To the River

Never mind if you didn't speak each other's language; when there is a will, there will always be a way. During our recent trip to Guilin, my creative methods in communication was put to test to the max.

We had wanted to purchase boat tickets to a city located to the south of Guilin. From my research, it was highly recommended that one took the river way to this place called Yangshou. The five hour boat ride would feast the eyes to one of the most scenic nature look outs.

We stopped by at an agent who sold the river cruise tickets for our ticket purchase. Two very important tasks I had to execute in the most successful manner. One was to get the right river cruise (to choose from a menu of cruise options which was written in Mandarin!!!) and the other was to bargain for better price (ohhh yesss...price varies a lot from one agent to the other).

It was tough work communicating with the bubbly auntie. First she showed me a different cruise from the one I had in mind. And next, she didn't want to compromise the price. After many minutes of sign language to make known my intentions and punching numbers on the calculator for a good price, I finally managed to get tickets for the Li River Cruise at a price almost 50% less than the initial price she quoted me.

Fuhhh....what a challenge that was!!

At the boat peer, all ready to board the cruise. I paid CNY240 per person for the cruise. Others paid more...especially the Mat Salls. Don't ask me why.

It takes about 5 hours on the river to get to Yangshou. Folks buying snacks ammunition to keep themselves busy on board.

Since there were many, many boats, one had to really look for the right one to board. Pier was like one big Puduraya for boats.

Boat about to start cruising

83-km-long waterway from Guilin to Yangshuo is like an artist's masterpiece.

Small islet in the middle of the river

Awesome looks of the piked limestome mountains

Simply breath taking was the view

The landscape is decorated with rolling hills, steep cliffs, fantastic caves, leisurely boats and is lined with bamboo.

A poem described view in this manner..... "The river is a green silk ribbon, and the hills are jade hair-pins".

Fresh air on the upper deck

Small bamboo rafts are used by the locals in carrying out their daily routines.

Small towns by the river

Caves in the mountain

Kitchen is at the back of the boat. Place your order and lunch is served sizzling hot!!

This man tried his level best to sell food and little trinkets to the cruise boat passengers.

Very scenic indeed

Awesome kan??

Another breath taking view

Small villages along the river. The people have become entrepreneurial and started their own cruise business.

Free and easy at the river village

As we approaches our destination Yangshou

Cruise finally coming to a stop.

Long Way Still

Hiatus again, yes I am aware of that. There's so much still of our travel stories that I would like to share. But time, these days, I never seem to have much.

Work load is piling and so are the clothes to be ironed. Ever since the disappearance of the maid, yours truly Mrs Ma'am a.k.a Tumirah has not much choice but get herself comot at completing the house chores.

Exhausted yang tidak boleh nak di describe!!

It's less than two months to Ramadhan. I dread thinking about what will happen then.

Sigh......

Kuatagh Chillex

When I told Nissa that we were heading to Kuantan last Sunday, she made funny faces at me. Cynically, she asked me, “Where is that?” Ohh…too much of cuti-cuti di luar Malaysia this girl!!

I shared with her why she may like the place, but she wasn’t very convinced. Before I ended our conversation, I told her that I once went to school there. Her reply was oh yeah..??

It was an easy drive to Kuantan. In slightly less than 3 hours, we were already exiting the highway at the Gambang toll and heading towards the town centre. Told Abe that I wanted to make a quick stop to get stuffs for Nissa’s fun in the sun. We headed to Berjaya Mega Mall and I made one quick dash into Parkson.

Kuantan - a town on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, about 200km northeast from Kuala Lumpur, is not at all an untrodden path. Was there for about a year in 1977 during my brief stint in MRSM Kuantan and have come back a couple of times on work assignments. When Abe informed that he was heading there for work, I was all hands up wanting to tag along.

Swiss Garden Resort near Pantai Balok where we stayed for the night. Most hotels in Kuantan and Cherating were fully booked!!

Sea was calm and beach was not too packed

Father & dotter beach bummers of the day

Saw many of these "intricate" patterns in the sand

Really tiny hideout

Occupant of the hideout...si ketam angin

Kelapa yang dah bertunas

The three beach bummers

Fun in the pool

Wished I had more time to visit the spa....

Keropok galore

Sata yang sangat sedappppp

from gerai Pak Soh...rupa tempat tiada lah sangat, but the sata & kepok were really, really yummy

Passed by my old college. Nissa was impressed to know that I once went to a boarding school.

The tennis court and girls hostel in the background. This place still looks the same!!

The dining hall

Time to go back KL, Nissa....

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Bersama Ombak Itu..

The beach looks pretty much the same when I left this town many, many years ago. It's a beautiful beach this Teluk Cempedak is.

It is so peaceful here. As the waves break and hit the shore, I am reminded of that unsettled girl. She was only thirteen then...

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As Evening Envelops

It's almost dark. We are in Kuantan today. Just sneaking away from the busy city. But it's short trip though.

We are putting up at Swiss Garden Resort Kuantan. It feels good to be back and reminisce my early teen days when I went to school in Alor Akar.

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To the Caves

Our guide Lynn suggested that we visit one very famous cave in Guilin. According to her the rock pillars and rock formations have existed for hundreds of years. Like most tourist sites in Guilin, to enter one must purchase tickets. We paid about CNY90 per ticket to enter the caves.

The Reed Flute Cave is a brilliant cave which got its name from the verdant reeds growing outside it, with which people make flutes.

Inside this water-eroded cave is a spectacular world of various stalactites, stone pillars and rock formations created by carbonate deposition.

These caves were discovered by a farmer. His reward was only 1yuan.

It is a Chinese habit to give each formation a legendary or poetic name such as Crystal Palace, Dragon Pagoda, Virgin Forest, Flower and Fruit Mountain and other interesting names.

For some of these names, one has to use much imagination, to visualize the formations.

Lynn said this formation looks like the chandelier. Emmmmppppp.....entah larrr......

Can you spot a face in the rock formation?

Some 70 inscriptions on the cave wall are said to be travelogues and poems derived from the Tang Dynasty

Both the stories and the lighting add mystery to the scene. This one for example is known as the snow castle. Reflections of the rock formations on the water was really, really a beauty!!

To the Mountain

The cable car ride up Yao mountain reminded me the one I took up Bukit Nanas in KL when I was a little girl. The cars were very much similar, the only difference was - ride up Bukit Nanas was just a short one.

Once we arrived at the top, the view was simply stunning. Lines of the limestone mountain range piked up into the sky, looking like giant custodians of the rivers and valleys. Our tour guide, Lynn explained to us about the mountains and the history of the place.

On a clear day, one should be able to spot a mountain range that looks like a sleeping Buddha. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day that time we went up.

Follow the path and it takes you right to the cloud......

And it was cloudy alright......

Lynn was explaining to us what characters the mountains look like. Ada yang looked like elephants, Buddha, dragons and others.


Lynn asked us to pass through this wooden door. One door was for wealth, the other was or happiness and the other one....errr I can't recall.

And both Nissa and I chose the door to happiness.



On the other side of the door, we found locks with messages on them. Couples and loved ones placed their bonding messages and had them tight locked up high in the clouds.

Lynn teaching us how to calculate birth age associated to our animal characters.

On our way out, we passed this wall with writings.

These words are actually the listing of family names and their meanings.

Panda handbags...really cute

It was too cloudy to see the background....

As more tourists arrived, we got ready to head our way down.