AUSTRALIA

Perth, Australia : 9 tips to visit Perth on a budget

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Budget is actually one of the main things to plan when you go for a trip. I'm always a cheapskate when it comes to travel. I'm not really a backpacker, but I do travel on a shoestring budget. Below are 9 tips on how to minimise your spending when you visit Perth.

1. Plan your itinerary
Having an itinerary is one of the most crucial things for those who are visiting in limited time and have a tight budget. Take time to plan your itinerary. 
For those who just learned to travel on your own without following any travel agency, you can refer to other people's itinerary and from it, you can arrange which attractions to visit on which day.

2. Public transport vs Car rental

My visit to Perth was with my parent. I cannot imagine having my mother carry her luggage onto the bus or trains. As most of the points of attraction we would like to visit are not within walking distance from bus stations and in my opinion, it's cheaper to drive rather than to hail a cab/taxi. So hiring a car from and to the airport was our best option. Below is the list of some of the car rental companies as promised.
It is also wise to visit Vroom Vroom Vroom to compare the best car rental deals from several companies. 


The best deal I got was from the Ace Car Rental which was only AUD220.01 with unlimited miles. I heard from other people, Bayswater also offers good deals for their cars.

What are the things you should know before you hire a car in Australia? I'll do a different post for that.

3. Skip expensive tour

Travelling on a shoestring budget doesn't mean you experience less than other people. However there are certain activities that can be skipped to save your money such AUD 28 for 1 hour-Mandurah Dolphin Cruise and AUD20-60 for Fremantle Prison Tour Packages. It's not because those tours are not interesting but in my regret, I paid too much to see a dolphin for less than a minute!

4. Check out for promotions, coupons,discounts and offers.

Some tourist attractions offer discounted entrance fees on certain days. You can opt to visit the points of attraction on the day they offer cheaper tickets such as the Mandurah Cruises offers discounted tour for only AUD25 on Tuesday and I find that the entrance fees for Araluen Botanic Park are slightly higher during Tulip Festival. We paid AUD12 per pax when we visited it in August 2015 while now the entrance fee stated on their website is only AUD6 per adult. They also offer special price on Tuesday.

5. Shopping at Watertown Outlet

Shopping for anything other than souvenirs shouldn't be on any backpacker's list, evah. But one cannot have too many shirts right? Watertown Outlet is actually a good place to shop. Cotton On, Rip Curl and Fossil are among the stores that sell their products at much cheaper price than their outlets in Malaysia.

6. Cook
It's pretty simple, aite? I didn't cook actually but more of heating our MREs that we brought from Malaysia. I had nasi lemak in Perth yeay.  I remember we also bought eggs and cook them in the microwave. Food in Perth is not very expensive, to be honest. But we just felt that we could save up a lot more if we cook our own meals. For this trip, I allocated around AUD10 for each person per day, just for food, errr more specifically just for lunch. We had our breakfasts and dinners at the hotel.

However before you fly in all the food stocks with you, it is advisable to check whether it's permissible or not since Australian customs are quite strict. Make sure to declare every item you bring with you.


7. Parking fees

One of the disadvantages of driving on our own is that I tend to worry about parking fees. The rate of the parking fees in Perth is quite high, in my opinion. Parking fees around CBD area could cost you about AUD 4.40 per hour. Parking area in the building is around AUD10-14 per hour. There's a free parking zone at the most of the places I visited except for the city. In the city, free parkings are available from 6pm until 8am. However most of the shops will be closed at 5pm.

8. Fill up at the cheapest petrol station

Petrol price in Australia changes daily, if I'm not mistaken (or weekly) in accordance to the international market. The petrol price will be higher the further you are from the city. The prices may also vary depending on the companies. Different companies, different price. My advice: check the price signs and compare. Most of the times we fill up our tank with Unleaded 91 at Caltex. 

9. Halal Food and Restaurant

There are so many halal food in Australia. Visit Halal Square and Zabihah to find out more about halal restaurants or restaurants with halal certificate. Most of the chocolate brands are halal and pork free. There are halal brands like Maggi, Harvest Fresh Milk, Sun Rice, Ayam Brand products available at Woolworths Mart. Fresh fruits and veggies also wouldn't cost you much. 



AUSTRALIA

Perth, Australia : An Introduction

Tuesday, December 13, 2016


I flew to Perth from Kuala Lumpur on 28th August, 2016 with AirAsia, a Malaysian low-cost airline. It was at the end of winter so the weather was still quite cold. Having lived my whole life in Malaysia, where the weather is usually hot, it was hard to adjust myself with the local temperature. My first 8 hours were spent shivering. Laugh all you want, but my body is just so Malaysian. 

Winter.... in August?
Most of us know that generally, Summer runs from June to August, Autumn/Fall runs from September to November, Winter is between December to February and lastly Summer will begin in June and end in August. However this is not how seasons run in Australia. The winter in Perth runs from June to August but luckily for me there is no snowfall in Perth.

Geography
Australia can be divided into 6 states namely New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. Perth is the capital of Western Australia. To compare it with other cities like Melbourne and Sydney, Perth is not a busy city and people tend to be more relaxed. 

People
Talking about the people I met in Perth, I find that they are very friendly especially the elderly. Greetings such g'days and hellos are casually thrown in the streets make us feel welcomed. Don't be afraid to ask for directions as most of them are VERY helpful.

Gears
Wear sport shoes/sneakers and thick socks. And and and don't forget to bring your winter clothes.

Transportation
It's easy to travel in Perth using public transports or even to hire a car. Perth has a Free Transit Zone for buses and trains. You can even check the schedule and fares on the website to save your time and budget. It is also worth to note that it is very convenient to have a long walk in Perth CBD. For car hire companies, among the popular companies are Aries, Bayswater and Hertz. I will list down all the car rental companies available in Perth in my next post.

Till next post. Tadaa.


NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand Working Holiday Visa for Malaysians

Wednesday, December 07, 2016

Good news to all Malaysians who wish to stay in New Zealand for a period of more than 3 months.

New Zealand's Working Holiday Visa is soon to be available to all Malaysians for application. You just need to have NZ$2,250 for your stay, fulfill the age requirement of 18-30 years old and never apply for such visa before.

Just visit New Zealand Immigration Department for terms and conditions. The visa will be available for application from 20th January 2017 onwards and it is only limited for 1150 Malaysians per year.

INDONESIA

Mount Kerinci on a Budget

Monday, December 05, 2016

Disclaimer*
This is not a backpacking trip as we hired a tour guide but we did try to limit our budget as minimum as possible.

I hope this will be the last post on Mount Kerinci as next I want to write about my August-Sept trip to Australia. I've been procrastinating from writing about it for far too long. I don't know what stops me but I guess it's just me. I like to procrastinate, it's a bad habit that I wish to lose one day.

It's December now and I literally am living my life out of a suitcase. I just came home from Port Dickson this afternoon and tomorrow I will be on the road again, heading to Malacca and Johor Bahru the day after. Next week I'll have my annual visit to Terengganu for a friend's wedding. Fuhhh, I never thought I would travel this frequent.

The total amount I spent for this trip was MYR 828.10  including flight ticket and luggage. I will attach the details of my expenses for Kerinci Trip below.


The Package

Meals, accommodation (hotel and camping equipment), guide, porters and transport were included in the Kerinci Hiking Package with Pak Rapani. You just have to bring some for souvenirs.

The package price will be slightly cheaper when more people join the trip. The amount we got for the trip was the minimum price. However I'm so sorry that I can't disclose the real price since this trip was planned by a good friend of mine who wishes to start his own travel venture one day. Don't worry, you can make your own calculation of the package price based on the total amount that I've stated.

To note, it wasn't necessary to leave some tips for porters but since the service provided was VERY GOOD, we decided to tip anyway. 

Hotel

As I mentioned in my previous post, we stayed at Gunung Tujuh Hotel the day we arrived in Padang. It was not very clean and no water heater available in the bathroom. That's why we had to pay for a kettle of hot water to take a bath after the climb down. But the food was delicious though it's a bit spicy to my liking. Overall, the stay was fine.

I've tried to be as transparent as possible on the details of my experiences and I hope all eh information I've shared will be useful to all the readers who stumble upon this blog. 

Related Posts

INDONESIA

Mount Kerinci : Of trails and trek

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

MEMBERS OF THE JOURNEY

8 friends from Malaysia
Guide : Pak Rapani
3 Porters : Baron, Ifan and a quite guy whose name we asked but still, it slipped my mind.
Total : 12 pax

TREK : POST 1 TO SHELTER 2

Among adventure junkies, mountaineers and hikers, Indonesia is known for its tough mountain trails and Kerinci is no different. Here, I will try to describe the trails by checkpoints. There are 8 main checkpoints namely Post 1, Post 2, Post 3, Shelter 1, Shelter 2, Shelter 3, Batu Gantung and Yudha's Monument.

According to Pak Rapani, the mountain is just like Gunung Tahan in Malaysia in which it is covered by thick rainforest. There is a tiny possibility of facing with tigers that are still actively roaming the forest. Uh oh! But worry not, he said. The tigers in Kerinci just roam around. They intend no harm if we mean no harm.

The trail is flat only in the beginning and it is getting harder and harder from Post 1 up until the end. I was beginning to struggle to keep up with Pak Rapani when we were on our way to Post 3 so I was left behind at the end. I used my knees quite often to cross (I'm not sure which word to use here) big trunks as I'm only 1.5m tall. My steps were shorter than the others'. I literally had to crawl to climb up some steep paths since I was  SO exhausted and dispirited. In my mind, it felt like we're not trekking anymore, we were actually climbing. Upon seeing how tired I was, Pak Rapani offered to lift one of my mineral bottles since most of the loads I carried came from water even though he first, laughed at me. (Thank you so much).

From then on, I felt energetic and it was like there was nothing to carry on my back. It was  like I was strolling across the thick forest happily. I wasn't being left behind again and I could keep up with Baron who was quite fast. Among the three porters, I noticed that our quite porter was the fastest. 

The path got steeper and steeper from Post 3 to Shelter 2 and we had to stop every few steps to catch a breath and our pace got slower. Hands up, there is no mountain as tough as Kerinci.

Then rain started to fall, though it's only a light shower but rain means no good sign for hikers. The temperature started to drop and we could see steams coming off of our bodies when we stopped at Kem Bayangan. Rather than continue our way to Shelter 3 as planned, we decided to spend the night at Shelter 2 since there were a lot of trees to protect us from strong wind at night. 

TREK : SHELTER 2 TO 3

From Shelter 2, not only the paths are steeper than ever, we basically had to glide along gullies. The pathways are narrow and slippery. At this time, wearing a pair of gloves and a headlamp is no longer an option.

 It is all rainforest until Shelter 3. 
TREK : SHELTER 3 TO BATU GANTUNG
I asked Pak Rapani if there was any attempt to discover and open new route. He said there were other routes but it would take longer to arrive.

 At this point the forest is now behind us. The path is sandy and rocky. As there is no tree to protect us from heavy wind, every step was like a struggle as we were actually struggling to keep ourselves balanced.

 In the middle of the journey as it seemed that the rain was not going to stop any time soon,  one of us asked Pak Rapani if we could actually reach the top. Pak Rapani seemed reluctant to give a positive answer but he pointed out a few times that the wind would be stronger at the higher stages.

 At the end, some of us decided not to continue the journey as the weather was so bad and unbearable. Pak Rapani and a few others continued the journey and promised the rest of the members that they would not continue any further if they couldn't make it to the top by 8am.

 Baron led the group that decided to descend back to the campsite.

 Yes, I didn't make it to the top. And Kerinci was my first mountain in Indonesia.
That's me! This photo was taken at some point after Shelter 3
*Realising that Kerinci was the first mountain in Indonesia that I dared to give it a try, I felt such a strong emotion swallowing the fact that this was the first time I failed to summit.
Related posts
1. Mount Kerinci : Preparation
2. Mount Kerinci : Itinerary
3. Mount Kerinci on a Budget 

INDONESIA

Mount Kerinci : Itinerary

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Before I jump to the most waiting topic which is the hiking experience and expenses, I would like to share the itinerary of the trip.

I’ll try to make it short but full of useful information for the readers.

DAY 1

Arrived at the airport. Pak Rapani was waiting for us at the arrival hall.
He then brought us for late breakfast.

Meal : Nasi Impit, Lontong, some kulit lembu dish we never had before (but boy it’s delish) and of course Paan’s favourite Teh Botol.

Next stops :
1.Currency Exchange store
2.Outdoor stores
3.Simcard store

For late lunch, we dined at the restaurant facing Danau Kembar (Twin Lakes). However I don’t even know which one of the lakes we visited that day, whether it’s Danau Diateh or Danau Dibawah. Funny they name the lakes as Upper Lake and Lower Lake.

Meal : Nasi Padang with Hidang method. On the table, they served us Nasi Putih (Rice), Ayam Goreng (Fried Chicken), Beef Rendang, Fried Fish, Asam Pedas Ikan, Unique-looking Telur Dadar (Omelette), Sambal, Ulam Pucuk Ubi (boiled tapioca leaves).

We were introduced to Teh Telor ; a drink with egg (duck egg, if I'm not mistaken) and a slice of lime. It tasted a bit like malted drink and I would say that the drink is fine. No weird taste and consumable.

We arrived at the Gunung Tujuh Hotel late in the evening. The rooms were okay, not so clean but not really dirty.

DAY 2

We started our journey at around 8-ish in the morning. They prepared each of us a lunch and dinner pack together with 2 1.5ML-bottles of drinking water.

DAY 3

Summit attack at 3.30 am. We started to climb down from the camping site at around 11-ish and arrived at the starting point around 5.30pm.
Packing, shower, dinner and start our journey back to Padang.

DAY 4

Had a nightcap in Solok when our guide, Pak Rapani stopped for his coffee break. 

Meal : Soto was served with nasi, delicious Murtabak (beef crepes) with spicy dip and Teh Susu (milk tea)

Next stops : 
1. Padang Cement (I guess)
2. Padang Beach
3. Pantai Padang also known as TAPLAU (TAPI LAUIK)
4. Outdoor Store (again)
5. Convenience store
6. Minangkabau International Airport


Direction sign boards of various countries at Taplau


Related posts :
1. Mount Kerinci : Preparation
2. Mount Kerinci : Of Trails and Trek
3. Mount Kerinci on a Budget 

INDONESIA

Mount Kerinci : Preparation

Monday, November 14, 2016


I was enjoying my creamy butter chicken when a friend of mine asked whether I would like to join him to Padang for a hiking trip. If I agreed, it would be my first hiking trip in Indonesia. I was hesitant at first, knowing it had been so long since the last time I hiked. I wasn’t fit anymore. So the invitation was being left unanswered for quite some time until I asked him again more than a month after that whether the invitation was still stand.


 Information I gathered pre-Kerinci


Most of the information I gathered was from the Internet and some friends who have been there before me. Thanks, B.
1.   Kerinci is the highest volcano in Indonesia and it is located in Sumatra Island.
2.   The trek starts from Kersik Tuo Village.
3.   Your journey will start from the Airport, Padang – Kersik Tuo – Kerinci.
4.   The journey (by car/MPV) from Minangkabau International Airport to Padang is about 7 – 8 hours.
5.   The peak is 3,805 metres above sea level.
6.   There are 8 main checkpoints along the way starting from Post 1,2,3, Shelter 1,2,3, Batu Gantung and Yudha’s Monument.
7. The lowest temperature at the Shelter 3 and higher points could be around 5°C

 Accommodation

 Gunung Tujuh Hotel, around 20 or 30 minutes’ drive from the starting point.

 Fitness Preparation

 I TRIED to go for a run at least 5 times a week in the final month before the departure. I repeat, I tried. 

 Essentials

 2 pairs of gloves
2 pairs of socks
A t-shirt and a pair of trousers for hiking
Another pair for sleeping
Jacket/windbreaker
Fleece – I wore heat tech from Uniqlo
Raincoat
A hiking backpack of 40L to 50L
A small bag for summit attack (10L)
Headlamp with extra batteries
Sleeping bag
Wet tissues
Personal emergency kits
Toiletteries
Some dry food
Sunblock



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