Pulau Perhentian: Itinerary and Budget

It's been a while fellow travelers!

Lockdown after lockdown has restrained us not only from traveling but daily chores as well. Frontliners, small businesses, parents, students and more are suffering this never ending battle. Just as the entire world is vaccinated along with booster, comes another concerning variant. Malaysia had another lockdown from June till about September this year. Freedom privileges are given to those who completed their vaccination so my reckless travel bug gotto take the chance while still can. I predict we might have another lockdown in 2022 but we'll see how. Usually my predictions come true. 

Review: Nature Republic's Green Derma Mild Cica Serum

 Hey beautiful!

It's mid 2021 already but some of us are still struggling with this whole pandemic thing. Malaysia has undergone lockdown for God knows how many times and it's never ending. Before blaming any party ask yourself first have you done your part? Are you disciplined enough to practice the SOP? Okay enough of ranting...I've been ranting for a few posts now. Amidst all the hardship, I thank God my life is still great. I have stopped accepting product reviews since my dad's passing in 2018 due to my emotional roller coaster. But now I'm slowly picking up again. Big thanks to Nature Republic for sending amazing skincare to rescue my skin from the effects of wearing face mask.

I always envy how Koreans have such baby soft supple skin. Furthermore our tropical hot and humid climate making my skin irritated too often. Now I worry no more thanks to Green Derma Mild Cica Serum by Nature Republic.

Review: Top View Restaurant at The Top Komtar

 Happy Birthday to me!!!

Not really excited about getting older but grateful I've made a circle around the sun safely figuratively speaking. Hubby made a reservation for Top View Restaurant through TableApp a week before my birthday on 19 Dec (Saturday). He made some requests directly with a WhatsApp number that has The Top logo so we assumed we were speaking directly with The Top management. Everything was smooth and we got email confirmation.

This isn't our God damn table even though we requested a week beforehand!

Review: Cavilla Eyelash Serum

 Hey, beauties!

How are you coping with the pandemic? Everything seems uncertain but life must go on with new norm. Cooking and ordering food almost everyday, less gathering, local travel, sanitize and Mask On! Gotta get used to it. I'm doing fine so far and enjoying every bit of it. Spend most of my time learning new cooking tips, self pampering, doing nothing on the couch, online shopping like nobody's business, binge watching Korean drama till I fell head over heels with oppa, stalking and "harassing" my oppa's social media, designing my new home...we'll get to that in a few months.

Ok, I need to get back on topic. Few months ago I got myself two 6ml bottles of Cavilla Eyeash Serum after reading some good reviews. I'm not sure if this is a placebo or some direct selling stuff that got influencers promoting them but I just purchased 2nd batch of the serum to give it another shot.

Update about 3 months later...Wow! My lashes has never been this long even with mascara.

The Banjaran Hotspring Retreat Staycation

Hello fellow explorers!

As you all know by now there's a Covid-19 pandemic happening worldwide. We were under lockdown for about 3 months plus. I have gotten so tired of cooking daily. At times I feel depressed and questioned our existence. Don't we all? Finally grace upon God's blessing Malaysia have overcome the pandemic. Not to say 100% but we are in a safe zone for now. You can't imagine how happy we were when our borders reopened and we could dine and shop like before. You still gotto mask on, register before entering any business premise and sanitize frequently. That's our new norm.

The Banjaran Hotspring Retreat is one of the super exclusive resort in Malaysia. Phenomenal experience here! Bear in mind this is an all adult resort. Children below 12 not allowed, not even at the restaurant. Peaceful indeed =)

Review: Derma roller

Hey beauties!

I know I know it has been way too long since my last beauty review. Have you heard of derma roller? I have recently come across a tool that I didn't know existed. Many beauty gurus have given good reviews and shared benefits of derma roller. It is said to reduce if not eliminate fine lines, wrinkles, dark spots, pimple marks and even cellulite. Depending on the needle length you choose, each serves their own function to regenerate new skin cells. Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm very new to this.

There is no specific brand to use. I simply search for derma roller on Lazada and bought whatever's available.

Bangkok: Itinerary and Budget

Hey beloved wanderlusters,

Never have I thought to be able to countdown 2020 in another country. It's so last minute. All bookings were done at such a peak season so it's not the best price but we had to do it on a tight budget as we aren't supposed to go for any more trips after Turkey. This is because our new home is completing real soon. The rapid progress is way ahead of time.

This is hubby's first time to Bangkok but certainly not my first so I strive to be a good tour guide for him. This entire trip is supposedly free and easy so the itinerary below is only a guideline.

Top 10 Haunted Hotels I Have Stayed

Happy Halloween!

Muahaha I'm so excited when it comes to paranormal topic. As I was busy finding hotel for my next trip, I did some background check as well then thought how come I never share my haunted hotel list. As my travel experience grew, I always try my best to never book hotels that have some unwanted stories behind. Most haunted hotels were booked in my early days where I don't care as long as there's a place to stay.

Turkey: Itinerary and Budget

Dear readers,

It's been a year since I last touched this blog. A sad tragedy has fallen upon our family last year. My father passed away on May 5th 2018 and I secluded myself from the world. Losing a loved one has made a deep impact in our lives. The scar will never heal but we must go on living. There's not a day pass without thinking about dad. There isn't something I do or somewhere I land my feet on without reminiscing the past. Time did not do justice.

Anyway I am here to share with you about my anniversary trip to Turkey with my husband. We have recently celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary and 15 years since our first date.

CuboPark @ Chusan Penang

One word: Horrible

Venue: Cubopark is an open air concept park with containers served as stalls and food outlets perceived as a very instagramable place.

Long story short: Photography not allowed. Anyone holding DSLR will get screwed. Person in charge (a bit tanned, short and plump lady) holding walkie talkie spied on us even after we had dinner. Scared us from behind when hubby took out camera again. She said she has been watching us. Surrounding people thought we are criminals.
Got humiliated af.
Bad management.
No signboard saying dos and don'ts.

The Long Story:

She said we should have written letter to the management but we kept telling her we are not here for commercial photography. We are just a couple taking pics of eachother like everyone else. C'mon la we are doing free publicity for you. Our friends have been asking about the place but now we can just tell them not to go. Waste time.

We never experienced such humiliation before. Even when we brought DSLR to Queensbay Mall, Gurney plaza, Gurney Paragon, premium outlet, KLCC cos u know there are events at concourse area to shoot but we were never questioned about our DSLR. We don't bring tripod or take photos in the shops or bring into cinema cos we know the rules well enough.

As you can see from our travel photos in this blog, famous malls like Harrods, Lafayette, Grand bazaar and several more did not chase us out either. We also entered without hassle into numerous museums, mosques, churches, temples, castles, palaces (without tripod of course).

We were always welcomed with open arms and friendly smiles and some caretakers/guards/management even gave tips for the best view. They told us they were happy we are promoting them. But Cubopark being open space PARK (obviously) ambushed and made us feel so unwelcomed we had to run to the doors. So immediate that I forgot to try the marshmallow dessert at Haru Hari cos we just had dinner at SYST and teabreak at Mango B. See, I'm not those kids who came just to take pics for their Ig. My purpose here was to try your food and take pics to review here....for FREE!

The reason why we brought a DSLR was we saw so many people taking pics with DSLR in Cubopark on Facebook and Instagram. My friend also brought her camera as well. So we thought since its a well decorated outdoor space that encourages phototaking there's nothing wrong with what I am doing. Why did I edit this post by putting the long version? Because I hope the management might one day stumble upon this lowly humble blog and see my clarification.


Contact me via Facebook: http://facebook.com/aliciaboey

Update: Around mid 2020 it has been closed down for good. It has been getting less and less patrons even without the pandemic and lockdown just acts as a catalyst to shut it down.

Hong Kong: Itinerary and Budget

Hey wanderlusts!

We finally meet again after a long hiatus. There has been a turmoil in my life recently and I felt like giving up. Nope I haven't reached to the point of suicide. At least not yet. Good news is we unexpectedly purchased another home but that also means we had to cut our spending to the max. Anyway to start fresh in 2018 hubby and I decided to go on a budget trip to Hong Kong for our 5th wedding anniversary as well as experiencing Lunar New Year at the happening city. We were supposed to countdown for New Year in Hong Kong but most hotels were fully booked or doubled the price so it wasn't worth it. 

Bear in mind this isn't exactly a backpacker's trip but if you really want to spend below RM2k it is possible with budget airlines and hostels.

Iceland: Day 12 & 13 (Back home)

Good morning!

It's time to go back home. It was a relaxing experience at the Blue Lagoon yesterday. If you are interested to know itinerary and budget for this trip click HERE.

 Blessed to have Northern Lights sending us home.

Iceland: Day 11 (Blue Lagoon)

Morning peeps!

Finally the day has come. We are heading to Blue Lagoon! For a recap, we toured around half of Snæfellsnes yesterday. If you are interested to know itinerary and budget for this trip click HERE.

Iceland: Day 10 (Snæfellsnes Peninsula)

Hey there peeps,

It's the third last day of our Icelandic adventure. We were so glad to finally step foot on Walter Mitty's little town yesterday. I purposely allocate some time and detoured to that shooting location. If you are interested to know itinerary and budget for this trip click HERE.

Iceland: Day 9 (Stykkishólmur and Kirkjufell)

Rise and shine peeps!

Our legs are still tired of the 8km walk in total to and fro DC3 plane wreck yesterday. If you are interested to know itinerary and budget for this trip click HERE.

Iceland: Day 8 (DC3 plane wreck and Reykjavik city walk)

Good morning again!

Gosh it's already Day 8 of our Icelandic adventure. What a fun time we had at ice beach and crystal ice cave yesterday though it was crowded as hell. If you are interested to know itinerary and budget for this trip click HERE.

Waited for the rainbow to appear but it was damn crowded!

Iceland: Day 7 (Jökulsárlón and crystal ice cave)

Rise and shine dearies!

Today we will be visiting the infamous ice beach lagoon. We visited Skaftafell National Park yesterday and it was an exhausting climb to get to the waterfall. You can find itinerary and budget for this trip HERE.

Iceland: Day 6 (Skaftafell)

A very lovely and windy morning today!

Just for recap yesterday was a disaster! We were stuck for almost 6 hours in the middle of a tiny town unable to turn to anywhere coz all roads were blocked even the one towards Reykjavik. The wind was quite strong but luckily we were able to drive today. Blue skies can be seen clearly as the horrible clouds blown away. You can find itinerary and budget for this trip HERE.

"Hiked" an hour for this but the breathtaking waterfall was worth it.

Iceland: Day 5 (Journey to Vik)

Good morning!

Today we will head on down to Vik. Yesterday we had so much fun around the Golden Circle. This morning we got up around 7am with happy vibes and excited to start our waterfall journey cos we thought we will visit lotsa waterfalls today but turned out didn't go according to SCHEDULE. We'll talk about it later.

Cold and wet and moody at Seljalandsfoss.

Iceland: Day 4 (Golden Circle)

Rise and shine my dear nomads!

Today we will be heading yo Golden Circle! Are you excited? I know I am! Yesterday was Day 1 of our Iceland adventure where we just collect car and check into Reykjavik City Hostel so nothing much. If you are interested to know itinerary and budget for this trip click HERE.

Just like a postcard this instaworthy background at Þingvellir National Park is so enchanting!