B A T A M - The Intro

It has been long ago that I last updated this blog. Hmm, been busy with other activities and attending courses..but still squeeze in time for travelling though. Heehee... macam takde kehidupan jika tak travel walaupun sekali setahun.



I first started this blog last year in January. Wow! never update them for almost a year. I promise myself I update my journey more now. For the year 2007, I had travelled to a few places. Batam was visited almost every other month for the body overhaul treatment..dont you think otherwise by that remark, its a SPA treatment that I meant. Kuala Lumpur was my destination in March. Its was a birthday treat trip from Noy. Where else that I went to ...hhhmmm.... Oh! ya, we went to Goldcoast and Brisbane with a transit stopover at Brunei. So visited 3 places at one go. Thats was the main and longest trip for 2007. Ok, in this posting, I would like to blabber about Batam.

Batam- an Indonesian Island in the Riau provinse which is only an hour ferry ride from Singapore Harbour Front has been my frequent place that I visited in 2007. With all those reports about Johor being a target area for those notorious robberies, we had diverted our short trips to Batam. There are many ferry operators that provide service from Singapore to Batam. One of my favourite is Batam Fast. Its really fast indeed. Other operators are Penguin Ferry Service, Indo Falcon and WaveMaster. Try avoid taking Penguin as far as possible if you are going to Batam. This is because Penguin ferry is not as fast as Batam Fast .. for obvious reason I guessed. Just imagine how does a penguin walk. Btw, do anyone know if penguin do run?

The ferry ticket was cost at S$27 in the early months of 2007. Its gradually increased to S$31 from May 2007 to early January 2008. It has been increased to S$43 inclusive Batam tax since 7 January 2008. It looks like this year, my hopping to Batam have to be cut down due to the increase of the ferry ticket. Ok!, maybe some people didn't know and do not find Batam interesting. But Batam now is so much different from Batam in the 80's, 90's and early 2000. Admist the naughty talk that its a heaven for those cheeko man, Batam had been well developed with hotels, shopping complexes and some good branded name to their advantage. If long time ago, the only branded good you can get in Batam are those Polo brand. Now, its totally a vast change. From designer brand for cloth and sports apparel and popular bakery such as Bread Talk are available there. Fast food are aplenty too, Pizza Hut, KFC, A&W and McDonalds are there to salivate those Singaporean taste bud.

As to why I frequent Batam is more for pampering myself with the SPA treatment. Followed by some shopping and that Sirsak Juice. Oh ya and the ever popular long queue melt in the mouth JCO donuts.

I will stop here for now about Batam. Will post more on the SPA treatment some other times. So that for those of you who wish to go for SPA at Batam can get more info on it.
So anyone want to go Batam and need more tips, give me a tinker, will you.

My First Ever Trip - Jun 1989

I started to travel on my own at the age of 22. My first trip is to Trengganu. I remembered doing research on Trengganu at the library. Beside, I had asked around from those people who had visited there once.

I chose Trengganu cause I just love sea sides, islands, waterfalls, snorkeling and what more I heard Trengganu has beautiful islands. Furthermore, I wanted to see my penpal who stayed in Trengganu.

My companions for the trip were my primary school mate- Syed Izzat, my mum third cousin, Salleh and my dearest partner Noy. Salleh and Izzat are neighbours. We started our journey at Lavender by taking a Transnational express bus which ply mostly to East Coast of Malaysia. At that time, the bus fare is only $18.00. We departed at 7 pm and arrived the next day at about 2 in the morning.

First we headed to Salleh's relative house at Kuala Trengganu. Here we were serve breakfast and was brought to our hotel later. Being a newly employed person, we do not have much cash, so we just stayed at a chepo hotel.. Cant remember exactly what is the hotel name, like Sri Trengganu or whatever but I still remember the location if I'm at Trengganu now.

We planned to explore Trengganu for 5 days. On our first day, we only roamed around the city. We headed for Sekayu Waterfall the next day. It is so exhalirating to enjoy the waterfalls. Not many people as it was weekdays. I went back a few time after this trip, but its not that nice and natural any longer as Sekayu has became too commercialised.

Next we went to Marang to hire a boat to Pulau Kapas. Marang is a destination for you to take boats to other island around Trengganu. Now you can also see a fishing docking area. Go there very early if you wish to experience the hustle and bustle of fishmen autioning off their catch to fishmonger and the locals.

We took a small boat to Kapas Island fromMarang at a cost of RM20 per person including a snorkelling accessories. There we rent a chalet at "Makcik Gemok". It only cost RM30 per pax for a nite stay with breakfast and bbq dinner for two. Its a great offer back then. Try it now, I don't think that you can ever get that price any longer.

The beach is a so white and smooth. No wonder it is called Kapas Island (Kapas is Cotton in English) We stayed for 2 nite here. Since there is no activities at nite, we just lazed near at the beach grazing at the sky with full of stars and listening to the ever popular song at that time "Sejati". I'm smiling away and shaking my head now, remembering the innocent way of my life seating at the beach with men who are not my mahram. Astagfirullah! May Allah pardon my sin.

We headed back to the mainland after we had our breakfast with darker and tanned skin.

From here, we went to Salleh's auntie place again. Salleh cousin is actually my penpal. Since its her birthday, we brought cake to celebrate her birthday. We stayed there for one nite and headed back to Singapore with a lot of keropok instant, songket and batik trengganu ..and of course our memories of the beautiful Kapas Island and the splendid Sekayu Waterfall.

The Journey Begins

Today, I had decided to write in the cyber space to share with all my frens and family on the journeys that I had made during my lifetime.

Let me introduce to all, my travelling buddies. The most closest person and frequent person that I had been travelling with is Noy. Thus this blog is called Noyida Travelogue. It will be mostly input with stories of the journey that both of us been experiencing. Perhaps you people can even get tips on how I had save a lot on flight, accommodations, transportations and others during my journey.

Beside Noy, there are some other people who just luv to join me on my traveling journey. They are Bibik and her hubby, Kak Som, Kayjet, Temah, Kelly, Aga and many others.

For a start, I had been travelling for leisure most of the time to Malaysia and Indonesia. I had covered most of the West Malaysia 13 state and part of East Malaysia which comprises of Sabah & Serawak.

Let's not bored you with all that stuff for now. Maybe I should introduce my self for those of you who really don't know me.

I was born during the later part of the 60's. Age is quite a sensitive matter for woman rite. But heck care, it's just a number for me. This year I will be 40 in March. (So those fren out there, dont forget my besday ah!!) The saying goes ... Life begin at 40 ... hahhahhh ... I always luv to add this ... make sure 41 don't die cause there's alot of repenting for our sins that we need to do. :)

With this philosophy, I had started my journey and travelling life not at the age of 40 but earlier so not to miss the opportunites to do what youngster do ... .. and whats that? Plus, something that Allah SWT made me face that the decision of travelling and travelling to appreciate Allah's creation strike me... ada hikmah di sebalik sesuatu ketentuan Allah SWT.

Ok...that all for the intro ..... our journey will begins in the next posting.....Insyallah.