Category Archives: Reviews

The Lace Boutique Hotel

Posted in Leisure & Travel, Reviews by

The long weekend is here. PKPP is extended till the end of the year. Malaysians are saying bye bye to their passports already. I have decided that we will not go back to Kuching this year for our annual trip. Instead, we will just go for short trips in Semenanjung Malaysia. And that was what we did.

It was a 3D2N stay in Johor Bahru. Mr Husband booked our staycation abode at the Lace Boutique Hotel he stumbled upon Agoda at a very good price. On the first night, he chose a one bedroom suite priced at RM130/night and on the second night a 2 bedroom suite for RM 150/night. Both without breakfast options. It was a huge price drop having seen it’s original price at the website. Perhaps the CEO was being benevolent and wanted more Malaysians to travel interstate and stay at the hotel. Stimulating the economy, they say.

Lace Boutique Hotel is owned by a YB Datuk Paduka Hjh Rokiah Hj Omar. From what I gather online, she is an entrepreneur with an impressive portfolio. Such as in the motoring business, hotel and saloon. All branded under the name Lace.

Lace Hotel is covered in gold-ish decorations. It gave me the Las Vegas & Empire Classic vibe. I was honestly surprised that both rooms that we booked has a bathtub.

The boutique hotel has a terrific location. You will never go hungry as there are loads of eateries at the area of Kpg Melayu Majidee and is of walking distance. The hotel is also in the heart of the city near the main road making trips easy for anybody outside of Johor.

The rooms were clean. The amenities they provided were plenty and enough. There was a microwave, kettle, plates, cutleries and even a complete set of teapot to make our own coffee and tea. The rooms were spacious and the bed was comfy. The air conditioning was wow!.

This location is also FOOD PANDA and GRABFOOD friendly!!! I know cause that was one the things I checked first. The riders can deliver your food to the hotel as it is so accessible. Of course you can always go out in your car and get food or take a walk.

The swimming pool was at the rooftop and the kids loved it. I was not sure where the cafe was as we did not have breakfast there. It was generally a wonderful stay despite a few small bumps. By that, I mean:

  • On the first night, the WIFI was not working at our floor. The TV was also not getting a good reception as they were using some sort of internet TV. The shows keep on buffering.
  • The bathroom could use an additional ‘ambience’ light. I know moms or ladies would appreciate soaking in the tub at night while watching the night sky through the big window with that sort of light in place.
  • Enough shower/bath gel. As opposed to 2 bottles of shampoo and conditioner without the shower gels. Texture dia rasa lain. Oh well, maybe for my future trips I should consider bringing my own travel-sized bath gels. Although I really love the hotel ones especially if they have nice bottles.

That should be it. Very minor problems.

For this trip, we were very relaxed. We did not even go to Legoland. Instead, we spent most of the time in the room (since husband has things to sort out about work), goofing around & sleeping. We only went out twice to go to the Johor Zoo and Ikea Tebrau.

Ended our Johor trip at Tanjung Piai. Took a few photos as momento.

If I was a Johorean, this would definitely be high up on my list for a mini weekend getaway with the girls or something. It does look high-end exclusive yet a bit abandoned from far. Probably because the glass windows have not been regularly cleansed for some time. Or maybe it has but it still looks stained with mold. Otherwise, the interiors are truly Instagram-mable and worth checking out.

Staycation at Anugerah Homestay

Posted in Good Things, Leisure & Travel, Reviews by

Let’s see, my latest blog update was on the 18th of July. Since then, I have not been blogging much here and on NotaMinci. My mind was occupied by a few things. Mainly, my course assignments, my father in laws stroke, my aunts demise due to Covid-19 (she is one of my favourite aunts), the Basic Life Support course ( I couldn’t really say no, but the timing was honestly shit), buy farewell gift for a superior that I have no idea what kind of person he is (busy sgt ke sampai tak boleh beli sendiri? like hello… aku tak pernah kerja dgn dia.. canne nak personalize gift?) and the prep for The Moss Clan staycation during Eid -Adha.

I am currently breathing a bit. In fact, I am taking leave for 3 days to get my mind sorted out. The exam period for my Psychology degree starts in 11 days.

For The Moss Clan stay cation, I chose a property from Anugerah Homestay Melaka. It was a 5 room villa with a swimming pool. The weekend/public holiday rate was RM890/night. It is located at Durian Tunggal but not far from the highway toll. This stay cation was meant to celebrate Eid and my mom’s 61st birthday.

I chose the place because;

  • it has a swimming pool that the kids would love together with a BBQ pit
  • all bedrooms are air-conditioned
  • they have basic amenities like the fridge, cooking area, cooking and eating utensils. They also provided big garbage bags which were useful to throw our rubbish
  • ample parking space but limited to a max of 4 vehicles. You can park 2 inside the porch and another 2 outside without bothering the neighbours parking space
  • washing machine is provided but we didn’t use them
  • they have sejadah and kiblat direction. alhamdulilah
  • grocery stores nearby. and restaurants. You can even do your evening exercise and walk over to them. Dekat sangat.
  • basic Astro is available. bolehlah tgk 7 Hari Mencintaimu

The downside;

  • it is in a residential area. you have curious neighbours. Although the owner have resurrected a wall near the pool, you still need to be mindful of the neighbours. You do not want to upset them. Children especially, like to peer through the gates and watch you swim in the pool.
  • NO WIFI, NO COWAY, NO AIR CON in the living room but it’s a minor flaw because I could easily access my DIGI from here, we can open the big windows and doors for circulation and part air tu.. we prepared before hand by buying bottles of mineral water to put in the fridge. We can always boil hot water with the kettle they provided. Nama pun homestay, kalau nak sgt2 selesa.. duduk rumah sendirilah kan..
  • Limited towels, so bring your own. Shower gels and dish washing liquid are provided.

To make our stay extra comfortable, I brought;

  • A night lamp. All bedrooms do not have a bedside lamp. So it’s either you sleep in a really pitch black room or open the door a bit.
  • Extra blankets. The tug of war of blankets resume in homestay. So bawak je la.
  • Extension plugs
  • Shampoo

My sister, Aunty L was in charge of our menu. My brothers were in charge of snacks. My parents role is to eat, sleep and enjoy themselves.

Husband cooking breakfast on the last day of our Staycation

Hotel MetraSquare

Posted in Leisure & Travel, Reviews by

The tourism industry seems to suffer a big hit from the Covid-19 pandemic. Hoteliers are resorting to various ways to boost their sales and such. Hence, I think the best that we could do is support them by holiday-ing close by.

Metrasquare is a 3 star premium hotel (recently upgraded), 30 mins drive from our home and located strategically in Ayer Keroh. That is where all the attractions are – Zoo Melaka, Taman Asean, Taman Botani, Mydin, MITC , Melaka Wonderland etc.

Mr Husband booked a One Bedroom Apartment Twin priced at RM130/night. We stayed there for 2 nights.

Complimentary breakfast and Wifi 

Room with two single beds, a balcony and separate seating area. Each apartment is air conditioned and has a flat-screen TV with Satellite channels, bathroom with shower, wardrobe, in-room safe, refrigerator and coffee/tea facilities.

I loved that it has WIFI because I really needed to get my assignments done over the weekend. The table was comfortable to work on and there were plenty of space for the kids to run around and make a mess.

Breakfast was served as an a la carte menu at the neighbouring premise, Ames Hotel (4 star ). You will need to walk a bit to reach the banquet area but it is worth the visit. It makes you want to book your next stay cation at Ames hotel , simply because of its beauty. We get to choose from the 4 breakfast options. We had American breakfast and continental most of the time with juice, hot beverages and fruits on the side. The breakfast was charged at RM15/pax. If you’re not keen for in house menu, visitors can also head over to the Old Town White Coffee Kopitiam, situated at the ground floor of MetraSquare Hotel. It opens as early as 0800H.

It was a very rooming in sort of stay cation as we only headed out once to Mydin for fresh air. Most of the time it’ll be like husband go out, buy the food whilst the 3 of us laze around in the room watching a movie or kids playing while I work. If I brought my sport shoes, I might be tempted to jog at Taman Botani which is like 5 mins away, depending on how fast you walk. By that I mean, less than 2 mins by car.

Generally, it was a comfortable stay. If only they had night lights in the room. Otherwise, it was almost perfect.

Phone screen shattered and repaired

Posted in Everyday Life, Reviews by

I have been away from Instagram (especially) for at least two weeks with quick stories in between because my Samsung A7 2018 was broken. I was using the bathroom at my clinic. There was no place to put it hygienically so I balanced it on one of those wall hooks. Obviously it fell off face down on the floor.

I was initially hopeful that it could just be my tempered glass but turns out that my LCD screen display was gone. I did not panic but I was honestly remorseful for such an idiotic move. I remembered letting out a deep sigh but then consoled myself in saying that it’s just the screen. After all, the phone was still working at its best. I just don’t have an intact screen to swipe in action. Hence, I was unable to receive calls, read watsapp messages and mute my alarm.

I fixed my phone at IRepair in Tesco, Melaka.

I was given a quotation for the LCD costing RM480 including professional labour fee. I could feel a little hole burning in my pocket then. I reasoned with myself. Even if I can buy the stuff on Shopee or Lazada, I would be totally inept working on it. So, lets leave it to the professionals, huh.

The LCD itself took a while to arrive the shores of Malaysia. In the meantime, I used my sim card with my old Samsung J5. Only thing is I miss my many apps on my A7 and those instantaneous ‘log in’ feature with the apps and sites I normally frequent. Which explains why I was not really active on social media. Not that I was missed terribly.

In short, I learned my lesson and it was painful. **money flies**

Plant Haul delivered. Baba Wan Nursery

Posted in Everyday Life, Good Things, Hobby/Interest, Mini Project, Reviews by

Most moms find it easier pre-COVID19 era to shuttle their kids with them as they complete daily chores or business errands. Now that with SOP’s in place which includes refraining high risk groups ( children & elderly) entering crowded places, I believe it does affect mothers in a certain way. For me personally, I cannot bring my kids to Tesco anymore to buy groceries. Nor can I bring them to the mall whilst I get some books and stuff. I cannot bring them to the bank as I want to deposit their duit raya. Nor can I bring them to the university foyer as I check out the library to get some books. So when it comes to a certain need, like the need to get a plant from the nearby nursery, I had to resort to home delivery.

Thankfully, my nearby nursery BABA WAN NURSERY could oblige. It is located at Jalan Bukit Piatu quite near my house, so I might stop by one day without the kids.

My haul came today and I was delighted. It has been ages since I wanted to start my mini- edible garden but time was difficult to find. Plus, I had to adjust my budget a bit. So, these are what I got. Delivery was charged at an additional RM15. I am cool with that.

I got 5 bags of Vonya soil. Allegedly awesome for almost everything. I got 1 bag free. I chose two hibiscus plant in support of our national flower. I am also trying my luck to grow the Polianthes tuberose or as the locals calls it, pokok harum sundal malam. Folklore associated it with vampires (pontianak/kuntilanak) but let’s put the myths out of the way. It is supposed to smell nice at night once it blooms. Mine looks like grass at the moment.

yellow hibiscus
red hibiscus
If I ever manage to grow this plant well, I will sell this in a polybag to my friends at a very very cheap price. IF EVER.

I bought 2 pots of cili padi plant and a pot of daun limau purut (kafir leaves). One pot of cili is for my sister.

Please grow well Chilli and Kaffir leaves

It took me about 3 hours to clear the leaves in my abandoned garden but I was proud of the results. I just bought another plant haul through Shopee and am hoping that it would arrive soon. Wish me luck!