Here it is, travelogue.ilyani.net

Until I add the China chapter soon, please enjoy India stories of our travel journal.

Spoiler: Frozen lake and mountains @ Karakul, Kashgar-Tashkurgan, Xinjiang China.

Okay, nothing special about this book. At least I said so, and when he was busy jotting down all auto-rickshaw fares, monument entrance, food etc we had spent for that day, I would give an unpleasant ‘is that really important?’ kind of look. “My family never bother taking note of how much we spent during travel, yet still we survived without getting short of money :P” I teased him. Well I realized he’s taking precaution so to track our money out and if we’re still within budget. By writing down in this small book.

He would write separate page for each day, and in another section, the money out was calculated in category (whether it’s hotel, food, entrance fee, transport, etc) and the last section at the end is where the figures would be audited again so that everything and the balance would telly, and we know how much money remain by day without having to dig out our pocket again and re-count the notes again. Ya, he gets a point there, but still, this is so much fuss to me. Who needs to care about our budget that much when we know we already bring enough funds already?

Yup, I never actually agreed with him regarding the small book, until recently, when I found the book again, how I realized it helped ALOT to trace our journey in details! ^_^ I’ve been compiling our travelogues in another place (not in this blog finally, seeing I have so much to write and I’m so perfectionist when it comes to documenting our travel stories!). Well, this little book turned out to be my savior!

Apart from our spending account, this book records some marks from people we dearly met in Delhi.. with Mr Showkat’s note of his address in Kashmir he asked us to visit, and his sketch of map of Mughal Gardens in Srinagar.

Also, some other addresses we could keep in case we visit them again!

The luggage sticker for our SpiceJet flight to Srinagar! And phone number and name of mysterious guy we kept encountering in Srinagar! Ohhhh this little book has become a memorable item now! T_T I love you Az! You’re so genius!

I will reveal the travel blog one of these days, if you like. Hopefully before China.

Love is in the Air – Nov 2011

Was in Kota Kinabalu end of last year, with Az’s family. Yup, a family vacation as it seems, for a week. One of our destinations was Tunku Abdul Rahman marine park near KK coastline, where Sapi island, Mamutik island and Gaya island are located close to each other (as in, about 15 minutes by speed boat). We only had time for Sapi and Mamutik only. To measure its beauty especially underwater during snorkeling, I still prefer Perhentian Island in Terengganu, but perhaps people come to these Sabah islands for their own features. The parasailing was expensive, but it seems worth doing once in a lifetime if you want to feel floating some hundred meters above the sea. It was like flying! :) Scared a bit, but at least I can say I did once fly in the sky ^_^

Unlike the hassle to go to Perhentian or Redang island in Terengganu (unless you live in the towns nearby Kuala Besut or Merang), these islands in Sabah are very convenient to visit as the jetty is right at the KK city. Also, speed boat doesn’t take so long either, I guess in less than 30 minutes you’ll be surrounded by crystal green water.

Kota Kinabalu Welcomes you – jumping photo at the jetty area :)

And first, let me proudly announce that I was the last person on planet to own an Android phone (or whatever smart phones nowadays), it was in August if I can remember, just after I switched job. It had been many months since my Nokia 6120 dead (only camera can still work) and I’ve got Lumix TZ7 some time during USM time 2 years ago and the need of camera phone has been somehow reduced. But having to use my old Nokia 1600 was saddening after months.. and it was then when I was contemplating to buy a neat smart phone. However, I ended up with the cheapest, oldest, most obsolete HTC Wildfire =,= Az said I had to start with the most basic first and see if it suits me before I can upgrade to more expensive or newer type (good excuse for not letting me spend over RM1k for a new phone). And that time I saw Miriam also bought the same type (apparently I happen to be inspired by her in buying stuff, a Brother’s sewing machine included, which I’ll talk about in next post), so I thought, who cares if it’s the cheapest and least functioning Android, not that I was going to spend my entire time with it.

I was disappointed at first after seeing how poor is the function and I realized that I am not the type of those modern people who would react fast with a touch screen T_T When I started to curse myself for following the trend and had to buy a new phone that I wasnt really interested and capable to use, I got to find some nice Photo editor apps that give you Retro look which is so in lately, which means I can save time from doing Photoshop already. Az was right then, should I have bought a more expensive phone, I would even curse myself even more every time I find it hard to write SMS properly =,=

From FXCamera:

Pics above taken in Az’s (another) home town in Kedah.

in my hometown KB.