Tripda: carpooling with strangers could be quite fun #TripdaBlogAwards

I have been hearing Tripda for quite a while and I decided to check it out last Saturday.

What is Tripda?
Basically Tripda is a carpooling platform whereby drivers post up their rides and passengers can choose if they want to join a particular ride. Drivers will determine the fee they want to impose on the passengers and it is usually a low cost ride. Hence, it benefits both parties. This would be helpful for university students as this can help them to lower down the petrol and toll expenses.

How do I post up or join a ride?
- You can use their mobile app (available on iOS or Google play) or you can use their        website http://www.tripda.com.my/

I booked mine through their website because I personally preferred the website:

How secure is it?

It might look quite scary to go on a ride with somebody you do not know at all but you have the flexibility to cancel if ever you are not comfortable. Tripda will show you the driver or passenger profiles.

Based on the information and the activities and number of facebook friends available, you can roughly gage whether somebody might be suspicious or not. Also, Tripda will not be relaying your phone number until there is approval of a ride. I do recognise that it might be risky, but hey, we are living in the 20th century and what is life without risks? :)

My Tripda experience

Last Saturday, I booked a random trip to Melaka from KL on tripda, just to experience Tripda and blog about it. I went to meet the driver at TBS. At first, I was a bit nervous. We whatsapped and I knew which carplate number it was and I knocked on the door.

My ride

Knocking nervously on the door of the driver

He welcomed me in and we chatted for a little while. He was waiting for a three more friends whom I did not know at all. So, I was thinking it is going to be so awkward later. But finally, the 3 friends came, we all introduced ourselves and broke the ice. I learnt that they were high school friends, meeting after such a long time and they were roughly the same age as me. So, there was no issue to communicate. I told them that I was on the trip to have my personal experience about Tripda and blog about it later. They did not know about this carpooling platform but they were very supportive and asked questions. The conversations were not awkward at all. We became friends and we took selfies together.

In the car selfie

This enabled me to increase my network of friends as well and I roughly know in which line of business each of them is. So, if I need advise in the future, I know where I can go also. Initially my plan was just to go Melaka with them and take the bus back. However, they asked me if I wanted to join them for the rest of the day. After a while of thinking, I said why not since I did not have much to do and it would be a partial waste to have gone this far just to return back. So we went around melaka, had very good Nyonya food in Jonket street, walked around A-Famosa and so on. There were places that I did not go to before as well. So, it was a day of discovery also. Here are a few selfies (or groupfies or whatever you call it whahah):

 

Nyonya Food selfie

While walking selfie

Deciding where to eat

Nyonya Food

Christ Church Melaka and the high school friends

Christ Church

A Famosa

At 5.30 pm, they dropped me at the bus sentral for my ride back to KL. I paid the driver for the trip from KL to Melaka. He did not charge me for going around with them. We enjoyed each other's company and bottom line is I had a very random, spontaneous and good experience with Tripda along with new friends made. Looking forward to my next random Tripda trip.

After the trip, I made a video on "8 reasons why you should use Tripda". Tripda can eventually help to lessen jam and create a greener environment. Watch the video and find out:

Share the post and let everybody know about Tripda.

To follow updates of Tripda, you can visit the following social media:

1. Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/TripdaMalaysia

2. Instagram: @TripdaMY

3. Twitter: @TripdaMY

BIM Trip Part 1

Here is my blog post for my BIM trip. My definition of BIM is - Bangladesh - India - Mauritius.

Basically, the main destination for this trip was Mauritius, my amazing hometown, commonly known as Paradise island. Because it was in the year end season, the flight ticket from KL to Mauritius would cost a lot. After some research, I managed to get a good deal passing through Bangladesh and India. My plan was to spend 1 day in Bangladesh, 6 days in the northern part of India, 17 days in Mauritius and another last 3 days in another part of India before going back to Malaysia to work.

I set off from Malaysia on the 12th of December. Now for all my trips, I only managed to do my packing at the last minute only. That is perfectly fine. However, the funny and dangerous thing I did was that I slept before I even started to pack. My flight was at 7.05 am and I planned to leave my house at 4 am. At midnight, I decided to start packing but however, I said to myself, let me lie down for a while and sooner than I thought, I was already asleep, without having set any alarms and without even packing. THIS IS DEFINITELY SOMETHING YOU GOT TO AVOID. LUCKILY, my housemate woke me up at around 4.45 pm as she knows I was going off. Without wasting another second, I jumped to my feet and started packing everything, making sure I do not forget anything extra important, especially for my camera gears. 

Finally I left the house at 5.15am. My housemate dropped me at KL Sentral from where I took the KLIA Express to reach KLIA. Journery was around 35 min, the price also is RM 35 haha.

Ready to rock & Roll

I guess 1 min is Rm 1 ahhaha. 6.15 am was the time I reached the airport and I was RELIEVED to know that my flight got delayed to 8.45 am. Usually people would go crazy on flight delays but that particular one, I really thanked God for that one. So, even when there are flight delays, it might prove to be useful to some people hehe. Despite the flight being delayed, there were still a lot of people at the check-in counter. 

I boarded the Biman Airlines plane at around 8.30 am. One thing about Biman airlines was that there information are sometimes confusing, when looking at the electronic ticket. When I checked the flight status online, the timing was not the same as my itinerary given and they did not even notify by email or SMS. Following this, I emailed their service desk and they cleared my misunderstandings. So, do not always rely on the itinerary, do check the flight status as well when you are travelling. Good thing that they had a good customer service, replying emails very promptly. Well, they better have.

Aboard Biman meal

The 3hour 50 min flight was alright and the meal was good too. However, I realised I forgot to ask for my friend's(Azimah, who was going to bring me around) address as the immigration will normally require an address. I thought maybe they would not ask, so I did not bother much. I reached Dhaka at around 10.30am. I had to wait in the long queue for around 45 minutes before finally reaching the immigration officer. Since there was no address on my arrival card, they asked me to write my friend's address. That time, I did not have a Bangladeshi sim and my Malaysian sim did not seem to work. Luckily I found a very helpful officer around there. He called Azimah and she gave me the address. I had to queue again but fortunately, the queue was less long.

I reached the same officer again. He was finally satisfied after seeing the address on my arrival card. He told me to get the address beforehand next time. I breathed a sigh of relief but it was only ephemeral when he questioned me about my Bangladeshi visa. Heck I dint have a Bangladeshi visa. My research about the Bangladeshi visa was made on wikipedia and wikipedia stated that I did not need to have a visa to enter Bangladesh. I kept telling him I do not need one but he kept insisting that I needed one. He asked his colleague and the latter also said the same thing. In the end, he brought me to his superior.

The superior seemed quite unsure of what to do. It seems like they themselves were not sure whether I needed one or not. Hence, he brought me to his senior who repeated the same thing all over again to bring me to the big senior. Well, I did not meet the big senior. I was in a room besides the big senior and they kept talking in Bengali and I could barely relate. After much talking, then came one officer who told me that they going to give me a transit visa, until my next flight the next morning. They insisted that I needed a visa. I referred them to the wikipedia page but they said that it was the old rule and apparently wikipedia was not updated. I would not be allowed to go in Bangladesh then but only spend the night at the airport. Of course I was unhappy but I swallowed it and accepted it. There was no use fighting. 

They gave me free lunch, which I guess was part of the deal when you do transit over there

The restaurant

However, the transit visa officers told me that I would not be eligible for that visa because my flight is too far. Then, they decided to put me on the next flight to Kolkata (which was supposed to be my next destination for the next morning) and I was happy with that one as I will not need to spend an unnecessary night at the airport. I had sufficient time to go and eat something (which they paid and this was very thoughtful of them) before I requested them to help me meet my friend Azimah as I needed to pass her a lot of things. I really appreciated there help to make me meet up with her. Even though it was around 10 minutes but it proved to be really nice. After that, I boarded the plane (Biman) for Kolkata. 

Bangladeshi Takhas

Azimah, my uni friend

Dr Mintupal from Singapore. He missed a connecting flight and he had to wait for another one. We talked a lot.

Getting ready for Kolkata destination

Aboard the plane, I already sensed a hostile environment. There were some people fighting over luggage. And I did not even have space to put my backpack in the cabin compartment. I asked the stewardess where I could put it and she bluntly replied, saying : "Just put on yourself when you sit". My backpack was already so big but I had no other choice. It was quite an uncomfortable flight and the guy next to me kept looking at my phone and this drove me crazy and scared if he might steal it or something. I then hid my phone and he stopped looking in my direction. The flight to Kolkata was quite quick. Will continue updating in my next post. :)

But, in brief, things that I learnt and took note was:

1. Concentrate on your packing and do not lie down for a 10-15 min sleep before a flight. If you have done your packing and want to rest a bit, remember to set your alarm.

2. Get your host's address always. Do not forget and maybe back up the information on your phone and on cloud storage. So goes for your itinerary and important emails.

3. Do not simply check wikipedia for visa issues as these are important and the most updated information would be from the embassy. So do give them a call.

4. Do not show your valuables(expensive phones, jewellery,etc..)  too much in public, it might attract attention.

My KK trip 2014

Challenging but rewarding, that summarises my overall mount KK experience.

Climbing Mount KK was not really on my bucket list in Malaysia but the opportunity for me came up and I was indeed very excited. In fact, it is worth being put on your bucket list. Our trip was organised by APOH (A piece of hope) which organises trips to the summit, the proceedings of which go to charity. So, if you are looking to climb KK, why not do so together with a charitable cause in mind. You can check them out at http://apieceofhope.blogspot.com/. However the price might be slightly higher than the normal price but still, why not for charity?!

We flew by the morning flight from KLIA2 to KK, roughly 2h30 min away on the 19th of August. Once we reached, the APOH team welcomed us on board a bus, bringing us over to Kinabalu park where we had the day for ourselves, just relaxing and chillaxing for the day. We stayed in a Chalet which was very nice, with greenery around. Also, the place had a real fireplace, where you can actually light up a fire, unlike some hotels which have a fireplace just for decoration. We had a buffet-style dinner, after which the APOH people briefed us about the climb and what to expect.

The Chalet Room

The Fireplace at Kinabalu Park

A little night walk on the eve of the climb

There is a good list of FAQs which they touched on, which can be found here:

http://apieceofhope.blogspot.com/p/faq.html

The real game started on the next day in the morning. We had our breakfast at around 6.45 am, after which we had to board a mini bus at around 7.20 am to go to Tiphon Gate for the most anticipated climb. There is actually 2 small shops there where you can rent a walking stick for RM 10 and poncho also for RM 5. The poncho comes in handy in rainy situation and the walking stick is really helpful, especially when you will be going down, on which you can lean your body and descend more easily.

We roughly set off at around 8.30 am and we had to hike for 6.5 km to reach Laban Ratah, our resting spot. In fact, the whole KK hike is 8.5 km and it is divided into 2 parts. The first 6.5 km, after which you will rest and sleep until 2am at night. The other 2 km is done at night, at 2.30 am in the morning.

The first 6.5km was a jungle walk with mainly stairs to climb up. It gets tiring after a while. So do stretch yourselves before the climb. Also, it is really helpful to climb up and down the stairs as a training for the climb. You can do so at any nearby condominium from where you stay. If you can do 20 storeys up and down for 3 times a week for about a month or two, the climb should be easier. As the climb gets tiring, do prepare your energy bars and water. I brought 1 litre of water and a 100plus and this was enough for me for the 6.5 km. Some people told me that they had a very clear weather when doing their climb. However, mine was accompanied by intermittent rain showers and as such, it is imperative that you have a raincoat or poncho, else you can find all your belongings getting wet, a situation you do not want to happen. At Laban Ratah, you can fill up your water if you run out of it. Energy bars, bananas, chocolates and so on prove to be on high demand during the climb. So do pack some. Of course, do not fill your bag until it's too heavy to carry. Judge the amount and also, you need to bring some warm clothes for the 2nd part of the trip.

For the 6.5 km, you can actually wear shorts and tshirt, there is no issue with the temperature as yet. While you ascend, you will see the awesome sceneries. The pictures further down will tell you more. Once you reach Laban Ratah, you need to register yourself at the counter and then collect your keys to go to your dorm room. At Laban Ratah, you might feel a little bit cold. So do bring your sweater. Also, a lot of people experience headache at that point which is normal due to the reduction in oxygen levels. Panadols are very helpful then. However, if you do have massive headache, it might be a sign of AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) which can prove to be fatal as well. It is advisable not to climb to the summit if you have AMS as people have actually died from it. You can research and learn more about it through google.

There were 2 waterfalls on our way up

One little centipede

The bromance

The climb until Laban Ratah, mostly stairs

A little break

2 km Pause

There are toilets every 1 km, except for the summit. The nearest toilet from the summit is 1.5km.

Found them, fed them, shot them

View while climbing up

Dinner is actually served at around 4.30 pm and it is a buffet style. After eating, we went off to our dorms to sleep. Yea, indeed we slept at around 6pm. It is important to gather enough energy for the peak ascension at 2am in the morning. So, we slept. I did not have a shower there as the floor was really cold and there was cold water there. If you are not feeling well, it is better not to shower to help avoid deteriorating your health. 

Armed with our jackets, beanies, torchlights and a small backpack, just bearing the essentials, we set off at 2.30 am in the morning to climb to the peak. At this level, it was no longer a jungle walk and we mainly walked on rocky ground. It was tiring and some parts were more difficult. The good thing about hiking at night is that you do not see your surroundings and so, some places which would be difficult to cross during daylight are actually very easy, especially people who are afraid of heights. The climb was tough but the pathway was very clear, with the long stretch of think rope which leads you to the top. Follow the rope, that is what you need to do. If you need to rope for some part of the journey, you are more than welcome to use it. Your walking stick also helps. When climbing to Low's peak, it was the part that we took most rest as different people have different stamina as well. I would encourage not to have a big group to climb. A group of 3 is good, so that you do not have to wait for other people that much. If you went to climb in a group of 20, you can always have sub groups for the climb.

Finally, at around 6.30 am we could see the first rays of the sun and you begin to witness the amazing sceneries around you. Clouds, hills, orange/blue skies, rocks, greeneries, everything started to come alive and it is such a beautiful sight. Some of us were tired and were willing to just settle down where we were. However, it is also such a waste to go all the way up there without going to the summit. With the encouragement and support of different ones, we were determined to climb further. However, as you go up, the temperature gets colder and colder. The fact that some parts were wet and we had to use our hands to climb kinda froze our hands, even though we had gloves. It was so hard to take pictures with our frozen hands. We spent only 5 minutes at the top, where the mountain guides took our names for certification purposes.  We had to go down quickly because of the number of people at the top and also because of the temperature. But going at the top is the best feeling ever. All the challenges and obstacles to reach the top did not matter anymore at that point. 

With a sense of satisfaction and achievement, we were on our way back and it was even more beautiful as you get to admire all the breathtaking views which were unseen during the night climb. INDESCRIBABLE was my description of the surroundings. The video at the bottom will describe this more. We went down to Laban Ratah at around 10 ish am and we went to our dorms to pack our stuffs, before heading for breakfast there. Once done with breakfast, we were already on our way down at around 11.30 am to Tiphon Gate, the last 6.5 km of the hike. This proved rather troublesome for me to go down as I stretched my ligament and it was quite painful. Luckily I had my walking stick. It was slow but I was going down. Also thumbs up for my colleagues who helped me out during that painful period, especially James Tan. That is what friends do when you get injured hehe! 

The weather can be so unpredictable. Do bring your raincoats.

The team

We reached Tiphon Gate, our starting point, at around 5.30 pm and got on our bus to take us to KK resort where we spent the night before coming back to KL in the morning. In summary, KK was a very good hike. I used to be overconfident about climbing mountains as I was doing a lot back in Mauritius. However, Mauritius mountains are mere babies when put besides KK. It was challenging. Actually, it is more of a mental challenge rather than a physical one. If you can push yourself to do something, you will definitely succeed. It only depends whether you have the mindset and will to do it. After climbing KK, I feel like going on bigger treks like Nepal now. It's a really unique experience you will not regret, especially when you witness the awesome sceneries from the mountain top. SIMPLY INDESCRIBABLE.

Here's a video of my trip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRnO72DquE0&list=UUh196n3wicmyOOkuTXFc_JA