Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Travel Insurance? Buy or not?

Many people asked me 'Do I need a travel insurance for my NZ working holiday?' Some people might say 'No, don't waste your money on it'. 'Hey, it's gonna cost you few hundred Ringgit for nothing!;

But, if you ask my opinion, I'll definitely say YES. Don't save on that few hundred Ringgit and you gonna to pay more than that if anything bad happen!

Why you need it? It is just like the normal  personal insurance that you bought in Malaysia. So, ask yourself, why you bought insurance? Because you doesn't want to bear with debt when you meet an accident or when you fall sick.

This theory is just same with why I recommend people to buy a travel insurance. You'll never predict what is going to happen during your working holiday, especially in a country which is not familiar with. I am a very good live example, I also never predict that I'll meet an accident in New Zealand! Don't tell me 'Oh, you are bad luck, I won't be undergone the same incident like you!' Don't bull sxxx. Nobody going to predict what is going to happen in the future. If yes, then there is no such thing called 'accident'.



Yes, ACC do cover our medical expenses if we meet an accident in New Zealand. But they never cover for those who fall sick in New Zealand. The medical fees in NZ is terribly expensive! Before you able to see the doctor, registration fees charge you about NZD70, any further treatment is not covered yet and you need to pay for medicine somemore. How about if you lost your beloved DSLR camera/ laptop?

I met a lot of people facing different problems during their working holiday, some fall sick seriously because they are not used to the weather, some lost their passport, some dropped their camera/laptop and spoilt it. So, what you gonna do with it when you face this? Nah, that is just my bad luck. No!!! Buy a travel insurance and they gonna pay for you/ replace the them!

Besides that, if you are landed in New Zealand and you wish to buy a travel insurance there, you may visit Orbit Protector. (Thanks for a reader provide this information). This travel insurance is specifically design for those who go for working holiday.

So, wanna spend on it or not? It's up to you.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Best Travelling Job in Taiwan - Blogger 台湾民宿体验大使

I read this interesting report in newspaper today. I guess those who loves to travel especially bloggers gonna crazy about this!!

A travel agent in Taiwan, East bnb, offer this amazing job:

Monthly Salary: RM25,000 monthly / RM150,000 half year
Requirements  :  Sincere
                        (No age limit, No specific nationality requirement! Means? Everyone including
                        Malaysian~!~!~)
Job Scope      :  Experience the backpacker hostels around Taiwan and blog about it!
Period            :  6 months

Wao, somebody gonna pay you for your backpack experience with high salary!!! Crazy? Is that true???  Are you kidding me??? It sounds too good, sound too unbelievable !!!!

No, that's true! This wonderful job attracts more than 2000 people to apply within 1 week time.



I want!!! Tell me what to do?? For more details you may check here.


Huh? Stay in 100 backpackers hostel with only SIX months time??

6x 30 days =180 days
180/100 = 1.8 days

Only 1.8 days in 1 hostel? Some more need to take photos and blog about it? Means.. work from day to night except sleeping time? Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrr................................................................................

How about you? Wanna go for it? Register before end of April.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

RTC Carnival

It is rare to have a carnival in Perak, especially Gopeng. Staying at home everyday is kind of bored. So, I went to this carnival to have a walk - the RTC canival in Gopeng.


When we talked about carnival, sometimes,' pasar malam with lots of food stalls' kind of image appears in our mind. No, you are wrong. This carnival was totally different!! Lot of treasure to expose!!!


This was really surprise me, the carnival was really huge!! If you have time, you can spend up to whole day in the carnival!! Why this kind of carnival was rarely organised?????


Of course, a carnival was expected with lots of.. booths.
Booth related to all kinds of agriculture sector in Malaysia. If you interested to plant something or even do some business related to agriculture, here is the right place for you!!!

Local fruits also support 1 Malaysia?

Except for plantation, you can see animals.....

greedy goat loves green leaves~

Yeah, goat.

Goat again, Nomb nomb nomb......I recalled the days in New Zealand with lot of fury sheeps here and there.

Found this super fat + huge cow.

Never look down on it. It was a beauty queen. Champion for beauty cow! Crazy right? Nowadays even cow went for beauty pageant competition. This indicates the importance of appearance. You might found my hand gesture was weird because I touched the cow and it SHAKED its body..... scary~

Of course, Food stalls was never left out in carnival.

Yes, here comes flowers and plants.

Orchid la!

Flowers flowers. You can get whatever plants you want here. Of course, include the fruit plant.

I like this~

This is the session that I like most.

*pang pang pang*, take out your valuable! Don't suspect, this is real gun!!!!!!!!!!


There were too much over there with too little of time. This is what I can captured with my hurry visit.


Saturday, February 18, 2012

Buying a Car in New Zealand

Buying a car in New Zealand is really simple. It is just like buying a piece of cake in bakery shop. No cheat! You just need to fill up a form and pay the previous owner and the car is yours!!

How to search for a car?
1) Check notices on notice board in supermarket (Count Down, New World, Pak n Save), or backpackers hostel or notice board in factories.
2) Check in Trade me.
3) Check in Backpackers.com.
4) Check in Facebook.
5) Through friends.

What to do before buying a car?
1) Check the car condition (tyres, brakes, campbell, lights and etc)
2) Check the expiry date for WOF. (Warrant of Fitness). Preferably 3-4 months before expiry date. Or else, request owner to renew it.

3) Check the expiry date for license. (some sort like our Road tax).

How to buy a car?
1) Go to post shop and fill up 'Notice by person acquiring motor vehicle' form (MR13B) .
2) Show your passport and pay the notice of acquisition fee of $9.41 (including GST).
3) Pay the owner with cash.


What to do after buying a car!
1) Straight away send to workshop and service! Never save money on this because you never know how the previous owner treat the car. Safety is the most important!! You never wish accident ruin your working holiday!
2) Buy a third party insurance! You can buy it in AA, BBH, or three sister gift shop.
 - Buying a used car in New Zealand is not really expensive. So even there is any accident happen to our car, the car doesn't really worth a lot. But, if you hit somebody's EXPENSIVE car, that's the trouble comes! So, third party insurance will cover the damage of the car that party. 


After all this done and you may enjoy your trip with your car~


Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Backpack VS Trolley bag

Backpack??? Trolley bag??Backpack??? Trolley bag?? What should I bring for working holiday???I am a backpacker so I should bring a backpack? It's gonna kill me with a 70L backpack but it definitely not enough for me if I bring a smaller one!! Help!~!!~ Twist a coin to decide?

No, that is not a wise choice. Of course, the best choice will be different to everyone. Some people might suit to bring a backpack and some prefer a trolley bag


Backpack Trolley Bag
Conveniency while moving Sure! Not so convenient when going upstair
Storing item Require technique Can simply throw stuff in
Easy to find stuff in bag Harder Easy
Less weight on body Heavy!!! No~
Security Low High (With lock)
Other Usage As a pillow?  As a table 


As a conclusion,
Backpack suit for someone who loves convenient and mobility, and able to carry backpack with long time. (although backpack with good design do reduce the feeling of weight but with a big backpack like 70L, you still feel the weight especially after long walk!!)

Trolley bag suit for those who scare the weight of backpack will kill them and do not mind with little hassle during travelling.

So, what was my choice?
small backpack (38L) + 22 inches luggage bag. I never regret of my choice after months of travelling. luggage bag allows me to walk further and the small back pack is useful especially for day trip/ hiking.



















Choose the one that suits you!!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Thank you, Readers

Yes, there are slow updates in this blog recently due to lots of reasons. No idea what to write, spend more time on sleeping, busy looking for job, meeting up with friends and other excuses reasons. Reasons, reasons reasons. There are always lots of stupid reasons with no update.

I couldn't deny there is always a little sound with me, 'it's alright without update!', 'Not many people really care whether you are updating your blog or not'. 'Hey, not many people reading your blog!' However, I was once proven I was wrong! I received quite a number of messages from some people that I don't know after some of the updates in the blogs.


"Hi there, Read your blog regarding New Zealand working holiday. Previously found it in Cari. Your articles are interesting and useful as I am going to NZ for WH in this coming October, would like to thank you for sharing your experience on your blog. Hope to read more from your blog soon."


"Hi Hui Yi, 
I hope you have receovered from your injury. I have planned a trip to NZ on mid of March but still in the dilemma to my itinerary and appreciate if you could provide me some suggestions."


"Hey girl..
I just read some of your blog, well I also one of the team of WHV.. and I also back to Malaysia d. Great to know you are fine and enjoy read your blog.."


"I am interested in working holiday visa and I found out your blog through forum.."


All of this definitely encourage me to continue to update my blog. And of course, it's always glad that my information of working holiday helps those who are going to working holiday in New Zealand. I deeply understand the feeling because there are lots of questions with me when I just started my working holiday.

Thank you for your support!!! Love you all so much! Love you all more if you can do favour by clicking the advertisement when you pass by. :P 


I'm swear I'll update my blog more frequent!!!


Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Tax Refund

A big surprise today, I received my big ang pau today~
Yes, all the way from New Zealand~ The excitement is even greater than getting an ang pau from a relative!~!~

This is what you gonna get after few months of hard work in New Zealand which is tax refund!~An Ang Pau in cheque form~ and also in New Zealand Dollar~~

Since I got my ang pau today, let me share with you how to get tax refund when you gonna leave NZ.

There are two ways for you to do your refund,
1) Go to the IRD office directly.
 Just do an appointment with them and bring along your return flight ticket detail, Summary of your total earning (which you can print from your IRD online account), and passport. 

2) Do it online.
Due to my sudden return to Malaysia, I was not able to go to IRD office to settle my tax refund. Therefore, I do it online. It is quite simple, just go to the IRD website, print out the form IR886, fill it up and post it out before you leave New Zealand. They will post the tax return form to your home address in Malaysia. Again, fill it up and post out. It took almost 2 months time for me to get my tax refund.

Simple right? Remember to settle your refund when you complete your working holiday. That's your money.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Beginning of Spring, 立春

If you are active in Facebook, you definitely see a lot of photos with eggs posting up yesterday. Why?? There is a belief in Chinese that during this day in lunar calender, 立春,which is the first day of Spring, the egg can stand up without falling. Some even said the egg can only be stood up in this day.

Of course, I must experiment and try to check on this statement!!!

And the result was........................................











Amazing right??? The egg can stood up!!! 


Of course, the experiment doesn't stop on the day. The eggs were left overnight on floor and it was still stood up straight the next day. Experiment continued by pushing down the egg and stood it up again. And, the result..........................is really out of surprise!!!!

It actually...















Can be stood up. haha~ Happy 立春to everyone~