Check out my vlog for this trip here Have a look at the itinerary for this trip here
27 August 2022
Khao Sok National Park & Rajjaprabha Dam i visited Rajjaprabha Dam and Khao Sok (did not enter the national park since it requires at least 1 day to explore and my time is limited), just passing thru. the roads along the khao sok region are pretty bad, i guess they will make a new one soon. no mosque at all here, but i am used to pray at the side road/emergency stairway since i started living with the China CCP for several years. Nothing much to see in Takua Pa and it is raining the whole night.
Khao Sok National Park
Road leading to the entrance of the national park
Rajjaprabha Dam
30 August 2022 while heading back to krabi, i visited Phang Nga town and its museum. Entrance is free! and it is much more better than phuket mining museum! at the museum, i was greeted by a sweet lady called ms. สมัย . she is from Phang Nga and works at the museum and introduced me to the history of Phang Nga. i realized that Takua-pa is believed to be one of the pitstop along the ancient silk road where it is called Takola by ancient traders.
Phang Nga Museum
Thailand’s Rong Ngeng which has similarities with Malaysia’s Ronggeng (Phang Nga Museum)
Mangroves forest at บ้านบางพัฒน์ (8°21’53.9″N 98°34’50.9″E)
Mangroves forest at บ้านบางพัฒน์ (8°21’53.9″N 98°34’50.9″E)
Check out my vlog for this trip here Have a look at the itinerary for this trip here
28 August 2022
Halal Dim Sum at Khok Kloi nothing much to do/see at takua pa, the tsunami memorial museum at khao lak does not seem to be a museum at all and paid 300 baht just to enter!!! just a shoplot with a bunch of photos. Phang Nga museum costs nothing and far more worth it! however i found a tasty dim sum restaurant with an affordable price which is called Rafah (ระฟ้า โคกกลอย ติ่มซำ ฮาลาล). 20baht per plate. the tomyam is one of the best (100 baht), i literally drank all its soup!
Dim Sum 20 baht per plate, Fried Dumpling 70 baht
Rafah Restaurant
Phuket – Heaven for budget travellers and full of chinese migrants history Phuket is pronounced as Bhu-ket is taken from a malay word which means ‘hill’. i must say Phuket is a little better than Bali. Its cheaper to travel here from malaysia and the accommodation is very affordable (but Bali’s accommodation is way cheaper…). and most importantly, Thailand have SuperCheap supermarket! halal food is easily available anywhere and they even have islamic schools here! after i visited Phuket mining museum (100 baht for entrance), i came to know that before Phuket became a tourist spot, Phuket town was famous for its mining industry. Chinese from Penang, Singapore and China came here to make a fortune. Some of them did, and donated to the development of Thai Hua school where chinese influence in Phuket is prevalence until today due to efforts of those hardworking chinese migrants. The ones who migrated from China have good work ethics with high survival skills and they preserve their culture instead of assimilating with culture of the locals. It reminds me of my childhood days where my chinese counterparts were always smarter than me in class and even in the workplace. It was until when i work abroad that i able to compete with my chinese counterparts. There is a saying in malay, “sentiasa hidup dalam kepompong” which means living in a cocoon and disengage from outside world. My experience working overseas really broaden my thinking and helped me look at things differently. Covid19 really killing me mentally and its good to be able to explore again.
Phuket Mining Museum
School children at Mining Museum
Island Hopper Pier ท่าเรือไอส์แลนด์ฮองเปอร์
Met a girl digging the sand to look for clams (Polymesoda erosa)
Check out my vlog for this trip here Have a look at the itinerary for this trip here
26 August 2022
bought an engine oil at a pump station and the local guy asked for a selfie
difficult to find halal food at Phattalung i almost starved to death searching for halal food here. there are few stalls near the one and only mosque in town but no longer selling food as i reached there at 4pm.
halal food at khuan khanun night market while heading back to hotel, i ran across a night market which has 2 muslim sellers. both of them able to speak malay. one of them came from Tak Bai (the mother speaks Phasa Yawi / Kecek Kelate, but her daughter couldnt) and the other is a Phattalung local but studied at islamic school in Kedah. please help to support them if you travel here. the stalls are located at Khuan Khanun night market (opposite municipal food market)
halal burger stall at Khuan Khanun night market halal steamed chicken at Khuan Khanun night market
Check out my vlog for this trip here Have a look at the itinerary for this trip here
26 August 2022
Lady chef with Kedah ancestry after having to starve yesterday, the first thing i did today was to find something to eat first. had a beef soup with fried egg with generous amount which costs 130 baht at Phatdaw Restaurant . the lady chef’s grandfather was from kedah and migrated to Nakhon and married a local there. she speaks “phasa yawi” fluently.
beef soup with fried egg 130 baht
phatdaw restaurant
thai muslim and steamed chicken and fried chicken i not sure if these food have relation with thai muslim because each time i go to the night market, they are selling these food.
steamed chicken with sticky rice
fried chicken with rice
Super Cheap supermarket – Thai version of Speedmart99 i have been to 7-11, Big C, some local groceries stores and none of their products seem to impress me. just the same old merchandise sold in Tesco, Hero supermarket but with a slightly cheaper price. i visited Super Cheap after hours of searching fruit juice in Surat Thani and i was surprised with the variety of products sold and its cheap price, including fresh produce, seafood and meat. from the outside it looks like a convenient store attached to a warehouse behind it. its like a combination of Supermart99 and Makro. all this while i have been having breakfast at 7-11 but now i have a better place to go.
SuperCheap supermarket
Fresh Foods at SuperCheap
red chilis at 77 baht per kg
fruit jams for only 48 baht
Rare Fruit Juice at only 15 baht
Assorted Thai Curries
12 baht grapes
Awesome Thai Chicken Biryani (kao mok gai) ข้าวหมกไก่ As usual, the first thing i did after leaving the hotel is to find a good food to eat. i dont really fancy rice type of food but at ไก่ย่างจีราพันธ์ (chirapan), they serve very tasty yellow rice with chicken with an affordable price at 50 baht! the rice can be eaten just like that without adding any sauce. they also have grilled chicken and intestine satay which i regret for not ordering it. i dont know when i will come to surat thani again. this restaurant has a seriously unique menu which differentiate them with other typical thai muslim food ( rice with fried chicken, rice with steamed chicken, typical siamese tomyam stall ).
Thai Chicken Biryani (kao mok gai) ข้าวหมกไก่ at ไก่ย่างจีราพันธ์ (chirapan)
Check out my vlog for this trip here Have a look at the itinerary for this trip here
24 August 2022
as usual, i ride my motorbike to klia2 and park my bike at the parking area. as i enter the departure hall, the crowd is not as much as before covid. in the plane, there are plenty of empty seats.
3 hours journey from airport to ao nang the flight took 1 hour. the immigration counters were not busy as well. there are 3 flights per week from KL to Krabi but it used to be 2 flights per day before covid. as i enter the arrival hall, taxi and bus drivers chasing towards me which made me think it looked like a bunch of scammers ( i was planning to take the 150 baht shuttle bus before the chasing event happened ) . so i left the quiet arrival hall and into the main road. i didnt know where to go, i just kept on walking but there is no bus stop in sight. then i arrived at a small restaurant luckily and there was one kindhearted thai lady which helped me grab another songthaew (blue colour, 40 baht) to Krabi Town and then take another songthaew (white colour, 60 baht) to Ao Nang. in wikitravel, it says i should be able to take the white songthaew to Ao Nang but it never came.
the kind lady who helped me look for songthaew
this whole scene took me 3 hours to reach Ao Nang. i headed straight to motorcycle rental shop to grab a yamaha gt 125cc for 200 baht/day. i was almost out of money after paying the deposit. the currency exchange here is very expensive. the rental shop lady said before covid, there were a lot of malaysian came to krabi. but now, only 1/10 of them came here after covid. business must have been pretty bad for them
songthaew
chicken noodle at krabi town i ate chicken boat noodle for my late lunch and opted for the spicy version which i found too spicy for me. the sweet waitress saw me struggling to finish the small bowl and asked “are you okay mai?” . they even use “mai” when speaking in english.
halal chicken noodle 40 baht
western union saved my life i am out of money after paying the motorcycle rental deposit. the rates for currency exchange is not attractive at all in krabi and the atm has a 220 baht withdrawal fee for foreign card which is not worth it to withdraw small amount. my hsbc credit card conversion rate is not attractive either (MYR1 = 7.87 baht) because at midvalley i could get MYR1 = 7.94 baht. i decided to use western union by sending money from my local bank account and collect the money at western union’s agent in thailand. there is a myr8 servicw charge for each transaction. in krabi, post office is one of their local agent. i went there and fill up a form, show my passport, and wallaaa, you get money.
exchange currency in malaysia – 5000 baht = MYR650 exchange currency with western union = 5000 baht = MYR628 + MYR8
thailand post office is one of the western union agent
krabi post office
tips : transport from ao nang to airport i couldnt find a 150 baht shared van and the white songthaew in front of mcdonalds at ao nang wanted 500 baht to go to the airport. however, i took the local bus (songthaew) from a bus stop at ao nang and went to krabi town which costs 50 baht. then i waited at the same bus stop at krabi town and look for a blue songthaew that goes to airport which costs 100 baht. the journey took 1.5 hours and i waited a few minutes for the songthaew to pick me up. allow some buffer time in case of traffic, bus delay, etc. other alternative is to make a booking for a shared van which costs 150 baht at some tour agent shops.
29 July 2022 10am – reach Hat Yai 12pm – checked-in at The 1 Place Hotel ( https://goo.gl/maps/RYZ7oY48MFC6o6ZN7 ) , 400baht/night 2pm – reach Songhkla
30 July 2022 8am – ride from Hat Yai to Kota Bharu 2pm – reached Taluban. ate at halal boat noodle (ลันดาเกี๋ยวเตี๋ยวเรือในตำนาน)( https://goo.gl/maps/GD5K3dx9zcFwC2Ds5 ) 45baht/bowl 6pm – drive from Kota Bharu to KL
Trip Summary since the covid, chinese tourist find it hard to travel to thailand or any other country in the world. that makes it the best time to visit thailand because i find it too crowded when a lot of chinese travel here (buat semak je dtg).
it was my first time entering thailand via road at rantau panjang border checkpoint. the army guy at the checkpoint asked me “demo tahu demo nok gi mano dok nih?” later at the sungai kolok border checkpoint, one immigration fella asked me:-
immigration fella : demo nok pegi mano? me : gi hat yai bey immigration fella : ado mek ko kat sano? me : (whatever dude..)
currency exchange at sungai kolok (RM1=8baht) is way cheaper than in KL ( RM1=7.87baht)typical toilet bowl in thailand
after 1 day trip, me and my travel partner part ways, he headed straight to Hay Yai. at first, i had no idea what to do, where to go, the more i think, the more stressed i had. i headed to Yala, surprisingly, the more time i spent travel alone, the more excitement it gets, thats what kept me going during this trip. furthermore, this week is a public holoday in thailand which means it might be hard to find an accommodation which further stresses me. luckily, accommodation is easy to find.
roads in south thailand are very good
road condition in south thailand the roads from sungai kolok up to hat yai are surprisingly good! mostly it is 2 lanes and unlike malaysia roads, there are no tolls!
muslims in south thailand I noticed there are 2 types of thai muslims :- 1. thai muslims able to speak phasa yawi (similar to kelantan dialect) 2. thai muslims cannot speak phasa yawi (met some of them at Hat Yai)
i had a chat with a parking guard at the hotel at narathiwat. a malay of narathiwat origin. he was friendly after he knew i was from malaysia. he has a wife and a kid. even working as a parking guard can have a decent family here. you only able to dream if you are in KL. Allah Maha Adil…
a lot of islamic schools as i rode from Sungai Kolok to Pattani. a lot of women wearing muslim loose cloak, some even cover their face. this place feels more islamic than in malaysia.
typical army roadblock in south thailand
is it safe to travel to south thailand? some of my friends in KL, cousins and aunty in kelantan (seriously?!? u guys staying near the border this whole time dont even dare to go there?!? shame on you guys if our royal pattani forefather knew this!) were terrified when i told them i am going to south thailand. if i were a typical malaysian feint hearted guy, i would have chicken-out this trip. no doubt there lots of military roadblocks but those armies dont even look at me when they notice my malaysian plate number.
exchange currency in thailand you can get good rates for currency exchange at danok and sungai kolok (myr to thb) which is better than changing it at midvalley mall. but the rates seems to be unattractive in other parts of thailand such as krabi. i used western union which provides the best rates, even better than withdrawing money at atm. check my other post for my experience with western union.
PTT pump station – thailand version of RnR you dont wanna miss PTT if you visit thailand. i hardly see any RnR along the highway. PTT pump station is a one stop center for fuel, coffee, cafe, 7-11 and toilet. i am very particular when it comes to using toilet in which PTT did a good job maintaining their clean toilet. the coffee at their Amazon Cafe costs 35 – 55 baht! who needs starbucks when you already have PTT pump station.
its not that easy to find cheap (below 400 baht ) and good accommodation in narathiwat, yala and pattani you can literally get a decent accommodation in thailand as low as 400 baht (or even lover). airbnb and online hotel booking websites ha ve always been my source of quality and affordable accommodation. but it doesnt seem to work that way in narathiwat, yala and pattani. they can be found in google maps and the room price can be found in the reviews section ( some have but not all ) and in their facebook page. if you know thai, you can direcly call them to ask the price.
royal pattani bloodline my ancestor (Tok Dat) is among the pattani’s knight during the war with Siam during 1760s and fled to Malaya to a place now called Kelantan. in order to conceal his identity, it was said that Tok Dat let everyone know he came from Jawa. my aunt told me there was a time when my aunt followed my late grandmother to seek medical help, my late grandmother brought a yellow cloth ( a sign of royalty ), made me feel the royalty bloodline was still strong at that time. somehow i indirectly related to the people of south thailand.
video of the trip
Appreciation to the Government of Thailand and to the people of South Thailand i would like to thank the customs & immigration of thailand for their kind help to make this trip possible and also to the friendly people of south thailand for their hospitality. i really enjoyed the trip and looking forward to visit thailand again soon. i love you guys!
Until today, I still could not find an all-in-one tutorial to program Blue Pill with Eclipse. I have been doing trial and error for weeks and have gathered what I have found into this single post. I hope it useful for anyone who setting up their Blue Pill with Eclipse.
Software and hardware requirements 1. Windows 7 2. Blue Pill STM32F103C8T6 3. ST-Link V2 4. Java 7 update 71 or later (I am using Java 8 update 291 for this setup)
ST-Link V2 and Blue Pill
Step 1 – Download Eclipse IDE for C/C++ here. I download the ZIP archive and store it at a specific easily reachable location such as C:\STM32Toolchain\eclipse . In the later steps, all the packages and plugins will be added in C:\STM32Toolchain in order to manage it easily.
Step 2- Install CDT packages In Eclipse, go to Help->Install New Software . Select CDT – https://download.eclipse.org/tools/cdt/releases/10.3, under CDT Main Features, select C/C++ Development Tools SDK
Step 2 – Install the GNU ARM plug-ins for Eclipse Go to Help->Eclipse Marketplace.. . In the pop-up window that appears type “gnu arm eclipse” in the “Find” textbox and click on Go to kick off the search. The first entry found should be as shown, “Eclipse Embedded C/C++”. Click on install and follows the steps.
Step 3- Install the GCC ARM tool-chain Download the GCC tool-chain for the ARM Cortex platform here. You can download the installer and start the installation. When asked, install the tool-chain in the following directory C:\STM32Toolchain\gnu-arm\ . Leave unchecked the entry “Add path to environment variable“, especially if you have other compilers or IDE installed on your PC.
Step 4 – Install the Build Tools Download the build tools here. When asked, install the tools in these folder: C:\STM32Toolchain\GnuWin32
Step 5 – Create an Empty Project in Eclipse Go to File > New > Project… Then select C Project. Select “Empty Project” & ARM Cross GCC. Specify the Project Name Select Toolchain path
Step 6 – Copy the firmware library to the project directory Download the STM32F1XX firmware library here. Place the library in C:\STM32Toolchain
Create a new folder [USER] and [startup] in the project directory
Copy the firmware library to the project directory
Copy below files in \test1\STM32F10x_StdPeriph_Lib_V3.5.0\Project\STM32F10x_StdPeriph_Template directory to the [USER] folder a. main.c b. stm32f10x_conf.h c. stm32f10x_it.c d. stm32f10x_it.h
Copy below file in \test1\STM32F10x_StdPeriph_Lib_V3.5.0\Project\STM32F10x_StdPeriph_Template\TrueSTUDIO\STM3210B-EVAL to the project directory (the file will be replaced) a. stm32_flash.ld
Copy below file in \test1\STM32F10x_StdPeriph_Lib_V3.5.0\Libraries\CMSIS\CM3\DeviceSupport\ST\STM32F10x\startup\TrueSTUDIO to the startup directory. Since I am using Blue Pill, the file is startup_stm32f10x_md.s . Rename this file to startup_stm32f10x_md.S a. startup_stm32f10x_md.s
Copy the firmware library to the project directory. Delete Project and Utilities folders in \test1\STM32F10x_StdPeriph_Lib_V3.5.0 , at this point, the file addition and deletion is completed, select the project in the Eclipse workspace, and then right click test1 and select Refresh, the file will be automatically imported into the project
Step 7 – Define the project properties Select the project test1 ->right-click->Properties->C/C++ Build->Settings Select CROSS ARM C Compiler->Preprocessor. Add 2 symbols, USE_STDPERIPH_DRIVER, indicating the use of peripheral firmware libraries and STM32F103X_MD since I am using Blue Pill
Include the paths
Click the Toolchain tab and fill in the bin folder under the path of the installed cross-compilation tool
Add the path for Build Tools ( the GNUWIN32 downloaded earlier )
After that, set the linker file.
After that, modify the Main.c in the USER folder, because it does not contain any DEMO files, so you need to delete the function called under MAIN.C.
You might encounter “make” error. Go to Properties > Tool Chain Editor, select CDT Internal Builder
if you have error saying “Please select first the target STM32F10x device used in your application (in stm32f10x.h file)” , go to stm32f10x.h and select the device. Since I am using Blue Pill, the device is STM32F10X_MD.
if you encounter below error, open core_cm3.c under the project file \STM32F10x_StdPeriph_Lib_V3.5.0\Libraries\CMSIS\CM3\CoreSupport and modify the code as shown below
I came from the technical part of this industry, so I will try to explain the telecom industry situation based on the engineering perspective. First, i will explain why it is hard to land a job in telecom and then what can be done in order to increase the chances to get the job.
There are many reasons why fresh graduates or experienced engineer find it hard to get a job in telecom. There are times when telecom are booming which creates a lot of jobs and there are times where no job can be found and one has to be patient and always keep on the lookout for opportunities. Furthermore in some countries, telecom jobs are rather limited since it depends on the scale of the network infrastructure and the population of the country as well. The more people are using it, the more it requires to expand the infrastructure. In Malaysia, the country is rather small, therefore the job opportunities are rather limited. Countries that have plenty of telecom jobs are countries where the telecom vendors (ericsson, huawei, nokia, zte, etc. ) set up their research centers. These countries requires a lot of engineers and they have the opportunity to learn highly technical skill and stay up to date with the latest telecom technologies.
As for other countries such as Malaysia, the nature of telecom work may be in the form of service delivery projects for telecom vendors and their subcontractors ( telecom vendors sub their project to these companies ) . Apart from that, several jobs can be found in MNOs (Maxis, Celcom, Digi) and in the telecom regulatory (MCMC) as well but the positions available are limited which requires applicants to compete with many other applicants to fill as little as one position. This situation happens when there are no new projects are running. But there could be a lot of opportunities when there is a big project until to some extend there isn’t enough manpower to run it. For example, in 2011, Digi invested a large sum of money to swap their 2G and 3G networks to ZTE equipment. At that time, there were hundreds of openings for engineer role in ZTE. Those were the good old days. Made a lot of friends, learned new things. Therefore, there are opportunities and one needs to stay alert on the latest telecoms news.
Reporting for duty at ZTE Malaysia (2011)
As I have mentioned ealier, telecom industry is a niche industry where only the ones who have worked in this industry knows about this industry. In other words, someone who have never worked in telecom industry won’t have the slightest idea about what telecom engineers do.
Drive test at klang valley area back in 2011
Therefore fresh graduates cannot burst into these profession easily because most of the things that they learned in the university cannot be applied into the job that they are applying. In order to increase the chances, one could focus his/her final year project on telecom research topics such as RF analysis, antenna design, optical performance analysis. Besides that, due to advancement in virtualization technology, one can simulate the whole LTE network by using desktop PC, SDR card, a sim card and a LTE smartphone. These options could boost the chances to get a job in telecom.
Simulate 4G network at home with Openairterface
Furthermore, it is easier to land a job with subcontractors since they normally hire fresh graduates because the nature of the work is more to installation and deployment which gives an opportunity for fresh graduates to learn the fundamentals of telecom technology before they can move up the career ladder into working with telecom vendors and MNOs. On top of that, one should always put him/herself in hiring manager’s shoes and think why they should hire him/her and not someone else.
i have been travelling to many countries and now working in China and although China is very safe but China is one of the country that is not backpackers friendly. The CCP’s dream is to monitor every people who lives in the country. When someone enters China, the CCP wants to know where you live, so you need to register yourself to the police station and some hotels does not accept foreigners, in fact in most outskirt areas, all hotels wont accept you. If these hotels have this kind of restriction, airbnb is worse and backpacker normally does not look for hotels, they look for cheap accommodation or couchsurfing. Even those chinese having a hard time to host you without having to face problems with the police. Eventhough CCP wants you to visit china, they only want you to visit the places that they WANT YOU TO VISIT. Some backpackers prefer to explore uncharted places, how can this be done when you can’t find a place to sleep? They have lots of nice places to go such as Xinjiang and Tibet. If you visit xinjiang, there will be security checkpoints all over the places. Would you want to waste your money to visit this kind of places? i went to Ningxia on a backpacking trip to visit a famous mosque located in a small village. I checked-in at the nearby hotel but after few minutes, 5 policemen came and I was brought to the police station for questioning for 3 hours. All my things were inspected, even the pictures and videos in my smartphone were inspected! imagine if you have a sensitive photos of your girlfriend/wife and suddenly a police get a hand of these materials. how do you feel? would you still want to backpack in China?
