Gunung Ledang (Mt Ophir)

it's been so long since i've blogged! but anyways, here's a day trip i did last saturday, 10th June.

Gunung Ledang, more commonly known as Mt Ophir, 1,276m (4,186ft) high. located further in JB, about a 2.5hr drive from sg checkpoint.

Backpacking CHINAAAA

China in 9 days.
8th Jun - 17th June.

Sg - GuangZhou - ZhangJiaJie - Xi'an - Beijing - Sg

4 mountains + 1 wall
Expenditure (actually quite proud of it, minus the flight tickets)

ahhas. its my first time really backpacking. like booking flight/train tickets 3 days prior to departure, and booking hostels the day before. hahas. i like.

just the 2 of us. gc and i. it all started from a club tour to ShangHai for a Touch Tournament when we discovered we had pretty much similarities in common (other than height), like eating habits, like adventurous stuff but alittle scared of water stuff.. hence we randomly decided to "let's travel together one day" and we really did! hahas. we began to discover more about our uncanny similarities during this trip.

the funny thing is, we've never really had a meal together in Singapore before nor hang out. we're not really close friends though it has almost been 5 yrs being in the same Touch club together. hahas. the first day at the airport, we decided to go to Coffeebean and chill. we're both probably thinking that we'll each go purchase a cup of whatever. hahahs. then the moment i saw gc coming back with the free cup of fresh milk, topped with chocolate powder and with the flat straw, i was like... omg. ahahhaas. coz that's exactly what i usually do when i go to coffeebean.

okok. enough of us.
here's a vid i compiled to summarize the trip!
(haha some parts of the music is gone though..)

i'll try to document as much details as possible so if anyone should be interested in getting to these places, there could be some useful information here. but it wont be everything, if not it'd be too long. also, really want to thank God that despite the supposedly tight unplanned schedule we had, everything seemed to fall into place so perfectly in timing and we're pretty well rested and not overly strained. ;) so here it goessss..

Pre-trip bookings
to be a cost-efficient bagpacker, we can't be overly adventurous by booking the stuff that we need just at the time in need coz there's a risk of unavailability and the price would be relatively ex since we wont have much choices available.

big tip prior to visiting China: u can't serve google, facebook, instagram or even gmail stuff coz the country bans it. so, before going to China, download a free VPN app that blocks the dunno what so u'll still be able to serve ur usual stuff and be socially attached. ahhhas. yea. i d/l it coz i think google is a life-saver especially when we dont have firmed up plans or bookings. u wont be able to access google store when u're overthere unless u're like some computer hack genius which i'm not. hahas

haha. however having said that, we booked a Tiger flight, only 3 days before gg to Guangzhou for $192 coz by then, that's the cheapest way to get to China. we had to book a return flight as well otherwise we needed to get visas. so, 1 day b4 departure, we randomly decided on Beijing coz it sounds familiar and the cheapest was Malaysian Airlines (considering how late we booked the flight) at $457, with a stop over at KL. we also booked a night train $76 hard sleeper 17-hr night train from Guangzhou to Zhang Jia Jie because we wanted to go see the really nice mountains, aka the scenes from Avatar (though i've not watched the movie. haha) we had to book this earlier coz we read that train tickets  usually get sold out 1 wk before ur departure. this was true indeed coz as we were still deciding on where/how to go, some of the timings we initially wanted were fully booked. there's the more atas bed of soft sleeper which was significantly more ex. or the super budget one which was just a seat. trust me, no way u wanna be in a sitting position for 17hrs. hahas. also, we didn't book the bullet train one coz it costs twice as much.

also other than the Avatar mountains, one of the main purpose of traveling to China was Huashan. saw some photos by SunriseOdyssey and really wanted to go China.


Day 1 - SG to GuangZhou

6am flight from sg to gz took about 4 hrs. we didn't have a plan at all. didn't know where to go / stay or what to do. we had a few aims, but not firmed ones. but first, we settled for some nice warm meals at the airport. relatively ex, but the nice meal cost us about $4 each. first thing, we needed a map and wifi. gz has airport has that. and the place we had our meal had powerbank rental for 100yuan deposit and fully claimable after u're done using. :D we spent about 2hrs booking our hostel, deciding where to go / what to do and how to get to where we wanna go. 

since we've booked our train tickets, we decided to go pick it up. yea, u need to manually pick the ticket up. u can do so just before the train ride, but it may be super crowded until u might even miss ur train. and furthermore, we wanted to be more familiar with the place coz we didnt have much time to get lost if we were to take the train after our plan to climb Baiyunshan since we have no knowledge of the routes/ distance travel times and so on. 

so after asking around, from the airport, there's a 18yuan (currency to sg = divide by 5 = about $3.8) bus to the railway station direct! its about 40mins, would be good to tell the driver where u wanna go so he'd know that u wanna align at the stop. but this was the last stop anyway.

we got our tickets! then we managed to take the train and a 15min walk to our hostel.

our hostel! its about $19 per night. we booked the bunk, 6 in a room. but coz apparently it was full, they upgraded us to the private 2-bed room! haha. :) really nice place. clean. and it makes u feel like u're back in sch actually. hahas. we also managed to plan out the 9 days in China abit, with aims to visit GZ's baiyunshan, ZJJ's nature park, Xi'an's Terracotta army and Huashan.

hahas. the bed too comfortable.

dinner! really nice and yummy. $2 for the whole bowl.

Day 2 - Baiyunshan, GuangZhou

breakfast at the stalls nearby. probably the best breakfast in China coz its nice and not oily like other parts of China. GZ food is lighter and also much cheaper. everything costs us not more than $3 each.

Baiyun shan!

we took a train to the stop that sounded like the mountain, then from there we asked around and took bus 424 for 2yuan (40c pls.) hahas. here's the bus avaliable at the bus stop. 

its feels about like mt faber. just higher, with much mores steeper steps and rain and clouds. its a pretty big park. not too much of a tourist attraction, more likka morng exercise for the ppl of China. entry ticket cost $1. hahas. ya. and another $1 for gg to some parts of the park. 

actually there's alot more other stuff we wanted to explore at Guangzhou, but we didn't have the time or/ it was just too far away to make it back to the night train. 

hahas. we tried to pass off for free entry since we're just about 1.5m thereabout. ahhas. but the counter lady wasn't too excited about giving us free entry. hahas.

at the peak. as usual, crowded.  nice view of GuangZhou.

super nice freshly baked egg tarts.

we walk at a pretty decent speed. the park is really huge, but we managed to cover from the West to East gate in about 4 hrs. 

these are the buses available at the East gate. we initially decided to stop at the most convenient train station then we'd know how to get back to our hostel.  but thank God for sg's mother-tongue 2nd language exam, we knew how to read Chinese stuff ah. not every word, maybe about 30% for me... hahhas. but enough to find out hostel's street name. ahhahas. so we took a direct bus!

we managed to reach our hostel in 30mins!

had sometime to bathe and pack abit before catching our 2106hrs train via the (mrt) train.

GuangZhou to Zhang Jia Jie: 17hrs train ride

quite exciting for me. coz its my first time gonna be sleeping in a train! not too excited tt its 17hrs though. no power socket. power bank died. ipod died. both camera batt also died. as mentioned earlier, its pre-booked online and cost about $76 for hard sleeper.  during our stay in the hostel, we also firmed up some plans. we booked our flight from Zhang Jia Jie to Xian coz we found out that it could be a 20hr train ride (hahas no way) to where we wanna go. 

6 ppl sleep in a column, 3 on each side. its actually quite dirty (if u compare it with the train we took from Xian to Beijing). there's like discarded nuts shells by the side of the bed. hahas. but it was an experience.

since we were early, we managed to collect our  pre-booked train (Xian to Beijing) tickets from the station at an additional cost of 5yuan coz we just wanted to be safe about it. hahas

they sell stuff in the train. like food and snacks. ahhas.. i bought a cup of cup noodles from the convenience store prior to gg to the railway station coz it seemed to be a trend to eat cup noodles while on the train. hahas. so i wanted to try and see how it feels like. hahaas. ok la. same.

Day 3 - Zhang Jia Jie

yays! after 17hrs.... we.finally.reached. it was raining and we didn't know how to get to our hostel. we're hungry coz its alrdy about 4pm when we left the station... so we went to find some food. managed to find a bus station that has a bus to Wu Ling Yuan. that's the place u wanna go it u wanna go the the ZJJ Nature Park. its also the place we booked our hostel. its a famous place and ppl go ZJJ just for this, so its pretty convenient. direct bus to Wu Ling Yuan. careful of the bus drivers... coz there's many ppl hogging and bugging tourist to take their services. actually the legit ones and not legit ones all also looked the same. we asked a security guard but he was unwilling to say anything helpful. so we just followed some china-tourist looking ppl. yup, and we successfully got there. hahas.

almost go lost on foot abit coz we really couldn't fin the hostel since their 1 street contains a few rows of alleys belonging to that 1 street name. hahhas. and the whole area is under renovation.. (see the vid!). i actually asked the hostel staff if there was an earthquake or smth. ahhas. the hostel is great. its $19 for 2 nights. very comfortable. we spent the rest of the day walking around and getting snacks for the next day.  we also had an early night. :)

Day 4 - Zhang Jia Jie Nature Park

ok i wont go into the details of the route to take coz it'd be too long. bascially, the hostel staff were really knowledgeable, so she actually explained the best route to take to see get the most out of 1 day there. she could even tell us the duration and so on. the hostel provided us with map too!

ok, there, they dont provide maps as they have ppl working as freelance tour guide for the park. i have no idea how much it cost to have a tour guide, but we definitely wouldn't want any since we're out to explore and get lost since not all who wander are lost right. hahas.

the ticket cost is about $55 for a 4-day pass. that's the only option. ahhas. 

in addition, we also had to unwillingly pay a $15 ticket to take the elevator down 326 storeys coz we didn't have a choice. it was alrdy about 6.30pm when we finished the stuff we wanted to see, and according to the ppl whom we asked around, it takes 3 hrs to hike down. i mean yea, made sense, since we started our trekking at about 8.30am in the morning.

so yea, we had breakfast first. we purchased breakfast coupons from the hostel the night before since it cost only $3 for buffet. and it was really a good spread. u could even order a bowl noodle soup and so on. too bad i'm not a morng person, really wanted to eat much more. ahhahhhaas. the weather is chill. light rain day in and out.

hahas. china's next top rainwear model.

so many places u'd wanna climb man.

  

the $15 elevator ride. hehs.

2nd cup noodles for the trip. hahas. not bad actually.

Day 5 - Tianmen Shan, ZJJ

our hostel is really located in very convenient place, about 15mins walk to the bus station. today's plan was to visit Tianmen Shan before we take our midnight flight to Xi'an. The famous thing about Tianmen Shan is the glass walking part at cliff (East and West side), the big hole that's part of the mountains, and the 999 steps. it was a Sunday, so it was filled with Tourist. :/ tourists who talked loudly and spat everywhere. really irritated us abit after awhile.

anyway, there's 2 ways of gg up. u either take the cable car up and bus down, or the other way round. most ppl do the cable car up route coz then, the 999 steps would be gg down (instead of up). we got our tickets via our awesome hostel again, at 237yuan ($52), otherwise it would be 245yuan if i rmbr correctly. she chose the cable car up route. 

 

after getting off the bus, we walked to the nearest bus stop and took a public bus to the airport. its like 1yuan (20c?!) for a bus ride to anywhere, whatever the distance. ahhahas. shiok.
but the bus didn't stop right at the entrance of the airport (asking for too much ah) ahhas. so we had to walk about 20mins to the airport. not bad uh, it was the sunset golden hr period. so not too bad.

spot the hole from the airport. hahahs

airport so pretty!

washed up abit and change back to comfortable shoes. lepak at some cafe coz there's a power socket and wifi. hahas. but the bun we bought for sitting rights is horribly ex and rock hard just to wait for our expensive $109-domestic-midnight-1hrplus-fullcarrier-nochoice-flight.

 0145hrs at Xi'an airport. 

we had a few plans, but we'd stick to the budget way of sleep in the airport. nice message non-functional chairs though!

Day 6 - Terracotta Army, Xi'an

Good morning Xi'an. first thing first... find fooood. ahhas. we saw this 38yuan breakfast buffet. $7!!! ahhahs. and its not those anyhow food. its actually legit nicely cooked food. u can even order like bowls of noodles, pau and so on. breakfast is avaliable from 6.30am till 9.30am, till the lunch buffet starts. ahhas. and yup, we stay from the start till about 9.45am. ahahas. coz there was power socket and wifi as well. and the food was nice too, not too heavy and light. 

i rmbr having severe porridge cravings. ahhas. coz ever since the shiok breakfast at guangzhou, i've been wanting to eat porridge. hahaas. we also used the time to plan out the rest of the day's trip. we're contemplating when to do huashan and visit the terracotta army and so on. we haven't got much info on how to get there, what's the opening hrs, what's the duration, how to get there and so on. 

and it was pretty cool that though i'm pretty much an ocd in life in general, i was really chillax and trusted that the no-plan would eventually somehow turn out smth. HAHA. 

saw this illustration of Huashan at one of the tourist shop at the airport.

eventually, we somehow managed to find out that there's a bus to Xian railway station (there's many rail stations btw) where all the buses are there. we really had no clue of what to expect or whether it would take us to where we wanna go, but just go loh. G42, for 25yuan. about an hour journey...

FYI. ahhas.

ice cream first!! ahhas. we wanted to try mac's matcha ice cream in gz but we're too full. ahhahas. so now's a good time. :D

7 yuan bus to the terracotta army area... it also stops at the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum. coz the tickets to the Terracotta Army Museum cost about 150yuan ($30) includes admission to the QSH mausoleum. they used to sell seperately, but now i guess to earn more, they bundle it. we didn't go to the Mausoleum coz we didn't have much time and weren't too excited about visiting a not so nice king's grave. heehee. besides, we also heard that the last bus to huashan is about 6.30pm / 7pm and we dont want to miss it coz if not, we have no idea how to get there.

they have a baggge storage area for free! dont worry, its safe coz its those locker kind where u input ur own passwords. was really surprised that it was foc. hahas. maybe a 1yuan coin would make it sound more legit. ahhahas. but yea. its good.

so. u can google more details about the Terracotta army museum. basically there's 3 pits. pit 1, 2 & 3. with pit 1 being the biggest. when i first got there, i was actually amazed and felt whoaaaas. coz its the actual place. some of them have been reconstructed la, but the feeling is really whoots. its like... back in time. coz mother poon and i watch alot of hk dramas of the ancient times, and i've also watched several documentaries about China's history and also regarding this terracotta army.

hahas. tried to find an alternative way to get to huashan from the terracotta army area, but really cant. ahhas. so we took the 7yuan bus back. there's really alot of buses, so it really helps if u read Chinese. we saw the word 华山 then we knew which bus to take. we're also early. so we went to the grocery shop to get more snacks for the huashan climb tmr. yea, it was then we decided to do huashan the next day. we initially planned for today, but afraid that it'd be too rushed.

the bus ride is is 36yuan ($7) and its about 2hrs long! didnt realized it was that far. hahas. when we reached the area, the bus brought us to this shophouse / inn kinda thing. we thought we're gonna get scammed or smth. ahahhas. but its actually a way for him to attract customers to his inn/convenience store. but not bad la, he was giving a whole lot of information about huashan that is not available via google. just that it was in chinese. ahhas. another listening comprehension test. hahas.

his advice is to climb from 11pm to 4.30am to see the sunrise from the East peak. we're like....... what?! hahas..there's 5 peaks also. we also didn't realize that huashan could be climbed at night. it was about 7pm then, and thats like 4hrs away? ahahas. we haven't bathe since ZJJ, slept at the airpot for the night, and now we're gg to make a summit to East peak at 11pm. hahahas. that's right.

we arrived at our hostel at 7.40pm. sunset seemed later in the summer. we're thinking actally, we didnt have to book the hostel for the night since we're not really sleeping in it. k, the bad thing abt the hostel is that the toilet had shit, no water, and it was actually above a pub where ppl was singing karaoke and the 1 and only avaliable toliet is downstairs. the good thing is we didnt see other guests, ahahs and the staff was really chill about everything. so he wasn't strict about the checking out time and all.  

hahas. at about 9pm, it started to pour. like thunderstorm 打雷闪电 kinda thing. we're pretty dissapointed and not sure if we could do the climb. gc was wearing sport shoes also.. so not sure how slippery the terrain would be. if its light rain, it could clear up.. but that kinda big downpour..... 

at about 10pm, really by God's grace, the rain totally stopped and the all the water on the ground seemed to miraculously evaporated. hahas

Day 7 - HuaShan

so. we started our climb at about 11.30pm. wanted to catch some sleep before that but we somehow couldn't. having spent a night at the airport,  not having proper sleep, and then realizing that we're about to do huashan - in the bad weather, was pretty quite daunting at the thought of it. but here it goes.  bought our tickets ($33) and watching the ticker announcement to caution us of heavy rain and lightning with possible flooding. 

this cup of coffee was pretty memorable. though we're cheepo, we decided to spend 15 rmb on it. so its about $3 for a cup of hot 3-in-1. it was about 0245hrs.. when the body was really tired. it wasn't physically tiring, just mentally challenging with all the repetitive steps. man made steps. pretty disappointing coz so many stuff were man-made and in such terrains, it can still be pretty touristy. but it was a well spent $3, coz though it not some fantastic atas coffee, we could feel the kick. 

the pic on the bottom right is the supposedly famous ladder where ppl take photos of the climb to show that huashan is challenging. yea, that's about it. that's the only part that's the steepest and not man-made steps. hahas. and guess what, there was likka huge crowd and queue, so we decided not to do it coz its just steps and besides, there was actually another way round it. hahahahs. we're pacing ourselves pretty well coz we didn't want to miss the sunrise. 

so we reached the East Peak at 0445hrs. sun rose slightly later than expected... it was about 0530 when there was a glimpse of light. super cold. and unexpectedly disappointing after having our expectations set my google images. hahas. not to blame, its a fantastic place though, just that probably it was too much cloud cover so u can't really see the sun but just its light + instagram fade filter to 100%.

check out the massive crowd. we had to literally climb up the monument to have a decent viewing spot. ahhas. so everyone who take photo of that landmark would have our faces in it.

waiting with her was fun though. hahas. super cold. maybe like 10 deg with the winds blowing.

there's ppl selling selfie sticks and scarfs.. and renting out those green cold jackets. pretty much likka marketplace.

ooo. we passed by the hostel at huashan itself though. as u can see from the board, its about $60/night. not really worth it though coz that's about 2x the cost of the entrance ticket. hahas. it was about 0650am when we found a temple kinda pondok. by then our bio clocks were pretty screwed, and we're still feeling cold and hungry from the climb. hence, we had a good 1hr sleep there along with 2 other guys who did the same. hahas.

had some snacks for energy. it felt God sent though. coz it was more man made steps to the South peak for the famous Cliff Side Plank walk..

so yep, its what u see on those google search images.

was a good experience. you dont need any form of climbing skills though. the harness looks daunting and makes u look like u need to know alot. hahas. basically, before u climb, there will be a guy to slip on the harness on u whom briefly explain some safety rules in mandarin, not caring if you'd understand or not. basically the rules is to ensure that u're clipped on at all times. yep. u're a climber now. hahahah

everything looks daunting coz u're dealing with little walking area at heights, but really, anyone can do it. even if you have height phobia. its fun coz though its really safe and effortless, its exhilarating coz the scenery is really breathtaking. when we started climbing, it was super crowded and i dont think the guy limits anyone or anything. so though the walkway is narrow, its a 2-way traffic. yea so if u're a lady just take note of the close physical contact with strangers. dont worry though, there's alot of ppl around too, everyone's keeping a lookout, and also more focused on not losing their footing. hahas.

pretty shortlived. 

soon we're exploring other peaks...

hahas. u can purhase a medal for urself. diff designs, diff price, and they'll engrave ur name on it as well. i got one for myself since i like such things. ahhas. its $4 i think. 

took the cablecar and the bus back. its $36 for both. nice calm view. its about 45mins down man.

haha. damn jian. they make u take photo. and they'll print for u. everything cost like $10 i think. we didn't want to buy. but then they slashed the price, minus all the nice folder and all, then ok la.. like $2... u can have it. hahahs. quite a nice photo though its DI-ed though.

and finally back at our hostel,  we finally cleaned up and had a good spread at the restaurant beside it. oily but tasty food though.

and soon enough, we're travelling again!

same bus back to the Xian train station. our train is at 0240hrs. hahas. so we've got alot of time. we went to the nearby macs to charge our phones and stuff. pretty good coz it closes at 2am, just nice. good that they have this port for ppl to charge their stuff.

 the train was soooooo much better this time round. it newer. cleaner. its a 12hr ride to beijing and we really had a good rest. $68. totally enjoyed it.
and i only realized that there's actually a charging point when i was getting off the train.

Day 8 - Beijing

we reached the station at about 3pm. quite an elaborate train station they have. and though its freaking pack, they do their security screenings quite diligently for every single one.

took awhile to find our atas hostel coz its behind some alley. dont worry its safe. just hard to find. $24 / night, but its reallly nice! Dongdan station exit C.

agenda today.... SHOPPING. hhahas. the plan was to go Decathlon and a supermarket to buy back fooood.

and they're very tourist friendly. they have several tour packages and lotsa info for you. good that this tour was avaliable! it happens only on alternate days coz its quite rural, so its nice that the timing fits just right.

took a train down to DaJiaoTing, exit C... and another 15min walk here. hahas. most of the things here are cheaper than sg's by abt 30%. some items same price, but much more variety too. and we both bought a cap! hahas. did i mention that i left my fav cap at Xian airport? :(

hahas. we wanted to get this shoe tgt and swop.. hahahs we even had the same idea tgt... hahhaas. but the other colour dont have size so too bad. really comfortable with tough materials in the front and it looks like a climbing shoe!

hahahs. then we happened to pass by Wal-Mart otw back and it was opened till 10pm! we still had an 1hr. ahhahahs. and yes, gc was v happy with her new pull over. HAHAHAS.

for directions, if u can't find our hostel back, find this building. our hostel is just at the foot, 1 blk away.

Day 9 - The Great Wall via Jin Shan Ling

can't believe its alrdy the last day in China and we're gg to be heading home at night.

ok. i wanted to vist the Great Wall since i'm alrdy at BJ. hahas. gc has been there b4 but not this route, but thanks for accompanying me! at least i have visited legendary Great Wall b4 i die. hahas. and so they say, this route is the most untouched one and most scenic one. 280rmb ($56) its about a 3hr drive there. the package started by meeting at 8.30am outside one of the train stations. 

we're running abit late but managed to have a good breakfast nearby.

to sum it up, its a gd long walk. more steps made in China. hahas. everything about China is steps. it was really hot. heard that it was raining for the past few days though. and on instagram, it was trending that the route had like a beautiful rainbow over the mountains. hahas. yea. a few ladies tried to sell their stuff to us, one persistent one forcefully guided us 3/4 the way. i mean, at first we told her like we're pressured and we wont buy stuff for her. but she was like.. "dont feel pressure..u dont have to pay me.. blah blah blah'.. throughout the journey, she was really sincere in her guidance and go the extra mile to explain and even reanact certain war-time moves of the soldiers. AHHA ok lor. u win. our hearts melted at we both purchased a shirt and a pouch from her at 4x the price that other hawkers were selling. i mean, she was telling us about her kids, studying and all, and that she and to go back and work in the fields after trying to earn some money from here. ok la. lying or not, she was kind enough to entertain us and be patience with us. so it wasn't so bad after all.

but yea, the Wall is awesomeeeeeeee.

so here we are.

the legendary Wall. feeling so surreal after all those hk dramas that talk about ancient war times.

though harsh afternoon whitewashed sun, the view is just magnificant.

we had to climb to wall right. ahhas

the 'guide' took us off course abit. hahas. one agenda is to say to have an alternative view, the other was to siam the man made steps to go x-trail. hahas

and so, apparently this is the most untouched but tourist accessible place of the Wall.

ok, so we've reached the other end point / towards Simatai. waited for some of the guys to reach before taking the 3hr ride back.

and so, we had more time! yay. explored the city abit. its about a 20mins walk out from where we stayed.finally able to buy some China food/snacks back for mother poon. i actually bought a peking duck back. ahahhahas. its like vaccum-packed and they have many brands. bought some nice chinese tea from the legit chinese tea shop too. they warned us of scammer shops. ahhas. #china. short lived.

hahas. no. i think thats sinful. not the damnnicetoeat kind of sinful.. but the whydoyoudothattoananimal kind of sinful. coz the creepy crawlies are still moving while having sticks shove up their ass through their abdomens. some have stopped moving, but some are still struggling. sighs. i think they should put them through the sataystick only the last sec b4 the go into deep shock when they kena the boiling oil, least they cut short the suffering. or like deepfreeze them first right.

the restaurants / makan places around there is pretty ex. and we somehow managed to find one super small shop of about 3 tables that sells affordable pricing China food at the back alley. ahhahas. cheap and nice and satisfying.

pity that even the reserves in our our stomaches were full.. so can only take photos of all the interesting looking snacks. ahhas. wanted to try this mushroom thing though but really cant.

and we're back at the hostel, not knowing what time is the last train to the airport / exactly how to get there. we know there's a way la, but need to explore. ahhas

and ahhahahs. by God's grace, we managed to catch the last airport express train! madness it wasn't a direct one there, had to change 2 trains i think, so imagine if we missed any one of those.. hahas we were rushing abit at the last part though. abit of an advice, the last train is 10pm plus. yea, so plan to reach before 10pm. it cost 25rmb if i rmbr wrong. ($5) you can buy the tickets from the ticketing counter.

and here we are at the airport. really classic looking with the train being so exposed to the airport. ahhas. not much lighting, macham like power saving mode. dont think it fit's Sg's safety standard rating HAHA. but pretty.

and this is classic. the skytrain that allows u to sit at the ends!! changi's skytrain used to be like this and as a kid, i was always damn excited to take the sky train because of this seat that allows you to see the tracks.

Day 10 - Malaysian Airlines, homeward bound, transiting at KL.

whahhahahs. malaysian airlines. 2am flight.

damn funny coz we almost missed our flight though we were like bout 1hr plus early. coz there was wifi and power socket, so we lepaked and became OOTT. (Overly Optimistic Time Traveller) ahhas. unlike sg, u can probably reach ur gate in 30mins once u enter the transit area. ahhahas. but no, there were so many queues and checks and whatever nots. hahahas. so we ended up having to gracefully seek kindness from ppl in the queues to let us go first. haha, our gate was pretty far away and we have obviously underestimated bj's aiport. ahhas. but yea, we managed to reach our plane on time. i rmbr getting on to my seat, let out a huge sigh of relief, then we looked at each other and LOL. ahahahs.  so much for being early. ahahas

A330. of course gotta explore abit. not often that i fly a plane that's not the A320. 

and yes, aircraft food taste different when u're 36,000 ft above. ahhahahs. and yes, though i was really tired, but the sunrise was beautiful at that level.

 

KL. first time at this airport.only a 45mins transit. love the lightings. (like same as BJ and Xian's one right!) fairy lightings are my weakness and they look just like those.

 and taking the 737 back home!! its a really short less than 45mins flight. dont think it even reached the jet steam ceiling or smth. ahhahas.

sad that're back. can't believe we spent 9 days tgt in china.

and some SG breakfast at the transit area.

hahas. yup that's it.

looks like i've found a travelling buddy. u know, we dont usually talk in SG, we're just teammates whom train tgt. but on this trip, it seems like we can talk forever and we're constantly discovering (too many uncanny) similarities about each other. ahhas. 

this is my first time traveling, backpacking and exploring a foreign land with another person and i totally enjoyed every moment of it. i'm usually the one planning grp travelling.. usually of 4 to 6 ppl, so sometimes it gets about tiring, having to have a constant look out for everyone's logistics and welfare. hahas. so this time round, its really nice to just do whatever i want to do and have someone to share the plans with me, really own time own target.

really thank God for protecting and watching over us too. timing was too perfect despite having super last min plans. i mean, we went to china, gg ahead with just booking a to and fro ticket w/o knowing how to get where to do what. i mean we had a rough list of what to do, but didn't know which route to take and to optimize.. we booked train tickets like 2-3day before which was almost impossible coz u should be booking the night sleeper train tickets at least 1 wk in advance latest due to its popularity. not only did He take care of our logistics, even like on those single-path on the mountains, we're almost at the rare crowd-free moments. 2 petit girls in China, on the move so much, glad that we didn't get cheated, pestered or anything.

oh yea, back in Changi, my checkin baggage was missing. was pretty disappointed coz all my climbing/trekking shoes and pants and skins were inside, and more imptly, my CHOUCHOU- my smelly pillow since i was a kid, smth i can't buy even with $1million. 

anyway in the end, it was delayed by 10hrs. thankfully i bought insurance, initially i didn't want to get coz i just wanted to save some money.. but decide to make an effort to walk to bedok central to get one from the AXS machine since i'd be travelling on so many modes and with so much ambiguity.

so yea, insurance claim for baggage delay was at $200/hr, capped at $800 (if your not from ur home county). if u're back in SG, the cap is $200. ahhas. so too bad. if missing, its $500/article, capped at $3000. ahhahs. so in the end, i can claim $200. thankful, coz it covered my airtickets at least. hahahs.

so yep, today is 15 Aug and i've (finally) finished blogging. hahas. thanks for gg through the long post and sharing this journey with me and i can't wait for the next adventure till my bank has enough $$. hahas. it was fun and i hope to inspire many ppl to continue exploring! ;)