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Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Day 1b | Royal Belum's Jahai Tribe (Orang Asli)



Jahai tribe.

'Orang Asli' or indigenous people in Malaysia consist of Semang or Negrito, originated from the northern portion of the peninsular Malaysia, Senoi, residing in the central region and Proto-Malay or Aboriginal Malay from in the southern region. The Semang or Negrito are the earliest inhabitants of the peninsular Malaysia.

And I am fortunate to visit Kampung Aman Damai in Royal Belum, a settlement for the Jahai tribe.

Earlier entry
Day 1 | Royal Belum Houseboat & Rafflesia


This is one of the most looked forward activity in the itinerary, well,  for me at least. You see, I am always mesmerize with portraiture of 'Orang Asli' or indigenous people and keen to try my hand at capturing the moment, the depth, the expression and yes, I did fail with flying colours when it comes to portraiture. Bila nak pandai nih? Ke kena beli camera RM10k macam Hang Dhanim atau lens RM10k macam Masnona? Confirm tak travel 2 tahun kalau gi beli.

No red carpet service di sini, come as you are katanya.


Finally I caught a glimpse of them waiting for our arrival, at this point I was practically doing jumping jacks 50 times ok. Some of us brought some titbits to share with the kids and the BOA folks brought some as well.

TravelTips : You can bring preloved items such toys/shirts/books that is in good condition to be donated. Do be mindful that this is not a dumping ground, make sure the stuff that you wish to donate can be recycle/reuse.

I learnt that the BOA team alternate these orang asli villages so that every BOA participants get to experience different environment and the villages will get fair share of the donation. Noble.

Konon-konon rule of third, yeah right! (eyes rolling)
 
 

Kak Anash melawat tanah jajahan, ramai giler supporter.

These kids wanna befriend us but they are too shy. Hehhehheheee...

She asked us to take their pics. OK.

Gerai Haye Obet or Medicine Shop is what stated at the door, those bagged are herbs for sale.


Trying some framing technique, yes, gagal dengan cemerlang juga.

Groovy giler orang asli ni.


We were asked how do you know when the village population increases? When you see them building more houses and extending their land. This is normally due to marriage and here we saw a few houses being built, ramainya baru kahwin...

I like this scene. Really like.

Cantik kan.

They are envious of Aqilah because Kak Anash giving her the most attention. Giteww...

We parted soon after and headed to Sg. Tiang camp site where some of us skinny dip (#eh) and some fell into the lake -> Hang Dhanim. Will share the silly things we did in the next entry.

To be continued...




#TravelholicAwesome 
(hyperlinked) 

Tel : +6017-451 4939
Email : belum.outdoor@gmail.com
Facebook : Belum Outdoor Adventure 
Special package : RM150 for 2D1N



Sunday, April 27, 2014

Kota Kinabalu Day Trip [Adidas Contest]

Day trip to Kota Kinabalu.
Yeah, I sometimes do the craziest thing.
Oh yeah, running an Adidas contest too *wink*

Took the first flight out to Kota Kinabalu or KK as known to the locals (yawned over and over again for the 2.5hrs flight), my main objective was to shop at Adidas Neo outlet in 1Borneo (never been here before), meet with Sabah famous travel blogger Diana Teo of Travel & Living Journal of DT (she hosted me the whole day, sweet huh) and to visit the Sabah Museum; Heritage Village specifically.

Travel tips : There's a shuttle to town, convenient for travelers

First thing first - makan. Diana took me to the famous Fook Yuen for a hearty breakfast, I think she ordered everything on the shelf, hahhahahhaaa...

Me? I ordered ba chang (the one with a wrap), I always wanted to try this for years and it is so heard to get a halal one, finally I managed to try one - in Sabah (jauh giler nak try), then obviously I order dimsum and Madras Tea. Madras tea sedap giler, tak manis, you guys must try ok.

Ba chang is basically glutinous rice or sticky rice stuffed with either meat, nuts, mushroom, shrimp or salted egg yolk and wrapped in bamboo. Then they will boil or steam me just like the Malay ketupat.

The roti kahwin is delicious, I think I ate 2 sets (lapar pun sama).

Later we head to 1Borneo, it is further from town and you will pass by a beautiful coastal area with jogging track and a floating state mosque.

I head to Adidas Neo outlet to grab some attire for my upcoming trips (trips = plural tau).

'Hello Hai!' They greeted me.

The outlet consist of 2 section; male and female with sufficient manpower to service its customer. Since I arrived at 11ish, 2 kind ladies entertained me through out. Have you watched Pretty Woman when Julia Roberts goes shopping at Rodeo Drive? Yes, that's is how I felt. Best giler ok. They even ask me to try and they will take my picture for me - OOTD lah sangat. Hahhahahhaaa..... but no! I want to do something better, I will take the outfit pic during my trip. Travel in style, that's what I always say *smile*.

Traveltips 1 : If you visit the store early part of the day, you get the store all to yourself.
Traveltips 2 : The 1Borneo Mall is huge, Adidas Neo is located on the ground floor near the main entrance. Easy to find.

Currently they are also running a promo.

What makes me want to check out Adidas Neo you might wonder.
  • The price is reasonable - their shoe price range is between RM100-300 only. With RM100-RM200, you can already get a fashionable shoes. The shirts are affordable too in fact.
  • Colours and style - as the target range is the younger crowd, you won't get those boring and dull colours. I loike!
  • Trendy and funky - need I say more? *wink*.

This was one of the reason for me to come, yup, I got the black top on the right, girlie and yet cool. Apparently it comes with floral pants or legging as well (mereka yang kurus tuh, sila beli ok... girlie + funky)

Man shirts are not bad either, they have all sorts of colours.

There you go, my purchase. I got a few really really funky ones, but I will only share during my trip next month to ..... (secret)

Buying this in the hope I visit Russia soon. *Pray hard*

As I mentioned in my Instagram and Twitter I will be running an Adidas contest, and the give away is the above Adidas Winter Olympic Sochin-Russia shirt in blue worth RM99/-, I will be shipping the prize to the winners (not to worry) if you are not base in KL.

All you need to do is answer the below 3 question correctly and you will win this cool Adidas Neo shirt, thank you to #AdidasMY.

Contest question :
1. Which shopping mall did I shop my #AdidasNeo stuff?
2. Who are the 2 ambassador for #AdidasNeo? (you need to google this)
3. What colour is #AdidasNeo logo?

* Answers to be replied on my blog comment section.

Contest ends on 30 April, 2014 at 12pm.

Easy right? Happy answering :)

Next entry, STOP-STOP BUS. Hhehehhehhehe.... cute giler kan.





This entry is sponsored by #AdidasNeo. #AdidasMY.




Monday, April 21, 2014

Day 1 | Royal Belum Houseboat & Rafflesia



Boathouse or Houseboat?
What is the difference?


After much planning with #TravelholicAwesome and friends, we finalised on the date, cars and route. The plan was that we depart on Friday evening to Chawanna parents' home and at around 9ish Saturday morning we will make our way to Royal Belum. And the passangers of each car have been allocated as well, totalling to 5 cars and 19 participants, including 1 infant (Suci) and 2 kids (Sami and Aqilah).

Few questions pop into our mind...
1. Mattress - Do they provide? Are we to sleep on the floor? Do we need to bring sleeping bag? Toto? Blanket? Katil? Nyamuk????
2. Bathroom - Where are we gonna bathe? Is there a bathroom? Are we to bathe in the lake? Howabout toilet? Poo-poo how???
3. Internet - No internet, we die. Period. (Memang tak da network pun)

Buzz... buzz... buzz... My Whatsapp kept buzzing.
(Semua dah tak mood nak kerja dah on Friday, dok pikir packing and nak balik je, dasar traveler kan kan kan)

Byya pinged saying she will be 'slightly' late, hence I decided to buy popiah basah, pulut panggang, cara berlauk, kuih lapis and kuih koci for the everyone (sebab confirm semua akan lapar), then I also decided to wash my toilet, feed my cat, clean the house etc before showering. Gigih dak? While doing all this, Afif called me at least 3 times worried that I got lost getting to his house (cite nye Byya sampai pun belum adek ooiii, terlebih excited budak nih, keh keh keh). Apparently Afif fried nasi-goreng-bungakantan-ikanbilis-homemadekimci-sayurcampur (dengan banyaknya) and another food that the 'name-should-not-be-mention' (as we sworn secrecy to not tell anyone, Hang Dhanim kata national security).

Once everyone on board I soon noticed one thing, semua kanak-kanak hyper dalam kereta ini and that there is an undelcared selfie and whatsapp 'game' enroute to Ipoh. The jokes started with our car ie Team Byya having the 'nur' (as we have ustaz Afif with us) and Team Janggel claimed that they have a doctor (Dr. Shahrul) in the car but the winner goes to Team Chawanna as the have 'Yang Arif' in the house (Dan Arif - "The Learned")! Terus whatsapp diam seketika.


Other than queuing for bathroom at Chawanna mom's house, we were delighted by her mom's nasi lemak and kasui (sedap giler ok) and like Chawanna; her mom is friendly and kind (nampak tak permainannya disini, ampu).

Team Byya added another passenger, Mas Kaki Jalan before leaving to Royal Belum. We are so fortunate as Mas is the kakak kawasan or territorial manager of this whole area, there isn't anything that passes her knowledge, she even knew where and when the night market in Sauk is, the fun fair in Gerik or the house where they make ikan pekasam (fermented fish). Facepalm.


We arrived at Royal Belum!


First time seeing our houseboat, besarnyaaaaa.


We were required to fill in release form and a quick briefing was conducted.


Leaving the jetty.


Perasan gambar ni lawa sebab tuh letak.

While the houseboat cruises, we roam around taking pictures upon pictures upon selfies (!?!), none was spared. Having one person owning a RM10k DSLR, one with a RM10k lense, another with a monopod, how could there not be few hundreds of our pictures everywhere right? (Sambil fliphair)

Jeng jeng jeng
Let's play a game, detact which guy below have the most move?


Pemes mereka lepas ni.


Lazing around is a must, this is the top deck. Tetami on the top deck and hammock at the bottom, memang layanlah...

Our first stop was to view the magnificent rafflesia, we were told that there were 3 types of rafflesia in Royal Belum, Azlanii, Kerrii and Cantheyii. And that they only bloom for 5-6 days during its season, hence it is highly depending on luck for one to catch this magnificent sight. It is said that the flower smells of rotten flesh hence the name "corpse flower" or "meat flower" was given.

Another interesting story we found out is that elephants eat the flower to heal themselves from indigestion (do counter check on this).


Kanak-kanak Ribena.


They are actually acting out the scene on their musical video, theme song : 'Dindaaaaa..... kandaaaa.... burung pun turut menyanyi, cinta pun turut bersemi, lalalalalalalaaaaa....'


Aqilah naik pakai selipar je, cool lak tuh.




Kakak Santek carrying 11kg Suci, so the rest, please don't whine ok!

We saw land, we saw Kampung Aman Damai. Docking soon.


To be continued...




(hyperlinked)

Tel : +6017-451 4939
Email : belum.outdoor@gmail.com
Special package : RM150 for 2D1N