In the spirit of cuti-cuti Malaysia, Suan organized another trip to Chamang Waterfall (N03° 30.56′ E101° 51.47′) near Bentong (plus the Elephant Sanctuary and Deer Park) just a little over a week ago on Labor Day. Nine of us noobs participated in this awesome trip, the participants were Suan, Sammy, Dree, Tock, ST, Kim, Rachel, Kerol, and of course, yours truly. For the other reports, check the posts here, here, here, and here.

1. Look ma, it wasn’t me!
2. last camwhoring session before driving
3. Suanie’s car leading the way

We had a pretty decent dimsum breakfast meal near my house and then started our journey towards Pahang. Our first destination, the Chamang Waterfalls. We arrived in less than 2 hours of driving. Unlike the Chiling Falls we went whereby a 1.5 hour trekking is needed, at Chamang Falls, the car park is situated right beside the river. It took only a few minutes to walk to our “camp site” near the main fall.

1. Kim with really long arms
2. setting up our pad by the waterfall
3. my zen moment
4. ze noobs minus tock the cameraman

We had loads of fun there, the weather was hot but the water was super cold. We eventually found a way to swim and climb up to a somewhat dry platform just below the main fall (see my zen moment photo) and hanged out there for a bit.

1. crossing the lucky suspension bridge
2. what do you want me to do, suan?
3. who said you can’t swim and smoke?

Dree, the dude who can swim and smoke, even bought a portable stove and made coffee! Cold water, warm coffee, great view, even better company, it was awesome.

1. the two baby elephants
2. the super exaggerated Rachel
3. hello giant baby!
4. Sammy was a bit shy with the elephants

We had to leave the waterfall by around noon as we hoped to get to the Elephant Sanctuary in time to register for the free elephant rides (valid only for some 100 people daily). Though we did arrive there before 1pm, the list was all full as the sanctuary was packed with visitors on this Labor day.

1. tock tock setting up the camera
2. ze group, look at how tock was hugging the pillar
3. haaaaaaaaaa! my superpower!

We played with the two baby elephants a bit. They were very playful and still had trouble controlling their trunks and it was very cute. The sanctuary is also a home for many adult elephants, but they are placed on a fenced up area. We hang around the place for a bit, took a few silly pictures, had some ice creams and cold drinks under the hot sun, then proceed to yet another destination - the Deer Park.

1. Kerol & Suan looking as Sammy feeds the deer
2. Kim posing with the ostrich
3. don’t they look alike? ST & the hedgehog
4. Suan again so interested in Dree and the sugar glider

The entrance fee for Deer Park was RM 5 per person, and it was totally worth it. The place is more like a petting zoo than a mere sanctuary for deers. We fed the deers with sweet potato, the ostriches with some leaves, had our hands on the spiky (but not sharp) hedgehog, and the very shy (and shivering) sugar glider. Of course, there’s the sun bear with extremely small wiener! It was a very fun place.

1. ze small wiener!
2. Dree feeding the big sun bear

We actually headed to the Chamang Falls again after that and had a second session of sun, water, and swim. By the time we got back at PJ it was already dinner time. We had garlic fish and some other dishes at Lucky Loke nearby my house and called it a day after that. It was an excellent trip, we should do this more often!

Tags:  bentong,  chamang,  deer,  elephant,  holiday,  kuala gandah,  pahang,  trip,  waterfall

Posted by KY | 27 Comments »

How was your Labor Day holiday? A bunch of noobs and I went to Chamang falls, the Elephant sanctuary, and the deer park in Pahang on a tiring but very fulfilling day trip. Allow me to present you this awesome picture from yesterday.

Sun Bear has a really tiny one!

This was taken at the Deer Park, a place where you can pet and feed deers, ostriches, play with rabbits, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, and even bears. The trainer made this Sun Bear lay down on his back and fed him with some keropok. I can’t help but notice how small a wiener he has! Just slightly bigger than an elevator button!

No wonder sun bear penis and balls aren’t considered aphrodisiac by Chinese.

I shall post a detailed report about the trip soon. Cuti cuti Malaysia.

Tags:  bear,  cute,  funny,  penis,  photo,  sun bear,  trip,  weiner

Posted by KY | 39 Comments »

It is a known fact that tourists are often treated as fresh meat in just about any country. Taxi drivers will try to charge you more, you pay more at pasar malam, and even some restaurants will have 2 different menus, one for the locals, another for foreigners. This is a story on how we got conned at Patpong, the red light district of Bangkok.

So after a long day chilling around the city, the three of us (including Terence & Dree) decided that a visit to Thailand is never complete without going to Patpong. We boarded the train and headed to the station nearest to the red light district.

all these go-go clubs and ping pong bars

The place has more flashy neons and interesting sign boards than the whole of downtown KL. Thai girl, Thai boy, lady boy, go-go bars, you name it, they have it. There is also a lot of street stores selling “I love Bangkok” T-shirts and imitation Bell & Ross watches. As we were walking along the shops, we were ushered by many pimps asking if we wanted girls, beer, ping pong shows, etc. We kept rejecting them.

look at the 2 guys in black and yellow shirts, dodgy?

And then one particular pimp told us “You wan watch ping pong show? 1 minute no pay, you no like you go, free. If you like, just stay and buy drinks. 200 baht per beer, that’s all!” (10 baht is roughly 1 Malaysian Ringgit)

Wanting to experience everything Bangkok has to offer (sans the STD activities), we reluctantly said yes. The guy then led us to a bar a level on top of the popular shops/restaurants/bars.

We sensed something wrong as we went in, there were no customer in that place. A group of not-so-great looking girls were on the stage, dancing half naked, trying to be seductive but failing miserably.

We ordered our drinks, 2 beers and a coke, and then the show started. A chunky lady stripped and started shooting darts on balloons. It was done in such mechanical precision and ease, dart in hole, squeeze, dart flies, pops balloon. I was as impressed as worried about her aiming as we were only a couple meters away from the stage.

ping pong balls love Terence

Then came the ping pong show, same thing: ping pong in the hole, squeeze, ping pong flying at Terence. Poor guy had to swat away all the incoming missiles lest having them landing on his face. It was a lot more scary than funny, I kid you not.

In between, the girls kept cajoling us to buy them drinks, 100 baht per coke. We kept saying no, but goddamn dree finally agreed to one coke per girl after the shemale kept pestering him, dude is weak. He didn’t even realize that was 100 baht x 10 girls!

Only 10 minutes into the whole thing, we decided to make a move and called for the bill. It was 3,900 baht!!!

We were like WTF, and started arguing with the lady boss (who was as big as Terence) saying the other guy told us it was 200 bath per beer and the show is free. She said she didn’t know who that was, and this is her bar. I put down a 1,000 baht bill and prepared to walk away, but our good friend dree kept saying “dude just pay just pay I’ll pay you guys back” in a very emo and worried voice. We kept arguing for a bit and decided to give them 3,000 baht as there were about 10 of them surrounding us already..

1,000 baht per person for a lesson to be smarter tourists. Lucky I didn’t have to touch any ping pong ball.

Tags:  bangkok,  conned,  patpong,  ping pong show,  Thailand,  tourists

Posted by KY | 40 Comments »

The long overdue pictures from Bangkok is here, the Black and White series anyway. I still have some architectural photos (mainly temples) yet to be processed, and of course that juicy story from red light district and the other food hunts around the city. But anyway, here is my very small contribution to the world of photography.

The photostream at flickr is here.

showmanship

I was walking around taking photographs, and suddenly this ice cream seller started performing for me. He scoop up the ice cream, threw it up about 20 feet and drop it on the cup. This was his victory pose after performing his trick. It was a shame I did not manage to capture that in action, but at least we have this pose.

taxi stand

Tuk-tuk, the three wheeler “taxis” are omnipresence everywhere in the city. You can catch a short ride for as low as 20 baht. However, do be careful as some of them do conspire with shops in an attempt to con unsuspecting customers. The normal taxis, on the other hand, are very reliable and honest in Bangkok.

the line up

This photo is taken at the famous 4 faced Buddha statue (Thao Maha Brahma). It is said that many Hong Kong celebrities pay their respect at this place yearly.

the crowd, chatuchak weekend market

Chatuchak weekend market is a congregation of over 6000 stalls selling anything from bacon stick to foot massages to pet rabbits. The place is packed with bargain hunters and clueless tourists alike.

divers at chow praya river

These kids at chow praya river make a living by fetching and reselling animals released to the river. Here they are just warming up to start the day. It is a common practice for pilgrims to release animals to the wild. (for good karma?)

ringtone

A baby girl guided by her father to ring the bell at the temple, probably for the first time in her life.

guards - emerald Buddha temple

The guards at Emerald Buddha temple reminds me of those Buckingham Palace guards. They were completely stationary with only movements on their eyeballs. Respect.

fat boy supper

Day or night, you can find hawker stalls by every roadside. Bangkok is the city very favorable to food hunters like me, I just wish I had a bigger stomach.

Tags:  b&w,  bangkok,  black-and-white,  canon,  monochrome,  Photography,  streets

Posted by KY | 24 Comments »

The streets of Bangkok is dotted with many hawkers selling all sorts of food for those with an appetite for adventure. While noodles and rice dishes are mainly found in food courts and small restaurants, many hawkers offer bite size snacks at road side. From the more mainstream sausages to cold drinks to fried insects, you can find virtually anything.

Bacon Stick for 20 baht each

I noticed that many snacks choices consist of pork. There are pork sausage, bacon sticks, grilled fried pork, deep fried pork skin, roasted pork, ah, it was good for the pork lovers, maybe not exactly so great for health, however.

My favorite would be the bacon stick we had at the Chatuchak weekend market. For 20 baht (around RM2), you get mini sausages wrapped with bacon on a skewer. The union of sausage and bacon was a match made in heaven as the juice and slight saltiness from bacon compliments the texture and taste of the sausage oh so well. You have to try this if you manage to find the stall!

grilled pork strips on a ring

Grilled pork strips on bamboo string is a pretty common snack that can be found at many places. The meat is marinated and carries a pretty salty taste, while pretty good, eating too much of these will make you very thirsty.

deep fried pork skin

Another sinful snack would be this little bowls of deep fried pork skin that goes for 10 baht that we found at Chatuchak. These are very crispy and goes well with a little bit of Thai chili sauce. Now imagine having this with a cold beer watching your favorite football teams on a big LCD TV, with the air-cond full blast, and maybe a hot chick dancing on the side…

roasted pork (siu yok)

Roasted pork isn’t usually served on rice over here, you just have it as snacks to munch while walking around the weekend market. I guess we deserved it since we were getting enough exercise from walking under the searing hot April weather in Bangkok anyway, right?

colorful Popsicles

Then there’s the Popsicle stalls. The popsicles are actually made on location, usually with bottled fruit juice poured into a metal mold. A wooden stick is added as the handle. The mold is placed in a contraption consisting two parts, a top with little holes to hold the molds, and the bottom container filled with dried ice.

The seller often stirs the top part of the popsicle maker attempting to freeze the products faster. A stick costs something like 5 baht, and they were perfect for the weather.

fried mini banana (including the skin)

Other than the meat items, I also tried this curious little deep fried banana Terence bought. It was basically some species of mini banana sliced down in the middle, deep fried. While they look rather uninspiring, these things were actually very sweet and rather tasty. It is similar with our own “pisang goreng”, but sweeter and more concentrated.

Of course I enjoy every bit!

You can do a fair share of walking and eating in this city. Next up would be the various type of meals I had to sit down to eat. Stay tuned!

Tags:  bacon,  banana,  bangkok,  bite,  dining,  food,  fried,  ice cream,  pork,  streets

Posted by KY | 32 Comments »