Tag Archives: exploring Malacca

Taman Kayangan Minci, progress report

Posted in Everyday Life, Good Things, Mini Project by

Ever since the plant haul at Baba Wan Nursery, I have been quite obsessed in landscaping my garden. I discovered Gadek Nursery, a 25 min drive from my home. Gadek has more variety and they sell at a cheaper price too. I decided to get my hands into succulent care too. The edible garden will have to wait cause it is still growing.

I recorded all my expenses in a file hoping to later see how much did I spent in total for this new-found hobby. My latest purchase was a mini greenhouse. I think I slept on that purchase for a few weeks before I finally clicked the button Buy on Shopee. *money flew. less doterra for the month *

It would be an invaluable addition to the garden especially in rainy seasons. Furthermore I am on a mission to resurrect my Polianthes tuberosa which is taking ages to heal. I believe in you, plant! To further fuel the nerd in me, I downloaded an app called Plant Diary where I can make an inventory of what I have in my garden. It was exciting when I first used it but then I thought it was tedious to document it all.

I am calling my garden Taman Kayangan Minci. It will be a blend of Modern & Woodlandish sort of thing. I cannot wait for my flowers to bloom at its best – my hibiscus, petunia, zinca, Maid of Orleans, chrysanthemum and marigold. Once that is done, I can start on my edible plants. Tomato is still at its seedling stage.

I hope this garden is at its peak moment by December. It will be a wonderful backdrop for picture taking for my 10th wedding anniversary.

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.

Eating at Seoul Garden Mahkota Parade – the new norm

Posted in Everyday Life, Good Things by

The lunch at Seoul Garden a few weekends ago was probably our first outside meal as a family since Covid-19 set its contagious foot in Malaysia. As both parents and medical doctors, we were a bit apprehensive in bringing our kids out in public. However, with the dropping number of cases and Malaysians trying their best to adopt the new norm – we felt it was s.a.f.e

We really need to give ourselves a pat in the back because, despite a small population of idiots who do not wish to follow the new norm, most of us are willing to go forth with a new way of living. So, tahniah.

In malls, people wait in queues like in Kidzania. Each premise has a different number of patrons allowed to be in store at one time. Temperature is checked at the entrance and you fill in your details in the register book accordingly. All of us wore masks including Ninie until it was time to eat.

At Seoul Garden, each group that came in will be limited to 2 hours of mealtime. Food will be plated by the servers at the buffet stand and technically everyone has to socially distance themselves. A few customers stepped out upon hearing the ‘new rule’ lamenting “rugilah makan mcm ni”. I thought it was acceptable and very considerate to everyone especially at times like this where you have to be wasadtiah sikit dengan kehidupan.

We enjoyed a good portion of the bulgogi meat with a bit of carb (rice) on the side. Sipped a bit of soup. Had cups of juice, carbonated drinks, tea and finished it off with a half mug of hot chocolate. Ninie had ice cream!

After the meal, we walked a bit around the mall but did no shopping and headed home. It was a short family outing day well spent.

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!