Bali Let's GO !

The unexpected year end holiday destination was Bali, Indonesia. Unexpected because I wasn't planning to travel abroad. However my husband suggested on the idea, usually it will be me who makes the holiday plans and arrangements. But the moment he volunteered to organised, I resisted to question and stop myself from being a sceptic. Well, if hubby wants to go to Bali then let's pack up and GO !

I produced a three part travelogue on my you tube channel. Here's the first part, mainly on our arrival and around our Hotel in Nusadua. Do let us know what you think. We love to hear from you.

The Kabin, Pantai Remis, Kuala Selangor

Amboi, nampaknya setiap minggu kami berjalan. Mana tidaknya, ini sajalah peluang saya nak bermanja bersama anak-anak dan suami. Tuntutan di kerja kadang kala membuat saya ingin sekali "break free" dan berehat minda walaupun seketika.

Tapi kadang kala, apa yang kita rancang tak menjadi. Saksikan dalam Vlog kali ini bagaimana kami sesat dan hajat untuk ke Homestay Dorani tidak kesampaian. Tapi , look we found another gem!
Semua ini dan banyak lagi dalam episode Mama O Travel - Kuala Selangor.

If you like the episode do note in your comments tau and do share any of your travel experiences ! Enjoy !

Sedondon di Hari Raya - What's our Theme Colour for 2015 ?

Day 11 of Ramadan. Every time Ramadan comes, it hit us like lighting, fast and impactful. I always wish that it didn't go by so quickly. Terawikh and Sahur are amongst the activities that we don't usually do on other months plus breaking fast with the family, a common old tradition that is lacking in the modern family house hold now. Cakes and dishes that you usually won't find on normal months too due to Bazaar Ramadan and for me that extra time i get between Sahur and Sun rise, time spent on reciting the Quran, checking emails and finishing up some paper work before the kids wake up.

Soon, Eid will be approaching. Simple but yet complicated question pops up - Warna baju Raya kita apa ? (What's our Raya theme colour this year ?).  Every single year ever since we had children, we try to coordinate the colour of our Baju Raya. Corny as it sounds, but this practise actually makes the Baju Raya hunting a much memorable and fun experience.

Let's recall, the pass year's theme colour.

This was taken in 2011 Raya. Both of us wore light green and it was so difficult to find baby baju kurung in the same colour. Kaseh wore Peach, but ok la still look in sync with both of us .

Raya 2013, I was heavily pregnant with Kefli. In this photo , i was due anytime during the Raya month. Of course, I didn't feel like "bergaya di hari Raya" (fashionable), with almost 20 kg additional weight gain due to the pregnancy. Thus, I opted for a cotton Peach based Kurung Pesak which I bought at Kompleks Karangkraf, Jalan Conlay to match Sol's Peach Baju Melayu Johor. I bought Kaseh's Kurung at Amcorp Mall. Photo taken at my mother's house in Bandar Utama, PJ.

2014 our theme was Grey. This is by far my favourite Raya family photograph. Classic ! Any parents would know that taking a perfect family photo is impossible with kids. It was the morning of Raya and Kaseh was not in a very good mood! Taken at Kaseh's Moyang's house in Seksyen 16, PJ. I opted for a blause from @surisara and paired it with a batik sarong, Sol's and the children's traditional attire are from Omar Ali, TTDI. 

So what will our theme colour be this year? I guess we shall wait and see on the morning of this coming Raya. For you who are still thinking about your colour, here's some guidelines to what certain colour means to the wearer. Taken from a seminar i attended with @theimagecreator. 

Green - Hope

Blue - Productivity

Red -Powerful

Orange - Energetic

White - Organised

Black - Convincing

Yellow - Cheerful

Purple - Royal

Grey - Intelligent 

Good luck with your Raya shopping ! 

Family Short Get Away @ Regency Tanjung Tuan, Port Dickson, N9.

Happy October everyone ! And it's Eid once again but this time it's Raya Haji. It's time for another quick getaway, long weekend for us as Monday is a Public Holiday. I honestly did not plan to go anywhere but at the last minute i was itching to go somewhere. Just needed to getaway from KL. Plus for KL-lites like us, where KL is our kampung , this us yet another great opportunity for a family get together.

So, we decided to spend 2D/1N in Port Dickson . It's less than 2 hours from KL and the beach isn't too bad these days and that will keep the kids occupied ! Yay, i was really looking forward for this break.

We were really lucky that there's a few more accommodation available at such short notice. Even Avillion PD has a few more rooms on Agoda. We would normally choose Avillion but just for one night , this time around we looked for an apartment - so that everyone stays under one roof and mom can open her kitchen in PD.

Regency, Tanjung Tuan has a 1500 sq feet 4 bedroom apartment. It's our first time there but from the photos and website we decided to go for it. For me and my sister , there's a pool and close to the beach, enough to keep our kids busy. We are ON darling !

Regency Tanjung Tuan from Avillion Admiral Cove, one of the neighbouring hotel.

Took us slightly longer than usual , 2.5hours , due to the usual jam in Seremban interchange, and we got there , just slightly before 4pm.

The apartment turned out to be quite pleasant . A duplex with quite a large kitchen and dining hall, on the 10th floor, overlooking the sea. Costs us RM 1600 for the whole house , 3 families
( 13 pax) , it's really worth it.

The overview of the duplex apartment.

Nice clean kitchen , there's coffee and tea making facilities , a stove , fridge , washing machine and a dryer !

Master bedroom on the ground floor with King size bed. The rest of the rooms are as follows :
2nd bedroom - queen size bed
3rd bedroom - twin beds with ensuite bathroom (2nd floor)
4th bedroom - twin beds with ensuite bathroom (2nd floor)

2 nd bedroom on the first floor - queen bed.

View from our unit.From the number of people in the pool , you can see that this place is quite popular with holiday makers especially , family with young children.

Upon checking in, we explored the hotel facilities . The food court along the beach called Coconut Groove is quite a nice chillex place. Menu is not too bad,, slighly on the pricey side, but i think the ambience and dining by the beach experience makes it worth the price. What we ordered

ABC - RM 14, bit sweet but portion is good to share with 3 pax
Homemade beef burger -RM 18, generous portion of fries but beef patty so so
Chicken chop - RM 28 , nice , succullent and tasty!

The eatery by the poolside and beach. Good mix of menu, local and western food.

My son, enjoying the sea, he's a natural beach bum.

The lobby of the hotel. Our unit is in block A where all the 4 and 3 bedrooms are. For studios and 2 bedrooms , is situated in block B.

Well, my perspective of PD changed from this trip. There's acctually plenty to do , so perhaps next time we might consider 3D/2N to PD. Things we discovered on this trip for us to do.
1. Ostrich Farm
2. Bouncing castle and horse riding in Teluk Kemang
3. Seafood by the water front ( there's drive thru Mcdonald and Starbucks)
4. PD Mini Zoo
5. Pasar Malam ( night market) only on weekends

Gambang Safari & Hyatt Kuantan Trip

Helooooooo, it's been really tough to blog now that I am a mother of two, it's really really challenging. I don't know how those blogger moms does it , this blog post took plenty of will power and loads of delay and hurdles. Alhamdulilah, I manage to steal some time now, they are all asleep. Here goes.....

Ok last school break , we visited Kuantan again ! Well with Kefli who only turned 6 months recently , i am a little nervous taking him to places. My sons suffers from motion sickness, naik kereta jea nangis , just a short trip to the shop pun nangis, apatah lagi 3 hours to Kuantan. Tapi i gagah kan jugak, tak kan nak dok rumah jea kan ?

So we booked Kuantan Hyatt for our 3D/2N rendevous. I was really looking forward to the sea.
It's been 2 years now since our last dive in Tioman. I miss the white sandy beaches and the crystal blue water of our dive destinations. Ada hati nak ke Redang, but with lil Kefli, we thought we'll wait till he's a bit older. Although Kuantan beach may not be crystal blue, but tak pe, beach jugak.

If staying in Hyatt with kids, I really think that Village 1 has got the best view and location. We will only go for these rooms facing the sea and on the ground floor. On this trip we were allocated room 1006 and 1007. It s really easy for the kids to run around and the pool is just next to the room. Saves you the time and troubles to get in and out of the lift to the pool. The view is just breath taking too !

Plenty of eateries around Teluk Cempedak , there s this ayam penyek stall just by the corner of Hyatt entrance which is pretty good. Otherwise, TC is populated by mainly fast food restaurants. Your usual Colonel Sanders, King of burgers and Mr Ronald is there too !

We made a trip to Gambang Safari the next day, my sister who took the Gambang resort package recently, had plenty of good reviews and recomended that we visit the Safari. And we did!

Gambang Safari is huge ! You can spend the whole day there, they have a Zoo concept and a Safari concept. The entrance fee is rm 28 per adult with Mycard and free for kids under 3 years old.

As you can see from this photo , just behind my husband is the Safari bus. There's a long queue tho and probably about 20 people can fit the bus at one time. Remember , if you are bringing along your aging parents , it's advisable to request for a wheel chair, it's a long way up to the Safari check point.

I couldn't snap any photos of the animals cause Kefli hated the bus ride and he was wailing all the way #stress jugak lah . I was so glad that the whole 30 mins journey was finally over. If your kid suffers motion sickness like Kefli, you are better off spending time at the Zoo.

Ok one one family #selfie. This is just after the bus ride.

Back to the hotel later that night, Kefli terus demam , oh dear , cuti -cuti pulak nak deman. Ini lah cabaran menjadi ibu bapa. That's why we must respect and take care of our parents, we sacrifice so much and do all we can for our kids. I only realised this when i became a parent. So that night , 2am his tempeture rose, we took him to a nearby clinic.

The next day was spent leisurely on the beach. Thank god, Kefli got better. We couldn't swim due to the strong tide, tapi hang out kat beach pun macam dah best. Do visit around June when the water is calmer and clearer.

We bought a paper kite and look, Mommy managed to keep it flying high up in the sky !

This is one of our favourite holiday destination. With a baby and a toddler, this is manageable for us. It's not so much a holiday for us , sebenarnya penat gak lah nak melayan kerenah depa so depa lah yang holiday sebenarnya. I always believe that time invested with the family and your children is time and money well invested. If you don't spend time with them now , don't expect them to do the same bila kita dah tua nanti.

We'll definitely return to Hyatt , Kuantan.

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Inspired after reading Lean In by Sheryl Sanberg : My story

How are you? I hope it’s not too late to wish you a happy new year ! May 2014 bring us more luck and happiness. Perhaps this is the year to make our wishes come true.  The last 4 months of my 2013, I was lucky enough to be on maternity leave.

During these period my attention and energy was diverted and concentrated on my family.

I spent quality time not only with my now 3 months old son (fully breast feeding – add on to the tired ‘O’ meter) but also my elders daughter who just turned 3 years old last Christmas. They both require different sort of attention and this often zaps out mommy’s energy.

With modern technology and ALWAYS ON society that we are, I did try to “curi-curi” check and reply my work emails and calls. I much prefer whatsapp cause a couple of times during my telephone conversations, Kefli would be wailing away in the background and a few times where Kaseh would be distracting me. I kept apologizing profusely to my caller and request to return their call when it’s more convenient. Unfortunately there’s never a more convenient time. 

Luckily, it’s not always crazy. Occasionally I do get lucky where both of them would sleep simultaneously, giving me some room to bathe, nap and catch up on some reading.  Even though I do have a helper to assist me with my kids, but most often mommy would be the preferred person they want to hang out with (I am glad). So, during my maternity, my maid was kind of left doing the other house chores like doing the laundry and cleaning up the house and I took care of my babies.  It was time well spent and invested on my children.

With the recent ushering of 2014, my maternity leave ended. I started work on the 2/1/2014, after almost 4 months of maternity leave (2 paid and 2 unpaid).  

I am blessed to be kicking off this New Year with a brand new career and a newborn baby boy. Come Chinese New Year, we will be moving to a new place (our current place is getting a bit cramp now).

Somehow a new workplace and a newborn doesn’t usually sound that exciting, new responsibilities at work combine with sleepless night and nursing? I’ am already tired thinking about it. How does mom divide time for both?

Well exhausting it may sound, but we mothers, will always have that extra energy and will power to make that extra effort and pull everything thru.

I don’t know how we do it, but we just do it.

For centuries, childcare and household responsibilities are a mother’s playing field. Some fathers do help out, but more on a voluntary basis, but the core custodian is still the mother. She’ll be the one anchoring, maneuvering, planning, and executing the household day-to-day operation. COO of the house.

However, in the past years, women have been entering the work force as women received better education opportunities and compensation. So, there’s nothing extraordinary about a mother who works now as compared to before, where there are less women in occupation.

Nothing extraordinary? We hell, I think it’s amazing that these women manage to juggle multiple roles and still keep their sanity intact. As Sheryl Sanberg wrote in her book Lean In –

“Give us a world where half our homes are run by men, and half our institutions are run by women. I'm pretty sure that would be a better world.”

― Sheryl Sandberg

In 2014, you might think that the above have materialize but the truth is the scenario have not much shifted since the days of our moms.

I admit, even thought my husband does a lot more than what my father used to do for my mom – like bathing, changing, feeding, playing with our kids and washing the dishes whenever he can, I still wish that he could help out more with grocery shopping, cooking and spearhead some household projects like beautifying the garden or remembering when the kids visit to the doctor should be.

If mothers can contribute their fair share into the household income, can fathers please take charge of the other half of the household chores? It’s only fair right? 

For any working mother, the support system surrounding her is extremely vital and it must come from fathers (who else?) and then family and then friends.

Who will be taking care of the children? Who will ensure dinner is served on the table? How about the daily house chores like cleaning up the house and ensuring the dirty clothes are washed? All these are issues that do not usually effects  working fathers.

My support system may differ from yours but, there’s nothing unusual about it, as I know some friends who shares similar system. And this system is very common in Malaysia (I’m not sure how it works in other countries, but yes I would love to hear from you – please email me).

In Malaysia, there are mainly 4 common supports systems for working mothers.

1.     Daycare centres

2.     Live in maid

3.     Grandparents

4.     Live in maid plus grandparents

I am once again blessed that both my parents are residing in KL. It’s becoming rather common these days for senior citizens to be living in the Klang Valley, simply because they have move to the city to stay with their children. In my case my parents both from Perak , moved to Kuala Lumpur to seek better employment opportunities during their younger years and now have permanently reside in Bandar Utama.  

My mother is 66 years old and my father is 71 years old. At such golden years, I don’t expect them to be running around taking care of my super energetic kids, I hired a maid and send them off to my parent house where, they act as supervisors and keep and eye on the maid and my kids.

My elder sister and my younger brother observe the same system too because their in laws are staying in Johor.  They both send their maids to our parent too.

It’s a mini daycare at my mother’s from Monday to Friday with 6 kids and 4 maids.

We ferry them early in the morning, drop them off at Bandar Utama and go to work and pick them up after work and usually return home after Isya’ prayers and dinner. We reach home almost close to 10 pm, just in time for bed and start the routine all over again at 7 am the next day.

Sounds tiring? Yes it is, but it’s the only system that gives me that piece of mind at work. Knowing that my children are in safe hands and grandma and grandpa

Are monitoring and nurturing them with good values, while we go out there to make ends meet.

I know of a friend whose parent’s houses ten kids and five maids - three are hers and the rest are her siblings.

My parent has been the backbone and pillar to my support system. They have given me the best education that they can provide (equal opportunities given to my brothers too), push me to excel and now take care of my kids so that my sister and i can Lean In.

Thanks Mak and Abah ! I don’t know if I can do the same for my children. But I know in order for my daughter to Lean In and rise in her career, I need to do the same for her. Not only I aspire for her to be in the workforce but to hold a leadership position in the field of her choice.

I also pray that when her time comes to juggle between a career and family, we can see a significant shift in roles and major support from policy makers, society, husbands and companies so that more women can strive at the work place.

Note :

I am blogging this after getting a chance to read Sheryl Sanberg – Lean In. My boss, Lina was the one who urged me to read it.  She is so inspired by Sheryl’s

experiences and thoughts on how working mothers can strike a balance – work and family and how women can get ahead in their career.  I picked up the book the next day at Borders Mutiara Damansara.

The views and opinions of the above are solely the views of the author.

Golden Palm Iconic Resort and Spa, Sepang - best ke ?

Wow , lamanya tak update blog, been a few months since i note down my travels. So what happened ? If you read my blog , you would have known that i got pregnant , but i did some travelling during those 9 months but i got lazy..... Well it's not really lazy but pregnancy really took a toll on me , fatigue, work stress and etc , hence the mia act.

Yes i gave birth recently - 8/9/2013! A baby boy @ 2.5 kg and we name him Kefli. One month earlier than expected date , hence he is so tiny.

Still in my 2 months maternity leave , i decided to take an extra month by clearing my annual leave and taking some unpaid leave .So in total i'll have 3 months leave , yahoooo. Still this is uncomparable to other countries like Uk and Australia which allows up to 6 months maternity leave. Malaysia is also one of the country with the least maternity leave in comparision to some of her Asian counterparts.It's my only opportunity, once work commence i don't think i'll be able to just take off like that .

Coming to Kefli's 2nd month , i decided to take a short vacation . Kefli can't travel far or take the plane - i don't want to stress him out too much . Plus if he gets cranky , i'll be effected too ! Port dickson Avillion would be our first choice but we've been there many many times. thus we wanted to explore new places.

I googled and thought Sepang Gold Coast would be the perfect choice . I booked a 3D/2N stay at the Golden Palm Iconic Resort via Agoda (soon to be Avani due to change of management) despites various negative reviews we went ahead anyway.

Prior to arrival , i requested for a room closest to all facilities . We were granted the first room and the closest to the lobby ( room 001) . Hubby was concerned that our room is far from the buffet restaurant Bila Bila and the pool . It turned out that the location of our room is actually the best for us , cause it's walking distance from the lobby , near the beach and kids club. We recceed the pool , not only it was small and crowded but the water is dirty and murky too . So we are better off filling our time by the beach.

Super crowded pool . In this case Avillion PD and Hyatt Kuantan tops our list .

Ok here's what i like about the hotel

1. Room was spacious and tastefully decorated. Build on sea, thus you get that cooling breeze. My daughter loves chilling by the balkony and watch fishes swim by.

2. Bed - we loved the bed ! Huge and comfortable , all 4 of us slept soundly thru out the 2 nights we were there ( of course i have to wake up every 2 hours to breast feed Kefli ) .

Barely 2 months old Kefli is enjoying the cosy and comfy bed.

3. Bikes - there's bicyles for everyone to use . Nice and enjoyable , also because the buggy service is rather poor . During peak period , you might have to "berebut" the bikes with other guests, unfortunately.

4. Beach - the private beach belongs to the resort is well maintained and filled with kids and adults activities such as beach soccer, batik painting, drawing, kite flying, swimming, bouncing castle and etc. I found these most exciting especially for family with young children like us.

Bouncing castle by the beach.

5. Kids club - the best so far for us compared to many other hotels we've been to. Spacious and located in the resort beautiful land scaped garden.

Plenty to do at kid's club.

What i don't like about the resort

1. Service - poor , extremely poor . May be it's because of the high occupancy and staffs can't manage the over whelming demand . It took them almost 6 hours to bring our extra blanket and our kettle ( the room's kettle was missing , so we asked for one to be send to us).

2. Distance - it's a long walk from all facilities especially if your room is located at the end of the palm. We were lucky that we get room 001. Tips - get room 001 - 008 to be near to the lobby and the beach . But if you want a better view and don't mind walking then get the rooms further down.

3. Buggy service - really slow , management should increase the amount of buggy. There's a waiting time of at least 15 mins. There are also times where there's no buggy at all. So you won't have a choice but to walk or take the bike ( not elderly friendly).

4. Food - the breakfast buffet is nothing to be shout about , for a resort such as these the quality of food is 1 star. The best buffet breakfast for us is from Golden Sands Penang . Even Avillion PD is better.

5. Lalat - flies Omg, this is such a turn off. During our breakfast buffet we were accompanied by ga zillions of lalat. We decided to skip breakfast on our second day . I cooked magee curry in the room instead. At least we know that our food isn't contaminated.

6. Parking - we got lucky and parked in the hotel compound. But many people complained that they had to walk very far to park.

Ok on average , it was a pleasant stay. We had a wonderful time. Bare in mind that this review is written from the point of view of a mommy and it's targeted towards family with young children.

I brought my 55 days old son and for those of you who are superstitious, this resort is absolutely all right , nothing spooky happened to us. Kefli did cry but that's because he is hungry and not because he sees .......muaha ha ha , just kidding.

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Keropok Lekor Adventure in Cherating

After lunching at Singgalang Jaya nasi padang in Kuantan, we make our way to Cherating. The journey takes about 45 minutes. If you drive straight from KL it will take approximately 3 hours, almost the same duration to Kuantan. So it works out faster if you head straight to Cherating and don't stop in Kuantan, like we did. Anyways we planned this trip that way so that we'll be able to enjoy both Kuantan and Cherating, greedy right?

The journey was ok, we drove along the coastal line, the scenery was mainly the beach and the kampung houses along the road. Occasionally i hear Kaseh say "Mama lembu", no she don't mean that I'm a cow , but she just spotted a herd of cows, lazing by the road side. A nice change from "Mama! Tractor!" Along Kota Damansara road. I' am glad she is seeing these animals in real life now, as to just learning them in books.

Swinging from one tree to another at Impiana Resort, Cherating.

We arrive at Impiana about 2pm, great timing actually, cause as we checked in , other holiday maker started to arrive, nasib we got our room already. Guess who officiated the king size bed?

My little princess taking her afternoon nap.

As soon as Kaseh woke up we wasted no time, we explored around the hotel. First stop is the beach !

This is my signature pose, it's really challenging to do :).

The sand is a bit yellowish, but nevertheless clean and quite. I don't recommend anyone to swim in this beach, cause the waves are really massive and can be scary. It's dangerous, and you can see that the resort have raised RED flags along the beach, indicating that, it's dangerous to swim.

Tip 1: Follow the flag's warning. Don't swim when the red flag is up. No kidding ya, the sea is really unpredictable even if you are a season swimmer.

We head straight to the pool after the beach and spent about an hour by the pool.
This is Kaseh's first time swimming on her own without clinging on to any of us. What a proud moment for me cause she's finally learnt to waddle with the help of the swim jacket.

Tip 2: if you want your kids to learn how to swim, you gotta swim or at least be in the pool with them. I first brought Kaseh to the pool when she was 4 months old, i got her a baby warmer from mother care, and dipped her for 10 min max. You don't want to soak them too long. And it got longer and longer as she grow older. Now she can in the pool for up to 1 1/2 hours, and can stay as long as you allow her. But of course for me 1 1/2 is her max time.

It was gloomy thru out our holiday in Cherating, bohoooooo.

This is how Impiana looks like. It's a 3 story building with no lift. If you have elderly person with you, or you suffer from back pain and can't walk, or you are simply lazy.....

Tip 3: Request for a room on the 2nd floor. It's the same level as the lobby and i think the nearest room to all facilities are 209 and 210.

Main hotel lobby.

The restaurant where breakfast is served.

That night we decided to have dinner here. Not recommended uols. Don't eat here please, MS Restaurant Cherating, is just horrible.

Why ?
1. Service is super slow
2. Waiters are really rude
3. We asked for sotong goreng tepung and they told us that it's unavailable like 30 mins after.
4. The drinks are really sweet.

I read other people's blog about places to eat in Cherating and i read that Peninsular Seafood and Sri Baggih is quite good, may be next time.

Kaseh battling it out with Ayah in congkak.

Breakfast buffet is pretty good. Point of difference is the roti bakar stall , which no other hotel serves, as far as i am concern lah.

This is a must try in Cherating, you'll find Keropok Lekor's stall abundant along the coastal road. Some argued that the ones made in Terengganu is better, but i personally think these from Cherating is all right too .

2D/2N wow time flies and it's time to head back to KL. I'm feeling kinda of sad because this is the last strech of long public holidays, there's non in March or April. Thus it also means that, bit susah to plan our breaks. But that won't stop me right ? Apa yang penting? Jalan-jalan :)

Thanks for reading XOXO!

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Famous Ikan Bakar @Pasar Keramat

I don't normally frequent the Keramat or Kl area for no reason , kecuali ada kerja or sebab terpaksa. But today is an exception. We head towards Keramat because my maid wanted to buy gold. After 2 years of serving us she will be leaving home to Semarang , Indonesia for good next week. She wanted to use partial of her pay to buy a gold necklace for herself, i guess it's a wise investment. I am not a gold lover, i hardly have any barang kemas (jewellery)
for myself, the last i bought jewellery was in 2009, it was my wedding ring.

Even that i wanted to buy a necklace cause i don't wear rings, but my mother insisted because it is custom that rings are exchanged during the akad nikad ceremony(solemnisation). I settled for a diamond ring which we bought in Habib. Wore it couple of times only and now it sits in it's case in my room. Nevertheless the memories that i brings is priceless.

Our lunch at ikan bakar, pasar keramat.

Right, back to our mission to buy gold, a friend of mine Wan Zuraini (Wan Cha) owns a kedai emas in Pasar Keramat called Kedai Emas Wan Hassan. She is however now working in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. Her brother is mending the shop, i gave her a call and told her that i wanted to visit her shop, because my maid wanted to buy gold.

While we are busy looking and learning about gold from Wan, Kaseh found her own goldmine full of toys !

Today i learned that gold is very expensive. I remembered my mother bought me a gold necklace for my 16th birthday with my name engraved on it and i think those time it costs about RM 350, for something similar now is about RM 1000+. As of today, gold was priced at RM195 per gram. Kesian my maid , she managed to buy only one item, hopefully it will do her good in time of desperation.

After that, we took the opportunity to have lunch at the famous ikan bakar ( grilled fish) in Pasar Keramat . I was introduced to this place by my collegues when i was working in Jalan Semarak for a telecomunications company. I no longer work there, thus this is really an opportunity for me to introduce the place to Sol,Kaseh and Karimah. I don't know when the next time will be.

If you've never been there, the ikan bakar stall in situated right opposite the pasar basah ( in front of the fruit stalls) , there are other vendors selling ikan bakar , but this particular stall is always crowded. It's not that comfortable to eat here actually, cause it's kinda off hot and crampy. But if you are a food lover like me, you wouldn't mind. Bawak balik rasa tak sesedap punya.

Type of fish available- pari (stingray), kembong( indian macarel) and terubuk.

Other fish dishes are available too , like gulai lemak cili padi ikan merah ( red snapper in coconut milk) and asam pedas kembong and pari.

Tip 1- go for the Pari Ikan Bakar , it's their speciality, the fish is fresh and the sambal cicah is so yummy !

Tip 2 - ask for the gulai lemak ikan gravy and eat with white rice, great combination. Ikan pari is my favourite here.

Not all ikan bakar places offers fresh pari like this one.

Asam pedas kembung .

How to order - when you reach the stall , you must be slightly agressive in booking your table.2-3 other groups are also eye-ing the same table, if you come during peak time. Jangan lah kiasu sangat , but go for it if you see an empty table, don't wait to be serve. The kakaks there are too busy to attend to you sometimes.

Once you get your table, order your fish, it automatically comes with the air asam, sup and rice. If you want ulam and kuah lemak you must request.

The price is fairly reasonable. We had
1 pari bakar
1 terubuk bakar
2 kembung asam pedas
1 pari asam pedas
3 plates of rice
2 teh o ais
3 bowls of soup
3 bowls of asam cicah
And all thay costs us RM 53.

It would have costs me the same if i bought fish from the market and cook. We are happy and full , head home and took a half hour afternoon nap. What a bliss.

Warning - the ikan bakar meal might cause drowsiness, thus eat moderately and not highly recommended if you have a meeting or presentation after.

Opening time : Monday to Saturday 11am to 3pm only.

Read my travel adventures over the CNY break. Definitely the most unplanned and most budget but yet comfortable of all our breaks . I am looking forward to it , but a lil nervous, cause i don't know what to expect with this impromtu holidays.

Thanks for reading XOXO.

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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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