Forever 28~

This is my second time I fly to Manila from Kuala Lumpur. Perhaps many of you will think AirAsia flies to Manila, but that is not true. For now, AirAsia only flies to Clark and it is about one hour journey by car to Manila. So, I choose to fly with Cebu Pacific Airline from Kuala Lumpur to Manila.

You have to go to Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) to take Cebu Pacific flights and arrive at Terminal 3, Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). Usually it is not so crowded in the queue compare with AirAsia flights. Cebu Pacific Airline is the largest local airline in The Philippines. You can see from their website to know their coverage in The Philippines. During promotion period, you can get very affordable tickets fly to your dream destinations. I spent about RM 400 for Kuala Lumpur – Manila return flight this time.

One thing I like about Cebu Pacific is their flight always very punctual. So far, I never encountered any flight delay. I hope they can continue with this good job because flight delay is really annoying.

This is the second time I stay in Hotel Desaria, and I booked the hotel from Agoda website for both times. It is a budget hotel with clean environment. I’ve stayed in a few budget hotels for short trip and I found a few advantage for this hotel:

• Affordable (RM 65 per night for double room, RM49 for single)
• Cleanliness
• Equipped with proper furniture like chair, spacious toilet, comes with towel, coffee making facilities, LCD TV with selected paid channels (StarMovies, ESPN, Pheonix, Macau Lotus)
• Helpful staff
• High-speed wifi connection, FREE!

Disadvantage:

• The location is quite apart and lack of public transport.
• The bed is not so comfortable.

But overall I am quite satisfied with this hotel. That’s why I come for second stay:)

(pictures from agoda)

The Malaysian of Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) organizes two times of fair in a year, we usually named it as MATTA Fair. This year, the first MATTA fair in Klang Valley is on 11-13 March. I plan to visit to the Philippines, Phuket, and maybe Melbourne in this year, so I went to MATTA fair on Saturday.

As usual, you need to pay for RM3 for the entrance fees and you will get a bag and MATTA fair newspaper. But most of the contents are just advertisement. We went to PWTC about 11am and there are already very crowded. Since I plan to visit oversea, hence I skipped the local tourist package hall.

There are a lot of exhibitors fighting for customers. Honestly, if I go to places like Phuket, Bangkok, Krabi, Bali, or South-East Asia countries, I would prefer to arrange my own schedule and look for the hotel deals from the internet. I don’t think the free and easy packages offered by the exhibitors are impressive. However, there are a lot of good deals if you plan to go to Korea or China.
At the end, I didn’t buy any package from the Matta Fair. But, I get a lot of information booklet or pamphlets from Australia, the Philippines, and Thailand Tourism Department. These are very helpful for me to plan for my trip!

If you are not from Klang Valley and missed the MATTA Fair in PWTC, you can probably look for the upcoming MATTA fair 2011 in other states:

1. MATTA Fair Johor 2011
Date : Mar 25 - 27 2011
Venue : Ground Floor, Danga City Mall

2. MALAYSIA TOURISM EXCHANGE 2011 (MTEX 2011)
Date : May 22 - 25 2011
Venue : Mahsuri International Exhibition & Convention Centre

3. MATTA Fair Negeri Sembilan 2011
Date : Jul 8 - 10 2011
Venue : Terminal 1 Shopping Centre

4. MATTA Fair Penang 2011
Date : Jul 22 - 24 2011
Venue : Penang International Sports Arena (PISA)

5. MATTA Fair Melaka 2011
Date : Jul 29 - 31 2011
Venue : Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall

6. MATTA Fair Sabah 2011
Date : Aug 20 - 22 2011
Venue : Suria Sabah

7. MATTA Fair Kuala Lumpur Sept 2011
Date : Sep 9 - 11 2011
Venue : Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC)

8. MATTA Fair Perak Sept 2011
Date : Sep 16 - 18 2011
Venue : Stadium Indera Mulia

I went to Penang to meet my friends during this Chinese New Year. Hence, he brought us around Penang for food and sightseeing. One of the places that he brought us to go is Khoo Kongsi which is located in Georgetown. The entrance is at an alley, quite unnotceable. If you are not familiar then you might need time to find the entrance.

The entrance fee for Khoo Kongsi has increased from RM5 to RM10 in just half-year time. The fees included two postcards and one entrance stickers. Honestly, I don’t think it is worth for the amoung that we paid (especially for local). But, if you appreciated arts, clanhouse and the history, then maybe you can visit to this place. Of course, if you are from Khoo (邱) family, then perhaps you should visit there to know how the Khoo family travelled to Malaysia in many years ago.

We took about 20 minutes in this area. I don’t see many foreigners visiting the place as well. Usually they like this kind of cultural places in Malaysia. So, worth it or not, you have to see it on your own.

Universal Studio Singapore is a movie theme park located at Resort World Sentosa, Singapore. It is the first Universal Studio Theme Park in Southeast Asia, and the second in Asia after Japan. When the time I were there in September 2010, there are certain areas are still under construction. However, it is still worth to visit!

I went to Universal Studio Singapore during weekend, so the ticket price is $72 but the ticket attached with $5 food voucher and $5 mechanize voucher. If your visit is during weekend, then you only need to pay $66. The advantages for visiting Universal Studio during weekdays are, discounted ticket price and less crowded. But of cause, most of us are working during weekdays.

I went in to Universal Studio about 1130am and it is not so crowded yet. Hence, I could snap photos with those cartoon characters. They only appear at certain time, so you have to grab your chance to snap photo with them.

There are few shows that cannot be missed. Firstly is the Shrek 4D movie. It is located at “Far far away” section. Also not forgetting the interactive show in Donkey Live, it brings a lot of fun and joy to enlighten your day. Secondly is the WaterWorld stunt show at The Lost World. It is a live show where you can see a lot of movie stunt. Do check the show time so that you won’t miss it. The one that I like the most is Lights, Camera, Action: Hosted by Steven Spielberg located at “New York”. This is premiering in the Singapore and you can see a lot of special effects that appear in the movies! I can say this is a must go spot in Universal Studio Singapore.

I am not fancy with rides so I have no comments to their rides. But I can see people are lining up to take the ride in the late afternoon. And I returned again at night about 8pm for the fireworks. The fireworks is nothing to shout about, you can skip this if you are tired after a daylong trip.

As a conclusion, I am very happy with this visit to Universal Studio Singapore. It is really a nice theme park to visit in Southeast Asia!