Katerina Hotel @ Batu Pahat, Johor.

Whenever we visit Batu Pahat , we always stay at Katerina Hotel. I read reviews in trip advisor that this hotel stands at no. 3 hotel to stay in BP with B&S boutique hotel ranked at #1. Well i have never stayed in B&S hotel before , but with the new refurbishment recently done at Katerina Hotel , i seriously think this hotel is worth staying in, pleasant and affordable and i think it should be the first choice hotel for anyone intending to stay in BP, it's in perfect location too !

The main lobby of the hotel , this hotel quite popular in Batu Pahat, but whenever we check in , it's very fast and we never have to wait in long queues unlike KS Hotel and resort in JB.

Although this hotel have been getting mix reactions from it's customers and was in the spot light for all the wrong reasons - some of you may recall the X rated video of Chua Soi Lek? Katerina Hotel deserves a chance before being judge. No lah no one paid me to write a review that is pro to this hotel, it's really my honest honest opinion. It's a nice hotel.

This is the newly refurbished room , rate at RM220 per night . You can opt or the older rooms which is ok lah , not too bad at RM 175 pernight.

Tip 1: when booking this hotel , be sure to ask for corporate rate, government rate or senior citizen rate , they would normally give those eligible up to 20% discount.

Tip 2 : i think i have mentioned this over and over again , ask for the king bed if you have young children with you, up to 2 adults and 2 young children can sleep on the bed!

The room offers basic facilities such as tea making facilities, hair dryer and a bath tub which i find covinient for Kaseh, as she loves soaking in the tub.

The newly refurbihed lift entrance that leads to the corridor to the rooms.

You may read a few reviews in Tripadvisor or may hear people say that this hotel is a bit spooky. Some reviewers also claimed that they have encountered some unexplainable experiences.

Well, this came to a shock to me , because i have stayed here many times and Alhamdulilah all my experiences was pleasant. I would be the most particular person when it comes to this, because when you travel with young children you need to ensure the security and the credibility of the hotel is tip top - that it is safe from all form of harm, even the unexpainable ones, if you get what i mean :).

Tip 3: when traveling with young children investigate and do a back ground check of the hotel . Avoid doggy areas and those areas that is known to be notoriously "keras". If you have no choice be prepared with surah and ayats from the Quran, download them to your phone or your lap top. Insya allah , Allah will protect you.

I love checking into hotels in Johor because you will get access to channels from Singapore and Indonesia, like this one.

We also ordered room service for Kaseh's dinner that night , i always make sure Kaseh eats her meals on time, even when we are travelling. It's ok for us adults to skip meals or delay meals time, please ensure your children have 3 proper meals a day.

Tip 4 : Kaseh's room service choice is the Kueh Teow Kung Fu at RM 15 per plate.

The pool side, relatively a small pool, the down side is that this hotel does not have kid's pool.

You can lepak and chill by the pool side.

I love working out at this hotel's gym. Usually there's no one there and i normally do 20 mins on the treadmill and another 10 mins of endurance work out. It's small but it's enough for me.

It's definitely not a hotel for your weekend getaway, not for honey mooners too. If you are on a business trip of visiting BP for some events like weddings, carnivals or even visiting relatives, this hotel will serve you well. My only complain is the that the buffet breakfast is nothing to shout about.

Tip 5:The buffet breakfast is not fantastic, thus if you don't mind letting it go, BP is a melting pot and there's plenty of breakfast food to look out for.

Tip 6: Book in advance, as this hotel is usually fully booked especially during weekends.

Another long weekend is coming, i dah gatal tangan to book my next travel. We've been doing a lot of travelling this month and Feb turns out to be a lil tight for us . The challenge is to travel on a budget, is it possible ? We'll be sure to check my blog over the CNY to see what budget travel we have planned for . Apa yang penting ? Jalan - jalan!

Thanks for reading! XOXO.

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A Malay Wedding in Batu Pahat

This wedding reception is hosted by Pak Raden's family. He is the husband of my husband's aunty and it is his niece that got married. I know it's complicted but for the Malays it is custom and polite to invite everyone you know and everyone you might be related to the wedding. Well if it's good news you must let the world know . I remembered having almost 1000 guests at my wedding and the challenge is remembering who is who. Unlike western weddings where invitees are limited to just close friends and family , a Malay wedding will have a super extended and excessive guest list . It cost a bomb too , that's why i was super broke after i got married :).

Us at the wedding held at the town's community hall.

If you've not been to a Malay wedding , let me give you a brief introduction.

1. The main event is the akad nikah ( solemnisation)
-equavalent to the Western "i do" ceremony i think. This is where both bride and groom signs the formal documents. The Tok kadi will also read the rights of the bride and will emphasise the responsibility of the husband to the wife also known as taklik. This is also where the bride's father officially send away his daughter to her now legal husband. She is now under his responsibility to protect, house,clothed and love.

To me this is the most important proccess in a marriage , it was emotional too . I was crying when i had to sign the documents, knowing now that i am entering a new phase in my life, i even thought of running away , cause i suddenly felt the pressure, a responsibility of a wife and then a mother . Ha ha that 's what i felt then ,now i am embracing my role as a wife and trully enjoying my motherhood. Ok, marriage life is a whole new chapter and worthy of it's own blog entry and i can blog a whole lengthy entry on it , but for now i'll proceed with the explanation of what a Malay wedding is all about.

2. The reception. There will normally be 2 receptions one on the girl's side and the other is on the man's side.
- can be done either during the day or night
- can be do done in a hotel, hall or at home depending on budget
- usually the girl will host the first reception because the girl normally host the solemnisation
event , thus it is convinient for her family to organise a reception on the same day or next day.
- The man side will then host his reception the weekend after.

3. Concept - "Sit down" or "come and go"
Sitdown
- limited number of guests
- very important for guests to rsvp
- a set of itinerary will normally be prepared by the host, ie speeches,tepung tawar, slide show, singing, video and cake cutting.
- the guest's attention are contained because they are normally required to adhere to the arrival and end time . Thus the guests are required to arrive before the bride and groom and
take their seat , just like watching the opera or theater.

Come and go
- As many guest as you want to invite, just make sure you cater enough food.
- guests have the flexibility to attend according to their time as long as they arrive withn the stipulated timing , usually 12pm to 5pm.
- guest's attention not contained , and because they have the flexibility of time they might miss the tepung tawar , the cake cutting and not pay attention to the speeches.

So, it really depends on what you or in many cases , what your parents wants.

This wedding that we attended is the Come and Go concept , it worked out well for us, travelling from KL to Batu Pahat on that day itself, this concept eliminates the pressure to arrive on time.

The hall is usually nicely decorated and it is common to find a Pelamin set up on stage for the bride and groom to sit , this is also where the Merenjis or Tepung Tawar ritual is performed.

What is Merenjis or Tepung Tawar you may asked? sorry i can't find the english equivalent
to it, cause i don't think there's any, it is a ritual exclusively performed in Malay weddings.

A ritual performed to gain blessings from the elderly. The eldest in the family, usually the grand parents and parents of the bride and groom takes turn to go on stage and bless them.

They will sprinkle rose water, rice and thinly sliced daun pandan and flowers.They will be given bunga telur ( decorated boiled egg) as a token of aprreciation after. The boiled egg symbolises fertility.

After that , the bride and groom wil be requested by the Master of Ceremony to perform the cake cutting ceremony. I never understood the relavance of the cake cutting ceremony, i always thought that it was a Western influence and it's just common practise. I also had this at my wedding without never giving it much thought, until i attended the wedding of my producer and director , Joanna and Shamyl.

The award winning director Bernard Chauly emceed the event. He explained that , the cake cutting ceremony is a very important ritual. It symbolises and marks the first ever tasks that the newly wed had to do together officially. Wow, that' some heavy stuff. Also i think it's an opportunity for the guests to tease the newly who at this point suppose to be a little shy with each other . The emcee will ask them to feed each other some cakes, while the guests cheer on the embarassed bride and groom.

You will find that in some Malay wedding the cake is replaced with pulut kuning or yellow glutinous rice, to give it a local feel.

There's something about this wedding that I have never seen before. Interestingly they have another additional ritual to the ones that i have set above. The newly wed gathers close family and kids and started throwing money and sweets. Everyone when beserk, ya lah free money who don't want.

They also claimed that , they will be throwing away gift vouchers and the latest ipad mini. Kalau macam tu i pun nak mengaku, i ni close family:p.

After all that , the last item on the list is photo opp. Before the guest leaves, the newly wed would usually obliged and return to their throne and take photos.

Tip 1 : if you didn't buy any presents , it is polite and common to prepare an ang pow for the
bride and groom. It will definately help them.

Tip 2 : A malay wedding can easily cost about RM 40 to RM 80K on average , so plan plan plan to avoid spending uneccessarily. I heard Chinese weddings costs more!

For the rest of the guests who's not about ready to make a move , they are more than welcome to stay on and minggle. Weddings like these are also opportunities for family and friends to meet up and catch up .

The reception might end on a high note for everyone , but it's only the begining for the bride and groom. The common saying in Malay is - semoga berkekalan ke anak cucu ( may your marriage last till you become grand parents) , i totallly disagree with this statement. Anything might just happened after that right ? I would prefer the other saying -Semoga berkekalan hingga hujung hayat ( may your wedding last till death do you part).

A Malay wedding is not a simple task, the preparation is really massive, if you ask me - once is enough. :).

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