If I Were To Go To Krabi, Songkhla and Hatyai

If I Were To Go To Krabi, Songkhla and Hatyai

Apr 30, 2019

It´s April and I finally did something for my "travel" resolution of at least plans one. By the way, it feels like ages ago that I started this post and I finally come back to it and finish it for good. The idea was that the planning itself might get you pumped up. It was initially just Hatyai. A quick escape. But then I thought, I should really go to Krabi as well.

Let´s just get into it. 

First of all, getting into Krabi. My best choice would be going to Krabi and travel down from there to Songkhla and finally Hatyai. I was excited about the idea of flying to Krabi and return by train from Hatyai. But getting a train from Hatyai is tricky. I might end up needing to take a bus.

According to Skyscanner apps (I planned this to be somewhere at the end of June or early July), the flight tickets can be around RM83 to RM100.  Bus ticket from TBS to Hatyai is RM70 and according to this blog it cost her RM85 to go to Krabi from Hatyai. She did say that she get a bad deal cause it can be around RM55 to RM65

On the other hand, taking a train from Hatyai will cost me RM120 (including the train ride from Hatyai to Padang Besar). I also budget around RM50 for transportation as it seems the tuk-tuk fare is quite cheap and we just need to walk more.

Apart from that, it is estimated that the bus fare from Krabi to Songkhla to be around RM40 while only RM5 from Songkhla to Hatyai. 

But, I'm not entirely sure that there is a bus trip from Krabi to Songkhla because there is only one source that I can found showing this trip and we need to change buses at Trang. I also can't find anything on EasyBook apps so I decided it will be best to go straight to Hatyai and take a trip via tuk-tuk or minivan to Songkhla for a simple day trip and went back to Hatyai.

Now let me show you my grand table of transportation fees. I can be too detailed sometimes.

So transportation alone has cost me (pergi balik)

• RM 300 for both - if we take a flight to  Krabi and went back by bus // if we went to Hatyai by bus and take a van to Krabi and went back KL by bus
• RM350 if we took the train to go back
• Need to consider extra cost to go to KLIA
• RM50 to spare for tuk-tuk.

By far, taking a bus will be the cheapest and less hassle but it's going to be such a long ride.

Next is lodging. It seems like Ao Nang is a bit high end and from my research on Trivago, I need to budget around RM100 per night for 2 people and around RM80 to stay in Hatyai (also for 2 persons). The plan was to stay for two nights at Krabi and another two nights at Hatyai. This summed up to RM360 or RM180 per person.

So, both transportation and lodging will cost me RM480

I also budget for a simple rice dish and trying some foods at Hatyai so maybe around RM35 per day but RM50 for my food venture at Hatyai. That will be RM200.

Now everything will cost me - RM680

Island hopping packages (including snorkeling)  may cost from RM100 to RM160 but we need to survey it ourselves. So that will total up to RM840

The plan was to spent our first day at Ao Nang simply strolling around and looks for a good package. The second day will be spent on island activities. On the third day, we will go back to Hatyai and maybe go to Songkhla on that same day.

As for the other activities, hopefully, I can also go to Ao Luk but I'm not a fan of kayaking lol. For Hatyai, I just want to go to Greenway Night Market, Asean Market, their floating market and do some massage. I think it would be nice to go to the municipal park and ride a cable car. As for Songkhla, I want to go to Samila beach, Tangkuan Hill, Songkhla old town and probably this municipal park with that big dragon head statue.

i slept for three hours, it´s raining and food

i slept for three hours, it´s raining and food

I've been feeling shitty for some times now and it wasn't even because of PMS. At one point, I stopped bothering about dieting and exercising and just eat whatever I feel like eating. To tell you the truth, I don't feel like eating much but I always crave for rice at lunch so there´s one. About a week ago, I randomly told my friend that I´m going on a three-hour drives to Seremban and was wondering if she wants to hang out. I don´t even mind if she´s free, I just want to do something and feel something. I was feeling so empty. If you read this, thanks for suggesting the sea. 

I still feels so empty. Also, I have realized that I love the sea and museums. 

Self-care is good. To be honest, the little exercise I did earlier this month has done wonders to my mental health. I didn't feel as troubled or anxious. My body tires out so I got better sleep. Going to work is actually fun. But suddenly everything just turns sour. It kinda scares me. I just feels so gloomy and tired. I start to feel horrible cause I´m either just don't feel like it or too tired.

I went home last weekend and I wanted to paint the walls (I have delayed this plan for almost four months). We finished on Sunday morning and I got some spare time before I went back to my place in the afternoon. I was thinking to take a nap but I just can´t. There are too many things going through my head and it was mostly due to me being all sluggish and tired and don't want to do anything and that I should be doing "things" instead of taking a nap. It was at that point I realized that this has been going on for some times as well and that´s why I kept on scrolling 9gag until late at night cause even though I'm tired, I just can't sleep.

We had lunch and I take that "feeling so full I´m sleepy now" opportunity to take a nap. It's a weekend. I needed that nap with all the funny sleeping schedule I have been on. I started to have some pimples that keep on reappearing after it heals. The only thing that triggers my acne is stress. I shouldn´t even feel any stress right now. 

I'm just feeling so empty. But I'm still functioning. I made myself go out to eat my friends and colleagues. It didn´t really make me feel any better but I do feel like I have accomplished something. I have a fun run tomorrow and it was my first time joining a run. Again, I'm feeling like I'm achieving something which is kinda a nice feeling. 

I did my night shift last night and manage to snuck about three hours sleep. Before that, I have scrolled Instagram and 9gag just so that I didn't have to think about how my life has been. There wasn´t much patient and I should be spending the time being productive but I just don´t want to read something to achieve my tbr or write something to finish NaPoWriMo challenge. 

You know that slight rush you get in the morning when you didn't get enough sleep. That´s me right now. I bought McD's cappuccino and porridge and with the help of that rush, I made myself write this. I need to write this out.

It's a really confusing time to live. I live alone but still manage to spend so much. I wanted to be healthier and while it was a fun thing to do for sure, it isn´t anything much when I keep feeling tired and sluggish. I want to be alone but I don't want to feel lonely. I can´t keep calm somehow. I feel like I always need to do something even when I´m tired or like now, when I don´t feel like doing anything. But sometimes I'll feel like nothing really matter. All these things didn´t matter. 

No one understands me and at this point, I don't understand me either.

I don't know. The only thing that makes sense now is that if I feel hungry, I'll eat. Try to sleep at least by 12 am. Coffee in the morning is sacred. Try to put on a decent look every day (that means no tudung sarung). Keep on cleaning my face and put spot treatments. Do laundry. Repeat.

tried some sarawak foods. i like mee kolok.

all the nasi goreng have weird names but it is still some nasi goreng only
but the akak really cooks well.

Cooking for One (part 2) and Lunchbox Plan for One Week

Cooking for One (part 2) and Lunchbox Plan for One Week

Apr 10, 2019

I didn't go home this weekend so that I can focus on getting some posts done on my blog, thoroughly review my New Year's resolution and do whatever possible to get some of those resolutions working or at least makes a definite to-do things so that I do things. One of the things that I just have to get it done is this cooking post and also this lunchbox plan in order to eat healthier. Talk about being productive.

and by this weekend, I mean last weekend, because this post is scheduled to be posted sometime next week.

This "Cooking for One" is one post that I have put behind for almost two months. I knew that I'm going to need to move out so I make sure to not buy a lot and focus on finishing stuff that I already have. Yet there is still about five eggs and some cabbages that I have thrown away. There were plenty of goodbye feasts and night shifts as well so I just don't cook much.

Okay. First thing first, the groceries. Apparently, I forgot to take pictures of my groceries but it isn't that important so I'm just listing it here plus the things that I already have in the kitchen.

1. Broccoli 
2. Tomatoes - 4 medium sized ones
3. Kam Heong chili paste
4. Some eggs that just never finishes
5. Some dried noodles that took forever to finish
6. About 300g of meat

slow fry a tomato that has been cut into smaller pieces until it becomes some sort of paste and then put the meats and cabbages. season with salt and some kam heong chili paste. use the leftover paste on the pan to stir fry the noodles.

fry some onions and eggs (i always made the scrambled eggs into slightly bigger chunks). add some meat. season with oyster sauce, black pepper, and salt. I just melt some butter (i kept some for my bread) and fries the broccoli until it becomes soft. serve with noodle.

I have finally finished the noodles and the meat was still plenty so I decided to just cook all the meat left. this is actually a lazy recipe that we do at home. just cuts tomatoes into small bits, in this case, it is the last two medium sized tomatoes, and when it turns into a paste, adds meat. seasons with oyster sauce and salt. we always saute some onions first but I was lazy that day.

I think there were two more dishes but I can´t find the picture since I have changed to a new laptop. But it is more or less the same. The Kam Heong chili paste is amazing. If I have chickens or meats, I don´t have to add anything except for salts. It would taste great with rice but cooking rice for one person is too much work.

and now let´s move to my lunchbox plans 

I wanted to do a proper lunch box for works just for the fun of it and also to train myself not to gobble lots of rice with high-calorie gravy. For this first time, I wanted to do a sandwich/bread based dish. Why sandwich? Cause I don´t want to spent too much time to prepare the food.

So roughly, I´m thinking to buy some eggs (can also serve as side dishes), some salads and tomatoes, probably one cucumber (also can serves as side dish as well), chicken breast for my proteins, some mayonnaise or cheese or mustard sauce or something cause I don´t like chili sauce on my sandwich, a papaya (I´ll be eating papaya for the whole week lol) and of course bread. So maybe it can be something like -

• Monday - sandwich with slices of chicken breast (seasoned with black pepper and oyster sauce) with salad and tomatoes. Probablymayonnaisee or mustard sauce. 
• Tuesday - typical eggs with mayonaisse sandwich and cheese (for added proteins)
• Wednesday - repeats Monday recipe
• Thursday - typical roti telur but made into a sandwich with cucumbers
• Friday - sandwich with slices of chicken breasts and cheese.

The everyday sandwich will have papaya and cucumbers as side dishes. If I feel like the sandwich is too plain, I need to add cheese or chicken or eggs so that the extra protein can fill me up. I´m also going to keep some milk at work or else I´ll make another cup of coffee or simply wants buys some sugary drink. Milk helps me to put those urges at bay lol.

That´s all. Long live sandwich.

How´s Life and New Year´s Resolutions Review

How´s Life and New Year´s Resolutions Review

Apr 6, 2019

This is so surreal. How the heck it is April already??

If you guys read my New Year's Resolutions post, you will notice that I planned for the usual monthly targets and also a quarterly review of how far I have reached my New Year resolutions.

This is the first quarterly review. But before we did just that, I need to share some life's updates. 

First of all, since I have finished my PRP and now a legally licensed pharmacist, I will have a penempatan semula which simply means I will be relocated. But since this is the first time that the government is hiring us as contracts and that the contracts stated that we need to stay in the same state, there are chances that we will return to the same hospital. In which I did. I'm staying at the same hospital where I was a trainee and now is some sort of the same level as those who teach/mentor/freaking-giving-me-marks-if-I-am-actually-capable-to-be-a-fully-licensed-pharmacist. It is all so weird.

Since I am most likely to stuck here for at least another year, I decided to move out of my old room (the hospital's dorm but actually more like a studio apartment) and live in a small city nearby. My hospital is in this a rural-ish area but with Guardian and KFC. It's really weird but the small city near the hospital is only about 15 to 20 minutes drive and there is where I live now.

That's it. I thought there are so much more to it but apparently, the moving out was a big toll on me that it feels like so much had happened.

Let's move on to the quarterly review.

lose weight

The main idea was to lose one kilogram per month by eating healthier and living a more active life. I try to eat healthier (aka less rice, less sugar, less fat) but when I am PMS-ing, I tend to eat more but I'm still quite satisfied with how I have eaten less junk food. I realize that this planning thing really makes me second guessing "do I really need that food". I did lose about 3 kg but it is also contributed by how I start to control my eating from last December. I forgot to weigh myself and just follow the last weighing I did for this health program monitoring that hospital did on their staff. 

As for living a more active lifestyle, getting that 10k is impossible and it was almost annoying to fight how tired and sluggish I feel after work every day. One of the reasons I wanted to move out is so that the new living arrangement will make me more likely to go to the stadium or the gym. Apparently, a klinik kesihatan here have their own well-equipped gym. It has been three days now that I went there. I only use the treadmill or that bicycle thingy. It feels really good and I am inclined to go there every day. Let's hope I'll stick to this routine!

I still want to do that light routine every morning but well, I still don't. The gym really makes me tired and let's hope I can have better sleeps and thus wakes up earlier and then I can do that morning routine.

reading

I didn't finish my March reads and I only read one book on January so I have now finished three out of six books that I need to read in order to reach my Goodreads pledge of 25 books. As for the variety that I have aimed for, I still didn't read any local indie fictions but I am now reading Murakami's. I don't think that I want to push myself so much for this reading resolution. So I'm quite satisfied with my current achievements.

money management

I am totally flopping in this area. I simply forgot about it actually. There was always something extra to be spent on January and February so I just don't feel like putting money into my saving accounts. The monthly donation I have aimed for was also flopping. But I will make an automatic deduction since I have decided an organization for it.

As for the menabung, I still didn't do it as it feels stupid. You see, I didn't withdraw much money from ATM in order to remind myself not to spend so much since it is troublesome to go to the ATM. For the very same reason, I usually pay everything online or via debit card whenever I´m allowed to do so. So I am canceling this resolution and just focus on monthly savings first.

I wonder if I can do automatic deduction into my saving account. Apparently, I also need to take serious consideration in making sure I didn't spend too much on my daily food. I try to do this food budget but I simply forget about it too lol. I always buy outside food and never cares about how much I spent on it. I need to be more careful about this.

having fun

I have only met my friends in January and didn´t do any catching up on both February and March. I was planning to go to my friend wedding last March but I totally forgot about it and went to my aunt house since my siblings went there for the school holiday. I feel so bad about it. I really need to buy something for her.

Anyway, I´ve got some days off in April so I might go to meet my friends. I was thinking to go to Seremban and just chill for a day there. We´ll see how it goes.

I also need to have a nice, long vacation. I need to plan this well and by planning that means saving money too.

trying more new things

1. Have a pet - my new placce didn´t allow pets so this plan might be halted till next year
2. Learn mandarin - I´m thinking to learn some simple term from my chinese friends that I can also use at work. I´ll start there first.
3. Learn brush painting - I just added this among to do list in April
4. Learn to use a music apartment - this might be loud so I don´t think it will be appropriate to do in my new place.
5. Be minimalist - my new place is basically a single room with a shared kitchen, toilets etc. It is a smaller room than my old one. The prospect of being able to be more minimalist is actually among other reason why I chose this place. I either throw out things I don´t need or left it at home. I also make sure I have the biggest possible free space. This is officially my first step of being a minimalist.

Apart from self-projects, I really didn´t do much outside my comfort zone. I´m not big on travelling but I think I need to do one just so I can venture more new things. I also need to be more disicplined with my losing weight and better money management too. I think that´s it for now. Next review will be at the end of June.

April Targets - Go Big or Go Home

April Targets - Go Big or Go Home

Apr 4, 2019

LOL. I am definitely going home but a girl ought to dream.

I was thinking to merge my New Year´s resolutions review with April´s target but since the review is going to be wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy longer while this is just a simple post, I decided to do this first.

I have officially moved into my new place and it feels good. I  am thinking to tweak around the arrangements a bit more and made it more chic like I did with my old place but for now, this totally works. 

Since I have flopped March so gloriously, let´s hope we can do a whole lot better in April.

The targets areeeeeeeeeee

*cue for drumroll please*

1. Finish reading both Kafka on The Shore and Norwegian Wood
2. Read one poetry book
3. Finish reading Al Baqarah translations
4. Do 5 poems discussion on Instagram
5. Try to at least go to the gym twice a week
6. Try to do at least 5 brush drawing practice (i think i have lost my brushes and watercolor)
7. A detailed itinerary to Thailand that includes Hatyai and Krabi
8. Write all 30 poems according to prompts from NaPoWriMo and update it into a thread on Twitter
9. No sugary drinks except for my daily morning coffee EOD

EOD is this universally used medical terms that means every other day.

Is there anything you wish to achieve in Apil?