Holiday and Travel Bug

The thing with holiday and traveling is... I need time to recover from the holiday and traveling mode :) I'm still not at 100% productivity yet. Time is spent doing laundry (yeah it has been slow due to cloudy weather for the past few days), cleaning the house after guest left (not much cleaning required though as I've cleaned top to bottom before they arrived), sorting through pictures and creating a photobook. Here's how the cover looks like.

Photobook Cover

This holiday KL-Kuala Gandah-Cherating-Kenyir-Dungun-KL has been planned quite some time ago. I choose AsiaWeb Direct to book hotels and found a homestay in Dungun from Mudah.my. I wanted to use Agoda since I'd like to get more points but it is so troublesome to key in all the guest name during booking and I can't login to see how much points I have or whether I can offset some of the charges with my points. So no to Agoda this time. The thing with online hotel booking, you have to look at the fine print. As I have experienced, sometimes the offer shows with breakfast but upon checking-in, the hotel said no breakfast. Lucky for me, AsiaWeb Direct confirmation printout clearly state with breakfast so Holiday Villa Cherating didn't argue with us on that and gave us 6 breakfast coupons we're supposed to have.

Our first stop is Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary. If you have impatient people in the family, I suggest you didn't come here. Furthermore with the heat in recent days, waiting can really rile people up. As for me, whenever I'm in holiday mode, I tried to be patient and just go with the flow. What's the point of stressing yourself out when you're in a holiday. We arrived at the sanctuary in the morning to register ourselves. Many blog stated entrance is free and by donation only but we have to pay entrance fee of RM30 per family and RM10 per person for whoever wants to bathe with the elephants. Not much but I prefer if the website is updated accordingly. We were also assigned to a tour guide who will take us around. After the registration, we went to Deerland nearby to kill time while waiting for the video session in the afternoon. We thought of wanting to go to Chamang waterfall as suggested by some blogs but upon checking Chamanag is like 40kms away so going to and fro is a total waste of time so we decided against it and just visit the Deerland less than 10kms away. There are also other animals in the Deerland. They look well-fed. The boys played with the snakes to their hearts content. No fees. We took many photos of them with the two snakes... as for me ambil gambar and tengok berani lah. Very worth it for RM6 entrance fees for adult.

Other animals - birds mostly

Hungry deers

Our timing seems OK. After spending time at Deerland, we had enough time for lunch and then off to the video session. What a combo... lunch, heat and cool air-conditioned room. Some of the boys took a nap instead :) The video is in English and would not interest little kids. After the video, off to feed the baby elephants with sugarcane or peanut that you have to buy from a stall, then the long wait for adult elephants to come and bathe with their caretaker, then for the adult elephants to show off some of their skills, feeding the adult elephant with papayas and finally the bathing session with the baby elephants. By this time, some of the big boys have decided not to go bathe with the elephants. Kena bagi rasuah baru nak bawa adik-adik mandi dengan gajah. Sigh! Darling hubby pun dan muncung2 time ni for whatever reason. Told you... must be the heat and effect of the long wait.

Baby elephants waiting to be fed with sugar canes and peanut

Dengar suara Adib jer terjerit2 tak nak pegang elephant :)

After the show, we went to Cherating to spend the night. The Holiday Villa staff are wearing a badge that says We will provide a MANJA experience to our guest or something like that but during check in two of the staff almost got into a fist fight near the reception counter. Apparently 1 one of them got pissed off with the other staff who calls him on the radio to get something done. He said, "ingat aku takder kerja lain ker!" several times on a high tone. I didn't dare look. They sounded really serious. Other staff managed to calm the angry staff down. That bad experience was countered with helpful receptionists... 2 lady staff came down to help us with our luggage and show us our room.

The bonfire

That night is Earth hour so we returned from dinner to a dark hotel with lots and lots of candles. They even had a bonfire at the beach. Hmmm... you save the planet by switching off lights for an hour and then burn woods and release CO2 in the air? Not so earth friendly. That night has a very clear beautiful sky with full moon and hundreds of stars that we decided to walk at the beach. This is when Azim and Adib played in the sand like turtle who wants to lay eggs and got bitten by sand flies. They even lie down and did a snow fairy act on the sand. The effect of the sandflies can only be seen the next day just like what I experienced in Kuching. My red spots are bigger but I'm sure they itch the same for my poor darling boys.

Sunrise captured by one of the boys

Swimming pool in the morning taken by me

The three of us at the beach - hubby, me and sis

The next morning, walk at the beach, swimming for hubby and the little boys, pack and off to Kenyir. We had lunch at Kuala Berang and reached Kenyir Resort at around 3 p.m. The room was amazing. We had a lake view and quite near to the parking area. Quite a distance to walk to the reception counter but we managed and didn't need the buggy except during check in and out. After check-in and perform our prayers, we walked to the car and went to Pengkalan Gawi to buy some food for dinner and surveyed boats. We decided to go to Lasir waterfall and herb garden for RM300 per boat. We tapau food and probably right timing again as they are closing down by 6 p.m. Even the boat counters were mostly not manned by the time we arrived. We approached the first one we saw and made bookings. I'm sure the price would be the same.

Everyone was excited looking at the pool and the lake. Nobody seems to be playing in the lake though. They could have done something similar to Carolina Hotel we stayed in Lake Toba. The boys would love it. It seems the wooden jetty was not safe anymore. We could see it from far and it does look dilapidated with broken section and falling off parts. The pool is awesome though. I even played on the slide and tried to swim and accidentally breathed in water and started sneezing. I spent the night with stuffed nose. Sigh! Asked hubby to switched off the aircond. Thankfully the temperature was cool and nice. There is one incident that I won't forget though. I was in the washroom when I heard a loud shrieking sound like a bird or bat. I thought they sounded really loud that I can hear them inside. On my way out of the washroom, I saw a tiny hole by the door at a wall that is adjacent to the outdoor. I saw the front nose of a furry thing... maybe more than one. Yikes! They didn't try to get in though. Quickly went out and put all our bags on the sofa instead of the floor. The 'thing' were nowhere to be seen when I called hubby to have a look.

The next morning, we had breakfast, played in the pool for a while, then pack and check-out. We promised the guy to be at the jetty by 11 a.m. According to them, the water in the lake is high so we didn't really see much of jutting tree branches from the lake. The herb garden is OK. They could have commercialized and let us buy some of the herbs there though. The view of the lake is amazing and Lasir water fall is breathtaking. The best part, people are starting to leave as we arrived so we have the place all to ourselves for like half an hour before out boatman called us to return. Sigh! Wish we could stay longer.

Kacip Fatimah, Tongkat Ali and Mahkota Dewa

A boat house - we'll probably try this on our next visit.

Amazing lake view

View from the canopy walk

Paradise on earth

After taking a bath in the public toilet, off we went to our next destination in Dungun. I SMSed several homestay but only 3 replied. One is full, one said OK and one replied very late. So we settled with the one who said theirs is available. Dungun stop is to visit sis adopted family when she was studying here. We visited one for dinner and another during breakfast. After that, time to go home. Kalau dapat pakej bot murah and available ke Tenggol, mungkin dah sampai Tenggol for a day trip but day tour is fully booked. So balik rumah jer lah. Memang tak plan ke Tenggol. Hajat hati nak berjalan lagi, mungkin singgah Lentang waterfall... tapi semua dah penat sebenarnya. Reached home at 6 p.m. That's the end of first holiday in 2013. There'll be one more in May and after that the big boys must focus on exams. Mak-mak kena sabar dulu before planning for more holiday trips :)

Kisah Spender

Here's a cute and funny conversation with one of my darling boys that I'd like to remember. He's 3++ years old. If you have son(s), you'd probably notice how proud the boy is when he got to ditch the diapers for a grown up underwear just like his big brother or dad. Here's what transpires as I helped him wear his pants.

A: Adib da nder (while showing his underwear that I've put on) Mak li. Mak Sue takder.
Me: Ooo... mak beli! Adib suka ker pakai spender?
A: A'ah
Me: Mak sue nak pinjam boleh ker? Kesiannn Mak Sue takder spender ;)
A: Tak leh. Nder Adib cik jer (while he gestured an exaggerated tiny size with his cute little hands)
Me: Oooo... Mak Sue nak pakai tak muat ker? (lol)
A: A'ah. Ti Dib li kan Mak Sue nder yer.
Me: Adib nak belikan Mak Sue? (lol)
A: A'ah (with a serious, matter of fact face)

Hahaha... ok sayang. If Mak Sue grows old and don't have money to buy 'spender', don't forget to buy me one OK! That is if I still wear one instead of adult diapers :)

Swimming And More Holiday

Our favourite breakfast spot :)

Last Monday I had my first swimming lesson. *hide face* So old already cannot swim. Sigh! Can't blame me you know... I don't grow up anywhere near river or sea and we're not privileged to go anywhere near swimming pool. Hubby tried teaching me without much success. We had a pool when we stayed at a condo before moving here. Even it's near so lazy to go. Now we don't have pool, thinking of becoming member of a club just so we can access the pool.

A junior from my school offered swimming lesson for alumni members. Since her access area is near to my place, let's give it a try. She said,  so easy to teach me... Well, I AM comfortable with water. Hehehe... but when it comes to synchronizing all the moves for a perfect swim, I flail like big bird in the water. Sigh! Bumper akak berat ler dik! Takmo lurus and float kaki ni. Asyik tenggelam ker bawah jer. Belum berjaya sampai hujung kolam lagi. Sampai tengah jer dah gelabah nak berdiri. And then when I tried so hard dari tengah nak ke tepi semula, kicking with all my might but not moving forward. I experience that sometimes while diving or snorkeling and I have to use all the energy of my hands to propel me forward! Bila lah nak pandai ni. The same thing happens when hubby tried to teach me. Hopefully, learning with a teacher can give me techniques to overcome my problem. As hubby said, orang gemuk pun boleh berenang. OK abang... akan belajar rajin2 sampai pandai.

Baru nak semangat belajar ni, next Monday no class because we'll be going for a holiday again. This time cuti2 pantai Timur with big family. Where exactly?  Have to wait for next update :) Swimming lesson will commence after holiday.

5th Anniversary

12/03/13

Set the alarm at 5 a.m. but still too sleepy. Doze off for another 5-10 minutes before rushing to take a bath. More awake now so clean up what's necessary, check the luggage... and house, before driving to airport. We're going for a holidayyy... \o/ We decided to park at LCCT instead of taking a cab. The parking fee would be about the same as the taxi rate, sans the 4-hours before flight time requirement and the midnight rate. The flight was on time at 7.25 and reached Kuching at 9.10 a.m. The lady cab driver offered to take us to the Cultural Village for RM120. We have to further pay for RM60 ticket per person.  That is wayyy... too expensive lady.

We reached hotel, the room is not ready so we left the luggage at the concierge. For RM80 per person, inclusive of ticket and transport to and fro the Cultural Village, that is the best deal we can get from the hotel. The van arrived at 10:30, with several stops in between, we managed to reach SCV just in time for the 11:30 a.m. cultural show.

I've been here before. This time it's more special as I'm with hubby. It was hot that day. We managed to visit all the 7 houses, souvenir shop and waited for about half an hour for the 3:15 p.m. van ride to hotel. After a short break, we quickly went to take the small boat to go to the opposite side of the river. Both of us were famished. The wooden restaurant is gone and there's a better eating place with various stalls. I remember the wooden restaurant has a nice ambience but service was slow. The new stalls are better. Hubby had nasi goreng ayam and I ordered mi kolok special. Yummm...

After the meal we walked along the river and bought some souvenirs. Most shops were already closed or closing by 7 p.m. so went back to hotel, watch a movie on TV while doing foot massages and body massages on each other. All the aches and pain from walking all day can be felt on my legs and back. I already downloaded many movies just in case but the weird sci-fi movie just caught our attention.

13/03/13
Nice date isn't it? Today is our 5th wedding anniversary :) I woke up with sniffles and sneezes though. Sigh! We booked our hotel from Agoda and breakfast is not included so we walked to a nearby restaurant. Hubby had nasi lemak while I had chicken fried rice. I spill almost half of the rice while trying to eat the chicken. Duh! Feels so childish. Our guide, James, arrived just few minutes after breakfast. Nice timing. Our first stop, Semenggoh, to watch orang utan. All the way, I have to breathe through mouth and blow my nose. Sigh! I felt better the moment I get out from the car and aircon. Decided to open the van windows after the Semenggoh visit. The strong wind didn't seem to help either but I felt much better than while using the aircon.

Fetched our kayaking guide, Beko, and the kayak before going to our next stop, Annah Rais longhouse. Again I felt so much better when I stepped down from the van. It is very interesting to see real longhouse even though this longhouse is considered very modern. Some units even have Astro. Not many people are around since most went out to work. We even see a unit still under renovation but it looks just like any modern village house. I think that's too bad but I can't blame the occupants for wanting to live more comfortably. We chatted with two ladies seen separating paddy from the husk. The padi bukit is for their personal consumption only.

 Small shop at the long house

 Drying paddy under the sun

 Political office?

Clear water from my previous kayaking trip

Then, to the activity I've been waiting for... kayaking. The water is a bit muddy from earlier rain. I remember clearer water from my kayaking trip few years ago. Hubby and I on 1 kayak and our guide on another. I brought change of clothes in our dry bag and our guide gave us another dry bag for our cameras. I used waterproof case for my phone so I'll be taking photos with my phone and our guide Beko used his waterproof camera to take our photos too. We stopped at a small waterfall along the river, then at Kg Danu for light lunch of fried meehoon, sandwich, nenas Sarawak and an interesting looking fruit called belimbing merah. The color a little bit like jambu air, with 3 segments and we have to open the outer part to reveal the fruits that taste a bit like rambai. I was too busy eating to take a close up pic.

 Look at the rapid in the middle picture. That is rapid 1 and I was so excited. Probably next time we'll go white water rafting in bigger rapid.

 Hubby said, I'm so happy to go kayaking but didn't paddle much. Sigh! Dear darling hubby, I want a slow relaxing ride so I can enjoy the scenery.

We continued kayaking and entered a small cave just by the riverside. Then a stop at a sand bank where hubby went for a swim and I was attacked by sand flies. So itchy. After swatting the flies and scratching for about 20 minutes, asked hubby to move along. Hubby stopped swimming already by then. He said the water is very cold. I wanted to swim earlier but decided against it once the water reached my thighs. The weather has been cloudy today and we had a great time kayaking.  I can't imagine if it was searing hot like the day before. This kayaking trip is much better than last time in the sense that they provide mineral water, light lunch, toilet is available at Kg. Danu where we stop for lunch, 100 plus given after the ride and a more comfortable place to change. Thumbs up to Kuching Kayak for the improvement.

We finally arrived at our end point and hubby went to change first. There's a comfortable looking bathroom I thought I wanted to bathe and change. But... my clothes in the dry bag are wet! The batik sarong at the bottom was soaking wet. Hubby's clothes were on top so they're dry. Sigh! James said it is OK. Just hop on the van and I can change at the hotel. I'm just concern we have many wet clothes now and there might not be enough time to dry them. James showed us a laundromat near our hotel and we brought our wet clothes there after 5:30 just before their closing time. After I bathe and change at the hotel of course. I have to bargain with them for the express service since I want to have enough time to pack before checking out the next day.

We walked to a place called Top Spot as recommended by James for seafood dinner. We ordered midin, prawn and fish. The food tastes good and not so expensive.  I highly recommend this place . We reached there at 6. I suppose it'll be more crowded at night. I wanted to try umai and ayam pansuh too but we're so full already. We walked by the river and my feet is killing me. We even Google for foot massage near our hotel. This time Mr Google is not so helpful. We walked and asked people and nobody heard about reflexology by the riverside. On our way back, we stumbled upon a reflexology ad banner and the shop closed at midnight. Wow... that's amazing by Kuching standard. So without hesitation, hubby and I went for it. It was heavenly. Despite grimacing in pain, I felt this is just what I needed. Bliss... Hubby looked so relax while I winced and gritted my teeth. That night both of us slept peacefully despite it being still quite early.

14/03/13
We're in no hurry to go anywhere today so we had breakfast of bread and high fibre drinks in the room. After that, we took the small boat to cruise the river. We don't have enough time to take the Sarawak River Cruise ferry which runs at 5:30 after the SCV and kayaking. After the half hour cruise, we went souvenir shopping. I felt quite rushed since I'm supposed to collect our laundry at 11:30. Hubby went in to the hotel first with our souvenirs and I went to collect our laundry at 11:45. I carefully pack everything since some of the souvenirs are fragile. We're still not sure how to move around with our luggage. After checking out, we check with the cab. We wanted to go to Rumah Hijau, a restaurant recommended by James, Satok market and the cat museum. We're not really the museum going type so I thought this would be different since we've already had some lessons of culture from our cultural village and long house visit. The cab driver said he'll use meter so we agreed. First, there's the after school and lunch time traffic. Then, the restaurant didn't really meet our expectation, not to mention quite slow due to so many patrons. The Satok market went OK. The cat museum... were in and out in probably 15 minutes. Then off to airport. The cab fare was $120. It could be cheaper if we leave our luggage at the concierge for a while, go for lunch and take cab to the market and airport. Or go to market, then airport for lunch. But... if we didn't go to the museum than I'll keep thinking of it. So... it was OK. Besides, a chauffeur driven car cheapest at RM150 per day and that doesn't include petrol. A Kancil rent for a day would be RM90 but we wouldn't know the way around.

Our lunch potion were very little so hubby had Laksa Sarawak at the airport. Very nice. That's why I said we could've had our lunch here as there were several available options. I just take few bites from hubby's laksa. By the time we were about to board, I felt hungry again but the Marrybrown didn't really appeal to me. We watched Hantu K.Limah 2 on my phone while waiting. Hopefully I'll not think about being hungry while waiting for flight meal. I have forgotten that I booked meal on our flight until the stewardess asked for our boarding pass. I thought I wanted to purchase on board. I had the roasted beef and briyani rice for hubby. Hubby devoured his nasi briyani too despite lunch and Sarawak laksa hehehe... I guess holiday makes you hungry :) We reached LCCT on time and reached home at 10 p.m. So that's the end of our holiday. I'm so glad I had time to plan for this holiday earlier. In the past, there were times we can celebrate and times we can't. InsyaAllah from now onwards, I'll try to think of somewhere to go to celebrate. Hey... anniversary is a really good excuse right? Otherwise, we would fall in the busy trap and the day will past just like any other day.

Unwanted souvenir - the sand flies bite mark.

A Wife's Jannah...

Last week in an elevator going to my meeting place, a lady complained to her friend that her MIL will be coming and staying over the weekend. "Menyusahkan betul lah. Last week kitorang dah balik kampung!" During their conversation, the complainer kept looking at me as if willing me to smile or agree to her statement. I maintained a stoic face. I'm disgusted with her complains but I do not have the words to tell her nicely with the objective of her changing her mind. I can of course say something sarcastic... but what's the point. I'd be delighted if any family member, mine or hubby's wanted to come and visit.

There have been many times when I have to choose between family and time to complete my work. I choose family because if they need me or hubby and I didn't go because I have to prepare for training or something, I know I would keep thinking about them anyway. If I don't have training scheduled, I would choose family. So far Allah has given me mercy and I managed to complete my work somehow no matter how tight the schedule was. Alhamdulillah...

And then there are friends who put photos of male artist or sportsman or any man except their husband's as their social network profile picture. Sigh! I know many who put pic of their kids. I don't mind that though I prefer their own pics as I sometimes forgot who they really are when their profile name is their child's name such as Mama [kid's name], Ummi [kid's name]. I haven't seen a friend who use their hubby's photo only. Yeah I thought that would be weird. Most would put photo of themselves with their hubby or family. But photo of another men? I can't accept that at all. I'm so afraid it would come to be like part of this hadith...

Men should stay away from 6 type of women... I only took this explanation.

3. Al-Hunaanah : Ingin pada suami yang lain atau berkenan kepada lelaki yang lain. Sangat suka membanding-bandingkan suaminya dengan suami/lelaki lain. Tak redha dengan suami yang ada.

As an example: Alaaa... my husband faham dia tak leh compete dengan Anuar Zain. Or alaaa... dari dulu I dah minat Aaron Aziz.

I can't accept that. Lain lah kalau tergila2 kan ulama yang tinggi ilmu agamanya. But, I'm at a lost for word to tell them nicely that by being crazy about other men, you might be like women who are al-hunaanah. Nauzubillahi min zalik.

When you watch movie and thought bestnyer husband dia buat begitu begini, or bestnya boyfriend dia so romantic... think of all the nice moments when your husband did just that. Dia lah hero movie kita. Takder orang nak buat filem jer. Sometimes we tend to forget our own movie, the hero and heroin because being together so long with your spouse makes you take things for granted. Perasaan berdebar2, atau jeling-menjeling, rindu-rinduan... whatever you watch or read, itu lah kita dulu kan. Mentang-mentang dah lama kawin, dah tengok hari2, tak rasa excited? Excited pulak tengok movie or baca cerita yang menceritakan debaran pelakon atau watak, jelingan pelakon atau watak. Sekarang kan banyak movie yang jalan ceritanya datang dari novel2 yang popular.


What's the heand and tail of my babble today? Always remind ourselves of our ultimate goal... Allah's mercy and our hope for Jannah. Allah anugerahkan kita suami atau isteri untuk sama2 menuju our ultimate goal. Di beriNya kita kawan agar sama2 berusaha ke arah akhirat. Hopefully hubby and I will not lose sight of this.

Some who has followed my blog from a long time ago, may think I'm a different person single and married. When I was single, I didn't really see this strong connection to Allah through marriage. When I was single, I have not gone through some of the challenges I went through till now. There'll be situation, sickness, problems, events that happen where you become stronger and able to go through them all strictly by telling yourselves you submit to Allah's mercy, and no matter how difficult things are, you do it to gain Allah's pleasure, not just your husband's. It has not been easy all the time. There have been internal struggles, difficulties... but there is always hope that by submitting to gain Allah's mercy, you'll be fine. Selagi Allah pinjamkan seorang kawan pada kita yang akan bersama ketika susah senang, we'll manage to get through anything no matter how difficult it may seem. And for that reason, insyaAllah hubby and I will be celebrating our 5th anniversary next week :) Thank you Allah. Alhamdulillah. Love you my darling hubby.