A trip to the beach - 1st Sep 2007

2 weeks before the trip, me and 3 other guys have a plan to go to the beach. I have checked with the local colleague regarding the attraction here and I got an answer was: the beach. All he said was, "If you want to go somewhere this weekend, you have to go to the beach". I have checked with my boss and he also said the same thing. So, a week before the actual day, my colleague managed to book a car at a price of 15 Cyprus pound per day. This is really a bargain as now in Cyprus because it's summer holiday and really hard to rent a car at this price (The other car rental company offers 20 pound per day and at least rent for 3 days). The owner required us to rent it at least for 2 days and we planned to use the extra day to go somewhere else.

My colleague got the car on Friday evening and they already drove the car around the city at night. I haven't saw the car yet as I went back to home after work because I was kinda tried and lazy to go out. The next morning, we began our journey on 9:15 am and we were going to pick up the rest of guys. On my first look on the car, I was astonished because for a 15 pound car rental, I would guess it's a very out of fashion or old car. But this car is really worth more than its rental value from its looks. It's a small car but comfortable enough for 4 people to travel. There are some flaws on the car on my ride as I noticed the there are wind noise if the air-cond is set to high and door is plastic trimmed. Aside from all this, it's a good car and it drives really smooth.

So, first destination was to the Ayia Napa where it is a town most people talked about its beautiful beaches. As recommended by one of the colleague in the office, we went to the Makronisos Beach at around 11:30 PM. I like it for the first view as there are a lot of beach chair along side the beach. But one of our colleague said that the crowd is rather over aged. :P After a 5 minutes stay on the beach for taking photo; not even touching the sea water, we went back to the road and headed to another beach called the Nissi Beach. Here, the crowd has more youngster and the beach stretch much wider. Of course, the "view" is definitely better than the first beach we just visited. The rest of the guy went for a swim except me, who is staying on the beach to watch over the stuffs. Not going into the water proves I have more time taking photos and enjoy the "view" on the beach. :P

After 4 hours of fun at the beach, it's time to moves (Personally, I think 2 hours is more than enough on the beach. After a swim, get some lunch then head to other places but we end up leaving the beach at 4 pm). We have a tour to the Cape Gkreko then headed to the nearby town Paralimni and Protaras. In the end, we took our dinner at Protaras, where all shops are closed in Paralimni, and enjoyed a live match between Liverpool and Derby.

On our way back home, we were wonder whether to stop by Aiya Napa check out the night life there. But the night was too young and all four in the car haven't took their shower yet. So, we decided to go back and go for a drink instead. As for me, I chose to get an early sleep.

One more week in Cyprus

I just got the news today from my boss where my leave application is rejected. All I get was a email stated that I need to extend another week in Cyprus. This is not good except there are more allowance to earn for another week stay. :P

So, I'm going to miss my family and the food in Malaysia for another week. Hopefully there is miracle happened or I'll just look to the bright side. Anyone wants to go to the beach again? :P

Cyprus trip (for work)

KLIA - 13th Aug 2007
I've never been to Cyprus before and I never heard of it. (Just like the people in Cyprus. You tell them you're from Malaysia, they are not sure. But if you tell them you're from Singapore, all say yes. Even the weather forecast in the news does not show Malaysia. :P No wonder.) So, this is a first trip for me to Cyprus. Anyway, my flight is on midnight and I reached the KLIA airport around 10:15 PM by taxi. After checking on the schedule board and found my way to the checking in counter, my colleague still haven't arrived yet. There was a long cue waiting at the check in counter and passengers with huge luggage bag. (There must be a lot of middle east travelers in Malaysia.) When my colleague has arrived, the cue behind me was longer than before and luckily for him, we was able to check in together.

Dubai - Transit
After finished watching couple of movies in a long hour flight, we finally reached Dubai. Flight transit is not a good experience if the transit is going to take more than 5 hours. There was a lot of people sleeping on the waiting for their flight and I was tempted to join them. Until I saw the condition of the carpet floor, I've changed my mind. The funny thing was, I have saw people sleeping on the floor with full body covered. Just like a mummy from Egypt. :D After a while sitting on the floor waiting due to all the seats are fully taken, we finally manage to squeeze in the crowd for 2 seats. There was wifi service available for internet connection but somehow my laptop does not work with it.



Taking a small nap on the "not so comfortable for sleeping" seat wasn't easy and we finally got up to get our free breakfast. Yes, it's free food provided by the airline company for passenger who transit for more than 4 hours. But you can rather skip it as the meal doesn't serve well. It was just only couple of small sandwiches, a banana cake and a coffee. Beside, breakfast will be served again while in the flight, which is better. One more thing regarding the toilet in transit there; it's always full and some are not working or maybe I was having bad luck. It was a long cue in there and by the time it was my turn, the toilet was clogged. Again, the toilet in the flight is far better. In conclusion, transit in Dubai was ok but I think they can improve more especially their services.

Cyprus - Nicosia
Another 2 more hours of flight from Dubai to Cyprus. It was noon by the time we reached there and there no sign of our pick up driver. After 30 minutes waiting, we finally found the driver and I forgive him after he was driving a Benz E class to pick us up. We got our apartment key from him and it took another hour drive from the airport to the apartment. Along the way to the our apartment in the city, we can notice there are lots of sand, rocks and no tall buildings, as no building taller than 10 stories high. Later, I found out that there are earthquake in Cyprus. My colleague even felt it in one of the night while I was sleeping.



The apartment door is a bit tricky here. After 5 minutes of twist, turn and push, we gave up. We asked for help from our neighbour and came out a housewife holding her kid in one arm. She managed to help us to open the door just in seconds. (Gee...). The first step on the apartment's floor with bare feet wasn't that comfortable. It was dusty and slightly sticky if your feet is sweaty. I was so annoyed by it and finally, I gave the whole floor a clean up and I got a bucket of mud water in the end. I came to a conclusion that previous tenant or the weekly cleaner does not like to mop the floor. After checking the apartment around, it was fully equipped. Stove (no gas but it was replaced later), washing machine, fridge, iron board, microwave and vacuum machine. Everything looked like it was well prepared for the tenant to live more than a month.



A quick tour to the office to get a our security key card, a visit to our senior and boss and finally, back to our apartment. In the evening, we went to the city Mcdonald (Most of the shop were closed as they are in summer holiday.) to get some burger because it was very cheap. 1.20 Cyprus pound for 2 chicken burgers. What a bargain if you do not convert it back to Malaysia ringgit. We went to the nearby supermarket to get some bottled water because the tap water here has slightly strange taste. We also took some water from our office for the first 2 weeks and later, I found that the tap water wasn't taste much different and we start drinking from tap water (of course, it was boiled.) from then on.




So, this is just the beginning of the trip. More to come. Stay tuned.

It's my birthday

First thing first, I'm not posting the article to tell my family and friends that you got to do something on this special day. It just that I always write an article on my blog on my birthday unless there is no internet connection.

I want to thank to my family and friends who sent me birthday wishes. I really appreciate it. As you not know, I'm currently in Cyprus for my work and I'm doing just fine.

Here are some photos I've taken and I'll write my experience here when I have the time. Enjoy. ;)

Business trip to Cyprus

Bad financial embarrassment

Ok, it's not me who was embarrassed, it was the family in front me at the check out counter in a supermarket.

I and my wife was having our weekend shopping to stock up our daily supply as usual. It began when I started to notice that the family in front of us bought large quantity of instant noodle. I told my wife this family is either going for a long vacation or opening a restaurant. In the pile of goods on the counter table, there were also a lot of snacks and junk food.

When came to the final total amount shown on the cash register machine, the wife pulled out a credit card to pay the bill. I can see the total amount and it showed RM240++. Meanwhile, the staff pulled out the credit card terminal and informed the wife that the card is not accepted. As usual, the first card is not accepted there's always a backup card. The wife looked at the husband while handing the second credit card to the staff. The husband said, "You lah" (translate: because of you) and obviously the husband was not being helpful at all.

Second card went in and still rejected. For me, I really felt the embarrassment for this family. The amount is small and the second card still even can't go through (I forgive people who had their card rejected in a jewelry shop but this is just ridiculous). The whole scene was screaming we have a crisis here. Their goods were all packed up and put in the trolley. Me and my wife, plus the rest of the people waiting in line wondering how they are going to fix this mess up. Fortunately, the wife has RM100 in cash and paid to the counter staff reluctantly. She asked the staff to charge the remaining amount to the card and finally, it went thru.

After we have paid our goods, my wife asked me why can't the wife just pay the staff in cash earlier. For me, who do not carry much cash in the wallet would understand that, if you low in cash you would in trouble. In daily life spending, a lot of places do not provide credit card facilities and you need to hold enough cash to survive (e.g. Buying your lunch in the cafeteria). So I can understand why the wife would reluctant to hand over the cash amount.

In summary, what did I learn from others? Always pay your credit card in full, or at least knows much credit left on the card because this will save you some embarrassment. ;)