Thursday, December 14, 2017

Korea, the land of Winter Sonata


Korea is geographically situated in a temperate climate zone at medium latitude. As a result, it has four distinct seasons. In general, spring is from March to May, summer from June to August, autumn from September to November, and winter from December to February. 

And now it's that time of the year again-WINTER, where Korea turns into a winter wonderland. In winter, the days are shorter and the mountainous regions are covered with snow. Though the weather can be brutal, put on your winter coat and enjoy South Korea! There are many things to do exclusively in winter and definitely worth every single Won, and I personally LOVE LOVE WINTER KOREA!

1. Eat! Eat! Eat!

When in South Korea during winter, don't forget to warm up with the oh-so-many glorious street food! Some of them are even serve exclusively during winter only!' Savory and sweet winter street foods like bungeoppang, hotteok, baked sweet potatoes, and hoppang, just to name a few, are all-time favorite snacks for Koreans regardless of age. Live up your K-Drama fantasy of eating out from carts and stalls which can easily be spotted at every street corner. It's super cheap too!


                        

2. Ski! Ski! Ski! Ski!!
 
With 70% of mountainous regions in South Korea, skiing is the way to enjoy the mother nature at its best! There are many activities that can be done with the family or even among friends. Check out the offers below! Enjoy a day trip;

or opt to stay for more wintertastic experience;




3. Sightseeing + Winter Festivals

South Korea is a beautiful Narnia on snowing days. Enjoy trip to Nami Islands and even head off to Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival, where you make a hole in the frozen lake, catch mountain trout and get them cooked on sight. Don't forget to build the snowman, play snow fight and make your own snow angels too!



Don't forget to check all the promotions out and enjoy your winter vacation in South Korea!


Wednesday, November 8, 2017

My Strabismus Story : Part 2

(Eye-Eye Captain! This is the continuation from the part one . It took me almost a year later to blog about this life-changing experience. My life has been better since the operation.)

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so the quote said. But what if your eyes are the reason you're  afraid of having eye contact with others, low self-esteem and poor socializing skills just because people seems to not understand you. You speaks the proper language, you dresses to impress but nothing is working. Life is miserable. Well at least that what I felt while living with strabismus.

I wasn't even born with it. It developed when I was about 10-11 years old. As a child growing up with strabismus, it certainly was not fun. The hurtful feeling whenever I talked to somebody, and they keep on looking behind their back because they thought I was looking at others behind them, instead of them. Thus, I stopped talking to others, I stop making new friends. I protect myself from being hurt by others. The world seems limited. It's just you, your family and your fewwww- very close friend who seemed to get you and your stupid eyes ( I used to call them like that). So, what is strabismus? Let me explain!

If you have strabismus, one eye looks directly at the object you are viewing, while the other eye is misaligned - in my case it was exotopia (misaligned outwards). And my case even more special because I'm able to control the movement of my eyes muscles. My left eye vision was 20/20 while my right eye suffers from farsightedness. Even when I left my spectacles behind, I can switch to use my left eye to see clearly. Ha! That's creepy right?!

So, growing up, I recall keeping on reading and researching about how to treat my condition. At that time I was growing up, I'm convinced that Malaysia doesn't have the technology to treat this eye problem. Fast forward, at 28 years old, after loads of reading about it, I decided to go to the local hospital. From my thorough reading, I'm now informed that HUSM Kubang Kerian has one of the best facilities and Ophthalmology team in Malaysia.

On April 2016 I got myself an appointment at HUSM, through a refer from Klinik Kesihatan Pasir Puteh. (Well, this can be any Klinik Kesihatan near you). I got my eyes diagnosed by the Ophthal team, and I tell you, I was one famous case! One, because I'm old ; (usually it's get fixed when we're baby / young- at that times it's called lazy eyes) and second, because I'm able to control my eyes muscle. The team had so much fun examining me every time. After a tedious months of examining my eyes, they scheduled an operation for me on January 2017. I had another final examination at Pantai Hospital to conform my conditions, and we're set to fix my eyes!

However, suddenly on the 21st of December, I received a phone call asking whether or not I'm interested to fill in an operation slot for the next day because another patient cancelled off their operation. Hell yeah! I said YES, YES, YES! I got myself admitted to HUSM Kubang Kerian later on the afternoon ( I drove myself there) and my operation went well on the 22nd December 2016.


The operation was led by Prof. Dr. Shatriah Ismail, better known as Prof Shat; one of the very very well-known and top Doctor in Ophthal world. She even travels all over Malaysia to perform eyes surgery - WOW! I'm honored! My operation went for around 3-4 hours. They operated the muscles in both of my eyes. And funny thing was I woke up right away after the operation,while waiting to be transferred back to the ward, because the nurses forgot to remove the 3 layers of blankets from me-and I'm very sensitive to heat - I woke up while wiping sweat off my forehead. I can't bear being hot 😝 . On the 24th I was discharged from HUSM. And after that I just have to go to HUSM for operation follow up & check up. 
This was right after operation
This was about a few days later
It's a life changing operation for me. It given me back my confident, my life!
(It's prescribed as for cosmetic purpose and not covered by insurance yah.)
Years ago, I tend to look around while talking to others, I couldn't look at others in the eye, 
easy things like ordering foods & drinks over the counter was such a difficult task,
not knowing how to communicate well with minimum to no eyes contact at all-I'm devastated.
Trust me, the eyes are the gate to yourself.
If you're having eyes problems, get it fixed!
Schedule an appointment with the Ophthal team.
Don't listen to others, this is all about you.
Love yourself!


This is my current eyes condition. There's still a very-very small deviation (mm), me & my Ophthal team will discuss about whether or not second operation needed in our upcoming appointment next year.

Till then, wish me well & happy!




11:11 Promosi buku kebaboom!


Sempena tarikh 11:11 atau lebih famous dengan gelaran hari Pokki sedunia ni, 
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pun boleh la check it out! tak rugi !!



Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Discovering Siem Reap, Cambodia

Siem Reap = Angkor Wat
Most absolutely right! That's the synonym of Siem Reap.

Day 1
Our flight AK 542 left Malaysia for Siem Reap at 6.50am.
We landed around 8.30am local time.

Right after landing, our driver, Safy already waiting for us

First view of Siem Reap town.
Wow, dirt road and whatnot.
Our first destination was the Tonle Sap Lake to check out the water village

Ticket is USD 15 per person. 
An additional USD 5 if you choose to ride on the small boat at the village. 
We opted not to.



Floating Village of Kampong Phlouk

We checked in at our hotel afterward. 
Had a nice rest before heading out to Night Market / Old Market
We had our dinner at Muslim Kitchen Family Restaurant, just nearby the market.
USD 28 dinner for 7 was reasonable & affordable.
I tried Khmer food : Spicy soup & sour soup. Sedap!

Day 2:  Temple Hopping
USD 37 per person -  1 Day Pass

First stop - Angkor Thom.
Our luck, it was cloudy and grey that day 😌


and later it's pouring!

Second stop: Bayon Temple

 Last one : Ta Prohm
 

Day 3: War Museum
Entrance fee is USD 5 per person

That's it! A weekend trip to Siem Reap.


Friday, July 7, 2017

Road Trip to Krabi

Previously I went to Krabi with my ARI's fellows. Feeling super excited about showing Krabi to my family back in Kelantan, we decided to go on an impromptu trip there. The first time, we weren't fully prepared, but we went anyway. Driving around Thailand was rather an easy breezy experience because the Thai police won't kacau you and the road is like straight most of the times 😉

We started our road trip pretty late that day mainly because we got the idea pretty late too. It was already dark when we entered Thailand through Sg. Golok immigration gate. Our first stop was City of Hatyai. We spend a night in Hatyai City since we arrived almost midnight. We opted for Kosit Hotel - cheap, strategic location, spacious room & free parking available! The next morning, we roamed the street of Hatyai in search for good halal breakfast. We found a 'Kelantan Restaurant' that already serving breakfast although it was so very early.

  

Then, we hit the road again! Our next stop was Trang, the Andaman Gateway. This R&R is very cool because it has the life-size-almost-real-looking elephant statues lining up and doing all sort of posing and action there. Such a photo-zone and of course we'd stop-you too!
  

Our journey to Krabi continues on with only toilet stop once in a while. Since we're coming from Kelantan, I'd figured out that we're going to pass the Emerald Pool first before the Krabi town itself, so we decided to stop by at the Pool on our way to Krabi. Foreigner need to pay an entrance fee of 200 baht per person. There, you can see the Crystal Pool, Emerald Pool and also the Blue Pool. Trekking is required for this trip to the pools.
  

The Emerald Pool is really emerald in color! At the entrance, we can see the crystal clear river that flows. We're all mesmerized at the water there.
  

 After that we head straight to the Krabi town. We're staying in Ao Nang's area. After checking in, we went out to chase sunset at Ao Nang's beach and for dinner. Useful tips, we rented scooters there. Easier to move around!
 

Later that night we went to the Krabi Night Market. It was sooooo much fun - eating and eating and eating while listening and watching the performances by the local.


 

The next morning, we head out for breakfast at the local stall-restaurant runs by Muslim.
We had the best green curry ever and some more local cuisine for breakfast at very cheap price too. We even exchange ideas and opinions and even recommended some food to a couple of Mat Saleh that went into the stall upon seeing us devouring our food 😄


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