Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Continuation - Southwestern Adventure - Port Dickson

Our journey continued and after bidding farewell to both Seanette and Agnes at Rider's Lodge, we headed north. Our plan was to stop at Malacca city for "Asam Pedas" lunch at Gerai 35. As we exited Ayer Keroh toll, we got stuck in the traffic and it took us more than one hour to reach the city centre. Since there were just too many people, we just grabbed our lunch at Gerai 22. The Asam Pedas daging tetel and ikan parang are just awesome. Berbaloi lah walaupun terpaksa mengharungi kesesakan yang dahsyat! If you're looking for parking at this area, turn right at Flora De La Mar and park at the riverside....perfect! After taking some shots around Bandar Hilir, we headed straight to Port Dickson.


We reached Legend Water Chalet (www. legendwaterchalets.com.my) around 6pm and checked into the Premium Waterchalet since that was the only room available as the smaller ones have been fully booked months ago! The promotional rate was RM575++ against the published rate of RM1,300. We were lucky since that room could accommodate four adults. It was enough for the five of us. It was a beautiful room with private balcony and has two solid glass panels for viewing the sea beneath the floor. The bathroom is huge with triangle bath tub and standing shower with air well, so you could see the beautiful blue sky while having shower (provided it doesn't rain!).

Since it was almost dark, there's nothing much we could do....just enjoying the rising tide from the balcony when out of a sudden we saw 2 turtles...we were so excited!!! I didn't know that PD has turtles (probably the turtles were saying thank you for sponsoring their conservation programs). After having dinner at one of the tomyam stall outside, we went back to the hotel and rented a karaoke room. Yang beriya menyanyi of courselah ibu and abah, anak2 jadi audience. The room, choice of songs and the charges were not bad at all...perhaps the best karaoke room in PD!







The next morning, after breakfast, we rented bicycles for the kids and a fishing rod for the dad. Trying our luck, kut2 boleh dapat ikan sekor dua...unfortunately none at all! The kids went for a ride around the hotel and the hotel next door, Legend International Water Homes (http://www.legendiwh.com.my/). They came back and told us that the all the rooms at the other hotel come with a private swimming pool. Wow...tak pernah pulak dengar hotel yang macam ni. So while they were swimming, I decided to go for a walk to find out about the hotel next door.

It's true, all the rooms comes with a private pool, nice but of course more expensive. They just opened in November 2009. I checked with the front office and they told me that there still have rooms available, but only the Executive Pool Villa. The published rate is RM2,100 but the promotional rates for 2009 was RM690 but it comes with 2 King Size Beds! Enough for all of us and perhaps cheaper than renting 2 rooms! The room also has a small kitchenette and a solid glass panel to view the sea. If you want the room to be facing the sea, there is a surcharge of RM150! So, we checked out from Water Chalet at 12 noon and checked in at Water Homes and carried all our luggage to the car as the room was available only at 3pm.

We headed to PD town and stopped at Restoran Deen Berjaya - Kari kepala Ikan Deen. It's popular for fish head curry. Memang sedap dan mengancam bila tambah sotong goreng and ayam goreng! Then, we went down memory lane when we passed by my old school, SK Port Dickson (formely known as Government English Primary School). I was there in 1980 for only a year...but a year that left lots of fond memories.




Around 3pm, we checked in at the Water Homes...and IQ met his SDAR friend (who had just arrived with his family from Kelantan). It was a long way from the hotel lobby to the room (sometimes we just hop on the electric buggy!!). By the time we reached there, we were already exhausted! But the room was just lovely overlooking the sea and the kids just couldn't wait to jump into the pool. It was really cool!!! Since the pool is inside the room, all of us just jumped in!!!! That night we scouted for dinner along the beach and settled for Papa Grill Mama Chop. The food was okay just to fill up the stomach. That night, we tried again our luck with fishing....lesson learnt is that, use a bell at the the end of the rod when you're fishing at night!
The next morning, the kids jumped inside the pool after breakfast. IQ went to visit the PD Power Plant next door. I took the chance to rest and watch TV. Just before 12 noon, we packed our stuff and left Water Homes.








We were very impressed with the 2 new hotels in PD and I'm sure we will come again...probably the best hotel in PD now. The whole trip was enjoyable and fun. It was a good break for all of us.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

PMR: 220 pelajar sekolah YIK dapat 9A

Harakah 1-3 Januari 2010 KOTA BHARU: Pelajar-pelajar sekolah agama di bawah Yayasan Islam Kelantan (Yik) terus mengungguli kecemerlangan apabila seramai 220 pelajar mendapat 9A dalam PMR 2009. Berlaku peningkatan seramai 50 pelajar yang mendapat kecemerlangan tersebut berbanding tahun sebelumnya. Manakala 8A seramai 199 pelajar, 7A (199 pelajar), 6A (235 pelajar) and 5A (206 pelajar).

Pengarah Yik, Ahmad Robert Abdul Rahim berkata, berlaku peningkatan pelajar yang mendapat semua A dalam semua mata pelajaran. Katanya Maahad Tahfiz Sains Tanah Merah mendapat 100 peratus dalam peperiksaan itu manakala 45 pelajar mendapat 9A.

Maahad Muhammadi Perempuan mencatat 97.81 peratus dimana bilangan pelajar yang mendapat 9A paling ramai iaitu seramai 88 orang. Manakala Maahad Muhammadi Lelaki dan MTS Bustanul Ariffin mendapat 91.75 peratus. Ahmad berkata seramai 6,144 pelajar sekolah agama di bawah Yik menduduki peperiksaan tersebut tahun ini.


Monday, December 28, 2009

Southwestern Adventure - Riders' Lodge, Kulai

We decided to focus on the south western side of the peninsula to spend our December holidays ...departing on Saturday, 19 December 2009 and returning on Wednesday, 22 December 2009. Our journey took us another 1000 km covering Johor, Melaka and Negeri Sembilan.

We jumped onto the car at about 10am after fetching AP in Ampang, targetting to reach Kulai at about 2pm. What is there in Kulai???? We were heading for the Riders Lodge, a resort in Sedenak that offers horse related activities. We stopped for rests at Ayer Keroh and Machap before exiting at Sedenak toll then heading towards Kulai before turning left to Sedenak and eventually the lodge at around 2pm.

Our first thought....pretty nice, unique, surrounded by palm oil trees, frequented by mainly foreigners and Singapoerans and built for horse training and riding. It is owned by Australian married to a Philipino, very nice couple and personally entertain guests. The place is a big manor house with 27 rooms and is located next to the Legend Golf & Country Resort. Upon arrival, we checked in for a bed & breakfast package which cost us RM348 per pax. After a short rest, the kids went for their riding lesson for beginners. The lesson was for an hour and we were charged RM123.90 per hour. If you stay at the lodge, then you are entiltled for a 10% discount.




Dini was on Super Force but the horse was not in the right mood that day that she was asked to ride Sara Bego. Faiz and Thaqif were on Matilda and Impiana, both were nice to them. After selecting the horses, the trainer, Tara, an Irish began training the kids on how to handle and control the horses. It is not as easy as it looks. I used to ride when I was a kid, my father is a professional polo player with Pahang Royal Polo Club and I was taught how to ride when I was 10. After one hour on the horses, the kids learned how to ride. Tara told us that it would take a couple of lessons before they can learn troting.



That night, we went out to see Kulai. It's quite a big town and we were surprise to see two hypermarkets, Tesco and Giant. We were told that Singaporean shops at this Tesco. We had our dinner at Azlan Tomyam and it was satisfactory. When we return to the lodge, it was so quiet that we fell asleep almost instantly.

The next morning, after being served with farmhouse breakfast, IQ and Thaqif went for a ride. They have selected Impiana and Matilda. Dini and Faiz still suffered pain from their lesson yesterday. This time, they were trained by Sunnell, a lady from South Africa. Riders Lodge offers variety of riding packages. You can go on a guided trail ride at the palm oil plantation nearby or join their riding camps. That can be interesting. You can find out all about the lodge and the riding activities from their website http://www.riderslodge.com.my/index.htm.


We will definitely come back for more riding lessons. The place is nice and quiet, good for a short break. Thanks to Seanette and Agnes for their country home hospitality.



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