Taiwan: The Introduction and Rough Plan + Budget.

I'm suppose to write another post bout Suratthani, Thailand but we didn't really spent much time there, all we have been is only the ChinaTown aka Night Market, that is the good place to hunt food though.

So i will skip that and go to Taiwan trip, which is happened in May 2013.....

And yes, my blog has been delay for more than one year now, hurray!

... alright i'll catch up, as soon as i can.

So hmm Taiwan, the country (or some people argue that's just a province of China) that i have been once long long time ago, and that's because of work too.

So this time was purely holiday + meeting friends that i make in New Zealand.

Again, i dislike city so beside Taipei, where we landed and departed, we choose to go HuaLian, the eastern side of Taiwan, a small town by the seaside.

And HuaLien has gave us the best memory in the whole Taiwan trip.

Oh yea, my travel mate this time is Elaine, my dearest cousin sister, this is also the first oversea trip between me and Lynn.

I'm not sure how should i start with my Taiwan posts, but i guess Taiwan is a familiar destination for everyone, so i think my plan and budget isn't that important.

Yea perhaps just a rough summary on the trip to kick start the post la.

10/5
KUL - TAIPEI
- Airport to Taipei Train Station (aka the transit center for all kind of transport)
- Check in SK-Stay which is only only 5 minutes walking distance away from the station.

11/5
Taipei - Hualien
- Take High-Speed Rail from Taipei to Hualien.
- Check in to Hualien guest house, YouZiJia (review in the later post)
- Relax and explore around the place.

12/5
Hualien (Taroko Day Trip)
- Rent car to QiXingTan (seaside), Taroko National Park, SongYuan Villa (Old Japan Building), and ZhiQiang Night Market.

13/5
Hualien - HuaDong (Eastern Part of HuaLien, Day Trip)
- Rent car to the most beautiful Uni in Taiwan, DongHua Uni, FuXing Sugar Mill (Old community), LinTianSan Village (old community), FengLin (Hakka Village), YanLou (Tabbaco mill and field).

14/5
HuaLien - Taipei
- Check in to Travel 365 @ XiMenDing studio unit and wonder around.
- Go to WuFenPu (the wholesale city) in the night time.

15/5
Taipei (Day Trip)
- Rent car to go YeLie National Park. JinGuaShi Village and Falls, JiuFen Mountain Village and ShiFen Village for old railway and lantern.
- Drop in ShiLin Night market for dinner.

16/5
Taipei (Day Trip)
- DanShui old street and view, ChengPin BookStore (Yes book is important in my trip)

17/5
Taipei
- Touch and go all the famous shopping mall in Taipei.

18/5
- GuoFu Memory Hall and Museum.
- Back to XiMenDing for luggage and depart to airport by 7pm

19/5
TAIPEI - KUL

=================

I don't remember how many i spent in the whole trip but and my original budget plan is RM4000 / person including everything (air tix, train tix, accommodation, eat and play, exclude own shopping spending).

But i only spend like RM3500 in the end, including shopping.

Well i always mark up budget so i will be happier whenever i found money left in the end of the trip.

I consider 3.5k is the worth, consider on we rent car + driver for 3 days, and a return high speed rail ticket, not to forget i brought back 8 books which cost me only RM300!

If you think i'm crazy, Elaine brought back more than 10 books, and all bout IT.

Alright so next post will be the guest house review in Hualien.

Hope I will get back soon.







Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
20140828, 1124am
Rach in goin to work soon mood.  

Thailand: Koh Tao - Island Hopping and Koh Nang Yuan.

On my previous post of the review on Toscana Hotel, that is mostly negative, and the only positive thing that i could recall on is the private island hopping tour. 

That's small group (max 12) and for hotel guest only tour, that's what we're looking for although they charge 1050bath / person, including lunch on boat and water (we found other agency offer 800 to 1000/person, but that is big group), so we decided to take the tour. 

We gathered in the hotel lobby by 930am in the morning, and departed to the pier by hotel car together with another 4 hotel guest from Thai. 

Weather was good in the beginning but turn cloudy after lunch time. 

We had our own boat, very comfortable for only 8 of us (6 guests + 2 staffs). Despite the current was strong, the 3 snorkeling points has crystal clear water and all of us enjoyed very much.

Lunch was fried rice, curry chicken, vege soup and fruits, of course unlimited drinking water supply. Food tasted just nice and so grateful to had hot soup after snorkeling (the staff boil the soup on the boat). 

and i called it Gugu rock LOL

perfect weather

arhhhhh

short clip on the surrounding.

on of the snorkeling point. 

this is another one and less tourist. 

our Thai travelmates.

shocked when saw a school of fishes, never seen so close and that much before. 

love the jewelry alike coral 

that's our boat. 

short clip on what we saw under the sea, i was trying to swim ahead John hahahahah 

lunch was good. 

oh did i mentioned hot tea is unlimited too?

So weather turned to grumpy after our lunch, but that's alright because we went to all the snorkeling point and going to Koh Nang Yuan after lunch.

Koh Nang Yuan is a very small island on the top left of Koh Tao when you see it from the map. That's beautiful island where you can climb to the peak and look over the whole island and even Koh Tao.

But we didn't take the trail because it was cloudy and all we wish to do is lay on the beach with fresh coconut juice.

So we stop by the island for 2 and half hours, our boat will come back and pick us up in the pier.

For foreigner, we gonna pay 100bath for admission, not sure how much for local, and that is not including in the tour package.  

weather is grumpy after lunch.

the pier of Koh Nang yuan.

oh yea there is only resort in the island, so if you wish you can stay there instead of Koh Tao. 

colorful long tails. 

wooden bridge along the pier to island

crystal clear water. 

protect the island from rubbish. 

this is the famous long beach connect to the mountain.

we got a drink and relax on this beach, heaven. 

lastly, us. 

So you might ask, what if you don't wanna take the whole day island hopping but go to Koh Nang Yuan directly?

Plenty of travel agency for boat ticket in Koh Tao, alternatively you can buy your ticket in Koh Tao pier, and of course, you can decide how long you wanna stay in Koh Nang Yuan.

Alright next post will be Suratthani, a quick one last post before we move to Taiwan post! Finally!










Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
20140801, 1117am
Rach in don't wanna go to work mood.

Thailand: Koh Tao - Toscana Hotel Review

Long await post i know! Just got back from Tokyo + Okinawa trip 3 days ago and i got no mood to blog because its Raya holiday! 

Alright so i have Taiwan, probably 2 locals retreat reviews, Thailand and Japan trips to be blog and i'm 1 & half year delay muahhahahahahahaha.

Ok where we stayed in Koh Tao, the diving heaven? 

I dislike somewhere crowed so i have chosen the bay where less popular, which is Chalok Bay. 

So after researching and i decided to go for Toscana Hotel, where not exactly in Chalok Bay but very close to it. 

And that choice turned out to be my biggest regret in the whole trip.

Don't get me wrong, the hotel itself is okay, but the information posted in Agoda and hotel's homepage are misleading.

I will go into detail after the review of the hotel condition and facilities. 

Again, my priority in choosing a hotel is big bright room + low density.

Toscana has fulfill my requirement. 

But the club just across the road didn't. 

The club right in the opposite named The Castle, and having party couple of nights in every month, so the first day we stayed in also the first night of the month they had the whole night party, very loud disco music and that disturbed our sleeping, the rest of the nights are just fine, quiet and comfortable. 

Alright lets scroll down for some picha. 

Hotel signboard by the road side and you won't missed it. 

the outdoor breakfast area and you can see the club is just stone throwing distance. 

mini bar in the night time.

the lobby on the left and bar on the right

only 2 levels and we got the room on the 1st floor 

Toscana only has less than 30 rooms, and a small but refreshing pool which look over some mountain. 

nice to swim in the evening. 

great place to chill  if you don't like the noisy bar in the front.  

I love the design of the hotel, and this is one of the biggest reason to made me choose Toscana. 

I didn't try the food here after reading all the review from Agoda and trip adviser that breakfast is simple and pricy, while lunch / dinner taste awful and pricy. 

Alright lets see some photo of the room. 

right size bed and nice old piece of cupboard. 

water pressure is acceptable but wasn't the best.

love the balcony the most although less privacy. 

and yea i know picha of the room cant present the whole thing, so i got a short clip.

if you see a huge-black-human-look-alike thing in 0:32, that is John.
And you didn't see him in 0:34, because he has been chased away by me hahahahaha.

Overall, bedroom is good, clean and spacious, worth the penny we had paid for. 

But still, i wouldn't recommend this hotel, because of the location and dishonest of the management. 

The first reason to not stay in Toscana: The hotel provided false location and misleading information. 

Location is my 3rd priority of choosing a hotel room.

I dislike tourist area yet the place has to be convenience enough for eat and attraction visit. 

But, Toscana in actually located in the middle of no where, which is totally different with what stated in the homepage and hotel booking website, even Google Map. 

So Sai Ree Beach (blue circle) is the main tourist area.

Mae Haad Bay Pier (red circle) is where the boats stop and depart.

Chalok Ban Kao Bay (red circle) is where the place we wanna stay (or we thought we will stay).

Black circle is where the homepage stated the locations they were. 

and the Yellow circle is where the hotel really were!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

= Toscana . is . in . the . middle . of . no . where. 

and they said they are 5 minutes walking to Chalok Ban Kao and 3 minutes to the nearest 7-11......

John and I weren't fit but average (Do consider we have been taking the Everest Based Camp trail), but it still took us 15 minutes to walk to Chalok Bay, and 15 minutes to Mae Haad bay pier, aka the nearest street with shops from Toscana.  

right of the hotel to the Chalok Bay = nothing on the roadside, not even small shop for food and drinks.

left of the hotel to the pier, only local houses along the road. 

On the 2nd days, we forced to rent a ATV with 1500bath / days because we couldn't go anywhere without transport. 

You may ask what about Tuk-Tuk, taxi, motorbike?

* No tuk tuk in the island, at all.
* Taxi driver asked 200bath from hotel to Chalok Bay, which is only 5 minutes driving distance.
* We have very limited motorbike riding experience (and hell yea we don't even have a license LOL) and the road / traffic condition wasn't safe for newbies.

So we just have to paid for ATV to visit the other part of the island and bring us to food place. 

Alright, reason 2 to not stay in Toscana is dishonest of the management. 

I made double confirm to the hotel for free pick up in the pier, but when we reached the island, no one from Toscana is there for us. 

Taxi drivers approached and offered the ride to the hotel, i insisted to wait for a while but the sun was killing us, so we paid for 200bath (we thought it was alright because the hotel SEEMS far from the false location) to the hotel and only find out the ride ended in 5 minutes, and no smell of sea at all. 

So the first thing i asked to the manager is why no pick up, he said because the car is in use, but later only i realize their car is in front of their hotel (we saw the car in the day we check in but wasn't sure it was their car, until i saw some staff hop on the car for picking up customer in the pier). 

Bullshit. 

He is just a manager so he cant decide on paid us the taxi fare, but he made his promise to give us the free ride to the pier on our departure, and he did.

I took the offer because i don't want to ruin my holiday mood. 

But shit keep coming back to us. 

I let the hotel to help us  to buy the boat ticket to Suratthani in the very first day that we arrived, the same manager promised to get us the ticket in the next day, but he never did.

He only gave us in the last night aka the 3rd night we stayed with them, and told us no more express ticket, only combine boat ticket. 

That took us good fine 6 hours to reach Suratthani, because the boat stopped in Phangan and Samui to pick up passengers and changed bigger boat before back to Suratthani. 

And the best thing is the boat is overload, more than 30 peoples has to sit on the deck with cold wind chill and RAIN. 

I felt like refugee who escaping from war place, really. 

If we took express boat, we could just skip all the other island and back to Suratthani straight from Koh Tao. 

Oh, did i told you the motherf*cker charged us 650bath each for the ticket, while the pier counter is selling at 500bath?

I'm leaving you to judge to stay in this hotel or not.

here is the website: http://kohtaotoscana.com/

More review on the Agoda or trip adviser. 

I mean, if you can ride a motorbike and you book your own ticket, i cant deny, based on the facilities and condition of the hotel itself, this is a pass level hotel.

But for me, i will never ever go back to this hotel. 

I'll give a hotel a second chance if facilities are disappointing in the first experience, but i will never forgive the dishonest from the management, because you choose to upset your customers who trusted you.    

Alright next post will be island hopping of the trip, and that is probably the end post of the trip, and started Taiwan trip! Yuhoo!







Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
20140728, 1121pm
Rach in stomach pain mood.

Thailand: Koh Tao: Sairee Beach and Golden 99 Buffet Restaurant Review

Quick one for Koh Tao, the island with most dive sides in Thailand. 

So if you're wondering how to go Koh Tao from Koh Samui, click me and scroll down a little to see the balded wording. 

So John and I stayed for 4d3n because he wanted to go diving (you cant fly 24 hours after you dive). 

As usual, we avoided the most happening area and for the first time in my life i was regretted on my hotel choice because it was in middle of no where (and that is because of wrong location showed in the map and mislead my judge), anyway i will keep that for next hotel review post. 

Quick look on the island. 

grab from internet.

Not up to the level of Phuket but close to Samui, so you can expect a leisure village island. 

The most happening area is Sairee Beach (refer to the map), you can find everything in that village and of course a nice beautiful but crowed beach, with heaps of beach side pub/restaurant/bar for amazing sunset view that i will show you some pix later on. 

This is not a small island but take hours to walk from north to south, so you can either rent a bike / bicycle or ATV like below. 

i didn't ride this blue monster even once, i felt unsafe. But John had great fun riding this to goes around the island. 

John and I doesn't have any motorbike license *but no one care in Thai, and we have very little experience of riding a bike in villages, so we decided to get an ATV.

Well, the fact is John eyed and couldn't move his eye from the ATV since the day he reached, because this is the first time he saw ATV for rent in Thailand, he rather give up diving but wanted to rent one.

So we got one, 24 hours rent for 1500bath, you don't need to show your license but you have to deposit your passport, and get it back when you return the ATV.

oh by the way...

they sell gasoline in bottle, just like Bali. 

And i cant deny that ATV brought we so much convenience in moving around in the island, because the location of our hotel is suck, totally nothing around, the nearest shop is 15 minutes walking distance which you possible kill John.

So our schedule as below:
1st day: Reached Koh Tao by 4pm and check in hotel.
2nd day: Snorkeling and Island hoping to Koh Nang Yuan
3rd day: Round the island with ATV (well this suppose to his diving day!)
4th day: Pack and left to Surathani.

Lets move on to the sunset view in Sairee beach!

we reached pretty early but its alright, we enjoyed our evening cocktail while waiting the sun goes down.

great weather after storm in the noon time

argggg... great enjoyment.

you cant believe until you see this. 

we didn't see the sunset but God is given this beautiful clouds for us. 

great evening.

glimpse on the night life in Sairee beach.

and of course the walking street that full with street food, restaurant, dive shop and etc.

=========================================================

Alright, review on the fave restaurant of us in the island, Golden 99 Buffet, which located between the main pier and chalok bay, you won't miss it if you take the main road. 

As the name of the restuarant, its MoGaTa (Thai BBQ Buffet) restaurant, and its only 99bath / person (as in March 2013).

2 pits for BBQ and steamboat

lots of yummy and fresh prepare ready-to-eat food

you will never believe you get so much choice of food by only paying 99bath.

Alright next will be hotel review, stayed tune to know more!

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

20140623, 1103pm
Rach in gastric pain mood.

Thailand: Koh Samui - Suanmali Samui Review

Lamai Beach is another happening area of Samui after Chaweng, so you can find all ranges of accommodation in this place. 

Samui wasn't our destination but a transfer point to Koh Toa, so we chose Lamai Beach and aimed a budget one night stay. 

Suanmali, the small family run hotel was our choice, and that was a good choice.  

To save your time, play the clip below for glimpse of the room, if you like it, click here for more information or booking. 

                                        

Why i like Suanmali Samui?

1. Small, so less noise in the hotel and higher chance to know new friends.

2. Clean. You can expect a clean, bright room like 5* hotel. 

3. Convenience. Close to everything you need. 1 to 3 minutes on foot to main street (you can get anything you need), 5 minutes to beach, 5 minutes to night market.

4. Cheap. RM 100 / night is real great deal.  (as in March 2013)

But, you might concert that....

1. No sea view. Its located in an alley of the main street. Far from noise yet close to everything.

2. Small pool. And deep / not kid friendly. 

3. No in-house restaurant but only a bar for snack and drink.

4. No tour / ticket booking service (but tour organizer is just 50 steps away)

Below are some snap shots for your reference. 

the main entrance.

small and deep pool

first floor room view.

bar that selling drink and snack only

2nd floor view from the stair case. Share patio.

our room and i love the door before i go into the room.

medium size bed but comfortable enough. Spacious room. 

from the opposite view.

big toilet + bathroom. 

2 doors to the bathrooms

basin outside of the bathrooms

view outside. No sea view, but thanks God its received enough sunlight.

taken from the entrance of the hotel, this is the distance walk to the main street. 

in the entrance of the alley, family mar is another 20 steps aways.

view of the right hand side, the busiest street of Lamai. 

 Alright i gtg! next will be Koh tao and i will come back quick!










Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
20140518, 0945pm
Rach in stomach pain mood.