Backpacking Travelogy to Northern Thailand

I had just got back from my trip to the few part of northern Thailand. Will try to share my experience with those interested to visit the place. In fact, it was my second trip there. The very first time was part of the incentive trip with some dealers. Back then, it was pure tour guided trip and visited some major tourist attractions.

This time around, I am doing a backpacking. My destination is actually Doi Tung under the Mae Fah Luang province, about 20km from Mae Sai. The most ideal way to get to the place is of course flying to Chiang Rai which means you either fly direct to Bangkok from KL before taking domestic flight from Bangkok to Chiang Rai.

However, due to budget constraint, I took the direct flight from KL to Chiang Mai instead. Thanks to AirAsia, my one-way ticket to Chiang Mai was about RM150. Getting to LCCT had always been a headache but thanks to the new service by the KLIA transit, I took the option of traveling with KLIA transit train from KL Sentral to Salak Tinggi then commute the free bus ride to LCCT, all in total only cost me about RM12.50 per trip.

Reached Chiang Mai @ noon, 1PM to be exact. From the international airport, I opted for a taxi ride to the Chiang Mai Arcade Bus Station. The fixed rate for my ride to the bus station cost me only about 150Baht. Upon reaching the Arcade Bus Station, I felt like a total stranger as it was crowded only with local, many gave a strange stare but very fortunately I manage to find someone who can speak an "OK" English. She guided me to counter No. 5, I bought the ticket for Chiang Mai en route to Maesai. The ticket cost me 212Baht. To make it easier for me, the ticket teller remarked on my ticket that I will stop at a place called Doi Tung. Since my bus will only be taking off at 3PM, I managed to bump into an internet cafe that serves some really bad food. After that particular session with the cyberworld, I am totally lost touch with it for about a week and I realized I am ok to be apart from Internet actually :)

The bus trip is good though long. It took me 3 hours to reach Doi Tung. Upon reaching there, it was already about 8PM. My host came and pick me up.

I will share more about the rest of my trip tomorrow :)

Stay tune!

PS: Today I also want to wish my very special brother a very happy birthday! Hey Ah Rim, Happy Birthday to you ya!

Blogging From Thailand

Howdy peeps?

My current city now is Chiang Mai, Thailand. Quick update if you don't mind. I am not able to upload any photos as now because I am currently at some restaurant that provides internet service.

I won't be in Chiang Mai for long. Currently I am surfing while waiting for my bus to Chiang Rai, another 3-4 hours of ride. It's been a long day today since 6AM. Thanks to Roy Lim who fetched me all the way to KL Sentral.

From KL Sentral, I took the KLIA transit to Salak Tinggi before commuting via bus to LCCT. I would say the package is worth of it. The whole journey took me slightly less than an hour. Reached LCCT about 8ish. The flight was @ 1020hrs and reached Chiang Mai @ 1230hrs local time.

So, I guess I will be off from the blogosphere and internet world for at least a week because the internet facilities in Thailand are pretty poor.

So I would like to take this opportunity to wish every readers of mine a very happy Mid-Autumn day tomorrow ya! Enjoy the mooncakes, light up more tang-lungs.

And not forgetting too, let's pray for the victims of the earthquake that we Malaysian felt a couple of days ago. The death toll had since increase to an estimated 1,100 deaths. My prayers to them.

Gonna miss you all.

Hugs & Kisses!!!

Earthquake & Tsunami Warning

UPDATES: A regional tsunami warning was issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre immediately after the quake but the alert was cancelled at 7.31pm.

Most of us here in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia felt the tremors! I was in a building and everything in the office was shaking!

My first time experience and to be frank it's pretty scary. Until now I still having weird feelings on my legs. Whoever thought this kinda thing will happen in Malaysia?

Upon checking the web, it's confirmed that there was an earthquake of 7.9 magnitud in Southern Sumatra, Indonesia. Freaking 500km away from us and we felt it! And now there is a regional tsunami warning issued out. More details here. So friends in Georgetown & Port Dickson, avoid the beach ya!

And the scene at KL Monorail @ Chulan station.



Everyone is talking about it now... but there is absolutely no education on this... from what I know, for survival - don't panic, get any filled water bottle and hide under the table.

Phew...

Back To School Days

I felt like I am back to school days. You know those school days when the school will invite your parents to school after the mid-term examination to collect report cards.

Somebody read my blog and called my dad to complain that, "hey your son is writing this this this, la la la", yes it did pissed me a little as my parents called me up to remind me as a 30 years old man to avoid writing about it but I am too weak to feel angry as I had been sick since last Saturday.

Straining my relationship with my family will only come to one conclusion - you making things worst than ever! I will not want to mention names here, but as saying, "Siapa makan cili, dia terasa pedas!"

I mentioned one post earlier, I meant happiness now, I want all well ends well, no threat, no forcing. You can't force me to see someone that I do not want to see right?

And for the people that felt offended reading my post, there is a red X button on the top right of the screen if you are Windows user, and if you are MAC user, there's always one on the top left corner. Nobody ask anybody to read this blog. If I am writing nonsensical stuff, you can choose not to read it, go and read more interesting stuff, now get out of here lamers!

Ok, ciao outside and medicine time now!

The Plan

Well, I am unwell for the past 2 days ever since I am back from Genting to cover an LG event up there. Really hope for a speedy recovery as I am flying to Thailand this Friday for a week, then back here to Malaysia for few more days before flying off to Hong Kong (HKG) to spend my remaining days & months of 2009 there.

This will also be the very first time that I am out of the country for a long time and to be frank I am really anticipated about it. What I will miss most of course my family & friends here and not to mention the food here.

And to my brothers - Rim & Chong, don't worry I will be back!

What prompted me to do such decision to leave? Am I not worried leaving a stable job in LG and venturing into something that I am totally green about it? Yes, I am especially seeing my bank account decreasing day by day. But at 30, I looked at what I had achieved in LG, I told myself I had enough, I rather stay happy & healthy than to seek & fight for something that I do not foresee that I can achieve there. Happiness play a key role to my decision, and last I heard my junior who I had been working with close to 2 years leaving too! So to the public reading my blog, I should not talk much bout my ex-company, it does not require a genius to understand the culture and work-like there. Brother Jeremy, I wish you the best in your undertakings, been a pleasure to work with you.

So what's my plan next? Travel only? Nah... I am taking up a job of website revamping in HKG, submitted my quotation, been shortlisted and will still need to do my presentation to client and hopefully can beat the rest of competitors mainly from HKG. Should the project be awarded to me, I will be there to coordinate the implementation up to the execution stage.

Since it is the last quarter of 2009, HKG allows Malaysians to stay up to 90 days, meaning I can at the same time celebrate my X'mas & New Year there, an opportunity that I do not want to miss. I will also be meeting up friends in HKG & Macao (Josie & Sexy, see you people soon!). Plus, will have few friends visiting HKG during my stay there, Deric & Alan, see you guys there!

And this period will also be the best time for me to be a bit slimmer. I somehow lost weight each & every time I travel, the place I am staying in HKG will have all the facilities like gymnasium, swimming pool & jogging track. Must be disciplined enough to look better myself!

For those who want to contact me, sorry peeps, I will be suspending my maxis line before flying off but rest assured I will share with you guys my HKG number on facebook ya! And for friends who want me to help them buy stuff in HKG, email me and visit my other blog @ Shop With Mike, I will try my very best to get it for you all ya!

And cross fingers, hopefully I can spare time to visit China, got my China visa standby as well.

I shall be back in February 2010 just in time for Chinese New Year here. And what's the plan ahead? I am seeking a full-time employment job or perhaps a joint-venture in Bangkok, Thailand. Why Thailand you may ask? Well, it's complicated and remember earlier in my post I mentioned, happiness is the key.

Till then people, more updates on my travelogue!

On Blogging & Friends

I had recently received 2 special notes from 2 different friends on how I had inspired them to start their own blog. I am grateful for those comments and to be frank I have never thought that I had made such impact on blogging especially among my friends.

Come to think about it, I am now entering my 5th year of blogging and it had been the better platform for me to express myself better. And through blogging, I had made many new friends, be it readers or people I met during some gathering. The name MikeMmery had been a part of me, people who know me through here would recognize me by that name although going back my 600 over postings here, the name itself had a significant meaning to me, but I had since moved on.

Introducing The PurpleV Heart authored by Cynthia Chen. In fact, the chemistry I had with her is mainly through the cyberworld, despite that, she got to know me better through my blog and had been at times a very very loyal listener to me on my very personal stuff. Thanks for the nice words you dropped on facebook and I am glad that you started your own blog as that will draw me closer to your world. And babe, I MISS YOU!!!

And yesterday a very dear ex-colleague of mine, Ms. Seow, had started her own blog as well, check out Blog with miee. And Ms. Seow, thanks for giving me the chance to be part of LG Life's Good Blog family! Thanks for listening to my suggestions and put LG Electronics as the first electronics company in Malaysia to start its own blog, it's a feat that I am very very proud of! And keep the blogging spirit alive ya!

Time to go, till then... c u peeps soon!

Gary Cao vs Justin Lo (Real Footage)

Malaysia BOLEH!!!

This happened last night when Gary 曹格(Malaysian singer) whacked Justin 侧田. This is one hot news. Check out the video below;

Chinese Guy Loves Boobies

Some may feel offended by him, some call him racist but like it or not... he made his money with his videos and made millions laugh with his offensive videos.

With his cool sunglasses and crazy Chinese accent, I find Peter Chao is more hilarious than offensive--and that's why he's taken the YouTube vlogosphere by storm. Find out why he's featured in today's Who's Who on YouTube.

Video Games - E3 2009 - Attack of the Show

I particularly like his "Chinese Guy Loves Boobies", it's very frank and yes which guy doesn't like boobies? Enjoy the video & chao outside mothaf**ker!

Serena Williams, Kanye West & Emmanuel Adebayor - September Jackasses

So what the above 3 celebrities have in common? I officially award them the September Jackass Awards. They better go for anger management therapy with Dr. Buddy Rydell.

See for yourself, then you tell me if they are jackasses or not.

Adebayor Malicious Stamp On Van Persie


Serena Williams sayings "I swear to God [bleep], I'm taking this ball and I'm shoving it your [bleep]"

As for Kanye West, the video was somehow disabled by YouTube due to copyright issue. He's such an ass, how can he did that to Taylor Swift?

Talking bout anger management.... Froossswaba!

My 2nd Blog

So a week in Thailand, felt rejuvenated and at least I am finding passion in what I am doing. I started yet another blog site for my friends, in summary, I am currently managing 3 blogs at a go (MikeMmery, LG Life's Good Blog & Shop With Mike).

Soon, I will be traveling extensively and taking this opportunity to share my experience with my travel log on MikeMmery, LG news on the Life's Good blog and shopping made easier at Shop With Mike.

More updates to follow! Do checkout my new blog here.

Cheers!