Langkawi Day 2: Langkawi Cable Car, Oriental Village.

Since hari ni kitorang duduk hotel kat Pantai Cenang, aku punya plan nak spend the whole day kat area ni je, maybe mandi pantai ke. Petang Jumaat lepas pindah hotel kat Kuah baru naik cable car. Tapi Abah kata petang tak sesuai nak naik cable car takut berangin, and if its too windy cable car akan stop beroperasi. I'd prefer to avoid the weekend sebab baca biasa orang beratur panjang nak naik cable car. Like I read in blogs ada yang menunggu up to 30-45 minutes. Even though cuti sekolah baru habis minggu lepas, but just to be on the safe side. So bottom line is hari ni jela kitorang naik cable car.

Zara malam tadi nak dekat 5am baru tidur kot! Geram betul, dia excited tempat baru maybe. Bilik pun luas, so seronokla dia jalan sana sini usik semua benda. So as usual bila tidur lambat tengah hari la baru bangun. Mula-mula Mak tak nak ikut jadi lepas solat Zuhur terus bersiap nak jalan. Bila kitorang dah siap baru la Mak tiba-tiba nak ikut so sementara menunggu Mak bersiap kitorang keluar dulu jenguk-jenguk kedai duty free nearby.

Singgah McD sebelah The Zon nak bagi Zara makan. I really want to find out betul ke orang kata kalau makan kedai kat Langkawi ni tak ada tax. Well I got my answer, its true! So the stated price is the nett price. Lepas bagi Zara makan masuk The Zon survey chocs jap. Since ada lagi 4 hari kat sini, boleh la kot nak survey survey harga dulu then dah tau mana yang paling murah baru beli. Aku siap pesan kat HB, tengok je dulu nanti baru beli. :p

Balik semula hotel ambik Mak Abah, dah nak dekat pukul 3pm. Oriental Village ni kalau dari Pantai Cenang dia agak jauh ke belah atas pulau. Takes about half an hour kot, kena patah balik ikut laluan airport. then lalu jalan pusing-pusing yang buat aku rasa pening and tak sabar nak sampai. We passed by a few hotels on the way, one of them was Kuala Muda Inn. Patut la selalu ada promo and bagi harga murah. I wouldn't stay there myself, sebab macam jauh dari semua benda and dia duduk sorang-sorang je kat area tu. Just my two cents.

Sampai Oriental Village aku cakap kat HB, "tempat ni macam dilanggar helang". Then he was like "helang? dilanggar garuda la". LOL. Tapi memang sunyi takde orang. Weekdays kot. The place reminds me a bit of Colmar Tropicale, Bukit Tinggi.

Ticket naik cable car untuk warganegara RM15 which is half of the normal price. But you need to show your ID to get that price. Abah dah jalan laju kedepan nak belikan ticket siap-siap, sekali Abah patah balik sebab nak kena kutip IC setiap orang. Ingatkan Zara free, tapi untuk children 2-12 years kena bayar RM10. Cis. Since tak ramai orang hari ni, tak payah nak beratur langsung, terus je dapat naik cable car. I read in someone's blog time ramai orang, they have to fill up each cable car to the max (6 person) so sumbat jela dengan orang tak kenal pun. Tapi time kitorang naik tu sebab tak ramai so dia tak kisah pun each party in their own cable car. Air tak boleh bawak naik ye, ada rak kat entrance kena tinggal kat situ. Unless air tu ada dalam beg dia takde la beria check. HB baru je lepas beli air, belum sempat minum and still pegang kat tangan, then staff suruh tinggal kat bawah. Kesian HB, turun nanti dah tak sejuk air. Hehe.

The experience naik cable car, seriously gayat giler! Aku pernah la naik cable car a few times dulu masa kecik kat UK, kat Switzerland and paling latest a few times kat Genting Highland. Tapi yang ni serious takut giler sebab aku rasa cable car dia macam kecik sangat, then bila anyone bergerak je rasa bergoyang-goyang. Masa nak dekat sampai puncak Gunung Macinchang tu pulak ada lurah yang dalam giler so bila tengok bawah memang jarak kita dalam cable car tu dengan tanah SANGAT jauh. 

At the first station.

Cable car tu stop kat dua station. Well, not exactly stop sebab cable car tu always bergerak kan but you need to get out at the first station, staff yang suruh. My guess is to be fair untuk orang yang tengah beratur dari first station nak naik ke second station. Tapi tengok ada je orang lain yang insist tak nak turun. Maybe sebab tengah tak ramai orang kot. Memang annoying jugak masa beratur nak naik ke station kedua, a few cable car sampai tapi orang tak nak keluar at the first station so kita kena tunggu lagi for the next cable car. Keluar je dari cable car kat first stop tu I literally had weak knees. Rasa macam nak terus turun tak nak naik ke station kedua (puncak) but unfortunately tempat naik cable car untuk turun bawah is on the other side so memang kena naik dulu baru boleh turun.

Zara makan aiskrim kat puncak Gunung Machinchang

Skybridge kat puncak tengah tutup for renovation. Too bad sebab rasanya aku takkan naik cable car ni lagi kot. Kat atas ada small food stall, tak banyak makanan pun. Ada burger, nasi lemak bungkus, kerepek-kerepek, ice creams and a few other foods that I don't recall. On the way naik tadi Zara tidur je, dah sampai puncak baru dia bangun so masa nak turun dia sedar. Kesian Zara, ketakutan dalam cable car tu. Tapi aku rasa perjalanan turun takdela setakut perjalanan naik tadi. And rasa laju je masa turun, taktau nape. Hehe.

Keluar dari Oriental Village kitorang singgah Pantai Pasir Hitam. Tapi sebab kepenatan aku tak tengok pun pantai dia, duduk makan kat kedai makan je. Then on the way balik ke hotel lalu jalan yang ada banyak kedai jual minyak gamat. Tapi dah nak magrib so semua kedai dah tutup.

Malam lepas Magrib keluar cari makan dengan Abah. Aku dengan HB macam nak makan western or anything else selain nasi. Tapi Mak nak ikan bakar. Kitorang keluar dengan kereta but ended up parking a few hundred meters je dari hotel and jalan kaki cari kedai makan. We ate at Restoran Haji Ramli tapi ikan bakar dia tak berapa sedap, rasa kering.

Pantai Cenang really reminds me of Aonang Beach, Krabi. Hotel-hotel and kedai jual souvenirs sepanjang jalan, the spas and lively restaurants, booth offering island hopping and water activity packages, seriously macam kat Krabi. Cuma kat Aonang Beach kedai dia satu belah je, seberang jalan tu boleh terus nampak pantai so sambil jalan kat kedai boleh nampak laut. Kat Cenang ni pulak pantai dia dah tersorok belakang bangunan, what a shame.

Langkawi Day 1: Adina Drive in Motel, Pantai Cenang.

Heading to Langkawi today didn't have me all excited because I was too tired from work. Pagi petang berdiri jaga exam got me exhausted. Habis jaga exam 4.45pm terus punch card dan balik rumah sambung packing last minute, solat Asar then terus bersiap and ambik Zara dulu before ambik HB kat office dia. Flight 9.20pm so we had plenty of time and tak perlu rushing sangat. Park kereta kat Putrajaya Sentral lepas tu naik KLIA Transit to KLIA2, tiket sama harga dengan ke KLIA, RM6.20/person even though KLIA2 stop is after KLIA.

Dalam KLIA Transit to KLIA2

Sampai KLIA2 makan dulu, solat jamak qasar then baru masuk gate. Flight delay sikit dalam 9.45pm baru berlepas. Took about an hour so landed around 10.45pm.

We can see the plane from the waiting area.

Alhamdulillah Abah dah menunggu sebab flight Mak Abah tengah hari tadi. So Abah dah sewa kereta siap-siap. Jarak airport ke hotel is about 20 minutes tapi kitorang singgah tapau makanan dulu. Abah dah tolong check in for our room masa diorang check in tengah hari tadi. So dapatla bilik sebelah-menyebelah.

Kitorang stay kat Adina Drive-in Motel, area Pantai Cenang. Rate RM122/night untuk Studio Room (through Agoda)which has one double bed and one single bed. So kalau nak duduk bertiga tu kira murahla. Bilik luas tapi kurang bersih. Ceiling bersawang, lantai berpasir. Rasa macam nak beli penyapu je sapu bilik tu sendiri. Celah-celah katil pun macam tak bersapu. Nasib baik katil and toilet ok. Untuk katil double tu diorang bagi selimut untuk single jugak. So aku ni nak share dengan anak 2 tahun pun macam tak cukup apatah lagi kalau orang dewasa nak share berdua. Zara if you know is a fidgety toddler, jenis semua benda dia nak usik so as a mother aku ni cukup cerewet pasal kebersihan bila travel.

 

Bangunan bilik kitorang yang sebelah kiri in this pic, naik tangga tingkat atas. Kereta siap boleh park depan bilik masing-masing as there were plenty of space. So kalau duduk sini malas serabut cari parking area area Pantai Cenang, boleh je tinggal kereta kat hotel and jalan kaki.

Ada sink kat luar bilik. Kettle, iron and ironing board also provided in each room. Cuma nak makan macam susah sebab takde kerusi. Yang ada cuma bangku kecik kat almari solek so aku makan kat situ jela.

Atas ni gambar bilik Mak actually, and gambar pun Mak yang ambik. I forgot to take pictures of my room. Tapi sama je pun bilik aku and Mak.

And this is the toilet, also in bilik Mak and pic from Mak. Ours was similar anyway. The downside was toilet flush bilik kitorang rosak, keeps on flushing non stop sampai mengganggu tidur aku malam first tu. Second night aku pergi tutup pipe water supply ke flush tu and pasang bila perlu je.

Kitorang book hotel ni 2 malam, then lagi 2 malam nak duduk Kuah pulak. The best thing about this hotel is the location. It is within walking distance to Cenang Mall, The Zon and other duty free shops. Kalau nak ke pantai kena seberang jalan and lalu between kedai-kedai | other hotels dalam 50-100m (I'm not good at estimating distance). Nak cari makan pun senang tapi kedai makan area Pantai Cenang ni mahal-mahal sebab kat kawasan tarikan pelancong kan. Kedai makanan Arab bukan main banyak. Hotel ada swimming pool, nampak dari balkoni bilik je tapi tak sempat nak guna so not sure about the cleanliness. Tapi macam kecik je sesuai untuk kanak-kanak.

I wouldn't say I won't come back to this hotel, but maybe next time I'm here I'd like to check out other hotels especially the ones across the roads right in front of the beach.

Happy Father's Day 2014

Happy Father's Day to my Abah. Thank you for providing me with everything I need. If you've seen this cartoon sketch yang orang duk sebar kat internet, the one yang ada budak pakai seluar bertampal-tampal holding his fathers hand, and the father punya seluar pulak berlubang-lubang, which brings the meaning he gave up what he had to provide for his child (malas nak cari balik gambar tu), that picture would best describe my Abah. Like even until now when all my siblings are grown up, working and married, he's still the first person to jump at our needs.

Happy Father's Day to my husband aka the father of my child. Thank you for helping with house chores and baby chores. For understanding and taking over when I'm tired. For that, I am blessed. But you still have a long way to go, Papa. :p

Last but not least, Happy Father's Day to all fathers in the world, and to those playing the role of a father. May Allah bless you all.

Zara & Papa enjoying ice cream Mama belanja. ♥

Hari ni keluar jalan-jalan ke Midvalley. Despite today being Father's Day, aku pulak yang dapat belated birthday gift. Hihi

Thank you HB ♥

Come to think of it, aku tak pernah beli wallet | purse untuk diri sendiri. All the ones I've been using had been gifts or passover from Mak. Phew banyak jugak la aku jimat selama ni ye. ;)

Weekend Getaway: Avilion Admiral Cove, Port Dickson

Sabtu lepas ada kenduri sepupu Mak kat PD, whom supposedly is my uncle yet he's only 23. Kitorang bertolak Jumaat malam sabtu. Singgah makan Wadihana kat Bangi Gateway dulu, then bertolak dari Bangi 10pm and arrived PD at 11pm. We stayed at Avilion Admiral Cove. Check in took a while sebab booking last minit so they still haven't received the confirmation from Agoda. With all the confusion, menunggu la for about 15 minutes kat lobby.

View from our room

Dapat bilik kat level 1. Mak, Zara and I stayed in one room (Straits Studio) while Abah, Imran and HB stayed in another (Superior). The difference between those two rooms was only the view, and the size of the room. Straits Studio view menghadap laut, but laut yang takde pantai la sebab kat luar tu marina. Superior pulak menghadap bangunan lain tapi boleh la nampak a glimpse of the swimming pool. But that would also depend on which room you are staying. Straits Studio was spacious jadi seronok la Zara lari sana sini. Superior is smaller but comfortable enough for 3. Both room ada daybed tapi dalam Superior takde cadar while Straits Studio ada cadar. Sarung daybed and cushion tu nampak macam kotor sikit sebab macam lama and banyak stain. Nasib baik Abah bawak sleeping bag so boleh la buat alas. They also provide iron and iron board in both rooms.

King bed in Straits Studio

Daybed with linen in Straits Studio

Breakfast was ok. Takde la banyak sangat choice tapi ok la. What I liked was the salad bar with 3 different types of dressing, cheddar cheese and beef pepperoni  (which were sliced a tad too thick). The fresh milk was nice, masa pekerja tu refill I notice they use Goodday milk. Kadang-kadang ada hotel yang guna fresh milk yang rasa macam pelik. Sort of susu murah ke apa I don't know. But taste different la if you know what I mean. Juice pulak on the first day ada pineapple and guava, the second day manggo and guava. Juice rasa pelik so I didn't have any. Thank goodness for the fresh milk. The breads were ok, they serve croissants with a couple of pastries each day. Ruang makan tu was rather small comparative to the hotel and obviously it would be full. The good thing was they kept on refilling the foods and I can see the chefs coming out to check on the foods, the manager was also there monitoring the staffs the whole time.

Hari first turun breakfast kitorang macam tercari-cari mana dining area. Sebab susunan hotel ni macam pelik sikit, kena pusing sana sini. Dari segi service for me semua ok, the staffs were ok. Hari nak checkout, Mak mintak extend our checkout time and dia bagi latest at 1pm. Lebih dari 1pm dia akan automatically charge RM100/hour. Hotel ni pun dekat je dari tol PD. I think dalam 10 minits macam tu la lebih kurang. In a nutshell, the hotel is clean and comfortable with spacious room so I would recommend it if you are looking for a hotel in PD.

Weekend Getaway: JPO + Grand Bluewave Hotel, JB

Finally, the weekend for our getaway to USS! Kononnya Zara's belated birthday + my advance birthday vacation. Masa beli package holiday kat MATTA Fair, ingatkan nak ber-honeymoon. Tiba-tiba macam dah jadi family day pulak with my parent, sister & brother in law, cousins and aunt join sekali. Not that I mind, memang lagi seronok pergi ramai-ramai pun. :D

Zara malam tadi, dah standby dengan beg dia.

Malam sebelum gerak, aku siap message kat group Whatsapp family, esok nak gerak by 9am sebab petang nak relax dalam hotel. Tapi malam tu Zara pulak tidur pukul 4am! Sudahnya lepas Subuh tidur balik, 8.30am baru bangun and 10am++ baru gerak dari Bangi. Singgah 'brunch' kat Restoran Jejantas Ayer Keroh, Bebi baru sedar dia tertinggal passport so kena patah balik. Nasib baik la Redza tu jenis relax je tak marah. Kalau aku la yang tertinggal, I don't even want to imagine. :p

Singgah JPO dulu before check in hotel. Last time aku pergi JPO (some time around August last year), macam tak best sangat pun. Barang tak banyak. Ni macam dah best la pulak. Clarks outlet dulu ada a few designs je. Sekarang dah banyak, even rak dalam kedai tu pun dah bertambah. Dah la kali ni masa memang limited sebab nak check in hotel so sempat masuk certain kedai yang memang target nak beli je.

Zara having late lunch at JPO.

Checked in kat hotel dah almost 7pm, pukul 8.30pm nak keluar makan balik. Tak sempat nak rehat sangat pun. Mandi, solat, and belek-belek barang yang beli kat JPO tadi. Kitorang duduk kat Grand Bluewave Hotel, JB. Satu malam RM230 untuk Studio Room book kat MATTA Fair. Semalam aku tolong book the same room for Bebi & Redza through Agoda RM203 per night and they got upgraded to Executive Studio. Pftt! No more MATTA Fair for me.

I like the room. Spacious with carpeted floor, jadi anak aku nak main lari sana sini takde la risau sangat. The carpet pun seems clean enough. Kalau ada extra guest nak tidur atas lantai pun selesa lagi, banyak space. View menghadap laut | Singapore but biasa-biasa je. Serabut and sesak pun ada, tengok luar ada construction (at the moment) and laut yang seciput between Malaysia and Singapore. Tapi view dari suite Mak Abah menghadap tambak Johor and the better side of the city so cantik la sikit.

I'm also happy with the bathroom even though takde bathtub, shower dia best and luas with pretty tiles. I would say I like the Studio Room punya bathroom compared to the Suite Mak Abah was staying. Jubin kat Studio Room lagi cantik (color dark grey jenis kesat) while kat Suite (color maroon jenis licin). I feel that the Suite's bathroom is too big, making me feel rather uncomfortable. The shower and bathtub were together and I don't fancy having my shower in a bathtub. But rasanya unlike me, ramai yang kisah sangat kot hal shower/bathtub ni?

For my Studio Room, masa masuk bilik we realize ada dia bagi satu je towel so HB call mintak hantar satu lagi and they sent it straight away. The downside was probably the TV which was quite small. Channel pulak tak banyak and channel yang ada pun semua siaran tak berapa jelas. All in all, I'd stay again at this hotel.

Lighting in the room was rather dim.

Imran nak bawak kitorang pergi makan dalam 9pm so kitorang ke rumah nenek dulu, tunggu dia kat sana. Tunggu punya tunggu, pukul 10pm baru dia sampai. Kitorang bawak nenek keluar makan kat Restoran Singgah Selalu. Kat situ, nak bercakap dengan orang kena shout at the top of your voice sebab ada live band and speaker dia kuat giler. Seronok but kesian kat Zara tengah tidur. Environment dia buat rasa macam orang muda pulak lepas sini malam-malam. Kahkah.

Sampai hotel nak masuk bilik ada problem dengan card so HB kena turun ke reception and activatekan balik card tu. It was already after midnight and HB terus tertidur, penat sangat. Aku pulak melayan si kecik tu main pukul 2am baru tidur. Phew.

Beli pakej USS kat MATTA Fair.

Untuk birthday Zara tahun ni kitorang plan nak celebrate special sikit. Mula-mula nak buat birthday party but then many questions came up and we couldn't come to a decision. Nak buat kat mana, rumah kitorang, rumah Atuk & Opah Zara or kat luar? How far should we extend the invitation, just family, or ajak kawan-kawan rapat, jiran, kawan office? Menu apa, nak masak (as if), ambik catering, upah orang masak, take outs?

So in the end kitorang decide nak go and celebrate somewhere just the three of us. Gabungkan sekali celebration birthday Zara & Mama, HB nak belanja pergi USS. YEAY!

Last weekend kitorang pergi MATTA Fair. Banyak jugak package USS. Ada yang RM168 + free SGD10 meal voucher + SGD5 retail voucher. Pakej Hotel Sentral JB RM280/person untuk 1 night stay, return transfer to USS and entrance tickets.

HB beli pakej USS dengan Grand BlueWave Hotel berharga RM600 nett for 1 night stay at the hotel, 2 entrance ticket and hotel-USS return transfer. Breakfast tak termasuk dalam pakej so for breakfast tambah RM15/person. Bas bertolak 8am so takut tak sempat pun nak breakfast. Tapi HB kata because dia tau aku suka makan kat hotel so tambah jela. Hihihi

Murah ke tak pakej ni? I would say actually sama je pun if you beli bukan kat MATTA Fair. Because entrance ticket paling murah aku pernah jumpa RM165/person. Harga biasa rasanya RM185/person. Return transfer to USS usually RM30/person. Grand Bluewave Hotel aku check kat booking.com boleh dapat dalam RM205/night including breakfast! Tapi tu check in Friday la. Kalau check in Saturday at least RM250/night. The advantage of this package is takde surcharge on weekends and public holidays. So kira-kira balik if beli hotel, ticket & bus asing-asing harga dia sama je kan if not higher. Tapi kalau nak lagi jimat boleh je duduk budget hotel tak pun duduk Tune Hotel pun ok. Bus ke USS pun ada dari Tune Hotel tu.

So bottom line is kalau nak cari pakej jimat untuk ke USS during MATTA Fair ni, baik tak payah la. Tapi kalau malas nak fikir, nak mudah and terus book 'all in' package banyak la kat situ. But mind you, there're not exactly at the lowest price. Aku ni ada jugak terfikir rugi je beli pakej tu, kalau ambik hotel budget boleh jimat cost. Nak sedapkan hati --> takpe la kan, cos its a special ocassion. Huhu.

Ok now aku kena survey pulak tips what to do or not to do kat USS. Come to think of it, banyak ke rides untuk budak 2 years old macam Zara ek? Then if aku nak naik rides yang Zara takleh naik macam mana? T_T

Product Review: TBS Born Lippy Lip Balm

My favorite lip product at the moment. Smells delicious!! The watermelon flavor was beyond expectation. Smells yummy and it doesn't give much of a color on your lips. The strawberry flavor smells very sweet so it might not be for everyone. It gives your lips a slightly red tint. I also have the raspberry flavor which I have yet to try. Can't decide which would be my favorite flavor as they change along with my mood. ;)

Got this from The Body Shop UK for £2 a pot (normal price). Here in Malaysia its RM19 a pot. Don't know if I'd buy it for that price though. Then again, maybe I would. But just one pot at a time and use it until it is finish. :p