Kuching, Sarawak.

Sarawak State Legislative Assembly building, located in Kuching, Sarawak - the capital and most populous city in Sarawak.

Went there with my family in 2009. We stayed in Harbour View Hotel, just opposite Kuching Waterfront. So finding food and a place to hang-out was no problem to us.

And we hanged-out at the waterfront a whole lot! We get to watched a man dressed in a traditional Iban costume, playing "sape" - a traditional Iban's instrument. 

And at night, there was cultural performances.

There's a boat service that takes you across the river, which only takes about 5 minutes or so. On the other side, there's a big food court where you can find great Sarawakian food like Sarawak laksa & Kolok mee.

The people of Kuching are very friendly. They are very generous when it comes to smiling. Didn't go exploring the forest, "rumah panjang" & all the authentic features of Sarawak. Maybe we'll go again next time.

Can't remember much of this trip, but I remember that I enjoyed myself hanging out at the waterfront. Going on & off the boat and smiling at every Sarawakian bcoz they are just so friendly. Can't say anything about the hotel or restaurants or even kek lapis bcoz my memory of them are only barely touching the surface. 

I miss it, though. It was a good trip with my family. 

Lonely Langkawi

Another post taken from my old blog, of a trip by myself, on my birthday, to Langkawi. Back in April 2011. You might wanna open up Google Translate while reading this post (if you don't understand Malay language).

I stayed in Berjaya Langkawi Resort. A bit far from the airport, so I arranged with the hotel for a pickup. Hotel website here.


View from Thai Restaurant where I had my dinner the 1st day there. Very nice ambiance. Windy, nice sunset, moon & stars at night sambil ada orang hiburkan dengan mainan guitar yg sangat lembut dan calming.

Afterwards berendam dalam bath tub, syampoo rambut, hangout with friends @ the lounge while waiting for 12am to wish myself a happy 29th birthday. All in, perfect day.

Earlier, after check-in, masuk bilik and crash onto the huge bed (which I had all to myself), read a good book by the window, hangout at the balcony overlooking the garden and the sea.

That evening I went out to checkout what's around the resort. My room is conveniently located near the main building so I don't have to wait for the shuttle. Shady, because trees all over. Beware of monkeys, though - but they're friendly. Walked down to the beach, hanged out there for a while.

I was the only Malay there on my 1st day. And, I was alone. I can say all of their staff did a double take at me. Must be because I was alone, walking cheerfully, but then dressed so selekeh tak suitable nak jadi guest hotel kot. Jeans lipat2, selipar jepun, pasir dari beach penuh kat kaki dan jalan tanpa arah tujuan.

Almost everybody became my friend that day. They're very friendly. And they HAVE to ask if I'm there alone. By the time my friend checked in that night, I was already her tour guide for the hotel and every story the hotel staff told me. Ye, aku sangat kepoh. Segala benda aku nak tanya staff kat situ. Aku cakap dengan semua orang, except the AngMohs sebab aku bet diaorg ingat aku tak geti cakap omputih. Ekekeke..

Next day when I checked out, finally pakcik yg jaga shuttle to tanya, "Dari semalam saya nampak awak ni jalan sorang2. Awak memang sorang2 ke?". Hahaha.. And then came those younger guys barulah nak gelak2 sekali. Cet! Sepanjang aku kat situ takmau tegur ke, berkenalan ke.. apelah!

It's a walking distance between the resort and The Langkawi Cable Car or Panorama Langkawi Cable Car, plus shuttle boleh hantar for free.. so I went lah. Absolutely empty, unlike the last time I was there during CNY, had to beratur berjam2!. Anyway, of course the view was awesome. I stayed up there for like, an hour. Wanted to go on the bridge, but tak ramai orang takut jugak kan.. and it was SO hot! So I stayed under the shades just staring far into the ocean.

It's a great break for my brains. I love it up there - one of my favourite places in Malaysia. This is my 3rd time being up, and definitely will go again.

I made friends with a guy who worked there. Budak lagi, baru habis diploma. I was alone in the cable car and he wanted to accompany me up. So I said yea, why not. We chatted. Of course didn't exchange phone numbers. He looked kinda shy. Maybe he was looking for somebody fun, but unfortunately I'm kinda old and gave him a good talk about cari kerja baik, how to search for jobs and basically how to live life. Hahah.

Hanged out with friends afterwards @ Kuah. Didn't buy anything, tho. Kinda tired of chocolates, too young for Corelle and liquor is off limits. So, keluar masuk kedai tak beli apa2, cuma tanya2 soalan bodo2 kat tukang kedai jek. Padan muke diaorg. :P

Flew out @ 9.30pm and so damn tired this morning nak bangun gi keje. Nak MC tak sampai hati. Why oh why!

Emotions still in control having to face him today again after a whole weekend break.

Go, self. You can do it.

Pantai Morib, Selangor

This was a post of mine somewhere in 2012, taken from my old blog.

Yesterday was one fine Saturday, and I really wasn't gonna spend it sulking at home. So I googled Pantai Remis & Pantai Morib. Both are beaches that's nearby the city, about 1 1/2 hours away. Google search for images showed me that the crowd of people are less in Remis compared to Morib. Also, Morib has a nice, decent recreational park and so I made my choice to go there.

Wearing my new and oh-so-soft tshirt from Addini, I head out for my adventure (yea, rite!). But of course, 1st stop - lunch. At Wong Solo, Ampang. Ayam penyet is the best! After all those crispy chicken are safely inside my tummy, I continue on.

Ayam penyet

As I was closing in to Cheras, I decided to drop by Spermajalang's crib. To give him coffee from Bali & to say hi. Yeah, kinda missed him. Anyway it was kinda early to head out, I don't wanna have to sit in Morib alone while waiting for the sun to set - I needed a place to crash. After about an hour of watching TV & getting to know his soon-to-be-lawyer housemate who is also good looking & rich, I continue my journey.

I had my Google Maps on, but unfortunately I was brought to an unfamiliar area - somewhere in Putra Perdana, Puchong. On a nice evening & very much no traffic at all, I am glad I got lost. Driving around, seeing new things. 

Almost decided to cancel my trip since it was already close to 6pm when I reach Putrajaya, but my feet just continued on stepping on the gas pedal. So there I was, driving through Dengkil, on towards Banting and finally reached Morib at 7pm.

The sun was absolutely amazing! I was so happy I got there in time before it disappears. There was a lot of people, but parking was easy anyway. I had about 20 minutes there - paid a visit to the loo & then walked slowly to a spot where I had a full view of the sun and the sea.

Masya Allah, it was so breathtakingly beautiful.

That's about it. I went home after Maghrib. The journey home was scary, coz it was very dark and not a lot of cars passing by. I didn't know the way, just went with the signboards - my phone battery was completely gone. After about an hour of driving in the middle of nowhere, I found myself at KLIA. Thank goodness!

So I drove home on my usual route. On the way, my stomach was growling, so I decided to visit Ely at work in Subang SS 15. A whole lot of food there, plus I needed some updates on our girl issues. 

All in all, I had a great day. Very tiring, tho.

Lexis Hotel Port Dickson

I was in Port Dickson recently for a weekend break. Decided to walk in to Lexis Hotel Port Dickson and try my luck if there's any room available - and it did!

RM580 inclusive of breakfast for an Executive Water Chalet. For 1 night. The spacious room comes with a very comfortable king bed, a day bed, a spacious jacuzzi that fits 2 & a balcony.

Other plus points about this hotel is that it each room comes with an iron & board, a safe & an umbrella - which are rare. Normally we will have to request for these things.

Room service is good - from the point of the variety of menus, time of food being delivered & presentation. The taste of the food, however, is only an "OK" to me. Our lunch as captured above, cost us RM82.

The beach is clean, and that's all I can say about it.

We did't jump into the swimming pool, bcoz of the many families with young children hanging out there & the pool size is not as big as it may seem in the pictures.

There's kareoke center, gym & other sports activities that you can try out - with a price, that is. Since we're single travelers who just want to chill out, we decided to just sit back & enjoy the sun.

One of the must-do thing if you're staying here is catching the sunset. Walk along the chalet area until the very far end where you can get an awesome view.

At night we went to Port Dickson town to check out the Waterfront area. It's still new, I guess, but there's a lot of restaurants to choose from. Fast food, western, Italian, Korean, Japanese, Thai, and the list goes on. There's a Starbucks nearby Maybank. And then there's another Starbucks with drive-thru just nearby.

Apart from eating, I don't think there's much to do there. And the town is pretty much quiet after 9pm anyway.

For breakfast, choice of food wasn't bad at all. Of course they have nasi lemak - every hotel in Malaysia does - with different kinds of sambal. Then they have confectioneries, porridge, western, salad, fruits & cereals. There's about 5 types of juices if you're not a coffee/tea drinker.

All in, it was a very good stay. From the helpfulness & friendliness of the hotel staff to the cleanliness of the hotel grounds.

 

So if you're in PD & looking for a not-too-expensive hotel to wind down, be sure to check out Lexis Hotel. It is formerly known as The Legend Water Chalet - in case your GPS can't find it (like mine did).

It's fun for family & comfy for couples. For more info, log on to lexispd.com . Alternately, you can look for offers to this hotel in Agoda website.

Swiss-Garden Resort & Spa Kuantan

Every year I'd plan a trip during my birthday. Unfortunately this year, it was cancelled - because the situation in Bangkok was uneasy. Plus my friend & I just got back from another trip earlier, and we were both busy with work.. bla bla bla.. So I opt to go somewhere in Malaysia, within reasonable driving distance. Swiss-Garden Resort & Spa Kuantan came to mind as I haven't been to the East Coast for quite some time. I need keropok lekor & nasi dagang.

Swiss-Garden Resort & Spa Kuantan

I booked my room earlier on Agoda so checking in was smooth, altho there were a slight of a crowd at the lobby. Oh btw, I love the lobby - it's so spacious and airy. A lot of seats where you can just chill out. We stayed for 2 nights, which cost us RM680.92 for a Deluxe Room including breakfast. The room was spacious & clean but the condition is a bit old. And if you plan to use the water heater, please check it out first because ours was rusty.

Our room 

We had ourselves a single bed each, and bed condition is only an "OK" for me. The bathroom was a bit small, tho. Bathtub can barely fit me in, not in width but in length - and I am short. 

The small bathtub

Sink

The toilet

It was about a 3-hour drive from KL in the middle of the day with the hot sun and all.. so by the time we checked in, we were starving! Since I was the only driver & was too tired to drive out for food, we had dinner at their restaurant - The Garden Terrace.

My western food - beef

Local nasi goreng

Food was awesome. No, it's not because we were super hungry but it was actually good. We had nasi goreng & some-western-food-I-can't-recall-the-name. Service was not so good - slow; but then again it was 3pm (after lunch hour) and I believe the staff are all tired. Let's just give'em a break, shall we? This cost us about RM70++.

Moving on to the beach. Oh before that - the walkway. Full of greens, it's so soothing to the eyes. And again, it's airy.

Green open field towards the beach

As for the beach itself, may not be as "awesome" as some of the other beaches in the area, but it was great for me. Mainly because it was not a public beach, so it wasn't crowded. The water is not so blue but a beach's a beach - and I take it as it is.

The beach

Beach activities

An almost-empty beach

Sunset behind the hotel

That night we had dinner at their Chinese restaurant - The Blossom. We had lemon chicken, dried chili chicken, broccoli & can't recall others, it was one of the dinner sets that they offer. And it came with a pot of chrysanthemum tea (with the flowers) & it's refillable. This cost us around RM80++.

Hotel lobby

After dinner we hanged out at the lobby. There's a flow of water, it was soothing & cooling - I loved it. It looked out to the beach, of course. Since it was night time, all we can see was lights from the lamppost.

Sunrise @ the beach

So anywho, the next day we checked out the sunrise. And after breakfast we headed towards Kuala Terengganu. Just because I missed Pasar Payang.

Terengganu is mostly occupied with Muslims, so on a Friday afternoon it was seriously deserted. We had trouble finding food for lunch, so we stuffed ourselves with keropok lekor & headed back to Kuantan.

Pantai Batu Buruk

Pantai Batu Buruk

We took the beach road, to get some scenery. Earlier my GPS directed us through a new highway towards Kuala Terengganu, which was such a turn off! So we had our stops - 1st was at Pantai Batu Buruk.

The beach was nicer here than in Balok Beach, Beserah (where the hotel is). I was the only one who went near the water. You know Malaysians, we have a lot of sun on a lot of days, so none of us wants to expose ourselves to the afternoon sun.

Shop along the road

Took a few snaps of pics & continued the journey. 2nd stop was at a shop by the roadside. We were getting hungry so we bought some sata. There was a small pondok behind the shop for us to sit, eat & enjoy the view and sound of the waves from the South China Sea.

My fav picture throughout the trip

Above is a picture of the pondok, earlier occupied by an old man who walked away as the kid in white & his family approched. It is one of my favorite picture from my entire collection.

Afterwards we drove again, but about an hour away from hotel, I started to feel dizzy from hunger. So we made another pit stop by the roadside where a stall was selling nasi dagang. A plate cost us RM3, a price you can never get in KL - but the portion was a bit small tho. Enough to just get me going again.

Later that night, it was time for room service since we were still hungry. (Yes, I could eat a horse & it can actually fit in my huge tummy). We ordered 3 dishes - Fish & Chips, Beef burger & Mee goreng. Plus 2 cans of Coke & it cost us around RM80++ if I'm not mistaken. Again, the food was excellent.

Random guy in the water

We spent the next morning in the waters before heading back to KL. It was a good thing that we checked out on a Saturday because the crowd was getting bigger. There were a whole lot more families with young children & there was a seminar for Petronas staff.

So all in, it was an OK stay. I may come again if there's no other places that I can go to. Much more suitable if you're bringing a family instead of on a couples/single trip.

Check out the Swiss-Garden Resort & Spa Kuantan website to get more details.