Tag Archives: cuti Malaysia

The Everly Putrajaya Hotel – meeting my prospective stepmother

Posted in Everyday Life, Leisure & Travel by

My dad is driving me nuts with his holier-than-thou attitude. I am trying my best to not snap back at him like any respectful daughter should be. So is news about Fattah Amin. How do I stop reading about him on my feed? It has started to become so irritating to see the public putting him on a moral pedestal.

On a different note, my dad introduced us to his girlfriend a few weeks ago. We had tea together at Secret Recipe, Alamanda Mall. Our prospective stepmother is from Acheh, Indonesia. They were introduced to each other via a mutual friend. She comes across as a lovely lady, a single mother who single-handedly raised 2 children for the past 10 years since she divorced. She earns a decent income working in administration to support her living expenses.

On the day, we exchanged pleasantries. My younger sister and my niece joined us too. Throughout the meeting, I couldn’t help wondering why is it of all the ladies that my dad could have met, he decided to go for a relationship that crosses international borders. To be honest, I have some concerns about how my dad plans to navigate his life as an elderly, married man with 2 stepchildren later on. However, I think it is something that we will address later on. We ended the session amicably and parted ways.

Although the meeting was short, I took the opportunity to bring my husband and daughter together with me to Putrajaya. I booked a room at The Everly Putrajaya Hotel. This time hoping for a better experience than the one we had before. Indeed, it is much better now. The hotel and Alamanda Mall are so close that I could walk there. We had dinner at Sepiring that night out of curiosity. Mr Husband had his nasi lemak pandan and my daughter went for curry noodles. I had the kid’s menu mac and cheese. We had a really rested night afterwards.

The Deluxe room
Dinner at Sepiring

The Deluxe Twin Room was priced at RM 299.92 per night. Breakfast was included for 2 adults. I had to pay extra for my daughter. There’s a mini fridge and we get two key cards. I love that the hotel is putting in an effort to become more sustainable by serving their drinking water in glass bottles. Which could be refilled from a water station near the elevator.

The hotel lobby was quirky yet welcoming. The aroma of coffee from its cafe was so enticing. The check-in process was incredibly fast. So are the lifts despite the high volume of visitors using it during the peak hours of checking-in.

Breakfast was satisfactory. Nothing very memorable or nasty either. However, I do have to mention that they have a huge selection of pastries to choose from. The seating arrangements felt a bit crowded though. The space from one table to another is quite narrow. Just enough for a pair of buttcheeks to walk by. The coffee dispensed by the machine tasted horrible. Even instant coffee sachets were better.

This hotel is convenient to choose if say I wanted to go to Alamanda Mall for a mini staycation. Although the mall is not that huge as compared to IOI City Mall, the shops there are still OK for families to go to and enjoy their weekends. Sadly, the GSC cinema has closed down. So the only thing that can keep you entertained is yourself with your family. Ha ha ha.

Parking is free. Just hand in your touch-n-go card to the reception.

The long weekend in Kuching for a wedding

Posted in Food and Drinks, Leisure & Travel, Places to Eat, Reviews by

I was in Kuching over the Malaysia Day weekend. I had a wedding invitation to fulfil. I flew there with Malaysia Airlines. My initial scheduled flights were canceled twice and I almost lost hope of going there. Thankfully, on the day itself, nothing sinister happened and I arrived in KCH safely.

I booked a room at the Grand Margherita Hotel this time.

Once I landed, I immediately walked over to the nearest Bing cafe to get myself a chicken panini. It is my comfort food whenever I am in KCH. As I was too full afterwards, I decided to just stay in and order room service. The rib-eye steak I ordered was disappointing. That will be another post.

The following day, I went for a stroll at The Waterfront. I walked to the end of Carpenter Street and checked out the waterfront mall as well. I bought some T-shirts for my little family and was honestly undecided on whether I should have lunch or wait for my brother from KL to arrive and eat with him. I ended up walking further towards the Borneo Cultural Museum and spent my afternoon there.

Borneo Cultural Museum

I loved the museum. The layout is like Muzium Negara but it showcased more of Sarawak’s history. I enjoyed reading and listening to the explanations about the tribes and their uniqueness. I couldn’t help thinking that if James Brooke never set foot in Sarawak, we’d probably still be fighting among each other for space and power. Somehow Brooke brought in order to the chaos and harnessed the waging spirit to fight into friendly sports like the Regatta we see today.

IG AIS KACANG, Padungan

Once my brother landed and checked himself into Merritin Hotel, we walked along the same lane and came here. They have another nearby branch at Jalan Gambier. I was looking forward to trying their mi belacan and sotong kangkung but they don’t have that in that branch. So we settled for their nasi lemak ayam, Laksa Sarawak, long fries and gula apong ice cream.

The Waterfront and Darul Hana Bridge

Later at night, we walked to the waterfront for photos and went up the Darul Hana bridge. If only they have a food court with more options towards the other end of the bridge in the near future. There was a lantern parade that night and the city was so lively. I felt so energetic during the walk. I liked that this beautiful place is open to the public for FREE. At least, families can come here for low-cost entertainment with their kids.

We had dinner at a halal restaurant. It took ages for the owner to fry our nasi pattaya and daging. Thankfully, it was digestible as sometimes the Sarawak version of these semenanjung dishes can taste awkward.

The Dead Malls

Once my brother checked out from his hotel the next day, I thought we’d go check out the mall. My sister said Riverside Majestic Mall was already dead so we didn’t go there. Turns out Tun Jugah Mall and Sarawak Plaza Mall are equally dead. I suppose the curse of shopping malls set up beside hotels is true after all. So, if say you need to go to a proper mall, my best bets are The Spring or Vivacity. We only had fast food for lunch.

We did get Sam’s ice cream though. The soft serve was OK but I felt Mokti’s gula apong flavour is more intense.

Top Spot

This famous seafood spot was just a 5-minute walk from my hotel. We had our family dinner there. Sadly, Midin was out of stock. But the other dishes that we ordered were, of course, delicious; the Egg Oyster, curry ambal, udang nestum, salted egg crabs, sweet sour fish, crab corn soup, Kerang kicap

I had an early night after devouring all that food. The wedding was happening the following day and I need to get up early.

The Wedding Reception

The event started off early at 830am. Only close family members gather for the akad nikah ceremony. Once that was over, other guests began to come to the hall by 10am for the main wedding reception. It was a short and sweet event, the food portion was adequate and everyone got a photo with the couple.

Our stay at Hotel Rosa Passadena, Brinchang

Posted in Food and Drinks, Leisure & Travel by

This is probably one of those older hotels in Cameron Highland. My good take on this hotel is that it is within walking distance of Big Red Strawberry Farm, Centrum Mall and lots of eateries at the nearby shop lots. My idea of walking distance is less than 20 minutes walk. There’s even a huge Mr DIY beside the hotel in case you forgot to bring your toothpaste. Like we did!

Mr Husband booked a triple bedroom that comes with a bathtub. He paid more than RM200 per night. Like other hotels in CH, there is no AC unit in the rooms. However, this hotel was considerate enough to provide a little fan. Although the cold atmosphere would be sufficient and comfortable to sleep in at night, the room needs ventilation during the day. We do not sleep with the windows open at night because of mosquitos despite there being a netting on the window frame. Our net had a hole big enough for mozzies to enter. Each room has a WIFI connection, a mini fridge that is not working and a TV unit. Complimentary beverages and bottled water are provided daily. Housekeeping services also replenish empty shower foam and shampoo bottles.

There is no parking space at this hotel but there are ample public ones outside the hotel. The coupons can be purchased at the hotel reception. They have room service but we didn’t require any.

The breakfast spread was commendable for this classic hotel. I particularly enjoyed the sambal for the nasi lemak. I also liked that they fry their eggs in advance. Normal fried eggs for our mains. No such thing as having to wait for the cook to prepare an omelette.

On the first night, we had dinner at the nearby Tomyam restaurant. We had the tomyam, egg bistik, sotong tepung and rice. Of course, it was delicious. Pernah ke kedai tomyam tak sedap?

The following night, we had Western food at Pizzarella Misokimchi. The pizza had a thin crust and our toppings were tomato cheese and Hawaiian chicken. Haneem chose chips. The pizza was not so bad. I actually loved it.

We didn’t do much at CH this time. It was more of a visit to go somewhere with a cool temperature and have strawberries. I will write about our mini-activities later.

The long weekend holidays in the highlands and KL

Posted in Leisure & Travel by

It was one of those anxiety-inducing trips because I had no idea where we were going. I did not know the final destination of our mini holidays and the temporary abode we were bunking in. I dislike being in the unknown. Simply said, I dislike the feeling of being not prepared.

We ended up going to Genting Skyworld. We departed from Melaka at 6am and reached Genting Premium Outlet by 9am. Then took the cable car up to the highlands in the foggiest atmosphere ever. The pictures look lousy. A few areas were shut down for renovation. The Eagle Ranch section was still not opened. Then, one of our favourite rides which is the Epic boat ride was suspended due to technical issues. That was a bummer as we really looked forward to it. We honestly felt that we were scammed out of our tickets which were paid at peak-hours rates. We kept circling the area hoping that the Epic boat ride would be repaired soon enough. Unfortunately, it didn’t and so we left the place at just after 2pm.

My very excited Nezuko with her robe and bag

our tourist-priced breakfast at Genting

Snippets of our activity

Wanton noodle

We had lunch at the cafe in the Ice Age area. I loved the wanton noodle meal. It was delicious and the portion was fulfilling. The kids had a strange mac and cheese bowl with parfait as dessert.

We stayed the night at a duplex apartment located at Eco Cheras Mall. It was thus easy for us to just roam the mall in our free time. It was basically an open area that fitted a living room, kitchen and a private room (bedroom) on the top floor with its own toilet. There is a guest toilet with a washing and dryer machine near the unit’s entrance. It has a fridge, microwave and kettle which was good enough for our length of stay. I have no idea how much it costs per night but it must be reasonable because Mr Husband rarely goes for overpriced hotels and such. ha ha ha. The residents/visitors do not like sharing lift spaces though. They would try their best to shut the lift door by pressing the buttons to avoid others coming into the lift. They would even X out their hands to show ‘no, you cannot step in’. It’s understandable if the lift is super crowded but there is plenty of space and the lift at this place is not the type that functions all at the same time. Mesti ada 1 or 2 that is under maintenance. Typical apartment issues.

We managed to sneak in a movie – Planet of the Apes at the mall. Lunch and dinner were mainly at Nasi Lemak Wau, a restaurant located at the ground floor of the mall. The sambal was not spicy -which I liked. We ended the trip by sending our son back straight to KPPN. He is one of those weird kids that enjoys going back to school. He requested that he reach back the hostel by noon. Maybe he wanted to kejar solat zuhur at the surau or something.

Lexis Port Dickson

Posted in Leisure & Travel by

I thought my daughter was joking when she said we were sleeping at the hotel for the night. It was after all a Friday evening and I have just completed my work day. Naturally, I was knackered and just wanted to get dinner over with. I’ve even got my weekend planned out with submitting my IOP assignment at the top of the list. Turns out, she wasn’t joking.

Mr Husband had some vouchers for a staycation at Lexis Port Dickson. Which means I pack the bags reluctantly but excited at the same time. I lugged my very slow laptop with me (I need to either have it repaired or get a new one). We reached Port Dickson just after 8pm. Thankfully I have ordered Shopee Food for dinner back in Melaka – Zikgu Burger. So, we brought that along with us.

Tired faces. My daughter slept in the car.

Our staycation was not those Chalet ones but the room was still huge. The layout was a bit odd because upon entering the door, we were met with the bathroom first. Then, there was another door from the bathroom that leads to the main bedroom, which fits 1 King Bed and 1 Double Bed. The bathroom has a separate toilet, shower and tub. Then the usual amenities include a small pantry with a mini fridge, a TV, FREE WIFI, complimentary bottled drinks and beverages, a hairdryer and toiletries.

The odd entrance into the hotel room

My daughter really enjoyed the bathtub.

Our package came with Free Breakfast for TWO adults. We paid for our kids separately. The breakfast spread was great and they even have cards that show how many calories each food has. I did not take pictures of the food because there were so many people and I did not want to hold the queue. I loved that they had mugs for our coffee. It is more satisfying than a miserable cup. After breakfast, we walked around the chalet area where the sea view was so beautiful. Then we stayed in the room all day apart from going out for lunch and dinner. The kids enjoyed watching movies with their dad on the projector we brought with us while I did my assignment. Alhamdulilah, I managed to submit it before the time deadline.

Overall, it was a great stay. Perhaps later when I am less obese and look better in a burkini, I would go for another stay there and enjoy the pool. They have a dress code there. I am looking forward to another staycation but I hope it will be less of a surprise trip.