized i myself couldn’t answer the question.

The public transport here is shit. I do not think there is a bus that is existent here. Everyone owns their own car and if you don’t have one, taxis are abundant. Of course, due to the situation, the fare is more expensive.
Being stuck in Kertih, and my flight out was a FireFly flight to KL. I could either take a taxi and head to Kemaman, which was a slightly bigger town about 1 hour away, and stroll around there, or stay in Kertih and explore the newest mall- MESRA MALL! The locals tell me, it is the biggest thing to hit their small town since the first 7-11 set shop here.
So with 6 hours to waste, i start my exploration. I hitched a ride from a friend from Kertih Airport to Mesra Mall which was like 10 minutes away (without jam) – Yes and that is the weird thing here in Kertih and in Kemaman. THERE IS TRAFFIC JAM! I do not know where the cars and lorries come from but i sure know that it is because of the narrow road system here.

MESRA MALL is a flat building that spreads out. This is the entrance of the mall below.

Latest premier mall in the small town of KERTIH, Terengganu

I will shut up and let the pictures take you through the mall.

WOW! this mall has BODY SHOP!
the ad says “being bare is beautiful”

The mall is a flat one story building. With only one intersection – one single row of boutiques and shops

The mall is new and very clean! There are a few security guards around as well as  a concierge!
There is TOYS R US here!! YIPEEEE

The kids are going to love this!

McDonalds is going to have trouble with this opening here

I wanted to see what the supermarket was selling, and besides normal groceries….. and house hold items…they had…..

Fancy some angry bird slippers? It caught my eye, because i haven’t seen them before

Or you can always opt for some fake FLIPPERS!

The big show was seen at Mesra Mall!

This picture below was taken t show my friend NIKO, that the word BIDAAH actually existed. He taught me, that the meaning was actually improvisation.  hmmmm…… and there is a whole dictionary of it!

I didn’t try the cookies, but i assume they are of the same quality.

This whole town is going crazy on DONUTS! Must be the sugar addict

You know about the donut craze? Well each time a donut stall which has a name, like this- Big Apple! hits a city or a town like this. The people just go banana’s. I don’t know if its the colorful allure or the diabetes waiting to happen.
We Penangites, managed to get over the craze a long time ago. Well at least im just speaking for myself.  But it was amazing to see that they did make the effort to come up with something different. DONASHI! Cool and Cute! The kids are going to love them!

cute sushi

Its more worth it to buy a few donuts as once. I bought one and it costed me like RM 2.50.

we wanna see whats all the hype about

Roti Boy – Malaysias addictive mexican bun

If you haven’t tried the Mexican Bun. You just have to buy one and see. Trust me.

I wasn’t fancying Burger King for lunch. So i went straight to Pizza Hut. It was empty…..and it was 12pm.

Ended up parking my self at Pizza hut for lunch

Ok, maybe its a little early. So i grabbed out my laptop and tapped in to the free wifi. Its broken! Damn it, so its time to eat!

tried the wifi here at Pizza hut, and it was Absolute SH*T

I was naturally training my stomach for the MATTERHORN BURGER challenge. There was a competition back home, which i so wanted to enter. It was a 3 kg burger, where you have to finish it in 45 minutes. And the only thing you could drink with it, was beer!
So i had to test my self to the fullest and order the biggest, baddest most..intensifying meal ever! MEAL 4!

 

training for the big burger challenge when i get back to Penang

Naaaah….we train some other time. I had spaghetti instead.

Spagetti with added spiciness for lunch

Ad a chocolate cookie with melted ice cream, because they brought it out early, way before my soup! Which idiots would do that!
So i asked them to keep it for me. Obviously they just stuck it back in the fridge. So when it came out like 30 minutes later, it was all soggy and melted. Damn you PIZZA HUT for ruining my competition chances!

i just had to have something for my sweet tooth! Chocolate Chip cookie and vanilla ice cream topped with chic fudge!

Has your mother ever told you that the best way to waste perfectly precious good time, is to watch a movie!
Great, MIB III was showing.

Watch a movie!!!
Its movie day on wednesday! Tickets are RM 8

And it was movie day, so i didn’t hesitate. The movie was quite refreshing, but the fighting scenes were kinda soggy.

And you can watch another movie again, cuz there is nothing else to do…

If you haven’t watched the AVENGERS, then please go watch it.

Bubble Tea is in Kertih!

Bubble Tea craze is here in Kertih! I didnt try it, because we have Cool Blog back home and it sucked. Maybe Cha Time will come…..some day……someday..over the rainbow….
And if you still had plenty of time to spend. GO bowling!

YOU BOWL?

No shoes ?
They rent them out.
No socks?
They sell them.
No one to play with you?
They will assign a person to accompany you.
No money?
Go sit in the corner, far far like me and surf free wifi!

Because i do!

But i went ahead and bought a latte…for RM 8.

grabbing a cup of fresh brew

ended up ordering a chocolate indulgence donut which is topped with chocolate and oozing with chocolate inside as well

I sat down, and bit into my chocolate donut. Mmmmmm mmmmmmmm No need to say no more.

donuts and Facebook……the ultimate partnership

For those who needed a souvenir back home. We recommend the Pink Nipple Cream. It makes your nipples pink!

buying something for the Mrs

Stay tuned and if you do have Facebook. Because if you don’t, then you better go kill yourself.
But if you do, then you are one of us. A savvy, ultra cool traveler.
Add us on Facebook, because if you don’t, then you are not cool.
Here is our address.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Backpackies/137141966322276

Add us, be happy or stay square!

Nice Express Bus from KL to Penang review by backpackies

There are a few way’s of traveling around in Peninsular Malaysia. Besides the scenic but snail crawling Keretapi Tanah Melayu train, you have the direct opposite which is to fly (Air Asia, Malaysia Airlines and Fire fly covers most of the major states). Somewhere in the middle, you have the express busses which have existed back in the early days when the first trunk road was constructed to connect the many cities in Peninsular Malaysia.
There are basically 3 classes of express busses in Malaysia. The VIP class, normal express busses and the cheap ass factory/holiday busses converted to express busses to cater for the growing number of commuters.

In this blog we will be reviewing the NICE Executive bus service which covers most of the major cities in Peninsular Malaysia. The ticket from KL to Penang costs RM 75 one way. Which to us, is a hell of a lot of money. So are we getting what we are paying for? Lets see for ourselves.

Nice buses depart from the Old Railway Station in KL. So if you have bought your tickets from the newly renovated Puduraya Bus Stop, there is a shuttle bus service that will take you to the Old Railway Station.
This was what i took and i am not sure if it was the normal procedure but i was dropped off right at the corner about 2 minutes walk from the Old Railway Station. I have pointed it out in the picture below, where i was dropped off.
Not that im complaining but, i would pity the person who had plenty of bags to carry. Mind you, i had to walk across 2 roads before reaching this station. What about if it was an old lady?

The shuttle bus from pudu raya drops you off there. You have to walk all the way to where i am now

The Nice buses are parked directly outside the Old Railway Station.  It’s on the right hand side of the main road.

nice busses depart from the old rail way station in kl

Here are the operating hours of the office.

operating hours

If you havent bought your bus tickets, and have made it this far to do so, the ticketing counters are up on the second (2nd)  floor. There are signs showing you where it is. You wont miss it.

ticketing counter on the second floor

The toilets are also on the second floor. A wonderful thing i discovered was that there were also showers there! Yup, typical Malaysia. The doors for the shower were locked.
(In Malaysia, there are plenty of facilities that are provided but people are unable to reach/use it).

shower room in the toilet?

And because the bus tickets are so expensive, there is an executive lounge for the passengers to sit and wait in. Of course it is air-conditioned and comes with cable tv and drinks.

lounge with tv

executive lounge

executive lounge

Comfortable chairs to sit and wait for your bus. But the lounge seemed small, because the rest of the chairs were basically bar stools. (Not so comfy anymore).
In case you doze off, you can actually tell the waiter to wake you up when your bus departs. There is also a receptionist who will announce your bus arrival and departure on the PA system.
Once you are in the lounge, you will be served with some light snacks and coffee or tea.

light snacks and coffee or tea at the lounge

empty sugar and creamer containers

The service was pretty bad. The creamers and sugar containers were empty. And worse of all, i found a stone in my kuih! (some indian cake they gave me)

I found a stone in my cake!

Almost chipped my tooth!!

nice executive express busses

One thing good about this bus service is that it leaves on time. Unlike the normal express buses, where they tend to wait for other passengers till the whole bus is full. Sometimes you will have to wait for up to an hour before the bus leaves.

boarding on time on time

The chairs and coach was comfortable and nice. Everything you would expect for your 75 bucks.

comfortable seats

VIP chairs

pantry

The pantry was for the waitress to serve you hot drinks and heat up your food for you.
One thing that amazed me was that the chairs had plug points. Which was a great feature because i regularly watch a movie or do some work on my laptop. But the catch is that the plug points are situated on alternate chairs. So you had to request for a chair with a plug point.

I was seated on a chair without a plug point, and lucky for me the coach was not full. So i requested to change seats, which i did. So i started to blog about the ride.

chairs that come with plug points are the handiest for business people

This was the collection of snacks that was provided on the bus. The funny thing which i didn’t like was that the food and drinks came all at once. Imagine having 2 drinks and some food together. If it was me, i would prefer the water to come, then the sandwich and during half the ride, the juice and coffee or tea. But i guess the waitress was just being lazy and wanted to get away with it, by giving everything at once.

There is nothing to comment ont he water and juice. But the bread i got was a little stale. It was hard and not that tasty. The last time when i rode on a NICE bus, the sandwich was really good. I hope NICE reads this blog and takes action to improve it.

this is the chairs they give

The reclining chairs we got. Which reclined to almost 40 degrees down. There was also a leg support to raise up your legs. 🙂 Did i mention that they also had an internal bus TV and music system. You will be given the headphones for it. (Which you are required to return at the end of the destination).

Overall, the bus ride was ok. It wasn’t faster or anything, but maybe more comfortable. Although i have rode on the same comfortable buses for Rm 40 before. (Minus the drinks and food).

So if you are interested in this service, here is their website. NICE BUSES

And guys, if you have a facebook account, please do add us on BACKPACKIES IS ON FACEBOOK.
We try to make traveling fun! 😉
Have a safe trip wherever you are!

My virgin visit to Patpong Bangkok by backpackies

My first night out in Bangkok and the ‘helpful’ receptionist at my Guesthouse already points the direction to the nearest night market – PATPONG. (Of course everyone has obviously heard of PATPONG, except me who still thought it was the BEST night market in Bangkok.

I was staying at Just Beds a nice small boutique hotel which had rates that were quite reasonable. (I will blog about it a little while). It was stated there on their website that it would be a 10 minute walk to Patpong. But i thought since i was going to be tired from all that wonderful shopping that i envisioned in my head, i took a taxi there. The cab costed me 50 THB something  (please dont get me started on the sang (cents)) The zeros 0000 behind the notes are already confusing me enough.

There are two ends to Patpong sandwhiched between Silom and Suriwong Roads, just down from the Sala Daeng Skytrain Station and is home to the city’s most popular and renowned night market, many fine shops, restaurants, five star hotels and the main draw of all, some of the city’s most boisterous nightlife.

Welcome sir...to patpong! You wanna see show...banana show, ping pong show...tiger show

The Patpong area as we know it today, was founded in the late 1960s when a number of bars were erected for the US servicemen who were enjoying R + R away from the battlefields of Vietnam. By day the area was home to the offices of international companies, including a number of airlines, but by night it transformed into something far more exciting.

When the troops pulled out in 1975, Thailand’s increasing tourist trade discovered the area and since then Patpong has been a magnet for tourists and locals alike.

some soi's are so narrow even the skinny lady boys have a hard time squeezing in between the taxi and the road side stall to get pass traffic!

Small shopping stalls overflow into the side streets of Silom and Suriwong but the main shopping is in Patpong Soi 1 itself.
(Soi means small street in Thai). There are plenty of things to buy here, ranging from shoes, fake watches, souvenirs, jerseys but all with over hiked up prices just to cater for the farang (white man) market. So if you are buying something here, make sure you bargain hard.
(This is what we normally do. If they open a price, lets say 500THB, we offer 50 THB. I know its ridiculous but it’s also shows how much we are prepared to offer, which isn’t a lot. Then you need to bargain up while the seller bargains down. Bargain till you meet a middle point where both of you are happy. What ever it is, just try to enjoy yourself. No point, if you guys and up yelling 4 letter words and being angry about it in the end. I have seen many people who cannot handle stress end up like that.

jerseys of every team and every player you can think of

flower soap handcrafted

creative pillow covers - very colourful with nice 'meaningful' words

zooming in on the wordings so you OLD fellas can read what it means

glasses galore!!

Girls will love Patpong. But generally we noticed that all the street markets sell almost the same things. Here you will find plenty of sun glasses, earrings, hair accessories, hand bags and shoes.

stitch and donald makes smoking marijuana so illgally happy

Patpong has developed and it is not just known as a red light area.  Patpong is more diverse than any of the city’s other bar areas and is home to open air bars, live music venues, pool halls, gogo bars and other specialty bars.  You truly are spoiled for choice.

angry bird fever is madness in bangkok

Even if you are a shopping freak, you still got to eat don’t you? All around Patpong are small food stalls selling the local snacks and meals. Most common you will see is fried or BBQ food stuff. Below you will see a fried chicken stall selling every single part of the chicken FRIED!
Did you know that in Thailand: Fried chicken skin is a delicacy?

fried chicken!

The sushi stall had quite a variety going on for 5 THB each . I missed the Unagi Sushi, though i don’t think they have it.

fresh road side sushi

We passed by this stall selling pork rice. Man it was so good that if melted in our mouths. I would definitely go back there for another. A normal plate with pork meat, vegetables and 1 egg costs about 45 THB.

fatty pork rice served with vegetables and egg

Yummy pork rice, that is cooked will its so soft that it half melts in your mouth

Fresh seafood any one?

I kind of doubt how clean it is though since it is directly beside a busy road side. Mostly they will taste delicious after covered in tuk tuk smoke.

steamed soft bread dipped in a mix of pandan kaya and coconut milk

after a full tummy we venture further into patpong

They have a whole group for this??? Kewl….. i didnt know that. Did you??
As you reach the Suriwong end of Patpong. If you turn left, you are a very horny man. If you turn right you are gay.
We turned right just to be sure they got their left and right -RIGHT!
We discovered a street and here is what we saw..

Check out the patpong dream boys

Dream street in patpong- every girls fantasy?

DREAM BOYS, BEACH BOYS, SCHOOL BOYS, CREAM BOYS….you name it…..they are all TOY BOYS!
Of course there are toys here for sale as well in case you got bored with your toy boy.

A variety of tools for everyone

This guy even gave me the happy pose! He is really loving his job.
You get to sit with girls, kiss them, entertain them, free drinks, and you get PAID! What a job….

Of course just on the other street are where all the lady boys or KA TUEYS (thai) hang out. They were so friendly that one of them kept flashing her panties at me. What a syiok i got! (SHOCK)

of course Patpong is crawling with lady boys as well

Just ignore the lady boy on the right. He/she is just trying to be friendly.

What we were trying to figure out was, out in the middle of all this fantasy we were suddenly hearing some hymns….from a choir. And here was a group of students trying to collect donations from all of those poor farangs who have just went shopping in PATPONG.

And all of a sudden we see this band of innocent school children collecting donations

PATPONG besides being a famous red light district and shopping market, it is where you will find great bars and clubs to hang out at. We were sitting in one of them, sipping our over priced beer as we watch how the touts try their best to pull tourists into a ping-pong show.

We hope this give you an overall of what to expect in Patpong, Bangkok. If you guys have any more questions about Patpong please do add us on facebook at backpackies is on facebook.

If you want to ask us where the best ping-pong shows or tiger shows. I’m sorry we do not know. (Seriously).
Good luck and happy travelling.