Hariz & Sara 1st Melaka Trip

I know today is Wednesday and I used to do Wordless Wednesday on this very day. But since it's been ages this blog has not been updated, I owe you readers some words :)

We went to Melaka for this year's holiday. Why Melaka? Well my husband used to studied here for 4 years and he thought of paying a visit to his old place. Like walking down the memory lane. It doesn't really matter to me where we are going. I just like road trip! This will be the 2nd longest trip we have ever done with both kids. 1st was Terengganu (did I blogged about it?) which was 7 hours drive - no highway and now Melaka, 5 hours drive. The most challenging part for any mothers before going on a trip will be packing! Don't you all agree?? Especially when you have a toddler and a baby that just started on solid to bring along. I brought along all Sara's frozen food (homemade) and a steamer to heat the food. She's on 3 meals a day so times 3 days. I will blog about it in my next post. (soon i hope!)

Anyway, we took off from Penang at almost 1030am (initial plan was 9am), make a few stops at the R&R, and safely arrived at Ayer Keroh, Melaka at 3pm. I've already drafted our itinerary for the trip.

Yes you can say that I'm ambitious or well planned. Tapi orang kata kita hanya merancang, Allah yang menentukan. Betol tak? 

We decided to go to Melaka Botanical Garden since most of the parks close at 5.30pm. We rent a buggy - that we have to drive ourselves for 45mins. I think it was ok. So Wan drove the buggy halfway and we made a stop at this dinosaurs park. We didn't get to walk all around the park because of the time limit for the buggy. Kalau lambat 1 minit, we have to pay RM5/minute! So we snapped some photos and moved on. This time, I took the wheel (I've never drove a buggy before :P).

Once we are done with Botanica Garden, it was almost 6pm. We headed to our hotel (or should I say Inn) located at Melaka Raya. We booked a room at Fenix Inn and took Family suite that has 1 queensize bed and 1 single bed that cost us for only RM239 for 2 nights! I did some research on hotels and Fenix Inn has the highest rating in Agoda.com for the best budget hotel in Melaka. Well, they were right!

It was a shophouses converted into 3 storey hotel/inn. Our room located on the 1st floor and facing the main road. There's no lift so you have to take the stairs. I love the void area/airwell they have on the 1st floor walking towards our room.

The floor was made of laminated timber (easy to clean). The room is clean, new bedsheet and clean toilet. What I love about this hotel is although it is a budget hotel, it has been well thought of. They have a free valet parking for the guests, babycot upon request, drinking water dispenser at the hall for hot and cold water, in room kettle and coffee & tea. Sampai je bilik terus bagi Sara makan, bathe them and ready to go out for dinner. Oh did I mention the hotel is just next to Mahkota Parade, Dataran Pahlawan and this new building called Hatten? They are all just walking distance! So that night we went out to Dataran Pahlawan for dinner. Sadly, they don't offer a lot of variety there. Nak pegi Mahkota Parade dah macam malas sebab kena cross main road. So we settled for A&W je.

The next day, our planned kinda went into the drain because it's been raining cats and dogs since morning! We only managed to get out of the hotel at almost 12 noon!

(hotel lobby)

Changed of plans. We went to Mahkota Parade for brunch. I can't remember the last time I was here. Probably 8 years ago. There's nothing much to do there so we just jalan-jalan cuci mata. Hubs as usual dengan senQ dia. 

I found this Mother's Room and decided to take a peek. No men allowed in the room and there's a person waiting in the room probably to guard the place. Takot orang tido ke ape sebab comfortable sangat! I nak snap photo pon mintak approval dia. There's this play area with few toys. Saje bagi the kids main kejap. As I reckon, bila nak balik Hariz refuse to keluar. I have this vision that I have to drag him out of the room. Surprisingly, I managed to talk him out. Walaupun dia macam berat nak angkat kaki keluar. and we need to sign a guestbook before we leave the room.

It was almost 4pm and we headed straight to Butterfly Farm in ayer Keroh. Luckily for me Sara slept all the way from the moment we enter the farm until we were out of the farm. Hariz seems to enjoy his visit to the farm. Bought a few fridge magnets (1 dah pecah and 1 dah terkeluar magnet) and Hariz dapat 1 kipas Angry bird.

It was almost 6pm when we were done with the Butterfly farm, so we headed to Menara Taming Sari as our last visit. We didn't get to go to Jonker Street, A'famosa or took on the River Cruise. Probably on our next trip.

I am actually horrified of heights. I get dizzy and things started to spin when I look down from a higher level. Glad it was only for a few minutes.

Well, that's all for my Melaka trip. It was a fun and tiring. We stayed overnight in Selangor before returning to Penang. No photos though because Sara buat perangai and I was totally not in the mood for photos. Boohoo!

I hope the next trip will be better as Sara will be a little bigger and wiser. I hope! Till next time!

Things about Singapore that amazed me

When I first arrived in Singapore, I can never stopped from being 'ooh.. aahhh' over their vast development. Anyway, next building visited was this just-completed cluster homes called Mont Timah located at Hindede Drive, Singapore. Why it is called cluster? There are 4 units in one cluster. Each unit consists of 5-storey, 2 basement carparks ,a private lift and roof terrace. 3 or 4 units came with private pool/jacuzzi.

{clockwise : view of the cluster homes from the entrance, main pool, layout of the cluster homes}

{l-r : close up of one of the unit, the pool area}

I heard the price of each unit was S$6mil. or something around that.

 Then we are off to visit this SOTA building (School or Arts, Singapore).The Kirk Terrace city-campus building was built by WOHA Architects, Singapore.

{clockwise : front entrance of SOTA, link bridge on the building, green creepers}

Later we visited another art school called LaSalle College of Arts (boy. they do have a lot of art school here don't they?)This building was design by RSP Architects. I like the idea of green space at the center of the building where students and people could just sit around, read books, talking and kids playing. It's open for public use too.

{clockwise : green space at LaSalle, walls outside of the building, link bridges}

Feel excited about architecture now? Wait till you see my next entry. Tomorrow! Got lot of work to do. Stay tunedd!!!

Visit to Rene's Residence

Hello gorgeous! I know I haven't been updating this blog for quite something (blowing dust). The truth is, I'm so occupied with work at the office and my design blog which has been part of my night shift :P

Anyway, I went to Singapore recently for a study trip organized by my company. It's an annual trip where we will visit some of the architecture in the country we are visiting.

So the 1st building we visited of the day was Mr. Rene Tan's residence Nestled in a delightful suburb of Watten Estate. Mr. Rene Tan is one of the founder of RT+Q architect firm in Singapore.

Anyway, this house is originally a terrace house and has been converted into sort of like a semi-d with a wading pool on the side of the house.

{clockwise : front facade, pool side, Mr. Rene Tan & our principal, Lillian Tay}

He was kind enough to give all of us a private tour of this house. This house has been featured in numerous books and magazines.

{clockwise : Rene showing the model of the house, spiral staircase, view from 2nd floor}

When we 1st reach this house, the 1st thing we saw was this cantilevered box on the 1st floor of the house and wondered what is inside the room.

His daughter's room! It was more like a showcase area with nicely arranged toys and books. I want this for my boy! :P

I still got more photos to share with you. Maybe the next entry??

To be continued....

Is going to KL called a vacation?

Going to KL for a vacation has been our annual event since 2 years ago. What's so great about KL? Why not Pangkor? or Terengganu? Some place where you can really chill and unwind? hoho.. really? Chill and unwind? Unless you don't have a 1 year old toddler that is on exploring stage, then you can unwind :P

So basically, I've been craving for the IKEA's meatball. (of all foods!!!!) I know so lame right? And somehow last week was the perfect timing for us to pack our bags and head down to KL. Another best part is, we've got free accommodation!!! Heheh.. apparently my sisters are staying in KL so apa lagi, tumpang la. Benda free. Lagi mau tunggu :P

Anyway, IKEA was the first destination once we arrived in KL. 3pm on Saturday is definitely not the best of time to go there. The queue to the car park was long but luckily, by the time we entered the car park, they closed the gate :P And we're so lucky that we found a parking space just after a few minutes. 

If you are from KL, you must be shaking your head now because of the timing. Hah! Perfect! The store couldn't be any more crowd. Full with peoples taking photos, posing on the couch, talking and strolling as if they were walking at the park. *sigh*

So we quickly get the stuff we needed and headed to the cafe and boy, the queue was even worst! Don't get me start on finding seats for us. 

Well to cut the story short, I managed to get my meatballs after few hours. :) Didn't managed to get any photos because we left the camera in the car. Bummer!

It's a must to take a self portrait :P

So the next day, we went to Sunway Pyramid. Just because I wanted to go to the Cotton On Kids. Unfortunately the had nothing much to offer for the boys. More towards girls I think. Arghh!!! sangat comel okeh semua the dresses! The tutus!! Kept telling myself, beli je, mana tau nanti boleh pakai. Yeah right. *eyes rolling*

I had to let this little fella loose while we were waiting for our food to arrive. Kalau idak macam cacing kepanasan! Gelisah!

I love this shot. We were just hanging out at this part of the sunway pyramid and Hariz just love to run around. 

We went to Midvalley the next day with my dad because Wan went to the motorshow at the PWTC. He said the show was a disappointment. There were not many international cars (hence the word International Motorshow). Most of them were locals, Japan's and among others.

Kesian dia. Tak berbaloi stuck in traffic for more than 1 hour just to reach there and another 1 hour to get out from there. 

Anyway, we had a fun filled trip this time. (minus a large hole in our pocket) :P Now I have to refrain myself from shopping for the whole month!! (do you think I could do that?)

Our little family vacay - Kuching, Sarawak

This entry is supposed backdated. Kept in the draft folder for so long (trying to think what to write). All I had was the photos. I can't post just photos can I?

Okay. So on with our Kuching trip. We went there almost a week ago during the Deepavali holiday. It was more like a company trip as we went in a group of 15 people. 

We booked Airasia for this trip. Departed from Penang airport at 0950 and arrived 2 hours later ( honestly, I've been having nightmare about this. Selalu mimpi tertinggal flight. Kes 11/9 aritu laa. huhuhu) But alhamdulillah, the bridge was okay. We arrived at the airport at 0830. But the queue was &)*)+*)&. We had to wait for almost an hour for our turn!!

Anyway, Hariz was thrilled! (he hardly know what's going on). Been running here and there. But sampai je atas flight, terus pengsan. He slept all the way from Penang to Kuching! How cool is that!! Hehehe

We stayed at The Lime Tree Hotel in Kuching. It's a new boutique hotel located at the Abell Street. I'd say 15-20 minutes walking distance to the Kuching Waterfront. I love the friendly environment. All staff were very friendly. The room is clean and neat. The food at the cafe was not so bad. I love the Laksa Sarawak! (sorry no photos. Busy chasing Hariz everytime we were at the lobby)

We went to the river front right after we checked in and freshen up. They were having some kind of event there at the waterfront.

Me and Hariz in front of the Margarita fort and the new DUN building behind.

There's not much thing to do at the water front, so we went across the street to the row of souvenir shops. Bought few fridge magnets and t-shirts. Wished I could buy all those vase and decorations. Tapi nanti banyak pulak barang nak bawak balik. huhuhuhu.

Later that night, we went to have dinner at the famous seafood spot in Kuching called the Topspot. It's located at the rooftop of a carpark. It's a foodcourt selling almost all kind of seafood you could ever find. We had a hard time looking for one. They all look the same!

In the end, we picked the last stall at the end of the food court. Simply because less crowd there. It's kinda hard to push a stroller with the crowds. Since they all look almost the same why not here :) Aman sikit.

This is what we had :

- 1 lobster

- 8 prawns (big ones)

- 2 crabs

- 1 fish

- 1 some kind of siput. forgot it's name. looks like small bamboo.

- 1 sayur midin (photos below)

- 1 mixed veggie

- 1 tomyam

-  drinks and rice

Honestly, the food was overwhelming! and there's only 2 of us to eat! (ya Wan got carried away picking the food. rambang mata kata nya)

I really can't finished the whole meal. It's too many!!!

Then we played the guessing game. Guess the price. They said it's cheap here. But we don't know how cheap! So I guessed RM200. 

And we got the receipt, to my surprised, it's not RM200!! Not even close!!!!! It's Rm125!!!!! Wow!

It is cheap!!! so we went there again the next day :P

On the following day, we went to the Sarawak Cultural Village, Santubong. The trip was about 45 minutes from our hotel by bus. It's kinda the must go place if you're ever in Sarawak. 

The cultural performance was... well.. okay.. a little yawn here and there.Luckily it didn't take too long. We just like it there because of the air-conditioning :P

I love all the traditional houses. Very traditional :) Love the long house too. Hariz can't help by running back and forth.

And later we went to the Kek Lapis factory. Honestly I'm not much of a fan of kek lapis. So I just bought 4 for the family. But they sure do look tempting with all the colours no? :)

Finally, we headed to the Satok market. The market is not like our ordinary night market (pasar malam). It only opens on Saturday at noon until the next Sunday noon. So basically it opens for 24 hours. Only on that day and time. That's why it is called the Sunday Night Market.

There were so many things you can get here at the Satok Market, from the wet stuff (fish, meat) to the dry stuff (souvenirs).

This is the midin veggie we had the night earlier. Something like the paku pakis. I never saw this in Peninsular. Sangat sedap masak goreng belacan. SlurrppP!! I should've bought home some. *sigh*

and of course. The famous terubuk masin. I'm not a fan too but Wan loves it. We packed home about 6 of it. They were pretty much dried when we got home. Which is okay :)

These fished will be packed neatly in a box for us tourist to bring home. I guess this is normal here that they have already prepared boxes for us. Very convenient :)

We headed home on the Sunday morning. To sum it up, I pretty much enjoy the trip. Especially walking around the town with Hariz. :)

I guess that's that! :)

Have a nice day!!

Ho Chi Minh City {Day 4} - Final entry. Yeay!

Okay, so I had a bit of 'free' time last night to edit and try spice up each photos :P I don't think I could do it in all entries but I will try to do it whenever I had the chance :) I'm soo lovin it!! :P

Anyway, to my final entry of the Ho Chi Minh City trip, we went to the Presidential Palace which was really famous during the war time.

and next, to the  Norte Dame Cathedral

The 1st time I looked inside the Old Post Office, I was amazed by its design and it does look more like a train station than a post office, no?

Ah.. lovin the small rooms. It's for the public to make international calls.

There were quite a number of brides & grooms taking photos around the area. Looking at the designs of the buildings, I can see why they choose these 'hot' spots :)

Next, off to a small factory that makes lacquerware. Mind you there are all handmade and made by the handicapped people.

Done with the visit, it's makan time!

And shopping of course :P

 That's all for my recent Vietnam Trip! (phew!) Hope you enjoy all the photos. 

I will be a bit occupied this few days but will try to update my blog at least once a day. huhuhu..

Till then!

Thank you for looking!

Ho Chi Minh City {Day 3}

We start off our 3rd day in HCMC by visiting the City Opera House, District 1. It's just a walking distance from the hotel we stayed, Kimdo Royal Hotel.

I've never been to any opera house before. I find it so breathtaking and as if I was in one of the scene from the Phantom of The Opera :P That's my collegue from KL branch Hani and Puteri.We tried to do the gLee thingy :P

I really wish there was a performance done at that moment. *sigh*

Next we went to visit Phu My Hung Township. There's a show unit of one of the apartment and I can't help but noticing of these yummy 'food' display at their kithchen. Don't they look real? They were as close as the real thing! I kid you not! They carry a certain weight and even so fluffy like a real bun! I think I've seen it selling at SSF? *gosh, must have this! :P

A french student apartment at the district

 

Then we went to the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center where we have set a booth to display our works.

 

 Some of other local representatives

 

It has been one tiring day so we decided to take a break and relax. I did a ped and men and foot massage with hot stones. If you've tried Thai massage, they are pretty similar because they are so strong! I felt like they were crushing my bones when they did the back massage. whoa! I will never do that again! Unlike Bali, they were very soft and gentle. Anyway, the massage plus ped and men cost me USD 20. Quite resionable I would say.

Okay, final entry next I promise! :) Stay tuned!