Wet fun at Sunway Lagoon

I'm a Malaysian and I've been staying in KL for the past 14 years. I'm embarass to admit that I've never been to Sunway Lagoon which is one famous tourist attraction in KL. I did however had a brief tour (about 30 mins) of the lagoon itself while I was waiting for my STPM results (many many moons ago).  Finally, the opportunity for me to make a trip there surfaced a week ago, thanks to my bro and his family who was here for holidays (and to visit me).

Spanning over some 80 acres, the theme park emphasis is largely water-based with wild adventurous rides and amusement park. Few days before my trip there, I found out the theme park actually were separated to 5 parks : Water Park, Amusement Park, Extreme Park, Wildlife Park and Scream Park. Huh.. to think that I was still living in the days where they used to have only Wet or Dry Park. Anyway, I personally think the admission ticket was exorbitant but then again, being a Malaysian, I had a advantage because I was charged at a cheaper price. Basically, you have 2 packages to choose from :

Package 1: 3 Theme Parks:

1. Wet Park
2. Amusement Park
3. Wildlife Park

• Ticket price (non Malaysian) Adult  @ RM80 (Malaysian @ RM 65)
• Ticket price (non Malaysian) Kid @ RM65 (Malaysian @ RM45)

Package 2 : 5 Theme Parks

1. Wet Park --> needless to say.
2. Amusement Park --> where all the rides are
3. Wildlife Park --> animals and there's a rabbit place where you can feed them.
4. Extreme Park --> go kart
5. Scream Park -->ghostlings, ghastly looking faces, gory scenes

• Ticket price (non Malaysia) Adult @ RM100 (Malaysian @ RM75)
• Ticket price (non Malaysian) Kid @ RM80 (Malaysian @ RM60)

My warning :

If you have a faint heart, do not, I repeat, do not try  Congo Challenger . It may look innocent but it's actually quite steep. As for the rest of the rides, if you take one look at them, you'll know instantly whether it will pump your adrenaline or not. Outside food & drinks are not allowed. Once you're in the theme park, there is no re-entry UNLESS you are a guest staying in Sunway Hotel.

My verdict :

It's a fun place to spend the entire  day here with kids as the place promised lots of fun. Surprisingly the food sold there are not only edible but subtly nice to my tastebud.  Yes, the admission tickets are sort of costly but I guess this would be the nearest and most economical place to give your kids a treat.

Holiday Villa Beach Resort & Spa Langkawi

I was in Langkawi in year 2008 and posted my review for this hotel in Tripadvisor. I thought it's a good idea to share my review of this hotel in my blog. I booked this hotel via website and was rather skeptical when I read so many mixed reviews on this hotel. Nevertheless, I decided to go ahead with it. And the verdict?? Generally, this is a good hotel. I have to be fair when it comes to judging a hotel. One simply cannot compare an apple with an orange. I booked the Superior room which is the cheapest room possible, facing a garden view and on the ground floor. The workmanship of the flooring and tiles didn't deserve any star rating but what do you expect from a hotel which has been built for quite sometime. The pool was excellent because it was huge, the design was somewhat interesting( unlike the rectangular olympic pool), it has a jacuzzi, child pool, plenty of beach bench, pool bar, great beach and place for beach volleyball. Other amenities include 3 well maintained tennis courts and 2 ping pong tables. The bed was not so soft, aircon was cold and room comes with safebox and hair dryer. My room was not carpeted but I aint' too sure about other more expensive rooms. So, bring along your bedroom slippers for cleanliness and also to avoid stepping on cold flooring. Bathroom was huge and comes with a bathtub. All rooms comes with a balcony with 2 chairs. TV channels provided are quite ok and comes with remote control The only not so good thing about this hotel was the breakfast. Choices were limited.

I strongly recommend future Langkawi goers to stay in hotels located either in Pantai Tengah (where Holiday Villa is)or Pantai Cenang. There are plenty of cheap or expensive food outlets/stalls, souvenir shops, beach clothing shops and spa/massage parlour. Most of these shops are located in Pantai Cenang but if you stay in Pantai Tengah (where Holiday Villa is), it is just a stone throw's away. You can rent motorbike or a car and move around. These 2 Pantai (Beach) to me are the best simply because it has more activities, lively and extremely convenient. However if you are looking someplace which is extremely quiet, isolated, then perhaps The Datai and The Andaman is the right place for you. Both hotels are expensive and located in Datai Bay which is far far, very very far away from the Kuah Town or Pantai Cenang(where all the shops are). Just stay away from Datai Bay or Burau Bay is you want to be close to all the shops and activities. For me, location is as important as hotel standard. Oh yes.. Holiday Villa is very close to airport, about 15 mins ride.

For foreigners, liquor, cigarettes and chocolates are horribly cheap because they are truly duty free. Don't buy them in the airport !!! Buy them in Kuah Town where you will find numerous Duty Free Shops. So.. make sure you bring extra bags for fill your goodies.

Legend Water Chalet & Water Homes

We have been reminiscing our stay in Avillion up to this day.  I fell in love with the concept so much so that I pestered hubby to make a trip to Matta fair (last year) to buy another voucher for the water chalet. We were greeted by the people from Legend Water Chalet/Homes and we thought why not try them out since we've been to Avillion before. We got a great deal from them and finally last weekend, we found time to go there.

Why we like it :

1. The bathtub is huge , spacious and in a triangular shape and I like this design rather than the long boring type.
2.  As I'm staying in the water chalet, they don't come with a small mini pool attached to the room. However on the floor of my room, a small part of the flooring was transparent where you can actually view the sea beneath.
3. There is this spatial open air standing shower as well.
4. The sophisticated zen inspired decor provides a perfect environment for couples retreat.
5. The tv is the modern slim type, facing  the bed but it could be hidden by pulling the wooden doors out from the side of the cabinet.
6. The little balcony comes with 2 reclining chairs. I was able to do some reading there with the cool breeze billowing.
7. There are many activities you can join in Legend such as bicycle riding, archery, KMX , ping pong, snake ladder (not the board games type) etc. However they don't come free. You gotta pay for the activities.
8. The Sompoton spa located in the 2nd floor is a fantastic option if you are willing to splurge for a relaxing massage/spa in a very comfortable ambience.
9. A few seafood restaurants are located just a stone's throw away from this hotel.

Why we don't like it :

1. The pool is a tad too small for me. Finally there is a chance for me to swim laps after laps but I couldn't achieve that with the size of this pool.
2. Those who book with water chalet are not allow to use the pool in the water homes which is way bigger and with better design.
3. The breakfast is a bit of a disappointment. They didn't have many choice for one to choose and they didn't taste that spectacular either, at least not to me.

Avillion Resort, Port Dickson

I am not a person who will splurge a large sum of money on luxurious hotels or should I say hotel rooms that cost a fortune. But then again, how much is considered exorbitant? Hubby has been telling me about water chalet in Avillion Port Dickson even before I married him. Apparently, he had been there many years ago on a company trip (huh.. company trip indeed !). There is a choice of water chalet or garden chalet to choose from but of course the ultimate reason for people to stay here is because of the water chalet which faces the sea offers a fantastic view of the Straits of Malacca. The rooms were designed with a combination of both old charm and modern comfort. I love the private little balcony where there are 2 rubber wood reclining beach chairs where you can just sit on with a nice book in your hand, facing the sea, with the wind billowing at your face while the sea water is lapping underneath you. The bathroom is spacious and has an open air standing shower and a bathtub. There is of course a double bed for couple but additionally, they provide what you called a day bed. It's actually a bed which I think is meant for couple lazing around. I just love the architecture and finishes of the room.

 

The kids are not only drawn to the pool but also to a little animal feeding ground where you'll find rabbits hopping around, some 'tamed' cocks perching on low branches, several guinea pigs scurrying around as well as some colouful peacocks. Not having a kid on tow, I joined in the feeding of the animals with the kids :)

All in all, it's a wonderful experience to have stayed here for a night , to enjoy the amenities that the hotel can offer and I'm sure it's a novel experience to stay in water chalet for most people.

6D4N Seoul, Korea (early November - late fall)

I am truly fortunate and definitely over the moon when  I know I was gonna go to Seoul in early Nov recently. Due to time contraint, we had to pick a 6D4N package. It took me 3 weeks to search for the best package that suit our needs and budget. A restraint I had then was we could only travel on 2 selected dates. It wasn't an easy task and it was definitely very time consuming to do the coodination work plus endless calls to the travel agencies, especially when I was given a tight budget to work on. As the saying goes, if money is not a problem, then there's no problem at all. But here, money was indeed a huge problem to overcome. After returning from the trip, I was actually informed by my travel mates that we got really a good deal for what we paid because it was inclusive of a 4 star hotel, most lunches & dinners (and boy, were they good), the costly entrance fees to a few local attractions and lastly, we flew on Malaysian Airlines ( MH which was dubbed as "Malaysian Hospitality" .... yeah.. right...).

Under this package, we visited following places :

1.  Guri Movie Studio

The 1st place we stopped by after arriving in Incheon airport. It's actually a place previously built for a famous Korean drama. Don't ask me for the drama title because I was then too busy snapping pictures and wasn't paying attention to our Korean guide.

2.  Nami Island

After lunch, we were transferred to Nami Island where one of the famous scenes from Winter Sonata was shot. The scenery there is truly breathtaking.  Here's a pix of me and my travel mates. I didn't lie about the scenery, did I? After Winter Sonata was filmed here, the place was transformed from a dead place to a lively tourist attractions for both foreign and local tourists. Yes, need to take a cruise ride to reach this island and cruise tix was inclusive.

3. Myeong-Dong Street, Chuncheon

We were brought to this shopping area in Chuncheon.  The main actor and actress from Winter Sonata visited this area and again, this place is now well known to everyone. We didnt' shop at these shops out here in the streets but instead, our tour guide brought us to the underground shopping area.

4. Mt Sorak National Park

Our 1st night in Korea was in Yongpyong Resort which is actually a ski resort. Had we come here during winter, this place would be covered with snow and will be packed with throngs of people. To some of us, we finally witnessed snow for the very first time! From here, we travelled about 1.5 hours to reach Mt Sorak National Park. This place is beautiful. I love the color of the trees. The temperature was then 4C and we didn't mind one bit. We took a cable car ride up to the top and the view was magnificient. From there,you can proceed to trek to the top but I for one will never do such a thing. It was super windy up there which really could blow a person off and we were standing precariously at the edge of the cliff  just to snap pictures: of the view and of ourselves, of course. It is here that you get to visit Shinhuengsa Temple and Kwunkeum fortress.

  

5. Everland Theme Park

We reached here closed to 5pm and to our dismay, had to assemble at 7.30pm. Definitely not enough time for us. Our guide took us to queue up for the safari to watch "Liger". It was an eye opener indeed : for the Liger as well as the entire safari.  After that, me and another 3 travel mates rushed to our the ultimate ride that we must have : T Express Rollercoaster. It is currently the world's steepest wooden roller coaster. It is also the world's 9th fastest, 4th tallest and 6th longest wooden roller coaster.  And yes...I rode it. That was by far the worst ever roller coaster ride in my life as I could hear my heart thumping as if I was gonna have a heart attack any time. After this ride, I made a pledge to NEVER ever ride in any roller coaster for as long as I live. You'll understand if you see how steep it is from the pix below.



Steep enough for you? Photo by Rastuso



The ride never seems to end. Photo by Rastuso

          

  

6.Kimchi making and Korean traditional wear

Yeah.. we tried our hands on making kimchi. A funny thing happened here.Before we start working on the kimchi, we were all asked to drink this drink served to us in a cup. Automatically, all 22 of us, took the cup in our hands, raised them up and said 'yuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmm.... sennngg'.  Yes, all 22 of us. It's like we have this instinct in us to do so.

7. Namdaemun Market & Dongdaemun Market & Insadong Market & Myeongdong Market

I would say 85% of us waited with bated breath for this moment that is the moment to shop fervently and recklessly. Namdaemun market wasn't in our itinerary but our guide included it for us because he said this is a place where the locals will shop. Unfortunately, this market closes around 9 - 10pm. Dongdaemun is a wholesale market and this market covers a very large area. This market closes between 3- 4am. However, I didn't had a good experience shopping here. Insadong is a nice market but caters mainly to tourists.

8. Seven Luck Casino.

Being the majority of 85% who wanted to shop, we omitted this place. Anyway, none of us were gamblers. Our Genting casino is way bigger and better than theirs. The guys didn't mind we skip it, so they said.

9. Gyeongbok Palace and  Folklore Museum

The place is a must visit place but I'm not a fan of any museum.

10. Jump Show

The tickets to Jump Show was included in our package. It seems that this Jump Show is very popular in Korea and they've been travelling around to perform. It's a live performance alright. Some may find it entertaning while others find it utterly 'wu liao' (can't find an English vocab to translate it).

11. Cheongwadae 'The Blue House'.

Nobody can go in this place. We just stood stupidly outside and had a glimpse of it. It is an official residence of the South Korean head.  It is called The Blue House but the house is anything but blue.

12 Hot spring at Aqua World.

Our package include a hot spring  for us but I forgo that for shopping. I am a shopaholic. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

5D4N Hanoi & Halong Bay, Vietnam

Vietnam has never been in my 'places-to-visit' list but we selected this destination purely because Air Asia was then offering a great deal for the airfare. We decided on Hanoi because we could visit Halong Bay, which is a UNESCO World Heritage. There is a saying that if you had visited Vietnam but never got around to visit Halong Bay, then you have not visited Vietnam at all. Everything we want for our trip has got to be cheap and economical. As such, we did a DIY 5D4N package all by ourselves. Here's our itinerary :

In Hanoi, we visited the surrounding places of interest with the help of a representative from Hanoikids just for Day 1. She will tell us on the history and culture of Vietnam and assist in calling a cab for us for the next destination. Here's our DIY itinerary from Day 1 to Day 5:

Day 1 : Hanoi

• Temple of Literature --must visit
• Museum of Ethnology -- real size of houses by different ethnic groups. Must visit.
• The Old Quarter -- we stayed in one of the hotels located in this area. An area full of shops

Day 2 : Hanoi /Halong Bay

• Proceed 3.5 hours ride to Halong Bay
• Pre purchased a luxury cruise : Emotion cruise for 2D1N
• Had lunch on board while cruising towards Bai Tu Long Bay

• Visit Sung Sot Cave (Surprise Cave), one of the most beautiful cave in Halong Bay, found by a Frenchman.
• Visit Titop Beach -- you can opt to climb to the top where you will have an awesome view of Halong Bay
• Had seafood dinner on board
• Squid fishing at night

Day 3 : Halong Bay / Hanoi

• Tai Chi lesson on board at 6.30am
• International Buffet Breakfast on board
• Visit Ba Hang floating village
• Sit in sampan where the local fisherman will row to areas only can be reached via boat
• Lunch in Halong city
• Transfer back to Hanoi

Day 4 : Hanoi

• Walk to Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
• Visit Museum of Ho Chi Minh (next to each other)
• Visit One Pillar Pagoda (nearby)
• Leisure walk to Hoan Kiem Lake
• Dong Xuan wholesale market
• Exploring and shopping in Old Quarter
• Weekend night market in Old Quarter

Day 5 : Hanoi / Kuala Lumpur

• Transfer back to KL early in the morning and... BACK TO REALITY

7 Things you MUST DO in Bangkok

We were back in Bangkok sometime in early Feb, almost a year of hiatus from the last visit. Bangkok remains as our favorite haunt for a number of reasons. Let’s just put it that we have our own enjoyable itinerary lined up. And for this, we concluded of 7 things you MUST do when visiting Bangkok :
1. Visit Jatujak market This is a weekend market and was boasted as the market where prices are relatively cheaper than other night markets. You can get almost anything under the sky in this market. You name it, they have it all here. It can take an entire day for you to cover the entire market but one rarely achieve this due to the stuffy and humid condition.

2. Visit Platinum Mall (every girls’ delight) I think most guys will disagree vehemently on this nomination but hey, this place is absolutely fabulous because it is a wholesaler place, a place where you get clothes, shoes, accessories, ornaments bla.. bla.. bla.. everything at wholesale price. Just when you thought this is getting better, you are then asked to purchase a certain qty in order to enjoy the shocking wholesale price. I am capable of losing myself in the frenzy of clothes searching . The wholesale price will make you gape and increase your tempo of flipping the clothes to look for the desirable design. Trust me, just allot more time here. 3. Induge in body massage and foot reflexiology Need I say much?? No one, I repeat, no one in this world doesn’t enjoy a good massage on the back or a therapeutic foot massage. The best part is you are able to enjoy a good 1 hour of traditional Thai Body massage for as low as RM16. Yes, no kidding. The foot massage either cost the same or somewhat lower. Hubby and I parted our money willingly on this heavenly “indulgence”.

4. Order Tomyam Gung and Pad Thai in every meal It doesn’t matter which stall you order your Tomyam Gung from or which restaurant clinch your Pad Thai order. Just order and eat them. In Bangkok, you get the most authentic and the best tomyam soup (in our opinion) but beware, they have both the clear soup type as well as the red soup. Make sure you order the one you intended to. Pad Thai is an infamous stir fried noodle dish made from rice noodles with ingredients including egg, peanuts, shallots, sprouts, tofu, and a choice of meat. The fish sauce is a major seasoning in this dish and the overall taste? Well.. it’s spicy, sweet, sour and salty. All in one. A lip smacking dish one mustn’t missed.
5. Drink RM2 coconut drink & orange juice Everywhere you walk in the bustling streets of Bangkok, you will stumble upon carts after carts where the pullers are selling either freshly squeeze local tangerine or coconut. It is extremely refreshing to drown down your throat with a cool natural drink. The price is standard, only at RM2. It is a healthy substitute to the much loved fizzy drink and by that, we meant Coke. So, gulp down as much coconut and orange drink as you can while there.

6. Eat everything mango The Thai mangoes are juicy, sweet and humongous. We didn’t eat anything ‘mango’ during our last trip so we made a point to do it this time. That lead us to this dessert shop called Mango Tango, located in one of the narrower lanes in Sukhumvit Street in downtown. The outlet offers all varieties of mango desert and naturally, we went for the well known Sticky rice mango desert. It was ..oh.. so.. awesome! Two thumbs up for it but they could’ve make the serving bigger. Next on our list is Mango Pudding. Just try out all kinds of mango dessert shown on the menu and you won’t be disappointed. 7. Get some foodstuffs in the supermarket Our favorite supermarket is none other than the one located in Siam Paragon. If you are a fan of the spicy tomyam flavor, grab as many different tomyam cup noodles you can. Somehow, the tomyam made in Thailand, tastes differently. And if you love snacking, buy Lays Potato chips because they are just so darn cheap here compared to KL.

We stuffed in as many packets of Lays as our luggage bag could accommodate. Well, having listed down ‘our’ 7 things, we realize we should touch on a few other pointers :
1. Avoid asking taxi driver to recommend local restaurants The biggest mistake you can commit in Bangkok (besides the ‘sinful’ illegal haunts) is to ask suggestions from the taxi or tuk tuk driver on places to eat because the answer they gonna give you is “Sum Bhum”. This restaurant is a throat cutting place. During our trip to Bangkok a year ago, we naively sought suggestion from the taxi driver, thinking that he will surely recommend some nice places that charge reasonably. We specifically asked for cheap and affordable yet delicious food and he drove us to this restaurant called Sum Bhum. The moment we alighted from the cab, we started to have a bad premonition. There were no local patrons we noted and the fresh seafood were unreasonably priced. We were ushered to a dainty table and were given menus instantly. One look at the price in the menu will send anyone running helter skelter. We did exactly that.

2. Get a new hairdo or haircut or a hair makeover. This came into suggestion because we have a friend with us who never fail to get a haircut every time he visits Bangkok. We guess the salons in Bangkok are generally more comfy and perhaps the Thais hair stylist there are more stylish than those in KL. Well..all we can say is, to each its own.


Penned by Rachel