Our weekend in PD

We had a short getaway last weekend in Port Dickson -- my girls, my mom, a cousin and I. I had wanted to do something different for my mom for her birthday -- an extra something apart from the usual year-in, year-out birthday do and presents.

And since it was the school holidays and I haven't taken the girls out for cuti-cuti Malaysia yet, I thought a short trip to PD would be nice (convenient location - dekat!!). What more, the girls kept asking me if we were going to go somewhere for a 'holiday' since the school break started. Kesian lak. I kept telling them that the Langkawi trip we took during the Deepavali weekend was an early 'holiday'. They didn't buy the idea!! hehe

What added salt to the wound was when they saw my PD photos -- the ones I took when I was there for work three weeks ago. The 'ooohhs' and the 'aaahhs' which came out from their mouths -- kesiannye!!

Yang tak tahan when Maira said, "kita pernah pergi hotel tu dengan Daddy, kan". Misha added, "yang lantai dia kayu and boleh tengok air kat bawah, kan?" That did it for me!! I vowed to take them there walaupun rega dia semalam adoiiii!! Dalam hati kata: pretend lah I dah dapat duit x-gratia yang expected end of the month ni... justification, justification...!!

Googled the net for other accommodation options, but couldn't find one that I was satisfied with (later find out from another cousin who recently went to Avillion Admiral Cove -- half price of Avillion Water Chalet -- only 7 months opened to public and niiiiceee -- so rugi la, but nemind, next time!!). And so Avillion it was!!

And so we were there last weekend -- it was also great that mom was gonna be away from home since my other siblings and nieces wanted to have a little surpise birthday do for her. We had a perfect plan then!! We'd drive home on Sunday and tadaaaa... it was "Surprise!!" for her!! She was surprised, I must say... nicely surprised.

Anyways, what's a beach getaway without the photos, kan... so here they are!! (seronok lak main Picasa nih :o)

The PD beach was... sad to say... yucky!! Tambah-tambah pulak the last beach I went to just two months ago was at Pulau Beras Basah where it was soooo pristine... memang tak lalu lah, beach kat PD ni... thank God Avillion has a nice children's pool.

I love the above pictures taken just after Maghrib, as we were about to go out for dinner... the deep blue sky... amazingnya ciptaan Allah...

That night we were up until almost 1am... just hanging out on the balcony -- the tide was low and we could see many people walking on the beach in pitch darkness holding their torchlights looking for crabs. The view was quite something. Terlupa pulak nak amik gambar. Our chalet was the last one at the end of the beach and so we were not overlooking other chalets... I really appreciated that...

Avillion also has a mini petting zoo where guests can feed the animals at 10am daily. The girls teringin-teringin takut nak pegang the rabbits. You know who I thought of when I saw 'em rabbits? MTT!! hehe

The hotel also organised some outdoor games for guests to participate in and we took the opportunity to join in. It was a fun weekend which started and ended very well.

Alhamdulillah.

Tales of Langkawi III

Before my Langkawi Tales become basi, let me just post the last adventure here!!

Final Day

We decided the day before that we'd go around the Datai Bay area and check out the Temurun Waterfalls on our last day. It's been AGES since I went to a waterfall, and never in Langkawi. Since L and I wanted N to see the most of Langkawi (and N too, was open to anything), we gave the waterfall a shot. And we sure glad we did!!

Before cerita pasal waterfall, let me relate a funny incident at the hotel coffeehouse. L & N came down for breakfast first before we did and apparently the waitress kept bugging them for the breakfast coupon (which was with me). They kept telling the waitress to wait just a little bit as I was coming down in no time and bringing the coupons. It seems the waitress stopped L at the buffet line three times when she wanted to get food and sort of like threatening her "kalau tak de kupon, kena bayar kak..". L yang boleh tahan mak tiri jugak (hehe) said she ignored the waitress and buat muka dunno jek.

And finally when I came down with the coupons, L pun bagila the coupons to the waitress and told her sinisterly, "nak suruh saya bayar jugak ke??" hehe... marah akak tu!!

After we finished eating, I took out a food container which was earlier filled with some leftover brownies and muffins from KL and which we had already finished the day before. I wanted to refill the container (I know, tak de klasss kan?? hehe) with some muffins and buns from the buffet line. Just to have something to eat if the girls get hungry later. I asked L & N if they minded (ye lah, nanti malau lak kalau kena tangkap!!) and L said,"well, I've tried to be so sophisticated since we came but since the waitress treated me like I'm some kind of pompuan tak malu, I'm gonna act like one!" and she went to get plates of muffins and buns to fill up the container!! haha!! It was hillarious the way we were laughing and secretly trying to sorok2 what we were doing!!

The Datai Bay is something like 30 odd km away from Pantai Tengah where our hotel is. With L reading the a map, I drove (was the appointed driver the whole 3 days, L was the apponted map reader) leisurely asfter breakfast to get to the waterfall. We reached Datai Bay but couldn't find any signs to Temurun Waterfalls. Drove and drove until we reached a very quiet and secluded road... and tetiba saw the entrance to The Datai, a 6-star resort I've heard a lot of, but never been to.

Yang bestnya travel with ladies is that, bila rasa sesat je, we'd stop somewhere and ask for directions. It'd never happen with guys hehe. So, we decided to go to The Datai and ask directions from the hotel people. I waited in the car with N while L and my girls went down. Five minutes later they came back and told us, "wahhh the place is sooooo nice" (yelah, compared to our 3-star hotel, kan??). N and I decided that we too, want to have a look at the resort and so we parked the car and went inside. It was beautiful indeed. The typical resort filled with Mat Salleh's only coz they're the only ones who can afford it. And... the staff there were so nice... Before entering, we told the guys at the concierge if it was okay for us to just look around and they gladly welcomed us with big huge smiles.

So, we snap, snap pictures la... hehe. While walking to the car, we saw the entrance to The Spa. I suggested that we go have a look since I am SURE I'd never go back to the place ever again. And so we walked to the spa. There was one staff at the main reception who was again, soooooo nice. Genuine smile and called us Puan and not akak!! heheh...

The actual spa area is located in private villas scattered uphill. She invited us to have a look though I am pretty sure she knew we weren't going to patron the place. That was really nice of here. I mean, we were dressed in our Muslimah swimsuits with a t-shirt over!! How classy is that?? Still, she was sooo nice. I told the girls... see, only 6-star resort staff knows how to treat us as we should be treated!! (referring to how my friend L was treated at the breakfast buffet) hehehe

So, after the little visit to The Datai, coupled with directions from the staff, we found our way to Temurun Waterfalls. Have you been to a waterfall lately?? Was it clean or dirty?? I was surprised at how clean Temurun was, did not find ANY piece of plastic or bottles or any litter at all!! Again, the waterfall was masya-Allah, gorgeous!! Terpegun melihat betapa cantiknya ciptaan Allah!!

I think we were the first to arrive at the Waterfalls that morning. We had the waterfalls all to ourselves for a good 30 minutes before other people started to come, all of them Mat Salleh families. 20 minutes later, we decided to make a move as others started to come in.

We reached the hotel just in time to clean up and check-out at 1pm. Though we had checked-out, we could still use the rented car so we drove to Pantai Cenang for lunch. After lunch, dropped off the car at the car rental centre and had them drive us back to the hotel where the airport shuttle was waiting to take us to the airport.

Reached KL on Tuesday at 7pm and reached home at 8pm. The girls ponteng sekolah satu hari (exams were over) and we were back to the same old routine the next day. Sigh!!

It sure was a fun activities-filled holiday. If I have to describe Langkawi in a few words, I'd say it is a natural wonder in every sense.

pic above, bottom right -- the view of the main Datai Resort taken from the spa villas... gorgeous!!

Look what I got in the mail!!

Do you like the collages?? It's all the work of dear Kak Teh who took the liberty to save these pictures from my blog and scrapblogged them on scrapblog.com. Thanks a million, Kak Teh!!

When I mentioned to Kak Teh on MTT's blog that I could not enter the website successfully, dear Kak Teh yang sungguh baik hati telah meng-scrapblog-kan pictures of my girls!!!

Terhutang budi sungguh dengan Kak Teh!! Not to mentioned touched!! Kak Teh, you are so so so sweeeetttt, you know??

Again, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Tales of Langkawi II

Day Two

Our trip was an AirAs*a Go H*lidays package, so the first half of Day Two was taken care off. On the itinerary was island-hopping!! Our first stop was at Pulau Beras Basah... beautiful island with such soft sandy beach. The wet sand almost felt like mud on our feet. Hampir-hampir nak bubuh atas muka!!

Next stop was eagle-feeding at Kilim mangrove area. Of course, we did not feed the eagles from our hands... instead the boatman threw chicken cuts on the water and this attracted the eagles. Being able to view the birds up-close, spreading their wings and descending ever so gracefully to pick up the food was a wonderful experience. It was not my first time, but I guess with the girls around this time, it made me marvel at this wonder with innocent eyes.

After eagle-feeding, we hopped to Tasik Dayang Bunting. I assume everyone knows the legend of the pregnant maiden right?? By this time, the sun was exactly on our heads!! Panasss!! The girls wanted to go on the boat ride at the lake, and since we had 45 minutes to kill, that's what we did. We took the water-cycle boat just the three of us... I kept thinking wow!! Masya-Allah... a lake within an island... isn't that something??

After Dayang Bunting, our boat made a pit-stop somewhere for fishing (not deep-sea fishing of,course). At first I was like... what?? fishing?? not interested!! hehe... but soon, when one of us caught a fish, the excitement began. The first to catch a fish was my friend N, followed by another friend, L. Pastu Misha got a fish!! Yeay!! She was thrilled!! She got a little ikan selar, I think... L managed to catch another fish, a 10-inch Talapia!! By this time, Maira and I was like... errr... how come we're not catching any fish nii?? Maira declared, "we're not leaving until I catch a fish!". Too bad for her (and me), we did not catch any fish till it was time to leave. Misha and N both caught two more. The fish was to be barbecued for us to savour later!!

Our next stop was of course, lunch under a hut at a little island. Perut dah teramat laparrr by this time. It was barbecued shrimp, crabs, chicken satay, stir-fried vege, fried meehoon and the star menu -- our catch!!

On our way back to the hotel, N, being the foreign tourist among us (a colleague, she has been in M'sia for two years but will soon resign from work. She will however come back to complete her PhD in UKM next year) insisted that we stop at Dataran Helang to snap a pic with the giant Eagle. Dah tak larat nak get out of the van dah by this time, but sebab nak menyampaikan hajat kawan, we stopped jugak and snapped pictures... It was scorching HOT by this time...

We went back to the hotel with the adults all flat and the children all psyched up to go to the pool!! So, after prayer break and a 10-minute terbongkang on the bed, we went swimming in the pool la pulakkk... hee hee... Mommy really needs to catch up with the kids' stamina nih!!

We chilled at the hotel pool for a while and later went out again. Wanted to visit the art galleries but all were closed by 6pm (why laa??). We took a drive around Pantai Cenang...quite happening this place since the last time I was there. Pusing-pusing, we decided to have dinner at the highly-recommended Hj Ramli Seafood.

And that was the end of Day Two.

Tales of Langkawi

Am back from Langkawi!! And I need a holiday to recover from the trip!! Hehe...

The five of us left for Langkawi on Sunday morning and reached the hotel before noon. Since check-in time was 3pm, we decided to rent a car and wasted no time in exploring the island. We got a Kancil to use until 10.30pm. As we were already feeling hungry at that time, our immediate mission was to stop for lunch on the way to Gunung Mat Chincang for the cable car ride.

And so lunch was at the Oriental Village. There were quite a number of restaurants offering Western, Greek and Mexican food among others, but we chose to satisfy our growling stomachs at a Nasi Kandar restaurant!! Kenyang!!

We had also considered having our lunch at The Loaf, but due to the limited space (the place was crammed - with only like 5 tables for patrons), the Nasi Kandar restaurant was our best bet!!

Alhamdulillah, the weather was kind to us throughout the trip. We were afraid it might rain since it was raining almost daily here in KL before we left. Tu yang kejar pergi cable car ride tu, as the service can be disrupted for days kalau bad weather...

We had to wait in line for almost an hour for the cable car ride!! We were told that it rained two days in row before that, so that explained the flood of people!! But the long wait was well worth it. The view from up there was breathtaking!! The blue sea and the blue sky seemed to merge into one... masya-Allah!!

After the cable car ride, off we went to Kuah town. Bought chocolates je... didn't shop for any of those pinggan-mangkuk/crystal though mata ni meliar-liar jugak (ok la, I DID buy a few things, macam tak real pulak la kalau tak beli apa-apa kan??) hehe... It was my friend who borong-ed barang-barang kat Hj Ismail Group tu... hehe

Dinner was at a seafood restaurant and by the time we were done, it was almost 10pm. Dropped off the car at the car rental and got driven back to the hotel. ZZzzzzzz... tidoq lena!!

to be continued...

Our 'lil break

Here are pictures from our recent visit to Jakarta & Bandung. We -- my girls and I, my mom, a cousin and Indonesian grand-aunt left Tuesday afternoon onboard the KLM flight.

In Jakarta, we stayed with family, Om Oyong and wife Tante Ret. The two children in the pic below are their grandchildren, Faisal and Sasa.

We travelled to Bogor the next day and visited Taman Safari Indonesia. The girls had a lot of fun with the animals as you can see from the pics below.

From Bogor, we drove on to Bandung and stayed 2 nights there. Om Oyong and Tante Ret have a home right smack in Bandung city (very very near the factory outlets!!). The house is currently being occupied by their youngest son whose studying to be an orthopedic surgeon at Institut Teknologi Bandung.

The next day, our gracious hosts took us to the famous tourist attraction, Tangkuban Perahu, 30 km north of Bandung. This stratovolcano last erupted in 1983!!

On the way down back to Bandung, we had lunch at scenic Lembang. Sundanese food doesn't quite agree with me... I much prefer nasi Padang!! (orang Minang lah katakan!!)

Sampai Bandung, apa lagi... shopping la!! Rumah Mode, Heritage, we were there!!

For dinner, we drove uphill to The Valley, a very nice cosy restaurant overlooking Bandung city. Food was good, so was the company. Bliss.

Friday, we travelled back to Jakarta to continue shopping at... Tanah Abang!!

There were soooooo many people there!! It was quite a feat to actually make your way from one shop to the other. Ohhh... my girls hated Tanah Abang!!

From Tanah Abang we continued our shopping at Mangga Dua. The girls liked this place much better. I completed Raya shopping for them here (still can't get over how cheap those Guess jeans and t-shirts were -- ori tau...)

Then came Sunday when it was time for us to go back... but not before doing some last minute shopping first!! You'd think we had enough time getting all the things we had on our list... tak pun... ada barang yang dipesan kenkawan tak dapat di beli... not enough time... sorry laaa...

Though it was a short trip, a lot was accomplished (no, I'm not referring to the shopping part). We met with many wonderful family members, strengthening silaturahmi, had lots of yummy food and most importantly I got to spend quality time with the kids.

The smiles on their faces were of course, priceless... (sorry, this phrase is NOT ori)

And off we went...

Finally, the day came for our much-deserved break and we left last Tuesday afternoon. It was time well spent and I am happy my girls enjoyed themselves. (more stories and pictures later)


Alhamdulillah... thank you, God.

Happy Labor Day!

Enjoy the holiday, folks!!

Camerons IV: Garden Tea & Scones

One of the things I love about the place we stayed in Camerons -- Bala's Holiday Chalet was the fact that they serve tea in the gardens.

In fact, afternoon tea are served outdoors only (weather permitting, I suppose).

Of course, we had tea and scones... and some more tea and scones.

Simply cannot get enough of it!

For awhile, berangan kejap macam princess... ye lah... being served in my royal courtyard by loyal servants... hmmm... dream on!

Camerons III: I scream for ice-cream!

Home-made ice-cream with freshly plucked strawberries... mmm... yummy!

That's just yet another attribute to love about Cameron Highlands.

We went to one of the many strawberry farms called Kasimanis and had these...

Craving for one right now!!!

Camerons II: Boh Tea Plantation

A visit to Cameron Highlands would not be complete without a stop at the Boh Tea plantation.

The view is simply breathtaking!

The Tea Centre is a crowd-puller. Since my last visit some years ago, they have upgraded the observation deck and extended the cafe.

We had tea, strawberry cake, strawberry pie -- what's a visit to CH if you're not going to have tea and all sorts of foodstuff made out of strawberries!

The cool weather was perfect for a lazy afternoon, enjoying a nice cuppa tea while absorbing nature and admiring God's creation.

And of course, it was a joy to just chill out with my girls.

Perfect bliss...