CCC after a year - White water rafting & Caving in Kampar

Hmm...after a year...a lot of things have changed.

The most significant one...everyone is richer by 2 to 3k a month...many with new cars and 2 with a new house....envy of them...I am stuck with my 3584 but am satisfy to at least have him now rather than my 15 years old SLK.

2ndly, we all have only 1 common topic or rather standard questions which were 'What are you doing now, where are you working in, which department, hows life, hows work and etc...all revolves around working life.

3rdly, we were not as crazy as we did...no more rushing for photo shots...I was not sure if it was due to lack of cameras during our outing or it was just because we were too tired with our normal hectic schedule and 2 days of tiring activities together.

Anyway this was really good for us to get together. I enjoyed it very much but was super tired as I could not recover from my Bangkok trip which was only 3 days apart. Take away my tiredness, my post trip MC and the stuck time during white water rafting, this was a great outing.

Thanks to HJ and HF for organizing it! Hope to see everyone again in our 2nd yr gathering!

Day 1 - Drive down from Pg, white water rafting (*sad for no photographs taken during the raft), Gunung Lang & 豆芽鸡

penang* and ipoh lang at destination first...good to be on time

at gua tempurung area...while waiting for others

heading to our hostel...after the white water rafting

CCC at Gunung Lang

Gunung Lang lake from the tower

replica of traditional houses on the island
boat to the island

another lake view from the top

it was about to rain

1st and only complete group photo...CCC08 is here in Gunung Lang!

our chicken...good but too much...CCCers are small eaters now

this was yummy...better than chicken

YY after few hours under the sun during water rafting...YY, u need more outdoor sports to be a MAN!

at pasar malam during kampung adidas hunting

Day 2 - Dim sum at Ming Court, pomelo feasting at Gerai Limau Bali Tambun 100, caving at Gua Tempurung and finally 游记面包鸡

dim sum breakfast at Ming Court

got a shock...the moment we got the table, the waitresses started to load the table with all these dim sum...may be 100+ of them at first

pomelo feasting

bought 2 home

Gua Tempurung...khazanah negara

these were thousands years old

wah...best shot in the cave

very humid in the cave....

now we are up, the next moment we were meters down

oups...1 missing...it was too dark...the cameraman just pakai hentam

best shot in the cave...due to the humid and less of light, this was the best shot

not sure if it is that extreme good or not but it finished within minutes

makan...makan
last group photo before adios..missing in the photo is HF...thanks her again for this!

Bangkok Day VII - Final day in Bangkok...more temples and lychee

We woke up at 7am and left our hotel at close to 8am...on a slower pace today since it was our last day in Bangkok.

We were walking to the Wat Ratcha Pradit, passing the Thammasat University and coming out on the other side where the market was. Here in the market, we stopped for our very first and last local flavour breakfast. We stopped by in a local Chinese restaurant. However they could not really speak our language. Anyway we have our best breakfast here in Bangkok. I ordered a pork noodle soup or rather a kuey teow soup. The soup was really good...so sweet. It must be prepared with lots of ingredient...lots of those rib bones. The fish cakes and balls were so tender and juicy. This noodle was so satisfying.

yummy noodle soup...

We continued our walk to Wat Ratcha Pradit....Another temptation....I have been mentioning that I wanted to buy and eat more lychees after the bag of sweet and juicy gift from the tourism board but failed to buy any till this very last day of our trip. Finally we bought a bag, almost a kilo for only 40Baht...really very very cheap :D

the Ministry of Defense the Wat Phra Kea and Royal Palace from the City Pillar Shrine

Before reaching the Wat Ratcha Pradit, we stopped at the Bangkok City Pillar Shrine or the Bangkok Lak Muang. It was very interesting that they actually have 2 main gold coated wooden pillars in the main altar. These 2 pillars were believed to house the city spirit deity.

Lak Muang

Wat Ratcha Pradit was an interesting wat. We were in the temple all by ourselves...the high walls, marble pillars, the images of people on the roof, the calm and cool surrounding. This was really a good place to get away from busy Bangkok street and the people. Thought of sitting here for hours to meditate.

white marble walls and pillars
human icon on the roof...rare with the main marble stupa
the greyish white marble...very comfortable to hang around

Then we continued to Wat Ratch Bophit...passing by the most unique memorial I have ever seen...to our surprise, we found a golden pig statue by the riverside which people worship of...the Pig Memorial was actually to mark the quees's birth year during her 50th birthday...interesting to learn that Thais were loyal and respect their royal family members till this extend.

Wat Ratch Bophit was another learning center like Wat Pho. It has school within it's compound. The architecture here were remarkable as well. The wall painting and the extensive carving at the doors and windows were pretty similar to those in Royal Palace. This was a memorial of the highest rank monk. Besides this wat has been famous for it's Gothic style chendi.

similar to royal palace... colourful walls and extensive wood carving on the doors
western style chendi ivory decorated doors to the halls

That was our last temple visited in Bangkok. We rushed back to our hotel on the reverse way we came...passing the Amulet market. This round in Amulet market completed my trip...I managed to add to my coins collection. 400Baht worth of commemorative coins at 500Baht...all in I brought home 33 commemorative coins.

Back at New Siam II, our driver was already there waiting for us. We quickly grab our bags and left the hotel. Our ride to the airport was so enjoyable...enjoyed to finally got stuck in Bangkok's traffic and enjoyed her not so daring and scary overtakes. And not to forget her instant decision to divert to another route after seing a major demonstration in front of the house. All the protestors were in white shirts.

all in white in front of the house

At the airport after checking in our lugguage, we took our lunch at he Black Canyon. I love the Black Canyon in Malaysia and surely not where it orignated....all the food and drinks scored below average. :S Even my favourite Thap Thim Krawp didn't taste good.

After the meal, we cleared our passport and went into the terminal. Just right in front fg our gate, this was where one of the best event of the day took place...our Lychee eating competition. We didn't want to give up our sweet lychee so ended up rushing to finished them up...3 of us took only 15 minutes at max to finish one whole bag of lychees...we were eating at the side, right on top of a rubbish bin...with all the overflowing sweet juices from the lychess dripping down into the rubbish bin....we were eating like nobody's business. :D

Finally got into the gate with the final call announcement on the background...we 3 memang gila makan...anything at all for the lychees.

Arrived home safely at close to 5pm... :D

Bangkok was really a good place for holiday. There were so many places to visit and so many things to do there. Of all the activities in Bangkok, I love the Siam Nirammit, the Tiger Temple visit and the one day get away to Ayutthaya. I can easily spend 1 or 2 more weeks in Bangkok if I have sufficient leave and money. :D

Besides the place and culture, this holiday was excellent for Stella and Phaik were really excellent travel companions. We were all so gila and same pace all the time...when it comes to makan, we 3 were really food critics. When it comes to jalan, we 3 also kuat jalan...not going to waste any single minute but when it comes to relax, we can spend hours chatting while sipping coffee in Starbusks. We were so adventureous and did lots of out of norm stuff. Thanks a lot gals and I look forward to travel with my sister guides again.