China: Autumn - October 2025

The last time I went to Mainland China was back in 2003. We went to Beijing then. Since it has been awhile, we decided to go to Shanghai. My mom wanted to go to the Bund 😋

I don't mind going to China again. I wanted to see the difference in 20 years. We were not disappointed. The city was very modern and clean, the facilities were great. Our bus was new. Our hotels have bathrooms with heated toilet seats 😍

Having said that, my mom and I unanimously agreed that this trip is the worst trip ever in our decades of travels. We came back sick and tired despite only spending 4 nights there. Until now I am still puzzled why a short trip to a modern city ended up on a bad note.

Could it be because of the unseen pollution that we ended up sick?  Could it be because the itinerary was too packed? Could it be because the food were bland and monotonous? Could it be because of the time wasting compulsory shops that we must go? Could it be because of the traffic jam and short daylight hours? I don't know. Maybe the simple reason could be the city felt just like Kuala Lumpur. There were no "excitement" factors to balance the shortcomings.

Looking back at the photos taken, it should by right be an enjoyable short trip. The food were plentiful and the restaurants fancy. The places visited were interesting. Good rapport with other travellers in the group. And yet... 🤔

The trip was organised by Tripfez Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd. 5 days 4 nights. Full board. All in price was RM3080/person. Twin sharing.

The itinerary was as follows:

21 October 2025  Kuala Lumpur - Shanghai - Suzhou
22 October 2025  Suzhou - Hangzhou
23 October 2025  Hangzhou - Shanghai
24 October 2025  Shanghai
25 October 2025  Shanghai - Kuala Lumpur

My World Countdown:

Since both me and my mom have been to China before, there is no increase in our world countdown. I am still at 66 and my mom 55.
Note: Recently we recalculated the number of countries we've been to based on United Nation's recognised 195 countries. Thus a slight discrepancies from previous posts 😅

I will upload the daily food videos at my IG account mkhasha.n.food and daily sceneries videos at mkhasha.n.travels.

Hashtags specific to the trip are #mks2025China #mks20251021 #mks20251022 #mks20251023 #mks20251024 #mks20251025

Njoy!

POST MORTEM (Updated 1 November 2025)

Tour Company:

Our first time with Tripfez Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd.  Easy to deal with. Pretty efficient. I noticed from their advertisements in IG,  their tour packages might get cheaper nearer the departure dates. So if you have no need to plan way in advance, it is worthwhile to do the booking last minute.

Itinerary:

Very packed and rushed. Daylight ended at 5++ pm. We did not have enough time to rest. From day 1, we arrived at our hotel after 8++pm. On day 4 we were suppose to reach the hotel before dark, we even decided not to have dinner at the restaurant so that we can go back early and rest. Unfortunately we still ended up arriving late due to the traffic jam.

Airlines:

We flew via Malaysia Airlines 😍

     21/10/2025  MH388  KUL - PVG  ETD 0840 ETA 1415
     25/10/2025  MH389  PVG - KUL  ETD 1525 ETA 2100

I just wished that the group meeting time was not so early. We were to gather at the airport at 4.40 am, 4 hours before departure. Prior to Covid it was only 3 hours. This could also be the reason why the trip was such a failure, lack of sleep and rest on the first and subsequent days thereafter.

Tour Leader:

A nice young man by the name of Syahmi. Unfortunately he didn't have any real "power" in this trip so I will rate him B-. He tried to convey our complaints to the Local Tour Guide but to no avail.

Local Tour Guide:

An experienced lady by the name of Tracy, de facto leader of this trip. I will rate her C-. Her behaviour was superficial, not helpful at all and her time management was terrible. Enough said.

Bus:

The bus was fantastic. New. You can practically smell the leather 😋

Bus Driver:

Our bus driver was nice. Can be a bit grumpy sometimes coz he didn't really get along well with our tour guide 😅 At one time he and the tour guide engaged in an open argument in front of us. They spoke in Mandarin without knowing that some of us can understand their conversations 😂

Hotels:

We stayed at three separate hotels. The rooms were ok. The showers were great. All bathrooms came with heated toilet seats 😋

Hotel Breakfasts:

Breakfasts in Suzhou and Hangzhou were good. Breakfasts in Shanghai were horrible. Limited halal food to eat. The coffee machine was broken. We tried to tell the hotel workers about it but they can't understand English at all. Seriously? How can you messed up something basic as serving coffee during breakfast? They didn't even have tea bags!! In China!!! On the second day I brought my own tea bag to breakfast just in case the coffee machine was still broken. True enough. At least I got my daily fix of hot drinks 😅

Lunches:

We had rice plus many kinds of side dishes at a proper halal restaurants. Unfortunately same type of food served in different restaurants at different cities. When we brought the issue up to the tour leader, the tour guide said that for Muslim tour that is the only kind of food served. Seriously? When we can see the same halal restaurants sold noodles and kebabs? Obviously there was no effort whatsoever to ensure we enjoyed diverse culinary experience during the trip.

Dinners:

We had the same kind of food as lunches. Sometimes even at the same restaurant! By day three, I think most tour members couldn't stomach it anymore so one dinner instead of eating at the restaurant we asked the tour guide to tapau the food for us and brought it to the hotel. Some of us took a little bit for dinner and the bulk of the meals were given to the hotel staff who thankfully enjoyed it 😅 

Maybe Tripfez should consider making this tour half board. No dinner, just late lunch. Repetitive food once a day is easier to stomach than twice a day. Can reduce the price of the tour, more money for shopping which is always a plus with Malaysians 😋

Rapport With Fellow Travellers:

They were all nice and friendly people from diverse background. First time we joined a group with an infant. It was quite entertaining to see some of the antics of the toddler 😂

Timing:

If you asked ChatGPT, our timing was good but I beg to differ. I hate it when the sunset is at 5++pm. It was so depressing to get stuck in Shanghai traffic jam after sun down. There were hardly any autumn leaves either during this time. So maybe the best time to go is in April, spring season and sunset is later at 6++pm.

Overall:

Should be a short and sweet holiday in between longer overseas trips. Instead it was anything but. The meals were epic fail. There were so many people everywhere you go. The time allocated to take photos were limited. The time spent on time wasting compulsory shops were too much. We spent a lot of time stuck in Shanghai traffic jam. Not enough time to rest and savour the moment. Frankly, the best time of the trip was the time to go back home 🥴 Pathetic 😅

Central Asia: Autumn - October 2025

I signed up for this trip to Kazakhstan & Kyrgyzstan with zero expectation, did not even do any research and was pleasantly surprised with how gorgeous both countries are.

Loved that both countries are kept clean by the people so that their natural beauty are not tarnished. The roads from one city to the next are still work in progress, there are some stretches of gravel roads but the surrounding views are so fantastic that you don't really care. I predict that if they stayed on course they are going to be tourism powerhouses in years to come. A must visit countries in every world travellers' lists 😍

This trip was organised by Jeju Muslim Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd. Solo tour price was RM9950. Twin sharing was RM8600/person. The reason why I decided to join this tour is because they don't stay in a yurt (with shared bathroom). Accomodations were all in rooms with attached bathrooms.

This Kazakhstan + Kyrgyzstan tour was from 2-12 October 2025. 11Ds/9Ns. Full board. The itinerary was as follows:

2 October 2025   Kuala Lumpur - Almaty

3 October 2025   Almaty - Bishkek

4 October 2025   Bishkek - Ala Archa - Bishkek

5 October 2025   Bishkek - Chon Kemin Village

6 October 2025   Chon Kemin - Issyk Kul - Bokonbaevo - South Beach

7 October 2025   South Beach - Barskoon Gorge - Jetty Orguz - Karakol

8 October 2025   Karakol

9 October 2025   Karakol - Charyn Canyon

10 October 2025 Charyn Canyon - Almaty

11 October 2025 Almaty - Kuala Lumpur

12 October 2025 Kuala Lumpur

My World Countdown:

Recently tried using apps to count how many countries I've been to. Different apps gave different numbers 😅 So decided to do manual calculation based on United Nation recognised sovereign countries, 195 in total. 193 member states and 2 observer states.

Thus, inclusive of my home country Malaysia, prior to this trip I have reached 64 countries (not 67 😭). Therefore Kazakhstan is #65 and Kyrgyzstan #66. 

I will upload the photos and videos of the trip at my IG account (mkhasha.n.travels) as soon as possible. Food videos will be uploaded at my other IG account (mkhasha.n.food). 

Hashtag specific to the trip is #mks2025CentralAsia, #mks2025Kazakhstan and #mks2025Kyrgyzstan. Njoy!

POST MORTEM (Updated 1 November 2025)

Tour Company: 

First travel with Jeju Muslim. Quite happy with their service. I think their trips are mostly value for money. Might join their Pakistan trip in the future if the price and timing is right.

Itinerary:

Pretty good. Loved that we checked in direct to the hotel in Almaty on the first day instead of immediately went on a city tour or something. Gave us a bit of time to recover from the long journey. The schedule was also not too rushed, we had enough time to take pictures and shopping 😍 I would recommend that if you wish to shop for dried fruits, fresh fruits, nuts and chocolates, do it on the last day of the trip at the Green Market, Almaty, Kazakhstan. The quality is better there than at the market in Kyrgyzstan AND most importantly you do not have to carry it across the border 😋 No need to change too much Kyrgyz Som. Better to have more Kazakh Tenge.

Airlines:

We flew direct from Kuala Lumpur to Almaty (vice versa) via Air Asia. No food provided but Jeju Muslim did ask if we wish to order food, need to pay them extra. I decided not to preorder coz now preorder did not include drinks. You can just order ala carte. It is easier to just purchase the combo meals + desserts on the airplane 🤩

Tour Leader:

Jeju's tour leader was a lady named Fiffy. She took so many videos and pictures of us. My phone was flooded with hundreds of pictures and videos 😅 She also brought us to some interesting places near the hotel after we checked in for the night. I will rate her service B+ 😄

Local Tour Guide:

Our local guide is a Kyrgyz national. His name is Akyl. I don't really understand his English some of the time 😅 but helpful and hardworking. Sometimes he made jokes that took sometime to understand 😋 I didn't join optional tour to Altyn Arashan, I liked that he was quite flexi. Gave me cash to pay for my own lunch in Karakol. I had a good Korean lunch in a nice restaurant (while I was exploring the city on my own) complete with desserts and coffee (need to top up my own cash a bit tho 😅). I will rate his service A- 😁

Bus:

The buses allocated to us was comfortable. We had maybe five separate buses, four in Kazakhstan and one in Kyrgyzstan. More buses in Kazakh because of the short transit from airport to hotel to border (vice versa). We had a dedicated bus in Kyrgyz. Very comfortable. The only gripe was the bus was not cleaned throughout our days in Kyrgyz, full of dust and sand 😆 The windows were dirty which was a pity coz the views were fantastic. 

Bus Drivers:

Pretty good driving. No issue. Funnily I cannot even remember our drivers in Kazakh. Too many and over short distance. Our driver in Kyrgyz cannot speak English I think so we just smiled and do sign language if needed to communicate 😅

Hotels:

Main reason why I chose Jeju instead of other tour agency was they provided comfortable rooms with attached bathroom throughout the trip. No sleeping in a yurt or guesthouse with shared bathrooms. Well done Jeju!

Hotel Breakfasts:

Buffet selections were very good in city hotels. Sit in breakfasts at the guesthouses were not too bad. I find it interesting that they served sweets, marshmallows and chocolates (beside the usual eggs, bread etc) for breakfast 😂 A few tour members were seen to eat instant noodles brought from home during breakfast 😅

Lunches:

The food were generally good. Recommended to bring chilli sauce or sambal to enhance the taste, if you're fussy eaters. We had three times buffet style cafeteria. Twice for lunch and once for dinner. First time most tour members took too much, so much wastage. We were also not aware that there are microwaves to heat the food if it was not hot or warm enough. I hate cold dish so I did not enjoy the food at all the first time. Luckily after that I found out about the microwave so the food tasted a lot better 😍 The sit in lunch menu were simple but nice. No complaints.

Dinners:

I liked that they provided varieties. Sometimes you ate in a yurt, sometimes in hotels some other time in restaurants. Choices of food also varies. Some they pre ordered for you, other time they allowed you to order what you wanted to eat yourselves. Very good Jeju! Just to highlight, at the guesthouse near the lake, the apple cake dessert we had for dinner was to die for! So delish 😍🥰❤️

Rapport With Fellow Travellers:

Wonderful group of people. Very sporting and friendly. All are seasoned travellers so very mindful of time. Nobody got lost or not punctual. Some are excellent photographers, learnt quite a few tricks from them 😍 We had such a marvellous time together time simply flew by and it was time to go back home 😭. 

Timing:

October was a great month to visit this region. The weather was rather pleasant. Some places you can witness gorgeous autumn leaves. Recommended!

Overall:

The sceneries were fantastic, the food were good, the tour was enjoyable and smooth sailing, the tour members were marvellous and we all arrived safely at home. Syukur alhamdulillah 🥰 I will recommend this trip to all my friends. Worth every penny!

Note: I have uploaded all the food videos at my IG account mkhasha.n.food and the sceneries photos at IG mkhasha.n.travels. Njoy!!

Thailand: Summer - September 2025

We have been hearing about bus trips to Hat Yai for quite sometime but somehow before C19 struck Hat Yai is not a destination that we are interested to explore despite positive reviews 😅 After 6 years holidays hiatus, we are more open to explore shorter duration trips 😁

So while scrolling the IG account I came across a post by Explorasi Cinta Travel Sdn Bhd re their upcoming Hat Yai bus tours. Their departure dates are during extended long holidays in Malaysia. What made us joined their trip is one of their pick up points are at a bus terminal in Shah Alam. Very convenient for us not having to go all the way to KL Sentral.

The trip was 4 days 2 nights. It cost RM365/person. Food and travel insurance are not included. If we add food cost, we ended up spending around RM1.3k for 2 people (RM650/person). People always say that food cost in Hat Yai is cheap. Let me tell you, that is A MYTH 😅 

An corner shop (similar to the neighbourhood kedai mamak) selling hot milk tea for RM5. If you wish to "tarik" the tea it will cost you an extra RM1.30. In comparison, Dancing Fish @ Bangsar, an acclaimed Michelin restaurant charged RM5 for Teh Tarik 😋 A street hawker in Danok sold Khao Mok Rice for THB90 (RM12). The dish just had rice + fried chicken + sambal. Not even a big portion 😅

So if you plan to go to Hat Yai, be prepared to pay Malaysian price (or more) for food. When I told my friend, she said maybe it was the "long holiday in Malaysia" price. The locals knew that their city will be flooded by hungry Malaysians so what better time to increase the price? 😋

Our itinerary was as follows:

13 September 2025.  Shah Alam - Bukit Kayu Hitam

14 September 2025.  Bukit Kayu Hitam - Hat Yai

15 September 2025   Hat Yai - Songkhla - Hat Yai

16 September 2025.  Hat Yai - Shah Alam

My World Countdown:

I've been to Thailand before so my number is still stuck at #67. This is however my mom's first visit to Thailand so her countdown added another country to #58 😍

I've uploaded the photos and videos of the trip at my IG account (mkhasha.n.travels) and food that we had there at my other IG account (mkhasha.n.food).

Hashtag specific to the trip is #mks2025Thailand. Njoy!

POST MORTEM (Updated 1 October 2025)

Tour Company:

First time we travelled with this company, Explorasi Cinta Travel Sdn Bhd. Their service was acceptable. Nothing to complain but not outstanding either.

Itinerary:

Pretty packed for a short trip. They brought us to a lot of time wasting "commission based" shops. Not that I mind too much coz I don't really plan to shop. But if you do, maybe your time is better spent elsewhere. As it was, we arrived late at the hotel so the tour members that wanted to do serious shopping had to do it at night.

Tour Leader:

Our Malaysian tour leader name is Safwan. His service was average. Helped me changed some MYR to THB before the trip. As it turned out our Local Tour Guide did provide money changer service on the bus so not critical to change beforehand. And also some shops accept MYR 😋

Local Tour Guide:

Pretty Thai lady named Fatheha. She can passed as Malaysian Malay anytime 😋  Her service was average. I just wish they set a proper timing at each location we stopped. This laissez faire style was not efficient. Since we didn't know how much time we had, we took our own sweet time and ended up the last to board the bus 😅 Sorry folks! If you set a proper timing we will for sure adhere to it.

Bus:

Above average. Very comfortable. Lucky for us coz we ended up spending such a long time on the bus due to gridlock at both Thai and Malaysia immigration on the way there and slow traffic on the way home. Gridlock at the immigration was 6 hours! And the journey home from Bukit Kayu Hitam to Shah Alam took 10++ hours!

Bus Drivers:

Good. Both drivers are very patient and drove very smoothly and safely. Well done!

Hotel:

We stayed at Kosit Hotel. Good sized room with firm mattresses albeit the deco a bit dated. The bathroom was terrible. Luckily their basic set up hot shower works 😋

Breakfast:

This was not a full board trip but they brought us to the eating places. We then chose and paid for our meals ourselves.

Breakfast on the second day was on the bus due to the gridlock at both immigration. The breakfast place on the third day was a disappointment. The food was expensive and yet not tasty at all 😅 The fourth day was good, we had dim sum for breakfast 😍

Lunch:

Terrible lunch on second day in Danok. We had nasi kerabu, nasi dagang and ayam percik. Expensive, tasted so bland and they were served cold. Lunch on third day was at Khlong Hae Buffet Seafood. The buffet was good if you have enough time to enjoy it. The place was so crowded that you have to queue for so long to get ice cream, salted grilled fish and banana flatbread 😅 The cooked food finished so fast that you had to wait quite some time for it to be replenished. Seriously not recommended for short on time tour like ours.

Dinner:

We had dinner at a restaurant infront of the hotel. Not too bad the food. We thought to try their pizza for dinner the next day but we arrived at the hotel pretty late and was feeling a bit tired that we decided to skip dinner 😅

Rapport With Fellow Travellers:

The trip was pretty short so we did not have time to get to know all the group members. But they were lovely people. Pretty sporting, love to shop 😂 I met my friend's neighbours on the trip. Small world huh?

Timing:

The worst timing to go 😂 DO NOT GO during a long Malaysian public holiday! Fly there instead of taking the land transport 😋 We don't plan to do a repeat of any bus tour in the future. Once in a lifetime adventure 😅

Overall:

The trip was not perfect but we had a great time nonetheless. The secret? Zero expectation. Que sera sera. Managed to catch beautiful photos, bought a few sling bags and snacks, got to eat Thai durians + grapes + pomelos AND most importantly safe journey. What else do you want? Syukur alhamdulillah 😍

India: Spring - April 2025

It has been awhile since I last updated my blog for a simple reason that I did not travel anywhere for the past 6 years 😅 One day I had a conversation with my mom and she made a remark that we have not been travelling for the past 6 years already. I was shocked! I thought it was only 5 years. So there and then I decided that we must change that fact. Don't care that our new house is not completed yet or our passports already expired. We must travel posthaste.

So I booked 2 trips. One to India with my mom and another for me to travel solo to Pakistan. Pakistan trip was however cancelled due to the short war between India and Pakistan. I was packed and ready to go to the airport when the tour company called and told us that our Pakistan International Airlines flight was cancelled. The flight was postponed a few times before being cancelled altogether. Initially I planned to reschedule my Pakistan trip to November 2025 but I found out that the flight duration to Islamabad is now 9 hours instead of 6 (prior to the war) due to different route (not allowed to cross Indian airspace). So the trip will be postponed to the time the flight duration revert to 6 hours. 

No worries. Plenty of other countries to visit 😁

Coming back to the India trip. The tour was 6 days 5 nights. Full board. The price was RM5k per person not inclusive of travel insurance and visa. I applied the online visa myself. The tour company can apply for you but they will charge RM150 per person for the service. In my opinion it was not worth the money since it was pretty easy to apply the visa online.

Our itinerary was as follows:-

17 April 2025    Kuala Lumpur - New Delhi

18 April 2025    New Delhi - Srinagar

19 April 2025    Srinagar - Pahalgam - Srinagar

20 April 2025    Srinagar - New Delhi - Agra

21 April 2025    Agra - New Delhi - Kuala Lumpur

22 April 2025    Kuala Lumpur

I have uploaded the photos and videos. You can find them here:

https://instagram.com/mkhasha.n.travels

Hashtags specific for this trip:

#mks2025India

My World Countdown:

No new addition for me. I've been to India back in 2003. So I am still stuck at #67 😋

My mom's would be #57

Njoy!!

POST MORTEM (Updated on 4 September 2025)

Sorry a bit late. After 6 years hiatus, it takes time to go back to my previous habit of updating my blog and uploading my photos and videos after the holiday. Furthermore I was pretty busy with my day to day life 🤣 So here goes.

Tour Company: This was the first time I travelled with Kembara Sufi. I like this company. Very efficient process. Friendly personnel. Remember my Pakistan trip that was cancelled? It was not the tour company's fault but they fully refunded the cost to me with no fuss. Well done! Plan to travel with them again in the future.

Itinerary: I like that the trip was short. Nowadays if I want to travel with my mom, maximum nights is 5 and maximum flight duration is 5 hours. The itinerary is good. Mostly quite relaxing. Only the first night was a bit rushed because we arrived at the hotel in New Delhi quite late and we had only 3 hours to sleep so that we can catch the early morning flight to Srinagar the next day. After arriving at Srinagar we immediately continued with a full day tour. Not enough time to rest.

Airlines: From Kuala Lumpur to New Delhi (vice versa) we flew via Malaysia Airlines. From New Delhi to Srinagar we used Indigo Air. From Srinagar to New Delhi we flew via India Air. Indigo Air is a budget airlines, so no food. Malaysia Airlines inflight meals was unfortunately not as good as before. Pretty disappointed. India Air hot snacks was surprisingly good though.

Tour Leader: Our tour leader name is Lutfi. After travelling for more than 2 decades with international and local tour agencies, I personally think that he is one of best tour leaders out there. I liked that at the beginning of the tour he highlighted clearly his expectations (and the reasonings behind) of our (tour members) behaviour and also what we can expect from him in term of support during the trip. He also helped with the bags of senior citizens without needing to be asked. Always ready to take photos and videos for the tour members. Most importantly he is not there to do his own personal shopping. Really took his job and responsibility seriously. Well done! Hope to meet him again in future travels.

Local Tour Guide: Average. The service was acceptable. No complaint.

Bus: We used 2 vans when we were in Kashmir and a medium sized bus when in New Delhi and Agra. Comfortable rides.

Bus Drivers: Drove responsibly. Pretty shy. No obvious interaction with the tour members, possibly due to language barrier.

Hotels: We stayed at 3 different hotels and 1 houseboat. The first hotel in New Delhi was terrible. The other 2 in Srinagar and Agra were ok. The houseboat was acceptable. 

Hotel Breakfasts: Breakfast in New Delhi was average. In Srinagar, they were fantastic. In Agra, slightly better than New Delhi. I just wished they served normal chai instead of masala 😅

Lunches: All good especially in Kashmir. Lunch at the houseboat was fantastic. Fried chicken at Pahalgam restaurant was awesome.

Dinners: Food served were generally good especially at the houseboat and the hotel in Srinagar. The houseboat served plain chai during dinner. It was a  perfect end to a wonderful meal 😍

Rapport With Fellow Travellers: This group was fun and friendly from the get go. Started as strangers ended as friends. We had a wonderful time together ❤️ Hope to cross path with them in future tours.

Timing: We went there middle of April. I think a better time would be early April. Better looking tulips and you most probably will get to take photos with apple blossoms. Cleaner and thicker snow too instead of sludge and you don't have to hike so far to reach jet ski station 😋

Overall: We had a fabulous time. Good itinerary, awesome food, great people, enjoyable shopping and safe journey 😍 Syukur alhamdulillah.