2010 School Holiday Trip To Meow-Meow City - Kuching

Year end school holiday trip is something like an annual ritual to us (CS and my families).  It's something we anticipated every year comes year end.  This year Kuching is our destination, and the reasons being are 1) some of us have not been there before, and 2) we are paying a visit to Hen Kim.  One stone two birds kinds of mentality lar.  We spent 4D3N at Kuching, overall it's a fun filled trip.  Special thank to Hen Kim and wife (Michelle) for their hospitality during our stay at Kuching.  Least to mention the free ride and food provided.  It would be perfect if free lodging is also provided.   Hahahaa ..  just joking.  Of course we are not that THICK face to request for it.  We stayed at Hotel 360 as recomended by Hen Kim which is surprisingly very spacious and cheap too.  Below is the trip highlights.

Day 1 (23 December 2010)
We took AirAsia flight and arrived at Kuching at around 10am.  Hen Kim and wife picked us up at the airport.  As soon as we checked in the hotel, we had breakfast and went to Chinatown to see here see there.

We went to this Joyful restaurant near the hotel, and we had 'Mee Golo' or 'Golo Mee' and 3-color Teh (三色奶茶) for breakfast.  Both are Super Good!!  The 'Mee Golo' is equivalent to our KL dry wanton mee (干捞面).  The look is not tempting but the taste is one of a kind.  The 3-color teh is also worth giving a try, it tastes like 'Chendor Teh'.  FYI, we had the same for breakfast for 3 consecutive days, that how good they taste.


Joyful Restaurant



3-Color Teh



Mee Golo or Golo Mee



Ronda-ronda at Chinatown. 

Attap Street in Chinatown??

Mosque or Parliment House??

Coffee Shop In Chinatown

The coffee shop is owned by a Taiwanese lady.  Best coffee in Kuching, just look at the foam.


Day 2 (24 December 2010)
Of course Kuching trip is not complete without visiting the Meow-Meow museum - the city where there is no mouse.

Beware of woman.  Even a dinasour is no match for a woman!



Spaceship has landed in Kuching??

Oh . .Silent night . .  Holy night . .  Yeah, it's Christmas eve at Kuching.
 

Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2010

Standard Chartered has been organizing KL Marathon since year 2009, and this year's KL Marathon falls on 27/06/2010 (Sunday).  SCB staffs and their families are sponsored by the bank to take part in the Marathon.  We missed last year marathon, so I decided that the whole family will run in this year Marathon - Family Fun Run 5KM event.  Dataran Merdeka is the starting and finishing line.

The Marathon starts at 8am at Dataran Merdeka, and we got up very early.  Not driving there because looking for a parking space is imposible, so we took the LRT from Bukit Jalil to Masjid Jamek station.  By the time we got there, the padang is swamped with Marathon participants.   We took a few photos, and quickly registered ourselves for free breakfast.  SCB set up staff tents and provide free flow of breakfast to staffs.

Picture of us before the race begins.

Me posing in front of the red Chevrolet Cruze, a newly launched sedan.

We finished the race and showing off our certificates.  Look!  We don't look tiring a bit after the race.  The Marathon is a piece of cake lar.

My Kids showing off theirs too. 

Play ground for kids.

Finished the race at last.

    Body is aching all over, heading home for rest.

    Our lucky Marathon race numbers.  Anyone care to buy 4-digit?

3D2N Trip To Tg Sepat/Bagan Lalang

As usual before the school holiday begins, CS (aka Chee Siong) and I were planning a short trip for the families.  CS suggested PD but would welcome other places of interest that we have in mind.  After much debate and searching the net, my wife propose that we spend our holiday in Tg Sepat/Banting.   Emailed CS that we go to Tg Sepat/Bagan Lalang for a change since we never been there before.  Expecting CS would say 'Yes' but knz he replied 'Ok, you plan the trip and keep me informed'.   Invitation was extended to Jane and AP families, unfortunately they can't join us due to busy schedule.  We spent 3D2N at Tg Sepat/Bagan Lalang.  Overall the trip was a bit tiring but nonetheless is good times well spent with our kids. 

Below are the highlights of our trip.


Day1.
We set of early in the morning at 7.00am, met at the Petronas station next to Mint Hotel along seremban highway.  Drove to Nilai town for breakfast but not knowing where and what to eat.  Luckily, a kind aunty/uncle directed us to a restaurant, and we had 'Pan Mee', and 'Chee Cheong Fun' for breakfast.  The Pan Mee taste is quite authentic cos' the owner is a Hakka-Yin (客家人).  Quite cheap also,  noodles and drinks cost around RM 37.00 for 10 people (4 adults and 6 children).


Next, we drove to Banting and stop by the "Gold Coast Resort".   Too bad, this resort is not yet open for business and we are not allowed to go inside the resort to 'look here look there'.  From a distance, the resort looks like palm tree stretching toward Melaka strait.  I wonder what's it like to stay a night in the villa/bangaloo floating above the water.   CS, let's locked our next trip here. 

We reached Tg Sepat just in time for lunch, we check-in at the 'Ganofarm Homestay' which is actually is a Ling Zhi (mushroom) cultivating farm, and they sell many Ling Zhi related products.  Nothing fancy but the rooms are reasonably clean.  Cheap on the pocket too, RM 98.00 per room during weekend, and RM 20.00 less on normal days.  After check-in, we went to explore another hotel to stay for the next day - Waterfront hotel.  To our disappointment it was facing the 'longkang water' instead of the beach.  So, no change of hotel.   

It's lunch time, we went looking for the 'pao' shop - Hai Yew Hin very famous for its 'Mui Choi' pao.  We ordered a mix of everything - 'mui-choi', 'tao-sa', 'sang-yuk', and 'kaya' pao for lunch.  To our surprise they are 'yummy' good!   The pao texture is very different compared to KL - it looks and tastes like the 'Sponge' cake, and the pao's filling is very tasty.  Kids love the 'mui-choi' pao, CS and I had many many 'tao-sa' and 'sang-yuk' pao.   The Kopi-O is super good too.   The pao and Kopi-O are perfect match, and altogether it was lunch well served.  The  same store also sells 'Gor-Hiong' - deep fried snacks something similar to Penang 'Lo-Pak'.  I tried the spring roll and baby crab which is to be eaten whole - a good source of calcium supplement.

Later in the afternoon, we visited the Dragon Fruit farm which is about 20Km from the hotel.  The farm name is (日热红火龙果）and we bought some dragon and passion fruits.  They sell honey too, Mei Ling (CS's wife) bought a few bottles.  We went into the farm and took pictures.  By the way, it's true they do keep a monkey in a cage. 

The farm owner recommends us to try the 'Tawa' durian on our way back to hotel.  The durian farm doesn't has a sign board but there is a pile of rotten durians on the road side that hints us the direction.  The durian farm is hidden in the rubber estate and they sell many variety of durian.  The owner recommeded 3 varieties - 'Sembayang', 'Red Meat' and 'Tawa' and reminded us to try least tasteful first and saving the best 'Tawa' for last.  First the 'Sembayang' durian and it was good, then the 'Red Meat' which is yummy, and last the 'Tawa' which is finger licking good.  In between the owner served chinese tea to customers, and the idea is to refresh the taste bud before trying the next durian variety.  Little do we know that durian is to be served with chinese tea.  Durian prices 'Sembayang' RM10.00/kilo, 'Red Meat' RM15.00'kilo, and 'Tawa' RM25.00/kilo.  'Tawa' is worth trying, it has a bitter taste and its texture is very creamy.   The durian feast costs us RM135.00, we had 6 durians (2 per each variety).   One bad thing about this place is that you are 'eating with the flies', tons of flies buzzling around.

 

Towards the evening, we went to the 'Lover Bridge' (情人挢） which is a perfect spot to capture sunset scenes.  Sky tinted with red, orange, and bluish clouds connecting the sea make the perfect backdrop for photography.  One can easily snap a good picture with handphone.  We bought caramel candy (麦芽糖）for the kids and they enjoy the candy as we strolled along the bridge.  Mei-Ling tooks lots of picture and we met a couple on the bridge geared up with Nikon camera snapping sunset.

Day 1 is not complete without dinner.  There are many seafood restaurants next to the lover bridge.  We had our dinner at the 'Ocean Seafood Restaurant'.  By the time we got there, the place is jam-packed with people (wah-lau-eh!  people mountain people sea leh).  Lucky us we were told by the owner that we are the last customer for the night.  We ordered crabs with salted egg, steam fish, crabs beehoon, oyster omelette, soup, and vege.   Dinner is good and filling.  After dinner we strolled the lover bridge once more to help digest the food.  Back to the hotel, the night is still young, and we watched the first 2010 world cup match England vs USA.  England draws with USA with score 1:1. 

Day 2.

Woke up early and heading to town for the one of a kind seafood Bah-Kut-Teh.  They serve the traditional Bah-Kut-Teh and customers can decide whether to add seafood.  Seafood can either be added into the soap and served together with the pork, or the seafood can be stir-fried with bean source and served as side dish.  We ordered the stir-fried style and not bad for a change.  Breakfast costs RM85.00.

We bought mattresses and spent the whole morning at the Morib beach after breakfast.  Kids are having good time playing with sands, catching hermit crabs and collecting sea shells. CS and I not missing out the fun and flew kites at the beach while the two aunties sat and watched.  Returning to Tg Sepat and we had 'Pan-Mee' for lunch.  After a short break at the hotel, we head off to the 'Longan' farm which is a disappointing stop over.  Nothing much to see cos the longan trees are fenced up and no one is allowed to go inside.  Plenty of free longan for sampling.  We bought a bag of longan for RM5.oo.

Next is the highlight of day 2.  Begger chicken dinner is one of the planned acitivities.  The begger chicken restaurant is in Banting which is about 30km away from Tg Sepat.  To be exact, the restaurant is situated in Jugra hill.  I been there 2 times but don't recall how to get there.  Luckily, we met a young chinese man on 2 wheelers who guided us towards Jugra town.  Reached there before 6pm and they only served  dinner after 6pm.  Mei-Lings took some pictures while we sat the dining table waiting to be served.   We ordered 1 begger chicken, 1 sticky rice, 1 stuffed fish, 1 oyster omelette, 2 vege, and a big plate of fried 'Tang-Hoon'.  The 'Tang-Hoon' taste super good, it's not oily and very cheap too.  1 big plate for 10 persons costs only RM8.00.  The dishes here taste different compared to that of Ijok but very delicious, so good that we almost wipe the plates 'squeaky' clean.  Back to hotel after dinner.  Again day 2 is not complete without watching world cup match.

Day3.

Kids woke up very for badminton at the beach behind Ganafarm homestay, and take more photos.   We had late breakfast in town.  Guess what?  We had 'Pan-Mee' again for brunch at a different shop which tastes a lot better compared to the pan-mee shop on day 2.   The name of this shop is (顺利发) and it is near to YiKee Bah-Kut-Teh shop.  Here the 'Pan-Mee' is served in a claybot style.  Choice of sambal belacan, chilli padi, or sambal and chilli padi campur.  Personally, I prefer the sambal belacan which is spicy and yet flavorful.    After brunch is the last minute shooping.  We bought coffee powder and also the 'Pao'.  I bought 30 paos and CS bought 10.  Check-out at 12pm and we balik rumah asing asing.  We shall meet up again next trip.

Thanks to Mei-Ling.  All photos in this blog are taken and contributed by Mei-Ling (CS's wife, the lady on the left of this photo) who is our camera woman through out the trip.